About the Author: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman’s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie writes for The Huffington Post, Psych Central, Beliefnet, Elephant Journal, The Good Men Project, Expanded Family, Meaningful Mom, Bucks Happening, Montco Happening, Hunterdon Happening, as well as a growing number of other venues. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com Thursday June 12, 2014 was a day like no other in my 55 years on the planet. I had donned shorts, t-shirt and sneakers and headed to Planet Fitness (a.k.a. The Judgement Free Zone) where I had gone five or six days a week for my workouts, which I referred to as ‘playouts,’ to make them seem more fun. I completed my one hour round of cardio and weights, jumped into my Jeep and drove home to shower and prepare to see several clients in an outpatient drug and alcohol rehab where I had worked as a therapist for two years. On familiar roads, something unfamiliar and unexpected occurred. Imagine someone grabbing your jaw and gripping tightly so that you couldn’t move it. Then sense torrential sweats, long after having cooled down post workout. Beat skipping heart palpitations, lightheadedness, nausea and searing heartburn pain followed. I knew immediately that I was having a heart attack. Call it oxygen deprivation, but I didn’t go straight to the hospital. I drove home, called to cancel with my clients and then had the thought that I was sweaty and needed to take a shower. Common sense kicked in…but only to a point. I said to myself, “What are you doing, woman? Get yourself to the hospital.” I didn’t call 911 as I should have. Instead, I got back in the car and drove myself to my local hospital which was about 10 minutes away. I stumbled into the emergency room and informed the woman behind the desk that I was having a heart attack. Within moments I was whisked to the cardiac cath lab where a stent was inserted via my wrist which was a blessing, since the other option was that it be threaded through the groin. A humorous moment preceded the surgery as the nurse who prepped me for it, told me, “You’re going to hate me, but I’m only going to shave you on one side (in case I did need to have the less pleasant procedure).” I asked her, “Can’t you do a landing strip?” She volleyed back, “You’re on your own for that when you get home.” That told me that I would indeed survive. An hour later, I was greeted by the cardiologist who showed me what my fully occluded artery looked like (a broken tree branch) and how it appeared once the stent was present (as if the branch had popped back up). He cautioned me about my condition that had multiple causal factors. Family history (my mom died of Congestive Heart Failure), elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, as well the highly stressful lifestyle I admitted living. I had been working 12-14 hour days and sleeping perhaps 5 or 6 hours per night for likely two years. Both parents had died within a 2 ½ year period and I had suppressed my emotions since I had been the social worker who interacted with hospice, the minister who officiated at their funerals and my mother’s Power of Attorney and executor of her estate. The grieving daughter had no opportunity to mourn. This experience had been preceded at the end of 2013 by shingles that showed up on the anniversary of my mother’s death, which was the day after Thanksgiving of 2010. No surprise that my body was telling me something that I ignored. Turns out I was not alone. Many women ignore the symptoms as I did. I erroneously believed that menopause was the cause of my sleeplessness, dizziness and arrhythmia. As I lay in the hospital bed, I was bombarded by thoughts of, “What if I don’t bounce back? What if I am incapacitated? What if I have to rely on other people? Holy sh*t, I’m only 55.” Well -meaning family and friends told me that I had to take a few weeks off from work to recuperate. I went into panic mode, thinking that I couldn’t afford to miss work. My boss informed me that he would not allow me through the door and that my co-workers would hold down the fort and take care of my clients. I found myself lying on the couch as I watched the ceiling fan spin from the peak of the living room ceiling. I wrote copious articles for various sites and publications as a cautionary ‘don’t let this happen to you,’ message. I had promised one of the nurses who had come in to care for me in the wee hours of the morning that once stabilized, I needed to go out and teach women about cardiac care. I have since kept my word and have spoken to several groups about this condition. According to The Heart Foundation
One step I have taken is to return to my athletic roots. I was a swimmer in my youth and into my early adulthood. Even though that has not been my chosen form of exercise of late, I do things that get my heart pumping such as 3-4 time a week gym workouts, walking on alternate days, dancing, riding my bike. I am training for a 5k in September called The Bubble Run. I have also joined a Facebook group called Ironheart Connect which was designed with athletes who have cardiac conditions in mind. The support has been invaluable. Since that morning, nearly three years ago, I have dived deep, stretched wide and soared high and in uncustomary non-action sat in silence with my feelings until they became vocal in the form of sobbing and storming. The one who kept emotions at bay in the service of keeping on keeping on had died that day to give birth to the one who is typing these words. I say that she had to die since she was killing me. Killing me with overwork and under-rest. Killing me with co-dependent savior behavior. Killing me with unreasonable standards for performance in all areas of my life. Killing me with rabid disapproval. Killing me by not holding my own heart sacred as I did others.
Paradoxically, although I did not actually die; no ceasing of heart beat, I am prepared to die any day. I don’t fear it. I do fear incapacity and relying on others for my physical care. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:
In celebration of my third cardiaversary, I am organizing a Free Hugs stroll on June 10th. If you are in the Philadelphia area, please join us. If not, hug someone wherever you are.
