Tapping Into Possibilities

Who’s in Charge? Owning Your Health

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Adelle Davis, nutritionist and author, and considered by many to be “the Mother of Nutrition”, wrote in 1947, yes, that’s 1947!

As I see it, everyday you do one of two things, build health or produce disease in yourself

Almost 20 years ago, long before Dr. Oz wrote his book You, The Owners Manual (2005), I took a work shop about owning your health and the lessons have stayed with me all these years.

Bottom line: You invest in a 401K or an IRA for your future financial health but what are you doing for your future physical health because what good is your money if you’re sick and miserable and in pain?

Ask yourself this question: What am I doing every day to build/maintain my health or to destroy it?

Think OWNERS

Oxygen (clean air/breathing properly)

Water (quantity/quality)

Nutrition (real food/eating organically, locally, seasonally even supplements)

Energy (exercise/movement/increase your vibration)

Relaxation (meditation/yoga/mind-body practices like Tai Chi)

S (sleep/stillness)

Some friends think I’m crazy for where I spend my time, energy and resources but I think Thomas Jefferson had it right in 1826 when he wrote,

Without health there is no happiness. An attention to health, then should take the place of every other object

 

A Drought, No Doubt, or Maybe Not

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Drought: 1) a period of dryness 2) an extended shortage

It has been almost exactly two, yes two, years since I posted here or even looked at this website for that matter.

I could come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons for the drought but, in fact, there is no blame to place.

While some may see this gap as a drought, I see it as a gift that I’m very grateful for.

I’m busy. I’m a multi-tasker. I’m a doer. But then I realized all that busyness was just a form of procrastination.

Procrastination: The act of postponing, delaying or putting off, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.

or Fear

Like I said, I’m a multi-tasker and always on the go. And then I found a gem of a book, called The Power of Receiving by Amanda Owen. I spent most of my time in what Amanda calls Active States. Persuading, Doing, Analyzing, Talking, Thinking, Evaluating, Controlling and the list goes on.

Sound familiar anyone?

“When you rely almost exclusively on activity, your will is overtaxed. There is no replenishment time. It’s easy to see this in the person who is constantly on the go. Eventually the body, emotions or the mind tend to rebel. The body may become sick, the emotions frazzled or the mind scattered. It’s like trying to keep a bunch of balls in the air all the time. It’s exhausting” (p31)

For the past two years, I’ve been spending as much time as I can learning about and being in Receptive States. Meditating, Allowing, Observing, Listening, Welcoming, Feeling Grateful. And of course, feeling feelings, those touchy feely, sometimes painful things that most of us try to ignore.

While the past two years may have been a drought of posts, they have been an oasis for me.

Oasis: 1) A fertile or green spot in a desert or wasteland, made so by the presence of water 2) A situation or place preserved from surrounding unpleasantness; a refuge: an oasis of serenity amid chaos.

It certainly has not been a drought of learning, writing, exploring, growing, changing and gratitude.

 

 

 

 

The Golden Rule

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A family member has chosen to launch an attack on our family in a public forum under the guise of a “lyrical essay”. It has taken me hours of internal wrestling this week not to launch the nuclear codes because someone said unkind things about my family, hence me.

So my response to my hurt feelings, to my family member and to anyone and everyone (including Donald) is my own “lyrical essay” on The Golden Rule

With all the recent talk about civility (or lack there of), I could not help but think of The Golden Rule. The awful things people say to each other, and about each other, these days makes me cringe. I believe you can be honest and critical without being hurtful, without taking cheap shots. The pent up hostility and anger of so many is rather scary.

And then I think of The Golden Rule. What if just for today you were slow to anger, you were kind, you remembered The Golden Rule?”

Did you know that every religion/culture has the exact same Golden Rule? For example, in the Buddhist Udana-Varga,” Hurt not others in ways that you yourself find hurtful”. In the Islamic Sunnah, “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself”. In the New Testament, Matthew 7:12, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets”. And my favorite, because there is so much commentary these days, every one has to have the last word, from the Talmud, Shabbat, “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary”.

Just imagine if The Golden Rule became the law of man, think what it would do for your stress levels, your health, your family, the world?”

While I’m sure most of you are familiar with the great American illustrator and painter, Norman Rockwell, I was not familiar with his painting The Golden Rule until I visited The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA this past June. The GIMG_2184[1]olden Rule appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on April 1, 1961 and was reimagined as a mosaic and given to the United Nations from the United States in 1985. Rockwell was a compassionate man and considered himself to be a “citizen of the world”. I work everyday to become one as well and use this picture as a reminder.

