Working Delight

Below is a few parts from chapter 15 of Karen Maezen Miller’s “Momma Zen.”  Her books are my all time favourites.  I find myself going back to them over and over again.  They always inspire me and give me a good dose of reality.  As I watch my babies grow into children, I am reminded of this chapter daily and go back to it to be inspired to appreciate the little things, even the seemingly mundane work in everyday life.

The excerpts are a bit long, but the message is in the sum of these parts.  I hope by the end of the post these little snippets help to illustrate this simple joy in life.

Chapter 15: Workloads

Who’s the real workhorse in the family?

“In the midst of my drudgery, I look up and wonder where the good times went.  When I walked away from my career to create a family my colleagues kidded that I was “retiring to a life of cats and flowers.”  So true, so true.  And cat hair and pollen dust, fleas and weevils, stains and stink, sanitizing and deodorizing, boiling, wiping, scraping, scrubbing, loading, folding, mending, mounding, hounding, and work, work, work.”

…

“Often I feel the work is beneath me.  Often I feel like the work is beyond me.  It must be important to me to feel that way.  It must be important to me to think of my life as hard work and myself as a workhorse.  Sometimes it feels good to feel so bad; it feels hight to feel so low.”

…

“When you are scraping the crusted cereal from the wall with a chipped fingernail, do not think: For this I gave up a vice presidency. When you are folding a stack of late-night laundry, do not think: This is my sixth load this week and it’s only Monday.  When you stand over a sink of three-day-old dishes, do not think: When, oh when, will I ever catch up?  And while you’re at it, please don’t complain about the mindless nature of mother’s work.  The great transformative potential of a mother’s work is that it is mindless.  No thinking of any kind is required.”

…

“If you ever manage to stop working so hard, you might let your tired eyes alight on the real workhorse in the family.  It will surprise and delight you.

What children will accomplish from birth to age three is astounding.  Try not to overlook this most amazing teaching.  You’ll be inclined to, because children greet each day with glee and fearlessness.  Their instinctive joy does not mean that the work of a child is easy or discountable.  It does mean that life, as my teacher tried to tell me, is more fun than we sometimes make it.”

…

“Far more daunting, I believe, are the cognitive and behavioural skills on the syllabus.  Yes, it’s that “two” is terrible, but can you consider the course load for a minute?  Self-feeding, and table skills, language, emotional management, toilet training, and social etiquette, for starters.  And all occurring amid the frightening undertow towards separation and independence.  Throw in weaning, the big bed, and assorted other traumatic transitions such as a new sibling, babysitter, or preschool, whenever they enter the picture.  These kids are working in a coal mine!

And still your child will wake up each day, with only rare exceptions, beaming and eager.  Unburdened by the weight of things she has yet to do, your child is never overwhelmed and never under equipped.  There’s plenty of time for everything, even when there’s no tomorrow!”

…

“When you can do anything as though you work at nothing, you have the best days of your life”

WIN-ning Wednesday: Allergy Season

Spring is in the air… and so is a whole lot of pollen!  With the arrival of really warm temperatures, we’ve seen the trees, grass and flowers bloom pretty rapidly, which bring about an earlier start to allergy season.

Pollen allergies consist of one or a combination of these symptoms:

- itchy nose, eyes, ears or throat

- itchy skin

- runny nose

- irritated, watery eyes

- sneezing, coughing

- congested nose

- sinus pressure and headaches

A person’s level of sensitivity, the number of different pollens they are allergic to, and their general state of health, will impact the severity of allergic symptoms.

In conventional medicine, over the counter allergy medications are usually recommended.  These can work for some people.  However, others may find they experience side effects or their body adapts to the medication, resulting in lower effectiveness.

There are many wonderful natural solutions to address allergies.  Often, a licensed Naturopathic Doctor would take a two pronged approach by recommending something natural to address the specific symptoms a person is experiencing, while working on a deeper level to help address the allergy itself and help to resolve it.

Part of my own experience with naturopathic medicine involves my ability to address my own allergies.  As a kid I had severe seasonal allergies.  From May to the first frost I would experience a variety of different allergy symptoms depending on what I was exposed to (freshly cut grass, ragweed in the fall, etc.).  My symptoms were so severe that I regularly visited with an Allergist from the age of about 5 until I was 13.  When I was about 8 or 9 I went for the typical “allergy shots” with the hope that it would help resolve my allergies.  I did this for 3 summers, with my allergies never wavering.  From an early age, I knew all the different allergy medications by heart… which ones worked for me and which ones didn’t.  Gosh, I remember how many fun outdoor summer occasions in my youth were dampened by my allergies.

I experienced allergies every spring and summer season into my 20s.  When I started my studies in Naturopathic Medicine I decided to start using natural solutions to address my allergy symptoms.  By that time, I felt that the amount of allergy medication I had taken over the years probably wasn’t the greatest for my liver.  I started out using homeopathic remedies to curb whatever I was experiencing at the time…a blocked nose here, an itchy throat there.  I was amazed at how effective they were.  This stuff was great!  For me, I found it to be as effective as the over the counter allergy medication I had used in the past.  From there, I kept working away at addressing some of the root causes for my allergies and by the time I graduated from the program my allergies had resolved.

I’m happy to say that I’m still allergy free!  Through my training, and my own history as an allergy sufferer, working with people who have allergies in my practice is something I am enthusiastic about because I know there are great options for treating allergies naturally.  The less medicine we find ourselves relying on, the better, especially for kids.

There are so many great options for treating allergies naturally.  Work with a licensed Naturopathic Doctor to find the solutions that are the best fit for you.

Tabouli

Tabouli is a dish that originates in middle eastern cuisine.  It’s a really healthy salad dish that loaded with nutrition.  It’s a great source of vitamin C, iron and minerals.  In addition to the health benefit, tabouli is a delicious salad.  This salad is simple to make and a fresh option for summer.

The recipe below is a gluten free option.  Classic tabouli is made with couscous, which is gluten containing.  However, couscous can be easily substituted with millet, quinoa or “rice” based couscous to make it gluten free.

Tabouli Salad

2 bunches of parsley

2 tomatoes

Juice from 4 lemons

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1/4 cup olive oil

sea salt

Prepare the quinoa first.  Boil 1 + 1/2 cups of water and add the quinoa.  Turn the heat to low and simmer with a lid on the pot until the water has evaporated and the quinoa is cooked and tender, not mushy.

While quinoa is cooking, prepare the veggies.  In a food processor with a “S” blade, or by hand with a knife, finely chop the parsley leaves (stems removed).  Chop tomatoes into small cubes.

Combine the quinoa, parsley and tomatoes.  Dress with lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt to taste.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.  This salad always tastes even better the next day!