Cold and Flu: Natural Isn’t Necessarily the Way

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Sharing information to keep in mind as we go through cold and flu season.

As it happens I’m getting through a cold.  The worst symptom is a cough from phlegm.

Keeping me up at night.

1st Thought

Though I generally turn to natural remedies my first thought was to get Nyquil.  You know – the “So you can rest medicine?”  Sure enough the first night I slept deeply.

Sleep is healing.

2nd Thought

Natural remedies like drinking lots of water to help my immune system take care of the situation.

3rd Thought

A good friend who knows I prefer natural remedies sent me information on a few that can help in this situation.  I chose 2

  • Propolis throat spray
  • Elderberry tincture

I’d never used either though I’m big on adding honey to a cup of chamomile for a bronchial cough.

This isn’t.  Totally post-nasal drip – gets worse when I lie down.

Throat spray – inconclusive.

Elderberry?

Did I imagine that?

To put in context – I started taking Boiron Cold Calm.  Have had excellent experience with it and after a dose I did feel better but….

After the Cold Calm I sipped some water into which I dropped Elderberry tincture.  Next thing I know I was coughing worse than I had in days.

Didn’t put it together there may be causality.

Put a glass of water with Elderberry next to my bed thinking to sip in the night and first thing in the morning.

Coughing was horrendous and another shot of Nyquil didn’t help.

Neither did lying on my left side which had worked to slow the cough the night before.

As I lay on my back staring up in the dark using meditation techniques to deal with the situation a thought occurred to me.

No coincidence it occurred during meditation.

This seems more like an allergy than a virus.

As I went with the thought I acknowledged Nyquil – which had been working – suddenly wasn’t.

Which it wouldn’t if it was an allergy.

Next Round

I took a Cold Calm dose in the morning – felt significantly better with symptoms all but gone.

But Then…

I sipped water with Elderberry tincture late morning and within minutes was coughing like crazy.

But but but it’s NATURAL!

As I once told a hair stylist who insisted the shampoo they used was botanical

So is poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac

Anyone can be allergic to anything, natural or pharmaceutical.

Case In Point

The best cough remedy I’ve ever had is codeine.  Stops the worst bronchial cough cold.  It also gives me a horrendous migraine that makes it so I’d rather sleep upright in a chair and hack the night away than take one dose of codeine – for anything.

Listen to the signals your body is sending and tune into your instincts.

Be well this holiday season.

The Healing Power of Experience

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It’s been an interesting day, starting early with a routine that included checking headlines to see if the Martians had landed.

Tongue-in-cheek – goes back to my high school “I have to read Ray Bradbury” days.

A London Times article – Social media is dead — none of my friends are posting any more caught my attention.

With a line putting me in the mind of an app that helps people spend less time on devices.

But Wait There’s More!

Ginsu knife anyone?

This isn’t a promo ad.

Double-Edge Sword

Long before the cell phone came along technology was changing society.  It takes time to see patterns and it takes hindsight to see the extent of the change.  And then comes judgment.

The technology that saves lives can disrupt lives.  It’s something we have to navigate.

So Navigate

I published my first book in 2011.  

I always thought my first book would be a novel; didn’t pan out.

A holistic healer, I intended my work help others.  

People who, like me, were suffering from EMF Sensitivity.

Life Happens

My dance with EMF Sensitivity sent me in a different direction though I didn’t give up on my dream.

I spent ensuing years alternating fiction and nonfiction projects.

That’s Nasty

Soon after I published I encountered my first Internet troll.  

It devastated me. 

 It took 7 years to recover from one person’s comment.

8 billion humans on this planet and I get a comment that destroys my soul and lands me in the sewer for 7 years..

One human being on planet earth shredded me for 7 years.

What helped me get past deep wounds left by someone I’d never met was listening to the sage advice of people who had more experience than me.

People who’d been there, who understood.

My angels of the heart happened to be teenage kids. Though expressed differently – as per their vernacular – each said “Oh, goes with the territory of putting yourself out there.”

Which they’d been doing for years in an environment that is – in some respects – harsher than what I was dealing with in my isolated corner of the web.

Pay It Forward.

Recent events have – at times – shaken those same angels.  I’ve been able to help by drawing from life experience.

  • Vietnam

I was a child but my parents’ friends …

I recount specifics in my podcasts

  • We Will Bury You

I was a child but conversations with my maternal grandmother helped me put bomb shelters in the back yard in perspective

  • Recession After Recession 

By the time I was 40 I’d gone through 4

Detroit experiences one about every 10 years.  

