The Readers Blog is a group blog, a collection of provocative, passionate people who represent a broad geographical, professional, personal and vocational range. New bloggers from other places and other points of view will join the conversation from time to time. Here, we invite them all to share their perspectives and opinions on the issues that matter to them most. And we invite you to respond. Let the dialogue begin!
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The first wealth is health.”
In this week’s Huffington Post, I read a blog entry by former Assistant Surgeon General Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D. and Elise Schlissel called “Health Diplomacy: A Prescription for Peace.” Her words struck me upside the head with their practicality and their wisdom. Read more...
Five simple steps could save the lives of over 100,000 people in this country every year. This is the conclusion of a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The investigation assessed which preventive services have the greatest impact on health and length of life. Prevention includes all the measures health providers use to keep their patients healthy, such as vaccinations, cancer screening tests, and counseling. As a primary care doctor, my practice has a major focus on preventive medicine. But this new report reveals doctors are falling far short of providing optimum preventive care for their patients. The five simple steps are all standard, established procedures that, sadly, are underutilized in our healthcare system. Read more...
Why don’t we have peace on our planet? I believe we don’t have peace because we don’t allow ourselves to have it.
Who schedules your life? Who makes your commitments? Who says yes and no for you? Who allows everything that happens in your life? Read more...
Spiders are such generous creatures. They are ceaseless weaving and spinning their intricate homes and forever seeking their life’s sustenance. I admire their diligence and determination. Whenever I brush away their lace offerings in an irregular cleaning spree, I feel deep admiration for their immediate response of shooting out one thread and then another and yet another to begin once again the task of reassembling a gossamer webbed abode. No matter how many times I wipe away their handiwork or shoo them out of my house, they soon reappear and begin their delicate artwork once again. Read more...
My spiritual life has a rhythm all its own. There are times when it’s all I can think about; there are times when I don’t think about it at all. Lately, my spiritual life has been rich in imagery and even richer in healing.
I’ve been fifty for less than a month, and in that time wild pieces of my past have surfaced in dreams, in meditations, in prayer. Pieces of the past are queuing up for healing. For those who are astrologically-minded, you will recognize the pattern of a Chiron Return. Read more...
A few days ago I was woken up at about 5 in the morning with a power cut. The fan stopped circulating the air and the room got really hot. As I could not sleep anymore, I got out of bed and went to the lounge. Then I thought how dependent we have become on electricity, fans and air conditioning to keep us comfortable and how spoild we have become not being able to put up with the inconvenience of a power cut. Read more...
Certainly, there is a lot for the west to learn from the rest in order to create a better balance in the world.
The problem is that the rest is fast becoming like the west thanks to technology. This is not surprising with 300 years of domination based on the famous words “Cogito, ergo sum” - “I think, therefore, I exist”. We need to understand the history of all this in order for us to reorient our thinking which may enable us to learn from the rest. Read more...
Do you know a company that operates democratically? If so, nominate them for the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2008 award!
Any organization -- profit, non-profit, NGO, small, midsize, or large can apply for the honor. Each applying organization must submit a survey to its employees. Then, each is given a rating score that determines whether they make the 2008 list. Such a list helps to honor the organization and to show other organizations the incredible positive value of transforming their organizations out of the negative command and control style into the collaborative democratic style. Read more...
So now its Sunday, departure day. Our party on Saturday evening was awesome. The audience loved the dancers, were amazed by the AromaJockey, and intrigued by the Visual Jockey. The dancers danced in a way that was easy to follow for the party-people. We ended up in some hip, urban version of line dancing. Great to see how proud the people were when they left the dance floor! It went the way we wanted it, this is what we offer: a good vibe that causes people to dance, in some cases for the first time in their lives Read more...
A recent event in ‘my life’ has been another of those treasures that are witnessed all too rarely in society as it is at the moment. It feels natural to share it with people who would probably see what is being said here clearly for the positive in it.
I have recently been helping to look after an elderly person who has become unwell, managing things like preparing meals, helping with medication, etc. Confidentiality is maintained here, as no person that I know reads Ode unfortunately – well, not yet anyway – and I have not said whether the person is male or female. And the person concerned has also agreed to have their recent story written in this way and to appear on the website.) There had been a recent rapid deterioration in mental faculties, leading to weakness in the body and confusion in those areas of Life taken somewhat for granted, e.g. recognition of the day of the week, time of the day, remembering most recent events. Read more...
