The Spirit of the Holidays
Posted in Health on 12/23/2009 01:27 pm by admin
Guest: Dr Lewis Mehl Madrona
Greetings…well it’s the third day of the winter solstice, two days Before Christmas, three days before Kwanza and four days since Hanukkah ended. Regardless of your religious persuasion or lack thereof something shifts at this time of year. Many people develop physical and emotional complaints as the holiday season unfolds and expectations and connections are not made or perhaps old wounds are reopened. If this wasn’t enough we get to head into the fullness of winter for at least another three months after the holidays.
A key measure of health is your adaptability. For instance cell phones are here to stay. Most of us will adapt to this electromagnetic interference but some will not be able to handle this kind of energy and will have their lives seriously affected. The same was true with television, radio and computers. But moving away from things how about this time of year. It’s a little different from the spring when the body has to deal with nature rising and all the living things that can trigger allergies. During the Holiday time its more the emotional and spiritual side of ourselves that is challenged. The endless holiday songs dredge up both pleasant and unpleasant memories. We think about what we were doing on previous holidays. Who is in our lives now and who is no longer with us. And there is probably no greater reminder in secular life of the passage of time than the second we move from one year to the next. Another year added to our lives.
Are we living the life that we want to live?
What are some of the ingredients that go into our maintaining our homeostasis, of our maintaining our adaptability. Is it more important for us to give into the communal urge to relax our discipline in our diets and get with the holiday cheer or do we need to maintain our disciplines and perhaps use this time to go more within. Is our focus spiritual, material, friends and family oriented or a mix that we design or is designed for us. These are questions that you might want to give some conscious thought to. How do you want to experience this time of year?
Today we want to use the opportunity that this time of year gives to reflect on dimensions of life that are important to us but that maybe we take for granted or have not consciously looked at. I’m speaking about friendship and community building. These are important aspect of our lives and can form the basis of interconnected circles that enrich our lives and those we come across. Joining us today will be a Western trained psychiatrist and family practitioner who happens to be Native American and a practitioner of Native American Healing arts. …Dr Lewis Mehl Madrona
