Enlightenment by virtuous conduct alone...

[Grim Reaper 6]

5 hours ago, Sherapy said:

And, understanding one’s pain helps too. It sounds to me like you are so hands on as a husband especially, that you deal with such pain yourself, Craig.  Your wife was/is fortunate to have had you through her hip situation. 
 

The best support systems and teachers are the ones who have found ways to alleviate or cope with horrendous pain, in fact, for me as a caregiver my own chronic pain and actively listening and caring for those with debilitating pain have been my greatest teachers. There are some days or nights that all we do ( we as in the patient and I )is look for ways to get some kind of pain relief. Even having a proactive approach regardless, even if there isn’t much change in the pain can help the person or just having someone who cares enough to stay by your side can help.  The feedback I get from my work as a caregiver is what goes into my caregiving tool bag. 
 

You sir are remarkable in my book and I learn from you. Much gratitude. 
 

There is something I forgot to add. When someone’s pain reaches a point where it’s off the charts, if that cycle can be broken for a short while a persons mind can reset. What I am trying to describe is for me, when I am in pain to point where nothing else can be focused on, if I can break that cycle for short time with medication for pain or to help me sleep my body will reset and while I will still be in pain it will not be as bad as before. By only changing my pain level  by 1 or 2 small levels, it feels like my pain is manageable again. Now I have no idea if there is any scientific proof of this, but it works for me!

Peace my friend!

[+Sherapy]

3 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

Thanks very much and it obvious to me your great at your job, and your patients are so much better for it. I also agree that by having someone by your side can certainly be a blessing, and it can also help a person forget their troubles if only for a little while and that is priceless. I am certain that you bring light into your patients lives just like you do to those of us on the forum that you touch, and that is priceless. Because when someone is ill or in severe pain even a moment’s relief is a blessing!

Happy New Years my Friend!

Thank you for your kind words. I do love being a caregiver. Happy New Years. 

[+Sherapy]

3 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

There is something I forgot to add. When someone’s pain reaches a point where it’s off the charts, if that cycle can be broken for a short while a persons mind can reset. What I am trying to describe is for me, when I am in pain to point where nothing else can be focused on, if I can break that cycle for short time with medication for pain or to help me sleep my body will reset and while I will still be in pain it will not be as bad as before. By only changing my pain level  by 1 or 2 small levels, it feels like my pain is manageable again. Now I have no idea if there is any scientific proof of this, but it works for me!

Peace my friend!

This is wonderful information. I am amazed at your understanding of pain and how well you manage it.. 

[Grim Reaper 6]

24 minutes ago, Sherapy said:

This is wonderful information. I am amazed at your understanding of pain and how well you manage it.. 

Sheri, it’s what I have learned by trying to figure out how to reduce my own pain, I don’t know if it is effective for others but I hope it could be. I doubt there is any scientific basis for my approach or even if it has ever been considered, but there is nothing to lose by trying it, and best of all there is no down side to it because trying this out will harm no one and that’s the most important thing to consider when ever we try something to give us relief.

Peace Sheri, and Happy New Years my friend!

[Grim Reaper 6]

35 minutes ago, Sherapy said:

Thank you for your kind words. I do love being a caregiver. Happy New Years. 

That’s very obvious and I am certain you were meant to do what you do, I believe we are all destined to find our calling and I have no doubt your right where you should be.

Sheri have a wonderful day my friend, your posts have made mine a little brighter and I am eternally grateful for that my friend!

[jmccr8]

3 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

By only changing my pain level  by 1 or 2 small levels, it feels like my pain is manageable again. Now I have no idea if there is any scientific proof of this, but it works for me!

Hi Manwon

When I ruptured 3 discs in my back and still working as a subcontractor doing steel fab at a shop a friend of mine let me keep an inversion table at his house as he lived half a block away from the shop I would go there at lunch time and hang upside down for half an hour to take the weight of my body pressure off the injured area and it helped a lot. I would also go there after work and hang for an hour, my doc had me taking a thousand mil of ibuprofin a day as well as muscle relaxants because of the spasms that I would get and buy using the table I was able to quit the ibuprofin as it was killing my guts.

Edited January 1, 2022 by jmccr8

[Mr Walker]

11 hours ago, Crazy Horse said:

And what's more Mr Walker, once one has gotten to this place of heart, mind, body, and soul, working from, with, and to, love, then the "outside world" tends to just fall into place with the least amount of effort.

And this is something one may test/know for oneself.

We are one consciousness in GOD, to do anything other than love, is a bit silly..

And hurtful.

 

Yes I think this is universally recognised eg Karma is  a form of this belief.

  Inner peace almost inevitably creates  external harmony and peace, unless you live in a very violent society or very dangerous times.

ps I am just working my way  through every episode of Kung Fu  with David Carradine  It has helped me realise where a lot of my values and beliefs came from in my early twenties  

  

[Crazy Horse]

16 hours ago, jmccr8 said:

Hi Crazy Horse

Just because I don't believe in anyone's god does not mean I do not love them or that my love means less.

Love is love is love is love..

And no-body has the monopoly concerning that.

But beliefs do shape individual lives, giving one the chance to reach-out for Infinity, or merely settle for the mundane!

Becoming mindful of cause anfd effect within ones own life, one soon learns that the good, the kind-hearted, and the selfless has far more "rewards" than the more selfish attitudes.

 

 

[Crazy Horse]

12 hours ago, Mr Walker said:

Yes I think this is universally recognised eg Karma is  a form of this belief.

  Inner peace almost inevitably creates  external harmony and peace, unless you live in a very violent society or very dangerous times.

ps I am just working my way  through every episode of Kung Fu  with David Carradine  It has helped me realise where a lot of my values and beliefs came from in my early twenties  

  

I have those on DVD somewhere..

And as a youngster, I also loved that show, and anything to do with Buddhist culture.. (Still do).

But something magical happens when the heart, mind, body and soul are all working from a place of love.

[GoldenWolf]

On 12/14/2021 at 2:51 AM, Ajay0 said:

These teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism effectively negates the nihilist and existentialist viewpoint that all virtues and values are mere abstract contrivances or mental creations and do not have any substance of their own in reality.

In this regard, it is important to realize the fact that nihilism has been a major philosophical cause of the destructive world wars, and is said to have influenced the destructive thought process of the Nazi ideologues.


Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, philosopher and medical doctor specializing in neurology and psychiatry commented thus...

“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone.

I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment; or as the Nazi liked to say, ‘of Blood and Soil.’

I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”- Viktor Frankl


Half-baked philosophies like nihilism, taken out of context, thus becomes an intellectual instrument to override basic virtuous conduct and behavior in human beings, dehumanize the 'other', discredit and trivialize values like nonviolence, compassion, altruism and perpetrate atrocities in the name of various ideologies.

In  Dharmic philosophies on the other hand, moral values and virtues are considered to be valuable in expansion of consciousness (and destruction of karma) alongside meditation, awareness or total love and instrumental in attainment of enlightenment or Buddhahood.

Vices perpetrated in the absence of virtuous conduct and wisdom, actually results in accumulation of karma and greater psychological suffering in the perpetrator .

I was thinking this and my signature my resonate some with you.

[Grim Reaper 6]

23 hours ago, jmccr8 said:

Hi Manwon

When I ruptured 3 discs in my back and still working as a subcontractor doing steel fab at a shop a friend of mine let me keep an inversion table at his house as he lived half a block away from the shop I would go there at lunch time and hang upside down for half an hour to take the weight of my body pressure off the injured area and it helped a lot. I would also go there after work and hang for an hour, my doc had me taking a thousand mil of ibuprofin a day as well as muscle relaxants because of the spasms that I would get and buy using the table I was able to quit the ibuprofin as it was killing my guts.

Yea that is a very painful injury, and depending on how much damage was done to your disks , at some point you may require surgery yourself. When my injuries first occurred I recuperated and healed pretty well over the course of year, with physical therapy. During the initial surgery they replaced one of my disks at the L3 / L4 junction because it was blown out completely. For a couple years I was about 85% of my normal self before the injury in Iraq in the 1990s. But unfortunately starting about 2001, the pain started becoming so intense it was becoming difficult to function normally, that why I retired from the Army in 2003. I was not forced to retire, but to me a leader leads from the front, and I was no longer able to do that any longer. 

It turns out that while healing and because of the nature of spinal injuries bone spurs began to grow and arthritis also begins to set in. I just dealt with it until 2015 where another surgery was required to remove some of the excess bone growth that was digging into nerves and there is nothing worst than nerve pain. Now it appears there is some spinal instability occurring, so they are looking at adding a cage made out of metal that will stabilize my spine. Hopefully you never require surgery, and also hopefully you don’t experience excess bone growth or arthritis, but if things begin to deteriorate don’t wait to long to see doctor because while surgery sucks, sometimes it becomes the only answer.

I learned the very very hard way waiting and trying to be a tough guy is a foolish endeavor and I am paying for that foolishness right now!

[Grim Reaper 6]

On 12/31/2021 at 7:01 PM, Mr Walker said:

Yes I think this is universally recognised eg Karma is  a form of this belief.

  Inner peace almost inevitably creates  external harmony and peace, unless you live in a very violent society or very dangerous times.

ps I am just working my way  through every episode of Kung Fu  with David Carradine  It has helped me realise where a lot of my values and beliefs came from in my early twenties  

  

I purchased the entire series of Kung Fu, from Apple, it’s a great series and while it a very old series it is timeless and it never seems old!

Peace my friend!

[Mr Walker]

11 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

I purchased the entire series of Kung Fu, from Apple, it’s a great series and while it a very old series it is timeless and it never seems old!

Peace my friend!

