The Bluebird of Happiness

Today I asked the question shown in Figure 1 that also shows the response that I received.

Figure 1

I thought that the question displayed on a whiteboard might be a good way to focus my attention. So I did this, looked at the question for a while, then closed my eyes and uttered "Meher Baba, Ki Jai" several times in groups of triplets. When I opened my eyes and looked at the whiteboard, the blue eraser on the bottom left caught my attention and I immediately thought of the phrase the "blue bird of happiness". 

There's a well-known eponymously titled song from 1934, part of the lyrics of which are:

So be like I, hold your head up high

Till you find a bluebird of happiness

You will find greater peace of mind

Knowing there's a bluebird of happiness

And when he sings to you

Though you're deep in blue

You will see a ray of light creep through

And so remember this, life is no abyss

Somewhere there's a bluebird of happiness

Pat Boone does a nice version of it (YouTube link). More information on the song can be found by following the Wikipedia link. Of course, nobody can forget Vera Lynn's famous song "There'll Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs of Dover". Figure 2 contains a link to her singing the song.

Figure 2: link to song

The lyrics to that song go:

There'll be bluebirds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow, just you wait and see

There'll be love and laughter

And peace ever after

Tomorrow, when the world is free

The shepherd will tend his sheep

The valley will bloom again

And Jimmy will go to sleep

In his own little room again

There'll be bluebirds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow, just you wait and see

The shepherd will tend his sheep

The valley will bloom again

And Jimmy will go to sleep

In his own little room again

There'll be bluebirds over

The white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow, just you wait and see

Another Wikipedia article begins by saying that "the symbol of a bluebird as the harbinger of happiness is found in many cultures and may date back thousands of years." 

The latter article includes an interesting quote from Oscar Wilde in which a "Blue Bird" is mentioned:

And when that day dawns, or sunset reddens how joyous we

shall all be! Facts will be regarded as discreditable, Truth will be

found mourning over her fetters, and Romance, with her temper

of wonder, will return to the land. The very aspect of the world

will change to our startled eyes. Out of the sea will rise

Behemoth and Leviathan, and sail round the high-pooped

galleys, as they do on the delightful maps of those ages when

books on geography were actually readable. Dragons will wander

about the waste places, and the phoenix will soar from her nest of

fire into the air. We shall lay our hands upon the basilisk, and see

the jewel in the toad’s head. Champing his gilded oats, the

Hippogriff will stand in our stalls, and over our heads will float

the Blue Bird singing of beautiful and impossible things, of

things that are lovely and that never happened, of things that are

not and that should be. But before this comes to pass we must

cultivate the lost art of Lying.

— Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying, 1891

 

Figure 3: Toadstones from Jurassic sediments in Oxfordshire UK

The reference to "the jewel in the toad's head" perplexed me so I sought an explanation:

The toadstone, also known as bufonite (from Latin bufo, "toad"), is a mythical stone or gem that was thought to be found in the head of a toad. It was supposed to be an antidote to poison and in this it is like batrachite, supposedly formed in the heads of frogs. Toadstones were actually the button-like fossilized teeth of Lepidotes, an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They appeared to be "stones that are perfect in form" and were set by European jewellers into magical rings and amulets from Medieval times until the 18th century.

Getting back to the bluebird of happiness however, one must thank Maurice Maeterlinck for its twentieth century renaissance:

In 1910, the blue bird of happiness landed in the United States, in New York, to be specific, on Broadway. The Blue Bird was a philosophical play written by Maurice Maeterlinck, who would win the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year for it and other works. 

His Pelléas and Mélisande is better known today, as productions of the Debussy opera continue to enliven the stage. But at the start of the 20th century, The Blue Bird was all the rage, emerging in film and song, baptizing airplanes and race cars, and like most popular cultural symbols, being reduced to its simplest iteration: the blue bird of happiness.  

Read the full article, which is very interesting, by following this link. The article concludes:

Our memory of Maeterlinck has faded, but the glimmer of his ideas continues to resurface in unexpected places, in a hashtag shorthand for perfect snow and sky on Twitter, today’s go-to blue bird, or somewhere over the rainbow. Maeterlinck gave us the bird, but happiness is for us to find. 

 

While the Twitter bluebird is ubiquitous, there is an Indonesian species as well in the form of the Blue Bird taxis. Blue Bird translates as Burung Biru in Indonesian.

