Things I Wish I'd Known Earlier

Question: What is the most universally potent, scientifically tested and proven healing agent?

Answer: The placebo.

I mentioned the placebo effect in an earlier posting, but recently found a great article in Cosmos magazine by Ben Goldacre.

Here are a few interesting, if not downright amazing, things that have been discovered in scientifically run Placebo trials.

• Two placebo pills are more effective than one
• The color of placebo pills affects the outcome – eg. pink pills are more effective at maintaining concentration than blue ones.
• The form of the placebo has an effect on outcome – eg. capsules are more effective than pills as placebo sedatives
• The way the placebo is taken has an effect on outcome – eg. injections are more effective than pills
• The way the placebo is administered has an effect on outcome – eg. more elaborate acupuncture-like treatment is more effective at pain relief than taking pills
• Brand name placebos are more effective than placebos in plain or generic packaging
• More expensive placebos are more effective than cheaper ones
• Placebo operations (sham surgery) for knee pain and for angina are both effective treatments
• Having a pacemaker installed, but not switched on, improves heart function
• Being told that your current lifestyle is beneficial for your health actually improves your health and reduces your weight
• The doctor’s verbal affirmation about a treatment improves the outcome of that treatment on a patient
• The doctor’s own belief in a treatment improves the outcome of that treatment on a patient
• The doctor providing a diagnosis of a health problem improves the outcome for the patient even without any treatment being proscribed for it
• The suggestion that a treatment will help can result in a positive outcome, even when that treatment would normally be expected to seriously aggravate the symptoms
• Even when patients are informed that they are only receiving a placebo treatment, but it is supplied with words of cheer, their outcomes are improved
• Intelligence, skepticism or other character traits do not lessen the effects of placebos – everyone responds to placebos

The underlying thread of all this is a demonstration of just  how profoundly mental attitude affects our health and the healing process – both the attitude of the doctor and that of the patient.

If the true meaning of these facts were to be fully apprehended by the population at large, and acted on, our lives would surely all be deeply transformed for the better. But even if the true import remains elusive to most, you can still transform your own life in all manner of ways, simply by adopting the intention of taking a positive mental attitude to life in general.

Good luck! I know you can do it!

I will write more about this  in a future post.

"Relativity" by M.C.Esher

The biggest limitation to your enjoyment of life, your personal fulfilment and your peace of mind is nothing other than your very own set of preconceptions about life and your situation in it.

The reality of life is that there is nothing that can make us unhappy other than our own thoughts about, and resistance to, what we experience around us.

If you are unhappy, irritated, sad, angry, jealous, agitated, it is because you are holding on to a mental conception of how you think things ought to be, and dwelling in that unrealistic state rather than connecting with the truth, simplicity and immediacy of what is, right now.

Here is a challenge for you. Next time you notice yourself making a negative mental comment about yourself or your circumstances, stop and ask yourself whether or not that mental comment or perception is necessarily actually true. Look deeply, try to find the root of it – what may have generated that perception in you in the past, why it might have become a pattern of thought for you, whether you have challenged that attitude in yourself before.

Some examples?

• I’m no good at this.
• Life has been very hard on me.
• If only I could afford a nice place to live, I would be happy.

And some possible corresponding truths?

• I’ve always believed I was not good at this and have therefore never really tried, or given up without giving it a proper chance. In any case, what does “no good” mean – do I mean absolutely no good, or just relative to some other people, or am I just talking about other people’s opinions that I have adopted? Even by those standards, there may be others have have done it better, but no doubt also many others who have done it worse. Relative to at least one other person, I’m probably better. Maybe they could even learn something from me. Etc…
• No person ever has a totally hard or easy life. Many people whom I imagine have had an easy life in reality may have experienced many hardships that I just don’t know about. How can I say for sure that my life is harder than anyone else’s? Even if I know a lot about their life, and think that their circumstances make it easy, is it not possible that they have their own private inner torment, and that they in fact experience life as even harder than I have done? Etc…
• If I look back, I can remember thinking that I would be happy if only lots of different things had happened, and by now in fact some of them have happened. And yet I am probably no more or less happy than I was then. Actually I am sometimes happy now anyway, at least if I’m not thinking about wanting a nicer place to live. And who’s to say that even if I bought an expensive house, I would soon get used to it and then start noticing lots of little things that weren’t as good as I had imagined. Etc…

So even if you still think or feel that something is probably true, just the recognition that there is at least a small possibility that it may not be true is enough to begin the process of freeing yourself, and allowing yourself to experience the current moment a little more fully, with greater presence, greater joy.

