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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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All the Time in the World

Transforming Anxiety into Artistry

Ask American adults if they’re anxious about time and they’ll likely say yes. Our society even deems it expected, acceptable and normal to experience such stress, but is it necessary? It’s helpful to explore what is at the root of our problems with time and why we believe we benefit from worrying and complaining about it. Both are good first steps to releasing ourselves from the drama of getting caught up in and blaming time as a convenient catchall. Which of the following rationales apply to us personally?
  • “If I can complain about being busy, I don’t have to examine other areas in my life.”
  • “My schedule is wrapped up with my self-esteem; being ‘too busy’ means that I’m successful.”
  • “Worrying about time gives me something to talk about.”
  • “I don’t plan things I might enjoy because it can be too demanding or even scary—it just feels easier and safer to be bored.”
  • “Worrying about time is a convenient excuse for not following my dreams.”
Once we identify the perceived payoffs from worrying about time, we can see them for what they are: illusions that keep us from living our true potential. Awareness allows us to make a different choice and to partner with time, instead of working against it.

Einstein proved that time is subjective, illustrated every time we compare an hour in a dentist’s chair to an hour in the company of a loved one. Time behaves and feels differently based on many variables, like emotion, engagement, flow, desire, interest, pain and pleasure. Our perspective counts. With capricious factors dancing around in our every moment, we can see why time isn’t constant.

Happily, we can use the relative nature of time to our advantage and choose what our relationship with it will be. Consider that with each instance we choose how we talk about, measure and experience time, we are actually creating a new paradigm of time for ourselves.

We can relinquish general views and limitations of time that hinder us and emerge into the possibilities of time as anything but a defined line. It can be a vibrant, completely moldable, layered, multifaceted work of art that we may adapt as we wish, to custom design each and every day.

Inspiration Natural Awakenings
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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