Equilibrium Magazine Issue 52 - Spring 2014

8/11/2019 Equilibrium Magazine Issue 52 - Spring 2014

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MAGAZINE FOR WELLBEING

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Spring Issue 52

>> TED talks & Loneliness>> Beauty & Preservation>> Learning Disabilities>> Different Therapies

>> Art, News & Reviews


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Equilibrium PatronDr Liz MillerMind Champion 2008

Photo copyright remains with all individual artists and

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Front cover:

Mehmet


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We hope the sun is shining for you and that you enjoy our Spring issue of Equilibrium. Packed full

of the usual news, reviews and opinion pieces, wed again like to thank our guest contributors

and artists - do keep sending us your fantastic work! Wed love to hear your thoughts on this issue,

so go ahead and tweet us at @teamequilibrium. And if youd like to join the team, contribute an

article or picture, or fnd out more, please do get in touch via [email protected].

Kate, Editor/Team Facilitator

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disclaimer

contributions

Wanted : contributions to Equilibrium! Please email us withyour news, views, poems, photos, plus articles. Anonymityguaranteed if required.

the team

Facilitator/ Editor : Kate Massey-Chase. Editorial team : Angela, Dev,Ian, Alan, Polly, Chrissie, Nigel.Graphic design : Anthony Park.


4/22Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM

Seizures & Bliss Ian Stewart

h t t p : / / p h a r m a c i s t o n t h e r o c k s

. f l e s . w o r d p r e s s

. c o m

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I have been looking at an article (NewScientist 24 January 2014) passed to meabout people suffering from epilepsy whohave experienced bliss with the onset ofseizures. Fyodor Dostoevsky described itas A happiness unthinkable in the normalstate and unimaginable for anyone

who hasnt experienced itI am thenin perfect harmony with myself and theentire universe (The Idiot).

Scientists are trying to nd the cause ofthis state through electrical stimulationof the brain and it is with this in mind thatI draw from my own experience, notof epilepsy but of meditation. Subjects

with epilepsy who have experienced this

profound momentary experience imme-diately makes me think of the TM tech-nique (transcendental mediation) andthe experience of what is described asthe transcendent state of consciousness.In fact, the article in New Scientist endsby saying there are fortunately safer ways

of experiencing the same feeling throughmeditation.

I practice TM, which cannot be learnedfrom a book but once learned opens upa whole new world to the initiated andexperience of bliss is one aspect of this.Perhaps it could help epilepsy suffererslessen the more unpleasant effects of a

seizure? Science is a wonderful thing!


5/22www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM

Learning disability is de ned as areduced intellectual ability and dif cultywith everyday activities (Mencap). Thisde nition is only touching the surface, but20 years ago it was a different story. During the 1980s and the rst half of the90s understanding of learning dif cultieswere very different to how we view themtoday. One of the reasons for this was thelack of knowledge in this eld. In fact, very

little was known about them. In the 80s,little or no testing for learning problemswere done; this meant that there wasless help for people who had them. Thiswas especially common for people notin education, and even those who werewould get minimal support from SpecialNeeds staff.

Computers had just started out andWindows Word had not replaced theDOS (Disk Operating System) versionof Word, which did not have any spellchecks or altering function other thansave, open and close. The Internet wasstill to come. This meant everything was

done by hand. For a person with learn-ing disability it may have been a problem,because the person may have madespelling and grammar mistakes causingthem to re-write the work several timesover. As for nding work, they would haveto go to the library, where it could be dif -cult if a person who has trouble reading. This is, however, different nowadays. Atpresent, children can get better one-to-one support with their studies, because ofthe better understanding of learning disa-bility. This includes adults who back thenhad virtually none or were worse off thentheir younger counterparts. Now, bothchildren and adults are able to get tested

for learning disabilities. With the inven-tion of the Internet, Word, mobile phones,and other technology, people are ableto gain information visually and audially,where as back then you were only hadtext and a few pictures. New technologyallows people with learning disabilities toachieve better skills and quali cations.

