We Mourn The Loss And Celebrate The Legacies

Heaven became richer this weekend with the passing of three incredibly gifted men who were each deeply committed to their craft. They illuminated our lives in varied ways with their brilliance and talents, and brightened our world with their legacies. We were blessed to have had them among us.

They will be missed.

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I can’t imagine our world without ever having the great, compassionate Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who loved and understood people and wrote his own unique tune of bridging science with storytelling. He lived his life so large that retelling it for the sake of an obituary seems almost impossible. Sacks was such an extraordinarily gifted man, studying the intricacies of the brain from every angle and applying his wealth of knowledge to help those suffering with brain-related illnesses through his practice and his books.

"People will make a life in their own terms, whether they are deaf or colourblind or autistic or whatever. And their world will be quite as rich and interesting and full as our world." ~Oliver Sacks

I see his writings as examples of possibility – pairing humanity with medicine by having an open and radiant heart. His love of music - particularly Beethoven and Mendelssohn - was legendary. It helped carry him to a kind of spirituality that helped him help others through the human suffering he understood too well. He knew a synergy existed between the mind and body and leaned on that for wellness for himself and others.

Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more – it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.” ~Oliver Sacks

To learn more about Oliver Sacks check out his 1974 memoir A Leg to Stand On or his insights on transforming our cognition through music in his book Musicophilia.

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I first fell in love with author and motivational speaker Wayne Dyer after reading his 1976 bestselling book The Erroneous Zones that taught me how to stop negative self-talk. At the time I didn’t know it but his words would later play an important role in my life after being diagnosed with MS. Other books would follow that were equally helpful including Pulling Your Own StringsChange Your Thoughts Change Your Life, The Power of Intention and Excuses Begone!

"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." 
""Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice."
"Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life."~Wayne Dyer

The other day I took my usual walk and listened (for the millionth time) to Dyer reading his book Living the Wisdom of the Tao. He explains the teachings of the great Chinese prophet Lao-tzu and how changing the way you think will change your life. I love listening to Dyer's voice; this book always resonates deeply. Every time I hear it I am inspired and re-energized. It is a great gift he left for all of us.

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I admittedly was not a fan of Wes Craven movies. But you can’t argue the popularity of his films in such series as Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. Going from the academic world into porn and then onto horror films, Craven carved a niche for himself that many theatergoers will truly miss.

Our world feels a bit emptier right now, but the legacies left behind by these three gentlemen help fill that void. To simply say thank you for their work sounds so inadequate. So instead I’ll share Oliver Sack’s last tweet (August 23) with his choice of accompanying video.

“A beautiful way to perform one of the world’s great musical treasures.” Oliver Sacks

Living A Happy Life: How TIME And Oliver Sacks Got Me Thinking About Happiness

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." ~The Dalai Lama

finding happiness

Many Americans find happiness so elusive that today’s self-help book industry has become a million-dollar business. Why do Americans scramble to find happiness by buying bigger and better homes, cars, and gadgets? Why do they think The American Dream is something they watch on reality shows or read about on the pages of glam magazines?

Does money buy us love?  Will that kind of love bring us true happiness?

"I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend, if it makes you feel all right. 
I'll get you anything my friend, if it makes you feel all right. 
Cause I don't care too much for money. 
Money can't buy me love." ~The Beatles

Happiness is defined as “a state of well-being or contentment.”

This past week, I read two interesting articles in major publications about happiness.

The first was an elaborate article in the July issue of Time Magazine entitled “The Pursuit of Happiness: Why Americans Are Wired to be Happy – and What That’s Doing to Us.”  I was surprised to learn that happiness might elude us because today's society moves at lightning speed, a speed that crawled by comparison to the time The Founding Fathers wrote The Declaration of Independence. The guarantee for happiness they wrote about did not have our contemporary lifestyle in mind.

The great neurologist, writer, and professor Oliver Sacks wrote the second, more hopeful article I read about joy.  His New York Times editorial, “The Joy of Old Age. (No Kidding.)," talked about the happiness he found by living as long as he has.  Looking forward to his upcoming 80th birthday, he relished continuing to explore and enjoy a life of “leisure and freedom.”

finding happiness

In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Holocaust survivor and neurologist/psychiatrist Viktor Frankl theorized how some concentration camp survivors survived:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing. The last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s way.”

Is happiness an attitude?

According to an article in The Atlantic, the Center for Disease Control reported that 4 out of 10 Americans do not have a sense of purpose.  A life of purpose, research showed, is a life of self-satisfaction and overall well-being.

Is a life of purpose going to bring us happiness?

Let’s see if we have this straight.  Self-satisfaction + well-being + a positive attitude + a purposeful life = Happiness.

It seems simple enough.

But maybe not.finding happiness

 

After typing “happiness” into Amazon’s search box, I received titles for 32,753 books.  A Google search provided 296,000,000 results for the word “happiness” and 5,600,000 results for “happiness for people with disabilities.”

Each person’s definition of happiness is different from the next.  I may want a restful night's sleep for my happiness, while you may want to move across America for yours.

I’m not a psychologist, nor do I have a medical degree.  I'm (hopefully!) a reasonably intelligent person with unique life experiences who has learned that life can never be perfect but can certainly be happy.

As much as I’d like to believe in a Utopian Society, it’s impossible.

And there lies the crux of the matter.  The happiness we so desperately seek does not exist, making us quite unhappy.

Now that I’m in my 50’s, I’m finally learning what brings happiness.  I live by simple, possibly Pollyannaish, and certainly sentimental rules.  I look inward for happiness, learning to value myself above all else.

As Ayn Rand wrote: “Learn to value yourself, which means fight for your happiness.”

We're all works in progress, striving to find answers to living a happy life.  The bumps in the road will inevitably come our way.  We can’t escape it.  But as Frankl wrote, and what I try to live by, is this:

“When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

How do you find your happiness?

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