Out Of The Shadows - An Incredibly Engaging Story

Friends Reunited, teenage crushes, tabloid fame, evil predators - none of it was on the agenda the day Susannah Cates came home from work to the unwelcome shock of finding a for sale board outside her house. All she knew then was how desperately she wanted her world to change. Since her husband had been carted off to prison, three years before, life had become a constant struggle to provide for herself and their teenage daughter. Nothing ever seemed to go right, the most she hopes for now is that no more will go wrong.

Worried by her mother’s unhappiness thirteen year old Neve decides to take matters into her own hands. She is sure she knows what will bring the light back to Susannah’s eyes and the warmth to her smile, and when Susannah’s closest friend Patsy discovers what Neve is up to, she immediately lends her support.

As their plans start to unfold they have no way of knowing what kind of fates they are stirring, all they can see is Susannah’s excitement when they reveal their plan, because at last a way seems to be opening up for her to escape her bad luck. Then other forces start swooping in and very soon the future begins to look even brighter than Susannah ever dared hope.

The journey from a humble terraced house to a grand Elizabethan manor turns out to be as thrilling and unpredictable as it is full of love, laughter and friendship. However, the spectre of horror is all the time pacing behind the scenes, working itself up for an entrance that must go unseen, or even suspected, if it is to achieve its aim. When the time finally comes for it to step out of the wings only one person knows it is there, threading its monstrous intent through their lives, breaking apart the very fabric of innocence. By the time the others realise what’s happening it is already too late, the worst is done and there is no turning back...

Never, in all Susannah’s wildest dreams, could she have imagined her happiness causing so much pain to someone she loves. There is nothing she wouldn’t sacrifice now to make things right, but the forward march of time has no interest in sacrifices, it only moves on leaving heartbreak and devastation in its wake, and its victims to try and pick up the pieces.

to read more about the authors books visit:- http://www.susanlewis.com/pages/books/out-of-the-shadows.htm

5 Minutes Stress Relief Strategies

By Elizabeth Scott, M.S. , About.com Guide
http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/stress_relief.htm


Stress comes from many areas of life, and stress relief comes in many forms. While some people like using one favorite tool for stress relief, many experts feel that the most efficient approach to stress relief is one that attacks stress from several different directions, utilizing an overall 'plan of attack' for stress relief.
An important first step in this stress relief plan is to have one or two quick stress relief strategies that can help you relax your physiology or de-stress your mind, to reverse your body's stress response so that you can think clearly and avoid the negative effects of chronic stress.

The following are some quick and effective stress relief strategies that can help you do just that: these stress relief activities, once mastered, should enable you to de-stress in under 5 minutes so that you can move on to the next steps in your stress relief strategy or immediately face the stressors at hand.

Here are several strategies to try:-

Breathing Exercises
Stress relief breathing is one of the most popular ways of calming down quickly for good reason: breathing exercises can be done by anyone, at any time, with little training, and at no expense! Breathing exercises can also be combined with other stress relief techniques (such as guided imagery or meditation) for added benefits and ease of use. Learn more about breathing exercises and learn a quick stress relief breathing technique.

PMR
Progressive Muscle Relaxation, or PMR, is a technique you can learn that, with practice, enables you to completely relax all of the muscles in your body quickly, thereby releasing tension from stress. Like each of the techniques that are mentioned in this article, PMR helps you to reverse your body's stress response quickly. It can also be done at virtually any time or place, once you've learned the technique and practiced it. (It's especially useful for when you're trying to get to sleep.) Learn more about how to practice PMR.

Mini-Meditation
Meditation is gaining status as a stress management mainstay because it brings so many wonderful benefits, including (after consistent practice) resilience against future stressors! Many people shy away from learning meditation because they think they don't have the ability to learn the technique or the time to practice regularly. Actually, meditation can be very simple to learn, and even 5 minutes of meditation can make a difference. Learn more about the benefits of meditation, and how to practice 5-minute meditation.

Aromatherapy
As far as ease of use goes, aromatherapy is about as easy as they come! Studies show that certain types of aromatherapy can be effective for stress relief, and once you have the aromatherapy going, it's passive stress relief--you don't have to do anything except go about your regular activities as you normally would! (Combining techniques can provided added stress relief, but isn't necessary.) Learn more about the research on aromatherapy and find ways to use aromatherapy for stress relief.

Quick Burst of Exercise
Exercise is an excellent stress relief technique because it's great for your whole body and brings physical benefits other than those experienced because of a reversed stress response. Exercise can provide distraction, endorphins and an outlet for frustration. Unfortunately, it's not always practical as a 'quick' stress reliever, as the full benefits of exercise are often not achieved until sustained exercise has occurred, and that can leave you sweaty; therefore, you may not use it in a class or at the office, or when you're meeting with clients and under stress. However, in situations where it can work, even a quick burst of exercise (like a quick run up several flights of stairs, or several sets of push-ups) can be useful for stress relief. (Always check with your doctor before starting any exercise program, of course.) Learn more about the benefits of exercise and how to use exercise for stress relief.

Have a Good Laugh
Maintaining a sense of humor can relieve stress in several ways. First, there are specific benefits that you get from laughter that can help you relieve stress and even stay healthier in your life. Also, laughter connects people, and social support is good for stress relief. More, it's hard to stay stressed when you're laughing. And maintaining a sense of humor reminds us that our stressors may not be as menacing as they seem, and probably have solutions, too. For these reasons, laughing in the face of stress can help you feel better in a matter of minutes. Learn more about the benefits of laughter and how to maintain a sense of humor in the face of stress.

Smoky Quartz Properties

Smoky Quartz is a strong healing stone, alleviating a variety of physical, mental and emotional health problems. It is excellent for removing negativity, and helps protect the user from both physical and psychic negativity. It engenders cooperation in group and assists people who are working together, and makes goals more easily attainable. It also has a grounding faculty that enhances basic instincts and abilities (such as creativity). This gemstone brings abundance, prosperity and good fortune.

The physical healing properties of Smoky Quartz focus on the lower torso region and improve resistance to general infections. It treats many areas of the lower body, including the reproductive organs, pancreas and abdomen, and also helps menstrual cramps and fertility problems. It benefits the functioning of the kidneys which regulate bodily fluids and fluid retention, aiding in the removal of toxins from the body.

In addition, it strengthens the adrenal glands and alleviates hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. Smoky Quartz is excellent for maintaining a well-balanced condition and healing infections and maladies. Smoky Quartz is also used as a mental aid during meditation. It allows the grounding of the physical self in order to achieve higher states of consciousness, and allowing access to subconscious wisdom. The stone links the base chakra to the crown chakra, allowing increased relaxation. Also, by transforming negative energies into positive ones, this gemstone can be used for psychic shielding.

The emotional effects of Smoky Quartz include mood elevation and overcoming negative emotions. This is an excellent stone for relieving depression and controlling negative moods. Its ability to turn negative energy into positive energy works to help the individual overcome hazardous negative emotions such as fear, jealousy and anger into more positive emotions. Positive emotions help the individual reach personal and business goals. Thus, Smoky Quartz is associated with serenity and peace of mind.

Stimulating Creativity
Smoky Quartz can enhance the creativity of those who wear it, diminishing mental blocks and enabling fresh ideas to proliferate. This is a valuable aid for many different artistic endeavors, but also helps ordinary creative functions used in daily life. Creative solutions to basic problems can be found, even ones as small as finding the quickest way to get to work. The needs and wants of the individual are met with wisdom that fosters the productive creative forces.

Base Chakra
For most of its healing properties, Smoky Quartz is associated with the Base (Root) Chakra. It is also believed that Smokey Quartz channels the light from the Crown Chakra to the Base Chakra, unifying the subconscious intellect with the physical senses, providing grounding in meditation and the revelation of subconscious wisdom, as well as progression to a higher consciousness

How To Make Naan Bread Recipe (Indian)

How To Make Naan Bread Recipe (Indian)


One of the ways I recently found out to overcome my weekends anxiety is to pre-set an activities plan to be followed and looked forward to every weekend.

Amongst the weekend's activities is baking and since I'm a newbie I kept on stumbling across a lot of recipes all over the internet, but I finally choose making bread, Naan and tortillas and see how it goes.

It turned out to be a clever idea since you're constantly apt to missing up something or the other, so the trick lies in keeping your expectations reasonably low and being open to all kinds of failures.
The end result turned out yummy and my son enjoyed the process while watching me fight with the dough.

