Nuggets of Wisdom

My acupuncturist is an amazing healer, a fiery Colombian American and self-avowed recovering Catholic. Each time I visit her sky blue office I feel soothed and supported while at the same time challenged and uplifted. Her belief in the divine is supported by her knowledge of quantum physics (right up my alley) and she discusses frequencies with fervor.

A few treasured observations from my visit yesterday:

- "Monkeys don't like monks." This witty assessment of how Gregorian chants can be an antidote for stress and the so-called 'monkey-mind,' even for recovering Catholics (although she asked permission to play that particular arrangement, acknowledging that some raised Catholics could be anti-monk, or at least averse to chanting).

- "The Spanish word for faith is fe, which = force and energy."   I love this, as my faith has taken a beating since 2016, when I felt that Christianity was co-opted by people who act the least like Jesus of anyone I've ever met. Deyba talked about how Jesus' positive energy, his high frequency, was so powerful that he could walk into any group of people and change their existing energy field. She explains how we can raise our own frequencies with positivity and optimism, how we can also use our force and energy for good and positively alter the energy of a person or even a room of people that we encounter. This takes a lot of work, a great deal of self-care, and healthy boundaries.

I'm working on the healthy boundaries. As an oldest daughter, a woman raised in 1980's "Ronald and Nancy Reagan" America, I am certainly a people-pleaser. Deyba has been teaching me to do what I need to do for my health and my peace of mind, making choices for better sleep, fewer conflicts, positive outlook (manta - 'everything is always working out for me') and healthy eating, reading, listening.  

If we could all hum our way to higher frequencies, how much better could we be? (Apparently humming is another wonderful way to soothe and uplift). I'm prepared to wield humming, good health and Gregorian chants as we enter 2025.

PS - Thinking of everyone in CA affected by the fires and praying for quick resolution and no further loss of life.

 

A Flood of Gratitude

One of my swimming friends, an amazing athlete (national champion masters swimmer, biker and hiker) sees an acupuncture specialist about thirty minutes from my house. My ears perk up whenever Kathleen mentions her appointments and the great results, but the drive time had kept me from following up until recently, when I got information and made a first-time date.  Wear and tear from the high school swim season plus general fatigue and incessant nerve prickling in my scalp helped me focus on a plan of action.

D. did not disappoint. Traffic was bad and I made it with just two minutes to spare - cutting things much closer than I like - but my heart rate subsided and I could draw a deeper breath within ten minutes of my sitting down. No one else was in the office, and I unburdened myself of medical history, current emotional and physical challenges, and desired healing. 

In our discussion it came out that I blog and meditate for self-healing when not overly busy, but of course I jettison both of these therapies (at the time I most need them) when my schedule gets crowded. She gently prodded me to get back to both, hence this first blog post in many weeks. Letting myself go off the rails without the support of two stabilizing influences seems short-sighted and destined for failure, and yet it often happens. 

When D. treated me, dimmed the lights and withdrew, I felt a flood of gratitude rise from somewhere in my core and flood upward and out through my tear ducts. I lay in the darkness with acupuncture needles in various locales, weeping for no discernible reason except for this strange and lovely feeling of gratitude.

Since my visit last week I have had much more energy and a more positive outlook. I'm going back on Wednesday (before our high school league championships), hoping not only for my own peace and optimism but that some of the joy will rub off on my girls, helping them to swim best times and hit their goals.