May 29, 2014

Perscription Painkiller Addiction

We are living in an age where percription medicine rules the world of health. We often become so dependent on the use of perscription medicine we find little relief in natural or alternative remedies to help cure our ailments. We live in an age where we require quick fixes rather than getting to the root of the problem even if it takes a little longer. We would rather temporarily fix a problem than to find out the real reason behind our recurring problems. It seems we don’t have the time in our current “now” to deal with sickness. We can’t afford to take time off to research, travel and find the necessary alternative solutions. We need immediate relief to get back into our fast paced lives of working, paying bills, and spending our free time doing other things of priority.
I wanted to write about why I believe we become addicted and dependent on these unhealthy solutions. In fact, I am going to primarily focus on prescription painkillers as I know this is one of the fastest growing addictions in our modern day.  Many of the reasons I am going to mention are very common and occur a lot more frequently than we think.
  • Deceptive Euphoria – The dependence of this drug ties hand in hand with dealing with emotional and physical pain. Opiods have extreme side effects of euphoria. Many people will feel extreme pleasure which may seem quite surprising. The repeated chase of feeling that same pleasurable experience is craved by the intaker. The need to feel the initial pleasurable experience requires more painkillers/medication to achieve the same result as the first “high”. The high creates a sense of relaxation that one often enjoys because he/she has been dealing with extreme pain for so long. This provides relief to many who suffer from chronic pain.
  • Masking emotional pain – This doesn’t occur immediately, rather, once the intaker takes their first couple of pills they realize this medication creates distance from their pains, both physical and emotional. Usually people suffering from physical pain also deal with extreme emotional pain and soon grow dependent on relieving all the pains in their lives through the use of one little pill. Overtime a “chase” occurs, whereby, physical pain is relieved through drug use, then emotional pain is also relieved, followed by withdrawals, which creates negative feels, therefore more drugs are used to mask or relieve the negative feelings that occur because of the withdrawals.
  • Tolerance – Just with anything in life, too much of anything is not good. Particularly with painkillers/medication, the human body develops a tolerance to the drug. With time larger and stronger doses are required in order to achieve the initial “high”. Tolerance to any drug/substance is the first sign toward addiction.
  • Withdrawals – Often, people addicted to prescription painkillers/medication believe that they need more of the drug because their pain remains or gets worse. This occurs because of the mixed chemical messages being sent throughout the body. We go through ups and downs and cannot handle the chemical withdrawals that occur through the body. This creates a sense of imbalance and we physically feel the withdrawal effects on the body. The pain is intensified and the chemicals in our brain are amplifying the negative effects as we come down, off the high.
  • Painkillers are Legal – The world we live in offer painkillers (which are drugs) to every person who has access to it, legally.  These drugs are funded and supplied by companies.  They are meant to be taken in small doses to help those in need but many abuse this system because of the legal benefits/advantage pharmaceutical companies have.  These drugs are not only provided but their use is encouraged by medical professionals.  Police do not knock down the doors of pharmaceutical companies.  Which is pretty ironic if you ask me.
  • Inaccessible Alternative medication – There are many effective forms of alternative medication that the general public is oblivious too. Even physicians here in the Western world avoid providing information because they lack knowledge or simply because they would rather profit from prescribing medication and coating symptoms rather than curing ailments. Having access to non-drug pain relief medication is very difficult to find in the Western world. This is one of the main reasons why people become dependent on prescription medication.

 mindbodysoul

“An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.” ~ Criss Jami

May 22, 2014

Entertainment Age

We live in a time where technology has evolved to such a degree that mankind can barely keep up.  The overload of information is astonshing.  We are bombarded with information about all likes of this earth.  You want to learn about science, there are millions of avenues through the internet, schools, and etc. to gain access to that particular type of info.  However, because of the abundance of information we are all lost in a sea of knowledge.  I say we are lost because although we have access to this vast knowledge, barely do any of us know how to truly utilize and filter through the information overload.  It may seem like we are living in the information age based on the current state of our world, the reality is we are all actually living in the Entertainment Age.

