A Thought Is Just A Thought

As the week unveiled its meaning in my life, I once again saw the common threads in many clients and in the continual work that I do in my own developmental process.

Thoughts become things - a powerful saying from the daily sayings that are presented to me in my email, BUT, thoughts are not who we are.  They can shape the trajectory that life is taking and thus, they do maintain a level of power, but thoughts can be shaped if one removes him/herself from being "in it".

We often, when in a state of panic, will believe that the thought or circumstance is our reality, but in fact this is not the case.  At a core level, we are energy, pure love and while events can feel real, devastating or joyous, we can choose to feel calm, at peace and in joy.  This does take practice, is not always perfect.

What really got me thinking of this was my personal challenge of often waking in the middle of the night and especially in the morning with racing thoughts of everything I need to do, starting the day feeling overwhelmed before I've had my morning coffee!  After attending a wonderful conference on genetic testing last weekend, I have better understanding of my brain chemistry and how my neurotransmitters fire rapidly.  Great for the creative proccess and not so great for brain longevity - watch out Linds and Ash, you may have a frazzled mother's brain!

I also am very aware of the conditioning that has also led to this way of being and really do my diligence to use yoga, breath-work, getting out in nature, to help calm this situation.  I remain a work in progress, but have come such a long way.

This inspires me to share these pearls of wisdom with my clients.  So often, I have the privilege of assisting those who are desperate, have seen everyone without success, and now at my doorstep hoping that alternative approaches will make a difference.  I truly believe that motivation can be created with small steps taken in the direction of observing the negative thoughts and by replacing them with positive ones.

Consider trying this in your own life - get comfortable, whether seated or lying down, roll shoulders back and down and begin to breathe deeply, go inward and focus on the breath or visualize a positive image.  Breathe a few times and begin to just passively view and let the thoughts pass by as if watching on a TV screen.  Don't fight with the thoughts, merely let them pass by like flowing water.

In peace,
Julie

Food Fight!

As I reflect on opinions about the perfect or right  diet, often strongly held as fact or the only way, I am brought to recognizing that there is really no one true diet that works for all.  While we may all be human, genetic diversity as well as environmental influences, both helpful and harmful, affect how the body processes and utilizes food.

There are a few common aspects of nutrition, known to be facts that affect everyone adversely – refined carbohydrates in excess and trans fats.  Processing of any food will deteriorate the beneficial qualities of the food in its original nature.

Often when people learn that I am a nutritionist, there is an immediate assumption that I must be vegetarian.  In a laugh, I comment that I am not and that I enjoy my grass-fed red meat.  In fact, given my own personal medical journey with anemia, leukemia and lyme, my blood and bone marrow need good quality flesh protein.  In fact, during my years of experimentation with vegetarian diets, I loved the taste of the food, but my body did not feel well with it.  Later, as I learned to do food sensitivity testing, most of the legumes and soy foods were not my best friends.  Nor is fish!  One asks “What” – fish is the best food.  Not for me.  I am sensitive to many fish and in fact become doubled over with stomach pain and sweats with scallops.

On the other hand, I met with a client not long ago with a history of breast cancer, colon polyps, osteopenia and hyperparathyroidism.  Immediately I felt that a mostly vegetarian diet would benefit her various conditions.  I find it important to listen intently to the opinions that clients bring into the office, to evaluate the labs, to look at family history and of great excitement, is the advance in genetic testing.  I will be trained in greater detail in the upcoming weeks on this fascinating science of genomics. 

I truly believe that using information about our genes and how they express in illness will become the future of medicine.  No longer will “shot in the dark” medicines and treatments be how health is managed.  Targeted treatments utilizing special diets, supplements, stress management and other supportive modalities such as massage and acupuncture, will assist in modulating how genes are expressed – either being turned on or off.  What an exciting time in medicine.  Stay tuned for more!

In health,

Julie