Navigating Life's Rivers

We know ourselves best.  This is always a good motto to follow throughout your life.  But, there's also often a lot of noise around us, making it hard to hear ourselves think.  Times of crisis can be especially tough--whether health-related, emotional or otherwise.  I think of these times as having their own currents, like a river, and whether this river is only a river to you or not, it can still carry you away.  

So, I offer two tools below that have helped me recently and that I'm growing to value more with each day.  

• Health Tool.  This past year has offered me a lot of content in the health department.  Lots of downs, unfortunately.  The really great part of this has been my own exploration of how my body and mind are connected and how all of those small things that you write off as small can, in reality be big and, as a result, have big effects on your health.  So, my first bit of advice is to always, always be fully aware of what's been floating around in your mind as you seek medical advice.  The second part of this health tool is to always be your own advocate when you do seek medical attention.  Asking questions should not equate to doubting your doctor's intelligence and competence.  Unfortunately, I think that has become a trending assumption.  In my own case, I was convinced that I had to cave on taking a medication I'd been avoiding for years...literally years.  I caved and ignored my own concerns only to spin into many months of darkness.  And when I say darkness, I mean the type of darkness that makes functioning extremely challenging and a darkness that shrouds all feelings and emotions of the good sort in total darkness.  Along this road, I noticed a difference, so I thankfully kept aware and talked often about what was going on with my family.  Finally, when a health scare of a larger proportion snuck in, my family doctor finally put an end to a continuation of the medication that I'm convinced, at this point, took a downward spin and turned it into a nosedive.  Do not be fooled by the effects of medication.  While this medication was to help relieve symptoms I would really rather go without, which it did for the most part, it left me feeling in the deepest depths of post partum depression.  Not cool. So, ask questions, be curious and always communicate your gut feelings.
• Well Being Tool.  As a result of said medication above, I became desperate for some emotional relief.  Enter Jon Kabat-Zinn and mindfulness meditation.  Kabat-Zinn runs a sophisticated stress clinic in Massachusetts.  He is nothing short of a thought leader in the field, and his tools have helped many people.  So, I picked up one of his books, Full Catastrophe Living, and I started making myself listen to his Body Scan Meditation on a nightly basis.  Between the knowledge in the book, and the calm of the meditation practice, I have gained so much more appreciation for how responsible we all are for our well being.  The world, this day in age, tells us not to stop.  It tells us not to slow down for fear of being trampled.  But, learning mindfulness meditation has taught me not only what stopping and slowing down does for me, but through that, what it can also do for others.  This is not to say that it's easy because it is not.  With work schedules, family schedules, responsibilities, etc., it is so easy to bypass this daily exercise and gain a bit more television time, reading time or just plain down time.  But, I've personally come to adore my meditation hours.  The strength and calm that can be elusive in light of tough times begins to flourish and bring such joy.  On nights when I hesitate, I think of the darkness that that medication brought with it.  And then I ask myself if there was anything else at all that helped me combat that, and the answer is no.  And so, I embrace the lifesaver and, in the end, bring my mind and body relief from the day's challenges and stress.