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A Seasonal Newsletter from
Naturopathic Health Care
 
Amy Rothenberg ND & Paul Herscu ND, MPH



Happy Thanksgiving!
lotus
369 Pleasant Street Northampton, MA 01060
115 Elm Street, Suite 210, Enfield, CT 06082
1.860.763.1225
For new patient appointments in person or via Telemedicine click here.

Calling Up Gratitude

It's easy to feel grateful when things are going well. Thanks and appreciation pours from our lips with a kind of ease and brightness. But during tougher times, feeling grateful can be hard indeed. It's easy to focus on what's not good, what's not going well, and on disappointments and regrets. And for many of our friends and patients, these last couple of years have offered up heaping servings of bad news, loss, boredom, and feelings of isolation and worry. Feeling grateful is difficult to access, it may feel remote or even irrelevant.

It's during tough times that looking for and articulating gratitude is most important. Like any muscle, when you use your gratitude muscle, it grows and shifts your perspective, even when challenges abound. Here's an invitation to take a few minutes today, or this week, or if you are gathering to celebrate the holiday, to say aloud the things you are grateful for. Take a moment, take a breath, and list out the blessings, large and small.

In my own gratitude practice, which I roll into a daily time of quiet and meditation, I often say the same things over and again: I am grateful for my family, for my health, for my home, for work that sustains me. But then I pull in something from my day. Today I added, I am thankful for the auburn leaves covering my yard, I am grateful for the sparkling pomegranate seeds I had with breakfast, I am thankful for these incredibly cozy worn-in boots, I am thankful I had the opportunity to work with a patient yesterday who taught me about unconditional love and the power of forgiveness. You can really be thankful for any thing! Sometimes we have to scrape the barrel to find something to be thankful for, but try it out. See what it feels like to try on some expressions of gratitude.

And sometimes if I am feeling a bit defeated by the news cycle or frustrated with the minutiae of taking care of forms or phone calls or paperwork, I will say to Paul, let's do a gratitude circle. Right there, somewhere in the middle of the day, standing in the kitchen or on a walk, together we tick off all the many things for which we are grateful, and as we do that, the stress of the rest of life melts away, even just a little bit. It makes me feel renewed, and I can get back to whatever I was trying to do with more equanimity and patience. If you'd like more ideas about how to flex your gratitude muscle, here's a piece
to get the family or friends in on it, too!

Paul joins me in wishing you and your family a healthy, happy Thanksgiving, safe travels if you are hitting the road, scrumptious edibles if you are preparing or sharing a meal, and the company of those you hold dear. For those of you on your own this time of the year, and for all of us, may peace be in the air and may we all find gratitude in the lives we live.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Drs. Amy & Paul
Naturopathic Approaches to Burnout
Are You Rundown with Burnout? How Relentless Stress Damages Our Health and What to Do About It

There has never been another time in my 35-year career when I have felt more people under so much stress for longer periods of time. Even before COVID-19 hit our communities, these last years of constant access to work, social media, the news cycle, issues of climate and environmental change, created a backdrop of vulnerabilities that allowed COVID to reveal or exacerbate imbalances and illnesses across the physical, emotional and cognitive landscape for so many people.

This has me thinking about the role of stress, and especially chronic stress, on the health of my patients. For many people, both those who had COVID-19 and those who have not, negative health outcomes from the far-reaching stress of the pandemic continue. Now when one adds grief over loss of loved ones, the inability to be with family and friends because of varying degrees of COVID-19 restrictions, loss of work and income, and changes in school and other routines, the level of anxiety continues to rise.
Recipe: Sweet Potato Pie
I am not sure how I got to be 61 years old having never baked a pie! But recently one of my neighbors organized The First Annual Middle Street Pie Contest. It was a glorious, if chilly, Sunday afternoon and though my entry did not win, I am proud of my effort! This gluten free, no refined sugar, sweet potato pie was delicious and hit high marks for appearance, flavor and satisfaction. My only complaint was that it took most of two hours to make, so will not likely be something I do too often! That said, the filling makes a great cooked pudding, just pour into ramekins and bake, and you can skip the whole crust affair! And it's quick-- either way bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Try out the recipe on your Thanksgiving guests and see what they think!
RECOMMENDED: Where we bring to light an organization or company whose efforts we support.

We have featured Feeding America before in this spot, but bring it back again, as food insecurity across the USA is at its highest rates in recent memory. As you think about holiday time or year-end giving, consider a donation to Feeding America, or to a local Food Bank in your community.
Naturopathic Health Care:
Northampton, MA & Enfield, CT!

For the next several months we will continue to see all our patients via telemedicine. We look forward to working with you! Call our 860.763.1225 number to schedule. We apologize in advance if it takes some weeks or months to secure a new patient appointment. We look forward to working with you!
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