Tag Archives: perspective

Carl Sagan’s The Pale Blue Dot

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Happy Monday, 

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

300px-PaleBlueDot

Carl Sagan’s “The Pale Blue Dot” – a perspective encouraged by a photo taken from Voyager 1 of the Earth from the distance of Saturn, 3.7 billion miles away.

Now do you see what’s more important?

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See the big picture in everything

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Happy Monday,

So, I live in the city of Philadelphia in the northeastern region of the States. We have all four seasons and are currently at the tail-end of a frequent-snow-fall-of-a Winter, heading for a-hopefully-warm-and-refreshing Spring. Everyone and their brother seems to be ready for Spring. We all thought mother nature was, too, because she gave us a few warm days here and there, and about a month ago we were blessed with a warm weekend in the 60′s (about 15 Celsius). But, last week, out of no where, the weather took a turn and we were greeted with significant snowfall. Ok, so my day-job has me primarily outside in all types of weather and I am able to interact with a good amount of people who share the same fate. 100% of the people I talked to that day were not happy campers… Where’s the sun? What’s with this snow? I’ll be good when this weather is gone! What a crappy day. Yeah, a happy spring to you, too! Absolutely no one – not one soul – could take the day for what it was (a gorgeous snowy day) and, instead, everyone dwelled upon what the day was not (not sunny and 60). Hallelujah blog post!

This perspective shift can be better summed up as: See the big picture in everything. Take a step out of your skewed reality, your constricted awareness, your filtered conditioning, your negative nancy-isms, and look at life through the eyes of – as cliche as it is – through the eyes of God. And by God, I mean, through the eyes of nature, through the eyes of a greater consciousness, through the eyes of a wholeness and connectedness, through the eyes of a universal understanding, through the eyes of sincerity and compassion, through the eyes of the universe. And by all of that shenanigans, I mean, let go of what you think should be, of what you expect, of what you assume, of what you judge, of what you’re holding onto, of what you impose and project upon others (including nature) so you can see, feel, hear, and experience the beauty in everything.

You, and only you, have the power to turn the 5 random-ass inches of snowfall on the second day of Spring into such a beautiful occurrence that nature so generously provides. You, and only you, have the power to turn any negative experience – it could actually be the most negative and daunting situation in the world – and turn it into the best thing to have ever happened to you, to your perspective, to your humanity, to your path, to your personality, to your mentality, to your emotions, to your spirituality, and to your inner self.

I’ll leave you all with a perspective that I came across on this thing called the Internet…

beforeyoujudge

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Transposing and intertwining awareness… using soccer

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Happy Monday,

Last week after a long, I-ran-my-ass-off soccer practice I became aware of something important in my life: How to transpose and intertwine awareness from one part of your life to the next. I gained such an awareness of this how to by sitting back and taking perspective – creating a value as it applies to my life – on how the things I do on a soccer field, like playing hard, playing independently, playing as a team mate, taking responsibility and making up for actions or reactions, strategizing individually and as a whole, planning my next pass or shot or run, seeing the big picture of the game’s purpose, anticipating three or four passes ahead of time, remaining composed when I’m tired or my team is down, yielding confidence when I have ball, having fun, playing with passion, being well-versed in the sport, being well-practiced in the sport, and being well-conditioned for the sport all can be transposed into my every day life. Specifically, I can take this awareness of myself as a soccer player and fit it snugly right into any area of my life that may need such a participation of my holistic self (mind, body, spirit, emotions), too.

I would like you all to put your passions, your hobbies, your jobs, your relationships, your right’s and wrong’s into perspective to see if you can create/line-up a foundational awareness where every single aspect of your life agrees with one another, and any effort that is put into each can be transposed without missing a beat from one to the next. For example, the effort one puts into their job should equal the effort they put into their family or relationship with their significant other. The effort one puts into working out at the gym should yield the same effort that one puts into loving, understanding, and experiencing one’s true self.

I just thought that was really cool to have experienced such a cliche concept at such a point in my life and am now able to apply it for the greater good of me and my growth as a person.

