As promised, here is Part Two of Tapping Into Your Inner Pharmacy. Our inner pharmacy is made up of our five senses, the pathways through which we experience the physical world, allowing us to connect with the creation of perfect health. As we learn to engage in practices that nourish our five senses, we can feed our body physically, mentally and spiritually to create balance. Through sounds, feelings, sights, tastes and smells, we can nourish and heal ourselves.

Last week we looked at the senses of hearing and touch. This week we’ll look at sight, taste and smell.

3. Healing Through Sight: The images we focus on, shapes, and color can all have a powerful effect on our body, mind and emotions. Choosing nourishing visual input is as important as choosing nourishing food. Think about the colors you surround yourself with in your home decor and clothing. Do they make you feel vibrantly alive, peaceful, safe? Do they feed your soul? Are you drawn to pastel shades or earth tones; cool, soft colors such as blues, greens and whites; or are you attracted to bright, strong, bold colors with vivid shapes and designs that enliven you?

Think about other visual stimulation you expose yourself to. Do you watch violent movies and television shows? If so, those violent scenes can trigger stress hormones which flood our circulation and agitate every cell in our bodies. What scenes could increase your sense of peace and calm? Sunsets and sunrises are good examples. Think about how you feel as you experience the sun’s arrival or departure. Usually soothing, pleasure chemicals are generated, which provide us with wonderfully peaceful and serene feelings.

In your home or workspace, choose artwork and other visuals that elicit feelings of joy, serenity, vitality, peacefulness, and other emotions that are positive and uplifting. If photos of friends and family elicit feelings of connection and happiness, surround yourself with them. It’s important to surround yourself with images that enhance your sense of well-being and improve your living and working environments.

4. Healing Through Taste: The Ayurvedic word for taste is rasa which also means emotion or mood. So, what we taste impacts and elicits emotions. Only when we experience all six tastes at a meal–sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent–do we feel completely satisfied. Sweet is considered the taste of energy, sour is the taste of acid, salty is the taste of the ocean, pungent is the taste of digestive fire, bitter is the taste of concentrated nutritional information and astringent is the taste of concentration. Most foods have more than one taste. Here are just a few examples:

Sweet: grains, dairy, bread, honey, oil, nuts
Sour: citrus fruits, sour fruits, tomatoes, yogurt, vinegar, alcohol
Pungent: hot peppers, ginger, salsa, thyme, basil
Bitter: green and yellow veggies, turmeric
Astringent: Beans, legumes, lentils, pomegranates, tea (these are most lacking in the Western diet!)

Look for ways to incorporate foods from each category into every meal.

5. Healing Through Smell: Aromas and scents can trigger healing powers within and invoke states of well-being. Think about the scent of the earth after the first spring rain, cut grass, the aroma of a homemade meal at your grandmother’s house, the scent of a newborn baby. Our sense of smell connects us directly with our emotions, memories, and instincts. Through a process known as neuro-associative conditioning, we can link a healing response to the experience of a particular smell. For example, each time we sit down to meditate, if we burn sandalwood incense, we soon learn to associate the feeling of relaxation with that aroma. Simply smelling that scent will trigger a sense of quiet relaxation at any time.

Identify an aroma you are especially fond of and inhale its essence whenever you are feeling relaxed, at peace or are having a particularly good day. Gradually, your body will associate these pleasurable feelings with the use of the aroma. Before long, just the smell will evoke a heightened state of well-being.

As the Chopra Center points out, it’s important to remember that health is not the absence of disease–it’s the dynamic state of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Health, happiness, vitality, and beauty are the fruits of a balanced life which is achieved through lifestyle choices that nourish body, mind and soul. Our environment has a profound influence on how we feel. Engaging all five senses in multiple ways daily can enliven our inner pharmacy. Creating a harmonized daily routine is a necessary step to achieving perfect health.

What can you begin doing today to engage your inner pharmacy?

