“Life is waiting for you to live it – your way. “Live” is a verb; it means to take action and that’s he point.” This is from Mike Dooley.

Walking with a cane since my mild stroke in May 2012 hasn’t given me permission to live a reclusive life. Once a week, though grudgingly I have to climb the stairs in the mall to go to mass at the chapel. On other days I have to climb the stairs to access the room where I get a massage from the blind. It’s as though the universe conspires to make me walk.

In the condo, I get my minimum daily exercise by throwing our trash into the garbage room and walking back to our unit. I usually experiment by varying the kind of steps I take to train my weak lft leg to carry the weight of my body.

The book “Urban Shaman” says: “Under the right stimulation – internal or external, mental or physical – the movement occurs and the memory is released.”

To explain: “experiential or learned memory is stored at one or more of many muscular levels.” I have regularly checked on my thoughts if only to discover what pay offs I may have stored in my memory for my not being able to walk normally. I keep on coaxing myself to reveal self sabotaging thoughts. More often now I do a lot of compassionate self-talk.

I have had acupuncture sessions which did me a lot of good. But then I developed high anxiety in anticipation of the insertion of at least 15 needles. I’m trying to convince myself to give acupuncture another chance.