Cause and Effect

The sun is shining and it will likely be another quite hot day here in the Sierra Foothills but for now the interior of the house still has a chill from the night air and my world is peaceful. Neighbors atop the adjoining hill are doing something noisy and though I don't see them when I sit outside the back slider door sipping my mug of coffee I hear the clang of metal tools I suppose being dropped as they strike the concrete of the driveway that surrounds the front and this side of their house. I can't help thinking without their concrete surround of driveway and parking space how much less noise there'd be and wondering why the city folk who move out to the country feel the need to carpet the outdoors with cement. I wonder sometimes if the propensity for earthquakes in this part of the country hasn't arisen simply because humans have cemented so much of the earth and sealed air holes where the earth just can't breathe anymore and thus builds up gases from inability to exhale and eventually erupts in tremors and shaking in an attempt to simply survive like someone with a pillow being held to their face would struggle to avoid suffocation.

My mind has been taking thought trips pondering all manner of such cause and effect. I've also wondered, for instance, if the seeming abundance of folks suffering disabling pain from fibromyalgia in our generation isn't in part caused by rapid changes in communication and the preponderance of cell phone use and satellite television and radio - if the wireless communication age with constant and consistent transmissions through air waves isn't penetrating bodies of sensitive humans and rattling nerves and cells and causing otherwise inexplicable pain and trauma. And if somehow that were able to be proven to be the case - would we stop using our conveniences to alleviate another's pain? I know that may sound crazy to some but I've thought about and considered X-rays and CAT scan technology and how researchers have been able to stimulate muscle and nerve response in those with paralysis with electrical stimulation. Many attempt to limit exposure to chemicals via diet with organics and so called pure diet and I'm certain that is beneficial, but consider for a moment the harm is that pervasive and simply floating through air we breathe and water and not something we can filter. Or perhaps we've unleashed spirit energy that is assaulting rather than nourishing us. Hmmmmm...

I'm stunned sometimes at the number of people I hear express inability to sleep when sleep ought to come easily just by virtue of the fact they've drained their bodies mental and physical energy for a day. Physically, logically they should naturally slumber peacefully and yet the trigger for restful, restorative unconsciousness won't fire. I, myself, have no trouble with THAT one - in fact find myself often slipping into unwanted 'naps' just by becoming still - as if there were unseen and unfelt IV injections permeating by osmosis or something in certain chair seats I come into contact with. It's aggravating to awaken and find time having thus slipped unproductively away from me.

It's almost impossible to ignore the refreshing feeling when I'm someplace where aromatherapy scents permeate though I have to admit having had thoughts judging their use as being self indulgent and a bit wacky in the past - like a fragrance can alter reality or lift and transorm a mood - yeah, right. Lately though I wonder if it's not genious to attempt to overide ill effects of other molecular and ionic components of the environment thusly. It's on my 'check it out' agenda to research for myself, today.

Over this past week I've been getting news from my family back home in Ohio regarding my mother and alarming changes in her condition that put her first in the hospital and then subsequently over the weekend in a nursing home. It's a tangled mess to try to sort out who needs attention. Mom has pneumonia, COPD, & carbon monoxide poisoning but is somewhere she can and will get care and have needs met but my bi-polar younger sister had just come 'home' to Mom's from a mental health facility having been weaned from poorly serving meds and transferred to some they hope will be in better balance and amid her 'recovery' our two brothers as well as Mom have been communicating to Sis that Mom's detoriation is Sis's 'fault' for stressing Mom's nerves and Sis feels like she's a burden and a drain and like some crap everyone's stepped into and just wants to wipe off their shoes. Sis called last Saturday in tears begging me to come be with her, support her. It breaks my heart and wrenches my soul to hear my little sister cry. She's gotten 'better' through the week but is overwhelmed by the prospect of preparing the house for Mom to come 'home'.

My mom has been a hoarder for years and the house is not negotiable to move through for anyone really, never mind potentially for someone coming back to it on oxygyen and needing a wheelchair for mobility. I'll be going to help get the house ready for Mom to come home and for a bit after she does, I hope and I gave my sister an idea/plan for preparing space for Mom's return - one she resisted at first but then after consideration agreed would be practical. What's shocking is last night she told me when I called to check on her that she'd run it by Mom as my 'plan' and Mom said it sounded like a good one. If I hadn't been sitting I would have fallen to the floor! I had to chuckle - Sis said Mom said we can do whatever she and I think would be an improvement but we can't paint her cabinets. ROFLOL Never let it be said she's got dementia too, I tell you! I couldn't believe she brought THAT one up - it's been YEARS since I once suggested to her that her kitchen could be 'perked up' by painting those cabinets! And I'd never have thought of attempting doing THAT on this trip home - but since she brought it up...