Learning as Self-Care With 3 Stories Featuring Maria Talamantez and Sister Athenasius
As we grow up and experience adolescence, or adulthood, many of us leave our religious beliefs behind. Or maybe we never had a childhood religion to leave behind. This can create the experience of having no beliefs at all.
Mother sent me as a young child to local Vacation Bible Schools every summer. That meant I spent a week each with Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and the Church of Christers when I was quite young. The Catholics didn’t have Vacation Bible School and I never quite understood why.
I absorbed different things taught by different Christian Sunday School teachers in an unsophisticated format intended for preschool and elementary school children.
Elementary school influenced my religious beliefs, but not how you might think. This was the American Bible Belt in the early 1950’s. In the classroom each morning, right after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, a student recited a prayer.
For some of my classmates, this experience may not have been so bad. For others, it was excruciating.
Standing in front of the class is hard on a lot of little kids. Standing in front of the class and reciting a prayer can be excruciating, especially if they don’t really know a prayer. It was hardest on the Catholics because they began and ended each session with the sign of the cross.
My memory always brings up Maria Talamantez when I recall the morning prayer. Standing at the head of the class, Maria appeared embarrassed, flustered, frightened. And, while she struggled with the Sign of the Cross and the Our Father, I was over at my desk praying quietly and fervently to God and Jesus and anyone else I could think of just thanking them that my name hadn’t been called that morning.
Meanwhile, Maria prayed as fast as she could and so quietly that she couldn’t be heard by most of us in the room. I don’t think the teacher cared, really. She was simply filling a slot required every morning and looked forward to escaping into a math exercise or reading a story.
For me, this was a time of pure torture. And I was so grateful that I was an Episcopalian because I didn’t use the Sign of the Cross. And the Episcopalian Lord’s Prayer seemed shorter and faster than Maria’s Roman Catholic version.
This is part of my journey into adulthood.
Both adolescents and adults spend time thinking and rethinking things they read, heard, and believed as children.
To dismiss these experiences as part of the move into adulthood is a gross oversimplification.
Abandoning our childhood beliefs can be difficult. It’s challenging to move beyond the childhood religious stories we either grew up with or didn’t experience at all.
As a pre-adolescent, I attended a Catholic School in my middle-school years. (The Sisters didn’t call it middle school.) Sister Athanasius had a whole list of books we weren’t supposed to read. And, since I wasn’t from a Catholic family, Sister suspected every book she saw me carry.
Several years later, as a student at St. Mary’s University, I found all of those books she was looking for in my book bag. They were in the university library, sitting on those shelves for the students. Amazing! Forbidden fruit in middle school became the main course in college.
Later in life, my best Reiki therapy and Reflexology students admitted to me that they were struggling with their meaning-of-life path.
Now, as an octogenarian, I find myself smitten with Mother Mary and the birth of Jesus Christ.
If you find yourself at a moment in time where you are taking a look at your life, now can be a good opportunity to explore your childhood teachings. They may be holding you back from focusing on things you otherwise might be interested in.
This place in time opens an opportunity for self-care.
As an adult, you can slow down, seek the solitude, and listen to the silence. Allow your intuition and life experiences to guide you along your path.
The answers you seek may not come immediately but they are there. As you journey on your path, you may encounter changes to your lifestyle which help you connect with your own truth.
You can develop an understanding of your own experience.
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Want more information on self-care? Check out some older articles on this blog.
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Thurman Greco
www.thurmangreco.com
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Visit the website and see what books might interest you. The first edition of “But for Gabriel” is available as an eBook.
Finally, include a Reiki therapy or reflexology session this week.
10 Easy Wellness Tips for Your Self Care
Self care is all about realizing that we need to take care of ourselves to function optimally in our lives. For many, self care is being selfish. This is simply not so. Eating properly, resting, getting proper exercise, smelling the flowers…these things are not selfish.
Lower back pain? Try not to overdo the bed rest. One or two days seem to be the best amount of time. to be off your feet. Lower back pain is a spiritual situation. Try to get up and about asap. Self care is needed when your lower back hurts.
