As you know, if you have read some of these blogs, I have had Type 1 diabetes since age 14. I am now 45. I believe I am in the process of healing from the disease. Notice I did not say I am curing myself. A cure is coming and people are working on a cure. I have realized that it is my role, my responsibility to heal not to cure. This perspective has sent me down a few roads I would like to share in this post. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune deficiency disease. The immune system is designed to attack invaders. The deficiency is that it somehow decided that the cells that produce insulin are bad and therefore killed them off and continues to kill them off. As I understand it this is one of the problems with stem cell implants. The immune system still sees the insulin producing cells as foreign invaders and proceeds to attack and rid them from the body. The result is catastrophic; complete system failure. Thanks to medical science the path of curing disease has been established and continues to progress. Injectable insulin allows the body to survive and blood glucose testing allows us to gain good control. But why? Why has the immune system wrongly identified these cells for termination? I know that there are some medical explanations and genetic faults that perhaps allow it but why? The answer to why is what has driven my healing process and I have a few clues.1. I have concluded that there is part of me that does not want to survive in this form, at this time. 2. I have concluded that there is an issue of addiction. Think about it. We need to inject, get our “fix” or be “hooked” to a pump. 3. There is an issue of balance. The result of the disease is an imbalance of a critical system in the body and the means to survive involves an ongoing balancing act.The cure will come only when the healing has begun.
Assumptions
If you question your results then check your assumptions. I read this sentence in a book written by Ayn Rand called Atlas Shrugged. This is a big book. It takes a long time to read. I highly recommend it. The point is that assumptions are the building blocks of context. And context is, arguably, the most important factor in what determines one’s reality. Perceived reality (is there any other kind?) is a result. In fact, the culmination of everyone’s perceived reality results in LIFE. What are assumptions? To assume means to take for granted. An assumption is an unconscious and sometimes a conscious belief. A belief is an acceptance of certain things being true or real. Faith is an unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence. Sure, I know what some of you are thinking right now. You are thinking that your assumptions are perhaps a belief but you are not willing to include the word faith in this discussion. You believe that your assumptions are based on proof and evidence. And you are right to a degree. Some of your assumptions are based on proof and evidence. Or at least they are based on enough proof and/or evidence for you to accept them as true and reliable. I challenge you to keep an open mind. I would submit, at this point, that faith is the true foundation of all belief and, therefore, the foundation of all assumptions. What do you think?
Diabetes Support Group Meeting
I went to an Adult Diabetes Support Group Meeting the other day. It was the first time I have been to a support group meeting for diabetes. There were about 12 people there including three young children that were brought by one of the participants. THe meeting lasted for 3 hours. Most of us were on the pump. There was a group facilitator and she was not a diabetic. I have been developing ideas on how to help others with diabetes and the meeting confirmed to me that there is a need out there. Everyone of us was at a different place. And everyone us is at a different place with respect to the handling of diabetes in our life. Diabetes is not a disease that can be dealt with separate or apart from dealing with oneself. The facilitator of the group used a visual in the group that I had been writing about. “Put your mask on first before assisting others.” Instructions we hear before taking off in a plane. It is especially true with diabetes. Forget about it! If you don’t handle your shit first you are screwed in this game. In the meantime I saw some that were coasting….Ok, don;t blame them but let’s go …………As for me….I am perfect of course….just perfect. Hope someone reads this..
Faith
The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen….(Heb II, 11:1). Faith is the lynchpin that connects desire to fullfillment. A charged word for sure. The Kabbalists identify the enemy in this life as Doubt. It’s opposite is certainty. Faith is the faculty each of has to increase our level of certainty. Acquiring Type 1 diabetes knocks certainty out of us like getting the wind knocked out of you. The path back to faith requires patience and perserverance.
Confront, Understand, Internalize, Master and Triumph; A Step by step perspective in dealing with Type 1 Diabetes
I have introduced in prior writings a five step process that I have used in assessing and developing systems and procedures and the associated training protocols. I would like to expand on that here and also offer a few different perspectives from which to understand it. My primary objective is to communicate the reality of the challenge that faces those of us who have Type 1 Diabetes and to put forward a perspective and a process to achieve positive results.
The 5 steps are:
Step 1: Objective
Identify and state primary objective. What is it you want to accomplish or manifest? What does the outcome look like? It should be, in the end, a written statement that is specific, time bounded and measurable.
Step 2: Functions/Ingredients
The second step is to identify and prioritize the ingredients or functions involved in accomplishing the objective. This step is a brainstorming exercise followed by a ranking from most important to least important. What are the components involved? Which ones are more important?
Step 3: Systems and Procedures
In this step it is time to create a system that most effectively accomplishes the functions we identified in step 2. This is the creative step. How do I want to go about this? How do I integrate the tasks so that I am doing it in an effective way? What procedures do I want to put in place?
Step 4: Implementation
Step 4 is the implementation step. We work the system that we created. Training is involved here as well as action steps. What do I need to do? How do I do it? What should be my practice?
Step 5: Managing Outcomes
As a result of employing steps 1 through 4 we will have achieved outcomes. Step 5 is about managing these outcomes. How do we measure them? Am I getting the results I want? How do I enjoy the results I get? What are these results telling me?
The 5 steps are a step-by-step process but it is by no means linear. Instead it is more cyclical. Once we have reached step 5 and assessed our outcomes then it is time to go back and re-commit to the primary goals, explore for unseen or now more important functions or ingredients that we may have missed, alter systems and procedures, and evaluate our implementation strategies.
This 5 step process was born from what I have learned over the years as a systems developer and trainer. One of the most profound things I came in contact with is something called the Growth Cycle. The 5 step process mirrors the growth cycle. What is interesting, at least to me, is that many of my studies in metaphysics, religion and spirituality have similar tenets running through all of them. They all in one way or another refer to the cycle of growth from the seed level to the manifestation level. Christianity and Judaism reference the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. The Buddha sat under a tree and contemplated the roots of suffering. Continue reading Confront, Understand, Internalize, Master and Triumph; A Step by step perspective in dealing with Type 1 Diabetes