 

 

 

Easy Stress Relieving Tip (and believe me, I did this a lot this week): Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thick Nhat Hanh, one of my favorite authors, has a mantra, Breathing In I am calming myself, Breathing Out I am smiling, Breathing In I am determined to practice deep listening. Breathing Out I am determined to practice loving speech.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Life and Death of a Family Friend …..and Some Lessons Learned

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Sasha joined our family on September 7, 2001 after I lost the battle with my strong willed, then 7 year old, daughter Martha. We’d been visiting the local shelters for a month looking for a young dog, NOT a puppy. I knew we’d “know” when we found our dog. Martha pushed and prodded for us to just look at this one puppy she’d discovered. Big ears, big feet, covered in poop and those speckled socks that never ceased to charm all who met her, I picked up this 4 month old Australian Shepherd mix who immediately leaned in to me, laid her head on my shoulder and my heart melted.

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14 ½ years later my heart is melting again as we bid our dear friend farewell.

Sasha had been rescued from a barn at 6 weeks but this “kill” shelter didn’t follow protocol knowing that July and August are slow months for placing animals and that she was special, that she would find her forever home.

 

From the beginning she was always where the family was, sometimes inconveniently in the bathroom, and remained slim and trim from herding dogs and kids at the park and following everyone up and down stairs multiple times a day until she couldn’t.

 

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She loved her excursions to the woods in West VA and the beach. She loved the car until she didn’t when she could no longer get in on her own.

 

 

But we got one last fun visit to the beach where she ran on the beach forgetting for a bit her failing legs.FullSizeRenderbeach[6]

She never met a person or a dog she didn’t like. She greeted all with a wagging tail, a sniff and a kiss.

 

 

At 7 she was hit by a car in front of our house. It was my fault. I was talking to a neighbor across the street and Sasha darted across the street to say hello as well. Several ruptured organs, several surgeries (don’t ask the cost, it was money well spent) but she made a full recovery with the caveat that this type of traumatic injury would shorten her life. She had another healthy 7 years, comfortable and fully ambulatory until she wasn’t. First the hearing went, then the vision, then the back legs, then the will to make the trips upstairs to sleep by our bed or to get in the car.

We have been preparing for this day since September when she couldn’t stand on her own. With the help of steroids, she has had a comfortable and good, not great, 5 months but steroids wreak havoc on one’s hormones and liver. This week we knew the time had come to say goodbye.

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss

I have been blessed by her presence. We all need a dog to teach us a few lessons to make us better people, better parents, better friends. Patience (with unruly kittens and toddlers), Loyalty (always waiting at the door), Forgiveness (“All is Forgiven, I Still Love You” her beautiful brown eyes always said to me, even when I’d acted out in frustration or anger), Play (work is overrated, play ball and have some fun, play with our wonderful mailman Louis who patiently put one letter at a time through the mail slot for her to grab but never destroy) and, of course, Love.

Unable are the loved to die for love is immortality.” Emily Dickinson

 Our pets provide some of the happiest moments in our lives and their unconditional love and loyalty ease us through some of our unhappiest moments. 14 years in a family are an awful lot of ups and downs, wins and losses and transitions and milestones. A four legged friend makes them all better, easier, happier or less painful and I am grateful for each one she shared with us.

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” Rumi, 13th c Persian poet & theologian

I am grateful that we did not have to make a final car ride, that our gentle and kind vet came to us so that our sweet Sasha drifted away peacefully in the home she has so enriched.

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 The song is ended but the melody lingers on.” Irving Berlin

 

CLEARING CLUTTER FOR CLARITY

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I haven’t had one idea, one “ah ha moment” or an inkling for what to write about for months until today.

What do I blame the block on? CLUTTER.

I am not a hoarder; I’m not even a collector of “collectibles” and my tabletops and counters are basically clear except for my home office. I have an office and a desk that are dragging me down with piles of so many interesting articles I want to read and write about and bills to file (fortunately they are all paid) and taxes to organize and new and old photos that need a home. You get the picture.

I am the poster child for Cluttered Environment/Cluttered Mind.

I don’t know about you, but my biggest stressor is disorganization and clutter. It gives me headaches, makes me tired, unmotivated and feeling scattered.

I’m not the only one in the house who can’t let things go which simply compounds the problem. Do you have unfinished work, unfinished projects, unanswered mail, magazines, catalogues, fat clothes, skinny clothes, books to read or reread? Do you have duplicates or triplicates of things? How about the 20 packs of sandpaper we discovered when cleaning our garage or the new in box keyboard in a storage box labeled Home Improvements.

Whatever it is that you have too much of, it’s like carrying an extra 25 lbs that your body doesn’t want or need.  It weighs you down, tires you out and definitely cramps your style.

Years ago I read the book Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks and the title of one chapter has stuck with me, haunted me, for years: Clearing Clutter for Clarity. I know it, I believe it and yet I still have so much trouble letting things go. Don’t we all?

