Category Archives: Stress Reduction

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

Autoimmune What?

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You had me at, “What is an autoimmune disease explained in 5 minutes.” If you have 5 minutes, it’s worth absorbing Gabriel Arruda’s easy to understand explanation – because an understanding of how our natural immunity works is needed before plunging into the deep waters of autoimmunity.

Yes, I thoroughly covered how inflammatory foods and lifestyles can lead to autoimmunity in my first book, Toolkit for Wellness, but I wanted a fresh take.

A little animation helped, and I agreed with his basic approach, but not necessarily with his entire online program. Mr. Arruda presents one of the many ways autoimmunity can occur – I’ll share another one.

He took me back to my teaching days, using Pac Man as a symbol for white blood cells munching up the bad hombres floating around our bodies.

Otherwise, you can lean into Wikipedia’s explanation HERE: Autoimmunity – Wikipedia

Or another explanation HERE: Autoimmune Diseases: Types, Symptoms, Causes & More (healthline.com) 

Autoimmunity is when your body’s natural defenses somehow get scrambled and are no longer able to correctly identify foreign threats; instead the attack on invaders is misdirected onto self. Thus auto/self-immunity.

As mentioned last week, I an offering this discussion because we are in the middle of an explosion of people suffering with autoimmune diseases.

One might ask, “What’s happening to cause this? Spontaneous worldwide meltdown of our internal defenses?”

Well, you be the judge.

Clearly, an appropriate immune response is an intricate cascade of events that enlists organs and organ systems throughout the body. What we’re throwing at our bodies in terms of stress and chemicals has changed considerably in the last 40-50 years. What hasn’t changed is our genetic make up to handle these new factors.

I’ve read more than I want about the autoimmune crisis and there are at least 10 tabs open on the computer right now. That said, this article revealed so much new information that I’d like to summarize some key points for you:

-Favorite direct quote: “As such, autoimmune diseases could be the product of our own success as an industrialized species. This vexes researchers, because autoimmunity is not only one of the most prevalent disease categories but also fiendishly complex, a tangle of factors that scientists have yet to fully understand.”

-Doctors cannot agree on what constitutes an autoimmune disease. Right now, there are about 100.

-Unlike diseases such as cancer, there is no national data base for autoimmune diseases and, thus, no shared research, no coordinated data – it’s pretty much each disease subset is on its own.

-The rate of autoimmune disease uptick is far outpacing our DNA/gene’s ability to change and be the cause for such a shift.

-The diversity of our gut’s microbiome is a key element to our overall health and appropriate immune response. It’s been discovered that under-developed countries have an exceptionally low incidence of autoimmune disease along with a well-diversified gut microbiome. Whereas developed countries have less diversified microbiomes and have a high incidence of autoimmune disease.

-Studies of adults in 2003 and in fetal cord blood in 2005 revealed the presence of man-made chemicals including industrial compounds, pollutants, insecticides, dioxins, and mercury. The fetal cord blood study showed 287 different chemicals that were transmitted to those babies prior to birth.

-Americans report ever greater levels of personal stress. Who hasn’t taken a stress hit this past year? One last quote for the day: “The stressed-out individuals were more likely to be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, more likely to develop multiple autoimmune diseases, and tended to develop autoimmune diseases earlier in life.”

Whew! That’s just the sprinkles on top of the cake, dear readers.

What started out as a simple assignment – “get the bad guys” – has been muddled by so many factors that have made identifying, what is foreign and what is self, almost impossible.

Next week, we’ll look at another common factor that can stimulate another cause of autoimmunity: leaky gut.

Don’t know about you, but I’m headed outdoors to harvest some organic veggies, sit under an umbrella, and soak up the sounds of nature.

If this post was useful to you, please share with others by clicking on the share button below and don’t forget to subscribe through the box on the left so you never miss an issue of FoodTalk4You!

In health,

Deidre

Food Talk 4 You!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

Scan Me, Dah-ling!

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Let’s do a body scan …

No, not the kind the TSA folks do. This is the hands-free kind we can do for ourselves – fully clothed before and after yoga, exercise, or a morning stretch routine.

