To Will One Thing
Dec 28th, 2008 by Liz Bennefeld
Balance in life is important. It’s hard to achieve, these days, with so much pushing and pulling and noise and rapid movement all around one. The title of a book by Sören Kierkegaard comes to mind, this morning: Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing. The one thing, of course, is Good. One wills the Good because it is good. And one wills the good for its own sake, not for any reward.
Balance in life is elusive. My mind wanders a lot, these days, my thoughts taking all sorts of side excursions. And sometimes I mistake the thinking for the doing, leaving a project behind, once I’ve finished thinking it through to the end, counting the thinking the same as the doing. Sometimes I am so buried in thought that my words and actions in the outside world don’t really register with me; I will put down items and forget that I ever held them, not because of any brain disease, but simply because I was not paying attention. Balancing the interior and exterior aspects of life is important.
When one has arrived at a point where thinking leaves little time for anything else…Something vital is missing.
I have trouble with forgetting what I’ve done because I’m not paying attention either. It’s very frustrating, but it’s all too easy to do. {rueful smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I know there is thyroid trouble in my family and that low thyroid levels will cause short-term memory loss. I don’t have any of the other symptoms, though. (Unless one counts not losing weight because of forgetting one is supposed to be on a diet.)
Then maybe it’s something else. I hope you’ve talked about it with your doctor; they might be able to help. {Smile}
I know tracking down the cause of a medical problem isn’t always easy. We figured out that my hearing loss was nerve damage right from the start, but we still have barely a clue what’s wrong with my sense of balance. It’s probably neurological and/or endocrinological. (I suspect “and,” personally.) In any case that “diagnosis” leaves entirely too many options wide open. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Interference with short-term memory is one of the effects of fragrance/chemical exposures. The swelling in my ears from massive exposures to some allergens (e.g., dust, pine, Latex), oddly enough, affects my sense of balance, but it’s not so long-lived as what you experience.
I should hoe your balance problem is less long-lived than mine. I’ve had trouble with vertigo all my life. That’s almost 40 years now. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin