Chiropractic

I went to a new chiropractor today. He asked me if I would believe him that my headaches could be coming from a problem in my feet. I laughed and said, "Yes." I now have tape around my feet that I'm supposed to keep on for 3 days and "see how my headaches are."

Some might think this sounds crazy, but hey, I prefer unusual hypotheses that actually explain something to doctors who just say, "Well, I have no idea why you get headaches all of the time, but here's a pill that we don't know why it works but it works for most people. Oh, and by the way, it sometimes interferes with people's mental functioning."

Who knows. Maybe the foot thing won't be the answer. Maybe this chiropractor will decide that my headaches aren't due to structural problems, and maybe I'll be left taking the mystery pill that I believe gives me concentration, attention, and word-finding problems. But I'd really prefer getting to the root of the problem if at all possible. And taping my feet seems like as good a place to start as any.

An Unrecognized Minority and Playing the Song of Life

So I finally bought the book The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney. I've only read the prelude and overture, but I can already tell it's going to be a favorite. Why? Because it will speak in plain language many things that I have felt and experienced my entire life but have been unable to express or articulate even to myself much less to others.

In the prelude, the author speaks of experiences during her childhood that bring back so many memories for me. Getting up the courage to raise your hand in class when you finally have an articulate statement to make to bolster that participation grade only to find that when the teacher calls on you your mind goes blank. Always thinking of a million ideas, comments, observations, feelings, opinions to share an hour too late. Finding the well-versed thoughts in your mind stumbling out in incoherent sentences one moment and having others tell you that you are well-spoken and concise the next. And the author didn't state this specifically, but wondering why no one else seems to struggle with these same issues, as well. She does however, give an answer to why it seems that no one else has these struggles: 75% of the world is extroverted, she states.

I am of course curious how they determined that statistic, but it is easy for me to believe that the majority of at least the American population is extroverted. And that the introverts are even more difficult to notice because we live in an extroverted society. I'm curious if she will discuss the different orientations of cultures in this respect.

Anyway, I also wanted to comment that in the conclusion to her overture, she tells the reader that the book is to be "played with" just as life is meant to be played with. And having the predisposition to take myself too seriously, I appreciated this suggestion. Especially in light of my recent post of letting go. What is this life on earth if one cannot play with the possibilities and laugh off the clinkers? Clinker...I like that. I looked up synonyms for "failure," ha. Clinker is defined as "something that is unsatisfactory, of poor quality, or a failure; a wrong musical note." It's that last definition that grabbed me. Life is a song to be played, and sometimes we hit wrong notes. I fear I have been hitting one wrong note for several months now, and it's made my song sound rather dreadful. And I think it has everything to do with the fact that I forget that life is a song. I was listening to Caedmon's Call this week (their songs can always grab my heart) and this line really convicted me:

"Lord, when you listen for the song of my life, let it be, let it be a song so sweet..."

I want my life to be a sweet song to my Lord's ears. So I want to play with life, to take out the clinkers and create a beautiful melody as He leads me in the right key and rhythm.

Happy Valentine's Day

Only once have I even sort of had a valentine. My homecoming date junior year of high school took the occasion to announce his feelings for me and thus I had my first boyfriend. I still remember opening my locker and seeing the rose there. It had a card with it that read something like, "To the only one for me." I remember falling to my knees in a sudden moment of uncharacteristic drama (my locker was on the bottom row) while a voice in the back of my mind thought, "How can he say I'm the only one for him when he hardly knows me." We broke up long before the next V-day rolled around, and by then I was secretly in love with someone else. Unfortunately, that love didn't survive to see the next Valentine's either.

And while I do usually wish that I had someone to spend this special day of love with, I'm not one to wish the day away in the meantime. I'm a romantic. I love romance and romantic things. I love flowers and gifts and chocolate, seeing couples dressed up on a special evening out together, twilight and walks in the park. And those things are no less meant for me just because I don't have a boyfriend or a husband. I have love, and so I will celebrate it.

And I am thankful I have a papa who loves me and is taking me and my mama out for a valentine's dinner. =)

"Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love."
I Corinthians 13:13

Giving Up or Letting Go?

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." Thomas A. Edison

"Letting go doesn't mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be." Anonymous

One could drive oneself mad always trying "just one more time," no? Certainly there are some pursuits that should not be given up, but just as certainly there are others that were never meant to be sought so adamantly.

"When I'm tempted to do something that feels like giving up, I won't ... because love doesn't give up (I Corinthians, 13). But, lest I push love aside, I will make sure that what I'm holding on to can coexist with love." Jan Denise

I would go even further to say that sometimes we can hold onto things so tightly that we forget love. A thing that may coexist with love may also distract from love when pursued for itself instead of for love's sake.

I think I'm about to give up. I feel I have tried one time too many. Some define insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and I think giving up may be the key to releasing me from this insanity.

PS
I really enjoyed this quote so have to include it, as well, though unrelated:

"If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'" Epictetus

I keep checking my blog to see if I've written anything.

I guess I haven't, huh.

=P