About Gold Mind Meditation Project
In darkness we find the light then share this light with others.
-Henry Wittenberg
I know brain injury from the inside and speak from my personal experience. I was in a serious car accident. Jaws-of-Life were required to free me from our crashed vehicle. I got a skull fracture and was in a coma for two weeks . My brain swelled instantly within my skull and when I came to I with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), amnesia, and diplopia (double-vision). In an instant I was not who I used to be. Since then I’ve lived my life with many challenges of TBI. It’s an invisible disability, not easily visible like a wheelchair or crutches. I am eager to share what I’ve learned in meditation practice and sure this can be useful for you. Science now validates this.
Brain injury is an injury to a complex organ, the brain. TBI is often misdiagnosed and thus poorly treated. In top-of-the line and expensive rehabilitation programs I was taught 'compensatory coping strategies' for the 'cognitive deficits' of my brain injury. These strategies were well intended rehab but fell seriously shorty of actually addressing my own innate well-being. The strategies were not sustainable. Brain Injury has a wide array of symptoms, different for each survivor, felt and known profoundly from within. My friend who is occupational therapist pointed out that this was the direct result of my TBI, what TBI is, and that I can take action for my own rehabilitation - doing rehab myself.
I struggled to complete my university degree and to get on with my new life. I graduated from the university and then within a few years experienced frustrating failure in successive loss of jobs. Often my mind was cloudy and I was very unsure of what I could do or be. Doing nothing would have meant repeated and recurring frustrations. With encouragement from my wife and family, I learned necessary transformation for myself.
From doing MEDITATION regularly I’ve learned to sift gold (POSSIBILITIES) from the gravel of my life experience finding meaning, value and purpose that are real.
Mindfulness meditation, what I call Gold Mind Meditation Project has the purpose of having you to awaken your relationship with brain injury and actually THRIVE: Awakening through the power of mindfulness, bringing focused attention to what you perceive each present moment. Budget time for this and Be. This is housekeeping for your mind. I am sharing what I've found in my own life experience to be a powerful healing practice that can work for you. It’s a possibility that awakens, comes to fruition and lasts.
Regular Meditation practice can enhance your life with focus, satisfaction, more clarity and authentic smiles. We can’t stop the waves of life, but you can learn to surf. Really! I have worked successfully in sales for 8 years and I now volunteer - both baking and selling at Sarah Bellum’s Nonprofit Bakery in Portland. I Love my work.
There can be light at the end of the tunnel for each survivor, family, caretakers and friends. I am choosing to live my life intentionally and more skillfully, making peace with this malady and finding the healing I need. You can too. Your Being isn’t broken.This is the start of a new path. Come learn with me. It’s time for Gold mining!
Meditation Endorsement
Had Walmer experienced a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in an auto accident in 1977. In an era before TBI was recognized for what it is he struggled with rehabilitation, relationships, jobs, and a sense of purpose. His world was turned upside down.
Ten years after his accident Had discovered insight meditation and the practice of mindfulness, sitting with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Dharma Center. He was highly motivated, and quickly discovered that he could cultivate qualities of calm and awareness that helped him in his life. He discovered greater skill at emotional regulation, and was able to handle the stresses and complexities of relationship and daily life more effectively.
I have known Had as a devoted student of mindfulness for 40 years. He became very interested in the relationship between meditation and neuroplasticity as that field emerged. He brings decades of practice and study of the Buddhist roots of mindfulness meditation to enrich his sharing of these ancient practices with the world of TBI.
With his history of TBI and his decades of practice and study of the Buddhist roots of mindfulness meditation Had is uniquely qualified to share the skills he has learned with others who have experienced similar injuries. He knows the suffering of TBI from the inside and can serve as an inspiration to others on their own healing journey.
I admire and respect Had Walmer. He is a kind and wise man who is a pioneer in the use of mindfulness meditation with TBI. I support him in pursuing the Gold Mind Project for the well-being of all those who could benefit from his teaching.
Robert Beatty
Dharma Teacher
Founder: Portland Insight Meditation Community
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