“You do a little dance and then you drink a little water.”

Notably in the midst of an ongoing series of accurately anticipating themes. Great stories!

“See it and be it!”

 

Alternative sequencing

 

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Just Wright,” has its moments.

 

“Use it and improve it!”

Walking (contrast the roll and the ball, sensation, strength, balance)

NDWBB! Yes, we will!

Arms, hands, and fingers

Vision

Those products that are bought, sold, processed, and distributed, or any permutation thereof.

Great, full day — so much so that I ran out of steam to correctly quote myself in my Facebook status (and therefore ended up with one of those that will say more about any person commenting, than about any of the muliple meanings I had in mind — so I make note here of the idea train (or Factory, if one wishes) in motion, among many more strands. Interaction, baby!

Grateful indeed.

 

Regis and Me

Regis and Me (before either of us were making millionaires out of others…)

Originally uploaded by przybysz.

The above was back in the day.

New anecdote today, courtesy of Angelo Di Carlo (WNDU), Regis Philbin, and Fighting Irish Football obliging us with a #1, single TD, to defeat BC. Many thanks and many happy adventures to you!

P.S. This anecdote gets better after Regis reigns at the top of the best sellers, so BUY THE BOOK!

 

Humbled nugget with honey mustard

(In other venues) I am working on sharing the extremes we get to, without scaring people or trivializing what is being faced at the moment. There is so much strength to tap from these instances when darkness and displacement surround us — when we were truly hanging by a thread. I find it sort of reassuring and empowering that we can endure/embrace such extremes, but for parents with children who were recently diagnosed, it would seem to be horrifying and overwhelming. I feel a need to shield folks and buffer the blows, realizing that people do not give equal weight to every part of information about an experience we describe. They filter through their own lens, applying assumptions, and what is familiar or tolerable. Yet, when I emphasize only the lighter and bright sides, in an attempt to shore up hope, I realize that neglecting mention of the struggles and recurring processes of slight gains and back slips, detracts from establishing ripe conditions and proportional expectations to receive the trumpeted triumphs. How do we de-mystify fears without unintentionally planting new fears?
Time lends itself to changing thresholds, but in the face of demands that something be done immediately, assuming anything is better than nothing* –despite decades of empirical evidence showing otherwise– how do we create a space for yielding, and even considering voices of experience of our friends who are no longer able to share first-person accounts? As I write this, I am processing how it generalizes far beyond what inspired this note.

And so, also, I remind myself that meaning is in the response, and we do not control that response. Perhaps it is sufficient enough to point, yet again, to the importance of what is not said even when we say quite a bit.

In the spirit of compassion and continued discovery, I refrain from inserting scholastic asides and references above. They would serve me, while confusing others.

Pleased to see the word “comprehensive” today? Definitely.

* “Nothing,” is what is perceived. Doing nothing is really about doing everything that is appropriate, at the optimal time, factoring in emergent contingencies. Complexities and unpredictable occurrences vary with time.

 

my bari sax fingers

I just noticed today that I have almost full differentiation, once again, in feeling of my left pinkie and ring fingers. I’ll attribute this to everyday use, and occasional exercises. It’d be nice if I was back on my bari, but that’s not the actual case. Having these fingers with their distinctive identities does take me back to those golden keys/notes they made possible. Still working on strength, but my card shuffling skills improved in an interim hiatus of specific skills practice. (Thank you to Handy Manny Uno and Sorry! for the testing opps of my ops.) Still amazing the hand was clawed, so weakened, and out of order in 2009. For both my hands, I get a big kick out of opening jar lids, milk jugs, and so many other basics. Never underestimate the utility of our single-use eyedrop vials, or folding laundered wash cloths, for keeping our fingers in shape. Lost and regained. Oops–been meaning to blog Restasis and ameliorating dry eye issues.

A few more and new challenges have me experimenting in other areas, but I like navigating them before writing about them because this is a field of experiences–not some isolated problem. That’s how I approach this gig, anyhow: There are so many fulfilling and sustaining elements in the process of living (many taken for granted).If we center our attention only on what is not working or lacking, then we may miss that we are at a stage of recovery in what was formerly injured. This sort of longitudinal perspective is absolutely fascinating for folks with a central nervous system. (Yes, you!)

It is a true privilege to experience and survive, and encounter variations, and embrace the humilitude (word popped in my mind–because remember: fun is an attitude, and a life of awareness is humbling) of being.

 

how something better comes along with empathic understanding

“The improvements are happening as our brains rewire. It is (now) classic neuroplasticity. Never underestimate temporal duration and persistent practice. The combined positive effect of both outpaces the detriments of aging.”

Never dismiss the outliers. Learn from them. In this age, everyday people more easily connect with more “exceptions” at an earlier stage of experience in trajectories of changing states-of-being. This results in rapid and earlier correction of professional expert and scientific conventional wisdom (assuming truth reflects actual outcomes and not necessarily convenient data–see long trending observation of hypotheses and theories packaged and disseminated as substantiated experiential facts, statistics framed to advance particular paradigm*). Face validity discounted. Lifting veils

Do not set aside those outliers. Rather, identify intervening variables that generated them!

* Often done with honorable intention, but we shall not exercise inconsistent practices in judging standards and advancing management paradigms, with unintended consequence of doing more harm.

Time to measure.

 

lip-a-de-doo-dah

My upper lip revealed the fruits of variety today. You may not even notice or care if you do this. (Kind of like with the little moat in soda pop and beer can tops, where you either allow some of the beverage to remain in there to get stale, while you take a sip, or make a conscious effort to suck it out.) When eating chili, there are a few different ways to go. We are back, baby, to the most satisfying one for me, most sensationally: a spoonful of chili enters the mouth, and a clean spoon exits. Mind you, I was happy with my adaptations along the way.

This gets me thinking back to when my whole mouth was numb for weeks, going from no taste and a constant novocaine-effect, to partial and maligned feeling and function (I still suspect my food was spiked with tons of salt for awhile there), to a new state of feeling healed-even-if-not-perfectly.

I’m sure it took a bit of a number of practices to get back here. Nothing’s a given. Allowing for possibilities, being receptive, and acknowledging these sorts of happenings surely feed a virtuous cycle.

Higher Ground

 

take it hip to hip rock it through the wilderness

And then stand.
(This should be in audio–or better yet, mental telepathic audio.)

 

another spirograph moment

Theories are on my mind.

Along with images of a roomful of twittering twitterers at a future job talk, prompted by robot bingo wars. Perhaps they will dance, also.

Glad to have been schooled by classy neurosurgeons and sociologists.

Isn’t that neat, though, how threads are so similar, themes overlapping?

 

inspired by many, experienced by an ever-expanding population

At some point, the shift in perspective turns chronic illness into a focus on _chronic healing_. This is to be welcomed. With the choice, why would we not choose to view and fuel how we think and talk about living: in a way that orients us to receive and accept healing? (Make no mistake about it, what we accept, we also share in return.)

It no longer matters how rapidly we regain functions. We must devote our energies to the tasks at hand–not to just conventionally attending to presentation of self. (Many times, we are discovering and refashioning self, forging new paths.) This area of freedom from rigid expectations, no doubt, propels toddlers through their development. Exploration, familiarization with body and mind, and social influences are all essential.

It pains me to witness from afar, but I respect the interpersonal processes in motion. I am still learning how to alleviate a shared suffering that is particularly born where patience must learn to dwell. Respect and boundaries are important. I have erred on the side of advocating for my brothers and sisters, yet always with a profound sense of empathy for caregivers.

Truth of experiences

There’s so much more going on than can be observed or measured. How can “attitude” be assessed from point-of-view of individuals not dealing with the series of moments and circumstances, let alone the physiological underpinnings? Anyone thrown in to a pit, and constantly tested and assessed, without a release from scrutiny, needs moments when their loved ones are there, and elated, for existence. Our facial expressions and movements — many not even under our control, most others much more muted, possibly conserving energy for work sessions — are not the dependable, taken for granted mood indicators they used to be. Yes, it is out of love, concern, hope. We can acknowledge that, affirm those qualities, while channeling them in ways to empower all involved.

 

watershed

It is about to rain here, which is perhaps contributing to this palpable feeling I have that a friend of mine is on the cusp of a major upswing in condition.We may conceptualize the term friend at individual and collective–wide-ranging social–levels.

This is always a process. I’ve been the one in the facility, in what’s essentially an alternate reality or parallel universe. It is just moment-to-moment, not understanding quite a bit that’s unfolding, but holding one’s best. Then, out of nowhere, it seems, the imperceptible becomes apparent. I think it is aided by the many folks who keep us in their thoughts, and feed into the positive energy of life. Nothing can be forced. Amazing experiences happen when we are receptive to healing and creating possibilities out of what might appear to be nothing.

Time does nothing by itself, but practice requires time.

 

the middle way

When VP doesn’t stand for vice president.

 

quickie–communication access in arts and leisure

What a privilege to get in this terrain, first of all.

Initial zoom:
Harry Potter with the dialogue is much appreciated! Thank you, Movies 14. This is my part in publicizing the captions–now increase equality of accessibility (movies ans showtimes). If all of HP was in Parseltongue, without subtitles, then people would have had a fit, and not enjoyed it nearly as much. Great quotes in the movie itself. Open captions are the best (most sociologically sound and economical from production to distribution), but I’m happy to have this addition to the repertoire if it means more access for more people. Something is still fishy with how Movies 14 went from all movies and showtimes having “CC,” to just a very limited few. Baby steps.

Captiview
Cinemark
Captionfish.com

Thank you to Travis, Shane, and everyone in between!