Dr. Lisa's Bountiful Life

Friends We Never Knew We Had

It is uniquely concerning to receive a text from one's child describing potentially life-threatening illness symptoms.

Headache, stiff neck, fever, lethargy, vomiting.

These are not a good constellation of descriptors.

Especially when one is a physician who has both treated and seen the aftermath of meningitis--the illness often associated with the constellation of aforementioned descriptors.

Now, add in the fact that one's child is roughly 2, 334 miles away, in a third world Central American country.

And, that one's child is barely eighteen years old.

As you might have guessed, I received just such a text. The past forty-eight hours have been interesting, to say the least.

My child is currently in a Guatemalan hospital awaiting the final results of his spinal tap. Fortunately, preliminary results were negative for meningitis, and he is scheduled to be released today.

The presumed diagnosis (sinusitis) is much less severe and more easily treatable than the one I had feared.

To know that my baby was far away, and I was completely unable to help him, certainly gave me pause.

What also gave me pause was that both his roommate's mother (Jan) and his roommate (Nico) contacted me via Facebook to give me updates on my son's condition.

Both offered up Nico's contact phone number. 

Nico told me that he was taking time off from work to make sure that my son was ok.

Keep in mind that I've never met Jan, and spent only brief amounts of time with Nico during my visit to Guatemala last Thanksgiving.

But these kind souls became, in my moments of parental concern, the friends I needed.

They were friends that I didn't realize I had.

We should all be so fortunate as to be loved by those who owe us nothing.

Our lives, even when seemingly threatened, often reveal themselves to be suprisingly, powerfully blessed.

Campbell & Nico

Guatemala 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.

Airborne & Grounded

Is it better to be grounded or inclined to fly?

The answer depends upon the situation.

This past weekend I stayed on the 8th floor of a hotel with floor to ceiling windows, looking out over the Hudson River in New York City.

This particular hotel is situated, on stilts, above the High Line Park.

I spent a portion of each day in NYC walking about with my dearest one. We explored museums and restaurants; we saw "Wicked" on Broadway.

We spent time at Ground Zero and the Trinity Church on Wall Street, honoring the souls whose physical lives were lost on September 11th.

It was interesting and fun to spend time up in the air; it was similarly interesting to once again be in contact with the ground.

We need both in our lives.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine there are important acupuncture points to be found at either end of the body: both the soles of our feet and the top of our heads.  

One set of points keeps us connected with what is below us, and one keeps us connected with what is above.

When we are able to maintain each of these connections, we are better able to stay in alignment with our lives.

And it is this alignment that was so clearly the message to me this weekend: that in this next phase of my life I must equally spend time with what grounds me as what gives me wings.

I must, like the Greek God Janus, for whom my birth month is named, be able to simultaneously look back into my past and forward into my future.

This notion has become the basis of my integrative medical practice and my writing. It informs the programs we create for our radio show.

It is a theme I ponder often with my patients.

And, this birthday weekend, both grounded and airborne in New York City, I understood its importance once more.

 

Central Park, 2012

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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.

 

 

Ephiphanosity

I assumed that I would be easily able to bid my son goodbye, as he made his way once more to the Southern Hemisphere.

I assumed wrong.

Leaving my son at the Logan Airport curb in Boston was no less difficult than saying farewell when he left for Guatemala in September.

My heart broke yet again.

This was the first of many epiphanies to take place today: that we continue to have such depth of grief at the parting of our children, despite multiple opportunities for practice.

Returning home, I find the Wall Street Journal he left open on the couch, and a pile of his discarded clothes strewn across the laundry room floor. My tears well afresh with the knowledge that I will not see my son again for five months.

Grateful am I for the tears. It is a beautiful life I have, to know such love.

Grateful am I for the insights that rained down upon my being this January 6th--the Christian Feast of the Epiphany.

The Epiphany was the day that the Magi were said to have first encountered the Christ child. It also (according to Wikipedia) celebrates the "revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ." 

In other words, it is a day when things become manifest; when we perhaps realize something that has been previously hidden or forgotten.

In addition to my epiphanous understanding that we never stop feeling sadness when our children depart, I also had epiphanies of a more personal nature.

My Logan Airport sojourn reminded me of my never-flagging wanderlust; of the certain desire to continue my own world travels.

Later business meetings reminded me of my passion for my calling as a physician, writer and radio host.

Driving home in the snow reminded me of Maine's stark winter beauty, and why I live here, despite the dark and cold.

It was a day of rediscovery.

