Transforming
Health and Longevity
Consciousness Worldwide

Mindfulness 100

Genetic and Lifestyle Misinformation

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Do you have a family member who redefined your family’s longevity potential, outliving everyone else who’d come before them? Do you want to be the next one to break that barrier with quality years? If you have bought into misinformation about genetics and lifestyle, some of the fiction you’re believing may be keeping you from living your best life.

Think about this for a moment: We live in a culture of misinformation and fake news. For example, we’re told that egg yolks are bad for us, margarine is better than butter and that fat makes you fat. All of these are proven falsehoods, yet this misinformation persists. Even the connection between cholesterol and heart disease has been debunked in the literature.1 It’s no wonder so much of our population is struggling with their weight or suffering from ill health.

The misinformation prevalent in our society has led to an astonishing overuse of medications, because people believe that magical pills can solve their problems. From prescription medication overuse and drug abuse, to the 100,000 people who die from reactions to over-the-counter medications, we’re seeing the terrible price that’s being paid from a failure to examine what we are being told.

We humans are complex and dynamic beings who are self-regulating and self-healing, and it’s crucial to understand how the human body functions in order to live well. The nervous system is our master control system, and keeping it healthy must become a priority if we are to overcome the stress factors that affect us every day. There’s no quick fix that can heal, we need a holistic approach to health and longer life.

But don’t our genes lay out the roadmap of our lives and encode the lifespan of our bodies? While genes certainly play a role, a recent study published in the journal Immunity and Aging2 found that only about 25 % of the variation in longevity has to do with genetic factors. You can have much more influence on your lifespan than you may think.

Modifying your lifestyle to take care of your body is key to a long, full life. Prioritize nutrition, endurance, and strength training. Take care for your nervous system and spine with chiropractic check-ups. Once you make the transition from crisis care to lifestyle care, you’ll have much more control over your health of your body.

Live your best life every day, your ideal 100 Year Lifestyle.

1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/06/12/high-cholesterol-does-not-cause-heart-disease-new-research-finds/ (accessed 10 November 2017)
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822264/ (accessed 10 November 2017)

Happiness and Positive Psychology

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Largely thanks to improved sanitation and nutrition, the number of centenarians is on the rise.[1] Indeed, the number of 100-year-old Americans—a population already more likely to live to 100 than any other country’s—has roughly doubled over the last two decades. Moreover, according to Matt Sedensky of The Associated Press, that number is expected to at least double again by 2020 to over 140,000, with some estimates projecting as much as a seven-fold increase, resulting in over half a million Americans of age 100 or more.[2]

Now, many of us joke that, without being able to indulge in certain of our worst habits (like bacon, beer, and barbecue just to name a few), who would want to live that long? Even though we express it jokingly, it’s fundamentally a statement about what we want from our quality of life. Anyone who aspires to live to be a hundred years old isn’t talking about living past the ability to function in the world either physically or mentally; we imagine that we will be healthy, financially secure, and—of course—happy.

The idea of “happiness” as a feeling doesn’t really capture what we’re after, though, because that kind of happiness is fleeting. We can be euphorically happy one second and, based on what happens in the next second, we might be cataclysmically depressed. Anyone who has lived very long at all knows that things happen—most of them far outside our control—that are anything but happy.

Therefore, when we think about what we would want from—and associate with—a long life, we don’t just want the good feelings that positive psychologists call hedonia, borrowing from ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle. We also want happiness that is genuine, deeper, and lasting: we want eudiamonia or flourishing.

Eudaimonic happiness, as opposed to hedonic happiness, doesn’t depend on fleeting feelings, but on things like wisdom, a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and positive relationships with others. It’s not just feeling well, but also the ability to live well, in a way that is in line with our own best interests and that of others.

Over a lifespan of a hundred years, we will certainly experience losses. With wisdom, we can start to understand that it’s not the inevitable losses we incur, but our response to them, that makes the difference in our quality of life. With basic values and a sense of meaning in our life, we can ensure that our long lifespan will be put to good use: that it will benefit others and not only ourselves. And with positive relationships, we can ensure that we will live out our later days not in loneliness and regret, but in community and deep connection with others. In fact, research shows that if we lack these basic qualities of eudaimonia, not only will we not have the same quality of life, we are not likely to have the same quantity of life, either.[1]

That’s where positive psychology comes in. Unlike areas of psychology that focus on average or abnormal performance, positive psychology explores ways we can improve average performance from the middle of the curve and move it into the range of the exceptional. According to the Positive Psychology Center (founded by one of the fathers of positive psychology, Martin P. Seligman), “Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.”[2] That’s certainly a life anyone aspiring to live to a hundred would want to live, isn’t it?

In upcoming articles, we’ll be sharing actions and activities that you can add to your lifestyle that will increase your ability to live to a ripe, productive old age and to enjoy the journey. Not every activity will resonate with you; the idea is to try each of the activities or actions on for size – and give each one a real chance before deciding it’s not for you – and then moving on to the next. According to the Mayo Clinic, it shouldn’t be long before you start to recognize positive changes in yourself and your relationships.[3] You may notice that you’re able to more easily maintain calm in favor of giving in to irritation – or withhold judgment in favor of curiosity – or feel a greater sense of thriving in an ever-changing world in favor of feeling victimized by it.

