there have been kinder months
than the last.
the views from the valley
have wearied my gaze.
but i've heard of a finale,
that will redeem all our sad days.
was i ready for it?
probably not — definitely not.
but are we ever ready for anything?
will i ever be completely ready —
to say goodbye to my beautiful mama
& her kind, compassionate and endlessly wise eyes?
to become a mama without her?
to watch my one-day daughters become mamas to their own daughters?
probably not — definitely not.
because ready is a lie
and it steals
our hopes & our dreams.
and it paralyses
our feet from moving.
and it cripples
our hearts from believing that life is most beautiful
when living in the unknown.
ready is for people who trust in themselves,
who want to live small & safe lives.
freedom is for people who trust
in the One who made them,
who want to live lives
too big, too beautiful, to full
to be ’ready’ for.
diffusing for grief —
i’ve been reaching a lot for emotional support oils lately because there have been some really big, grieving, heavy, crushing feelings weighing on my heart recently while walking through the valley, hand-in-hand with my family. i love that i can tailor my diffuser blends to meet whatever needs we have.
i used to be convinced that using oils for emotions was psychosymptomatic to the max — until i used them. now, i’ll never go without them. they’ve helped me feel the peace & joy & presence of God like nothing else.
did you know that inhaling essential oils stimulates your olfactory system (the part of your brain connected to smell) and as the tiiiiny molecules reach your brain (by penetrating the blood-brain barrier), they affect your limbic system and amygdala. your limbic system is linked to your emotions, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress & hormone balance. one of the ONLY ways to stimulate and bring about changes in your emotional brain is through smell!
i’m so grateful to God for how he’s given us such powerful, natural ways to support our hearts in every season of life. diffusing not only smells amazing (and frees your home from the toxic carcinogens in scented candles & air fresheners), but also supports you in the ways that you need — whether that be by calming anxiety, increasing mental clarity & focus, lifting your mood, waking you up, winding you down, getting you to sleep & so 👏 much 👏 more 👏! basically, whatever you need — there’s an oil for it.
here’s a little cheat sheet for emotional & wellness support for you:
⋒ PEACE — lavender, stress away, northern lights black spruce, white angelica
⋒ FOCUS — frankincense, rosemary, vetiver, orange, peppermint, lemon
⋒ ENERGY — peppermint, citrus oils, basil, geranium, en-r-gee
⋒ JOY — citrus oils, joy, valor, spearmint, inner child
⋒ WELL — thieves, r.c., oregano, frankincense
⋒ REST — chamomile, cedarwood, dream catcher, patchouli
which oils sound the most-needed to you and your heart? ✨
(read to the end! ✨) just a friendly reminder that you have the power to make your own everyday products & remedies — from immunity/sleep/hormone support to perfume to body wash to face serum to household cleaner. it’s cheaper, simpler & SO MUCH BETTER FOR YOUR BODY. the average woman puts 515 synthetic chemicals on her body daily (often without realising that they’re toxic) — chemicals that are straight-up linked to cancer & infertility & headaches & pms & the list goes on, but i will spare you.
i never want to share this information from a fear-based approach, but rather, an honesty-based approach. the honest truth is — these companies are not looking out for your health. they don’t care about your dreams of becoming a mum or of living a long, joy-filled life with your loved ones and what synthetic fragrance/phthalates/triclosan/sodium lauryl sulfate might do to interfere with that. they care about $$$. our country is getting sicker & more medicated. and i’ll keep talking about this until the day i die, because i want you & your family & friends to live vibrant, healthy lives. and i want to help you to do that! because — is there really any time for anything else?
i’ll jump fences, wander up mountains & dance in the rain with him forever. marriage is wondrous — and yet, it reminds us all the time that storybook love doesn’t just fall from the sky. we’ve accepted that we’ll probably accidentally hurt each other & need to say sorry a million times, because that’s what we signed up for when we committed to loving each other like Love himself — it’s a patient, long-suffering, never-going-anywhere kind of love. the real love stories require more grit than glamour & more forgiveness than façade. dickson holds up a mirror to me and simultaneously reveals my shadows & my light. and we fumble our way through to remember the meaning of it all — to live & love more like Jesus. we bring what we have. and God, in His mercy, subtracts our sin & multiplies our affections. it’s wildly imperfect & better than i ever imagined ✨
social media & i have a complicated relationship. sometimes, my brain feels so full of ‘content’ that i struggle to hear myself think. sometimes, i watch instagram stories & instantly forget what i feel called to because i am so distracted by what others are doing. sometimes, i wonder what it would be like to throw my phone into an ocean but — that would be the easy way out. it feels easier to simply run from the digital dance than to actually learn to engage with it in a HEALTHY way. i’m troubled by the way that our phones are quietly changing us. i wonder how often God is speaking to us when we feel like we can’t quite hear him over the noise.
just like anything else, our phones have a place & we can put them in that place.
media doesn’t just lie around passively, waiting for us to come along & find it. media tells us what to do & more significantly, what to WANT to do. there is a current in the stream & if we don’t know how to swim, we shall be carried by it.
my heart in this space is not to throw more content at you guys, but to share content that helps you wade through the content. i don’t want to just fill up space because the algorithm says that i should. that’s not my heart. i want to bring truth & vulnerability to the table and to help you see the extraordinary in the ordinary. i want everything to point back to our Maker & Saviour, because the moments of joy, grief & growth that we walk through are too big, too surreal, too beautiful & too magical to ever simply point back to me.
what do you like to do or what would you like to do to swim upstream? ✨
it’s the first day of spring and i couldn’t be happier about it 😍
this winter, more than ever, i’ve felt the yearning of my soul, my body & the earth for the promised first breaths of spring & all that she brings. i can feel the sunshine, the new life, the earth’s re-awakening & everything else that’s wondrous about spring and i’m 10000% here for it ✨
earlier this week, sooo many of you responded to my stories saying that you wanted to know how i make my natural dry shampoo —
so here you go, sweet friends! how to make the happiest, best-smelling dry shampoo that will love your scalp rather than harm it:
find yourself a small glass jar (bonus points if you can get your hands on an empty spice shaker jar which you can clean out with thieves if needed)
+ fill it 80% up with organic arrowroot flour/powder (i love getting mine from @thesourcebulkfoods)
+ if you have darker hair, gradually add organic cocoa powder (half a teaspoon at a time) and stir in until you get your desired colour; cocoa powder contains so many antioxidants & is ah-mazing for stimulating blood circulation in your scalp and promoting healthy hair growth
+ empty the jar into a small bowl for mixing
+ add 3 drops of lavender essential oil + 3 drops of spearmint essential oil (check out courtneymielle.com/essential-oils for quality ones that will love on your skin, hair & scalp!)
+ mix throroughly with a small spoon
+ throw it all back in the jar & voilà! it’s ready to go - shake it onto your roots, rub in with your hands or a makeup brush & go live your life!
since i started using it alongside my natural shampoo & conditioner, my hair has been growing insanely fast, is so soft & silky, gets way less oily and only needs a proper wash once or twice a week (and i’m pretty sensitive to feelings of greasiness/dirt). i’m pretty stoked about it 🙈 if you give it a go, i’d love to know what you think! ✨
