Adara broke her arm on Halloween day. Today I called to find the latest total for the three appointments she had. I was surprised to learn my balance was zero, as I had not submitted it to my healthcare ministry.
Medicaid paid the bill in full. I don't know why. We used a Medicaid from October 2015 to April 2016 because a jon had been fired from his job. I don't know why, 6 months after our eligibility ended, they paid the bill. I am happy they did.
Adding to the mystery is that the same child saw a doctor in June for a ruptured eardrum. We paid out of pocket for that (our insurance at that time was mostly catastrophic insurance). Why would Medicaid pay the broken arm but not the burst eardrum? Again, I don't really care about the reason.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
2017 Goals
1. Diet
Feeling: Feed my body like it was a newborn baby body.
***Practice: Find one new vegetable, or a new method or recipe that maximizes nutrition, tastes pretty good, is on the easy-ish side to prepare and keep on-hand, and is sustainable over several months of eating.
****Easy, one-time goal -- get a good multivitamin routine started
(Also - supplements that support healthy hair)
***Deadline: April 30, 2017
2. Exercise
****Feeling: My mind and body are healthy when I'm happy with what I'm doing
****Practice: Find fun ways to move my body with my kids. YouTube videos on dance, martial arts, balance balls, yoga. Swimming, biking, gymnastics, roller blading. Hiking, rock climbing, weight lifting, pilates ...
(Also - look for how to tone abdominal muscles)
****Deadline -- Do activity with kids at least 2 times each week, before Saturday
3. Relationships
****See the world with mindful energy (that light in your eyes when you're doing something you love) in day-to-day tasks, including and especially, in my interactions with children and husband, and also with people in general.
ALSO -- the more energy you put into life, the more energy you have.
Feeling: Feed my body like it was a newborn baby body.
***Practice: Find one new vegetable, or a new method or recipe that maximizes nutrition, tastes pretty good, is on the easy-ish side to prepare and keep on-hand, and is sustainable over several months of eating.
****Easy, one-time goal -- get a good multivitamin routine started
(Also - supplements that support healthy hair)
***Deadline: April 30, 2017
2. Exercise
****Feeling: My mind and body are healthy when I'm happy with what I'm doing
****Practice: Find fun ways to move my body with my kids. YouTube videos on dance, martial arts, balance balls, yoga. Swimming, biking, gymnastics, roller blading. Hiking, rock climbing, weight lifting, pilates ...
(Also - look for how to tone abdominal muscles)
****Deadline -- Do activity with kids at least 2 times each week, before Saturday
3. Relationships
****See the world with mindful energy (that light in your eyes when you're doing something you love) in day-to-day tasks, including and especially, in my interactions with children and husband, and also with people in general.
ALSO -- the more energy you put into life, the more energy you have.
****Practice: Read with kids. Play puzzles. Singing / playing piano. Pattern games, math games coloring together as a family. Sewing. Drawing. Art time. Science games. strategy games .... find ways to enjoy one another that everyone is happy with, and doesn't involve just "watching t.v."
****Deadline -- Do at least ONE of this type of activity every week. Perhaps on Sunday morings. Or Monday evening?
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Equality and Relativism. Mormonism and Atheism
Rough Draft -- thoughts after reading this article:
http://happiness-seekers.com/2017/01/02/the-alarming-truth-behind-anti-mormonism/
The question of equality is one that particularly has concerned me. This issue first came to my awareness when I was studying the Civil Rights movement. I'm still exploring the ideas of equality, but one thing you said was helpful. "Simply put, society will be governed completely by what individuals think they want and need—as opposed to a sense of duty and obligation to some higher truth about good and evil or directives from Heaven."
I've heard this basic idea from my atheist friends. "Social rules are the result of human evolution" is how I understand it. That, of course, means that social rules are subjective. And that means the rules can change. So, for example, with the abolition of slavery, we changed the rules. That's a good thing. Women having more equal treatment. Also good. Disabled people, LGBT, different religions -- all are alike. This is an idea from scripture that we believe is true. Only in scripture the idea is that all are alike unto God. Which means there is a standard. God is the standard. If people decide what the standard is ... I'm pretty sure I don't trust any one person, or any group of people, to create a better standard than the one God has made. If they try to reinvent God's standard, well, okay, except for people tend to get distracted, especially over long periods of time. I just don't trust people. I guess I don't understand why atheists do?
I do believe people can improve, they can grow and become more gentle, patient, just and merciful at once. And I believe they become such by following the standard of conduct decreed by the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. I guess I don't see how humankind, as a whole, will ever agree to a common standard of conduct that will bring people to ever greater fulfillment .
http://happiness-seekers.com/2017/01/02/the-alarming-truth-behind-anti-mormonism/
The question of equality is one that particularly has concerned me. This issue first came to my awareness when I was studying the Civil Rights movement. I'm still exploring the ideas of equality, but one thing you said was helpful. "Simply put, society will be governed completely by what individuals think they want and need—as opposed to a sense of duty and obligation to some higher truth about good and evil or directives from Heaven."
I've heard this basic idea from my atheist friends. "Social rules are the result of human evolution" is how I understand it. That, of course, means that social rules are subjective. And that means the rules can change. So, for example, with the abolition of slavery, we changed the rules. That's a good thing. Women having more equal treatment. Also good. Disabled people, LGBT, different religions -- all are alike. This is an idea from scripture that we believe is true. Only in scripture the idea is that all are alike unto God. Which means there is a standard. God is the standard. If people decide what the standard is ... I'm pretty sure I don't trust any one person, or any group of people, to create a better standard than the one God has made. If they try to reinvent God's standard, well, okay, except for people tend to get distracted, especially over long periods of time. I just don't trust people. I guess I don't understand why atheists do?
