Words Matter



Welcome...
to the 21st Century,
America.

More growth to come.

***



Making 'Healthy' Stick with Kids

A lot has been done to get kids more

active and to make good foods more

desirable--and available--to kids.

But it is not enough!

Corporations have a strangle-hold on

kids and schools and events via ads

and sponsoring. We have to take great

strides to override that.

A lot of schools have taken up the

'soda-free' zone, which is great, but an

equal number have 'ice cream shops'

because they're easy money for the schools.

Demand better menus for your kids' schools--

they desrve it, and it's your right to campaign for it.

Here are some more aggressive, across-the-board

ideas for trying to get kids health-smart...

the earlier the better!

***

How about a video game with top notch animation and

video talent, wherein the hero and heroine are empowered

by acquiring fruits and vegetables, and lose power with

every sugary snack!

(Of course, the game would have to be all about killing people

with guns and decapitating adversaries, because that's where

the kids heads are at. You can't take on violence and diet--

save something for another day.)

How about a rock star like Justin Bieber or Rihanna (ugh!) on a

song where they're sultrily displayed on a couch with nothing

but whole grains and raw veggies adorning them...maybe even

playing suggestively with a carrot stick or a split papaya?

I bet sales of fruit and veggies would go through the roof.

(Whatever it takes, Babycakes!)

Here's the problem; you can't just tell kids what to do.

Messages have to be hammered in repeatedly for it to make

a difference, and you're competing with hour after hour of

advertising that makes all of the worst foods seem desirable.

Plus they're influenced by their friends, their families, and so on.

Kids also don't understand the future; they are wrapped up in

the here-and-now, and things like commitment, repercussions,

preparation...they don't register.

So you need a hook...something that will sell it with a sexy allure,

cause that's what these kids are trained to respond to.

Product placement could work for fruits and veggies

like it has for sodas and chips.

But we have to take this seriously.

People say it's minor stuff--but they're

looking at the short term, not the long.

Let's see kids presented with pictures of

people in their 30s and 40s with severe

diabetic complications, like they show the

emphysema lungs of smokers to shock kids.

Let's see the morbid obesity shots as

the EFFECT of the actions they're taking now.

Something has to change.

Pop Quiz



There will be times in every day,
and times in every lifetime,
when you must decide;

"Will you struggle,
or will you survive?"

"Will you settle,
or will you strive?"

These are the moments
that define you....
encoding the future
and rewriting DNA.

What will you decide?

www.HealthyRevolution2009.blogspot.com



Taking Help With You

An awesome recycled leather backpack is one option!

Would you rather be 'cool' and aloof, attempting to work a public
image, or be well-prepared and comfortable in a greater number
of situations?

There's always a compromise involved, and that seems a key
question to need to know the answer to before venturing into
this next project.

My priority is always being well, being comfortable, and being
prepared (and I also hate to have to rely on others for anything!)

So in order to accomplish that, I take a nicely insulated, sturdy,
water-resistant backpack with me everywhere, filled to the brim
with all manner of helpful items.

It's pretty fashionable, too, and has multiple compartments for
keeping things separate. For someone with a billion issues like
me, it's nice to have what you need rather than rely on luck!

It certainly gives me a level of emotional and mental security, if
nothing else. (And that's worth the price of admission!)

My backpack contains:
-an EPI pin
-bottled water (Have you tried finding clean water in public?)
-first aid kit (band-aids, neosporin,
-eye drops
-aspirin
-Aleve
-nitro tabs
-blood tester
-spare glasses
-tissues and paper towels
-hand sanitizer
-medicine
-cough drops (including enough for those next to me who can't stop hacking!)
-hard candy for diabetic emergencies
-snacks
-cell phone and chargers
-book for unexpected waiting periods
-notebook for writing, making lists, etc.
-flashlight

And of course, men can put all the things a purse would normally
carry for women who use them; breath mints, travel toothbrush
and toothpaste for lunch time brushing, toothpicks, floss, and other
everyday essentials.

In the summertime, I carry an extra shirt and deodorant, as my
heavy perspiring soaks the shirt I set off in. (And of course, take a
plastic bag to store the stinky old shirt in!)

