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One of the things helping me to recover from paralysis (see the previous blog,  How I over came paralysis) is my knowledge of my own body. From years of studying martial arts, running and exercise I have learned how different things affect my body. Certain foods increase my energy level and others reduce it. My mental attitude also effects my energy level as well as my resistance to things like colds an the flu. I remember my father in law suffered from congestive heart failure and during recovery he lost weight and commented on how much better he felt. He talked about how he thought that the way he felt was how people felt when they got old, it wasn’t until he lost weight and got healthy that hr realized it wasn’t old age but an unhealthy life style that made him feel bad.

We live in a time when there are an infinite amount of distractions in our lives, the Internet, Ipods, unlimited entertainment, jobs that require longer work  hours to keep, 24 hour news and much more. Eating becomes a second thought something we do while we do other things such as driving, working and watching TV. you know multitasking. Who has time to think about diet, nutrition, exercise and sleep?  Ask the people you work with how they are feeling and you will get no end of complaints, back pain, can’t sleep, no energy, type two diabetes, sore joints, migraines, arthritis and the list goes on. In fact you’ll find it hard to find someone who feels good and if you do, usually they are someone who eats healthy and exercises. This isn’t a coincidence.

listening to your body starts with unplugging from daily distractions. Spend a few minutes alone without any distractions, ask yourself some questions, Do I have energy? Do I feel tired? Does anything hurt, such as joints or back. Is my thinking sharp or do I have a hard time concentrating. Move around, can I touch my toes or do I feel stiff. These might seem like silly questions but many of us never stop to take the time for a self evaluation.

Many ailments that  afflict people as they begin getting older are lifestyle related and I’m not talking about senior citizens, I mean people in their thirties. Even if you have illnesses that are hereditary, eating healthy and exercising can help reduce the effects of many diseases. Quality of life is more important than longevity, would you rather live to sixty enjoying good health the whole time or to seventy but spend the last ten years of your life uncomfortable, in pain, taking medications that dull the mind and body, unable to do the things you like that makes life worth living? It actually doesn’t have to be an either or choice you can live your life healthy, full of energy and enjoying the things you like to do, you just have to listen to your body and do what it tells you to.

You can start by sitting in a chair, not a soft lounging chair but a straight backed chair like a dining chair. Close your eyes and concentrate on your body, where does the chair touch you, how does it feel. The seat, if it’s cushioned, will feel different against your body than the arms if they are wood. Then listen to your surroundings, what do you hear, are cars passing by, maybe children are playing or an airplane is going by. All of these things will begin to make you aware of yourself and your surroundings, it’s called being mindful or being in the present. If your mind wanders bring it back to the exercise, this will increase your ability to concentrate and improve focus. Try doing this in different surroundings, outside is fantastic because you have wind blowing and the sun going behind clouds changing the temperature of your skin.  The sounds you hear outside  will also be different, there are animal sounds, nature sounds such as water and wind and man made sounds all of which you can use to concentrate on.

So how does this help you to be healthy? Once you become aware of your body and how different outside forces affect it, you can then become aware of your state of health. You will feel it more when you walk a short distance and realise you are out of breath. When you eat bad food you will notice the change in your energy level and how it effects your mood. Unhealthy food makes you crave more because your body hasn’t gotten the nutrients it needs and will want to keep eating until it does. If you have aches and pains you will be better able to pinpoint the cause of them from being in tune with your body. When I have trouble sleeping I use this technique to focus my mind by feeling myself lying in bed, how does the mattress feel? Where are the covers touching my body, is it warm or cold, what position are my limbs in, etc. Eventually I fall asleep without all the tossing and turning.

Exercises such as Tai Chi and Yoga are great at helping you become mindful and self aware they also strengthen the bones and muscles, increase balance and keep the body limber and supple. You can find classes almost anywhere these days, check the phone book or internet. You can also find meditation classes that can help you delve deeper into the mind body connection if you want to further in this direction.