And from that point on, it is simply a matter of rinsing and repeating, rinsing and repeating. Each time you notice and challenge your own preconceptions, their grip upon you becomes diminished. Even though some patterns of thought may be deeply embedded and ingrained, a continuing process of self-observation will eventually wash them away, and leave you freer, lighter, and more alive.

This isn’t so much a discursive blog post as it is a convenient place to leave a public record of my dealings with Telstra while trying to transfer from an Optus mobile plan to a Telstra pre-paid mobile account (in Australia).

1. I purchased prepaid Telstra mobile SIM (pre-assigned number XXXXXXXXXX).

2. 11th Aug 2009 – I activated this SIM by phone and requested transfer of my existing number YYYYYYYYYY (from Optus).

3. A few hours later the transferred number was working successfully with this SIM in my mobile.

4. Tried to register for online services to deal with prepaid account top-ups etc, but unable to do so – got error messages saying my mobile number wasn’t a valid Telstra pre-paid number. I tried both my existing number (YYY…), which got an error message saying the number was invalid, and the pre-assigned number (XXX…), which got an error message saying the system was experiencing problems and unable to process. Repeated process after weekend – same result.

5. 17th Aug 2009 – Spoke to Telstra by phone, was given an account number to use to register with (instead of mobile number) – then I completed online registration process.

6. However, online registration showed that I apparently have no prepaid mobile account.

7. 18th Aug 2009 – Spoke to Telstra by phone – was told I had account but was NOT a pre-paid account. Operator offered to switch account to prepaid, and said they had now done so.

8. However, online registration STILL showed that I apparently have no prepaid mobile account (even after waiting another 24hrs).

9. Came to conclusion that Telstra account number I was given (see item 5) must have been for an old Telstra account plan I had terminated about 2 years ago.

10. 20th Aug 2009 – Therefore tried to re-register for online services using my existing number YYYYYYYYYY (instead of the account number given by Telstra).

11. This number was now apparently recognised as valid (ie. no error message), but was then prompted for a PIN, which supposedly had been sent to my handset, although I had not actually received one. I did have a PIN that was provided to me verbally by Telstra (in item 5), but this was a 4 digit PIN and was rejected by the online process.

12. I therefore tried calling Telstra again (1258880) and was TWICE cut off before was able to speak to anyone. NB – Even though this is a number for dealing with customer problems, it is a paid number.

13. Having tweeted about this, was replied to by @bigpondteam, who offered to help by providing an online form to submit the problem. I submitted items 1 through 12 above.

14.  Mon 24th – no change, no further response from anyone, still not receiving a PIN when I try to register my number, so called Telstra again. Telstra rep suggested I try again several times, clear browser cache etc, then finally tried it herself at here end using my details, without success. Final answer from Telstra – wait 24 to 48 hrs and try again.

15. Thu 27th – no change, no further response from anyone, still not receiving a PIN when I try to register my number, so contacted Telstra by via online customer support form submission, re-iterating the above.

16. Sun 30th – on the off chance, tried to register for online services again. This time I got a message telling me I was already registered. Hurrah! I was then able to login, view my account details, recharge etc. PROBLEM FINALLY SOLVED.

I suspect that the crux of the problem here was the complexity of Telstra’s internal systems, and the likelihood of “knots” developing from any small kinks that might appear from slightly unusual circumstances. It was quite frustrating – especially due to the fact that they never contacted me back. Apart from the brief flirtation with @bigpondteam via twitter, it was all one way. I had to keep retrying and keep recontacting them, or else just give up, and I have no idea whether @bigpondteam’s intervention made any difference at all. But I was of course pleased that they at least apparently made an attempt.

