Leap Day

Take a leap. So I did. I did something kind of scary.

I climbed a mountain. Got there early, just one other car in the parking lot. We've been having warm days, and I wanted to hike on frozen ground, not mud.

I took the short steep path up and the long gradual one out. It was the long one that was scary. I hadn't seen another person at all. As I walked I scared myself, thinking of attackers, rattlesnakes, and bears. Of course, we don't have rattlesnakes in Maine, so that was a slimmer possibility.

Like I said, it was the easy path and eventually I met moms and toddlers coming up. Toddlers? I guess I'm not the athlete I like to imagine I am. Then an elderly couple, with matching walking sticks and a chemical aroma of dryer sheets. They didn't attack me with their sticks.

I did see two woodpeckers. No bears.

books on tape

A woman I know is having good luck with Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. I tried books on tape for my insomnia, but I fought sleep, trying to follow the story. And the next night I had trouble finding the spot in the story where my consciousness left off.

So novels are out.

I tried public radio. Those announcers usually drone on quite nicely. But I woke too often to horrible stories of war and violence. Non, merci, public radio.

Now I hit Play on a meditation CD when I can't sleep. Have a couple of them, and switch them out every few weeks. Breathe, relax, aum, go down a stair case, see the colors...

I don't know for sure what they say because they work great and I fall right to sleep. 

equanimity

older, wiser; life is easier, more even. 

Reiki Nurse!

It's here, yes! Reiki Nurse 2016

Amazon is being difficult; "Temporarily out of stock." I tried to order a copy from them weeks ago and my order just sits there.

It's available from the publisher, Booklocker and from Barnes & Noble. There's some new information, but mostly I fixed some errors and clarified some things. I worked on it last summer, and kept going back this fall to make more adjustments. I like to write. It's done, it's here. 

Being an introvert

Some days it feels like there's a fine line between introversion and autism. 

Insight

Health is the expansion of consciousness, or insight, according to nurse theorist Margaret Newman.

"Insight and love, they are the same. Insight brings love, and love is not possible without insight..." Thich Nhat Hanh.

Insight, understanding, health, love; they are the same. 

Reiki class

was in a bright yellow house in the Maine woods. Off the turnpike, down this road then that, curvy hilly roads past houses and churches, down a wrinkled dirt road, there.

The house was built in the 1770s. The living room ceiling was hand-hewn beams and 2-foot wide boards. Maybe 3; they were wide. The floors dipped. There were beautiful things everywhere. Lots of colored glass, plants, shells, and a sleepy cat. There were two horses wandering the fields outside: one white, one brown.

We had Reiki class. Some talking, some hands-on, some breaks for tea and brownies. The sun came out and it was 50 degrees, so we did Reiju outside at the picnic table.

One lady said she saw a white spot on my left shoulder. "That's my guide," I told her. My angel is above, and my grandmother is on my right shoulder.

They felt tingling and pulsations in their hands.

I wore a grey dress with grey tights and socks. I felt like a little Quaker lady teaching my Quaker Reiki: plain and simple. Just plain Reiki. 

autonomy mastery purpose

these are the factors that motivate people, according to Daniel Pink.

I'm thinking of my nursing students. Motivate them, then watch in amazement as they create interventions that will facilitate health.

Drive, the suprising truth about what motivates us. Daniel Pink.

Teaching Reiki

Get in the flow.
Just let go.

Breathe.
Love.

Thich Nhat Hanh

I've been reading a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh lately: stories and words.
Here's a thing.

Truth

Truth is lost in words,
Truth is beyond words...
Truth isn't something to search and discover.
It's already there.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Nowhere to Go

Reiki Nurse, second edition!

is here!
from the publisher 

or from Amazon

or Barnes & Noble

Paperback or ebook. Check it out. 

third eye

I shared Reiki recently. Afterwards the young woman sat up and began to cry.

"You opened my third eye. It used to be open when I was little, but I tried to tell people and no one believed me. So it's been closed. Now it's open again. It feels good.... Can you see the energy of objects? I think I can.

And I saw colors. When you started, everything was dark. Then it was green. Then blue, then yellow, then green again."

just for today: don't worry

How lucky I am to be old.

I don't worry like I used to.  Two beliefs helped me shift:
1) I submit to the will of my higher self/the universe/source/the creator

2) All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well ~ Julian of Norwich

cytokines and cortisol

optimism and gratitude decrease production and distribution of cytokines and cortisol, those chemical clarions of stress which are associated with corrosion and destruction. So be glad. Be grateful. Be Reiki.

self-care

Studying self-care in a U of AZ Integrative Health course.

Self-care is:

• love: family & friends, pets
• meditation, Reiki, prayer, yoga
• lots of spring water
• enough sleep
• fresh organic whole foods
• time in nature
• move your body
• minimal or no alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, sugar, rec drugs
• learning, growing, being