Physical Therapy Rocks into the River of Dreams

Our prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “In the.” Start your post with the words “In the” – that’s the prompt! Enjoy!

For more info on #SoCS and #JusJoJan, visit our host: Linda Hill by clicking HERE!

In the beginning, I thought of a couple of song titles like ‘In the Middle of the Night,” “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” and “In the Year 2525.” The latter is a somewhat depressing song, but I liked it when it came out in the early 70s maybe? I have to check…… Well, I was close. It was 1969. My first car was a ’69 Doge Dart. It was used of course. That car took a lot of neglect from me, but it was still running when I sold it a few years later. A lot of crazy stuff happened in that car. I should change the subject, now, quickly, before I reveal too much.

I want to make sure I share about my physical therapy for mild vertigo. But I also want to make sure I thank Maggie, who blogs at From Cave Walls, for encouraging me to get to a physical therapist soon. My dizziness was relatively mild, but she encouraged me to nip it in the bud.

What I learned was fascinating. I might use that word too much, but I like it and so does Mr. Spock. Where was I?

I did not have the common crystals run amuck in my ears. The problem was with my vestibular nerve. Maybe there was a virus or something that triggered the dizziness. But I’ve always been “motion sensitive” getting motion sickness since childhood. The PT exercises I learned over four sessions involved a lot of head turning. But first there was the test where you read an eye chart while the physical therapist shakes your head back and forth. When I first went in, I failed that test miserably. (The therapist did not say this of course.) Most people can read 2 to 3 fewer lines on the eye chart while their head is turning compared to when it is not. I had a difference of 8 or something. I could barely read the second line with my glasses on! After the fourth PT session, which is what Medicare would pay for, the re-evaluation test revealed that I had a difference of only one line! I did almost as well with her turning my head as with my head stationary! I was ecstatic! I asked her, “Were you turning my head just as fast?” She assured me that the head turning part was the same. I hadn’t done all my PT exercises every day, but I did some of them on most days, and it paid off! The dizziness is rare now, and much less noticeable. Doing the exercises on my own occasionally should keep the dizzies away or at least under control. They might even help with motion sickness, but I’m not taking any chances if I go on a boat or plane.

Good thing I stepped out of the stream for a minute to look up the song, “In the Middle of the Night.” Good ol’ YouTube showed me that it’s really titled, “River of Dreams.” All these years, I liked that line, “in the middle of the night,” and didn’t really know what the song was about except that I liked the sound of it. Turns out, it’s a good song, and very fitting for the stream of consciousness.

Below: one of my pieces of physical therapy equipment and goats at the sanctuary.

My PT equipment. Some training required.

Magda just wants her head scratched.

Brothers, Jack and Henry

Remember to visit Linda’s post at the link above for more info and streams of consciousness!

Trek through the SoCS Vortex

Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “television.” Linda said to: Talk about your favorite show, past, present, or future, or about the apparatus itself. Enjoy!

Before computers and the internet, television was the only addictive screen. My dad watched TV a lot, and at certain times of my life, I have depended on TV for company, entertainment, and maybe even to get through big life challenges.  Star Trek may have saved my life, or at least kept me off the street during my confusing adolescence. As I’ve shared before, Spock was my first crush. Dependable, rational, competent. I try to remember this when I see these qualities in my husband. But my husband smiles more, and it’s okay that I’m the flower child.

Star Trek drew me to science, up to a point. Maybe it helped me do well in school, though I was already a “good student” except for a few blips and detours….

Since I only have basic cable now, the closest I can get to Star Trek on TV is The Orville, on Fox.  It’s like ST but with Fox humor which can sometimes be stupid, though I’m willing to overlook it, and the last episode was more serious. I’ve started reading Star Trek novels which could become addictive. Just finishing up one about the Voyager crew. Voyager and Next Generation were my favorites. I liked the strong female roles. When Next Gen’s first episode came on TV and I heard Patrick Stewart say, “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” instead of Kirk’s “where no man has gone before,”  I hooted and cheered, “YES!”

Star Trek offers possibilities of hope. The themes are about overcoming challenges, teamwork, diversity, and hope. I think those are the things that have always drawn me to the show which is more than just a show. We NEED those values in the world. Okay, there is an element of escape – to go boldly, to explore new worlds which I would have trouble doing in real life since I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat.

Television, like the internet, has a lot of crap, but it also has a lot of good that can inspire us to become better than we are, or just enjoy some healthy escape. If we are selective, we can learn cool stuff from television. For example, did you see that big disc of ice in the river in Maine?  Maybe it’s a message from our future, or aliens. Or maybe the river is trying to tell us something by making the shape of the earth.

They said the temperature changes create a vortex. Vortex is one of the Star Trek words. Where there’s a vortex, there’s always something important going on.  (Except that it would make me nauseous in real life. )

Star Trek has always been mind expanding for me. I like that they deal with ethical dilemmas. My favorite episode, or one of them that made a big impression, was “The Devil in the Dark,” where the so called “monster” turned out to be just protecting her babies. Of course it was Spock who found that out with a mind meld. He was the real hero of the show.  “The Devil in the Dark” was also Leonard Nimoy’s “favorite episode,” according to the title on this video.

Thanks for letting me go on about The Trek again. Maybe the future will have better remedies for motion sickness for the vortex travels.