These are just a for-instance of what I do and how effective it can be.
The whole point of emergencies is you never know when you'll have
one, and being prepared once is way better than not being ready.
Your bag contents can be absolutely whatever would make your
time away from home easier; What do you always find yourself wishing
you had with you?

As the saying goes; "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it
and not have it!" (And I always have need of something from my
bag of tricks.)

**********************************************************

InFauxMation Overload

Everyone experiences a sense of not having enough
time to do what they need or want, being stressed out
from trying to keep up with all the demands on them, and
feeling whelmed and run down from their constantly
hectic schedule.

Part of this stress is from being tapped into too much,
connected to and reacting to everyone else's stuff.
Social media does not need to be on all the time; we
don't have to use it merely because it exists.

It has become a matter of the technology controlling us
rather than the opposite.

People used to have a better understanding of the need
to keep to yourself occasionally, appreciate some down
time, secure some time to be calm. Now every moment
of every day is filled with endless streaming information.
Information about strangers, events around the world,
hearing the opinion of every person living, and having
the most menial of instances broadcast as news.

It's too much to keep up with, and yet we're still trying to do so.

The days of playing board games, eating dinners together,
sitting down, slowly doing any task, and all the other normal 
actions that people write off as corny and old-fashioned had
some very good points to them. Not all progress has to
eliminate what came before. Some things endured for a reason.

The creative mind needs quiet and space. People need time
alone to hear their own thoughts, their own voices. We all
need to write, unwind, and get in touch with self. We all need
time to recuperate from our day and prepare for the next . We
need one-on-one and face-time to build and keep relationships.

We need space and time to unwind and unplug from all
that hustle and bustle. And yet the idea that friends will think us
'out-of-the-loop'--or perhaps the fear that we might miss some
vital tidbit--keeps us tuning in, even as we weary.

********************************************

Back Where We Started

"All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere

I turned someone tried to tell me what it was.

I accepted their answers too, though they were often

in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve.

 I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself

questions which I, and only I, could answer.

It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging

of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else

appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself."

-Ralph Ellison

"The Myth of Mental Illness"

(In deference to Thomas Szasz and his book of the same name.)

It's obvious that some conditions are real and needing
treatment, but many diagnoses and treatments seem a
more arbitrary labeling of eccentricities as malignancies.
Manufactured notions of 'unwellness' due to the dreaded
and most dire of all conditions within a patient; not reflecting
the established social norms.

Others gravitate to states of 'illness' due to easily-influenced
minds that are told they are unwell (and said patient buying into
that diagnosis and all the nasty innuendo that conspires to attribute.)

Others have unwellness caused by their very marginalization
and ostracization which accompanies being labeled as 'mental defect'
in a world that hates all differentness; they are removed from the
benefits of inclusion and in fact suffer derision and brutality as a
result of being different.

Abuse and isolation definitely can lead to mental distress.

If 'mental illness' is the end result of trying to makes sense
of the collection of absurdities making up this world, who's
really to blame? Those who crack up, or those who are unwell
enough to pull off the duplicity and cutthroat participation?

As always, those in charge decide how history is written.

**************************************************

Fiction is Good for the Soul

Life, in its unadorned bare form, is a terrifying, crazy,
chaotic, whelming essence.

Nobody addresses that directly too much. We just go
through the motions and ignore the dragon in the room.

As a result of how scary and demanding life is, we see
that without a sense of purpose, a mission, a code, or
other motivation, things are pretty unbearable. Whether
it's a conscious recognition or a conscious choice, we find
ourselves drawn over and over to anything we can apply
significance to or denote pleasure from.

It's probably a subliminal preemptive strike, a sense of
self-survival asserting itself, to seek out connection and
focus on nice things, our hobbies, our desires, our seeming
connections. Some natural DNA-level code for creating a
sense of 'better' so that all the horrible realities are kept
at bay.

A self-medicating, self-induced delusion to keep us from
going psychotic. Because, when you look into the Void,
it's difficult to come back from it. What is seen and known
is extremely difficult to purge; it's difficult, if not impossible,
to go back to ignorance and bliss.

We gravitate to the soothing, even if subconsciously we
know it's insignificant, or filler, or low-brow, or subjective.
We need a break from the chaos. It's in us to seek healing,
sustenance, and calming, whether through music, sports,
religion, dating, marriage, or other externals.

