8.15.14 Here are 1,000 images...of The Maple, Across Years and Seasons

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Here are 1,000 images...of The Maple. Surely you have had places, or spots, or brooks or a tree; or perhaps a certain chair from which you look out at the world. Or a subway stop, that finds you sitting and waiting and observing life and seasons as you do. All of these may have  struck you and then somehow came to hold you in your life. To an awareness of passing time. Of changing seasons. Of being aware of each and every day; no day lost, no time lost - you showing up for each one, to your benefit, especially in old age. Somehow, with a love of all places, I have come to know this Maple, as we sometimes do. 

                                                         

My friend Michael Dunning ,Craniosacral Practitioner and teacher, and Shaman, tells the story of The Yew tree in Scotland, beneath which he fell apart and then rebuilt himself, cleaved to it's old self. http://www.yewshamanism.com/services.html

The Maple in the recent wild summer storm.

8.14.14 We All Begin As A Small Spark- The Maple

Tomorrow morning, two trees are being taken down here, one of them this beloved, sick, old Maple, a beloved friend. 

I have relished watching this tree drop magnificent leaves in the fall, sing winter songs in winter storms, and glisten in the frozen ice-glazed mornings;

 I've stood by watching as it sent out small buds and miniature bouquet-like blossoms come spring, and extend their tender brightest green leaves in summer.

 We as a family have sat beneath it's shade on hot summer days for so many years now; 

my husband and I holding hands for hours beneath it's sheltering branches as night falls, in every single season. I know.

 I know we all begin, as this tree once did;

 as a seed, and then a tiny sapling, up into a tree this large and this old. 

Magnificent and tall and linked by mycelium to all the other trees in this land here.

 I know we all begin as a small spark, unbelievably- and end as dust.

 I embrace this. But still, for each of us, the endings?
A Hold such sadness and loss.

8.14.14 Magritte Skies

8.14.14 What Robin Williams, and so many of us, do not understand about our own BioChemistry, our choices, and our consequences: SAMe for The Fast Thinking Intellect

What Robin Williams, and so many of us, do not understand about our own BioChemistry, our choices, and our consequences: How hard work or manic activity destabilizes our brain chemicals, and how SAMe protects this from happening.

I no longer post about natural health, but I wanted to share this information, because it is vital and important information, regarding Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Trauma, PTSD, and many other variations of mood challenges that we often do not understand. This involves a supplement, expensive, called SAMe.

Some of us become depressed, and have low energy, are despondent, exhausted. Some become depressed, often for very good reasons, combined with genetic predisposition, environmental accumulation of wastes we are not aware of, and continue to add. And the second group have this tendency to engage in a lot of conceptual, intellectual, analytical behaviors. Press pressing their prefrontal cortex (in your forehead) to PRODUCE. When we do this, we BURN through our Methionine (a brain chemical) and that imbalance increases the volume of HOMOCYSTEINE (in this case, a brain chemical also). 

When we engage in challenging, exciting, intense, prolonged expenditure of energy of this type, and our Homocysteine tops off, while the Methionine is so so low, we become vulnerable to 'moods'. Where you just feel a certain way in your body, either initiated by difficult challenging events or circumstance, or just because. Like a switch is flicked, and boom. Down you go. And with this biochemical imbalance, you are anxious. Fretful. Restless. Have difficulty sleeping. At times, fearful. 

Do you see? The opposite of the lackluster exhausted depression.

Now, just to mention, the terms 'depression' and 'anxiety' and 'anxiety attack' are ludicrous, at best. Horrible. Because what people experience is often so much more intolerably agonizing. Than those terms would ever convey.

When people are well indicated for SAMe, and investigate to ensure no contraindications, they begin taking it in small tiny itsy bitsy bits. Really. And slowly gear up. The maximum dose many nutritionists go by, according to well documented research, is 800 mg a day. You would need to be independently wealthy to afford that. But often, when well indicated, 200 mg a day, consistently, over months, makes a difference. 400 is often better. There are some liquid preparations that some of my clients have used, even for children who are very bright and driven and activated and moody. And it balances the two brain chemicals, provides support for the production of others, slowly tonifies liver function, helps immune and joint function. 

But the big deal here...is that if you are Robin Williams, or many others of us, and you go expend that ridiculous amount of intellectual activity and challenge and pressure and output, you are tossing your Methionine to the wind, and gearing for a crash. And the higher you go with your mental demands and cognitive focus, the harder you crash.

This is pertinent to those who focus a great deal, for maybe long periods of time, on complex conceptual things. Burning through the Methionine, while the Homocysteine goes wild.
An important thing to know.

It is contraindicated for Bipolar disorder. Because , like blood thinners and green vegetables, it is VITAL you maintain a careful balance. So no jumping in, on both accounts. Also similar to the natural treatment of seizure disorders and migraine. Wobbling unstable situations, that one approaches slowly in the tiniest increments, and then consistently takes things (green vegetables, anti-inflammatories, or in this case, SAMe) like a vital medication, after the transition has been made.

For Bipolar, consulting with a SAMe-literate psychiatrist or doctor is important, and enables the gradual, safe, non-threatening inclusion of several nutritional considerations, that can contribute to greater stability, if used consistently, in the long run.

So keep this in mind. The nutritional bible for mood challenges of all sorts, beautifully written, is still Julia Ross' The Mood Cure. Excellent, clear, delineated-information book. And Dr. Daniel Amen, with all his excellent books, is a good source of information also.

For all supplements, become very very well informed. Cross reference your individual circumstances, conditions, sensitivities; THEN consult with a well informed, knowledgeable Integrative Medicine Doctor or practitioner, before considering self medicating. Thankyou. Take Care.

http://www.moodcure.com/

Disclaimer- None of the above is purported to involve diagnosis, prescribing, or medical treatment of any kind. Please consult with a natural medicine literate doctor or Practitioner prior to self medicating with the above supplement or any other. This is provided as health education information only.

8.13.14 And in the woods? One new Katydid

......big as your thumbnail

- somehow atop a small lake

on the 4' post of the entrance,

having a drink,

orienting to their brand new life.