Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge over troubled water (with lyrics)
A year ago I had clear plans for the year 2016. I had published my first e-book ‘From Crisis to Thriving’ and my plan for this year was to publish another e-book ‘Rainbow Bridge’, which I had already started writing. I was so sure that I would be able to conclude the book during 2016, so I even pre-announced it in the e-book section.
I did not take into account that we had the year of fire monkey ahead of us, or I thought that no whirls could mess up my plans, so that I would not be able to reach my goal. But when March rolled in my personal assistant resigned, and after that planning of daily life took all my attention.
Last year sitting on a wheelchair started to cause me physical pain. Along with a pressure ulcer kind of wound I got on my buttock caused by sitting, I felt that my immobility gnaw me from inside. I was feverishly searching the internet for alternatives for my wheelchair. I definitely had to get on my feet. Soon after the resignation of my personal assistant, my standing project, which I had started in 2015 was advancing.
In January this year I was still complaining in the article ‘From Breadline to Productivity Leap’, that for the rehabilitation authorities it seems to be an insurmountable problem to make decisions about a device, that would set me on my feet, which would remarkably improve my situation. In my opinion it was clear: I had found a mobile standing frame in the market. My old wheelchair needed to be replaced anyway, so it was reasonable to purchase a mobile standing frame as a replacement for my wheelchair.
When my application for the standing aid twitched forward at last, I realized that for the authorities it was not a problem to make decisions in this matter as I had thought. They had come to conclusion that the mobile standing frame that I was looking, was not the best possible mobility aid in my situation. They thought that a standing wheelchair was more suitable for my needs.
I was ashamed that I myself had delayed my standing project for several months with my actions. At one point I even refused to go to a demonstration of a standing wheelchair. I thought that a new chair does not solve the problems, when I have to stand up from the chair and move to another chair. When I turned around, my knees were twisting. In a worst case scenario I fell down and my knees were deformed. A mobile standing frame was a solution also for this problem, because the device could be reversed in front of a chair and I would not need to exit the device.
My reasoning did not convince the officials. They had decided that a standing wheelchair would be the solution to my problems. Acquiring the device in itself required only my agreement to purchase a standing wheelchair. The chair has now been in my use for almost eight months, and I am glad that the officials kept their decision and did not purchase a mobile standing frame for me.
In the Secret-movie it is said that receiving blessings of God is a three-phase process. First we need to ask for what we need. Secondly we need to have faith that God provides us all that we need. Third and maybe the most difficult part, is receiving. We want everything to happen as we ourselves have planned. For us, who are more or less control freaks, it is hard to let things happen naturally by themselves and just be grateful that God has blessings in store for us that we cannot even imagine.
This year became totally different than what I imagined it to be at the turn of the year. In spring a renovation was started in my apartments building. I was informed about that before. But I did not have a clue, how the renovation would affect my daily life. That became clear to me, when I got instructions to clear my cellar closet, bathroom, TV corner, a part of kitchen’s cupboards and transport my exercise equipment somewhere else.
When the renovation was going on, I decided to renew all that needed to be renewed, so that we could later concentrate on doing things. During the past year I have made awesome discoveries that make my life easier and more comfortable. The best thing is that I can stand the whole day without the need to move to a toilet seat, unless I have to open the ash dump cover. I believe that many others will also benefit from my discoveries, and in the coming year I am happy to share all on this website.
My new assistant is a former gardening entrepreneur, who continues designing various farming solutions for urban growing. My article ‘Living a Balanced Life in Pure Natural State I’ will continue at last.
The year of the fire monkey has been very refreshing in many ways. Many things have changed, but as I wrote in the beginning of February, even forest fires should not only be seen as negative. Forest fires don’t just leave destruction and ashes behind, but they clear away under brush, which is encouraging seeds lying dormant within the Earth to burst forth into new life. To this we want to focus on in the future, practically by doing things.
In the coming year renovation in our house will continue, but that should not prevent my ‘Rainbow Bridge’-project. I will return to it with refreshed mind in the beginning of next year.
Read also:
Happy Ape Year 2016!
From Breadline to Productivity Leap
Living a Balanced Life in Pure Natural State I