Earth Day is All About You!

Tomorrow is All About You:
In case you didn’t realize this is in fact Your Planet! In spite of what anyone else tells you, this is the truth. Even the famed physicist Stephen Hawking said similar “In an expanding universe, any one point can be seen as the center…”

You are that center. And God knows as we all do too that the world revolves around you! After all, without you, whats the purpose? This whole world is here for and derived from YOUR experience. So even more important than your birthday, is your earth day: “(You)Day!” is what we are going to discuss today. So strap on your seatbelt and get ready for one serious rollercoaster ride!

Tomorrow is Earth Day - the one day a year we try to make ourselves aware of this fragile blue ball and our relationship to it. Twenty years ago I began work an environmental engineer and the best part of my job was lecturing to school children on the environment. This was part of the companies community outreach program, a PR campaign to balance out the prostitution of our expertise to help large corporations pave over wetlands to create yet more shopping malls and condominiums. Or to help them get off state and federal violations for polluting land, water and air. Needless to say I soon grew tired of being a prostitute!

Fast forward 20 years and things sure are heating up on your planet! Not only are they heating up, they are also clogging, smogging, and choking up too amongst myriad other problems. And thats just on the outside - one can only wonder what pollution is going on inside your planet?

As you’ll see, the outside and the inside on all levels are connected. And it’s always all about you!

A Brief History of Time You!

As Stephen Hawking notes, “The Universe can spontaneously create itself out of nothing.” This nothing is in fact Everything. So this Big ‘Let There Be Light’ Bang happened about 15 billion years ago.

So far we’ve counted about 50 billion galaxies and in fact there may be an infinite number of them. And these galaxies are expanding into a nothingness simply beyond human comprehension. I mean, how on earth does something with no edge expand into nothing?

Each of those billions of galaxies hold billions of stars, and so on…you know the rest. But even more awe inspiring than our universe, is this phenomenon called Life.

Life is even more mysterious to science. Sir Martin Reese notes that if the earth’s life span were related to one year, the 21th century would be only ¼ of a second on June 11th. Basically life has evolved in the span of 4 billion years from bacteria to humans. And we, life that is, have about another 6 billion years before the sun dies out taking earth with it. What life forms are present 6 billion years from now will be as different to humans as we are to bacteria.

Never mind that you are the first person in your family to walk on two legs, intelligent life is here. Life’s quest to get to the level of intelligence and awareness to where we are now, took 4 billion years. It went from bacteria to humans. Science and technology are evolving at a rapid pace. One cannot even imagine what that means for humanity in the near future let alone the longer term. But the uncertainty is high now as we hit this crossroads in our ability to even survive as a viable species on the planet.

The plethora of issues we face from Global Warming, Peak Oil, Mass Extinctions, Ozone Depletion, the economy, increasing toxicity of food, air and water, increasing wars between nations, terrorism, biological agents and genetically modified organisms that escape from military and corporate research facilities to wreak havoc on the environment, loss of topsoil and the resulting collapse of agriculture, to the fact that all your friends have a new SUV and HDTV and you don’t, show that we all have challenging times ahead.

Either way, the notion that 6 billion years from now intelligent life (if it remains) will be as different as bacteria are to humans is shocking. What on earth will they even look like? Will cockroaches take our place and evolve even higher intelligence than we humans have? They are one of the only species able to tolerate the poisoning of the planet we humans are so good at. God knows they sure are smart, and fast! My bet is on the cockroaches! And if you think life gives one whit of special concern for humans, click your heels three times saying “There’s no place like home” as you keep praying to Santa Claus to save us.

But for now, it’s still your planet. And it’s an amazing place:

- Science is only beginning to discover the multitude of life forms that cooperate to form the living biosphere of the planet. New kinds of whales, monkeys, gorilla, antelope and even a new species of elephant have been discovered recently.

- New bacteria, so small that only todays microscope could identify them, have been discovered in the oceans. So small, and yet one of the most abundant organisms, they make up a major portion of the photosynthesis that creates the food chain upon which we humans depend upon.