Along with regular chiropractic care clearing your nervous system of interference, and good nutrition clearing your digestive system of interference, adopting an openness to the positive impact of compassion, meditation, forgiveness, mindfulness and optimism may be an indispensible factor in the 100 Year Lifestyle. Not only will you be more likely to achieve a hundred-year lifetime, you’ll be more likely to enjoy each and every one of those years.

[1] Keyes, CLM and Simoes, EJ, “To Flourish or Not: Positive Mental Health and All-Cause Mortality,” American Journal of Public Health: November 2012, 102(11): 2164-2172; Boyle, PA, Barnes, LL, Buchman, A, and Bennett, DA, “Purpose in Life Is Associated With Mortality Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons,” Psychosomatic Medicine: June 2009, 71(5): 574-579; and Keller, A. et al. “Does the Perception that Stress affects Health Matter? The Association with Health and Mortality,” Health Psychology, Sep 2012, 31(5): 677-684.

[1] http://www.haciendapublishing.com/medicalsentinel/medical-history-hygiene-and-sanitation

[2] http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2011/04/27/Number-of-100-year-olds-is-booming-in-U-S/stories/201104270148

[3] Keyes, CLM and Simoes, EJ, “To Flourish or Not: Positive Mental Health and All-Cause Mortality,” American Journal of Public Health: November 2012, 102(11): 2164-2172; Boyle, PA, Barnes, LL, Buchman, A, and Bennett, DA, “Purpose in Life Is Associated With Mortality Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons,” Psychosomatic Medicine: June 2009, 71(5): 574-579; and Keller, A. et al. “Does the Perception that Stress Affects Health Matter? The Association with Health and Mortality,” Health Psychology, Sep 2012, 31(5): 677-684.

[4] http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu

[5] http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858?pg=2

Contributed by Rebecca Koch and Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, Ph.D.

Reprinted with permission from Life University Positive Psychology Department

Motivation for Lasting Change

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If you are like many people, knowing that you may live to 100 could give you the motivation to make lasting changes to your life today, so you can enjoy those changes for decades. Think about it, how many times have you said Happy New Year to family, friends and coworkers with the intention of making those changes? How many times have you made promises to yourself on your birthday? Most of us know the things we need to do and the things we need to change. The question is why don’t we follow through?

To ensure that this is your best year ever, there may be some things that you need to change and you probably already know what they are. Are they the same things you were thinking about last year? This time, let’s make these changes your new lifestyle.

To make changes that last, you will need to consciously decide what your primary motivation is. Will you be crisis motivated or quality of life motivated?

Crisis motivation is caused by pain or suffering that has become so bad it forces you to take action. Crisis motivators include a health scare such as a heart attack, herniated disc or being diagnosed with a disease. Crisis motivation can also come from not being able to wear your clothes because they don’t fit anymore.  Divorce, bankruptcy and a job lay-off are also crisis motivators that may get you moving and motivate you to make the changes that are inevitable. Crisis motivation may force you to do something different and make a change, but unless you actually choose a new path consciously, it will not lead to lasting change.

Quality of life motivation is about choosing a compelling future that is exciting to you. Quality of life motivation is inspired by the desire to live your best life today and every day. Think about what you want and the kind of life you want to live.

Do you want to be healthy? Do you want a healthy relationship? Do you want to perform well at work or in sports? Do you want to use your talents every day. What causes matter to you? What type of people do you want to spend time with? How do you want to be treated?

Quality of life motivation will lead you from survival to a life where you are thriving and living your ideal 100 Year Lifestyle.

Too many people live from one crisis to another crisis and never make the critical transition to the quality of life they truly want and deserve. We see this in patients who return year after year with the same condition only its more chronic and has more deterioration. How many years will you let pass by before you make your health a priority and make quality of life your primary motivator?

People that have made the critical transition from crisis care to lifestyle care are enjoying a much healthier quality of life and are optimizing their potential with their choices. They make healthy eating a lifestyle. They make being fit a lifestyle. They make healthy posture a lifestyle. Head off the next inevitable crisis. Let your quality of life motivate make your best life last to 100 and beyond!

Success Tips From A True Champion

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I was never a great basketball player, but I seemed to have a knack for teaching and have always been able to steadily improve that ability. Being in the classroom with 30 young minds is a tremendous experience for me. One of the sayings I have is “You can con a con and you can fool a fool, but you can never kid a kid.” Don’t even try because they’ll catch you and you may never be able to regain their trust, which is essential if you’re going to be a coach, a teacher, or any kind of a leader.

It’s really easy to fool yourself. It’s even possible to fool the people you work for. It’s more difficult to fool the people you work with. And it’s almost impossible to fool the people whom you are responsible for. Whatever line of work you’re in, lead with integrity. Practice what you preach and have a sense of spirituality in your life. It will add depth and meaning to your beliefs and help you stand strong in the face of adversity.

Integrity: Proven to be the TOP trait of today’s most prosperous people.

With that in mind, you’d better be planned, practiced, and prepared to lead your team toward its objectives. By way of preparation, I’ve always been a list guy. I like to put my plans down on paper, what I want to do that day as well as what I want to do next week and maybe even for the rest of my life. This helps me focus, and the fact that the goals are in writing motivates me to make them become realities.

Good coaches and teachers realize that they don’t know everything, that they can learn a lot from the people they’re teaching, and that they should never stop learning. They understand that it’s essential to communicate and that the greatest communication skill a person can develop is a skill of listening.

