Oh my, a year and a half ago I prayed that I had gotten the lesson on slowing down. I didn’t, and I got to pay the physical price. I recognize it was a choice. My body was telling me to slow down. My response, I can’t I need to finish moving and getting settled first. My body said to slow down, my response, I can’t… I have too much to do but I’ll work on creating a lighter schedule. My body took that for a little while then POW, I was down.

I had gone to help a friend with cleaning on a Monday. She had contacted me saying she thought she had food poisoning as she had been sick to her stomach for hours. Being the medicine woman that I am, I grabbed the Activated Charcoal and my cleaning tools and off I went. I found my friend and her husband cuddled under blankets on their respective recliners. He had an upset stomach but had not been purging as she had. I went about doing the cleaning chores that they needed done. As they were not active, they were cold and had the house closed up. I worked in their hot stuffy home for several hours and accomplished what needed to be done.

The next day I went about my usual day, not feeling poorly, doing what I do. That night I started getting sick about 1 am in the morning and continued with dry heaves until about 5am when the diarrhea hit. Opps… that wasn’t food poisoning my friends were suffering from, it was the stomach flu!! I was severely sick all day Wednesday. Towards evening things started settling down. Thursday I cleaned up my home and freshened it up after the previous day of being so very sick. I basically did a three day water fast. I decided on Saturday that I was going to start eating on Sunday so I could build my strength so I could get back onto my work schedule Monday.

Sunday I ate gently and my system accepted the food I ate. Sunday night I got sick to my stomach again and realized I had to cancel my morning client. No way did I want to share this bug with anyone!! I now feel that I needed that “one more day” down to really seat into the lesson that was mine to learn. I was listening to my body, but I wasn’t responding in the way it needed. When the body says rest, it means STOP NOW, rest, rejuvenate. If I want to continue to live my amazing life with zest and vigor, I have to pay attention and do what is needed. Seems so simple. My new schedule starting in April 2025 allows me to take better care of myself and practice discipline.

I let Source/God/Goddess/All that is/The Universe guide my life. Because of that, the right people are brought into my life at the right time. One of my writer friends is also an amazing healer and worked remotely on me using a Pendulum. With the techniques she uses, I have had amazing shifts in my perspectives and patterns. More on that in another article. I will say I am blessed, honored and willing to do the work that is required. Sometimes that work is just being honest with myself and recognizing that what was, doesn’t need to remain what is. I believe we create our own lives. Knowledge is power. The more we know, the more we can do, for ourselves, as an example for others. Don’t tell, show. I am so very blessed and grateful.

Discipline is one of the things that was lacking in my life. As an abused child, discipline always had a negative connotation. It feels strange but I must accept that it takes what it takes to really learn what I am here to learn. Slow down? That is something that hasn’t been in my vocabulary for longer than I can remember. Life is short, I want to do it all. Now I know Life is short, how do I want to live it? Do I want to push things to the limit time after time, so that my poor old body has no choice but to rebel? And then I’m down with no choices for health and happiness?

It is so interesting to see how healers often struggle to help themselves. If you are not feeling well, I’m on it, what can I do for you, what can I bring you, what can I look up to help you find healthier alternatives? If I’m not well, I curl up in a ball and can’t think of ANY of the things I would recommend for you. I hope “next time”, if there is a next time, I will be able to stand back, “sit on the moon” as one of my friends puts it, and get that bigger picture. What can I do for myself? What do I have the resources to do? What can I allow someone else to do for me? I am not alone, I have people who care about me. I have only to ask if I need something. Why is that so hard? I learned in a BIG way that I need to practice what I preach, walk my talk.

I had a bathroom drawer full of supplements that I took sporadically. (Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Biotin, Omega 3, Milk Thistle, NAC, etc.) Now I am working to create the habit to take them every day, give this old body a boost rather than abusing it. I like to try and get my nutrition from my food, but I haven’t been disciplined to cook regularly. I buy mostly organic and non-gmo food, very little processed food. But if I don’t make it, it’s not going to feed me, to give me the nutrients that my body needs to keep up with the pace I set for it. So many lessons.

Through this latest lesson of Slow Down, I understand that discipline is not always a bad thing. Discipline is a form of self-care. Who knew? Not this girl!! But I do now. I’m finding ways to track and monitor my patterns and behaviors. Through discipline I will be loving my body for the rest of my life. That is my intention, and so it is.