Health

Am I sensitive and passionate or just being reactive?

I have always considered myself to be a very passionate person. I feel deeply. I get enthusiastic quickly. I cry easily. I always chocked it up to being Portuguese and being raised in a household where you spoke loudly. Later, as I learned about the science of high sensitivity, I realized that my passion was because my nervous system literally took in more information and processed it more deeply than the average person.

And, over time, as I’ve matured, I also realized that what I was lumping together as my passionate qualities were actually reactivity.

Dr. Shefali Tsabury, in her book the Awakened Family, speaks about how there is a difference between reacting and responding. We may not have learned what this difference was as children, so we assume that not reacting means we are being passive or inauthentic. This is because we may have failed to learn, as children and adolescents, how to speak our truth without becoming defensive about it.

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What is High Sensitivity?

You’ve heard me talk a lot about high sensitivity around here especially as it pertains to parenting. I am a highly sensitive person (HSP) and so is Gab.

But what am I even talking about? Here’s a primer on the main characteristics of HSPs. There will be much more coming in my writing about this trait so definitely stay tuned.

High sensitivity refers to an innate capacity in some people for being highly aware of and attuned to their surroundings. It is a personality trait (like introversion/extroversion). …

Creating a Safe Space for Clients

When I polled my audience on Instagram, 82% identified as being in a healing/helping profession (nurse, doctor, social worker, teacher, trainer, therapist, coach, parent). I myself have been in nursing for 11 years, first in cancer care and now in women’s health. I get the importance of maintaining healthy boundaries, having good communication skills and conveying compassion.

I think I create a comfortable environment in my office; I often have people surprised about what they tell me because they hadn’t anticipated that coming up. I think this is the greatest sign that clients feel that I am present with them, open to hearing their story and ready to find solutions where I can. I thought today, I would share some tips for my fellow healers on how to create a comforting, compassionate space for your clients. …

The 5 Reasons I Practice Yoga

I have been practicing yoga on and off for 15 years. It’s a form of movement that I always come back to because it is a movement practice that totally prioritizes the mind-body connection. Have you been thinking of starting a yoga practice but are not sure what all the hype is about? Are you afraid that it’s not for you? Let me tell you, it is.

Here are the five reasons I do yoga every week:…

What would happen if we talked about our periods?

I remember the first time I got my period—July 23,1996. It had some seriously unfortunate timing because it was summer vacation and I was supposed to go out to a community swimming pool that day. I wasn’t sure how I would get out of the swimming without actually talking about my situation; and I knew your period wasn’t something that people talked about. I mean, I was pretty sure it wasn’t. I had never heard my mom talk about it. I was the first girl in my group to have gotten my period, so my friends had never talked about it. I had a brother so he definitely wasn’t talking about it….

Thoughts on Breastfeeding…

This is a bag of breast milk. This is not a bag of my breast milk. My body chose to never produce this much milk. I never responded to pumping. Breastfeeding totally kicked my ass.

It’s world breastfeeding week and I have a few things to say.

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My Veggie Eating Hacks

I have a mantra in life. Ya wanna hear it? Okay here goes…

Eat your veggies

I can see how you might find this to be a bit superficial. I mean how can this be my life’s mantra; isn’t there a more profound philosophy to live by? But obviously, since I run a food blog, I think food is very important. And vegetables are definitely the most important food of all. …

Safest Sunscreens

I’m trying out something new today. Over on my personal Instagram, I’ve posted about my favourite sunscreens before and usually people are quite interested so I thought I would take a deeper dive into the topic and provide some recommendations….

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