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Drs. Bruce and Molly in the News - Holistic Second Opinions Get a Great Review
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 13th, 2009
Check out this great blog article, called Great Concept: Holistic Second Opinions by Robert Nelson (also known as Homer) Christensen. The article talked about our Holistic Second Opinion and Comprehensive Mind/Body/Spirit Consults, and we so appreciate his enthusiastic comments!
Testimonial of the Week - Thank You for Your Accepting Flow of Energy
Posted by Dr. Bruce Roberts on February 11th, 2009
Thank you so much for your beautiful, feminine, and accepting flow of energy.
Holistic Second Opinion - A Question About Full-Spectrum Lamps and Vitamin D
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 10th, 2009
Hi Molly,
I saw you at the Ranch and I am a great follower of yours. I have a question. I am healthy but low on vitamin D and have terrible reactions to all of the vitamin D pills and liquids that I have tried. I see online that lamps are sold that claim to emit the proper rays that allow your body to create the vitamin D naturally. Do you know if they work and do you have an opinion or suggestion for me?
Thank you,
Amy Belkin
Hi Amy,
It’s really good to hear from you!
Those light boxes and lamps do work pretty well to raise the Vitamin D level in your body. Of course, there is always the caveat about skin cancer risk. If you have a personal or family history of skin cancer, then we should talk about weighing the risks with the benefits.
Everyone’s reaction to both supplements and lamps is different, and we all make Vitamin D from the sun at different rates. In general, the darker your skin, the harder it is for you to manufacture Vitamin D from UV light.
I would suggest that you get a Vitamin D level drawn (a calcium level should always be drawn along with Vitamin D levels) as a baseline before you start using the lamp. You can then start with a desk lamp to use while you are working. I usually recommend using the lamp for 30 minutes to an hour a day for two months. At that point, it is important to check your Vitamin D level to see how well it works for you. Depending on your body’s response, we can determine how much to use the lamp after that.
If you would like, we can set up the lab draws and follow-up time through my office here. You don’t need to be in Tucson for this – we can set it all up by phone or webcam and use your local lab. Let me know if you would like to do that or if you would prefer to follow up with your primary care doctor.
Take care,
Dr. Molly
LightHearted Musings - Kindness in Another’s Trouble, Courage in Your Own
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 8th, 2009
Life is mostly froth and bubbles,
Two things stand like stone;
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.
–Adam Lindsay Gordon
Dr. Bruce and I often meet people who feel that they must have done something wrong to cause their life’s challenges. Particularly in this economic climate and with all the changes going on in the world right now, I would like to take a few moments to discuss causality.
It is true that you may have had a hand in your problems and in fact, we all do have a hand in our life circumstances to varying degrees. If you smoke, it is no secret that you are more likely to get lung cancer. If you live a stressful life, it is no secret that you are more likely to get ill. If you cheat on your spouse, there is likely to be a loss of intimacy and trust between you and your partner.
If this information is used to make a positive change for the future, than it is a highly valuable insight. Where this can create problems is when the blaming ends at the blaming itself and nothing constructive comes from the insight.
Since these issues are talked about at such great length, I would like to skip over that discussion for a moment. Instead, I would like to discuss the other side of this coin - that it’s not always your fault.
There are those times when shit just happens. You didn’t cause it, it doesn’t have anything to do with your strength of will or character…it just is.
Sometimes, your genetic make-up looks for any small infraction in your diet or lifestyle to lay down plaque in your arteries. Sometimes, a worldwide economic downturn is the catalyst for you losing your job. Sometimes, the tornado takes your home and leaves your neighbor’s home intact.
The New Age movement has done many good things, but one criticism I have is their insistence that all your problems are in your head, that if you just thought correctly, sent out the right vibes, or prayed in the right way, then you could get rid of all that ails you. There may be some kernel of truth to this, but I am sure we have all seen times when this has been taken to the point of blaming the one who is suffering. To me, this is unnecessarily hurtful and feels too much like kicking someone when they are down.
