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When the Soul Speaks – Listen

When the Soul Speaks – listen. Our souls speak to us everyday, but most of us don’t hear it. We dismiss all the information we receive, even if it’s screaming at us.

The photo above is three of us ‘girls’ at the 50th high school reunion check-in table. Certainly, it is common to wear black to any function. It is instantly elegant, most people look good in it, and it makes us appear thinner, right?

Usually, I opt for bright colors, but this time I chose black and white. Although the pattern is certainly flame-like. This is a hint of my Sagittarius self, one of the fire signs. Did my soul know this perfect picture was coming later when I plucked this blouse from the hanger? I think, “Yes!”

Likewise, my soul was adamant that I stay out with the name tags until there were no more arrivals.  This time, when the soul speaks – listen was heeded. Eventually, I had to go into the crowded, noisy room full of people I thought I needed to see.

All the energy of the room felt like I was walking through a curtain of kelp on the ocean floor, intent on finding a safe spot where I could observe rather than feel boxed in.

You can see in this picture, I found that safe spot at the back of the room. Furthermore, two people I didn’t know were at the table. Perfect!

Now, step back, squint your eyes a little. What do you notice?

Yes, it’s the perfect yin yang symbol setup behind me with my blouse a sort of portable yin  yang statement, anchoring the photo.  Here’s a funny ‘behind-the-scenes’ fact. I had just finished eating a fabulous healthy green salad, southern green beans, and the best tenderloin steak ever from The Catering Company of Central Florida . As my friend, Larry, snapped the photo, I could just imagine all the green stuff in my teeth and gums. Therefore, my smile is very much subdued… for me.

A Week in the Life

A week in the life of..someone who graduated high school 50 years ago. I remember my mother’s 50th high school reunion and thought at the time, “Wow! Fifty years? Mom sure is old.” Oops! Now it’s my 50th reunion year, but I’m not as old is she was… right?

A Week in the Life of

Listening and Trusting

This week I listened to my inner voice, my intuition often. When a feeling was strong, I trusted the likelihood it might be important. One synchronicity stands out. Some background first…

50 Years or a Half Century

This year marks the 50th year since I graduated from high school. My older sister, Lila, graduated the year before me. Over the years, I was kind of envious that she graduated on a decade year. She would celebrate her class reunion at the turn of the century and her 50th in 2020. Furthermore, they’ve planned multi-year reunions since their 10th. Although I could have attended her class reunions, I never did until I signed up in January of 2020, expecting to attend my sister’s 50th reunion in June. Then plans went awry.

In the wake of COVID, the Class of 1970 rescheduled their 50th reunion numerous times. When it became apparent it would fall on the anniversary year of the juniors in their high school yearbook, they magnanimously formally invited my class to join in. That was convenient!

Now the Synchronicity

My letter with the ticket to the Class of 1970 50th reunion arrived late in June. The first thing I noticed was my last name was wrong on the envelope. Since Facebook has been the primary information hub, I used Messenger to let Janet, the organizer, know about the faux pas, mentioning that I wanted to insure my name was correct on the name tag.

She replied that my classmate, Vondie, was working on the reunion name tags for my class. Yet, the host class was planning to use handwritten ‘Hello’ name tags. Since I loved this type of work and I knew Vondie since elementary school I volunteered to make sure all the attendees had the same cool name tags.

The research frenzy began. I located two yearbooks of my own, picked up two more from Janet, and contacted another friend who had scanned yet another year book. As a perfectionist, I was in my element!

By July 4th, I finally took a close look at the calendar.. there were exactly twenty days before the big event. Yikes!

It Takes a Village…

Two days ago, I posted the current list of reunion attendees on the private Facebook account for the reunion and asked for corrections in spelling, class year or missing names. The village chipped in and the list both improved and grew. Of course, seeing who else is attending upped the excitement of all. And now the list is so much better!

This weekend, I have my part of the name tag project clear in my mind. I’ve left the best for last… scanning the class of 1970’s year book. Oh, and of course clipping over 100 photos. Today marks one week I’ve been working on the name tag project. It’s been fun and rewarding. By the time I see my classmates, I’ll know their names and faces by heart… of course they may have changed in fifty years!