What I learned about Citrine

Having gone to purchase myself a Smokey Quartz, I have been advised by the lady there to take home a piece of Citrine with it. And after wearing my Smokey Quartz bracelet for a few days I felt a bit low. I thought it could be anything else but when I started losing interest in certain things I thought of my Smokey quartz bracelet as the first suspect. I was right as its grounding abilities established my sense of being here and now and that left me an able to indulge in my usual day dreaming being a sensitive girl ;)
My Citrine though rebalanced my inner wellbeing and nurtured my sense of joy and happiness.

Citrine's Mystical Properties:
In ancient times, citrine was carried as a protection against snake venom and evil thoughts. Citrine is known as a "success" stone because it is told in folklore to promote success and abundance, especially in business and commerce.
Citrine is one of the only stones that dissipates negative energy and never requires cleansing or clearing. It emits a warm energy that promotes optimism. It attracts abundance and is known as "a merchant's stone" to be placed in a cash register or where one conducts business, to not only acquire positive wealth but to maintain it as well. It enhances the body's healing energy and opens the conscious mind to intuition. It helps one adjust and adapt to process changes, feeling confident and secure. Citrine's magnetic radiating energy can aid in voice projection, making this the perfect stone for actors and public speakers.
Assists in acquiring wealth and to maintain the state of wealth. Citrine is helpful for directing creative energy into the physical body. Some find it helpful in building self-esteem. This crystal is an invaluable aid to the digestion of all emotions, place it on the solar plexus in crystal healing layouts. I find that Citrine is useful in combating decisiveness allowing me to make important decisions on a regular basis.

Getting to Know My Howlite Better

When I started talking a lot lately about gemstones and their mystical properties after attending an Introduction to crystal energy for emotional wellbeing WORKSHOP by Julie Lomas I started gradually discovering the true beauty of these magnificent creatures, and to my surprise after being mocked by a number of people over going on and on about the little beauties; my brother approached me one day with a howlite in his hand> I as usual surfed all over Google to read whatsoever relates to it and found pretty much exactly what I've been looking for.

Mystical Properties:
Howlite is known for it's strong associations with self-awareness, creativity and improving ones emotional attitudes. It enhances character building, and a sense of decency; in encourages desirable personal attributes. Howlite aids in dispelling anger, resentfulness, selfishness and allows one to look inside for answers, aid in communicating the negative emotions with a clearer emotional expression, which will result in calmer confrontations.
It decreases the over critical mind, rudeness and offensive behavior, increasing subtly, decency and tact. It is also quite helpful for those who tend to procrastinate.
Meditating on a piece of howlite can assist one in journeying outside the body and gaining insight from ones past lives. Place upon the third eye, it opens memories of previous times and lifetimes.

And as I suffered bad knees recently what I found about its healing Properties came in extremely handy; as its said Howlite is predominantly a calming stone, it will aid in sleeping, calming the overactive mind, eases insomnia, dreaming, dream retention and stress relief. Physically it calms the whole body and releases muscle tension. It eliminate pain brought about by stress, and is said to aid in healing stress related injuries such as ulcers, heart problems and rashes.
It is helpful in balancing the calcium levels in the body as well as strengthening teeth and bones.
Along with my beloved Citrine; Howlite is quickly becoming my favorite.

Happily Living The Moment

Being quite new to the optimism family, I got into the habit of goggling happy terms such as relaxation tips, breathing techniques, mindfulness and flowing; that’s what I would cheerfully describe as swaying with the day's events like a misty leaf of an enormous tree. Having undergone several phases where I faced depression, resentment, lake of patience and rage, I'm now finally capable of assigning a name to what was going on inside my head. I was somehow unhappy, craving more of life, constantly craving the next success once I gain what I've been stumbling all over the rat race in order to achieve.
The good news is that I found enough resilience in myself to halt and take a look back. What I found out shock me back to earth, I've been wasting the now either wasted in the past's regret or the unexplained fear of future.
My child needed me, I could imagine him envying other children being actively involved (emotionally present and enjoying their moment and reaping its fruity, strawberry scented rewards).
That’s how I'd describe time spent with my child now being blessed with the moment's tinniest joys.
I found great help from various breathtaking places to reprioritizes one's life and relearn how to actually live.
Martha Becks graceful daily tip makes my day every day http://www.marthabeck.com/
I can't thank you enough Martha, love you ;)