Winds and seasons

Recently I’ve appreciated imaging myself, my life, and my loved one’s lives as like a mountain or tree that stands dignified through the many winds and seasons of change. I pass along a couple of offerings that are helping ground me in greater acceptance of what is, whatever is happening:

1) a “Mountain Meditation” from Ron Siegel's "The Mindfulness Solution' web site that takes only 10 minutes to listen to, and that is strangely settling for me. (I’d love to hear how others respond to it.)

2) this June 8 entry in “The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life you Have”

"Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind.

To be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all."

- Buddha's Little Instruction Book

It helps to remember this. Of course, it’s hard to remember this when feeling blame, loss, or sorrow. But that’s when we need this wisdom the most.

Like everyone, Id’ rather not experience the undercurrents of life, but the challenge is not to shun them, but to accept that over a lifetime we will have our share of them.

Avoiding the difficult aspects of living only stunts our fullness. When we do this, we are like a tree that never fully opens to the sky.

And dwelling on our difficulties only prevents them from going on their way…

The storm by its nature wants to move on, and the tree’s grace is that it has no hands. Our blessing and curse is to learn and relearn when to reach and hold, and when to put our hands in our pockets.

*Stand beside a fully grown tree. Breathe in its wisdom.

*As you watch the tree stay open to wind, feel praise and blame rush you, and try to stand like the tree.

*Breathe deeply, and feel gain and loss circle you and try to open your heart like a branch.

*Breathe slowly, and feel pleasure and sorrow rustle your leaves: try to stand still, holding on to none of it.

- Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening, June 8 entry

Greentime

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks…

Keep close to Nature's heart... Wash your spirit clean…” ― John Muir

Summer in these northern climes is a time to enjoy spaces outside. Vegetation is plentiful in our half-year of green and temperatures are sometimes even quite pleasant. Being outside does a body good. I’ve talked about it before (blog post Oct 5, 2011) but repetition can be helpful: this June post encourages us to get connected to the natural: enjoy some greentime!

SOME BENEFITS

The Environmental Health Research Foundation (EHRF) reports in the pdf article "Benefits of Green Space – Recent Research April 25, 2011” these advantages:

~ Healthcare/Stress Reduction – Even merely viewing natural green reduces stress in five minutes or less.

*Findings from several studies have converged in indicating that simply viewing certain types of nature and garden scenes (includes green spaces) significantly ameliorates stress within only five minutes or less. Further, a limited amount of research has found that viewing nature for longer periods not only helps to calm patients, but can also foster improvement in clinical outcomes -- such as reducing pain medication intake and shortening hospital stays. [(2002) Ulrich, R.S. Health Benefits of Gardens in Hospitals. International Exhibition Floriade]

~ Increased Physical Activity/Reduction of Obesity - Access to green space is an important predictor of increased physical activity and reduced risk of obesity.

* A study published in Lancet comparing income-levels and health of over 40 million people in England shows that health disparities between high income and low income people are much narrower in areas with ample green space. The authors speculated that the green space may reduce health disparities by enabling residents to become more physically active and reduce stress. [(2008) Mitchell, R., and Popham, F. Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study. Lancet 372:1655-1660]

*A study in Marion County, Indiana, of children and youth aged 3 to 16 who lived closest to neighborhood green spaces, including parks and recreational facilities, were more likely to have normal body weights as measured by age-adjusted body weight index (BWI-z) scores. The authors speculate that this was due to increased physical activity or time spent outdoors. [(2008) Bell, J.F., Wilson, J.S., and Liu, G.C. Neighborhood Greenness and 2-Year Changes in body Mass Index of Children and Youth. Amer. J. Prevent. Med. 35:547-553]

And these findings retrieved from University of Washington [references cited in specific on the page linked: Wolf, K.L. 2010. Active Living - A Literature Review. In: Green Cities: Good Health. College of the Environment, University of Washington] reveal -

* A study in the Netherlands found that residents of neighborhoods with abundant greenspace generally enjoy better health than urban dwellers without access to natural areas. This positive link was found to be most apparent among the elderly, housewives, and people from lower socioeconomic groups.

