tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80879493001919914702024-02-21T19:54:04.101-08:00Adagio LyricsFrom conception to death we live transitionally. We gracefully modulate some transitions while during others we experience imponderables off key. At Adagio Lyrics we explore transitions together.Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-86268946059501530482015-04-23T19:44:00.000-07:002015-04-23T19:44:05.037-07:00Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I was privileged to view a documentary film about Glen Campbell,
"I'll Be Me", and about his life since receiving the diagnosis of
Alzheimer’s which he and his family announced in June 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Before the viewing, James Keach described how his son persuaded
him to film a documentary similar to the film on Aids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What Magic Johnson has done for AIDS, Glen
Campbell will do for Alzheimer’s Disease,” he stated to an audience
predominantly comprised of caregivers. He praised the Campbell family who were willing to openly
discuss the progression of Glen’s disease and the impact on their family. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The film was followed by an intermission which I needed to
recover from what I had heard and seen. The filming showed a family standing by
their man and allowing him to act out what he was experiencing: a continuous
stream of good humor, frustration at being unable to identify what he wanted,
repeating a song during the show when he had just sung it. His wife, Kim, was
not passive but good naturedly waited and patiently responded to him. Even in
frustration, they found ways to celebrate their life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I recognized many of the common behaviors of Alzheimer’s but
also that Mr. Campbell acted as a unique person. The camera faced him squarely
as he watched home movies of his previous wives and children. His face
registered wonder that the children playing with a woman were his and a
previous wife. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">After the intermission, James Keach, Glen’s 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> wife
Kim, and their musician son and daughter, Shannon and Ashley, responded to
audience questions. They reflected so much joy in memories of the fully-present
Glen and the fading man. They graciously shared their best memory in the film
which showed both the artistic skills of their Dad the musician, and their
interaction with him off stage. The film shows Glen poking in his mouth with a
pen knife because he perceives something wrong but can’t identify it. Ashley
remembers him walking out of the hotel room and forgetting his frustration,
giving her a hug and telling her he loves her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Glen and his family were willing to stare down stigma so we can
focus on finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. Glen was 79 today. Kim, Shannon and
Ashley kept him at home near Nashville as long as possible. When he became
difficult to handle and demonstrated a need for medical care 24-7, they moved
him to a small memory care home. They visit daily. Glen has lost his ability to
sing the lyrics but not his pleasure in singing out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Please watch this documentary film and pass it on to everyone
you know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://glencampbellmovie.com/">http://glencampbellmovie.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
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<span class="ndesc1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The official
website for the </span></span><span class="ndesc1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Glen Campbell</span></span><span class="ndesc1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
movie, <strong>I'll Be Me</strong>. This </span></span><span class="ndesc1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">film</span></span><span class="ndesc1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
follows Glen and the Campbell Family Band on their “Goodbye Tour” across
America.</span></span><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span><span class="uficommentbody"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-86603317588691106922015-02-19T21:30:00.000-08:002015-02-19T21:30:42.806-08:00AGING SYSTEMS<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Mount
Washington at 6,260 feet is part of the Olympic Mountains formed millions of
years ago by moving underwater plates. Unlike the Cascade Mountain Range
dividing our state east from west, there was no volcanic action involved in
forming the Olympics. Under the Pacific Ocean slabs of rock were pushed and
tumbled forming gigantic masses pushing their way up from the ocean floor. A couple million years ago they were
compiled and shaped by glaciers advancing and retreating many times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Driving
west we view the mountain range with fresh snow delineating peaks and valleys and
I mull over age. Driving east we view the Cascades and I wonder again about
their origin and age. In the summer they are covered in blue haze and can only be
viewed in full definition when first snow delineates the dimensions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Our
Adagio seniors with their hoary heads of thinning hair vary from their 80s to
90s and age becomes relative as we assess their condition with visiting nurses.
At some point age doesn’t matter; health does. If they are able, we review the
experiences that formed their systems, now aging into meditation and naps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Each
of us will become these seniors unless illness or accident removes us first.
Aging in place produces frailty and in 80%, dementia. Such is the human system –
without exception, as surely as seasonal rains and ice wear down Mt. Washington.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-52214849347802375092015-02-03T20:54:00.001-08:002015-02-03T20:54:47.897-08:00Aging Systems Goal<div>
<h2 class="_5clb">
The Journey</h2>
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by Mary Oliver<br />
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One day you finally knew<br />
what you had to do, and began,<br />
though the voices around you<br />
kept shouting<br />
their bad advice--<br />
though the whole house<br />
began to tremble<br />
and you felt the old tug<br />
at your ankles.<br />
"Mend my life!"<br />
each voice cried.<br />
But you didn't stop.<br />
You knew what you had to do,<br />
though the wind pried<br />
with its stiff fingers<br />
at the very foundations,<br />
though their melancholy<br />
was terrible.<br />
It was already late<br />
enough, and a wild night,<br />
and the road full of fallen<br />
branches and stones.<br />
But little by little,<br />
as you left their voices behind,<br />
the stars began to burn<br />
through the sheets of clouds,<br />
and there was a new voice<br />
which you slowly<br />
recognized as your own,<br />
that kept you company<br />
as you strode deeper and deeper<br />
into the world,<br />
determined to do<br />
the only thing you could do--<br />
determined to save<br />
the only life you could save.<br />
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<span class="photo photo_left"><img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/s180x540/10930102_10205083773365412_2950290345067119322_n.jpg?oh=1dfd6a5915508acf8a27539babd24a30&oe=55580F11&__gda__=1432215210_c36549273f031e8968b7619091ed7bf6" title="" /></span></div>
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Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-1035729823573850432015-01-06T09:29:00.000-08:002015-01-06T09:29:25.844-08:00An Introvert’s Resolution
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">After a
lifetime of scoring five points either side of 50 percent on
introvert/extrovert scales, I connected with Tania Runyan‘s blog in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good Letters/Image Journal.org</i>. I loathe
general social chit chat and have learned how to say a lot about nothing while
I ask after their welfare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Years ago
an outreach program at church asked me this question? Why do you go to the
grocery store?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer, in
addition to milk, eggs, bacon, etc. is: to meet God in other people and
illustrate His love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A single
woman wearing a brightly colored scarf may illicit my comment: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thank you for brightening my day with your
scarf</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you have such beautiful hair</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To a woman
ignoring her cantankerous child while dumping products into her grocery cart at
lightning speed: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You are a good mom.
Someday he’ll appreciate you.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To the
checkout clerk: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thanks for your help. Did
you survive the holidays?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">That much I
can handle and I have become comfortable looking for people with whom I can
briefly connect and encourage. Ms. Runyan’s perspective lets me know I’m not
alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Where do
you find yourself?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2015/01/an-introverts-resolution/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=goodletters_010615UTC020101_daily&utm_content=&spMailingID=47755827&spUserID=MTE3Njc3NjMyODI3S0&spJobID=600816270&spReportId=NjAwODE2MjcwS0"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2015/01/an-introverts-resolution/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=goodletters_010615UTC020101_daily&utm_content=&spMailingID=47755827&spUserID=MTE3Njc3NjMyODI3S0&spJobID=600816270&spReportId=NjAwODE2MjcwS0</span></a></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-48945982322606079262014-12-02T10:16:00.002-08:002014-12-02T10:16:42.925-08:00AGING SYSTEMS
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Our corner
bedroom is quiet, empty except for the furniture staging. I sit in a wheel
chair and roll back and forth enjoying the peace. I remember the many families
we have entertained in this room as they visited their parent(s) with gifts of
candy and favorite food, and finally sat quietly in death vigil. Some of these
residents I mourn and pray for happy memories for their families in this season
of remembering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Others were
difficult people, unhappy no matter what we did for them or their families.
Denial occupied so much space in their relationships, there was not room for
words of appreciation. One resident demanded to be brought to the hospital
because as long as he stayed with us, his son would bustle in at all hours, cheer
and insist he gather up their ties and grip the living he longed to release. He
died peacefully surrounded by caring nurses.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The family
of one resident fought a need for Hospice until I had to call and insist that I
get help caring for their father. Their response to my urgent demand for pain
meds was to ask, “this won’t stop him from getting better will it?” The man
died three days later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Family
Systems--the way a family functions--don’t change just because the calendar
reports advanced years. A friend tells the story of her two week respite stay
with her 80+ mother so her father could attend an out-of-state family reunion. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“I was
eager to help out but also terrified. My Mom can be so critical I turn to
instant jelly.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Another
woman was difficult but manageable until her daughter visited. Within 30
minutes they would be verbally clawing at each other. Other family members
understood that this was the relationship mother and daughter had always
had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last few days the daughter
continued to bring in trinkets and goodies that would perk up her nearly comatose mom. As
miserable as she made our lives, I pray for the daughter because in this month
of family get-togethers, she is still grieving for her mom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">December is
the time of year to forgive, to recognize the way it was supposed to be in our
homes and accept the reality of what was. The lights and color of Christmas
decorations can encourage us to release guilt, the gift that keeps on giving.
Parents were people’s children too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Within a
week this room will be filled with the stuff of another family and we will be
honored to learn the way they do things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-67540058835341809492014-11-10T17:59:00.003-08:002014-11-10T17:59:37.247-08:00Parkinson’s National Family Caregivers Month
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you know a family living with Parkinson's Disease?</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">November is
highlighted to build awareness of people with Parkinson’s, both those who
endure the disease and those who care for them. This is the month to visibly
support family and friends who rally around a loved one with PD. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This group includes partners who
help with medical appointments or personal care such as dressing or
bathing. It also includes those in our extended networks — family, neighbors,
co-workers, health professionals — who provide support, making them part of the
caregiving network. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s important to take time out
to talk about their contributions and give them your support. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Parkinson's Disease Foundation in their latest newsletter tells the story of Dr. Maria De Leon
who has a unique perspective on caring in Parkinson's disease. In fact, she first cared for her grandmother with Parkinson's disease, then for her patients as a movement disorders neurologist, and now lives with Parkinson's disease herself.</div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The family of Greg Hardoby from Rahway, NJ, have all pitched in since his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease. Mr. Hardoby is himself no stranger to supporting a loved one with PD -- his late grandmother lived with Parkinson's disease. Recently, when he wanted to make a difference by fundraising for PDF, his wife Maria, and their children all helped to put together a golf outing they called Putt Fore Parkinson's and raised more than $5,000. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The family was featured in the NJ Suburban News on September 18, 2014.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Hardoby, who lives with Parkinson's, his wife Maria and their children Ann Marie and Alex, organized the event as part of the PDF Champions program, the grassroots fundraising arm of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The golf outing featured several contests such as longest drive and closest to the pin, as well as a pig roast and awards banquet in the evening. The family hopes to make the golf outing an annual event."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #363636; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Few of us have the time or energy to organize such an event, but this month simply make a phone
call to your PD friends, take a caregiver out for a latte, send an email, add
this link to your Facebook page as tribute to your friends, smile encouragement
in the grocery store to a stranger walking with a cane and a caregiver. So
simple. So appreciated.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 7pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.pdf.org/"><span style="color: #006633;">www.pdf.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-34676179175639401462014-11-05T09:18:00.000-08:002014-11-05T09:18:21.244-08:00DO YOU KNOW HOW IGNORANCE CAN REGULATE A CULTURE?
