23:24 - 23.11.07
Epiphany
My body woke me up at 4 in the am this morning. It wanted to stair climb - now. I told it to go back to sleep - the mind had worked overtime the day before. Research you know. The cats must have heard the discussion, because they seconded the body's motion. Come play with us. Finally settled everyone back to sleep only to have the mind wake me up at 6 in the am, because it was having trouble solving the dream sudoku puzzle it was working on. The answer was 2. I know dear diary, but any zen master will tell you that one is neither one's body nor one's mind. So what then? Well, through his detective - not the comet - Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle stated that the solution to a mystery is what remains when everything else is eliminated. Ommmmm.
I did climb stairs after my youngest headed off for work. Ever since that allergic reaction that caused congestive heart failure for me nearly six years ago, my body has not responded normally to things such as proper diet and exercise. It obviously knew how to heal itself, but that left me struggling to deal with the mess that the rest of the body was in. It wasn't until those mega doses of antibiotics this summer that I felt as though I could see progress. For example, I competed in gymnastics for several years as a teenager and continued exercising daily until number six son was born. That was when I had my first bout of doctor-induced illness. That said, chasing after six little boys and their friends kept me relatively slim as did the need to carry two jobs after their Dad took off. The allergic reaction must have blown the metaphorical tires on my adrenal glands, so that they weren't producing the hormones that help the body deal compromised lungs, basal metabolism, and musculo-skeletal demands.
There are several endocrine glands, along with the adrenals, that are delicately inter and intra-balanced hormone producers that make the physiological functioning of the body run smoothly. There is debate among western doctors about exactly how many of these ductless glands there are working in the adult body. I think that may be because children's bodies have several more operating - like the thymus - most of which shrink or stop working altogether in most, but not all, adults. What is normal for adults??? Having dissected cadavers when I was taking physiotherapy in university, I can attest to the fact that there is no such thing as normal. Each body is like a snowflake; unique in it's composition. What is given in textbooks is only averages or approximations. Medicine is as much an art as it is a science. Hippocrates said that "medicine is the art of entertaining the patient while the body heals itself." The western tradition of healing believed that it took seven years for the body to complete that process. Maybe that's where the superstition about broken mirrors came from.
The eastern traditional medicines from China, Tibet and India, as well as those of most aboriginal people - think kokopelli - relate those same endocrine glands to the chakras that anchor in the physical spine. The same debate exists, although using different terminology. Seven, nine or twelve iterations of harmony, depending on the school of thought. What I noticed today was that the depletion of adrenal hormones has been repaired. I actually have extra energy even after exercising. The battery isn't run completely down anymore. I have worked hard to exercise as much as the body could accept since that incident six years ago, but always with the result that it took at least a couple of days to recuperate and replenish those reserves after each session - the dance workouts being the only exception. If I tried to push myself harder I always ended up sick again, usually with the lungs being the locus of the ailment. In addition, the muscles did not respond in the same way during workouts regardless that the techniques used were the same as when I was doing gymnastics. There was no "burn" no matter how many, or how intense, the repetitions were. Yesterday was the first day I felt the "normal" lactose build up in the calves of my legs, although I have been stair climbing for all that intervening time. I could feel the muscles of my hamstrings, glutes and lower back actually responding the way they used when I practiced for my gymnastic routines. There was actually tension and the hint of strength in them again. I guess the body just wanted to show off it's newly restored vigour and health last night. I'm excited too - one of the best Christmas presents I could ask for - but not at 4 in the am, thank you very much.
In the news there was confirmation again that the jobless rate is not as low as given by government agencies. The key piece of evidence was a study from one of the policy alternatives organizations that monitors such issues. It pointed out that less than a third of women who are in the paid workforce are ever able to access unemployment benefits - one of the ways that jobless rates are calculated. If 68% of females aren't counted, along with 60% of males who also can't qualify for same, then the real rate in Canada must be closer to 9% unemployment. However, the government will do just about anything to look good in the eyes of foreign investors and organizations such as the UN bodies that monitor quality of life markers. Then there are the reports from the UN that also capture that same problem of adequate employment, as opposed to joblessness or under-employment, by measuring the welfare of the children in this country. Harder to mask that level of poverty when it is observed from another perspective. However, the big global corporations are still all crying their crocodile tears about the difficulty in finding workers for all the positions they say are going empty due to a "shortage of labour". They and the provincial and federal governments have conspired together to import low wage migrant workers where wages, benefits, health, safety and other labour laws can be flouted with impunity. Meanwhile 40% of the homeless are families with children. 40% of the hungry - those who can get to foodbanks - are families with children. Many of those children and their mothers are homeless because they have fled abusive situations or relationships, yet their working single mothers are barred from collecting unemployment benefits even though many like me, - my first job with deductions coming at 15 - have been paying into them ever since they started working for pay. Uppity women - put them in their place through hidden economic sabotage and abuse. Ummm, I'd better stop here dear diary before I say what I am thinking at this point.
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