Take 20 minutes to watch this brilliant TED talk by Iain McGilchrist.
I agree with everything he says in this, but I was especially struck by his mention of the gene which codes for eyes. It’s the same gene which codes for a fly’s eye, a frog’s eye and a human eye. What makes the difference? The context of the other cells in the separate creatures. We are not just our genes, and our genes only express themselves in the contexts of the cells in which they exist.
I also really like what he says towards the end of the talk about protocols and the practice of medicine. How on earth can a protocol devised by a committee somewhere tell a doctor how to treat this particular, unique, individual patient today? It’s nonsense.
I’m often asked what I and my colleagues actually do at the NHS Centre for Integrative Care.
Here’s a 20 minute video where I explain what Integrative Medicine is. This is based on a talk I’m giving to GPs next week so the intended audience is health care professionals but I thought anybody might find it interesting or thought provoking…..I hope it is!
In essence I think Integrative Medicine is a holistic approach to health making, and my understanding of health and illness is framed by the lens of complexity science, or, specifically, through the lens of the Complex Adaptive System.
José Mujica, Uruguay’s president acts very differently in power from most of the world’s leading politicians. He lives in a one bedroomed farmhouse instead of the Presidential palace, and gives away 90% of his monthly salary.
He is described as the world’s poorest President but he rejects that description preferring Seneca’s teaching about poverty – “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” He most refreshingly rails against hyperconsumption and waste pointing out that
We can almost recycle everything now. If we lived within our means – by being prudent – the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction but we think as people and countries, not as a species.
This is such an important point which is almost never made by our politicians. Global population is doubling every few years and shows no sign of stopping. Just how is that sustainable? Can we keep growing the population by that much, and all keep pushing for “growth” (by which we mean great consumption and accumulation) and not hit a wall at some point? Isn’t the Earth finite?
But I especially like his last point there – that we think “as people and countries, not as a species”. We need to start living as if we are species, not isolated groups trying to beat each other, dominate each other, exploit each other.
Watch this for THE most coherent and convincing exposition of this case –
He also makes the excellent point about our enslavement to the market –
I’m just sick of the way things are. We’re in an age in which we can’t live without accepting the logic of the market,” he said. “Contemporary politics is all about short-term pragmatism. We have abandoned religion and philosophy … What we have left is the automatisation of doing what the market tells us.
Halévy says all this too in his publications. He challenges us to ask what’s the purpose of our current socio-economic system and who does it serve? Go on, ask yourself, read around a bit, and see what answers you come up with.
Both Halévy and Mujica focus on the need for quality instead of quantity. Halévy uses the term “frugality” and Mujica says “prudent” but neither are setting out the case for a worse life. Quite the opposite, they say we should concentrate on getting more quality from less consumption, and in so doing, create a sustainable way of life on this little planet.
One of the greatest emotions to you can experience. When I teach Heartmath, I ask people to think of a moment of AWE as one of the possible “heart feelings”
If you’re not quite sure what constitutes AWE try this – it is (no, I’m not going to say “awesome” – yuk!) FANTASTIC!
Dr Peter Gøtzsche is the founder of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, a highly respected medical researcher who examines clinical trials. The Cochrane centres are widely accepted as the most reliable sources of unbiased information about the research evidence for medical interventions. He has written a thoroughly disturbing book comparing drug companies to organised crime. His messages are clear, rational and evidence based. Here’s a quote from his new book, Deadly Medicine and Organised Crime.
‘The main reason we take so many drugs is that drug companies don’t sell drugs, they sell lies about drugs. This is what makes drugs so different from anything else in life… Virtually everything we know about drugs is what the companies have chosen to tell us and our doctors… the reason patients trust their medicine is that they extrapolate the trust they have in their doctors into the medicines they prescribe. The patients don’t realise that, although their doctors may know a lot about diseases and human physiology and psychology, they know very, very little about drugs that hasn’t been carefully concocted and dressed up by the drug industry… If you don’t think the system is out of control, then please email me and explain why drugs are the third leading cause of death… If such a hugely lethal epidemic had been caused by a new bacterium or a virus, or even one hundredth of it, we would have done everything we could to get it under control.’
The Heartmath technique involves recreating a positive emotion – not just remembering a positive event, but actually feeling the feeling again.
When I found this project from “soul pancake” it struck me that they were making little “heart math” moments in the street. Watch the video. It’s delightful, and I’m pretty sure it will make you smile……
……and remember, to flourish, you should try to have a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative feelings/experiences each day.
We are in a transition time to a more ecological way of understanding our place in the universe. Here’s a short video where Thomas Berry explains why we are at the junction of era change
Emeli Sandé sang a beautiful version of Read All About It, Part III at the closing of the London Olympics, and the line “we’re all wonderful, wonderful people so when did we all get so fearful?” has been running through my brain ever since.
(I’ve embedded the video link here, but you’ll see the Olympic Committee insist you go watch it on youtube….go on, click the link…it’s worth it!! The lyric in question comes in at the 2 minute mark….)
Sometimes you find a video which is astonishing in its clarity and impact. Here’s what might be THE best health video I’ve seen so far.
I urge you – take 10 minutes and watch this. I really believe it could change your life.
I welcome constructive criticism and suggestions. I will not, however, tolerate abuse, rudeness or negativity, whether it is directed at me or other people. It has no place here. ANYONE making nasty comments will be banned.
Heroes Not Zombies 