The Purple Prescription: Belated Birthday Reflections 2017

Who doesn't love a good ol' reflective birthday blog? 

Birthdays are, of course, a time to reflect and be thankful for the times, good and bad, that you've had. While I still agree with my statement a few years back (based on Sheryl Sandberg's observations after suddenly losing her husband) that you should "celebrate your birthday goddammit. You are lucky to have each one," I have nonetheless found the years between 35 and the present to be increasingly anxiety-producing. Milestones are approaching and certain goals are not met if ya know what I mean. 

Now don't get me wrong, it was a great year: my sister had a beautiful wedding, I got some life stuff in order, and I got to visit Costa Rica, Dallas, and Nashville y'all! And it certainly had some pretty low points and tragic losses. But overall I can't complain.

Focus on the Purple

Last fall I wrote about my trip to Costa Rica. One of the most impactful experiences of that trip was an energy-healing session I had. While this type of thing is generally not my go-to, I support anything that works for you that doesn't hurt others, and I love to try new things, so I gave it a whirl.

It was one of the most incredible hours I've ever spent working on myself. It was a mix of unblocking chakras, talk therapy and meditations/visualizations/exercises to address some of the issues I was experiencing at that time. I didn't know much about chakras going in, but I knew there was a heart one and I imagined that I would be told that it had a blockage the size of the Hoover dam. But that wasn't the case. It was actually my intuition-based (third eye) chakra and two others that were blocked. For the third eye chakra, my homework was assigned:

• Build your intuition, starting with small exercises (such as not asking the waitress for recommendations at a restaurant and just going with my first instinct). This seemed to be a totally legit recommendation, all spirituality aside.
• Wear more purple, buy amethyst crystals, etc. I like purple anyhow so no harm no foul.

My recent birthday was a bit tougher than normal because I felt so far from a lot of the goals I had set for this point in my life. The hardest part was that I felt powerless in achieving some of these goals, which led to frequent 3A.M. fits of panic.

So I made a really quick gut-based decision to freeze my eggs (I'd already had the facts I needed but I had never been able to make a decision up until this point). It was a hard and expensive decision. But the second I made it, it felt like the biggest weight had been lifted and I was in control once again. My gut was in check and I knew it was the right decision. So my big lesson here is to continue to trust in my own intuition and build that muscle. As Malcolm Gladwell states: “There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.” 

Of course, that feeling, as with anything else in life, was short-lived. Because the decision I made didn't quite provide as positive an outcome as I had expected (good but not great if ya know what I mean). And now I have to re-adjust. This is where another big lesson of the year came into play (and I learn this particular lesson all the time): All you can control is the moment that you're in. So focus on that, use your instinct to guide you to make the best decisions you can at that moment, and let go of the consequences or the worry about what comes next. 

Meditate the Day Away

And to stay in the moment and stress a bit less, I really want to focus more on the proven heal-all which is now a pretty common life hack: meditation. Here are some cool tools I've found for making the practice of meditation easy:

• Meditation sessions: There are all kinds of free meditation sessions if you look for them. Some that I find interesting and usually pretty helpful are the sessions provided by www.meditationtoronto.com. They have free meditation classes, Sunday evening meditations that include a delicious vegetarian meal and day retreats out in the country for a small fee which includes yoga, swimming in the most beautiful pond, a vegetarian lunch, and guided meditation.
• Online Meditations: The book "The Universe Has your Back" by Gabby Bernstein references a number of free meditations on their website and there are also a bunch you can find on youtube. Oprah (love her or hate her...I love her) and Deepak Chopra have a number of awesome 21-day meditation courses that include music, intros from Oprah and Deepak and a mantra meditation session. Each session is about 20 minutes long. They often offer a free version for a limited time so get on the mailing list and you will get news on that. 
• MBSR: The renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) which is offered at many hospitals for a small fee is an 8-week meditation program (at least when I took it) started by a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts medical school, is based on science, and is really effective.
• Meditation apps: Finally there are some really cool apps like Calm, and Headspace that start you off with a free intro so you can see what's what. 

So this year, my general birthday wish is to be happy, healthy and in the moment (I've said this before but trust me, it's an ongoing practice), and to have faith in the process and that the Universe has my back.  Add this to my New Year's goals and it should be a banner (and busy) year. 


Still doing my best to kick the shit out of option B!