While I set the alarm for 6, I woke up at 5:30. It's the season when the birds start their workday early. It's something to do with the sun. As I walked Elsa, I continued working on relaxing my left hip.
I called the Princeton Health Department to follow up on the proof I need to get the marriage certificate. I called sometime last week and was told that the person responsible was on jury duty and would only be in on Mondays and Fridays. Today, I got the registrar and asked her if the signed scroll from my wedding would do as proof we were married. She had no idea what I was talking about. Her reaction was pretty much the same as everyone else's. "Huh?" She said all I needed was a copy of my driver's license and one other document with my name and address on it. Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da.
I'm pretty sure I didn't dream that exchange with someone from Princeton. I remember the clerk asking if I had anything from the venue and not even knowing what she was talking about. The best explanation I can come up with, other than a psychotic break, is that I spoke to someone other than the official registrar, and she made it up as she went along. The application is for more than a marriage certificate. It is also for birth certificates and certificates of adoption. My guess is parents do have to prove their relationship to the child for whom they are requesting a birth certificate. The proof I needed was that I knew the name of my husband and the date of our marriage. I had that covered.
I made my Juice Plus smoothie and boiled two pots of water for my creeping weeds. I drank two cups of water and went to Bikram. I'm still focusing on relaxing my left hip.
I had a 9:30 chiropractic appointment. The yoga class ended at 9. I rushed into the rinse shower, leaving my mat and walker in the studio, got into the dressing room to get my wet yoga clothes off, and with a towel wrapped around my body, went back into the room to get my equipment.
I wound up getting to the chiropractor's office early; I sat in the car and called Judy. No answer. I got a call from Melissa, who said she was going to put an article on the fMRI that I might find interesting in my mailbox. She knew I was interested in the correlation between blood flow and brain use. I told her that I had audited classes in neuroscience at Princeton University, but welcomed her article. Auditing a few classes did not make me an expert. With everything I read, I learn something new.
Kim worked on my upper body as Yvette had the night before. She did something new. She had me sit on the table, put my arms behind me, and grab the edge of the table. Then she did Graston on my pectoral muscles. All the tension in my shoulders melted.
At home, I threw my Bikram stuff and Yvette's into the washing machine. When I went out to the lanai, I discovered that Elsa had pooped. I don't get it, I had just walked her an hour ago. She pooped then; why again? I ignored it for the time being. It's a screened-in porch; there's no smell. I'll get to it later.
I boiled water for my weeds and my soup. I took a nap. When I got up, I boiled another pot for my weeds and drank my smoothie.
There were two packages at the side door, one for me and one for B. The one for me was the pedometers I ordered shipped in a box the size of a small bread box. Maybe a bag would have done? I opened the box midday and put the pedometer on. I love it. It only records steps, nothing fancy. I don't have to deal with multiple options. The digital image is extra-large. Another yeah. And it's pink. A third one. I had trouble finding the reset button. The directions said it's on the back of the pedometer. This means I have to take it out of the clip holder each time, but this is easy to take out and put back in. I have had pedometers where removing them from the clip was an athletic event.
I called Adam with a solution to sharing the car with Josh. Adam has been using the car for Uber driving. He had been driving his own car for that purpose, but someone back into him while he was parked and totaled it. I offered Mike's car since it was sitting idly in the driveway while we were in Honolulu. Mike's car is a hybrid and gets good mileage. Adam has asked to buy the car. Damon asked me to keep it so he could use it when he visits.
Josh had been driving Mike's car occasionally while we were away. He discovered that driving a car is really much nicer than riding a motorcycle, particularly in the rain. I worked out a solution that seems to suit both the boys. The car is to be left in our driveway each night. When Josh leaves in the morning, he can decide if he wants to take it. If not, he will text Adam, and Adam can use it right away. If Josh takes it, he'll text Adam when he gets home so Adam can choose whether to use the car right away or only at night. I get the impression that neither of these guys is very good at negotiation. They're both saying whatever the other one wants. They would rather get nothing than talk to each other and work out something that works for both of them. Maddening from my point of view.
I spoke to my friend, who is suffering from ungrateful family members. We had worked on her anger using the gargoyle image. She was wondering what would soothe the gargoyle. She thought of allowing it to express its rage. In this case, I would say no, at least, not yet. If rage is going to be expressed, it has to be done to heal everyone involved. That changes the outcome. None of that expression of rage can be shown in the real world. This is all done through imaging. This doesn't mean that anger should never be expressed. It just means that she should wait until she has offloaded the rage she's been building forever before she lets loose. I taught her the Vipassana meditation technique. I have now taught it to two people after a brief instruction, and they got it, at least well enough to help them deal with their strong emotions.
Vipassana was developed by Buddha. It's simple and brilliant. You observe sensations on the physical body without evaluating them as either good or bad, desirable, or undesirable. The effect is stunning. I have used it to heal physical pain, no less psychological pain, anguish, rage, sadness, hopelessness, you name it.
In the case of the two people I worked with, they were both experiencing emotional flooding. I had that experience while on a meditation retreat. Usually, the instructions were to do the meditation sitting. But, in this case, the retreat leader told me to lie down and just observe the sensations on my hands and feet, and nothing else. It took a while for me to calm myself, but it happened. The trick is to observe these sensations not as pain or pleasure, but as temperature, tension, tickling, tightness, whatever. All sensations are related to our strongest feelings. Whatever we observe refers to emotions, even if we are not classifying it as such. If we observe these sensations calmly, they resolve. Brilliant process. There's a reason Buddha is a big deal.
Elsa and I went on our walk. I had dinner, did some more work on the blog, and watched tv. I took Elsa for the final walk of the evening. I went to bed and then said, "Goodnight, Elsa. Goodnight, Mike."
