DAY 189 - No Better Gift from My Kids

Kenn and Jenny

I’ll tell you the backstory on another day, but wanted to say that my kids, Jovi and Kenn, give me the greatest birthday gifts.

What I really wanted was a guarantee of their health; but that wasn’t possible. So I asked for the next closest thing; I select a book on health, they read it, and then provide me with a book report on what was valuable to them.

Each year they learn more about health, and each year they know that their wellbeing is one of the most important things in my life.

This last October, for my 59th birthday, Kenn, and his sweetheart, Jenny began reading The Better Brain Book by David Perlmutter, MD. Let me say here, that Kenn and Jenny have had a very busy life recently. On March 27, 2011, they finished and delivered their book report.

My kids have been giving me these gifts since 1997, but, for the first time, Kenn and Jenny created their report as a video that is now available for all on Vimeo at:    http://www.vimeo.com/21576405

I am so grateful for this gift and for my kids’ interest in health! I am comforted by their closeness and increasing connection to health. Feels good now, great design for the future! Doesn’t get much better!

DAY 94 - Sleeping Like a Baby is Not Always Great

photo courtesy of xlibber at Flickr Commons

While it is generally true that infants sleep more soundly and peacefully than adults, and while it is also true that there are few sights more calming and beautiful than that of a little one at rest, not all babies sleep like a baby.

If you doubt me, ask an exhausted new mother, or the weary parents of a 2 year-old who still doesn’t sleep through the night.

It is common for newborns to wake frequently, being fussy, and appearing hungry. The usual assumption is that the infant is not getting enough nourishment. In many cases, the waking and fussiness are not from insufficient food, but rather from food that does not agree with the child’s digestive and immune systems.

Given that most of us would think that breast milk would be the perfect food, and some would think that a medically approved formula must surely be good for the child, few of us realize that each may cause distress, pain and aberrant sleep in a newborn or infant. Clearly, breast milk is the finest food for a newborn; but the content of breast milk is altered by the foods that the mother consumes, and can have disastrous effects on the comfort and health of the nursing infant. Formulas, even medically approved, commonly cause gastric and other distress in infants.

When foods have not been considered, nor ruled out as causes of disturbed sleep, a family often simply accommodates to the dysfunction and the harmful effect on the household, and lives with the idea that this is just a quirk of this child. As months and years roll by, the problems which often expand beyond the initial sleep disturbance, are explained by – “he has always been this way...”

Good sleep is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

If your baby is not sleeping like a baby; find out why not, and think foods.

DAY 65 - The Holiday Season is About Comfort and Joy: Not Judgment

There is no question that we all need comfort in our lives. A little joy would be great too. But, at the very least, we all need comfort. What makes us feel comfortable, and where do we go if we don’t?

Comfort comes from different sources. Physically it comes from sufficient nutrition, water, air, exercise, sleep, and shelter. Emotionally it comes from loving relationships, and from how we feel about ourselves. Spiritually it may come from a sense of connection to all things, or a belief in a higher power.

If one generally experiences comfort in one’s life, then all is well. But it is obvious that many people are not comfortable in their lives and so strive to find comfort.

Unfortunately the source of discomfort in one’s life may not be clear. Discomfort may come from poor nutrition, lack of sleep or exercise, insufficient connection with others, a sense that one is not worthy, or from a spiritual void. There may be more than one contributor, and it is often not a simple process to understand what factors stand in the way of comfort.

The following is a short list of things that are often used to temporarily provide comfort: drugs (street and prescription), alcohol, television, exercise, sex, work, video gaming, internet surfing, shopping, reading, and food. The excessive use of any of these is usually referred to as an addiction. Addictive behaviors predictably harm the addict, and those around them. I believe it is accurate to say that addictions are primarily an attempt to find comfort.

Out of compassion, and to avoid looking the fool, we are wise not to judge others in regard to their addictive behavior. Our culture generally supports referring to individuals whose lives are caught up in the abuse of drugs or alcohol, as “losers”. But then, how might we refer to the millions of Americans who are caught up in eating excessively, or eating in an imbalanced fashion, not unlike an addict, harming themselves and others through the resulting conditions of overweight, obesity, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, dementia, depression, and other serious conditions? I would suggest that we might refer to them as people in need of comfort.

Regardless of our addictions, none of us really need to be judged. What we really need is to be loved, to understand the source of our discomfort, and to create true comfort.

Imagine no ‘losers” in the New Year; only individuals desiring comfort.

