Dr. Lisa's Bountiful Life

Cliff Walk

When my children were small, their father and I backpacked them everywhere.

We hiked in Vermont and New Hampshire.

We walked trails both coastal and mountainous in our dear state of Maine.

We shoehorned in numerous adventures while completing our medical and legal educations, and working the endless hours required by early professional careers.

It was important that we get outdoors, and connect our kids with the "something bigger" that we both had experienced growing up.

Time passed, and our kids got older. School and sports-related activities bumped our outdoor adventures down the list of priorities.

The outdoor adventures I had once shared became mostly solo jaunts.

My family shifted, and changed form.

This past weekend, I returned to that shared "something bigger" connection, as I took two short hikes with my dearest one.

I showed him the Bates-Morse Mountain hike to Seawall Beach/Popham; he brought me to the Cliff Walk at Prouts Neck. The first was unfamiliar to him; the second unfamiliar to me.

I enjoyed his company, the beautiful oddly-out-of-sync February weather and the scenery.

I also found myself awash in physical memories of earlier days. 

I found myself returning to past hikes with my children and their father. Re-connecting with the experiences that had once been so crucial to my life, and the life of my young family.

It would have been easy to know regret and sadness over these lost days; easy to mourn something that no longer is.

But, instead, I allowed the past memories to be what they were:  joyous recollections.

I found myself singing as I navigated the rock-strewn Cliff Walk. It was as if the overtones of sadness and regret associated with those memories were taking flight from my body and ascending as balloons to the sky.

Making way for new memories. 

Making way for a new life.

And I knew that although my children were no longer always able to be with me in physical form, I would carry them with me in spirit forever.

We would each continue to connect with that "something bigger" in our own ways.

And, in doing so, would connect with one another as well.

 

Prouts Neck, low tide

February 2012

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Dr. Lisa's Bountiful Blog is read on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour & Podcast. Show summaries are available on the Dr. Lisa website. Subscribe to podcasts of the show through iTunes and let us know what you think!

Schedule a phone or office consult with Dr. Lisa at 207 847 9393.

Body Beautiful

What does it mean to have a beautiful body?

Mainstream media sources might have us believe that a beautiful body is one that is simultaneously voluptuous and meagre; buff, toned and taut.

Add in a smile of dazzling brights and the perfect South Beach tan.

Packaged in a veneer of youth.

Mainstream media is often simply reflecting what we, ourselves, have asked for.

We want something that falls within a range of acceptable perfection.

We want a set of consistent standards by which we might judge our fellow humans.

To be fair, there is a bit of an evolutionary effect that impacts our perception of beauty.

Most of us fall victim to the genetic pre-programming that calls for offspring who will carry on our lineage. Studies have shown that there is a competitive survival advantage in being tall and attractive, for example.

But there is a cost to requiring similar characteristics of beauty of all bodies.

When it comes to humans, "perfect" physical specimens are few and far between. 

Most of us fall short of the mark in some way.

And many who do fall short find themselves aching to attain an ideal that is not realistic--or perhaps even real.

As a doctor, I've seen a broad range of bodies: underfed and overstuffed. Short and tall. Bent, broken, scarred and aged.

And I've concluded that beautiful bodies are not those that are perfect.

Instead, they are those that are loved.

Beautiful bodies are ones whose owners inhabit their own skin comfortably.

Beautiful bodies are also the bodies who are loved by others.

They are the bodies that are regularly caressed and hugged. They are the bodies that are touched with great tenderness.

Voluptuous/meagre/buff/toned/taut.

Bent/broken/scarred/aged.

All are equal when judged through eyes of love.

 

mi hijo

summer 2011

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Dr. Lisa's Bountiful Blog is read weekly on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. Show summaries are available on the Dr. Lisa website. Subscribe to podcasts of the show through iTunes and let us know what you think!

Schedule a phone or office consult with Dr. Lisa at 207 847 9393.