Upbeat Living: A Real Day Off

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A real day off, DHEA, energy, Kebba Buckley Button, let go, stress, Take a break, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

If you feel stressed and tired, and you can’t remember the last time you didn’t feel that way, maybe you need a real day off.  In my natural healing practice, I often work with clients whose stress is unceasing.  Couple that with the heavy world news and the overburden of politichatter—the inevitable election cycle events and conversation—whatever family issues you have, any career decisions on the horizon, and the electrochemistry and noise of the urban environment… well, maybe you need to take a break!

Maybe you’re thinking, no way!  The cost, the time off work, the yard growing out of control and ruining my neighborhood reputation… A two-week vacation was a standard, decades ago.  Then professionals decided those caused more stress than they cured.  So people shifted to taking long weekends.  This trend was so strong that the Federal Government moved most of the federal holidays to Mondays.  That Monday Holiday Law, passed in 1968, was meant to “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation.”  Wow!

But then everyone was driving out of town at the end of the week and returning Monday night.  More stress.  Now many are discovering the joys of midweek 2-day timeouts or even a single midweek overnight-plus-one-day timeout.  The key is to really take a break, a genuinely refreshing change day. Or two.  Just 24 hours can give you a re-set.  And you need it!

Your thoughts and attitude can get stale without change.  Your brain can actually get channels worn in it, from reviewing the same worries all the time. So change your channel, change your scene. Find a place to go to where there is a low level of electromagnetic frequencies (EMF); possibly a cabin or bed and breakfast in a small town.  Use your computer as little as possible.  This will refresh your nervous system.  Pick a place with natural beauty where you would be very tempted to go walking.  This will repump your DHEA, the master hormone.  If you can go to a beach, that’s the highest natural-energy environment, and you will absorb a lot of energy there.  Turn off your phone and don’t think about your usual concerns.  When you think of something that you ought to do, put it on a list in the Memo section of your phone; then forget it until you’re back at your desk.  Let go of all the Usual.

Eat dark green leafy salad and have very little sugar.  This will bring your vital life force energy up very fast.  Try to get berries for breakfast.  Those will raise your antioxidant levels quickly and refresh your attitudes. Move around.  Do yoga in your room or go for walks.  Go swimming, if you have found a place with a beach or pool.  A business owner I knew used to go to a small motel in Yuma, Arizona, where no one would recognize her.  It was inexpensive, there was no traffic noise, and no one could call her.  She ate produce (her business ), walked and swam and closed out all business thoughts for 2 days at a time.  She said it was like Heaven, a real day off and then another.  She totally relaxed.

Come up with your own formula.  Give yourself the elements you need to have a real day off, to really take a break.  Savor every moment.  Then let me know what worked for you.  And that’s Upbeat Living^sm!

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are:Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  That book and Peace Within are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com or call the office at 480-250-1177.
• For an appointment or to book Rev. Kebba to speak for your group, email calendar@kebba.com

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Upbeat Living: Happy World Day of Peace!

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Jeremy Gilley, Kebba Buckley Button, Peace Day, peace within, Pray, stress, The life you want, UpBeat Living, World Day of Peace

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Today is World Day of Peace, appointed by the United Nations as an annual day of peace and ceasefire.  Even the Taliban has been cooperating with taking a day off from war, allowing humanitarian aid to flow into strife-torn areas.  For more on activities for this annual day, use your search bar to learn more about Jeremy Gilley, the founder and probably Chief Optimist of the movement, “Peace One Day”.  Many of us believe we can have peace in our time.  Today, in Phoenix, Arizona, about 250 people will gather at 6 pm, at the Franciscan Renewal Center, dressed in purple.  We will form the word, “MERCY”.  Like the word HOPE, in the photo above, our stubborn hearts believe that we are moving forward and helping to build the peace we wish to see.

Our beautiful planet and its 7 billion human tenants need peace now.  The other beings on the Planet need peace now.  The plant systems and climate systems on this extraordinary world need peace now.  There has been much upheaval lately, in climatic and human affairs.

We are at choice as to how we can help this peace come about.  We need to be good global citizens, work for social justice, develop our individual Peace Within, and pray often.  Number one is to keep ourselves grounded in our Peace Within, so we can keep up with the other needs.  Even prayer must come from a peaceful, hopeful, trusting heart.

With so many people so stressed out today, and with so many social issues hurting large numbers, it is crucial to stay as grounded and clear as you can, even joyful and grateful.  This is a major way you can help the Planet, and it’s a skill set.  Study positive ideas and books (such as Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core), explore your faith, and keep returning to positive languaging and beliefs.  Learn to meditate, taking classes and increasing your personal peace-maintaining skills.  The more Peace Within you cultivate, the better your relationships will be, and the better able you will be to do what you can to help bring forth peace in our time.   Gandhi said,

If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.

For more on what you can do to bring about world peace, read the article Peace In Our Time: 3 Ways You Can Help ( http://wp.me/pyEwf-6C ) .  Then work on your Peace Within, and choose some other simple ways to help the World.  You can be a part of building the world your children will inherit.  And that’s Upbeat Living!

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are:  Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  That book and Peace Within are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com or call the office at 480-250-1177.
• For an appointment or to book Rev. Kebba to speak for your group, email calendar@kebba.com

 

Upbeat Living: Does Rage Help?

Tags

at choice, Charlie Sheen, Kebba Buckley Button, Rage, stress, The life you want, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  www.kebba.com

© eelsonova – Fotolia

Does rage help?  In Upbeat Living(sm), we do what is most effective for the way we want to live.  Usually, that’s happy holistic living.  Sometimes we see events in the news that show us again how very important it is to live the Upbeat Living way.  Let’s consider a couple of situations.

If you had “upset” a vase full of flowers, what would that look like?  It might look like the vase was now on its side, or smashed on the ground, with the flowers and water all over.  Would it help the vase, the flowers, or the water, to be “upset”?  Maybe your cat knocked the vase over, probably without intending to.  Every element would now be in disarray, none fulfilling its purpose or providing any joy.  There is no benefit in the vase being “upset”.

The same is true of humans.  We have a choice as to whether something will “upset” us, or turn us on our side.  Would you be upset if a cat knocked over your vase of flowers?  Would you be less upset if the cat were your favorite, the vase generic, and the flowers from someone you detested?  What if you learned, right after the vase was smashed, that the flowers were a rare, expensive type, sent by a dear loved one who you just learned had gone into hospice this morning?  Would you feel more grief over the same scene?  The scene would be the same, but your interpretation would be different.  You would react differently, based on your ideas about the same scene.  What would be the most effective way to respond?  Calmly and quickly?

Celebrity news is great for illustrating basics of living, at a dramatic level.  Awhile ago, we read that Charlie Sheen went into a rage and trashed a hotel room.  The damage, including a broken chandelier, is said by USAToday.com to have been about $7000.  And why was this successful actor so upset that he was actually in a rage, tearing up his hotel room at the Plaza Hotel in New York?  Police called to the scene said he was having trouble finding his wallet and cellphone after spending time with a professional purveyor of sexual pleasure.  His response was to rip apart various things in the room.

Did he really think the chandelier was hiding his wallet and cellphone, thus deserving to be punched out?  Famous for spending time with, um, purveyors, did he not yet have a procedure to protect himself?  Does he not always leave the cash in the bedside table and tuck his wallet and phone in the lining of his suitcase, or in the room safe?  He was at choice when he hired the, um, purveyor.  He was at choice when he put his objects wherever in the room.  He was at choice getting drunk or taking drugs.  He was at choice when he realized his objects were in no obvious location.  He was at choice when he went into a rage and chose to tear up hotel property.  He would also have been at choice, had he quietly called hotel security to assist him, his cel company to turn off his phone, and the, um, purveyor’s provider to report the issue.

Charlie Sheen’s choices resulted in police being called and Charlie owing the hotel thousands of dollars.  In addition, he is seen again as a person who has no control, or rather, a person who makes lousy choices that work for no one.  And the worst effect?  His ex-wife and their two daughters were staying in the same hotel.  While Charlie was choosing his behaviors, was he considering what his daughters would think of him?  You decide.  And you choose your behavior.  And that’s Upbeat Living.

