A toothless dream? and organic stuff.

Clement Street shopfront with four Buddhas
and a barking chihuahua (lower left) 

Here's an excellent talk by Beata Chapman on working with chronic pain (it's called "The Body/Mind Connection," August 26.) Someone from the Gay Buddhist Fellowship told me about it. In it she recommends her teacher's - the late Darlene Cohen's - book, Turning Suffering Inside Out. I'm lucky I haven't experienced much pain (lately anyway.)

I forgot to write that I did find out from Oscar and Debbie why their guest bed is so comfortable. It has a feather bed (same thing made of wool is good too) and a mattress pad and 'topper'. They said you could get them used, for example, on Craig's list. I looked up feather and wool beds online today, and they cost several hundred dollars and I couldn't find any used ones. I will keep looking. The cheapest pad or topper (can't remember which) was 100% cotton but somehow dowsed with chemicals that make it everything-proof...organic stuff sure is expensive...

We have really great chapter meetings on Tuesday mornings, where ordained women can check in about stuff, practice - in our particular group, a lot about communication...Marshall Rosenberg's system of Nonviolent Communication and Gregory Kramer's Insight Dialogue are both influential in these discussions.  We were talking this morning about the difficulty of expressing how someone is effecting us, not waiting until irritation sets it, just being aware of one's feelings and needs and communicating them appropriately. It is a rare event in the world it would seem. Things get all tangled up with guilt and 'how-I-or-others-should-be', adding layers of complication and confusion...but it needs to be worked on, just like everything else....

I've thought a few times today that my voice sounded harsh, even though I didn't feel harsh.

Perhaps they don't look so good,
but Honeycrisp apples in season are the BEST 

On the way home from giving $140 to the fine folks at Whole Foods, part of one of my back teeth fell out, painlessly. I didn't even know it until I felt the gap in the back of my mouth. According to a random internet tooth map, it's my upper left second molar, or you may simply call it "15", kind of like Agent 99 on Get Smart. I'll talk to Dr. Nelson about it tomorrow. I seem to remember that there is some problem with getting dental work while you're on chemotherapy. Some of my fillings are ancient, so it's not necessarily related to cancer/chemotherapy, unless it's somehow related to the 'weirdly numb left side of my face' syndrome. Or maybe it's part of one of those dreams in which all my teeth fall out. Perhaps I'll wake up some time soon, that'd be awesome.

'Cuz in this life/possible dream I've been feeling a lot of fatigue and craving, and ate four - or was it six? - very dreamy Dilettante dark ganache chocolates. Yesterday half a bar of Seattle Chocolates Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Truffle with Sea Salt. Mmm. Having brought them back from Seattle, was planning on giving them away...better get on that, stat!