There is a direct highway between Alfredo's mind and his heart. It is a secret highway. Only he can map it. And even with dementia, he will always have access to that byway. OK. You say, "Oh, how poetic; but what does this imply for caregivers of persons with dementia? Bare with me, this is going to be a little grueling in describing my reflections on this important aspect of all lives including the lives of those of us who are not under attack by diseases like Alzheimer's.
Mind mapping became a popular technique among "brain stormers" a decade ago. The activity was to try to use instantaneous thought elements as points along a map concerning the eventual arrival at a solution to some problem. Each spontaneous thought would be written quickly on a yellow sticky sheet and would be place on a wall in some random spot. The more participants in the activity, the better the possibility of arriving at some measure of cooperative agreement regarding the potential solutions. Following the brain storming session, and after there were countless yellow sticky sheets randomly on a wall, participants would then begin the process of qualifying the thoughts and categorizing them so they fit some pattern always with the view toward arrival at a solution to some problem. This activity has been used in coming up with alternative solutions to engineering, environmental, and even socio political problems in a particular local or regional setting. I know. Boring.
Now the method to my madness of boring you to death. The presumption of mind mapping is that every thought counts and perhaps even the most disparate of thoughts even in the mind of one participant of the exercise could be theoretically connected by the time the exercises is completed. The idea is diversity of thought points = diversity of alternative solutions. I have seen mind-mapping "trees" look like giant oaks; and sometimes they resemble Italian cypresses. Yes, my point is these words on paper are organic and they grow and are more fruitful when there is a recognition of agreement in the communication of the idea points and the directions to which they lead the group or even the one mind. Brain storming is really not brain storming in the sense that a storm consists of natural phenomena sometimes so big only a computer can grasp intelligible form. When you are in the tornado or near it, it does not look so majestic in form since seemingly its only purpose is destruction. And that, my friends, is only a presumption since really there are no "tornado" masters pulling tornado puppet strings with some master idea of accomplishing anything. A storm is a storm no matter how we perceive it. I suppose we call the mind mapping exercises brain "storming" because we have this myopic sense that the random thought points registered on yellow stickies scattered on a wall have no recognizable form until we begin connecting the dots. And so, when we able to make those connections, thought not only takes form, it becomes communal. Thought is engaged as a community, and thus it becomes the impetus behind community action. I know. Still boring.
So consider the case of Alfredo who has dementia. Can Alfredo mind map? Can he brain storm in such a way that all the yellow stickies on the wall could be organized in some intelligible manner? Really, it is when a person like Alfredo can no longer mind map that the "perfect brain storm" is forming. This storm begins as a tropical depression. As it moves into the warmer waters of new care giving contexts and outside of the framework that still is not obscured by the winds of the disease, the tropical depression becomes a tropical storm. Every added caregiver contribution into the living context is likely to be new and unstorable information randomly stuck into synapses with connections leading to dead synapses. And so you can see the progression into the perfect storm as the mind is flooded, inundated with information that is always "new" and unrecordable. It would be like writing the new information on a yellow sticky with disappearing ink.
This is the intense dilemma of caregivers, this "perfect brain storm". It is a storm that ever increases until it finally out of exhaustion of the body which sustains the brain gives out as if in complete protest. The treatments for dementia are dubious since the idea is to make the suffering patient comfortable and safe. Well, safety is a prime concern for its pragmatic attributes in that one persons lack of safety can be the dissipation of the safety of others in the immediate area. But again, the perfect storm rages on and gets stronger by all the additional information caregivers attempt to deploy in an effort to comfort them, keep them safe, add to their quality of life etc. As my son would say, "Dang, dad.. how depressing and what desperation."
