Thousands of people make New Year’s resolutions each year. I never do. I always felt that if I wanted to commit to making a change in my life, that I should not add the pressure of making it a resolution. What I do instead is create a plan. I put together very realistic expectations and a generous timeframe as I make my transition from one behavior to a more positive behavior. So this article is going to help you create your plan for improving your health. And if you happen to want to start implementing this plan at the beginning of a new year, that’s great and I wish you much success!
Take an Inventory
The first step is simple. Write down those behaviors/items that you want to change. For example, when I started using aromatherapy nine years ago, my first step included a list of all of the health and beauty products that I used that I wanted to change over to aromatherapy products. My product list included shampoo, conditioner, face cleanser, face moisturizer, eye cream, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, and body lotion.
Determine the First Item to Change
To make sure that I was successful, I decided that I would change one product at a time. I researched to find a “safe” chemical shampoo as a base (I am not that much of a naturalist that I was going to try to undertake making my own shampoo – bless those people who do).
Let’s sidestep for just a moment here and talk about safe chemicals. Aromatherapy uses essential oils distilled from plants as the primary ingredient in its remedies. The properties of the essential oils that we use are the chemical constituents of the plant that offer healing entities. We can consider many essential oils to contain “safe” chemicals which means that when used as directed, they do not cause unexpected negative side effects. The same thing can be said for some synthetic chemicals, so my quest was to find a shampoo that contained a safe chemical combination.
Once I found the base shampoo that I wanted, I started to experiment with different essential oils to give me the results I wanted to achieve. My hair is very seasonally affected, so in the winter I use Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Rosemary in my shampoo to help reduce dry flaking and improve the luster of my brown hair. In the summer it is Cedarwood, Lavender, and Rosemary to moisturize.
Timeframe and Measuring Success
I set a schedule: I would use my aromatherapy shampoo for two weeks, then go back to my former shampoo and use that for two weeks. I tried to be as conscientious as I could and also to keep an open mind so as not to influence the results. Since I started this in February, height of the flake season, it was quite obvious for me to see the results of using the aromatherapy shampoo. With my former shampoo, my scalp felt dry and itchy, and I could actually see some dandruff flakes on occasion. However, I steadfastly used that shampoo for two weeks. Then I tried the aromatherapy shampoo for two weeks and my scalp felt more moisturized, it did not itch as much and I did not see any flakes. Even though I was having great results, I went back to the former shampoo for a full two weeks. About 4 days into the conventional over-the-counter shampoo, my scalp started itching and I actually felt more uncomfortable than before.
What happened here is that the aromatherapy actually went to the source of the problem, detoxified the scalp, and allowed the scalp and hair to operate in optimum health. So when I went back to my former shampoo, my body reacted by presenting exaggerated symptoms. Boy, that made it clear to me which direction I should be going and I went back to my list to choose another item.
Reward Yourself
The rewards for me were obvious, quickly realized, and quite permanent. From my shampoo, I went to the conditioner and one by one I replaced all of my health and beauty items with aromatherapy products. Once that list was completed, I created another list that included the health issues that I wanted to address and I am pleased to say that I have successfully treated arthritis, sinus problems, PMS symptoms, cellulite, stretch marks, and much more with aromatherapy.
I wish you much health, peace, and joy in the New Year. If I can be of assistance to you as you resolve to get and stay healthy, please contact me.