Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

Are you worried about the human-caused meltdown of Planet Earth? Are you wondering how you can reduce your carbon footprint without breaking the bank or suffering too much inconvenience?

I have good news! Humans have not caused global warming and we’re not on the brink of catastrophe.

Are you absolutely, 100 percent convinced that humans have caused our current catastrophe — and have no trouble proving it? Would you like an easy way to win a boatload of money?

More good news! You can enter The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge and win $125,000!

Learn all about global warming and the challenge at JunkScience.com.

(I could focus on the negative repercussions of the great Global Warming Hoax — and there are many — but I’m working on seeing the good side of life!)

Don’t get me wrong. Even though I believe human-caused global warming is a great swindle, I also believe that humans are polluting and destroying our environment (I don’t agree with everything on Junkscience.com!). I support researching and creating nontoxic, clean energy — and lowering my energy bill.

So, with that in mind, check out this survey from Icynene, maker of foam insulation:

Did you know that the average house produces twice the greenhouse gases of the average car? If you said “no”, you’re not alone. A new poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Icynene has found only four percent believe their homes and offices contribute most to apparent increases in greenhouse gas emissions. To learn more about the survey and its findings, click here.

Last night I discovered Terence Watts and his book Warriors, Settlers & Nomads: Discovering Who We Are and What We Can Be at Shrink Rap Radio (a very interesting psychology podcast, which I’ll discuss in another post). I love learning about personality typologies, so although I was nearly comatose from lack of sleep, I listened long enough to get the general idea. I figured I was probably a Settler, which I noted with a sense of disappointment. Then I went to bed.

This morning I was hit with a “doh” realization. I am a Nomad. Almost positive. I was filled with energy just thinking about it. Why did I assume last night that I was primarily a Settler? Because I could see that I had some of the traits, such as being pleasant and accommodating, and nodding my head a lot when talking with people. Also, I’m in the communication profession, which is a typical Settler interest.

But this morning I thought about how I love to travel and discover new places, how I’m not content staying in one place (whether in a house or a job) for long, how I don’t want anyone or anything to own or control me, how I thrive on searching out new information and getting new ideas, how I am drawn to what some would consider the radical or extreme (as long as the thing is in the realm of reason!). Always searching, searching, searching. Always on some kind of journey. If that doesn’t sound like a Nomad, I don’t know what does.

So, here’s the little experiment. I’m going to read Warriors, Settlers & Nomads and see if I’m right. I’m also going to see if Watts says anything about the biological make-up of a Nomad as being hypersensitive and in-tune with people, places and things — something I’ve been researching and thinking a lot about lately. My hunch is that early on, a Nomad would have needed a super-sensitive system in order to instantly read and assess new (and potentially dangerous) environments.

I can’t wait to dig in to the book and find out! (Yep, I must be a Nomad!)

All I wanted for my birthday yesterday was freshly caught, melt-in-your-mouth salmon at a local fine-dining restaurant. I looked forward to it for days. But nooooo. That day and that day only, something went wrong with the fish shipment. Sorry, no salmon.

I settled for roasted free-range chicken with creamed potatoes and baby broccoli. It took 40 minutes to arrive. And then it was so salty I could barely eat it. For dessert I ordered a hazelnut chocolate torte, which was supposed to come with warm chocolate sauce. What I got was a rather dry concoction with room temperature sauce.

Okay, now the crazy gods of AZ are really getting personal! You just don’t mess with birthdays — celebrations of life.

The good news, though, is that I’ve received emails and cards from aunts and cousins whom I haven’t seen in years. And UPS is about to deliver a gift from my mom and dad, which my mom said should not be left sitting outside in the sun.

Boy I hope it’s killer chocolate! That’ll fix everything.

UPDATE: Yes! Harry and David chocolate! Completely melted, but nothing an hour in the frig didn’t fix.

UPDATE: Harry and David gave my mom a full refund for the order due to the meltdown. It’s great when companies stand behind their products and services!

A few days ago I blogged about the crazy things happening during our move to a new house. A couple days have gone by without incident, so I thought we were out of the woods. I was wrong.

Today my computer stopped working. It is being tested to see if the hard drive crashed or if the system board went kaput. I hope it’s the system board, which is an easy fix. I’m using my husband’s laptop right now. The way things are going, maybe I shouldn’t touch it!

Tomorrow is my birthday. Yep — 9/11. My birthday wish is for peace on earth, prosperity for all. No more terrorism, no more reasons for terrorism. And, of course, for the crazy gods of AZ to leave us alone and go pick on someone else! (A few prime candidates come to mind…)

UPDATE 9/12: I got my wish — the system board died. The good news is my data is intact. The bad news is I had to pay for a new computer — a business expense I can’t afford right now.

UPDATE 9/16: And now my Dell All-in-One 962 printer doesn’t work, which is no surprise based on the number of unhappy owners I found by googling for help. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling, using different ports, rebooting countless times, and laying on hands. I may join the guy who bought a new printer and joyfully chucked his Dell into the trash bin. Dell isn’t the company it used to be.

Readers of this blog know I enjoy receiving Bob Tschannen-Moran’s weekly e-newsletter. Today he writes about evolutionary wisdom and benevolence. He opens with:

You may think of life as dog-eat-dog, but that’s not the whole story. If it were, life would have ended long ago. Other qualities have been more critical to our survival, including empathy, mutual aid, reciprocity, and a community of concern. These benevolent dynamics are not our invention and are not unique to human beings. They are, rather, in strong evidence in many animal species. By extrapolating and building on these tendencies, human beings have developed the sensitivity that makes life worth living.

He goes on to talk about his recent trip to the hospital to be treated for a raging urinary tract infection, which he says, with no irony, was a wonderful day.

So how could both days be wonderful? It’s all about benevolence. Last week, when everything was right with the world, I felt cared for by the universe itself. This week, when the universe threw me a curveball, I felt cared for by my wife and the staff at the hospital. It was her caring and concern that helped me to decide to go to the hospital earlier rather than later; it was the caring, concern, and competence of the hospital staff that helped me to get better. What could be better than that?

Benevolence is the way the world works. It is the undergirding principle of life itself. Contrary to popular opinion, evolution is not about survival of the fittest. It’s about survival of the kindest. Only through empathy, caring, reciprocity, and cooperation do species and their individual members manage to make it from one generation to the next. (Read entire article.)

And here’s yet another reason why the urinary tract infection could be seen as evolutionary benevolence. Just yesterday I learned about the intriguing work of Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, developer of German New Medicine®, who claims that all disease is the result of a biological response to a “conflict shock,” which occurs simultaneously in the psyche, in the brain and on the corresponding organ or tissue controlled by the affected part of the brain. This process evolved to help animals and humans to heal and survive.

In 1981, Dr. Hamer discovered that every disease originates from a “conflict shock” that catches us completely off guard. He found that sudden unexpected emotional stress, like an unanticipated separation or loss of a loved one, occur not only in our psyche but have, coordinated from the brain, a — predictable — effect on the corresponding organ.

From over 40,000 case studies Dr. Hamer established that, when we experience an unexpected conflict, the shock impacts a very specific area in the brain, causing a disturbance that is clearly visible on a brain scan. When the brain receives the “conflict message,” the organ or tissue that is controlled from the affected brain area also reacts. Whether the organ responds with cancer, a heart condition, osteoporosis, a skin disorder, or with functional impairment as seen in Diabetes or MS depends on the nature of the conflict.

Based on our knowledge of the evolution of man, Dr. Hamer’s findings show that what we commonly call a “disease” never happens by chance, but for a very particular biological purpose. Cancer, for example, is contrary to the conventional view not an error of Nature but rather a “Meaningful Special Biological Program” created over millions of years of evolution to assist us in coping with an unforeseen biological emergency situation. Animals experience these biological conflicts in real terms, for instance, with the loss of the nest or territory, a separation from an off-spring, a mate or the social group, or when they suffer a death fright. Since we humans developed a symbolic way of thinking, we also can experience these conflicts in a figurative sense. A “territorial loss” can translate into the loss of our home, e.g. through a divorce, or an unforeseen loss of our job, an “abandonment conflict” can be caused by being put into a nursing home or by the loss of a loved-one, a “death-fright conflict” can be initiated by a diagnosis shock and the associated fear of dying. When we experience the conflict, the Special Biological Program is instantly switched on and the physical symptoms allow our organism to override everyday functioning and deal with the particular emergency situation.

For example: A mother receives the shocking news that her child was involved in an accident. At this moment she suffers, in biological terms, a “mother-child-worry-conflict.” This type of conflict always impacts in the area of the brain that controls a woman’s breast glands. Since, biologically speaking, an injured offspring recovers faster when it receives more milk, extra milk production is immediately stimulated by increasing the number of breast gland cells. Even if the woman is not breast feeding, the event still triggers the onset of this response as it has been doing for millions of years. As long as a woman is “conflict active” the breast cells will keep dividing and multiplying, forming what is commonly called a glandular breast tumor.

Since healing can only occur after the conflict has been resolved, GNM-therapy focuses on identifying and resolving the original conflict situation. During the healing phase, the entire organism undergoes a period of repair and recovery. The healing period is often accompanied with fatigue, painful swelling (particularly when the cancerous growth is broken down), inflammations, fever or infections. Understanding the biological nature of the healing symptoms is essential, because it allows us to free ourselves from the fear and panic that often come with the onset of symptoms.

The “Five Biological Laws of the New Medicine” that control the cause, development and healing process of a disease apply to all of medicine. Dr. Hamer’s findings have been verified 30 times by physicians and professorial associations, including the Medical Faculty of the University of Trnava (Slovakia).

Source: An Overview of GERMAN NEW MEDICINE® by Caroline Markolin, Ph.D.

So, according to German New Medicine, Bob was in a healing phase, which often is painful and what drives people to seek treatment. However, perhaps he didn’t need antibiotic treatment — the bacteria was there to do its job (says GNM, I don’t know if it’s true).

I have much to learn about this theory, but I’m very familiar with many of its ideas and principles. For example, Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), is based on the theory that specific emotions affect specific organs. I’m also familiar with Candace Pert’s research on neurotransmitters and cell receptors (the “molecules of emotion”) throughout the body, including on organs. And I’m well aware of the writings and techniques of those who allegedly are plagiarizing Dr. Hamer’s work.

You can read about my introduction to NET here. NET is a form of energy psychology, which is based, in part, on the concept of blocked or disrupted subtle energy (chi). I don’t know if subtle energy exists or how energy psychology techniques actually work. Hamer’s work may provide more clues.

Download PDF: “German New Medicine® (GNM) - an Introduction to Dr. Hamer’s Medical Paradigm,” published in EXPLORE! Vol. 6/3, May 2007

To move.

We downsized from a 3,000-square-foot house to an 1,800-square-foot charmer. One of the worst moves we’ve ever done because 1) we hadn’t realized how much new stuff we’d accumulated in two years and didn’t devote enough time to packing, and 2) the AZ gods must be crazy.

Or maybe we’re crazy.

Or somebody or something is trying to tell us something.

Here are the highlights:

• Several days before we moved into the new house, a smoke detector went off. No big deal — we just changed the battery. A few days later the carbon monoxide detectors went off. Replacing the batteries didn’t work, so we had to pull the plugs and hope we wouldn’t die. Meanwhile a toilet started to continuously run and we had to get the innards replaced.

• The night before the move, the womanly thing arrives — early. I won’t go into details here. Suffice it to say I’m severely anemic during this fun switch to becoming a crone.

• On the morning of our move, with the giant moving van on its way, a group of workers started placing cones down our street and blocked off the entrance to our road — in preparation to resurface the street! Long story short, we got them to move the cones and wait to resurface until we were done.

• I go over to the new house to wait for the telephone/ cable/ Internet guy from Qwest and the gas guy. The Qwest guy comes early — the first time this has ever happened. Unfortunately, the movers haven’t arrived with the TVs yet. The gas guy also comes early, which is fine, but he pokes around and tells us that the gas lines from the fire pit and barbeque are illegally connected to the gas company line. So no outdoor fun until that gets straightened out.

• The next day I go back to the old house to clean. The carpet cleaner is scheduled to arrive at 2 p.m. He doesn’t. I call him and find out he had us scheduled for the following week. Why, of course!

• Back at our new house, that evening I put up a shower curtain and look forward to a long, leisurely shower to wash away my woes. That dream is cut short by a plugged-up drain. Later, my husband pulls out (with his bare hand!) a glob of hair the size of Rhode Island. Although I had been ravenously hungry, I lose my appetite after two bites of apricot-glazed chicken and go to bed with heartburn.

• Earlier that evening, my husband returned to the new house to find a 6-foot geyser in the backyard. A sprinkler head had blown. And a few feet away, he discovered a broken line spewing water through cracks in the ground.

• Then we find out our phones haven’t been ringing. We had dial tone and could make calls, but we didn’t know when people called us. A repair person was scheduled to come the next day, but, you guessed it — he didn’t. So we had to wait until after Labor Day to get someone out here. And then it took three days and three repair guys to figure out the problem.

• Then my new cellphone, which everyone was supposed to call because of our land-line problem, went goofy! I could hear callers but they couldn’t hear me. Sigh.

• Then I discovered that a deposit I mailed to the bank more than a week ago hadn’t posted. I called and learned that I shouldn’t have mailed it because the bank shares a post box with the store they’re in, and it’s not secure. With Arizona being the number one state for identity theft, I’m really feeling good now.

I am angry, frustrated and exhausted. What the hell is going on here??!!

I know, boo hoo. People all over the world are starving and I’m crying over a stressful move from one beautiful house to another. I know, I KNOW! But I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for me Just needed to vent and name my emotions to feel better. And to give you something else to look at besides the cave man.