THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 17: YES TO MAKING SPACE FOR TRANSITION

SEASON OF CHANGE

Spring is finally here in NYC, season of transition. An impassioned full moon just passed this Sunday, also bringing to light things that need to be shed so new seeds have room to bud and bloom. Transitions are a wonderful time to evaluate your priorities and how you spend your time.

PRACTICE

My private practice, which I opened in January, is growing! While this is a truly thrilling change, the 1,440 minutes in the day that each and every one of us have aren’t expanding any time soon. As my focus shifts more steadily to patient care and cultivating my practice, I am evaluating my time and finding ways to use it more wisely (time audit!). I am also working on folding more intentional learning into my life. 

Starting with my next post, only a small blurb of the weekly Year of Yes blog post will be found on my Instagram page (to pique your curiosity!). The full posting, links and all, will always be here. You can also follow my doctor page on Facebook, where this blog updates weekly!

AWAY

There will be no post next week - I’ll be at the national Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health Member's Meeting and International Congress in Baltimore, Maryland. 

FRIDAY

Upon returning, THE YEAR OF YES is switching to FRIDAYS (beginning 5/18).

YOU

During this season of change, I urge you to take stock of your life as well. What are your values and priorities? What is essential to you? What are some things you need to let go? How do you plan to do that? The more we learn what is meaningful to us, and find ways to make space for these activities (or non-activities), the richer and more vibrant our lives become. 

Comment below and let me know if you are in the process of any changes, transitions or transformations and how it is going for you! 💚🌺 

The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.  

THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 11: YES TO BOKETTO

Me, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

(All photos taken with my Canon EOS 7D Mark II)

Boketto is a Japanese noun that means: “blank stare” or “gazing vacantly into the distance without really thinking about anything specific.”

Fossilized reef mountains, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, West Texas

Last week, I reconnected with this beautiful world in which we live. I had the great fortune to take a road trip through two national parks - Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and one national monument - White Sands. I gazed vacantly at a lot of splendid natural things for long periods of time. My week-long digital detox helped immensely to allow the sun-soaked arid rawness of the Southwestern desert and mountains seep into my bones. I am learning that periods of downtime like this reawaken the bedrock of our humanness.

Bendy road, Big Bend

Cloud-gazing. ✓

Star-bathing. ✓

Otherworldly landscapes. ✓

Respite. ✓

Roadrunner buddy, Big Bend National Park

What I learned this week:

voyaging + digital detox = vacation

digital detox + time in nature = aliveness and awe

time in nature + stillness = reflection

stillness + sleep = rest

sleep + seeing = dreaming

seeing + looking = perception

looking + gazing = boketto

boketto + clouds/stars/landscapes = quiet mind.

Prickly pear, Big Bend National Park

I am utterly grateful that the National Park Service exists. There are 58 national parks in America. I prefer to visit the overlooked ones, which tend to be less populated oases, overflowing with majestic beauty rather than people. But, really, any will do. Try one out! And remember, we can keep them protected with our votes.

Marfa, Texas

Finally, Stephen Hawking once said: “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up.”

Yes, Dr. Hawking, yes! May you R. I. P. ♡

The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.