Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Tip on Reading Blog Sites ....

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A tip on reading blogs: After you have read the main blog writing, remember to read all the separate posts .... they do not automatically come up the main blog writing. To view photographs with a larger screen size, just click on the particular photograph and will come up a larger screen size. You can the save them if you wish by clicking 'Save Image As' in your mouse dialogue box.
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THE CAB RIDE ... are you part of a community of abundance?


29.09.05

Dear Brain Injury Survivor, Associate or Carer around the world,

Are you part of a community of abundance?

I am sending this e-mail broadcast to you all around the world on a group basis

... those who in the BRAIN INJURY SURVIVOR NETWORK ..... a few hundred people. No matter what has happened to you, life is about choices. Life is 10% what happened to you and 90 % what you do about it. You may fit one of these three categories:

  • You have had a brain injury in the past
  • You work with someone who has brain injury now
  • You work with a brain injury group

I see in the fact that you are part of this e-mail network group that you all have a desire to make a difference in life for yourself and others .... especially those with an acquired brain injury (abi) or traumatic brain injury (tbi) as it is called from country to country. The whole topic of how we value other people has a call for us to be part of communities of abundance ..... of giving value other people .... no matter who they are.


I trust you can relate to what I say from hereon. I find that life is a strange thing at times .... sometimes it is hidden and sometimes it is very open. That hiddeness of life is very powerful thing and ultimately it is the inner power of spirituality which motivates us in life .... or the lack of it. We all have a spirituality …… whether we know it not. There are two dimensions of Spirituality, a Horizontal Spirituality on the horizontal plane of life and a Vertical Spirituality ….. Horizontal Spirituality gives us directions on our relationship with the Earth and all other living creatures whereas a Vertical Spirituality gives our relationship with an infinite-personal Creator God. Life didn’t happen by chance (even though some people do believe that absolutely).

Spirituality is implicit (inwardly self evident and undefined). It refers to how an individual lives meaningfully with the ultimate questions of life, his or her response to the deepest truths of the universe as he or she apprehends these. It answers such queries as:

  • Who are we as a people?
  • What is the meaning of life?
  • What values should I live by?
  • It is not a rational experience of the mind ….. of just a belief in something but is a dynamic quality of life which interacts with everything you do. It is very practical in way it affects your work, family and social network and the whole of life.

I focus today in this broadcast on the importance of spirituality in restoration from a brain injury plus maintaining an ongoing life for anyone. Can you get back to me about the thoughts in this broadcast?

Regards,

Ken Aitken (B.Sc.)

PS: The photo attached above is one of Harriet and I from our one day visit to Pompeii in our four week holiday to Italy in mid March and April this year.


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THE CAB RIDE .... are you part of a community of abundance?

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But, I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door.


This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware. "Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're such a good boy", she said.


When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked.


For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighbourhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.


As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now." We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said. "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.


What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.


We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware --- beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT ~ THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL. You won't get any big surprise in 10 days if you send it to ten people. But, you might help make the world a little kinder and more compassionate by sending it on.


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REFLECTIONS ON THE STORY ABOVE:

I trust this e-mail broadcast causes you to reflect on your life at the moment .... in terms of now and how you are living it and its final purpose in the end. My purpose today is to share with you a very valuable principle of life: that is to treat other people as you would want to treated .... as a valuable person. You get back in life manifold over, what you give away. When you plant and sow into people's lives, love and care, you get back friendship and positive relationships which multiply far beyond you. Life is like a garden, you only get up what seeds you plant. It is this aspect of creating friendships, which particularly many brain injured people have real ongoing trouble with. This principle of sowing and reaping is true for all aspects of life. As in gardening or farming, you plant seeds for the harvest you wish gain. If you don't plant, you don't reap.

The story above (THE CAB RIDE) is a wonderful story of the value we place on other people. The story illustrates how to treat other people according to their situation .... to go with the flow. Often in a brain injury situation, we can be very inflexible with how people relate us. We may have one way of doing things and we think that approach applies to all people. The opposite position of caring for other people is caring only about ourselves ie. being very self focussed. With that approach we will not get much done in this life.

In Australia where I come from, in the late 1800's, horses and bullock teams were used to haul massive loads to distant places. Australia is only a young country, being settled only after 1788. It was found that one bullock by itself could pull two tonne but two bullocks together could pull twenty three tonnes. So it is with as human beings. Working in with others and valuing their contributions, we have a far greater effect.

