There is a political angle to somatic awareness, dealing with the effects of one’s condition  - it means being self aware and adaptable, and moving away from reliance on ‘the system’ of experts and medical establishment upon which much of the structure of medicine and social care is based. But let’s look at a simple problem-  going downstairs- I find  this hard and often nearly fall and lose balance. 

I can EITHER

1) get handrails installed at a cost or get prescribed muscle relaxants, or insist that I get transferred to the ground floor or get a lift installed,

OR

2)I can retrain my body to go down stairs slower, I can look at and understand the mechanics of going downstairs improve my balance, notice how much I rely on eyes or inner ear vestibular system for balance and orientation in space.

How can politicians and decision makers encourage self awareness  vs dependance without getting involved in polarised right vs left arguments?

brexit (lower case 'b' intentional)

I have steered clear of brexit but its there, and its really really stupid and maybe people are blaming europe for their powerlessness, but I was a little massively miffed by recent comments that made me want to retch -
Re Rees Mogg trying to claim 'muddling through' as a British attribute because as he says 'we British are made of sterner stuff' hackles rise because:
1) it seems to admit the the irrrationality of his position re Brexit
2) The hypocrisy of the phrase 'we British'. What has he, rich, cossetted toff got in common with Cleethorpes bloke?
3) He implies that if you are not willing to'muddle through' Brexit then you are a snowflake and non British. Duh
Everyone muddles through, its called adaptability.
Some are more organised than others, more concerned than others more active in the world, but trying to make this crazy wonderful flawed world we live in rational, as we 'muddle through' is what people do- 'muddling through' is not unique to Brexit, not unique to Britishness. There are 200 nations on this planet, Jacob
Its easy to insult people, especially easy targets and their is so much mudslinging around Brexit but he's a bit of a dinosaur isn't he? the Reesmoggosaurus, an endangered species that doesn't need rescuing unless ... and ..er.. what a ridiculous person

saying how things are

Saying how things are is not complaining.

 I cannot breathe sometimes. 

I’m all for optimism but happy clappy positivism? 

There is something very dysfunctional about pretending to smile while ignoring the rubbish around you,

Pretending everything is hunky dory,
But carrying on despite how crap it is
 but its abit desperate
when i catch awhiff of that desperation,  
I fear what's beneath

On a National Express coach to Devon I tried darning a darn in a jumper I’d already done that had come undone. Too much vibration. I was clumsy. DON’T DARN ON BUSES!

 Empathy- the feeling of connection that humans have, initially touch, proximity, sharing the same air, space, house and furniture, is slowly being usurped by digital channels that trick us,  mediating,apparently helping but leading to disconnection. Technology- my phone, my computer help me to survive my loneliness, but maybe by making it bearable, prolongs it so it becomes my way of being. We are great survivors, gods of making do, surviving our disconnection by imigining we are more connected. Drama!

Sense and Nonsense, clarity and coherence

Sometimes I post incoherent halfthoughts to this blog- I just looked at what I wrote about head/ heart : it’s a complicated thing i want to say and what I wrote seems glib, vague. Maybe writing on phone is slow and I find it difficult to think clearly and maintain a big picture. I want to articulate my thoughts clearly and  and sometimes let my desire to put them out there outweigh the clarity of the content- if I don’t think it’s good then why post it? If it’s not clear why bother saying it? Often incoherence needs blurting out! If what is accepted sense but actually nonsense, needs saying. It is why nonsense comedy - Milligan Lear Python Carroll are so important- pointing out the  nonsense of accepted ways. But even though its in the right direction,  and I makes me laugh at the ridiculousness of things, its unsatisfying,i ts only half the battle. Later it’s complexity can be picked apart, made coherent.

miniature imaginings

If my desire is to become a powerless performer whose judgement and intelligence is not taken seriously I have already part written the script. Maybe I have been a successful scriptwriter, maybe I’ve failed and been th architect of my own fall from grace. So what?
Echoes of that film I saw about a film director building a city that was the contents of his imagination and falling apart as others wouldn't buy his vision-  and a Belgian theatre piece I saw many years ago, about an imaginary model world in miniature created by a man who could have been a Dickhead Dictator Director, but chose not to build a hierarchy  and bark orders, so he made a miniature version of what he obsessively saw in his head that delighted many and upset no-one. All I wanted was to build a playpen, to set up situations for play and invention to happen but people objected to my rules for play and saw that as oppressive. I found the the power play boring and dismissed it as irrelevant. I shouldn’t have. It has disempowered me and I have retreated from the world, and the politics of power, particularly gender politics is the zeitgeist, the issue of the age.If my desire is to become a powerless performer whose judgement and intelligence is not taken seriously I have already part written the script. Maybe I have been a successful scriptwriter, maybe I’ve failed and been th architect of my own fall from grace. So what?
Echoes of that film I saw about a film director building a city that was the contents of his imagination and falling apart as others wouldn't buy his vision-  and a Belgian theatre piece I saw many years ago, about an imaginary model world in miniature created by a man who could have been a Dickhead Dictator Director, but chose not to build a hierarchy  and bark orders, so he made a miniature version of what he obsessively saw in his head that delighted many and upset no-one. All I wanted was to build a playpen, to set up situations for play and invention to happen but people objected to my rules for play and saw that as oppressive. I found the the power play boring and dismissed it as irrelevant. I shouldn’t have. It has disempowered me and I have retreated from the world, and the politics of power, particularly gender politics is the zeitgeist, the issue of the age.