Go From Just Surviving to Fully Thriving.
Empower Yourself to Create the Life You Want
What Was the Most Difficult Part of 2020? The Unacknowledged Reality of the Year of Our Personal Development
Last year a patient asked me what I thought the most difficult part of 2020 had been. I immediately knew what I’d say but I was hesitant to share.
I don’t think the hardest part of 2020, and now 2021, has been the pandemic. Nor was it the extremely necessary social upheaval we’ve experienced with the Black Lives Matter movement. It also wasn’t the feeling of unrest that blanketed the nation last September and October around the election or the vaccine mandates being rolled out.
These events have precipitated, highlighted, and magnified my deepest concern.
Lazy Refried Beans Make this Classic Dish with Little Effort + Delicious Results
This pot o’ beans is my favorite kind of food.
Spend 10 minutes getting it prepped, forget about it for a few hours, then bam! Delicious food to eat for a week. YES.
I call these lazy refried beans because they require minimal effort and they’re still tasty even if you don’t go the extra mile to fry them up.
To be honest, we often don’t go that extra mile and they are still fabulous.
A Lesson in Softness and Strength Embrace the Wisdom of Your Body
I spent most of my teens and 20s trying to close off my heart.
I wanted to become impervious to the pain of the world and to my own.
Hard, impenetrable, and strong. Not soft, weak, and tender like I’d felt my whole life.
I fantasized about what a welcome relief it would be to feel less.
I was “too sensitive” for most people and was encouraged to push my feelings away, pull myself up by my bootstraps and soldier through, like anyone else with common sense. I’m sure I’m not alone in this life experience.
Grief + Grace for Our Younger Selves A Lesson in Integrating Past Experiences + Healing
In early March before COVID-19 hit the Pacific Northwest hard, my husband and I took a trip to Breitenbush Hot Springs in rural Oregon for some much needed rest and recovery.
The springs were as gloriously relaxing and rejuvenating as you’d imagine.
The land was pristine and so, so quiet.
But I was stressed out about the trip for a full month before we left.
The last time I had visited Breitenbush was 12 years ago at one of the lowest points of my life.
Have You Been Told That You’re a Difficult Patient? The Disservice Modern Medicine Does to Those They Serve
Last week a patient broke down in tears during her appointment.
She was in the middle of a massive pain flare in her back, but she wasn’t crying about the level of discomfort she was experiencing.
It was her third visit with me and we’d made some progress with her pain but she’d overdone it and her symptoms had escalated again.
She was understandably frustrated, but there was more to it -- she was afraid.
4 Strategies for Staying Engaged in Important Conversations Learn How to Soothe Your System so You Can Stay Present + Grow
With all of the deep unrest we’re experiencing around the role of police in our society, and the need for justice, safety, and equity for Black people PLUS a light dollop of COVID concern, I find my nervous system overstimulated and fatigued simultaneously.
Many with chronic health conditions are used to the peaks and valleys of the healing process and the deep personal work it takes to find and address the root cause.
We are now being asked to do this kind of work on a societal and global level.
It’s incredibly necessary that we stay engaged and do the work to bring about change, but it’s also exhausting.
Here are a few tips to help you cope as we move through this year that the history books will remember.
How Perfectionism Robs Us of Our True Nature Learn to Let Go of the Myth and Embrace Yourself
I recently came across a quote from Salvador Dali that warms my little recovering perfectionist heart.
He’s right, there’s absolutely no reason to fear perfection or hold it as a standard to reach.
Why?
Because it’s wholly impossible.
How to Manage Guilt During Quarantine Learn to Care for Your Mental + Emotional Health
A few weeks ago I wrote a little blurb for an article about how to best handle these quarantine times, or as I like to say now, quarantimes.
While other practitioners talk about diet and exercise, I chose to focus on mental health because that’s by far the most prominent issue I’ve been witnessing in my practice.
People are scared and anxious, but the most common emotion I've observed is guilt.
Many of my patients feel terrible for being annoyed by the restrictions placed on their lives while others are facing a potentially life threatening illness, the death or sickness of loved ones, job loss, business collapse, and much more.
About Me
Hi. I’m Dr. Liz Carter.
I’m here to help you go from just surviving to fully thriving.
Achieve what you want out of life through better health and a deeper understanding of yourself and others.
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