Well, the last post on improving our health was a "bust"..no one interested in that subject! :) I will remember that for the future!


"THE ART OF BEING WISE IS THE ART OF KNOWING WHAT TO OVERLOOK"

William James

" IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES MAY AND MUST BE INFLEXIBLE."   Abraham Lincoln

"TELL THE TRUTH. LIVE THE TRUTH. LIVE SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID." 
Richard L. Evans   I often do not remember what I said but that is due to age not integrity!
 

Just a few thoughts to toy around with during the day.  Maybe you can do something with them?  Bye   Jim 

Any of you who read my blog with any degree of regularity know that I write about a wide variety of themes and topics--mostly it will be something I have been reading lately or sometimes something I have learned that I am passing along.

Today I will share something I have recently learned.

 I take a publication called  HEALTH RADAR which shares information on healthy advice and practices that are intended to be of benefit to the general public.

The July, 2014 issue just came and I found several things I would like to share:

5 Factors that Reverse Heart Disease

1. Increase fiber
2. East more fish
3. Increase nutrient levels ( eating a healthy diet will provide most vitamins and nutrients, but not necessarily all that your heart needs) "supplements can benefit your heart needs even if you eat well, exercise regularly, and manage stress," says Dr. Masley author of  The 30 day Heart Tune-up... He recommends taking a daily, well balanced multivitamin. Consult with your doctor if you  have special needs.
4. Reduce body fat
5. Increase your fitness.  "People who exercise regularly have 40% fewer heart attacks, strokes or cases of sudden death." says Dr Masley. "Regular exercise can help turn a sick, stiff, plaque-coated artery into a healthy one"  He believes that eventually exercise needs to be "intense to reverse heart disease."
But the Jim MacArthur method which I have been applying since I got home from my mission is to begin with whatever you can reasonably do but challenge yourself a little...and then increase your exercise to a point where it is evidence of doing something that stretches you a little."
I started with a 20 minute walk and am now doing 2 hours every morning of brisk walking and I "sprinkle" in about 15 minutes of jogging during the time I am out.  I intend to do longer and longer walks with a little more jogging. My next birthday is 70 so I am trying to be aware of my knees, hips etc...but I do feel I need to push myself a little to strengthen my overall body.

One final observation from this month's HEALTH RADAR is this--from a segment called FIT AFTER 50............ "the most important indicator of a person's risk for heart problems and diabetes is their current weight."

Well, there may be some who will dispute some of this but I have been a jogger most of my adult life and have had a few bouts with borderline diabetes which required me to meet with a clinical dietitian (I now have one in my family--my daughter Lori!!) and to do a lot of reading about how to improve one's adult health.

All that I have read, from MANY different sources tells me that there are several things that makes a HUGE difference in improving your general health and they are: 1) maintain a level of weight that is appropriate for your height 2) have a regular exercise program that challenges you a little 3) do things that help you with stress reduction 4) eat healthily and AVOID JUNK FOOD..GET RID OF SODA!  5) get a regular good night's sleep that is restful.

So if this helps you  to think about how to improve your health then you will be able to live a more quality life and to be with your family.  Have a nice day. Jim

The essence, the "core" of a person is what endures.  In our modern western world we have learned to fascinate ourselves with things in the short run...the temporary term of things.  And it is bringing us down in a tragic way.  Thus our obsession with food, sex, the body, pleasure, and that the "ends justify the means"....the ends justify the means as long as we "get what we want in the short run".
We have become a society in love with THE TEMPORARY...and due to that we have become a society of addiction. Why?  Because the essence of living in the "short run" REQUIRES  that we refill over and over, and very quickly, whatever we have chosen to "carry in our buckets".  Think about that...what do you carry in your bucket that has to be replaced quickly and over and over again?

Food?  Sex?  Pleasure?  Drugs?  Fame? Power?  Maintaining your grievances?  Control?  Having it "your way"?  Anger?  Selfishness?  Protecting your "secrets"?  Being right?  Competing for attention? Punishing others for hurting you?  Beauty?

OK--now I KNOW some of you reading this are looking at my list (and it could be tons longer) and you are justifying some or all of the things on my list.  In and of themselves..many of them are justifiable.  I agree.  But that is not my point.  My point is that we can be owned by each of them and then they begin to control us, own us...drive us to seek them insatiably.  If that is not happening in your life with any of these--then I pronounce you HEALTHY. :) 
But, in my 40 years of being a psychologist and working with people who are struggling to stay on top of their lives...I have seen that such temporary things, like those on my list above, often begin to define us and own us.  They take control of our lives.  That is not good. We should change that if it is occurring as it affects us and the members of our family and friends around us.

