I recently did my breast screening. Three-prong approach. No mammogram. Doctor exam, breast thermography and an ultrasound in two weeks. NO mammogram unless my thermography comes back suspicious and even then, I might opt for an MRI. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think big business is trying to screw us at every turn. I do think […]
School shooting: It’s not just our own kids we need to hug
Perception is reality but the probability of a mass killing, while seemingly high, is actually quite low. The probability we’re missing critical signs among our mentally ill? Much higher. In this NPR interview, Jack Levin, co-director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston helps listeners understand the profile of mass murderers. First, do we need […]
Connecticut tragedy – where to look for hope
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles – view portfolio “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am […]
Mom and depression: motherhood sadness that doesn’t go away
If mom ain’t happy no one is happy.” The quippish slogan is often said in jest, yet depression among mothers is no laughing matter. Writes the Mayoclinic.com, “About 1 in 8 women develop depression at some point in life. Women are nearly twice as likely as are men to struggle with depression at some […]
Vitamin C lowers cortisol to decrease abdominal fat
Chronic stress elevates cortisol which creates excess fat around the middle. Adequate intake of vitamin C however, may lower levels of this adrenal hormone. Stress Increases Cortisol, Overproduction Harms Health Cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands during stress, increases when the pituitary gland releases another hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Humans experience a […]
Presidential yard signs – Yay or nay?
My husband recently joked with a neighbor about her courage to post a presidential yard sign in a neighborhood not likely to give her candidate a thumbs up. She told him she had an extra sign (for the candidate he and I support). He politely declined. I won’t post political signs. My vote isn’t a […]
Making our mundane tasks, not
I recall years back Oprah had a woman on her show who talked about the Zen of honoring day-to-day to-dos, that we can decide to appreciate the mundane and become consciously aware of ourselves in the moment of doing even the most “trivial” tasks. She gave an example of doing laundry and trying to find […]
September 11th Survivor Tree: The Meaning of Life
Photo credit: Janey Henning Watch: September 11th Survivor Tree Story. (1 minute 53 seconds) This summer my family and I visited the September 11th Memorial. It was quiet, stirring, reverent and beautiful, surprisingly not laden with overwhelming sadness. It was instead, tinged with it. The place felt for me, like stages of death acceptance when disbelief, anger […]
Hiring out labors of love: Outsourcing our inner selves, love, kids and other personal realms
Photo: Free digital photos.net Labors of love, once our exclusive personal domain, are now available for hire. But when we outsource our inner lives do we lose more than we gain? Paying for personal services used to be a privilege afforded only the wealthy. Now professionals are accessible to the middle and upper middle class chasing […]
Travyon – Zimmerman case stirs worldwide dialogue on racism. Why this case, why now?
Without thinking, we all accused George Zimmerman of being an angry racist vigilante hell-bent on teaching a roaming black kid a lesson. It didn’t help that he wasn’t hauled in right away for questioning after a young man walking home eating Skittles, presumably minding his own business, ends up dead. Law enforcement fueled our anger […]