Dragon Smoke Bath Salts

For Prosperity

1 cup salt
2 drops anise oil
5 drops cherry oil

What Would You Do With a Year Off?

Close your eyes. Imagine for a moment that you had a year — 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes — to do anything you please, with $100,000 to cover your expenses. Would you travel? Would you continue working and give the money to charity? Would you take the time to simply do nothing, maybe go on retreat?

Last week, Mallika encouraged readers to consider what they would do if they had a year off. I have to say, my first inclination was default to the “make-the-world-a-better-place” answer– give it to charity, of course! I mean, I know this may sound crazy, but I love working. Even if I had a year off, I don’t think I could bring myself to drop my job and do nothing. So if my ideal year would include working anyway, why not give it away, especially when we know that contributing to others’ happiness is a much greater source of joy and fulfillment than anything money could buy?

But as I thought about it more, I remembered the words of a friend I have who keeps trying to convince me of the important of “leisure” and “pleasure” in my life. I know, foreign concepts for the modern workaholic, right? A few months ago, when I went to visit her in Miami, her assignment for me was to get a pedicure once a month — which has been surprisingly difficult for me to actually follow through on. I have a hard time slowing down, relaxing, engaging in an activity simply for the sake of enjoying it.

I have always wanted to travel. I’ve never ventured outside the US (not even to Mexico or Canada), and I’ve long wanted to visit other cultures — learn about how they find happiness, purpose, and meaning in their lives. Taking a year off for travel… now that would be cool. But would it be fulfilling? Would I be mentally, physically, and spiritually satisfied with taking a year off to travel?

What if, I thought, I could combine those three things somehow? Create a year-long project that would combine the work I love (writing), giving back (service/charity), and the leisure (travel)? What would that project look like?

Here’s what I came up with. If I had $100,000 to take a year off, this is what I would do:

Take a writing tour of charity organizations in four different countries around the world, spending three months deeply immersed in each community
Listen and learn about how each organization’s programming is benefiting the community and transforming individuals’ daily lives
Document the experience through a series of articles that synthesize personal stories, scientific research, historical background, etc
Highlight major social issues affecting underserved communities (poverty, violence against women, water shortage, climate change, HIV/AIDS, etc) and what people are doing to help
Record interviews with staff, volunteers, scientific researchers, and other involved professionals at each nonprofit to shed light on best practices
Compile all the articles into a book at the end of the year

So that’s my dream year. Heck, maybe that’s my dream life. I think it’s a good recipe for happiness: find meaningful work, connect with people, give back to your community, and take time to enjoy the ride. I guess, really, you don’t need $100,000 to do that.

What about you? What would your dream year look like? What do you think is a recipe for a happy year and fulfilling life?

Gold Peak Tea is giving away $100,000 to one deserving person to do whatever — whether it be travel the world, write a book, start a nonprofit, or simply kick back and enjoy the comforts of home. To enter, you can fill out the application on their Facebook.

Do ‘bath salts’ drive people crazy?

//s7.addthis.com/static/r07/sh089.html#iit=1339617127740&tmr=load%3D1339617127504%26core%3D1339617127547%26main%3D1339617127706%26ifr%3D1339617127740&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=unicode&kw=&ab=-&dh=witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fwitchesofthecraft.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php%3Fpost_type%3Dpost&dt=&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=12449&lng=en-US&ogt=&pc=wmb&pub=&ssl=0&sid=4fd8ef67564d9545&srd=0&srf=0.02&srp=0.2&srl=1&srx=1&ver=152&xck=0&xtr=0&og=&rev=114377&xld=1&xd=1

The unregulated ‘bath salts’ from overseas can cause the brain’s danger instinct to kick into overdrive, making the user see everything as a threat.

By Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries

On May 26 in Miami, a naked, “zombielike” man viciously attacked a homeless man, biting off and eating much of his face. Police shot and killed the 31-year-old attacker, Rudy Eugene, who, according to some news outlets, may have been high on “bath salts” at the time of his cannibalistic attack.

