How to Calm Your Restless Legs

If you ever had restless leg,  you know how uncomfortable it feels. Especially, when you try to go to sleep, you want to find a solution quickly. If this is a recurring problem, you want to consult your physician.

Rather than taking medication, or even applying a cream, I suggest using a foam roller. I learned this method from Dr. Ben Kim, a naturopathic doctor from Canada. He points to acupressure points under the knee. In the soft tissue behind the knee which is called popliteal fossa  there are acupressure points related to the gallbladder. By putting the foam roller under your knees and raising the legs up and down you can feel the pressure behind your knees. It also stimulates some lymphatic vessels, the politeal vein, blood circulation and other nerve endings, and therefore, benefits the whole leg. 

Here is a short video from Dr. Kim’s website:





Foam Roller 17x6x6



I apply the foam roller every night before I go to sleep. Additionally, I do my exercise routine at the gym, watch my diet and take my vitamins. Some physicians also encourage losing some weight to eliminate any discomfort.



I very like all the suggestions Dr. Kim gives and subscribe to his newsletter.  He often sends recipes from his native country Korea, modified to a more healthy living.

You are made as Superb Beings with Infinite, Divine Possibilities

You may have heard of Success magazine but you may not be aware of the founder Orison Swett Marden  who lived in New England, born 1850 – 1924. His story is that of rags to riches, and he is considered by many the founder of the personal development movement. He was very much a self-made man who early on discovered that one had to believe in oneself to make it in this world. Becoming an orphan at age 7, being moved among some relatives, he found himself as an apprentice when he discovered a self-help book by Samuel Smiles which made a deep impression on him. So much that he determined himself to get as much education as he could, including a Doctor degree from Harvard University. Over his lifetime he wrote many inspirational books and sermons including “The Miracle of Right Thought.”

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

That seems like good advice to contemplate on positive ideals, to dwell on them and meditate on them all day long. His methods of self-suggestions and affirmations have helped thousands of men and women to become great citizens.

“We should see ourselves in a much grander light; should think of ourselves as superb beings with infinite, divine possibilities. Don’t be afraid of thinking too highly of yourself, for if the Creator made you, you must have inherited divine, omnipotent possibilities, you must partake of His qualities.”


“Never allow yourself to think meanly, narrowly, poorly of yourself. Never regard yourself as weak, inefficient, diseased, but as perfect, complete, whole. Never even think of the possibility of going through life a failure or a partial failure.”

Mr. Marden was a deeply religious man, well versed in the written words of the Scriptures and many times quotes from the stories in the Bible.

“Failure and misery are not for the man who has seen the God-side of himself, who has been in touch with divinity. They are for those who have never discovered themselves and their God-like qualities.  Stoutly assert that there is a place for you in the world, and that you are going to fill it like a man. Train yourself to expect great things of yourself.”

He was right in quoting the enemy in the negative emotions which are influenceing us against any logic and reasoning. He gave well seasoned advice to never continue any task in a confused or mean state of mind. Rather he suggested to get out of the office into nature if possible, to clear once mind and heart from any negative influences.

“How can you expect to get the maximum of efficiency when worry, fear, anxiety, discouragement, or melancholy are sapping twenty-five, fifty, or seventy-five percent, of your mental energy? You must clear the mind of its enemies; otherwise you pay the penalty in exhausted vitality, in wasted energy.”

It is our birthright to be happy, healthy and prosperous. I benefitted greatly by reading his “Miracle of Right Thought.” We often undervalue, are indifferent and put ourselves down for no other reason that we belief our negative self-talk.

Orison Swett Marden proved to himself and to the world, that discipline and deferring of gratification builds a strong character and brings great success in later life. He has some very good advice when we encounter the “blues” or negative thoughts:

“When you feel the “blues” coming on, concentrate your mind vigorously upon the very opposite qualities, hold the ideals of cheerfulness, confidence, gratitude, good-will towards everybody, and you will be surprised to see how quickly the enemies which were dogging your steps and making your life miserable will disappear, just as the darkness does when the shutters are opened and the light rushes in.”