* In a study of European urban adults, residents of areas with the highest levels of greenery were three times as likely to be physically active and 40% less likely to be overweight or obese, than those living in the least green settings.

* A remarkable 5-year study of senior citizens in Japan found that having readily available space for taking walks and the presence of parks and tree-lined streets near the residence were significant predictors of higher survival rates. Living in areas with walkable greenspaces positively influenced the longevity of urban senior citizens independent of their age, sex, marital status, baseline functional status, and socioeconomic status.

SOME IDEAS

Wherever you are, there’s likely numerous avenues to explore and enjoy green spaces. Google “parks” for your town, city, or state and have fun discovering some new spots or visiting old favorites. More specifically, here’s a couple of suggestions for us Minnesotans:

**On the site explore Minnesota “Get Outside and Play with Your Kids” there are ideas (and links to follow) for places to ride a bike, tour a cave, visit a farm, go geocaching, walk a trail, start paddling, enjoy activities at a resort, participate in state park programs.

**A new Green Play Yard at the Minnesota Arboretum opens June 16. The assertion is that regular “greentime” supports children’s healthy development and well-being: it wakes up the senses and offers new possibilities that entice us to play. I know where I’ll be frolicking on my June day with grandchild Noah: not sure who will have more fun in the Green Play Yard (well, maybe I am: I'm thinking me!)

May you too find green spaces to frolic or find solace this month!

"I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God." ~Alan Hovhaness

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving…He makes grass grow on the hills… Psalm 147:7a,8b

People change

People change and forget to tell each other.
-Lillian Hellman, playwright (1905-1984)

Surprised, or not

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. ~Attributed to Harry S Truman

You learn something every day if you pay attention. ~Ray LeBlond

I offer below a few research studies that boast findings where the outcome, in some cases, seems like a no-brainer and in others a little surprising. Enjoy a little intrigue. Maybe you'll be surprised, maybe not.

Five days a week, I l-ah–ah-ah-ah-ove you. *An NIH-funded study reveals: The people who ate chocolate the most frequently, despite eating more calories and exercising no differently from those who ate the least chocolate, tended to have lower B.M.I.’s. There was a difference of roughly five to seven pounds between subjects who ate five servings of chocolate a week and those who ate none, reports lead researcher Dr. Golomb. [Like I need any encouragement to enjoy chocolate.]

Too much I in me. *From an illustrative study published in 1983: Larry Scherwitz, then a psychologist at Baylor University, taped the conversations of nearly 600 men, a third of them with heart disease. Dr. Scherwitz counted how often the men used first-person pronouns — I, me, mine — and found that those who used them most often were most likely to have heart disease and, when followed for several years, most likely to suffer heart attacks. [Do you suppose this applies to female Dee? Note the avoidance of ‘me.’]

Stress accumulates. *A March 26, 2012 online PNAS article reports: Alzheimer’s disease is increasing at a startling rate in younger individuals, largely due to a processed and refined food diet, environmental factors, and long-term chronic stress. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine published the result of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explaining the mechanism behind continual exposure to stressors so common in our rapid-paced lifestyle. The unnatural accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates in brain tissue – neurofibrillary tangles – are one of the physical hallmark signs of Alzheimer's disease, and have been shown to contribute to disease progression in people under chronic stress conditions during the course of past studies. For more.

