Food can make your holidays special even food for the soul

Some Holiday foods never grow old...and  that’s some food for thought.

In one of my more recents podcasts, I described the history of candy canes.  They certainly have not  grown old as a holiday classic.  Around here we almost always have peanut blossom cookies with a chocolate star or  chocolate  kiss in the center, some sugar cookies, some rice crispy  and white chocolate drop cookies etc. etc.

those things are great because they connect our taste buds with our memories  over years and years of holiday togetherness which is a fantastic source of peace and joy.  

Food for the Soul

Food for the soul is  sometimes overlooked these days and  I for one refuse. To let it go unceremoniously.  Just as important as those holiday classics in food we need to cherish and share some of the stories we all. Have come to know.  Don’t be. Afraid to slip in quotes from.”how the 

Grinch Stole. Christmas or a Charlie Brown Christmas during the holidays.  Most of the time these  words will bring a sense of commonness and peace into the conversation.  You can. Also include some classic lines from  more modern offerings like Christmas. Vacation with  the Griswold and of course the Santa Clause with tim Allen.  You can dip into the way back machine and  refer to A miracle on 34th Street and of course every time a bell rings an angel gets it’s wings (and a Corona gets a lime)  from It’s a Wonderful Life.  

The Best Soul Food. Of All (for me)

In 1846 so. 173 years ago, Charles dickens dropped a Christmas Carol in our laps.  This thing is a ghost story, a love story, a story about dysfunctional family life, a tale about  disability, hypocrisy, having a personal legacy, and spiritual change and it all happens in one night!   Well one night with all the required flashbacks and dreams and such.  

I’m not going to summarize the story here... I would suggest you find. One of several versions to watch.  Start with a classic black and white. Version if possible but  if at all possible DO NOT SKIP SCROOGED the Bill Murray adaptation because it brings. Home some points about our modern world. More pointedly than some other variations to the classic tale.  

In the end this is a tale about change and hope and knowing it is not to late.  It is a tale about. Exploring what is possible and what one person can do to make a difference in more than one life and in seeking peace and joy this is something to stay focused upon.  ...

To summarize holiday classics  can be a source of connecting with. Peace and joy.  Food  is a classic and some stories are classics too.  One of the  most substantial and relevant stories is. “A Christmas Carol and while it won’t  be played 124 hours straight like A Christmas Story or Home Alone I it has a powerful message I encourage us all to take in.

And of Course in the words of  Tiny Tim

God Bles Us One and All

Back to the Top  10 tomorrow 

Hey this is some great handmade holiday stuff you could start holiday tradition which is sort of what this episode is about check out the link 

Home | whal3n 

Sometimes peace and joy takes face talk or walk?

Peace & Joy —When to Talk & When  to Walk

A few days ago I popped a video into this blog and wrote about how ”acceptance is not surrender.”  This was a very  hard  concept  for me to grasp for a long time…. I mean it’s like going to Verizon right now and insisting on a flip phone without a camera… my attitude was a bit outdated given my life experiences.  So, I sort of wanted to continue this theme  at least one more time.   

Let’s face it most times  when we are least peaceful and joyful is when we are looking for or in  an argument or have just left one.  Rarely  do both or all parties walk away after an argument  saying “good talk..I’m glad you changed my mind.”  I can count the times  that has happened to me on one  hand without  using any fingers, however sometimes after such chats I have used  one finger to respond.  Be that as it may, let’s move this conversation forward.

First of all, if you have to … and I mean just have to have it out with someone remember the words of Eleanor Roosevelt who said something like— “Smart people discuss ideas-less smart people talk about events—-and well those who are less smart  yet talk about people.  So if you are going to persuade  someone I think that is a good thing to  remember.  Changing  minds  usually doesn’t go well if  the process starts with a personal attack.  Keep it at the idea level as best  you can.  The second  way to keep these deals more peaceful is to  say we  may  not need to come to a decision on this right now.. but we need to start a talk about it.   That way we don’t need to leap to the opposite corner right away even if that’s where it might be headed

Finally sometimes the best talk is not to have one at all.  From time to time  you just have to express that this is not the time for  hashing things out… Sometimes  people need  space and they need it right  now.  At this point  if you can  be perceptive  it is often best to allow the space to happen so that things can bend but not break.  

Peace and Joy  require  some  flexibility and so we should aim at not breaking things unless we plan on leaving them  for …well possibly  forever.  

Anyway  I am popping in a song my brother and I sort of created  yesterday.  His emotions  prompted the  lyrics and my mind has been in that place before so I chopped this together and  am sharing it today. 

Enjoy.

