I mentioned in a recent post how I’ve been reading Natame Soseki’s The Gate. I’m nearing the end now and just came upon the protagonist, Sosuke, ruminating that “he must find a way to attain serenity in life, given his many troubles and high anxiety.” Serenity, I had almost forgotten this word I used to bounce around in my thoughts like a rubber ball. I think it … Continue reading Finding serenity
Nearly always I come upon new reads, not through lists but, unexpectedly, in the marketplace of life. I like it this way–the surprise of it, the joy of discovery, the smack of fate rather than coincidence, like the chance finding of a new friend or bumping into wise counsel, unanticipated, in a corner; its aftermath of empowering, the mystery and the beauty of it. It … Continue reading Mindfulness and the recovery of compassion, empathy and joy
There’s been a lot of euphoria, I think mistaken, over the recent research findings evaluating the Mediterranean diet. (See my earlier post, “On the New Mediterranean study: Proceed with Caution” [March 1, 2013.]) Not only was the alternative low fat diet administered in pedestrian fashion, e. g., inadequate counseling, but a substantial number of those on the Mediterranean diet suffered heart attacks or strokes. We … Continue reading Further Reflections on the Mediterranean Diet Findings
Good doctors are hard to find and when you’ve found one, you’re still not out of the woods, as even the better ones can often impose undesirable outcomes, especially when it comes to medications. With IV drugs and the sensitivities involved, the mistakes can prove irreversible and even kill. According to the Institute of Medicine, up to 5% of medications are faulty. Each year, some … Continue reading Prescription malpractice: widespread and deadly
We worry about a great many things: How will my interview go? What will people think of me? Will I pass the test? How will I pay this bill? Will I get the loan? Do I have cancer? When worry becomes chronic, it can be debilitating, souring our relationships, triggering illness, and fostering pessimism. Worrying is always an exercise in control. It prospers because it … Continue reading What if: Reducing chronic worry
I’ve been reading about the excitement in the medical community over the results of the first sustained clinical study of the effects of switching to the much touted Mediterranean diet for those at high risk for cardiac disease. You can read the results in detail at the the New England Journal of Medicine website (NEJM.org). You’ll recall that this diet abounds in olive oil, nuts, … Continue reading On the new Mediterranean Diet Study: Proceed with Caution
Recently one of America’s favorite singers, Rihanna, reconciled with her on and off again boyfriend, Chris Brown. You’ll remember he had beaten her up several months earlier. In a similar vein, about a year ago I got to know a girl in her early twenties who complained of her uneasy, abusive relationship with her boyfriend. While she didn’t tell us of any violence, she made … Continue reading Love as a many splendored thing
We hear much about global warming these days, understandable given its smothering consequences for all life on earth. Unfortunately, humans have at large remained callous to making lifestyle changes that may delay its full onset or lessen its consequences. Recent research clearly indicts us as primary contributors to climate change in our dependency on fossil fuels. Last year was the hottest on record. Bad as … Continue reading Something worse than global warming?
Intelligent Life, the free cultural news magazine of The Economist, recently featured a fascinating several day exploration of the labyrinthian stream flowing beneath Paris’ infrastructure with its scenarios ranging from party venues to ossuaries and catacombs. In those outliers of thought that often follow a stimulus, I found myself musing a poem I had presumed I’d long ago relegated to absentia, seeing I retired from … Continue reading The quest for individuation: a Jungian looks at Matthew Arnold’s “The Buried Life”
In the daily round of life, all of us are prone to experiencing conflict. It’s just the nature of the beast; but what if I told you that a lot of this conflict is of our own making? As Jungian analyst Ken Wilber reminds us in his insightful No Boundary, we’re often into the habit of creating boundaries, by which he means barriers, walling off a … Continue reading How the East can teach us to master our anxieties