Are your cholesterol numbers less than ideal? Try to exercise regularly. Can you lose weight? That will help, too. Eating fish helps. And, finally, omega-3 fatty acids really help.
Get your annual flu shot. Every year, I encounter people who come down with the flu. Most of the time, these people neglected to get their shot. And, getting a flu shot does not immunize a person for life. A flu shot must be repeated annually. This can be a bore. However, I’ve gotten a flu shot annually for the last 20 years or so and, somehow, don’t seem to get the flu.
Worried about toenail fungus? Keep your feet clean and dry. Wear well fitting shoes and socks. Snug, poorly ventilated shoes and damp, sweaty socks are a breeding ground for athlete’s foot. Go barefoot if you can. If you do have toenail or foot fungus, and if it is painful, it’s time to see a dermatologist.
To keep your teeth and gums clean and healthy, brush your teeth often. Brush your teeth after you eat with a soft bristled brush. Tooth brushing is essential for good self care.
Do you have hay fever? Cut back on alcoholic beverages during pollen season.
Do you chew gum? Chew sugarless gum to fight tooth decay.
Concerned about carpel tunnel syndrome? Keep your wrists straight when working with your hands. When you work on a keyboard, make sure your fingers are lower than your wrists. Carpel tunnel doesn’t always require surgery. A good body worker or physical therapist can often help you.
Buy your shoes in the afternoon when you’ve been on your feet for a few hours, and always have your feet measured. Know which foot is larger and fit your shoes to that foot. That way, you’ll have a more accurate shoe size and fit.
Pinkeye and other eye infections can be extremely infectious. Use care.
Always first on your list for self care is regular reflexology.
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Thurman Greco
Self-Care for you, Reflexologist – 2
Working a full day is challenging. Only another body worker or healer knows what a day full of appointments means to you, the reflexologist – physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally.
There are things you can do to minimize the fatigue encountered on just such a day.
One thing you can do that will help immensely is release the appointment when your client partner’s session comes to an end.
What you want is to release the person, the issues, the intention, the time spent to the universe.
When you do this, do not forget to “cut the cords” between you and the person to emphasize that the session is over.
You have done what you can for this person in the time allotted during the session. It’s time now for him/her to accept your healing efforts and return to the world.
Once you release the person, both the your client partner’s body and issues are gone from you until the next appointment.
The whole release may not take but a few moments. A suggestion is that you write a script for release and mentally repeat it as each client partner leaves your table.
If you are a ceremony person, you may write a ceremony of release to practice in your space at the end of each shift. This ceremony may include essential oils, smudging, prayer, Reiki therapy.
This releasing gesture seems easy enough but many people don’t do it. This release makes a difference in your health, your energy, your career.
Whatever you do, it’s important to release each and every client partner who comes to your table.
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Jennette Nearhood provided the artwork for this blog.
Thurman Greco
Self-Care for You, Reflexologist
When you look at your calendar for the coming week…where are YOU on the schedule? If you are not on the schedule, you are not doing the basic self-care things things to protect your career. Self-care is the difference between a two-year career as a healer and a twenty-year career as a healer.
You are the healer. You join the professional organizations. You pay your taxes. You make sure your office is “just right”. You take continuing education classes. In short, you do the things necessary to protect your business.
But, what about you: your body, your spirit, your emotional strength, your thoughts? Where are they lined up here with the bills and the available appointments, and the marketing activities?
For many healers, body workers this is the most difficult thing to do on the entire list. As reflexologists, we’re accustomed to give, give, give. And, we enjoy giving. Obviously we enjoy giving or we would never have taken even the first class.
The bottom line here is that you commit to your own private, inner, personal wellness when you receive a weekly session. You also set an example for your client partners.
Things you can do!:
Begin by filling your spiritual tank. Schedule a session for yourself each week. Every week. Do something. Get a massage. Get a Reiki session. Schedule a session with a shamanic healer. Try out that new chiropractor who just moved into your neighborhood.
Do something! The important thing is to get on someone else’s table at least once a week.
Personally, I receive an hour-long Reiki therapy session every week…no matter what. I also receive a reflexology session every week. The work I do the rest of the week is much better for this hour which I invest in myself.
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Thurman Greco
