Consultation by Len Buchanan
Today’s class is setting the stage for Energy Medicine 101 by defining some of the terms we’ll be using throughout this semester:
Allostatic load was coined by Bruce McEwen in 2000 and refers to the physiological costs of chronic exposure to the neural or neuroendocrine stress response. It’s used to explain how frequent activation of the body’s stress response—essential tool for managing acute threats—can in fact, damage the body in the long run. Allostatic load is generally measured through a composite index of indicators of cumulative strain on several organs and tissues, but especially on the cardiovascular system.
Beliefs are something that we embrace heart and soul; that we accept as truth. Beliefs can revolve around our self or others and can include a number of things such as faith and identity. Depending on the belief, it can be either limiting or empowering.
Disease is pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.
Dis-ease is the result of an imbalance. For example, too much or too little cholesterol may cause health problems. In addition to physical imbalance, dis-ease can result from mental or emotional imbalances such as blocked feelings, suppressed emotions, and negative thinking.
Energy Medicine is a holistic philosophy that teaches, “I am responsible for the creation of my health. I therefore participated, at some level, in the creation of this illness. I can participate in the healing of this illness by healing myself, which means simultaneously healing my emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual being.” – Caroline Myss
Healing in the widely accepted meaning is to cure symptoms—for that seems to be what medical doctors do in their practice. In the context of Energy Medicine, healing is the process of bringing aspects of our self that are out of balance, back into balance again; the return to greater wholeness. There is an ideal form each of us has, this ideal form being the highest and clearest expression of who we are. Pain or disease comes from any deviation between the person’s current form in the three-dimensional physical world and this ideal form. Healing, then, is to assist the body back to its natural state of homeostasis—the ideal balance between all major parts of our being—body, mind and spirit.
Health as defined by the World Health Organization is “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This definition has not been amended since 1948. Another definition, perhaps more in keeping with the times is, “Health is a dynamic condition resulting from a body’s constant adjustment and adaptation in response to stresses and changes in the environment for maintaining an inner equilibrium called homeostasis.” Buddha said, “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” Similarly, Caroline Myss said, “Your biography becomes your biology.”
Holistic is an approach that emphasizes the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Homeostasis is our body’s inborn equilibrium. It occurs when all aspects of our being—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—are integrated and working together in balance.
Hope is the expectation of something desired; belief in a positive outcome.
Hopelessness is being destitute of hope; it’s the emotion of despair.
Noosphere denotes the “sphere of human thought.”
Wellness is more than mere physical health. It’s the quality of being healthy in body, mind and spirit; usually the result of deliberate effort. It’s an approach to health that emphasizes prevention of illness as opposed to focusing on the treatment of disease. As defined by National Wellness Institute: “Wellness is an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.”
Every one of us can relate to this list of terms in some way. We’ve probably all embraced a belief that’s either empowered or limited us. Most of us have personally been affected by disease or dis-ease, or know someone who has. We all resonate with either hope or hopelessness—maybe both. Do you agree with what Buddha and/or Caroline Myss said as it relates to health?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan
www.HolEssence
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan — All Rights Reserved.
Tuesdays with Laurie 
Professor Laurie,
Great selection and description of terms! Allostatic Load is a new one to me, fancy name for stress created by everyday life experience lived not taking the time to smell the roses, so to speak.
I agree with both Buddha and Caroline Myss, Buddha said, “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” Similarly, Caroline Myss said, “Your biography becomes your biology.”
I think our health and wellness is affected/effected by our choices, consciously or unconsciously. My working with you and the Life Harmony program and The Artist’s Way have allowed me to take a conscious look at my choice and or lack of conscious choices. And therefore created a space where I have begun to move away for my Biography to create a new story, and allow my biology to heal, mind/body/spirit.
I am Love, Jeff
Jeff – You’re absolutely right that Allostatic Load simply means not taking the time to smell the roses — well put! I think it’s great that you are taking a conscious look at your choices, or lack thereof (both the actions and the inactions), and creating space for a new story and healing.
Similar to the idea of our biography becomes our biology and what we create as far as health and disease … most of you are familiar with my saying, Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing. Depending on the situation, I may ask a client any one of the following questions:
Are you carrying unhealthy extra pounds? Are you continuously running late? Are you in a job that you can barely tolerate? Do you fail to keep your promises? Do you bite your fingernails? Are you staying in a relationship that is bankrupting your heart? Are you continuing to spend money that you don’t have? Do you tell lies? Are your spending habits out of control? Are you still smoking?
People tolerate in life what they subject themselves to. Remember, whatever you are not changing, you are choosing. Not everyone agrees with my observation:
After a conference where I was speaking, a woman approached me and said that she didn’t agree with my statement—at all. She went on to say that she had recently been diagnosed with cancer and that she certainly hadn’t chosen that. I asked her if she was a smoker. She said she hadn’t smoked in ten years. I asked her if she’d smoked prior to that time. She looked a bit sheepish and said that she had, in fact, been a heavy smoker for about twenty years.
There are certain decisions we make that have the potential to catch up with us later. The natural laws that govern the world we live in are difficult to avoid; for instance, gravity. If we eat a huge bowl of ice cream each evening, over time we’re likely to gain weight. If we don’t brush and floss regularly, over time we’re likely to have issues with our teeth and gums. Just because we change a behavior, doesn’t mean the resulting consequences of previous actions automatically go away.
Another woman approached me after a different conference and shared that her daughter had been killed by a drunk driver. She went on to say that her daughter certainly hadn’t chosen that. There are many occasions in life where innocent people are affected by the negative fallout of another person’s choices. The 9-11 terrorist attacks and the Columbine High School massacre are examples of this. People make poor choices on a regular basis; that’s part of the human condition. Some of the choices have individual ramifications, while others are collective.
Ahem — Jeff . . . are there morning pages yet?
Oh my gosh, Barbara – I’m cracking up! Jeff, it looks like you are so b-u-s-t-e-d!
There isn’t going to be a quiz soon, is there Teacher? Thank you for the terms. Like Jeff, I had not heard of Allostatic load.
A question: do you also believe that sometimes our illness is karmic or simply a movement from God/spirit/Greater Intelligence to return our individuality to the source?
Perhaps you already addressed this and I didn’t read carefully enough. If so–will probably flunk the quiz!
Kathy – I promise there won’t be any quizes or tests. You asked, “Do you also believe that sometimes our illness is karmic or simply a movement from God/Spirit/Greater Intelligence to return our individuality to the Source?
Both. Let me explain (again, with the preface that this is simply my opinion — no more, no less):
I personally believe in Karma. So let me first say that the philosophical explanation of karma differs somewhat between spiritual traditions, but the general concept is basically the same: Through the law of karma — cause and effect — the result of every action creates present and future experiences, making an individual person responsible for his/her own life and the pain and joy it brings to those in their sphere of influence.
So yes, I believe something ngative that we encounter today can be a result of something that happened in a previous time/place/life/incaration. I additionally believe that we function from a place of “free will” and that while we bring most “junk” on ourselves, we can also get a “leg up” (so to speak) from Divine Love. Hence, many of us “pray,” hold “HeartLight” or “Sacred Space” for ourselves and others.
Did that answer your question, Kathy?
Yes, thank you, Teacher!
Good Morning,
Hope I’m not late!
Traffic was terrible going down the hallway. Little kittens jumping everywhere.
Okay, wow,wow, and wow, I’m in the right class.
At first, I would like to say, I don’t think I ask for bad things to happen to me. But, then I have to really honestly look at me and say” I don’t make good choices.”
Your list of questions, very reveling. When I honestly answered those to I have to say again, “Bad Choices”.
So after admitting I make and have made bad and sometimes foolish choices, the results are in and its critical, is there any hope of recovery, or do I now just wait for the other karmic shoe to drop.
Hopeful,
~Jean
Jean – I didn’t realize those pesky kittens had gotten big enough to crawl over their enclosure. Sorry they were disruptive in the hall. Better kittens than aligators!
In my perspective (again, only my opinion) you don’t have to wait for the other “karmic shoe to drop” as you put it. I believe that we can change the frequency of any energy. For example, good overcomes evil. A set of good/positive choices can overcome a set of poor/negative choices. Bearing in mind, of course, the laws of nature (i.e., you drink poison or jump off a tall building, the liklihood of reversing those outcomes is small).
Do what you can to change the trajectory. Kick into high gear choices and action steps that have positive, uplifting, constructive, and healing outcomes for yourself and others.
Can I add something ? The power of change.
Rewrite your personal blueprint if needed.
If karma means a concious life I agree. Responsible of your actions getting reaction and so on.
Nothing is in essence unchangeable, in the many forms you can understand that : changed situation, same situation but other feeling about it, same situation, mixed feeling, changed understanding and there are certainly more combinations to describe.
Elke – I didn’t see you slip in the back. So GOOD to see you here! yes, Yes, Yes — I love what you’ve added! I want to address your other comment while I’m here. I agree that classical medicine has its wisdom. I also agree that the wisdom of energy medine is beyond amazing!
Elke, if you don’t mind, I’d like to use this space to share a story. My mother was born with spina bifida in 1938. When she was 7 years old, she contracted polio. This resulted in one of her legs being significantly shorter than the other until she had corrective surgery when I was about 7. When she was 42, they discovered she had breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Quite some time later, as a side-effect of the chemotherapy, she got diabetes (who knew?!). She died from the cancer in 1991 at the age of 53.
Somewhere between her chemotherapy and her expiration point (an 11-year span of time) I remember being really pissed off at the “unfairness” of the whole thing. Through tears I shared my anger, frustration, and sorrow with her.
Ever the fiesty little warrior, she told me “not to dare feel sorry for her!” That she was, in fact, “getting it all out of the way.” When I asked what in the world she was “getting out of the way,” she explained she felt she was, in fact, “paying off a karmic debt.”
Whether she was right or wrong, I won’t know on this side of my last breath. But that conversation has remained in my mind to this day. What she did, or might have done, in another place and time, I don’t know. I do know that she didn’t throw in the towel. She took action steps to try to change the trajectory. And while the final outcome didn’t change, the trajectory changed enough to give her eleven wonerful years.
Thank you for sharing this, Laurie. My understanding would be the word allostatic came to being and the mechanics of him defining stability.
I enjoy “being there comfortably” and the meditations we have been learning to do along with holistic awareness of food and herbs bring a factor of an alignment setting each individual up to understand and perform healing which is within all of us I know.
I will be reading and helping contribute to the motion as a good student. It’s great to find reliable sources that bring about stability for survival. Time is a manifestation that change will occur and having you at the helm guides all of us who have had the privilege to read and get to know your work, really does help realign thoughts to push through causatively to being more positive. I am grateful to call you my friend and honor the connection.
Kathy– I’m so glad you brought up food and herbs. Thank you for that wonderful contribution. Food and herbs are definitely a factor that can change the healing trajectory (for good or not-so-good, depending on your choices). You’ve heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” That’s darn close to true. Actually, you are what you assimilate – what you take in and use. That’s not only true of what we put in our mouth (food and beverages), but what we choose to “feed” our body through our eyes (what we watch and/or read), our ears (what we listen to), what we put on our skin (approximately 20 square feet of it; about the size of a twin-size blanket).
Hi Laurie,
So much of what you write I am in total agreement with, though I suspect from a widely divergent interpretive schema.
A couple of terms there that I could write on for most of the day.
But first I offer the basis of the paradigm I use, which is evolutionary.
I recall reading about an evolutionary experiment done with electronics about 30 years ago. A programmable array of 100 components was used. I think they were trying to evolve an AND gate – where the output would be on if, and only if, both the inputs were on.
They started with a random set of about 10 patterns, and tested them. The best two they “cross bred”, and produced variations on the two patterns.
After about 100 generations they had a very reliable circuit.
When they examined closely the arrangement of the components, they found that about a dozen of the components were electrically isolated from the rest of them. Thinking these were unimportant, they removed them, and the circuit failed to work.
It turned out that there was an indirect coupling between the circuits, an induced capacitance, that contributed to the overall functioning of the system.
I suspect that such things are very common in the evolution of the exceptionally complex things that are the human body, and equally true of the equally complex things that are human cultures.
The idea of an allostatic load makes a lot of sense to me. In our evolutionary history fight or flight was an appropriate response to stress, be it from a stoppy neighbour, or a wandering predator, or from slipping on a cliff edge. It was entirely appropriate to turn off all non-essential (in the short term) systems, and divert all energy to the major muscle groups, and narrow the focus of the mind to the immediate needs.
Today that is not an appropriate response to an overdue mortgage, or an economy that is unstable, or a political crisis. Far from requiring fight or flight, those things require calm, contemplation, broadening of horizons, and seeking appropriate responses from as deep an understanding of the relationships of the patterns involved as we can possibly manage.
One other area of elaboration and difference of perspective is in respect of hope. I like Werner’s definition of hope as “the gold plated turd”. I like it in the sense that hope by itself leads nowhere, unless it is accompanied by contemplated action. Unless the hope one has moves one to action, then it is illusory, and simply condemns one to continuation of the status quo.
I have both hope and belief that every individual is capable of becoming aware of their evolutionary history, and the infinite creative potential that that evolutionary history has given them.
It is my hope that each individual will then see for themselves, and choose for themselves, paths of respect for and cooperation with, all other individuals, whatever their cultural beginnings; as the only viable long term solution to the morass of potential conflicts available.
It is also my hope and belief that eventually, enough people will become aware of the limiting aspects of money as a mechanism for control, that they will use political means to embrace abundance that is completely divorced from monetary incentives; and build a society where all the essentials of a “healthy” life are abundant and free for all, and monetary systems are there for those who wish to engage in games based upon scarcity, rather than abundance.
And, as personal health is something of a focus for me at present, I look forward to next class 😉
Ted – I’ve been watching the clock counting 16 hours ahead and wondering when you’d join us. I’m so glad you did. Fir off, I love your interpretive schema — I wouldn’t change you for all the tea in China.
1 – What the heck is a “stoppy neighbor?”
2 – “The gold plated turn” made me crack up!
3 – I love your definition and am going to change mine to match your with one itty-bitty exception. I don’t want to say “contemplated” action. I want just good, old-fashioned “action.” (not contemplated, but done — that’s what will change a trajectory).
I just KNEW you would relate to Allostatic Load!
Did package #2 arrive yet?
Please tell me you’re still carrying the clear quartz in a change-free pocket.
The last time we talked you were eating as “raw” of a diet as possible — is that still the case?
And please tell me you’re mega-dosing on Vitamin C! A minimum of 10,000 IU a day.
Hi Laurie
A stroppy neighbour is simply an aggressive person in close proximity.
In respect of action, I added contemplation in there with much intention. If one simply “acts” in a “reactive” fashion, then one is almost equally likely to find oneself inside status quo. Action is certainly necessary, and I did not mean to imply contemplation alone is sufficient.
It is the combination of of contemplation and action, in close temporal proximity (quickly) – that is important.
No sign of package two as yet.
Crystal has been in my left trouser pocket since it arrived.
I am doing 5g Vitamin C morning and evening, and 1g per hour for all other waking hours.
My body is going through several withdrawals at present – coffee, sugar, chocolate. My mood has been a bit down as a result. No matter what I eat I just crave something sweet afterwards, and I think it is easing. The last week has been a bit of a trial.
I have been meat free except for dinner, and even then have reduced the amount of meat to probably 2 oz or less.
The facial nerve is recovering, which is great, and it is not necessarily comfortable.
I am also keeping up the apricot kernels, now on 8 twice daily – morning and evening.
I am looking forward to my system adjusting, and liking these foods, rather than making me feel like I want to throw up when I eat something raw.
I am still enjoying nuts, but struggle with sprouts and avocados at present (which is strange because I have always liked avocados). Cabbage just makes me gag right now, which is also odd, because I have always liked raw cabbage.
Also have an odd sort of a fuzzy feeling in my shoulders, which seems to come after the first dose of vitamin C.
Will be interesting to see how these things settle over the next week or two.
Ted –
I’m glad I don’t have any “stroppy neighbors” but I’m going to keep that term up my sleeve, and whip it out with a New Zealand accent at the next opportune moment!
I like your Vitamin C regimen — good plan.
I neglected to ask you if you’re getting enough water. (Enough meaning: stand on the scale and see how much you weigh. Divide that number by two. The resulting number is the number of ounces of water you need to be ingesting every 24-hours). Hopefully you’re pumping water like a fish!
Now that I understand the background behind the inclusion of the word “contemplation” I’m on it like white-on-rice!
The cravings will leave, with time. Do you guys grow Stevia plants down there? The leaves of an organic plant might just be the ticket for you to chew on. Or squish a leaf up and let it soak in your water for a “sweet” drink …
I’m glad your facial nerves are on the mend and that it’s not tremendously uncomfortable.
I don’t understand the “nausea” when you eat raw. That’s got me baffled. I like avocados and cabbage too and would scream bloody murder if I couldn’t enjoy them like I used to. Especially since they’re so darned good for your body. (Choose red cabbage over any other color when you can).
How is your body weight doing?
I know exactly what’s going on with your shoulders. You’ll have to read one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE children’s books to find out too. Please go to your library and get “Black and Blue Magic” by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (I’m actually not kidding – it’s a GREAT book). Here’s a little blurb from Amazon.com:
“You’d think that someone with a name like Harry Houdini Marco would be deft and skillful, but Harry could only occasionally catch even an easy fly ball without making some dumb error. On top of that, most of his friends’ families were moving to the suburbs. It would have been a long, dreary summer, but then a Mr. Mazeeck showed up and turned out to be more than he seemed.”
This now classic book was first published by Atheneum in 1966. It was selected by Scholastic Books for inclusion in the Arrow Book Club and later republished in a Dell Yearling edition in 1988.
You’ll read it in an afternoon and love it — it will take your mind on a wonderful adventure!
Hi Laurie
Package 2 arrived this morning (thank you), just as we finished bottling our first brew of Essiac tea – I have yet to swallow some and will do so very shortly.
Thank you for the great selection of things and thoughts – will get back to you when I have been through them all in detail.
Watched a very interesting TED talk this morning:
William Li TED Talk – http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html
on angiogenisis (the making of new blood vessels) and cancer.
lotsa love
Ted
Ted – I’m glad it arrived safe and sound. Thank you for the link — I will definitely watch it.
Yesterday one of my clients who has been breast-cancer-free for 3.5 years said that she had all of her amalgam fillings changed to porcelain. She said she attributes that, mega doses of vitamin C, eating organic, no sugar, and no processed foods, to her current state of health and well-being. (She actually said that she treats sugar — and foods that turn into sugar [i.e., pasta, bread, etc.] like poison. The only sugar she ingests is the natural sugar she gets when she eats fruit).
I will be very curious to know your thoughts on the Essiac tea.
Ted — this is an absolutely fascinating rendition of how energy works. You could write this stuff all day long and I would read it all day long . . . gold plated turds and all.
Allostatic load– Well now I know what has been brewing all these years!
My background is in laboartory medicine and I would lay big money on my bloodwork showing a high cortisol level—Here is little information about that:
Although stress isn’t the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it’s also secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body. Small increases of cortisol have some positive effects:
A quick burst of energy for survival reasons
•Heightened memory functions
•A burst of increased immunity
•Lower sensitivity to pain
•Helps maintain homeostasis in the body
While cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, it’s important that the body’s relaxation response to be activated so the body’s functions can return to normal following a stressful event. Unfortunately, in our current high-stress culture, the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body doesn’t always have a chance to return to normal, resulting in a state of chronic stress. This is where I may be failing in letting things get to out of hand or basically being too lax in my responses to stress.
Dis-ease can result from mental or emotional imbalances such as blocked feelings, suppressed emotions, and negative thinking. Boy this is an understatment, as I could be a poster child for this.
Are you carrying unhealthy extra pounds? Are you staying in a relationship that is bankrupting your heart? Are you continuing to spend money that you don’t have?
Yes, it does not take rocket science to see that I carry unhealthy pounds, am sometimes in relationships that not only bankrupt my heart, they pierce it many times. As for the spending money part, well that is up forgrabs in my family, as my husband is a saver and I am more of the spender. Although I am yelled at everytime I spend a dime, even at the drug store. I have actually given up shopping and pretty much either have my hubby with or just let him go so I will not harrassed about every choise I make!!
Thanks so much for the definitions and some reminders of some of them.
Kim
http://snoopykg2.wordpress.com
Snoopykg2@aol.com
Butterflies Galore
Kim – I know the relationship you have with coffee (Caribou coffee, but now I’m dropping names) … Here’s a wee bit of information about coffee’s relationship to cortisol levels:
“The stress of something like an exam produces increased cortisol levels (cortisol is a primary stress hormone). Combined with coffee, however, the cortisol levels rise even more. Coffee all by itself raises your cortisol level, increases your feelings of stress and anxiety, raises your blood pressure — and all this even if you are otherwise relaxed, and even for people who drink it regularly. It also makes hypertension medications less effective.” To read more of this article, simply click HERE.
Now we all know that when we point a finger at someone else, we’ve got three pointing right back at us (that would be you, Laurie). Hence, you should hear me expertly order, “Large white chocolate mocha, with an extra shot please”. That type of ordering comes from training folks. I don’t do it often, but when I’m in the Caribou drive through, don’t get in my way …
I am hearing Sr Mary Cabrini! My fifth grade math teacher, she was a tough cookie, however had a lot to do with my love of math! TOUGH love; at its best.
Thanks Laurie, OMG, I cannot believe I am saying this, my one Mint condition coffee in the morning is what gets me through the day, nothing else needed. I am going to accept your challenge and not go to Caribou for a month, today is May 24, I have until June 24. Again I cannot believe I am doing this….Good bye whipped cream, mint, two shots of expresso and milk…..www.caribou.com for you who do not know about Caribou, it is even f,rom my home state Minnesota.
You know I have a hard time drinking water, however I will try to at least stay away from caffeinated all month. once I meet this challenge my next goal is sugar!…..
it is going to be really hard driving by there in the morning and not stopping….I even stopped this morning 90 degrees today and got an iced mocha…..
another part of it is the people who work there who are really friendly and I see every day.
I am dying here….I will persevere….
lord help me….I am not good at deprivation. ugh…
Stay tuned….
Kim
Kim – Wow! I’m completely, totally, and thoroughly impressed. Make sure you take a travel mug in the car that has hot water in it. And while I grant you it’s not the same, it’s something. And that something, is all you need to get you to the next ‘present moment’ and then next one, and so on …
Hello, Professor Laurie. I forgot to tell you that I will be needing to take the evening section of this course, except on weekends. I especially loved the extra credit reading about your mom and how she dealt with her life. And all I can say right now about the choices we make and their impact on our health and lives is that no one really knows, but some of us suspect that yes, we set ourselves up all the time. We especially do not always know for certain our reason for being in this life the way we are under the circumstances we find ourselves and in the embrace of events that seem random and meaningless.
As a health educator, I find comfort in your definitions and wisdom in the path you lay before us. For some reason, we have all come together in this space. Let’s see what we can make.
Barbara – You’re an hour ahead of me so it’s easy, and a pleasure, for me to do the night shift with you. You’re so right that none of us knows for sure. All we can do is make choices in this lifetime that seem to be the most positive, uplifting, constructive, and healing for our self. That way if there is a long-term ripple effect (as in another lifetime/incarnation) it will be as terrific as possible for ourselves and others.
No Barbara, no Morning pages yet, I was all ready this morning and then I got distracted photographs and emails, etc…
Jeff – Look at the bright side. It’s only after 9pm in New Jersey. You’ve got three more hours to do your morning pages before tomorrow arrives 🙂
Laurie,
I thought about that but I don’t think its going to happen? I could change my mind or get another jolt of energy, one never know.
Kim: I am there with you, for encouragement and support, I gave up coffee a few months back, it was all Laurie’s fault. LoL.
Because because she ask me those questions too, and it was time for me to get myself and my life back on track!
Ted: I am glad to see you are healing, sending healing energy your way, there for you when you need.
Jeff
Jeff – You totally crack me up (it was Laurie’s fault)! Didn’t you S-E-E it was Kim you gave herself the challenge — not I (in this particular case).
Thanks Jeff
Anything that doesn’t harm me is gratefully received.
Yes Jeff!!!
Laurie had a wee bit to do with it several months ago I think!
I just like to ponder things a bit…Hard head…
Kim. “+”LOL
The Morning pages are posted
The first morning page is awesome, Jeff! Well worth waiting for.
I agree, Barbara. The photographs Jeff took with his friend’s lens are incredible!
Thanks for this Laurie. I have this definition of wellness :-a conscious choosing to live in a certain way in order to have a more successful existence. For the majority of my life I was not conscious. I gave over my choices to others, I was out of control and did not know who I was.
Your phrase “whatever you are not changing, you are choosing” has very deep meaning for me. Being alive is about change, or adapting and reacting to your environment. I don’t only refer to the physical but also the emotional and spiritual/mental. I like what Ted said about the conscious decisions you should make about how you react to any given situation. I have recently made a conscious decision to listen to my intuition.
Yesterday there was a very bad motor accident outside my daughter’s school. A schoolbus ploughed into a car killing a father and badly injuring his son right in front of the school where I normally drop off the kids in the lift club. As I was driving to school I was suddenly struck by a whim to try a different route, and was not in that place and time where the accident happened.
At the moment I am on study leave and will be writing exams from Saturday and ending on the 4th June.
Hi, Gil – nice to see your face, and grateful that you took a different route and avoided the accident. My experience with being conscious is similar to yours, especially giving my choices to others. Thank you for bringing that up. I still do that — let others make decisions for me because I think they are more experienced, know more than I do, etc. Good luck on your exams. You are passing the mandatory course of life with honors.
Gil – I really like your definition of wellness, and I’m so glad you shared the story of listening to your intuition — that’s amazing! My intuition tells me you’ll do great on your exams 🙂
Hi Gil
Yep
Intuition can be amazingly powerful, being, as it is, connected to every perception and abstraction you have ever made.
They are especially powerful in “normal” situations – whatever “normal” happens to be for each of us.
I too have experienced that I give choices to others, they will probaby do a better job and master whatever it is better….(Sigh) I do try to talk myself out of this most of the time, especially at work,as I am now usually the one trying to get others to get into action….
Kim
Good morning, Kim – how’s your coffee-free day going so far?
Well I will mark one X off the calandar…..
I brought my mug with lemonade this morning. water does not sit right with me, I wish it did. No wonder I had a kidney stone!
Anyway, it was ok, and my biggest observation was that the day seemed to go in slow motion, I felt I wa movoing very fast, but the day was dragging on and on.
At work i am usually a fast paced person, perhaps the coffee actually slows me down to a more moderate pace, but today I felt like I needed to slow down to catch up with the world. Perhaps a time to smell the roses and just be in the moment, instead of wondering when the clock was going to move.
Crazy, buts that the way it was…
Kim
Kim – When you say “lemonade” I’m assuming you mean water with fresh lemon (no sugar) squeezed in it.
P.S I just had all the energy sucked out of me…I peeked at the Caribou Coffee website? I had to delet it immedicatly….ugh This is harder than I thought and its only the first day!
Laurie, and class mates.
I just came across this Tibetan Art of Healing paper shared by Sylvia Niedner to a friend who was just offered Tibetan Medicine by her acupuncturist ! and told to take during a full or new moon.
“The connection of Energy healing was too rich and ripe to pass up. Here is the conclusive piece:
The Tibetan art of healing is a highly sophisticated tradition whose practice has withstood the passage of time. Tibetan Buddhist medicine emphasizes an integrated approach to understanding the causes and treatment of illness. It requires a profound understanding of physical, emotional and metaphysical interrelationships as experienced on the universal macrocosmic and the human microcosmic levels. The significance of the Medicine Buddha as the Supreme Healer in Tibetan medicine for liberating the individual from suffering is an exemplary metaphor for the mystical elements which are universally inherent in the healing tradition. The tradition is truly a holistic approach to the problem of suffering, both individual suffering and suffering as a universal condition.”
As well as the link to the whole paper:
http://dharma-haven.org/tibetan/tibetan-art-of-healing.htm
Thank you for shaing this (and the link), Jeff. “… emphasizes an integrated approach to understanding the causes and treatment of illness.” I highlighted the words that jumped off the page for me.
Laurie,
“Integrated and understanding the causes” allows for healing to be more focused and purposeful I would think!
Thank you about the photographs I shared on my blog. I am very thrilled with these! Barbara also suggested a book of them with poems or affirmations, saying that would be healing and affirming. Great Idea, not the first time that I have thought of this. I do belong to Blurb http://www.blurb.com/?ce=google_brand_blurb&gclid=COi7u8Gp7aECFZdL5Qod7WPaJA
a site in which one can create their own books. I will look into this more.
Jeff
Going ok…
I thought to bring Excedrin just in case…but you guessed it, it has caffeine in it….
Calgon take me away..(Smile)
Kim
Kim – You’re right. Excedrin is like having a Mountain Dew — it’s loaded with caffeine.
No excedrin needed, however I did start coughing a lot and went home to get some cough medicine.
Tune in for more.
Kim
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Jeff– Thank you for pointing to Speaking from the Heart in The Reluctant Blogger.
Okay, here we go… I’m assuming what is said in class stay’s in class.
Are you carrying unhealthy extra pounds? Are you continuously running late? Are you in a job that you can barely tolerate? Do you fail to keep your promises? Do you bite your fingernails? Are you staying in a relationship that is bankrupting your heart? Are you continuing to spend money that you don’t have? Do you tell lies? Are your spending habits out of control? Are you still smoking
1. Are you carrying unhealthy extra pounds? The ugly truth about Jean is I am 75lbs over wieght.
2. Are you continuously running late?
Never late, most often I run early and wait for everyone else.
3.Are you in a job that you can barely tolerate?
I love both jobs I currently have. I’m a substitute teacher certified K-12, but mostly like middle school 5-8.
I am an artist, with my own online store and website.
4. Do you fail to keep your promises? Promises. I am very responsible and keep most of my promises.
5.No nail biting, luckly I’ve been blessed with great nails.
6.Relationship, married 32years, In truth, comfortable so I tolerate or Im indifferent to most of it. :-(((
7.Money going out fast, preparing for a wedding!!
8.Do you tell lies?
oh that lying thing again. I choose not to hurt peoples feelings. I’m not sure that my truth is anyones elses truth.
9. I do not spend just to spend, I buy what needs to be bought.
10. dont smoke, did in my early years. 19-21, quit when I found out I was pregnant.
Never smoked again. I live with a smoker, :-((
In order for me to get the most from you, I will particpate honestly.
Books are odered. Assingnment in and now I’m off to the gym.( Its something I have choosen to change this week)
Smiling at you,
~Jean
Jean – WOW! You blew me away with your answers, and your action steps: “Off to the gym!” You go, girl!
pheeewwwww! I have been running to catch this class for two days. And the comments! Wow – what a class discussion. Amazing.
The big question for me is how do I change the root causes of my behaviour so it supports my well-being? Energetically my relationship to well-being is emotionally driven rather than by knowledge. Let me explain with an example. If I get time with my family I lose a few of those unwanted pounds just by experiencing their love… because I eat less at each serving. My love and belonging are full. Does that make sense Laurie?
I have never figured out how to uncouple this relationship… even with coaching and other professional support. I am 20 pounds heavier than when I was 18 years old and 40 pounds heavier than I would like to be at almost 52 years old. I have lived and eaten a low sugar diet except for fruit and only in small amounts for years on end only to go back to my usual eating habits at some point. My two 8 ounce cups of coffee have been deleted several times for months at a time. Yet they come back and oh I enjoy them!
I have come to terms with the fact that at some point I shall die. What I want is for my living to be of the highest quality possible. So each day I make a decision about what that day will be and, to the best of my intellectual knowledge and my emotional needs, how my decision might affect my tomorrow. I make decisions knowing there will be consequences and risks.
Energetic balance often feels fleeting yet if I listen and trust that I will always do my best with what is available to me and that I can choose again the balance last longer. When I get frantic, frustrated, self loathing, self critical everything goes to hell in a hand basket. Yet nothing substantive in a real sense has changed – only me and my perception.
Thanks Laurie and all – great class:)
Terrill – I’m so glad you made it! Your example is great and makes perfect sense. When you are filled by what you love, you don’t have the desire to eat. When you don’t experience that same sense of fullness, you substitute with food. In other words, you use food to fill a perceived void.
Our perception is our reality. Even though it may not actually be happening. An example is Chicken Little. An acorn fell on his head and he thought the sky was falling. That was his reality — it was true for him. Even though it wasn’t true for anyone else.
What to do? Shift your perspective. One of the best ways to do this is with affirmations (I use them every day). That’s in an up-and-coming topic in this class.
Thank you for sharing here, Terrill. I sincerely appreciate it.
Thank you Laurie and I will stay tuned for the next class. Though I think I have some homework… I am asking myself —- where I can deepen my affirmation to reach that place of love and belonging in a way that is filling?
Terrill – You know how sometimes a person is so close to the forest that they can’t see the trees? It’s right inside you–Big As Life! You know how you shared in your post “What Seen Is Not Always There” about seeing something as you looked carefully through your lens, and then had to tickle a pixel because you knew it was there? You just had to give it a wee bit of attention? Go within and give it a wee bit of attention. It’s waiting, and it’s just as beautiful as what you discovered in the third photo on your blog, that was waiting for you there all along …
Hi Doc
Health is very difficult to define. It’s very easy to define Un-Health. I suppose it’s like trying to define sunshine, which has a whole myriad of possibilities, and to define darkness, which is basically – dark!
Kevin – I never thought about it that way, but you’re right — it’s much easier to define Un-Health and dark! Smart cookie, you!
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