Learning Disability: Then & Now Dev Chatterjea

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Kate

Psychoanalysis

The most famous psychoanalyst is SigmundFreud, and when you picture someone lyingon a couch talking about their dreams toa man with a beard, this is the school oftherapy that originates from. Psychoanalysis

is concerned with our subconscious mind,digging deep into the thoughts and desireswe didnt know we had, but which mani-fest themselves as unhappiness or anxietyin our day-to-day lives. Psychoanalysis cantake many years and can be a big commit-ment; some people attend ve times aweek, although on the NHS this is unlikely.Although we have moved on from many ofFreuds theories (such as the famous Oedipus

Complex, which suggests all men want tomarry their mothers and murder their fathers),psychoanalysis does still concern itself withdreams and symbolism. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

(ACT)ACT, developed in the late 1980s, is less wellknown than the previous two, but like CBT

uses mindfulness strategies, and is focused

on acceptance. It is designed to increase

psychological exibility, and can be run ingroups on individually. ACTs main differencefrom CBT is that whereas CBT tries to teachpeople to unlearn or change unhelpfulways of thinking and behaving, ACT teachesthem to simply notice, accept and embracethese thoughts, feelings and sensations. It

encourages you to act in accordance withyour values, working out whats important toyou and then committing yourself to goalswhich align with your values.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT)

CAT is a type of therapy which bringstogether ideas from different therapies both cognitive and analytic, as the same

suggests. In this way it both looks back atyour past, like psychoanalysis, and forwardat your future, like CBT. Together the clientand therapist explore the events and rela-tionships in a persons life, often from a veryyoung age, which affect how they think,feel and act now. It has a strong focus onan empathic relationship between theclient and therapist, within clear therapeuticboundaries, and is also time-limited, usually

lasting for 16 sessions.


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Shock of the Fall byNathan FilerWinner of the CostaFirst Book award

This is a sad book.

The protagonist

Matthew lives a

rackety unful lled

life as a young adult

- partly in a pokey

highrise at and

partly in a local ward of a psych hospital

where he has been given a schizophrenia

diagnosis - and where he literally has noth-

ing to do, and nothing to ll his days. Except

smoking and taking extremely debilitating

doses of psychiatric drugs.

He is eloquent and touching speaking of his

family - who love him unconditionally and

support him through it all. There has been

a great tragedy earlier in his life - and he

cant detach from it and feel free of the

unnecessary guilt he carries.Its refreshingly written; sometimes illustrated,

sometimes changes of typeface and gaps

in the text.

Filer is an honest writer and spares his audi-

ence not much. He is or has been a mental

health nurse so he knows his territory.

De nitely worth reading.

Polly Mortimer

The Eradication ofSchizophrenia inWestern Lapland- Ridiculismus -Shoreditch TownHall Council Cham-ber

This four hander(two actors eachside of a screenthat became

windows and had meaning) with an fasci-nating title attempted to give the audiencean experience of psychosis. It was based onOpen Dialogue the revolutionary techniquepioneered in Finland that has virtually erad-

icated schizophrenia in western Lapland.They aimed to conjure up a comic night-mare of delusion. Im not quite surewhether this was achieved. Delusion is avery personal and internal thing, I think, anda man reciting his delusions about MargaretDrabble and the Nobel Prize was a tad trite.Into the mix swirled folk dancing, endlessconversations about what was for supper,a boorish psychiatrist shouting at his partnerdown a phone, imaginary or real partnerswho could be Mark or Marnie, crisps, anddeath.It had the aroma of a student production,bit devised, bit raw, slightly embarrassing.But it made me want to nd out much moreabout Open Dialogue and maybe that

success in Finland could spread worldwide. Polly Mortimer

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Reviews: Book & Play



Paintings & Drawings

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11/22www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM 11

by Mehmet



Photo: AnthonyEQUILIBRIUM 12

Lonely? At least Ive got TED

Im not referring to a cuddly toy that livesin my bed; if I was, that would be Lucy theLemur (all my toys had alliterative names)and yes she still lives there, and no Imnot ashamed! The TED Im referring to on thisoccasion is, for those of you who haventbeen fortunate enough to encounter ityet, a non-pro t organisation devoted toIdeas Worth Spreading. It has a criticallyacclaimed, award-winning website (TED.com) featuring inspired talks from the worldsleading thinkers and doers. Their mission isbeautiful in its simplicity: SPREADING IDEAS. TED started out in 1984, originally as a confer-ence bringing together people from theworlds of Technology, Entertainment andDesign hence the name. However, sincethen it has broadened its remit, its platformsand accessibility; now, along with confer-ences, a collection of the best talks are madeavailable free on the web (and as of Novem-ber 2012, TED Talks had been viewed morethan one billion times), and there are otheroff-shoots, such as local events run independ-ently (TEDx) and speakers performing andpresenting all over the world (TEDGlobal).