I do understand where this blame game comes from. Part of this stems from a fear reaction on the part of the person doing the blaming. “If my friend’s husband left her because of some fault in her, and if I don’t have that particular fault, then it is less likely to happen to me.” Or “there has to be a reason this person is suffering because if this were just a random event, I would have no protection from it.” People have to assign blame in order to distance themselves from the apparent randomness of bad fortune.
Of course, all our troubles have many components to them simply because you can’t separate mind, body, emotions and spirit. However, that’s not the whole picture. Sometimes, the broken bone has more to do with the tree you ran into while skiing than the problems in your marriage. Sometimes, the problems in your marriage have more to do with circumstances far outside your control.
Does that negate the fact that we all have some responsibility for how our lives turn out? Not at all. Certainly, if you keep running into those trees, it might be worth the effort to find a different route down that hill. It’s just that you are always a mixture of the controllable and the uncontrollable, and recognizing this can give you an opportunity to see yourself in the richness of your individual experience.
Another comment on this theme…It’s not always someone else’s fault either.
On the other end of this blame spectrum is the scenario where nothing is your fault. Instead, you place the blame squarely on someone else’s shoulders, sometimes your partner’s, sometimes your parents, and then there are all those others you could blame as well. Everything I just said to get you off the hook is equally relevant for these other people in your life.
We are all just trying to figure our lives out as well as we can with the challenges that are placed before us. In general, you (and they) are doing the best you can with the knowledge you have available to you at the time. Yes, certainly, I do want you to take a look at where you bear responsibility for your troubles, but also keep in mind that a lot of healing and love can come from simply cutting yourself and others some slack.
Dr. Molly
Drs. Bruce and Molly in the News - Drs. Bruce and Molly are Featured on Bizlightenment
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 6th, 2009
I just found out that Bruce and I have been featured on a great website related to helping people find conscious businesses of all kinds. The owner of the website had discovered LightHearted Medicine and loved it enough to highlight our work. You will love all the other conscious businesses that he has added!
The website is called Bizlightenment (”The Place to Find Conscious Businesses From Dog Walkers to Doctors”). Check it out - it looks like a wonderful place to find good people!
Testimonial of the Week - You Are Such a Healer
Posted by Dr. Bruce Roberts on February 4th, 2009
You are such a healer. You know appreciation and are an amazing doctor, friend, mother and wife. What a wise woman you are!
Holistic Second Opinion - Holistic Weight Loss
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 3rd, 2009
A while back, I was asked to give my thoughts for an article on how to deal with weight loss in a holistic way. Here are my answers - you will likely note that I talk about how to get your head and heart around this before even starting the attempt to lose weight. I hope these suggestions help you on your journey!
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What advice do you offer patients who are beginning their journey to weight loss?
My first suggestion to anyone starting on a weight loss regimen is to take some time to smile at yourself in the mirror. This sounds like a simple thing, but it’s actually fairly difficult for those who have diligently avoided looking at themselves in the mirror for several years. It is very hard to lose weight if you are doing it as a punishment for “bad behavior” in the past. It is much easier to lose weight when you are doing it as a way to show love to yourself and to honor your body, and looking in the mirror is the first step to changing this mindset.
At first, you may look in the mirror and hear all those little “demon voices” that we all have in our heads, telling us how horrible we look, how we aren’t worth it, how large our thighs are, etc. It is important to make those voices conscious so that their iron control can be loosened. Smiling at this point will feel forced and fake, but I suggest that you do it anyway. Keep on looking at yourself, look in your own eyes, and keep smiling at yourself.
If you do this diligently, every time you pass a mirror, the smile will start to win out over the voices, and a new voice will start to take hold. The new voice will be saying, “Actually, I’m OK! No matter what my weight is, no matter what else is going on for me, whether or not I ever get thin thighs, I’m OK!” There is literally a reorganization of the brain’s chemistry at this point, and you will likely feel more self-acceptance and hope.
Once this shift happens, I often see a shift in the person’s reason for losing weight as well. They will start to say, “If I do this weight loss thing, I’m going to do it just for me and my own health.” It is then that the weight loss plan has the best chance of succeeding.
