553.  Past

Principles

Health

Steve exercising

479.  Past

Principles

Living

Reversal

As one ages, the body reverses our thinking.  When we are young the needs of the body dominate. As a baby, when you're hungry you cry, when you have to go to the bathroom, you just do it, hence, diapers.  Later, into midlife and more, we are taught control over the body, with delayed gratification, and discipline.  The mind takes over, and we think we can will ourselves around, over and above various situations.  In the final stage of life, once again, to our surprise, things are reversed and it's matter over mind.

Injuries, illnesses, energy, time, and our mental and emotional needs dictate more than we would like to admit.  You can't bend those knees on the tennis court if asthma kept you up the night before, or for that matter walk those three miles in the morning with even just a hairline fracture in your toe.  Our body and needs once again humble us.

454.

Principles

Health

Once in while give it credit

Years ago I did some paperhanging contracting to support myself.  It was not a good time for my art.  It was hard and demanding work day in day out.  If you weren't busy you worried and if you were busy you were too busy.  One contractor, who hired me for a picky well to do man in Fort Lee who owned a restaurant in Manhattan said to me when we were driving home in the snow on a trafficked highway, 'this is brutal' and I concurred.  Later, when finished a touch of glue showed on the delicate fabric that I hung and that was it for me.

One time I had a job doing a model house in New Jersey for a developer and the pressure to finish was terrific and the conditions were horrific.  I was doing a bathroom that had 11 ft high walls, partially covered by mirrors.  Usually paper was the last thing to be added, but here the plumbing wasn't finished nor the sinks put in and even some electricals were not done. Help was not to be found and it would cut into my profits.  So I hung by myself, on two boards hooked on two ladder rungs, above a lot of sharp edges.  I was no kid at the time, and although a craftsman, had not been doing it that long. 

The project manager liked me, which was good for a time until he invited me to hang his son's bedroom where he picked out the paper.  His wife liked me too and asked my opinion on the paper her husband had picked.  Now the wife said the husband did not spend enough time with the children and this was his attempt to make up for it, by putting up wallpaper in the son's room.  I told here what I thought, the paper was too dark and scary and spooky.  The wife spoke to me easily, much more easily than to him.

Well, that was a mistake.  He let me go and I felt I kind of betrayed him.  Maybe he was partially right, but, you know, we all need to feel important and valued and I went with it, albeit maybe too much. All we did was talk.  Still, I was not detached enough and was no 'cool hand Luke.'

Anyhow, the stress was getting to me and I remember while hanging in that bathroom my heart felt as if it was bouncing out of my rib cage and I was worried.  After the job was finished I went to my favorite health food store and I told the owner's son what I had experienced. His advise was so helpful.  He said 'if your heart acts up again just pat it, rub it, and calm it down.'  I'm not sure if this was from him or someone else or from something I read, but one should also speak to the troubled body part and tell it you're sorry for stressing it.  In other words show it some care and acknowledge its importance as a living organism in your body. 

My approach to my body changed as  I felt sympathy for it at times.  What I  had put the poor thing through.  It was a vessel I was given and it should be valued and cared for.  True, sometimes one has to be tough and harden but that has gone too far, too far.  Appreciation was what was needed.

Overtime the pastes used often covered my arms and the fumes were inhaled and my weight went down and I had to take an asthma medicine in order to sleep and it was time to leave.  A black contractor who liked me saw my plight and treated me to a trip to Hawaii for two weeks, one of the only times that ever happened to me

Afterward, I walked away from it.  It had promise but turned out not to be a future but instead put some money in my pocket and that was what I had to show.

To this day I remember the good advise from the health store manager and I follow it.  My mind and will have put my body through much and instead of treating it like a workhorse I try to relate to it gently and with concern and understand what it goes through. It's like having a relationship. You have to work with it and not just use it.

388.

Principles

Health

On getting to sleep  

Spoke to my ex on sleeping and falling asleep which is not always easy today because the  mind doesn't stop.  I'm not naturally a good sleeper but lately I'm doing okay.  M mentioned even old episodes of law and order are effective when kept on softly.  They somewhat go on and on and fill some need for safety so the mind can let go.

I haven't been watching TV lately, or very rarely.  On principle I don't want what years I have left filled with their agenda, and contrite plots, or almost anything they have to say or do.  Plus it is programmed to make us all feel inadequate.  Actors making obscene amounts of money performing in meaningless episodes that cater to cliché after cliché.  Also, because they are able to afford what they want, and take care of themselves and work out and train, their narcissism  reeks through whatever roles they play.  In other words, look at me, I am beautiful, rich, ripped  and can even be sensitive on cue.   Who needs that after  facing all the day to day difficulties? 

