Swedish Death Cleaning and Plein Air

 

I recently heard a talk on Swedish death cleaning by a woman who wrote a book on this idea.  Apparently it is an old tradition in Sweden where, as the decades of one's life march along, we prepare progressively more and more for our eventual passing.  This primarily involves lightening our load and cleaning up our act.  It also makes everything a lot easier for those we leave behind.  This sounds like a good and sensible thing to me.

For all of us baby boomers and for all who come after, as we enter our fifth and sixth decades or are even pushing our ninth, it only makes sense to let go of some of the things we enjoyed in our twenties, thirties and forties.  I no longer wish to drive a convertible and I don't keep a horse anymore.  The convertible I drove in high school was an old beat-up jalopy that got me into my twenties and my former wild mustang lived with me, on the skinny, for nearly four decades.  We sure did have some fun.  But, when she put her old tired bones to rest, letting go of that time and lifestyle was appropriate for me too.

The seasons of our lives do change and paring down can be a blessing.  Several of my friends have really embraced this and have significantly downsized: giving away two thirds of their wardrobe, emptying filing cabinets and bookshelves, re-distributing or tossing old photographs and art works, and leading lighter lives.  One friend of mine re-homed her two little dogs.  She loved them enough to realize that they needed more care and she needed more time to rest and heal.  It's all good and we can let go.

This brings me to plein air.  Because, as we come to realize that statistically we may only have five, ten, fifteen, or, if we are lucky, twenty years, of quality living still to go, (which of course can happen to any of us, at any age,) it only makes sense to spend this precious gift of life doing as much of what we love to do as we can. 

I have one older friend who is devoting her life to caring for wild birds.  She is increasing our local bird species populations and supporting others on their migration routes.  When walking past her home, the birdsong is more than noticeable, it's incredible and loud, a veritable symphonic cacophony.  Given how precipitously our bird species numbers have fallen in the last five or six decades, this use of her time and energy is remarkable.  She also loves to paint.  And so do I.  But I love colored pencils, for their simplicity, even more.

Together, she and I enjoy sharing plein air sessions.  En plein air is french for "in the open air," and refers to painting out of doors instead of in an art studio.  During our day to day travels about town, we each keep our eyes open for beautiful views.  And then, as often as we can, carving out a little time, we set a date, deciding on morning or afternoon light and we go!  And then we sit.  We bring our jars of water and pads of paper, pencils, brushes, blankets and colors.  And then, for hours at a time, with little sandwiches packed and a few pieces of fruit, we chatter away about this and that, matching the colors, as busy as those birds, doing what we'd really love to do.  May you be so blessed as to be able to do so, too.

 

 

 

 

Take Me To A Novel

 

Sometimes we just need to push pause and find a way to take a break from all of the 'ins and outs,' and 'ups and downs' of life.  And thus, in steps the novel.  We all love a good story.  And reading a novel is my way of slipping into the La-La land of "Don't worry.  Be happy."

It is not something that I recommend all of the time, because there really are very serious things that require our attention, both personally and globally.  We need to care for ourselves and our loved ones.  And we need to care for our world, literally.  On the very serious side, and for an extremely illuminating reality check, I recommend listening to a recent Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the Future of our World.  He speaks of the systematic dismantling of arms control measures that has taken place over the last few decades, leaving just one in place, making a nuclear holocaust a very real potential, and the lack of awareness about this, and about the reality of climate change, both looming very large before us all.  He also proposes what we can do about it.  

We do need to lend our energy to movements for positive change.  This is part of our responsibility as global citizens.  Like our self care, it is part of our soul growth.  And, I certainly do put time and effort into this aspect of my life.  But I also need a little down time from time to time.  TV doesn't often interest me much, I prefer stories.  So, I thought I'd share with you a small handful of some of my favorite novels.

Recently I've been reading some rollicking good fun, in the form of historical fiction.  I've been focused on changes that women have made which have helped to generate cultural advancement.  My recent favorite is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.  I fell in love with her protagonist, Elizabeth Zott.  Set in the 1950's, this book is full of humor and hope and shows how things were and why they got better.  

I also really loved, The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes.  This novel is based on the true story of the depression era Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.  These women rode out into very rural areas and brought books that people could borrow for free, increasing literacy and connection for isolated families.  Jojo Moyes wrote another book that I truly enjoyed with some great girl-inspired capers, bringing wrong doers to right, called Someone Else's Shoes.

Being a woman myself, of course I do love to read about strong female characters.  Another author who focuses on historical fiction to elaborate on our past and how women have helped to change things for the better is Barbara Kingslover.  She has some of the most insightful and far reaching stories in her quiver of novels.  Perhaps my favorite of hers is Prodigal Summer.

One of the classics of modern literature, and an absolute must read is Beryl Markham's West With the Night.  This book, about the true stories of her life is filled with love and the bravery of a woman living and working in a man's world.  If you read nothing else on this list, this would be the one.

All of these books have helped me to see and appreciate the (albeit slow,) changes and much needed progressive strides that we have made toward love, respect and allowance.  They have brought me joy and have helped me to hold a positive view in the face of all that life here on earth has to offer.

There are three others, by male authors, that are really fun and wonderful.  My grandmother gave me my copy of My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell.  Frank and I have both read this one many times and we laugh and giggle our way through it every time.  Durrell's prose and descriptions of nature on the pre-war island of Corfu are beautiful.  And the antics of his family are sure to bring a smile into your heart.

The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie, is one the most heartwarming and enjoyable books I've found.  This wise little cat lets us peek into the inner sanctum of life at Dharamsala, bringing insights on how to find delight and peace of mind in our own lives.

And lastly, Niall Williams, with This Is Happiness, for it's sheer beauty, left me transfixed by the inner workings of the heart, a young boy's first tender loves, and how the culture of old world Ireland reaching into today, has shaped his perspective and brought him to the eloquence of a life enlightened.  This is a book to be savored and it brings happiness, indeed.

May you all have some fun with this list, 'push pause' when you need to and take a little break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Healthy Spirit

Does spirituality truly affect our well-being?  How does it fit into our overall health?  Does our connection with spirit influence our body's ability to either heal or prolong an illness?  Helping our minds to gain a better understanding of these connections can potentially lead us towards optimal health.  Please enjoy this hour long exploration into the topic of how our mind, body and spirit can interact for our greater good.

 

 Disclaimer:
As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.

© Josephine Laing 2020

The Beauty of Our Hair

 

Our hair is not only our crowning glory, but it is also informs us about the world around us.  It triggers our nervous system in ways that are beyond our ordinary levels of perception.  Please enjoy this short video about the added benefits we can derive from allowing our hair to grow.

© Josephine Laing, 2015

Health Care or Disease Management?

It's really very simple.  The health care insurance companies and all of our predominant health care industries, like bio-medical corporations, pharmaceutical companies and various physicians groups or research laboratories often sell stock and have shareholders.  Because of this they are obligated by law to hold the profits of their investors as priority number one.  If profits are primary, health care is secondary.  

Since these companies must legally put their stockholders first they naturally strive to always show profits in their financial portfolios.  This is why insurance premium rates, that the public pays, are always steadily rising.  And this is also why we were not given a public option in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

In his campaign, President Obama promised a "Single Payer Option" for health care.  This meant that a governmental organization would pay for and care for the health of all of our citizens so that the ones who couldn't afford it could still receive treatment.  Some call this socialized medicine.  It is what is available in England and in Canada and in much of the rest of the world.  Patients may need to wait, but everyone receives state of the art treatment, for free, and all the doctors and other providers get paid.  

Our fire departments, police departments and many other governmental organizations are "socialized."  We have free libraries, paramedics come to the house in emergencies and our children go to public schools.

But, because of existing vested interests in the health care industries, if a "Single Payer Option" type of plan was to be initiated in the United States, it would represent considerable competition for all of the existing health care industries.  Many from the public would choose the free option for their care and the profits for the health care industries would go down.  So, in order to avoid this, the "for profit" health care industries raised a considerable ruckus and thus became the ones who were selected to design our nation's health care plan.

Sadly, what feeds the "for profit" health care industry is for all of us to live fairly long, but to be sick and require lots of tests and procedures.  So, this is in part why Congress is lobbied so extensively to keep existing food subsidy laws in place.  The result is lots of very poor quality sugary and salty foods, which are very addictive, being widely available and offered very inexpensively.  Corn is subsidized and most of it is made into corn syrup.  Wheat is subsidized and is converted into refined flour which is purely empty calories with little to no nutritional value.  And then there is meat, which without subsidies would cost something like $36 per pound.   These are the foods that we know erode our good health.  We are not subsidizing lots of organic fruits and vegetables even though we know they would help all of us to become healthier.

Another piece to this puzzle is that medical professionals are rewarded with more pay for more productivity.  This means that the more patients they see in a day and the more procedures and tests they order, the more they get paid.  The result is very short office visits with no time to educate patients, or do coaching, about healthy life style choices.  Clearly this system is broken and must be fixed.  But how do we free ourselves from such a sticky bog of disease management.

Fortunately there is an answer.  It is taking the care of our health into our own hands.  But it requires  stepping out of that system that seeks to keep us sick, but still alive.  Many of our contemporary alternative health care pioneers have shown us time and again how to care for ourselves.  Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Paavo Airola and Dr. Richard Schulze, all tell us that diet and lifestyle changes will keep us healthy.  Not only that, they will keep us out of doctors offices and reduce our nation's health care costs significantly. 

If we pay careful attention to avoiding the things that we now know cause us harm, like: food additives and processed foods, GMO's, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and diets heavy in animal products and refined carbohydrates then we are likely to live long and healthy lives, especially if we meditate and get our exercise. 

What really matters here is your health and the health of your family and the health of the people you care about, not corporate profits.  And your best health insurance is love, how you love and care for your body, how you love and care for your family, how you love the food that you eat, the people who grew it, and how you love your environment.  It is really very simple, the foundation for excellent health is love.

© Josephine Laing, 2015