Who ya gonna call? *A fascinating new study of nearly two billion cell phone calls and almost half a billion text messages shows how our loyalties, as measured by phone communication, can shift over time. An international group of researchers (from Finland, Britain, Boston) obtained electronic communication records from 3.2 million customers of a mobile phone carrier in an unnamed European country, looking for patterns among 1.95 billion calls and 489 million text messages over a seven-month period, noting the age and gender of the participants. The two contacts each person called and texted most often were deemed to be their first and second "best friends."
Men appear to rely on female phone confidantes throughout their lives. But as women age, they tend to shift their phone affections away from men, spending more phone time with their adult daughters. See the full story, as reported in LA Times online, “As Women Grow Older, Daughter Becomes the Favorite.” [Yes, Rebekah, I miss you!]

Jog your brain. *From a team of researchers led by Justin S. Rhodes, a psychology professor at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois: using sophisticated technologies to examine the workings of individual neurons — and the makeup of brain matter itself — scientists have discovered that exercise appears to build a brain that resists physical shrinkage and enhance cognitive flexibility. Exercise, the latest neuroscience suggests, does more to bolster thinking than thinking does. Exercise seems to slow or reverse the brain’s physical decay (most of us, beginning in our late 20s, lose about 1 percent annually of the volume of the hippocampus, a key portion of the brain related to memory and certain types of learning). Additionally, scientists found that exercise jump-starts neurogenesis (the creation of new brain cells) in the hippocampi. For more, “How Exercise Could Lead to a Better Brain.” [I’m headed outside, in just a minute, to move more.]

Don’t worry, be open. *Researcher Barbara Fredrickson suggests: negative emotions narrow people’s attention and cognitions, positive emotions broaden attention and thinking. Over time, the expansive mindsets triggered by positive emotions help people to discover and build a variety of personal resources—psychological, cognitive, social and physical—which ultimately contribute to well being. (FYI, some of the everyday pleasant events known to elicit positive emotions are: helping, interacting with others, playing, learning, engaging in spiritual activity or meditation. Even looking at ‘happy’ images – like puppies, penguins, landscapes – induces a positive state and allows folks to have broader attention, see more connection to others, and be more creative.) [See Barbara Frederickson’s publications listing, or a short YouTube presentation “Positive Emotions Transform Us" or a longer one “Using Positivity to Bounce Back from Inevitable Setbacks”]

May you enjoy – learning daily - this May (which is nearly here!). May all things positive light your way and may you step into any opening: in health, in relationships, and in lovingkindness to yourself. Cheers, Dee

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968)

The light in the eyes (of him or her whose heart is joyful) rejoices the heart of others, and good news nourishes the bones. Proverbs 15:30

A happy heart is a good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing. Proverbs 17:22 (Amplified)

Enjoy and influence

“A human being is part of a whole called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space.
We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
– Albert Einstein

With spring continuing to open to us the wonders of new life – I offer a few words around the power and privilege of each of us for enjoyment and influence.

About enjoyment:

Let us remind ourselves to enjoy the spring’s unfolding beauty, which can remind us to enjoy all of the life we’ve been given. We can give greater attention to this present moment: enjoying its richness, loosening preoccupation with “self,” seeing and accepting things as they are, and even feeling gratitude for things as they are. I think of the directive-for-our-own-good in Scriptures: “…in everything give thanks…” I Thessalonians 5:18

In March I was privileged to attend a workshop presented by Ron Siegel who shared this definition of mindfulness: an awareness of present experience with acceptance. [I’ve spoken of mindfulness previously; for more, see below.**]

He shared that the mind is powerful enough to affect the body: for enjoyment or not, for good or ill. We know of the placebo effect where, when we think we’re being helped by some intervention, most of us consistently improve. Interestingly, Siegel shared the effectiveness of various placebos: two pills are more effective than one, a larger pill more than a smaller pill, an active placebo (one that mimics the common side effects of the drug under study) more effective than passive placebo (such as sugar pill), injections more than pills, and surgery most powerful of all.

At the Wikipedia entry for placebo (Latin word for “I shall please”) we read: “Those with Alzheimer’s disease lose the capacity to be influenced by placebos, and this is attributed to the loss of their prefrontal cortex dependent capacity to have expectations.^[127] Children seem to have greater response than adults to placebos.^[128]

Mindfulness and the placebo effect call me back to some keys to enjoyment: gentle expectation of benefit, and child-like openness to whatever is happening (possibly instead of “why ever is this happening?”).

