Join the Livabetes movement. Renaming and Reclaiming Your Body, Mind,Soul and Health

 This morning when doing my gentle Chi Kung exercises (Eight Pieces of Brocade which comes in a small book and can be learned fairly easily, a little at a time may work best., I thought about 'diabetes' as a word describing what exactly? Blood sugar regulation...but with that 'die' sound at the beginning of the word, I thought, why  don't we rename that condition that is affecting not onlly almot 30 million Americans, but as a prediabetes condion, 70 million more.

There are only 300 million people in the US, so that is One Third of the Country! We could call it 1/3rdabetes! I like to do some hand drumming and our Salisbury Hand Drummers have a t-shirt that reads "We are the Beat!" Sounds like an 80s Rock and Roll song lyric, but really we each have a heart beating and add out own zest to life, have our path and ways we interact or tend the garden of our lives and world, so we as humans really are The Beat of How Life Goes on the Plan-It and For Each of US and All of US. With That inspiration, why not think of dia-beat-ease as the Ease of helping our lives and heart be at.

Another option then would be 'livabeat-ease', as in live with one's heart beat with ease. When we get right down to it, keeping the heart and body healthy (with blood that if balanced and able to flow well..not too thick or thin, not troubled by high or low blood pressure, then we are in sync. The food, activity (social, moving around the home, kinds of music and media we think about or movies and shows we watch, our living situations, work life, relationship, even the weather and getting from Point A to Point B, pacing trips and gatherings, exercise or cleaning projects etc) can all factor into the big picture and our daily 'stress or health level'. How we live shows up in our physical form. 

Other terms that have come to mind over the years to tune up the reality of what we may need to know or deal with includes Discovers for Divorces, same letters but very different energy. We are all becoming more aware of the overall aging process and how health challenges can factor into one's self-care or care for another person. Maybe more could be explored about 'reasonable expectations' for anyone to try to take care of themselves (from eating well, getting activity and good sleep and living a balanced life and socially being appropriate and having support from friends if not professionals).

Then a dyad or pair of people who are responsible or wanting to help each other (one caring for the other or each caring for each other in some ways) could be explored. When there are high needs, more help could be recruited or a relationship could take a new form in terms of living arrangements, spending time or doing the actual care. The costs to get help can be staggering, yet more networks could likely be developed whether with others in terms of trades (see Time Banks, Co-op for caring for children, elders, others, and Community or Government Supports or Faith Group resources.) Again some creative thinking about labelling the types of roles and actions that can assist with thinking and relating in new ways would be worth brainstorming.