Category Archives: Health

Health

Low Energy and Burnout – Part 2

By Jim Selman | Bio

When we know that there is an end to a particularly strenuous period of work, we can feel energized and become even more productive. When we think that the flow of work is endless or that we have no choice in the matter, then we may begin to break down, feel disempowered, become tired. Life begins to feel like a burden.

I have found that resolving these kinds of chronic negative moods about workload and feeling overwhelmed begins by reconnecting with the fact that we always have a choice, even when part of our story is that we do not. When we can ‘own’ that our work is our choice (even if we don’t particularly like what we are doing), then we have taken the first step toward changing how we relate to it. It is OUR job.

The second step is to learn to ‘be present’ when we are working.

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Health

Low Energy and Burnout

By Jim Selman | Bio

I think the most common complaints I hear from folks in corporations these days is that they are ‘just tired’, have ‘low energy’ or are ‘burned out’. Usually these declarations are accompanied by a compelling story that there is ‘too much work’ or that they are pressed to produce without having the resources they need. It seems people are working in a condition in which they are being constantly called on to produce more for less. The results: poor morale (at

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Health

A Futuristic Look at Food

New perspectives on what might be possible in terms of local, homegrown food production. This 10-minute video takes a provocative, unconventional look at the implications of genetic modification, land use, and organic produce to come up with designs for diagnostic kitchens, food creation, and home farming.

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Health

Health is a Function of Participation

By Jim Selman | Bio

I remember this phrase from the est training in the 1970s. It was one of the maxims the people received at the end of the program in ‘the little book of aphorisms’. This booklet was filled with Werner Erhard’s insights on life and basically reinforced the idea that ‘this is it’—life is what it is and reality doesn’t care what we think. The point was to stop being victims and ‘make a difference’. It was a great experience for hundreds of thousands of folks looking

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Health

Our Food and Health: At the Tipping Point

By Sharon Knoll | Bio

“I am not an optimist because I am
not sure everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist because I am not sure
everything ends badly. I carry hope in my heart.”

—Václav
Havel

I come from generations of food growers. And it is clear to
me that eating is one of the most intimate of actions. We take into ourselves
the whole of the plant or animal, including the environment in which it was
raised and killed. We take in the work and the well-being, or lack

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Health

The Importance of Sandcastles

By Shae Hadden | Bio

Friends and family have been stressing the importance of taking vacations with me for years. I have somewhat deliberately avoided the conversation as much as possible until now. End result: a lifetime of little travel, lots of work and limited ‘fun’. All work and no play makes for a dull life. I’ve been beginning to wonder if perhaps I am afraid of taking vacations…for every time I think about it, my concerns about all the things that are remaining ‘undone’

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Health

Seniors A GOGO (Growing Older, Getting it On)

By Mariette Sluyter | The Foundation Lab

Seniors Sexual Health was not an area I was particularly drawn to as a 40-something community developer until a staggering statistic was pointed out to me: oositive HIV tests among those over 50 have risen from 7.5% between 1985 and 1998 to 13.5% in 2005.  

After some thinking about the statistic, my colleague Nicole Hergert with The Calgary Sexual Health Centre and I explored some theories. It was clear that public health campaigns remain largely focused

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Health

Slowing Down

The July 4th long weekend is coming to a close, but we don’t have to limit our enjoyment of life to these hours when we have ‘time off’ work. Steve Goldberg over at Upside to the Downturn published the following poem, a timely reminder to savor life as it happens.

Slow Dance

By David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

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Health

Mindfulness and Aging Parents

By Shae Hadden | Bio

I was talking with a friend recently about our parents, about what we’re observing in their health as they grow older and what we think is possible for them in terms of living arrangements. I think a lot of Boomers are in this same conversation these days. A few things we discussed got me wondering about how ‘true’ any of our thinking about health issues in later life really is for our parents. I began to ask myself whether we are fully present and

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Health

The Miracle Within

By Kevin Brown | Bio At the end of April this year, my wife and I spent a week in Nevada.  The purpose of our visit was purely one of rest and relaxation.  We spent a few days in Las Vegas and then a few in Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead, Arizona.  Our short vacation included a few days of golf (for me), some sightseeing, viewing some real estate properties, a Cirque du Soleil evening show, time by the pool, lots of dining out, and a last-minute decision to take in ‘Bodies…
The Exhibition‘ on display at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. While each of our activities provided the rest and enjoyment we sought, it was the Bodies exhibition that left me both amazed and filled with awe.   If you have never had the opportunity to take in one of the several ‘Bodies… The Exhibition’ displays, I highly recommend you create the possibility of doing so. It is my understanding that while each exhibit has different elements, each display features actual human specimens for visitors to examine in detail. Visitors hopefully gain a first-hand appreciation for the complexity of the human body.   I cannot think of another exhibit that has impacted me the way this one did. I felt a deep sense of amazement viewing full bodies with the skin removed, exposing internal organs. the nervous and arterial systems left me in complete awe with their complexity. I was disturbed viewing the portion of the exhibit that featured fetal development from 1 week to 12 weeks.  Disturbed because I support the right to choose an abortion and now am left with images of the fetus at 1, 3, 6, 8 and 12 weeks…all of which were fully recognizable as human life! Leaving the exhibit, I was left to consider the complex workings of the human body as nothing short of a miracle.   Webster’s has several definitions for ‘Miracle’, including extraordinary events linked to divinity to simply an extremely unusual event, thing or accomplishment. Other sources seem to invoke statistical improbability, survival of natural disasters, survival of terminal illness, and yes, even birth itself. For me, I think of a miracle as an occurrence for which there is no reasonable explanation. In my life, I cannot remember a time or event in which I experienced one. Certainly there have been events which I was willing to attribute to a miracle (for example, the survival of everyone following the plane crash on the Hudson River). I, however, have had no personal experience of a miracle, at least not one I was present to.   Leaving the Bodies Exhibition, I was left to consider "the miracle within" my own body. When I considered the enormous complexity of all the internal systems at work and the real-time communication within and across bodily systems, I could not help but consider the miracle that occurs in both the design and the operation of our bodies. Whether we attribute our internal workings to genetics and evolution or to divine creation, the ‘Miracle Within’ is something to consider each and every morning when we rise to face another day.

Imagine the possibilities we can generate when each new day begins with a recognition of our own ‘Miracle Within’!

© 2009 Kevin Brown. All rights reserved. read more