Dwelling on unfortunate experiences or mistakes only makes them bigger, blacker more hideous. Forget them, thrust them out of your mind as you would a thief from your home. Say to them, “You have no power over me. You cannot destroy my peace. You are not the truth of my being. The reality of me is divine. You cannot touch principle, my real self. Only the good and the true are scientific realities, are absolutely real, all else, however real it may seem, is false, because there is only one Infinite Power in the universe. A supreme, perfect Being could not have made imperfection or discouragement. However real they seem, they are not realities, they are only the absence of harmony, the absence of truth.”

Mr. Marden himself had many setbacks in his life and became discouraged where it would have been easier to go back than to push on. His words are therefore very real and uplifting and certainly possible for anyone to practice.

By focusing on the good, the ideal, the renewal and growth, he taught us the principle of that only light can chase out darkness; instead of trying to root out gloominess, worry and fear, cultivate the opposite quality. The best antidote for negativity is to be grateful, aspire for the higher things in life and keep the image of perfection.

His motto is: “Kill the negative by cultivating the positive.”

Long before the Law of Attraction became popular, he warned of superstitious beliefs, wrong mental concentrations, or predicting misfortunes; rather he enlightened people with convictions of greatness, confidence in the Omnipotent Creative Power, and faith in the ultimate connections of a beneficent universe based on an immortal Principle.

He believed that the secret of achievement is concentration.

Man is great in proportion as he reflects truth, justice, and righteousness. The very holding of the thought that we are truth itself, that error is abnormal to us, that we are harmony and not discord, that we are the principle of life, the very essence of love, justice, truth, and beauty gives us peace, serenity, a steadfastness and spiritual uplift which no material things can bestow. The constant contemplation of our union with the Infinite life, the realization that literally “I and my Father are one,” helps to establish a certainty, an assurance that we are not the playthings of chance, the puppets of accident or fate, that we are not tossed hither and thither in the universe the victims of a cruel destiny which we cannot control. The secret of all health, prosperity, and happiness is being in conscious union with the Divine.

The late Professor Shaler, of Harvard University, said that the greatest discovery of the last century was that of the unity of everything in the universe, the oneness of all life.

This idea that there is but one principle running through the universe, one life, one truth, one reality, that this power is divinely beneficent, and that we are in this great current principle, which is running God-ward, is one of the most inspiring, encouraging, and fear-killing that ever entered the human mind.

Here is the ultimate comfort:
Just in proportion as we realize this oneness with the Divine, this at-one-ment with our Maker, do our lives become calm, confident, and creative.

"Just try the experiment of thinking of yourself as an absolutely perfect being, possessing superb health, a magnificent body, a vigorous constitution, a sublime mind, and capable of standing any amount of strain."

With these words I like to conclude the “Miracle of Right Thought.” I also like to encourage you to read the complete manuscript at: http://www.mrrena.com/misc/marden_miracle.php. It is certainly an inspiration on a dreary winter day. Happy reading.

Listen to the Silence

We had a lot of snow in the recent weeks here in Ohio. I don’t particularly like the cold weather, but one thing I noticed when snow is falling, it is very quiet outdoors. Even in our suburban neighborhood, it is usually noisy with cars driving by, airplanes flying overhead, dog barking, etc.

When I was shoveling snow the other day, I became very aware of the silence outdoors. Cars driving by were going very slow and the sounds were muffled. I enjoyed that quiet time and even though the snow covered all my shoveling again, it fell so softly. It reminded me of this verse I found a while ago:

“We must be silent before we can listen.
We must listen before we can learn.
We must learn before we can prepare.
We must prepare before we can serve.
We must serve before we can lead.”

~ William Arthur Ward (American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)

Some say listening in an art. It certainly is a skill which many have never learned. Listening is a ministry. It communicates love. When we care enough to listen, we validate another person's worth.

By listening to the falling snow I felt the love of the creator who covered the gray and barren grounds with a blanket of snow. It looks so pretty and clean, especially when the sun shines on it.

I read once about "Captain" Kirk Scherz from Boeing. He observed, "To be an exceptional listener we must be SILENT when the other person is speaking."

As he goes on to say, the secret to good listening can be found in the word "LISTEN." All you have to do is re-arrange the letters, and you come up with "SILENT."

And if you are willing to be silent once in a while, while others are speaking, Scherz says the rewards are enormous. He says, "You make the conversation rewarding, stimulating, motivating, and satisfying ... because in the final analysis every human being needs someone just to LISTEN to them."

Maybe these long winter days are a good opportunity to strengthen our listening skills and give someone our full ear.

