Success Is Not a "Do It Yourself" Affair

This is a great 5 minutes about a college kid who took another route. His job has taught him lessons that many of us only learn in our later years. Enjoy his discoveries....Being Vulnerable Entwines Us All.

Chemistry and our To Do List

Most of us are busy ticking off our daily list of things to do.
I have seen the effects of these three things, which ought to be put at the top of our daily list of tasks, that will form the perfect chemistry for the rest of our activities.
a) Get plenty of sleep.
b) Experience happiness in the things that gratify us.(gratitude+satisfy)
c) Find tools that create relaxation and help us find some peace.

From my observations, I can say that, the activities that effect our chemistry most point to where our health is headed.
I've been thinking about the almost 30 years that I have been in the field of health and healing. These are the three ways, that I have found, for people to take back a little control and make the most dramatic improvements in their health and wellbeing.

All Stories are Created Equal

I was cleaning up my apartment and stumbled over this quote from my acupuncture school days. Life is full of camps. Ours vs. theirs. I'm always looking for inspiration to help dissolve our divisions.
This quote helped me resolve my understanding of the many mysterious contradictions in Chinese Medicine and has became a great guide for the rest of my life as well.
....The momentary stability afforded by such models is an illusion because the essential nature of life remains chaotic and unknowable. Models are tools, elaborate stories, and we must recognize them as such. Diversity is what emerges when individuals are each able to embrace the freedom to create their own mythology while simultaneously allowing others that same freedom. For the sage, all stories are created equal inasmuch as thy empower the creative flow of life.

Inches Away from Nirvana

A good friend sent me this fascinating video with Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist with first hand experience of the split between the left and right hemisphere of the brain. It is the most revealing look into the degree to which we can alter our perceptions instantly. I promise the 18 minutes it takes to watch the video will be time well spent. You can load the video from the transcripts on the right side, if you have trouble with the scripts. Enjoy....

The Value of Friendship

Last week's Speaking of Faith was an interview with an Irish poet and philosopher, John O'Donohue.
This is a touching excerpt from his book Anam Cara.
"In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam cara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and cara is the word for friend. So anam cara in the Celtic world was the "soul friend." In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam cara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam cara you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the "friend of your soul." The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. There is no cage for the soul. Teh soul is a divine light that flows into you and into your Other. This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship. In his Conferences, John Cassian says this bond between friends is indissoluble: "This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself cannot part."
In everyone's life, there is great need for an anam cara, a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial and functional lies and half-truths of social acquaintance fall away, you can be as you really are. Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person's soul."

Healthy Glow

I was putting paper in my African Grey's cage, when I stumbled on this New York Times article from back in December on Acupuncture Face Lifts. More and more people have been asking me if I can help them or their friends look and feel younger. Classical acupuncture, which was the bedrock of my training, offers the hormonal help that most of us need to look younger, but more importantly feel younger too.
Here's an excerpt from the article that I would agree with.

That said, holding tension in one’s jaws or brows can make a face appear strained. I am a teeth grinder with a tight jaw. Mr. Seplow inserted needles into my jaw area to relax it. He also assessed my systemic issues. Red blotches above my cheeks, he said, were a sign of sluggish digestion, so he put needles into my feet and legs for this.

Many cosmetic acupuncturists pride themselves on their holistic service. “The way I look at it, your health is reflected in your skin,” said Anita Lee, a licensed acupuncturist who has a private practice that specializes in women’s health in Manhattan. Because acupuncture facials improve circulation and unblock stuck energy, Ms. Lee said, “they help people heal from the inside out.”

A Great Resource

I just finished reading the book We Carry Each Other. It described a website where anyone can set up a Care Page for themselves or others. It is for anyone going through life altering experiences, such as serious illness, caregiving for our loved ones, accidents and recent loss. As many of you know, when I lost Alan last month, my husband of 27 years, to Alzheimer's, I had all of you to comfort me. I can't tell you how your love and good wishes carried me! A blessing.
I can't imagine having to go through these stress filled experiences alone, so I wanted to share this resource with you. Pass it on to anyone who needs a virtual hug.

