The Positive Impact of Friends: Journey with Parkinson’s

"A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world." Lois Wyse "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart" Eleanor Roosevelt Introduction: I have …

Fifteen Myths and Common Misconceptions About Parkinson’s

"A myth is a lie that conveys a truth." C.S. Lewis "Myths are made for the imagination to breath life into them." Albert Camus Introduction: Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Thus, Parkinson's occurs relatively frequently in adults. Unfortunately, it can be a complex disorder for physicians to make a proper diagnosis, and it …

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 …

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: Happy New Year

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’…” Alfred Lord Tennyson "When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." Willie Nelson We lived through 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We start 2022 in the grips of the same pandemic, just a different variant. Life goes …

Parkinson’s and Axial Rotation (Part 2, Thoracic Spine)

"It’s not what you do some of the time that counts, it’s what you do all of the time that counts." Jack LaLanne "The essence of decay is inactivity." Jack LaLanne Background: The function of our spine and all the bones and muscles, and associated tissues connected to this region are crucial for our everyday life. …

Words with Hope

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow." Orison Swett Marden “Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle Introduction: Over the years, I have used blog posts about a specific word, feeling, or emotion. A frequent word used a lot here is the word …