NEW COMMENTS: 

The current culture seems to push people to declare their unending loyalty to people and ideas.  If it is possible in 2020 maybe we can start asking each other to declare that we will seek various sources of information, be willing to try to re-examine our ideas regularly, and make the effort to check back with others regarding their values and ideas instead of placing them in a box and leaving them there.  Assume people are complex and  will experience change in spite of anything we might say or do.  In short work harder to understand. An idea than to control a person who may hold it.  If you have to  experience some silence  to allow the other person to change or moderate—it is worth. Your time and peace and joy. Is probably  worth the wait.  

Let 2020 be a time of new ideas and new connections.  Peace. 

Another brick in “The WALL

this top 10 post is about walls and as it is highlighted there are a couple of things I would like to add. There are so many messages in the media and in our communities that encourage us to build walls not bridges and so in this holiday season I would encourage everyone to consider the following questions

As you are likely to be doing some family visiting this holiday season what is one question that you would like to ask anyone or your entire family?
Think of any three people you would like and imagine or write down five things values etc. you believes you have in common with these people.  Now to pick two people that you wish had these things in common with you or the group of people you were thinking about

Finally what skills or talents do you have personally that would help either you or someone you care for build bridges with other people not walls?

OK enjoy this top 10 for 2019



These days we hear  a lot of talk about  "the Wall."

If  you want to you can link to FoxNews--CNN, or MSNBC  some links below and get a ready-made opinion  of this topic.

https://youtu.be/7k6WMJz3CWw

https://youtu.be/pmEuSQ2aQ80

https://youtu.be/7zAqO7U0k4o

Fortunately, this is not the wall I'm talking  about....because there are enough  people talking about that already

I'm also  not talking  about  Pink Floyd's "quasi-experimental"  album (The Wall  and the stunning movie adaptation.)

So what Wall?

Well I thought  about the great wall of China because that is one impressive wall and it was built a long time ago and  we in the "west" don't  know much about it except what we might  learn  with regard to how ancient alien astronauts  might have had a hand in it (just kidding)


I'm talking  about the walls  that this debate about some border structure  are  building  between  people who  otherwise believe  in a lot of the same things and for  some of the same reasons.

We all want  a safe place to live and to feel like  things  are fair.
We  as humans  all like some sense that we can have a space of our  own if we need it for a while.

we  are as  human beings  built to  be hyper aware of new and strange  situations including the looks of people. These are realities.
Let's all admit that.... and move ahead.


WhatI guess I'm questioning is why we have to make this  yet another  either or issue for our country and the world are we?


Building a Wall of Duality  that urges us to characterize  ourselves as one of our many  facets?  If so  please don't make it aawall.... I want to be sorted  out by the curve of my left ear.  Should I start a Facebook group?

Seriously... if we are to achieve peace and joy  in this  existence let's breathe and avoid  a forced  extreme and two-sided choice— a wall inside.

 There have always been walls there will always be walls but let’s think about them differently here’s a little song about  walls it is a one take wonder it will be better when I work on it a while but so will humanity (mine).  LOL

—

The magical history of candles 2019 top 10

THE MAGICAL HISTORY  OF CANDLES

Google it… I don’t know anything about the history of candles.  I know they have been around a long time and I know one of the most expensive  brands is the “yankee”  candle.  The Yankees probably outbid the  Red Sox or Dodgers so Bed Bath and Beyond wouldn’t be selling  these things…. and if you  don’t follow baseball please keep reading…I’m about to make  a point.

Candles are  indeed magical.  You see you can in almost always find a way to light your own and it can light your way to many  lplaces.  Also when you come across someone who needs their candle  lit you can easily share  the light of  your candle and then you both have a light and the power to light the candles of others.  

Well in the past few  years I have come across a number of people…probably some of you who are reading this… who  were carrying a candle and were able to light my way for a while  and a few  have  been able to make sure my candle stayed lit when I went on my way.  I have made some efforts to light the candles of others and hope they have  gone on to do so.  

In the end the  candle is a magical thing because  even if it doesn’t light the whole  room it often  provides a powerful aroma that  reminds  you of a peaceful or joyful time.  

So sometime in the next week or so….light a candle either  your own or someone else’s … and let the peace and joy  glow on. 

Happy holidays and keep shining brightly in 2020

Health change peace and joy

Peace and joy: your body as change

So here we are at the end of the beginning when it comes to. Talking about. Health, body/mind peace and joy.  Thus far the primary messages have  focused upon building relationships with medical professionals as human beings to enhance your chances of doing well in “clinical medicine situations).  Then, food and how  our culture.has come to treat the buying and eating processes. Some attention.has been given to the inadequate health education we receive as youth and  beyond.  The focus. Has been on these areas because we can play a very active role in all of these facets of  moving toward peace and joy by participating in our own well being.  Now it is time to  put a cap on this for a bit by focusing on  a topic that could have been first or last, however last seems to  work as a summary idea so here it goes.

