Health & Vitality - My Ongoing Search

Well, here we are, on the cusp of the new year.  As I reflect back on this year, it seems it has passed by quickly in some ways.  That's something I always used to hear from 'older' people, and now I am one of them! I started off this year with some goals related to my health and vitality.  Some were achieved and some were not.  I surpassed my weight loss goal and have been able to maintain practices around that.  With all the news in the past year about 'sitting being the new smoking', in terms of negative effects, I set a goal to spend less time sitting at the computer.  That's one I did not do so well with.  I did figure out a couple of ways that I could do some computer time standing, without the benefit of an adjustable desk, but I just have not been able to instill the habit.  Instead of falling off the wagon on that one, I simply plopped back down on my chair. :) A big challenge area for me, as described in other posts, is getting adequ...

I am sitting here with the end of a glass of wine after our family has departed from the holiday gathering here.  We had a great afternoon and early evening together, but my, it was busy.  We forgot how active an almost eighteen month old can be. Our little grandson is an absolute delight, and very sociable.  It is wonderful to see him growing and changing so much since we last visited with him.  He really enjoyed interacting with everyone, playing with toys and exploring the space of our apartment.  He's becoming quite the little chatterbox too, though mostly not intelligible to us yet.  For the most part, he does a pretty good job of communicating what he wants with gestures accompanied by sounds. But, we forget how quickly a little one moves from one thing to another, and how much supervision they need, for their own safety.  We did a lot of childproofing, so he was fine, but someone needed to be on their feet, following him just to be sure. E...

Today I was out doing some of my usual weekend grocery and household shopping.  I noticed that the selection was more limited and that there were empty spaces and shelves.  Most of the holiday inventory that was added to aisles and end displays is disappearing, now at clearance prices.  Regular inventory shelves have not been fully restocked, probably due to some staff being on a vacation break. This made me realize how much we take for granted that everything we want will just 'be there' when we arrive at stores to shop.  It's part of our instant gratification culture here in North America, but it is certainly not at all typical in many other parts of the world.  We are so fortunate with all the choices we have, but we also just assume they will always be there. I felt grateful for the staff of the stores who are spending their shifts restocking the shelves for us.  I said a friendly hello to the produce manager at the grocery store, a man who goes out...

Last night I watched Springsteen on Broadway, on Netflix.  I had heard about the live show in New York from a good friend.  She and her family are huge Springsteen fans, and have travelled many a time to see him and his band live in concert.  Her husband and son travelled to New York earlier this year to see the show on Broadway.  She reported that they both loved it and found it very moving. I had been hoping that the live performance would be filmed for later viewing and was delighted to see it appear already as a Netflix program.  It was two and a half hours long and was great.  I was very touched by the intimacy and sincerity of Bruce's performance. In some ways, I could relate to his reminiscences of small town, working class family life, as that is also my heritage.  You can't wait to get away from what seems like such a limited existence, but it will always be home.  Content for the show comes from his Born to Run autobiography.  I...

Ugh!  It's already started, the end of year mania.  First, our consumer culture tries to convince us that what we spend and buy for loved ones for Christmas will insure our happiness and theirs.  Then, in case we missed out on something, there are the Boxing Week sales, compelling us to get more, more, more at a price not to be missed. And then, before the week before Christmas and New Year's Day is complete, our email inboxes are flooded with messages to incite fear, inadequacy and panic.  The New Year is coming!  Your life will be incomplete and unfulfilled unless you buy this product, sign up for this course or program, etcetera, etcetera. This is SO irritating to me.  For the most part, I'm deleting those emails without even looking at more than the title of the message.  The only ones I'm going to look at will be about shifting from that mindset of panic and urgency to trust my own inner knowing and guidance about what to pursue in the next ye...

Boxing Day shopping in stores is not a typical event for me.  If anything, I usually just do a little looking online at my favorite sites.  Because these sales go on for days now, I am not in a great rush to do that. Late this morning, however, I did venture out to two stores.  Thankfully, neither was very busy.  The first stop was a card store in a small mall, a place that sells beautiful boxed sets of Christmas cards which are normally too expensive for me.  But, at 50% off, I could get a couple of boxes for next year.  Last year, I waited too long and the choice was very limited.  That's why I went today.  I also picked up a few other items from their clearance area including new journals for next year at 75% off. The other store visit was to purchase another small pillow for my bed, with a discount coupon plus a current sale price.  It was in stock, and I am a happy shopper.  My whole shopping trip only took an hour or so.  ...

I've been going to my friend's house to feed her cats while she is away a few days for the holidays.  She enjoys decorating in the traditional style.  In her home is a very large natural Christmas tree covered in colored lights and many, many glass ornaments. While I am petting the cats, I like to have the tree lights on and slowly look over the tree and all the beautiful ornaments hanging from the branches.   They are so pretty, especially with the light reflecting from the glass. Over the years, she has also collected quite a variety of seasonal decorative items, which are displayed around her home.  Some might be passed on from family and many are finds from antique or vintage shops. There is a hand painted wooden Santa in his sleigh, a painted woodcut angel.  On garlands of beads hang little wooden ornaments along with ones handmade by her son as a child. On a kitchen shelf she has several different types of decorated candy or cookie tins, each one a d...

I do love me a good synchronicity, along with a very good book! Last night I finished Night of Miracles, by Elizabeth Berg.  It is not a holiday book. But, it is by one of my most favorite fiction authors, whose books I have read for many years.  And though not a Christmas themed story, it does have an angel character and spirits of people passed on as part of the plot. I got this book from the library a couple of weeks ago, after having reserved it awhile back.  I was saving it to read after I finished another one, which was due back first.  And, how timely it turned out to be that I read it in the past few days. Elizabeth Berg does not publish frequently, so it is always a true delight when I see she has a new book.  This book is a sort of sequel to the last one, also something she does not often do, so it has come out a bit closer to her last publication than one might expect. I have been reading this author's work for many, many years.  As I rec...

The theme of this post was inspired by a recent podcast I listened to about the magical aspects of this time of year.  I was actually thinking of writing about fantasy and magic awhile back, but got distracted with something else. What got me pondering the power of magic and fantasy a month or so ago was the theme of a dancing show I like to watch.  For one of the weeks, the competing dancers choose their favorite Disney movie story for their performance.  The props and costumes are always wonderful.  For me, the more traditional ones, with which I am more familiar, are the sweetest;  for example, Beauty and the Beast. Then, in the podcast I was listening to this week, the participants were discussing the popularity of holiday movies, like A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life.  What they were pointing out was, that these kinds of stories bring to the forefront of our minds the duality of light versus dark, which is naturally in our awareness at t...

It's a little astrology post today.  Yesterday we had winter solstice.  Today we have the full moon in Cancer.  Because it is so close to the solstice, it is called the Cold Moon or Long Night Moon.  The December full moon is not always so close to the solstice, and will not happen again until almost the end of this century. Along with today's full moon there will be a meteor shower, called the Ursid.  The name comes from the constellation origin of the meteors, from Ursa Minor, or what is commonly known as the Little Dipper. The full moon is at home in the watery, emotional sign of Cancer.  While full moons are generally known for increasing emotional reactivity, this can be amplified even more in the sign of Cancer, which relates to family, ancestors, home and security. So, if you find yourself being nostalgic, sentimental or emotional in more than expected ways today and the next few days, it's not just you, it's not just because it's Christmas....

Something I was reading in a post about the winter solstice intrigued me, until I discovered it was erroneous.  The writer was implying that at the exact time of the solstice, the earth would begin spinning in the opposite direction.  What?  Subsequently, I have spent a rather significant chunk of time looking up science information about the solstice, the sun and the earth's rotation. My having to spend that much time to get some clarity is a good reason that, after my first year in university, I chose not to pursue a degree in science and changed paths.  The labs in chemistry, physics and biology frequently stumped me.  Often, after the lab assistant had explained something to me for the third time, I pretended that I understood, just because I was too embarrassed to admit that I still did not get it.  I think the area of my brain that helps understand those details of science is dormant or underdeveloped. However, I digress.  The word solstice r...

Although the winter solstice is not officially until tomorrow, December 21st, I'm choosing to write again today about the contrast of dark and light since tonight will be almost the darkest night of our year.  Perhaps what I share today will inspire what you ponder during the solstice time tomorrow. Everyone's life has periods when there is more darkness than light.  As mentioned in other posts, this has been a challenging year of losses for me and others in my circle.  The seasonal changes remind us of the natural cycles of darkness and light, and that there is always a return to the light. Especially when we have been through darker times, the solstice is a good time to empty ourselves, to be still and to trust that there will be a rebirth of brighter times.  We don't necessarily know what that will look like.  But, we do usually know that just holding it together is not really helping us. We can rediscover meaning and purpose in our life by taking some ...

The word 'settle' came up this morning in one of my daily inspirational messages which I receive.  It is a word, which in its different forms has a variety of meanings.  In this morning's message, it referred to settling down one's nervous system. I think we can all relate, especially during busy times, such as the holiday season, to the need to settle down from our ramped up activities.  It's also an expression, often hollered, at rambunctious children, to 'settle down!', which is ironic because yelling is not settling. But today, I feel like exploring settling a bit more because it is a word which can push buttons for me. I think it's interesting when things come into our awareness in unexpected ways to help us learn something about ourselves, or bring more clarity to a situation. It is common parlance in the life coaching, self-help and therapy fields to ask us to examine what we are 'settling for' in different areas of our lives.  This ...

It's only a week until Christmas.  Even though I will not be having our family gathering until the weekend after, I want to get the gift wrapping completed this week. I am one of those people that gift bags were made for.  I have a large collection of Christmas ones which I recycle from year to year.  Stock of different sizes is replenished during end of season sales.  That's also when I pick up more gift tags and tissue. However, I am also drawn to some of the very beautiful rolls of gift wrap, especially when they are heavily discounted post-Christmas.  Last year I bought some really lovely ones. So, this year I am using gift bags less and actually wrapping most in paper.  There is a good reason that I converted to gift bags many years ago.  I am not gifted with wrapping dexterity or the talent to beautify a gift with bows or embellishments. For me, it's a slow process, to just make it presentable, try not to tear the paper, and put on a nice...

This morning before meeting my friends at the café, I visited the thrift store next door to it.  It happens to be a Goodwill store, and is a fairly big operation.  A new building was constructed in the past five years which houses the donation center, the store, a café and two upper levels where there are offices of different agencies and meeting rooms.  It's one of those well designed multi-purpose buildings. Because my group of friends frequents the café on a regular basis, I have more often visited the store as well as donating many items to the collection center. Some people are great shoppers in general as well as having a particularly good eye for thrift store treasures.  One friend I'm thinking of, has made such a practice of this that, she can quickly walk through the store and zero in on great items.  It's amazing what she has found there, from antiques to great clothing items. For myself, I still need to take my time and slowly peruse the shelves...

'Tis the season to overindulge with food and drink.  Sometimes there are just so many yummy looking choices at parties and family gatherings.  Even if you are eating in a pretty healthy way at home, there are often many tempting treats when you go out, which become too hard to resist. Today I'm sharing a bit about natural digestive aids which can help prevent discomfort or relieve it after the fact. The best offence is a defense.  If you read my earlier post about fermented foods, I'm here to recommend them again.  If your gut already contains more of the 'good' bacteria than 'bad', you already have a head start at better digestion of whatever you are eating. Donna Schwenk, the author of the Cultured Food Life newsletter I get, recommends having small amounts of cultured foods with your rich, heavy party or holiday meals.  This can be as simple as using a condiment amount of kimchi or other fermented pickles or natural sauerkraut. She also recommends...

Last night I attended a birthday party for a friend who is now 40.  Her parents hosted a party for her and invited people from their daughter's many areas of interest.  The result was a lively gathering of people ranging in age from infancy to late senior years.  It was delightful! Having such an age range at a gathering makes for quite a variety of conversations and interactions.  Everyone seemed to be having a very good time, with nobody left out from the visiting. For most of the years when we were raising our family, we lived in older neighborhoods which had people of diverse ages, from seniors who had lived in their homes for many, many years to first time buyers, as we once were.  I really felt at home on those streets, where people got to know one another, at least by name if not more so. There were always some people who were at home during the day while others were away at work.  As a young mom, if I was out walking a baby in a stroller, I co...

My mood is so much better today than yesterday, despite still having to deal with the frustrations mentioned in the last post.  Isn't it interesting how quickly our mind and mood can shift? Maybe it's because I slept more deeply last night, even though not longer than usual.  Or, maybe it was the influence of a couple of very positive webinars I watched later in the day yesterday, which included short meditations that were very calming. It could even be related to what I've eaten or not eaten in the past couple of days, though that is harder to know without careful tracking of patterns.  Or, the fact that I went for a walk with a friend last night and the sky was actually clear enough to be able to see the moon and stars for the first time in many days. It may also be influenced by seeing a cheerful holiday photo in the tropics, sent by a relative.  Or, from receiving an unexpected dinner invitation this weekend. I figured out something on my cell phone this ...

Some days, or even weeks, there seems to be one small frustration after another.  You know, the relatively minor things that just build up and just make you want to crawl back under the covers or make some other kind of escape. This week, some functions on this computer have been running very slowly, for reasons I have yet to determine.  So, many things are taking much longer than usual.  I'm having to wait, and wait, and wait for something to load, or for something to open.  I am not very patient with this and it becomes a deterrent to using the computer at all, which is sometimes not a bad thing. My email inbox is still too full of many things that I have kept to read later.  Really, I want to get to them all, but if I don't do it soon I'll probably end up deleting a lot of them out of frustration just because it seems like it will take way too much time to get through. This week I made an online claim to my health insurance benefits and it was selected ...

For the most part, I am a person who likes organization and living according to regular routines.  But, sometimes at busy times of year, such as the holiday season, the to do list is long and it feels like drudgery to try to get everything done. Or, it can feel this way any time of year, actually, when we just feel overwhelmed, tired and worn out.  Sometimes I wonder how I managed to juggle so many balls in my earlier years of working, raising a family and managing a home.  I think I must have been running on adrenaline most of the time. It feels a bit strange at this stage of my life to feel some days like I have too much to do.  But, it does, so I'm addressing it. What I've been doing lately when this happens, instead of getting all frazzled, frustrated and resentful about it, is a reality check.  I stop and I say to myself "You know Joan, most of what you have on your list is a choice.  You get to choose whether you do it at all, when you do it and...

Another of the interviews I recently watched, on the Sacred Science of Sound series, was Jonathan Goldman.  He is a musician, teacher and sound healer who has created many sound healing albums and written a number of related books. Goldman believes we are all unique vibratory beings.  He also believes we are all sound healers, because we can all at least hum and create tones.  His formula for sound healing is frequency + intent = healing, or sound + belief = outcome.  Basically, if we use sound with the intent of healing, it will have a positive effect on us. If you go to his website, healingsounds..com, you can listen to samples of his recordings to see what might appeal to you.  He also has a couple of free downloads as well. I think most of us are aware of the power of sound, vibration, frequency and harmonics to impact our energy.  We know what types of music and tones are soothing to us and which are not.  There are some generalizations whic...

Today I decided to get a head start on gift wrapping.  Pretty much all the stocking stuffers have been purchased.  What I like to do with them is, to wrap each one in tissue before I put them in the Christmas stocking.  It just makes it a little more fun.  It's a tedious and time consuming task though, even if it is quite simple.  So, this year, instead of feeling frazzled trying to do all the wrapping on one day, I'm splitting it up.  I'm quite pleased with myself. We have a pretty big selection of Christmas and holiday CDs, in fact, so many that I don't even take them all out of the cabinet every year now.  We each have some favorites, so those are the ones brought out first.  Then, I might remember later something else I enjoy and will freshen up the mix with that. When we used to be church goers and in a contemporary choir for many years, our music listening was heavily influenced by that.  There are some quite beautiful albums of con...

To shift to a somewhat lighter topic today, let's talk about Christmas cards. In the past, I used to send quite a few cards by mail.  In some, to extended family members who were rarely seen, or to a few friends far away, I would write a note giving an update about our family.  I enjoyed purchasing, sending and receiving cards in the mail.  Those days are pretty much gone. I still have quite a few paper cards, and usually purchase a couple more boxes when they are on sale at the end of the season.  There are such beautiful choices, and I love looking at them.  Now, I rarely send cards in the mail.  Handwritten cards are hand delivered to friends or included with gifts.  Only a few are sent via the postal service.  The cost of doing that has become a bit prohibitive. Instead, I mainly send e-cards to family and online friends, and sometimes share them in a general way on Facebook.  I have subscribed to a few different sites in recent yea...

I'm going to begin today with a quote from Dr. Gabor Maté's book, When The Body Says No, from his opening note to the reader. "This is not a book of prescriptions, but I do hope it will serve its readers as a catalyst for personal transformation.  Prescriptions come from the outside, transformation occurs within." And, "Prescriptions assume that something needs to be fixed;  transformation brings forth the healing - the coming to integrity, to wholeness - of what is already there." When I think back on the presentation from the practitioner using special tuning forks to clear blockages and restore balance to the body's energy field, I remember her saying something along the lines that the stories behind those imbalances do not really matter, that once the restoration has occurred that is all that is needed.  She thinks of the body as more an electrical system in that way. But, what I wonder is, do these restorations of balance 'hold' if the ...

In 2003, Canadian physician, Dr. Gabor Maté published a book entitled When The Body Says No, The Cost of Hidden Stress.  In it, he eloquently shares several case studies of individuals who developed serious illness of one kind or another.  He takes the time to explore the psychological and emotional factors, the life stressors, which may well have had a strong influence on the development of the disease.  It is a fascinating and revealing exploration, especially if you have never considered this perspective of illness. The last chapter of the book is titled The Seven A's of Healing.  Maté asserts that attending to these helps to build emotional competence, the ability to deal in an appropriate and satisfactory way with one's own feelings and desires.  Many common chronic illnesses have correlations with unmet emotional needs and the resulting physiological stress which contributes to illness is well described in his case studies as well as his references from ...

The interview I listened to last night in the Sacred Science of Sound series, featured a practitioner who uses specialized tuning forks to balance the energy field around the body in healing sessions.  I was actually aware of this practitioner previously from another source.  Her belief is that all our experiences are stored in layers, like the rings of a tree, which radiate around the body.  The sound wave energy from the tuning forks, when held within a certain range of the body, bounces against these rings and gives feedback about where there is stuck energy due to trauma.  Stuck energy disrupts the usual balanced flow.  When the blockage is removed and balance is restored the stress response can let go and the client feels relief. This description is an oversimplification to illustrate a concept that many have believed for hundreds if not thousands of years.  That is the notion that we store stress of all kinds in, or around our body and that it creat...

This morning my alarm woke me from a dream state.  When this happens, and not very often, I am quite fuzzy headed for awhile.  It takes some time for my mind to get on track.  I may allow this dreamy state to continue while I do my morning stretching routine but on typical days, I am already making to do lists in my head and planning my day's activities. It is in my nature to be busy, to be getting things done, to always be focusing on the next thing on that list to be accomplished.  This attitude does not lend itself to reflecting and going within, as I would like to be doing on these dark December days. Fortunately, sometimes life and the Universe conspire to support our plans despite our unconscious attempts to sabotage them.  For example, my sleepy brain this morning reminded me of my intention to slow down mentally.  Then, I also read that there is an astrology aspect today which supports this dreamy state.  The Sun is squaring Neptune in Pisc...

If you read yesterday's post you will recall that it leaned more toward darkness from different perspectives.  As mentioned, I've begun making more of a practice of noticing where my feelings have landed in my body and acknowledging them, even if I can't quite name them.  Then, I'm trying a breathing practice to feel more into them and to create space, loosen tension.  It feels good. Today has mostly been a gloriously sunny day.  I was so inspired by the morning sunshine that I decided to put off my indoor chores.  I got my lists ready, walked to the village retail area and did some more shopping for the holidays.  It was very satisfying and a lot was accomplished. Everyone was so cheerful due to the influx of sunshine. Life is full of contrasts.  That is something I want to be more aware of, both the dark and the light.  We need each of them to appreciate the other.  Too often, our culture seems to demand that we focus only on the upbeat...

We have not had much sunshine around here in the last month.  Then yesterday, the sun actually came out for a few hours and it was almost stunning.  Today is cloudy, cold and gloomy again. I've been doing a bit of reading about embracing the longer, darker days between now and Winter Solstice when the slow return to light begins. We may prefer to throw ourselves into the distractions of the holiday season, to make things flashy and stimulating to all our senses to just 'get through' the dark time.  I personally am tempted to do that, thinking about my decorating, shopping, baking and gift wrapping. And, don't forget about musical events and gatherings with friends.  All those things do legitimately brighten the season.  But, at the end of the day, the darkness is still there. Something I read this morning challenged me to slow down, go within, take the time during this season to reflect on the culminations of this ending of the calendar year, and ponder wh...

When I was young, my mother made a lot of holiday cookies and squares.  She liked baking all the time, and personally really liked sugar.  Also, during the holidays, boxes of chocolates would show up in the house, often gifts given by friends of my parents who came to visit.  I can remember gorging on these sometimes, especially the caramel ones which I loved the best.  Then I would feel sick.  The pleasure was temporary, the discomfort more lasting. Just because I have chosen to eat a much cleaner diet in recent years does not mean I no longer enjoy sweet tasting or other treats, especially in the holiday season. A few years ago, I became interested in doing mainly gluten free baking.  It had become a popular trend then, and even the mainstream magazines had added some gluten free recipes to their spreads of holiday baking.  Some, like Flourless Chocolate Snow Mountains, or a gluten free Thumbprint Cookie became a staple, but, they still contained...

Do you remember Advent Calendars?  When our children were young, we would buy them the kind that had a little chocolate behind each window counting down to Christmas Day.  You can still buy that type, though there are higher end versions available now.  There are also many different variations on the countdown theme, from larger wall mounted hangings with pockets for a little toy or treat for each day to crafting kits of different types. The type of Advent Calendar which I have used the past few years is an online one which I purchase and load onto my computer.  It is from the Jacquie Lawson e-card company in Britain.  The setting for the calendar changes each year but there are always picturesque scenes, and a street with various buildings which can be visited and a home.  Each day has an ornament to click on which will take you to an animated event in the scene.  There are games and puzzles which can be played at any time. If you are frazzled fro...