AWESOMEWHOLISTICHEALING.COM

Saving Valentina

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:23:20 GMT

Musings

It is heartening to see people invested and active in helping other living beings on this planet where so many are under threat of extinction.

Michael Fishbach narrates his encounter with a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net. Gershon Cohen and he have founded The Great Whale Conservancy to help and protect whales.

Visit their website www.eii.org/gwc/, and join them in helping to save these magnificent beings

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
www.paintap.com

If the image above does not appear on your screen, click on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBYPlcSD490

The Energy Catalyzer (E-Cat) by Andrea Rossi

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:16:00 GMT

Musings:

This has the potential to totally revolutionize energy use, providing more than enough cheap power for all human needs, with an energy source that is clean, safe and inexhaustible.

The Energy Catalyzer (E-Cat) by Andrea Rossi will spark a new energy revolution. This is the first commercially available cold fusion device. Full production and shipping of units in 2011. Fuel source is powdered nickel with no radioactive or harmful waste.

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
www.paintap.com

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Program lets veterans and shelter dogs save each other

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:05:00 GMT

David Sharpe, a war veteran who suffered from depression and PTSD, found salvation in saving a pit bull puppy named Cheyenne. This led him to found P2V (Pets to Vets), which places dogs needing homes with veterans.
Read more

See photo gallery

Musings:

Animals can often be healers, offering companionship, patience and love. They also invite love in return - which can be deeply healing to people who are traumatized.

Blessings

Dan Benor - WHEE MD
www.paintap.com

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Economic healing of our planet

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:33:00 GMT

An animated interview of John Perkins, author of 'HoodWinked' and 'Confessions Of An Economic Hitman'

For more visit www.studiojoho.com

Blessings

Dan Benor - WHEE MD
www.paintap.com

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Vulnerability: Awesome Insights

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:33:00 GMT

Brene Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at ‪http://www.ted.com/translate.‬

Forwarded by KarmaTube

Blessings

Dan Benor - WHEE MD
www.paintap.com

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Dan Phillips: Creative houses from reclaimed stuff

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:15:11 GMT

Innovative outer constructions encourage innovative inner constructs for a wholistic life.

In this funny and insightful talk from TEDxHouston, builder Dan Phillips tours us through a dozen homes he's built in Texas using recycled and reclaimed materials in wildly creative ways. Brilliant, low-tech design details will refresh your own creative drive. To view this inspiring talk click here .

About Dan Phillips

Dan Phillips builds homes out of recycled and reclaimed materials in Huntsville, Texas. Full bio and more links

Forwarded by Rachel Finney

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Vision: Everyday Brits Are in Revolt Against Wealthy Tax Cheats -- Can We Do That Everywhere?

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:09:00 GMT

Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless and corrupt.
- Mahatma Gandhi

This is a MUST READ!!

Here is a simple way to bring about change in the lopsided taxation and other governmental decisions favoring the rich and powerful people at the expense of the average citizen.

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Article:

What if the financial crash of 2008 were followed by a Tea Party of a different kind -- one that stood up to the wealthy criminals that caused the crisis.

February 5, 2011 |

Imagine a parallel universe where the Great Crash of 2008 was followed by a Tea Party of a very different kind. Enraged citizens gather in every city, week after week—to demand the government finally regulate the behavior of corporations and the superrich, and force them to start paying taxes. The protesters shut down the shops and offices of the companies that have most aggressively ripped off the country. The swelling movement is made up of everyone from teenagers to pensioners. They surround branches of the banks that caused this crash and force them to close, with banners saying, You Caused This Crisis. Now YOU Pay.

As people see their fellow citizens acting in self-defense, these tax-the-rich protests spread to even the most conservative parts of the country. It becomes the most-discussed subject on Twitter. Even right-wing media outlets, sensing a startling effect on the public mood, begin to praise the uprising, and dig up damning facts on the tax dodgers.

Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism. It shows that there is an alternative to making the poor and the middle class pay for a crisis caused by the rich. It shifts the national conversation. Instead of letting the government cut our services and increase our taxes, the people demand that it cut the endless and lavish aid for the rich and make them pay the massive sums they dodge in taxes.

This may sound like a fantasy—but it has all happened. The name of this parallel universe is Britain. As recently as this past fall, people here were asking the same questions liberal Americans have been glumly contemplating: Why is everyone being so passive? Why are we letting ourselves be ripped off? Why are people staying in their homes watching their flat-screens while our politicians strip away services so they can fatten the superrich even more?

