What is Your Medicine?

10/9/2022

Sunrise 10/2/2022

Hello friends! The birds of migration continue to trickle through even with the continuing drought. There are many new mudflats around the lake with the water dropping so low that I wonder if I will see shorebirds at all or only at a distance. Our first big cold front arrives this weekend so I have my fingers crossed that some of the migrants will stop in to say hello.

Always a treat to catch a chimney swift in focus! There’s been a large flock hanging around the last few weeks but all too soon they will leave for the winter.

While shooting the chimney swifts I was delighted to see this beautiful red-headed woodpecker appear in my lens! I don’t see them often and this one disappeared out of sight very quickly.

Healing has been on my mind as I’ve navigated a summer of physical challenges including 11 weeks of pain from sciatica. I finally seem to be getting substantially better and hope this time there are no more setbacks. I still long to curl up comfortably in a chair with a book or tie my shoes with ease, but I took great pleasure in putting lotion on my feet this morning for the first time in weeks. Healing, of course, is more than physical. I hope the connection I’ve been working on with my body will continue to deepen and grow as the pain recedes.

Today I heard a question on Alexa Bradley Hulsey’s podcast, “Notes from Your Acupuncturist” that has me thinking. I’m not sure now exactly how it was phrased or maybe it wasn’t a question at all but in my mind it sits now as, “What is Your Medicine?”

What is the medicine of the great egret? One thing seems to be the ability to stand in your space!

There are so many ways of healing in the world. My dad is an excellent hug healer. he has a way of hugging you, especially in that moment where you don’t know what else to do, that allows you to just sink into the hug and feel supported. He probably thinks I call him every day to check in on him, but the truth is on days when I need it I can feel that hug through the phone.

My neighbor, Diane, heals through listening. Every time I stop to talk to her I end up feeling rejuvenated and lighter. She provides loving support for so many by being there for them, including some work she does with neonatal hospice (women who are pregnant but whose babies are not expected to live long). I have no doubt they feel as held and uplifted by her presence as I do.

He appeared and she noticed but she didn’t seem to mind. Maybe he makes her feel safe?

Friends heal us with their presence, a simple hello, acknowledgement or phone call. I am beyond grateful for my friends. My sanhga provides amazing medicine every week by showing up with big hearts and authentic intentions. We gather in meditation and then we wrestle with the challenges of life together. As soon as I see their faces I feel lighter.

Many offer their healing professionally. I have friends and trusted practitioners who are gifted healers in a variety of ways - herbalists, coaches, acupuncturists, shamanic practitioners, writers, therapists and so many more. I find healing in my inbox from some of these wonderful women.

Yellow-billed cuckoo hiding from me in the bushes. Maybe cuckoo medicine includes the ability to be discreet!

I love that Janise Ray says on her website, “Stories are Medicine”. It has me thinking about what I offer here and everywhere I show up in the world. How can I use my camera and pen to heal? If I didn’t have a camera, how would I heal? If I didn’t have a story to share, how would I heal? How can I show up in the world and be more of a healing presence to myself and others? How can I show up with my camera and my pen in ways that increase that healing presence?

These are not questions I expect to answer. I find the best questions are often the ones that rattle around in my being for weeks - or years - allowing ever deepening understanding to unfold. “What is your Medicine” feels like one of those questions to me.

This was a victory lap after successfully running off another egret. Remember what I said about being able to stand in your space?

This young Cooper’s hawk has been tormenting the crows, or perhaps they are tormenting him. It’s hard to tell! I have said for years that mamma Cooper’s hawks tell their kids to go follow the crows around and learn how to survive in the world. I ran out of ways to tie this into the medicine analogy but I was so happy to get such a nice shot!

Take good care of your bodies and hearts friends. We all both need and provide medicine for others in this world.