personal development
Becoming a better person can be a gradual process of discovery and growth over many years. Or it can be a hell-bent drive to climb out of a black hole where a crash and burn is always at hand and failure is never an option .
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The final days of the Rosedales
Moving beyond his robotic behavior, Brad meets the final challenge of fully accepting his humanity. He decides that because he has reached a contented state the mission has been accomplished. He believes from his studies that he could pass on to a higher plane of existence, one with more evolved spiritual evolution. A terrible tragedy takes place – Elly dies in a plane crash returning from Japan. Brad is lost, but makes a final effort to spend his remaining years in service to the good of others. He donates the Elly’s life insurance check to a charity for poor children, and takes a volunteer job doing medical exams in homeless…
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The man who’s wife called him a robot
Elly watched Brad head for his upstairs office for the second time one Saturday. First after breakfast, now after lunch. “You’re a robot,” she called out, as she cleared the dishes from their lovely lunch of whole-grain pasta stewed with fresh-cut vegetables and a side of steamed brown rice. She worked hard to keep him healthy, and she deserved a little attention. Not today. Butt back in his chair, he refreshed the computer screen and continued entering data for the third medical report of the day. Pushing sixty, preparing for retirement, he thought of Mo dying alone in his beat-up trailer, or Natalie waiting for the next government so she…
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Oman decides to challenge Brad (Numan) on Earth
The natives on the big blue planet, mostly Elders, would check in on their members who were foolhardy enough to go on a human mission. When they saw that Numan as Brad Rosedale, had succeeded in becoming a doctor, it was big news at The Gathering. Oman was especially intrigued and projected an energetic thought ball, “I’m going to be born on Earth and challenge Numan in his mission.” Everyone in the group was intensely amused, even the Elders paused and let sparks of laughter-energy ripple through their bodies. There was some discussion, and two Elders immediately offered to collaborate. They didn’t need to run Oman through the preparation protocol…
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Enlightenment and the Dark Night of the Soul
Elly’s support for Brad was unconditional, even after he turned the temple trip into a competitive sport. The monks had beaten him at every form of spiritual practice, which made him bitter. “They played me,” he said, as they prepared for the 10 hour flight back to California. “They set me up for the hardest practices, and then laughed at me when I failed.” “Honey, nobody was trying to win anything. And they weren’t laughing at you. They are actually happy! You should try it. How can you expect to beat monks who practice every day for years? They didn’t go to medical school, you wouldn’t expect them to come…
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Throwing oneself to God
The monks were in constant motion, chanting scriptures, maintaining the temple grounds, and doing Gyo. The Master did not believe in being idle. He would explain that Gyo was the practice of “throwing oneself to God,” and would purify the spirit. Eventually it would bring Enlightenment which was the goal of all monks. When foreigners came, they mostly did basic forms of Gyo, like walking around the temple grounds lighting candles, or sitting in the hall chanting for world peace. The more energetic ones might do the Hyaku Gyo, walking back and forth between two engraved marble posts 100 times, while chanting blessings, which took about 2 hours. Brad had…
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Wanderers to a Buddhist Temple
The naked monk, holding nothing but a plastic bucket, stepped into the small pool at the foot of the little waterfall. Brad could hear him gasp as the shock of the icy water went through his body. Following the path of the flashlight held by another monk, he waded in and sat down, the water up to chest level. Then he began chanting the Heart Sutra. “Kan ji zai bo sa gyo- jin han-nya ha ra mi ta ji…” As he chanted, he pulled the bucket through the freezing water and splashed it onto his face and chest, again and again. his voice tremulous, shouting as if to fight off…
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adverse childhood experience, business corruption, doctor work, human psychology, personal development
After healing the inner child, something is missing
Dr. Sherman peered across his big oak desk at Brad, and then at Hannah. A wizened old man in thick spectacles, he had seen every misfortune that could fall on a human life, and the consequences. After a thorough evaluation backed by 40 years of psychiatric practice, he had only three words. “Go to sleep,” said Dr. Sherman. His tone was gentle but firm. “Go to sleep? What the hell does that mean?” says Hannah. “I brought you this poor doctor who has been bamboozled and cheated by everybody and their damn mother, and all you can say is go to sleep?” Her sharp voice cracked like a whip, causing…
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The nurse who tried to heal a doctor
Hannah was an impetuous surgical nurse with violet eyes and thick black hair, who could pass as a 35 year-old Elizabeth Taylor. Brad had met her the previous year when she assisted him on one of his surgeries. She was so good that he always requested her as his assistant. He would never know that she always requested to work with him, too. They had gotten along so well that he had shared his misfortunes about Dr. Black ,and even his bankruptcy. “How are things at the office these days, doc?” Hannah said. She loaded a suture and handed him the instrument so he could begin closing the skin after…
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Predators in private practice
Five years at Cook County Hospital transformed Dr. Brad Rosedale into an experienced trauma surgeon who wouldn’t flinch at the sight of the worst carnage. No matter how much blood, how many broken bones, or how bad was the mangled extremity, each body part was a challenge that he could fix and usually restore to proper function. The Uzi machine gun victims, suicide jumpers, and nerve and artery repairs from sword slashes, no longer made him anxious, wondering “how the hell are we going to fix this.” Now, it was just another day or night on the job. Chicago was a glittering city of polar opposites, an incongruous melting pot…
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You want to be a doctor? Hahaha
“You don’t really mean that. You don’t really want to be a doctor.” Natalie looked at him with one eye closed and blew a cloud of smoke at him. She knew he hated that. Then, she laughed. “I mean it, Mom. I made straight As my first year of college, and my undergraduate advisor suggested it. She got me thinking – what better way is there to help people and also be successful? Even help our family.” Brad ignored the foul odor of the cheap cigarettes. Talking about helping the family however, that rang hollow in his ears. But, he had to give her a little credit. She wasn’t a…