Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for April, 2007

Release me

Posted in from the music room, music, video on April 12, 2007| 7 Comments »

Oh I love this

This clip is actually for Saab, and it’s the song I love. The band is Laura. They’re Swedish and their debut album should be out in May. The lead singer is Frida Om. She sings with such heart and passion. Here’s some of the lyrics –

I am the wilderness locked in a cage
I am a growing force you kept in place
I am a tree reaching for the sun
Please don’t hold me down
Please don’t hold me down

I am a rolling wave without the motion
A glass of water longing for the ocean
I am an asphalt flower breaking free but you keep stopping me
Release me
Release me

I am the rain that’s coming down on you
That you shielded yourself from with a roof
I have the fire burning desperately but you’re controlling me
Release me
Release me

So, for me, this is not a song about a relationship (although for all I know that’s exactly what the songwriter had in mind). For me its about the relationship between individuals and those who seek to control them. This blog is about championing the narratives of growth, the discovery of the hero in each of us, and its about challenging those who seek to make us all zombies, controlling us, restricting us and trying to make us all the same.

Read Full Post »

The Human Spectrometer

Posted in from the consulting room on April 9, 2007| 2 Comments »

Doctors are trained to diagnose. In effect this means understanding a patient’s illness, interpreting their suffering, making sense of it. However, in practice, undergraduate medical training makes disease, not illness, the focus. Eric Cassell nicely distnguishes between “disease” and “illness” in his “The Healer’s Art” (ISBN-10: 0262530627). Illness, he says, is the patient’s whole experience of suffering, whilst disease is the pathology.

In fact, the developments in Medicine over the last few hundred years have mainly been driven by technologies which allow us to look deeper and deeper, considering smaller and smaller elements of a human being. At first, we started to look at the organs inside a body to see where disease lay, then with the invention of the microscope, we looked into the organs to see the cells, and so on, right up to the present day where we look at the DNA. This has helped us to greatly improve our understanding of how the human body functions and what is happening when a part of the body becomes disordered. However, a person is more than a material body made up of DNA, cells and organs. Every person is different but what makes them unique is not just their DNA but their connections. We all exist as organisms embedded in multiple environments. This concept of embeddedness is an important one in biology. If I want to understand a patient who presents with a particular illness I need to explore who they are in the contexts of their families, their relationships, their physical and cultural environments.

I’ve thought about this a lot and I’ve made this little device to help me to more consciously practice holistically. This is a simple strip of photos I’ve taken. You can think of it as a kind of slide rule. When a patient presents to the doctor they tell their story. They say, this is what I am experiencing, this is where it started and this is what I’m concerned about. (OK, they might say a lot more than that, but most people will tell a story that includes those elements). As the doctor tries to understand what is happening, tries to make sense of the patient’s story, in order to make a diagnosis, he or she will shift the focus of consideration.

Start with the person in the middle of the strip (that’s me, reading) – the person. As you move your focus to the left you can look deeper and deeper in. Where does the problem lie? What is not functioning? Where is the disease? Is it at the level of a system? Say, the nervous system? Or at the level of an organ? Do I need to do an XRay or a scan? What is happening at cellular level? Do I need to biopsy something? And what about at a molecular level? What lab tests would elucidate what’s going on here?
Human spectrometer

Pretty much that’s how most consultations with doctors go – listening to the story, examining the body, running some tests. This can all be extremely helpful but let’s now go back to the person who might have the disease. How do we understand their illness? How do we understand the contexts of their illness? Move the focus to the right. What about this person’s relationships, and family? Have their been any major changes or issues there recently which may have had an impact? How do we understand this person’s illness in the particular society to which they belong? And finally, what about thinking more globally? Understanding this person and their illness in the larger world.

Why is this important?

Well, everything to the left of the person in this “spectrometer” is a consideration of the disease they have, but in order to become healthy, to recover, to cope or to heal, we have to support that individual’s unique systems and strategies of defence and repair. We can only do that by understanding who this person is who has this disease. So, only to consider what lies within the person is not enough, we also need to consider who this person is and how they experience life.

