Stay Healthy Through the Flu Season: Part 1

Last weekend I watched a segment of the Today show where an internist from the NYU Medical Center advised us to have two flu shots this year. In fact, he gave one of the shots to the reporter on the air to prove how quick and easy it is.

Although the discussion was about how safe the shots are, we actually don't know about the safety of these vaccinations. Any time chemicals are injected into the body, there is a reaction on some level.

In 1974 under the advice of medical experts, President Ford ordered a nationwide vaccination program to prevent a swine flu epidemic. 25% of the population was vaccinated. That year one person died from the swine flu while over 500 contracted a nerve disease called Guillain-Barre. This nerve disease was a side-effect from the vaccine and over 30 people died from it.

If you are concerned about this upcoming flu season, but you are also uncertain about what to do, my recommendation is that you build your own immunity either way, so it can do what it was designed to do: protect you from viruses and disease.

The very first thing to note in your life when you decide to give your immune system a helping hand is whether you get enough rest. Your body cannot run on empty continually and also work efficiently to keep you free from disease. We seem to have lost the fine art of resting, believing instead that we must keep going, produce something, look busy. But how productive is this in the long run when it keeps stress levels high among the general population? We are all aware that stress releases disease-friendly chemicals into the body, but up to this point, we seem incapable of making the necessary adjustments. Even when we do think we are resting, the television is on, or the computer, or some other gadget.

In my work I speak with many people who say they feel more anxiety when they slow down and actually take breaks from their overcommitted lives. Somehow we've bought into the notion that when we are doing something we are being successful (and valuable). I also believe that we have discomfort with what we find and feel when we finally stop the madness and just settle in with nothing else but our own stillness. What if we have no value if we are aren't doing something? It's a common question. But allowing the body to heal, rest, and renew is doing something important, and necessary.

We live in a society whose lack of health is out of control. Rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression, anxiety, arthritis, general aches and pains, chronic fatigue, even the now-common acid reflux are off the charts. Instead of only wishing more people had insurance so they could get drugs to mask the symptoms of these diseases, perhaps an additional sensible approach would be to educate people on how to take care of themselves from the beginning so many of these diseases could be prevented.

Sleep and rest are vital to maintain and build a strong immune system. How many of you rest, literally lay down and put your feet up, when you are tired? Very few of you, I'm certain, but the body's anti-stress mechanisms, including the adrenals, get to breathe a sigh of relief when the body is prone and the head and feet are at rest. Apparently in this position the tiger is no longer nipping at your heels and the whole being knows it. Regeneration and restoration can occur.

When you feel tired it is your signal that your body (and mind) need to recharge. It's that simple, however, many of us have become so caught up in our doing-more lifestyles that we ignore this basic sign. As you think about this most essential human need and its role in your life, you'll have the opportunity to face the ways you avoid it. If you are lucky, you'll get to address why you avoid it. The answer is a diamond of self-awareness and knowledge.

As you become someone who can successfully rest, you might find yourself addressing your own drive and desire to be someone, to be accepted, to be important. The process can reveal to you the ways you try to prevent that nagging anxiety that comes each time you truly get quiet with yourself and allow yourself to be still. These days true rest is a bit more than just saying, "Hey, lay down and put your feet up." Underlying compulsions driven by an overscheduled society tend to keep people moving to the point of exhaustion and depletion. So there is an opportunity here to heal on several levels.

If you truly got quiet and allowed your entire being to just completely rest I think you would feel really, truly good afterward. And your immune system would be in a better position to protect you from this season's bugs. Perhaps you'll give it a try. Let your body heal and repair itself so it has the means to protect you from disease as it was meant to do.

Vaccines: Think For Yourself

As a holistic healer and adviser to people who want to achieve greater wellbeing, inner balance, harmonious relationships, and prosperity, I keep an eye on those things in our lifestyles that prevent us from attaining these goals. I observe how the public is manipulated into poor health, negative attitudes, and mass hysteria through hype and fear tactics. On the one hand it is fascinating. On the other, it’s simply frustrating.

When I was about to enter university, my brother said to me, “The most important thing you can get from your education is the ability to think.” I already know how to think, I said to myself. But as I continued with my education I realized he was right. I was learning how to think critically, and think about things separately and independently from mass thought forms. I believe we all have the ability to do this, and I think it is an important goal lest we become (or remain) mere sheep routinely rounded up by the shepherding dog.

Americans pride themselves on independent thought, but from what I can see, we are generally unaware of how manipulated our thinking is. Let’s take vaccinations as an example. Do you, as a parent (of a child or animal) consider whether all the mandated vaccines are necessary? If you ask your doctor, you will be sent to join the flock of sheep because doctors and veterinarians, unless they are holistic, will convince you that numerous vaccines are required and necessary. We have placed doctors up on high pedestals and made them our gods, but can they be impartial when their Mercedes Benz is partly funded by your agreement to support the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to which they are wed?

