A Different Path Seminars

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

2011-12-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

The human animal is a highly complex organism that lives in an equally, if not more, complex environment filled with a infinite number of stresses and messes, most of which are created by man himself. In a serious attempt to understand the complexities of human behavior and mental processes, we have developed the serious science called psychology. It is obvious to me that life is much too serious to be taken soooo seriously. Therefore, I intend to take a serious look at laughter and how it fits into the scheme of adjustment, relationships, and mental health before I get seriously ill.
According to Webster's New World Dictionary to laugh is "to make the explosive sounds of the voice and the characteristic movements of the features and body, that express mirth, amusement, ridicule, etc." While this definition is suggestive of the average belly laugh, it also correctly suggests, by the use of "etc.", that people laugh for all kinds of reasons, employing a wide variety of types of humor from simple expressions of joy to sarcasm that thinly veils fear and hostility. My intention is to explore not only the various types of humor at our disposal, but also the ways we can use humor in our lives to adjust to adversity and promote our own mental, emotional, and physical health.

All of the research I have done to date on the subject of humor, laughter, frivolity, levity, etc., supports my own theory that laughter is good for you which, as authors John-Roger and Peter McWilliams point out in their most recent book, Life 101, may be unfortunate. "If laughter were only forbidden, then people would do it all the time. The rebel yell would be replaced by the rebel yuck. They'd have laugh police. If they caught you laughing, they'd write you a ticket. Stand-up comics would become stand-up convicts. Sitcoms would be sitcons. Children's programming would have to be watched very carefully. We wouldn't want anyone pushing humor on young, innocent minds. 'What are you kids doing in there?' 'We're drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.' 'That's OK, but no laughing.'"{2}

But, seriously, folks... While there is a lack of solid scientific research into humor therapy, there is considerable case-study and testimonial evidence to support prescribing humor as an adjunct to the more specific forms of therapy, such as diet, medication, and surgery in treating physical illness. Perhaps one of the most published and discussed cases of healing with laughter is that of Norman Cousins. In his book Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived by the Patient, Mr. Cousins describes how he took it upon himself to use humor therapy in conjunction with medical treatment to treat a rare collagen disease from which his doctors had given him little hope of recovery. He developed a systematic program of viewing "Candid Camera" and old Marx Brothers films and reading humorous books. The results he reported were, "that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep."{3} The only side-effect from this approach was that it sometimes disturbed the other patients.

Laughter as a means of pain control can be attributed to several things. It reduces muscle tension, distracts attention from the pain, has a positive effect on a person's attitude and can actually stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. In addition, laughter stimulates the cardiovascular system thereby increasing oxygenation of the blood which further promotes healing.

"Norman Cousins calls laughter a form of internal jogging. In responding to the initial phase of a typical joke, comedy routine or story, muscle tension increases in anticipation of the climax of the story or punchline. Immediately following the story climax, the thorax (chest), abdomen and face get a vigorous workout. In convulsive laughter, where the individual really breaks up, even the legs and arms are involved. During this phase, heart rate, breathing and circulation are speeded up. When the spasm of laughter subsides, the pulse rate drops below normal and the skeletal muscles become deeply relaxed. During the laughter response, the body is revitalized by what sometimes is called internal massage."{4}

Beyond the physiological effects of laughter, a good sense of humor is essential for dealing with all the negative stress and anxiety-producing hassles and obstacles involved in living life on planet earth. The Martian character in Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel Stranger In A Strange Land, perhaps states this best in his efforts to understand human behavior. "I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts... because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting." He goes on to observe, "The goodness is in the laughing. I grok (Martian for comprehend) it is a bravery...and a sharing...against pain and sorrow and defeat."{5}

In the face the twentieth century accelerated pace of life, extreme job competition, a sharp rise in the crime rate, phenomenal societal use of drugs and alcohol, and a plethora of self–help books on supermarket shelves, it is difficult to devalue a good sense of humor (unlike the US dollar). Our society has become the living theater of the absurd. Our choices would appear to lie between total despair and laughter.
Humor is the sense of the absurd
which is despair refusing to take itself seriously.
— Arland Ussher —
In the treatment of moderate depression, as in the treatment of physical illness, humor can be a powerful tool. According to Dr. Laurence J. Peter, "The lack of humor and laughter in an individual who normally displays a sense of humor is an indicator of depression. Playfulness and depression are incompatible states of mind. Because playfulness is a prerequisite for humor, the amount of laughter and joking shown by an individual is a good day-by-day picture of his / her progress into or out of depression."{6} Dr. Peter goes on to point out that humor has the power to reduce tensions, as discussed earlier. It can also provide an outlet for otherwise unacceptable feelings, put an individual in a frame of mind conducive to constructive communication with others, often on sensitive matters. And humor can often lead to insight into causes of conflict and emotional disturbance, whatever that cause might be, such as job loss, death of a loved one, divorce or separation, etc.

It might be appropriate at this time to insert a note of caution regarding the use of humor, for there are times when humor can be inappropriate and counter-productive. Humans seem to have a great capacity for turning any tool into a weapon. The same holds true in the use of humor. When we laugh at new ideas we can retard progress, be it in trying to solve the problems of daily living or problems in business. While healthy humor can relive tension and restore perspective, there are sick forms of humor, such as "put-down" comments and insult jokes that can be painful to the point of devastation for the one who is the brunt of this so-called humor. In fact, what is often passed off as a joke or teasing is in reality thinly veiled hostility on the part of the "joker". Certainly a jocular put-down is better than a direct verbal attack or overt violence, but it has been my experience that any form of hurting others has a nasty boomerang effect. An eye-for-an-eye approach to life produces a lot of blind people. We would do well to be vigilant self-monitors of the times our wry cynicism becomes hurtful sarcasm. It is a very narrow path.

In the arena of business management humor has been found to be a powerful tool if it is not used to block new ideas, as mentioned earlier. Often a hot debate in a board meeting can be cooled by a well-timed anecdote, setting the atmosphere for win-win solutions to problems that affect the direction and success of an entire company.

Many companies are beginning to see the wisdom in fostering a certain amount of measured fun in the workplace to boost loyalty, enthusiasm, and productivity in the employees. These tactics can range from familiar activities like company picnics, Christmas parties, athletic events, and casual dress days to the more outlandish "costume" days. A company in Redmond, Washington, that makes heart monitors and defibrillators lightened up their dull workplace by having an employee dress up like a clown and pedal a tricycle towing a little red wagon that carried a siren and a banner announcing production of $500,000 worth of goods everytime they reached this mark in production. While this created a temporary disruption of work, sometimes as often as three times a day, overall production soared.{7}