We often assume the time spent in movement is working for us because … well … we did it. Maybe there are feelings of relaxation or invigoration, but who knows if your efforts were a benefit or not? There is a way to do a self-assessment that is easy to perform and will reveal just how your body is responding.

It’s called a body check, body survey, or body scan and involves a mindful, relaxed, and non-judgmental overview of how things are feeling to you.

You can google body scan meditation to find a variety of approaches that will take 15-25 minutes. These scans/surveys/checks can be useful to decrease anxiety, explore pain response, or enter a deeper meditative state.

What I have done recently is bracket a 20-minute movement routine, with a brief two-minute scan, designed to que me into my balance, posture, general positioning, and set me up for a mindful practice and a thoughtful release from the session.

Try this simple body scan before your next time of movement.

BODY SCAN 101

Move to a standing position. Place your feet a shoulder width apart; hands hanging freely at your side.

Just relax and stand comfortably with your eyes closed. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

Notice your feet. Do you have more pressure on one foot than the other? Are you feeling more pressure on the front part of your feet, or are you noticing more weight on the heels? Is there increased pressure on the outside or inside of your feet?

Notice your lower legs. Are the muscles relaxed or do they feel more tense?

Move your awareness to your knees. Are your knees slightly bent? Maybe they are pushed back? As you stand, is your weight evenly distributed on both knees?

Notice your hips and pelvis. Is your pelvis tilted forward creating a forward bow to your lower back? Maybe your pelvis is tucked toward your back, causing your tail bone to lower?

Notice your belly. Is it more toward your spine, or is it relaxed in a neutral position, or is it pushed out?

Consider your arms and shoulders. Are your shoulders more back and in alignment with your ears? Or perhaps your shoulders are more forward, and your upper back is more rounded? Are your shoulders at the same height, or maybe one is higher than the other? Are your arms hanging at your sides the same way, or is one different?

Notice your neck and head. Is your head centered and balanced, or is it tilted forward, back, or to the side? Are your head and neck in alignment with your shoulders or are they leaning more forward?

This constitutes a pre-check. Open your eyes and move into your yoga, Pilates, aerobics, nature walk, or other exercise.

Conclude your movement routine with another body scan. It may surprise you how differently your body is oriented and balanced.

This time, when you open your eyes, gently and naturally walk around your immediate area. How does it feel to move through the space? Is it different from prior to exercise?

I have found this simple practice to be so centering. A mindful bracketing of movements using this body scan will set you up for a more balanced approach to the rest of your day and will clue you into to how your body is responding to movement.

If this post was useful to you, please share with others by clicking on the share button below and don’t forget to subscribe through the box on the left so you never miss an issue of FoodTalk4You!

In health-

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

More Vacation Mindset -Please

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Or is it Empty Brain Syndrome?

Have I been anything but brutally honest with you? No, I can promise you, I haven’t.

This week is no different.

First, a big shout out to my dear friend and editor for foodtalk4you, Sheree Alderman, for pitching in on the writing side of things with her post, Life in the Stairwell. When she told me of her experiences during those scary hours leading up to, and during, the tornado, I immediately knew it was a story best shared in the first person.

Which was very timely for me, because I was seeing both of my adult children and grandchildren, simultaneously, for the first time in fifteen months! Fully vaccinated – except for the children, at this point – we shared hugs, laughter, delicious five-star restaurant-worthy home cooking, the warm spring weather, walks with two rambunctious and loving Goldendoodles, and happy family trips to nurseries for spring herbs and flowers.

In other words, a slice of heaven for this mother.

Just hearing my son and daughter, who are separated by 3 thousand miles of land plus an ocean, as they talked, laughed, and caught up with each other – made my heart sing.

Ten days of blissful memories carried me through being solo on Mother’s Day.

Still smiling here.

That brings me to EBS. Empty Brain Syndrome. Yup. I’m blaming EBS for my lack of fresh ideas. It’s a part of the umbrella diagnosis of PVS. Post Vacation Syndrome, which may be familiar to you.

PVS is now placed under the new diagnostic category of: First Time Getting Together with Vaccinated Family After Being Isolated in a Global Pandemic Syndrome. FTGTWVFABIIAGPS.

All I really want to do is sit outside, enjoy the sounds of nature, drink coffee/fuzzy water/wine, and just BE.

And prop up my sprained ankle with an ice compress – that’s another story, altogether – still savoring the happy feeling in my heart full of warm memories, while also planning on making more.

Hmmm.

This EBS/PVS/ FTGTWVFABIIAGPS is not such a bad thing after all.

There’s not a stressful thought, feeling, or twitch on the horizon.

When was the last time you could say that?

I think the dark night of my soul during February and March has passed. Nothing that a little sunshine, the safety of being vaccinated, and being around family again couldn’t cure.

Now, about that Empty Brain thingy…

Make sure to subscribe to foodtalk4you to easily receive next week’s post about some mindful exercise and body check-in techniques I learned about during vacation. The brain is beginning to percolate.

In health,

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

Breathing … To ….. Sleep *Yawn*

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Can’t get enough ZZZ’s?

Is counting sheep not effective?

Millions of people – somewhere in the 50 – 70 million range in America alone – have sleep problems. Geez. That’s a lot of tossing and turning. A billion-dollar industry if pillow, mattress, medications, lotions and potions, and doctor visits are added up.

Aside from those of us who can’t turn off late night TV, Netflix, or those who choose to lean over their cell phones all night, there are those who just can’t get to sleep.

Body in bed.

Eyes closed.

Brain spinning, or brain worried about not going to sleep.

Now that’s really going to help.

Not.

The book, Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, continues to amaze me. After writing about it recently, I continued to peel back the layers of Nestor’s discoveries and personal experiences.

My copy is the most highlighted, underlined, dogeared book I’ve ever read. Even the appendix is riveting. Every breathing human should have a copy – just saying.

Today, I want to revisit the box breathing technique I shared with you HERE and the 4-7-8 Breathing technique. Both breathing patterns can relax you to sleep.

BOX BREATHING

Decathletes and Navy SEALs use breathing techniques such as this to calm down, slow pulses, and increase focus. You can do it in any situation, and it’s easy:

  • Inhale to a count of 4; hold 4; exhale 4; hold 4. Repeat.

To increase the body’s relaxation response, lengthen the exhalation to this pattern:

  • Inhale to a count of 4; hold 4; exhale 6; hold 2. Repeat.

The longer exhalation assists the body to relax deeply enough for sleep.

4-7-8 BREATHING

Dr. Andrew Weil, one of my favorite wellness gurus, made this technique famous as it encourages the body into a state of deep relaxation, allowing for sleep.

Here’s how:

While box breathing and its variant are easy to master, you may want to breathe along with Dr. Andrew Weil for the 4-7-8 breathing. You can go to Asleep in 60 seconds: 4-7-8 breathing technique claims to help you nod off in just a minute – YouTube to get Dr. Weil’s full explanation on how to use this technique effectively-  not only for sleep, but for anxiety and to lower pulse and blood pressure.

There will be more posts on breathing as I introduce to you the perfect breath and much more.

Get some ZZZs tonight.

In health-

Deidre

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Pretty In Pink – And Calmer

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Psychologists, sociologists, and historians will wag on for decades, looking at our pandemic experience from every possible angle, turning it over and over to draw their sage conclusions.

In the meantime, we’re living in this jumble of emotions while faced with physical isolation, uncertainty on every front, and grief.

Now, as we are possibly crawling out from being under this pandemic monster, we are wondering how we will respond to doing it in real time.

I am recalling past studies about the color pink and its effect on emotions and upon the body.  As I refreshed my recollections here: What Does the Color Pink Do to You? | Psychology Today and here: The Color Psychology of Pink (verywellmind.com), some fascinating research done in 1975 and 1985 came to light.

A study of 153 healthy young men showed that after they stared at 2-by-3 foot pieces of cardboard painted either deep blue or Pepto Bismol pink, the men who stared at the pink boards scored significantly lower in strength evaluations than their blue staring cohorts.

