Health/Wellbeing

Contents:

Articles, Videos, Recommended Reading

We are not supposed to live forever, but we are supposed to be reasonably fit and free of illness into our seventh or eighth decade, when we should die by our own choosing and surrounded by those we love. That vision of success is opposed by threats, both random and contrived. Health is too often seen as an absence of disease, rather than as an attribute of life, one that requires social respect and self respect, fresh air and good nutrition, a balancing of the mysterious energies that animate and comprise us, and a feeling of usefulness. Industrial medicine is a response to life in factory farms, where it becomes so hard to meet our real needs that we limp from GP to pharmaceutical company, taxed at every step, and distracted ultimately to an unfulfilled death. We can do a lot better than that. - By Dr Julian Caldecott

Resources:
Videos:

Recommended Reading
A World Waiting to be Born – The Search for Civility By M Scott Peck
This book offers a needed prescription for our ailing society. Our illness is incivility: destructive patterns of self-absorption, callousness, manipulativeness, and materialism so ingrained in our routine behaviour that we do not recognise them. Using examples from his own life, case histories, and dramatic scenarios, Dr. Peck demonstrates how change can be effected and how we and our organizations can be restored to health.

One Little Boy - Dorothy Baruch
In this book Dorothy Baruch has presented as fiction the treatment of a seven-year-old boy and his parents. The author portrays the techniques employed in psychotherapy with children in layman’s terms. It presents a sincere picture of what goes on in the therapist's office in the treatment of a child. It also presents to the reader some of the basic psychoanalytic phenomena as they appear clinically in treatment: sibling rivalry, the Oedipal conflict, the child's fantasies about pregnancy, and its deeply repressed aggression.

The Road Less Travelled By M Scott Peck
Peck suggests ways in which confronting and resolving our problems, and suffering through the changes, can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding. Dr. Peck discusses the nature of loving relationships: how to recognise true compatibility, how to distinguish dependency from love, how to become one's own person and how to be a more sensitive parent.

Prolongevity II By Albert Rosenfeld
This book provides a report on the scientific discoveries now being made about aging and dying, and their promise of an extended human lifespan, without old age.

The Discovery of the Child By Maria Montessori
Describing the nature of the child and her method, Maria Montessori explains in this text her beliefs - that once the general principles of her method have been grasped, the parts dealing with its material application are extremely simple. Gone are teachers who wear out their lungs maintaining discipline, and verbal instruction is replaced by "material for development", which affords children the opportunity of teaching themselves by their own efforts. The teacher thus becomes a director of the children's own spontaneous work.

The Child in the Family By Maria Montessori
This book explains the Montessori philosophy. Emphasising that children from birth on should be treated with respect, the same respect we would have when we have a guest in the house. She talks about the newborn period and one wishes our kids doctors would read it, then she writes about kids and teens and their relationship with their parents.

Return From Death By Margot Grey
In Return from Death, Margot Grey, a psychologist of humanistic orientation who practices psychotherapy in London, presents a report of her research into near-death experiences (NDE’s) and a discussion of their significance. The book is divided in two parts. In Part One, Grey discusses NDE phenomenology; in Part Two, she discusses after-effects of the experience. 

Affluenza By Oliver James
There is currently an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world - an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses - that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. He asks: why do so many more people want what they haven't got and want to be someone they're not, despite being richer and freer from traditional restraints? And, in so doing, uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.

Earth Pilgrim By Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar draws on his personal experience of making pilgrimages and also his understanding of the spiritual traditions of both East and West. The book takes the form of conversations about both the inner and outer aspects of pilgrimage. If we want to tread the pilgrim’s path, we need to go beyond ideas of good and evil, and to be dedicated to our quest to our natural calling. We need to shed not only our unnecessary material possessions, but also our burdens of fear, anxiety, doubt and worry. Being on a pilgrimage doesn’t necessarily mean travelling from one place to another: it means a state of mind, a state of consciousness, a state of fearlessness.

Living Better, Living Longer By The Harvard Medical School
This report aims to help you avoid common health woes of aging, such as heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and sight and hearing disorders. Its pages pose and answer many questions. What supplements should you take and which ones might endanger you? How does exercise affect your body and mind? What steps can you take to stay sharp? When is memory loss normal and when is it a sign of more serious trouble? How can you stay socially connected and why is that important to your health?

Improving Memory By The Harvard Medical School
This report describes age-related changes and other causes of memory impairment — and how to distinguish between them. It also discusses the process of memory evaluation and research on how to prevent memory loss and improve memory. Finally, it addresses the all-important issue of maintaining good cardiovascular health as crucial to preventing cognitive decline.