It is apparent to me that arguments for the uses and value of humor could fill volumes. I would like to conclude with some of my own personal observations. If I had even a penny for the times I have been able to laugh in the face of conflict, adversity, and pain I would be extremely wealthy in monetary terms. As it is, no amount of money can match the treasure I possess in my ability to laugh. I might add that while laughter can ease physical and emotional pain, laughing is just plain fun and brings great joy to my life. I have often been accused of being a very silly person. To that I say, "Thank you! And thank God, or whoever gave me such a precious gift." I try to never leave home without it. The beauty of humor is that if it is lost or misplaced, it can be created in the time it takes to smile. So " don't worry—be happy ! "
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Footnotes
1. Reader's Digest. — Blatantly stolen title.
2. John-Roger and Peter McWilliams. Life 101 p. 335.
3. Norman Cousins. Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived by the Patient p. 39.
4. Dr. Laurence J. Peter. The Laughter Prescription p. 7.
5. Robert A. Heinlein. Stranger In A Strange Land pp. 299 – 300.
6. Dr. Laurence J. Peter. The Laughter Prescription p. 71.
7. Charles A. Jaffe. Management By Fun, Nation's Business, Jan. 1990.
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Rats Tickled with new Rodent Laughter Research
Winona Daily News — Monday, May 4, 1998
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Associated Press
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Rats just want to have fun. The fact that rats can laugh, and do, is nothing new to scientists, but a researcher at Bowling Green State University found that the rodents most people consider filthy pests are also playful and love to be ticlded.
"About a year ago, I literally came into the lab one morning and said, 'Let's go tickle some rats,"' said Jaak Panksepp, a psychobiologist. "As soon as we did it, it was 'Eureka!' This vocalization came on right away, and more intense than before. And the data have literally been flowing ever since."
A graduate student came up with the idea of recording the giggling rats by using "bat detectors," sophisticated instruments that register high-pitched sounds humans cannot hear.
"Lo and behold ... it sounded like a playground," Panksepp said, adding that keeping rats laughing isn't difficult.
"It's quite easy. They're small, of course, but it's really no different than running your fingers as if you're tickling a child," he said. "You get the most laughter at the nape of the neck, where they direct each other's play behavior."
Rats register their gratitude with little nips.
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It Wasn't Funny, but Test Had Patient Laughing
Star Tribune – Wednesday, March 18, 1998
Health Notebook
by Gordon Slovut
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New York Times
Life, it seems, imitates humor as well as art.
Back in the 1930s, humorist Robert Benchley, who poked fun at scientists and academics who took themselves too seriously, wrote a mock analysis, "Why We Laugh – Or Do We?"
In a footnote, he wrote "Schwanzleben, in his work 'Humor After Death,' hits on this point indirectly when he says, 'All laughter is a muscular rigidity spasmodically relieved by involuntary twitching. It can be induced by the application of electricity as well as by a socalled joke.' "
Little did Benchley know that someday the imaginary Schwanzleben would turn out to be very nearly right.
In a recent article in the journal Nature, Dr. Itzhak Fried and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote that stand-up comics, sitcom script writers and even amateur jokesmiths must now confront the fact that scientists can make people laugh – and even invent a plausible reason for laughing - merely by delivering a tiny electrical shock to the right spot of the brain.
While searching for the possible causes of a 16-year-old girl's epileptic seizures, the UCIA team found that an electrode touching a tiny patch of brain in the "supplementary motor area" of her left front lobe made her laugh.
There was nothing forced or artificial about it. Amazingly, the girl said she perceived genuine humor in her mundane surroundings. At one point she told the researchers, "You guys are just so funny standing around." Her reaction, they wrote, "suggests a close link between the motor, affective and cognitive components of laughter."
The UCLA team also discovered that "the duration and intensity of laughter increased with the level of stimulation current," they reported. "At low currents, only a smile was present, while at higher currents a robust contagious laughter was induced."
— Questions, comments? Call Star Tribune medical writer Gordon Slovut at 673–9083. Please leave your name and phone number.
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Entrepreneur Discovers Humor Helps with Cancer
Star Tribune – Sunday, April 12,1998
Small Business
by Dick Youngblood
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There were a couple of portentous events that triggered Chris Clifford's extraordinary response to her bout with breast cancer three years ago.
One was the clinical depression that had gripped her mother, who died of cancer at age 42.
"When she was diagnosed, she withdrew to her bedroom and never came out again" in the three years before she died, said Clifford, 44. For her and her three siblings, "it was depressing beyond comprehension."
And it left Clifford, following her own cancer diagnosis in December 1994, determined to "celebrate life for as long as it lasts" with her husband, John, and sons, Tim and Brooks.
The other event occurred shortly before she was to begin cancer treatments, when several friends came up with the inspired notion of throwing her a "chemotherapy shower."
"For a while everyone was ill at ease, not knowing what to say or how to act," said Clifford, who at the time was recovering from what appears to have been a successful lumpectomy. Then someone offered her a cigarette, and her response not only broke the party ice, but inspired a thriving cottage industry.
"Gee, no thanks, I already have cancer," she said to an explosion of laughter.
That's when it hit Clifford, a workaholic senior executive of a large marketing firm, that "there has to be a market out there for products that offer humor and support" to cancer victims and their loved ones.
The Cancer Club
Although it took several months of planning to get things going, that party was the birth of The Cancer Club, a home-based Edina business that offers victims of cancer a variety of what Clifford calls "humorous and helpful products."
There's a video that tells women what to expect following surgery and outlines an exercise regimen that helps them regain normal use of their arms.
There are soft-cover books that tell the story of Clifford's illness in prose and in cartoons depicting humorous moments during her battle with cancer.
And there are audio tapes of the motivational speeches she's been giving around the country, plus a newsletter with 5,000 subscribers and a computer program that helps people find laughter in their own lives.
Throw in some gold "Attitude" pins sold in pop-up jewelry boxes designed to look like hats, include some T-shirts and coffee mugs bearing the "Cancer Club" name and its logo of a bald-headed woman, and you've got a business that generated revenues of more than $165,000 in 1997.
More surprising, that revenue level was reached despite the fact that Clifford continued working full time as a senior officer of Spar Marketing Services in Bloomington until July.
Compared with her career at Spar, a company that provides in-store support services to the packaged goods industry that might look like pretty small spuds. After all, just before her cancer was diagnosed, Clifford had signed Procter & Gamble to a $21 million contract.
Business of humor
But she figures The Cancer Club still has a ways to go: "I really think therapeutic humor can be a very big business, " Clifford said.
She might be right. Her first book, "Not Now ... I'm Having a No Hair Day," has sold 30,000 copies in bookstores and to hospitals and clinics since it was published in mid–1996.
The book, which chronicles her illness and recovery is decorated with 60 cartoons drawn by illustrator Jack Lindstrom, who produces the syndicated "Executive Suite" strip. All the drawings are based on actual events — including the cigarette yarn cited above — and they can leave you wondering whether to laugh or cry.
There's son Tim, then 11 years old, asking: "Mom, when can I stop worrying?"
And his brother, Brooks, then 8, greeting the delivery man at the door and shouting out, "Mom ... more flowers for your breast."
And the relative who explodes in indignation: "You're writing a humorous book about cancer? You're sick!"
There are some unexpected triumphs as well: Consider, for example, the traffic cop who stopped to give her a ticket and wound up giving her an escort after she explained, "Look, I've just finished chemotherapy and I was speeding home to get sick."
Late last year, Clifford published another cartoon book, this one for children, entitled "Our Family Has Cancer Too." That one has sold about 3,000 copies, mostly to support groups, hospitals and clinics.
Despite the comparatively brisk book sales, however, the largest part of the business so far has been the exercise videos. Some 20,000 have been sold to pharmaceuticals giant Schering-Plough Corp., to be distributed with a drug used treat breast-cancer patients.
But that could change. A favorable review of her audio tapes in the January issue of the Library Journal has generated 10 to 15 orders a day at prices ranging from $9.95 to $12.95.
And interest is growing in a new computer program, called SMILE, which allows a user to fill out a questionnaire designed to assess one's sense of humor, then offers a "laughter prescription" that includes recommendations, for books, movies and activities that might lighten the mood.
More important, having freed herself of full-time employment outside her business, Clifford already has booked 40 speaking engagements that promise to generate nearly $120,000 in 1998 revenues, compared with 20 engagements that brought in about $52,000 in all of 1997.
The upshot: The Cancer Club's revenues in the first quarter of '98 were up 27 percent from the fourth quarter, to more than $50,000. If she can maintain that growth rate — and she figures she can, given the jump in speaking engagements — then revenues this year would top $210,000.
Whatever the total, Clifford figures she's made enough to start giving something back: Since starting The Cancer Club, she's contributed about $20,000 to nonprofit, cancer-related causes. And this fall she's sponsoring the Christine Clifford Celebrity Golf Invitational at the Minikahda Country Club to benefit the Cancer Society.
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Mental Attitude and Self Image
By Gus J. Prosch, Jr., M.D.

With a good positive mental attitude, you will ...
Look Better, Feel Better, and Heal Better.