What is the Entertainment Age?  It’s what we experience day to day, living in a society where we live in abundance of entertainment information.  The media, social networks and technology uses entertainment to connect with the mass public.  The only way to pass along knowledge or information in this world now-a-days is through entertainment.  Mass public attention focuses on how one feels.  The only way most of us feel anything anymore is if we are stimulated through entertainment, whether it’s good or bad entertainment.  Entertainment is whatever excites our emotions.  When we hear gossip, see something cool or exciting in a movie or on TV, or witness a celebrity speak about a cause or promote a service or product.  We are living, breathing, eating, and sleeping in the Entertainment Age.

Now imagine if our feelings were utilized correctly and we felt the same way we did about knowledge and information as we did about entertainment.  Most people would rather spend hours educating themselves on their favourite celebrities comings and goings than finding out their own passions.  Most people would rather listen to gossip than create or invent something new.  Most people would rather escape their own reality and live vicariously through other peoples lives by witnessing them do amazing things while they sit on the sidelines.  It’s scary how much self control most of us lack because of this Entertainment Age.  It’s almost as if the Entertainment Age is forcing us to push the onus or blame on others for not achieving our own personal goals.

Imagine a world where everyone realized the state we are currently in.  We would all wake up and make more conscious decisions for ourselves rather than being told what to do by other more “successful” people.  The Entertainment Age has created many brilliant and talented people and we should use this time as an inspiration to become far more than what we are right now.  We as mankind, have not even reached our full potential.  By being consumed with mundane and useless information we lose track of the main purpose of the Entertainment Age; giving us entertainment.  Instead, we now live by it and make poor choices based on entertainment knowledge, not ACTUAL knowledge.  So, I urge you, use this Entertainment Age for what it is and do not allow it to consume your actual world.

Time to reflect:

What are your thoughts on the Entertainment Age?  Should we keep ourselves so mired in this state while technology and the world evolves faster than our own conscious beings?  Or, should we actually use this time for what it actually is, simple entertainment, instead of being consumed by it?

mindbodysoul

“We aren’t in an information age, we are in an entertainment age.” ~ Tony Robbins

May 11, 2014

Family – why we have them

For so long I kept wondering what the purpose of family was.  Is it to create a close knit network, build communities, pass along history and secrets through generations or to not make us feel alone?  There are sooooo many reasons why mankind as well as creatures of all kinds have family.  My interpretation is that we have family to help teach us things about ourselves that eventually push us to reach our individual infinite potential.

I believe that God/the universe has devised a plan for each of us to eventually reach our potential.  Now, if you believe in reincarnation, the idea is that we are brought back each life to hopefully accomplish tasks and goals that we were unable to achieve in our past lives.  Knowing this about reincarnation one could apply this very same principle to our family dynamic.  We are provided with family members who are created in our likeness.  Our family teaches us many lessons in life through their individual experiences.  We learn how similar or how different we are and how to handle one another and life situations.  It’s as if we get multiple copies of ourselves to look at while we live our lives in this lifetime.  Family teaches us to manage all these lessons from different perspectives, but, ultimately we have to devise a conclusion for ourselves.

What I mean is this.  Our parents are half of who we are.  We are half of our father and half of our mother.  The traits we develop are passed along from them, both physical and non-physical.  The life situations they go through alter our own lives as well, as we watch them deal with and overcome the lessons.  We are given many chances in life to do the right thing for us because of what we witness family go through.  Sometimes we will notice our parents making unnecessary sacrifices that we, ouselves, would never make.  We learn not be like them and repeat those mistakes to help propel us further toward our goals.  Other times we notice our parents providing love, support, and guidance that we wish to mimick and apply to those other people who we wish to share our lives with, that is not family.  We witness and experience many lessons by having family.

Take a moment to look at your own family and try to understand how they are here to help you.  Look at their individual flaws, strenths and experiences.  Then make a judgement about what you were meant to learn from them.  Maybe, your father is supposed to teach you to be more self-sacrificing, while your mother is supposed to teach you balance by being more “selfish” or accommodating only to herself and her family.  Maybe, your brother is supposed to teach you what type of man you should be with, someone who offers love and support and pushes you up instead of pulling you back.  Maybe your sister is supposed to teach you to be fearless while she breaks boundaries and becomes a trail blazer.  Look at your life and your family dynamic to understand yourself more.  Find out how you are similar and what sets you apart.  Take the lessons as a means to understand how to reach your full potential and use their life experiences to project yourself into infinite potential.