I have suggested this not only for weight loss but for depression and anxiety as well for the last 25 years or so with great results. Just last year, I was pleased to see a research study indicating that smiling in the mirror was more effective than an antidepressant for treating depressive symptoms. Not bad!
What is the best way to tap into your body’s innate healing power?
The best way is whatever fits for you, and the key is to find the method that best helps you to hear your own inner wisdom speaking to you. For years, my husband and I have run Mind/Body Skills Groups, teaching people multiple methods for tapping into their own intuition about what they need for healing. What we love about these groups is that it really is a matter of “different strokes for different folks.” The idea is not that you will walk away from this group doing all the many techniques you learned. Instead, the goal is for each person to find those one or two methods that really “ring their chimes,” that most resonate with them and help them to hear their own wisdom. When you discover your unique power to tap in, your healing potential comes to the forefront, and it is a wonder to behold!
What are the most important factors in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and spiritual health?
This is a particularly large question, one that I could write a book about (and I am!). If I were to choose one thing, though, I would say that it is important to continually ask the question, “Am I treating my body and myself with reverence?” That concept of reverence takes the concept of a healthy lifestyle out of the realm of the material (such as calorie-counting or getting exactly twenty minutes a day of meditating) and takes it into a recognition that our bodies are the repository of our souls and should be honored and respected as such. When you are treating yourself with reverence, then every act, every thought is spiritual, and you end up living every moment of your life in a much more meaningful way.
Dr. Molly
LightHearted Musings - Cherish Your Visions and Your Dreams
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on February 1st, 2009
Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate accomplishments.
–Napoleon Hill
Here is a tip that will not only strengthen your relationships with your family but will also get you started toward stepping into the life you have been longing for. For the last couple of years, Bruce and I have been getting together every Wednesday at 1 pm for a Visioning Meeting.
In this Visioning Meeting, we ask the big questions about what’s important to us, what we value, what brings us joy, what we hate to do, whether we are heading in the direction we want to go, etc. The idea behind this is to continually fine-tune what our lives look like so that we can keep heading toward what brings us joy, a sense of purpose in our work, and a stronger relationship with each other. It is important to schedule this in on a regular basis so that the meeting actually takes place and so that everybody acknowledges the importance of the quest.
Bruce and I often don’t come up with the answers during this meeting, and in fact, we often have more questions than answers right after the meeting is done. Instead, getting together weekly keeps the conversation in our minds throughout the week. Some of my best ah-ha! moments have been in the shower a day or two after the Visioning Meeting, when the answers to my questions seem to get downloaded into my head all at once. This is a wonderful way for couples to reconnect and to feel like they are working together to create the vibrant and loving lives together that they have always dreamed of.
You can also bring your children, especially your teenagers, into your Visioning Meetings so that they can learn these skills as well. This will let your children know that you care about what their dreams are for themselves. You would be amazed at how much harmony there is in a home where everyone is steadily and cooperatively working toward bettering their lives and where everyone’s wishes and needs are really heard. Give Visioning Meetings a try for a couple of months and let us know how it goes!
Featured This Month at LightHearted Medicine - The Treasures Within CD
Posted by Dr. Bruce Roberts on January 31st, 2009
This month, we are featuring Dr. Molly’s CD, The Treasures Within. This is a guided imagery meditation, where you will go on a journey to explore your own inner world. This is a particularly powerful meditation, with beautiful languaging and imagery all geared toward helping you to tap into the deep wisdom that we all have available to us. Come explore The Treasures Within CD and feel the love and guidance that you have been yearning for to help you navigate the many paths of your life.
Testimonial of the Week - You Renewed My Flagging Hope and Lifted Up My Depression
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on January 28th, 2009
Dear Doctors Bruce and Molly, I want to say thank you from my body, mind and spirit for your help and guidance last week. You have been in my prayers that God would bless you both personally and also your ministry. You renewed my flagging hope and lifted up my depression. I hope to prayerfully move forward with your recommendations, and I will continue to pray for you and your work.
