Daniel Joseph
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Stories (53/0)
Psychosomatic illness as a Creative Process Part 6
The will to live is a new-brain behavior that may transmit activate-the-immune-system hormones to the old brain, the way Alan transmitted activate-the-fighting-system hormones to his old brain. What cancer sufferers who give up seem to do is just the opposite of what Alan did: in giving up, they might stop sending activating hormones, and the old brain and the immune system fail to seek a creative body solution to their problem. The behavior of giving up, “What’s the use of fighting anymore? I’m beaten,” is often chosen when we are told we have cancer, the most dreaded of all diseases. When we become aware that we have any serious illness, we are always hard pressed to retain control over our lives.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Longevity
Psychosomatic illness as a Creative Process Part 5
There are many other psychosomatic diseases, and most, if not all, involve some reorganization of the immune system that drives it to attack normal tissue in an inadvertent effort to help the old brain carry out chronic, hard-to-satisfy instructions from a new brain that, like Alan’s, has lost control. In the case of these diseases, the immune system’s help is not only unneeded but disastrous. This attack on our own normal tissue by our immune system has caused medicine to label these diseases autoimmune, or self-induced.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Longevity
THE HOUR OF DARKNESS
The hiss of the hydraulic doors dragged Kat Nellis from an uneasy sleep and she came awake with a thin gasp of hope. Her neck ached from the way she’d been huddled in the corner of the bus seat, her skull canted against the window, but at least the dream had come to an end. The same fucking dream.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Fiction
THE OESTRIDAE
White dust rises from the road like tobacco smoke, followed by the grinding of car wheels on dry Pennsylvania dirt as a silver compact rumbles into view, up the hill on its way to the house. “Who’s that?” I say, but Dara only shakes her head and continues to chew at her hair.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Fiction
NESTERS
They killed the last calf that morning. Ma wanted to hold off, give the poor thing a chance, but Pa said it were cruel to let a body live like that. He cracked the hammer on its head—a sick, sad sound. Later he slit the calf open and showed Sally the animal’s stomach, choked with dust. “Suffocated from the inside,” he said.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Fiction
DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO DISTRAINT YOU FROM YOUR VISION.
There are people who will try to talk you out of your vision. They will tell you that you are crazy and that it can’t be done. There will be those who will laugh at you and try to bring you down to their level. My friend Monty Roberts, the author of The Man Who Listens to Horses, calls these people dream-stealers. Don’t listen to them.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Motivation
CLARIFY YOUR IDEAL LIFE'S VISION.
The theme of this book is how to get from where you are to where you want to be. To accomplish this, you have to know two things—where you are and where you want to get to. Your vision is a detailed description of where you want to get to. It describes in detail what your destination looks like and feels like. To create a balanced and successful life, your vision needs to include the following seven areas: work and career, finances, recreation and free time, health and fitness, relationships, personal goals, and contribution to the larger community. At this stage in the journey, it is not necessary to know exactly how you are going to get there. All that is important is that you figure out where there is. If you get clear on the what, the how will be taken care of.
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Motivation
BE CLEAR ABOUT THE REASON BEHIND EVERYTHING YOU DO?
Without purpose as the compass to guide you, your goals and action plans may not ultimately fulfill you. You don’t want to get to the top of the ladder only to find out you had it leaning up against the wrong wall. When Julie Laipply was a child, she was a very big fan of animals. As a result, all she ever heard growing up was “Julie, you should be a vet. You’re going to be a great vet. That’s what you should do.” So when she got to Ohio State University, she took biology, anatomy, and chemistry, and started studying to be a vet. A Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship allowed her to spend her senior year studying abroad in Manchester, England. Away from the family and faculty pressures back home, she found herself one dreary day sitting at her desk, surrounded by biology books and staring out the window, when it suddenly hit her: You know what? I’m totally miserable. Why am I so mis-erable? What am I doing? I don’t want to be a vet!
By Daniel Joseph 2 years ago in Motivation