Drinking phatty cake today while I agonize over finals. This morning shortly after breakfast my right eye started to twitch; this has happened to me before around finals times, and it means I am way too stressed! I figured that meant it was a good day to drink some good and calming puerh. Monday I have a 9-10 page paper due for my Shakespeare class, and I’m writing on devils and exorcism in Twelfth Night and King Lear. After writing five pages of that today I felt like I was ready for an exorcism myself. ;)
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I hope the papers and the final writing go well and are over before you know it, so you can relax and really enjoy a well-deserved cup of tea without such stressful distractions.
Claire, you had me at “drinking phatty cake”! :) I am so happy you are enjoying that…. yes the eyelid twitching thing is no fun…. liver wind, as it is called in Chinese medicine, oft manifests as a twitching eyelid. Stress can definitely create such a situation. You are getting enough sleep, I hope??
What a great topic for your paper! Hang in there Claire!
Thanks all! Garret – now you’ve got me wondering where the name liver wind came from! I try to get at least 8 hours a night, preferably more. I really can’t function without a lot of sleep! I am getting plenty, and working pretty steadily during the day. I think the stress comes from being a perfectionist about grades. ;)
Terri – I think it’s coming along pretty nicely. So far I’ve discussed the fool’s “exorcism” of Malvolio in the Twelfth Night, and some of the implications of Malvolio as devil possessed. I’m moving onto Edgar’s disguise as Tom of Bedlam which is a lot harder for me to wrap my head around. I’m trying to argue that when he tricks Gloucester into thinking he survived falling off the cliffs of Dover it’s a kind of metaphorical exorcism.
Oh, Shakespeare! So much fun and so much grief.
Claire… when there is heat or congestion in the liver, it needs to go some where. And just like heat rising up in a chimney, so too the heat in the body can travel upward. In TCM, the liver opens/manifests in the eyes and so frequently excess heat in liver will affect eyes. And so heat, in this case, is in the form of wind and will cause the eyelids to twitch – this is perhaps the more benign manifestation of liver wind. A bad case can be migrainous headaches, dizziness, convulsions and on and on… In the case of the slight eye twitching, it is frequently seen as a need for some detoxing of the liver. I’d try the juice of 1/2 a lemon in warm water in the morning 20 minutes before eating or drinking anything else. It’s mini-detox and stimlulator for the liver. Also – organic foods, less sugar and abstaining from alcohol/drugs for a bit can be quite helpful.
Garret – that is super interesting and thank you!
When my son Leif (now 20) was in Jr High, he played Malvolio in the school play. :D
Lucky guy! :) Fun fact about Malvolio and Twelfth Night: during Shakespeare’s lifetime the play was commonly referred to as “Malvolio” even though “Twelfth Night” was the real title. King James’s personal copy of Twelfth Night still exists, and he actually crossed out the title and wrote Malvolio instead.
I believe it! You’d have to know Leif to fully appreciate this, but he is a very straight laced guy, looks a lot like a young Robert Plant with long ring curls, but as straight as an arrow & as dry as a bone, personality wise. He had a lot of speech therapy when he was young, due to a verbal comprehension problem, so he has an amazing vocabulary (& isn’t afraid to use it), and speaks rather eloquently. He’s also very shy. So we were all quite amazed to see him come alive on stage, turning & addressing the audience like Ferris Beuller talking to the camera. We (his family) were blown away, as were his classmates, and he literally stole the show. It was awesome! I still feel proud!
That is awesome Terri, I bet you were so proud! Malvolio is a great character and it takes a good actor to play him. It sounds like Leif was more than up to the task. :)
A most interesting set of comments to read. Both b/c I love Shakespeare, esp King Lear, and b/c I found eastern medicine v interesting in my complementary and alternative medicine class in grad school.
chrine – I think King Lear is Shakespeare’s best play (my opinion). My final paper ended up discussing the nature of disguise as a kind of possession and accompanying exorcisms (Viola as “monstrous”, Edgar in disguise, the Fool in disguise exorcising Malvolio). I’m happy to say that the professor really liked it!
Sweet! I’m glad you did well on your paper. =)
I hope the papers and the final writing go well and are over before you know it, so you can relax and really enjoy a well-deserved cup of tea without such stressful distractions.
Claire, you had me at “drinking phatty cake”! :) I am so happy you are enjoying that…. yes the eyelid twitching thing is no fun…. liver wind, as it is called in Chinese medicine, oft manifests as a twitching eyelid. Stress can definitely create such a situation. You are getting enough sleep, I hope??
What a great topic for your paper! Hang in there Claire!
Thanks all! Garret – now you’ve got me wondering where the name liver wind came from! I try to get at least 8 hours a night, preferably more. I really can’t function without a lot of sleep! I am getting plenty, and working pretty steadily during the day. I think the stress comes from being a perfectionist about grades. ;)
Terri – I think it’s coming along pretty nicely. So far I’ve discussed the fool’s “exorcism” of Malvolio in the Twelfth Night, and some of the implications of Malvolio as devil possessed. I’m moving onto Edgar’s disguise as Tom of Bedlam which is a lot harder for me to wrap my head around. I’m trying to argue that when he tricks Gloucester into thinking he survived falling off the cliffs of Dover it’s a kind of metaphorical exorcism.
Oh, Shakespeare! So much fun and so much grief.
Claire… when there is heat or congestion in the liver, it needs to go some where. And just like heat rising up in a chimney, so too the heat in the body can travel upward. In TCM, the liver opens/manifests in the eyes and so frequently excess heat in liver will affect eyes. And so heat, in this case, is in the form of wind and will cause the eyelids to twitch – this is perhaps the more benign manifestation of liver wind. A bad case can be migrainous headaches, dizziness, convulsions and on and on… In the case of the slight eye twitching, it is frequently seen as a need for some detoxing of the liver. I’d try the juice of 1/2 a lemon in warm water in the morning 20 minutes before eating or drinking anything else. It’s mini-detox and stimlulator for the liver. Also – organic foods, less sugar and abstaining from alcohol/drugs for a bit can be quite helpful.
Garret – that is super interesting and thank you!
When my son Leif (now 20) was in Jr High, he played Malvolio in the school play. :D
Lucky guy! :) Fun fact about Malvolio and Twelfth Night: during Shakespeare’s lifetime the play was commonly referred to as “Malvolio” even though “Twelfth Night” was the real title. King James’s personal copy of Twelfth Night still exists, and he actually crossed out the title and wrote Malvolio instead.
I believe it! You’d have to know Leif to fully appreciate this, but he is a very straight laced guy, looks a lot like a young Robert Plant with long ring curls, but as straight as an arrow & as dry as a bone, personality wise. He had a lot of speech therapy when he was young, due to a verbal comprehension problem, so he has an amazing vocabulary (& isn’t afraid to use it), and speaks rather eloquently. He’s also very shy. So we were all quite amazed to see him come alive on stage, turning & addressing the audience like Ferris Beuller talking to the camera. We (his family) were blown away, as were his classmates, and he literally stole the show. It was awesome! I still feel proud!
That is awesome Terri, I bet you were so proud! Malvolio is a great character and it takes a good actor to play him. It sounds like Leif was more than up to the task. :)
A most interesting set of comments to read. Both b/c I love Shakespeare, esp King Lear, and b/c I found eastern medicine v interesting in my complementary and alternative medicine class in grad school.
chrine – I think King Lear is Shakespeare’s best play (my opinion). My final paper ended up discussing the nature of disguise as a kind of possession and accompanying exorcisms (Viola as “monstrous”, Edgar in disguise, the Fool in disguise exorcising Malvolio). I’m happy to say that the professor really liked it!
Sweet! I’m glad you did well on your paper. =)