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My god, has it really been
over a year since I last produced one of these blogs?
Well, much has changed, because the Nurturing Potential
magazine has ceased publication and the previous format
whereby Potential Unleashed and Nurturing
Potential were in close collaboration, is no longer
valid.
So this is the first of
what will be a personal weblog, which is not to say that it
may not change and develop a different format and style.
We will move on as and how feedback may suggest. Thus,
for example, I have continued to include a Book
Review column, mainly because I have enjoyed writing reviews
in the past, but that will depend on whether the publishing houses,
who equally seemed to like them, will support this reduced
format with new titles where appropriate. If there's
no interest, I'll drop it.
An opening update.
It's been an incredible voyage
of self-discovery and therapeutic self-immolation for the
past year. I've bored too many friends (and others)
with a recitation of my ills, treatment, and survival, so
I'll content myself here with thoughts on what I have
learned in the process, and what I would like to pass on.
In the first place I have
had reinforced a belief that I have held for half a
lifetime. Fitness is not health. The two are far
from synonymous. You may visit your Fitness Centre as
often as you like; you may play tennis as regularly as you
want; these physical activities, while not to be denigrated,
will improve your body and activate your mind, but will not
prevent the onset of lung, heart and other health problems.
Indeed in some cases - muscular complaints, for instance -
they may actually exacerbate them.
So don't stop your physical
exercise, and if you are not doing any please start . . .
even if it's only walking. But don't ignore those
other important areas of your healthy life: diet and
relaxation. Okay, so I'm preaching to the converted,
and as the author of that wonderful book (well, wonderful
title at least) Peace of Mind is a Piece of Cake,
it's very much a case of "physician heal thyself".
The second thing
I have learned is to
stop "knocking" the National Health Service. I know
that standards vary around the country, and that
improvements are always possible, but with all its failings
(and I don't believe, in general, there are that many of
them) as a nation we are damned lucky to have the NHS.
I do exclude from this general, sweeping praise, the
administrative side of the Service. As in so many
other aspects of existence, administration seems to lag
behind performance.
As I said above, standards
do vary from place to place, and I have had personal
experience of this during my several moves around the
country in recent years. But I have nothing but
the utmost praise for the magnificent quality of procedural
care and service provided by the Royal Free Foundation Trust
and its several members, including the Barnet Hospital, the
Edgware Community Hospital, the Chase Farm Hospital and the
Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead itself. I count
myself really fortunate to be within walking distance of the
splendid, albeit small, Edgware Community Hospital.
How can I help?
This is a question I
would not even have considered a few months ago. I
think the treatment I have enjoyed and the renewed energy
and vigour I seem to possess now has encouraged me to revert
to a philosophy that I may have deserted for some years:
that of giving back to society the enrichment that society
has bestowed on me. It sounds sickly sentimental, I
know. Finger in mouth stuff. But the words of
that "yucky" song memorably performed 70 years ago by the
wonderful Mahalia Jackson keep running through my head: "If
I can help somebody . . . my living shall not be in vain."
Charity begins at home and I
have started by joining the "Friends
of the Royal Free". I have also signed up for a
local community initiative, the Health Champion Project.
This is an initiative of Borough of Barnet through the local
community of Burnt Oak. A bit of a paradox, this.
I am living neither in the Borough of Barnet nor in the
district of Burnt Oak. But through a combination of
circumstances, when I moved to my present address, I was
encouraged to sign up for the Oak Lodge medical practice.
This is actually located just within the boundary of Burnt
Oak and is one of the participatory members of the Health
Challenge project. My home is on one side of a main
road that is divided at its middle by the boundary between
the boroughs of Barnet and Harrow. I find myself in
Harrow by the margin of a mere 3 or 4 metres.
In any case, I am happier to
be involved in a Burnt Oak initiative, because Burnt Oak is
a much more colourful and multi-cultural area than is
Stanmore, which was my other option. I feel I can
provide more useful and satisfying service in Burnt Oak and,
altogether, the prospect is very exciting! My name
was, in fact, put forward by the medical
practice.
I was also approached
recently by the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust with
a view to helping them in a series of trials of new drugs
all pertinent to the conditions I have recently suffered -
and for which I am still being treated. This I was
about to do, but my annual meeting with my COPD consultant
resulted in her recommendation that I do not embark on
anything involving further medication until totally
recovered from my recent procedure - and certainly not for
at least six months. However she was quite
enthusiastic about the Health Champion Project.
Metaphors and Matzo Balls.
This is the title of my forthcoming book of poetry. It
has been a little over one year since I published my last
(indeed, my only) book of poetry: Uncultured Pearls.
That comprised a range of verse dating back to my pre-teen
years and, for that reason, varied considerably in quality.
I am very excited about the new book all of which was
created within the past 12 months. The poem that has
given me most pleasure is entitled The Last Apple. The
comment under my photo above has particular relevance.
The poem may be viewed
here. Inevitably, much has been influenced by my health problems, but I am
delighted that I shall be including an entire section
devoted to "epigrams and epithets" of a comic nature,
some of which may be viewed
here..
The final section will comprise the first part of an
autobiographical series of poems to be entitled All the
Lives of My Life. This section covers the period
from birth through adolescence.
I should mention too that I
am hoping to have the book illustrated by my very talented
grand-daughter Jessica-Ann Jenner.
Friends old and new . . .
and family.
I would have found it very
difficult to have coped with all the traumas and
tribulations of the past year, not least of all the
tremendous struggle my younger daughter Emily has been
experiencing throughout (indeed, even before) this time and
is still not "out of the wood", had it not been for the
unbelievable support and love of friends and family. I
have made new friends who have added immensely to my quality
of life. I have discovered much about my own
historical background thanks to the genealogical endeavours
of one family member in Australia and others throughout the
world.
My thanks to all of them.
And much more tribute will be paid in the forthcoming issues
of this blog.
And to the readers of this blog, may peace
and happiness attend all of you
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