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  That book and Peace Within are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com or call the office at 480-250-1177.
• For an appointment or to book Rev. Kebba to speak for your group, email calendar@kebba.com

Upbeat Living: 8 Easy Steps to Clear the Energy of Your Home or Office

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Clear the energy of your home, Effective living, Energy of your home, Feeling energized, Feng Shui, Kebba Buckley Button, peace within, stress, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.  

In Upbeat Living^sm, we want our lifestyle to be energized and joyful.  To feel our best, we should regularly check on and tune up the energy of our spaces.  So today’s topic is the energy of your home or office.  By now, you’ve probably heard of the idea of Feng Shui, the art of placing objects in your home, office, or other space, to optimize the energy in the space and in your life.  Maybe you’ve even dabbled in adding certain colors or objects to your space.  If so, you already believe in subtle energy fields, the circulating energy patterns that you can’t see.

But you don’t need to understand the complex details of the discipline of Feng Shui, to clear or otherwise adjust your home or office energy.  Especially if you are feeling stuck in any way, there are quick and simple things you can do to raise the energy, the feeling, of your space. At this writing, we are at the end of Summer and almost at the beginning of Fall.  This is a natural time of transition and evaluation. The other natural time of home energy transition is in the Spring, when people launch into Spring cleaning.  That is at time when people in cold areas open their doors and windows for the first time in months.  They “air out” their homes, and they clean and freshen all the surfaces and contents.  Perhaps they take a fresh look at what they own and what they would like to donate or replace.  Perhaps they add some bright seasonal décor. In hot areas like Phoenix, this naturally happens at the end of Summer.

When outside temperatures finally descend to below 80 degrees, people may suddenly open their front doors and find the air is cooler outside than inside—a pleasant, refreshing shock.  At that point, the home or office energy has been stale for a half year, and it’s time for a re-set.  Junk energy has been accumulating all during the closed-window season.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.

Shadow energy builds up when we don’t air out or tune up our space.  Now that the weather is mild, all the energy of stress, illness, fatigue, and discouragement can be aired out and cleansed away.  This is simple. It can take about 10 minutes of your time, plus an hour to continue letting the space air out!  Just follow these 8 easy steps.

1. Set your intention to clear and lighten up the energy of your space.
2. Open all the doors and windows. Leave the screen doors closed.
3. Light an incense stick or sage bundle. You’ll carry it around over a pan that catches the ash.  Any incense will do, coupled with your intention.  My favorite is Nag Champa.
4. Declare your intention and/or say a prayer. Try this traditional one, or write your own: “Visit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this dwelling, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy.  Let Thy holy Angels dwell herein, to preserve us in peace. And let Thy blessing be upon us forever.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.”
5. Go around your space repeating phrases about release, such as: “I bless and release all tired, ill, old, or stale energy.  I bless and release all pain, all emotional sludge, all discouragement, all stuck/ness, all unclarity, all brain fog, all distraction, and all outdated ideas of life and who I should be”.  Picture stale energy leaving through the open windows and doors.
6. Go around again, still holding the pan with burning incense or sage, and repeat phrases like this: “I refill this space with new, fresh, upbeat, encouraged, optimistic, can-do energy.  I declare this to be a space filled with radiance and wellness, vitality, fresh ideas, easy concentration, right action, inspiration, and best relationships.  I declare that this space draws the ideal friends, (clients, if applicable,) loved ones, energy, and income.  This is a place of peace, joy, and balance!”
7. Thank God/the Universe/Jesus/the Angels. According to your belief system, express great gratitude that these things are so.
8. Give the space an hour to air out, or more if climate and schedule permit.

Now simply repeat as desired.  You’ll notice the space feels lighter, and everything you do is easier.  And that’s Upbeat  Living!

