2019 Life Logs, Day 100: What’s Up Below
Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 48, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I’ve been watching a docu-series online called Broken Brain 2 hosted by Dr. Mark Hyman. He is my go-to health guru, so a couple of years ago when he hosted Broken Brain (the first) I watched intently. The current series is an update on the new information we have learned in the interim. I don’t have a broken brain, at least not yet, but with a family history of Alzheimer’s, I watch to learn. What I learned from this recent series reinforces what I have learned in the past. We used to think that genetics ruled. But now we know that genetics plays a part in everyone’s health, but it is the way we live that determines 90 per cent of our health status. We have to eat well, keep moving, get a good night’s sleep, have positive social connections, have strong relationships with friends, pay attention to our spiritual selves, and have stable emotional health. In tonight’s program, the last of the series, it was this last piece that grabbed my attention because one of the things the experts say is best for maintaining stable emotional health is journaling. If you stretch the definition of journaling to include my nightly logs, I should have very stable emotional health! I just counted it up and I have written 5,920 nightly logs since October 18, 2005. True journaling would include more introspection than I include in my logs. They are more a history of each day. But as one expert in tonight’s program pointed out, when humans started writing, it was the beginning of our history, and my logs are my history since 2005. I titled tonight’s log, “What’s Up Below”, as that is what Mark Hyman said comes out in good journaling—those feelings that are beneath our actions. As he said, emotions of all kinds come into our lives each day and writing those out at night can help keep you grounded. Then the program went on to talk about how important it is to practice gratitude. And that made me think about those of you who still read my nightly ramblings. I feel so connected to you. You are a huge part of my life and I am so grateful you are there. My life is not nearly as exciting to read about these days as it was when Mark and I were traveling the world, but I can’t stop writing each night and I am so grateful you are there. Some of you I have never met, but I feel a deep connection. Thank you for being my friends and for making me a healthier being.
I usually try to keep politics out of my logs, but I got a message on Facebook today from a friend of Mark’s. It was from a website called “Americans Against the Republican Party”. To my friend Rich in Cincinnati, please don’t take this personally. I’m just writing ‘what’s up below’. The message from the friend was a photo of Donald Trump and next to him was this list:
No Books,
No Friends,
No Music,
No Curiosity,
No Patience,
No Integrity,
No Compassion,
No Empathy,
No Loyalty,
No Conscience,
No Courage,
No Respect,
No Character,
No Morality,
No Honor,
Not Even a Dog.
Whatever you think of Donald Trump or the Republican Party, having the things on this list would be a good thing. I have been ‘thinking’ about getting a dog. This closed the deal. I am ‘getting’ a dog!
