I Have a Good Attitude

Yeah. I'm still sick and I still have a fever. But I also have a good attitude.

My T'ai Chi Chih practice didn't cure me but it continues to keep me in good spirits. I delved into the TCC movements as dusk fell. The view outside was stark black and white. Snow continues to fall, flake by flake.

And me? I continue to heal, breath by breath. That's my image and I'm sticking to it.

White Silence

Oh, if wishes could only be true I'd be out snowshoeing through the forest today enjoying the new four-inch layer of fluffy snow that drifted down to Earth last night. Instead, my cold/flu continues to progress. Today I have a temperature and additional symptoms.

My energy is fairly good which leads me to believe that my daily T'ai Chi Chih practices continue to boost my immune system and vital force. One major difference from other times I've been sick ... I don't feel discouraged or downtrodden. I just keep moving along.

During my afternoon TCC practice I looked out the window at the woods thickly swaddled in white. If I thought my practice was quiet yesterday, well ... Nature's insulation flows over every available surface and covers the woods in its huge silence.

I'm grateful for the peace. It happily reinforces my healing process and allows me to rest ... read ... be ...

T'ai Chi Chih: The Ultimate Free Supplement

Fresh snow balances along the deck rail and coats pine branches whitely. The coating seems to have stilled the Earth. It is tremendously quiet.

Ours is still a household of sickness. I have a sore throat and slight cough now. Compared with Frances' repetitive sneezing and coughing, though, I seem healthy. My energy is up; I spent a good part of the day cooking and working in the kitchen--my normal routine for a Saturday.

I wonder: Is my T'ai Chi Chih practice (along with supplements and homeopathics) stimulating a healing response with fewer and less severe symptoms than my partner? It's hard to know for sure but I can attest to the fact that my late afternoon TCC practice left me feeling good. I'm both relaxed and energized.

During practice I looked out the patio door at unmoving snow ... everywhere. Then I launched into Rocking Motion and stayed with it for five minutes or more. Slowly inhaling, exhaling. Rising, falling, forward and back. It felt wonderful to establish a rhythm and stay with it, rocking myself like a baby.

My goal is to avoid the worst of whatever this sickness is that's currently inhabiting the house. I'll see what tomorrow brings....

Natural Remedies: TCC and more....

I traveled to the coop today to load up on supplements, homeopathic remedies, Vit. C, and green veggies. Frances is well into a heavy duty coughing/sneezing/sleeping illness. I'm keeping my distance, drinking lots of water, eating healthy foods, getting plenty of rest myself, and hoping for the best.

My T'ai Chi Chih practice is part of my health regimen, too, of course. I practiced today as daylight faded and snow fell--and piled up--with increasing speed. It felt good to go through the motions after a busy day running errands and taking care of the entire household due to Frances's illness.

It will be another early-to-bed night and hopefully ... we'll both feel better in the morning.

A Promise

My mind is blank. Is that possible? Probably not. But with a blog to write ... words fail me.

This morning's T'ai Chi Chih class practice seems far away and long ago. The day's events are over. I'm tired and hungry and ready to call it a day. I'll start again tomorrow. And, no, that's not a threat. It's a promise....

Chicken Soup for the T'ai Chi Chih Player

The main creature stirring today--other than the cat and the dog--was a mouse that Chiripa monitored, followed, and toyed with right outside the front door. Ms. Chiripa was in fine form today. She's an excellent example of cabin fever run amok.

Thanks to warmer temperatures this morning Chiripa ventured out the door immediately. Later Frances saw her wade through deep snow and leap up a tree. When I looked out the window, Chiripa was happily ensconced in said tree looking insanely pleased with herself, her tail wildly twisting from side to side. This cat has energy to burn.

Frances is sick. I spent part of the afternoon creating a healing potion of homemade chicken soup. I'm currently at work outlining several chapters in Buddha's Brain as Joan and I prepare to discuss its contents with TCC students in Cornucopia.

My late afternoon TCC practice was a welcome break from too many hours spent plopped in front of the computer. All was quiet outside the window. No birds. No squirrels. No movement whatsoever. Simple silence. All was quiet inside, too, except for sporatic coughing fits tumbling out of the bedroom and down the stairs. It's time to serve up the chicken soup and soak in its healing vapors....

Plunging In

A heat wave is burning through the area ... the day began with temps at 10 degrees! You don't realize how warm that feels until you've grown used to subzero windchills. Suddenly, spring is in the air.... A flock of bluejays--I saw nine--settled beneath the base of the bird feeder and tipped their heads down, tails up as they pecked through snow in search of fallen seeds.

Yesterday a patron at the library--a resident of Madeline Island--talked about the just-frozen lake. The ice has temporarily put his lake swims on hold. Up until recently he continued to don a drysuit (or wetsuit? I'm not familiar with varieties of cold weather suits) and swim near shore as long as lake and air temps remained near 30 degrees. As soon as air temps fell into the teens, he admitted, he could no longer stay warm enough in his suit. Brrr.

During this conversation one of my co-workers mentioned that two years ago she jumped into the lake for her final swim of the season in November. She managed several strokes before she decided to return to shore. Do you have a spotter? she asked him since she'd arranged for her mother to attend her late season swim. No, he replied, nobody wants to be outside watching in this weather.

Cold weather swims were the theme of the day. Later another patron asked for pledges to support her polar bear plunge scheduled for March 6 at the Bayfield Winter Carnival. She's a veteran polar plunger and she proudly announced that she'd talked other family members into joining her. I gave her some cash from my wallet and told her it might be enough to cover one finger in the water. Then we both decided it may more likely cover a toe or two.

Today's T'ai Chi Chih practice was amazing. Comforting. Soothing. Regenerative. It helped that I felt tired at the start since I began my practice with a relaxed, receptive mind and body. (It did take me until the first repetitions of Around the Platter to slow my pace, however.)

Partway through practice tears ran down my face as I connected to an old memory that was obviously still lodged in my body and mind. Later another memory surfaced. Soon the tears were gone and I felt, well, lighter.