Tuning In July 2022

Each month I post an update called Tuning In on what I'm up to and various content I would like to share with you. Most of the links on this post are informational only, but a few are affiliate links that help me keep up my website.

Events: 

Facilitating: 

• Center for Chronic Illness - Web-Based Rare Chronic Illness Support Group Tuesday July 5th, 2022 at 4pm PST
• Center for Chronic Illness - Living with Thyroid Eye Disease Support Group Tuesday July 5th, 2022 at 6pm PST
• Center for Chronic Illness - Living with Cystinosis Web-Based Support Group, Tuesday July 19th, 2022 at 4pm PST
• Center for Chronic Illness - Supporting Loved Ones with Cystinosis. Tuesday July 19th, 2022 at 6pm PST

National Days: 

• July 4th is National Independence Day 
• July 17th is National Ice Cream Day 
• July 31st is National Mutt Day 

National Months:  

• National Ice Cream Month

Dear Valued Community, 

In June, my husband, dog, and I traveled to a small town called Blaine, Washington near the Canadian border. We went with the purpose of recharging by the water and seeing another corner of this vast and beautiful state. There was a park called Peace Arch Historical State Park in which you could walk in both the United States and Canada. Due to COVID-19, the Canadian side of the park is currently closed, but it's still possible to stand in two countries at once. It got me thinking about borders and unseen boundaries. 

There is no line, like the lines on a map, at a border. There are signposts every so often, but most of the time it's something you cannot tangibly see. Others cannot see our boundaries. This is why we need to practice communicating them and showing them to others. 

With Gratitude, 

​Kerry 

Seagulls on Semiahmoo Pier in Blaine, Washington

What I'm Reading Related for Therapy: Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past by Sharon Stanley 

"Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma provides psychotherapists and other helping professionals with a new body-based clinical model for the treatment of trauma. This model synthesizes emerging neurobiological and attachment research with somatic, embodied healing practices. Tested with hundreds of practitioners in courses for more than a decade, the principles and practices presented here empower helping professionals to effectively treat people with trauma while experiencing a sense of mutuality and personal growth themselves." 

What I'm Reading for Fun: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Mind & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake 
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"When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave.

In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the "Wood Wide Web," to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.

Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life's processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works."
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(I'm a proud member of the sloth reading club, so what I'm reading will not always change monthly) ​
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Projects: Self-development book on trauma and worthiness, submitting haiku & poetry, ongoing content for various publications. Considering next steps in career training: psychedelic assisted therapy, HeartMath training,  biblio/poetry therapy training, or yoga teacher training. ​

Semiahmoo Marina in Blaine, Washington

Poem: 
​
What is Success? 
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and love much; 
to win the respect of intelligent persons 
and the affection of children; 
to appreciate beauty; 
to find the best in others; 
to give of one’s self; 
to leave the world a bit better, 
whether by a healthy child, 
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition; 
to have played and laughed with 
enthusiasm and sung with exultation; 
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived--
this is to have succeeded. 

View of Semiahmoo Marina in Blaine Washington

Quote of the Month: "What is essential is invisible to the eye." - The Little Prince