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Check out this interview I did on The Raw and Wild Hearts Podcast! We talk about how to strengthen your immune system, keep infections mild, and manage the psychological, emotional, and spiritual implications and opportunities presented by the Coronavirus pandemic.
I did this interview with an an aim to share my knowledge about how all of us can increase our personal levels of sanity and physical health in the throes of this pandemic.
Please share this with anyone you know who might benefit, and feel free to add your questions and comments below ... I'd absolutely love to hear from you.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
[post_title] => Empower Your Health during Coronavirus ... and Always. (audio cast)
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[post_date] => 2021-11-10 19:45:30
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What do you know about hormesis? It’s the phenomenon that (kind of) explains the expression “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Technically, hormesis refers to biological processes in which a certain amount of exposure to a stress or toxin stimulates a favorable response, even when other amounts are deadly. For instance, while a high dose of radiation is often fatal, small doses have in some cases been shown to stimulate a positive adaptation leading to lower than average rates of cancer. A hormetic response to certain adverse influences sometimes leads to an evolution.
Last week I wrote about suffering and our complicated relationship with it. Perhaps we could see it as a hormetic relationship. In low to moderate doses, suffering is purely degrading. We tolerate it but it erodes our presence, our performance, and our patience. In extreme doses it kills us. But sometimes there’s a sweet spot in between where it’s bad enough that it can’t be tolerated in the usual way, something cracks open, and a breakthrough occurs.
One of the key ingredients in a favorable response to suffering is consciousness. I could never say it as well as Eckhart Tolle, so here’s a quote (slightly abridged) from his book, A New Earth:
Humanity is destined to go beyond suffering, but not in the way the ego thinks. One of the ego’s many erroneous assumptions is “I should not have to suffer.” That thought itself lies at the root of suffering. Suffering has a noble purpose: the evolution of consciousness and the burning up of the ego. As long as you resist suffering, it is a slow process. When you accept suffering, however, there is an acceleration of that process which is brought about by the fact that you suffer consciously. In the midst of conscious suffering, there is already the transmutation. The fire of suffering becomes the light of consciousness. The truth is that you need to say yes to suffering before you can transcend it.
Suffering isn’t intrinsically useful or noble. When we suffer “unconsciously” – resisting it and turning away from it – it just becomes part of the tragic degradation of life that Buddhism speaks to when it says the nature of the world is to suffer (dukkha). Bringing consciousness, acceptance, and curiosity to it makes it something entirely different.
In her book, Loving What Is, Byron Katie shares an exchange she had with a client who is incessantly angry at big corporations that pollute the planet. On examining the client’s psychology, we see that she is conducting a campaign of violence against these corporations and their faceless leaders in her mind. Katie asks the client if this suffering is necessary in order to feel that she’s doing something about the situation. Through some digging they get down to a troublesome belief at the heart of it: If I don’t suffer, I won’t care.
This is a big one for many of us. Is it true? If we didn’t suffer would we be complacent? Is it suffering that makes us care to be productive or helpful?
This is a question that can only be answered for oneself.
I believe we have a natural, transpersonal inclination toward serving, loving, and awakening. It doesn’t need to be prompted by suffering. But as we see, it’s common for humans to stifle or undermine this inclination. And so, suffering, it turns out, may sometimes be what gets us to recognize it and prioritize it.
When you meet suffering consciously, you may find that it dissolves. You may find that it’s been perpetuated by untrue beliefs, like “I should suffer for my sins,” or “I don’t deserve to be happy.” You may find that the suffering is generated by a part of you that’s just trying to get you to feel. You may find that it’s trying to draw your attention to something, to show you there’s a better, freer way to operate. You may find that the suffering is coming from the last part of you that’s afraid to embody your power, and that with trust it disappears. You may find that the suffering is the feeling that arises from being afraid of suffering. You may find that the suffering is actually an invitation to pass through a gate to a new way of being.
The only way to know is to visit with it. There's nothing in any book, no teaching from any guru that lets you bypass the need to directly encounter what's stirring in YOU.
