I used the "wet sock trick" last night to help me heal from this head cold. I learned it from my naturopathic physician. As you ready for bed, take out a pair of light cotton socks, and a heavy pair of wool socks. Wet the cotton socks with COLD water, squeeze out excess water, and place the socks on your feet. Now cover the wet socks with the wool socks. Go to bed as usual. In the morning, your socks will be warm and dry. The energy your body uses to dry those socks is energy that doesn't go into making a "better" cold. Seems to have worked -- my rocky sore throat is gone, and the lymph nodes are less tender. (I read it can take lymph nodes 2 weeks to recover to normal size after this kind of being sick.)

Slept well last night.

Ate properly yesterday - no direct sugar. When I have a cold, sugar always feeds the cold, making sore throats worse, ear and sinus stuffyness worse, etc.

Devotions were satisfying. Both yesterday and this morning.

Devotions - hmm - theme in the written material I was using was about letting the negative embryos of our past stay in the past. That resonated for me. In particular, I asked myself why I don't want to work. It was a goal of my parents - make enough money to live a life of leisure. Maybe it is the goal of generations of Americans. Certainly it was not an understandable goal to my maternal grandparents, the people who raised me most of my childhood. So I'm learning to acknowledge: work adds meaning to my life, and gives me connection, and (honestly!) gives me a chance to see the hand of God. Not just in actions but in people themselves.

I remember when I first learned that all of us, being made in the image of God, have the divine spark. Yet if I only take time to look at people's appearance, I can miss that spark. Or if I only see what annoys me, I miss the spark. Or if I only focus on what's wrong, I miss the spark. For twenty years, the challenge and delight has been finding the divine spark in each of the people I contact, daily. Not perfect at this! There are many times when all I do is judge harshly - you're not me, you must be dirt (eww, not pretty to admit that). But as my faith journey grows stronger, those times of judgment are few and far between (praise Yah!).

I miss my middle sister every day. Each ritual is a chance to remember her. This morning, as I showered, I realized the memories I was choosing to review were the last memories we made -- during the time of her last illness, the pain and loss and struggle. I don't have to review that! I can remember all the other 45 years we shared. And so I'll try.

If you didn't re-visit previous post, my ukulele lessons have started on the web using YouTube. I'll seek a live instructor using some leads I received from friends at work this week.

If you've read this far - thank you for honoring me this way! May you ask a good question today, and notice the divine spark somewhere surprising! :-)

Love, -Otter