Archive for the ‘Personal Health’ Category

2010 - Happy New Year

Friday, January 1st, 2010

2010 – Happy New Year! 

Well, here we are. Ten years into the New Millenium. Post 9/11. Post Economic meltdown. Post Bush-Cheney. Several degrees into Global Warming. Several setbacks into Global Cooperation. The backside of the Great Recession. The end of a decade of decadence. Folks, straighten your chair backs, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing; somehow or another, we made it!

So – as we come to the end of this bumpy ride—what’s next for us?

I have no crystal ball to foretell the future, but my hunch is that, like so many generations of God’s people on planet Earth, we are about discover the consequences of having to collectively learn things the hard way!

Here are just a few of the tough lessons in store for us: (more…)

Celebrate December

Monday, December 21st, 2009

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving,

make every day a holiday and celebrate just living. “

 Amanda Bradley

On this clear cold day with the sun’s glow waking my winter world, December is a perfect time to enjoy a spiritual lift. The cloudless sky seems to open to heaven itself, and outside my wind chimes are ching-chinging a cheerful song. With sunshine glossing the frost, the trees and birds and rocks and water are rejoicing along with me!

I think about how the month of December is a gift for the spirit, full of holiday cheer and family gatherings. Around the world, it is a time of spiritual celebration: Jewish Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, Christmas, the Muslim New Year, and the African American days of Kwanzaa, among others.  I like to think about how, in places far and near, the world is affirming that God is good, people are worth loving and life is a gift. (more…)

A Great Place to Read

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

“No matter how busy you are, you must find time to read. ” Confucius

Ahhh, time to read…

For most of us, our schedules make finding time to read a challenge, even though we know how good it feels to settle in with a good book or magazine.

To add to the challenge, many of us who are particular about what we read are also partial to where we read. Our choices of the perfect places to read can be as personal and unique as choosing which books to pull from the shelf. We might translate the wisdom of Confucius as: No matter how busy you are, you must find a place to read! 

So where do you prefer to commune with words: (more…)

Question for the Day 6-24-09: Healthcare

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

 

We all profit if our healthcare system is transformed…

and that profit will not be just financial! 

This week in Washington, the hot topic is healthcare. Those with an eye on the cost and scope of expanding healthcare are calling for reform. Those with a heart for medical care as a humanitarian mission are calling for healthcare to be transformed. Most of us, confused and concerned with how to provide healthcare for our own family and others, are somewhere in between. (more…)

Question for the Day 6-8-09: Weekends

Monday, June 8th, 2009

“There aren’t enough days in the weekend.“       Rod Schmidt

It’s Monday. Again. Time to rise and shine, grab a cup of coffee and a bagel and leave the weekend behind. For some of us, this past weekend was full of time with family and friends.  For some, it was a chance to hit the lake for fishing. Others enjoyed three days of yard work or home repair or a service project. Lots of us spent Sunday in church and maybe even at a church picnic. Many of us went to concerts or had a night out for dinner or had friends over. Of course, some of us were at jobs that don’t stop on Saturday or Sunday. Sadly, a few of us felt compelled to keep working and worrying and waiting for things to change (you know who you are!) (more…)

Babies vs. Big Business

Saturday, August 11th, 2007
          Imagine that the world had invented a new “dream product” to feed and immunize everyone born on Earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere, required no storage or delivery — and helped mothers to plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer.
Then imagine that the world refused to use it.

Towards the end of this century of unprecedented discovery and invention, even as scientists discover the origins of life itself, this scenario is not, alas, a fiction. The “dream product” is human breast milk, available to us all at birth, and yet we are not using it.– UNICEF

With that thought in mind, this past week, there was a happy bit of medical news : (more…)

Mindfulness for Kids

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

Kids meditating

The latest issue of Greater Good Magazine  is out,  and I want to recommend not only the magazine as a whole but also a specific article in this edition: “Mindful Kids, Peaceful Schools.”

The piece echoes one I read a few months ago in another of my favorite magazines, Ascent, a Canadian publication. That article was entitled, “The New ABCs - Awareness, Balance & Compassion.” (more…)