Welcome to the Carnival of Healing #167!
I’m absolutely delighted to be hosting again. This Carnival is a weekly round-up of personal blog posts on the topics of holistic health, wellness, spirituality, and self-empowerment. It’s coordinated by About.com’s Guide to Holistic Healing, Phylameana Iila Desy.

The Carnival of Healing #166: A Thanksgiving Weekend Feast was hosted by my friend, Janet Dagley Dagley at The Reiki Digest. Next week it will be hosted by Cari Campbell at Your Joyous Life – Daily Inspiration. There were a slew of submissions this week and I couldn’t include all of them. If yours wasn’t chosen, please submit to future ones.

When I host a carnival, I like to have a theme. As we enter the holiday season, people are thinking about buying gifts for friends and family. Are you making a list of all the loved ones you want to get something special for? As you do, make sure the most important person is on that list—YOU! Too often, we leave ourselves off our love lists. YOUR name should be first!

I live by the Law of Attraction, and believe that we attract what we intend to have. If you’re not on your own gift list, it tells the Universe you don’t consider yourself as important and lovingly as you should. Taking good care of your health and well being, and helping others to do the same, is a spectacular gift. In this bad economy, it can seem daunting to find gifts within your budget. Yet often the most loving gifts cost the least in cash. So my theme today is gifts you can give to YOU that can help improve your life, and some you can share with others.

This week there’s an assortment of articles that have suggestions for making your life better. Read them and learn what you can do for yourself and share with others that can improve the quality of your lives. Without good health and a relaxed spirit, it’s hard to be happy, no matter how many fancy material gifts are received. The articles below have many suggestions for activities and mindsets you can put into action now.

Creating better living habits is a HUGE gift. As you nurture yourself more, those around you will benefit too! You’ll have more energy, less stress and increased longevity. Here are some articles to help you live a richer life. Recognizing all the ways to nurture yourself and change your lifestyle is a priceless gift!

Physical Fitness
Taking care of your body’s ability to function at a full level of fitness is a wonderful gift that you can pass along to your family and share with friends too! Here are some articles to help you achieve this.

Get your exercise where you can! Lazy Man presents Exercising at Home posted at Lazy Man and Health. He says to “live healthier, start a at home workout.” If you put off going to the gym, get fit at home!

Games are more than just fun activities. I call my word puzzles brain exercises. Fiona King presents 50 Best Video Games for Senior Health posted at U.S. PharmD. These games are also good for us younger people! Fun and healthy!

Weight loss is something that millions of people say they want, but don’t achieve. It’s also something we put off till after the next party, holiday, time of feeling mentally ready, etc. Andy presents Tomorrow Never Comes – Start Losing Weight Now or Never posted at Weight Loss Window. It gives tips for how to start your weight loss now! What a great gift to YOU!

Many people look to the newest fad diets to knock off some pounds. Andrew presents New Weight Loss Plans Now Include Detoxification Procedures posted at Rife Machine Blog. He explains why detox methods may or may not be right for you. Before beginning any diet that isn’t just about eating healthier, learn about it’s downsides and talk to your doc!

Neck pain can really hurt your quality of life. Dean Moyer presents Neck Pain Relief That’s Quick and Easy posted at The Back Pain Blog. He says, “While muscle strains and pulled ligaments are not very serious injuries, they can be extremely painful and debilitating. Fortunately, ice therapy is a quick and easy way to obtain significant neck pain relief without breaking the bank.”

Improved Health Practices
To me, most behavior is a series of habits. When you make an effort to replace unhealthy ones with those that improve your overall well being, you give yourself a wonderful gift of a better life. Educate those you love too and you’ve just given an abundance of loving gifts! Here are some articles to help you be more aware of how to take good care of your body.

Erika Collin presents 101 Ways to Increase Your Longevity and Quality of Life posted at Massage Therapy Careers. There are 101 great tips for improving your physical and mental health—lots of gifts to use yourself and share with loved ones!

