Thought for Thursday: With A Little Help From My Friends

"If you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." Muhammad Ali "A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world." Leo Buscaglia Importance of Friends: Although one cannot deny the disorder's existence, we do not live totally through the lens of Parkinson's. Although we rely on our intuition …

Friday’s Reflection: Those Brief Times Without Motor Symptoms from Parkinson’s

"There's a brief moment when you first wake up, where you have no memories. A blissful blank slate, a happy emptiness." Candace Bushnell "Celebrate our brief moment in the sun" Lawrence M. Krauss Introduction: There have been moments in the past when I felt "normal" without my motor symptoms being present. Have you had such a …

The Significance of a Birthday: Journey with Parkinson’s

"Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed." Arthur Schopenhauer "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Mark Twain Introduction: For 26 years, I taught undergraduate Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill entitled "Biology of Blood Diseases." We …

The Politics of Parkinson’s

"Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong." Richard Armour "No one party can fool all of the people all of the time; that's why we have two parties" Bob Hope The National Plan to End Parkinson's Act (H.R.8585) in the …

Word for Wednesday: Resilience

"Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you." Jeffrey Gitomer “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche "The greater the force of your compassion, the greater your resilience in confronting hardships." Dalai Lama Defining …

Word for Wednesday: Persistence

"Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement." Albert Camus "It's not what you start in life, it's what you finish." Katharine Hepburn "Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries." James A. Michener "No great achievement is possible without persistent work." Bertrand Russell Introduction: I have been very …

Life in the Presence of Parkinson’s: A Daily Mantra

"Gratitude is the greatest prayer. Thank you is the greatest mantra." Swami Nithyananda "My mantra: Brainless exercise is a lost opportunity for improvement." Michael Merzenich Definition: Mantra, man·tra (/ˈmantrə/) noun: mantra; plural noun: mantras.1. (originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation. "A mantra is given to a …

Parkinson’s: Here Comes the Sun

"The sun shines on everybody. You've got to keep believing." Dontrelle Willis "After the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life. After the pain, the joy will still be here." Walt Disney Introduction: Recently, I have written several blog posts focused on musical songs that deal with perseverance. And the focus was to use …

Journey with Parkinson’s: Adding a New Journey

"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." Carol Burnett "It needs to be said and heard: it's OK to be who you are." Hailee Steinfeld  Adding a New Journey: In the preceding blog post, I spent a considerable amount of time writing about the quality of life, self-management of our …

Journey with Parkinson’s: Managing Daily Life

"I decided I can’t pay a person to rewind time, so I may as well get over it." Serena Williams "Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts." Nikki Giovanni Adding On to Your Life With Parkinson's: Many people, when they get their diagnosis of Parkinson's, will make immediate …