Risk and Contentment

Two of my small paintings. L., self-portrait, 2008; R., 1 Tim. 6:6, 2010.

IRRITATING is the challenge topic.

Don't get me started! Kaiser Permanente is so irritating. Their motto is THRIVE but they just get in the way.

They have just told me that in a few weeks - they couldn't even wait till the end of the year! - they will no longer cover the prescription I've been taking (in the tiniest possible dose) most of my life. I think they're trying to put the supplier out of business by removing their huge buying power so that we are all forced to take a synthetic, manufactured version. I tried that version when I had no choice, and it's lousy (for me). In a 2012 randomized, double blind study under the auspices of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, 49% of the subjects preferred the natural form, and only 19% preferred the synthetic.

Kaiser has wasted my Saturday morning doing research, calling pharmacists, getting prices. Ultimately, they will be increasing my cost of medication as well as the difficulty in obtaining it. How does that help me thrive?

These little paintings pinned with magnets to the side of my file cabinet - my stainless steel fridge doesn't hold magnets! That is so irritating! - are my reminder that life requires leaps, including leaps of faith, and it's best to practice contentment, hopefully without expressing too much irritation along the way. How'd I do? Not so well, huh!?

Om shanti shanti shanti. (Peace, peace, peace.)


(SOOC, straightened and cropped. Repays a look large.)