Too many people rush to take meds when an ailment hits, without researching first, especially with new drugs. Side affects can be like coal in your Christmas stocking! Brain Blogger presents The Need for Post-Marketing Surveillance of Drugs posted at Brain Blogger. He says, “When a new drug is approved and enters the marketplace, often the only safety and efficacy information available is based on a few thousand people who took the drug during strictly controlled clinical trials. Not surprisingly, these trials are designed to focus on the drugs’ benefits, and may not include a large enough sample size to elicit serious adverse effects”

Tis the season of partying. Donald presents Tip for a Healthy Heart – Drink Wine posted at Life Optimizer.
For those of you who feel guilty about indulging in some vino,
this article may encourage you to partake for the sake of keeping your heart healthy. Just set some limits! A hangover is another piece of coal in your stocking! ?

People usually don’t think about their nails when they seek to improve their health. Atif presents Nails are a window to your health posted at Health by dratiffarid. There are tips for what your fingernails tell you about your health and how to keep them healthy.

Holiday cooking can lead to more burns than usual. Aparna presents Honey extremely good for burns? posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming. He explains why using honey can speed recovery from burns.

Healthier Nutrition
Eating healthy, and serving healthy food to your family, is a wonderful gift at the holidays and all year round. When you get into good eating habits, you increase your longevity, energy, and an all around healthy gift.

Research shows that processed food decreases the nutrition of food and adds factors that can be unhealthy. SengAun Ong presents Easy Food Easy Health posted at Tipskey – Unlock Practicality. He says, “It is a common sense that food nutritional value decreases with more processing.”

We know that high blood pressure is unhealthy. Alvin Hopkinson presents Foods for High Blood Pressure – 6 Healthy Tips to Control Hypertension posted at High Blood Pressure Treatment & Medication Reviews. He says, “Foods for high blood pressure are important to maintain a low blood pressure and minimize the affects of the annoying side effects caused by these medications.”

Laurel presents Orange Veggies Cut Heart Disease Risk posted at Laurel on Health Food. She says, “Recent research published in the Journal of Nutrition found that the antioxidants in orange-colored produce could help reduce your risk of death from heart disease by 20%.”

Peace of Mind
What better gift for you and your loved ones than having peace of mind. Here are some suggestions for achieving it.

Grace Young presents Happy Holidays posted at Disabled 2 Abled. She shares some great tips for “How not to be a drudge on the holidays trying to meet other people’s expectations.” What a great gift to you!

Valeria presents 10 Benefits of Meditation, and How to Do It posted at Timeless Lessons. Meditation rocks as a gift to yourself and Valeria tells you why!

The great Dale Carnegie had some excellent lessons for having better relationships with people, which creates more peace around you. Jeff C. presents Core advice lasting you a lifetime posted at Gobs Health, which shares some of them.

Having a healthy response to criticism keeps you happier. Chris Edgar presents Calling A Truce In The “War Of Words” posted at Purpose Power Coaching. He says, “Many people seem to harbor the unconscious fear that, if they don’t have a quick and witty enough reply when someone criticizes them, they’re going to be physically injured or die. How do we overcome this fear and regain a sense of composure and control in our interactions? In this article, I describe three approaches I’ve used myself and in working with others.”

Most people want world peace. Now Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher presents Pictures of World Peace posted at We Are One World Healing. She gives readers a sweet taste of world peace through a series of prints.

Worrying about your weight can hurt your peace of mind, especially during the holidays. Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD presents How Much Stress Do Weight Worries Create for You? posted at A Weight Lifted.

It can hurt to see someone you care about being torn down. Mike Salara presents How To Stick Up For Someone Else posted at Mike Salara. There are some good tips for speaking up for someone who needs support dealing with someone who is being mean or hurtful, which for them might feel like a gift!

Being comfortable with who you are is a lovely gift to you. Naren Ghimire presents Personality vs. Individuality posted at Spiritual Pub. She says, “This article takes a different outlook on personality and the problems associated with it. Instead of providing tips on building a strong or positive personality; it motivates us to find something more beautiful than personality. It is our intrinsic nature, our own ‘’Individuality.’”

That’s it for this week’s Carnival of Healing. Thanks to all the people who contributed. Tune in next week’s when it’s hosted by Cari Campbell at Your Joyous Life – Daily Inspiration. You can submit to this Carnival with the Carnival Submission Form. Have a VERY BLESSED week!

If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon. Thanks!

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