The Good Oil: Edition 3

Written By Adrian Crawford Dec 16th 2022

Table Of Contents

Expert’s Corner

Last month I introduced you to our Medical Advisor, Dr. Kevin Frey. This time around, knowing how stressful the holiday season can be for everyone, I wanted to get some more insight into the concept of self-care. So I asked Laura Stuart, a nationally certified counselor and licensed clinical psychologist based in Denver, if she would kindly tell us more.

Adrian Crawford: First things first: Can you give me an idea of what your line of work entails and what your focuses are as a therapist?

Laura Stuart: As far as what the work entails, as a therapist the majority of your job is meeting with clients. There is also keeping up with training and the evolving field to offer optimal therapy. If you're in private practice, you're also running a business so you wear a lot of different hats.

I specialize in working with trauma, which includes PTSD, anxiety, depression, ADHD, grief and loss issues, addiction, eating disorders, and major life changes. I used a person-centered approach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Brainspotting, and Neurofeedback mostly.

A "brainspot" is an eye position that correlates with a part in the human brain that holds traumatic material. What's going on inside of our brains is directly associated with where we focus our eyes. Whenever we visually scan our surroundings for information, we're also scanning our brain for our own thoughts, ideas and emotional responses. At times, we may also be scanning our brain to find where repressed memories and feelings are stored.

By targeting the brain in a specific eye position, the brain is able to discover, dislodge and release trapped energy in the body so that it no longer causes issues. As the Brainspotting processing ensues, trauma is released and healing immediately occurs deep within the unconscious mind.

Our conversation continues here.

Four Festive Christmas Markets

There are plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit: decorating the house, putting up a tree, baking cookies and spending time with loved ones. You can even add a seasonal twist to your wellness routine with our limited-edition peppermint tincture. But if you really want a concentrated dose of late December festivities, what about a visit to a Christmas market?

Below are four of the nation’s premier Christmas-themed festivals for you to check out.

Christkindlmarket (Chicago, IL)

Why don't we start at the top? This is widely acknowledged to be the largest Christmas market in the United States, with more than one million Yuletide revelers attending each year. The Windy City's Christkindlmarket was first held in 1896 and has been a fixture in Chicago ever since -- it's so popular there are now three locations (Daley Plaza, Aurora and Wrigleyville.) Vendors sell seasonal foods, handmade decorations, clothing and other goodies so you can buy stocking stuffers or just enjoy the holiday cheer.

Georgetown Christmas Market (Georgetown, CO)

Georgetown does not do things by half-measures. The Clear Creek County town (pop. 1,118 in 2020) an hour's drive west of Denver on Interstate 70 doesn't just host a market, it transforms into something out of a Hallmark movie for two weeks each December. Nosh on roasted chestnuts or take a horse-drawn wagon ride and soak in the magic of the season. Keep an eye peeled for Saint Nick while you're perusing the vendor stalls in Strousse Park!

Savannah Christmas Market (Savannah, GA)

If you're in Georgia over the holidays, dreaming of a white Christmas might be as close as you get to seeing snow. But that doesn't mean the Peachtree State doesn't know how to throw a festive party! The Savannah Christmas Market kicks off shortly after Thanksgiving and runs through January 2 this year at this beautiful southern city's waterfront. There's live music, activities for the kids, and even breakfast with Santa (wonder if he likes ho-ho-hollandaise?).

Kerstmarkt (Holland, MI)

Experience European-style festivities in Michigan with the annual Holland Kerstmarkt. A little detour from the German-inspired Christmas markets that many U.S. cities host, Holland takes its cultural cues from the Dutch tradition of vendors selling their wares to shoppers who eat, drink and be merry as the year comes to a close. This Kerstmarkt has been running each year since 1997 and has welcomed visitors from as far afield as Texas (hope they brought a sturdy coat.)

Wellness Tip of the Month

My CBDistillery® teammate, resident wellness expert Emily Loss, explored the idea of holiday balance in the December issue of her newsletter. Since she's well versed in the subject, I figured I’d tap her to offer some sage advice on how to enjoy New Year’s Eve without derailing your wellness routine on January 1. Take it away, Em!

I think the number one thing to remember is that you are in control here!

Start your day with movement/exercise! This will set you up for success the rest of your day, improve your mood and reduce stress.
Write down your resolutions/goals for 2023, and reflect on them. If those include working towards being healthier, journaling about them before your evening out will keep them top of mind.
Have a plan for New Years Day. This will keep you accountable to go to bed earlier so that you can get up and enjoy your day whether that be brunch with a friend or family, yoga or whatever makes your heart feel full.

Worthy Consumables

As the father of a two-year-old human hurricane, the couple of hours that exist between baby's and dad's respective bed times are incredibly sacred. In our house, the window between 7:30 and 9:00pm are unofficially designated as TV time, and that either means one episode of whatever TV show we're currently watching or a movie no longer than 90 minutes. In fact, I've been saying for some time that every streaming platform should have a category for "Movies 90 Minutes or Less" just for those times when you want to unwind without having to commit to a two-hour (or longer!) movie.

Last weekend we were visiting family in Cincinnati for the holidays and found ourselves seeking something easy to watch for the next hour and a half. I had seen a notification from my Netflix app about the release of Emily the Criminal a couple days prior, and with a 1hr 33min runtime it seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

Take this with a grain of salt, because I'm the type of movie viewer whose expectations are absurdly low no matter what I'm seeing, and all I need is to be mildly entertained at best, but Emily the Criminal is a terrific watch. It stars Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Rec, The White Lotus) and Theo Rossi of Sons of Anarchy fame, with Plaza playing a young woman swamped in student loan debt and barely scraping by with a restaurant gig. Plaza's character does a favor for a coworker, who in turn hooks her up with a moneymaking opportunity that leads her into the world of credit card fraud, which is where Rossi comes in.

The mood of the film is generally edge-of-your-seat tense and while it's not an action movie or a thriller by any means, it might have you biting your nails as you wait to see how Emily gets out of this one. It's very smart, too, and touches on plenty of modern themes and dilemmas like insurmountable student loan debt, gig work and wage inequality, workplace discrimination, unionization and other hurdles Western society faces in 2022.

Whew. I didn't mean to go so deep there. Long story short, Plaza is tremendous and Emily the Criminal is worth taking the time to watch among a sea of other streaming movies and shows. And might I recommend kicking back with an Unwind Synergy+ gummy for the ride?

The Last Drops

Well that’s it from The Good Oil for 2022! Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope your holidays are great no matter how you celebrate them.

-- Adrian