53. Egoscue Works For Me

Today marks two years that I have gone to an Egoscue clinic—and two years that I have done their exercises and positions 5-6 days a week. Before I discovered Egoscue I had had a knee surgeon tell me that I needed double knee replacement. I even scheduled that surgery. My left knee was bent considerably and my right knee was starting to bend. I was limping badly and using a cane.

However before the orientation session at the hospital, a friend told me about the book Pain Free—A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain by Pete Egoscue with Roger Gittines. It is applicable to much more than knees and worth reading. I found a clinic in Purchase, New York and started going once a week, accompanied by my daughter Debra. I now go every six weeks and have skipped both winters, maintaining my practice by myself.

Results: no need for knee replacements; right knee is quite straight now; left knee is getting straight; much of the time I walk normally; I still use a cane but mostly for stability.

I have finally—finally—finally learned the pleasures of moving, of good posture, of good alignment. I have finally (said three times) learned the discipline of daily exercise. For the past year as soon as I get out of bed, I do ten minutes of ten exercises which vary through the week. Later in the day I do forty minutes of an Egoscue menu. I have learned that it is never too late to change my ways and in this instance it has had exciting results.

52. Pitch Your Tent

I mentioned in #13 having a couple of years when I went to the national Clown, Mime, Puppet, and Dance Conferences. I heard the following story at one of those events. And it is true.

There was an Episcopal bishop in Wisconsin. He was invited to a national symposium on hunger and it was being held at a very posh retreat center in Westchester County in New York State. It felt like a real dilemma to him. He wanted to be at the symposium. He wanted the opportunity to have input on the issue of world hunger. But he also felt that there was something inconsistent about holding the event at such a posh center and he didn’t want to participate in that. He spent some time with the problem and decided how he could turn it upside down.

He registered for the symposium. He went and participated fully. He did not register for a room there. Instead he took a tent and camped out on the grounds of the center, as a visible reminder to everyone and to himself of the inconsistency.

I love it when something can be acted out to show the concept in a physical way. In my estimation this is also a good example of non-violent resistance.

51. I Can’t Make You Be Mad

Have you ever said to someone, “You make me SO mad!” Years ago I learned that that’s just not true. Because my reaction to someone else is my decision. I decide to react in a certain way and I can change that reaction whenever I want to.

The reverse is also true: I can’t make someone else mad. They make the decision to be angry.

Now I struggle with this but I do believe that it is true. And I believe that I can spare myself times of anger and frustration by assuming the responsibility for my reactions. Someone else doesn’t do it. I do.

And of course, I wrote a song that says it:

—

I can’t make you be mad,

You can’t make me be sad,

You don’t have the power,

I get to decide how I feel.

—

One day sittin’ at home I got so blue I said

It’s your fault I’m feeling this way,

You make me feel so low—Not true!

—

Atmosphere dark, the house full of stark depression

Will I join it, what else can I do

No power to act on my own—Not true!

—

You are responsible; I couldn’t help it

I was pulled; you made me feel that way

You’re responsible. I couldn’t do anything else—Not true!

—

I can’t make you be mad,

You can’t make me be sad,

You don’t have the power,

I get to decide how I feel.

—

© Copyright 1976 Ann Freeman Price

50. Celebrate!

I have friends who know how to celebrate. For over forty years I have watched their whole family celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, highschool graduations, special times. And as they celebrate, they are acknowledging as a family that each person deserves recognition. They are the Dannhausers and just recently they held a blast as Jamie reached the age of 50. I love it.

I somehow think that although they have tended to do big parties, the same thing can be done on a smaller scale and that the important thing is the recognition—as we say to each other in our families “YOU are special.”

Keep doing it Dannhausers. I’ve learned from you and am ready to plan the celebration.

