A Lack Of Digestive Enzymes

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, mystery, fear, and emotional insecurities. I clearly remember my professor in my integrative fellowship emphatically telling us to guard our energy. Imagine that you have an invisible shield around you, preventing you from getting too energetically drained, he instructed. I have learned that Nightingales need to take that lesson and magnify it a hundred times. This was the third visit in a month for this patient. But after years of giving and commanding as a missionary and public health worker, she was now a Nightingale. She sat looking at me, drawn and pale, with dark circles under her eyes. I have taken antibiotics, decongestants, and used a nebulizer, but it’s not going away. She had just returned from her third trip to Africa and was now headed to Asia for more mission fieldwork in public health. Their gift, their beauty, is the almost angelic quality with which they carry themselves through the world. Overcommitment and selflessness, which leads to depletion. They may sound like Earth Mamas, but Earth Mamas tend to be more methodical.

Faster And Faster To Nowhere

Nightingales have the aspirations of a Boss Lady, the visions of a Savvy Chick, the creativity of a Gypsy Girl, and the heart of an Earth Mama. The drain comes from an overworked and overwhelmed immune system, which puts Nightingales in a state of systemwide chronic inflammation that results in chronic illness. First, it’s helpful to have a good understanding of the conditions that frequently affect my Nightingale patients. Chances are, if you fit this Power Type, you’ll relate to much of this. When a Nightingale has balanced energy, she will always save the day. Her super powers include those of an Earth Mama’s steadfastness, nurturing, and compassion and also the Gypsy Girl’s passion, determination, and artistic and creative expression. When balanced, Nightingales can access and express all these qualities. Immune deficiency, depression, isolation, anxiety. This combination Power Type can be thrown off by anxiety and fear, and to make matters worse, she can become overwhelmed by her Earth Mama characteristic of having flimsy boundaries. A pure Gypsy Girl tends to know that she needs downtime, and while the Nightingale’s combination of types gives her some unique strengths, it also leads to some equally unique weaknesses. This type is hard to pin down because she can be a blend of all types. Fluid, fiery, nurturing, visionary, and life giving are the many energies of the Nightingale.

Look At You Now

Passionate, steady, compassionate, determined. Nightingales can vary in body type, but usually have a small to medium build and are prone to either losing or gaining weight. These two opposites of light and dark represent the fusion of Nightingales. That said, this list is not entirely definitive. Years of too much service and caretaking will deplete anyone’s immune system. Not surprisingly, I find that my Nightingale patients, who have a tendency to be too willing to do for others, are especially susceptible. The warning signs are sometimes hard to see at first. What starts as the occasional cold or a cough soon progresses to being sick every month, and then every week. Sniffles turn into a sinus infection, pneumonia, bronchitis, or some other more severe illness that should have been fairly easy to fight off. Preventing colds and other viruses from taking hold and enhancing the immune system are essential for a Nightingale. The depleted immune system also leaves a Nightingale more vulnerable to allergies. Histamine is the chemical produced by your cells in response to an allergen and causes coughing, a runny nose, hives, and trouble breathing.

Tell It Like It Is

In fact, anyone with multiple food allergies, environmental allergies, or chemical sensitivities is more than likely immunodepleted, with higher than average histamine levels. Just like Gypsy Girls, but unlike Earth Mamas, Nightingales usually have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep. Digestive issues haunt the Nightingale as well. Abdominal symptoms including reflux and bloating are Nightingale issues. Reflux, I have found, is a condition where the digestive system has been disrupted and slowed due to a lack of digestive enzymes, good gut bacteria, and/or simply the wrong food. Chronic reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, can lead to a condition known as Barrett’s esophagus, where the lining of the esophagus becomes badly damaged, setting up a cycle of discomfort, inflammation, and digestive disorders. Fatigue should come as no surprise to Nightingales, who have trouble setting limits and work themselves into the ground. Usually accompanying symptoms, including allergies, frequent illnesses, or digestive discomfort, exacerbate this fatigue. The Gypsy Girl is prone to anxiety and the Earth Mama, to depression. As a hybrid of these two types, the Nightingale can experience either or both, depending on life circumstances. Nightingales often spend more time connecting to the demands of the world or to some larger purpose than they do on their own personal relationships or on themselves, which leaves them unwittingly without the support they need. Just like the Gypsy Girl, the Nightingale has to focus on being connected to her own body and aware of her physical needs, while her Earth Mama tendencies reinforce the need for emotional connection to her own family, partner, or children. Without these essential elements, the Nightingale can find her constant service and selflessness unrewarding, demanding, and personally unfulfilling. At the same time, they have the Gypsy Girl pattern of kidney meridian deficiency. The kidney meridian is the seat of all hormones, the source of energy that you are gifted with at birth, according to Chinese medicine. As Nightingales, you may often dance between both of these types. Therefore, your Power Plan requires elements that work to provide balance. Melatonin and cortisol are affected as well, causing the sleep disturbances common to Nightingales. These hormones also affect fertility, blocking ovulation happening. In the next 3 weeks you’ll learn to balance and optimize all levels of important hormones through food choices, supplements, bodywork, and more. At the same time, pulling back on insulin disruptors like alcohol, caffeine, and sugar is a key nutritional strategy for Nightingales.