BalAnce Blog – Page 4 – BalAnce Well-Being Centre Inc.

Are you a writer? by Pamela Lynch

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I didn’t start out intending to become a writer.

As a little girl, I’d gobble up Nancy Drew books until the bathwater turned cold. I remember looking down at the book sitting on the tub’s edge, thinking, ‘I want to do this.’ I didn’t know what “this” was.

Did I want to be a mystery writer?
To feel seen?
To have adventures like Nancy?
Did I want to be an author? A publisher?
(Not that I could name these as things to “do.”)

What my Soul knew was that one day I’d be known as a Spiritual Librarian. Five decades passed, and that dream faded even though I spent three decades growing up in book publishing.

10 Ways to Spot a Narcissist by Tricia Veltri

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The word ‘narcissist’ has been quite the buzz word these days and has been popping up more and more in our everyday lives. These wolves in sheep’s clothing are walking amongst us and for some of us, sleeping in our beds. In my counselling practice, I have seen an increase of my female clients in relationships or have had past relationships with men that appear to have many of the traits of a narcissist.

In this article I use male pronouns “him” and “his” as most of my clients are females but want to note that females can also have traits of narcissism; however, it is more common in males (Fjelstad, 2017).

So, what exactly does it mean to be a narcissist? It is a term that many people are familiar with, a person who has an excessive admiration of themselves. But for those involved in a personal relationship with a narcissist, they know that it goes much deeper than that. On the surface this person may be charming, attentive, outgoing, the life of the party, boasting with self-confidence, and full of stories of success and accomplishments, but be aware, this is how they draw you in!

Leadership Stress by Barri Harris

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No matter how well we think we are doing as managers and leaders, stress brings out the worst in us.

Even though I’ve taken and taught lots of training on managing conflict and communicating effectively, I still have those times where in the heat of moment I react and snap. This week was one of those times.

Even within my core team, where we’ve built a lot of trust and collaboration and really appreciate and respect each other, we still got peeved with each other. Tempers were short and patience had run thin — not just me but each of us has been carrying a lot of extra work supporting a system go-live that impacts internal staff and external customers. There were definitely some sarcastic words said and some not-so-nice tones (because just like my mom used to tell me, it isn’t WHAT you say, it’s HOW you say it).

I handle stress by going into perfectionist mode. When I do that, I take on everything myself because “it’s faster to do it myself than try to explain it to someone else”.

Each of my colleagues handles stress in their own way, which for each of us is typically partly based on personality and partly based on conditioning — based on painful past experiences and whether your go-to is flight, fight or freeze.
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SPOTLIGHT – Carla Van Voorst & Daneaya Ziolkoski by Tom Kernaghan

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Relax, let your cells talk amongst themselves, and “unwind your story.” Whether breaking the bonds of old traumas or increasing a client’s career effectiveness, Carla Van Voorst and Daneaya Ziolkoski offer a range of life improvements that are as impressive as they are inspiring. Not only can their treatments help to unburden you from the harmful effects of the past, but they can help you say goodbye those unhealthy patterns for good. They have an uncommon approach.

Friends Carla and Daneaya have their individual businesses — Carla owns Holographic Healing, and Daneaya owns Naya Hypno — but they work together as a powerful duo with decades of combined experience and learning. While both are certified in energy healing modalities, such as Reiki and BodyTalk practices, each brings a unique set of skills and insights into their sessions. Carla focuses on intercellular communication, microbiome health, and stress-related epigenetic expression, to find and correct our inner imbalances and let the body heal itself. Daneaya, a trained and certified clinical hypnotherapist and neurolinguistic therapist, helps clients settle into their subconscious and access the source of the emotional pain and obstacles affecting the body and life.

Bear Camp, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska (Awesome!!) by Debra Kelly

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The gun shot boomed twice cutting through the frigid night air. It was midnight and I was frozen with fear. Did our young guide Dillon, with the big 12 gauge shot-gun, shoot a bear, or shoot himself? Or, is he a fiction novel freakish serial killer about to kill all 9 of us idiots who paid big money to fly into Bear Camp in a small 6-seater plane that could land on a beach (big sand tires) twice a day between high tides a brutal weather conditions!