When I had my brain injury nearly ten years ago, I finished being in hospital for six months. As you may have read in previous e-mail broadcasts, I had a severe brain injury after falling off a boogi-board in shallow water in the surf at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia ..... as simple as that. I was:

· In a coma for four weeks from early December 1995 to early January 1996. I felt like a three year old child in the first week after I woke up from the coma with no control over my actions

· In hospital for six months

· Had to learn to walk, talk, eat solid food all over again

· I had to learn everything over again .... how dress myself etc.

· Get my brain back together from a very scrambled state since December 1995

· I lost a lot of intuitive ability to feel what other people are saying ..... although that is coming back now

Today, I am The Recycled Man. Ten years on, I wouldn't doing a fraction of what am doing now without principle of being synergistically linked to others. This occurred in the following ways:

  • Harriet my Wife: First and foremost is my wife Harriet who would drive every day to see me ..... for six months .... even while I was in a four week coma. Harriet drove from Chambers Flat from where we live, to Woolloongabba at the Princess Alexander Hospital. Finding a park outside the hospital and walking in made a journey of at least an hour. That was a journey of 30 kms. each way. After the visit she had the long journey home again. This generous support which I received, was a very important part of my recovery. Many other patients are not so fortunate
  • My Family: In 2005 (now ten years on) it has become very close again like a little community in and of itself, all members working for the common good. This is because we all share in a common, a sustainable life of structure, spirituality and social network. I have two children .... Claire and Anthony .... they have been very supportive of me.
  • Money from Friends: As soon as my injury occurred in December 1995, friends who I hadn't heard from for years, phoned Harriet from down south even in other states to see how I was. People began to send notes of encouragement to her with cheques of money: A$100.00, $250.00, $500.00 and a $1000.00 in one case
  • Support from Friends: I not only had excellent support from my wife but many, many friends throughout my hospitalisation where nearly 100 ++ people came to see me over six months. Some people I hadn't seen for fifteen years. My mind was not very good then but some friends would sit and read for hours beside my bed
  • Support from My Local Church: Whilst in hospital I had excellent support through the church Harriet and I are part of then. It is a real community and family based church of 3,500 people at Mt. Gravatt called Garden City Christian Church. It was a very caring group of people ...... many people came to see me from there over six months. Every week one of the twelve pastors from the church came to visit me in hospital and brought a great deal of encouragement to me. Many members still take an active interest in me and my progress. Friends from many other churches would come and visit me as well.

A social network enables you to get out of yourself and your problems being the centre of your attention. A social network then provides a structural part of life to affirm your progress apart from you trying to assess it yourself.

This support of patients, is vital in the whole of life. You rarely get much done by just yourself in life. I call it the synergistic effect. The ability to be able to work in relation to others is a great benefit in life. Healing is not just an independent thing but is a relationship thing. I further say this in another way by saying that human beings are relational, not mechanical.

The Value of Other People: comes as consequence when we have a spirituality of life. There is a seen physical world and an unseen spiritual dimension to life. There are many success principles which come from this unseen dimension of life. One of these is the value we place on other people .... not for we see them as, what they achieve in life but as value placed on them which comes from that spiritual dimension. If you see and only place value on the seen physical world, you will have a pragmatic view on life, only seeing the seen physical world. You end up in a medical sense with a medical model which only sees someone in the here and now. I see this view as very limited in its outlook as it finally denies or ignores a major part and dynamic dimension of life. This spiritual dimension of life is where restoration from brain injury comes from in a full and ongoing sense. I have met some survivors who see they are still suffering from a brain injury 20 - 30 years on. They may be suffering in a real sense but I also see another aspect to this. I would see that it isn't their former brain injury but their very unsustainable way of life that they are having trouble with.

Spirituality leads to a Great Value placed on Other People: Value placed on other people leads to a community or social network. You begin to affirm people for who they are and not they look like, what they do or how they act. Spirituality is like the pond of life. When you toss a stone into a pond of water, the ripples begin to outwards to touch the very outer edges of the pond. Spirituality is like that .... it affects everything in life in a very wholistic way. Spirituality leads to a Social Network and this leads to a need for Structure in life. Like the Body without a backbone, so is life without structure ... Gives order, direction, aims and achievable goals. Structure in life then provides a physical means of delivering the value placed on other people in a social network context.

