The creative stress !

A new season in the garden!

The Rambutan trees are with fruits; the cashew tree is with tender leaves after its fruiting of the year and the Lily plants have a new life with the recent rains giving them a flourishing foliage with a few flowers! 

This season is a transition time in the garden between the summer and the monsoon seasons.

The in-between times bring scenes and thoughts which carry meaning that is worth pondering upon! 

Usually new shoots and leaves appear only after the fruiting season in a tree as the tree converges to form the fruits. Now one Rambutan tree in our garden is giving new shoots, while fruits are still in the early stage.  

It is when trees are stressed they sprout new shoots. The tree attends to nourish the growing fruits and wait to give new shoots till fruits are ripe. 

The photosynthesis of a tree is dependent on its leaves. When the existing leaves have been stretched or distressed by the summer heat and humidity, the tree survives by giving new leaves which are rich in chlorophyll and ready to respond to the sunlight !

This is a good example of creative stress !

What a challenge brings forth is a restorative response. 

I experienced it yesterday in a personal way. With a recent exacerbation of arthritis, my initial response was disappointment as it impairs of some of the routines of my day. I discovered that if movements are done slowly, mindfully and turning the attention of the mind to the site of pain, the discomfort was less and bearable. I was able to find some movements which relax the joint muscles and reduce the muscle spasm. 

What is associated with pain is fear, anxiety and self pity-none of these help. But a sense of wellness or comfort settles in when pain is also befriended. A sense of companionship with pain displaces fear, anxiety and consequently improvement in the range of movement of the painful joint! A local application of a counter irritant and the thermal treatment of the area would have had physical and psychological effects. It was a revealing experience to sense how a stressful situation created a different outlook that reduced the intensity of pain and brought a level of comfort that was a step forward! 

I realise that a stress is a stimulus for pathfinding to stay comfortable!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The message towards wellness !

The bathing, drying and grooming of a Bulbul are orderly rituasl which I notice on most days in our feeding station! The habitual pattern is a routine for the Bulbuls. 

A keen bird watcher once mentioned to me that Bulbuls travel on an average about fifty kilometres in a day. It begins its flight in the morning after grooming from its resident garden and returns after visiting all the routine flight stations by evening to rest for the night. It is a regular cycle except during the courtship, mating and breeding seasons. 

During its life span of about ten years, the Bulbuls follow a routine which keeps them flight ready.  

They live purposefully focussed on their wellness !

One state government in south India is about to manufacture a new brand of whisky while a new government which took over the governance in another South Indian state has decided to close all bars within 500 meters of the educational institution or places of worship. 

The alcohol or addictive substances get introduced to the youth because social drinking is a habit even in homes! The social approval of this practice gives sanction to young people to publicly consume alcohol with no inhibition or restraint! 

Among the non communicable diseases, the diseases initiated or aggravated by habitual use of alcohol cause serious public health concern! 

The Bulbul birds are not the most intelligent birds among the avians. But they have a wellness pursuit by habit!

Why is that humans with all the enlightenment and information, fall short of taking wellness measures seriously! 

Stay well for a long haul, is the message which the Bulbuls bring to me! 

Is the traction in the evening for a peg of alcohol or for a de-stressing body exercises ! This is a slogan which is popular with the social activists concerned about alcohol dependance! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

The Presence of memories!

I revisited the collection of photos of flowers from January this year and noticed that some flowers like the three above, did not show the effects of the heat of the day, even when the temperature soared to 36 degree celsius during the day! 

Anna and I received the news of the home call of the mother of a dear friend, whom we have known for forty years now. Widowed at a young age, she was a faithful mother to her son and daughter and stood by them steadfastly during the transitions and movements in their lives. Anna and I have had several occasions to meet her and interact with her during our time in Chennai and later while in Vellore. Her inner strength to live in hope and peace was inspiring. Although she had some intercurrent illnesses for which she needed hospital stay, she persevered in her late eighties to bring encouragement to others. Following a fracture sustained during a fall, she was recovering well. The news of her unexpected deterioration and home call came as a shock to us. 

Anna and I would remember her as one who weathered adversities in life and gave her self to be beside her son and daughter, because of which both have endured difficult situations to grow up as caring people who have been thoughtful towards others. We remember this family with gratefulness and appreciation because the mother and the two adult children weathered different seasons in life to live mindfully of others. 

The terminal transition of absence of a loved one form our midst is a season of loss and grief! What makes that season bearable is the memories and recollections. In this case there is abundance of pleasant and uplifting memories, that the absence becomes an experience of grateful recollections! In one sense it is the physical absence of a loved one which makes memories as a treasure. That is a perpetuation of the presence in another real way! 

It has become a practice for me to take time at the week end to recall pleasant memories of the week and attend to the disappointing experiences in an exercise of self-debriefing to store memories that last in the treasure house of the soul! 

The memories of the goodwill of people remain as formative experiences in life!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Giving for all to receive!

 

Every plant in a garden offers a promise to grow and bear flowers or fruits. 

This promising presence is an invitation to be present to do good!

In the 37th Psalm  of the Bible, David its author made a confession: " I have been young and now I am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends and his descendants are a blessing" (verses 25-26).

The cycle of having been given to give is the order in nature! 

This was a timely message to ponder upon! 

This promise and hope free us from fretful and stressful habits in life! 

I stay with this thought as I begin this day!

M.V.Mathew(text and photo)

The calling to be 'light and salt' !

The plants keep their rhythm of flowering in the summer months! This  is a sign of their acquired adaptations. 

I find this as a sign of hope in these difficult times when global peace and collaboration stay threatened amidst war and polarisation! 

The plants bloom where they are planted and rooted! 

I receive a few telephone calls each week from Paediatricians to sound out on my thoughts on certain Neuro-developmental situations of children they take care of! I feel moved and encouraged by the enthusiasm and interest with which they pursue beyond the call of their duty to make a difference in the lives of some children and their families. All of them work where there are limitations in terms of facilities to do more tests to come to a clarity on the causal pathway of the clinical situations. What inspires me is the willingness and openness. the paediatricians show to go a second mile to help! Those paediatricians convey a sense of vocation and child friendly orientation! 

A doctor is more than a clinician. He or she is a companion to children and families in times of need! It is such an encouragement that the Paediatricians who call for  conversation have such a spirit of friendly and caring orientation ! 

There is a question in the air about the ethical and thoughtful attitude of doctors! 

It is amidst reasons to suspect the motive of doctors in clinical practice, I have this conversations with a few paediatricians each week call for conversations. I feel moved by their acts of service of loyalty, compassion and mindfulness! 

The climate of behaviour among some doctors might disappoint us. But there are many who bloom where they are placed making a huge difference to find new frontiers in clinical diagnosis and neuro-developmental support! 

The plants above bloom in the summer! 

To all those doctors, who carry the sense of vocation and keep those whom they are called to take care, as the primary motive for their work life, I write this to appreciate their efforts and to affirm that they are 'light and salt' in the health care practice! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Understanding behaviour!

It is unlike a Bulbul to fly away from the feeding bowl with a mouthful of food. Most Bulbuls peck and eat as in the first photograph. A Barbet takes mouthful and flies away to the adjacent bush to eat it privately ! There were movements of a squirrel and a Barbet in the vicinity, which I wonder changed the feeding pattern of the a Bulbul! 

The stressful behaviours are different from the usual. 

I know of a mother who found her three years old daughter not sleeping well since starting to attend a day care. On all the three days she goes to the day care, she has had difficulty to sleep. Since mother decided to stay back at the day care with her daughter, that difficulty at bed time faded away. 

There are different stressful behaviours children in the pre-school years manifest! They need attention and careful modulation! When the childhood memories are pleasant and comforting the developmental process of the child is promising and incremental. 

We cannot monitor all the stressful factors. But we can monitor the way the child reacts and support the child during stressful experiences!  The mother mentioned above asks her daughter each day, whether she should stay back at the Day care till she finished for the day! On most days the child is able to stay alone at the day care! What the child needed was a reassurance to adapt to the transition to the day care !

This way of becoming present to the inner world of a pre-school child is one way parents can sense the emotional variability in a child and adapt to give them relief and comfort! 

A behaviour of a pre-school is initially a reaction to the environmental changes ! Most children process them well and adapt! When they take time, what comforts a child is patient engagement for natural transition to arrive at a level  of adaptation!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Creating space for others!

The cable above the feeding station in our garden is a favourite flight station of resident and visiting birds. The flight stations for birds offer birds an opportunity to visit familiar sites and stay in touch with the environmental events. 

The avian orientation is to follow its routine !

They draw signals and sense comfort levels from such practices! They live conditioned by the feed back they receive! 

The summer months offer fruits of all varieties in most gardens. The feeding station in our garden is not therefore frequented by birds. They come to the water bath instead! 

Although we miss the bird calls and social play of birds in our garden, we get more familiar with the avian habits which change according to the seasons. 

The squirrel moved away when a Bulbul pair arrived to the feeding bowl in our garden! The hierarchy of control was evident from the behaviour! 

The possibility of equal opportunities does not still exist in the avian world or among humans! There is enough and more for all. Yet what dominates is control and acquisitiveness to possess and not share even when plenty is left beyond what one would need! 

The current war in Iran is an expression of such a disorderly or distorted world view and mindset! 

It is not lack of resources which perpetuate many to live in hunger or homeless, but lack of mindfulness of many who have plenty! 

That is an attitudinal change worth pursuing after so that fairness and distributive justice become a norm !

M.C. Mathew (text and photo)