by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Oct 21, 2014 | Meditation, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Stress
Deadlines, electronic medical records, parking tickets, paper grading and the cost of rent in Toronto. What do these seemingly varied delights all have in common? They all contribute to complicating our lives and do nothing more than turn the drip-rate up on our cortisol lines. When we think of healthy living, our minds frequently turn to proper diet and exercise. We often forget that while our bodies are undergoing the latest juice cleanse and sweating away impurities, our poor brains may be stuck masticating super-sized portions of the same soggy, deep-fried thoughts.
Modern society always takes the blame for today’s health complaints but, after all, we wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for the constant barrage of comparisons and to-do lists that haunt our daily realities. So, because I care deeply about the mental health of society, I have compiled an easy list of ways to simplify your life. Pour that carrot beet juice into your cerebral spinal fluid and give your brain a nice, cleansing wash.
1. Food and Drink
a. Turn off your TV. b. head to the grocery store. c. Once there, pick up a cart or basket, depending on your food volume needs. d. Sticking to the edges of the store, add in the vegetables and fruit you think: i. look tasty ii. are in season and iii. fit your budget. e. Next, hit the meat section. Buy some. (Legumes if you’re vegetarian) f. Buy eggs. g. In the middle of the store, pick up some herbs and spices, brown rice, quinoa, coconut milk, coconut oil and olive oil. h. Once you get home, look up the names of the things you bought on the internet. Google something like “recipe + beef + rice + spinach + tomato”. i. See what comes up. j. Consider purchasing a slow cooker or Dutch oven and let your food cook itself while you turn your TV back on. k. Ignore all TV commercials pertaining to food. j. Wine and water (tap).
2. Appearance
a. Find a pair of pants that fit you like a dream and allow you to sit, walk and ride a bicycle with ease. b. Buy a pair in every colour. c. Purchase the rest of your wardrobe at second-hand stores. d. Pair down your hair products to two things. e. Try to encompass your footwear needs with 3-5 pairs of shoes and boots. f. Use a BB cream – one with sunscreen. g. Use oil to wash it off your face at night. h. begin to learn to accept the nose/chin/butt/hair you were born with and find them beautiful in their own way.
3. Transportation
a. Walk everywhere. b. If you can’t walk, bike. c. If it’s too cold to walk/bike, take the subway/bus. d. If you live too far away to take public transport, walk or bike, then it’s time to move. e. Or buy a private helicopter.
4. Relationships
a. Choose a handful of people that mean a lot to you. b. Make an effort to see them and spend quality time with them. c. Tell them you love them often. d. Try to manage your expectations. e. Journal a list of the things you need from relationships. f. Try to use self-love to meet those needs. Meditation and journalling help with this. g. Online dating.
5. Social media
a. Determine how social media serves your life: Business promotion? Keeping in touch with your high school friends? Comparing children? Broadcasting your running routes? b. Log on, engage in these activities and then log off. c. Know when you’ve had enough.
6. Money
a. Find out how much money you make. b. Create a budget of how much your spend. c. Attempt to make a bigger than b. e. If b is bigger than a, try to make b smaller or a bigger. f. To make b smaller, see sections 1, 2 and 3. g. Consider that fact that making b as small as comfort allows could be the secret to simplicity and saving the world. h. Smile while paying taxes. i. If you have the means, donate time and/or money.
7. Breathing
a. Don’t forget to.
by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Oct 13, 2014 | Balance, Finding yourself, Mindfulness, Naturopathic Philosophy, Philosophy, Psychology
Image source: nohone.net
From the Art & Practice draft archives.
Things aren’t always what they seem. So goes the old adage.
The smiling mother chasing her kids in the park may be battling an ugly divorce or struggling with the guilt of a turbid affair. The white picket fence may not display the undercurrent story of addiction that runs through her life’s narrative. The beautiful home across the street provides a shiny façade that hides the modern-day enslavement to an unpleasant job that pays the mortgage.
I’ve come to understand that as a society we value the appearance of things rather than their actual value. We display to the world the happy side of life. We portray to others a sense of perfection and cover up the less-than-desirable aspects of our lives, creating the illusion that our lives are perfect and successful, free of suffering and pain.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Jun 8, 2014 | Gratitude, Healing Stories, Meditation, Mental Health, Mind Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Psychology
im grateful for long flowing skirts that blow in the summer breeze
and weather that’s appropriate for wearing them.
im grateful for the spanish language and the smiling people who speak it
and the songs sung in it with deep, crooning voices.
im grateful for playlists i didnt create and friday nights
where city lights dance on the water.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Jun 6, 2014 | Balance, Happiness, Healing Stories, Meditation, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Motivation, Patience, Philosophy
“There are a lot of things up in the air in my life right now.” My friend, S, told me as we sat on the grass enjoying the first of two yerba mate-and-chit-chat experiences I’d partake in in the following two days. “I just have to trust that things will eventually settle,” she added.
“Hmmm…” I nodded, sipping from the bombilla. “It’s just that it can be so hard to do that sometimes…”
Brief silence.
“No it’s not.” S replied matter-of-factly.
And I wondered what my deal was.
On a personality questionnaire I recently filled out, I had to choose whether I’d prefer good things to happen to me or interesting things. The question intrigued me.
Of course it’s the interesting, excruciating disappointments that shape us and teach us about life and who we are. Sure, the good things can help us in our lives, but it’s the interesting things that challenge us to evolve and move forward.
And yet, in my life I’ve had a hard time trusting the interesting things. It’s so much easier to prefer the simplicity and clarity of good things.
So, at the moment that my life is more interesting than good (but still good), I am trying to learn to sit with it. I try to notice my impatience and desire to snatch all the things that are floating up around me out of the air, and rather than forcing them down to earth, watching and waiting to see where they settle on their own.
I’ve been thinking about my Mindfulness-Based Stressed Reduction course that I took exactly one year ago. I remember our instructor, Roy, pointing out to us that in our educational system we’re groomed into the mindset of pressuring ourselves to succeed, to always be moving somewhere. We’re taught that we own full control over our destinies and are responsible for the outcomes of our lives. Is this right? He asked us, in his almost-infuriatingly patient voice, as if he had all the time in the world to wait for his flock of cattle to corral themselves. The doubt he had placed in our minds violently upset one of the course participants. “I think it is right.” She passionately, angrily asserted. “We were always taught in school to strive for greatness, to try our hardest! It’s because of that message that I’m successful today.”
We watched as Roy gazed at her, non-reactively and his eyes implored her and the rest of us, And so you tried your hardest. You did as you were told. Did it make you happy? You tried your hardest and for what? You’re still here, alive, but very much at the mercy of nature and fate. You’re just as scared and confused as the rest of us. The rest of the class tensely watched the confrontation. It made us nervous to see him bearing the brunt of her anger for stirring up some deeply held beliefs and shattering her illusion of control – the illusion we are all taught to hold dear.
As a meditation instructor, I believe he must have become accustomed to removing those fragile bottom pieces of the Jenga tower and watching everyone’s world views come tumbling down like a stack of wooden blocks.
The blocks are currently in mid-air and it’s hard not to wonder where they’ll eventually land.
Or, as my friend S said, maybe it’s not.
by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | May 17, 2014 | Breath, Emotions, Empathy, Fiction, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Meditation, Mental Health, Mind Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Psychology, Self-esteem
I woke up in the middle of the night to find the dragon lying in my bed. Snoring politely, he looked very small, about the size of a beagle. He was staying on his side of the bed, so I tried to get back to sleep. I’d met this beast before and knew he often brought with him ominous feelings of death and despair, but sometimes he would show up at night only to be gone in the morning. Maybe this time I wouldn’t need to worry.
The next morning, though, the dragon was still there. It rolled over and looked at me with its yellow lizard eyes. Its grey, shiny scales were smooth and glistening. I felt a sharp shiver of fear run through me. I wondered if this time he was here to stay. I worried about what he might do.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 5, 2014 | Chronic pain, Meditation, Mind Body Medicine, Mindfulness
I can feel the general feeling of malaise and a focal ache in the side of my head. My mind slows and I feel that stupid sense of dullness overcome me. I am engulfed in a wave of sickness and pain; I am getting a migraine.
Many of my patients suffer from chronic pain. Their lives become about experiencing life behind a veil of physical discomfort, which intrudes into everything they do. Pain can be a metaphor offered up by the body for other forms of discomfort that are either too hard to solidify or too easy to ignore. When my little dog vies for my attention he cries. Our bodies do that too. Pain can be sticky, it can be complicated and its cause unclear. It can also destroy life; it becomes an unrelenting presence that threatens to ruin every plan or dream we have for a life of balance and well-being. Pain, and more importantly our reaction to it, can succeed at controlling us. So, how can we take back the control and heal through pain?
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Jan 29, 2014 | Balance, Health, Ideal You, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Nature Cure
Most people who come to see a naturopathic doctor are in some sort of state of dis-ease. That is, they are often exhibiting symptoms that indicate that their bodies have begun to offer up warning signs that something is off balance. After all, if they didn’t have symptoms, how would they know something was wrong with them? The trouble with our society is we often don’t notice our bodies until we have a glaringly obvious symptom that we can’t ignore – like how I never pay attention to a car I’m driving until there is a red light and a beeping noise I can’t turn off. And, even at that, how often do we find ourselves out-of-touch with even the most annoying symptoms – like gas and bloating or pain and itching – simply because we’ve “learned to live with them”?
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Jan 13, 2014 | Gratitude, Happiness, Health, Letting Go, Love, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Psychology
Losses and pivotal life changes can make us feel as if our world of comforts and familiarity is crumbling away beneath us, leaving us with a sense of emptiness and shaken emotional instability. However awful these times may seem, they can also offer us the gift of intimately knowing ourselves, and the opportunity to grow and learn. We are at our most vulnerable, our most creative and, in a sense, our most awake and alive during times of emotional duress. Our sensitivity is heightened, and although many of these feelings are extremely painful, our ability to experience this pain also leaves us open to the possibility of truly feeling everything the world has to offer: excruciating suffering but also the promise of immense joy.
When we think of healing we often think of taking medications, receiving treatments or long courses of therapy. We often overlook the importance of the little, comforting things we can do to help nurture ourselves through painful times. These rituals and small comforts are powerful healing facilitators; we only need the courage to turn to them and to trust that we are on the right path.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Dec 17, 2013 | Culture, Family, Health, Meditation, Mindfulness, Stress
It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to slowly ease into the holidays and enjoy it like I did before entering university, decorating the Christmas tree, sipping cinnamon spiced lattes, listening to Christmas music, taking my time with Christmas shopping and baking and acting in a holiday play.
However, for most people, the holidays are still a stressful time. The often commercial, faux-cheeriness of the season masks an underlying anxiety about being in close quarters with family, buying the perfect present, financial difficulties and all the work that must be done to meet the ever-increasing expectations we place upon ourselves at this time of year.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Sep 30, 2013 | Asian Medicine, Detoxification, Digestion, Exams, Food, Health, Mindfulness, Traditional Chinese Medicine
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Spleen organ can be more closely equated with the pancreas, rather than the western spleen, whose main function is simply to store blood. The TCM Spleen is responsible for digesting food and converting it into energy, much in the way the pancreas releases insulin to allow the body’s cells to absorb ingested glucose, providing the cells with energy. Unlike the pancreas, however, the TCM Spleen is also responsible for providing warmth and vitality to the body, providing energy for immune function and the mental energy to produce industrious and creativity work. The Spleen belongs to the Earth Element and its main season is late Summer and early Fall, right around the time that students dust off their backpacks and head back to school.
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Deadlines, electronic medical records, parking tickets, paper grading and the cost of rent in Toronto. What do these seemingly varied delights all have in common? They all contribute to complicating our lives and do nothing more than turn the drip-rate up on our cortisol lines. When we think of healthy living, our minds frequently turn to proper diet and exercise. We often forget that while our bodies are undergoing the latest juice cleanse and sweating away impurities, our poor brains may be stuck masticating super-sized portions of the same soggy, deep-fried thoughts.