So, what IS the TRUE CORE of an emotionally healthy person?  It is their CHARACTER.  In the center of their being, their soul....they will find, carefully tucked away some very powerful, beautiful and ENDURING personal characteristics that can be the core of who they are. And the beauty of such a view of the emotionally healthy person is that their character can ENDURE.  It is not temporary and it does not control and drive them.....
As they discover it, feed it, develop it.....a calm comes over them...they sense something enduring and permanent inside of them...they realize they do not need the short-term quick fixes that so easily stimulate them....the short term "fixes" they must pay attention to in every moment...or they do not "feel good." 

Short term fixes that are in our bucket require us to always be checking to see if enough of our fix is in the bucket.  We panic if we do not regularly have enough of them.  Think about that versus the calm, enduring, permanency-laden CHARACTER of a person.  It was with you before you were born, and it can be with you all during your mortal life if you choose to acknowledge it...and it will go with you into eternity.  The other stuff just fools you, takes ownership of you, cheats you, and as you get older, leaves you empty and feeling that you deceived yourself.

Think about it.  Intriguing new ideas for some....a good reminder for others.....have a nice day. Jim

"A happy family is but an earlier heaven."

Sir John Bowring

Since I grew up in a family that struggled and much of the time I did not see how healthy parents function ....I have asked myself many times as a parent in my own family..... "what is the condition of our home?"

But the true underlying question is "what are my standards for my home?  By what do I measure the condition of my home?"

Of course that is YOUR decision. YOU choose the standards by which your home and family function....

But I can suggest you write down TEN words that represent some of the standards of your ideal home. Then thoughtfully reduce the ten to THREE.  And then study the condition of those three for a month and see if you can strengthen your home in those three areas.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find YOU and YOUR FAMILY can strengthen your home in amazing ways.

EXAMPLE:  What if you decide that the THREE words you choose will be:  LOVING ATMOSPHERE, WELL ORGANIZED, and GOSPEL CENTERED.

Then you next question is:  What do we do in our family to promote those three areas?  Have a family council and talk about your plan.  Meet together every two weeks to see how you are doing.  BUT THOSE THREE WORDS CAN GUIDE YOUR HOME AND FAMILY TO MEANINGFUL PROGRESS THAT STRENGTHENS ALL OF YOU.


If you try it and it helps you send me an email at sparky7264@gmail.com and tell me about it...it makes me happy to see families progress by working together. Have a nice day.  Jim

"Every person has secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call that person cold when he is only sad."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


And with that, I say "good night" and hope you have many nice days ahead. Jim

In my profession as a psychologist, and in my own personal life, I  have seen suffering which is very difficult to get over.  It seems to become a part of us...the hurt does.  The hurt we suffered finds a place in our soul and makes a niche for itself and establishes permanent residence.

To the many people I have met who will recognize those words above as being descriptive of their own lives....I know you have often heard "just get over it"............and you feel that it is not so easy.
I have had my own very tough experiences with allowing hurt to find a longterm residence inside me.  After allowing it to be there too long.....it becomes harder and harder to ask it to leave.  It has found a home within us.  Sometimes it stays because we want it to.  Sometimes it stays because it begins to serve a certain purpose--it may justify our anger or feed our self pity.  And sometimes it stays because we just pay way too much attention to it.

Sometimes it stays because we do not know how to ask it to leave.  We feel helpless in the embrace of its power.  So there are lots of reasons why it is there and why it remains.  Here, in these few sentences, I would not be able to tell you how to rid yourself of your deep pain which has been there so long........but I think I have a couple of ideas that may help you to begin the process of ridding yourself of it..........

Accept responsibility for beginning to rid yourself of it.  You can ask for help, of course, but you must know this is YOUR JOB.  It is your responsibility.  You have to not want it to be there any longer.  How it started is no longer relevant when so much time has passed.  You will now take charge of its ultimate exit from your soul.

Do all you can to stop feeding it.  It can't live without being fed by your attention to its existence.

And finally, lots of people are suffering similar dilemmas.......go give them some help.  It will nourish the goodness and the nobility within you and the painful place will no longer feel natural....it will get smaller....you will think about it less.  The place within you where it had made residence will be open for a healthier new resident.  It will all feel much better to you.

"In the very depths of your soul, dig a grave; let it be as some forgotten spot to which no path leads; and there in the eternal silence bury the wrong which you have suffered. Your heart will feel as if a load had fallen from it, and a divine peace come to abide with you."      Author Unknown  (but thank you to the person who received that heavenly revelation)

Well, that is my thought for today. Have a nice day.  Jim