BOCA RATON WORLD TAI CHI DAY WITH DIANE GOLD – APRIL 29, 2017 – 10 AM ~ ISSUE 220 ~ PUBLISHED ON APRIL 18, 2017

By Diane Gold

DIANE GOLD 2017  BOCA RATON WORLD TAI CHI DAY, APRIL 29, 2017, 10 AM-11:30 AM, RED REEF PARK, WEDDING PAVILION, FREE PARKING & EVENT

by Diane Gold

WHAT: Diane Gold’s Boca Raton World Tai Chi Day 2017

WHERE: Red Reef Park, in the Wedding Pavilion, map , facebook event
1400 N. Ocean Blvd.
Boca Raton, Florida 33432

A1A, .8 miles north of Palmetto, east (ocean) side, your right

A1A, 2.2 miles south of Spanish River, east (ocean) side, your left

WHEN: Saturday, 10 AM-11:30 AM, APRIL 29, 2017

FEE: NONE

PARKING FEE: WAIVED – In through the gate, bear right to the South side of the parking lot. Look East and see the Wedding Pavilion. Or just ask Ira at the gate.

SECRET FORMULA:

Tai chi is a life enhancing, life extending, life saving work of moving art. Heal thyself, medicate thyself with goodness, meditate. Get powerful. Increase good energy. It is as improvisational as we are. We learn some basic, foundational movements that teach us to move everything at once. We balance our breathing (which, after the start of shortness of breath, I can tell you loads about). There is no need to work on breathing; once our movements are unstinted, smooth, pure; our breathing will match automatically – part of the tai chi magic.

Chi kung note: When I say tai chi, I am referring to tai chi and chi kung, together. They are one.

When we are sick (oy vey!), when we are well (hallellujah!); tai chi is a systematic approach of moving all body parts, inner and outer, at the same time. We are focusing. And the big kahuna gift is we are doing ONE THING AT A TIME, until we become doing no thing at a time. One-pointed focus. Do it!

WHO: Everyone.

Tai chi is good for everyone, every age, every mind set. The only requirement is that we be human. And that is only for this example, because, as people give their pets acupuncture, massage and other medicine; some also do tai chi with their beloved pets.

Let’s bring our anxiety, our anger, our grief, our power, our love, our hate, our ADHD, our sickness, our health, our poverty, our riches. Tai chi will turn it all into peace. It’s not a mind thing; it’s evidence-based and studied medicine. When we move the body, we produce chemicals, hormones spurt, electrical impulses pulse. When we tai chi, we are focusing on just that one thing. In order to focus, we work it. This leaves no time for pinball mind, emotional roller coaster. This balances the body functions. Thus, positive results turn the ever present dis-ease into ease.

HOW:

Repetition. To become familiar. This familiarity develops a habit, as with any habit. This habit allows us the fluidity of tai chi.

ACTION STEP:

April 29, 2017, 10 AM, come on down to Diane Gold’s Boca Raton World Tai Chi Day event in Red Reef Park at the Wedding Pavilion. Have some fun. Make some friends. See some friends. Build a peace bridge. Do some Trance Tai Chi, too (mellow electronic dance music and tai chi). Free & Parking Fee Waived when you say Boca Raton World Tai Chi Day. More details at dianegold.com.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues.

If you need habit help, check out http://warriorsofweight.com/warriorsofweight-consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

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You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

D

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

SOCIAL PROOF AND POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE ~ ISSUE 218 ~ NOVEMBER 29, 2016

By Diane Gold

SOCIAL PROOF, DEFINITION

Social proof is the sociological/psychological phenomenon of where people “reference the behavior of others to guide their own behavior.” [Jennifer Cardello- Nielson-Norman Group] Another way of saying it is being influenced by other people’s choices (O.P.C.) to the point of making the same one.

When we see celebrities, charismatic people and heroes promoting something, doing something; we take that behavior into serious account when making our (sometimes hasty) choice to do that same thing. We like to conform, because in conforming, we align ourselves with others and are not alone. We strengthen our social identity.

Here’s a quote from the not-always-knowing Wikipedia from whom many get a kind of social proof,

“Formal analysis shows that it [social proof] can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice , so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may be grounded in very little information.”

But converge we do. Here are a list of things that we do that are perfect examples of social proof in action:

1) See a person run into the ocean to save a whale that needed to be turned around to avoid sudden death,

2) Choosing our political candidates because our friends, parents, celebrities are voting for them,

3) Choosing to go to Harvard because that credential puts us in a special place,

4) Seeing someone who is famous, beautiful or handsome in a particular company’s clothing and running out and spending the rent on that same clothing to be part of the in crowd,

5) Being in a sorority or fraternity house and seeing a fellow sister or brother rape someone and being influenced to take part in the rape, when, other than to be accepted, we would never think we were the kind of people who would rape,

6) Being in the street where someone is being beaten, seeing someone run in to help the victim, seeing another person run in to help the first helper and choosing to run in and help,

7) Going to a charity gala whose cause you care nothing about, where people are asked to raise hands to show what denomination you will donate, and raising your hand to donate when you see so many people raising their hands,

8) Seeing a highly successful person endorse an idea, and jumping in, too, as you let yourself be influenced.

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

So, we know that influencers can be the catalyst for our decisions. Not a bad social tool since all of us need direction and guidance about the things about which we know not. Why not make certain that our decisions cause solutions, rather than generate unrest? Now is the perfect time to be the influencer, to be the stimulus of social proof.

I have to point to an article by New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof where he talks about things people can do now, after the election. I do not agree with his headline where he speaks to one group; his steps work well for all people to unite, including his target group. But headlines get people to read, so headline we must.

ACTION STEPS

I am paraphrasing Nicholas’ 12-Steps to show how social proof, in this case, heeding Nicholas’ words, can bring progress and positive mental attitude:

1) I WILL accept what exists now,
2) I WILL do small things in my own life, such as volunteer locally to reduce prejudice toward any peaceful religious or belief-driven group,
3) I WILL avoid demonizing people,
4) I WILL do my part to support society,
5) I WILL support groups that fight hate and I will ask for America to keep bigotry away,
6) I WILL support refugees (aren’t almost all of us refugee descendants?),
7) I WILL say or do something when someone makes a racial, ethnic, religious, human slur in my presence,
8) I WILL resist dwelling in an echo chamber and will move to listen to different views,
9) I WILL not turn my back on the needy and will volunteer or donate or both,
10) I WILL understand that progress can unfold at state and local levels,
11) I WILL take on sexism and misogyny,
12) I WILL not lose hope.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/opinion/a-12-step-program-for-responding-to-president-elect-trump.html]

CONCLUSION

We can all be positive and continue to support our beliefs in many ways. The key would be to be supportive rather than grievance committee-ish. Let us use social proof to get us motivated to be socially involved in something good. Nothing stops because an election is over. Our society is fluid. We go on and can be great influencers. We can be the first to run to save the whale, act based on our pre-thought out belief system and not on flash and bang, we can call people out on their hateful words or actions.