In a book called (I think) “Aging for. Beginners” the authors  present a very  “mindfulness” framework for  the readers.  In simple terms they point out that stuff happens to everyone’s body throughout a life span and that this is inevitable.  While  they don’t  come right down to it, they imply the hell out of the idea that  the very human need for security makes it difficult for us to  age gracefully. Or have any peace of mind regarding. One of the most natural pathways that all humans walk.  They are right.  Society and our own minds as part of it have taught. Us to fear changes especially  to our body and ones that indicate aging in particular.  To paraphrase they also  believe when things are relatively stable and  at least  okay we get complacent  and then when things  change we complain, get anxious, and make peace or joy  very close to impossible.  We almost never. Look at shifts in health as a possibility.to learn how to advance under certain body circumstances.  

So this is my final. Commentary for seeking peace and joy and. Understanding  health.  Like I said—for now.  

The  Certain Change Paradox

Spoiler Alert.... Have you ever met a baby?  How about a 5 year-old?  Has your life been impacted. By you as a pre-teen or teen-aged kid?  Have you nNoticed any  gray hairs or shifts. In body parts?  If yQuestion—As humans to we live a life of constant  changes in body  images, heath status, and attitudes toward our bodies and those of others?  If your answer is no to any. Or all of these questions the idea that flinging to. Ideas. Of body “certainty is not going to promote a  peaceful  outcome—because in the vernacular —it ain’t  so Jack.  Your body was  made to change and no matter how many plastic parts we put in them change is still going to happen.  

Okay that brings me to  the final point... If you  are very uncomfortable with change, you will have. A hard time ever finding  peace, Joy, and Happiness in the same place.  Acceptance and comfort  in change is clearly a key to accepting and influencing  what. You can is a path to coming to a better health care place in your mind and soul.  From the time you leave the. Womb till the time you turn to dust change is the human way.  So if you can count on change stop  treating change as  uncertain and thus letting it fall into something to be anxious about.  Try to view changes  in your body with some degree of  uncovering new  opportunities to find different ways of doing things, and a chancer to form different. Relationships with.people who  now expect you  to understand them because they have had a similar body experience.  If you can accept change and embrace it, you will find all types of opportunities  fo Sind peace and Joy.  If you deny change you will feel pretty. Hopeless,  

Don’t doubt we will tale more about this in the near  future.  Starting Tomorrow the Top Ten Countdown... Number. 10.  The Magical  History of Candles you can find some peace and joy in the discovery process of “what’s next?”  If. 

Healthy peace and joy some nearly final thoughts

HEALTHY PEACE AND JOY SOME NEXT TO FINAL THOUGHTS

The relationship between Body/Mind/Spirit/ and Peace and Joy is of course complex and critical to understand inasmuch as possible.  However, this group of commentaries is only going to dip into the well but t2ice more.  Then  other visits will be made.   

You see, since 2020 is peaking around. The corner and the days are counting down I thought I’d dust off my top posts from the year, give them a fresh coat of humor, information, and punctuation and release them  as a retro-prospective.   I also want to do a  “resolutions post and of course I might not make  it to ten after I dig in, becxausae my spirit will call out and say that’s enough or here’s something else you need to write about—right now!

Having said.all that...here we go on Helathy Peace and Joy for today.  So far the focus has been on the medical appointment  process and  breaking the. Clinical model for your health care professionals. And so that you can get human treatment from and for human beings.  Next, the topic was  food—how I/we treat it in our culture and how faster is not better and it’s going to show up. In one of my resolutions (BTW).  Comments have been made about. The lack of healthcare education we receive throughout our lives.  For certain we have (even when parts of it function outside the. Regular range) this marvelous instrument known as the human body and the mind/soul/spirit and we get almost  no help understanding how it works. Or how to use it.  In short, becoming more aware is probably step one in heading up the road in. Peace and joy.  Okay...moving forward.

So let’s start with a  simple question—do you still dance?  If. Not did you. Quite because your knees or hips. Woreout?  Or did your knees or hips wear out because you quit dancing?  No matter...what  you could do is start again.  If you ask a group of. Five year-olds to show.you their best dance, not a single one won’t  be able. Or willing to do that and so do we teach people.that dancing is unacceptable or that adults don’t do that kind of stuff?  In short one of the keys to.seeking. Peace and joy in a healthy way is to “shake, shake, shake, shake , shake,shake, shake your booty (sp).  I bet in addition to  sitting silently for  long periods the Buddha could still bust a move, shake a leg, cut a rug...

Okay I’m just suggesting we make like the scarecrow after being up on that pole and hey even use the pole to do some dancing if tha’t your deal.  Just  move.  

