Alzheimer’s and dementia: do we have a part to play?
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Alzheimer’s and dementia: do we have a part to play?
It may knock your socks off, but I can say looking back without doubt, that I watched my Mother choose dementia.
"How can I say that?" you shout? ... “No-one in their right mind would choose dementia, it is a horrible disease, it is devastating for the person, the family.”
And of course all you say is true, but that line of questioning does not look at the WHY ... why is this happening to over 46 million people worldwide, with an estimated 131.5 million by 2050?[i] Could that many people really all be that unlucky?
Companies/Governments spend millions on searching for a cure, at least reducing the onset of symptoms, but is that not the tail wagging the dog? Why are we not willing to go deeper with our questioning as to the root cause, instead preferring to stay at surface level with solutions that simply reduce existing cognitive decline or reduce the risk of developing cognitive decline[ii], such as:
- Keep your mind active
- Continue with light exercise, (studies suggest that exercise three to five times a week for between 30 minutes and an hour is beneficial)
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Eating a Mediterranean diet
- No smoking
- Moderate consumption of alcohol
All considered valid preventative measures, but then why do super fit, non-drinking, non-smoking, smart people fall victim to Alzheimer’s disease? They can’t all be ‘just unlucky’. Many, many hundreds of thousands of people who have used their brains their whole lives and looked after their physical bodies fall victim to the disease, so why are we not willing to clock this?
According to the latest estimates, there are 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia and the disease will affect 1 in 3 people over the age of 65.[iii]
Governments are struggling to keep up with the demand for resources and this is only going to get worse … dementia has a huge economic impact.
“Today, the total estimated worldwide cost of dementia is US$ 818 billion, and it will become a trillion dollar disease by 2018. This means that if dementia care were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy, more than the market values of companies such as Apple (US$ 742 billion), Google (US$ 368 billion) and Exxon (US$ 357 billion)."[iv]
Where my personal story began was in my 20’s while my Mum was in her mid 40’s … she was a ‘Super Mum’, a multi-tasking Queen – amazing housewife, handsome husband, working, leading school committees, hosting parties, glamorous, accomplished, looking after her friends … she literally never stopped, and her peers both admired and were jealous of this societal success.
I observed her, wondering at times why she was so skilled in the outside world, yet had so little true confidence behind closed doors; her self-worth was non-existent – the two did not match up. There was a created public persona, the one that she tried so hard to maintain, but in private there was no true joy, no sense of self.
I observed her undealt-with issues affecting both her physical and mental wellbeing behind closed doors; at this point she was very clever at controlling the image people saw. And in the early days of the disease the signs can be easily overlooked if there is not a willingness to know. ‘Just’ fluctuating weight, occasional severe illness, some exhaustion ... everyone willing to turn a blind eye (as long as the image was maintained).
I literally stood at the kitchen bench at the age of 16yrs and said to her, "Please stop. Look me in the eye, and please listen." She did for a split second, but then couldn’t hold it and moved on. This moment, where I clocked her inability to hold herself in presence for no more than a couple of seconds, was the first sign of dis-ease.
The checking-out, the constant distraction into busyness, all to avoid being present and to stay in the momentum of drive so as not to feel what was actually going on in her day-to-day life beyond the public image ... always onto the next thing, looking beyond herself ... overriding her natural impulses as a woman ... as a person ... making choices from a basis of long-held ideals, rather than connecting to the truth and beauty within and honouring simply what she felt to do next, in an order and rhythm that supported her body and mind.
Fast forward another 15 years to around the age of 60 and fronto-temporal dementia was in full swing. Again, I had observed my mum’s behaviour during those years and the common thread was her level of emotional attachment and a seeming inability to bring full understanding to situations/people, accept, and truly let things go. She avoided confrontation/truth.
I know from stories that she told me that this tendency had started in her youth. Life presented itself, but she refused to accept both the joy and sorrow if it didn’t mirror the picture or image in her mind – so she would retreat to the fantasy, her thoughts, staying busy and just distracted enough to not have to deal with what was before her. Dementia was the perfect solution, having given up on her true self long ago; her everyday choices to check-out became her reality. She could stay in her fantasy world 24/7 without any level of responsibility.
Ill-health is accepted as health
Why do so many people happily accept ill health as health and have we lost connection to our natural true health and vitality?
When we choose to live this way we find others around us who are more than accommodating in playing the same ‘nice’ games. Whatever the flavour, the solution to retreat into the mind is a form of protection from life’s hurts. This is highly understandable, and barely noticeable from the outside in the early years (don’t get me wrong, she appeared ‘normal’), but the pattern to retreat rather than deal with our everyday lives is the pathway and root cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
The questions are simple:
- What are we not willing to take responsibility for?
- At what point did we give up?
- Are we prepared to only go so far?
- What would happen if we looked deeper?
To not deal with every detail of our everyday lives and remain in comfort is a common thread globally ... we simply feel subconsciously that it is too painful, too much, too hard ... but is not Alzheimer’s a million times more tragic? Our everyday lives are a culmination of our choices: this is the level where we do not want to take responsibility – it is that simple.
But how could the solution be that simple? What about the trillions that are spent searching for external checklists / pills . . . when all along the answer lies within? What then?
As a humanity, we have a choice to live in a way that understands cause and effect, otherwise we will continue to believe that we are at the mercy of external forces. This not only disempowers, it goes against the truth of all that we are.
This final quote is from the World Alzheimer’s report 2015:
"The global impact of dementia – Alzheimer’s disease and other causes, is one of the biggest global public health and social care challenges facing people today and in the future."[v]
In line with Serge Benhayon’s prediction in Esoteric Teachings & Revelations:
"We will one day exhaust the medical system completely if we keep our lovelessness, our disregard and its wayward behaviour, as our way of life. And this is not far away."
Serge Benhayon Esoteric Teachings and Revelations, p 706
Filed under
Dementia, Ageing, Conscious presence, Health conditions
