2014 END OF YEAR SUMMARY

For several months, my plans for various blogs went well. I had lots of fresh ideas, organized plans, motivation and discipline. These plans were completed on a fairly regular schedule. I am thankful for the period of time when these plans were met.

Then life intervened as it sometimes does. I had a series of failures of many kinds of computer equipment. My scanner went down, and my intention was to use my camera to put images into my blogs. This did not work as well as I thought it might. It seemed that trying each new idea to work around the barriers didn’t go as well as I hoped.

Meanwhile, I  was “blessed” with a bumper crop of apples in the back yard.

I tried to repair the scanner, and eventually got it to work. Then getting my images from one older computer image format onto a newer one failed to work. For a while I was moving images via CD discs, with translating between program versions. I kept losing images using a thumb drive. It seemed to lose and even release information into the biosphere. That eventually seemed to have been caused by a faulty hub, but maybe not.

The next thing that emerged were problems with my newest computer, and strange documents I had not created would appear on my desktop, and finally the computer would freeze up altogether, and would not restart or accept my password. I took that to be repaired, and it seems to be working better now, and the repair place found 9 incidents of attempts to get information off my computer. I don’t leave personal info for anyone to find, other than art, email and internet-related material. The problems caused were irritating but not devastating.

During this time, when I could not depend on my computer as much, I tried to work more by hand. But the frustration took its toll in spite of this. Personally I lost momentum and had much less energy for being creative. I lost touch with the former projects I had started. I am not as connected to the flow of information, and materially lost some documents I had saved. At this point I still do not have all my digital imaging capabilities up to speed. I will need to recover a lot of old art and reorganize the work to make it accessible again.

What I have learned? I guess I must not assume I am in control of everything. Another is to make records every day or so and to save them both on CD and on paper, in the right order. I have learned to be grateful when things do go right. Part of letting go of being in control is to enjoy each part of the creative process. Maybe the last thing is to plan projects that are more short term and spontaneous and that come in their own time rather than on a specific schedule.

I just hope that any followers who keep track of my work will understand and accept my more relaxed philosophy in regard to my blogging schedule, as well as toward my art making.

THE HUMAN BODY WAS MEANT TO MOVE

The Huntress, Pen & Ink, and Colored Pencil                                  © by Ruth Zachary

Our Ancestors from all parts of the world were active people. Active as hunters and gatherers, and active also when they became agricultural. Migratory people followed animals and crops in various seasons in order to eat well year round.

It is not natural or healthy for people to become sedentary in their elder years. I believe it is movement which keeps people well and able to continue their living routines into the later decades of life, and to also permit them to continue a better quality of life.

Injury is one danger for elderly people, because when a bone breaks or a sprain occurs, or when arthritis, whether osteo or rheumatoid, an older person may have great difficulty regaining their flexibility, weight bearing strength, and function, unlike in earlier decades.

Too many doctors have willingly adopted an attitude of acceptance, when an elderly person complains of stiffness, swelling and joint pain. As a result less encouragement and effort is given to regaining strength and fitness. Actually, for most people, continuing to regain movement and flexibility is the best solution for geriatric degeneration.

Prevention of injury is also critical. Safety precautions while working or exercising can help prevent injury. Rollators and canes help some people walk when they wouldn’t, without these appliances. An injury to one part of the body can end up restricting movement for other parts of the body, and that too can cause degeneration. Catering to asymmetrical movement can cause one muscle group to continue working while other muscle groups do not function fully.

Symmetrical functioning is important. In some of my internet research notes, on Rolfing, (not sourced- I apologize) it is claimed that for movement, “skeletal muscles often work in opposing pairs called the “agonist” and the antagonist” the one contracting while the other relaxes. Rolf theorized that “bound up “ (connective tissues) often restrict opposing muscles from functioning in concert.” Exercises which challenge opposing muscle groups are important. Stretching, especially for Fibromyalgia patients helps to keep muscles and joints flexible.

Personally, I experienced a similar kind of limitation after a severe sprained ankle about 20 years ago. I could no longer run, and climbing steps for a long period required ascending with the leading step up on the right foot only. Other habitual movements, such as getting into a car on only one side (if you are the driver) can cause a twist to the left knee. Knees, especially, suffer from more exercise on the outside muscle groups and neglecting movement to the interior muscle groups along the knees.

If you can afford physical therapy with your medical insurance plan, the process can usually rebuild muscle groups quite satisfactorily, so that a person with dedication can sometimes achieve full mobility. A physical therapist told me that muscles not worked for one month take seven months to get back to full function again.

I RECOMMEND: Strong Women and Men Beat Arthritis, a book on Arthritis, by Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D,  with Kristin R. Baker, Ph.D., and Ronenn Roubenoff, M.D., M.H.S., With Lawrence Nindner, M.A. A New York Times Bestseller. Published by Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University.

Next time: INFLAMMATION AND ITS IMPACT ON MOVEMENT.