Day 169: A Cat Gone Astray, Humid-hungry House Plants & Stress Management

Monday, March 3
9:31 p.m.

I have been concerned.  I haven’t seen Shadow in awhile.  I fed her on Sunday morning, on my way out to church.  That was the last time I’d seen her.  I kept looking out the door last night.  No kitty.  When I woke up this morning, her food was still in her dish, her shelter was empty.  I was sad.  And, when I got home from work today, she wasn’t at my door.  I kept looking out the door, waiting to feed her.  No Shadow. 

I kept thinking of these horrible things.  What if she was lost?  What if an animal attacked her?  What if she has been sick and succumbed?  Or what if she had been hit by a car?  What can I say, I worry.  A lot.

Then, I noticed the leaves falling off of one of my indoor plants.  And they are yellowing.  I don’t know enough about botany, but I’m guessing this has to do with water.  I went to the following site: the garden helper.  And I learned:

“Leaf loss or yellowing is often caused by lack of humidity. The majority of houseplants do best with a relative humidity of between 50 and 70 per cent. Plants create a certain amount of humidity themselves through transpiration through their leaves, from the soil, and even the pots if they are porous. The more plants you have in a room, the higher the humidity will be, and if the closer the plants are together, the more they will be able to benefit each other. Setting the pots onto a bed of small pebbles and gravel in a shallow tray will allow you to add water to the tray, raising the humidity without giving the plants ‘wet feet’. Except for fuzzy leaved ones, houseplants enjoy a daily misting with room temperature water. Placing water filled vessels around the room will also add to the moisture in the room.”

I made a note to buy a mister or spray bottle.  My poor plants need better humidity.  I’m dry, too.  My scalp, especially. 

I made the critical error of doing financial matters this evening (after I had pledged not to!).  On the good side of things, I found out that a profit share program from a former job was approved by the IRS and I have a nice sum to roll over into my IRA.  So, that’s a nice blessing because it’s about my future.  But then, because my rent was due between two paychecks, I had been on hold with paying other bills.  So, I spent a good twenty minutes tonight paying bills reflecting my next paycheck (Thursday), dealing with my present circumstance.  Keeping up.  Now, more good news.  I have an ‘extra’ paycheck for the following pay period before the next cycle going to rent.  So, I will put a chunk into my savings account and then pay a chunk of my debt.

I am reasonably fiscally responsible.  I am learning from past mistakes and working to a healthy place.  I have learned about spiritual consciousness and my former attachment with materialism.  And I am trying to live happily within my means while saving some.  So, I’m on the right path.  But, unless you are independently wealthy, finances are always a strain.  And, hence, I had a clogging strain to my mucuous membranes.  Between my worries for Shadow and dealing with paying my bills and focusing on my debts, I got tense.  I wasn’t even aware of my breathing at all.  My shoulders were practically touching my earlobes.   And I was getting a gross runny nose while feeling pressure develop in my sinuses.

I took a preventative Claritan.  I stretched, since I did a good strength training workout earlier this evening.  And I started to focus on my breathing.  I drank some tea and a few glasses of water.  More stretching.  And, ahhh, more water.  I gave myself a facial with a volcanic mask while my nose.  And I began to unwind.  I began to balance.  And I began to breathe again.  It’s crazy that for so long I didn’t equate my congestion to stress.  And even crazier that when I can concentrate on obliterating that stress and finding my breath, I can do away with the congestion.  It’s simply a symptom to stress.  And it’s a relief.

As I was winding down, breathing, concentrating, meditating, I got up, stretched and checked outside my front door.  There, slowly coming up the stairs, was my good friend, Shadow.  I was so happy, so relieved!  I went in the kitchen and brought her a nice, big dish of food.  She extended her large, fuzzy, shadowy dark head toward my hand as I patted the fuzzy spot between her ears, then dove her nose back into the dish. 

The message, the ongoing Gospel of my life – don’t stress.  Everything is going to be alright.  Trust in that, believe in that.  It’s the mantra I really need to live by, the very same message glimmering in the Serenity Prayer by St. Francis:  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Period.

Amen!