Amidst all these references to bluebirds or blue birds however, one shouldn't lose sight of the significance of the answer to my question: what do I need to improve my health? The bluebird of happiness image is meant to remind me that "life is no abyss" and that happiness can be found by listening out for the sound of the bluebird so that "when he sings to you, though you're deep in blue, you will see a ray of light creep through."

This imagery reminds of Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" that begins:

The birds they sang 
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

Anyway the answer to my question has brought up many interesting associations and has certainly assuaged my currently very bleak view of the world.

Overexertion Monitor

For weeks now I've regularly gone for a morning walk of about twenty minutes duration. Usually my granddaughter accompanies me but lately she's been sleeping in and I've walked alone. The problem with solo walking is that there is no one to alert me when I'm walking too briskly. A couple of days ago, I overexerted myself in such a way. 

The next day one of my lower molars, the site of a botched root canal over seven years ago, began giving me trouble. It took a full day to settle down again. For that day and the next I forewent my daily walk and only resumed today, ensuring that I didn't overextend myself.

Annoying though this molar has been over the years, I've now realised that it can serve a useful function because it only flares up when I'm stressed physically and, possibly, psychologically. Thus it can serve as an indicator on the general health of my body and psyche. Once the tooth stirs, I need to rest physically and resolve any psychological stresses.

I've written about the dangers of root canals in a post on 23rd November 2018 titled Root Canals: Drilling for Dollars on my Alternative Media blog. In making this current post, I reread this earlier post and it made for disturbing reading, particularly the following anecdote:

Root Canals and Heart Disease: My Personal Story

By: Dr. David Friedman

We’ve all known or heard of someone who died suddenly of a heart attack for no apparent reason. That 50 year old neighbour, seemingly healthy with no history of cardiovascular disease, found dead in his back yard after having a massive heart attack. What if this deadly heart attack could have been prevented by a simple visit to a dentist? Sadly, I could have been that man found dead on his lawn, had it not been for a dentist who saved my life. 

Those that know me say I make the energiser bunny look lethargic. I wake up each morning with vigour and I always embrace the day with zest. I believe in seizing life to its fullest. About a year ago that all changed. My zig no longer zagged. I started going to bed tired and waking up even more exhausted. I was experiencing headaches and having a hard time concentrating. I went to see my doctor who did a complete physical and he discovered I had developed high blood pressure!! What?! How could that be possible? I’m a nutritionist. I eat clean and I exercise regularly. When the results of my blood test came back, I learned that I had elevated C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is produced by the liver and rises when there is inflammation throughout the body. CRP is considered one of the major predictors of a future heart attack. My CRP measured a staggering 9.8 mg/L! Anything above 3.0 is considered a very high risk for heart attack and stroke. 

The body produces CRP during the general process of inflammation which is why it is called the “marker” for inflammation in the body. Your level of CRP is a good indicator of how at risk you are for developing cardiovascular problems.   In fact, research shows CRP predicts cardiovascular risk more accurately than a person’s cholesterol levels. Data from the Physicians Health Study, a clinical trial involving 18,000 apparently healthy doctors, found that elevated levels of CRP were associated with a 300% increase in the risk of heart attack. 

In addition to an elevated CRP, my white blood cell levels were also high, meaning my body was clearly fighting some type of infection. This internal inflammation was causing a chronic low grade fever, high blood pressure of 170/110; normally my levels are 120/82, and a resting heart rate of 90; normally I’m at 50. With all these factors, I had “the perfect storm” for a massive heart attack! I immediately went to a cardiologist who performed a stress test, EKG and a nuclear heart scan. The findings showed my heart was normal and I had no blockage whatsoever. This was great news; however, I was anything but normal. As the months progressed, I felt even more miserable! No one could give me any answers. I only knew my body was suffering from systemic inflammation but I had no idea why. 

Then one day while at a writer’s convention in California I met a dentist named Dr. P. Piero, from Michigan. He had just authored a book and was sharing it with me. As I thumbed through the pages, I noticed a section on C- reactive protein.  I asked him why a dental book would have a section on this inflammatory marker? What he told me next would finally bring answers on why I was having so many health issues. Dr. Piero told me that the number one cause of elevated CRP is a bacterial infection in the gums (i.e. a tooth abscess). This creates inflammation inside the gums, which enters the blood stream and travels throughout the body. I explained to him that I did not have any tooth pain so this couldn’t be the culprit. He then asked me if I have had any root canals? I told him I’ve had three. Dr. Piero shared that in a root-canaled tooth, the nerve is destroyed so I may feel no pain. 

When I got back home, I made an appointment with an Endodontist who discovered one of my root-canaled teeth was so badly abscessed it had eaten away part of my jaw bone! I made an appointment with an oral surgeon who had to extract the entire tooth and cut out the infection in my jaw bone using a tiny saw. The excruciating pain I experienced was beyond words! He would later pack cadaver bone inside the hole in my jaw, which will need to sit for approximately 6 months before I can get a dental implant. 

The oral surgeon that performed the procedure explained that a root-canaled tooth is essentially “dead” which makes it silent incubators for highly toxic bacteria which can make their way into the bloodstream leading to a number of serious medical conditions—many not appearing until decades later.  Within two days of having this failed root canal removed, I felt alive again! My energy, drive, endurance was back to normal! My heart rate and blood pressure were normal. After getting another blood test, I was happy to see my CRP was now at a normal level of 1.4 mg/L! 

If you are told by your dentist that you need a root canal, there is a safer alternative. Instead of opting to keep a dead tooth that will rot in your mouth, opt for a dental implant. Trust me, it’s MUCH cheaper in the long run and safer! Had I not met Dr. Piero, I feel certain I would have ended up a healthy nutritionist found dead in my yard from a fatal heart attack. 

The next time you go to your doctor ask him to check your CRP level.  I believe this should be a routine part of everyone’s annual physical. There are two tests for CRP. One can show a non-specific elevation of CRP that occurs with general inflammatory changes in the body; the other test is called hs-CRP – highly sensitive CRP – which is a measure of inflammation in blood vessels. This is the test needed to help establish heart disease risk. Thankfully, more and more doctors are realising the importance of measuring hs-CRP levels along with cholesterol to determine the risk of heart disease and to evaluate disease progression and prognosis in those who already have cardiovascular disease. Be sure and ask your doctor for this test to determine if you are at risk.

The person is question discovered that one of his root-canaled teeth was so badly abscessed it had eaten away part of his jaw bone. I know from visiting a dentist in Australia a few years ago that this is what has happened to me and indeed part of my jaw bone has been eroded by the abscess that resides permanently at the base of my dead molar. I don't know what my CRP levels are but at least my blood pressure and pulse rate are not a cause for concern.

I don't like the idea of having the tooth removed, cadaver bone being packed into the empty socket and experiencing excruciating pain. I guess I'll just have to live with it and ultimately die with it, the latter hopefully not too soon. Clearly the abscess is still there which is why it flares up whenever the immune system is weakened by overexertion. All I can do is monitor it.

Psychic Questioning

 I started this blog as a continuation of my former blog on WordPress at: 

https://wordpress.com/post/seanreeves.wordpress.com

My first post was on the 28th September 2020 and since then I've made eight posts and one of them was earlier today. In this post, I asked the question:

Why did my thymus gland malfunction in the first place and create my current thymoma?

I described the answer that I received as follows:

You have a hollow heart and you're trying to fill up the gap that has been created. The thymus gland is associated with the Heart Chakra, a centre of unconditional love and forgiveness. Since a falling out with a family member a couple of years back I've been containing a lot of resentment and anger. In a sense, I've been hollowing out my heart and ridding it of compassion and understanding for the family member concerned. 

I thought that listening to the Solfeggio frequency of 741 Hz, associated with the Heart Chakra, might help in healing especially if I focused on forgiveness. Tonight I listened again to the 14 minute YouTube video that I linked to at the time and I kept repeating the word "forgive". I felt this was preferable to saying "I forgive" because immediately the ego is strengthened by the use of pronoun "I". In the year or more that has passed since that post, I listened to the video only a few times and mainly in the weeks immediately following the post. After that, I largely forgot about because I post to this blog infrequently. I need to listen more frequently.

You can be your own psychic!

In my next post, on the 4th September 2020, the asked the question:

What happened to my gall bladder?

Manganese. As I wrote in that post, "I was lying in bed preparing for sleep and the question was only asked half-heartedly but an answer came back as quick as a flash: 'manganese'". I then set about investigating this element and its possible link to the development of gallstones. I was impressed with what I found.

