Been a very busy few days, back to back round trips to Duluth. Finally decided I have to go where I get the best possible treatment so off we go twice a week. The OT is mainly working on the shoulder tightness now. Each session helps. Inbetween many new exercises each day of course. I can really tell the days I miss or get lazy. The next day I pay the price. PT is working on my walking gait. No longer use an AFO or cane, but gait leaves a bit to be desired. Guess what? More daily exercises to fix it. Seems like everything PT/OT find requires exercises. No majic pill to fix all. That's OK we are really fine tuning now and targeting specific things that need improvement, not as general as it was.

More mind cleaning. I have saved to most difficult "mind cleaning" for last. Difficult to write, even more difficult to do. Forgive and forget. Our mind does not come with a delete key. If we are treated wrongly or even if we just percieve that we were, we can and often do let that eat at our mind. Spending time thinking about how we will really "tell them what we think" or "I'll really give them a piece of our mind" is self destructive behavior. That is time we would better spend thinking about doing positive things we can control. Giving "them" a piece of our mind wastes time, energy, and gives away something we have all already lost some of. Many of us can't afford to lose anymore. (like me). The more time we spend dwelling on the "event" that has us upset, the more our perception of the facts will become what we wish or wanted them to be and the farther from the actual truth we will get. Our "reality" will become a fantasy, bearing little semblance to what actually happened. Don't believe me? Every culture in the world is now busy trying to rewrite history to cast it in a more favorable light. Cultures would like to hide the wrongs their ancestors did and say it never happened that way. If they say it loud and often enough, we'll eventually start believing it. The facts of what really happened didn't change, just our perception of it. Corporations change their logo to make them more favorable in our eyes. Ever wonder why Coke is called Coke? Don't hear much about that now do you?

I am not proposing we all get lovey dovey and kiss and make up with those we have issue with. Do that if you can, but that is usually not realistic. Better to just move on and forget them and the event. Learn from it so as to not repeat the situation that caused the problem. Forgiveness is often not possible becuase even if you are willing, it takes two. Forgetting, at least on your part will help you. Remember the part about hanging around positive people? Doing so will lessen the likelyhood of unpleasant situations occurring in the first place. Remember: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Am I suggesting we all become wimps? Cut and run at any signs of trouble? Hardly. I spent 20 years in the military. Fighting is sometimes ineviable. But one thing we all learned in the military: only fight the battles you can win. Fighting a battle you cannot win is self destructive and a total waste of your time and energy.

Now that the mind is cleansed, next time we'll start talk about what we should put in it and what we should and shouldn't worry about. Please make sure your mind cleaning as discussed earlier is complete. It is the foundation we will build the rest on. It is not easy (what is) but it is essential.

Today is an easier day, no travel just three hours of exercise. Yippee! Actually. it's more like 2 1/2 yours. I'd like to do three but just can't muster the energy for it. The rain coming today should about end the snow for now, the flowers and grass won't be far behind. Meanwhile, Lesley just got served coffee in bed, and my cup is empty. You know what that means.