Colonoscopy and autoimmune disease? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard Do you have an autoimmune disease and you're getting a colonoscopy? Consult your physician and take their advice, not mine. However, I have a lot of experience so let's get into that. In advance of the colonoscopy, prep in advance for food. You'll get detailed instructions about what to eat. The instructions are daunting. At the very end your diet will be VERY limited. But keeping enough nutrients and calories is important. Prep, think in ad ..read more

I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard I recently read Emily Henry's, "The People We Meet on Vacation." She did a great job putting to language the ways we are confident and insecure, and how relationships expose us to new layers of ourselves. In the book one of her characters said that the more someone got to know her, the more she was afraid they'd discover the ugly and unlovable in her. I highlighted that passage and returned to it because I think that any of us who carry any shame or worthiness wounds -- that's ..read more

Can setting boundaries be life-saving? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard You know that I'm a big fan of Dr Gabor Mate. His book, "When the Body Says, 'No'" is a big part of why I'm still ALIVE today. That's a big claim and I really mean it. His work has transformed my life. If you've had cancer or an autoimmune disease, get this book. He talks about how our personalities, our family structures, our emotional tendencies, and our background have likely contributed to our illnesses. While this is not about blame ..read more

Your health journey is all your own. I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard Several things made me think about this topic. I recently was talking about my friend Amy. She died almost exactly a year before I got my diagnosis of Pulmonary Fibrosis. She was waiting for her lung transplant and when she passed she was a frail shadow of herself. Also, my mom died with complications of several of the autoimmune diseases that I have. It's so easy -- especially when we have a difficult or unfamiliar diagnosis, to lean on Dr ..read more

Chronic illness doesn't exempt me from other opportunistic illnesses. I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard [I don't know what happened to the visuals shortly into this video....] I didn't record Chronic Wellness last week. Two weeks ago I went to Seattle to meet with my specialists. While up there I contracted a virus. With a fever up around 104, I had fever dreams. When I first started to get sick -- I turned on myself. "What did I miss???" The litany of self-criticism is a habit I could stand to change. I suspe ..read more

Is there an antidote to chronic pain? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard If you suffer daily from chronic pain, I know that you, like me wish that there were ways to resolve that pain. We've talked about novel ways to try and resolve pain. What if there were other solutions? This one takes a page out of lateral thinking. Hungarian born psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term "flow," to talk about the state of heightened engagement. Whether that's when you're engaged in a great book, lost in good ..read more

Could micro-disciplines be the key to transformation? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard With the start of the calendar year the allure of resolutions and making sweeping changes is real. However, when I try to make big changes, I am often setting myself up for failure. The notion of "micro-discipline" came from one of my favorite poets, David Whyte. Rather than making big, sweeping changes, how can I make miniature, infinitesimal changes? We are the culmination of our actions and decisions while also being cre ..read more

400 Episodes! I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard It's 2024 and this is my 400th episode. I've been absent for a couple of weeks. Part of what's been happening is my tech has been hinky but also with the 400th episode looming I wanted to have something profound to say for my 400th episode. How do we self-sabotage and bock the things we most desire? For those of us living smaller lives because of our chronic conditions we MUST get out of our own way. When our "healthy" counterparts are expanding their possibiliti ..read more

I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard Today I'm wrapping up my series on empathy and compassion. These words are not synonyms. Once I feel empathy - identifying with someone's experience, I can behave compassionately - take action on those feelings. Empathy's shortcoming: if I don't see myself in someone else, I might not feel empathy. However, compassionate action means that I can lend myself to a cause just because I see that cause as right and good. An example: I believe in housing justice even if I can't ident ..read more

What's the difference between compassion and empathy? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard Last week I talked about whether we could feel another's pain. Taking a step back from that I'm deconstructing what compassion and empathy means. I identify as an empath -- in seeing one's pain I feel and identify with that pain. Mattieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk from France has studied the neurobiology of empathy and compassion. He emphasized that empathy is feeling another's pain. Ex: your child is afraid of the thunderstor ..read more