by Marty Coleman | Jul 28, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Madeleine L'engle |
Day 3 of ‘Aging Week’.
My father is on the roller coaster that is old age, bone breaks and lung congestion. Not an easy thing for him to deal with. His efforts are continuing to cause me to think about the whole process of aging.
I remember when this quote made sense for the first time. I was talking to someone much younger than myself. I realized that he didn’t have the flow of time I had. He had gone through 25 years of life, and for him to consider the next 25 he had to project. I, on the other hand, had all 50 years to remember. I had the age of 30 in my memory, the age of 20, the age of 40. I hadn’t given up any of those years, I had just added to them.
It helped me realize why younger people can so often not understand older people. They simply have to take a much greater leap than when an older person has to understand a younger person. They haven’t lived that age yet. Of course, many older people forget what it was like to be young, but that is an issue for another blog entry!
“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you have been.” – Madeleine L’engle, Author
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 27, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Holbrook Jackson |
Day 2 of ‘Aging Week’! I am thinking about it due to witnessing my father’s time in the hospital.
Everything fun you do can be seen as something you should know not to do, that you should ‘know better’.
Whether it is mountain biking, dancing all night, surfing at 6 in the AM or twirling your kids around by the arms someone will think you are crazy or not being responsible or frown upon it for some reason. I say grab your joy, your kids, your surfboard and go have at it. Do be responsible, but at the same time don’t let a stick in the mud stop you from playing in it!
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 27, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Voltaire |
We are moving from Disease Week’ to ‘Aging Week’! Being around my father this week (he broke his hip and I have been helping to care for him) has made me think a lot about aging, growing old, not growing old, etc.
I think this quote is true, that virtue is sometimes (not always) a function of no energy or drive to do the unvirtuous thing. Not nearly as noble, but in reality I think laziness is as much a reason for virtue to increase and ‘sin’ to decrease as most other reasons I have heard over the years.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 26, 2009 | Disease - 2009, Quentin Crisp |
Day 7 of Disease Week at the Napkin Dad Daily presented
from San Diego California this week. I am here helping
to take care of my father, who went through surgery
to repair a broken hip. I am photographing the napkins
instead of scanning them, but that shouldn’t make a
crucial difference.
I tend to think this is more true with psychological
areas of health than elsewhere. What do you think?
“Health consists of having the same disease as one’s neighbors.” – Quentin Crisp
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 23, 2009 | Disease - 2009, Faina Ranevskaya |
Day 5 of fabulous Disease Week here at the Napkin Dad Daily.
Can a disease week even be fabulous?
At first I thought this applied to us old folk who wake up creaky in some
new part of our bods every morning. But then I thought about my life
as an active, fitness oriented person.
This started pretty late in life for me. I was 45 before I joined a gym.
About 50 when I started running and didn’t start doing it in any organized
fashion until last year. What I learned was that being fit and healthy is a
pain. I mean that literally. I had a new pain every day when I started at the
gym. I have aches in my calves one week, then in my foot the next, then in
my back, when I am training for a run. But I have come to learn that is
proof that I am healthy. I am working my body. It may not like it. It may
rebel and get mad at me. But it will appreciate it in the long run and thank me.
What about you, are you healthy enough to say it hurts in a new place every day?
“Health is when every day it hurts in a different place.” – Faina Ranevskaya, 1896-1984, Russian Actress
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 22, 2009 | Bill Maher, Disease - 2009 |
Day 4 of Disease Week at the Napkin Dad Daily.
Have you subscribed to the Daily yet? It will make your
brain bigger and your day better…every DAY!
I think this is true and I think it is good. I know we can
go overboard with designating behavior choices as a
disease. I know that the idea behind labeling something
sin is to connect it back directly to a moral choice a
person makes. I know that overdrinking, gambling, overeating
and more are a result of a choice we make. So, why isn’t
it ok to just call a sin a sin and be done with it.
The reason is that we are interested in stopping the behavior.
To stop a behavior it is best to understand it as completely
as possible. To understand it might mean we come to realize
there is more going on than just a simple choice. We learn
about brain function, about genes, about family histories,
about psychological and emotional trauma. We learn a lot.
In the end there must be a choice made. But knowing the cure
for your disease involves a choice on your part doesn’t mean
it isn’t a disease. It means you have ultimate control over your
disease. How great is that compared to someone with cancer
or MS or a million other diseases you can’t control.
Take advantage of your ability to control. Make your choice,
every day.
“Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease.” – Bill Maher, American comedian and commentator
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 21, 2009 | Disease - 2009, William Osler |
Day 3 of ‘Disease Week’ on the Napkin Dad Daily. Think
of a doctor, nurse, or patient you know and forward these
to them. The ideas are good for you, like Bran Flakes, but
in color and on a napkin and inedible.
Are you training for when you have a disease? Are you practicing being
positive, realistic, disciplined, persevering? Are you building your sense
of humor in the face of bad times? Are you teachable about what you
are going through, what direction you can take to improve your chances?
Just as with any new challenge that comes upon us, if we practice who
we want to be, it will be much easier to be that when the moment comes
when we need to act in the best possible way. Being prepared for a job,
a marriage, a tragedy or a disease, whether yours or someone elses, isn’t
impossible. We can’t be completely prepared, but we can prepare as best
we can.
What are you prepared for?
“It is much more important to know what sort of patient has a disease than what sort of disease a patient has.” – William Osler, Canadian Physician, 1849-1919
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 20, 2009 | Arthur Adamov, Disease - 2009 |
Are you a hypochondriac, in therapy, getting treated for something, know
someone who is, wish you were, should be, used to be, or have thought
about being? Then you should pay attention to disease week at the
Napkin Dad Daily! It won’t cure you, but it will make you think, and
thinking has been clinically proven to be essential to many things!
As a watcher of human nature, I am a firm believer that your neuroses,
obsessions, compulsions, passions, frailties, infirmities, and eccentricities
aren’t things you will likely get rid of completely. As an artist, I am a firm
believer that it’s good they aren’t gotten rid of completely.
The question isn’t how do I get rid of them, the question is what am I going
to do with them? How can I mold them into something positive, good,
productive, creative, powerful, helpful? I am not saying they should all
be allowed to flourish and grow. Some should be pruned back diligently.
But what are you going to do with what’s left of them?
What is the positive path for your weakness?
“The only thing to know is how to use your neurosis.” – Arthur Adamov, 1908-1970, Russian playright and novelist
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 19, 2009 | Disease - 2009, Thomas Paine |
Of course we are talking about the ‘big’ diseases here of cancer, heart disease,
MS and more. There are many. But we are also talking about personal
diseases: alcoholism, anger, bigotry, depression, etc. Some are handled
in private, some with drugs, some with therapy. But there is usually a
bottom that a person reached before the sun shines through, before the
cure is found.
I know in my life there have been diseases within myself that I didn’t
get rid of until there was a crisis that threatened me or my family. Alcohol
being one of them. I stopped back in 1993 because of it.
What are your diseases? Are you waiting for the crisis until you accept
the cure?
“The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer it is to a cure.” – Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, American Pamphleteer and Patriot
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 18, 2009 | Saul Bellow |
A very busy day for me today. Here is a vintage napkin from 2002.
You can usually tell right away if someone is interested in an accomplice
instead of real advice. They will immediately start to argue in the negative,
with reasons and excuses against whatever it is you offer that is not already in
keeping with their thoughts on the matter.
No use going forward in that case. I simply say ‘I wish you luck’ and am done
with it.
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