Think Life Sucks? 10 Things That May Not
THINK LIFE SUCKS? 10 THINGS THAT MAY NOT (ISSUE 153) NOVEMBER 4, 2014
By Diane Gold
Think life sucks? I’m the first one to acknowledge however anyone feels.
And, if you think life sucks, I dedicate this article to you and ask you to reach out. I also send it out to anyone who has a minute for a person who believes that life sucks. We all matter, and we are all our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers.
NO FEELING IS WEIRD
No feeling is weird, inconsequential, strange, out of reach of understanding, unworthy, stupid, immature; and someone will listen if we reach out. We may have to reach more than once, but someone will listen. When we think life sucks, we usually don’t have the energy to reach out once, much less twice. So, each of us has to pool together in this world of sensitivity, and we have to read each other, making sure we are all OK.
Feelings are feelings, and we feel the way that we feel. Just because I don’t think life sucks doesn’t mean that you don’t. And vice versa. Just because someone in my life told me that I was being a cry baby a weakling, a spoiled brat by saying that life sucked for me doesn’t mean life doesn’t suck. It means the individual who said those words to me was, in her own way, being supportive or being completely insensitive. It doesn’t mean the feeling is weird.
10 THINGS THAT ARE GIFTS
There are many things in this world that may not suck. I am listing 10 since most people have one of these things. Others, and many, may have all of them. These are reminders of how life does not suck. They are also our ACTION STEPS for today.
1) BREATHE IN
On every day that we awaken, we breathe in and breathe out. When we pay attention to the act of breathing, it is pretty fascinating. Imagine watching as we breath from inside our body. What a perspective.
This lovely process is a gift to be honored. We all need it to take a look at the other 9 things that may make life not suck.
2) HEAR MUSIC
If we have our faculty of hearing, we can hear music. What’s great about this is that music can bring us to many special places. When I wanted to be pensive and sad, I listened to Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands by Bob Dylan. When I want to dance, I turn on Progressive House Music and start dancing around the room, the street, the store. Yes, I’m the one with the headphones, pushing the shopping cart in rhythm to the music.
Music can miraculously adjust our emotions. It can be a friend as well as a way to expand our lives. It is something to be considered that makes life not suck. And, there are other, non-traditional ways to feel music, should our ears not work.
By the way, to have hearing is a gift. Many without it consider their method of listening also a gift.
3) CREATE
No matter who we are, no matter what abilities we have, we can create something. It can be as simple as a sentence uttered at the right time or cartoon characters painted on fingers that may save someone’s life. It may also be some art or science form that impacts the world as we know it. Having such ability may be considered a way the life does not suck.
4) SEE CLEARLY
For those of us who are fortunate enough to have sight, we get to view the world in all its color. It might not seem like much if we think that life sucks. But, we can close our eyes for a moment and honor the colors we see. When we open our eyes a minute later, we may be ready to rejoice. And the closing of our eyes while awake may help to see clearly in a place that does not suck.
5) TASTE FOOD
I think each of us has tasted something that we like. Yummy. This is not nothing. It’s a joy that is part of the life we think sucks. And we always have the opportunity to encounter another taste that makes our bodies shimmer and salivate. Another gift.
6) SMELL AROMA
I just started appreciating smell more fully because I have become attracted to the smells of my super foods. Not everyone enjoys the same smell, yet, almost all of us have the ability to smell.
When we think life sucks, why not smell something. It, alone, may not make life not suck, but it is one step of many that may do it, and we can honor our ability to smell as a wonderful one.
7) TOUCH SOMEONE
The truth is when we think life sucks, we might not have anyone to touch. So, we have to do the next best thing. Marvel at the many parts of our that are sensitive to touch. That’s a lot of nerve endings.
Even if we go to the corner store and see the kind proprietor we have seen there for 10 years, we can reach out. We can shake hands with our neighbor or our familiar police officer or librarian.
Animals are someone’s someone. The sensation of petting a dog or touching the neighbor’s ferret gets us out of ourselves and into a world that may not suck. When we touch another, our perspective changes. We are not so alone. We may see that people care about us; we only have to let them.
8) FEEL SECURE
Have we ever felt secure? Some of us, yes. I have. It’s when we feel strong enough to fend for ourselves, to defend for ourselves, to feel supported. Those of us who have experienced this feeling know that it’s a good one.
When we think life sucks, let’s recall a time, even if it were 40 years back. Or think about the time that a loved one held us. If we can remember that, we are fortunate and may add that good fortune to why life doesn’t suck. If not, we can look forward to feeling it. We can make it happen by an action: reach out.
Further, we can take comfort in the fact that we are not alone. There are others around us, ready to meet us.
9) REMEMBER
We all have memories. Most of us can think of some that are precious to us. Life would suck more if we could not remember. So, let’s rejoice for now because we can remember something pleasurable. And take a moment out to remember something nice.
10) BE LIKE WATER
Even though we may think life sucks, we have the ability to bounce back from the feeling and start flowing. That’s another thing that’s so great about living. We can step out of our feeling sucky at any time and start to be like water. We can feel free as birds’ flying, snakes’ slithering, brooks’ babbling, people’s mingling. Even if we don’t do it because life sucks now, we have the ability.
What a gift that we can assimilate like a droplet of water into a lake or a single student into a lecture hall filled with others or an advocate for a cause. All because we can be like water.
CONCLUSION
We have just gone through 10 things that are outside the realm where we think that life sucks. We may claim some of them in our lives. Maybe even most. Out of breathing in, hearing music, creating, seeing clearly, tasting food, smelling aroma, touching someone, feeling secure, remembering, being like water; we can see some that have gift-like qualities.
Just for a moment, can we consider these 10 in light of the fact that we think life sucks. And, when we think of each, imagine, for 1 minute once or 1 minute once a day, that life doesn’t suck. In doing so, it may suck just a little bit less.
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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 plant-based nutrition, peaceful conflict resolution and habit replacement.
She has looked one step ahead so that life does not suck. She says,
“There are so many wonders in life. Should we choose to, we can look at one, only one, that we already have. This way, we can look at it without judging that we are doomed for not having it.
“When we focus on it for just 1 minute, we can realize its greatness. That may help us to turn life from sucking to not sucking in that moment, if only for that moment.
“Finally, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”
When Madonna’s song, Material Girl, came out, I was already living in a nice sized cedar house with enough land to add lush landscaping, a tennis court and a swimming pool. I had a great husband who provided for me famously, had a one month old and offered music education and music therapy to wonderful students.
Now let’s look at the things I have that nourish my spirit: my kids; my late ex- in my heart; friends; an adequate supply of organic/vegan/non-genetically modified food and super foods; a friendly and tropical place to live that is so close to the ocean I can smell the salt; knowledge of movement so I can move my organs around; knowledge of meditation and martial arts so I can rejuvenate myself and others continually; a lifetime of memories upon which I can soak up and enjoy as long as I have my memory; a great amount of health and happiness; health insurance; opportunities to dance, read, philosophize, create, listen to and play music and converse; my freedom.
When my good friend said to me, you are living in a tiny apartment and don’t have money for extra goodies; it led me to consider the material girl aspect. Although I have to plan when I go on vacation or the size of my car or residence; I have freedom with which to be creative and in which to experience my life. Within this freedom, I get to facilitate others. How cool is that!
Can we say that we are free? When I had a big house with 2 living rooms, each with 25 foot skylights, was I free? Or did I have the burden of knowing my husband had to work massive hours in order to pay for the affluent lifestyle? And the burden of knowing my personal salary did not match my lifestyle.
When we decide on the path of simplicity and freedom where we can be creative on our own time without being enslaved, we do take on the independent role, outside the hierarchical system, to get our money. When we choose this freedom path, we tend to live within our means, even when we make a lot of money, and the frills and baubles are more important than the freedom.
