Alternative Approaches to Health and Wellness

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See? This is the "soft" side of the stuff that we're doing to make those changes--however insignificant they may seem, I believe that these posts (like the ones just above about appreciating every moment of life) are the core of what healing is all about!

I'm quoting this bit from Charlotte's Web, written by E.B. White--I'm reading it to the children and I came across this passage and I thought you might find it relevant for healing...words in italics are mine for giving context...

By the way, I just love the power and strength of Charlotte--she is a matriarch of the highest order!

...But as he [Wilbur, the pig] lay there he remembered what the old sheep had told him. The thought of death came to him and he began to tremble with fear.

"Charlotte?" he said, softly.
"Yes, Wilbur?"
"I don't want to die."
"Of course you don't," said Charlotte in a comforting voice.
"I just love it here in the barn," said Wilbur. "I love everything about this place."
"Of course you do," said Charlotte. "We all do."

The goose appeared, followed by her seven goslings. They thrust their little necks out and kept up a musical whistling, like a tiny troupe of pipers. Wilbur listened to the sound with love in his heart.
"Charlotte?" he said.
"Yes?" said the spider.
"Were you serious when you promised you would keep them from killing me?" [ie. butchering him for Christmas dinner]

"I was never more serious in my life. I am not going to let you die, Wilbur."
"How are you going to save me?" asked Wilbur, whose curiosity was very strong on this point.
"Well," said Charlotte, vaguely, "I don't really know. But I'm working on a plan."
"That's wonderful," said Wilbur."How is the plan coming, Charlotte? Have you got very far with it? Is it coming along pretty well?" Wilbur was trembling again, but Charlotte was cool and collected.
"Oh, it's coming all right," she said, lightly. "The plan is still in its early stages and hasn't completely shaped up yet, but I'm working on it."
"When do you work on it?" begged Wilbur.
"When I"m hanging head down at the top of my web. That's when I do my thinking, because then all the blood is in my head."
"I'd be only too glad to help in any way I can."
"Oh, I'll work it out alone," said Charlotte. "I can think better if I think alone."
"All right," said Wilbur. "But don't fail to let me know if there's anything I can do to help, no matter how slight."
"Well," replied Charlotte, "you must try to build yourself up. I want you to get plenty of sleep, and stop worrying. Never hurry and never worry! Chew your food thoroughly and eat every bit of it...Gain weight and stay well--that's the way you can help. Keep fit, and don't lose your nerve. Do you think you understand?"
"Yes, I understand," said Wilbur.
"Go along to bed, then," said Charlotte. "Sleep is imprtant."
Wilbur trotted over to the darkest corner of his pen and threw himself down. He closed his eyes. In another minute he spoke.
"Charlotte?" he said.
"Yes, Wilbur?"
"May I go out to my trough and see if I left any of my supper?" I think I just left a tiny bit of mashed potato."
"Very well," said Charlotte. "But I want you in bed again without delay."
Wilbur started to race out to his yard.
"Slowly, slowly!" said Charlotte. "Never hurry and never worry!"
Wilbur checked himself and crept slowly to his trough. He found a bit of potato, chewed it carefully, swallowed it and went back to bed. He closed his eyes and was silent for awhile.
"Charlotte?" he said, in a whisper.
"Yes?"
"May I get a drink of milk? I think there are a few drops of milk left in my trough."
"No, the trough is dry, and I want you to go to sleep. No more talking! Close your eyes and go to sleep!"
Wilbur shut his eyes...

So, there are two things here that I see as vital to good health...the importance of not worrying or dwelling on our life difficulties and also the importance of getting enough quality sleep.

I remember reading a book by a Christian author that really threw me on my behind about worrying! I wish I could remember his name--but anyway, he said straight out that worrying was a sin! He even cleverly talked about how we feel like we are somehow helping the situation when we are worrrying and twisting mentally about it but that that is pure egotism. He had a biblical quote about how we are not meant to toil and spin mentally. Although, I've been told that my approach to religion is more agnostic or even atheistic (!), I really see the wisdom in the advice I got from this author.

The other thing is not to hurry---I almost forgot that one and it is so important. It is so easy to slip into a habit of hurrying through life instead of drinking in each moment fully. Maybe it's because of our human folly that we project an idealized future for ourselves and then we try to hurry up to get there. All t he great eastern traditions emphasize the importance of living in the moment.

...and this hurrying is tied in with pushing ourselves past the point that our bodies really can go. For example, I had planned to get a lot of work done in the house and my office tonight! Laundry etc. is calling but I will have to ignore all of it because I just got my period today and I am exhausted! Menieres has taught me to listen to this exhaustion and to heed it. So, instead of driving on and on and whipping my poor physical self into submission to my mental/rational self--I will finish up this post, take a hot shower, settle in to read to the kids and then go to bed early! I'll have to trust that tomorrow I will be able to pick up the pieces and loose ends.

Good night all!

Tamara

 

(((((Tamara hugs)))))) That was very soothing to read the excerpt from Charlottes Web. Thank you for taking the time to type it in here so we can all experience Charlotte's wisdom

On the subject of hurrying, that was another topic I was going to post, glad you brought it up. I have found that I literaly hit the ground running on the days that I feel good and I am in a panic to get all my errands completed before I am knocked down again. It's like a frenzy of activity and I have noticed that I am becoming an impulse buyer.....buy this because I might need it and can't get out to get it, sort of mind set. I am starting to buy without thinking it thru now. I am fretting over the winter months ahead because what if my grocery store can't deliver my groceries? Sheesh !!! So, I will take Charlotte's advice and not worry soo much over these things, LOL and plan in advance................. as I rush to my computer to put in my next grocery order, LOL.

There is soo much our universe can give us if only we can stop and observe and understand, or as our parents taught, stop-look-listen, or stop-grab a hand to cross the street, or stop-look left-look right. Isn't one of these quotes out of the author who wrote the "One Minute Manager" - "Everything I Learned in Kindergarden"?

Sparrow

 

What about creature comforts? How we can self soothe ourselves by surrounding ourselves with creature comforts when we get stressed over our bad days?

In the past, pre MM, my creature comforts were walking out to the barn and hugging a horse but since I don't have that luxury anymore my creature comforts come from my kitties, or climbing into bed and surrounding myself with pillows and putting in my recorder a gentle read story to listen to. I will admit at 55+ I do have some large fluffy stuffed animals that I grab and hold onto while I sit in my rocker-glider by a sunny warm window overlooking some pretty landscape.

Really interested in hearing how others comfort themselves.

Sparrow

 

Hi Sparrow!

A clean house, candles and smell of cooking or baking is for me the most comforting thing I can do! Only problem is that it takes so much darn work to get there!!!

A good second is a nice cup of tea, some gluten free baking and a really good book!

I just got back to the library last week and the other day I got out some wonderful books. I'd decided to only buy books to avoid the fines, but then I relented and took some out. Such great books! And I wouldn't have found them at the bookstore.

I think that it is important to define ourselves as much as possible as healthy folk who have a few health issues--rather than allowing ourselves to be defined by our menieres. I mean, of course we all have these symptoms in common, but we don't necessarily have to be entrenched with them (I know that it's easy for me to sit here and say this while I'm feeling good and have had no serious incidents in a long while!) That's why I really related to "Ultraviolet" in that action movie--she is powerful and dynamic and fearless and also a strong mother figure--but she also gets these horrible attacks and looks really sickly a good part of the time! Nevertheless, that doesn't diminish her strength, power or sensuality.

Tamara

 

Tamara I just got through reading (to myself, no kids) my Charlotte's Web book that I have kept since I was a child and I'm 52! It is a beautiful story.

Haven't been in for a while so was reading what I missed. I would describe myself as an intoverted extrovert. Maybe I'm not really extroverted, just a friendly Texan - LOL. Many of the jobs I've had over the years have been dealing with the public; clerical, dept. store associate, grocery store checker, more clerical and my favorite, longest lasting was X-ray Tech. It was always a challenge - say checker - to try to make the person I was checking out smile, Or my patients I dealt with as an X-ray Tech as comfortable as they could be under difficult circumstances and even make them smile. To know that I made someone's day just a little brighter always helped me feel better.

It's funny but no matter how I feel if I'm out in public I am able to put a smile on my face when I look at someone. When they smile back it makes me happy. I joke with my long time friends that I am life's comic relief. It's a good gig! But am I hurting myself by "faking" happiness? I don't think so. Making others smile or making them happy makes me happy. I believe Sparrow said something about experiences that she can call attention to with detail that gives her feelings of comfort and well being. That statement also hold true for me.

As for creature comforts my backyard is one for me. I can sit out and watch the birds when I feel good and can still see some from bed if that is where I'm spending the day. Sparrow I'm 52 and have a doll that will be 52 at Christmas time. I often will pick her up and hold her and smile. Oh and her name is Smiley!

I love this thread and would like to thank those who post here. It is such an interesting thread. And sorry if I got off track again. LOL

 

~ giggling with delight ~

I have a full set of the "Little House" books that I read when I need a pick me up

I was a library assistant all through high school and college and I love books!

My mom will read a book once and that's it, done, over.... no matter how good!

I have my favorites that I will read again and again and never grow bored of it. But there are some John Grishams I don't have that I would LOVE! (hint hint Dra)

 

Just a quick note to you all. Haven't been posting lately--just really really busy with the restaurant. Last weekend, I started a major purging of the house--and it will have to continue today. I went through all my poetry I wrote when I was 15-21, old university essays and a lot of back up material research --photocopied journal articles. I was startled by how different I am in some ways and how similar I still am in others. One thing that I've kept--but only until I get a chance to read through it and get some good stuff out of it...is "morning pages"--morning pages are a sort of technique where you write down all your negative thoughts etc. first thing in the morning to get it out of your system in preparation for doing artistic creative work. It is a process suggested in a book called "The Artist's Way"--a pretty good book in general.

Anyway, I know that mostly its muck in those pages--but also some good stuff might be hidden in there so I haven't recycled those many notebooks yet. I do plan to though. It feels good to purge out all of this stuff that I was carrying with me to each house--and then storing and not using! It feels healthy, actually.

My next chapter (of life) will be to simplify simplify simplify--went to a film called "Manufactured Landscapes" yesterday which shows where all many of our "recyclables" end up---in China! Some strong images which make me want to pare down all the consumption.

Also reading a book called "A Cultural History of Advertising in America"--which makes a good case for the fact that we've unwittingly become consumers rather than producers of goods--and I'd add that we've lost a lot of peace of mind in the process!

Generally, I've been healthy--except for the day before yesterday when I "sleptwalked" three times in the night to get up to eat gluten free cake with heavy chocolate icing that my son made for my daughter's birthday. Must've been all the empty calories and the chocolate playing with my blood sugar but it was all I could do to keep my eyes from skittering off to the sides and losing my balance all day (usually precursors to major attacks--but thankfully not this time). Now, I have to refocus on eating well and cutting out sugar!

A good heads up that this isn't a condition that just is "cured" but that (at least I) can affect the experience of my Menieres with diet etc.

Love Tamara

 

On another site I am involved in, we mail each other books and send them around the world and eventually they make it back home. Most of the people on this board seem trustworthy enough to do the same thing. Just a thought.

 

oh and by the way, cdedie...i will try to be more like you about the smiling...and i love the fact that i have a friend way down south in Texas!!

tamara

 

Tamara ~ I have "The Artists Way" too And... I have done that exact same exercise !! I think they call it brain drain and it works. The book is wonderful. She has another book titled "The Vein of Gold".

What I did was buy a large artists notebook that had no lines on it and with colored markers wrote thoughts that came first to my mind before my toes hit the floor. The purpose of the large notebook is that I couldn't scribble down thoughts between the lines on a sheet of paper at that hour of the morning, tehe. I also think it is called free flow of thought.

Sparrow

 

Yes, Sparrow...there is an artist called "sark" who does this kind of work--and then sells it! I'll bet that she started out with the artist's way, too. Anyway, I was pretty happy to find her back when I did--she's the one who taught me about making little tiny micromovements through life--the tiny immeasurable increments of change which seem not even worth doing but all add up over time! Check her out. She is very disarming--I mean disarming of the ego--drivenness.

Tamara

 

Tamara ~ Just visited amazon.com and looked up Sark............. WOW !!! That's all I can say is WOW !!! What book did you start out with and want to recommend? I was reading one excerpt in one of her books and she has picnics in her bed... I love it !!! Her writing reminds me of my morning pages journals

She also has a calendar for 2007 which I am going to purchase. I am a calendar girl.... chuckling.... when I say that people just stare at me, bewildered at what in the world am I talking about............ I collect calendars from everywhere I can. My home is filled with dozens of calendars each year all over my walls. I don't have pictures hung on my walls, just dozens of calendars, all lined up, side by side. I love the beginning of each month when I take a trip around my home and flip to the next month and stare at all the new pictures. For me, it's fun!!

Thank you for introducing me to Sark (((((Tamara hugs)))))

Sparrow

 

All of her books are good! Glad that you like them.

Talk to you soon, Sparrow!

Tamara

 

Hi

I'm new on the boards and just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed reading this thread.

I've been following the Artist's Way for about six months and it really helped me get through a hugely difficult time. Even though I could no longer work (I'm a teacher) or even manage to walk to the end of my street I kept up morning pages as long as I was able. (There was a gap of a week that tells such a story ) I even managed to further my development as a writer when everything else seemed to be crashing around me - no, hang on, that was me that was doing the crashing!!

The Artist's Way has been a great foundation for the work I'm doing with a brilliant English kinesiologist who lives in France. I knew her when she practiced over here in the UK and we have been working over the phone. I was in a really bad way back in September - a mixture of MM and fibromyalgia. She's teaching me a lot about energy and I find that I'm beginning to use some of the strategies subconsciously.

I also follow a low sodium diet, limit my wheat intake - no sugar, that is such a trigger for me.

Working with kinesiology I added the juice of 2 pomegranates daily to my diet - that even got me blogging; www.pomegranatesuck.blogspot.com
For me, there's a definite connection between the physical/mental/spiritual/creative and when I allow myself to create harmony between these aspects I know I am healing. I'm a fairly pragmatic person - I started to take Serc a few weeks ago because I need to see if it will help me get strong enough to drive over to see my acupuncturist. She is Chinese and has helped get the circulation going before. I'm aiming to replace the Serc with a homeopathic alternative (possibly vertigoheel). I also just read that chillies are another ancient remedy for balance disorders.

I'm lucky. My husband and our children (we have 5) are right there with me. The school where I teach has been so supportive - we live opposite so some of my colleagues have come across and kept me company while whatever is going on runs it's course. I don't know when but I know I will be back in the classroom, hearing aid and all

One thing I'm certain of is that 2 things are of paramount importance to me regaining my strength and my balance. One is listening to myself. I am shocked at how much I used to push myself past my limits. I really insulted myself. That's not going to happen again. The other is being conscious of my thinking. I am now very careful to turn negative thoughts around. When I "crashed" back in September I was housebound and saw no-one apart from my husband and the children - "it is amazing what you can achieve when you live too far from people to hear them tell you it won't work." I think that's connected to the philosophy of the Artist's Way too - connecting to the subconscious and filling the well. 8)

Every day I mentally thank 4 people in my life and think of 5 things I'm grateful for.

best
Rosie

 

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Wow Rosie! What a beautiful and inspirational post. Thank you.

Now...on a bit of a different topic....yesterday my husband found two lumps on his body. Immediately, I phoned our allopathic gp. Today he has an appointment at 2:45pm. I thought it was interesting for you to know about on this alternative thread because when the stakes are high (cancer) I wanted the tests that allopathic medicine has really gotten good at. Once we get a diagnosis, then we'll mover to using alternative therapies (massage, acupuncture, herbs etc.) for helping him to keep up his strength--but we would go the conventional route to handle the cancer if it is there.

I thought that you should know that I don't believe in using alternative methods exclusively as you can waste valuable time.

Nothing like a good cancer scare to help you appreciate the beauty and fragility of life and to apprciate the ones you love!

Thanks for being there and for listening. I haven't told anyone in my family my fears.


Tamara

 

Tamara how did things go with the allopathic gp the other day? How is your Hubby? Sending postive thoughts your way.

 

Thanks Cdedie...yesterday it wasn't our real doctor (and it was a real sacrifice to send him away for that long during the lunch rush!) and he just dismissed it as nothing. Which is sort of good news, but I don't really trust it "just keep an eye on it and if anything changes make another appointment" sounds like a waffle answer to me and a good way to let whatever run amock while we waste valuable time. It was also my doctor's trainee who told me that my menieres symptoms were just a cold in my ear which could last a few months...

So, I might send him for a second opinion. And if that says the same thing--then we're off to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Herbalist.

I do find the whiole system incredibly frustrating.

Tamara

 

One should always consider their options when faced with cancer. The conventional medical system won't give you options they only promote surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy kills so many people but they won't tell you that. It's very dangerous. There are healthy and effective alternative options.
Research, research, research, and talk to people that have been down the alternative road.

Food for thought here too: www.drday.com
It's not quackery or a money-making scheme, just an education on how to make healthy choices in what we eat that boosts our immune systems to do a healthy battle and avoiding foods that works against us. Very much worth anyone's consideration when faced with cancer.
Amazing story of this doctor's personal experience, and the help and hope she's giving others.