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Essentials of Health and Longevity

With warm regards, I write you with a few discoveries for super health. These discoveries are from health literature, Public Television and life experience. I have workshops, including this information, covering three main topics: Controlling Aging, Permanent Weight Loss, and Cleansing for Whatever Ails You. If you have a group or organization interested in learning more about these topics, please contact me to arrange for a presentation. Workshops can last from 45 minutes to 4 hours depending on the needs and interests of the group. I am also available to speak on a multitude of other topics including arthritis, allergies, women's health, digestive disturbances, etc. Contact me regarding any topic that is of interest to you or your organization.

Dr George Vaillant from Harvard oversaw the completion of a long-term study on the essentials of health and longevity. The study began with three different groups from the 1920's, 30's and 40's: Harvard educated men, inner city Boston men and gifted California women.
Seven essentials to being happy and well vs. sad and sick emerged:

1. Never smoke cigarettes, or stop smoking early
2. Take life's ups and downs in stride
3. Limit use of alcohol
4. Maintain a healthy weight
5. Create a solid marriage
6. Stay active / exercise
7. Educate yourself / continue to learn

If you have 4 or more of the above, you're in good shape! If you have 3 or less, you are 3 times more likely to die during the next 30 years. Some of you might say 30 years is enough! As reasonable as that may be, you don't want to be in that sad and sick category!

In addition they reported 4 attributes of successful aging:

1. Orientation towards the future -- the ability to anticipate, plan and hope
2. Gratitude, forgiveness and optimism
3. Empathy -- the ability to imagine the world as it seems to another
4. The ability to reach out to others

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I watched several shows on Public Television. One followed people with AIDS over 3 years. Those who were able to achieve undetectable levels of the virus, and who survived, had positive relationships with people who were devoted to them, who supported them through the hard times, and shared with them the good times. Those who were compelled to fight and would not take 'NO' as an answer (for instance, from their insurance companies when they refused to pay for needed services), also continued to live. And those who had people who depended on them for their health and well being were alive at the conclusion of the story.

The ones who died thought nothing was going to work or would be good enough to help them. And some dropped out from taking care of themselves and back into self-destructive behaviors, abandoning the life they had made with loved ones.

From this I understood that to survive we need loving partnerships with people who care for us. Anger can be helpful. And being of service to others gives us a reason to live. If we want to die, we should adopt a pessimistic attitude and betray ourselves and those who love us.

But beyond survival, don't we want to thrive? A broadcast of a seminar with Wayne Dyer is the other show I want to tell you about. Dyer says what all successful people have in common is a burning desire. That desire can be anything - to create a new product, to be a good parent, to have a solid relationship, or to see a distant part of the world, for example. He recommends that we avoid all thoughts that weaken us. Neutrality, divinity and love strengthen us.

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I heat my house primarily with wood in the wintertime. One day I was having a particularly hard time getting the fire going. I realized if I wanted to get warm I had to sit in front of the fire for a while and patiently focus on building it piece by piece. Earlier that month, I attended a mid-day meeting of our Women's Qi Gong group. Our hostess, Vicki Dello Joio, led us in a meditation in which we relaxed on the shoreline of a lake. The moon was shining bright and reflecting on the water. We were guided to listen to a message from the universe carried to us on ripples from the moon glow to the shore. The message would help us with whatever was up for us in that moment. From that meditation, and from trying to keep myself warm with the wood fire, I learned that focus is everything.

So in this moment, perhaps you could focus on an energy of health and love radiating from inside your body, mind and spirit all the way to the surface of your skin -- to the ends of your fingertips and toes and to the far reaches of your consciousness. Take it all in, it's there for us on many levels.

Thank you for your presence in my life. It nourishes and sustains me to share my knowledge, skills and heart with you in the interest of your best health.