Have a Peace Party

My friend from the Peekskill Rotary invited a group of his friends to his home for a Peace Party. We were asked to share our thoughts, songs, poems and experiences concerning peace and unity. Nearly everyone, including old and young from many nations and cultures, shared their views. We all left feeling empowered and hopeful. In this season of Super Bowel parties, consider a wonderful alternative.
This is the Rumi poem I read:

A Great Wagon

When I see your face, the stones start spinning!
You appear; all studying wanders.
I lose my place.

Water turns pearly.
Fire dies down and doesn't destroy.

In your presence I don't want what I thought
I wanted, those three little hanging lamps.

Inside your face the ancient manuscripts
Seem like rusty mirrors.

You breathe; new shapes appear,
and the music of a desire as widespread
as Spring begins to move
like a great wagon.
Drive slowly.

Some of us walking alongside
are lame!

~
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

~


The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.


I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.

Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.

Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?

They try to say what you are, spiritual or sexual?
They wonder about Solomon and all his wives.

In the body of the world, they say, there is a soul
and you are that.

But we have ways within each other
that will never be said by anyone.

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.


If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

Our Fears

For those of you who may have missed the movie Coach Carter, my good friend Sheila read this quote to me and I wanted to share it with you.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our dark that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people don't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
We looked up the quote and found its source:
The "Our Deepest fear..." quote is originally from Marianne Williamson's book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

What may be motivating apathy or action

Here's a small excerpt from this week's Speaking of Faith. I always recommend listening to the Uncut version.
Krista Tippett interviews Ingrid Jordt about her experiences in Burma.

Ms. Jordt: And so I'm feeling that we need to find new strategies. And the ways that the Burmese have undertaken the everyday strategies to everyday life and everyday suffering, I think draw on a number of — a cultivation of the number of key mental states. And one of them is compassion. And compassion is known in Buddhism as one of the four sublime states of mature emotion. And with compassion, a person feels inclined to show special kindness to those who suffer. Compassion permits us to perceive pain and torment and suffering in another living being.

But the thing that's interesting, and this is something that my Burmese monk teacher said to me, is that with a mental state, any mental state that's wholesome, but with a mental state such as compassion, there's always a near enemy to compassion. And the near enemy of compassion is sorrow. What's interesting about sorrow is that you're unable to do anything on behalf of another person's suffering. And compassion, on the other hand, allows you to feel that there is something that can be done. And so I feel that we need to cultivate here in the West — if we talk about apathy — our own mental states; if we feel outrage, that we realize that that response will create anger and only more hatred and violence.

Ms. Tippett: So you're saying we recognize our outrage also as akin to another possible reaction.

Ms. Jordt: What I'm saying, if our response to the crisis in Burma today as outrage, then we're responding with anger. And if we feel disappointment and hopelessness, then the response is sorrow and pity and apathy again. But if we have compassion and if we choose to cultivate mental states of truly the understanding of what it means that another being is suffering the way that they are in Burma, then I think it we'll undertake a kind of renewed activism toward making the case of Burma something that just doesn't disappear off the newswaves because we have also become apathetic.

Mind/body 3 part article on depression's effects

Cinda Hocking has written a marvelous article on how depression effects the body, especially in the area of eating and metabolism. This is part one, so sign up for her blog to get the other two parts or visit again. Her perspectives as a social worker, now Martial Arts instructor, are quite unique.

Yoga and the Silence

I included the unedited version of the Speaking of Faith show from this last weekend. So much of what they are describing has been my experience of the mind/body relationship in my acupuncture, Qi Gong and Tai Qi. In all my years I have never experienced a more articulate description of something that most of us know and feel on some levels but have trouble putting into words.
Enjoy when you have some time to unwind and listen.

If the question of "what to eat?" is your thing....

