Like many other people living with a lifelong condition I try to give my body as easy a time as possible – do the sorts of things that, in our heart of hearts, we all know our lives may be easier if we did them. But coming from good, sturdy northern European stock it goes against the grain to deprive oneself of ‘joy enablers’.
‘I’ve been working hard all week – I’ve earned this extra drink/bar of chocolate/ice cream/curry/bucket of southern fried chicken skin/bucket of ice cream/4 fingers/bottles/crates of favourite liquor’ (name your particular poison)
Thing is: it’s more than hard to rewire the thought processes/coping mechanisms that lead you to reach for the ‘one last...’ the difficulty comes from the need to keep a ‘constant vigil’ over one’s actions. Mindfulness: it seems we’re encouraged to believe is an eastern trait and not something for hearty anglo saxon stock to concern themselves with. In fact, if folk do employ mindfulness in their daily life we eye them with a certain amount of suspicion. I’m curious as to why should be, even whether it actually is (rather than just being a product of my hungover/fevered brain in this oppressively close summer heat. Awareness isn't a dirty word.
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/little_street.html I find vermeer paintings can encourage a stillness in me when i look into them. For a moment I can switch off whatever else is going on around me.
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