DAY 57 - A Real Gift This Holiday

This piece was first published in the Ventura County Star on December 25, 2001 with the title
"Make a pledge this holiday season to take care of yourself".

Give the gift that everyone wants to receive, but that we’ve never seen advertised. Give the gift that we all can afford to give, and that we can’t afford not to give. What is it? The gift of your own health and well being.

There are cultural voids and misconceptions that either interfere with giving this gift, and more often, simply make its giving inconceivable. One factor is that our culture doesn’t focus on health. We are fixated on disease, its treatment, and the covering of its symptoms with medications. Also, we have little or no life-experience showing us that daily health practices result in a better life. Additionally, most of us would not intuitively think that improving our own life, would be a gift to others.  Finally, try as we might, we still believe that a gift is a physical object; love is great, but where are the presents?

Ask your mother, your father, your spouse, your brother, your sister, your child; “Would it feel like a gift to you if I had less pain, felt more rested, was happier, stopped smoking, began exercising, lost weight, recovered from chronic illness?” If these people are feeling loving toward you, the answer will be YES. Turn it around. Is there anyone, family or not, that would be giving you a wonderful gift by becoming healthier?

When a child cries from the pain of an ear infection, struggles to breathe with the wheezing of asthma, or cries in fear of a painful medical treatment, we too feel pain. When that child, in a healthy state, smiles and giggles we feel her comfort and joy.

How painful to watch an adult, limping in pain, hunched with pain, breathing or swallowing with difficulty, depressed by chronic pain, hooked to tubes and monitors. How uplifting to watch a spry, happy elderly person hiking, dancing, or playing with a small child.

The gift of your health is a blessing to all; each and every day. It is a blessing for the future because it reduces the probability of you becoming disabled, suffering with chronic disease, or dying early. Your commitment to health also reduces the risk that your loved ones will have to suffer with you during a prolonged illness or premature death.  In a still larger sense, the more days of your life that you are healthy, the greater your ability to contribute to others. The more days ill, or in a bad mood generated by poor health, the more that others will have to contribute energy to accommodate for you and lift you up.

We each have a choice, not a guarantee, but an opportunity to give the gift of our health to our family, our friends, and to the world in which we live. There are few gifts that we will ever give that will be more important or more appreciated.

Each time you wish out loud or to yourself that others would begin to make changes to regain their health, remember that someone may be wishing the same of you.

It is critical to understand that the absence of obvious and active disease is not the same as optimal health. Our bodies gradually, often imperceptibly, lose function and reserves until they periodically, and then ultimately breakdown. Conditions and practices of daily living are the keys to health. How many of these are regular parts of your life: loving relationships, organically grown food, low sugar and starch consumption, aerobic and stretching exercise, plenty of rest and sleep, hope?

Give a gift that really matters.

DAY 24 –A Pre-Election Poem

In this poem titled “Finding My Way”, written in November of 2005, I was trying to sort out what to do with my ever-present tensions and fears about humans harming humans and humans harming our environment. I was looking for something other than anger or hopelessness, and something to calm my gut, slow my heart, deepen my breath, and tell my shoulders to relax and take a break.

*****

my blood boils
we NEED to change our direction
THEY don’t GET it
my blood boils with the heat of nowhere to go with my vision of the disaster we move towards

I could cool off, settle down, if there were breaks between disasters
but, it’s wave after wave

seeking refuge from the heat, this burning
I turn back to myself
asking myself
do YOU ... GET ... everything?
is YOUR vision for our safe and sustainable future crystal clear?
would the implementation of YOUR view manifest maximal comfort and joy for the people of this earth?

temperature dropping
recognizing that the heat of self-imagined visionaries is a flame that burns indiscriminately
improbable that “I” am omniscient
of course... I too have blindspots and blind-fields

the fire will never go out
for I will always feel for the safety of all
the fire will not go out
but instead of conflagration, my choice will be the gentle warmth of compassion for others and for myself

humanity lives and travels as a group
nourished by compassion,

we make our way awkwardly through time

*****

Five years have passed. It is now October of 2010, and I’m still on that journey, awkwardly but happily “Finding My Way”.

DAY 15 – Smoking is Not Bad

smoking is not bad

it is a response to needs

it calms; it comforts

yes, it increases the risk of lung cancer

yes, there are other ways to create calm and comfort

yes, change can be made

                                           but, smoking is not bad

                                              you are not bad

                                              in fact, you are beautiful ...

                                                    ~ by Kristofer Young, DC – May 16, 2004 ~

 (photo by Conanil at Frickr Creative Commons)