The Middle Kath

My dad was a Catholic priest, my mom was a nun, and I'm Jewish! In October, in the lead up to the U.S. election, I was overwhelmed. I declared my refusal to join a “team,” and said I was not affiliating based on politics or religion or even sports. 

I refused to identify with a political party. I reject what I feel to be the body control of the right wing and the mind control of the left wing. I also reject rugged individualism and “pulling oneself up by their bootstraps,” because as a person with bipolar disorder, I see how essential social programs and mental health support are. On the other hand, I’m no fan of corrupt management anywhere - in the public or private sector. 

I had been disengaged from religion, especially religious leaders, for well over a year. And I had never been much of a sports fan anyway. I was averse to joining a “team” of any kind, championing my “team” as superior to the “other team.” I had no energy for it. As I remember who I am, I am finding myself engaging more in all three areas. I share all three, starting with sports, then religion, and finally politics.

About Dave Bradley:

Video - Tribute to Senator David Bradley

Podcast featuring Dave Bradley - Arizona Common Ground ep. 8 No Sleep Till Signe Die 

Tribute site - Home | David T Bradley

Dave Bradley’s books:

Management By Essay Leading by Hope: Dave Bradley, Tom Spitz: 9780974565705: Amazon.com: Books

Pursuits of Justice: Politics by Essay: Dave Bradley: 9781604943917: Amazon.com: Books

Video - The Stoat - a fearless acrobat and rabbit hunter! Interesting facts about Stoats

Songs:

Always Remember Us This Way - song and lyrics by Lady Gaga | Spotify

Anything My Mama Don't Like - song and lyrics by Helloween | Spotify

Asshole • Denis Leary

My Self-Differentiation Playlist:

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/740DwOfHTeQnE7wz5BeWfw?si=W7F6WYY1TR6_lp8VM48elw&pi=pxvVk_mPR-ai1 

YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2ofevW3zoBVZj_UXQ878Y-NOXjPB-kE_&si=JOa5ytD6Nfn22OSu 

I have realized doctors may be experts on diagnosing diseases, but I’m the expert on me. With psychiatry, as with all healing modalities, I take what I like and leave the rest. 

Daily meds work for many people, but didn’t work for me. I was told I would need to take meds for both my thyroid and brain every day for the rest of my life. After over 15 years on thyroid meds and 4 years on psych meds, I successfully tapered off all daily prescriptions in 2023, under the supervision of my psychiatrist, endocrinologist and acupuncturist.

Tapering was definitely the right decision for me long term. Short term, however, I wish I had researched tapering first because my psychiatrist’s pace was way too fast. He tapered me off the antidepressant over weeks, and it likely should have been months to reset my neurotransmitters more gently. It resulted in terrible withdrawals, and I thought I’d have to resume the antidepressant. Instead, I continued tapering off the mood stabilizer too.

Ultimately, I am healing from extremes by trying to find the middle path with every possible healing resource available to me. 

The Middle Kath episode 3: Acupuncture

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FXfOmeu52T2oDYGpcUDuw?si=DlcVq1rJRiOiaLtUASYo0Q

Additional resources:

Lauren Kennedy West - Metabolic Therapies youtube.com/@LivingWellAfterSchizophrenia

What This Year Taught Me About Being Human

Degrees of Health Podcast interview: Lauren Kennedy West | From Schizophrenia to Symptom-Free - Metabolic Therapies for Mental Health

Dr. Christopher Palmer - Metabolic Psychiatry & Brain Energy youtube.com/@ChrisPalmerMD

Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring - Taper Clinic youtube.com/@taperclinic

This is Eva Nelson's guided meditation for energy clearing and releasing. The purpose is to help you discover what it feels like to be in your own energy, in your own space.

Doing this meditation daily can help you get more and more connected to your essence, to who you really are, and to feel what your vibration feels like. Try to notice when and if you get knocked out of your center, or if other people try to cross your boundaries. Observe it all with curiosity, and use this meditation to help you stay in your center and return to balance.

Published with permission from Eva Nelson. Learn more from Eva here:

Website: ⁠Healing And Spiritual Growth | Eva Nelson Healing | United States⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠Spiritual Coach, Healer and Teacher (@evanelsonhealing) • Instagram⁠

Podcast: ⁠Life Is Messy | Podcast on Spotify

Welcome to the first ever “healer reveal” on The Middle Kath podcast! Everyone I mention here has a pseudonym, except for me and my interviewees. The woman I named “Skye” in episode 12 on shamanic breathwork, and in episode 13 about her transformational breathwork retreat, is actually named Eva Nelson. In this interview, I share my experience working with Eva. We then dive into her healing work and what she has learned about herself, her clients, and what it means to be human. 

