Integrative Approaches To Growing Your Holistic Wellness Business

Strugglig to grow and create your business is nothing new in todays trending world.  Social media, blogging, vlogging, websites, media and so much more can make it more difficult to do what you love and love what you do.  Being busy in your business.   Having your business become your full time lifestyle can have you pulling your hair out.

Some of us health care professionals, keep our day job and struggle with managine your real job in order to pay the bills that your business is creating to keep that rolling as well.

I know when I went into training over 3 decades ago, the world was simpler, and more direct, and pretty prescriptive.  Our uniforms were white, our shoes were white, are caps were crisp and pristine. We stood at attention when the Doctors came to the floor, and we definitely did our charting with pen and paper. No internet.  No eMar.  No RAI MDS.  We spent our time at the bedside and we did team Nursing.   I had no idea of the way the world was beyond my own biome.

Now days, tho... The world is larger, broader and at our fingertips..  So much information so fast, it can make your head spin.   Emails are now antiquated, more and mre people are on their Smart Phones and you have less and less time to make an impression.  As a nurse-preneur I have had to learn a lot of skills to make an impression that was never apart of training years ago.

Business cards are a key to spreading the word of who we are and what we do, but are they doing an adequete job?  Stats are that the efficiency of business cards today is very limited and ruins world resources to create..  Did you know on average, 27,000,000 , that's 27 MILLION biz cards printed EVERY day in the USA.  Mind boggling... Can you imagine that the simple business card is ruining the rain forests of South America.   As nurses, our first tenant is "Do No Harm".  I shudder to think that I have impacted the removal of those sacred forests.  Did you know tht the livlihood on average of your business card when it is given to a person on average is 8 hours before it is tossed into the garbage.  Creating waste and adding to the mounting garbage crisis in the world.  Stunning.  We create enough medical waste in the workplace, we see it everyday, but to think of the impact of business cards on the world ecology and resources, really made me think.   Then I had to think of the business impact of my business card....  Does it really grow my business????    Maybe, a bit, but not to the extent that I would like.   Stats show that business cards may grow your business by 2%.  Wow.  What are solutions?

I found a virtual business card, that can be created simply and easily and can embed videos, website links, contact forms, and update everytime you update.  So everyone who has your virtual business card gets all your updates i.e. specials, changes in office hours, videos etc.   AND can be shared from all of those whom you shared it with, to anyone they feel could match your business.  No trees killed in the process, No wasting of resources.   Everyone is texting,  so why not grow your business through texting?

This is the most profound business hack that I have found, and I am sharing with you...   Take advantage of an opportunity to find out more.  Watch my video here.

Brenda Pearce RN, is known as the Empowered Nurse...  through her books, podcasts, TV and so much more, she helps nurses shine through creative media that matters to be seen and heard in many ways.   You can access her podcast network at www.blogtalkradio.com/efactorbrendapearce  .  To access her v-card, click here to find out more about the business tool that is exploding business

Experiencing frequent and/or chronic negative emotions such as worry, sadness, anger, anxiety, feelings of victimization and judging others' behaviour drives imbalances in our physiology (better known as illness, dis--ease and breakdown).

Fact: over 80% of dis--ease is driven by our emotions which drives our thoughts which in turn, drives our actions.

WE HEAL OURSELVES - remember that! We heal ourselves with every choice we make in every moment of our life.

No amount of pharmaceutical drugs, herbs or homeopathic remedies can heal our body. Drugs can only extend our life thereby creating our dependency on them. Perhaps the better choice may be customized herbs and/or homeopathics as they can nudge our body to heal itself...

Click here to read the rest of blog and to learn more about our 'Building Emotional Resilience' program contact: Cindy@HeartPlace.ca

In-Joy, Cindy.

www.heartplace.ca

When Grief and Death Touches Us ~ My Own Journey to Wholeness and Healing

Part 1: “Death – Forever a Part of Life”

By Kim M. Watson, RN, MScN

If a death has not yet touched you on your journey, inevitably it will. I can recall the first funeral I attended of a little girl named Peggy; I was only four years old. I recall her lying there in her white dress, and asking my parents when she would be able to come and play with us. The true reality of what death was had not yet touched me as a young child. However, the first significant death I recall was of my beloved ‘Baba,’ my grandmother, when I was ten. By then I did understand she was not sleeping and she would not be able to hug me again in one of her all enveloping, blessed hugs. I always felt her close to me and felt she was one of my guardian angels watching over me. Death was not to be a stranger though, and at the tender age of 46, my mother Mary took her own life. Her story is one of a journey full of love, happiness, hospitals, darkness, sadness, healing and pain. Though her story is worth sharing, it is for another time. My mother was a major loss in my life as she was someone I did love dearly, and as most people think, we should not lose our parents when we are so young, I just turned 24.