Social proof determines how we act at many times in our lives. Let us pull out the leader in all of us and see, ponder and do with kindness as we build our positive world.

If  you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at warriorsofweight.com/issues.

If you need habit help, check out WarriorsOfWeight Consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes that social proof can be used for the good, not just to make ourselves feel part of the social flow. She says,

“When we watch our role models, we tend consciously to emulate them. But, we are massively influenced all day long by what people do and say. We may, unconsciously emulate them, friends and strangers alike.

“Let us be aware of our actions, the little ones. When someone curses, we may curse. I know when someone speaks with a New York accent, my New York accent becomes more prominent – to fit in (and it makes me feel like home). I realize this is not everyone, but many of us are influenced by what someone else does. The action we choose based on this influence is the social proof we use to validate ourselves.

“We can watch this phenomenon as it happens and ask ourselves if we are acting for the good – whatever we believe is the good, using social proof to build positive mental attitude through awareness of what we do when we see.

“Let’s consider ourselves as leaders, in everything we do. Because we may be leading someone who sees what we do and copies it. We are the builders of positive mental attitude, in this regard; and it elevates us.

“By keeping aware, we can care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
MAKE 1 SOLUTION IN PLACE OF 1 COMPLAINT.

PREJUDICE IS A HABIT – THE KEY TO REPLACING IT ~ ISSUE 217 ~ NOVEMBER 1, 2016

By Diane Gold

Prejudice is a habit, if we agree that a habit is a routine caused by repetition or an acquired pattern of behavior. As with all habits, they can become dormant when replaced by a new one. Some take a moment, others takes what seems like a lifetime. Our habits, for better or worse, are always with us; but we can shuffle them to the background.

PREKNOWLEDGE

So how is prejudice a habit when it is supposed to develop from preknowledge or opinion, not based on experience? I contend that the preknowledge came from some repetitive behavior (which developed a habit), the most common is that

OUR PARENTS TAUGHT US that a group of people of certain race, religion, nationality are inferior, bad, are to be shunned, are damaging to our worth or reputation.

To this, I say,

“We are all exactly the same (to quote Luis Guzman on Chicago Med when coaching a transgender woman’s lover on how to react to the news that her lover was trans) – except for a few tiny differences. Long live whites and ambers, tans, greens, reds, browns, blacks or whatever word people use to describe their skin color or the delineation of their choice. Can we please get it together and work to replace prejudice, already? It requires humility and hard work, but we can do it! If we don’t evolve, we might as well live underground with the worms (with all due respect to the worms).”

When I think of my own childhood, I was brought up in a home that was free of prejudice, for the most part. I say for the most part because I have discovered some. I can understand about 10 or 15 Yiddish words (Yiddish is a language derived from German that some Jewish people in Eastern Europe speak or spoke) and one of them is a word for “black person” that, back in the day, was a Yiddish speaker’s probable racial slur of an African-American. This is alarming to me and something I just recalled at age 67. I am not sure whether I heard it from my grands, my uncle (not the one who was like a second father to me) or, and this would be disappointing to me, in the home of my loving parents. If it were in my home, which I am leaning to doubt, it might have been said once, and I recognized its meaning having heard it outside from another family member. This is bad enough. What was the motivation to use this word? How could I have missed this prejudice in my own family? Why would they think it was OK?

This kind of racial slur reminds me of the expression, “the chosen people” to refer to Jews or Hebrews, not sure which. I very definitely did not learn this in my home, although I have a cousin, also to my dismay, who said this.

TRANSFERRING OUR BAD EXPERIENCE TO OTHERS WITH THE SAME ETHNIC, RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP

Sometimes people who are bullied or attacked, find an ethnic or racial component to fault. Though a childish concept, it is easy to see how we can transfer this one bad experience to an entire group.

BROUGHT UP BIGOTS

WE MAY HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP BY PEOPLE, who were brought up by people who were raised to think that the best way to success was to raise themselves above others because of similar or different appearance. This home-bred prejudice leaves out the truth that we are all the same. If we are not taught equality and our home training includes hearing prejudicial language, we may develop prejudice from an early age. And, the older the habit, the more work needs to be done to replace it.

THE KEY

The key to replacing prejudice has nothing to do with admitting we have it and everything to do with doing work to replace it. Just as I don’t believe we have to have a positive mental attitude to get it done, I believe we can do the work, even if we do not admit our  prejudice. Look at this example: if we are scrawny or overweight, we don’t have to admit either of those. If we change our diet, do exercise, rest well, have interactions with others; we will change without ever having had to allocute to our particular body type.

THE WORK – THE ACTION STEPS

This set of action steps gives one fabulous technique based upon The Parents Circle, Family Forum, one of my hero groups. This group takes two sets of people on “opposite sides” of an issue and brings them together to talk. It’s Palestinians and Israelis whose family member has been killed by each others’.

The Prejudice Club takes elements from this. Its purpose is to answer questions that show us how we are almost the same as human beings.

Here is the Prejudice Replacement Technique, carried out in community meetings of The Prejudice Replacement Club.

1) Get together with a group of up to 10 people who are willing to be respectful, non-violent and follow the rules of the Club.

2) Come in to the session knowing you will answer a set of questions honestly, to be heard by your 5 minute partner at whom you will not look.

3) Pick a number out of a hat upon entering, and go to the appointed side of a center line.

4) Take the seat that corresponds to that number.

5) Do not look around or turn around to see your partner.

6) Everyone will use numbers as names. You will not call your partner by her/his name. You will not remain the same number for more than one session.

7) Be as honest as possible, not answering based upon determining your partner’s ethnicity by voice or colloquialisms. Just tell your truth.

8) If you find you are getting nervous, uncomfortable, angry, sad; tell the coordinator, who will help you.

9) Notice the differences; notice what is the same. Uncannily, scientifically, we are almost all exactly the same.

CONCLUSION

Prejudice is a habit, and as with any other habit, can be laid to dormancy like so many of our habits. It can happen if we choose to talk and express how we feel. It doesn’t always work right away; it usually makes changes. So, let’s become members of the Prejudice Replacement Club and get peace done.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in freedom – for all people, not just the strongest, the most beautiful and most popular. She says,

“I am the same as you. My skin is not the chosen skin. Neither is yours. I am not more deserving than you. And vice versa.

“It is my duty to be a kind human. That doesn’t mean I have to buy you a house. It also does not mean I have the right to discriminate based on my habits. And, if I do, I want to change myself, evolve myself. How about you?

“I always have this idea to ask TV script writers to come up with peace scenarios: how we can live together with all sects and religions that aim for human good, which are all the major religions of which I am familiar. A belief system cannot create terror. Only a human heart can do that.

“Let’s talk to each other, yes. Let’s talk until we see ourselves as reflections of our sisters and brothers. Did you ever come together during a strong earthquake, tornado, hurricane? Did you care who saved you from the brink of death?

“Look for The Prejudice Replacement Club nearest you. By passing on the idea, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
BE PART OF THE PREJUDICE REPLACEMENT CLUB.

GETTING RID OF NAUSEA – MOVE IT! MOVE IT! ~ ISSUE 216 ~ OCTOBER 18, 2016

by Diane Gold

Getting rid of nausea is a wonderful thing. When nausea consumes us, we forget about all the time we have spent in our lives without it. But, it’s always heavenly if we can figure out a way like to get rid of it, even temporarily.

THE REVELATION

Quite by accident, I learned a sensational technique that may be helpful for everyone. Of course, it involved changing the biology through movement, which is the magic solution to so much.

I have been experiencing daily nausea and am not sure why. As of this writing, I have had some days without it, for which I am dancing and jumping for joy (WOO-HOO!). The point is it may come back, and many people have it daily even if I do not, at the moment. I wouldn’t have realized it is a new habit, but it becomes one if it shows up on a regular basis. Rather than get used to it, since it does not support my life, I look for a way to replace this habit with a new one.

So, I came upon this movement activity that replaced my habit as I was getting rid of nausea. I do tai chi and play the piano and even dance while nauseated. This is old news. But here is what’s new.

I was doing a physical therapy exercise by a doctor of physical therapy (thank you, Medicare) that I have been given to alleviate my left frozen shoulder. (I have already had right frozen shoulder which took a year to clear with no therapy due to no insurance or proper knowledge of technique.) Guess what happened?

The fairly severe pain I was causing myself as part of my so far successful regime to help my shoulder get back its mobility created chemical change in my body. This biological reaction caused the nausea to alleviate for a good long set of hours. I was amazed.

I immediately thought of the technique some teens use to alleviate the emotional pain of life: cutting. According to Michael Hollander, MD and author of Helping Teens Who Cut…, “This is an emotion-regulation strategy.” The methods I discuss below could be a positive replacement for this behavior.

Dancing, tai chi, stretching and playing music are hugely effective and positive activities; they can cause psychic trauma to relieve emotional pain. Who knew that these constructive exercises which can be painful when we are working hard could remove physical pain in this same way? I have led a wonderful life and have not experienced serious pain before. But, now, nausea has been my latest pain or my weight. And I am its warrior. (Get it? Warrior of Weight?) And causing a different kind of body pain made it go away, more than once.

THE BIOLOGY, WITH QUOTE FROM LEO WIDRICH

The presence of new physical pain can be called a distraction from the previous pain of nausea, but the alleviation of the nausea was caused by chemical changes in my body.

When we exercise, the body responds. So does the mind. I quote Leo Widrich, below, whose full article from 2/4/14 on exercise and happiness is available at fastcompany.com.

“Here is what actually happens:

If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising and eventually happy.

At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, [are] released in your brain. Your endorphins’ main purpose [is written by] researcher McGovern [as],

‘These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.'”

(Leo Widrich is the creator of Buffer.)

HOW TO USE POSITIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR NAUSEA

We can see how the above biology lesson follows what we experience when we move our bodies. When the body thinks it’s in stress, it produces feel good chemicals to help us cope. I never considered of getting rid of nausea other (constructive) physical pain.

I propose

ACTION STEP ONE: STRETCHING

as a great technique for getting rid of nausea, as long as we can move some part of our body. This activity is the exercise that gave me my revelation as I was stretching my shoulder to free its barriers.  In doing any kind of stretching, we could cause the body to alleviate pain by feeling stretching good.

ACTION STEP TWO: DANCING OR TAI CHI

Whether we dance or do tai chi for 15 seconds in our bed or chair or we do a full street event, either of these activity will do wonders for nausea. Even if we fake it to make it (I looked for the origin of this phrase online. I do know that my friends and I used the expression frequently in 1968, so the book written with a similar name in 1982 was not its beginning.), our bodies will product chemicals to make us cope with the activity and help our problem.

ACTION STEP THREE: PLAYING MUSIC

Playing music has the benefits of calming the mind (or exciting it, depending upon the music and the outcome desired). We release dopamine in both the dorsal and ventral striatum, which perceive reward. Some days after I had experienced the exercise trick for nausea, I played music while feeling nauseated. It did not have as instant a reaction, but it limited my discomfort after a longer period of time. As a music therapist, I was not surprised. I had never used music for my own physical pain, which was nausea, but it was effective.

CONCLUSION

When we go beyond our capacity, just a little, by stretching, doing tai chi, dancing, activating ourselves through music – either by creating it or being stimulated by it – we can heal ourselves. These action steps are a set of natural ways of getting rid of nausea and pushing through what comes our way.

If you are so inclined, if you know anyone who might benefit, please pass this on.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com),
it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in looking on the bright side. She says,

“If you can move for 5 seconds, you will make a change. Pick something you like; for me, it’s dance, tai chi, stretching, playing music. Just do it a little, from a bed, from a chair, on the open track.

“You know what they say, ‘Move it, or lose it.’ True, true. Good for the mind, good for the body. Do it!

“This is one of the simple ways to care for ourselves. It is a way of loving ourselves. By passing it on, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
MOVE IT!

Getting Rid Of Nausea

THE ONE STEP TECHNIQUE FOR IMPERFECT HEALTH ~ ISSUE 215 ~ AUGUST 30, 2016

By Diane Gold

AFTER 60

Diane Gold leading World Tai Chi Day 2016

In the past 7 years, I have gone from perfect health to imperfect health. For one day, 7 years ago, my heart was hurting, and my blood pressure went up.  That was for less hthan a day. I do believe I had an event, even though the tests that were run for 8 months after that with every Western specialty I approached did not find anything.  Aside from that, I did not have imperfect health and was in good shape.

AFTER AUGUST, 2015

6 years later, came nausea, dizziness (still here) and speeding (gone for now). This occurred several months after my taking the magic Hepatitis C curing medicine. Is this a set of side effects from the wonder drugs? Possibly. But no one is studying me to see.

The liver doc was thrilled to add me to his list of almost 500 undetectable Hep C virus patients who took the wonder drug (for which there is a short track record of people like me who are called “cured”). He referred me to various colleagues who had no answers, only smiles.

Then, as you may know, I was short of breath in January, 2016, and wrote my hello once more post. Scary, but a glimpse of the cycle of life and death. I can breathe well again now but don’t know why I couldn’t. Secular hallelujah!

CURRENTLY

Currently, I am in imperfect health, nauseated for longer periods than last year, usually daily, and feel like I’m going to crash from low blood sugar (although my glucose levels are fine) when I don’t eat often. Otherwise, I am great.

Could I have used up or did the Hep C drugs eat up all my stored up nutritional reserves? Possibly.

ACTION STEPS

There are a series of things we can do to go with the flow of our lives and maximize our perfect or imperfect health. Here are some.

1)  GRATITUDE UPON WAKING

I am grateful upon awakening. Even if there’s some discomfort, there is much for which to be joyful. I move the body, have beautiful organic food to eat (preparing wheatgrass juice pre-smoothie, play my new keyboard- thank you, kids), bond with the cats and notice the new things my body has to offer. A little frozen shoulder here, a little nausea there, good breathing here, strength of purpose there. Imperfect health, but mostly good things, looking at the whole picture.

2)  MY ONE STEP TECHNIQUE TO FEELING GOOD

Most of the day, I am not in stress. For me, that would mean nauseated, although there are hours at a time. The challenge is to move through the nausea. I use the same technique I always offer: TAKE ONE STEP and then repeat that same step over and over, as if there were no nausea.

Consider that being nauseated is like craving drugs. The fix (no pun intended) is to focus on the new task of running up and down the block, meeting with a friend, drinking a smoothie, rather than on,

“Oh, I still want to get high,”

or

“Oh, no. I am nauseated.”

The one step that I take could be eating or working or moving or playing music or doing some tai chi movement. These can settle the feeling and make me feel good. What chemical movement happens to change the feeling, I don’t know. I do know the habit of taking one step and repeating it is THE WAY. It forms a new habit of pushing through that may completely create a dormancy of the imperfect health. If now, at least, it will allow maximum bang for life’s buck.

3)  LEARNING THE HUMAN MACHINE

Our bodies and minds act in different ways throughout our lives. It is our job to roll with them and become new, daily. I am working on being new all the time. For now, that means remembering to eat by a certain time, or the body will start to crash, adding fuel before the fuel abruptly starts to run out.

CONCLUSION

I had 60 “perfect health” years. Now I’m having some imperfect health. Not so bad on the scale of things. Super, in fact; and I look forward to perfect health, even if it’s not all the time. I am forever grateful for all the gifts I have, and I am thrilled at imperfect health fixing using the one step technique that I always profess, that it is here for me now and it works well.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment, or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in taking the easiest and cleanest path. This means the one step technique. She says,

“I have professed the one step technique and have used it many times. Because of its simplicity, it works. It does not look to the future. It looks at now and developing a new habit by repeating one step again and again.

“Now, when it comes to walking proudly through my own imperfect health journey, I am using it. When I am nauseated, I go sit down to work. And I improve. When I am nauseated, I eat. And I shorten or eliminate the nausea. Also, to avoid the feeling of crashing, I eat early and frequently. Each of these actions is one step. By taking the steps over and over again, I am creating them as new habits. These habits can eliminate or override not feeling that perfect health I had experienced for so long.

“The one step technique for imperfect health is thrilling because as our health changes, we have this free method that only requires one step. An does not require a financial investment.

“This is one of the simple ways to care for ourselves. It is a way of loving ourselves. By passing it on, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
EMPLOYEE THE ONE STEP TECHNIQUE FOR IMPERFECT HEALTH.

GMO LABELING IS HERE ~ ISSUE 213 ~ JULY 5, 2016

By Diane Gold

GMO LABELING SO FAR

VERMONT

GMO labeling (genetically modified organism labeling) is in Vermont. There are exemptions for dairy. But the Vermont law is a tremendous feat, considering Vermont was sued by Big Food and won.

Within six months of July 1, 2016; all food products not covered by exemptions must be labeled.

Last year, Vermont’s Governor Shumlin said,

“Here’s an idea for the industry: Just label your products. All of them, nationwide. Sixty-four countries already do it [[http://www.justlabelit.org/right-to-know-center/labeling-around-the-world/]]. I’m sure the food industry in America could summon the moral imagination to be the 65th.”

I agree.

At the time Vermont was sued to repeal its GMO labeling law which went into effect July 1, 2016, the States of Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts , New Hampshire and Washington filed a friend-of-the-court brief to support Vermont’s GMO Labeling bill. Friends are important when a little state has to face off against Big Food with big money.

A new beginning, a GMO Labeling law is in place in one state. Go Vermont!

OTHER STATES

Several other states (Connecticut and Maine) are in line to label GE (genetically engineered) foods. Their side stipulations will mean they will not trigger the enactment of their laws yet, but they are generating awareness of GMOs in food and more and more people are considering whether they choose to consume them.

CURRENT FEDERAL GMO LABELING DRAFT LEGISLATION SHORTCOMINGS

There is a draft bill (EDW16734) by the Senate Agriculture Committee to label genetically engineered organisms in food. Some suggest its purpose is to create a bill with so many exemptions as to remove the need for Big Food to label at all. (Ah, politics!)

Congratulations to the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) for bringing to light some of this draft bill’s shortcomings. Here are some of their ‘technical comments,’

“The definition of ‘bioengineering’ that would govern labeling under the new proposal ‘would result in a somewhat narrow scope of coverage,’ meaning that it would not apply to many foods from genetically engineered sources. It gave an example of a product made with oil from genetically engineered soy, which is in many products. After processing, such oil does not contain any genetic material and thus would not require a label.”

(Not having to disclose with what ingredients a product is produced from the start – whether or not ingredients are detectable at the end – is deceitful, opaque and as misrepresenting the truth as saying I don’t have to disclose that I put poison in my specially grown green bean fertilizer because, upon harvest, the poison is undetectable. As long as no one eats the beans until they are ready, they won’t die. Oh, wait! We, the consumers, are sheep. Why should it be our right to know?)

There is also a very complicated section of the proposed Senate Agriculture Committee law where food producers have loads of wiggle room to get out of labeling because the bill limits the GMO labeling of foods that

“could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.”

The reason the FDA brought this up is that it will be hugely difficult to disprove that the absence of labeling based on this ground is valid and correct, and Big Food attorneys depend upon this. The draft is written nebulously, whether by ignorance or by design, so that it is not clear whether the exemption of cross breeding referred to the effect of the rDNA (genetically engineered DNA) or the location of the resulting genetic material. With this non-specificity, producers can slip through the law 100 ways, and consumers will be falsely thinking they are getting transparency.

PUBLISHER’S OBSERVATION OF SHORTCOMING ON VERMONT LAW, BUT BIG CONGRATS ON THE LAW FOR STARTERS

We do not educate people about food and the processes to get it to market or the substances that are hidden within processing or the conditions in which workers work. Partial labeling of GMOs is a beginning of a fix for this. The Vermont bill requires that one of three wordings be permitted on a label. I object to two of them because the average person will not realize that the first two mean a product is or may be genetically modified. And there is a blanket exemption on dairy!

The first phrase is,

“may be produced with genetic engineering.”

If a product has no genetic engineering, a company will be very specific about tooting its horn and saying so. So the statement where something may be produced with genetic engineering will confuse many everyday people into thinking twice about the fact that a product with that label is genetically modified. I object to conning the consumer in this way and, worse, falsely making the consumer feel s/he has just been educated when s/he has not.

The second phrase is,

“partially produced with genetic engineering.”

The word partially softens the idea that a product has genetic modification in it. The everyday consumer will be thinking that partial is better than total and will miss the point of realizing the product is a GMO product. I object to conning the consumer in this way and, worse, falsely making the consumer feel s/he has just been educated when s/he has not.

The third phrase is,

“produced with genetic engineering.”

This phrase is the only clear cut phrase of the three and is the only one that will not confuse the average consumer. The fact that so many exemptions are permitted is horrifying.

