KISS

I remember back in the day, someone had included some sticky notes in my office Christmas present that had KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) printed on them. At the time I thought it was funny, but now with a few years under my belt, I really see the wisdom of the KISS method (except for the stupid part. I have changed that to sweetheart. We all have enough negativity around us without adding more). Healing seems especially to work under the KISS method. Lets think about this for a moment. The more simple your life is the easier it is for you to have a clear mind and allow yourself time to heal. As someone with ADD I know that one of the biggest symptoms of being lost is clutter. My old therapist used to tell me that if I got frustrated to clean out my closets. This exercise seems to work every time. That is until I look at all of the junk that came from the closet and somehow made it to the dinning room table. But the point is getting your surroundings clean and neat will help to facilitate the much needed healing. Not to mention give your body some much needed exercise. Simple Huh? (I don't disagree that it would be even simpler to have a maid, but for now that is me).

Another way healing responds to simplicity is thru nature. Years ago I had a friend who worked for Pfizerr (yes the Viagra company). It was discovered that there was an oil in Jalapeno peppers that cured ulcers. People who regularly ate the spicy peppers never had or developed ulcers. My friends lab was charged with coming up with a drug from the oil in the jalapenos. As far as I know it was never successful and eventually the project was scrapped. I was reminded of that recently because there was a news story saying  that papaya leaf tea was as effective as chemotherapy on several types of cancer. They interviewed a woman who drank 3 cups a day as part of a medical experiment funded by (you guessed it) a drug company who wanted to create a pill. Using  the KISS method, you would eat the jalapeno and drink the tea and live a long healthy life. It seems that for every malady there is most likely a food based medicine. And why not? Nature always seeks a balance. It seems only that when humans are added to the mix that the balance is messed up. I would hate for scientists to stop exploring and learning, but I would like to see a world a little less swayed by profit and more swayed by human need and compassion. And I do like the testing. What if it were found that jalapenos only worked on someone with a specific gene? The pain that could be avoided. Or if it were found that papaya leaves only seemed to have a placebo effect in the long run? Science is our friend. I am just not willing to make it my God. I already have one who is doing an excellent job.

There is a movement growing in our country (it has already been around in the rest of the world for awhile) urging us to eat organically grown food. I like this, but am concerned that at the same time the news media has created such paranoia over germs. You can't go anywhere anymore without seeing antibacterial this and that. Now grocery stores have a kiosk outside so you can grab and hand wipe. My friend who worked for Pfizerr saw this coming and used to say that the body needed to be exposed to some germs. It is how our immune systems keep working. Without it or by killing off all of the normal bugs we are exposed to all we were going to accomplish was the creating of a super bug that would wipe us all out. I never really gave it much thought, but now that I am eating organic, it think about stuff like that all of the time. Which brings me to keeping our minds simple. I am in the early stages of learning how to meditate. For a person with ADD that is easier said than done. Our brains tend to want to stay on all of the time. One trick I have learned is to just go for a walk. Just the focus of your feet on the ground listening to your foot steps and breathing deeply is really working for me. Soon I'm blocks away from the house with a calm mind. Even better for me is that walking is my absolute favorite form of exercise. You can keep the gym, just give me acres of trees with a trail and I am a happy camper!

In keeping with the KISS method planning is also a good tool. It has become a necessity in our house. I now have to keep to a schedule in order to get thru a day and with radiation starting soon it will be even more important than ever. Kenny used to keep my doctors appointments for me which was working fine, but then I had to have a list of what to eat daily, what supplements to take, acupuncture appointments, exercise: both physical therapy and the Qigong recommended by my acupuncturist. Speech therapy appointments, and daily oral exercises, support groups and writing group. All of this is enough to make anyone feel like the housewife of cancerville. Keeping it all simple and organized, while not natural for me, is saving me from a ton of frustration.  In fact I have never been this organized before. Even trying to be organized was frustrating. What do you mean always put my keys right here? My inner child would not hear of having such rules imposed on him. Ken tried for years and gave up. Only occasionally does he remind me, "well I tried to help you get organized 6 years ago, but no! you couldn't do it. It would seem that I am finally learning a valuable lesson here and hope to  continue applying the KISS method to my life for years to come. Of course now I am just waiting for Kenny to say "told you so!" I guess I will just have to file that under  "Cute Things that Kenny Says (also known as the trash).