The aim is that theconferences andtalks bring togetherthe worlds mostfascinating thinkersand doers, and, witha refreshing lack ofhierarchy, how pres-

tigious or well-knownthey are does notchange how longtheir slot is: they allhave to present in

18 minutes or less.This is one of the greatest joys of the TED talksthemselves: their brevity. Interesting concepts,ideas and research, communicated clearly,entertainingly and accessibly. There is little

pre-amble, navel-gazing or academic self-indulgence; with only 18minutes, the talks arefocused, direct and cut to the core of thequestion or argument the speaker has chosento tackle.

When I say they make me less lonely thatsin fact only one of the many emotions theirstir in me. Categorized on the website intosections, which include inspiring, funny,

beautiful, informative and courageous,you can select what you feel youre most inneed of a dose of a quick bit of inspiration,something to remind you of the beauty inthe world, a cerebral work-out and choosefrom the range of talks at your nger-tips. Ilike having something on to listen to when Imdoing boring chores, and de nitely nd sort -ing washing goes more quickly when Im turn-ing over complex puzzles, weighing up social

arguments, or having a giggle. Im also, if Imcompletely honest, not that good at spend-



Kate

ing long periods of time on my own. Some-times not even short periods of time! My ownpop-psychology reading of this and onewhich I think actually holds some weight isthat the root cause of this is that Im an iden-tical twin, so never had much practice at it.Even in the womb I had company! Regard-less of why, I do know I get lonely quickly,

and so knowing that I can nd a short burst ofstimulating distraction in a few clicks is reas-suring, comforting. My other go-to is Radio 4,oh and doing crafts, which my friends tell memakes me both ridiculously middle class andmiddle aged but my twin sister does tapes-tries and makes hummus, so I think its impor-tant we keep things in perspective. Loneliness can be a wolf howling in your

stomach, or a dog scratching at the door.TED talks wont help with the loneliness wecan feel in a crowded room unless youvegot very subtle headphones and dont mindrejecting any attempt at conversation! butthey can be a small form of solace whenyoure sitting at home, by yourself, in need ofan external focus. The mental health charity Mind has a page

on their website about Overcoming Loneli-ness, which as well as suggesting ways toconnect with the world around you, alsomentions the utility of learning to spend timealone, feeling comfortable and at ease inyour own company. I sometimes nd whenIm on my own, my immediate instinct is toreach for the phone, but I know Ive person-ally learnt that if I give myself the challengeof getting through chunks of time without

calling someone, it proves to myself that I

dont need someone else there all the time.I dont need validation; I can chat to myself;if I get bored and restless, thats not the endof the world and I can nd my own solutions.Sometimes I also challenge myself not to putmusic or the radio on, as well, so that Im notalways blocking out silence or the mean-derings of my own thoughts. If we distract

ourselves all the time, then when do wethink? When do we rest? But if the rest is silence (Hamlet pun couldnt resist), then my head will probablyexplode. Anyone who knows me can con rmI dont do silent for very long. All things inmoderation, I say, and sometimes I get moreof a break from an eighteen minute mentalholiday into the world of a fascinating idea,

than my own internal monologue. And beingstimulated stirs me out of loneliness andboredom; it energizes and invigorates. LikeLucy the Lemur, I can cuddle up to an idea(although in a less literal and physical sense),cling on to it like a rock in a storm, enjoy itlike a chocolate chip in disappointing cereal,hang out with it like teenagers at bus stop, orrun with it like a hare on ketamine.

