"That's Crazy"

One of my favorite print advertisements features a rock climber hanging by two fingers from an overhanging rock ledge thousands of feet above a gorge. If one of his two fingers were to slip, he surely would fall to his death. What I love about this ad is the caption that lies below the picture… 

“This guy is crazy... No sun screen!”

I love the irony focused on the sun screen with a complete indifference toward the obvious danger of the moment. (Hanging off a cliff) …Great advertising!

Pool party:

This summer my family was at a pool party. I couldn’t help but notice a scene that resembled my favorite ad.

There were many overweight families drinking cokes, eating hot dogs, chips, and hamburgers. While the feast was on, the parents were franticly running around applying copious amounts of sun screen to save their kids from the effects of the sun.

It was obvious these “well-meaning” families were unaware of the consequences associated with the consumption of these foods.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list many immediate health effects of children overeating…

~ Cardiovascular disease

~ Diabetes

~ Orthopedic issues

~ Social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.

One study showed that children who became obese as early as age 2 were more likely to be obese as adults.

Everything matters:

Americas have a tendency it seems to over complicate our lives and lose discernment for what's really important and what's not. We tend to mistake trendy nutritional concerns (i.e. cooking in plastics, artificial sweeteners, tap water) for empirically proven facts.

As we go forward and traverse the rocky terrain of our life please put things into proper perspective.

Sun screen is a very important component in our quest for overall health, but let us not forget/ignore the many factors that go into creating a healthy body. If we fail to do so, obesity related diseases will kill us long before we have a chance to see the damage from long term exposure to the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

I Am Not an Animal

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this” ~Bertrand Russell

A couple of weeks ago a local politician received a lot of hate mail concerning a comment he made regarding the welfare system. He had quoted a metaphorical story regarding animals and their eating habits.

His comment was…“It sort of reminds me of one of those signs you see in the national parks: Don't feed the animals or they may become dependent on those who feed them”.  

The problems people had with his comments were twofold. One was the lack of compassion he showed for the people who truly need welfare…Two was the statement comparing humans with animals.
One disappointed reader said… “Councilman __________ seems to say that they are just lazy and looking for free food.”  “He is demonizing food stamp recipients”

Both the councilman and the disappointed reader’s position should be rationally looked at… If the councilman is guilty of painting with a broad stroke the current situation of the welfare system, then are those who fail to recognize the current failure and abuse of the welfare system not just as guilty?
If so, which position is more likely to be flawed?

The councilman’s position is not that “everyone” is lazy and looking for free food… but that failure to recognize the severity of this abuse could/will lead to the demise of our current system.

Is this position not correct?  

If your position is of the latter…how much logic must be sacrificed in order that one may squirm continually in an awareness of one’s personal dissonance pertaining to the welfare system?
How many needless assumptions must be made, and how many contortions are required, to receive every new insight of information regarding these abuses, and still maintain a passive position?

The problem we are dealing with regard to most (not all) federal programs is the illusion that “everyone” using the programs “truly” needs them. The demand to “give up” this illusion about our condition is the demand to give up a condition that “needs” these illusions.
Our misguided, apathetic approach has created a flawed system of entitlement and thievery.

Personally, I have no doubt about the fact that there are many who need assistance, (and I believe they should have access to it)
But to continue to support a system that fails to address and prosecute the abuses, is a system designed to fail from its very inception.

The second part of this argument is the animal reference.

Are we not all part of the mammalian family?

It is true that humans differ from other animals in terms of intelligence.  However, from a biological perspective, humans are classified as animals! Why does this bother people, and why do people take great measures to prove that they are not animals?
If you think about it, it is only a classification system anyway. It is a biological classification system designed to classify any living organism it encounters into groups according to the organism's characteristics/genes.

Therefore, biologically we are members of the Animal Kingdom… we are animals.
I have a question regarding this topic…

If animals (non- humans) could speak…would they be offended that they are in the same classification as humans?

I mean think about it???

Mammals (non-humans) have an immature, underdeveloped frontal lobe. This translates into instinctual behavior. Mammals do what’s best for the species to live. They do what they do based on the blind drives of biology that perpetuates the species.

On the other hand…humans have a mature (I’m raising my eye brow right now) frontal lobe. This feature is what makes us unique. We are conscious of our desires and have the “extra special ability” to delay gratification when it’s our best interest to do so.

I’ll ask again…

Would animals (non-humans) be as offended as humans are, if they knew they were classified in the same category as us?

After all…we know better…why don’t we do better? This applies to the people at the top…and people at the bottom.

To sum up this blog in my own words would not do justice to the severity of our current dilemma.

I’ll close with these insightful words from Abraham Lincoln…   

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves”

Dieting and Quantum Physics

 "Man’s mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dinmentions"                   

                                                                                              ~Oliver Wendell Holmes  

 You’re probably asking…What the heck?

Dieting and Quantum Physics?

Well you’re lucky that I’m not going to make you sit through a long boring article that I, nor you, can explain or understand.

A couple of months ago I watched an introductory lecture on quantum mechanics by Richard P. Feynman….

“The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Feynman 1985)”

While watching, I couldn’t help but notice a comment from the video that reminded me of the difficulties I have explaining nutrition to people who have been misled by their hopes, dreams, diet counselors, and the media.

(This is Feynman’s quote with my modifications. I have highlighted the words that I have changed that will allow you to see the bewildering predicament of explaining proper nutrition)

Feynman… (With my input)

“There are many reasons why you might not understand [an explanation of the science of nutrition] ... Finally, there is this possibility: after I tell you something, you just can't believe it. You can't accept it. You don't like it. A little screen comes down and you don't listen anymore. I'm going to describe to you how Nutrition is - and if you don't like it, that's going to get in the way of your understanding it. It's a problem that [Trainers] have learned to deal with: They've learned to realize that whether they like nutritional facts or they don't like nutritional facts is not the essential question. Rather, it is whether or not the facts give predictions that agree with the results. It is not a question of whether a nutritional plan is philosophically delightful, or easy to understand, or perfectly reasonable from the point of view of common sense. [A nutritional plan] describes caloric needs for ones goals. The amount may seem absurd from the point of view of common sense. However, it will agree fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nutrition as she is - absurd.

I'm going to have fun telling you about this absurdity, because I find it delightful. Please don't turn yourself off because you can't believe Nutrition is so strange. Just hear me all out, and I hope you'll be as delighted as I am when we're through. "

 Many view the idea of scientific information (nutrition) as highly unlikely because they can’t understand it. This is a troubling aspect that permeates throughout our society from health care to nutrition.

We all came into this world without opinions or judgments or values or viewpoints…and now your head is spinning with them. They help you make your way through the world. They guide you to failure and success, ignorance and understanding, good and bad, paralysis and empowerment. Some of your beliefs truly inform you, and some blind you. Some are true… and some are not. But the question is which ones are which?

This kind of question…a question about the quality of your beliefs and the quality of your understanding, is the fundamental component to increasing success in your life, and your health.

 “We must pursue knowledge without any interference of our emotions. Only then will true knowledge manifest itself in reality”.

                                                          What the bleep do we know?

  

Summertime! Here we go...(again)

                         

                            “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

                                                                                                  ~George Santayana

It's summer time again and the diets are in full bloom. Every channel, every book, and every client is talking about it…

DIET!

The stress, anxiety, and desperation that come from a winter of nutritional transgression are coming to fruition.

It’s the perfect storm of emotional turmoil and bad decisions. Here we go again.
What will you do?                            

Will you do the same as you have always done?

Or…will things be different?

Let’s face it…We’ve made sincere, passionate vows to do better with our nutrition in the past, but keep doing the opposite. Even when the voice of reason says no more…we continue to contradict ourselves by indulging in compulsive behaviors.
There are many definitions of this destructive loop that seem to dominate and derail all of our efforts…

~ Vicious cycle…A complex series of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop… one trouble leads to another that aggravates the first.
A vicious circle has detrimental results when negative feedbacks (weight loss/weight gain) are ignored.

