The Wednesday Word is: QUARANTINE

Remember when you were asked the hypothetical question: If you were stranded on a deserted island, who would you want to be stranded with? — who did you say? Does the answer still stand today? You all know why I am asking. Perhaps a self-imposed isolation sounds like a vacation right now. Maybe you’re imagining it now, as you read. However, does the appeal remain when you realize your spouse, children, parents, pets, are also isolated with you? #togetherathome

This word has been at the forefront of conversation over the last few months. Many turned it into a lifestyle, never wanting to leave the house again, ever. While this sounds humorous, it isn’t meant to. This virus is SCARY for a lot of people. Even daily routines change frequently, for a lot of people. That alone is difficult for people who do not do well with change.

It seems things are even more uncertain than they were four months ago. I would be the first person to say: “Keep hope. We cannot bear worry for what we don’t know. Let’s focus on what we do know.” But, I am right there with you, my friends. I am not sure I know what I know. The word around COVID-19 seems to circulate and change. The appearance of lack of consistency in planning, executing and preventing seems to change, but in all honesty, it hasn’t. These are unprecedented times. None of us have had to live with these exact circumstances, ever. Knowing how to help by being vigilant in hand washing, disinfecting, and also mask wearing and only going out when it is a necessity, for many, if not most. It’s difficult, but needed in order to push ahead of this virus, I believe. Yet, not everyone can adhere to every part of the aforementioned plan to help, for their own personal reasons, of which no one is obligated to divulge. Howevet, bearing transparency, as I type this, I am faced with difficult decisions as a business owner about what is best for my clients and myself. Our safety, security and health are paramount.

Some say they feel my state (Ohio) may be headed for another shutdown. If so, stay at home orders may be inevitable. Stay at home is not the same as quarantining, though many labeled it so. If a SAH order happens, I will do my part to ensure safety, security and health, first and foremost. Fortunately, for me and my clients, my business is operational online, as well as in person. That is not the case for so many. Many people are still unemployed and have been since March. Basic needs are being assessed on a daily basis, and well no money means staying home more. So for many, quarantine has become a lifestyle without option, already. Every person has dealt with or is still dealing with COVID-19 related stress. Think about that for a moment. Not one person is unaffected by the stress of COVID-19. Not. One. Remember that when people are making decisions about their daily living.

Deciding to wear a mask or not wear a mask is one source of stress for so many people. Do not assume you know why someone is or is not wearing a mask. If you see a person with a mask, refrain from judgment. Likewise, if you see someone without one. Imagine being alone in life. Having no one, not one person, who can shop for you, run errands, etc. Now, imagine you are exempt from wearing a mask because you have severe asthma. Imagine also, being at a higher risk for getting COVID-19 because you have asthma. Imagine how heavy that feels having to decide and calculate how long you feel it MIGHT be safe to be out and understanding there are no guarantees you will be safe, even if you shop during senior hours. Then, imagine going to the store to shop, being told you cannot because it is for seniors and those with health ailments, and because you do not have to disclose your having asthma and you are only 28 and look healthy, you can’t shop right now. THIS is what people are dealing with. Imagine how much more alone that person feels, on top of the stress and loneliness they already have.

Judgment is a kin to quarantine. When we place judgment on someone with or without knowing facts, we impose isolation and separation. There is far too much of that going on. The virus just made it appear more acceptable to shun people. It’s not ok. It’s NEVER ok.

When the powers that be made decisions for us and ordered stay at home orders, many people mistakenly called it quarantine. I can understand the mistake because they feel quite similar. With a stay at home order you can still have guests and practice social distancing. With quarantine no visitor policies are required. In all of it, we do have choices. With choices come consequences. If all you can do today is to not make a big decision, then that IS a decision. If all you can do today is decide to limit travel and focus on self-care, then that IS a decision.

Quarantine is not a place where most of you reading this are. Quarantine is something we do to reset and accept healing. Taking time for respite is a necessity. It should be among our basic needs. These are trying times for any of us. Let’s do our part to not make it any harder for anyone else than it already is.

Be well. <3

The Wednesday Word is: ENERGY

Energy. A force within each of us and of us. It is the strength and vitality of all things. It is the force, strong or subtle, which aids humans in sustaining physical and mental activity.

You know what energy feels like and looks like, though we might think we cannot. You feel your heart beat and the breath enter and exit your body. If you didn’t, you are paying attention now. The mental agility it takes to read and process these words contains energy. When we experience a child’s boundless charisma, we witness energy. When someone shows up in a ‘mood’ we experience their energy before they even say one word.

Energy is powerful. It is a force we too often take for granted and seem to not understand how to harness it, get more of it or settle it. However, we have more control over our energy than we think. Sometimes it just takes sitting with it, meditating on it and tuning in to your personal environment and the environment around you. You know what feels good. Do more of that. You know what feels icky. Find ways to balance the energy so you can not allow the icky to affect you negatively. You can still retain a lesson from a negative experience without retaining the negative energy within the experience. It’s perfect harmony, if we learn how to fund the balance.

Nature is a great neutralizer. Balance can come from a shower, sitting and listening to the rain, dipping your toes in a stream or watching the ocean waves move, rhythmically carrying away our burdens and bringing renewed energy back to us, with each crest and roll. Ocean waves carry, neutrally charged water of mother earth up to the shore, bringing with it, life. And as that wave rolls away, it takes with it, the worries, transgressions, fear, anxiety, stress, sadness and pulls it away from you and cleanses it in the waters of life. So we relax, and allow life to carry on, rolling in, and out and peace prevails if we let it.

Life can pull you in so many directions, but sometimes you just need to stop fighting the tide and go with the flow. Or sometimes you just need to STOP and listen to what your energy is telling you.

If you’re waiting for the lightbulb to go off sending you a signal or an a-ha moment you won’t get it going Mach 30 with your hair on fire. You need quiet to resolve and balance the energy so you can best read the situation. The energy within chaos is meant to be confusing. People surrounded by chaotic energy are surrounded by randomness and often unsettled, lacking clarity. This may leave you feeling like nothing you set out to do gets accomplished. You control your energy and you can control the energy you accept into your circle. When life feels chaotic, take this as that lightbulb moment, or your a-ha! Notice if you experience patterns, and connections between what you experience and times of day or people you are around. Check your ego. What energy are you showing up with which maybe isn’t serving you well? Develop your ability to bring awareness to your energy and notice how you feel and where you feel those feelings. Question those feelings. Ask why or how come and begin to connect the dots, reflect, and learn about what energy you want to hold onto and what energy you need to release, which no longer serves you well. You choose how to show up or not show up. What do you need today?

How will you and your energy choose to show up today?

The Wednesday Word is…

The Wednesday Word usually comes to me when I meditate each morning. Sometimes it filters in after ruminating a bit on how I feel or what is going on in the world. The following words came to me:

EMPTY

SAD

MAD

ANGER

FRUSTRATION

EPITOME

SLAVERY

UNITED

PEOPLE

DARKNESS

OVERWHELMED

OPPRESSED

DISENFRANCHISED

PEACE

RIGHTS

HOME

I have no idea where to begin. I also do not feel I have any more words of comfort, or words of wisdom, right now. I know people look to me for clarity and compassion, and I try to convey that each week in this message, I am just out of words that host any benefit.

A wise man once told me: “If you cannot add to the conversation, don’t bother speaking just to hear yourself talk.” – or something like that. So, I’ll just say this: I love you. You matter. You’ve always mattered to me. I will likely never understand, but I stand with you and up for all people to be treated as such.

More than 400 years ago, Black people were stripped, literally, of everything and brought to a country inhabited by White people after they seized it from Native people. When I hear racist statements like, “Then go back to where you came from…” Who, exactly, are you or should you be directing those words?

#allliveswillmatterwhenalllivesmatter

The Wednesday Word is: TIME

You ever hear of, or think of a word and it sends you into song, where you pick up and finish lyrics to the song of which the word reminded you? For example, if I write: STOP – some of you might automatically think: “collaborate and listen…” – and some of you just sang that to yourselves or aloud. The word TIME has that affect on me. It sends me right into singing one of my favorite karaoke songs: “In The End” by Linkin Park. As the lyrics go: “Time is a valuable thing –
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings – Watch it count down to the end of the day -The clock ticks life away – It’s so unreal – Didn’t look out below – Watch the time go right out the window – Trying to hold on…”

Trying to hold on… that’s all we have been doing for months; trying to hold on. To uncertainty, to slowing down, to it fleeting by, to the very last sound of breath within in. Just. Hold. On.

