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KEEPING HEART for RESILIENCE

My Medicine Wheel…. A special healing place in the forest overlooking a stream in Central Oregon. Children, teens and adults reaped healing benefits working with me there. Divorce brought an end to the Medicine Wheel that had to be dismantled. The grieving stages took me through the shades of denial, anger, sadness, depression. Transformation began when I stared at the bare earth, akin to viewing someone in a casket.

When I released the old form, acceptance freed and empowered me. The struggle of not accepting it inhibited healing. Acceptance brought hope. Creatively, I found new ways to use the parts of my sacred space like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. I had to make a vow aligning me with the present moment for ongoing resilience.

I etched that Medicine Wheel in my soul’s core deep in my heart. It lives inside me. Nothing can dismantle it ever again. It gave me strength to move forward with its lessons and experiences. I reconstructed thoughts and feelings to resonate in my heart instead of my troubled stomach.

That story resembles the dismantling of our way of life now, more so for those who lost everything in the wildfires, but for all of us on some level. Our community is excelling in exemplary heartfelt compassion and care, nourishing resilience.

Much ego, divisiveness and confusion have filled our country and the atmosphere globally. To raise the bar for human life it is essential to move from the ego bound solar plexus struggles to a united-through-the-heart connection that nourishes resilience.

Research shows the heart sends more messages to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. It also shows that by physically connecting with our hearts, we can shift our moods and improve focus, sleep quality, and vitality as well as release stress, find balance and build resilience. Looking after the physical heart is imperative for overall health and longevity. The heart is the home base for resilience. Find a formula that works for you. Here is a sample.

Touch or tap your sternum with your fingers and make the sound of the heart in exhalation, repeatedly: AHHHHHHHH. Then THINK gratitude, FEELING it in your heart. Focus on a memory, scene, or image that brings deep appreciation to your heart. FEEL it. SEE it. Gratitude opens the heart with warm glow, spreading to every cell. Calmly and deeply, B R E A T H E it into your heart, FEELING it continually. Abdominal/belly button breathing is high octane fuel. Chest breathing is minimal fuel. Breathe in, 1,2,3,4,5. Hold it 1,2. Exhale stuck energy, AHHHHHHHH….slowly/deeply 1,2,3,4,5. Repeat as needed.

When feeling full bodied gratitude, go for a home run for your resilience by raising the stakes. FEEL joy by repeating the process, visualizing something joyful and do the belly button slow/deep breathing. FEEL it. This creates endorphins that feel good, releasing pain and suffering. Use will power to pep talk your thoughts and feelings to SCORE for your heart’s home team in resilience.

Finding ways to move energy from negative thoughts and emotions, registering body tension that causes blockage to heart energy flow, is imperative. Be inspired. Help others. Be creative. Relaxation releases tension while tension begets more tension. Feeling compassion opens the heart. Meditation. Fun. Laughter. NATURE. Play. Caring. Kindness. Dance. Sing. So SOMETHING moving energy dedicated to resilience.

The human heart’s magnetic field can be measured up to several feet away from the body. What we feel in our hearts can be felt by others. Heart glow brings resilience. We have choices in navigating ourselves and impacting our world. We count!

Heart intelligence and health benefit resilience from positive attitude and healthy release of stress. By connecting to our hearts we can become more compassionate and caring towards ourselves and others. According to the World Health Organization, Ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the world’s biggest killers, and these diseases have remained the leading causes of death globally for the last 15 years. Whatever we can do to help improve the health of our hearts is of the utmost importance. When we keep our hearts well, our hearts keep us well.

BLESS YOUR HEART!

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Janai 'Grandma Boom' Mestrovich

Janai Mestrovich aka Grandma Boom’s passion for human potential and stress prevention has been a 40-year journey. With a Master’s Degree in Family and Child Development, she is a pioneer in children’s stress prevention programs, and author, newspaper columnist, TV producer/host/creator/writer, and international speaker. Janai’s awards and honors include: Silver Medal, NY International Film and Television Festival; Most Innovative Children’s Program, Oregon; Miss Hospitality of Kansas, 1969; invited and appointed to the Rosalynn Carter Institute National Caregiving Project Editorial Board; invited to represent prevention and rural areas at the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health; watermelon seed spitting champion; 1st and 2nd place awards as Freedom Fairy in Ashland, Oregon’s July 4th parades. She is a pioneer and advocate in furthering holistic education for children, and delights in being an outrageously fun grandmother. Janai has taught at the University of Oregon and Southern Oregon University on Empowering Children, speaks at global conferences, and dresses in costume to teach in daycare settings about stress skills and emotional intelligence. She encourages all, young and old alike, to engage their joy-filled inner child, and tap into the freedom of holistic aging.

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