Based on these studies, the Navy painted detention rooms that same pink. Within 15 minutes, angry, unruly detainees calmed right down. Various county jails, youth detention centers, and psychiatric centers across America have used rooms painted in what became known as Baker-Miller pink (after the Navy officers who first used this color) to calm down and pacify angry, anxious, aggressive prisoners/clients.

Pink’s effects can be counter-productive in the long run, however, for after the initial calming phase, those confined to pink rooms for longer periods became anxious and agitated.

Too much of something?

Well, yes. And this brings me back to our pandemic state of mind.

Who, pre-COVID, has not lamented for:

  • More time at home?
  • More time with the family?
  • More time alone with just your thoughts?
  • Time off from rushing around?
  • Time to catch up on household projects?

Some of those items were viewed as our calming pink room.

Ahhh. A place to go to just be us.

Clearly, we have exceeded our calming stay in that proverbial pink room. 

Yes, books have been written, homes redecorated, gardens planted, pictures painted, and much more, but people were not meant to lead such isolated lives. Most people are needing the give-and-take of smiles, hugs, shared meals, and shared experiences.

But a whistle is not going to blow, announcing the start of a race to normal. We aren’t going to be let out of the gate, running toward the nearest hug.

The same way there was no hard and fast rulebook about who would get sick, who would recover, who would have long-term effects, or who would die – there will be no absolute rulebook on how to come out of this.

Despite the agony of longing for social company, our minds will have to learn how to physically leave our safe spots with confidence and comfort – and achieve that elusive degree of safety.

Will we really want to fill our social calendars with endless in-person, have-to meetings or activities just because we can?

How has your focus changed? Once the populace has been vaccinated to an acceptable level, how will your freedom look?

It’s going to be months before this can happen, and millions of people are going to have to continue with safe habits and get vaccinated, but it’s a topic worth thinking about.

People have been changed. Depression is high with more prescriptions for anti-depressants being written than ever before. Many of us have not been hugged in over a year.

My friends and family are beginning to enjoy small, vaccinated, gatherings without masks. I talked to my neighbor yesterday; we’re both fully vaccinated, and neither of us wore a mask. We stayed 6 feet apart. I felt like I was doing something liberating – and yet daring.

Strange times. Need to get out of this pink room, for sure.

By the way – an addendum was added to last week’s post HERE about closing our mouths to breathe. Please be sure to go back and read the additional clarification.

In health-

Deidre

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Well, Shut My Mouth!

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Meh. Air in. Air out. What’s the big deal?

Any path in or out doesn’t matter. My nose is congested most of the time anyway, so mouth breathing will do the job, right?

Wrong.

My mind is being blown away by ANCIENT information containing the sure knowledge that breathing exclusively through the nose leads to a long healthy life; and mouth breathing leads to disease, facial deformity, and premature death.

As promised, after sharing some breathing pattern exercises that assist in de-stressing our inner selves, HERE, I am now sharing a little of what I am learning about how to breathe.

Got that??

Yes. James Nestor’s book, Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art, is changing my perspective – not only about how to breathe – but altering my thinking about health, itself, and where it comes from.

And, I am only halfway into chapter 4.

  • Snoring?
  • Sleep apnea?
  • High blood pressure?
  • ADHD?
  • Bedwetting?
  • Erectile Dysfunction?
  • Psoriasis?
  • Depression?
  • Headaches?
  • Crooked teeth?

Oh, the list just goes on and on. Chances are excellent that sufferers of the conditions on the list above are … wait for it … mouth breathers.

You’ve never heard of such? I hadn’t either. I was vaguely aware that mouth breathing lead to an enlarged heart, but all the rest was news to me.