Last night, while it was still 2010, I wrote down on pieces of paper everything I wanted to let go of before entering the new year. Mostly, what I wrote were beliefs and emotions that have prevented me from moving further into light and love–either blocking my way or keeping me frozen where I am.

At about 11:30 last night I snuck away from my family and the teenage party taking place in my home. I took those pieces of paper, read them out loud, and then burned them one by one. (I’d planned on doing this outside but since the thermometer showed it was sub-zero, I used a can that I keep for indoor rituals.) As each piece of paper shrunk and shriveled and as I watched the words be consumed by the flame, I felt myself getting a little lighter. There was one piece of paper which wouldn’t burn. The flame went out twice. I saw what was written and acknowledged that what was on that particular piece of paper wasn’t so easy to eliminate. As soon as I thought that, the paper began to burn. Within a short time, all the pieces of paper were reduced to ashes. It felt so good to do something so very tangible and feel just how much I intend to release all that doesn’t serve me or others in my life!

Sometime today or tonight, I plan on spending time alone writing my intentions for this new year of endless possibilities. Aside from the milestones I intend to achieve, I know that many of my intentions will be about the thoughts, beliefs and feelings I wish to cultivate in the year ahead. I know that changing these takes constant vigilance and practice. By first writing them down and then daily taking time to read them and think about what they can look like in my life will help me manifest those intentions. I am excited for this venture–this adventure into the creation of a lighter, more joyful and more grateful Donna.

Every day that we wake up is a new opportunity to start fresh and leave the previous days behind. Today is even more significant as the marker of a whole new year. Just as the snow that lays outside my window reminds me how it washes away the old and brings us the new, I too have the opportunity to usher in the dawn of new ways of seeing myself and the world around me.

Over the holidays, I read Kate Jacobs’ third book about the “Friday Night Knitting Club,” entitled “Knit the Season.” The beginning of the section, “the new year,” states: “This is the most powerful of tomorrows: one moment that overflows with renewal, with resolution. The exhilaration of being able to start anew, when there are no mistakes. Not yet, anyway. In a similar way, each knitting project starts fresh–yarn still untouched–and all outcomes are possible. So grab your needles. It’s the only way to ever know what the result will be.”

What will you grab? How will you get started moving towards the endless possibilities of your life in 2011?

Happy New Year everyone!

In love and light,

Donna

Have you ever thought about the impact of the words and phrases you say to yourself and/or to others? I’ve been thinking a lot about words lately because of the writing I’m doing for my book. And then yesterday, I saw a friend’s post about her impending divorce. One of the comments she made validated the timeliness of pondering this topic.

I can go way back to a time when I was in counseling and my therapist stopped me as I was describing the emotions I’d been expressing during the prior week. I told her I’d “broken down” that week at home and that I’d “fallen apart.” I’d had an “emotional outburst.” She pointed out that my use of these phrases was saying I’d done something wrong. I was judging my crying as a negative behavior. There was both shame and self-criticism in my description of myself. Until she pointed this out, I’d never stopped to think about the messages I was sending to myself about me!

Fast forward a few years later to the birth of my twins. One of my identical twin girls weighed more than her sister at birth and has remained taller until this very day. When my girls were babies (and even recently) people have made comments such as, “You were stealing all the food.” “You two aren’t identical, are you?” and “Oh, you’re the smaller one.” Beginning early on, my girls received messages from both friends and strangers that there was something wrong with the way they were. And at an early age, one of my daughters asked to have her hair cut differently so that there would be another way to differentiate herself from her sister. I do not believe that any of the people who made these statements was trying to hurt my girls. I believe they thought their comments and questions were either benign or at most, cute and funny. My girls however were greatly impacted by such insensitive remarks. To them, these statements and questions were anything but benign.

