Gains for me through suggestion and meditation
1. Development of better driving habits in all respects.
a. Watch ahead, behind, to right and left, watch grownups, children and animals.
b. Work out a procedure for each type of situation: crossing without stop requirement; with stop requirement, etc…
2. Become a better listener, hear more clearly and completely. Listen better to what others say to give them more opportunity for expression. Incidentally, I remembered that when Dr. Rumsfeld examined me and wrote a statement for the auto insurance Co. that I was OK for driving, he had my ears tested. I asked him about the test. He looked it up and said it was quite complete and that I showed no hearing loss at all and that there was [page 2] no reason for taking another test.
3. Improve and restore better habits of recollection. Remembering people’s names, remembering data: authors, names, dates, places, discoveries, philosophical concepts and considerations.
4. Eliminate tendency for unnecessary concern over adverse comments or pessimistic comments of friends, relatives, etc. over retirement.
5. Carry normal physiological activities to completion.
- Close glottis completely and thus reduce likelihood of coughing
- Carry on more normal activity throughout my alimentary canal. The drugs I take work mainly through my nervous system. I should be able to affect it directly [page 3].
- Develop and maintain better heart action and circulation.
- Sense more quickly than I do when I am tempted to overdo and tax my heart.
- Improve circulation to scalp, alimentary canal and muscles, eliminate arm pains. These all are controlled through nerve action. Suggestion should be as effective as drugs and certainly would be better.
- Control tendency, common in all older persons, to have difficulty in retention of urine. I can drive or work a long while with no urgency - when I get near home, I’m suddenly put under pressure. If my machinery can wait 3 hours it should be able to wait 3 hours and 5 minutes, [page 4] Reduce need for drugs. Eliminate all but essential ones. Dr. Rumsfeld implies that it can be done - my system should learn to do it.
I have some other thoughts on the general subject but I’ll write them in a letter.
Carl
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Collection (SJSU)
