The Wisdom Within

By Suzette Scholtes

Thanksgiving Time!

I saw my doc this fall for my annual check. I remember those important comments and/or numbers. Numbers are important in medicine.

So with the first number 90-something/over 60-something….I breathed a sigh of gratitude. Our blood pressure is representative of our total health. Soon after I talked to my sister, Jeanette, and said: “I’m as healthy as a horse.” I felt her grin over the phone. We like to feel “healthy” and we both focus upon it as most of my family.

I’ll get back to BP but for now what I’m thinking about is family and our upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday when this year I host six house guests and serve dinner to l6. We started a family tradition decades ago when after a family weekend or vacation or holiday, we talk to whoever happens to call (in this family that’s one of about 30)….and we chat. And then we get to the basic question: “What was the Best Moment and what was the Worse Moment?”

It always reminds me of my son on our trip to Europe for his college graduation. On the way home from this dream-of-a-lifetime-vacation we pose the question. “My charming son” ( I know all moms think this) said: “Best moment was looking at the Sistine Chapel. Worse moment was sharing a room with my mom!”

I smile with that memory. I remember one “worse” moment in Spain when there was unrest and all the taxi and bus service had ceased. This was soon after 9/11…not a good time….and we decided to create a walking tour of Barcelona. Suddenly, I intuitively felt a lot of danger and pleaded with my family to get away from the Plaza and retreat. We did. Away from the oppressive crowd, the four of us enjoyed a wonderful lunch and “my charming son” knew enough to converse in Espanola. Was I impressed who did not know Oh lah from ooooooh lah. (That always embarrassed him when I visited with my business partner, Karim, who from Argentina speaks ‘Espanola” that sounds like poetry. She would call and say Oh lah and I would call her back and say oooo lah and my son would roll his eyes and says “Good God, Mother! It’s oh lah, not oooo lah.”) Sorry, I digress.

So the worse moment of the exam was that darn colon/blood/whatever test. Good news is that it was like the other test….NEGATIVE.

And the best moment came in the middle of the exam with my doc, Dr. Jane Murray--who is too adorable for words (She always laughs, a sign of being “enlightened.”) Dr. Jane and I were talking when I was wearing that obnoxious exam gown and she said: “We signed a ten-year-lease with Corporate Woods.” I smiled at her and said, “My mentors and I just wrote my l0-year plan.”

What happened here is this routine medical exam became one of the best moments of the year to create even more gratitude. I knew in my heart we both were focusing on the growing success of our essence: good people who find power in love and trust and value.

And we laughed and talked about how good to know that we were not old when some would think this age is old and we knew in that moment we were entering into the best years of our lives. And I never felt so good.

Suzette Scholtes is the founder and director of teacher training for The Yoga Studio of Johnson County, established in l984. She helps each student deepen quality of life by sharing techniques and tools of using inner resources for ongoing health and happiness. Suzette believes joy and humor are her greatest assets. Her work has appeared in many national magazines and was published by New Leaf, Atlanta. She has received several awards for her work in community Service. She welcomes your feedback at Suzette@Everestkc.net or www.theyogastudio.com