My acupuncturist had repeated the affirmation for me, “my body is healing itself,” countless times for the three years leading up to 2023 before I actually started to believe it. At the deepest level, the most important message you will take away from Eva Nelson is “you are your own healer.” I credit Eva with validating this truth in my life, and for giving me enormous clarity into my higher self and relationships with others. 

Rather than fixing, finding, or improving ourselves, healing ourselves is about remembering who we really are, before we were conditioned into our stories and limiting beliefs.

Topics covered include: self healing, remembering who you are, energy work and spiritual healing for trauma, codependency, addiction, and people pleasing. Eva expands on shamanic breathwork, cord cutting, mediumship, and intuition development.

Learn more from Eva here:

Website: ⁠⁠Healing And Spiritual Growth | Eva Nelson Healing | United States⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠Spiritual Coach, Healer and Teacher (@evanelsonhealing) • Instagram⁠⁠

Podcast: ⁠⁠Life Is Messy | Podcast on Spotify

Has anyone ever told you that your life story is so shocking that you should write a book about it? Have you ever survived a medical condition - or several - that were life-threatening, mysterious, or both? Abby Fenix has, and her autobiography, Forever the Phoenix, Life is Choice, is available now on Kindle and audiobook.

Abby’s story is one of extremes, with themes of resilience, hope, and “rising from the ashes.” Her healing journey touches on multiple extremes of suffering in body, mind, and spirit. Her story is one of unstoppable will, determination, drive - and plenty of humor to survive it all.

Abby Fenix not only has a lot of wisdom, she is a healing expander and living example of how to beat the odds. If you relate to any part of her story, this is your invitation to join her on her journey and heal yourself in the process. 

In this episode, Abby and I explore her story, some of the challenges she overcame, her healing journey, and her path to finding balance and abundance. 

Buy the book on Amazon: ⁠⁠Forever the Phoenix: Life is Choice⁠⁠

Follow Abby Fenix: Abby Fenix | Facebook |  (@abby.fenix) • Instagram | abbyfenix.com

After watching the first video I saw on Brian’s channel, I knew I would interview him about inner work one day. His story about overcoming addiction to heroin and meth, while in prison and then on house arrest, is inspiring. 

Brian was an expander for me on what is actually possible in publicly speaking my truth and risking vulnerability on video. He demonstrates the freedom that inner work can bring, no matter the limits imposed upon us.

Please check out his channel here: Smiles for Miles - YouTube

Episode Outline:

It is widely believed that the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety, it’s connection. In this interview, Brian speaks on the theme of connection in 4 parts:

1. ​Early life, childhood dreams, why he became a RN
2. ​Losing connection to self - people-pleasing, codependency, addiction, prison
3. ​Reconnecting to self - inner work, healing modalities
4. ​The future - maintaining connection to self, reconnecting to others

Have you ever thought about telling your story like me and Brian? We end the episode with tips on how to get started if you’re nervous to try it. 

Book: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs https://a.co/d/6BCpCMa

Heart and Brain comics - The Awkward Yeti https://www.instagram.com/p/C-ajsoGuf5d/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

Song of the day: The Rolling Stones “Connection” https://youtu.be/kfCojeLOIBA?si=kz4iQyZQ5dl8N-mq

Podcast: Pete Holmes on The Rich Roll Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ed2XEX0UJPjUhiGg06Tdq?si=lbcElD_xSEmNp0VhsfUthA

In this first video episode, I share the concept of desperate versus expert bullies. I learned it from Shawn Smith, author of Surviving Aggressive People, on an episode of The Art of Manliness podcast (link below).

I refer to my personal experiences with getting bullied at home, in friendships, and at work. My goal is to be an expander for others on setting boundaries.

The song of the day is in honor of today's Sturgeon Moon, which is both a supermoon and blue moon. The word "lunatic" comes from “lunaticus,” meaning “of the moon” or “moonstruck":

Notes:

Surviving Aggressive People, by Shawn Smith: https://a.co/d/eIEkSf4

Shawn Smith on The Art of Manliness podcast:

In this episode, I share two important concepts that came up recently in The Bipolar Social Club Google group: goal setting and how to love yourself. It’s a phenomenal group. Check out the links below to learn more:


The Bipolar Social Club | Paul English | TEDx Boston https://youtu.be/AV1c_0IuC8w?si=A_7SSXaAm2vIUrGl


Request to join here: https://www.bipolarsocialclub.org/


Book - Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, by Kristin Neff, PhD. On Hoopla, my library’s audiobook app for free listening: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11589060