The Anxiety Cure

I have been suffering from chronic attacks of anxiety for which I refuse any medication. John Piper posed the following question: "if it is right to feel grief and anguish at some loss, then it would seem right also to be anxious about the possibility of that loss."

I always find comfort in the words of St. Paul to the Philippians : “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:6-7)

Nothing more could be uplifting by meditating upon these words. They are more effective than any pill or medication. They are medicine. They come in four separate prescriptions but taken in a single dose. These are Praying, Asking, Thanking, and Presenting to God all of your cares and anxious thoughts. The effect is Peace, which no one can really explain. 

Lawyers' Speak

The ability of lawyers to confound, confuse, and bedazzle the layman with their language has been the subject of anecdotes and hilarious comments. Lawyers indeed talk legalese because such is their nature. Only lawyers understand lawyer’s speak, and that is the secret of how they make money. You have to hire them to untangle the vague, incomprehensible, and perplexing entwining knot where you may find yourself enmeshed. They are the skilled champions who carry a man’s cause or burden. In the field of law the Attorney is like fish in the water, as much as the Doctor and the Priest in their own field.

Shakespeare in Hamlet wrote:

Why may not be this skull of the lawyer?

Where now be his quiddities, his quillets,

His cases, his tenures, and his tricks?

My Hurry Sickness

My wife tells me I am too excessively focused on time, that the watch and the clock have become my hard taskmasters. She resents it when I remind her that she is slowing me down for an appointment, because she takes a long time to dress and make up herself in front of the mirror unmindful that we are running late. I suffer extreme anxiety when I couldn't be at the appointed time, and worst, if trying to catch a plane or ferry ride. I worry excessively about schedules, deadlines, and appointments, oppressed by the urgency of the moment. She tells me I'm suffering from hurry sickness, and much too high strung in keeping time that I should do something about it. She's right, today I will throw out the three wall clocks which have been sternly watching my going and coming, and tomorrow I couldn't care less if I miss the business hours where I am suppose to  pick up the beauty kit she's been asking me to bring. I'm slowing down.   

WIVES' TUG OF WAR

In lighter moments during weekend breaks, in between workdays, I would visit the group of seniors, who have nothing better to do but loaf around and talk about everything,  in the same usual spot where they  congregate drinking the home made ginger brew and  munching unsweetened loaves, at the break of dawn.   

They have become my hiking buddies, self-proclaimed advisers, and teasers, though most of them preferred to sit than hike. Officially I’m simply an honorary member, of this group of elders, because  my present age still disqualifies me, though, hopefully, my induction isn’t very far.

The topic of conversation, when I arrived, was the tug of war for the remains of the famous Filipino politician,  between the women of his life.

It is only in the Philippines where the mortal remains of a man is regarded as an object of prime  importance, that taking possession of it is a symbol of legitimate authority to the possessor, where two or three wives are quarreling to get hold of the cadaver.   

Since I had a lot of absences in the caucuses of the group, my penalty was to be silent during the discussion of this interesting topic and to pay the fine by sponsoring the next round of snacks and ginger brew.

The wisdom of the old was evident in the way the talk was progressing.

One elder defended the poltician as the consummate Filipino macho male, who true to form, should not be blamed if he collected an array of women or women went after him. At least, this elder says, he left this world in stylish controversy, making himself all the more famous in death than in life.

Another elder begged to differ. He said, trouble often follows the household of a man who has plenty of women. He said that a man should remain faithful to his wife for life, for this is the true measure  of a man. In this way he doesn’t leave problems for the living when he dies, and would not be turning in his grave because his death left a trail of perplexing court cases involving angry women fighting over the  physical possession of his inert body which would be buried to the ground anyway.

Turning to me, the oldest of the group asked of my opinion. I said, I have none, besides, I said the unwritten rule of this organization bars me to speak, so I raised the cup of ginger brew and made a toast to all the girls I’ve loved before.