It was (another) day of heartbreak, and of gratitude.

It was a day of goodbyes and manifestations of love.

It was, indeed, a day of epiphany.

 

found

Riverside Cemetery, 2011

~~~~~

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.

Deliberation & Joy, Re-Entry

Before I left for Guatemala, I had tea with a friend who had herself visited the Safe Passage site several times. Jane, one of the foundational members of the group that created Our Daily Tread, had known our late friend Hanley Denning well.

Jane told me that "re-entry" after my trip might be interesting.

Which it has been.

It has been interesting to return to a land of relative peace and prosperity, knowing that I am a fortunate lass.

It has been interesting to return to the life I have cultivated for forty years, and realize that there are a few things I still need to change.

It has been interesting to return to my friends and family, feeling changed already.

The most interesting thing has been to remember what we originally wrote in Our Daily Tread in 2008: live with joy; live deliberately. Share what you have, and who you are, with others.

These words, printed the year after Hanley's death, continue to ring true. I know that I must continue to live each day as if it is the only one I have been given. Life, as my dearest one reminds me often, is not a dress rehearsal. Happiness and joy are within our grasp, if we keep this notion in mind.

At the same time, I am cognizant of the fact that I must continue to work deliberately toward the future. I have a radio show that is among the most important things I have ever done. I have patients I value highly. I have three children whom I call beloved.  I have countless friends and family members who enrich my life, daily. I know that even as I am enjoying the present, I must be making necessary changes to ensure the sustainability of my joy, and the joy of those around me.

Finally, I know now that in sharing what I have and who I am, I must be highly realistic about what I actually have to give. Guilty in the past of giving just about everything away to my own detriment, I no longer have that luxury.

I am just one woman. I do not need to save the world.

I simply need to show up. Be who I am. Treasure what I have been given.

Do what I can.

Be the best person I can be, at any given moment.

And if I stumble, or fall short of the expectations I have set for myself, treat myself the way that I attempt to treat others: with compassion and love.

These are my re-entry thoughts.

Life is simultaneously long and short. We must live deliberately, and with joy.

We must share of ourselves.

And we must continue to realize what a gift each day truly is.

 

Guatemala City 2011

 

Grocery Store Gratitude

A week ago, I was traipsing through the bustling Bodegona (grocery store) in Antigua, buying staples such as peanut butter and shampoo for my Guatemalan-living son.

Today I am back in Maine, having just completed a visit to our own local supermarket with my daughter.

The contrasts are stark.

Never having been one to enjoy grocery shopping, I can now say that I have little to complain about.

Our local store is a veritable Zen retreat center compared to the Bodegona. Bustling at all hours, at the Bodegona the narrow aisles are constantly crowded with shoppers. Spanish holiday music blares from every corner. The smell of fish, cheese, baked goods and industrial cleaning solutions mixes with the lingering scent of human sweat.

If there is an organizational system in place, one is hard-pressed to understand it. The dairy case is next to the Tupperware display, and shampoo wrestles for space with soda cases. One can find just about anything desired--from multi-colored marshmallows to color televisions.

Given that Guatemala is a third-world country, and poverty is prevalent, those who are able to shop at the Bodegona are a privileged lot.

As are those, like myself, who can return after a week to a country of relative wealth.

Those, like myself, who can return to a state with clean air and water.

Those, like myself, who are not asked to make a living by picking trash out of a dump.

It remains to be seen what longstanding impact my journey to Safe Passage in Guatemala will have upon my life.

At the very least, I know I am grateful for my own orderly grocery store, in my own beautiful state.

I am grateful for the opportunity to understand how bountiful my life truly is.

 

Guatemalan groceries

2011

 

 

Vantage

When we are lying on the ground, a speck of dirt looms large.

From fifteen stories up, that same speck is rendered invisible.

The difference lies not in the matter represented by the speck.

We can become too enmeshed in a circumstance to realize how it is impacting us, or even what the reality of the situation may be.

It is only when we back up and take a second look that clarity occurs.

Of course, by backing up too far, we aren't able to examine the situation at all.

A delicate balance this.

The trick lies in the degree of separation: determining just what distance we need to place between ourselves and that which bears examining.

Once that distance is reached, understanding becomes ours.  This can apply to marital snags, employment derailment or parental conundrums.

Each, viewed from an appropriate vantage point, can be understood more easily.

The speck of dirt becomes what it is, no more; no less.

