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A Mighty Together EASY Game That Needs All Of Us To Work 🤗 👋 🎤🎶🎧 #DistractMe #MightyTogether #MentalHealth #CheckInWithMe

Simply remember or find/Google/ask Alexa or Siri……a line or part of a line from a song or a song title that was written for Empowering all of us.

You are welcome to add in even just one. This is easy because it is not even your words that you are adding in or articulating. The words have been given to us.

For example: I often think of this part of line from a song: “I am going to dance on broken glass.”

And this part song title, part of a line of the lyrics:
“Better Days are coming, if no one told you.”

And this longer one section of another great song:
“DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK THAT I COULD BE;
I'M THE ONE AT THE SAIL
I'M THE MASTER OF MY SEA.”

And this small section of a song that I hold close to my heart:
“Just remember who you are; how you were never one for folding; how you never liked the corner; how the dark don’t even know you.”

Let’s Go Big on this one.

Let’s make this a holiday gift you can give for free that could be exactly what Many others need Right Now.

This ties in with the image I chose for this because we are going to be taking inspiration from Christopher Reeve aka Superman in the 1978 film who famously said "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles".

So, I say YOU are a hero.

One of our Mighty family with a boatload of reasons to question this quote and anything, just a couple days ago, found, and in a way, smartly challenged my about 4 months old post with Christopher Reeve’s other famous quote “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.”

So, if you know anything about me, you know I accepted this challenge to help her and to help even more of us.

So I went to work for all of us— researching and drafting an impactful reply (and I can at times put hours into this work for all of us.)
Because YOU are worth fighting for.

So, I researched how he could say these profoundly optimistic and empowering statements when he, Christopher Reeve, a former role model to the world as Superman, was paralyzed from the neck down after a horse riding accident at age 42. His mother wanted doctors to remove his life support, because she thought that he wouldn’t want to live like this, but he fought back.

So the meaning to his quote about HOPE is: Hope, in this sense, is a decision. It is the most important decision we can make.

This choice of Hope also is not just wishful thinking, it has to be rooted in a Believing, it must be in the form of Optimism, and it must be held together by handing it over to a trust in ourselves, a trust in the universe having our back, to any form of spirituality that does not even need to be religion based faith.

Absolutely Right Now, All of Our Mighty Family Needs help with feeling Empowered to be Hopeful and Optimistic And YOU can be a hero and participate in this mission that is greater than all of us, greater than our own social anxieties, greater than our own fears and doubts, greater than our fatigue…

Whenever you see this post, especially through the rest of the entire holidays —All of them coming up for all denominations and through and past New Years…add in a line or part of a line from a song, or a song title, that was written for Empowering all of us. That was written to speak to all of us. To Connect All of Us.

GAME ON.

GAME FACE.

YOUR friend in this hard thing called life,
Dawn

#Depression #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #MajorDepressiveDisorder #PersistentDepressiveDisorder #MoodDisorders #Selfharm #Selfcare #Grief #ChildLoss #BipolarDisorder #Suicide #SuicidalThoughts #SuicidalIdeation #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #ChronicPain #ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigue #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #PTSD #Trauma #PostTraumaticStressDisorder #AlopeciaAreata #AutoimmuneThyroidDisease #CrohnsDisease #AdrenalInsufficiency #AutonomicDysfunction #Cancers #LymeDisease #Migraine #ParkinsonsDisease #MultipleSclerosis #RareDisease #ADHD #BipolarDepression #AnorexiaNervosa #EatingDisorders #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #POTS #AutismSpectrumDisorder #AspergersSyndrome #Addiction #CerebralPalsy #RheumatoidArthritis #Arthritis #Disability #AddisonsDisease #ChronicIllness #CysticFibrosis #DownSyndrome #Epilepsy #MyCondition #musictherapy #Music #Songs #MightyMusic #IfYouFeelHopeless #WarmWishes #Agoraphobia #SocialAnxiety

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Redefining Your Narrative - Motivation, Empowerment, and a Pep Talk from my heart.

Brene Brown, PhD was one of my first and most impactful teachers at the start of my healing journey and wow, did she get me so far because she is an Emotions Researcher —- she spent the past two decades studying Courage, Vulnerability, Shame, and Empathy.