There are a myriad of directions to go with the things we
fill our lives with; church, work, politics, lovers, spouses,
children, projects, hobbies, relaxation, play. Belief systems,
causes, a life of service to many. Darker interests, too, 
like drugs, gambling, self-sabotage, secret or risky sexual
encounters, danger, angry outbursts, cons, and the like.

We build a web of activities and supposedly solid connections
that serve as (the idea of) insulation and cushioning.

But for those who see the artifice for what it is, and cannot
embrace the distraction, nor find sufficient purpose, the impact
of lessened connectivity is tiring and whelming.

When you aren't adept at interacting or networking or
pretending or game playing, it makes averting your eyes
from the Abyss difficult indeed.

All of our pretty story lines provide quite the anaesthesia.

**************************************************

Odious and Erroneous: The Mind Compares

We live under a microscope in our media-heavy, constant-barrage
world...and it isn't for the weak of heart.

With all the scrutiny and proliferation of images and ideas, we're
all likely to find ourselves guilty of comparing our lives to the lives
of others. Or at least what those lives look like on the outside!

Because we're hurting, struggling, and afraid, we can assume we're
'not doing it right.' Because we look at the illusion other people
maintain. 'Fronting' is common amongst everyone--especially
the wealthy, who know that attitude and psychological intimidation
are means of winning the game--by throwing others off theirs.

But you can never assume you know someone's real situation.

Everyone keeps their cards close to the vest; image and
illusion are a part of the game. Pretending to do well carries
the same weight as actually doing well (in the eyes of the world,)
and appearing less vulnerable is a common, smart sttrategy.

But it's that very habit of comparing what others appear to
be doing (against our jaded view of our own capabilities) that
brings on trouble. Often without even realizing it, those of us
with mental health issues buy into the world's notion that we
are less than, incapable, repugnant, don't measure up, and all
other manner of negative tripe.

Those attitudes are so pervasive that we end up taking
them on as our own, refusing to question them...refusing
even to be able to see ourselves objectively. It's good to clear
the baggage in our heads and refocus on what is true, without
emotion and assumption and jealousy fogging our minds.

****************************************************

Flu Smarts: The New Interpersonal

When it comes to staying healthy,

anything goes!

So much for Cosmopolitan lifestyles and

being Kissy-Poo everywhere you go.

Restrain yourself, girls and boys...

and Live to glad-hand another day.

Right now?
No more kissing,

no more European kissing (cheek to cheek!)

no more handshakes,

no more whispering in the ear,

no more sharing drinks,

no eating off plates,

no sharing head phones,

no passing electronic devices back and forth,

and so on.

Take the basics--

no contact with unclean or potentially unclean

surfaces--and expand it into every arena

of your normal everyday life...where you might

not ordinarily consider the depth of a

threat being found.

ANY CONTACT IS POTENTIALLY

HAZARDOUS; Don't be complacent.

Push doors open with your back,

or use a rag or handkerchief

exclusively for that.

Anyone worth knowing will see it for what it is;

conscientious action. Those that can't see that

aren't worth worrying about.

***

Flu Smarts: Hidden Threats

So, you're concerned about getting sick and you go to the

doctor's office...the place where all the already sick

people have been congregating !!!

Make sure you wear gloves and a face mask

( your prime concern is to stay healthy and alive,

not worry over image and aesthetics ) and

don't sit near anyone else.

(Again; your welfare is paramount; don't worry

about hurt feelings.)

Open your mouth to speak (even with the

mask on) as infrequently as possible.

Even with the gloves on, don't put your

hands to your face. Surface still carries.

Stay away from the magazines and newspapers;

paper is one of the most absorptive of

substances, and those sick fools tend to sneeze

into the pages!!

Take your bleach counter-top wipes and your

hand sanitizer with you. You're not being

overly-concerned; others refraining from doing all they

can are being under-concerned.

Bring your own pens so you don't have to touch

the 'Community Pens' that everyone else has handled.

As usual, think ahead...

and PREPARE.

Your mind is your best defense against illness.

***

Flu Smarts: What good is washing hands?

What you don't see can hurt you.

