3 New Somethings for My Body, Mind and Spirit

At long last, I’ve set aside two afternoons each week to learn 

T’ai Chi!

Though only a Beginner, thanks to my venerated Chicago 

instructor Hau Kum Kneip, I now see how this low-impact 

exercise lives up to its description as “meditation in motion”

 – as well as – “medication in motion.”

I am besotted with the gentle movements within the short 

forms I’m working hard to learn.

Increased strength, flexibility and balance are the goals, 

for my body, of course, but even better, it turns out, for 

my mind and spirit.

Speaking of my mind,

in September I lost mine when my Lenova Yoga laptop’s cursor and

touch pad froze.

Tech-savvy I am not; in fact, I’m an honest-to-goodness Luddite

who relies on the help of experts.

Enter GOOGLE and You-Tube videos, once I correctly phrased the

question that addressed the issues.

“Who knew?” I heard myself exclaim as I learned about my

keyboard’s Function Keys (Fn) – and –  top row with all sorts of

varied icons dubbed “hot keys.”

I sure didn’t.

And I’ve only been typing on a computer since maybe 1997.

After unfreezing both touchpad and cursor, I celebrated by lighting

my keyboard.

Using GOOGLE and You-Tube videos to solve several of my

computer problems has gifted me with a new independence when

technological challenges arise.

As for matters of the spirit,

alas, an editor (or three) sent me what Richard Jackson called

“an admiring decline.”

In the past, I turned to children’s books for comfort and inspiration.

(Think: I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.)

Fortunately, Amy Gash and Elise Howard gathered nearly 400 wise

and inspiring words from children’s classics old and new in their

lovely new book Believe in the World, Wisdom for Grown-ups from

Children’s Books (Algonquin, 2024).

Several of the categorically-grouped quotes restored my spirit and

had me back on task in no time.

Indeed, writing this post proved the perfect Rx, too, for keepin’ me

keepin’ on.

Believe in the World included Yuyi Morales’ words from Dreamers

(Neal Porter, 2018):

                                    “Someday we will become something we

                                      haven’t even yet imagined.” 

Thanks to Patricia Franz at Reverie for hosting today’s Poetry 

Friday.

Here’s to your New Somethings! Feel free to share them.

Esther Hershenhorn