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I hope this newsletter finds you well! The holiday season often feels very busy and rushed, so I hope you’ve been able to find some time to rest and recover as the new year starts.
In this newsletter, I’m sharing:
- A few clinic updates and reminders
- A bit about some projects I am working on for the clinic
- My thoughts on New Year resolutions and a few things I am working on during the beginning of the year
- A few things that are currently keeping my attention
As always, you can reply to this email with any ideas or questions - the emails go right to me!
Take care,
Kate Thomas, LAc
P.S. If you've been to the clinic recently, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few minutes to leave a Google review! Google reviews make a huge difference for small businesses - it helps businesses show up when someone searches. If you've already left a review, thank you so much!
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Clinic Reminders & Updates |
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A quick reminder of clinic policies:
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Sick Policy: Please reschedule your appointment if you’re not feeling well! If you’re recovering but still have a cough or other respiratory symptoms, please come to your appointment with a mask or ask me for a mask when you arrive. More information on the Illness Policy is on my website!
- PSA: Norovirus (the “stomach flu”) is going around right now! Remember: norovirus isn’t killed by hand sanitizer; it is important to use soap and water. So, make sure you’re washing your hands thoroughly and often! Personally, I’d also take a break from eating communal food for now (but I also live with someone who works in food safety). It is contagious for up to 2 weeks after you're sick, so you should stay home for at least 2 days after you’re feeling well and continue to wash your hands well throughout the day. Here’s more info on preventing the spread of norovirus.
- Financial Policies reminder: You can view the signed Financial Policies form at any time in the Patient Portal, but I also have it posted on my website. The page on my website has a summary of the fees and timelines for providing notice, which may be a bit easier to read than the policy.
There will also be a revised Informed Consent sent out to current patients soon - hopefully the last form revision for a while!
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Acupuncture + Facial Rejuvenation Appointments
...are back! I took a short pause from these during the busyness of the first few weeks of the new year, but they are back on the schedule starting next week. Click here to book!
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Winter Wellness Online Class
We have a few weeks left of Water season! My self-paced Winter Wellness class focuses on what you can do to improve your health this time of year, including acupressure, moxa, food therapy, and more! I also cover the Water element and the organs associated with it - the Kidney and Urinary Bladder - and their meridians. There's over 2 hours of video content!
The class is $35! Learn more and sign up for the class here!
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Upcoming Supplement Guide
I’m working on a guide to help you learn how to evaluate supplements, including their safety and effectiveness. I discuss this with patients often, but I thought the information would be helpful for everyone! The guide's purpose is to teach you what questions to ask about supplements you're thinking of taking, not to tell you which supplements are the right ones to take. As my patients know, I am generally a minimalist regarding supplements, and this guide lays out some of the reasons why. There are countless supplements online, and it's hard to escape social media without a new recommendation, so knowing how to pick a supplement and what to avoid is helpful!
As I am wrapping up this project, I wanted to check with you and see if you have any specific questions I can answer in the guide - email me back if you have things you are wondering about, and I’ll do my best to incorporate them in the upcoming resource!
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New Years Resolutions
This time of year always feels very conflicted to me! I love planners, reading about productivity, and do much better if I've set goals for myself, but I often feel like New Years resolutions are just another way to give ourselves a hard time. Is it possible to set goals for ourselves without using it as a way to criticize ourselves? I think so - if we are intentional about what (and how!) we choose them.
With that idea in mind, I wrote a blog post with 6 ideas for writing better New Year's intentions. My favorite tip is "begin again" - something I learned in a meditation retreat years ago, but I use it in all aspects of my life.
What are some of the things I am working on in 2025?
I tend to plan in seasonal or quarterly goals I am working on - it just works well for me (more on that in the blog entry!). For the beginning of 2025, here are a few of the things I will be focusing on:
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My attention span has been getting more and more fractured lately, and I am determined to relearn the ability to focus. A few of the things I am trying:
- Deleting social media from my phone.
- Leaving my phone in another room when I want to focus, a weird but true hack for focusing. (I've experimented with this a few times, and it is frankly annoying how well it works.)
- Writing and reading more long-form content.
- Picking my meditation practice back up. I've meditated on and off for almost 10 years but had gotten out of the habit again last year. I started back up in November and have, so far, been pretty consistent! (The meditating goal in the blog entry is based on my real goal!)
- Finishing some of my partially finished continuing education classes. My fractured attention span (with a dash of ADHD) has led to starting many CEUs, but not finishing them. So, I am tying up some of the loose ends.
What are you working on? I'd love to hear about it - reply and let me know!
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Currently:
Reading: Feel Good Productivity* by Ali Abdaal
Eating: Cozy White Bean and Mushroom Stew, with a few tweaks to the recipe.
Drinking: Deep Dream Cocoa - if you saw the ridiculous package journey in December on Instagram, it was for this. But it was worth the wait - they aren't kidding about "dreams," either. I'm thinking of adding this to the clinic apothecary - let me know if you're interested in trying it!
* Affiliate link; I will earn a (very small) amount of money if you click this link and purchase an item.
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That's it! I hope your year is off to a good start; if not, that's okay. Begin again. 😊
As always, feel free to email me back with any thoughts or questions!
Take care,
Kate
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