Lost Awareness: But you don't look ....

What don't I look?

Sick? Homeless? Previously Homeless? Hungry? Tired? Old? Young? Healthy? Rich? Poor? Helpless? Hardy? Mad? In Pain? Anxious? Depressed? Impressed? Fatigued? Perfect? Imperfect?

Or is it something else "I don't look ..." ?

Question. Challenge. Think for yourself.

My job is to challenge things.

It's all our jobs.

It's a part of life.

Some of us challenge things that are more obvious than others.

In a sense we are all Hamlet.

"To be, or not to be."

Are you roused to be who you are or do you evade yourself?

In the dark and light that is my mind, I hear Yoda "... do or do not. There is no try."

I depart from the First quarto, and move straight to our modern day version of the discourse;

"Whether 'tis nobler in mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them."

Is it true spirit to use negative coping strategies as a familiar and reliable way to protect oneself from all the stuff life has to throw at you?

Can you be shocked from your unthinking acceptance of what you have been taught? Is it a virtue to sit back and leave it to whatever Heaven you imagine to settle things?

Or is it true spirit to take action, to the best of your ability -- to move from insistence, empathy, passion and heart ...

... to challenge

"To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub"

Do you sleep? (Live by what others say, unexamined? unchallenged?)

Perchance to dream (Accepting others terms, unquestioned, the pablum that is fed to the masses to keep them under control -- manipulated?)

Can the Heaven you subscribe to have created humans as thinking creatures and yet have issued an edict of "Oh wait, don't use those minds of yours"?

Aye, that is an obstacle, isn't it?

To be or not to be, my friends. That IS the question.

And how you answer it affects your life twenty-fold.

Don't look at things the way I do.

Get out there and question.

Question what you see.
Question what you hear.
Question what you smell.
Question what you feel.
Question what you sense.

Question.

Find answers that resonate within the core of your being.

You make a difference.

Never believe otherwise. And by all means, question what I just said.

I believe. I question. Previously, I spent 55 years thinking I didn't make a difference -- it's what I was taught. I acquiesced -- it was a matter of survival.

I am now 56 and 1/2 years alive.

And I don't look like a lot of things.

Do you know who I am?

More importantly do you know who you are?

We have all suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.

I challenge you ...

Do or do not. What is it "to be"?

Your age does not stop you, your health does not stop you, your poverty or wealth does not stop you.

You affect everyone in your life. Whether that's one person (yourself) or myriad (your friends or enemies) -- YOU AFFECT everyone in your life.

No matter how you look, no matter what your personal life has for slings and arrows.

I cannot in good conscience close this blogpost without giving you some information to question and research.

I have spoken in generalities above, because I see the patterns in many things.

However, there are numerous of us that deal with what are called "invisible illnesses" during our days and nights, and that I can give you concrete information on.

The list below is specific to people wanting to know more about invisible illnesses.

It is NOT comprehensive, nor all-inclusive. It IS a start to help you ASK QUESTIONS.

Personally, I run into a few folks now and again who don't understand why I need to rest so much, sometimes for hours, sometimes for a few days. I don't know either, I have no concrete diagnoses for anything. I've been told my fatigue is mental. With those folks I like to share The Spoon Theory, even though I do not have lupus -- because I resonate with what Christine says, and if I choose to dedicate time to you, know that you are one of my spoons.

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino