How You Carry It

Drumming

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
 Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Henry David Thoreau

In Charge

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously.
 If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life.
You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.

 Robert Foster Bennett

Meditation

Inside

Playing

"We don't stop playing because we grow old;

we grow old because we stop playing".

 George Bernard Shaw

Apologies

Apologizing chronically can be a sign that you are not feeling that you have much self worth.

Coffee and Health

Java junkies, rejoice.

 The largest-ever analysis of coffee and mortality rates has found that consuming large amounts of coffee isn’t bad for you at all. In fact, drinking two cups of coffee or more a day (regular or decaf) was linked to a 10 percent lower risk of death in men and 15 percent reduced risk in women.
 While I don’t recommend chugging cappuccino by the hour in hopes of living to 100, people who already drink coffee all day long may be able to stop stressing over whether they should give it up.
Of course, if your coffee habit is making you irritable or keeping you up at night, it’s probably time to cut back or switch to decaf.

Building It

Define Yourself

Uncertainty

“The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably deal with.”

Tony Robbins

Integrity

"If humanity does not opt for integrity, we are through completely.

It is absolutely touch and go.
Each one of us could make the difference".

 R. Buckminster Fuller

Exercise and Aging

The older we get, the more important exercise is for maintaining our health and independence. Starting at the age of 35, our muscle mass and metabolism begin to decrease. That means we may eat the same things but still gain weight (on average, 30 pounds each decade).
Exercise can help prevent weight gain, as well as muscle loss, as we get older. It can also help keep us limber, steady and strong — which are vital for everyday activities.
The easiest way to integrate exercise into your daily routine is by walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes a day.

Love Defined

Light

“If you light a lamp for somebody,
 it will also brighten your path.”

Buddhist saying

Little Things

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
Robert Brault

Soda Dangers

The Negative Committee

Inner Peace

The key to happiness is inner peace.

The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion,
while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.

 Dalai Lama

Responding

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”

Charles Swindoll



The notion that how we feel is directly caused by events around us, or directly involving us, is a scourge of our modern times.
To believe that the external world and its perceived relationship to us is the major determinative factor in how we feel  is disempowering and self-destructive.

Gum Disease and Sexual Dysfunction

Brushing and flossing may be the last thing you feel like doing when you’re ready to hit the sack, but doing both daily may help your performance in other bedroom activities.
 Men with severe gum disease appear to have a greater risk for erectile dysfunction, according to new research, and young men and the elderly are particularly at risk.
Know the early warning signs of gum disease: inflamed or tender gums, bleeding of the gums and halitosis (chronic bad breath). To protect against gum disease: Brush twice daily, floss every day, get regular checkups with your dentist, and don’t smoke.

True Strength

Competing

You may start to recognize that you sometimes find yourself in a competition without realizing you signed up to actually compete.
 Where in your life are you doing this unnecessarily, and is it truly to better you or to try and keep up with someone else?

Handling Everything

“Have respect for yourself, and patience and compassion.
 With these, you can handle anything.”

Jack Kornfield

High-Fat Dangers

High-fat diets may harm sperm, according to a small study published in the journal Human Reproduction.
The research found that guys whose diets were high in fat had a 43 percent lower sperm count and 38 percent lower sperm concentration than those who ate the least fat.

 Saturated fat, found in fast food, red meat and dairy, was a major culprit in sperm quality. On the other hand, men who ate plenty of omega-3s — the “good” fats found in fish — had more sperm that were formed correctly.

Anger

Doing "Nothing"

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing,

of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear,
and not bothering.

 A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

Flow

If we want to create and inspire, we need to create room to access inspiration.

It doesn’t come from sheer mental will. It’s from enabling a flow between our heads and our hearts so that we don’t just know our answers—we feel them, with every ounce of our being.

Mood Buster

If you’re feeling down in the dumps or saddled with stress, find solace in a 30-minute walk.
A brisk jaunt most days of the week can help bust a bad mood, whether it’s a result of stress, anxiety or depression.

The Bill

“The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can repress it we can never alter it.
 Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings manipulated, our perceptions confused, and our body tricked with medication.

But someday the body will present its bill, for it is as incorruptible as a child who, still whole in spirit, will accept no compromises or excuses, and it will not stop tormenting us until we stop evading the truth.”





Alice Miller

Destination

Process

“The good life is a process, not a state of being.
 It is a direction, not a destination.”

Carl Rogers

Blessed

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy,
to follow but not imitate,
to praise but not flatter,
and to lead but not manipulate.


William Arthur Ward

Resilience

Resilience, the ability to bounce back from difficult situations, can predict how satisfied you are in life. Learning to be more resilient can help you stay strong and positive in the face of daily upsets as well as major life events. It can boost self-esteem, help you be less afraid of change, and encourage you to take risks where you could fail.

While some of us are naturally more resilient than others, it’s a trait that can be worked on and improved. Use these strategies to boost yours. Engage in meaningful activities every day. Do things that are important to you and encourage self-growth. Maintain strong relationships with others; having a stable network of people you can count on will help support you in tough times. Foster a nurturing and positive view of yourself; don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go your way. Accept circumstances instead of dwelling on them. Take decisive action, rather than detaching from problems and wishing they would go away.

Inner Peace

Barriers

“Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

Rumi

Honesty With Ourselves

Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

Laughter

Laughter helps open up the inner lining of blood vessels, called the endothelium, improving arterial blood flow. A well-functioning endothelium is your first defense against hardening of the arteries and cardiovascular disease.
According to researchers, a hearty laugh — the equivalent of watching a 15-minute comedy clip — can boost blood vessel function for an hour. Other research has found that these levels remain elevated up to 24 hours later.
Making time for laughter at least once a day may help keep your cardiovascular health in tip-top shape.

Begin Again

Acceptance

 Practicing acceptance prepares you to live in this changing world, where you never know what’s going to happen next.
Acceptance is like protecting yourself with your own shield.

Unconditional Acceptance

“Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.”

Arthur Rubinstein

Youthful Brain

Forget your past health sins and focus on what you can do today to keep your memory strong. The key to maintaining a youthful brain is to stay involved and active in all areas of your life. That means exercising regularly, keeping social commitments, and challenging your mind. You can do all three by taking dance classes or any other kind of exercise class where you have to learn complicated move sequences.
 If that’s not your thing, take daily walks around the neighborhood with your friends, volunteer at your church or community center, or pick up a new skill, like a foreign language.
People who remain physically, socially and mentally stimulated show better cognitive performance and appear to have a more youthful brain.

Lighthouses

Character and Reputation

While I don’t believe any one action defines who someone is, I think there’s something to this.

Actions speak louder than words. And repeated actions are what shape our character and reputation.

If someone says they want to spend time together but repeatedly fails to show up, they are communicating that they aren’t willing to follow through on their promises.
If someone says they’re trustworthy but repeatedly lies, they are communicating that their word can’t be trusted.
If someone says they want to change but repeatedly fails to make an effort, they are communicating that they aren’t willing to do things differently.
Acknowledging this isn’t forming judgments. It’s recognizing the facts so that we can make a wise choice based on how things are—not how we want them to be.

Conquering Ourselves

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

 The Buddha

Fats

Saturated fat, the artery clogger found primarily in red meat and dairy, isn’t just bad for the heart.
New research suggests it can also hurt the brain.
Good fats, specifically the monounsaturated kind found in olive oil, nuts, avocados and seeds, appear to be linked to better cognitive function and memory over time. Eating a diet high in the saturated stuff is associated with exactly the opposite.
To keep your noggin sharp, avoid full-fat cheese and dairy, red meat, poultry skin, and baked goods made with butter or shortening.
 Supplement your diet instead with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, nut butters, whole nuts and olive oil.

Process

Perspective

Each person learns lessons, makes choices, and develops a unique perspective, which only they can claim and share.
Even two people who have had very similar lives will have slightly different experiences, leading them to a different point of view, so each person remains a treasure trove waiting to be explored.
 When we take the time to ask questions and listen, we find that every person has a fascinating story to tell and an utterly unique perspective from which to tell it.

Sharing Light

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,

and the life of the candle will not be shortened.

Happiness never decreases by being shared.


 The Buddha

Insomnia

One-third of American employees aren’t getting enough sleep, says a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
If work worries are keeping you up at night, wind down 30 minutes before bedtime by avoiding all stressful or stimulating activities. Instead, have a warm soak in the bathtub. The change in body temperature could help you fall asleep.
Regardless of what’s keeping you from getting your zzz’s, if you’re having difficulty sleeping, seek the help you need.