Educational Excellence

Happy Friday, All!

This time, and like always, it’s imperative!  “T.G.I.F.”!

Did you ever start working on a task and found yourself deep in thought as to how you were going to handle the situation(s) ahead?!?  And then, after putting your “nose to the grind” and occasionally looking up until finally … when you look up again … it’s finished!!  Perhaps after many deep breaths, yoga sessions, meditations, prayers and/or church programs, “you” were able to complete the challenge that once loomed ominously before you.  Yet now, it lays quietly on the concrete behind you.

“Life” is not always that way, but “… if you hang around this Earth long enough, you’ll see things come full circle!”  It is one of my major motivational “thoughts”:  I know if I stick to the grind here, keeping my loving and caring/sharing feelings in full bloom, things will work themselves out!  I mean, “we” learn this from experience … should we decide to pay attention to the lessons of our life experiences.

My trip to my “business home base”, Ft. Lauderdale, FL was successful!  Friends came through over and over … I had lost a lot of weight so the first question that I had to answer for most was: “Darn, Cook!  You’re so skinny!  What’s happening?”  Most people got the explanation that I am starting to include more plant based foods into my diet as it seems to have helped many people overcome different disorders and diseases, like prostate cancer.  While reducing fish and chicken intake and learning about plant based foods that I actually can cook and like to eat, I have lost a bit of weight.  Those who asked me and had a little more time to talk got the full answer!  “Even while I was in Spain, Germany, France and Holland, I struggled with acid reflux!  There were times when I didn’t want to eat because my tummy hurt so much.  But, this time staying with my friend, John Shelton, and chatting I remembered that the best medicine for me against acid reflux is Prilosec OTC!”  My second day in Ft. Lauderdale after buying and taking the first of 14 tablets of a “three-treatment package” of Prilosec OTC, my appetite came back FULL FORCE!  Candy, Johnny’s lady friend, cooked up omelettes with Swiss cheese and veggies in it especially for me as well as an omelette with “crawfish” in it … Cajun-styled!  Shucks, Candy got down and made some “Candy-style fried potatoes” for us with onions and red peppers … cooked golden brown!  I ate like a “champ”!  “I got my appetite back!”  I have been trying to satiate this increased appetite within the realm of my food budget, which is the most expensive part of life here in Puerto Viejo!

When I got back to Ft. Lauderdale, I had some information from the lawyers, Unger & Kowitt, who represented me in the case I caught on the “4th of July, 2017”.  This was the event that pushed the needle as far as I could take it!  So, a pre-trial hearing was held in July and the results were: “No points on my license, $80.00 fee to Clerk of the Courts of Broward County (for hearing my case!)”  So, this is the result of my desire to follow instructions (unspoken by bus driver who let “us” off at the stop he chose!) as I enjoyed myself with a French friend (Alejandro Schmidt) on the 4th of July, 2017 in my own country – USA!!  (I wonder, what would have happened if I DIDN’T HAVE A DRIVER’S LICENSE, JUST AN I.D.?!)

The trip was also successful because my first day getting on “the ground” in Ft. Lauderdale, catching buses and visiting my primary care physician who was livid since I hadn’t visited him in one year, I got so much done.  I didn’t bring any baggage because I wanted to buy a small bag and stock up on some supplements that I had been looking for and inquiring about in Puerto Viejo.  Even the “health specialists” hadn’t heard of “Devil’s Claw” and its use in the treatment of osetoarthritis.  I didn’t carry my CBD/thc oil with me as it would’ve melted into nothingness, and my primary physician begrudgingly gave me a 15 day “script” for diclofenac 50 mgs.  So, as I ran my errands the first day, I put up with some fairly uncomfortable moments.

The second day, Tuesday last week, through the help of a hometown friend, Jacquie Young who picked me up and returned me to John’s place where I was staying for the week, I was able to present a motivational talk to the BSO’s “Community Justice Program” in Cooper City, FL.  My friend of many years in Broward County, Nicole Mercado Valencia, who runs the program invited me so that they could award me with a plaque for being a faithful community volunteer for that program!  Jacquie even took pictures!  The participants were very welcoming to me and each wrote an “evaluation” of my presentation, which included a demonstration of the “lotus position” for yoga and meditation as well as reading and reflecting on an excerpt from Dr. Joe Dispenza’s New York Times Best Seller, “Becoming Supernatural”.  His work on biofeedback and how to re-energize our “energy centers” or chakras to remove blockages as well as how to re-inform our body’s “cells” and molecular assignments, so to speak, has caught my attention and become the center of my healing.  I also got some flax seed oil and tablets and was gifted a bottle of “Black Seed Oil” by a friend also from White Plains, John Young, who was thinking of making the trip but opted out as something came up.  I got my fingerprints taken at the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department and then mailed them from the post office to the FBI Headquarters in Virginia myself, which completes the Stateside-steps needed to complete my application for residency here in Costa Rica.

As I sat here this morning writing at 8:00am, the rain was falling gently … then harder … and I inhaled the freshness of the air and observed the harmony of nature from my open windows.  Please, be sure to have a wonderful day.  The rain has stopped … the Sun’s out!  Always strive to be the best that YOU can be … no competition necessary … and “Know Thyself”!

Peace,