[Oe List ...] Salmon: Response to Sandra Conant

[William Salmon]

Sandra --
    This is one great meditation. Thanks for sharing. I was reminded of the old 5th City Pre-School song, "Oh, I don't like my situation. Oh, I don't like my situation. But that's not my problem, my problem is relating to the self that doesn't like my situation."   Or, "Oh, I don't like to eat my spinach. . . etc.:" 
    When we make our human situation a problem, then we make it our enemy; this is an enemy that we can not defeat. It is only when we decide to embrace our situation--to put our arms around it--then it no longer can be our enemy. We stop fighting it and this takes its power away from it.
    Also, this is a relationship that opens the door to the Other Word in the Midst of This World category of the "Sea of Tranquility." When the Sea is no longer our enemy, then we experience the transformation. This doesn't change the sea, but our decision sure changes us. The Christian term for this experience is resurrection.      
    Again, thanks for stirring my mental/theological juices. This is the best that any Earthrise meditation can do. 
    Inner Peace, 
    Bill Salmon

   
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sandra Conant 
To: Earthrise (earthrise at yahoogroups.com) 
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 8:27 AM
Subject: [earthrise] 


  
"Will you still need me, will you still feed me-when I'm sixty-four?" 

I was twenty-one when that song hit the charts, and of course, I was never gonna be 64.  Yet today I am---and fortunately, I have someone who feeds me, though I'm not taking any bets on who needs me.

In April, after months of increasing discomfort, I found out I had plantar fasciitis, water on the knee, a torn meniscus and "degenerative changes"---all in my right leg.  To top it off, I had a painful ingrown toenail (same leg) that made wearing shoes difficult and with the fasciitis, I needed arch supports.  It was a no-win. 

I limped around, furious that I had a set of problems that don't get much sympathy and won't kill you.  You're simply crippled and miserable. I was sliding into terminal grumpiness when I decided to give "the body's amazing power to heal itself" a try.  My morning ritual was re-designed to include meditation, a foot-soak in warm Epsom salts, a knee/foot massage with creams that Harry says make our bedroom smell like a gym.  I spoke kindly to my leg:  "Thank you, little leg, for allowing me to walk through Petra and Israel and Kenya and Ayers Rock and the grocery store, for carrying me so many places that have filled my life with meaning, ordinary heroes and wondrous sights".  This has helped a lot---both physically & mentally.

And so, I have a new actor on the stage of my life---namely, my body. It's begging for a role, so I have to choose: (a) I can ignore it as I have for the past 64 years, (b) I can give it "star billing" and bore everyone (including myself) to death or (c) I can integrate it as an important character in the daily drama and comedy of growing older.  

The insight has been this:  Each morning, I bless this body. I anoint it with Tiger Balm and make it sacred. I give thanks for all the things I can still do---swim, walk, dance, climb steps (even with a little grunt here and there).  I pray for courage and imagination in managing the decline that is part of our human journey.  I ask for the wisdom to remember that aging is a reality, but "old" is a mindset.  I seek the most positive, creative relationship possible to unexpected limits and challenges.  Through the tiny tear in a meniscus, I have once again seen wholeness and possibility.



I'm Sandy Conant Strachan, part of the O:E/ICA family from 1967-1991, now living an amazingly wonderful life in Costa Rica with my soulmate, Harry.      




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