What's with the title, anyway?

Today, I sit at home pondering the world and the many facets of karma, cosmic justice, happiness, and fate. And of course by that I mean lying in bed with an awful case of self-induced food poisoning. Lesson learned: never "improvise" when cooking meat using a new method.

So, since I'm currently unable to accomplish any homework (which this time requires research and handwriting), I'll dictate to my faithful computer the basis of my philosophies, then have some fun formatting. Or maybe just talk a little about what Taoism is. Or bemoan my current state of gastric affairs just entertain the both of us for a little while!

Anyway! Taoism. It's sometimes categorized as a religion, sometimes as a philosophy. I prefer to think of it as both, because while there are no god(s) and there is a particular flavor of thinking, Taoism also provides a model of life meant to bring happiness and well-being, which is really the stated goal at the core of most religions. Sure, the fathers of Taoism were a little quirky, but at least they skipped over all that business of bloodshed, testing their followers and blighting the earth when it was misbehaving. Taoists lack any built-in reason for religious conflict - there are no gods to agree with and back up man's causes, so ultimately we have to take responsibility for our own actions. Following the Tao is like following the Golden Rule - treat others the way you would like to be treated. Yeah, it's also kind of like the tree-hugging hippie preaching peace and love on the street-corner of Religion and Pessimism.

"Taoism is neither formal religion or structured philosophy." -Tao, Sacred Texts

Don't imagine I'm trying to sell you all on Taoism! It's not for everyone. Lots of people find it comforting to believe there's someone else controlling their lives. Sorry, Someone(s). Plus, the news reports would get way less interesting.

In all seriousness though, other religions are cool too. I'm not a religion-hater. The Egyptians gave us the pyramids and mummies for action/horror films; the Greeks gave us the words "narcissism" and "hubris," as well as Homer's "The Odyssey," and even Christianity inspires gifts and candy on holidays like Christmas, Easter and Halloween. Religions are supposed to make their followers happy; if they do that, they're fine by me. If they add in freebies for me too, all the better!

Let me tell you a story. Way back in grade school, I still went to Sunday school. Yes, my parents are Catholics, and happy about it. I don't understand it, but it's fine by me - they're pretty cool (I'm out of the teen years, so I can say that now). My particular Sunday school was... kind of intense, most of the time. More likely to focus on the blood and guilt aspects of the religion than the "love your fellow man" parts. I passed out once during their description of the stations of the cross, and I'm not usually squeamish; I've dissected living fish in a bio lab. When things didn't make sense to me, I asked questions... which made me a teacher's favorite! Not. ("But... why did god punish Lot? I thought he was a good guy! I get that the devil is bad, but god's supposed to be the smart one!" ...Looking back, I should really be thankful corporal punishment fell out of favor.) Sometimes they showed Veggie Tales instead of teaching, and sometimes there were donuts, so there were upsides! But this is where my view of Christianity as morbid started.

As it happens, my History class for the year was tasked with addressing the prickly topic of cultures - and by extension religions - around the world. I wasn't looking forward to it. As far as I was concerned, religion sucked; it was bloody and made people fight. But, as the year got started, then progressed, it wasn't so bad. Religions did some awesome things too. Like helping sway opinion in favor of emancipation during the civil war here in the US of A, and providing some of Gandhi's inspiration in his leadership of India's peaceful revolution (now there's an awesome guy. And a Hindu!). But I remember the religions of Asia most clearly - Confucianism, with its strict order and focus on proper relationships; the cynicism and underlying hope of Buddhism, and then, there was the Tao.

To learn about Taoism, we read "The Tao of Pooh." Great, a cartoon book, right? Wrong. A study of Taoist principles using Pooh - a happy, "go with the flow" kind of guy - as sometime co-narrator, sometime example. Think about it: who is the happiest character of the bunch? Well, that's easy - Pooh. But why? He gets into just as much trouble. He lives in the same place, has the same kinds of friends, leads the same kind of life. The answer is actually on the cover of the book, although you'd have to read it to understand:

"While Eeyore frets ... 

... and Piglet hesitates

... and Rabbit calculates 

... and Owl pontificates

...Pooh just is."

"No way," I'm thinking. "A religion that actually says all it takes to be happy is to be? No rules, no threats? Just live life simply, and try not to worry too much?" Yes way. A religion that is well known, popular quotes like "don't sweat the small stuff," "hang in there," and "take one step at a time." An honest-to-goodness, common sense religion. Wow.