Everyone seems to think they're invulnerable, long

after the defiance of childhood and lack of experience

has gone away.

People wonder what real good washing hands does?

Well, if we do it regularly, with plenty of soap, and

spend a reasonable amount of time on it....

if we are careful to use a paper towel to open

and close bathroom doors and turn on faucets,

and if we use hot water, it can be a very effective

way of keeping the flu virus at bay.

The current flu virus can last outside the human

boy up to 8 hours. EIGHT hours. That means if you

walk into an empty office, don't be falsely lulled;

the germs of all the nasty, unconcerned people from

the prior 8 hours of activity are accumulated on

every surface of a room, waiting to attack.

That's a long time.

The HIV virus only lasts outside the body about an hour,

and that's if it's in a bodily fluid that was released. But the

flu? 8 hours on its own. Tough guy.

Don't give it one single opening or excuse to

get hold of you. It only takes one exposure to get sick.

***

Flu Smarts: Mind your Hands!

We do it so automatically that it's a tough habit to break.

People put their hands to their face a thousand times a day;

adjusting glasses, rubbing a nose, wiping a lip,

PUTTING A PEN TO YOUR MOUTH,

scratching an eye, wiping away sweat, and so much more.

But in cold and flu season, an innocuous momentary

action can bring a world of pain.

Our orifices--eyes, nose, mouth--are portals of

entry for disease, and very absorptive tissue.

It will take some doing, but resist automatically

putting your hands near your face before

thoroughly washing them. (And limit it even then.)

It's the same as putting your face on everything

your hands have touched!!

***

Acceptance of Perceived Limitations

If I were to clone myself

(repeatedly, even,)

speed up my response time,

improve my IQ,

and find a way to squeeze out

another ten hours in a day....

Were I able to eliminate the need

for food, sleep, and other pedestrian

distractions...

I would still likely never

'catch up' or accomplish

everything on my 'To Do' list!

Because it's in the nature of

humans to forever be expanding

our reach to match increased

range or resources.

(Look at how Lottery winners

who were bankrupt quickly

spend enough to exceed their new

grasp and wind up in the exact

same situation!)

Life is not about 'completion,'

but rather striving.

Constant flow...ingress,

egress, regress...

(And anyone who puts forth

the notion that they're pulled together,

perfectly content, and have done

all that they intended--I'll

point out to you a damned liar!)

***

Invisible Shackles

There is tremendous frustration in living with pain.

Not only is there the practical side of coping with this
invisible affliction, which is often not accompanying an
external wound (which would make it easier to process,
but there are terrible psychological components as well.

It's hard to locate it, or point it out on x-ray or scans.
It's hard to describe accurately--or adequately--to folks.
Treatment is typically guesswork, and ends up being in-
effective or producing equally bad side-effects.

It's invisible to others and therefor easy to second-guess
or dismiss, despite the ongoing diminished quality of life
and restrictions it places on a person coping with the pain.

In attempting to be normal and carry their weight, impress
or please others and not feel so disabled, many of us will also
overdo it to keep up, and cause further problems as a result
of pushing ourselves too far.

People expect things of you and from you; men are
expected to engage in brute force and 'help lift things,'
even when known to have a bad back or bad knees.
Women are expected to be more capable of endurance
and perseverance. "Just push through it."

Responsibilities don't end nor does life take a time-out
in order to accommodate one's pain and restrictions.

Outer appearance for people dealing with debilitating
pain may be that of a healthy, capable person to the
outside, disinterested eye. Appearances can definitely
be deceiving, and most people have trouble differ-
entiating from what they assume and what is. (And most
don't care to start with.)

Keeping up with friends and activities is difficult when
you're run down, weak, low energy level, etc., and people
can even get nasty, taking it personally when you are
unable to do what you used to, or what 'someone your
age ought to be able to do.'

Peopl expect compliance; there is no no sympathy, nor wiggle room. They can label you lazy and apathetic, which
is psychologically hurtful on many levels. You can feel
abandoned, in addition to the personal lessened sense of
worth that comes from no longer being able to compete or 
measure up.

Like most things, it's difficult for others--including
professionals--to have empathy for something they
don't see or can't touch. It's hard to comprehend, to
wrap your mind around it.