Announcing my new blog, Metabolic Matters. I'll be posting information to help you better understand Metabolic nutrition and Metabolic Testing/Typing. There will be easy tips to help you eat for your type with specific recipes and lots more. There will even be an active discussion on my two related Yahoo groups for lifestyle tips to put that bounce back in your step. Check back for the launch of some in depth discussions and debates. All comments are welcome in our Metabolic Family.
Speaking of families, I will be having discussions related to my Healthy Parents/Healthy Kids programs. Being a healthy role model is the best thing you can do for your child. For more information also check out the Children's International Obesity blog, which is being expanded daily.

Let the Music Take You Deeper, Thoughts on 9/11

Check out September Concerts all over the world. Music for healing the planet and bring peace to our world. I'll be at the Creole Restaurant from 4 p.m. until about 9 p.m. if you are local and can get there.
Also, thought you might like to read a little about music and humanity by Branford Marsalis

In such a short period of time!

In addition to sharing this story with you, Crete's Health Care Crisis, I want to make a short comment. The Mediterranean diet originated as a way of eating in warmer climates. It is actually only healthy for the descendants of those ancestors who came from such warmer climates as Crete. Descendants of those whose journey took them over the colder, more northerly routes across Russia, Asia and beyond need the opposite foods. Now, enjoy the article and prepare to be amazed.

It's about living and sometimes it's about dying

Reading about this remarkable woman threw all my preconceptions to the wind. What she accomplished in the last 7 years of her life, dealing with a life threatening disease, is a real eye opener. Worth a few minutes of your time, I promise.
The Jane Tomlinson story

Making the Effort

I have just been a part of three events in the last week where I witnessed amazing efforts on the part of the organizers. The first was last week's triathlon. The volunteers and organizers were there from before dawn to well into the afternoon, setting up, holding a well organized event, and breaking down all the equipment. No couch potatoes here.
The next event was my friend Sheilah's sculpture exhibit. Collaborative Concepts had 50 acres on a farm with 30 to 40 major installations. All the work to create the pieces and then getting them to the farm must have been exhausting. As you can read in their blog, the collaborative organized everyone for months ahead of time and pulled it off without a hitch.
Lastly, at my Mohegan Colony, Lyle Puente of My Brothers Banned, single handedly organized a movie night at the lake for our entire community. He schlepped the gear, chose the movie and sent out dozens of emails. It was a perfect night and a real treat.
Thank you all for enriching my life!

Some People Climb Mountains and Some People Have Heart Surgery

She's done it again. Krista Tippet has a wonderful interview this week on healing and alternative medicine. She is speaking with Dr. Oz of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. They discuss how including Alternative Medicine, with modalities drawn from various locales in the treatment plan, is the globalization of medicine. Have a listen.
Speaking of Faith

Rainbows, Black Bears and a Friend

After finding out that I came in 2nd in Sunday's triathlon, already a dream come true, I realized that actually the best part of the day was all the poetry I witnessed along the way.
It started with a lovely morning rainbow spilling into the far end of the lake.
Just as we were about to start the swim, I connected with a great friend, who had came to cheer me on. It made the biking hills feel much easier this week.
And then there was the bear!!! .....holy Smokey decided to run across the road directly in front of my path and then ran with me along side of the road. I could hear him/her just behind some bushes. Well, there was the motivation I needed and off I went, nearly breaking the sound barrier!
A great day on all levels - physically mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

What’s Missing From Your Training?

Since I'm doing a triathlon this week, I've been researching inspirational articles to motivate my training. Last Sunday, a week before the race, I encountered the 1.5 mile hill that I will be biking during the triathlon. I rode up it to get the feel for the race. There I was, crying in vain for my mommy, my head filled with all sorts of negativity. I imagined all the other bikers being in much better shape and what their dust would taste like as they passed me. I thought my lungs were going to explode.
Before reading the attached article, I was in the process of developing anxiety about going back to that hill. Who would choose to be in that much pain again?
After reading the article my attitude shifted. These concepts can be applied to any challenge, focus on the positive, have some helpful quick phrases handy for inspiration and do the mental preparation along with the physical to get ready. Now I'm psyched to get out there and ride! Enjoy! What’s Missing From Your Training?