Young Living Essential Oils

For the past few years, I was reading books and articles online regarding overall wellness.  I don't know, maybe I'm already at the age where health issues are already starting to manifest ... aching joints, elevated blood pressure ... just to name a few.

Actually, I am already taking maintenance medicine to control my blood pressure since 2011 and I don't want to add more maintenance medicine for other health issues that may manifest in the future.  So maybe that's the reason why I was enclined in reading anything regarding overall wellness these past few years.

Through those years of reading, I have already read about essential oils and there are many stories testifying that their overall wellness was improved by using these essential oils. 

I tried buying essential oils in malls trying to diffuse these oils using candles but unfortunately I did not continue using it because I just can't stand the smell.  I used lemon and lemongrass during that time and it really have a strong smell that instead of being relaxed, I felt suffocated.

Last year, one of my neighbors invited me to visit her booth that she set-up during our community get together.  It turns out that she is a member of Young Living Essential Oils.  I tried smelling the sample oils and I kind of like the smell of some oils.  There are really some oils which are not pleasing to the nose.

After visiting her booth, I tried to search the net regarding Young Living essential oils and also visited Young Living's official websites.  I learned that Young Living is the biggest producer of essential oils, having their own farms and distilleries and use multi-level marketing (MLM) as their marketing strategy.

I'm not really a sales person but I have tried joining MLM companies especially on products that I know me and my family will be using regularly.  Just for my family's consumption, I think that joining MLM companies will help me save on our regular consumed items in the long run.

In short, I joined Young Living's wide number of distributors by buying their Premium Starter Kit through online registration.  Young Living's online registration is user friendly and it didn't take me long to finish my registration.  You have the option to have your kit delivered to your address or if you are just near any Young Living Business Centers, you can just opt to pick it up so as to save on delivery fees.  In my case, I just picked it up since our residence is near the YL's business center.

Young Living's Premium Starter Kit for the Philippine market is worth 9,180 pesos.  The kit includes the following:
     - Dewdrop Diffuser
     - 5 ml Lavender Essential Oil
     - 5 ml Lemon Essential Oil
     - 5 ml Peppermint Essential Oil
     - 5 ml Frankinsence Essential Oil
     - 5 ml Copaiba Essential Oil
     - 5 ml Digize Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Panaway Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Raven Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Thieves Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Stress Away Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Citrus Fresh Essential Oil Blend
     - 5 ml Christmas Spirit (Promotional Item, not a regular part of PSK)
     - 2 sachet of Ningxia Drink
     - leaflets and other promotional items

If you will buy the above items separately, this will roughly total to 19,600 pesos.

Premium Starter Kit (PSK) differs from other countries. 

It's more than six months since I started Young Living Oils and so far I am happy that I have started using these essential oils before this COVID-19 pandemic.  Somehow it's comforting to know that we have something that boost our overall wellness which makes our bodies resilient to diseases.

Mother's Day 2020

Today is the second Sunday of May and it's a special day for all mothers.  Whether you're a biological mother or you're a mother at heart, today is our special day.

In the past years, me and my family celebrates this day either by going out of town or by eating lunch or dinner in a restaurant.  Usually no gifts or flowers ... we're not really into gift giving ... we're more on service and presence.

This year is very much different.  National Capital Region (NCR) is still under the Enhanced Community Quarantine so there is no way that we can go out of town or go to any restaurant to celebrate.  We just stayed at home, did some household chores and watch random shows in Netflix.

In the afternoon, my husband really wanted to treat me to some restaurant food so he asked my daughter to order through Grab Food but to his dismay, the app just says "Waiting for Available Driver" or something to that effect ... after more than fifteen minutes of waiting we decided to close the app and instead my husband prepared a simple vegetable dish.  That was already a treat that we enjoyed as a family.

As a special treat, I requested my children to pull out the white hair on my head and clear my underarms with that stubborn hair ...  it's really the right time to make such request to my children  .... they just can't say no.

We have celebrated the Mother's Day in a very simple and inexpensive way but just like before, it is a meaningful one since we have celebrated it as a whole family. 

God bless everyone.  Til my next post.

Activities during this Enhanced Community Quarantine

It's more than a month since the Enhanced Community Quarantine was imposed.  The number of cases of infected individual is still rising and it's just heartbreaking.

For individuals like us who are not part of the frontliners, our most important role is just to follow the rules and cooperate with the government's efforts in controlling the spread of this virus.

