More on Fear...What is the antidote to Fear?

A plea for my daughter Dana, More on Fear…What is the antidote to Fear?

Today my daughter Dana is going in for her 6 month PET Scan of which I acutely feel in my heart.  In our journey and my work with The Mindfulness Center, I have learned that you are not fully in recovery until you can let go of the fear.  I know, “Easier said than one…”

This is why I gave every member of my family and a few close friends, the book “The Gifts of Imperfection” this year for Christmas and a big catalyst for my group on “Cultivating Joy”.  Written by Brene Brown, Ph.D., L.M.S.W., the book is your guide to a wholehearted life.  I am using her book as one of the tools and a guide for our group that gets together and practices courage, compassion and connection, the three “C’s” that Brene has identified as essential for developing resilience and an antidote against fear and anxiety.

What is the ultimate antidote to fear?  It is not courage. Courage comes from the latin word Cour and means owning and telling your story with your whole heart.  Dana is certainly accomplishing that with her blog that has reached over 10,000 people showing us her strength, her courage, her humor and her gift of writing. 

According to Gary Zukav, which I now believe to be true, the antidote to fear is love.  Every day, every moment we have a choice on how to think, act and respond to the situation given to us.  We can either choose to react based on our fears or set the intention to respond out of love.

When I let my fear overcome me I become the over-functioning, caretaking, crazed mother who is desperately trying to “fix” Dana with the right combination of food, supplements, yoga and meditation.  Don’t get me wrong, these practices can be life changing and transformational, but my beautiful daughter does not need “fixing”.   

Dana is perfectly imperfect and like all of us, like nature intended, has the ability to heal from within.  All of us can choose love over fear.  Again this requires courage, compassion (self compassion) and connection.   This requires a practice and a safe place and community for support.

Last night, I posted on my Facebook page that I had been listening to Candace Pert, another well-known Ph.D researcher who discussed the importance of authenticity and emotional integrity.  She sited research on spontaneous remissions happening after an angry outburst and suggests that releasing pent up emotions can be a dramatic boost to the immune system.  I’ve already stated previously how Dean Ornish, M.D. book on Love & Survival, speaks to the research on how much more powerful and essential Love is to healing.

Finally, how do we cultivate Joy & Gratitude?  First we have to let go of the practices of numbing and learn how to cultivate a resilient spirit, which Dana is proving good at.  Second, we must let go of scarcity and fear.  Scarcity is when we keep saying to ourselves, “I don’t have enough (time, money, health, etc.).  As Deepak Chopra says, If you think you don’t have enough time that is the fastest way to a heart attack.  Our subconscious thoughts are drivers of our reality.

What is Joy?

Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness. Happiness is

 a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes when you’re lucky.

Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love.

-Adela Rogers St. John

Here is my Plea, a request for action.  Please join me TODAY, right now as she is getting her scan, in spreading hope and faith and love to Dana.  Please send your Metta, your LOVE & Kindness, your prayers and meditations to my daughter Dana so she can feel in her heart this positive healing energy and be filled with hope and faith and love.

With Love & Gratitude,

Dana's "Momma Bear"

PS

Please sign up and join us in Mind Body Week DC next week to learn more about the science and research behind the power to heal from within.  Don’t forget to sign up for our workshop at Beloved Yoga Studio on Sunday too. 

A Mindful Nation

It is Saturday morning and I just returned home after a wonderful few days with friends and family and wondering what gift could I buy for my coming of age nephews who will be coming over tomorrow for Easter Sunday.  On my desk was the book that I just ordered, A Mindful Nation by Congressman Tim Ryan who will be speaking at Mind Body Week DC in a few short weeks.  The forward is by Jon Kabat-Zinn who is a pioneer in mindfulness meditation. Jon talks about a Surgeon General report done in 1979, Healthy People “stating that no amount of money could address the negative consequences bound to emerge from unhealthy ways of living and not dealing effectively with life stresses”. ..At that time, many people with chronic conditions were falling through the cracks of the health-care system.  Today, those cracks have become chasms, and in spite of the health-care systems’ great technological advances, for the average American it falls far short of promoting genuine health and putting the patient at the center of health and healing.”

I witnessed this revolving door syndrome 30 years ago as a Registered Nurse working with chronic illness and cardiac care and with diabetes and cancer patients. It was a primary reason that I chose to move on to work with a 12step program that included nutrition, family and life style changes and a major reason why I choose to be a health coach today.

We spend over $2.8 Trillion a year in healthcare and are ranked #41 worldwide.  Detroit has lost over half its population and yet has 15 hospitals within its city limits.  The biggest and newest buildings on the waterfront are homes to the UAW and Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  Health care is very big business but it has not proven effective in managing and preventing chronic illness; which accounts for 80% of patient visits to physicians. 

To better understand how to effectively prevent, manage and heal chronic illness come to Mind Body Week DC www.mindbodyweek.com . 

Jon Kabat-Zinn in his foreword goes on to say, “Mindfulness can literally change our brains…and enhance our emotional intelligence…”

And. “Who can argue, as he (Tim Ryan) himself emphasizes, with training our children in the how of paying attention so that they can excel at learning, rather than just yelling at them to pay attention, which so often happens in our schools?  Who can argue with encouraging and actually practicing pro-social behaviors, such as kindness and compassion in both children and adults as a way to enrich and deepen our ability to relate effectively with others and improve our own quality of life?   Who can argue with our need to slow down a bit and cultivate greater ease of being, to appreciate how we are in relationship with ourselves, with each other, with nature, and the society we live in, in the face of the ever-accelerating pressures and demands of our digitally driven era?  Who can argue with confronting PTSD and suicide in the military, and taking care of our troops and their families in ways that are up to the tasks and burdens that they shoulder?”

Mindfulness is about being human, alive and doing the right things for the right reasons because our well-being and the health of our nation hang in the balance.

This book is my gift to my nephews and I invite you to come hear Tim Ryan speak in Washington on April 18^th www.mindbodyweek.com or come to my class on Adrenal Fatigue April 21st at Beloved Yoga Studio   http://www.carpediemwellness.org/events-news

Carpe Diem

Lisa