A third and final question, that I wrote about in the same post, can be described as follows:

I asked a question for a friend of mine who has small fibre neuropathy but who is also on antidepressants. I asked what would help his peripheral neuropathy and the answer came back "iodine" with an image of mixing bowl filled with a yellow powder.  Again I set about investigating iodine and its possible efficacy in treating small fibre neuropathy and was impressed with what I found. I passed the information on to my friend who announced that he would mention it to his doctor. My friend had long ago put all his faith in the medical profession so I'm sure that no action was taken.

So after three "psychic" questions and three quite interesting answers, I stopped and haven't asked a question since. Perhaps it's time to resume. Questions and answers relating to physical matters can be posted to this blog while more metaphysical questions and answers can be posted to my my Mystic Meanderings blog.

Caffeine Addition: Progress Report

On 20th September, I made a post titled Caffeine Addiction in which I discussed my then very recent withdrawal from tea and coffee and their replacement with warm water and nothing else. I'm happy to report that for nearly two months I was able to maintain my "sobriety". Apart from an occasional fruit juice and one cup of hibiscus tea, water has been all I've imbibed.

Today however, I was "forced" into drinking a small cup of Americano at a restaurant. The reason for doing so has to do with my sleeping pattern. Over the past weeks, I'd fallen into the habit of sleeping around 9am, waking up in the afternoon and then snoozing again some time in the evening. Overall I was still getting seven to eight hours of sleep but divided into two quite separate parts. 

Circumstances conspired so that today I was still awake at midday having foregone my morning nap. Together with my family, I was in a restaurant and found myself in a severe sleep-deprived state. In order to keep functioning, I ordered an Americano to accompany my meal. The potency of its effect really surprised me. I was instantly alert and able to function more or less as I could have with my morning sleep behind. Furthermore, I was able to remain awake until almost 10pm of that same day.

For the first few hours after the drink, I was quite "high" and come down slowly over the remaining hours. I was reminded yet again of how potent coffee really is. I don't intend to return to my caffeine-drinking days and am happy to maintain my water only liquid intake. Upon waking up at 1am of the next day (having slept for about three hours), I noticed that I had drooled a little onto my pillowslip and that the smell of the saliva had the same slightly unpleasant smell that it used to have in my coffee and tea drinking days.

Figure 1

Since drinking only water, I drool less and when I do, it has a neutral odour. Presumably the caffeine is being excreted via my saliva when I sleep. Overall my health is good. I've managed to go for a brisk, twenty minute morning walk on most days combined with some light exercises throughout the rest of the day. My weight remains constant at around 71.5 kilograms. My thymoma has not been causing me any significant problems. Lying here, typing this blog post, my resting place rate is about 65 which is "good" (see Figure 1).

Caffeine Addiction

My thymoma, that I've mentioned in earlier posts, was causing problems again and so psychic help was sought. During a tele-healing session, I was advised to refrain from tea or coffee consumption for a period of about four days while my condition was monitored (remotely). In the meantime, I was to drink nothing but warm water. This came as something of a surprise but I nonetheless agreed to abide by the recommended restrictions. 

I'm somewhat unusual in that I seldom consume straight water. All of my fluid intake comes normally from the consumption of coffee in the morning and tea for the rest of the day. Both coffee and tea contain caffeine and I didn't realise the drastic effect that the changeover would entail. Yesterday was the first day and I spent most of it sleeping, having been overcome by a profound lethargy. 

Having missed my morning cup of coffee, I never really woke up. When I was not sleeping, I was in a very irritable mood and had a thick head. Later in the day, a dull pain in my hip joints set in and refused to abate. It persisted throughout the second day during which I decided to take a pain killer in order to obtain some relief. I checked on the Internet to find out if caffeine withdrawal could induce such suffering. Indeed it could. This one site titled HOW I BROKE UP WITH CAFFEINE (AND WHY I DESPERATELY NEEDED TO) said:

“The cessation of daily caffeine consumption produces a well-established withdrawal syndrome comprised of subjective symptoms and functional impairment, including headache, tiredness/fatigue, decreased alertness, decreased energy and difficulty concentrating,” he said. “These effects are likely to be more severe depending on the habitual caffeine intake (i.e. a larger or longer addiction results in greater withdrawal effects).

“Caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist, so when caffeine is removed, the effects of adenosine are magnified. For example, cerebral blood flow is increased when caffeine is withdrawn (acute caffeine administration decreases cerebral blood flow velocity) resulting in headaches. Aside from vascular effects, we also know that caffeine withdrawal can alter central nervous system activity.

