by: Jamie Rautenberg

I’ve been hearing a lot of news lately of beautiful souls choosing to end their lives due to Lyme & its co-infections, usually after years of fighting so hard to survive in their bodies.

The sad truth is that this is an all too common painful reality when illness is misunderstood by those we love & the world at large.

I do not blame or judge anyone for feeling the despair disease often produces. Those feelings & urges to end ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

Like most New Yorkers, I’ve moved about once a year for the past 12 years. And with each move, I’ve been consistently astounded by how much stuff I accumulate and how it all manages to fit into 600 square feet with minimal closet space.

But, as I prepare for arguably the biggest move of my life, I realize that none of this crap ever really fit in the first place.

I’ve basically been lugging old items & past memories with me ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

Last year I prescribed myself a very important therapeutic exercise. As my body got sicker and my mind cloudier, I took to the written word to express the raw reality of my experience. What initially started out as a private blogspot to process my feelings turned into a public mission to shed light on this thing we call healing, in other words, the roots of The Daily Infusion.

One of the best decisions I ever made for my health ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

We’re all on a lifelong search for community whether we consciously realize it or not. I certainly wasn’t always conscious of it, but looking back over the series of choices I call my 20’s, it’s now obvious that I ended up in quite a few throughout this time.

First, there were my fellow writers at the dramatic writing program at NYU. After graduation, I attempted to network my way through the entertainment industry only to learn that my love ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

The world is a reflection of our perception. When our bodies are compromised, this changes our perception significantly and it changes the way the world sees us.

I believe there are two major issues at play with chronic illness & perception:

1) The painful symptoms we regularly experience on a physical level are real.

&

2) Those symptoms have serious affects on our minds & emotions which contributes to a state of trauma.

In the case of ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

After countless years of therapy combined with my years practicing therapy, I’ve become intimately acquainted with the phrase, “How do you feel about that?”

The thing is, most people honestly don’t know.

We’ve become so conditioned in this society to increase productivity, push through and keep moving, that we don’t always stop to recognize our own feelings, let alone experience them.

The problem with this is that our feelings are what drive us whether we’re conscious of them or not. So, ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

When I was more of a night owl, I spent a lot of time in the East Village at the theater Under St. Marks listening to one of the most powerful storytellers I’ve been fortunate to know in NYC, Peter Aguero. I’ve yet to meet someone as skilled at completely wrapping you up in his truth with a fierce intensity that strikes you right in the heart. When he speaks, you feel it- just pure, beautiful, bloody honesty.

In ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

If you browsed through my online wellness guide (sign up for my newsletter below this post to get yours!), you probably noticed that I’m a huge fan of Ted Talks. I love how they always crack open my mind to a new way of seeing and being. In this talk, mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe discusses the amazing powers of becoming a witness to ourselves through meditation.

Trust me, I know how difficult it seems for those of us ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

Choosing to shift our perception during crisis is half the battle, so if we find ourself in a place of wanting change, but still feeling clueless how to go about it, I’ve got some insights I invite you to consider.

Healing is a long-term commitment we are making with ourself, and any relationship has its growing pains when tested. And to say that living with chronic pain & illness is a test is a gross understatement. So we can’t ...

by: Jamie Rautenberg

I used to have a ton of excuses why I couldn’t achieve what I truly desired. Unfortunately, I lived in a puzzle of chronic pain that tricked me into believing each and every one of those excuses.

Yes, it’s true that there are very real physical challenges faced by those of us living with chronic illness and our bad days can really suck. But, the heart of me is still beating away even if POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, ...