In this description, I advocate only that with the mind unlike the air we breath, is something more than the physical reality. So the storms of the mind are different than the storms of nature. The lack of continuity of thought do not deplete the richness of Alfredo's spackled and almost scatter gram like individual thoughts. Each of Alfredo's thoughts is potentially a holy thought in the sense, that within the thinking structure of his brain under duress, are those holy characteristics that are present and accounted for like visitors who wish not to depart. These holy thoughts are really ambassadors of the heart. It is curious, but in my experience with Alfredo, his virtues seem to disappear last in the context of a single day's set of interactions. I have found that when I try to intervene in needless things, it is too much help that only confuses and confounds and ultimately challenges the exhibition of virtue on their part (i.e. patience and even decorum). My actions, for instance to try to stop Alfredo from watering the yard and plants outside everyday have become the cause of the frustration and even anger. Instead it seems I have learned, that he integrates himself into the day by these behaviors that are really harmless to him and make him sense he has purpose in this world of flashes of memory. But even in those cases when Alfredo has become frustrated, the virtue is there perhaps giving him hope beyond the frustration with me and my attempt to be a busy-body in his way of living integrated with his mental world that is slowly falling apart. Alfredo's virtues remain even if obscured by the mental storm, which will pass in the flash of one second. Sometimes, silence "is" golden.
In spite of the winds of mental confusion, Alfredo fingers his Rosary with the greatest of ease; he makes the sign of the cross with a profound sense of comprehension as to what he is doing at the moment. These are not mannerisms of rote behavior. Actually, what I see is an intensity of purpose to stand upon an unassailable foundation that cannot be buffeted by any storm. Ultimately, it is this, I think, which allows Alfredo and many like him to go to sleep peacefully on night, and wake up rested the next morning. Each day is like being reborn again for Alfredo. Each person Alfredo sees in any given day's context, whether he connects the dots of face to name or not, his eyes revert to inner virtues that are natives of the heart rather than a brain under siege.
Perhaps, there needs to be a technique called "heart mapping". Perhaps, there needs to be exercises which drawn from the well spring of a persons deepest beliefs that are native to the heart rather than memory. Perhaps simple exercises of relating to the one reality that is never obscured by any storm natural or within the psyche will help the people like Alfredo remain grounded, safe, peace filled, and thus, ready to see each turn of a corner as an adventure. That one reality is the existence of a someone, not a something. While we, with good minds contemplate "who" that is, somehow it seems Alfredo knows much more than I do about these things. He knows who this someone is at the bottom of his well.
Mind mapping became a popular technique among "brain stormers" a decade ago. The activity was to try to use instantaneous thought elements as points along a map concerning the eventual arrival at a solution to some problem. Each spontaneous thought would be written quickly on a yellow sticky sheet and would be place on a wall in some random spot. The more participants in the activity, the better the possibility of arriving at some measure of cooperative agreement regarding the potential solutions. Following the brain storming session, and after there were countless yellow sticky sheets randomly on a wall, participants would then begin the process of qualifying the thoughts and categorizing them so they fit some pattern always with the view toward arrival at a solution to some problem. This activity has been used in coming up with alternative solutions to engineering, environmental, and even socio political problems in a particular local or regional setting. I know. Boring.
Now the method to my madness of boring you to death. The presumption of mind mapping is that every thought counts and perhaps even the most disparate of thoughts even in the mind of one participant of the exercise could be theoretically connected by the time the exercises is completed. The idea is diversity of thought points = diversity of alternative solutions. I have seen mind-mapping "trees" look like giant oaks; and sometimes they resemble Italian cypresses. Yes, my point is these words on paper are organic and they grow and are more fruitful when there is a recognition of agreement in the communication of the idea points and the directions to which they lead the group or even the one mind. Brain storming is really not brain storming in the sense that a storm consists of natural phenomena sometimes so big only a computer can grasp intelligible form. When you are in the tornado or near it, it does not look so majestic in form since seemingly its only purpose is destruction. And that, my friends, is only a presumption since really there are no "tornado" masters pulling tornado puppet strings with some master idea of accomplishing anything. A storm is a storm no matter how we perceive it. I suppose we call the mind mapping exercises brain "storming" because we have this myopic sense that the random thought points registered on yellow stickies scattered on a wall have no recognizable form until we begin connecting the dots. And so, when we able to make those connections, thought not only takes form, it becomes communal. Thought is engaged as a community, and thus it becomes the impetus behind community action. I know. Still boring.
