BOOM! Abruptly out of bed, I’m disoriented by flashing lights reflecting on the bedroom walls. I sit on the edge of the bed and look out onto what should be morning sun, bringing to life the cheery reds of bee balm against a backdrop of white birches. Instead, the sky…
Sunlight bounces its way through the swaying birches, projecting a shadow picture show on the lawn and garden shed. A light wind causes the fluttering leaves to sing in unison like waves on the shore. A family of hummingbirds — we have given all of them names now — take…
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” wrote Henry David Thoreau while sitting on the edge of Walden Pond. We live in a post-9/11 world where income disparity threatens the pillars of well-being in democratic nations. Kings of the oligarchy are viewed as pallbearers to the…
“Fun” is an F-word that doesn’t have a strong history in our home. My partner and I are from the “nose to the grindstone, make it happen, pursue the American dream” generation. Oh, and we try to live up to the adage “Become the change you wish to see in…
Pain visits me all the time now. There are multiple days when high pain levels make me nauseated. I am sick and tired of having to say how sick and tired I feel. I’m experimenting with a new approach: responding to the pain in a dispassionate way, making observations, and…
Wow! That was intense. I was just sitting in the “pause between” with no expectation beyond a quiet mind, allowing the moment to bloom. Suddenly, the moment transformed into this encompassing sense of being caressed by calmness. Even more surprising, the calm stayed with me for part of the day,…
Betty slapped George hard. There was no response, so she dialed 911. Parkinson’s disease (PD) had forced George into early retirement. He loved basking in the sun, diving into a good book, and working on his tan on their deck. Betty was in the kitchen when she saw him slumped over…
Bad pain day. Trying to keep my mind distracted. Perhaps a good show is on television. Or maybe a movie. The “off” cycle will kick in within a few hours. Pain gets worse. Last medication before bed. Time to be quiet and contemplative, but the pain intrudes upon this space.
Second in a series. Read part one. Pain attacks me every day, and I set aside much of my time to manage it. Chronic pain management is now a significant part of my wellness map. Pain management techniques are rooted in the conceptualization of total pain as suffering plus…
Pain and suffering are not the same. An internet search for “difference between pain and suffering” yields dozens of sites for writers and practitioners, like Ashley Pennewill and Ann Marie Gaudon, who extol the benefits to be gained from this conceptualization. The repeated message is that pain is…
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