879 thoughts on “Dementia – what is really going on?”

1. It is a real concern observing a loved one’s mental state deteriorating and more concerning than this, is observing it in the younger generation too. All these mod cons to make our lives supposedly better, whilst at the same time, it makes our minds and bodies lazy. For instance, we would memorise telephone numbers, but now, we have them at hand on our mobile phones. I was excellent in parking a car, now we have cameras, or a car that annoyingly beeps at you, whilst reversing. Has this made us better communicators or drivers? Probably not.

   We need to go back to the basics, everything is at hand, for us life is richer, yet we are time poor, and we seldom get together in the true sense of family gatherings.

   We hand a child a mobile phone or a tablet to watch or play games in the name of keeping them entertained. When all we need to do is to connect and be with them. It is that simple.

2. This morning I had a moment where I forgot why I went into the kitchen. I’ve experienced quite a few of these in my life but I wonder if they were to build up over time if this is an early sign of Dementia. Something we brush aside as nothing may be something.

   1. Leigh, this moment we have all experienced, is a moment to check in within ourselves. It is this attention to detail, that is asking of us to stay with ourselves at all times.
      
Day dreaming is something we all have experienced and as much as this may seem trivial, what if is this is the embryonic state of dementia??

      Everything is everything, nothing happens for the sake of happening. We are accountable to how we live our lives, with total presence or, off with somewhere or something else. That’s the choice.

3. “Every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us” – I agree, but the question is how do we qualify ‘loving’ choices? We get educated and trained to be straight and narrow and good and respectable, and many of us follow that, ticking boxes as we go, thinking we have our life sorted, then what happens? When we are so disconnected from what true love is, we remain astray and unable to make ‘loving’ choices, and we don’t know that, and when the consequence hits us right in the face, we go ‘Why?’

4. It may well be that we eventually understand Dementia as a lifestyle illness, a result of many choices over time building up until a person is relatively absent from their own mind and body. Definitely a very painful illness to observe in others. Regardless of what’s currently known or not about the reason for Dementia developing, we would have to say that becoming more self caring of the body (as directed by the body) would be a great investment in our long term health and wellbeing.

5. When we give up we leave a gap for energy to enter that can play havoc with our thoughts and our mind.

6. Dementia is the shrinking of the brain, simplistically. If you try to restore a raisin, it will never look like a grape again. So, is the best cure for dementia, living a life that is supportive of our body?

   1. To keep your grape from drying out in the first place! Prevention is better than cure but are we educated enough on how powerful our choices are a form of preventative medicine?

7. what’s got into you? Such a great question that gives such an obvious clue to how energy works in people.

8. Deep down we all know drinking alcohol taking drugs and numbing ourselves out in front of the tv or computer is a sign that we are dissatisfied with life, yet rather than changing our choices we choose instead to continue to check out and the consequences are many, from illness and disease to dementia yet no one is making the connection, is that because no one wants to see what is in front of them or is it because many entertainment, brewing and leisure companies would lose out that even the thought of going there is being avoided.

9. I agree – what we see in dementia cannot fully be explained by our logical reasoning alone. By shutting the door on the possibility that there’s more than meets the eyes is robbing us of greater understanding and how we could possibly change the tide.

10. For the past three years I have been working closely with a couple of people diagnosed with the onset of vascular dementia, it is a cruel disease to observe when they are being ‘run by it’. When meeting them in full in their essence or sharing a loving hand and arm massage, they both respond to the delicateness and care and they are settled within themselves again.
    “No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll”.

11. Dishonesty and checking out has gone through the roof, we are not developing deeply loving and supportive lives where the truth is of paramount importance – and as the statistics show – the consequences are massive. If there is any possibility that diseases like dementia are not random but developed by our choices over many years, then it makes sense to start considering exactly and precisely what we are choosing now and look at where this might be leading in the future.

12. There is a stupendous key here, a link that you have made between how one lives everyday and the fact that energy is the producer of what happens in our days. And so, the question naturally is, what energy is running your body each day that you make your day of livingness?

13. The statistics you share about the increase in dementia are very scary Samantha, and show that a considerable part of the population will not be able to care for themselves as they age, and this in turn will put increased pressure on the health and care services. I volunteer in a hospital and quite often dementia patients are in there for 4 or 5 months before a suitable place is found for them. This not only takes up a lot of the resources of the hospital, but there is an ongoing cost in caring for dementia patients. I feel there will come a point in time when the NHS will no longer have the funds to support all the illnesses and diesases and maybe at that point we will stop and begin to take responsibility for our own health and well being.

14. The statistics for the predicted rise in dementia is very shocking. This blog is very clear on the health issues we are eventually faced with – everytime we check out or numb out from our choices to not feel we are laying the foundations for dementia later in life
    “We all need to take responsibility and look at how we are living, we need to get very personal and honest and ask, “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?”

15. If dementia is increasing as it is alarm bells should be ringing, and we have to start asking ourselves the question why, and as we look more deeply we come to the conclusion that dementia is a result of us checking out of life, then we need to all take more responsibility and look at how we need to change the way we live in order to live a life that is both fulfilling and full of vitality.

    1. I agree, the rising figures are alarming and requires a deep, broad consideration of the factors involved. And it’s not just people affected, Dementia is also seen in pets.

16. It truly does pay to listen to our body and face what it is we are to face, no matter how difficult we may find it to be. Listening to our body, responding to what we feel is true is taking responsibility – it supports our health and wellbeing and also that of others if they so choose.

17. Some great questions here Samantha, but I doubt many of us hardly ever think to ask ourselves let alone get to a deep honesty. It does make sense though that if we chose to check out from life or find ways to escape there will be consequences for our health.

18. Dementia is definitely on the increase and many are astounded that it appears to come on so quickly, yet it takes years of checking out for dementia to develop, and as such we have ample opportunity to make sure we don’t check out and lose touch of what is really going on in our lives, it’s easy to swap an hour’s TV for a walk in nature being observant of all that surrounds us, taking time to talk to people and truly listen, they are small things that help us stay in touch with ourselves.

19. “we need to look at how we are living every day and how this impacts our physical and mental function.” We all know the truth that how we live has an effect on our overall health and wellbeing.

20. What you describe here clearly indicates that dementia is not the problem, but is a symptom, one of the consequences of us being absent from our own lives – and looking at this disease inevitably asks us to look at the way we have been living and accepting as so-called life.

21. This sentence: “What possesses these people to act in such ways? carries the answer in that if we check out then we create the space for something else to check in. We can see that quite clearly when people get drunk and we say what has gotten into them? it is the same as you describe when we give up and withdraw.

22. More and more I am aware of others actually saying, my memory is really bad, or I think I’m getting Alzheimer’s, so it’s like we have the language around our checking out but are really just treating it like a joke, or an excuse to check out of life.

23. It is true that the body registers everything, and this blog is so important because it outlines the possibility that when we go against what is loving to the body, then we are saying yes to disease.

24. The fact that the dementia figures keep rising is telling in itself, plus the continuing demand for more gadgets to check out with. I read that they were using virtual reality headsets with the elderly with dementia to stimulate the brain but to me, that seems as though they are using the same thing (checking out) to try to cure the patients.

25. Samantha I’ve noticed with myself that there have been times, many times, where I check out, where I don’t choose to be part of or in the moment. Recently I’ve made a commitment to stop thinking about right and wrong and be focused, I realised that even in thinking in my head about something I can be checking out and not part of the day and therefore contributing to my chances of getting dementia.

26. ‘Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body.’ As when we do not honour ourselves we leave ourselves wide open to the continual disregard of unhealthy choices and patterns that manifest as disharmony in all levels of our lives.

27. Samantha a great reminder that we are responsible for our own choices and checking out will eventually catch up with us unless we make different choices and spend less time checked out, and more time present.

28. How deeply inspiring this blog is, as it is written from your personal experiences of dementia patients. There is definitely awake up call for ALL to live with more responsibility for our choices and daily way of being or dementia is going to be even more widespread than it is now (shockingly so).
    “If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole”.

29. Thank you for a great wakeup call Samantha. I have not had a lot to do with dementia but it is frightening to think of it escalating to the levels you have mentioned. I agree we all need to be responsible for our selves and seeing what habits and disregard we live in that will impact our health and mental capacity in the future.

30. The aggressive dementia patient sounds similar to a drunk person who gets in a fight who is described as not normally violent. It is a possession of the body, a choosing of a type of energy to run our physicality that takes us out of control. A minor version of this you could say is when we say something mean, judgmental or unkind and then wish we could take it back. It is a choice we have made to source our thoughts and words from something far lesser than our grand capacity to love and care in everything we do and are. Perhaps dementia is a long term choice to source thoughts from that lesser place that takes away the faculties that give our life meaning and purpose.

31. Feeling my issues and calling them out, expressing how I feel, whatever that may be allows the issue to clear out and heal. Avoiding my problems only builds pressure until it explodes. Either way it comes out be it gently or an explosion that takes longer to recover from.

32. I love that you have exposed the responsibility and presence that is required should we want to see the rates of dementia reduce. The statistics are terrifying, especially considering this is just one of many illnesses that cripple society along with the medical industry. But pointing the finger, or picking up the pieces, will never address the issue like looking at the way we are living before the ailments surface in response and then changing the way we move through life.

33. Wow, this blog really makes you stand up and listen. It is a shock to hear what ageing now looks like. We champion the fact that we are living longer but it doesn’t seem we are having conversations about the quality of that life. The one thing Universal Medicine comes back to is quality, it asks us to not just take things on face value, it not about ticking boxes. It is our responsibility to choose a certain quality of energy that will guarantee a connection with ourselves and the universe. If you choose another quality of energy, that is designed to numb, distract, escape from what there is to feel, then there is a consequence to that choice. It may start of as an “innocent” checkout for a couple of hours but the end result is a life and body you are checked out of more than it is checked in. I really feel for the families and individuals that have had to learn this the hard way, I can imagine it would be a painful drawn out and sad thing to watch and or live through.
    It is a huge wake up call for me and us all.

34. ‘We all need to take responsibility and look at how we are living, we need to get very personal and honest and ask, “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?”’ These questions are very needed and not much asked, sometimes it seems that we are getting even more irresponsible with spending more and more time in the digital world, gaming not choosing to truly connect to the real world or even build relationships with real people. Where are we?

35. “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” So much pure gold in the article Samantha. This sentence I feel is a blog in itself in the depth and breadth of the awareness that we’re being offered if we accept it as the truth it is.

36. It’s an intense but necessary read. Wow, four people to take on the abnormal strength of an elderly dementia patient, that is scary stuff and feels very indicative of how far someone has drifted away from their true being. I recently watched episode 6 on http://www.sergebenhayon.tv called “Understanding the beingness that constitutes the human being”, it explained a lot to me on how we are not valued or fostered in our beings, and that our being is very aware and multidimensional – we feel and sense many things. Living without the fullness of our true inner selves and without support to communicate all we feel and are aware of is a recipe to want to check out from life. If we do this consistently over life, even in small ways, we can end up with a body that is literally vacant of the being – we don’t want to be here and that could be part of the physical manifestation of what we call “Dementia”.

37. To be aware of an energy running through another that is creating a lot of harm but also at the same time seeing that the energy is not who they are is very beautiful and therefore impossible to take anyone or anything personal. At the end of the day no matter what energy we choose to align, with our divine essence is forever present.

38. It’s a simple equation… if we choose to be unaware of what is going on in our lives over a sustained period of time, then it becomes harder and harder to focus and our lives and memories start to fray and fragment.

39. “So could it be possible that when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us? The phrases, “What’s got into you?” and “They are not themselves,” come to mind as examples of everyday language that perhaps portray this reality of another energy running us.” We take it for granted that a natural way of being is to live a distracted and stimulated life – not understanding what may lie in store for us later in life. The statistics are scary indeed. We only have one body this lifetime – why do we spend so much time not wanting to truly inhabit it?

40. Those stats on the increase of people living with dementia and how they are very soon about to rise are terrifying. How on earth have we allowed this to happen. I agree completely with what you share here about ways that could prevent this from being the next plague, if we don’t count it as a plague already. What will it take for us to start paying attention to the bigger picture?

41. What a great call out Samantha, to take responsibility for how we live in each moment, and your reminder that every choice impacts on us is well made and each time we over ride what we feel or in fact reject it, we set ourselves up on the road to a further check-out later, so given this it’s no surprise we have increasing dementia rates. While many of us can easily agree with this, it’s when it comes back to the personal and when you ask where we individually numb that I had a squirm for that’s how we address dementia, we start with us and being real and honest about how we feel as another choice to do otherwise in fact is in the same spectrum of the dementia we do not want to see in our wider societies. We are part of everything and our bodies show all the choices we’ve made.

42. Every choice matters and it sums to all our lived choices. The way we age, it’s not a random thing, but something we build moment by moment. Knowing and taking responsibility for this, offers to us the opportunity of rectifying the choices that clearly would take us to a disconnected old age.

43. Great to start the conversation on what is really going on with the huge increase rates in Dementia, the more we discuss this topic and bring more awareness to it, humanity as a whole can start taking responsibility for the changes that we so desperately need to make, as things can only get worse if we do not.

44. Coming back to your blog again Samantha I am reminded that we are responsible for our choices and we live the sum of our choices.

45. What you have presented in this blog Samantha tells a sad and painful story about dementia and the human condition, however you have also expressed what is possible to find purpose love and connection to our true selves. A beautiful and insightful blog to read, thank you.

46. When we are distracted from life and continually checking out, our bodies, and in the case of dementia our minds, inevitably suffer the consequences. Dementia is not something that happens overnight. Is it possible therefore that after years of checking out and numbing ourselves to the truth of what is going on around us, and in the world, and with little willingness to play our part in life to the full, that dementia is just the culmination of the seeds we have been sowing all along?

47. We all have to be honest and accept that there has to be more to illness and disease than meets the eye. That it is far more than just chance, genetics and a few identified lifestyle factors that leads to our diagnoses and accept that every dynamic, every experience, every single detail that we do and feel accumulates and in turn, affects the quality of our health and wellbeing.

48. There is no getting a way from the fact that by the time we are old every pattern and ingrained behaviour is registered clearly for all to see and reflects back via our bodies. So it makes sense that if we have had a life of checking out and not being fully committed to life and give up on ourselves and the life we have, then dementia could be on the cards for us, no different than any illness in old age.

49. I like how this article brings us to reponsibility. Self responsibility lived in full is living with a responsibility that is aware that how you live affects all. Let us not by pass this fact and begin now to assess our lives, how we live them and what they are truly bringing to humanity.

50. The energetic causes of illness and disease are often very simple, if only we wanted to truly see. For instance with dementia, it makes sense if we ‘check out’ and are not with ourselves this results in a disease where we are not there and other energies can come in. Looking at how we are living and dealing with our hurts or issues with the world and being in it is not something that is always easy to do but it is simple and then the answers to many diseases are there, if we only want to take this responsibility.

51. I have just started to work with people with dementia in a nursing home and the clarity and authority in your writing inspires me once more to not focus on their behaviour but to feel their essence underneath; ‘No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.

    1. The challenge of the disease called dementia is to realise that by the time it has taken hold on someone years and years of life choices have culminated in this illness. So now, the person that they are, is covered by the illness and all that goes with it, whether that be memory loss, or violence. Nevertheless the person that they are is not the illness, and the path for their family, friends and carers now is to not see them as the disease, for underneath the illness they still are who they are, but at the same time support them very practically to manage and live their remaining years with the behaviour of that illness in everyday life.

52. Whenever I choose to continually avoid taking responsibility for my choices, or something is rising to the surface that I avoid feeling, my mental state becomes very unstable. Whenever I am connected to my feelings is when I feel clarity, steady and loving in my thoughts. Our relationship with how we care for our bodies is so interlinked with a healthy mind!

53. Great blog Samantha and some fundamental questions, when we allow ourself to be distracted from life and check out, there has to be some form of consequence and our health is compromised simply by our lack of loving choices.

54. I do love how we are asking the questions about what is going on, when we are such an educated advanced race, yet we have dementia clouding our elderly senior years, at a time when they most need and deserve to be at peace within themselves. It smacks of something being very wrong in how they have lived up until that point…..we must keep asking what is behind this screamingly sad state of affairs- 44.4 million cases of dementia worldwide is no accident. We cant be blind and keep assuming it’s inevitable or even worse- normal.

55. ‘Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility.’ Absolutely and whilst we need to have a safety net for those who are unable to care for themselves our welfare system seems to have promoted a expectation of entitlement which allows people to abdicate responsibility for how they are choosing to live. We cannot expect our health systems to continue rescuing us from the consequences of our self-destructive choices whether it be from abusing our bodies with alcohol/drugs or the increasing prevalence of diabetes because of dietary choices. This can change and it starts with us taking personal responsibility for all our choices, no perfection needed just a willingness to be open to seeing what is really there to see and not being deflected when others question our choices.

56. Great questions Samantha and ones that we really need to address if we are to halt the alarming rise in dementia cases around the world. Responsibility starts with ourselves and being willing to look at the ways we distract ourselves from being fully present with our lives. Only when we are willing to look at the ways we have found to check out will we have a chance to arrest patterns of behaviour that are self-destructive and can eventually lead to dementia.

57. “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?” Great questions Samantha and ones that can really help us see what we are doing to ourselves. The choice is always there to change things and to come back to the present moment and stay with what is happening in the present moment. Becoming centred in ourselves and steady in the present changes everything. Last night I was hurriedly writing out an invoice when a friend remarked that it was difficult to read and he was struggling to make sense of it. I stopped and allowed myself to deepen my connection to myself, becoming centred and started again. He said the writing was different. I repeated the deepening of my centredness and stillness and wrote for a third time. This time there was a very marked difference and I could feel what a different quality I had left on the page. How could I have gone so far from my stillness? I realised I was doubting the exchanges I had made. I had just sold some old furniture and bits and pieces to someone and in writing out the invoice because I was doubting my previous actions I was no longer fully with myself and it was showing up in my writing. I did not want to feel this doubting energy that felt undermining but by ignoring it my natural movements had changed and my handwriting had become a scrawl, hardly respectful of myself or anyone else. I could see how often I allowed this kind of carelessness. I am very thankful to my friend for pointing this out to me and for supporting me in my growing awareness that can keep me on a path of harmonious activity including harmonious written exchanges.

58. This is a great question to ask, “what is really going on?” when this is the statistics, “”As of 2013, there were an estimated 44.4 million people with dementia worldwide. This number will increase to an estimated 75.6 million in 2030, and 135.5 million in 2050. Much of the increase will be in developing countries.”” This is happening in our developed world as well. We need to look further forward and I would expect that number to rise even more if we don’t take more care in what these illnesses mean. This is a possibility and to be honest it makes more sense then anything else I’ve seen http://www.unimedliving.com/living-medicine/medical-conditions/alzheimer-s-dementia-do-we-have-a-part-to-play.html We need to keep giving these type of illnesses airtime, not looking for a cure to something that has already happened but bring it back to prevention.

59. Thank you Samantha for this informative blog on Dementia. I would agree that the fact that we ignore what our body is telling us would have a major influence on the fact that we could get dementia. Also not being connected to our bodies at all times and losing ourselves in books, TV and general zoning out would all have a great influence. By all supporting each other in this by reminding ourselves of the need to be fully conscious with ourselves at all times may be the answer, as you say.

60. The predicted rates of dementia in future decades are a serious world health concern. Looking around society, it is not just the elderly with dementia who are physically there but not actually present in their bodies. Checking out in front of the computer, TV, video games, or on our mobiles has become an everyday occurrence from young ages. One only has to look in their eyes after they have had sometime in front of the screen, and the eyes reveal a person who is not fully there. This is of great concern for our future health.

61. Facing a parent with Dementia is a frightening task in many ways. I agree that the onus needs to be for each of us to be responsible for wanting to escape life, to avoid things we don’t want to feel, and to “deal with our stuff” as you say. The challenge for many is that there is no known way to deal with their stuff. And this is where The Way of the Livingness and Serge Benhayon come in.

62. That’s it Samantha…. every unloving choice stacks up over the years, building to one disease or another. We can take responsibility and clear that ourselves, or else the body is going to reach its limit and will feed that back in one way or another (through its choice of disease).

63. When I was caring for my mom when she was diagnosed with dementia it seemed to me that she had a selective memory for things. It was like she only remembered what she wanted to remember.

    This was many years ago, and my mom has since passed, but with my own work with Universal Medicine, and the idea that everything that happens to us is because of choices, it makes sense to me that my mom was choosing what she wanted to remember.

    Is dementia something that the person has chosen? If this is true it brings up a level of self-responsibility that is scary.

    I feel that taking true responsibility for our own lives is the first step in making a real difference in this world.

64. It is truly sad to see people to completely retract from their bodies by choice and leave it to be played with by other energies. If we do not allow ourselves to truly see what is happening on an energetic level we will never find the ‘cure’ as it can only be prevented by another way of living, a way of living in which we commit to life in full and simply deal with whatever is being presented to us, how ugly or beautiful this may be, in our return to the way of being we innately all know so well and are from.

65. An amazingly insightful sharing on the truths about dementia from your honest experiences and awarenesses. “It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.” This is very empowering as it shows it is our loving choices and presence that is the prevention and cure all in one.

66. It’s great to see people writing and giving us another perspective on an illness like this. As is highlighted the increases or even the levels now are surely a warning for us. I guess it comes down to the old thing of if it’s not hitting us directly, right between the eyes at times then we don’t open up to what’s going on. We live our lives looking after ourselves which you think would be great but it’s how we go about this. It’s about the quality and how we isolate ourselves which then allows us to all see each other as being seperate. It these type of numbers are being shown then it will effect us all, it’s just you won’t see it until it’s too late. More of these blogs please to wake us all up and show us where we need to support. We are all in need of a shake up, no matter where you stand.

    1. Indeed Ray, this other view on illness and disease needs to be presented to the world more frequently, however shocking it may be. Maybe we all need the truth right in our face before we are willing to accept that something is is really wrong in the societies we live in.

67. “What possesses these people to act in such ways?” When we check-out we leave an empty space and as there is no such thing as a vacuum, there is always energy, that space can be filled, or possessed, with a harmful energy.

68. What you have expressed here Samantha is profound and powerful; a new level of responsibility, on all levels, is certainly required;
    “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility. If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.”

69. If we don’t honour ourselves and our body there are consequences, not being present with ourselves is disregarding, ‘By staying lovingly present with ourselves and dealing with our stuff as it comes up, we are able to see life as it is, even if at first this is uncomfortable.’

70. Yes Samantha, absolutely important subject to talk about…and those with dementia would be in such a tortured state within which is expressed by their behaviour…to not know who we are would be very difficult and as you ask, how do we get to this state. As you state ‘Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?’ I feel that this can be said about most of us to some extent. Dementia is very confronting but it is also telling us, showing us something here, that if we choose to see what it is more deeply then, just maybe dementia will stop increasing as we become more responsible for our daily way of living. Demential is very painful for the person with dementia and their loved ones.

71. Yes Samantha I agree and would add that when we don’t take responsibility for the things that have hurt us, this can also be an impetus for withdrawing and giving up on life, leading ultimately to dementia.

72. “Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?
    Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”
    Two very pertinent and super important questions that we should all be asking ourselves if we genuinely want to know “what is really going on?”

73. Great blog. I see the same with poor mental health clients who cannot speak any more, they communicate with anger but actually underneath they are gentle and simply frustrated at their lack of ability to communicate in the way they want to “No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent.” The less I, as a practitioner, have reacted to their aggression, the less they have done it with me, they can feel I know that behaviour is not them.

74. There was a time in my life that I would have struggled with the notion that something ‘gets into us’ – but this was because I didn’t want to believe that such things were possible. More recently though, I have seen people who have changed completely under the influence of alcohol, even to the extent that they use a different name and their behaviour becomes completely out of character and often quite bizarre. I can now accept that it is true that when we allow it, things do ‘get into us’ and the words ‘what has got into you?’ are more literal than I once accepted. So yes Samantha England, it is time for us all to look more seriously into what it means to be responsible for our lives and our choices and to be more present every day – and then perhaps we can reverse this tendency to ‘check-out’ in later life.

75. Samantha you have raised some great questions for us all to deeply ponder on the underlying causes of the alarming increased rates of dementia we are facing in our society. As you have mentioned it is by us being more present in our bodies and taking responsibility of how we live individually and collectively as a society that we can start to create a positive change.

76. What a great blog Samantha. showing the responsibility we have in staying true to ourselves and not getting lost in old patterns and ways of being. I really got from your blog how dementia starts with the small things in life that we don’t address and how these build up over time to dementia later in life. The Medical profession is still looking at answers in the form of drugs to slow dementia down or halt it, but not so much in addressing it at the start. Serge Benhayon has shown that dementia starts much earlier than the diagnosis which makes sense to me. As you say Samantha “It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us. In fact every time we eat something our bodies do not truly want, use a stimulant, or say yes when we mean no, all these choices add up.”

77. I’d love to see more research that links things such as screen time and caffeine and alcohol to dementia. Uncomfortable as it may seem for many, dementia is not on the rise just by chance, our lifestyles are the major factor, this seems very clear to me.

78. Yesterday I was speaking to someone who works in medicine. He pointed out that since dementia has been discovered, there has been no cure or advancements due to a lack of funding. Now with an ageing population, Dementia is a big problem and costs as much as cancer. So what you say here Samantha is so relevant – there is something more -there is a responsibility to look at how present and aware we are in each moment. I asked someone to hand me a phone yesterday and they handed me a bag of kale and blamed it on being tired – but how often do we not want to admit that we are just not in the moment?

79. It would be a very interesting study to see if taking responsibility for our choices moment by moment leads to a decreased risk of dementia.

80. In a world where the statistics of dementia, as you have shown, are predicted to rise at an alarming rate, it seems to me that the medical profession, scientists and the general public are looking outside of themselves for the reason why, blaming everything from the “kitchen frying pan to genetics” as the cause. But could it be that they all are missing the true reason why, the possibility that it is actually the way we are living, our lifestyles choice, that are not only the root cause of dementia, but also many other illnesses and diseases. I agree with you 100% Samantha that there needs to be a “whole new level of responsibility” taken as to the way we are choosing to live.

81. “Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body”.
    Indeed they do Samantha and we can clearly see the devastating effects this toll has, on ourselves and on others. The story you tell and statistics you share about Dementia is a great reminder for as all to take responsibility for the quality and purpose of our lived life.

82. It is great to read about this from someone with first hand experience as you have the opportunity to observe more deeply what is going on. You have raised some really important points to consider and as the figures are high and rising it is worth taking notice of our own lives NOW. Reading this “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” makes our bodies worth listening to and noticing how often we may be doing this through the day. Thank you Samantha.

83. It’s awesome that you’ve raised this Samantha and bringing awareness around the subject. It can be too easy at times to shirk our responsibility and give up when things become difficult but the more aware we stay and the more present we are with ourselves the less likely we are to experience our lives spiralling in a way that leaves us feeling unable to cope. Giving up is not the answer to one’s difficulties and is an irresponsible way of choosing to live for it is a choice and is not something that just ‘happens’ to us.

84. Thank you for writing from a place of working with dementia patients. What you see every day is incredibly valuable. If there is even the slightest possibility that this hypothesis could be true, is it not worth paying heed and actually dealing with the things that hurt and traumatise us?

85. I love what you present here Samantha and how you present it, as someone who has worked with dementia patients your voice should be listened to. I have also worked with dementia patients though not those with as extreme behaviours as those you describe. While alzheimers charities scrabble around for cures to the illness there is the works of Serge Benhayon, who has simply and clearly explained the energetic cause of the disease. And while this for now is not grounded in the evidence based science that we all seem to be bound to, it offers the simple way forward in dealing with this disease, the fact that dementia is linked to our choices and how engaged we are in life, and how committed we are to dealing with life events, the mini traumas and the issues that arise for us all as we live through the years. A red flag for me is if I walk up the stairs and can’t remember what I was coming up for, I used to do that often but less so now, such things are a precursor to losing control of our mind, of that I have no doubt. For as long as we look for a complicated reason for dementia we will be locked in the prison of our own making, that how we live our lives takes us to the health outcomes we all enjoy or endure.

86. Thank you Samantha for a great blog from someone who works first hand with Dementia. I have lived a large part of my life checked out not wanting to feel the pain, or seeing the abusive way we deal with each other, not realising that my checking out was a form of abuse in its self. I am in my 70’s and appreciate deeply that had I not come to know Universal Medicine I would be well on my way to Dementia.

87. I feel we avoid looking at things because we have forgotten how to deal with the pain that arises from the situation we are avoiding. I am observing people close to me in their 60’s and 70’s and it seems these situations have been stacking up over their lives and they thought they were able to turn the switch on to off when they didn’t want or know how to deal with something and switch it back on with no side effects, but as the years have progressed the switch to come back on does not function as well as it did and sometimes it can take a couple of days before they are back on, to the daily level I know them to operate from. It is scary but it is as if society is turning a blind eye to this hence dementia is sky rocketing.

88. “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility. If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.” This is spot on Samantha. I regularly come into contact with Dementia patients, and this lack of responsibility is what comes through time and time again. People have totally given up on themselves and on life in general for whatever reason, and as a result are now living with the consequences of that. If children and young adults were made aware of this when they are at school, it could potentially change the outlook for so many of them as they get older. This is where the true prevention and healing could occur.

89. There is surely a pattern to be revealed that correllates the relationship between screen time (our use of this time) and dementia, as we get more and more drawn to our electronic devices and the distraction that abound, and less present in our everyday moments then the incidence of not being fully with our bodies in our movements becomes more and more prevalent. We can make jokes about multi-tasking and the gender gap in this regard, but everyone, regardless of sex could make it more of a commitment to responsibly move in life, fully in the moment. Might that be a large factor in whether we suffer brain fog, cloudy thoughts, an inability to focus, and ultimately dementia. Like so many things, the answer has already been given by Serge Benhayon, the question is at what point will we all start to listen.

90. This is an amazing life changing article Samantha with so much wisdom and honesty about how we are living and the unloving choices we make and the impact of this. The very distressing Dementia illness and the enormous forces that come to play when we do not choose full commitment to life. You highlight the importance of higher levels of responsibility needed by us all as humanity and the only way forward with loving choices in how we are living that really can make all the difference and living a reflection of this is the inspiration needed for us all.

91. Very important topic Samantha, especially as you have stated the numbers are rising and will inevitably put a huge strain on our health care system. It’s a bit scary really when you think of all the other illnesses which are on the increase, such as diabetes, cancers, heart disease it stands to reason that something will have to give sooner or later.