I can’t recommend her enough to also empower you on your healing, growth, and evolving journey to wellbeing and moving you towards your full potential to the best version of your authentic self.

You can watch her videos on YouTube and you can find her transformative best-selling books, videos, and articles, and even resources like workbooks on her website Brené Brown

What I want to emphasize here is that you should never feel alone in your journey because there are so many thought leaders and experts in whatever it is you are struggling with or with what you want to get better at that have already walked the same path and figured out this complex, but not yours alone - human experience. Seek them out - Google them, search for them on YouTube— keep looking out for my posts and my conversations threads and replies to others where I keep giving out these free resources for all of what we need to better understand to thrive. You can always ask me too, and I will be happy to do what I can to help find the expert who can help you with Self-Empowerment. There is a very good chance that expert’s name or advice/wisdoms are already in my copious notes in my phone. I am a constant learner about life, emotions, psychology….and I take detailed notes so I have at my fingertips what I will need to thrive and to fill the gaps in my emotional intelligence and self-development—- all of the critical things to thrive in life empowered that many a therapist never shared with me.

I hope that Self-Empowerment becomes your new favorite term too.

And these critical terms that start with the word “Self”: Self-Regulation (includes emotion regulation and our own regulation of our physiology like our breath, and our heart rate); and Self-Awareness, and Self-Acceptance, and Self-Worth, and Self-Esteem, and Self-Love, Self-Compassion, Self-Efficacy, Self-Discipline, Self-Discovery, Self-Respect.
Am I missing any? Each one is of critical importance for all of us to master ourselves.

I never want you to feel alone, not seen, not validated, powerless, flawed, worthless, or any of that stuff because literally, to be very clear - it is b*llsh*t.

Please Don’t let those thoughts have any say to get the best of you, they are just thoughts - which are just mental events on autopilot, they are not facts -they do not hold any meaning unless we give it power and meaning.

Here is one of the very Motivational and Self-Empowerment talks by Brene Brown that I Especially hope that you will embrace to help you not just survive but thrive more through the difficult holidays right here For us not Against us.

“Part of redefining your narrative is deciding what role you want to play in your own story.

Are you the hero who rises against the odds?
Are you the creator who builds something beautiful from the rubble?

Or are you the person who remains stuck letting the past dictate the future?

The choice is yours.
And, it starts with a single decision that I Will Not Let My Pain Define Me.
I Will Let It Refine Me.

Your life is a story and every experience- both good and bad becomes a chapter in that story.

But here is the truth that many of us overlook— you are the author.

You have the power to decide how the story is told; how the events are interpreted; and what meaning you give to the things that happens to you.

Redefining your narrative is not about erasing the past or pretending it didn’t happen.
It’s about choosing to see it through a lens of growth, resilience, and possibility.

Often we get stuck in narratives that no longer serves us.
Perhaps you told yourself that a failure defines your worth; or maybe you adopted a story of victimhood where everything that went wrong is proof that life is unfair.

These narratives can feel real because they are rooted in genuine pain or disappointment, but just because they feel real doesn’t mean they have to remain the dominant story of your life.

Redefining your narrative starts with awareness. Ask yourself what story have I been telling about myself in my life. Is it a story of defeat, scarcity, or limitation?

Is it a story where someone else’s actions hold all of the power?

Once you identify the narrative that you have been carrying, you can begin to rewrite it.

*One of the most transformative ways to redefine your narrative is to shift your perspective on hardship.*

*Instead of viewing challenges as evidence of your inadequacy, consider them as chapters of growth.*

What did you learn from that relationship that didn’t work out?

What strength did you develop from that setback?

What doors opened after the one you wanted closed?

*When you redefine your narrative, you take ownership of your story.*

*This doesn’t mean ignoring the pain, or pretending everything was okay, it means looking at the past with compassion and choosing to see yourself not as a victim but as a survivor, a learner, and a person who is continually evolving.*

*It’s also important to remember that your narrative isn’t just shaped by what happens to you; it’s shaped by the meaning you assign to those events.*

Two people can go through similar experiences and come out with entirely different stories.

*One may see rejection as proof they’re not enough, while the other sees it as redirection towards something better — which meaning will you choose?*

With warm wishes,

You friend in this hard thing called life,

Dawn 🤗

#MentalHealth #MightyTogether #Mindfulness #CheerMeOn #CheckInWithMe #DistractMe #WarmWishes #IfYouFeelHopeless #Suicide #Selfharm #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #ChronicIllness #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Agoraphobia #Anxiety #Depression #MajorDepressiveDisorder #PersistentDepressiveDisorder #MoodDisorders #SocialAnxiety #Addiction #Disability #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PTSDSupportAndRecovery #PostTraumaticStressDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #EatingDisorders #AnorexiaNervosa #ADHD #Relationships #FamilyAndFriends #CerebralPalsy #AutismSpectrumDisorder #AspergersSyndrome #RareDisease #AlopeciaAreata #Cancers #ChronicFatigue #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MyCondition #MultipleSclerosis #AutonomicDysfunction #PTSD #Cancer #ParkinsonsDisease #Migraine #ChronicPain #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #POTS #CrohnsDisease #RheumatoidArthritis #Caregiving

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NON-JUDGEMENT: 3rd of 9 Foundational Attitudes of Mindfulness As Part of Resilience

It is in the full definition of Mindfulness itself — we must remember that mindfulness is not just being in the present moment, it must be “awareness of the present moment Without Judgment.”

Or stated this way:

“Paying attention in a certain way -on purpose, in the present moment, Non-Judgmentally.”

Non-Judgment in itself, as well as, when utilized along with the other 9 attitudes of the mental wellness state of mindfulness that I discuss in this group, is a game-changer when put into practice.

There have been many articles and books written about the practice of Non-Judgment.

One of my original teachers of this is the very well-known Gabrielle (Gabby) Bernstein.

This is where I learned to utilize this transformative go-to short statement every time something arises in my mind that could be a wrong judgment and could cause all kinds of chaos for no reason:

“I choose to judge nothing that occurs.”

I am going to go in-depth about this here, because it is that important.

It even has helped me tremendously in my marriage which I am very proud to say, with my dedication to mindfulness as a new way of life, and with my emotional intelligence growth that I keep sharing with you, I have taught my husband how he needs to grow along with me, and due to my persistence to create a life that I want to live, our marriage going on 15 years has evolved into what I shaped it into, based on my values, and my mental health needs. And he is a tough one, to say the very least. He never would have grown at all otherwise.

Non-Judgement of myself too has been a game-changer for me to learn one of the biggest lessons of all of life that I was not taught growing up— Self-Love.

And that my friends, is something we cannot afford to not master, so I will dedicate another post at another time to that Key to Everything.

Every time the impulse to decide whether something is good, bad, right, wrong, ugly or pretty arises, stop and say, “I choose to judge nothing that occurs.”

Everytime you see someone and think “they should” or “they shouldn’t”, “that’s good” or “that’s bad”, “she’s right” or “she’s wrong”, instead, just observe and don’t comment to yourself or others. Go cold turkey and stop judging totally for a period of time. Do a judgment detox.

A judgment detox means giving up judgment of all things. Judgment of self, others, the world, things that happen or don’t happen.

Choose to say these things to yourself instead:
“Today I choose to accept all that is for what it is – nothing more, nothing less.” You can also say to yourself daily -“Judging serves no purpose”.

You may find that you will have more peace. You may find that you feel less anxious because you are not having to figure everything out. You may find that you start observing life more and trusting more.

How much of your time and energy is taken up judging what is right, wrong, good or bad for everybody and everything? How much of your time today do you spend trying to predict the future? “That would just be terrible” or “If I do this, then I’ll be miserable.”
Or “If I do this it will make me happy”.

How would your life be different if you stopped judging and evaluating everyone and everything? Think about it. We evaluate everything. We put a value on everything. We are assigning meaning to things.

We spend a lot of time analyzing, criticizing, and pretending we know what’s good/bad, right/wrong, and on and on and on.

