tips, stories and food for thought

Throughout my illness and my wellness I have gained so much from the generosity of others who put themselves out there to share their experience. We build on one another's stories. As a community we understand each other. We are familiar with the roads we have shared and, through the stories of others who walk ahead of us, we are given a great gift. I'm thankful to those of you who have written and shared your insights with me.

I invite you to scroll and stroll this page where I have compiled quotes, amusing anecdotes and any other tidbits I thought sounded interesting.

lite musings:

- what disease did cured ham actually have?

- why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up every two hours?

- why are you in a movie, but you’re on tv?

One standby for a meal when all else fails: Keep a loaf of whole grain artisan bread in your freezer. When defrosted, ten minutes at 400 degrees makes it nice and warm. Tear it off in chunks and spread with some goat cheese or chunks of hard cheese and add fresh fruit and some olives, avocado or other fresh item.

Healthy snacking for the sweet tooth:

  • dark chocolate covered nuts
  • sweet baby carrots
  • cherries
  • figs, fresh or dried
  • fresh coconut
  • apple slices with peanut butter
  • stuffed dates
  • watermelon
  • candied ginger

“If you have a castor oil personality, take castor oil. If you have a surgical personality, have surgery. You cannot cure a quinine mind of malaria with anything but quinine.”

~ Edgar Cayce

“A mind that is fast is sick. A mind that is slow is sound. A mind that is still is divine.”

~ Meher Baba, Indian mystic

“A visit to a physician can initiate a remarkable cascade of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions that can be dangerous to your health and life.”

~ Norman Shealy, MD

Time at our fish pond with my beloved Charlie makes the top ten of my things-I love-list.

Someone once asked Keith and I what our favorite memories of living in San Luis Obispo, CA were and we both answered the same: walking to Rudolph's for a latte after dinner with our golden retriever (at the time), KC.

Isn't it interesting that some of the simplest things bring us the greatest joy?

“Don’t be so fast to jump to conclusions. You have never seen this day. You have never seen the beauty this day holds. Just because it rained yesterday and the ground is flooded, that does not mean you are going to get wet today.”

~ Iyanla Vanzant, Yesterday I Cried

“The impulse to avoid living the reality one has been given, to have things somehow be otherwise, is the greatest impediment to happiness.”

~ Alan Lew, One God Clapping

“If the shutters are closed, the sunlight cannot come in.”

~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

On tired days I can always use some perspective and my favorite nudge is to recall that the only important thing to be done is to love. How important can dusting be? Hmmmm... dusting or love?

Love can happen with a phone call or a letter. It can be as simple as saying "I'm happy to see you" when your child, roommate or husband comes home at the end of the day. It can be a smile, a prayer, a kiss or a hug. It is expressed through acts of kindness to yourself and others. There are a gazillion ways to manifest love in every moment that we breathe.

I'm happy to report that I can love in my slippers and that does cast an entirely different light on my tired day.

I think the greatest challenge we as individuals face is in regards to our relationship with our illness. That is, if we can learn to detach from our inner dialogue about our condition - about how it's supposed to act, what it means to us, labeling it good or bad, constantly obsessing over our symptoms - we can eliminate so much of our experience of suffering from it. We come to see that we are suffering perhaps more from our thoughts about it than from the illness itself. We determine it's impact by how we describe it to ourselves. On the other side of this attachment we are "healthy" enough to have and enjoy more living. We shed over-identification with our chronic condition and by letting go of the constant and tedious attention to our symptoms, our focus naturally shifts onto what works - a much more comfortable place to be.

If every ten minutes we are saying to ourselves, "I feel awful, I feel awful," what chance to do we have to feel any other way? How does that change if instead every ten minutes we say to ourselves, "this music is soothing" or "the sun is shining?"

Well, right now this is how it is. I can either accept it or make myself miserable. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. ~ Shakespeare

“For happiness, how little suffices for happiness! the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard’s rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance – little maketh up the best happiness. Be still!”

~ Nietzche
When a friend of mine who has post-polio syndrome found it too difficult to stand for long periods of time preparing food in her kitchen - which she loved to do - she got herself a stool on wheels with adjustable height. With that modification she could still enjoy cooking. Her kitchen was narrow enough that she was able to use her arms to pull and propel herself between the stove, sink and counters. Wella.

“A sunrise doesn’t last forever, but neither does a rain cloud. All things pass away.”

~ George Harrison

When the weather cools and I begin burning fires in my pellet stove, I always have a pot of water on the stovetop to humidify the house. Throwing in a handful of dried lavender and chamomile releases a subtle, relaxing scent into the room. I keep these in jars and vases on the hearth and every time I freshen the water, I also freshen the flowers. You can buy bulk dried flowers at some craft stores, health food stores or online.

“Once in a while, when he was capable of seeing himself as more than the pain he felt, he’d hoped his suffering was not being squandered, that somewhere inside it was making him pliant and tender.”

~ Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair

© 2006 Diane Kerner All materials on this site, including images, are protected by copyright law and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of Diane Kerner

Roses for Dianeeee by Keith Kerner. Site design by Peapod Design