And then twelve ordinary citizens—a nurse, a firefighter, a student, a TV researcher and others—met in a pub in London one night and realized they were asking the wrong questions. “We had spent all this energy asking why it wasn’t happening,” says Tom Philips, a 23-year-old nurse who was there that night, “and then we suddenly said, That’s what everybody else is saying too. Why don’t we just do it? Why don’t we just start? If we do it, maybe everybody will stop asking why it isn’t happening and join in. It’s a bit like that Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams. We thought, If you build it, they will come.”

The new Conservative-led government in Britain is imposing the most extreme cuts to public spending the country has seen since the 1920s. The fees for going to university are set to triple. Children’s hospitals like Great Ormond Street are facing 20 percent cuts in their budgets. In London alone, more than 200,000 people are being forced out of their homes and out of the city as the government takes away their housing subsidies.

Amid all these figures, this group of friends made some startling observations. Here’s one. All the cuts in housing subsidies, driving all those people out of their homes, are part of a package of cuts to the poor, adding up to £7 billion. Yet the magazine Private Eye reported that one company alone—Vodafone, one of Britain’s leading cellphone firms—owed an outstanding bill of £6 billion to the British taxpayers. According to Private Eye, Vodaphone had been refusing to pay for years, claiming that a crucial part of its business ran through a post office box in ultra-low-tax Luxembourg. The last Labour government, for all its many flaws, had insisted it pay up.

But when the Conservatives came to power, David Hartnett, head of the British equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service, apologized to rich people for being “too black and white about the law.” Soon after, Vodafone’s bill was reported to be largely canceled, with just over £1 billion paid in the end. Days later George Osborne, the finance minister, was urging people to invest in Vodafone by taking representatives of the company with him on a taxpayer-funded trip to India—a country where that company is also being pursued for unpaid taxes. Vodafone and Hartnett deny this account, claiming it was simply a longstanding “dispute” over fees that ended with the company paying the correct amount. The government has been forced under pressure to order the independent National Audit Office to investigate the affair and to pore over every detail of the corporation’s tax deal.

“It was clear to us that if this one company had been made to pay its taxes, almost all these people could have been kept from being forced out of their homes,” says Sam Greene, another of the protesters. “We keep being told there’s no alternative to cutting services. This just showed it was rubbish. So we decided we had to do something.”

They resolved to set up an initial protest that would prick people’s attention. They called themselves UK Uncut and asked several liberal-left journalists, on Twitter (full disclosure: I was one of them), to announce a time and place where people could meet “to take direct action protest against the cuts and show there’s an alternative.” People were urged to gather at 9:30 am on a Wednesday morning outside the Ritz hotel in central London and look for an orange umbrella. More than sixty people arrived, and they went to one of the busiest Vodafone stores—on Oxford Street, the city’s biggest shopping area—and sat down in front of it so nobody could get in.

“What really struck me is that when we explained our reasons, ordinary people walking down Oxford Street were incredibly supportive,” says Alex Miller, a 31-year-old nurse. “People would stop and tell us how they were terrified of losing their homes and their jobs—and when they heard that virtually none of it had to happen if only these massive companies paid their taxes, they were furious. Several people stopped what they were doing, sat down and joined us. I guess it’s at that point that I realized this was going to really take off.”

That first protest grabbed a little media attention—and then the next day, in a different city, three other Vodafone stores were shut down in the northern city of Leeds, by unconnected protests. UK Uncut realized this could be replicated across the country. So the group set up a Twitter account and a website, where members announced there would be a national day of protest the following Saturday. They urged anybody who wanted to organize a protest to e-mail them so it could be added to a Google map. Britain’s most prominent tweeters, such as actor Stephen Fry, joined in.

That Saturday Vodafone’s stores were shut down across the country by peaceful sit-ins. The crowds sang songs and announced they had come as volunteer tax collectors. Prime Minister David Cameron wants axed government services to be replaced by a “Big Society,” in which volunteers do the jobs instead. So UK Uncut announced it was the Big Society Tax Collection Agency.

