My Daughter Needed a Time-Out. Here’s what happened.
I teach in my reflexology class about our need for a time-out and how our feet and hands work with the universe to provide it:
“Mom is on her way to the Albany Medical Center Emergency Room! Can you meet us there?” My youngest granddaughter was talking about her mother.
Dropping everything, I drove to Albany to the E.R.
After what seemed like an endless wait, we were able to see Jennette for a few
minutes. If you could call it that. What we saw was a mound of bandages on a gurney headed for the ICU.
Our first report revealed broken legs, feet, arms, hands, hips, ribs, and pelvis.
We learned about damaged organs: liver – spleen.
And – this was just the first report!
In my heart of hearts, I knew this was a long time coming. For several years, Jennette had been working too much – several times over. She taught school. In in the evenings, she created a dramatic show about breast cancer which was showcased in various galleries in the area.
On weekends, Jennette painted plein air landscapes. She also had these creations in several galleries in the area.
Frankly, Jennette was working about 80 hours a week. And, how could any of us criticize her? Her work was moving. Audiences loved her message. She was a successful art teacher and her gallery pieces were dramatic.
In her spare time, Jennette looked for a house.
Well, her body knew better. Reflexology teaches that if a person continues to push the body beyond its abilities, the result is an injury to a foot or hand which insists on rest.
So, one day, Jennette was in the drop-off area at the Albany Airport when a man in a huge pickup truck behind her shifted into drive instead of park and flattened her against the rear of the SUV in front of where she stood.
After three weeks in the ICU and another two weeks adjusting bandages and casts, Jennette is headed to the 8th floor Rehab unit.
My younger daughter, Michele, took some days off from her job as a hospice nurse in Arizona, to come offer support.
Jennette’s two grown children extended their stays to offer support. Michele taught Zoe how to care for Jennette.
About 10 days into the healing, I gathered us all together with some supportive friends. We met in the large 2nd floor lobby area of the Albany Medical Center and I offered a prayer:
“Guide us, Archangel Michael, through our days. Protect us all through the trials and tribulations of healing that away Jennette, and us all, today and into the future.
Archangel Michael, we thank you for the blanket of protection that you use to shield us as we remain in your protection on this healing journey. We thank you and your bank of protection and healing angels who keep us all safe.
Keep us on the healing path. Protect us from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harm and negativity.
Please protect and assist Jennette, Michele, Zoey, Sangi, Barry, and all of those who are not here with us physically today: Sophia, Michelle Aqualino, Raymond, Julie, and others.
We are bound together by relationships, events, employment, healthcare activities, and spiritual paths. Assist us each in our personal healing journey as we travel together.
Archangel Michael, we trust in your capabilities, and your angelic experience. We thank you for all that You have done and made possible for Jennette’s healing path and success.
Further, we thank you for calling on your band of protection and making this all possible through your Divinity.
We thank you for all you have done for us.
Amen.”
She is now catching up on some much-needed rest and recuperation. and well throughout our days.
We are Ecstatic!
So what is the message here? Listen to your body and your soul. Rest when you are tired.
Follow your bliss!
Get to know Jennette better at jnearhood.com.
I’ve written several books – some with international appeal. One example is:
The third edition of “Healer’s Handbook” is illustrated here. It’s gone out to more than 30 countries so far.
This is the second edition. It has 6 fewer chapters than the third edition.
All of my books are available in paper as well as ebook editions.
An upcoming book is “But for Gabriel” which is only available in ebook in the first edition:
The 2nd edition will be available in paper as well as ebook. This story has all the tickets: animals, angels, a young mother and her baby, and a magical moving star. Finally, this story has a long journey.
What more could I ask for? I had to write this story! An installment of it is on “Let’s Live”. I read a shortened version of it on my show “Let’s Live”.
Meanwhile, please share my blog posts with your friends and family. Forward them on your favorite social media network.
Contact me a thurmangreco@gmail.com.
A Reiki Practitioner’s User Manual – Part 2
When I studied Reiki, Mary Ruth Van Landingham’s classes and handouts were my user’s manual. They didn’t even begin to approach all the things Reiki can do for us all. I think Mary Ruth Van Landingham did that intentionally because we each write our own user’s manual.
Reiki is a unique and individual experience for each of us. Our attunements are the user’s manual for each of us.
