Health and health

What a day! I've been to my counsellor, to my doctor, to my chiropractor and to my regular pharmacist. The only people I didn't see today were my dentist and spiritual director!

I really do feel that I am moving to really good health. My counsellor is pleased with progress with the insights I have gained and expressed and I'm encouraged how much more at peace I feel nowadays, even though the future is still very unclear. My doctor is very pleased my bad cholesterol has dropped from 6.7 to 2.1 with the medication and changes in lifestyle and diet. My risk of a heart attack has dropped from 30 percent to 6 percent. Of course that doesn't include the other factors I've been working on in my lifestyle. According to what I've heard, walking for 30 minutes a day can slash the risk of a heart attack by 30 to 40 percent! I'm also eating a small quantity of almonds almost every day because a study suggested a handful five times a week cut the risk of heart attack in half! I am self consciously eating a variety of fish with omega 5 and 3 as well.

In fact you should have seen the graphs of my HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels all were at a 45 degree slope, downwards! I picked up my prescriptions, Crestor and baby aspirin, from the pharmacist feeling very encouraged. The aspirin is reputed to reduced the risk of a heart attack by 32 percent though increase stroke risks! My blood pressure is still a bit on the high side and also iron also. My ultrasound results have recommended I should have a CAT scan of my adrenal glands, so the exam continues.

My chiropractic appointment was more maintenance. I had a little back pain over the weekend but with exercises and the recovery was pretty quick. I'm also trying to brush my teeth twice a day and floss regularly because it is suggested that periodontal disease is linked to coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries caused by deposits of fat and plaque onto the arteryl walls.

Health comes on many levels, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. They all overlap and infact there is also the social which we discussed today as well. Of course there is the question Will I obtain ultimate health? To which the answer is no but at least then I will have done what is living responsibly, living as a good steward of all that I am and therefore living in the spirit of Shalom - peace.

Note a video posting

I've posted a video on my other blog. It's beautiful piece from Julian LLoyd Webber. (here)

Message in a Bottle

Walked out this morning, don't believe what I saw, Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore, Seems I'm not alone in being alone, Hundred billion castaways, looking for a home. Sting

Karen Liebreich wrote a book called The Letter in the Bottle which was about her unsuccessful search for the mother who wrote a heart-rending letter found washed up in a bottle off the Kent coast. Karen tried every route possible to track down the author and got all the science and pseudoscience she could. I came across the story in The Daily Telegraph because after the book was published, the woman who had written the sad letter to her deceased son came forward. It had taken her 21 years to face down the grief of loss and throwing his clothes into the ocean, together with 2 lilies and the bottle with the letter.

Liebreich gives us details of this woman's story:

The bottle was my idea. I already knew that I needed to do something to let him go and I had thought of a letter in a bottle – why not. The whole thing was triggered by a dream, the dream that I mentioned in the letter. I had a beautiful dream about Maurice and I finally understood that it was time to let him go.

The past haunts and handicaps us. Then it is time to let go and move forwards when we understand.

I'm not Catholic, though my family was. And of course I was very angry with Him. There is some kind of superior energy, a cosmic force, and I was furious with Him. Today I am once again happy to be alive...

We all have unfinished business because we are works in progress. Somehow I feel this particular work in progress has begun a signficant time of letting go. A letting go of pain and therefore a chance to gain. I have a feeling of release these days and somehow after what seems a long time can can say I'm happy to be alive.
(If you're interested in the article it's here)

Pay it Forward

You don't pay love back; you pay it forward. Lily Hardy Hammond In the Garden of Delight

Why do we do things for other people? Perhaps we do it for a return or for the feel good factor. Few of us are like philanthropists giving fortunes away like Charles Saatchi of the Advertising company who has just given away a complete art collection and museum to go with it and doesn't want it named after him. So why do we do things for other people. I've just found that Jane Siberry, a Canadian singer who I've known about for a while, has made her complete music catalogue available on the internet [here]. I'm surprised in this world of copyright and intellectual property and possessing stuff to find this generosity. (Note there's a lot of traffic and you'll have to try quite a few times to grab a file before succeeeding.)

On the webpage she says free, enjoy and pay it forward. What is pay it forward? Wikipedia says ""pay it forward" is used to describe the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead." In other words pay back is never to the giver but to someone else. Strangely I think I've been living a bit that way. I do stuff for people with the hope they'll learn to help others. There's been a number of interesting spinoffs recorded in Wikipedia including a project from the Oprah Winfry Show, but what they fail to address the the fundamental motivation and the value behind the giving. I believe pay it forward contains a wish to change the world's values.

This is not that different to altruism where someone sacrifices their own life to protect the lives of others. Though Richard Dawkin's would probably want to put a different twist to this especially to die or sacrifice for your kin or family but at the core of the Christian faith is one of sacrifice for strangers and the estranged i.e. those far away. Postmodern philosopher Derrida struggled with the idea of the gift as unconditional, perhaps even grace as unconditional is a problem because it always carrys with it a call to pay it forward. This is so true if we take seriously the parable of forgiven debts.

I said you did not have to pay back a cent. Don't you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you? Matt 18:32-33