Day 148 Gratitude

In one of my daily readings I read about a person who decided to list, alphabetically, the items they were grateful for.  At the time, it was a begrudging task, but the author did it anyway as a gesture of trying to be more positive.  Doing such a task plants seeds of gratitude, and if you review your list frequently (every day?) you move from duty to sincerity.

So, I thought I would try the exercise, not out of duty, but because I have a number of people, things and events that I am truly grateful to have in my life.

Day 147 Trying

Depression is insidious.

Sometimes it comes as a relentless, yet out-of-the-blue sadness.

Sometimes it is a total lack of motivation

Sometimes all you want to do is crawl into bed and hide under the blankets. Sometimes you are angry, at no one in particular, and everyone in general.

There are some doctors who believe depression is related to the food we consume.  This isn't really surprising when you think about the huge numbers of people who are pre-diabetic or diabetic. According to one article in Arch Intern Med that was published in November of 2010, (Directional association between depression and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women) diabetic women are at a 29 percent higher risk for depression, and women on insulin are at a whopping 53 percent higher chance of manifesting depression.

Depression is real.

Depression is crippling.

And lots of people are dealing with depression through medication. According to Scientific American eight to ten percent of Americans are on anti-depressants. Mad in America reports thirteen percent of Americans are medicated for depression - up from almost seven percent in 1999.

That's a lot of people. 

Day 146 Surrender

I just came from my doctor's office.

I have major (severe) depression. 

I am surrendering. 

Day 145 Water Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

The quote used for the title comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and is somewhat misquoted.  The poem is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem most of us had to read in high school.  The actual phrase goes:

“Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink."

While the ancient mariner was bemoaning the fact that he was at sea without drinkable water since the water was salt water, the author of the poem didn't realize how true that statement would be for "modern" times.

Day 144 The Food We Eat

Our bodies are messed up.

A large portion of the population suffer from some sort of inflammation. This inflammation reveals itself in chronic pain, weight around the middle and a host of diseases associated with inflammation.

So, how good is the food we eat?

Day 143 Celebrations

I'll be the first to admit the summer is tough for me. There were so many things once upon a time to celebrate during the summer. Now, for the most part those celebrations are far and removed from my everyday life, yet the ghosts of those bygone days are still with me.

Maybe it's a female thing, or maybe a particular personality type, but I can remember special events as if they happened yesterday. There are times when that is a real blessing. When I'm alone, it's a real curse.

My daughter reminds me that we often celebrated with food. It's true. Birthdays usually involved the birthday individual selecting a favorite meal to have prepared. Around my house that was things like homemade macaroni and cheese, or tacos. There were years where special cakes were requested.  I remember a strawberry spring - and it wasn't centered on the Strawberry Shortcake miniature dolls.  There was a year I made an "army" cake complete with a Jeep and tank.  One year I decorated a cake like it was a shirt and tie for my brother-in-law.

Day 142 Simple Plots

Some days, my kids think I'm really funny.  Not because I'm a comedian, but because of some of the things I like.

For instance, I've mentioned I really, really enjoy the film Galaxy Quest. It makes fun of just about every science fiction movie/story line out there and has it's own unique story as well. The main characters, especially the Captain and his chief Science Officer have one of the nicest character growth arcs I've seen in a movie. Pretty tough to do in two hours.  They run it every so often on Netflix, so if you haven't seen it, I think you might like it.