By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
For us, bad news is good news. There will be, as there are now, a lot of fodder for media outfits including this one. The various social media platforms were on overdrive 24 hours a day the past few days. In a minuscule way, these all show we are living in interesting times.
But before the explosive news came out everything around was boring. Everything was moving along in a lackadaisical way. So were the movements of everybody. That was two days ago.
I was at City Hall to mail some court documents for the appellate courts when I was told by the people at the post office on the basement I had to wait for more than an hour so I could by the necessary money order checks I was buying to accompany the legal documents I was about to mail. So I decided to go up to the Public Information Office to see what was happening there.
All faces there were the usual ones. Aileen Refuerzo, the boss, was there as usual. Almost everybody was surprised when I told them I suffered a heart failure or “heart attack” due to water-filled lungs.
That led to stories of people who worked in city hall who recently died because of heart attack or stroke. These led to similar stories about relatives or friends and acquaintances of employees there who perished the same way.
The cause of all the deaths were the same. BAD LIFESTYLE coupled with vices like smoking and drinking.
When I arrived, besides the usual kumustahan, I heard somebody say, “keep up the good work”. He continued to say, “you survived because you still have a lot of things to do or accomplish.” My reply was, “God willing.”
Then somebody related a story that inspired me. It was about a close relation who has been lying low for quite sometime already. He has been going through rough times nursing a heart disease. As the doctors recommended, he should have gone through an expensive medial procedure but they did not go through it due to lack of money. The procedure could have set them back by about a million pesos. So, instead, they opted for just managing his condition with medicines. His condition improved after many years, about ten years, and he could now go for some walking at the Burnham Park…… Really!
So it is possible for me to live for another ten years just by managing my condition with medicines and other healing processes. Actually, I don’t need that long. I am already 68 and a few years more would be OK by me.
But who knows? Masamang damo that I am, God just might say I have to live longer to suffer for my sins.
The other things I am doing to manage my condition is going through acupuncture. I have a friend. a co-member of our Ananda Marga Yoga group, who is a doctor of alternative medicine and I visit him once a week. After my first visit for an acupuncture session I felt a lot more relaxed and I became stronger. I have to go through the process once a week. I also started sleeping a lot better and deeper.
After four decades, I also visited our local yoga house to participate in the weekly group meditation. Not only did I become more relaxed. I also felt stronger.
I have no problem with the restrictions on my diet as the doctors prescribed. Less salt, less sugar, no red meat and no drinking or smoking.
The doctors were surprised I have been abstaining from a lot more.
Let us see what happens next.**