It's also difficult for people to understand if they
themselves are not dealing with physical pain, or have
never had a bout with it in the past.

They can dismiss yours as psychological, imaginary, or even
plain weakness and laziness. On the worse side is people
thinking you're playing at it, making it up for sympathy
or financial gain.

There are millions of people dealing with pain on a daily
basis. After-effects of motor-vehicle accidents, workplace
falls and injuries, diseases, aging bodies, and more.

There are insidious diseases like MS, Epstein-Barr, arthritis,
Parkinson's Disease, cancer of bone and Fibromyalgia, vets
(and others) suffering from PTSD, and more. Even depression
can carry an extremely powerful physical pain component.

Then there are the issues of addiction to pain meds since
they are so powerful, and regulating is hard to do when
you are not in your right mind from having used them.

There's a lot of similarity between mistreatment of chronic
pain sufferers and that of mental illness folks. The lack
of empathy, the stigma, the invisibility--and therefore easily
dismissed nature--of the disease. We end up misunderstood,
maligned; you can be a pariah (people avoid what they don't
relate to or understand. They can also feel uncomfortable around
sickness, period.)

Hard to treat, mysterious affliction, no obvious outer signs
to make it clear, little coverage in media, feel invisible and
like your voice isn't being heard. But you're neither crazy,
alone, or imagining things.

Pain is real, and though we are alone in bearing it, we are not
the only ones who know the difficulties.

**************************************************

Whatever Happened to TRUE Sexual Freedom?

Human sexuality: What is all the Hoopla, anyway?
Why, in this day, with all the technological advances and
access to so much information, are we still so culturally
backwards?

Why do we take on the anxieties of the buttoned-down
puritanical in this Land-of-the-Barely-Free? It's as if the
Sexual Revolution never took place. Being free with one's
body isn't about screwing with abandon; it's about being in
touch enough to know what you want and to respect your
desires and needs responsibly.

We feel what we feel, and humans possess desire, love,
lust, longing, romance, affection, passion, ...all deeply
beautiful things, until the human mind injected fear and
guilt and loathing and self-consciousness and shame into
the equation. Repression and denial are horrible twists
on otherwise fine emotions.

One of the very few 'bests' of this squalid human existence,
and we manage to screw that up too.

None of this to say that some normal restraint and con-
sideration isn't required in the handling of the human heart
and body...but, c'mon, let's get real.

So, we're born not feeling any of the problems; only the
freeing impulses and the desire to pursue them.

And along comes a spider...to fill us with their own special
poison, what they call 'sin,' and we're suddenly trapped in
fear, questioning and refusing our own bodies, our own
drives. Our own psyche. Our own person.

It's criminal.

And it's all within our power to change it, if only for ourselves.
*************************************************

Cleaning Like A Madwoman: Homes as Museums



That 1950's ambition of perfectionist, idealized
control is still alive and well in many folks!

LIVING THE O.C.D. LIFE

My mother is very demanding, very controlling, very
obsessed with extremely particular ways of doing
absolutely everything! (And that's every day living!)

But then, there comes the time of the dreaded...VISITATIONS!

Yes, company at my Mother's is the equivalent of a 4-letter
word in my mind.

Now, I'm OCD myself, and I know how frustrating and
all-consuming it can be when you own mind is stuck in
a particular mode of doing things. But it's one thing to
cut yourself slack--it's difficult to have the same relaxed
understanding for someone else's quirks when you're
dealing with them full time.

My mother enters a maddening, uber-concentrated psychosis
of feeling the need to wash, vacuum, store, dust, and rearrange
every single square inch of her home to 'prepare' for guests.

It doesn't matter if they intend to visit for an hour or three
days, she goes into overload. Hundreds of dollars worth of
groceries are bought (when what was there was sufficient,)
extensive plans made for menus and activities, and there is
not a spot of dirt or disorder in the entire place.

Now, if that gives her pleasure, who cares...right? Well, it's
exhausting; she's exhausted-- she even gets sick from worry...
she exhausts me with constantly demanding ridiculous tasks be
performed that are simply overkill. And she's never satisfied;
even if it's clean she feels under scrutiny...inadequate.

It's all really rather sad.

