Category: Health

Feeling whole, like a dog!

A Guest Post from Daniela Caride. Daniela writes the Blog The Daily Tail

Something about being a dog dazzles me. Maybe it’s the freedom. Dogs don’t care what others think of them. They do whatever pleases them most without guilt or worries.

This morning, it became so clear to me. My walk around Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge didn’t feel very pleasant. I was worried about my mother’s persistent headache.

Today promised to be the hottest day of the summer, and the heat was not helping my mood. It was only 9 a.m., and I was already convinced something had changed in our constellation, and the sun was about to barbeque the Earth.

But my dogs, Frieda, Geppetto and Lola, were oblivious to anything going on outside Fresh Pond. They trotted happily to the doggie pond awaiting them less than a mile away, stopping only to sniff around and greet other dogs.

At the pond, they refreshed themselves in the water, not minding that the water gets dirtier as the summer wears on. They love that stinky pond, from the day the ice starts cracking and we can finally see our reflections in the moving water, to the beginning of winter when the water turns into ice again.

We completed our lap and approached my car, parked in front of a huge grassy area, where dogs are not allowed. One

Dog days!

of the landscaping employees was testing the park’s brand new lawn sprinklers. He turned them on and watched as half a dozen sprinklers soaked the grass.

Geppetto ran toward the spinning sprinklers, ignoring leash laws, of course. He was dying for a sip. The water flowed so strong that Geppetto had to close his eyes when trying to get the spray into his mouth again and again.

Frieda and Lola followed him, first exploring the artificial rain until they felt comfortable enough to play beneath it. Soon they were romping under the sun without feeling the effects of the boiling heat.

I watched the beauty of that canine dance with envy. My dogs were free, living the moment, unfettered of any concern. Then I asked myself why we humans don’t act more like them, especially in situations like this, in which no harm would be done.

Geppetto and Daniela

First, I went into one of the sprinklers, wetting my hair and face. Then another sprinkler surprised me, showering me head to toe with a refreshing jet. I raised my arms to let the water reach the rest of my body.

Park regulars watched their dogs and me from careful distance, not wanting to get wet. I didn’t care any more. I felt whole.

Whole like a dog.

By Daniela Caride

A very beautiful friendship

Foreword by Jon

Although I have only seen a trailer for this film, I watched the interviews and excerpts Paul has linked in this article and found them very moving.

In these days of uncertainty and fear it is heartening to see and read about a relationship founded on unconditional love.

It signifies to me that it is the quality of our relationships that makes the difference in life, not material possessions – and then how we go about finding more examples of these in our everyday lives.

Jon Lavin

This is all about Trust

The prompt for writing this particular Post was the other evening Jean and I watched the film The Soloist.  I’ll come on to that later.

Before I do, I want to look at another aspect of learning from dogs; that is the question of trust.  We have so much to learn from dogs with regard to trust.

Because dogs spend so much of their time living in the present, just being a dog in the ‘now’ moment as it were, they seem to be able to read another dog very quickly.  Dogs don’t have ‘hidden agendas’.

You see we humans can be (and should be) as happy in the present as dogs are.  But so often our fears, worries and concerns for the future hinder our ability to experience the present, to enjoy the NOW.

Look at the faces of others around you when you have a moment.  (Or, indeed look at your own right now in the mirror.) Do you see a face serenely happy unencumbered with the past or the future?  Rarely is my guess.

That’s why a dog can read another dog in micro-seconds and know everything about that other animal. There are no secrets – what you see is what you get.

Look at this picture.

Pharaoh and Poppy

This is Poppy (8 lbs/3.5 kg) picking up food droppings from Pharaoh (90 lbs/40 kg).  In fact, within seconds of taking this picture, Poppy had pushed between Pharaoh’s front legs and put her face in the dish and started eating Pharaoh’s food, at which point Pharaoh went over the Poppy’s dish and started eating from there. (NB. Anyone that has  dogs in their home will know how possessive they can be at feeding time.)

