Lockdown views

 We had a gorgeous sunny day last week, I decided to try to photograph little joys around the house:

The magnolia trees are coming into flower. The one on the left is ours and the one on the right is in our neighbours place. Our tree was planted before we arrived here and I will never understand why it was placed in a dingy corner behind the garage. It's a shame we can't appreciate the whole tree but it's still pretty.

This belongs to Keaghan and I think it was a donkey. Now it's an earless, grinning bit of whimsy in a candle holder.

The sun worshipper and street watcher. What would we do without her?

The photos are worse than I thought they were. Oh well.

Stroppy

I am a member of many facebook groups relating to birth and parenting and over the years have enjoyed contributing when I felt I had something to offer on a topic. Today I read a post, quite similar to many, many others, where a pregnant woman with two small children was reluctant to go ahead with a recommended scheduled caesarean but was reluctant to explore options with her medical are providers. She was so unsure of herself in discussing her concerns, in fact, that she said she was between a rock and a hard place but admitted she hadn't actually spoken about it.

After reading so many of these kinds of posts and understanding the consequences I have become a different kind of patient.

I attended a check up yesterday, the doctor asked me sit on the bed, remove my boots and lie down. 

I removed the boots but knowing there was no reason to lie down continued to sit up. Briony, who was accompanying me noted my departure from instructions.

"She wants me to be a patient" I said

"you are a patient" came the teacherish response

I had a little epiphany about how to express myself and relied with "No, I am a partner in my own care and you don't ask a partner to lie down" 

When I told my mum the story she said my recovery had made me stroppy but the reality is that my "stroppy" self would still be on an medical roundabout if I hadn't questioned, advocated and negotiated to get answers to the problems I had. I also negotiated to become weight bearing early and so improve my recovery.

I have achieved much by being the active driver of my health care and I only wish that I could teach others to do the same.

Spiritual Disciplines

 My course requires me to spend some time in the practice of (Christian) spiritual disciplines. If I remember right, it's one discipline per month for four months.

You can see by my vagueness that I haven't given a great deal of attention to this requirement but the day is coming closer when I will have to document my experiences.

The first question to answer is: what are the spiritual disciplines I can choose from?

A quick google reveals no consistent list, instead there are titles like:

• 5 spiritual disciplines to change your life
• 12 spiritual disciplines to make your faith strong
• 7 spiritual disciplines

I know that the majority of you are atheists so I won't go on too much but I did find this list which looks to me to be appropriate

• Prayer
• Fasting
• Simplicity
• Fellowship
• Journaling
• Stewardship
• Submission/Obedience
• Study
• Evangelism
• Contemplation
• Confession
• Solitude
• Gratitude
• Self-Examination
• Silence
• Meditation

I just can't imagine fasting and not because I couldn't miss a meal. I do love my food but in terms of hunger, I think I am capable of missing a meal or two. The social aspect of eating is the part I struggle with, even just trying to lose weight means having to say no to social eating over and over again and some people are relentless in their efforts to get someone to join them. To actually fast would require me to live alone. On an island.

Prayer, silence and stewardship are already part of my life. Gratitude, meditation, simplicity and fellowship wax and wane but are familiar.

I have tried journaling but though I write, I'm not a spiritual journal keeping type of person.

So, whether you are  Christian, atheist or identify with another variation on religious or non-religious practice, what kind of practices do you use to enrich your life?