It’s been seven months since I have last written.  Sad.  I once felt inspired, there were so many thoughts coming into my psyche; feeling was easy, thinking was easy, writing was easy.

If you are the creative sort you will understand the slow dying that happens.  A gradual sucking of your soul that you hardly notice.  You know something doesn’t feel “right” but your too busy, too numb to dive deep into it.  Besides, you can’t.  Because it’s gone.  You don’t even know where to start.

A good place to start is starting over.

This summer an employment situation happened that I don’t care to elaborate on as it is in legal hands. This put me and my family in one of the most stressful situations we have faced in a decade.

The weeks have been spent pondering of who I am, what do I want to be when I grow up, where can I best serve others while honoring myself.  This all added to the stress.

I am recalling my childhood summers when I would spend days on end at my Nonna and Nonno. It was a “babysitting” arrangement while my Dad worked. We never called it babysitting back in those days, we spent time with extended family and they were a vital role in my upbringing.    Language was a barrier as Nonno spoke English but worked all day and Nonna knew no English.  It was in these days of summer I can remember sitting and marveling at watching the sun as it rolled down the street. I also sketched.  Lots of drawings would come through the pencil onto paper.  Quite often it’s out of boredom and silence that we most discover who we are.

It was this same thinking that I raised my kids.  Rather than filling my kids summer days with one camp to another, it was downtime; a time to watch the sun, the bees in their flurry and a time to find out who they are to themselves.

As I experience my kids summer this year, it has brought a bit of calm and reflection to me.

What I really wanted to talk about today was stress and the role it plays on our gut health.  In feeling a sense of calm, a sense of “I got this”, I have been confused with the constant pain in my gut combined with indigestion and gas.

Last week I got on a recorded webcast from Dr. Diana Quinn.  It was on Radical Self Care.  There were many things that I learned but most importantly I was introduced to the vagus nerve.  Hmmmm, I was curious about this and added some research on what this is to my to-do list.

In addition to visiting my doctor for a recent physical and routine blood work I started to do some investigating around this gut thing.  In having some cardamom in my pantry I thought I would find out how this helps digestion/gut.  LO AND BEHOLD, in a post by Dr. Mercola on “How Does Stress Wreak Havoc On Your Gut” there is the vagus nerve!!!!!!  Coincidence?  I think not.  I quote:  “During fetal development, one part turns into your central nervous system while the other develops into your enteric nervous system.
These two systems are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen.
This “brain-gut axis” is what connects your two brains together, and explains why you get butterflies in your stomach when you’re nervous, for example.
Likewise, stress results in alterations of your brain-gut connection, which can contribute to or directly cause numerous gastrointestinal disorders, including……….”

I don’t know about you guys, but me, I can handle/manage a part of my body that I can “see”,  I do this in managing my fascia health.

Quite often after a stressful period there is a period that I call “the fallout”.  In the wake of stress there is damage, reversible, but yet damage.  I can now forgive the many other downfalls of a poor brain gut connection; procrastination, difficulty completing assignments or projects, withdrawing, weight gain or loss.

With some focus on my gut…….the healing begins, self discovery.  I’m really glad to be back…….hello me, I know you, who you are and where you’re going.