obligations

We have a reception to attend this afternoon, in honour of the friend who passed away, a couple of weeks ago. Not looking forward to it, obviously.

I am also not looking forward to seeing her mum , not just because of the circumstances, but because her mum is totally insane. She is one of these people who love to stir people up and to utter controversial and inaccurate information; about anything, but now she can feast upon every detail, from her daughter’s last minutes to fabrications about the findings by the coroner.

I know it sound morbid but she loves morbid topics(it comes from her fear of her own mortality, obviously) and always upsets people.  My other friend from college called me to tell me about the phone conversation she had had earlier in the week with the mum; it was terrible, and upset my second friend dreadfully.

So I have instructed Harvey to simply greet her, but not to linger with her, and to mingle with the others instead.

Sad to have to orchestrate such events, but I KNOW what her mum is like and really hope that I am wrong about her expected behaviour.

We will hope for the best….

(and I have been going to Tai Chi often this week, in preparation; arming myself with relaxation!)

 

 

influence

I never think that I have a lot of influence on people; not because of any insecurity but because I know from many years experience that most people go their own way and think their own opinions are best, which is totally cool to me!

A friend at work  had taken Tai Chi(we were in the same class but didn’t know each other) about 20 years ago, and knew that I had gone back to it, and could see(I presume) how much it was helping me; both physically and mentally. I had urged her, about a year or so ago to take it again, as she was experiencing terrible pain and strife, both personally and in the work place. I knew it would be SO beneficial but obviously one cannot force someone..

Then I simply left the idea.

So imagine my surprise today when she suddenly said, “do you  think that you have any Tai Chi schedules that I could have, I am thinking of going back to it..”

My jaw dropped..

Tomorrow, there is a workshop for “beginners and beyond” which I am attending, and she says that she will go too!

Hooray!

Tai Chi and daily awareness

I am often fascinated when people tell me what they THINK others think of them.

It is a  very interesting subject and often quite revealing because what one ASSUMES others think is often totally off base.

I will take a co worker as an example.

She says,”I am loud, (interpreted as out spoken) but, “never mean”.

Now, when I met this lady, I thought that she was the meanest lady I had EVER met. I couldn’t seem to find a common ground with her, and almost dreaded working with her.

She seemed TOTALLY toxic.

(INTERESTING isn’t it)

Now that I have worked with her a while I think that PERHAPS what comes across as meanness is simply a result of her background and the way she translates her own language and thoughts in to English.

(she is an Eastern European native)

By the way this is  NOT related to  my cryptic post of a day or two ago.

Anyhow, she and I now seem to have found our common ground. I realise how difficult it is to express oneself in a language that is not ones by birth(even though she speaks FLUENTLY, her thoughts are evidently being influenced by her birth culture)

So now I think, how have I come across to others in the workplace, or indeed in my daily life. I THINK I used to be a lot less patient, and a lot mORE overbearing.

This has changed, not just because I am more self aware, but also from the wonderful influence of Tai Chi.

It has mellowed me, softened me, made me think and listen…not just to what is being SAID but to what is NOT being said(equally important)

Oh yes, and now I really like this person; she has had a tough life, yet under the tough exterior, is an individual well worth knowing…

been sick

I developed a rip roaring virus on Monday afternoon.

I went to my Tai Chi class where the instructor(also my TDM doc) told me to immendiately start  with the famous Yin Chiao(double the dose, and take it three times a day)

http://herbs4cure.com/yinchiao.htm

I did so and the rest of the week the Yin Chiao is ADMIRABLY fighting for me and preventing any COUGHING, FEVER or other nasties. I have to rest lots which is why no posts have been forthcoming.

It COULD the piggy flu; let me tell you that without the Yin Chiao I would undoubtably be on antibiotics. But my chest feels better already and NO COUGHING AT ALL which is quite frankly, INCREDIBLE.

So kiddies, pay attention; eastern medicine FREQUENTLY runs huge circles around our pathetic western attempts…

(PS it is totally gentle, no side effects and even has a relaxing effect which the poor beleagered body certainly needs!)

Dashing

Not as in a, “dashing young fellow”, but dashing as in rushing.

I am just about rush/ dash off to my Tai Chi class. This one is led by a very good instructor(who incidentally is a Acupuncturist/Traditional Chinese Medicine physician)

He seems very laid back but this is just a thin veneer as he is very intense about Tai Chi and is revered by the community.  The class is big because he is a favourite instructor which is easy to understand when you experience his kindness, compassion and great sense of humour.

He has mentioned that he might have to change the night he teaches, and we all hope that he can stay teaching on Mondays as most of us have organized our lives around this class!

It’s good to have a structured activity because, like it or not, most of us(and I mean ALL people) are pretty lazy about exercise and need that,”push”, to keep us going.