My complimentary copies of our book, Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working Girlfriend! came today. (Unfortunately, Joan’s didn’t and she needs some for a speech she’s making next week so we’re scrambling.) It’s almost (but not quite) as exciting as coming home from the hospital with a newborn!
The publisher gives us some free copies to give to family and friends (and those of you who read early drafts!). And, I’m told that it should be ready to order at Amazon.com any day now (click here to get to my web page that takes you to Amazon) You can pre-order though. FYI: pre-orders on Amazon get 5% more off their already ridiculously low price.
So feel free to blog about our book, review it, send it around to anyone whom you think might gain from it. I’d really like to hear what you think about it.
And, now onto passing along information. Are you familiar with online body scans? I’ve been working with several for a while with various coaching clients (and myself!) and I find they’re really useful. They’re part meditation/relaxation but the body scan aspect is invaluable for us CIer’s — a super way to get in touch with what your body is experiencing.
Here are two that I’ve come across: The Cullen Body Scan - which is free. Mindfulness Meditation: Guided Body Scan -this costs $10 and is worth it in my mind.
One client was doing this at work (he has his own office) in the middle of the day — until he realized it relaxes him so much, he falls asleep. Now he does it before going to work to check in and see how he’s feeling in his body (he has a habit of ignoring symptoms until they really stop him cold).
What do you do to get “in touch” with symptoms?
Rosalind aka cicoach.com
P.S. You CAN always put your comments online so others can gain from your thoughts, too! I just can’t figure out why people don’t comment -but email us instead. You CAN post a comment anonymously even. Any ideas?
About those whole body scans: I haven’t tried them. I guess mine was a DIY effort?
I find I have to look for subtle warnings unique to my body and my ADs and my circadian cycle, and take into account what I call “The List” - about 11 sucky ailments that, individually, are inconvenient and can get worse than that, but put together, mean that some days, life just gangs up on me.
I had 2 stimuli to make me listen before I crash: one, if I don’t listen to that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, the pain from the fibro/CFS/arthritis is going to overwhelm me and I will be at work but not nearly as productive. I have to nip that in the bud. Two, if I don’t listen to that foggy sensation getting worse and watch the time of day andthe content of the possible remedies, I can find myself sleepwalking (especially when the Hashimotos’ thyroiditis is getting worse and my pills are not a high enough dose!). NOT something you want to happen at work, as generally, employers want to fire you for sleeping on the job! Confounding factors also include my ADHD which interferes with normal cures like a diet Code Red or a nice triple shot latte - they sometimes act like sedatives instead of stimulants due to the circadian rhythm. That gets complicated by the rhythm of the pain, which is worse starting at 1 am and I have to work day shifts.
I think those scans are helpful for those just learning their body’s hints, and wish I had known about them a while back. But I think they’re going to tell you the same thing my DIY method told me: Listen and look for subtle signs that consistently follow a crash. They’re there if you check it out.
Hi Amy-
I really believe in “whatever floats your boat”. Do it yourself isn’t the same but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. I’d be curious to hear your response if you do try one of these. IN the end, we do need to develop our own tools for DIY so we can do it “In the moment” when we need it.
Rosalind