How badly do you want....

....what want? Actually, allow me to phrase that a different way, for the word 'badly' has a negative implication. How deeply? How truly? How sincerely? You don't have to burn. You don't even have to yearn. You do, though, have to aspire to your desire. You have to maintain a consistent commitment and you have to apply a little self-discipline.

 

 

This is traditionally referred to as, the tricky part - but how tricky is it really?

I would venture to suggest that....

you didn't know alcohol poisons the liver and the kidneys. (OK, I admit it, I'm being flippant on Friday.)  But at least the drinks briefly give rise to some pleasure. Resentment is a psychological poison but it is infinitely more dangerous. Even a small amount can do irreparable harm to our peace of mind and, perhaps more crucially, to our judgement. Often, people who experience resentment become drunk on it without even realising that this has happened.

 

 

If you are starting to resent something, and you can't change it, you have to apply the only known antidote - and find a way to love it.

One of those updates for you....

......The last time I had any abdominal discomfort related to Crohn's was last October. The last time I had real debilitating pain was at the beginning of last September. Staggeringly amazing.

 

 

Even my secular friends who have known me for a very long time are now using the word 'miraculous', whilst admitting hesitation in doing so.        

If you have the desire to....

..........cross every line of longitude on earth, and you choose to travel by foot, car, boat or plane, your journey will describe a circle of roughly 25,000 miles - if you start at the equator.  But if you were to go to the north (or south) pole, you could simply lift up one leg and hop in a circle! If you were a ballet dancer, you could even do a pirouette. (Ha, that's plain crazy!  You wouldn't get me wearing a tutu at one of the Polar regions.  Come to that, you wouldn't get me.....)

People who go to extremes can sometimes cover a whole lot less ground!

In an attempt to.....

....avoid stress, some people accidentally create a lot of tension. They adopt, for example, policies which they believe will help them lead an easier life. Then they put themselves under a great deal of pressure to adhere to these, somewhat defeating the object of the exercise. Trouble has a way of getting to us all, no matter how we try to keep it at bay.

 

 

You may need to find a way to stop seeing it as something you can outwit, escape or deflect. See it as your friend and then disarm it with a smile.

Here's one of those.....

.....medical update thingys -

 

Yesterdays verdict, based on blood tests taken a week ago - The tests show that my liver is fine, so too my kidneys. There is no evidence of active Crohn's at this time. My vitamin levels are fine. I'm gaining weight. My platelets reading is very impressive for a Crohn's sufferer. The icing on that cake - I would not expect anyone who has had to endure what you have, both medically and physically, since 2009 to be as well as you. (Those are not my words.)

 

 

For the first time in over 30 years, I left a clinic without having to make a follow-up appointment. I just walked away, knowing there is one more test in the pipeline, looked up and said - Thank You.

Something I didn't know until recently....

.....In some cultural traditions, buildings are deliberately left unfinished. Even if the entire structure is an intricate work of art, one little section is kept incomplete. This is a spiritual gesture, an acknowledgement of the idea that there's always room for improvement!

 

 

Nothing is ever as good as it can get. When we claim to have it all or pretend that we have solved all our problems, we are kidding ourselves. To be human is to wrestle with incompatible urges. Something in your world may be far from complete. Yet that doesn't mean it isn't still perfect in its own way.