49. I Can Do One Thing for Peace

I write this on August 6th, the day of the bombing of Hiroshima, and I remind myself each year that it is up to me to work for peace. Some years ago when I lived in Nyack, NY I went to the Fellowship of Reconciliation to hear several hibakusha speak. These are the people who survived those bombings. And just recently a Mrs. Noto who was a little girl at the time came to the Sparta United Methodist Church to speak.

On both occasions I felt grief that we had done it; sorrow that these persons have had to live with it the rest of their lives; and agreement with their message: Never again.

I wrote:

One Thing for Peace

Chorus:

I can do one thing for peace today

In the very middle of my life,

I can do one thing for peace today

For I know peace is the way.

—–

Sometimes I get discouraged

Because I’m only one,

But then I remember

That that’s how peace is done—-one by one.

—–

Everything I do isn’t going to be dramatic

Everything I do won’t be profound,

Some things I do will be quite simple

And they’ll have a peaceful sound—peaceful sound.

—–

Help me to live peace, Help me to give peace

To everyone I meet throughout my day,

Help me to search for peace, Help me to work for peace

In my house, my town, my land, my world.

—–

My life is pretty complicated,

Every time I walk through the door,

But I hear that voice clearly saying,

“You can do one thing more to make peace.”

—–

I can do one thing for peace today

In the very middle of my life

I can do one thing for peace today

For I know peace is the way.

© Words and Music Copyright 2004 Ann Freeman Price

48. Yogi Berra Says

There’s a quote (among many) from Yogi Berra that says: If you come to a fork in the road, take it. Doesn’t it make it you smile? And yet, there’s wisdom there. Sometimes you come to a fork in the road and you can obsess about it—which is the best, which way should I go, will my life be different one way or the other. And I think I have tried to make good decisions at those crossroads.

But ultimately it’s good to know that you can “work it” either way—or you can take a third way—or you can branch out where there is no road. My most compelling story about this was the period in my life where I felt I was being called by God to ministry. I talked to a pastor—he discouraged me. I let it go and then a few years later talked to another pastor—she discouraged me.

I served an American Baptist Church for five or six years as a lay pastor and preached every Sunday and relished it. All the time I was in the ministry process in the United Methodist Church, went to Local Pastors School, and in 1998 was appointed to a United Methodist Church as a local pastor.

I still didn’t go to seminary. I did other kinds of courses. I did pastoral training at Blanton-Peale Institute, but ultimately in the year 2000 I retired. The experiences were rich. I loved planning worship. I delighted in preparing sermons (still do when I substitute). But I didn’t totally commit to that fork in the road, and it’s o.k.

It has been eye-opening for me to be a layperson most of my life, and then step over onto the other side of the fence and be a pastor for seven or eight years, and then step back into being a layperson again. It’s been good to have a glimpse of both sides.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it. So says Yogi Berra. And I would add: and “work it.”

47. Jesus Loves Me

I don’t remember it because I was so young, but my mother used to tell me that when I was two years old, I stood in front of the church and sang “Jesus Loves Me” all by myself. When I think of myself as a little girl and even a youth, I think that I was shy, so it is impressive to me that I would do this. It must have been before shy took over.

I’ve always loved the story behind “Jesus Loves Me.” It was written by Anna Warner. The Warner sisters, Anna and Susan, lived in New York City and their father bought Constitution Island in the Hudson River for a summer home. But following the panic of 1837, he lost a great deal, and suddenly the summer home became their only home. The two sisters decided to try to make money writing and this song was created by Anna to go in Susan’s novel, Say and Seal.

These sisters conducted Bible classes for fifty years for cadets. A boat brought the cadets from nearby West Point and I always imagined even the cadets singing this song with the two women.

The book Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns by Evelyn Bence reports that someone asked an older Karl Barth whether he could summarize the essence of his theological discoveries. He replied, “Jesus loves me! this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”

I’ve learned that it is true—that Jesus loves me always, even when I’m having a hard time loving myself. Probably then, more than ever, Jesus does love me.