Yet, this is not new information. There is a vast, tough currently not widely shared, body of knowledge on this topic. So far, I have learned about:

  • Texts as old as 1500 BC explaining that the nose is designed to bring air into the body, not the mouth
  • 8th Century Chinese texts citing that breathing is meant to happen through the nose; otherwise, mouth breathing would bring disease.
  • George Catlin, in 1830, who trekked through North America visiting 50 Native American tribes, where he found people to be quite tall – often up to 7 feet – were robust in health, had perfect teeth, and showed no deformities or diseases. Throughout his travels, he discovered a common denominator.
George Catlin

Each tribe embraced what they viewed as an ancient truth regarding health: Breathe exclusively through the nose. Breathing through the mouth brought stress and disease. This single idea was initiated in practice from birth. Mothers would watch over their babies, closing their mouths should they fall open. Even the way babies were carried made mouth opening difficult. So committed to this principle, Native Americans would even smile with closed lips.

  • Catlin continued his exploration of Native Peoples in the Andes, Argentina, and Brazil to see if this technique was universally held. It was.

In 1862, Catlin published his findings, Breath of Life. My copy arrives next week, but James Nestor quotes his last paragraph saying:

“And if I were to endeavor to bequeath to posterity the most important Motto which human language can convey, it should be in three words – SHUT YOUR MOUTH. Where I would paint and engrave it, in every Nursery, and on every Bed-post in the Universe, its meaning could not be mistaken. And if obeyed, its importance would soon be realized.”

See, Catlin became a true believer after closing the chapter of decades-long respiratory disease to opening four decades of robust health, living to about double the life expectancy of that time – all through the diligent practice of breathing exclusively through his nose.

One point of physiology that Nestor is teaching in these early chapters is that mouth breathing begets the need to mouth breathe, while nose breathing increases the ability to nose breathe.

Mouth breathing leads very quickly to snoring. Snoring leads to sleep apnea, whereby the ever-softening tissues at the back of the throat sag down and block the airway, eventually waking the snorer with a snort, which is an intentional gasp to reboot breathing – but just briefly.

So, do you breathe through your nose at night, or through your mouth?

I wasn’t sure. Seemed there was a lot of thick phlegm at the back of my throat that needed to be hacked out every morning. I went to bed with my mouth shut. I woke up with my mouth shut. But I was never ready to get up and out of bed come morning. Hmmm.

Following Nestor’s advice, I purchased some 3M Nexcare Durapore Durable Cloth tape, which in the medical realm is silk tape that is used for bandages.

A one-inch piece of this odorless tape will do. Gently placed over the center of my lips, I am guaranteed to not mouth breathe. Tape removal the next morning is easy, painless, and with no tape residue.

Results? Magically, there is no phlegm to hack out. Also, was that really me – ready to get out of bed? Maybe I wasn’t a lazy person.

Okay, once could have been a fluke. So, I’m continuing my quest to be the best nose breather ever, and the results are the same every day. I feel rested and ready to start each new day.

Who knows what wonders of robust health await? How about you? Ready to SHUT YOUR MOUTH?

Breathing through my nose-

Deidre

ADDENDUM:

Let’s breathe – not gag or suffocate – please! As a reminder to all foodtalk4you readers, I want to remind you not to go to extremes if you want to try your own little tape-over-the-lips experiment.

Clearly, a generous use of Duct Tape, masking tape, painter’s tape, or Gorilla glue should be avoided AT ALL COSTS.

The one-inch portion of silk tape you see me using has now been pared down to one-half inch. You want to be able to cough, sneeze, or even throw up without blocking a natural exit.

This has been safe for me and others while employing common sense.

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Hope and Blessings

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While some are gladly shredding any reminders of 2020, others are starting their new year with an uplifting time of remembrance.

What?

Who are these nut cases?

Well, I am!

In the first post of 2020 (HERE), I shared an idea that had come through my Facebook feed about starting a Blessings Jar. The habit of jotting down a few words about a blessing was well-established when COVID-19 became a driving force in our lives by mid-March.

Just having this unassuming jar sitting on my counter everyday provided a reminder there are blessings to be found in all circumstances.  I was already having so much fun viewing my little town’s Bear Drop Ceremony at 6:00 pm EST to be concerned with the Blessing Jar reveal on New Year’s Eve.