Five tip-top TED talks to get you started:

Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity Bren Brown: The power of vulnerability Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice Kelly McGonigal: How to make stressyour friend (Lando wrote about this talk inIssue 50 of Equilibrium)


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Beauty & Preservation

Britney Spears wants to be cryogenicallypreserved, as did Michael Jackson. Theapocryphal myth has it that Walt Disney didtoo. We have the lucrative eld of cosmeticsurgery with its desire to stave off the degen-erative processes of old age. The pervasivedesire to keep youthful, to preserve our exist-ence. and the many variations that exist, areattempts to deny Mother Nature her destruc-

tive processes. I have to say, I am not entirely adverse to theconcept of preserving ones existence, albeitin a metaphorical sense. As an artist there isalways a desire to create a legacy beyondthe here and now. I am ever conscious ofwanting to pass something down the line, or avainglorious attempt to leave behind a bodyof work which may somehow be appreciatedin the future.

I have recently increased my minor ambercollection. There is a distinct difference to mylatest piece: it contains a biological inclusion:fossil. I am reliably informed that these ies, intheir perfectly preserved form, are approxi-mately 40 million years old. This strikes me asan instance of where Mother Nature and herdesire to yield all matter back to the earth,has only partially suceeded. This is natures

cryogenics of sorts, as are the instances ofmammoths frozen in time within Siberianglaciers, or the Tollund Man found in a peatbog - a naturally mummi ed corpse of a manwho lived during the 4th century BCE. Appar-ently, the mans physical features were sowell-preserved that he was mistaken at thetime of discovery for a recent murder victim. The butter y has long been a symbol of thezenith of beauty in nature, and not necessar-ily in living form. We still manage to appreci-



Anthony Parke

ate the beauty of these creatures in books,and in specimen cases. I have four butter ieswhich are mesmerising and beautiful to lookat. However, they are dead and pinned toa board! Observing their beauty is not anexperience altogether different from thebutter y exhibition I viewed recently at theNatural History Museum last year though

these were alive! Their beauty, dead or alive,somehow still remains. I have raised Peacock butter ies from cater -pillars, watched half a dozen hatch and yaround in a special net nursery I keep in myliving room. The kids love it, as do the adultsin the family. This beauty can also be seen inamber, in specimens of incarcerated butter-ies, just like the specimens I have on my

wall. So, in a sense, beauty can exist for 40million years in a state of perfect preservation- though dead. Some 12 years back I went to a fascinatingexhibition by the German doctor Gunthervon Hagens. Michael Jackson missed the

time period for cryogenic preservation, butvon Hagens had apparently agreed withJacksons people that he would be plas-tinated: Bubbles, Jacksons pet monkeyhad been plastinated some years before -alledgely. It was apparently Jacksons nalrequest to be united with Bubbles. So it seemshis desire for immortality had a spiritual as

well as aesthetic dimension. To take a crea-tures veins and arteries and ll them withplastic, to preserve this vast arterial networktruly seems a thing o ction.

Nature has a fascinating way of returningall matter back to earth, and yet revealsglowing instances of where it manages topreserve aspects of its own creations.

So, why does this all interest me? What tiesthese disparate strands together is preser-vation. I was raised in a world where, to adegree, the beauty around me often felt asthough it was continually being destroyed.Im not referring to physical beauty but ratherthe beauty of say a family life, the beauty ofmy brother and his life which was blightedby illness. And so the beauty of a childhood

life often felt like an ephemeral thing, andpart of me has always wanted to be able tosomehow nd a way of preserving aspectsof beauty. And I guess this is why I turned topainting, to seek out the objects I nd fasci -nating, inspiring and beautiful and meta-phorically preserve them in oil and canvas. To see these paintings you can go toAnthony Parkes website at:

http://www.parkepaintings.com/


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Frances C Burton

erly, cant I?It was the rst time I had felt so alone, sodesperately lonely. I tried again, but withthe same painful result.Why cant I y? Why cant I even y tothe clover?I was starting to feel very anxious. The

dense yellowy-white spikes of the cloverlooked so very appealing, and I was sonear them and yet so far.Its a mystery.After another failed attempt, panic setin. I breathed in and breathed out asslowly as I could.Have I been careless?Thump! Stunned again.

God, where are you? What is this? Somesort of cruel joke?My head beat with every collision, andmy eyes stung and watered as I crashedaround. I became so weary.Help! I can see you! Cant you see me?Help! I cant y. Mayleahlook! Neyum!Help me, Ahlon. Ahlon!I hoped the others wouldnt think I wasmaking something of nothing. I couldsee them, and I buzzed and appedmy wings to get their attention. At last,Neyum spotted me. He was alwaysready to comfort and encourage anybumblebee.Dont worry, he buzzed. Weve gotsome honey ready for you for when youget back.

Whos bothered about honey at a timelike this? I felt humiliated and frustrated.Were all here to help you when youneed us! came the reply.Ahlon, Im not joking. I dont know whatto do. How do I y back? I rubbed myface with my front legs. Can you all see

whats happening better than I can?I was shocked that even Ahlon didnthave an answer.You must have been put there for areason, perhaps to learn some valuablelessons, signalled Neyum. Spend yourtime wisely. Youll be able to y properlysoon, youll see.Instinctively, I wanted to buzz back

shouting, Ill give you a few wise words,Neyum. One is help and the other isme. But I was too exhausted to beangry.I was badly bruised and my wing jointsfelt as though they were seriouslysprained. Any impetus I had to return tothe nest left me right then and there.The air was still; it almost felt absent.For the entire time I had been awareof the fact that the garden beyondthe invisible wall had beautiful borders.However, the more I struggled to getthere, the more I could only focus onmy own trapped position. Gradually, myawareness of the soft uttering of butter -ies around the buddleia began to fade.My appreciation for the owers and

cont .


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Local Artist Shows Paintings at Catto Gallery

Local artist Anthony J. Parks hyperrealistic still life paintings are to be exhibited at Catto

Gallery situated in the beautiful, leafy village of Hampstead .

Anthony J. Park lives in Highgate with a studio in Muswell Hill. His skill lies in his ability tocreate stunningly detailed oil paintings of fruit and other organic materials, whilst alsocapturing the extraordinary striations of glass vessels which hold these objects. These paint-ings can often look like photographs such is the level of detail, and as a result each paint-ing can take on average 60-100 hours to complete.

Anthony J. Parks series of oil paintings entitled Beauty & Preservation was exceptedby Catto after a meeting with the three gallery directors. Regarding his show with Catto,



Park stated I am deeply grati ed tohave this opportunity; Catto is one of themost prestigious galleries in London andfor them to recognise the value of mywork is a wonderful acknowledgementof the time and effort Ive put into my art

practice over the years.

The stillness and peacefulness of AnthonyJ. Parks paintings belies a highlydisrupted period in his childhood whichcontinually inform fundamental aspectsof his work.

Parks love of natural objects beganin his early childhood where he foragedthe overgrown lands of an abandonedrailway at the back of the family home.There he found his love for all things natu-ral. But in this same period he grew upwith a very ill brother. His brother broke allthings related to glass. Park says, Theaquarium was an ideal for the family,

something peaceful and beautiful, andwhen my brother exploded its glassfaade, I learnt as an eight year old howephemeral beauty could be. Within thegushing waters I saw an array of sh andshattered glass fuse into an image ofbeauty and destruction.

These images of beauty beside destruc-

tion have haunted Anthony ever since,

in particular their relationship to glass.Anthony says, While such incidences ofsmashing glass are a thing of the past,glass appears in all my paintings, itsmeaning now inverted. Now the glassis reconstructed into an ideal state, as

something whole and beautiful. The glassis a metaphorical means of capturingand preserving natural beauty, similar tothe way the specimen jars at the NaturalHistory Museum preserve organisms. Itsas though Im trying to put back togetherall the broken pieces of my early child-hood, and make something beautifuland whole once more which can neverbe lost.

The main gallery at Catto also has alower gallery called Catto Below. Antho-nys exhibition of 18 paintings will takeplace there and the show will run fromMay 11th-31st, 2014. Catto has grownto become one of the nest art galler -

ies in London; for this reason Anthony isdelighted to be on board. he says, I canonly hope that the exhibition goes well,that many people attend and get to seeand enjoy my paintings, and that theoverall response is good.

For more information visit www.parke-paintings.com. Catto Gallery is situated

on 100 Heath Street, London, NW3 1DP.

EQUILIBRIUM 21

Anthony Park


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Equilibrium Magazine Issue 52 - Spring 2014

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