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I wouldn't swear to it, but I feel better this morning, and I might live. I wasn't afraid of dying anytime soon, just being in misery for the rest of my life. The worst part af my slowly realizing the negative symptoms I'm experiencing came from the prednisone after effects, was that prednisone kills the gut bacteria.
Not only does it kill the friendly bacteria, but the enemy bacteria too. It kills the probiotic bacteria in my gut lining. That horrified me when I was researching the side effects of prednisone, because I'm just getting a grip on what's going on in the probiotics arena, and the whole idea of following a dietary regimen that makes sense to me is a big deal.
Finding the right diet for me has been a lifelong goal. I've eaten a lotta different stuff that's different from the diet I was raised on. The diet I was raised on is no longer available to your average person. It's takes a family or a religious clique to have a real garden. Either that or a bunch of disposable cash to pay for the physical labor it takes to garden by hand.
The metaphor of "seeing" my gut flora (bacteria) as my pets works for me. They are like my brother's dogs. I take care to feed them what they need to prevail in a cold, cruel world, and they protect me as a method to keep on living inside me as their host. This I can do.
Most of the people who have known me personally over the years talk about how I'm always enthusiastic about some new trip I get worked up about. They want me to choose one of all these various paths I find that has a heart and stick with it. I agree with them, but that's just not me.
If I were an immortal, then i could settle on one stable outlook and stick with it. Since I am is not immortal, and life has a way of reminding me of my mortality on a fairly frequent basis, it's more difficult to believe my current attitude is doing the trick for all time.
I believe in the probiotic (for life) rap about gut mindfulness. I was easily convinced that all bacteria are not my enemies. Them that act in an antibiotic manner will be confronted by my friendly bacteria. I don't know how many times I've written that I've always wanted to be a part of a clique, but I've been fooling myself to think that I'm not a part of a clique.
Me and the gut bacteria that positively support my life (to keep their own life inside my gut lining) are definitely a clique. In fact, we are legion. There are trillions of bacteria in each of our guts. I read somewhere on the internet that even ome of our cells are created by bacteria. I'm beginning to feel like Will Rogers, who used to say that everything he knew he read in the newspaper. The internet makes the newspapers seem like small potatoes.
My physical body is like a digital network. It's connected to other networks including the digital internet. There have got to be search engines like Google and it's competitors to find out everything I need to know about what's going on with my body and mind. The mind part is easy. Speech is mind. Mind is speech.
The new lounging chair I bought about a month ago makes it more convenient to go lay out in the Sun in order to get lots of vitamin D the easy and natural way. In the last couple of days I figured out a way to do a modified Lion's Pose when I'm stretched out on my belly. Stretching the muscles in my belly out is a big deal. Especially since I've taken to sitting in front of my computer a lot.
In hatha yoga, the Lion Pose is accomplished by laying flat on your stomach, and then placing the hands beside where the shoulders lay, and then pushing upward and lifting the upper torso as high as you can, and reaching with your head in order to lick the sky with your tongue. When it's done right the tongue is the highest part of the anatomy, and your belly button is the lowest.
The Lion's pose requires strong arms and shoulder muscles. Not that strong, but strong enough to provide the lift for your upper torso. Since I've started showing evidence of the rheumatoid arthritis dis-ease, that's almost impossible even on a good day. The problem is not the muscles in my arms and shoulders as much as doing it hurts my hands.
The RA affects my hands more than any other part of my body. I'm lucky to still be able to use my keyboards. Both the keyboard for input on my computer and the keyboard on my digital piano (which happens less these days). It amazes me that I can type and finger the notes on the piano, but I can't lift my upper torso up to assume the Lion's Pose
This predicament is why I'm so pleased to be able to perform a modified Lion's Pose on my new chaise lounge. When the weight of my body pulls my belly muscles back out from sitting bent over at the computer I can feel the good I'm doing.
Currently, I am writing this blog entry while wearing my headphones and listening to the meditation software Gnaural. I tried to explain what I attempt to do by taking these steps to a woman who found out about Gnaural via my sister-in-law. I don't think she gets it. She wants to belong to a clique of many people.
Meditation is something this Aries woman sees ideally as an activity to be done alone. She's right. It can be done alone. Many people prefer to do it alone. But, it can be done effectively in groups too. For instance, in the zen method, meditation done in groups is called zazen. I've done a little bit of that, but I definitely am a loner.
If you walked in my Crocs, you might be surprised at how many people approach me to find out how they can be allone with themselves. I don't know what to tell them. I don't think I have a choice about it. The people who approach me with this question probably don't really have a choice either. They are not supposed to do it alone. Even if I knew what to say to them, that would allow them to do it alone, I would be doing them a disservice.
"Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold. Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old."
~ Mother Goose
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