A week in the life of a retired and somewhat homebound caregiver has grown even busier, and I love it! What an opportunity to contribute to the success of the Class of 1970’s 50th Reunion.

Go Hornets!

Love,
Dawn

Be Your Own Science Experiment

Be your own science experiment. Did you loathe science in school? Yet your body is all about science. Chemistry abounds. For instance, how does the food you eat become the building blocks of nutrition? It’s complicated… very complicated.

And when you add stress along with choosing foods that your DNA recognizes as foreign, you are in for a whole lot of hurt.

Be Your Own Science Experiment

Let’s go over some basics about science experiments first. According to thought.co, these are the steps.

  1. Make observations
  2. Formulate a hypothesis (an idea you want to prove)
  3. Design and conduct an experiment to test the hypothesis
  4. Evaluate the results of the experiment
  5. Accept or reject the hypothesis
  6. If necessary, make and test a new hypothesis

Where am I in this?

Step #1, for sure with an idea of step #2.

My current hypothesis is:

By removing the foods that are identified in my Cyrex Array 10 test, my inflammation and pain will reduce.

If you read my post on June 4th, you saw my observation of the current state of my body. It hasn’t changed much. Furthermore, I have many observations from the past. For instance, I received my first Cyrex lab report in December 2015. This report measures food protein in your blood. They are viewed as foreign bodies and result in inflammation.

Cyrex posts an online video explaining their Array 10 test. Warning, it’s like being in chemistry class, but highly informative. Furthermore, you can read more about my excitement and high hopes in the 2016 blog, Grateful for Changes in my Diet. The gratitude was short-lived as I wasn’t truly ready to make the life-long changes needed. Now the pain is worse, and I still can’t take NSAIDs to ease the inflammation and pain.

What dietary restrictions were and likely are still needed? All dairy, wheat, and rice were no-no’s. There were some other foods removed from my grocery list too; cooked almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, peanut butter, and flaxseed to name a few. Thankfully, I could still eat all meat, fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits. Yeah!

Finding Help

Although you can order the Cyrex test, there is so much more involved. I needed to find someone who could guide me through the process of forming the complete hypothesis of my personal human science experiment. Two weeks ago, the Universe brought them to me.

On June 16th, I called my beloved, extremely booked, massage therapist, Brynne Nowroozi, and casually asked if she had an opening the next day. Brynne texted back, “I had a cancellation tomorrow at 10:30 am.” That made my day! During the massage, I mentioned my 6-month challenge and the Cyrex test from years before. She said, “I’ve had that test.” What?!?

Before I arose from the massage table, Brynne had placed the business card for Dr. Joleene Anderson on my folded clothes. She has a long list of capital letters after her name, but essentially, she is a chiropractic doctor who is also an expert on nutrition and more specifically, gluten.

More Observations in Progress

Tuesday, I had an hour-long discovery Zoom with Dr. Joleene. It was clear we could work together.

Dr. Joleene believes in forming the foundation before determining the hypothesis and I wholeheartedly agree. Currently, I’m working on the intake form… on my health life story. Since I’m a writer, it’s hard not to write a memoir. Today I’m condensing my tome sort of like the erroneously attributed words of Sergeant Friday in Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Furthermore, with Dr. Joleene’s help, we will find the likely root cause of my inflammation and work toward healing this foundational cause. That means more hypothesis. Fun!

Parting Thoughts

The photo of shrimp and pasta at the beginning of this article, uses coconut milk in place of dairy and gluten-free pasta. It’s highly possible the gluten-free pasta may disappear from my plate since it has rice flour in it. Finally, I had no idea that gluten-free means there is no more than 20 ppm gluten in the product. I always thought if ‘-free’ was attached to a word, it meant it didn’t have any. You can read all about gluten-free in Dr. Amy Burkhart’s article.

Next month I’ll let you in on my progress. Perhaps you will want to be your own science experiment too! I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Love and hope for a healthier life,
Dawn