The mix of people who turned out was remarkable. There were 16-year-olds from the housing projects who had just had their £30-a-week subsidy for school taken away. There were 78-year-olds facing the closure of senior centers where they can meet their friends and socialize. A chuckling 64-year-old woman named Mary James said, “The scare stories will say this protest is being hijacked by anarchists. If anything, it’s being hijacked by pensioners!” They stopped passers-by to explain why they were protesting by asking, “Sir, do you pay your taxes? So do I. Did you know that Vodafone doesn’t?”

The police looked on, bemused. There wasn’t much they could do: in a few places, they surrounded the Vodafone stores before the protesters arrived, stopping anyone from going in or out—in effect doing the protesters’ job for them. One police officer asked me how this tax dodge had been allowed to happen, and when I explained, he said, “So you mean I’m likely to lose my job because these people won’t pay up?”

Read more

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Awesome National Geographic Photos 2010

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:29:00 GMT

One of the delights of my new year is to find the images that caught the eyes of discerning photographers around the world.

Connecting with nature and with other people's experiences, stories and energies is healing!

For best pics of last year click here

Forwarded by Phil Friedman

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:10:00 GMT

Neil Pasricha's blog 1000 Awesome Things savors life's simple pleasures, from free refills to clean sheets. In this heartfelt talk from TEDxToronto, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that's truly awesome.

About Neil Pasricha

Neil Pasricha uses the power of blogging to spread a little optimism each day about the awesome things that make life worth living.

Forwarded by Bob Fleischer

Blog observations

It was an interview with Neil Pazsricha on Canada's CBC Radio that planted the seed for this blog on Awesome Wholistic Healings.

With healing awareness and actions, WE CAN TRANSFORM OUR WORLD!

CLICK HERE FOR TED TALK BY NEIL PASRICHA

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Making Heroes

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:16:00 GMT

By JONAH LEHRER

Can modern science help us to create heroes? That's the lofty question behind the Heroic Imagination Project, a new nonprofit started by Phil Zimbardo, a psychologist at Stanford University. The goal of the project is simple: to put decades of experimental research to use in training the next generation of exemplary Americans, churning out good guys with the same efficiency that gangs and terrorist groups produce bad guys.

At first glance, this seems like a slightly absurd endeavor. Heroism, after all, isn't supposed to be a teachable trait. We assume that people like Gandhi or Rosa Parks or the 9/11 hero Todd Beamer have some intangible quality that the rest of us lack. When we get scared and selfish, these brave souls find a way to act, to speak out, to help others in need. That's why they're heroes.

Mr. Zimbardo rejects this view. "We've been saddled for too long with this mystical view of heroism," he says. "We assume heroes are demigods. But they're not. A hero is just an ordinary person who does something extraordinary. I believe we can use science to teach people how to do that."

The curriculum, which lasts four weeks and is targeted at adolescents, is rooted in decades of psychological research. (Mr. Zimbardo is best known as the scientist behind the Stanford Prison experiment, which demonstrated that even liberal-minded undergrads can be turned into sadistic prison guards.) After taking a "hero pledge"—research shows that public commitments boost rates of adherence—the "heroes in training" begin their education.

The first lessons focus on human frailties, those hard-wired flaws that allow evil to flourish. The students are taught, for instance, about the research of the psychologist Stanley Milgram, whose famous experiment in the early 1960s showed that ordinary people would blindly obey authority and give what they thought were strong electrical shocks to strangers. They are also warned about the bystander effect—our reluctance to help a person in need when others are around—and the prevalence of prejudice. It's a crash course in all the different tendencies that lead good people astray.

After being "fortified against the dark side," the student heroes are trained to be more empathetic. Most of these lessons revolve around perception, on becoming more attentive to the feelings of others. The students learn how to interpret micro-facial expressions—a fake smile looks different than a real smile—and practice listening to their classmates. Another important lesson revolves around the fundamental attribution error, a prevalent psychological bias in which people neglect the influence of context on behavior. "One of the main reasons we don't help others is because we assume they deserve what happened to them, that they must have done something wrong," Mr. Zimbardo says. "But most of the time it's just the situation playing itself out. We teach people how not to blame the victim."

The next phase of instruction has a grandiose title: "Internalizing the Heroic Imagination." The students begin studying the behavior of other heroes, past and present. They look at Harry Potter and Abraham Lincoln, Achilles and Martin Luther King. (Mr. Zimbardo is trying to create a "Heropedia," so that people can search a vast database to find heroes in their neighborhood or age group.) Because human behavior is profoundly shaped by those around us—we are all natural "peer modelers"—the project attempts to give students a more heroic set of peers. "Just look at the Milgram experiment," Mr. Zimbardo says. "Everybody uses that as an example of how bad people are. But the actual data aren't so depressing. If subjects watched someone else refuse to issue shocks, then they almost always refused, too. The hero created another hero."

