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!

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