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.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 25, 2009 | Series |
Health Nuts
Originally uploaded by Make Studio | Marty ColemanI am in California helping to take care of my 91 year old father, who fell and broke his hip on Thursday. So, since I wasn’t able to get a drawing out this morning, here is a vintage one from the original napkin drawings I sent with my daughters’ lunches.It is also disease week here at the daily so this napkin, though old, is completely in keeping with it!
Wish my dad luck on his surgery.
Thanks,
Marty Coleman
When I first started going to the gym (when I was 45 after I got a divorced) I wanted to get in shape. Pretty typical, I know. I also started thinking about why was everyone else there getting in shape. Who were all these ‘health nuts’ and what were they going to do with their great health?
I realized that to be in shape just to live a long life isn’t enough. Long lives in good shape can still be crappy if you are acting as a crappy person. Being fit and trim and a jerk isn’t of any value to the world. The reason I want to be fit and healthy is to allow myself the opportunity to become someone of value inside and then to share that good thing with the world. If I can’t improve my love and thoughtfulness and intelligence and support, then why bother improving the body? The body is the vehicle by which you achieve your goals. You can’t do it without your body and it is good if your body is in good shape. But for what? Love your body so you can love your neighbor and whoever else you come across.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 17, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Ralph Waldo Emerson |
And so the week of beauty comes to an end. I feel more beautiful, do you?
A nice simple definition that rings true. I do think the love of beauty is about
taste. I also think it is about acquired tasted, in other words. There is
something to be said for being educated about something. All that means
to me is that you have had the patience and teachability to learn what
others know about something, understanding that there are subtleties to
appreciate in all areas of art, whether it be napkin drawings or opera.
It isn’t abandoning your taste to learn about the arts, it is building on it.
“The love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American writer
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 15, 2009 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Rabindranath Tagore |
Day 3 in my week of beauty. Collect them all, win prizes!
There is something compelling about beauty. We want to possess it.
To a child, the beauty might be a flower, but it could just as easily be a
frog or a stone. It is filled with wonder and we want it. We want to touch
it and hold it and examine it and play with it. We want it to indulge in
it. The hardest thing to do is to let beauty just be. To enjoy the object,
person, event, whatever it is and not try to hold on to it, to capture it.
I know, I should talk. I am an artist and photographer. I spend my time
thinking about how to capture it. But I also have learned to let it pass by.
I have realized that there is an endless supply of beauty. I will never be
without it, I will never be unable to see it. I know from past experience I
have barely had a day gone by without seeing beauty. It might be the dress
my wife wears as she goes to work, it might be the way my cat is curled up
in the sun, it might be the incredible spiky beauty of the weed I haven’t
pulled in the backyard.
Try indulging in beauty today without trying to capture it. Let it walk by and
respond by just smiling and saying I am happy there is beauty in the world
and I got to experience it today.
“By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.” – Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941, Indian Author, Nobel Prize in Literature 1913.
Like this:
Like Loading...
