Discomfort

December 19, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Michael Hyatt recently wrote about his growing understanding about the role that “discomfort” can play in personal growth.

I think there are three reasons why you and I should embrace discomfort, whether we deliberately choose it, or it simply happens to us.

  1. Comfort is overrated. It doesn’t lead to happiness. It makes us lazy—and forgetful. It often leads to self-absorption, boredom, and discontent.
  2. Discomfort can be a catalyst for growth. It makes us yearn for something more. It forces us to change, stretch, and adapt.
  3. Discomfort is often a sign we’re making progress. You’ve heard the expression, “no pain, no gain.” It’s true! When you push yourself to grow, you will experience discomfort.

What would you add to his list?

Filed Under: Blog, Personal Growth Tagged With: , ,

No Perfect Dad

July 29, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Blog

What Would You Do?

June 16, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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Celebrating Accomplishments

June 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

What do you have to celebrate? Probably more than you realize.

There is an old Christian hymn that says “count your many blessings, name them one by one.” Like the blessings we receive, it is good to acknowledge the things we achieve. In a recent article David Riklan and Samantha Etkin shared the following questions to help you acknowledge and celebrate some positive things in your life.

To figure out and pay tribute to the positive things you’ve already accomplished, take a few minutes to look back on the past 12 months and ask:

What have you done in the past year that has improved who you are as a person?
1) Have you taken steps to try and see the positive in situations more frequently?
2) Have you broken off any toxic relationships?
3) Have you become more assertive?
4) Have you worked on effectively communicating with others?

What have you done in the past year that has helped improve someone else’s life?
1) Have you given your money or time to a charity?
2) Did you donate blood?
3) Have you provided someone with a shoulder to cry on?
4) Did you give up your seat on the bus or train to someone else or help someone carry their groceries to their car?
5) Did you teach a child how to ride a bike, tie a shoelace, or play a sport?

What have you accomplished off of your day-to-day to-do list?
1) Did you finally get around to cleaning out the garage?
2) Did you pay off a debt?
3) Did you get rid of your old clothes to free up more closet space?
4) Did you organize your files or your desk at work?
5) Did you plant that garden, fix that car, or paint that room?

What have you accomplished off your “bucket list?”
1) Did you finally take a trip you’ve always wanted to take?
2) Did you write that book you’ve always wanted to write?
3) Did you learn a new language?
4) Did you land your dream job?
5) Did you graduate from college, buy a home, get married, or have a baby?

Did you do anything to improve yourself or your life?

What questions would you add to their list?

Filed Under: Personal Growth Tagged With: , ,

Burning Calories

May 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Banging your head against a wall can burn up to 150 calories per hour.

It’s been estimated that an opera singer burns an average of more than 2 calories per minute during a performance.

Filed Under: Exercise, Weight Loss

Laughter Therapy

May 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

__________

Quotes:

Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.
~ Norman Cousins

Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it.
-Cullen Hightower

__________

Book Cover

Filed Under: Healthy Living

Memory Enhancement Foods

May 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

The following are foods believed to improve memory function:

  • Apples
  • Apricots
  • Black currents
  • Blueberries
  • Blueberry juice
  • Bok choy.
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Cabbage
  • Cauliflower
  • Cherries
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Collard and mustard greens
  • Eggplant
  • Elderberries
  • Fish
  • Grapes
  • Kale
  • Onions
  • Plums
  • Red Beets
  • Rhubarb
  • Rosemary
  • Spinach
  • Swiss chard
Filed Under: Diet Tagged With: , ,

Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe

April 27, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Quality ingredients = “Ooohhh….ahhhhh…mmmmmmm…”
Cheap ingredients = “Hey, these aren’t half bad!”

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened (don’t even think about using wanna-be butter)
  • 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar (use quality sugar – yes…there’s a difference)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use Mexican vanilla)
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Saigon Cinnamon is the best and I usually add more)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I double the cloves)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup raisins (I prefer to use golden raisins)
  • 2/3 cup nuts (optional)

Now do this…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins & nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. I use a melon baller to measure all my cookie dough. It makes for nice even cookies that bake consistently.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Filed Under: Healthy Living Tagged With: , ,

Chewy Gingersnaps Recipe

April 26, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

In my house, these disappear faster than chocolate chip cookies!

When baked with quality ingredients = “Ooohhh….ahhhhh…mmmmmmm…”
When baked with heap ingredients = “Hey, these aren’t half bad!”

  • 4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (I prefer unbleached)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger (I usually add an extra teaspoon – I like strong ginger)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I use Saigon cinnamon – stronger flavor)
  • 1 1/3 cup vegetable, canola or sunflower oil (I prefer canola oil)
  • 2 cups granulated sugar (use quality sugar – yes, there’s a difference)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses (I use Black Strap Molasses – stronger flavor)
  • Additional granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Here’s whatcha do…

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Lightly grease two cookies sheets with non-stick cooking spray or butter and line them with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon and set aside.

Using and electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the oil, sugar and eggs on medium speed until the mixture is smooth and light. Beat in the eggs, one at time, followed by the molasses, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients to make a firm dough.

Place some granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Using lightly floured fingers, form the dough into 3/4-inch balls. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar to evenly coat them. Place the cookies on baking sheets, evenly spaced and inch apart, and lightly press them with your fingers to flatten them slightly.

Bake the cookies until they are puffed, cracked, and lightly golden brown, about 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the pans 180° halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for two or three minutes, then use a spatula to gently transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Store the cookies in an airtight container, kept in a cool, dry place, for up to a week.

Filed Under: Healthy Living

How To Avoid The Swine Flu

April 25, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Practice the following very simple steps while you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection.  Carefully following these practices can help prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections.

  1. Frequent hand-washing.
  2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptation to touch any part of your face (and the face of others). The only portals of entry for the Swine Flue are the nostrils and mouth/throat.
  3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
  4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down the viral population.
  5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C such as citrus fruits. If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption
  6. Drink as much of warm liquid as you can.  Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

———-

The above tips are adapted from some offered by Dr. Vinay Goyal, MBBS, DRM, DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist).  He has more than twenty years of clinical experience, having worked in Hinduja Hospital, Bombay Hospital, Saifee Hospital, Tata Memorial and other health services institutions. Presently, he is heading the Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

Filed Under: Safety Tagged With: , , ,
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