Time IS a valuable thing! Yet we often squander it. As I type I wonder if this blog is some times a waste of time. Does anyone read it? Is it helping anyone? Does it help me? I am certain I am not the only one who evaluates how they spend their time. I often feel I would love to spend far less time on the internet, and as of late, I do. I am using my downtime to discover more of what I love about life. I feel, as the clock continues to tick seconds away from my life, I might as well embrace as many of those ticks as I have left. No one is guaranteed the next tick. So we should find value in each one we do have.

As a parent, I have watched that pendulum swing through sleepless nights when babies were inconsolable, to sleepless nights I had because my youngest baby slept too soundly. It was unnerving, to me. To the toddler years where I prayed for time to hurry up and let them grow up so they’d be easier to manage…to the teenage years when I prayed they could slow down and be toddlers again, so they’d be easier to manage… to adulthood, where I watch their next chapters unfold and time tick another second away from time with children in my home. It’s heartwarming and heartbreaking, all at the same time. I can only hope I gave them enough of my time, or hope they will still visit and bless me with theirs.

As a new chapter opens at the Knople Kastle (as we call it), I wonder what time going forward looks like for my husband and me. Having already been married once, I have what are probably normal questions about if time will favor us or ruin us. Will we continue to grow together or eventually grow apart? Only time will tell. I believe it the former. This is the longest time either of is have spent in a relationship (17 years). Time has not always been on our side, but we always try to make the most of it.

What is time to you? One day I really pondered time. I wrote an entire journal entry about how it is a man-made construct of which to measure a day. When I think about those words I wrote that day, I realize we really, truly define time and how we measure it. It can be in each tick of the clock, but it’s also in blocks of milestones of the past and the future. However, we never consider the block of NOW. How often do you stop and allow yourselves to be mindfully aware of just being? No expectations. No judgment. Just. Be. I’ve found it naturally slows time. I’ve found it helps eeek out the tick of the clock, to the point you do not notice it at all, and you just experience this time, right now. Try it. It’s a beautiful thing.

Time is an interesting construct. When I practice living mindfully, in the now, I am reminded that every now was once the future and will soon be the past. So, if we think about time in those terms, we understand nothing lasts forever. Embrace the beauty and surrender to the heartache. This too shall pass. Time will march on. The pendulum will continue to swing, now and always.

However you choose to spend your time, enjoy as much of it as you can. Each of us are stamped with an expiration date. Only the Divine knows when that is, so breath into each tick and relax in the space between each tick and take not one single moment of time for granted. In doing so, you’ll always have time on your side.

Home Sweet Home

My husband and I received news today that our youngest child was approved for her first apartment. If the coronavirus did not already present itself, and all of us, with a host of emotions, now we are sorting emotions which come with this milestone and right of passage.

People keep asking: How do you feel about it? Honestly, I have no idea. I kept asking myself the same thing. Do I feel sad? Sort of. Partly, because I will miss her presence in our home, obviously, as I do all of our kids. Part of me questions if it is sadness I feel. I think society expects me to feel sadness, but I am questioning how I actually feel, maybe for the first time in my life. If I really think about it, honestly, I am indifferent. It is not because I wont miss her, but because my husband and I have earned this place in our lives as much as she has. We raised self-sufficient women and now it’s time for my husband and I to enjoy being a couple. We’ll always be parents, and this will always be home.

Tonight, we celebrate. Not our FINALLY being empty nesters, but we celebrate our achievements as parents, the love and support we’ve created in this family and the role models we hope we are to our daughters and grandchildren.

The Wednesday Word is: EARTH

The Wednesday Word is: EARTH

Later today, I will be hosting my first Earth Day meditation online. I am happy for the opportunity to share with my followers, but a little saddened because I was supposed to be hanging out with my friend, Shannon Ditz, of Huron County Master Gardeners this week and hosting a meditation there. While I will miss that interaction, my commitment to making Earth healthy remains.

Earth Day began in 1970 as an idea by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. He saw the need to make people aware of the environmental ignorance people possessed. Said ignorance was not always born of stupidity, but of not knowing best practices to keep Earth clean and healthy. He saw a lot of pollution across the globe and wanted to do something more to help. He asked people to gather and invited them to unite and clean up Earth. Some did clean, some protested for better environmental protection laws. On that first gathering, more than 20 million Americans participated!