Listening is your greatest skill. Back in my coaching days, I always met individually with my players for at least 10 or 15 minutes a week, whether it was in the gym, after practice, or on the way to the airport or somewhere. I would just try to get to know them a little better and make sure they were on top of their situations, in class, on the court, and in life in general. Each player has his own problems and his own unique challenges, and good coaches recognize that each player is an individual.

Each year I gave my assistants and my players an opportunity to come into my office and talk to me about what they think. I would say, “Tell me whatever you think I can do to help you become a better player or a better coach.” I told them they could say anything they want to me. I asked them what motivates them, what they like and dislike. I really believe that the true essence of coaching is, if I can find the button that turns you on and motivates you to the nth degree, you can reach the maximum and be the best that you can be.

Discover the button within you that motivates a new standard of excellence.

I gave my players daily doses of motivation. “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” At times, a coach and teacher must be a disciplinarian. It can be hard for some people to do. I believe that players want to be disciplined, they want to be loved, and discipline is a form of love. Discipline is what you do for somebody, not tosomebody. Players can become bitter, or they can become better. That’s their choice. I really believe in my heart that players want to be taught. They want to be coached; they want to learn. They want to be in an environment where they have an authority figure. And my goal in dealing with my players was to be a model and not a critic.

In trying to learn about others and how to motivate them, I’ve discovered the importance of learning about yourself. I found that one way to learn about yourself is by reading from a wide variety of sources. I’m a keeper of everything, a real packrat when it comes to written materials. I call it being “a holy tearer” (as opposed to terror!). Â I’m always clipping articles and quotations that say something impactful to me.

I try to stay fresh and up to date on what’s happening. I’m constantly reading and jotting things down in a notebook, keeping files on attitudes, leadership, and other topics. Paper and pencils are always at hand. Beside my desk, in my car, beside my nightstand. I wake up in the middle of the night, write something down, and go back to sleep. My collection works double-duty. If it inspires and motivates me, there’s a good chance I’ll use it to inspire others.

As a coach, I also had to coach my assistants. During the season, I would watch four game films a week: our two most recent games so I could find areas where I could find improvement, and footage of our next two opponents so I could help my team prepare for them. My assistants would help out by watching film of future opponents and evaluating them. Then, of course, we shared the information with the team because shared information is essential to any successful organization.

It’s amazing how often you can pick up something useful, maybe even learn what not to do, which on the surface is totally unrelated to what you do. For example, I might find some useful quotation from a magazine on selling. Well, I was a salesman in some ways; that was a part of the job. As a former recruiter, I sold UCLA and its basketball program to potential student athletes. You’ve probably noticed that sports quotations are often used as motivational tools by salespeople and other people in the business world. It’s all related. Sports mirrors business, and we’re all in some kind of business. We’re all salespeople to some extent.

People tell me I’m an organized, patterned kind of guy. I’ve always liked to have a list of things to do. As a coach, I hope I’d never left any stone unturned. I saw my work as never done. You see, the more you prepare and learn, the more you can teach. I started this practice of writing everything down when I was a head coach in high school. I discovered that often things flash through your mind, and if you don’t record them, you forget about them. With any practice like this, there’s more than one method you can use. I just keep little notes all over the place. My three sons, on the other hand, all carry and use those Franklin Planners. Your method isn’t nearly as important as the fact that you’re using something to stay organized and in control of your life.

When I first became a coach back in 1964, I went to every clinic I could go to, six or seven a year. And I still have every note I’ve ever taken from every clinic I’ve attended. I have files and files of information from the legendary Coach John Wooden and other sources. I still refer to these sources frequently because repetition is the greatest teacher you have.

The greatest learning experience I’ve ever had has been learning about people. Once I came to California though, I really started growing as a person because I came into contact with so much more diversity and started learning more about people. The more you learn about people, the more you adjust and grow and develop yourself as a person, and the more influential you can be as a teacher and a leader.

Teamwork is the ability to function together as a unit toward the achievement of a common goal. It makes effective use of people with diverse skills that complement one another. I would need my passers and shooters and rebounders and shot blockers, my strength and my speed. Your company is also made up of diverse people with skills that blend together to make your company what it is. You may have manufacturing and marketing and sales and distribution and customer service for example. Only by blending those varied skills together into an effective unit can your team be successful.

One of the important things to remember in putting your team together whether it’s in recruiting, hiring, or putting together a special-project team is that you don’t necessarily go with the five best players as individuals. You want the five players who together make the best team. That’s chemistry. They work well together, and they make things happen.

My friend Denis Waitley, with whom I’ve shared the stage, has studied winners from all walks of life, from Olympic athletes to NASA astronauts to Fortune 500 executives. He has pointed out that there are five intangible characteristics of any winning team. One is shared vision. The individual team members strive in a unified direction because they have goals that are clearly defined. They are in agreement that the goals are worthy and they want to accomplish them.

Another characteristic is empathy or understanding and identification with one another. Through the learning process, the team members have come to understand how their actions affect one another and how they must work together to accomplish their objectives. Then there’s synergy, which is an exciting one. Synergy is when the whole of a unit is more powerful than the sum of its individual parts. That has a lot to do with chemistry. We’ve all seen teams in which individuals were not necessarily outstanding, but as a unit, they really seem to gel and could accomplish great things. Obviously there’s trust among the team members in terms of their abilities and their motivations.

And finally, you have enjoyment, which is something a lot of people overlook. I’m a firm believer that work should be both productive and fun. When you accomplish something together as a team, the feeling you get is indescribable. It’s wonderful. It’s exhilarating. Obviously you have a lot more fun when you’re successful. I never failed to go on to the floor for a game without saying, “Let’s have fun.”

Put these things together, and you have the blueprint for a championship team, either on the court or in your business.

Reprinted with permission of Nightingale-Conant Corporation www.nightingale.com

Contributed by Jim Harrick

Difficulties Lead To Positive Change

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Does “desirable difficulties” seem like an impossible combination to you? Is it an oxymoron — words that combine contradictory terms? We recognize an oxymoron in terms like: living dead, organized mess, alone in a crowd, jumbo shrimp, hot ice, cruel kindness, plastic glasses, pretty ugly, a just war, or a real phony. You get the idea. But what about “desirable difficulties”?

One of the greatest insights in the last 20 years regarding learning has been psychologist Robert Bjork’s concept of “desirable difficulties.” His research shows there are many times when difficulties lead to extraordinary success. Here are some examples:

  • Robin Williams saw words upside down and backwards. When other kids in school think you’re an idiot, you try to do funny things to create some social esteem.
  • Chris Gardner’s wife leaves him, he loses his house, his bank account, and credit cards, lives on the streets with his son, and ends up as a super-successful stockbroker.
  • As a child, Harrison Ford was targeted by bullies. As a poor student, he signed up for drama class, hoping for an easy good grade.

Do you have a “desirable difficulty” that will lead you to greater achievements?

Bjork has shown that introducing certain difficulties into the learning process can greatly improve long-term retention of the learned material. And he adds, “We often seek to eliminate difficulties in learning, to our own detriment.” What do you think? Would you purposely add difficulty to your learning process?

In the new book David and Goliath, author Malcolm Gladwell says we’ve been misled in how we view “disadvantages.” Conventional wisdom tells us that a difficulty is something to be avoided — that it is a setback that leaves you worse off than you would be otherwise.

But people with dyslexia grow up to be the Richard Bransons and Thomas Edisons of the world. David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue, has publicly acknowledged his ADHD and has chosen not to take medication for it. Instead he has learned how to use his “unique brain wiring” to his advantage, now that he better understands it.

Gladwell goes on to say that, yes, people are sometimes ruined by poverty and other economic challenges. However, people are also often “ruined by wealth because they lose their ambition, and they lose their pride, and they lose their sense of self-worth.”

Do you perhaps have a “desirable difficulty” in your current or past circumstances? Something that you’ve tried to eliminate?

Could it be the seed for opening the door to your greatest successes?

What do you tell people when you first meet them? Like anyone else, I can tell my life story as a healthy version or a victim version. In Dream Job, I tell a little of my own story — and like most people, my story can be framed by the “limitations” or the “desirable difficulties.”

I grew up in a home where we didn’t even have running water until I was in the 8th grade. I knew nothing but poverty. As a five-year-old, I was forced to get up at 5:30 a.m. to do my share of the farming chores — milking cows and throwing hay bales. Most Christmases I got a new pair of blue jeans — my one pair for the coming year. I was not allowed to wear neckties or fancy clothes. Because of my parents’ legalistic religious beliefs, I was not allowed to go to movies, dances, or sporting events. Our home was rigid and somber — little laughter. I received zero in financial help for college from my parents. I hated the cold weather in Ohio. Obviously, my chances for any success were limited. If only I had been born into a family with more opportunity, or so I thought.

In my family, we learned how to make good use of everything — nothing was wasted. We grew our own food, and I created toys from things other families discarded. As a small boy, I had the opportunity to experience real work and to begin my commitment to work that was meaningful — and profitable. With no TV or radio in our house, I became an avid reader and listener of the Nightingale-Conant programs, which opened me up to a wealth of wisdom and knowledge that serves me well still today.

Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret had a profound impact on me — helping me believe as a 13-year-old farm kid that my thinking would shape the direction of my life. I worked right through my college years and valued the education I was paying for myself. My father’s devotion to his religious views prompted me to deep study to formulate beliefs I could be equally committed to. Today I value the work ethic and the uncompromising integrity I learned in that strict Amish/Mennonite environment.  As my own man, I wore neckties until I came to my own realization that there was more than legalism to provide a reason for not wearing the silly things. The creativity and ingenuity I experienced as a child has served me in a thousand ways in helping me “see” opportunities others miss.

Both of those versions of my life are equally true. If you’d just met me, which of those stories would make you want to get to know me more? Which one do you think makes me more confident and happier and gives me more energy today?

What is your story? Even if you lost your job, your dog died, you’ve got heartburn, and they repossessed the truck – what story do you want to be replaying in your mind to move to a higher level of success?  What picture are you presenting to others? If you’re telling yourself an unhealthy story of your life, it will perpetuate the same reality.  Creating a healthy story could change the way you see your life — and the way others see and respond to you.

Perhaps those things you saw as “disadvantages” were simply “desirable difficulties.”

The stories of people overcoming difficulties are endless. Aron Ralston survived a climbing accident, which ended with his amputating his own right arm. He now has a bestselling book and a movie and is in high demand as a motivational speaker. Bethany Hamilton survived a shark attack but had her left arm bitten off. She has written two books, was featured in the movie Soul Surfer, and has been a guest onGood Morning America, The Tonight Show, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. While we would never wish this kind of difficulty on ourselves or others, why is it that challenges often seem to springboard someone past those living a normal, difficulty-free life?