Our libraries are full of all types of books that will help you develop a better positive mental attitude. God tells us, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7. I have rephrased this proverb to make it a little easier to us to understand: "We become what we think about." Because of this, we need to try to force ourselves to think good positive, goal-oriented thoughts at all times. By doing this, because we truly become what we think about, we will soon find ourselves actually becoming whatever these thoughts are that we have been forcing ourselves to continually think about. You may want to get my tape recording entitled, Remove the Fat Between Your Ears, which will give some real detailed instructions on how you can get some real direction in your life. I have explained in this recording a simple technique that will force you to think positive about everything you do. I have seen this technique actually change people's lives around 100%, and it has done so for me on several occasions.
The truth is that every circumstance of your life can be looked upon from a positive or negative viewpoint — it's entirely up to you. Dr. Robert Schuller gave an excellent example of this in the following story. He said:
"One of my favorite stories is the classic story of the Chinese who had one horse and one son. One day his horse broke out of the corral and fled to the freedom of the hills. The neighbors came around that night and chattered. "Your horse got out? What bad luck!"
"Why?" the old Chinese said. "How do you know it's bad luck?" Sure enough, the next night the horse came back to his familiar corral for his usual feeding and watering, leading twelve wild stallions with him. The farmer's son saw the 13 horses in the corral, slipped out and locked the gate. Suddenly, he had 13 horses instead of none.
"The neighbors heard the good news and came chattering to the farmer. "Oh, you have 13 horses. What good luck!"
"The old Chinese answered, "How do you know that's good luck?" Some days later, his strong young son was trying to break one of the wild stallions, only to be thrown off and his leg broken. The neighbors came back that night and passed another hasty judgment. "Your son broke his leg? What bad luck". "And the wise farmer answered again, "How do you know it's bad luck?'
"Sure enough, a few days later, a 'Chinese War Lord' came through town and conscripted every able–bodied young man, taking them off to war, never to return again. But the young man was saved because of his broken leg. Only God knows what's good for us and what's bad for us."
Another important factor is for you to try to always feel good about yourself and have a positive self-image. Do you have basically positive feelings or basically negative feelings about the person you see in the mirror? Do you love yourself or hate yourself? King Solomon put it this way: "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22). Without a positive self-image, you will not properly digest and assimilate your food or the nutrients in your food. If this happens, the foods can become toxic within your intestine and a negative self-image, as well as other emotional and spiritual stresses interferes with our digestive system from functioning property. Some researchers are convinced that the colon (large intestine) is a manifester of the emotions. So much so that a wise doctor in Philadelphia some years ago remarked that "the colon is the mirror of the mind and when the mind gets tight, the colon gets tight." On the other hand, positive feelings toward yourself relaxes the intestines, stimulating the proper functioning which will give you the best possible digestion and nutrition.
It is also believed by most authorities that when you have relationships that are not good with other people, they usually result from a negative self-image. If we don't get along with ourselves, we tend not to get along with others. Other people tend to react to the negative image that we project. Negative relationships affect our bodies just like a negative self-image. For these reasons, we should all strive to develop a good positive mental attitude at all times and to keep a good self image concerning ourselves. I've seen so many people who live their lives according to what other people may think about them. Frankly, this is a rather stupid attitude, because when the real facts are known, most of the people you meet do not care that much about you or what you are or what you think unless it affects their own pocketbook. The important thing is to be genuinly yourself, and we all know what we really are inside because we cannot fool ourselves. So don't live your life according to what you think people may think about you, but live your life in truth and be genuine to yourself then, you will always maintain a good positive self-image about yourself.
Stress and Stress Management
Many human illnesses are directly related to stress, isolation, emotions, pressures from society and the negative effects of the social, political and industrial choices we are required to make each day. Stress therefore affects us physically, mentally, emotionally, and influences all our behaviors. Stress may be defined as a demand for adaptation. It has been shown, however, that we humans respond to demands not as they actually are, but as we perceive them to be. A stress may be real or imagined.
There are many types of stress we constantly face. These stress factors may be physical (exposure to the extremes of temperature, injuries, or accidents), chemical (exposure to pollutants, allergens, poisons, toxins, and drugs), microbiological (germs, bacteria, viruses, fungus, and other microorganisms), psychological or extreme emotional states (fear, anger, sadness, or a sense of loss), mental functioning (suppression or repression), as well as inborn drives to hurry, to succeed, to compete, as well as sociocultural (work pressures, crime, IRS, regulations, financial crisis and peer and parental pressure). Stress affects practically every organ in the body and if not controlled can certainly aggravate and complicate most any known disease or illness. The intention of this discussion is to summarize for you some suggestions on how you can better cope with stress and methods that have been proven to help relieve stress in your life. These methods help you reduce stress, relax better, and enjoy life more.
Stress is the response of your mind, emotions and body to whatever demands are being made on you. So the important thing is that it's not so much what happens to you that determines the effect on stress upon your body, but the way that you respond to it. The ideal response is a relaxed, carefree and positive thinking reaction. This in itself will prevent many problems when you are faced with stressful situations. And don't forget, there are two kinds of stress, positive and negative. Positive stress is happy, desirable, controllable, easy-going good stress like being informed that you've just had an increase in salary. Negative stress, however, is maddening, sad, disturbing, uncontrollable and depressing like having an argument or being in an accident or losing a loved one. This is the worst type of stress you can have, and if you can learn to face it in a relaxed, carefree, positive thinking manner, it will not cause nearly the harm to your system as to the average person.
• Develop a positive attitude about everything you do.
The Bible tells us, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." We become what we think about. If we constantly think about negative, bad problems and thoughts, we are simply going to create more of these bad situations to face from now on. The Public Library is full of books that will show you how to think positively.
• Tell yourself to relax totally.
By simply sitting down and taking some deep abdominal breaths and closing your eyes, try to relax all over. Sit in a comfortable chair and tell yourself that you are totally relaxing as you visualize in your mind - your feet relaxing, then your lower legs relaxing, then your upper legs, then your pelvis, then your stomach, then your chest and your hands, and your lower arms, your upper arms, your neck, and your head. Then, visualize yourself in your mind's eye as being totally relaxed. A few minutes of this will do wonders to relieve stress in your entire system.
• Practice breathing exercises to relax.
You should use abdominal breathing to relax totally. Sit in a very relaxed position in a comfortable chair with your hands on the arms of the chair and your feet on the floor. Breathe in slowly through your nose as you expand your abdomen and imagine that you have a balloon inside your abdomen, and, as you inhale, you are slowly inflating the balloon, which will cause your abdominal area to swell. Then, breathe out slowly through your nose. Pull your abdominal muscles in as you press all of the air out of your lungs. You should take several breaths in this manner, and it will help relax you. Another variation of this type of exercise is to use abdominal breathing as you inhale deeply through your nose. Then, exhale through your puckered mouth as if you were blowing out a candle. Repeat this several times.
• Cultivate a good sense of humor.
Laughing always relieves stress. If you know yourself, you know what things make you laugh. If you would try to do these things more often, this will help you relieve stress. Remind yourself to have fun. This may mean going to a comedy movie or picking up a book of funny jokes to read to get you laughing. You may even consider keeping a laugh scrapbook where you can keep a record of all letters, funny jokes, poems, limericks, or anything you have collected that made you laugh. Read through these in times of severe stress.
• Listening to relaxing music will dissolve your tension.
Listening to your favorite music is an excellent way to relieve stress. Instrumental music like that performed by the harp, piano, string ensembles, or the flute tend to be more soothing than vocal pieces which may distract you. While enjoying the relaxing music, you will notice that you are breathing more slowly and deeply which means you are relaxing more.
• Call a relative or friend.
When hit with any type of stressful situation, an excellent technique is to call a close friend or family member and discuss the situation with them, which can help you get a clearer picture as to how you may solve any existing problem. Do not keep it pent up inside of you as it will build and grow within.
• Exercise or take a brisk walk to lift your spirit.
Any type of exercise and especially brisk walking will result in very effective stress reduction. The faster you walk, or the harder you exercise, the more your stress will be relieved. This is because certain neurotransmitters are released during the exercise process for about 20 minutes. Try not to think about your problems while you are walking or exercising.
• Stretch or yawn for better relaxation
Yawning itself is a very effective way to relieve stress. If you yawn and try to stretch your muscles as far as you can, this will add effects to the stress relieving techniques. If you develop tension in your neck, shoulders and upper body, the simple shoulder shrug will help relax these muscles. Bring your shoulders up to your earlobes for three or four seconds, and then drop your shoulders down and think — shoulders up, shoulders down. Do this 3 or 4 times. Another simple exercise is "reaching for the sky." Try to push your arms upward and slightly backwards, and feel these muscles in your shoulders and upper back stretching. Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds as you breathe normally. Stretching any muscles in your body will help you relax more.
• Take a nature break.
If there is any way you can get out in the country, or out in the woods to get away from your present problems, even for a short time, this can do wonders for your stressful situation. It may be that going to the river and just sitting and watching the clouds go by and admiring the scenery will be of benefit to you. Even watching a video or going to a movie involving the great outdoors can be very relaxing.
• Take a vacation or a weekender.
Getting away from your stressful environment is always relaxing. However, you should try not to feel guilty about not working when you "get away from it all". When you do this, you should relax mentally, physically, and emotionally and learn to let everything go. Tell yourself that it's okay not to work at times. The best form is a vacation that lasts for at least a week to get maximum benefits however.
• Get proper rest.
Sound sleep each night is a perfect antidote to stress. To do this, stick to a regular sleep schedule and try to begin relaxing about an hour before you go to bed. Don't eat a big meal before going to bed, and be sure that you sleep in a very comfortable environment. Also, taking a 15-minute nap in the afternoon if you can arrange it, will be very stress relieving.
• Prayer will break the anxiety cycle.
Praying can strengthen your religious beliefs and provide you with strength during times of loss or hardship, which may include the death of a loved one, an injury or illness, or financial problems. Praying can teach forgiveness, patience and understanding and relieve some of the negative emotions like anger, bitterness, and hostility. This is an excellent stress reliever.
Of course, there are other stress-relieving techniques such as getting a pet ( Excellent for Many ), but the important thing is to Do Something To Relieve the Existing Situation !
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A time comes in your life when you finally get it ... when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out ...
ENOUGH!
Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.
This is your awakening.
You realize it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.
You realize that in the real world there aren't always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you ... and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance. You approve of who or what you are ... and that's OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions.
You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself ... and in the process a sense of newfound confidence is born of self-approval.
You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you – or didn't do for you – and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected.
You learn that people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and that everything isn't always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself ... and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.
You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties ... and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.
You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view.
You Begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.
You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with.
You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix.
You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life.
You learn that you don't know everything, it's not your job to save the world and that you can't teach a pig to sing.
You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
Then you learn about love.
You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be.
You learn that alone does not mean lonely. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes.
You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO.
You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs.
You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drink more water, and take more time to exercise.
You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.
You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance.
You also learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it's OK to risk asking for help.
You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself.
You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms.
You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.
You learn that life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people ... and you learn not to always take it personally.
You learn that nobody's punishing you and everything isn't always somebody's fault. It's just life happening.
You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.
You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.
You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.
Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart's desire.
You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.
You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind.
Finally, with courage in your heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.

BREATHE in and BREATHE out LIGHT and LOVE daily.
ALL IS WELL.
Author unknown
________________________________________

A Place Where Everyone is in a Good Mood

• No Need for Heart By-Pass Operations !
• No Need for Balloon Angioplasty procedures !!!
• No Need to Replace Heart Valves because of Plaque Deposits !!!
• No Need to Amputate limbs because of Poor Circulation !
• Kidney Stones can be removed in Doctors office in about 6 hours !
• Arrhythmias corrected in less than 2 hours !
• Lower Blood Pressure !
Dr. T.C. McDaniel — 91 years old, and Loving his work !