I finished the book, wrote my paper, and went home and told my parents I was a Taoist. I think my mom had a "we're bad Christian parents" complex for a while, but she's all better now. I think the fact that I don't dance naked in moonlight and sacrifice small animals has a lot to do with that.

And that's it! My own personal revelation, the secret of my sanity in the face of illness and pain, and along with my discovery of spinning, the inspiration for this blog. There will be more fiber soon, I promise - three FO's, a bunch of yarn and more of one species of fiber than I know what to do with!

"Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; 

simplicity after understanding is simple." -Edward de Bono

A word on karma: While not a tenet of Taoism, the idea of karma is in keeping with Taoist teachings and philosophies. I find it to be true enough for myself and my life, and appreciate the idea that a current downswing will be followed by an equal upswing. I'm not a perfect Taoist, and can't interpret everything as positive, so the idea of karma is both comfortable and useful to me.


Disclaimer: I intend no offense to any religion, culture, race of people or nation. If asked, I can provide examples of stupid things I, or other Taoists, have done too.

Determination, aka Stubbornness

Well, it's been a while since my last update, so here's a quick summary: I had a lovely vacation with my family, moved into a beautiful third floor apartment in a 19th century home in the country, started a new diet for my health and settled into the '11/'12 school year!

The beach was beautiful. It rained a few days, but mostly at night, so there was plenty of beach time! And, I only burned once, which is great considering my sun tolerance. Or rather, lack of sun tolerance. I even had a rainbow beach umbrella and a straw sunhat with a tie under the chin, of which I gracefully decline to post a picture. I will, however, let you see a couple of the other shots I took!

The view from our room, the morning we arrived.

Morning sun over the beach.

Well, it IS a spinning blog...
If you look close, you can see my beautiful little Lark, always with me, even on the beach!

But, vacation can only last so long, and soon I was moving into my apartment to get ready for school. And my spinning came with me.

You know you're into spinning when your desk organizer has a drawer
just for sample skeins and Ravelry.com is your homepage...

Isn't it pretty? This is my Shaylee alpaca on the lark - it's what I was
spinning in the beach picture above.

And, not too long later, that alpaca has been navajo-plied and
made into this lovely winter hat. There are mittens in the works too, it'll be
my whole winter set!

Well, that's all well and good, I'm all moved in and settled, and all set to go pick up food and the other necessities for a new home - when I realize what an opportunity I've got here! There is no food at all in my pantry, so with just a little self control in the store, I can fill my shelves with only healthy foods. If there's no convenient unhealthy foods around, you can't fall into old, bad habits, right? Right!

So, my kitchen is now full of minimally processed, gluten free foods, olive oil, spices, organic fruits and veggies, free range eggs, real butter, and grass fed beef. There's also, well, a couple gluten free cookies. Because no-one's perfect, and every once in a while you just need a cookie as a reward for good behavior.  :)

The best part? I got the idea for a gluten free diet from a nutritionist online who has been able to cure things like diabetes, MS and depression just through diet. He also has a section on fibromyalgia. It's called "food as medicine," and for FM, he recommends a diet high in phytochemicals (found in organic plants), antioxidants, and healthy oils and protein, but without gluten, processed sugars or chemical additives. In case you've never tried it, this diet is very hard to get used to. But, fortunately for me, I'm incredibly stubborn!

So, it's been 5 weeks now, and I can feel the effects already. I have energy like I never would have believed. I don't ache in the morning, or even most of the rest of the day. Most important, I haven't needed painkillers in a month. This is huge for me. I just feel good. So of course I had to let everyone know about it! It turns out everyone could benefit from decreasing processed foods and gluten. Many people are mildly allergic to gluten and don't even know it; they just feel tired and discontent. I've got to hand it to the experts on this one; my doctor even told me that if this improvement holds, and I can stick to this diet, we could discuss decreasing or even stopping my FM drugs. My own little miracle.

My first home-cooked meal! Gluten free and unprocessed doesn't have to
be yucky or take forever. I add honey to everything.  :)

Finally, to round things out and ice my good-karma cake, I've decided that this school year will not be impacted by any manner of health problems. Sophomore and Junior years weren't the best due to the distraction of dealing with pain and medications, but things are getting better and I'm gonna prove to myself and everyone else (including the med schools to which I'm applying) that I am one kickass little firecracker. Because I so am.

Up Next: What's with the title, anyway?

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln