Tune In and Take Control

In 1985 my life turned upside down and inside out. I was living in a basement apartment in a motel. Saving for a down payment on my first home in Canada. Working full-time in an accounting office. Kids in Montessori in the mornings and with a care giver in the afternoon.

And my mother and a friend took my eldest daughter out for a birthday lunch. Which in turn, led to a day of junk food, pop and a glorious looking cabbage-patch-doll cake. Complete with bright orange icing for hair.

I knew my daughter had a problem with tartrazine. An orange colourant from the penicillin family. We’re all allergic to penicillin. We’d found she’d get hyper when she had a glass of orange squash. That day I began to learn the extent of toxicity in food additives. The journey began…

My mother handed over a child who had lost the plot! Screaming, shrieking, biting, hitting. She was completely out of control. And I had no idea what to do and how to help her.

A trip to the local GP. Help!

A locum was standing in who told me that these things happen when children get excited. Basically, go away and stop being a helicopter mum. Followed by…wait for it, yes, drugs. Drugs was the answer. Or at least the medical community seemed to think so. They had some lovely experimental stimulants that seemed to have a calming effect on some children.

Something deep inside of me said NO. It was a gut feeling. Visceral. Primal. My truth.

So, I said it out loud. NO, WE’LL FIND ANOTHER WAY!

And I did.

I had to take a few days off work. I was exhausted, No sleep for me. My daughter would collapse with exhaustion, and so would I. For a few hours. And it began again.

Pulling her out of Montessori, I chatted on the phone with a fellow Montessori mum. And the life-upside-down began. A doctor in a nearby village specialised in this type of behaviour. Praise the Lord! Completing extensive forms, I made an appointment asap.

A hyperactive diagnosis. We didn’t even have the label ADHD. She was bursting from her own skin.

Long story short: we removed sugar from her diet. She didn’t metabolise it well. A little honey. Watered down juice as a treat. No candies or sweets.

I began reading labels. Artfical flavours and colours gone from the family’s diet. Processed foods and anything that came in a box, not on my watch. Even meat had to be locally sourced to ensure it hadn’t been contaminated with anti-biotics. (Remember, penicillin allergies.) And I learned that red food colouring  without labeling was permitted in supermarket meats. (Still is, btw!)

And yes, this was back in the 80’s.

Instead we replaced our diet with whole natural foods, home-cooked, locally grown. I took vegetarian cooking classes for three years. There were no boxes of prepared ‘whole foods’ in the health food store. Bins of beans and grains. I had to learn to cook them!

We cut back on TV watching. Replacing down time with reading, healing touch and complementary therapies. Yoga became a family pastime.

And I studied. Constantly educating myself to keep my family happy and healthy. I studied healing arts, nutrition, cooking, psychology, spirituality.

Then after a rather nasty corporate burn out. Oh yes, I had upgraded at work. Now working full-time and being on call 24/7. I started using my acquired skills and expertise to help others. In 1993 I hng out my shingle as a Holistic Health Practitioner. I made up the title, as it was all new. But people began to make their way to my door.

In 1995 I opened the Jacqueline Fairbrass School of Complementary Therapies so I could teach others how to take control of their own lives and health.

I don’t teach many courses anymore. Just the occasional special request. But I do help people one-on-one. And I’m currently developing a monthly on-line community. It’s not a hobby or a fad. It’s my life. My purpose. My passion. And it gets me out of bed in the morning, with a hop, skip and a jump.

Please, Dearheart, don’t give our power away. Tune in. Take control of your health. You deserve it.

Big love,