As I recognized the woman—who I hadn’t seen in years—my mind raced with intense associations. I shuffled to their table to say hi. Ten years earlier, the woman had been the communications director for the local school district where I sat on the board. She had been particularly sensitive to my PD, and kind in her concern.
When we last spoke, it was 2014 and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery neared. The procedure had a high, but temporary success rate, with symptoms usually re-emerging five years post-op. Also in 2014, I began the Lost Intruder project. As my search for the missing A-6 intensified, I was surprised to discover an unexpected awareness, transforming a project with no monetary reward or historical value into the seminal spiritual event of my life.
As surgery approached, a nagging fear developed in me that this was a deal with the devil, one that would improve my comfort, but at a cost to my newfound awareness.
Ten years later, my awareness has returned and grown. I always wondered how I would hold up during my second descent into Parkinson’s darkness. My symptoms are worse than last time, and conventional wisdom would dictate that my overall happiness and contentment would suffer as well.
It has not. As my mind begins to slip with dementia, my balance-precipitated falls have made the pain far greater than in 2014, and there is no DBS to save me. But what I have learned over the last 20 years has more than compensated. Here it is.
Develop a creative hobby. Help others without expectation of recognition or reward. Be kind, especially to those with different beliefs. Go outside your comfort zone at least once a day, accept life as it is, not as it should be, and be generous with life’s only infinite resource, love. And if you’re looking for true freedom, try freedom from belief.
Lastly, be curious, smile, and laugh. I love you all.