The last step of hero training is the most important. The students begin rehearsing their heroism in the real world, translating the classroom lessons into positive changes. (No cape required.) The students start with baby steps, as they are instructed to do one thing every day that makes someone else feel better. Perhaps it's complimenting a bus driver, or helping mom make dinner, or spending quality time with grandpa. The goal is to break down the barrier that keeps good intentions from becoming virtuous actions. Though real heroes take risks, Zimbardo notes that one can't begin with reckless acts of altruism. Courage requires practice.

At the moment, the Heroic Imagination Project remains a modest endeavor, operating out of a single storefront in San Francisco. The project has just begun pilot programs at several middle schools and high schools in the Bay Area, with plans to develop additional seminars for business executives and young children next year. After graduating from the course, the heroes will be encouraged to stay in touch via a special online social network, a kind of Facebook for heroes. Mr. Zimbardo also plans on monitoring the long-term effects of the project, as he revises the curriculum to maximize its impact.

One day, though, Mr. Zimbardo hopes to have a hero project in every city. "One of the problems with our culture is that we've replaced heroes with celebrities," Mr. Zimbardo says. "We worship people who haven't done anything. It's time to get back to focusing on what matters, because we need real heroes more than ever."

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page C12

Forwarded by Daily Good

Blog observatiions

Risks are risky because we are forging new paths into unknown territory.

Risks are challenges because new actions go counter to everyday, conventional expectations and practices. We become anxious under these circumstances. Many people resist changes and avoid them - as their ways of dealing with these inner tensions.

WHEE can release tensions and anxieties, and can enable us to install positive beliefs and feelings about what we are doing and experiencing.

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/
http://paintap.com

Awesome celebration of a bus driver's birthday

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:06:00 GMT

English/Danish
On May 5th it's Mukhtar's, a bus-driver in Copenhagen, Birthday. In 2010 he had no idea that a large group of people had planned to celebrate with him...

In Toronto, near where i live, there have been numerous complaints about bus drivers' indifference to passengers, with several investigations of severe issues, such as the driver talking on a cell phone while driving.

Isn't it refreshing that we have another approach to encouraging further positive interactions with bus drivers - rather than focusing on the negative behaviors of some?

D. 5 Maj 2010 havde buschaufføren Mukhtar fødselsdag. Det var der også mange andre der vidste, så Mukhtar fik sig en glædelig overraskelse. Resultatet blev en stort anlagt fødselsdagsfejring!

Forwarded by Miss Jenny

Blessings

Dan Benor - WHEE MD
www.paintap.com

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Patty-cake: being catty

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:04:00 GMT

Do you ever get stressed when you could be enjoying yourself?

WHEE offers you an amazingly easy, rapid way to de-stress so that you can enjoy life more.

Blessings

Dan Benor - WHEE MD
www.paintap.com

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Pamukkale: The Cotton Castle - 8th Wonder of the World

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:30:00 GMT

Pamukkale, meaning "Cotton Castle" in Turkish, is a natural site and attraction in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province. Pamukkale is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which enjoys a temperate climate over the greater part of the year.

The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2700 meters long and 160m high. It can be seen from the hills on the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, 20 km away.

Pamukkale is one of Turkey’s top attractions and a precious in the world with its cotton-look terraces. The underground water once gave life to the ancient city of Hierapolis now helps Pamukkale be one of the most important thermal centers of Turkey.

Pamukkale is known as 8th wonder of the world by Turkish people, The water (35 C) which is flowing down the cliff of Pamukkale has turned the area into as white as cotton color, and carved this fantastic formation of stalactites and basins. It is the largest and finest example of elaborate calcium formation, which dominates the landscape miles around.

The color of the water in the pools changes with the color of the sky.

Suggested by Kari Joys.
Photos

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Awesome bicycling feats

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:49:00 GMT

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" - NEW street trials riding short film

Living for a year without money

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:56:00 GMT

Could You Live a Year Without Money?

By Emily Loftis from Mother Jones Online

Mark Boyle did—and he says you can, too. (If you don't mind making paper out of mushrooms and brushing your teeth with cuttlefish bones.

