This posting has a twofold purpose: to update you on my health and to tell you about my news-fast.
Re: Health:
In late September, after the seasonal change, the barometric pressure seemed to calm—here in Missouri—its precipitous ups and downs. Because of that the Meniere’s symptoms have been in abeyance. I have the occasional mild headache, but it is simply a short drizzle compared to the storm of a Meniere’s headache.
I cannot truly explain what this means with regard to my ability to think clearly, prioritize, make decisions, and respond with some coherence to the questions of others. I am feeling equal to life again, and I hope to begin reading blogs again and working on my writing.
Re: News-fast:
One aspect of my calm is that I’ve been fasting from politics since Monday, September 21. RBG died on Friday the 18th. I spent the weekends reading the New York Times articles about her, viewing the DVD film “RBG,” and watching the television news anchors eulogize her.
On Sunday night, I sat against my bed headboard, reading a NYT’s article on her life. Next, I read an NYT’s opinion column on how her death would probably change the make-up of the Supreme Court and three impeding cases.
An overwhelming emotion roiled within me. Closing my eyes, I tried to get in touch with it. First came anger. I let myself feel it. Then I plunged deeper into the recesses of my psyche. Still as a statue, I discovered a profound and abiding sorrow over the changes in our culture, which I’d witnessed in the past fifty years.
I’m not going to detail those changes here, but I saw so much isolation and self-absorbed individualism that I found myself sobbing in the deep center of myself where Oneness dwells.
It was then that I decided to fast from the news of the day. No viewing of the television news or the Facebook political raves or rants. No reading of the New York Times on my computer. No talking with friends and family about what is happening politically—and for me, almost everything is, in some way, political.
I decided to fast for seven weeks—until the election of November 3. Depending on its outcome and the consequences (domestic terrorism), I’d then decide whether to resume my normal “keeping-up-with-what-is-happening” attitude or not.
Since leaving the convent, I’ve been what my uncle once called “a politic junkie.” For the past five weeks, I’ve been in rehab. I’ve “cold-turkey-ed” political news. Well, to be truthful, once each week, I called someone and asked for one tidbit of news.
Here are the five tidbits I’ve learned in five weeks: 1) in the first debate the president yelled a lot; 2) the president had COVID and was in the Walter Reed Hospital for a few days and he now says he’s immune; 3) a fly landed on the head of the vice-president during his debate; 4) the woman who’s been selected to replace RBG is a strict constructionist or an “originalist” (I think that’s the word my friend said); 5) COVID is on the upswing in quite a number of states.
Okay. Five things I know from the past five weeks. Believe me, I have little to talk about to anyone who calls. I’m downright boring.
I have two weeks to go on my news-fasting. And really that’s nothing compared to the eight-and-a-half years in the convent when I heard no news at all. I’ve spent these weeks feeling grateful for my life. I am so fortunate in so many ways.
Peace, pressed down and overflowing, to all of you who have read these words.
First and foremost. I am thrilled that Menieres is giving you a break.
ReplyDeleteI have instituted a news diet too. I am not fasting, but I am severely limiting my exposure. And feel much, much better for it.
Sending, as always, oceans of caring your way.
Dear Sue, yes, and, wonder of wonders, after nearly six months of getting an average of only 3 hours of sleep each night, I've been able to sleep well for over three weeks. That is, I've slept, on the average, 9 to 10 hours a night. I think the Meniere's months just exhausted me. I'm feeling once again like a rational human being!
DeleteI'm glad that limiting your political intake has also helped you. It all has become too toxic. Take care and thank you, again and ever, for the care you send me. Peace.
Good to see you, Dee.
ReplyDelete"...the eight-and-a-half years in the convent when I heard no news at all."
This sounds like Heaven!
Dear Sandi, yes it does, doesn't it--at least right now in this arc of our life. Hope all is well. Take care; stay safe. Peace.
Deletei am glad that you are feeling better now, Dee, and I am sure that staying away from the news has helped. I also went on a news fast after RBG passed away. I just could not stand anymore. However, mine did not last long because I was too curious when he, that is in charge, supposedly got Covid. I do ration the news and only watch the World News which is half an hour and I get enough. I just want all this over. There was a feeling of peace when I put my ballot in the box.
ReplyDeleteDear Arleen, I'm sure that fasting from news--as well as sleeping nearly 10 hours each night to make up for the six months of near-insomnia--has helped me find my balance again. Both of us are now rationing the news. I wonder how many others are doing the same. There's just been too much toxicity for our minds and souls.
DeleteLike you, I just want it over. And again, like you, I felt peace when I put my ballot in the box at the polling station up on the Square in Independence. My brother and sister-in-law and I went together. All three of us were smiling or grinning as we came out of the building and walked across the street to their car. It felt so good to know that our ballots--which represent one of the greatest rights of citizenship--were going to be counted. Hallelujah! Peace.
So glad you are feeling better and can resume some of your former activities.
ReplyDeleteRBG had such an important impact on our lives and I was also saddened by her untimely death. She truly dedicated herself to "good trouble" as John Lewis would have said....so many of our great icons are dying off.
I've always been a political junkie too and it's bee really hard this past few weeks. You truly aren't missing much, just the dismantling of our democracy if the president gets re-elected.
Dear Jean, I'm putting my political fasting aside to reply to your words.
DeleteLike you, I believe that if the president gets re-elected, we will witness his attempt to finish his work of dismantling our democracy. If the Senate isn't flipped, the Republicans senators will help him do so unless they finally find the courage to give up their desire for power and impeach him.
Moreover, domestic terrorism will increase and we will see civil war on our streets. That is part of the dismantling that will leave many of us bereft of a country which, as Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis said, "has an arc of history that bends toward justice."
So, that's a political statement and now I'll go back to being an ostrich for the first time in 50 years!
Take care. Hope was the final winged creature who flew out of Pandora's box. Let us hope and let us believe in one another. Peace.
Always glad to see your post, Dee. And so happy that you are feeling like yourself again. As for the news, I too have gone off it several times... and almost completely since voting last week. I do watch the debates, but never when they are actually going on... as I would never sleep that night. We record them and watch them the next morning. I had to laugh at your 5 tidbits - pretty accurate summation. Now there's nothing much left to do... but maybe pray.
ReplyDeleteDear Rina, those are the tidbits friends shared. I'm share there's much more to each story, but friends and family are really, I think, trying to help me regain my equilibrium with regard to politics and the election. I did forget that one week a friend told me two tidbits. The second was about some domestic terrorists trying to kidnap and possible murder the Michigan (I think that was the state) governor. I asked no questions. I wanted to know no more.
DeleteAnd yes, we can pray and we can vote and perhaps the vote is the prayer. Peace.
How nice, your news. Your reporters distilled it perfectly.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, I'm sure much more was shown about each of the five tidbits, but my "correspondents" were kind enough and understanding to simply give me the bare bones. Which, taken out of context, can sound funny. I suspect, however, there are tragic tidbits or will lead to tragedy--the Greek kind!
DeleteOh, and there was one other tidbit: some domestic terrorists with large guns planned to kidnap and kill (?) the governor of I think the state was Michigan. The FBI foiled the plan. That's all I know.
After all these years, I've withdrawn from witnessing the total fracturing of our government. Peace.
It’s always so lovely to read your words, Dee. I’m glad you’re getting some relief. Peace, pressed down and overflowing right back at you. The visual of that for all of us will be my meditation for now. 💖
ReplyDeleteDear Deb, what a lovely surprise to find a comment from you. It's made my day. I'm glad you are meditating on peace; I am, too. Pressed down and overflowing like honey oozing into the very fabric of our relationships. Of the community that is our country.
DeleteI want to thank you for the thought provoking and wise words and images that you post weekly on Facebook. I haven't seen them now for five weeks, however, I'm confident that they continue to call us all to harmony, balance, kindness, and an understanding of the fragility of human nature. Those quotations--and I've wondered where you find them (In your reading????)--so often show us the road that diverges and leads to wholeness and Oneness. Thank you for doing that for all of us. Peace.
I too feel tremendous grief for a country on the brink of madness. I never thought I would see this day, but I also find myself being careful not to let negative news and thoughts get too close to bedtime, or I also cannot sleep. It's wonderful to learn that you are now sleeping and having small and not overwhelming headaches. Sending you much love and gratitude for your continued presence in my life.
ReplyDeleteDear DJan, the word you used is one that so encapsulates what is happening within me: grief. Grieving. We are, as you say, "on the brink of madness." Up until 2016, I was blissfully unaware of how bitterness, hatred, white nationalism, domestic terror, and racism swas growing, like a cancer, in our country. The latest administration has provided the opportunity for that cancer to reveal itself. To metastasize. It's both scary and deadly.
DeleteYes, I'm sleeping 9 to 10 hours a night. I was exhausted from the long stretch of Meniere's problems that affected both my days and my nights. I do think that fasting from the negativity of the campaigns and the White House shenanigans has helped me--it's calmed my mind and made me remember my Meniere's mantra from Julian of Norwich: "And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceedingly well."
I believe that prayer reflects reality, but I know that each of us must do our part by voting and by sharing the peace and goodness within us--the Oneness that unites us--in tangible ways that ripple out and touch the lives of all of those who have let hatred grow within themselves. Peace.
