Sally mentioned to me that my 50th birthday is next week, and she asked what I thought about that. I felt that she was probably expecting my usual response, “Oh, it’s just another day,” so I decided to throw her a curve and said, “Wow, I cannot believe I have completed one-fourth of my life.” She looked at me with the kind of look only someone who has known you nearly half your life can give, and passing on what probably could have been a sharp, quick-witted response, she merely asked, “Would you really want to live to 200?”
With Parkinson’s, we are so consumed with the disease, we forget to live, we forget how to live, we forget what it feels like to “have a life.” This morning, I was reading a passage in Shunryu Suzuki’s, Not Always So, entitled Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha. In short, the Sun-Faced Buddha was said to live one thousand eight hundred years while the Moon-Faced Buddha was said to live one day and one night. The thing is, we do not know which one we are, or where it is in-between that we fall. Parkinson’s has a harsh way of removing us from the formula altogether…we stop “living.” Parkinson’s is in control, and we need to start living again to get control of our lives back from Parkinson’s.
So, how do we look beyond our Parkinson’s and start living again…in spite of our Parkinson’s. Think about this:
What if every time you go to the movies, you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if every time you go out to dinner, you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if every time you go to a ball game, you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if every time you go shopping, you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if every time you visit with friends, you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if every time you (fill in your own experiences), you say to your Parkinson’s, “I did this before you, you cannot stop me from living my life.”
What if your Parkinson’s sees you starting to get your life back and starting to live your life again. Maybe it will become discouraged. Maybe it will start to loosen it’s stronghold on you. Maybe it will start to lose it’s entire grip on you. Maybe it will let go of you altogether. Isn’t that what they call recovery?
All my best,
Howard