“Given the spread of adenosine receptors throughout the body, and the importance of adenosine for the functioning of most cells, the consequence of withdrawal from large habitual doses of caffeine (i.e. >600mg/day!) will result in a broad array of symptoms.”

Like the author of the previous article, I had no idea what a grip the drug had on me. He wrote:

As Associate Professor Desbrow assured me: “The good news is that even in the most severely affected, symptoms typically subside within a week.” He was spot on. A week had now passed since Matt’s unintentional gauntlet-throw. I was waking up fresh (not drinking alcohol probably played a part there), I felt normal again, I’d discovered an excellent organic, caffeine-free tea that more than resembled my usual go-to, and most importantly I felt like I had my brain back again.

In fact, not only did I have it back, but I felt as if I was able to operate at a higher level than usual. Most notable was being able to stick to one task through completion, and my productivity (particularly at night – again, hello whisky) was remarkably better.

I’m still quite uncertain about whether I can recommend quitting caffeine. Without embellishing in the slightest, the withdrawal was one of the most rubbish experiences I’ve put my body through. I’ve experienced plenty of post-ride fatigue, but this happily took the worst of it and factored it by five. The very marrow of my bones hurt, and that’s without beginning on the crushing headaches.

I have been highly critical of people who take antidepressant medication (as over three million Australians do) but I now realise it was a case of the kettle calling the pot black. I was no better. It's taught me to get my own house in order before criticising others.

The following video does a good job of explaining the effects of caffeine:

The commentator in the video makes the important point that giving up tea and coffee can be damaging to health because of the risk of decreased hydration. People just don't drink enough to replace the water that was in the coffee and tea that they drank.

The Alexander Technique

From time to time, a momentary madness overtakes me and I forget I'm 72 years old. Such was the occasion when I encountered two stationary escalators and challenged my 18 year old granddaughter in a race from the bottom to the top. She quickly outpaced me which is not surprising but more disturbing was my body's reaction to this short burst of intense activity. It wasn't good and I know realise that I have to cease and desist from such foolhardiness.

I need to be very cautious and not indulge in any sudden, intense or unusual activities. It's important to gently put my muscles through as wide a range of activities as possible, in anticipation of future exigencies. Lately I've started to do some isometric and limited push/pull exercises for my arms. Due to my thymoma, I've deliberately avoided working the upper body and concentrated instead on my lower body. However, this imbalance needed redressing.

The discomfort caused by my thymoma has gradually increased and seems at time to affect the depth of my breathing. Any overexertion quickly magnifies the intensity of the discomfort and leads to a feeling of nausea and a burning sensation. As I've mentioned before, I must strive to spread my exercises over the course of the day and not concentrate them into too small a timeframe. I still do my ten squats and leg band exercises each day.

Hopefully I can use this blog to catalog my activities and display new exercises and techniques. I've known about the so-called Alexander Technique for many decades now but have not made much use of it in my daily life. I have a book in my library titled "The Alexander Technique Workbook" by Richard Brennan.

Interestingly, it's published in Australia in a street parallel to where I grew up in Brisbane.

I'll attempt to make my way through this book and hopefully gain some insights into how to improve my "health, poise and fitness". The author of the book is still alive and well as his website attests:

Biography of Richard Brennan

Richard Brennan is an Alexander Technique teacher, author and Director of Training at the Alexander Technique Centre based in Galway, Ireland. He is a leading figure in helping people to resolve back and neck problems. His belief is that the root cause of most back pain lies in poor postural habits.

First Career, and Back Problems 

In 1976 Richard developed painful back problems and sciatica while working long hours as a driving instructor. After several years of pain, and having tried various orthodox and complementary treatments, he eventually found relief by having Alexander Technique lessons in 1984. He found the Technique so effective that he soon decided to undertake the three year full time teacher training course in Totnes, Devon, UK, approved by STAT, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. He qualified in 1989 and joined STAT.

His work as an Alexander Technique Teacher 

Richard established his first practice in Totnes, Devon, and began lecturing and teaching around the UK and Europe. He began writing his first book about the Technique in 1991, and since then has written six more books, and his eighth book is due to published very soon.

Richard moved to Galway, Ireland, in 1997. He runs a busy private practice there. He founded the first Alexander Teacher Training College in Ireland in 1998. He is co-founder and President of Irish Society of Alexander Technique Teachers (ISATT), established in June, 2004. In 2007 the training course became approved by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. It is also approved by the Irish Society of Alexander Technique Teachers (ISATT).

