This year, for my lectio divina practice, I've been slowly reading through the Psalms (very slowly -- I'm only on #56). As any readers of these ancient songs will notice, they display a somewhat schizophrenic split between beautiful lines of praise celebrating a loving relationship with God, and hate-filled, violent passages invoking death to the … Continue reading #OneWord2022: Connecting with people
This month I took a strengths assessment survey as part of a writing workshop I'm taking part in. Interestingly enough, given that my One Word is "connect," my top strength came out as "Connectedness." Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com The survey's description of this characteristic includes phrases like "In your soul you know we … Continue reading #OneWord2022: Connecting with strength
It's been over half a year now since I decided to try using Functional Medicine to address my longstanding digestive issues and migraine headaches. This involved testing to assess my gut microbiota and other factors, changing my diet to a more gut-friendly mode, taking supplements and probiotics to support healing and good flora, and "brain … Continue reading My Functional Medicine Journey, Part III: Assessment and next steps
On our way back from Bivio this summer, we took a jaunt through northern Italy to visit a friend of my husband's for a few days. This was the Sudtirol region, which has close ties with neighboring Austria, and where German is still mixed in with Italian in a lot of places. Interestingly, as soon … Continue reading Postcards from Switzerland (and Italy): Two sacred sites
This year, I've been making a concerted effort to improve my health, especially regarding the digestive issues and migraine headaches that have plagued me for almost half my life. With a number of transitions in my life going on, including a move to Switzerland at the same time as going through menopause , things really … Continue reading #OneWord2022: The health connection
At the start of Europe's heat wave in July, we decamped for cooler climes in the Alps. We stayed in the delightful town of Bivio in Val Surses, just across the Julierpass from the famous Engadin valley where my husband and I had stayed shortly after we were married 18 years ago. We got to … Continue reading Postcards from Switzerland: Val Surses and Engadin
It started when I was about nine years old, feeling lonely and displaced after my family had moved from California to Washington. Food became a major source of solace for me, junk food that I could not stop eating once I took the first bite. Potato chips, of course; I could not eat just one, … Continue reading Uncovering my eating disorder
One of challenges for this month's One Word linkup at Lisa Notes is "Google your word or look it up on Wikipedia or in a Bible concordance or dictionary. Find out something unique about your word this month. See if you get a new insight." The word "connect" yielded no results when I searched for … Continue reading #OneWord2022: Connecting with the head
This month, Lisa prompts us to "Tell us again why you chose your One Word." Here are my answers to the questions (in one sentence, as she challenged us): 1. WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS WORD? "Connect" just popped into my head as soon as I thought about choosing one word for the year, so … Continue reading #OneWord2022: Why Connect?
In my posts about my journey with functional medicine, I talk about my quest to heal my digestive issues. But this is more than an outer quest in the realm of food and supplements. What I believe really lies behind these issues is not an innate food sensitivity or defective organ, but my compulsive eating … Continue reading What’s really been eating me?
