Karma

I"m feeling a lot better so thank you for your well wishes...I even did spin class today (can't miss JayVee's spin class!) and no, I was not supposed to but I did it anyway...

so on with the blog...

I have this little bracelet.

It is adorable.

I wear it every day.

In fact, I have not taken it off my wrist since the Tamster gave it to me for my birthday just before Thanksgiving.

Here's a photo:

I love it...love it love it love it

It's called a "karma" bracelet and it is from a company called Dogeared Jewels. At the end of the blog I will post a link to their website...

Whenever I look at the bracelet I think about:
1)how sweet my friend Tamster is and how she has supported me
2)how sweet and pretty the bracelet is
3)what the bracelet represents...karma

So what is "karma"?

The dictionary (from dictionary.com) defines it as:

kar·ma   [kahr-muh]
noun
1. Hinduism, Buddhism . action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in Hinduism one of the means of reaching Brahman. Compare bhakti ( def. 1 ) , jnana.
2. Theosophy . the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.
3. fate; destiny. Synonyms: predestination, predetermination, lot, kismet.
4. the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something: Lets get out of here. This place has bad karma.

Ok, I'm a Christian, not Buddhist, but I do see karma as actions that we do will result in other actions...in other words, we reap what we sow...

(Isn't that Christian?)

I do believe if you do something ugly or nasty to someone that it will come back and bite you in the ass...that you will eventually "get yours".

And if you do something nice for others, that you will be rewarded...

It all comes full circle...just like the bracelet....

So I often look down on my wrist when I am doing something I am not sure is quite right...or when I am making an effort to do something for someone else that is taking a lot of time or effort from me.

Now I am hoping that karma doesn't come and bite me because today I did a spin class against doctors orders...but I have been living under the vicious circle of karma this last week so I decided to break the cycle and just roll with something that may or may not benefit me.

I'll let you know if it worked or not in a minute.

So what is this cycle I have been in?

I was doing great...living healthy...finally getting off those last few pounds. The scale was sliding down. I was feeling really fit. I was increasing my speed in spin and burning more calories. I was lifting more weight than I had before and my arms and legs were looking really great.

Whammo...

I got sick.

Talk about a set-back...

I lost days of my life to being stuck in a bed with an iv in my arm...
I missed my son's birthday...
I did not get to workout for 4 days (ok that sounds like nothing to some of you but for me it is HUGE)
I had a lot of pain
I had a lot of frustration

I had surgeons who never showed up (oh, and I do believe Karma is gonna bite that idiot in the butt that told me that I had only not been seen in one day when it had been 55 hours...um in my book that is 2 days and 7 hours).

But here is the big "let's bite Anice with this one"...despite not having food for 2 days, and living on ice chips and then broth for a day...

I GAINED ALMOST 10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!

Let me say that again....I GAINED ALMOST 10 POUNDS!!!!!

What the hell?

I did a little research...it seems you can gain a lot of weight from iv fluids. It's the saline solution they pump into you and the other stuff they put in it. A lot of water weight.

And then they put me on broth...

hello...salt and water basically with a little flavoring...

I was bloated...miserably bloated...I couldn't button my jeans...and my nightgown even felt tight. I looked 5 months pregnant.

(Ok, some of that was swelling from the intestinal inflammation)

I complained endlessly about it to AngelAmy...I told her I felt like the "StayPuff Marshmallow Man".

My fingers were swollen...my belly was "poochy" and I felt "jiggly" all over...

I've been drinking water like mad trying to flush it all out.

So yesterday I went to the gym and did a gentle workout on the arc trainer...just to get my metabolism moving again.

It worked...a bit...last night I went to bed with a tight nightie and I woke up this morning and it was loose again...not as loose as last week but definitely better.

I did spin today (like I said, I never miss JayVee's class if I can help it) and I felt really good after...and it felt good to sweat.

I've lost some water weight but my fingers still feel like sausages and my belly still seems poochy to me but it's better.

Sadly I can tell I had a setback in spin...I lost my speed and struggled to keep up...but then again I had iv's in my arms 48 hours before so I guess that should be expected...

So what did I do to deserve this fate?

Was it my karma?

Um...no....

It was a result of a medical problem...nothing I did brought it on...so not karma...

So why am I complaining about it in a blog I call "karma"?

Well, for one I have a captive audience and sometimes I just like to complain....

But more for the reason that I think we all wonder "why the hell did this happen to me?" at one time or another.

And as I lay in that bed and pondered it (while under the influence of dilaudid) I did determine that it seems nothing I did contributed to my laying in bed. It is just my body. Although it may have something to do with once having been quite overweight...which is an action I did that resulted in other actions.

But I didn't do something evil to someone that resulted in my being punished for my actions and that is why I was in Methodist hospital.

It's the other things we do...like when we gossip about someone...or when we deliberately ignore someone who needs help (and not I don't mean the dude begging in the street) or when we do something we just know isn't right.

I"ve talked before about having done things like that...like ignoring someone in my life that I promised to always stand by (she forgave me), etc. Karma rewarded me for that by her forgiving me and we now have a great relationship and I have been rewarded by it.

I don't want to get preachy here tonight...I really was just looking to complain about my water weight gain but when I was in spin class today and looked at my wrist and then looked over at the Tamster spinning near me and how much her small action of dragging me back to spin has made a huge difference in my life...well, that was when I started thinking that small actions, good or bad, can have big consequences.

So, if you need a little reminder to "be good" (while in the hospital I watched "E.T." again and that has stuck with me too), find a little something to tell you to do so.

For me it is the little bracelet.

I need to be good...I want good karma...I want a good life...

As much as I have a healthy body...

and would love to date a man who drives a big-ass truck, what I really want to do in my life is to be good to others...

to love others...
to help others...
to be there for others...
to listen to others...
to do small things that others don't notice me doing but that have good results...
to quietly help...
and to joyously spread my love...

I know I will be hugely rewarded...

but it is not the reward that I am after...but the joy of knowing that my good actions resulted in some good for others...

Here's the dogeared website:

www.dogeared.com

to get to the bracelets, click on bracelets at the top and then click on "karma" on the left....all of their stuff is adorable!

Inspiration Song: "Karma" by Alicia Keyes...I love her...gorgeous woman with a gorgeous voice...

Bye darlings...what goes around comes around...so be sure what goes around with you is all good stuff...