People have gone on pilgrimages for hundreds if not thousands of years. Many pilgrims were those with a life-altering diagnosis hoping for a miracle. If the person were too sick to make the journey and they have the means they would hire someone to walk the pilgrimage for them as a surrogate and then make [...]
Archive for January, 2008
Why A Pilgrimage
Posted in Having a Voice, Personal Conviction on January 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Alone But Not Forgotten
Posted in Anonymity, Community, Having a Voice, tagged illness, support systems on January 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Day in and day out we hear about the big name illnesses. Those are the life-altering illnesses that receive celebrity endorsements, create foundations, have huge money for research and a community so people don’t feel alone. What about those illnesses that don’t fall in that category. This week I watched “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” featuring [...]
How Available Are You?
Posted in Self-Nurture, tagged illness, self-care, stress management, wellness on January 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Many of us who are caretakers on this planet are taxed even more when confronting a life-altering illness. For the first time in years, maybe ever, your personal health can concern for self must come first. If you’ve been the one who everyone calls for advice or the person that everyone calls to volunteer for [...]
Making Changes
Posted in In the Know, Personal Conviction, tagged changes and health, illness, wellness on January 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Most of us only make changes out of necessity. We are great at talking about making changes, especially at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of momentum to implement the change and keeping things status quo are just a lot easier. This is all true unless you’re facing a life-altering diagnosis [...]
Keep an Open Mind
Posted in art and healing, Having a Voice, Self-Nurture, tagged alternative healing, art and healing, healing, health, wellness on January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Keeping an open mind if often easier for us as patients than it is for the medical community. However, I have run in to many people facing a life-altering illness who think treatment is to be done one way and one way only. I was watching “Grey’s Anatomy” last night and one of the patients [...]
The Lone Ranger
Posted in after the diagnosis, Community, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, Relationships, tagged spiritual practice, spiritual stamina, spiritual wellness, Spirituality and Health on January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Have you ever wondered how far removed we are from the animal kingdom? I have this discussion with my vet every so often in regard to my cats. We discuss the fact that cats have not been domesticated as long as dogs and every so often their natural instincts play out. I began thinking about [...]
Small Changes May Have Big Results
Posted in In the Know, tagged daily practice, diet and wellness, health, wellness on January 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Having just entered 2008 many of us have made New Year’s resolutions. We know that many of us will be drifting away from our resolutions just about now, the average is about two weeks. What if you’re ability to control your health came is small, easily digestible changes to your daily routine. You may be [...]
Let’s Not Forget About the “Care”
Posted in Personal Conviction, tagged health, healthcare, patient care, self-empowerment, wellness on January 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I heard an interview on Good Morning America with talk show host Glen Beck. Glen had gone into the hospital for outpatient surgery and it was followed by complications that became very serious. During the interview he was outraged by the care he received in the hospital. It became so bad while he was in [...]
It’s a Small World
Posted in Anonymity, Community, tagged health, illness, secrecy, self-knowledge, sharing on January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I was surprised to read that Dorothy Hamill, the famous ice skater, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wasn’t any more surprised than hearing that one of my neighbors was diagnosed, the difference is the world wide notification of the event. It’s easy to believe that if we’re not a celebrity that we can keep [...]
Who’s On Your Side?
Posted in Community, Having a Voice, Partnerships, tagged health, health and politics, medical research funding, politics, wellness on January 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s scary to think that the Presidential race is in full swing. The Iowa caucus yesterday was the kick-off of the race for the White House. I’ve heard lots of discussion about the war in Iraq and the a bit less on the economy even though polls show that’s the number one concern of the [...]
