THIS IS MY LIFE
Monday, 3/4/2002
Copyright (c) 2002, Michael Dickerson. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction or quotation is strictly prohibited without
permission.

How ya doin�? ~

Have you seen the commercial that revolves around that line? It takes place in a bar, and I don�t have any idea what it�s advertising. (See how effective commercials are with me?) There�s a guy in a hat who repeatedly tells people what�s been going on in his life every time someone asks him that.

Just like me, huh?

So, I�m going to catch you up to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics (which I�ve already written about, you may recall, and, if you don�t, then you may not be reading these � or else you have some kind of short-term memory loss, which, in my family with our history would set me off wondering about Alzheimer�s). Then I�ll catch you up to current in my next letter. After that comes my big change of plans. I�m going to write a little nearly every day instead of writing more less often. We�ll see how long that works for me.

Wow. Synchronicity. As I�m writing this I�m watching 7th Heaven. Simon just said to Lucy that some day a guy would just show up in her life that would be the right one for her. The implication was that it could be any time. That�s almost exactly what Barbara said to me last time I saw her. And besides, Matt just got married on his first date with a woman whose name I haven�t even learned yet.

And his new wife is Jewish, which reminds me of something I�ve been thinking about a lot lately. Have I ever told you that I�m especially attracted for some reason to women who are different than I am? In ways other than the immediately obvious one, I mean. Jewish women, Asian women, Hispanic women, African-American women, etc., I mean. Of course, maybe it�s just that I find women of all kinds attractive. But, still, it�s odd to me how often I feel attracted to non-WASPy women. Given that Anglos are a minority here in Santa Fe, I guess that�s fortunate.

Interesting fact: In Santa Fe they talk about it being a tri-cultural city � the Anglos, the Hispanics, and the Native Americans. The interesting fact is that Anglo, as the term is used here, includes everyone who isn�t either Hispanic or Native American. That means that WASPs, Jews, African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Martians are all considered Anglos.

But, I�m digressing.

I suppose you know this from other things I�ve written, but almost as soon as I arrived in Santa Fe (the second time) in December, I started having health problems. They reached their peak during the holidays. Nice way to spend the holidays, huh, going back and forth between the ER and bed and getting close to feeling ready to die? On top of the problems with my prostate, I nearly completely stopped eating. I�m sure that contributed to my overall lack of health.

Several people suggested to me that maybe my health issues have been symptomatic of spiritual issues on a grander level. I�ve learned that I�m only one of a number of people who�ve been called somewhere and then have experienced exactly the kind of crisis I�m experiencing once they got there. One person suggested that maybe it�s a form of spiritual initiation. (Will I stop following Spirit without hesitation and give in to ego-mind, that is, to fear? Or will I stay the course and remain committed to my service to Spirit no matter what?) Another suggested that maybe we�re taking on the negative energy of the world to process it through love and light and to transform it. I like both of those explanations, so I choose to assume that they�re true.

Anyway, I had the �pleasure� of dealing with the allopathic medical system quite frequently and intimately for several weeks. I accept that it has its place in health care. Western medicine is great for mechanical issues � like setting broken bones, suturing wounds, and dealing with the consequences of an enlarged prostate. I�m grateful for those things � beyond grateful for their dealing with the consequences of an enlarged prostate, in fact.

But, in my opinion, it isn�t all that great when it comes to healing and maintaining health. That�s where I turn to holistic, energetic, Oriental, homeopathic, naturopathic, and spiritual approaches. I was amazed at how negative some of the people I encountered in the hospital were. All they could imagine was surgery. They even nearly convinced me � but not quite.

And now the blood test tells me that maybe I have cancer. What does that mean to the Western medical mind? It means radiation, chemotherapy, and/or surgery. No. That isn�t my path. I choose to go in another direction.

I�ve had intuitive inklings about what I�m experiencing � that I�m allergic to something that contributed to this, that my balance was so off because of my moving and not getting the nutrition and supplements that I need that it came out this way, and that the infection in my tooth was related to the enlargement of my prostate. The Western medical people scoffed at those notions. I think they�re true.

Interestingly enough, writing this has opened something in me, a doorway of knowing, I�ll call it. I know that I�m on my right path. I know that I�m doing what�s in my highest interests, what I�m being called to by Spirit. It�s becoming such a familiar thing for me to go in a different direction than the one that most of America believes in. Here I go again.

Now I just need the money to follow my alternative path.

So, I spent January and February recovering. At least I could see myself getting better. Every day I�d be a little stronger and have a little more endurance. In the beginning, getting up and taking a shower would be enough to wear me out, and I�d have to go back to bed. Now I�m nearly back to my normal level of energy, and I�m not sleeping much more than I did before I got sick.

During the times when I could get myself up and moving, I put most of my energy into starting to get settled in here. I haven�t completed it yet by any means, though. Most of my books (and lots of other things) are still in boxes, and my shelves aren�t even assembled yet. I�ve already gone through several episodes of trying to find something that�s packed in some box somewhere.

Somewhere along the line (in November, I think it was), I wrote an e-mail to the head of the Unity Santa Fe labyrinth team about publicizing the labyrinth and organizing an event to celebrate its completion. That led to my being invited in January to join the Labyrinth Resource Group (LRG), which is the area group promoting labyrinths. They�re planning a big celebration in August with Lauren Artress and Jeff Saward, a couple of internationally known experts on labyrinths. I joined, but couldn�t make it to the first meeting because of my health. I did make it to the second one, but that�s getting ahead of myself. That was the day after the closing ceremonies.

So, imagine the flame going out, the light being passed to the girl from Italy, and the athletes mingling on the field. We�ve reached the end of this edition.

Namaste,
Michael

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ABOUT THIS IS MY LIFE
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This Is My Life is my letters to my family, friends, and whoever
else may be interested about whatever is meaningful to me in
my life. I don't guarantee anything about content or frequency.
The letters will be whatever they turn out to be. If you want
the best option available for keeping up with what�s happening
with me, though, this is it.

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