3 Keys To Living The Life You Want

2011-09-30T07:24:00.003-07:00

3 Keys to Living the Life You Want
As I travel around the globe speaking and training, I have consistently found that most people ask me the same question, "How do I discover my purpose in life?" In the past, who you became was determined by your family and circumstances. You didn't have much choice. But now there is an open moment in history where you have the chance to tap into the soul of your purpose.
Millions of people right now are experiencing a yearning and desire to awaken to their unique gifts and offer them in service to the world -- while living a life of joy and fulfillment. It's a surging of the human spirit, a virtual global awakening, at a scale that no one has ever seen before. Simply put, people are longing to finally feel fully alive and to fulfill their unique purpose in life.
So then why is living a life of meaning and purpose so difficult? It is because our current social systems have not been set up to prepare us to live a life of true purpose. That's because today's culture exists not to nurture our highest aspirations, but to ensure our basic survival. Our educational system is designed to create good workers who will slot into jobs and careers later in life -- not to empower fiery, creative people who are forging the path ahead together. Our social contracts exist to perpetuate the status quo -- not to encourage our highest potentials to blossom. Is it any wonder why so many people's best attempts to evolve themselves and our culture fall short of the goal? We simply haven't been trained in how to bring the possible future into the present.
It's not that they don't have the talent or interest to live a purposeful, meaningful life. The issue is far simpler. People struggle to activate their "purpose code" because they haven't woken up to -- or are only partially awake to -- our situation as a human race. Most people hold on to old, limiting beliefs of themselves and our human story. Overwhelmed by all the changes in the world around them, most people live their lives within a "small story" and therefore confine themselves to a "small self." That's why so many people feel that they don't have a purpose, or that they aren't able to actually live the life they were born to live.
There is a saying that "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." I believe that it is butterfly time. Just as the guidance cells in the mush that is the caterpillar in its cocoon suddenly begin to activate the transformation of mush into butterfly, so too this is the time when we realize that the guidance or imaginal cells of our bodies, our communities, and, yes, even of the cells of our planet are calling us to come together in all our parts to form something gorgeous, interdependent, living lightly on the earth, cross pollinating cultures, ideas, spiritual forms, glowing with the light that suffuses us, becoming transparent to transcendence. And to rise out of the mush we have been caught in these many hundreds of years and to take flight in the air of the new story which is emerging in our time.
For the fields we traverse, the many flowers of mind states and soul knowings we now enter are those that belong to the whole earth, to many cultures, to what I am calling "PanGaia." And as the butterfly pollinates and cross pollinates from place to place, flower to flower, so do we also if we have the will and the willingness to discover our purpose and be part of this extraordinary moment in time.
Three Keys to Empowering New Beliefs
The first key to activating your life's purpose is to hold new beliefs about yourself and about your role in the great story of where humanity is headed.
Living a great life requires that you understand the challenges and opportunities of our moment in history. To understand this for myself, I've gathered information from my work in over 100 countries and 40 different cultures, and what I've discovered has served as a sure guide on my path. Specifically, I have found five great shifts in our understanding of the story of our time that are affecting everything we do today. I believe that awakening to the power of these shifts will help you cultivate your sense of compassion and of the infinite possibilities of this moment.
The Five Shifts Are:
1. Our understanding of who and what we are and what we need to become in order to be able to deal with the complexity of our time is evolving.
2. Human societies are in the process of re-patterning. Social constructs are dissolving and whole new stories are trying to emerge, such as the rise of women to a full partnership with men across the globe, and many others.
3. How we conduct business and governance is shifting in the midst of vast ecological and financial changes. This is perhaps the most important social event of the last 5,000 years, because these issues impact almost everything in our lives.
4. The rise and fusion of different cultures -- we are swiftly moving toward a planetary civilization that accentuates the uniqueness of each culture while blending them together. Think of the great fusions of food, of music and of beliefs.
5. Whole new orders of spirituality are emerging that are not about religion. The new cosmologies are giving us a view of ourselves that we never had before. For the first time ever, we find that we don't just live in the universe, but that the universe lives in us.
6. This journey begins by letting go of old beliefs and patterns to make room for the new beliefs and capacities that will empower you to awaken to and live your higher purpose.
The second key allows you to discover and realize the vast field of inner intelligences -- using multiple means of knowing and being in order to gain insight into life at a level to which most people rarely have access. These skills are to be found on four levels of your human capacity, sensory-physical, psychological-emotional, mythic-symbolic and unitive-spiritual. As you learn how to utilize the extraordinary capacities to be found at each of these levels, you literally move into new ways of being. For example, you will learn how to play with time in such a way as to take five minutes and experience it internally as hours -- these are "hours" you can use to develop a skill or move a project forward.
You will learn to access "inner experts" -- willing helpers or personas that will help you navigate the complexity of life with elegance and confidence.

The third key gives you the means to break free from unconscious, habitual ways of reacting to life that were born thousands of years ago, and embrace higher ways of being for a new era. You will discover ways to move through life with ebullience in your bones and an appetite for celebration -- seeing everything as an expression of the creator. You will move through life, motivated not by guilt or obligation, but by gratitude and an abiding zest for doing the things that are called forth by living out of your higher purpose.
Dr. Jean Houston is presenting a free 75-minute downloadable audio seminar titled "3 Keys to Discovering and Living Your True Purpose Available Now" at www.DestinyandYou.com.
Dr. Jean Houston is a scholar, philosopher and one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is considered one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement. A powerful and dynamic speaker, she has served as consultant to several agencies of United Nations, including UNICEF and the UNDP. She has worked in more than 100 countries training leadership at every level to enhance skills and purpose so as to bring a new mind to bear upon challenging issues. A prolific writer and author of 26 books, including "A Passion for the Possible and The Mythic Life," Dr. Houston has recently joined the faculty of Evolving Wisdom, today's fastest growing global e-learning company specializing in transformative education, to provide her wisdom online in a cutting edge format. www.DestinyandYou.com.

Life

2011-08-12T11:20:00.001-07:00

Life will knock you down more than you can imagine. Don't do it to yourself

Lee Iacocca

2011-03-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Just as true today as it was when his book first came out.
He was, and still is, a brilliant businessman!
Often we need to be reminded of Iococca's words.

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?'.

Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'trust me the economy is getting better..'

Better? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the Democrats out along with Obama!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.. While we're fiddling in Afghanistan , Iran is completing their nuclear bombs and missiles and nobody seems to know what to do. And the liberal press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with thumb up your butt and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.

We're immersed in a bloody war now with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. But our soldiers are dying daily.

We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the world, and it's getting worse every day!

We've lost the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are going to skyrock again, and nobody in power has a lucid plan to open drilling to solve the problem. This country has the largest oil reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because the politicians have been bought by the flea-hugging environmentalists.
Our schools are in a complete disaster because of the teachers union.

Our borders are like sieves and they want to give all illegals amnesty and free healthcare.

The middle class is being squeezed to death every day.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the government will make it better for them. Now, that's just crazy.. Deal with life.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, look what Obama did about it!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving theenergy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the Chicago gangsters in Congress. We didn't elect you to turn this country into a losing European Socialist state. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years since 9/11.

The funny line and the bottom line intersect!

2010-11-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

In a survey of 737 CEO’s, over 98% of them indicated they would much rather hire somebody with a good sense of humor than somebody without one. You can take your job seriously… and yourself lightly.

2 Jest for the health of it! Laughter enhances respiration and circulation, oxygenates the blood, suppresses the stress-related hormones in the brain, and activates the immune system. Indeed, laughter is the jest medicine.

3 Humor as an antidote to stress: Humor can help us move from a “grim and bear it” mentality to a “grin and share it” orientation. By using humor, you can prevent a “hardening of the attitudes,” which can help you add years to your life and life to your years.
4
“A smile is the shortest distance between two people,” according to Victor Borge. Humor can be a magnet to attract people, to build positive working relationships, and to improve morale and teamwork.

5 The HAHA-AHA connection: There definitely is a connection between humor and creativity. Humor can jump-start your creativity and give you the energy to think (and laugh) outside the box.

6 The laughing-learning link: Humor can be a powerful (and delightful) way to capture and maintain attention and free up tension… which means that retention increases.

7 Your Resilience Quotient: Norman Cousins’ best-selling book, Anatomy of an Illness, certainly opened up many people’s eyes to the notion that “S/He who laughs lasts.” With humor, you can build resilience and get more smileage out of your life and work.

8 Humor as a saving (and amusing) grace for the planet: As our world gets proverbially smaller all the time, humor could help build important bridges between countries and cultures. As Erma Bombeck once said, “When humor goes, there goes civilization!”:
Adapted from LAUGHING MATTERS magazine published by The HUMOR Project, Inc. Copyright © 2008 The HUMOR Project, Inc.

Detroit fights Back

2010-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

On a side street in an old industrial neighborhood, a delivery man stacks a dolly of goods outside a store. Ten feet away stands another man clad in military fatigues, combat boots and what appears to be a flak jacket. He looks straight out of Baghdad. But this isn't Iraq. It's southeast Detroit, and he's there to guard the groceries.
"No pictures, put the camera down," he yells. My companion and I, on a tour of how people in this city are using urban farms to grow their own food, speed off.

In this recession-racked town, the lack of food is a serious problem. It's a theme that comes up again and again in conversations in Detroit. There isn't a single major chain supermarket in the city, forcing residents to buy food from corner stores. Often less healthy and more expensive food.

