On the importance of water quality!

Do you ever think of what the water taste like when you drink it?

I certainly do and I think it comes from trying to observe the taste sensation or with a fancy name called the gustatory sensation. If the water is alkaline it has such a smooth and silken flavour. I took my daughters to lunch on the odd occasion at the Wholefoods Café in Geelong which was a favourite outing of mine. To the tasty lunch food they supplied fantastic water from Zazen:

http://www.zazenessentialwater.com.au/about-zazen-water.html

The interesting fact is that the water here at Mum's place taste very similar. In my naivety I’d like to think that it means that the water is similar to the Zazen water. Full of important minerals, trace elements and slightly alkaline. The alkalinity is important to help the body cope with the acidity modern people get exposed to through take-away foods.

Most people think of Australia as a clean and beautiful place. I do too and it mostly is. But you need to be aware that we have been polluting the environment for quite a while now and the sad fact is that the pollutants have accumulated in for example the water. So to be on the safe side, I used to filter the water as much as I could.  I used to buy new filter cartridges to my daughters ‘Brita water bottle’ to encourage her to always filter her water. 

The importance can be illustrated by this quote from some educated people from the Zazen website:

“We live on the Liverpool Plans in NSW. My husband, a Geologist, and I tested our tank water and found lead, arsenic & cadmium plus other nasties in it. YOU MUST filter your water!”

Pauline Roberts PhD., BSc. (Hons), DBM

Naturopath and Scientific Researcher

 

If anyone at home in Australia is wondering about the water supply here in Sweden I can report that when they bore the well here at Mum's place they made it 54 m deep. This means that there is no shortage of water. I can shower as long as I want. Not like the water restrictions in Australia with buckets in the shower and 4 minutes suggested limit to save water.

Mum has a habit of letting the water run out of the tap for quite a while to make it nice and cold before she pours a glass to drink. Such a luxury to have a good supply of clean water. I find it hard to watch this clean water just run out of the tap knowing that there are so many people in the world with shortage of clean water.

Gråt, gråt men klaga inte!

Gråt, gråt, gråt

Men klaga inte

Vägen du går är din egen

Varje ögonblick är fullt av oändligt med möjligheter

Ditt liv blir vad du gör det till


Since the Google translation is poor, I thought I would have a go at translating this poem myself


Cry, cry, cry
But do not complain
The path you are on is your own
Every moment if full of endless possibilities
Your life will become what you make of it!

Thus have I heard - My life is my practice!

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY ME IN 2013, two weeks into my involuntary stay in a mental health hospital in Sweden. Looking at the content I am convinced there was nothing much wrong with me at the time. They kept me for exactly one month.  I was examined by eight different doctors and I think they had trouble diagnosing me. The most senior psychiatrist Eva Palmenäs was determined to medicate me, which was done involuntarily. When I was released they said that I had improved and was ready to manage my 'sickness' on my own. They organised for me to continue taking the medication on my own. I told them that I was not going to take a single tablet once I was out of the hospital, which I haven't. That is now close to two years ago.


It is now a bit more than two weeks since I was involuntary admitted to a Mental Health Hospital in Falköping, Sweden, not far from Härlunda where Mum lives.  I managed to bring my Buddhist books with me and I have found great comfort from a book written by Lama Zopa 'Practicing Pure Dharma The Ten Innermost Jewels' (2012). This book was a gift from Wendy Cook and I am so thankful to her for giving it to me. In this book I read:

"Putting up with hardship is the best way to purify your accumulated negative karma.

To know this makes it a lot easier to endure my stay here. I have determined that whatever happens to me I will never renounce the Holy Dharma. It also made me thankful for the opportunity to practice generosity and patience towards the other patients that ask me to massage their back or just walk around and hold hands. Bodily contact meens a lot when you are experience too much activity in your head. I would prefer to be in Lyckhem with my Mum. But to complain is no good. I am trying to be happy for the opportunity to practice in a place where it really is needed.

My onlyYou Tube video I have posted with the title 'Never give up" is an illustration on how to practice patience and enthusiasm. If things get tough, just keep going and you will get there, I am sure!

My mum says:

• 'Hur jävligt det än blir så ska du inte ge upp'

Translated maybe like this:

• 'However bad things get, do not give up!

Whatever happens! Even if you are being diagnosed with a severe psychotic episode!
(by the way I do not agree with the diagnosis and am in the psocess of contesting it :)
If you are interested in the drugs they give me here they are: Lithionite (84mg morning and evening) and Olanzapine (20mg at night).

Another book I am studying at the moment is 'Mind in comfort and ease' by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2007). On page 28 in this book it says:

"A good human being is 

• Patient
• Tolerant
• Altruistic
• Compassionate
• Contented
• Self-disciplined

All of which is well worth contemplating to see if I am a good human or not.

My life is my practice, and there are lots of opportunities for me to practice here in the 'psykosvard 1' unit in Falköping, Sweden. I am placed in a room with three other patients. One of them is continously telling us that she wants to die. She is writing notes that she is under threat from terrorists. I am not sure if she is making things up or not, but I have bought her shower cream, massage oil and foot cream so she can self-nurture to help her get her will to live back again.

I have also massaged another patients feet and legs with a nice and calming lavender oil that I found in the Pharmacy at the hospital.

I am trying to stay focussed on the important things in my life. I am on the path that I am supposed to be on and I am content with being served so many opportunities to practice. I think I might have a lot of bad karma that needs purifying.

I would like to share one of Mia Dyson's songs 'When the moment comes'. It is my favourite!

click here to listen to Mia Dyson


I pay Homage the original Buddha's teaching, to my teachers Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Geshe Sonam Thargye, Jampa Drolma, Jakob Leschly, Alan Wallace, Geshe Doga, Tsapel and indirectly S N Goenka and many others.