n STORYTELLING

Shifting Boxes, Shifting Ideas By Marti Healy

There were more than 8,000 of them, in nearly 500 cartons. Almost 11,000 pounds. And over the course of 6 days or so, I shifted them all.

As an independent author, I warehouse all my own books at my home. Up until last week, they were primarily on pallets under a covered carport. But after some slight renovations and reinforcements to an old existing storage shed at the back of my property, I was able to shift all my “warehoused” books (all eight titles of them) into the shed, and away from the carport (now happily functioning as a new patio space).

And yet, as an independent woman, it never seems to occur to me when I start these projects that I’m no longer in my 20s, or even my 30s, when I could lift half my own body weight without a twinge. So it took days longer than I had anticipated to accomplish my goal, plus the eventual assistance of a very generous neighbor who pitched in at the end to help me heft the last few boxes onto the highest levels. Besides providing a great deal of personal satisfaction, I found the project to be a rather profound experience in applied philosophy.

Stuffing books, and opinions

Books, all books, everyone’s books are human experience and thoughts; they’re observations and ideas put into words and images on paper, bound by glue and opinion, folded together with expression, stitched into place with threads of cotton and perspective. And I began to suspect that it was easier to shift all 11,000 pounds of these boxes and books of ideas and opinions, than it is to shift even one opinion or belief in one other person’s mind. Scientists have done studies showing how our beliefs involve many parts of the mind as well as the body (not simply one part of the brain as was once thought). They have learned that our beliefs are “fluid” capable of changing and growing and maturing. Beliefs are known to be highly experiential, based in childhood, and influenced by what we’re told as well as what we witness.

Powerful beliefs

Our beliefs can affect every part of our being, from physical to emotional, from our outward behavior to our individual cells, influencing how we think and act and affecting our health and resilience; they help us love and let us break our hearts; they let us see beauty where others may not, and shape our dreams as we sleep. Our beliefs and opinions influence how we make decisions and how we taste our food, how we decorate our homes and how we raise our children.

And yet, we hold the power to revoke or change any one of our own beliefs or opinions at will, at any given moment. And we may form a new belief just as promptly, with just the beat of a heart.

I suspect that in our current global reality, we have never had so many opportunities for forming opinions and beliefs and ideas than we do right now. But after physically shifting over 10 thousand pounds of ideas by myself during this past week, I suspect that sharing the load, lifting together, aligning with another’s generosity of spirit, is a perfectly brilliant way for achieving the same goal and reaching even greater heights. Perhaps this can be so even if the opinions belong to someone else, perhaps even when they exist as almost half a thousand boxes, all holding another’s way of thinking and believing and feeling.

Readers are invited to submit stories for Storytelling. Send submissions to MLEditor@adamsstreetpublishing.com.

Our beliefs can affect every part of our being, from our physical bodies to our emotional health; from our outward behavior to individual cells within our bodies. Beliefs can also affect our health and resilience; they help us to love and let us see beauty and shape our dreams as we sleep. ‘‘ ‘‘

sudoku/ figger-it crossword

Across

1. __ Plaines: Chicago suburb 4. J. Edgar Hoover Building org. 10. Catch 14. Suffix with hero 15. Sea between Greece and Turkey 16. Dutch South African 17. They’re ominous 19. Decent-sized lot 20. “No more, thanks” 21. End of many long weekends: Abbr. 23. Ad __ committee 24. Many a “Twilight” character 25. Gulf State native 27. That, in Oaxaca 28. They’re luminous 32. Word in a January song 33. Wood strip 34. Song first sung by Ethel Waters at Har lem’s Cotton Club ... and a hint to four other long answers 40. Flat-bottomed boat 41. “Sesame Street” pal of Zoe 42. They’re clamorous

(C) 2020 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC. 49. “Jingle Bells” contraction 18. Big ape 50. Last Supper question 22. Bird’s beak 51. “Ivy and __”: kid-lit 25. Sole series by Annie Bar 26. Corn Belt region rows 29. Guffaw syllable 53. Infamous Amin 30. Rum __ Tugger: 54. More than unfriendly “Cats” role 55. Breed of sheep 31. __Kosh B’gosh 57. Astrological transition 34. Bus kiosk posting point 35. Ones seeing things 59. They’re ruinous 36. Dominate 62. Wasatch Mountains resort 37. K-12, in education 63. “Twilight” vampire 38. Latin lover’s word 64. Suffix with Brooklyn 39. Parking violation risk 65. For fear that 40. Showing no emotion 66. Trounces 43. 502, in old Rome 67. Some NFL blockers 44. Steer clear of Down capital 1 Finished a job 46. Iberian river to 2. Dental layer the Mediterranean 3. Composer Rachmaninoff 47. Carl with nine 4. Food truck fare Emmys 5. Believed 48. Most sensible 6. Swelled head 52. Snoops (around) 7. Pot-au-__: French stew 55. Car sticker no. 8. Outlaw 56. Postings at an 9. Happy way to break out airline gate, for short 10. Abbr. in an unfilled TV slot 58. Vanna’s partner 11. New __, NY: home of 60. __ Jima Iona College 61. Quick flight 12. Ford’s first minivan 13. Like some concrete 45. Saudi Arabian

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inside tHe Lines

Take 30 minutes to relax, contemplate and reflect while using colored pencils to complete this Adult Coloring Page. This will keep you occupied and give you a chance to think, too often a rare opportunity in our busy lives.

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