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About the Author: Kate Olson, CPC, CHt, is a Life Transformation Coach, Clinical Hypnotherapist, EFT & NLP Practitioner & Reiki Master with a practice in the Seattle area, Northern Lights Life Coaching. She offers workshops & classes, as well as, individual and group life coaching. Her emphasis is on assisting clients in finding path, purpose and peace. She focuses on integration of mind, body and spirit wellness. It is her mission to help clients find joy through connection, creative expression and change facilitation. She is passionate about creativity, travel, the environment, personal growth and living with joyful purpose. She has a second wellness-related business offering Salt Therapy, Salt Works Saltariums. Salt Therapy offers an all natural treatment solution for respiratory and skin problems. Do you feel lucky today or are you generally a lucky or unlucky person? More importantly, is there really luck at all? Are we, in fact, "lucky or unlucky"; or is it a matter of cause and effect and "luck" is simply our own imagination or conjecture. This question has been asked and debated quite extensively. Perhaps there is an answer or maybe not? Having recently returned from a trip to Las Vegas, of course, this question did come up. Was I lucky? Well, I did try my hand at games of chance and came out $225.00 ahead playing balckjack. Some people would refer to that as good luck, while others would not. The first day I gambled I came out $325.00 up, but on the second day I lost a hundred dollars. I was up a little over a hundred dollars that day, but kept playing and eventually lost it back, plus an additional hundred. Was I unlucky that day or was it bad luck? On another note, my plane was an hour late arriving, my room was not up to par and the workshop I paid to attend was not what I expected. Was this all "bad luck"? Was my balckjack win "good luck"? There are differing opinions on that, but is there a definitive answer to the question? Clearly, I had nothing to do with the delays that made the plane late and I did nothing to justify the conditions of the the room not being what I expected and paid for. However, there were actions and behaviors that were causative for both of those circumstances (though not on my part). So, should I consider it "my bad luck"? Were my blackjack winnings "good luck" or was there something else at work in determining whether I would win or loose? I am a very good and knowledgeable player having dealt blackjack on a part-time basis for mock casino parties for over 20 years. I almost always win, however, it is also true that if I play long enough, I will nearly always loose and on any given day or occurence of playing I may win or loose in a way that I am not expecting. Where does that leave us on the question of luck? Still pondering and uncertain? “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” ― Dalai Lama XIV “Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson Wise men have expressed differing opinions on the subject of luck throughout history and we are still debating the existence of luck, good or bad! Several experts weigh in as follows: In a Discovery series, Through the Wormhole program narrated by Morgan Freeman the subject of luck is discussed from a scientic perspective and it seems, -- Luck is real from a Physicist's viewpoint!
It seems, "Even if you knew every physical detail of a coin toss -from the molecules in the air to the movement of your hands - that coin flip would still come down to fifty-fifty odds on heads or tails!" Thus, according to quamtum mechanics and quantum uncertainty theory - the science of it says "luck" is very real!" In an article in Popular Science, May 17, 2015, "The Science of Luck - Is the phenomenon real? Can it be harnassed? by Alexandra Ossola - the argument for luck being real or believing in luck is supported, but with a twist: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjZn8WlzevTAhWFLmMKHVcqCz8QFggtMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popsci.com%2Fluck-real&usg=AFQjCNF0ILbJbsWlxZIgu7n5Be35SUuwLg&sig2=t15UHhw5VJba8DviWtdd3w Ossola states: "Many of these studies have found that what a person might perceive as “luck” has more to do with psychology than probability; "luck" is actually just her own positive attitude that keeps her open to new opportunities or perceiving patterns in random acts of chance." This gives evidence that there is possibly a strong element to attitude or mindset as to whether a person is "lucky" or "unlucky" generally or on any given day, even considering the belief that luck is scientifically real. However, there is an entirely opposing view. Although, this perspective also accepts the existence of randomness, they explain what is usually referred to as luck in an entirely different way leading to the belief that there is "no such thing as luck"! So, it appears there is not a real concensus on the subject of luck and different people may choose to embrace one explanation or another and see things from that perspective. I tend to see some merit in each explanation. I do believe the science and I do believe that we do influence the the outcome of things both by our beliefs and our attitudes and I do definitely think that there is an overriding factor of randomness at work in the world.
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Blog By Kate Olson Kate is a Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner & Trainer, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, Life Coach and more. To find out more about her or her work, click the links below:
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Living in Joyful Resilience: A Roadmap for Navigating Life's Ups & Downs & Simple Soul Thoughts : Collecting Moments of Joy www.joyfulkate.com About the Blog After 4 years of featuring at least 1 guest Author a month this blog changed in 2020. I loved featuring the posts of other great people who also believe in mind, body, spirit wellness. I will continue to feature articles submitted to me on this topic that align with my own mission. However, finding & reaching out to others is time consuming and I do it for my radio show, Soul Talks and other groups and projects and so for this blog i will be ramping up my own posts and perspective. posting mostly my own blogs. I will be happy & excited to post articles from those who submit them to me. Archives
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