Jose Corella
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Mind, Body, Soul...Body Wins

5/1/2011

5 Comments

 
So where have I been?  Transitioning to a new role and relocating again would probably be enough to take some time off and ease up on the extra-curricular activities right?  No, higher levels of day-to-day stress or significant career / personal upheavals don’t require me to “slow down” or “take it easy”; I still have my nights and periodic, non-family, quiet times where I can reflect, meditate, and “ideate”. This latest hiatus was due to my body crapping out.  And not the kind of oft-purported stress-induced shut down or mental breakdown; I find that those kinds of breakdowns are prevented with daily exercise, proper nutrition, sex with my lovely wife, and humor.  I’m talking about my internal organs just deciding that they’re going to stop working, completely out of my control.  This time it’s my gallbladder (my appendix decided it was time to exodus about a year ago).

In a nutshell, the entire month of March was spent in hospitals, Doctor’s office, specialist offices, testing offices, radiology departments, you name it.  Nobody could figure out what was wrong with me.  I didn’t have any classic indicators that normally accompany a failing gallbladder.  It wasn’t until my wife talked about my condition with her best friend that we finally asked the Doctor about a HIDA scan; a long test that is used to determine if the gallbladder is functioning properly even if there are no gallstones.  As it turns out, my gallbladder is not working and it must be taken out; so now I wait for the minimally invasive procedure.

Whilst all this was happening, I observed two things.  One, I found it curious (and frustrating) the frequency to which friends and family kept proffering advice and defaulting to stress-induced causes despite me presenting overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Second, if life is a balance between mind, body, and soul - for me, body is the base.  As I stated before, I actively manage the mind-body-soul interaction by exercising daily, eating ridiculously healthy, reading prolifically, ravaging the wife, entertaining the boys, and meditating as best as I can.  But when the body, through no control of my own, decides it’s done, the whole equation goes.  I have no surplus energy to put to my side projects; I have no personal desire or drive to keep creating instead of simply consuming.  My entire focus falls on getting better, to getting the “host” back to working order.

I oft get upset when things don’t work as they should, especially when I follow all the prescribed preventative measures.  I.e. if you get regular oil changes, you should get longer car life. Therefore, my reasoning goes, if you eat healthy & exercise regularly, you should get a longer, more consistent, body life and body performance.  However, based on this latest episode, perhaps the equation isn’t that easy (especially when you think about George Burns). Perhaps some things truly are out of my control despite my best efforts to mitigate them. Better stated, instead of getting upset when things don’t operate as the “should”, more acceptance is the key. To be clear, however, I’m still not going to “slow down” Mom, sorry.
5 Comments
James
5/1/2011 03:56:40 am

Live life and keep the throttles at 100 percent. Your health will have no choice but to catch up.

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Jose link
5/1/2011 04:09:34 am

James, that's the goal! Thanks for interacting!

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JT "Sure Thing"
5/1/2011 02:27:08 pm

Hi Jose--your long lost puffy-cloud buddy here. Your entry had my searching through and finding this Pema Chodren quote that I thought fit: "Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We thing that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don't know what's really going to happen. When we think something is going to give us misery, we don't know. Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. We try to do what we think is going to help. But we don't know. We never know if we're going to fall flat or sit up tall. When there's a big disappointment, we don't know if that's the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure." From *Things Fall Apart*

Here's to you and your process--and thanks for laying it all out there for me to reflect upon. :)

JT

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Justin link
5/2/2011 08:50:29 am

Coincidentally I had my calendar marked to email you next week if you didn’t show your blog face by then. Good to see you back, and I’m terribly sorry to hear about your health problems.

I think the point about body being the foundation for mind and soul is an excellent one. It’s too easy to take physical health for granted. I know I'm guilty of often doing so.

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Jose link
5/2/2011 11:15:27 am

@ JT: Good point. Reminds me of an old Zen parable. And the neighbors lamented, "How terrible!" they shouted. "We'll see" said the Zen master.

@ Justin: Thanks for checking in on me! Much appreciated. I guess my lesson is that even though I am mindful of the balance and disciplined in my maintenance regimen, my vessel's design ultimately determined the shut down. I could not prevent my appendix (and now my gallbladder) from failing. I could not inoculate or insure myself against it in any way. THAT was / is very hard for me to accept; but I must nonetheless.

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    What is the difference between being comfortable versus being complacent?  I have no idea, so  I challenge myself.  Challenge my thinking, my parenting, my husband-ing; attempt to challenge my assumptions and my understanding of things.  I won't get it right all the time so I welcome all constructive feedback. The goal?  To "...be satisfied with life always but never with one's self." (George Jean Nathan)

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