About influence:

We can influence this moment – by choosing to be aware of what might be enjoyed (dwelling on “what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing…” Philippians 4:8), and by accepting what IS in this day.

We can influence our world in positive ways by being kind and loving to ourselves and others. I appreciated the lovingkindness meditation practice at the workshop (you also are invited to experiment with mindfulness meditations at Siegel's mindfulness-solution web page; there's no cost to play or download the audio files) that consists of applying a compassionate approach first to self and extending it to others, by repeating --

“May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free from suffering, may I be free from fear, may I let go (or, whatever phrases particularly resonate kindness for you)…

May my loved ones be happy, peaceful, free from suffering…

May all beings be happy, peaceful, free from suffering…”

(This meditation has various names: a “metta” Buddist practice, a Christian prayer of “blessing,” good intentions, warm wishes.)

Mindfulness develops compassion for ourselves as we open to our own pain, as we see that everyone else also has pain, and as we see our interconnectedness. I find this idea most winsome, and it seems consistent with what I am leaning into in other areas (accepting my whole person rather than squashing my shadow self, to name just one) and consistent with others' writing. In his book “Prayer,” Frank Laubach wrote these words in 1946, “Every thought tends to become true in proportion as it is intense and as it is long dwelt upon. Thoughts result in deeds an

d deeds make history. Our thoughts leap across space and appear again in other minds, in proportion as they are intense and long dwelt upon. Thoughts are contagious. ‘What you whisper in secret,’ said Jesus, ‘shall be shouted from the housetops.’ Yes, even your thoughts shout, though others may not know it is you who are shouting!”

May we be influencing our moments and world as we shout lovingkindness to ourselves and each other. And may we find enjoyment in the beauty of this moment.

I close with some thoughts of poet Mary Oliver. May they aid us in seeing and enjoying the world’s wonders.

Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who made the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

~ Mary Oliver ~ (Why I Wake Early, 2004)

** [There’s so much info available on the how-tos and benefits of mindfulness that it’s difficult to know where to begin. But here’s a few resources:

- http://www.mindfulnet.org/ claims to offer “everything you need to know about Mindfulness on one website”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn, originator with U Mass Medical School’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs has gobs of material and links here

- An article “Mindfulness Matters: Can Living in the Moment Improve Your Health?” includes a few doable suggestions at NIH News in Health

- Find a brief overview of research on the benefits of mindfulness at “Connecting bodymindsoulspirit" on my NaturallyYours web site; and can check out some of the posts on my blog: Oct 7, 2009 post addressed the topic of boosting immunity by monitoring our thinking, or this one on intentionality Aug 12, 2009 post]

Love all

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
- William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

"A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."
-Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

A little weird

We are all a little weird and

Life’s a little weird,

And when we find someone whose

Weirdness is compatible with ours,

We join up with them and fall in

Mutual weirdness and call it Love.

– Dr. Seuss

More fruits and veggies!

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. – Doug Larson

Q: What is small, red and whispers? **

For this March 1^st Wed wellness email, especially as spring and gardening season approaches (for us in the north country it's not too much longer to wait), let’s look at a few benefits of “real” food. I like what Michael Pollan, professor of science and environmental journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of In Defense of Food, says, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” The “eat food” part refers to the “real” food of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fish and meat, rather than “edible food-like substances that your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food, or foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce.” [For a few more rules for eating see some words Pollan shared with the CDC]

Why is it difficult for many of us to take in enough fruits and vegetables? We think they cost too much? Our taste buds are overly conditioned to higher sugar and fat preferences? Not enough (or any) convincing media blitz to persuade us (can you recall many advertisements urging you to eat your veggies)?