So, as the header picture asks, what has changed since April 22, 1970? While it might feel to some progress has slowed, it has not. Every day people make positive changes and choices which affect the environment for the better. And, on that day, 50 years ago, Earth Day was born of this event, which has grown into Earth Week, Earth Month and movements to care for the Earth and celebrate Earth every day. People across the globe celebrate Earth Day and have amassed a global cleanup.

Also, since 1970, Senator Nelson’s efforts lead to the passage of environmentally conscious laws such as, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.. Since 1970, environmentalists such as myself and my friend Green Laura Jean, Greta Thunberg, Alex Bellini and Boyan Slat, have been taking charge of making all people aware of the global responsibility to Earth, in small or big ways, every positive effort matters.

So whether you write letters or call your local EPA to insist upon change and report flagrant offenders, or you challenge county commissioners not to build a dump, or you vow to educate people on eco-conscious living or educate on environmental travesties, or live on an iceberg for a year studying the effects of greenhouse gases on the planet or you invent a mechanism to clean the oceans of pollution, or you pick up beer cans in your local park, or plant a tree… you AND your efforts matter.

Each year Earth Day celebrations have a theme. This year’s theme is: climate action. While this seems like a big challenge, it is also a big opportunity to take action on how your actions affect the climate and your environment. What can you do to help Earth and yourself today?

The Wednesday Word is: NEED

Much frustration lies in the ideology or the fear that somehow our needs are being defined for us. Fear is lying to you.

I believe the majority of our leadership is doing what is believed to be in the best interest of the majority of the population. Yet, as time goes and grows, desire and needs begin to overlap. However, if you really think about it, other than how often you leave your home, what has truly changed? Hasn’t desire and need always overlapped in some way?

If we look at Maslow’s theory, we know within this theory is the understanding that unless the lowest tiered needs have been met, the upper hierarchy of needs cannot be met. How we define a need being met actually has more to do with our perception of our actual need for these needs. For example, within the lowest level of the hierarchy is physiological needs: breathing, food, water, sex, homeostasis, excretion. The majority of these needs MUST be met in order for wellness to exist. In this example, sex is not a need for repopulating the species, but the need to engage in sexual activity to maintain an overall wellbeing. I would challenge whether or not all needs listed, are actual needs or if they must all be met before moving on. Perhaps the tiers can be tweaked, depending on the individual and whether something is truly a need.

Is sex a true need? According to some studies, “there is not a clear link between a “lack” of sex and more serious medical or psychological pathology. And when one considers the occasional medical/mental health costs of engaging in sex” (e.g., Meier, 2007), or the “considerable efforts people go to to sometimes conceal their sexual activity (e.g., Olson & García-Moreno, 2007), it’s not at all clear that engaging in sex is always a plus for mental or physical well-being.”

In a study by Meston and Buss (2007), their work has people identifying reasons (more than 250 reasons) for engaging in sex. A closer look at their list of Top 50 reasons by both men and women seems to show the reasons are less about needs and more about other drives/motives. Sex is most likely a widely-shared want than an actual need. Plus, let us take into account the wellbeing of those choosing celibacy or perhaps persons who for medical or psychological reasons are not engaging in sex. Certainly, they adjust their hierarchial needs barometer and thus their happiness and wellbeing are intact and they can move up other levels. Sex, for the sake of sex, while enjoyable for those of us engaging, is not a bona fide need. Neither is ice cream, or a chocolate bar, or wine.

If we move up a level to safety, much of our angst lies there. Constantly hearing words like uncertainty and unprecedented times does not do much for our perception of safety. However, if we look at how we are, individually, right now, we can see those needs are better met than we believe. Maybe the situation is less than ideal. Or, if you lost a loved one to this illness, this area may be where your struggle prevails. Grief and suffering make us feel as if we can only function in the bottom tier and we are not even sure we can do that. It’s ok to feel that way. If there ever was a moment to reassess needs, this would be the time for you, especially. Honor the process and honor how you feel. Process through, then move.

Moving up the tiers to love/belonging and self-esteem, some people do not enjoy being with their families. Some people prefer to be by themselves. This IS how their needs are met. I know quite a few well-rounded introverts. Again, perception vs need. Some people crave wanting to hug another human, while others are content and have been practicing for this shelter-in-place order most their lives.