I learned to practice Reiki on my massage therapy clients. Each one got a 10-minute Reiki boost at the end of the massage therapy session. Because Reiki was still unknown in my area, none of them had ever heard of Reiki. Their introduction to Reiki came during the last ten minutes of a massage therapy session so it came at a moment when they were blissed out, pain free, and totally relaxed. Needless to say, they all loved their Reiki.
This was good for me also because I was new to Reiki and was fearful about the results. It took a while for me to become accustomed to how Reiki worked.
I worried that they might not receive a proper introduction. So, what happened was that both my clients and I learned together. For starters, we learned to recognize my warm hands when I introduced Reiki into a session.
Over time, I learned that my hands warmed up whether they were on another person’s body, or my body, or a plant, or a car. Or whatever.
I learned to trust Reiki. This was a huge life lesson for me. I suspect it is also an important lesson for others as well. Many people go through life never learning to trust people, places, or things.
When I teach Reiki, I don’t think I even mention the word trust. The word floats above the classroom like a gorgeous cumulative cloud. It’s there for all to see.
A wonderful thing to do is practice self-Reiki to experience a regenerative sleep, easy your headache pain, feel comfortable in your body, or simply feel grounded.
Actually, it’s not necessary to do anything with Reiki. Just enjoy having received your Reiki attunement(s). Rest. Heal. Let Reiki be with you.
You do not give up anything to learn Reiki. Reiki does not test you in any way. Reiki is not a cult. It does not come between you and your religious beliefs. You do not need to change any of your core beliefs.
Instead, Reiki opens doors and windows of learning, opportunity, and enlightenment for you…if that is what you want. For some, changes are apparent, immediate, and outward. For others, changes are slow, careful, discreet. It all depends on you, your situation, your life path.
Some students, after receiving their attunements, internalize their new skills. Reiki is private, intimate, internal.
Other students use their newfound skills, practice Reiki and give sessions at every opportunity.
Neither way is better than the other. In all cases, Reiki assists you on your path. For me, there is nothing more beautiful than to travel one’s life path.
Thank you for reading this blog post. Please refer it to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
heart with wings
Your Own Guided Meditation: Relax and Enjoy the Journey
A guided meditation awakens, transforms, heals. It creates a journey so you can fulfill a purpose or reach a goal or answer a question of some kind. In short, a guided meditation helps you solve a problem you may be experiencing.
Many guided meditations use quiet, calming music to support your journey. I like music which doesn’t have abrupt changes. Whatever music you use, you need something which will not interfere with your visualization.
Guided meditations work well in groups with one person reading or speaking the meditation aloud. They also work well for a person alone who reads the meditation or who is listening to it on an audio device.
The best time for a guided meditation is whenever or wherever it works best for you.
Don’t worry if you feel you have fallen asleep during your meditation. Usually, you have not.
Pauses guide and pace the journey. They can occur throughout a meditation. How many, and how long each one is depends on the meditation and the group. I like to schedule the pauses in the meditation when I design it. .
Breathing tempo is established at the beginning of each meditation. Many people do not breathe deeply enough. Although shallow breathing is common, meditations call for deeper, slower breathing. Belly breathing is part of the event. I set the breathing tempo early in the meditation.
A first step in a guided meditation is to spend a few moments encouraging your recipients to get comfortable. Try not to rush this part. Many people are not comfortable in their bodies and may not recognize when they are comfortable – not for a few moments anyway.
Then, the scene emerges. This can be in a secret room, in a meadow, on the edge of a lake, an the foot of a mountain. The scene is described. Meditation recipients are often invited to add their own details mentally as they listen to the unfolding journey.
After the introduction which sets the scene, the meditation generally involves a journey…walking down a path, riding a canoe on a lake, taking a trip on a balloon. Again, a few moments are taken to include details. Descriptive paragraphs tell the story as it unfolds. And, again, your meditation recipients are often invited to add their own details through their thoughts.
Sometimes, a guided meditation may introduce a character – an angel, a wise elder, one’s inner child. This character’s job is to listen to any questions a person may have and offer an answer or response which may be received during the meditation or at some time later in the day or even the next day.
With a guided meditation, you and your recipient’s job is to relax and enjoy the journey. You reach your destination when you receive an answer or solution.
The final step allows a recipient to slowly return to the present moment knowing that she can return to the meditation at any time. There is no rush.