About two months ago I awoke to find my left arm and leg were unable to move. The night before I had gone to bed as usual when I was felt as though someone had lifted me up by my arms and slammed me into my bed. The backs of my arms and shoulders were in a lot of pain. My first thought was I was having a heart attack so I woke up my wife  and off we went to the hospital. By the way don’t follow my example, if you think you are having a heart attack call an ambulance they will be ready to take care of you when they arrive, I learned my lesson. I was rushed into the emergency room and after testing me it seemed like l wasn’t having a heart attack but they kept me overnight to observe me and do further tests. In the morning when I awoke I realized that my left leg and and right hand weren’t able to move and my left hand had diminished movement. My first thought was I had a stroke, but the diagnosis wouldn’t be so easy.

Now imagine waking up paralyzed, what thoughts would enter into your mind?  To give you a little background about myself so you can understand where my mind set was at the time, I am a very physically active person. For the past seventeen years I have been studying various martial arts, the last eight years I have studied and taught Tai Chi. I am also a runner and enjoy weight lifting, kayaking, and hiking.  My greatest fear was what would I do if I became paralized and couldn’t do Tai Chi or run or go on hikes, these were my favorite activities and what I did with most of my free time.  What was the first thought that entered my mind?  “Well, my greatest fear has just become a reality and you know what? It isn’t so bad, I will just have to learn to deal with the situation and figure out what else I will do with this new reality I have.”  That was my first thought and I never looked back. I was determined that I would regain as much ability as I could and learn to live with the results.

Back at the hospital, I was in  a lot of pain in my arms and shoulders and the tests started. I had x rays of my neck,  two MRI’s, one of my brain and another of my neck, and still no determination of what caused the paralysis. They threw around possibilities such as MS or a spinal stroke but nothing for sure. On the second day I awoke to find that I could move my right hand but now my left hand had lost it’s ability to move and that was how it was to remain. A series of neurologists came by to check out the  mystery illness guy and tell me how exciting it was to have such an unusual case to deal with. I was thrilled to know how I had enriched their lives. Eventually I had a spinal tap and when everything was put together it was determined that I had Trans-viral Myelitis or TM, which is an inflammation of the spinal cord caused when a virus attacks it knocking out large motor centers of the nervous system. In my case the shoulders, which is where the arm and hands are controlled and also the hip area which controls the legs. No one knows the exact cause of this and it can happen to anyone at anytime which I am sure is reassuring to all of you. I had no illness at the time this happened and the virus that attacked my spinal cord was never found.

The good news is that many people have a partial or complete recovery if they start recovering movement in the first few weeks of the illness. I was determined to recover and began seeing improvement almost immediately. Since this began I have worked constantly to try to move all the affected parts of my body and within a few days could move my leg and arm a little and have consistently found improvement every day since. I was sent to a rehabilitation center called Peninsula rehab in Ormond Beach, FL. where I had physical therapy three to four hours every day. After three and a half weeks I was sent home with a walker and a wheel chair. I never sat in the wheelchair again and a week and a half later I gave up the walker for a cane. Within a week I gave up the cane.  My physical therapists find my recovery extraordinary. I am improving much faster than they thought possible. Why?

I believe the main reason I have had such a good recovery comes from two things, one, my physical and mental training before the illness struck and two, my positive attitude  and constant working at therapy.  I believe that my martial arts training, especially Tai Chi and my overall fitness level contributed to my ability to get on my feet and begin the process of relearning to talk.  All of my therapists commented on my ability to balance which is the number one factor in walking.  Tai Chi is all about balance with  most movements requiring balancing on one leg.  The slow controlled movements  require extraordinary leg strength, the back is straight and the head is level using the knees as shock absorbers. Visualisation is also a large part of Tai Chi as each movement is a martial art technique with a specific application that the body has to execute properly in order to be effective.  Moving energy or Chi, through the body is also an integral part of learning Tai Chi that requires one to visualize energy in different parts of the body. This is essential when trying to get parts of the body to move that currently aren’t receiving information from the brain. The brain has the ability to make new connections and neuropathy ways throughout our whole lives, that is why we can learn new things no matter what our age. When you learn to play a guitar you put your fingers on the strings to play a chord, at first it’s difficult to do, the fingers don’t stretch that way the wrist is at a unusual angle and it’s hard to remember the order without constantly looking at your hand placement. Eventually it becomes easier, this is because your brain makes new connections between your fingers and your brain. This is the same process that is required when you’ve become  paralyzed, unless the spinal cord is completely severed. As long  as there are nerves connected to a limb the brain will find a way to get there, provided you put your mind there first.

The second important part of recovery is hard work. You not only have to put your mind in the part of your body you want to move you have to move it with your mind. When I started to walk I couldn’t get my foot to lift up at the ankle  so the toes would clear the ground, this would cause me to drag my foot and trip. The therapists wanted to get me a brace made that would hold my ankle at an angle to keep my toes up so I could walk, I knew if I had that done then I would never get my foot to work properly and I would always have to use that brace, forget about running again. That night I was in my room and concentrated on moving my ankle after an hour of staring at my foot willing it to move I saw a slight movement. I continued every day concentrating  on that ankle until I could walk without using a brace. My hand is the next challenge, it has the most muscles that control the tiniest movements requiring lots of strength. Again I spend hours everyday doing ridiculous little things such as flipping playing cards, picking up coins and stringing beads but each day I see improvement, it’s slow because the hand is very complicated but it is getting stronger and constantly improving.

Today a little over two months after this happened I am walking several miles a day doing thirty minutes on a elliptical machine and lifting weights, which is more than most people who are healthy do. I will  continue to keep you posted on my recovery, as well a other topics, at this sight.

If you like comics check out my web comic   www.brainfevercomix.com

With all this talk recently about the health care bill, we have lost sight of the most important part of health care, the program that you have for yourself. Most of you are probably scratching your heads thinking, what health care program? That’s because we don’t think of ourselves as having any responsibility for our health. That’s what the doctor is for.

So by abdicating all responsibility to the doctor we get a free pass and don’t have to think at all about our health. This is the reason we have such a problem with preventable diseases. We go through life living our day to day existence, get up go to work, pick up a fast food breakfast, eat a fast food lunch, come home eat a high fat dinner, watch TV, snack on chips or ice cream, sleep, repeat. I know that some of you do other things you have clubs and organizations that you are involved with but what is usually present, food. Whenever we get together there is food and not healthy food, we have cakes, donuts, cookies, bagels, chips and dips loaded with fat.

On top of this we sit at desks all day or in our cars, we rarely walk or get even a minimal amount of exercise. Then we wonder why there is an epidemic of preventable diseases. the answer is simple, blame fast food restaurants, TV commercials, my parents for not teaching me how to eat or better yet, the schools, they didn’t teach proper nutrition. It’s got to be someones fault!

Who do we blame?

Figuring out who to blame is the answer to all our problems, it may not help me to get healthy but it gives me a reason why I don’t have to try. This is the sad fact of our society, we all know how we take care of our health is wrong but rather than take responsibility we call it a disease or a mental illness so it becomes out of our control. This isn’t to say that there aren’t some people with a legitimate physical or mental problem that contributes to a eating disorder or inability to exercise but that is the exception not the norm.

Love you just the way you are.

A new trend that I see happening is for overweight people to say to each other that you are beautiful just the way you are. While I am not in favor of ridiculing overweight people, obesity is not beautiful, it causes illness, shortens life and reduces quality of life. If you can’t run, play, bike, swim or even pick up your children they are missing out on an important part of their development. By the way if your job keeps you from doing the same thing you are hurting your children just as much.

What to do?

First off you have to admit you have a problem. You need to lose weight, quit smoking, drinking to much, using drugs, etc. Now none of us do anything without a reason and knowing that it is the right thing to do doesn’t cut it. You need to be truly motivated before you will change your life style. So whats it going to take? well if your married, have kids or anyone that might miss you if you die, that’s a good motivator. You need to find a motivation that is compelling enough to make you change. Once you do you need to write it down and put it where you you will see it several times a day as a constant reminder. That would be places like your bathroom mirror, dresser mirror, car on the refrigerator. You also need to get those people in your life that are affected to make a commitment to keep you to your goals. Without accountability you will give up, you need someone to answer to who will be tough and keep you honest.

This is not going to be a how to diet, what to eat or what ecercises to do lession. I am going to give you the big picture of what you need to do the specifics are up to you, your doctor, trainer, nutritionist or whoever else you consult with that can make you a tailor made plan for overall health. I am concerned that you find the motivation to keep on the plan and see it through till you achieve your goals.

