HIking Archives - Touch Remedies

The Little Things Add Up

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Touch RemediesAugust 3, 2023

I explored Death Valley National Park Thursday. I was high-energy, motivated, and feeling playful. After a longer hike in the morning I had plenty of energy left, so kept exploring. With the sun high in the sky, rock music playing on the radio, and coffee in hand–because those little things added to the amazing energy–I decided to knock out a couple of scenic drives that had some small walks and overlooks. When I got back to my campsite, I was a bit tired, and climbed into my tent to do some stretching before starting the bonfire. I woke at 1 am, wondering what had happened, and why I was so exhausted.

Little Things Add Up

Years of water forms beautiful spiraled canyons

Looking back, I had knocked out almost 15 miles of hiking, mostly in mountainous and hilly terrain. No wonder! This happens in all areas of our lives, especially in personal and professional relationships. Those little things we say to others; the small ways in which we are critical, or in which we don’t ask for our own needs to be met; those unspoken expectations that create a feeling of being unloved, unwanted, or unappreciated. Little things can become really big things–the same the way water can carve through rock little by little over time.

It’s Different For Everyone

Some people love getting praise and appreciation for their efforts and it spurs them to do more and be better; others do not-and it can even make them feel embarrassed and unmotivated to do it again. I am not one to be motivated by praise. I had a partner that was, so I had to make a conscious choice to think about giving him what he needed.

Are You Being Polite?

Some of us, especially in midwestern culture, were taught (via example and words) to be nice, polite, or stoic. We were subtly taught to not ask for what we want; in fact, we often were shown by example to politely turn down offers a couple times before accepting something we did. Or that it’s polite to offer over and over again if another turns us down, just in case. How odd is that?

It Is Not Rude to Say Yes to What You Want

I don’t believe we have to give up our own needs to be kind to others. It’s also not rude to accept another person’s offer if we really want to. I’m also not saying you should never compromise, or that consciously choosing to do for another is bad.

However, for healthy relationships to exist, you MUST be comfortable communicating what you want and need. Period. To do that, you must also be AWARE of what you want and need and overcome any emotional hesitation to speaking that truth.

Start With the Little Things

EFT Tapping can help you speak your truth. I can help you clear those hesitations and brain patterns that have you automatically saying no when you mean yes. You can have everything you want if you can clearly ask for it. That means you also have to believe you deserve it. That you are worth it. That in a healthy relationship of any kind, others want to give back to you—even if their way looks different.

Don’t Exhaust Yourself

When you find yourself feeling disconnected or unappreciated in any kind of relationship (personal, professional, or intimate) give me a call. More often than not EFT tapping can clear the little things that are adding up to those big emotions.

Little things matter. You matter. Let me help. Call me or join my upcoming EFT Tapping class now! It’s only $17 + 48 hours before class starts–you will receive a link to get a second person in FOR FREE. I’m here for you.

With love,

Dawn

How Do You Project Negative Self-Talk on Others?

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Touch RemediesAugust 3, 2023

Reflections of the Past

I listened to The Bob Davis Podcasts as I drove down to Red Wing Thursday. He talked about his experience on the road as a nomad.

It reminded me of the beauty and the wonder of what it was like to backpack through Europe; how I got to learn to slow down, be present, and shift my own expectations. His discourse also brought back memories of how my friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances projected their ideas and fears onto me.

Whose Self-Talk is This, Anyway?

Dinner before one of the most dangerous nights I experienced

“Isn’t that dangerous?” “How do you live with only a backpack full of stuff?” (To be fair, I had a backpack full of stuff AND a laptop…except when I ditched it to go hiking and camping.) “What are you going to do if you can’t find a place to stay?” “Aren’t you lonely?”

Then, there were the straight-up judgments. “Must be nice to be so rich you can afford to take nine months off.” “Is this your mid-life crisis?” “What on earth would you do that for?”

This is Not My Voice Inside

Their projections gave me a clear view into their own negative self-talk and limiting beliefs.

I got a lot of suggestions; however, most were irrelevant to the experience I was seeking and the way I love to travel.