- Bacteria are the oldest and most successful life forms on the planet. The amount of bacteria on the planet is virtually infinite, and their total weight far exceeds the weight of all other life forms added together.

- For all we know about viruses, this area of science is virtually unknown. A virus is not quite dead, and not quite alive. A good portion of your DNA is made up of viral DNA that was able to ‘hitch a ride’ so to speak on the human race to probagate. The variety of information held in the genes of viruses likely exceeds the total of all other life forms combined. Are the lines out there starting to blur yet for you?

- Nematode worms, with over 80,000 species so far identified (possible up to 500,000 species total), are found in virtually every part of the planet, from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the highest peaks. They are so plentiful in your skin that if everything else on your face were removed: skin, hair, bone, other organisms like bacteria, mites, etc, there are still enough nematode worms living on your face that your face could be recognized.

- There are about 500 different species of bacteria living in your mouth and throat alone, both good and bad ones. In your gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) there are even more. In fact there are more bacteria in your body than human cells, about ten times as many. So its not unreasonable to say you are really more bacteria than human!

Together with the 1000’s of other species living on the outside and inside of your body, and you see a veritable Garden of Eden ecosystem making up this so called life of yours. One of the hottest areas in nutrition is called probiotics - gardening for your garden by keeping all the members happy and healthy. Gut health is so critical in your health, people are now starting to realize just how important it is to love and care for all those friendly critters living in your belly.

The foods most of us eat don’t support the garden. And as we pollute ourselves, we also do the same to the planet. For now forget about the prozac and other meds and the other chemicals coming back to us in our foods via the food chain. Lets keep it simple; eating cheap and convenient foods full of wheat, corn, sugar, rancid fats, mucus forming dairy and putrid proteins pollutes the planet and you.

Take wheat for example. This ancient grain was one of the first cultivated plants at the dawn of the agricultural revolution over 10,000 yrs ago. When grown and prepared properly, it can be a nutritious food. However, modern agro-business has rendered wheat a profitable commodity, but of little nutritional value. Its also one of the most common food allergens that many people are unknowingly intolerant of. Its one of the first thing I tell my clients to eliminate from their diets.

Although there are over 30,000 varieties of wheat, only a few of them account for 90 percent of the worlds production. This reliance on a few specific types decreases the resilience of the plant to resist threats such as infections from bacteria and fungi. To offset this, the crops are sprayed heavily with pesticides which not only are acutely toxic to the poor migrant workers, but end up wreaking havoc in the food chain as they work their way into fragile ecosystems. So not only do we get a significant amount in the wheat we eat, we also get them in the water, milk, meat and other foods.

But most of us don’t care if its died, dyed or fried, as long as it taste good. We don’t care if some poor Mexican or Chinese got sprayed full of pesticide picking it, just as long as it gets to our plate in time for the ball game is what matters.

Is it any wonder so many of us have allergies? Or that we get yearly colds and flus or get chemical imbalances making us feel depressed, angry and/or tired, fat and bloated?

Then of course we take antibiotics that act as a pesticide for our internal garden, washing it down with some rocket fuel and pesticide laden water as we rush to our next appointment gasping the polluted air as the acid rain pours down onto our newly washed car. And of course what bothers us the most is that we just paid $5 to get our car washed!

We never bother to think about planting new life in our garden to restore balance and health. Thats why periodic cycles of probiotics are a critical supplement you should take. And in particular if you are sick or have taken antibiotics.

That same mentality applies to the garden outside – the environment. For example, the world is running out of oil, and the oil we use is smothering the earth in a blanket of carbon (aka Global Warming). In spite of the few corporate paid scientists and blind Christian Evangelicals who say otherwise, the entire scientific community is in accord that human activity has increased the rate of atmospheric carbon. New evidence suggests the North Pole might disappear in as little as 5 years.

What is the response of political and corporate leaders to this? Burn more coal and extract shale oil, both more polluting for the environment. It’s like a crack addict who cannot use his arm veins anymore, they then start injecting in between their toes to get the crack in!

Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to ignore your gut garden, nor to pump out tons of global warming carbon into the atmosphere. Knock yourself out! But we all know (I hope) that when the pain and suffering of our ignoring (our ignorance) becomes great, then we want to wake up and change. Only often its too late, too expensive or too scary to fathom. So we go back to bed, but don’t forget to up our dose of Ambien!

I just think its easier to stay awake! In fact, one of my axioms is “Stay awake and have your cake” meaning you CAN have your cake and eat it too as long as you can be present (awake) to the experience.

But I digress…back to the vast tapestry of life(you!):

From viral DNA inside your DNA, to virus’s that live in virtually every corner of planet (You!), to the bacteria and worms, not to mention a few human cells and maybe a brain cell or two as well and the lines get even more blurry.

Then of course you have the flux of all sorts of species outside you that also keeps you going:

- The oceanic bacteria that feeds the phytoplankton, which feed the krill, which feed the sardines, who in turn feed the tuna which you eat every Friday at the sushi bar. The bacteria and worms that digest dead trees and roots to make fertile soil in which the rice is grown that you stuff down along with the sushi, and perhaps drink in the form of saki as well. The same rice that is fertilized by the countless millions of insects, many of which we are killing both intentionally and unintentionally.

How many lines can you connect? How many of your preconceived notions can you erase? The web of life from the micro to the macro is more infinite and complex than the entire universe, and its all centered around you! Who on earth needs alcohol or drugs or anything for that matter, when the little we do see of reality is so utterly awe inspiring and magical that one can be intoxicated, mesmerized even, by a flower, an ant or a sunset?

Unfortunately our destruction of life outpaces our discovery and best estimates show that half of all life forms could be extinct by the end of the century. A mass extinction that would change the face of the planet with dire consequences for us.

And now we get to the best part: Relationships!

“Give up the drop, become the Ocean” Rumi

When the human genome project started, scientists raced to unravel the mystery of the human gene pool. Thought to be numerous (we’re so amazing after all, right?) we were disturbed to find it was only about 30,000 genes. That rice plant I mentioned above has about 40,000 genes, humbling us as to our special place in this world.

The more we discover, the more we realize how unimportant intelligence is - like the bats sonar, or the plants use of nectar, its just one of many adaptations allowing life to florish. We are in fact part of the fabric of life, not the weaver of said fabric in any way.

Recent understandings in evolution show that just as the honey bee is used by plants to spread thier genes, plants have also in essence used humans to accomplish the same things. Yet that honey bee, like you, (if it could think, and if you could too which is a philosophical pandora’s box beyond the scope of this article “I think I think, therefore I am, am I?”) believes it is the one in control of the situation, choosing which flower to land on etc. But as scientists expand their ability to see things from other perspectives, a whole new world emerges.

Genes are the base for all behavior, from bacteria to humans. Genes are units of information, quite literally ideas. Good genes, good ideas and god jokes tend to get repeated (copied). The genes do not have to be yours in order for you to be controlled by them. For example, there are worms that get into ants, travel up into their brain, and make the ant climb up high on grass just asking to be eaten by a bird.

Worse, this worm also makes the ants body swell up and turn red, like a flashing ‘Eat Me’ sign for hungry birds. The worm does this so its eggs can hatch in the bird where they live only to get excreted out the other side to repeat the entire cycle all over again.

Candida, a yeast common inside many people, can make them crave certain foods, in particular carbs and sugars. This is good for the candida, but not for the person. So who is controlling who? It gets even better; science now realizes your brain starts in your Garden of Eden - the GI tract. This is why people say “You make me sick to my stomach”, or “Listen to your gut”, “I have a gut feeling about…” etc. Our gut has been called the ‘mini-brain’ by medical researchers who realize many of our emotions are shaped by our guts.

There is more of the neurotransmitter serotonin made in our GI tract than in our brain. Ninety percent of it in fact. Of the 300 substances known as neurotransmitters, most are found in the gut. And of course our GI tract, that gut garden, is where a complex chemical cornucopia is created by, you guessed it: bacteria. So where do you begin and other life forms end? Are the lines blurry yet?

“Looking at the world from other species points of view, is a cure for the human disease of self-importance.” Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivores Dilemma

Early Darwinian evolution was thought to be “Survival of the fittest.” This axiom in turn led to the rise of the ‘Robber Barrons’, who used their understanding of Darwin to justify gross human rights violations in their greedy quest for fortune. They heralded in the dawn of modern capitalism.

Only they were dead wrong. Turns out its ’survival of the most cooperative’ that often ends up doing the best! Symbiotic relationships where both individuals, or both species, or both nations, can benefit are the healthiest.

“Have no enemies” Jesus once said, and the word holy in Hebrew applied to God is “Kadosh”, which means ‘other’ or ’separate’ - its the awareness of the other (even of our enemies) and the resulting compassion, that can be a doorway to ultimate peace.

Conclusion: Celebrate Earth Day as Your Day Because it is!

When I spoke to the children I used slides from my various trips around the world. An avid scuba diver, I would show them slides of me scuba diving in beautiful coral reefs, then in the next slide show them a satellite image of a river pouring soil out of its mouth to literally smother the coral reefs nearby. When land is cleared of all life to make room for crops, the soil has no protection from erosion when heavy rains hit. The soil literally gets washed away to flow down rivers and smother other fragile ecosystems like coral reefs. Soil erosion is a major problem, and part of the issue in global agricultural production.

The one thing I stressed with the kids was that life is like an airplane. Each bolt holding the wings together represents a different species of life. How many bolts can we pull out of the wings before the plane can no longer fly? Currently we pull out thousands upon thousands every year. In fact in our ignorance we do not really know the full scope and depth of the problems we are creating.

How many dots, how many bolts, can you connect and see are ultimately connected to you? What relationships, from the 6 billion Adam & Eves in the Garden outside, to the 600 billion other creatures living with us out there, to the 600 trillion bacteria living in the Garden inside, can you weave into the rich tapestry of your life?

You are both a single thread and the entire web, the drop and the ocean. Part God and Gaia, Savior and Satan, Neo and the very Matrix itself. Choose whatever metaphor you need to appreciate this understanding.

And may the Force be with you!

Best;
Brian

With everyone being concerned over the economy – people are starting to find ways to save money. One way people are turning to more and more is being healthy. Sounds crazy but its true – vitamin sales are up sharply this year as people find prevention saves more money in the long run than expensive doctor’s visits and drugs. Plus it just feels better!

Health care (insurance) is a twisted system – it’s like an all you can eat buffet – it tends to incentivize sloth and gluttony! Plus it may not be there for you when you need it – in case you didn’t hear – the financial cancer has metastasized! So why not invest in the best asset you have: yourself?

Now more than ever is a great time to step up to your health and fitness to the next level. It often takes a crisis for people to wake up! Unfortunately it’s often too late.

Here are some easy ways to save money and get fit and healthy:
1) Save $500/month - Quit your gym:
Gyms can be expensive. And the truth is you don’t need all that equipment. I have clients who are now saving over $500/month by training at my home gym. Do the math:

Option A: Gym membership: $150/month
Personal training sessions: 3/week= 12/month at $95 = $1140
TOTAL: $1290

Option B: 12 PT sessions with in home personal trainer: $65 x 12 = $780
(They do cardio as I show them on their off days outside in the fresh air)

Total Savings: $510/month – or $6120 a year!

Note: Even at 2 sessions per week you still save $400/month or $4800/yr.

Even if you cannot afford personal training there are many other ways to exercise that do not require a gym. E-mail me if you are interested in learning more.

2) Save $200/month - Stop Eating So Much:
While billions of people don’t have enough to eat, most in the US have too much to eat. Many of the poor in the world die from malnutrition while many here die from eating too much toxic food that comprises the typical American diet.

Fasting is a great way to lose weight and save money – skipping one meal a day could reduce your food bill by 33%. I’ve discussed it before, the easiest type of fast is IF (Intermittent Fasting) where you simply skip a meal – like breakfast. Try to get at least 12-16 hrs of fasting to reap the benefits.

3) $500+/month –Stop Getting Sick!
Actually this one is priceless – after all, how much is your health worth to you? Start by eating healthy with judicious use of nutritional supplements. I used to get sick 2-3 times a year, a cold, the flu and then allergies in the spring.

When I cut out the top allergens from my diet and began to aggressively take safe, non-toxic nutrients my life completely changed. A 100% turnaround. I stopped feeling congested; I didn’t get sick for over 12 years. In fact, even now when I do catch something, I can feel it ‘coming on’ for a few hours and then it goes away. I think I was actually sick, where I was stuffed up and congested – once in the last 4 yrs, mostly due, I think, because I began to eat dairy and wheat again.

The NY Times recently ran an article that people are buying vitamins and herbs more this year to try and avoid doctor and drug expenses. People know being healthy is the way to go – it’s just when they have enough money – they feel they can afford to be lazy. You have to love human nature!

Bottom line: If you want to be healthier and fit you need to exercise. You don’t need the gym. You need to eat healthy (50-75% raw, 50-75% organic). You don’t need to starve. However, if you aren’t eating like this - my research indicates you can compensate for this by adding liberal use of nutritional supplements.

I’ve always said drinking milk was not healthy, and here is more evidence for this. The slew of hormones in milk are increasingly suspected of promoting tumor growth. Now in all fairness, I do feel the relative risk of this link is still not as critical as say, eating produce that is either GMO and/or laced with pesticides.

Skip soy as well and go for Almond or Hemp milk as the best alternatives.

Read more here in Science News

I just got off the phone with John Gray, author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” and a regular customer of mine, when I realized its St. Pats Day! Even though I am Irish, I usually don’t celebrate St. Pats.  At least not in the typical way of green beer and smokey pubs.  There is much more to Ireland & the Irish than just celebrating a Christian Missionary who converted all the indigenous people to another religion.

Its ironic that after years of British subjugation including genocide, the Irish actually celebrate a religious version of the English Conquerer Oliver Cromwell. All that simply because he is Catholic. Sure he supposedly got rid of all the snakes there as well, but given the recent collapse of Irish banks, seems a few snakes were still around!

Of course Catholicism is what unified the Irish in recent times against the British oppression, hence the strange twist of fate with good old St. Pat. Actually not so strange when you realize these ironic twists and turns of life are often what make the tragic comedy of life so ‘poetic’!

Which brings me to a real reason I celebrate St. Pats. The Irish, an often soulful lot, celebrate the poetry of life.

Ok, you caught me. Yes, part of why I celebrate is because I am still a robot to my DNA which spews out a chemical vomit of neurotransmitters that quite literally force me to feel akin to family, ethnicity, gender and whatever else this false ’self’ weaves into this carnal bag of blood and bones.  These genetic chains of bondage imprisoning me into an ape-man called homo-sapien are hard to break!

But in the true spirit of the Irish, I celebrate a mystical land where ancient Celtic druids delved deep into the fabric of space and time, and created pyramid like structures long before the Egyptians did. A land of green and red: green fields and red blood from all the countless wars. Talk about the fighting Irish! Yet thru it all, the drink and the strife, from famine to fortune and back, the Irish see the poetry of life. Life is poetry in motion they say - and exercise is of course motion after all!

One of my favorite Irish poets was the Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats. He propheticaly wrote about the inherent entropy (chaos) in the universe perhaps before the word ‘entropy’ was even invented:

“Turning and turning in a widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart, the Center cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity”

“Things fall apart…anarchy is loosed upon the world” - sounds like a page out of Revelation. And its something no one wants to acknowledge. Entropy - chaos or anarchy, is what got you here. What goes up must come down, order and control create chaos and revolution. Just look at the current economy we live in. Yet so many cling to systems of order and control. Smothering the chaos until it explodes on us like a hurricane.

There are 2 primary forces in the world - Light and Dark (or entropy/chaos and gravity/order). Most think of them as good and bad but this trite understanding negates the deeper reality that there is no good and bad. Like the Wu Li Masters, they are locked in an eternal dance where it gets harder and harder to tell them apart! Bad brings good and vice versa, so the net result is always zero! Zero, aka nothing, harking back to the deeper insight in all great religions & philosophies that the entire world is nothing, an illusion. But an illusion we all cling to vehemently!

Light is the expansive force of chaos, the Big Bang energy that exploded from a point into this vast stretch of space and time we call the Universe. From a point to the pointless! Or ‘From the One to the many, and back from the many to the One’, as my friend Dr. Nadler would tell me. We tend to think light is good - but live in terror of it really - for in ‘the center falls apart’ the chaos of lights expansive force makes us fall apart too. The sun that gives life also burns your skin.

The dark force is seen as bad. After all, to a diurnal ape living in the day, the night was when our enemies - the predators like lions, would come out and hunt us! No wonder we think of the dark as evil! But the dark force of gravity it is what got you here in the first place. Gravity draws things down, it creates heavy (and heavenly) bodies - such as the stars, the planets, and you! Its a ’self-centered’ force as opposed to the selfless force of light. Gravity is what creates the earth (hence the word ‘grave’) and your DNA - genes that create those programs running inside your head that you think are you!

How hilarious! Talk about a War on Terror! We live in constant terror - of everything - both the light and the dark! We call God ‘the light’ - but in truth we live in terror of that very light - for it is death. After all, that expansive force of light and creation means chaos, anarchy and to our frail little bodies - death! And of course the dark force of gravity means the grave! No PhD needed to figure out that one.

We, like the light - seek to move, to expand - to evolve. Keep evolving. Light like the wind, dancing thru the trees, moves. So get out and move! Exercise for Gods sake! <---new spin on an old saying eh? lol

We, like the darkness, need to chill. Light is hot, gravity is cold. Chill out. Relax, its ok to be self centered, as gravity does that to us. Too much, as we've seen with the greed as creed bankers - makes us too dark, too grave - which of course leads to the inevitable opposite - lots and lots of chaos and anarchy! You just wait - the next 12 months will be a roller coaster ride thru an inferno of Dantean proportions! We've been running our planet and ourselves too hot - wired on caffeine, cheap credit and consumerism. But oh will Humpty Dumpty have a big fall. So relax and chill, go with the flow in the coming future and you will do much better.

Most Irish are a bunch of wankers! Only a Jew can criticize a Jew and not be called an anti-semite, so being Irish I can call my own peeps out. But there is a strong tradition of sedition as well - viva la revolucion! After all, ‘evolution’ is built into revolution!

Poetry, like all the arts - moves us. Ever been moved by a poem, a song or a film? Every moment that same reality is there for you to touch, all you need to do is wake up. This is the reason I celebrate cerebrially at least, St. Patricks Day. Wake up, the luck of the Irish is always there for you - you just need to realize it!

“…and may you be in heaven a full half-hour, before the Devil knows your dead!” Irish Blessing

And vice versa of course! A recent study found that Alzheimer’s disease appears to progress more rapidly in patients with cardiovascular risk factors.

“Diabetes and high total or LDL cholesterol were all significantly linked to accelerated rates of cognitive decline among Alzheimer’s disease patients, Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., of Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues reported in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology.

“Prevention or treatment of these conditions can potentially slow the course of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Stern’s group said.”

Once again, the body is a system, not just individual parts. All disease pathologies are interconnected, and your genes simply determine which disease you get. Disease is, of course, largely from years of neglect and abuse in how we treat ourselves. Not that this is bad, but there is a price to pay for our choices - and human nature what it is - we all want the rewards, but not the costs & risks.

But everything has good and bad associated with it, and we all get to choose our path.

Choosing life to me means choosing balance and harmony, and this entails being healthy. It starts by getting grounded, and learning how to reconnect with our body and cultivating respect for life. Regaining balance and health starts with yourself - honoring the gift of life that has been bestowed upon you. Common sense dictates that includes a healthy, holistic way of living - eating foods that are healthy, moving your body (exercise) as we were designed for. Working in a healthy fashion as well - not falling for the creed of greed that runs Corporate America & Wall Street.

What does it profit us to work long hours for years making huge sums of money if our children grow up in a polluted environment? In a economic depression? Markets like people are healthy as long as they are not run by too much fear or greed. Yet these 2 emotions appear hard to eradicate. So we overeat, drink too much, and take advantage of ourselves & others in our business dealings. Always neglecting the fact that there will be costs to pay.

The fat cats of Banking, Bernie Madoff was their poster boy, are going the way of fat, lazy Americans. The era of ‘Me”, of fear and greed - overeating, over consuming, over-working, making a ‘killing’ on Wall Street, is being replaced with the era of ‘We’ - compassion and cooperation. Don’t look to blame anyone else - health & fitness buffs blaming fat people for health insurance increases is the same as broke, unemployed Americans blaming all the bankers. There is no one to blame! All you can do is work on yourself and those around you with whatever the world throws at you.

As our world starts to detox, you might want to yourself - the short term pain will bring long term benefits far greater! The choice is up to you.

Monsters, Markets, March Madness
Monsters, Markets, March Madness

“March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” or so they say. Well, with 10″ of snow and the market down 300 points, the lion has landed! Will it go out like a lamb? Thanks to global warming you can be sure at least the climate will, for the time being.

There is so much going on now its becoming more like an adventure movie. The key in the near future is to keep calm and balanced, and realize that your biggest monster is the one residing inside your head. Just like many now realize the biggest threat to our country was terrorist ’sleep cells’ that were inside our nation all along, coming, not with bombs, but with banks.

Here is a short video on monsters, using another example of how a common disease (lyme) that many have is in fact a US biowarfare agent that leaked out in an accident on Plum Island. Its a powerful metaphor for the monsters of the markets that we all may soon face. Stay tuned for more madness!

Note: My video was picked up by another blog - you can watch it here

I don’t pay all that much attention to the Oscars, but I do enjoy the medium of film. Its a great way to crack open closed minds and make us all stop and think, at least for a few moments. I could go on at length on all the unknown truths revealed in film, for example, the latest James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” had the evil doers (bad guys) down in South America trying to control access to water so they could sell it to people. Well, that really happened - pretty much exactly as in the movie.

The US firm Bechtel bought the water rights to a large part of Bolivia through bribes and threats (read the NY Times Bestseller “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”). It was only when the civilians rioted and several were killed by military troops that the government of Bolivia was forced to revoke the contract and expel Bechtel from the country. This is how business is done to a large part, and part of why we are in this economic mess. When people are looked upon as statistics, well, “When the log rolls over we shall all fall in!”. But on the upside, also entering into a new paradigm - shifting from ’survival of the fittest’ to ’survival of the most cooperative’.

The Oscar for best film went to Slumdog Millionairre. Apparently Hollywood chose to make the plight of billions who suffer in poverty more relevant than the woes of the aging baby boomers who related more to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

One film I hadn’t seen until this week was “Man on a Wire” which won the Oscar for best documentary. It was about the man who walked across the Twin Towers on a wire. It was a truly remarkable feat. The major theme of the film was a man with a dream and the will to step up and make it happen.

But what really caught me was his ability to walk - on a wire, with the greatest of ease. He was so completely in the moment, so focused, that he literally could dance on the wire. His body was in perfect harmony. He didn’t resist the resist the forces moving the wire high above the World Trade Center, he yielded to them. It reminded me of the Yoga masters who could balance on 1 finger, or my kung-fu sensei who would fight 2 or 3 of us, blind-folded. By being present, totally open and at one with the moment, one could, well - literally walk on water.

His walking reminded me of my daily walking meditations - something I have encouraged many of my clients to pursue. People naturally seek out activities that quiet their mind - like running, gardening, fishing, because when you are focused and present, you feel a certain sense of peace. For many this is a form of meditation, and I find simply walking with my mind focused works wonders for me. In whatever way you find peace - seek to expand that power of presence beyond just those rare moments when you are doing what you love. The power of presence is available to us always if we open our hearts and minds to it.

So, for all you do, this buds for you. Or in this case - this Oscar. For dwelling inside you is a dream waiting to rise up. Inside you is that same potential to literally walk on a wire, and maybe even…on water.

Not only does stress make you age faster, increase the liklihood of being fat, make you unhappy and time and time again prove to be a worthless feeling - now it might also give you cancer! So why do we do it? Like not eating right nor exercising daily - we stress because we are not awake and aware of how our DNA has us on auto-pilot! Chasing dreams and values that often work against our higher good.  Look around - do you see any signs that human nature is in many ways ‘unhealthy’ or ‘insane’?

Back to cancer. Cancer cells can have all sorts of crazy behaviors, thats why they are cancer cells! Cancer in general thrives in an unhealthy environment, so it only makes sense that new research shows that cancer cells can use stress hormones to grow.

Some types of cancer cells “have receptors for the stress hormones norepinephrine and epinephrine, and when cancer cells are exposed to these stress hormones in the laboratory, the cancer cells produce factors that favor the spread of the tumor cells; if this happens in the body, it could increase the risk for metastases.

More broadly, chronic severe stress can disrupt sleep and appetite, effectively pushing the production of stress hormones that fuel long-term or persistent inflammation—and inflammation may promote certain kinds of tumor cells to proliferate.” (1)

Once again, too much stress is like like too little exercise- we just ignore it until it becomes a problem. Then it is often too late - long term stress, long term living with little daily exercise, increases risk for having physical and mental disease states. Then we rush for toxic treatments that often just mask the symptoms - anti-stress medications like Xanax, or chemotherapy for cancer.  For most people these are good treatments - it’s the best they can do since they are simply unaware of the bigger picture.

But for those choosing the ‘road less travelled’ it simply makes no sense.  For short term stress relief - try a safer route - my product Gabatrol is safe and all natural, and works in 15 minutes to reduce stress. Add to that a sound stress management program (exercise, sleep, some type of prayer/meditation practice) and you’re set!

1) On Cancer and Stress

What a coincidence that the day after our “Everything in Moderation?” lecture the news is about mercury contamination being found in many products sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Now HFCS is bad enough on its own, but many common foods you and your children might consume were found to have mercury in them. Mercury is a dangerous metal and is unsafe in any amount.

“Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.

HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages and foods such as breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS, but teens and other high consumers can take in 80 percent more HFCS than average.

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply,” the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author of both studies, said in a prepared statement.”

Mercury is found in vaccines, in dental fillings, in foods like fish and HFCS, and in case you didn’t hear, even snow has unusually high levels of mercury. And that’s only one toxin.

Mercury is a factor in allergies, hypersensitivity and all the associated disorders of this, and immune system dysfunction. It can make one more sensitive to dairy and wheat allergies - 2 items I have long advocated people avoid. Worse - doctors are not trained nor aware of chemical toxins affecting our health. Most also do not even know the basics about processed dairy and wheat being issues as well.

Tell me what bothers you? No matter what it is, from weight loss to depression, you name it, there are good chances several toxins are affecting whatever problems you have.

What can we do to counter this? Avoid the known risks like tuna & HFCS, buy organic as much as possible, and consume lots of cilantro! I have become a whiz at using cilantro in many of my recipes!

A common phrase I often hear from my clients when asked about their health is ‘everything in moderation.’ But what exactly defines moderation? How do we know that our moderation is really balanced? Are there hidden factors we are unaware of that skew our idea of moderation? Is moderate exposure to toxins a safe and healthy choice?

In this era of increasing health risks such as cancer, infertility, emotional issues like depression and anxiety, and the epidemic of childhood issues like ADD/ADHD and autism - can we afford to wait until after the fact to realize we did not do our best to prepare ourselves and our family?

Dr. Eunice Stagliola, MyHealthExperts resident toxicologist, is going to speak on such issues in the first of her lecture series on ‘Living Toxic’. This lecture is going to be this Wednesday, January 28 at 7 pm at Tommy K’s in Stamford. Seating is limited so RSVP ASAP!

Tommy K’s is at 54 Research Drive, Stamford. Call (203) 325-9544 for directions. Please feel free to share this invitation with others you think may be interested.