INTERPRETATION

Just the way the NOSB (National Organics Standards Board) requires that any produce whose soil has used non-organic pesticides is required to wait, at least, three years from the time of this last non-organically approved pesticide application to the time it can call its produce “organic,” GMO use resides in the soil or in a product for long periods of time, and GMO labeling is the only label that makes sense.

FYI: here’s a list of the synthetic pesticides allowed on organics – very disheartening:
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=9874504b6f1025eb0e6b67cadf9d3b40&rgn=div6&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32.7&idno=7

CONCLUSION

Let’s educate ourselves by learning what’s on our food and what is used to produce our food. The new GMO labeling law in Vermont is a start. The exemptions make one leery as to what has been accomplished. But people, nationwide, are talking. That is the biggest accomplishment. The second is that Vermont won a battle against Big Food. Yay!!!!!!!!

Let’s philosophize about our human right to know what is in and on our food in a free society. Who has the right to hide these under the guise of shielding proprietary information. We have the right to know as long as we are free!

Finally, doesn’t it seem as if we are tipping the scales on the side of big business? Why are we not looking at 64 other countries, many of them our allies, and considering their motives and studies. Economically, the fact that many of our food producers sell to those 64 countries, they are already label compliant, so it’s not such a big deal for them to make this change in their home country, America.

ACTIONS STEPS

1) DISCUSS WITH EACH FAMILY MEMBER OUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT’S IN AND ON FOOD.
Our greatest gifts in the United States are the gifts of freedom and human rights. Part of those are exercising and teaching about those rights. Let’s get going now.

2) READ THE STUDIES ON GMO SAFETY.
Remember that most GMO safety evidence has been produced by Big Food because they have the money. Neutral, professional study funders are scarce, so that money givers have no agenda to alter the study results in the end. And are the studies studying the effect on the environment?

3) DISCUSS INCREASE IN HERBICIDE USE DUE TO HERBICIDE TOLERANCE LEADING TO ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER WITH ONE PERSON.

Reference this article or others: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethhoffman/2013/07/02/gmo-crops-mean-more-herbicide-not-less/#6c7b213fa371

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in freedom. This includes the freedom to depend upon being educated about the food we eat and the processes used for every morsel of that food. She says,

“As a consumer in a free country, it is my right to know the ingredients in and on my food so that I can decide whether they are acceptable for me to consume, so that I can decide if they are produced ethically and so that I can exercise my right as a human being to choose.

“By not knowing whether or not a product was touched by genetic modification, I cannot do this. By not knowing the exact source of an ingredient – that is, animal, plant, mineral, synthetic – I cannot do this. By not knowing what types of rules the employer of the laborers employed during produce processes, I cannot do this.

“I approve GMO labeling and consider it a minimal step in the process of fulfilling what is my right in this free world.

“As we work on this process, let’s take overall good care of each other and ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
CONSIDER AND REQUIRE OUR RIGHTS IN A FREE SOCIETY WHEN IT COMES TO KNOWING WHAT IS IN AND ON OUR FOOD.

REBIRTH – COMING BACK TO LIFE – SHE NOT BUSY BEING BORN IS BUSY DYING*** ~ ISSUE 206 ~ MARCH 22, 2016

By Diane Gold

The concept of rebirth here means coming back to life and daily evolution. My definition may be one of the lesser common ones. It has nothing to do with reincarnation. It has all to do with how we live our lives here and now.

Let’s start with birth. That’s when we begin a series of catharses from our mother’s womb to the end of breath as we know it. It is also when we begin a concept or project, a belief system or a phase.

Rebirth, therefore, is what happens when we take one step in a new direction. Some refer to it as born again. Others know it as transformation. This happens every day and can be noticed by being aware of everything – our minds, our bodies, our relationships, our talents, our intellect, our purpose – or nothing. It happens whether we are looking or not. It happens from one condition to a better one. It happens from one condition to a worse one.

Let’s look at Bob Dylan’s words which are really,

***He not busy being born is busy dying,

a lyric in the 1964 song It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).

I feminized the lyric to represent a more universal approach, not to aim it at women, but to rebirth the male pronoun to a feminine one to include all of us.

The lyric refers to being in the moment of doing things, living, evolving – busy being born, as opposed to busy being in the moment of doing nothing, living in negativity, choosing to stagnate. I don’t believe the lyric refers to physical dying. Even when we know we are physically dying very soon, we have the opportunity to live well while we are still breathing. Not such an easy thing, but if we live that way when we are not soon to die physically, we have more experience opening up, living newness all the time.

How profound! Let’s be being born. It happens anyway. How many times in a lifetime do we say,

“I’m not the same person as I was then.”

As I see it, we are the same person; we are a conglomeration of the daily evolution of that being.

REBIRTH SCENARIOS

Rebirth can be anything:

from being sick to being well
from just mopping a floor to mopping a floor so well that it starts to shine with love
from not having kissed to kissing for the first time
from djing in our prime to djing for the last time
from being a child without the ability to give birth to giving physical birth
from not being dependent on a drug to being dependent on a drug
from being dependent on a drug to replacing the drug dependence with dancing
from having many visits with our kids to visiting with our kids one last time
from being sad to being accepting
from being too shy to reach out to doing it after years of shyness
from nice to nasty
from nasty to nice
from young to old
from old mind to young mind
from sitting on a bench hungry to eating a strawberry while sitting on that bench.

All these scenarios represent the rebirth experience: getting familiar with living and dying (shedding our former self) on a daily basis. Some happenings take us to what we would call favorable places. Others take us to new places that, on the surface, may seem undesirable. Even these can be evolutionary. We become from wherever we are.

REBIRTH ACTIVITIES

All activities give us new life, are evolutionary and can be instrumental in guiding us to change. Something dull and boring may become meaningful and evolutionary. Nothing has to be glamorous or look spiritual. If we are involved, this is part of our spirit, so it is spiritual. It can be cleaning feces off a wall, meditating with monks, creating an empire or teaching a child.

Take WATCHING A BASEBALL GAME. I am using this example because anything can be that one thing that causes a grand leap. So we are watching a game with the girls, and from this watching, we realize that we need to spend more time playing catch with our kids. So we get home and launch a full campaign to do just that. The result from our doing so brings us closer to our kids, seems to contribute to our middle daughter’s not acting out as much and we reduce our cholesterol. Triple header!

MY LIST

Here are the things I like to do. Although every time I interact with another person, I am aware of my own transformation; the following activities seem to be universally popular for rebirth, catharsis, dramatic change. Of course, this is from my view point. I really like each of these activities, and they transform. So is it possible that,

“THE MORE WE LIKE AN ACTIVITY, THE MORE WE WILL GO THROUGH REBIRTH, BLOSSOMING, EVOLUTION AND REPLACE OURSELVES IN THE DOING?”

TAI CHI is one of my transformers.
PLAYING PIANO & CREATING MUSIC have been a huge part of my life.
FREE DANCING and being surrounded by other beings who free dance has been amazing and is my newest love.
COACHING PEOPLE to be good to themselves brings a layer of growth to me.
LISTENING TO ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC is sooooooooooooooo relaxing.