~ In Tibetan, the word ‘khor ba’, means circling. This circling refers to an endless cycle of compulsive flight and fixation.

And my favorite…

The Devil’s Circle by Stephen Batchelor

A man lost in a desert can trudge for hours through the sands until he sees ahead of him an unmistakable line of foot prints leading to the horizon. But his joy on finding a trail turns to despair when he realizes the tracks are his own. Since one limb was a few millimeters longer than the other or habit or injury inclined him to step fractionally further with one leg, he consistently veered to the right or left. Without a path or landmark to guide him, he traced a vast circle while convinced he was walking in a straight line.

This describes life’s tendency to repeat itself… “Like someone lost in a desert, I feel compelled to struggle ahead, unaware that a devil’s circle will only bring me back to where I began. Through the years, I return again and again to the same stock obsessions. I flick through the tomb of my achievements in the blink of an eye only to feel that nothing has really happened. I am still the anxious and puzzled child who set out on the journey.”

There was another story of a young man sitting eating a pile of chili peppers. He was sweating profusely; his face was flush with pain. When asked what he was doing… he replied… “If only I continue a little longer… I am sure I’ll find a sweet one.”
How many times have we done this when it comes to our diets?

“No matter what experience has taught us in the past, we insist on making the same mistakes again and again. A devil's circle is addictive. It raises you to dizzy heights of rapture only to bring you crashing down into thoughts of despair. Yet I do not hesitate to start the diabolic cycle again. I find it hard to resist the urge to go through the familiar and comforting motions of habit, even when I know that the end result will be the anxious craving to repeat the experience again.”

A path leads into unknown territory, whereas a circle goes over the same ground again and again. The enticing avenues that a devil’s circle offers are not paths at all.

“New paths are not familiar and secure. The new patterns we will create are not as stable or predictable as they once appeared. In the devil's circle, not only does the devil block the way to freedom, he tricks one into following paths that appear promising, but lead only to frustration and disillusion.”

"We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about- turn and walking back to the right road: in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

The Power of Habit

“It’s not who you are that holds you back; it’s who you think you’re not.”

                                                                                      ~Dr. Hanoch McCarty


I have just finished reading “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. In his thought provoking book, Duhigg skillfully displays the uniquely human interaction between conscious decisions and sub-conscious habits that define us as individuals.
Duhigg referred to the basic structure of our habits as “The Habit Loop.” 

“The Habit Loop” is comprised of three components… 

~ Cue (emotional stimuli…stress, anxiety, etc.)

~Routine (the movement/ behavior that follows the cue)

~Reward (What are the payoff/consequences?)

(This is also known as the ABC’s of behavioral modification)

Think about the chain reactions of our nutritional habits…In the presence of stimuli (stress) which has accompanied a movement (food) will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement. In other words, what you do in the presence of stress will tend to be repeated if the situation recurs.

So this three step process should be easy to change… right? … Just observe the cue that elicits the undesirable act…preform another act in the presences of that cue.

While I agree with Duhigg on all of his assertions (I do them), unfortunately, it’s just not that easy. The first step is the willingness to acknowledge the cue.

“You cannot change what you do not acknowledge” ~ Dr. Phil  

~What happens if we don’t want to recognize the cue?

~What if recognizing the cue means taking responsibility for our actions?

~What if acknowledging ourselves exposes our weaknesses?

~What if becoming aware of this stimulus presents uncomfortable memories?

Oprah Winfrey once said… “The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free”

As we look within our own world, we scrutinize most things…the price of a car…the best flat screen TV’s…the most economical plan for our I-phones. But when it comes to our habits, we carefully avoid/repress examining the emotions that brings forth the cues of our behavior.

To keep cues at bay, we frantically struggle to fill every moment of our day with some form of diversion…work, computers, television, movies, radio, sports, food, alcohol, drugs, parties. Perhaps we distract ourselves because looking at our lives confronts us with our lack of meaning, our disappointments, our loneliness, and the unbelievably briefness of our time here on this planet.