Last Sunday I ran the Sydney City to Surf race – the largest footrace in the world with over 75,000 entrants. I’d been training for it effectively for more than year, after having had a couple of years off running due to an ankle problem, and deciding that this race would be my next big running challenge, if my ankle would only improve enough. And gratifyingly, it did.

It was a fabulous experience. Being part of such a large group of ambitious, motivated people, all with the same goal, all labouring hard together, in such beautifully crisp, sunny weather and along such a beautifully scenic harbourside and beachside route was quite moving.

For much of the course the main sound was the pattering of thousands of running shoe soled feet. Most of us were focused on our run, concentrating on maintaining just the right pace, sometimes weaving a little to avoid collisions as the odd contestants accelerated, slowed or weaved a little. But for brief period as we ran through Rose Bay, I turned my head to gaze at the sparkling bay waters beside the stream of determined and focused runners. What a joy to behold!

Based on my training times, I had expected to be able to run the 14km course in around 70 minutes, but was delighted to find, on the day, that I was able to run quite a lot faster than I thought I could. Although this would have been partly due to the lengthy preparation, during which I averaged about 40km per week running, I felt that it was also due in part to the momentum of the crowd on the day. I didn’t feel that I was running faster than usual, but more than I was being drawn along, almsot as if swimming in a river.

My results:

I also carried my iPhone in a arm-strap, and used the RunKeeper app to track the entire run. The full results, of my run including a map of the course, graph of speed and elevation and time splits, can be found here.

As is my habit, I also wore a heart rate monitor. Typically, even during hard training, my heart rate averages around 150bpm, peaking at 160 to 165bpm on the hills. But during the race, the average rate was 160bpm, peaking at 170bpm on “Heartbreak Hill” – the big rise that occurs between the 6 and 7km marks of the course. I have to admit that I did slow to a walk for 30s or so towards the top of the hill, feeling that I was at my limit. But apart from that the level of effort was constant throughout the race, and I feel as though I achieved the best result that I possibly could have done.

So where to from here? Well, Adelaide has a City to Bay race coming up in 6 weeks or so. I’m tempted to keep up the training momentum and give it a go. But if not, for any reason, then I’ll definitely be looking towards next year’s City to Surf in Sydney. It was truly an experience not to be missed! Highly recommended.

Last night I got to watch a preview of a new film about healing, called The Living Matrix. It is somewhat reminiscent of “What the Bleep Do We Know?” in its subject, although it is strictly a documentary.

Here are some of the more thought provoking items it presented or referred to.

• The power of intention and belief in healing has been illustrated repeatedly in medical trials of all kinds – via the placebo effect. And yet most people seem to just ignore or discount this, and continue to rely purely on chemical remedies, many of which are only partly effective anyway, or may have unwanted side-effects. There are many stories of dramatic and seemingly miraculous recoveries by people who changed their mental and emotional attitude when drugs have failed.
• Reputable research shows that people start responding emotionally to images before they actually see them. This is prime skeptic fodder, but there is no obvious traditional explanation for these results.
• Living things, including human beings, emit small amounts of light – “biophotons”. Yes, it seems we are truly radiant beings.
• The heart has its own neuronal network, and can process information on its own before sending it on to the brain. Thus, the concept of thinking with the heart may be as much physical reality as it is a metaphorical concept.

As usual with a presentation of “alternative” viewpoints, I found myself wanting more background information than the film makers were able to include (or than would be of interest to the general audience of the film I suspect). I guess that’s my scientific background at play – I want more details about how the research was done, whether its been replicated, peer reviewed etc. And yet even if some of this research did turn out to be scientifically flawed, there is still some profound re-thinking that needs to be done by many! Keeping an open mind can bring many benefits in life.

I’ve been a regular runner since I was in my early teens, and I can’t speak highly enough of the benefits this has brought. It clears the mind, improves the mood, gets you outdoors and in touch with nature, keeps your cardio-vascular system in good order, and keeps you slimmer, fitter and healthier than even many other types of exercise can do.