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.  
• For an appointment or to book Rev. Kebba to speak for your group, email calendar@kebba.com

 

Upbeat Living: The Proverb is Wrong– Sometimes There Is Something New

Tags

Fresh thoughts, Kebba Buckley Button, Refresh your mind, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

A frequently –quoted proverb says, “Nothing is new under the sun.”  There is a similar Bible quote that means something rather different, and we’ll discuss that in a future article.  For now, let’s think of all the people we’ve heard say there’s nothing new, nothing more for humans to learn, and no more silver bullets to be discovered.  Ha!

The people who say those things have been sitting at their desks too long, going around in circles in their personal worlds, and they are bored.  There is a commercial where a Victorian-looking man asks, “Remember when I said I wanted to invent the telephone? And what did you say?”  A voice answers, “I said you were crazy”. The telephone was new in its time and is constantly being re-invented as a hand-held computer.  I call mine my “smart box”.  I can look up anything on my smart box. No more going to my parents’ living room and digging through the encyclopedias.  The smart box is always new, always offers to refresh our minds.

A fresh news item this week is the re-invention of the blimp.  This one is called “The Flying Bum” Airship because it looks much like a human behind, from behind.  It’s filled with helium, and the Brits are optimistic they can make it viable and serviceable.  Meanwhile, its appearance is great for a chuckle in any country.

There are at least 2 series of books that can help you know that you don’t know what can be known, and that some of what you know isn’t what you could know correctly about that at all.  Got that?  That is, not all of what people think is true is actually true at all. The first is the Useless Information series.  This started with a British team, the Useless Information Society, which brought forth a few books, and then it became US-centric but continued the brand for a few more books.  I read a few pages of one of these books every evening, to clear my mind before going to sleep.  Topics range from science to sports to entertainment to geography to events: every topic there is.   The second book series starts with The Book of General Ignorance.  That series has one-page articles based on questions you never thought to ask.

Here’s a favorite factoid from The Incredible Book of Useless Information:  “Humans are the only species that shed emotional tears.  The smell of a woman’s emotional tears has been shown to lower testosterone levels in men, thereby reducing aggression and sexual arousal.”  This biotruth may not be new in the Universe, but it was new and surprising to me.  And I love being surprised with fun factoids.

Now here’s a new factoid in my world this week:  there is an iron that has little feet on the soleplate.  The little feet descend to your fabric, with a tiny hum, when you pause over a spot on the item you’re ironing.  The feet prevent scorching, and they make me smile. Who thinks of these things?  Well, now I have one, and I enjoy the smiling.   There’s something new under the sun in my home.

How about you?  What’s new in your world this week?  Refresh your mind and you’ll stay firmly and delightfully in Upbeat Living^sm.

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

 

Upbeat Living: Freshen Your Brain— and Smile— With Paraprosdokians!

Tags

DHEA, Humor, Kebba Buckley Button, laugh, paraproskokian, smile, stress, Stress Management

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

This form of humor was my favorite, before I knew it had a name: the paraprosdokian!  Yes, that’s a real term, from the Greek, paraprosdokian (I know, same word), meaning “beyond expectations”.  This is a statement that seems to be going in one direction and then goes in another direction, surprising the listener or reader.  It’s the surprise I love.  In Upbeat Living^sm, we know that not only is humor fun, but it literally feels good and is good for you.

These one-liners will usually make people smile.  And smiling literally puts you in a good mood, because, as research shows, your facial expression can determine your mood.  If one of these paraprosdokians really cracks you up, and you chuckle, or even laugh, then you get great health benefits:  production of endorphins and the master hormone, DHEA.  These compounds will make your body run better and feel better, plus they put you in a good mood.  And then you are smiling again, in a self-renewing circuit of wonderfulness.  Plus, people will wonder why you’re smiling, and they will ask you.  So there’s some social benefit as well.

Some paraprosdokians are very familiar, such as:

He who laughs last…thinks slowest.

I could agree with you…but then we’d both be wrong.

Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool…So I gave him a glass of water.

Here are more you may enjoy.  And feel free to smile!

Take my advice…I’m not using it.

I’m great at multi-tasking…I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at once.

I was going to give him a nasty look…but he already had one.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit…Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

I was going to wear my camouflage shirt today, but I couldn’t find it.

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Artificial intelligence is no match… for natural stupidity.

Hospitality is the art of making guests feel like they’re at home…when you wish they were.

Ever stop to think…and forget to start again?

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright …until you hear them speak.

Evening news is when they start, “Good evening!”… and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

You’re never too old…to learn something stupid.

So keep your eye out for these refreshing one-liners and let them recharge your brain, your sense of humor, and your metabolism.  Who knows, maybe you’ll write some of your own and use them at cocktail parties.  And that’s Upbeat Living!

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

 

Upbeat Living: Lighten Up With Forgiveness

Tags

Feeling energized, Forgiveness, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

In Upbeat Living^sm, we take the heaviness out of life and accentuate ways to move forward with a light heart.  That gives us the most energy, optimism, and vitality, for living the life we want.  The secret?  The top tool for lightening up is forgiveness.

Why forgive?  Think of the people who deliberately hurt you.  Feel your body tighten up?  Now think of the people who ripped you off or treated you unfairly, from whatever period of your life.  Feel yourself becoming tight and dense, even heavy?  Now think of your ex or of people you dated who behaved outrageously.  Perhaps they embarrassed you, were mean or unfair.  Got the picture?  Holding onto hurt feels bad!  And the more committed you are to holding onto hurt and resentment, the more deeply that will embody and turn into illness and other physical ills.

So the reason to forgive is to release those feelings—for yourself!  Yes, YOU are the reason to forgive.   An old expression says, “Forgive and forget!”  But that’s half the picture.  It’s important not to forget that some people are dedicated takers and some are dedicated to hurting whoever they can.   However, while forgiveness doesn’t change the past, it changes the future!

Do your best now to remember the facts but release the feelings. You deserve to live the best life you can.  Lighten up with forgiveness! And now you’re in Upbeat Living.

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

Upbeat Living: Chocolate for Your Health!

Tags

chocolate, Dark chocolate, Feeling energized, Health, Kebba Buckley Button, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. In Upbeat Living^sm, we emphasize the positive in all possible ways; today, we celebrate the health benefits of chocolate!  Yes, it’s true.  When you think of chocolate, you can think of it—dark chocolate, anyway—as a health food.  Remember, the Inca Indians discovered it and drank it hot, without sweetening, hundreds of years ago.

A number of medical studies have shown that modern people can use it for health.  Without being too technical, here are some of the great ways dark chocolate serves the body:

• Provides antioxidant power, which fights free radicals, thus reducing risk of heart disease. Note that milk may interfere with the absorption of the antioxidants.
• Lowers mild high blood pressure.
• Is associated with drastically lower occurrence of major diseases, when consumed as natural hot cocoa. These diseases include: stroke, heart failure, cancer, and diabetes.  Natural cocoa has a very high level of epicatchin, a type of antioxidant that some believe should be classified as a vitamin.  Epicatachin is also found in some teas, wine, and some fruits and vegetables.
• Can strengthen tissue and help build muscle, due to the epicatachin.

You people who love white chocolate or milk chocolate can keep eating it as a treat.  Dark chocolate lovers, this is your time!  Snack on dark chocolate bars and put dark chocolate chips in those cookies.  Stir natural cocoa powder into your smoothies, and make your own low-fat snack bars.  Enjoy your increased vitality!  Are you feeling energized now?  That feeling is part of  Upbeat Living!

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

 

Upbeat Living: Gratitude for a Writing Challenge

Tags

Gratitude, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want, UpBeat Living, Writing a blog

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

 

In Upbeat Living^sm, gratitude is a major dimension of living, creating, and getting the life you want.  As it happens, today, I am completing a 31-day writing challenge, the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I am feeling overwhelming gratitude.  Here is some of what I’m experiencing gratitude for.