CONCLUSION

Rebirth, as I mean it, is the process of our becoming new. It is the blossoming and shedding we do within ourselves daily and always. Kind of the way our skin sheds regularly. We all do it. We all become, even in our final days. Let us flow as we grow.

Even though flowing like water seems easy, we encounter much obstruction along the way; we have to maneuver. The journey is to find the flow, even in the harshest conditions. It is said that the ONLY time we know how balanced and flowing we are is in times of adversity.

Whatever we do for rebirth, change, growth has to be pure, because any impurities tag along and invade us. Hallucinogens can transform us. Most other drugs are too controlling. Plant-based food can be transformative. The animals saved by our eating this way certainly think so. There are many glorious choices out there. Most of them involve moving. So go move something. Feel the rebirth occur.

ACTION STEPS

Please make a list of, at least, 3 things that you love to do.
Notice how one of these activities transforms you.
If so moved, write about it and send it in so we can post it. We can share it anonymously or just read it privately.
Notice personal growth on a daily basis as you become new and then new again.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes it’s important to become new, to notice rebirth. She says,

“What I mean by rebirth is being born or changed into, a new person, each day, every day, more than once a day, just by being and noticing.

“I thought of it because I do this free dancing which creates in each of us a movement similar to birth where we go from a pile of rubble to a glowing ball of light that can heal inside us and outside us. And one of the participants used the word “rebirth,”to which I could not relate, wholeheartedly, at the beginning of the session. Toward the end, though, it was as if I were a continuum of myself,combination of myself a second ago, in the present and a minute from now. That, to me was rebirth.

“Pretty much fun. I recommend noticing any kind of change, replacement, renewal that occurs. Enjoy it.

“Finally, let’s take overall good care of ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
CONSIDER ONE THING WE DID THIS WEEK THAT WE CONSIDER A CHANGE, A NEWNESS, AN EVOLUTION.

THE MYTH OF MEDITATION – AND THE MILLION DOLLAR SECRET ~ ISSUE 205 ~ MARCH 15, 2016

By Diane Gold

The myth of meditation is the “we can do it” myth. We hear talk about different kinds of meditation as well as unique results from various people. So, what’s the myth? Myth Of Meditation

DEFINITIONS

Let’s define meditation as taking the time to get the self to a state of chaoslessness. Others call it contemplation, but that is only part of the process which meditation is and, not starting with the clarity to contemplate, does not signify failure. We have to train in any discipline. The act of taking the time to begin is the process of meditation.

The definition of myth is a false idea that is widely held (such as the idea that the heart stops when we sneeze which resulted in our blessing each other because of the danger).

So the myth of meditation is a false idea about taking the time to get peaceful.

THE MYTH

Here is the myth of meditation: that all we need do to do meditation is one of many step-by-step procedures, and, if we do this, we will succeed. The reason I say it is the “we can do it” myth is that teachers tell meditators they can do it and give them a method. The glitch in that system is that the method prescribed often lacks a crucial element.

Yes, it’s a given that if we take time out to sit in a corner, listen to quiet music while lying on a couch, smell our favorite fragrance, sit on the beach in quietude, we will be enhancing ourselves at that very time. But, the myth prevails because many how-tos have the same weakness, the inability to lead the meditator to do one action at a time.

________________________________________________________

This article is dedicated to Sassy, a gentle spirit of a dog for whom I was given the privilege of part-time guardian. We miss you, Sassy Machine. Shout out to her human parents for bravely living the lesson that we must put the good of our honorable animals ahead of our own desires to keep them with us when it is time for them to go.

________________________________________________________

THE WANDERING MIND

What we remember when we are coming up with methods on how to meditate is that we are looking for the monk mind, the focused mind. What we forget is that it is our mind’s job to grab stimuli and explore, unless we train it otherwise. Therefore, to start, most of us will get distracted by every external thing. That includes being distracted by the very things that are part of our given how-to for the purpose of quieting the mind, like listening to temple music, saying a mantra (repeating a word over and over in the mind), picturing a color or image, all while we are breathing to sustain ourselves and get the self to a state of chaoslessness.

MINIMIZING THE CHAOS

So, we need some technique that immediately eliminates stimuli. That means the joy of learning something new, hearing a new sound, smelling a new smell, feeling a new feeling, seeing a new sight, tasting a new taste must be replaced with a technique that eliminates these things so that the hungry mind learns another way. Here’s something that might help.

ACTION STEPS – THE BASIC COURSE CORRECTION FOR ANY MEDITATION METHOD

1) Know that if you are doing anything other than watching your breathing, you are doing more than one thing at a time.

Here’s a cut and dry way of looking at doing one thing at a time: take the example that, while standing with no other supports, we cannot lift both legs at the same time without falling. We know that if we are standing on our L leg with the R knee raised high, we cannot lift the L leg off the standing surface because the L leg must remain as support. We know this because the body would react by falling if we did. Similar in concept is the example of breathing and doing some other meditate-y thing like saying a mantra. We actually cannot do breathing and something else and be attentive to both. Because we don’t fall down from breathing and doing something else, we don’t notice that we are splitting our attention in two. Many well-meaning meditation guides do not notice it either and build failure into their step-by-step how-tos. When our minds start wandering, we wonder what is wrong with us. The answer is: nothing; the method may need adjustment.

Can you ask your how-to mentor about this? Once you accept someone as your leader of how-to meditation technology, until you have done the step-by-step technique 1000 or more times, no matter what your question, you are not qualified to understand the answer. This is not because the teacher is grand, and you are not. It’s because it takes experiential training to have a framework from which to hear and understand what you are asking. Just keep in mind that the method may include splitting your attention, the opposite of the goal. If the teacher knows, the teacher may have some other opportunity in mind. If the teacher does not know, the method may be unworthy. Hard to know, since it takes 20 years to understand the ways of a teacher.

2) Know that doing any how-to method you trust will give you wonderful benefits, so begin now. If you are taking this time to do a meditation how-to, you are certainly not robbing a bank or selling your watch to buy crack. This is good. If you are taking this special time for meditation, you are quieting the mind in some way by the nature of your preparing and beginning. And you may work through any flaw in the how-to system as a result.

CONCLUSION AND MILLION DOLLAR SECRET

The myth of meditation exists because people do not talk about meditation as a process. They talk as if monkhood or pure concentration will arrive immediately. It could, but it most likely will require long term study and work to achieve such a state. And we prefer to talk about special spiritual music, special places in which to meditate or images as tools. And we rarely talk about the glitch in the method, because we don’t realize it or we are too busy.

To simplify things and the fastest way to dispel the myth of meditation along with getting some bang for your hard-earned buck (meditation work) is to focus on the air as it enters and leaves your body.

As you take a slow breath in, watch the air as it floats up to the top of the head, then down to the groin. As you slowly breathe out, watch the air as it goes up the body and comes out the front of the head.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes it’s important to share the truth. She says,

“What I mean by the truth is something that occurs the same way over and over again. So, with meditation, when I have watched all sorts of methods be too complex for people, I am choosing to come forward and simplify what is being said. Let’s have a success experience right away. It will not be the success of trance-ing out because we have become enlightened masters in a moment (although it could go that way). For most of us, it will be the success of beginning a journey where each time we take the time to jump into the meditation process, we know it is a process and this knowledge is a joy. We become more and more relaxed and more and more comfortable with whatever we are doing, knowing that the doing is the goal.

“Take a chance, watch your breath, and have a nice day. What could go wrong? If you don’t like it, you can choose not to do it. But there should be something glorious in every day. It just could be the meditation process.

“Please write and tell me your story, especially about meditation. I will drink it up, if you do.

“Finally, let’s take overall good care of ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
STANDING, SITTING OR LYING DOWN, ALONE IN A BATHROOM OR OTHER PRIVATE PLACE, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND, SLOWLY, BREATHE IN AND, SLOWLY, BREATHE OUT. OPEN YOUR EYES. DO THIS ONCE. IF YOU LIKE IT, DO IT ONCE A DAY FOR A WEEK. IF YOU LIKE IT, CONTINUE.

SEXUAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ~ ISSUE 202 ~ DECEMBER 22, 2015
http://warriorsofweight.com

SEXUAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ~ ISSUE 202 ~ DECEMBER 22, 2015
By Diane Gold

FOCUS ON THE RIGHT TO REFUSE

Sexual rights are human rights that pertain to sexual activity and sexual health. This essay focuses on the rights to have or not to have sexual activity, sharply stressing the right to have full freedom to consent to or refuse sex, including within marriage, without the risk of violence, kidnapping, position reducing or deprivation of any kind for having chosen to refuse.

[FACT: In the United States, marital rape is a crime in all 50 states.]

SEX ON DEMAND IN THE SCROLLS

There are many writings that do not share the philosophy that sexual refusal is a right. The way most are written is that it is a wife’s REQUIREMENT to satisfy a husband’s SUMMONING for sex. How sad that physical and emotional torture, which UNWANTED sex is, should be a requirement!

ALL OF THE DOCUMENTS I have found were written by men with a sexual slant that men are more important than women and that women are to serve men.

When we pick a jury for a trial, do we not question each juror to make sure s/he does not have a preconceived notion, a prejudice, that would damage objectivity? In the same way, we must look hard at any writings that pleasure one human’s rights over another, that violate women’s rights for the pleasure of men or that violate men’s rights for the pleasure of women.

SEX EDUCATION AS HUMAN PROGRESS

In the last several years, various countries have begun voluntary sex education classes or are planning them for refugees migrating to their country or those who are already there. Of late, many migrants come from countries that do not honor sexual rights of women. Norway is a leader, beginning nationwide programs in 2013. classes that will help newly arrived immigrants to see that women have the right to out, relax in bars in short skirts and go out without an escort. Hopefully, the class will teach that the following New York Times quote by a new immigrant to Norway shows that his current habit (revealed by his quote) is a violation of human rights and is illegal.

“Men have weaknesses and when they see someone smiling, it is difficult to control,” Mr. Kelifa said, explaining that in his own country, Eritrea, “if someone wants a lady, he can just take her and he will not be punished, ” at least not by the police.

PUBLISHER’S QUESTION ON SEX EDUCATION

When we teach about sexual rights, we are exposing the student to the idea that we have the right to refuse. We are not promoting consent or refusal, we are just talking about rights. If our familial belief system does not offer this right of refusal, what is wrong with hearing that some cultures allow it?

CONTAIN VIOLENCE THROUGH UNDERSTANDING

The best way to contain violence is through understanding. We know it is wrong to do violence to another person. However, to obtain power, land or get people to accept our thinking, we use it. To get revenge against someone who has hurt our ego, we use it.

Yet, developing a new habit in immigrants by showing them new behavior is precious. The new sexual education will allow them to assimilate the mores of their new country without frustration, misunderstanding or mistakes. Once their new habit – that of valuing humans as equals – takes hold, they will know the new rules. It is true their cultural connection to rights violation may take longer to change. But, at least, they will see there is another side to the way people act and respect; they will consider the rights of others and they will learn the rules of their new environment drastically differ from their old.

Hopefully, new understanding will reduce violence.

CONCLUSION

Sexual rights are inherent. We are not born as slaves, even if someone else says we are. We are not born as sex objects, even if someone else says we are. We may be relegated to act those positions by people who can deprive us or deprive our loved ones of food, water, shelter, clothing, work, creativity and rest and relaxation. But the rights are still ours.

It is important to give great thought to human rights, whether we have read about them in a special book or learned about them through living them. Should we focus on one part of an ancient scripture, such as a wife shall cater to her husband when in the same book doing so would violate the loving thy neighbor as thyself or thou shalt not steal edicts? How can we have a rule that does not apply to all humans?

Rights are rights. They apply to us all.

Let us give sexual rights education to those new to our territories. Let us be understanding of those who do not believe as we believe. And let us profess kindness, an easy activity to understand.

ACTION STEPS

1) Consider how you would explain sexual rights: the right to refuse, and post it by scrolling down to the comment section here.

2) Discuss the sexual right of deciding for yourself when and when not to engage in sex when a spouse asks for it. Before you start, agree to stop the discussion if anger enters.

3) Consider volunteering at a sexual abuse clinic once.

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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in freedom. She says,

“When we force a human being to do something s/he has not chosen, it is wrong. When we force a human being to do something sexual s/he has not chosen, it is worse because, not only does it involve bending the emotional will, it involves bending someone’s desire while touching her/his physical body.

“When we are forced to do something that involves our body, the memory of it lingers and lingers and lingers.

“When I think about a spouse forcing a spouse to have sex, I am sad. Why would any spouse care so little for her/his spouse as to force such an act? This sounds like abuse, not love. It also sounds exactly like rape. And, in the eyes of American law, it is.

“Our spouse is not our object and cannot be forced. (I know there are certain rituals in certain cultures that may be different from this. I ask us to look at them.) Even the prostitute, whose job it is to have sex for money, does not have the right to be forced. In the eyes of the law, if we say no, it is no.

“Let’s be conscious, kind and studious of sexual rights. It is only fair.

“And, finally, let’s take overall good care of ourselves because we are so worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK
IS TO GIVE SOMEONE A HUMAN RIGHT.

HEALTH CARE MISTAKES: OUR BIGGEST ONE (ISSUE 171) MARCH 24, 2015

By Diane Gold

Health care mistakes: our biggest one is not being preventive, a topic very dear to my heart. The topic has been in my purview for some time. The rumblings of this article began with a simple conversation.

THE CONVERSATION

Harvey, a near and dear friend, and I were having this conversation, that I started, about being tested for vitamin, mineral, phytochemical levels. We did not decide to debate the topic; it evolved so innocently but actually spelled out the way many people in America look at medicine: from the diagnostic perspective.