Ancestor Veneration

What is ancestral veneration? It is the honoring of our forefathers, parents, relatives who passed on to the other side of life.  I looked it up at Wikipedia. 

In light of last weekend’s tragic event in Arizona where 6 people were killed by a young man, who some people believe being mentally disturbed, beside being possibly under the influence of drugs, we have to ask ourselves, what kind of a society are we living in and what kind of children are we raising in this great country of America? Obviously, this is an isolated case, but incidents like these have happened before, which raises even more questions. Are we our brother’s keepers and are American families providing the kind of surrounding and care a young person deserves while growing up?

I like to introduce here a perspective which is not so common, especially in our culture. We are living in this physical, visible world. But we learn through our faith and now also through science that there is also an invisible, spiritual world; the world we will enter after we leave this life here on earth. If you are a movie lover, you may have seen the “Sixth Sense,”  “Ghost,” “What Dreams May Come,”  “The Peaceful Warrior,” or the classic “The Christmas Carol.” The moment we entertain the idea that live doesn’t end when we die, opens many new opportunities, along with responsibilities. I believe that the reason we haven’t dealt with that idea too much, is that we have too many problems here on earth that we haven’t looked there to solve our dilemma.

From my own experience I have blocked out many of the memories of the past because of shame, false pride and basic ignorance. With my German background, I felt that there wasn’t too much to be proud of. But what is a period of ten years or so compared to hundreds and thousands of years our ancestors lived through?

We are all born into a certain family, with a father and a mother. Each of the parents are part of a lineage which some people are trying to research through the registry of their ancestry. It just became clear to me that we carry not only their physical DNA but also their emotions, thoughts and beliefs from one generation to the next. This has been documented by scientists like Dr. Bruce Lipton but it is also known to body workers like massage therapists and chiropractors that when they work on a person that sometimes emotions are released which makes the patient all over sudden cry or shake or act peculiar. Especially in the healing arts it has become known as facts that many of our “diseases” are actually caused by cellular memories or trapped emotions. Those emotions are usually negative emotions which cause the patient pain and suffering.

I like to suggest here that that young man Jared was acting on some negative emotions which could be his own anger and fears; or maybe Karma of his lineage. Does that mean he is not responsible for his actions? Not at all – he will have to face the consequences of his actions either here on earth or in the afterlife.

“The choices that we make in life are not unique to us. They are a distillation of all that has come before us. The more we become aware of our ancestral lineage, the more freedom we will have to honor what is best and let go of the rest.”
~ Denise Linn from her book, Descendants

Since I have become familiar with the different healing modalities of emotional release and have practiced myself The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson for a few months I have become very compassionate about my own ancestors. Many nights I have been praying, crying, and forgiving my forefathers for emotions which I found trapped in my own body. Surprisingly, many emotions are caused by women ancestors. With low self-esteem, often being taken for granted for their labor, and unsupported in their back-breaking work load, always staying in the shadow of men, they have suffered from depression, hopelessness, and fears with now where to go. Giving birth to children was their greatest pride, only to find that their offsprings also became conditioned and manipulated by society and cultures just as they were.

At least in this country we have now the great privilege and responsibility to heal our ancestors' wounds and with that our own pains. In other cultures they don’t have the same freedom we have here. You may blame yourself for what you inherited but the truth is, it is not your fault nor anyone else’s. By honoring our ancestors and comforting them, they can become our friends and guardian angels. And just like our living grand-parents want to help us and spoil us, our diseased ancestors want to take care of us. By the Law of Attraction, they can only do that if we love and forgive them. What we appreciate, appreciates (increases in value).

The beauty of the emotional release therapy is that we can let go of the negative feelings once and for all, and at the same time liberate our ancestors.  As we acknowledge our spiritual nature within us, we can also accept our human-ness.  This allows us to be compassioned with ourselves and the lineage which we are part of.
There is an interesting book out there which I have not read yet but which makes so much sense: we can heal our family patterns. 


“The character and experiences of our ancestors shape our lives in all sorts of ways. Scientific studies indicate that a far greater range of psychological traits come down to us through the generations than was previously acknowledged. David Furlong aims to show how important it is to heal the family patterns from past generations that continue to affect our lives today. By learning to connect with these energies from the past, he argues, we can free up and balance their impact on our lives and on future generations.”
~ Healing Your Family Patterns by David Furlong


It is interesting to know that other cultures, especially the Oriental countries and African tribes have set aside special days and ceremonies where they honor their dead.  This is not to be confused with ancestor worship. Before Halloween became so popular in the West we used to celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st or even our Memorial Day is not just to honor fallen Heroes but anybody who came before us.