Pascal may have been right when he observed … “if our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it…the sole cause of our unhappiness is that we do not know how to sit quietly in our room.”

Maybe the reason we find it difficult to sit quietly and examine the cues that create our behavior, is because doing so makes us anxious?

But only until we examine our lives, we can do little to make it less unhappy and more fulfilling.

"Know thyself… The unexamined life is not worth living” ~ Socrates    

It is my hope that by discussing these issues/cues, we can bring awareness to that which incapacitates our ability to confront and overcome the obstacles that prevent us from living a full healthy life.

Habits aren’t our destiny…but our destiny will be determined by the habits we create.

"You are searching for the magic key that will unlock the door to the source of power; and yet you have the key in your own hands, and you may use it the moment you learn to control your thoughts."                                                                                                                     ~Napoleon Hill

Metabolism (secret part II)

       

 “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act"                

                                                                                           ~George Orwell  

By the looks of our advertising, most Americans seem to have a low metabolism and be extremely exhausted. Red bull, Monster drinks, and Five Hour Energy all purport to have a solution for this immense problem. Is it possible that these drinks are capable of everything that is proposed?

How do they work?  

“Energy drinks like the ones mentioned above, work by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system SNS (which is our fight or flight response… “the preparation to flee”) The SNS accelerates heart rate… widen bronchial passages… decrease motility (movement) of the large intestine… constrict blood vessels… increase peristalsis in the esophagus… cause pupillary dilation… piloerection (goose bumps) and perspiration (sweating)… and raise blood pressure.

The problem for a dieter that is consuming these drinks is where the fuel comes from. When the SNS is stimulated, glucose is injected into the blood stream. The dieter’s calories (especially low-carb, juicing type people) are low so the body has to create glucose from a non-glucose substance (Protein…aka muscle). This process is called gluconeogenesis.   

Priming the body with these “metabolic stimulants” actually stimulate the body to consume itself (muscle) during our workouts. These stimulants increase our metabolism during our workouts…but ends up lowering our resting metabolic rate for the rest of the day.

(Resting Metabolic Rate… “RMR” accounts for 60 to 80% of your daily total caloric expenditure)  

So what is our metabolism?

Your metabolism includes all chemical reaction occurring in the body which sustains vital functions and the productions of energy. Your body produces energy constantly, but how? Energy is production mainly through the breakdown of macronutrients such as carbohydrates and fats. Once your body produces energy, it then distributes the energy throughout your body to be expended and to perform vital functions.  

Your total energy expenditure is comprised of three major components:

~ The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) – TEF is the energy used for digesting, absorbing, and assimilating food nutrients and accounts for about 10 percent of total energy expenditure. It also plays a small role in total body metabolism. (Eat a 300 calorie meal…burn 30 calories in the digestion of that meal)

~ The Thermic Effect of Physical Activity (TEPA) - a key factor affecting metabolism. TEPA may account of 15 to 30 percent of total caloric expenditure. It is generated through physical activity and occupational and lifestyle activities.

~ Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) – RMR accounts for 60 to 80 percent of daily energy expenditure. It is the “at rest” energy required to maintain the body’s daily functions. RMR varies greatly from individual to individual. The various factors that influence RMR include the amount of fat-free mass, amount of fat mass, level of physical activity, caloric intake, age, gender, and to a lesser degree, genetics.

The good news is you can affect your RMR, because it is greatly affected by the amount of fat-free mass in the body. The combination of endurance and strength training activities will certainly change you your body composition, and in turn, change your fat-free body mass. For example, endurance activities (i.e. running, walking, swimming) when performed for at least 30 minutes or longer (3 to 5 times per week) will enhance the body’s ability to utilize more fat for energy production. In addition, strength training activities enhance the body’s ability to build more muscle. In the long run, RMR will increase, elevating your body’s total daily energy expenditure.