I’ve been talking in my networking group about negative self talk and how impactful it can be; sometimes we don’t even realize we are doing it. We often do not realize that what we dislike in others is something we dislike in ourselves. For example, I get irritated when I feel like people are not following through on promises. I am clear that when I don’t follow through on something I am overwhelmed with guilt and sometimes shame. The reflection of what I dislike in myself gets projected onto the other as irritability. I know what others perceived as laziness and leisure while I was in Europe was often hiding jealousy or their own internal judge telling them that one MUST do more, be busy, and stay “on track” with goals.

Giving Grace & Space

Giving myself grace and space to write whenever I wanted allowed my book to come forward. When I tried to push to make the book happen, because negative self-talk decided I HAD to get it done before my mom visited, everything halted. And the voices got louder.

This abandoned copper mine made me think of all the risks others have taken that are more extreme & risky than my own.

I returned to the US and jumped back into American life again (albeit more grounded and calmer.) Massage Therapy offices were closed in the spring, and I started berating myself for not building my online practice while I was in Europe. “I had all that downtime and did ‘nothing’ with it.” I didn’t have the space to work with clients in a safe and private environment, but the voices told me, “You could have been educating people about Emotional Freedom Techniques. You could have been sharing your personal healing using tapping.” I had to step back. The negative self-talk wasn’t mine. It was the voice of everyone else— you need to do more, make more money, have more stuff, BE more in order to be important/ relevant.

That’s not what I believe. Who I am and what I choose in my life is enough. If others want to judge me for that, that’s their own issue; thus, they get to look within instead of projecting their self-talk. I am not going to take that on.

My Question For You

Who gets the brunt of your projections? How does it feel to you when you are upset at others’ decisions? Where does your negative self-talk impede your own peace and happiness?

EFT Tapping Can Help Self-Talk

I could share a ton of stories with you about how it helps me. But I want you to go within first. It doesn’t matter how tapping helps me. The question is, how would you like it to help you?

I’m here for you.

With love,

Dawn

A Deep Journey Into the Fog

Posted on December 20, 2020 by Touch RemediesAugust 3, 2023

598 stairs into the clouds. The journey into the fog can be disconcerting.

The mighty Mississippi is there. Beyond the silence, if you listen, you can hear the trains in the distance.

The jays are calling. Yet nature feels fairly still.

Going Within

It felt really important yesterday. Drawing analogies between my healing process and nature. The external fog I know will lift as I hike compared to the fog within that is hiding something that is not quite seen, but ready to be revealed.

Trusting and knowing expansion and vibrancy will emerge through this journey, even as I sense tranquility deep within.

I know my urge to hibernate and rest is in preparation for the next phase. Two more books. Teaching. Helping others in their relationships. Travel. Just like nature, going within for the winter creates the vitality for coming out of hibernation.

Powerful Shifts

Something big is coming. I’ve felt it before when I was in Europe. When I was preparing to come home. When I knew I was in the middle of a big shift within myself and nothing would be the same again. This time it feels more powerful. More clear.

When I first came home from Europe I had changed so much I didn’t recognize my reactions to others. This year, for me, has been about listening to myself in relation to others. I’m great at hearing others. I see and understand their deep pain, sorrow, and grief. I enjoy reflecting their beauty deep within that they are afraid of, hiding, or unaware of.

Healing is Often a Journey

Anyone who knows me well knows I am always looking at my deeper self. When I am overly-reactive, I look at why. When I am sad, I allow myself to feel it, but if I cannot move through it, I look at the source of the sadness. If I don’t move through emotions, I do my work to get myself unstuck.

This year has been different.

It’s not just 2020

It is the planets! It has been a year of evaluating relationships of all sorts–past, present, and future. I changed so much that I got to see my “old” vs. “new” self reflected back. And now, amidst this, I am taking advanced EFT tapping training to help others do the same. I taking training on how to help others find their soulmate. Classes on how to help others find intimacy and connection in their relationships again.

Healer, Heal Thyself

Of course, do do any of that well, I have to understand myself first. This phrase is the key to my practice and to my own life journey. I had to look at how I was protecting myself from connecting with others. How I was hiding from love behind the idea that love and independence could not co-exist. That I have to be stronger than any partner so I don’t lose myself… so I didn’t end up being a possession.