We simply must be willing to do what it takes to gain clarity.

Which sometimes means returning from our runaway perch.

And sometimes means picking ourselves off the ground.

 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

2011

 

 

Adventure Plane

There is something magically intriguing about an airplane overhead.

Catching the sun as it skates across the daytime sky, it reminds us of adventures taken, and offers promises of others yet to come.

It calls us to imagine and to dream.

It calls us to reflect.

It speaks of a connection to other lands, peoples and languages.

My friend's baby was born the weekend my son left for Guatemala. She sent me an empathetic text from the rocking chair of her hospital room on the morning that my son's father was putting him on the plane in Boston. She told me that she could not imagine her "little monkey" ever going so far away.

She told me she could see planes from the nearby airport, crossing the still-dark horizon, from her window.

I, of course, could not have believed I would be sending my "little monkey" so far away when first he laid upon my chest.

Yet, send him we did.

And many times again I hope to do so.

I hope that he will know the blessing of adventures: of connection to many lands, people and languages.

I hope that he will ever appreciate the magic intrigue of sun-lit planes, skating across the daytime sky.

 

hallowed hall

YHS, 2011

 

Thoughts on a Journey

Last week I went on a journey.  I did not travel far, nor was I gone long, at least according to the miles or the hours involved.  But I went outside of my comfort zone.  I traveled to yet another place I had never been--alone.

I was equally terrified and elated.

I love seeing new places.  Experiencing the physical thrill of displacement.  I love having a chance to change my perspective.

I love learning how brave I can be.  Learning that I can get from one place to another on  my own.  Learning that I needn’t be overwhelmed.  Learning that the Universe is on my side.

I also love practicing who I might be someday.  The intrepid traveller.  The wide-eyed girl who voraciously devours the world.  Sights. Sounds. Smells. Sensations.

I love remembering how glorious it is to be alive.

Snow on Cousins Island Beach, December  2010

Virginia Byway

Greetings from Chantilly, Virginia! I'm in town for a Chinese medicine conference. As you can see the leaves are still quite beautiful here. I'm flying home tonight. See you soon...

Rawbert's of Beverly

Kevin and I took a lunch-seeking side trip on the way back from Boston last week.  Originally we had tried to get into Boston's North End, but finding ourselves without parking options, we headed out of town instead.  We did have an idea where we were going. My friend Debra (who recently finished coursework at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition) had been singing the praises of the Organic Garden--also called Rawbert's Cafe and Juice Bar.  She especially recommended the desserts. Though I had originally hoped I might be able to dine with there with Debra, she was unable to join me, so Kevin agreed to stand in.  Like my friend, Joe (who accompanied me on my recent trip to Masao's Kitchen), Kevin is an open-minded omnivore.

My trips to both Masao's and Rawbert's were attempts to find delicious vegetarian options on the road. Unlike Masao's, Rawbert's focuses on raw, not macrobiotic food (which is often cooked).    

Rawbert's was easy to get to: just a short trip up  Route 128 to Beverly (MA).  After parking in a convenient metered on-street spot, we bypassed the outdoor cafe seating (the weather had been iffy) choosing to sit inside instead.  Though tempted by their "Sake Mojito," I started instead with a freshly blended lemon, ginger and raw honey tea.  My husband chose an unpasteurized, preservative-free Wolaver organic pale ale. He found his ale satisfactory; I was less impressed with the tea (which is technically a tisane, as it does not contain tea leaves).  Drinking it  was a little like sucking on a warm wet-nap.

I did enjoy the miso soup, however, which was sweet and accented with portabella mushrooms. And we both liked the falafel-based main courses.  Kevin had a wrap, while I had a salad.  Unlike traditional falafel, their chickpea mixture was dehydrated rather than fried.  It was nicely accompanied by fresh sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and greens and a tasty cucumber dill dressing. (I removed the onions, as these are one of the few veggies I simply do not care for raw.)

We finished our meal several hours later with two 'to go' desserts.  I have attempted to make raw desserts, and understand the complexities involved.  I have yet to eat a raw dessert which does not taste, well, raw.  Rawbert's desserts were no different. I found both their brownie and black forest cherry cake to be delicious, but Kevin simply couldn't get past the texture. 

Despite this, I would return to Rawbert's.  Their food was creatively prepared, and I liked the classy/funky decor (especially the golden walls set off by dark red wooden chairs).  The counter staff seemed competent, if somewhat somber--though perhaps this was due to the muggy weather and the fact that the restaurant air conditioning didn't seem to be functioning.

All in all, we considered our lunch-seeking side trip a success.