What Fun!

I went to work yesterday,not because I was healthy, but because I couldn't afford another day off. I was still having some problems with laryngitis, sometimes my voice was there, sometimes not so much. I'd originally been scheduled for a cooking demo, but my supervisor traded me to a demo of giving away a product. The product was a high quality bathroom tissue, something everyone needs. I had boxes and boxes of roles of bathroom tissue to give away on my shift. Voice or no voice, I still managed to convey to people that it was free. It was so much fun! After 6 days of being sick and basically self concerned, giving something away was just what I needed. Normally, my feet hurt half way into my shift. Last night I got home and realised that my feet hadn't bothered me. What's up with that?

Despite the fact that it was a pretty universal use product, there were people who turned down the freebie. My only conclusion is that they were afraid there were strings attatched. All the manufacturer wanted was for people to take home the product and try it. If they didn't like it, they could throw it away. If they did, then it was hoped that the customer would give consideration to purchasing the product the next time they needed some. All the risk was on the manufacturer. Plainly, they have confidence in their product. Still, the power of habit in the buying public cannot be over-estimated.

The Strange Effects of Illness

I've spent the last 6 days experiencing the joys and tribulations of a major cold. Instead of getting a scratchy throat, then sneezing, then a cough, I just started right in with a persistant cough, then the sneezing and stuffiness. I even got a fever and body aches, so maybe I've got the flu. Anyway, when I get a virus that causes a cough, I generally get asthma symptons as well. It's so fun to try to sleep while listening to your own wheezing. I thought I'd go to work today, but discovered that I couldn't talk. It's funny, when you live alone, you don't really realise you have larangitis until you try to talk outloud and you don't usually talk outloud except maybe to answer the phone......very embarassing. Still, the mega-sore throat should have been some indication.

When I'm quite sick, and I finally give in to it, it seems like the world just goes away a little, or at least recedes a bit. I guess that's purposeful on my part.I only answer phone calls from people I know and want to talk to. I leave my mail in a pile, to get to later. I watch kid's shows on TV. Sometimes I wonder if I've gotten sick in order to give myself a break? If so, I may have overdone things this time. Even if I like this tiny little world I'm in right now, I've got to break out and get back to the real world, tomorrrow, hopefully.

Moving

Life just seems to go on whether we want it to or not. I guess maybe you can take a break sometimes, but then everything is just waiting for you when you come back. I'm supposed to be moving this week, but I got another cold. ( maybe there's a reason for that ) Fortunately, I have an extra day off this week, so I can postpone moving day one more day.

It's amazing how much "stuff"we accumulate in 11 years! Now I get to decide what to store for possible selling or give away, what to move, and what to throw away. The longer I work and the worse I feel, the more I throw away. Hey, maybe that's the reason for the new cold!

It's Snowing!

After the frigid weather in January we finally got temps closer to normal.This past weekend was beautiful with temps in the middle fifties. It was a great precoursor to spring, but Mother Nature was just teasing us. I got up this morning to a couple of inches of snow and it's still coming down. Not to fear, it's supposed to clear later and be warmer tomorrow. The ski resorts are probably loving the new powder for the President's Day crowd! This is my week to move, so hopefully, the weather will really do as predicted.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is about love. Today, it seems that romantic love is the most celebrated. There are hearts with arrows and little cupids flying around, but the original purpose of the day was to honor Saint Valentine,a man filled with love for all. Valentine's Day is about LOVE, in all it's forms. There is love of our children, of our families, our spouses,our fellowman,Mother Nature and the world, even love of ourselves. It's too bad we only have one day to celebrate love. We need to remember that all of the Universe and it's Creator is LOVE and we are LOVE. The strongest power in the Universe is LOVE, and our Creator loves us unconditionally. Can we do any less than to try to do the same in our lives?

Free Will or Determinism?

I just read an article from the New York Times speculating whether we have free will or are our lives predetermined? As near as I could understand in the article, if our acts are pre determined, that determining factor seems to be our subconscious mind. Excuse me, but isn't our subconscious mind a part of us? While it's true, our parents and culture tend to program certain things into our subconscious, it also gets programed by our experiences and observations as they impact our conscious mind. The article talked about genetic and evolutional programing as well, even mentioned particle physics. There was a study done where people were told to make random movements. Supposedly, the movements came a fraction before cognition, or the mind deciding the movement. The conclusion to the article was that we had enough free choice, or illusion of free choice for us to be comfortable.

Nowhere in this article was there any reference to a Spiritual Element. Maybe the author didn't want to bring another source of determinism, or he was just skirting the issue. I've always believed we could be moved by Spirit, if we're open and listening, but that it was our choice as to whether we took Spirit's advise. Then again, if Spirit is really serious about us doing something, I suppose It could manage conditions in our lives to encourage us to decide to do as It suggests eventually, even if we're stubborn. There are others who believe that our Souls determine our path in each lifetime. That's probably as good an idea as any other. Maybe we'll find out all about how things work sometime. In the meantime, we'll just keep muddling through.