CANCER, GARDENS AND A SPECTACULAR SHOW
Rusty Hilger, former quarterback for the Los Angeles Raiders, will be here Saturday, March 3, between 1-3 p.m. to share how he’s winning his battle against cancer. He has taken up the position of quarterback on a different playing field. A new set of coaches and teammates are huddling around him. He will take the new information, strategies and skills he is using, and pass them on to us, as only a professional quarterback can do. When Rusty passes, he hits your heart. Don’t drop the ball. If you know someone with cancer, be there!
Another exciting thing that’s happening is the interest in planting little herb gardens. Having a few fun little things to eat is becoming more easily doable with the new EPIC Water Containment system we’re starting to install. This system produces twice the amount of food on half the amount of water. We think it’s worth looking into for our area with its water shortage issues. It’s time to get growing.
The Buck Schaffer Spectacular
Tonight, at 7 p.m., is Porterville’s famous Buck Schaffer Spectacular show; recently renamed from the City of Hope. The Crack O’ Dawn Dancers have been putting in hours and hours of practice portraying Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Walt Disney, President Lyndon B. Johnson and his assistant. Our act has been chosen to open the show.
As you watch, all the children, adults, musicians, dancers and baton twirlers in the show, take a look behind the scenes. Imagine what it takes to step up on a stage like that and act like something else. Imagine doing it with precise steps to lively music and props of some sort; then do it in sync with everyone else. It looks easy on stage, but it takes intense practice for years.
Each person is a unique package of dreams, expectations, emotions and experiences. Each person is attached to family members with more dreams, expectations, emotions and experiences. Every time we come together, all the parts of us intermingle. It’s all there.
As we create and work through each piece of the choreography, the dynamics heighten. We all have two sides of our personality; the side we like (and everyone else likes), and the side we don’t like (and neither does anyone else). Our life-long learning experience is to recognize these two parts and learn how to grow the part we like into the part we don’t like until we are one with ourselves.
Life is a school. After learning a lesson, we are tested to see if the lesson stuck or if it has leaked out the other ear. In life, we are both students and teachers at the same time. While we are learning one lesson, we are facilitating someone else’s learning. During the process, if we hold our attention on our own lesson-learning, we will avoid the judgmental, finger pointing trap that’s so easy to fall into.
The experience of taking a dance team to the next level is showing me how the pressure of performance perfection stretches us to the edge of our personality tolerances. This pressure has the same effect on our character that weights have on our muscles. If we are open to strengthening our emotional tolerances, the best weight to lift is another person’s weakness … a true test of our strength; isn’t it? When a person bursts out with strong negative emotion, we could choose to see it as a cry for “Help! I’m trapped in this emotional prison, and I can’t find the way out!” If we can hold back the natural tendency to react with our own negativity and respond with positive power instead, the prisoner will be able to find their door to freedom more quickly.
While we watch the show, tonight, we’ll appreciate the performance quality that every performer brings to the stage. The maturity that comes to each performing child and the growth that enlarges each adult all work together to build and polish the character for a lifetime.
Health is built in many ways. Emotional health is just as important as diet and exercise. The way we handle ourselves in our relationships with family and friends speaks of the progress we’ve made in our lessons. Are we in the learning stage or are we being tested? See you tonight at the Buck Shaffer Auditorium.
Until then … Take charge! … Sylvia. Sylvia J. Harral is a digestive health specialist and Michele Stewart-buller is a pilates master trainer. They each have more than 15 years experience. Send your questions by e-mail to familyhelm@hotmail.com; by mail to Family HELM Health Center, 379 N. Hockett St., Porterville, CA, 93257; or by phone at 202-9105.