Why would you even have someone come to your home if you
feel the need to perform the Herculean feats of excessive
cleaning? If you can't relax and simply enjoy someone's
company, what is the purpose of having them? (I say "Relax...
enjoy...chill. It's dirty--people live here; Get over it!")

These are simple people...laid back, not in the least demanding
or hyper-critical. Family that she grew up with. Lifelong friends.
I just don't get it. But then, I don't want a museum for a home;
I want a house that is lived in. Not filthy...just normal.

I don't want anyone in my life that I feel that driven to impress.
Hell, I don't want a condition running my life so I'm compelled
to run myself into the ground to maintain some standard that is
too rigid and exacting.

This time around, I was very clear; I said I'd help her clean a
normal level of clean, but I can't and wouldn't do excessive
work that was just unnecessary. If she chooses to affect her 
own health by taking up that perceived slack, so be it. She can
make her own decisions.

I kept from getting drawn into the drama this time around,
but it still saddens me that she is stuck in this cycle. I know,
too, that as bad as this particular compulsivity is for her,
my own very different ones tend to run me. And likewise,
it's hard to see that there's a problem from the inside
looking out.

Once something becomes a pattern, it's so hard to break;
you see it as an aspect of your identity. I may feel her
cleanliness obsession is wasteful, but it's important to
her. The real irony; the people she wants so badly to
impress are always left feeling quite all-at-ease from 
her mania about constant housework, the standard of
clean they see expected, and her constant doting (intended
to take care of their every need--even before they know it
exists!)

Even as I draw a negative slant on the matter, I know I
have picked up a good bit of her eccentricities; manifest-
ing in codependency, obsessing over details, and being
consumed with what others think (though I have made
great strides in countering these problems in recent years.)

I wonder, though; if we all took a moment to make the
effort to relate how our 'incongruent' issues are really
just opposite sides of the same coins, would it teach us?
Would we be able to get the point that we all are messed
up, just in varied forms. Can that uncommon commonality
be enough to bridge the gap?

*************************************************

November Health Focus: Lung Cancer

Taking breath is so fundamental and automatic a function

that most of us are apathetic to proper care of

our lungs until a problem develops and we

are already suffering from symptoms.

But becoming aware and acting to improve our

environments and habits are a good start to

besting the disease.

Did you know that lung cancer strikes more women

than breast cancer?

Did you know that hidden toxins in your home

can hurt your lungs?

Did you know that prolonged exposure to

second-hand smoke can be deadlier than being

a smoker yourself?

November is lung cancer awareness month,

and this is my chance to remind you to care

for your lungs before problems develop, and

do everything you can to heal if you've

already developed lung cancer.

Don't take it lying down!

For more information, assistance, referrals,

and support go to

Lung Cancer Alliance

And do your part to learn more and share the

information with friends and family today.

Avoiding the conversation won't cause anyone

to heal, and there are many steps you can take

to prevent worsening of conditions or stave off

the onset.

For help in stopping smoking, contact

Smoke Free

Help With Cravings and Tough Spots

Support for Stopping

The earlier you quit, the better your lungs' chances

of healing, as well as extending your life span.

It takes what it takes...

keep on trying!

***

November Health Focus: Diabetes

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

and November 14th is World Diabetes Day.

Diabetes is more serious than most  people

realize, and is affecting more and more Americans

of all ages every day as a result or more sedentary

lifestyles and decreased nutritional value of our diets.

Processed sugar is in nearly every manufactured or

packaged food product on the market.

So be sure to get acquainted with the symptoms for diabetes,

such as

*Excessive thirst

* Frequent urination

* Night sweats

* Extreme hunger

* Light-headedness from blood sugar changes

* Great weight loss or weight gain

*Sores and bruises slow to heal

and others...

For complete information on symptoms,

treatment, dietary information, and more,

check out

American Diabetes Association

It's easy to detect, easier to control, and doesn't

have to horribly alter your life. But the key

is early detection and control, before the

disease advances and harms your body more.

And if you aren't properly taking care of already

diagnosed diabetes, check out

10 Ways to Avoid Diabetic Complications

I lost my adoptive father to diabetes,

my birth mother and birth grandmother suffered

from it, and I have struggled to keep it in check.

This is a serious business, and you have to stay

on top of it.

***