Burrell loved getting cards and hats. This hat was from my husband Neil.
As is more and more common, I come from a family with a complex web of relationships. Growing up I only met my half-brother Burrell once, on a trip South with my dad. The next time I saw him was with my half-sister, Vicki, on the day of Dad’s funeral last year. The weekend of the funeral was only the second time I had ever seen Vicki in my life and our visit with Burrell turned out to be one of my treasured memories with her. Dad’s funeral was also the second time that the three of us half-sisters had been together. Standing with them is one of my clearest memories especially as the oldest, Julie, let us know she had just been diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. So many emotions.
My thoughts have mainly been focused on the reasons I am grateful for having moved to South Carolina. One is that I had some of the best moments I’ve had with my dad before he died. Another is that I was here when Julie needed support, asking me to visit Burrell for her since she wouldn’t be able to during the months of her cancer treatment. Burrell had lived for decades at the Whitten Center in Clinton, SC. His brain had stopped growing when he was two and as he got older, the family needed assistance taking care of him. Back when there was lots of family around, he would come home regularly and he still referred to people and places from that time. As I recently told a friend, Burrell’s mind was limited but his heart was not. While I would have wished a full life for Burrell, he was a source of love and joy for those who knew him.
Continue reading “Gratitude for time with my brother Burrell”
Posted in Roots |
Recently I’ve FINALLY made big progress with my ankle injury. I started walking with a local group and have been doing some private fitness training with an emphasis on core strength. I went from not being able to walk more than 30 minutes without my ankle swelling and becoming painful to being able to do an hour more of intense exercising. Yay!
However, I noticed that at the same time I started new exercise activities, my small walking and stretching routines disappeared. I thought, this isn’t good. I want to have added to my exercise not replaced it. Then there’s the article I read at Lifehacker.com on how bad sitting all day (which my work requires) is for you. I basically knew that 
sitting is bad for your body and have tried to make sure I get daily exercise. And more recently I read that “sedentary time is closely associated with health risk regardless of how much physical activity you perform on a daily basis. Further, it is entirely possible to meet current physical activity guidelines while still being incredibly sedentary.”
Continue reading “Regular exercise isn’t enough”
Posted in chronic pain/illness, exercise |
It is amazing when you realize how much our language shapes our reality. My husband Neil recently reacted on Twitter (below) about the pressure from companies to buy products that “support cancer survivors.” It’s especially raw for him since losing his dad to cancer last December. I have the same type of reaction to the language that is used. With so many people we know be affected by it, we seem to talking about it more and more. I read in the book, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition
that cancer is our natural healing process out of balance. If that is true then we aren’t really being invaded by something foreign that needs to be fought. I recently read that there has been a shift towards a “living with cancer” approach. I wonder what different types of treatment breakthroughs there could be with a different way of looking at cancer.
Continue reading “Cancer language”
Posted in chronic pain/illness |
You may have noticed that I love trees. One of my favorite things is walking down a winding path through the woods. Add a lovely babbling brook and I’m in heaven. I naturally enjoyed being in the outdoors as a child, but as an adult I’ve become convinced about the importance of spending time in nature for body and soul. Going for a walk is a wonderful way to improve fitness, strengthen your immune system and manage stress. Its benefits are amplified when you are outdoors, especially away from urban elements like traffic and noise. I more fully appreciated the need for open spaces in urban settings during my time as an urban planning student and intern. My involvement in labyrinth walking also created a new understanding for the benefits of sacred spaces.
Two of the organizations whose updates I enjoy in my social media streams are the Therapeutic Landscapes Network and Open Spaces Sacred Places (formerly the TKF Foundation). Yesterday I attended the webinar for the OSSP National Awards Initiative for Integrated Design and Research. I haven’t had a chance to visit any of the current the current OSSP garden locations, but I’m excited about the idea of them coming to us here in the Southeast.
Posted in exercise, Labyrinths, stress management | Tagged Interdependent Web, Labyrinths, Spiritual Practice |
Love this web of roots along my downtown walk route
Getting back on track with good wellness habits has been on my mind for a while. I kept shifting it down my mental to-do list as more pressing items seemed to take priority. Of course in the long run, I would only become less efficient and less able to deal with the high stress levels. Inadequate diet and exercise leads to worse sleep quality, which is especially important when you have chronic pain and injuries. Each day you wake up in more pain, less effective and more prone to throwing planning out the window.
Continue reading “Wellness Makeover: Morning Exercise”
Posted in exercise, Wellness Makeover |
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