The real danger lies in becoming attached to our judgments.
Believing you really know what’s right or wrong, especially for someone else, can be very hurtful and damaging.
But also, we can’t assign meaning to something someone does because we might not be looking at the real reasons why they do it or don’t do it, that could have nothing to do with us intentionally.

If you want to dive into this deeper, you can read one Gabrielle Bernstein’s New York Times Bestsellers:“Judgment Detox: Release the beliefs that hold you back from living a better life.”

If you are like me and love extracting all of the teachings within the best article, here’s her articles website link: Gabby Bernstein Blog Articles | Informative Articles From Gabby

The critical ways I learned to apply non-judgement to my marriage and to my life choices I also learned from Kathy Murphy, PhD in her Article “Today I Will Judge Nothing.”

She discussed how our judgments have ruined many a good relationship.

The problem is we think we do know. Then we become limited by our perceptions and beliefs. We become bound by what we think we know and may be missing some of the greatest opportunities and lessons of our lives.

In addition, how does one design a life without making judgments, without deciding what’s good or bad or what’s right or wrong? We do need to be able to make choices for our lives, but maybe we need some new strategies for making these decisions. We can recognize and admit that all we really have are our preferences, our desires, our opinions, and our best guesses. With this information we discern what would be our best choice for today giving credence to the reality that “you never really know” how it will turn out. It’s a subtle yet powerful shift to change our language from what is right or wrong, good or bad to simply stating what we prefer.

Mindfulness Attitude of Non-Judging is cultivated by assuming the stance of an impartial witness to your own experience. To do this requires that you become aware of the constant stream of judging and reacting to inner and outer experiences that we are all normally caught up in, and learn to step back from it. When we begin practicing paying attention to the activity of our own mind, it is common to discover and be surprised by the fact that we are constantly generating judgments about our experience.

#MentalHealth #Mindfulness #MajorDepressiveDisorder #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Depression #Agoraphobia #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Addiction #ChronicIllness #ChronicFatigue #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #IfYouFeelHopeless #Cancers #AnorexiaNervosa #EatingDisorders #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #Fibromyalgia #Selfcare #Selfharm #Grief #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #Suicide #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PTSD #Trauma #RareDisease #SocialAnxiety #Fibromyalgia #Loneliness #Migraine #CerebralPalsy #MultipleSclerosis #ParkinsonsDisease #MoodDisorders #MotorDisorders #PersistentDepressiveDisorder #ADHD #Relationships #FamilyAndFriends

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Song Lyrics- Papa Roach -“Leave a Light On - Talk Away The Dark” plus a guide on how to have a real convo about mental health to share with others

Dry bones rattle in a lonely soul
Slipped and fell into a deep black hole
I can tell you're lost, I'm here for you
Wildfires burning you down to stone
Blind eyes, turning from a world so cold
A million miles apart, within my reach
It's not like me to worry
But when I see you fading in the dark
I'll leave a light on for you
Through the long nights, I will be right
There for you if you drift too far
I'll leave a light on for you, you, you
The rain comes following an endless drought
To wash away the remnants of all your doubt
I hope that you'll see me looking out…….”

Please 🙏 go to this link below for a Guide to having a Real Conversation about mental health and pass this on, share it with everyone and anyone that you need to be there for you, and they just don’t know how they can help you.

I have found out myself within the past year with an old friend of mine that she just needed my guidance on how she could be a better and supportive friend through my dark which is only a part, but still a part of who I genuinely am. And she realizes now that to be my friend is to know about all of me. And, she has actually become really great at giving me the support I need without me asking for it too. And, our friendship has grown stronger from the honesty and true empathy.

On their website in their real convo guide they start by saying this that people do not know and they get wrong — “you don’t need special training to have an open, authentic conversation about mental health – and often, just talking about it can be the first important step in understanding where someone is with their mental health.”

How to Start and Continue a Convo About Mental Health | AFSP

At the beginning of the song’s video there is silence with a black screen and these words in white:
“Suicide is a topic that hides in the shadows.
It’s Time we talk away the dark.
We can all play a role in keeping ourselves, and the people in our lives (and community) safe.
Let’s leave a light on for each other by learning how to Talk Away the dark.

The song’s royalties will directly benefit the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) for the rest of it’s existence. Suicide has impacted almost everyone and it’s so important to “Talk Away The Dark” and teach all how to have a conversation that could safe a life.

The lyrics also exist as a shoulder to lean on for those who feel alone in times of mental turmoil.

Frontman Jacoby Shaddix emphasized that mental health is not an individual struggle, but rather a serious issue that "affects all of us."

Finally, the critical message is starting to get out there that We All have a role in preventing suicide and supporting each other’s mental health.

#MightyMusic #Music #musictherapy #Songs #Lyrics #MentalHealth #Depression #Grief #Loneliness #Anxiety #Caregiving #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Trauma #BipolarDisorder #MajorDepressiveDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #ADHD #Addiction #AddictionRecovery #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #BipolarDepression #Disability #CerebralPalsy #RareDisease #Selfharm #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #MoodDisorders #MotorDisorders #ChronicFatigue #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #DepressiveDisorders #PersistentDepressiveDisorder #IfYouFeelHopeless #MightyTogether #AnorexiaNervosa #EatingDisorders #Fibromyalgia #ParkinsonsDisease #Migraine #Cancers #POTS #CheckInWithMe #FamilyAndFriends #Epilepsy #Autism #PanicAttacks #PanicDisorder

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Interviews with Scientists!

Hi Everyone! I'm new here. The patient committee I manage suggested I post this interview series here for interest and educational purposes. I'd love your feedback! Our goal is to reach a wider public/patient audience with this project! Happy watching and I hope you learn something learn! www.youtube.com/playlist #scicomm #ClinicalTrials #Research #StemCells #CardiovascularDisease #AlzheimersDisease #ParkinsonsDisease #Diabetes

Stem Cells from the Sofa

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Just three words

Three words that's all it took, three. And truth is they keep changing:
I am sorry
I am sorry for the sounds, that continue to disrupt your afternoon. I am sorry for the screams you may hear when I'm locked into a spasm. I am sorry for the grimace, it's not you, I swear. For my arm locking up, or outrageously moving from a tremor. And now it's become almost a ritual at this point, half-way through a grocery run I can feel my body do a jig with the cart. All the while lying point blank to my husband that I am fine. He sees the stressors, he knows I'm lying. But I hate that walk back, that feeling of defeat as I Igor-walk back out to the car. It's a wierd feeling of complete vulnerability of feeling like I arrived at school naked. And all I can see are people watching this wierd act of what once was an artist, a poet, a novelist. Well, I know they aren't really looking. And that I probably don't take up a miniscule of brain matter. But that anxiety is present all the time, everyday. Maybe I'm a narcissist.

I am sorry for that annoying scrape sound you might hear. That sound of shoe (or in my case slipper, cause sneakers can't easily slide) rubbing the asphalt of the parking lot. I promise, I hate it just as much as you do. It is the strangest feeling and extremely sobering to witness your self-decline. And since this has started I have slowly felt myself dwindle. The self I spent thirty-six years working on. What I once knew so well, completely altered and all I can do is watch/feel it happen. I am sorry for the bags under my eyes. I don't sleep through most nights. Something is always waking me up. Sometimes I will let the weight of my eyelids win and the sleep will fall over me like confetti or glitter. Sometimes I let the sleep win.

I feel guilty:
Three words that's all it took, I feel guilty for making my husband have to take so many extra steps just to meet me halfway. I feel guilty for tricking him, I am so different from when we first met. It's all been different since the symptoms started showing. But no matter when or where I am the soft assurance of his voice has never changed. He is continuously in my corner, fighting for me. I feel guilty for making my family worry, for getting angry at my mom because she refuses to believe. I can't blame her for pushing it to be something else, I'm her daughter. I feel guilty for causing my beautiful niece to hesitate in my presence. For exposing her to a spasm or tremor or an uncontrollable facial tic. I don't ever want to frighten or scare her.

I feel guilty for not taking advantage prior to this diagnosis. For not enjoying the smaller things as much. A good night of sleep, a walk, exercise, for when it came easier. There are so many other words I could use to describe this event, to describe the depression and confusion. But I'll use just three more right now:

I have Parkinson's.

#BipolarDepression #MentalHealth

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