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February 1, 2006
I've Never Felt This Healthy Before
That's a line from Alanis Morisette's "Head Over Feet," the second song I heard this morning as I drove towards one of our hospitals at 5:45 am. The first song I heard on the radio was REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore," an awesome eighties song that has unfortunately been appropriated by Old Navy in one of their ad campaigns. I flipped channels when REO was done, and hit "Head Over Feet" at the line, "You held your breath, and the door for me." That struck me as particularly timely this morning, though the reasons why may be so deeply embedded in April and MR in-joke land that even MR may not get it.
The line quoted in the headline, I've always thought, would make a great blog entry title. I've felt that way many times over my practice of CR, and I'm always astounded when I manage to feel even healthier than I did before! People tend to think of health as the absence of disease, but I find it's much more on a sliding scale. Sure, if you're in the ICU after triple bypass surgery, you're not healthy. But you can be not actively sick and still be quite unhealthy. And the healthier I get, the more I feel like I wasn't all that healthy at earlier stages.
Last night I couldn't get to sleep... I strongly supsect that in a rare Starbucks blunder, I was served a short regular coffee instead of a short decaf on my way home. Oooops! Melatonin didn't work, and though I was dead tired my mind was racing with all sorts of interesting and entertaining thoughts. I didn't get to sleep until after 11, and I had to get up at 4. But I woke up feeling rested and energized, and even as I took all the trash and recycling out, rejoicing in the fact that less than two weeks from now the person whose job that is will return to his duties, I felt strong and happy.
Little sleep, tons of work, situtations that would have been stressful pre-CR. Not such a big deal now. It's quite amazing. We should market this stuff... or better yet, give it away for free!
Nurses often ask me when I first meet with them about the union something along the lines of, "Okay, sell me something." I have to go over the fact that I'm not a salesman, and that while I can teach them how to build and use power, I can't wave a magic wand and solve all their problems. I sometimes refer to organizing as "selling empowerment." CR is the same way... we don't get anything if you convert, other than the satisfaction of another life improved, lengthened, and possibly saved. The power is free -- you just have to decide to take it.
Posted by april at February 1, 2006 8:36 AM
Comments
I have also found that since practicing CR, the levels of stress that I used to feel almost every day have gone down considerably. I no longer have those heavy feelings of "dread" in going to work in the morning. I work as an Investment Advisor, and when the stock market went down, my stress levels would go up. Now, I just go along for the ride...!
Posted by: Shauna at February 1, 2006 11:25 AM
April,
I haven't written to you in quite some time. Last time we spoke, I was considering coming to Philly for the gathering of CR practitioners over the summer and I couldn't make it up because my band was in the middle of filming a movie.
Kale question- how do you eats yours?
Where do you get your Carolina Treat? Does it have corn syrup? I'm wicked allergic to the stuff...
Thanks!!!
Amanda in DC
Posted by: Amanda Kleinman at February 1, 2006 3:59 PM