• The organizers of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, Paul Taubman and Danni Ackerman, for setting it up again and running it every 3 months, for a full month each time.
• The discipline of assembling the components of an article every day: theme, photo or 2, poster, quotes, text, format, publishing, sharing. I can see that time and structure translating to my next project:  getting my new website done.  That seems much easier now.  Bite off, chew, bite off, chew.
• The core participants, who teamed along most steadily and supported each other throughout. I will miss interacting with them, but I’ll keep up with some who have become friends.  I am grateful to have gotten to know them better, and to count on their values and sensibilities.  A few of these are Ken Weliever, Jeanine Byers, Vicki Maheu, Cindy Browning O’Donnell, Martha DeMeo, Tammy Rome, Karen Lee Banks, Alice Gerard, Maria Silvo, Nick Roseblade, Alana Mautone, Nicole Bianchi, and Paul Taubman.
• An odd feeling of being motivated by my success in systematically completing this Challenge. So often we think motivation breeds success.  But I’m very present, just now, to the opposite effect:  success breeds motivation.
• A new cheery comfort with using only closed-top mugs in my office. It may sound minor, but it eliminates a possible repeat of the Great Hot Chocolate Incident of 2011.  It’s saving massive future time and money.
• A refreshed collection of articles on my blog. Blog visitors will generally start from the most recent article, and even if they read through 31 articles, they will be seeing my freshest and best work.  I expect to continue blogging weekly, midweek, with my spiritual email still going out on Sunday evenings.
• Google listings! Google has picked up some of my articles and a number of my images!  It’s the articles with the most comments that it shows.  So those comments, friends, are literally very valuable.  Huge thanks to anyone who read and commented on my articles this month, and always.

So I’m whelmed with joy and overwhelmed with gratitude.  Thank you!  I look forward to our further adventures.  Will you keep me posted on your journey?  And in gratitude, that’s Upbeat Living!

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!
• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

Upbeat Living: Happy National Cheesecake Day!

Tags

cheesecake, Health, health food, Kebba Buckley Button, National Cheesecake Day, pleasure, Relax, stress, UpBeat Living

© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

In recent years, health pundits would not have called cheesecake a “health food”; but today is National Cheesecake Day!  So relax and take a time-out from worrying about fats, and celebrate the pure pleasure of this family of deserts.  In fact, cream cheese is loaded with Vitamin A and fatty acids that help our health.  And a key dimension of Upbeat Living is enjoying your life!

Want to make your own cheesecake? Here is my own recipe for an Irish Cream Cheesecake, no technical skills required.

KEBBA’S IRISH CREAM CHEESECAKE

For filling:

3 x 8-oz. bricks of cream cheese, room temperature
½ c Irish Cream liqueur (Kebba’s favorite: Carolan’s, available at Trader Joe’s)
½ c heavy cream
3 eggs
3 T flour (GF if you like, rice flour or oat flour if you like)
1 c organic sugar
1 t vanilla or almond extract
1/8 t sea salt

For crust:

1 ¼ c graham crumbs + 3 T butter + 3 T organic sugar + 1/8 t sea salt
OR use 1 2/3 c honey corn chex crumbs + ¼ c butter + ¼ c organic sugar
OR use 2 frozen GF pie crusts, following package directions

If making your own crust, blend the ingredients with a fork and press into an 8” springform pan, pressing up sides.  The Chex formula can fit a 9” springform pan. (Ever try to buy an 8” springform pan?)  This may sound dumb, but wrap the bottom of the springform pan firmly with foil, as the melted butter may leak.  Now put the cheesecake on a cookie sheet.

Blend the filling ingredients.  In springform pan or pie crusts, bake at 425 for 25 minutes.  Take it out for 10 minutes and finish baking at 350 for 15 more minutes. In the pie crusts, test for firmness after 5 more minutes. Of course, note variations needed with your stove.

Chill the cake/s before serving, for 2 hours or even overnight.  Dust lightly with cocoa powder and drizzle with favorite fudge sauce, just before serving.  Next time, make 2 and freeze some.

Now sit down with your cheesecake and enjoy every bite slowly.  Savoring causes a food to fill us up sooner.  And relaxing with a pleasure is also stress-dissolving.

So Happy National Cheesecake Day, my friends!  Enjoy, and let me know how you like this cheesecake!  And that’s Upbeat Living.

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low.  Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .