Tag Archives: Healing

Heartwings Love Notes 2051 An Apple a Day

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Heartwings says, “Apples are good food and good medicine too.”

Apples are good for you. An apple a day may not keep the doctor away yet it might keep the dentist at bay. Eating them exercises your gums and helps keep your teeth firmly ensconced in your gums. In addition, apples have considerable Vitamin C in pectin, which not only makes them good for making jelly but also for healing eye injuries and infections. If you get a sty or the eye infection sometimes known as Pink Eye, some grated apple will quickly help heal the problem.

Twice a day, grate a about three or four tablespoons of fresh apple, peel and all, and put it directly on the affected eye for about fifteen minutes. Remove and wash off the sticky residue. Repeat until healed.

This has worked for me as well as for friends, who saw significant results almost immediately. Once one of my students had scratched his eye in the woods. It was late at night, so I suggested the apple poultice. By morning, his eye was virtually healed.

Apples are an excellent source of vitamin A, contain a respectable amount of vitamin C, and are also high in potassium. Their calorie content is low compared to their fiber, and they make a very good snack for anyone who is calorie conscious. One of my favorite quick lunches is an apple cut into slices and spread with around two tablespoons of nut butter–low in calories, satisfying and nutritious too.

One year because they were such a bargain I bought a whole crate of apples. After a week I realized I had better do something with them quickly and decided to make deep dish apple pies. However, I had only two suitable containers. I lined my two quart casserole with foil, peeled and cut enough apples to fill it, sprinkled in some sugar and a little cinnamon, and put it in the freezer to freeze. Meanwhile, I lined the other casserole with foil and began to fill it. Once the contents had frozen, I removed and wrapped the filling securely, stored it, and began on the next one. That winter, when I wanted a deep-dish apple pie I took one out, removed the foil, placed the filling in a casserole and let it thaw. Then I made a top crust, laid it over the apples and baked them until they were done. We had seven delicious pies from that crate of bargain apples.

I never buy applesauce. I buy a bag of 3 pounds or so of apples, cut them up removing stems and the blossom ends only and put them in a large pot with half cider, half water and two cinnamon sticks. I cook them around 3 hours. Using a food mill I grind them into apple sauce and put the sticks back in. They enhance the flavor as well as help preserve it. Try it, it tastes wonderful

May you be healthy with your food choices, and enjoy your good food.

Blessings and best Regards, Tasha Halpert

Have comments, questions, suggestions? Make my day and write me at tashahal@gmail.com.

A poet and writer, I publish a free weekly blog, Heartwings Love Notes for a Joyous Life. My Books: Up to my Neck in Lemons, and Heartwings, Love Notes for a Joyous Life are available on Amazon. My latest publication available there is my first chapbook, Poems and Prayers, and I have two more in preparation. You can sign up for my blog at http://tashasperspective.com.

Heartwings Love Notes 2028 A Beacon of Hope and Healing

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Heartwings says, “When all that can be done is listen, we can also envision light and healing for our suffering friends.”

In just this past week we have had news of tragic circumstances in the lives of several dear friends. It is important to know what is happening to our dear ones, and it also inspires the desire to express concern in some way. However, despite our well-meaning intentions, all too often much of what we might say or offer by way of response is either not helpful or worse, inappropriate. This may spring from our own personal reactions and we may seldom stop and think ahead about what we offer by way of comforting words.

When I was a child, most people I knew did not speak of their illnesses. Death and dying were pretty much taboo. I remember going to my first funeral when I was twelve. I wore stockings, or hose, with a garter belt, and patent leather mary janes. I remember I felt quite grown up. What I don’t remember is whose funeral it was. Certainly, it wasn’t a member of my immediate family.

I am blessed with strong ancestors, especially the females. I grew up with vital elders. I wonder what they would think of today’s attitudes. Our feelings around fatal illnesses are often tested, these days, by people who freely share their personal health situations. When we hear of the sad and inevitable diagnoses, the result is we fear for our friends. we feel his or her pain and at the same time, imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes and shudder. It is difficult and maybe even impossible to take ourselves out of the situation and into a state of detached compassion.

That phrase sounds like an oxymoron. Isn’t compassion a state of caring? And the act of caring sounds as if it emanates from a personal place. It can, and often does. However, it can also be done from a place of detachment. This requires real attention to what is going on within us, what has been triggered by the circumstance.

When I am able to take myself out of the situation, I let go of all my opinions and suppositions, and instead project love and light around that person. In this way, I am not focused on how I feel about their situation, instead I am focused on unconditional love. Thus, I have a clear path to genuine compassion, clean of shoulds and oughts. I can put all my effort into the projection of healing energy. I am not expressing my ideas or saying what I would do if I were they.

Another aspect of sending healing energy is to make sure to put it in a positive, affirmative way. I remember the words of one of my teachers. “Be mindful who it is you want to have praying for you,” she told me. She said we must phrase our prayers to affirm healing and avoid negative phrasing. Words can be completely avoided. My usual prayer invokes and envisions bright, warm light surrounding the individual for whom I am praying.

May you be of comfort when called upon to be.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have any suggestions for columns or issues to address, I’d love to hear them. Your responses are important to me, thanks for whatever you bring me.

Write me at tashahal@gmail.com or hit reply. You can sign up for my blog here

Soaking by Tasha Halpert

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Tree, Leaf and Puddle    When I was small if I got a cut my mother often put iodine on it. I hated that because it stung like anything, and it turned my finger orange. Sometimes she used alcohol, which was equally bad. As a somewhat clumsy and heedless child I often fell down, banged myself, cut myself or otherwise got scraped up, so I was well acquainted with these disinfectants and the white Band-Aids that always hurt when they were pulled off.

As an adult I prefer something easier and more pleasant: soaking. I thought about this recently as I soaked my sore finger. I had stuck with a knife and the small wound was bothersome. As I did so it I thought of how well the application of hot water works to heal small cuts and infections as well as reduce swellings. Over time it speeds up the healing process and prevents infections from spreading. Heat is a remarkable healer. However I would probably have been too impatient as a child for soaking.

Heat also can work wonders in other ways. Last month I pulled a muscle in my thigh. Nothing seemed to help or make it better until my acupuncturist suggested applying a heating pad to it three times a day for twenty to thirty minutes. The pain soon diminished and it took only about a week or so to go away completely. Soaking the sore muscle in heat did the trick. Combined with a bit of patience, soaking is good medicine.

Soaking has a number of virtues. An important aspect of the soaking process, however, is time. For instance, the best way to clean a sticky, gummy pot, pan or dish is to soak it for a while. Often hot water is all that is needed to resolve whatever has adhered itself to the utensil. Occasionally the addition of soap or a scrubbing sponge helps. Once again, soaking plus time equals situation resolved. It is remarkable how much hot water helps to resolve a difficult or even a painful problem.

Stains on clothing also respond to soaking, though sometimes it is cold water that is wanted rather than hot, depending on the stain. Soaking also works as well for physical aches and pains. When the body is achy, one of the great luxuries in life is a hot bath in which to soak. Epsom salts, an inexpensive remedy added to the hot water in the tub increases its efficacy.

In today’s fast paced world impatient people often seek speedy resolutions. Medicine must work overnight if not immediately. With the correct chemicals clothes, pots and pans must sparkle right away. This attitude doesn’t allow for the gentle, safe application of time and soaking. An old fashioned way of doing things can often be more effective, less expensive and in many ways perhaps easier over all.