The Power of Joy by Jeffery Kluger Many studies have been done to try and pinpoint the loci of joy in the lobes of the brain, reducing something experienced transcendently to something processed mechanistically. A mechanical interplay of neurons, synapses and neurotransmitters is the biological part. Joy is studied in genetics too: Do happy parents produce happy children? Do we come straight from the womb loaded with operating systems that predispose us to happiness or optimism or melancholy or gloom? And if so, how does the environment into which we are born affect that? Happy programming may not overcome tragic upbringings. Gloomy programming may eventually be overcome by loving caregiving. Or not. Families, cultures, or whole nations may share their own kind of collective joy or despair. In the recent “World Happiness Report”, the United States-the most powerful and prosperous country in the history of the world was only 18th on the list of happiest nations. We have rarely made it higher on that list. Plenty of people think family is the key but there are plenty of miserable families too. Some think it is faith or the fellowship of religion or spiritual enlightenment. Ultimately, the pursuit of joy comes down to a singular affair. We experience it personally and subjectively. We find it in meditation, or being in nature, jogging, cooking, dancing or art. When we fail to find true joy, we seek its chemical or behavioral simulacrum-in alcohol or drugs or gambling or shopping-only to find that that leads to sorrow that is a very real thing. Your happiest moments are in your control. When you...
A Time to Go Within Taken from article by Jennifer Chen, Yoga Journal Nov. 2020 It feels like 2020 has lasted much longer than a year. Below are some ideas from experts on how to usher in the new year and some renewed energy. Creating some rut busting inner peace routines could be the key to moving on. Deepak Chopra has struggled to make sense of the collective chaos, writing that in a time of crisis, the impulse is to go into emergency mode of fear, concern and panic. As we say good riddance to this turbulent year, we are setting our sites on 2021 by swapping out traditional year end customs with some reset rituals to ground ourselves. The good news is that science says repeated behaviors can help reduce stress while providing comfort because they satisfy our desire for predictability. Even counting to five can help us reset. We can take time to honor where we’ve been so we can move into the new year with our whole selves-the good, the bad and the resilient. See if the ideas below might work for you. Crystals are each unique and are said to carry their own energetic energy. Crystals have a vibrational energy that have the potential to alchemize into positive shifts that align with your intentions. Different stones are thought to promote specific traits. Think of the various stones as a tool to help set your intentions for the coming year. You can drop your crystals in the bath with you or soak them in water after setting your intention. Here is a brief list of...
Change Starts with One By Charlotte Alter, Suyin Haynes and Justin Worland In August 2018 Greta Thurnberg began her movement alone, sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament to pressure the government to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Thornberg has succeeded in creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions of vague, middle-of-the-night anxieties into a worldwide movement calling for urgent change. She symbolizes the agony, the frustration, the desperation, and the anger of many young people worldwide. Leaders respond to pressure, pressure is created by movements, movements are built by thousands of people changing their minds. And sometimes, the best way to change a mind is through the eyes of a child. Within a year there were climate strikes beyond northern Europe. In New York City, 250,000 marched in Battery Park and outside City Hall. From London to the streets of Germany and in nearly 600 other countries. Change starts with one. Some simple changes to lessen our carbon footprint. The Rise of Healthier Proteins excerpted by Jamie Ducharme Swapping our beef for plant-based alternatives turns out to be good for both you and the planet. A global switch to substitutes like tofu could cut greenhouse emissions by 25%. We need big changes to tackle the climate change challenge immediately. Just limiting the amount of red meat in our diets will make a great contribution to this effort. It turns out that Americans are obsessed with protein. It’s touted as the cornerstone of our healthy diet. It helps people feel full and builds muscle. But most Americans eat too much protein every day, according to federal...
Easy Math for a Healthier You Parade Magazine, July 19, 2020 Many doctors are starting to believe we fixate much on our weight as a relation to health. There are some other key things we can focus on as a better indication of what benefits the body. Counting steps can be fun but 10,000 isn’t a magic number. A Brigham Young University study found that 10,000 steps a day didn’t help subjects lose weight compared to those walking half as much. Walking should be only part of a total fitness routine. Most Americans walk about 5,000 steps a day which is about 2 miles. Experts agree that the focus should be more on working up a sweat at least 300 minutes a week. Aim for 30 minutes 5 to 7 days a week. Adding 30 more minutes each day is even better. Be aware of your body-mass index. (BMI). From middle age on, you can lose 3 percent of muscle mass a year, a leading cause of disability, insulin resistance and related health woes. Tools to measure fat and muscle include BMI measurements that can be done at many fitness facilities or by your physician. Do resistance training with bands or weights at least two to three times a week. This is crucial to keeping and building precious muscle. Focus on waist size. More reliable than the scale or BMI to flag health risks is the simple act of measuring around your waist. Waist circumference is considered a good marker for metabolically active visceral fat. That s the kind of fat you don’t want. For men, the goal is...
Hello to all- The year 2020 is turning out to be a real eye opener. Our big world has suddenly become smaller. When has the entire world experienced such a similar catastrophe at the same time? I have been spending more time thinking and noticing what is all around me. I am taking the best parts of this moment in time and using it as a break from the hectic reality that was my life a brief time ago. After experiencing panic and anxiety about the future, I have moved to my next phase of acceptance. This will be a summer completely different than what I had planned and looked forward to since last year. This is my favorite time of year and I will fit my joy of this season into my new reality. This may be the summer of going back in time. As kids, many of us went out to dinner about once a month. It was a treat that we remembered as special. We stayed closer to home and didn’t seem to need as much to entertain us. I always look at projects and unread books as a someday thing. That someday is NOW. I am determined not to waste this gift of what I call headspace. I bit of time to ponder and plan and take care of my surroundings and myself. As I settle on the fact that we don’t know what the future holds, and by the way, never did. I will choose to enjoy the quiet, the light traffic, the clean air and the someday list. As my friend, Christina...
A World Without Trash Shared from article in National Geographic March, 2020 by Robert Kunzig A world without waste sounds impossible, but the vision of a circular economy where we use resources sparingly and recycle materials endlessly- is inspiring businesses and environmentalists alike. Can we make it happen? Can we afford not to? We can look at existing technologies that other countries have implemented and build on that knowledge. In Copenhagen, Denmark, an incinerator uses the latest technology to convert 534,000 tons of waste a year into energy to electrify 30,000 homes and heat 72,000. The plant doubles as a recreational destination, with an all-season ski slope, a tree-lined hiking and running trail, and a 280- foot climbing wall. Which is the world’s tallest. Every year we transform more than 100 billion tons of raw material into products. Less than a quarter becomes buildings, cars, or other long-lasting things. Less than 10 percent cycles back into the economy. The circular economy movement aims to increase that number and reduce the enormous amount of waste. The vast majority of inputs to the economy, 93 billion tons in 2015, are resources extracted from the Earth. Both finite (minerals, ores, and fossil fuels) and renewable ones (biomas). Two-thirds of the material flowing through the economy, 67.4 billion tons in 2015, gets emitted as pollution. The carbon from fossil fuels or other sources are disposed of as waste. In Prato, Italy, where wool clothes have been produced since the 12th century, some 3,500 companies, employing 40,000 workers, process discarded textiles. The wool is sorted by color, washed, and shredded. It is then...