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

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Happy Monday (wo)men,

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Plato

I really enjoy this quote because I am able to apply it in my life and I am able to understand it in relation to my experiences. Throughout my trials I realized that advice… any advice… it could be the best advice in the world… will not make a difference unless I (emphasis on I) am able to create a connection to my life; until I am able to fit the words or perspective into my definition of reality. I have my share of hard battles and those battles certainly affect the way I see, hear, do, don’t do, act, or react to my experiences. There’s nothing wrong with me for being the way I am (and there’s nothing wrong with you, either). I have chosen my current path because this is what I feel that is best for me. I am doing things the way I need to on my own time and at my own pace as I experience life. My path may not be deemed “right” by some. It may be deemed weird, dumb, stupid, lame, odd, not normal, gay, or even loser-esque by some. And I may not agree with the paths of others, too. The difference is how I act or react upon other’s reality in relation to how the self-righteous act or react upon my reality… I am kind. I am considerate. I get it.

I experience life in a completely different light than I did two years ago; post some life-changing experiences that brought me to question everything about my life (hence the blog). These days my daily interactions with people have me silently eager to understand the person who speaks, the person who sees, the person who hears, who acts, and who reacts. I am curious as to what their reality is, who they are, and why they are. I am curious as to what battles they are fighting within themselves that may project outwardly. We all choose different projections or personality quirks or coping mechanisms or vices or reasonings. For instance, I am quiet, introverted, and retreat to the depths of my mind because that’s how I choose to project. Someone else may choose to be loud, to be angry, to want attention, or another reality that is completely different than mine. It’s really an interesting view for me. I analyze my reality of others all because of this Plato quote and the fact that I was able to relate it to my life. Going further, I have taken this quote to music and how I now listen to/relate to music. Last year I got lost in the blues. I got lost in another’s interpretation of music, of lyrics, of guitar riffs, of their reality and nothing projects more than broken men singing and playing the hell out of the blues. Music has come back into my life with such a bigger meaning than it ever did before.

I am generalizing a bit. I am suggesting that one must go through some shit in order for things to click towards the betterment of one’s path. This is how I do things. It tends to be the hard way, but the easy way was never meant to be for me (at least not in the big picture… although small victories do add up). Yeah, I probably could have done things differently, but I would have ended up back on the same path that brought me here (perhaps just delayed) because, again, advice or perspectives meant nothing until I was able to apply it to my life. If there isn’t an understood personal value in a proposed change then it will not hold water until that requirement is met. Hell, you can memorize math formulas all damn day and absolutely nothing will stick, nothing will hold value, until you’re able to apply it to and understand it in accordance to your problems.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Take other’s battles into consideration as you consider your own. Life is too damn short to go around judging, assuming, pushing, or projecting upon others. Be kind.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Time is only a factor if you make it one

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Happy Monday earthlings,

True story…

I met a friend for lunch in center city Philly not too long ago. I arrived early and stood curb-side awaiting his car to turn the corner so I could flag him towards a parking spot I had eyed. While I was waiting, a 20-something girl walked into my peripheral pushing along two bikes towards a bike rack. I took notice because there was one of her and two bikes; plus, I tend to notice girls more often than not. I reset my attention to the street, but couldn’t help to hear her struggles… the oomphs, sighs, and clanging annoyance coming from her experience certainly did not go unnoticed. Was she really that frustrated or was she subtly asking for assistance? I took a peak and saw that she only had one u-lock for two bikes. Hm… this should be interesting. Without waiting for my inner dialogue to over-analyze the situation she moved to another bike rack, a free-standing post directly in front of me. I stepped back out of what I perceived to be courtesy; giving her space, letting her do her thing. She struggled some more. She oomphed some more. Then I did one of those one-move, gliding step-in’s for what seemed like a necessary move in the interlock-two-bikes-to-a-rack puzzle. She thanked me and back I went to my car-flagging position. A few more minutes went by as I snuck a few peaks of her progress and then bam… she got it! She stood up, looked right at me, exclaimed with a frustrated relief, “10 minutes!” and walked off. My response was, “Hey, at least it got done?” (the idiot-meter in my head didn’t help my cause… That’s the best you could have said to her? Dude, aren’t you supposed to be prolific?)

