Living in the Now, vs. Dementia

[thelerner]

17 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

Hi dwai,

How about falsehood speaking to falsehood ~ on truth?

- Anand

I wonder if that's the definition of gossip?

It's not that it's not true, rather its passing nasty innuendo to others in a mean spirit.  

fun.. possibly addictive but very corrosive.

[dwai]

35 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

Hi dwai,

 

How about falsehood speaking to falsehood ~ on truth?

 

- Anand

 

 

I find it very hard to understand your questions (if they are indeed questions) — I’m not as smart as you give me credit for perhaps  

[Limahong]

7 minutes ago, thelerner said:

I wonder if that's the definition of gossip?

It's not that it's not true, rather its passing nasty innuendo to others in a mean spirit. 

 

Hi Michael,

 

Gossip ~ conversation in between sips of spirit?

 

 

 

- Anand

 

[Limahong]

1 minute ago, dwai said:

I’m not as smart

 

I'm also not as smart.

 

2 minutes ago, dwai said:

I find it very hard to understand your questions (if they are indeed questions)

 

They are not questions.

Indeed ~ no.

 

 

 

 

 

[dwai]

6 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

I'm also not as smart.

Nice. Let’s remain in silence then  

6 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

They are not questions.

Indeed ~ no.

[Limahong]

4 minutes ago, dwai said:

Let’s remain in silence then.

 

I'm not smart and I cannot keep silent.

 

 

[dwai]

30 minutes ago, Limahong said:

 

I'm not smart and I cannot keep silent.

 

 

 I suspected that to be the case. I have the solution...done! 

[Limahong]

4 minutes ago, dwai said:

I have the solution...done! 

 

Yes ~ you have done yourself in.

 

My day is closing.

 

Good night.

 

[manitou]

Why don't you two get a room??  

[Limahong]

54 minutes ago, manitou said:

Why don't you two get a room?

 

Good morning Barbara,

 

There's a big dusty room.

You'll come with broom?

 

 

New broom sweeps clean ~ you are happy.

 

Very good.

 

- Anand

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Limahong
Enhancement

[manitou]

On 1/8/2021 at 1:56 PM, dwai said:

I’ve started taking Lions Mane daily and find a change in my ability to recollect. Though actually retaining the new stuff is very hard  (having to retool myself for a midlife career adjustment — learning huge amounts of info, and by the time I get to topic 3, I’ve forgotten 1, and most of 2).

 

 

BTW, thank you for remembering this old thread and suggesting the Lions Mane.  I will give it a try.  If I remember to take them.

[idiot_stimpy]

I've read low carb diets are good for brain health. Maybe have a try for a week or two and see if it takes the brain fog away.

[cheya]

Low carb diets are good because one of the problems with cognitive disfunction is that the brain needs an energy supply, and glucose has become ineffective (Type 3 diabetes). But the brain can switch fuels to running on fat metabolism, and do very well.  It's just a matter of training your body to use a different fuel, which can take some doing, especially if you've been running on carbs for a long time.

That's just one of the approaches covered in Bredesen's book mentioned above. He has a new book out, a workbook for doing his protocol at home. Clinical studies show his methods can stop and even improve cognitive deterioration, and he has doctors across the country trained in implementing the protocols. 

 

The End of Alzheimer's Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and Reverse Decline at Any Age Illustrated Edition

by Dale Bredesen MD  (Author)

 

https://www.amazon.com/End-Alzheimers-Program-Protocol-Cognition/dp/0525538496/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1AATA78VPYVTP&dchild=1&keywords=bredesen+protocol&qid=1610291123&s=books&sprefix=Bredesen%2Caps%2C1553&sr=1-2

[Bhathen]

In another discussion forum, a renowned Marma therapy doctor/researcher had mentioned that two points

(one on the top of the head, other in the inside of the palms) when given the proper treatment twice a day has given successful results for dementia.

 

Many ayurvedic doctors practice marma chikitsa/therapy or Varma (pressure is applied to the energy meridians, a little different from acupressure).

 

https://www.diamondwayayurveda.com/yourlocaltherapists.html

 

Am not sure if this would help, but this exercise stimulates a lot of points on the head.

 

Youtube link for  : Massage for the head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrkkQkSNzw

Edited March 19, 2021 by Bhathen

[Limahong]

4 hours ago, cheya said:

It's just a matter of training your body to use a different fuel...

 

Hi cheya,

 

Yes ~ a body can be trained thus differentially from an experiential perspective.

 

Especially so when our bodies can feel the different energies (fuels) flowing within.

 

- Anand

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Limahong
Enhancement

[skyblue]

A kind of short term memory loss happened to me today, and I'm barely 21. I didn't really forget things, just that the mind is in a perpetual blank state (it's not in daze, it starts working just fine the moment I will it to) and forgets the usual way of doing things. Something feels very incongruent with reality here.

 

Everything was fine until today in the morning when a friend reminded me about the pure consciousness state and asked if I still have access to it(it's been a few months since I stopped doing meditation/energy work thanks to distractions). I sort of tried entering and I was in. I played around with it for a while, and all was fine and good before I felt slightly sleepy in the afternoon. So I went to bed and woke up in two hours feeling all blank.

 

Now, it's been a few hours. I'm not sure if I should work to revert back to the old ways or to stay with this. Any advice?

 

[manitou]

3 hours ago, skyblue said:

A kind of short term memory loss happened to me today, and I'm barely 21. I didn't really forget things, just that the mind is in a perpetual blank state (it's not in daze, it starts working just fine the moment I will it to) and forgets the usual way of doing things. 

 

 

 

 

Could you give an example of your mind forgetting the usual way of doing things?  I ask because on one hand it sounds like you're likely to become an advanced meditator - having control of the monkey mind.  But it's a little disturbing that your mind forgets the usual way of doing things.  What kind of things?    Do you have trouble with the here and now?

 

[skyblue]

9 hours ago, manitou said:

 

 

Could you give an example of your mind forgetting the usual way of doing things?  I ask because on one hand it sounds like you're likely to become an advanced meditator - having control of the monkey mind.  But it's a little disturbing that your mind forgets the usual way of doing things.  What kind of things?    Do you have trouble with the here and now?

 

As I said, I almost quit spirituality once because of distractions so I'm far for being able to control the monkey. 

 

That being said, I almost completely forgot about what I was supposed to do when I woke up. I'd usually splash some water over my face, and then consider whether it's time to review the uni's lectures, or maybe listen to some music, etc. When I woke up yesterday, the mind was suddenly blank, not knowing what to do or how to respond to my mother who woke me up. The perpetual karma kept me going and it quickly struck me that I was back in the state that I constantly experienced back when I was meditating and doing self enquiry like crazy.

 

Is it disturbing? When it happens, yes.

Does this disturbance keep troubling me? No.

 

Anyone would be disturbed if they feel as if the old "them" has suddenly died and there is something new replacing them that has inherited their memories. But in a while, I got used to it and came to terms with it. I can still feel the vibrations starting within my head when I intend to think things forcefully and I intuitively know that I will be able to recall things quite well, but I don't really try. This dementia-kinda spell seems like a pause between the heavily materialistic life I'd been living until now and the spiritually active life I'll start with once again. So I guess it's probably fine... probably.

Edited January 12, 2021 by skyblue

[stirling]

Manitou/Barbara,

 

I understand from personal experience with others what this disease can be like, and wonder sometimes if it isn't slowly happening to me, though I don't believe I am nearly old enough to truly suffer from it. I helped my ex-wife with her grandfather and his journey with it. He was a remarkable ex-RAF Wing Commander and Spitfire pilot in World War II and he thought I was one of his war-time friends every time I entered the room. My instinct was to play along, adopting the persona and letting him fill in the details he wanted with the clarity of his past memories. He enjoyed it, though I think he sometimes knew something was off. He smiled just the same, like we were sharing a poorly defined joke. Around the same time, the grandmother on the other side of the family had been put in a beautiful manor house and had quite profound senility. A few days before she passed we visited and she told us how we had JUST missed all of her university friends, down for a day in the countryside and a rollicking pub visit. At the time I was sad and doubted her story, but now I see how wonderful the gift of this visit, in whatever guise it manifested, was for her. It can be as real as anything else...

 

As a newbie here I don't much about your practice or level of insight, but there are a few things I have noticed, if I am speaking from my "story". I suspect that intensified meditation over the last 6 or so years after a great insight altered my short-term memory greatly. I am finishing my Soto Zen priesthood, but worked for many years in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition, meditating in open awareness. It is now quite obvious that time/space/self are all just beliefs in illusory constructs. This understanding has brought the realization that the continued unraveling of these beliefs is altering the appearance of things from a number of perspectives - one of them is, as you suggest, the way memory and events comfortably sit in a "timeline" or with a "self" as protagonist. Things are more dreamlike now, and, in the same way a dream maps poorly to a story-line, sometimes my experiencing can be choppy when related as a narrative. This doesn't worry me in the slightest, which also seems to be how you are feeling, possibly?

 

I would agree with the idea that the awareness you recognize shouldn't change. That is what all of this is, after all. The place I think we might get caught is in not being able to accept this moment as it is, or see it as free of self. The more of the illusion of the future or past we believe in, the more we believe in our illusory agency, the more uncomfortable things could be as memory fades. If the central premise of reality is shifted to a non-dual understanding, I doubt there would be as much struggle with things, however they appear.

 

If I were in your shoes (and without any knowledge about your level of practice or attainment) I would immediately double down on my practice. I would work with open awareness, resting in timeless/selfless/spaceless non-duality, as much as possible. Take it on walks, washing dishes, bathing, talking, eating, even sleeping. Bathe in it, knowing that all things are only that, and work to TRUST it. I would do retreats as long as I could. I would also work with a realized teacher, if possible, who can keep redirecting you tirelessly and lovingly.

 

My best wishes on your journey, and thank you for sharing it. 

[manitou]

Thank you so much for taking the time for that wonderful response.

And I do trust it.

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by manitou