The health ‘authorities’ are currently recommending that fruits and vegetables take up half your plate! Most of us are not heeding that call. I recently re-subscribed to a newsletter called “Environmental Nutrition” (EN) – in Vol 34G I read

“If there’s one simple thing you can do for better health it’s to eat more fruits and veggies. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a National Action Plan (NAP) that provided a comprehensive approach to improve public health through increased fruit and vegetable intake. After five years, the report card is in, evaluating the progress schools, restaurants, supermarkets, and governments have made toward getting people to meet their recommended intake (2 cups of fruits and 2 1/2 cups of vegetable for the average adult.) The NAP report card gave adults an “F” for an average intake that falls far below recommended levels; only six percent achieved their goals in an average day. Food consumed away from home make up one-third of average daily calories, yet it only accounted for 11 percent of all fruit and vegetable intake.”

Here’s a few BENEFITS for increasing our diligence to consume those nutritious fruits and veggies:

--Safeguard against cancer: "At the Nov 2011 annual conference of the Am Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), researchers calculated that making nutritious dietary choices, maintaining a healthy weight, and engaging in regular physical activity can prevent about a third of the most common cancers. We know this, right? It’s just seems less appealing to act on it consistently. So, let’s remind ourselves. Nutrients such as folate from dark green vegetables, oranges and legumes and phytochemicals in garlic, cruciferous veggies (like broccoli), help turn on tumor suppressor genes and turn off genes that lead to cancer development and its ability to spread; and phytochemicals can provide antioxidant protection against DNA damage and fight inflammation." (EN, Vol 35:3, Mar 2012)

--Reduced heart disease: "Findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Heart study, which included more than 300,000 people from eight different European countries...found that people who consumed at least eight portions (about 3 ounces) of fruits and vegetables per day had a 22 percent lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease (characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart) than those who consumed fewer than three portions." (EN, Vol 34G)

--Improved brain function: "Australian researchers (Am J of Clinical Nutrition, Jan 2012) confirmed a link between B vitamins and brain function in older people. Previous studies have shown that low levels of the B vitamins folic acid and B12 may lead to rapid deterioration of brain function in the elderly, which can develop into forms of dementia. This study of 900 older adults (with “high levels of psychological distress) showed improvements in cognitive functioning, particularly in immediate and delayed memory performance, for the folic acid and B12 group, compared to the group receiving placebo treatment." (EN, Vol 35:3, Mar 2012)

--Elevation of mood: "A 2010 study published in British Journal of Psychiatry concluded that a dietary pattern characterized by vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and whole grains was associated with lower odds for major depression than the typical Western diet of processed or fried foods, refined grains, and sugary products." (EN, Vol 35:3, Mar 2012)

Yes, fruits and veggies may cost a little more than fast or refined food. I’m working at truly embracing that they’re worth the price: exchanging a few dollars initial output for a higher dividend of physical and mental health. Care to take the challenge of filling half your plate each meal with fruits and vegetables? (I’m only achieving half plate at suppertime – I’ve some progress to make!) For some ideas to help us get more fruits and vegetables for less cost and effort, see these 30-second videos made for the “MyPlate Fruits & Veggies Video Challenge” at the USDA MyPlate site.

May you enjoy the challenge of pursuing health, treat yourself with food kindness, and savor the bites of good and “real” food!

“Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” – Genesis 1: 29-30

** Answer to "What is small, red, and whispers?" - A hoarse radish!

Check out http://www.freshforkids.com.au/ for some more fun around fruits and veggies (recipes, ideas, games, and fun for kids especially – here’s a few more jokes to leave you smiling):

Q: What is square and green? A: A lemon in disguise.

Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor? A: Because it wasn’t peeling well.

Q: What did the mayonnaise say to the fridge? A: Close the door I'm dressing!

Q: What do you call an angry pea? A: Grump-pea.

Q: What did the father tomato say to the baby tomato whilst on a family walk? A: Ketchup.