Read Full Post »

How to make a zombie

Posted in from the living room on April 6, 2007| 3 Comments »

The Classical Method
This method was most effectively developed by the Romans – they called it “Bread and Circuses”
It involves two elements – bread, and, yes, you guessed it, circuses! It was a satirical comment on the political strategy of the ruling class in Rome which was to provide the masses with enough food so that they wouldn’t be hungry. This element of the strategy is about meeting the basic needs of people so they will not be motivated to the point of desperation to do something to get what they want. If the basic needs of the populace are not met, then they will not be so compliant.
But meeting their basic needs was not enough to make them compliant, you had to subdue them with mindless entertainment. The key here is distraction, which holds the attention without stimulating growth, energy or creativity.
Here’s the magic formula
Meet the basic needs + provide mindless entertainment = zombie culture (a compliant pliable populace)

The Traditional Method
This is the Haitian method employed by voodoo witch doctors.
It involves two elements – drugs and rituals.
The drugs involved are of two types. First the victim is sent into a state of paralytic coma with toxins allegedly from Bufo toads and Pufferfish. In this state they appear dead. They are then buried for a few hours, exhumed and fed drugs from the Datura family of plants – “zombie cucumber”. This induces both memory loss and a psychotic dulled state where they have a condition of altered consciousness with the features of loss of free will and disconnectedness from reality.
Here’s the magic formula
Numbing, paralysing drugs + ritual + psychosis inducing drugs = zombie slave (a compliant pliable automaton)

The Modern Method
This is the method widely employed in contemporary society.
It involves two elements – meeting basic needs and entertainment (with the optional inclusion of drugs)
Poverty becomes a relative concept as the basic food, drink and shelter needs of the population are met. Then through mass communication media mindless entertainment which holds the attention without stimulating growth, energy or creativity is delivered. The drug option is available through both legal (alcohol, nicotine, prescription mind-altering medication) and illegal (“recreational” drugs) channels.
Here’s the magic formula
Meet the basic needs + provide mindless entertainment + liberal supply of numbing, paralysing and psychosis inducing drugs = zombie masses (compliant populace of automatons)

Read Full Post »

How to be creative

Posted in creativity, from the living room, from the reading room on April 6, 2007| 1 Comment »

I’ve just read a couple of books about creativity and it’s interesting to compare what they say. The first one I read was “The Creative Brain” by Nancy CAndreasen. (ISBN 0-452-28781-2). Nancy Andreasen sounds a really interesting person. Not only is she an MD who has specialised in brain research, but she is a PhD in Renaissance literature. Sometimes I think all doctors would be better doctors if they also studied a Humanities subject. Her final chapter is “Building Better Brains” and here she gives creativity exercises for adults and for children. Here are the paragraph heads –

  • Choose a New and Unfamiliar Area of Knowledge and Explore It in Depth
  • Spend Some Time Each Day Practicing Meditation or “Just Thinking”
  • Practice Observing and Describing
  • Practice Imagining

and for children –

  • Switch Off the TV
  • Read Together, Interactively
  • Emphasize Diversity
  • Ask Interesting Questions
  • Go Outdoors and Look at the Natural World
  • Get Them Interested in Music

The second book I read was “Window Seat. The Art of Digital Photography & Creative Thinking” by Julieanne Kost. (ISBN 0-596-10083-3). This author is a photographer and “evangelist and trainer for Adobe Photoshop software”. She took 3000 photos from the window seats of commercial aircraft as she travelled on business over a five year period. The 150 photos in this book are stunning and inspirational but what makes this an incredibly different photography book is that it is in three sections. The first section is “The Art of Creative Thinking”, the second section is the photographs, and the third is an appendix of the techniques she used to make the photos. Here are the paragraph heads of her first section on creativity –

  • Master your tools
  • Listen to what your life is trying to tell you
  • Be open to whatever comes your way
  • Share what you know and learn from others
  • Collaborate with other creative people, especially the quiet ones
  • Be flexible. Learn to negotiate
  • Fix whatever you complain about the most
  • View every challenge as a possible discovery
  • Take 15 minutes for yourself every day
  • Figure out what you need to do to reach your “zero point”
  • Integrate work and art; both will benefit
  • Take up an interest in something you know nothing about
  • Look at new stuff – and at what you already know – with a fresh perspective
  • Keep a journal
  • Visualise first, Photoshop second
  • Replace your thoughts with intuition
  • Play! Play! Play!
  • Know when you’re done

Even although I’m not writing about the detail of any of these paragraphs here you can see a large potential consensus. Both of these authors write clearly, simply and are very down to earth. There’s nothing “airy-fairy” about them.
Having read not only these two books but many others on the subject of creativity here are the practical steps I think lead to becoming more creative in your life –

  1. Take some time each day to think and reflect – you might call this meditation, you might go over something in your head, or write down your thoughts – but however you do it, actually take some time each day to think.
  2. Notice more. Actively try to observe more consciously.
  3. Explore. Be curious. Find out more about something every day
  4. Be passionate. If you have a passion for something, pursue it!
  5. Share. Spend some time talking or playing with other people – adults or children – every day.
  6. Accept challenges as opportunities to grow
  7. Focus on difference. Seek diversity and variety
  8. Create your own rhythms. Certain habits or disciplines are not constraining but instead they release – this is one of the bases of poetry which is not just words which rhyme but is words chosen within certain disciplines of pattern.
  9. Capture something every day – either write in a journal, take a photo, record a video or audio clip. What you capture will be your treasure chest!
  10. Schedule. I don’t just mean schedule what needs to be done, I mean schedule in some periods of time just to pursue creativity

Read Full Post »

Writing as jo(e)

Posted in from the living room, from the viewing room on April 3, 2007| 1 Comment »

Moonlit sheep, originally uploaded by bobsee.

Amy drew my attention to this beautiful blog. One of the key qualities of a hero’s life is to be aware of the environment in which he or she lives. Not just to be aware of it, but to be aware of our interactions with it. We are sensing creatures, with such a great range of sensory organs. We can appreciate light and colour and movement. We can appreciate smells and tastes and textures. We can appreciate sounds and vibrations and temperatures. But we can also appreciate a lot of influences that we don’t seem to have sensory organs for – mood, atmosphere, and, as jo(e) writes in this post, the moon.
I think its sad that so many people these days are not aware of the phases of the moon and how it affects our lives. Jo(e), you know it, you feel it, you respond to it.
Take a look at jo(e)’s blog. You’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Beautifully observed, finely written, a real hero’s page.

Read Full Post »

Changing your perspective TWO

Posted in from the dark room, photography on April 2, 2007| 1 Comment »

basketballseye view, originally uploaded by bobsee.

Now look at this photo. To take this photo I crouched down next to the kerb. How different the street looks when you change your perspective! In the first photo you might not even have spotted the ball, but now, it becomes the main subject, as if it says “This is my street. See how it looks from where I live” (OK, probably letting my imagination run away a bit with me there, but, hey, that’s what heroes do, they find ways to stimulate and develop their imaginations)

Read Full Post »

Changing your perspective ONE

Posted in from the dark room, perception, photography on April 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »

basketball in street from the end of the street, originally uploaded by bobsee.

I do think its a good idea to carry a small camera everywhere. One thing taking a look at the world through a camera does is let you change your perspective. This is a great way to see things differently. Look at this photo taken as I stand at the end of the street.
This is a straight-legged photograph. How many photos do you take standing up with your legs straight?

Read Full Post »

Why Do People Get Ill?

Posted in from the consulting room, from the reading room on April 2, 2007| 11 Comments »

Why Do People Get Ill. Darian Leader and David Corfield. ISBN 978-0-241-14316-2. This is a book written by a psychoanalyst and a philosopher. Amy spotted a review of it in The Observer. It gripped me from the outset – always a sign of a good book I reckon. In the first few pages these statements caught my eye –

3.5% of the decline in mortality due to infectious disease since 1900 can be attributed to pharmacological intervention

5 – 10% of healthy adults and 20 – 40% healthy children carry it [streptococcus pneumoniae]

Typhus and dysentery will flourish with greater success in defeated armies rather than victorious ones.

The first of those quotes is really interesting because there is now a huge emphasis on drugs as being, if not the only, then certainly the best, treatments (and cures) for most illnesses. Antiobiotics in particular have achieved almost mythological status as saviours of suffering humans. Yet they are only responsible for a tiny percentage of the lives saved from death from infection. What are the big saviours then? Well, clean water, effective sewerage systems, better housing and reductions in poverty are amongst the main ones. This is not news. I learned this in “Sociology in relation to Medicine” (a course in my undergrad medical course at the University of Edinburgh) in 1972 (and it wasn’t new then!)

The second quote tells us that loads of people have “nasty” bugs (we have a terrible tendency to describe some bacteria as nasty and some as nice, entirely on the basis of the potential harm they can cause us – nothing to do with the personality characteristics of bugs!) which apparently don’t seem to be causing them any harm. How come?

The third quote claims that mortality from a serious infection like typhus is affected by the mental state of the individuals who catch the bug. This is one of the key points of this book. These observations are not new to me and they probably are not new to you but when you stop for a moment to think about them they are startling and they tell us loud and clear that illness is not a mechanical process. Illness is always multifactorial. That’s part of the nature of complex systems – they aren’t simple! This sets the tone for the whole book. The thrust of the argument is that it’s whole people who get ill, body and mind, inextricably interfunctioning, and not only that, but it’s whole people, embedded within the environments of their lives who get ill. I use the plural there deliberately. We are embedded in multiple environments, not just physical ones, but also social, cultural and narrative ones. We are meaning-seeking creatures and the fascinating examples in this book illustrate that point beautifully.

The question the authors ask of us is to consider not just what is this disease? but doctors should ask their patients to talk about themselves

No hospitalised patient should be deprived of the opportunity to speak about themself.

Intruigingly they explore the potential for illnesses to emerge at symbolic times and in symbolic ways

Human culture is built up of symbolic structures, involving language, social laws and ritualised practices…..growing up involves the absorption of the social and linguistic structures into the very fabric of the body.

This is a plea for a more human, more humane practice of medicine. A plea for the recognition of the importance of a person’s narrative and the importance of human relationships. They question, for example, the wisdom of a system of delivering health care which results in the patient never seeing the same doctor twice. The current emphasis on protocols and targets is dehumanising. It assumes that every patient with disease “x” can be treated with therapy “y” and it doesn’t matter who actually delivers the treatment. How did we come to value drugs more highly than human beings? Technologies more highly than caring attentiveness?

The health services and bureaucracies of contemporary society are based on a rejection of the very dimension of human narrative.

Their final challenge is –

challenge the thesis that the disciplines basic to medicine are physics and chemistry. Would it be absurd to suggest that literature and philosophy would make better candidates, as they encourage the study of human beings living in a world of meaning.

Hear, hear, guys! Occasionally you read a book you wish ALL doctors would read. This is one such book. Sadly, a lot of doctors don’t read very much, claiming to be “too busy”. Suggest your doctor friends buy it for “holiday reading”.

Read Full Post »

Wallace monument

Posted in from the dark room, photography on April 1, 2007| 4 Comments »

Wallace monument, originally uploaded by bobsee.

I use iPhoto to collect and organise my photographs but apart from applying keywords and ratings to make smart folders and slideshows I haven’t really explored its image manipulation functions. I took this shot of Wallace Monument in unusual light and it came out pretty underexposed. In fact, I was going to drop it in the trash folder but decided to see what the “enhance” button (the one with the magic wand”) did. I love what happened. The monument itself shines in the sunlight and the Ochil Hills behind took on this really interesting blue colouring. I like it

Read Full Post »

Zombie Day

Posted in from the living room on April 1, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Today, April 1st, and, no, this is not a joke, is the Brisbane Zombie Walk when Australians dress up as zombies and stagger through the city! Of course, they have their own website and the organiser has a few wise words for any zombies who are intent on taking part. This particular piece of advice is wonderful –

Just because you’re undead doesn’t mean you can’t die

Becareful of traffic, obey the traffic lights as stringently as possible –
even if you think you can make it across before a car comes do not cross.
If you see anyone else doing this, please call out and stop them or at least
make sure it’s only them, a zombie mob knows how to work as a team.

Isn’t that great? Asking zombies to be aware of the traffic? A prime characteristic of the zombie lifestyle is being unaware of surroundings, so the organiser (desperately trying to prevent the undead from dying!) is quite right to be worried about this! However, another characteristic of a zombie lifestyle is obeying rules. In fact, that’s probably one of their strongest characteristics because they don’t do much thinking for themselves. So, I think traffic lights are NOT the zombie’s most vulnerable issue. They’re much more likely to just simply wander off the edge of the pavement!

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts