This Unlikely Life
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:02 amIf you knew me, seeing me sitting in the sun, early to my flight and being relaxed and somehow centered - you would know how unlikely it would have been for me, pre-disease. I've just returned to Los Angeles for my sister's 50th birthday celebration and celebrated with my whole family. I found time to visit with some close friends and share my illness with them too.
It's nearly always the same. Since I've started meditating, I hear people more clearly. Since I've started sharing the story of my illness and indeed the story of my life, I've had the most amazing experiences with people I've known for years. Utterly transformational. This past weekend was no exception. I have had more exhaustion, more pains and stiffness and had to leave early more than once - actually not early. I no longer burn the candle at both ends. I make time for things and for people.
I'm reading Dr. "Dean Ornish's Program for reversing Heart Disease". It's a program he created in 1990 for doing just that. It was revolutionary at the time because it (gosh) advocates diet and lifestyle changes and proof that they work better than surgery or drugs. He basically lays out the arguments for what we're doing as well. One thing he does is to lay out the precepts of letting go, meditating the need for and the benefits, both physical and mentally/spiritually that you gain - or have the opportunity to gain from your illness. I think it's only a lucky few who discover it before they become ill, but we can still count the benefits, even if they came at great expense.
I have so much clarity of who I am and who I am for people, since reading the Professor's book over 1 year ago. What a year it's been. And I am thankful for the advice it gave. I encourage you all to live your life with the knowledge that most do not have - that it's really short and we may not be able to do some things at a certain point. But that's for everyone. Learning it now can be a gift you give to yourself.
Try the meditation. Try the forgiveness. Get complete with yourself and people in your life.
It's nearly always the same. Since I've started meditating, I hear people more clearly. Since I've started sharing the story of my illness and indeed the story of my life, I've had the most amazing experiences with people I've known for years. Utterly transformational. This past weekend was no exception. I have had more exhaustion, more pains and stiffness and had to leave early more than once - actually not early. I no longer burn the candle at both ends. I make time for things and for people.
I'm reading Dr. "Dean Ornish's Program for reversing Heart Disease". It's a program he created in 1990 for doing just that. It was revolutionary at the time because it (gosh) advocates diet and lifestyle changes and proof that they work better than surgery or drugs. He basically lays out the arguments for what we're doing as well. One thing he does is to lay out the precepts of letting go, meditating the need for and the benefits, both physical and mentally/spiritually that you gain - or have the opportunity to gain from your illness. I think it's only a lucky few who discover it before they become ill, but we can still count the benefits, even if they came at great expense.
I have so much clarity of who I am and who I am for people, since reading the Professor's book over 1 year ago. What a year it's been. And I am thankful for the advice it gave. I encourage you all to live your life with the knowledge that most do not have - that it's really short and we may not be able to do some things at a certain point. But that's for everyone. Learning it now can be a gift you give to yourself.
Try the meditation. Try the forgiveness. Get complete with yourself and people in your life.