Neurosurgeon and neuromodulator (neuro-coach).
Johannesburg - Gauteng
Neurosurgeon and neuromodulator (neuro-coach).
134 articles
On the eve of Christmas 2020 it dawns that global confusion reigns supreme. Yes, there is the popular narrative that a Corona virus together with its several mutations has given rise to a global pande...
The concept of self-actualization is used pretty loosely. Coined originally by Kurt Goldstein, the concept referred to the individual becoming holistic through the realization that we comprise ‘self’...
I guess this Annus Horribilis can be characterized as the year of shock and awe! Unpredictable events began their disruption almost from the first day of 2020. Each disruptor became worse than the pre...
The ‘experts’ are in a modelling muddle. My response to this is one of empathy. You see, the ‘experts’ in medical science are for the most part entirely affiliated to the mechanistic bio-medical model...
So there was this virus that originated in Wuhan and spread around the globe. The virus differed from most other viruses in that the vast majority of those infected had either no symptoms or very mild...
As I pen this missive I am acutely aware of the global shutdown of daily life to which we have become accustomed. The consequence of this extinguishing of a significant component of interaction has be...
We have arrived at the defining moment of the evolution of mankind. Behold, Homo Panicus ! Allow me to share this special moment, the emergence of the clowning glory of our several hundred million yea...
I would suggest that leaders are not created but rather, emerge. I would qualify this statement with the contention that once a leader emerges there may be potential for enhancing the effectiveness an...
The post-dearth re-birth of mirth As the sun rose it dawned upon me. When it set, I had no recollection of its dawning. But on meeting up with Dawn a few days later, recollection burst forth. It was a...
A world bereft of virtuous leadership. A value system based upon consumerism, narcissistic gratification and fake news, supported and perpetuated by social and mass media. Inexorably the lines defined...
I have always had this passion for flight and flying. One of the highlights of my earlier days (when I was still a ravishing brunette) was to take to the skies of Africa in my Thunderbird, a small pla...
One of the most important clinical paradigm shifts in our time has been the realization that neurochemistry together with the cognitive and emotional function that it supports, does not exist in isola...
This ought to set a cat among the pigeons - my hypothesis on the integration of Relativity with neuroscience and beyond ... Bob the blob was similar to all other blobs. But like all other blobs, he wa...
From time to time I manage to get off the train of life for short periods of reflection. It became apparent that patterns were discernible in my own life. Intense engagement in the context of career a...
Is happiness a state which occurs when there’s no sadness or are happiness and sadness two primary polar opposite states of mind? I guess to unravel this one we’d have to get to grips with the states...
I recall from my old biology days that the one differentiating factor between plants and animals is that animals have the ability to move. Over the years I’ve come to respect that movement not only re...
If I were to ask you how you view yourself you would probably respond with a description which is a composite summation of all that you’ve done, how you’ve done it, where you’ve done it, with whom you...
We are, each one of us, the products of our nurture environments and the narrative which followed thereafter. I would suggest that the way each of us perceives ourselves determines how we relate to ot...
Under a November Full Moon It happened upon us, a design bereft of our choice. Thence have we trembled with foreboding of that which may overcome us and over which we may have no influence. Stabbing s...
On perusing the banter on multiple social media platforms it becomes apparent that bar some exceptions, users for the most part remain fixed in their views and ideologies. A further observation is tha...
Roxy on my left and Ruby on my right Roxy is slowly dying. We had known for a year that she has heart failure, but that's been effectively managed with medication. Three weeks ago we were alarmed by t...
The current All Black rugby team is a product of enormous individual talent together with state-of-the-art applied neuroscience. It represents in fact the most eloquent convergence of neuropsychologic...
I perceive much whinging, wining, envy, vengefulness and an unhealthy dose of disparaging judgementalism in our midst. May I humbly offer an age-old remedy – the virtues of stoicism. The philosophy of...
To my knowledge, I’m one of the very few neurosurgeons that included a short residency in neurology in my neurosurgical training. For those not familiar with the details of these two specialities, neu...
Have you ever wondered what you’d look like stripped naked? I’m not referring only to your clothing. What would you look like when stripped of your wealth, profession, possessions, your friends and ev...
I was sitting in a medical symposium this morning, bored to tears, when it suddenly occurred to me that everything is a story, a narrative . Each one of us is a unique narrative with a beginning and a...
Without minimizing or nullifying the beauty that exists in our extended environment, one nevertheless has to acknowledge that all that we perceive through our five senses is mere matter-energy artifac...
Jacob Bekenstein I expect to be lambasted for publishing this short article, but my need to see that authentic news prevails, fortifies me for the inevitable consequences of daring to go against the g...
It is accepted in neuroscience that creativity and innovation originate in the right or non-dominant hemisphere. Gradually this seed of creativity germinates and at a threshold point, the right hemisp...
It’s everywhere. It’s at the office and even in your home. It’s beamed at you every day by the media. It’s the hateful and the cruel. In its mildest form it creates unhappiness which undermines wellne...
Indeed we have needs. As living organisms we require sustenance and we require shelter. Maslow spelt that out pretty clearly. And then we have ‘wants’. Now here things get a little murkier. For while...
In celebration of another perfect day in Africa, (that is, weather-wise. We have our other problems that balance the equation!), here is a share of something posted by a certain Ray Johnson . I person...
AI will yet be relegated to a mere blip along the path of the evolution of human intelligence. It will be seen to be but a logical extension of linear technology albeit with ‘smart’ algorithms. The NB...
I suppose it’s inevitable that visits to a cemetery inspire us to pause and to reflect upon our mortality. I have found myself often reflecting upon my own life, with its trials and tribulations and a...
Musings on today’s mountain bike trail This is one of those posts that occurred totally spontaneously. It was conceived during a particularly technical mountain bike ride today when I became acutely a...
Did it ever occur to you how you made that choice of ‘A’ over ‘B’ and how you had to live with the consequences of your choice? The choice was made in the very front of your brain, the pre-frontal cor...
Are we really wiser than our forbearers of yesteryear? Have we evolved in terms of our values and ethics? Sadly I believe not. We have indeed quantified more of our environment and we’ve advanced in t...
‘Common sense is not that common after all’ as the saying goes. And that’s all good and well when consequences arise in the course of daily life – we deal with it somehow. But when it occurs in the fu...
They’re everywhere. Shake the tree and a dozen or so will fall out. Everyone’s a neuroscientist! But let’s not get too pre-occupied with their credentials. I have afterall dealt with this in some deta...
Some of us are driven to pushing the envelop either out of curiosity or out of the need to live on the edge, or both. I suspect that I would fall into the subgroup of ADHD’s characterized by the need...
Evolution is not promoted by the warm fuzzies of dripping oxytocin. Evolution is spurred by crisis, challenge and perturbation. Single-minded aggression has been the hallmark of many individuals in hi...
Fundamental to the concept of leadership is accountability . At this time wherein we find ourselves, accountability has extended way beyond simple success or failure. Accountability now includes in ad...
Sorry to pop your bubble but there’s no justice in the world. Never has been and never will be. You see, the most important determinants that went into making who you are and what you do were made wit...
It is a frequently used term, highly emotionally charged and yet what does it actually mean? He or she has no self-respect . Here follows my attempt at making sense of it. To respect is to accept what...
Greetings from Cayeli - the north eastern corner of Turkey, adjacent to the Georgian border, on the shores of the Black Sea. Arguably the most remote venue at which I have ever facilitated a corporate...
Somewhere in the depths of my sleep I heard a noise. The noise was persistent. Slowly I emerged from a deep slumber and identified the noise as my ringing mobile phone. Then further time lapsed until...
It started off as one of those perfect winter’s days in Africa. Following the early morning chill, it was warming up under a glorious blue sky. I picked up my ride to the airport. The traffic was unus...
There is a space, an unpleasant space into which increasing numbers of our fellow humans are falling. New existential challenges are sucking unsuspecting folk into the void of fear, anxiety, stagnatio...