It’s a controversial subject to be sure. Therefore, many of us don’t question it. We just follow along, believing what we are told. But in the case of vaccinations, we are not told the truth as to whether companies that produce the vaccines are protected against lawsuits stemming from negative reactions to childhood vaccines. We are not told that some new vaccines are not adequately researched before tried out on the public. This is one way for drug companies to avoid being accused of wrongdoing. If they didn’t know the negative effects of a vaccine, how can they be held responsible? Further, we are typically not informed that companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline which is frantically developing a vaccine against swine flu, have the potential to earn billions of dollars each year through mass vaccination programs. And we aren’t told that mandatory vaccinations are best because that insures their continued profitability.

Both animals and humans are over-vaccinated. Reported side effects range from immune system dysfunction to brain complications to behavioral issues. So how do we know which vaccines to agree to and which to avoid? By using common sense. For example, do we need to continue the polio vaccination? At one time it might have served a great purpose. Is it necessary now? Do we need a flu vaccine when the flu can be prevented by natural and ordinary means? Do our dogs and cats need continual boosters when their blood shows they already carry the antibodies against a particular disease? Do we need any vaccine that prevents a disease that we can prevent ourselves? And furthermore, do we want to agree to be given an injection with known side-effects because a few people who get the ailment die every year from it? If so, then would we also vaccinate ourselves against driving a car? More people die from that every year than we can count.

I am not advocating you avoid vaccines for yourself, your children, or your animals. I recommend you educate yourself first and use sound judgment. Educating yourself means you listen to and weigh the pros and cons of both arguments - for and against vaccinating. Since most people believe vaccines are good for all of us, I leave you with a website that offers another perspective on them, including the upcoming Swine Flu vaccine and the newly popular Guardasil promoted to young girls. Visit the website of the National Vaccine Information Center at www.nvic.org.

Sacred Responsibility

I’m preparing for a long overdue vacation. In the days leading up to leaving, my thoughts are less on the actual journey and more on how my animals will fare while I’m away. I am the caretaker of three cats and a dog who rely on me daily for their safety and wellbeing. To this end, I am committed. It is a responsibility to which I’m devoted. And this is why my mind is on them until I get things arranged for their care while I’m away.

As I work out these details, I received in the mail the newsletter from the Animal Friends Rescue Project. This led me to think about the thousands upon thousands of neglected companion animals, particularly dogs and cats, who don’t get the care and attention my four four-leggeds do.

I am deeply saddened when I hear of animal neglect and abandonment. Once we domesticate an animal, removing it from its natural habitat, it becomes dependent on us. It is our obligation to be stewards of this earth as well as its inhabitants. It is our collective sacred responsibility, but we have shunned it, instead allowing self-serving interests to run amok.

Those of us that participate in the continual damage of our planet and its occupants live detached from one of life’s most profound experiences: the ability to touch one’s own well of compassion, grace, and humanity. This inability, or we could say unwillingness, to feel into our own heart center becomes the ignorance and apathy that leads to the neglect of our environment, fellow humans, and animals.

No matter what your own participation has been in the past around this sacred responsibility, both you and I can improve our roles. There are a few simple ways to help stem the abuse and suffering of companion animals. I offer two suggestions here which you have undoubtedly heard before, yet might or might not have taken seriously.

If you are thinking of getting a companion animal, a dog or a cat, get one from a shelter or from an “oops” litter. “Oops” litters are comprised of unwanted and unexpected animals who can end up in shelters and often do. I adopted two of my own cats as adults. Mimi was homeless and Draven was soon-to-be abandoned by neighbors. Calypso came to me at six weeks old from a family so desperate to get rid of the kittens they had given his mother away before I got there to pick him up. We sometimes joke that if word gets out there will be busloads of homeless felines with little knapsacks unloading in front of the house.

Rami, my Labrador/German Shepherd, was one of eleven solid black puppies. From another “oops” litter, Rami’s mother and father were neighbors. His intact father had a penchant for roaming. Neither of their guardians had gotten around to “fixing” them yet. From just this one litter, there were eleven new unexpected and unwanted puppies needing to find homes.

This leads me to the second suggestion: take the time to neuter your companion animals. I think this might involve, for some, dealing with the desire to have macho intact dogs. Also, we must elevate our consciousness so that the wellbeing of our dependents is ahead of our hankering for a few more dollars (which can come through breeding).

We are the stewards of our neighborhoods and its residents, both human and animal, whether we choose to participate or not. This is our sacred responsibility. Our wisdom is relied upon. From my perspective, right now is a good time to foster and exercise it.

A Healing Solar Eclipse on July 21st

On July 21st at 5:35pm (ish) Pacific the earth will experience the only total eclipse of the sun in 2009. It won’t be visible to us here, but can be seen in China, Tibet, parts of India, and partially from North Korea. Solar eclipses occur during a new moon when the moon is dark. This moon is considered a “super” new moon because the eclipse lasts longer than average.

