At our last Diabetes Sisters meeting on May 10th in Princeton, NJ, we played the "Common Tests and Procedures Game."  It always amazes me how complicated diabetes management can be and as we compared our knowledge about tests for A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, dental, eye, foot and kidney function I observed the mood in the room.  Some of our group members looked visibly upset and it opened up a  discussion of being overwhelmed by the tasks of managing our health.

This post by Robin Wright, DiabetesSisters blogger and PODS Leader, was originally posted on Diabetes - What to Know in March 2017.

I was reading the Wall Street Journal and discovered the following report published on 2/26/17, "When Patients Share Stories, Health Insights Emerge."  What researcher's found was that "people are willing to discuss things very frankly when they are in a roomful of people who share their experiences" and " the goal is to understand the unspoken challenges that effect a patient's ability to get and stay healthy."

 The connection between our heads and hearts has always been the subject of poetry, philosophy and inspirational thinking. Here are the Dalai Lama's thoughts on the subject, "This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."

In living with Type 2 Diabetes we need to pursue self compassion, from the heart, and knowledge, from the head to guide our self management.