February 19, 2017

The second of my post-therapy weeks is over.  For the most part it was, as promised, fairly rough.  However by today things are feeling much better.  All food and drink remains tasteless or provokes strange unpleasant tastes.  It's too early to expect any improvement in that and it may take up to a year to say how much taste returns.  I manage to mostly focus on what is coming back and not on what is still lost.

One day this last week was maybe the roughest day I've had and I even felt a little depressed.  Toward late afternoon of that day a realization dawned.  A piece of music I heard, a laugh I shared, the sight of late daylight falling on the trees over by the lake had all been moments of happiness regardless of the kind of day I was having.  In the commonplace book I started last year are the following entries.

"Our notions about happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form."  Thich Nhat Hanh

"Some people feel the rain.  Others just get wet."  Roger Miller (Frequently mistakenly attributed to Bob Marley)

I will probably continue my weekly updates for another couple of weeks.  After that I may discontinue posting.  If and when I quit I will say so in my last posting.