As the area's economy worsens --unemployment was over 16% in July -- food stamp applications and pantry visits have surged.

Detroiters have responded to this crisis. Huge amounts of vacant land has led to a resurgence in urban farming. Volunteers at local food pantries have also increased.
But the food crunch is intensifying, and spreading to people not used to dealing with hunger. As middle class workers lose their jobs, the same folks that used to donate to soup kitchens and pantries have become their fastest growing set of recipients.

"We've seen about a third more people than before," said Jean Hagopian, a volunteer at the New Life food pantry, part of the New Life Assembly of God church in Roseville, a suburb some 20 miles northeast of Detroit. Hagopian said many of the new people seeking assistance are men, former breadwinners now in desperate need of a food basket.

Hagopian is an 83-year old retired school teacher. She works at the pantry four days a week, spending two of those days driving her own minivan around town collecting food from local distributors.

The pantry, housed in the church basement, gives away boxes of food that might feed a family of four for a week. It includes dry and packaged goods like cereals and pasta, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, 7 or 8 pounds of frozen meat (usually chicken or hot dogs), and eight pan pizzas donated from a local Pizza Hut. Most of the other food is purchased from a distributor or donated by the county food program. Last month they gave out 519 boxes.

Hagopian hopes the demand for food doesn't get much worse.

"I hope we're at the top of it because we'll run out of food, and then we'll have to go out and find some more," she said.

She should brace for the worst. Across metro Detroit, social service agencies are reporting a huge spike in demand for food assistance.

Gleaners, an agency that distributes excess food donated from food processors, says their distribution is up 18% from last year. Michigan Department of Human Services, which handles federal food assistance like food stamps, WIC checks and such, has seen a 14% spike in applications since October. Calls to the United Way's help line have tripled in the last year.

"Given the resources, we could double our numbers," said Frank Kubik, food program manager for Focus:Hope, a Detroit aid organization that fed 41,000 mostly elderly people last year. Kubik said his program is restricted by charter and budget from serving more than its current number of clients. But if that were changed, he could certainly serve up more meals.

"There's no doubt about it, there's just so many out there that are really struggling right now," he said.

The changing face of hunger

There have been plenty of people struggling in Detroit for a long time. What makes this recession different is the type of people coming in. It's no longer just the homeless, or the really poor.

Now it's middle class folks who lost their $60,000-a-year auto job, or home owners who got caught on the wrong side of the real estate bubble.
Many of these people have never navigated the public assistance bureaucracy before, and that makes getting aid to them a challenge.

"They have no idea where the DHS office is," said DeWayne Wells, president of Gleaners, the food distributor.

To assist these newly hungry, Wells pointed to the United Way's 211 program, where people can call the hotline and speak to an operator that guides them through a wide range of available social services.

The Michigan Department of Human Services is going digital, rolling out a program where people can apply for food stamps via the Web.

That may help ease another challenge in getting aid to the middle class: pride. Many people feel so bad about having to ask for help that they just don't, or they have issues with it once they do.

"They'll say things like 'I've never had to do this before' and they feel a little uncomfortable," said Hagopian, the retired school teacher. But she says times have changed, the good union jobs are disappearing and it's harder and harder to find work.

"I just tell them society is not what it used to be," she said.

Detroit responds

Actually running out of food doesn't seem to be a problem, so far. In fact, because more people are being affected the response seems to be greater.

"A few years ago it was someone you saw a profile of on TV," said Wells. "Now it's your brother in-law, or the people your kid plays soccer with."

Wells said volunteers are up at Gleaners, as is general community awareness.
The Feds have helped too. Food stamp allowances were increased 14% nationwide under the stimulus plan.

Detroiters are also helping themselves in smaller ways. Thanks to the dearth of big supermarkets in Detroit proper - a phenomenon largely attributed to lack of people - and plenty of vacant land, community gardening has caught on big.

It's not so much that these gardens are going to feed the city, although they certainly help. It's more that they can be used to teach people, especially children, the value of eating right.

"I use vegetables every day," said one child at an after school gardening program run by Earthworks Urban Farm, near the heart of the city. "Last night, an onion I picked from here, I had in my potatoes."

Hearing that is good news to people like Dan Carmody, president of Eastern Market Corp., a century-old public market selling fresh produce and other foodstuffs near downtown Detroit.

Carmody is part of a group of people trying to bring healthy food to town. The efforts include setting up mobile produce stands around the city, working with convenience store owns to stock better produce, and trying to set up a program that allows food stamp recipients to spend twice as much money if they buy from a local farmer.

He says the food situation in Detroit is particularly depressing because the surrounding areas are chock full with some of the best eats around: Michigan grows some of the most varied crops in the nation, everything from apples and cantaloupes to peaches and watermelon. Windsor, just across the bridge, is the hydroponics capital of Canada. Artisan Amish farms are also close by in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Getting this food to Detroit, and getting Detroiters to buy it is the challenge. That's where the urban farms come in.

"Once kids start seeing where their food comes from," he said, "it changes the whole approach to how they eat."

Credibility

2010-08-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Haven’t you always heard the most important thing is attitude? I’ve heard that all my life; attitude is everything.

But now that I’m older and wiser, I realize that’s not the case. Oh, don’t get me wrong, attitude is important, but it isn’t everything, far from it. Attitude is nothing without one important ingredient – credibility.

Without credibility you have nothing. Credibility makes you believable. Credibility is what makes people listen to you. Credibility is what makes people take action when you speak.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I’m going to do what he says because he has attitude”? No, you haven’t. But you have heard people say, “I’m going to do what he says because he has credibility. He’s believable. He knows what he’s talking about.”
If you don’t have credibility, no amount of attitude will help you. In fact, attitude without credibility comes off as being arrogant.

I know lots of people who have attitude but they’re not credible. No one listens to someone with attitude. They do listen to someone with credibility. So don’t try to get attitude, try to become credible.

And the way you do that is by learning. Learning is an ongoing process. At 88-years old, Michaelango said, “I am still learning.” Knowledge is power.
The day you stop learning is the day you lose all credibility. You will still have attitude, but it won’t get you anywhere.

So, always remember, credibility is everything. The attitude part is nothing without it.

How about you? Are you credible, or are you just someone with attitude? Credibility and attitude go together like peanut butter and jelly.

People respect attitude, but they respect credibility way more. Become credible. Then attitude will follow.

Death Valley

2010-08-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

Death Valley, Nevada is called that because nothing grows there and the reason nothing grows there is because it never rains in Death Valley.

In the winter of 2004 it rained in Death Valley. It got seven inches of rain.

In the spring of 2005 the floor of Death Valley was covered with plant life.

People came from miles to witness this phenomenon that they may never see again, plant life in Death Valley – proving that the plant life has always been there, Death Valley was alive. It was just asleep. It just needed the right circumstances to blossom.

The seeds were there waiting for the right circumstances to flourish. People are like this.

If the conditions are right they will flourish, they will find their true calling and begin to live, not just exist.

We need to think about Death Valley when we’re teaching our children. They have the creative seeds in them. They just need the right conditions to flourish, to grow, to become something special and it’s up to us to make those conditions just right for them.

It’s also important to realize that no matter what age you are, you have the creative seeds in you; you just need the right conditions to let them flourish.

Thomas Edison said, “People would be astounded if they did all the things they were capable of doing.” Let your creative juices flow. Challenge yourself, do something with your life.

Don’t die with your music still in you.

The Way Of The Yogi: Where Does Stress Come From?

2010-07-29T23:00:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered why you sometimes wake up and sail through your day without any sense of stress, frustration or angst - while on another day stress and angst seem to be the themes of your existence? Is it in the water? Are we just the victim of random events that propel us without choice into unhappiness and stress? Do we have a choice in the matter?

Seekers, including the ancient yogis, have asked this question for thousands of years. Why do some events bother me while others do not? Why is it that the same event on one day seems to pass without a thought, when on another day it seems to become the very source of my entire life's suffering? And, most importantly, what, if anything, can I do about this?

Where does stress come from?

Most of us perceive stress and anxiety as coming from an outside source. You are stuck in traffic going 20 miles an hour on the freeway, and all you can think about is how the traffic is driving us crazy. Outside source to blame for our internal state. You step on the scale and it tells you your weight is five pounds more than 2 days before-your mood plummets. Outside source to blame for internal state. Your daughter announces that she will be moving back in with you indefinitely. You have budgeted the entire year to a penny-for yourself alone-and can finally afford that course you have been longing to take. Well, not anymore. Outside source to blame for internal state. We all have criteria for what we think will make us happy. For some of us, it is losing weight, finding the perfect partner, gaining the approval of our peers, or having lots of money. But there is a hidden subtext to our criteria for happiness that is often the root of the very suffering we are trying to avoid. Implicit in the desire to have money is the fear of being poor. Implicit in the desire to have a partner is the need to not be alone. Implicit in the desire to be thin is the implication that if I'm fat, I am not allowed to be happy.

By becoming attached to the idea that life needs to be a certain way in order for me to be happy, I sow the seeds of my own potential unhappiness. If having money means being happy, not having money means being unhappy. If I equate a partner with happiness, then being alone means being unhappy.

