A month ago I caught Bell’s Palsy. It’s an ailment that makes a side of your face go paralyzed. So for me I couldn’t close my eye so I had to tape it shut at night. My mouth couldn’t cup my morning caffeine, so I had to drink coffee through a straw!
What I think is amazing about this experience is that Bell’s Palsy is still considered a phenomenon! I am part of an unknown mystery of life!! Doctors have hypothesizes but they still aren’t sure what it is — they only know what it isn’t!
On this amazing earth of ours we can look at things as either a curse or a blessing. I’m taking this “ailment” as a blessing. I’ve been trying to see things through the eyes of Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring,” who said “For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”
So this made me ask, “What if I couldn’t use my lip any more? What if my eye didn’t close on its own? What if this paralysis would stay with me for the rest of my life? Would I still be thankful?”
After this experience I loudly now say, “Yes!” This “ailment” has made me ask lots of questions about life and it’s miracles.
The simple overlooked things like blinking.
I’ve been taking yoga since this came upon me, which has made me focus on breathing and listening.
One day my instructor said that all things that go in you become you, which includes food, of course. I asked myself, “Do I want to become a Cheeto? Or do I want to become an organic carrot?”
But it also includes the things we see, hear, feel — things we ingest, literally and figuratively, become us.
What are some simple things that I’ve been observing?
The miracle of blooming crocus!
The gift of photosynthesis and chlorophyll!
The deliciousness of kale!
The marvel of making maple syrup from the sap that flows through a tree!
The wonder of how juncos happily spend their winter here — without complaint!
How black squirrels always seem like they are dancing and sparking my dog.
Unpretentious signs of respect like a smile from my neighbors and the opportunity to provide them happiness.
Giving thanks for all things, and accepting somethings like Bell’s Palsy which woke me up to identify many hopeful things.
Unassuming things, including the concept of clean water coming from my tap.
The right to clean air in my community — thanks to a commitment of many.
The greatness of having a farmers market that offers good, local, without preservative food
The importance of all the diversity that is interconnected in this world — even within our bodies that we take for granted every, every day — like moisture on the eyeball!
The ability to hold civil conversations and discussions about what is right and wrong (for me to emphasize the environment that gives us so much).
To be able to “Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. Speak out in order to judge with righteousness and to defend the needy and the poor.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
This “ailment” helped me define what a miracle is: (Merrian Webster defines it as) “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment: a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law.”
I love Edward Abby’s earthy, guttural opinion about life. The author of “The Monkey Wrench Gang” and, according to Wikipedia, an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views, declares, “Only petty minds and trivial souls yearn for supernatural events, incapable of perceiving that everything — everything! — within and around them is pure miracle.”
Meaning: Make everything, good and bad, large and small, great and insignificant, a learning experience that brings forth positive wisdom and creates optimistic legacy.
Tackle those challenges, enjoy those daily miracles, defend all living things’ basic rights, be an active participant and citizen, and appreciate those mysteries of life!
Life
Related Photos
-
Paul Steury listens to the chatter at a recent Green Drinks meeting at Constant Spring in downtown Goshen. ROGER SCHNEIDER
SHADES OF GREEN: Dealing with ailment opens writer’s eyes to miracles
- Life
-
-
GROUNDS FOR INSANITY: Congrats to the Class of 2013 - remember to trust in God
On a bright and sunny Sunday, it happened. There we were, sitting up in the bleachers. And there they came, a line of black-robed, tasseled graduates processing into the gym.
-
Not endeared with this ‘Hallmark holiday’
People sometimes ask me if today is my favorite day of the year. Or they smile, wink and say, “It’d be a perfect day for a birth, wouldn’t it?
-
LA BONNE VIE: A family meal worth traveling for
Sometimes I have to go and see for myself and not just take someone’s word for it. So it was this weekend.
-
WHOLE FAMILY: Parenting questions are like dandelions
Unless something really bizarre happens, I’ll be growing and birthing no more babies. No more. I’m happy — and busy — with the three I carried and the sweet, little bonus package who came to us as a baby some six years ago.
-
SHADES OF GREEN: Hoosiers are smart enough to have energy options
I’ve been honored to join the executive committee of the Hoosier Sierra Club. Their mission is to: Explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth, practice and promote responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources, and educate humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment.
-
Happy 'at' Mr. Schrock, who continues renovating
Driving along on the way to church, he chirps it from his throne behind Daddy. “My teacher was happy at me.” It’s the Cheerful Little Cricket, our newest scholar who loves kindergarten and everything about it.
-
WHOLE FAMILY: A word a day can foster happy little belletrists
Summer is coming, and, with it, what some people see as the season for “brain drain.” Schools, even home schools, most times are out over summer, and our textbooks sit silent under a thin layer of dust while we’re at the beach, in the garden or singing in the minivan on the way to a national park.
-
A word a day can foster happy little belletrists
Summer is coming, and, with it, what some people see as the season for “brain drain.” Schools, even home schools, most times are out over summer, and our textbooks sit silent under a thin layer of dust while we’re at the beach, in the garden or singing in the minivan on the way to a national park.
-
DIRT ON GARDENING: Roller-coaster spring messing with planting time
It must be spring — or is it?
-
New parents should not expect to know it all
Ah, the memories. I was becoming a mother for the first time. So swollen with excitement, pride, a little fear and, probably, the effects of a few too many “I’m allowed — I’m pregnant” cinnamon rolls.
- More Life Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