I truly believe that it is our responsibility today to learn and practice emotional releases to free ourselves from the past, our own and that of our ancestors. That is the only way to meet our God (who is the ultimate ancestor) and be prepared for His Second Coming.

Practicing Happiness

Ever since I started with practicing gratitude all kinds of new opportunities opened up for me. First, I learned about The Emotion Code which helped me release unwanted baggage of the past. Through it I discovered that I didn’t mess up my life but rather had to restore something from my past which resulted in joint disease. It gave me the choice to opt for hip replacement surgery and hasten my recovery. Secondly, I was able to forgive my ancestors and go on a course of spiritual growth like never before. Third, I can focus now on matters of true authenticity and “being-ness.” Since this is all happening at the end of the year 2010, I am very confident that the next year will bring many surprises and successes.

I started reading a book by Marci Shimoff “Happy for No Reason.”

 Marci did her homework in exploring happiness from many different angles, mostly coming from the inside. One comment especially compelled me to write this essay. She discovered that the wording in the Declaration of Independence “in pursuit of happiness” had a different meaning at the time of Thomas Jefferson. Rather than meaning “chasing happiness” it was used for “practicing” like in a carrier, as an occupation or interest.

Ms. Shimoff makes very clear that happiness is not the result of reaching a goal, finding a meaningful relationship or job, or not even having lots of money. It is more a state of mind which can be cultivated through better habits and intentions. Among other ideas, she suggests to focus on

Three principles:
• Principle of expansion and openness
• Concept of a friendly and supportive universe
• Law of Attraction which brings us what we appreciate.

For many decades now I have been studying the Divine Principle which starts out in its introduction with: Everyone is struggling to attain happiness and avoid misfortune. I believe that we are “programmed” by our creator to be happy. Like most people I have always thought that we had to strive for it like reaching for a goal. I always knew that happiness couldn’t be achieved by getting things, or being in any certain circumstance. It had to come from the inside, instead of external influences.

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it."  ~~ William Feather (1889-1981) Writer

Thanks to Marci Shimoff’s book I came to understand that it is more a daily practice of being-ness which can be broken down into the seven steps she mentions in her book:

1. Take responsibility for your happiness
2. Watch your mind by checking your beliefs

3. Watch your heart by focusing on gratitude, forgiveness and kindness

4. Build your body with good food and exercise (here is an example for an easy stretching exercise which also inspires forgiveness and mindfulness by Dr. Ted Morter of Arkansas, who also developed the B.E.S.T. system.)
5. Build your spirit by connecting to your creator
6. Find your purpose and passion
7. Nourish your relationships

That’s sounds like a mouthful, but we have a whole life to figure it out. Marci gives us inspiring stories for examples as well as certain exercises to apply on a daily basis, which will direct you in a more happy and fulfilling direction.

“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”  ~~ Helen Keller (1880-1968) American writer and Activist

Here is my take on Practicing Happiness:
1. Decide to be happy; with the emphasis on BEING
2. Establish happy habits – take baby steps looking for happy things
3. Belief you can be happy – take ownership
4. Banish the myth of “more”
5. Banish the myth of “someday”
6. Breathe deeply, relax and feel your body expand
7. Choose lightness – allow your body to stay expanded (contrary to contracted)
8. Base your choices on how you feel (lightness), only you can make you happy
9. Trust that everything happens for your good – the universe is supportive
10. Repeat happy words over and over
11. Look for blessings in all circumstances
12. You are like a magnet – you attract to you what you think, feel, say or act on
13. Be and feel happy – the law of attraction will work for you
14. Get out of the victim mode by letting go of “the baggage”
15. Focus your intention on “Being Happy”
16. You deserve to be happy, it is your birthright
17. Focus on the NOW – happiness is only possible in the Present Moment
18. Let you heart guide you
19. Happiness is healing

Here is a guideline to a complimentary “Happy for No Reason” work book by Marci Shimoff: http://www.learningstrategies.info/pdf/hfnr_workbook.pdf

May you experience a renewed sense of happiness during this coming year.