My Daily Morning Routine

For the past couple of years I began getting serious about taking some extra steps to ensure I’m healthy.  This involved taking regular vitamins, which was somewhat difficult for me since I don’t like taking pills and I tend to forget to take medications as prescribed after a few days.  However, I pushed through and taking my vitamins naturally became part of my daily routine.  Last year when Covid-19 took over our lives, I felt a bit more at ease because I already had a system in place that boosts my immune system.  

One of the steps I take that I know contributes to my health happens in the morning when I’m brushing my teeth.  After I brush my teeth, I rinse my nose with a saline spray (ie. Neti Pot) and flush my system of any mucus.  (You’ll be surprised what flushes when you think you’re fine and not congested!). I do this each and every morning.  I then follow with 2-3 drops of wild oregano oil under the tongue.  I LIVE by this oregano oil.  It will kill any cold/flu symptoms in a day or two.  As I previously mentioned, I do this everyday, even when I don’t feel sick.  When I feel I am starting to get a cold, which rarely happens now, I increase how often I may do the neti pot and I increase the number of drops of oregano oil in the morning. 

I used to be a person that was constantly congested and would often get colds.  This is not a problem for me anymore since I began taking these extra steps. 

Note: The vitamins I take daily are a woman’s vitamin, elderberry, echinacea, and golden seal.  I also take into consideration my diet, sleep, and exercise.  Photographed above is the oregano oil I use and a saline spray that may be a more sensitive option to begin with and that the entire family can use.

Self Healing

This past few weeks had me cleansing my spirit and doing some despojos, so I wanted to address what I do in my journey to self healing.

My self healing: What does that look like for ME?

(Because everyone’s self healing looks different.)

1. Getting to really know who I am. Being honest with myself and taking accountability for it all. Even the parts I don’t like about myself. I have to acknowledge them, for they are a part of me. Acknowledging is the first step at becoming a better person. Even if some parts of us will never change to the extent that we want them to, but if we acknowledge them then we are making a conscious decision to in some way address it and that alone helps us grow and heal.

2. Writing. Writing has always been my tool to fully express myself. When I am hurt, happy, sad, inspired, frustrated, I turn to pen and paper. Writing is and always will be at the forefront of my self healing.

3. Reading. Reading helps me learn and exposes me to different point of views. It has healed me since I was a very young child. My mom would call me “celebrito” (brainiac) when I was a child because I would always be in the corner reading a book. I was lonely as a child because my siblings were so much older than me and reading was what I turned to. Since then reading has been a tool for self healing —even before I knew anything about the power we have in nurturing and healing ourselves.

4. Time. Spending time in places and with people that accept me and bring me peace. For me that place has been the ocean or somewhere quiet (coffee spot, on a bench at the park). The people have been many of my friends, my love, and my children. Also, I’ve learned that every friend isn’t for everything. Who I turn to at that moment depends on which friend I think can help me see something that I haven’t yet.

5. Learning. The more I learn, the more open, reflective, and forgiving I become. Self healing begins with forgiving ourselves.

Self Healing

This week has had me cleansing my spirit and doing some despojos, so I wanted to address what I do in my journey to self healing.

My self healing: What does that look like for ME?

(Because everyone’s self healing looks different.)

1. Getting to really know who I am. Being honest with myself and taking accountability for it all. Even the parts I don’t like about myself. I have to acknowledge them, for they are a part of me. Acknowledging is the first step at becoming a better person. Even if some parts of us will never change to the extent that we want them to, but if we acknowledge them then we are making a conscious decision to in some way address it and that alone helps me grow and heal.

2. Writing. Writing has always been my tool to fully express myself. When I am hurt, happy, sad, inspired, frustrated, I turn to pen and paper. Writing is and always will be at the forefront of my self healing.

3. Reading. Reading helps me learn and exposes me to different point of views. It has healed me since I was a very young child. My mom would call me “celebrito” (brainiac) when I was a child because I would always be in the corner reading a book. I was lonely as a child because my siblings were so much older than me and reading was what I turned to. Since then reading has been a tool for self healing... even before I knew anything about the power we have in nurturing and healing ourselves.

4. Time. Spending time in places and with people that accept me and bring me peace. For me that place has been the ocean or somewhere quiet (coffee spot, on a bench at the park). The people have been many of my friends, my love, and my children. Also, I’ve learned that every friend isn’t for everything. Who I turn to at that moment depends on which friend I think can help me see something that I haven’t yet.

5. Learning. The more I learn, the more open, reflective, and forgiving I become. Self healing begins with forgiving ourselves.

Self Love is the topic this week cuz, damn it, that shit is hard sometimes! 

It is especially difficult in the era we live in, where everyone is always so airbrushed, surgically enhanced, and “perfect”.  Or so we think, right?

Well… Let me tell you the story of a young girl who got pregnant at 18 years old, had her first baby one month shy of turning 19 and was left “scarred” for life…Or so she thought.  This girl saw the loose, saggy, wrinkled skin and the stretch marks on her stomach and thought her life was ruined.  

This girl is me.

I hate(d) my belly. I would never show it to anyone.  After having my baby, all of my bathing suits became one-piece, no more crop tops, and during sex my shirt was kept on or the light must be off!  I had (and still have) serious issues concerning my post baby body image.  And this is on top of the normal everyday insecurities: skinny legs, bump on nose, not enough booty, etc, etc.  I don’t want to sound like I suffer with low self esteem because that isn’t the case, but we all have insecurities and some days they’re louder than others.  Some days you can’t focus on anything other than their chant.  My “ruined tummy” was loudest of them all and has haunted me for years.

Anyhow, lets fast forward to 10 years after birthing my first son.  Ten years of the “you can’t see my stomach” show.  At this time I had met my lover and soon after I found myself in a relationship with a man that slowly helped me realize that I should look at my beauty differently.  He couldn’t see how I could focus so much on the things I didn’t like and ignore the “best parts”.  It took a while and it is still something Im working on, but being able to see myself through his eyes shifted my opinion of myself.  It made me a lot more comfortable in my own skin.  Here we are now 14 years after the birth and I don’t know how my lover managed to do it in these l4 years, but his love, his compliments, the way he looks at me, makes me feel like I’m the most beautiful girl in the world sometimes.  Add on the fact that I have grown older, more mature, have awaken and, as a result, have developed a deep respect for a woman’s power and grace.  What women are capable of, especially when we are carrying life inside ourselves is phenomenal. Every single one of us is a Phenomenal Woman, indeed.  

I am currently expecting my third child and last week we went on vacation, but as usual, I was planning on wearing one-piece bathing suits.  I’ve grown, but I’m not cured.  The bathing suits I had ordered didn’t fit right at all, so the idea of wearing a two-piece bathing suit came up as we packed because it would just be easier and more comfortable, but how could I?  As if! In addition to the past scars, I now also have a “disgusting bulging hernia”!  How could anyone suggest that I wear a two-piece bathing suit, I thought.  He must be crazy!  

Once again though, I don’t know how exactly, but his words assured me, comforted me, and helped me realize that I am carrying life, that I am beautiful, that I don’t have anything to feel self-conscious about and that I should “strut my stuff”.  

And so it happened.  Fourteen years after giving birth to my first son and after saying goodbye to my beloved two-piece, I found myself on a beach baring it all.  I showed my baby bump adorned with “ugly” stretch marks and the “disgusting” umbilical hernia, but I felt beautiful and powerful.  

At that moment I knew my belly was and is beautiful in that it is a reflection of all that is great: God, Love, and Life.

Bare.  Stretch marks, umbilical hernia, life, love, and beauty.