Winter Newsletter 2022

January 3, 2022

Dear Friend,

It is a dark time for so many of us: Covid-19, death, isolation, lack of community. My own personal drama involves mold in both my home and apartment that I was forced to leave. The kindness and love of friends and family gave me places to stay for four months while our apartment was remediated. I am now living there again. And I am thrilled that, at the end of2021, I have a home once again and will begin the New Year cooking in my kitchen and living next door to my office when working.

My husband and I took a walk at Crane Beach this week contemplating 2021 and thinking ahead to the New Year. The beauty, expansiveness and nature’s power gave us inspiration. How do we want to live this year? What can we bring to the world? The dark and quiet of winter gives us that time to rest and reflect. In Chinese Medicine it is the time of the Water Element which governs the kidney and bladder. Nature is dormant while she rests and restores. It is a time to dream.

To benefit the kidney, drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Eat warm foods, such as hearty stews and soups. Legumes, winter squash, homemade bone broth, and garlic are great immune enhancers for the winter. Herbs that support your health during this season include ginger, elderberry, turmeric, and Echinacea.

Give into the urge and take a nap. Go to bed early. Schedule an acupuncture treatment to recharge your kidney energy. These activities will help you revitalize and prepare for spring's renewal.

Please remember that the light will return. Each of us has the strength to find beauty in the world.

In health,

Margaret

Two important pieces of news:

• My daughter Sophie Barkan is now licensed and practicing acupuncture with me in my office. Iam so pleased to have her.

• I have also launched my Integrative Nutrition and Food Counseling program. Take a look!

https://www.margaretryding.com/nutrition

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HEAVY

Mary Oliver

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That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying

I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had his hand in this,

as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel,
(brave even among lions),
“It’s not the weight you carry

but how you carry it –
books, bricks, grief –
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.”
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe

also troubled –
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love
to which there is no reply?

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