March 31, 2003

From the Inside Out
YOUR LIFE MAP (Part 2)

At various times in life, and especially during midlife and other transitions, we meet new challenges that don't seem to respond to our usual techniques.

At these times the call to wholeness and healing becomes much louder than before, and we unconsciously begin to reach back into our dark interior for some long-forgotten part of our self. Those on the hero's path are actively searching for their lost treasures, and integrating the light and dark sides of themselves.

Our greatest gift often comes from the place where we have been wounded the most deeply. Many creative and successful people are "wounded healers" — people who overcame a problem and transformed it into their life's work. Bill Wilson founded one of the most successful organizations in history through facing his own wounds. Today millions of people benefit from Alcoholics Anonymous and similar programs. My client, Paolo, deeply anguished by his daughter's disability, put his computer savvy to work and founded a company that designs and produces computer-assisted communication devices for the disabled. Another client, Vanessa, a talented secretary who found her path to executive positions blocked by gender bias, opened her own consulting practice, providing career development training for office workers seeking to reach their full potential. Such people bring passionate enthusiasm and a sense of purpose to their work because they listened when their "inner voice" called them to take on a challenge.

When Joseph Campbell advised students looking for direction in life to "follow your bliss," he chose his words carefully. He didn't tell them to follow their obvious talents, their social expectations, their ego gratification or even their happiness. He used the word "bliss," a word we associate with a state of passionate spiritual ecstasy. Like many before you, you may discover your greatest treasure where you least expect to find it. To find your greatest gift, search in the dark regions where you have hidden your wounds and your passions.

The right quest generates passion in the hero or heroine. It is in searching that we come alive with the inner passion that gives life its color and vibrancy. Passion is the fire of human life — the fire in the belly that propels us forward through challenges. Deep, enduring enthusiasm, unlike momentary excitement, comes only when we have aligned our life with a higher purpose. This means opening up to the deeper flow of wisdom in our psyche. Thoreau advised, "Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows."

After reflecting on your Life Map, you can take the awesome responsibility of creating your own future by drawing a Future Life Map. This map begins with the present moment and ends with your death. What do you want to experience between now and then? Be bold, dream big dreams. Let your first map be the hero's map, unfettered by the limiting lie we call "reality." Your Future Life Map can be one of many, as you explore alternate futures that emphasize different aspects of yourself. After you express your deepest, wildest, most creative dreams you can focus them into more down-to-earth maps that help you plan the next year, or the next month.

What is important is that the successes and failures we experience are our own. Only by following our deepest desire can we find genuine success. All truly successful people have defined success for themselves. Success is not a distant goal, but a process, a state of mind and a way of living life. To know that we can handle anything, to know that we can turn everything into an opportunity for spiritual growth - that is living successfully. Drawing a Life Map becomes a small way station on our journey, a brief time to stop amidst the noisy rush of everyday life, to gaze back at where we have come from and to envision our future. And, perhaps, most important, to ask why we are on the path.

~ Robert Gerzon, Author
"Finding Serenity in the Age of Anxiety"
Printed with author's permission
www.Gerzon.com

Yes You Can!
ADD UP YOUR EXERCISES

It’s important to realize that daily energy expenditure is cumulative — it includes all movements, from low-intensity activities of daily life like walking up stairs to more intense, deliberate workouts, such as sweating through an aerobics class.

“Exercise is like loose change in your pocket — it all adds up,” says Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. So don’t be intimidated by the idea of a 60-minute workout.

Think of the guideline instead in terms incorporating movement into your daily activities, such as walking across the hall rather than sending an interoffice e-mail, taking the stairs at the mall, parking your car at the far end of the lot, pacing while you’re on the phone or clenching your abs while you’re online. Why not flex those abs right now?

And for those people who, no matter how many mini-activities they try to cram in, just can’t accumulate a total of one hour, then rev it up, says Mirabai Holland, director of fitness at the 92nd Street Y in New York. Instead walking for one hour at moderate intensity, try jogging or running for 30 minutes.

She also encourages interval training: Add in some hills and sprints in your 30-minute jog and you’ll be reaping even more benefits than someone who’s walking for an hour.

Quick fitness tips:

1. Use stationary activities as opportunities to work out your muscles.

a. Flex your abs or clench your rear while standing in line at the grocery store.

b. Do calf raises while talking on the phone.

2.. Always take the stairs, whether you're at work or the mall.

3. Do stretches in the shower.

4. Roll your neck, touch your toes, do shoulder shrugs.

5. Take advantage of your TV time.

a. Do crunches or biceps curls with cans from the pantry while you watch.

b. Jump up during commercial breaks and do jumping jacks.

6. Walk around the building during your lunch break.

7. Wear a backpack to increase resistance.

8. Get a dog. That's a surefire way to increase your daily activity level.

9. Plan vacations that include physical activity such as hiking or swimming.

~ MSNFitness.com

Photo: Shan Shang

Historically much more important than it is today, Shan Shang (which means "on the mountain") was a major oasis or caravansary on the ancient Silk Road. It was actually closely tied to India and the kingdoms of the Tarim Basin rather than China. Today it is a tourist mecca and museum of ancient Buddhist cave art near the city of Dunhuang.

LINKS
THAT SHINE

"United Devices Cancer Research"

How would you like to help discover a cancer
cure? You can do your part by simply allowing Intel-United Devices Cancer Research Project to use your computer's spare time for a portion of the project's calculations. Learn more about
this project and how you can help.
www.Grid.org


CLICK EACH BUTTON EVERY DAY
AND MAKE AN IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE
WITH HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS
FEATURED ON OUR LINKS PAGE

Fascinating Facts
MUSIC TO OUR FEARS (Part 2)

“Music can be a powerful catalyst in the healing process,” writes Don Campbell, author of “The Mozart Effect,” a book that cites scores of cases in which sound and music are used to help patients suffering everything from anxiety to cancer, high blood pressure to chronic pain and mental distress. Gina Sala,a voice coach, teacher and co-director of the Sound Healers of Washington, believes that the voice can be an integrative tool to link our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sides. “We were all born with this same, beautiful instrument — our voice, and we’re crying out to use it,” she says, “yet so many people in our culture are afraid to.”

Another music therapist, Mary Comtois of Teaneck, N.J., reports remarkable results with a 9-year old cerebral palsy victim. Confined to a wheelchair, he was so emotionally disturbed that he punched himself, even to the point of blinding himself. Through toning and playing instruments, like maracas and shakers, he learned to love music and feel a sense of self-worth, she says. “He’s now writing his own opera,” Comtois says. “A few months ago he couldn’t speak or match pitch and now he’s singing opera in Italian and French.”

One of the least-known practices of sound healers is using tuning forks’ sound frequencies to literally “tune up” the nervous system, triggering relaxation and “wholeness,” says biosonics’ creator John Beaulieu. Marline Lesh, a Seattle audiologist turned sound healer, invited me to a session of an offshoot, acutonics, which also uses these forks, using the same acupressure points as Chinese acupuncturists and massage therapists. The pulses of Tibetan bowls are thought to mimic Alpha and Theta brain wave states, for example.

Advocates boast that such therapies are noninvasive and nontoxic, work well with other treatments, like massage, and are far less expensive than conventional drug-based medicine. “HMOs like seeing the faster recovery of patients in a wide number of areas and the falling costs of anesthetics and other drugs,” he says. This could spur more of these therapies being covered by insurance. “People are looking for alternative forms of medicine,” says Fred Schwartz, an anesthesiologist at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, who has been successfully using music mixed with “womb sounds” among premature and low-birth weight babies. “As we measure more in patients’ vital signs and see changes in the brain at the cellular level, we’ll be able to map the positive effects of sound on our health.”

~Francesca Lyman, MSNBC

Laughing It Off
SPRING CLEANING

Last year my house barely survived our annual spring cleaning day. In fact, both the fire department and the American Red Cross still have us on their monthly check-in list. So this year when the time came to divvy up the chores and dig into spring cleaning, I made a cheat sheet of sorts for my husband to refer to:

** Broom (brum) - Along handled brush used for sweeping (also doubles as a mode of transportation for your mother)

** Vacuum (vak' u em) - Much like the leaf blower except it sucks in, instead of blowing out. Don't let this alarm you. It isn't broken and doesn't need more torque, speed, RAM or whatever it is you did to the dishwasher.

** Dust Pan (DUH) - Contrary to popular belief, this is where you sweep the dirt, not under the hallway area rug.

** Dust Cloth (dust kloth) - A cloth designated for removing tiny particles of dirt from every flat surface of the house. Hint:look for your old "lucky shirt".

** Bucket (buk' it) - Cylindric container used for holding soapy water when mopping the floor. Also known as your mid-evil knight helmet when you're playing with our seven-year-old.

** Mop (mop) - A bundle of coarse yarn, rags or cloth fastened at the end of a stick. You'll remember this as your dance partner at the New Year's Eve party last year.

** Toilet Brush (toi' lit brush) - Used for scrubbing the inside of the toilet bowl. Remember, you may NOT use my shower luffa again!

** Oven Cleaner (uv' en Klen' er) - No, not the teenager. This is an actual product that you buy, spray in the oven and wipe out two hours later. You won't need your welder's mask for this task, but if it makes you feel more dangerous, go ahead.

** Sponge (spunj) - Used to gently wash away food particles from dinnerware. It won't be necessary to use your 300psi Power wash set. That was given to you in hopes of cleaning the exterior of the house (hint hint).

** Squeegee (skwe' je) - Same principle as washing the car windshield, and yes, real men do squeegee!

**Final Note: While duct tape may be a wonderful plumber's aid, it's really not the best solution for keeping the bathroom towels in place, and Jamie's teacher is still asking why his homework was stuck to his forehead last week. For these reasons, I have hidden the duct tape and distributed your picture to the local hardware stores. Don't make me call Duct Tape Anonymous again.

~Contributed by Ted Lamb

Untangling the Web

WHAT A SITE!

Informative sections on dentistry,
dental hygiene, dental procedures, dental
technology and new products, and the
latest developments in the field of
dentistry can be found at:
http://Floss.com

COMPUTER-EASE

Outlook Express Addresses
There are several ways to enter addresses into the Outlook Express Address Book. First, you can simply run OE and click the Address Book icon. When the Address Book opens, you can add or delete names. To quickly add a new address to the Address Book, you can right-click a message in the message body window and then select Add to Address Book

Look at THAT!
GIANT LAVA LAMP

 
Photo: REUTERS


Since visitors don't stop at Soap Lake, WA,
anymore, even though its medicinal waters reputedly can cure anything from sheep parasites to snake bite, civic leaders are seriously considering trying to revive the tourist trade with a towering 60-foot-high lava lamp in the center of downtown, complete with viewing platform. The proposed installation is shown in this artist's rendition. After all, look what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris and the Space Needle for Seattle! ~REUTERS

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Editor . Chelle Thompson ~~~ Associate Editor . Geri Merrill
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