by Dr. Cailin O'Hara, DACM, LAc, Dipl OM

Think about someone you love.
Do you think they deserve perfect health? Happiness? Everything their heart desires? I’m sure you do. I bet you want to see the people you love most absolutely thrive. I bet you can imagine them at their very best, totally joyful and living an incredible life. Close your eyes, and take a minute or two to imagine that.

What about you? Can you see that for yourself?
​...

When it comes to ourselves, we can make a lot of excuses and a lot of exceptions at the expense of our health and happiness.
​I’ll explain some of those ways in a moment. 

​First, I’ll ask you…
What if we prioritized our own wellness like we do the health of our children?
​What if we prioritized our own wellness like we do the security of our finances or the caliber of the work we do? 
​

These are some of the thousands of ways that, on a daily basis, you block your innate vibrancy and wellness.

I know this because I’ve done it, I see you do it, and I’ve learned what happens when we stop doing it:
We heal.
 
One moment at a time, we can stop all of the self-sacrifice, self-sabotage, self-hate, self-neglect, impatience, negativity, anger and fear. We can create new mental, emotional and physical paradigms for ourselves- ones that actually support us unconditionally.
 
Think about it like this...
Even in the worst of conditions, we survive. We are a wildly resilient and adaptive species. But as amazing as that is, it doesn’t have to be so hard.
It doesn’t have to be about survival.
 
You deserve perfect health. What that looks like may be different for all of us. But one thing is true for everyone- you can either create the space to heal or create barriers to it. What are you choosing?

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

INTENTION
 It was the most empowering concept I had come across on my healing journey. In 2011, I was reading Deepak Chopra’s “The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire” at the time. I then dove into every book and resource I could find about how we create our own reality. 
...
I spent years trying to understand it- the cause and effect of how our thoughts and feelings create our personal reality. As I worked with it, my health began improving. Everything did, actually. It may seem esoteric, but it’s actually quite simple....

1) The thoughts you think directly influence your health.
Think of something scary, and you’ll feel how your body responds. Think about something peaceful, and you’ll feel your body relax. This is SUCH a complex relationship of so many physiological processes occurring, but all you need to do is feel it happen. You influence how you feel, emotionally and physically, (aka your HEALTH) by what you think (and intend).
 
The more I focused my intention on how I wanted to feel, how I wanted my health to improve, the more it started to actually happen.
...

2) The way you feel directs your decisions and, ultimately, your actions.
We use logic and emotion to make our decisions, which are generally informed by past experience and what we believe to be true. So, if a) we believe something to be true, b) we feel it to be true and c) our past tells us it’s true, then to us, it’s true. (This is where subconscious beliefs can wreak havoc.) What this means is that we can change the direction of our lives (and health) by tapping into feelings and beliefs that better serve our intentions.
 
When I began changing the way I thought about things toward a more positive note, guided by my intention to really heal, then my feelings about things shifted, too. I began making different decisions for myself and my healing. I began having different, and better, outcomes. I was gradually led down a very different and far more healing path… right to Chinese medicine and acupuncture, actually, which had the exact medicine I needed to heal for REAL.
...

3) The decisions you make and the actions you take, which are informed by how you think and feel, create your entire life. 
Years ago, this was hard for me to wrap my mind around. It felt like A LOT of pressure to do everything just right so I could heal and have the life I wanted. But it’s not that complicated, actually. What is your intention, right now? What do you want for yourself?

As I got really clear about what I wanted for myself and intended for those things to become true for me, they did. I was able to take my health into my own hands, so to speak, and feel my way toward what I needed. I learned self-trust. I learned body-trust. I learned how profoundly connected the mind is with the body and how they are continuously influencing one another every second of every day.
 ...
​

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

​Have you seen this video? Never, Ever Give Up 

A professor showed it to us in one of my doctoral classes today after asking us, “who has made a positive impact on your life?" I thought of an old therapist of mine. I desperately sought her help for anxiety back in 2009 or so. She became more of a mentor to me over time. She taught me about self-worth, mindfulness, creating the life you want and natural healing approaches. 

She helped me wake up.
 ...

Back then, I was so disconnected from myself.
I didn’t understand how I was creating my own pain and anxieties.
At the time, I felt victimized in every way.

It was such a low point. I was living in fear. My health was declining.
I was panicked, overwhelmed and feeling lost.
...
 
I’m lightyears from that feeling now.
I’m not that person.

I had a LOT of undoing to do. The therapist I mentioned was sort of the beginning. I went on to find more healers to help me; I dedicated myself to healing and enrolled in a Chinese medicine program.
​​

​Ok, so how is this about me believing in YOU, though?
 
There were people that believed in me when I couldn't see my way out.
They saw me as whole and healed and helped light my way back home to myself.
This is now what I hope to do for you.
 ...

▲​
Don’t let anyone ever tell you what you can’t do, or have, or become.
You are a living miracle. 

You are perfect.
Everything about you is just right.
The art is in learning how that’s true, how you can side with yourself once and for all as your own best friend, your own soul mate, now and as long as you live (and beyond).

▲​
I envision you in perfect health.
I see you in all of your intricacies that come together to make the magical being that you are. You really are far more powerful than you could ever know.
But it’s worth trying to find out.

▲​
Don’t let anyone take away your hope.
Don’t believe in anything that doesn’t resonate with you.
If there is something you want, some way you want to feel, some level of life you want to live, it really is yours.

​I believe in you.
...

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

"Love yourself!" "Heal the world!" "You can do it!"

Sounds like BS, maybe? All of that self-help, New Age mumbo jumbo, blah blah blah.

Actually, it's true. Let me tell you why.

The way you feel about yourself is rooted in your beliefs. Beliefs create your thoughts, which inform your decisions. Your decisions create your life path, one choice at a time. If you believe you are less than, unworthy, not good enough, not lovable, flawed, it will negatively affect the decisions you make. You will limit yourself, your potential and the positive impacts you can have on the "world"... aka all of us that need you, your gifts, your unique perspective. 

Beliefs are changeable. Starting right now, you can begin telling yourself a different story and exploring different perspectives. You are not fixed, stuck nor limited at all. You are limitless, fluid and ever-changing. If you begin challenging your current beliefs that seem to hold you back, you then give yourself the FREEDOM to experience NEW and more empowering perspectives. And hint: choose the perspectives that make you feel happiest because they likely mirror who you really are.

As you expand past old limitations and useless beliefs, you tap into what you can really do. You discover the inspiration to make significant changes not only in your own life but in the life of others. You can create a positive momentum forward for all of us by a) letting go of what whatever has been holding you back unnecessarily and b) doing whatever it is that you do best.

So, here's the key. This is why the way you feel about yourself can affect the health of the world... through the POWER of your focus. If you are fixated on the negatives, the problems, the lack, the injustice, it becomes your default operating mode. This can create BIG blind spots so you can't see all of the good you possess, all of the good around you, all of the good you can offer and create. You are literally standing in your own way.

​Focusing solely on the negative aspects of something will limit you from seeing the good, the potential, the myriad ways to make things better.

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

I used to be that person spending hundreds+ on supplements/providers each month.
(aka, I moved in with my mom in my 20s because my healthcare was more expensive than rent) 

I used to look for someone or something to take away my symptoms. 

I used to follow certain diets, demonize foods, seek perfection.

 I used to think there was one answer that would solve my problems.

I used to think I was lost and that someone else needed to find me.
 
I have since learned that was all total BS... except the lost part. 

...

I was definitely lost.
Lost in negative belief systems, lost in fear, lost in giving away my power, lost in other people’s opinions, lost in a web of a lack of self-compassion, lost in past trauma, lost in physical pain, lost in exhaustion. It wasn’t that I needed anyone else to find me. What I needed were legitimate healers and inspirers to help me WAKE UP, reconnect with myself and set out on the true path back home to me, my power, my light.

Along the way, here are some (personal) truths I’ve discovered…
1) Healing doesn’t have to be complicated or precise
...although, that doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes total hell and other times complete bliss. It does mean, however, that you don’t need to drop all of your money on fancy contraptions, supplements, claims, etc.
 
2) No one ever saves you
...you are your own healer. All of your power to heal is actually WITHIN you; it’s most likely just dormant. Find inspiring people that light you up and help you activate the epic-ness that you are. Before you know it, no matter what your symptoms or struggles, healing begins.
 
3) Everything you seek is already within you
...this is actually the quest you’re on. You’re searching for your way back home to yourself, your health, your truth, your inherent worthiness, your love. Everything you’re looking for- the relationships, the feelings, the experiences, the well-being- is actually the act of you discovering and reclaiming parts of yourself. You are looking for familiarity in your outside world because that is how you find yourself. Why? Because the truest resonance that you seek, that feeling of total alignment and joy- that is who you are.

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

So, let’s be real here. Our health dictates our lives.

​When you’re feeling well, you can participate in life, follow your ambitions, you name it. When you’re not feeling well, it can become a struggle to live the life you want to live. And if you're not feeling well, you probably have some kind of diagnosis that is to blame... anxiety, depression, fatigue, hypothyroidism, IBS, heart disease, fibromyalgia, degenerative disk disease, arthritis... the list goes on and on and on. 

Receiving a diagnosis can often feel like this:
 
1) Diagnoses can feel depressing. Your life has become limited in some way. Your relationships may be impacted. Your future may begin to look different. The treatments available may be limited or risky.
 
2) Diagnoses can feel overwhelming. You develop countless questions and some will never have answers. You undergo extensive tests and/or have to take a number of pharmaceuticals. It is hard to understand what is happening and how to “fix” it.
 
3) Diagnoses can feel disempowering. “How did this happen? How can I help myself?” We can wind up feeling like a victim of our physiology or life experiences that co-created our disease/illness/symptomatology.
 
And this is just to name a few. 
But I approach any diagnosis in a different way...

Principle #1: Everything is in a constant state of change. Cellar, interpersonal, experiential. You as a human being are not static. You are constantly evolving on every level, including your diagnosed symptoms. 
 
Principle #2: There is no singular pathway to healing. The road is up and down and winding, full of unexpected turns. As you embark on a healing journey, you learn that there is much more to you than your diagnosis and that there are many avenues to explore to help you heal. 
 
Principle #3: Healing is not one-size-fits-all. We all have differences in our physiology and psychology that influence how we respond physically, mentally and emotionally. (Standard treatments for diagnoses generally don't take these differences into account, and thus, you may not feel better.) If you learn what makes you unique, you will discover that you are much more complex than any diagnosis... and that within those complexities lies your innate ability to heal. 

So, remember...
Your being is constantly adapting and evolving. Whatever your diagnosis may be, it is what is happening at this current moment in time. And if you are in a constant state of change, a state that is influenced by just about everything, then the argument is that you are not your diagnosis. Who you are now is not who you were a year ago, and thus, it is not who you will be in a year.
​
Be your own source of hope on your healing journey.
You are not a victim of your physiology.
You are not your diagnosis.
​
You are an ever-changing being on an ever-changing path of ​becoming. 
​Keep going. ​Keep searching for answers.

In time you will find that hidden within your symptoms and struggles are the very answers you seek.