Healthy Thoughts by Dr. Helena

Fr. Peter Omogo, asked the question at mass today, "What would you do differently if you knew you had only 40 days left to live?"

During Lent, as a kid I would give up chocolate, Twinkies (yes, I ate Twinkies) or eating between meals.  Sunday was a day of rest, which meant I could eat chocolate again.  As an adult, I see Lent as a time of reflection and an opportunity to make a positive change to my life.  You do not have to be Catholic to dedicate yourself to something for the next 40 days.  I have seen Facebook posts suggesting we eliminate 1 unused item from our house each day for 40 days.  We could also choose to do a 30 day detox where we work on cleaning out our body each day.

However, this year, I decided to add to my life.  There are 5 pillars of health: Relational, Financial, Physical, Mental and Spiritual.  We can utilize this time to reflect on the different areas of our lives and see what needs some dedication.  Where have we been lacking lately?  For the next 40 days consider ways of enhancing these five areas of your life:

(Relational) Write a "Thank you" note each day to a different person in your life.

(Financial) Put aside every $5 you get back in change into a jar and at the end of the month donate it to your favorite cause.

(Physical) Set a goal to be active with your kids daily.

(Mental) Set up various volunteering activities throughout the month.

(Spiritual) Plan on starting and ending your day with prayer and gratitude.

Lent gives us the opportunity to care a little more, love a little more and forgive a little more.  If we are willing to commit to ourselves, at the end of 40 days, these changes will just become a part of our daily routine. 

In our office we strive to create a community of love, support and healing.  Change begins with all of us and each of us are responsible for making our corner of the world just a little bit brighter.  Let's commit together today so if our life would end in 40 days, we can honestly say we did our best.

I was asked recently; “How is the reservation project going?” My response was; “Awesome.  Just plain awesome.”  BFC has been a part of Love Has No Color since the beginning.  We do two fundraisers a year for LHNC and our LHNC event just came to an end.  Driving to Williston, ND after this year’s Christmas on the Reservation, I just started sharing what it was like the first time I went to Fort Peck.  I remember some kids kept their arms folded and wouldn’t smile when receiving their Christmas gift.  They acted like they were obligated to be there.  I remember an elementary school student yelling out, “I don’t want this!” after receiving a tall tower of match box cars.  I remember at early Boot Camps, Dr. Kevin (LHNC founder) would literally lay in the street with a sign to get cars to stop.  Parent’s would throw their kids out of their cars and keep driving. 

Now it is a completely different experience.  When I talk with locals and they realize I’m one of the Chiropractors, I get told great stories about the gifts their child or grandchild has received.  We now have people on the reservation going out of their way to help in any way they can.  In the past people just expected us to be like the other groups and never return.  But we didn’t give up and we did return twice a year for over a decade and as a result one of the most emotional things I experienced was having the older kids line the halls to high five us and give us hugs.  I brought my daughter Lily for the first time to COTR and she didn’t really know how to take the big kids clapping for us.  Lily just looked overwhelmed by what she was watching. We walked past a lunch room and kids jumped up and put their hands against the glass to line up with ours.  The changes are profound to say the least.

I have to admit, in the early years I didn’t really understand LHNC and what Dr. Kevin was wanting to accomplish at Fort Peck.  I only started to understand when I visited for the first time.  On that first visit, I was fortunate enough to help adjust the children at Boot Camp, dance at a Pow-Wow and do a traditional Native Sweat Lodge.  My head was spinning when I left that year and I was hooked.  The 2018 COTR was a great reminder as to why it’s so important to continue moving forward and what can truly change if we set our head, heart and hands to it.  All of the dedication and support continues to make a difference and BFC is proud to be a part of it.