ANXIETY

Everyone feels anxious once in a while. The anticipation of finally being able to hug your family after 2 years of lock down from covid, or the dread of writing your final exams in school. We all get that pent up adrenaline feeling now and then. It’s our body’s way of helping us deal with real danger or to perform our best. When we experience anxiety it’s our body’s ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response (adrenaline response) is triggered. But what if that feeling never goes away? What if you had to live with feeling anxious and nervous every day?  For many people what should be just butterflies in your stomach or goosebumps on your arms, or an excited adrenaline rush of anticipation turns into dread and constant worry to the point of chest pains and hyperventilating.

When the anxiety starts to impede your everyday activities, that’s when it’s not healthy anymore and you should seek help.

Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder and one of the most distressing emotions as people sometimes call it fear or nervousness.

As of 2017 an estimated 284 million people had an anxiety disorder in the world. Approximately 179 million were female and 105 million were male. The graph below shows that male and female difference.

There are different forms of anxiety including phobic, social, obsessive compulsive (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or generalized anxiety disorders (GAD).

Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:

• Feeling restless or tense
• Tension headaches
• sweating
• Rapid heartbeat
• Hyperventilating (rapid breathing}
• Numbness and tingling sensations
• Nausea and stomach upset
• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• Trembling
• Felling weak or tired
• Having trouble sleeping
• Having difficulty controlling worry
• Having a sense of impending danger or doom
• Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety

I was diagnosed with ‘severe anxiety disorder’ over 10 years ago. Severe because I not only have general anxiety, PTSD, I also have a phobia.

I’m claustrophobic. Claustrophobia is the intense fear of enclosed spaces. I’m ok in an elevator as long as it’s empty. If it’s crowded I have to try and control my breathing so I don’t hyperventilate. I always have to know where the windows and doors are in a room and have to be near an exit in a room full of people. I have problems with medical tests at the hospital. (The only one I don’t have a problem with so far is a CT scan.) So I’ll let them know when the appointment is booked that I’m very claustrophobic and I’ll need to be sedated. There were times when I got to an appointment and the technician was not informed so he couldn’t sedate me. The first time that happened they found another machine that could do the images without me being enclosed in it. The second time it happened, I left, and from now on I will leave and go back when they’ll do the sedation. I did try but I had a panic attack start within 15 seconds.

Through meditation, reiki and watching my triggers, all things considered, I’ve been able to manage my anxiety in the past. However, in the past few years I went against my gut instinct on a few decisions and now ultimately, my anxiety and stress have taken over. So I’ve gone back to practicing reiki and meditating, and I’ll listen to my gut and will try not to give in to pressure.

Until Next Time,

Donna

WE ARE ONE

photo by Casey Horner – Unsplash

I originally posted this 10 years ago. I thought it was a good time to reflect on this again.

Whether you pray to God, Goddess, Allah, Buddha, the Divine, or you’re still questioning your beliefs, we are all from the same universe.

In 2008 American astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked this question by a Time magazine reader:

“What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?”

Tyson’s response:

“When I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, ’cause they’re small and the universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.”

With the help of Max Schlickenmeyer setting this statement to music, there will be more AHA moments, more light-bulb, more I got it, more you got it moments then ever before.

video by Max Schlickenmeyer

We are all one with the universe.

Namaste!

Donna

GROUNDING

Photo by PNW Production on Pexels.com

Grounding is the ancient healing practice of connecting your body to the earth. This is one of the most powerful healing techniques you can apply in your daily life. Today many call the practice Earthing. This is where you electrically ground your physical body to the physical earth, whether by walking bare foot on the grass, having a hand (or hugging) on a tree, or touching any living thing on the earth’s crust (rocks, dirt, water) you can basically ground anywhere and anytime. Our bodies are conductive so once any part our body touches the earth it electrically connects and grounds the body, and you immediately start to feel positive effects.

Grounding, is now a technique used for coping with anxiety, PTSD and stress because of it’s quick calming effect. Research has shown that practicing grounding has decreased the levels of inflammation and pain in the body which helps with arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses. Grounding also improves circulation and sleep.

Some other benefits and importance of grounding are:

• Health and clarity of mind
• Opens the third eye so you can be more perceptive
• Strengthens and nourishes your central nervous system
• Makes you feel more centered, alert, aware & present
• You experience a better sense of your physical space
• Helps you stay healthier on a physical level by receiving more energy from the earth
• Grounding helps with manifesting your goals
• Acts as an access valve to release blocks, stress and unwanted energy
• Assists you in speaking from your center and with certainty
• People who include grounding in their athletic activities say they’re more aware of how to perform and the body responds better.
• Artists and writers use energy grounding meditations to experience greater output and sustained creativity. Working with energy and intuition trains the creative side of your brain to work in partnership with the linear side.
• Grounding is easy to put into your meditation practice as an affirmation, visualization, feeling or emotion. Once set into your system, it becomes a natural part of who you are and how you feel.
• Once energy grounding is established, it brings the spirit into the body on a firm and permanent basis. Being centered and grounded in your body puts you in a constant state of emotional healing and awareness.

Below is something a little different. A grounding visualization technique that I do regularly with my meditations. Basically, you would visualize an extension from the base of your spine, down into the earth. This extension anchors into the core of the earth so that you make a direct, straight, electrical current of energy from your body into the earth. Energy follows thought. If you have a clear thought, clear visualization, the energy will follow.