These soothing-sounding substances are not what they seem. Manufactured in China and sold legally online and in drug paraphernalia stores under misleading brand names like “Ivory Wave,” bath salts contain a bevy of newly concocted chemicals, such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), which aren’t yet banned by the federal government. When snorted, injected or smoked, the synthetic powders can induce a state of paranoid delirium paired with abnormal strength, a combination that often leads to horrific acts of violence. Read More Here ……

CDC denies rumors of zombie apocalypse

//s7.addthis.com/static/r07/sh089.html#iit=1339616873859&tmr=load%3D1339616873573%26core%3D1339616873653%26main%3D1339616873843%26ifr%3D1339616873860&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=unicode&kw=&ab=-&dh=witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fwitchesofthecraft.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php&dt=&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=12449&lng=en-US&ogt=&pc=wmb&pub=&ssl=0&sid=4fd8ee696815f1a5&srd=0&srf=0.02&srp=0.2&srl=1&srx=1&ver=152&xck=0&xtr=0&og=&rev=114377&xld=1&xd=1

With reports of flesh-eating coming in from across the nation, rumors of a possible zombie outbreak are spreading on the Internet — but do you really have anything to worry about?

By Laura Moss

On Sunday, a New Jersey man sliced his belly open and began throwing pieces of his intestines at police. On Monday, a Miami man was shot to death by cops while eating the face of a homeless man. Then, on Tuesday, a Maryland manadmitted to dismembering his roommate and eating his heart and brain.

With all these bizarre incidents occurring within a matter of days, it’s no wonder that “zombie apocalypse” has been one of Google’s most popular search terms this week. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says we have nothing to worry about. Read More Here….

Air Sealing Tips for Hot Humid Climates

by Chaya, selected from Networx

By Carl Seville, Networx

Since we’re heading into the summer, and it may well be a hot one this year, it’s a good time to look at home improvements that can help save energy and make your house more comfortable in those hot, sticky months coming up. Air conditioning installers in Miami and other hot, humid climates are going to get a lot of work this summer. How can you get the most from your investment in air conditioning?

The first thing that homeowners and contractors need to understand is that air sealing is really important. The most common insulation, fiberglass, doesn’t work very well when air leaks through it. It’s actually a pretty good filter for dirt (you may have noticed that it’s used for those cheap furnace filters), when you cut open an old insulated wall you usually see big streaks of dirt where air has been blowing through the insulation for years. Not only do air leaks keep the insulation from working, they let lots of humid air into the house, making your air conditioner work harder. Tightening up those leaks keeps the house more comfortable, keeps the humidity lower, and saves a lot of energy in the process.

So where do we need to air seal, you might ask? Pretty much everywhere, but let’s start at the bottom. For now, I’ll assume that you have a wood framed floor with a vented crawlspace below it, and probably fiberglass batt insulation installed between the floor joists. Carefully pull out the batts around any big holes like tub drains, pipes, big wires, and any other place where there are holes in the floor decking. Plug those holes with foam boards, spray foam, or anything else that won’t let air pass through. Don’t jam fiberglass insulation in the holes – it won’t air seal anything. Then carefully caulk all the small holes where wires and pipes pass through the floor.

Finally, make sure that all the insulation is pushed up tight against the subfloor and held in place with skinny metal bars called tiger teeth. If you’re really ambitious you could seal and insulate your crawlspace, but that’s a little too involved for this post.

Then you need to go inside and caulk all the cracks between the walls and the floor. If you’re replacing carpet or refinishing wood floors, put a good bead of caulk or spray foam between the baseboard and the subfloor. Next, start moving up the walls, filling in all the gaps in the drywall – around receptacles, pipes, wires, window and door trim, and anything else that makes a hole in the wall finish. You can buy foam gaskets to put behind electrical plates that will help seal them from more air leaks. If you have any knee walls – walls between interior space and attics, make sure that they are well insulated and have a solid air barrier on the attic side – something like drywall or foam board, carefully caulked at all joints and edges. If your house is missing this, all the heat from the attic will flow right through the insulation into the room, making it really uncomfortable.

Finally, we need to fix up the ceiling. This is where we usually get the most air leakage, particularly in the summer. Go up in your attic and start pulling the insulation away from the walls, pipes, wires, and any other openings in the ceiling. Seal those holes the same way you did the ones in the floor, making sure that you get all of them. You should also seal the crack between drywall and the wood wall at the top – that’s a big air leak in most houses. But the biggest ceiling leak is the attic stair or access hatch. You can build or buy a nice foam box to seal over the top of them, but you have to be careful about putting them back every time you go into the attic.

If you’re not interested in taking on this project yourself, think about hiring a weatherization contractor to inspect the house and make the repairs for you. If you’re lucky, your local utility may offer rebates for doing improvements like these – you can be more comfortable, save energy, and get a little money back in your pocket.

	Deborah on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	ladyoftheabyss on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	Deborah on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	Lady Beltane on The Rise of Wicca and Neo–Paga…
	ladyoftheabyss on The Path Of The Water Wit…