You’ve got to get rid of something in order to make room for some thing new, literally and figuratively.

When we clear the physical clutter from out lives, we literally make way for good, orderly direction to enter.”                                        Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Yes, the time has come to face what I’ve been procrastinating about for way too long. What if I get rid of it and I need it sometime? I don’t have  enough time. No more excuses.

There are many helpful books on clearing clutter for clarity including The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (45 weeks on the best seller list) and many incredible professional organizers but they weren’t what got me going at 7pm on a Saturday night.

The key to my success was good music and no internet or email or cell phone.

Did you know that the feel good, pleasure related hormone dopamine is released when you listen to your favorite music? A Canadian study from McGill University found that dopamine is released as soon as we think about our favorite tunes.

I had such fun listening to some of my favorite Motown music that the time flew by.

Books to donate, a large bag of trash, 4 bags of paper for the recycling truck on Monday, an empty shelf, an empty drawer and this post. Not bad for less than 4 hours.

How do I feel? Lighter, clearer, more focused and ready to tackle a closet or two tomorrow.

Out of clutter, find simplicity.” Albert Einstein

 

 

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

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Is this article in today’s Washington Post a “Known Unknown” or an “Unknown Unknown”. I think the latter. But I am always excited to learn about both.

The benefits of LED Light Therapy for reducing pain and increasing circulation are a Known Unknown.

“Known unknowns result from phenomena which are recognized, but poorly understood. On the other hand, unknown unknowns are phenomena which cannot be expected because there has been no prior experience or theoretical basis for expecting the phenomena.”

The benefits of LED Light Therapy are known and recognized in scientific circles and include many 100’s of studies on LLLT (low level light therapy)  but are mostly unknown by the general public.

This exciting discovery about the brain’s lymphatic system…..meaning the brain has a way to get the garbage out……is an Unknown Unknown….new to everyone.

What is particularly exciting to me is the possibility that this Unknown Unknown may enable a Known Unknown (that light therapy increases circulation wherever the light is placed) to become a Known Known  (red and near infrared light therapy can penetrate the skull, increasing circulation to the brain, bringing nutrients in and taking garbage out, alleviating the symptoms of many problems affecting the brain).

“Scientists find the brain’s missing ‘pipes’ by Amy Ellis Nutt

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“Throw out the textbooks” and “missing link” are words rarely heard anymore in science, but that’s what researchers around the world are saying about the recent discovery of microscopic lymphatic vessels connecting the brain to the immune system…….Click to read more…….. Scientists find the brain’s missing ‘pipes’

 

 

 

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” 
― Donald Rumsfeld, 2002

 

Falling…..in Gratitude

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Today I am so grateful for being able to hold a pen in my right hand and to write.

Last Monday I was doing my typical multi tasking and rushing. I still had to walk my dog before rushing to the gym and I was late, as usual. We’d had another of Washington DC’s weird snow, ice, freezing rain storms on Sunday. The side walks were sheets of ice but the streets were clear, or so they appeared.

Sidebar: “Things aren’t always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many.” Phaedrus, 4th c Roman poet

Well, you guessed it….I fell on the ice and broke my right arm leading to a day in the emergency room, a night in the hospital and a visit to the operating room the next day.

And yet I’m grateful. Grateful for the kind neighbors who stopped in their rush to get to work who lifted my big, old, deaf wet dog into their car and drove me home, the neighbor and friend who drove me to the emergency room, the professional, efficient and kind staff at Suburban Hospital who didn’t treat me like a number or just another careless person. I am so grateful for my husband, Frank, who’s Honey Do List grew exponentially, for thoughtful and attentive kids and for friends who drove me, who cut up my food and washed my hair in the sink and just kept me company.

Be grateful for the little things even when things aren’t  going along with your plan.

Florence Scovel Shinn (New Thought spiritual teacher and metaphysician) wrote almost a 100 years ago in The Game of Life and How to Play It

Today is a day of completion. I give thanks for this perfect day. Miracle shall follow miracle and wonders shall never cease.

And I couldn’t agree more.

NOURISH

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2015 is the year of the Goat, the Sheep, the number 8, the Putin Dictatorship, an alien UFO invasion, modification of the human DNA for immortality or the International Year of Light (more on that later) depending on what you read or believe.

For me, 2015 is the year of Nourishment.

Nourish: provide with the food or other substances necessary for growth, health and good condition or to cause (something) to develop or grow stronger.

 If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.Hippocrates

Am I nourishing my body, my mind, my emotions, my family, my work with this choice, this action, this word?

  To nourish someone is to feed them deeply something that’s very good for them. Alice Waters, American author & chef

Forget the resolutions, if I can only choose nourishment in all my decisions, it is all I need for a joyous, productive and happy new year.