The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

In contrast to my last post, I've had a glorious few days.  (We won't talk about the absolute misery which descended in between and caused me to swear that I would never again make a social engagement because I would never gather the strength to leave the house as long as I live.  I've gotten over that.)  The point is, that I believed I've learned a few things.

In my book when I write about Buddhist philosophy, I mention that part of its very core is that acceptance that life is like the wind and can blow us from here to there at any time.

How true.  How true.

In fact, I think I've learned that my life can be directly connected to the weather.  Not quite a tenet of Buddha, but maybe a universal truth for me.  When I first became ill with Sjogren's, one of the most unsettling signs was that my exposed skin would turn bright red within 30 seconds of being in the sun.  Not only that, but exposure to the sun - even when swaddled in SPF clothing - would make me feel ill and more fatigued.  That seems to have changed a bit.   I went swimming yesterday without my long-sleeved bathing shirt and sat in the late afternoon sun for a good 30 minutes without redness or rash.  I'll take it!

On flip side. . .

My body doesn't seem to be able to handle the absolute heat anymore. I sat outside in the humidity at a graduation party last weekend and sweat like a fool from the rim of my head (using the fancy cocktail napkins to wipe my brow time and time again, causing my forehead to turn Penn State blue without my knowledge.)  The only way I finally cooled down was in the cold shower after my return home.  I was completely wiped out for two days following.

And then the wind blew in these last three days of absolutely glorious weather, I happen to be on a regime of prednisone which rids me of my joint and muscle pain, I've gotten to spend time with friends in the restorative goodness of  the forest and in a swimming pool, I have sat alone in the contemplative quiet of an empty gothic church, taken a deep nap with acupuncture needles stuck into my body, and I've decided that life for me is good once again.

The wind, my friends.  

The answer to my life just may be blowin' in the wind.