I gave words of comfort without being condescending.  

I didn’t pretend to understand.

Some experiences are universal and history may repeat itself but teens today are growing up in a world I never knew. Cell phones? iPads? The microwave was new technology when I was growing up.

So was Atari and Apple IIe.

I had a rotary dial wall phone in my house!

I believe I was able to convey that as a society we’ve been in tough spots before – that I feel people want to work together for the common good.  

The issue is there are different definitions of the common good.

General and Specific

Later today.

I was about to get back to my first fiction project since post-Covid burnout when I got another opportunity to pay it forward.

With a stranger.

Fulfilling a Dream

Right up my manifesting alley.

A young woman creating a film was seeking help with filming locations.  Rather than suggesting locations to scout I gave words of encouragement and praised the beautiful amazing experience of seeing a vision – what started as a thought or a whisper in the soul – come to life.  

It was – from what I could tell – appreciated.

Be well

In the Age of Wegovy

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In recent months I’ve had a number of conversations about the use of Wegovy.  Specifically, what is my take given I’m a holistic doctor.

I am in full support of its use in helping people with Type 2 diabetes and while I recognize its promise treating a number of health challenges my concern is this:

Happily Ever After

Once the weight is off, the blood glucose levels at a healthy level, how will individuals avoid reverting to habits or lifestyle choices that had them needing it?

For Context

Having spent decades in tech – typically 10 to 15 years younger than my peers – I came to a point where I noted two peculiarities

  • Majority of my coworkers were male
  • My male coworkers tended to carry 30 to 50 extra pounds

Stress Stress Stress

I handled stress by walking on my lunch hour and after work.  When that wasn’t enough?  I joined a health club so I could add weight lifting and rowing.

This was a double-edged sword.  The issue was stress, not a need for physical fitness.  The more stress?  The more hours I spent working out.  

I ended up with an autoimmune condition and while this is a topic for another time – an upcoming podcast – I want to circle back to the topic at hand.

The Age of Wegovy

I got to a point in my career I was doing a lot of traveling. I would fly out Sunday or Monday, return Friday or Saturday and head out again Sunday or Monday.  I did this pretty much every week between the fall of 1993 and spring of 1996.

I cancelled my cable because I was never home to watch anything anyway.

SSDL

DL = Different Location

My travel routine wasn’t much different than my home routine.

  • Eat out
  • Wait for food to settle
  • Workout

Other than ESPN I wasn’t into spending the evening in a hotel room watching TV.

Unless I had a laptop and wanted ambient noise while working on a customer deal.

SSDA

Same Stress Different Approach

Listening to music while lifting weights, running on a treadmill, and taking advantage of whatever exercise options were available.

I generally brought mixed tapes created from vinyls on a Sony Walkman.

Bonus Bad Health Habit

Due to flight schedules I often ended up eating past 10pm from a room service menu lacking in healthy options.

Observations

Over those years I observed

  • I was the only female working out **
  • There were usually only 3 males working out alongside me even as I knew many more were – like me – traveling.  

I knew this because I worked with them. They were in the same hotel because we were collaborating on the same customer opportunity.

The Irony of Wegovy

I dealt with work stress by working out to excess and not eating healthy and though I didn’t gain weight or develop Type 2 diabetes I ended up with an autoimmune disease.

Many of the males I know currently on Wegovy dealt with the same type of stress by not eating healthy.

And not getting as much exercise as they could have while my situation shows exercise is no guarantee of good health.

Stress? What Stress?

Everyone has life stress but work stress fills a particular place in our lives and it gets my dander up every time I see another article blaming techies for the woes of the world.

The lifestyle that goes with that stress is why many techies have health challenges.

Next!

My understanding of holistic healing enables me to spot signs of old patterns that risk my health.  

God knows I don’t want to end up back in the land of autoimmune disease.

My concern is that majority of people on this medication won’t recognize the causality and may find themselves falling back into patterns that got them in trouble in the first place.

Life in the Age of Wegovy.

Be well.

** I was the only female – the highlight being the lone woman among 41 men in a post-graduate network technology program at Carnegie Mellon.

Human Touch: There Is No Substitute

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I recently wrote about the value of good manners.

Smiling?  Treating People with respect?  Wishing them a good day?  Lifting them up when they need a helping hand?  THESE are the pillars upon which decent society was built and in spite of what you may read on the web it’s the fabric that still exists.

The irony in that paragraph?  By taking your cue from technology – what you read on the web – as opposed to a fellow human you end up with a skewed image of the world.  Allowing someone you’ve never met tell you how to think and feel about what may or may not be reality can and does cause harm in the form of mental and emotional stress.  It’s this truth that has driven communities across the globe to ban cell phones in classrooms and for kids under a certain age.

The Power of Human Connection

A powerful antidote is engaging with the people in your community, people who can help you determine whether what you read online is something you need to worry about.  I’ll share an example.

Months back I was at a local pizza place.

Arriving shortly after they opened.  

I love the energy of this place.  

Lots of windows to let in natural light, very cool tunes selected by the even cooler staff who know me for my periodic working lunches.  

Because of my timing I’m there when teens on their lunch break form a line to the door.

A line that goes by the table where I like to sit.

I’m always amazed by how polite the mostly male students are, talking and laughing quietly while they wait for their turn to order.

How nice they are to the staff.  

Obviously, they were taught manners.

One afternoon I looked up to see a man in an army jacket in the middle of the pack.  There were ribbons on his jacket reflecting service though it was evident he was no longer active.  What struck me was his expression.  The guy was in serious distress.

Are You Okay?

I mouthed the question to which, looking as if he was about to crumble, he shook his head.  I went to him, my intention to hug him and help him feel okay.  

After asking his permission that’s what I did.

I had a pretty good idea what was upsetting him.  The web was filled with headlines about the growing political divide and thanks to various media platforms it was all too easy to feel as if you would be the victim of malice by people you’ve never met and who don’t know you.

Keenly aware of the teens close by I dropped my voice and asked if he was upset about recent events which weren’t favorable to the men and women who serve our country.  He nodded put his head on my shoulder and cried silently while I held him.

Keeping his voice low he told me how proud he was to have served his country, how his parents raised him with good values.

Treating people with respect was high on that list.

I stepped back so I could look him in the eye, took his hands and said, “What you read is not reflective of your community.  The people here do not feel that way.  You are safe here.  Hear me?  You are safe.”

He sniffled but nodded and we chatted a few minutes more even as the line moved.  I gave him another hug, promised him it was going to be okay, then went back to my salad and my work.

I wrote about that day and there’s a very good reason I’m repeating it here.

There’s An App For That

Despite how often those in the tech industry are vilified many continually strive to make the world a better place.

To help people live healthier happier lives.

To that end a dynamic duo recently released an app to help people break addiction to screen time, the goal being to help them reconnect with their community so they can absorb the love and friendship of those in it.

As a holistic healer I have been an enthusiastic supporter of this effort from the beginning.

I am proud to promote NoPhone: A Digital Detox app.

Feedback Welcome

I would love to hear feedback on this subject so feel free to comment.

Before I sign off I’d like to wish you peace and joy in your home and your community.

Be well!

Miss Manners: Lessons Worth Learning

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Sitting with a scented candle the cozy colors of autumn’s splendor visible through the window and thinking on recent interactions with a gentleman I would describe as having Old World Manners.  Doubtless I’m aging myself with that phrase but as I let my mind wander, couldn’t help but acknowledge with pride I raised my kids with those same manners.  Though it may seem an outdated and perhaps unnecessary skill for parents to teach, not doing so can cost kids success.

Because you never know.

The Dinner Setting

My paternal grandmother saw brilliance in the man she wanted to marry, a WW II Air Force Captain.  She enrolled in finishing school, went on to be the wife of a powerful CEO.  This woman taught me a wide range of skills –  how to entertain the 1% including how to set a place setting for a full-course European meal.  The irony?  I was living in poverty thanks to her son.  

When was I ever going to…?

Lessons Worth Learning

I once asked her, given my socio-economic realities – why waste time and energy?  Her answer?  

You Never Know When

My grandmother was investing on my behalf.  

Learn Well

I had good reason to listen to her advice even as I acknowledged she was a bit bats in the belfry.

The mansion behind their property literally had a belfry even as I went without food, clothes that fit… power shut off in winter due to lack of paying the bills.

But…

I had dreams.  

From the time I was 6 I talked of traveling the world and being something more though I kept those dreams a secret in my heart.

A lot of her persuasion revolved around painting a vision of a time I lifted myself out of poverty and these lessons would come in handy.

She should have been an actress.  She was brilliant painting a time when…

She made me believe.

12 Years Later

10 – 15 years younger than my tech peers I nonetheless helped secure a huge win that put my district on the global map.  As such I was included in the award – a weekend stay at a 5-star hotel and a stipend for a nice dinner.

I worked 80 hours a week several weeks in a row alongside peers on a customer opportunity that brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Single I reached out to a high school buddy to go with me.