46. Mystery Box

There are answers I will never have. There are things I may always wonder about and not know for sure. And most of the time that’s o.k. with me. At the Bible Study I have attended for the past nine years, I often refer to my mystery box. That’s where I put those things—the things that are not clear, the questions I have and can’t find the answers, the unexplainable, the puzzles.

The beauty of the Mystery Box for me is that I trust enough that all of these items can be there, that I can keep adding to the box, and that ultimately I may know the answers (or not) and my trust can let that be so. I don’t have to research. I don’t have to dig. I don’t have to torment myself. I can let it go—and trust.

45. A Wisdom Story

I can’t remember exactly where I got this story but it has been a powerful one for me and I am still trying to learn from it. There is a story of monks who lived in a monastery in the woods and their numbers were dwindling. People used to come to visit the monastery for the day, and they stopped coming. No young people were stepping up and saying, “We want to join this order.”

So the monks were concerned and they talked about and finally decided to send one of their number deeper into the words to the hermitage where it was said that a wise person lived. They selected a monk and he traveled deep into the forest. He came to the hermitage, the wise one was there and invited him in. He told this wise person the situation and said, “We want to know what you think we should do?”

And the wise one said, “I don’t know. I’m not sure what you should do or how you can revive your order.” It was quiet for a minute as the two of them sat together. But the the wise person added, “Just remember—one of you is the Christ.” Well the monk was confused and went back to the monastery. All of the other monks were waiting for him and eager to hear what the person in the hermitage had said. They all sat down together.

The monk who had made the journey told them that this wise one didn’t have a solution but that the conclusion of the visit was the wise person saying, “Remember—one of you is the Christ.” They didn’t know what to make of that and they went back to their routines and their work and study. But each of them was thinking.

One of them thought: Well it can’t be Gregory because he has a temper and he gets so angry…it can’t be him can it? But maybe…

And another monk thought: Well I’m sure it’s not Phillip because he dawdles and wastes time, but….maybe…

And the monk who had visited the wise person thought to himself: Well I just know that it’s not Jonathan, because sometimes he even skips services…but maybe…

And each of them took a breath and thought: It can’t be me…can it?

But gradually and sometimes rather quickly things started to change at the monastery because each of the monks was treating each of the other monks with respect and honor. Plus they were treating themselves with respect. And things were going smoothly and there was even laughter occasionally. And then visitors started to come and they came back for another day and said, “It’s wonderful here. There’s something that is changing and it feels so good that we want to return over and over again.” And then—some young people said, “We want to join your order—we want to be a part of what’s happening here.”

And that’s the story. My struggle is to see the Christ in each person and in myself. Some days I can see it.

35. You Reap What You Sow

In 2nd Corinthians 9:6, it says: The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

The grandchild story that illustrates that for me is when Zack and I were driving along a strip mall. We had already shopped but he saw a store where he wanted something and asked if we could stop and I said, “No—we’ve done our stopping, and now we’re heading home.” He looked at me and said in an angry seven year-old voice, “I hate you.” I looked at him and smiled and said, “You know, I would never ever say that to you.” He looked at me, thought for a minute, softened and said, “You’re right—you never would—I take it back.”

I sowed something there that worked.

Try out this song—it’s the same message and you sing it to the folk tune “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain When She Comes.”

—–

Plant tomatoes and you harvest some tomatoes,

Plant tomatoes and you harvest some tomatoes,

Plant some anger or a smile, Plant some good deeds all the while,

And at harvest time, just see what you will reap.

—–

Plant zucchini, harvest lots of good zucchini,

Plant zucchini, harvest lots of good zucchini,

Plant some bad words in your living, Plant some taking and some giving,

And at harvest time, just see what you will reap.

—–

Plant sunflowers, harvest lots of tall sunflowers,

Plant sunflowers, harvest lots of tall sunflowers,

If you plant some fighting ways, If you plant some peaceful days,

Then at harvest time, just see what you will reap.

© Copyright 2007 Ann Freeman Price