hearing/listening

I have some hearing loss in my left ear.  It's probably temporary and is caused by fluid buildup related to sticking valves in ears and generally bad sinus drainage in my head exacerbated by my allergies to the environment.  It can't really be fixed without surgery that will only temporarily alleviate the problem and could introduce more, so I've pretty much accustomed myself to the fact that I can't hear people coming from that side and can't always understand what they're saying if that side is facing them.

The acupuncturist told me to listen to my body, to pay attention to how it reacted after the first treatment.  (And, wow, did it ever react.)  She asked me for specifics, and I couldn't really give them at first.  "I'm sorry," I apologized, "but I'm just not used to listening to my body.  Mostly all it tells me is pain pain pain discomfort, and those aren't useful things, so I've gotten used to ignoring them as best as I can since there isn't anything I can do to fix them."

The next week, she said, "I've been thinking about that since you mentioned it last week, and I wonder if the two aren't connected."

I wonder, too.  The body is a terribly complicated creation, and it's interconnected in ways good doctors will admit we don't know enough about.  One problem can cause others that cause others, and they are all connected, but if you hurt yourself at work, you aren't allowed to be treated as a whole human being.  You can only be treated for that specific injury, as if the injury is to a single Lego block and not a complex, interdependent system.

Mind-body problems indeed.

So I'm working on listening to myself and others.  Not much positive progress yet, but we're giving it the old college try.

In other news, today was kind of a perfect day weather-wise.  Not that I was out in it because cottonwoods and work kept me indoors, but the walk to the car after work was just lovely . . .