Words of Wisdom

I was gently reminded love could exist without possession. The universe continues to send me messages from unexpected places to remind me I want (and deserve) more. I can also allow, instead of force.

“Just like Chinese medicine, relationships are a balance of yin and yang. You will both have both, but sometimes you need to allow your yang to soften, to allow the flow between two.”

My Question(s) for You

How do you hide yourself from feeling or expressing love? Where have you learned to protect your heart and how does that serve you now? Are you ready to be open?

More to Come

I have three more of these blogs in the queue. Perhaps I’m over-thinking life right now. But I don’t think so. I am sure my friends are sick of hearing of my self-analysis. But that’s okay. I know they love me anyway. For my strengths, my weaknesses, my quirkiness, my playfulness, and my ability to be vulnerable… and probably other reasons as well. And that is truly all that matters.

You are love, you are loving, and you are loveable.

Be yourself and be loved,

Dawn

Healing & Hiking – the Latest Updates

Posted on August 14, 2019 by Dawn BAugust 3, 2023

I’m Halfway!

I have officially hit the half-way mark with writing my book, and thank goodness I hired a content creation expert, Amanda Johnson, to help me. I write in spurts of energy and enthusiasm, but then hit blocks. I wonder how to phrase my ideas. Are they too repetitive? Will they trigger someone or make them feel uncomfortable? I find myself getting upset as I poke around at old memories and lay them out for the world to see in an open and vulnerable way.

Luckily, hiking grounds me back to the earth so I can breathe. I also do a lot of tapping/EFT work with myself. I’m even using my EFT practitioner once a month to help find deeper sources of patterns I cannot see on my own. It’s been an invaluable tool of healing and processing emotion so I can neutralize the past and keep using those stories to help others.

I Like Getting Halfway

I started reading a book once called The Way you Do Anything is the Way you Do Everything. I got about halfway through it, like I do with most books that are not fiction. But the point was valid, and the video below I took reminds me of that book.

I started hiking a mountain, but hit snow. I wasn’t sure, due to the melt, if I should walk across it or not. I know a lot of these mountains have deep crevices and holes that are buried under snow, or streams that run deep underneath, creating potential pitfalls for the average hiker wandering alone. I wandered at the same level for a long time, entertaining myself by building a small snowman, and taking pictures. Then-I found tracks in the snow leading up. So, I followed them. I had planned a 3-4 hour hike round-trip. The book had said 3.5 hours, 6.9 km (4.29 miles), but I had already deviated from the path and circled the mountain to a different path— a ninety-degree difference on the map.

Should I Keep Hiking?

I kept going, bit by bit, checking in to see how it felt to go farther. Was I going higher up because I wanted to? Because I felt I should get to the top because I was already halfway?

So, embracing my inner child, I just did what I felt like at the moment. I took a rest on some rocks in the sun. I thought about patterns of pushing myself for others. How often I do things in life because others expect me to, want me to, or because I just want to prove that I can. I forget to tune in sometimes.

As I write this book that asks people to tune into their bodies as they learn to integrate physical contact into their life in a way that is both comfortable and consensual for everyone involved, I realized I better start doing that in all areas of my life. Tune in. Be present. Make choices. Say ‘no’ when I want to, even to myself, no excuses needed.

YAY! I did it!

I did make it to the top, after checking out a live bug hanging out on the snow with me, here and thinking about how I want to overcome and make a bigger impact on the world. 17.72 km (11.07 miles) and 6 hours later I was back at the bottom, waiting for the bus.

Perhaps, if I can allow myself to conquer the mountain bit by bit, using play and exploration to figure it out, I can do that with the book as well. I can use the support of my coach, my friends, and my own healing tools and get it done. No rush, no timeline. Of course I’d love to have it done before I come home in January so I can focus on my business. Yes, it would be amazing to have it done by November so people could have it for holidays. It would be even more exquisite to have it done before I leave the safety of my friend’ s house in Norway in a week so I’m not stirring myself up and trying to travel at the same time.

But, I am going to remain playful. I am going to heal the world by balancing a wooden spoon on my nose. I’m going to try to be zen, or at least laugh, even when being surrounded by black flies while hiking a fjord.

Wooden spoon on nose — Wooden spoons are easy to balance.

