The Mind-Body Reason the Pandemic is Giving You SO Many Headaches
Have you had more headaches since this pandemic started? Have you wondered if there's a connection?
I can tell you that there definitely is! The specific type of headache pain you are experiencing can tell you a lot about what your body is trying to tell you in how you feel about the pandemic and any other stressors in your life.
Your body is telling you what is off. Let me help you translate it.
I'll never forget the moment a doctor told me, "Well, now you've got chronic fatigue. It's incurable; you'll have to live with it."
It wasn't entirely surprising to me; I'd been working myself over 100 hour weeks even after being diagnosed with mono and told to take 6 weeks off. Instead, I'd taken only a half day off and just kept going.
And now, I'd finally hit a wall. I'd be able to do something for an hour, then I'd have to lay down for the rest of the day.
It. was. AWFUL.
Even strong people need support sometimes.
I remember a time when I was going through so much that I truly thought I would break. We had gone through our 4th or 5th failed adoption, and we had to put our beloved dog of 16 years to sleep due to an extremely fast-growing cancer that gave us just days to figure out what to do (and there was no treatment possible).
I am a person who tries to always see the bright side of things. I always look for the lesson. I always believe that even bad things are leading me to something better.
But, in that moment, I hit rock bottom. My faith shattered. My heart was broken in a way I felt was permanent. I had picked myself up and brushed myself off so many times, and I truly felt in that moment that I could not do it again. The weight of the sorrow of all of that loss was overwhelming.
A Mind-Body Look at Shoulder and Neck Pain - Rosario's Story
“What does it mean when you have pain just like she described but on the other side of the body?”
The question comes from a beautiful, silver-haired Latino woman who I will call Rosario. As she finishes asking the question she swallows hard, as if it took a great deal of effort to allow herself to ask it. Find out my answer, and how it was one of the most literal I've ever dealt with.
What Nelson Mandela Reminded Me About the Power of Forgiveness (And Why You Need to Forgive, Too)
On being freed from prison in 1990, Mandela had this to say: ”As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”
If there was ever a wake-up call, that was it. I realized that by holding on to the anger towards those that had hurt me in the past, I was willingly a prisoner of their dungeons, and I really didn’t want to keep giving them that much power.
3 Ways My Gramma VA Influenced My Life, and Lessons that Might Help You, Too.
My grandmother - or "Gramma VA" as my sister and I called her - was truly one of my best friends and biggest supporters. Last week was her birthday, and as I might have done when she was alive, I picked up the phone to call her and wish her a happy day. Realizing that I couldn’t, I sat down and pondered the profound influence this feisty little Irish woman had on my life. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that while I miss her dearly, the effect she’s had on me means that she lives on in my every moment. I’d like to share a little of her wisdom with you, in the hopes that maybe it hits home for you, too - and a little more of her will be shared with the world.