For those of you who write because it makes you feel better, Brenda Stockdale, Author of You Can Beat the Odds,  helps to understand how. “The choices we make and the interpretation we assign events can influence physiological outcomes,”  Director of Mind-Body Medicine for the Georgia Cancer Treatment Center, Stockdale says, “Two specific traits, purpose and passion, cause the white blood cells to act differently.”  They strengthen the immune system.  Her work gives scientific credibility to what writers already know intuitively about the practice of writing – writing, especially during difficult times, can help us heal. 

She cites a Center for Disease Control study of 440,000 patients suffering from obesity.  The study, which began in the 1970’s, found a link between stress in early childhood, like sex abuse or violence, with disease as an adult.  In a follow up study of these patients, researchers noted a 35% decline in doctor’s office visits in the year following the disclosure of the trauma.  Suppressing emotions can cause harm to the body, Stockdale says.  “Labeling emotions helps the physiology relax.  You don’t need to fix it.  Just acknowledge it.  Link feelings to events,” she advises.  “But be warned about only writing about happy or terrible stuff.”  She suggests we follow Anne Sexton’s advice and, “Put your ear close to your soul and listen hard.” By embracing the full range of emotions and finding balance in writing about them, we’re moving in the right direction to keep the body, mind and spirit in a healthy equilibrium. 

Stockdale experienced the power of words first hand when she lost two-thirds of her blood in what she describes as a “freak medical accident.”  During that time she felt too weak to write, but reveled in hearing poetry read to her.  Her father read, Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” as she lay in a hospital bed unsure about whether she would survive or not..  The phrase, “If you can treat triumph and disaster – these two imposters just the same…” gave her courage and inspiration and she feels it contributed to her recovery.  Stockdale who also facilitates national retreats for people with life-challenging illnesses, notes a tight connection between self-worth and survival.  “The greatest drug we have is the will to live.”   For more on Brenda Stockdale see her website at: brendastockdale.com

Copyright Debra Moffitt-Leslie, October 2009, www.debramoffitt.com

A few years ago, in the middle of an interview with bestselling author, Sarah Susanka, an alarm beeped.  She’d just come out with her book, The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters which focuses on time and self-transformation.  She pulled the alarm off of her belt and reset it.  “This is my fifteen minute exercise,” she said.  The alarm exercise helps to cultivate awareness and draw the mind to pay attention to the present moment, she explained.  It acts in the same way that meditation functions, but the buzz or vibration reminds the practitioner to stop and pay attention to how she feels, what’s going on around, what’s happening inside on deeper levels.

Meditation is one of the best ways I’ve found to develop awareness.  My experience with meditation began with training at Lerab Ling in the chilly air of the mountains in the South of France under the gente instruction of Tibetan Lama, Sogyal Rinpoche.  We sat under a large white tent as the Mistral wind whipped around and Rinpoche reminded us to bring the mind home.  This meant to be right here in this damp, cool place and not let my mind wander off to craving for chocolate croissants and espresso.  Someone struck a bell and the meditation period started.  I squirmed and so did many of the hundred or more people until the bell rang out again.  It took many years of practice before I realized that bringing the mind home simply meant being here, now.  Easy to say, not easy to do.

 At first meditation seems more like a struggle than a pleasure.  But a wise teacher suggested I treat the mind like a little child and gently prompt it back to the candle flame I aimed to focus on.  After some time and a good bit of patience, the mental chatter lessened and the sense of expansion grew.  The real challenge is how to maintain this expansive, openness throughout the day.  I've heard teachers say that real meditation begins when we become fully conscious of each and every moment – that is when we pay full attention to each luscious fork full of food and we fully concentrated on the muscles, aware if the surroundings when we walk or exercise.  This kind of meditation in action is the desirable state of joyful being where peace spontaneously arises.  Bringing conscious awareness into conversations, looking into the other person’s eyes, and thinking before speaking help to integrate awareness into each instant.  Perhaps being conscious of what we say and do might transform both of these and create a better environment and a better world. 

Back at Susanka’s the beep buzzed again.  We both paused and enjoyed being silent for just a moment.  In the rush of daily life it was a pleasant gift.  As Susanka continued to experiment with the alarm and awareness, she developed new ways to use it.  “You start to notice that you get conditioned and you can literally turn this thing off without being aware you’re doing it,” she said.  The automatic gestures, the repetitions that we tune out are a way of tuning out to life itself and not being awake. "You can start to be aware of how frequently you have not noticed and turned it off automatically,” she said.  But the real aim is to be conscious now.  “Now it’s like the day is perforated with moments of real presence.  It’s amazing how much more you really start to show up.  That’s the real key to this exercise,” she said.  Susanka’s exercise takes me back to the tent in France and rings a bell as a constant reminder to wake up and deeply appreciate the only time we have – the present.   

What is the practice that most helps you to stay in the present?