Picture a nice hot summer day at the beach with friends. Someone hands out a pretty, colored spray bottle filled with water to each person. In a playful crowd, it will take little time for someone to get a playful desire (the urge) to depress the lever of the spray bottle (the action) which would result in an expulsion of water on our friends (the reward). On a hot, sunny day, this would be harmless and probably welcome.
One of the mistakes we all make, at one time or other, is that we decide to take action to wrench something or many things out of our lives. We actually sit around dreaming about being a different being devoid of the habits that are causing us discomfort.
It’s no surprise that big food and drug donations to cancer research are common. In fact, it might be fair to say that a hefty chunk of annual fundraising revenue comes from this. Why? Well, think about this. If I give you a million dollars a year to live because I believe in your cause, you will be careful not to enrage me, if you want me to continue giving you a million dollars. In the same way, big food gives money to organizations who, in turn, go out of their way not to anger their donors.
Having done food and label research since 1971, I know this to be true. We are at the mercy of companies that do not disclose scientific truth about their ingredients so that they can manipulate people into thinking the ingredient is harmless. They don’t label carcinogens, animal products, what’s in the natural or genetically modified products YET. Most of us are too busy to research these things themselves so depend upon transparency which is not.
Why is nutrition research left out of grant allocations? Follow the money. There is no way to make money if a company discovers that turmeric can alleviate cancer. There is no way a pharmaceutical company can make a drug from maca root. So the study money goes to the companies who gratefully take it in to research mechanisms that can outcome a hugely profitable product.
Most of all, we trust the organizations that hand out millions of dollars to research to have our best interest in mind. We don’t question that their hands are tied from speaking about the evidence against their donors. We don’t question why the research that meat and dairy cause cancer is not pursued heavily. We don’t question that so much research money goes to screening disease rather than to educating students and consumers to prevent disease in the first place through good nutrition. We look at organizations one at a time, so we don’t see that every powerful entity is donating money to push a power agendas.
Cacao can improve your health in, oh, so many ways. Because of its positive effects, it has been used as a drink since between 1100 and 1400 B.C.E., according to a pottery residue discovery at Puerto Escondido in Honduras, written up in Fall, 2001, by Cornell U. Anthropologist John S. Henderson and UC-Berkeley Professor, Rosemary A. Joyce,
Magnesium balances brain chemistry, builds strong bones and helps normalize heartbeat and blood pressure. According to the nutritional facts of Sunfood’s cacao powder product, which I use every day, 1 tablespoon of certified organic cacao powder has 17.5% of our daily magnesium recommended intake (17.5% would be 56 mg for an adult older woman, which only fluctuates a little for younger adult women and is about 25% higher for men).
The smell of organic cacao powder is wonderful, only topped by organic maca powder. I think it’s pretty incredible that the most amazing smelling plants I have encountered so far has history together. The people on the bottom of the Andes Mountains (in the Tierra Caliente, mountain zone 1) used to trade with the people at the near top of the Andes (in the Tierra Fria Zone): cacao for maca and maca for cacao. (This is called vertical trading which provides for all 4 Andean mountain zones.)
Who knew about cacao? It’s taken me almost 65 years to make cacao part of my daily routine. Until now, I have not really known how spectacular it is for me. It can have caffeine content (which is, at least, 1/20th as much as a cup of coffee) that does not affect me (or others) the way it does in coffee or tea.
A definition for this discipline that mirrors mine is this, given by Deepak Chopra, M.D., speaker and author,
All throughout the day, each of us has so many stimuli: noises, smells, people, electronics, world events, our own creative projects and work, our family and friends. As we walk to our car, bike, train, we see all the different parts of each person that may draw our attention.