I encourage you to do the same. Find something that you do habitually, a pattern that exists in your life, and shift it to something that suits you more. That allows you peace and balance and freedom. That allows you to tune into yourself and your relationships on all levels. Be prepared-bring a carrot along for the snowman you want to build, but upon finding no snow, eat it instead for energy.

My Question For You

What do you want to do different? Can you make small changes to make that happen?

Let me know how I can help you tune in. You can email me from my contact page on my website, put a comment below, or give me a call. My work phone works in Norway! I would love to hear from you. I sometimes get the best service while I’m hiking, so that’s fun.

Trying to be zen with flies

With love,

Dawn

On My Way to Minnesota + Life Changes

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Dawn BAugust 3, 2023

I am on my way home, and am not sure what I think about it and this new life perspective yet. I am curious what people will see in me-the ways I have changed that I am not aware of, my accent (according to my parents,) and my ever-changing perspective on life, culture, and how I can help others transform.

After finding out my work permit was denied because Sweden decided they didn’t need massage therapists (the company that hired me strongly disagrees,) I felt a need to rush to see & do everything I wanted to. Curiously enough, I have a return ticket to Sweden for April 28th, as that is when I was to start. I am not sure if I will be on that plane or a later one—or off to a different space. I am going to see what feels right once I am home.

I have been doing online work using EFT/tapping/Emotional Freedom Techniques and am having great results with myself, friends, family, and clients. I am over halfway to my international certification, and attended a great seminar on the science and research supporting this great technique. Even the UK’s health service has deemed this worthy of research funding because of the consistent & measurable results with it’s use across many mental/emotional concerns. Here’s a great 13- minute TedX talk on it.

Are you interested in learning it for yourself? I have three Eventbrite classe s coming up in Red Wing, and am actively looking for spaces in the Twin Cities as well. I will be offering some online courses (stay tuned) as well.

Managers and volunteers at the Chase the Wild Goose Hostel, Fort William

I have had many requests for pictures, and I have been so focused on travel and being in the moment, I fell far behind on the day-to-day stuff. It felt too surreal to have to do things-to have a schedule. During the time away I have volunteered in hostels, stayed with people I have met only once, couchsurfed, and camped. I have met people that have become friends, others who have taught me something and moved on, and some that are already like family. I have offers to stay in 3-4 different countries with people. So, without further rambling, enjoy and I hope to see you soon.

With Love,

Dawn

Coming Out of Hibernation

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Dawn BAugust 3, 2023

There is something about hoar frost that I have always loved. It is so delicate yet so beautiful as it sparkles and shines in the beauty of the sun— even as it melts away. I love the fact that most people don’t know what it’s called, and that it is created by a beautiful blend of moisture, temperature, and light. In my memory it comes in late winter or early spring as the earth is coming out of it’s hibernation phase. Some of my favorite winter memories revolve around a ton of snow or a beautiful landscape of hoar frost.

I Almost Didn’t Hike

I almost didn’t go hiking. I cut my foot, I had blisters, and I felt a little tired because I didn’t sleep well. Yet, I was restless and disappointed about the thought of staying home, and was feeling cooped up after all the hubbub over the holidays. I REALLY wanted to be in great nature and have a challenging hike instead of one along roads in towns. The previous time I hiked the trail disappeared, including all markings, just as it left town via a housing complex under development. I backtracked my steps because it was too late in the day to wander into the woods without a clear idea of where I was headed—especially since I was on a timeline to catch the last bus home.

The Hoar Frost Stayed

I am so amazed that the hoar frost stayed all day. I am on the bus ride home with frost on the ground, some fog in the air, and a fantastic lengthened sunset (at 3:18 pm.) I also feel empowered, because the movement and peace helped my mind to clarify how to combine all of my skills into a lovely and beautiful healing process for everyone. I also worked through some beliefs I held about what is possible in my life (and what others expect from me) using EFT (tapping) as I was walking. Peaceful fields, hoar frost, and calming my mind by tapping easily moved me out of a place of feeling stuck and fearful back into a place of power and strength.