But you have to be careful. Your RMR can slow down as well. Since RMR is greatly affected by the amount of fat-free mass in the body, a decrease in lean tissue will affect metabolism. For example, lack of physical activity will lead to decrease in overall muscle mass and decline in RMR. Also, individuals who engage in juicing (toxin diets…if it were only so easy) or low calorie diets… followed by rapid weight loss will cause the body to go into “starvation mode”. The body will slow down its metabolism in order to conserve energy. Lack of physical activity, a decrease in total body mass “starvation mode” (i.e. loss of muscle mass), and low caloric food intake will all cause RMR to decline. 

When setting a weight loss goal, an important element that is too often left out is having your RMR tested.  You can find your RMR by having your body fat measured. By accurately measuring your body fat, you can estimate total caloric expenditure per day, establish desirable goals for weight loss (or gain), and optimize total caloric expenditure.

To conclude:

In the long run you are only as good as your RMR. Muscle is the key to our metabolism. Any product or program that entices you by promising a “speedy metabolism” or “removing toxins” is a program that is designed to fail you from the beginning.

There is no magic pill/drink or program to help in our efforts to lose weight. There is only science and application. Good nutrition and moderate activity will always be the key to weight control.

The Secrets of Weight Loss (part 1)

                                         
                                      They shouldst eat to live not live to eat. ~ Socrates

 What if I told you there is one meal that can boost your metabolism all morning?

Would you do it?

Would you believe me if I told you that the “secret” to weight loss is about eating more…not less?

I’ll even go so far as to propose there is one meal that can not only help you burn fat, but can help you become smarter, reduce fatigue, and help prevent night time binging.
Think about this…

~You could be a fat burning machine all day long.

~You can create Adderall like focus without taking drugs.

~You can cut your cravings for sugar, salt and fat.

These attributes can all be attained through the addition of one meal…BREAKFAST!

Breakfast literally means breaking the fast.

As we sleep, chemicals in our bodies are at work digesting food eaten earlier in the day. By morning, we are ready to "break the fast" after a period of not eating. The blood sugar (glucose) we need to power our muscles and brains is normally low when we wake up, and breakfast helps replenish it. But if we miss the day's first meal, we start tapping our energy reserves — including what's stored in our muscle. In addition to making us feel tired, missing breakfast is likely to increase the temptation to reach for an unhealthy snack later on and to overeat in general.

Morning is the worst time to skip a meal. For that reason, eating even a small amount within an hour or so of waking is a good idea. Fueling up in the morning can be especially important for children and adolescents, whose metabolic needs are relatively greater than adults.

Yet many American children and adolescents don't eat breakfast. Health surveys have shown that 20% of American children and 32% of adolescents usually miss the morning meal. The unhealthful pattern is not limited to the United States or to children and teens. A review of two dozen studies showed that between 1.7% and 30% of the population in several developed countries, including the United States, doesn't eat breakfast regularly.

Other studies have associated regular breakfast-eating with everything from enhanced memory and concentration to lower levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol to reduced risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

A number of studies have focused on weight control, and researchers have found that breakfast eaters are, on average, thinner than breakfast skippers. Including protein, carb, and fiber in your brerakfast first thing in the morning may curb your appetite during the rest of the day. An interesting study published in 2010 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the breakfast patterns of several thousand Australians in 1985, when they were children, and then about 20 years later, when they were adults. The study participants who reported skipping breakfast both as children and adults were heavier and had larger waists, higher LDL cholesterol levels, and less healthful diets than those who reported eating breakfast at both times in their lives.

The composition of a good breakfast should include carbohydrates with fiber (whole grains, fruits, or vegetables), some lean protein sources such as eggs or yogurt (Greek yogurt has more protein than regular), and some healthful fats such as those in nuts or low-fat cheese (keep to a minimum). A low-fat cheese omelet with a slice of whole-grain toast qualifies as a good breakfast, as does a bowl of high-fiber cereal topped with fresh fruit and skim milk.

