Take a Break: It’s All About the Shamrock

In case you are wondering why the shamrock is so integral to St. Patrick’s Day, legend has it that St. Patrick used the three-leaf plant to teach the Irish about the holy trinity (father, son and holy spirit). Don’t know what he did when he found one with four leaves.

If you’ve ever looked closely at a shamrock, you’ll notice it’s three (or sometimes four) heart shape leaves. I’ve spent time this week experimenting with several different heart shape punches. You can just as easily use a cookie cutter or make your own shapes. You can put three or four hearts together, connecting at the tips, with a stem and have a very good looking shamrock. I’ve made different size hearts and layered them to get a very interesting effect. Experiment, as there is still time to make some fun things for the “wearnin’ of the green,” as my mother use to say. Try some of these ideas:

• Iris folded four leaf clover

• Make a shamrock pin by making three (or four) tiny hearts out of clay (polymer, Model Magic or whatever else you have). Squeeze the tips together. You can put a tiny bead in the center to cover the connection. Let dry, bake or whatever the directions call for, and glue on a pin back.

• Shamrock’s from toilet paper rolls

• Shamrock Hair Bows

• Color a Shamrock Mandala

• Paint your nails with Shamrocks: Paint your finger nails a lovely shade of green (check out your local Dollar Store) and once dried, add tiny “peel and stick” shamrocks (also popular at Dollar Store). Examples of nail art.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, watch and listen to the Chieftains, Ireland’s most famous band playing traditional music.
• Watch some beautiful Irish countryside while listening to the Chieftain’s O’Sullivan’s March

• 100 Top Tracks of the Chieftain’s

Past “Take A Breaks” for St. Patrick’s Day
• Celtic Knots
• St. Brigid’s Cross
• Irish Soda Bread

Sixth Months Later: Learning from Crisis

While March is my month to update “Healing the Whole Person: Ways to Increase Well Being,” today I’m taking a diversion.

For starters, I’m pretty close to having it updated, but more importantly, I want to write about what happens when your community (which could be your own family after learning of someone’s diagnosis with a significant chronic illness) goes through tremendous upheaval, such as the flood my town experienced at the end of August (six months ago).

Even as we were serving food in the shelter and getting work crews into people’s homes, I was aware that this was the peak of the “good feelings.” One person said to me at the time, “I wish we could bottle these feelings and save them for times when we aren’t so generous to one another.” Lovely idea for sure.

We had the usual incidence of ill health and death that seem to accompany communities after a natural disaster. We had two deaths from heart attacks (the incidence of heart attacks for the next three years is much higher in communities having experienced a natural disaster) as well as the deaths of several elderly residents along with one of our youth. Many people have had flairs in their chronic conditions, with some being diagnosed for the first time, and pneumonia seems to have our town’s address on speed dial.

There have been issues about how flood relief money is being dispersed and I’ve become just a bit short tempered by the mental health people, who secured a grant and are being paid to help people deal with “the crisis.” My take is they are working to keep people in crisis so they can be paid.

People watch the weather channel religiously and probably have stock piled food more than usual. There have been a number of robberies plaguing the town-crime really doesn’t take a holiday. And to top it off, it’s “mud season,” that time of year where the ground is starting to thaw, refreezing at night and making it very difficult to get around with out having your feet coated in mud.

There is an upside because it’s “sugar season.” Maple trees are being taped and the smell of boiling sugar hangs in the air, with the promise of waffles and fresh syrup for breakfast. That aroma almost makes mud season worth it. If that doesn’t do it for you, there is “sugar-on- snow” and the food festivals around it.

The studies on loss and grief indicate that those who dwell excessively on negative emotions around their loss are at higher risk of developing depression. Those who recover quickly from a loss, say in the first few months, do not go on to develop depression. How quickly we recover is very much dependent on how many stressors we have in addition to the loss and the type of coping skills you have. Using alcohol and drugs makes it worse; taking a break using hobbies, arts and sports can help significantly.

In terms of natural disasters, which is what my community experienced, the literature indicates that those who got out and helped their neighbors and community do much better emotionally then those who do not. In our town, a high percentage of people where involved in one-way or another. Besides the occasional jab, people are doing okay.

Yes, there is fall out from what went on during the recovery. Our fire departments didn’t cooperate before the flood or during it, so why would we expect them to now? Neighbors that didn’t care for each other before the flood aren’t new best friends today. People do go back to old patterns in many cases. In fact, because of this last practice, I found myself incredibly frustrated by certain members of our community, who continue to miss the point that women are equal to men.

I really let this get to me in a way I shouldn’t, but in truth, I’m feeling that I’m just getting to be a bit old to continue dealing with the same issues I dealt with at the beginning of my career. I found myself growling about it to my husband and friends. In truth, the person that was most miserable about it all was me. It was to the point that I didn’t want to spend time with myself.

Yesterday, I happened to catch a documentary on the importance of forgiveness, which led me to a website that linked to the story of Kelly Connor. At 17, Connor accidentally caused the death of an elderly woman. After a life time of struggle trying to come to terms with what happened, she tried visualizing what her life would have been like if she had never had the accident. It was through that process that she realized that who she was, was because of the accident. This allowed her to begin a healing journey.

There was an important lesson for me in all of this. As Dickens wrote in “A Tale of Two Cities,” it was the best of times; it was the worst of times these last six months. We soared to great heights as a community and we acted less than civil at others.

We all have experiences, some solo and some as a community. Some are extremely positive and some very negative. Regardless, we are the sum of those experiences and they make us who we are, as community, family and individual. Instead of fighting it, maybe the most important thing we can do is embrace it, look for the positive (they’re always there) and forgive ourselves and others for our transgressions. That doesn’t mean we forget, because we really don’t want to have to learn that lesson over again. Instead, we continue to move forward from the most positive place we can.

Take a Break: Celtic Knots

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner so it’s time for some inspired “Irish” activities. For past activities, try
• Making Irish Soda Bread
• St. Brigid’s Cross

This year it’s all about the fun of Celtic Knots. Try some of the following activities
• Interactive Celtic Knot Designer
• Draw Celtic Knots
• Tie a Celtic Heart Knot
• Tie a Celtic Tree of Like Knot
• Color a Celtic Knot Mandala
• Make Celtic knot earrings

For something completely different, find out what your Celtic Tree astrological sign is.

If Celtic knots aren't for you, watch “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” which won the Oscar this year for best short animation.

Mindfulness and Chronic Disease

In March, I explore the various components of my handout “Healing the Whole Person: Ways to Increase Well Being.” This week’s focus is on mindfulness and the impact it has on living with a chronic condition.

Most of us spend our lives obsessing about what’s happened and/or worrying about what could happen. While there are lots of quotes about not living in the past or fearing the future- “Be Here Now” (Ram Dass), “The Power of Now” (Eckart Tolle)- the tools to living mindfully aren’t necessarily the first things we think of.

In the late 1970’s, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed one of the first successful strategies to help people deal with chronic pain. Called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, MBSR is an 8-week intensive training in mindfulness meditation, based on ancient healing practices, which meets on a weekly basis. Mindfulness practice is ideal for cultivating greater awareness of the unity of mind and body, as well as of the ways the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can undermine emotional, physical, and spiritual health. The mind is known to be a factor in stress and stress-related disorders, and meditation has been shown to positively effect a range of autonomic physiological processes, such as lowering blood pressure and reducing overall arousal and emotional reactivity. In addition to mindfulness practices, MBSR uses martial arts to help reverse the prevalence of disuse atrophy from our culture's largely sedentary lifestyle, especially for those with pain and chronic illnesses. The program brings meditation and yoga together so that the virtues of both can be experienced simultaneously . http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php

Two decades of published research about MBSR, which is offered in many medical centers worldwide, has found the following The majority of people who complete the MBSR Program report lasting decreases in physical and psychological symptoms. The studies report:
• Dramatic reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with pain that may
not go away
• Dramatic decreases of anxiety, depression, hostility and the tendency to somatize
• More effective skills in managing stress
• An increased ability to relax
• Greater energy and enthusiasm for life
• Improved self-esteem
• An ability to cope more effectively with both short and long-term stressful situations http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/relatedresearch.php

MBSR is being used quite successfully to help people with a variety of chronic conditions. Why it works is pretty straightforward. Obsessing and ruminating cause stress, which is not good for the brain and body. By focusing on the present-often just on your breath-you stop the cycle that creates the anxiety and stress that compounds whatever else you have going on in your life.

