Dr. Lisa's Bountiful Life

o Holy day

A quilt of clouds has overtaken the sun, this Saturday afternoon in Maine.

Oddly appropriate for the day before Easter, called Holy Saturday by many across the globe.

It is the day after the Crucifixion, when Jesus was laid in the tomb.

In stark contrast to the joyous resurrection embodied by Easter, this is a day of quietude and somber reflection.

Though I do not consider myself religious as much as spiritual, I find myself impacted by the energy of the occasion.

Following a long solitary run to the Chebeague wharf at the end of Cousins Island, I walked through the estuary woods adjoining my house.

The headphones I had worn for the past two hours removed from my ears, I was privy to scattered birdsong, which served to accent the hush held in place by the trees.

The river moved slowly by.

I was alone.

There was a sense of entombment and peace.

Last year, Holy Saturday (and Easter in its entirety) represented a time of transition in my life.

My marriage disintegrating and our finances uncertain, I felt entombed in an different way: trapped and scared. An inescapable claustrophobic darkness had descended. 

Through it all, I shepherded my children. Willing them forward toward the light I knew existed.

This year, the quiet of this Holy day offers a welcome pause.

I have known a death of self, and I have known rebirth.

Following the rebirth, there has been much growth. There has been work. There has been rebuilding.

Today, however, there is a chance to rest and be grateful.

It is a Holy Saturday, indeed.

Chebeague wharf, 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! 

 

 

 

 

 

The "Why" of Those Who Walk with Us

Why do people come into our lives when they do?

Sometimes it is hard to know.

We try to fit the pieces together, only to find the puzzle incomplete.

We make every attempt to come to a reasonable conclusion, but the answer is not evident.

At least not yet.

Things are still playing themselves out. 

Tempting it may be to deny these people; refuse them entry into our lives.

Especially when they cause us annoyance, pain or grief.

Or simply when they require an energy of us that we believe we do not have.

But the easy path is not often the correct one.

Instead, we must remain open to what has yet to be revealed.

We must walk with those who appear to us, and hear their stories.

We must let the pieces be revealed individually.

So that someday we may know the completion.

Someday we may know the "why" of those who walk with us.

on a Maine beach

winter, 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! 

 

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.

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.