Masked, solo, and under an umbrella, I joined a small, socially-distanced group to bid an early and rainy goodbye to 2020. Because of COVID restrictions, there’s a 10:00 curfew, but – lucky for us – our sister city of Bern, Switzerland, was celebrating at midnight, when we were doing our Bear Drop earlier in the evening in New Bern, North Carolina. So, in terms of dropping the ball, ‘er Bear, we were all legit.

It was yet another blessing entry for my 2020 jar. The big revealing of a year’s blessings was delayed for me until January 5th.

So, last evening, out poured all the noted blessings of 2020. Reading each one created wave upon wave of gratitude, smiles, and happiness. How truly rich I am! Some papers simply had the name of a friend. My heart lifted them in prayers of gratitude along with the sincere hope that I was a blessing to them as well. Would my name appear in their jar?

The experience of reviewing each entry was far more powerful than I had imagined it would be. Strength giving. Transformative. Humbling. Heart-swelling with love.

And creative. I want to create blessings for others. Oh, how I wanted to be the force of blessing to others.

With each blessing comes a realization that there’s HOPE.

HOPE that we can endure anything if we have blessings. The blessings are there. We need to take our spirits out of the sludge of the daily news to see the blessings that are right before our eyes.

Since 2018, I have suggested to readers to use a Word of the Year to guide and color their intent – their approach – for the new year. (HERE: 2018 1 – 2019 1 – 2020 1)

There had been no great personal revelation for my Word this year until I put a couple things together while reviewing the contents of my blessings jar.

The first, was an ornament our church had given to each of us this year. One word in ceramic to remind each of us that there is hope.

The second, was that earnest desire springing forth to be more of a blessing to others by being that hope.

2021 is going to be my year of reflecting HOPE – doing and saying things that give HOPE – and being that HOPE for someone.

As my blessings jar starts to fill up in 2021, I am reminded of that HOPE and my role in being someone else’s blessing.

Be the HOPE-

Deidre

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A Clean Slate For The New Year!

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When you think about it, the first of January is merely the day after December the 31st. While what we do is written on a new calendar, there isn’t a big tumultuous change. It’s just the next day.

Yet, we do feel like it’s a new start. Time to wipe the slate clean and start over.

That’s a good thing. So, let’s do it.

If we desire success in projects where there once was frustration and failure, let’s see what we can do to check off more victories.

As you ponder a few goals for the New Year, is there a voice in the background saying, “But it’s sooo hard! It’s going to take sooo much will power every day!”

No matter your goal, there will be daily dedication, discipline, and commitment – but things can be done to assure success.

I’m all about making jobs easier. The less you have to fight doing things the hard way, the better the chance you will succeed.  

The less effort needed to sort through lost or misplaced tools or equipment for your task, the more energy you will have to accomplish it.

Fewer distractions in your immediate environment mean you can more easily focus on the task at hand.

A favorite author of mine, James Clear, recently put it this way:

The more disciplined your environment is,

the less disciplined you need to be.

Don’t swim upstream.

If your goal for the new year is to eat better and maybe lose weight, then why challenge your self-control at every turn when your kitchen and refrigerator are filled with sugary, starchy junk food? Why put yourself through that?

When looking for an evening snack, why make yourself have to pass up on the kettle corn, the double fudge sandwich cookies, or snack-sized pizza bites before you grab an apple? Those items shouldn’t even be in your house if you are serious about improving your diet.

Save using your limited will power energy by removing the tempting distractions.

Be your own best friend by controlling your environment.

You want to write a best seller? Make a dedicated area, free of distractions, and commit to a small chunk of time every day.

You want to craft more or take up artwork? Create an area where needed supplies are always at hand and design your masterpiece.

Make 2021 the year you achieve your goals easier by controlling your environment.

In making health easier-

Deidre

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And To All A Good Night

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Santa is getting ready to sail across the night sky. People are figuring out how to gather in safe numbers and in masks to celebrate their faith. Champagne is chilling as we anticipate a new year.But many are looking at an empty chair. Many are enduring mind-numbing isolation. Many are wondering how the rent will be paid.

Holidays have always been a challenge to mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.

This year? Well, you get the point.