But there is an irony here.  I found that when TV was out of my life, I could spend more time with real people and was more patient.  As time went on dramas would increase and I thought I was doing mitzvahs by listening, which is true.  However, the plots thicken and become involved and one is drawn into others lifes and your own life starts to lose some focus.  People are really tested these days and can become vulnerable very quickly.  All it takes is for one or two things to go wrong. But they are real people leading real lifes, not scripted at some film graduate school designed to sell cars.    However, there is a drawback to this reality. You can't just turn it off or change the channel.  If you become too entwined you can get in trouble.  M and I talked about this and we both agreed the TV might be safer.

So TV can be acceptable but is not the 'highest solution.'  A soft voice on the radio can do the trick.  Sometimes on good classical stations the hosts have these melodic voices.  Although a good classical radio station is  hard to find.  Classical music is okay, but depends on lows and highs and emotions and relief and that is not exactly calming.  Opera the same.  Sometimes background movie music is skillful and surprisingly flowing but still can kick up the pace just when you are fading off.  It's movie dependent which means you're falling asleep to a plot. 

New age music was effective for a while but then I felt manipulation.   I was being preached to with musical notes.  Steve Halpern, a Phd in this genre, produced music that calmed the nerves a few times but eventually interfered with my natural rhythms.   Laraaji, playing his string instrument, also intrigued, but his stream of consciousness music was a bit too self indulgent and my brain rebelled.  How about ocean sounds?  Haven't tried them.  My fan when loud is effective but it doesn’t quite coax enough.  Some variation and subtlety is needed.  Is there an Orthodox Jewish solution to this?   
Is there such a thing as birds chirping the Hebrew alphabet?  Forgive me for that.

Lately however I do have a solution.  East Indian sitar music from the Pandora 'app' I have kept on all day at various volumes.  It seems to keep life going, has some grit to it as it moves from one place to another in a spontaneous but controlled way.  You can trust the current.  No unseen waterfall is ahead.  There is enough discipline and craft to keep it in check and trustworthy.  The emotions aren't played  upon nor is it preachy.  It is rough and smooth, and tires you out a little, enough to send you off in another direction, towards sleep.  And, as said, it is good background music for the day.  So, for a time, this is filling a certain gap.

On the grand scale of important issues, this appears to not be on the higher end, but attention to details can make the 'whole' work.

126.




Principle


Health

Good words

Some of you might have seen this on the computer. A 116 year old woman, when asked what advise she would give to live a long life, said "Get plenty of sleep, eat well, take naps when you are tired and learn to relax." Good words from a 116 year old.

Ok, you might be 24/7 on making the money, or have to throw yourself in front of a bus to save a child, or are worried all the time about real worries, or give all your days and energy to an idea and seeing it through. Maybe you were set up to be a sacrifice, and sacrifice yourself for the wrong cause. Perhaps you are called to risk it all on a dare, or face a moment of truth that risks your life. You might be up all night refining unsuccessfully that poetic phrase, or worry all night that you should be. True, there are other ways to live and end this life. I recall the saying 'only the good die young.'

Still, in the back of our minds, this lady's words should have a place. We can see the truth of where she has arrived and admire the simplicity even if we are not there. Somehow, sometime, these words fit whether we are called to follow them or not.

124.  Past




Principles




Health




Talk with Freddie          

Where I live I speak occasionally to Freddie, a landscaper originally from Puerto Rico.  His wife was some of kind nurse, German and she seemed to rule the roost. She also had chronic allergies as I do. After two days of difficulty recently, I ran into Freddie and asked about his wife. He said her allergies are chronic.  I said I take care of myself but it’s still there.  He said it’s the same for her.

Then he added he’s not afflicted. The reason, he thought, was that he was brought up playing in the dirt with pigs and chickens.  He pointed to the mold on the trees and the sidewalk and said it’s all around us.  I said I grew up in the city, surrounded by concrete.  There was no exposure to dirt.

Freddie could be right. By not being around dirt and mold your system doesn’t develop proper defenses.  I always have been attracted to gardening but haven’t been able to pursue it.  Perhaps that’s a missing component here, interacting with dirt and microorganisms and plants.  The body would absorb a small portion of it and maybe not overreact as much.  Interesting thinking.