We are all programmed with a random set of criteria-conscious or unconscious mostly programmed by our past experiences, our culture, family-and even past lives-which determines the unconscious "rules" by which I decide whether I can allow myself to be happy and stress-free or not. If my "rules" are fulfilled - if I weigh 125, I am within the parameters of being allowed to feel happy - so I do. But if my "rules for happiness," which I myself have set, are not met, if I should get on a scale and see the number 130, I will not allow myself to be happy.

Do you see how this works? It is each of us-not-life that determines our level of happiness. How our life circumstances measure up to our criteria determines our level of happiness. In essence, each of us decides whether we can be happy or not. No life circumstance, no person, no event determines our level of happiness - we decide for ourselves.

This does not mean that we cannot have preferences. The trap is becoming so attached to our preferences that we cannot let go and allow life to show up as it will. Life has no allegiance to my criteria or me. It will show up how it shows up - like the rain does. The events of life have moved in their own rhythms and ways long before I was born and will continue long after I die.

Things happen. They are not personal. But we take them personally. We take the impersonal events of life-events that are much like the rain - and personalize them. We say, "God, if you love me you will not make it rain today." Then, if it rains, we decide we are mad at God. How is that? God is in every moment as it is unfolding now. How can I put any criteria on how God should show up? And who am I to decide God loves me if one thing happens and that God hates me if something else happens? This is all pure fabrication - another example of how we set up criteria for how life is to show up and then suffer when our criteria go unmet.

Rain will rain when it rains. It will happen when the meteorological conditions are present. We are the ones who put conditions on the rain and say, "If it rains, I will be unhappy." Okay, now I am unhappy - it rained. Whose fault is that? Is it the rain's fault or is it my fault? It's mine. I am the one who decided that reality should be different than it is.

The Reality Management Program

Yogis saw that our "rules" about how life needs to be in order for us to be happy are the root of all suffering. From the point of view of yoga, we have two choices. Choice number one is what I call the Reality Management Program. We spend our life energy trying to get all the people around us to fit our criteria do, say, act, just how we want so that we can feel happy. We train people around us-our close friends and our loved ones. We let them know, verbally or non-verbally, how they need to act in order to get our love. We do it at work as well. We put our entire sense of self into the success we achieve. We try to make reality fit our idea of success-more money, better title, recognition. People spend their whole lives just working on getting reality to fit this picture of "success" so that they can be happy.

Realizing that the Reality Management Program is an uncertain strategy for lasting happiness is something that each of us has to recognize for ourselves. After many years, lifetimes even, of struggling to find contentment in this way, some fortunate people start to realize that for the amount of energy they are putting into the Reality Management Program, it is not producing lasting happiness. It is a dead end. Only when the individual realizes this, can the spiritual journey begin.
If Reality Management doesn't work, why do all of us do it?

Take a look at some of the criteria that regularly operate in your life. The ones that you say, "If only _ then, I would be happy." Now imagine that you have that thing that you so yearn for. Imagine how you would feel. Happy? Content? My guess is that, for a moment at least, you would experience a state of "not wanting anything more." A state of contentment in which, for that moment at least, you feel complete. Nothing needs to be different than it is and you can completely be at rest. I would call this state the state of Being in which we experience-everything is okay, nothing needs to be different completion or wholeness.

I suggest that the reason we all stick so fervently to Reality Management is that in our own convoluted way, we are searching for the state of Being. We are searching for the experience of completeness, of not wanting anything more, of integration. We are searching for that which is the purpose and meaning of yoga-wholeness-could we but realize it.

With the Reality Management Plan, we are depending on outside circumstances to create an inner state. Since outside circumstances have a life of their own, this is a gamble. With choice number two, the Way of the Yogi, we begin with the assumption that the state of being we are looking for is already present. It is not a state that can be added to or found by achieving anything outside since it already is here.

Choice number two, the Way of the Yogi, comes down to this.
Be free from the need for anything to show up differently than it is in order to be happy.

If anything you do has a subtext of "in order to," you are in reality management. In the Way of the Yogi, we sincerely devote our lives to letting go of any conditions we have about how life needs to show up. We practice relaxing into the moment no matter what is taking place. When we face situations that we normally would react to, we catch ourselves and say, "Can I relax with this?" "What about this?" It is not about perfection, it is like a game. Watch what catches you can pull you back into reality management. By and by you will notice that just by putting your attention on this intention you will be able to relax with more and more things happening in your life.

How does the physical practice of Hatha Yoga tie into this? The physical practice of yoga is useful in two ways. First, the practice is intended to put demands on the body and mind in laboratory conditions so that we can see our habitual tendency to try to manage reality. We try to escape from the discomfort, physical, mental or emotional in the pose in much the same way we do in life. As we learn to better allow for all sensations, emotions, thoughts to be present without needing to comment, fix, judge, rationalize, or change the experience in any way, we are in practice for life circumstances where we are called on to do the same. Second, as we progressively learn to bypass the tendencies of the mind to manage reality, we drop into the state of being that is always present. In the absence of striving to achieve anything or make anything happen we experience the Being that we are. Yoga becomes the practice ground for learning to live from choice number two-the Way of the Yogi.
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This article was originally published in Sacred Pathways Magazine

With Age Comes Wisdom: Midlife Brains Sharper Than Younger Minds

2010-07-29T22:55:00.001-07:00

Aging has long been a popular excuse for becoming scatterbrained. But new research suggests that memory and the mind improve as we get older, peaking as late as in the 60s.

Though the common belief is that brain cells die as people age, making them more forgetful, the reverse is actually true, according to a just-published book based on several recent studies.

In "The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain," New York Times deputy science editor Barbara Strauch says that not only do human beings keep their existing brain cells intact throughout their middle-age years but new ones also continue to form, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.

Strauch bases her arguments on a mountain of compelling research, including the Seattle Longitudinal Study -- which has tracked about 6,000 people since 1956, testing them every seven years, and is the most expansive survey on the subject.

That study has shown that participants tended to score higher on cognitive exercises in their 40s and 50s than they did in their 20s, the Mail reported.

The older subjects performed better on vocabulary, spatial orientation, problem solving and verbal memory tests. They did worse when quizzed on perceptual speed (how fast they were able to push a button) and on their numeric abilities (how quickly they could calculate simple math).

"What we have learned from studying the time we call 'middle age' is that the changes that take place as we age give us the best brains of our lives," Strauch writes on her website.

Other occupational studies analyzing on-the-job performance have found that middle-aged employees have stronger skills than their younger counterparts.

In two separate trials, pilots and air traffic controllers were placed in simulators mimicking the real-world task of monitoring planes and keeping them a safe distance apart. The experienced participants did the job as well or better than the younger subjects, even though their reaction times weren't quite as fast.

So is the old adage true? Does wisdom really come with age?

"The elderly brain is less dopamine-dependent, making people less impulsive and controlled by emotion," Dilip Jeste, a professor at the University of California, said during a conference in Scotland. "Older people are also less likely to respond thoughtlessly to negative emotional stimuli because their brains have slowed down compared to young people. This, in fact, is what we call wisdom."

Researchers have recently discovered that though unused brain connections deteriorate or are lost, people retain most of their brain cells for their entire lives, the Mail says.

That could be in part because levels of myelin, the fatty material that protects brain cells and speeds up neurotransmissions, rise through midlife, according to several U.S. studies.

In one survey, authors found that myelin reached its highest levels in men who were 50 and in some instances in their 60s. Myelin bolsters brainpower by up to 3,000 percent, according to a neuroscientist who spearheaded the research.

Another possible explanation is that people develop the ability to use both sides of their brains as they get older rather than only one as they do when they're younger, according to the Mail.

Long-term memory also stays the same with age, while short-term memory declines. Researchers from New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine studied rhesus monkeys' brains, finding that the receptors in charge of long-term memory remained unchanged in the older animals. Half of the receptors responsible for remembering new information were lost in the aging monkeys, however.

Death Valley

2010-07-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Death Valley, Nevada is called that because nothing grows there and the reason nothing grows there is because it never rains in Death Valley.

In the winter of 2004 it rained in Death Valley. It got seven inches of rain.

In the spring of 2005 the floor of Death Valley was covered with plant life.

People came from miles to witness this phenomenon that they may never see again, plant life in Death Valley – proving that the plant life has always been there, Death Valley was alive.

It was just asleep. It just needed the right circumstances to blossom. The seeds were there waiting for the right circumstances to flourish. People are like this.

If the conditions are right they will flourish, they will find their true calling and begin to live, not just exist. We need to think about Death Valley when we’re teaching our children.

They have the creative seeds in them. They just need the right conditions to flourish, to grow, to become something special and it’s up to us to make those conditions just right for them.

It’s also important to realize that no matter what age you are, you have the creative seeds in you; you just need the right conditions to let them flourish.

Thomas Edison said, “People would be astounded if they did all the things they were capable of doing.”

Let your creative juices flow. Challenge yourself, do something with your life. Don’t die with your music still in you.

Money Can Buy Happiness

2010-07-05T13:56:00.001-07:00

Money might buy "happiness," but it doesn't seem to contribute to people's enjoyment.

To answer the question of whether money makes people happy, researchers looked at a Gallup poll of 136,000 people from 132 countries, a sample representing 96 percent of the world's population. Survey respondents disclosed information including their income, standard of living, what kind of things they owned and which of their psychological needs were being satisfied.