By choice, Mark Boyle basically doesn't have a cent—or, more accurately, a pence—to his name. Boyle lives in rural England in a trailer he spotted on Freecycle.org. He feeds himself by growing everything from barley to potatoes, foraging wild edibles like berries and nettles, and occasionally dumpster-diving for luxuries like margarine and bread. He cooks with a wood stove fashioned from large restaurant olive cans; brushes his teeth with his own mixture of cuttlefish bones and fennel seed; and makes paper and ink from mushrooms. He barters labor for rent, Internet service, and whatever else he can't find, grow, or make.

This experiment in currency-free living started in 2008 after Boyle, an Irishman who worked in the organic food industry, saw Gandhi and was inspired by the Indian nationalist's legendary asceticism. Boyle's experience became the basis for his book, Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living, which has just been released in the states. By the end of his year without dough, he'd decided that the life he'd gained by shedding currency was worth continuing. When I recently spoke with Boyle, he was making plans to buy land with the royalties from the book—his only cash transaction in the last two years—to start a moneyless community. He talked about the insights that drove him to make his new lifestyle more permanent.

Mother Jones: It seems pretty ironic that you were a student of economics and now you're moneyless.

Mark Boyle: You're right, it's a bit ironic. But I think it's wrong to think of economics as money. The actual word itself actually revolves around meeting one's needs. Money is one way of meeting our needs, but it's only one way. I think I couldn't do what I do today without studying economics, because you need to understand the system first—how it currently works—in order to change it.

MJ: Do you ever feel like you should be more engaged in the political process in order to promote sustainability?

MB: I feel like what I'm doing is a political process, to be honest. I think every single thing we do is political. Even if you go to the shops and buy a packet of biscuits, then you're buying into the system, willingly or not. I think we're conditioned into thinking political systems as being either communism or capitalism. I think there are a lot more options available. We just haven't explored them. My statement is really a message to the environmental movement more than anything else.

MJ: Whom do you think your book will have more of an impact on, serious environmentalists or people who were never interested in ecological issues?

MB: I've tried to write it in a language that is accessible for more people. When talking to an environmentalist, [I try] to really push the boundaries of that environmentalist. But I also try to communicate with the general public. I think that's the key—to not use one method of communication for all.

MJ: How has living without cash changed the way you interact with the wider community?

MB: In current society, your security is cash, and that has huge repercussions. But when you take that out of the equation, you have to have relationships with people and you have to have relationships with the environment to survive. I have more friends than almost ever. We're convinced we need money to have friends and partners, but actually I've found the opposite to be true.

MJ: You write that a lot of your interviews are comprised of repetitive questions. So, what is a question that nobody's asked you?

MB: I find that really striking that at the start, nobody was ever really asking me about what it's like choosing to be a person without a penny in a world that's striving for more and more.

MJ: Well, what is it like?

MB: At the start, it was quite difficult. I grew up in Ireland and part of the culture is that you almost fight to be the first person who buys a drink at the bar. It's quite a giving culture. Going out to a bar and not even being able to buy myself a drink, let alone for my friends—that totally brought up the whole male ego stuff and wanting to be the provider. And then I learned one of the most beautiful ways you can give is giving of yourself and your time. I feel like I've worked through a lot of that and it doesn't bother me anymore. But it definitely wasn't easy at the beginning.

MJ: Can you elaborate more on your concept of not putting more energy into getting food than what you'll get out of it?

MB: It's kind of compared to a tiger or a lion; if they feel like they're running after their prey and using too much energy, they won't do it because there's no point in expending so much energy to gain less than they're going to spend. We don't think in those terms because we've got all the fossil fuels and we basically have an insect-free, risk-free energy source. Our food has got way more energy embodied in it than we actually gain from it. But it's just because we've got access to fossil fuel. Once that goes, we're going to have to go back to a whole different way of growing our food again.

MJ: A lot of people's survival is built into the current system, like urban populations or people who can't access land. Assuming that a lot of people adopted the money-free lifestyle, wouldn't everything collapse?

