Susan’s Super Suggestions for Small Steps
“Small steps make grand adventures!”
~ Winnie the Pooh
Today we have the incredible advantage of having the amazing knowledge of traditional “western” medical science and the also amazing knowledge of other wellness traditions to learn from.
Each one has much to offer and to enable us to be more healthy & more productive lives.
Sometimes the “holistic or alternative ” therapies are seem as strange and unproven…but really, many of them have been around for thousands of years & have keep people well long before ” modern medicine.”
So as we open up to a multi-cultural world, we can also open up to a “multi- medical ” world.
So glad you are on this journey with me!
Welcome Guest Writers for Whole Health Series
Over the next few weeks I have the pleasure of bringing you guest columnists who have the best of both wellness worlds. They are great examples of learning and using a “both sides of the brain” approach.
Today’s columnist is Susan Thomasson,who has an extensive background in both traditional medicine as well as complementary therapies.
SUSAN’S SUPER SUGGESTIONS FOR SMALL STEPS
When Jeannie asked me to write for this blog, I didn’t have any idea where to start. My personal and professional interests are all over the map. I do, however, have a passion for sharing the possibilities of integrative medicine (complementary therapies) as an approach to health and wellness. So let’s start there.
Some Girls Buy Shoes…
Do you enjoy learning new techniques, exploring ideas, searching for answers? I have always loved to learn new things…have been back to school a few times over the years, enjoy continuing education classes, and love reading, reading and more reading to figure things out for myself. (Some girls buy shoes—I buy books!) My recent reading has included Dean Ornish’s Love and Survival, Lynn McTaggart’s The Intention Experiment, and Crowley and Lodge’s Younger Next Year. All three are amazing…and lead me more and more in the direction of “we have a lot more control over our health and well-being that we may even begin to imagine!”
What you can control…
What do you want for the New Year? What do you want to have control over or change in this new decade? Have your considered a holistic approach? I use an integrative approach and find that many of these ideas can address many issues. For instance, a monthly massage therapy or Reiki session will help decrease the effects of stress, improve your circulation, decrease tense muscles, relieve pain, and improve sleep. Or a weekly yoga class can help you focus while helping improve flexibility and strength…..Or regular prayer or meditation practices can help you feel calm and less stressed ….Or volunteering at your favorite charitable organization can help you feel connected and whole….Even sitting down to dinner with your family can provide many healthy benefits…and a sense of belonging.
Take some time for you & your health.
The main idea here is just to take time for you. Honor and nurture the wonderful person that you are. Work to take care of your WHOLE being, mind-body-spirit! I’m trying…so you can, too! Happy New Year!
…………………..And enjoy the journey.
Susan is a Board Certified Medical Laboratory Scientist & Instructor at Carolinas College of Health Sciences. In addition, Susan is Director of Continuing Education there and has created an innovative seminar on “Integrative Medicine” to introduce CMC students & the public to that information.(for more info on this seminar, email Susan at the address below). I have been honored to be a part of that for several years. She is also a licensed massage therapist & Reiki master.
• Susan B. Thomasson, M.Ed., MT(ASCP)SH, LMBT
Director, Continuing Education Department
Carolinas College of Health Sciences
Email: susan.thomasson@carolinashealthcare.org
Happy New Year! Start It Right…
WHAT WILL THIS YEAR BE FOR YOU?
You know that every new year you say...
This will be the year I will….
·Get healthy/lose weight ·Find a new job
·Save Money ·Get Organized ·Start my new business
·Have a great relationship
Yet somehow it doesn’t happen.
You don’t need more “self-help” information…you need real-time professional support,and practical ideas + accountability.
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Bringing in the Light
Season’s Greetings, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Celebrate Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays, Solstice Salutations, Feliz Navidad. However you celebrate it, I wish you a wonderful Season of Light.
In every tradition, we commemorate the end of the darkest & longest days and the beginning of a time of more sunlight. We light candles and have “sparkly things” that reflect the lights and represent more sun. Throughout the world, this time is acknowledged in many different traditions but they all include special food, lights and gifts.
But most important, it is a time for moving into a “lighter” space and joyously celebrating our connections to each other and the earth.
A NEW YEAR With New Traditions
For many people, it is also a New Year and a time for new beginnings. A time to reflect on what is meaningful and to pay attention to what is important to us …. and to vow to remember those things more. In that spirit, I want to share this excerpt from “A Christmas Story “ by Truman Capote*.
Remember What is Important
The speaker is Sook, Truman’s elderly and disabled aunt who teaches us about life in her simple and profound way. Whatever your holiday or religious tradition, I think we can all learn from her words to remember what is really important and appreciate the gifts we already have.
On a cold and empty Christmas afternoon Sook exclaims to young Truman:
” ‘My, how foolish I am!’ she cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. “You know what I’ve always thought?” she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. “I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the church window…pretty as colored glass with the sun shining through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort, to think of that shine takes away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes he has already shown Himself.” Her hand circled in a gesture that gathered clouds and kites and grass and Queenie, our dog, pawing earth over her bone, ” “That things as they are, just what they’ve always been, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes. “
So in this special season, let us see it all with Sook’s eyes. I hope this season brings you much light and love.
(*Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory, Modern Library, 1996)
