Author: rennwest

Western Medicine

On By rennwestIn ObservingLeave a comment

What changes would I like to see in western medicine? I have an inkling of what changes my higher self would like. But this posting is more of my reactions to my recent experiences.

I know it would help immensely for every aspect – administrative, legal, insurance, medical doctors (MDs), nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists – to let go of the materialist mindset. It’s utterly ridiculous to confine medicine to only what can be seen and tactile requirements. The effects of thoughts and feelings have been proven for way to long to continue to be so ignored. A recent MD actually did not trust her own ability to hear that my lungs were clear. And actually, she didn’t even seem to believe the chest x-ray she pushed so hard for. She knew it was bronchitis and not pneumonia, but she kept wanting to talk about pneumonia. It was beyond frustrating.

It would also help for administrative, legal and insurance personnel and the MDs to admit how broken the current system is. Some of the responsibilities and power that should be shared with nurses and pharmacists is all placed on MDs. And we simply do not have enough MDs to handle the demand. I only get to see and talk to my primary physician once a year. The rest of the year he is too swamped and overwhelmed for me to have any communication with him. That’s insane. I’ve needed things for a month already and it will be more than a month before my annual appointment. Messages to his nurses prompt a phone call to me, IF I’m able to answer the phone at the time. And if I do get to answer, typically the suggestion is to go to urgent care.

The Urgent Care system is also so broken and easily overwhelmed.

I wish we could return to the days when all I needed was a good registered nurse. She could see me when I needed to be seen. She could diagnose and prescribe medications. I rarely needed to see my primary for anything. Now, I’m supposed to see my primary for everything and he is completely unavailable at all times that would be useful to me. And he doesn’t know who I am, what my history is, or even what is in my chart.

And why in the world has the United States never allowed pharmacists to prescribe? That is and has always been just pure insanity.

The other thing is how compartmentalized everything is now. When a surgeon is done, they’re done; regardless of whether there were any complications or even just simple questions. When one situation affects another situation; that’s completely ignored.

For some completely unknown reason that certainly had nothing to do with common good, state legislation increased the amount that MDs could be sued for and sent the cost of malpractice insurance even higher and our state lost 30% of its doctors. The system was overwhelmed and broken before that. Now, ridiculous doesn’t even describe it.

For the decision makers to admit how broken their current system is would help immensely.

And we haven’t even mentioned actually caring more about the patient than about insurance and legalities. It would be phenomenal to be considered a person again. And then maybe I could even be seen in a holistic manner of approach. Western medicine has times of brilliance, but it is ignorant of and ignoring way too much to be of much use to clients in its current state.

Creating Inner Peace – Many Cultures

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How diverse was your cultural upbringing? What other cultures have you been introduced to in times of fun and festivity?

Early on I was taught an appreciation for many cultures. Some group my Mom was associated with during my seventh Christmas decided to have an event sharing “Christmas Customs from Many Lands.” There’s a newspaper picture of six of us children dressed in costumes. I’m not sure why I was dressed as a Dutch girl, since my family’s background was German, Scotch, Irish, English. But Spain, Greece and Italy were also represented. Other cultural events during my childhood revolved around food and dance. There were Indian dances, Mexican festivals, a Greek food festival. Also, a cousin married into an Italian family. Lots of events occur in a huge Italian family.

Creating Inner Peace – Truths We Know in Our Own Hearts

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What has caused you to question the truths you know in your own heart?

My father, mother, sister and brother all trusted the pedophile to tell me bed time stories and put me to bed. In those days the threat of pedophilia wasn’t common knowledge and I don’t think it even occurred to them not to trust him. It’s very weird to have all the closest adults in your life tell you how wonderful this other adult is, whom you’re pretty sure is doing something he shouldn’t. But my feeble attempts to ask questions got nowhere. He was a trusted adult. What he was doing must be ok, even if it didn’t feel right. This was probably my first experience of questioning what I knew in my heart. My natural way of dealing with things was to put the topic in my mind on hold until I could know more. Sometimes this method can be quite wise. In this instance I, of course, didn’t know it sort of meant putting myself on hold for decades. Luckily, events occurred that reduced this man’s influence to every couple of years.

Creating Inner Peace – Feeling Good About Oneself

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When you look at your path through life, how do you feel about yourself? If you’d like to change your attitude towards yourself from what you grew up with, what can be an easy first step right now?

Unfortunately, on this planet there are numerous children who experience far worse than I did. I still maintain that it’s not so much what we experience as how we respond. And I don’t mean in the moment. I mean within ourselves over time. And I’m not suggesting any particular response to anyone. What helps a person reclaim a sense of well-being about themself is individual to each person. But I guess I do maintain that as far as cultivating inner peace is concerned, also feeling good about oneself is integral. Even as I say my peace, self-trust and sense of security were shattered; I walled off the emotions associated with this shattering, along with the memories of the various traumatic events. So, as I grew older, I wasn’t consciously aware of this loss. In the parts of myself that weren’t walled off with the trauma-induced feelings and memories; I was able to enjoy all the love and stability that my family and society afforded me. In one physical body there was sort of a parallel path of the child who grew to adulthood relatively normally and the abused child on hold waiting in the wings for healing. So, I didn’t grow up thinking of myself as abused. I grew up thinking of myself as well-loved, capable and normal.

Creating Inner Peace – Regardless of outer events

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How have you created peace within yourself beyond the traumas you have endured?

It was a year earlier at age 4 that a pedophile gained regular access to me. So, it was early in life that my peace, self-trust and sense of security were shattered. It took me more than a year to decide whether to include in this book this information and the cult abuse that follows, but I think it’s important to say that we choose inner peace regardless of outer events in our lives and their devastating effects. Even if it takes decades before we’re able to make that choice. We have so many stories of people who have shown that they are more than their circumstances. It’s a little funny that we seem to make these people sound special. Yet, every one of us on a daily basis demonstrate that we are so much more than any circumstance or set of events. We tell lots of hero stories, but there are so many real-life heroes around the world every day that we couldn’t even tell all the stories. And still so many people don’t seem to recognize this as a fact

Creating Inner Peace – Communication with others

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What gifts toward communication do you have?

Being able to communicate easily with other people can be used as a tool towards creating peace with others, as well as ourself. My mother gave me a huge gift by addressing my hearing problems early. She showed some independence, but she was mostly fiercely determined. A trait I sometimes wish I did have a little more of. She took me to a community center when I was five years old. When she came to pick me up, I was crying uncontrollably. The other children had made fun of me because they couldn’t understand my speaking. I had a partial hearing loss and couldn’t hear the sounds of speech correctly to imitate them. My mom attributed her belief that she was unintelligent (dumb in that way) to her partial hearing loss. She was determined that in this way I was definitely not going to be like her. She found a speech therapist and a piano teacher, even though both usually required the child to be seven. She was not about to wait until I was already in second grade. My hearing improved from 25% capable to 75% in one ear and from 50% capable to 100% in the other ear. This gift my mother gave me was huge. She took away a potential source of ridicule and gave me the ability to communicate with people. Since the abuse from the pedophile would cut me off from people in the way of having to always keep a secret; I’m glad I wasn’t cut off from people in this way. I’d never actually be “popular,” but I was and am well-liked and readily accepted.

Creating Inner Peace – Enjoying simple pleasures

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What helps you relax and have fun?

Examples: Enjoying simple pleasures adds to my peace regarding life in general. My dad enjoyed barbecuing and family barbecues. He enjoyed being outdoors. We’d sit out many nights and look at the stars, watch the clouds, and listen to him play the harmonica. He was a square dance caller at a time when western dances were family affairs. I loved the full twirling colorful skirts. We went on several horseback rides. He also took us camping and to various state and national parks. He enjoyed fishing, but I enjoyed swimming. Even when I was very careful not to splash, I’m sure I still scared the fish away. But he endured it. We eventually balanced out separate times for fishing and swimming. He would even take me water skiing when I was older. It was a great foundation for just plain having fun and resting and relaxing. I have some friends who simply are unable to just sit and relax. They always want to be accomplishing something and can come up with very involved projects to keep them busy. Which I guess is fine too, but I’d far rather enjoy a scenic drive. My dear mother thought a cup of good hot tea could cure anything and who am I to say different. Opening a fresh packet of Earl Grey and smelling the bergamot is certainly one of my delights in life.

Creating Inner Peace – Tools from Parents

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What did your parents give you that might contribute towards creating inner peace?

Examples: My father gave me acceptance of people at face value, respect for self and others, kindness, knowledge of the mechanics of house-hold equipment and figuring things out on my own. And also, a love for the outdoors. The tools for peace in this are accepting and respecting other people, as well as myself; being kind to animals, others and myself; being able to fix things that break; an interest in crafts and my beloved outdoors. All stress melts from my shoulders in a forest. My mom gave me the desire and ability to be my own person and an appreciation of harmony. My mom was a dichotomy (a blending of opposites) in almost all her attitudes. And she gave me the gift of being able to see the extremes in arguments, political positions, religious stances, health issues, economic squabbles, differing patriotism definitions, whatever is used to divide people; and so not feed into either “side.” She taught me to look for where the middle ground lies and sometimes to just blend it all together or look beyond all of it. She was a fascinating, playful and fun-loving woman; who never met a stranger and treated all people the same. She took a Greek Orthodox patriarch to the car wash one time, because she didn’t get a chance to wash the car before she picked him up at the airport.

The power to choose

On By rennwestIn United StatesLeave a comment

We the People

What does it mean to be part of We the People? I feel quite powerless in this nation in which I live and was born. Yet, I have the right to choose. It is a right that nothing can take from me. Some call it a God-given right. Others don’t agree with the word God. Regardless of what it’s referred to as; it is a right that no situation, no person, no set of ideas or rules, nothing on Earth can take this right to choose from me. Not even my own sense of powerlessness can remove it. I have a right to choose what kind of country I want to live in, even if I can’t make the country match my perhaps idealistic desire. You also have this right.

Creating Inner Peace – Independent Approach

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What helps you accept responsibility for your own choices?

An independent approach to life assists building inner peace by simplifying the equations. It reduces outer interference. Less input from other people makes it easier to accept responsibility for our decisions, as well as our inner peace. Inner peace is not dependent on anyone else. Making our own decisions doesn’t mean we can’t have input. It just means we don’t have to worry about making others angry if we don’t accept their input. We do this simply by carrying the attitude that ultimately it’s our decision, our responsibility, and we accept the consequences.

Example: My parents encouraged my already independent nature. I don’t know how my parents managed to bring me up to be so independent. I do know that even in little things like asking my father the definition of a word, he’d tell me to look it up myself. I was headstrong without being disobedient. In grade school I wrote down my disgust at how the principal handled a situation with another child. I wisely threw it away, thinking nobody would ever see it. Another child that apparently felt I had put into words what many of us were feeling, took the paper out of the trash and took it to the principal as if she had written it. The principal promptly disciplined her by making her stay after school to clean all the trash cans. Well, this put me in the position of having to go and tell the principal I had written the note. She simply said I could help the other girl clean the trash cans.