I am excited to come back to Minnesota to visit. I have two job offers in Sweden, so will be returning to Minnesota March 23rd to do massage, homeopathy, and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT/tapping) in Red Wing and in Mahtomedi. I am finalizing dates and times currently, and will be in touch with anyone who has mentioned they are interested. I will also be holding a few free classes on EFT for those who want to learn it and use it for their own growth. It can help with many things, but the focus of these classes will be around daily use for stress, cravings, and fear.

Challenge Yourself

Now that spring is coming fast, I encourage you to use the energy of growth and extended sunlight to challenge yourself in some way. What is it you want to do this year? How can you be a bit happier, a bit more peaceful, a bit more “you?” I have challenged you in previous newsletters and blogs to search within yourself and see clearly what beliefs you hold that drives you in life that do not suit you anymore. What do you do that has become pattern or habit or expectation, but does not really make you happy? Let’s work together in 2019 and get rid of that so you can be peaceful as you move through your days. With age comes wisdom and the power to dump all social expectations and step into our true selves. I wish this for you!

Nothing Odd to See Here

To continue the playfulness of last blog, and my friend who asked me to take a picture of something odd every day, I have not been finding anything odd, beyond myself, and the pronunciation of the Swedish language. No new fun toilets or anything!!

Have a Great Spring! See you all soon,

With Love,

Dawn

3-D ballon Street. Even something that is flat and lifeless can be brought to life through vision, passion, and attention. Let’s create something more lively for you in 2019!

Labor Day Love

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Dawn BDecember 27, 2020

Happy Labor Day. It has been a while since I have posted anything, because I accidentally deleted all my photos from my phone. I didn’t want google photos to keep backing up my photos because I have a backup elsewhere. I told it to stop syncing, then deleted all my pics from the cloud in google. And…off my phone they went. Technology does not love me sometimes. But I didn’t want to post anything picture-less, and my photo storage wouldn’t give me the option to re-download to my phone. **Insert long dramatic yet slightly frustrated sigh here.** I now have my laptop back, so here we go!

I am on the bus, heading back to one of the most beautiful places I have encountered in Scotland so far….the Isle of Skye. I was lucky enough to have one of my co-volunteers in the hostel I was at in Fort William allow me to ride with her on her trip there. It rained almost the whole time, but I got these pictures.

Fairie Glen, Isle of Skye

Quiraing, Isle of Skye

I want to hike this island in a way that I cannot describe. There is so much subtle and untouched beauty here (as well as a lot of fully destroyed things by tourists. Rant ahead: Toilet paper DOES NOT DISSOLVE when you throw it on the ground.Think about how long it sits in a toilet without dissolving! Either cart it out like you would any other garbage or burn it in your campfire. My friend has photos of a beautiful area; behind every tree and bush you can see TP in the bushes. Gross. It is my new pet peeve and the strongest source of irritation for me on this trip when I camp or hike and there is TP stuck into the landscape.)

Phew.I feel better now. 🙂 After my 3+ hour bus-ride home, I hopped onto the volunteer exchange website and looked for positions available.I am lucky to be volunteering in Skye Backpackers Hostel in Kyleakin from today until September 17th! 5 hours a day, 5 days a week gives me 7 days of lodging and the opportunity to do hiking and sit in the beauty (and take more photos!) Tasks include cleaning the hostel, doing reception, doing laundry, and whatever else is required of me.

View out the hostel window my first day here

In 1882 the first Labor Day Holiday was celebrated in New York City. It was meant to honor the “working man” and to honor the “social and economic achievements of American workers…(a) tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” Source:The U.S. Department of Labor.

I am still learning a lot about the work ethic of different cultures, (see my newsletter Cultural Similarities & Differences) and just met a woman who lives in Israel. She talked about doctors she nannied for who worked 12-hour days, 7 days a week because of the shortage of doctors, then talked about how hard she personally was expected to work in all of her jobs. The value of her area was to work hard, sleep, then work again. No real time to play or enjoy life.

When I visited San Francisco, they were having a problem because housing was so expensive, minimum wage workers could not afford to live, thus there is a huge shortage of service staff in the area. I also know farmers in Minnesota whose workers are trying to get citizenship and/or appropriate visas, but they keep getting deported, thus leaving the farm struggling to survive.NO answer for any of this is easy, but it makes me think a lot about my own values of how I work and how I want to show up in the world…for my clients and for myself.

