Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I'm back.
In the past year, my husband Kjell ("Chell") and I opened our long-held dream: Confluence Clinic. Kjell is an acupuncturist and chinese herbalist, and together we are working to bring a holistic approach to health. Kjell and I are working together with several clients on providing support to their healing process, and having great results. It is truly a gift for us that our clients and patients give through their intention, honesty, and work.
Our clinic is in downtown Portland on SW 6th and Washington. We have a great location with public transit access and parking right across the street--we validate!
So that's the update. In more feeling terms, I'm enjoying the arrival of Fall. As I write, it is a truly magnificent day outside. I was able to take a nice walk today around downtown while running a few errands and was taken aback multiple times by the beauty of the blue sky. Living in the Northwest, it feels like a long breath in before the steady descent into Winter.
The thing is, that sky is always up there. It is always blue above the clouds, the weather is always moving and temporary. This is much like our emotional states. While we want to always acknowledge and honor our emotional states, we also don't want to get stuck thinking that every day is a rainy day in January, because it's not. But, on that rainy day in January, it certainly feels like it's never going to get better.
None of us is identified by a single feeling. We are not good, bad, right, wrong, smart, perfect, bad, terrible, etc. We are a constantly changing Earth all to ourselves. We grow, we die, and something new happens. All of it, everyday.
I've really been enjoying cooking lately and am amazed and how being nurturing to myself, and attentive to the bounty of nature, can transform my mood after a long day. It makes such a difference.
In the process of therapy, I often tell my clients that we are walking along a braided path. The past is with us, because the past informs the present, and often there are wounds that need to be healed, and grief that needs to be felt. But we also need to tend to the present, to what we do everyday and the choices we make. I try to help clients find these tools. And then there are other people. Our choices in relationship inform our life to such a large degree! This is a large and integral part of what I do as well. I work to give honest feedback to my clients as they move in the world of relationships.
Love and work... work and love, that's all there is.
If you can't do it, give up!
A couple of quotes by Sigmund Freud to go with this light-hearted day.
Peace to you,
Erin
