Life 01 (May 08 - Oct 08)

[blid2def]

pepper....

i would rather believe Huatopdea is all encompassing...although, i thank you for pointing out another website...

i have noted you have been posting...many thanks...pls post more.

Oi! Wake up!

[kennynah]

testing u..... i was referring to another website i started...called Huatopdea which has the same pronounceation...

now i know, u hawk eye...

[winston]

No Such Thing As a Bad Day by Alexander Green

Hamilton Jordan passed away this week without much fanfare.

History will remember him as Chief of Staff to President Jimmy Carter and as a high-level advisor to independent Presidential candidate Ross Perot.

But some of us will remember him for other reasons...

Jordan was diagnosed with cancer three times. The first was lymphoma, which he believed was a result of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. That battle was followed by bouts with melanoma and prostate cancer.

Eight years ago, he published "No Such Thing as a Bad Day," the story of his personal struggles. In an interview with WebMD, he was asked about his choice of title.

"Well," he said, "I was counseling a young man who had a brain tumor, and I called him one day, and I asked him, 'Are you having a good day?' and he said, 'Well, my wife is 32 years old, my kids are 4 and 6, and my doctor tells me I have about two months to live. There's no such thing as a bad day.'"

Jordan was clearly impressed with this attitude because he came to embody it himself. Despite surgery and grueling chemotherapy, he used what he called all his "emotional and spiritual resources" to focus on being well, repeatedly telling friends and family he was "just very, very lucky and blessed."

During the course of his journey, Jordan created his "Top Ten Tips for Cancer Patients." Perhaps you know someone you can share them with. Here they are:

1. Be an active partner in the medical decisions that are about your life. Don't be passive. Learn about your disease and participate in the decisions that are made.

2. Seek and know the truth about your illness and prognosis. If you don't have the facts and know the truth, you won't make good decisions.

3. Get a second opinion. Good doctors don't mind that. If yours objects, find another one.

4. Determine upfront how broad or narrow your physician's experience is. You want someone who is very familiar with your disease.

5. If you have a poor prognosis or rare form of cancer, try to get to a center of excellence. (A place like Johns Hopkins, M.D. Anderson or the Cleveland Clinic, if possible.) Sometimes this is a matter of cost, but insurance generally covers treatments at these centers.

6. Do not allow your caregivers to project their values, goals, and expectations onto you. In his book, Jordan tells the story of a 68-year-old patient who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His 35-year-old doctor reasoned that since his life expectancy was only five or six years, he should do nothing. The patient rejected the diagnosis and had his prostate removed. Many years later he was still alive and in good health.

7. Understand the economics of cancer care. Let your doctor know what you're willing to do to supplement your coverage to get a good diagnosis. Don't find yourself in a situation where you turn down a $600 test your doctor wants to run because your insurance doesn't cover it.

8. Find a doctor in whom you can place your trust and confidence. If your doctor doesn't believe he or she can cure you, you won't believe you'll be cured. Find one with a fighting spirit.

9. Treat your mind as well as your body. Get outside. See friends. Stay as active as you can. When you are happy and engaged with life, your immune system is stronger.

10. Your attitude and beliefs are your best weapons against cancer. Your emotional, intellectual, and physical responses to the words "You have cancer" have a lot to do with your survival and quality of life. A positive spirit and the will to live can be a highly effective force in your treatment.

Jordan's own attitude was exemplary. As he battled cancer, he maintained a meaningful, active lifestyle. He was a consultant to Nike and a trustee of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He was a board member of privately-held Proxima Therapeutics, as well as two non-profit organizations: the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the Lasker Foundation.

He and his wife, a pediatric oncology nurse, also founded one of the nation's first non-profit camps for children with cancer - Camp Sunshine in Decatur, Georgia.

In an interview, Jordan said, "It's very powerful for a child who is newly diagnosed with cancer to go to Camp Sunshine, to have a friend or counselor who has the same cancer they had, who has been cured or had a limb amputated, or are bald. It has a powerful effect on the attitudes of these children."

Today Camp Sunshine offers a year-round program, including 24-hour onsite medical and psychological support. It currently serves more than 500 kids and is free of charge to all families.