In immediate hindsight I wish I had said something a bit more impactful than “at least it got done,” but the statement was pretty spot-on, nonetheless. As I mulled over the situation, analyzing it like any normal person does, it hit me that perhaps she made time more of a factor than it needed to be. Yep. That. I should have said that! Next time, right? Two-bikes-one-lock girl, if you are reading this…

Ok, so it took her 10 minutes to lock two bikes together to a bike rack. What’s wrong with that? It got done. Why does it matter how long it took? How come she didn’t take her unconditional reality into consideration and not the pressed-for-time-self-defeating-insecure-societal-standards reality that I perceived-assumed she was experiencing? For starters, the U-lock she used was quite small for its task. Its dimensions were designed for locking one bike in close proximity to a fixture. Her goal was to use that individual bike lock to loop through one bike frame, loop through the rack opening, loop through another bike frame, and then apply the locking bar which took away a good inch of locking room. That’s asking a lot from a bike lock. But in her eyes the bike lock nor its small design nor the fact that she had two bikes to conjoin were not factors – only time was. With frequent practice I could see the memorizations of patterns and angles coming into play to lessen the locking time, but it seemed like she was a first timer with the two-bike rendezvous. “10 minutes!” I didn’t know it was a race?

I dislike our developed concept of time. I dislike the barrier, the stipulation, the hinderance, and the limiting-factor that project upon time. I dislike the powerlessness that our projection of time suggests. I dislike our natural associations that make time such a factor: statistics, age, race, gender, religion, pressures, status-quo’s, generations, life-span, and comparisons in general. I dislike that we have the mentality that time is everything.

No. Life is everything. We think they’re the same. Life is not restricted to time. We make it so. Life is not a measurement. Life is not a comparison. Life is not a reference. Life is an experience.

I understand time’s many, many needs and uses. I do not understand why time such a dominating factor in our lives. So what if it takes you 10 minutes to lock your bikes? So what if you are in college at an older age than the norm? So what if you’re late to work? So what if you are just discovering passions you wish you had appreciated more when you were a kid? So what if you’re not where you imagined your life to be by this age? So what if you haven’t found a job immediately after college?

Time is only a factor if you make it one.

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Weight loss 101

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Happy Monday to yinz,

Losing weight is healthy. It’s really interesting how scaled weight has become this iconic health standard because, apparently so, if we are overweight then we are labeled unhealthy. We have freakin’ weight charts in every doctor’s office that communicate if you are this height then you should be this weight, otherwise something is wrong with you. This tiny little example of societal standards and manipulated norms is what actually screws people up. We are completely fine in the first place until professionals began shoving it down our throats that this is right, this is the way we should live when they completely fail to realize that life should be lived on an individualized basis and not by biased status quo studies that turn health into a math equation all-the-while manipulating the hell out of what it takes to be healthy for you.

Ranting aside, do you know what causes the body to gain weight? Do you know what causes YOUR body to gain weight? We all act/react differently to every single experience and we all store fat in different ways and in different places. A person can store fat if they’re depressed, if they’re angry, if they are exhausted, if they are awake for too long, if they drink too many protein shakes, if they apply a specific deodorant, if a street reminds them of a frightening experience AND a person can store fat in an area of the body that is specifically affected by emotions, grudges, regrets, or shames. Pretty neat, huh? All of this is very important to consider in our individual plight towards better health and it is my goal for today’s post.

In order to understand weight loss and the industry bullshit that surrounds the poor bastard, we need to understand the mechanisms/why’s in which the body can gain or lose weight. We’re up to our eyeballs in misinformation, marketing stunts, biased research studies, and a sheer lack of knowledge of how our bodies work. You want to be in touch with reality? Start with yourself. Because you and only you knows what is best… that is, if you take the time to learn and understand who you are and what you’re all about under a universal reality (no external/personal bias, conditions, judgements, etc.).

Now, for my favorite, over-used word… perspectives!

1) Get healthy to lose weight, don’t lose weight to get healthy – I love this quote, which can be accredited to Josh Rubin of East West Healing & Performance. Why is weight loss the goal when it’s really just a symptom of good health? Why is weight loss the goal when true weight loss, the natural progression and prolonged maintenance due to well-tailored/well-implemented metabolic shifts, cannot be achieved through a quick-fix program or beating yourself into the ground with popular work out dvds? I understand the need for goals or milestones along the way, but weight should not be health-basis-numero-uno. The weight will come off when the body is at a point where it doesn’t need it anymore. I will say that again, the weight will come off when the body is at a point where it doesn’t need it anymore.

2) The body stores fat for protection - Fat is literally a life saver and it’s more or less a result of the body doing damage control. Meaning, if there is a homeostatic imbalance due to some sort disruption – a caloric deficiency, a caloric surplus, too many of the wrong calories, malnutrition, over-exertion (exercise, work, school, relationships, family), lack of sleep, excess mental and physical stressors, environmental toxins/chemicals, emotional trauma, etc. – the body will most likely store fat as a protective reaction (I say most likely so I can note that not everyone reacts accordingly). We are all familiar with the relationship between fat and cholesterol, and that the body produces its own cholesterol, right? Well, an increase in cholesterol production is also a form of protection since cholesterol is actually one of our body’s most powerful anti-oxidants. We all hear that high cholesterol is bad and, while it can be a sort of warning sign, few fail to make the holistic connection as to why it’s elevated without pointing fingers at diet. Got stored fat? Consider what your body is protecting you from (and why you need to store fat). Fat also protects us from the cold! Hooray!

3) Scales mean jack - Because fat weight vs muscle weight vs water weight vs poop weight… DUH. All weight is not created equal and scale cannot differentiate between the three pounds you lost after pooping or the three pounds you lost from sweating your butt off in a sauna (only to be naturally regained by eating and drinking mineral water, respectively). Don’t forget that muscle weighs more than fat and if you are involved in some sort of physical training program with a caloric-sufficient diet, chances are you won’t see that scale budge even though you could be gaining muscle weight while losing fat weight. Our weight fluctuates on a daily basis and it is absolutely not an indicator of [good] health NOR progress. I hear people all the time proclaim, I lost ____ pounds this week! That’s cool and all, but what type of weight did you lose? Maybe that weight loss isn’t permanent and maybe it could be due to an unhealthy result (i.e. stress, suppressed appetite, depression, stimulants, dehydration, etc.). At a recent family party I had a person tell me that they recently lost 30+ pounds. When I asked And how do you feel?… I got… Well, I feel god-awful. *facepalm*

4) Are you even eating enough? - Consider this: the body needs [enough] energy to function. If I limit my daily caloric intake and, thus, deprive my body of the energy it takes to perform tasks at a high efficiency rate and in a timely manner, why the HECK would it think… hey, now is a good time to lose weight… ? Actually, HOW the heck would it have the energy to do such a high-energy-demanding task, which usually requires a higher metabolic rate? THIS is huge when people approach me about weight loss because I often find that they aren’t eating enough calories (any calories) throughout the day for their body to even consider losing weight on top of all the energy it takes to breathe, think, eat, drink, digest, detoxify, poop, pee, move, exercise, sleep, recharge, remember, be creative, and deal with life’s daily stressors. The body ain’t stupid. Having said that, I have had many-a-conversation lately with various peers of mine all umbrella-ing under one classic, underlying theme… People are dumb. I’d also like to point out that sleeping enough is also über important… also. 

5) Diet is a factor, but your food education is, too – This is where misinformation comes into play. We’re taught that saturated fat, cholesterol, red meat, dairy, sugar, starch, salt, soda, and fruit juice (a.k.a. sugar water) are all bad for our health; they will make us SO fat and sick. Instead, we’re taught that unsaturated fats, vegetable/nut/seed oils, wheat, corn, soy, grains in general, copious amounts of vegetables, six to eight daily servings of fruit, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds are all healthy and will keep us lean. My response to that is… Who says so? The government? The medical system? Please tell me when was the last time you had my best interest at heart and also when it didn’t involve an industrial profit. 

6) Intolerances, allergens, detox issues, poor digestion, malabsorption, deydration – First, I’m going to point some fingers at the over-saturated amount of chemicals and toxins that we are exposed to on a daily basis. We breathe, apply, and come in contact with this crap and it could be a big factor in our body protecting us with fat storage. The chemicals in your deodorant, in your makeup, in the air freshener, in car fumes, in your window cleaner, in your tissues, in your laundry detergent or fabric softener… you name it (actually, if you can’t read it) and it can probably affect your physiology in some way and it can greatly affect the detox system if it’s not already under distress. The same goes for food additives (the gums, the dyes, the non-pharmaceutical grade added vitamins). Then there are food intolerances that make your body think it’s in a war zone every day (this can also spur an auto-immune deficiency). Gluten, for instance, is one major food intolerance that can cause weight gain and people may just think that they need to run a few more miles each day and find out that they just gain more weight (probably due to a grand stress reaction). Which brings me to poor digestion and, thus, malabsorption. You can eat all of the healthy, leaning-out food you want, but if you cannot absorb said food it is possible that your body isn’t getting enough calories to meet its energy demands. Finally, dehydration… I’m hoping this is a no-brainer after reading through my alluding-theme perspectives. Spark that awareness!

7) Exercise smarter, not harder… or not at all – I started Crossfitting about a month ago. Within the first three weeks of going hard I noticed that I began to put weight on around my stomach. I added some muscle mass here and there but I was also adding fat. No, I wasn’t eating too much… I actually wasn’t eating enough to meet the demands I was putting on my body AND this started to affect my sleeping patterns… waking up in the middle of the night, restlessness, resulted dehydration, etc. I thought this was really cool in a weird science-nerd kind of way. I absolutely love the fact that I went through this because it gave me some more perspective into how MY body works, acts, and reacts at this point in my life. Sure, I could have probably done this type of workout and recovered with ease when I was 18 with the endless testosterone running through my body, but I’m not 18. I’m 27 and I’m not as active as I was almost a decade ago. And I say “or not at all” because I hate the stipulation that in order to lose weight exercise is necessary. Any intelligent personal trainer or health enthusiast will tell you that an exercise program will never outwork a poor diet. The diet will always be the foundation and exercise is a complementary component towards your specific goals. No, you don’t have to exercise to lose weight. It helps, but it’s not as important as the media makes it out to be (i.e. the biggest schmuck… I mean, loser). My solution will always be to go smarter by taking the time to sit back, rest, reflect, and look at the big picture of the why and how in respect to my body.

8) Emotions – What your choice of manifestation? Where are you storing yours?

Hopefully you can get the jist that there will never be a one-size-fits all solution nor will there ever be just one solution to a problem that really isn’t a problem at all. Fat storage is a symptom, a mechanism, a safety device, a warning sign, a smaller result of a much bigger picture. It’s not a reason to define yourself, to get down on yourself, to beat yourself up, or to think you’re not pretty enough, not handsome enough, or not fit enough. The body is trying to send you a message and only you can decipher its underlying cause. Don’t believe in the bullshit; believe in yourself.

Happy trails,

jdperryhealth.com
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TWLOHA’s MOVE Conference Reflection

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A happy monday fellow healthians,

This weekend I attended To Write Love On Her Arms‘ MOVE Conference. It was a two-day informative lecture/conversation amongst two speakers, two coordinators, and about 40 attendees which touched on heavy/personal topics such as Addiction, Depression, Anxiety, Self-Injury, Eating Disorders, and Suicide. I participated in the conference in support of a friend. She had come to me about a month ago that she eagerly wanted to attend and, since we have shared many conversations in the past regarding our perspectives of personal healing and growth, she pretty much said you’re coming and I won’t take “no” for an answer. She didn’t have to twist my arm at all really because I had an idea of what I was getting myself into with my familiarity with TWLOHA’s mission; having “worked” with the organization in the past as a musician and through the friendships I was able to build from sharing an awareness of health. But my awareness only went so far when it came to these topics because I had yet to be thrown into a room with real people who have dealt with and are still dealing with real problems. I found myself being smacked in the face with a reality I have only read about and have reflected generalized philosophies upon. I knew I was in for a treat the moment we began going around the room stating our name, story, and purpose.

I went into the conference thinking that the participants would be those who are dealing with the issues, those who are seeking answers for themselves, those who are in search of aha-moments to get themselves on a better track towards healing. I didn’t read up on the conference beforehand so I had some assumptions going into it and, while that general mindset held some truth, I didn’t expect that I would be in a room with people just like me… young professionals who have gone through their own tough times reality and have now come out on the other end with the approach of I’m going to use what I have learned in my worst-of-the-worst to help others in their paths towards happiness. And the most inspiring part? Everyone was real. Everyone had real stories, real obstacles, real battles, real experiences, real emotions, and everyone was dealing with their own reality all-the-while learning more about the realities of others for one common goal: to help. It was rather humbling to be in a room with therapists, with counselors, with speakers, with help-line workers, with undergrads, with graduate students, with mothers, with adults… with all different walks of life in one room who have been through it and who just get it. That is actually one of the main purposes of the conference – to find someone that just gets it – amongst the slightly more obvious reasons like raising awareness of such hush-hush topics, educating the educators, inspiring the inspired, comforting the disturbed, and disturbing the comforted. To find someone who you can relate to is such a milestone in the world of healing because we have all gone through our own shit and you damn-well know that it certainly helps to speak to someone who understands and relates through their own trials to what you are going through. We all have different experiences, but we def-def-definitely share the same feelings of hurt, pain, shame, or unhappiness (as well as happiness, ease, comfort, or success).

It is my understanding that these symptoms umbrella under and manifest as a result of a greater cause. To extremely over simplify that greater cause, I chalk it up to unhappiness. This mental state can be caused by many factors and we all manifest its symptoms in various ways, but I do believe that the foundation exists as a lack of happiness with self and the experiences of self, i.e. what you understand to be your reality through your own [influenced] filter system (thoughts, beliefs, conditionings, perceptions, habits, knowledge, ignorance, diet, digestion, stressors, sleep patterns, priorities, et cetera).

Yet, the conference didn’t really hint on any sort of generalization. There were times in the conversation where we saw commonalities for treatments or fine lines between diagnostics, but it still resorted back to this is this and that is that. It focused on each symptom as its own entity and that one must “treat” each realm accordingly. An addiction counselor should not treat a self-injury patient because, from what I gathered, they are not the same. I ask why? If we’re approaching this holistically, the body’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health fall under one cyclic/complimentary umbrella so why can’t our symptoms? It just doesn’t make sense to me. For example, self-injury is mainly the act of inflicting pain or cutting one’s skin, but how is cigarette smoking not a form of self-injury, as well? Both involve an awareness of the action and its consequences, both inflict pain in exchange for euphoria and a quick-fix result only to come back again because the thrill wasn’t enough and the underlying cause/relief structure still exists. Also, each are forms of addiction and, perhaps, can be a result of depression, too. Of course, I was in a room with trained professionals whose experiences on paper far exceed mine so perhaps I do not have much room to speak, but I do not think that limits my platform to question the approach or to raise an awareness of more foundational-based ways to do things.

I really found this intriguing because this is the habit of our society. We like to label things… every-things. And, in the medical/health field, people can lose their identities or any mindset of who they are because their names can be replaced or associated with a specific disease, disorder, or mental state. This replacement can come from the doctor’s vocabulary/perspective or can even be adapted by the patient. The nice guy named Bob becomes a Drug Addict. Why the heck is Bob a drug addict in the first place? Some sort of shit in Bob’s life culminated, made him freak, and he turned to drugs. Can labeling Bob as an addict make him more unhappy? Why can’t we just say that Bob is unhappy and retrace the steps to where/why Bob became unhappy? He’s still the nice guy he’s always been, but people may not identify him as the nice guy anymore because we label. And when we label, we segregate by default. And when we segregate by default, we impose stigma by default. And stigma is an imposed reality which we seldom take the time to step back from to look at the bigger picture – what truly matters in a universal reality. It’d be nice to look at things objectively rather than subjectively. Then again everyone tends to have their opinion and we all know the saying about opinions… It’d also be nice to get away from labels but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Really, we just want to belong. Even if it means we belong to a negative connotation, at least we belong to something.

One final thing I’d like to note is a shared story from one of the speakers. The speaker’s father did not allow the use of Neosporin within their household. If you are not familiar with Neosporin, it is a healing agent that can be applied to small cuts or scrapes to speed up the healing process and to prevent the formation of “ugly” scars. The father wasn’t a doctor, but he knew a thing or two about the healing process. Neospiron is promoted as a quick-healer and offers a good-as-new look. That’s cool and all, but while the skin on the outside may be “healed,” the wound underneath remains open and prone to infection because the body is not meant to heal as such a rapid pace. Hey, at least it looks good and my date tonight won’t think I’m a zombie freak, right? When we give the body time to heal on its own time at its own pace in its own natural environment, the wounds mend accordingly. The same can be said about our emotional and mental states. We can take all of the medication we want, we can try all of the quick-fix protocols we come across, but they will never truly heal until the underlying cause is addressed and fixed naturally through being honest with self, yielding compassion for self, having patience with self, and, thus, gaining a greater awareness of self.

I learned a lot from the conference and I’m very glad I was given the opportunity to go. If you are not familiar with To Write Love On Her Arms, please check out their website, blog, and calendar to verse yourself in the awareness and the hope that they spread.

Thanks for stopping by, folks.

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

The value of listening to yourself

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Happy Monday,

We already know all of the answers to our inner-most questions, desires, or pursuits. The phrase, “the answer is within the question” smacks the ball out of the park when it comes to understanding ourselves, our internal realities, how we got here, who we want to be, and where we want to go.

How did I conclude that? And why am I philosophizing this shiz when there are blatant experiences out there proving that we simply cannot learn without going through the education motions?

Well, what motivates a person to pursue the answers to their questions?

Example time!

Let’s say that my life goal is to be a Marine Biologist. I already know my desired result, but I need to figure out how to get there. Right? I know that I need an education to gain more knowledge about this realm. I know that I need to dedicate so much time studying, experiencing, and understanding to get myself from however many A’s to B’s necessary. I know that I will not become a Marine Biologist overnight and that a damn solid foundation must be built so I can take on anything and everything without being knocked off my horse. I know that no matter how much I know, read, learn, or study that I will always have room to learn more and to possibly unlearn some things that I once believed were truths. I know that it’s not going to be easy but I will not settle for anything less than my ultimate goal. I know that sacrifices will be made, priorities must be balanced, and that life is full of changes that could help or hinder my immediate progress, but never my overall progress. I know that I will be a Marine Biologist.

How do I know all of this?

A person holds their interests, their path, their understandings, their new perspectives, and their new findings or experienced results as valuable. In other words, the path of experiences are a true benefit to one’s livelihood, one’s ultimate happiness, because they just know. Here exists two things: an inner guiding voice and a value of that inner voice. We all have this inner voice. I do think it’s very possible to brush it aside, write it off, think it’s wrong, or simply not listen to it because we fail to see its value in regards to our path. The law of karma, anyone?

Many claim that they don’t know. They don’t know about health, self-image, truth from untruth, perspectives, jobs, careers, financials, or relationships. Hmmm… We can choose to eat “healthier” by following our needs and not wants, we can choose to love ourselves internally that will translate externally, we can choose so see the universal truth of a situation and not just our own filtered perspective, we can choose a job or career that won’t require us to settle for less, we can choose to not over-spend or put such a value on money, and we can choose to love and accept everyone.

I get it. It’s hard when there are so many things getting in our way of listening, especially with the ego, beliefs, conditioning, societal pressures, structures, fears, shames, or hurtful experiences swaying our better judgment. Constricted awareness sounds like it would fit in right about now. Let’s define Awareness as an unconditional thought. To be aware means to be present without bias, prejudice, judgement, or assumption. To be aware means to understand a universal karma; you get what you give. Constricted awareness means to only see one biased side of the picture – your side – and leaves little room for universal truths, universal understandings, following a true path, and, most importantly, self-growth.

We will always know what’s best for ourselves if we just take a second to listen AND take another second hold a personal value to that gut-feeling-know’s-best advice. For example, when people come to me for health perspectives I often find myself telling them after a few exchanges that “you know what’s best for you.” I can throw out all the health advice in the world from diet solutions to posture corrections to abdominal exercises to lifestyle changes to perspective awakenings, but absolutely none of that makes any difference if there isn’t a value placed on one’s own internal voice encouraging them to eat healthier, to sit up straight, to not over-train, to go to bed at beneficial hours, or to stop beating themselves up for not being perfect.

Value, value value, value, value, value your guiding voice. 

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

The times, they are a-changin

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Howdy folks,

Happy September to ya. Northern Hemisphere peoples: That summer flew by rather quickly, huh? Then again… GIMME THAT MID-ATLANTIC REGION FALL WEATHER!!!! If you don’t like the fall then you can get the hell out… I’m serious… this is a fall-weather-hate-free blog.

As you know, I took time off from the writing game with the goal to create an environment to help put some personal realities into perspective. I wanted a break from my routine, from my daily habits, from my surroundings, and from my external influences to free up brain-space so I can process life a little more effectively.

The outcome?

I will no longer post daily blogs. As much as I enjoy writing every single day and the thinking on my feet for a new topic, it’s time for a change. The new protocol will be a blog every Monday at 7:30 AM EST. Once a week will provide me with a platform for the cliche “quality over quantity.” As lame as that sounds, I think it holds a lot of value for my research and writing, and also for the reader’s reading readability.

That news is priority for now. The rest of my “outcome” perspectives will be shared in future posts. Thanks for waiting around for me.

If you’d like to discuss these perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Political perspectives

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As I was driving down the highway a few days ago, I noticed a rather recent edition to the billboard community. It was a republican-sponsored-Mitt-Romney-backing ad campaign for the upcoming American Presidential election which read…

Obama supports Gay Marriage.
Obama supports Abortion.
Do you?

My initial reaction was an are-you-fucking-kidding-me? laugh. I laughed not because I was raised in a conservative family, not because I was influenced by a liberal high school, city-life, and touring-musician community experience, and not because I frankly don’t give a shit about politics. I laughed at the chosen subject matter; the supposed aha! perspective that’s directed to sway a voter. Out of anything that could have been written – taxes, poverty, unemployment, medicare, global warming, energy efficiency, the food industry, etc. – a group of people chose a subject matter that is completely personal, invasive and, frankly, none of anyone’s God-given-free-right-to-choose-and-live-their-life-they-way-they-see-fit damn business. It’s hard to understand how at least one person had something-along-the-mindset of, “Yep, this is the best idea ever,” but, then again, that hypothetical person could probably say the same thing about my questioning, too.

So I spent the rest of my 30 minute-drive trying to understand what this perspective represents and here’s what I’ve come up with…

As long as there are personal opinions, biased “truths,” self-righteousness, manipulating motives, self-reflective judgements, conditioned assumptions, and habitual/cultural boundaries then this world will never learn to truly love, to take the time to understand, and to unconditionally accept one another.

Politics does not have to be about he-said-she-said-bullshit, about right and wrong, about good or bad, about money and power, or about taking sides. I think the American fore fathers did a noble thing by stating that “Every man was created equal,” but we have yet to see that mindset exist on a universal scale.

Replace hate, greed, selfishness, and personal opinions with unconditional love and see how much “change” is possible.

 

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com