Is it worth the risk? Sharing the "black dog"

I started the blog with my recovery from surgery and my quest to change somethings to have a better shot at health. With walking all of my health numbers improved. The one thing that developed was insomnea that I was not prepared to deal with. In two years the conflicts with sleep put me in a dark hole. 

Getting a grip on a healthy fight against the diseases that kill us is something we all can identify

with. But the black dog sneaks up and bites and holds on.

The cool thing is health can return with a little help. I can share with you how I came to fight back but it is also cool to share with you what it is like to have anxiety and depression in remission. I hope you have read about people who fought cancer and the cancer went into remission. Then there are those who had a heart attack and had there arteries unblocked and got back to their lives. Then there are those who got diabetes and made changes and got their sugar under control.

With these things people have been touched with disease and were shakened. I think there is a sense of what remission means, a second chance, wind, bouncing back. Not cured but able to get back into life, dinged but feeling good. 

What does it feel like to sleep? What does it feel like to not have panic attacks? What does it feel like to understand PTSD and not let irrational feelings to control you? It feels great! 

I opened up about these things in hope it would help me understand myself. I opened up about what happens when the brain has a problem. I knew there was a risk of people withdrawing from me. People have, but not everybody. Some of you may read this post. The marvelous brain, the little gray cells, the place of thought and will, the center that runs our bodies. Everything that I have experienced and learned really fasinates me. I think that fasination has helped me as well. 

Aging can be scary and we only do it once. At my age 25% of us can be battling with depression. Some are already battling dementia. Others are paying the piper with alcohol and drug use that has come to roost. Scary and frustrating, but I know there is hope. With lots of help and support the ole boy recovered. Yep, I feel fine. Keep walking

Putting the puzzle together

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;” a wonderful line from Shakespeare's King Henry speech. I will close this blog with another wonderful line from that speech. If you are a Star Trek fan in Star Trek VI the Klingon general calls Capt. Kirk to

Putting the puzzle together

war again with that line.

One of the discoveries that I've made since writing the blog is how many times I have renewed my effort towards some health goal. It is humbling to report how difficult it is to put it altogether. There are many stories of people losing a lot of weight, reaching some fitness goal and making a real statement of success and how they did it. Their effort is validated and their credibility is substantial. And then there is me, whoa is me.

Was it John Lennon who said something like, “Life happens when you're planning something else.” My quest for being healthy started 8 years ago. Within the first two years I was able to lose close to 70 pounds. At that point I begin to write the blog to share what I've learned. But then a series of events occurred based on an insomnia that I have been facing which lead to an depression.

At this point, I was beginning to realize health has many layers. Living through my recovery has given me many insights. With retirement, came a couple injuries which took the walking out as I healed. Along the way it became apparent added it to equation was aging. Healing and recovery and making progress slows down a bit. Forrest Gump would tell us with great wisdom, “xxxx happens”. Which is in its own way has become a theme throughout the fat Man blog. I cannot tell you with great assurance that my route to health is no quick fix plan.

We have all had our favorinte shows like Monk which ran for eight years. The character lives on in novels and I hope will be returned with good stories for movies. For some successful shows like Monk they are able to resolve the story and have a good final season.

When does a blog end? For readers it can end anytime they choose. For the writer I think a blog can move along or when the writer is no longer interested. One of my goals with the blog is to become better writer. Another one is to encourage people when they're ready to look at their health. It can be pretty discouraging to be overweight, have a chronic health problem, and to look at health from an aging point of view.

From the start I have looked at our enemies, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In partnership with these diseases are many other issues like dementia, depression and anxiety which can put a gray dark view on aging. There is a goal of healthy aging and lifestyle changes that help us with our enemies. It is wonderful to have a blog that touches all of us regardless of our political, religious, philosophical points of view.

This brings me back to the opening on this blog, a personal call to myself to put the things together where there is a successful outcome. I realize it is a day by day personal decision to do things that are good for you like eating less, moving more, finding simple purpose each day. With God's help I want to take in the life that happens with both its blessings and trials. One thing that I like about the blog is that I'm still here.

From King Henry's speech comes another wonderful line. “The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’” 

Keep walking

It's Greek to me!

yes, Study Greek comfortably

Studies have shown that learning a language is good for the older brain. Any kind of new learning builds new connections and physically keeps our brains growing. Why learning the language? Maybe you're planning the trip to a country and would like to learn the basic travel words. As you return today country you can have basic Conversations in order off the menu. Maybe you have met new friends. Each time you get a new opportunity to build your vocabulary and experiencing their language.

Why do I want to learn koine Greek? It is an old language. We would have a similar experience trying to learn the English of Bede or Chaucer. My focus in particular is the New Testament. There are 5437 Greek words in the New Testament. If I learn 330 of them I will know 80% of the vocabulary in the New Testament. I am going to embark on a two-year study to be able to read koine Greek in the Bible it is increasingly easy way. 

I studied Greek in college but it was hard for me. Over the years I've visited my Greek New Testament and was familiar with word studies. I used to the Discovery Bible based on a New American Standard Bible to pick up insights of what the Greek emphasize and showed grammatically. Studying the Bible in our native language is by far the best thing we can do. It is the language we think of. 

I was always fascinated with how bilingual people can think in two languages. Have the ability to converse in either language shows how the brain switches gears. I had a similar experience a few years back. I answered the telephone and one of the teachers I work with in Liberia, John who earned a doctorate in Minnesota is on the phone. As he was talking to me in Liberian English I was lost for a  couple sentences. I couldn't pick up his thoughts. Then as he was speaking, my brain hit a switch and returned to time when I lived in Liberia and spoke and heard the language John was speaking. Now the words were clear and I too speaking in Liberian, full of new accents, new endings and unique words. 

Learning a language today there is so much opportunity. There are programs, classes, and support to learn these things right from your computer, phone or pad. 

Aprender un idioma hoy en día hay tantas oportunidades. Hay programas, clases, y apoyo para aprender estas cosas desde su computadora, teléfono o almohadilla.

We are able to translate instantly on our computer. When I write a blog there are people who can read this in their own languages with a touch of a button. From your phone it is possible to carry on a conversation with someone you meet overseas. With speech recognition you literally can talk into your device and it will translated in another language. Your new contact could reply in their language and it instantly translate into yours. These programs are only going to get better and soon we will be able to talk back and forth with universal translators via Star Trek. 

I picked up two classes from the Internet to help me make a better transition  into reading the New Testament in Greek. These classes will be part of a two-year process that I hope helps me reach my goal. Essentially they are the first year Greek class. But in the second year I will continue my course of study into intermediate Greek. Every day I will practice reading for my Greek New Testament and I will try to learn as many of those 5437 words that I need to learn. 

I can feel my brain growing. Yes losing my old memories but I can make new ones.

Resourses:

http://www.dts.edu/itunesu/?utm_source=Wayne+Stiles+Blog&utm_campaign=d6497a5023-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5916b51b76-d6497a5023-41497173&mc_cid=d6497a5023&mc_eid=3d6339e09e

https://www.teknia.com/classes

Keep walking