A House, A Set of Values and a Modest Trot in Everyday Ramblings

The house on the right is the house that burned in the back. I took this shot two years ago, and obviously it was more focused on the remarkable lilac gestalt with the house than the house itself. I am finding the fact that I have been taking pictures of various places in the neighborhood over the last seven years most helpful lately in my history project.

I have a nice picture of the house that Leandro lives in that I took a year before his people bought it. I am going to see if I can talk Most Honorable into making a print of it on his fancy photo printer after he turns in grades in a few days to share with them.

My hair person’s husband just was assigned as a lieutenant at my local Fire and Rescue department and in talking to her I learned Friday more about them as she says he is learning about the history and buildings in the neighborhood. They shop at the grocery I go to and I see them all the time there. He was assigned there two weeks after this particular fire.

Yesterday morning I managed to do a warm up yoga practice and then get over to the track just at sunrise. It is so great to be out there when it is light but there is no UV and the air is cool and mild. I was able to trot for about a mile and a half but it was effortful with complications of the manifestations of the mystery in my body.

Definitely old dog hips here. But I had also walked seven miles the day before so that might have had something to do with the hip chatter… :)

The farmers market was packed! Yesterday was commencement and I think there were lots of families here and staying over for that. It was mostly the prepared food stalls where throngs of folks were hanging out. My market is big and full of amazing things and I am very lucky to have it in walking distance.

Now if I could convince Diego that sugar snap peas are not a toy…

I had a wonderful relaxed day. I am about two thirds through The Upside of Stress and am learning also sorts of useful things about the body’s response to stress and the power of reframing how we think about stress that will be particularly helpful with my caregiver students but also with my regular students and myself.

I worked on a class idea for Monday. I can’t actually design formal classes for this group because I never know what limitations will be in the room. So I make a general outline and then adapt as I am go along. In some ways it is more work and in some ways less but at least I am fully present. That I think is a teaching in and of itself. To meet them where they are and work with what they have going on in that moment.

One of my coworkers, who used to take the class I taught in the office, came to me last week and asked if I could give him some yogic interventions for this neuropathy (tingling and numbness) he is developing in his hands and feet.

First I told him to get his blood sugar and cholesterol checked. He is sure he doesn’t have incipient Type II Diabetes but I am not. We spent a half hour together talking about what he is experiencing and I showed him some simple movements he can do everyday to help het blood flow to the nerves that are acting wonky. And then we talked about the fact that with three kids and a full time stressful job with a ton of people dependent on him the chances of him actually doing the interventions are not good.

I believe that in many ways this contact may have been at least as beneficial to me as hopefully it is for him.

She has an exercise in the stress book where you look at a list of values and pick your top three. This is difficult! I chose Creativity, Health and Helping Others. Then you reflect on how the things you do in your day align with your values.

This is all about changing one’s relationship with stress. Changing the flight, fight or freeze response into either a challenge response (believing that we are up to the challenge) are a tend-and-befriend response, this is probably why the whole caregiving experience with Mr. Finch (taken on very much against my will) was so rich for me.

It is not just that I was able to spend the last ten months of his life with a man I loved very much aware that it was the last months of his life and able to articulate that but also that the challenge forced me to do many many things that were uncomfortable and exhausting but got me into the world in new ways and tested all my inner resources in deep interesting engaging (and frustrating, annoying and sometimes hurtful) ways I would never have made myself do if I wasn’t motivated by the higher value of, well…love.

May each of us live this day that has been given us in alignment with what we value most.

Last updated June 14, 2015