Carbohydrates often get a bad rap in diet books, but they are essential in a healthy breakfast. They have been labeled simple or complex, based on the sugar molecules they contain. Another way to classify them is by their effect on blood sugar levels… foods with a high glycemic index get digested quickly and cause blood sugar levels to spike, triggering an extra-large release of insulin to bring them back down. Things such as pastries and sugary breakfast cereals generally have a high glycemic index. Some research shows that high-glycemic foods wind up making people hungry sooner. And high-glycemic diets have been correlated with increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, and other undesirable conditions that nobody wants. (Note. The Glycemic index can be cut in half by adding protein to your meal)

Whole-grain foods enable you to have carbohydrates and keep the glycemic index of your breakfast down. In addition to moderating blood sugar spikes… whole grains supply vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, dietary fiber, and other potentially valuable substances. You don't have to look very hard to find epidemiologic evidence for whole grain having protective effects against obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Eating breakfast may be the key we been looking for when it comes to managing our focus, energy, and health. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step…well… it just so happens that breakfast is the first step in our journey to becoming healthy and wise.  

Wake up America...The Dangers of Yoga

There have been some recent articles that have come out regarding the dangers of Yoga. ( i.e. bulging disk, shoulders etc.) That is not what this Blog is about. I think there are far more things to be concerned with that lie just beneath the surface J

Recently an acquaintance posted an article on facebook concerning the dangers of yoga, and I have to admit, my ignorance blinded me from the facts.

When faced with questions concerning the nature of reality and existence, many people turn to yoga for answers. A "Yoga program" is supposed to be a repository of some kind of knowledge/information, or state of being, which is desirable in the sense that it makes possible a higher, or fuller, or more authentic life than that which we normally live. We go to Yogis to learn about the so-called "meaning" of life, or to participate in rituals which we suppose will have some effect on the way we exist in the cosmos.

The assumption present in this way of thinking is twofold… first, it is implied that there is something that we do not know, yet need to know, in order to live our lives rightly, and second that communion with the “Yoga life”, the desire for which attracts people to yoga in the first place, is not our natural state, but needs to be attained, and even more importantly, needs the intermediary presence of another person (yogi guru), a belief system (any yoga program) or certain sacred/magical rites in order to exist at all.

This “covert yogi maneuvering” is the Devil in disguise.

This Blog message is a wakeup call for this great country that we are so blessed to live in. I am so tired of all of these twenty-four hour news stations trying to mislead us about the world we live in today. They (FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ESPN 2) continually imply that our greatest problems we face are the budget deficient, unemployment, education and slow 40 yard dash times at the NFL combine. They will even go so far as to making wild claims about Americans (college students…TCU) having a drug problem. These outlandish claims are nothing more than a smokescreen to hind the real threat…Yoga.

That’s right…Yoga.

Let me ask you a question…Do you think it is a coincidence that Yoga has grown in popularity at the same time that Obama came into office?  

I have done my own research from a non-biased perspective of the “coincidences’” of Obama and Yoga.

~They both were born outside of America

~Yoga ends with a…Obama ends with a

~They’re both sneaky and have a hidden agenda

~Yoga is done in a dark room…Obama has dark skin

~They both make you sweat                                                              

So…do you think all of these similarities are a Coincidence?

Take a look at some of these other so called “coincidences”…

~Downward dog…doggy style

~In Spanish, Yo means I…ga means gay…translation…I gay

~Take the Y and move it to the back of yoga…ogay

~Have you ever heard a yoga instructor say anything bad about a gay person? (I don’t think so)

~Obama is for gay marriage…yogis don’t say anything bad about gays…again…coincidence?

~People who take yoga wear Lotus symbols on all of their cloths…this is the sub-conscious anchoring of a belief system.

Yogis (and Obama) want you to relax your mind so that evil can slip in and take you over. You don’t have to believe me…H. G. Bohn in his 1855 “Hand-book of Proverbs” proposed… “An idle mind is the Devils workshop.”

Adding to my frustration is all of these happy facebook quotes saying, “Come in and relax with our yoga family” … “a calm mind leads to a calm body” … and the worst… “Relax your mind and open your heart.” (Why do you think they want you to “open your heart”?)

Do you people not get it? If you can’t see what’s right in front of you, you’re either in serious denial or you’re just repressing the truth. (I know these are the same…It’s a joke)

Ok there it is…I’ve laid it all out. You can continue to be apathetic toward yoga and Obama, or you can speak out for this great country of freedom.

If I may quote Gandhi…“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not taking anymore”  

Peace

(I’m not sure if any of these facts are true…but they do support my position)

Two Wolves

An American Indian grandfather was talking to his beloved grandson about his feelings:

Grandfather: I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.

Grandson: Which wolf will win the fight in your heart, Grandfather?

Grandfather: The one that I feed.

I love that story… But it did make me wonder how this story would be told in the twenty first century???

A twenty-first century Neuroscientist grandfather was talking to his beloved grandson about the conundrum of human cognition.   

Grandfather: We have two areas in our brain that appear to be in a constant struggle.

One area is extremely emotional and compulsive…it avoids pain by seeking pleasure with no regard of consequences.

The other area is the voice of logic and reason…it is fully conscious of the consequences of its/our behavior.

Grandson: Which area will win the fight in your head, Grandfather?

Grandfather: The one that I feed.

We all have emotions and compulsions that preside within us... It is but a matter of degrees.

We also all have logic and reason in us... It is but a matter of degrees.

We all have a choice in which of these areas we choose to feed and develop in ourselves…

Which one will we choose?

"It is the mind that maketh good or ill, that maketh wretched or happy, rich or poor." -                                                                                         ~Edmund Spencer

                                        

Fires of Desires

                                                    
                                                    “Envy is the ulcer of the Soul”

                                                                                ~Socrates   

Fire: 1. the flame heat. 2. Something burning. 3 a destructive burning. 4. Strong feelings.

Desire: 1. to long for; crave. 2. To ask for…to have a desire.

Throughout our human history, the Fires of Greed, Gluttony, and Envy have seemed to condemn us to a life of anxiety and frustration.

 ~ We have a voracious appetite to consume

 ~ We have an insatiable thirst for more

 ~ We are envious of others

These obsessive, materialistic acquisitions incapacitate our rational ability to thoroughly understand what a human life can potentially become.

Maybe we can learn something from the Buddhist term “Nirvana.” Nirvana is an absence of struggle; peace. To achieve this level of freedom, the Buddhist believed that we must literally “blow out” these “fires” of materialistic discontent.

Rousseau, an 18 th-century philosopher and writer stated in his book, “Discourse on Origins of Inequality"…

“Being truly wealthy does not require having many things rather it requires having what one longs for.”… “Every time we yearn for something we cannot afford, we grow poorer, whatever our resources. And every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess.”

This yearning for existential wealth is the primary cause of depression and anxiety in today’s society. More than ever, people seem to be experiencing their lives as empty, meaningless, and purposeless. They seem to be responding to these experiences with behaviors that hurt themselves, others, and society.

If existential materialism is the fire, then our desires are a hole... a deep bottomless pit in our lives. Whenever we have a hole in our lives, “things” rush in to fill it.

So... in desperation we attempt to put out our fires with “stuff” because it provides some satisfaction... we hope it will provide ultimate (final) satisfaction as well. We might try to appease our fires with pleasure. (i.e. eating beyond all necessity, starving ourselves to have that "ideal" body, having promiscuous sex, or seek power and the admiration that follows)

The defining quality of these fiery desires is that whatever we do it is never enough...and in the end leads to despair.

Conclusion:

The Buddhist concept - “Blowing out of fires of desires” is to live a real life of meaning and value that is not based on materialistic possessions. It is the freedom from that which consumes, limits, and confines one's capacity to realize their own human potential.

Each and every one of us is on our own journey toward peace, happiness, and fulfillment.

So... (a client ask) what is the answer?

We each have our own "desires" so the path is quite unique for all of us....I can't tell you how to extinguish your fires... but I do know where all of our paths must begin.

The path to freedom from our "fires of desires" can only occur when we are willing to exchange self-absorption (materialism) for self-awareness (introspection).

It is only then that our journey can begin.

           "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself"                                  

                                                                                 ~ Einstein