For Doctors and Healers

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Julian Treasure: Shh! Sound health in 8 steps | Video on TED.com

Didn't I just write about this? If you care about silence, natural and healing sounds, watch this awesome video.

Julian Treasure: Shh! Sound health in 8 steps | Video on TED.com

TURN IT DOWN!!!

Seriously, how loud does everything have to be?  At a dinner with friends Friday night, we talked about how often we have to ask for music to be turned down everywhere we go--from stores, to coffee shops and restaurants, everything has become unbearably noisy.

I entered a watch store a few weeks back and couldn't get the attention of any of the salespeople. They were staring vacantly, yet absently moving along with the deafening beat. They were in slow motion. I was trying to ask a question and was motioning to my ears and they still didn't get it. I finally yelled, "CAN YOU PLEASE TURN DOWN THE MUSIC ?" Yes, it was that loud. Very, very loud. They looked at me as though I were a crazy villainess and grudgingly slow motioned to wherever the controls were. They adjusted the volume so minutely that I just gave up and walked out.

On a recent trip this summer, D. and I marvelled at how nice and quiet the malls were. You can actually think while you shop and enjoy walking without feeling so assaulted. Here, I zip in and out and have learned to stay away from noisy places.  If I'm hearing the music from outside, I know it's going to be unbearable inside. Forget it.

Really, how loud does it need to be? Until there are laws that protect our hearing, I'm going to keep asking everyone to please turn it down.

TURN IT DOWN!

The Inner Condition

I've been thinking about this a lot, especially since August 23. We look to the outside too much and pay hardly enough attention to what goes on inside us.

I had a run in with someone who calls himself a healer a few months back. First, the man was difficult to reach and never responded. Our mutual friend said it was because he was always losing his phone. Already then I felt a twinge of alarm. It sounded like he was all over the place and didn't have his act together.  I'm not sure that bodes well for someone who works in the realm of health. But, like I always do, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and try again.

This time the response was swift. He asked me to fill up quite involved questionnaires. They were so involved that I put them aside, especially since there was a lot going on in my household at the time. Finally,  when things settled, I got everything done and called him back. His replies were so negative. He said that he couldn't believe how long it took me to reply and the image of a mother who can't even put aside an hour while her children are very sick is disturbing. He went on to make other assumptions that came from left field--that perhaps my husband was against homeopathics and if that were the case, why there are so many articles that support the work--blah, blah, blah. He was offensive and judgmental at the very least. That, to me, is NOT a healer. A healer includes and makes whole. He doesn't divide and puncture. We hadn't even started and he was already all over the place with his negativity and unfounded conjectures. It was very clear to me that I could not allow him into my family life.

In the interest of being objective and impartial, we have made it our practice to ignore the inner condition of people. But as I get older, I find that I am more and more interested in that because in the end, that is what informs everything.  What we experience outside comes from there and I cannot put a person's inner condition separate from everything else. That healer was toxic. I cannot put my family's health in his hands. I can no longer say, well, he has personal issues but maybe his work will stand. No more. I've learned over and over again that it is an indivisible whole. Especially in the realm of health, it simply cannot be.

When we begin to understand, recognize and practice seeing the whole rather than the parts, I believe our lives will be made simpler, richer and our paths so much clearer. What is inside always manifests outside.

August 23

I have been dreading this space since August 23. Like most tragedies that hit our nation, there are simply no words.  I'm writing this to share some insights on internal factors that I feel were informing events at the Quirino Grandstand and on the internet.

There was so much anger and blame online. I was part of it until I realized it wasn't really accomplishing much. After feeling utterly useless and overstimulated by the horrible images,  I turned everything off. I could not watch any more of the live coverage. I could not believe I was watching it blow-by-blow as it happened.  I left the room and lit a candle for those who died--and for humanity in general--sending out all the love, comfort and warmth I could muster. A few minutes later, D. came into the room and sat with me in silence and prayer, exactly the way we do when someone we know has crossed over. We made a conscious effort to get out of the virtual world and engage in something human. Someone later tweeted, with an expletive or two, that he was tired of all the calls for prayer. What he wanted was action. Those who know the power of prayer, know it is action. Prayer (not the emotional asking for the moon kind) is thinking and reflection with compassion. At that moment, it was a very powerful deed.  Nothing else would be accomplished online.

As a people, I have observed that we are sorely lacking in boundaries. You see it in our geography, too. Water surrounds us, the earth constantly shifts beneath our feet and we like to be fluid and soft and warm. Our challenge is to create boundaries where needed. The police didn't give it to media and could not muster enough for themselves. People around couldn't keep away. The media got too close and, in my opinion, did not exercise enough restraint. I am all for reporting and bringing truth and facts across, but when lives are in the balance, delayed broadcast would be the better choice. Everyone wanted in on the action. Some people from media decided they could get close and interview the hostage-taker and voila, they did. Everyone wanted to do everything except step back and create boundaries.

We need boundaries. We ought to have them in the form of laws, which we seem to be able to craft. But implementing and following them--these are difficult for us.  I believe it is because most of us are extremely boundary-challenged.  We don't have the internal alarms that tell us when we are too close to the person beside us in the queue, or that the question we want to ask is inappropriate.  We grandstand during hearings because we have a bigger sense of ourselves and none of the other.  We grin and laugh during a hostage crisis because the cameras are rolling and somehow we've blurred the lines between virtual and real. We take souvenir shots of ourselves in front of the bus where so many lives were lost and post them online. We don't care that the money we used to build our fortune -- the one that allows our daughters to buy their exorbitantly priced designer bags -- came from government. That means we robbed hardworking taxpayers. Did you feel that when you crossed the boundary? Did you know there was a boundary?

Someone else tweeted that if we tried to figure out the motives of hostage-taker, we would end up going all the way back to his mommy. I think that was meant to be funny, but in the end I have to say, absolutely.

As a mother, I make sure I raise my children to recognize boundaries. How? I create them. Discipline, consistency and integrity. Rules are clear. Consequences as well. And I try with everything I have, to be true to what I say. Whatever comes out of my mouth is followed through.  I live what I preach. They see it and grow up in it.  Strengthening these inner boundaries make up a well-structured moral life. Having a sense of where you stand and where others do is a healthy social skill to have.  It is inside that we have to look to see what went wrong.

Everyone wants to say enough talking, let's start acting. Well, I have news for you, we can't walk the talk if we haven't figured out the talk. We need to connect the dots, see the relationships that make us whole as human beings and make sure that we are always walking that path of integrity.  This brand of thinking is self-reflection towards conscious, purposeful and directed action. What ails this country can only be healed within. The future of this country depends on what we do today, inside ourselves, because that will inform how we behave and create and move in society. We start at home with ourselves and with our kids. 

Until then, we continue working furiously at outer structures that keep crumbling because the foundation we keep avoiding has long been rotten to the core.

Just Another Day With My Globe Guy

My internet connection conked out Monday night. Both my phone lines died. One phone was repaired last night. The other, along with my internet, only minutes ago. Here's a glimpse of one of many similar experiences with Globe service team:

Me: Bakit palaging nasisira ang telepono ko?
Globe: O nga po, on and off.

Iyon lang.

Globe: Maam, kagabi pa po na-restore ang internet dito.
Me: Bakit iyong sa akin, hindi?
Globe: Shrug.

Iyon din lang.

Me: Kung hindi niyo alam, malamang mangyayari ulit.
Globe: Giggle.


Can't we all do better?

Farming in Harmony with the Cosmos:

Introduction to Bio-dynamic Agriculture

Thursday, September  2, 2010, 6:00pm-8:30pm

ISIP Center, 6241 Palma cor Mañalac St., Makati City (near Rockwell)

FEE: P600 including handouts and light snack

Institute for Steiner’s Ideas in Practice (ISIP) Philippines presents a lecture by Gregory Kitma, one of the country’s leading expert practitioners on Bio-dynamic Farming.

Many of us have heard of and are quite familiar with ORGANIC farming. Organic food production requires the use of safe, sustainable farming methods, producing healthy crops and livestock without damage to the environment. No artificial or chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used, and animals are reared without use of antibiotics and drugs. The health of the soil is maintained and the welfare of livestock considered.

Bio-dynamic farmers take the organic concept even further. The approach is holistic, recognizing that there are invisible life forces embedded in plants and animals that work in partnership. There is a recognition that the whole earth is a living organism in harmony with the vast cosmos, and each farm is unique. The result is food within nature’s organization bursting with health and vitality.

The evening introductory lecture will provide participants with the basic philosophy, principles, and methods of Bio-dynamic Agriculture.

Fee

P600, inclusive of handouts and light snacks

Schedule

5:30pm             Registration and snacks

6:00pm-8:30pm  Lecture

For reservations and inquiries

Call (02) 899 46 75, text 0920 983 1329 or email ISIP.Philippines@gmail.com