Quote:

"To show compassion for an individual without showing concern for the structures of society that make him an object of compassion is to be sentimental rather than loving."      -William Sloane Coffin

Drug Side-Effects

"A recent review of the research found that benzodiazepine use may have long-term effects on memory and increase the risk for dementia."

Here is the abstract for the study:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26715389

Here is a list of Benzodiazepines:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_benzodiazepines

Commonly used "Benzos" are Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan and Restoril.  They are usually prescribed as anti-anxiety medications.  If you know anyone who uses any of these medications, now would be a good time for them to talk to their doctor about this study.  If it were me, I would have serious concerns about continuing usage.

Beyond these specific drugs, this is a good reminder that the long-term effects of most medications, particularly mental health drugs, are largely unknown.  If you take medications, you should be thinking about if that is what is best for your long-term health.

May you be well.

Link:

http://therumpus.net/sections/dear-sugar/

This is old now, but Sugar is clearly a person who has made peace with herself.  The things she has to say are truly beautiful.

Poem:

We Wear the Mask

By Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while 

       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!

Quote:

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies.  My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."  -His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Autism

I have long believed that Autism Spectrum Disorder (Autism or ASD) has a strong emotional component to it.  It is a complex disorder.  I do not claim to fully understand it. But I do know that all of the people who I have worked with and all of the people who I have read about who have Autism, show the same signs as people who are really past their limits emotionally.  This article, https://www.yahoo.com/health/16-people-with-autism-describe-why-1361708267716662.html talks about the difficulties that 16 different people with ASD experience in making eye contact.  Every, single one of them talk about it in emotional terms.  This is because when you make eye contact with another person, you are seeing their humanity, with all of its triumphs and failures, right there in their eyes.  It's an inherently emotional experience.  But most of us, those termed "neuronormal" or "neurotypical" by the Autistic community, have the ability to process the emotion that we receive from making eye contact.  It is my belief that people with ASD do not have the necessary skills to process their emotions.  Because of this, they are easily overwhelmed. The result of which is to stop making eye contact.

I have heard of places where people with Autism are taught to make eye contact because it helps them to succeed in the world.  This is a mistake.  It will just cause them to have more emotion that they have no ability to process.  What should happen, in my opinion, is that they should be taught to express the emotion that they feel when they make eye contact.  If this were to happen, they would be able to make eye contact and not feel overwhelmed by it.  It may also put them on the path to overcoming their disorder.

Emotion and Disease

"People I saw with chronic disease of all kinds--from malignancies or autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or ulcerative colitis to persistent skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, and neurological disorders like Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and even dementia--were characterized by certain unmistakable emotional life patterns.  Among these was the chronic repression of so-called negative emotions, especially of healthy anger, ...an overriding sense of duty, role, and responsibility; an undue concern for the emotional needs of others while ignoring one's own; and, finally, a core belief--again, often unconscious--that one is responsible for how other people feel and that one must never disappoint others."  -Dr. Gabor Mate.

This quote comes from the article I wrote about a while back.  There's a link in the right margin if you want to read the whole thing.  It's truly mind-bending.

What Dr. Mate calls "emotional life patterns", I call "emotional structures".  Otherwise, this quote is exactly what I have learned about how emotions affect health.  Specific ways of processing our emotions lead to specific diseases.  Later in his article he says, 

"Lou Gehrig, the baseball great after whom ALS is named, embodied self-abnegation to the nth degree, as do all people with ALS I have ever treated, interviewed, or read about--or have been described in medical papers.  His famous record of consecutive games played was not about his indestructibility, but about his unwillingness to surrender his self-identity as invulnerable, with no needs.  He suffered injuries like all other athletes:  All his fingers had been broken at least once; some more often.  He would play even when wincing with pain and sick to the stomach with the agony of it, but his dutifulness would not allow him to rest."

Essentially, how Lou Gehrig thought about himself, which is based in an emotional structure, is what caused his disease.  Almost any disease you can think of could be caused by how we process our emotions.  But, at this time, Western medicine doesn't understand this.  So, there are no studies about it.  And I can't see how there will be any time soon.  The complexity that would have to be involved with drawing up a study that would have any chance at getting to the truth will prevent science from understanding this for a long time to come.  But despite that, there are patterns that can be seen.  And those patterns show that any time we choose an emotional structure instead of emotional health, we are putting our lives in danger.  So what's the answer?  The answer is to remove emotional structures from our lives, one by one.  Find ways to align our behavior with health.  Not only will we reduce our chances of developing a dread disease, but we will also live happier lives.

Quote:

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious... This procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not very popular."  -Carl Jung

Suicide

"A permanent solution to a temporary problem."  This is a common phrase used to describe suicide.  In general, I think it's good.  It highlights for people who are probably not thinking as clearly as they should be that suicide is not a good answer.  But, in my opinion, it falls short.  The reason is that I believe that many (most?) people who are having suicidal thoughts believe that this is how they will always feel.  So they don't think they have a temporary problem.  They think they have a permanent problem.  Something that I'd like to get out into the collective consciousness is that this is not true.  Anyone can learn how to feel better by achieving emotional health.  It will be hard.  It will probably take a long time.  It won't be fun.  But it can happen.  

So, if you're suicidal, or if you know someone who is, know that life does not have to be dominated by bad emotions.  Just like learning how to ride a bike, you can learn how to feel good.

Quote:

I have lost my smile,

but don't worry. 

The dandelion has it.

-Anonymous (Quoted by Thich Nhat Hanh)

A Way to Diffuse Intense Emotion

Ever get seriously angry?  Or crying and can't stop?  Or any intense negative emotion?  If you want it to stop, get out an ice pack and put it right on the top of your head.  Leave it there for a few minutes.  You'll feel that emotion slowly melt away.  As long as you let it, that is.  If you keep yelling at someone, the ice pack isn't going to help.  But if you put it on your head and try your best to stay calm, in a few minutes, you will be.  Neat, huh?