Imbalance Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Floss – The Offending Material – Photo: L. Weikel

Floss

Tonight’s post is about frustration. Frustration and irritation and the fact that I cannot think of anything beyond the annoying situation unfolding within my own mouth. Mundane, I know. But man, when stuff happens with your teeth or sinuses – virtually anything above the neck – it’s almost by definition ‘in your face,’ and thus nearly impossible to ignore. The unlikely culprit causing my supreme discomfort this evening? Floss.

You wouldn’t think floss would cause an issue, but it has. Actually, technically, floss hasn’t caused the issue – it is the issue.

This seems to be an issue that probably originated in January, when I clenched my teeth long and hard enough to break off a piece of one of my molars. I wrote a post about it back when it happened because, again, it was ‘in my face’ and I could think of nothing else to write about in the moment.

In doing a quick search for that post so I could provide a link to it, I had a slight ‘aha’ moment. I realized there’s a connection between when I broke my tooth back in January and what I’m experiencing now.

The Issue

Oddly enough, I broke a chunk off one of my molars in January a few days after the insurrection on January 6^th. As I mentioned above, it was caused by clenching my teeth. I was lucky enough to get an appointment with my dentist right away and she was able to fix it without the necessity of heroic efforts.

This actually led to a situation that I only just today (I swear) mentioned to Karl that I’m going to have to make another appointment with the dentist to address. Specifically, no matter what I put into my mouth to eat, ultimately a piece of it finds itself wedged between the tooth that was repaired and the one beside it. And sadly, it seems like the space between the two teeth is getting larger. (Why does it always feel like any gap or space in our mouth – no matter how small – feels like a veritable cavern when probed with our tongue?) A question for another time, I guess.

Until I make another appointment with the dentist, though, I deal with it by religiously ‘packing floss.’ Indeed, yet again tonight, I had to whip out the floss to remove the offending material. Of course, while I was at it, I decided to floss between the rest of the teeth in my head, since the more’s the merrier. Can’t be too fastidious.

Yeah. Right. Nope.

An Imbalance

I believe an imbalance has occurred in my mouth over the past six months since my broken molar (which actually was mostly a broken filling) was repaired. The gap on one side has grown larger while all the teeth on the other side of my mouth have squished together. The way I know this?

Floss.

Tonight, while flossing all of my pearly whites, the floss I was using got stuck between two molars. Indeed – the very same two molars where the annoying gap is located on the other side of my mouth. Now how weird is that (but not)? The two molars on the other side of my mouth are so tightly clenched together, so to speak, that the stupid floss broke off between them. Now, all I can feel is the pressure it’s causing as it sits there, wedged in where it doesn’t belong.

I’ve tried everything to remove it, from trying to coax it out with a thinner type of another floss to trying to use tweezers to pull out the offensive material. No deal. It’s in there for good.

So I guess I really do need to call the dentist tomorrow. How embarrassing and annoying. But at least maybe I’ll restore dental balance.

(T-150)

New Normal

Check out the amazing fireworks display we reveled in this evening. Surprisingly, this extravaganza was provided not by a local municipality or community organization. No, these spectacular pyrotechnics were courtesy of our son and daughter-in-law’s neighbors. Yep. Neighbors. Welcome to what just might be our new normal.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “What’s your beef?” Certainly a fair question looking at these photos.

Photo: L. Weikel

I’ll readily admit – these were the best fireworks I’ve attended in many years – and possibly, given the totality of the circumstances (proximity, vantage point, beverages and dinner at our fingertips – not to mention the ‘company’ we kept) the best ever.

But there’s something unsettling in the fact that at least three or four sets of neighbors were setting off fireworks of this caliber all around us, while hundreds of families in our area are literally finding it hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Goddess help them if they ‘catch the Covid’ and need hospitalization.

Old Imbalances

Let me be clear: I do not begrudge the neighbors their ability to purchase and set off professional-grade fireworks. I wish them the best of luck with it and hope they both know what they’re doing and do it safely.

Indeed, I am grateful we were able to benefit from their largesse.

But I think that’s the hitch. Call me sentimental, but it just doesn’t feel quite the same when our Independence Day celebrations are not being sponsored for the benefit of the community by our municipalities or large civic groups but by individuals wealthy enough to purchase veritable arsenals of firepower.

Photo: L. Weikel

There used to be a sense of shared appreciation for fireworks that wowed us and sent chills down our spines at the beauty and sense of awe they inspired. Usually they were sponsored by our local municipalities or large civic groups. And that was part of the magic: the sense that we were coming together and sharing our resources (tax dollars) to put on a show we could all enjoy, celebrating our Declaration of Independence.

To me, it’s starting to feel like we’re living more and more in a country of haves and have-nots, with a stark and unequivocal divide between the two. And the number of people comprising these groups is not nearly evenly divided, not even close. I realize I’m almost certainly a bit late to this party – the divide has always existed, of course – and lately it’s been growing exponentially.

Seeing Inequality and Seeking Freedom

More and more, I see and feel our shared sense of community is being lost. (Perhaps that’s the great hope and excitement so many of us feel as we come together in support of Black Lives Matter and similar social justice movements.) There’s a growing appreciation for the vast inequality – and therefore lack of freedom – experienced by so many, and a concomitant commitment to seek that freedom for all.

I fear losing our commonality, our shared sense of being in this ‘thing’ together. Maybe this is our new normal. And maybe this loss is weakening the very foundation of what we’re supposed to be celebrating today.

Given the changes we’ve experienced in the past six months, how different will next 4th of July be? And giving voice to the unthinkable, I have to wonder: will we celebrate it at all?