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Wellness & Nature

Gail's Learning Center is a place for learning, discovery, connecting and sharing. Topics related to natural wellness are grouped under the headings of Eating Well, Moving More, Thinking Better, and Connecting to make the information easier to browse. Workshops and additional resources may bring together several of these categories which often overlap.

I believe that practicing mindful awareness and "listening" to your own mind and body can lead you to your best path. Hopefully you'll find some interesting ideas here that will be helpful on your wellness journey.

Eating Well

Are you a "do-it-yourself" kind of person? Do you believe that you can add more years to your life, and enjoy better health by incorporating a few different foods into your menu? If even a portion of the worldwide research on foods and longevity is valid, you certainly can! Lots of healthy foods actually taste good, and don't take long to prepare!

The purpose of these pages is to whet your appetite by focusing on some common foods and their healing properties, along with easy ways to include them in your daily fare.

Key Points:

  • Foods were the original medicines
  • More whole natural foods with a variety of colors is best
  • One simple way to eat healthier is to prepare and cook your own meals

Moving More

What would moving more mean to you? Here are a few possibilities: Feel better physically, with more energy and strength; Enjoy life more, with uplifted mood and enhanced creativity; Stay healthier, reducing your risk of common illnesses; Look more relaxed and have younger skin; Stress less and sleep better; And live longer!

The next question, assuming you would like to move more and be healthier, is how to get more consistent exercise. Many folks are constrained by their work schedules, by current health conditions, lack of transportation, weather (too hot, too cold), lack of space an so on.

To begin adding more movement to your daily routine:

  • Explore a few of these options.
  • Pick one to start with, and decide on a regular time and place.
  • Keep it simple and start slow You can change it up later.
  • Make it fun (If you don't enjoy what you're doing, try something different.
  • Make it a habit.

Thinking Better

Would you like to become more creative and confident when embracing the challenges you encounter in the future? Recent research indicates that persons of any age have the capacity to learn and grow, and actually "train their brains" to function differently. Understanding more about the science of Neuroplasticity may give you ideas for enabling positive changes in your brain.

Enhance your creativity through practice. The Innovator's DNA is an excellent guide to improving your creative potential. The authors studied the behaviors of some of the best known and most experienced innovators in the world and documented the common behaviors they found. They believe that anyone can be more creative by practicing these 5 skills often:

  • Ask more questions, and ask better questions.
  • Observe more broadly, and deeply.
  • Associate unlike things to find surprising connections.
  • Network with lots of different people from diverse backgrounds.
  • Experiment, try out more "what if" options.

Connecting

In societies where longevity is common and people are generally healthy, connecting is believed to be a key factor, according to studies of those "blue zones."

This includes connecting to a community that supports healthy behaviors, living close to nature and gardening, and feeling a sense of purpose and belonging. Daily activities in that environment involve a lot of natural movement and activities that support shared values and enjoyment.


Some ways you can connect more for wellness:

RESOURCES


The Woman Who Changed Her Brain


Ten Mindful Movements, Thich Nhat Hahn


How to make stress your friend


I've Got a Problem with my Apple!


The Health Benefits of Laughter


The Gut Microbiome


The Space Oddity of Couch Potatoes


The Power of Habit


Andy Puddicombe, 10 mindful minutes


Jane Fonda: Total Body Workout

Garrison Institute
Provides programs to cultivate awareness and resilience, with forums addressing planetary health, education and justice.

Map of Love
Resources and connections from the global community which arose from a 13-week COVID mitigation retreat with Jon Kabat-Zinn, between March 25 and June 26 2020.

Palouse Mindfulness
FREE online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training course created by a certified and experienced MBSR instructor.

Thrive Global
Created by Arianna Huffington to help individuals and organizations to reduce the impacts of stress and improve resilience. The site includes numerous resources in a wide variety of formats to support personal and community well-being.

MIT Open Courseware
A web site that publishes virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity. "The idea is simple: to publish all of our course materials online and make them widely available to everyone."

Web MD
The Living Healthy pages here are a great starting point for tips on ways to eat well and get enough exercise. You can also find answers to more specific health questions.

Wisdom 2.0
Soren Gordhamer brings together teachers and leaders focused on living with awareness, wisdom, and compassion through interviews, meetups, workshops, and an ongoing series of Wisdom 2.0 conferences.


CONTACT

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  • Researching the Washington and Clark County school district and county documents in local libraries, I was amazed and delighted to find that the stories of this Little Red Schoolhouse can be traced back to 1863!!

  • According to excerpts from 7 Bells Did Ring included here, this property was the location that J.J. Clark and Alvin Clark chose to homestead when they arrived in this area, after the Civil War. That book, published by the Glenwood-Lauren P.T.A. Historical Committee in 1971, details the history of this property from its beginnings until the Brush Prairie school was consolidated with Battle Ground in 1918.

  • Author Marth Clark Lyman lists the teachers’ names in 1863 as Alvin Clark, Irene Clark, Charles Rambo, Reverend Stearns, Libbie Whipple, Lettie Lyons, and James Anderson. By June 30, 1890, the school district reports included 63 students between 5 and 21 years of age.

  • By the 1903-04 school year, the property had become known as Center School. (Figure 4. Page 55) The last year that student and teacher statistics were reported was 1917. The Brush Prairie Center School was consolidated with Battle Ground’s District 34 in 1918.

  • Pages 64 through 69 detail the history of the mercantile and post office, and their relationship to the teachers and students who lived and worked in or near the Brush Prairie school. The existing store, post office, and railroad have remained in similar locations and distances from the current school building. The old photos included make it easy to visualize their descriptions of the construction and implementation of those buildings.

  • Additional Clark County records document the continuous occupation of the building and grounds from that time to the present, making this this a rare find for anyone dedicated to preserving the history of pioneers in Washington state.


E-mail: glc21@gailslearningcenter.com


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