“Still Alice” is a moving and beautifully acted (by Julianne Moore and Kristen Stuart) film and it keeps reverberating around my brainpan. It reminded me of my old grannie who in her 90s seemed to live almost totally in the Now. Fortunately, Gram had the care she seemed to need and want, and a pretty good end. “Still Alice” also calls to mind other fine films about the individual and familial terrors and travails, breakthroughs and breakdowns of Alzheimer’s Disease, like “Leaving Iris”, “A Separation”, and “Away from Her”. Anyone interested in this all too ubiquitous human condition would do well to ponder these artful and informative stories, as well as consider what possible prophylactic measures and medications, or alternative modalities and supplements, might help relieve the onset of memory-loss and associated symptomology.
May I dare to wonder if learning to live entirely in the moment, in a mind-full and centered, focused way, could help people approaching such challenging end–of-lucidity conditions? This is something I think I’m going to look into, from the attention-training and mental-cultivation, mental health and wellness point of view. I have found that what we call in (Tibetan) nowness-awareness is the ultimate form of therapy, freeing me from past and future conditioning and self-stories, somewhat similar to memory-loss but more akin to egolessness and transparent openness and inner luminosity. Whether this would be a bane, curse, both, or neither—only time and Knowledge can tell.
