Wellness

I received the sweetest package from a friend this week, full of all kinds of wonderful little inspirations and goodies. Among them was this lovely little ballerina. At first I wondered how she got included in the mix, but she's been in my pocket since arrival, and yesterday I placed her in my booth in the middle of the tray with all the medals.Looking at her in the jumble of medals and beads, I realized this was sort of like me. As always, seeking to ride on top of the waves of work and stress and life; keep my focus and balance. Lately, though, I haven't been doing a very good job of that. I realized that the last 4 of 5 days, I have been up before dawn with a cup of coffee for breakfast, a Diet Coke for lunch, and wine with dinner. Today I did a little better, coffee and a sausage biscuit at McDonalds at 730. It's not been feeling super healthy, maybe a little out of focus like she is in my next photo ~

Last week at the Rancho Santa Fe market, I met an MD who has a Wellness Center; see Dr. Tony's site Integrative Wellness; he and I are the main writers for the market newsletter, so we got to chatting. I remember reading through his literature: Do you exercise to the point of having a sweat, daily? Do you make time for mediation? Do you get enough sleep, and is it restful? Do you eat regular, healthy meals? Wow, I felt like I mostly flunked that part of the test lately, aside from a healthy dinner and the sleep part. I fall into bed tired!

Today Dr. Tony had a different test: his Wellness Wheel. On a scale of 0-4, rate your satisfaction with the following areas of your life; 0 being not satisfied and 4 being very satisfied: Socially, Emotionally, Intellectually, Spiritually, Occupationally and Physically. He thought I got an A- on this one. Dr. Tony says that like a tire, if you are deflated (less than a 3 or 4) in any one area, you are off balance. Strive to be a 4, with balance and satisfaction in all areas. Interesting? After his MD from Boston University, he trained with Dr. Andrew Weil in Arizona, so this perhaps explains the bent.

So, this week, I am taking action, to get back into better balance.

In other news today, someone actually walked off with my St. Anthony bracelet without paying for it. I see it in the photo above, taken around 11am. It's ironic that St. Antoine is the patron of lost things and now "he" is lost; there were 10 people looking at that bracelet today, until my last customer asked me specifically for St. Anthony. Gone! She spent about 45 minutes with me looking at every medal and having me explain and translate. Until she picked up one of the crusty Sacred Heart medals, and immediately began to cry, saying she felt a very specific energy. To her amazement and mine, she continued to weep for the next 10 minutes with the medal in her hand as we looked at more medals; then we both decided she should put it down. She ended up taking it, along with a beautiful old Mary Magdalene medal from Saint Maximin le Baume in the south of France. Being at the markets each week is always interesting, it's like having a constant string of old friends and new friends and conversation for 5-6 hours. My last shopper said she would pray that St. Anthony will come back to me; it's an unlikely target of theft; come back! It was on my own wrist until yesterday morning; here it is at right:
I have just two hats left at the end of today. This is my neighbor Allison's mom looking super happy; she snapped up the last Sapphire Laura hat because it matched her wrap perfectly, here she is in Allison's booth with gorgeous arrangement in back:

In trade, I took home a beautiful vase of hydrangeas and sunflowers for my Mom:
Be well this week! Strive to be like an inflated tire!