Monday, January 14, 2013

M.S. is more on my mind lately because I've started to read about it more. Previously, I believed the medical profession who say that you should not fight it.

My previous strategy was to maintain heart health and wait for an effective treatment to be developed. Now I intend to be more proactive. All the time I've spent on the computer has improved my research skills. Now I'm going to direct myself to finding the things that work with m.s. as opposed to the more general reading I've done.

Nothing is lost. I'm just going to apply things like mindfulness based stress reduction and meditation, vegetarianism, physical therapy (exercise), mind/body medicine, and the other helpful ideas uncovered over the last 10 years to apply to m.s. recovery and the symptoms that can make life miserable.

Thinking of New Years resolutions give an opportunity to re-think your ways of doing things. Something I read in my meanderings went like this, ' don't work harder if you are struggling --- work differently.

Like Einstein said: .

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

This quote has been co-opted by the A.A. groups to mean you need to stop drinking or your life will continue to spiral downwards.

The phrase, first came to my attention framed on the wall of a friend has tried "going through the motions" to recover from his drug and alcohol abuse. He is very arrogant when he talks about knowing the Big Book inside and out. He said to me that it a cult with nothing to teach him. An arrogant attitude is a formula for defeat, whatever it is you are trying to achieve.

Buddhists talk about adopting the "beginner's mind" to truly understand Buddhist principles.

Professor comes for tea is an instructive story...

A Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

.............

You can't teach an expert anything because they already know it all.

Approach new learning with humility and a child's curiosity to grasp the essence of what you are being told. Drop any preconceived notions about the things you are trying to learn, master and incorporate in your life.

You need to pay attention to learn the meaning behind the words and truly understand concepts they describe to begin to live by their wisdom. To end the cycle of addiction you need to embrace the concept of total abstinence to succeed with the 12 Step program offered by Alcoholics Anonymous, for instance.

Once you embrace a recovery process you need to have discipline with yourself and not make exceptions to the new rules you set for yourself. Special occasions are not exceptions to your no alcohol rule, for instance.

My goal is to shrink the number of blogs (over 100) that I compose. Instead, I will write about everything in relation to m.s., chronic pain and adapting to the fatigue, mental fog and other symptoms of m.s.