I got the box set from  a charity shop for  free   

( I run a free community book and dvd exchange,  stocked with about 100 dvds and 100 books   and so get given  a lot of free books and dvds, from  libraries, charity shops, and other community sources )

[jmccr8]

26 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

Yea that is a very painful injury, and depending on how much damage was done to your disks , at some point you may require surgery yourself. When my injuries first occurred I recuperated and healed pretty well over the course of year, with physical therapy. During the initial surgery they replaced one of my disks at the L3 / L4 junction because it was blown out completely. For a couple years I was about 85% of my normal self before the injury in Iraq in the 1990s. But unfortunately starting about 2001, the pain started becoming so intense it was becoming difficult to function normally, that why I retired from the Army in 2003. I was not forced to retire, but to me a leader leads from the front, and I was no longer able to do that any longer. 

It turns out that while healing and because of the nature of spinal injuries bone spurs began to grow and arthritis also begins to set in. I just dealt with it until 2015 where another surgery was required to remove some of the excess bone growth that was digging into nerves and there is nothing worst than nerve pain. Now it appears there is some spinal instability occurring, so they are looking at adding a cage made out of metal that will stabilize my spine. Hopefully you never require surgery, and also hopefully you don’t experience excess bone growth or arthritis, but if things begin to deteriorate don’t wait to long to see doctor because while surgery sucks, sometimes it becomes the only answer.

I learned the very very hard way waiting and trying to be a tough guy is a foolish endeavor and I am paying for that foolishness right now!

Hi Manwon

Thanks, I spent 18 years fighting with the system as worker’s compensation avoided paying me nor would it process me to get surgery. The dropped the ball and put me in a tough situation during that time period so I don’t ask the government for anything and got surgery when I had private insurance and found a doctor that would put the effort in to get things going.

I did have calcium build up that would pinch cut the sciatic nerves so it was problematic for the type of work I do and it had costs to me personally. My life changed big time after the surgery and have been good since. I was angry with the system for negligence and created my own system independent of any government institutions so I rely on myself only in life.

[Grim Reaper 6]

 

[Grim Reaper 6]

8 minutes ago, jmccr8 said:

Hi Manwon

Thanks, I spent 18 years fighting with the system as worker’s compensation avoided paying me nor would it process me to get surgery. The dropped the ball and put me in a tough situation during that time period so I don’t ask the government for anything and got surgery when I had private insurance and found a doctor that would put the effort in to get things going.

I did have calcium build up that would pinch cut the sciatic nerves so it was problematic for the type of work I do and it had costs to me personally. My life changed big time after the surgery and have been good since. I was angry with the system for negligence and created my own system independent of any government institutions so I rely on myself only in life.

Sorry to hear this, and hopefully you have no serious issues in the future!

[Grim Reaper 6]

20 minutes ago, Mr Walker said:

I got the box set from  a charity shop for  free   

( I run a free community book and dvd exchange,  stocked with about 100 dvds and 100 books   and so get given  a lot of free books and dvds, from  libraries, charity shops, and other community sources )

That’s very cool Mr. Walker!

Enjoy the series!

[jmccr8]

2 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

Sorry to hear this, and hopefully you have no serious issues in the future!

Hi Manwon

Thanks and the last 20 years has been great and I am in good condition for an old boy. I posted a pic of me about 4 years ago that got a thread shut down because I was looking pretty fit and one member got agitated and was the only time I have posted a pic on the net,

[Grim Reaper 6]

28 minutes ago, jmccr8 said:

Hi Manwon

Thanks and the last 20 years has been great and I am in good condition for an old boy. I posted a pic of me about 4 years ago that got a thread shut down because I was looking pretty fit and one member got agitated and was the only time I have posted a pic on the net,

Where did you post it?

[jmccr8]

2 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

Where did you post it?

It was in the old skeptic v beliefs section

[Grim Reaper 6]

4 minutes ago, jmccr8 said:

It was in the old skeptic v beliefs section

Send me a link to your post my friend!

[jmccr8]

16 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

Send me a link to your post my friend!

Hi Manwon

Will look for it and send a PM

[onlookerofmayhem]

2 hours ago, Mr Walker said:

( I run a free community book and dvd exchange,  stocked with about 100 dvds and 100 books   and so get given  a lot of free books and dvds, from  libraries, charity shops, and other community sources )

Indeed. Good work Mr. Walker.

https://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/7396004/fridge-satisfies-appetites-for-books-and-movies/

[eight bits]

Virtuous conduct, indeed, @Mr Walker.

Well done.

[+Sherapy]

10 hours ago, Mr Walker said:

I got the box set from  a charity shop for  free   

( I run a free community book and dvd exchange,  stocked with about 100 dvds and 100 books   and so get given  a lot of free books and dvds, from  libraries, charity shops, and other community sources )

Nice!

I actually saw David Carradine in 1974 run right past me to catch a flight at LAX. I was such a fan of the show, I was over the moon.