His parents grilled me for over an hour on details.

Ah Details

I chose a nice steakhouse away from restaurants where I’d likely run into my colleagues.  To my surprise my buddy started asking if his tie was crooked, if he’d placed the silverware correctly…

I assured him the wait staff had taken care of it.

It got to a point where he admitted he was terrified of shaming me at the upcoming award banquet.  

Needless to say I assured him there was nothing to worry about.

As the youngest recipient of the award I was equally nervous but I’d worked my tail off.

Doing The Right Thing

I’ve raised my kids with Old World Manners not with the idea I’m trying to shape them into world leaders but because it’s the right thing to do.  Smiling?  Treating People with respect?  Wishing them a good day?  Lifting them up when they need a helping hand?  THESE are the pillars upon which decent society was built and in spite of what you may read on the web it’s the fabric that still exists.

Across the globe.

Pass the baton of good manners…

If you didn’t have the opportunity to learn at home there are plenty of books on etiquette so take advantage of your local library and dream your future.

Be Well

Hauntings and EMF Sensitivity

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Just in time for Halloween

I love when science validates my work after-the-fact.  From an article on possible explanations for supposed hauntings:

Of course, there are some cases of ‘hauntings’ for which there is evidence of some physical phenomena: magnetic, pressure or temperature variations…

Right up my EMF Sensitivity Alley!

I cover this along with information on dealing with real hauntings in-depth in my app Destination Unknown: Explorations of the Paranormal.

I include locations throughout the world where I’ve experienced true hauntings.

The Whaley House in Old Town San Diego is haunted as validated by the US Government.  

Having had my own experiences there, I agree.

My app and accompanying workbook are filled with examples of logical scientific explanations of paranormal phenomenon, including the fact spirits themselves are an EMF and thus subject to the laws of physics.

Lots of tools and strategies to deal with this sometimes bothersome frequency are included along with stories of how and why I used them. 

Before I close out I want to leave you with a bit of irony.  

This meme came across my path today.  It put me in the mind of the following experience I had over a decade ago while visiting Salem, MA with my family.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween.  

May it be filled with more treats than tricks.

From my book on the subject.

Not currently available.

The House of the Seven Gables

I thoroughly enjoyed touring the historic home.  

I love Colonial architecture – especially brick structures.

The Revolutionary War period is one of my favorites.

Of US history.

 Toward the end of the tour, we went into the beautiful master bedroom.  The guide stood near the fireplace and talked about the furniture, the family, and the town’s history.  Not long into the discussion, the ghost of John Turner III appeared.  

Arms crossed in front of his chest, with ankles also crossed, he was floating on the other side of the fireplace. 

 He was leaning back, even as he floated, listening as the guide talked about former owners, including him.

He seemed amused and nodded several times during the guide’s speech.

When the guide began talking about how John Turner III lost the house and the family fortune, another ghost appeared.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” the second ghost snapped, “he was a fool.”

At this point, John Turner III unfolded his arms, stood up and faced the other ghost.

His father, John Turner II.

“I was not a fool,” he replied calmly, “I was being cautious.  There was no way to know the colonists would win.”

While the guide explained that John Turner the III was suspected of being a Loyalist, the two ghosts continued to argue.

“The correct word is Royalist,” the son said with an impatient air.

This is the same term the spirit near the Customs House used: Royalist.

His father replied, “Which you were, and a fool besides.”

“How could I have known?” the son asked.

“You should have known,” the father growled back.  “You would have, if you’d thought about it from a business perspective.”

At this point the son rolled his eyes. 

Obviously, this was an old argument.  

As I listened to father and son go at it, I dug my nails into my palms to keep from laughing.  

The guide was doing a great job and I didn’t want to appear rude.

What I learned from listening to the ghosts was that John Turner III had assumed the British Crown would put down the Colonist rebellion.  He’d planned to benefit from that outcome.

He was in shipping and had been making deals with the Crown.  

Obviously, he’d thrown his lot in with the wrong side and centuries later, his father was still berating him for his stupidity.

“The boy was a fool,” he growled.

Father and son spirits were still arguing when we left.  As we proceeded down to the next room on the tour, I told Aaron what I’d seen and heard. 

“It was all I could do to keep from laughing.”

I decided not to tell the guide what I’d experienced.  

Something told me he wouldn’t take it well.

