DAY 224 – In Your Heart

"When you are in someone's face, you are probably not in their heart."


I would rather be in your heart.

Kristofer Young, DC ~ May 15, 2011

DAY 222 - Just Can’t Let Go?

Is there a food that you enjoy eating, that you would not be willing to give up, even if by doing so your depression lifted, your fatigue vanished, you magically lost 30 pounds, or your joint pains became a thing of the past?

Allow me to suggest that there is not any food on earth that is worth depression, fatigue, excess fat, or arthritis.

Allow me also to suggest that you can let go.

Additionally, allow me to suggest that when you are not owned by specific foods, you are stronger, healthier and happier.

I am not saying that changing ones diet is always easy. I am saying that it is dangerous to your health to simply allow a food to own you. Look around; poor food choices are the greatest cause of illness in America. I am saying that it is far easier to remove a few foods from your diet than it is to be chronically ill.

Ready for a change? Or will you need to get sicker first; like I did?

DAY 217 - the phone cord

photo courtesy Jenny Downing

scattered
but then, do i want to admit it?

drinking from a fire hose ...
i didn’t mean to
it wasn’t a choice to see the suffering and dysfunction

when i was younger
so much younger than today
i felt a lot and saw a lot
or so i thought
at times it seemed too much
turns out it was mostly that which occurred nearby
i was spared the bigger, fuller picture

so, here i am
turning 60 consciously
longing for serenity,
or at least the calm of a martial artist

in fact, in my gut, in my head, in my nerves
the world swirls around and through
flashing me with scenes of harm and brewing harm

Steve, my poly sci professor
felt the storm
and hung himself one day
with a telephone cord

he was a gentle man
very bright
very aware
he knew what we were up against

no one came to help him recycle newspapers
left to haul our trash alone
he hung himself

we were only 23
when the news arrived
on a tiny island in the Pacific
i felt like i understood

Steve was no longer available
no longer able to lend his hands and heart
to haul the trash
and plan the healing of humanity
as he had done for so many years

rather than feel weakened by the loss
i looked for a gift from Steve

and found

at 23, and still today,
turning 60 consciously,
that those sensitive to, and aware of the world in which we live
must also be sensitive to their own balance

hopelessness, like a heart attack, can be closer than we know
and the fall can be long and fast to the end of the phone cord

i also found a game plan
for my life ...

to live fully,
sensitive to
the joy of our voices in harmony
the comfort of holding one another
the harm that is all around
and the fear of facing that harm yet moving toward it
to strive to know where i am
just back from the edge
a buffer
a buffer from the phone cord
that i might contribute to our wellbeing
‘till another end

Steve’s gift brings me full circle
i am scattered
and i do want to admit it
for admission may be that buffer

wishing peace for all
including Steve

I am not at the edge
just smart enough at 59
to explore,
and report back on my findings

DAY 215 - Is a Bacterium Controlling Your Child’s Behavior?

This is not a joke.

Have you ever wondered at the bizarre, extreme, or antisocial behavior of your own child, or that of another? Did the child not seem like himself?

Last week I attended the 18th International Symposium on Functional Medicine. The topic was “The Challenge of Emerging Infections in the 21st Century. Derrick F. MacFabe M.D., Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry (Division of Developmental Disabilities) of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada; and the Director of  the “Kilee Patchell-Evans” Autism Research Group, opened his lecture with the question; “Are The Microbes in Charge?”

Dr. MacFabe quickly directed us to an infection-behavior model that we were all familiar with, to help us get a handle on our skepticism regarding his question. He reminded us of the extreme behavioral changes in mammals with rabies. Rabies is caused by a virus of the Lyssavirus genus of the Rhabdoviridae family. As we know, infected animals can become vicious and lose a normal sense of fear; gross behavioral changes caused by a microorganism.

The focus of Dr. MacFabe’s current research is the autistic spectrum of disorders (which includes ADHD). In one aspect of its work, his group has introduced a compound, propionic acid (PPA), which can be formed through fermentation in the human gut by the bacterium Clostridium difficile, into the brains of rats, immediately causing behaviors in the rats that appear similar, if not identical to behaviors seen in autistic children. One can see video of these behaviors at his website.

Could a low-grade infection in the gut by Clostridium difficile elevate levels of PPA, and in susceptible individuals cause autism or ADHD? Are these children hooked on carbohydrates that facilitate the bacterial formation of PPA?

In the 1950's, the incidence of autism was one in 10,000. Now it is one in 90. The incidence of ADHD has also increased dramatically. What's going on?

Look at Dr. MacFabe’s work (http://psychology.uwo.ca/autism.htm), and give some more thought to what is controlling our children’s behavior. If you don’t, who will?

DAY 214 - On the Brink of Behind

courtesy of emdot at flickr

my brother’s birthday tomorrow
haven’t gotten to arranging lunch

nephew’s bar results tomorrow
will I remember to call?

Mother’s Day on Sunday
finally asked this morning about what would feel like a gift

Jay’s 60th on Tuesday
not only no card yet,
but damn, have to be at a conference in Sacramento all day

Tom’s wife has cancer
how can I be of help, and when?

who else have I not checked on?
checked in with?
remembered?
are they feeling uncared for by me?

maybe I can let go of the fear of the brink
of falling behind
maybe let go of the worry that others may feel that I don't care
or don't care enough

is there any way we could agree for ever
that I love you
that I will try to respond to you in ways that comfort you
but that if I come up short
it is never that I love you less
rather, that I am over the edge
and beyond behind?

I could use your help
in getting over this fear of falling

DAY 213 - When Friendship is a Problem a Yelp Won’t Help

A post on http://wired.com , dated April 6, 2010, entitled "Yelp Fights Fraud Allegations by Unfiltering Reviews", by Eliot Van Buskirk, contained the following statement from Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman; "review filters take action on all types of suspicious content — both reviews that may have been written by a business owner or a business owner’s friends ...". 

What Stoppelman is talking about is a computer algorithm that Yelp uses to remove reviews that it thinks may be bogus. While his comment is understandable, it may also prove Yelp to be incompatible with small businesses that provide very personalized services.

My wife and I have operated Ventura Chiropractic & Massage since 1983. We truly like, if not love, our patients, and care about their wellbeing. Not too surprisingly, our patients like/love us, and truly care about our wellbeing. Sound anything like friendship? Well, it is!

So, when Stoppelman says that Yelp intentionally filters out (makes invisible) any review that appears to be written by a “business owner’s friends”, that means that virtually all the reviews of our practice have been, and will be removed, because they were, and will clearly appear to be written by our friends.

As of today, May 4, 2011, 17 reviews have been written about our practice, by patients who happen to be friends. Most of them, we met as new patients; they accidentally became friends. One review has been completely erased from the site, 15 have been filtered (made invisible), and one is left visible as though it were the only legitimate review.

Maybe Yelp was not made for us, for our practice, nor for our patients who would wish to share with the world, their experience of our office. It is important to understand that the issue is much bigger than our little office. We are not the only business that is rewarded with friendship as a byproduct of the caring interaction that accompanies the service that we provide.

We are not giving up our friends, but we may have to give up on Yelp.

DAY 211 - Medicare Complexity: Not Just for Old Folks

Wouldn’t it be lovely if it were as simple as to either “keep your hands off Medicare”, or “privatize Medicare”?

If I had to choose one right now, May 2, 2011, I would choose “keep your hands off Medicare”, but I don’t ... have to.

To me, "keep your hands off Medicare" means, leave it as it is; and that just won't work.

Here are the huge problems with “hands off”:
1)    the vast majority of health care practice in America, including Medicare, uses a try-to-fix-it-once-it-is-clearly-broken approach; prevention is a miniscule part of our system,
2)    Medicare, and our health care system (more accurately, a disease care system) overwhelmingly focus on, and financially reward, the managing of symptoms with drugs, surgeries, and procedures; understanding, discussing and dealing with the causes of illness are uncommon for both doctors and patients,
3)    Medicare does not emphasize improving lifestyle choices as the key to improved health, even though medical science has proven it to be the most efficacious and the most cost effective means of achieving health,
4)    Medicare, as it is, and our health care system, are grossly dysfunctional, and are currently contributing to the bankrupting of America.

We, the American people, must begin to take responsibility for our health, and act on it.

Privatization is even worse than "hands off".

While our government bureaucracies are often inefficient, the private health insurance industry, driven first and foremost by the profit motive, has a long and often lurid history, including regular lapses of moral judgment when dealing with subscribers and health care providers.

As many private insurance companies deny care, often illegally, those effected subscribers commonly turn to public hospitals and emergency rooms, where the costs are borne by we, the taxpayers, rather than the insurance company.

Ultimately, in the realms of health and health care, our conditions and fates are interconnected. We will, sink or swim together. This being the case, rather than "keeping our hands off Medicare", we need to put our hands on it, and begin to massage it into a more functional system.

We must start by acknowledging and rewarding what we have long known; that improved self-care is the sine qua non of individual and community health. We must remind our doctors, and teach our citizens about the powerful and necessary daily practices that determine health. We must relearn the values of caring for ourselves and caring for others.

Simple answers just won’t cut it. Let us join hands and begin the work of healing ourselves, and of healing our Nation.