Richard travels internationally, giving talks and courses on the Technique. He has taught the Technique at many educational centres, including Galway University, Limerick University, Middlesex University, London, and Dartington College of Arts. He was a guest presenter at the AmSAT annual conference in San Francisco 2009 and in Los Angeles in 2014. He was a Director of the 10th International Alexander Technique Congress, held in Limerick, Ireland in August 2015, which over 700 people attended. He established the International Alexander Teacher’s Convention in 2013, held in Dublin, Ireland; the next one will take place in 2017.

Books and Articles 

Richard is the author of eight books on the Alexander Technique which are translated into nine languages, and a book on the topic of stress. His latest book, How to Breathe, is due for publication in 2017. He has written many articles on the Technique and has published two CDs.

Richard has featured in several newspapers and magazines including The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune, The Irish Examiner, Cosmopolitan, Hello and Home and Country. He has appeared on BBC 1 & RTE 1 and has been featured on BBC Radios 4 & 5 and on local radio around Ireland and the UK.

Approach 

Richard has a practical approach to helping people find their own solutions to problems such as pain, stress, and obstacles to performance. His greatest personal satisfaction comes when he can help others to get out of pain, especially when all other attempts have failed, just as he himself was helped after years of struggle in the 1980s by his Alexander Technique teacher, Daniel Reilly.

Richard aims to make the Alexander Technique accessible to a wide audience. He has been a pioneer in helping to make the technique accessible to many thousands of people.

The author says early on in the book that "when you begin to become more aware of yourself you will be astounded at how much effort it used to take to perform very simple actions". I thought immediately of my guitar playing where I have a tendency to press down very hard on the strings with my left hand. The muscles of my fingers are thus very tense which impedes fluidity of movement and causes the fingers to tire quickly. This is one area that I can work on every time I pick up my guitar. I have lots of bad habits.

Source

What stuck in my head over the years, since first reading about the Alexander technique, was  the door handle exercise in which you observe how much force is applied when simply opening a door. It was quite a discovery to realise how much extra and unnecessary energy I put into this simple task.

Somatic Renaissance

I'm waxing grandiloquent with the title of this post but so what. This year, now more than half over, I've made 70 posts to my Mathematics blog and NONE to this blog. This post is the FIRST of the year. The numbers attest to what I already know. I exist largely in my mind and any awareness of my body is largely unconscious.

Unless my tired old body malfunctions, I simply take it for granted. However, increasing stiffness in my neck has caused me to regularly swivel my head about in an effort to break up what seem to be little spurs that are forming in my vertebrae. This motion is essential in reducing the tendency of the neck vertebrae to fuse together. 

Figure 1: source

I can only surmise that the development of these spurs is the result of degeneration due to old age. Cervical Spondylosis is the term for it. See Figure 1. My vertebrae can't be too compressed because I've managed to maintain my height over the years and have not "shrunk" as some old people do. My posture is reasonably good I think. 

So these neck stretching exercises are a daily routine along with exercises for shoulder mobility. As for walking, one of my favoured activities, it's become less appealing. I don't cover my face with a mask when I'm walking but keep it under my chin. Nobody seems to mind but there's always the possibility of encountering the mask mafia in the form of vigilantes or official enforcers. 

Figure 2: source

So I've taken to just a sort of tip-toeing around a confined area as a substitute. This seems to work well enough. Even here, it's easy to overdo things. This very morning I tip-toed around for a little too long and suddenly started to feel nauseous. Whether this was related to my thymoma I don't know but my ongoing affliction plays up from time to time whenever I push my body a little too far. 

I'm temporarily suspended my ten deep squats a day because I started to develop a sore right hip that was impeding my mobility. I may replace those with more shallow squats. I still use the band for leg exercises although I've suspended that as well while my hip is giving trouble. Suspension for too long though is not a good idea as muscles seem to lose their "memory" very quickly as you age, becoming flaccid in the absence of regular reminders.

Figure 3: source

Surprisingly my weight is 70.9 kilograms, so I've not put on any weight. I just feel more flabby. The key thing is to adopt new exercises and activities cautiously and not to try too much too quickly. My propensity to overload is growing daily and may one day prove fatal. Meanwhile, it lives, it breathes, it survives. By "it" I mean this fragile vehicle that for the moment my consciousness is attached to. For how much longer, I don't know.

Figure 4: source