There is the desire to want things to go back to whatever you defined as normal. I would ask you how well your version of normal was working out for you. Perhaps your needs were met then and are met now; you’re adaptable. That is great! Maybe this process has shown you areas in your life where you can be better, or helped you better assess needs versus desires. We don’t need to go out to eat. We desire to go out to eat. However, many restaurants were able to reassess how they do business and stay open, offering carryout and delivery. You can still support these businesses. Other businesses had to close and were without options to reassess and open differently. I had to cut many of my services because I can only do so much online. I had to purchase additional software and hardware to keep up with the needs or running my business solely online. I had to assess my personal needs and my business and clients needs. It has not been easy for a lot of us. What I am learning is we are quick to adapt.

So, when you think about your individual needs are you complaining your needs are not being met or losing your collective minds because you feel tethered to the system instead of having the freedom you thought you had? I have news for you. You can still make all those same choices. You can assess your needs and respond. Every choice has a consequence; some good, some bad. Decisions made were for the best interest as a collective. You can be the problem or be part of solution, for yourself and your community. THAT IS how it has ALWAYS been.

Fear has been lying to us. Fear makes us feel as if none of our needs are being met. Do yourself a favor, in case you were unsure just by reading this now, follow these steps:

1. Breathe in.

2. Realize the life force entering you.

3. Breathe out.

4. Realize the life force you are giving to the plants, trees and greenery.

Your most basic need is met. You’re breathing. Fear did not win. Fear wins when it paralyzes you and keeps you from living. You are breathing. You are alive. Doing things to keep homeostasis is part of meeting and fulfilling that need. You did that before the crisis, you’re doing it now. You have breath, you have food and resources for food, you have ability to interact- if you desire.

Fear lies to you, tells you your needs are not being met. How many of your pre-crisis needs have you realized by now are actually desires?

Meditate on what your actual needs are and how they are being met. Complying the best you are able is for essential and non-essential employees and all people right now. Because now and always each of us are essential. It is essential how you decide and how you define your true needs. How you decide and define may be what hinders an actual need of another. Be the solution, not part of the problem.

The Wednesday Word is: STIMULATE

These are unprecedented times. For weeks many people have had to shelter in place. We find ourselves longing for connection, seeking stimulation and eager to engage in our usual activities. Now, more than ever, the importance of making best choices to stimulate our physical, emotional and intellectual needs is the key to maintaining a healthy, happy you. Are you making healthy stimulating choices, such as exercising at home, making better meal choices and spending time doing tasks you thought you didn’t have time for? Are you allowing yourself time to breathe, relax, be still and attend to your feelings, both internally and externally?

The mind-body connection is strong. What we accept into our minds affects our bodies and visa versa. Making best choices, especially right now, could make all the difference in the world of how you come out of this crisis. Every one has their preferences and peccadilloes, of how to cope in crisis. Some choose to exercise instead of ingest alcohol and may reap better rewards and actually be stimulated. Many people drink alcohol as a means for stimulation – to relax and unwind, when, in fact, overconsumption of alcohol has depressive qualities, and slows down the mind-body connection. Making better choices to relax and unwind, such as exercising, doing meditation or yoga, will provide the stimulation you desire while improving your health.

How we spend our time matters. Doing something or doing nothing may be exactly what we need, but to know which, we need to listen to our minds and our bodies, and sometimes our spirits.

Some people are loving the shelter in place as they are not social creatures and this suits their way of living just fine. Some people are used to not engaging outwardly and need to additional means of adapting. Others, however, may feel lonely not being able to engage with friends. One way people are stimulating their need for connection is holding online get togethers via social media. This is a great way to engage with friends and stay in touch while we shelter in place.

I know many of people have been at home with loved ones for weeks on end now. As engaging as these loved ones can be, too much of a good thing can be overstimulating or unnerving. It is important to take time for yourself to avoid saying things to one another which could cause more strife or become a circular argument with no positive resolution. Some people find arguing stimulating. While it may feel stimulating, arguing is not healthy communication, nor is it good for you. Arguing can activate the amygdala, releasing the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol can lead to slowed healing and excess weight gain. Screaming will actually damage your vocal chords and all this can cause your breathing to be be sporadic, causing your chest to tighten… So chill. There is nothing stimulating about any of that. The temporary high you think you feel while amidst an argument will be short lived if you are thrown into a panic attack, or worse.

Rather than give in to the hopelessness and despair, understand that you are neither on standby nor stuck. Reframe how you see your situation. Instead of being stuck at home, reframe your thoughts and words to, I am safe at home. Rather than stimulate your environment or self with overconsumption of unhealthy choices, make a better choice.

You have options. While it might seem like your options are like choosing the lesser of two evils, you always have another option. Choose wisely.

Regarding communication, one other positive option is silence or not reacting. There are many healing properties in doing so. Having an increased presence on social media may make you feel connected, but we can find ourselves becoming overstimulated by too much information or opinions which infuriate us. Often we do not realize the the healing qualities in silence or not being reactive because so much of our world is overstimulated. It becomes a built in behavior to feel the need to respond. Well, I am granting you permission to be still, do nothing, say nothing — and see how it changes you for the better. When was the last time you enjoyed the stimulation of doing nothing, silently? Could you use a little of that type of stimulation right now? There is no better time than now to make a positive change in your life.

Overstimulation is overrated and unhealthy. According to the article in INC. magazine by Jessica Stillman entitled: The Incredible Brain Benefits of Silence — “In the mid 20th century, epidemiologists discovered correlations between high blood pressure and chronic noise sources like highways and airports. Later research seemed to link noise to increased rates of sleep loss, heart disease, and tinnitus…” Being still, taking time to be mindful of what matters most, making better choices, and understanding your true needs are keys to quality health.

So you see, you have options for stimulation that are within best practices. Being sheltered safely inside your home and enjoying your time with self and family can be of great, stimulating benefit. And while exercise, being active or spending time in silence are among best practices, so is doing nothing. This does not emphasize the idea of being or becoming sedentary. Instead, become aware of your mind-body connection and know how you feel and what you need, both internally and externally. In order to stay well you also need to rest. Avoid becoming overstimulated too close to bedtime. A good night’s rest is a wonderful foundation for a healthy, happy you. Give yourself permission to make the most of this time. If that means taking to tasks you now have time for, great! If that means giving yourself permission to rest and rejuvenate, wonderful!

What can you give yourself permission to do or not do today? How can you make choices today to help positively stimulate your mind-body connection and live the life you deserve right now?

Be well. <3

1st – FREE Hypnosis Session – COVID-19 Anxiety

With a big thanks to our friends at www.hypnoticworld.com – this resource was created to help people overcome the challenges of living inside this pandemic.

As always, Haven Hypnosis & Wellness is here to answer the call and help however we can. Through online resources shared to help ease minds and provide comfort, to offering referrals for other resources, we promise to continue to help you live the lives you deserve, in spite of the uncertainty.

Please use the link below to access this Coronavirus Anxiety hypnosis session, courtesy of Hypnotic World, for the script and Haven Hypnosis & Wellness, for putting word to voice to recording.

Be well. <3

By clicking the link below, you are assuming responsibility and agreeing to be hypnotized for purposes listed above. Haven Hypnosis, Hypnotic World and their subsidiaries are free of liability from listening to said recording.

Click here to listen to session: https://anchor.fm/haven-hypnosis/episodes/FREE-RESOURCE-COVID-19-Anxiety-Hypnosis-Session-ebrg2p

Living With Toxicity 

Hello and thank you for this opportunity. My name is Nora Knople. I am a board certified hypnotist in Norwalk, Ohio, specializing in helping clients diagnosed with autoimmune disorders. This niche began after my own journey with autoimmune. It has been a taxing journey. One I still work through, daily, as I am living with toxicity. I made a conscientious choice to work to live my best life, despite being toxic. You see, years ago, my parents made a choice, along with my dentist to use amalgam fillings in my teeth. I was plagued with dental caries, as a child and still bore the ramifications today. I also want to state I am not an anti-vaxxer, however it was after my one and only flu shot that I was able to be diagnosed properly and subsequently treated, putting me on a road to recovery. Because I am living with toxicity I am not able to get flu shots, as the benefits do not outweigh the risks for me. It has been a lengthy process of balancing life, being aware of reality versus perception and stepping outside the pain and anguish to experience life fully and wholly. Prior to being diagnosed with mercury poisoning, I surely thought I was dying. This thought was familiar, as I had beat cancer twice and allowed that thought to flutter in on occasion to remind myself I was actually, quite alive, as it were. I did this to connect back to self and reality bc so much of what I was going through at that time felt so much like an out of body experience, and today, faintly like I experienced it at all. Like a parallel lifetime. I see versions of it but it’s like watching a movie. Like I was not a part of the story at all. I would go through the motions but I was not living. I felt like I was floating on a bubble within the ethereal atmosphere. Even the day the doctor who I sought for a second opinion suspected I had heavy metal toxicity felt foreign to me. I was on nine different meds by my family doctor, to treat symptoms of asymptomatic occurrences. I certainly was not my respectful, stoic self. I had become argumentative, uncertain and paranoid. And I felt like my family doctor stopped listening. In actuality, he had, giving credit to each new symptom as a result of depression and mental illness. Reality, well, it looked very different to me, than it actually was. I was and am sane. Despite it all, somehow, within myself, I managed to function. Like a marionette, my body danced along to the rhythm of life despite the disease. Once diagnosed and given a plan of treatment, the new doctor took me off all my meds, actually ran tests the family doctor did not. I was diagnosed with RA factor, mercury poisoning and had a rare tumor growing in my middle ear, which had been growing for 13 years and masked by the overload of meds I didn’t need. My entire body was toxic. This new plan lifted a cloud from me that weighed me down for years. I felt confident and in control, yet I was anything but. Most importantly, I felt, for the first time, hope and I felt listened to. The subsequent specialist appointments to formulate treatment plans felt liberating and rounds of chelation therapy worked wonders, but my body was still on a trajectory toward despair. Stress, even superficial, caused a spiral of doom. Reality was scary. The physical was being cared for. I needed to care for every level of me in order to heal. It was then I returned to my roots in complementary care, and also saw a highly qualified counselor, who helped me understand I was not only not crazy, but not my illnesses. Add in meditation, yoga, hypnosis, massage, physical therapy and more – all aided me to restore my authenticity and focus on actual reality, leaving fear and pain in the peripheral. I am evolving toward a goal of eroding the fear and pain, but I can tell you, though some symptoms remain, my life is no longer a struggle and living present to the moment has allowed me to live no longer overwhelmed and given me a profound presence and quality of life with deeper awareness of self and deeper connections to the outside world. When battling mercury poisoning, stepping into the outside world required every part of my personality to function as individual marionettes to play their part, embodying the whole. Failure to do so would quickly escalate to full blown meltdown causing me to implode. Now, I embody the here and now, presently. Understanding my body is a vehicle for that purpose and fully aware of the responsibility, care and maintenance required to keep me going strong. I am happy to say, I am now living fully – no longer the marionette, but, now, the puppeteer. I took control of my life and having a well-rounded plan for wellness was the answer for me. My new doctor was open to discuss combining complementary care as a protocol for treatment. For me, it was necessary. I, not unlike many who are plagued with pain, was caught up in the emotional and cognitive realms of pain. Much of my pain was not real, just perceived. I found my way through it and these processes help me balance other emotions as they arise: grief, sadness, overly-joyful, etc. We need balance to function best. So much of the work I do with clients as a board certified hypnotist is centered on a subconscious uncoupling on the sensory realm of the pain itself. In doing so, the results are usually quick, and the process allows the intensity of those senses to be less debilitating, allowing the client to develop a more accurate interpretation of the senses through awareness. To some degree, despite some feeling paralyzed by fear embedded in the pain, the awareness of the pain itself lessens, offering respite to the clients, liberating them from fear and more intune with the emotions attached to the pain. This awareness allows for a deeper connection to the self, by tuning into each sensation within the body, mind, spirit and energy and accepting, without judgment, what truly ‘is’ and what truly ‘isn’t’. This disciplined exercise of the self is not easy, nor for everyone. However, if able and open to it, can assist clients in showing up more presently in their lives, eroding the once overwhelming fear and pain and contribute to a better quality of life. However, most importantly, I listen. As my clients often know themselves better than I. I provide a safe space and opportunity for them to explore what that means and teach them how to best operate their vehicle of self and all its bells and whistles. This is best practices and aids to their quality of life. While I am still toxic, I am less so, now.


I consciously choose to place my focus on living, instead of dying. Complementary care helped me have a better quality of life. Said practices are being sought, often when nothing else works. I believe, together, with traditional medical care and therapies, where applicable, wellness practitioners, as we are, can and do fulfill exquisite needs to caring for clients and/or patients, holistically and wholly. Consider these collaborations not just as means to aid the clients/patients, but to build a foundation of best practices for self and business, too. Thank you.

-N. Knople 2-19-2020 Integrative Healthcare Symposium