Even as I write this, I’m confused by the seeming contradictoriness of it all. As a parent, I don’t want my children to experience difficulty, I don’t want my wife to suffer in any way, and as a career coach, I want to help people build lives of success and prosperity.

So how are you handling the “desirable difficulties” in your life? Are you avoiding them at all costs, seeing them as a waiting pattern until life gets better, and wishing you had a life with no stress or hardship? Or have you found the value, the surge of power, the new insights, the profound desire — that could only have shown up with the difficulty?

Leverage your hardships to find the high-paying work you love.

As you learn from and grow with your own “desirable difficulties,” you’ll discover:

  • How to frame your difficulties into your greatest assets
  • Why you can stop worrying that age is a barrier to finding or forging a new career path
  • Where to find the opportunities for meaningful work that are perfect for YOU
  • Why your college major is an insignificant issue in today’s marketplace
  • How to make yourself stand out in a sea of candidates
  • The single best way to safeguard yourself from corporate politics and unexpected layoffs
  • How to evaluate the broad spectrum of work models today — employee, independent contractor, contingency worker, freelancer, consultant, entrepreneur, and more

Whatever point you’re at on the road to your “dream work,” and whatever that work looks like, you’ll now gain the inspiration, motivation, and how-to information you need to move quickly and confidently in the direction of your dreams, embracing your “desirable difficulties” and discovering the unexpected success that awaits you!

Reprinted with permission from Nightingale-Conant Corporation www.nightingale.com

Contributed by Dan Miller

The Value of Goals and Purpose

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The more we learn about people and why they do the things they do, the more we realize the vital importance of having goals as well as a purpose in life.

I was reading a paper that had been presented at a psychological conference by Sydney M. Girard at the University of Florida in which he says, “I believe we’ll find that a man who pursues inspiriting goals,” by this he means the sort of goals that inspire us and fill us with some intense desire for their accomplishment, “actualizes his potentials and resists illness more effectively than people who have not found or who have lost their identity and direction.”

In another place he points out that “There is ample reason to suspect that people fall ill with physical or psychiatric symptoms because their past way of life not only has failed to inspirit them, sustain wellness and also happiness, but the present and future seem to the person to be devoid of hope or meaning or worthwhile purpose.”

Purpose-filled goals ward off disease, build confidence, and attract prosperity.

It’s been written that the inmates of German concentration camps, surrounded by bestial torture, constant hunger, filth, and the daily specter of death, who could find meaning in their suffering and who had a purpose for living survived incredible stress. Medical and nursing lore bristles with unsystematic accounts of patients who had miraculous recoveries from supposedly terminal illness when someone inspired hope and a purpose for ongoing life. Freud lasted 15 or 20 years with a terrible mouth cancer. Perhaps because he hadn’t finished what he started. He had a mission to complete. We also know that people become well when they’ve been treated by methods in which they have faith.

Now, it’s obvious then that if we can help a person to acquire an attitude, goal, or purpose that so affects the person that his or her entire being becomes reintegrated, the person becomes filled with a desire, the actual image of which fosters further growth and learning and gives him or her maximum resistance to infection, to germs, and to psychosis.

It was found in one study that almost all the patients admitted to a general hospital with organic illness during a one-month period had sustained some emotional crisis involving object relations shortly before the onset of their physical symptoms. Another researcher sites evidence strongly suggestive that dispiriting events that induce hopelessness are factors in the onset of ulcerative colitis.

Now this means that if we treasure health, physical and mental, we must make certain that we’re daily striving toward a goal, a fine purpose worthy of us, one that fills us with excitement and energy. We also have to learn the value of being ourselves, of finding ourselves, and of following the purpose we have independently decided upon for ourselves.

All of this shows how vitally important it is for each of us to choose a destination we feel worthy of us, to stop imitating the values of others and find our own and find ourselves.

Can you list your values right now?

Who is teaching you?

Every person should ask himself or herself, Who were my teachers and what were their qualifications? If we depended upon learning only from our parents, the world would never move forward another inch. The person who has wise and understanding parents is among the luckiest people on earth. We can’t choose our parent, and being parents does not at the same time confer upon a man or woman great wisdom, kindness, understanding, and knowledge. And from our teachers, we learned their specialties, or hoped we did. If we were fortunate enough to have had a great teacher who also inspired and led us, so much the better.

But if people are really wise, they will undertake their education on their own, as their own private responsibility. They will learn all they can from those who have been appointed to teach them, their parents and their teachers. But they will make their education a lifelong job, and they will carefully choose those whose knowledge they want to make their own.

Socrates said, “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” There are several tons of wisdom in that remark. When it comes to living successfully, turn to those who have demonstrated by their own lives or by the durability of what they have said that they knew what they were talking about.

When I was a youngster, I lived in a neighborhood surrounded by several neighborhoods marked by poverty. The people by whom I was surrounded had very little, if anything. They were people who had, as a rule, very limited educations. They were not a reading people. But despite the poverty of their lives and the poverty of their education, they would give advice on any subject under the sun. I can’t remember hearing anyone in our neighborhood ever saying “I don’t know.”

They would give you advice on every subject you might bring up, and they would give you advice even if you didn’t ask for it. It seemed that they knew everything under the sun, except how to conduct their own lives in a successful manner. And the trouble with them was that they had learned what they knew and thought to be true from people like themselves, people with the wrong answers. They were good people, they meant well, but they were making the same mistakes human beings had been making for centuries. What mistakes they had not learned as children, they learned by trial and error. They had not checked the qualifications of those who had taught them.

Moreover, they had to find some justification to the poverty of their lives. They had to excuse themselves or their wives and children for their failure. And to do this they related old myths and old wives’ tales or made up reasons of their own that they passed along to the children. And the children, hearing these things from their parents, had no choice but to believe them. And so they learned and practiced the mistakes made by their parents and their parents’ parents and so on. Make your education your own business, and learn from those who have proved their qualifications to teach.

Longfellow wrote, “Lives of great men all remind us/We can make our lives sublime/And, departing, leave behind us/Footprints on the sands of time.”

Reprinted with permission by Nightingale-Conant Corporation www.nightingale.com

 

The Hidden Effects of Head Injuries

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The issues surrounding head injuries, including concussions, have never been a part of mainstream conversation more than they are right now. The reports of thousands of ex-NFL players suing their former league regarding their mental health have shaken the sport down to its youngest players. Recently, pee-wee football organizations have released new rules limiting contact during practices.

Every athlete and parent knows football isn’t the only sport that is raising concerns about head injuries.  Cycling has the highest number of people who sustain head traumas reporting to the emergency room each year, almost double the amount of the next highest, football. Hockey, soccer, wrestling, field hockey, baseball, softball, basketball in fact all sports reported an increase in head injuries from 2008 to 2009.  As our kids become faster, stronger and start sports earlier, their chances of sustaining chronic head injuries, and the likely result of long-term brain injury, is dramatically rising. There is also a growing concern in the military regarding combat training procedures.

Just as concerning is the hidden tragedy that every head injury has the potential to also damage the neck. Since the primary focus at the time of a head injury is the head, the neck is very often overlooked. There are distinct signs of neck injury that can be found during an examination at the time of injury, as well as days, weeks, months and even years later.  Due to the focus and pressure rising on concussions, the rapid forward-backward motion commonly known as whiplash has been swept under the rug, downplayed and often ignored. And yet, the vast majority of head injuries also have the mechanism to cause whiplash injuries as well.

A report on ESPN told the story of a teenage football player who made a tackle where he led with his head and broke his neck. In this case, his head wasn’t even injured, but his neck was injured severely and this unfortunate young man is paralyzed as a result.

Most neck injuries that occur in conjunction with head trauma are not severe enough to cause paralysis, but can cause pressure on nerves that affect the health of the victim on many levels. Whiplash and concussion have serious long-term effects, including depression, memory loss, fatigue, mood swings, headaches and chronic instability. Head and neck injuries also damage sensitive nerves in these regions as they exit the spine. Damage to ligaments can mean continual nerve irritation and interference if proper care is not given. The effects from these injuries can last decades after the pain goes away.

The potential for long-term effects has caused many to run away from activities they love and use to remain physically active. Rather than leave athletics, the Lifestyle Care Continuum of The 100 Year Lifestyle can help you correct and protect spine and nervous system subluxations that can affect the health of muscles, ligaments and vital organs.

Crisis Care provides relief and stability to injured areas of the spine. It is essential that these injuries are given appropriate time to stabilize, as head and neck injuries have a high rate of lingering symptoms.  The Critical Transition phase of care is essential to help minimize the long-term effects of these injuries. Major research centers still only recommend care for several weeks following an injury, one of the probable causes for continued nerve damage. For people who have sustained previous injuries and those looking to avoid them the spine and nerve protection afforded by Chiropractic Lifestyle Care contributes to optimum function and support, which can minimize the risk of future injuries.

This issue will be part of our society for years to come. If you or a loved one has ever sustained even a mild head or neck injury, consider your long term health and get you spine and nervous system checked. The damage done by the injury may not surface for years to come, but your ability to protect your long-term health and well-being begins now.

Contributed by Aryn Gabai, D.C. C.A.C.C.P. and Eric Plasker, DC

Resilience In Extreme Times

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We’re living in a time of extremes. It’s a time when we can expect big things to happen — big shifts in the world and big changes in our lives. And just to be clear, the extremes I’m talking about don’t necessarily have to be bad things, or even good things for that matter. It’s just that they’re big things, and they’re happening now.

There are layers of change in the world that’s emerging around us. We no longer live in the isolated countries that formed the policies of the 20th century. We no longer live in isolated economies, isolated technologies, isolated energy grids, or isolated defense systems and communications. And it’s these facts that have led to the certainty of where we find ourselves in this very moment. It’s a fact that we’re living with a new set of rules regarding the way we think about our lives, our jobs, and our careers, as well as the realities of climate change, failing economies, and peak oil. While the reasons for such extremes are many and varied, the fact is that we’re in a rare era of global transition that affects every day of our lives.

In today’s amazing times, you can create abundance and bring worldwide peace.

Among the many uncertainties that come with such an era, there’s one thing that we can know with absolute certainty: Our lives are changing with a speed that we’ve never seen, in ways that we’re not prepared for, and faster than we’ve been taught to deal with.

A new normal

The extremes in our world are creating a new “normal” in our lives. The success of our transition into this new normal hinges upon 1) our willingness to acknowledge the shift and 2) how we learn to adapt to it. Our globalized culture of jobs, money, markets, and resources means that it’s now impossible to separate the extremes in the world from what they mean in our everyday lives. The crisis of climate change is a perfect example of this connection. The record-setting drought from global weather patterns translates directly into the higher prices we pay at our local market for food. Extreme debt and failing economies translate directly into higher costs at the gas pump and higher ticket prices for the buses, trains, and taxis that take us to work each day. It’s because of these extremes, and others, that business loans have become scarce and that the interest we’re paid on our savings and retirement is at record lows. The global slowdown of industry translates directly into the loss of jobs and benefits in our local communities.

I’m an optimist by nature. I see real reasons for optimism in our lives. At the same time I’m also a realist. I am under no illusion when it comes to the huge amount of work that it’s taking to adapt to the new world that’s emerging. The good news is that we don’t have to do it alone.

We’re in this together

Our world today is so deeply connected on so many levels that it’s impossible for the transformation that’s emerging in one part of the world not to show up in other places as well. I’ve seen this firsthand in my travels to some of the most remote and isolated places remaining in the world, like Tibet for example.

Following a number of previous pilgrimages into the monasteries of the Tibetan plateau, in 2005 for the first time I saw the eerie glow of cell phones illuminating the dark recesses of centuries-old monasteries as they lit up in the pockets under the robes of monks and nuns. For those living in the monasteries, their former world of isolation is now on a path of connectivity, and the change that it carries is a promise that their traditions will never be same.

We don’t need to go to Tibet, however, to see the evidence of just how connected our world really is. It’s reflected everywhere, both in the ways the world works, as well as in the ways things no longer work. And as the ways of the past slip away and the new ones emerge, the clash of new against the old highlights yet an even greater crisis, one that we all face yet we’ll probably never read about in popular media. It’s a silent crisis that’s like the big blue elephant in the room that everyone sees yet no one acknowledges.

Arguably the greatest crisis in our time of extremes that we face is a crisis in thinking. And our thinking is the very key to the way we deal with the needs of the emerging world. You and I are being tasked to do something that’s never been done. We’re being challenged to adopt a radical shift in the way we think of ourselves and our relationship to the world, and to do so faster than any generation in history has ever done before. Our willingness to think differently about ourselves and the world is key to thriving in our time of extremes.

Think differently, and discover the compass that guides your every choice.

We have the solutions

The good news is that we already have the solutions to the big problems that are converging in our lifetime. And we know that we already have them! The technology to solve the challenges we face has already been discovered. The advanced principles are already understood. They all exist in this moment, right here, right now, and at our fingertips. All that stands between us and the new world where energy comes from clean, abundant sources and is accessible to every member of our global family; where clean, healthy food is plentiful and accessible to every mouth on the planet; where every human has the basic necessities to live a healthy, meaningful life is the thinking that makes room in our lives for what already exists in the world. The best science of our time has revealed the deepest truths of our existence. It gives us the reasons to heal our crisis of thinking.

Ancient secrets and tomorrow’s science reveal your vibrant future.

Will we embrace the thinking that leads to the greatest transformation of human life and civilization the world has ever seen? The choice is ours. We’re about to find out!

Reprinted with permission by Nightingale-Conant  www.nightingale.com

Contributed by Gregg Braden

A Common Sense Longevity Principle

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Are you ready for this? This is profound, yet simple. If you want to live an active, healthy, quality life for 80, 90, 100 years and beyond, there is one thing you are going to have to do:

You are going to have to not die. So stop killing yourself.

There are so many ways that we shorten our lives both quickly and slowly every day, taking years off our lives and life out of our years.  We do this through the small and seemingly insignificant decisions we make that enhance or detract from our quality of life. We eat the extra cookie. We skip our evening workout because we are tired, even though we know the workout will energize us. We slump over keyboards all day without moving around and stretching. We develop habits and ignore the minor problems until they become a crisis. It is these destructive actions or inactions done over time that are literally killing us slowly causing us to deteriorate for decades.

We have the potential to live a high quality 100 years. You may be thinking, “I don’t want to live to 100.” First, you may not have a choice. Second, this is not a good excuse for being self-destructive and avoiding the responsibility for your health and your choices. The real issue is not when we die or what we die from, but how we live and the choices we make while we are living. It’s about quality of life every day!

This common sense longevity principle is simple. You are designed to thrive as you age and you will if you listen to your body’s Innate Intelligence, trust yourself, start making healthier choices and make the changes you know you need to make. On the other side of change is a tremendous feeling of freedom, youthfulness and renewal. This is where you will thrive.

Increase Your Planning Skills

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The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something while maintaining the ability to stay focused on the long-term goal. The potential consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important it really is to you and to your company. This way of evaluating the significance of a task is how you determine what your next priority really is.

Stop Procrastinating and Stay Focused.

This law says, “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.”

Maximize your time, performance, and wealth.

When you run out of time and the consequences for non-completion of a key task or project can be really serious, you always seem to find the time to get it done, often at the very last minute. When you have no choice, when the consequences for non-completion are serious enough, you start early, you stay focused, and you drive yourself to complete the job rather than to face the unpleasantness that would follow if you didn’t get it completed within the time limit.

Rule: “There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do.”

It has been estimated that the average person in business today, especially managers in the age of cutbacks, is working at 110 % to 130 %  of capacity. And the jobs and responsibilities just keep piling up. Everyone has stacks of reading material he or she still has to go through. One study concluded recently that the average executive has 300-400 hours of reading and projects backlogged at home and at the office.

What this means is that you will never be caught up, and planning skills are more crucial than ever. All you can hope for is to stay focused and be on top of your most important responsibilities. The others will just have to wait.

Deadlines Are an Excuse.

Many people say that they work better under the pressure of deadlines. Unfortunately, years of research indicate that this is seldom true.

It is much better to better your planning skills, and then build in a sizable buffer to compensate for unexpected delays and diversions. However much time you think a task will take, add on another 20% or more, or make a game of getting it done well in advance of the deadline. You will be amazed at how much more relaxed you are, and how much better a job you do when you stop procrastinating.

Increase Your Planning Skills.

There are three questions that you can use on a regular basis to help you stay focused on getting your most important tasks completed on schedule. The first question is “What are my highest-value activities?”

This is one of the most important questions you can ask and answer. What are your highest-value activities? First, think this through for yourself. Then, ask your boss. Ask your co-workers and subordinates. Ask your friends and family. Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest-value activities before you begin work.

The second question you can ask continually is “What can I, and only I, do, that, if done well, will make a real difference?”

This question comes from Peter Drucker, the management guru. It is one of the best of all questions for achieving personal effectiveness. What can you, and only you, do, that if done well, can make a real difference?

Every hour of every day, you can ask yourself this question and there will be a specific answer. Your job is to use planning skills to be clear about the answer and then to start to work on this task before anything else.

The third question you can ask is “What is the most valuable use of my time, right now?”

This is the core question of time management. Answering this question correctly is the key to stop procrastinating and to develop better planning skills. Every hour of every day, there is some task that is the most valuable use of your time at that moment. Your job is to ask yourself this question, over and over again, and to always be working on the answer to it, whatever it is.

Do first things first and second things not at all. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.”

The more accurate your answers to these questions, the easier it will be for you to set clear priorities, to stop procrastinating, and to get started on that one activity that represents the most valuable use of your time.

Make a List and Stay Focused on Priorities for Effective Time Management.

When you hit a crunch point, your ability to stay focused and concentrate can make all the difference between success and failure. You cannot do everything, so an effective way for you to complete your most important tasks is to make a list. Effective time management is essential to getting through your busy schedule.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, ‘‘The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.’’ Stephen Covey said, ‘‘The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing.’’ There is a rule that says that every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution. Make a list before you start, to ensure that when you do begin work, you will stay focused on that activity that can have the greatest possible consequences for yourself and your business.

Refuse to ‘‘major in minors.’’ Keep asking yourself, ‘‘What’s really important here?’’ Your ability to ask and answer this question will keep you on track and staying focused throughout the day.

Think on Paper.

To stay focused on your top priorities, there are a series of steps you can take for effective time management. First of all, think on paper. Writing things down is absolutely essential for you to be able to take control of the situation during the emergency or crisis. Before you take any action, make a list of everything that you have to do to solve the problem and get through the crunch.

In A.D. 1342, the philosopher William of Occam developed a concept that has come to be known as Occam’s razor. This principle says that, in dealing with any problem or complex issue, the simplest and most direct explanation or solution is usually the correct one. What this means is that you should refuse to allow yourself to become overwhelmed with trivia and detail. Stay focused, and start off by trying the simplest possible solution.

Make a List.

At the beginning of your day, make a list of everything that you have to do during that day. Go over the list and number the top seven items. Ask yourself, ‘‘If I could do only one thing on this list today, which one task would it be?’’ Put a ‘‘1’’ next to that task or activity. Repeat this exercise until you have your major tasks organized from one to seven to help you stay focused throughout your day.

Then, discipline yourself to start immediately on your number one task and to work at it with single-minded concentration until it is complete. Refuse to do anything else but that one thing. If you are called away or distracted, immediately return to that task, like a gyroscope returns to center, and begin working on it again. Invariably, this one task can have the greatest potential consequences in your job or situation.

Practice Triage and Stay Focused.

For effective time management, use the triage method. This method was developed by the French army in World War I. When the dressing stations behind the lines were swamped with far too many wounded soldiers for the doctors and nurses to treat, they solved the problem by dividing the wounded into three groups. The first were those who would die, no matter how much treatment they received. They were put aside and made comfortable.

The second group included those who had only light wounds. They would survive whether they got immediate treatment or not. They also were put aside. The third group consisted of those soldiers who would survive only if they were treated immediately. This is where the doctors and nurses focused their attention.

In your business you should apply triage as well. Stay focused on the problems that can be solved if you act immediately. Refuse to worry about situations that cannot be resolved. Let them go. And don’t waste time on situations that will take care of themselves whether you do anything or not. Stay focused on the problems, decisions, and activities where immediate action is essential to saving the situation.

Develop Effective Time Management Skills to Stay on Track.

During crunch time, keep asking yourself key questions: What is really important in this situation? Of all the things I could do, if I could do only one thing, what would it be? What does this situation need of me that only I can contribute?

Here are the two best questions to keep you on track. The first is ‘‘What can I, and only I, do that, if done well, will make a real difference?’’ The second question, which you must ask and answer over and over again, is ‘‘What is the most valuable use of my time right now?’’

Whatever your answers to these questions, discipline yourself to work on that priority, and only that, until it is complete. When you stay focused and concentrate on your highest priorities, you become more productive and effective in helping yourself and your business out of the crisis.

Reprinted by Permission Nightingale-Conant Corporation

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