Request: Fellow survivors/loving caregivers/interested, please post comments.

I continually read the medical statistics, 1.5 to 3 million head injury, TBI, PT SD, strokes per year -  just here in the USA.  I am just getting this project started

- you have all you need right here and now in you. No medical equipment, no drugs (unless you talk to the Harvard Psychedelic Club), physical therapy is optional.

This simple mindfulness practice takes you only and fully into the here and now, within - this body (it's a miracle as it is),

and these thoughts (some will serve the life I want, otherwise the thinking which I do and know are only a path to suffering), how much gratitude can i really honestly acknowledge in this moment (who was nice and good to me).

Remember, see right now this one precious life we have.

Please post response to this blog, Gold Mind Meditation Project, we are a community of committed conversations (committed to having a life we love!). Go ahead your here, post something.

Tbi support Group meeting

Am taking myself to Birrdsong Survivor led
support group at Legacy Hospital in Portland tomorrow morning. Will present
this and perhaps lead a meditation introduction session.

(Benefits for fellow head-injury survivors)         

Head-injury is an invisible disability, not easily seen from the outside like a wheelchair or crutches. However, it’s still a disability known profoundly from

inside:  a new headspace has arisen.  Gold Mind Meditation Project has the purpose and intended result of having you transform your condition.

I speak from personal experience.  Returning to college years ago, I was involved in a serious car accident. I had facial laceration and a skull fracture, was in a coma and Jaws-of-Life were required to free me from the vehicle. When I came to I had amnesia, diplopia (double-vision), and TBI (traumatic brain injury). In a short instant I was not who I used to be.  My life was forever changed.

Since that time I have lived with the challenges of TBI.  I struggled to complete my degree at the University and to get on with my life, very unsure of what I could be or do. Within a few years I experienced frustrating failure in the loss of several jobs before learning that this was the result of my TBI. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

TBI has often been misdiagnosed and thus poorly treated. In top-of-the line and expensive rehabilitation programs I was taught 'compensatory coping strategies' for the 'cognitive deficits' of my brain injury. These strategies were well-intended rehab but fell short of addressing my inner well being.  They didn't work for me; I had to learn the necessary inner transformation for myself.  This is cleansing the mind and finding the gold within.

  

Knowing the devastation of this condition from the inside, I wish to share what I've found to be a powerful healing benefit for me, and possibly for you. Learning this self-generating long-term practice will enhance your life, with satisfaction and way more ease and smiles.  Really! 

I discovered mindfulness meditation.  Regular practice has me be clear-eyed and capable of sustained attention. This practice is based on the intent to relieve suffering and dissatisfaction, cleansing the mind of illusions, and grounding us in a sense of dignified inner wellness, at peace beyond the damages.

With practice you’ll develop a new skill and learn exactly what is most needed for you from direct life experience. Mindfulness practice can lead to brain healing (neuroplasticity).  I am now choosing to live my life intentionally and more skillfully, making peace with this malady.  You can too.  This is the start of a new path!

GOLD MIND MEDITATION PROJECT http://hadwalmer-goldmind.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gold-Mind-Meditation-Project-GMMP 

Had C. Walmer hwalmer@gmail.com          

 

Groovy

Meditation, inner transformation, going beyond the ordinary. It has a certain allure. But do we really want it? Do we really even need it?

The mind certainly functions without it. But the mind tends to function in grooves. It is like an old record where the needle follows a single track, rarely jumping out. We each have our grooves. Where they are useful and productive, life feels good; where they are limiting and counterproductive, not so good. Sometimes they can make us feel down and anxious, sometimes joyful and elated.

What we sometimes don’t notice is how deep our grooves are, though it may become more apparent when we try to break them! It’s easy following the same routines—but try to be more patient, exercise for twenty minutes, or eat healthy? No groove.

Buddhist training helps us wear away at counterproductive grooves. But it takes effort. Our habits put up a fuss when we try to change them. Our grooves are comfortable. We’re used to them. They’re our grooves. Meditating for five minutes a day doesn’t seem like a big undertaking, but it can take a stronger act of will than we think. We want to say it isn’t working, we can’t meditate, it’s too weird, we don’t have time.

It’s true. We don’t need to meditate. But if we want to break out of our grooves we have to do something. Otherwise we stay stuck—that’s what makes them grooves!

2011 - January tbi Support Group Mtgs. in Portland

Presenting GMMP to support group meetings in Portland
http://biaoregon.org/supportgrp.htm

1)  Brainstormers II at Emanuel Hospital (Saturday, Jan. 15, 10A)
2)  tbi social group at Pietros in Milwakie (Tuesday, Jan.  18, 11:30A)

(Benefits for fellow head-injury survivors)         

Head-injury is an invisible disability, not easily seen from the outside like a wheelchair or crutches. However it’s still a disability known profoundly, from the inside.  Gold Mind Meditation Project exists to offer you the possibility of transforming your disability into capability: being present and awake to an abiding wellness, in spite of your injury.  I speak from my personal experience,  my brain injury.  You can cultivate your mind's inherent strengths. You can learn a self- generating long-term practice that will enhance your life, with satisfaction and way more smiles.  Really! 

Let me share my experience.  Returning to college thirty years ago, I was involved in a serious car wreck. I was in a coma and Jaws-of-Life were required to free me. When I came to I had amnesia, diplopia (double-vision), and TBI (traumatic brain injury). In short, I was not who I used to be.  My life was forever changed.  Since that time I have lived with the challenges of TBI.  I know the devastation of this condition from the inside, and wish to share what I've found to be a powerful healing benefit for me, and possibly for you.

This malady has often been misdiagnosed and thus poorly treated. I struggled to complete my degree at the University and to get on with my life, very unsure of what I could be or do. Within a few years I experienced the frustrating failure of the loss of several jobs before learning that this was the result of my TBI. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

In top-of-the line and expensive rehabilitation programs I was taught 'compensatory coping strategies' for the 'cognitive deficits' of my brain injury. These strategies are well-intended rehab but fell short of addressing my inner well being.  They didn't work for me; I had to learn the necessary inner transformation for myself.  This is the cleansing of mind and knowing it's gold.  

I discovered Insight Meditation. This simple practice of sitting mindfully helps me be clear-eyed and capable of sustained attention, knowing that as obstacles arise I have the capacity to face them directly from a steady place of clear seeing.  This practice is based on the intent to relieve suffering and dissatisfaction, cleansing the mind of illusions, and grounding us in a sense of dignified inner wellness, at peace beyond the physical damage.

With practice you can become aware of the present moment and learn exactly what is most needed for you. Healing is a possibility.  It's been well documented by neurologists, psychologists, and doctors: mindfulness practice leads to positive brain healing (neuroplasticity). I am choosing to live my life intentionally and more skillfully.  You can too.  This is the start of a new path!

GOLD MIND MEDITATION PROJECT http://hadwalmer-goldmind.blogspot.com/

Had C. Walmer hwalmer@gmail.com