It seems that the collective stress levels keep ramping up. Many of my patients report to me that they are feeling overwhelmed and are having trouble coping with the amount of stress on their plates. My advice to you is for starters find out what is nurturing to you and do it. What makes you feel in balance? Do whatever that is. For myself, getting out to nature is very important. Spend a day on your weekend where you are in the midst of nature. Leave your computer at home and make a date with nature. It is amazing how well you might start feeling when you are leaving the city vibe behind you. I am an introvert so if you are an extrovert this may or may not work for you. I also spend a lot of time in my garden especially at this time of year as I find putting my hands into soil very grounding. Planting nice flowers in my yard helps enrich the environment and brings beauty to those around me. Try to be close to water which is very soothing. I find swimming very balancing to me. I also find time spent next to running water is good for the soul – a walk by the Bow river might suffice or a trip out to Bragg creek might be in order.

Carrying pocket stones is an additional strategy to help with grounding. I find black onyx and tourmaline to be particularly beneficial if you are prone to worry. Going into any metaphysical store and reading about the properties of the stones will help you decide which stones will be most suited for you. One or my patients brought me in some stones and crystals a few years ago along with a book about them (bless her soul). I did not know much about the mineral world before she opened my eyes to them. Believe it or not, these stones and crystals have properties that are beneficial to whatever you are struggling with or feel overwhelmed by. Keep an open mind which will serve you.  Find out what works for you. This is one of the advantages of knowing yourself. The more you know yourself you are more in touch with what you need to do to stay in balance. Trust that these answers are inside of yourself!

I had a really good lesson come forward to me this week. This lesson had actually been shaping up over the past number of weeks. For those of you know my story, you will most likely laugh about my lesson around the dangers inherent in striving for perfectionism. Over the last number of weeks, many of the practitioners at our clinic have been sick and have had to take time off from working to get well. My fellow clinicians take very good care of themselves so I have been somewhat shocked to see that they are getting sick. In the not too distant past, it was me that was taking sick days so the irony was not lost on me…I made a comment to the owner of the clinic two weeks ago saying would you believe that I am the healthiest practitioner of the clinic?! I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth that I should not have said that…Note to self> Wrong move!

I like to think that the universe saw that my EGO was showing up and after a delightful weekend spent away in Radium hiking and soaking in the hot springs, I woke up Tues am and felt like I had been run over by a truck. I was truly incapacitated…I do my best to optimize my external and internal environment to  maximize my health given my situation but lately I was feeling invincible, I admit it! I have never felt so good in terms of my own personal health. I had even been thinking about going back to long distance running (something that I haven’t thought of in years)… so to have this lesson come forward to me was priceless. I am indeed human and so far from perfect that it is laughable. Besides, perfectionism is purely an egotistical space to begin with…this was a fantastic lesson in humility for me and gratitude for seeing the perfection in being so imperfect…it is so much easier to embrace being human… you can relate to others much better from a space of love and humility…

One thing I have noticed a lot not only with my interactions with patients but also observing the daily news is how many people are walking through fire at this time. So many people are in crisis right now and I have so much compassion for them as they are confronting a lot of challenging circumstances in their external environment whether it be in their working life or their personal life….the fact is many people are walking through fire right now. Remember these people in your prayers at night if you can (as I am sure you know some people that are walking through fire metaphorically speaking.) At the same time, one thing you can do that is helpful is to direct your thoughts to what you want to focus on…

You could potentially walk on water if you directed your thoughts to higher ways of being; looking at the situations in your life from a higher vantage point – What is this teaching me?; How am I growing in this situation? Or how about really focusing on the beauty in the present moment? This is keeping your thoughts in current time. So many of us, including myself, find ourselves thinking of future time (what may happen in the future) or we think about the past (thinking about what might have been or just plain dwelling in the past)…all these strategies are employed by the mind to somehow regain control (which is an illusion) and the only moment you have is the present one so why not focus on it? Bring yourself back to the present moment over and over until it feels natural to you to be in the present moment, then you will truly be walking on water when you realize how beautiful the present moment truly is…and it feels so much better than directing your attention to walking through fire all the time…