Gotta Love Synchronicity

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When I made the decision to release an app and workbook filled with tools and strategies for dealing with Esoteric EM frequencies I decided to

  • Make it as light-hearted as I could even though the impacts are serious
  • Have a tester for each of the formats
  • Have an October 1 release so it will be out for Halloween

Within days of the release I attended a conference.  While having wine at the hotel one evening I chatted with the bartender – a fellow Midwesterner and hockey lover.  When I told him what I do – chatted a bit about the release of Destination Unknown: Explorations of the Paranormal he got excited so I asked if he wanted a business card.  He asked for another for a colleague because, “She’s into holistic.”

The next evening Aaron and I were in the area relaxing with wine when a woman working the bar approached, explained she was the colleague.  She said, “Can I ask you a question?  What is Esoteric?”  

When I explained she got tears in her eyes.  

She hadn’t had a name to explain what was happening to her, didn’t know it was “a thing.”  

When I shared the purpose of the material she started to cry.  I understood.

Having been brought to tears myself by my sensitivity to these frequencies.  

It’s what motivated me to find solutions.  

Driven to Tears

As I mention in a previous post I knew the time was now to release this information because multiple people – all of whom were aware of my abilities – shared they were so overwhelmed by their sensitivity to Esoteric frequencies they were driven to tears.

I hugged her and promised it was going to be okay.  I felt confident in that promise because as I detail in Riding the Waves: Diagnosing Treating and Living With EMF Sensitivity, half the battle is knowing what’s happening.  

Putting a name to it.

Later that evening we were at a large social gathering.  I looked to my left to see a gentleman watching the entertainment screen which was about three floors below us.  Intuition guided me to approach.  In the course of sharing why we were there I mentioned what I do and my latest project. His reply?  “I need this.”

He got a business card too.

Over and over I handed out cards to people overwhelmed by their sensitivity to Esoteric frequencies.  The best part?  Over and over I gave hope.

In closing I’ll share a fun article I came across this morning and share a story.  

When we lived in the Bay Area we looked at a house in Lafayette.  When I was touring the 2nd floor I stepped into a bedroom and immediately knew someone had died there.

Knowing intuitively is clairsentience.

It was not good energy.

I shared it with Aaron along with the fact I felt evil – a word I rarely use – as we stood on the front lawn while listening to the real estate agent explain the bus stop for school was across the street.

When the agent came to our home to discuss an offer she told us

  • The owner’s son died – in the room I told Aaron about – from a protracted illness.
  • There was a convicted sex offender renting the house next door.

We walked away

Esoteric frequencies are serious business.

A helpful haunt? Spike explains why he’s at peace with a ghost in his home

From There to Here: The Journey

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The journey to pursue my dream of being a writer is nothing like I envisioned when I left corporate in 2003.

3 months after being awarded a doctorate in holistic health.

I certainly never thought I’d come face to face with EMF Sensitivity which sent my vision on a serious detour.

From fiction writing.

While I’m the proud author of a number of fiction works nonfiction continues to take a significant place in my work and my life.

I have a passion for drawing on knowledge and experience to help others.

And then there’s the apps. 

Though I spent decades in tech with programming experience in multiple languages it had been years since I’d done any programming.  

Aaron to the Rescue!

My husband who supported my dreams from when I shared them on our first date and who’s been my partner in the madness of leaving safety to follow a dream offered to write the code if I gave him the content and the intent.

I’m proud of my work as all of it has been created with a passion for helping others.

Fiction is a wonderful way to explore a world you never knew existed and to take your mind off your troubles.

I can add that I’m hard at work on Podcast 4: Dealing with stressful and toxic environments holistically.

New EMF App

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I am so excited to announce the availability of Destination Unknown: Explorations of the Paranormal, an EMF project years in the making.

Why so Long?

Experience made me aware of the negative impacts of Sensitivity to Esoteric EM frequencies but I struggled to find a way to do justice to the subject.  

Under the umbrella of my work on EMF Sensitivity.

A Project of the Heart

It was after talking with someone severely affected by these frequencies I knew I had to figure it out.

It was heartbreaking to hear him cry as he recounted experiences that were turning his life upside-down.

I asked him to give me time to organize my thoughts and get tools and strategies into a format I could share with him.

Interest 

It came as no surprise when soon after making the decision to take on this challenge I began running into people expressing interest in the subject matter. Obviously, the Universe was listening.

A good thing as I was feeling quite anxious about the project.

Need

More striking is the number of people who reached out to me in the months after I made the choice, seeking help for dealing with the toll these frequencies were taking on them.  

What makes this so striking is none of them were aware of the project.

I will be following up personally with them in the days to come.

Formats

The information is available as an app and as a workbook.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of a labor of love.  Be sure to listen to the message at the bottom of the page.