Hamilton said he would always remember his "raw fear" at his initial diagnosis. But he also said he would never forget the focus, realization and sense of purpose his cancer brought him, too. He called it "the ironic blessing."

In his book, Jordan writes, "A life-threatening disease like cancer casts our life and purpose in sharp relief. Some cancer patients allow cancer to dominate and define their lives... But there are many, many more who use their illness to find new meaning in their lives. And these are the patients who greatly exceed their prognosis or medical expectation."

Jordan did. He lived 22 years beyond his initial cancer diagnosis, finally succumbing to the disease Tuesday at age 63.

How can we honor his memory? Sending a donation to Camp Sunshine is one possibility. Trying to emulate the courage and compassion he showed in life is another. At the very least, we can all acknowledge a simple truth:

There really is no such thing as a bad day.

[winston]

Finding Meaning In the Second Half of Life
by Alexander Green

It is an ironic fact of modern life. We in the materially prosperous West are living the most healthful and outwardly comfortable lives of any people in history.

Yet according to the National Library of Medicine, nearly 8% of American adults - over 20 million people - are suffering from depression. Adjusting for population growth, depression is ten times as prevalent today as it was 50 years ago.

No wonder the United States has been dubbed "Prozac Nation." According to the American Mental Health Alliance, we spend over $86 billion a year on anti-depressants. (Insert low whistle here.)

Much of today's psychotherapy, unfortunately, is little more than a pharmacological crapshoot. Doctors prescribe a pill and if that doesn't work, well... heck, let's try another one. (Insurance providers actually prefer this approach, incidentally, because it's cheaper than therapy.) Yet studies show that roughly one-third of patients fail to respond to any kind of drug treatment.

Is it possible that some of these patients have a problem that a prescription - or even traditional therapy - can't solve?

Before you assume that I'll be joining Tom Cruise for an afternoon in La-La Land, hear me out...

Psychologists believe that roughly a quarter of Americans with symptoms of depression suffer from a chemical imbalance that, like diabetes, is most effectively treated with medication.

Others are experiencing a kind of reactive depression that is triggered by a serious reversal of some kind, an unexpected layoff, for example, or the sudden loss of a loved one. This form of depression can be severe but will ordinarily fade with time.

Yet, according to Dr. James Hollis of the C.J. Jung Educational Center in Houston, millions more suffer from a chronic melancholy that emanates from an entirely different source: a lack of meaning in their lives.

This problem is particularly acute in retirement. In the workforce we are accustomed to having a place to be and a time to be there, with deadlines and projects to complete. In many ways, we draw our identity from our work.

So it can be a shock if retirement arrives and we discover that the days of rest and relaxation we so eagerly anticipated are instead boring or tedious.

Of course, you don't have to retire to experience a profound ennui. Millions of workers search in vain for meaning and fulfillment, too.

Many of them are haunted by the vague notion that something is missing in their lives. Often they can't put their finger on it. But it gnaws at them, creating fear, anxiety and, in some cases, depression.

In his memoir "Memories, Dreams, Reflections," pioneering psychologist Carl Jung writes, "I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life. They seek position, marriage, reputation, outward success or money, and remain unhappy and neurotic even when they have attained what they were seeking. Such people are usually contained within too narrow a spiritual horizon. Their life has not sufficient meaning."

But if meaning is missing, where can it be found? Some find the answer in their religious traditions. Others discover it by studying the world's wisdom literature, the great writings by history's wisest souls. Still others are fortunate enough to see it modeled by a parent, friend, or teacher, someone who is not merely living up to someone else's expectations but is instead busy living "an authentic life."

These men and women are too rare. And when they appear, society has a tendency to label them eccentric. As the poet T.S. Eliot once observed, in a world of fugitives, the person who is headed in the right direction will appear to be running away.

Ironically, it is popular culture itself that sends many people down the wrong path, bombarding them with dubious notions of satisfaction and success.

"Western society has lost its way, producing material goods in impressive superfluity but also generating so much stress and pressure that people cannot enjoy what they attain," Gregg Easterbrook writes in "The Progress Paradox." "Perhaps men and women must reexamine their priorities - demanding less, caring more about each other, appreciating what they have instead of grousing about what they do not have, giving more than lip service to the wisdom that money cannot buy happiness."

It's tragic when someone sacrifices years of his life, his friendships, his family - sometimes even his health - pursuing goals that are ultimately unfulfilling. Mythologist Joseph Campbell once quipped that midlife is when you reach the top of the ladder and find it's leaning against the wrong wall.

That's why it cannot be said too often: Money. Possessions. Luxury. These are not the hallmarks of a life well lived. At best, they are merely by-products.

"Despite the blandishments of popular culture, the goal of life is not happiness but meaning," writes Dr. Hollis, author of "Finding Meaning In the Second Half of Life."

To determine whether you're on the right track, he suggests you ask yourself a simple question: "Does the path I'm on enlarge me or diminish me?" Your answer, he says, should be immediate and instinctive.

Yes, we're all busy. But can we possibly be too busy to get our priorities straight? After all, only you can determine what is most important in your life, whether you're working, retired or somewhere in between. You can choose to pursue what's most important.

Living an authentic life is not an easy choice. The poet e.e. cummings said, "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

So expect conflicts and hurdles. Setbacks, too. Finding creative solutions to these challenges fuels the mind with positive energy. It gives you the opportunity to show yourself - and those around you - how much you really want it.

And, in the process, it gives your life meaning.

As Carl Jung observed, "Meaning makes a great many things endurable - perhaps everything."

[millionairemind]

http://ezinearticles.com/?Successful-Living&id=1204034

Successful Living By Shane Hunte

Successful living is exactly what the phrase implies and that is living as if you are already a success. It is amazing how this simple little technique can work wonders in your life as it magnetically pulls your desires seemingly out of mid air to become your reality.

Yes - as you live your success in each and every step you take and as you believe without a doubt that you already have what you want - it will come true. But it is important that you believe it will. You don't need to concentrate on anything other than to discipline your belief system.

You will suddenly be struck by an idea that will bring about what you desire because you held your success deep within your heart. You will then act on this idea and after a while it will seem like if your desire magically appeared from nowhere but it really didn't. You had the answer all along but just couldn't see it because you didn't believe it.

Let's take this apart so you can see clearly why what you perceive as true is what you believe and what you believe is what comes to past. It all starts with what's in your head and this will either shape or shatter your destiny. How many time have you said "I'm going to fail" then think about the few times you really had no doubt that you will succeed at whatever it was that you wanted to do. It can be something simple or huge, the point is you made up your mind to either fail or succeed.

You set the outcome before you even started to act upon whatever it was. Whenever you have a thought - you act according to the feelings resulting from it. The outcome is the result of your thoughts and actions combined. You can really think your way into a successful life

Successful living happens to those who realize that words are powerful and you can speak abundance and prosperity or death and destruction into existence.

You will hold in your mind the curses or blessings that you speak out of your mouth and because of this you will act upon them in a negative or positive way. This means the outcome will either be negative or positive.

The phrase "be careful what you wish for" still holds true up to this day because you can have all your wishes come true if only you believe that they will. Imagine being able to say "I will have the house of my dreams" and within a year you are able to buy it cash.

Is this realistic to you or is that a bunch of nonsense? I used to think it was until I said I'll give it a try. The funny thing is I failed the first couple of time because of my belief system.

It was corrupted by traditional thinking much like yours. I simply didn't believe that any normal human being can manifest his desires into reality. I couldn't see how a man could believe he had something that wasn't there. Nor did he know how he will achieve it.

But I was determined and I had to let all the negative thoughts go. I had to believe that I could create that web business. Although it isn't finished I know i thought it into existence because it was started and that was only a few months ago. This is the beauty of thoughts and believing in them.

I hope you see how you need to think in order to really achieve successful living. Just remember that it is all in your head and if you believe it is true you will manifest your desires into reality.

[winston]

Advice From a 2000-Year-Old Slave by Alexander Green

Standing in line at the register the other day, I couldn't help overhearing the woman on her cell phone in front of me.

Her mother had abused her. Her employer didn't appreciate her. Her husband didn't understand her. Her kids disrespected her. By the time she was done, I could have sworn I heard the sun was too bright outside and the birds were singing too loud.

Some things never change...

If a citizen of ancient Greece or Rome were magically transported into the modern era, he would be astounded by the current state of agriculture, transportation, housing, medicine, architecture, technology, and living standards.

But humanity itself would offer few surprises. We remain the same flawed human beings we always were, struggling with the same deadly sins our ancestors wrestled with millennia ago.

That is why ancient philosophers still speak to us - if we listen. The wisdom of the classical world transcends place and time.

The Stoic philosophy, for example, dominated the ancient world for nearly 600 years, beginning in the late 4th century B.C.

Stoics believed that reason was supreme. Tranquility is only achieved, they taught, by suppressing irrational emotions - like regrets about the past - and accepting life's unavoidable disappointments and setbacks.

One of the great exponents of Stoicism was a slave named Epictetus, born around 55 A.D. in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire.

Epictetus had few advantages in life. Aside from being born into slavery, he was crippled. And he was poor, living a simple life in a small hut with no possessions.

Yet he became one of the leading thinkers of his age. When Epictetus was freed from slavery - we still don't know how - he set up a philosophical school on the northwest coast of Greece, spending his days lecturing on how to live with greater dignity and tranquility.

As his reputation for wisdom grew, people flocked to hear him. One of his most distinguished students was the young Marcus Aurelius Antonius, who eventually became ruler of the Roman Empire.

Epictetus was not one for airy theories. In his view, the job of philosophy is to help ordinary people deal with the challenges of everyday life. And his words, captured in "The Art of Living," are as wise today as when he spoke them nearly two thousand years ago:

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

One of the clearest marks of the moral life is right speech... Glib talk disrespects others. Breezy self-disclosure disrespects yourself... If need be, be mostly silent or speak sparingly.

Let the quality of your deeds speak on your behalf. We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character. So, if anyone should tell you that a particular person has spoken critically of you, don't bother with excuses or defenses. Just smile and reply, "I guess that person doesn't know about all my other faults. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned only these."

Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. Once you have determined the spiritual principles you wish to exemplify, abide by these rules as if they were laws.

Epictetus had a deep understanding of human beings, of society... and of life. But he understood death, too.

I must die. If the time is now, I'm ready... How will I die? Like a man who gives up what belongs to another... A good death can only come from a good life.

Epictetus argued that our prime motivation should be inner achievements not outer ones. The right attitudes and values allow you to flourish no matter what the external world throws at you. Inner achievement lays the foundation for peace, tranquility, and personal freedom. And so he taught that true success comes from refocusing ourselves within:

We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how to respond to them.

If someone irritates you, it is only your own response that is irritating you. Therefore, when anyone seems to be provoking you, remember that it is only your judgment of the incident that provokes you.

Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom understand that the impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness, that there is nothing to be gained in blaming, whether it be others or oneself.

If anyone is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault... Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility except our own opinion.

He is wise who doesn't grieve for the things he doesn't have, but rejoices for the things he does have.

Fortify yourself with contentment, for it is an impregnable fortress.

Whether you are a street sweeper or a CEO, Epictetus insists that your main job in life - your most important task - is improving yourself. Always the realist, he emphasized moral progress over moral perfection.

Today Epictetus is widely recognized as the world's first philosopher of personal freedom. Its attainment, he insisted, is the result of mastering our thoughts, yielding to the inevitable, pursuing virtue rather than wealth, and diverting our attention from constant desire, yearning and attachment.

In a modern translation of "The Art of Living," philosophical writer Sharon LeBell observes that, "His was a moral teaching stripped of sentimentality, piousness, and metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. What remains is the West's first and best primer for living the best possible life."

Ironic, isn't it? A man born into slavery was among the first to show us the path to personal liberation.

"Anyone is free who lives as he wishes to live," said Epictetus. "And no one is free who is not master of himself."

[mojo_]

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip ?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah", said the son.

"So, tell me, what you learned from the trip ?" asked the father.

The son answered:

"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have the stars at night...

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!

[winston]

I used to walk along the water at McRitchie Reservoir everyday....

==========================================


The Formula for Re-Enchantmentby Alexander Green

On Saturday afternoon, for instance, a few of my colleagues and I hiked the canyon trail up to Lake Shirley. With the weather warming up, the snow on the peaks is rapidly melting. That means the waterfalls are enormous - and spectacular.

Two and a half miles up we reached the huge granite face known as the Rock Pile, behind which looms Squaw Peak. The view down the valley from here is breathtaking.

Too bad more people weren't around to enjoy it. We only passed about one hiker every half hour.

On Sunday, we drove around to the eastern side of the lake where there is virtually no development. We took an easy beach trail along the shoreline to Skunk Harbor. The scenery is almost beyond description. (My photos here don't begin to do it justice.)

Imagine the snow-capped Sierra Nevada rising up over 6,000 feet from the clearest, bluest lake you've ever seen. And the weather was perfect, 65 degrees and not a cloud in the skies.

Yet, even though it was Sunday, we only saw two other hikers the whole afternoon. Yes, we're still a week or two ahead of the peak season. But I think there's another explanation.

According to a study conducted by The Nature Conservancy and published by the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year, people worldwide are giving Mother Nature the cold shoulder and spending more time indoors. Thanks largely to "videophilia" - the love of sedentary activities involving electronic media - the typical American now spends 25% less time in nature than in 1987.

This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's hard to imagine people feeling strongly about conserving our natural heritage if they can't be bothered to get outside and enjoy it.

Secondly, scientists say that getting out of our everyday artificial environment promotes mental health. For example, Dr. Howard Frumkin of Emory University Rollins School of Public Health has found that exposure to the natural environment actually prevents and helps treat certain illnesses. Furthermore, studies show that "videophilia" is contributing to obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance.

Personally, I don't think there's a better way to spend an afternoon than tramping through the woods, the scent of earth and pine in the air, and not a sound to be heard but the rustling of the leaves and the sound of your own footsteps. No phones ringing. No horns honking. No television blaring.

How can you put a value on a few hours in the woods with nothing pressing to do and nowhere in particular to be? The combination of exercise, fresh air and solitude is unbeatable. And it's invigorating.

Naturalist E.O. Wilson says, "To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the excitement of the untrammeled world is regained. I offer this as a formula of re-enchantment."

Henry David Thoreau wrote that, "Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity."

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright agreed. "Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work."

So get on some comfortable shoes and get outside. There are plenty of easy trails out there, even if you huff and puff on two flights of stairs. Spending time in the Great Outdoors is exhilarating - and the ultimate stress reliever.

Two years ago, I was spending the summer with my family in the Shenandoah Valley. But it was a working vacation - and I was up to my eyeballs in deadlines, projects and conference calls. One afternoon, on sheer impulse, I grabbed my daughter Hannah, who was eight at the time, and told her we were going up the Skyline Drive to White Oak Canyon, one of the best waterfall hikes in the Shenandoah National Park.

We threw some binoculars and a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into a backpack and headed out. Two hours later, we were sitting at the bottom of the falls, nibbling on our sandwiches, our bare feet dangling in the water.

We were alone, except for a curious chipmunk, some crayfish scuttling along the bottom of the pool, and a noisy kingfisher on a branch overhead. Hannah, who loves to hike, was drinking it all in, looking around at the falls, down at the water, and then up at the wind in the trees.

After a few minutes of contemplation, she looked up and asked with the sincerity that only an eight-year-old can muster, "Daddy, can we do this every day?"

I know I'll never forget that moment. Or how much I wanted to say "yes."

[mojo_]

I used to walk along the water at McRitchie Reservoir everyday....

Two hours later, we were sitting at the bottom of the falls, nibbling on our sandwiches, our bare feet dangling in the water.

Once in a while I like to jog along the water at McRitchie Reservoir.

On one such occasion, I saw ahead of me a small boy standing by the water edge bawling away furiously like in pain.. His parents quickly carefully examined his hand which seemed to be bleeding. My friend jogging with me claimed to have seen something jump back into the water from where the boy was. It left me scratching my head as to what type of fish can jump so high out of the water with the express purpose of biting somebody, in a domesticated reservoir like this.

On a subsequent jog there, we saw a very muscular eel-like fish without a dorsal fin (some type of catfish?) swimming and flapping noisily in the water and looked like it could be the type of creature that jumped out of the water and bit the boy.

So, if anyone do go there next time, be careful of placing a body part near or into the water...

[millionairemind]

Those who have read the book The Secret.. might like the first 20mins intro of the DVDs...

I am currently watching the DVD now due to super comatosed mkt...

Thoughts become things...

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