I’m busy studying for midterms and working my butt off, so here is another list (aka quick blog)! Today’s was inspired by Peppermint Twist’s thread on the forums.

1) I am fully functional physically and can experience the joy of movement.

2) I am fully functional mentally and can experience the joy of learning.

3) I feel safe and secure every day.

4) I have access to and can afford clean, nutritious food.

5) My close friends and family are safe and in good health.

6) I have family and close friends who care about me and prove their worth the most during the hardest times in my life.

7) I have access to the internet and can therefore connect with interesting, talented, caring people I wouldn’t otherwise know.

8) I have a home!

9) I share a kitchen with only 3 other people and can therefore cook and bake whatever and whenever I like.

10) I love the city and country that I live in.

11) I have a job!

12) I have a job at which I am fairly paid, intellectually stimulated, constantly entertained, and cared for by my boss and coworkers.

13) I discovered the BTD 4 years ago, which first sparked my interest in natural health, which is my passion.

14) I’m going to IfHI 2007 and I’m so excited!

15) I am pursuing my dream of becoming a naturopathic doctor – a dream I did not think possible 2 years ago.

16) I have enough free time to pursue interests (eg: astrology, feng shui) that I could never find time for when I was working in a corporate environment full-time.

17) I am currently on top of studying for my classes and feel like I understand the material I am learning!

18) I discovered meditation (via Meditation as Medicine by Dharma Singh Khalsa).

19) I am not in debt! Yet!

20) I haven’t been in a Wal-Mart in 5 months (since I quit my corporate job) and I am enjoying this!

That didn’t take me very long, but I still think it took longer than it should, considering how fortunate I am…

*Many of these quotes have unknown origins (at least to me!). Gold stars to those that can provide sources!*



13. “Vegetables are like sex, if you can't remember the last time you had any, you're not having enough.” - Unknown

12. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always have what you’ve always had.” - Unknown

11. “You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” - Charles Buxton

10. “Efficiency is intelligent laziness.” - Unknown

9. “Charm: the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.” - Henri-Frederic Amiel

8. “That we are not much sicker and much madder than we are is due exclusively to that most blessed and blessing of all natural graces, sleep.” - Aldous Huxley

7. “People who act with courage, clarity, and confidence become instant targets for criticism. If they fail to allow for this, they soon wind up in trouble.” - Jonathan Cainer (astrologer)

6. “Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self evident.” - Schopenhauer

5. “Are you starving? No? Then, let's have a little perspective, shall we.” - Bif Naked (musician)

4. "I've always been the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as if everyone is part of a plot to enhance my well being." - Stan Dale

3. “Anger at lies lasts forever, but anger at truth can’t last.” - Unknown

2. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” - Eleanor Roosevelt

1. “Changing is easy. Not changing back is hard.” - Unknown

A few weeks ago, a woman came into the health food store that I work at to ask advice from the owner. Her daughter (not sure of age) has severe asthma that is sometimes so bad that it keeps her up all night and out of school frequently. She said that they had been to several doctors starting with their family doctor and moving on to various specialists, who of course prescribed all kinds of scary drugs and steroids with serious side effects. Anyway, she came to the owner of the store to find out what her daughter could take that was “natural”.

So many people come into the store and ask for detailed health advice from the owner, although it is actually illegal for him to dispense health advice. Many of these people already see an ND or some other natural medicine practitioner, but some do not. For those who do not see a professional, we recommend that they do and usually can provide several names in various parts of the city.

In the case of the woman with the asthmatic daughter, we most certainly would ask if she has seen an ND, due to the complexity of her issues. So, when the owner asked this very question, she said: “No, I don’t have time for that.” So he started to explain that asthma is a complex problem which could be rooted in several causes, so an ND could deal better with that complexity. To this she responded: “I just don’t have the time, I just need to get her through school. I need you to tell me what to give her that will help.”

I had to write this blog because I still can’t get this scene out of my mind! I wanted to say to her, “So you have time to be up at night nursing your daughter, you have time for her to be off from school, you have time to deal with all the repercussions of her suffering, but you don’t have time to actually improve your daughter’s health and quality of life dramatically?” I am glad that I was not helping this woman, because I just don’t know how I could have avoided reacting to her that way. This poor girl is probably miserable enough due to her asthma, and because of her mother’s attitude she will be affected physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the rest of her life.

Time is the one thing that everyone gets the same amount of (at least to start!), unlike money. How each of us uses our time is entirely a personal choice, but it does reflect what we value most. How do you use the time you have been given?

Yesterday I spent a few hours “pimping” my bike (a la the show “Pimp my Ride”). A couple weeks ago I spent a few hours figuring out how to put a new lock on my bike. Yesterday I attached a rear rack, then attached panniers to that, and then topped it all off by adding halogen head and taillights (which flash 4 different ways!). This took me hours because not only have I never done anything to my bike on my own before, I also lack some basic tools, so I had to ride the bike over to Canadian Tire (big hardware type place) to find a wrench. The wrench section is so huge and complicated that it took me awhile to settle on what I was going to get.

It can be so frustrating trying to follow instructions for installing a rear rack when all they say is pretty much “attach rack to bike with nuts and bolts”, but it is also very satisfying to work through all the stuff and actually come out with everything attached correctly! I like feeling handy. Relative to my friends, I am very handy and I seem to be able to deal with lots of little things in the house that need fixing. However, compared to my dad (and most men I know), I am not. Hopefully by the time I own my own home (not for a LONG time with my upcoming huge debt load!), I will be even handier!

Part of the reason I have been working on my bike so much is because it is becoming an increasingly important fixture in my life. In 2005 I think I rode my bike once. That was when I lived in the middle of the city and had a car. Now, I am riding my bike nearly every day, mostly for transportation since it takes me so much longer to get anywhere now that I don’t have a car. Did you know that you can travel 4 times faster by bike than walking?

Another fantastic benefit for me is that biking is a great counter-exercise to running. I’ve blogged in the past about how much I love to run and also my knee issues. In order to be able to run as much as I want to, I have to be quite vigilant in weight training certain muscles (to keep my body balanced) and make sure that I do run regularly. Last week I took the week off from the gym and just biked and did yoga instead. Today I went for a run and it was really great! I definitely think that the biking is working to balance the running. And finally, biking is so much fun in itself – it makes me feel like I did when I was a kid (when I pretty much lived on my bike) and I would coast down hills grinning ear to ear…