2019 Life Logs, Day 100: What’s Up Below
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!
so evidently his birthday celebration continued for a second day. Lucky ten year-old and yummy looking cake.
and he showed me the robot he had built and the computer he had put together from the Raspberry Pi kit I sent him. I also sent him an electronics kit and he had wired up a meter to track the amount of power being used by the computer. Go, Ziggy. And happy, happy birthday.
He ended up launching three kayaks, tied them together, and pulled them behind him—just because he could.
and is probably going to be bigger than his mother. He is adorable, but I think a large Lab will be too big for my tiny cottage. Decisions, decisions. I make that decision tomorrow, but today I needed to get on the road home. I had checked out the timing before leaving home and thought it would take about two and half hours. But this afternoon, my phone said it would take over four hours. When you are driving alone, you just basically do what your phone tells you, but things got weirder and weirder. I was being routed on tiny little roads, no where near I 495 that I thought I would be taking for most of the trip. And in addition, my phone battery was low and I was fearful that it would shut off while I was in the middle of nowhere with no paper map. I kept stopping and trying to memorize the route, but even when I changed it to head directly to I 495, it continued on side roads. After two and half hours, I was in slightly more familiar territory and I followed my nose to the main highway. At this point, my phone was still saying I had two hours to go, but I knew it should only be an hour and a quarter at most. I looked at the route and it was taking me off I 495 and back onto side roads. Then the phone died and I drove home by the highway that I know. I was exhausted when I got here and so confused by what had happened. When talking to Heather tonight she said to check the settings on my new phone. She thought maybe it was set to avoid highways. I had no idea there was such a setting, but indeed there is and indeed my phone was set that way. Ugh. What a long way home, but I was introduced to all sorts of places where I have never been before. I guess that’s a good thing. And I’ve learned to never leave home without a paper map and a car charger for my phone.
