In my last post I talked about how our intentions and efforts are what’s important, rather than the outcome. And this applies to anything we do. My own main area of concern has been the effort to meditate in spite of problems with positioning my body and the challenges I have with concentration, both due to the COPD. Even though I felt I had a good start with how to look at the problem and deal with it, I ran it by Tayo, who did confirm that, indeed, relative to these problems, the value is in the effort. But he …

One thing that has become increasingly difficult as the COPD progresses is finding a comfortable position that keeps my spine straight so I can meditate. Simply sitting straight is not an option with the physical changes due to the disease, so meditation itself has been difficult these last few years because of that, as well as the effort it takes to breathe, and the difficulties I’ve experienced in trying to focus and maintain my concentration. Low levels of oxygen, along with some of the side effects of necessary medications have affected my thought processes as well as concentration.

Still, with Tayo’s …

I started through a really rough period right after my last entry, making it extremely difficult to think, let alone write coherently. The disease itself was not the cause of the difficulty but rather some huge problems with a couple of allopathic medicines, specifically as they were prescribed for me by my primary care physician (PCP), and then his refusal to change to a different medication in spite of the severe reactions I was having.

In many ways, I feel like the last six to eight weeks or so weeks are nothing but a blur—lost time when I have little time …