…

For more on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda Hill’s blog. Here’s the link:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/18/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-19th/

Here are the rules for SoCS:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Organ Donation and the Older Brain

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “organ.” Our host, Linda Hill, instructed us to “Talk about an organ or base your post on the theme of them … or one,” and as always to “Have fun!”

For many years I’ve been an organ donor. I don’t remember when I first checked that box on my driver’s license application. It could have been the very first time which was something like 40+ years ago. That might have been the best time for someone to get one of my organs, though my liver was not in the best shape in my early twenties having to sort through a variety of substances. It got better after that phase. But now, my organs have aged. Like fine whine? Ha! It was  supposed to be wine. But my digestive system has been known to whine when I get too stressed. My body is better at letting me know when I’m stressed. In my twenties, it just kept plugging along without much complaint.

Now, is it even practical to be an organ donor? I mean, as we age, how valuable are our organs to people needing transplants and such. Wear and tear adds up. But lest I become too negative (I don’t want my body to pick up on this), I’d like to acknowledge that my brain knows a lot of stuff. Yes, I have trouble accessing important information like why I came into the room (Linda is not alone) or where I put my phone, but I know how to budget. I remember the formula for photosynthesis. I know many whole theme songs from TV shows from the 70s, like this one.

 

Of course, they’re not doing brain transplants yet, right?  If they did, would a recipient of my brain know the theme to Gilligan’s Island? That might not be as practical as getting Spock’s brain, but it would be entertaining in it’s random imagination and streams of consciousness.  Still, Spock’s brain would be fascinating. It sure was a hot commodity in this episode of Star Trek.

 

 

That’s what you get from this 62 year old brain.

For more information on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, please visit:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-21-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Temper, Trek, and the Stream of Consciousness

They say red heads have bad tempers. My hair is not as red as it used to be, but I’ve never had a bad temper. I don’t even remember any other red heads having bad tempers. Not that there are a lot of us around. I have a reputation, mostly on the job, of being a calm person. Yet, I don’t always feel calm inside my head. I have a considerable amount of anxiety. That’s probably why I like to teach meditation to my  clients, because I need reminders. I don’t like feeling anxious or angry. The times I’ve felt angry enough to lose my temper feel alien to me. Alien like going into a temporal anomaly. Where did that come from? Oh, my stream of consciousness.

Sometimes I’ve been tempted to let myself get really angry and blow up. It seems like fun for other people, or else why would they do it? I believe anger can be addicting. But I don’t like it. Not one bit. Except the cussing alone in my car, but that was last week’s SOC post….

Where was I?

Losing my temper, as tempted as I might be to try it, almost always feels wrong to me. I can feel anger, but I don’t like to yell a lot. I get shaky and feel slightly sick in my stomach, when I come close to losing my temper. Maybe it has something to do with Spock. That’s right. I’m going to sci-fi again. I think I need a Star Trek fix. It’s been so long. Spock, my first crush back when the original Trek first aired, almost never got angry. He kept his emotions under control with meditation and logic. I admired that in him because my life at age 11 was chaotic. That’s another story that must be somewhere on this blog.

So, what does this have to do with Anything Is Possible?

It’s possible to control our emotions, and not let our emotions control us.

It’s possible for me to feel and express anger without losing my temper. (My daughter would tell you that I have lost my temper plenty of times, but it’s really only a couple of times that I’ve really lost it.)

It’s possible to find a video clip of Mr. Spock losing his temper:

I feel better now.

 

Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was “temp.”

 

If you’d like to join in the fun of the Saturday Stream of Consciousness visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1215/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Goodbye, Mr. Spock. I will remember.

“I’m touched by the idea that when we do things that are useful and helpful – collecting these shards of spirituality – that we may be helping to bring about a healing.”

Leonard Nimoy

______________________________________________________________________

Leonard Nimoy, one of the most influential people of my adolescence, died on Friday, February 27th.  In his role as First Officer Spock, he brought logic, science, consistency and peace to my life when I needed it most.

The year I went to fifth grade, with my father in Vietnam and my mother having nervous breakdowns, I lived in Philadelphia, Michigan and New York. We spent that summer in Virginia. It was also the year I officially entered puberty, and thankfully, the year I discovered the original Star Trek. I didn’t miss an episode if I could help it.

Spock was my first crush. He was tall and handsome, steady and reliable. He taught me the value of logic and science. He brought stability into my chaotic life.

Spock was also a man of good conscience. In this article, which tells of Mr. Nimoy’s many accomplishments and talents, Gene Roddenberry was quoted to describe Spock as  “the conscience of Star Trek.”

Spock plays a crucial role in the episode below which greatly impacted (or reinforced) my thinking about the possibility of non-human life forms having sentience and value. In “The Devil in the Dark,” Dr. McCoy says:

“Silicon based life is physiologically impossible, especially in an oxygen atmosphere.”

But Spock proves that it is quite possible.

By mind-melding with the silicon “monster,” Spock learns that she is just a wounded mother trying to protect her children.

 

Spock taught us to look deeper and have compassion for all life forms. He was a scientist and an environmentalist. (Perhaps that’s why he had green blood. 😉 Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

I will always remember, with gratitude, the lessons of Mr. Spock conveyed so well by Leonard Nimoy.