It's a drizzly damp day, which for me always means tired and achy and gloomy. Gray days are beautiful for drinking tea under a fluffy blanket, but they are a miserable context for pretty much any other activity.

It is good that today is Sunday. My soul needs rest, and my aching limbs are enforcing it.

Still, there are things that need doing, and although rest is one of them, procrastinating is not. I find myself sitting on the couch, hoping that maybe in five minutes, my knees won't ache so bad. This strategy never works.

Ironically, I really could be feeling better in five minutes if I just got up and did the things. Took the supplements, drank the water, changed into something a little bit warmer. Went outside barefoot and listened to the trees breathing.

But it's never going to happen unless I will myself to do it while it's still hard.

Willpower is a funny thing. It is very good for moving the body around, but it has very little direct power over the soul... except by way of the body.

So I am smelling nutmeg, frankincense, eucalyptus, and ylang-ylang, drumming up the courage to do what I must, delegate what I can, and let go of the rest. Choosing a fragrance to smell is such a very small choice, and yet interesting enough to distract me from my elbows, knees, feet, and thumbs.

If I deploy that tiny spark of will correctly, I can create a physical context that makes the next act of will a little easier. With the smell of courage in my nostrils, I can think through what I really need, and ask Andrew for some water and my supplements. The water and the supplements don't fix everything, but they make it easier to put on a sweater and go sit outside on the grass while the kids play freeze tag.

The clouds press down like a thick blanket, and Andrew just went inside to make me another cup of tea. When I finish writing this, we will probably read a bit of Virgil together. It is a gloomy day, but always when I am brave enough to press into the gloom, I find that it is good.

Copaiba

If I could only have one essential oil, this would be the one.

Copaiba essential oil is distilled from a South American tree resin, and its fragrance is very subtle. At first I could hardly even detect it at all, but now it reminds me of a sweeter, gentler version of frankincense.

Don't be fooled, though: this oil is a powerhouse. For me, it has been nothing short of life-changing.

Traditionally used as a digestive aid and health tonic, copaiba makes a lovely tea. Copaiba Vitality comes in the premium starter kit, and is FDA approved as a supplement and flavoring. Try mixing a drop or two with honey and warm water!

Taking Copaiba internally has made a big difference in my health. It helps me stay on an even keel, both physically and emotionally, and since I started taking Copaiba I've actually almost enjoyed winter. ;)

Copaiba’s strength is in its gentleness, and it's relaxing properties help the body to receive the full benefits of other oils. This makes it a powerful addition to almost any blend, and it is the primarily ingredient in Young Living's incredible Stress Away blend.

Let's talk about hydration! Our bodies are mostly made of water, and if we don't drink enough of it, we're mostly a mess! Whenever you're not feeling well, one of the first questions to ask yourself is, "Am I getting enough water?"

All my life I've had a REALLY hard time remembering to drink water. I simply wouldn't notice that I was thirsty, until I was badly dehydrated.

Adding citrus Vitality oils to my water is helping me get into the hydration habit. Tangerine is my favorite, but I also love Citrus Fresh, Lemon, and Orange.

In so many ways, essential oils are teaching me how to listen to my body. When my water tastes amazing, I start paying attention to it. I drink more of it, and then I start noticing how good it feels to be hydrated. And then I start noticing my thirst sooner, craving not just the citrus flavor, but also the hydration itself.

Since oil and water don't mix, I was initially skeptical about adding essential oils to my water. However, when I add them to my glass water bottle, the oils seem to adhere to the glass, releasing a teensy bit of flavor with every swallow. Sometimes I refill my bottle several times before needing to add more oil.

Essential oils can break down some plastics, so if you try this, be careful about what container you use! I feel safest with glass. With its silicone protective casing and wrist strap, this one is my absolute favorite.

What is your hydration routine?

Citrus Fresh chicken

We were all set for a wonderful chicken artichoke casserole last week, but that jar of mayo in the fridge? Not exactly empty, but definitely not two cups. 

No big deal. Andrew makes a killer BBQ sauce.

We got more chicken, and also mayo. We were all set to try again for the artichoke recipe... except for the parmesan cheese.

So it was back to the drawing board all over again. We weren't exactly sick of BBQ chicken yet, but we didn't want to risk it. That sauce is way too good to overuse.

Anyway, I looked up a few recipes, but we didn't have exactly the right ingredients for any of them. Good thing too, because I'm in love with the combination that we improvised!

Citrus Fresh Vitality is made from grapefruit, orange, mandarin, tangerine, and lemon peels, with a hint of spearmint. This recipe would be wonderful with fresh zest and herbs, too!