The other component of the program is exercise. Whether it’s doing Qigong, a 30 minute walk or taking a zumba class, it helps to get our body moving and in touch with how our body feels and functions.

Research shows that connecting to the present activates those parts of the brain that prevent stress, anxiety and depression and in fact increases those parts of the brains associated with learning, memory and empathy. Think of a day where you spent it doing something you enjoy, yet requires your attention-e.g. gardening, cooking, painting or making something. How do you feel while you are doing it and immediately afterward? Do you feel content, relaxed, less anxious? Chances are you do.

If you can afford to take an MBSR course, click here to find the one closest to you. If it’s not feasible to attend the course, there are a number of ways to help you be mindful:

Practice S.T.O.P: This is from the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Workbook. When you find yourself worrying, Stop, Take a Breath, Observe and Proceed

Follow the MBSR Workbook blog. The MBSR Workbook website has a wealth of information.

Take Kripalu Yoga Breaks throughout your day or whenever you feel stressed. These are generally no more than five minutes.

Meditate. The Mindfulness Awareness Research Center offers a variety of meditations, which you can listen to on-line or download to your MP 3 player for free. One of my favorite meditations is loving kindness, which I practice throughout the day as I find it stops me from ruminating about things I have no control over. My favorite is Sylvia Boorstein. Maybe it’s the tone of her voice, but I enjoy listening to her. Her Dharma talks at Spirit Rock are on-line and available for free

Mindfulness: The Basics

Take a Break: Every Wednesday is Take a Break day at Healing Whole. There are literally hundreds of activities to help focus your attention to the present and give you an enjoyable few minutes or hours of contentment.

Take a Break: Celebrate Leap Day

Today is Feb 29, which only comes once every four years (or thereabouts). In the Gregorian calendar, leap year occurs in years evenly divided by 4 or evenly divisible by 100. That holds true, with the exception of a year divisible by 400-1900 wasn’t a leap year, but 2,000 was. Although most years of the modern calendar have 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, during which an extra 24 hours have accumulated, one extra day is added to keep the count coordinated with the sun's apparent position.

So what do you want to do with the extra 24 hours that you have this year? Below are some ideas:

Learn more about Leap Year

Since Leap Day is traditionally a time when the woman could ask the man to marry her, if you are a woman, is there a special someone you’d like to “pop the question to?”

Frogs are associated with Leap Year, because of their hopping or leaping capability. So some frog fun might be in order
- Make cupcakes that look like a frog (leap frog)
- Print out Happy Leap Year cupcake toppers and party circle tags.
- Try other party games and printables
- Play leap frog
- Make an origami frog that leaps
- Color a frog mandala

Watch “Leap Year” a romantic comedy from 2010 or The Pirates of Penzance, where Leap Day plays an important role.

If you didn’t catch “30 Rock’s”Leap Year Celebration, watch a clip on-line.

Watch the Leap Year Waltz by Ivor Novello.

If you have a friend with a leap year birthday, make a big deal out of it, since it only comes around once every 4 years.

Contentment is Happiness

I wonder if Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers understood the implications of including “the Pursuit of Happiness” in the Declaration of Independence as one of the “unalienable rights” for future generations? What if our founding fathers had said life, liberty and the pursuit of contentment instead? Oh no, that sounds like we’d be settling versus forging ahead in the American pioneering spirit.

I’m not an economics expert, but it doesn’t seem to me that the “shop till you drop” approach is doing all that well at the moment. In fact, it is interesting to note that while the US continues to focus on things like GNP (gross national product), other countries, such as Bhutan, have been focusing on gross national happiness (GNH) since 1972. Take heart, as the US now has its own GNH, project http://www.gnhusa.org/which started in Vermont in 2008.

Our lives would certainly be different if our founding fathers had adopted the Bhutan philosophy of GNH, “the peace and happiness of our people and the security and sovereignty of the nation.” However, I think our Declaration of Independence was the right document for its time, particularly as we engaged in the War of Independence.

That said, just what do happiness, contentment and chronic disease have in common? Contentment is the important balance point on the happiness scale (if such a scale exists), where euphoria is at one end and depression at the other. This is a very achievable goal regardless of whether you are dealing with health issues or not. Further, because continual stress, anxiety and sadness have a devastating impact on immune function, it is important for people with chronic disease to achieve a level of contentment, as it can improve health and well being.

While Bhutan has a website that identifies four pillars of GNH ( good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation) along with sub categories, our founding fathers didn’t spell out their guidelines for their “pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. Maybe because we were in the start up and “breaking away” phase, that we took happiness to be more on the euphoric end of the scale.

That said, a number of the signers had very clear ideas about happiness.

John Adams: We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow, that the form of government, which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.

Thomas Jefferson: It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

The one with the clearest idea of what is happiness/contentment was Ben Franklin. Happiness consists more in the small conveniences of pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life.” He also wrote “Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.”

In short contentment is finding our joy and happiness in our lives as they are versus the constant pursuit of thinking the latest car, or some other product, is going to make our lives better.

As we were forging a new nation, “pursuit” was a necessity on a number of fronts, and it is easy to understand why Americans, after beating back the British and gaining their independence, went for the euphoric end of the happiness scale. But that is unrealistic to maintain.

So how does one achieve contentment? Since we’re all wired differently, the path will be unique to each of us. Below are some things to consider:

• Where is the place that you feel the most at peace? It could be watching a sunset, sitting at church, listening to music, walking in the woods, sitting by a lake or stream, reading in bed late at night, meditating. Where ever it is, try to have it be part of your day, even if it’s just for a short period of time.

• List the things you truly love. Note that most of them, or possibly all of them, have nothing to do with money. Make sure to include them in your daily life as much as possible.

• Socialize with people you enjoy. We are social beings so it’s important that we keep strong social networks in place. Be mindful of the company you keep. As Ben Franklin wrote There are two sorts of people in the world, who with equal degrees of health and wealth and the other comforts of life, become the one happy, the other unhappy. Those who are to be happy fix their attention on the pleasant parts of conversation, and enjoy all with cheerfulness. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the contraries. Hence they are continually discontented themselves, and by their remarks sour the pleasures of society, offend personally many people, and make themselves everywhere disagreeable. If these people will not change this bad habit, and condescend to be pleas’d with what is pleasing, it is good for others to avoid an acquaintance with them, which is always disagreeable, and sometimes very inconvenient, particularly when one finds one’s self entangeld in their quarrels.

• Doing something with your hands-gardening, cooking drawing, painting, music or anything that fully engages your attention, but doesn’t over tax it by being frustrating helps to reduce the stress hormones in your brain.

• Simplify. Less is good. Contrary to popular belief, the brain can’t multi task. It can only do one thing at a time. That doesn’t stop people from driving and talking on their cell phone, which, as it turns out, is riskier than drunk driving. Ease up on commitments, do less each day and make time for the things you love. Turn off the distractions of TV, cell phones, internet etc.

• Live mindfully. According to Dr. John Kabat-zinn, founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) there are five ways you can incorporate mindfulness into your daily life. Focus on what is right with you-thank your body for all the things it does right; love yourself unconditionally; live in the present (don’t obsess about the past or future); don’t take it personally-accept things as they are, own what you brought to a given situation and let the rest go; and focus on being, disconnect from the TV, newspapers, internet etc and contemplate the world around you. http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2009/03/02/5-ways-to-be-mindful-and-achieve-optimal-health

• Be grateful for what you have. Regardless of a barrage of commercials telling you what will make you happy, they’re selling you a product. By and large, having more “stuff” doesn’t increase your happiness.

• Help others. There are many studies now that show that helping others increases our sense of well being. However, keep in mind that like anything else, done to extremes it can have the opposite effect.

• Be in nature.

Take a Break: Celebrate National Potato Lover’s Month

I don’t think I’ve ever met a potato I didn’t like, yet I didn’t know that February is National Potato Lover’s Month until this past weekend. There is a first time for everything.

Did you know that potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese? They are 5,000 potato varieties, with 3,000 of them in the Andes.

When we think of potatoes, we may think of Ireland and the “potato famine.” However, potatoes originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. The first potato didn’t cross the Atlantic until 1570 and it didn’t become a staple crop of Ireland until around 1780.

There are lots of ways to celebrate the potato:

• Crafts using potatoes
- Potato printing (potato stamps)
- Turquoise potato beads
- Potato Dough

• Try some heart healthy recipes from the Idaho Potato folks

• Learn more about the history of the potato and the Irish potato famine

• Play Mr. Potato Head’n Friends

• Dance the mashed potato with Dee Dee Sharp