Regards,


Ken Aitken (B.Sc.)


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Do You See the Gift in Your Accident?

15.11.07

Dear Brain Injury Survivor, Associate or Carer around the world

Over some time, I have been receiving an e-mail broadcast from Scott Stratten in Canada. He has been sending out motivational movies to many people around the world. Most of his movies and newsletters to you are about enjoying life now, and looking at things in a different way.

See his website at: http://www.scottstratten.com/ His approach is in a business / working context which may not apply to us now since we had a brain injury. However, it is still relevant for those who have had a brain injury.

Do you have a positive view of life? .... is an absolutely important question if you are looking for restoration from your brain injury. I ask .... Do You See the Gift in Your Accident? Scott’s e-mail broadcast is copied out below.

If you enjoyed it, please sign-up below for the free ‘Work Your Life’ or the free weekly newsletter from other recommended people that contains motivational thoughts plus new motivational free movies when they come out.

Regards,


Ken Aitken (B.Sc.)

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Hi Ken,

For years now I've been sending out motivational movies to my subscribers, and they all mean a great deal to me.

Well, today I get to share a new one with you that has to be one of my favourite of all-time:

It's the Seven Wonders movie at

http://www.SevenWondersOfYourWorldMovie.com

Not only did the movie evoke many emotions for me, it also made me feel good knowing that a close personal friend of mine brought it to the world. It was done by Dave Boufford. There aren't many people in this world that are more positive than I am, but he is one!

Heck, his nickname (and website!) is Mr. Positive.

So please do yourself and others you pass it on to a favour and take a short few minutes and enjoy http://www.SevenWondersOfYourWorldMovie.com

Don't forget to subscribe to his newsletter at the end as well, it's one of the few ezines I still subscribe to.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Legalised Murder Rethinking Life sustaining Measures

http://legalisedmurder.blogspot.com/

What is The Value of People?


24.10.07

Dear Brain Injury Survivor, Associate or Carer around the world,

What is The Value of People? Here is a paper via Meriel Stanger in Australia called ‘Legalised Murder’ regarding new laws possibly coming into Queensland which is one state of seven in Australia. We only have twenty million people over here compare to many, many more people in some countries around the world. These laws already exist in some other countries. I then give a reflection on what Meriel has said.

Regards,


Ken Aitken


Legalised Murder - Rethinking Life-sustaining Measures

Imagine the scenario – you are a 35 year old woman, mother of two young daughters (7 & 12), who is severely injured in an accident with an extremely poor prognosis. That was me. I suffered a severe head injury; I spent four months in a coma and spent 12 months in hospital leaving me with quadriplegia, partial blindness and use of only one hand but with an enormous will to live. Luckily I had not signed an Advanced Health Directive (known as a Living Will) when I was 25, which I would have done not knowing the wonderful life I could lead. These Advanced Health Directives, I call Legalised Murder.

I’m glad I had my accident 12 years ago when euthanasia was illegal. Sure before my accident I would have said ‘put me down’ if I was ever injured badly but I’m so happy I survived and right now I wouldn’t have changed a thing in my life. It frightens me with these Advance Health Directives, or the ‘Living Will’ as it is popularly known, being legally binding. ‘Living Will’ is such a misnomer – it should be renamed ‘Dying Will’. I know I can’t prevent such an option but I would like it to be clear and understood that a decision made when one is 25 years old is quite different to the one you would make when you’re 65 years old or older. I feel that as a 25 year old you lack the maturity and appreciation of life. Car insurance companies are of the same opinion.

All life is precious. It is against the law to commit suicide or murder. Speaking on behalf of all the disabled, given a choice, we don’t want to be devalued and have an ‘upright’ decide our quality of life. I know of one particular person who has quite severe physical disabilities and is unable to communicate in the traditional sense. His biggest fear is to be placed into hospital, not be understood and have someone decide that his life is futile. What is being done to safeguard these people? There is a push in Queensland to have this law passed. Read my story at:'The Hidden Disability'.