Assure your recipients that they can return to this meditation whenever they desire. It is time to stretch, yawn, open eyes, and return to the present moment.
heart with wings
Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope you enjoyed it.
Please forward this article to your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
Wellness and Healing for Ourselves and Our Planet During the Spring Solstice
To promote wellness and healing throughout the planet, and on March 19th, find a time and place that fits your schedule.
Sit quietly for a few moments and visualize a world where positive renewal and growth exists for all beings. Allow wellness and healing to become a reality for all.
Plant spiritual seeds to nurture your goals and dreams. Get to know your potential and reflect on all the wonderful opportunities in the world for growth and hope throughout our planet.
Set an intention honoring this mystical and magical change of seasons creating space for your spiritual growth.
Check in with yourself now. Give your spirit the support it needs and seeks to bring wellness and healing to all beings on our planet.
Quiet your mind as you bathe in this new energy of spring. Invite universal balance into our world.
Thank you
Thurman Greco
Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.
Practical Wellness: 10 Tips You Can Use
With this article , you and I move into part two of practical wellness tips in the longevity series. The focus shifts to information less disease focused. My hope is that you’ll adopt a few, or maybe more than a few, healthy habits and avoid or discard the habits in your life which lead to illness.
The best way to have a long and healthy life is to prevent disease and promote homeostasis while you adopt practical wellness tips which resonate with you.
As you adopt new wellness habits, you empower yourself and take control of your body and your health. You’ll be in charge of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self. Practical wellness tips offered in these articles are often easy to adapt to your daily life.
Seeking a long and healthy life is an everyday proposition made easier when you adapt practical wellness tips which may change through time. You can always make improvements as new theories and practices become the norm.
As you adopt new habits, I hope you’ll consider the long term effects of the new directions you’re taking in your life.
Your body constantly moves and shifts which means you are different every single day from your cellular level on up. These new tips you adopt can change your life in small or large ways as your body self regulates toward wellness.
Adapt these practical wellness tips and changes to your age.
As a reflexologist and Reiki practitioner, this ability to change, move, develop means much to me. That is the heart of healing with the modalities I’ve been studying my whole adult life.
All of this points toward homeostasis – the balance of all body systems.
CHOOSE YOUR FATS WISELY – One of the most challenging things I’ve done with this wellness blog is tackle oils. If you go to the early blog posts, you’ll find articles reflecting how complicated life can get as you stand in front of the grocery shelf and choose a cooking oil.
The bottom line in cooking : Go with organic oils. Stay away from saturated fats whenever possible.
That means I buy organic olive oil.
I avoid saturated fats . Whipping cream is not a staple in my diet and I don’t eat much red meat.
Beyond that, things get a bit dicey. I don’t eat margarine because of the chemicals. I do eat butter.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids can be consumed by pills or by the spoonful. Choose your Omega 3 Fatty Acids carefully because they can be contaminated. I buy mine at the Village Apothecary here in Woodstock at 79 Tinker Street. I rely on my pharmacist, Neal Smoller, to educate me about which and how many supplements I should take.
How you deal with fats and oils in your diet is up to you, your health, and how comfortable you are with manufactured foods.
Personally, I’m not comfortable with manufactured foods so there’s not a lot of oil variety in my kitchen pantry.
WHAT ABOUT MINERALS? – The body uses many minerals and they don’t get near the attention that vitamins receive. Four minerals to concentrate on right now include Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Selenium.
Calcium is found in broccoli, dairy products, pinto beans, and spinach. If you’re concerned about osteoporosis, this mineral is for you. Eating foods high in calcium is important.
Magnesium is not found in our diets often. Unless you eat apples, bananas, beans, brown rice, leafy green vegetables, and nuts, you should take a supplement.
Magnesium holds off heart problems, strokes, and lack of energy.
Selenium boosts the immune system. Any mineral boosting the immune system is a friend of mine.
Potassium is extremely important and is found in bananas. I eat a banana twice a week. Potassium combats hypertension, depression, muscle weakness, and fatigue.
BEWARE OF THE HOSPITAL! – We are all probably going to be in a hospital once or twice (or even more) before it’s all over. Lots of things can go wrong in a hospital. It’s your job as the patient to know as much as you can about the hospital you are going to be in, the doctor who is going to treat you there, and the condition you are trying to get treated.
