Hey Fam!
How you doin'?! (said in my best Wendy Williams accent)
I normally don't write on a big holiday because it's my time of rest and peace, but my Spirit felt called to touch base with you today and check in since I've been quiet the past couple of weeks.
Whew, chile, let me tell you... this year has been insane for your girl. I've been sitting on a big secret for a while and didn't want to share it with everyone until I made it through some major milestones.
WE BOUGHT A HOME! (Yay!!)
First off, this wasn't a planned endeavor. Which I highly recommend planning first before you enter into the home-buying process, but hey, sometimes you just gotta go for it.
Many of you already know we moved to New Hampshire last year. And the year before that, we moved from California back to the East Coast. Now, I promise I am not a nomadic person who just likes to uproot and move for shits and giggles. However, I am a Sun in Libra, with a Rising Leo and Scorpio Moon, so my relocations are often whimsical, stealthy, and never straightforward. We tried to love New England, and there were shining moments and gems for sure, but ultimately, it wasn't the best fit for our needs.
In May 2025, we decided to move again, but had no clue where. Ha! I know, crazy, ain't it? Nonetheless, I started searching for inspiration and praying for guidance.
Long story short, I found an awesome relocation assistance grant program for Western Maryland, and we applied in June. Shockingly, we won a $20,000 grant to help us relocate to the region, but the caveat was that we had to buy a home in an approved area.
By mid-August, we found our home the same week we were notified that we won the grant. After that, a series of both fortunate and unfortunate events ensued over the span of eight chaotic weeks. We packed up and moved from our Manchester apartment, trusted our belongings in the hands of movers and storage, and stayed with my mother-in-law in New Jersey while every day my hubby and I were on phone & video calls, emails, and texts negotiating and project-managing our patooties off to broker this deal!
This endeavor took every ounce of fight I had in me, and thank God, we finally closed on November 13th. Culminating in a miraculous finale of a two-year-long transition to find a place we can truly call our own.
While all of this was underway, I was still working and caring for patients in my practice. I told a few of my patients about the process before now because I needed their grace and flexibility when closing dates got delayed and conflicted with preexisting patient appointments.
Thank you if you are one of the patients who knew and prayed for us. Your prayers helped us tremendously because there were moments we didn't know if we'd pull it all off! We knew it was destiny and Divine support stepping in to help us get what we had worked so long to have, but didn't think was in our reach yet.
Special shout-out to our buyer's agent, Alishia Potter, with The Optimism Group at Compass Realty. She was on a Divine assignment to help us, and we wouldn't have succeeded without her. You never know who God assigns to help you achieve your dreams, and we're thankful for being led to work with her.
So today, I'm sharing my immense gratitude for being able to write to you from MY HOME, and share with you the power of gratitude as medicine. In my darkest moments where hope felt aloof, it was Gratitude that saved me and fueled my Faith. When stress was stressing hard, and I felt like breaking down or giving up, Gratitude swooped in with someone blessing me with words of encouragement, a warm hug, handling of an issue, extended grace, sending money unexpectedly, and more!
As a result of this momentous blessing, A Dose of Vitamin Ray e-Clinic will begin serving patients living in the Maryland and Pennsylvania areas in 2026, once I finish my list of to-do items for securing two additional medical licenses for MD and PA. Of course, I'm still holding down my California and New England folks, and I will continue to offer wellness support, such as consulting and coaching, to clients who live in states where I'm not licensed for primary care.
As a gentle reminder, I grew up in the Appalachia of Virginia. It feels good to be back in the Appalachian region again and closer to my roots, as well as presented with the opportunity to expand my practice into new communities. It's true, the longer you live and spend time away from your native home, the more life has a funny way of bringing you back home again. For this, I'm grateful.
Holiday-Induced Cortisol Imbalance
This time of year can be challenging for many. Not everyone feels joyful about the holidays, and the stress of traveling, hosting & attending events, gift-buying, etc., can induce symptoms related to a functional cortisol imbalance.
Cortisol imbalance means you are either overproducing or underproducing in your cortisol levels (stress hormone), and this imbalance can cause various symptoms. If perimenopause or menopause symptoms feel extra right now, then it could be a cortisol imbalance at play. Learn more here, or reach out to me if you'd like to be screened and tested for a functional cortisol imbalance or HPA-Axis dysfunction.