Citrus Fresh Chicken

10 chicken thighs

1 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. black pepper

1/4 c. honey

8 drops Citrus Fresh Vitality 

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Rinse chicken, Pat dry, and arrange in baking dish. Combine salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and rub dry mixture into chicken. Mix Citrus Fresh into honey, whisk in vinegar, and pour over chicken. Bake at 350° until juices run clear, about 40-50 min.

Yum!

Yesterday was sunshiny and glorious. Today, not so much.

There's a beauty to drizzly gray days. I love them in the same way as I love Steinbeck and Tolstoy and Joseph Conrad: they are wonderful and glorious, but oy, they make me miserable.

High school literature anthologies can make any piece of writing seem dreadful, but I found Longfellow's Rainy Day in one of them, and it was exactly the medicine I needed. It told me that the soul has a weather of its own, and that with the right help and mentoring I could weather it.

Longfellow has been a good mentor to me. The library had a lovely collection of his work, without any of the soul-crushing comprehension questions. From there I moved on to e. e. cummings and Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. I am incredibly grateful. Poetry creates a space to experience emotions to the fullest without being destroyed by them. Reading poetry helps a lot, writing poetry helps even more. 

Reading poetry is the best way to learn to write poetry, and writing poetry is the best way that I know of to learn how to live. 

All that to say that today was a pretty blah day, and that's okay. Some days are like that, and that is as it should be. 

(This photo is definitely NOT from today, by the way. But today is most certainly the day that I needed this oil. The diffuse light today is perfect for a different kind of photo. Perhaps today I will get some good pictures of the oils that I use on sunshiny days. All the different days prepare us for one another, weaving into a single interdependent whole...)

A photo posted by Elena (@joyfulheartessentials) on Feb 2, 2017 at 12:06pm PST

Understanding Abundance

I want to share with you a bit of my journey with essential oils. When I first bought my starter kit, it was mostly for extra support during sniffle season. My child catches the sniffles rather a lot—he inherited that from me—and I welcome all tools to help improve wintertime quality of life. It was an easy choice. If peppermint helped a little in those long and dark nights of hot showers, humidifiers, the nose frida and tears, it was money well spent. I considered everything else gravy. Three months later, I have noticed a change in myself and in my family. The physical changes are wonderful--I don't like to think about how anyone does without oils for support--but the primary change is in my heart life and that of my family. We are increasingly more prone to act toward each other from an internal place of abundance, rather than an assumption of scarcity. In the night, when my child is wet and cold and needs me, less and less often do I think “I don’t have enough sleep for this right now.” More often I respond with “Come, let me share with you from what I have.” The change is not in how much I have, but in my attitude. Because of the ways that essential oils have helped me, I really do have more to offer to my family, but it's not really about how much I have. After all, Scrooge had plenty, and he still lived with the assumption that he did not have enough to share. I may not have much right now. I am learning to live like I am enough and like I have enough. To buy oils, I have to look at my life and decide that I have enough. Oils are extravagant. Can I do without them? Yes. Do I want to? No. Oils in my life are blessing. They make my son happy. They soothe and bring joy to my husband. They drive my pregnant weepies away and lift my spirits. They are a tangible gift that I can give to anyone, and expect that they will also experience blessing. Blessing is why I keep doing oils: not because they help with the sniffles and relieve my occasional bloating. I like those benefits. I use and love oils because they encourage me to live from a place of blessing. As an unexpected gift, oils are helping me shift my focus from myself and what I may sometime lack to what I have now and can joyfully share with those around me. Oils are transforming my body, yes. More importantly, oils are drawing my heart to live in gratitude and to embrace an assumption of abundance.

peaceful parenting and oils

These days, when there's trouble with the kids, I'm learning to go straight to the diffuser. 

Citrus oils can't make anyone bounce out of bed and get dressed... but they can sure make it easier. 

Cedarwood can't make anyone treat their siblings with warmth and affection... but it can sure make it easier.

Lavender can't make anyone calm down at bedtime... or maybe it can? The point is, I can't control my kids behavior, but I can support them in doing well.

Nine times out of ten, that's enough.

Not always, mind you. Willful sin is a thing, after all. 

But it's not usually the main thing, and it's never the only thing.

Most of the time, my kids want to do well, and things turn around when I take small steps to make that easier for them. 

And on those rare occasions when it really does just boil down to plain old sin? Then we need all the help we can get. 

As the fragrant mist shifts our moods, I'm reminded to take account of our flesh. Doing well takes more than willpower: it requires humble, prayerful planning.