Today I had my 2nd acupuncture treatment.

As the same as last time, the acupuncturist checked my pulse and tongue. She found some progress in my pulse. Especially my kidney got stronger than last time. She could not see any progress in my tongue. She said tongue usually takes time to show any progress. At least, I was happy for the progress in my kidney showed in my pulse.

This time I didn’t get emotional at all. I just felt relaxed. My one hour appointment went by so quickly.  

My acupuncturist prescribed me an herbal tea for blood sugar. I will take this tea during meal three times a day. It is a product of China. The details are written in Chinese, and I don’t know exactly what ingredient is contained.

***

After my acupuncture treatment, I had an appointment of get-together with my friend at the local Starbucks. My friend brought a Triple Mocha Frappuccino to me. It used to be my favorite. Maybe she remembered my favorite and didn’t know my diabetes condition. It looked delicious. But I had to turn down her kind offer.

Since my first acupuncture treatment of May 2nd, I have completely stopped having coffee. I also have avoided taking any kind of produced sugar as much as I can.

I didn’t want to make the same mistake that I made at the recent birthday party. When I was invited to a birthday party, I was offered a can of coke and some slices of pizza. I naturally took them. That caused my blood sugar spiked up over 400, and I regretted about my action.

Today, I didn’t yield in taking Frappuccino. I am proud of myself for having being strong. The Frappuccino contains coffee, whip cream, sugar, and chocolate. I cannot risk my health.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I went to see my friend at her workplace. She is an owner of the sushi bar. 

Recently two of her employees resigned their positions. They were one of the best employees and she desperately needs to hire somebody who can cover their positions.

She asked me if I want to work for her. I am willing to work, however, I have only limited time available to work. We discussed the time and it was far away from negotiation. She needs somebody who can regularly work from 7 am in the morning. Her store opens almost all day of the year, except for Christmas day.

My available time to work is limited to the time while my daughter is in school. And, I cannot work on weekends, because I still want to spend time with my family on weekends.

She said she would wait patiently for the time that I could work weekdays. I told her it might be three to four years later. She said she could wait for the years.  

***

Then she offered me a tour at her workplace.

I was inside of her sushi bar wearing their uniform. She showed me on how she made sushi, roughly from the beginning to the end. I also could watch other employee making sushi. I got the idea on how they make and what to do.

She emphasized the speed on making sushi was the key. She recently needed to fire one employee. He was perfect in personality; kind and polite. But he could not catch up the speed on how the other employees’ making sushi.

She gave me the actual daily sales amount. Based on the sales amount and retail price, I could easily calculate how many sushi one employee needs to make. It blew my mind. It was definitely beyond my expectation. Yes, she is right. The speed is the key. I think I can catch up the high speed though, once I get used to making sushi.

It was an exciting and interesting experience. I enjoyed this work tour very much.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I received an invoice from the lab company. I was shocked at the high price. Also I received a notice from my insurance company about my copay amount. I was way higher than I thought.

Before I made an appointment, I confirmed with my insurance company that the lab test is covered by the insurance company 100% as the preventive care. Also, when I made an appointment with the clinic, I mentioned about that.

It was a simple human error. Somebody who was responsible for inputting coding made a mistake. It should be fixed easily. All I need to do is to make a couple of phone calls.

However, making a phone call is a tough task for me. I went through many bad experiences on miscommunication over the phone, especially with the staff members at the clinics and hospitals.

I took ourage and picked up my phone. I called my insurance company. The customer service representative who picked up my phone sounded like a young woman. Luckily enough for me, from the way she spoke, I could tell she was smart and quick to grasp the situation.

First off, we started with the invoice from the lab company. She made a phone call to the lab company and set a 3-way talk so that I could hear their conversation. It turned out the invoice was simply a mistake. Somebody messed up the claim number and ended up to charge me a wrong bill. It solved quickly.

Then, we tacked with the clinic. This was not easy.

Again, the insurance company operator called the clinic and set a 3-way talk including me. The first receptionist who picked up the phone put us on hold. After having us to wait for long, she transferred us to other department. There, nobody could solve the issue. Then we were transferred to somewhere again. Same thing happened. We had to wait on-hold for long for somebody pick up the phone. The last person we spoke dealt with the coding, but she didn’t have an authority to change it. All she could do is to send an email to her supervisor who has the authority to change the code. She is out of the office for the day. This was it that we could do for the day.

By then, we spent almost one hour for this matter. I was exhausted.

At least I was thankful for this operator for her kindness and smartness to support me. Without her support I might have given up to deal with this matter. I almost lost my temper, but she never did. She stayed calm from the begging to the end.

***    

The following day I received a phone call from a young woman. She was the supervisor for the coding at the clinic. She politely apologized for their error. She told me to rest assured that she sent out the correct the coding to my insurance company.

***

To think back about this matter, maybe it happened to me so that I could practice on the problem-solving and the better communication skill.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I check my weight every morning. It has been my routine for years. The tendency of my weigh tells me about my period cycle.

Right before the period is the time when I weigh the heaviest in the month. After the period, I gradually lose my weight. When the period is getting closer, I gradually gain back my weight. It is like the phases of the moon. I feel comfortable of my body’s cycle.

This morning I weigh two pounds heavier than yesterday. I was shocked. I knew I didn’t eat too much yesterday.

Then, I went to bathroom and shocked again. My period had started.

That explains my sudden gaining weight. But it was three days earlier than my usual cycle.

I know the irregular period cycle is the first sign of menopause. It will come eventually.

Instead of feeling panicky, I want to face at my body’s life cycle. I want to go along with my aging naturally, with the good balance between body, mind, and spirit.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today is Mother’s day.

I received a beautiful card from my mother-in-law. The card contained her loving words to me. She thanked me for being a great mother for my daughter and a great wife for my husband. It was my first time to receive Mother’s day card from her. It was a nice surprise. I felt a bit embarrassed that I didn’t’ send her a card.

My husband gave his mother a call wishing her a happy mother’s day. His phone call definitely made my mother-in-law’s day brightened up.

I called my parents in Japan wishing my mom a happy mother’s day. They were happy to hear my voice and my daughter’s voice. Our call made their day brightened up.  

Then I received nice gifts from my husband and daughter. They gave me the pretty flowers of red and white. They reminded me of Japanese cherry blossom (Sakura) in the shape.

In my daughter’s card, she wrote

I love you Mom; to the Moon to the back.

I think she wanted to describe how big her love to me is. It is huge like going to the Moon and coming back to the Earth.

I felt great to feel love everywhere. It was a very nice flow of passing love to one another.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I want to share about the Japanese television program I watched today.

I believe the technique of Japanese comedians are one of the world’s bests. Especially I love Manzai. Manzai is the duo comedians. They induce laughter with their already made conversation. They usually create the conversation on their own. So, in that sense, it can be said they are the creators of their sophisticated conversation (their comedy performance).

In this television show, one Manzai comedian duo became one-day-only instructor and offered the lecture. The audience this time was the employees at the toy company. The program is to share technique of creating funny but sophisticated comedian conversation.

I am always facinated with how smart the Manzai comedians are. I myself wanted to become a Manzai comedian when I was small. As a matter of fact, in my graduation essay of junior high school, I wrote my future dream to become a professional Manzai comedian. Also, during my university days, I belonged to the comedian club and studied to become a comedian. One of our club members became a professional comedian.

Anyway, let me get back to the television program.

There are two techniques that I thought useful.

The first technique is to list up as many idea as you can. Once you have many ideas, show them to your family and friends to see their reactions. Be open and flexible to their reaction, and fix and arrange them so as to be accepted by many audience. Have courage to discard some that are not accepted by your audience.

The second technique is to set your own time on creation. The instructor sets three hours for creation. After the time has come, he shifts his energy from output to input. He does something else such as reading books, watching TV, or watching movie. Anything can be the source and data for creation and output.

Toward the end of the class, one of the attendants asked the instructor a question. It was regarding how to not get nervous in front of audience. The instructor’s answer was honest. He doesn’t know any way on how to not get nervous. He believes it is good to get nervous. When a performer or a speaker gets nervous, the audience will sense the nervousness and vulnerable, it will bring much more success for the performance and speaking.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today is my 45th day of the daily-basis muscular training. I am proud of myself for my continuous efforts.

The trainer sends an email to the participants every day at the same time (for Japanese customers at 7 in the morning, for me at 3 in the afternoon) to motivate us to keep doing the training on the daily basis. This system helps me a lot. I owe my continuing success to his daily email.

Five days ago when I had my 40th day of the training, the trainer asked all the participants to reply back to him with an update whether we are catching up with him. Also he asked us to work on our future vision.

He shared his technique to achieve our goals. Having our future vision clearly and vividly motivates our daily training. Also, it helps to perceive our goal and the strong reasons to reach the goal. He encouraged us to write down 1 to 10 visions on reaching our goal.     

Here goes my future visions on reaching my goal.

1. To lose my weight to 125 lb and maintain it for the rest of my life.

—　At the starting day of March 28, I weighed 138.6 lb.

2. To reverse my diabetes. Specifically, to improve my Hemoglobin A1C value to 5.7.

—　On my last doctor’s visit of April 25th, my Hemoglobin A1C value was 7.9.

3. No diabetic symptoms of headache, tiredness, sleepiness, and thirst.

4. No need to take diabetes medicine twice a day.

—   Currently the doctor prescribes me to take Metformin, 2000 mg a day. This is too much amount for me based on Japanese medical standardization.

5. To have my blood pressure within the normal range once I stop taking Metformin.

—　For one year I had not taken metformin, my blood pressure level was within the normal range. However during I am taking it, my blood pressure is raised to the abnormal range. It is one of the side effects of the medicine.

6. No need to check my glucose level three times a day.

—   I hate to hurt my body by poking a needle for that.

7. No need to go to acupuncture treatment.

—　My insurance company does not cover the treatment, so I am currently paying 100％ fee out of pocket. I go there every week. It will cost me a lot when it is accumulated.

8. No need to go to hospital for a diabetes checkup every three months.

—　I can save my waiting time at the hospital, expensive fee for doctor’s visit and medications.

9. To use my valuable time, money, and energy for myself and my previous family.

—   Currently I spend lots of time, money, and energy to deal with diabetes.

10. Worry-Free

 

***

This process of writing down my future visions was helpful for me. With this bright vision of my future self, I will keep my daily efforts.

To my friends and readers, please take good care of your good health. Your good health is the best way to save your precious time, money, and energy. And at last but not the least, your good health in your body is essential for your good health in your mind and spirit.  

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

This month I have been experiencing to deal with patience. I am in the state of waiting for two issues.

The first issue is my test result. I had my blood test on April 25th. The doctor said she would send me the result as soon as they receive it from the lab. I have been patiently waiting for it until today. I still haven’t received it yet.

I called the clinic office. The person was watching my test result on the computer screen and told me everything was fine except for the A1C level and cholesterol level. She didn’t do anything for me. I called 5 to 6 times. Each time a different person answered the phone and told me they would leave a memo to the doctor. But, as you can easily guess, nothing happened. 

***

The second issue is my reading video. One of the public figure opened his reading appointment in this past February. I paid the fee and sent my question. It was in February. He announced in his official webpage that he would send out the reading video links in the month of April. I had been waiting patiently, but even we entered in May, I had not heard anything from him.

***

I started feeling irritated. I talked to my family spirits.

Okay, I know these happened for reasons. Maybe they happened for me to learn patience. Now that I have learned being patient, could you please help me out from these? I don’t like being treated like this. They seem to have ignored me without responding me back. I am trustworthy. I keep my promises. I deserve to deal with the same energy people who are trustworthy and keep their promises.

After the conversation with them, I let them do the rest. I just simply relaxed.

***

In the evening, I had a progress about the first issue. Somebody in the clinic called me and she could finally offered me a solution. My test result is now in the process to be sent out to me.

In the night, I had a progress about the second issue. The channeler sent out the email apologizing for the delay in reading along with his reason why they were behind the schedule. He mentioned it is being processed and he will send out our reading within the next two weeks.

I guess, finally the lesson for developing my patience has ended.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

The end of school year is coming closer. My daughter had attended at two club activities during this school year; the science club and the art club. Both club activities were pretty good programs. Also, it was beneficial for her to become friends with different aged students.

This week was the last week for both club activities. They had a small wrap up party. My husband attended the small party of the science club with my daughter.

Today was the last day of the art club. They were planning to have an ice cream party as the wrap up party. I was not sure what time I should attend.

In the morning I received a phone call. I usually don’t pick up any phone calls with unknown number, but the number was one that I registered for the school. So I picked up the phone, expecting it was from her art club teacher.

When I answered the phone saying “Hello?”, a cute and familiar voice came into my ear. “It’s me!”

To my surprise, it was my daughter. She asked her teacher to let her make a phone call to tell me the time of the ice cream party.

I was happy to know she memorized my phone number and could give me a call all by herself.

She is eight years old, so most likely it is not such a surprise for most people. But for me, everything new about my daughter is such a wonderful delight.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I went to see my acupuncturist. She gave me two pieces of papers that included the recommended food list for my symptom.

One is for Liver Yin Deficiency and the other is Kidney Yin Deficiency.

According to the information papers, I should eat vegetables and fruits to keep my body cool. It includes celery, cucumber, spinach, tomatoes, fermented dairy, carrots, seaweed, pears, strawberry, and watermelon. Interestingly, they have already become my routine food that I consume in the daily basis. My body intuitively sensed the best food I should take, and that was why I bought these ingredients at the grocery store without thinking.  

The food I should avoid includes coffee, curry, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, warming foods in general, and hot spices. Okay, this will be a bit tough for me. These are my favorites.

My acupuncturist is a thoughtful person. She told me to take it easy, and not to get stressed out by this information papers. They are just suggestions.  It does not mean I cannot take them at all from now on, but it means I should avoid whenever I can.

I will keep making my efforts. A baby step every day, having a vivid image of myself smiling and standing at my goal.    

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