Hyper-vigilance is the enemy of equanimity.

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anxiety, cancer, chemo, perspective, side effects, worry

Cancer treatment today is a bit like being a letter carrier for USPS. Every accident that a carrier is involved in, either vehicular or lifting or walking or just being alive, is reported to some little minion in a cubicle whose living depends upon coming up with a plan of action to prevent that accident from ever occurring again. The result is a maze of ridiculous rules that no human being can possibly follow and get the job done.

Likewise, with cancer treatment; every possible thing that has ever gone wrong in someone’s treatment plan, any potential side effects end up in pages and pages of warnings of this and that disastrous result. Watch for allergic reactions, itching, flushing, dry mouth, watch for nausea, diarrhea, constipation, tooth decay, dizziness, irregular this or that. For natural born worriers, all these warnings set off a cacophony of alarm bells and scenarios for the brain to pirouette through deep in the night. Anxiety builds like cancer cells dividing.

Knowledge is power. But perspective is power over anxiety. Perspective reminds us that there are a huge array of problems that may arise in some patients. But no one patient will suffer from all these problems, some patients may suffer from several or even many problems, but there are other patients who may suffer only small inconveniences. Hyper-vigilance is the enemy of equanimity.

This is where we live

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climate change, no borders, peace, perspective

Yup. This is it. Take a long, hard look at this stunning planet that supports each and every one of …

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Dichotomy of Thought

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Literature, opinion, perspective, The Sun Magazine, Thought

Personal. Political. Provocative. Add-Free

 

In the March issue of The Sun magazine, two readers’ letters jabbed each other on the Correspondence page. Both readers were responding to the same story in the December 2010 issue. The author of letter A was moved to tears by the entire issue, but especially by the short story, “The Immortal Zelensky” by Boomer Pinches. The letter raves that Pinches’ “fine use of telling details was…a graduate course in writing, without being the least bit didactic or contrived or self-conscious.”

Letter B followed. Its author proudly reports to having read every poem, essay, or short story in The Sun for eight years. This reader even marched through those entries that failed to resonate, simply because “if it was in The Sun, it had to have some intrinsic value (reasoning of which I am also guilty)”; HOWEVER, author B continues, “The Immortal Zelensky” was “so self-conscious, awkwardly written, rambling, and uninteresting” that it was completely without merit.

You’ve got to love it! Two devoted, well educated, and articulate readers take away completely opposite opinions regarding the same collection of words on a page. It happens all the time, particularly in this literary magazine, which tends to push at conventional boundaries.

This dichotomy excites me because it demonstrates how there is no “right” and no “wrong” in the murky sphere that is art, thought, and opinion. Each of us responds to stimuli differently. Our backgrounds, our locales, our life circumstances, our ages, our genders, and an entire spice rack of other elements shape us and thereby shape our responses to what we see and what we read and how we think.

This reality is freeing. Each person who stumbles upon my blog will react differently. Some will judge my words callow and shallow, which is fine because others will find them perplexing, and someone may actually find a few of my words moving or helpful. But they are my words, reflecting my thoughts. These thoughts are all that I truly own in this life. And you, dear readers—your thoughts are your own! We share equal opportunity thoughts, no one individual’s ideas any more or any less important than the next person’s.