What criterion is to be used when a life is considered futile? I know from reading my hospital records I was not given a lot of hope to survive. I was artificially ventilated and artificially fed through a nasal gastric tube and given every opportunity to survive against all odds. Where has the Hippocratic Oath gone? I have grave concern for future accidents and births if future legislation does not continue to safeguard the rights of people with disability to live.

In reading through an Issues Paper reviewing the legislation governing withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining measures, I found it disappointing that not one person on the reference group was disabled or had anything to do a person with a disability or a disability service. I find that rather surprising when you look at the percentage of people with disability throughout the population of Queensland, the reference group is hardly a good cross-section of the general public of Queensland. It appears the reference group was mostly made up of academics.

People with disability deserve to have their voices heard. I refer to the recent movie Million Dollar Baby where the lead role was made out to be a hero when he put an injured young woman out of her ‘misery’ because he thought her life wouldn’t be worth living. Sadly this is how many people see life with a disability.

I question what is meant by Personal Matter when the issues mentioned are about where one lives, what education one has, what one eats and how they dress? Does that mean someone who was educated to Year 10, vegetarian, living on the wrong side of the tracks and unfashionably dressed is a candidate for euthanasia? They are human beings for goodness sake. I have been told I am unfashionable but I wear clothing that I can manage and I am also very conscious of my diet as my health is of utmost importance to me.

I was considered in a Persistent Vegetative State (from hospital records) and yet I was quite aware of things around me, I just was unable to react. I did notice when people around me were caring. Just because one is in not reacting in the traditional sense, doesn’t signify the ‘will to die’. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) used by the hospitals in Australia is very limiting. On admission to hospital my GCS was 4 and 2.5 months later it came to a 6. The Glasgow Coma Scale is scored between 3 and 15, 3 being the worst and 15 being the best. It is composed of 3 parameters: Best Eye Response, Best Verbal Response and Best Motor Response, as given below;

Best Eye Response (4)

1. No eye opening

2. Eye opening to pain

3. Eye opening to verbal command

4. Eyes open spontaneously

Best Verbal Response (5)

1. No verbal response

2. Incomprehensible sounds

3. Inappropriate words

4. Confused

5. Orientated

Best Motor Responses (6)

1. No motor response

2. Extension to pain

3 Flexion to pain

4. Withdrawal from pain

5. Localising pain

6. Obeys commands

Note that the phase Glasgow Coma Scale of 11 is essentially meaningless and it is important to break the figure down into its components, such as E3V3M5 = GCS 11

A Coma Score of 13 or higher correlates with mild brain injury, 9 to 12 is a moderate injury and 8 or less is a severe brain injury.’

Teasdale G., Jennett B., LANCET (ii) 81-83 1974.

I think we have had a classic example presented to us with the Terry Schiavo case in Florida. How that poor defenceless woman was murdered was horrendous – you would be arrested if that was being done to a dog. I think there are more safeguards for animals than humans. Can anyone appreciate the agony involved with dying of dehydration, starvation or suffocation, while people watched on?

At the time of my accident I was separated from my husband and he had taken work in South Africa. My defacto partner took my accident on board and thankfully at no time was I wanted dead no matter how futile my situation or future seemed. Don’t discount the ‘human spirit’.

Scenario A to consider – Trevor is a 40 year old man who is married with two young children. He is a high school physical education teacher and also competes in marathons. Trevor has been training for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He and his wife have discussed each of their wishes should either be involved in an accident which would require invasive medical treatment to recover. They pledged to each other that they would ensure that the other would never have to incur what they perceived to be unacceptable indignity of being on life-sustaining measures if there was only a limited prospect of making a full recovery.

Trevor’s family is involved in a car accident. Most of the family escapes serious injury but Trevor sustains severe head injuries and is placed on life-support. Trevor’s wife Amanda is advised of his condition – he has suffered significant brain damage, cannot currently breathe on his own and he will need to be on life-support until his condition stabilisers and staff can more accurately assess his prognosis. At this stage, however, the prospect of Trevor ever being able to live independently again is extremely remote. This sounds very familiar.

The public is of the opinion that you are ‘better off dead than disabled’, I know these case studies are hypothetical (or at least, I hope they are) but he is a fit young man who has many reasons to live. Perhaps his wife was counting the cost financially, I’m sure he would think differently if it were her, or is that how the medical world is thinking and they are looking for a legal way out. I can’t do the things I used to; my life has changed not ended. Through perseverance, love and encouragement I have become as independent as possible, graciously rely on the help of others and contribute to society.