Grounding Visualization:

Visualize the core of the earth as a bright sun—a bright light source deep within the earth. Allow the force of gravity to take your grounding cord directly into the sun deep within the core of the earth. Once you reach this place, create a reference for this place so you can come back here often. Turn your grounding cord into a big giant honey spoon, stirring the earth energy and getting a visceral sense for this substantial grounding connection. This can actually feel sensuous and pleasurable.

Earth energies are a healing, nurturing energy. Visualize your grounding cord as a big giant drinking straw and begin sucking up the earth energy from the sun in the earth’s core to fill your entire body with this fabulous, nurturing light and healing energy. Once you feel your body is full of that bright healing light you can let it go out of your solar plexus (stomach), heart chakra (heart) and crown chakra (head) releasing it out around you or you can just send it back down to the earth.

If you are not confident of your grounding connection or the nurturing, healing energies accessed from the earth, it’s because you don’t trust the experience. We’ve all experienced many traumas on the earth plane and it’s sometimes difficult to trust that earth will support us. When we ground with the intention of anchoring our light into the source of all Creation, this is the most powerful connection there is with the earth. So if we can strengthen ourselves and stretch our minds to accept this concept, this changes our lives and empowers us forever.

Namaste!

INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Here is a Ted talk about an extremely rare form of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is not only rare but very aggressive. It’s often misdiagnosed as a breast infection and mammograms often come out clear. Once my mother was diagnosed it was already stage 4.

In the video she talks about how it took her mother several months and several doctors telling her it’s not cancer, then finally making an appointment to see a specialist to be diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. It’s about 13 minutes long but well worth the time.

The 8 or so post-graduate years, (depending on their specialization) of study to become a doctor is not enough time to know everything. The body is just too complex of an organ. They will always be learning and I thank them for their knowledge, dedication, and hard work.

Having said that doctors are human like the rest of us and they can make mistakes. Being your own advocate is crucial especially in this instance. You have to keep trying until you get the right answer. NOT the answer that you would like to hear but the right diagnosis that can save your life.

Until next time,

Donna

MENTAL ILLNESS AWARENESS WEEK

I stated in the previous post that there are 2 causes dear to my heart. Breast Cancer being the first and the second is Mental Illness. World Mental Health Day is on October 10th, 2021 and depending where you live some countries have their Mental Health Awareness week starting October 3th and ending on the 10th, while some have their week starting on the 10th and run through the 16th.

Not until well known figures started talking about their own struggles with mental illness is the stigma of mental illness slowly disappearing. A few of these people who advocate for mental illness are:

• Kiera Knightley – PTSD & Anxiety
• Demi Lovato – Addiction
• Katy Perry – Depression
• Ariana Grande – Anxiety & PTSD
• Serena Williams – Postpartum Depression (PPD)
• Shawn Mendes – Anxiety
• Lady Gaga – PTSD
• Kristen Bell – Anxiety & Depression
• Ryan Reynolds – Anxiety
• Charlize Theron – Depression
• Janet Jackson – Depression
• Chrissy Teigen – Depression

Some of the main disorders are depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, substance abuse disorder, personality disorders and eating disorders, but there are many more sub disorders.

There is a lot of work still to do. Even though we are shining a light on mental health there are certain types that still need to be desensitized. I say that because people don’t want to talk about something that they’re afraid of. Movies often portray mental illness to the extreme so it’s hard to desensitize the stigma of a psychotic disorder or even PTSD.

It was very hard when I was first diagnosed with Depression. My uncle didn’t believe in it at all. My mother didn’t know what to think however she did understand the signs of postpartum depression. I often had to suffer in silence because even my closest friend didn’t want to talk about it. Having to bottle up my emotions for so long it was very hard to start talking and to this day I still struggle. Years later I was then diagnosed with severe anxiety. This made it even more confusing.

I think of it this way: Depression is living in the past and Anxiety is living in the future. You have to find the middle ground and live for today to feel at peace.

Until Next Time,

Donna

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

October is a very busy month for me in that it highlights two causes that are dear to my heart. Firstly, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Pexels.com

My mother died of breast cancer 22 years ago. We say she died of the effects of the chemotherapy not the cancer. Her oncologist put her on a very strong and aggressive chemotherapy cocktail first to try and shrink the tumor before they would do radiation or surgery because the tumor was quite large. But I think he didn’t take into consideration her health or any pre existing conditions. He should’ve lowered the dose, it was just too much for her body to take.

My mother starting finding lumps (benign) when she was in her early 40’s. This last one she found only because she slipped and fell in a furniture store and hit her breast on a corner of a table. She thought the bruising was from the fall but the discoloration and pain wouldn’t go away. Finally they sent her for a mammogram. The 1st report came back benign but, a few months later she was sent back for a more detailed mammogram and ultrasound. This came back positive. Stage 4 Inflammatory Breast Cancer. A rare and very aggressive type of breast cancer.

With Inflammatory Breast Cancer mammograms don’t always pick them up until they are late stage because they don’t always have a tumor like the other breast cancers. They start out looking like an infection and/or a mass of inflamed tissue or some flat sheet like tissues under the skin and nipple.

It was on labor day weekend (the 1st weekend in September) when she fell. If I remember correctly it was around the end of November that the 1st mammogram came back benign. It wasn’t until March that she found out it was malignant. She passed away May 31st. That is 9 months from the time she fell, and only 2 months from the time she found out it was cancer. She was 69.

In 22 years has anything changed? Are they able to detect this type of breast cancer faster? Or is this basically a death sentence for women?

Until Next Time!

Donna