Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

Think happy thoughts of success, and the chances of success and positive achievement are more likely to come your way. Think dour, unhappy thoughts of sadness, or pain and suffering, and just as surely, you are more likely to run into trouble. There is little doubt of this, as countless thousands of women have testified.

Nobody has told the animals that their confinements are to be tilled with pain and suffering and horror, so they usually glide through them with complete ease. Numerous native tribes, “uneducated” by our standards, have never been told to expect hardship, agony and the tortures of the damned when they are reproducing, so they do not look for it. And according to numerous reports by on-the-spot investigators, they undergo very little physical or mental trauma when their time arrives.

“It’s all in the mind.” How true! So, from the moment your pregnancy is confirmed (and preferably well before that date, when you have the first intimate inkling yourself), start to programme your mind correctly. Do it regularly, preferably every day, many times every day.

”This is normal, natural, and I intend to enjoy every living moment of my pregnancy,” you tell yourself in terms loud and clear. Repeat the message many times during the day, and just before you go to bed at night. Repeat it if you awaken during the night, and say it again first thing every morning.

Gradually, with this incessant input of positive, happy, successful ideas, your subconscious mind will automatically become programmed to expect the best, to expect success.

The psychological benefits of sensible, positive, practical programming of the mind cannot be over-expressed and re-emphasized.

Try to live a sensible, normal, natural life. Do not mollycoddle yourself. This is tantamount to failure. Nature will certainly “deliver the goods” in due course. But you are doing yourself an injustice to become introspective and introverted at this vital time. It is a time to enjoy, to be happy.

Not only is it a time of happiness for you, but it should be for all the family as well. Your husband will be delighted to see your enjoyment and zest for living increase. If there are already other members in the family, let them in on the secret as well. There is nothing so delightful as “togetherness” when another member is anticipated.

*66/76/5*

read comments (0)

The big factor I have found is that sexual incompatibility plays a major part. No doubt, this is a flow-on, in many cases, from the point mentioned above. Many youngsters fly into marriage completely unequipped. They have given it scant thought, and sexually have often had either lots of single-encounter experiences, or a “steady.” Very often premarital sexual relationships have flourished, and these often lead to marriage. However, many find that what was once an exciting experience outside the marital bond, loses its exhilaration in marriage. So, instead of the intimate part of marriage continuing to be an exciting pleasure it tends to become a dreary, dull, monotonous incident, devoid of any “kick,” and affording little pleasure.

Very often pregnancy occurs early in the piece. Although the Pill and other forms of birth control are available for the asking in these enlightened days, many women still don 4 bother or can’t make the effort to take regular precautions. Thus, with sexual excursions more frequent in the early days of marriage, pregnancy is a likely result.

With a baby on the way, a common situation is that the young father-to-be often rebels against the state of his domestic affairs. Soon he may seek female company and sexual gratification elsewhere. It doesn’t take very long for the birds to come home to roost. Feeling unwanted, the wife starts to complain, and often rightly so. Instead of gaining support and help from her husband, she is frustrated by the unsatisfactory situation, while he is seeking his pleasures elsewhere.

*50/76/5*

read comments (0)

First and foremost is the contraceptive pill, which burst on a startled world in the late 1950s. This is the most striking advance ever made in this area, and never before in history have so many women taken regular medication for non-medical reasons.

Basically, the Pill consists of two naturally occurring female body hormones. One is called an oestrogen, and the other is called a progestogen, or simply gestogen for short. Both of these hormones are produced by the female ovary in a set pattern. Oestrogen is produced right throughout the menstrual cycle. Progestogen (or the natural hormone progesterone) is produced from the date of ovulation, usually fourteen days before the onset of the next menstrual period, until the period actually starts. If pregnancy does not occur, then production ceases until the same time the next month.

However, the combination of these two hormones in a certain ratio, and taken orally on a regular basis, usually twenty-one days per twenty-eight, prevents the female egg from being released at the time of normal ovulation. With no egg, it does not matter how many male sperms are present, conception simply cannot, and does not occur.

The normal way of taking the Pill is to start on the fifth day of the normal cycle. One per day is taken, and this is continued for twenty-one consecutive days. At the end of this time, a break of seven days occurs, during which time no Pill is taken. After seven days, a new packet is commenced, and one a day taken in a similar manner. This method is continued non-stop for as long as the woman wishes to remain infertile, and desires not to conceive.

