by Diane Goble
It started one Friday afternoon while sitting at my computer… just a little tickle in the back of my throat. By ten o’clock, I could no longer form a coherent thought. My head felt like it expanded to the size of a watermelon. My throat was raw. Couldn’t stop coughing. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t eat. Just wanted to sleep. All weekend.
By Monday I felt better. I actually got some writing done in the morning. I picked up my granddaughter after school but this time she read to me instead of me reading to her because by the time my daughter got here after work to pick her up, I was sinking back into oblivion all because a tiny bug I couldn’t even see had returned to suck the life out of me.
Never mind trying to get any work done on my book, just pull the covers over my head. I did, and for the next week I barely functioned. Every time I thought I was on the mend, I got hit again… sinuses so full of mucus I couldn’t breathe, coughing all night long, not getting any sleep. Was about ready to request my Death with Dignity option!
I always get a flu shot, but this year I guess it’s a crapshoot… depends on what strain comes through town. Here are some thoughts from my old stress management notes on how to stay healthier.
- Wash your hands frequently if you go outside. Carry hand sanitizer or wipes and avoid touching door handles. If you must, use your other hand or only your last two fingers. Wash your hands after touching dollar bills. If you have to sneeze, put your arm over your face and sneeze into your elbow.
- Sick or well, we should all be drinking enough water to keep from getting dehydrated, which puts a strain on our body’s systems. I keep a glass of water at my desk and a water bottle in my car.
- You’ve probably heard you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day, but when you think about it we are all different people with different body shapes, sizes and needs. We have different levels of physical activities and sweat our own unique amounts. So drink water when you are thirsty or when you are hungry, which is often a sign of mild dehydration. Drink water before anything else. Cut back on coffee, a diuretic, which makes you urinate more frequently and can lead to dehydration. If you drink coffee throughout the day, drink a large glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink and gradually cut back to two cups of coffee a day.
- A simple thing that we could all probably use some help with is eating more fresh fruits and veggies. Whether it’s adding a banana to your usual breakfast or choosing a salad at lunch, we could all do better.
- If you tend to nod off mid-afternoon, have an apple or some celery sticks with peanut butter. Once you start cutting out sugary, salty foods, your body will start to crave them less and you avoid sugar highs and lows.
- If you consume meat on a regular basis, try making the portion of veggies even bigger. Eating too much meat can make our bodies acidic, while supplementing with fresh fruits and vegetables can help counteract that.
- If you have a desk job or home office, sitting at a computer all day affects the muscles in your neck, shoulders and back. Changing this behavior can be tough and it’s a hard habit to break. Studies show that sitting and slouching too much can lead to not just back and spine problems, but gastrointestinal pains, headaches, bad circulation, and a whole host of other physical issues that show themselves as we age.
- Set a timer (online-eggtimer.com) to get up every 30 minutes and do 10 jumping jacks, or go for a short walk. Getting a little sunshine and blue sky exposure can clear your mind and lift your spirits.
- Above all, don’t forget to breathe. The proper way to breathe is to take deep slow breaths expanding your abdomen, hold for a few seconds and then slowly release contracting the abdomen. As we get older, we may become more stressed which actually changes the way we breathe. Stress causes our bodies to go into ‘fight or flight’ mode, whether the threat is real or imagined. If you watch FOX News all day long, you could be in fight or flight mode every moment of every day. In the long run this shallow breathing deprives our bodies of essential CO2 and oxygen, which can lead to insomnia, panic attacks, dizziness, extreme fatigue and even increase blood pressure and heart rate.
- Learn to meditate, slow down your breathing, focus on one word or image, and imagine the toxins flowing out of your system each time you exhale. Just 5 minutes 3 times a day.
- And don’t forget to laugh frequently and smile often! When we smile our brain actually releases endorphins that counteract stress and make us feel more relaxed. Not to mention that smiles are contagious! Smiling is a great way to spread some cheer and build trust with friends, coworkers, and even strangers.
(This is a monthly column I write for my local newspaper, The Nugget, in Sisters, Oregon, USA)
It’s time to have The Conversation
The best gift you can give your family is to have all your paperwork in order so they can carry out your end of life wishes if it becomes necessary. It will save them a lot of worry and grief if they know what you would want them to do under certain circumstances if you are unable to speak for yourself.
How will they know unless YOU tell them?
How will they know where to find important papers if YOU don’t tell them?
This workbook will help you and your loved ones have the conversations needed to make the decisions beforehand that they might be called upon to make for you in an emergency situation. Doing everything is not always the best response… and hope is not a plan.
Nobody wants to talk about death, especially their own… but we are all going to die some day… consider how it would affect your loved ones if you died before your next breath… then don’t put it off out of fear of bringing it on. It doesn’t work that way.
It will give everybody peace of mind and if there is an accident or emergency health crisis, your family will be able to spend time with you instead of rummaging around for paperwork and phone numbers, and all that other stuff we tend to put off.
For those who experience fear of death, this near-death experiencer describes leaving her drowning body behind, in full consciousness, fully alive and aware of everything going on around her then traveling through a void on an amazing journey accompanied by a loving being of light who opened her consciousness to remembering all we forget when we become human beings, including that this is what happens every time the body dies.
We don’t die!
We are not our bodies
Bodies are temporary vehicles that allow us to experience life on this planet
Like astronauts wear space suits, we wear human suits
We are spiritual beings having human experiences as part of our eternal spiritual journey
When our body gives out, we return home
How you want to interpret that, what that means about your religious beliefs or lack of, what that says about God, has nothing to do with this cycle of life. Any of those belief systems can be incorporated into this practice to help you to have a peaceful transition experience with full awareness about what is going on and what comes next.
“Who we really are is all but beyond human understanding,” says author Diane Goble, who has spent the past 44 years since her NDE searching to find the words that describe her experience, “but I’m working on it.”
In Beyond the Veil, which is the 5th generation of her writings, including a training course for caregivers as transition guides, she has integrated the knowledge she absorbed during her NDE with her exploration of ancient mystery schools, world religions, and science, and years of meditation practice and spiritual explorations to convey the meaning of the message she was given to share so it makes sense to most people.
This is your opportunity to raise your consciousness and go beyond what you think you know. Each time you read it, you will experience lightbulb moments as you realize you too know this but had forgotten. As you practice the exercises, you will come to a deeper understanding of who you really are and the meaning of this life to your soul’s journey.
It has been Diane Goble’s life work since her near-death experience in 1971 to share this message and to teach the art of conscious dying, and now she has put her teachings into a workbook to help families talk to each other, their doctors, and their higher consciousness as they prepare to leave this phase of life and transition to the next, fully conscious and engaged in their journey home.
Available everywhere – ISBN 9780963860651