MB: This is about transition. We couldn't move from what we are today to—even in 10 years' time—living completely moneyless. It's about moving away from complete dependency on money, which is a very insecure position to be in, anyway. You can't have all your eggs in one basket. As more and more people move away from one economic model to another economic model, then the market reacts to that in certain ways and people produce less. It's more about slow evolutionary process than a revolutionary process. And that's quite key to the whole thing. Our whole agricultural system is based on fossil fuels. Each gallon of fossil fuel is the same as 40 man-hours per week. That's a lot of extra man hours. And so if we're going to get back to a way of agriculture that doesn't involve oil, then people are going to have to transition away from some of the jobs that aren't necessary.

MJ: Tell me about the moneyless community you've formed since writing your book.

MB: All the proceeds of the book are going into a trust to buy land for the first community and hopefully subsequent communities as well. In a kind of similar way, back in the day, slaves would buy their way out of slavery so the kids could be free. We're buying pockets of land out of the money economy and then using that land for workshops and courses for free for people who will come along and experience moneyless living and learn all the skills of moneyless living.

MJ: How many people intend to live there?

MB: We get about 100 emails a week from people wanting to stay. I'm starting with a core group of those people whom I know and whom I've built up a relationship with for the last few years. So it's about 14 who are bringing the project forward. We're going to build capacity for 20 people and roughly 8 of those people are going to be permanent, and probably another 8 will be kind of transient. We're trying to build in an entry level for people who want to experience it. So if people aren't ready to make the whole step, they can come for a weekend or come for a month, or come for two months.

MJ: You write that self-discipline is made to liberate and not to constrain the soul. After your experiment, do you still find this to be true?

MB: Yeah. I think greatest thing I've gained from the last two years has been a massive sense of liberation. There's a really good quote from Epicurus; he says, "If you want to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his wants but subtract from his desires." When you reduce what you need in life to the bare minimum, then that's when you achieve true freedom. It's kind of like an alcoholic: You have to keep drinking more and more alcohol to sustain a certain level of drunkenness. In a way, I think we're like that. We've never got enough. So the more we consume, the more we want. And the more we want, the more we have to work to pay for all these things and insure them and then get stressed about them and protect them and get bigger houses. I think true freedom comes with letting go of them.

Emily Loftis is an editorial intern at Mother Jones

Forwarded by Daily Good

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

WHEE - potent method for stress relief and self-healing
WHEE: Whole Health – Easily and Effectively™
AKA: Wholistic Hybrid derived from EMDR and EFT
http://paintap.com

Original film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:23:00 GMT

This is the classic film car and was the only original road-going vehicle built and used in the

1968 MGM/United Artists Motion Picture "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG", lovingly owned by Pierre Picton.

Please explore the site and get to know the famous car and her owner!

This is NOT a replica!

On this site you'll find loads of pictures and information about how this car came to be custom built, the secrets which lie under her bonnet and her history since starring in the classic 1968 motion picture.

Lovingly maintained, GEN 11 makes guest appearances worldwide.

She is available for HIRE for functions, promotions and corporate events UNTIL DECEMBER when she will be flown out to the US and will be put up for auction to a new owner and home.

This will be the last year for GEN11 in the UK. Keep an eye out for her in the states!

For more information:
fax: (UK) 01789 204 300
e-mail: chittygen11@o2.co.uk

Forwarded by Arnold Sadwin

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com

Ways Sharing Can Make You Happy

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:27:00 GMT

Though it might seem that there’s not much in the way of silver linings in these dark economic times, there is at least one: as people learn to make do with less, they are discovering the many benefits of sharing. Car-sharing, babysitting cooperatives, and tool lending are just a few of the many creative ways people are eschewing ownership and learning to share the goods and services they need. But sharing can do more than just save you a buck. New psychological research suggests that sharing fosters trust and cooperation in the community and contributes to personal well-being. Here are some of the ways that sharing can boost your happiness levels and help your community thrive:

1. Sharing involves reciprocal giving, and the research is full of the benefits of giving, from greater physical health to personal happiness. A 2008 study by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton and colleagues showed that giving a sum of money away to someone else lifted well-being more that spending it on oneself. In his book Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Stephen Post, a professor of preventative medicine at Stony Brook University, writes that giving to others has been shown to increase health benefits in people with chronic illness, including HIV and multiple sclerosis. And Sonja Lyubomirsky, a happiness researcher at the University of California, Riverside, argues that giving can become contagious, moving from the personal to one’s community. “Being kind and generous leads you to perceive others more positively and more charitably,” she writes in The How of Happiness, and this “fosters a heightened sense of interdependence and cooperation in your social community.”