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">At Home</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">. A short history of private
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by Bill Bryson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Bill Bryson
and his family live in a Victorian vicarage in England and one day he began to
consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as found in
that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about
his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving
home.” The bathroom provides the occasion for the history of hygiene, the
bedroom for an account of sex, death, and sleep, the kitchen for a discussion
of nutrition and the spice trade, and so on, showing how each has figured in
the evolution of private life. From architecture to electricity, from food
preservation to epidemics, from crinolines to the cotton gin—and the brilliant,
creative and often eccentric talents behind them—Bryson demonstrates that
whatever happens in the world ends up in our houses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">For example, in 1983 a
vine owner observed leaves “covered with galls from which sprang insects of a
kind he had not seen before.” He was the “first in Europe to suffer from an
infestation of grape phylloxera, a tiny aphid, that would shortly devastate the
European wine industry.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result in
France in 1952 was wine growers in southern France finding their vines dying. “Because
the insects infested the roots, the first sign of mortal illness was the first
sign of anything. Farmers couldn’t dig up the roots to see if aphids were
present without killing the vines, so they just had to wait and hope. Forty
percent of France’s vines were killed in fifteen years. Eighty percent were ‘reconstituted’
through the grafting on of American roots.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“It is thanks to American roots that French wines still exist.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And here is
an example of the delightful melding of historical facts by Mr. Bryson: “Phylloxera
aphids from the New World had almost certainly reached Europe before, but would
have arrived as little corpses, unable to survive the long sea voyage. The
introduction of fast steamships at sea and even faster trains on land meant
that the little pests could arrive refreshed and ready to conquer new
territory.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To further
quote the back cover of my large print library copy: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryson’s wit and sheer prose fluency make <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">At Home</b> one of the most entertaining
books about private life ever written.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-60150449153883273062014-10-23T10:45:00.000-07:002014-10-23T10:45:34.940-07:00GOALS AND PATTERNS
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">October has
been an excellent month to review my year’s goals and evaluate changes needed
to set quality but realistic goals for next year. Since reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boundaries</i> by Doctors John Townsend and
Henry Cloud I have been a fan of their website and counseling materials. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beyond Boundaries</i> Dr. Townsend, begins Chapter
12, “Great relationships are fulfilling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Great relationships involve risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can’t have the first without the second.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In the
following blog written for Dave Ramsey, Dr. Townsend explores <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Two
Areas of Life that Set Successful People Apart</i></b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/two-areas-life-set-successful-people-apart"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/two-areas-life-set-successful-people-apart</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-58359909498114644022014-10-21T12:22:00.000-07:002014-10-21T12:22:48.181-07:00The Dementia Umbrella
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">October and
November are months when fund raising for Alzheimer’s disease sponsors marathon
walks. What these groups do not identify is the research tact they are
supporting. And gaining research money is big. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">FYI, I
teach certification training in Mental Health and Dementia for WA DSHS. In our
Dementia workbook the third page shows a grey on grey umbrella representing the
broad diagnosis of Dementia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under this
umbrella are the more specific definitions of symptoms: Alzheimer’s, Pick’s
Disease, Vascular, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Lewy Body, to name a few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Observing
the residents who come to our home, while it does not get the big name
recognition, I have conjectured that Vascular Dementia is as common as
Alzheimer’s. You may be more familiar with the term “hardening of the arteries.”
The following link ties brain and heart health together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cause of Alzheimer’s is at least 20% genetic.
Vascular can be avoided by conscious, life-long health habits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Check it
out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.healthcentral.com/alzheimers/c/62/171761/vascular-dementia-specialist/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.healthcentral.com/alzheimers/c/62/171761/vascular-dementia-specialist/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-36020124818666279442014-09-21T20:03:00.000-07:002014-09-21T20:03:09.411-07:00PARTIAL TRUTHS<br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b;"><br />
<o:p><span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Emily
Dickinson may not be your cup of tea due to her anachronistic capitalizations
and frequent dashes. But her poem, The Brain, suggests that our thinking may be
rooted in a passionless track unless we allow splinters of new thought to wash
in. And then we may be hard pressed to regain our previous certainty. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fear of new thoughts and emotions are what
marches censorship up and down Main Street.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Emily Dickinson, #556 </span></b><span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Brain, within its
Groove <br />
Runs evenly--and true-- <br />
But let a Splinter swerve-- <br />
'Twere easier for You--</span><span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To put a Current back-- <br />
When Floods have slit the Hills-- <br />
And scooped a Turnpike for Themselves-- <br />
And trodden out the Mills-- </span><span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
essay, </span><a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/what-white-privilege-really-means-an-anecdote"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #045482;">Different Rules
Apply</span></span></a><span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> by Matt Zoller Seitz, may be such a splinter that will move you
to rebuild your emotional structures in a place where floods will not trod out
your mill. If there is a "flood" where do you re-build your business? Might you consider a new source of energy? Do you dare think outside the box?</span><br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Jesus continually applied mercy as he walked the ancient turnpikes
through villages and past country hovels, showing concern for the poor, for women and
children: the least of these. The least we can do is step off our path for a moment to consider the idea Seitz
offers in his painful and embarrassing story.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #3b3b3b; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span> </o:p> </span>Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-54912098137563767292014-09-06T15:47:00.002-07:002014-09-06T15:47:47.604-07:00What Mortals Be
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Is it
dreamed or dreamt? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Whichever,
when the phone rings at 4:45 AM with the same IRS scam recording we have been
subjected to all week, cerebral word choice gets trampled underfoot by
reptilian brain stem reaction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">When we are
awakened by a resident who wobbles out of bed at 2:00 AM in agitated confusion,
that is bad news. The good news is that prescribed meds and an attentive
caregiver can re-tuck her/him under the bed covers, probably for the duration
until the phone rings in the office almost three solid sleeping hours later. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“Tragedy has serious and logical
consequences. Cause and effect. Comedy usually doesn’t. You throw a person off
a tall building in a comedy, he bounces. You throw someone off a building in a
tragedy, don’t wait for the bounce.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Robin Hemley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mortality
being what it is, we had best find humor in the illogic of it all or we’ll burn
out as kindling for tragedy. That would be disastrous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I no longer
desire to push the foreign accent speaking scammer off a tall building
somewhere in LA where he sleeps. However, the good news is that the well articulated
English speaking female on the recorded message left a phone number. When we
returned the call at 4:47 AM we “spoke” to a groggy male person. Yes, I have his
number and can use it at all hours whenever whoever in our Home wakes in
distress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">That is
mortal humor and I am laughing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Commas and
hyphens were omitted intentionally. Sue me. It’s 5:00 AM.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-77945424311935470882014-08-28T21:10:00.000-07:002014-08-28T21:10:51.469-07:00WHAT MORTALS BE
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Aspects of
mortality follow us like thunder trailing after a lightning strike low in the
clouds too close to our window. Or the remembered scent of facial powder on a
special Aunt’s soft cheeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I was
stepping down into the garage from the kitchen when I heard my Grandmother’s