I recently spoke with a patient who stated that every holiday season, she has trouble sleeping, chronic fatigue, and mood swings of irritability and anxiety. She told me that she’s always on the go and there’s never enough time in the day. She wanted to know what she could take naturally to help with her symptoms as she navigates the holiday stressors.
I told her what I share with most of my patients:
There isn’t a panacea or one-size approach. The supplements and herbs work best when you first optimize your foundations of health: nutrition, lifestyle, mind-spirit, and environment.
We proceeded to go through each pillar and discovered her mind-spirit needed some attention in order to reel in nutrition and lifestyle.
So the next question I asked: “What are your daily grounding practices?”
She replied, “ I honestly don’t know what that means,” and laughed. We both laughed.
She said, “I wouldn’t even know where to start or how I could even add more grounding. My days are packed as it is.”
We spent a few moments discussing easier ways to include quick calming exercises during her day. Then we dove into gratitude and mental health. By the end of the visit, she expressed being surprised to learn her mindset was having an impact on her health, and was grateful for having the insightful discussion.
Gratitude as Medicine
The practice of gratitude is a powerful healing and liberating act. Gratitude releases expectation. It is an effective medicine to cure inadequacy, dissatisfaction, fear, and can disrupt negative thought patterns.
There are many ways to express gratitude. My top grounding favs are:
- Prayer & Praise 🙏🏾
- Journaling
- Saying "I'm Thankful For" Affirmations
- Expressing words of affirmation and gratitude directly to a beloved
- Being gentle and kind with myself
- Giving a hug or some form of affection
- Making your favorite dish to share
- Offering clean-up duty for a tired or overworked host/hostess
- Respecting where someone is at. Not pushing or forcing thoughts or actions onto others. This includes respecting where you're at, too, and honoring that.
Is there a time you felt gratitude saved you?
Does life feel easier with gratitude or without it?
What are your favorite ways to express gratitude to yourself and others?
Explore opportunities to express and cultivate gratitude. Gratitude doesn’t presume everything is always fine or acceptable. It's OK to acknowledge and accept what you're NOT grateful for because that's part of the process too. I decided to spare you from that side of my rant today, but ask me during a visit, and I'll share honestly because we all struggle with something.
Gratitude offers a path to see the full picture and be more honest with yourself. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Appreciate the daily blessings and moments, while also recognizing what's not serving you as well.
“To cultivate softness in your life, begin with gratitude. Gratitude often releases you from the harsh pressures of not feeling enough or overdoing.“
Final confession before I let you go, I'm not cooking or traveling to see family today. I'm literally writing to you from my bed. Although I will miss seeing loved ones, I had to honor where I was at. So if you were getting down on yourself for not doing something today or this week, simply know Dr. Ray said, "let it go and do what feels soft and easy!"
Naturopathic medical care, paired with patient-centered coaching, can serve as a game-changer in healing work, just as it did for the patient mentioned above. I provide individualized motivational coaching to all my patients as part of mind-spirit support. Before we can properly fix your body, we must take care to nurture and heal your mind and spirit.
Don't miss my first-ever Open Enrollment Promotion!
Member slots are still available for this incredible price until December 31st.
Become a concierge member for only $100/month!
- Unlimited video visits, support calls, and messaging
- Huge member discounts on supplements and labs
- Personalized treatments and coaching
- Curated wellness education resources
Enroll Now until December 31st. HSA/FSA is accepted.
Did you miss my previous email explaining the open enrollment promotion? Catch up by reading here (scroll to the bottom).
If you’re new to me and want to learn more about becoming a patient, please feel free to book a free discovery call here.
Please forward this email to a family member, friend, co-worker, or whoever you think would benefit. The best form of marketing is word-of-mouth! I'm grateful for you!!
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Thank you for reading Reader, and I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday. If you're rocking it solo this year, know that you're never truly alone and feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to connect.
Love and blessings always,
Dr. Ray
Ph: (603) 546-2966 | Email: Ray@DrRayND.com | Book Here
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