2020 year-end review (and photos)

Around the 15th of December every year, rather than send a typical newsletter, I share some reflections for the year gone by and glimpses into what kind of year it’s been for Real Food Wellness as well as me personally.

And here we are again.

Here are some highlights from the year:

Much read posts:

If you missed one of these or would like to re-read, this year the top blog posts were:

Nutritional “Red Flags” For your Immune System (a timely re-share from 2018) What I’m Eating & Why

Essay: On Healing the Split

I also had the great pleasure of being interviewed by my dear friend and all-around wonderful person, Bryan Nixon, clinical director of Mindful Counseling GR, where we discussed how I got into this work as well as some encouraging themes around IFS therapy, depth psychology, and eating psychology. Interview here.

We still gathered:

This year we needed to cancel our Eating Psychology retreat scheduled for early Spring due to COVID. Know that this will be re-scheduled soon enough, when gathering in person in groups can safely happen again.

However some of you did join me remotely for a number of classes this year:

• Annual Ayurvedic Nutrition & Self-Care Workshop (this class was in February of 2020 and was in-person. TBA class format and dates for 2021)

• Taking Care in Unprecedented Times

• Food REPAIR: A 3-week diet renewal program

• Eating to the Point of Energy: A 3-week experiential series in embodied eating

• Holistic Weight Regulation

• Guest teaching in Activate your Healing Energy, an online retreat with my friend Barbara Badolati

I have thoroughly appreciated your participation in these classes and will be planning future offerings for 2021. Stay tuned!

Deepening & Expanding

In January, I was truly delighted to become a fully certified practitioner of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy after a few years of training and supervision. IFS is an extremely healing and encouraging psychological model that helps people unburden both personal and generational traumas and painful beliefs. Of course, I could write more but for now, for those that have asked me about an introductory reading to supplement our work, you can check out this book.

Behind the scenes I’ve also been working a great deal in the field of transpersonal psychology. I’ll share more next year. The point is, the deepening continues and both mentioned above contribute to our work with eating and the body in a wonderful way…

Personal:

Like you, COVID-19 entering the United States was A LOT to re-orient to. Sitting here reflecting, I remember my first couple of COVID-related trips to the grocery store. One, weaving through aisle alongside people piling toilet paper and disinfectant in their carts. Then shortly after, the eerie feeling of walking the aisles among a community of mask-wearing “others.” Truly bizarre.

Aside from some office sessions in the summer and early Fall, I’ve been mainly working from home (which happens to be a bit south of my office. Being at home and outside “the city” as well as cancelled conferences/travel also meant an exceptional increase in time in the great outdoors. I can’t count the number of walks I’ve taken through the woods or around my home, in the early hours, during breaks in the day, or in the evening under a star-lit sky. I am totally on my knees as a devotee to Mother Nature. Nature, poetry, study, music, exercise, lots of healthy home cooking, minimizing social media use, and a solid relationship with my partner have all been medicine for such a tender and tearful year.

In some celebratory news, my sister-in-law gave birth to my first niece this summer, a miraculous premature home birth! Everyone is doing great.

Final Thoughts:

I want to thank everyone for graciously going with the flow with me during this disorienting year.

I know 2020 has strongly brought attention to the preciousness of life and the great gift of our own health and the health of those we love. My prayer for all of us is that we use our health and time here for the power of Good.

Taoist philosophy reminds us that the nature of life has it’s up cycles and it’s down cycles. Sometimes we’re called to lay low for a while. That’s what I’ll be doing this winter. I’ve got snow shoes on the way (!) and tech still readily available for our remote work.

For those that work with me one-on-one, I hope you know how much I care about you and look forward to continuing our adventures this coming year One-on-one work remains the heart of Real Food Wellness.

I’m eager for an uplifting 2021 as I’m sure you are as well.

Wishing you a beautiful remainder to the year and much courage and commitment to yourself and what you value most this coming 2021.

May the New Year bring a renewed sense of vision, hope, and health to us all!

Thank you so much for reading…

As always, with love & respect,

Laura