While there was a clear correlation between personal and national income and respondents claiming general life satisfaction, having more money was only weakly linked to enjoying day-to-day life. Instead, other factors, such as having friends, being independent and having a fulfilling job, proved much more essential to positive feelings at any given moment.

Nevertheless, there is probably some wisdom in the old saying: "Those who think money can't buy happiness just don't know where to shop."

www.worldwidebc.com

Wally The Cab Driver

2010-07-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

Everyone needs to stop quacking and to soar like Eagles.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar -

No one can make you serve customers well.
That's because great service is a choice.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver.
While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee?
I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts..

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always: In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard on the radio one day that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''

That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'That was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers.. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal.. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.
I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you... The ball is in our hands!

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar
Have a nice day, unless you already have made other plans.

Everything You Do Matters

2010-07-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Most people don’t realize the power of those words. They don’t realize that everything they do, everything they say, every choice they make matters to someone, somewhere, and they may not even know it. And I can prove it.

When I was twelve years old I used to sell popcorn at the baseball games in my hometown. I didn’t make any money for it, but I love baseball, so it worked out. I’d put the concession box around my neck and shout, “Popcorn, get your hot popcorn.”

One night during a game I noticed a couple at the top of the stands having an argument. It was getting heated, about to turn ugly. I walked past them going, “Hot popcorn, get your hot popcorn.”

I stopped right in front of them, too the box off, sat it down in front of me and I checked every box of popcorn. Then I put it back on and went, “Popcorn. Get your popcorn.” I left out the word ‘hot’ because every box I checked was cold.

And the way I did it made them laugh so hard they forgot what they were arguing about. I walked past them thirty-minutes later and they were snuggled up enjoying the game.

They left that night holding hands. The point of the story is this: I ran into that guy seven years later. He knew my family and he knew of me. And he said that what I did that night saved his marriage.

He said they were on the verge of breaking up for good until I made them laugh so hard they realized that what they were arguing about wasn’t worth breaking up their marriage over.

They were still married seven years later and had three children.

Today they’re both in their seventies, still married; they have six children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren – None of which would have happened if I hadn’t done what I did that night at the baseball game.

Their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will never know me, but they owe their very existence to what I did that night when I was twelve years old. EVERYTHING YOU DO – MATTERS. Don’t forget it.

www.worldwidebc.com

Go green

2010-04-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

Sarah Dietze
Isn't paying lip service to the environment a standard part of every college application essay? Prepare to put your money where your mouth is, as the following green cleaning products make a serious economic and ecological impact.

Tree huggers tout baking soda and vinegar as replacements for every cleaning product in your cupboard. Yet it has to be said – some homemade cleansers simply aren't effective enough and aren't worth the prep work. The following are a couple of recipes I've tested on my own. They've managed to get red wine stains out of clothes and remove crusted-over mac and cheese from countless stove tops. The savings are as real as the results; all prices listed are for brand-name products at Target.

Before beginning, invest in a few empty spray bottles from the dollar store. Better yet, save old Windex bottles and jelly jars to maximize your savings and minimize your impact.

All-Purpose and Window Cleaner
Here, recipes vary widely, but two basic ingredients remain the same: vinegar and water. Planet Green will tell you to add a couple of drops of dish washing detergent to cut the residue left by Windex, but it will leave a film. A mixture of half vinegar and half water works on both windows and hard surfaces. A 32-ounce bottle of Windex typically costs $2.69, while a gallon of Heinz vinegar retails for $3.89. The savings? $1.71 per bottle.

After investing in a gallon of vinegar, check out 74 little known uses for the stuff (which is more than the 57 varieties Heinz boasts of sauces and such).

Furniture Polish
Particleboard from Ikea hardly deserves a mirror-like shine. Still, a few drops of jojoba or olive oil added to a cup of vinegar, cleans and protects like Pledge claims it does. It's amazing that this dressing-like concoction doesn't harm wood, but I've used it on my great-great-aunt's hand-me-down furniture with no ill effect. I highly recommend jojoba rather than olive oil here, as the waxy finish provides momentary protection from spills. Store the mixture in a glass jar, and shake before using. Assuming you already have olive or some sort of cooking oil on hand, this will cost just 12 cents to make versus $2.85 for a 12.5-ounce can of Pledge.

Scouring Powder
Versatile and inexpensive, baking soda doesn't deserve banishment to the back of your refrigerator. Mix it with a bit of water to scrub sinks, counters and stove tops. Sprinkle a half cup or so in the toilet as an alternative to Lysol, then add a bit of vinegar for disinfecting power. Baking soda can be difficult to rinse away, but the same is true of Soft Scrub (which sells for $2.79 per 32 ounces compared to $1.18 for the same amount of baking soda)

Laundry detergent
While making laundry detergent is more labor-intensive than for any other item on this list, the savings are a substantial reward. Listen and clean up -- in more ways than one.

Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar has one of the most popular recipes on the Internet. He estimates his cost at 3 cents per load, and his savings at $0.25 a load over Tide. Unfortunately, he also mixes each batch in a five-gallon bucket that would dominate the average dorm room. Lindsay Edmonds at Passionate Homemaking offers a scaled-down version using castile soap, washing soda, salt and vinegar. Washing soda is easier to find in independent grocery stores or regional chains. I keep each batch in a recycled Arizona tea jug. The geisha illustration on the front brightens my day as its contents brighten my clothes.

Fabric Softener
Homemade detergent has one downside: if you use too much soap, your clothes become both stiff and dingy. Traditional fabric softener, whether in liquid or dryer sheet form, will only further coat your clothes, often with animal fat. A cup of vinegar added to the rinse cycle cuts residue, costs only 49 cents per load and is more appealing, vegan or not.

If static cling is an issue, try a set of dryer balls or a bit of foil in the dryer. A twin pack of dryer balls will set you back $4.99, compared to $4.29 for 120 loads of Snuggle. The spiky spheres fluff and aerate clothing and last indefinitely.

Air/Fabric Refresher
What did collegiate males do before Febreze? Procter & Gamble is well aware that it's cornered the market on "linen & sky" and "meadows & rain," charging $3.49 for a 16-ounce bottle. Use your all-purpose vinegar cleaner as Febreze, either in the air or on fabrics. The acidic scent and offending odors disappear as the mixture dries.
towels for additional savings.

Ultimately, all of the above recipes should help save time and money. If you have to spend hours scrubbing, either modify the recipe or ditch it altogether. While you're at it, try using giveaway t-shirts instead of paper

Why Low-Fat Diet Caused Obesity Epidemic by Jonny Bowden

2010-03-31T17:46:00.001-07:00

Why Low-Fat Caused the Obesity Epidemic by Jonny Bowden

Eating is a way to deal with stress. Being overweight is stressful. This is an interesting story I found. Check it out.
When you have something as massive and scary as the obesity epidemic, it's hard to point the finger at one single element and say, "that's why it happened." But however you slice it, the low-fat movement played a part in the epidemic.

After World War ll, heart disease rates began to rise precipitously. In the 1970s, a committee led by Senator George McGovern issued a report advising Americans to lower their risk of heart disease by eating less fat. This recommendation was based on evidence that linked diet to heart disease. Unfortunately, the report wrongly singled out saturated fat as the wicked element in our diet responsible for all our problems. This was the beginning of the low-fat movement.

And of the obesity epidemic.

It's more than a coincidence that they happened at the same time, and here's why.

Once dietary fat was "identified" as the chief culprit in heart disease -- a huge case of mistaken identity in my opinion -- food manufacturers sprang into action. The race was on to produce low-fat and no-fat foods, and to engineer the saturated fat out of everything.

This, in turn, led to a slew of "food-like" products, manufactured and processed edible substances bearing little resemblance to whole foods, and to idiotic experiments like margarine. Add to this witches' brew the invention of high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils (to replace saturated fat) and you had the perfect dietary storm.

You see, if you're a food manufacturer and you're removing the fat from some food, you need to replace it with something else or it won't taste very good. So, we wound up with a slew of low-fat products loaded with sugar. And since high-fructose corn syrup was now available cheaply, adding sweetness was an easy thing to do.

So easy, in fact, that high-fructose corn syrup started showing up in hundreds -- if not thousands -- of food products.

At the same time as all of this was happening, American started eating more of everything. This, too, is no coincidence. Here's why: If I give you a carton of Domino's sugar and tell you to eat till your heart's content, you won't consume very much. Same thing with butter. But if I put them together, something magical happens. Combine sugar and fat and every one of your evolutionary buttons are pushed. Manufacturers know this. Cravings get activated, brain chemistry starts firing, you can literally eat this stuff 'till you bust.

And we did.

The whole low-fat movement coincided with a huge spike in food processing and those who process and manufacture food products for a living have one goal -- getting people to eat more of their products. That's easy to do -- just engineer combinations of sugar and a bit of fat, which worked really well with the whole "low-fat" philosophy.

As long as it didn't have too much fat, you could eat it, right?

Meanwhile, fat -- the one macronutrient that keeps you full and satisfied -- was lacking from most of what we were eating. Sugar, the one element that keeps cravings going, was plentiful. Portion sizes in general collectively took a shot of steroids, as the whole country decided that super sizing was its birthright.

Low fat has a lot to answer for. It may not be the only reason we're experiencing one of the worst health epidemics in modern times, but it sure is one of the biggest.

