What a spider (and all of nature) taught me about resilience and adapting to adversity and pain
I have lived with chronic pain from dystonia, a neurological movement disorder, for 20 years. When it first began in 2001, it completely changed my life. I had to...
Stress is like a clogged drain – Tips for managing our emotional plumbing
I think everybody would agree that stress is a challenge in their lives. Personally, I think we should take on the belief that no stress exists and that it...
Are you turning your gizmo into a gremlin? Understanding and managing anxiety
When I think of anxiety, I think of the movie, Gremlins (1984). For those of you who have seen this movie, you know that feeding a gremlin after midnight...
The Dystonia Diagnosis and Prognosis
“You have dystonia” are three words that can be very confusing and frightening. Receiving the news that you have any chronic condition can bring out a lot of emotions....
THE TOWER – What my husband’s cancer diagnosis taught us about perspective
This is a guest blog from an old friend who shares how her husband’s recent cancer diagnosis changed his and their perspective about life. This is so well written...
The impact stress and emotions have on our health
25 years ago, I developed a painful neurological movement disorder called dystonia. I was 30 years old at the time. It totally turned my life upside down where I...
Managing excessive worry and fear to avoid health consequences
I think it would be safe to say that everyone is afraid of something. Sometimes the fear is justified and sometimes not. In this article, I want to focus...
My typical day managing my dystonia and chronic pain
I have lived with dystonia and chronic pain for 21 years. The first 5 of those years were the worst of my life. The pain from the involuntary muscle...
Be careful about being too hard on yourself if you live with a health condition that already kicks your ass
Dystonia and chronic pain, as well as many other health conditions, remind me of bullies that pick on kids in the schoolyard every day. Like the bully, dystonia and...
A tool for practicing gratitude
Many of us recently celebrated Thanksgiving, a time to reflect upon things for which we are thankful. It is a time to really focus on gratitude, which got me...
How healthy is your information diet? Is it stressing you out?
We are all of course aware of diets for food, but what about diets for other aspects of our life, such as those that feed our emotional health? I...
Finding meaning and purpose in our pain and suffering
Life is ever evolving so it is important to remember that the storms in our lives do not always last forever. When I developed dystonia in 2001, I lost...
The Frog Blog – How nature can teach us to stop resisting the flow of life
I was driving the other night and seemingly out of nowhere, a tree frog jumped on my windshield as I was going about 30 mph heading towards my home....
