Wisdom

It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.  Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Yes, I am finding the cliche true that the more I learn, the more I realize how much I still have to learn.

While working on my thesis, I accumulated a mountain of facts and organized them into orderly charts. As I read and re-read the data, I formulated theories of my own based on the research and conclusions of others before me. I compiled the first draft, submitted it to my academic advisor, then plunged into weeks of late night editing. 

I remember the all encompassing pursuit of formal knowledge that would colminate in a advanced degree.

I worked full time in a rehabilitation facility, eluded sleep, and my exercise routine had become past tense. My body rebelled and branded me with inflamed nerves visible as a blistery, painful rash - known as herpes zoster or shingles. I followed traditional medical advice by taking the medications nerotin and prednisone for 5 days while adding time in the sunshine, calamine lotion, sublingual B12, B-complex supplement, and extra anti-inflammatory fruits and vegetables. I was studying health but neglecting my own, I was forced to listen to the wisdom of my body.

That experience slowed me to a crawl. Yet, after days of relentless misery, I was renewed. An unexpected, unexplainable edgy calm, reminisce of the feeling I get when I hear an owls screechy call, was mine.