voice, “Use your head to save your heels.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Grandma O
lived on the first floor of a house with fruit cellar in the basement. So if
she was going to make her way down to the fruit cellar, she reminded herself to
mentally list what needed to go down and once down what would need to come up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Today I was
halfway to the pantry in the garage leaving behind the Tupperware container of
brown rice on the kitchen counter. If I was using my head I would look around
and see what else needed to be removed to the area where I was going. Once in
the garage with milk in one hand and a can of chicken broth in the other, if I
was using my head I would mentally review the menu and remember to bring in the
bag of chocolate chips from the pantry for making cookies after supper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“Use your
head to save your heels.” I also should have checked the kitchen refrigerator
for butter and now needed to trip back to the refrig in the garage. But I remember
you, Grandma. Tea served in real china cups and saucers. The oil cloth covering
the kitchen table. African violets on the window sill. A fuzzy bear stored in a
basket of toys waiting for grandchildren to tumble out of the car and race each
other to reach it. She probably didn’t understand the competitive urgency that
dictated we give her a greeting kiss <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i>
we gripped the bear. For my part, I attempted to casually claim the back seat
behind my Father because it would place me closest to Grandma’s door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Grandma
undoubtedly would not have picked this adage as our lasting remembrance but it
has stuck, at least in my mind. A few years ago my Mother and I told stories
about Grandma and she also remembered Grandma’s advice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mom laughed
when I told her I remembered her frequent admonishment. I remember walking
slowly home from third grade because I had been told a phone call from teacher
to my mother preceded me. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” I found my
Mother’s oft repeated warning curious and failed to understand for twenty
years. Simply, recognize and clean up after your failures or you will continue
to make the same mistakes. In my eight-year-old, uncomprehending mind, Mother’s
adage was interpreted “be more careful not to get caught.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And what
mortal words have I left in my wake?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
you….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-18391331374879498432014-08-20T14:37:00.001-07:002014-08-20T14:37:40.965-07:00Immeasurable Mortality
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">One of my
favorite poems is by W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939. I include his life span because the
dates place him in a historic time of particular culture, poetic form, with
specific advances in medical practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three
score and ten was a hoped for age not often achieved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">We regret
Yeats’ completed longevity bracket as it means he is no longer writing his
wonderful poetry and essays. He undoubtedly would have had more to say. But we
do not expect anyone born in 1865 to survive well over 100 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So from the perspective of 2014, his
anthology was complete. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Because my
longevity bracket is not completed, today I can read Yeats to my love and pass
it on to my children who can read it to theirs. And to you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When you are old and grey and full of
sleep,<br />
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,<br />
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look<br />
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;<br />
How many loved your moments of glad grace,<br />
And loved your beauty with love false or true,<br />
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,<br />
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;<br />
And bending down beside the glowing bars,<br />
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled<br />
And paced upon the mountains overhead<br />
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">When You Are Old</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is read with contemporary
commentary in the following video. Interesting to me is the reader’s connection
with the Ukraine, a site of so much bad death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/video/373"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/video/373</span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-83509283981096981982014-08-12T14:08:00.001-07:002014-08-12T14:08:49.066-07:00Mortality
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A Prompt
may be a sticky note on the refrig as reminder to pick up milk, or the computer
reminding me of a new password. Meditation uses the prompt of breathing,
mindfulness the prompt of chewing food slowly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I broadcast
to writing groups a writing prompt suggesting the topic Mortality and received the following
poems. They present two all too common platforms. I use the poems with the
authors’ permission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of the Fall 2013 Mike Medler</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tell me where the laceration runs</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in final hours, in dust where<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">you have poured it all<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and sutures live a long way<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">off. Tell me of the marksman<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and the empty field beyond<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and your tactical advantage.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tell me if you can<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">see pain, taste anger,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">wrap your arms around<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the pervasive and all-consuming<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">loneliness that leads<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">you by the hand now. Tell me<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if you remember kinder<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">moments, as if to make it<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">all worth something, or<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if it is all worthy of nothing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tell me why your seams<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">have split and spilt you<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">into shaking hands, a final<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">gesture, a fall from which<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I cannot lift you, from which<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">none will rise. Tell me<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of the fall, or nothing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Waiting
Room<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I hate the
waiting room,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">the
comfortable chairs and polished tables.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
complementary coffee and tea.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The big
screen quietly scrolling the <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">ephemeral
patient status,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">attaching
numbers to<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mothers<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Fathers<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Daughters<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Sons.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I hate the
waiting room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It’s like
Russian roulette<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">when the
surgeons walk in, fresh from the OR<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">battle,
bloodshed and carnage carefully cleaned away.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">We all hold
our breath.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I’m sorry.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And then
nothing is ever right with the <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">world
again.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Quiet
keening fills the air as<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">spirits
transcend. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Spirits
going on to better, we hope—<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">oh we hope,
to a better place. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">But leaving
just the same.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And we are
left with our grief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And we know
our joy is but temporary.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And who
knows the what or the when or the how about tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Or about
any tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I hate the
waiting room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">2014<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sharon Anderson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-50516156829930450062014-07-26T08:12:00.001-07:002014-07-26T08:12:56.231-07:00MORTALITY<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Our usual warm-weather-low-humidity
has turned like a child looks back to see if someone familiar is near. In the
Pacific NW rain magically ceases soon after Fourth of July and doesn’t reappear
until late September/October. But our light sweater July evenings have
dissolved into two days of November downpour and I feel cheated. Where has summer
gone? Will it reappear?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Our yucca
plants produced their white bell blossoms early and with extravagance. They
were glorious for days, reluctantly dropping petals as they dried on the stock.
Our neighbors’ plants were not so long enjoyed. The rain force bent the stems or
denuded them. Their short season concluded face down in the mulch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Unseasonable
weather reminds me of a metaphor hidden in an Asian figure: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Talk about
tomorrow<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">the rats
will laugh <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Assuming,
hoping against hope, continuing in spite of, planning with no guarantees, are
conditions of our mortality amid storm-beaten flowers, nurturing rain, changeable
weather systems. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In front of the wooden yucca
stocks, the iris greenery feed their tubers. Spiking gladiolas are turning a shade of coral
I would not have chosen. Mortality and death are complicated subjects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Reluctance </span></b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
by Robert Frost<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Out
through the fields and the woods </span></em><i><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
over the walls I have wended; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
have climbed the hills of view </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
looked at the world and descended; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
have come by the highway home, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
lo, it is ended. </span></em><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
leaves are all dead on the ground, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Save
those that the oak is keeping </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To
ravel them one by one </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
let them go scraping and creeping </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Out
over the crusted snow, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When
others are sleeping. </span></em><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
the dead leaves lie huddled and still, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">No
longer blown hither and thither; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
last lone aster is gone; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
flowers of the witch-hazel wither; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
heart is still aching to seek, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But
the feet question 'Whither?' </span></em><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Ah,
when to the heart of man </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Was
it ever less than a treason </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To
go with the drift of things, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To
yield with a grace to reason, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
bow and accept the end </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Of
a love or a season?</span></em></i></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-35864659080490921202014-07-20T20:49:00.000-07:002014-07-20T20:49:53.339-07:00GOOD DEATH
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sumptuous
Mortality<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Children’s
veranda in the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">lowbreathed
summer twilight:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">‘if
I should die before I wake’ lingers<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">erosive<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>engraving<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">O<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not alone<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘my soul to take’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
sweetjuice hay of nightbreath<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">smothers
in luxury. Who doesn’t<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">burrow
into being<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">deaf
to not-life for<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sleep,
a time of sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
handkerchief of waiting daylight blown<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
esperance: enough.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Margaret
Avison. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Always Now</i>. Volume Two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">What is our
life expectancy? We look at ancestors who died in their 40s, early 60s, 80s. We
consider the conditions of their living and passing, and extrapolate our years
through the statistics of our improved nutrition and health care and presume we
will live…more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As children
we kneeled by our beds and prayed the historic prayer, pushed ourselves up to
slide over the sheet, dusting our bare feet off one on the other. Curled in the
dark we silently amended the prayer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but
not for a long time if you please</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The many versions first recorded in the 1800s are basically the same but
they differ in the last two lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If I
should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take” seems a heavy burden
for a nine year old. Less Catholic prayers exhort angels to watch over me, or simply
pray for safe guidance through the night. Considering the various plagues from
which children in the 1800s died, any of the versions would suffice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">On Sunday
night as we mentally move into the demands of Monday morning, we scarcely
consider our death. We prepare to commence another week of busyness and
stress. But a friend reminds me on Facebook that she has survived cancer and
achieved another birthday. Others have not. Bear with me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-20543318233792641922014-07-16T22:13:00.000-07:002014-07-16T22:13:05.143-07:00Give Us Today Our Daily Bread
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Our
neighbors have two toddlers, ages 2 and 4, who hurtle themselves across the
lawn, down the driveway, onto our cul de sac, full tilt with seemingly no other
intention than to move as fast as possible. There is no more mindfulness in
their actions than the peony that drops deep pink petals on the hedge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In contrast,
one of our seniors walks carefully one foot before the other, trailing her hand
along the wall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Transitional movement
transfers us from one place to another. A toddler must learn to make that
transference while keeping his balance. As he lifts his back foot leaning toward
forward motion, he is unbalanced. If his concentration falters, his heavily
diapered bottom stays aloft only as long as he hesitates, then falls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The present
slips so quickly from future to past. Whatever our movement, it helps our
balance as we transition if we give our full attention to what we are doing in
the moment. Then we can look back and appreciate that we were fully involved in
our life. Not merely spending time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-78000434351706621092014-07-01T10:45:00.002-07:002014-07-01T10:45:41.226-07:00Mindful Living
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">As I’m
writing this, it’s a blue sky, cool morning in Washington. The fog of winter
months has evaporated into joyous clear air of summer opening our vista across
the bay and to the distant mountains on the Canadian border. The sparrows and
finches flutter at each other above the feeder before settling to take turns.
Early swallows feed on the wing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">And as I
observe the activities of a natural world, I ask myself, what do I do without
thinking about it, without due process but move on automatic pilot? What would
change if I focused on the elements of a task, just for a few specks of time,
to observe them as a child who is first learning? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
energies around me change their intensity, ebb and flow like the tide washing
higher on the beach, hiding the small creatures busy finding food and avoiding
becoming a meal. Energies that collect the fragments of me into a vessel to be of use. My energies also change as demands are placed on me by others
or I decide that something has become necessary rather than optional.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Attempting
rootedness in the moment frustrates me because as soon as I breathe in the
moment, I must exhale and that chosen space of time has evaporated as quickly
as fog. As much as I want to stay, my mental list of wonderful potential pulls
me away, like walking an unruly puppy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">But I am
grateful for the moment, for each breath as I take a last turn through our
residents’ rooms, observing them sleep, the rise and fall of their blankets. I
failed them in small ways through lack of energy or distraction. But also today
I paused to glance out the front window to observe the hummingbird flit around
the purple glass flame on its pole; I mindfully listened to the
frustrated silence of people who have no choice but to internalize rather than
risk garbled speech. We created moments of joy feeding our people with our their favorite food, hugs and
conversation. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">And I pause,
mindful that I live as fully and with as much presence as I can manage at any
given interval in my life. At the end of the day, that must be my peace.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-84834775714826285272014-06-23T10:15:00.000-07:002014-06-23T10:15:17.613-07:00Mindful Multitasking?
