Photo description: A dead Northern Gannet covered in oil lies along Grand Isle Beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana May 21, 2010. A month after the well blowout and rig explosion that unleashed the catastrophic spill, sheets of rust-colored heavy oil are starting to clog fragile marshlands on the fringes of the Mississippi Delta, damaging fishing grounds and wildlife. Scientists fear parts of the huge fragmented surface slick will be sucked to the Florida Keys and Cuba by ocean currents.

How upsetting is this?! The problem is probably much worse than what is reported on the news! I just want to do my part to help spread the twitters on this and some volunteer / info links. I’m in shock this has been leaking everyday since April 20th! It’s been a month! I grew up scuba diving and snorkeling in the Gulf waters ;( All the dolphins, manatees, colorful fish and coral I swam with once are soon going to be covered in the oil spill…The saddest part is as I type this they may not know what’s coming….

It hardly needs to be stated that 80,000 barrels of oil a day leaking into the Gulf of Mexico could destroy virtually all marine life in the region.

Oxygen levels have already fallen by 30 percent in waters near the oil. When water loses its oxygen content, it quickly becomes a so-called “dead zone” because marine species simply can’t live there anymore. (Fish and other aquatic creatures need oxygen to live, obviously.)

With this volcano of oil still erupting through the ocean floor, we could be witnessing the mass-murder of virtually all marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.

And yet we’re faced with a virtual blackout of truly accurate news on the event. Both the oil industry and the Obama administration are desperately trying to limit the videos, photos and stories about the spill, spinning everything to make it seem like it’s not really much of a problem at all.
[source: Massive underwater oil cloud may destroy life in Gulf of Mexico]

Volunteer / Donate / Info

Mobile Baykeepers
Save Our Gulf
Matter of Trust
Healthy Gulf
Louisiana Gulf Response
Deepwater Horizon Response
United Way Mississippi
Gulf Sea Grant

I don’t even know how to start this post. I’ve never written anything like this, and I’m only writing this now because this is the last day to experience this at $42 off the normal price and I want more health bloggers to join me there!

I came across Katie’s banner ad somehow and I guess seeing this young woman my age succeed made me act. I have never bought anything that promised to bring more traffic to my blog, but Katie is the real deal and I’m overwhelmed from not only the results I’ve had but from the supportive community I’ve found. This has been the catalyst that has inspired me to stop blogging as a hobby and get down to business!

I know we all blog dreaming that we can quit our job and enjoy life and not be so stressed. So we can age gracefully, raise children the right way and travel when the spirit moves you.

Joining this unified tribe made me feel I’m finally on the way there! It’s based on a “pay it back” system, I think it’s so revolutionary!

Why pay for this?

Well people value things they pay for. So if you pay to be part of this closed community you are playing with real pros who care about quality. You are getting quality people.

Ok so here is what I’ve experienced in only two days:

Increased traffic

from 60 a day to 324!

Increased RSS subscribers

from 13 up to 24

I’d love nothing more than to band together with other health bloggers in the unified tribe community! So please– for $25, why not take the chance and join my tribe there so we can support each other and make our dreams come true!

After tonight at 9pm PST/12am EST USA time, the price will be $67 :/ So just click and find out more!

You don’t have to learn or understand all about Feng Shui in order to implement it’s basic principles into your life to create a more pleasing environment in your home. The core principles such as to eliminate clutter and arrange furniture so chi can flow is a easily learned practice that you can learn to feel out on your own.

When we implement these basic Feng Shui Principles we can lead healthier lives both energetically and productivity wise. Who couldn’t use more money, energy and a happy positive vibe in their spaces?!

Clear the Clutter

The most important principle is disposing of useless paper and clutter clogging the flow of energy through our home. This includes papers, unfinished projects, empty boxes and shopping bags from recent purchases, old unused things, old un-worn un-loved clothes and shoes…You get the picture.

This clutter stands in our way making us feel too tired, unmotivated and stuck. For some parting with clutter can be very hard, while for others who already know the abundant freshness it brings to their life- might not be able to get enough!