As a nurse in an acute care role, I have had many experiences of both life and death stories to share, especially since the ER is where most of my career has been spent. Most people imagine dealing with those who were dying must have been some of my more difficult days, though sometimes it has been my most rewarding stories. Early in my career, I worked in Pediatrics, and though there is something that seems wrong that someone should die so young, as a Pediatric nurse I felt it was part of my job to assist him or her in their transformation, and try to make it as fearless as possible. I felt comfortable speaking with my young patients about what they were going through. In addition, many times I helped the parents and siblings to feel ‘okay’ about talking about death.

It was around this past Christmas that Dad had a fall and for the first time he needed help to get up. It was then I asked him to consider linking up with our local hospice to see what services they had in the event we needed them down the road. Since my Dad was a fairly private man, and not one to reach out for help, I had concerns he may need to speak to someone else about the journey he was presently on. He agreed on a meeting. I linked him to a wonderful Hospice Social Worker, Mike Bennett, as I recognized this could help him spiritually, emotionally and mentally! I was present for the first meeting to help ease things with Dad. Dad knew I was a supporter of counselling as I frequently said “I feel counselling is one of the best gifts you can ever give yourself.”

On May 31^st Dad, Allan Dynes Watson, age 86, passed on to another existence, that I do not yet have all the details on, though I know he is still with me energetically. It was with his passing that I seriously looked at where I was at and where I needed and wanted to go. Though I do miss my dad, I know he is in a place of peace, all knowing, and wonder. When someone dies the loss is on this side of the veil, not the other.

I can tell you I was in dis-stress spiritually and emotionally, and it was starting to have a physical toll on me as well, though the cause was more than my Dad’s passing. As a student of a spiritual path for over 25 years, I knew I was in a place where I only wanted to visit shortly, feel the feelings, learn from, and move on. However, I was not exactly sure how to do it best as I realized I had compassion fatigue. Dad’s death was just the right invite for me to pay attention to me now.

In my next few blogs I intend to share with you my very personal and transformative experience steeped in a mind, body, spirit approach. Though it looks somewhat different from the path I took when I suffered a debilitating injury with a MVC (motor-vehicle collision) in 1989, the principles are the same. In 1989 when I was told I would never work hospital again as I would be lucky if I could regain 60-80% function, I said to them “You want to bet!” It was then that one fine and insightful Rehabilitation Physician at a major medical centre recognized I was serious, prepared and ready to heal. He worked with me over the course of four plus years, gave me options and resources, and ultimately I regained my full health (physically, mentally and emotionally) and started a renewed spiritual path. I knew I would heal using a holistic, integrative approach, and now it is part of who I am as a nurse, and my vision for Ontario and Canada. It was that experience that integrated my focus to a mind, body and spirit approach for all those I serve and work with. So stay tuned for more on my own recent healing journey in my next upcoming blogs.


Blessings, in love and in light, Namasté, Kim

PRIM – Needs Community Leaders across the Country

By Brenda Pearce, RN

Canada, a vast and beautiful country; a proud country strong and free filled with people of all walks of life and cultural backgrounds, united from sea to sea in universal healthcare; a tapestry of health and wellness, illness and disease within a balance of healthcare and wellbeing. Not something to take for granted, but to make stronger with our input.

It starts with each and every one of us. No matter how powerful or how vocal or how concerned, we all have a role to play in keeping our Universal Healthcare system at the forefront of the world's leadership in healthcare. But... sadly we are ranked 30th in the world with Greece, a bankrupt nation, ranking higher. France is the proclaimed leader for 2014 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the USA, the superpower of democracy, lags behind us at 37.

Something is not working. In a time when Aboriginal parents need to go to court in order to treat their children with traditional remedies in the face of a medical oligarchy, our one size fits all healthcare system is not working. When people with the religious belief of non-blood transfusion are criminally chastised for their religious beliefs in a free country, not truly able to have the freedom of their beliefs in the eyes of the medical god, something is flawed in the land of the free.

Where we are taxed at every level and on everything except the air that we breathe, it is time to take a breath. It is time to think. It is time for change. Are you ready for change?

In a model of healthcare where our Medical Doctor's no longer swear the Hippocratic Oath, in which food and nutrition rank as the first line of defense and lobbying by the various food processors has led to a food pyramid swayed by money rather than science, we are a sick society. Just look around at the various levels of obesity, and the industry that has come from praying on illness, or the heartstrings like cancer. One has to only wonder, why?

PRIM is a Grassroots Movement that was started by a group of patients who personally benefitted from the treatment of a brave group of groundbreaking medical doctors who have suffered peer rebuttal for even writing about sugar being a dietary disaster, only to find out that the sugar industry sponsors our medical system. They see the combining of therapies as more effective than having just cut, maim, burn and drugs as tools in their belts. They see a medical system in dire need to change from what is not working as a whole to one of greater satisfaction and outcomes by combining integrative approaches.

Integrative medicine is not an either/or, one size fits all medical model. It embraces healthy nutrition and complementary practices like biofield therapy, hypnosis, acupuncture and much, much more as part of a wellness model and not a disease management model. Sure, there is a role for surgery and medications, but they are part of the model, and not the model.

