Network Healing Centre

October 2006

Newsletter

Important Dates to Remember!

Tuesday, October 3^rd – Gateway to Healing Introductory Workshop

Monday, October 9^th – CLOSED for Thanksgiving

Friday, October 20^th – Network Spinal Analysis office is CLOSED

Thursday, October 26^th – Centre’s hours different today. Please check with front desk for changes

Sunday, October 29^th – Daylight Savings Time ends

Tuesday, October 31^st - Halloween

Gateway to Healing Introductory Workshop

What? A complimentary introductory workshop which gives information about Network Spinal Analysis (N.S.A.) and what it can do for you.

Format: The workshop will consist of a half hour talk about N.S.A. followed by a half hour demonstration of the work.

Who? Everyone who is interested in learning more about N.S.A. and how it helps to release tension is encouraged to come.

When? Tuesday, October 3rd from 7:15 – 8:15pm

From the Massage Therapy Office

Submitted by Angela Soberal, RMT

If one could only learn to appreciate the little things...
A song that takes you away, for there are those who cannot hear.
The beauty of a sunset, for there are those who cannot see.
The warmth and safety of your home, for there are those who are homeless.
Time spent with good friends for there are those who are lonely.
A walk along the beach for there are those who cannot walk.
The little things are what life is all about.
Search your soul and learn to appreciate.--Shadi Souferian

Far Infrared Sauna

FALL DETOX SPECIAL

10 sessions for $180.00 plus GST

call Andrea to schedule your appointments

Gratitude and Health

Submitted by Rosemary Brown-Tucker, RMT

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart". - French Proverb

Can a grateful heart enhance your health? A growing body of research says, "yes". Gratitude, as a conscious practice, offers a whole host of health benefits.

Why gratitude? A series of studies show gratitude promotes physical and emotional well-being, improves one's ability to cope with stress and bolsters positive interaction with others. Furthermore, research shows grateful individuals report having more energy and less physical complaints than their non-grateful counterparts! Positive emotions enhance heart health by interrupting the stress response caused by negative emotions. In short, the practice of gratitude offers a method for a more harmonious life.

So, how do we choose gratitude? And is it ok to fake it? Yes, because our emotions follow our thoughts, we can "act as if" we feel gratitude by concentrating our thoughts on things we are truly grateful for. In time, the real feeling of gratitude will follow. Our heart and our head will be in sync. As days turn into months, a shift in our thinking will occur, leaving us more peace-filled and content because we are focusing on the goodness in our life. And, typically, what we focus on becomes our reality.

Here are a few tips to get started:

• Set aside a little bit of time each day. Maybe you are a morning person, so first thing after you get dressed you give yourself 5 minutes to focus on gratitude. Night time works well for some - a few minutes at the end of the day to think about gratitude. Any time of day will do, just keep it consistent.
• Get a small notebook in which to record your gratitude thoughts. Writing your thoughts down helps them to stick. Writing also is a reflective activity - we have to think about it.
• Make a short list (3 - 5 items) of things you are grateful for. Little things count - a lot. Seriously, we don't have to win the lottery in order to write something down on our gratitude list. It can be something as everyday as "I'm grateful for warm gloves" or "I'm grateful for my glass of hot cocoa with marshmallows" or "I'm grateful for knowing the sun is shining above these gray winter clouds." The point is to think about what we are thankful for today. What small goodness surrounded us? So often we are hurried along through the day and the bad stuff gets a lot of our attention while the small, good things go unrecognized and unappreciated. In our gratitude journal, we are consciously noting the small good things and in doing so, we create awareness of gratitude.
• Write even when we don't feel like it. It's during down days that we need most to be reminded of the simple goodness in our life. If you're uninspired, read prior notebook entries. Sometimes just looking over our growing gratitude list helps us to shift our thinking to a more hopeful state of mind and brings to light things we can be grateful for even on a bad day.

As noted self-help author Melody Beattie writes, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

For more information, contact:

Quality of Life (Virginia Commonwealth University)
http://www.has.vcu.edu/psy/QOL/

Planetree Health Resource Center
200 E. 4^th St. The Dalles, OR 97058
Phone: 541-296-8444
www.mcmc.net/Planetree_Health_Ctr.cfm

Letting Go

By Dr. Michael Tucker, D.C.

As I write this, I realize I’m tense about not having my article in on time. Fortunately I came across this old piece called “Autobiography in Five Chapters”. The piece calms me, hopefully it will inspire you.

1) I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I fall in,

I am lost….I am hopeless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I’m in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault

It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I see it is there.

I still fall in… it’s a habit

My eyes are open

I know where I am

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

Next month I would like to write on Stage 1 of Healing according to Dr. Donald Epstein’s book “12 Stages of Healing”.