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happiness
June 2006 
Thanks ROb
Maile
Reading ROb's blog is a joy, always, but yesterday, something he said got me thinking about the last several years of my life. For nearly a decade now I've been dealing with digestive problems, and I've gone to zillions of doctors and therapists, tried zillions of diets, herbs, exercises, etc. I entered each with the hope that I'd be cured, and I exited most in complete frustration.
Some worked some. None worked fully. I still have digestive discomfort, and I'm still working to alleviate it (my latest trick is trying to accept it so it'll just go away on its own--as you can see, my mind's not quite there yet), but yesterday, ROb was talking about speaking with a different voice, including speaking, essentially, from his gut, and I realized I've been doing this for a while now, in a subtle way. This inner voice of pain and ease in my gut is what's led me to veganism, to meditation, to Naikan, to zaadz.
I've been struggling against it all these years, and suddenly it revealed itself as my teacher. Perhaps others could have told me that years ago (they didn't, or I didn't hear them), but the news to me was somewhat mind-blowing. So thanks, stomach pain, for helping shape my happiness. And thanks, ROb, for helping me realize that truth.
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great insight – and nicely said
a wise teacher told me early on that our greatest weakest can become our greatest ally – but it's hard to actually learn that lesson as clearly as you say it here
peace,
Bill
Righton, Maile! I'm not sure exactly how I helped, but glad that something I said could spark a bit'a insight :) :)
Speaking of interestingness and the stomache…have you heard anything about the “second brain” research that's going on? They've found large clusters of neurons in the gut that they're calling the enteric nervous system. Apparently it uses the same neurotransmitters as the brain, and could be where “gut feeligns” and such originate from! Here's a link:
http://www.aikidoaus.com.au/dojo/docs/2nd_braina.htm
There are two books out on the topic by the same author that I can find.. I have The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking Understanding… by Michael Gershon. It's really really dry and quite medical; i haven't been able to get through it yet. Apparently he has a second book that sounds less technical, but apparently might be a little fluffy.
Maybe it'll help ya some more?
Hi ROb. Yes, I have read a little about the enteric nervous system, though I haven't checked out those books. Thanks for the link.
IBS is no fun to deal with-tiring and frustrating to say the least…I've had to truly learn to let things go-to speak from the solar plexus and to open the heart chakra-breathing and praying and not eating anything that resembles junk-the summer heat here doesn't help either… But I know somehow i'll grow through this…
Kati