2. Sharing can cause the release of oxytocin, a hormone that increases feelings of well-being. Paul Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, studies the effects of oxytocin in social exchanges. His lab has found that when people share and experience gratitude, or any sense of connection, their brains will release the hormone oxytocin. Though more commonly associated with breast-feeding, oxytocin is also known to relieve stress, improve immune function, and foster trust in human interactions, all of which contribute to greater well-being and happiness. In laboratory studies, Zak has found that a dose of oxytocin will cause people to give more generously and to feel more empathic towards others they come across, with “symptoms” lasting up to two hours. And those people on an “oxytocin high” can potentially jumpstart a “virtuous circle, where one person’s generous behavior triggers another’s,” he says. Surprisingly, even when sharing involves an exchange of money or where communication takes place over the internet––a common situation with commercial sharing sites––oxytocin is still released. In one study, Zak found that 10 minutes of tweeting induced a spike in oxytocin and a reduction of stress hormones in his subject, a reaction similar to what one might experience during in-person communication. Many sharing sites, he argues, do double duty, connecting people on-line and then having them meet in person to exchange goods or services. “This suggests why sharing is so ‘sticky,’” says Zak. “It makes us feel good in two ways.”

3. Sharing builds trust, and trust is highly correlated with happiness. When people share personal possessions with a stranger, they are taking a chance on that person’s trustworthiness––hoping the person will pay on time, return items in good condition, etc. If expectations of both parties are met––which, fortunately, usually happens in share situations, according to Paul Zak––trust will naturally develop. This experience of trust leads to more personal happiness, according to John F. Helliwell, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of British Columbia. Helliwell, who studies the social contexts of happiness, has found that “trustworthiness and trust…appear independently and robustly related to happiness and life satisfaction”, and as we experience trust in more domains in our lives, the happier we are. In fact, trust is so important for happiness that when researchers at the University of Cambridge looked at which countries in the European Union scored highest on measures of well-being, they found that it wasn’t the countries one might expect––the ones with great weather, beautiful beaches, or the best cuisine––but the countries where there are high levels of trust among the people. “Trust is a prerequisite for happiness,” writes Eric Weiner in The Geography of Bliss. “Trust not only of your government, of institutions, but trust of your neighbors.”

4. Sharing increases positive social interaction with others, which can prolong your life. Sharing can bring people together who in other circumstances might not meet. According to Paul Zak, humans have an innate need for social connection, and participating in sharing sites like SnapGoods or Groupon can help people broaden their base of friends and acquaintances. “Sharing helps us to reach out to others,” he says. “It’s an excuse to engage with someone whom you’re helping at the same time.” And research has shown that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and physical health. In a 2010 meta-analysis of previous research, Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University and colleagues found that having stronger social ties and less social isolation significantly prolonged one’s life. As researcher John Cacioppo writes in his book Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, “The more extensive the reciprocal altruism born of social connection….the greater the advance toward health, wealth, and happiness.”

5. Sharing invokes gratitude, and gratitude is highly correlated with happiness. Not only is giving beneficial, but when one feels grateful for the exchange––a natural consequence of receiving help in the form of sharing––this also increases personal happiness. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, co-directors of the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness, found that teaching college students to “count their blessings” and cultivate gratitude helped them to exercise more, be more optimistic, and feel better about their lives overall. Barbara Fredrickson, one of the pioneer researchers on the roots of happiness, suggests that cultivating gratitude in every day life is one of the keys to increasing personal happiness. “When you express your gratitude in words or actions, you not only boost your own positivity but [other people’s] as well,” writes Fredrickson. “And in the process you reinforce their kindness and strengthen your bond to one another.”

Read more and see videos at Shareable: Science & Tech

Forwarded by Daily Good

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

Awesome loss of species on earth

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:51:00 GMT

Awesome Beethoven Symphony No.5 Parody (Japanese with English subtitles)

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:39:00 GMT

Brilliant!

Forwarded by Chlomit Edelman

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/

If the image does not appear on your screen above, click on the link below

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

Dr. Daniel J. Benor — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:05:00 GMT

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

It is a brilliant discussion on re-animating the culture of education, which has become utterly deadening.

See: Ted Talk (re-published as a link rather than embedded image because Ted Talks script does not work with this blog system)

Forwarded by J. Warren Salmon, Ph.D.
jsjwsalmon@gmail.com

Blessings

Dan Benor, MD
http://awesomewholistichealing.com/