Cup Half Full or Half Empty?

Yesterday I went to the ear Dr. As I feared, my hearing has been getting worse, no one knows why. Half empty? But the Audiologist was able to turn up my hearing aids to compensate for the loss. Half full, but still scary. The Dr. reassured me that as a last resort there were cochlear implants, unknown, scary, doesn't need to be faced at this time. Cochlear implants work for some, not for others.

Yesterday I received three dolls and some really nice clothes and some hysterically Bad ones, from a certain blog reader who mails packages promptly after receiving payment, reasonable prices and fun. Definitely half Full! I Needed cheering up, thank you.

Have serious tendonitis in right hand, need to learn ASL And to type on computer, use Braille writer for personal records, do dishes, laundry, and sew and bead. Dr.'s answer, "Just quit using that hand for a month or so." My answer, "Ok, you just close your eyes for a month or so." Must contact this doc' again, not good enough. Frustrating.

You Do have to Have money to Make money. And there are more laws to research than I knew about. For now, half empty. Hopefully in future, will make for half full to FULL!

Bottom line, that Buddhist story you may have already heard.

A Chinese farmer is very poor but has One and Only One real asset, a beautiful stallion which his neighbors will pay a small fee to breed with their mares. The farmer gets paid the money. Stallion . . .

But the stallion runs away. Neighbors come to console the poor farmer. He says, confounding them, "I don't know if it's a good thing, I don't know if it's a bad thing. All I know is my stallion has run away." But neighbors continue to weep and wail.

Stallion comes back, bringing with him a wild mare. Neighbors come to celebrate and rejoice with the poor farmer. "What a lucky man you are! Now you have Two horses." Farmer is happy to see his neighbors as before. But he again says, "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, all I know is that my stallion has returned with a wild mare."

The farmer's son begins to try and break the wild mare and is thrown, breaking his leg. Again neighbors come to weep and wail. "How horrible that your son is injured! How Will you get along without him?" And again the farmer treats his neighbors kindly but says, "I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing, all I know is that my son has a broken leg."

The feudal landlord and another landlord begin a terrible war, (as though there is any other kind). All young men are forcibly dragged away to fight for their landlords, leaving elderly parents, young hungry siblings, and the farms on which their labor is needed behind. Neighbors come to complain of their losses. "And You are so lucky, they say, You still Have a son! Ours may Never see home again!" The farmer is kind to his neighbors who have suffered a real hardship. But he says, "I cannot say if it's bad or good, all I know is that because of my son's broken leg the army didn't want him."

A person could go on forever making up "good" and "bad" fortune for this man. But the point is that in spite of his Feelings about all of the "ups" and "Downs" of his life, he reserves judgment, waiting with curiosity to see what will happen next. He knows that absolutely Nothing stays the same forever. I will try to maintain this calm, curious attitude, though it isn't always easy.