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Guest
Writer: Moira Allen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Is
Multitasking Good for Writers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(or
anyone else)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Link to this article here:</span></div>
<a href="http://www.writing-world.com/coffee/coffee78.shtml"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Consolas;">http://www.writing-world.com/coffee/coffee78.shtml</span></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Show
me a writer who doesn't "multitask," and I'll show you...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">well,
I'm not sure what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I'm not worried
about being held to my half of that sentence!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I seriously doubt that, in today's "do </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">50
things before breakfast" world, you could show me that writer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Let's
face it: We all do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have no
choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I've said before, the speed
at which we can do things hasn't saved us labor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It's
simply caused us to have to perform 10 tasks in the time once required for one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
problem is not that we multitask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again,
in many cases, we have no choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
problem is that many of us have been led to believe that multitasking is a good
thing because it speeds up our work and increases our productivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, it stands to reason that if you
can do two things at the same time, they'll both get done faster than if you
did them sequentially, right?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Unfortunately,
studies are showing that this isn't true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, it seems that multitasking can actually DECREASE your productivity </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">--
by as much as 40%!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In plainer words,
that means that either one will accomplish 40% less while multitasking, or that
the actual time required to complete one's tasks may increase by 40%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Studies also show that multitasking increases the chance of error.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Which
makes me feel loads better, because I was beginning to wonder if I just
"wasn't doing it right."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of my most common forms of multitasking is to work on Project A on my computer,
while scanning articles and images for my Victorian website on the scanner
sitting next to my desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scanning is
boring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can't handle just sitting
there and turning pages, so it seems logical to multitask: Work on something
else, and pause to flip pages as needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Only
it doesn't tend to work that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of making good progress on Project A, and getting a pile of
scanning done, I find that BOTH projects actually tend to suffer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All too often, I get distracted from Project
A (and turn to something simpler, like e-mail or checking my eBay sales or
playing a game).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for the scanning,
all too often I end up rescanning the same page because I forgot whether I
actually pushed the button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">My
husband can attest to another hazard of "multitasking."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we lived in Virginia, my office was downstairs,
the kitchen upstairs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Many
a dinner -- and many a pan or teakettle -- burned to a crisp because I'd pop
downstairs to do "one quick thing" while cooking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">That's
one reason why I always use a whistling teakettle, even though today my office
is in the "breakfast nook" and the rate of burned dinners has
decreased dramatically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Mothers
have multitasked for millennia, so I figured the problem wasn't simply that I
was a dinosaur, less hardwired to multitasking than the generation born with a
cell phone grafted to its fingers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">So
I decided to check a few articles to see whether the problem was more than
"just me."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Unfortunately,
although there are many articles on the evils of multitasking, those articles
themselves can be confusing, as they provide different "examples" of
what the author thinks multitasking actually is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One, for instance, sets up an example of a
woman fixing a meal (I'm not sure which meal, since it involves eggs and a
salad).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article defines mixing the
eggs and washing the lettuce as "multitasking" steps, while heating
the pan is "parallel processing."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In my mind, this is not multitasking at all; it is simply a set of steps
involved in the single task of "preparing a meal."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Multitasking, to me, would be preparing the
meal while popping back to my computer to answer e-mail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other articles describe
"exercising" and "listening to music" as a form of
multitasking, and again, I disagree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of us use music as an integral part of exercising, to set the tempo
for our workout. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">We're
not doing two separate things - but if we were attempting to work out and hold
a conversation, we might be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Pursuing
different projects within the same general time frame - i.e., during the same
week or even the same day - is also not "multitasking."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one works on Project A for one hour and
Project B for the next, or Project A on Monday and Project B on Tuesday, with
the goal of completing five projects by Friday, this is not multitasking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working on several projects at once is not
the same as working on them simultaneously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Otherwise, we wouldn't need such concepts as "prioritizing" or
"scheduling."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">So
here's my definition of "multitasking": being engaged simultaneously
in two or more activities that require a comparable amount of concentration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, I cannot switch pages on the
scanner without removing my focus from the computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must physically turn my chair, lift the
book or magazine from the platform, turn the page, reposition the item, close
the lid and push the button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It requires
both hands, both eyes, and a modicum of brain power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I am, say, editing this newsletter at the
same time, that task also requires both hands (on the keyboard), both eyes (on
the screen), my chair to be positioned facing the computer, and (one hopes) a
modicum of brain power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">In
short, multitasking involves what researchers describe as
"switching."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is not,
actually, doing two things at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
is rapidly switching between tasks - edit a paragraph, "switch off" </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">from
that task, turn the chair, reposition the book on the scanner, "switch
off" from that task, turn back, edit the next paragraph. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Each
switch requires a certain amount of physical adjustment (turn chair, take hands
off keyboard, move book, hit button, turn chair, put hands back on
keyboard).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more importantly to
researchers, it requires a mental adjustment, known as "goal
switching."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you switch goals,
the next step is "role activation" - I must go into edit mode, then
into scan mode, then into edit mode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
each mode, I must focus on the types of tasks or steps involved in THAT task,
and "switch off" the focus on the alternate task.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Even
though the time involved in "goal switching" and "role
activation" can be just a few tenths of a second, these switches add
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More significantly for writers, the
more concentration that is required by a task (such as writing), the more we
are likely to be distracted by the constant interruptions of multitasking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's hard for a stream of thought to flow if
it is constantly being diverted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Obviously,
we're not going to stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are too
many demands on our time to hope that we can avoid multitasking altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">However,
if you're feeling frustrated, blocked, and unable to concentrate, this could be
the culprit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you realize that
multitasking isn't actually going to get your work done significantly faster,
it can be reserved for the tasks that require the least brain-power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And writing definitely isn't one of those
tasks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Here
are some interesting articles on the topic:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
Cognitive Costs of Multitasking, by Kendra Cherry <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/costs-of-multitasking.htm"><span style="color: blue;">http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/costs-of-multitasking.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">You
Say Multitasking Like It's a Good Thing, by Charles Abate <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/30584.htm"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nea.org/home/30584.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Multitasking:
Good or Bad? By Roger Kay, Forbes <a href="http://onforb.es/M91bUE"><span style="color: blue;">http://onforb.es/M91bUE</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Reprinted with permission from <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Moira Allen, Editor<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-75804202407182706842014-06-14T22:23:00.000-07:002014-06-14T22:23:01.757-07:00Mindful Living with Poetry
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Don’t give
me the whole truth,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">don’t give
me the sea for my thirst,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">don’t give
me the sky when I ask for light,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">but give me
a glint, a dewy wisp, a mote<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">as the
birds bear water-drops from their bathing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">and the
wind a grain of salt.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Olav
Hauge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Selected Poems. White Pine Press.
