Lymphatic massage is surprisingly gentle
When I first got interested in lymphatic drainage, I was surprised at how well it worked. Like, instantly! After one session, my friend’s edema in her swollen legs was visibly reduced and the pressure and pain were alleviated. She felt so much relief that tears came to her eyes.
When most people receive their first manual lymph drainage massage, they’re usually surprised that the hand technique is so very gentle. Lymphatic massage requires a controlled, yet light touch. Why so gentle?
Lymph vessels are delicate and tiny. The largest are less than one millimeter in diameter, and the precapillary channels…
If you’re doing it right, you expand your awareness
I have this theory about copywriting. We copywriters are one side of a triangle.
First, there’s the product, service, or idea. Then there’s the customer, consumer, client, or user. The former is trying to reach the latter just as the latter is searching for the former. Neither one knows of the other… yet.
The third side of this triangle is you, the copywriter. It’s your words that connect the other two.
In conjunction with the creative (the colors, design, and images associated with the product) and the marketing (the placement, ad spend, and channels where the two sides meet), the…
It’s good to do no harm, but it’s better to make a positive impact
Growing up Christian, I understood the golden rule as one that cautioned against inflicting harm on others. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you meant “don’t hurt anyone.”
More precisely, I was raised Catholic, the religion of the half-full glass. The golden rule was a piece of cautionary advice to keep one from sinning, not as a way to channel enlightenment of any sort. In other words, good behavior meant NOT doing something sinful. You didn’t get extra credit for going above and beyond.
The golden rule is easy to follow when people refrain from doing…
Your frustration comes from trying too hard
I am generally a positive person, but I admit it; I was dreading an appointment with a certain client, and I let it ruin my morning. Not only my morning; this looming meeting tarnished my previous evening, and my lunch hour, too.
If you’re human, you have a certain someone in your life that triggers you. Maybe it’s someone you work with, or a member of your family, or a friend of a friend who turns up at social events every now and then.
What was it about this guy that triggered me? Well, the simple fact that his communication…
After a bad year, it’s the ordinary signs that show you’re ready to make a new vision board
In exactly fourteen days it’ll be one year since Katie died. I’ve been anxiously dreading and looking forward to this date a year after 02/02/2020, that famous numerical palindrome forever etched on my mind. Still (still!) unclear about what happened the day she died, I can also honestly say that I am also putting life back together —focusing on what’s good and turning my attention from grief toward my sons, career, and friends.
Months of neglect due to grief and COVID have taken their toll on my energy, health, and relationships. At the same time, I’m more aware than ever…
Your body’s natural cleaning machine is also the most chill body system
I’ll never forget the first time I received MLD, otherwise known as Manual Lymph Drainage, Lymphatic Massage, or Lymphatic Drainage.
It almost felt like a dream state, where I was half awake and half asleep. At one point I may have drifted in and out because I remember something like talking in my sleep — only I wasn’t quite asleep.
I also know my digestive system became activated. My stomach started making those gurgling noises and I was a little embarrassed, but the massage therapist said, “It’s fine, That’s the effect I was hoping for.”
When I got off the…
Here’s why you still can’t hug Grandma
Whenever I’m confused about some complex science topic, I like to write about it because then I understand it better. I hope to break this topic down a bit because some of the information and medical jargon is difficult to wade through. I trust the medical folks here will correct me if I’m off base. (Please and thanks.)
In plain language, in a healthy body, DNA holds genetic instructions, and the proteins do the work of carrying them out. …
Ten possible reasons why someone with thousands of followers on Medium follows no one else
I once followed a copywriter on Twitter because I liked his articles (obviously) and he tweeted out links whenever he published them. I noticed that he had a ridiculously large following compared to the number of people he followed. One day, I shared one of his articles in my tweet, and mentioned his name. Nice, social thing to do on a social site, right?
Did he DM me? Respond? Say thanks? Mention me? Nope. I didn’t expect him to... But I also didn’t expect him to retweet my tweet and add the Twitter handle of one of his few Tweeps…
Therapeutic touch is crucial to solitary happiness
“My grief counselor thinks I might be acting promiscuous on dates.”
My hiking friend (we’ll call her Suzie) was walking fast, just slightly ahead of me. When we hike we talk freely, much more so than if we were sitting face to face in a restaurant. There’s something about a sunny trail in the woods to get a conversation rolling.
Suzie is an open book on most subjects. In fact, she’s one of those refreshingly honest people in the world. What you see is what you get. But still, this comment stopped me.
“Well, you’d know…” I suggested cautiously. …
When the destruction of art gives it power
Several weeks after the crime tape had been removed, I went to my deceased daughter’s apartment to retrieve her things. When I took in the fact that many pieces of her artwork had been destroyed, I came face to face with the destructive nature of her boyfriend. I also understood the desperate fear she must have been living under.
But there was something larger at stake. I’d been wrestling for months to put a finger on it.
Destroying art is more than wrecking kitchen cabinets, which he also did that last night. It’s an act both more personal and public…
Jen McGahan
Curious mom, writer, & lymphatic massage therapist. I teach a persuasive writing course, too. Start here: https://www.jenmcgahan.com/power-words