Immediately when Pharaoh met Poppy, when he and I ended up in Mexico in 2008, they instantly trusted each other.  This is a beta level (second in status to the alpha, i.e. dominant) pure bred German Shepherd bonding with a Yorkie mix female dog that was found, hairless and starving, on a Mexican construction site – rescued by Jean after almost certainly being thrown out after she had made some Mexican a few pesos from selling her puppies.

Here’s another picture of these two:

Total trust!
Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr in The Soloist

Now to the film.  It wasn’t a blockbuster and didn’t get rave reviews but if viewed from the simple perspective of trust and friendship it delivers a powerful message that is beautifully compelling.

There’s an official trailer on YouTube here but the better review is this extract from the 60 Minutes programme below.

You need to watch this film to see how trust is built up, and out of that trust comes a wonderful friendship.  But you will get a taste of the sheer beauty of this true story by this 12 minute YouTube video.  Try and put aside these few minutes so you can watch this without interruption.

And here’s a link to another extract from the 60 Minutes programme concentrating on Mr Ayers playing his heart out.

If you want to read the column in the LA Times that Steve Lopez wrote in December 2004 about Mr Ayer’s Christmas present, just click here.

Finally, the film closes with these words from the actor who portrays Mr Lopez.  Please read them to yourself, aloud if you can.

Points West by Steve Lopez

A year ago I met a man who was down on his luck and thought that I might be able to help him. I don’t know that I have. Yes, my friend Mr. Ayers now sleeps inside.  He has a key, he has a bed, but his mental state and his well-being are as precarious now as they were the day we met.

There are people who tell me that I helped him, mental health experts who say that the simple act of being someone’s friend can change the brain chemistry, improve his functioning in the world.

I can’t speak for Mr Ayers in that regard, maybe our friendship has helped him, but maybe not.

I can however speak for myself.  I can tell you that by witnessing Mr Ayers’ courage, his finality, his faith in the power of his art, I’ve earned the dignity of being loyal to something you believe in, holding on to him.  Above all else, I believe him, without question that it will carry you home.

And now recall that when you were reading those words, you were totally and completely living in the present. Keep that feeling of grace close to you forever.

By living in the present, you offer yourself as a friend to the world.

By Paul Handover

Living in the present

What do you think of it so far?

The above is a popular catchphrase.  It suggests that how we view something now is the product of all our experiences to date.  It might apply to a book, play, TV programme or life itself.

But the truth may be very different, how we view the present moment may be more to do with shutting off all those previous experiences and just accepting the present as if we have been blind, dumb and deaf until this perfect moment of now.

That’s why what we have to learn from dogs is so important even though that ‘lesson’ may be just this single, very, very important aspect.  Living in the now!

Here’s what is written on our Home Page post:

Dogs have so much to teach us. To an extent that’s difficult for humans to contemplate, they live in the present. Dogs just are!

They make the best of each moment uncluttered by the sorts of complex fears and feelings that we humans have.

Living in the present is not easy.  Trust me, I’m only starting to practice this myself and maintaining a few seconds is a challenge!

But try it.  Just let everything in your mind be replaced, just for a few moments, by NOW.  That’s the sound of your breath woven into the sound of everything going on around you.  Let all of those sounds just be a part of your awareness.

Be aware of touch.  Feel what you are sitting on standing on. Feel the messages your fingers and hands are sending to your nervous system.  Feel the bench, chair, ground or whatever is connecting your body in a physical sense to the world around you.

Hold a rock, a plant, a branch, anything real and be totally aware of the texture and feel of that object.

Smell the aromas entering your nose – just be aware of them.

And see with your eyes.  Really see.   See through your eyes with the innocence of eyes first opened.

Just hold this place of divine grace for a few moments.

You have just experienced true peace and your world will never be quite the same again.

A Spring flower

Oh, how I envy dogs!

By Paul Handover

Dealing with the fear of the Known!

Can we ever conquer fear?

In a recent article I discussed the fear of the unknown, linked to the down-turn, redundancies, etc.

