An Apple a Day

Until I had a stroke on July 8, 2019, I strongly believed the adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

For me an “apple” was analogous to a variety of health-inducing activities:

--being a vegetarian; for over 25 years Christine and I had been enjoying only strictly vegetarian meals.

--being in a loving relationship.  Christine and I recently celebrated our 30^th Anniversary on May 20, 2019.

--relishing my conversations with my son, Stephen, now 50, who calls once a day from his home in Colorado.

--walking for 30 minutes each day through the seasons; for me this was an attempt to sustain an athletic body that had for 8 years in Three Rivers High School in Michigan and Kalamazoo College very successfully run the high and low hurdles and the quarter mile; played football as a fullback and linebacker, ending up as an All-Conference Defensive End as Co-Captain of a undefeated team my senior year in college.

--running the  Chicago Marathon (26.2 miles) in the fall of 1978, at the age of 37, in 3 hours and 36 minutes, an 8 minute per mile pace. (I am so grateful that Stephen at age 9 was there to watch me run the race.)

--living a spiritual life.  Christine and I came across A Course in Miracles in the fall of 1986, and we have been bringing the principles into application ever since.  Miraculously, we crossed the threshold of Endeavor Academy in the Wisconsin Dells on August 7, 1997, (22 years ago today)  experiencing the privilege of learning from an enlightened being, The Master Teacher.

--being with like-minded friends.  We still live in the Dells, enjoying our friends, particularly watching Mooji videos together a couple of times a week.

--starting each day, reading a Lesson from the Course, beginning with Lesson 1 on January 1, and then reading such texts as “God Calling,” “Jesus Calling,” “From The Christ Mind,” scribed by Darrell Price, “A Course of Love,” “The Jesus Trilogy,” scribed by Gina Lake, and so forth.

Now, I know, (and notice how powerful the word “know” is, containing the word “now,”) that an apple a day may not keep the doctor away, knowing that I could be a heartbeat away from a physical trauma, and yet I am going to passionately “love them there apples.”

 
Very often during the day,

I sit quietly and consciously breathing in and breathing out,

remembering that the Latin root of

spirit” is spirare,

meaning “to breathe,”  

breathing in The Holy Spirit,

the breath of God,

and in that moment I AM present,

thoughts come and go like clouds,

and I AM so grateful for each passing moment,

savoring my meals,

enjoying being with Christine,

talking with Stephen,

walking, carrying a cane,

not using it,

loving the Course,

hanging out with our friends,

and reading the spiritual books on my Kindle.

For me, now, these activities have nothing to do with prevention; they have everything to do with living life with a grateful heart, and a smile on my face, and each time I greet a friend, I say to myself, “Namaste.”