The following originally appeared in Natural Awakenings of Southwest Virginia “Don’t leave before you go.” — Alan Forrest on the last morning of the iBme fall self-care retreat What could be sweeter than gently waking after plenty of sleep in your own room at a self-care retreat by the soft sound of a Tibetan bowl [...]
I was thinking maybe I should write a poem about autism since April is National Poetry Month and National Autism Awareness Month, so I stopped for a moment to reflect on what that would look like and realized that I wasn’t up for an angry rant, so I canned the idea. I am so upset [...]
Every now and then when the buzz of static in my head crowds out any thoughts of poetry and the stiff ache in my body spreads like a virus, when it’s winter and the ground is frozen and covered with dirty snow and my energy has sunk like the sun to its lowest level, when [...]
What could be sweeter than to be surprised with a free hour of sleep at a self-care retreat? Not only that, I had a room of my own and was awakened the morning after the daylight savings time change by a Tibetan bowl being rung outside my door, calling me to meditation. What could be [...]
~ The following was first published in the February issue of Natural Awakenings of Southwest Virginia Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. A 2009 series of groundbreaking mindfulness [...]
I felt like a failure with my recent attempt to enjoy some time at the pool because after finally getting there for only the second time all summer, I was only there an hour before I got restless and left. More recently, and after finishing the three stories I was working on back-to-back, I [...]
I suspect that some of my friends are planning an intervention. I’ve recently had to cancel a few dates with them because I’ve been so busy covering stories, taking pictures and writing, and generally getting so wound up that I have to rest in between each activity and every chance I get. Excitement can be [...]
I’ve been having a difficult time trying to find a doctor that I can work with, probably because this (burdock root ready for steaming and tincturing) is my idea of medicine.
I belong to a Share the Care circle. It’s a group of people who have agreed to alternate monthly home visits to someone with health issues who has asked for help. Occasionally we all get together for fellowship and a simple meal. My Share the Care home visits got off to a rough start, a [...]
You have passed the low point of a dormant, stagnating situation. Improvement will now come naturally … a turn for the better is occurring without anyone’s having willed it, planned it, or arranged for it. It occurs on its own, in its own slow time, in its own quiet way …. Fu Returning – IChing [...]
In spite of my Yankee bluntness and my Irish gift of the gab, I’m a shy person. But I believe the universe sets us up to heal weakness that keep us from being whole, which is what makes a shy person like me take up the open mic, interview people (aka ask nosey questions) for [...]
In the last week we’ve had an electrical fire; fried several lamps, our toaster, and TV; and then I got the flu – TWICE. Yes, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my burgundy silk pajamas, topped off with an oversized sage green wool sweater from Ireland. My days have been revolving around short [...]
The following was published in the Roanoke Times on March 17, 2008, which can be viewed HERE. One of Ellen DeGeneres’s recent talk show guests was a young girl who raised a large sum of money selling bracelets to benefit autism treatment. She was motivated by the fact that her brother is autistic. At one [...]
I was trying to figure out where I could go to get away from what the doctor was telling me. I wondered why he hadn’t taken me to a private room to give me such devastating news. Dan only had a 2% chance of living; they weren’t going to perform liver transplant surgery with those [...]
Sometimes I think having chronic fatigue is something like having a drinking problem. When I partake in a social life, I live it up large, but soon I have to sneak away to find a place to sleep it off. As I rest in my own little world, hearing the voices and sounds of others [...]
In early January I bragged on my blog that I didn’t have a New Year’s Resolution. After completing a year following my passion – retiring from full-time foster care so that I could write as much as I wanted to – what would I possibly want to change? I recall talking about how the two [...]
In the past month I’ve been to two doctors and have had four drugs prescribed, all of which I have declined to take. A New Year brought a new array of symptoms on top of the ones related to Chronic Fatigue that I’ve been managing for years. The worst new symptom had me worried about [...]
A few days before Christmas my husband and I volunteered to wrap presents for a toy drive at the Floyd Rescue Squad. Inside the station there were wrapping supplies on one table and a pile of toys on another. We weren’t long into cutting, wrapping, and taping before the child in me came out. The [...]