I said that I thought a primary care physician’s job was to make certain the patient’s systems were in balance and that it was necessary to test whether a person’s nutritional intake was adequately fulfilling the needs of the body. And to discover if there were any imbalances, which would take extensive study; though not always accurate, we could have vitamin, mineral and phytochemical testing. And, as many specialists I have spoken with agree, we shouldn’t have to beg for these tests.

OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE

Harvey replied that when we go to the primary care doctor, we get tests done based on our diagnosis. He also mentioned that Medicare (which he and I both began within the year) only pays for tests that match our diagnoses.

I told him that this is the biggest mistake in all our healthcare system and that I consider it ludicrous. If we believe, and by we, I mean the physicians and dieticians who treat us, that we are asked to get sick and have a diagnosis before looking for weaknesses of which blood is a somewhat good predictor; we are propagating a disease care system, not a health care system. If we believe that it’s important to act well, sleep well, eat well, think well, move well, drink well and measure the result; we will prevent diagnoses often.

HOW TO CORRECT THE MISTAKE

I said to Harvey that I wanted him to think about my view because I realized he was one of the people who was raised as a patient of a Western medical system that professes to cure things through medication and intervention once an imbalance exists already.

I proposed,

1) ACTION STEP ONE

“What if we were to test our vitamin-mineral-phytochemical levels on a regular basis! We would confirm that we were eating well or that we would be wise to adjust a way of eating our nutrients through our daily routine of eating well.”

2) ACTION STEP TWO

(This is a What If Scenario, not because I support the way Big Pharma acts, but because it is powerful, organized, competent.)

Another suggestion to the world is to include Big Pharma to help spread the word about the importance of measuring and testing nutritional levels. Could we pay it to make everyone aware that it’s good health care to monitor nutrition through testing and have insurance pay for the tests?

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Since Big Pharma makes such a huge sum from drugs, many of which could be eliminated by nutrition; Big Pharma is not going to come along happily, unless paid. The government won’t regulate it because political campaigns run on its dollars. And its sister and brother (mostly brother) board members in Big Media, Big Petro-Chem, Big Agro, Big Food, Big Data, Big University, Big Finance would be affected and growling, too.

So, please someone who is brilliantly creative; use my scenario and develop a strategy to satisfy the monetary gap so we can use Big Pharma to fix our health care system.

The best creatives for this fix could actually be TV script writers, some of the most creative minds in the bunch.

3) ACTION STEP THREE

Finally, Western doctors have not been trained in the importance of doing preventive tests. They are trained to find a pre-existing condition. Their understanding has been reinforced by the fact that they know that any insurance system works on the disease model and each doctor is monitored for the tests s/he orders by how well they match the diagnoses that exist. Let’s change nutritional education in medical schools. And one way to do that is to employ ACTION STEP 2) which includes Big Pharma, where we give Big Pharma a reason not to hide nutritional findings.

BACKGROUND

In medical school, much funding comes from pharmaceutical companies, meat. There are also connections to meat, fish and dairy concerns, petro-chemical/pesticide companies, including bioengineering seed companies. What’s important about this is these companies want to sell their products. They want to make a good impression on soon-to-be-doctors who will be advocating care for the goodness of their future patients.

The industries mentioned above know that if they make donations to medical schools, including private donations from board members; school provosts will be more likely to keep industry information out of coursework.

School administrators, required to hunt down the almighty dollar for survival, may also allow industry donors to run seminars for doctors and medical students that are favorable to themselves. In fact, these companies control some of the slant on disease management (intervention) vs. health care management (prevention) by making it clear that their donations depend upon the school’s advocating their positive image.

Also interesting is that pharmaceutical reps as well as other company advocates are wooing medical students even before they graduate. The pharmaceutical budget donates most of the continuing education conferences for already graduated doctors, and, much as we think we are objective, we are wooed by those who buy us gifts.

THE TRUTH

At this time, Big Pharma does not emphasize disease prevention because it wants us to buy pharmaceuticals to contribute to its livelihood. It’s not that Big Pharma is heartless. But, in order to continue developing monumental drugs that can lengthen lives, of which there are many, and enhance life quality through various combinations of chemicals; the industry thinks it has to blind us rather than educate us.

The truth is, as I see it, that if Big Pharma were tasked to educate us properly, we would all do well. We would still need some of their life-lengthening drugs currently under development, and we could pay the industry for its expertise in marketing, management and an ally in the corporate jungle. We just couldn’t pay as much as they currently make.

INCENTIVIZING BIG PHARMA TO HELP WITH PREVENTION

Let me point out, again, that this is a what if scenario and something to think about or from which to create (rather than criticize).

Since Big Pharma’s marketing machine is in place, we could use it for good. Instead of working against an already built corporatocracy, why not figure out a way to subsidize it for helping to market preventive care in place of disease care with the money we save through the nutritional secrets that are revealed! Here’s why this philosophy could be beneficial to all of us.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, in 2010, Americans spent $20.4 billion dollars on prescription drugs for hypertension (about half of all treatment for hypertension). Let’s say Big Pharma or some independent concern, discovers a natural blood pressure fix, such as chewing turmeric root for 5 minutes a day; we can lower our blood pressure to (low) normal range.

If Big Pharma publicized this, freely and nurturingly, potentially it would be reducing its income by $20.4 billion dollars per year, since everyone could go chew turmeric instead of taking blood pressure lowering meds. In order to incentivize Big Pharma to disclose this nutritionally beneficially evidence; it needs to be given a supplement for its sacrifice. The turmeric association’s making an additional $750 million dollars is so very little compared to the cost of drugs, so any commission the turmeric growers could give to Big Pharma would be a small incentive.

The amount we save on health care, as a nation, would be significant. I do not have a statistic at this point, but I do know that the amount the government saves on sickness might leave room for the government to incentivize Big Pharma. If in 2010, we spent $42.9 billion on blood pressure sickness (according to AHRQ and according to the CDC in 2011, we spend $46 billion dollars), and we used turmeric instead of medicine; we would reduce spending of $20.4 billion on drugs and spend half a million on turmeric therapy. If the government gave 50% of its part of the $20.4 billion dollars being saved to Big Pharma, we might have an actual reality.

CONCLUSION

Health care mistakes are related to who benefits from what. We all want to lead a good life. This includes making enough money, being healthy and feeling abundant within ourselves.

Imagine if we had the powerful corporatocracy working to evolutionize health care system. Now, that would be something. The bottom line here is that we deserve to be able to test our nutritional values. If doctors, insurance companies, drug companies and all the other related industries that are part of the machine made just as much money from prevention as from sick care; we would be well on our way to honesty, integrity and removing health care mistakes, the biggest one.

Let us put our heads together, and think on how we can make this work. The example here is only food for thought. Much research and discussion is needed to find the most viable solutions to wellness. If we start today, we will have begun. Let’s take this health care mistake and convert it to health care strategy where we all win.

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Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and certified in plant-based nutrition.

She is always imagining a better way for us to serve ourselves health. She says,

“I come up with ideas that show how a particular infrastructure might work, in hopes that someone else will be able to build on my idea with a better idea that can create symbiosis for the world.

“I’m always looking for ways to improve the health care systems. In the meantime, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”