Time to reflect:

Did you ever wonder why we have families?  I think it’s to help us reach our potential in a fair way.  We cannot be given all the answers in life, but we can be guided.  The guidance comes in the form of family.  As we witness them go through things, we are able to apply those lessons and minimize the hurt or maximize the good results.  Family exists to serve a special purpose.  We are here to learn from one another and to use one another to eventually reach our full potential.  Look at your own family and notice the great things as well as the poor things.  See how they fit in your own life and what you can take away from them and their lessons.  If we are blessed to have them, family is God’s way of giving us a chance to reach the unknown with love and support.

mindbodysoul

“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” ~ Alex Haley

 

May 7, 2014

Focus on what you DO know

It’s so easy to slip into this habit of being “lost”.  We live our lives trying so hard to figure out who we are or where we’re going.  We put so much emphasis on the unknown that we live a life chasing after things.  Life is a gift that teaches us balance.  Just as great as the unknown is, the known is even more fabulous.  There are so many definitive things in this world that we should be concentrating on.  If we did this more often, we would live a much happier existence.

Growing up I was always confused about who I was and where I was going because I lacked direction. While my peers were out developing skills and talents while participating in after school activities or clubs, teams or whatever it was, I was sitting at home babysitting and rotting away in front of the TV.  This made me feel like I didn’t know what I was meant to do.  I genuinely enjoy doing many things, in fact, I’m pretty good at a lot of things.  This also confused me even more because now I had no idea what to focus my attention on.  Here I was, someone who was good at many things but never good enough to be considered an expert or qualified to pursue it further as a possible “career” or passion.

This created many deep seated issues during my adulthood when I really should’ve figured out my path.  I focused so much on the idea that I DIDN’T know what I was doing that I hindered my own growth.  Instead of sticking to what I was good at, trying many new things and exploring my options, I didn’t try anything new.  Instead, I got stuck in a routine because I forced myself to settle and get into jobs that didn’t suit me or I was over qualified for.  I tried this in an attempt to fit in to the normal society.  I was told once you graduate you get a job regardless if it’s not in the field of your interest.  I wasted years investing in attaining experience in areas that have no relevance to my personal passions and growth.  All the while I should’ve really been focusing on what I DID know, which was what I was really interested in.

I want us all to stop focusing so much on the things that we DON’T know and start concentrating on the things that we DO know.  By focusing on what we do know we force ourselves to make conscious choices that align with our genuine interest.  If you know something about yourself, such as, you’re an excellent swimmer or you are an amazing singer then focus on finding solutions to how you can keep doing what you know.  Instead of focusing on, “how can I make money out of this industry?” or “how can I ever compete with so many undiscovered talented people already out there?” and etc., we need to change our focus to, “I know I am amazing so how do I meet the right people to show case that?”  This simple yet complicated attitude shift is what we need in order to really become the best we are meant to be.

Time to reflect:

Do you waste your time focusing on useless things such as all the things you DON’T know?  Start focusing on what you DO know.  You hold a lot more power than you think and a lot more control of your decisions and life.  If we understood this about ourselves we would make better and more conscious decisions that would help propel us to reach our ultimate potential.  

mindbodysoul

 

“Instead of focusing on the circumstances that you cannot change, focus strongly and powerfully on the circumstances that you can.” ~ Joy Page

April 27, 2014

Why me? Why not me?

I had a very bad habit of victimizing and feeling sorry for myself during my tribulations.  Then to add to my grief, I would self sabotage when things in my life were going great.  I got into a horrible habit of craving this unnecessary drama that served absolutely no purpose.  I always asked myself and God, “why me?” during the tough times.  I know it sounds crazy, but, it’s almost as if I felt relief at the idea of “poor me, I am going through such a rough time, no wonder I make poor decisions” or “no wonder my life is complicated”.  Suddenly I had an epiphany while being on one of my many self destructive paths.  I realized, I was asking the wrong question.  Instead, all the while I should’ve actually been asking, “Why not me?”

My poor choices were a direct reflection of my self-destructive characteristic.  It was almost like I would purposely sabotage all the good things in my life to satisfy the craving I had for drama or a need for self pity.  By asking myself, “Why me” I automatically put myself down and didn’t appreciate or value the great things that already existed.  This shift in attitude is the real difference in the ability to make choices.  If your frame of mind is in the wrong place, then you will end up making the wrong choice.  If your frame of mind is in the right place, ie. you’re happy or content, then often you end up making better choices.  So, by knowing what frame of mind you’re in, you can make decisions appropriately or more effectively without it causing harm in the near or far future.

Now that I understand the idea behind framing the mind correctly, I can change my attitude in life by asking myself the question, “Why not me” instead.  Every time I look at someone that I admire and wish to be like, I ask myself “why can’t that be me?”  This question forces me to look my own life and evaluate all the great things that already exist that help me see how similar I already am to the person I am “wishing” to be like.  Also, by gauging how similar I am, I can see the areas I am lacking so I can focus on achieving those things while putting the attention in the necessary areas.  For instance, I saw this woman who evidently had money because of the clothes she wore and the car she drove.  I admired this independent woman and asked myself, “why not me?”.  This forced me to evaluate my own life and I realized, wait a minute, this is me, minus the luxury car.  Now that I am content with my positioning so far, I can now focus on achieving the next goal, getting a luxury car, by using my creativity and skills.

This simple shift in attitude and asking almost the same question but in a more positive way while putting the onus on myself, drastically improved my life.  Now I don’t focus on the things I don’t have, rather I focus on the things I already have and focus my energy on acquiring the things I lack.  This has helped me make more effective and positive choices in my life.  Instead of living a self-sabbotaging and self-victimizing life, I now take the responsibility to make the appropriate changes. I don’t sit around wondering why all the things I am doing doesn’t work.  Instead, I take active steps to fix the things that don’t work and continue to appreciate and improve on the things that do work.  By changing my attitude by asking myself a different question, I no longer crave drama or self pity.  I feel ecstatic knowing that I am always going to keep achieving greatness within myself while realizing how amazing I already have it.

Time to reflect:

Do you always ask yourself, “Why me?”  If you do, change that statement to, “Why not me?”  This simple change in attitude and words will make a world of a difference in the way you approach life and all of your choices.  You will no longer feel the need to blame or look for validation or answers from others.  Instead, you will appreciate all that you already have and will look forward to all the things that you can still achieve.  You can change the self-victimizing and self-sabbotaging ways if you want to, all you have to do is change your attitude and the question that you ask.  

mindbodysoul

 

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

 

April 22, 2014

Western medicine

I am blessed to live in a country that offers free health care.  The relief I have of not worrying about getting sick because I can’t afford it, is such a wonder.  It’s a luxury compared to what our American neighbours deal with, where they have to pay for health care.  In America people can’t afford to get sick because if they do, it will cost them an arm and a leg.  In fact, Western medicine isn’t all that it’s cut out to be.  Don’t get me wrong, we are very lucky and blessed with the skill sets and talent of some of the worlds greatest minds and professionals.  However, at the same time, the principles of Western medicine is what doesn’t resonate well with me.

Western medicine will invest more effort, time and money in researching and “legally” producing pharmaceutical drugs and medicine than educating patients on alternative and natural remedies that heal and eventually prolong life.  Western medicine does not provide any outlet or avenue for a person to even look into those options when dealing with terminal illness or diseases.  Instead, Western medicine would rather drug you up and keep you spending your hard earned money purchasing these drugs that have severe short and long term effects.  It’s sad that we live in a part of the world where almost 90% of us are educated, yet we are so misinformed about the realities of corporate choke holds and profiteering, especially at the cost of our very well being and health.

I share my opinion with you all because I believe we need to make a change in the way we deal with illness and health issues.  There are many alternative remedies that are overlooked because a drug company would rather make a profit off the suffering of a persons health issues.  It’s despicable and downright unethical to live amongst people who care so little about human life.  I mean it’s crazy because the tools and the innovation that Western medicine currently possess is undeniably amazing.  We have the means and facilities to cure almost anything yet we have one of the highest rates of illness around the world.  Why is that?  Because our concentration is on the wrong thing, making money instead of educating and curing ailments.