When we do tai chi, free dance, body shaking; we’re so absorbed in the body movement that it’s hard to lose our focus since we would we would lose our physical balance if our attention strayed. That’s why it is massively easier to rule out external stimuli when we’re physically moving.
Medical research studies have confirmed that meditation reduces blood pressure, anxiety, PTSD, cholesterol, depression, stress. In April, 2014, a team at Brown University finally structured the coding of verbal responses that can be correlated to quantitative neurophysiological measurements.
When the preacher or leader of our chosen group discourses that our particular congregation of members is loved more than other religious groups, we are refining how we see the world. Our ego becomes falsely inflated with the knowledge that we are in a special tribe which means we have been taught that there are other tribes less worthy. We have been lifted up while others have been lowered.
Anyone who teases, bullies, insults people with lesser intellectual capacity, less expensive clothing, a physical imperfection, is doing it to inflate the ego. It serves no other purpose. This has come out of the original “good job” that was uttered way back when to encourage us along into the competitive world. This simple statement or one like it started our competition engine, but competition is not the culprit here. It what we were supposed to learn along with this concept.
It what we were supposed to learn along with this concept.
Prejudice is a habit we can replace. We are not born with it. It is part of our training: at home, in school, in the neighborhood, from peer pressure, peer example (social proof) and from the media.
The complex ways in which our minds are colored in a certain direction usually come from wanting comfort such as personal protection or to fit into a crowd or feel good about ourselves.
When someone takes our land, in the name of the individual, a cause, a race, a religion; we have a reaction. Because we have been taught that we have the rights to our land, we may equate this takeover with looting and attribute such looting to an entire group of a billion people, for whom we develop prejudice, even if only 50 people were involved.
The solution to replace any habit is to replace the behavior we do when we get the urge that we get. From my experience and from the time it takes our hormones to activate, I calculate we have 15 seconds. This takes into account how strongly and fervently our mind will grab onto our old habit and act accordingly. So, if we have previously done nothing when we have the urge to resolve the conflicts with the particular neighbors who wronged us, our reward, or the result of our actions, is a negative reward. We end up frustrated, angry, forlorn because we have been violated in some way by an entire group. The final reward of this non-action that we do is, you guessed it, prejudice. This is our justification for many irrational, out of scope future actions and current feelings we have.
Turmeric benefits have been known in India for thousands of years. This spice has been used by many tribes, throughout many cultures with a myriad of applications. It spread from India to China to the East Indies (it’s naturalized in Jamaica now), to Polynesia, Hawaii, East Africa, West Africa and is a staple in many kitchens and medicine chests.
In the abstract of the study reported in Journal Of Nutritional Biochemistry, it states that this 6-month use of turmeric showed an increase in adiponectin levels increased and a decrease in leptin levels. These hormones, in the reported measures, are distinctly connected with lowered appetite, indicating a possible reason for lowered weight with the use of turmeric in Type 2 diabetics.
Turmeric, or its main ingredient, curcumin, may positively affect brain function in Alzheimer’s patients. The NIH abstract from a study published in Annals of Indian Academy Of Neurology, Jan-Mar, 2008, (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781139) says,
Very important for turmeric’s survival as a NON-PHARMACEUTICAL substance, is the United States patent that was given to University of Mississippi in 1995 for wound healing that, in 1997, due to a piracy complaint by The Council for Industrial Research stating that turmeric had been in use for thousands of years in India, was REVOKED.
The only way a drug company would output the median amount per drug development, $350 million (according to Forbes’ Aug. 11, 2013, article citing Innothink Center For Research In Biomedical Innovation with the statistic) for a substance to be approved by the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) to market would be if the outcoming drug were patentable.
All in all, turmeric is great. I eat it every day. It’s one of the few veggies I eat that I will buy even if it’s not organic – because turmeric is good for me and even though, in 2008, the Hungarian Food Safety Office reported a crop of Thai turmeric to contain over 10 times their acceptable level of the pesticides methomyl and thiobicarb.
