Category Archives: Gerri’s Favorites

The History of Chamomile Tea

In Romancing the Laird, my warrior-hero, Reid Douglas, enjoys a cup or two of chamomile tea every day to help him relax and recover from physical fatigue,. Which got me wondering about the history of chamomile tea. Here’s what I discovered.
The name chamomile comes from the Greek word meaning “ground apple.” Records of its use date back to the ancient Roman, Greeks and Egyptians who believed the flowers contained both magical and healing properties.
The ancient Romans battled many plagues, respiratory and other infectious diseases without the aid of modern medicine. This naturally led to using herbs as remedies for disease and to ease the symptoms of skin infections and respiratory diseases. Pliny, the noted physician of the time, is known to have used chamomile to ward off headaches and ease the liver and kidney inflammation. It is likely that chamomile was used for skin conditions and digestive disorders, too. Chamomile flowers were also scattered on the floors at banquets to perfume to the air or burned as incense during sacred rituals.
Like the Romans, the Greeks thought of chamomile as a medicinal herb with healing properties. The Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides used chamomile to heal intestinal, nervous, and liver disorders, and prescribed it for women’s ailments. The ancient Greeks also made garlands from chamomile to fragrance the air.
The ancient Egyptians so revered the chamomile plant that they associated it with their sun god Ra. Egyptians also used chamomile on the skin and probably used it in cosmetics and hair care products as well. It was used in rituals and ceremonies.
Chamomile was considered one of the nine sacred herbs of the Anglo-Saxon and was used ritually to ward off diseases and to promote health.
If you are like me, every spring I get a little congested from the extra pollen in the air. Sounds like I need to make myself a cup of chamomile tea. Will you join me in a cup?

The Gratitude Project

I’m Trying a New New Year’s Goal for 2012
This year for the New Year I thought I’d do something a little different rather than the traditional goal-setting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge believer is setting goals. Only by writing things down do we truly make them actionable. I have lots of goals written down…many I intend to accomplish before the end of the year. For 2012 I wanted to focus not on goals, but on the good things in my life, of all the things I am grateful for. Hence, I started on New Years Day with the goal of writing down 2012 Gratitudes. I’m calling it the Gratitude Project.

As the days of 2012 go by, I want to cut through all the craziness of daily living and remember the things that are important and that make life wonderful. I’ll be jotting down five or six things I’m grateful for every day. As with all goals, things aren’t so difficult when you break things into smaller more achievable tasks.

Research suggests that cultivating gratefulness is good for you. It increases your satisfaction, vitality, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, hope, empathy, and willingness to help others. For just a few minutes every day, you can change the way you think about your life and the world around you. Here’s my list of gratitudes for today:

I’m grateful for…

1. Starting to get a little more balance by focusing on the moment
2. Making progress on eating more vegetables with every meal
3. The sound of a baby’s laughter
4. Sunshine on the mountaintops
5. Gentlemen who still hold the door open for a lady

What about you? Would it help you to shift your focus from the day-to-day madness and concentrate on what’s important? What are you grateful for today?

Flowers and Friendship

Some days the world just knows what you need.

I came into work this morning after a long weekend of working overtime to find my desk covered in flowers. It was a lovely surprise and kept me smiling all day. I felt very loved…Thank you Andrea and Dawn. You’re both so wonderful!

–Gerri