If Western medicine combined its raw talent, amazing intellect and innovative capabilities with alternative and holistic medicine the way Eastern medicine has done it, we all would live much healthier, cleaner and longer lives.  Scientific research has proven time again that Eastern medicine is in fact way more reliable, less evasive and harmful than Western medicine.  Eastern medicine combines scientific innovative tools with ancient holistic and natural remedies to produce the best results.  That is why most people who are diagnosed with terminal illnesses or diseases in the West end up travelling to the East to get second, third and fourth opinions.

In conclusion, I believe it is time for all of us to rise up and take a stand against these pharmaceutical corporate hyenas and push for a more holistic and natural avenue to help deal with illness and health issues.  Instead of living in a “legally” drug induced state all of our lives we should take active steps to finding natural and alternative cures.  We should invest more effort, time and money into researching how to combine holistic medicine with the current innovations and tools we are used too to eventually produce the best results.

mindbodysoul

“The greatest medicine of all is to teach people how not to need it.” ~ anonymous

April 14, 2014

Death

Death is inevitable and the sad reality is that we all have to deal with it eventually.  Most people fear death because of the unknown and the realization that they will never be with their loved ones again.  The saddest part of death is dying alone and having no one by your side as you move from this life onto the next.  Society and human nature, for the most part, deals with death through sadness and sorrow.  However, death should actually be a celebration of ones life and all the great and unique accomplishments. Why do we live with the idea of this inevitable sadness when we can choose to end our lives in a celebratory fashion instead?

A few days back my friends father passed away from stage 4 lung cancer.  The cancer spread throughout his body and he was deemed terminal and incurable.  As soon as the doctor diagnosed him as terminal their family’s collective attitude about his life changed.  I personally didn’t agree with how they handled the situation, but, as an outsider I am only entitled to my opinion and that is all.  Collectively they all gave up and decided whatever the doctor said was the only and final diagnosis.  Had this been my family, I would travel to the ends of the earth to find a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and etc. professional medical and holistic opinion.  The overwhelming sorrow that my friends family faced in these past few weeks and months proved to me that when I pass, I want my family and friends to deal with my death completely differently.

I want my family and friends to celebrate my life and all the unique things that I was able to accomplish.  I want them to laugh instead of cry at the idea of never seeing me again.  I want to teach them to look at my passing as my new beginning to another journey.  I want to celebrate a life that was worth living and show everyone that death is not the end nor should it be sad.  Death marks the end of one life but it also marks the beginning of something that none of us are capable of comprehending.

When I refer to death I am not speaking of tragic or accidental deaths.  There are many deaths that occur that are unimaginable and unforeseen, such as children dying too young or good and undeserving people having their lives taken because of murder or illness and sometimes even the bad don’t deserve certain death sentences.  I am not speaking of deaths that occur through those means, because in those situations sorrow is completely understandable.  There is a mourning process and obligatory time is required to act as a tribute to the lost lives.  I just want to clarify this, because when I am referring to ending our lives on a happy note, I’m referring to situations where people are blessed to live long and fulfilling lives and can foresee their passing in the near future.

So, do you fear death?  Why?  Is it because of how you were raised and the misconceptions behind death that you were taught as a child?  Do you deal with death through sorrow?  I want you to understand that we can choose not to deal with death like this anymore.  We all know that it will happen eventually, so rather than anticipate a sorrow ending why not end our lives on a celebratory note?  Why not leave this world with a bang and smiling?  We entered this world crying, but, I believe we should leave this world smiling and laughing because we were able to experience life.  We should leave our families with the memories of us being happy because life happened not because it’s over.

Time to reflect:

How will you handle death when the time comes?  Will you want to leave this world smiling or crying?  Will you want to leave your family with great memories or sorrow?  Think about it, because it’s actually a choice we have.  Sure we cannot choose life over death, but, we can definitely choose how we want to deal with death when our time comes.  So, I urge you, choose to deal with death with happiness.  I wish you a long and fulfilling life.  

mindbodysoul

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain