Archive for the ‘letting go’ Category

Fibromyalgia, suffering and struggling

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

“What is required is a willingness to look deeply at one’s present moments, no matter what they hold, in a spirit of generosity, kindness toward oneself, and openness toward what might be possible” Jon Kabat-Zinn

I’m told that pain cannot be alleviated with massage or other kinds of body work(?); massages may feel good but will not help pain, a meditation instructor declared in my presence recently. Furthermore, this expert in meditation says that only by accepting the pain will we be able to reconcile with it. The more we suffer and struggle, the more we will continue to suffer and struggle. It is about letting go.

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Fibromyalgia and Multi-tasking: A woman’s nemesis?

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn”,full-catastrophe-living-jon-kabat-zinn-abridged-compact-discs-random-house-audiobooks Gloria Steinem

Women are often prone to say that we are experts on multi-tasking whereas men are more linear and less circular in their thinking. This of course suggests then, if this is accurate, that it is more difficult for women to ‘be in the moment’ as it is for men who are presumed to be more focussed on the main task at hand. I wonder therefore if this could contribute to the higher incidence of fibromyalgia in women than in men? The more tasks we are responsible for, the less we are focussed on one specific moment in time. Rather we are intent on handling not only the many present responsibilities, but that of other tasks in the future and the perceived needs of others.

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