For me and my family, staying at home is not really that bad.  There are just a lot of things that we can do to make ourselves busy.

Me and my husband have the work from home (WFH) option from our company so definitely we need to do office works during weekdays.  It is a common sight having our individual spot on the dining table doing our own thing on weekdays.  Of course from time to time we take a break to do some household chores like cooking and going to the groceries to buy some necessities.  It's good that there is a grocery store just outside our village.  For some wet market (palengke) items, some of our neighbors took the initiative to contact a local supplier and pool our orders and have it delivered at the clubhouse for us to pick-up.  It is really a good initiative since we can buy fresh fruits and vegetables at a palengke price (grocery prices are more expensive than the wet market price).

Despite all the distractions of doing household activities during our office working hours, we still see to it that we have done sufficient work for our company for the day.  At least we have the time flexibility in doing our job.  We are so grateful that our company had given us this chance to work from home, still able to provide financially for our family in the midst of this pandemic.  So it's just right to give our best effort in doing our work for the company.

For our children, since their schools were officially closed before the start of the implementation of ECQ, they are now in vacation mode.  Normally they watch TV and play some online games but we still see to it that they help in doing the household chores.  They do the cleaning and sometimes even the cooking.  They are old enough to cook some simple dishes.  Of course from time to time, we really need to call their attention as they are so engrossed with their online games.

During the weekends, I do my favorite hobby for now which is container vegetable gardening.  Not that big though since we only have a small space.  We are living in a condo unit and the only place we can put our plants is in the balcony and the laundry area.  I'm really happy to have started this container vegetable garden before the ECQ because now we have some supply of green and leafy vegetables which are just needed to boost our immune system which is really necessary to fight this virus.

Some of the vegetables which are easy to grow anywhere

Another family activity that we do on weekends especially Sunday is that we attend the Sunday mass right in front of our television.  We dedicate the time to attend the mass just like we are inside the church.  This is really a new experience and we're happy to do this activity every Sunday.  Times like this, there is no other way but to trust God. 


Keep safe everyone.  God bless each and everyone of us.

Living Amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic

As of this writing, the World Health Organization declared corona virus as pandemic.  This means, the virus has already infected a lot of countries.

Here in the Philippines, specifically here in Metro Manila area, the number of infected individuals started to rise this week which prompted the government to cancel all classes starting last Tuesday, March 10, 2020 until Saturday.  My children's school even declared the end of this school year.  Last periodical exams were waived and student's need not go to school.  So officially, it is already my children's summer vacation.  Well, I think it is a good move so as not to risk our children's health.

There are no work suspension, so business as usual.  In our office, hand sanitizers and alcohols are located in all access points and temperature check is being done on all employees upon entering the building.  Door handles and elevator push buttons are being sanitized regularly.  A lot of employees are wearing masks but I'm not really comfortable with that and besides it's really hard to buy face masks nowadays.  Anyway, I don't have any symptoms of flu, so better give the priority to use the face masks to those who have symptoms and to all our hard working medical personnel who are very much in close contact with this virus.

Here in our place of residence, elevator push buttons were covered with plastic and sanitized every 30 minutes and temperature check is being done to all residents and visitors entering the premises.  All social gatherings including regular fitness activities were cancelled.
     

Elevator buttons covered with plastic and sanitized every 30 minutes.

Late this afternoon, a lot of information regarding possible lockdown of Metro Manila was spreading and the result is ... panic buying.  I went to our local grocery store, just near our place and there was a lot of people.  Grocery carts were all used up, others are using plastic containers being sold by the store ... I think they will also buy that.  Common grocery items inside each grocer's cart are rice, canned goods, milk and alcohols.  I just went home after seeing a lot of people inside ,,, anyway we still have some food supplies at home.  As long as we have rice, we won't starve. 
       

Scene at our local grocery store this afternoon

In times like this, I think we need to calm down and not to worry so much.  Too much worrying will stress us that without knowing it, our immune system is becoming weaker and we are getting more susceptible to corona virus.

For now, we just need to follow what the authorities are implementing.  If not really needed, stay away from crowded area, stay at home, practice good hygiene.  Boost our immune system by eating nutritious food, get our natural vitamin D from the early morning sun and get enough rest.  Most of all, don't forget to pray so that God will guide everyone so that this virus will be contained and not spread anymore.

God bless the Philippines.

God bless the world.