My dear grandmother, long departed, used to share a story from her youth from the late 1800s. After enduring and surviving a house fire, her family of nine faced a Christmas with few possessions and no money for gifts. On Christmas morning, however, her father produced several packages to everyone’s wonder.

As her mother carefully unwrapped the first present, it was discovered that he had wrapped up the surviving pieces of silverware taken from the ashes of the fire.

Hard times. Desperate times. Times of survival and gratitude. Times of making do.

We are in such times. Times that require digging into the ashes to discover a blessing and to find gratitude.

May you find special moments with what’s left.

A walk or drive around town to see the holiday lights can bring back feelings of effervescent, child-like joy. Dropping off what you can spare to the local food bank can warm your heart like nothing else. Calling an old friend to check in, grows love and appreciation in everyone’s heart. Decorating a batch of holiday cookies to share can get creative ideas flowing again.

We at foodtalk4you.com encourage each and every one to check in with themselves.

How are you doing? Really? Is what you are facing this holiday season pressing in on you? Do you feel like you are in a deep hole of darkness with no apparent way out?

If you are having such troubles, please know 1) you are not alone, and 2) there IS a way out.

If you are on a precipice, please call 1-800-273-8255 right now. That’s the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. These folks are there for you 24/7 to give you an ear and will assist you in finding resources for getting on a steady path out of the darkness.

If you know that what you are feeling is stronger than your current ability to deal with it, your doctor is a phone call away from helping you, either medically or through a referral to counseling, where you can discover coping techniques.

May you discover the beauty, joy, and hope that is still there for each of us.

We look forward to offering our readers an improved format for recipes next year, and I will be releasing my free class about Caregiver Emotions online.

There’s much to anticipate in the coming year!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Happy New Year to all! Be safe in all you do.

Click the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss a single post in 2021.

Somebody you know needs the help provided in my Toolkit for Caregivers HERE. This is a gift they will read and reread!

In health –

Deidre and Sheree

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Traditions In The Time of Covid

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So much has changed this year, and yet – I have more time than ever to slow down to do the small things that have slipped past my attention in recent years. Such as writing and sending Christmas cards and decorating holiday cookies.

Recent years have seen me sending out New Year’s cards. No time for Christmas cards. Too many rehearsals for three choirs, Advent preparations at church, community musical events, and parties to squeeze in.

Not this year.

The hustle and bustle are almost non-existent. Family traveling hundreds or thousands of miles for holiday activities will probably not happen – and rightly so, because we want to be alive to do it next year.

What to do, now?

Aside from watching the Hallmark channels 24/7 to replace the joy of gathering and preparing for family festivities, we can rekindle some traditional activities that have gone by the wayside.

Set up a card-sending station on a TV table in the living room.  Pen a brief note on a Christmas card during the commercials of the latest movie about saving the parade/store/wedding/tree lighting ceremony/family farm.

It’s been ten or more years since I’ve decorated cookies. Enough of living vicariously through the actors on TV! Today, I devoted several hours to baking a basic sugar cookie – converted to gluten free – and in painstakingly piped on eight different colors of icing! All made from scratch.

I had a blast dancing around the kitchen all day listening to non-stop holiday music and taking all the time I needed to create my sweet cookies – all 48 of them.

No rush at all. Take my time. Enjoy the moment.

It won’t be hard to find a home for my humble little creations, and I’ll save just a few to add a festive touch to my meals.

With depression on the rise from the effects of the COVID-19-related isolation on top of the holidays, we have a recipe for an unhealthy, sad time smack dab in the season of hope, peace, joy, and love.

What tradition can you reinstate?

Instead of casually stuffing a present into a gift bag, take the time to thoughtfully wrap it up. Make the bow yourself. Craft a gift card to attach with the recipient’s name.

If there are several people living in your home, how about bundling up to tour around the neighborhood to sing carols? How cool would it be to ring a neighbor’s doorbell and gift them with a song? You can serenade them through your masks while still being socially distant!

Spread the cheer – even if it’s to yourself. Flying solo has its problems, but we do not have to sink into a funk of despair if we can create and enjoy festive moments.

We can do this!

In health-

Deidre

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