Even the CNA (Canadian Nurses Association) wrote a position paper that speaks to this model, 'Towards 2020', published in 2006. It is now 2015 and cancer is evolving ever faster now, Diabetes is more rampant than ever and we are no closer to a wellness model than we were in 2006. We should not fear the next medical pandemic. Nor should we be ostracized for our own beliefs, or for making informed choices in our own wellbeing. More and more Canadians are becoming savvy consumers of integrative approaches, but often outside of their Medical Doctor’s knowledge or consent, yet benefiting from these approaches.

The PRIM Grassroots Movement is being led by people like you and I; people who want change, a better life outcome and want a better, healthier world for ourselves, our children and our parents. We as Canadians have a fundamental right to a healthier life.

How can you get involved?

BECOME A COMMUNITY LEADER

PRIM is seeking Community Leaders from across Canada to join in making PRIM visible in every region, Province and Territory. We are seeking to make this grassroots movement burn like a prairie fire for change, touching the heart of every Canadian.

With a Federal Election coming this October, we need to make a stand. A revolution in our healthcare is needed like NEVER before and together we can ignite this from the grassroots up.

If you are willing to become a PRIM Community Leader and advocate for a new integrative medical model, please contact David Carmichael at david@peoplesrim.org.

Holistic Approaches to Wellness

By Brenda Pearce, RN

I remember the day I set my fate over 30 years ago. I was 20 years old, and in my final year of nurses training. I had just lost my dad to heart disease, and I thought, "If I make it to 48, I will be great". My dad was 48.

This programming due to the trauma of losing my father so young set in motion a soundtrack playing in my subconscious; a soundtrack playing out in my health and wellbeing. Did I consciously want to die at 48? NO, but the gnawing of this did put into place the events that could have caused me to die at that age or even sooner.

At 46, I developed ovarian tumors and went into emergency testing, and surgery. Thank goodness they were benign tumors and the internal mess left behind could be taken care of. I am now a healthy gal in her 50s and on the other side of that programming. It is like signing your death certificate based on the actions taken by another and resigning to that. That had a very strong emotional and spiritual component that played out in a very physical way.

It is also like, how the actions taken by others are put as risk factors to your own like, health and wellbeing as are often reported by our Drs. Your dad had it, your grandfather had it, so you will have it too. Not looking at the fact that I eat a healthy diet, don't smoke, don't drink, and have a deeply spiritual practice. Risk factors for heart disease do not have to be revisited upon future generations, but are markers as to what could happen if one follows the same path.

Deeply held emotions do play a very real component in our outcomes. Just ask my dear friend Lorraine Cohen. She is experiencing breast cancer at a stage 4 level, and she thanks it for bringing forth deep emotions held at bay and in the background, which she is dealing with in a very profound way and the outcomes are manifesting in a way that usually do not occur when breast cancer to that degree is diagnosed.

It is like the famous phrase of Henry Ford … "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right!"

What are you manifesting in your life from deeply held thoughts and beliefs, emotions and blocks?

Sharing with you this amazing podcast I recently had with Lorraine, and may this bless you with better outcomes - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/efactorbrendapearce/2015/05/18/living-with-breast-cancer-with-lorraine-cohen

Food and Allergies

By Charlene Doak-Gebauer

Food allergies are very difficult for doctors and parents to determine. Children react in many ways to an allergen that is causing their bodies distress.

Many of my clients have had severe constipation when they come for a consultation. Children as young as 9 months to five years will have bowel movements either biweekly or once per week. People need to realize that bowel movements should happen daily. If a child is having bowel movements as infrequently as biweekly, they are severely constipated. This indicates that whatever they are consuming is causing a disturbance in their entire digestive system. They are very toxic, which will affect their overall health, particularly sleep and mood.

Indicators for children that there is an allergy can be a headache, hyperactivity, irritable mood, stomach upset, gas, alternating constipation/diarrhea and the like. Children will have a heightened mood after consuming foods that irritate their system. A food diary is extremely helpful when trying to determine what foods might be causing an issue.

The food diary should include breakfast, lunches, dinners, and snacks. Also recorded should be mood changes, bowel movements, amount of fluid consumption (preferably water). Bowel movements should be recorded by time of day, and if solid or diarrhea. 

Determining food allergies is a family/nutritionist team effort with children. Too many children in schools are labeled hyperactive and it is suggested that they be medicated. MEDICATION should be the last choice, if ever a choice. The pediatric clients in my practice who have been able to avoid medication after having a nutrition consultation, has been ALL of them. Parents need to avoid being “forced” into medication as being the only option. Nutrition should be considered the first issue for hyperactivity, concentration issues and the like.

I have also determined food allergies for adults, as old as 75 years of age. Their symptoms all of their lives have only escalated because of unknown allergens. It is never too late to feel better!