Conscious Companies Leadership initiative - the dialogue has begun. Watch this space ... https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury/20170710/282342564876497 "
He consulted me for the first time when he was nineteen years of age. I remember that first consultation very clearly. Jack attended with his mom. His dad had abandoned them when Jack was very young....
I can truly say that this buzz was inspired by the many fine writers on beBee. But the theme of this buzz was particularly inspired by the likes of Gert Scholtz , Jim Murray and Jim Murray whose artic...
Coaches and therapists of multiple descriptions are popping up all over the place like mushrooms in the dark! Life coaches, executive life coaches, coaching neuroscientists, energizers, shamans – the...
We are all products of our nature-nurture heritage which evolves into our personal life narrative and indeed, into our unique subjectivity. Invariably we will perceive ourselves and the extended envir...
I found this old interview which on perusing, represents my views most accurately. I believe that the authenticity of my articulation of the subject matter at the time was a direct response to the ins...
This article was written by my son Jesse and posted on FB a short while ago. I was deeply touched by both the contents of this post as well as by my my son's initiative to share this in the public dom...
What was alluded to in light discussion as recently as eighteen months ago has become harsh reality. AI and robotics have come of age and predictions are that somewhere between 25% and 40% of the corp...
From the moment that we roll out into this big bad world, we receive instruction. First it is from our mothers or primary care givers. Then follows formal teaching through the schooling years. Some of...
After watching a very thought provoking movie, ‘The death and life of Otto Bloom’, I found the need to clarify ‘time’ and related influences insofar as our individual lives are concerned as well as th...
It began like any other weekday. The usual rush hour, people, cars and the noises of a populated city. But this was to be like no other day. For a process had been unleashed which was to have a devast...
Reluctantly I have to confess this problem to the beBee community. I’ve thought long and hard about this and realize that I have to get it off my chest. It concerns all of you – everyone of you with w...
I happened upon an article which featured 10 award-winning women of science. The tenth on the list was the famous and beautiful Hollywood star, Hedy Lamarr . Somewhat intrigued, I began researching th...
I’m sitting here in my consulting suite watching the water pouring out of the basins and beginning to flood the floor. When it first began, which was about half an hour ago, I had sprinted to the main...
Along the Eastern Escarpment of South Africa there is a mountain range which is called the Drakensberg. The Drakensberg is acknowledged by the hiking and mountaineering fraternity as offering a select...
For several years now I’ve been involved in one way or another, with discussions and/or debates relating to the issue of Evolution versus Creationism. I had found myself moving away from traditional D...
It was the last consultation of a long and tedious day. Shawn presented with chronic headaches. In taking the history, I enquired how long the headaches had been present. Shawn indicated that they had...
Finally, the book! Each of us is reflected in all that we think and do - 'all is in the doing'. The original compilation has now evolved into a personal narrative. It reflects the length and breadth o...
The fundamental unit of the central nervous system is the reflex arc. This consists of a sensory feed, the sensory neuron (the afferent), an interposed connecting neuron (the interneuron) and the moto...
A true story. Not for the faint-hearted! I’m sitting here alone in my consulting suite. My back is aching as well as my hands, after a grueling ten hour surgical list. On my screen is the MRI scan of...
It became apparent in my readings of Einstein over many years that he recognized that physicists and other scientists needed to be philosophers first and foremost. Philosophy created the passion for s...
This buzz is a composite of three of my previous articles (referenced at the end). I have been inspired to upload this buzz by the important articles and comments contributed by Milos Djukic , Sara Ja...
All you ever needed to know about life coaching! Tina was a tuning fork who was created as a ‘ Middle C ’ resonator. That meant that when Tina was stimulated, she beamed out a sound or frequency repre...
I've been trying to communicate this in several buzzes but not sure if I ever got the message across. Anyway here is someone who really nailed it and says it like it should! "
In this day and age of instantaneous connections and a rapidly changing landscape, the lines of familiar frames of reference blur frequently and comprehensively. And so thoughts turn to our potential...
James makes hats. He’s a hatter. James also sells his hats in an open market. At the market, most people merely pass his stall without much interest. From time to time however people stop to view the...
This article has been inspired by David Grinberg, who asked the question. Technology has permeated every corner of our world. The product of our collective intellect now comes full circle – the interf...
This buzz represents an eclectic mosaic of several of my previous articles. I have been inspired to reproduce this piece as a result of the insightful and thought-provoking articles and comments by th...
This is the story of Gus. Gus like all of us was once a dependent infant. He required feeds, security and love. Unfortunately there were times when Gus’s needs weren’t promptly met. With the dropping...
This article was written by Steve de Witt who served as an infantryman in the South African border war. At the time, I was a medical officer at a forward base in support of our troops in the field. Th...
Excerpt from The Quantum Bible - Ian Weinberg, 2003 http://www.pninet.com/articles/TheQuantumBible.pdf “.... 7 Thence did the age of the Great Illusion begin, for the manifest form would for the great...
In the Beginning Once, so we are told, our ancestral parents were African living in Southern Africa. It was a time of plenty where the land gave generously of itself. And so our grandparents and paren...
I happened upon this article again and came to the realization that the comments are more important than the buzz. So again I share it with you but emphasize the need to read the comments of our profo...
Connie presented to me in 1998 with a hopeless medical diagnosis of several brain and lung tumors, metastatic melanoma’s. She had by all accounts only a six to eight week prognosis. I managed to remov...
At the Buddhist Retreat Centre - Ixopo, South Africa. A World Heritage Site. Voted as being in the top ten Buddhist Retreat Centres in the world by CNN. http://www.brcixopo.co.za https://vimeo.com/125...
This article has been updated with the insertion of instructional video clips. This may enhance the value of the subject specifically as regards psychotherapists, coaches and those interested in the c...
Life is the realization of our unique art form. It is the aspiration, the drive and the doing which release the juices of gratification and vitality. And it is the achievement which unleashes the next...
I had the opportunity to visit my family in Australia recently. The highlight of my trip was in fact connecting again with my eight-month old Aussie granddaughter. And yes I also climbed trees with Ka...
Voted the funniest joke by several million people: "A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes have rolled b...
Oscar Pistorius is the famous or more lately, infamous blade-runner who featured in the Olympics sprinting on blades which replaced his amputated feet. Pistorius was indicted for the murder of his par...
I decided to attend a Buddhist Retreat some years ago which focused on meditation techniques. Now I have a problem with meditation. I have difficulty quietening my mind. Meditating is a great challeng...
This article has been edited and updated Something of great significance occurred in January 2017. I’m referring to the declassification of CIA documents. Among the documents declassified were those r...
It was a crazy time. One of those brief pauses in the path of life occurring between the end of one formal chapter and the beginning of the next. I had completed my internship and was soon to commence...
He stood there alone. All around him lay destruction. Still smouldering was the skeletal remains of his homestead. There was an eerie silence apart from the occasional breeze and the rustling of some...
It was a crazy time. One of those brief pauses in the path of life occurring between the end of one formal chapter and the beginning of the next. I had completed my internship and was soon to commence...
Many people are writing a great deal about much. Unfortunately if the motivation for all this writing is self-interest, then the writing about a great deal amounts to very little. We are being buried...
Jake felt great. It was a perfect Monday morning in early spring. A deep blue sky formed a canopy over the awakening life all around him. With great contentment and a generous helping of gratitude Jak...
They’re everywhere. At the office and at the club, in all the media and even at your place of worship – the relentless pitch of the ‘experts’! Economists, coaches, wellness therapists and the like, en...
With so many well known and lesser known individuals dying, I thought it appropriate to share the subject of ‘death’ with you living folk. ‘Living’ is a relative concept incorporating the full spectru...
In a mountainous region in South Africa, in the province of Natal, there exists an acre of paradise. Perched upon a raised plain, it beholds the rolling hills descending into the valley below. This pl...
It is said that the Buddhist sages were able to evaluate prospective new recruits to monkhood by the way in which they swept the courtyards of the monastery. Indeed, everything that we say and do reve...
