meditation, grace with palms together meditating

7 Ways to Rock Your Hospital Appointments.

1. Get to the Mat

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If you have anxiety then take the chance to sit with it and shift the energy and your attitude.

Yes it’s hard, yes, maybe you don’t want to, but wrangle your struggled on your mat or meditation cushion or do it in the waiting room when all your nerves come pouring out – it’s your choice.

 

But let’s be gentle, the day of your big appointment is not the day to begin a new and extended yoga class. Lean into your established practice. Sit on the mat and be with whatever comes up. Check out Marianne Elliot’s 30 Days of Yoga and join us in Trail Blazing Live: 30 Days of Prompts and Sparkle to build your daily wellness practices now.

 

2. Change the Focus

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Turn the experience into something beautiful. We have recorded my healing journey for years, it began as our way of coping with my memory loss and grew into our empowerment journey.

If it’s all a big wellness adventure I’m going on, rather than a process happening to me, something beyond my control, then I have my power back and my life is being lived.

We photographed my latest scan day as an act of empowerment.

Healing action into art.

 

3. Dress Up Darling

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I know it’s my answer to everything but hospitals can make one feel sick but we don’t need to look it too. I know I am a wellness trail blazer so dressing like a cast extra from Casualty doesn’t serve me in the slightest.

So for me it was a silver dress and jeans, red Lush lipstick and sparkly eyeliner (courtesy of Alex Franzen). More on accessible dressing up can be found in the Waist Height and Wearing Series here.

 

For logistical reasons I ended up wearing a hospital gown, but in future I will take my own Healing Threads Spirited Sisters gown.

 

4. Sweet Support

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Can you take someone with you? If the can’t come in person, they can come in your pocket via your smart phone or even take your favourite book friends with you.

Waiting rooms are not fun, they have a waiting-for-the-verdict feel to them, I find.

 

 

 

We went prepared with:

* iPod stuffed full of audio books and empowering music
* My favourite books (Lucia Victrix)
* Work books (Transformational Speaking) to remind me that I have a life and a purpose beyond being sick.
* My sketch book and pens, so when the scans were running late and I couldn’t concentrate on my book I could draw my feelings out.

Linus held my hand, it’s all ok, it will all be ok, you are ok.

 

5. Call the Circle

scan love

I called in the troops, asking my family, friends, the Trail Blazers’ Community and other empowered groups I am part of to send me love and strength during scan time.

It truly felt like this picture. The love was amazing.

Amy’s Goddess Guidance Group created a cauldron of support for me and the Trail Blazers’ reminded me that scans cannot show the state of my soul and that I know I am happy and feeling as well as I can, no matter what a machine tells me (although we have everything crossed for good news!). Support and sisters are invaluable so call on yours.

Look for the magic in your day, call on your spiritual allies. Can you visualise during the tests? I visualised the radiation going just where it needed to go, my other organs being protected and the rays telling my body what was doing well and what needed more healing. Have a look at the work of Dr Bernie Siegel and Dr David Hamilton for more info on visualisation techniques.

 

6. Prepare for the Party

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It wasn’t scan day, it was Super Strong Bones Party Day – the scan was just a tiny part of it.

I got through the scanning and prodding and afterwards I earned my surprise prize! A copy of Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Kitchen!

Presents, surprises and treats all help turn something prosaic and difficult into an opportunity for adventure.

It was a photo day and a strong bones party – the scan was the least part, we just had to get the hospital appointment out of the way before the adventure continued.

If you are at the hospital every week, then you are a regular and need a treat on standing order – is it a chapter with your favourite book? A kindle to let you read your way through the waiting? A virgin mimosa on arriving home? What speaks to you?

 

7. Distraction Action

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Waiting for the results, is it the hardest part? Anxiety can take over but we have bypassed this by going from the hospital to the haberdashery. Yes, really.

I don’t have the mental space to worry over results when I have a new scarf to knit, seriously, I am that bad at knitting! Circular needles from the beautiful Stitch Links CIC and some new books from the library came home with us.

Projects help me focus on living not surviving and besides, we have all the new Crazy Sexy Kitchen recipes to cook our way through!

What are your top tips for coming with hospital appointments, we are chatting about this in the Sick Chick to Trail Blazers’ Facebook page so come on over and share your thoughts.