Everyone has time for a little dancing—EVERYONE!!! Dance in your house if you must—while you are sweeping the floor or picking up laundry or taking  the pizza box to ther garbage etc.  You can do a little two step and the megastore while you are in line-NO JIGS AT THE “U-SCAN self-checkout except in the third week of March—then all bets are off.  

Dance over to your local bookstore  (if you are in or near Burlington, Iowa —Burlington by the Book on Jefferson is THE PLAC—and pick up a copy of Bill Bryson’s “The Body: a Guide for Occpants.”  This book covers your body like  two passionate college-aged loverss on a ...okay you get5 the point—the book  tells you a lot about almost every  part of the human anatomy.  TaTake three minutes  a day to inventory your body parts both inside and out.  I’m not suggesting  an “at home” colonoscopy kit or anything, I’m just saying give yourself  a minute to check things out regularly you can do some parts of this with a partner every so often too—but don’t imagine you are doing it with neighbor while  that’s going on.  

Okay so far 1. Move—2. Get. Educated and 3 Stay aware and here’s number. 4...

Be grate3ful for lo the. Parts of you that are in working order at any given time don’t take. This miracle for granted.  Imagine  the headaches  that would come if we.all had to lift  our right arms to chew or snap. Our figures to urinate?  Queen’s AAnother One Bites the Dust would be playing in most public  restrooms or maybe Ice Ice Baby or Roger Miller’sKingb of the Road?  

Take a minute to breath deep and e thankful for the intellect and physical  skills you have.  

Well...I’ve. Given you  about enough for. One day.  I’ve  got a little dancing to do in the kitchen.  

Peace Out

do we eat what we think? How about a mouthful of peace and joy?

A MOUTHFUL OF PEACE AND JOY

Well many of you out there reading this are already much better. Than I am in this regard so I’m going to start with the part you may  wish to take forward first, and then I’m going to  converse with the straggling lumps like me.  Okay  in the last post I talked about the brain or put up a very good link and I’m  going to. Build on that today in a fairly unexpected  way for many.  Your brain is an electrochemical machine.  It’s. Complicated, it keeps you alive, and unfortunately most people  are not given, nor force fed if needed, enough knowledge about this body part to use it to provide control of your “everyday health” let alone peace and/or joy.  

So where does your brain get it’s fuel?  Well  of course that’s simple you think what. You eat and you eat what you think (oh and feel, and see, and smell, and hear too).  Some of you are disciplined  eaters and understand how to fuel your body nd brain properly.  I could easily learn and pay attention to such things...but I haven’t “yet”.  

I assume you care about your health for a lot of reasons including such things  as avoiding illnesses, preventing  injuries etc.  However, I am not going to go  ballistic in praising you. For this wisdom just yet. You  have discovered something that  works for you, however in order to  create an atmosphere where your peace and joy can be nourished along with the rest of us, I’m willing to ask you to go further.  

First of all tell everyone of any mindfulness techniques you use to  direct your food. Input.  Yes, I’m saying help me and others eat. More slowly.  If I come over or if you have others over serve one thing at a time or separate  sweets from the regular table etc.. You can  say things like ‘this corn tastes a little sweeter than usual don’t you think?’  Now everyone at your table  will take a fraction more time paying attention to the corn they are eating live a starved squirrel.  The point is. To ask questions that will people to be aware of what they are eating and  how quickly without. Having to say ‘Man are shooting for the  North American corn-eating speed record?’  This is an internal conversation I plan to begin having with myself daily. 

But it’s not just the food we pick or the speed at which we eat it that. Is really messed up when it comes to seeking. Peace and joy.  Let me explain...

What are. The reported  favorite meals of the year?  They are. Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas or Winter and other Holiday meals depending upon your faith, and Holiday Picnics.  Why?  Because these meals don’t have a timer on them or as strict  a timer. And most meals.  There is no  meal related. Anxiety aside for fighting Uncle Joe for  that second. Turkey leg.  

During  “normal” days our western culture and other cultures. Have created expectations about  what and when we will be eating.  If you don’t think so...when is the last time you were presented with a jumbo hot-buttered” tub of popcorn during a religious ceremony?  You. See we have created this mess with regard to food and here’s the real kicker.  We  have bought into the fact that food has to be  fast... but not only fast to eat, fast to pick up in your car so you don’t even have to. Get out of your car ever  or at least to eat.  Of course you don’t know what they put in the “food” and. That’s okay because neither do they.  I heard a  food wholesaler  advertise that their frozen, ready to microwave meatballs well made with all natural preservatives.  Were they feeding the cows all natural preservatives?  I’m confused—oh well.  In addition to this we used to have neighborhood grocery stores that were not also. Your drugstore, your tire store, your eyeglasses outlet and your bank.  The grocer <whether or not they slipped their.thumb open the scale occasionally, used to care about the quality of food  they brought. To their neighborhood.  We all know the names of the big box stores that do food and everything.  I could. Write. For days on how this type of  resource allocation and provision provides  little peace and joy, but I’ll leave it at  this and it’s not the fault of the store.  We have placed suc a premium on the speed of our food that. We. Go to these store as that also sell the3 paint we might need and a 12 pack of Bud because it is kfast and convenient.  We  are. In the “let’s get in and out of here” frame of mind when it comes time to shop for. Our groceries in these places, so we buy things without considering whether they are part of a leisurely eating experience.  We stress to get through the check out  lanes and self-serve aisles as quick as we can.  We even do more shopping online than ever so that it’s fast and convenient.  So we have created a NASCAR Pit Stop  mentality surrounding. Food for the most part.  

You could argue that food. Companies are forced to put ingredients and nutritional value labels on food and you would be correct.  UUnfortunately nobody is taught what  f grams of  protein does for various parts of your. Body and  brain.  As far as you know. 4 grams of protein is equal to the amount of energy it takes. For a small monkey to. Ride a bicycle around the block counter clockwise.  So the fuel for our brain/mind body is being treated rather casually and is allowed to create anxiety nearly  everyday.  So even those of you who eat well could help the rest of us rethink the whole food chain so to speak... 

Okay if Lee eat slower and a lot more different  stuff it is  likely we will enjoy it more and  create less anxiety around. The choosing and using of food.  We need to learn more about. What foods do what to our brain and what our. Brain/mind does in  modifying our body.  Maybe video  games where we battle. Enemies could include battles.of picking the right menu items to make  warriors smarter, stronger, and faster?  

I don’t know we  can increase our. Peace by removing  health consequences of. Crappy food behaviors and we can gain joy by reclaiming  meals as a nourishing social interchange rather than a NASCAR event.  

Do a google search for  “brain building foods...and see how many. You might like.  That’s on my  pre-New Year’s list.  I for one am going to absolutely draw the line at eating a whole bowl of Frosted Flakes  in Five Hour Energy Drink every morning just to start.

More  tomorrow on your. Mind and body ... This is enough food for thought for one day.  

Quit teaching health in schools and teach a Peace And Joy please

YOUR BODY, YOUR  MIND YOUR PEACE AND JOY

So yesterday I dropped a podcast about coming to terms with  medical appointments and how to approach them.  The basic point of the  podcast was that “this is my body....I need the medical  folks to see me as a person.  I need to set some expectations  for them one of which is that. We are all human beings and are working  together.   I’m going to go out on a limb here and request that you listen to the podcast after reading the rest of the  post. Below... I would love it if you could subscribe to it to but that would be a shameless plug...okay I’m begging you tho subscribe and I’m ashamed so it’s no longer shameless right?  

http://peaceandjoy505.libsyn.com/

https://youtu.be/LiyaSr5aeho

The second link is to a video of Dan Siegel who wrote a book about the  Brain/Mind/Body connection and promotes the idea that healthy people have an understanding of how these relationships and relationships among people impact our life.  Watch that when you are. Finished here.  

Okay let’s get back to  peace and joy shall we?  It seems to me that  everyone. Experiences some types of sickness or medical distress in the course of a lifetime.  Now I’m going to say I forgive the educational system both in public and private schools, however, it’s just a lie to call what  youth learn “health”. In the few weeks each year or every other  year here is the sum total of what I learned about health.  

1. Don’t  Drink and drive.  That’s good.helpful information.  However,  it could include “Don’t  drive to your local fast food shack or convenience store for sugar water which can and will also kill you and wreck your health.  
2. I learned what synthetic dope burning. Smells like.  By the way todays higher grade products don’t smell anything like that and often. Have been altered, but when I was a kid no one bothered to mention that.  I won’t go into the medicinal  value of that particular organic substance here... everyone has a right to form their own opinions there.  
3. We learned about “sex”...well sort of.  We  saw these drawings that  made the female parts look like some sort of distorted butterfly and the male anatomy. Sort of looked  like a map of Florida with a swollen. Gulf of Mexico  Region.  For  Catholic,ic kids we learned that there. Was no. Such thing as safe premarital sex and it would be best if we were married and had two kids before we asked any more.questions in class.  Oh and we did get to see a few  pictures of diseases and what diseased body parts might look like.  

What we didn’t learn... and why it is important to take a peace and joy perspective....