Bloody hell, I could see my breath while laying in my comfortable cot, in the dark with my runny nose so darned cold it could fall off at any moment. With a small dim light from the propane heater it would seem easy that I could find the tissues inside my backpack at the bottom of my bed. That would mean removing the blanket and allowing more cold air to reach me. Zero heat was generated from the heater on ‘low’ because the fear of dying of some carbon gas was a warning my favorite son-in-law Danny gave me, which meant I froze the whole night long. At least bedtime was at a respectable hour of 11pm. I had to pee so badly but was afraid of venturing outside, alone in the dark, to the outhouses out behind our Bear Camp tents. I was desperate and prayed for morning to come quickly. My two tent-mates were young girls, Avery, aged 10, and D’Asia, aged 12, and gave me no sense of safety although my granddaughter, D’Asia, the 12-year-old was fearless and thus far on our Alaskan adventures the best fisherman among us. I could wake her up and she would have held my hand.

AYURVEDA IMMUNITY SPICE MIX FOR THE WINTER by Tara Pilling

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This Immunity Spice Mix is warming and purifying, with primarily the pungent, astringent and bitter tastes, considered so medicinal in Ayurveda. Try to have a teaspoon, as tea or cooked into your foods, every day. This is a great recipe that can be made up ahead of time and used through out the season to keep you and your family healthy and happy. The spices can be sautéed with ghee or coconut oil before cooking in vegetables, rice, or grains to increase the benefits of the recipe.

You could also add it to boiling water to make a tea ~ As a morning tea, it will rev up your system, encouraging circulation. As a tea to accompany meals, add a splash of lemon juice and a touch of honey and sip warm to strengthen digestion.

Saborra: What You Need to Realise is Already Here by Bonita Kay Summers

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Everything that you could possibly need for your full realisation is already within and around you. Everything you need is at hand. The problem is: it’s not always what you want. In fact, it rarely is. We see you resisting so many opportunities to face your pain. Yet, it’s common for humankind to bury their heads in the sand, doing their best to avoid the unpleasantness of true realisation.

In order to be free, you must first be willing to see where you have chained yourself up. To flow, you must notice where there is resistance. It’s as though you are in the river, trying to swim, without realising that your leg is chained to a rock. So, you keep your head above water for brief periods of time, until the weight of your resistance pulls you under. Can you feel how much life is like that? This brief sense of joy punctuated by longer periods of overwhelm?

SPOTLIGHT – Shawn by Tom Kernaghan

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I listen intently, the phone hot against my cheekbone, as he revisits key details of his fascinating and nomadic life. Shawn is clearly a man who has lived and learned through some tribulations I have not. Beneath the fluidity of his words lies a calm confidence produced by years of fortifying fights and realized visions.

Growing up with traditional learning challenges, Shawn crashed against the limiting and stigmatizing mold of mainstream education. He was a teenage father. He has travelled the world in search of opportunities. And he has spent years challenging the conventional thinking of a school system for which I, by mere chance, was fairly well suited. Seemingly, we come from different worlds. And yet I can sense a fundamental connection — something in his intention. His voice compels me to find it.

“We are all storytellers. The problem is, most of us aren’t very good at it. The school system encourages and rewards only one way of learning, and it prepares us for a workplace devoid of individuality and full of vacuous clichés. We have lost our way in the world. Stories bring the human being back into focus and help us remember what is important. By expressing our true selves, we connect with others and inspire each other to act toward unifying goals — whether team building, convincing your kids cooperate, wooing a date, or building a more respectful and responsible society. But there is a structure to consistently good and persuasive storytelling.”

‘Irie’??? by Maralee Webber

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This is a question I get a lot as most people don’t know how to pronounce it, let alone what it means

My favorite definition of Irie (pronounced ‘eye.ree’,) is- ‘excellent or a state of wellbeing’.

I named my business Irie Wellness because the island of Jamaica has become like a second home to me. We have gone yearly (except 2021) for about 12 years.

Think back to a time where you were utterly & completely at peace. No worries, no stress, just beautiful scenery, incredible people & a sense of everything being right in your world.

That is Jamaica….for me, and that is how I want my clients to feel when they work with me.

OUR PHILOSOPHY by Crystal Jensen

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MINDFULNESS :

Children learn better when they are in a relaxed state, calm and regulated.
Practicing mindfulness helps children better manage stress and anxiety,
and creates tools for them to carry with them as they grow moving into a lifestyle.
This promotes an environment where children can fully understand how to process their emotions in a healthy way,
reducing the impact of stress and anxiety often resulting in mental health difficulties.

PLAY :

Children achieve greater academic, social and emotional success by learning through play.
During play children learn about themselves and their surroundings around them.
Play allows children to explore and test their own limits at the same time as build confidence, social and cognitive skills.
We incorporate play throughout our entire day, and we have fun!