Since the last time I wrote, our whole world changed. Life is “not normal”, it will never go back to “normal”.
Health has now become a political topic instead standing on its own. People are arguing over screens about things that are out of our control. Our happy hours are now Zoom meetings and people can decide if they want to wear pajama bottoms when they go to work meetings.
On the last day of class, we finished up the custom blends we had created for our clients that week, and were tasked with using Blossoming Heart blending tools from Robbie Zeck to create a special blend for our partners.
Recently, one of my best friends told me that music was my love language. That was a very profound statement to me when I realized the truth of it. I learned that week that a big part of my self-care, the world of the week for us, was sitting in my music room listening to my records.
I can’t believe I haven’t written to you since February. I had big plans - plans about happiness, growth and love. Now it's about survival, and for me, trying to find the silver lining in this cloud we find ourselves in. See, the second week in March was huge for me, and I couldn’t wait to tell you all about it.
If one of your new year goals revolves around health, then building an herbal pharmacy is a great way to empower it! The three most common ailments we get asked about are: Sleep, Digestion, and Immunity. I choose these 12 teas because, not only are they a good foundation for the start of your apothecary, but they can also can be blended to address all three ailments, making them very multi-functional.
If you saw my last two posts about Recharge and Awareness, then you'll know one more word remains in my self care journey. The one that is the hardest for me to master.
Tranquility
I will be the first one to tell you that I have the number one seat on the hot mess express, sitting next to a squirrel, all while trying to keep every hat on my head:
In my last post, I presented the question, "What is self care? And as a healer, how does a healer heal thyself?".
As I dug deep, the mantra that presented itself to me became Recharge, Awareness, and Tranquility, which I rolled into making scientific, aromatic blends to better capture the essence of those words.
After Recharge, the next word I tackled was awareness.
Being aware of your surroundings, being aware at work.
The last time I wrote, I was writing about my keyword being happiness.
Last November, when I was in part one of my Advanced Practitioner Class in Tampa, at Atlantic Institute, we were asked a very particular question.
What is self care? And as a healer how does a healer heal thyself?
Being the ever attention seeking brown nosed student that I am, I raised my hand and said that I think self care can truly be attained by helping other people.
My teacher looked at me and just said one word...Nope.
What I realized the last few weeks though, has nothing to do with how many hours I have, how decorated my wall is. How many clients I have...it’s all numbers. I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in numbers that we forget, we forget what is important.
That the client’s need is important, not what blend you made for them. That your employees feel valued, even in the midst of hard trials and tribulations and not always what the bank account says. That numbers don’t fix everything or make everything right - that's a part of the dig deep.
This New Year will be 2020. Although because of the new decade, it tends to hold more value to many that other years, it holds a strange value to me.
This is a check in year for me. See I was born in 1975, so every 5 and 0 year is what I had made a check in year for myself. Where are my goals, my dreams, my passions. Are they where they are supposed to be? If not, how do I fix them.
A few days ago, Meredith, our registered clinical therapist and certified herbalist, was in her lab working on some new blends and had us gals sniffing samples and ranking our favorites.
When she waved one under my nose, that sparkle of excitement in her eyes dimmed as I made a face and turned my head away.
“What’s wrong?! This one is my favorite!”
