Catalyst and a Life Change

 

On the way home from a Mini Moment with Joe today, I picked up a copy of Catalyst Magazine.  The magazine’s focus is “Healthy Living, Healthy Planet,” but I have to admit that wasn’t why I was drawn to it.  The photo on the front cover was so funny that I had to find out what this magazine was all about.  Wouldn’t that make a great Christmas card photo?  You can read the magazine online or pick up a copy at Salt Lake Pizza and Pasta, like I did.

I read the magazine on the way home, sharing some of my favorite parts with Joe.  I liked it…a lot.  The magazine has great information on community events, articles on “healthy living” and “healthy planet” a yoga “pose of the month,” a book review, a restaurant guide, and even a tarot reading of the month.  How great is that!  The tarot reading filled me with optimism for the month of June.

I found one of my favorite articles in a section titled “The Year of Living Virtuously (Weekends Off)” by Teresa Jordan.  Great title, Teresa!  The article, entitled "The long road home," was about change of course…specifically a Life Change, featuring Brooke Hopkins and Peggy Battin.  A few years ago, Brooke was in a cycling accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, a devastating life change for Brooke and his wife Peggy.  Brooke was in the hospital for over two years and experienced a myriad of setbacks that prevented him from leaving the hospital.  However, he persevered and has been at home for the past five months.  Throughout their trial, Brooke and Peggy have shared their experiences and thoughts on their blog, which Teresa describes as “an odyssey of physical endurance and adaptation; it takes us deep into the essential meaning of life.”  I’ve read several of their posts and find their insight quite remarkable.

In the final paragraph of their most recent blog post, they say:

Brooke had a dream last night about walking—he found himself, to his amazement, able to feel his limbs and make them move, and by the end of the dream he was looking for somebody to go backcountry skiing. While walking, let along skiing, may seem extraordinarily farfetched, his previous walking and motion dreams all involved impairments—broken skis, uneven legs, always about to fall down. This dream is more optimistic in its subconscious wish-projections than any of the previous ones. Of course there are still bleak moments, sometimes very bleak, but not nearly as many as some time ago. He’s actually better, healthier, happier, even despite everything. And that’s not just because spring is finally on the way.

This makes me feel even more optimistic than the tarot reading.  Thank you, Brooke and Peggy for inspiring me with your life change.  Read the Catalyst article by Teresa Jordan here and Brooke and Peggy’s blog here.