Month: January 2023

Today’s Health Tip ~ Sugar is Not Your Friend

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Cut Back on the Sugar for a Healthier You

We all know smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your health, but a more stealth killer may be having the same level of impact: sugar. Just as cigarettes have long been linked to preventable mortality from cancer, heart disease, and stroke, researchers have increasingly found that consuming added sugar leads to similarly deadly conditions. According to a 2016 report in the journal Nutrients, too much sugar leads to “a variety of chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as well as cognitive decline and even some cancers.” 

Think About It ~ Make This the Year You Don’t Quit

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How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Are you hanging tough with exercise, dieting, or whatever? Many resolutions are quickly forgotten. We find them difficult after a few days or weeks and slip. It won’t hurt to indulge once, right? My mom claimed it was alway alright to indulge on special occasions. I enjoyed the way she invented special occasions – LOL. The thing is, so you failed, big deal. You can begin again. There is no written rule that one cannot begin again after a failure. Make this the year you get up, shake it off and begin again. If your resolution was important enough to make. It is important enough to pursue. Don’t quit. Fight on, You can do it. 

Optimism Works ~ Close Relationships Are a Source of Happiness

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“When it comes to cultivating a bright outlook, our sense of community is more important than our material possessions or even our career status,  Having close relationships and interacting with people are terrific sources of happiness,” explains Simon-Thomas.”

I have a friend Bob, a widower, who walks around with a dark cloud over his head. When I see Bob as I walk by his house. I stop and chat with him. Bob complains he hasn’t any friends. He told me he is an introvert and it’s hard for him to meet people. It’s something I can’t do for Bob. He has to move against his isolation tendencies and broaden his circle of relationships. If you know someone like Bob, stop by every once in a while and engage him/her in a conversation. It will mean a lot to him/her and you’ll feel good for doing a kindness. 

Today’s Poem ~ To Hope

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To Hope

John Keats

When by my solitary hearth I sit,
When no fair dreams before my ‘mind’s eye’ flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head.

Whene’er I wander, at the fall of night,
Where woven boughs shut out the moon’s bright ray,
Should sad Despondency my musings fright,
And frown, to drive fair Cheerfulness away,
Peep with the moon-beams through the leafy roof,
And keep that fiend Despondence far aloof.

Should Disappointment, parent of Despair,
Strive for her son to seize my careless heart;
When, like a cloud, he sits upon the air,
Preparing on his spell-bound prey to dart:
Chase him away, sweet Hope, with visage bright,
And fright him as the morning frightens night!

Whene’er the fate of those I hold most dear
Tells to my fearful breast a tale of sorrow,
O bright-eyed Hope, my morbid fancy cheer;
Let me awhile thy sweetest comforts borrow:
Thy heaven-born radiance around me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head!

Should e’er unhappy love my bosom pain,
From cruel parents, or relentless fair;
O let me think it is not quite in vain
To sigh out sonnets to the midnight air!
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head!

In the long vista of the years to roll,
Let me not see our country’s honour fade:
O let me see our land retain her soul,
Her pride, her freedom; and not freedom’s shade.
From thy bright eyes unusual brightness shed –
Beneath thy pinions canopy my head!

Let me not see the patriot’s high bequest,
Great Liberty! how great in plain attire!
With the base purple of a court oppress’d,
Bowing her head, and ready to expire:
But let me see thee stoop from heaven on wings
That fill the skies with silver glitterings!

And as, in sparkling majesty, a star
Gilds the bright summit of some gloomy cloud;
Brightening the half veil’d face of heaven afar:
So, when dark thoughts my boding spirit shroud,
Sweet Hope, celestial influence round me shed,
Waving thy silver pinions o’er my head.

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Today’s Positive Thought ~ It’s the Year for Great Big Dreams

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“All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them( Walt Disney).”  It’s early in 2023. There’s plenty of time to make our dreams come true this year. Dreams can’t come true if we’re afraid to dream. Even worse is the believe that we don’t deserve big, bountiful, beautiful dreams to come true. This is the year for great dreams to come true. Make great dreams and summon the courage to purse them.

Today’s Health Tip ~ Can Sitting Up too Straight Hurt Your Back?

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“Your mom wasn’t totally wrong; hunching can certainly be bad for your back,” says Dr. Neel Anand, professor of orthopedic surgery and director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center in Los Angeles, California. “But the opposite is true too. Sitting up straight for too long without a break can also cause strain. If you work in an office setting, make sure your chair is at a height where your knees are at a 90 degree angle, your feet can rest flat on the floor, and you have proper lower back support. Make sure to stand up, stretch, and take a quick walk several times a day to keep from getting stiff or causing injury.”

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Today’s Joke

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Joe: “My girlfriend demanded I choose between my career as a reporter and her.”

Pete: “What are you going to do?”

Joe: “I have some breaking news for her.”

Today’s Inspiration ~ Our Choice: Live in Fear or Live with Hope

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“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”

~ Stephen King

Today’s Health Tip ~ Smoking is a Killer

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Quitting smoking before 35 could save your life

If you’re a smoker, but not yet middle age, let this be your wakeup call: A 2002 report from the American Journal of Public Health suggests that roughly 90 percent of the increased mortality risk associated with smoking cigarettes can be stopped if a smoker quits before the age of 35. Past middle age and still hooked? You can still reap the benefits of increased longevity by quitting today.

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Today’s Positive Thought ~ Treasure Today and Treasure Yourself

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“Treasure this day and Treasure yourself, truly, neither will ever happen again (Ray Bradbury).” Each day is special. It’s the only day we have. Why not celebrate each moment? This is the only life we have on planet Earth. Enjoy the miracle of you. Enjoy the miracle of the day given to you. Dance, sing, laugh, and give it your all each moment. You will be creating a life well lived.

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