by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 15, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Learn the Art of Acceptance
Lord I don’t understand peace. It is so easily lost. I think I am so sad about the killing in Nice, France because I had hoped for a longer break between killing and terror and hate acts. Lord, I ask that You would judge by Your cross my concept or expectation of peace and my right to rely on other people or spiritual powers besides You to explain or provide peace. Jesus I know that You are my peace. I ask You to forgive me for relying on anyone but You for my peace or expectation of peace. Jesus please heal, seal and deal within my salvation in You regarding peace. Please show me what Your peace really looks, feels and sounds like. Thank You Jesus for Your perfect peace and salvation. Amen
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 14, 2016 | Opinions
Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:8
Immediacy is not a virtue.
When I am stressed I feel like announcing my feelings and thoughts about everything, right now to everyone, except God; I don’t want to process anything before I react, yet I am so thankful to Jesus who is leading me to spend time praying and in the word to hear what God thinks and how He is teaching me to behave because lately, life has felt like one run on sentence…
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 13, 2016 | Food, Fuel Your Wellness
For most people Nightshade Vegetables and Fruits are very nutritional and offer protective properties to the human body. As someone who lives with hiatal hernia and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) I have made a decision to research different kinds of foods that I should limit or remove from my diet. Unfortunately for me, tomatoes are not on the list of foods I get to enjoy anymore, but that just leaves more room for beets, pumpkin and carrots…
Nightshade fruits and vegetables belong to the family of Solanaceae plants of the Solanum genus; a group that includes more than 2,500 species that are widely used in food and medicine. Many of these plants are not edible, but there are a good number of Nightshades: tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant, to name a few, that have become a staple to diets for many years. (more…)
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 12, 2016 | Prayers & Thanksgiving
I have been at a standstill for about a week, while reading, Codependent No More by By Melodie Beattie. I have read chapter 11: Have a Love Affair With Yourself, 3 times and I plan to read it again. I really want the good things to sink in and make it easier to let the negative things float away; or at least be able to lay them at the feet of Jesus and not want to come back to return them to their old spot on the shelf. I had a moment on Thursday where someone I care for let me know of a decision they had made about their health that caused me fear. As I began to “love them to death” with advise and other people’s opinions, they were becoming more and more defensive. Luckily Jesus is always faithful, not just to me but to everyone who love Him and I was able to see the unhealthiness I was suffocating them with and I was able to choose to stop.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 11, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Have a Love Affair With Yourself
What a novel idea; one I had never considered. I assumed that this chapter would be full of new thoughts and maybe it would inspire a lot in me. I read this chapter 3 times…
6/24/2016
Many codependent people would never dream of treating others as they treat themselves. Other people would not let us. Our feelings of low self-worth cause us to not like ourselves or even consider loving ourselves.
- We hate ourselves
- We don’t like the way we look
- We hate our bodies
- We think we are stupid, incompetent, untalented and unloveable
- We think our thoughts and feelings are wrong and inappropriate
- We think we are unimportant and we don’t matter
- We shame other people’s desires and plans
- We think we are inferior and inappropriately odd
- Inside our minds we constantly torture ourselves
- Sometimes we punish ourselves openly and invite others to help us hate ourselves
- We believe taking care of our needs and wants is selfish
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 6, 2016 | Education, Fuel Your Wellness
It is an act of love to choose wellness. Wellness is a series of positive, life supporting decisions we make, or don’t make everyday, all day long. Being well takes proper nutrition, exercise, a good attitude and the practice of hobbies and activities that bring us satisfaction and joy. Sometimes our path to wellness requires a wellness facilitator; sometimes it includes medication and counseling. Many of us have a road in front of us that includes chronic illness which produces its own challenges. A main component of our health is our immune system, sometimes referred to as our second brain or our digestive system. No matter what you need to Love Your Guts! (more…)
by Summer D Clemenson | Jul 2, 2016 | Opinions
This week I finally moved my recipes from my old beat up recipe box to my new one; one that belonged to my Great-Grandma Drummond. I learned a few things while I organized my recipes into it: She liked recipes with oranges in them and this recipe box was new to her. It came with a few new recipes that she had not organized into their appropriate dividers. There were a few recipes she has tucked inside, but obviously she had not had the chance to completely move into it, herself. I keep thinking about how she had probably had it on a list of things to do while she healed from her surgery; she probably wasn’t thinking she would not get a chance to do that. She still had plans.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 30, 2016 | Education, Food, Fuel Your Wellness
We love peanut butter! It is filling. It is healthy. It is packed with protein, fiber, monounsaturated fat and fat-burning folate. But there are some things you might not know about peanut butter that will probably change the way you shop (we hope). (more…)
by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 23, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Chapter 9: Undependence
My mother needs me to depend on her. It is part of her codependence identity: approval seeking and need for other’s happiness because that is all she has.
I can’t be healthy and center my life around anyone else but God.
Ways to become Independent:
- Finish business from childhood to the best of our ability. Grieve. Gain perspective. Figure out how events from the past are still affecting life now.People who believe they are unloveable will treat you as though you are too.
- Nurture the inner child who is vulnerable, frightened and needy. She may not disappear. She may rear up at unexpected moments, whether provoked or not. Figure out what she needs.
- Stop looking for happiness in other people. Center life around yourself; our value and joy are inside ourselves. I don’t need approval or validation from others.
- Learn to depend on yourself. Be there for yourself. Don’t abandon yourself, needs, wants, feelings, life and spirit. Learn to solve problems or live with unsolved problems.
- Depend on God. He has never abandoned me. I abandoned me. He expects me to care for me.
- Strive for undependence. Examine the ways we depend on others emotionally and financially.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 21, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Remove the Victim
“We’re so careful to see that no one gets hurt. No one, that is, but ourselves.” Al-Anon Member
“Codependents are caretakers – rescuers. They rescue, then they persecute, then they end up victimized. Study the Karpmen Drama Triangle,” he said.
Codependent No More page 83
Enabling is a destructive form of helping.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 18, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Chapter 6: Don’t Be Blown About by Every Wind
Denial: Under-reacting to events that seem too big
Reactionary: Urgently and compulsively reacting in anger, guilt, shame, self-hate, worry, hurt, controlling, gestures, care taking acts, depression, desperation or fury to other people’s feelings, thinking, behaviors or problems and situations without thinking. Allowing emotions and behaviors to be controlled or triggered by our environment or other people.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 16, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
Detachment
Detachment is not detaching from loved ones but the agony of involvement.
Questions We Must Ask of Ourselves
- What am I feelings?
- What do I think?
- What do I need to take care of myself?
Observational Reading Questions
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 15, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
CARETAKING CODEPENDENT CHARACTERISTICS
Codependents may:
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- think and feel responsible for other people—for other people’s feelings, thoughts, actions, choices, wants, needs, well-being, lack of well-being, and ultimate destiny.
- feel anxiety, pity, and guilt when other people have a problem.
- feel compelled—almost forced—to help that person solve the problem, such as offering unwanted advice, giving a rapid-fire series of suggestions, or fixing feelings.
- feel angry when their help isn’t effective.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 14, 2016 | Book & Product Reviews
What’s Codependency, and Who’s Got It?
Chapter 1 & 2: Jessica’s Story & Other Stories
I did not identify with any specific stories in this chapter but I have identified with aspects of their codependency. I have sought relationships with people with food addiction, so we can either validate or succeed together. I have often tried to help addicts and many times I have based my wants and needs on the wants and needs of my main relationships. I often feel like my friends need me more than I need them – all my friends need something from me. Most people don’t enjoy me and I am cynical about their motives. People make me tired.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Jun 9, 2016 | Opinions
I want to like myself. I want to love myself. I want to trust my feelings and thoughts. I know I am lovable because Jesus and Karen say I am lovable. My nieces and nephews love me; they like to talk to me, they look excited to see me, they jump to hug and kiss me. They are happy to let me touch them, stroke their hair and look in their eyes. There is freedom with them I don’t feel with most of the people in my life — they like to be loved. They let me encourage them. They trust me. I see in them, things I learned to dislike in myself and it helps me see that I have judged myself too harshly. I love watching them grow. I know God feels this for me. When it is just Him and me, life is easy. But I let “what if’s” collect. Sometimes it is next to impossible to detach from these…but I haven’t purposely been using the tool of detachment for very long; I am sure it will get easier.
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by Summer D Clemenson | May 18, 2016 | Poetry
I heard You yesterday
surrounded by trees and strangers
I felt You walking with me
I looked for someone coming
over my shoulder and all around
and then You spoke
“Do you feel Me?”
Four words relieved my anxiety
Yes I feel You
Our steps were in unison
and I wasn’t alone
Greeted by people in need
people in a hurry
people who can’t see me
You were steady and leading
I have stumbled looking for You
Today Your strength kept our path
“Do you feel Me?”
Four words show You trust me
to know You are here
Our steps are in unison
and I am not alone
by Summer D Clemenson | May 17, 2016 | Poetry
I know how to scrub floors
I can do it in any dress
whether in drag, rags or coiffed to the nines
I am here to serve
On my knees with or without implements
I’ve cleaned up messes I didn’t make
I have grown and I have watched
you drop your plates, scraps and shrapnel
where I can see
you maintain your stature
and my body become one with the floor
At your pleasure I have served
watched my sisters at their stations
until I was alone
Then a swift kick in the rump
can send me airborne
to scrub what no one else saw
On my last trip down
I decided to stand up
and walk away;
maybe learn to dance in my own house
because her smile made floors out of clouds
by Summer D Clemenson | Apr 20, 2016 | Poetry
My father worked hard and built two houses
one wanted to be an island
the other wanted to be the world
When he left the island he never came back
It was my job to keep it from floating away
While my light shone bright You sought me
Before my small hands could break
You breathed into me Your life
because without You I wouldn’t be
My father collected 4 porcelain dolls with painted faces
but I was really a house of mirrors
My dress was full to cover my broken parts
because no one wants to see some things
To bless those You need to be seen
You made me with the ability to see
Mirrors tell truths minds can distort
You heal wounds even we can’t see
My father came from a railroad house;
he built with tools he had learned to make
Tools the world says are strong but not on an island
I’ve moved to the city
The island likes to be what it wants to be
When I walk by a mirror I am surprised to see smooth skin
The other dolls have cracks from smiling too hard
Your wind has scattered them to their hills
But I stand here because this one You made for me
You have built my new house
You’ve sent me a sergeant to be strong when I can’t
My mirrors are broken but we want to hang Yours
Your light shines through every dark place
Your carpentry will make sure my father and his houses are welcome
Your foundation is forgiveness and we will have strong floors
by Summer D Clemenson | Apr 7, 2016 | Essential Oils
Ingredients:
- Amyris
- Clary Sage
- Hawaiian Sandalwood
- Ho Wood Leaf Oil
- Lavandin
- Lavender
- Lemon Myrtle – has a strong lemony aroma that is refreshing and may elevate mood.
- Melissa – has an uplifting lemony aroma
- Osmanthus – common in the world’s rarest and most expensive perfumes. Its heady, uplifting fragrance is very rich and has a sweet floral fruit bouquet that is known to make people smile.
- Tangerine – may help calm and relieve feelings of stress and enhance energy.
- Ylang Ylang – has calming properties. Promotes feelings of self-confidence, joy and peace.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Mar 31, 2016 | Essential Oils
AKA Clove Eugenia Caryophyllata
Aids in maintaining healthy mental stimulation, healing, and creating a feeling of protection and courage.
Clove has a spicy, warming, slightly bitter, woody, reminiscent of true clove buds by richer type scent.
Blends well with
Basil,
Bergamot,
Cinnamon,
Clary Sage,
Grapefruit,
Lavender,
Lemon,
Wild Orange,
Peppermint, Rose,
Rosemary and
Ylang Ylang Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils.
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by Summer D Clemenson | Mar 25, 2016 | Opinions
1 Corinthians 3:9-16
For we are God’s fellow workers; You are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stray, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire: And the fire will test each ones work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work, which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
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