Health & Vitality - My Ongoing Search

Here are a few of the things that light me up: - waking refreshed from a good sleep - feeling good when I stretch and move - my morning green tea - delicious food - meaningful conversations - laughter - music There are many other things that could be added to my list.  The point is, these are all fairly accessible activities which I can partake in on a daily basis.  Even though bigger events, like travelling might also lift my spirits and bring me joy, they would only happen occasionally. When I was in regular employment, had the many responsibilities of raising a family, and managing a household, I tended to defer pleasurable activities until obligations were met.  Or, I would defer fun and attach it mainly to some weekend social event or a vacation.  Of course, over time this kind of approach leads to frustration, resentment and dissatisfaction. It seems like common sense to just say that we ought to do more of what lights us up, and less of what does ...

I love it when I come across something randomly, which has yet another way of saying something I've been exploring in other ways.  Today, I am inspired by the perspective of contemplative spirituality, as described by Franciscan priest and teacher, Richard Rohr.  Some of the wisdom he shares is woven into this post. Most of us are entrenched in our rigid and dualistic way of thinking, and would benefit from getting 'ourselves' out of the way.  A contemplative perspective takes a broader view of reality.  It does not frame things as either/or, but just lets life be what it is.  The goal is a foundation of happiness that does not come and go.  It is a transformative spirituality, rather than a transactional one.  It comes from within and is in the now.  Vulnerability, an opening of the heart, mind and body is central to growth.  A contemplative way of being leads to forgiveness and compassion for self and others.  All religions, at highe...

I listened to a very interesting interview today, with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a scientist who became famous after having a severe left brain stroke, and later giving a TED Talk, as well as writing a book about her experience.  The book is called My Stroke of Insight.  Today's interview was about how she is now living in the world differently since her stroke recovery. Dr. Jill, as she prefers to be called, still works as a scientist, and looks at life from the perspective of brain biology.  Although her stroke experience temporarily obliterated her left brain function, it helped her to give more value to her right brain functions and abilities.  In the time since her stroke, she has come to understand better how her whole brain serves her to live and function in the world as the person she wants to be. During the stroke experience, she became aware of how her right brain acts as the seat of consciousness, a part of something greater than the self.  It was an...

Since I'll be turning 65 later this year, and officially will become a senior, from time to time I ponder what my situations for living and financial resources will be.  Soon, we will be meeting with our financial adviser to discuss how best to use our investment funds in retirement years. Then, there is also the question of where to live.  Given that we could live another twenty years, we need to think long term.  At least we have already dealt with the hurdle of moving out of a house to an apartment. I imagine all seniors or those approaching that age, question and debate about these kinds of concerns and more, such as the following. How many more times do we want to move?  Are we better off just staying where we are until we can no longer manage here?  If one spouse predeceases the other, should the survivor consider living with roommates or downsizing further?  What if one spouse becomes disabled?  Will they still be able to live at home?...

According to cell biologist Erin Clabough, PhD, who has written a book called Second Nature, empathy, creativity and self-control are the fundamental pillars for all the positive social skills we want to have.  Why is a cell biologist talking about this?  It's because she is a parent who has put a lot of thought into what kind of life skills she wants her kids to have, as well as how to go about helping them establish them. I have to admit, I'd never thought about applying neuroscience to child development in just this way, but hearing her present, it did make sense.  She nicely tied all three together.  For example, she made the point that creativity is a foundation for self-control and empathy.  Her definition of creativity leans towards effective problem solving, reflection, and learning to fail. Three versions of empathy were defined.  Firstly, emotional empathy which is a pull towards someone or something.  Secondly, cognitive empathy, when yo...

Finally, in the recent few days of more intense sunshine, the flowering trees are coming into bloom.  I know I've written a few posts already about the hope of spring firmly establishing itself, but, I'd have to say it's only this week that obvious growth and bloom has begun. In more temperate parts of the country, the forsythia, magnolias and cherry trees would have bloomed at least a month ago, or more.  But, this is life in Ontario, with spring being unreliable until May. Yesterday, I saw a beautiful, huge, older magnolia tree, full of white blooms.  It had a beautiful crown and was awesome to behold.  The forsythia bush on my friends' property has suddenly popped into full yellow bloom. The huge and elderly willow, which had a soft yellow top already for a couple of weeks, now has long drooping, yellow blooms.  The ground is truly thawed.  Low lying areas are wet and squishy from the last melting and recent rains.  The grass and clover are ev...

Have you ever watched a baby breathe while they are sleeping?  It's usually so deep and rhythmic that it's mesmerizing and soothing.  It's part of what makes it hard to put a sleeping baby down. Likewise, have you ever slept beside, or observed an adult who frequently takes long pauses in breathing and then sputters or snorts when they resume? Everyone knows breathing is essential, but it's so automatic that we often don't pay much attention to how we do it.  For me, it's usually reminders in yoga class or while listening to a guided meditation, which increase my awareness. How we breathe affects how oxygenated our blood becomes.  It can increase or decrease our stress responses, dependent on whether it is rapid and shallow or slow and deep.  Our breathing affects the quality of our energy, our ability to mentally focus, and how well we sleep, among other things. Most of us don't breathe deeply enough to exchange the air in the lower part of the lung...

When I was recently introduced to definitions of those words from a different perspective, it was another eye opening moment for me.  They were actually described as learning styles from an author of a book on Mastery.  His name is George Leonard. We all use each of those styles for learning in different areas of life and at different times, but we also have a dominant style we use most.  Apparently in a room full of people, the typical split would be 1/3 of each type as dominant. Dabblers are those who tend to flit around from one thing to another.  They are easily distracted by the next new thing, but are not in it for the long haul.  There are some areas where I can identify myself as a dabbler.  One of those would be in what I consider creative activities.  A number of times, I've tried some new activity, completed one project, and then never done it again.  Examples for me would be a stained glass piece, a crochet afghan, a macrame plant ...

A book simply entitled Flow was published in 1990 by researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, to provide information in layman's terms about research into how a flow state is achieved in different areas of life.  It had sort of a cult following for awhile and became a fad topic for magazine articles and talk shows.  I remember a work colleague being quite excited about it at the time, but it seemed something rather inaccessible for me, so I didn't pay much attention.  Now, I have the book on my Kindle but have only read about half of it so far. I used to think that being in a state of flow was something very Zen, occasional and 'out there', not usually within reach for the average person unless it happened by serendipity.  From an online course I'm doing with teacher and mentor Robin Rice, of the Be Who You Are website, I have learned a different perspective about flow.  As one of her free classes in her website library, she has an audio entitled Growing Through Fl...

Easter, being a time of resurrection, rising again, is the great liturgical 'do over'.  Every year, as we follow these cycles, either through nature or spiritual rituals, it is a reminder that we ALWAYS get a chance to start again.  We can do our personal inventory of body, mind and spirit and review what needs to shift. With my intention this year to have more ease and flow, it's an ongoing experiment at these holidays, holy days.  I'm hosting my family today but have scaled back and simplified the shopping and preparations somewhat.  The turkey, stuffing and gravy were made yesterday, so today it's just the veggies to do.  Others are bringing some appetizers and desserts. Soon, I'll start on my prep for today.  I will report back later on how things went, and whether I spent less time in the kitchen and more time visiting the family, which is the whole point of gathering. Ta Da!  I'm back.  The company was great and all the food delicious....

Maybe until recent years, many of us have been able to ignore the warnings of climate change, because it just didn't seem to affect our day to day life a whole lot.  That is now rapidly changing. With Earth Day almost upon us, I turned to one of my magazines which devoted a whole issue to discussions and strategies related to climate change.  It was a very good reminder of the increasing urgency, along with practical strategies. Many people are still not quite sure what to believe, but climate scientists have more and more evidence than ever before that climate change is definite and that we humans are causing it.  Scientists have understood it for more than 100 years.  Burning coal, gas and oil has created a warming blanket around the earth.  In the past 20 years, hot temperature records have been broken almost three times as often as cold ones.  Catastrophic weather is on the rise, as are floods and forest fires.  Rising temperatures bring an inc...

I can hear them already in the predawn hours, twittering away, doing whatever it is that birds do to make ready for the day before sunrise.  It's one of the quiet early morning sounds I relish. My eldest son could probably tell me which birds are singing and what their calls mean.  He became enamored with birds at a young age.  For all the years we owned homes, we always had back yard bird feeders and bird baths to attract more around our home.  As he got older, he liked to go on hikes to see them in more natural surroundings.  Bird books and binoculars became desirable gifts. Eventually he became an ecologist, with a particular interest in birds.  Now, his own son, not yet two, has already shown an interest in listening to and imitating bird calls.  It does not hurt that both parents are ecologists. :) I guess you could say our whole family became enthralled with the effects of birdsong, because we acquired many nature sounds CDs, mostly gentle ac...

Being a Baby Boomer, born in the 1950's, I had assumed that most of the 'modern' home improvements, efficiencies and processed foods were developed in the years since then.  Some programs which I watched recently taught me otherwise. Back In Time For Dinner is a TV series which originated on the BBC.  There is also a Canadian version.  The premise of the show is to have a family live in the decor and lifestyle of a decade, as well as to prepare meals of the era in a typical kitchen of the time. There are several versions.  What I watched was, Further Back In Time For Dinner, from the BBC, which covered the time from 1900 to 1950 decade by decade.  Then I also watched the Canadian version which covered from 1940 to 2000. What was most informative about the BBC episodes was, to see the drastic changes in lifestyle from one decade to the next, significantly influenced by the impact of the First and Second World Wars.  The Edwardian era of the early 1900'...

Today I listened to an interesting presentation by Dr. Jeffrey Bland, who is considered as a founder of the field of functional medicine.  A functional medicine approach seeks to find the root causes of an illness and to address them in a holistic way, rather than focusing purely on treating symptoms. Dr. Bland felt moved to make a video in response to a recent editorial article in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled The Rise of Pseudomedicine for Dementia and Brain Health.  The authors criticized those who promote to the public approaches outside the realm of traditional therapies. Neurodegenerative diseases which cause cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer's are on the rise.  The traditional thinking about Alzheimer's has been that it is caused by amyloid plaque formation in the brain and that if that can be targeted the disease can be arrested.  Billions of dollars have been spent to date researching and developing drugs for that singl...

Yesterday, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned.  Although much of the structure remains intact, the roof and spire are gone and the extent of interior damage will be assessed.  It is over 800 years old and was 200 years in the making. Just imagine the hundreds, if not thousands of pairs of hands that were involved in every aspect of that.  It's unfathomable how many people have visited or worshiped on that sacred site over the centuries.  So much history! Tourist photos are popping up all over social media, with comments of gratitude that they were able to see it in its glory.  I've never been to Paris, to France, or anywhere in Europe for that matter.  But, I still feel incredibly saddened by this event. The cathedral is such an iconic symbol for Europeans and North Americans, whether we are Christian or not.  We just expect something like that to always be there.  Already claims are being made that it will be restored to its f...

Let's face it.  Most of the time, our daily living is about routine and repetition.  As much as we may crave, or say we want change or more excitement in our lives, to a certain extent, we very much thrive on routine. This is because we are basically wired for survival and for homeostasis, or maintaining a predictable balance in the functioning of our brain and body.  So, even though it's Monday, and we might grumble about getting back into the same old routines, deep down we find comfort in the reliability of them. When something untoward and unexpected happens, one of the first ways we go about comforting ourselves, once the excitement and drama abates, is to fall into a familiar routine. If we make a decision to create some change in our life, at any level, it is more likely to happen and to be sustained, if we do it in a gradual way.  It's more readily accepted at the level of our ego and our nervous system when little steps can be incorporated somehow into...

Fair warning: this will be a bit longer than usual post in which I quote a few of the Sufi poet Rumi's works to illustrate points.  If that has no appeal for you, feel free to take a pass. At the time it happens, disillusionment does not seem like a good thing.  Remember the letdown of finding out that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were not real?  So disappointing;  but, we survived. Then the bar is raised. Follow the rules, get a good education and career, our future will be financially secure.  Recessions happen.  Jobs are lost.  It seems nothing is guaranteed. If we get married or find a life partner and raise a family, we will all live happily every after.  Relationships end.  Infertility happens.  Family life is chaos. Who signed us up for this and made all these promises that could not be kept?  Well, you could be esoteric about it and acknowledge that on some level, you agreed to be born into ...

It's Saturday shopping.  I'm in a checkout line at the big drug mart.  The cashier is a newer one and she chooses not to bag purchases for those who bring their own bags.  She quickly scans my items through and piles them to one side.  I can't decide whether to start packing my bags or wait until I pay.  She's impatiently waiting for me to pay and now a line is building up beside me.  I pay, quickly jam things into bags and apologize to the next person for holding them up. Then it's off to the grocery store where I like taking my time to look over items before choosing.  I get in a checkout line.  I just have a hand held basket but the next people in line have full carts.  Again, the cashier quickly swipes all the items through.  This store is a bag your own operation, so that's a given.  The pressure here is to clear the conveyor belt and get the heck out of the way before a big cart gets shoved towards me.  I load up and sc...

I would not say that I've made a full recovery, but progress has been made.  It used to be that I paid an excessive amount of attention to what was going on with people around me, ready to jump in with offers of advice or help. This began in childhood, unbeknownst to me to be problematic.  In my mind, I was just being a good and helpful girl.  No doubt, competing for the attention of parents among several other siblings was a significant factor.  In any case, this behavior carried on into adulthood, I suppose because it had been reinforced more than criticized.  Sometimes siblings or others would suggest that I ought to mind my own business more than theirs.  Often enough though, others were happy for me to volunteer to help them out.  It was not until I heard the term codependency in adulthood that the penny dropped.  There was actually a name for my excessive reliance on other people for approval and a sense of identity.  Once I became ...

I came across that phrase in a recent column and it caught my attention.  It sounds good, right?  Who wouldn't want to be resilient or to have grit?  But how do we foster these characteristics? My memory about resilience pointed me to the work of psychologist Kelly McGonigal.  She wrote a book called The Upside of Stress, and she has a great TED Talk video on the topic.  Her approach to building resilience is, to leverage the physiological effects of stress to your advantage. She talks about three ways to do this: 1)  Perceive of stress as energy you can harness.  Consider that your body is rising to the challenge to increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain for clearer thinking.  Then, direct this energy to your goal. 2)  Some neuro-chemicals released during stress help your brain grow stronger and build your resilience.  Relax into the stress, breathe slowly and let your brain do its job. 3)  When under stress, oxytocin i...

Gee, I wonder if other people get stymied by having free time?  Yesterday, I got through my self assigned duties sooner than expected and had a surprising block of time available.  When this happens, I actually don't know what to do with myself at first.  It usually takes stumbling around among a few options before I settle on something. This gives me pause, because, do I then really know how to honestly relax, or am I constantly in work mode?  I can only imagine that other people who are essentially work driven have a similar experience, but I have not actually asked. Yes, I can relax when on vacation because the time has been planned to do so.  Mind you, we have not gone on one of those for quite some time.  What's got me pondering is the spontaneous free time scenario and my immediate reaction to it.  Should I keep a flexible 'to do' list for such moments? Frankly, I would like to be able to just let go of the sense of obligation to fill my da...

Do you have particular rites of spring, something you do predictably every year to mark the seasonal change? These may be practical actions like putting away winter items, getting your bike tuned up, checking over your golf clubs for the new season or planning your garden.  Or, you may do a dietary spring cleanse to commit to feeling better in your body.  Your spring rite or ritual may be spiritual, such as engaging in Lenten prayers and fasting as a way of doing a personal inventory. My home environment rites of spring are happening as a gradual process.  Some changes have been made in decorative items, to display lighter colors and some cut flowers or artificial plants.  Other things like spring cleaning will wait until we have more consistently warm days when windows can be opened to allow warm spring breezes to flow through.  Soon though, I will do my seasonal art work change.  Pieces which have been suitable for winter will be moved to less obvious...

It's one of those days when my mind is flitting about, like a bird gathering bits for it's new spring nest.  I can't seem to settle on any one thing and keep getting distracted by yet another shiny object. But, a few things I've already looked at online today clearly demonstrated both stillness and flow.  They can and do coexist.  We see it so obviously in water.  Sometimes the surface appears very calm, yet there is always current moving in the water below, at least in living water. There is something inherently soothing in that. When I was growing up, we had for a time, a cottage on a large river less than 10 miles from our home.  It was the river near which my father's hometown was also located.  I think that river was a special and meaningful place for him.  In the evenings, he loved sitting quietly by himself on the big front porch of the cottage, just gazing at the river.  It seemed both calming and healing for him. Imagine his disappo...

Really, it should be simple and straightforward.  At least, I thought so.  The set of headphones I'd been using to watch TV (because we are on different sets in different rooms) have worn out covers.  It was time to replace them.  My husband kindly found me a new pair that are big, ear covering padded ones.  They are nice, but they are too heavy for me. Off I went today on what I hoped would be a simple shopping trip.  My goal was to get a basic set of lightweight headphones, not earbuds, nor noise canceling large ones, just basic ones with a cord long enough to go from my chair to my TV setup. Most headphones now are wireless and are made to connect with your devices via Bluetooth or a similar function.  Those which have plug in wires have short ones, meant to be used within arm's length.  Now, to be fair, the TV and computer equipment I have is new enough to enable a wireless connection.  I'd rather not have the hassle of setting it up....

It finally seems safe to say that spring weather is here, based on our weather today and upcoming forecast in the next couple weeks.  This morning, the sun was shining and I could go out in a light jacket.  Some people even came to our NIA class wearing sandals!  A true sign of establishing spring. Later, as I went out to shop, I saw people on motorcycles and people walking about in T shirts.  Children have been pushing their scooter boards on the sidewalks whenever they have been able.  Many cyclists are back on the streets.  Dog walkers are out in abundance. It's too early to plant here, not really safe til the end of May though many will try sooner.  But, excited gardeners have planted seedlings indoors and greenhouses will soon be open to the public.  We really have such a short reliable growing season here, just June to September at best, that people get anxious to plant. As for me, it was warm enough on the dance studio floor this morn...

I'm halfway through my blog challenge!  It's time to review what I've learned.  First of all, many thanks to those who have followed and read my posts.  An audience is appreciated, however small. When I first took this on, I thought that by keeping my posts relatively short, I would never run out of ideas for topics.  Well, I have now learned that is not true!  Some days it is a challenge to find a theme or inspiration. To help me with this, I am following some tips from a storytelling book, using some daily exercises to capture writing ideas.  A friend also shared with me a link to a page of blogging tips, which I appreciate.  I am also seeing trends of what ideas are more popular than others, which is helpful too. On average, I spend a couple of hours each day, finding a subject, researching and writing.  Some days it is longer if I go down a rabbit hole of reading!  Because the mainstay of my blog is meant to be about health and vita...

Recently I have been in a few conversations with people who are exploring having new relationships, whether they be for friendship, companionship or romance.  This seems like a good topic to explore a bit. Though I am not any kind of relationship expert, I do have some life experience behind me.  What I do know, better in hindsight than I did with foresight in my younger years, is that we will surely bring to any new relationship our thoughts, beliefs, experiences and feelings about similar ones we have had before. Thus, it could be helpful to carefully consider your expectations before getting involved with someone new.  If you don't take time to do this, you should not be surprised to get what you had before.  Patterns and habits repeat themselves unless we consciously make choices to examine and change them. To help me in my exploration I went to my bookshelf.  There I found a book/workbook by Iyanla Vanzant.  The title is Living Through the Meanti...

Apparently, Oprah does it.  Many personal development authors and teachers routinely recommend it.  "It" is a gratitude journal.  You're supposed to keep a notebook and every night before you go to sleep, write down five things your are grateful for.  The idea is that what you express gratitude for will grow, at least according to self-help author Louise Hay. Have I tried this practice?  Yes, I have.  Do I stick with it?  No, I do not.  I probably have more than one little notebook in a drawer from when I began this practice again, and again. I know I am not alone in this.  I have at least one other close friend whose eyes roll to the back of her head when it is suggested.  There is something inherently irksome and arduous about it to me.  Maybe it feels like a test, or a report card, over which I will be judged by the wizard behind the curtain, or whoever.  So, when I do write in one of those little notebooks, I do it with...

The microbiome refers to the genetic material of all the bacteria, fungus, viruses and protozoa that live on and in the human body.  For the sake of the discussion in this post, I am referring to the gut microbiome, and primarily to the balance of bacteria there.  There are trillions. The beneficial bacteria in the gut break down our food and transform it into nutrients.  Having more healthy bacteria in your gut also helps you better absorb those nutrients.  The kinds of food we eat has a dramatic influence on the balance in the gut of healthy vs. unhealthy microbes. When there are too many unhealthy bacteria, the gut becomes inflamed.  Inflammation is a root cause of many disorders.  According to neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter, 'high carbohydrate diets are among the most prominent stimulators of inflammatory pathways that reach the brain'. Likewise, according to Dr. Drew Ramsey, Oxford University, 'nutrient deficiency is a major cause of behaviora...

As the title implies, this is an astrology themed post.  The word occult as a noun, refers to the knowledge of that which is hidden.  As a verb, it refers to cutting off from view by interposing something.  What I'm referring to today is times when the Moon cuts off the view of Saturn and Pluto when it sits between the Earth and those two planets which happen to be close together this year in the planetary view of the sky. Because those are two slow moving planets, their conjunction, or appearance of being side by side, is a long term aspect unfolding over the course of this whole year.  It actually began in December 2018 and will end at the end of January 2021.  It is considered a big deal in astrology because this aspect only occurs every 38 years or so. Saturn relates to time, structure, limits and matter and in a personal sense to your obligations and responsibility.  Pluto represents the dark underground and on a personal level your need for fundam...