Meeting Aesclpius & Professional Responsibility

Welcome to week 7,



Tip of the Week!



Eat Breakfast!

If you do one good thing for yourself everyday- eat breakfast. It doesn't take long. You can take it on the run (though this is not ideal). If you are rushed in the morning, consider low-fat yogurt, a piece of toast, and some fruit. Not heavy, but it will hold you till lunch time. A little extra time- whip up an omelet with some chopped veggies (if you chop them the night before, it's very easy to toss them into the eggs in the morning). Add a small glass of juice and you're good to go! Of course breakfast doesn't have to be breakfast foods either. Last night's chicken, a little cheese and salsa all rolled up in tortilla is simple and filling- or try omitting the salsa and adding apple slices!

Why you ask should I eat breakfast.? Because you haven't eaten in 6-8 or more hours. Because if you expect to function well, your body and brain need the fuel from foods. Skipping breakfast sets your body up to conserve energy. So, if you're dieting and you skip meals you're only undermining your efforts. Your metabolism will gradually slow as the body attempts to conserve what energy it has... and without breakfast by around 11, you're likely to be starving. This makes it more likely that you'll overeat or make a poor decision come lunchtime. Don't sabotage your efforts this way!



Now . . . . onto Aesclepius



Anyone else feeling little overwhelmed? Sounds like an excellent time to go try some meditative work and see if that lends some clarity. So this week we tried the Meeting Aesclepius meditation. The healer I saw was Mother Teresa. I have done this meditation before and she is always the person who comes up. As I visualized her through the meditation, I tried to see her loving, giving, and compassionate nature in myself. My efforts in this meditation have reminded me that when I give- whatever it may be- I need to give it freely, without restrictions, without strings, and because I want to- not because I feel compelled. So I ask myself- Why am I doing this? How are my actions and words affecting me and others? I believe in the adage that 'if you don't have anything nice to say-don't say anything at all". However, I'm taking it one step further. I'm trying not to have the thought of the 'not nice' thing to say. Instead I'm trying to voice the positive instead of the negative. This isn't always easy, but like the toxic thoughts we have of ourselves, just as destructive are those we have of others.



As for the quote, " One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" to me, means that in order to guide someone, you need some path to follow. In the health and wellness profession, I believe this means that you must connect with people and allow this connection to be your guide to helping them. By listening and reflecting upon not only what you hear from them, but what you see, smell, and feel, offers the professional more tools for personalizing healing options. To often the human compassion is removed from medicine and this creates distance. If we can close this gap, we can offer a hand to hold to patients and clients to guide and walk alongside them in their journey to health and happiness. Without the human integration, we are merely pushing them down a path.

I do think professionals have an obligation to themselves and those they treat or practice with to offer human courtesy and respect. No one wants to be a number. No one wants to feel as if their health isn't important- especially if they have sought you out for assistance. I don't think this means that as a professional you have to have experienced everything first hand in order to be effective. But you do have to have the ability to empathize and acknowledge the feelings of the other person as important and relevant to their care.

To implement these ideas into my life, I'm simply trying to stay in the moment. I'm a multi-tasker and typically my thoughts are hours into the future. I'm making a concerted effort to savor the 'now'. Doing this reminds me to appreciate and be thankful for the little things. Things like the hugs and kisses offered freely by my daughter. Moments when my son wants me to listen as he sings a song. Even outside of my life . . . I watched a very fat squirrel the other day go about his day. When I left my car he ran around to the backside of a tree and clung to it about a foot above the ground-completely frozen. I laughed as I imagined his thougths were something like a Jedi mind-trick "You don't see me (with a little flick of his tail)! Just those few moments were enough to recapture the sense of "now". Simply appreciating the moments, makes me cherish them all the more.