I took the prey

 

Look what came in the mail today! My Lord of the Rings necklace? New age jewelry? No... It's the Trinity! Celtic style. 

It's also a diffuser necklace. It came with little felt squares on which you put a couple drops of essential oil and place inside the pendant. There are holes that allow the aroma to come through so that I'm inhaling Joy all day long. I've replaced the albatross around my neck with the oil of gladness. 

In addition to my super cool necklace, I also received in the mail today a Lenten book with daily meditations and excerpts from the writings of John of the Cross. 

In thinking about the metaphor of shooting the albatross, I remembered John's poem where he repeats the line "I took the prey," which is God.

The weight of my sin has been lifted. Now I place around my neck a reminder of the One who has taken it upon Himself, Who has allowed Himself to be captured and killed. How horrible it feels on Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion to cry out with the crowd "crucify Him!" But oh happy fault, that gained us such a Savior. I'll gladly wear this symbol around my neck every single day. Ave Crux, Spes Unica!

Ridin' Oily

I spend at least 10 hours per week in the car. Not because of my commute to work. My office is located on the campus of Ave Maria University- a whole mile away from home! I rack up the mileage driving back and forth to Naples, of which Ave Maria is a suburb of sorts. I go into Naples for medical appointments, church ministry, shopping, dining, and entertainment. And due to my recent popularity with visitors, I’m a regular at the local airports, which are at least an hour away. So how can I make the most of this travel time? By ridin’ oily.

I brought my mini USB Orb Diffuser home from work last weekend so I could try putting it in my car. It works great! It sits nicely in a cup holder and plugs into my USB car charger. The Orb Diffuser produces more of a “wet” mist compared to the Home Diffuser. And perhaps due to closer proximity to my face, I think it may cause some post-nasal drip. (TMI?) But overall, I like the setup and being able to diffuse while a drive. It’s a lot better aromatherapy than the alternative…

“Even though I hate to admit it, sometimes I smoke cigarettes. Christian folks say I should quit it…

But I would like to quit. I have a weird guilt complex about smoking, as evidenced by the fact that I rarely do it in public. I smoke from the privacy of my lanai (read: Floridian screened-in porch) or car.

Smoking is horrible for my health. As with all bad habits, it’s become an attachment from which it is difficult to break free. When you want to take something away from a baby or toddler, what do you do? The sneaky switcheroo: replace your slobbered-on phone or keys with something you don’t mind them sticking in their mouths. The thing that needs to be taken away from me is my habit of lighting up immediately upon crossing my self-determined anonymity threshold at approximately 1,000 feet from campus.

If I must have a driving ritual, why not have it be diffusing? I could turn on the diffuser right after starting the car while it’s still in park. This way I’m not adding ANOTHER distraction to my already very distracted driving. My roommate says I drive as if it’s the last thing I’m doing, instead of the first, or heaven forbid, the only thing I’m doing.

Take the cigarette out of one hand and the phone out of the other, and I could actually drive with two hands on the wheel like a normal person. I will miss the knee-driving, but it won’t be necessary if my hands aren't doing anything else. With the relaxation that aromatherapy induces, I'm calmer and experience less of an urge to engage in additional activities.

I’ll just listen to my brother’s banjo recordings while taking in the sweet scent of Joy. (My friend just brought me my brother's CD that I forgot at home, and I cannot wait to stick it in the car and have him serenade me while I drive. That's not a distraction, is it??)



While I've been diffusing Joy in the car the past few days, the first oil we tried at my friend’s request was Thieves. It smelled like Christmas, cigarettes, and frog-legs when we got back to the car after a day at the beach- although I can’t blame the oil for the stench of my leftovers or the stale smoke. Perfume, for example, doesn't cover up body odor- it mixes with it.

My friend also pointed out the irony in my simultaneous self-destructive and health-enhancing habits: smoking and diffusing. I'd like to work on consistency- wouldn't we all?

I've enjoyed riding oily so much that I’m ordering another mini orb diffuser so I can permanently have one in both my office and car. Perhaps I will become a healthier AND safer driver... miracles happen every day.

It's Business Time

The reality is that I spend the majority of my waking hours at work. So if I really want oils in my life, they're going to have to come to the office. That's why I bought this mini orb diffuser.

I plug it into the usb port on my computer, fill the bottom with water, add a few drops of Joy and/or En-R-Gee, and it's business time! Does it make me a more joyful and energetic employee? I don't know- ask my boss, who incidentally said his wife uses oils too.

Meanwhile I've got my snowbird friend using the home diffuser while working remotely from my FL residence these past couple days. We secretly love that her flight back to the tundra keeps getting delayed. Now she's had the opportunity to experience the wonders of aromatherapy for herself.

Why not make your working environment, where ever it may be, a little more pleasant with the help of essential oils? On this first day of Lent, in the midst of your sacrifices, giving, and prayers, and even in your own office, you too can discover the oil of gladness.

My drinking habit

I purchased a glass bottle from Wal-Mart and brought my lemon essential oil to work so I could start my little daily routine of adding a couple drops to my water. Subsequently I’ve come across some concern within the blogosphere regarding the safety of ingesting essential oils. It seems that the danger is related to potency, volume, and direct contact with your insides. It also sounds like they’re worried about people taking pills filled with oils in place of seeking medical treatment and without the guidance of a healthcare professional. I don’t think they’re talking about a drop or two of lemon oil diluted in a huge bottle of water.

I’ve looked for studies, but I’m having trouble finding research on ingesting lemon oil. I have found a lot of studies on its inhalation. One such study documented high positive correlations between inhaling lemon oil and positive mood (in people, I spared you the depressed rat studies.)

"We found clear and consistent evidence that lemon oil inhalation enhances positive mood and also boosts norepinephrine release (in line with its activating properties), but no other obvious physiological or health-related benefits from either lemon or lavender..."[1] 

I don't need it to work physiological miracles. If people feel happier after smelling it- great! 

It was interesting to me, however, that the researchers alluded to the possibility that quick mood boosting could have negative effects on your physiology. I guess whether it's eustress or distress, getting revved up takes work, and you've got to come back down. Perhaps as with any stimulant, the high may come at the price of a crash. You can't win. 

But I'm still putting a couple drops of lemon in my water. Because I like it! And it's my water I can oil if I want to. You would oil too if it happened to you!

*Sniff responsibly ;)

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[1] Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (2008). Olfactory influences on mood and autonomic, endocrine, and immune function. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 33, 328-339. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov