The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

The Inside Press

Be a Forward Thinker…and NOT Part of the Herd

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ben-and-debbieBy Ben and Debbie Lieberman

In the 70’s, smoking two packs of cigarettes a day was common. In the 80’s, driving drunk was something to joke around about. While we are at it, nobody wore safety belts in cars, either. Just because “everyone was doing it,” did not make the behavior less dangerous or less moronic. We can all be pretty stubborn and sometimes we need a good wake up call.

Now look at driving with a Smartphone. The gigantic number of people absorbed and dependent on this relatively new and portable technology suggests the ramifications of this current distracted driving phenomenon will be even more dramatic than the above examples.

The addictive need to be connected at all times is your own prerogative, until you are navigating a car and converting that vehicle into a two-ton missile. FYI–like cigarette companies in the past, technology companies today are not only dismissing the warning signs but are going full speed ahead with technology packages in cars that fufill your need to stay connected. I would argue, an automobile is meant to take us from “Point-A to Point-B” and confusing that with business or entertaining ourselves is getting people killed.

The lesson learned from cigarettes, seatbelts and DWI is that behavior can change. I believe that distracted driving behavior will change eventually, but like cigarettes and DWI’s, I worry about all the damage that will be done as we travel up this learning curve.

I can say with a very clear conscious, as someone who doesn’t view my phone while driving… that I haven’t missed a party and I haven’t gone broke. I manage just fine to find times away from the steering wheel to get everything done. Some might disagree with the need to relinquish the devices, but to me, it seems like a pretty minor adjustment considering the downside risk. I guess the question I would like to ask the busy multi-taskers with existences more important than mine: How (or why) is your agenda more important than someone else’s life?

There are many statistics confirming that distracted driving impairments are equal to, or greater than drunk driving. But it doesn’t take an academic study to prove that if you take your eyes off the road, you are more likely to crash. This should register with our common sense. Let’s all rise above the herd. Let’s be forward thinkers.

Debbie and Ben Lieberman, Chappaqua residents for the last 20 years, are the founders of DORCs (Distracted Operators Risk Casualties) together with Deborah Becker. DORCS is an advocacy group committed to education, legislation and enforcement in efforts to combat distracted driving (the way MADD fought drinking and driving). Ben and Debbie are also the founders of Evans Team, which organizes fun, community fundraising events in memory of their son Evan. For more information, please visit evansteamny.com

Harvard U. Buddhist Chaplain to Lead Teachings in Chappaqua

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Lama Migmar Tseten

 Lama Migmar Tseten – Tara Empowerment and Teachings in Chappaqua

Lama Migmar Tseten, a Buddhist Chaplain at Harvard University and founder of the Sakya School of Buddhist Studies and Mangalam Studio in Harvard Square, will lead a weekend workshop in Chappaqua, including Meditation, Tara Empowerment, Transmission, Mindfulness teachings and discussion.  Come and receive a deeper understanding of the dharma. No prior Buddhist knowledge or experience required. All will benefit from his insight. This is a wonderful, unique and special opportunity as it is the first time Lama Migmar has come to our area! And, in this day and age, the practices of mindfulness and compassion are a needed gift to our communities!

Dates: September 20th and 21st, 2014

Times: Saturday 12-5 Tara Empowerment, Sunday 10-12 Meditation, & 1-3 Teachings on Mindfulness
Where: This event will be held at a private residence in Chappaqua, seating is limited, reserve space early! Participants are asked to please email dlauter@me.com for location details or visit Tara Hudson Valley face book page for further event details, https://www.facebook.com/tarahudsonvalley

Registration: $100 includes both days, or $50 Tara Empowerment, $25 Meditation,

$25 Teachings on Mindfulness, reserve space & register by email: dlauter@me.com,

or call cell 631-365-3803

Lama Migmar Tseten has been serving Harvard as a Buddhist Chaplain since 1997. He is Founder of the Sakya School for Buddhist Studies and Director of Mangalam Studio. He received both a traditional and a contemporary education in India, graduating with an Acharya degree in 1979 from Tibetan Institute of Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India, and with first position every nine years among four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He was awarded a medal for academic excellence, by His Holiness The Dalai Lama. He was also recognized as Khenpo for his scholarship and service to the Dharma by His Holiness Sakya Trizin.
Lama Migmar served as the head of Sakya Center in Rajpur, India, and the Sakya Monastery in Puruwalla, India, from 1981 to 1989, taking care of the well being of several hundred monastic residents. During this time he reintroduced the original form of the geshe educational system of Tibet, with degrees from kazhipa up to the rabjampa degree, with a curriculum that included all of the eighteen major texts, which are known as the Dragchen Chogyed.