Scenario B to consider – Anne is a 40 year old woman who has been admitted to hospital for a minor procedure. An adverse event occurs regarding her anaesthetic and Anne suffers severe and irreversible brain damage. Although she is not clinically dead, there is only minimal core brain activity. Her breathing is laboured and it is likely she will have to be put on a respirator (and certainly other life-sustaining measures) to survive.

Anne’s family is told that she has no prospect of recovery and that life-sustaining measures should not be provided to her. Anne’s family do not agree with this approach and insist that life-sustaining measures to be given as needed. I agree with the family. Who does this doctor think he or she is? Saying it would have to go to court, when treatment could be being done, makes it really difficult to understand the rationale behind it. Again I think it is all to do with money not humanity.

What I’m also curious about is many of the situations are an emergency so I wonder the wisdom in waiting for a person of authority to be found to render a decision. With all the advances in medicine makes me wonder about all these cost-cutting decisions being made about life and death situations.

Please allow doctors to be doctors and work by the Hippocratic Oath which they undertook on graduation. This includes the ambulance people. Don’t allow them to become Legalised Murderers. Allow them to shine.

This situation could happen to any one of you, at anytime

Questions

1. Scenario A

Trevor is a 40 year old man who is married with two young children. He is a high school physical education teacher and also competes in marathons. Trevor has been training for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He and his wife have discussed each of their wishes should either be involved in an accident which would require invasive medical treatment to recover. They pledged to each other that they would ensure that the other would never have to incur what they perceived to be unacceptable indignity of being on life-sustaining measures if there was only a limited prospect of making a full recovery.

Trevor’s family is involved in a car accident. Most of the family escapes serious injury but Trevor sustains severe head injuries and is placed on life-support. Trevor’s wife Amanda is advised of his condition – he has suffered significant brain damage, cannot currently breathe on his own and he will need to be on life-support until his condition stabilisers and staff can more accurately assess his prognosis. At this stage, however, the prospect of Trevor ever being able to live independently again is extremely remote.

Q1. Should his life support be turned off?

2. Scenario B

Anne is a 40 year old woman who has been admitted to hospital for a minor procedure. An adverse event occurs regarding her anaesthetic and Anne suffers severe and irreversible brain damage. Although she is not clinically dead, there is only minimal core brain activity. Her breathing is laboured and it is likely she will have to be put on a respirator (and certainly other life-sustaining measures) to survive.

Anne’s family is told that she has no prospect of recovery and that life-sustaining measures should not be provided to her. Anne’s family do not agree with this approach and insist that life-sustaining measures to be given as needed.

Q2. You are the doctor speaking privately to her family what would you say?

Q3.Should our doctors/medical services be responsible for our medical future – if so, how?

Q4. Should we be responsible for our own medical future? - if so how?

Q5. Is our medical system governed by money? Where are the humanitarian goals gone?


I have also added it to my Brain Injury Survivor Network Blog:

http://braininjurysurvivornetwork.blogspot.com/

I wrote: Individual Stories of Brain Injury Thrivers:

In the new theme ‘Beyond Being a Brain Injury Survivor into being a Brain Injury Thriver’, I have initially used my own experience in the last few years as an example of this direction. I have done this because:

It is one I know well and I haven’t had much personal contact with many other survivors as I live a long way out of Brisbane, Australia in the countryside …. I live on a five acre property 35 kms out from Brisbane ….. see the website:
http://kenandharrietshouse.blogspot.com/. I catch public transport or my wife drives me around. See my story on this blog site: The outworking of this life is told in my recent story ‘The Rosewater Story' at this Blog Site.

· In the last year I have a new digital camera whereby you can take 1000 photos (2 GB Chip) on a tiny chip. I have two other spare chips. If you don’t like several photos, you take the photos backwards and delete what you like and then come home and download them straight to your computer. You can then downsize them into a small size (Photographs can take up a lot of memory), attach them to e-mails and send them to someone around the world on the Internet. You can alternatively copy them across in to a Word file as text then print them as a Portable Document file (pdf) See the instructions at this blog site on recommended website links for the free ‘pdf’ writer at www.pdf995.com.