I had a multi-hour conversation with a social worker from Michigan the other day, and he discussed how most people who are “on the system” want to get off of it and be independent, and how strongly they want to contribute to society. I feel grateful to be contributing in any way I can while I am here, while also taking care of myself. People as I travel also want to help. They want to make sure I have places to stay, see the best sites in the area, experience local culture, get opportunities for photos, and will often go out of their way to do so!

Managers and volunteers at the Chase the Wild Goose Hostel, Fort William

To summarize this random thought process- often working helps people place a value on their worth in society.They get to decide how they experience that, but I want to say Thank You to everyone for doing what they can, how they can.We all have a role to play, no matter how insignificant it can seem.I hope you can find some kind of fulfillment in your work-whether it is for pay, for play, volunteering, or tucked in the past. Enjoy your Labor Day.

With Love,

Dawn

Getting on the Harry Potter Themed Steam train

Pushing my body, expanding my mind….Thoughts that come up on a 96 mile hike

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Dawn BDecember 27, 2020

In my last blog, I shared about some of the people that inspired me that I met on my hike. The majority of the rest of the hike was spent in contemplative thought about my own life and how to achieve my purpose and passion. If my mind started looping, I would talk out loud to myself in order to stay on track. Except of course for the 3 miles that the itsy-bitsy spider was stuck in my head.

I sang it over and over again to the rhythm I was walking. It would not go away. Maybe my body wanted me to do the hand motions that went with it, but I was trying walking sticks with this hike to see if I liked them. (I do when my pack is too heavy and I’m going up steep stairs or up steep hills, but on flat or easy spots they’re just kind of annoying for me.) Then I started thinking about how I wish I knew it in Swedish so at least I could practice my Swedish. See….the ego is so good at keeping us safe instead of exploring deeper meaning and purpose!

What I really want to share with you today is about limiting beliefs. As I pondered how I can help people on both an individual and community level while make a bigger positive impact in the world, my ego, limiting beliefs, and societal imprints all kept trying to get in my way. I decided these are variations of the same theme. Little things that the mind tells us to justify/explain/prove WHY things are or are not happening. Why relationships aren’t working, why finances are tough, why “x” cannot happen or why “y” keeps happening.

“We learn our belief systems as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have gone through the same experience.”

-Louise L. Hay

When I was taking my EFT (emotional freedom techniques/tapping) courses, one of the techniques we learned was how to tap on affirmations in order to uncover the mind chatter/subconscious belief/limiting belief that prevent us from embodying the affirmation. It’s a really fun exercise, and if you are doing affirmations and it doesn’t seem to be helping, let’s do a session together and I can teach you the technique!

Back to my point though. I re-uncovered a limiting belief that I have to work hard to make money. In other words, if I’m not physically pushing myself, it has no value. How interesting that when I had my practices in United States, I attracted all of my lovely clients that love deep tissue work. As soon as I moved to Sweden, I averaged two calls a week for people looking for lighter touch therapies such as craniosacral. My goal was always to have about a 50-50 practice of deep and light, yet somehow I thought it wasn’t possible. In fact, the belief was so strong, I found myself doing deep work sometimes on people that didn’t even want deep work.

I share this because I’m encouraging you to find where in yourself is there a limiting belief that is preventing you from achieving your goal, fulfilling your passion, finding happiness, or healing from the past. When I worked with my EFT practitioner last week, She helped me uncover a memory from fifth grade, when a friend told me that I had to make a choice between her and other friends in order to be accepted. That had turned into a limiting belief that was impacting how I showed up in the world for others, and how I was holding my own boundaries.

If you want help uncovering your beliefs, I encourage you to go for a multi-day hike or walk by yourself. If that’s not possible, let’s set up an appointment. I would love to help in anyway I can. You can always set up an appointment from the homepage of my website. Enjoy this next series of pictures.

Sending so much Love, Dawn

Sweden vs Home: Preparing for the Next Journey

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Dawn BDecember 27, 2020

This Swedish traveler just finished about an 18 mile hike on the ice age trail, which runs from Taylors Falls, MN/St. Croix Falls WI to Michigan. The purpose of this hike was to test out all of my gear that I’m bringing to Sweden with me for camping, make sure I’m okay carrying 30+ pounds on my back over rough terrain for a long distance, and to try to settle my mind.