In the old days, eclipses were seen as harbingers of trauma and difficult events. In our more expansive world view we now recognize them as bringers of change, intensifying areas they influence. This intensity can be seen as good or bad, but need not be judged in this way. It is simply change. I view the amount of difficulty one experiences to be in direct proportion to his or her attachments to things or circumstances that are, by their very nature, temporary and transitory.

During a total solar eclipse what we have kept hidden, either as an individual or as a group, cannot as easily be ignored or avoided. From this angle, we can take a proactive approach to the upcoming eclipse on July 21st, which is the second eclipse of three in a row this summer.

First, consider that we are in a very “cosmic” time. The ways we operate on mental and emotional levels are changing. Our minds don’t seem to work the way they once did. Have you noticed this? We are less able to will things into being, by force or otherwise. Instead, we have been steadily encouraged to think in more flexible, flowing, cooperative ways. Those who refuse this are finding themselves exceedingly frustrated and blocked. Those who flow with it are sometimes experiencing foggy thinking or confusion as the mind adapts to greater flexibility.

We can harness the forces of this powerful time for our own benefit. Your heart’s desire is being highlighted this summer, but it must blend with social consciousness. The individual ego must find a balance with the needs of the entire group. If your ego is overly constructed or inflexible, you will feel the pull to let go, to allow an adjustment. The new path is about refining priorities, softening the heart, and engaging in emotional self-empowerment.

You can begin by looking at what is ending in your life and what needs to end. Areas highlighted during this eclipse have to do with home, family, security, feminine energy, and the emotions. It is about balancing the divine feminine energy in your home and workplace. It is a time to wipe away old outdated patterns and habits of relating and emotionally reacting and begin anew with a more mature, self-possessed approach. It’s a time of emotional closure – letting go of old hurts and resentments – beginning again with emotional freedom.

So think about what you want to see more of in your life. Ask yourself what are you experiencing now that doesn’t feel good, and what would you be willing to allow into your life so that you do feel good. There is no better time than now to do this. We have the whole solar system working on our behalf to help us build a stronger inner foundation based on emotional balance.

Guilt: Minding the Gap

Guilt has been utilized for centuries to get the masses to cooperate. On a more personal level, mothers, fathers, teachers, children, clergy, friends, employers, and partners use the powerful tool to control one another. But guilt forces people to depart from their true, authentic natures and adopt a falsehood. If you participate in this inauthentic way of being, it likely eats away at your healthy sense of self - a constant reminder of your being “less than.” You’ve done something wrong. You are not ok.

In order to assuage the discomfort of the feelings that go along with having misbehaved or displeased someone, including God, what people typically do is change their behavior in order to regain approval. This change is usually a mask, an act of sorts, designed to make you appear to be more acceptable by whoever or whatever it was that originally placed judgment on you.

Sometimes these masks and acts (which I see as inauthentic ways of being) are donned at a very early age. I am reminded of a time in kindergarten when I casually tossed my uneaten sandwich into the girls’ bathroom trash. The teacher saw it, discovered it was mine, and proceeded to speak to me in such a way that I felt humiliation. To avoid future episodes of being shamed by teachers, I quickly learned to be more sneaky and secretive. I’d be sure to get rid of future kindergarten grub in a way as to not draw attention to myself. I would simply appear to abide by the rules, but would go on rejecting any lunch I deemed unsuitable for my 5-year-old taste buds. As a result, I would do things my way but feel guilty about it because I knew I was behaving falsely. My appearance belied the truth.

This is a mild example, but in a basic way it shows how inauthentic ways of behaving are linked to guilt. When someone comes to me asking for assistance with feelings of guilt, I look for the gap between what is true for the person and what is their “act.” When this gap is bridged, guilt begins to fade away. Guilt is the gap between our true selves and that which is false.

It can be humbling to face where we have been inauthentic. In the example I gave about my sandwich episode, in order to feel no guilt I could have owned up to a few things about myself.

1. I didn’t want to do what I was told. I had a defiant streak.
2. I wanted to “do lunch” my way.
3. I wanted to be seen by those in authority as “good” so I could avoid the discomfort that goes along with humiliation, shame, and judgment.
4. I didn’t always fit the model of “good” even though I thought I should.

I did eventually own these truths about myself and realized they were not the end of the world. I found I didn’t feel guilt anymore (because these same four points related to many things in life, not just the sandwich).

It’s a liberating process to free yourself from guilt. Facing the truth of what is, of what is the truth about you, is like unlocking the door of your own self-imposed prison. Then, learning that the truth is what it is, that you behaved in ways that are deemed undesirable by the standards you accepted for yourself, and that you felt ashamed of it, this is what is truly freeing. It is a heavy burden to hide your authenticity from others.

When you begin to recognize your gap and your own truth emerges you get to trade the old burden for something more empowering: personal responsibility and integrity. Nowadays when I don’t want to eat something for lunch I just say it. I’ve got a “picky” reputation. My mother has a hard time with it. People sometimes roll their eyes. I’m not easy to travel with. And that’s ok.