My tips on how to clear each of the types clutter from your home:

• Unfinished Projects- Things you may have started and haven’t worked on in the past year should be either disposed of or at least (if it is something of some importance) stored and organized out of sight as to not hold you back from accomplishing new tasks. Looking at them everyday blocks your motivation and makes you feel stuck!
• old school notes- We may have taken significant courses in our lives that we invested a lot of money and time in. Naturally we want to hang on to all those notes and graded papers not only as proof of our accomplishments but also in hopes we will go back and learn it better. My advice, it falls into the unfinished projects category and could be piling up on you unconciously as dead weight. Chances are you have already received internally what you were supposed to have learned. If a year goes by and you don’t absolutely need those old notes or aren’t passionately involved in that subject matter, then toss it out.
• Old Clothes and Shoes- If you never wear it because you feel less than your best in them, they fit funny, you feel shabby or your shoes hurt but look good with one outfit- then give them away already! Move on and keep only the clothes that are fresh and you feel good in!
• Fliers, Papers, Business Cards, Magazines- Chances are all those adverts, menus, business cards and fliers are all info you can find on line these days!
• Products- We tend to let half empty bottles of expired toiletries and food items to pile up! Toss out all the expired products and stale goods that we are never going to polish off!

And keep clutter free!

Once a month take a few hours to keep up on your clutter clearing. Organize your bills and paper work into a filing system and stay organized! Weed out unnecessary paper wastes of places, events, news, magazines that you can find online if you really need it.

Arrange your Furniture so Chi can Flow

When you arrange your furniture simply pay attention to stuck corners and open spaces.

• Do not arrange your furniture so you have to do some fancy maneuvering through pathways to get anywhere.
• Do not “trap” space in between units of furniture that is wasted or cut off from the flow of the room (as it is only harboring darkness and dust and yucky energy).
• Make sure corners of furniture are not pointing at you especially from behind
• Do not place furniture where your back is to the door
• If your living room is small try not to place a big bulky coffee table so that everyone has to journey through paths to get out, try a few smaller stands to hold drinks etc to place on the sides of sitting areas. (Personally I never understood coffee tables! I find them almost always to block energy and almost always to be poorly designed. Most living rooms are best without them as I’ve always lived in smaller living arrangements and absolutely need wide open space to practice yoga and exercise)
• Repair all broken furniture such as knobs and drawers.

Helping the Chi flow along with Decorative Items

Now that you are clutter free and your furniture is arranged let’s keep the Chi charged with Plants, Lighting and Crystals!

• Hanging Plants- are a cheap great way to add freshness to your area and improve the air quality. My two hanging plants have made a significant improvement to the air quality in my apartment.
• Lighting- Face it fluorescent lighting sucks and it’s depressing. Who wants to feel like they live in a office?! Buy some lamps,lighting kits, and at least one colorful beautiful lamp.
• Crystals- Crystals such as amethyst, smokey quartz, rose quartz and amber are inexpensive and when placed in corners or special places can bring positive healing energy and cheer you up! Make sure to clean them regularly to help you feel fresh and charge your space.

Where to Place your Decorative Items and what the Heck is a Bagua!?

Now this is the part where I get into the essence of what Feng Shui is really based on- The Bagua, or the map/guide which divides your home into sections that relate to Relationships, Travel, Career, Money, Health and so on- is your guide to which areas of your home represent those areas. You can then take this knowledge to help you decide where to mindfully place your crystals, lamps, plants etc.

Here is a handy learning tool below to get acquainted!

I hope this posts motivates you to clear your clutter, re-arrange your furniture and charge your space to move on your way to living in a healthier positive space that will allow you to live a more healthy productive happy life!

photo by DiAichner3

There’s a really cool site called Space Collective I’ve been reading.

I stumbled across an article about how some scientists, planting mushrooms in the earth near an oil spill, watched as the earth literally healed itself with the help of the mushrooms!
Just like the earth, our bodies – when fed the way that nature intended – can heal too!
It’s all so wonderful! Why, I’d call it a miracle! However, Paul the mushroom guy calls it “Mycoremediation”…

Here’s an excerpt from spacecollective.org:

Paul Stamets, American mycologist & author, is a passionate believer that mushrooms/funghi, can indeed save the world. One such brilliant way he has demonstrated this is through Mycoremediation, which is a form of bioremediation that can turn soil which has been contaminated by oil, into an “oasis… teeming with life”, in a matter of weeks.

This is yet another example that Nature already contains the most elegant processes & techniques for us to learn from. Aiding in our more complete & natural integration with Gaia. It’s all there for us… and thankfully people like Paul are looking with insatiable curiousity.

And the awesome presentation: