Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for the ‘Health & Healing’ Category

Hot days, cool, lovely evenings; Wednesday we celebrate Independence Day, summer is in full swing.

“There is nothing I like better at the end of a hot summer’s day than taking a short walk around the garden.  You can smell the heat coming up from the earth to meet the cooler night air.”  ~Peter Mayle

The smell of crisp mornings and warm evenings, active bird life and buzzing bees, seasonal fruit, corn on the cob, BBQ’s are among the many pleasures that summer brings.  I love the warmth, although as I have aged, the heat is more challenging.

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”  ~Russell Baker

Each season is unique. Gardens are rich and vibrant as Spring matures into Summer and the cadence is slower.

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”  ~John Lubbock

Enjoy your summer!!

To be pragmatic is to be concerned with the practical consequences of our beliefs and our actions.

Pragmatism means looking at ourselves, our behaviors and our ideas to see if they are working in constructive rather than destructive ways.

The only constant is change, and as the world around us keeps changing, it is incumbent upon us to employ flexibility, reason and spiritual integrity to effect positive change.

“What you pay attention to grows.  If your attention is attracted to negative situations and emotions, then they will grow in you.”  ~Deepak Chopra

Pragmatism is accepting reality and making the best of it.  It is figuring how to employ our integrity; our power in the world.  It’s spending our energy for positive change, effecting relationships and using our power to create a better world.

“Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such high premium on the end justifying the means and any methods.”  ~Margaret Chase Smith

“For all of its well-deserved reputation for pragmatism, American popular culture frequently nurtures or at least tolerates preposterous views and theories.  Witness the 9/11 ‘truthers’, who lacking any evidence, claim that 9/11 was a Bush administration plot.”  ~Michael Hayden

Tolerance for ambiguity is essential to  human survival, tolerance for totalitarian propaganda is a death sentence for the common man and a flourishing democracy.

“Idealism detached from action is just a dream.  But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit is very exciting. It’s very real. It’s very strong.”   ~Bono

Wishing you all a wonderful summer!

I’m feeling the acceleration of time.  How could it be the end of May already?   Memorial Day weekend is here!

Many of us venture into Nature, plan events with family and friends, take a break from increasingly hectic routines, and most importantly, set aside some time to honor our military; active, retired and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for country and freedom.

This Memorial Day feels extra special to me.  As the world moves steadily toward darkness and decay.  The gap between the haves and the have-nots seems to be growing by leaps and bounds globally, and the very bastions of freedom throughout the world are being shaken to their foundations.  On this Memorial Day the service and sacrifice of our noble military forces seems even more poignant and powerful.

I invite you to take a few moments today to celebrate this special Holiday.

Blessings!

“…minute or minor detail.”  It is a tricky balancing act to keep one’s focus on the big picture and tend to detail at the same time.

‘Not seeing the forest for the trees’ is a saying that reflects how easy it is to get lost in the minutia.

Betrand Malinowski coined the phrase, ‘…the imponderabilia of daily living.’  It is one of my favorite descriptions of the minutia of day-to-day life.

“Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge.  So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutia, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.”  ~Khalil Gibran

I am not certain that we can completely know ourselves.  But I do believe that the more I know my self the greater is my authenticity, freedom from worry and inner peace.

This quote from Deepak Chopra really got my attention.

“A risk-free life is far from being a healthy life.  To begin with, the very word ‘risk’ implies worry, and people who worry about every bite of food, sip of water, the air they breathe, the gym sessions they have missed, and the minutia of vitamin doses are not sending positive signals to their cells.  A stressful day sends constant negative messaging to the feedback loop and popping a vitamin pill or choosing wheat bread instead of white bread does close to zero to change that.”

Chopra’s use of food, water, air, vitamins and exercise exemplifies getting lost in the minutia of managing our health, our stress.  These elements are essential for our physical survival, literally.

To have a healthy life demands cultivating a belief system that enriches our faith and promotes our capacity to trust the process.  We need them both.

Surrendering ourselves to the care of the Divine Energy of Love is taking a profound risk.

This week I ask, ‘Are you a risk-taker?’

In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz lists being impeccable with your word as one of the four.

Honesty and integrity are values we cherish and strive to cultivate within ourselves and instill in our children.

Building a reputation of truthfulness is not as easy as it may sound.  Telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is not always in our best interest.  There are things that are better left unsaid.

It takes courage to be honest about our feelings.  It takes practice to learn how to communicate our truth with others in a loving, respectful way.  It takes discipline to not call people names, to not hurl epithets and to stay focused on ‘I’ messages rather than, ‘you’, ‘you’, ‘you’.

In these tumultuous times it feels more important than ever to examine our impeccability.

“Be impeccable With Your Word.  Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”  ~Don Miguel Ruiz

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”  ~Bob Marley

“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”  ~Douglas Adams

Wishing everyone a blessed week!

“We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun.”  ~William Glasser

My introduction to Dr. Glasser was through his book, Positive Addiction.  I sporadically followed his work, especially in the area of applied ‘choice theory’.  I very much like that he considers ‘fun’ a genetic need.

“Are we having fun yet?”  My Mother’s favorite comment when an outing or other similar fun event wasn’t going too well.  For a long time I mildly resented her comment until I reached a level of maturity that allowed me to enjoy her humorous aside.

I love having fun!  “Fun is good,” says Dr. Seuss.  Fun is not only good, it is a genetic need.  It is as essential for positive living, relieving stress and staying grounded, balanced and healthy, as is prayer and meditation.  Never underestimate the importance of having fun.

“Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture.  If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.”  ~Richard Branson

“If you go around being afraid, you’re never going to enjoy life.  You have only one chance so you’ve got to have fun.”  ~Lindsay Vaughn

I invite you into this week to have a lot of fun!

Worldwide celebrations of Earth Day took place Sunday April 22,  reminding us of  the importance of preserving wilderness and honoring nature.

“Wilderness is harder and harder to find these days on this beautiful planet, and we’re abusing our planet to the point of almost no return.”  ~Betty White

Studies conclude that living in areas where we can see trees and watch birds can have a positive effect on our mental health. (https://phys.org)  This growing body of evidence is showing what many of us already know…that experiencing natural environments can reduce stress levels, anxiety and depression.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul,”  ~John Muir

“There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.”  ~Henry David Thoreau

Immersing myself in nature is healing and grounding.  Mind-emptying meditation allows me to merge with the natural landscape.  It is a wordless, thoughtless place that brings great refreshment to my spirit.

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in it’s roar; I love not Man less, but Nature more.”  ~Lord Byron

As Spring blossoms into it’s fullness, it is a perfect moment to savor the gifts of nature.

“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life”  ~Bill Gates

I have been without phone, internet and wi-fi for eight days, having only the ability to text and make calls on my cell. (Thankfully!) There is a problem where I live with old delivery lines, and the situation has been going on for over a year.  It has been tough.  It has been frustrating.  It has been very stressful!

With the gracious help of my webmaster, I have been able to keep a semblance of my business going.  Without her efforts on my behalf, I’m not sure how big a ‘hit’ I would take.

I regularly subscribe to Gretchen Rubin’s quote: “Turn off your email; turn off your phone; disconnect from the internet; figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to; and disengage when you need to.  Technology is a good servant but a bad master.”

When I do all those things at the same time, it is a peaceful, renewing and rewarding experience.  It helps slow me down and strengthens my connection with the natural world.

“Technology has forever changed the world we live in.  We’re online, in one way or another, all day long.  Our phones and computers have become reflections of our personalities, our interests, our identities.  They hold much that is important to us.”  ~James Comey

Gates and Comey are right.  Technology fits easily into everyday life, and it does hold a great deal that is very important to us.  I am discovering that it is quite a different experience to choose to disconnect versus being disconnected when I don’t want to be.

Sadly, the fix for my problem is most likely temporary, like the fixes of the past year or more, and I will be disconnected again not by choice.

“It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” ~Clive James

Spring is in full swing in my neighborhood.  The sun’s warmth seeps into the earth  (and into my old arthritic bones), awakening us all  from winter slumber.

The tulips are blooming in celebration of the spring Holy Season.  Fruit trees are budding with the promise of wonderful plums and pears.  Vegetable beds patiently await to be spaded and planted.

Spiritually, emotionally and physically, it is a perfect season for our rebirth.  Shedding the dark coldness of winter, we embrace movement toward the blooming of our authentic selves.

“There is a rebirth that goes on with us continuously as human beings.  I don’t understand, personally, how you can be bored.  I can understand how you can be depressed, but I just don’t understand boredom.”  ~Dustin Hoffman

“Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.”  ~Dalai Lama

Embrace the rebirth of spring!

The 1st Amendment right of people to peacefully assemble, to speak freely, to address or petition the government for redress of grievances.

America has a rich, and sometimes volatile, history of marching to redress inequality.  Notable: the marches of the civil rights movement, protesting the Vietnam war, LBGT rights, and, the biggest march in US history, the one day Women’s March on Washington in January 2017 in which an estimated 4.2 million people gathered.

Saturday March 24, marks the first time that the youth of our Nation marched together in the Many Lives Matter protest.

I am mightily heartened about the future of my country when I hear these articulate, passionate young people demanding a change in the status quo of political lethargy.

I invite you all to read a letter in LET THE PUBLIC SPEAK section of Saturday’s Press Democrat, written by Peyton Krzyzek a student at Santa Rosa High School.  It powerfully and poignantly captures the fear our young people endure everyday in an environment that should be providing them with the best education possible in a safe and secure manner.

Ironically, to me anyway, in the same issue on page A10, is an article about protecting classes with rocks.  David Helsel, superintendent of the Blue Mountain School District in northeast Pennsylvania, has equipped each classroom with a five-gallon bucket of river rocks.  This arsenal is described as ‘last ditch‘ option for students trapped and hiding under desks.  Rather than being helpless targets of an automatic weapon in the hands of a crazed killer, these kids can fight back by standing up and throwing rocks at their assailant.  Helsel said, “Obviously a rock against a gun isn’t a fair fight, but it is better than nothing.”

Perhaps we as a Nation should rethink our position on armaments.  Give the Secret Service buckets of rocks to protect the President and Congress.  Likewise our Police and Sheriffs departments throughout the country.  And arm our military with tons of rocks instead of guns.  Armored tanks could shoot rocks at the enemy, our Air Force could drop rock bombs, missiles could be armed with rock heads, not to mention a whole new era of rock(et) launchers.

It is ridiculous to imagine.  Yet, this is considered a feasible, realistic way to protect our children in the classroom?

The young people behind the Many Lives Matter movement are becoming eligible to vote.  Indeed, in some states where the voting age is 18, they will be going to the polls this year.

If these young adults sustain their passion, and I believe they will, change will come; lethargy and self-serving duplicity may no longer be the norm on Capitol Hill.