Want to ditch the low-fat foods? Then learn how to eat healthy and distinguish serving versus portion size.

For more information from Jonny, visit his website.

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

How will we pay for healthcare? by Kelly Phillips Erb

2010-03-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

As the House prepares for a vote on health care reform, the overwhelming question is how to pay the estimated $940 billion price tag on the plan. The obvious -- but not so politically popular -- answer is to raise taxes. Even better? Raise taxes so taxpayers don't notice it as much by including it in mandatory withholding.

That explains why the current proposal in the House under HR 3590 would add an increase in the form of payroll taxes. The bill, as it stands currently, would add .9% to the Medicare payroll tax to those individual taxpayers earning over $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing joint tax returns). That would bring the total tax rate to 2.35%.

The current Medicare payroll tax rate is 1.45% and is part of what we know as FICA, or Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax. The tax is imposed on employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare. Since it's imposed on only those who work, the tax has been quite controversial. Unearned income, including interest, stock dividends, and capital gains such as profits from the sale of stock or real estate, are not affected by this tax.

An alternative proposal would increase the tax rate and extend a 2.9% tax rate to include unearned income. This version is favored by President Obama and many Congressional Democrats. As of this writing, it is not expected to be included in the version of the bill taken up for a vote by the House. While the final vote remains to be seen, most pundits expect that the House would approve the health care bill passed by the Senate in December, with any changes implemented using a procedure known as budget reconciliation.

Since most taxpayers would not be affected by the increase, the measure passed easily in Senate at the end of 2009. The final vote was 60 yes, 39 no and 1 abstention: Sen Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) did not vote, citing "family commitments." Interestingly, the final version of the Senate bill tapped the increase at a higher rate than the original proposal: earlier versions called for an increase of just .5%.

If the measure passes the House (and this measure is expected to survive any last minute deal-making), the bump in rates would take effect after Dec. 31, 2012

Dcott Brown - Just another politician

2010-02-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 23) -- It didn't take long for the newest member of the Senate to anger some of the people who cheered his election victory just last month. Scott Brown's vote Monday afternoon helped kill the GOP filibuster against Majority Leader Harry Reid's $15 billion job creation bill.Brown wasn't the only Republican to break party ranks on the key procedural vote.

Maine moderates Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe also voted to advance the bill. So did George Voinovich of Ohio and Kit Bond of Missouri -- both of whom are retiring. Nebraska's Ben Nelson was the only Democrat who voted against Reid's bill.But it was Brown -- whose upset win in the race to fill the late Ted Kennedy's seat threw health care reform into limbo and gave Republicans the 41st vote needed to break the Democrats' filibuster-proof supermajority -- who got all the attention in the jobs bill showdown.

"I came to Washington to be an independent voice, to put politics aside and to do everything in my power to help create jobs for Massachusetts families," Brown explained in a statement. "This Senate jobs bill is not perfect. I wish the tax cuts were deeper and broader, but I am voting for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.A lot of Brown's online followers weren't buying it. RINO (Republican in Name Only) was one of the mildest epithets hurled at him on his Facebook page. A few samples:
· Scott Brown is a traitor
· You voted for it because you are a coward. RINO. Just another politician. So disappointing.
· You, sir, have made me regret my first political contribution EVER.
· You let me down like Tiger Woods, Scott.

On Twitter, critics summed up their disappointment in 140 characters or less:
· Nice sell out! You realize this is just a useless pork program. U turned on the people that put u in. We will remember!!
· Senator Brown: You Weren't Elected for Bipartisanship

The reaction from blogger Don Surber was equally brief and bitter: "I feel like a sucker right about now. We've been teabagged. Brown/Biden 2012."Daily Kos found similar comments on FoxNews.com and FreeRepublic, and noted that the Drudge Report "even went so far as to Photoshop Brown to make him look like Satan" for its top story Tuesday morning. (Click for screen shot.)"Tea Party folks, pay attention and get on the phones," Michelle Malkin exhorted her readers. The conservative pundit said, "Those of us who knew all along what we were getting -- a game-changer who vowed to torpedo Demcare, but who was not an ideological conservative -- are not surprised.""How long before the teabaggers are drawing Hitler mustaches on Brown, who they revered not long ago?" wondered True/Slant's Sahil Kapur. "It'll be telling what happens if/when Brown ends up voting with progressives on other issues beyond economic policy (like abortion, gay marriage, etc.)."Kapur predicted that Brown would not win re-election "because there's no conceivable way he'll be able to balance the desires of Massachusetts constituents with the radical elements of today's conservative movement."Brown's decision to side with Democrats drew an "oh my" from Hot Air's Allahpundit, who saw the vote as part of a political calculation. "Obviously he needs to signal the left-leaning indies back home who voted for him that he'll break their way sometimes.

Even armed with a huge war chest for 2012, he ain't getting re-elected as a party-line Republican," the blogger said. Because Reid's bill is relatively modest and "essentially symbolic," said The New Republic's Jonathan Chait, Brown and the others who crossed the aisle took this opportunity to "burnish their moderate credentials rather than spend political capital to advance their party's agenda."Still, that explanation doesn't sit well with a lot of bloggers on the right. "It's all about protecting his seat, and I get it. But that doesn't make it right," complained Lonely Conservative.Reid expressed hope that picking up five GOP votes for the bill to give small businesses tax breaks for hiring unemployed Americans signaled "the beginning of a new day" in the Senate. But Newsweek's Katie Connolly thought it was "a little disheartening" that it took so long for a glimmer of bipartisanship to emerge -- and only then over a fairly benign measure.

The fact that so many other Republicans opposed the bill or didn't vote at all "just shows how divided the Senate remains," she said on The Gaggle blog."I have no doubt that in a saner time, a majority of Republicans would have happily voted for this bill. In the new, idiot era of politics, the content has ceased to matter, and all that counts is rooting for your team to block the other team from scoring," Daily Kos blogger "ukit" lamented.
Filed under: Nation, Politics, Top Stories, The Point

5 Facts Of Humor

2009-10-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

By Dan Gascon

Your sense of humor allows you to constantly create new realities to enrich and bring balance to your life. Along with laughter, it provides you with greater physical health, helps you cope with perspective and gives you more happiness. Here are the facts to humor’s balancing act:

1. RELIEVES YOU OF TENSION AND STRESS. Humor and laughter combat and create opposite effects. When you laugh, you are cheerful, upbeat, playful, light-hearted, you let go, vent, relax and unwind.

2. GIVES YOU AN AEROBIC AND INTERNAL WORKOUT. The diaphragm is the large muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and gets a great workout when we laugh heartily. Our respiration is enhanced, blood pressure is lowered and the amount of oxygen in the blood stream increases. Ever laughed so much it hurt? The movement of the diaphragm also stimulates surrounding organs, such as the stomach, kidneys and liver, acting as an internal massage.

3. STIMULATES YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. University studies show laughter lowers serum cortisol levels, increases T-cell production, lowers blood pressure and increases the number and activity of disease-fighting killer cells. These are all natural Ahealth substances,@ endorphins and encephalons that free us of pain and illness.

4. GIVES YOU PERSPECTIVE THAT HELPS YOU COPE. Your sense of humor has the power to manage, endure and lighten any load. By not allowing yourself to take things too seriously, you gain a greater ability to see change as challenging, not threatening. It gives you the capacity to cope with stress and difficulties in ways that are positive, uplifting and successful. Humor and laughing helps detach us from the funk we may be in. We then get a sense of self-protection and control over our environment.

5. EMPOWERS AND ENHANCES YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE. A lighthearted spirit always has the power to see you through. When you are troubled, feeling low, depressed or down, the experience of laughter, if even just for the moment, banishes feelings of loneliness, anger and fear. Humor and laughter can transcend any predicament with feelings that are lighthearted, carefree and hopeful. Humor has the power to turn any situation around by drawing our attention away from upsets. When you experience more laughter, smiles and feel carefree, your happiness increases with the spirit’s energy and powers the will to live. You make your life sweeter.

“Humor and most notably laughter, frees the mind, eases the faculties and causes the soul to lift. Thus, they must not only be looked on as great pleasures but also as superior in the composition of human life.”

Markus De Lorne
Copyright 2005 by Dan Gascon. Founder of Humor for your health. Reprinted with permission. Reach Dan at www.humorforyourhealth.com

Author, Humor Therapist & Self Improvemenr Coach

2009-05-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

As a humor therapist BC Carver has helped more than 500,000 people live stress free and productive lives. As a Self Improvement Coach he has helped more than 300,000 people realize their potential, to challenge themselves to be the best that they can be and not to die with their music still in them.

"One of the greatest lessons I learned is from Jim Rohn who said, "To get rich you need to improve yourself not your job."

B.C. will show you how to improve yourself, to become a super you.

BC's speeches are motivating, humorous, inspirational and thought provoking.

With B.C. you definately get way more than what you pay for. He's easy to work with and he's always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

B.C. is the Humor Therapist

To find out more about B.C. contact the speaker's bureau that sent you to this page.

B.C. is a member of the Christian Comedians Association, the NC Storytellers Guild, the NC Association of Festivals and Events and the Christian Meetings and Conventions Association.

He has won Cirtificates of Appreciation from the US Navy, US Marines, US Army, Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs and Lions Clubs of America.