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The holidays are a wonderful time to gather with family, but it can also be a stressful time of year for some. Check out some easy, natural holiday stress relief to help take the edge off so that you can get the most out of your celebrations.

Relaxus
Relaxus is focused on providing simple, and successful tools to help you feel stress free. Their Harmony Roller offers a new way to instantly relieve stress and muscle aches by using an easy-grip rolling ball you can hold in the palm of your hand. Great to keep near your desk or use in the kitchen after cooking to give yourself a quick neck massage! Also, makes a perfect stocking stuffer! www.relaxus.com

Soothing Touch Narayan Balm
Narayan Oil is an ancient formula that features a powerful combination of essential oils to provide soothing relief to sore muscles and common aches and pains. This formula has been used for centuries to help people find an easy way to unwind. Again, also works as a great gift idea…especially for a stressed out boss! www.soothingtouch.com

Tropical Shiatsu
Tropical Shiatsu uses the principles of reflexology to help relax muscle tension and improve blood circulation. Simply trim according to foot size,  then place in the insoles of your shoes to soothe your feet and body. They are also wonderful for lower back pain and offer amazing arch support. Great for people who are on their feet all day!

Bach Flower Essences
You may have heard of Bach’s popular Rescue Remedy for overall stress, but did you know that they make 38 specific remedies for various emotional concerns? For instance, their Emotional Eating Support Kit contains three different remedies to help people who turn to food during the holiday season.

It doesn’t make sense to plant in soil that is depleted in nutrients, especially when we want to eat the plants we are trying to grow. Weak plants don’t make for nutritious meals, a healthy environment, or a sustainable planet.

Here are my top 5 favorite quotes about the importance of using organic soil:

“Organic agriculture builds the health of the soil, providing the foundation for healthy crops and a livelihood for good stewards of the land.”- Organic Trade Association

http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits/soil.html

Why it’s a favorite: It reminds me of how “motherly” our planet is.

“Organic farming is personal.”- Farmer and fellow Wild Oats blogger Dave Carter

https://wildoats1.wpengine.com/blog-posts/organic-farming-personal/

Why’s it a favorite: I believe that eating the organic way helps us establish intimacy with the food that fuels our bodies and helps us bond with the land that feeds our livelihood.

“Organic is something we can all partake of and benefit from. When we demand organic, we are demanding poison-free food. We are demanding clean air. We are demanding pure, fresh water. We are demanding soil that is free to do its job and seeds that are free of toxins. We are demanding that our children be protected from harm. We all need to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done—buy organic whenever we can, insist on organic, fight for organic and work to make it the norm. We must make organic the conventional choice and not the exception available only to the rich and educated.” – Maria Rodale, CEO and Chairman of Rodale, author of Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe

http://www.organicauthority.com/15-quotes-from-the-leaders-of-the-real-food-movement/

Why it’s a favorite: Not only must we “demand” and insist on authentic, accessible and affordable food production, we must purchase organic for ourselves and our families- not just speak, but also act to win the fight.

“If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If we chew every morsel of our food in that way we become grateful and when you are grateful, you are happy.”- Thich Nhat Hanh

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/soil.html#AFOHkyzTTusAAiSx.99

Why it’s a favorite: Organic food is intimate.

“If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us.”- David Suzuki

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/soil.html#AFOHkyzTTusAAiSx.99

What it’s a favorite: Money can not save the Earth; we can only save it ourselves.

Happy Mission Monday! The holidays are just around the corner and it seems the decorations and festivities show up increasingly earlier with each passing year. It makes us wonder — how early is too early for holiday music? Are you the type of person that welcomes the holiday music as early as possible or do you feel like it’s only appropriate after Thanksgiving? Let us know the first holiday song you’ve heard this year for a chance to win! We hope you take a moment to play along on Twitter or Facebook.

Today’s challenge: Let us know the first holiday song you’ve heard!

If you’re playing along on Facebook, simply comment in our Mission Monday post before 11:59 p.m. ET tonight to be entered to win!

If you’d like to play along on Twitter, simply tweet us your answer with #wildoatsmission #sweeps by 11:59 p.m. ET today to be entered to win!

Good luck! Full Sweepstakes rules and details can be found here Twitter and Facebook.

Those are not my words, that is from an article by Robert Eckert from The Harvard Business Review quoting Mary Kay Ash (the cosmetics entrepreneur) concerning the power of two simple words, – Thank you.

I was skeptical at first, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was true. For most of us, consciously or unconsciously sex and money are reflections of a larger need – the need to be recognized, valued and loved. People have always known that sex doesn’t necessarily mean love – and money can buy a lot of things, but ultimately it’s just a means to an end. The words, “Thank you,” whether written or spoken have the power to transform. They can move us from indifference to engagement in the time it takes them to reach our ear, or heart.

Thanksgiving is an active and enlivening word. It is something we do but also something we need. The need to be recognized and praised (or valued) is as basic to being human as breathing in and out. However, unlike breathing, which we do on our own and involuntarily, saying “Thank you,” is a choice that catapults us into relationship.

For gratitude to have its effect, there must be a recipient. Someone or something whose presence, contribution, and value we are acknowledging. It requires a level of humility. You can’t authentically thank someone and be self obsessed at the same time. The very fact that it requires outward focus liberates us from our singularity. At the same time, it situates us firmly in a world that is uniquely vulnerable.

As I was looking into this it seemed a little ironic to me that some of the titles surrounding being grateful were lists of the benefits. Somehow it seems like the benefits – while they are real, are not the reason we should say ‘thank you.’ The real reason as far as I can tell is that it is an acknowledgement of what we have actually received. Of our need and connectedness, – the fact that we are utterly dependant on one another in a universe that is incalculable and awesome, and that offers no guarantees against our finite existence.

At the end of the day, life itself is a gift, and must be accounted for in some way.

Maybe the only real accounting we can make – is gratitude.

C. S. Lewis once said something to the effect that, “If we are loved at all it is as much in spite of, rather than because of, who we are.”

Having family and/or friend who tolerate – and even love us, is no small thing. To that my heart says a resounding, “Thank you.”

The Two Most Important Words – HBR

Health Benefits of Saying Thanks

Benefits of gratitude

NBC News – Say ‘thank you’ it’s for your health

31 Benefits of Gratitude