So let’s start at the beginning... We live in a culture where there is a real tendency to  connect our body shape/color/ with our intellect, personality, fitness....etc... Whendo we learn what society thinks?  Probably  starting at birth, but  that’s just  via osmosis  for the most part.  Then  while you are  growing. Up in the stream called your identity and moving quite well most the time you and everyone else comes to  the whirlpool splattered, jagged rock formation Kaiden, shark infested, dead stump filled rapids known as middle school, adolescence , puberty,  call it what you will... health/body related shit hits the fan and just  when we are starting to establish. Our independence and think a bit. More complexly our mind/body/identity  equations becomes  an algebra equation that we’re supposed to solve with an abacus.  Oh and who do we turn to... well a nun or a priest  or your  parents or a taboo magazine or the internet?    The point I’m trying to make is that we  don’t give ourselves the tools to understand the mind  body connections as adults let alone when. We are going to need it in earlier parts of life.  

So let’s teach our kids some mindfulness, some stress lowering breathing and maybe even provide them with information about how  the mind can help heal the body since the proof is overwhelming that this is true.  

I’ll talk more about this a tomorrow..I’m just making the framework. Here.  

Next (and probably the subject for two or three posts after this... is the idea of coming to terms with  what healthy is and who you are  healthy or not.... This is easier done than said if you are aware...but nearly impossible otherwise.  

As I said earlier everyone gets sick or injured and some people stay sick and injured  or “disabled”. Or chronically ill.  That’s a part of human nature.  The deal is this... It is not  always  the status of your body that dictates whether. You treat your own identity. As sick or damaged.  I have some medical conditions that  aren’t in the “REGULAR” range.  Notice that  I didn’t mention normal... because most of these things are.”normal” for me and they don’t really  have to be the concern of too many other folks or at least most of the time it doesan’t matter to my banker that Idon’t see well or my plumber doesn’t really give a crap if  I’ve got no soft tissue left in my left knee joint.   Yet if those things  happen to  convince me to decide I’m old and decrepit I’ll likely present my shelf that  way to the banker and plumber.  What I’m getting at is simply this.  From the time you. Are born till the time you are dust you are going to have a changing  health status.  You can control some of it and some you cannot and that’s a human thing. Here’s the point!!!

ILLNESS AND INJURIES IMPACT YOUR BODY A LITTLE BIT AT EVERY. MOMENT. OF EVERYONE’S LIFE.  THE HARD PART IS WHAT THEASE THINGS DO TO CHALLENGE OUR IDENTITY....BOTH AS BUILD IT FROM WITHIN AND AS OTHERS TRY TO HOIST IT UPON US.   There are certain illnesses and  physical conditions that  sharing in  a public form will certainly create a firestorm for the way others look at you and treat you but no doctor talks with you. About this and holy crap no health teacher or parent goes down that road so  how are you to be prepared?  Well here’s how... Understand that your. Mind is more powerful than  external  factors.  You get to interpret your experiences no matter what.  You may have to fight hard to  convince others this is true but it’s worth it.  Second you are important to the world and if you have to have “an attitude”  that you deserve the best from  healers that’s a gift you are giving to the rest of us.  Believe in those two things and. You will find some peace.  Now to the Joy part.  Well let me give you an example..When I had my most recent surgery I had to call. For assistance every time I had to go  to the.bathroom.  So on the second night. In the middle of the night I decided. That my independence was about ready to assert itself and I grabbed my IV pole, steadied myself on the bed all the way around to the bathroom  door, got myself seate3d and  let go of a semi-impressive stream.. There is a joy in little things and believe me when  I’m talking about certain. Body parts...well 

The point is you also get to decide what experiences hold joy.   

If you dso not dso Trieste things no health status is going to. Be either a source for peace or joy... 

We’ll  visit that some more tomorrow.  View the  links and be well... 

Let’s change our mindset or the calendar we can find so much more peace and joy and quit doing giving Tuesday wrong

PEACE ON EARTH GOODWILL TOWARDS....

Well it’s “no name Wednesday and  the thought seem to be rolling. Around in my head that somehow this whole. Black Friday thing somehow got turned on it’s head somewhere.  Thankfully, we can go a long way. Towards  making it better with just a single  master stroke on the calendar.  You see  here’s. How it works now.

We have  Black Friday (which  has expanded into the  two or three weeks before  and even  runs over. The gratitude. Holiday of Thanksgiving.  Now until we change the name to “Thanksbuying” I’m not going to smile a lot about this whole matter (and probably never  get any  corporate sponsors for things I write—oh well.)    

Then we have of. Course “Small Business. Saturday.’  This is an attempt to remind. Folks that there are still craftsman and women who make unique and wonderful products in our community and above all give us a choice of what to buy that has some real meaning.  Of course some small businesses  can’t make it even when they have a day devote3d to them.  On the other hand, have you been through your local mall lately?  Where are all the Sears Stores, Younger’s?, Carsons?,  Oh and how many blank VHS tapes have you bought lately?  Oh and how many movies have you returned to your “Blockbuster?”   You see some big businesses and industries disappear too.  Anyway we have Black Friday, Small Business Saturday—Sunday you can worship at any retailer or football shrine you’d like and then slide right into ...

Cyber MondayOf course this is handy for people who can’t get out or just don’t want to fake a smile while  walking through big box stores who have had their  holiday decorations out or on the shelves  since the middle of Indian  Summer...By the way do native Americans get any royalties for the use of that term maybe some beads or.$24 bucks a year?   Okay so after  Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday We have  started something called. “Giving Tuesday...”. For me personally it’s hard to. Find  peace and joy in a calendar that places  the day of “giving” AFTER three days devoted to spending on the people we know and spend on the entire. Rest of the year.  

Don’t get me wrong... I’m all for giving gifts and getting a few, however why do we put this  community charity or nonprofit cause day devoted to building. Our communities  at the time when  our minds are probably weary and our  credit  cards are probably in the corner of our purse or wallets melting/. 

I  just wonder if we wouldn’t all be in a better frame of mind and have.better community resources if we shifted  “giving  Tuesday to let’s say the. Tuesday sin the week prior to  the Black Friday assault?  We can do it... we have moved every federal holiday in ther US to a Mondday.  Look up some calendar history...all of western  civilization  has moved things like New Year’s  Day and in 1752 we just ripped  out 10 days of the calendar and said it’s cool...Well it was cool because it made the whole  trip around the sun thing work better, however if my birthday was on one of those days I’d have been pretty torqued off.  

Anyway back to my  quests for changing Thanksgiving  back toward “Giving”. Let’s  see if we couldn’t  move that day forward.  Let’s see if  some community minded  retailers a would match of double the amount. You gave to a local cause and make that your “Black Friday” discount. So if you gave the Red Cross. $200  then Home Depot would take  up to $200 off your Black Friday to Cyber Monday bill?  

Okay... go out and buy some cheese..I’ve given you plenty of w(h)ine for one wqeweek and it’s only Whining /Wednesday. .  Tomorrow I’m going to  wax philosophically about how  we can find more peace and joy in almost  any medical situation.  Until then... seek some peace and. Joy come what may. 

Peace and joy medicine and healing beginning and some comments

Using Blogg “A PHRASE WEAS BORN”

Last week I started a concerted. Effort to change the whole Black Friday mindset and berlieve me last week was just the beginning.   However, in doing this  it was impossible to fully recognize  some things that really deserve recognition in my book.  

On the same day...all on the same day the poet Milton Mark Twain, and Winston Churchill were all born.  If you are not a Milton fan that’s okay, but if you are a sarcasm or satire fan you owe it to yourself to read a little gem  known as “the modest  proposal.  You aren’t likely to find a more pointed. Political comment in all of western history.  Everyone knows. Mark Twain and his gang  Tom, Becky, and Huck and any number of their adventures.  He takes his shots at politicians well...and several social conceptionsa about things like slavery etc.  Finally there is Winston Churchill the famous. British k leader who guided  the country under attack through the Second World War.  

All these. Writers/speakers had a a lot of wisdom and said it  so much clearer that I  have learned or have the patience to emulate of duplicate.  

However stepping on the shoulders of giants my favorite mantra was born on their Birthday week.  I believe t]hat in a facebook post, I first urged each of you to seek out  or have some “Peace and Joy.”

During the previous week I had  experienced a significant  back reconstruction surgery.  In the simplest  terms the lower part of my spinal vertebra collection looked more like semi-finals challenge at the skeletal  Chenga  tournament.  Almost any  movement could cause a random  shift where the bones. Pinched my spinal column or any one of their related bundle of nerves creating either  a temporary paralysis or indescribable  pain—well actually it’s describable but a string of four-lettered words is not called for here.  So after analyzing this mess, the surgical team. Offered me  two options.  One was the pleasant  notion of having  seven separate  procedures over the next  nine years or so depending how long the recovery time was for each.   Sounds great right/. Or I could have a relatively new, but fairly  promising  procedure where  they  would basically cut a hole in my back and remove most of the  bone.  Then replace it with a “small titanium  cage or bracket .  Now why would screw the old bone chips  plus some  more bone that they  would take from. A couple places in my hips.  They would reroute by spinal column through the cage  structure, surround it with  the bone, mix in some stem cells and grow a “spinal fused bone tube that protects. The spinal and provides stability.  Now they informed me that this thing didn’t work fully in about 30 percent of people and  about 3 in  100 ended up with some paralysis.  Oh and about 1 in 1000 came. In alive and left well not so alive.  So. I would need to  be out of work for three months and it should be at least two years before the  bone structure.had completely formed...but I couldn’t see doing thing for nine years so I picked the  week of Thanksgiving  2016 to do this thing.  I don’t remember being very nervous going into the  surgery—well of course I was. Stoned silly and then once they  cranked in the knock-out drugs I was gone in two or three breaths.  Well things went pretty well except it took  8 hours instead of six to complete.  In the meantime the staff shift. Had changed  on the recovery floor and because  hospital policy prohibits hanging IV pain  meds unattended my waiting meds were. No more than salt water.  They  flop me into my bed and according to protocol  they bring me around sometime after a half hour of wiring me up with  monitors etc.  

