Attitude and Health

I’m not sure we can underestimate the importance and power of our attitudes. They basically define everything from our personality, character, and demeanor to our mental health. I watched a bit of T.V. this weekend and repeatedly saw a commercial which claimed that one in six people suffer from mental illness. Maybe you have seen the commercial; adults in white tee-shirts wear the name of their illness. We know we can’t pin mental illness on a “bug” going around. So, why are more and more becoming afflicted? I’m not sure but it’s not mere coincidence that those who have great attitudes don’t have too much mental illness, while those with negative attitudes and perspectives do. As we mentioned yesterday, our attitude is ours alone to choose. Those moment-by-moment choices define who we are, the tides of our lives, the state of our spirit, and our emotional welfare. Again, we should choose our attitudes and perspectives very wisely, rather than let our emotional reactions define us.

Battle Attitude

I think my bug is gone and I’m back to my normal. Especially after today, I should be able to start the week with only my usual battles.

Speaking of battles, none of us like battles, especially battles of life and death. However, we learn a lot about ourselves in the midst of life’s battles. We learn something about our inner strength, patience, and even our grumpiness. Not only that, but battling also gifts us with perseverance, perspective, and it matures us. Battling also gives us an opportunity to bypass the usual avenues of whining and complaining, and instead seek to live life on a higher plane. Anyone can whine; it takes a strong sense of purpose to elevate above it. One thing is for sure; we all have battles of one sort or another. We can either focus on the actual battles or on the victories within the battles.
In the battle of life and death, we will all lose the battle for life at one point or another. That’s not in question. The question is what attitude and perspective will we carry when the battle gets tough. That’s when the “real us” and our “true attitude” is likely to be revealed. It’s never too early to choose the attitude we live with, and yes, likely will die with. Our attitude is ours alone to choose; we should choose it wisely and nurture it, for it is the attitude we will live with and ultimately enter eternity with.

Better

Eileen continues to do better and better. As a friend suggested, it might be harder to keep her quiet now that she is doing so well and it has been confirmed by the doctor. Yet, the doctor emphasized the things Eileen needs to be cautious about so that a problem doesn’t develop. Eileen still gets intermittent pain here and there amongst the surgical sites but it’s neither continuous nor severe. Hopefully that will remind Eileen that she has healing yet to do. Thank you for your prayers for her too.

As for me, after sleeping most of the day I feel like the bug is about conquered. I still feel weak and a bit queasy but I don’t feel so sickly. In fact, I worked on our sink drain and shower head today. That took some of the starch out of my sails but I’m doing well enough. Over all, I’m doing fairly well too. Beside the normal torment of my arm, my legs have gone in full reverse. In fact, they are too sore to even work on right now. My stomach has been behaving somewhat. Instead of constant pain, it has been intermittent. I’ll continue to take it easy this weekend, as I have since Eileen’s surgery, before starting back to a more normal schedule and activities next week.

Reality

Reality set in at 8:45 Thursday morning. That is when Eileen’s mom headed back to Illinois with a son and his wife. Eunice’s visit was a quick two weeks and we really enjoyed her visit. She was a very big help and a real pleasure to visit with. One can gain a lot of wisdom in 84 years and she certainly has. Eunice is always fascinating to talk with.
I must have caught a bug at Eileen’s doctor’s office Wednesday. Especially with my lowered resistance, I don’t like going where there are sick people or concentrations of people. Although Eileen goes to a women’s clinic, it’s still a germ filled habitat for people with my resistance levels. Anyway, I’ve been fighting something all Wednesday night through today. I’m supposed to report anything to the doctor which doesn’t clear up right away. I’ll see how it goes but I’ll be careful not take any chances with something setting up permanent residence in me.

Remarkable

I went into the examination room with Eileen while her mother stayed in the waiting room. The doctor and her assistant were amazed at the way Eileen walked through their office. Essentially none of what the doctor expected Eileen to still be battling is present. Eileen is doing remarkable well, almost astonishingly so. However, the doctor stuck by her original cautions. She said that Eileen can drive a little, as in going to the store, but is not to lift, carry, or bend down. However, Eileen can reach up. The doctor was even pleased with the remarkable healing of Eileen’s external wound sites too. The doctor was very happy with Eileen’s progress and showed it. Praise God.
On the way back to the car, I mentioned to Eileen’s mom that Eileen did so well because someone took such good care of her. She said, “Yes, she has a good husband.” I responded, “No, it’s because she has a good mom.” After we finished patting each other on the back we laughed and we all headed home.

Inward and Outward

I received good comments on the self-esteem blog posts. I think it’s good to remember what we said several weeks ago about happiness. We can never find happiness in a pill, powder, potion, or another person. Happiness is a personal transaction within us. Even so, it seems that we continue to think happiness is in the next vacation, relationship, or recreational endeavor. While those can give us happy experiences, they don’t change the character of our spirit into a happiness state.
Also, we need to be careful when reading self-help books or even listening to some from the pulpit. If they are making us more aware of our personal needs (Self), we ought to turn a deaf ear. That is a one-way ticket to self-centeredness and feelings of victimization. Have you ever known a self-centered person to be truly happy? They aren’t. They are neither happy nor thankful people. In fact, they tend to be needy and high maintenance.
When we have episodes when our happiness is diminished or elusive, we shouldn’t look to see what others aren’t doing for us or what isn’t going our way. We should first look to see if we are focused inward on our own wants and needs. Consider this: To even ask ourselves if we are happy is being self-centered, because we are looking inward to serve and satisfy, not outward.

Realms

Finally then, we can look at our lives as primarily lived in the spiritual realm or in the worldly realm. In the worldly realm, “self” and our primal animal instincts of survival are paramount. In other words, we look out for “number one” in practically everything we do. Even when we do something for someone else, we’re doing it for what someone will think of us or for what will make us feel good. Further, in the worldly realm we are primarily concerned with our wants and needs as the world has defined them and has awakened us to.
On the other hand, there is the spiritual realm. It is primarily concerned with Right. Thus, regardless of what we may personally want or desire, we seek what is right, honorable, and true. This is the realm in which we will lay down our self, pride, ego, desires, wants, and even our life for what is right.
We all migrate between the spiritual and worldly realms. Therefore, the real question is - - - which realm do we spend most of our time in, especially when life presents its worst challenges or we are having a bad day? That answer is what defines the true nature of our character and the true realm from which we operate: It defines who we really are.