Joe “I entered everything I ate yesterday in my new iWatch.”
Pete: “How’s it working out.”
Joe “My iWatch called 911.”
Month: September 2022
Something to Think About
Winning has it’s place in healthy competition. Competition challenges us to learn and improve our performance. When winning moves away from healthy competition it focuses on acquiring power, diminishing or destroying other competitors. One has only to look at the continuous political cycle. Political parties demonize each other. They conjure up false fears of what will happen if the opposing party comes into power. Each political group views itself as being the sole custody of the right answers for society’s problems. What would it look like if political groups worked together to benefit all of society? What would happen if political discourse became civil? What would happen if positions were presented without demonizing the positions of the opposition? We might end up with a more just and healthy society.
Today’s Health Tip ~ What Lifestyle Habits May Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease?
There’s strong evidence that healthy lifestyle habits — such as diet, exercise and not smoking — may play a role in reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. . . . In particular, the Mediterranean diet has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The Mediterranean diet is also linked to improved cognition in people who are at risk of heart and other vascular diseases. The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and fish and uses olive oil as the primary cooking fat. This type of diet is also a heart-healthy diet that reduces the risk of conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. These conditions are also risk factors for dementia.
Here are some steps that promote good overall brain health:
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- Avoid smoking.
- Control vascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Eat a balanced diet — such as the Mediterranean diet — that’s rich in vegetables, fruits and lean protein, particularly protein sources containing omega-3 fatty acids.
- Be physically and socially active, including engaging in aerobic exercise.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Take care of your mental health.
- Use thinking (cognitive) skills, such as memory skills.
- Avoid head injury.
- Treat hearing loss.
- Limit alcohol consumption.
A Better Life ~ There’s Another Tomorrow Coming
As long as there’s a tomorrow there’s hope. Times can be tough and the hurt may seem to never end. Hang in there. There’s another tomorrow coming and it’s going to be brighter than today.
Today’s Good Word ~ Hello
Hello is a simple greeting. It is expressed in different ways. I can speak the word hello. I can offer a friendly smile as my greeting. I can wave to you. These simple greetings are ways of acknowledging each other and implicitly confirming the world is a friendly place. When we follow up our hello greeting with a “how are you” or “have a great day” and offer a smile, we enrich our greeting. Imagine how you will make someone feel when you give them this super-charged greeting. You’ll be changing the world one greeting at a time.
Today’s Poem ~ The First Step
The First Step
Constantine P. Cavafy
The young poet Evmenis
complained one day to Theocritus:
“I’ve been writing for two years now
and I’ve composed only one idyll.
It’s my single completed work.
I see, sadly, that the ladder
of Poetry is tall, extremely tall;
and from this first step I’m standing on now
I’ll never climb any higher.”
Theocritus retorted: “Words like that
are improper, blasphemous.
Just to be on the first step
should make you happy and proud.
To have reached this point is no small achievement:
what you’ve done already is a wonderful thing.
Even this first step
is a long way above the ordinary world.
To stand on this step
you must be in your own right
a member of the city of ideas.
And it’s a hard, unusual thing
to be enrolled as a citizen of that city.
Its councils are full of Legislators
no charlatan can fool.
To have reached this point is no small achievement:
what you’ve done already is a wonderful thing.”
complained one day to Theocritus:
“I’ve been writing for two years now
and I’ve composed only one idyll.
It’s my single completed work.
I see, sadly, that the ladder
of Poetry is tall, extremely tall;
and from this first step I’m standing on now
I’ll never climb any higher.”
Theocritus retorted: “Words like that
are improper, blasphemous.
Just to be on the first step
should make you happy and proud.
To have reached this point is no small achievement:
what you’ve done already is a wonderful thing.
Even this first step
is a long way above the ordinary world.
To stand on this step
you must be in your own right
a member of the city of ideas.
And it’s a hard, unusual thing
to be enrolled as a citizen of that city.
Its councils are full of Legislators
no charlatan can fool.
To have reached this point is no small achievement:
what you’ve done already is a wonderful thing.”
Today’s Good Word ~ Face It
Early in my career I had a mentor who told me that I would find myself in situations where fear was knocking on my door. My mentor, tongue in cheek, said, “where loose fitting pants so they can’t see your legs shaking.” Then he added, “whatever you do, face it. Don’t turn your back on it because it will show up with a different disguise. Face it early, don’t let them see your legs shaking.” He was right, I faced a number of situations where fear knocked on my door. I also followed his advice and faced it. It made all the difference.
Today’s Health Tip ~ Concerned About Getting Cancer?
Alcohol Raises the Risk of Getting Cancer
The recommendations on alcohol may leave you stumped on whether or not you should imbibe. While red wine has been tied to lower rates of certain heart disease risk factors, drinking a lot of alcohol is associated with multiple types of cancer, including head and neck, breast, esophageal, liver and colorectal cancers, per the NCI. It may be particularly important to drink less (or abstain) if you’re worried about or at a higher risk for breast cancer. Drinking more than one alcoholic drink (that’s 2 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of liquor) has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, and the risk goes up even higher the more you drink, according to the University of Texas MD Anderson Center.
It’s possible heavy drinking may interfere with the body’s ability to absorb important antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C and D, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse. People who drink a lot of alcohol may also be more likely to eat fewer fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which are associated with lower disease risk.
It’s best to stick with the current recommendations of no more than two drinks per day for people AMAB and one for people AFAB. If you know you are at a higher risk for breast cancer, it’s better to abstain altogether.
Today’s Power Thought ~ There’s Always a Way
If you accept as a truth “there’s always a way,” a failure is only a slight detour in the road. You know if you keep working at your challenge, you’ll find a way. It’s inevitable. Yes, there’s always a way. Keep searching.