I always love to hear what you think of these “deep” ideas, and hope that we can make such depth part of our everyday conversations and experiences.
Be well,
Peter
[post_title] => The Gift Inside Our Pain
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Even if you’re not in the medical world like me, you probably still hear a lot about the COVID vaccine. There are people with very strong feelings for and against it, and lots of folks somewhere in the middle. Since I’m naturally drawn to gather as much information as possible in an effort to discern the truth, I almost always end up in the middle.
This article isn’t actually about COVID but something it can teach us about human psychology: the ego likes to align itself with positions. The more polarized we get, the stronger the egoic structure becomes. But having a fixed point of view also entails narrowing our vision so that we don’t encounter any data that would make us wrong.
One of the arguments I hear from opponents of the vaccine is, “Pharmaceutical companies are evil. They only care about money.” The logic behind the argument would seem to be something like: “Because they stand to make zillions of dollars on this, they must therefore be motived entirely by money. Therefore, they don’t care about whether they hurt people. And therefore, they are evil.”
There are several logical errors here. I point it out not because I have any particular fondness for pharmaceutical companies – indeed, drugs and their makers are definitely a mixed bag – but because it’s a good example of troublesome thinking that ends up becoming a double-edged sword for many.
There’s plenty in those pharmaceutical statements that a logician could take issue with, but I want to specifically look at this idea: wanting to make lots of money and wanting to help people are mutually exclusive. Isn’t it possible that both can be true?
I see it all the time – good people doing good work making good money. If we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot, it’s worth unearthing the scornful mentality that a desire for money – even a lot of money – implies selfish or negative intentions.
With regard to the pharmaceutical industry, my guess is that most people hear stories of price gouging, side effects, and political corruption and develop a position without seeing much of the positive side: a bunch of brilliant, compassionate geeks who find it incredibly gratifying to study diseases and develop cures. It’s easier for me to have perspective because some of these scientists are among my oldest friends. They have husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, and kids. They’re well paid and they genuinely want to help humankind. They also want to get back safely to normal life like the rest of us.
When I was a young practitioner working at a clinic in downtown Portland for street youth, I was surprised one day to hear that the clinic had just received a $1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It made a huge difference in the clinic’s ability to serve this challenged population. “Sure, that’s seems generous,” you might say, “but it’s just a drop in the bucket to Gates!” That may be true, but a million bucks is a million bucks. How many of us are in a position to make such a difference in the world – especially if we oppose wealth because we believe it’s antithetical to our values?
What I’ve taken a very roundabout way of getting to is that I believe it’s fully possible to earn money doing work that’s aligned with our values. Further, if we want to achieve large scale change we’ll need more conscientious, community-oriented people with wealth to direct toward these good works.
Our own desire for positive change is the driving force behind our non-profit Well Life Foundation and the Dragontree Coaching Program. We want to help put money in the hands of people with big hearts. Most participants in our coaching program have been individuals looking to earn a good income in a private coaching practice, making a measurable difference in others’ lives. Some have used their coaching skills to run charitable organizations. A handful have been employed in corporations and chose to go through our training in order to be better equipped to transform the corporate environment – ultimately helping the entire staff to feel more purposeful and connected to the fundamental values they’re advancing.
As the next enrollment period for the Coaching Program approaches, I can’t help but feel proud of how much love went into this training and of the incredible individuals we’ve had the honor to teach. If you’ve ever thought, “I think I could help people,” I agree with you! Check out our program if you’re interested.
Be well,
Peter
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Check out this interview I did on The Raw and Wild Hearts Podcast! We talk about how to strengthen your immune system, keep infections mild, and manage the psychological, emotional, and spiritual implications and opportunities presented by the Coronavirus pandemic.
I did this interview with an an aim to share my knowledge about how all of us can increase our personal levels of sanity and physical health in the throes of this pandemic.
Please share this with anyone you know who might benefit, and feel free to add your questions and comments below ... I'd absolutely love to hear from you.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
[post_title] => Empower Your Health during Coronavirus ... and Always. (audio cast)
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