Archive | July 2014

suffering as a lesson

Jul28

turtle

Having recently read Man’ s Search For Meaning from Victor Frankl, the great Austrian psychologist, I was touched by another remarkable story of survival. He credits his survival to his logotherapy theory which he put to test the 3 years he was held captive in concentration camps during the holocaust. He ultimately believed his own life had a purpose which was to help others find theirs.

Part of the theory is …..
Despair =Suffering – meaning

Suffering sometimes called dukkha is always happening according to the Buddhist First Noble Truth. Happiness is transitory; actually everything is. If we can look at our suffering as a lesson and find a meaning for it, despair will cease.

On of my largest lessons for this came with the diagnosis of nasal cancer for our dog, Leia. It was earth and mind shattering. She was only 5 years old at the time. It catapulted me into research for alternative therapy over radiation which only promised up to a year survival, was pricey, and was painful. But with divine guidance, she miraculously survived 5 years with the alternative treatments. The meaning came almost immediately into the journey when I realized the new path this was taking me down. One of my favorite quotes is “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I started to learn so much. This door open opened the next which lead down a new path and so on. From the beginning of that journey, I have said one day I shall write a book about what my dog’s cancer taught me about life. In this case the meaning infinitely outweighed all the mental and physical suffering. There was so much learned from this great teacher.

VF

I hope you dance!

Jul16

As my husband’ business conference started to wind down on a Thursday night, the attendees and their significant others began shedding  their business mentality and moving into a more relaxed state.  We all sat around in the slightly awkward Monkey Bar, the drinks poured for everyone around me, and Mr. DJ played some typical early hour music .   After a couple hours of the smooth cocktails and “Get Down Tonight”, people were moving furniture out into the hall and shaking their “junk in the trunk” to Pharrell’s “Happy” !   As I sat back and watched (and jumped in to my favorite songs every now and then), I realized how dancing is such a sense of freedom.  People from all walks of life were  just singing and dancing to  “playing that funky music white boy” and “She hit the floor”!  As a watched (and chuckled at some including my husband), I realized several drinks and the perfect wedding reception portfolio of dance songs creates the perfect cocktail of self-confidence!  You forget where you are, who you are with, and your age.   You might as well be at a college frat party strutting the dance floor to “Dancing Queen” because you are the dancing queen for this party!  So, as Lee Ann Womack’s lyric go, “if you have a chance to sit it out or dance” at your next activity, “I hope you dance!” Yea, your back may hurt in the morning, but the fun (and stories to tell) you will have!

ABCs of SPF

Jul8

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What are you putting on for protection? Not all SPF is the same.  The numbers can be quite confusing and give a false “burn prevention” security.

An SPF of 15 protects from 93%of the UVB rays (burning rays) and SPF 30 and SPF 60 protects from 97% and 98% respectively.  These have no protection against the UVA rays which are known to penetrate deeper and lead to premature aging.  Also, the higher the SPF, the more chemicals are needed which ultimately could be harmful to your health and you are increasing your coverage by only a small percentage.

The FDA is not allowing any waterproof labels.  Now products will be labeled with “sweat and water resistant”.  Despite the products not changing, these give about an hour protection.  Then they must be reapplied.  And to get initial protection they need to be applied 20-30 minutes before the activity. They need to dry on the skin in order to be able to offer their protection.

I personally recommend and look for brands with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the main ingredient.  These are physical blocks that typically deflect or scatter the rays.  Chemical sunscreen ingredients are often added to get broader protection to a physical based sun block.  I personally do not like total chemical sunscreens.  Ultimately, they are all chemicals.  I think spray/aeresoal sunscreen should be banned!  Peronally, I gag when people use them around me.  Imagine what a child is inhaling we you are spraying them.  They are getting chemical sunscreen in there little lungs!  I suggest the rash guards for large body surfaces.  Second, you assume you are getting aerosol SPF on your skin.  If there is a slight breeze.  Oops! No sunscreen for you! It is too easy to miss an area.

Check out this site for safe sunscreen recommendations…http://www.ewg.org/2014sunscreen/about-the-sunscreens/?search=Search+for+your+sunscreen…&brand_id=3767&mineral=on

 

 

 

 

And he died 2 days before the 4th of July!

Jul5

unbroken 2

Every time I sing “America“, I cry.  I can make it up to the verse of “land where my father’s died,” but by then the tears have filled the eyes and they will begin to flow.   Then I usually just have to hum the rest.  If I just listen, I feel emotional but don’t physically sob.  So, I can only imagine the emotions that swell up in a previous POW if a simple little civilian gets this emotional.

If you recently received my personal specials from the office, you would have seen my recommendation for the book, Unbroken, as a summer read.   Louis Zamperini’s story was amazing and so well documented.  As I mentioned in my email, my grandfather, Ray Goodson, was also a Japanese POW.  This book brought up a lot up stories that I remembered my grandfather sharing with me as a kid and young adult. Stories that did not makes sense to me.  I did not understand how people could be so mean to other people and why.    At the first camp Louis Zamperini arrived in, there was an officer from my grandfather’s ship, the USS Houston.  That made me go grab my grandfather’s memoirs to see if he had ever mentioned the same people or the locations.  He did not.  My grandfather “worked” in the coal mines and the Burma railroad but had described to me over the years the same amount of torture.  Like Mr.  Zamperini, my grandfather, and his WWII buddies were survivors.  All of their stories amaze me.  It’s a part of history that needs to be told and we need to be grateful for all of their sacrifices.

Unbroken, is being turned into a movie.  It is scheduled to be released on Christmas day!  That will be a great gift!  I cannot wait to see it.  Sadly enough, Mr.Zamperini died 2 days before the 4th of July.  I think that is quite appropriate.  He was such a inspiration for America! I wish he could have seen the movie , but that may have bee too difficult to watch.  Physically watching something may be too much.  Simply bringing up a memory and talking about it was hard enough according to my grandfather.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/040900/met_2719118.html

http://www.usshouston.net/stor/goodsonray/rgoodson.htm

ray

Ray Goodson beloved grandfather and personal hero

 

Bees, Bats, and Butterflies…Oh My!

Jul1

I truly understand the passion that Louie Schwartzberg speaks of when he talks about his “calling in life.”  I am happy to hear Obama will be having the EPA to fully investigate the reasons why all these miraculous beings are greatly diminishing and help create areas for conservation.  These sweet creatures pollinate a significant portion of the worlds crops.  Being primarily a vegetarian, I know my diet would significantly change without my fruits and veggies.  They are also very important to the almond crops.  You can search the web to see what you can do to help save the pollinators of the world!