I had a cold this week.

Just a cold. I took a test and it was negative.

But it still sucks to be sick.

I am grateful that I am on the mend, and that it was nothing more serious than a common cold.

And I do wonder, as I’d had a few mentally challenging weeks prior to the cold, how much ones emotions and mental health affect one’s physical well being, and if I let myself get run down. But I guess that’s a whole other blog…

My prompt this week is GROWTH. Here’s how it was used in the books I am reading:

  1. If a virus spreads exponentially through a population of 10 million, and doubles its rate of growth every day- Celeste Ng
  2. They can be noticeable as the remnants of an abandoned highway or as unnoticeable as varied growth patterns in trees. Rob Walker
  3. At last in the stress of her fear she did that which might have daunted the bravest or most active man, for by the aid of the growth of ivy which covered (and still covers) the south wall she came down from under the eaves, and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues betwixt the Hall and her father’s farm. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  4. and the climax, where the dramatic question is resolved and our protagonists may demonstrate growth by doing different from what they would have done at the beginning of the story. Graeme Simsion
  5. Positive growth means reaching back into the gunk of the past and healing it so it doesn’t infect our present. Pedram Shojai
  6. She believes that if you really care about your employees’ growth, you must be willing to praise them on successes and challenge them on mistakes, in a helpful, humble, and impersonal way. Kim Scott as quoted in a book compiled by Jane Mount

How I’m going to think about growth:

  1. How important is personal growth?
  2. If we don’t grow, how bad is it?
  3. If you don’t think you need to grow, is that a problem?
  4. In books/movies, do we expect growth?

30 thoughts on “Gratitude and Mindfulness: 10/8/22”

  1. 100% true that the emotional state impacts your body. I saw it happen for years leading up to my divorce. I saw it happen at work, especially with Covid. I had it happen last weekend with my family stress, and that leads me to say YES to personal growth. The family is in the midst of learning just how past trauma- generational trauma- influences the future and learning how to break the cycle. You can’t change others but you can grow yourself as a person and I think that’s essential.

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    2. How important is personal growth? Critical for life!
      If we don’t grow, how bad is it? Very, very bad, unless I guess you’re happy that way and everybody else in your life is, too?
      If you don’t think you need to grow, is that a problem? Yes
      In books/movies, do we expect growth? Yes, at least I do. Maybe that’s just what I hope!

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  2. Ah, to not grow is to die. The difference between an old person and a vibrant person is the action of staying engaged, which is growth. Stagnant is the long slow process of non-growth. Our physical health depends entirely on our minds, our thoughts.

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  3. I like the notion of growth, but am inclined to focus more on positive change. Muhammad Ali said something to the effect that, if you’re the same person at age 50 as you were at age 20, then you’ve wasted 30 years of your life. That acknowledges that life is all about learning and becoming better (kinder?). I guess that is growth….

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    1. It’s funny you said that. We know someone who says he’s never changed, and he was saying it like it was a good thing. I felt bad that he sort of missed a lot.

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      1. Not just that, but women are are expected to take care of very stressful tasks such as caring for elderly parents and handling detailed paperwork. Men can’t do that .

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  5. Personal growth is essential to living a fulfilling life. BUT, keeping one’s youthful exuberance is also vital in maturing and handling change, growing older, etc.
    Having a vibrant inner spirit keep us enriched, happy, andcontent, and knowledgeable . To me growth is synonymous with learning. It’s also scary for some people because growth can require change. And change may evolve naturally, but sometimes it means we must work hard to achieve it.

    Growth can also be negative sometimes. Yesterday I leaned that my while my ovarian cancer is now stable my cancer antigen numbers are rapidly rising. That means there is cancer growing somewhere else inside of me. This is NOT the kind of growth I’m looking for. So… I must take several tests to determine where that growth is happening. The breast? The colon? So… I have “grown” in my cancer journey and have to face some new battles. I must continue to dig deep, to find purpose, joy, and courage in my life. Without personal growth I couldn’t continue to fight or find pleasure in the world around me. And yet I’d give anything for the growth of mutating cancer cells to stop growing and popping up inside of me. Yes, the word growth is a double edged sword. I am grateful that I can continue to grow intellectually and enjoy my life. But if I were a superhero I’d slash that continually growing demon called cancer from ever growing and popping up again. Soooo it depends on what grows. I watch the news and see hatred growing. I want to see love growing instead.
    Love, wisdom, and good health. That’s what I want to nurture and see grow. ❤️🫶✌️

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  6. I think personal growth is a very good thing. I also think our stress and emotional health can affect our physical health and vice versa. Interesting that now every time we get a cold or have flu-like symptoms the first thing we reach for is a covid test (at least in our family we do). Thank goodness for now the insurance company will reimburse for those.

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      1. I had one like that too. But it was a week after I got the last booster so I am thinking it might have been a reaction to that. Mostly just body aches but enough so that I spent 2 days in bed. I never do that.

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