The hardest time of the year
Naturopathic health in the trenches / continued from the Home page
A day-to-day health diary by Katherine Willow, ND
Well I then hit the proverbial wall a day later when grandson Felix got a raging fever the night before the retreat that I was supposed to be running. A homeopathic remedy (Ferrum phos) luckily brought it down to nothing by 1am, after which time he slept sweetly, but he was still weak the next morning. He rallied after a peaceful time at home with light food and I was able to pass on the care and come out to the centre.
The retreat was wonderful, as you can read in the accompanying article, but yours truly was NOT! Good thing taking care of others is a great distraction from one’s own issues, so they didn’t hit the fan until I got home. Since then I’ve been realizing how much I’m not dealing with and finally taking responsibility for making the time to face things instead of complaining as much as I have been. (Sorry to those around me!)
What that looks like practically is booking off one day and night a month to go on personal retreat at Galilee Centre in Arnprior. It is very affordable, beautiful and quiet and I can obtain spiritual direction from Father Jack, something I’ve never done before. (I’ll report back on that in the next blog!) It doesn’t sound like much, but does it ever lift my spirits to look forward to that time alone. I haven’t taken any time since Felix was born—that’s 17 months!! It just crept up on me.
As I write, I watch the sun go down from my home office window. It’s been a gorgeous day and I’ve missed going to Winterlude as I had promised myself. That’s what I get for being too busy and then too tired. And not organizing my time better. So instead of working at my desk tomorrow morning as planned, I’ll put on my rainbow sweater and purple scarf, take my skates to the canal and explore what’s going on.
And in the meantime, I take a few moments to remember to breathe compassionately and let this grumpiness dissipate. . . .
May we be gentle with ourselves in this harsh season,
~Katherine
