Random Thoughts Monday

I love this tree in my backyard. Even though its top half broke off, it found another way to keep growing. It persevered. Outside of the picture, it continues straight and tall for many feetabove the other's nearby. I went back to take the photos of those stone walls I wrote of earlier. This is our other, elderly PWD, about to jump off. He is another inspiration in our lives. Two years ago he developed a strange nasal blockage. His nose would bleed, and he would sneeze and sneeze blood. One night, awakening us from sleep, he sneezed so hard and so long that out came a marble sized piece of tissue. We took him and the tissue to the vet's and they determined that the tissue was malignant that he had cancer in his nasal cartilage. Because the nose is so close to the brain and eyes, they felt it would spread quickly and he would die in less than 6 months. Since his cathetic sneezing episode, however, he has not has one nosebleed, not slowed down, not exhibited a single sign of illness, confusion, blindness, nothing (other than old age weakness in the hindquarters). Two years. Here is a question that my yoga instructor posed one night after class: "How do you reconcile the two seemingly inconsistant views that one should always strive for self-improvement and that one is perfect just the way you are?"