MICHAEL SIEVERTS' TIPS/TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE

Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.

 

Meditation:

There are many forms of meditation, and choosing one over the other is a matter of personal preference. I happen to like mindfulness-based meditation, as promulgated by Jon Kabat-Zinn—the tone of his advice is just right for me and many others, but it might not be for you.  You might prefer a meditation technique that utilizes a mantra, like Transcendental Meditation, or any of the other forms. No matter—you can use any one of them to deeply explore your consciousness.

The key thing to remember is that learning to be in the present, in the now, is both utterly simple and very challenging. It can take a lifetime to learn. Even the Dalai Lama says that he’s still learning.

There’s a reason they call it a practice:

When we are giving ourselves the experience of being relaxed, calm, alert and objective, we are practicing and perfecting mindfulness. When we are being tense or angry or anxious, we are practicing and perfecting being those states as well—BUT, if we are observing that we are going to those places while we’re doing it, we have the opportunity to take ourselves back to the relaxed place. It’s ultimately about cultivating an inner strength.

I’ve heard the distinction made between prayer and mediation is that when you pray you’re talking, you’re asking for something—and when you meditate you’re just listening. Some people call it “falling awake.”

There’s a huge body of literature, and courses offered everywhere, many for free.

You can study in classes, and go on retreats, which are great, but ultimately the idea is to be able to live your whole life with a mindful aspect. As my teacher says, “lead an ordinary life and make changes from within that life.”

Don’t let your environment throw you off, cultivate inner strength and the ability to not let your mind wander.

Reading List and Web Resources:

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn (You can Google Jon Kabat-Zinn for tapes, CD’s and online videos)

The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra by Thich Nhat Hanh

http://www.plumvillage.org/

 

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Library) by Pema Chodron

Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom by Peter Levitt

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL: EXERCISE(ADAPTED FROM "Brain Rules" by John Medina)

The Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center offers several different meditation options for its members.  All classes are at no cost to participants.  1)'Meditation' every Thursday from 6 - 6:45pm with Malcolm Schultz, LMFT; 2) 'Mindfulness' from 11:30a.m. to 1:00p.m. once a month on Monday (date varies check calendar) with Lisa LaCorte-Kring, LCSW; 3) Relaxation/Visualization every Wednesday from 6:00 to 6:45pm with Christal Trink; and 4) 'Mindfulness Series' with Lisa LaCorte-Kring offered throughout the year, check calendar or call 310-314-2555 for information.

 

MICHAEL SIEVERTS' TIPS/TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE

Part 5 of a 9-Part Series:  Driving

Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.

 

● If you drive a car, be aware that cognitive deficits don’t make you a better driver, and that a car is a weapon to bicycles and pedestrians.

● Drive carefully, on familiar routes, being patient and generous with other drivers.

● Allow enough time or permit yourself to be slightly late—“caught in traffic” is a completely valid excuse in LA.

● If you are feeling iffy about your cognition—we can often tell when we’re not 100%--either stay home or, if you’re out, drive slowly and carefully home.

● Drowsiness is a cause for red alert—pull over immediately.

● Learn the bus system, let professionals drive you where you need to go.

Reading List and Web Resources:

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL: Meditation

CSC’s Brain Tumor Group—for patients & family members—meets the 1^st and 3^rd Monday of each month from 7-9pm. No RSVP required. 1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 100, LA, CA 90025. 310-314-2555. CSC validates parking. This blog originally from 'Your Brain After Chemo' http://www.yourbrainafterchemo.blogspot.com/

MICHAEL SIEVERTS' TIPS/TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE

 

Part 4 of a 9-Part Series: Manage Your Technology 
Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

● Use email to make a data trail of conversations and commitments, and ask family and friends to sign on too to this method of communicating.

● If you have a task to accomplish, don’t respond to every email as it comes in—look at them and respond to them in batches.

● Manage the phone—don’t answer unless you know who it is and it’s someone you want to talk to at that moment. Use anonymous call blocking, caller ID, and an answering machine to screen calls.

● Minimize television viewing, especially TV news.

● Don’t expect a smart phone to replace a computer—it’s too hard to read attachments on a phone, you don’t retain the information the same way.

● Use your computer’s alarm functions to remind you to do certain tasks—moving the car for street cleaning, for example, or picking up kids.

● Leave messages for yourself as reminders. Call your own answering machine.

● Use a timer when cooking, stay near the stove when it’s on, don’t wander away from the kitchen.

 

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL: DRIVING

CSC’s Brain Tumor Group—for patients & family members—meets the 1^st and 3^rd Monday of each month from 7-9pm. No RSVP required. 1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 100, LA, CA 90025. 310-314-2555. CSC validates parking. This blog originally from 'Your Brain After Chemo' http://www.yourbrainafterchemo.blogspot.com/

MICHAEL SIEVERTS' TIPS/TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE

Part 3 of a 9-Part Series:  Compensation Strategies (adapted from “Your Brain After Chemo” by Dan Silverman, MD, PhD and Idelle Davidson)
Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.

● Stay present. Remind yourself to focus. Learn to meditate, and to pause before you take an action.

● Prioritize. Don’t think that you can multitask and perform. Do fewer things and do them well. What you decide not to do might be as important as what you actually decide to do.

● Develop routines. Keep the same daily schedule as much as possible. Prepare for the day the night before by reviewing your calendar. Exercise and eat at regular times, use a divided pillbox to remind you to take your medications properly.

● Rehearse. “Repeat to remember” to improve short-term memory, “remember to repeat” for longer term memory.

● Tell yourself stories about the person you just met. Say the name out loud, ask them to spell it, remark on the similarities to a celebrity’s name, or to someone else you know with the same name.

● Use word associations and rhyming. This increases the impact of a name or address on memory.

● Cue the senses.

● Break numbers into chunks.

● Don’t use scratch paper. Instead use a single notebook.

● Use a paper daily planner to write down all your activities, even movies and chores—and remember to look at it. You remember things better when you write them by hand than if you type them on a keyboard.

● Use your planner to keep track of your memory problems and other symptoms, so you can discuss changes in your condition with your doctor, who’s going to want to know what happened and when. Do not ignore symptoms, regard them as a blessing, if they lead you to solving a problem earlier than later.

 

● Everything in its place. Always put keys, checkbook, cell phone and wallet in exactly the same places. Start regarding your purse or backpack as a system.

● Chew gum, yawn—increases oxygen flow to the brain.

● Retain a sense of humor—it’s lighter than you think. Self-forgiveness is an important way to “get over it.”

● Sometimes something that seems terrible can be viewed from a different angle, and regarded as not only not so serious, but maybe as a benefit—and possibly as a great benefit.

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL: MANAGE YOUR TECHNOLOGY

MICHAEL SIEVERTS' TIPS/TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE

Part 2 of a 9-Part Series: Techniques to Build Cognition

Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.

 

 

 

 

“Ever try. Ever fail. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

 ● Build your memory: challenge your brain by learning a new language or a musical instrument. Doing crosswords and Sudoku are fine, but the skills involved don’t seem to translate to tackling other kinds of tasks.

● Keep your mind active—keep a journal, read literature and poetry, go to concerts and museums and lectures.

● Be actively involved in your medical treatment. Research and understand your illness—become a partner in your recovery with your medical team, stay current on advances in the field, join the e-patient movement.

● Research which parts of your brain are not functioning well, because that will inform you about where to direct your recovery effort.

● Find the best doctors for your specific illness, and then make them look like geniuses by having the best recovery possible.

● Find gentle ways of challenging yourself, look for your true talents—your gifts will always be your gifts, in my experience.

● Practice—aim for continual improvement and develop good habits.

● Treat your attention as a valuable resource, spend it wisely.

Reading List and Web Resources:

Your Brain After Chemo: A Practical Guide to Lifting the Fog and Getting Back Your Focus by Dan Silverman, MD, PhD, and Idelle Davidson
www.YourBrainAfterChemo.blogspot.com

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina  http://www.brainrules.net/

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (Null) by Norman Doidge

The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy For Keeping Your Brain Young by Gary W. Small

http://www.semel.ucla.edu/longevity

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee

The Better Brain Book by David Perlmutter and Carol Colman

http://www.powerupyourbrain.com/

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

http://www.eagleman.com/

SAT Question of the Day:

http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/

Word a Day:

http://wordsmith.org/awad/

Seek out intelligent discussions:
TED talks:
http://www.ted.com/talks

Google Talks:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AtGoogleTalks

Poptech Talks:

http://poptech.org/

e-patient movement:

http://e-patients.net/

Charlie Rose’s Brain Series:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/collection/10702

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL:

Compensation Strategies (adapted from “Your Brain After Chemo” by Dan Silverman, MD, PhD and Idelle Davidson):

CSC’s Brain Tumor Group—for patients & family members—meets the 1^st and 3^rd Monday of each month from 7-9pm. No RSVP required. 1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 100, LA, CA 90025. 310-314-2555. CSC validates parking. This blog originally from 'Your Brain After Chemo' http://www.yourbrainafterchemo.blogspot.com/

 

MICHAEL SIEVERTS’ TIPS & TRICKS TO RECOVER YOUR LIFE: A NINE PART SERIES

By Michael Sieverts



Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000.  He is the instructor for CSC’s qigong classes in the parks.  Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and at Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m.  Free to all those affected by cancer.  Call 310-314-2555.



 

 

 

 

 

This is an incredibly important moment in the history of cancer treatment, and we appear to be at an inflection point in terms of understanding the multitude of diseases we refer to collectively as cancer. A good deal of the excitement has to do with scientific breakthroughs in new imaging refinements, a greater understanding of genetics and the merging of math, chemistry, biology and physics. Young scientists aren’t staying in one discipline any more, instead they take up careers such as, “computational biologist,” and collaborate across disciplines.

But the other area of enormous progress, which is emerging as we speak, is the voice of the patient—our voice. As medicine becomes more collaborative, as we access our own information on the web and through other sources, and as we start talking to EACH OTHER and acquiring a collective intelligence, we have within our grasp the tools to take the entire enterprise to a whole different level.

This is not merely consistent with the mission of the Cancer Support Community—it IS the mission: that by becoming an active participant in your fight for recovery, along with your healthcare team, you’ll have a better quality of life.

One thing that’s important to keep in mind is that THIS IS A NICE PROBLEM TO HAVE—because by definition, having chemo brain is an indication that you’re alive. This is not a small victory, considering how many of us are here tonight despite having illnesses that not so long ago were characterized as “invariably fatal.” What a luxury, at one level, to have the focus shift from “how do I stay alive” to “how do I have a good quality of life?”

Michael’s Tips and Tricks to Recover Your Life

Even though these tips and tricks are divided into categories, there are actually no real divisions. When you go to a support group, for example, you acquire important and relevant medical information about your illness. When you go to an exercise class, you get support from the other class members and improve your cognition. When you meditate, you gain calmness and increase your focus. And so on.

If I had to limit myself to one sentence of advice, I’d be hard-pressed. But here goes: pay close, moment-to-moment nonjudgmental attention to what’s happening in you and around you, get and stay healthy, get support, claim your strengths without obsessing about what you perceive as your failings, and be grateful and peaceful whenever you can manage it.

I highly encourage you to seek out people to support you in the process, people who have gone through what you’re going through—their advice and support is invaluable. If your illness is so obscure or rare that you can’t find other survivors locally, use the Internet to locate others—just about every disease has its own community at this point. That’s how you’re going to find the right treatments and right doctors—the good doctors get better results.

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT FROM MICHAEL: TECHNIQUES TO BUILD COGNITION!

CSC’s Brain Tumor Group—for patients & family members—meets the 1^st and 3^rd Monday of each month from 7-9pm.  No RSVP required.  1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 100, LA, CA 90025.  310-314-2555.  CSC validates parking.  This blog originally from 'Your Brain After Chemo'  http://www.yourbrainafterchemo.blogspot.com/