I think the main reason I started running as a recreational activity was because, having previously always thought I was pretty average at sport (if not at everything), I suddenly discovered that I was able to finish ahead of many of my classmates in school cross country runs. This was very self-affirming. I had suddenly found something I was good at, and received recognition for it. And of course then I discovered the extra enjoyment and benefits that started to come from doing it more regularly on my own.

Having said that, I am not a champion runner by any means – just averagely good, perhaps. On the (rare) occasions that I have raced I seem to place quite well in comparison with the bulk of others who enter the races, but never anywhere near the very best. In illustration, here is a record of my most recent training run – in preparation for the Sydney City to Surf run in two weeks time – faster than some, slower than others.

But why was I relatively good at running in the first place? Presumably it must be my genetics. In fact my mother recalled that prior to my birth, her doctor had told her that he thought I would be good at sports, because he had detected a slow fetal heart rate. The implication there is having a cardio-vascular system which is inherently capable of higher work rates. And of course the other factor is having a suitable frame and musculature, and on that front not only are both my parents naturally slim, but they also had been good at sports, at least in their youth.

So the question I now ask myself is, if I had not had this genetic foot-up (so to speak) what chance that I would have developed a lifetime sport habit?

I suspect that without that boost to my self-esteem at an early age, I may well not have taken to sports at all, or if I did then probably in a far less enduring or beneficial way. And on this basis, I have to feel a lot of sympathy for those who find it much harder than I to keep up the discipline of regular exercise or sport.

If you are one of those who do struggle to exercise regularly, all I can do is to encourage you to ignore the genetics, to forget about comparing your sporting performance with the super genetically-endowed champions, and simply enjoy the benefits of what it bring to you – which is simply a higher quality of life, and personal enjoyment of it.

I intend to write about some principles that I have found to be invaluable in my own life.

Obviously I am writing about them as ideals. As imperfect humans we do not always manage to manifest our ideals perfectly. However, maintaining the intention to do so is a powerful practice in its own right.

The first one I will tackle is balance.

Do you lead a balanced life? Are you a rounded person? Do you maintain balance and poise no matter what is happening around you? Or are there aspects of yourself which are a little out of kilter?

The principle of balance works in many ways, at many levels. For example

• Physically - Are you equally strong on both sides of your body, or equally supple? Is your upper body more or less well developed than you lower body? Of course we do not have complete control over these things due to our genetics, past accidents or influences which have left their marks. But we do have control over how we sit, stand, move and exercise and whether we put more effort into our weaker areas than our stronger ones, and whether we focus too much on one type of exercise which might overdevelop one aspect of ourselves in relation to others.
• Emotionally - Are you more or less emotionally strong or resilient than you are physically or mentally strong? Do you repress your emotions or are you perhaps too easily emotionally aroused or too quick to dump your emotions onto others? Do you willingly put yourself into situations which you know will challenge you emotionally, or are you emotionally timid?
• Mentally - Can you see both sides of an argument? Having decided on something after reasoning it through, are you able to maintain your resolve? Or do you often allow your emotions to hijack your thoughts?
• Spiritually - Do you have a voice of conscience, a set of morals or standards that inform your thoughts, feelings and actions? Are your standards too highly enforced, leaving you often feeling guilty and repressed in your humanness, or do you overindulge yourself and put your standards aside rather too often?

In all these things (and in other aspects of life too), working towards balancing ourselves invariably leads to a higher quality of life.

If you thoughtfully examine current affairs, news and world events, it is possible to see how lack of balance of one kind or another has contributed to tensions and turmoil. Almost all distress in life comes through lack of balance of one sort or another and although much of the distress that you feel may come principally through a lack of balance by other people, groups or nations, balancing ourselves lessens the likelihood that we will inflict harm on others, and thus reduce the endless cycle of action and reaction that often ensues from this.

Although it is often futile to attempt to moderate the extreme or unbalanced behaviour of others through mental persuasion, the example that you set in your own life can be far more subtly influential, at least to those near enough to you to experience your presence and state of being. And with the whole world being within just six degrees of separation, any positive influence you have within your own immediate life sphere can spread far and wide – probably much more so than you might imagine.

Good luck with your efforts at finding a dynamic balance!

And in future articles, I will be seeking to do my own bit by covering a healthy balance of topics.

Australian senator Steven Fielding is becoming notorious for his recently acquired stance on climate change. He appears to have been heavily influenced by the fringe dwellers of the climate debate.

Graph from Fielding's website - complete with scientifically unsound title

A page on his website states his case and documents elements of his own “debate”, including 3 questions he has posed, the answers provided by the Australian government and further comments and analysis by several hand-picked dissenting scientists.

A careful read of all the referenced documents reveals that not only did the government provide clearly argued answers to each of the questions he posed, but also that those answers strongly refute the premises of climate change skepticism. For those who don’t have the time to read the whole thing, the exact questions and a summary of the government’s answers (in my own words, for brevity and clarity) follow, below.

The subsequent response to the government’s answers by Fielding’s chosen scientists also makes for interesting reading – not so much for its scientific content (notably not peer reviewed itself), but rather as an example of how it is so easily possible for fringe scientists to argue a paper-thin case with the appearance of scientific gravitas, when in fact all they are doing is focusing on isolated pieces of tangential factors and evidence, and completely ignoring the mass of evidence which points in completely the opposite direction.

The most damning part of their answer however, in my opinion, is their assertion that Fielding’s questions “remain unanswered” by the government. Fielding has seized on this absurd assertion and now wears it like a badge of honour. Whatever their level of scientific credibility, their personal impartiality in this matter is clearly compromised.

Fielding Question 1

Is it the case that CO2 increased by 5% since 1998 whilst global temperature cooled over the same period (see Fig. 1)?  If so, why did the temperature not increase; and how can human emissions be to blame for dangerous levels of warming?

Government’s Answer

The surface air temperature is just one component in the climate system (ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere). There has been no material trend in surface air temperature during the last 10 years when taken in isolation, but 13 of the 14 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995. Also global heat content of  the ocean (which constitutes 85% of the total warming) has continued to rise strongly in this period, and ongoing warming of the climate system as a whole is supported by a very wide range of observations, as reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

Fielding Question 2

Is it the case that the rate and magnitude of warming between 1979 and 1998 (the late 20th century phase of global warming) was not unusual in either rate or magnitude as compared with warmings that have occurred earlier in the Earth’s history (Fig. 2a, 2b)?  If the warming was not unusual, why is it perceived to have been caused by human CO2 emissions; and, in any event, why is warming a problem if the Earth has experienced similar warmings in the past?

Government’s Answer

While the Earth’s temperature has been warmer in the geological past than it is today, the magnitude and rate of change is unusual in a geological context. Also the current warming is unusual as past changes have been triggered by natural forcings whereas there are no known natural climate forcings, such as changes in solar irradiance, that can explain the current observed warming of the climate system. It can only be explained by the increase in greenhouse gases due to human activities.

Fielding Question 3

Is it the case that all GCM computer models projected a steady increase in temperature for the period 1990-2008, whereas in fact there were only 8 years of warming were followed by 10 years of stasis and cooling. (Fig. 3)? If so, why is it assumed that long-term climate projections by the same models are suitable as a basis for public policy making?

Government’s Answer

It is not the case that all GCM computer models projected a steady increase in temperature for the period 1990-2008.  Air temperatures are affected by natural variability.  Global Climate Models show this variability in the long term but are not able to predict exactly when such variations will happen. GCMs can and do simulate decade-long periods of no warming, or even slight cooling, embedded in longer-term warming trends.

Why didn’t someone tell me about this blogging thing?!

Well, actually I’ve known about it for a long time. And I’ve already been blogging for some time about work related issues here – ajnaware.wordpress.com

Its just that I’ve blogged only about work related issues, and now I’m succumbing to the urge to say some things about the issues in life that I feel need some more attention – things that I feel deserve to brought to the attention of others… and maybe that includes you.

Here’s to a stimulating, enlightening and empowering dialog!

Power & Majesty - Sydney Storm Clouds At Dusk