Additionally, Lama Migmar supervised the editing and publication of over 50 rare volumes of Sakya literature including the 31 volumes of Sakya Lamdre and the rare Golden Manuscripts of the Five Founding Masters of Sakya. He founded Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, MA in 1990. Lama Migmar leads retreats at Buddhist centers throughout North America and Europe.

Tara Hudson Valley: Tara Hudson Valley, located in Chappaqua, NY, is a new Dharma practice group, under the direction of Lama Migmar Tseten, dedicated to serving Westchester County, Western CT, NYC and surrounding areas. Continue practicing Green Tara and Medicine Buddha with us, as well as wonderful meditation and mindfulness studies. For more information on upcoming meditation events and dharma festivals please send message or contact email: dlauter@me.com, cell (631) 365-3803. Local coordinators are Daniel Lauter and Donna Soszynski-Lauter. We welcome your help and attendance! We do not profit from this event. All proceeds go toward his expenses in coming here and as fund raising for the Sakya School of Buddhist Studies to help create more events like this in our Westchester, Western CT and NY Metro Areas. May all beings benefit!

Green Tara: Green Tara represents ultimate enlightenment, the wisdom manifestation of compassion, awakening of the Buddha nature within us and overcoming fear. The gentle and heartfelt Bodhisattva Tarawas born from the tears of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva ofcompassion. She offers us a hand to lift us up to a mountain ofenlightenment qualities. Tara belongs to the Karma family ofunobstructed compassionate activity, symbolized by her greencolor and is the Wisdom Consort of the Transcendental BuddhaAmogasiddhi. In a previous eon, in the presence of the BuddhaNga Dra, the Beat of the Drum, she took the vow to onlyincarnate in female form to ceaselessly protect beings from thefears of samsaric life and to guide them upon the path ofenlightenment. She is known as the Swift One, due to herimmediate response to those who request her aid. Tara is often called the Shooting Star! She is the mother of the Buddhas of the past, present and future; the Great mother, the Prajnaparamita; the matrix of ultimate truth itself, Shunyata. She sits on a lotus flower with her left leg resting on her right thigh and her right leg steps down gracefully in front of her. Her left hand is held in front of her heart with palm outward, thumb and ring finger touching so the other three fingers point upwards in the mudra of granting protection. Her right hand rests on her right knee with the palm facing upward in the mudra of generosity.

 

Everybody Look What’s Going Down

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By Janine Crowley Haynes

I’ve been sitting on this for a week now. Along with many others, my heart broke when I heard the news of Robin Williams’ suicide. There are countless thoughts swirling around in my head, and the attempt to capture these thoughts and translate them into coherent sentences, I find incredibly difficult. Like most of us, I never knew Robin personally, yet his talent, humor, and genius reached me through his countless performances.

Robin’s internal struggle and suicide has unearthed in me the pain and guilt of my own suicide attempt 10 years ago. In some strange way, these emotions resurfacing in me is a good thing. I need reminding that I’m just one out of every four Americans battling the debilitating symptoms of mental illness. Yet, as a society, we’re still not getting it. With veterans alone, 22 take their own lives every day.[1] That’s a suicide every 65 minutes. Now that’s just too insane to ignore. It’s time for everybody to stop and look what’s going down.

It’s difficult to wrap our brains around the concept of mental illness being a “real” diagnosis, but the brain is an organ just like any other–when it’s not working right, it exhibits symptoms. To further complicate this discussion, Robin’s family revealed he was also dealing with the early signs of Parkinson’s Disease. To be honest, when I heard this, a part of me felt..well there goes the focus off mental illness and on to Parkinson’s. Although, Robin struggled with depression and addiction for a good chunk of his life, it’s easier for us to process the unfathomable act of suicide by contributing it to receiving the grim diagnosis of Parkinson’s.

There are so many facets and triggers that spur on mental illness. It should be of no surprise, but rather understood more fully, that Parkinson’s and/or other ailments like heart disease can also cause chemical imbalances in the brain. Why is it so hard for us to grasp the concept that our brains are wired into the rest of our organs and our bodies as a whole? The brain is one of the most complicated organs and the least understood. Trying to make sense of how the brain works on a biological, chemical, and emotional level is no small task. However, I’m not a doctor and won’t ramble on about things I know little of.

What I do know about is my personal experience and the aftermath of my suicide attempt. I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder for almost 20 years. I struggled for 10 years, going in and out of a locked psychiatric facility, experiencing manic highs where I wouldn’t sleep or eat for weeks. Then I’d transition into the psychotic realm, seeing things and hearing things and being paranoid…and then the inevitable plunge into a severe depression where I took to my bed for weeks, even months. After 10 years of this hideous cycle, I gave up. I sank to a new low and swallowed a bunch of pills to end the torment. It was a rash decision made by an irrational mind. I even convinced myself that my family would be better off without me and my illness.

Robin’s suicide has flooded social media with an outpouring of love and sadness for his passing. It prompted many to upload his greatest performances, acknowledging the man whose creative genius was in a league of its own. I’ve seen encouraging posts raising awareness which makes me feel Robin’s final act has highlighted a topic sorely in need of discussion on a broader scale. On the other spectrum, I read posts commenting on how suicide is a selfish act and how could a man, who had everything, do such a thing. To me, all points are relevant as well as justifiable. I don’t take much offense to the latter comments. I’ve asked the same questions of myself. From the outside, I had it all. I had all the right boxes checked. Loving, supportive family? Check. Healthcare? Check. Top doctors and psychiatric hospital? Check and check. So…how could I conceivably have the audacity to attempt suicide?

My only answer is to try to explain to a healthy brain how a sick brain works. To the normal brain, suicide is an incomprehensible, irrational, selfish act. However, to the sick brain, it feels like the only logical solution. The only way to describe the utter despair one feels is that I couldn’t bear the torment one more second. I wanted out of my body. Now that my brain is considered to be somewhat healthy, even ten years later, I still have trouble rationalizing my suicide attempt. I still carry the guilt of that dark day.

This guilt will never go away. And, in my opinion, it shouldn’t. I’m one of the lucky ones. I survived. I need to remind myself of the pain I felt and caused others in my life. It reminds me to own my illness and not let it own me. It reminds me to be honest when I feel like I’m slipping and seek help right away…but I also need to remind myself of the positive lessons learned along the way. I’ve learned that the two components of love and support from family, friends, and community are vital to recovery. I am grateful for everyday I continue to maintain my sanity. I’ve learned there is hope. And…I remain committed (pun intended) to the cause of helping to dismantle this friggin stigma attached to mental illness so others may seek help without shame.

May Robin Williams rest in peace. May his family find comfort in the outpouring of love they’ve received from the masses, and may it be understood that his final act of despair was made with an ailing brain. Above all, may we remember him for all the joy and laughter he brought into our lives over the years, as well as the lessons he taught us with his final goodbye.

Janine Crowley Haynes, author of My Kind of Crazy: Living in a Bipolar World.  She serves on the development committee of Silver Hill Hospital–the same hospital where she was a patient many times over. janine

[1] Based on statistics released by the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Home Safety for People with Alzheimer’s

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lifeworks-picEnhancing home safety for an elderly person with Alzheimer’s can be a difficult task. Aside from taking care of installing handrails, re-arranging furniture and removing other obstacles from the home (as you might for any frail elderly), there are much less obvious hazards to someone losing their memory. An elderly person with Alzheimer’s, for example, may forget a knife is sharp or a stove is hot.

Many people who suffer from this disease will also have a tendency to wander and it doesn’t matter if 
it is day or night. An elderly person who lacks judgment, coordination and is disoriented wandering around their home in the dark of night can be heading toward 
disaster.

Vigilance is key plus these preventive measures:

  • Clear a home of tripping hazards such as electrical cords and loose rugs. Sharp corners of furniture can cause serious injuries during a fall.
  • Keep extra lighting in the house and contrasting floor colors at doorways, stairways and landings. This will make it much easier for someone to see the difference in the surface and possible changing heights and help prevent tripping and falling.
  • Install motion sensors and door alarms to help caregivers know when a elder moves around at night. Night lights in their bedroom and other traffic areas also ensure safe movement at night.
  • Lower hot water settings to avoid burns. An individual with Alzheimer’s may actual forget that the “H” on the faucet means hot or even forget what “hot” is.
  • Use child proof locks to block access to sharp or otherwise potentially hazardous appliances, objects, and substances. To protect from wandering, utilizing deadbolts or locks on gates can also be a good idea.

These are just some of things to consider when caring for a person with Alzheimer’s. In the event you feel you need assistance from a professional, there is help available.

Whether full-time, part-time or 24/7, LifeWorx’s non-medical professionals are fully screened to ensure that they have the proper skills and are trustworthy and reliable. This has led to a track record of satisfied clients who have used our Elder Care Experts in the New York Metro and Fairfield County areas. Contact us today to start reviewing candidates immediately.

Visit www.lifeworx.com or locally, please call 914 458-9933.