I do believe people can improve, they can grow and become more gentle, patient, just and merciful at once. And I believe they become such by following the standard of conduct decreed by the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. I guess I don't see how humankind, as a whole, will ever agree to a common standard of conduct that will bring people to ever greater fulfillment .
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
New Eyes
I have just returned from a 10 day meditation retreat where I basically lived like a Buddhist nun for 10 days, including a vow of silence, vegetarian meals, and seated, immobile meditation for 10 hours a day.
I find my emotions more subdued than is normal for me. Perhaps it is partly due to the cold I avoided acquiring for the entire time I was in the Vipassana retreat, but finally caught up to me the day after I returned home. Time will tell if my former energetic mind will return. Though I have to say, I think I could get used to this calmer mind.
Before writing this post, I scanned through the most recent ones. It has not been a good year (or two!) for ponderings. I feel I could just delete them all and start over. (I initially wrote "start again", but that phrase now brings a bit of a raw feeling to my emotions after hearing it repeatedly during the retreat).
That's all that I find to say that is real for now.
I find my emotions more subdued than is normal for me. Perhaps it is partly due to the cold I avoided acquiring for the entire time I was in the Vipassana retreat, but finally caught up to me the day after I returned home. Time will tell if my former energetic mind will return. Though I have to say, I think I could get used to this calmer mind.
Before writing this post, I scanned through the most recent ones. It has not been a good year (or two!) for ponderings. I feel I could just delete them all and start over. (I initially wrote "start again", but that phrase now brings a bit of a raw feeling to my emotions after hearing it repeatedly during the retreat).
That's all that I find to say that is real for now.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Midnight Musings
Do you ever have a feeling come over you like, everything around you is quiet and the thoughts in your head feel more real than anything has for months?
Here is the fruit of tonight's quiet ponder session. My ideas about God have been conglomerating over the years, a bit here and a piece there. This is my first attempt, really, to write anything down.
Believing in God is an inner search and an outward sharing. When I look for God, as I pray or ponder His words, I am looking within myself. I consider myself to be more than a physical construct. There is an essence to being human that is not simply a combination of the different aspects of flesh, bone, electric impulses, and other chemicals. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. I don’t know when that idea first originated, but I believe I understand what it means, as applied to a human being. That essence is what I call the Divine. God is Divine. I am His child, and just like I inherited my hair color from my mother, I have inherited divine personality traits from my Father in Heaven. When I seek to know God, I begin by seeking to know myself.
Here is the fruit of tonight's quiet ponder session. My ideas about God have been conglomerating over the years, a bit here and a piece there. This is my first attempt, really, to write anything down.
Believing in God is an inner search and an outward sharing. When I look for God, as I pray or ponder His words, I am looking within myself. I consider myself to be more than a physical construct. There is an essence to being human that is not simply a combination of the different aspects of flesh, bone, electric impulses, and other chemicals. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. I don’t know when that idea first originated, but I believe I understand what it means, as applied to a human being. That essence is what I call the Divine. God is Divine. I am His child, and just like I inherited my hair color from my mother, I have inherited divine personality traits from my Father in Heaven. When I seek to know God, I begin by seeking to know myself.
If seeking for God is inward, then the success at finding Him is measured outwardly. I feel either a sense of connection, or a sense of distance, as I interact with others. I define the connection to be the divine in others. When my ideas don't connect with others' ideas, I re-examine my ideas. The Divine is in the connection. So I ask, what is most important -- the ideas I've come to in the past, or finding harmony with those around me?
I believe that truth is big enough to allow endless variations on a simple idea. I often see my ideas as variations of what other people believe, even if those other people don't believe as I do. I can see the picture as a coherent whole, where others see discordant ideas.
And, in spite of all the ideas, it is how these others and I behave that determines the most real connection. If there is kindness, mutual respect of the other, and a bit of grace in letting slide the rough spots, then this is real. This is divine. This is God.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Reversals
A thought on the past years' LGBTQI movement. I have been blessed to discuss the problems and solutions of the GLBTQI population with compassion, understanding, and acceptance.
Recent events have left me troubled, as I have witnessed the once-oppressed becoming the oppressors. In the past, gay men were shamed by society and church. They were told their behavior was wrong and evil and they were excluded (and worse) from participating in mainstream society.
Now, LGBTQI people have spoken out against their mistreatment. This is good. I celebrate this healing action.
What is troubling to me is that, when I (and my church), publicly announce that we will not accept GLBTQI behavior, the response is that they now shame us. We are now evil and unnatural, and they shun us.
While this may be a natural reaction, and justifiable, it is not productive. Instead of accepting our efforts to include and recognize legitimate complaints, they choose to do unto us what harm we have done to them. And so the cycle continues.
Recent events have left me troubled, as I have witnessed the once-oppressed becoming the oppressors. In the past, gay men were shamed by society and church. They were told their behavior was wrong and evil and they were excluded (and worse) from participating in mainstream society.
Now, LGBTQI people have spoken out against their mistreatment. This is good. I celebrate this healing action.
What is troubling to me is that, when I (and my church), publicly announce that we will not accept GLBTQI behavior, the response is that they now shame us. We are now evil and unnatural, and they shun us.
While this may be a natural reaction, and justifiable, it is not productive. Instead of accepting our efforts to include and recognize legitimate complaints, they choose to do unto us what harm we have done to them. And so the cycle continues.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
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