So consider the case of Alfredo who has dementia. Can Alfredo mind map? Can he brain storm in such a way that all the yellow stickies on the wall could be organized in some intelligible manner? Really, it is when a person like Alfredo can no longer mind map that the "perfect brain storm" is forming. This storm begins as a tropical depression. As it moves into the warmer waters of new care giving contexts and outside of the framework that still is not obscured by the winds of the disease, the tropical depression becomes a tropical storm. Every added caregiver contribution into the living context is likely to be new and unstorable information randomly stuck into synapses with connections leading to dead synapses. And so you can see the progression into the perfect storm as the mind is flooded, inundated with information that is always "new" and unrecordable. It would be like writing the new information on a yellow sticky with disappearing ink.
This is the intense dilemma of caregivers, this "perfect brain storm". It is a storm that ever increases until it finally out of exhaustion of the body which sustains the brain gives out as if in complete protest. The treatments for dementia are dubious since the idea is to make the suffering patient comfortable and safe. Well, safety is a prime concern for its pragmatic attributes in that one persons lack of safety can be the dissipation of the safety of others in the immediate area. But again, the perfect storm rages on and gets stronger by all the additional information caregivers attempt to deploy in an effort to comfort them, keep them safe, add to their quality of life etc. As my son would say, "Dang, dad.. how depressing and what desperation."
In this description, I advocate only that with the mind unlike the air we breath, is something more than the physical reality. So the storms of the mind are different than the storms of nature. The lack of continuity of thought do not deplete the richness of Alfredo's spackled and almost scatter gram like individual thoughts. Each of Alfredo's thoughts is potentially a holy thought in the sense, that within the thinking structure of his brain under duress, are those holy characteristics that are present and accounted for like visitors who wish not to depart. These holy thoughts are really ambassadors of the heart. It is curious, but in my experience with Alfredo, his virtues seem to disappear last in the context of a single day's set of interactions. I have found that when I try to intervene in needless things, it is too much help that only confuses and confounds and ultimately challenges the exhibition of virtue on their part (i.e. patience and even decorum). My actions, for instance to try to stop Alfredo from watering the yard and plants outside everyday have become the cause of the frustration and even anger. Instead it seems I have learned, that he integrates himself into the day by these behaviors that are really harmless to him and make him sense he has purpose in this world of flashes of memory. But even in those cases when Alfredo has become frustrated, the virtue is there perhaps giving him hope beyond the frustration with me and my attempt to be a busy-body in his way of living integrated with his mental world that is slowly falling apart. Alfredo's virtues remain even if obscured by the mental storm, which will pass in the flash of one second. Sometimes, silence "is" golden.
In spite of the winds of mental confusion, Alfredo fingers his Rosary with the greatest of ease; he makes the sign of the cross with a profound sense of comprehension as to what he is doing at the moment. These are not mannerisms of rote behavior. Actually, what I see is an intensity of purpose to stand upon an unassailable foundation that cannot be buffeted by any storm. Ultimately, it is this, I think, which allows Alfredo and many like him to go to sleep peacefully on night, and wake up rested the next morning. Each day is like being reborn again for Alfredo. Each person Alfredo sees in any given day's context, whether he connects the dots of face to name or not, his eyes revert to inner virtues that are natives of the heart rather than a brain under siege.
Perhaps, there needs to be a technique called "heart mapping". Perhaps, there needs to be exercises which drawn from the well spring of a persons deepest beliefs that are native to the heart rather than memory. Perhaps simple exercises of relating to the one reality that is never obscured by any storm natural or within the psyche will help the people like Alfredo remain grounded, safe, peace filled, and thus, ready to see each turn of a corner as an adventure. That one reality is the existence of a someone, not a something. While we, with good minds contemplate "who" that is, somehow it seems Alfredo knows much more than I do about these things. He knows who this someone is at the bottom of his well.
Comments
Post a Comment