9 Shvat 5770
I'm still receving calls from audience members who heard me speak last week, or from someone who heard them summarize my remarks. I'm going to share two popular paragraphs of my presentation with you here, and separate them with an illuminating video from one of my friends and mentors. It went "live" the day after my mental health conference presentation.
"Neuropsychologist and director of Behavioral Health at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Dr. Don Hafer, suggests taking at least as much time for mental health as for physical fitness. Though physical fitness requires activity, mental fitness means stillness. Psychoanalyst Dr. Gary Malone of the Dallas Psychoanalytic Institute aka medical director of psychiatry at Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth, writes prescriptions for patients to block off a half hour a day simply to be "calm and introspective." Rebbe Nachman calls it hitbodedut. It works."
(readers, hitbodedut is Hebrew for introspection. Rebbe Nachman was a remarkable 18th-century philosopher and rabbi whose heartwarming teachings still reverberate around the Jewish world)
(HaShem is a Hebrew nickname for
The One Above. Jews say "HaShem"
to indicate such respect that they
will not use That Name in vain)
Here's the 2nd paragraph from those presentation remarks I'm sharing with you:
"Okay, we have fearful grief- and guilt-reduced patients calming down as all this is coming together with repeated efforts. Now they can re-focus on finding solutions for mounting problems. Free information on the Internet isn't enough, though. Not all sick people use PCs. A patient-empowering coach, I've made Readily Available Information available on a global basis with face-to-face and phone coaching and a printed book. My updated E-book and companion blog are for the digitally enabled patient. By consolidating can-do coping skill strategies with humorous content relevant to illness and healthy perspective into several formats, I've enabled people to cope better on their own. No less than medical ethicist Dr. Daniel Eisenberg informed me that my content helped him to survive a "devastating" diagnosis. I hear positive feedback from readers and my coaching clients, too. Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital keeps a copy of my print edition in the Patient Information Center, at the initiative of social worker Chaya Har-El. I pray that more psychotherapists will use my information as some already do, or refer people to it."
Well, readers, there you have it. Medical evidence backs up spiritual realities. Anyone, ill or healthy, needs time to comtemplate, to reassess, and to appreciate life - AND themselves - on various levels. Tears may fall, sighs might come out from your heart. A giggle or two might bubble from your throat. Then you'll realize that you're meeting your true self.
Enjoy the "How do you do.
Here's what I just realized
I'm capable of."
In my coaching efforts I remind clients that setting aside that daily amount of Inner Focus time is a habit to be developed. Life has a way of messing up new resolutions and habits. Make focused efforts to use the same part of the day to think deeply. If you miss your appointed time, make it up as soon as you reasonably can. WHY is that so important? Well, the doctors I cited above just told you: IT HELPS YOUR INNER AND OUTER HEALTH!
EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.
Yocheved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life
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