Tag Archives: happy

Thankful

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Today I was reminded about how thankful one has to be in the face of adversity.

While walking with a friend this morning, I was telling the story of what happened on Thursday with my youngest daughter, Brityn.  She went in for her weekly allergy shot and called me an hour later complaining about a stomach ache.  I didn’t think much of it because she eats many foods that causes her to get stomach aches.  About 30 minutes later when I arrive at my mom’s (she was with grandma), I walked in and she looked awful.  Flush in the checks, pale in the face, coughing, somewhat difficulty breathing, crying because of her stomach. She then pulled up her shirt and she had hives covering her entire torso.  Oh my goodness….she’s having a reaction!  I called the doctor and they immediately said to call 911 because we didn’t have her EpiPen handy. So I did and within about 20 minutes we were taking a ride in the ambulance and spent a couple hours in the ER.  Thankfully with Benadryl and quick medical attention, she was ok after a few hours and doing fabulously today!

It was scary and anxiety ridden and sad and the list goes on.  I remained calm but deep down I was dying inside as my baby girl was severely struggling….and I didn’t know what to do about it!  Even yesterday, I was still shaken by the whole experience.  However, the calmness that came over me when my friend said…”She’s ok, you’re ok…and despite the ordeal there is a lot to be thankful for.”

Yes, there is.  Lesson learned… Be thankful for the little things and hopefully the big things won’t seem quite so scary!

On a separate note, I’ll post more later about my latest diagnosis!  All good news as we finally think we’ve found the last piece of the puzzle!

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Ways to Skin a Cat

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If April showers bring May flowers, what do April blizzards bring?  Answer:  I’ll let you know in May!

I’ve always been fascinated by the saying “there are several ways to skin a cat”.  But first I ask, why would you want to skin a cat?  Second, why would anyone think of multiple ways of doing that?  Nonetheless, this holds true for most things in life. There are many ways to approach a challenge!  As I continued on my health journey, which started in 2010, I was learning just how many ways one can “skin a cat!”  No cat skinning here, but eating disorder…let’s count a few ways…1.  Therapy  2. Doctors  3. Self-care  4. Education/school  5. Hypnosis  6. Family/friends  7. EFT.  There are many other ways, but this was the list I pulled from the top of my head.  And yes, I tried all of them!  But EFT proved to be the most effective.  When it came to my eating disorder, I was able to clear the emotions causing me to eat the way I did.  I won’t go into detail about how EFT works (PM me or reach out to Elda if you want to learn more), but I can tell you after several sessions, my relationship changed with food and with my body.  OMG….I was now able to control the extreme shifts in my eating habits.  Success!!  Life changing!  

Without the extreme shifts in my eating, I was feeling better, my moods were more stable, I had more energy, and I was getting better sleep.  BUT… I was beginning to notice some weight gain.  While this was a good thing because my BMI was low, I was not happy about continuously gaining weight. I was eating healthy, yet I was feeling bloated and heavy more days than others. I began to notice many of my clothes were not fitting anymore.  I began to notice exercise was not maintaining my weight.  What was I doing wrong?  Because of the work I did with Elda and EFT, I did not go back to my old habits!! High five!  Yet I did need to understand what was happening.  So I turned to my doctor for guidance.  Here’s what I learned….restrictive eating, yo-yo dieting, and/or extreme food shifts over a long period of time can cause internal harm to your body.  Are you kidding me?  I was cutting foods to help my body.  I was limiting my food intake to benefit my body.  I was restricting foods to heal my body.  Now I was told all of that work over the last 6-7 years was actually harmful to other organs in my body.  I was shocked. I was sad. I was frustrated. I was mad.

Multiple ways to skin a cat?  What happens when some or all the ways cause harm to the cat?  Now what?

Another twist in the journey…but this too will be met with gratitude, positive thoughts and most importantly…. eyes wide open!

Stay warm…and I’m hopeful that Spring is actually coming to MN!

Radiating

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Its August already …where has summer gone…it feels like it just started!

Its been over a week since I’ve been home from Tulum Mexico and amazingly, I have had more people tell me I am radiating, that I light up a room when I walk in and the happiness is just bursting out of my pores!  I cannot begin to tell you how transformational and healing the retreat was! It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and can honestly say I feel like a new person!  We slept in huts with no a/c, we ate vegetarian meals for the week, and engaged in daily yoga and meditation.  We did a labyrinth, a tezmecal, and a gratitude circle (all Mayan rituals) along with many personal deep dives into worth, truth and letting go. One of the most wonderful things was I had very limited connectivity so was able to almost completely unplug for 6 days.  (I would HIGHLY recommend unplugging for any length of time…it is life changing!)

I spent 6 days with 6 incredible women!  They inspired me.  They made me feel safe. They gave me the courage to be vulnerable! (Trust me – that is not something I’m comfortable being…ever!)  The energy, the love and the unconditional support I received during this retreat along with the exceptional experiences of Tulum were truly transformational.  I learned with 100% certainty that I can survive anything life presents to me.  I know after enduring extremely physically challenging circumstances, I can be uncomfortable, I can have limited resources, yet I can survive,I am strong and I can make it through to the other side. And oh my goodness….the other side is EXCEPTIONAL!  

Wishing you radiance, happiness and disconnection throughout the rest of your summer!

Spring Cleaning

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Spring has sprung here in Minnesota.  Nearly 70 degrees on Monday and low-to-mid 60s the rest of the week!  I suppose we could get one last blast of snow in April, but I’m staying positive and thinking flowers instead!

When I think of spring, my first thought is spring cleaning…Ugh!  Some people love to clean closets and wash screen and windows, but to others that may seem time consuming and like a really big hassle.  Yep, that’s me!  Honestly, I sometimes tend to find other things to do like go for a walk, watch a movie or read a book instead.  However, what I do remember is the feeling when the spring cleaning is done!  It feels amazing, freeing and joyful!  

With the end result in mind (I want to be joyful, free and feel amazing), this year I decided to focus on spring cleaning my SELF instead of spring cleaning my HOUSE.  Everyone has something they have been wishing or hoping they would/could/should do or stop doing.  It could be shopping for a new car or discontinuing an automatic monthly shipment of _______ (fill in the blank).  What comes to mind for you?  

Mine was to get back into a healthy routine!  Anyone who knows me well knows I tend to be healthy (i.e. eat healthy, exercise regularly, go to bed early), but the past several months have brought a lot of extra activities like networking, weekly lunches and dinner meetings, happy hours and sometimes even lazy mornings!  Needless to say, I haven’t been exercising regularly, I haven’t been eating healthy and I haven’t been getting to bed early either.  When living with a chronic illness, it most definitely takes a toll on my mind and my body!  Soooooo, its time to SPRING CLEAN. There’s no time like the present, so why not start a new hobby, break a bad habit or build a new healthy routine?  I’m starting today!  How about you? How will you spring clean?

 

Laughter

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On my way into work this morning, I was listening to Joel Osteen on XM radio. He was speaking today on the benefits of laughter.  For those who know me…..I love to laugh! I love to laugh with friends, with coworkers, with family, really with anyone.  I love the “catch your breath” moment when I can’t stop laughing or when the tears are streaming down my face from laughing so hard. Everyone loves to laugh, right? I bet you can remember a time when you had a really good belly laugh!

The message today reminded me of when the girls and I were driving down to visit my father (I’ll give an update on him shortly) one day earlier this summer. On our drive, we played a game where we think of things we are hoping to see like llamas, a pink water tower or maybe a tractor driving alongside the road and if one of the things we listed is found, then the person scores points.  After accumulating a certain number of points, the person gets a prize. Most of the time, the girls get something from DQ and I get the girls agreeing to vacuum the house for a week. Win/win, right?  Well, this was the first time we were playing this game and I said brown cows thinking brown cows were not as common as black cows. To my disbelief, within 2 minutes we drove by a farm with at least 100 brown cows in the pasture.  Are you serious?  OMG!  I couldn’t believe it!  Who would have thought?

We broke out in hysterical laughter. I almost had to stop the car because we were laughing so hard.  It was awesome!  I think we smiled the entire way to Tyler and back after such a great, catch your breath, tears streaming laugh!  I share this story because I learned several things that day.  I learned “brown” cows are not rare, I learned a good laugh can make your day, your week or even your month more delightful and I learned the memory of that moment will bring so many more laughs for years to come!  Yes…we still laugh every time we drive by!

It’s these moments that make me cherish my life and make me so grateful for my girls, the laughter they give me and just the precious gift of laughter! I encourage you to laugh today.  A small, medium or big laugh will make your day and maybe even your week so much more joyful and happy! And I believe everyone can use a little happiness and joy in their lives!

As promised, my father is stable at this time.  His kidneys are functioning around 11% and his heart is working fiercely to keep up!  With 24×7 care and three solid meals a day, I think he is doing quite well! Thank you for you continued prayers and kind thoughts!

P.S. Don’t forget to laugh today! 🙂