Per Kurowski, a great supporter of this Blog, posed the following question.

Great advice… but how do we remove the fear of what is known?

A simple, and slightly flipant answer would be,

“Develop a different relationship with it.”

What I’m saying is that when we are facing the known, and I’m assuming that it’s something unpleasant, our choices are limited. It’s going to happen, so the only thing we can do is change the way we view it.

This brings us back full circle to developing a different relationship with it.

Let’s take the word, ‘fear’.

“All fear is an illusion, walk right through“. I heard Dr David Hawkins say on a CD. Granted, a great trick if you can do it!

Here’s another description of fear: Fear= False Evidence Appearing Real

Fear is generally future-based. We tend to use the past as a learning reference to inform us of what to be afraid of in the future. So human beings live their lives trying to predict and prepare for the future, limited by their past experiences.

Unfortunately, the only way to work with fear of the known is to live in the present! [Just like dogs! Ed.]

Our whole society is geared up to look into the future. We are forever worrying about or planning something for the future.

To begin focussing on the present, try this.

Simply, to start off, become aware of the breath and sensations in the body. This will slowly start to remind us to be present, or embodied, in our own body.

Fear

Problems, fear and spiral thinking, often at 3 or 4 in the morning, are generated in the mind.

Thoughts occur randomly, although we call them, “Our thoughts”, and refer to, “Our mind”.

By dropping out of the thought processes into awareness of the breath and body, the noise stops, even if only for a moment.

So very few people in the world will have even the slightest inkling what these words mean.

If more of us got used to coming out of the mind before making an important decision, and simply sat with the question for a while, the answer would probably present itself.

This will probably raise more questions than it answers but that’s not a bad thing.

By Jon Lavin

[If you have been affected by this Post and would like to contact Jon, he would be delighted to hear from you. Ed.]

Is there a positive side to communitarianism?

Rethinking the State

I have a new article up at Rethinking the State — which now has several new authors including Nathan Fox-Helser,

Prison - Norway style

Andrew Butler, and Paul Monroe — about the positive aspects of communitarian systems.

I’m not sure exactly what the political leanings are of the Learning From Dogs readership — I would hope that a variety of viewpoints are represented — but I know that often communitarian philosophies are held in contempt in libertarian or free market circles because of their association with historical attempts at socialism and communism.

Regardless, I’d love to hear your thoughts, as it’s a philosophy I’ve been thinking about a lot recently.  I write:

…I have to admit that one of the key flaws I see in communitarian political philosophies is not so much the non-cohesive nature of the doctrines themselves, but rather the level at which they are prescribed.  If communitarianism was only applied at the local level, could it really survive without an element of voluntarism?  I feel that capitalist leaning nation-states are begging the question in saying that ideologies like socialism don’t work, because they are assuming that they must be applied at the nation-state level.

This involves the idea that the strictness of economic laws tends to lessen as they move further away from large-scale application, so anti-communitarian claims like the lack of an adequate price mechanism and lack of adequate information tends to become less of a problem for local communities because the nature of economic communication changes as the distance between actors closes.  It also involves the idea put forth by such philosophers as David Hume that human beings are naturally sociable creatures, and a communitarian system at the local level would be able to use this sociability to its advantage.

The full article is reproduced below:

Continue reading “Is there a positive side to communitarianism?” →

Antonina Whaples — future fitness celebrity?

Showing dedication to health (and chain saws!)

Wake Forest University has an interesting program at our fitness center where students can be trained by certified personal trainers at an extremely discounted rate.  I have been doing this program for several months with a trainer named Antonina Whaples.  Aside from being a full time student at the university, “Nina,” as her friends call her, has just launched her career as a a figure competitor.  The whole process has exposed to me a side of the fitness world that I was not even really aware existed, but have found to be quite interesting.

Fitness world

Antonina recently competed in the National Physique Committee North Carolina State Championships, where she placed fifth — a very impressive feat for a first time competitor.  However, the real story is not just the competition itself, but also the work that went in to prepare for such an event.  Antonina’s diet, workouts, and lifestyle were all completely centered around this competition; it was dedication like I have rarely seen.  Antonina talked about this in an April 12 interview with the blog Promoting Real Women:

My trainers Jill Coleman (diet), and Kimberley Coronel (weight training) were essential to my process. The quality of my diet came out on stage and I trust Jill 100%. I never cheated on her plan and I was super pleased with my results. I know that this next show I will come in even leaner and fuller. I wouldn’t be where I am at all without the creative genius of Kim. She has built my body rep by rep and is my rock. I am proud to say that she is both my trainer and friend, and one of my greatest inspirations. One of the biggest things that mattered to me show day was making her proud!

Antonina (Don't try this at home! Ed.)

Before the show, Nina also did a photoshoot.  The pictures are really creative, and the fact that one of her majors is studio art really comes out.  My personal favorite is the photo featuring black leather boots and a chainsaw as the accessories of choice.

There’s a saying among Antonina’s friends that she is “intense.”  And if anyone has ever embodied the word “intense,” it certainly is Antonina Whaples.

Her blog, fitNasti, will be moving to a dot com domain name in the coming weeks, and I would not be surprised if after that her site continued to grow in popularity.

Keep an eye on Antonina Whaples — this girl is going places.

By Elliot Engstrom

Giving Up!

[With this Post, Jon introduces a series of forthcoming articles looking at the inner person and exploring ways in which each of us can enhance our feelings of contentment and happiness. Ed.]

Stop the world, I want to get off!

Starting again requires giving up

Whichever way we look, there appear to be huge problems. Not insurmountable but, metaphorically speaking, sheer vertical cliffs without any easy way up.

One might ponder if the last 50 years, that post-war period of growth and prosperity, have, in reality given society real, sustainable, core improvements or whether all the ‘gains’ have come at such a cost that the net benefit is questionable?

This could be seen as pessimism gone mad. Undoubtedly, there have been some huge gains from a scientific point of view and we now enjoy lives that are greatly enhanced and longer. But not to ask such a fundamental question is to assume the alternative, that everything in the garden is rosy.

Now this may seem a strange introduction to a topic that is going to be deeply personal and private.

But both the private, individual world of the ‘self’ and the great, interconnected world of the planet are indivisible. Every aspect of our lives, our livelihoods, our environment and the future of our children depends on how well, and how sustainably, we manage our personal, local, national and international interests.

For example, if Prof. Lovelock’s theory on the planet being a self-regulating organism is correct, his Gaia theory,  then possibly in the lifetimes of our children, and certainly in the lifetimes of our grandchildren, worrying about a job or repaying the mortgage will be irrelevant. Our descendants will be worrying about their very survival!

I called this piece Giving Up. Why?

Because the only way forward is to give up on the present. I will expand on this theme in future Posts.

The future depends on each of us being happy and contented with ourselves and avoiding looking out there for the magic cure to all our troubles. Being, as far as we are able, at peace with our circumstances and able to do the best, individually, as well as the best for our families, our friends and the larger world in which we work and play.

I have heard people ask the question before, “How can I best help the world?” The only truthful answer is to develop ourselves as individuals. In doing this, the field of consciousness that we are all connected to is also lifted or elevated to a higher level.

At this stage of history, either…the general population will take control of its own destiny and will

Noam Chomsky

concern itself with community interests guided by values of solidarity and sympathy and concern for others or alternately there will be no destiny for anyone to control.

-Noam Chomsky

By Jon Lavin

[Anyone who has been affected by this article and wishes to contact Jon may find his contact details here. Ed.]

Health Care Summit

Political leadership or grandstanding?

What has become very clear to me, after watching the U.S. Health Care Summit between Democrats and Republicans as objectively as possible, is that the President’s goal was not to craft a thoughtful approach to shoring up and improving the U.S. health care system.

Pres. Obama making one of many points at Healthcare Summit

No, the reason for the President and the Democratic leadership to convene the so-called summit was to grandstand; to make a show; to create a photo opportunity; and, most importantly, to try to garner enough support from the Democrats in Congress to ram through the Reconciliation option on the behemoth, disastrous 2000-plus page version of the bill, filled with incomprehensible, internally conflicting doublespeak.

A sad day for American politics.  A very sad day for American citizens.  We deserve better.

Managing in a mad world.

Even in the midst of great pain, we must think through our choices

The last week has been really mad.  I have been working in different companies and organisations and having to be part of redundancies, power struggles and people rebuilding their lives.

For example, I was in a company that had just let its second lot of people go in as many months. It’s gone past losing ‘dead wood’ and now people with valuable skills needed for recovery are going. I’ve noticed previously that good, employable people with key skills start to get concerned and will often take voluntary redundancy rather than hanging around to see how things pan out.

End of job!

It’s the shocking way that it’s done as well that’s unbelievable. No warning, just a phone call to attend a meeting, no hint as to what the meeting is about, then an envelope slid across the table and then a rapid escort off site. All done and dusted in 5 minutes.

Having been through this myself some years ago, it’s not something you forget in a hurry. Lots of feelings of rejection and feeling unvalued and unwanted are what I remember. Perhaps its part of being bought up in a job-for-life culture and then having that illusion shattered.

Working with people in this situation is literally quite shocking and traumatic because it clearly affects them and their lives and the lives of their families, and it affects me because the work we started comes to an abrupt end usually with little or no warning, and so does a source of income to be brutally honest. I don’t even have chance to say good-bye in many cases.

Every Thursday I become a trainee psychotherapist and work with people who mostly struggle to hold down any sort of job. The reasons for this are generally because of upbringings that are awful beyond description. The shock and trauma that is in the air when working with these people is amazing, and so scary for them that the idea of being present in the room with me and is virtually impossible.

So that brings us to managing in a world where lots of mad and non-integrous things happen. I believe that mindfulness can provide a key to these situations; being present for another does more than any instruction manual!

Being present means we make ourselves available at many levels to someone who is suffering. By avoiding the subtle invitation to join someone in their shock and trauma but by being there for them, to the best of our ability and listening to them at depth, we can provide an environment where real reflection can take place. Then options may be chosen which are not born of panic and reaction but come from reflection and response.

I believe that this approach gets us out of the ‘noise machine in our heads‘ (that is forever churning and worrying, in my case) that we have no control over, and creates space for more subtle things to come through the quiet and calm.

Most people I’ve met in my engineering work like to assume that they think their way out of tight situations but I’m not convinced that this process is actually effective. I have heard and practised many times the activity of ‘sleeping on something’ and then being able to decide on a course of action the following morning with relative ease. My psychotherapy clients can’t think their way out the awfulness because thinking about things has got them into a spiral

Albert Einstein

process which is highly addictive, predictable and virtually impossible to break without the intervention of a higher level of awareness. I think it was Einstein who said something like, “you can’t use the same intelligence that created a problem to solve it“!  In other words, a different approach or level must be used.

I believe that this different approach or level can be used to solve most problems we have. By bringing a different level of awareness to a challenge, whether it is redundancy or some other sort of deeper problem always gives different results and provides more options. It’s just that initially it needs to be facilitated, until we can do it under our own steam. I am heartened that even in the depths of a recession that there are still companies out there that support this approach and the work I do.

By Jon Lavin [This article from the BBC is worth reading in conjunction with Jon’s excellent Post. Jon may be contacted via learningfromdogs (at) gmail (dot) com]

Reversing the trend

The amazing benefits of exercise

As a child I was given quite a reasonable amount of freedom, and so a bicycle was my mode of transport, I was quite fit, was good at running, and in both cases did well in competition. In fact my memory of man’s first landing on the moon in 1969, was as a result of a 100 mile cycle ride that day when I got sunburnt down one side!

Then came the middle years … Motorbikes, cars, some running now and then, but only modest use of the bike, perhaps more recently of late, so that I can go out with the children, and a regular daily walk with the dogs. Continue reading “Reversing the trend” →