A small waterfall on the hike in MN

I picked up the trail at Highway 8 and 35 in Wisconsin, hiked 8 miles into a camp near Lions Park, and spent the night there. It turns out all my gear works wonderfully, and I have enough strength and stamina to handle excursions such as this. On the way back I took a detour on the Trail of Myths. This was a 2 mile up-and-down hike through some lovely old values with ferns, rivers, and lots and lots of up-and-down hill stretches.

Just another stream along Sweden’s hiking trail

One reason I wanted to post about this as well as posting pictures is the similarity of landscape between here and Sweden. As I’ve mentioned to many of you, there’s a reason why Swedish ancestors from Gotland settled here. I included couple pictures of my previous hike in Sweden, as well as my current hike here in St. Croix Falls. It’s lovely to feel so connected to both places at once and realize that the similarities if I get homesick, all I have to do is run out into the woods and pretend I am back in Minnesota.

Unless it’s snowing. Then I can just look at the snow and pretend I’m in Minnesota. I’m on the countdown and have 8 days until I fly out. It’s been hard to leave my massage clients and close my offices. I’ve started saying my final goodbyes to many of my friends and am facing the final goodbye to my family and those closest to me soon. However, I am confident this transition will go smooth. I’m excited to share with you everything that I’ve learned and am learning about as I explore culture differences in aspects including health, healing, and relationships. It’s become very clear to me that one of my specialties is to help people emotionally reengage in their personal, professional, and societal relationships.

Guess-Sweden or Minnesota?

I’ve started studying how we view touch as an American culture and am curious to remind myself and to get a deeper understanding of how touch is viewed in other countries. I know Swedish culture has similar touch ideas but are also more relaxed about their bodies and body image. There is not so much shame associated with physicality.

Healthy touch is important for physical, mental, and emotional growth. I am clear that I will have to do my own healing work around what happens when I am suddenly no longer able to receive the same level of touch that I am accustomed to (hugs from family, friends, massages, and so on). I know it’s a challenge for many people when they break up with significant others, have a death in the family, move away to college, and so on, but this will be my first real experience in many years dealing with a sudden shift in close relationships.

Until I am there, I can only guess at what I will experience, how the meaning and feel of home will shift for me, and how much I’m going to have to use my EFT (tapping) tool to help process. I’m also curious how someone who loves communication so much will fare speaking Swedish. It

Me & my gear after 16 miles

makes me happy to share my experiences with you as I travel, and look forward to the continued journey together.

With Love,
Dawn

Researching Sweden + A Big Move

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Dawn BAugust 24, 2023

April 28, 2018

Hiking the High Coast, 2017

I’ve been doing a lot of research about my upcoming year to Sweden. There is so much to research, including licensing, visas, and travel restrictions. There are many options-do I get a job, work for room & board and explore, or go to school? How can I learn what it is I want to learn in life, have fun and explore, stay within my budget, and still support myself all at the same time?

Some days Sweden + travel seems exciting and new and full of potential. Other days it feels scary, impossible, and as if I should just forget about it and stay here in the United States, where I can still travel and learn, although with a culture I am mostly familiar with. Yet I’ve realized that the feelings that I’m feeling are not exclusive to my travel plans. We all have moments of questioning our lives. Are we on the right track? Have we done what we want in life, or are we regretting choices? What would have happened if….? Sometimes we feel stuck, hopeless, frustrated, angry, and a myriad of other things often all at the same time.

I’m a bit adverse to blogging, but it feels like this is something that’s going to be important to not only keep track of my own experience of life for my own learning process, but to share with others and to remind people that it is possible to heal. I feel like it will be a great platform to share how other cultures interact with each other through touch, emotion, and healing. I also hope everyone that reads these will either gain insight on themselves, learn something fun to try, or explore a concept from another area of the world. So here we go. I have given my notice for my apartment, I have given a minor notice to both my Workspaces, and most of my clients know I will be leaving town for a year. I only hope my experiences encourage others to be present with themselves and to grow in their own way as well.

With love,

Dawn