Moving Blog

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Judy

48th Anniverary

Today is our 48th anniversary.

Query: What are the blessings, strengths and struggles of long term committed relationships?

How are the younger generations shaped by long term committed unions?

Impatience as a Virtue

I was startled to hear James Watson and Charlie Rose speak of IMAPATIENCE AS A VIRTUE. I'm always being told that I need to learn to develop patience. (October 29, 2009, Charlie Rose, PBS)

Patience is defined as the capacity for waiting, the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. (Microsoft Office Word 2007)

When is PATIENCE an excuse for inaction? accepting oppression?

When there are chores to be done, is IMPATIENCE the energy in motion to accomplish the tasks?

Does IMPATIENCE provide eagerness to find solutions? to make discoveries? to create reconciliation?

In contrast, does IMPATIENCE result in violence, intolerance, or genocide?

BLESSING is a commitment to find peaceful solutions to bring about reconciliation, to create jobs, to provide healthcare for everyone, and to build community in a diverse world.

Where is your energy?

Simplicity & Stewardship

Simplicity & Stewardship

"Simplicity deals with the ownership of property, stewardship with the use of it. Simplicity tells us to ask for no more than we need: stewardship reminds us that we need less if we take care of what we have. Simplicity insists that we get rid of encumbrances: stewardship helps us decide what are encumbrances and what are not. It does this in a very straightforward way. If a possession, a or task, is an encumbrance, using it properly rapidly becomes much more trouble than it is worth, and the possession falls into disrepair, or the task remains constantly undone. It is this point that stewardship says: 'Wait a minute - we have too much to care of here,' and it becomes time, in the good Quaker phrase, to lay something down." Bill Ashworth, Oregon, 1986 in Daily Readings from Quaker Writings Ancient & Modern, edited and published by Linda Hill Renfer.

This message touches a deep place for me, leading to my own queries:
What is stewardship of space?
of beauty?
of clutter?
of stuff?
of recyclables?
of clothes not worn?
of books spilling out of bookcases?
of supplies kept just in case?
of time?
of energy?
of friendship?
of family?
of health?
of resources?

What do you put in your list concerning your practice of stewardship?
Am I living simply that others may simply live?
And then I return to the practice of blessing: what encumbrances get in the way of blessing?

Resuming Life

Great News

I am Well and Off oxygen!

I have lots of energy.

I am resuming Life!

Mayo Clinic reports

neurological problems

are Resolved.

Query: What does "resuming life" mean for yourself?

A Beautiful Day

Today is a beautiful day in Pocatello with cool breezes and sunny skies. This is an unusual year, we are having monsoonal rains for weeks. No telling what the weather will be later today. Everything is green and mushrooms are growing abundantly, quite different from dry, brown, hot, very hot. Lots of flash flooding keeps us on our toes. Can't help wonder what global warming has to do with these changes?

 

I'm feeling better and doing more. Fooled myself into believing I was back to normal, (Whatever normal is?) I agreed to be a mentor in a two week READ program, three hours each morning for ten days. Monday was the first day, I got through it okay, but slept for three hours and the next morning my leg was collapsing. Welcome back reality!

 

How are you weathering reality?

Where is the blessing?

Neuro-Degeneration Takes a Toll

I am committed to living a blessing life and this year I am challenged. The decline worsened with what we all believed to be Parkinson's. The offs and on's from Stalevo (a Parkinson's medication) became so drastic and short timed that I lost quality of life.

On March 5th I stopped taking the PD med AND THEN I started to improve. In six days when I saw my neurologist, there were no signs of PD. No tremor. My balance was normal. I could swallow. The mood swings were gone. I could think clearly. My sense of humor returned. I was given back my self hood!!!

This all seems good, but what came into focus is generally called a autonomic degenerative disorder, a large umbrella which includes PD, PD plus, Multiple Systems Atrophy, and many more. The commonality is that the dopamine cells die off and the neurotransmitters affected fail to deliver their messages.

The decline with the autonomic disorders is rapid. My breathing is particularly affected. I am on oxygen and the liters needed to keep going continue to increase.

HELPFUL BOOK
Dr. Daniel Brooks just published "I Will Go On, Living with a Movement Disorder." I highly recommend it for those living with movement disorders and for those who love and care for us.

DO YOU LIVE WITH A MOVEMENT DISORDER? OR DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES? Please, leave a comment. What is your experience?

WHAT ARE THE BLESSINGS YOU EXPERIENCE RECEIVING AND GIVING AS YOU LIVE WITH ILLNESS?