It is now a couple of weeks into the covid restricted activities, and not much has changed, except the weather. Daytimes are warmer and more humid, and the nights are better with the air conditioning turned on. My personal project to improve sleep seems to be working. It makes me feel like I am controlling something in a world where now there are still many unpredictables. I learned a new word, "precariot" , it means a person living in conditions that are unpredictable. I limit my consumption of news, and look for signs of hope among the collaborating scientists. Both Judy and I favor the reporting of the Christian Science Monitor, which is consistent in balancing the news with good reports from around the world.
In some ways I am feeling relief that I have survived thus far. Apparently taking precautions of social distancing , etc.is helping to keep us safe. We have been consistent in having our groceries delivered, and making only necessary trips to routine needed medical appointments. At first the virus appeared so stealthy that it seemed like there was going to be no defense, and we had better get ready to die. I started living one-day-at-a-time, which is not a bad philosophy anyway. I have derived spiritual support from the writings of Fr. Richard Rohr.
We still make a weekly trip to our former fruit trees to do gardening and harvest fruit. This is a cherished break from the sameness of the days in the apartment. We can venture out and back, with no actual human contact. People at the gate, take our temperature and ask questions when we return.We harvested a large bunch of bananas, so now it is a challenge to find ways to use them. I have become a willing cook, and actually enjoy finding new vegetarian and vegan meals to produce, with Judy as the sou-chef.
It is shocking to try and imagine what the people in New York With are enduring. Judy's 80 year old high school chum lives in Manhattan, got some version of the virus, but has survived without hospitalization. It must be a challenge for preachers in the city to find inspiration for an Easter sermon today, considering the theme of life and death are all around them, not to mention illness and suffering. Will they speak the faith traditional words of comfort (which might be enough to quiet the deepest and unconscious part of us) , or will they offer interpretations of the glaring forces impinging on all of us? What is there to say in the street vernacular? I read that hospital chaplains are finding totally new and creative ways to minister to the sick and dying . They are in the trenches, bringing some gracious meaning to the worst of cases. Some of it reminds me of stories of another trench war: World War I. I take my hat off to all those who are giving comfort and support in the situations they find themselves in.
Our kids and grand-kids are in touch regularly, and all the adults have jobs, plus managing some form of at home schooling. There are always things to be thankful for.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Better Sleep for These Nights
There is some good and credible evidence that a good night's sleep improves the immune system. Who knows whether and how you might get exposed to the virus, but your immune system is always working for you, and it is powerful. Covid-19 has been called a wimp.
So here I submit an outline of a course I was to have given at Florida Gulf Coast Univ, Seniors Academy last week:
1, Walk outside in the late afternoon without sunglasses. You will be building up your natural melatonin, the brain's sleep-inducer. (There is a slightly reduced supply of melatonin in older persons.).
2, Learn to use diaphragmatic breathing, instruction on the internet, or email me for my instruction sheet. DB turns on the parasympathetic nervous system to calm your worries, including worry about sleeping. It is a physiological event.
3. Slow down before bedtime, read fiction, and meditate, (or just relax).
4.If you nap, make it short, less than one hour, and do it before 3 PM.
5. Get some regular exercise, but do it at least three hours ahead of bedtime.
6. Avoid alcohol. The relaxation from it actually interferes with important stages of sleep. See the book, "Why We Sleep"
7.Take notes on your negative self-talk, and subject these statements to Cognitive Behavior Therapy reworking. See book "Feeling Good" and/or "CBT-1 Coach" as an app. Source: Health After 50, Berkeley School of Public Health.
8. Learn Self-Hypnosis. There are pre-written scripts for this. Licensed clinical hypnotherapists can teach it to you. See American Society of Clinical Hypnosis list of practitioners, some of whom you may visit online.
9. Don't neglect signs of sleep apnea, for which C-pap devices are now in common use via your medical doctor.
So here I submit an outline of a course I was to have given at Florida Gulf Coast Univ, Seniors Academy last week:
1, Walk outside in the late afternoon without sunglasses. You will be building up your natural melatonin, the brain's sleep-inducer. (There is a slightly reduced supply of melatonin in older persons.).
2, Learn to use diaphragmatic breathing, instruction on the internet, or email me for my instruction sheet. DB turns on the parasympathetic nervous system to calm your worries, including worry about sleeping. It is a physiological event.
3. Slow down before bedtime, read fiction, and meditate, (or just relax).
4.If you nap, make it short, less than one hour, and do it before 3 PM.
5. Get some regular exercise, but do it at least three hours ahead of bedtime.
6. Avoid alcohol. The relaxation from it actually interferes with important stages of sleep. See the book, "Why We Sleep"
7.Take notes on your negative self-talk, and subject these statements to Cognitive Behavior Therapy reworking. See book "Feeling Good" and/or "CBT-1 Coach" as an app. Source: Health After 50, Berkeley School of Public Health.
8. Learn Self-Hypnosis. There are pre-written scripts for this. Licensed clinical hypnotherapists can teach it to you. See American Society of Clinical Hypnosis list of practitioners, some of whom you may visit online.
9. Don't neglect signs of sleep apnea, for which C-pap devices are now in common use via your medical doctor.
Friday, March 27, 2020
Shell Point and Covid-19, March 27, 2020
I have hoisted my keyboard onto the desk again to talk about my current situation, March 2020, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. It has been a few years since I posted, but my( our) life has gone right ahead, with a recent move to Shell Point Retirement Center, that some of you knew about. I recently found the picture above, which looks strikingly like the first picture of "The Island" where we live. Indeed it is another island, but actually is a view of Rikers Island. Not a place I would like to be right now, and I have compassion for all New Yorkers in the present crisis. But it makes me think about the state of reduced activity in this retirement community. We are observing social distancing and all group activities have been halted. We are free to leave our apartment, and we do, for wonderful walks along the river. We can leave the island , but are screened about contacts made while off campus upon return. We are extremely fortunate to be able to go visit our previous home in south Ft Myers. There I have my fruit trees to tend, and even harvest, which adds to our menu. On campus we spend more time indoors, and more importantly, on our spacious screen porch which overlooks the beautiful park, including with a pizza=pie slice of the Caloosahatchie River. The porch includes a dining table and, of course, several potted plants. Soon I hope to have a garden plot here. We do some cooking for ourselves, get some groceries delivered, and carry out some meals from the nearby dining room. The picture below reminds me of the "Angalus" atmosphere here, where the daily chapel bells remind us to stop and reflect. Actually the confinement is a little like being in a monastery. Except, of course, we have each other. I am actually spending more time meditating and reading and painting. Who knows,soon we may even complete the monastic atmosphere by baking bread!
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Course on Altered States
This summer I will be teaching a course on altered states of consciousness. The course title is " Common Threads of the Mind-Bending Disciplines", and I intend to deal with ways in which we use different proscribed methods to change the way we experience our inner and outer reality.
From Transcendental Meditation to Centering Prayer, and from Autogenics, to mystical Kabbalah, it seems to me that there are many obvious overlapping behavioral elements for how we get to the altered state, and how we see life as a result. For example, there seems to be the element of relaxation involved in nearly everyone of the practices. Many involve breath work. Some use chanting or repetitive mantras.
Years of doing hypnosis and self-hypnosis has brought me to see many similarities among the practices of mind nourishment and spiritual uplifting. When the preacher or liturgist is praying as part of the worship experience, I have detected many phrases, religious or not, that are suggestions. Different than what hypnosis itself might use, but metaphors about God ("shepherd" , "healer", everlasting arms") are aids to worship, just as stained glass and pleasant music is. The Taissé Community makes full use, in its worship practice, of stimuli to all the senses: sight, aroma, sound. It is as if somehow, the shamans through the ages sacred and secular, knew they were not dealing with objective reality. The"How" of altered states is familiar to Tai Chi and Yoga, practiced as a discipline. Something changes from ordinary to even blissful.
The "Why" of altered states may be hinted at or openly lauded within the different methods. Many disciplines point to the need to stop "doing" and move into the neutral place of "being". Experiencing the sense of NOW is for the purpose of contentment, and/or a new sense of self-awareness. My understanding of Buddhism is that the disengagement from the prevailing life experience of suffering is achieved with a meditation discipline. Mindfulness, as practiced by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is meant to be therapeutic for a number of emotional problems. Clinical psychology has expanded the practice of mindfulness to treat anxiety, depression, and drug addiction. Both spiritual enlightenment and emotional health are goals of these different expressions of meditation. Are these the same phenomenon? Pet scans by the psychologists show very similar blood flow in the brain during the time of meditation.
Mystical traditions from Christian history (for example, John-of-the-Cross), make contemplation sound very much like meditation. In the religious traditions of the mystics, both Christian and Jewish, there is an added element, that of transcendence, by which they usually mean being in touch with the Divine. It is a kind of vertical dimension to the otherwise secular and horizontally experienced meditation. The presence of "the Holy" is a gift bestowed upon those who are quiet and receptive. The mystical pathway is described as Inward, Upward, and then Outward. Outward becomes the added activity of compassionate service to mankind, to whom the meditator is linked "unitatively" , a sense of Oneness with everything. There is no competitiveness between persons, because, by this awareness, we are all in the same boat.
The course may be found in the curriculum of Silver Bay, New York, Conference Center (silverbay.org) for the week of August 11-18, 2018. it is a beautiful spot on Lake George.
.
From Transcendental Meditation to Centering Prayer, and from Autogenics, to mystical Kabbalah, it seems to me that there are many obvious overlapping behavioral elements for how we get to the altered state, and how we see life as a result. For example, there seems to be the element of relaxation involved in nearly everyone of the practices. Many involve breath work. Some use chanting or repetitive mantras.
Years of doing hypnosis and self-hypnosis has brought me to see many similarities among the practices of mind nourishment and spiritual uplifting. When the preacher or liturgist is praying as part of the worship experience, I have detected many phrases, religious or not, that are suggestions. Different than what hypnosis itself might use, but metaphors about God ("shepherd" , "healer", everlasting arms") are aids to worship, just as stained glass and pleasant music is. The Taissé Community makes full use, in its worship practice, of stimuli to all the senses: sight, aroma, sound. It is as if somehow, the shamans through the ages sacred and secular, knew they were not dealing with objective reality. The"How" of altered states is familiar to Tai Chi and Yoga, practiced as a discipline. Something changes from ordinary to even blissful.
The "Why" of altered states may be hinted at or openly lauded within the different methods. Many disciplines point to the need to stop "doing" and move into the neutral place of "being". Experiencing the sense of NOW is for the purpose of contentment, and/or a new sense of self-awareness. My understanding of Buddhism is that the disengagement from the prevailing life experience of suffering is achieved with a meditation discipline. Mindfulness, as practiced by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is meant to be therapeutic for a number of emotional problems. Clinical psychology has expanded the practice of mindfulness to treat anxiety, depression, and drug addiction. Both spiritual enlightenment and emotional health are goals of these different expressions of meditation. Are these the same phenomenon? Pet scans by the psychologists show very similar blood flow in the brain during the time of meditation.
Mystical traditions from Christian history (for example, John-of-the-Cross), make contemplation sound very much like meditation. In the religious traditions of the mystics, both Christian and Jewish, there is an added element, that of transcendence, by which they usually mean being in touch with the Divine. It is a kind of vertical dimension to the otherwise secular and horizontally experienced meditation. The presence of "the Holy" is a gift bestowed upon those who are quiet and receptive. The mystical pathway is described as Inward, Upward, and then Outward. Outward becomes the added activity of compassionate service to mankind, to whom the meditator is linked "unitatively" , a sense of Oneness with everything. There is no competitiveness between persons, because, by this awareness, we are all in the same boat.
The course may be found in the curriculum of Silver Bay, New York, Conference Center (silverbay.org) for the week of August 11-18, 2018. it is a beautiful spot on Lake George.
.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Course Offering on Dreams
“Dreams:
The Mysterious Source of Life Benefits.”
Taught
by William R.Morrow, D.Min.,LMFT . Email to:wmorrowmft@embarqmail.com
Most
of us dream every night, and, for many, the dream content is significant for
making meaningful life choices. Although the way we have casually dealt with dreams
has been to junk them as meaningless activity, continuing dream research persists
in showing the importance of discovering the guidance which dreams can provide.
A new book by dream expert Kelly Bulkeley, Phd. suggests that we have the
opportunity to latch onto uncanny forces lurking in the emotions and imagery of
our nightly passage through the neverlands of the psyche. Bulkeley’s “Big
Dreams” book offers to help us create greater self-awareness and psychological
insight.
Twentieth
century psychologist, Karl Jung, brought dreams into a place for positive
interpretation that can inform our daily living. According to Jung, you receive
an unopened healing message from your unconscious every night.
Dr.William Morrow has been interested in his
own dreams since he began his studies of psychotherapy. “Dreams are an
off-the-couch way to make healthy use of a personal resource that is
therapeutic without the therapist”. Turning dreams into a personal consultant
is something that can be easily learned. Learning to interpret the way that the
unconscious speaks is a key to positively guiding your life journey. Using a
Jungian perspective, in Morrow’s class on understanding dreams, you will learn
straightforward methods from a psychotherapist to make dream images conscious
and vital. Jung’s theory is a very positive one, revealing your dreams as your
friend. Morrow believes that, as we integrate more of our dream characters into
our wakeful states, we have an unending source of inner wisdom.
Taught
by William R.Morrow, D.Min.,LMFT, psychotherapist in private practice for 30
years. Register by contacting the FGCU Renaissance Center online at https//registerra.asapconnected.com/
Three
successive sessions, each 90 minutes at the Renaissance Center on College
Parkway. No single session registration. Class on Tuesdays, November 7,14, and
21, 2017, 1:30-3:00 PM
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