Our Blog

30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself

2012-01-04T01:11:54Z

Here it is, a positive ‘to-do’ list for the upcoming year – 30 things to start doing for yourself:

Start spending time with the right people. – These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.
Start facing your problems head on. – It isn’t your problems that define you, but how you react to them and recover from them. Problems will not disappear unless you take action. Do what you can, when you can, and acknowledge what you’ve done. It’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction, inch by inch. These inches count, they add up to yards and miles in the long run.

Excellent Advice for All of Us as We Enter 2012

2011-12-31T21:26:18Z

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us at Well Spring Health Center!!

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Original Article written by Marc at at Marcandangel.com

When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.
Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

Nurture & Nourish Gift Coupon Available

2011-05-02T11:38:47Z

WSHC Looking to Grow at TEN years old

2011-04-15T18:38:48Z

As many of you know, Well Spring Health Center will celebrate our TENTH Anniversary this July 30th!

We've grown and changed through the years. For the first seven years we were on Second Street and there was only myself, Dr. Shay. May 5, 2008 we moved to Aroostook Centre Mall and Chris Mayer, LAc, joined us to provide Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for The County. Leslie Smith, LMT, started her Massage practice here during the summer of 2009 and Diana Higgins, LMT, started hers the following January. Chris decided to move on to his own office at the end of February this year.

If any of you have read our Vision and Mission Statements, then you know that we're on our way to providing the care that is described:

Our Vision: is to empower individuals with integrative, holistic methodologies and practices that can be used in conjunction with existing medical approaches, philosophies and institutions so that they can become healthier, more whole human beings.

Our Mission: is to grow into a significant health care provider by giving our patients the best, proven, holistic health care available today.

So, now what? Well, it's time to grow some more! Within the next year I would like to add another DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) who specializes in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine - Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and potentially someone who would provide Family Medicine from an Integrative and Holistic perspective. Wait, no, I'm not going back to being a family doc, but having someone here to provide that care would help fill a need that has been voiced by many of you, our patients.

We may have found our Family Medicine provider, but ... more on that subject when I have more details.

Now we're searching for another DO. The Osteopathic Manipulation practice part of WSHC has just gotten so full that there I'm not able to see and treat everyone who needs OMT. Currently it is very difficult to get an appointment as an established patient, let alone get a new patient consult. Only under special circumstances are we able to accept anyone over the age of 12 months as a new patient. We really are trying to rectify this situation, but you need to give us time.

I see this as an exciting time. Just over ten years ago I was told that there wasn't a need in Aroostook County for a specialist doing Osteopathic Manipulation. They told me that the practice would die quickly. You've proven the nay sayers wrong! People have seen the benifits of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and are wanting the care.

Finding a DO specializing in NMM-OMM who will be willing to move up here may be a challenge, as many of you know. Many people think that it's too cold and too far from their family and friends, but WE know that we are a warm hearted and welcoming community. (Look at me and my family, we came from "hot" country over 12 years ago and love it here.) I am confident that the right person will arrive when the timing is right.

So, if you are the praying type, pray that this DO contacts us and we can get them working on all of you who are waiting to be seen. If you a DO who specializes in NMM-OMM, contact us! We have a great place for you to work! (click on the "Career Opportunity" on the list to the left.)

Facebook

2011-04-02T03:35:23Z

Well, we finally did it. We've created a facebook page. Feel free to connect with us in one more way. The Twitters and facebook updates should be linked, so ... have fun connecting!

February – Heart Healthy Month

2011-02-11T15:58:39Z

Click to Enlarge February is the time when we take a moment to examine the health of our heart. One of the hardest working organs in our body it contracts on average 70 times a minute, nourishing all of our body’s tissues. Your heart health affects your quality of life. Diet, exercise and good lifestyle habits promote a healthy heart.

Incorporating massage into your wellness routine can also help to promote a healthy heart. Massage assists with circulation, helping to move cellular fluid like blood and lymph. Massage helps to relieve symptoms of stress and anxiety, reducing the negative effects of stress hormones. All this combines to help to lower your blood pressure and the work load on your heart.

Schedule a massage with Diana during the month of February and receive a complimentary blood pressure reading and chocolate truffles. All good for your heart!

Click on the flyer above for further details. Contact her at 554-7200.

Can People Really Be Addicted to Food?

2011-01-25T19:07:55Z

Hmm, addicted to food? Can we be addicted to something that is essential to our existance? I read this article Can People Really Be Addicted to Food? earlier this morning and found it very interesting.

I've commented for many years that if there is addiction of any sort in your family, then you have a greater propensity toward addictive behavior as well. Not all addictions are obvious, but all eventually create harm or problems within our lives. The obvious ones are the alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, pornography, gambling, etc. But what about work, coffee, sodas, chocolate, electronic games, surfing the web, surfing facebook or myspace or exercise? Is it possible to become addicted to any of them? Look at the definition of addiction:

Addiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its negative consequences. A person who is addicted is sometimes called an addict. wordIQ.com

If your spending time doing or eating something becomes an "uncontrollable compulsion" and it begins to create problems in your life or affects those around you negatively, then you'd have to admit that it's probably an addiction.

Breaking addictions is VERY difficult. Anyone who has ever tried can attest to that. Many years ago I met a Psychiatrist who taught me to use a tool called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). He said that in forty years of practicing Psychiatry, this was the most useful tool/technique that he had. I have since used it with and taught it to many of my patients (you?). This is a tool that you can learn to use anywhere. Not only does it work well for addictions, but it works well for dealing with stress and a WIDE variety of other issues as well.

So, do you have an addiction? Is it something that you never thought could possibly be an addiction?

Some thoughts on why Doctors run late and how patients can help

2010-12-30T19:14:26Z

Thanks to Jack Forbush, D.O., for sharing this.

by Jill of All Trades, MD

A friend recently asked me in great frustration after her visit to her doctor why doctors “always run late.”

Why do doctors make their patients “dance around” the office, getting moved around to different spots in the clinic, but still having to wait and wait at each location? Instead of explaining what really goes on at the doctor’s office, I ended up emailing her a couple of links to some of my favorite blogs that have quite eloquently addressed this issue already (click below to read):

10 Things Snack Food Companies Won't Say

2010-12-05T23:31:23Z

Do you ever wonder if what you are eating is really as healthy as you thought that it might be? Is the food industry really being honest in their labeling? Does the labeling really make any sense? Hopefully the linked article will make you think, and then reconsider what you are choosing to eat.

Someone recently told me "Don't eat it if your greatgrandmother wouldn't recognize the ingredients." Sounds like some sound advice to me. Below are listed the ten points, with a "tease" to get you started on #1. Here's the article: 10 Things Snack Food Companies Won't Say

1. This is illegal in Canada
...Olestra isn’t the only banned substance that Americans are noshing on. Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, or rBGH (commonly sold under the name Posilac), a synthetic hormone injected into cows to stimulate milk production, pops up in many dairy-based snacks like ice cream. Not in the European Union or Canada, where it has been banned amid health concerns for both cows and humans, including fears that a hormone associated with cancer might be higher in people who drink milk treated with rBGH.

2. We added pulverized insects to your snack

3. Expiration date? There’s no expiration date

4. That energy bar may exhaust you

5. There are pig bones in your pudding

6. “Natural” is naturally meaningless

7. We’re spending billions to make kids fat

8. Our factories are filthy

9. Your candy bar habit is making us rich—and infuriating retailers

10. When we say “enriched,” we mean processed

Website Updates

2010-12-04T21:54:45Z

Ok, so, I've spent my afternoon working on the site. I finally was able to add the updated "Lifestyle Basics" handout on the Files for Download page. I've also played around with the twitter feeds on the left and added a Follow Us link for our new Twitter feed.

What is Integrative Holistic Medicine?

2010-10-08T18:59:06Z

I came across this definition just now. This is what we are all about here at Well Spring Health Center.

Integrative Medicine — the practice of medicine that reaffirms the importance of the relationship between the practitioner and the patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing.

Holistic Medicine — medical care that views physical and mental and spiritual aspects of life as closely interconnected and equally important approaches to treatment.

Integrative Holistic Medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses care of the whole person: body, mind, and spirit.

Innovations in Integrative Helath Care Education (Part II)

Focus

2010-10-08T17:47:52Z

On what do you focus today? The things that need to get done? The pressures and stressors of your life? Relationships? The pile of work on your desk? The last of the canning and wood that needs to be done before winter sets in? The kids? Parents?

Take time to RE-focus and calm your inner self. When we are spinning out of control, it's hard to stay focused on the tasks at hand. Nothing seems to get done completely and everything feels frayed. Taking a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes or more, to center yourself, may just give you that inner breath that you need to be able to return to the "necessary" with greater calm.

Focus is the "word of the day" on A+ a WORD from God's Book. "A Monday - Friday blog consisting of 4 to 6 INSPIRATIONAL scriptures based on a single word. Presented by LIFEgroups International." This is a blog that I've followed off and on since it started (initially by e-mail, then by blog). Today's word was so fitting, I just had to share it.

Does High Fructose Corn Syrup Cause Obesity and Diabetes?

2010-10-06T00:05:27Z

Could high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) be a cause for the rise in obesity, diabetes and other medical problems? Should you be concerned about it in your daily diet?
Pick up almost any product in your kitchen and you will see high fructose corn syrup listed in the ingredients. You might wonder how can it be bad for your health when it is just corn and fructose. There is more to gaining weight than just calories. Take a look at this Factoidz article.

If you really want to dig deeper, take a look at this lecture. Give yourself time to watch this. It has some technical detail, but is REALLY important to watch.

Here's a very simplified version of the longer lecture:

Insomnia

2010-10-05T06:42:03Z

My maternal grandmother once gave me some very wise words of wisdom. She asked me what I did when I couldn't sleep. I don't recall what I responded, but her words of advise have stuck with me for almost 30 years: PRAY.

We often cannot control the fact that we cannot sleep, there may be many contributing factors, but we can control what we do with that time. We can use that time in prayer and meditation. Maybe it's a time for praying for others - start with the people or events that come to mind off the top of your head. This frequently leads you to thinking of more that need intersession. Sometimes you will have no idea what to pray for. Be open to whatever comes to mind.

I recall, back on the night of October 14, 1975, one man doing just this. He was unable to sleep, so he got up to pray. He was reported to have prayed for everything and everyone he could think of, but still he couldn't sleep. He felt strongly that he needed to awaken his wife to join him. The two of them continued in prayer, praying through the wards of the city's largest hospital. Finally, around 1:30 am, they were able to go to sleep.

The next day, this man, a Congolese pastor, joined with a group of other pastors and missionaries for their regular meeting. He asked if anything significant had happened overnight. One of the missionaries reported that a missionary girl had been bitten by a very large water cobra (estimated to be over 6 feet long). She had been in critical condition all evening and night, on the first respirator in the country. At about 1:30 am she had taken a turn for the better and was taking off the respirator. Her parents arrived from the "bush" shortly there after, to find her alive. In a country of limited medical care and very poisonous snakes, she was the first known victim to survive a bite.

That missionary girl is my one and only sister. I remember that night as clearly as if it were last night. We too prayed all night, but we knew for whom we were praying, the pastor and his wife didn't. He followed the pull in him to pray. What could have been a very frustrating night of insomnia, was actually a night of necessary prayer.

Very rarely do we have experiences as dramatic as this, THANK GOODNESS! BUT, I know that many of us have our nights of insomnia. We also have circumstances in our lives that need prayer. What about the unspoken needs of others? We may not know the specifics, but take the time to focus on them as well. We may never know the outcome, but that doesn't mean that our lack of sleep hasn't contributed to a miracle somewhere else.

Retreat

2010-10-02T20:25:07Z

A week ago I attended a retreat. Merriam-Webster defines a retreat as:

1:a (1) : an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable (2) : the process of receding from a position or state attained retreat of a glacier> b (1) : the usually forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy or from an advanced position (2) : a signal for retreating c (1) : a signal given by bugle at the beginning of a military flag-lowering ceremony (2) : a military flag-lowering ceremony

2: a place of privacy or safety : refuge

3: a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction under a director

This retreat was with a group of women, many of whom I had never met. I knew that I was going for a time with the third definition, a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction under a director, but I felt like I was needing to take time to withdraw from the chaos of life. In reality, it was a time of all three definitions. We went out of town. We secluded ourselves in a self-contained center - sleeping, meals, meetings, chapel. We took time to listen to others talk, we shared, prayed, sang, laughed, cried and encouraged each other in our lives.

We took time to step back from our lives, re-evaluate and refocus on the most critical aspect of ourselves: our spiritual lives and our connection with God. While my personal beliefs may not be the same as yours, the key point here is to take time to refocus your life to the most important driving force in your life. Quiet yourself. Slow down. What is needed in your life so that you may not feel so frazzled, tired, exhausted?

I've been trying to do some focused reading since I came home. We were given a book at the end of the retreat called Coming Down the Mountain: How to Turn Your Retreat Into Everyday Living by Thomas Hart. This book is helping to remind me of critical issues in my life: interpersonal interactions, my prayer life, my connection with my Creator. In short, it's giving me a chance to slow down the pace and re-focus on that spiritual/emotional aspect of who I am.

As a human being and as a physician, I truly believe that the only way that I can be of the most benefit to help others is when I am most healthy. Being healthy is not just a state of no illness or pain, but a state of physical, emotional and inner wellness. We all may have pains or illnesses that distract us from life, but I believe that our emotional and inner wellness are key in how we face the world around us.

Even if you cannot get away on an official "retreat," try to take some time to retreat from the world around you and quiet yourself for a while today. Not only will your inner self thank you, but your physical body will too.