My next entry will deal with changing your mind so you can change your health situation.

  What are we as people living and working in communities together responsible to each other for? Our number one responsibility is to ourselves. Now at first glance this might seem selfish but it is like they tell you on airplane flights, in an emergency put your oxygen mask on first then take care of your children. If we can’t take care of ourselves then how can we help anyone else?

 Personal responsibility is our first responsibility. You need to make sure that you aren’t a burden to society before you can help anyone else. How do we do this? We make sure that we can provide for ourselves and our families. Providing adequate income and a roof over our heads sounds like a no brainer, doesn’t everyone?

 There are many people who don’t supply the basic needs for their families, they rely on family, churches  or the government for their needs. In times of emergency this is fine, you lose a job, become sick and can’t work or you temporarily have no place to live, of course you seek help in anyway you can. But as soon as you are able you get back on your feet and take care of yourself. This is the way to build strong communities.

 We are very fortunate that we live in a time and place where we have the freedom to chose what we want to do and who we want to be. You can achieve as much as you want and dream as big as you like and you have a chance of becoming exactly what you want.

Don’t be a burden.

 Our first responsibility is to not be a burden on others. This requires us to find a way to support ourselves, pay our bills and take care of our immediate families. For some of us it’s easy for others it’s a real challenge. If you were brought up in a middle class household with the opportunity to go to college and receive a good education the chances are you will be able to support yourself just fine. 

 If you didn’t have those advantages it could be a different story. Let’s say you were brought up in a family with a poverty mentality, where you were always told that you can’t succeed, the system is rigged against you so don’t even try. Maybe you were a drop out with little education and few job prospects. It doesn’t mean that you have to stay that way.

 You can always find a way.

 There are many avenues available for someone who wants to improve themselves. When I was in my twenties I wanted to be a special effects make up artist for the movies. Now, I had no experience and no connections in that industry. I was attending Emerson College in Boston at the time and took a class in theater make up. I found a shop that sold theatrical make up to schools and colleges in the area and bugged the owner until he hired me. The Owner was a sort of legend in the area, though he knew nothing of special effects make up, he taught me basic stage and TV make up. Using his connections with manufacturers, to find out where I could get supplies for special effects make up, I found every product and book available on the subject. I taught myself what I could and started calling the authors to make contacts.

Eventually I arranged to go to New York and set up appointments to visit these authors I had been studying. They hooked me up with professional make up artists who were thrilled to find someone who took an interest in their craft. From there I taught myself sculpting mold making and make up eventually becoming quite good at it. I knocked on doors until I convinced people to let me do the make up on their commercials and photo shoots, finally, I gained a reputation. From there I moved to LA and with the contacts I had made started to work on feature films. For over fifteen years I worked, professionally as a special effects make up artist

 That’s just an example of what I did, you can be creative and use your interests, skills and hobbies to find a way to earn some extra money or start a career. So if you aren’t where you want to be in life or choose to be in a new place you can do it,  just take responsibility and look for ways to improve your situation.

 Never take no for an answer, there is always a way for you to accomplish what you want to do, sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s incredibly hard but if you want to do or be anything it takes action, perseverance and patience. With these three things you can accomplish anything. You never need to be a burden on society you can always find a way to support yourself and take care of your family.

 It is really our obligation to take responsibility for ourselves so that not only are we not a burden to society but that we are in a position to help others.

I hear a lot in the news about the fortunate and lucky wealthy people who have a responsibility to share their fortunes with the rest of us unfortunates. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fortunate is described as “receiving some unexpected good”. So this would imply that wealthy people got that way by accident. I suppose that meant they went into business expecting to lose money and surprise, against every one’s expectations the company for some inexplicable reason turned a profit. 

Now other than inheriting wealth, winning the lottery or the occasional person who stumbles onto something of great value, most wealth comes from starting a business, rising to the top of an existing business or pursuing a career based on a talent such as artist or some form of entertaining. Much of the time it is after many years of hard work, barely making ends meet, before the riches come. Henry Ford went bankrups five times before starting the Ford car company. I Just finished reading an autobiography by Steve Martin, the comedian, who went for for many lean years doing stand up comedy, before finally hitting it big.

I enjoy reading biographies of famous business people, mostly they are stories of years of struggle before finally being rewarded with wealth. I can think of very few who had a “lucky break”  that hadn’t put in years of effort before hand. The idea that people who worked hard to build their wealth are obligated to turn it over to those who didn’t is absurd. Most of the wealthy contribute huge portions of their wealth to charities consider Andrew Carnegie who gave away most of his wealth building libraries and Bill gates and Warren Buffet who have given tens of billions to charity.

I realize many officers in large corporations receive extravagant amounts of money while leading their company’s toward bankruptcy. I disagree with this and believe people should get paid according to their value, if the company’s fortunes increase they should share in it,  if it decreases they should be held responsible and take a cut in pay.

Some people believe there is a finite amount of money in the world and if you have more you had to have taken it from someone else.  This idea creates wealth envy, the belief that  the reason I am poor is because some rich person stole my share of the worlds money. Most of the jobs created in this country are through small businesses, the owners of which constitute the majority of the so called wealthy. I am calling those who make over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year wealthy, as currently defined by our present administration.

Lets say we decide to raise taxes on those small business owners earning over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year, so that we can give the money to all those people who weren’t so “fortunate”. What do you think would happen? First off they wouldn’t be able to hire any new people or expand their business. they might even have to lay some people off causing higher unemployment which in turn would cause the need for more taxes.

If ultimately we took all the money from the wealthy and gave it to the poor we would all be poor and unemployed. Not a recipe for success.

The problem as I see it is, we no longer believe in the American dream, that through patience and dedication we can work our way to the top or at the least have a comfortable lifestyle. If someone believes they have no chance to succeed they never try. If you are convenced only those who are fortunate or know the right people or come from a certain segment of society get rich, then why even try, the deck is stacked against you.

The pioneers who founded this country didn’t expect any help, they just wanted an opportunity. In fact accepting charity was a disgrace and most would have rather starved than accept a hand out. How far have we traveled from those days. Now not only do we want a hand out but we want to forcibly take other’s money for ourselves.

Working hard to achieve success used to be concidered a virtue, it can be again. You just have to take responsibility for your current situation, don’t blame others, change your attitude, make a plan and follow through  So rather than demonize the wealthy let’s try to emulate them and become successful enough we can donate to charities that really help those in need.

I believe that the greatest invention we have is the DVR or Digital Video Recorder. This machine allows you to record television programs for later viewing. Why is that such a great invention? Because it eliminates the excuse that I have to rush home and watch my show. I have a list of shows that I like to watch and have all of them record automatically on the DVR to watch at my convenience, usually in a much quicker fashon because I fast forward through the commercials.

Why is this important? It keeps me from sitting in front of the screen clicking away endlessly looking for something good to watch. I always have something good to watch. If I don’t, I don’t watch TV. By the way a good tip is to never turn on the TV unless you have something specific you want to watch. I usually don’t turn it on until after dinner.

By doing this you now have more free time without having to sacrifice your “all important” shows. You can now use this new found time to do all those things you’ve been putting off. Like taking a class or reading up on something that will make you more valuable at work or spending time with your wife/husband/child, maybe you could exercise.

The idea is we spend to much time sitting in front of the TV and most of it is spent channel surfing. I read somewhere the average person now only watches 55% of any single show because as soon as a commercial comes on they’re off surfing to watch part of another show until it has a commercial.

There are so many things that we neglect because of the TV it’s shameful. I have heard it attributed to Einstein that  if you spent 15 minutes a day studying a subject you would be an expert on that subject in a year. That’s just about the length of all the commercials in an hour Television show. So there you go record one hour long show and then spend the extra 15 minutes reading about a subject that could improve your quality of life.

This is what personal responsibility is all about doing the things you need to do instead of making excuses. Now you have a tool to use if you choose to take advantage of it. I love television and movies. I worked in the film and television industry for over 15 years as a special effects make-up artist and so watching my favorite shows or movies is important to me but I don’t let it keep me from doing anything that might hinder my ability to improve my situation.

As you break away from the habit of sitting down on the sofa or recliner and settling in for the evening you will find there are many things that you like to do more. You just have to get out and try something new. Maybe go for a walk after dinner, it will improve your health and when you get home the show will be waiting there for you. You could research that business you always wanted to start. Work on your hobby. Learn some new skill. It’s a matter of taking responsibility for managing your time and using it to improve your life not just wasting time until you go to sleep.

Spending time interacting with your family will improve your life tremendously. Try playing a game with your kids for an hour, the show will wait for you. Do some of those chores you’re wife has been wanting you to get to. Go out for an hour as a family and do something even if it’s only to walk the dog. It doesn’t matter what you do with the time just make sure that it improves your life in some meaningful way. Take a small step and see where it leads you, You might find your having so much fun you no longer care about the TV.

This is my first attempt at writing a blog, please bare with me.  I’ve thought about blogging for a very long time and wanted to create something useful, fun to read and that would help people. After reading this I hope that you feel I have accomplished my goals 

For a while it’s been my observation that our society is suffering from a lack of personal responsibility. We all want to find someone to blame for our failures and mistakes. I saw on the news today that a girl, who appeared on a reality TV show, is suing for one hundred million dollars because she claims that the show made her out to be a brat. She said that the editing of the show, not her actions, made her out to be a brat. I saw some clips and from what I could tell she certainly didn’t do herself any favors regardless of the editing. She appeared self centered and spoiled with an over  inflated opinion of her abilities. Whether her claims are merited or not I can’t judge but even if true are they worth one hundred million dollars?

This is an example, on a larger scale, of someone not taking responsibility for their actions. She chose to go on the show knowing full well that it would have to be edited and is now upset at the results of her attempt at fifteen minutes of fame and wants to blame the producers instead of herself. On a daily basis we all do the same thing albeit on a smaller scale. We hit the snooze button a couple of times, get to work late and blame the traffic instead of ourselves. I know I shouldn’t have been speeding but that cop was just out to get me. I need to get to the gym but I’m just too busy. These might seen like little things but they add up over time. You’re late to work enough you get fired, get enough speeding tickets and you pay more for insurance or worse you end up with a suspended license. If you don’t take care of your health you find yourself with serious but preventable illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes or clogged arteries.

As a nation we expect the government to take care of us, so come retirement we find out we didn’t save enough and social security won’t cover the difference. Or generations of people survive on welfare when with a little effort they could improve their situation. Now we want the government to take care of all our health problems. I am all for helping people who need a hand and the government should help when we have a problem but this should be the exception. We need to take care of ourselves and only turn to help when we have no other choice. I am afraid we are losing this fine point and are expecting others to solve our problems.

This comes back to the point of my blog, to provide useful ideas and information to help us take back control of our lives and achieve as much as we desire with our short time on earth. Being responsible is actually easier and much more rewarding than trying to figure out how to solve the mess that we often find ourselves in when we choose to abdicate our responsibilities to others.

So the first lesson is, stop and think. Whenever you find youself  blaming someone or something, stop for a moment. Look back and connect the dots to how you arrived at the present situation. Was there something I did or didn’t do that could have prevented this situation? How could I have acted or what could I have done that might have caused me to avoid this. To many times we rush about and never stop to analyze what it is we are doing. The simple act of stopping for a moment and looking at our actions could give us a whole new perspective on our lives.

When you were a kid did you ever run down a hill and find that you were going so fast you couldn’t stop? This is sometimes how life feels, we have so much to do we don’t feel that we can stop to look at what we are doing or where we are going, when we find out that we made a mistake it is just easier to blame someone than to stop and realize we should maybe make a course correction.

For the next few days take the time to stop periodically put it on your calendar or leave some notes around the house as a reminder, see if what you are doing or not doing might be leading you in the wrong direction. Look at every aspect of your life and see if it is leading you toward the life that you want. Maybe you’ll find that you don’t know what kind of life you want. Then you can begin to take responsibility for your actions, stop blaming others, situations beyond your control or even yourself for your problems take a new direction and move ahead.

In future blogs I will be dealing with a variety of issues that just might help you solve some of life’s little problems. I hope you enjoyed our time together and will come back periodically to see what I’m up to. Until then enjoy your life it’s the only one you get.