All the Gifts You Give
| “Each of us, individually, forms one perfect part of a great mosaic. Coming together, the circle we create is truly spectacular, and no two mosaics are ever alike.” |
A festive setting: Nestled into shiny new office suites, the right-on-time holiday completion of CCNH's renovations bring your school a beautifully functional, more orderly flow. Enhancing and reframing a well-loved patchwork of walls that have moved often in the school's first quarter-century, one gift we especially appreciate is room to grow!
In this season of appreciation, having a new sense of place lets us touch and feel more of the many mementoes and memories that our students, graduates, faculty, and friends have given each other during our first 25 years together. Some gifts are as striking as a sculpture garden, and each is as heartfelt as the handmixed aromatherapy lotions, oils, and spritzers that support our individual needs — for rest and relaxation or invigorating rejuvenation. An endless array of your new books, and ours, has helped to strengthen a wise foundation. How gratifying to see how our alumni and faculty continually researches, updates, informs, and inspires!
The greatest gifts you give CCNH are the amazing success stories you tell us at conferences, by phone, and online. These phenomenal expressions of mind/body/spirit health resonate and multiply year by year. So many of you do such wonderful things that we simply cannot include every story. To name one person would seem to slight another, and so we present a few examples that signify the gifts from many students and graduates who are making contributions to the health of other people, their communities, and the earth itself.
BRIDGING THE POWERS OF HA-HA AND AH-HA
Among our funny alumni is a clown named Lavender, the self proclaimed Laff-scot whose tiny treasures are made out of clothespins and pipe cleaners. Other Clayton graduates who work in healthcare settings know that laughter is the teaching moment that can transcend virtually any communication challenge. We know of holistic nurses and clinical nutrition researchers whose specialized training classifies them as Certified Laugh Leaders (CLL). No kidding! Their “pomp and circumstance” graduation anthem, so we’ve heard, is a chuckling, non-verbal rendition of the “happy birthday” song. Whether you hum along or giggle, it goes like this:
| Hehe haha hoho, hehe haha hoho. Hehe HA-HA-HA hoho, hehe haha hoho. |
BEING HERE, NOW
In Costa Rica, a student's guided meditations for emotional detoxification are now sought out by medical psychology organizations in neighboring countries. Following a 20-minute process of emotional and mental expansion, his closing excerpt invites spiritual reflection.
“To free up your spirit world, check on negative spiritual conditions caused by toxic disturbances. These could include anything from a simple state of boredom to a threatening sensation of despair. It is advisable to take into account your attitudes toward life and people, and important issues such as self-esteem, self-improvement, how you face challenges, forgiveness, faith, and hope.
Then…close by intentionally saying this three times: Now I feel better than ever before and I am willing to enjoy every second of my life.”
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SO MANY GIFTS
Every time one of our students or graduates fills us in on the latest news, we receive another gift — and there are many. Our folks are active in the places where they live, helping us to fulfill our mission by teaching others how to be healthy. An ND student who is a medical doctor in Puerto Rico offers free health care and AIDS prevention services to the HIV-positive community. An ND graduate in New York City works with firefighters to help them overcome health problems encountered because of exposure to environmental toxins. Yet another ND graduate has formed a nonprofit corporation that offers free health seminars to her community in Georgia.
CCNH alumni help to educate others in many different venues, from conferences to community college classes, in medical settings, and the military — and especially face-to-face with clients through countless consulting sessions across the U.S. and around the world. Another avenue of communication is through writing and publishing — yet another huge gift, from all of those whose books we treasure and those who write for unusual publications such as a newspaper for musicians and a newsletter focusing on health for truck drivers. Other CCNH alumni serve as board members for organizations such as the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and the American Holistic Health Association.
Another gift is research…one graduate, who studies nutrition and micronutrients, has the results published in natural health journals; another graduate looks for ways to remove chemical and biological contaminants from drinking water. An ND student who practices aromatherapy in Singapore is conducting research on how essential oils may help elderly people and those who have cancer. Still other CCNH graduates look for ways to improve the lives of our animal friends by formulating natural remedies and inventing holistically-oriented pet care products. And we sometimes receive messages from students telling us about seemingly small incidents that have a huge impact on other lives — for example — a note about the banker who improved her eating habits and her health after conversations with one of our PhD students.
BE PROUD EVERYBODY If you have a large nose, be proud of it everybody It only means God invested more clay to form you… We all have one small thing in common It’s the human brain, very priceless Great things come in small packages So be proud of who we are everybody Regardless of our outward differences The gift of life is a wonderful thing And a mystery from God |
These few stories that represent so many gifts reveal a glimpse of the tremendous work being accomplished by our students and alumni. A CCNH Advisory Board member, who is also a graduate, once said: Each of us, individually, forms one perfect part of a great mosaic. Coming together, the circle we create is truly spectacular, and no two mosaics are ever alike. Without each of our unique contributions, part of the Big Picture would clearly be missing. Just as each member of the CCNH staff is part of our small mosaic, each CCNH student and graduate contributes his and her own portion to the worldwide Big Picture.
During holiday seasons and over the years, a smiling angelic presence hovers around our school. This angel of healing can “top” a Christmas tree, stand guard in a window, or just hang around and make new friends. S/he came with an anonymous thank you note, addressed “To all the angels of Clayton College.”
Of course we are most thankful, as well.
Saving our gifts of poetry for last, Be Proud Everybody is part of a book from a West Indies minister, missionary, poet, and graduate who calls poetry his therapy for positive living.
Everybody here is proud to celebrate life with you, and you, and you!
It's no mystery that our celebration of your gifts is a story that bears no names. Your calls, e-mails, and year-round presence are the presents for which we are most thankful of all. We celebrate the gifts of natural health that each one of us uniquely and devotedly brings to life — all around the world!
Mary Grace McCord
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