TALK GIVEN TO CAA PANEL:ON ILLNESS

Dear members of this panel and audience members:
My name is Aunt Ganna, Linda Montano's sister. I am glad to be here but my sister, Little Linda could not make it so she sent me. here is her message to you:Dear friends: Please watch my tape about menopause which I finished in the late 90's.I show you this tape as an example of how I first saw menopause as an illness using alcoholism as a metaphor for menopause.By making art about alcoholism I was curing my wrong thinking about menopause which I was seeing as an illness for many years. Eventually I was healed of my negative thoughts of this natural phenomena and after years of research and worry, it was one day over, the worry that is and I wasnt ill any more, I was just menopausal. Then I was postmenopausal. Surrendered.
Now I am ill with aging. Why ill? Because my thoughts are so negative about aging. Here are examples:

PHYSICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT AGING THAT WORRY ME:
thin bones;
loose teeth;
weak eyes;
dry skin;
acid reflux;
dehydration;
diziness;
shaking;
trembling;
tremors;
loss of hair;
muscle atrophy;
loss of libido;
loss of external beauty;
loss of hearing;
age spots;
wrinkles;
diarrehea;
incontinence;
constipation;
dimentia;
nerve damage;
memory loss;
anorexia;
calcifications;
halitosis;
hallucinations
;insomnia;
nightmares;

EMOTIONAL THOUGHTS ABOUT AGING:
hoarding;
pride;
moodiness;
anxiety;
greed;
anger;
suspicion;
grief;
despair;
self-pity;
gloominess;
heplessness;
bitterness;
arrogance;
stubborness;
inadequacy;
phobia;
worry;
terror;
regret;
disappointment;
agitation;
dependency;
laziness;
greed;
gluttony.

THE FIANCIAL ISSUES ABOUT AGING THAT WORRY ME
fear of spending;
fear of losing;
inability to pay for meds;
insurance confusion;
bankruptcy;
fear of being ripped off by contractors, suitors, insurance agents, financial planners, cpa's,neighbors, family, visitors;
inability to pay for rent, heat, food;
inability to pay caegivers.

ENOUGH OF THIS!!!!

You see----I am in the worry and research phase of the illness of aging and stuck there. Right now, as aging feels lke an illness, I am unable to see the humbling DIGNITY that it is. the year will come when I will surrender to the BEAUTY OF AGING and SMILE at the MYSTERY AND PARADOX OF MY DECLINE.

To soften the aggravation of LOSS I am curently focusing on $.

I ask your help. Please buy my my archive.
 Hurry, I have only a few minutes left.
Hurry, time is running out. Hurry hurry hurry!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Linda M Montano