14 APHORISMS
by country doctor Dr. David Loxterkamp:

1. Health is not a commodity.
2. Risk factors are not disease.
3. Aging is not an illness; death is not defeat.
4. Quality is more than metrics.
5. Doctors expect too much from data and not enough from conversation.
6. Doing all we can is not always doing what we should.
7. To fix a problem is easy; to share suffering is hard.
8. The most common condition we treat is unhappiness.
9. The most potent pill we can offer is our own happiness.
10. Nothing is more patient-centered than the process of change.
11. Community is the locus of healing, not the hospital.
12. Time is precious. We spend it on what we value.
13. Patients cannot see outside their pain; we cannot see in. Relationship is the bridge.
14. The foundation of a healing relationship is conversation, friendship and hope.

Flower Essence of the Week: Chaparral

Chaparral as a medicinal herb has gone up and down in popularity, but few know of or consider its energetic properties in flower essence form. While chaparral as an herb is contraindicated during pregnancy & nursing, and in large doses over extended periods of time, the flower essence is completely safe to use at any time, in any quantity, and for any length of time. That said, I'll compare the herbal properties with the energetic properties to give you a sense of how the two complement each other.

Chaparral flower essence (by FES) is used primarily for detoxification, especially benefiting the liver. Liver-related symptoms chaparral flower essence helps to clear are disturbed dreams, a chaotic & busy mind, and any residues of drug use, whether prescription or otherwise. Since the liver is also damaged by stress, rushing, and overly goal-oriented pushing, chaparral flower essence is also useful in clearing the effects of these modern-day realities. Consider chaparral flower essence if you feel harried, like you have a short fuse, if you're plagued by impatience you cannot resolve, if your sleep is light, easily disturbed & fraught with nightmares, and if your mind is moving in too many directions at once.

Chaparral as a medicinal herb is also used in liver toxicity, and is particularly helpful in people who have used drugs (prescription or otherwise) in the past. It clears residues. In addition, chaparral as an herb is antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and helps to reduce tumors.

In comparing these usages, you can see two main patterns of influence in both the flower essence and the medicinal herb:
1. Chaparral helps to release impurities from both the physical and energetic body, be they chemical residues, invading organisms, or invading energies and paces.
2. Chaparral reduces inflammation, whether of the mind, spirit or body.

Whether you want to support your spring detoxification program or find your own peace amidst the chaos of modern life, chaparral flower essence is an effective & noninvasive contemporary ally.

Flower Essence of the Week: Phantom Orchid

We all encounter obstructions in our path. Sometimes it's possible to find a way around such walls, and sometimes it's necessary to remove them. The healing process is one of the many paths we walk in life, so it's good to have an ally when you happen upon one of those roadblocks that just won't seem to offer a way around it, or to budge from its spot. Phantom Orchid is just the friend you need in that situation.

Obstructions can appear to be something they are not, which makes them particularly difficult to root out. As its name suggests, Phantom Orchid has no problem seeing and bursting through such illusions. When using this flower essence it is essential to intend to remove what is keeping you from moving forward, but to refrain from trying to name the obstruction until you see what Phantom Orchid eventually makes clear. With Phantom Orchid, expect the unexpected because chances are the reason you were blocked is you were pushing at the wrong thing.

Here's a hint:

The obstruction is not to be found without, but within.

Flower Essence of the Week: California Poppy

If the swinging quality of the weather, from bright, warm sunny days to grim, soggy days is sending you on an emotional roller coaster, California Poppy flower essence may be able to help you regain some equilibrium. It glows like the sun, and closes up at night, conserving itself until the warmth and light invites it open again the next day. It helps a person to open themselves wisely and appropriately, and to find their natural ebb and flow rhythm, and most importantly at this time of year, their own inner sun.

How to Love Spring

The quality of the air, light, and soil has begun to change all around us as we are fully immersed in the changeable and erratic spring of the Pacific Northwest, and while the sun only peeks out at us here and there these days, the feeling of spring is infused in everything! This is the time of year where the excitement of growing things and starting gardens is contagious and people walk around with their seeds and starts and spring bouquets held like shields against the memory of a cold and dark winter. If you are looking for a way to embrace spring and let go of winter the best way is to plant your garden... Even on the coolest grayest day, a spring garden whispers of growth and youth and potential and life. Its very difficult to be in a spring garden and not feel the bloom of hope inside of you.

Here at Rainbow we are doing our best to encourage this space, both as a healing activity and as a way to really love the moment we are in:

We now have a beautiful rack of herb and flower starts from Rents Due Ranch, a local and organic small farm that supplies various co-ops and farmer's markets around the city. Some of the staff favorites are the Chocolate and Apple Mints, Oregano, Lobelia, Strawberries, and Bronze Fennel. Its hard not to love them all, and with over 25 varieties of plants, we have had really great feedback from customers, and are seeing the little babies going to new homes all over the neighborhood!

We are expecting a special bonus from Cascadian Edible landscapes, they will be dropping off a "candy machine" filled with seed bombs (packages of hardy herbs and flowers that can be tossed into any space with exposed soil to increase our greening and beautifying of Seattle) the proceeds will all go to supporting Seattle Tilth's Just Garden Program.

For those days when being outside is just too blustery, cold, and wet, we have some remarkable new books in our book room to help inspire and motivate:

This Organic Life, confessions of a suburban gardener (by Joan Dye Gussow) this lovely book is full of anecdotal moments, recipes and inspiration for suburban and urban Farmers. Gussow weaves the complexity of life with the elaborate details of a garden. Michael Pollen is quoted as saying this book is "one part memoir, one part manual, and one part manifesto."

The Urban Homestead, your guide to self sufficient living in the heart of the city (by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen) This incredibly useful manual covers everything from how to grow your own food to canning to raising bees and chickens to foraging to water and power management. This is a must have for anyone interested in good old fashioned living off the land in the midst of the city. If everyone followed the words in this book this city would be something to behold!

The Natural Kitchen, your guide to the sustainable food revolution (by Deborah Eden Tull) This book brings the garden into the kitchen and the kitchen into the garden, helping us realizing that what we eat is both extremely important and highly political. Tull combines "the principles of sustainability into the rituals of mealtime" and comes up with insightful and useful explorations of how we use food and thereby the world, from the smallest detail to the largest global perspective.

Hopefully all these little gems will help to open the many possibilities and joys of Spring to all of us, and encourage us to participate wholeheartedly in the experience of growth, renewal, and nurturing of the earth, our community, and our own bodies.