Provided the Pill is taken strictly along these lines and there is no variation, it is virtually 100 per cent effective. In the rare instances where pregnancy has taken place, a check will often indicate that certain incidents occurred. For example, the woman may have been ill, had vomiting or diarrhoea, in which case the Pill may have been vomited, or passed through the bowel without being absorbed. Protection for that menstrual month then lapses if two consecutive pills (or even, at times only one) are missed.

Some women taking medication for other purposes may have the efficacy of the Pill reduced or totally destroyed by the action of the other medication working through the liver system. This is notoriously so when the anti-T.B. drug rifampicin is taken. But several others have also been incriminated. If any other medication is being prescribed, it is worth checking with your doctor to make sure that the two are compatible.

In Australia, the usual pill is the so-called “combination pill” which is the one described. Once it was popular to use so-called “sequential pills,” one hormone being taken, then the other being added for the final week. However, these fell into disfavor some time ago when it was claimed they may cause breast tumours in experimental animals, and they were subsequently removed from the medical market.

Another pill, often referred to as the “mini-pill,” is a gestogen-only preparation. It works slightly differently. Its method is claimed to alter the mucus at the uterine cervix and impede sperm penetration of the cervix and uterus, and so prevent pregnancy in this manner. However, several side-effects may occur, especially related to heavy or irregular bleeding, and it is usually reserved for women under certain circumstances who find the ordinary combination pill unsatisfactory. Medical guidance in this respect is advised.

The Pill has had a stormy history, and is not without its ups and downs. Nevertheless, it seems to suit the majority, and is undoubtedly the simplest reversible method of contraception available world-wide today. In Australia about 1,000,000 women and in New Zealand about 300,000 women regularly use the Pill. Worldwide the figure is in excess of sixty million.

*36/76/5*

read comments (0)

If you are really trying to conserve funds to make a major purchase (or if you are intent on paying off the house as soon as you can), there are many ways of cutting down on costs.

Although owning a car is great, it is one of the most expensive items you can possess next to a house. The running costs are huge. Early in marriage, unless a car is absolutely necessary for business needs, it is worth considering waiting for a while. When you do buy, perhaps consider a good second-hand model instead of the latest model. Lots say, “you buy the other fellow’s problems if you buy a second-hand car”. Probably so, but you are paying proportionately less for it than for a new one. What’s more, the day you step into a brand-new car, it becomes second-hand at that moment.

Having the phone connected is great and very convenient. But is it essential right from the start? Phones are notorious for chewing up money, and gone are the days when they were a simple, inexpensive item.

Travelling to and from work is often much cheaper if you use public transport. In fact, working in town can present a major problem in parking a vehicle, and that is not cheap, either. Unless it is a definite requirement to actually earning your income, it is often far better left at home—which, of course, means that it is probably unnecessary, particularly in the early years of marriage. These ideas are simply inserted as “thinking points.” Some will think they are out of date, but they are not. Money is money, in everybody’s language, and the more you can save for the essentials, the better. In fact, once the habit of saving is established, and after the major cost factors have been taken care of you will be in a far better position to pay off a less expensive car. Then, in due course, you will more easily be able to afford nearly everything you desire.

In today’s world, with high prices, it is often a good idea if you can work out some way of augmenting the family income by outside activities. There are innumerable methods available. It is a case of sitting down and working out what you are capable of doing, then trying to find something that meets your capabilities.

These may be simple or more complex. However, to start with, do not aim too high. The idea of starting your own business might appeal. Let me inject a warning note. About 80 per cent of small businesses run by husband-and-wife teams go to the wall within one to two years. In short, they go broke. Often they absorb the total bank account as well. In the end, you are infinitely worse off than before you started. Better still, keep at your basic income-producing activity, and get some side-line going. Pick something that will reap as high rewards for the time spent as possible. Often doing jobs that produce so much per hour is fairly restrictive in the potential income they may produce. I feel it is better to select something where you get paid $x for “the job.”

Over the past twenty to thirty years, real estate has been an amazing source of added income for many. Lots of young couples have bought a block of ground, probably worked on it, clearing it, fencing it, levelling it out, and then reselling it at a handsome profit. Then the experience may be repeated, and repeated, each time a substantial profit being made.

Many might claim that today such opportunities no longer exist. But for those who seek, the opportunities are always present. Often in difficult times, the greater are the number of chances, for it means that more and more people have to unload their property, or whatever.

Some young couples will buy a run-down house (on terms, or through a bank or building society), and spend all their spare time doing it up. They will work nights and week-ends and holidays, painting, patching, fixing. They will call in trades people to do essential jobs they are unable to do themselves. Finally they will have a house that is ready for resale. Then the kill comes when they receive a price which is ever so much more than the original price plus the costs involved in repairing it. Also, it often works out that they have enjoyed rent-free accommodation as well.

The combinations are endless. I cite this form of enterprise because over the past several years many young (and not so young) couples have done really well out of it.

In fact, I have watched with considerable interest several progresses from virtually nothing, into a home that was finally the envy of all their friends.

“How did they do it?” “Where could a couple of kids their age have amassed the money to get a lovely place like this?” were the comments. Of course, it was not easy-come-easy-go. It was hard work for several years. Bui instead of making a few dollars per hour, they made a really good profit on a “per house” basis. Of course, tax cut into the picture, and took its share, but this is part of life too. There is always something left, and when the profits are in the names of two people, it levels out the tax to a certain degree. These matters may offer food for thought for couples interested in securing their own home, and as well making some extra money on the side.

*21/76/5*

read comments (0)

If both partners plan to work, then there must be a general sharing of domestic duties. In short, if there are two breadwinners in the unit, there must also be two housemaids. We covered this briefly in principle in the previous chapter, but there we assumed the wife was not working.

When both are energetically spending eight hours a day at work (plus perhaps another one to two hours travelling to and from work), this minimizes the balance of available time. Sleeping, eating, preparing food and doing the other essential duties, takes so many hours. Which leaves only a relatively small amount of time to do everything else.

To avoid arguments which may inevitably crop up later on (after the initial euphoria has waned a little), it is really worth discussing these matters ‘ ‘in depth.” Why not sit down and write down all the possible items of work (in general principle) that will regularly occur? There is nothing like setting things down on paper for clarity. Add to it, and subtract from it. Then discuss the way in which these activities can be divided up. “I’ll do this; how about you taking care of that?”’ ‘Would you like to be responsible for this activity, while I get this section done?”

It might sound a bit airy-fairy, but in practice, it works. This way you will not be accusing one another of shirking. You will each bear relatively equal loads.

In many cases the girl is good at finances. Many women are really keen and mentally alert when it comes to running the money side of the house. They are good buyers, can dig out the bargains and make sensible purchases, and in short, are simply way ahead of males. Not always, of course, but often.

Therefore, many males find it a good idea to leave the financial running of the home to the wife. It can be worked out how the funds are to be divided up, and then the actual modus operandi can be left in her hands.

Conversely, the husband might be excellent at other aspects. In some homes he actually likes doing the cooking, or the domestic chores. Some wives like cutting the lawns. Some males are happier tinkering in their spare time with household repairs, getting the hundred-and-one little odd-jobs (which abound in every home) carried out quickly and expertly. Or the place may need a paint, or the squeaky door needs fixing, or some electrical faults have to be attended to, or the pipes become blocked and the sink won’t empty properly. So he prefers to accept the responsibility of these aspects of home care.

What about the shopping, both for clothing as well as food, as well as things in general? Once more, it depends on the mutual likes and dislikes and capabilities of the two. Some men hate shopping. I do. In fact, my wife has kindly done the shopping for me and my family for all our married life. I hate buying shirts and socks and other items of clothing. She has good taste, knows what I like, and that is that. Likewise, she does the domestic shopping, the food, and what-not.

On the other hand, many males love pushing a trolley around the supermarkets, doing the weekly buying. It all depends on how you feel about these things, and what your individual tastes are like. But, as these activities are going to continue on a never-ending basis for the rest of time, it is worth coming to some sort of mutually satisfactory pattern of living early in the piece.

Of course this does not mean you have to stick slavishly to the plan. If I decide I want to buy a tie, I go out and buy a tie. (Last time was about fifteen years ago.) This upsets nobody. But it is general principles of an on-going pattern that are worth deciding upon, the general overall scheme, that we are discussing.

Delineation of activities is a good idea. It sets out a general blueprint for future living. It can be varied, altered and changed about at any time according to its practicability and the wishes of I both partners.

Of course, from time to time, this pattern will have to be altered, probably radically. It may be a satisfactory method right now, but when baby number one arrives, it may have to be totally changed.

*7/76/5*

read comments (0)