My own experience with breast cancer was another opportunity for assumptive statements such as, “Oh how lucky you were–you only had to have surgery (a mastectomy) and you didn’t have to undergo chemo or radiation.” “Oh, you just had to have surgery.” “Are you in remission?” “How long have you been in remission?” “How long ago was your battle/your ordeal/your fight?” “Well, hopefully it won’t come back again too soon.” “Oh, so-and-so is a cancer survivor too!” And then there’s my favorite pet peeves: “You’re going to do the walk, aren’t you?” “What are you doing for breast cancer awareness month?” All of these statements and questions contain judgments and assumptions about my experience and the labels I presume to attach to myself. For the record, I do not attach any of these labels–such as cancer survivor–to who I am. I am a woman who had an experience with breast cancer almost three years ago and today I am joyful and grateful to know that experience is now in my past. Today, I am a green health goddess–a bellisima goddess–a goddess of holistic wellness, vitality, and bellisima living.

Another woman I met recently shared her pain over the past year as she’s attempted to come to terms with her teenage son’s recently diagnosed epilepsy and impending blindness. One of the most difficult challenges during this past year has been allowing herself to grieve the loss of her son as she’s always known him. Yet, as she’s tried to give herself that permission, others have frequently made such statements as, “Well at least it’s not cancer!” Again, she knows these are well-meaning individuals; however, statements such as these swallow up the space she’s trying to give herself to work through the grieving process.

So that brings me to yesterday, when my friend posted on her blog about the transitioning out of her marriage (aka “divorce”). She wrote that someone asked her about her “failed marriage.” Again, this is a question filled with much judgment and presumption. Who can presume or judge that anyone has failed at anything? And where does this leave my friend who is herself grieving the loss of life as she knew it? Where is the space in that question for what she is feeling right now?

And where does all this leave me as I ponder the use of words and phrases? I guess it comes down to asking myself to pause before making a comment or asking a question. I don’t expect that I have to censor my every word, but I do expect that I pause for a brief moment to see how what I’m about to say is sitting in my gut–to pay attention to my intuition and stay connected to my heart as I converse with another–be they friend or acquaintance, or even a stranger. The more the words I express come from my heart–the more I attempt to make a heart connection with another–the more loving, kind, and gentle my words will be, and the more space they will offer the other person to share their experience with me.

Just as important are the words and phrases I say to myself about myself. It’s important to pay attention to the labels I attach to myself, keeping in mind the energy, thoughts, and feelings those labels bring to me. Anytime I am contemplating my thoughts and feelings, it’s equally important to do so free of self-criticism, shame, and judgment. My feelings and thoughts are just that–thoughts and feelings that are ever-changing and re-shaping. The more I can observe them without judgment, the more I allow myself space to grow and expand.

As Mother Teresa said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” That includes ourselves!

And finally, one more quote…“Words in general and adjectives in particular have power. It is a power that comes in degrees or shadings. People and even societies can make value judgments on others just by the shadings of the words they use. Weird, strange, different and unique are really just different shadings of the same word but evoke completely different connotations when applied to individuals or groups of people.” Mr. Prophet, from the book “The Path.”

May we all be more cognizant of the degrees and shadings of our own words! Namaste!

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve blogged about some topics that have brought up uncomfortable emotions for me. When we look at situations that we want to change or we wish were different, feelings of anger, sadness, powerlessness, fear, anxiety, or maybe even despair and hopelessness can arise. We may be feeling a call to action or the desire to just crawl into bed and go numb. We may chastise ourselves for having emotions that are considered negative–maybe even bad–and we may feel compelled to get rid of them or maybe even deny their existence. Or, we may feel the need to hold onto some of these emotions to help propel us into action. So what do we do when strong emotions and thoughts such as these come up?

Yesterday, I read the fourth spiritual law–The Law of Least Effort–in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra and it seemed so appropriate in light of all the feelings and thoughts I’ve been experiencing this month. According to Deepak Chopra, we can take a lesson from nature and “do less and accomplish more.” As Deepak explains, “Nature’s intelligence functions effortlessly, frictionlessly, spontaneously. Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love.”

The Law of Least Effort has three components–”three things we can do to put this principle of ‘do less and accomplish more’ into action.”

The first is ACCEPTANCE. This means that we make a commitment that “today I will accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur.” It is accepting and acknowledging that each and every moment–this moment–is as it should be. When we’re feeling anxious or upset by a person or situation, we need to remember that we’re reacting to our feelings about that situation or person–our feelings rather than the person or event itself.

The second component is RESPONSIBILITY. This means that we don’t blame anyone or anything for what has occurred–this includes not blaming ourselves. When we are free from blaming and we accept the “as is” situation, then we have space to develop a creative response to the current situation. All situations that we see as problems contain the opportunity for us to transform them into something better and more beneficial for all. That is taking responsibility.

The last component is DEFENSELESSNESS. This means letting go of the need to convince others or persuade them to see things our way. We waste a lot of energy when we’re trying to convince others about our points of view. Being defensive, blaming others and not accepting and surrendering to the moment creates a lot of resistance in our lives and prevents us from being fully present.

When we’re able to be fully present and become one with the present moment, then we start to feel free and joyful. Whatever we want or desire is from a level of happiness rather than a place of fear or anxiety. We intend what we want rather than justifying or defending our desires. So, for me, this means that I don’t give up my intentions and my vision for how I would like things to be. I still focus on health and wellness and a healthy and vibrant planet. But, as I focus my intention, I am able to be grateful for life AS IT IS today and I remain open to possibilities, opportunities and others’ ideas.

So, for today, I am grateful and joyful and I pause right here and now to really feel that. Ahhhh….

This past Friday night, I had the awesome opportunity to be in a circle of women and share a spa experience with them. During the relaxation visualization, I asked them to see themselves waking up tomorrow with smiles on their faces and feeling a deep sense of gratitude for their lives.

I’ve read about gratitude in so many books and I understand just how important it is to connect with that feeling. However, as I visualized along with these women Friday night, I felt it flood through me in such a profound way that I had one of those a-ha moments! Even though I’ve heard it before, I experienced in that moment the knowing that when we are filled with gratitude, there is no room for other contrary feelings. We cannot simultaneously feel sadness, fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, inferiority or any other feelings of disconnection.

Along with the overwhelming gratitude I was feeling, joy was present and a deep sense that all was just as it should be. I was where I was supposed to be with these women who all have rich life stories of their own. We were all thinking of another woman whose physical life may be drawing to a close–knowing that we have all been touched by her presence in our lives. In that moment, how could we feel the anticipated pain and loss when we were experiencing gratitude at our deepest core for the blessings we’ve received from her?

In my own life, I see how easy it is to feel disgruntled over “stuff”–big or small. During the normal flow of everyday life, I can so quickly “latch on” to feelings that leave me disconnected–dissatisfaction, anger, worry, frustration, fear, to name a few–rather than connecting to those thoughts and feelings of unquestionable support–gratitude, joy, peace, serenity.

One way to feel connected and supported is to everyday think of 5-10 reasons for gratitude. And as has been prescribed by many, the best thing to do is to write them down. Each and every day–even better, each and every night before you go to sleep. In that way, you allow that deep sense of gratitude to permeate your body and subconscious mind as you sleep. How can you not wake up the next day with a smile and an overwhelming sense that all is well–all is good–all is as is should be?

I started a Gratitude Journal long ago but then tucked it away in my bedside table. Friday night, while talking with one of the women, I remembered that journal. I promised myself that I would begin again to list each and every day reasons to be grateful. They can be as small as “My family helped me with the laundry today” or as big as “I am alive.” No matter what is on the list, I am certain that I will go off to sleep feeling good! And as Wayne Dyer states in “The Secrets of the Power of Intention,” “God is in good.” When we’re connected and filled with gratitude, there’s no other choice but to feel good!