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Starting Over: A Survivor's Guide

01.11.07

Dear Brain Injury Survivor, Associate or Carer around the world,

I received an e-mail from Anthony Aquan-Assee in Toronto, Canada. The e-mail was regarding his new book at his website site: http://www.anthonyaquan-assee.com His new book is called, "Starting Over: A Survivor's Guide" It is a tool kit written to help other survivors cope with their challenges.

Read his fascinating story of his accident and recover from a severe brain injury on his website and purchase his new book through his website.

Regards,


Ken Aitken

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8 Gifts That Don’t Cost A Cent

23.11.07
Dear Reader of the Brain Injury Survivor Network e-mail broadcast around the world,

If you wish to change the world with others around you, begin with these eight gifts that don’t cost a cent.

Regards,


Ken Aitken


8 Gifts That Don’t Cost A Cent

The Gift of Listening

But you must really listen.

No interrupting, no day dreaming,

no planning your response. Just listening

The Gift of Affection

Be generous with appropriate hugs,

kisses, pats on the back, and handholds.

Let these small actions demonstrate the

Love you have for your family and friends.

The Gift of Laughter

Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories

Your gift will say “I love to laugh with you”.

The Gift of a Written Note

It can be a simple “Thanks for the help”

note

or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten

note may

be remembered for a lifetime

and may change a life

The Gift of a Compliment

A simple and sincere “You look great in red”,

“You did a super job” or “That was a wonderful meal”

Can make anyone’s day

The Gift of a Favour

o

Every day, go out of the way

to do something kind

The Gift of a Solitude

There are times when we want nothing better

Then to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times

And give the gift of solitude to others.

The Gift of a Cheerful Disposition

The easiest way to make others feel good

Is to make others feel good.

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Are you guilty of receiving these gifts?

But never giving?

Turn your guilt to happiness.

Give these gifts today

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The Train of Life

Dear Reader of the Brain Injury Survivor Network e-mail broadcast around the world, Over some time, I have been receiving an e-mail broadcast from Scott Stratten in Canada. He has been sending out motivational movies to many people around the world. Most of his movies and newsletters to you are about enjoying life now, and looking at things in a different way.

See his website at: http://www.scottstratten.com/ His approach is in a business / working context which may not apply to those who are not working.

Do you have a positive view of life? .... this is an absolutely important question if you are looking for maintaining a healthy life style. I ask, are you on "The Train of Life"? Scott’s e-mail broadcast is copied out below.

If you enjoyed it, please sign-up below for the free ‘Work Your Life’ or the free weekly newsletter from other recommended people that contains motivational thoughts plus new motivational free movies when they come out.

Regards,


Ken Aitken

___________________________________________

To: Ken Aitken
Subject: Hi Ken, been waiting a while to show you this

Hi Ken,

I've been waiting a while with excitement and finally the newest

motivational movie is ready for you to see.

You're the first in the world to see this one called "The Train of

Life" http://www.TheTrainOfLifeMovie.com

Based on a timeless story, this three-minute dose of motivational

is a wonderful way to start of your day. Please pass it on to others that you're thinking about today.

Sincerely,

Scott Stratten

www.ThankGoodnessItsMonday.com

________________________________

The Train of Life
By Anonymous


Some folks ride the train of life Looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by, And marking every year.


They sit in sad remembrance, Of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was, And hang their head and cry.


But I don't concern myself with that, I took a different vent,
I look forward to what life holds, And not what has been spent.


So strap me to the engine, As securely as I can be,
I want to be out in the front, To see what I can see.


I want to feel the winds of change, Blowing in my face,
I want to see what life unfolds, As I move from place to place.


I want to see what's coming up, Not looking at the past,
Life's too short for yesterdays, It moves along too fast.


So if the ride gets bumpy, While you are looking back,
Go up front, and you may find, Your life has jumped the track.


It's all right to remember, That's part of history,
But up front's where it's happening, There's so much mystery.

The enjoyment of living, Is not where we have been,
It's looking ever forward, To another year and ten.


It's searching all the byways, Never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life, You've gotta drive the train.

All Aboard Everybody...

STAY POSITIVE!
"Mr. Positive"
Dave Boufford

PS Please share this newsletter with your friends, family and

co-workers ... everyone deserves a little inspiration.

"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."

--Goethe

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