Personal Developement

Why are Americans so fat?

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Why are Americans so fat?
by Cathy Newman.
National Geographic. August 2004. Pages 46 – 61.

1 in 3 Americans is obese, twice as many 3 decades ago

15 percent of children are overweight or obese, a three fold jump from 1980

Being overweight is associated with 400,000 American deaths per year.

Being overweight increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes,
colon cancer, breast cancer, and endometrial cancer.

The Center For Disease Control reports that adult women are eating 335 more calories per day then they did in 1971. Adult men are eating an extra 168 calories a day.

1 pound of fat is about 3500 calories. An excess of 250 calories a day will
put on 26 pounds a year.

Being overweight or obese is a matter of taking in more calories then are used.

Most overweight and obese people are out of caloric balance,
but only by a tiny amount of calories per day. A 250 calorie deficit per day
will subtract 26 pounds a year.

What does 200 calories look like? Continue reading Why are Americans so fat? →

Medical Science, Personal Developement

Happiness, what is it and how does it work?

Abraham Lincoln said, “People are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” I agree with Lincoln and think Dan Gilbert has useful and impart on the subject of happiness and contentment.

Dan Gilbert talks about happiness. On TED/WNYC – New York Public Radio

Psychologist Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness “synthetic happiness,” and he says it’s “every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for.”

Personal Developement

Conscious Creation of Self – Self-Talk

Conscious Creation of Self – Self-Talk

As James Allen wrote in his book, "As A Man Thinketh" Men are the creators of themselves. It is possible to be the conscious and intentional creator and it is possible to be the unconscious and unaware creator of ourselves.

Conscious creation works better for the vast majority of humanity. Conscious creation allows a choice about what it is we will become and strive to become. Without a destination, a goal and a plan on how to arrive at that destination it is unlikely to be achieved.

James Allen, also in his book, "As A Man Thinketh" says nothing comes from nettles but nettles and nothing from corn but corn. I interpret this to mean that if a person sows corn seed corn is the only plant which will grow from that seed.

If a man sows negative thoughts, thoughts of failure and of scarcity it is failure and scarcity which the individual will harvests from that planing whether of actual seed or of thoughts. It is at least as easy to decide what to harvest and plant that seed, think that thought, plan that plan, take that action as it is to focus on the fallacy of a lack of abundance and opportunity.

Life is what a person makes of it. If a person determines to pursue a life of abundance and opportunity that is the life which will present itself and it will present itself as a direct result of thoughts which are the seeds planted in the garden of the mind. The harvest is a choice determined by the each person.

Gene
A Traveler on the Journey!


Personal Developement

Mental Masturbation – Now Do Something

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Everyone has wants, needs and desires. Now Do Something!

If you want something in your life do something. Thought without action produces no change. Plans with no action creates no change. Wishing with no action produces no change. Observing others with no action produces no change. Study and education with no action produces no change. Affirmations with no action produces no change. Therapy with no action produces no change. Spiritual seeking with no action produces no change.

A number of years ago I worked in Naples Florida with Fred Wass. It was while listening to one of his presentations that I first heard the term Mental Masturbation. The phrase described exactly the helplessness and dis-empowered state of thought without action, the constant rumination without end, which produces only disappointment and pain.

Going to conferences, reading another book, going to another self help meeting, listening to the latest and greatest personal development speaker can have value. But without action there is no change.

Creating an identity as a seeker of wellness without embracing the steps necessary to live in wellness is futile. At some moment in the journey of gathering knowledge and information action is required to actually live in health and wellness.

Why do people focus on the problem instead of the solution? People are comfortable with their story. Their story becomes their identity and then they cling to the identity, their story, with a ferocious tenacity, even though their lives and that story are desperate unpleasant experiences.

People fear the unknown. It sometimes seems better to live in the wasteland of despair than to risk the unknown which change may bring. This fear of change is common even when it is difficult to imagine worse circumstances in that person’s life. This fear is common even when life seems so desperate that the person is praying to whatever power exists in the universe for relief from the current situation.

How can a person change? A person can change by becoming willing to do something to positively change his or her life and then doing something. Perfection is not desired nor is it possible.

Live in the moment. Now is the only moment anyone ever lives in. It is possible to make plans for the future but each moment of life is lived in the now, If it is not now it is either a memory or the future, neither of which is now.

Be conscious of the thoughts that occur in your mind. Observe the automatic thoughts without judgment. Become willing to change and create your best life.

Now do something! Take action

Gene
A Traveler On The Journey!
www.talktoyourself.com

Medical Science

Stop Complaining?

Stop Complaining?

A few months ago Reverend Will Bowen, a pastor in Kansas City, Missouri, asked his congregation to make a simple pledge to not complain for 21 days, according to MSNBC. Each participant was given a purple bracelet as a reminder of the pledge, and with each complaint, the bracelet is switched to the other wrist and the 21 day count restarts.

The no-complaints movement has quickly become mainstream, and so far over a million no-complaint bracelets – which the church offers free of charge – have been ordered. Requests for the bracelets are coming in from as far away as Australia and South Africa, as well as from American troops in Iraq.

Some participants tried up to seven months to achieve 21 complaint-free days, but even with relapses, all efforts have resulted in millions of stopped complaints. As Rev. Bowen sums it up, “that’s a lot less ear pollution.”

Challenge:
Could you last 21 days with no complaining, criticizing, gossiping or sarcastic remarks? Take the no-complaints pledge, and encourage those around you to do the same.

To read the original article go here:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17362505/

I encourage you to take this 21 day challenge. I also encourage you to be aware of your thoughts as you give up the habit of complaining and also suggest that you write a journal or keep a diary of the changes in thought processes that occur as the 21 days unfold.

Please post the results of your challenge on the blog or email them to me if you are willing to share with me. I am interested.

Gene

Change Your Self-Talk, Change your Life!