I have reflexology clients who visit my table regularly because they feel it’s important for their overall wellness. They don’t ever plan to be in a hospital.
Regular reflexology sessions definitely promote homeostasis which is good for disease prevention. But, for a person to categorically plan to never be a hospital patient can be an unwise move. You never know when an accident can put you in an emergency room.
It’s important to know about hospitals and to be insured . It’s important to have a health care professional that you visit at least annually so you don’t get caught in a situation where you don’t know who can help you or how to communicate with the professionals there.
Hospital is its own language. If you don’t do these things to know the language, you may not have the vocabulary or understanding to make the best decision for your own health’s sake.
A healthcare advocate is important if you have a major encounter in a hospital setting. When you are injured in an accident, or are ill, you may not be alert enough to protect yourself. And, if you haven’t kept up with modern medicine, you may not be strong enough to protect your self.
INJURIES, FALLS, AND CAR ACCIDENTS – For every person who dies in an accident, fifty or so are injured and live. These fifty or so people may sustain minor injuries or multiple injuries or major injuries. A few of them will be disabled and/or have their lives shortened by the injuries received during the accident.
If you are interested in a long and healthy life, you do not want to be a part of those statistics. Because most injuries are preventable, accident awareness can be important to you.
Are you interested in avoiding accidents? If so, think back on the things your family and teachers cautioned you about when you were young.
Never drive buzzed.
Always wear your seat belt.
Never swim alone.
Keep stairways free of clutter.
Put non-skid strips in your bathtub.
I think you get the drift here.
DON’T BLAME YOUR GENES! – They count but the choices you make in your daily life count more. You are in charge of you. Your longevity is all about knowing that the things you do today affect your future.
If you read about something which everyone says is good for you and you disagree, follow up on your feelings. Ask questions. Get to the heart of the matter.
GET TO KNOW YOURSELF. – Spend a couple of months getting to know yourself and your body better. Ask yourself some questions and pay attention to the answers you share. Take some notes. The goal is to get a close look at your body. It is unique, the only one like it in the world.
How do you feel in general?
How well are you sleeping?
Do you have any aches and pains? If so, where are they?
Do you feel healthy?
Is it hard for you to get out of bed in the morning?
How bad is your stress level?
Are you happy?
What do you want to change in your life?
Ask your own questions. based on your individual age, physiology, values, beliefs, and your own personal circumstances.
TAKE SOME MEASUREMENTS! – This should be fun if you are into apps. Or, if you’re into a fitness watch. Mine keeps me active throughout the day as it reminds me when I’ve been sitting too long.
With a Fitbit or a Garmin, you can track everything you do throughout the day. This may not be such a bad thing. The point is that you become more aware of your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual self.
Once you track your body’s clocks, you can control your homeostasis patterns. Your can track your waking/sleeping cycles, eating times, physical activity patterns, and medication schedules.
When you do this, your body will function much more efficiently. It will have the opportunity to become finely tuned.
EAT REAL FOOD – If you can’t understand the words on the ingredients list, the product you are holding in your hand is probably not food. Most likely, it is a selection of chemicals that have been manufactured and blended for human consumption.
Stay away from these manufactured products if you are interested in health and longevity.
Ideally, the food you eat will be just that: food. Select foods that are fresh or flash frozen.This means you will shop mostly from the produce aisle or frozen food aisle.
MAKE THE PRODUCE MANAGER, THE BUTCHER, AND THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FISH COUNTER YOUR BEST FRIENDS – They will tell you where the food came from, which selections are the best buys. They know the farmers and ranchers who supply the supermarket with the food you are buying.
When you go to the farmer’s market, get to know the people selling the food in the stalls. These are the people who are supplying you with the best available, locally grown foods.
You just can’t get better than this.
EAT THE FOOD THAT WORKS FOR YOU – Every time I go into my local book store, I see a new selection of cookbooks promoting another new diet/eating lifestyle. Their practical wellness tips may or may not be included in these cook books. It all depends on the ingredients that the author suggests in the recipes. The truth is that I support the diets that depend on fresh, locally grown food.
Important for any diet you adopt: You must enjoy what you eat. Traditional diets will outrank any diet that relies on manufactured ingredients. Processed food is not good for anyone.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it. And, I hope you’ll share it with your preferred social media network.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, New York
.
