Dear Reader,

I love a good snowfall—the beautiful flakes gently falling and changing the landscape with a blanket of white, especially if I’m all cozy inside watching the transformation occur. Even in March, I would welcome one last little bit of winter if we could get a good snowstorm—I still get “school-girl” excited when school is canceled or delayed. But if there is no more snow to come, I am ready for spring!

Maybe it’s some of the milder days we had in February, but I’m ready to ditch the layers, spend more time outside and enjoy watching everything start to bloom and grow. Since we moved into our new house in September, I’m excited to see what’s going to come to life in my yard and in the neighborhood over these next several weeks and months.

As the weather gets warmer, I’m also going to enjoy getting the garden ready for a new growing season. It will be great to have access to more fresh, local produce–veggies I grow myself and ones I can get from the local farmers’ markets. Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables are so important for our overall health, and the more we can eat the better we will feel. Did you know that 70 percent of the immune system resides in the lining of the gut? How you treat your gut with the foods you put in it truly affects your overall health and wellness. That’s just one critical issue writer Melinda Hemmelgarn addresses in “Nutrition Upgrades: Five Strategies for Better Health.”

With spring right around the corner, seasonal allergies may not be far behind. There are some natural ways to cope, and “Exercise vs Allergies: All the Right Moves” tells us how exercise can significantly reduce allergy symptoms.

Eating well and getting/staying active are two important ways to keep yourself healthy as we move further into 2019. What are some other ways you feed your body, mind and soul for optimum health? Lately, I’ve been drawn to the water and the woods, for quiet time to reduce the noise and activity from our often technology-driven, fast-paced lives. I have a favorite bench at Pony Pasture with a special inscription that reminds me to find the sacred in the outdoors each day. I just love it!

I also love this poem by L.R. Knost that a friend of mine at the Chrysalis Institute recently shared, I hope you do, too…

 

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.

All things break.

And all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention.

So go.

Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.

 

Shine on! And Happy Reading!

Jessica