The results are in! If you’ve been following the chronicles of my life here, you know I recently got concerned about some symptoms (read here). I called my endocrinologist. She ordered blood tests to check levels of catecholamines and metanepherines. These are substances that pheochromocytomas can make. When they do, it results in episodic hypertension, … Continue reading Resilience to Cancer? Finish Your Shower
I’m going to pause here because THIS is mind-blowing for me. I’m not required to constantly shift and work and adjust and strain until perfection is obtained? Really? There is space in life for a moment’s pause to sit and smile?
Right now I have a paraganglioma in my right neck. It’s called a carotid body tumor because it is wrapped around the carotid artery at the point where the artery splits to provide blood supply to my face and my brain. I had tumor removed from the same location on the left side in 2005. … Continue reading Seasonal allergies or cancer?
“We do seem to be living in a universe that is in a constant and unending state of creation. It’s never stopping. It’s never stopping here either. We are not witnessing that. We are PART of that. We come from that. We work into that." Elizabeth Gilbert
After my week of stillness in Santa Cruz, I’ve been swallowed by the busyness of daily life. Work has been hectic. R has been demanding and emotional while he’s getting over a cold. There’s been grocery shopping, dish washing, picking up toys, getting rid of toys [because there are too many and I can’t take … Continue reading Scarcity
I’ve been on a woodsy, restful, vacation this week. I took almost the whole week off from writing. A week off from patient care. I finished an oil pastel drawing I started weeks ago. Yoga everyday! I found a studio that offers a daily kundalini class. I’ve been knitting granny dishcloths while binge watching Parks … Continue reading Finding stillness in Santa Cruz
This time of year people are looking for a good read. I can’t say these are light summer selections for the beach or poolside, but these are books that have made their way through my hands during the past year and I recommend (in no particular order). Wild by Cheryl Strayed. In many ways this … Continue reading My Becoming Book List
I’ve been working on developing a skill set for processing emotion. It’s super powerful and helpful because things that I used to tuck away or constantly numb have become less scary. I can say, “Hello shame, disappointment, jealousy, longing (or whatever the emotion happens to be)—let’s do this.” I have a few ways of processing … Continue reading Ways to process emotion
Now that I better understand the feminine divine, I see that, because of her nature, she doesn’t fit easily into organized religion. She is too big and complicated for that. There are no instructions for breathing! How would you teach someone to inhale? Yet, I notice very quickly when I am becoming oxygen-deprived.
The thing that spurred our relationship was our willingness to NEED each other. We really needed each other. For the first time in years, it felt safe to need someone and this opened me up.