92. When we get into the ruts you have described, Samantha; the way we are living, what we are not looking at, what we refuse to feel and habits and behaviours, it is like being lost in a maze in our mind that has forgotten where the exit is. Has our mind become old tools? When left in the shed without any purpose we rust up and rot away?

93. I used to so easily give up on myself after making unloving choices to distract myself but this behaviour is gently becoming a thing of the past. I am accepting myself a lot more when I do slip up and making choices to change the momentum to a more loving way. Giving myself the space to feel is key and this is something I am realising is certainly worth appreciating.

94. We all are like antennas and are set on auto scan to pick up energy. We get to choose what we allow into our self. The body is the litmus paper that helps us discern whether we chose the right energy. When we ignore the messages and further numb ourselves with the plethora of options available, the damage starts to compound. Have you ever had a piece of meat that needed to be tenderized and used a meat hammer? If you continue to pound the item, it will eventually turn to mush. We all have the choice to choose what we allow in us and for me after knowing people that have died with a mushy head is not a choice I will be making.

95. “Embracing life and not giving up” right till my last breath is my choice to be engaged with every aspect my body and the universe reflects to me. I have noticed the moment you turn off or go into habitual patterns and are not willing to see life as an opportunity to grow every single moment, is the giving up energy that takes over and fills the emptiness and controls from there, once this disregard sets in it becomes the foundation for illness and disease including dementia.

96. “So could it be possible that when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us? ” Absolutely…. I have noticed the most subtle patterns and behaviours in people’s lives can literally take over and magnify to become the leading dominating characters. Once they were partially hidden behind a veneer of nice-ness or success but in the end the hidden personality or behaviours are a force that takes over and becomes an entity in its own right.

97. In the past, as you have said Gill it took years to develop this disease, with the explosion of the being connected 24/7 to something that allows us to check out, we will not remember what it is like to get old or what a middle aged crisis is. We live in an ever increasingly fast world, our ability to stay checked out can only accelerate the onset of dementia as a side effect of our lifestyles.

98. In the past, it took years to build the layer cake that Dementia is which is a strange analogy because we construct the cake and then it eats our memories. Having your cake and it eats you.

99. These are extraordinary statistics Samantha, and the fact that the world does not simply just stop and say let us not go further and explore anything else until we have truly understood why this is happening, leads us to observe that there is this seeming veil of ignorance or irresponsibility that is cast over the world that stops everyone seeing the glaringly obvious… That something is deeply and profoundly wrong.

100. What a great blog Samantha, from someone who is dealing with Dementia today. This is also very worth pondering what you have shared here, that Dementia is developed from our choices, to either be with ourselves, to not check out, or not. This is a confronting prospect, one I am sure may very well be dismissed. Why? – because the level of responsibility that is asking us to step up to in how we all live, is huge!! But a necessary question and responsibility we need to take, those statistics you quoted are very frightening.

101. Simple things like checking out in front of the TV or driving on auto pilot can lead to a habit, that gradually gets worse. More subtle are the ways I know I can turn a blind eye to something and pretend it’s not happening because I don’t want to deal with it. I can see how not wanting to be present with life can lead to dementia.

102. Dementia, like all other illness and disease, does not just “happen”. There is a lead up to up to it and that lead up occurs in the way that we live. To imagine that we suddenly just wake up with a disease is an extremely irresponsible way of seeing illness and disease. For true healing to occur we need to look at our lifestyle and be honest about the things that we avoid or ‘check out’ from every day that would then lead to us avoiding and checking out from permanently as we do in the case of dementia.

     1. So well said Elizabeth, thank you for this calling out. It is irresponsible to suggest that dementia just happens, like you say as with all illness and diseases there is a lead up to it and there has been a way of living that needs to be looked at. If we do not look at this and further ignore it, we are creating our own inevitable down fall.

103. I agree Gill, so called relaxing and winding down from the day with say going to the gym, alcohol, watching the soaps on the TV, has been championed for years as being the way to de-stress from our problems, but in fact only makes things worse in the long run. Even with all of these ways to switch off, there is a realisation which we have to override which is telling us this is not the way.

104. Thank you Sam for writing this brilliant and in-depth article on dementia, it so beautifully calls the origins of this illness whilst also detailing its horrific ‘side effects’. It so earnestly highlights how we each have an enormous responsibility in our every moment to be present and connected and to reflect this as the true way to be with life, even when things get a bit tough. An absolutely spot on representation of the fact that “everything is energy, and therefore everything is because of energy”.

105. “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true” This sentence alone is huge as quite often we override our feelings from an early age so it is no wonder we end up wanting to check out as we end up not liking or feeling satisfied with what we have created.

     1. This is something I so often do. When I am not prepared to deal with the situation at hand I will immediately get out my blinkers and attach them firmly on, then eat to numb what I am feeling. It’s a silly cycle really because it will, and does, always come back round until I actually choose to truly deal with it.

106. “By staying lovingly present with ourselves and dealing with our stuff as it comes up, we are able to see life as it is, even if at first this is uncomfortable.”….it is much clearer this way even if it does feel uncomfortable at times. It is when we resist and fight tht it becomes clouded.

107. Dear Samantha, this is a brilliant article and all you have presented makes so much sense. I particularly love this question and feel the truth resonating within it…”Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?” Hear, hear.
     After reading your article I could not help but reflect on my day and a scene flashed before my eyes that is not that uncommon these days. The image was of seeing very young children at the supermarket playing or watching something on iPhones or iPads as they are pushed in the trolley or stroller while their parent completes the shopping. The child is totally detached from all that goes on around them and absorbed within the screen that has captivated their attention. This type of checking out behaviour at such a young age feels like it will have huge effects on children’s development and health. It is time for a greater level of responsibility to be lived across humanity and I can feel without a doubt that responsibility starts first with ourselves and the willingness to truly see how we as a humanity are living.

     1. This is a great observation Bianca around how it is for many young children. Time will tell how detrimental this is to their development, connection with themselves,relationships and health and well being.

     2. We know what long-term effects and illnesses smoking and drinking cause. These were always discouraged to stop children from taking up the habits, and we would tell them when they asked why it was ok for us to do, we replied we are older and accept the ill consequences of our actions. Giving children iPads and phones to check out when they can’t walk or speak yet is no different than giving them a loaded gun to play with! It is well past time to wake from this dream life we have been living without responsibility.

108. I really love what you have shared here Samantha England about knowing that no matter what presents on the surface, the essential being of the person remains pure. The Love they are, the Soul – whatever we choose to call it – remains untainted I feel sure and to ‘hold’ people in this knowing however they behave is a truly loving act.

     1. Beautifully said richardmills363, to hold someone in the love that they are is truly an amazing thing to do. Knowing that their essence is love, no matter what is presenting on the outside.

109. I feel that looking at lifestyle choices on a deep level is worth a lot more research. It just feels like common-sense that such choices have an impact on our health and that this goes deeper than moderating our alcohol intake, reducing how much sugar we eat or how much exercise we take. It is about choices we make in relation to our engagement with life, with other people, responsibility for life as a whole. We may find that our current take on lifestyle choices is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

     1. Yes Richard and to back up what you say, there is a great blog on this site about common sense – https://medicineandsergebenhayon.com/2016/04/07/common-sense-true-medicine/

110. Language can be very revealing can’t it. ‘What possessed you?’ or ‘What go into you?’ we say. When we check out of life does something else check in to us?

111. Samantha, these statistics of increase in dementia are quite staggering and I appreciate greatly what Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine has simply stated: that dementia starts well before old age as a result of the mind ‘checking out’. My understanding of what ‘checking out’ means come from observing my and others behaviour of ‘checking out’ into music or television; eating purely for taste stimulation; being driven and forceful in work, play and exercise for the after effect (a short lived sense of satisfaction that I have justified my existence) rather than enjoying movement and presence of the activity as it occurs; ‘checking out’ into thinking and many other ways as well. I appreciate your words of wisdom about how checking out is triggered by not wanting to feel and not wanting to acknowledge past choices and how they have impacted our bodies. It is clear that we need to start somewhere to check back in and again thanks to Universal Medicine offerings, this has been a revelation to experience and enjoy a renewed sense of simplicity and connection in life.

     1. Thank you Simon V for sharing what you feel checking out means, I could not agree more. Checking out is a national plague and the more we recognise it the more we can start to change and question what is really going on.

     2. Checking out is like and old vinyl record we like and play it all the time, we get into a groove and just stay there till it spirals to the end and just continues to skip when you forget to lift the arm. Life is meant to be a book with empty pages that we fill in daily. Universal Medicine is showing us it is never too late to start writing.

112. As an example of lifestyle affecting people who later develop dementia, I can think of one lady whose whole life was lived through her children and her husband – if you asked her something about herself, she would deflect it to say something about her husband or children. It was as if she had no opinion of her own. She had her own hobbies (sewing, music) but as her eyesight deteriorated, she was unable to do anything and eventually memory loss kicked in, a few occasions at first but eventually Alzheimer’s was diagnosed. It was so severe that when her husband died, she didn’t know whose funeral she was attending. She died herself six months later.

     1. Thanks Carmel, great example of progressive dementia. I have also experienced how a person whose life became very dependent on other people has allowed an emptiness inside and how this cycles back around to holding that dependency on others.

     2. We champion selflessness in our societies but it seems this has not been borne out of true humility but of disregard. This doesn’t feel healthy to me. A loving way of being is inclusive of all, including ourselves – and never about disregarding our own innateness for another.

        1. I totally agree Richard, very well said. I think that’s a really important point that is rarely considered or honoured.

113. It would be interesting to study the early years of people who end up with dementia or don’t – The Life Project has been going on in the UK since 1946 and has helped the government to make changes in healthcare services. It has studied people born in a single week and has been repeated through the decades. Those that are still alive from the first cohort celebrated their 70th birthdays recently. It looks at health affected by living conditions and it would also be interesting to know how their lifestyles affected their mental health health. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/27/the-life-project-what-makes-some-people-happy-healthy-successful-and-others-not

     1. Thanks Carmel, I will definitely be having a read about the findings.

114. Samantha, this makes absolute sense to me and explains all behaviour: “Science has shown that everything is energy, and Serge Benhayon has expanded on this by saying: “Everything is energy, and therefore everything is because of energy.” Could it be that there is more than one form of energy and that these energies can act through us? And that it is our choice as to what kind of energy we will allow to run us?”

115. By checking out we become the well-trained rat running the same maze again and again. Our world becomes the maze and in the end we are lost in the maze we have built for our self.

     1. And quite often we don’t recognise it as a maze as many others are bumbling around in it as lost as ourselves so all seems ‘normal’.

116. I agree, Gill, it is important to clock every moment and to understand ourselves in how we act and talk.

117. Thanks Samantha, for a great article on dementia, a topic well worth an open discussion about. From having spent some time in nursing homes observing and spending time with dementia patients, it feels to me that there has been a giving up on life and a lack of responsibility that has played a part in their life story, way before dementia has taken over. It is also like they are possessed by another energy when their violent, or abusive behaviour comes up. It’s like an empty vessel being filled by something quite foreign to what you know their normal behaviour to be like before. I look forward to more psychology and scientific studies of peoples lives, they way they lived, way before dementia comes to town so to speak, and us getting a better understanding of this crippling disease.

118. Excellent blog Samantha England and it is great the way you have set out the questions and it all makes sense to me. I felt an impulse last year to study Community Mental Health & Psychiatry as I know that mental health is something that is rising and the health systems need more people like you and me who are choosing to take Responsibility for how we are living.
     Something that struck me in this blog is when you mentioned how it takes 4 adults to restrain an elderly person with dementia, so where on earth does that force come from? We all need to be asking more questions and checking out, numbing out and not paying attention has a price tag on our health. I know someone who has healed dementia to the point where he leads a very active life contributing to his community and he has written about his story on this website. This to me is living proof of the teachings and work of Serge Benhayon.

     1. Yes, I have not heard elsewhere, only at Universal Medicine, about people being able to reverse the early stages of dementia. Even the possibility would be amazing.

119. Yes, Samantha – having worked with many people with dementia over the years, I have always found that regardless of the severity, there is always a way to connect to their essence. It may be through touch such as brushing their hair, the gentle spoken word, visually, or even with playfulness and humour. It is unfortunate that many people in the health system do not take the time or have the awareness of this.

120. “No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll”.
     I found this paragraph beautifully expressed, succinct and true Samantha; self-responsibility, to make truly loving choices throughout life, is the key to dementia and in fact all dis-ease.

121. What a huge and important topic, a dis-ease that affects so many and increasing numbers. It is time to look at the deeper issues here and Sam shares many of those with us. We have a capacity to be deeply loving with one another and sharing the love we are allows others to know themselves truly.

122. What is shared in this blog is so Beautiful and written so respectfully and full of Love and Care. What I’m still learning though is how to be with people that don’t agree with what is shared here. I can feel the denial and also the deep pain that’s underneath the denial, but even though I can feel that, I can feel that a part inside of me has a lot of tension that there’s no Oneness in those moments. If it’s somebody close to us, it’s difficult to feel the Truth and how much they’ve indeed given up on life by checking out. It’s very difficult. We don’t want people to suffer… But imposing isn’t the answer either (I’ve tried this one a lot…). Holding them in Our Love and Understand them (rather than blaming or judging) is the True answer. Knowing that this will support them to one day choose different.

123. I certainly agree with you Samantha that we all need to be honest with ourselves about how we are living, how we truly feel and express ourselves day to day. Committing to greater connection within our lives can only be of benefit for all.

124. What you present Samantha is so important and the extreme end of dementia and its consequences, I just wonder if we looked as a society more at the early warning signs, I feel strongly that we get these in our earlier years and it comes in the form of check out moments. Like when we walk in to a room and forget what we are there for, I strongly believe these little moments we laugh off are a great opportunity for us to address our approach to life and consider where that might lead in future. I know I used to be much more forgetful in that regard, but since addressing my diet and my commitment to life am much less affected by such lapses.

125. Samantha you talk about energy and the possibility that we can choose the energy that fuels us. Looking at a case of dementia is a great example, as how can someone just change completely and one minute be ‘with it’ and then the next not know what is going on? Are we willing to consider that everything is truly energy? And that our bodies are merely a tool for which energy flows through us, and that energy can be 1 of 2 things: to harm or heal.
     If we apply this to how people are, their behaviours, what happens to them – then it makes things so simple. But we have to let go of the sense of individuality and that we are absolutely in control as humans.

126. So much of our so-called ‘happiness’ in life seems to be when we get to escape and no longer have to feel part of life. How can it be that this way of relieving ourselves from reality has come to be so sought after? What is it we are running from? The rise of illnesses like dementia is clearly showing us something we need to see. I wholeheartedly agree Samantha that it just makes sense that these momentary holidays we take from life, must add up. Its a confronting realisation when you honestly look at how present you are in your day.

     1. Yes, if we keep numbing ourselves through food, drink, screens, emotions or all at once – isn’t it obvious that there may be very harmful long term consequences?

127. The ever increasing enormous rise in Dementia is quite shocking and a real call to look at how we are living and what is really going on. Bringing true understanding presence and responsibility to our lives and the very way we live in every detail from food activities and our choices to how we communicate and the energy we use is vital to bring back vitality and responsibility to our lives and wanting to be here with true purpose. This is a great article showing how our lifestyle choices really do affect us in every way.

128. You highlight so many great truths in this article Samantha, it is up to us to be responsible in how we live knowing that impacts not only our health, but also everyone around us. The way we live is a huge contributory factor in all illness and disease, it is time for us to fully accept this and make new loving lifestyle choices.

     1. Our health, those around us and, very important for me, our awareness. Losing my awareness feels like drowning slowly. It is very unpleasant. Expanding my awareness can be scary but feels wonderful.

129. I am choosing to be lovingly present with myself, to feel hurts as they arise so I can heal and release them. I have renounced my old pattern of numbing and burying ‘stuff’, so I agree Samantha great questions to ask ourselves,
     “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?”
     It is time to honour, love, respect and be true to ourselves.

130. This is a fantastic article Samantha, you present so many truths that need to be called out. I would love for carers, nurses, doctors and general public as a whole to have free access to such valuable sharing, this would be great to be in a national paper or magazine.

131. Great question Samantha as to what energy are we allowing to run us if we check out and aren’t present. To unite our minds with our bodies, as presented in esoteric yoga sessions, is a great way to practise presence In every moment.

132. Dementia is scary for us older folk – anxious to avoid it, we can treat every moment of forgetfulness as a doom-laden symptom of our impending dementia, instead of seeing it as a gentle reminder to stay consciously present in all that we do.

133. Beautiful Samantha and much needed in the world with rates of Dementia rising so rapidly and out of control . The responsibility we have to live our life with integrity and responsibility cannot be emphasised more and the reality of our choices and the effects on our life and our health. Thank you for this sharing with so much love and care deeply felt and the reflections for us all.

134. Beautiful Blog Sam, bringing the truth of what Dementia really is about. The statistics are very grim indeed.

     1. Heidi I love how in a simple blog you can deliver the truth behind a condition that so many in the world are in fear of, in fact as the numbers show its a really scary condition and until you understand the esoteric/universal medicine aspect you can feel quite helpless. Yet the answers lie with ourself from the moment we are born.

135. This is such a beautiful blog, it shows all that is irresponsible in life, there are so many things that I choose to not take full responsibility for. But it is actually an amazing feeling to see this and know that I have a choice to change it, it is only a choice to take responsibility for all that I have chosen and that what is there to choose going forward.

     1. Yes, it brings it back to us being responsible, ‘self responsibility’, which is so loving in reality.

     2. If we want to make a true change, all we have to ‘do’ is ‘be’ responsible – what we then have to do will be obvious.

136. Why is humanity not asking why dementia is on the increase? Like many illnesses such as cancer and diabetes we are accepting the increase in statistics as a normal part of life. The way we live is the fundamental contributory factor in all these illnesses and until we accept this and make true choices to change this, we will see all theses illnesses increase.

     1. great point Alison, could it be that humanity are not asking why because the answer is so exposing of self responsibility, and in mainstream medicine there is always something else to blame rather than looking for the answers within.

        1. Great question Heidi to Alisons great point! You could well have the answer here. If humanity were willing to take full responsibility for themselves and to not lay the blame on mainstream medicine when something doesn’t work or ‘fix’ an illness or disease, we may well find ourselves living in a very different world.

     2. Yes, it is known that lifestyle is a major contributor to chronic diseases, but science may know what to do, but does not seem to know how to get people to adopt a more healthy lifestyle…
        With all our intelligence we are unable to live, as a society, reasonably healthily.

137. What a totally amazing blog this is, just sitting here reading it wakes me up to all the areas of my life where irresponsiblity still lies. We can’t possibly think the rates of dementia can keep rising at the alarming rates they are, as already there is a severe lack of care happening for a number of people with the disease. Heaven knows what it will be like in the future if something doesn’t shift.

138. Awesome blog.
     The level of truth exposed here is awesome.
     Families and people that have lived together who then go into the nursing homes to ‘contract’ dementia, which is a state of withdrawal, giving up on life, need true connection to re-spark the spark inside, re-ignight the fire that lives within to bring their vitality and connection to life back .

     1. I wonder if medicine will find a category of physical diseases that are expressions of long term mental states and whether dementia would fit into this state.

139. Love to hear more about this mentally crippling disease Samantha you covered it very well. I agree taking responsibility will decrease the effects of this ill-ness. We have been sold a lie – the way I grew up was to not take responsibility for my actions and feel into from my body why things are. I understood quickly how to ‘think’ and or ‘check out’ from my body and literally fantasize how life should be through many devices like tv etc. TV and many other mediums like computer games, browsing the Internet and social media are all ways to check out from feeling life from the body.

140. Great point Gill. More and more the research is showing what you have suggested – that the path to dementia is not overnight and can be in development for decades before diagnosis. That is why it is key to start educating people about presence and the consequences of the seemingly harmless check out.

141. Dementia is a huge and growing problem that we face as individuals, families and collectively in society. There is a lot of research being done around dementia, but without the responsibility and understanding that we create the body we live in through our energetic choices, there will not be true research or ‘answers’. Being checked out of our bodies and off in our thoughts and distractions is so common, that we no longer question this way of living. Coming back to our bodies, dealing with and expressing ourselves feels key to staying present and in life.

     1. There is enormous research around dementia but the search is always about a biological mechanism that can be manipulated. It doesn’t seem to even consider that the cause can be our commitment to life and that the biological changes only happen as a consequence of that. Here it is truly mind over matter.

142. Samantha thank you for sharing a different side to Dementia than we often see and hear about, there is much fear around the topic and lots of focus on the magic fix yet knowing and understanding the effect our choices to be present or not have on this condition not only makes sense but shows the responsibility we have. Dementia not only affects us but many others around us.

     1. In the health profession I also find there is a lot of sympathy (as opposed to lovingly detached compassion) which does not allow room for discussion on the individual’s responsibility. Dementia unfortunately is still one of those conditions that we like to think just happens. The more I experiment with ‘everything is energy’, the more I am sure that nothing ‘just happens’.

        1. Although we might like to think that sympathy is a good thing it does nothing to help anything at all and in fact entrenches the person with the illness deeper into their despair and leaves them feeling like a victim as if there is nothing they can do. If we don’t sympathise and allow the person with the illness to really feel where they are at and know that they have some responsibility for their own condition this allows them to feel empowered instead of powerless.

143. I am very much wondering what is happening with dementia and Alzheimers. Very successful and seemingly very much committed to life people like Ronald Reagan get Alzheimer even at the peak of their career.

     1. Great question Christoph – the question I am pondering is ‘how long before the wider population also ask that question?’ or put another way ‘how long can we really bury our heads in the sand?’

144. Dealing with our hurts and issues is our ultimate responsibility – when truly understood it would arrest all individual disputes, miscommunications, separation and wars. In truth, this responsibility is the foundation of true harmony in the world.

145. What you have shared here confirms something I heard Serge Benhayon once present, that the behaviours we employ to numb the hurt actually hurt us more than the original hurt.

     1. Yes Gina, I remember Serge Benhayon presenting this as well. So if this is the case, we end up creating our own hurts, to avoid feeling the original one, but in doing so we are already checking out. And this can happen from a very early age. Does this mean then that we are actually setting ourselves up for Dementia even when we are children or young adults even though the signs and symptoms may not reveal themsleves until we are much older?

        1. Great point Sandra – checking out begins at a very young age indeed.

146. I feel that it is more than a few of us that have lost our way from our true self. We are living in a world that is so full of lies from everywhere that it has become very hard to even allow us a reflection of truth.

     1. Which is what is so great about these blogs. There is a true reflection with all of these sharings thatis not there out in the world.

147. “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?” This is so worrying because everyone can relate. How many of us have been lost in the lie that we are only human, discounting our ageless multi-dimensionality. . . denying that we are more than just this body. We can be so lost in this lie alone that we believe it to be true. This has got to cause damage as it reduces us to mere form. Only connection can bring us back for it is through connection that we begin to feel the expansiveness of who we really are. We can then appreciate the body we are in and begin to tap into the wisdom that it is holding. The connection to our own body with a willingness to listen to what it is telling us and allowing ourselves to acknowledge what we may be feeling rather than deflect or avoid it is our way back to truth.

     1. Great Kathleen as you have taken this to a whole other level by exposing we set our lives up to make sure we numb and become unaware we are so much more than our human form – a speck of who we really are.

        1. Yes Gina, it is like we are in a virtual reality game and have become so engrossed with the character we are playing that we have forgotten that we are not he or she and furthermore we have forgotten that the video game is not our true reality! If you look at this way most of humanity is demented some just more than others.

        2. So true Kathleen! Just read an article also on how so many are also slowly committing suicide simply by how their lifestyle choices are killing them – so a great observation too that most of humanity is on the road of checking out and dementia – some more than others. Really, we need to wake up and see the quality of humanity for what it really is. People are so unhappy, dissatisfied and clearly unwell.

     2. “It is through connection we begin to feel the expansiveness of who we really are”. Feeling connection and expansiveness and the greater aspect of ourselves makes life purposeful and worth staying present for. Without this, it is no wonder we give up and check out as we know deep down there should be more to life.

148. I agree these statistics are “pretty terrifying” and “we need to look at how we are living everyday and how this impacts our physical and mental function”. By blaming genetics or other outside influences for dementia is saying ‘what’s the point’ we don’t have any control or choice on whether we end up with dementia or not and gives an excuse to give up long before dementia begins to show, when it’s possible by being responsible for our choices and not giving up on living, is key in preventing this disease.

     1. Well said Deidre. Society condones the lack of responsibility and sets us up with a myriad of ways to ‘blame’ something outside of us for all our illness and disease. I love how you share that it allows people to give their power away to something outside of them and denies an opportunity to understand they are creating their illness in the first place.

149. Both the following sentences from your great article Samantha give some understanding to the causes of dementia and of the need to take responsibility for our lives, our choices, and the willingness to look at what is going on around us, and our part in creating it. “Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body” and “It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.”

150. One of the leading causes of death world wide is Dementia and what causes it is a mystery to most. It makes total sense that as we check out from the world, our daily life, find living an overwhelming experience, don’t know how to cope, and stop living with vitality and commitment, that we would end up with a disease like dementia.

151. Dementia and other mental illness cannot help but continue to rise if we human beings do not choose to address and seriously explore what we all know to be true, that living our true potential is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

     1. Great point Simon, I cannot think of another species which would be crazy enough to indulge in distractions and ways of not being fully present to the state that they create a full set different diseases and conditions which are given their own medical name and affects a significant and rapidly growing proportion of the population.

152. Another great article about dementia, lifting the lid and shedding some amazing light onto the subject. It’s time conventional medicine started looking for the answers from those that know. Also each and everyone of us walking this planet needs to take a good hard look at how they are living and stop looking to blame anything else apart from our own choices.

     1. Great post raised kevmhardy. It is easy for us to blame the environment, call it ‘bad luck’ or the common quote that is shared by many “it’s something that happens to us all when we get old”. There is a far greater discussion that needs to be had about accepting rather than really looking at the root cause of how we are living as a society.

     2. Well said Kev. There is so much blame directed at the world as to why we get sick, whereas in fact as you so rightly say, we all need to take a long hard look at how we are living and accept that this is the main cause of so much illness and disease.

153. Samantha, this is so true, ‘It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.’ I can feel how with dementia this is not discussed, that no responsibility is taken for lifestyle choices and lack of presence, and yet if this was a known and discussed fact then it could prevent many cases of dementia and empower people with dementia to make more loving choices and work on being more present.

154. Samantha the humanity and equality you bring to the topic of dementia is quite profound as you share “Although the behavior of the dementia patients I have worked with over the years can be very distressing, I have a strong knowing that at their very essence they are still love and will always be that love.” It shows that no matter what state/condition or illness someone has or is in, the quality of who they are, their essence remains and should be cherished as such.

155. You suggest the possibility that “our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity” – a strong possibility I feel, as hand in hand with this choice to not be aware come the many ways to numb ourselves and check out mentally from what is truly going on, in our lives and all around us.

     1. So true Gabriele, the numbing comforts we choose do not look that comfortable after all.

156. This is an insightful and sensitive exploration of dementia and its causes. As with other diseases, there is a tendency to react with shock, surprise, anger or blame when an illness is diagnosed. For some, diagnosis of dementia can be a relief, allowing them to let go, and let others take care of them. Prior to the onset of dementia, many people sleep walk through life, unaware that for every action taken there is a consequence sooner or later in life. The mental attitude of ‘giving up’ is insidious. It begins with seemingly small things, the way we care for ourselves, what we eat (anything will do, rather than careful selection based on how we feel), how much interest we have in our selves, communities and world around us. Many people adopt a bunker mentality, stop feeling, bury their issues and numb themselves through distractions and food, rather than deal with them. What is sad is the increasing number of people who have already given up on themselves ‘walking dead’ without realising they have done so. While the world focuses on dementia cure, our concern is dementia cause.

     1. Awesome comment Kehinde, hitting the nail square on the head.

        1. I agree Kehinde we need to look at the cause of dementia, and not spend millions of dollars looking for the cure.

     2. What occurred to me as I was reading your comment kehinde2012 was the fact that so many of us give up on life as we have swallowed the lie that we are just human beings, whose only need is to better ourselves by improving our lives and purchasing things that make us feel more comfortable. We give up because nothing can counter our loss . . . the loss of our connection to the multi-dimensional being that we truly are. We simply will do anything to avoid feeling how we have reduced ourselves, when all we really have to do is reconnect.

     3. Great point Kehinde about how “The mental attitude of ‘giving up’ is insidious” – it can start with seemingly small things but really these things do matter. Responsibly looking at the cause of dementia is super important as you say, just searching for a cure alone is not the answer to this modern epidemic.

     4. Brilliantly said Kehinde. Your last sentence really brings home what is being missed here: “While the world focuses on dementia cure, our concern is dementia cause.” It is as both you and Samantha have so clearly talked about, this ‘giving up’ that is the common thread in dementia patients, and it starts a long time before the patient is diagnosed and in very small and insidious ways.

     5. Dementia, cancer and heart disease are all on the list to find a cure for, these things that are attempting to thin out our species. There is undoubtedly a mountain of money spent on research for the magic pill, when as you have said Kehinde, the cause is what is needed and is already known… it’s that person that looks back you every morning from the mirror and their choices.

        1. I would add Steve ‘that looks back at you in the mirror every morning’ is often not ‘the person’ at all. They have moved so far away from what is true and pure, they’re but a shadow of themselves. When we look into the mirror from a body that is numb and loveless, it’s difficult to feel or see ourselves clearly.

     6. This is true, and huge Kehinde, ‘What is sad is the increasing number of people who have already given up on themselves ‘walking dead’ without realising they have done so.’

     7. This is really powerful, Kehinde. Your description of the search for the cure for dementia brings up the saying, “shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted”. The place to focus our energy is not on the “cure” but getting honest about the causes.

     8. ‘Walking dead’ says much here kehinde2012. We have made death appear a great tragedy in life, but is choosing not to live when we are here an even greater tragedy? How many people are not truly living their lives but walking around absent from their bodies? Perhaps those old zombie movies had a point!?

157. If the statistics become true, then the health system has really a problem in the future. The system is already struggling with the high number of dementia people.

158. “We all need to take responsibility and look at how we are living, we need to get very personal and honest and ask, “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?” This part of your blog particularly stood out for me Samantha as in truth these are the questions we need to be honestly asking ourselves regularly to prevent us from becoming a burden on society as we age, and not add to the already huge world wide statistics of dementia. Thank you for sharing your observations and insights.

     1. As long as we live in ignorance of self responsibility and self reflection, we’re lost and at the mercy of forces eager to fill the void inside.

159. I feel shocked, inspired and completely held accountable for my choices. Samantha, you’ve offered the bigger picture here, that our choices build up in the body and what we are not dealing with needs to be dealt with at some point or we go into melt down mode. My choices are not just affecting me now (with a tummy ache or something immediate), but also my future choices and ability to be aware of what energy I am in. It was a real wake up call to read ‘These behaviors in their many, many different forms all send messages to the body saying, “I do not want to be here.”’

160. Wow! Samantha! What you’ve presented could reshape how we view and deal with this disease and also in the prevention of it.

     1. I agree Rachael, I have never read dementia covered so well. Samantha has really nailed it giving us all the insights needed to look at where we could prevent it in our own life and also offering a greater understanding of where we as a society of checked out people are actually heading if we do not lift our game.

161. Dear Alexander, wow… We are to share our love and wisdom is what I hear you’re basically saying. And isn’t there anything actually more lovely than to do so. Whenever I am true to myself and express my love and wisdom, I feel absolutely amazing and it’s like everything within me is filled with love.

     The sad thing about dementia to me is that we might actually have quite a loving life, in the sense where we are doing a lot for other people, but as we are ageing, we’re moving less and less and because of that we’re actually checking out more, as we’re not used to be present with our selves. So whatever we’ve built up in our body in relation to presence and love, is now diminished, just by us being less active in life… Which to me is indeed very, very sad. Yet, it is showing the importance of being present with our own precious love in life.

162. Thanks Samantha for addressing such an important topic. As you say, to stop the growing numbers of diagnosed dementia people, a new level of responsibility has to be lived – personally and regarding all other people. We can’t sit back and wait. The best thing we can do is, to live as a role model and to show other people there is another way, you don’t have to give up. That means, we have to go out into the community to meet other people, as much as possible – sitting at home is holding back.

     1. Indeed, alexander1207. It is so important to open up to the community that we are all a part of. That means not shutting people out, it means stepping away from the screens that dominate our lives, and it means putting our hand out to help someone when they ask for it. We need to remember that we are not alone, and that we crave to be with one another. It is the hurts that we have experienced which hide this fact away from the world.

     2. Actions have always spoken louder than words. As you have said Alexander we are the role models to show there is another way.

163. “By staying lovingly present with ourselves and dealing with our stuff as it comes up, we are able to see life as it is, even if at first this is uncomfortable.”
     “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.”
     Such wise words Samantha beautifully expressed in this article about people all of which are dear to your heart and this comes across with so much love and appreciation.

     1. Indeed Tricia, very lovingly and warm expressed. Lovely. I love the words “encouraging a reality that is not true”. So much so that we actually believe that the reality we created is True and the Truth is not the Truth. How deeply lost we are if we do not agree on the simple facts that Truth always comes from the body and so we have a one unified truth available to us all and in every relationship we have. Of course living a life that is not based on Truth has a devastating effect on our bodies as they have to cope with these untruths. Dementia is one of the results which we have created ourselves. Difficult to admit at first maybe, but when supported in Love like Samantha does, definitely worth it to choose.

164. Responsibility is seen as such a scary word, yet it is a really beautiful experience when we start to see and live self responsibility first.

     1. It is one of the most freeing moves I have ever made, the choice to take responsibility for myself and my choices, past and present – it paves the way for an amazing way to live.

        1. The end result is that we are what we choose to live and by taking responsibility we allow for the truth we feel deeply within to be in action in the world. I agree Gabriele – I chose to be responsible for this amazing way to live and the expansion available with every choice I make by being love first.

     2. So true Matthew. It is a learning curve coming back from irresponsibility, as this has been our way for so long. But I am finding that responsibility is actually love.

     3. I can feel this very well after reading this blog again, there is no heavy feelings for responsibility. It only takes a choice to commit and be honest about what I have chosen and choose going forward.

165. Samantha, I did not realize that Dementia patients can be aggressive. Why is that? Is there some underlying frustration or anger at their choices which leaves them open to channeling aggression? It certainly does seem, as you suggest, that “when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us”. And if we shut down from expressing love and harmony which is one form of energy then we easily open ourselves to another form which is neither love nor harmony.

166. Very well said Samantha, we are indeed saying ‘I do not want to be here’ – ‘It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us. In fact every time we eat something our bodies do not truly want, use a stimulant, or say yes when we mean no, all these choices add up. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of ways we can numb ourselves to not feel the pain of the way we are living, a way that is not true for us, whether it is creating drama or drinking alcohol, or checking out in front of a TV or computer screen.

     These behaviors in their many, many different forms all send messages to the body saying, “I do not want to be here.”’

167. ‘And that it is our choice as to what kind of energy we will allow to run us?’ This phrase grabs my attention today – when I am feeling out of sorts it is simply because I have lost my connection to myself, when I allow that and don’t do something about it, it gets worse – as if ‘the energy’ runs amok in me, takes control and then every choice I make takes me further and further away from myself. Knowing that the initial choice is entirely my responsibility is a stark reminder to be alert, to pay attention to the little things that take me out and to keep checking in with my body, with how I feel, checking what energy I am allowing in.

168. These statistics are staggering and will cause an immense burden on our already strained Health Care Systems.

169. Samantha, this is a key statement: “If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.” The statistics are alarming and it seems to follow on that if we are trying to numb ourselves to avoid facing our hurts that we get into a habit of being unaware and that will eventually affect our mental acuity. It makes sense that by being present and aware we will not be so likely to end up with dementia. So the choice is ours, the responsibility is ours and dementia or not is a result of our choices.

170. For me reading this, the thing that jumps out is honesty. I’ve always thought I’ve been a pretty honest person, and in the conventional sense, I have been. However, over the years I have come to realise how dishonest I am with myself about how I’m feeling. This ends up in lots of ridiculous scenarios and causes much grief all round. Each and every time I choose not to be honest, I have to accept that I am contributing to illness and dis-ease everywhere, especially within me.

171. A potential catastrophic epidemic Samantha, but as a previous blog on this site shows and as your understanding supports, dementia (and an ongoing epidemic) are indeed preventable. https://medicineandsergebenhayon.com/2015/01/11/dementia-is-it-truly-a-mystery/

172. Perhaps dementia care actually starts in kindergarden, when as children we can be educated in the ways of staying present and alert and in our bodies. Practices which can support a full and active life right to the end.

173. I used to to think that ‘staying present’ was just one more thing I had to do. It turns out this was another layer of complication. Being present in the moments in everyday life is actually what simplifies everything – it means that every moment is complete, everything that needs to have been said or done is done, without a vast history or convoluted future. I am developing my understanding and appreciation of the roundness of these moments.

     1. I love your sentence “every moment is complete…” when we are present. That is so true – if we don’t live in the future or past, everything in the present is always complete – nothing to add. Presence creates the space all around us and it feels so amazing to move in space.

     2. I love this Matilda. That “every moment is complete, everything that needs to have been said or done is done, without a vast history or convoluted future.” How simple life becomes if we can understand and live it in this way! Staying present is absolutley that, just being present in every moment of every day, and not choosing a myriad of things to distract us from who we truly are. And from here, amazing things begin to happen.

174. ‘These behaviors in their many, many different forms all send messages to the body saying, “I do not want to be here.” In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life. The body registers everything that happens and repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode.’

     What you have described here, Samantha, feels logical, that all our unhealthy lifestyle choices, be it food or distraction lead to dementia. As such your article is showing a way how we can stay free of dementia, in truly wanting to deal with our issues and hurts and truly wanting to be here.

175. “By staying lovingly present with ourselves and dealing with our stuff as it comes up, we are able to see life as it is, even if at first this is uncomfortable.” I love what you write here – seeing life as it actually is. Not how we want it/expect it to be. It is time to get real about life and the best way to that, is to stay lovingly present with ourselves and deal with our stuff because when we do that, we are so less reactive to the world around us and can see it for what it is.

176. It is incredible that we actually create this disease ourselves, playing the checkout game until it checks us out of life.

     1. So true Matthew – there is no coincidence in life. We create everything in our life, it is our choice to deal with our hurts and become joyful or to suppress everything in our body and go into the head. It is up to us – every choice counts.

177. “Dementia – what is really going on?” Exactly! Dementia develops because we really don’t want to know what is going on. It is a checking out of all responsibility and from the reality of life.

     1. Great point dementia develops because we really don’t want to know what is going. It is away to checkout, switch off and have no responsibility..

        1. Yes, it’s a kind of ‘dazed and confused’ way of getting through life, with no true presence or engagement in what is actually going on.

178. When reading this article it becomes clear that the end result of disease (in this case dementia) is simply the result of the choices we make, that layer us away from our true nature and the totally natural impulses that have a regard for the whole of humanity and life; taking responsibility for the integral part we all play in the whole.

179. Amazing article. Thank you Samantha. I could feel the deep understanding and strength in every word you say. After I finished reading it, I was left with a clarity, a call and pull towards working even more on being more present and making life about commitment to it and to my body. Feeling everything is something we can get more comfortable with the more we do it, and the more we discover what is truly underneath all reactions: stillness. Thank you for bringing this through, it is a great reference to have and one I will come back to again. I am inspired by what you do as a job.

180. ‘These behaviors in their many, many different forms all send messages to the body saying, “I do not want to be here.” In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.’ Distractions are sold as being enjoyed as part of a healthy engagement in life. The truth is in fact the absolute opposite – that we are saying “I do not want to be here.”

     1. That’s a good point Simone, distractions are sold as what makes life enjoyable but is in fact having a devastating effect on us. I used to have all kinds of hobbies, such as painting and decorating a room in my house nearly every year, painting water colours, sculpting, reading books plus many other things, but what I found is I was trying to escape people and I became more introvert to the point where I didn’t want to work or interact with people.

181. Samantha – thank you for another very real account of the state of the world. You say here ‘It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us.’ – And i agree – take someone who has had a falling out with a family member or friend, they haven’t spoken for months, perhaps years, and a grudge is built up between them. Then say one day they meet. And all of a sudden there is so much tension and pressure, the conversation is so loaded with years of not saying what they truly feel – everything held in the body comes out and then it ends as one big explosion. Now that is an example most of us can relate too – but it is no different in any other actions we do – if we walk abruptly somewhere, if we have a heated conversation, if we eat foods to numb us – all of these choices ultimately build up to the same state as if we were to confront that person we fell out with. Things stack up. The body remembers. So rather than ignoring this all to one day lose our memory, perhaps we need to think about each and every moment so that we never get to the stage where there is so much we are holding onto.

182. An interesting experiment we could do with ourselves is to become aware of all the times in the day that we let ourselves be on “auto-pilot”, like getting somewhere and not remembering anything about the drive there, or going to look for something and forgetting what we were looking for. This is very revealing as it shows us how much we are not with ourselves.

     1. Yes Elizabeth, those moments are actually quite scary when we can’t actually remember what we have done. It is a big checking out and in reality is the beginnings of dementia.

        1. I agree the moments are scary when we don’t remember what we have done. It really is a reflection of checking out.

     2. I agree – it would make for a very interesting study and would be incredibly revealing about how we are with ourselves.

     3. Yes. A quick review at the end of each day, of the ratio of ‘checked out’ vs. ‘checked in’ moments would awaken our focus and awareness and in itself tip the balance.

183. I think you said it really well Samantha about how if we choose behaviours that are in essence saying ‘I do not want to be here’ we end up withdrawing and in that withdrawal we allow other energies to run through us, hence our common sayings ‘what’s gotten into them’ and ‘they are not themselves’.

184. Dying of Dementia is not a pleasant thought and I would ask the same question, “could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”
     Honesty and Love are what we need to change the outcome we are heading for.

     1. Roslyn from my experience of a grandmother who passed over with alzheimers it was not nice, yet her having this condition and before hand getting dementia was something that made sense when I look back at all the signs. She was someone that did not want to live in this world, who found it very hard to cope with how things were and therefore choose not to be here. That shows me that we all have a choice but depending on the choices we make there will be different outcomes and qualities in life.

185. Dementia is a growing concern among healthcare practitioners who can see that we are reaching a crisis (if we have not already reached it). There is and has been a lot of research into causes and what might be the cure for dementia, but as with all scientific research, it is very slow and often inconclusive. But for a condition which is essentially the mental absence of a person from life, doesn’t it make sense to look at where and when that absence begins? We lament the continuing separation from one another and the dissolving of communities, but is it possible that this is a precursor to eventually checking out from life all together? We are meant to be with one another, it has been shown that this is how we work best. Prevention of dementia is not going to be found in a pill or an exotic plant from the rainforest, it is found in each other’s eyes.

186. The statistics on dementia are truly staggering. I watched my grandmother suffer and eventually die from dementia and it kicked in not long after my grandfather died, as though she had suddenly lost purpose in life and no longer wanted to be here. Whilst that may have been the catalyst so to speak, the truth is when I look back at things that she had withdrawn from much of life for many years, not expressing how she felt, not speaking up and generally keeping her thoughts to herself.

     1. By reading your comment Adam, I realize the importance of having a purpose. When we don’t know, why we should live – sooner or later we don’t want to be here any more and we check out.

187. Our body and mind is like the rings of the tree trunk, everything is recorded and stored forever. Your list of what we cover up everyday becomes another ring. One but needs to look a photo of the Bowthrope Oak tree… is this what we are doing to ourselves if this was our brain?

188. Anyone working in aged care would see, perhaps on a daily basis, scenarios where several physically strong adults are required to restrain the aggressive force of a man or woman with dementia. Rather than be puzzled by this, or blindly accept it, Samantha England is bang on and we ought to seek to understand dementia energetically or at the very least how daily choices can lead to this disease. Congratulations Samantha England for putting your name to this blog, for writing truthfully about a disease that is set to bring distress to and cripple many people, and bringing forward some of ways that we live that erode cognitive function.

189. I’m really noticing how many times in the day I drift off into a distraction of some sort or another. Depending on what this may be and for how long can really change the way I feel and react to situations afterwards.

     1. Yes, Michael, me too. And this developing awareness feels like a new platform or key to understand and live the responsibility and power we hold in our hands.

        1. ‘…understand and live the responsibility and power we hold…’ awesome, I can really feel how current and relevant this is, thank you Matilda.

     2. Yes Michael. I realized the other day as well, how easy it is for me to check out. What helps me the most to come back, is to feel my body. Then I can let go of my head again and I feel much better.

190. The way life ends these days can be very tragic indeed. Dying of Dementia is one example, but there are many very painful and physically debilitating ways that life ends and how long illnesses can drag out. Chronic pain is enormous, with many dependent on analgesics that numb the body from head to toe with little respite from the pain. The world needs to know the gift of self-care and self love.

     1. ‘The world needs to know the gift of self-care and self love.’ Absolutely and when we truly take care of ourselves and love ourselves we can deepen the relationship we have with every other human being and lovingly support each other.

     2. Yes, if the quality at the end of our life is a reflection of how we have lived, every single one of us needs to take a look at our relationship with ourselves and our bodies.

     3. Good point Matthew as I am working in the health area I can tell you that most of the staff have no idea about the gift of self-care and self love.

191. I started to not just accept but appreciate that and what I am feeling. By becoming more aware here I was shocked how much I was trained and familiar with ignoring, avoiding, denying and fearing my feelings. To become honest here is such an blessing and I agree from my body experience with this process that “Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body.”

192. The onset of Dementia is a long process of our choices in our life and our commitment to it. The ever increasing levels of dementia and checking out of life is an ever increasing epidemic in current times. This is a real article offering the truth and reflection of what is going on and the changes that can be made by us all and our livingness and what is offered by Universal Medicine as our living way with true knowing and understanding and is a real gift for us all.

193. ‘In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.’ There is so much of what you have written Samantha that I could repeat here. This is a deeply wise and loving wake-up call for us all. As Shami and others above have discussed, it is easy to feel dementia is not relevant to us if we are young or it is not ‘in our family’ and yet the shocking rates of increase of the disease prove to me that it has very little to do with age or genes – we all have the potential for dementia if we ignore the messages from our bodies, numb ourselves to what is truly going on around us and ‘say no to life’.

     1. Absolutely Lucy. There is so much around us today to distract us from being who we are, particularly in the way of technology which is accessible to so many at such a young age. Children are now growing up with distractions as a way of life, and are losing touch with themselves and what is immediatley around them. It is a frightening to know that Dementia is affecting so many people and from such a young age.

194. Also I love what you write here: “in fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life”, it would be almost impossible to count the number of times in a person’s life where they ‘lose’ themselves in something, or try to escape life, let alone count the number of times we do it in a week, or even a day.

     1. And it makes so much sense that our ‘no to life’ comes back to us, that it has an effect of course on our living. And what I found very interesting to see here is also how much effect our ‘no’ has, not just on us, but also on others, who have to care for us when we become unable….

        1. That’s an important point Sandra – that we don’t think about how much our choices affect other people. I can see how by making certain choices it has ramifications for other people, but I don’t think many people think as long term as you have described – how saying no from your 20s lets say to you 70s might have a huge impact on your family and people around you

        2. And on our health care system. Beside all the enormous social effects, in fact, saying ‘no’ to life and what it offers us in development, leads to high costs we as a society have to bear.

     2. Yes, Jessica, what a loss of potential, of wasted moments that delay our return to how truly amazing we are. It is very powerful to be aware of the choice we have in each moment.

     3. So true Jessica – when I look back, this reminds me of my pattern to beat myself up. This type of behavior is also for me to say “I don’t want to be here” or “I don’t want to spend time with me”.

        1. Very true Alexander – and I am very familiar with ‘beating yourself up’ as you said as well

195. This seems logical if not probable Samantha: “could it be that there is more than one form of energy and that these energies can act through us? And that it is our choice as to what kind of energy we will allow to run us?”, it makes total sense with your experiences with these patients and also with my experience with people every day

196. “These behaviors in their many, many different forms all send messages to the body saying, “I do not want to be here.” In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.” Wow Samantha I love this as it is so brilliant at showing how simple the choice actually is, a yes or no to life, and in that then goes into the body. This is a very confronting article and very much needed when you look at the horrifying statistics.

     1. And I feel these real physiological changes in my body more and more. Saying, ‘Yes’ = a sense of space and potential in my body, saying, ‘No’ = a tension and reduction of my capacity to deal with anything.

        1. I like your observation, that each choice of yours has an direct impact on your body, i.e. every choice counts and we can decide which way we are going to take.

     2. Great point Jane – I am always surprised that I do not hear more people having conversations about epigenetics. For a society asking for answers and yet there is a fairly large hint at what is truly going on through epigenetics and yet limited awareness of this area of science.

     3. Yes Vanessa, this blog does lay it clearly on the table – it’s a simple choice of “a yes or no to life”. Though giving up may seem the easy way out there is a price to pay for it, paid not just by the person with dementia but also by the people around them.

     4. Yes Vanessa a very confronting article and the horrifying statistics I feel will only get worse when you consider all the people now ‘living’ on their computers, iPads and smartphones. Go anywhere in this day and age and you will see people sitting engrossed in their own technological device of choice, totally unaware that ‘life’ is actually going on around them and that the opportunity for a real life relationship is often sitting right next to them. Young people particularly are spending many hours a day opting out of life, unaware that this is what they are in fact doing, and of the repercussions possibly awaiting them later in life.

197. Dementia is on the increase as the statistics you quote show, Samantha. It is time, as your article points out, to ask why. Are we so ensconced in our own unwillingness to take responsibility for the way we have been living our lives that we are willing to go down the route of dementia? Is it so uncomfortable for us to at least consider the possibility that our footprint can tell a story and that for many of us the story will end up being dementia? Is there comfort in dementia? I am watching/have watched two people go down that slippery slope and I can vouch for them that there is no comfort to be found in checking out to the point of dementia. Thank you, Samantha, for a deeply needed alternative view to what dementia is about.

     1. I would say Brigitte that there is a huge unwillingness to examine the lifestyle choices we make and their impact on dementia rates. It is more convenient to look for specific factors that are outwith our control. Far easier to look for complicated scapegoats than to have to change our ways and address our fix on alcohol, sugary and numbing food substances, our attachment to TV and other entertainment packages and many other sources that disconnect us from life, a life that so many of us are in reaction to from the lovelessness we find surrounds us and we struggle to cope with and so deny this is even happening.

198. Dementia is affecting us at a younger and younger age – it’s no longer something that happens when you’re old. The affects and impact of dementia / Alzheimer’s not not only affects the person but deeply affects the family as a whole, and also has an affect on work colleagues and friends.

     1. It is a concern that dementia is happening at a lot younger age and effecting more younger people, the effect is hard on everyone as its not just that person effected, but everyone around that person daily is affected,

199. If there was ever to be a major wake up call for us all, these dementia statistics certainly hit home. Thank you Samantha for raising the questions that need to be posed repeatedly, until we are willing to see that the way we are living is harming rather than healing.

     1. I agree Janet, I love your blog Samantha and it is so necessary to start to take a different approach – a personal approach – as to why we are all increasingly getting ill. I really like what you said here: have “we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”

     2. I agree Janet it is a wake up call. It seems the more I pay attention to my own level of presence or lack of, the more aware I am of those around me I can observe as checking out, and what I have noticed is people within their twenties who have extremely bad memories. What I have also observed is the level of checking out on the phone during the working day, texting friends, Facebook, internet or playing games – I wonder if this distraction is a contributing factor to the poor memory.

     3. Yes I agree Janet these dementia statistics are a major wake up call and I am very much appreciating what Samantha is offering and yes this has to be posed repeatedly – it has to be repeatedly as otherwise we would forget it!

200. “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?” I am sure this is a line many will relate and react to Samantha. I know for myself acknowledging the level of checking out I indulged in during my life up until this point has been an eye opener – the more I become aware of my choices to be absent from the many moments in my day, the more I can see how illness and disease, not forgetting mental health issues can take a foothold.

201. Wow it is huge to contemplate that every action and behaviour we make to numb or distract ourselves from the loving presence we are and can live, is a statement of “I don’t want to be here”. That all these choices can lead to dementia is frightening, but when truly understood offers a deeply empowering energetic understanding of how we can live a great quality of life with clarity of mind into older years.

     1. Good point Simon, it can definitely be frightening – and maybe this is why it is not a commonly looked at cause to dementia and other diseases; because then it would mean that people have to take responsibility for their own decisions

        1. Yes Jessica you have raised a great point. In today’s society when the truth is expressed it cause others to squirm as they can feel the level of responsibility they have chosen not to step up to.

        2. Well said nb – but what if we let go of the squirming and actually got on and stepped up as you say, what then could change for society?

     2. Yes Simon, to have an understanding that we don’t have to end up being old with a befuddled mind, but can, if we choose to stay present in everything we do, live a great quality of life with clear thoughts well into our old age is very empowering.

     3. This sentence “I don’t want to be here” reminds me on my past, where I lived in the victim role and I denied to commit to life. Nowadays I re-phrase this sentence: “I want to be here and it is so much joy, to be with other people.”

202. Samantha this is a deeply thought provoking blog as I observe in myself a tendency to ‘give-up’ and ‘numb out’ the pain rather than allow myself to feel it and heal. I have certainly made many changes but recently I have fallen into this pattern as a situation I did not want to feel presented itself. Thank you for this timely reminder of how deeply irresponsible this approach to life is.

203. “Science has shown that everything is energy, and Serge Benhayon has expanded on this by saying: “Everything is energy, and therefore everything is because of energy.”” Wow, that line says it all. What I have experienced for myself is that if I am irresponsible in the way I choose to live, and detach from my connection with my essence and don’t live and express from who I truly am, I am giving outside energies free reign to run their expression through my body. The most extreme example of that is when I was young and in a rage almost to the point of being capable of really harming another physically, not to mention the verbal abuse, sarcastic, degrading and demoralising way I communicated with others. Although this was an energy from outside of me, I chose it and let it run my body by not choosing to reconnect with my inner heart and express and emanate the true me. Add another 40 years and some memory loss from not wanting to feel my hurts, therefore not wanting to be present in my body to this, and it could have been what they call Dementia.

204. A beautifully presented blog Samantha full of wisdom and knowledge.
     Whilst pondering on what you have written I was particularly struck by;
     “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”
     This is particularly confronting and I would say true for many of us, if not nearly all of us. Much to consider here Samantha, thank you.

     1. Totally agree Shirl – that quote stood out for me as well. What’s interesting is that we all have different levels of what it means to be ‘living a lie’, be that having a ‘fling’ with someone other than your partner, or staying in a job where you are not really happy for example, but what Samantha has raised here is that ANYTHING and everything that takes us away from our true selves is actually living a lie and potentially contributing to the loss of control of our lives later down the line, so we have to ask ourselves – what is more important?

205. The aggressiveness of some people with dementia is shocking, and almost unbelievable, but it is there. It has me wondering if there is a rage at where they now find themselves, and that through this rage an explosion of aggressive behaviour. It is indeed a huge problem for society and us all.

     1. Heather, I too have noticed an aggressiveness that can come with Dementia, especially the onset of Dementia, when the effects are first being experienced. I can remember my Grandmother, who was a quiet woman, became quite aggressive all of a sudden in her early 90’s. I was young, probably around 14-15 years old and I can still remember thinking to myself “what’s up with Grandma”? All of a sudden there were these bursts of anger I had never seen before.

     2. Yes Heather , the anger and frustration is enormous and frequently described as ‘so out of character.’

     3. Is the aggression/anger always there before dementia, but instead of being willing to see it in order to heal it, it gets suppressed … until it can be suppressed no longer?

     4. The aggressiveness of some people reminds me that they must have been suppressing these type of feelings for a very long time. When they were young, they had enough energy to suppress it, now when the people are older, there is no energy any more to suppress it, hence the feelings come out. Everything that went into the body, has to come out one day.

206. Does it not make sense that how we live each day of our lives may have an accumulative effect as we age and lead to certain illnesses and diseases? Just as we know that if someone smokes a packet or two of cigarettes a day for many years, the chances of developing lung cancer are known to increase so significantly the correlation is undeniable, perhaps then it is not such a big leap to consider that there is something about the way people are living that leads to the development of dementia.

     1. “Does it not make sense that how we live each day of our lives may have an accumulative effect as we age and lead to certain illnesses and diseases?” – yes, it certainly does. I personally think that we haven’t even scratched the surface in regards to the extent that lifestyle affects our illnesses and diseases.

207. Wow, this is a whole new way of looking at illness, coming at it from its core not trying to find a cure that will likely only be a cover up. I think this will be very uncomfortable for many yet if true, shows we have the power all along to live life in full to the very end…
     This absolutely needs to be considered and for all illness alike we must start asking why?

     1. I agree Laura this needs to be shared far and wide, especially this bit “No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent.” this is the beautiful truth and the fact we end up so diseased is a very strong evidence that we are not living that day to day.

     2. A great point you raise here Laura. There is so much more to why an illness develops than just the physical symptoms, and it does need to be considered within all illnesses that unless they are looked at from their core, whatever treatment is given will only be a means of keeping the illness at bay rather than a true cure.

        1. We really do need to start taking personal responsibility for our health and wellbeing. We cannot keep demanding or expecting more from the NHS – the pressure is immense. We all have a part to play.

     3. Yes this does indeed take the understanding illness and disease to a whole deeper level. It highlights that we have a very very very big part in why we have the disease we have and it is not just a choice we have made in one instance but one we have continually made throughout many many moments in our life

208. There is so much we can learn from each other – pharmaceutical research is largely focusing on potential profits for the drug company – here are simple explanations where research could be carried out on a wider scale – can we accept that Dementia is a result of our choices?

209. It strikes me how easily I can sit here and think that dementia is not a problem for me because I am relatively still quite young. But this is actually an arrogance that goes very deep, because every choice that I am making now, directly affects the reality of the life that I have later, and the responsibly to everyone that I have is to not make choices that will ultimately lead to my own dementia.

     1. I use a similar excuse Shami to avoid the truth – that being that neither of my parents died from dementia. Although this is true I do check out during the day and I can feel how this can lead to dementia if I am not living in the present. As you so wisely say every choice now affects the reality we will have later in life and it is arrogant to think that I am immune from what is an immutable law of the Universe.

     2. Yes, Shami, it is a powerful wake up call to truly feel and accept that how we are in old age is determined by every single choice throughout our life.

        1. Yes Janet and I was talking to some older people recently and they were sharing how disrespected and at times invisible they feel in their communities and from reading your comment today it became really clear that this happens because people dont want to know about getting older. They want to be ‘forever young’ and not have their choices affect them in their later age. This is having an incredible detrimental affect on our society.

        2. I agree Janet – every choice counts. It is so important to connect to our true being and to cherish ourselves. Self-love and self-care are the key to stay and become a healthy person.

     3. Boom! So, so true Shami. Indeed one could say that thinking that dementia has nothing to do with us (if we are reasonably young) is actually the very first step towards dementia.

        1. Great point ottobathurst, this highlights the detail with which we must observe and know our own choices.

        2. How true, ottobathhurst, ignorance does not save us from illness and disease, perhaps the opposite, it supports the development of illness and disease.

        3. Love your comment Otto as it points to the fact that we need to be constantly aware of our thoughts and attitudes, as believing dementia has nothing to do with us can definitely be the first step on the slippery slope well and truly into dementia……the very state we believe we will never be in.

     4. Shami, your comment is super important. It is exactly as you say – “that every choice that I am making now, directly affects the reality of the life that I have later, and the responsibility to everyone that I have is to not make choices that will ultimately lead to my own dementia.” This is the key, and is something that needs to be shared far and wide.

     5. It is interesting Shami that we end up at a place where we have a disease or a problem of some sort and wonder how we got there! We are shocked, and call it random.
        This is like a person standing at the rocky point at the end of a beach, uncertain how they got to this point…maybe even blaming other people for the fact that they are there. But they do not look back at the trail of their own footsteps in the sand, one step after another that took them to that very place.
        We need to pay far more attention to the steps we are making in our lives, and every step along the way right from the beginning of our journey when the course is set.

        1. Spot on, Shami. Each of us has this choice, ‘the responsibility to everyone that I have is to not make choices that will ultimately lead to my own dementia.’ And we are able to do so by, as Rachel puts it so succinctly, ‘We need to pay far more attention to the steps we are making in our lives, and every step along the way right from the beginning of our journey when the course is set.’

        2. We can always change course, but it requires awareness of the direction we have taken and why we have taken it to make true changes, dedicated to healing.

        3. It is obvious why we want to be oblivious to this fact… it is rather painful to become so aware that we in fact create everything we live with.

        4. Obvious, yes, but the obvious is not always so obvious when we are busy with the blame and finger pointing.

        5. I loved this analogy Rachel. Standing still and crying that someone take us out of the rocky part or blaming others for why we are in this rocky situation actually delays us making those steps back towards the sand. The trip back is not plain sailing as we come across the rocks that we previously just ignored and walked across anyway but each step brings us back and that is to be appreciated. By bringing attention to our steps life is simpler because we can then say – I chose to walk towards the rocks or I chose to walk back onto the sand, that is why I am here right in this moment. That’s pretty cool. Thank you.

        6. So true Rachel, and quite ridiculous really.

     6. Shami I am older but because dementia is not in my family it is not in my face as a serious threat. But I agree that this is an arrogance I can ill afford and there are many times in a day where I ‘check out’, and thereby am paving a path to dementia.

     7. And it is an utter illusion as those numbers 135.5 million in 2050 is for anyone in their 30’s and 40’s today, crickey it really is a wake up call, because how many of us are truly present?

        1. You are completely right Vanessa – and it just goes on and on, so it could possibly be in the 135.5 million in 2050 – and that isn’t even accounting for the fact that dementia is being discovered in people younger and younger, possibly as a result of the more extreme ways people are now saying ‘no’ to life.

        2. And the frightening thing is that more and more younger people have dementia. Many years ago, mainly older people got dementia, but this is changing now. If you consider, how many times a person is checking his / her emails per day or just looking at the smart phone, computer. In general a lot of people get lost in the ‘doing’, checking out is normally the consequence.

     8. Shami, I like your honesty and I agree that “every choice that I am making now, directly affects the reality of the life that I have later, and the responsibility to everyone that I have is to not make choices that will ultimately lead to my own dementia.” For every person suffering from dementia there are people close to them who are affected by it, and if we accept this responsibility we will not give up on life but will have a broader purpose which means we will choose not to check-out but to live in a way where we are not afraid to feel what is really going on and then to address it.

     9. Great point Shami in exposing just how easy it is to become arrogant. This is something I was aware of with me yesterday.

     10. Honesty bomb! Thanks Shami, I can sit here in the comfort and ignorance of being young and vital and think that nothing will happen to me. But this blog and the many comments are blowing that out of the water right now! I’m feeling the call to start living for the future and that means responsibility and all the wonderfully inspiring things that Samantha presented.

     11. Yes Shami, as you say ‘every choice I am making now, directly affects the reality of the life that I have later’ this absolute truth needs to be known and understood by every person young or old so they can be aware of the great responsibility they have in the choices they make/are making.

210. “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?” This makes complete sense to me Samantha for if we aren’t living what is true then we must be living a lie.

     1. Oh, yes I agree Rosanna – there is a beautiful simplicity in these words and one that is hard to ignore. Words expressed with such clarity offer us a way to begin to address the lie we are living.

        1. Yes and we are so convinced by the lie that we really believe what we are living is real, there in lies the problem we that we become so invested in the lie that we don’t want to admit we are so far gone.

     2. The parallel of the movie the Matrix and the life of lies we have accepted as real life is kind of scary… it is time to wake-up!

     3. I completely agree, if we are not living what is true then we must be living a lie, there is no other way.

211. So we are living in a world in which most people are saying no to life, no to being here with presence and fully committing to everyday life. Just look at the amount of people who are into mindfulness, that says it all. But is this the true prevention of dementia? No, it is not. As long as we disconnect ourselves from our body, and therefore from what is truly going on, dementia will be at the rise.

     1. Yes Mariette, the key is to re-connect to our body. The body is the marker of truth. There is no need to check out, when you have a deep relationship with your body.

212. What’s really going on for dementia? It is a great question to start asking… As you are working with people displaying dementia, you are in a position of authority to be able to notice the patterns and behaviours and ask questions and draw insights into this dis-ease. Thank you Samantha for broadening the scope of the how and why of this disease. It makes complete sense.

213. Choosing to be present will never ‘go out of fashion’ – and it might be the ‘magic pill’ that will solve many of the conditions that we now witness. The question also has to be risen as to why is it that we choose ill health before health, in other words why do we choose to not look after ourselves when we know that is the better thing to do than the other way around. Could it be that many give up when we are told that heaven is something that lays outside of ourselves and not within – could it be that when we are told that someone else has the answers and not us that we feel ‘why bother’. We need to reclaim that inner knowing that the answers to life, to all our questions, is still lingering within, it’s just that we have to claim it back, perhaps once given away to some one we thought was an authority on that subject when in fact we knew it all along, inside out.

214. “So could it be possible that when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us?” – an energy that causes a demise of naturalness leading to being owned like a slave. Knowing this through living it has been life-changing for me, and ought to be one of the first things educated at home, developed in schooling/educational years, and deepened at work.

215. “In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life” – so true Samantha, I see this a lot in my Recruiting profession too, with those who are workaholic, suffering burnout, exhaustion or job fatigue – it is a way to turn off being committed to oneself, to work and to life itself. I see many, many people working like this, because it’s something that a person can be identified by as being who they are; ‘hard working’ or ‘working hard’ becomes a measure of what success is/looks like, or what they ought to do in life to be a success. This pushing and losing semblance of one’s true self is a reality of workforces today that drives people into making choices they would otherwise not choose if there was connection through harmony. Only when there is disharmony, is there opening for compromise.

216. Which makes me wonder then, that if disconnection i.e. checking out is happening earlier and earlier in age/life, with mass computer screens, gaming, entertainment, and also the education of kids, many of whom are now demanding distraction with fancy images, technology to heighten senses to increase learning…then no wonder why these Dementia figures are going to escalate into the millions. To be heightened sensorily in this self-disconnected way makes no sense and produces unnatural results, indeed a society and also world.

217. What a brilliant blog Samantha, your observance of people and patients is very fine indeed, and there are so many great points you raise in regards the illness of Dementia. One of the things that I have often heard is to prevent Dementia is to keep an active mind, to stay alert, sharp…however this is just distraction and a continuation of the numbing that is done to keep the head separate from the body (and what it’s feeling), to escape, when in fact it is the connection or the bringing together of the two parts, in unison, that I find brings true alertness, or presence. Your question hence becomes so very wise to ask: “……and lovingly, without criticism – bring honesty to the real reason for the need behind distraction” When we understand the singular root, there can be healing of the whole.

218. Very true and pertinent conclusion Gill. Gravely concerning when we consider the growth of pastimes for children being largely based around computers, video games and a decrease in the interaction with others which used to form part of ‘play’ in times gone past. The increase of alcohol and drug use in young people at a younger and younger age, not to mention the plague of the smart phone, are all contributing to a new level of increased disconnection from each other and ourselves.

219. A few years ago I refurbished an aged care facility, and in that facility they asked us to construct a room into which they would send patients to calm down. After we built the walls, they questioned whether they would be strong enough. I took a run up at full speed and did a flying kick into the wall – no damage. They still were not convinced, and 1 month after opening, sure enough, we were back repairing holes in the wall – from violent spasms from our fragile elderly. Serge Benhayon talks about entity possession – with the use of alcohol, and in dementia patients – and as a society we tend to laugh this off. But explain to me then how a dementia patient – who is clearly not themselves (and the language here betrays the fact that we understand more about dementia etc than we like to admit) is able to call on more destructive physical strength than a 26 year old athletic man in their prime. Where does that energy come from? We need to stop looking at the world as being merely physical if we are to understand it more deeply.

     1. That is a terrifying and very conclusive story Adam. Thank you for sharing. (it would have been amazing if you had filmed yourself kicking the wall and then took pictures of the holes in the wall – the fact that it makes me think of horror films is no coincidence)

        1. I agree Otto, what Adam has shares makes no sense, considering the facility was a old aged one. Indeed where does or is the energy coming from that possesses someone to be able to wield such force?

220. ‘Could it be that there is more than one form of energy and that these energies can act through us? And that it is our choice as to what kind of energy we will allow to run us?’ – powerful questions inviting deep connection and pondering of what is happening with the rates of Dementia increasing. What this suggests is empowering because it all becomes about the choices we make everyday and that in any moment we can affect the quality of our lives and our future.

     1. Yes ch1956, I love the way these questions ask us to go to a deeper level than simply accepting what we are told is normal or the way things are.

221. Samantha, this line is so simple but so powerful and feels utterly true, if this was common knowledge there would be a lot more responsibility taken for how we are in our lives, ‘It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.’

     1. And in that statement lays the answer to the enormous toll dementia takes on society.

222. As you say Samantha, “we need to get very personal and honest” and in that I mean honest to ourselves in how we conduct our lives. Our illnesses and diseases do not come to us, the are a result of the way we live in all facets of life. That is the level of honesty that we all have to arrive at, and in that we understand that we ourselves are the only contributors to the illnesses and diseases we encounter in life, even a simple cold tells us that there is something to heal in our body and that is caused by a way of living that was not supportive to the whole of us.

223. I love what you shared about how when we override our feelings and don’t deal with our issues, choosing instead to numb and distract ourselves, that we are encouraging and fostering a reality that is not true… when looking at nursing homes and hospital wards today, the consequences of this are definitely not worth the mild relief of avoiding the responsibility and ultimately the inevitable learnings there to be embraced.

     1. True, Samantha, we have got to start looking at the disharmony and disease throughout society, and consider deeply what we are not addressing or taking responsibility for.

     2. Sam I totally agree with you. It feels like these homes and wards are getting more intense with the sheer volume of those who have chosen not to feel what is going on for them. If it were more widely known what these choices lead to over time then this intensity could be avoided.

224. Well said Harry, there is so much to come back to, engage with and learn from, yet we have been hoodwinked by distractions. . . Time to find our way back!

     1. Absolutely Kathleen, the illusion of life has many colours and flavours, the keys is to be able to read them and see them for what they are.

225. Samantha , this is a great wakeup call for us all, in your words: “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility. If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted both our personal responsibility for ourselves and our collective responsibility for society as a whole”. Thank you.

226. A truly OUTSTANDING blog Samantha and much needed. Very few are asking these questions about dementia and what you explain about energy makes so much sense. I feel that if more people listened to what Serge Benhayon is presenting and took heed we would have much greater understanding re illness and disease. Thank you so much for writing this.

227. “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?”

     Being honest and letting our selves FEEL what is really there to be felt, instead of using our habitual behaviours to avoid feeling, is something that needs to be learned. The deeply loving support of the Esoteric modalities and practitioners provide the platform but then we need to jump off and take the plunge. At times it feels like a death and it is really, a death of the habitual ways that we make up who we think we are, into a new and unknown way of being. But this is the essential beauty of it because there are no rules, only a moment to moment feeling and evaluation of what is really needed to support ourselves. One way gives us a set and contracted view of the way the World is whereas the other opens our eyes to a grander, delightful way of living and understanding ourselves in the world. But it does mean LETTING GO and how difficult we make this for our selves is up to us.

228. “…bring honesty to the real reason for the need behind distraction.”
     Indeed, we are avoiding our power for if we claimed it, we would get on with living every moment in full.

229. Wow, it is great to stop and acknowledge that if we choose to check out, to lose ourselves in things and to avoid the signals our body gives us, we are actually saying NO to life. It is a complete rejection of our true light and capacity, of who we really are, as equal living units of the body of God. We shut down our awareness and sink slowly, imploding into an acceptable abyss of habitual behaviour. Learning to take responsibility for ourselves is the most loving thing we can actually do.

     1. Yes this is quite something to acknowledge. Dementia is a result of saying ‘no’ to life, ‘no’ to ourselves, and ‘no’ to God.

     2. Quite Emma, to see that responsibility is actually love, or is a loving response, surpasses beyond measure any romantic gesture or gift-giving. To love, is to have and to take responsibility for ourselves both individually and collectively.

     3. Emma, you have just summed up life for many ‘we shut down our awareness and sink slowly, imploding into an acceptable abyss of habitual behaviour’, brilliantly said.

230. I am left wondering why the incidence is higher in developing countries? Perhaps because they have high levels of daily discomfort and/or suffering, but then I would have thought that whilst we are generally more physically comfortable in developed countries, we have high levels of gnawing dissatisfaction that we continually seek to distract ourselves from?

     1. Have you noticed over the years that major corporations expand into developing countries? The third world is the newest source for revenue for the manufactures of cigarettes. Is there a place on the planet that you can’t buy a Coke?! It seems that as soon as there is disposable income… up pops fast food and coffee shops.

231. It is very interesting to hear about your experience of working with dementia patients. No wonder you have stopped to consider this whole picture with those kind of extreme scenarios in your working day. It sounds very distressing and I am sure even more so for family members of people with dementia. Yes it seems that when we make a choice to not be there, then other energies take over to run the show. It is really great to bring this to our awareness so that we can choose otherwise and assist those around us to do the same.

232. Dear Samantha, you have written this beautifully; so simply and revealing of the truth, of how we all have a tendency towards this kind of behaviour until we bring it into check. It is so easy to live in a way, with all of our distractions, to numb our selves from what our body is actually saying. In fact, I would say that this is the norm for most people. And it is so often deceptive, that things that would appear ‘healthy’ can be very much used in this way, to hide behind.

233. It’s greatly appreciated Samantha that people such as yourself working in the healthcare field are exposing what’s really going on as far as the steep increase of illness and disease, and the fact that our lifestyle choices have a huge impact on our physical and mental health

     1. I appreciate it as well Joe, as for me people like Samantha know about what they are talking, as they are exploring it every day, so for me what they feel and detect during their work about an illness is very important and should be never ignored or diminished.

234. Beautiful Samantha such a wise sharing from love and understanding of what you are experiencing going on in the world. The wisdom you bring to dementia and how we can live with responsibility and avoid this is amazing revolutionary and needs to be shown out there for everyone to realise as it simply makes sense of this massive ever increasing epidemic in the world along side all illness and disease. Living lovingly and the accepting of what this means takes a choice from us and it is there for us all to make. Universal Medicine is is simply highlighting the true way for humanity.

235. Thank you, Samantha. How blessed are the patients you work with to be treated with love and respected in their essence, no matter what their current disposition.

     1. Thats right Janet and also the fact that Samantha has an awareness of what is really going on

236. “every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.” This is something that if fully understood could change our health, the way we live, and the statistics of dementia. By staying present instead of losing ourselves we give ourselves the opportunity to deal with life as it is, and to become vital, healthy and alert. Dementia is the total opposite of this.

237. As a society but also within the medical professions there is the tendency to want to look for outside factors that have caused Illness and disease. However, in the case of dementia what Samantha shares here is that there is a choice taken to disengage with life, to give up and give oneself away. Thus highlighting choice (a thing that comes from us), and its potency thereafter.

238. It’s not how long we live, but the quality of energy we choose to live in. Most people live in ignorance, unaware that there is a consequence to every action: thoughts, food, drink, relationships, emotions, addictive lifestyles. And it is by design that things are this way. Large multi-national corporations are built on putting profits before people. They tantalise and manipulate unsuspecting multitudes with multiple distractions until so numbed and lost, they comply and move further and further away from living a life of truth and simplicity. Soaring illness and disease rates world-wide is fuel for those in the business of profiteering at the expense of humanity. This is how bad it is, the acceptable face of war: genocide in disguise.

239. Thank you Samantha for highlighting this very important subject that humanity needs to carefully consider. I am certain that the people you have witnessed being violent and aggressive would not personally want to harm others. However they have allowed an energy to come through them by making repetitive choices to not be fully present or connected with themselves. These choices can seem harmless or innocuous at the time e.g. checking out in front of a TV, drinking alcohol to relieve a hard day at work etc.

     We believe that theses little choices don’t matter and can be isolated to that one little indulgence. However we need to understand that each of those little choices opens the door a little wider and says to a source of energy “come on in”. This source of energy has its main goals separation, division and lovelessness. So when we let it in, it can own us (by our own choice) and can come through us to harm others at a later date or time of not our choosing.

240. Wow I did not know those statistics, and the predictions of how much dementia is going to rise in the future are pretty scary. It does beg the question why is it rising so fast? And it asks us to take an honest look at how we are living that is contributing to the rates of dementia.

     1. I agree Andrew, the statistics are quite alarming, so what are we going to do about it? Are we going to stay active and contribute to society or are we going to continue to make life about safety and self and retreat away into our heads valuing that over our connection and relationships with others? I know which I am going to do!

        1. With you on that one James!

     2. It almost seems like society is beginning to accept that dementia is a normal way to end a life! That seems to be the only way people can deal with the incredible prevalence. But it is not normal, it is an illness, and as a society we need to ask why it is so prevalent, and what we need to responsibly do to change that trend.

241. People often blame the increased numbers of dementia on the fact that people are living longer than they used to, which is another way of avoiding the responsibility that it is how we live in the world that creates our realities.

     1. Eleanor the wisdom that comes through the Ageless Wisdom turns what is considered a complicated unsolvable problem into something that is quite simple and makes sense. With dementia it is a perfect example of this. The answer is quite simple when we consider that what if we get dementia because we constantly choose to be in our mind thinking about the next thing, or what happened decades ago, instead of being with ourselves. In effect we are training ourselves to not be in our body, so when we get dementia it should not come as a shock. Having this presented to children could end Dementia within a generation.

     2. Yes Eleanor, for sure dementia is not related at all to the length of our lives, but to how we are living in our lives. The cases of dementia rising does not just occur by chance, it is an effect of the way we are living our lives, that would be the soundest basis for theories about what is going on. Perhaps if we correlated the rise in this disease with the rise in other lifestyle choices, we might find some more sound reasoning as to what is going on.

     3. Yes Eleanor, I agree. It is not how long we live, but the quality of energy we choose to live in. I don’t know what it would take to break this cycle of ignorance by the recipients, who accept the world at present without question and the domination of the world by powerful corporations intent on keeping things this way. People unwittingly, in many cases, sign their own life away and give control to forces outside themselves very early on in life.

     4. If increased numbers of dementia were determined by the fact that we are living longer, surely the statistics would show a high rate of the disease in those a generation or two ago who did live longer. (To my awareness it wasn’t prolific in those that got to their 70’s or 80’s) The fact is that dementia is increasing at an alarming rate, and younger people are now even contracting the disease shows something else afoot. We could say that with computer gaming, TV and the Internet and many more ways of checking out in life at our disposal might have a more significant link to the current disease statistics. You are right Eleanor when you say blaming ‘the increased numbers of dementia on the fact that people are living longer than they used to, which is another way of avoiding the responsibility that it is how we live in the world that creates our realities.’

     5. Yes its a great way to escape the responsibility Eleanor, agreed. It’s a conversation I have had with many people who want to dodge looking at the way we live and blame our slow descent into ill health on the longevity we have created by taking more medicines and performing more amazing operations. (Which is quite paradoxical). It seems that because we don’t die of the same diseases anymore it has actually made us more complacent about the quality of our health. We don’t need to look after ourselves so much because we can now cure some cancer. We can carry on poisoning ourselves with alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, sugar and worse because we will invent a pill or potion that will cure our self induced illnesses. Actually stopping to take stock of how we live, what we consume, how we work, rest and play is by far the smartest thing we can do. Experimenting with the effects of everything we consume and then avoiding the things that hurt our bodies has to be the most intelligent choice we can make. We have an immense power and say in our health, we just have to remember that we are truly worth caring about.

     6. So true, I hear this comment often about the many other diseases and that it is all because there is a better or earlier detection, this is just burying our head in the sand to the out of control statistics.

242. This article and so many of the comments are showing that we are not accepting this world as it being energy first and foremost. Because if we would, it would make much more sense that there are indeed more than one source of energy. And that our body is the recipient of that energy. And as already is proven, that the vibration of sick cells is lower than healthy cells. This in itself is in fact saying it all… We don’t have all the answers yet, but that doesn’t matter. The first and foremost important step is to be open to the fact that everything is energy and that choices play a vital role (literally!!) in this. If we would accept this, we would have a completely different view on all illnesses and diseases, surely also on dementia. Checking out would / could not be considered as a True option…

     1. Very well expressed Floris that what a different world we would be living in if it was an accepted fact that energy comes first and that in a situation the energy is first identified before any action is decided.

        1. Today I talked to a few people about this fact and for the first time I got the sense that they’re open for it and can relate to the fact that we’re making choices that support us and choices that don’t support us. How lovely that this starts to be a subject that we can share and finally draw a new foundation from all together.

     2. What you are rightly proposing here Floris is a complete re-configuring of medicine. It is currently doing a fantastic job really at mending our physical bodies, but if it were to include the energetic factor in the equation of illness and disease then it would mean that we could treat many illnesses and diseases on an energetic level way before they became physical. To understand that energy comes first before the physical is an absolute game changer.

        1. This is beautifully said Andrew. How amazing would it be if a doctor and an energetic practitioner would work together with the patient, towards the same ‘goal’ so to say. That would make the way we are in life much more responsible. Lovingly so, and in this, the joy would increase tremendously. Life would have instantly so much more purpose (again). Which has actually never not been there, but surely has it be buried for a long long time.

     3. “The first and foremost important step is to be open to the fact that everything is energy” To understand the energetic picture not only means a different approach to healing, it also gives a different approach to life, and the choices we make.

        1. Lovely Rosanna, to expand the True picture. It is all about life. And that we are to make choices by ourselves, but that these choices matter big time. That one is adding evolution and love to this realm of life and the other one is polluting the earth big time and adding separation. One is Joyous working together for the whole, the other one is working purely individual. Have we learnt enough to see that working for the individual doesn’t work (at all) if you take vitality and engagement as 2 basic markers…

     4. I love what you have written about the vibration of sick cells being lower than healthy cells. This example tangibly and simply takes it rawly back to energy and how we live can affect the energy.

        1. To me it also says that our body is constantly communicating. As if ‘sick’ cells are actually asking for attention from us. That there’s somehow a restriction within our bodies that needs support from other parts to let go of anything that makes it sick. To me this shows that no one part is more important than the whole. We are always to look after every part of our own body, give it attention – lovingly so – and equally taking care of others around us. The sense of Grandness that I feel is just beautiful.

243. “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility. If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.” Such an exposing paragraph on how we are in this world, especially how it highlights that responsibility is not only about ourselves, but that it is something we need to take on for the sake of everyone around us.

     1. Yes agreed Eleanor. And taking greater responsibility for ourselves need not be dead weight or constricting as it is sometimes made out to be. What is being called for here is a deeper commitment to being honest with ourselves and honouring what we feel.

244. “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” This line stood out for me as I think overriding feelings of what is really going on is something that we are very good at doing. Quite often I have had realisations and felt things which have made me see how much I can lie to myself or ignore something with distraction. When I do see or feel it, it is so obvious that I am surprised at myself for being able to ignore it, and how good I can be a creating my own reality. But as the truth is revealed I feel so much more real and true.

     1. I agree Eleanor and also when we choose to over-ride our feelings and live in that alternative reality, we forget that we are actually saying yes to another source of energy or consciousness that is feeding us that reality, which once it enters can influence us to make other choices and actions that we may not like or may not have asked for. But that is how energy works. Once you align to a source of energy it will influence your thoughts and actions thereafter. We need to understand this process more.

245. ‘Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility…’ There’s a bitter pill to swallow. It is true, we say no to self responsibility – and boy does that have an impact on our world.

     1. Yes we do Elodie, great point to highlight. Our lack of responsibility is catching up with us. The big question is will we finally sit up and take notice before we all go over the edge? Self responsibility seems to be such a boring option, yet having made the decision to resume responsibility for me and my life I have never felt so well and I am not alone in feeling this, there are thousands of other people discovering that self responsibility is the only way to proceed in life.

        1. I agree Rowena, where is the fun in responsibility? At least that is what the irresponsible person would ask! We seem to be conditioned that fun involves the massive highs and lows of emotions, that it involves taking our bodies to extremes, that it means heightening our taste buds or even doing or trying something new. But is that really fun when often it is at the expense of our body? I know for me I have never felt better and enjoyed life more than when I am taking more responsibility for myself and my life. You could say from the outside it appears boring or mundane, but I really enjoy what I do and more and more so how I life my life. I find the more responsible I am with my choices, the more I am present with myself and the more I enjoy the day. Whereas when I start to say oh this or that does not matter, then I start to withdraw from life and from the day, and suddenly time is just ticking by without any sense of joy or purpose. The difference is quite extreme at times.

        2. I agree Rowena,
           The more I choose to be responsible for myself, the more I engage in the world around me. I feel truly alive, that to live life now without this interaction would feel like I was just existing. Is this how many feel? And why self responsibility is seemingly not worth it, because we feel numb to life, like we are just existing?

246. ‘Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?’ Sounds right to me – If you practise something for long enough, it becomes second nature.

247. “Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity? This is a great question Samantha. For sure every choice has an energy that comes with it – “as everything is energy, therefore everything is because of energy”. So yes the energy has to go somewhere, just because we don’t like something and think we dismiss it, it doesn’t disappear. It transforms cause that’s what energy does, and because the choice comes through us it stands to reason it stays with us in our bodies if left unaddressed. So eventually like everything that is left unattended and uncared for it deteriorates.

     1. Great comment Sandra. So it comes down to not wanting to deal with life, and all the moments burying and avoiding life add up to create this illness we now call dementia. If this is the case, and I suspect it is, then more people must be choosing to check out from life, because when I was growing up in the 1960’s there was no mention of dementia, but these days it’s very common. I know some might say that there are more awareness campaigns, and yes there are, but the fact still remains that there are statically more recorded cases now than ever before. The increase in illness and disease is a huge indicator of how we are living and the choices we are making.

     2. I agree with what you say here Sandra,
        Any energy we allow into our bodies is still there until we let it go. So many simply harden to avoid feeling the impact on their bodies. Yet this energy is still there, whether one is aware of it or not, and it has to come out. Our bodies are so very sensitive and naturally tender, so to live hard and in disregarded of this truth has to bring consequences. What I ask is how we now have a world that has no idea of the natural way of being a body is, sensitive, tender and full of love? That many are not being taught this from birth is a great tragedy.

248. “…repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode our cognitive function.”
     I love this statement, Samantha. It feels so deep and it hits the core of what dementia is about. Thanks for bringing this through.

249. I remember when I was a student I did some temp work in a care home for people with dementia, which was the first time I had had real exposure to people with this condition. It really was as if the residents were possessed in some kind of way, many of them aggressive, or childlike, or just completely vacant. So the question “Could it be that there is more than one form of energy and that these energies can act through us?” certainly rings true to me.

     1. For me too Eleanor. I spent a week shadowing doctors in a hospital and met numerous people with dementia – they can indeed seem totally not ‘with it’ or themselves, and it does make me question what is going on under the surface to cause such a change in someone.

250. This is such a great blog that really raises many important questions about dementia. I had no idea about these statistics, but they are clearly quite shocking. And real evidence that, as this blog states, there needs to be a different way of looking at this illness, as what we are currently doing is not working.

251. This is a great question – ” could it be possible that when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us?” We all feel energy so isn’t it time to get serious about the types of energy available for us to choose from and explore how they affect our body. When I first learned, through the teachings of Serge Benhayon that there are 2 types of energy it changed everything because it simply made sense. It was in fact very freeing and completely life changing.

     1. “When I first learned, through the teachings of Serge Benhayon that there are 2 types of energy it changed everything because it simply made sense. It was in fact very freeing and completely life changing.” This was exactly the same for me Elizabeth and I agree it so freeing to relearn this fact.

     2. Elizabeth that was also a life changer for me too, knowing that there were 2 types of energy we choose from. How our behaviours can reflect this too. It was great to understand what energy was controlling me and what energy I ultimately wanted in my life.

     3. So true Elizabeth, it is so freeing when one is actually enabled to physically feel the different qualities of energy that we can choose to live our lives by. It changes everything and explains so much, why people harm others and them selves with little or no regard or explanation. Understanding this immutable fact can be very challenging, but when truly grasped is very empowering. Suddenly the true meaning of self responsibility becomes much more essential and purposeful. Connecting to and living from our true form of energy requires constant attention as we live in a world where energetic irresponsibility is the cultured norm.

252. Thank you Samantha for your very real and honest evaluation of what is going on with our health and dementia rates in the world. You are offering the much needed understanding about the way we live our lives and what we consume that we think we can get away with, when in fact as the figures show we cannot. Responsibility for our bodies and our health needs to be made more focus of, as does the way people are looked after and the treatment of these ever growing epidemics of dementia and other diseases. This would take away the fear also that more and more are under for their old age, and what Universal Medicine is bringing is an understanding of the whole. A new way of sharing a wisdom and knowledge that can be connected to by us all.

253. What I find amazing is how, with Alzheimer’s, normal, sane, quiet people can get so aggressive. Is it a reaction from being submissive for so long? Yes it’s an energy coming through them, but why that particular one?

     1. Great point Carmel, it makes sense really if we come from an angle of knowing that we have chosen everything we are to experience and further if we have ignored and overridden the choices we knew we needed to make.

     2. Yes, it would be an interesting study. Are people showing their hidden side? Is it random whether and how aggressive they become? Is aggression associated with certain characteristics? Are they aggressive with some people and not others? Whom?

     3. This is a great question to ask Carmel, my first thought, coming from my own experience of connecting to myself, is that many live resentful, blaming others for their circumstances and feel so unable to change what they hate in their lives. This energy left to fester naturally has to be released some how. So when a person completely chooses to check out from their body and soul, what is left, is what has been festering for years. It makes absolute sense to me that many with dementia lash out with aggression. Simply a result of undealt with anger resentment and blame.

     4. I have never heard of this before Carmel! As Christoph has shared it would be an interesting study. However, there are loads of studies that can be done but what do we choose after doing them is another story. Like we know how our choices in every moment affect how we live but do we take responsibilty for all of our choices once knowing this?

254. An amazing account Samantha of what contributes to dementia. Yes our society does condone irresponsibility, how crazy is that? And this will only serve in creating more and more cases of dementia and other serious illnesses that then put further strain on society.

     1. Not only do we condone irresponsibility, we champion it. We say go home, have a few drinks, watch TV or play a few computer games. None of this actually supports us at all.

        1. …and it is common to encourage outrageous levels of irresponsibility by finding it entertaining when friends get wasted via alcohol or substance abuse. There is a strange kind of pride that people adopt when they have been ‘out of it’. They are resisting responsibility and do not embrace the value that this has for themselves, those around them and for the greater whole.

255. What a stunning blog, Samantha, that calls a spade a spade. We cannot avoid the ‘R’ word much longer as a society, as the statistics are showing loud and clear. Taking responsibility for our personal and collective state of being is essential.

     1. I agree Janet, and in this we get to simply discover that responsibility is not a hindrance or a heavy weight one must carry on our shoulders, but instead it is a time to deeply accept your grandness and greatness to the point where you are in utter awe of oneself, that nothing would ever be more filling then to just be you. In this I mean to remain in your body and fully committed to life, where the world and its everyday demands do not affect in any way how you are to be.

