By the time women reach menopause, many have spent a lifetime nuturing others. Often times that giving meant sacrificing personal needs. And, in addition to being mothers, lovers, wives and friends, women have also become the bread winners. The ones with the careers, and in a lot of cases, we love it.
The strange and interesting thing about Menopause is if you are experiencing a lack of something, or if you've bottled up things such as anger or depression for years, it will all come flying out now. Christian Northrup talks about this inevitable unfolding in her book,
Wisdom of Menopause Menopause is a time when there are no more excuses - if we haven't already done so, we must get busy
taking care of ourselves.
I ran across an inteview of Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. and author of numerous books. She is a leader at the forefront of the shift to a unified mind/body paradigm of healing. When asked what women should do about being torn between the two worlds of profession and nurturer, which leaves them feeling stressed and depleted;
Joan responded, "Women love to nurture because we have enormously empathetic hearts ... we see the needs of others and want to be there for them."
New research by Shelley Taylor at UCLA shows that biologically women are born to nurture. When women spend time with friends, we release a hormone called oxytocin. This is the same hormone released during labor and milk "let down."
In comparison, when men are stressed, they have a 'fight or flight' response. When women get stressed, they have reduce it by 'tending and befriending.'
So nurturing our children, being loving to a friend or spouse, taking care of our animals, is a woman's way of de-stressing and reconnecting with the world. It's natural and good for us. When we're affectionate with our children, it releases oxytocin which makes us feel peaceful, calm and centered!
Which isn't to say that we don't have to do things to continue to fill our own well in other ways. Get a massage once a month. Do light exercise such as walking around your neighborhood. While you're at it - get to know your neighbors. I discovered a 73-year-old Asian woman who lives two doors down from me and just lost her 87-year-old husband after 45 years of marriage. She's as flexible as a frog leaping from one pond to another. So I go walking with her because I want that kind of mobility when I get to be her age.
You get used to the symptoms of menopause. I know when my cycle begins because a muscle in the upper right part of my back tells its coming. It threatens a headache. My stomach and bowels tell what's on the way. And, I pay attention because there are things I can do to smooth the 3 or 4 days I spend bleeding. I bought an herbal wrap pack that I heat up in the microwave and put on my shoulders. While I'm typing at my computer earning a living, my body relaxes with the heat and wonderful smell of peppermint and chamomile moving up.
By the way, do you know any other creature on the planet that can bleed for a week and not die?
Gotta be something to that.
Enjoy. It's all good.
The strange and interesting thing about Menopause is if you are experiencing a lack of something, or if you've bottled up things such as anger or depression for years, it will all come flying out now. Christian Northrup talks about this inevitable unfolding in her book, Wisdom of Menopause
Menopause is a time when there are no more excuses - if we haven't already done so, we must get busy taking care of ourselves.
I ran across an inteview of Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. and author of numerous books. She is a leader at the forefront of the shift to a unified mind/body paradigm of healing. When asked what women should do about being torn between the two worlds of profession and nurturer, which leaves them feeling stressed and depleted;
Joan responded, "Women love to nurture because we have enormously empathetic hearts ... we see the needs of others and want to be there for them."
New research by Shelley Taylor at UCLA shows that biologically women are born to nurture. When women spend time with friends, we release a hormone called oxytocin. This is the same hormone released during labor and milk "let down."
In comparison, when men are stressed, they have a 'fight or flight' response. When women get stressed, they have reduce it by 'tending and befriending.'
So nurturing our children, being loving to a friend or spouse, taking care of our animals, is a woman's way of de-stressing and reconnecting with the world. It's natural and good for us. When we're affectionate with our children, it releases oxytocin which makes us feel peaceful, calm and centered!
Which isn't to say that we don't have to do things to continue to fill our own well in other ways. Get a massage once a month. Do light exercise such as walking around your neighborhood. While you're at it - get to know your neighbors. I discovered a 73-year-old Asian woman who lives two doors down from me and just lost her 87-year-old husband after 45 years of marriage. She's as flexible as a frog leaping from one pond to another. So I go walking with her because I want that kind of mobility when I get to be her age.
You get used to the symptoms of menopause. I know when my cycle begins because a muscle in the upper right part of my back tells its coming. It threatens a headache. My stomach and bowels tell what's on the way. And, I pay attention because there are things I can do to smooth the 3 or 4 days I spend bleeding. I bought an herbal wrap pack that I heat up in the microwave and put on my shoulders. While I'm typing at my computer earning a living, my body relaxes with the heat and wonderful smell of peppermint and chamomile moving up.
By the way, do you know any other creature on the planet that can bleed for a week and not die?
Gotta be something to that.
Enjoy. It's all good.