Now my surgeon  had said I would feel like hell especially on the second day...”it will be a little rough,” he’d said.  

Well a little rough?  Was. The Little Big Horn a little setback for the calvary?  I woke up to a pain that I’ll never forget.  I could barely breathe and any slight movement including breathing was remarkably torturous.  I started screaming but wasn’t really aware of it.  One of the medical  team. Started checking  everything as my blood pressure  was in a mad race with my  heart rate to see which  could break the North American record first.  Then  one nurse checked the IV lines to see if they were blocked.  Then she  let out a curse word and said...he’s not getting any pain meds this is water.. Two people went running  out into the  hall while one clipped a short tube into one of my IV lines and  in a moment. One of the staff members came in  and held the  newly attached  tube and said “in a second you are going to feel a little warm sensation.  All I remember was thinking “what the hell difference would one more sensation make?”  A couple new people came  hustling in with ice packs and explained this would numb the pain for a couple minutes while the meds  took effect.  They loaded them  on my back gently.  Then  the other nurse who had dashed out. A couple minutes before came in with two IV bags and switched the saline water. Out for these bags and then she shot a load of drugs in each and  turned. On the flow.  

So apparently. I had lain there for some 90 minutes letting the  Annastehia  wear of with no pain meds post surgery whatsoever allowing me to wake up as if they had not  done anything for the pain which they had not.  

Well in about 20 minutes things were calming down inside my body considerably.  They had given me a little self  serve pain med button that I could use  about 20 minutes apart .  They started to position me until I “was comfortable (what the hell they define as comfortable wasn’t in the same  area code as where I would be for the rest fo the next couple days...but  let’s. Move forward.  At any rate I was settling in sort of when  most of the people were leaving. The room and then the second most  horrendous. Pain in my life. Decided to show up.  You see in the mass confusion someone had tucked. The catheter  tube and  bag down  on one side of the. Bed and it had  made it’s way to the floor.  Yes..Yes .. you guessed it one of the  most cheery and helpful. Nurses I was to have. During my. Visit turned to.skip merrily out of the room and inadvertently or more accurate bloody unfortunately caught the catheter  line ripping it  unceremoniously  nearly all the way out of a very “let’s say” sensitive  body part.  Well  I bit my tongue and I got another shot. Of some  pain meds for that .  

So I told you that. Whole story to tell you this... 

I woke up about 4 the next morning and felt fairly okay for someone who had been hit by a bus, but just a small shuttle bus you understand.  I was able to form some  thoughts about what had actually happened the day before and what would be happening over the next months.  I listened as a man down. The hall yelled out in pain and frustration because the nurse wouldn’t;t just stay  sitting in the room with him.  He was obviously not in so much physical pain as. He was  alone and afraid that his legs weren’t going to work as they had before.  He was throwing. His bed pan  around the. Room every few minutes and whatever else he could reach from his  bed.  In short, he could find no peace and he could not imagine any time when he would experience joy again.  

I suspect that’s the moment when I realized  that so many people in that hospital experienced physical pain, but  far more difficult for them was  the fact that hospitals did not specialize in helping  people seek peace or joy.  They knew how to fix body parts, but had. Very little  time or expertise in helping  people seek peace and joy.  

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I’m an expert at it, but I recognize the need for it...I know we have to seek it and experience it when possible.  I know  that if people share peaceful, funny, serious, joyful, and genuine experiences they live  fuller lives for all the moments they are given.  I know it’s worth paying attention in order to grasp and create those moments and I know they are everywhere if you can be peaceful enough to let your heart and soul generate them out of the everyday world that floats in front of us in an unending stream... so that insight came about three years ago for me and I hope  this little post explains my obsession with peace and joy as opposed to success and happiness or achievement and status.  

After all when your catheter is being ripped from your groin I guarantee  you that status pour looking cool is pretty far from your mind...but my life would be a poorer thing for not having that experience.   Will I go. As far as saying thank you  to all medical people for  letting me have that experience?  Hell no...every lesson has it’s limits right?

More tomorrow ...Peace —out