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Living Positive

In preparation for Rabbit Box in September, I began this piece, but was informed Living Positive is for those living with HIV.  Thankfully, I'm not dealing with that and my plight is simply street life.  But, if you can, imagine life as a BLUR, a scatter brained existence to the point where you can't even sit down and fold a basket of clothes because something would distract you and you spend your whole life bouncing around like a rubber ball stuck in a room; not getting anywhere, but constantly moving from one thing to the next and never getting anything done, then you can understand the debilitating affect of brain circuitry filled with shorts.

It's difficult, at best, to Live Positive, even without HIV.  From a horrible, undiagnosed case of ADD, environmental allergies, antihistamines, alcohol, and the Bible, you can imagine how much a muddled up mess I was.  I lived in a state of mind one could call Spaghetti City.

Now, living positive is something I've only learned to do really in the last year, though it took hold over the last ten years, the full effect was not until recently.  I still fall off the Lily Pad occasionally, but I generally stay on these days.  Ribbit.

Having always been politically oriented in a big picture kind of way, this past presidential election created fear among the masses in many ways, including the threat of nuclear war, which leads one to think of the end of the world.

I have meditated for years on these nine things: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, my Lily Pad, but not nearly as intensely as I did during the first year of this presidency. It became crystal clear that things were beyond my control and whereas I had always held a lingering fear of death, that burden was lifted and I arrived at a place of serenity.

Though I have always been an unorthodox person of faith, not having much faith in religious institutions, or our political system, I was not living positively. It was living in constant fear and turmoil, with the promise of heaven, and the threat of hell.  Life was truly a living hell, and then I'd have a violent allergy attack, ever since I was seven years old...

I have a Jewish Uncle.  He's an Atheist, but I told him the other day, I lost everything, while I gained my sanity. It took, losing everything in order for me to begin to see clearly and not feel like a mad man as I did for so many years.  He said, "That says a lot".

And, then there is SU DO KU, probably one of the most overlooked solutions to so many of our mental health problems... My Jewish Uncle, the Atheist, has helped me refine my skills at solving the puzzles made of 81 squares where undivided attention and the ability to sit still becomes it's greatest lessons.

There are millions of people on prescription medications these days, and some end up dead because of it.  Personally, I've lost two people I know of to these drugs that are supposed to help.  One was to suicide and the other was due to a lethal mix, a prescription drug cocktail.

Religion is probably the leading cause on the planet of mental illness.  The second leading cause... Is the lack thereof.  Life is just that way.  For many of us, it is our primary daily challenge to remain calm and focused.

Therefore, having learned this for myself, I want to share it with others.  So, I approached the people at the Thomas Lay Recreational Center about teaching a course in SU DO KU.  At first many people are intimidated by them, thinking it's math, but it's not!  It's order.  Order, being born out from disorder is probably the greatest victory one can achieve.

If you agree, please share this with a friend and LIKE the Facebook page Sudoku Therapy by clicking on the link here: https://www.facebook.com/sudokutherapy/

Mahalo

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