Wonderful that you are feeling so well and wow such sleeping. I would quit the news just for that sleeping benefit alone.
ReplyDeleteI too miss RBG so much. I was convinced she was invincible.
Smiled at your convent shut off from the world events. I once was a head counselor in a summer camp in Maine. We had no TV or radio. Did not miss world events at all.
Loved your summery.
Dear Patti, when I wrote that "summary," I thought, "there must have been much more to each story than what I know!" I'm sure of that, but grateful to know no more. I did mention in my comment to Joanne that after posting I remembered one other tidbit! Peace.
DeleteI’m so happy to hear your headaches and other symptoms are at somewhat at bay with the changing of the weather. I concur and sympathize mightily — by September I am in a migraine storm of humidity and barometric pressure that has built through the summer and an annual fight with the insurance company for increased medication. Living in the worst part of the country for heat and humidity isn’t wise and I vow I won’t do it next summer!
ReplyDeletePeace and Love to you, Dee ....
Dear Cynthia, I didn't know that you, too, have these horrible headaches. You never mention them in your postings or complain about them. That's inspiring to me. I know what you mean about the insurance companies and the failure to realize just how much medication we may need for health problems. They tend to be parsimonious with their pills/capsules/drops/cremes. And that, in itself, is another stress that can exacerbate the headache and make it much worse.
DeleteAre you thinking that next summer you will move from the Carolinas? If so, this section of the Mid-West is known as "tornado alley"! So you don't want to move to western Missouri or Arkansas or eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas. A new state would give you so many places to explore and be a boom to your natural curiosity about our history and the beauty of our country.
Take care. I so hope your headaches continue to diminish. When they are overwhelming, I get nothing done and I sink into a pit of self-pity. I so hope that you are stronger than I and have more fortitude. Peace.
It's so good to hear from you. I'm glad you are doing well right now. I hope it will continue into the colder months. I don't remember how your illness if affected by the weather. I have been in contact with Fran and she's into limerick writing right now. She has sent me three packets of her usual funny writings. Another woman in the Assisted Living sneaks into her room to play cribbage. Fran all the way.
ReplyDeleteDear Inger, thank you so much for letting me know what is happening in Fran's life. Writing limericks takes just the kind of wit and whimsy that she has by the bushel-full. I can just see someone sneaking into her room to play cribbage. I used to have several friends with whom I played it. But there are not in Minnesota and I'm here, so no cribbage.
DeleteAs to the Meniere's: it really isn't affected by hot or cold weather but by precipitous changes--up or down--in the barometric pressure. And I've begun to think, given this "fast" I'm on, that they are affected also by stress.
Take care of yourself. I hope your diabetes is in check and that you are having no problems with it. Stay safe and give the Samson and Angel each a treat from the cats with whom I live. (I do so hope I have their names right. The mind isn't holding on to names as it used to.) Peace.
I reached that point of deepest sorrow a while ago and had to step back from everything for about five weeks. I had to alter my insides, I guess. I still feel that deep sorrow, but I can handle small doses of news again. I have a feeling that once this coming decision is made one way or the other I will feel differently--one way or the other. On the whole I have shifted my focus to creativity and peace within my four walls. ;)
ReplyDeleteDear Rita, your life and its vicissitudes have led to a wisdom that enriches all our lives--all of us who read your blog and receive your comments; all of those whose lives you touch there in Fargo when you meet helpers and those in shops. Your calm wisdom as so touched your son and daughter-in-law and your two grandchildren.
DeleteI hope that I will/can follow your example when I return to watching the news and reading the digital newspaper. I have some addictive qualities; some compulsive ones also. this mean that I have a hard time being moderate. But, oh, I hope that like you I can be moderate when I begin to pay attention to the news.
You shifting your focus to creativity and peace is exactly what I am trying to do. Thank you so much for reminding me of that.
Take care and know how often your postings and the quotations that end them touch with goodness the lives of your readers. Peace.
Thank you for this moving and powerful post, deep sorrow happens to all at times hopefully it passes and life goes on.
ReplyDeleteDear Jo-Anne, thank you for your wise words. It does seem always that dark follows light, which swallows it up until we forget and darkness descends again. I hope that I can be part of the sunrise.
DeleteI hope all is well in your part of the world. Not listening to or reading the news leaves me ignorant of what is happening. Take care. Be gracious to yourself. Peace.
Glad to read you've had some relief from your Meniere's symptoms. Hope it continues. Stress becoming distress adversely affects everything, I think. Makes sense to avoid the kind of news we've had for much too long as can be very distressing. So far, I've mostly been able to follow the news shocked on one level with specific events happening, but full well recognizing on another level that such chaos was to be expected allowing me to maintain my sanity -- or maybe I've lost my sanity and just don't know it.
ReplyDelete