2 Nisan, 5776
It's a new Jewish month, and two weeks until Passover. This is a time to cleanse our homes of leavened foods and leavened thinking patterns: Things that don't serve us well.
I haven't commented here much in the past week or so because I've been busy dealing with other peoples' crises. Some days I did a bit of triage, deciding who needed my attention most; I ranked the situations as 1st priority, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
Two-way communication was limited at times, due to the other person's unavailability. They were either at a doctor's office, on the way to or from it. Then they were busy procuring medications and/or medical appliances, or unwilling to converse due to pain or exhaustion.
It was difficult to serve anyone's needs as they sabotaged their own time and efforts.
I am struck by the paradox that some of these individuals impose on themselves.
Some of the people interacting with me during their journeys through a health problem assure me of one thing: They will never go vegan, vegetarian or macrobiotic because it's time-consuming to eat, clean, buy, store and prepare fresh produce.
They tend not to focus on the evidence that these diets minimize or end some health problems.
They tend not to focus on the evidence that these diets minimize or end some health problems.
I've calculated the time that being a wholesome food eater and preparer would take, and presented the whole food critics with the fact that they spend more time on the couch, in bed, commuting to or from medical professionals, or writhing in pain, than it would take to handle being a vegan, vegetarian or macrobiotic eater.
The issue is not the time-consuming tasks at hand. The issue is the change in habits and thinking patterns involved.
Change can seem clumsy, slow, task-oriented, and therefore unappealing.
Change can seem clumsy, slow, task-oriented, and therefore unappealing.
The question to ask yourself, then, "Is it worth deteriorating easily instead of healing with more work than I'm used to? Is it better for me to apologize when I don't mean it, just so I don't have to get all messy from cleaning and cooking so many vegetables? Am I really doing better my way (ow!) or could it be possible that another eating method could help me past some problems?"
The goal of contacting someone like me, or reading
The goal of contacting someone like me, or reading
is to cope with your medical issue.
The alternative to coping is the opposite: Falling apart, remaining in pain, wondering "What if...?"
Your call.
Want to make the change and don't know how?
Think of the situation this way: You get to be pro-active, grow in self-respect and just maybe feel and do better.
I can't promise that this diet or the other will cure you or minimize your problems, but I assure you that your self-respect will grow for making the effort to stop eating and drinking stuff that clearly harms you.
Think of the situation this way: You get to be pro-active, grow in self-respect and just maybe feel and do better.
I can't promise that this diet or the other will cure you or minimize your problems, but I assure you that your self-respect will grow for making the effort to stop eating and drinking stuff that clearly harms you.
Brad Yates is master of putting issues into perspective. Perhaps this video will help you to sort out your thoughts better:
I hope you'll choose wisely.
Clean out your thinking.
Clean out your thinking.
Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.
Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your life with sound choices.
