This picture to the right is me. Overweight, out-of-shape, and at the end of the road when it comes to my living in denial.
The battle lines have been drawn.
Monday evening I had my annual physical and blood
tests to get a better picture of my health challenges and what I am dealing
with. It turns out to be a good news/bad
news situation.
The good news: my esophagus is slowly healing due to
my adopting a plant-based diet. I still
have a way to go because the healing is taking place via food as medicine
rather than pharmaceutical assistance. I am okay with that!
The even better good news is that given my
The bad news is, my not taking my blood pressure and
blood sugar issues seriously two years ago, when I first started my practice,
has me now scrambling to get my “act” together before it is too late.
Here’s the challenge.
Challenge #1: My blood pressure is hovering at
dangerously high levels. I need to get even
stricter with my plant-based diet and remove even the “vegan junk food”
to lower sodium where possible. If I can’t get my blood pressure down via
nutrition, my doctor said we need to discuss medication. That is not an option
for me, so bring on the celery juice and daily transcendental meditation!
Challenge #2
I received a phone call on Wednesday afternoon from
my doctor’s office informing me that my A1C levels have moved from 6.5, which
diagnosed me as pre-diabetic two years ago, to 6.7 which has NOW classified me
as diabetic. Yes, I replaced worrying about the Big C last month, to worrying
about the Big D.
I returned to have my blood work retested to confirm
the A1C results and then I meet with the doctor on February 11th.
YIKES!! NO THANK YOU!
Talk about taking it to the Gohonzon…
I have my work cut out for me. Yet, I’m not
wallowing in sadness or fear. I don’t have time for it. When I got off the phone with my doctor’s
office, I recognized that NOW is the time to not just lean into my practice, I
MUST BATHE IN THE POWER OF MY FAITH to literally transform my mind & body
so that I reverse my diabetes and eliminate any trace of hypertension in my
blood.
My mantra for the next three
months is
“Wake
Up With Determination. Go To Bed With Satisfaction.”
It is not lost on me that my Gohonzon Birthdays seem
to be markers for major change in my life.
Last year when February rolled around, I learned my mother passed away.
This year, I approach February 25th with the knowledge that if I
want to be around for a third Gohonzon birthday, I need to radically revamp my
health.
As strange as it sounds, having gone through a few
months of fearing I have cancer, I had more than my fair share of shall we say “facing
my mortality” moments. I already decided last month, “I WANT TO LIVE”, so I
have no intention of being undone by these two challenges.
1. Chant
in front of my gohonzon “NAM MYOHO
RENGE KYO”
2. Do
my Trancendental Meditation
3. EXERCISE.
EXERCISE. EXERCISE
4. Eat
PLANTS ONLY
5. REBOOT
MY HEALTH
_____________________________________________________________________
Nichiren
Daishonin writes: I am . . .
praying as earnestly as though to produce fire from damp wood, or to obtain
water from parched ground” (WND-1, 444). _____________________________________________________________________
So, here I am. Unafraid. Ready for change.
I don’t feel alone in this. I have found inspiration
from Sensei left and right popping into my day, reminding me that I have the
power to achieve my goals as long as I “Never Give Up.”
_____________________________________________________________________
N
i c h i r e n Daishonin states in one of his writings: “Illness gives rise to
the resolve to attain the Way.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you, Universe, for guiding me to this Buddhist practice,
providing me the tools to connect with my Buddha-nature, and take action to
literally transform the health of my mind, body and spirit in 2019 so I can get
on with the business of LIVING MY DREAMS.
That said,Δ
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