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Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much | ||||
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A surgeon had a problem with the plumbing in his house, so he called a plumber. The plummer showed up, fixed the problem easily in a matter of minutes and handed the surgeon the bill. The surgeon looked at it and said, “This is outrageous! I am a surgeon and I don’t make this much.” The plummer said, “Neither did I when I was a surgeon.”
There was a man who had a talking dog. Not only could this dog talk, but also it was also very intelligent. Since the man lived alone, he and the dog often watched TV together and had long discussions. One day the man walked to the bank to get some cash and he took the dog with him. On the way back, he stopped at a bar. After a few drinks he happened to mention that his dog had said something about current politics. This stopped the conversation and the man had to admit the he had a talking dog. One of his friends found this so preposterous that it ended up in a $200 bet. So the man asked his dog to talk about what he liked on TV. The dog said nothing. Then he asked the dog to just talk about football. Still the dog said nothing. Finally the man asked the dog to say anything, but the dog remained silent. So he had to pay the $200. He and his dog left the bar. Once they were outside the man angrily turned to the dog and said, “Why didn’t you say something?” And the dog replied, “Think of the odds we’ll get next time.”
“Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much” is a beautiful sign that hangs in a prominent place in our house. Kay and Carole saw it in a shop and loved it. We believe it. That is our goal. What can keep me from doing these? Wealth? No. Health? Yes. Poor health can and may kill me. An important question is, “How can I keep Good Health for as long as possible?
As a child, my parents followed western medicine, which meant our family doctor. We lived in Seattle and fortunately his office was only a few blocks away. In our opinion, he and his nurse were very good. When our doctor decided that we needed to go to a specialist or a Hospital, we did. We did not see chiropractors, or alternative practitioners. One exception was we used traditional home remedies such as Epson Salts, or Camomile lotion. My parents had grown up before modern medicine. They were familiar with home remedies and we used them.
My wife Kay and I had a similar view as my parents. However, when we discovered meditation and begin to spend time with “New Age” people, things changed. Several of the people in our meditation group were Chiropractors. When Kay suddenly opened up her psychic abilities, my World became a much different place. Especially after I developed my Intuition and became a Mystic. Concepts that I would have categorically rejected as an Engineer, became very important possibilities as a Mystic.
I have had many experiences on my search for Good Health.
One experience sticks in my mind. We Knew a woman in our meditation group who was a Chiropractor. She married a man who was also in our meditation group. They lived in California and I had an opportunity to visit them while on a trip. I liked both of them and it was a treat to see them and their farm. The husband had an very distended belly. I remember how convinced he was that he had things under control. He was certainty what was happening and had confidence in treating it. I heard that eventually he went to a medical doctor and the diagnosis was Cancer. It eventually killed him. To me this is a vivid reminder of the power of fooling myself. A good reason to remember that I am going on my “Best Guess” and that I need to be careful. Believing that I am “Right” is Ego.
My search for Good Health has been complex and sometimes confusing. When I first was diagnosed with cancer, and looking for help, a friend advised, “Many people will share their story and recommend what works. Your journey is to find your story.” I found that was really true.
The joke about the talking dog is funny because I can really identify with the man being angry at the dog for not saying anything. But the punch line reminds me that I don’t know what is going on.
While writing this talk, I realized that this has happened with my search for good health. I have been looking for the person, the drug, or the method that is right. A popular saying for this is “One and Done.” However, a better picture is that I have a set of tools. My search could be thought of as picking the right tool or tools that will work, and recognizing when I need to find a new tool.
So how can I integrate these to achieve Good Health? The method that I use is Intuition. I previously gave a talk on Intuition: I want to repeat an important part. Originally my Intuition was a yes or no. However, one day I got a yes, yes. That was not helpful. So I started using a scale. I give a 10 to one choice and then open up to finding a number for other choices. 10 is the same, less that 10 is not as desirable and more than 10 is more desirable. Finding the relative importance has become very important for me.
I only saw the Ornish protocol as a way to address The Cancer. While writing this talk, I found that Dr. Ornish has a website with evidence that it helps improve health for a number of diseases. I didn’t realize that it could be used for overall Good Health. I now realize that it can. Three of the categories were familiar to me, but the category of Community (sometimes I call it social contact) was not. You can find out more about this in the talk that I gave on Community. In a nutshell, it includes what we are doing right now. Our Church family. And I think that it especially includes the time we interact with each other before and after the service. Family is very important, and does not mean just my birth family. Two of my most important families are my Church Community and my Alohem Meditation Group.
So how do I use Intuition with the tools that I have? Here is an example:
In Spring 2024, I had a bad sinus congestion. This is not new, I have had them all my life - as long as I can remember. These were yearly in the Spring and in the Fall. Over time, I tried a number of ways to treat them. At the urging and with the support of Carole, I went to see Dr. MacKimmie. He told me that I needed to cut out all dairy. This is actually what my Mother had told me, but when MacKimmie said it, I heard it. MacKimmie explained dairy causes a mucus which runs from my sinus down to my stomach and a virus or bacteria that lives in my stomach will climb up this and start to live in my sinuses. It is OK in my stomach but not in my sinus. To fight sinus congestions, I had been going to the doctor and getting prescriptions. It seemed to require increasingly stronger medicines. With the information from MacKimmie, I realized that what was living in my stomach was getting exposed to medicines and becoming resistant. My choice of treatment was making things worse.
As a result of hearing Dr. MacKimmie, I pretty much quit all dairy and my sinus congestion greatly decreased. I love Ice Cream. Cutting it out was difficult, but not having sinus congestion was worth it. Over time, I have realized that I can eat some Ice Cream in the Summer, when hot weather decreases mucus. However, I must stop eating ice cream at the end of Summer. That too can be difficult. But when I haven’t, I have paid the price.
My sinus congestion in Spring 2024 was caused by an allergy to the gases given off in our house by new carpet and refinished furniture. Once I realized this, I used ventilation and a clean air machine (ozone) to get rid of the gasses. But once started, my sinus congestion continues.
The whole time I had the sinus congestion, I kept checking with my intuition on what I should do and then followed the answers. Carole also had a sinus congestion. So she was also looking for healing. She was going to a Naturopath. So when she found something to help, she would suggest that I try it. Including going to her Naturopath. And of course I was checking on anything that had worked in the past as well as any new ideas. My intuition would say to do some things, but nothing for very long. The one thing that was consistent was going outside the Illusion. For example, I remember checking one day and doing nothing was a 10, a cough drop was a 30, and going outside of the Illusion was 10,000. That is, it was 3 times better to take a cough drop, but 1,000 times better to go outside the Illusion. As a result, I really focused on going outside of the Illusion. Eventually the sinus congestion went away. I believe that my Spiritual efforts helped, but their effectiveness was not clear. Not a very satisfying result.
In case you missed my previous talk, I want to explain what I mean by going beyond or outside of the Illusion. A number of Spiritual Traditions say that this Physical World is an Illusion. As a Mystic, I believe this is true, and that I can meditate and move my conscious awareness outside of the Illusion. My Intuition says that when I do this, I am more able to change the Illusion. It seems like I should be able to do healing from outside the Illusion. So is this working? My experience says that it has, in some cases. So why was I not as successful with the sinus congestion? Perhaps because my belief in a sinus congestion has been strongly held for a really long time. And it has been reinforced by my experience. We are all one. So it may also be a belief that is widely shared. I don’t know. However, It was was very clear that I needed to spend my time going outside the Illusion.
A key to my journey is Intuition. So how do I know that I am not fooling myself? I test my Intuition using simple decisions where I can see if the answers are correct. And magical.
A good example happened yesterday. We went to a picnic in Sequin. My Intuitive answer was to wear a light, short sleeve shirt. I knew that light rain was predicted and with a light shirt, I thought of taking a jacket. But on a scale of 10, that was a 3. So I didn’t. I also thought that a hat might be a good idea due to the possibility of rain and to shield my skin from the sun. (There is a lot of bare skin on the top of my head.) A hat was 12 on a scale of 10, so I took a hat. On the hour drive to Sequin, I had to use heat in the car and it was raining. I kept thinking that I should have brought my jacket. After we got there. I spent all my time outside and it did rain, very lightly. But, I was very comfortable the whole time. Although I doubted my Intuition the entire way to Sequin, it was right on. It might not sound like it to you, but it was magic!
So how do I “Live Well, Laugh Often, and Love Much”? Daily I do the following: Meditate Exercise Eat a Diet that my Intuition says is right for me. (this Includes Supplements & Vitamins) Enjoy Community (Family, Friends, Church)
These help me have Good Health. With Good Health, the rest flows naturally.
Meditation As a Mystic, I consider the Meditation to be more important than the talk. The sound of the didgeridoo can be like spiritual WD-40. Stuck energy can create problems. The didgeridoo can help get energy moving and reduce the possibility of problems. I hold the intention of the Highest Good and pay attention to Intuition. The sound will be whatever it is.
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