1990.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Olav H.
Hauge (1908 – 1994) lived all his life in Ulvik, a village in the west of
Norway, where he made a living off the apple crop from his orchard, an acre in
size. His poems begin with simple things, a wild wind dying to become a breeze,
rough cut curb stones (stabbesteinar) along a country road, tramps, knives. His themes carefully build from the simple to universal and heartfelt. Pruning his trees was mindful work and
he continued such with words on paper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mindfulness
calls us to live in the moment, be it rest or work. Hauge’s poem centers his
request on the dew he can comfortably hold in his hand. A wise man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-88774273943873926912014-06-11T19:30:00.000-07:002014-06-11T19:30:57.686-07:00Efficient Mindful Living<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Zondervan
Publishing author, Phillip Yancey liberally footnotes his writing, giving the
reader appetizing food for further thought. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference</i>, he references a quote by Thomas Merton,
another of my favorite authors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">When a journalist asked Thomas
Merton to diagnose the leading spiritual disease of our time, the monk gave a
curious one-word answer: efficiency. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘From the monastery to the Pentagon, the plant has to run…and there is
little time or energy left over after that to do anything else.’ </span></i><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Efficient: tight, productive, no waste, organized, economical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My thesaurus adds resourceful, proficient, effective, ecologically aware.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What else would you add? </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Effi</span></span>ciency sounds good, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">We walk efficiently with little wasted energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I cut out a pattern, I always line the paper close to the edge of the material so there is little waste. The flaw in this efficiency is that I am left with one larger piece of unused material rather than two smaller ones stashed in a bin. You can’t just throw away good material. My husband’s garage displays organized clutter on the same principle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">With the onslaught of technical communications, we experience fewer moments of calm and more strangling measurements of our substance. Computers were going to turn us into a paperless society and we all know that was a myth. Social media connects us but also devours time before we become mindful of its passage. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Our
children expend their youth thumbing video games on TV or their cell
phones. As Merton points out, increased production comes at a price of our time
and energy. Each celebrated birthday presents us with a cake and the
monster that jumps out is the question: am I the person I want to be? Have I
accomplished everything I should?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Unfortunately, efficiency isn’t patient, kind, long suffering; it gets the job done. In a country club or church kitchen there is usually one efficient worker who sets the pace and decides how the congregational dinner will be served. (Caution: Do not get in her way.) At one time we worked with three merged congregations, and at the first funeral lunch there was confusion because each group had served fruit salad a different way. The women literally stood and looked at each other until one stepped forward with a solution for the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">There is a myth of our culture that if we are efficient we will be productive. And if we are productive we will be fulfilled and content. Ergo, if we are not content, there must be something wrong with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Full bore productivity rarely works long term. Brain research shows multi-tasking is an illusion. When headaches or depression get our attention, we attempt to fix ourselves using the myriad self-help books available, because -- there must be something wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Or, we search for contentment on vacations (I deserve it), recreational shopping for clothes and jewelry (I deserve it and its fun), signing our children into activities that fill every spare minute of their time (I didn’t have these opportunities and they deserve it), or, we numb our frustrations with food, drugs, alcohol. Pick your poison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Efficiency has its place but unless we handle it carefully, deliberately appreciating economical movements and accomplishments, efficiency becomes the black knight crusading for achievement at any cost. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Efficiency becomes the opponent of mindfulness: deliberate working and contemplation throughout our day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">How do you evaluate efficiency in the context of mindful living?</span></div>
</o:p> </span> </div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span>Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-29332483907745935852014-06-05T20:20:00.000-07:002014-06-05T20:20:13.580-07:00Mindful Living and Acceptance
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My difficulty with
meditation unsurprisingly lies in my mind. I place myself in a peaceful setting
alongside a gently burbling brook. I look for shades of green and concentrate
on the light revealing multiple hues in a single blade of grass. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Try as I might to
leave regrets outside my meditative state, they camouflage themselves until I
accept them as part of the scenery. They then explode from the shrubbery
repeating the mantra I have heard in my head for years. “How could you not have
known! Look at the trouble you caused!” </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unpleasantness in my
life appears to lurk around the edges, discouraging attempts at quiet
meditation. Its potential presence chases me away from meditative moments when
I might reach acceptance. Busyness is easier to handle but makes mindful living
more difficult. Running from a quiet space, I suppose there are people who live
without regrets and I should be one of them. Silly.</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Memory is never 100
percent accurate. Other people bear responsibility for their reactions in the remembered
situations that year after year give me fits. I am egotistical when I take
absolute responsibility for all outcomes of my choices. Circumstance has never been in my control. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ralph
Waldo Emerson didn’t own a tape recorder or cd player so he couldn’t encourage
us to erase the tape and cultivate good thoughts. He did write: "Finish
every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and
absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a
new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense."</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When waking in the
morning, lying in bed and deliberately getting reacquainted with each body part
prepares me to live in the space allotted me. Deliberately greeting the morning
with a few minutes of quiet, picturing people I know and their needs during
this day, stretches me out of myself and into the community I value. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I would be better off
if I daily read the following prayer (taped to my bookcase for so long it
appears an unnoticed fixture). As an entree to mindful living, it admits my
imperfections and releases me from busying so hard I fail to find self
acceptance.</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">O, that You would bless me indeed and
enlarge my territory,</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that Your hand would be with me,</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and that You would keep me from
committing evil.</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-37671663707560867662014-06-01T12:43:00.000-07:002014-06-01T12:43:01.620-07:00Mindful Living in Space
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Space can
be a matter of time, physical property, presence in and beyond our
earth. We may value space as an interval of rest, of remembrance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">May 25 was
Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as we used to call it. Flags in cemeteries
marked the graves of veterans. In too many homes the day was somber. Family and
friends who are no longer with us were remembered. I saw posted on Facebook a
picture of this person's Marine friend who has been gone for six years, but not forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Several of
our passed residents were veterans of the Second World War. Monday we
remembered them and the nightmares that told us more about their involvement
than their conscious stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Not only
military personnel are remembered. Positioned between Mother’s Day and Father’s
Day, there is a space where many valued persons used to be. As each is unique,
that space is not readily filled. Nor need it be. It remains a memorial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-84497572997198374062014-05-29T20:02:00.000-07:002014-05-29T20:02:32.449-07:00Mindful Living Needs Space
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
perimeter garden along the back of Adagio property is eight to ten feet wide.
Seven years ago, azaleas, roses and a few scattered perennials allowed plenty
of room for weeds but also made weeding a relatively direct process. Since I
have rarely met a perennial I didn’t like, today there is little unplanted
dirt. The roses are forced to climb their trellis high if they are to shine
above delphinium, daylilies, campanula, iris, and the list goes on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Shasta
daisies are becoming a problem. Lychnis has stretched its roots through the
lavender to get to the echinacea. Lunaria was a cheerful early pink behind the
daffodils, but now it has seeded to the pathways, the rhubarb, and beyond.
Something needs to be done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">My to-do
list can be as overrun as my garden with too many excellent, worthwhile
activities and goals that push me past my lawn chair into a hectic place. Joy is
easily overgrown with “shoulds” and “coulds”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The roots of busy slip into beds of satisfaction and dis them. In
contrast, deliberate “time out” re-energizes and illuminates pleasure in thoughtful
being. Mindful living pushes aside the invasive greenery, trims the out-of-sort
branches that scratch at our contemplation, discovers the rich soil
beneath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In art,
space leads the eye to the main event. It lacks identity of its own but
highlights lines, light or shadow. Mindful living flourishes in space, both
positive (light and joy) and negative (dark and pain-filled). When a morning
reaches noon and all our residents are cared for and happy, we sit on the deck
to bird watch or in the kitchen with a juice drink and tell stories of who did
what and wasn’t that good. The caregiver’s teenagers didn’t call with
complaint, we received no news which is good news from our adult children, no
one has an infection or suffered a mini stroke, and the herbs are growing tall
in the window box. We thankfully pause in this space of light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Negative
space requires contemplation no less than light-filled moments. The telephone
ringing can be made a cue to breathe deeply, roll shoulders. The burden of bad
medical diagnosis may be carried when we carve out moments of ceased activity
and prayer. News of relationship dissolution may be pondered while doing
mindless hand work. A fast walk through a nature preserve may pound out fear
until the heart is calmed and pumping legs can slow to deliberate walking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Space
allows me to see the truth: that persistent stem is not a flower; it’s a weed. We
grow in beds of tall turmoil that serve to isolate us when we mistake them for achieved
success. The view we lose is that of ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">My garden
needs space. The jumble of greenery self-placed confuses the view. Tomorrow I will
patiently tease out of the ground white roots from stem to stem, pulling them
free of the soil. Unless I sit on the deck with the residents and count
sailboats while we murmur quietly, <em>so many clouds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such beautiful clouds.</em> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8087949300191991470.post-29570562488588564332014-05-13T18:56:00.000-07:002014-05-13T18:56:21.847-07:00MINDFUL LIVING
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Caring for
people with diminished capacity as we do at Adagio initiates many conversations
about their behaviors and what we can do differently. We never assume they must
change. We evaluate what happened before the behavior, what we could have done
differently and discuss the new care plan with all the caregivers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mobile is the perfect metaphor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">You may
wonder about the curly haired lady wearing the blue hat where most blog writers
post their own picture. When new people visit our home they see Irene dangling
from the living room ceiling. Unless they view her straight on, they think the
dangling colored glass odd, usually being too polite to comment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">*Irene is a
mobile. Air currents cause her to bob and turn so her hat is askew and her eye
balls rotate beneath her immaculate brow. I have taken Irene as my avatar
precisely because the parts of her visage dangle from separate lines and when
one part veers, all the other parts also meander in the air. And there is a droll similarity between Irene and me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Caring for
people with diminished capacity is not that different from interacting with
anyone else, like the members of their family. It takes mindful listening,
mindful speaking, and change on our part if we want to see change from them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“Thinking
mobile” requires deliberate, mindful living. The rewards usually make the effort
worthwhile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">*Irene
is the creation of Dancing Glass artist, Sue Rena Curtis. Her mobiles make
wonderful gifts for yourself or others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.dancingglass.net/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.dancingglass.net/</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dancing-Glass-Stained-Glass-Mobiles/125583347504636"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dancing-Glass-Stained-Glass-Mobiles/125583347504636</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Maxine Brinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16693266013690029893noreply@blogger.com0