        1. Well said Amina – a lot of people consider responsibility as a burden, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can take responsibility for everything in our life, and the more we do this, the more we evolve and that is beautiful.

     2. Janet that is so true, we may have ignored the ‘R’ word for a long time, but now we have no choice but to start stepping up and taking responsibility for self and humanity as a whole.

256. Such understanding and compassion is beautiful to witness here, these qualities are so needed in this field of work: “Although the behavior of the dementia patients I have worked with over the years can be very distressing, I have a strong knowing that at their very essence they are still love and will always be that love.
     No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.”

     1. I agree completely Rosanna. True understanding and compassion are qualities that are so needed, but sadly so often missing when it comes to the care of people with dementia. To meet someone in this way, knowing that what they have become is not who they truly are, is a gift for all concerned, and when met with love, there is a deep momentary knowing and remembering of who they are. It is an absolute joy to see and feel when this happens.

     2. So beautifully shared Rosanna – I can feel the love and truth in what you are saying. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has blessed us with increased energetic awareness and choice, the rest is up to us. Knowing that we are all connected and that soul remains pure and magnificent is so amazing, it feels so important to always honour this knowing.

257. Dementia is becoming like cancer. It is not that long ago, in my lifetime, that when I was young it was rare to know someone who had died from these two conditions, and in some cases to know what they were. Today, is there anyone who has not been affected by the loss of someone in their own immediate family? Could it be that these two diseases are the new Darwin effect of evolution… that we are choosing to remove us from the gene pool?

     1. Wow when we look at it like that Steve it is crazy. We can really see how fast these dis-eases are escalating. But it is true, it is not out of our control but in our control .. It is how we choose and the way we choose to live that creates dis-ease in the body.

     2. We’ve moved from a society where millions of people died of infectious diseases to today where millions die as a direct consequence of living un-healthy and self-abusive life-styles. As you say many families, including in my own, know someone who lives with Dementia or Alzheimer’s or has died of these conditions. It has become alarmingly common.

        1. Yes Kehinde dementia and cancer has become the norm so to speak. What I find so scary is that much of this is preventable. The level of self abuse in humanity is staggering and it is this that needs to be looked at seriously as a society as a whole.

        2. I agree Leigh, ‘the level of abuse in society has to be looked at’. And yet, there is much resistance to this, by self-abusers who use ‘freedom of choice’ as justification to do as they please, and the status quo who stands to profit from keeping things just as they are.

     3. It’s a great reminder that in one lifetime a disease can go from not very common, to affecting almost every family. It’s time we ask as a society what is going on here?

258. That is quite shocking news Jane, but in face of the early childhood check-out world of entertainment we live in it is also no wonder. Toddlers instead of exploring the world and gracing it with their innate joy and openness are already tied to electronic devices, learning from the day go to focus on a screen looking for constant input and entertainment. If we reduce the body to a mere functioning and do not honor our divine essence and the grandness of our body as a vessel of expressing divinity we have to live with the consequences of choosing less. Dementia could be understood as a reflection of having chosen less and not living in the full responsibility of our true expression.

259. We literally have the most amazing world to engage with, we have so much to learn and so much to bring. It is a sad reality that from young we are brainwashed into using our minds only to achieve certain things in the world, and then by this hurt we retreat even further into the abyss of our mental world, forgetting the awesome reality we actually have.

     Coming back to reality might be difficult, because there are a lot of things we have left un-dealt with and they await us upon return, but it will be worth it, because once we engage with life in full again, we are well on our way to returning to our Soul, the innermost light that is connected with the all.

     1. Very true harryjwhite, when we engage in life in full, we open up the doorway for true well being.
        We have watched community life in society gradually decline as people choose TV and computer games rather then engaging with each other and building connections within the community. This lack of connection with ourselves and others causes great dissatisfaction in our bodies, as naturally we are loving beings who thrive from true and meaningful interaction with others.

        1. absolutely amazing thanks Samantha! We naturally crave connection as people in a community, through our places of work and through just going to the supermarket, it is deeply saddening to sometimes feel the extent to which this connection to brotherhood has been lost, as most people would just push past each other in the supermarket in order to get their things. But this is having dire consequences as we are ending up with so much illness and disease from living disorderly lives. We think we can be disconnected in one place, and then go and have a good time in another, we human beings live in a complete and utter illusion. One day we will look at it all with clarity and think OMG did we really behave like that?

        2. Absolutely Harry, and I agree it’s time to turn things around.

     2. Very true Harry. We love our distractions, comforts and means to check out from life, but are we actually missing out on something in doing this? ABSOLUTELY! As you say there is an amazing world to engage with, and amazing people to connect with, and the only reason at this present moment there is so much abuse/disharmony/corruption is because everyone is avoiding dealing with these things and are checking out instead. Maybe it’s time to turn things around…

        1. I agree Harry, Samantha and Susie, why is it that we have lived seeing work and chores as things to get done so we can enjoy a moment in front of the TV? I know I lived much of my life this way, but missed so many precious moments with people because I wanted to get to that moment of rest, I miss these less now, as I have discovered that every moment, no matter what I am doing is precious and deserves my full focus. As for the people that I meet in my day, each one deserves all of me. Personally it is this connection with people that I love, doing it without rush is beautiful.

        2. That’s gorgeous Leigh and I agree, ‘every moment, no matter what I am doing is precious and deserves my full focus’. When we give focus equally to everything and treat each minute with equal importance then it feels like we’re really living life, rather than just existing.

        3. This is so true Susie, ‘As you say there is an amazing world to engage with, and amazing people to connect with, and the only reason at this present moment there is so much abuse/disharmony/corruption is because everyone is avoiding dealing with these things and are checking out instead.’ Crazy really, we are missing out on so much.

        4. I ABSOLUTELY agree Susie, beautifully said. It’s definitely time to turn things around.

        5. Wonderfully expressed Susie: “treat each minute with equal importance then it feels like we’re really living life”. Sounds so easy, but I still check out too often – conscious presence is really the key to commit to life.

     3. Well worth it this is harry, we have so much to reclaim in ourselves and what is important is that we do this for ourselves as no one can do it for us no matter how much we would like them to. Great sharing.

     4. Beautifully said Harry, we have lost touch with the immense glory of our soul and our true expression in this world. There is so much to truly appreciate and enjoy in life, way beyond the narrow confines of our current perspectives. Retreating from life further compounds our hurts, but there is a way back if we are prepared to re-trace our steps, feel and heal the pain of checking out and re-claim our connection to that which burns brightly within us all.

     5. Your simple statement that we have an amazing world to engage with blows away the ridiculous notion that life is boring or tedious, and that we need to distract ourselves.

     6. Absolutely Harry – and that is increasing because instead of going outside in the world and learning as you say, kids now all have their personal tablets, smartphones, computers, video games, TVs etc.

260. The feelings we want to avoid are not necessarily huge dramatic traumas but actually can be just simple everyday impulses we have had that we do not act on and accumulate over time, ultimately causing overwhelm. The shadow of the truth is that we need to get lots of things done to feel worthy about ourselves. The true truth is that being connected to the natural way of love, we get things done as a matter of course in a joyful and harmonious rhythm. So we avoid or abandon ourselves to a shadow of a way of living and it has many great consequences to our health, both mental and physical.

     1. ‘The true truth is that being connected to the natural way of love, we get things done as a matter of course in a joyful and harmonious rhythm’. I have noticed small growths and attempts to raise the public’s awareness of harmful effects of foods. Little attention is given to how the relationship we have with ourselves can also cause us harm. And this is where the gaping hole is. When there’s an emotional problem, most deny it, some turn to counsellors, while others constantly react to life. Self is the one thing that gets left behind in the busy pace of life. Self responsibility is not commonly talked about. Most people, unaware they can connect to and communicate to self, cannot see that their greatest teacher lives within their own body. This is the biggest tragedy.

     2. And how different Simon is the quality of what we get done when we do it in a ‘ joyful and harmonious rhythm’, as opposed to a frenzied attempt to cross things off a list!

     3. Beautiful comment Simon “The true truth is that being connected to the natural way of love, we get things done as a matter of course in a joyful and harmonious rhythm. So we avoid or abandon ourselves to a shadow of a way of living and it has many great consequences to our health, both mental and physical.” This has been my experience too and a reminder I needed to read this morning.

261. I see many aged people and one of the things that often is said is ‘at my age it’s okay, I deserve to eat this, do or don’t do that’ even though they may know it isn’t healthy. What I am hearing behind these statements is, that they don’t care or matter any more, that in fact they have given up on life, that they have nothing else to live for, that nobody cares.

     Why at any age do we think its acceptable to stop being responsible and having regard for our own well being and to stop caring and truly honouring ourselves? It appears we use our age as an excuse, whether we are teenagers, after our children have grown up, finished our working lives and all the times in between, to think we can use the many forms of distraction to ‘check out’, with this lack of regard and the disservice we are doing to ourselves, and to others, when in truth we never can, for it will always impact the body in one way or another. In these times that focus so much on stimulation, distracting forms of entertainment and horrific behaviours, is it any wonder that dementia and other forms of illness and disease are on the increase.

     1. Great point Deidre, we as a humanity seem to use any excuse that we can find to do what we like. It is like we never ever want to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves.

     2. Deidre I wonder whether the reason behind why so many elderly people give up on things like exercise and eating well is because these are things that they tried throughout their lifetime and never had much success with. So many people attempt to change the way that they eat, exercise etc from an outside conditioning and so invariably whatever it is that they are attempting doesn’t last. If people were to eat and exercise from what their bodies were telling them, then any changes that they implemented would last until their dying breath as it would be so naturally incorporated into their bodies, by their bodies.

        1. Good point Alexis I’m sure many people feel like they have been trying in the only way they have known, but give up on life because they haven’t connected with truth. It is up to us to reflect true love through our expression with humanity.

262. Awesome blog Samantha – the stats you present are horrific. Yet another much needed wake up call for humanity. What I have noticed is that so many people who have elderly parents will often say, quite matter of factly, that at least one of them has dementia. It appears that dementia has become accepted as a normal part of the ageing process – a fait accompli. I often hear people joking about themselves or others as being on their way to dementia when they experience a moment of forgetfulness during a conversation or when they can’t remember where they have put something, etc. It just goes to show that dementia is beginning to register on most people’s radars albeit with either a hope or an arrogance that it will never happen to them.

263. That is shocking. Someone getting dementia at age 40 means they could live out half their life with dementia. How bad do things need to get before we start taking a truthful look at what is going on?

     1. If it is not crazy enough with most of us super checked out already and so easily led by advertising and the media. But the idea of a mostly demented population is frightening. Makes you really want to get your act together.

264. This is an approach to dementia that is not commonly seen in society – where responsibility is taken for the condition. Perhaps the way we have been looking at dementia is flawed. By seeking out a cure we may be avoiding the real cure which would be prevention.

     1. I agree Nikki, by looking for the cure we are accepting it as normal rather than the truth – that it is not normal, it results from the way we live. No disease just ‘happens’ to us.

265. Samantha, what you share here is spot on. It makes sense that something more is going on here as more and more people are affected by dementia and more and more of us are checking out in one way or another, so it seems to make sense that we can be affected by something outside of ourselves that is dictating our thinking and our choices if we don’t choose wisely and be more present with ourselves.

266. I played computer games and, apart from drugs, I am not aware of a more successful way to numb ourselves. This is far worse even than reading excessively. If checking out is the precursor to dementia we can look forward to a substantially increased rate of dementia when the current computer generation ages – it is a bit like discovering that some new, very popular and often-used invention increases your rate of cancer when you age. It would be interesting to add “how often and for how long do you play computer games and what types of game do you play?’ to longitudinal studies.

     1. Great point Christoph, I would say unfortunately, the current ‘computer game generation’ is well on their way to dementia already.

     2. I agree Christoph, this is of great concern as kids get totally hooked from an early age. I have seen kids who find it very hard to co-ordinate their body to even jump a wave at the beach. These are the kids that walk and talk video games, they seem to not be able to draw anything other than the characters from their games if asked to draw. They talk at you about the game whether you are understanding them or not. It is like they are lost in this ultra reality even when they are not playing the game itself.

267. Thank you Samantha for this confronting and loving blog. I was actually shocked when I read the numbers and noticing the fact that there hasn’t been a True consideration about all these people! All those people suffering from dementia. So so much given up-ness, because that’s how it feels to me. I recently had the honour of treating a lot of bodies and feeling how there are lots of people having given up on themselves. It is very very sad that this is for so many people everyday life. And if I consider all the people around these people I can sense the fear of getting old. Which is in itself already a giving your power away. We’ve got to come to our senses. Thank you Samantha for writing this very needed blog.

268. “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”. This is very true Samantha.

     1. Yes Matthew, this is a good point that Samantha has made. You could say that dementia is simply someone who is wandering around lost in their lie.

269. People are so worried about getting dementia, whenever there’s something on TV that is said to be good for preventing dementia, they sell out like nobody’s business. The latest one is a blend of essential oils. I have previously shared another article on the subject of dementia and conscious presence, and the (non) reaction has told me a lot. People are so willing to spend money on things, but when a simple possibility (which costs nothing) is presented – conscious presence – we look the other way. Any whiff of responsibility, we run.

270. Thank you Samantha. I absolutely agree with what you are saying here – “It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us. In fact every time we eat something our bodies do not truly want, use a stimulant, or say yes when we mean no, all these choices add up”. Everything we do impacts the body for better or for worse.

     1. Elizabeth your highlighting of saying “yes’ when we mean “no” feels like a very pivotal moment in our lives. If we say yes once then every time after that the next yes is easy and the no’s become harder to not only say but back ourselves up with. From here because we have dismissed ourselves for the sake of something outside of us we leave an emptiness that if not addressed we seek to fill – to compensate. Bring on food, distractions, numbing substances – whatever is the go to thing to make us feel better. Which translates to check us out from not living our own truth.

     2. ” it all stacks up against us.” Be irresponsible with this precious sensitive body and the body shuts off registering, it becomes numb even to life.

271. The statistics you share are truly shocking Samantha. When most of us think of Alzheimer’s or dementia it scares us because of what it can do to the people we know and love. I was at a charity event a year or so ago where I was supporting people in the early stages of dementia and their carers. What struck me most was how sensitive and lovely these people were. It is hard to see beyond the disease to the person underneath, especially when they are vacant in the latter stages of the disease, but we need to see this illness for what it is. Samantha, what you are sharing here in this blog and with others who have written on similar lines on dementia is super important so that we understand what is causing it. Once this is understood it no longer because a scary problem, but one that is easily dealt with and one which would no longer cost our health systems a fortune.

272. Wow Jane that is shocking indeed. Not only are the statistics showing a rise in patients numbers, but as you say there is also a rise in patient age range, beginning younger than ever… It really is time for us to address dementia and start to investigate how lifestyle choices and attitudes may link to it, otherwise we cannot expect anything other than a further growth.

     1. Very true Jane, and when you consider how the bigger picture of things could be affected if Dementia cases continue to rise it is quite shocking. Yet even faced with these facts and figures many turn a blind eye to the illness – it is fascinating how much we will ignore in order to cling to our comfortable lives without looking at the impact our choices are having.

273. This is a beautiful blog, thank you Samantha. The sentence that stood out when I read it was ‘It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us.’ We are all willing to consider the correlation between what we eat and our health eg problems secondary to obesity and diabetes. The question is, are we ready to consider there may be a link between how present we are in our everyday lives and how this impacts on our health in our later years?

     1. Jonathon death rates from dementia are highest in wealthiest and so-called developed and technogically advanced western countries with lifestyle cultures that feed the slow death of millions of their citizens every year. The sad thing is that this toxicity is now spreading to so-called ‘developing’ countries.

274. Bringing the discussion of the cause of dementia to self-responsibility is a bold thing to do – as true as it is! Who wants to hear that my life-style choices are the true reason behind the symptoms of dementia? And the very fact that there are not many people ready to hear it, is shown in our raising rates of the illness.

     1. And it’s no surprise the medical authorities are drawing a blank as to the cause….. because no one wants to deliver the obvious facts, it would mean the world would have to take responsibility for the way we are living.

     2. Absolutely Felix – exactly the reason why it is so important to keep starting the conversation as to what is really happening.

275. The statistics for the rise of dementia are totally and utterly shocking. The prediction by the Global Voice that “Much of the increase will be in developing countries” says a lot about developing countries: that perhaps an underlying cause for dementia lies with the lifestyle of developing countries so excellently expressed in this article.

276. Shocking, yet unfortunately not surprising that there is little desire to look at the causes of dementia beginning so early. To do so would mean looking at so much of what we consider “the good life” and taking responsibility for the fact that it is not all that we celebrate it to be. It would mean actually looking at the mess that we are living in and making changes to it instead of looking for ways to escape from it into the playground of our minds.

     1. I’d say the final bell on this one rang a few years ago, Doug. We are now reaping the consequences of decades of irresponsibility. I think that we are facing a crisis of mental health that will be very tough to manage with the health system already under such pressure from so many other angles.

        1. I agree Doug, but this is one meltdown that we can’t just throw money at or change some regulations to fix. The financial crash had winners and losers to it divided along class and wealth lines, a healthcare crisis would see the behaviours of all walks of life come home to roost with all of their consequences in tow. Money can’t buy your mind back.

        2. Indeed. And making the choices to live a life being with one’s self has no price tag on it.

277. Wow Jane this is shocking, ‘The other day a dementia assessment nurse said to me that they are so busy – and they are now caring for patients who are 40 year olds – these are patients that were diagnosed before being 40’, and this will probably get earlier and earlier, these facts and figures are not made public, before reading this article and these comments I had not heard them, these should be front page news, as a society we need to wake up to how we are living and how this is resulting in us getting illnesses and diseases at much younger ages than previous generations, this makes sense with the increase in alcohol and substance abuse and the increase in fast food and stimulants such as coffee.

278. Your role as Health and Social Care Assessor gives you a daily, regular view of what’s going on with our elderly population, and your involvement with their day to day care permits consistent feedback about those with dementia. I find that your reasoning backwards to the setup of dementia makes absolute sense, that it’s backed up by acute observation, awareness and experience of what is actually going on only makes it more sensible and insightful. Thank you Samantha.

279. In my experience of dementia patients a combination of factors can be at play in the way patients behave. Some patients may have a previously diagnosed ( or unacknowledged) mental ill-health condition and dementia when layered on top of that becomes a fiery cocktail. Serge Benhayon has spoken of ‘multi-symptomatic’ man’ – someone that routinely lives with more than one ill-health condition. As people approach old age, they can harbour unresolved issues from their past, have a chronic ill-health condition and also develop dementia. Health professionals are rarely treating one condition, more often it is complex combinations.

280. I agree the stats are absolutely shocking and at this rate if this disease is not fully understood by the majority, what will it be like in 100 years? Will half the world’s population have dementia, as life has become far too difficult to cope with?

     1. And add all the other escalating rates of illness and we will have a situation where a majority of the world will be sick, scary but this is where we are going.

        1. Kevin and Matthew these stats are shocking not only with dementia, but diabetes, cancer and a whole host of rising statistics with illness and disease. Exactly where we will end up is a very scary thought. Will we end up with the majority of the population seriously ill?

281. Samantha the statistics are alarming and the reality of the growing number of people with dementia deeply disturbing. I’m aware that there is a spectrum of behaviours associated with dementia, from severe (as you describe) to mild. Rarely do we hear of extreme forms and thank you for bringing this to our attention. More attention needs to be placed on the impact of loveless choices on mental ill-health as on physical ill-health. Dementia is no longer a ‘disease of the old’, people in their 40’s and 50’s experience what is known as ‘early onset dementia’. From my experience, often this can be the consequence of failing to take responsibilty for one’s own life and health, being totally disassociated from one’s own bodies and and living life distracted by entertainment all contribute to the onset of dementia. The expression you use of people ‘giving up’ is a common theme, and sad that for many people they are completely unaware of this.

282. Dementia seems to be a condition of life that we all have a responsibility for creating by the choices that we make each day, but not only the singular person who develops this disease, but everyone around them too, because where were the role models giving a clear and concise reflection that there is another way?

283. As our ill choices build up unchecked it results in our mind imploding. We then have the momentum of a snow ball rolling down the hill when the further we go the more we forget till the point where we even forget to make our heart beat.

284. The statistics are quite shocking, it makes me wonder if many are actually in denial of just how bad this situation has really got. I totally agree with you Amanda “Many people live for distraction and entertainment rather than being engaged in life and connected to people” and the concerns are that the age groups now checking out are getting younger and younger.

285. I really resonated with the ‘we collectively appear to want to put our heads in the sand.’ This is big Doug as we are avoiding dealing with the reality and state of the world. In putting our head in the sand we negate the truth of who we are and our ability to express and stand up for what is not true in this world. We check out rather than live the love and life that is there for us to choose.

286. It just totally makes sense that if we constantly deny the truth of our lives and the truth of what is actually going on, and then numb ourselves with distracting activities, then eventually that’s where we will live all the time, in this checked out state. Practise makes perfect so to speak. Most people don’t even realise that they are doing this as comfort and distraction are completely championed in the world where we live. Many people live for distraction and entertainment rather than really being engaged in life and connected to people. Let’s have those real and connected conversations where we can be really honest, with everyone we meet and not just a close few.

     1. Yes I agree Amanda, instead of focusing on a ‘good time’ let’s focus on being real.

287. It seems the medical profession has drawn a blank when it comes to understanding and dealing with the tidal wave of dementia…Sam your sharing of the teachings of Serge Benhayon in terms of looking at how we live that cause the problems should not be ignored or sidelined. Taking responsibility to not check out in life and in our youth will result in us not checking out in old age through the onset of dementia.

288. I love how you have pointed out that our choices reflect our quality of life in the end. 20, 30, 40 or 50 years from now, what will our choices reflect ? Everything has its impact. Our society is all about irresponsibility in our early 20’s but what is the later impact of this I wonder? Sounds like you’ve done a great job of explaining it Samantha.

     1. When we realise that the choices we make now will affect us not just tomorrow and the near future but in 20, 30 40 years, it can change the way we approach life – with far more and a much deeper responsibility.

        1. Yep, well said Nikki, puts it into perspective and brings more care into life.

289. It is important to look at why people choose to be unaware of the world around them, and how they are living. Some of it is to avoid responsibility of choices that could have otherwise been made, and some of it is due to a very real lack of support in allowing ourselves to feel. Part of this process is allowing ourselves simply to have conversations where we address what we are feeling, and what is truly going on in the world. Bit by bit people will trust more that these types of discussions are valued, and are ones we all can have on a daily basis. This will help support us to stay present in our bodies and avoid heading down the dementia track.

     1. A great point you make hear Amelia on the real lack of support in society to just allow ourselves to feel. It seems we have been swept away and taken with all the many distractions on offer, yet to simply be in connection with ourselves and our true feelings is rarely if ever promoted. I also love what you say about opening up the conversation to address what we are feeling and what is going on with the world. Before we look at any kind of remedy we need to begin by getting honest with ourselves.

        1. And ‘being swept away’ starts in early childhood with so many children attached to mobile phones, on-line screen activity, games which means they are dis-connected from themselves. As you say Sam, the alternative is rarely offered: ‘to simply be in connection with ourselves and our true feeling’.

     2. Actually that’s an aspect Amelia I hadn’t fully considered, lack of expression to our inner feelings also carries a thread of irresponsibility to be honest with ourselves and others. No real connection and honesty with our body which again registers as a disconnection.

     3. So sad to feel but true that one of the reasons why people choose to check out “is due to a very real lack of support in allowing ourselves to feel”. It is so important for us all that we start those conversations.

     4. Great point Amelia there is an absolute lack of support in the world to reflect on our choices and the responsibility we have. Articles like this are a great support in starting a new conversation about the topic and supporting the world to understand the whole picture and not only accept the reduced one that holds us as victims of randomness.

290. Boom boom Marika – well said. Best we stay in check then with what quality is occupying the space.

291. Love how you bring it back to looking at how we are living and what impact this is having on our health and wellbeing. So not just blaming it on genetics or the kitchen frying pan…

     1. It’s such a cop out and so easy to change fry pans or blame genetics, does anyone really look at what they are ingesting on a daily basis and ask: Is that truly supporting my body or is it because I want a sugar hit or a glass of wine to take the edge off the day? Could it be with every irresponsible choice that does not serve the body, we are registering we are not in connection with the messages our body is giving. Same with avoiding our connection to our natural essence and identifying ourselves by what we do, there’s no connection there also. Lack of connection registers irresponsibility and dementia is ultimately not being able to be responsible for oneself.

292. I agree with you Elizabeth, “Dementia charities, how about spending some of the donations received, on researching how our lifestyle influences the onset of this very debilitating condition”. So much money is spent on looking at the physical aspects of diseases such as dementia, and we never hear of any researcher yet who has bothered to look at the lifestyle of those who are suffering the disorder, except sometimes peripherally some aspects of diet may be considered. Similarly with all the other prevalent illnesses and diseases that are escalating among humanity. If a group of qualified researchers with a more open view were willing to investigate the lifestyle choices (including the possibility of living checked out) of a large group of sufferers of dementia it would be interesting to see if they were able to obtain financial support to carry out their study. And having maybe achieved that, whether their findings would be accepted by the establishment, or whether they would be poo-hooed by the sceptics.

293. These are shocking statistics that are being presented here as so many statistics in other health areas are. However even though what is written may not be what people have experienced in their family or friendship circles or they think this will never happen to me, these questions are valid to ask ourselves – “Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?
     Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?” as they make a lot of sense and its time we started paying attention. Thank you Samantha for a brilliant piece of writing.

294. I would have thought it crazy a few years ago if someone told me that the way I live is reflected in every aspect of my life, including my body and in this case in the the brains of those with dementia. I would have been suspicious if someone told me that we choose a harming or healing (loving) energy in everything we do think, express etc. Serge Benhayon has slowly, simply, lovingly and comprehensively led me to appreciate that I am much more than ‘meets they eye’ so to speak and in fact I am an integral part of the humanity, with the capability of making choices that affect ALL of it! I have come to accept, know and to feel the Ancient Wisdom Teachings as the truth, not because Serge Benhayon said so, but because the wisdom he lives and is passing on by the Way of his Livingness absolutely accords with what you have shared here Samantha about dementia. First I must be prepared to look below the surface, to leave my attachments to my established beliefs about myself and my world and to receive the depth and breadth of what life is truly about and how I am responsible for everything that is not presenting love to myself and to the world, beginning with my own body, it’s organs and the way I move and behave. Lack of responsibility I now appreciate brings dis-ease and disharmony. Dementia is only one way in which this shows itself. Awesome blog Samantha England.

     1. Very powerfully expressed Bernadette – you have covered so much so well. Very much felt and appreciated.

        1. Tamara, I am slowly learning that when I feel truth, everything is ‘covered’ so to speak. And I have never felt the truth like I have since meeting Serge Benhayon and being open to his presentations and living way.

     2. Benadette, I was deeply suspicious of religions and anything dogmatic too. I lacked trust in myself and in life and in organisations, systems and other people having been hurt by it all. However when I first came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine there was something about him that felt absolutely true and what he said made total sense. What he said I know felt true because it was simply touching the truth that had always resided in me – a truth that had always been known but rarely articulated or consistently acted on, and many times overridden. This I realised too was me not acting responsibly and I know that if I had continued in this vein my health eventually would have broken down.. Learning to be “responsible” has meant uncovering many layers of ideals, beliefs and hurts and is an ongoing process in forever deepening my relationship to me and hence with everyone else.

        1. Responsibility is power in it’s truest sense Michelle – empowerment of self as you express comes first, and with honesty as its partner, true health in the body and the community flows. Thank God for Serge Benhayon.

        2. Amen to that Bernadette!!

295. “I know I have a responsibility for myself, my family and society to stay present and connected with myself and those around me, and to deal with my issues as and when they come up. For me this means embracing life and not giving up on myself when things feel tough and stressful, it means looking at the devices and distractions I use to cover up and numb out what is really going on, and lovingly ­– without criticism – bring honesty to the real reason for the need behind distraction.’ Absolutely true, Samantha, and here we have the answer to how to avoid developing dementia in our lives. Unfortunately for many, this is something they never consider, but if more of humanity were willing to look at developing this depth of responsibility, then maybe our medical systems will not eventually become bankrupt. If people do not become willing to consider this and put it into practice, then that is the scenario that we are going to have to face in the world. Thank you for spelling out the facts of this very important issue, Samantha.

296. Thank you Samantha, for a great checking in blog, looking back on my life, I for one, feel I could now be on the path to Dementia, having lived most of my life checked out not wanting to feel the pain and the hurt. I thank Serge for bringing to light the truth surrounding Dementia. I am now learning to check in, become real and present.

     1. I can very much relate Jill, I spent years and years of my life using many different distraction methods to check out and avoid what was truly going on. This is why I feel deeply the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine should reach all of humanity. The simplicity and profoundness of these teachings have the truth of what’s needed to turn statistics like these around.

     2. I’m with you Jill, I am all in for checking in, as I have had quite enough of checking out in my life.

297. Brilliant article Samantha through which you reveal what is missing in many lives today – living in connection to ourselves and with others. What you have shared here is vitally important to consider as you present an explanation that makes sense, of understanding how we have come to exist as a society with such increasingly high numbers of dementia. We need to deeply question this situation we have on our hands as it is by our hand that we have come to this point. If we are not connected to what we feel in our bodies, how then can we be sure we are make loving choices that would support our well-being? Avoiding expressing how we feel, numbing what we feel and choosing distractions not to feel is what we seem to invest in mostly as a society. I love what you say here – ‘I know I have a responsibility for myself, my family and society to stay present and connected with myself and those around me, and to deal with my issues as and when they come up.’ – as with choosing to accept that we have a responsibility we can then choose to be honest with ourselves and live this honesty with all others, bringing a quality of life that is then naturally lived with vitality in connection to who we are within.

     1. Without a doubt Carola “We need to deeply question this situation we have on our hands as it is by our hand that we have come to this point.”

298. I never knew that people with dementia behave like this. This is an eye-opener. I had the vision of them being placid and at risk to themselves through things like leaving the cooker on or going out of the front door and forgetting where they are going or how to come back home. Thank you for sharing your experience and for asking these questions. Many behaviours with our current understanding of medicine, psychology and psychiatry are unexplainable – Serge Benhayon shares a lot that really does make sense if we’re open to hearing it and looking at life that way. I know that it has helped me a lot.

299. Sending messages to our bodies that numb is a form of abuse of our selves. I agree Samantha it does send the message I don’t want to be here. It’s very worth considering for our own well being: ”why would we start treating ourselves like this? “ Bringing this awareness to children is a wonderful place to start as it will prevent so much future complication to health. Children understand things so much more simply than adults as they haven’t yet perfected manipulation to protect themselves.

300. This is a great call for self-responsibility and with that comes collective responsibility. We as a human race are not doing so well, and it is only through taking responsibility that the tide of dementia, and other illnesses and diseases, will start to turn towards a more vital, healthy and loving global community.

301. “Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body.”
     Agree Samantha we think we are getting away with it but all the time our body is clocking up all the times we have avoided truth, and not being honest with ourselves. What you write about dementia makes sense and it is something that should be studied by the doctors and scientists around the world.

302. “…The body registers everything that happens …” How true this is… Once we register the enormity and truth of this statement, there will be no way we could treat our body in any way other than with care, regard and love… and consider living this way as part of our daily medicine for true health.

303. Your presentation of why dementia is related to numbing and checking out certainly stacks up when the age of dementia on-set is taken into account. More and more younger people are now living with the disease, which I’m sure, is no coincidence to the rise of screen use in people’s lives. I know if I was a teenage I’d want to have this piece of very valuable information.

304. If we are going to get serious about looking at dementia (or any illness for that matter) we have to examine the energetic reasons behind what’s going on, otherwise we are just wasting money on lip service.

     1. I agree Jennifer – if we really want to address what is causing dementia, and any illness as you say, we need to be willing to look at what is energetically going on, as well as what is happening in the physical.

305. Just this morning I saw the following headline sprawled across the front of the local newspaper “Rates are growing, but dementia support is lacking” – it is a worldwide problem and no true answer in sight, except the ones that make the connection between how we live and what then happens to us. But does anybody want to go there?

     1. It is a world wide problem Gabriele I agree and one that is not going to go away just by ignoring it. Despite the resistance, we are forcing ourselves to go there, because in not so many years to come we will be faced with no other option. How we live and every decision we make matters and has an enormous impact on our bodies. Dementia is like a huge slow death wish that we feed with our lack of commitment to life, our refusal to deal with the pain and issues within us, our choice to escape the lives we have made for ourselves. All those moments where we wish we were somewhere else, doing something else, being with other people, doing mental crosswords in our heads or building castles in the sand, it all adds up. I know without a shadow of a doubt that we do have a say in the illnesses we suffer, if we learn to read the message of the illness it supports us to make great changes in how we treat ourselves. There is a way out of this mess but it means taking responsibilities for ourselves 24/7 in every aspect of our lives. The sooner we get that, the faster we will be able to address this terrible illness.

     2. We certainly do need to do look at a different approach, I agree Gabriele because our current one is surely not working. What we put into our bodies, and the way we choose to live is the quality that we end up living with.

     3. Good question Gabriele, and why are not articles like this head line news…. probably because no one wants to go there.

306. At work the other day we were having a discussion about dementia due to the fact that one of my clients is demonstrating dementia type behaviour, in particular phoning me up nearly everyday repeating the same questions, forgetting that we had spoken to each other and what was said, showing anxiousness that I am not able to get things moving faster. When some members of staff expressed concern that this could happen to them there was a general consensus of opinion that getting dementia is something that just happens and that we have no say in if we get it or not.
     Reading your article Samantha it clearly is not the case that we are at the mercy of this awful illness and that we have no say. I particularly liked the part about our bodies registering every decision, so that means that we are teaching the body to be committed to life or not.

     1. I agree Julie, I think the common consensus is that dementia is not preventable, yet it seems like there are too many things we don’t want to address. If there was a proven link between dementia and drinking coffee and alcohol, would people give it up? It is often a question of how much we want to know, it is too convenient to not know, as it allows us to carry on the self abuse and the indulgences.

        1. Do we only allow ourselves to know what we want to know… and turn a blind eye on everything else until it is upon us and then we stop to question why and how and then rather than take responsibility, go the easy option of blame.

     2. Yes there is a luck of the draw attitude that is common with a lot of illnesses and diseases. Subscribing to this belief is a great way to not take responsibility.

     3. Absolutely Julie ” commitment to life or not” but I would take it a little further and say commitment to purpose in service till the day we die. I have witnessed two elderly folk get dementia, one after the death of her husband, where life became too hard and she gave up, and the other contracted from life, was put on anti depressants whereby her behaviours changed dramatically and not surprising has lost past memories, but is sharp as a tack in the present. It’s very clear to me you cannot hide or avoid anything in the body, it registers everything.

307. What you have written about here Samantha feels very pertinent and reveals how much we don’t want to see the world as it is – and causes me to question – why is this? Is it as you have suggested that we do not wish to take responsibility for how we are living and the role model that we offer to the world? I feel this is so and because this feels like a pattern and a way that we have been living for so very long – many lifetimes in fact – we are loathed to let go and recognise our part. As you suggest ‘By staying lovingly present with ourselves and dealing with our stuff as it comes up, we are able to see life as it is, even if at first this is uncomfortable’. When we begin the path of return we begin to unfold and allow our true selves to emerge and the world that we live in becomes more real and more vital and with this we are more connected both to our own life and to the world as we expand our experience.

     1. I feel it is not just because people do not want to take responsibility moving forward, but many do not want to be honest and take responsibility for their past. Either way, if we don’t take responsibility, we all suffer on many levels.

        1. And when we realise this – that we are impacting everyone, everywhere – we can begin to commit to responsibility and in a way that is truly loving of humanity as a whole and all encompassing rather than seeing it as a way to ‘better’ ourselves.

        2. Yes Susan, it is not all about me, it is all about all of us.

308. Dementia is such a horrible way to go and totally avoidable, if the articles on the Universal Medicine sites can be understood and accepted as the truth that they are.

309. It is stupendous to read in this blog how potentially the prevention of dementia is in personal responsibility for our everyday state of wellbeing and willingness to be present in our bodies.

     1. I agree Shami this blog is a great read on how to avoid dementia!

310. I love this Marika, very simple yet so profound and definitely worth repeating. “If we choose to check out – it allows the space for something else to check in!”

311. Samantha this is an excellent blog and lets me reflect further on my grandmother who passed away with Alzheimer’s. For her she did not enjoy dealing with many things in life, the answer, as I saw from her, was her taking of tablets and pills combined with whisky. As you share “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” So it’s very easy to see how Alzheimer’s took hold. What is so important though is that if we choose throughout our life to be present and engaged with life, deal with what comes our way, then this crippling condition does not need to be the global plague it currently is.

     1. What a great testimony of how dementia – or in your grandmother’s case Alzheimer’s – is just the logical consequence of our life choices. To choose pills and whisky to take the edge off life is basically putting yourself purposely into a state of pre-dementia. The body understands this message clearly and just goes with it by developing the corresponding dysfunction and symptoms. The body is a brilliant mirror of our daily choices.

312. Something is very very very wrong with humanity when total irresponsibility is acceptable to the point that we claim it as a truth

     1. Great point Joshua. And why are we so resistant to taking responsibility when what actually happens when we do is we feel the truth and it feels amazing.

        1. So true Jane. We rarely think of taking responsibility as being amazing, but that is how we need to look at it.

     2. Everyone is doing it so it must be ok! Irresponsibility has become acceptable and is sometimes even glorified in various forms.

        1. This perception will never get humanity anywhere, as it confirms the ill as being the ‘norm’.

        2. There is much comfort in it too and that won’t get humanity anywhere either.

     3. Well said Joshua and the total irresponsibility is even taken further by negating the fact that our supposed evolution is actually an involution and the rise of illness and disease, like dementia, is a symptom of that irresponsibility. We are slowly killing ourselves and make living in misery the norm and still are not willing to stop and look at what we have created and the massive lie we live.

        1. It feels like a massive great big humble pill to swallow and one day we all will have to take the truth for what it is and begin to live responsibility once again

     4. Along with this irresponsibility, Josh is the thought that this will not happen to me and hence the cycle of irresponsibility continues as we take little or no responsibility for our health and how we are living.

        1. Yes so true Anne! We almost divorce ourselves completely from the statistics thinking and perhaps not feeling in full how we too may be contributing to them

     5. Yes, completely backwards and we need to expose this way of living as it affects everyone.

313. Thank you Samantha. This is great discussion to open. I love this. . . . ‘Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body’ . . . and this . . . ‘ When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true’. Yes I agree and of course this warped sense of reality is eventually going to take over if this is where we are investing our time and energy. Scary really.

     1. Really scary it is. It is great to have a blog like this to start to talk about this reality that is affecting so many people world wide.

        1. Yes Rosie. Today kids are checking out on screens younger and for longer times than any generation ever. One wonders if as a result dementia will become more common in younger and younger people. . .

        2. That is interesting Kathleen, and only time will tell. The screens are addictive and already cause so many issues.

     2. Investing our time and energy into what is not true is certainly what is killing us.

314. It’s so absolutely frightening the growing rate of dementia, I once thought that if you stayed active and enjoyed what you are doing you would not be prone to such a disease, but it doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, if checking out is involved no one is safe. A famous author who had dementia, died last year and he kept his beloved writing going as long as he possibly could. It showed to me how deeply he probably got lost in his work. So keeping busy and involved doesn’t work, unless you are involved in everything.

     1. That is the simple truth Kevin, ‘being involved in everything’. When you concentrate on just one thing or activity the rest of the world slowly fades away.

        1. What a powerful statement Steve – ‘……the rest of the world fades away’. I can feel the truth in these words. There is a ‘whole’ world out there and in here and the gift of life is that we actively choose to nurture our connection to ourselves first and to bring that to all Humanity of which we are a part of. The choice is ours.

        2. Working with people wth dementia I know this to be true, that we can get lost in one thing, be it work or a hobby, and so we can lose touch with the bigger picture and that this can be a kind of checking out which can lead to dementia. Reading this article and these comments I can feel how important it is that we stay present and deal with our issues, rather than ignoring what is going on around us, and that we keep evolving and being involved in everything.

     2. Yes Kev, It really opens the question as to why we are doing something in the first place, are we doing it for recognition, to fit in and to be someone? When we look to be someone other than who we truly, are then are we not opening ourselves up to unavoidable consequences?

        1. Well said Steve “When you concentrate on just one thing or activity the rest of the world slowly fades away.”

        2. This is a huge fact of life Samantha, that is not easily over looked, the fact that the majority of the world are so comfortable with their lives that there is never a true question as to what is actually taking place in the world, and in that what is my/our responsibility here? This is simply one illness that denotes that we all have a responsibility each and every day with how we live and how we are with others.

        3. Yes Samantha, to think that every single time we are doing something for recognition, to fit in and to be someone, we are leaving our selves, and therefore increase the likelihood of dementia.

     3. Great point Kevin as it shows that “mental activity” is not what keeps us present and in our body. It seems to be even more the case that the focus on just parts of the body is the ticket to being more and more checked out (aka dementia) when coming into age.

315. What is presented in this blog must be taken into account in the research for what is causing dementia, as to me the wisdom that speaks through this blog is what is currently missing in the equation that is being looked at.

316. Wow Samantha this is a brilliant blog ! – the way you have communicated and unfolded a way of presenting both the facts about and addressing dementia is awesome. I especially love the way you say what you yourself are committing to with your life, right now, so that your future is assured – a conscious, beautiful unfolding, not just throwing all awareness to the winds, abandoning yourself to a seemingly random lottery. The truth that you have beautifully and lovingly presented here is that every aware and loving choice we make fashions the quality of our future. Our lives are in our hands. Let’s love ourselves and each other enough to stay in the driver’s seat.

     1. I love that Lyndy, loving ourselves and each other enough to stay in the driver’s seat.

317. “In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.” Very true and felt – saying no to life can come in a myriad of disguises of which the end result is catastrophic by reading these numbers Samantha.

318. It is completely CRAZY we spend billions on charity and research into dementia when all that is required is for people to read your blog Samantha and all the answers are there.

     1. That is true Nicola all the answers are there, we only have to open our eyes and accept what is presented in this blog of Samantha. It is just that simple as it is, all illnesses and diseases, as is with dementia, are a result of our own choices and way of living.

        1. I completely agree Nico, all illness and disease are a result of our choices. This is a statement that can be understood as being a factual and in fact liberating truth of life and not containing any judgement. Illness and disease is always a healing and the lessons we learn from our Soul are always given in absolute love. We should never feel we have failed if we have any illness and disease as we are all here to learn and evolve and it is something that happens to every one of us at different times in our lives.

        2. And that is what we have to learn Nicola, that illness and disease is not a failure or a discomfort that is disrupting our life and has to be cured so we can continue our comfortable lives as quick as possible, but that in fact it is a way of our soul to heal in our bodies that what not belongs, as an assistance in our evolution back to where we come from.

     2. I totally agree Nicola it is completely CRAZY and this blog by Samantha has delivered all the answers.

     3. True Nicola, all the answers are there. This blog could put paid to the as-we-know-it-industry surrounding Dementia at the moment.

     4. Great point of truth Nicola. It seems that a huge part of the problem is that we are not willing to truly understand how we have come to exist with such staggeringly high numbers of dementia in our society, as we would then need to accept the responsibility for our part in this situation. Another great distraction perhaps? Otherwise it would make sense that, if we were truly wanting to find a solution, we would be open to considering all possibilities, such as what is presented here in Samantha’s article.

        1. Yes, great point Carola. Whenever we truly want to know the truth, we find it has always been available and in fact we already know it, as we are of it. That is another CRAZY, how we fool ourselves that we are looking for truth, but then choose to look for it everywhere but where it is, which is right under our nose!

     5. CRAZY indeed Nicola! More and more I become painfully aware of the fact that we are being ‘hoodwinked’ into looking north, south, east and west for ‘the answers’ to dis-ease and all other sorts of ‘dis-es’ in our world when the truth is nestling quietly there in the centre – the centre of ourselves. Stillness is always present in middle of the hurricane or in the ‘eye of the storm’ and the feverish activity of finding cures for galloping illness is just looking outside for what is patiently waiting to be connected with right here within.

     6. Nicola, I only can say yes yes yes. It is so simple and the cure and healing is laying so close, it just needs the willingness to truly see it and then act on it.

319. Samantha, you have made a great contribution here to the discussion regarding possible causes of the huge increase in cases of dementia throughout the world nowadays. The statistics are quite frightening. I agree with you “Personally I feel there is more to it than this; that we need to look at how we are living every day and how this impacts our physical and mental function.” This is a great start to a completely different investigation into possible causes. So many people are now living their lives, but really just existing, they are not living with any purpose, are not connected to themselves, are allowing themselves to be distracted by smoking, drinking alcohol, reading, seeking entertainment, anything, but let themselves feel anything in their own bodies. There is so much stress in their lives, people are trying to check out from life in any way they can find. You have presented some wonderful ideas here, particularly with regard to people really connecting with themselves, and dealing with all the issues and hurts that they may come across. I know how freeing it can be once one does that. We need to spread the message to the world to at least look at these issues with an open mind.

     1. Great comment Beverley…so many believe ‘life is too hard’ and are choosing an existence rather than truly living life, and would rather numb themselves any way possible than feel the truth of what their bodies are showing them…and yet when we do take responsibility for our choices and honour what our bodies tell us, life has an ease, a flow and natural rhythm to it that is a joy to live.

320. “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility. If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.” I absolutely agree with you, Samantha, and to me it seems that there is an ever increasing lack of responsibility. I am constantly hearing of politicians, councillors, sportspeople as well as lots of others being found out for acting corruptly and illegally and it would seem in so many cases now, that many of them don’t even seem to have any idea that they are doing anything wrong. In the case of local councillors they seem to think they have every right to make decisions on matters that they have a vested interest in, go on denying to the very end that they have done anything wrong. Are we bringing up children now to not know what is correct/true conduct? As parents we need to look at this issue closely ourselves.

321. You really have nailed Dementia for what it really is… giving up on real life and retreating into our minds.

     1. That to me is a truth too Harry, dementia is the ultimate result of checking out from life by retreating into the mind and disconnecting from the body.

322. What you have written Samantha is in credibly sobering for us all. We all have a responsibility to say yes to life. I know I look to people who haven’t numbed out from life, who aren’t trying to keep the ‘bad’ out by living in a sought after suburb that has no guarantees of people respecting one another or themselves behind 4 walls. I look to people like Serge Benhayon especially who show me I trust myself with being here no matter what. There is nothing to fear in truth because, as you say, our soul ‘remains pure and magnificent.’

     And living connected with our soul allows us to reflect this beauty back so others get to see beneath all the misery and suffering and how they could choose life and soul too. Huge appreciation for those who have taken these steps to inspire others to commit to truly being here body and soul.

     1. Karin you said something quite significant here…”I look to people who haven’t numbed out from life.” Really if we look around it is so normal to numb ourselves from life, to check out so we don’t have to feel all that is going on and to keep our life safe and comfortable. There are not a lot of sources in which to seek inspiration to lead a connected life dedicated to people and our wellbeing. Although it’s not always a comfortable place to be, I am pleased that I know many people now who are committed to a way of living that means we are present, connected and bring who we are to all we do.

323. What a great blog Samantha, so much for us to ponder and question;
     “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviors do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?”
     As you so beautifully pointed out if we lose ourselves we are saying no to life thus yes to dementia.
     Thank you Samantha reading your blog has been very supportive.

324. Great points Samantha and a much needed conversation to be having – Dementia is already huge in our society and on the rise. “Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?” – I would say yes for sure, and this is where people can be supported to be more aware and honest with themselves about how they are feeling and to make more loving choices in the way that they live.

325. Samantha, an absolute Ripper of a blog! Love what you said that “It seems to me that every unloving choice, if not dealt with, will eventually stack up against us” I certainly know this to be a truth.

326. Thank you Samantha for such a superb and compassionate critique of dementia. You beautifully explain so simply the influence of external energies and how they can take over a person.

     1. I agree Jonathan. Samantha’s article not only brings awareness to how it is possible that this way of existing comes to be a false reality, but also how to make changes in our lives that would turn this dire situation around.

327. It is true that science can isolate and identify chemicals that are lacking or cell changes occur in tissue and they make pharmacology to combat this lack but what causes this in the first place. When we run our machine (the body) out of its natural rhythm, something has got to give so not being responsible for how it is being run is super simple. If we use the analogy of driving a car it makes sense, if we check out while driving, thus not paying attention to what we are doing, there is a good chance we will crash, this same action applies to the body.

     1. Great analogy Matthew and so true. If we are not in tune with what our bodies are telling us we cannot make choices that then support our well-being much like driving a car, another vehicle. If we do not pay attention to the signals indicated by car we are driving, to say re-fuel, add water or top up the oil we would end up with an engine melt-down. The science of connection to ourselves then becomes one worth truly exploring.

328. Your blog makes complete sense Samantha. I really like how you have introduced a contributing factor of the way we live as a possible cause and the fact that science has clearly stated, everything is energy and the fact that everything is because of energy as stated by Serge Benhayon.

329. Thank you Samantha, this article has opened a huge can of worms on what is set to be an alarming epidemic. It is quite shocking to see statistics that predict dementia more than tripling over the next 33 years. As you say the research into this disease has not really turned up much evidence as to why it occurs or how to cure it. Perhaps its time the scientific field turned its attention to the quality of energy behind this disease (and in fact all diseases). How can a frail old person need 4 strong adults to restrain them? It’s not natural but if we put energetic quality in the equation, then suddenly we are given a greater number of options to understand what is going on and how to truly deal with it. We can never have a void in this world, we may like to think something is empty but in truth it is always full of something, invisible particles that support our third dimension and enable things to maintain their shape against gravity. When one understands this then it is blindingly obvious that every time we abandon ourselves, or ‘get lost’ in something, then another energy has to enter our inner space. Sooner or later we will all be forced to take responsibility for our health because our health services are simply going to collapse under the strain we have place upon them through our irresponsibility. We have a global responsibility to look after ourselves and to look after one another and choosing to stay present, deal with the issues that we don’t want to acknowledge and learn to lovingly care for ourselves is going to be the only way forward.

     1. Yes I agree Rowena and have also seen how “possessed” a person can be. I remember a dementia resident in a nursing home I once worked in smearing her faeces all over the walls and being very strong and violent. I know another dementia patient who looks to be very passive and sweet but anyone who comes near her gets exhausted because she drains their energy. There is much more happening on the energetic level than we admit or are honest about. We all know and can feel it really, but pretend we don’t. As Samantha shared we even have the language for it such as: what has gotten it you, you are not yourself today, you seem to be beside yourself and so forth.

330. It makes sense that we are constantly disconnecting from ourselves, from life and from the truth of each moment – effectively leaving ourselves, that all those moments build up over time to become one ongoing phase of not being present any of the time. Perhaps by giving it the name of “Dementia” and focusing on that we view it from a confused place, and see it as a mysterious condition instead of viewing it as something that builds up over time due to everyday choices. If we perhaps looked at it as an end point (the disease phase) and assessed it’s characteristics and then backtracked over a life to view the build up of those characteristics/behaviours/choices that result in the end point it might be more obvious what caused it. We look at conditions in an isolated way, which influences how science attempts to discover the cause and cure. But this approach also comes from a platform of viewing ourselves as not responsible, and outer factors or genes (beyond our control etc) being at play. In some ways we also play dumb, saying we don’t know “how” or “why” is perhaps part of a collective game we play to protect irresponsibility and live wilfully.

331. What strikes, me in reading your words about a patient being in such a rage that it takes four people to keep him down, is how very much we have accepted to live with situations like this. It seems like we do not know another way anymore but to manage and keep in check those of us who simply can’t handle their lives anymore while we ourselves are barely surviving with the overload of pressure and stress. I very much agree Samantha, responsibility is the key here, we all have a huge responsibility when it comes to our health and well being.

     1. Yes, and when we all take responsibility for our own lives this will also hugely benefit our societies as a whole as what is presented in the body we can observe to be equally presented in our society through the wayward and sometime violent acts conducted by individuals or groups of people, not only to themselves but to all of humanity. And this is a truth we all have to become honestly aware of, because only then we can understand how far reaching the act of us not taking our personal responsibility is for how we live here on this earth with more that 7 billion of us.

332. Wow, Samantha, thank you so much for this insightful article on dementia. You describe the process of ending up with dementia so clearly: “In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life. The body registers everything that happens and repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode our cognitive function.”

333. This is a great account of how an illness starts long before we are able to see its obvious symptoms.

334. What you’re sharing here Samantha makes simple sense, is it any wonder we see illness and disease rise with age if they are a result of our ill choices stacking up one by one? And what is that saying about the diseases that are coming out earlier and earlier these days too in younger people? By my math that would mean life has become more extreme at an earlier age that is breaking down the body faster.

     Having had a family member with Alzheimer’s it is as the sayings say – it’s not them, they become vacant and it’s as if the person fades away. Could that be a result of all the choices to not be themselves in life (like pushing a snowball uphill) and not it has it’s own momentum playing out (like the snowball rolling downhill)

335. Great blog Samantha and that does not sound like an easy job at all. Those statistics are really scary 135.5 million people!!!!!!! In developing countries, so by this I would say what is developed about them if this is happening? We are definitely missing something here, I agree with what you are sharing about energy; and judging by how many children and young people constantly check out on screens now for hours I would say we need to act fast, otherwise not only will that statistic be true, but increase.

336. When we add up all the rising statistics of diseases including dementia, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, et al, then we have one glaringly obvious point – humanity really needs to start taking responsibility for their health, because the health systems will buckle under the weight of the escalating illness and disease. We really do need to wake up to our lifestyle/daily choices and the power these have on our health.

     1. And we need to offer support for why people don’t want to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices. There is so much we do not want to feel in this world, so much that does not make sense, if we truly take care of ourselves we feel all of that and if we don’t have the support to deal with and make sense of what we are feeling then of course we are going to choose irresponsibility. Our education and media outlets have a big responsibility to play here, time for them to step up and take responsibility for what is being taught and shared with the world.

337. “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviours do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?” These questions are a great start of taking responsibility for our own life and very needed if want to change the statistics. There is no other way than looking into our own eyes and be honest about the choices we make. Thank you Samantha for this well written blog.

     1. Very true Annelies. The statistics are terrifying. What are my daily choices that are leading me to becoming one of them – rather than someone who reflects joy and responsibility fully observant of all the atrocities and suffering of the world.

        Initially every choice I make to numb out sends a message to my body saying, ‘“I do not want to be here,” was terrifying. Now it’s about taking that chance to really feel when I feel something’s bubbling up, to choose to really be me and present in situations I feel challenged and to connect with the support that does surround us all the time. I can choose to be responsible – it is not an option reserved for the select few!!!

        1. Great comment Karin – responsibility is a choice that sadly many fear making for the comfort that they don’t want exposed… but ignoring the importance of the part we play is selfish…. for the cost of irresponsibility is not only reserved for themselves when we are all affected by the repercussions.

     2. “What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviours do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?” Such great questions Annelies and such a shame so few ask let alone address them. Sadly the importance of personal responsibility is something that many do not want to see until it is to late.

338. I learned the last 8 years, since attending Universal Medicine courses and workshops much about the effects of how we are living every day and how this impacts our physical and mental function. Something as simple as each choice we make has such a huge, some times long term, effect on our health and well-being. There is no such thing as by accident, we are each responsible for everything in our own lives and certainly also our health.

339. Such a gorgeous and accurate question: “So could it possible that when we choose to not to be aware and fully present with ourselves, that we are allowing another form of energy to run us?” And also a perfect description and clarification of dementia.

     1. Such an important and relevant topic for society today. The wisdom that speaks through this blog is so desperately needed by people if we are to evolve from the current dire health statistics on this illness.
        And checking out from life has had and continues to have a massive ill effect on us all – not just dementia candidates.

        1. Well said Dean and Monika and I completely agree. What is presented in this blog has absolute relevance to the state of un-health and illness that is today impacting our society as a whole. If we were to focus on being more aware in our lives, of how we are with and live for ourselves and how we are with others we would see a massive change in our lifestyle choices and how we approach life.

340. Dementia is one of the most devastating conditions that we face, and its growth rate is frightening. A look at what we are allowing into our lives, and what we are bringing to our lives is the most important place to start before we continue to cast about looking for causes in our environment to blame for this very personal disease.

341. Samantha, you have presented some very important points. The statics alone reveal that we are on a slippery slope of increasing numbers of people with dementia. I say PEOPLE because, statistics are often interpreted as numbers rather than numbers of people!!! This is people we know, from our fathers and mothers to friends, etc. With such statistics (of people with dementia) it begs the question how our medical system and health care system are going to handle so many cases? And this is only dealing with one health concern, not to mention the cases of heart disease, cancer, diabetes to name just a few others that are also alarmingly on the increase….
     I love how you have exposed that there is far more to the story than the frying pans we use or genetics. We need to stop finding things to blame and instead sit with ourselves and be more honest about what is really going on – the lack of connection in the world, the lack of wanting to be a part of the world, the depression that most people live in on a daily basis not really wanting to be here but wanting to escape, go on holidays to ‘get away from it all’, to clock off from work so they can have a beer and ‘have a life’… etc etc. Now this is very revealing of the quality of life that we have created for ourselves, a life that is a lie, that does not see the beauty in another, that does not seek the connection with self and others be it at work or at home. Could this be why we have dementia, and many other health issues on the rise? Thank you Samantha for bringing up such a topic that asks us all to reflect on the level of responsibility that we hold in our lives and how this impacts on all those around us.

     1. Love what you have said Henrietta, so easy to forget thet these statistics and numbers are all PEOPLE. As clinicians it’s easy to become numb also, and forget that the dementia patient who we are taking care of is part of a family who are always wondering WHY? And as Samantha has expressed so beautyfully, ” No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.” Thanks Samantha, for shedding much needed light on a very important subject. Feels like we need to be represented at Dementia Conferences, and starting to make some noise regarding where to focus the enormous amounts of research dollars, at cures or causes, and how do we go about dealing with this epidemic of checking out and escaping life.

342. Yes Gill, it is actually devastating to see. As you say, it’s that vacant look, the will to leave ourselves so as not to feel what we’re actually in, what choices we are making, and how this is feeling in our actual physical bodies. Dementia can start much younger than we care to accept.

343. What a fantastic blog Samantha about a topic that is relevant to every single person. The statistics are shocking yet sadly not surprising when I stop and consider the current definitions of ‘successful’ in this world which are all based around mind driven forms of ‘doing’. Anything to do with ‘being’ is simply pushed aside and treated with derision, as insignificant or is ignored. Research into illness and disease is predominantly driven from a biological focus but the more we can introduce physics, the more the study of energy will become pivotal and the closer the world will come to understanding the deeper meaning of illness’ such as dementia.

344. Such a pertinent article Samantha. The common response when someone has dementia is to simply say, that’s what they’ve got, unlucky but the way it is. It’s the same attitude that prevails when it comes to most illnesses, there is fear and dread of the illness and then the notion that this is what life is and some of us are just unlucky. What’s missing in all of this and what’s making our societies be more and more in disarray and disillusionment as the disease rates sky-rocket is the responsibility we all have. It’s a responsibility to be deeply loving with our bodies and thus to develop an understanding with it and hence with ourselves. As we do this, our very relationship with illness and our understanding of what’s causing illness we turn around enormously. Until such time though we’ll be in the dark, overwhelmed as a society with the constant rising toll.

345. Some very interesting observations Samantha. I agree that as individuals and society we are rarely, if ever, asked to be truly responsible for our thoughts, words and deeds – that is, all that we do or are within the world. It makes sense that irresponsible leads to irresponsibility, and that this may ultimately lead to physical and mental manifestations. The obvious antidote as you suggest, is taking full responsibility for the quality of our being in each and every moment and to be present in our body, not checking out and not wanting to feel what is going on – which is a form of not taking responsibility.

346. The figures are a shock and have certainly asked me to look deeply at the choices I am making. The incredibly loving thing about this blog is that it informs us all of the loving choices we have available to us and that these figure also have the potential to decrease. As you have stated Samantha – ‘The body registers everything that happens and repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode our cognitive function’ – we can choose the way we live our lives, we can choose the repetitive behaviours and the foundation they come from, we can choose to re-connect to the love we truly are and live from that. What a beautiful and supportive ‘Blessing’ it is to have these figures – it is up to us now how we to live.

     1. What a beautiful comment Ch1956, this is an opportunity for all who read this blog to make a profoundly loving choice in life to be present. What a gift it is to have an understanding of the connection between checking out and dementia. Thankyou Serge Benhayon and Samantha!

347. Samantha, I can definitely see the link you and others have made with checking out and escaping from life, and full-blown dementia. I have also witnessed people change like they are only a shadow of their real self, and have something come over them, and behave wildly in complete contrast to normal. It is most profound when they return back to themselves, and the question “what has gotten into you” looms large. I would agree there is definitely a link between dementia and escaping responsibility.

348. Samantha, you are right. Could a proportion, possibly a large or even a very large proportion of dementia come about as a result of our choices?
     After all, some people whose cognitive functions at death were still quite reasonable, certainly enough for an independent life, some such people nevertheless showed advanced physical Alzheimer symptoms when their brain was investigated after death. Hence, apart from any connection between our choices in life and the physical changes that lead to dementia, could it be possible that our cognitive functions are also a result of our ongoing choices, with the state of our body being important but not necessarily decisive?

349. “Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility”. It seems much easier to think that Dementia is something that happens to us, something we have no control over, than to hear the truth that you are offering. At the same time it is empowering to know that in every moment we have a choice to be present in our bodies and not develop what is becoming epidemic for older and now even younger people.

350. The illness itself is as shocking as the statistics. Our way of living, fostering checking out and not wanting to be committed to life, produces states of being that take us far away from who we naturally are. As difficult as it may be to grasp the idea of energy leading to illness and disease it is as clear as day that every action has a reaction, so what then do we expect to happen when we don´t want to be present with ourselves in life? A punch leads to a bruise, a cut leads to a bleeding wound, and checking out leads to…?

     1. Every action has a reaction, this is a great reminder and something to take to any situation as it gives us the power back into our hands. There is nothing that just happens to us, we are the creators of what is coming towards us.

        1. Hence when we wonder what is going on, we can track back every step of the way to recognise the seeds we have sown and learn from what they have become to understand the consequences of our actions. And further we will learn to assure the quality of the seed to be of the quality we want to harvest later. When we know the seed we know the effect or re-action before it even plays out.

     2. Beautifully expressed Alex. Checking out is rarely talked about because it can be hidden in the so called privacy of our own mind. However, as you say every action has a re-action and the choice to check out and not be present is accumulating moment by moment. It makes sense that at some point the gap between being here and not gets larger and larger.

        1. When we allow ourselves to really picture this ‘gap between being here and not’ , seeing it becoming bigger and bigger, the mechanism behind dementia becomes very tangible and not mysterious at all. Sure there are the physiological processes in the body that will be interesting to explore and understand, but the cause is obvious and the medicine needed to prevent this dis-ease is available for all, every moment of the day.

     3. Awesome question Alex and one we all should be asking.
        There is a cause and an effect with absolutely everything, we can’t keep checking out to not know this fact but we obviously are. I was on this pathway too and no longer am due to waking up to the fact of responsibility and recommitting to life. Samantha England I can’t thank you enough for bringing attention to this massive epidemic and answering the question.

        1. “… we can’t keep checking out to not know this fact but we obviously are.” That is the very trick we play ourselves; separating the mind from the body to not be aware of what the body anyway knows.

351. What this shows clearly is that dementia doesn’t just happen one day when you’re over a certain age. It actually starts very young and if the ‘check out’ behaviour is continued throughout life, eventually it leads to dementia – not unlike a tumour that starts very small and grows until it reaches a stage where it needs to be removed.

     1. Goes to show you don’t need a medical degree to make sense out of human illness. Evidence is right in front of our own eyes, yet we still choose not to see. Testimony to the level of irresponsibility that is currently lived, rather blame a gene or a pollutant than our own choices.

     2. Very well said Sandra.

352. Thank you Gill. What I get from reading this blog and the incredible contributions from people is that how we choose to live can affect our health in every way. How much we choose to take responsibility for our choices is also a massive factor. The many forms and methods of ‘checking out’, meaning not wanting to engage in life or with people, are sold to us as a means of entertainment and relaxation. These incredible varieties of temptations that are constantly offered to us and can often be very difficult to resist. But we do have a choice, to choose to stay connected with ourselves or choose to disconnect through what is prevalently offered. Learning that we do have a choice is empowering and learning that we can take responsibility for our lives and for our health, therefore reducing illness and disease, is deeply inspiring.

353. Wow Samantha, the rates of dementia is astonishing. Thank you for sharing and exposing how much we are living with irresponsibility collectively. It is a shock and a wakeup call for us to all step up and start looking at our choices and start taking responsibility for our lives.

     1. Just this morning my local paper is running a front page article all about the MASSIVE increase in dementia in our region and the cost both financially and in terms of what it means to the people and their families and carers. It is HUGE and rising and rising just as Serge Benhayon publically predicted many, many years ago it would. How irresponsible are we as a race that we constantly look for ways to get rid of things, cure them, remove them without questioning why is this happening in the first place, what is it telling us and what is our part in it? Well Samantha has answered that and Serge too on many occasions, so when are we going to start listening and what are we going to do about it!!!

        1. And when will the headline read “Dementia caused by checking out”. Again another show stopping headline inspired by Serge Benhayon, a man with an alert eye on the pulse of humanity and hence why he gets the headlines before many others.

        2. I agree Nicola. I had a discussion this morning with a person having a business with several employees reporting how much the pressure from regulations of authorities and the pressure of competition has increased in the last years. The aggression rises with the rise of pressure. And I read or hear from many other businesses equal stories and how much people suffer under those pressures. This also leads that people more and more numb and harden which in consequence has an effect on the health and mental health of people and how they will be when becoming older.
           The more it is important to raise this topic in order to get aware of all those habits and patterns which can lead to mental health problems and dementia if not taking a choice to at least spend the time off work in a way which supports to be able to handle the pressure during work.

        3. I agree with you Nicola, Samantha in this great article on the possible causes of dementia and Serge Benhayon on many occasions, have each made it very clear that we need a new way of looking at possible causes of dementia that are just never considered by those researching the disorder as far as I have ever heard. They are limited to looking for the physical causes only, never considering how important it is to look at how people may have been living their lives and how that may impact their health. Humanity as a whole is so into checking out, with every distraction possible now, and governments encouraging this with all the festivals and huge fireworks displays and sporting spectacles they support. Here we have a very different way of looking at the problem, how great it would be if a research team were to begin to really look into this as a possibility.

        4. I agree Laura. Serge Benhayon gets the headlines before others simply because he connects to people and sees the very obvious and inevitable that is before our eyes. If we would listen to Serge or see that obvious for ourselves then we could take the steps that are required to prevent the headlines from occurring or continuing. Meaning the purpose of predictions that contain a warning is to prevent them from coming true as they are a reading of what is happening and will continue to happen if we carry on in this harmful manner. It is not rocket science to figure out that if we constantly check out and choose to not be present that we will end up checked out and not present as in dementia. Equally if we constantly abuse our bodies they will show the consequences of that abuse.

     2. The figures are deeply concerning and yet… although shocking, it doesn’t seem like many people are looking at their choices and how they contribute to the mess, choosing instead to happily blame genetics or the like so they can continue to bury themselves further into computer screens or their distraction of choice… all to avoid the responsibility this would mean otherwise.

354. “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”
     I can confirm this question with a big YES, I experience this a lot, whenever my awareness increases I realize that what I believed to be true for me no longer is.

     1. Yes Judith, I so relate! And this tends to be a continuous vigil of letting go of that which was at one time highly considered but now no longer serves.

        1. Absolutely Judith and Kathleen, when life is lived to the fullness of who we are then so much “no longer serves”.

     2. I can relate to this so well. At the time it feels so true yet if that was not true I wonder how much of what I feel is true now will in time equally become false?

        1. Well expressed Jonathan! And how can we then hold onto any truth and form it into a belief? If tomorrow it may not be true anymore? We cannot avoid feeling energy all of the time and reading it is our responsibility otherwise we will be left behind, stuck in the truth from yesterday, which has become a lie today. Recall and regurgitation are so utterly outdated.

        2. This is my experience also, as my awareness has broadened, what I thought to be true previously is no longer and this unfolding is ongoing.

355. Samantha this is so clear about what is in fact at play re Dementia. Thanks for your expression!

     1. It is very refreshing (to say the least) to read the truth behind what is causing dementia when the usual and mainstream plethora of information on this subject hardly touches the surface as to what is really going on.

        1. Agreed Dean. Truth is refreshing and makes sense.

356. “When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” This such a truthful line. I know the feeling of not wanting to feel what is truly going on well and also that overriding this by escaping in a book or just my mind with endless to do lists and thoughts about the future does not solve this. It creates a false reality that is only there in my mind, yet the truth is always there to be seen and felt in my body in the way of tension or exhaustion for example. As the second part of the quoted line says, this encourages and confirms a reality that is not true and actually is the cause of the wanting to check out in the first place… a vicious cycle indeed.

     1. I like how you pointed out that checking out can just be with the thoughts etc that we choose also. Or as well as something that can be seen as positive like reading a book.

357. Checking out of life in its various forms has become the “norm” for many of us, as we seek anything we can find to stop us feeling any of our own truths from our bodies. The sad result of years of this behaviour is a total check out in the form of dementia and unless we look at this issue from a society perspective and how we are actually living, those statistics will only get worse.

     1. And the epidemic of checking out is because life is not as it should be, the way we are all living feels more and more intensely “wrong”, painful and uncomfortable, but we are not being honest about it. We are instead hiding and burying how we feel under the distractions of technology, social media or other pursuits. Life doesn’t feel right and we are checking out. Society needs to change, families need to change, workplaces need to change, education needs to change, everything needs to change yet we are not facing these things, speaking up or instigating what is needed. And, each of our voices is very powerful. We know something feels wrong and we are not trusting that feeling and acting upon it.

        1. I feel you put a finger on why I used to be constantly checking out, Melinda, “because life is not as it should be, the way we are all living feels more and more intensely ‘wrong’, painful and uncomfortable, but we are not being honest about it”. I know I never, ever felt I really fitted into the world, I did not like how others were living, knew there had to be something ‘better’, but did not know how to express this, and probably people would have said I was weird. I never was really attracted to entertainment, big shows, etc. left me cold. I never followed pop stars, did not turn me on.

           It is amazing looking back, I was actually feeling the truth! but did not know it. I had few friends, I did not feel I really had much in common with them, other than one or two girls when I was younger. So I checked out into books, especially travel and adventure, then in my older life, into searching for answers among the new age, and buddhist etc. literature. I am so relieved to have found all the answers to all the questions I have been asking myself, through meeting Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine presentations. I am no longer checked out, I thank God.

        2. I too find that phrase a powerful description of what is behind us checking out “because life is not as it should be, the way we are all living feels more and more intensely “wrong”, painful and uncomfortable, but we are not being honest about it.” In this area I have found Serge Benhayon is great at posing questions that simply shine the spot light on those areas that we deep down feel are not okay but have chosen to ignore, and start the conversation to deepen our understanding and begin to turn things round. A wonderful gift.

        3. Sadly people are struggling with life as it is and many find their emotions too confronting to face, so turn to technology to temporarily bandaid their woes in a virtual distraction. It has become such a norm that there are few speaking up against the tide…. but how bad do the psychological repercussions like dementia have to get before alarm bells start ringing worldwide and people start considering that there may be a correlation.

     2. I have much to thank Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for showing me the reality of what checking out is. I spent a large part of my life burying myself in books, so I did not feel all my hurts. When I was not reading, I was driving myself physically, on a property and other pursuits, all also, so that I could not connect to myself and feel just how miserable I was. I feel I was a prime candidate for dementia the way I was living my life in constant disconnection up to about 12 years ago.

        1. Me too Beverley, I also feel I was a prime candidate for dementia the way I was living my life up until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and was introduced to the importance of reconnecting to myself and checking in instead of checking out.

        2. Completely agree Beverley, I too was a prime candidate for Dementia and meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has been the saving grace. I am the world’s best day dreamer and I used it as a way to escape the misery I felt inside me. Serge was the first person I have ever met that a. recognised the deep level of depression and b. empowered me to face it, feel it and heal it. The sacred esoteric healing modalities, self help tools and constant support Serge Benhayon delivers have worked miracles, not only for me but for thousands of other people too, thus he has without a shadow of doubt, enabled many people to alter the trajectory of their lives that was ultimately going to wind up in Dementia.

        3. There are so many ways to check out that are regarded as ‘normal’ that it can be difficult if not impossible to examine one’s behaviour let alone question it.

        4. It is inspiring to read of the turnaround you have made Beverley, the responsibility you chose and the resulting life full of sparkle, love and vitality you now have. Your story would be a great blog and a very much needed article in magazines and the health arena!

358. What concerns me is the huge extent of the world’s population that are young children who are checked out on phones/ tablets/ iPads – this is massive. If this is the case at such a young age, is the onslaught of dementia or a multi symptomatic disease going to start in teenage years or early twenties?

     1. Yes, Gyl, it is a frightening scenario, and highly likely that we will be seeing dementia appearing at a much earlier point in people’s lives. Children of all ages are checking out with the internet and mobile phones.

     2. I completely agree Gyl and also note that dementia often starts 20, 30 or even more years before we acknowledge it. My mother has dementia and when I look back the signs were certainly there at least 20 years earlier. Because she was a super successful and much respected business woman and had a great career she managed to hide it for a very, very long time until one day she simply could not hide it anymore. From there it went very fast downhill. This is an issue that affects us ALL. Not only do we have a whole generation of youngsters who are setting themselves up for dementia, we have an increasing generation of older people who are dying checked out with dementia, so in what state will they be when they return for their next life? At what point will we all wake up to what is going on and start to take some responsibility?

     3. Unfortunately the stats for young onset dementia are already extremely shocking and if we continue how we are currently it is only set to get worse. “It is estimated that there are 42,325 people in the UK who have been diagnosed with young onset dementia. (Ref Dementia UK, 2nd edition 2014, Alzheimer’s Society)

     4. This is a great and serious question to ask Gyl. There are so many ways for children and young people to check out in todays society, it is a frightening situation that we are in. We have to start looking at the way in which so many people are living to really begin to be able to address this issue, because if we don’t it will only increase ever more rapidly.

     5. Well said Gyl. It seems likes a grim future. With the increase in entertainment technologies, apparently the real world is becoming obsolete… As we try and numb the feelings we are having.

     6. Checking out on phones and xbox is huge and deeply concerning at the best of times, however recently I have seen it in extreme cases with traumatized children in care playing it 15 hours a day! They use it as a way to cope… for they find the virtual reality less confronting than real life and what they are feeling… sadly in doing so they can be seen losing touch with what is real and ultimately accelerating themselves into the early onset dementia in their teens.

359. “What possesses these people to act in such ways?” This is great question to ask at any age, with any behaviour or act that we know does not come from our Soul. It could be an act such as killing another, drug taking, domestic abuse, rape, pedophilia, down to an everyday event we often accept as ‘norm’ such as a child or loved one at home acting out a behaviour such as anger, we know is not them. It’s not about condoning such behaviour but bringing understanding, with this we can then get to the root cause of every illness, ailment, woe and mess the world is in.

     1. I agree Gyl, and if we were to really see this mess first hand, I feel we would have much more understanding and possibly even take the time to really start to understand and make changes, as who really wants to end up living in this way? Who really wanted to be part of such mess, this is not a way to end up for anyone, no matter your age.

360. This is spot on..”Unfortunately we live in a culture that condones lack of responsibility.” and wht you describe is our bodies telling us so.

361. This is such a rocket of a blog Samantha, as I noted in an earlier comment I came to it feeling that it would be interesting but not necessarily personally relevant to me – what an arrogance is that and how telling. You lay it out how each choice to check out, to numb takes its toll and affects us, until one day it compounds to such a degree that we can have dementia. Dementia is the sum of all those choices accumulated and each time I decide to numb I am on that line, that road.

     This is huge for us personally but also for how we live and what we reflect; there is a responsibility here, if we want something different in the world (less people with dementia), we need to live fully and embrace life, not say no to it. Each choice to numb says no to life – that is true, I’ve never heard it so clearly and it hit me how much I’m actually in many of those things I see out there as shocking, how I’m no different, but I can choose differently, there’s a dedication and commitment needed to honour and live that in the body. And finally those stats you shared are shocking, and that this level of dementia will exist worldwide including the developing world where there are less resources to deal with it, is a huge wake up call for us all. Thank you – you’ve shocked me completely, in a very needed way.

362. “Could it be that our choice to be unaware of what is truly going on in our own lives and bodies builds up until it impacts our mental capacity?”, Absolutely yes!

363. I love the simplicity with which you present this Samantha. If to stay with our bodies and not retreat into the mind to create an acceptable version of the world were to be fostered, we would have our young people engaged with life rather than wanting to withdraw early on because what’s going on in their lives is so full-on. You pointed out that it is that gradual build up of the unloving choices we make all contribute to the end state, so would it not therefore be fair to say that Dementia is an illness that is fact is far more prevalent (in its earliest stages) way sooner in life than we care to admit?

364. This is such an important topic to talk about Samantha, thank you for raising it. The statistics show that dementia is becoming more and more commonplace in society, however it seems that yet again – in the same way the health system, governments and humanity avoid looking at the kind of lifestyle choices that can cause cancer or diabetes – we are ignoring and avoiding looking at the root cause of the illness. Taking responsibility is the way forward with this, as when we make this our focus every single choice can then only be made after considering how it will affect our bodies and everyone else in humanity. ‘Taking full responsibility’ initially sounds pretty scary I do admit, but this word is actually just representative of living in a manner that is unselfish, loving, decent and considerate of the whole, which is not so frightening and should already be our normal.

     1. It does make me wonder sometimes, Susie, why there is such an aversion to looking beyond the surface of an illness. Why is it that the symptom is what gets the attention? Why is it the mechanics of a disease that are explored when we look to cure something? The issue is of course the “R” word: responsibility, and the fear of facing it that causes us to go searching for an ‘easy way out’.

        1. Well said Naren. It is much easier to analyse the surface-level symptoms of an illness and treat those, than it is to look deeper into the lifestyle or choice related cause of the illness. Although the latter is likely to have much longer-lasting effects and could prevent the patient getting another cycle of the illness, they would need to take responsibility and this is not something many want to do.

        2. Isn’t it crazy that the opportunity to prevent illness is squandered simply because it might be uncomfortable to look at one’s own life and make some changes? Lifestyle changes have been recognised for a very long time as being great medicine for preventing disease, yet still disease rates are rising. That means that the wisdom we know is being ignored in favour of continuing down the road to illness. I know from first hand experience that it is not necessarily an easy thing to change our behaviour, but there are tools our there to support us and the alternative is not something that anyone would wish upon themselves.

        3. Well said Naren. Doctors and health organisations have had evidence for some time now that links lifestyle choices to certain illnesses, yet we/they continue to ignore this out of attachment to the comfort and/or distraction that it brings us. This actually makes life a lot harder than necessary, and although these comforts may seem like they’re taking the edge off of life, they are actually causing a lot more problems (physically, emotionally, psychologically etc.) than they are ‘solving’.

        4. Indeed, Susie! Our pastimes and entertainment have a far greater impact than just allowing for relaxation time. True relaxation and allowing our bodies to rest does not occur when we are watching television, or playing a video game. Our physiology remains keyed up and active in these instances, and many others. If we pay attention to what is happening in our bodies during times of supposed relaxation, it will very likely reveal that we are not very relaxed at all, but our mind is distracted and not engaged with what we are doing, so we think that we are getting a rest.

365. I like the way you finish the blog Samantha – ‘If we want to see the dementia rates go down, then a whole new level of responsibility needs to be adopted, both our personal responsibility for ourselves, and our collective responsibility for society as a whole.’ I absolutely agree.

366. Samantha, this article looks beyond the limitations of the medical model, in this case the study of brain physiology, to explain illness and disease. This piece presents a ‘whole’ that calls people to consider a greater level of responsibility in their own lives to themselves, but also to others, as our choices affect all (even if only to say ‘this is ok, because I am doing it!).

367. it is a case of awareness that is a big part of the answer, being aware that we have a body, and know that that is the source of who we truly are. We are not our minds.

368. Yes what if we do bring the body back into the equation? In my experience, it brings an honesty that we like to avoid, hense the choice to check out in the mind. It also lets us feel how much our bodies are calling for us to care deeply for them, as we know if our body is not functioning with vitality, every thing we do in life is tainted by our tiredness, and the subsequent lack of care that a tired body lives by. Hence even more checking out and covering up to get through our days. The statistics Samantha has revealed here are on track to be true if humanity does not heed this call to action.

369. Samantha a beautifully written article with loads to consider. I have worked in hospitals for over 20years and we have definitely seen a marked increase in dementia. There would not be one day in the hospital that we did not have at least one patient with dementia on one of our 2 wards. To be frank, we cannot cope with dementia patients, especially if they become aggressive or wander (and boy can they be quick) or yell out. We often have to have one eye on them and the other on the 5 or 6 other patients we have. So the effect on the community is huge and only going to grow – my feeling is exponentially. Families are exhausted, burned out and can often become unwell themselves. Articles like these need to be written constantly so that we as a community become much more aware of the underlying cause of this disabling disease.

370. Thank you for making crystal clear Samantha the importance of and responsibility we have for staying consciously connected with ourselves in everything we do lest we allow another energy to enter and have its way. Sounds dramatic but that’s effectively what we’re doing every time we check out and choose not to be aware of where we’re at from moment to moment.

371. Samantha,
     Your article is calling humanity to begin to take responsibility for our lives. Presenting very clearly that dementia does not just simply happen to people, that it is a disease that, like many others could be prevented by being aware and honest of our circumstances and by making choices that see us feeling safe to be in our bodies and to deal with our issues as they arise.

372. ‘In fact every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life. The body registers everything that happens and repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode our cognitive function.’ Thank you Samantha for demonstrating so clearly the responsibility that we all have for being honest about how we are living our lives and contributing to our future health or lack of it. We all need to look at our choices and the impact these are having on our lives and the wider society if we are to turn the tide of these deeply troubling figures about the future growth of dementia worldwide.

     1. Hi Helen this sentence deeply resonated with me as well, as did this whole blog. And yes this blog is a major wake up call about how very fragile we are, and the responsibility required to live in life is enormous, otherwise we will end up just ‘existing’ and then having the consequences of illness and disease/corrections as a result.

373. I loved reading your article Samantha. It makes sense to me that each choice to check out builds up to eventually handing over the keys to our vehicle (body) for other energies to do as they please. A very sobering thought and something to ponder deeply.

374. The statistics you have shared Samantha are staggering. I have realised that dementia cases are escalating daily but did not realise to what an extent. Isn’t this a big wake up call to us to ask why? – why are so many of us wanting to check out from the life we are living? I had a close family member retreat into dementia after a medical condition and to see such an amazing person being trapped within a body that was still functioning very well was so hard to watch, and the knowing in his face that he understood what had happened made it even harder. I have often wondered why he needed to check out as he didn’t show many signs beforehand, but check out he did and spent the last four years of his life in care. I learned so much from his experience and from the other men and women he shared these years with, and now I share this learning with others, encouraging them to share what it is in their lives that they are wanting to escape from and how it is possible, with a change of choice, to create a life that they love living and being in.

     1. Wow, great to hear of the work you are doing Ingrid in supporting people to change their lives, so they no longer wish to escape from them.

     2. It feels key Ingrid to stop and take stock of our lives; to ‘create a life that they (we) love living and being in’ The only way to do this is to know true purpose. My life has true purpose now I understand that I am made of love, I have equal responsibility in bringing the truth of love to the world. Any checking out is avoiding that responsibility. Without perfection, this is what I am committed to now that I can feel the truth. Serge Benhayon has showed me this way.

        1. Beautiful Bernadette – once we make the call to say this can’t be it (life) we are offered all the support needed to re-connect back to the truth and love that we are and to know that this is all that life is about. Living and reflecting the love we are.

        2. Yes Marcia it is pretty cool to know without a doubt what life is about!

375. It is shocking and sad to see such high statistics of the prevalence of dementia today .
     This illness is unfortunately becoming the norm and many people in society associate dementia with growing old or due to the family genes.
     If we believe this then we are giving in to a possible preventable illness by not taking responsibility for our own life choices, and choosing to commit to life and be consciously present in all our daily activities.

     1. That is so true, the desperate search for a cause outside of our responsibility is definitely not beneficial. It is time that we take the responsibility and see what big part our choices play in our lives.

     2. I agree Doug, it is incredible how we simply accept things as being normal and acceptable when in no way should they be. We need to stop accepting lesser levels of health and well-being as acceptable, anything less than love is the start of illness and disease.

        1. Well said Doug – it may seem like a tough or strict marker to adhere but we cannot escape the truth no matter how much we like to ‘think’ we can get away with things!

        2. The sooner we realise and accept this, the more sense life makes. Others we can believe things just happen for no reason, that you may just be unlucky – which takes away all sense of responsibility and purpose in life.

        3. We have been sold a lie Doug, one we mostly defend with all our might. For if we were to say and accept that everything happens for a reason and nothing is an accident, then we would have to take full responsibility for our life and all of our choices and actions. We see this as a bad thing, yet the more I do it, the more sense of purpose and love I feel in my life, both with and for myself and with others.

376. Some days I struggle to know what day of the week it is, and the threat of dementia is one I am always conscious of. Knowing that one of the ways to avoid it is by staying consciously present and engaged in the world helps me to take responsibility for my own mental health by being present in everything I do. When I catch myself ‘checking out’ I come back in by gently touching things, gently feeling my body, and being more aware of how I am standing, sitting; it’s a simple gesture, but makes a huge difference.

     1. I agree Carmel, the simple things like being aware of our touch are the most profound when it comes to being with our bodies. We all hold with in a tender care and it is this care that the world needs to feel, and we cannot feel this in ourselves, unless we choose to make being in our bodies our priority.

     2. It’s incredible to consider the simplicity and practicality of what you do Carmel to return you to your body and therefore being present. This would be an interesting trial on people say with early dementia to ascertain the diseases progress.

     3. Great sharing Carmel, the power of connecting to our bodies and our movements is so simple, yet so huge. This is something to be shared with the medical world, or the world full stop, and would support so many people / people with mental health issues, that is – it is how we move that affects our thoughts. I have been playing around with this the past few days, knowing if any indecisiveness, anxious, tension, self doubt etc comes in, that it’s not me, and not to identify with it, it’s energy passing through, and change how I am sitting, moving, walking – being super aware of my movements. This changes everything, it allows me to be more understanding, rather than react or blame people.

     4. A great exercise you are practising and one that not only prevents dementia, but makes life so much more enjoyable, which stops the need to check out in the first place.

     5. This is an awesome sharing Carmel, it shows that we can choose to be more connected to life by being consciously present and bring ourselves back when our mind wanders off with the examples you’ve beautifully shared. This to me is a way to keep dementia from being a reality when we reach our older years. It is a matter of consistently choosing to be consciously present with ourselves and our world.

     6. I can relate here Carmel and it is tremendous support knowing that when I forget, check out or am anxious about something, that the way back to me is through my body and taking responsibility for the quality I bring to my movements, which then returns the quality to everything, I do from then on. This is the way to true empowerment.

     7. That is a very wise practice Carmel, engaging with the world while keeping in touch with your body via touch and posture.

     8. Hey Carmel how inspiring. It can be very hard to do what you describe, because human life is all about ‘staying in our minds’ and there are plenty of temptations going around to keep us there. Your tips about gently touching something, feeling your body etc., are very helpful when one is in a long held momentum of ‘checking out’ or being ‘off with the fairies’. When we start to come back we realise that we have been affected by life a lot more in our bodies and we may be carrying hardness, anxiety that we aren’t aware of anymore.

     9. That’s a great practice that you’ve shared Carmel to stay or come back to your body when you feel you’ve checked out. Some other classic signs of checking out are forgetting where we’ve placed things like car keys or mobile phones. It’s the lack of presence and being away in our thoughts while putting these things down that slowly builds up.

377. The strain is already so extreme on our healthcare systems that I cannot believe we will still have one if the statistics in this blog come to fruition as these statistics are for just one illness of many. If we consider the statistics here shocking (which I do) sit those next to all the different cancer statistics, heart disease, liver disease to name but a few and the picture is very ugly. We can continue to attempt to manage these diseases with a medical system that is at breaking point but not for ever. At what point do we say we need to look at what is unfolding differently and stop blaming it on an aging population? If we take the medication away I wonder just how aging our population will be?

     1. This is a good point Fiona. If we took away the medication, and just looked at the quality of life, how many people would say they were living a life that is full, purposeful and joyful? Are we just managing symptoms without a care for how we are living? Questions we can all ask ourselves, well before we get old or ill.

378. You have opened up the playing field Samantha. Many important points have been raised. The epidemic of dementia is growing fast, along with many other diseases. As predicted by many world health organisations, we will be at breaking point as many health care systems are feeling the tension or have already snapped.

     The answer lies not in clever solutions, but rather a holistic health care model which includes all things that have been left out thus far.

     1. Great comment Luke, and part of that inclusion is that we all need to become responsible for our health and look at our choices, we can no longer leave it up to a system that is already at breaking point.

        1. The system is already broken, it is currently being held together with sticky tape…

     2. Very well said Luke. We’re very good as a society at throwing solution after solution, but as we can see from the state of our health-care system, the state of our bodies en masse, these solutions have not actually worked.

     3. I can appreciate this Luke as we are great at looking outside for the solutions but not truly taking a moment to look at ourselves and the choices we make that impact upon our health and well-being. As you say it needs an holistic health care model and we need to pick up our game through our choices to implement this model.

        1. Even if decision makers sat in a room for 30min and really talked about the real state of our health and not only how to fix the budget. This would set as up for much more honest and progressive discussion.

379. It’s a big question – how do loving, functioning human beings come to this? Medicine has so far drawn a blank after many years and many millions of research. Yet there are studies, innovative projects where rather than trying to treat the symptoms, a different approach is being taken. One where the system encourages carers to meet their patients, to re-engage their humanity and call them back from being totally checked out. As I understand it these experiments have been very successful when done well, and while they may not ‘cure’ all the effects, they do point to a large part of the problem being about being checked out and giving up. With the level of dis-engagement rising (I am thinking of the computer game generation that is coming through) this does not bode well for the future….

     1. Agreed Simon, the computer game generation is looking very scary. I like what you have shared here about programs that re engage people with humanity. I do wonder if these programs can be altered to be delivered to all of humanity, inviting all to fully engage in life, before dementia sets in?

     2. The point you make about the computer game generation coming through is a real concern Simon. Working at a school, I hear of students staying up till the early hours of the morning on their computers, and then coming to school unable to concentrate or even interact with their peers. Many failed at their work experience placements because of poor social skills, and when I ask them what they will be doing during the holidays many say they will be on their computer games. I see daily examples that there is already a big element of checking out from life in secondary school students.

380. I was shocked to read your experience of aggression in both male and female dementia patients, these are presumably old and in some cases frail and I can’t imagine them lashing out in the way you describe. Dementia still has huge stigma to it and it is a horrible dis-ease to watch unfold, here you bring a much needed conversation to the disease which is sorely mis-understood.

381. Thank you Sam, what an awesome expose on dementia and a wake up call to see, recognise and accept that every single one of our choices is effectively saying either I want to be here or I do not want to be here. Quite shocking when I consider every single choice I make each day, am I saying yes to life and all that it entails or am I wanting it to be a certain way, my way?!

     1. Well said James, we need to be looking at EVERY choice and asking ourselves whether this is a choice that supports us to be in life or escape from life. If we are choosing escape, we then have the choice to ask ‘why’ this is and look deeper.

        1. Thank you Kate, what is interesting is that whenever I ask myself why I am making a choice that effectively means I want to escape from life it does not make any sense. Why would I not want to be as much love as I can possibly be? It is crazy how much we can allow the mind to come up with all sorts of stories and reasons which are utter nonsense!

     2. ” accept that every single one of our choices is effectively saying either I want to be here or I do not want to be here. ” so simple, so powerful and so true. That’s a game changer in itself and a huge call to responsibility.

     3. Great point James and it is shocking to see how many people obviously make the choice to not be present with themselves – it says a lot about the state we are in as a society and how we fail to offer each other the love, tenderness and care that we all deserve.

        1. Thank you Judith, it is shocking. And as you say it shows how much we do not offer each other the ‘love, tenderness and care that we all deserve’. For if we did there would be no reason to want to check out and not fully be present and enjoying life.

     4. Love it James, simply amazing. Every choice we make is “I want to be here, in FULL” or “I don’t want to be here”

        1. Spot on and so true Harry – it makes a mockery of indecision!

382. It just makes sense to me that the illness we call dementia, does not come out miraculously from the ether but is a simple accumulation of choices we have made. This way of seeing disease in general, brings a totally new complexion to our well-being and health, one that is super mindful of responsibility. Thank you Samantha.

     1. It brings to mind that we are our own living medicine and how much we ignore that knowing, even willing to pay a high price for our ignorance. We want to be healthy forever but not necessarily live in a healthy way.

     2. Developing my responsibility is certainly the key Joseph. I am only becoming aware of the significance of responsibility, first for myself and by doing so, how much difference that makes to the all.

383. I find it remarkable that there is so little willingness to look at the types of behaviours we increasingly indulge in and the rise in dementia. From a conversation I had with a friend we discussed coffee’s effect on the body as one example, he was of the opinion that coffee peps you up and was not a negative for the mind, yet I recall in taking coffee how much it scrambled my mind, worse still with an excess of alcohol, a temporary high replaced with a bigger low. Yet how often are either of these substances talked about in relation to dementia rates even though we see an exponential rise. It is not raised and is this due to the fact that we are not at a stage where we are willing to give up substances we consider we enjoy and still in denial about the negative effects of many behaviours on our body’s function.

     1. Certainly no judgement of anyone else but a big questioning of what drives us to ignore the connection between what we eat, how we live and the dementia rates we suffer. The link between the behaviours we adopt and our ability to be present and heightened, or dulled in our awareness seems worth exploring given the very nature of dementia and its effects on the mind and body.

384. I really enjoyed reading this Samantha, it was timely for me to read the importance of responsibility and how it impacts everything. We cannot choose to live in disregard without feeling the impact of this choice somewhere along the line.

385. I understand why people resist true responsibility – because it feels too hard, or that it may mean not having fun anymore but the truth is responsibility affords us much joy and freedom that was not formerly experienced. We, as a society could promote responsibility in way that people will change their perspective, and that is by simply living it ourselves, to get honest and stop being in resistance to what will best serve us and those around us. Then the occurrence of these types of diseases will become less and less. It is up to us and the choices we make each and every day.

386. As with every disease and illness, it all comes down to responsibility and the way we live. There is no escape from our choices, at a certain moment we pay the price and get confronted with how we have lived. Same goes for dementia.

     1. Something humanity does not want to hear but is undeniably true. The writing is on the wall as it were, the rising disease rates speaking for themselves.

387. Thanks for this Samantha. “Personally I feel there is more to it than this; that we need to look at how we are living every day and how this impacts our physical and mental function.” I feel this is so true. We know that how we live does affect us on every level- from going out for a walk in nature to blow away the cobwebs to just changing our posture. Staying present and not checking out is the key.

388. Super powerful article as it so clearly highlights our true lack of responsibility to life and ourselves when we have such high numbers of dementia patients. What you share is so applicable to us all, as no matter who you are there are times when you may choose not to be aware of what is there for you to feel. I feel this article is a true call to humanity to consider our choices, actions and the impact these choices have on us all. It is time we stop putting our collective heads in the sand and begin to act in a way that supports the all.

389. I have experienced a close friend slowly giving way to dementia. She had given up on herself, given up on life and wanted to check out. Fortunately she is still with us today and although she may have her moments – she is aware of the choice she has to either stayed checked in and present or checked out with the fairies.

     1. Thank you Marcia, your friend’s awareness seems to assist her in choosing to stay more connected to herself and to life. Could this be the answer to dementia, is it as simple as choosing to consistently stay connected to life, being consistently in conscious presence? I would say ‘yes’ this could be the answer and to me it is very simple, it is all about our choices in how we choose to live and move that sets the path for our future.

     2. Marica – your choice of words is very powerful. “giving way” to dementia. It’s such a pertinent way to express it. And also very empowering. Because it illustrates perfectly that dementia is a choice – we can literally stand aside and let it in to our lives – OR (and this is the empowering part) we can choose to look after ourselves and support ourselves to connect and commit to life.

390. A powerful blog Samantha that calls us to account – to take responsibility for the choices we make and the impact this has on our health and well-being.

     1. What a step in the right direction and not something I have ever seen or experienced in life, is to have so many people seriously take responsibility for themselves so that they are not part of the mess that they otherwise would be. Responsibility is a very important part of life and something that, should never be taken for granted or seen as not important.

391. Thank you Samantha, this is Gold and very much what we need to read. Not feeling our level of responsibility, and choosing not to recognise the power of each choice we make disempowers us markedly, and yet we resist it so much. This is the true way forward for addressing our health and the rising pressures on people, systems and global economies. It is as simple as us all taking responsibility for our own choices, and whether they are completely loving.

     1. So true Amelia – it is strange that we resist our own power, so much so that we end up giving it away entirely along with the control over our own bodies and minds.

     2. We are avoiding the one thing we crave the most, our essence, and our bodies have to tell us through these ailments sooner or later..”No matter what they present to the outside world, their Soul remains pure and magnificent. It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll.”

392. “Years of not being true to oneself eventually take their toll on both the mind and body.” This distressful debilitating disease is affecting many people at a younger age and they are existing in a physical body checked-out from who they are. If we check out from who we are, then what energy do we let in to take over running the body?

393. Could the cause of dementia be that simple? Bad choices cause us to contract, dementia is the final contraction… because the brain itself contracts!

394. Samantha you have written such a clear, clean feeling article on a very important topic. I am left feeling informed and inspired. You write without condemnation, which leaves us to reflect rather than react. A really excellently written piece that could be presented in so many different forums and indeed should be.

395. Your description and the choice of energy that we allow to run our body runs parallel to my 20 years working in prisons and the observation of inmates. What I experienced was people that had caused heinous crimes seemed to be, I don’t like this word, normal. It was like whatever energy was running them when they committed what they did, was not there. As you have described, the layer cake we build with bad choices also is applicable to people that reach the ultimate tipping point for committing crimes.

     1. Steve I have seen the same with people who come into hospital to ‘dry out’/’detox’. So lovely to talk to when not ‘under the influence’, but completely different when they are.

        1. And I have seen the same with family members. The difference is ginormous and observing it has given me abject proof of exactly what you are saying Steve.

396. This makes so much sense Samantha and is quite simple really when we stop trying to find a cure or fix dis-eases and look at what is there right in front of us or in us that have the answers already. You only have to feel how ‘out of it’ you are after checking out in a TV program, or lost in your head reading a book, to appreciate how and why many have dementia. Looking at all the distractions that are popping up more every day show that as a whole we do not want to deal with our hurts and issues. Thank you Samantha for bringing home how important it is and what we add to the energy of dementia when we ourselves don’t stay connected.

     1. Agreed Aimee I appreciate Samantha’s exposure of how ‘we add to the energy of dementia when we ourselves don’t stay connected.’ Great call for us all to feel the responsibility of all our actions and how they impact others.

        1. I’m seeing this in my face big time lately Helen, how the choices we make impact on the flow of a whole workplace or home or anywhere really.

     2. The numbers are not available yet… today’s young are hooked on the electronic world to the point there is a new phobia that affects 66% of us, Nomophobia the fear of being without your mobile. Is it possible we will we start seeing the age of dementia appearing in much younger people?

        1. Steve – I hadn’t heard the exact word for it. Thanks for that. Yes, I agree entirely. Excessive use of the internet and social media is exactly the sort of disconnect that will accelerate dementia. The dementia figures are on the rise already – and this is for a generation that lived without social media…so, as you say, what’s it gonna look like when the ‘internet’ generations get older (although even the expression ‘older’ is out of tune with what is happening, since we are now seeing dementia sufferers in their 50’s)

397. Samantha this is a very needed wakeup call to us all to be open and honest with ourselves and the choices we make in our lives. We are being shown how important it is to self nurture in all ways, including not checking out of life. To be aware of the energy we are letting into our bodies, and the need for the Fiery energy, our true Soul energy to be the one we choose over all others. Thank you for your sharing.

398. Samantha, thank you for writing this article. I didn’t know about the padded cells for dementia patients. It made me realise that what I saw and experienced as a patient’s relative was just a very mild slice of the whole picture even though it was heart-wrenching to say the least. From what I saw, there were moments when they ‘come back’ and it felt as though that was when they would feel the agony of realising how they had ended up. So, seeing dementia as a consequence of living “so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie” makes absolute sense to me.

399. Because more and more are being affected, and because it doesn’t point out any dramatic or significant choice as THE cause of this disease, dementia is almost seen as luck of the draw with its odds getting higher. Almost every day, there is something – be it food, exercise, activities – introduced as ‘good for preventing dementia’ on newspapers, on TV. And when being numbed and distracted is the accepted normal way of being for many, how would we ever know that what we do in everyday life is actually of self-abuse and given-up-ness? The energetic truth and responsibility as presented by Universal Medicine is something we all need to be educated on, to be making the choices that we truly want and deserve for ourselves and for bigger communities at various scales.

400. The supernatural gets short shrift in modern, western society but how much simpler would life be if we accepted that there are things we cannot see, including beings with a great interest in exploring physical life in the material world by inhabiting our bodies? Accepting this, and knowing what to do about it, would go a long way to supporting people with dementia or indeed any condition where there is an opening for such activity to occur.

401. Thank you for writing about this. A young family member did community service at an old people’s home recently and came back very affected at the state of the residents. The comment was made that they were like “potatoes” and how did this happen to people? With the figures you have shared we have to start asking what is going to happen if this continues to increase?
     “I know I have a responsibility for myself, my family and society to stay present and connected with myself and those around me” Understanding more deeply how and why we check out on a day to day basis seems key in making a difference in this area.

     1. It is interesting too that dementia is also affecting younger people, suggesting that we are setting up patterns of distraction or checking out from the world earlier.

        1. I feel this strongly Jenny. It is so sad to see a tiny tot playing on a gadget while the hum and buzz of life passes over and through him.

     2. You’ve raised a great point here Nicole.How did this happen to people? Samantha has shared what many of us are talking about when we discuss the state of the world. Increases in crime rates, unemployment, mental health and general well being. With the levels of responsibility diminishing there is no wonder dementia is the next point of call.

        1. It is very disturbing to see young children checking out on devices, while I didn’t have an ipad to put my children in front of I remember my father being horrified at me letting my children sit in front of the TV even though this was restricted to 1 hour a day. Or how I would need a break because I was exhausted and just zone out, day dream. It gives us a snapshot of how much this has escalated in our lives and our children’s lives.

     3. And these homes are the perfect protection of our irresponsibility. Make terrible choices…hide the evidence…we’ve done nothing wrong. The perfect set-up.

        1. Very true Otto, not a way of thinking this world would consider either, as you say these homes are all hidden so the evidence is not exposed. Taking the goggles away and really letting ourselves see the mess just in this little area would have to bring a stop to the way we are living our lives, if we were to really consider what this world will end up like if we do not work on making steps out of this mess.

        2. There isn’t really any hiding what we are doing. It is a peculiar thing that we think we can sneak around and get away with things just because nobody sees what we are doing. I am guilty of this as well, I never really get away with anything as every choice I make has an impact on body which then has an impact on the things that I do following.

     4. Looking at the layers in how we check out feels essential to turn the dementia figures around.

402. I remember encounters with a woman with dementia, a neighbour, who used to wonder into our property and appear silently alongside us, frightening the pants off us, out of the blue and sometimes in highly inappropriate places. I remember in the case of a latter incident catching a moment of wilful mischievousness in her eyes. It was if a part of her was enjoying her newfound ‘right’ to be as transgressive as she pleased. It was if a part of her knew exactly what she was doing – which gives credence to the proposal that energies do indeed run through us. That it had a kind of ‘bugger you, now I can do what I like’ feel to it too did not go unnoticed. It has the feel of a woman who had been silently compliant all her life who now had an opportunity to do exactly what she pleased, unhampered by convention.

     1. I have had the same experience Victoria, quite a few times in my work. I have experienced an ‘attempted grab’ when attending to the personal need of a patient and patient’s literally ‘throwing’ themselves out of bed, sometimes with significant injury. I have to say that some know exactly what they are doing.

     2. Victoria, you’ve shared a great insight into the energies at play here that work with people who have given up, and more so, who gave up many, many years ago on themselves. It reminds me of a story a friend shared about a woman she knew with dementia who had played a submissive role to her dominating husband for years. When she developed dementia, she became loud and aggressive having outbursts of rage which was the total opposite to how she had lived until developing dementia. It seems that now that she has checked out so much, an energy is working through her expressing all that she didn’t during her life with no filter on.

403. So what we are saying here is that dementia is the end result of a life time of checking out from our bodies and ourselves. How simple is that?

     And if we know that, we have the cure already – teaching people how be with themselves. No need for endless research and fundraising.

     1. Thank you Victoria for clarifying this further. Imagine a world where we start addressing the energetic cause of our malaise, instead of trying to find short terms solutions we look at how we check out and withdraw from the world.

     2. Victoria great point the blog highlights the causes of dementia.”What is it that I cover up each day? What do I not want to feel? What habits and behaviours do I repeatedly use that get further ingrained and take me away from the reality of what I truly see?” These take people away from themselves. From the blog it’s clear that the cure is taking responsibility for oneself and others. So the need in the world is to start practising this, no need for endless research and fundraising.

     3. That boils it down to something super simple doesn’t it. Imagine if we focussed all our resources on that?

     4. You have summed up Samantha’s article so succinctly Victoria and yes it is really so simple; by checking out on a daily basis it appears that we saying that we do not like, or can’t cope, with the life we are living. Therefore it follows that if the life we are living is a result of the choices we have been making then is it time to address these past choices and to come to the understanding that making more self loving and self honouring choices can only improve our quality of life, and from there the need to check out will naturally diminish.

     5. Nailed it in a oner Victoria. We could saves billions on research for all illness and disease, if we stopped and took responsibility for ourselves and how we lived. And admitted the fact that our body is in fact a divine vehicle of expression for the Soul, instead of trying to run away from this truth. If we but connected to the divine intelligence we once knew and lived, we would never harm our bodies or want to check out from being with them.

     6. It seems very simple when put like this Victoria. When you consider how we start out in life as babies – bright eyed, alert, aware and feeling everything … is there any reason why we couldn’t leave life this way too?

     7. The mountain of money that is spent on research for cures for illnesses, is it like paying some one to find your horse that bolted… if you would only have bolted the gate in the first place!

        1. It’s a good analogy Steve. You could also take it further in that, my feeling is that we all know exactly where the horse has bolted to, in fact there are whopping great hoof marks in the mud. It’s just that we aren’t looking. The trail of our choices is there for us all to see. The first part of the process is to take responsibility – which is akin to looking down and seeing the hoof prints and if we do that we will find the horse – easy peasy (I may have over-stretched this metaphor!?)

     8. Simple, simple, simple bring on the basics that really highlight how simple life really is. No need for medication such as pills, just the chance to be you.

404. Awesome blog Samantha bringing a very important issue to the fore. The growth of dementia is not simply down to a growing elderly population as so many people would like to believe but is, like all of our ills, down to our own choices. Until this is realised and accepted the medical and social care professions will constantly be lagging behind without the answers they seek.

     1. I totally agree Michael, if we could get our heads out of the sand and realise that we, each one of us, has the power to change this and that we are not just victims of circumstance.

        1. I agree Kate, we each have the power by taking responsibility for our daily choices to change these horrific statistics. Dementia does not have to be part of living in an older body and we must not accept that it is so.

     2. This is so true Michael. Society sweeps these statistics away by just saying that we are getting older as a society. So what?? That’s got nothing to do with these shocking statistics on dementia!!! Since when has it been accepted that as you get older you lose your mind, your presence and start acting in such a violent and disturbed way that it takes four people to hold you down. Since when is that OK??

        1. It is shocking Otto, and as you state the fact that this is becoming normal is the most shocking part. What a world we now live in and the amount of work needed to bring back a true normal way of how we should be when we get older, a way that is joyful and contented and still very much engaging with life and humanity.

     3. I agree Michael that is a great point. I remember a guest lecturer coming into University and saying how now 1 in 2 men over 65 were being diagnosed with prostate cancer. So I asked: Why? What is happening? All she could come up with was well we know have better tests and people are living to an older age. She could not even comprehend that it may be because we as men are living differently and not honouring our exquisite tender nature. It is so easy to put things down to an aging population, or better testing, but it is just a cop out and does not even want to consider the long term effects of the way we live and its effects on our bodies.

        1. I agree James, it’s a complete cop out. The best medicine is the way we live and until we start living our lives more lovingly with a responsibility to not check out from life the rates of dementia or prostate cancer will keep rising. ‘Every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life.’ This is the stark truth Samantha for as a society we’ve forgotten where the magic is. In the every moment! Staying with that however subtle to begin with we get more of it and it grows but dismiss it and we want more and more of what is not that to stimulate and full-fill us from the emptiness and lack of connection we feel. A life lived in our heads and not in the wisdom of our body and hey presto in walks dementia, Alzheimers and other mental health problems etc. This is a great article Samantha, presenting absolute truth that the world needs to read for this is a major problem that affects us all.

        2. The world does need to read this, I agree Candida. Dementia is alarmingly on the rise. It makes no sense to see this and yet not change the way we are living right now, knowing that ultimately every choice we make affects the quality of the rest of our life. Obviously without perfection sought, but with a loving commitment to truth.

     4. Even the statistics have started to tell us that we can not continue to blame aging for dementia, because there are more and more cases of ‘young-onset dementia’ with people between 30 and 65 years old.

        1. Another shocking factor here, and something we must get an understanding of otherwise we are in for a horrendous life as a whole, as even if you do not end up with dementia you will still be surrounded by those that are.

        2. That’s all too true Golnaz. A friend of mine works in training in this area and told me that the youngest case that she has been involved with is a gentleman of 36 years of age. No doubt that ‘research’ points to a different cause in this instance other than age…just as long as it’s not responsibility.

        3. Wow Michael. And in case like this what would the ‘research’ be saying? What is the official explanation for this?

     5. True Michael that the medical professions are struggling to understand the increasing burden of disease. While increasing age plays a part this is not the only factor as you say. It is time that we start looking at our choices and the quality in which we live.

     6. Watch out for those classic lines – ‘it’s just age’ when something goes wrong with our health. It means we don’t address issues and let ourselves deteriorate.

405. We have made so many unloving, unwise and in-truth irresponsible choices that we do not want to be honest about that we have made, even championed them into things that give us recognition and success. We have made what takes us away from true joy and from ourselves into what we should strive for in life. We have set ourselves up and said yes to what would keep us imprisoned. We have accepted to living a lie that our bodies cannot lie about. This is the world we are currently in and it cannot come as a surprise to not want to be here, when we are truly honest about what really goes on. Our true tension in daily life is not the stresses of living, the stresses of living are in fact, what we want to be in so as to not feel this deeper underlying tension of our bodies not being able to live the lie that we have chose life to be. And these stresses of living will continue to add on to and reinforce the lie that we don’t want to face. But there is a way out of this trap, and it starts with honesty and responsibility, super understanding and tenderness to ourselves.

     1. We just need to really simplify and realise that through simple, self loving choices we do not need to be caught in the lie that the rest of the world is running. We can be free and inspire others to do the same.

        1. And yes, to understand why we are checking out of life in this way is key to healing this dysfunctional way of being.

        2. Yes to become present in every moment of our day demands that we simplify.

406. Truly powerful article, Samantha, presenting the possibilities for viewing the causes of dementia from an energetic and then related behavioural perspective. It makes total sense to propose that ‘..every time we “lose” ourselves in something or to something, we are actually saying no to life. The body registers everything that happens and repetition of any behavior along with avoidance of what is true starts to erode our cognitive function.’ So from there we eventually check out, leaving the body to atrophy at its own pace. Given this happens over time, doesn’t it behove each one of us to put prevention in our own hands as much as we can by taking full responsibility for addressing any baby steps we’re making towards this disease and particularly for uncovering the truth behind those habitual ingrained strategies we’re deploying to dull and numb? For these are our nemeses taking root. The message is clear: make this a discipline, a practice, a commitment, a routine. Otherwise, sadly, we merely become the orchestrator of our own demise.

     1. Great point Cathy, our lack of acceptance and inability to be in life is the cause of our withdrawal and wanting to check out. It seems like a lifetime of ignoring what our body is communicating to us about the way we are in life, now comes back to the demise of the brain affecting its functioning.

        1. “at their very essence they are still love and will always be that love.” This is true of us all. We need to stop avoiding knowing and expressing from our own essnce because it’s from there that layers of behaviours are built up to disguise who we truly are anymore.

     2. Awesomely said Cathy. One thing I have learnt is we get away with NOTHING – our bodies will tell the truth eventually, whether we like it or not. I agree also in the case of dementia a great discipline is called for. I have often thought about this and been concerned about my own lack of conscious presence in all things. For how often do we all do one thing but think about another? Staying focused on what we are doing when we are doing it is essential if we are to avoid long-term checking out.

        1. So true Victoria and this feels like a big key…”When we choose to override our own feelings and use methods of numbing, we are encouraging a reality that is not true.” We are not encouraged to feel enough these days. there are so many outside distractions.

        2. That ‘we get away with NOTHING’ is a blessing Victoria, but only if we heed this truth and embrace it. I know if I walk on broken glass, I will cut my feet. Checking out and dementia must have the same correlation if I am to care for my body in a way that nurtures and supports my mind to remain aware. It’s like exercising my body really. If I don’t, eventually it will not support me. Simple and a call to greater responsibility.

     3. Absolutely Cathy. Every time we lose ourselves we are saying no to life. It makes sense that if this is an ingrained behavior it may lead to this being our only way of life, that is, dementia. This is a pretty hard realization for those of us who know people or have relatives with dementia – which going by the stats will be all of us soon – that they have chosen to check out. This is also the responsibility that we have to not check out and to actually live life.

     4. Cathy, and Samantha, I love what’s been offered here, that without that loving care and discipline in our lives we can eventually leave our bodies and we orchestrate our own demise, and I was shocked reading this article but reading your comment I realise I was avoiding the truth of it, that to be present in each and every moment is a discipline that is loving and that I need to embrace more deeply. I have been shown my irresponsibility and where it can lead and of course we don’t always want to see the inevitability of where our choices can lead. So thank you both for sharing this truth and rattling me to see that how I live matters ever and always, and that we never get away with anything and that is love.

407. Wow – I actually read the title of this post & thought, “that’s not really relevant to me”, but felt impusled to read it anyway, and boy is it relevant to me! And everyone I know for that matter. So true. What an enlightening post, some great points and reminders. Thank you

     1. Good call Anna. We are all potential dementia cases-in-waiting, given the way we live en masse – checked out and in our heads. Implementing some simple body-based techniques could go a long way to alleviating this.

        1. I agree Victoria – the beliefs and ideals keep us in the head. It’s all a game to not surrender and trust our feelings. We are all hurt we must admit it.

     2. I know what you mean Anna, it can be perceived by many that dementia is something ‘older’ people need to be concerned about or look at what causes it. But I can feel how many times a day I need to call my mind back and re-connect to my body and be present with what I am doing (a huge change compared to years ago) to understand how wayward we could become if we stayed in that dis-connection for days, weeks or years.

        1. Yes Aimee and if we start that pattern of not being present and/or staying disconnected from the truth early on in our lives, then it’s no wonder that dementia is a growing problem. We also think it’s far off when we are young, but we should not be accepting it as simply a consequence of old age. Samantha has posed some great questions to open up this debate about what is really going on.

        2. I agree Aimee, and also this “Could it be that, for some of us, we have become so far removed from our real truth that we are now lost in a lie?”. We need to look into this in all areas of our life.

        3. Yes Aimee it needs to be understood that any dis-ease or ill-ness is 20 or 30 years in the making. It’s not linked to age but the quality of how we are choosing to live.

        4. I agree Rik, as a humanity we have a tendency to be surprised and shocked when our bodies stop whispering and start yelling. But when you bring the ancient wisdom teachings of Universal Medicine to many illnesses and diseases, are we really honestly surprised? We all innately know, it’s whether or not we want to ignore it or reconnect again.

     3. Such an honest comment Anna, as how often do we switch off from issues and situations that we feel are not applicable to our lives. I too found this article so relevant as it draws our attention to our collective as well as individual responsibility to society, not to ignore these issues, but to consider more deeply how our current choices and lifestyle may in fact be leading us down a path of ill health. Truly enlightening!

     4. Me too Anna. 100% And isn’t that the exact problem?

        1. Yes Otto, we say that about most things we don’t wish to take responsibility for.

     5. Spot on Anna – this is relevant to everyone as it points to the level that we check out whether we are 15 or 50. The pattern is then built into how we live on a day to day basis.

     6. Absolutely Anna – in a society with an ever growing culture and ways to ‘check out;’ and be more disengaged with each other and life, this could not be more relevant to everyone.

        1. Absolutely Michael, we have been in denial of the real state of the problem. As we seem to be for most things unbalanced on the planet. We cannot hide our head in the sand any longer.

     7. It actually shows in the expected rise in dementia cases that we are all potential dementia cases, as the normal way of living is so checked out, as I know I so often am to. The signs are there, this gives again a reminder to listen, and get back to our body.

     8. Yes Anna, great that you highlighted this. I regularly go into care homes and it is shocking to see the number of not only the ‘not so old’ people who have Dementia, but also the number of people in general who have it. I have seen an increase just in the last 2 years and the demands this disease has on the staff that work in the homes and the family members. We all have a responsibility to not only be aware of this but also how we can actually begin to make a difference to our day to day choices and therefore our future health. A brilliant and exposing blog Samantha, thank you.

     9. Anna I had the same thing, I came to this blog with an academic interest, ‘ooh I wonder what’s going on with dementia’ but not really seeing how I play a part. And boy has it been a wake up call, this line among many stood out ‘In fact every time we eat something our bodies do not truly want, use a stimulant, or say yes when we mean no, all these choices add up.’ – it shocked me to feel and see that each time I give up in any way and numb I am on a slope that can lead to dementia, I am no different to those who have it, they’re just further along the track of it than me. Big wake up call. Thanks Samantha.

        1. I love your honest comment, Monica and I can relate to everything you wrote and especially your last sentence: “it shocked me to feel and see that each time I give up in any way and numb I am on a slope that can lead to dementia, I am no different to those who have it, they’re just further along the track of it than me.” That is so true, I could be well on my way to dementia and I am on my way to dementia with every choice I make to say NO to life and to not want to feel what is going on. What an important article Samantha wrote.

        2. Monika, you’ve honed it further thank you; every time we say NO to life and do not want to feel what is going on we are saying YES to dementia – this is so stark and I feel the absolute truth of it. It brings a real clarity to each moment and each decision we make, and is so empowering; so the real YES to life is being willing to feel all and know that no matter what the hurt that might be there we are whole and complete. You highlight something key, we say NO to life believing that we are protecting us and our hurts but actually we are NOT our hurts, and to say NO at that point is to claim to be something we are not (our hurts) – so all those NO’s are to deny who we are and protect a false self which is not true. Suddenly it makes sense that we would be on the slope towards forgetting who we are and eventually dementia, as without this stop we would be confirming ourselves as something we are not (our hurts) rather than the wholeness we always are. There is a gift in dementia after all.

     10. Great point you are making here Anna, this is exactly the reason why we have this immense increase in dementia, because we think it is not relevant to us – to look into what is causing this disease, only to discover, after reading this blog, that it is so super relevant to all of us.

     11. I agree dementia is relevant to everyone, given that we all tend to be with our thoughts somewhere else but with us in every moment.

     12. I have felt this with a couple of blogs that I have seen, that’s not relevant to me. How wrong I have been on every occasion. Making loving choices now has far reaching consequences!!

408. What a shocker! The statistics you quote Samantha revealing the rapid rise in dementia that is continuing to increase are unbelievable. We have to bring a different understanding to the real causes of dementia to be able to bring true answers to deal with it.
     “It is only through a myriad of unloving choices and a lack of presence in the body that dementia is allowed to take its toll”.

     1. Yes I agree Stephanie – it’s a major shocker. These figures are clearly exposing the state of where we are at and where we are heading as a society. We are dis-connecting from ourselves and checking out.

     2. The statistics shocked me also, not only the current volume, but how rapidly that number is on the rise (expected to double in just over 20 years). At the moment, it feels that we are at best ‘managing’ these symptoms and that this will not change if we continue the current approach no matter how much money we put towards this. It is time we begin to look at the aspect of what really causes dementia and in relation to how we are living, in order to bring a different understanding and a different approach such as Samantha has raised here.

     3. Staggering statistics indeed, Stephanie. And as Samantha wrote it is causing an unbelievably immense strain on our health care systems. We can’t cope with numbers like that. This article should be on the front paper of every newspaper and be read by each and every one.

     4. These are indeed startling statistics and if dementia is linked to unloving choices that we make, then there is no excuse for not loving ourselves completely and making love the basis of our choices and decision making.

     5. I agree Stephanie, Samantha you are an authority in this field. More can be done through your understanding, and collectively as true advocates of health the students of Universal Medicine. We are leading examples how many dis-eases and ill-nesses can be responsibly understood and appropriately looked at.

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