To Share With the Children (or Adults) in Your Life

Summer is a favorite time to pack bags and travel-or to enjoy more time exploring the treasures close to home.  Whether you decide on the East Coast, the West Coast, or somewhere in the middle, it's a great opportunity to spend a little time with the important people in your lives.  What can we share with the children in our lives wherever we are? See Jason English's take on answering the questions of childhood (As posted on mental_floss.com filed under: The Afternoon Map

 

Credit: Eric Odenheimer

 

Jason writes...
As we sat on the beach last weekend, my daughter asked what was on the other side of the ocean. "Europe!" I said, buying some time to Google specifics. She went back to building her Olaf sand sculpture and I found this map. (The better answer is Portugal.) In case you're ever on a beach and curious what would happen if you had superpowers and could swim perfectly straight, now you know. The Afternoon Map is a semi-regular feature in which we post maps and infographics. In the afternoon. Semi-regularly. Thanks to Eric Odenheimer for this one, which was recently featured by The Washington Post's Know More.

(July 8, 2014 - 2:00pm)

So now, you are prepared to answer those unexpected questions streaming out of the curious minds of  the children-and adults-in our lives.  Where did you go this summer. Looking to the east or west, what countries would you see?  (Our thanks to Jonathan Danylko who posted this on his Facebook page.) 

Have We Seen Everything Close to Us?

(Microsoft ClipArt)

Having lived many years in Pennsylvania, I'm truly embarrassed to say that I've never traveled to many of the beautiful places around me. Summer is a perfect time to right those wrongs.  These places are less than or a day's drive from those of us in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, and Virginia. How many of these 13 sites have you seen? Surely, you can say you've seen more than I have!

Click on

http://www.pennlive.com/projects/2014/pennsylvanias-best-views/  to see what I mean. (Thanks to Joan H. for sending this.)

While you're at it, consider what's blooming all around us this July.  Thanks to Chris H,  we'll be on the lookout for these beauties while traveling through Southwestern PA.

                                                    

                                    

Why Meditate? Does It Really Have Benefits Beyond Relaxation?

Some of us have dabbled in meditation strategies or taken a yoga class or two.  Others have succeeded in making meditation integral to their daily lives.  The questions are these:  Why do it?  What benefits can we hope to achieve? Does it have to be yoga? (No, but  right now, a yoga class is taking place in the Crawford Barn, Edinboro, PA with some of our contributors participating.)  

Benefits, Brainwise  Whatever meditation you practice from yoga to mindfulness, to transcendental meditation, to prayer, doing so wakes those systems that seem to access empathy for others.  "Being still can make you more compassionate"(Prevention, July, 2014, 23).

Benefits, Heartwise  Transcendental meditation (2X a day) may lower your blood pressure-a key factor in heart health.  And those of us working out on stationary bikes with digital readouts can experiment with  effects of deep breathing on heart rate  Note your heart rate while pedaling; then concentrate on 4 or 5 deep belly breaths.  Does your heart rate slow a few points?  Mine does. So add cardiovascular benefits to the list.

Benefits, Skinwise  Because meditation appears to lower stress levels, skin disorders can be lessened.

Benefits, Bellywise  One of the culprits in adding belly fat (Gr-gr-gr!) is the hormone, cortisol.  We've all experienced stressors, and they kick up cortisol production. By lowering stress, meditation also lowers the levels of cortisol in our systems.

Benefits, Bonewise   Are you taking anti-inflammatory drugs for joint pain?  Two types of genes linked to inflammation are shown to be reduced by long-term meditation.

Benefits, Copingwise   Carnegie Mellon's Health and human Performance Laboratory recommends mindful meditation to help those of us who have had or are coping with cancer.  MM "can help cancer survivors and those going through treatment stave off symptoms of depression, loneliness, wipe out repetitive thoughts, and can even decrease the body's inflammatory response which is linked to serious illness and is helpful before, during, and after treatment as a coping mechanism"(Deardoff). (Access "Mediation: More than Just Relaxation," in Prevention.com/July/2014/You-Can-Thrive. The article appears in the Monthly Archives: July, 2014.)

So, in addition to all the energy we expend walking, pedaling, spinning, we might consider that meditation needs to be part of our everyday experience. At prevention.com/start-meditating, has "three easy meditations to try."

(Prevention, July, 2014, 23)

Coming to the Big Screen Soon: The Hundred-Foot Journey

If you've seen the ads for the upcoming The Hundred-Foot Journey, starring Helen Mirren, Minish Dayal, and Om Puri, you may be interested in reading the book as well.

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais was published in 2008 and is the story of Hassan Kadam and his family. Hassan tells of his first 14 years in Bombay (present-day Mumbai).  From early childhood, Hassan has been fascinated with Indian cuisine. He has studied with his mother and grandmother as they prepare food for pushcarts and for allied soldiers.  Hassan's mother has  always encouraged him to try new foods. She takes him to restaurants offering foods very foreign to him, and he savors the unusual tastes.  His mother always questions the allied troops to discover what foods they miss most and then endeavors to adapt the new information to her dishes. Her teaching creates the basis for his burgeoning career.

When tragedy befalls the family, Papa sells their land in Bombay, packs up, and moves everyone to England.  Not satisfied with life there, they leave for a trip across the continent.  They find Lumiere, a village in Southern France-the site of an internationally known restaurant, Le Saule Pleureur, and Madame Mallory, its 2-star chef.  100 feet across the road, they create Maison Mumbai-much to Madame Mallory's disgust.  She attempts to shut them down, to harass and threaten shop owners into selling their wares only to her, to have their garden restaurant closed, and to poison the minds of the villagers against them. 

Hassan's life story and growth as a truly gifted chef who embraces both French and Indian cuisine as well as the unique cultures of both parallels and extends beyond the bitter rivalry between Madame Mallory and his Papa. 

(Seeing the ad for the film made me seek out the book, and I've enjoyed it.  Happy reading!)

Finally Time to Read! Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

A Very Favorite Friend

If you'd like some humorous reflections on life by noted author, Lisa Scottoline, this is the book. Scottoline is also the author of the the Rosato and Associates mystery series featuring Benny Rosato and her female lawyer associates and several internationally known best sellers.

In Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog (2009), she has collected short articles on her life as a 50-something, twice-divorced, Italian woman, who juggles her profession,her young-adult daughter, her mother and a gay brother as she dotes on her beloved dogs.  She writes briefly of husbands, more about dogs, pointedly about growing older, and grudgingly about migrating fat and the inevitable wrinkle or two...or three

In the collection , much of which was written for "Chick Wit" in the Philadelphia Inquirer,  Scottoline pens the dedication  "for extraordinary ordinary women everywhere".  And she credits Eleanor Roosevelt as describing the incredible strength of ordinary women:  "A woman is like a tea bag.  You never know how strong she is until she's in hot water."

Titles such as "Everything Old Is Nude Again" give the reader a delightful glimpse into what follows. Scottoline writes, "Something dangerous is going on in the world of women's underwear, and I want to nip it in the butt."  In "Fashionista," she observes that "I'm not sure when I officially stopped mattering, but I think it began at age 40.  I know this because I'm a great reader of fashion magazines, and InStyle recently told me that I no longer mattered, if indeed I existed at all.  They didn't even let me down easy. And I subscribe."

Fun and great summer reading. Don't miss it.

Now... if you read Scottoline's book, and you are a nonjudgmental, liberated woman (like the rest of us), you might want to balance your outlook by noting "Why Some Men Have Dogs and Not Wives." Just click on the "Humor For All Occasions"  link below.

http://hfao.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-some-men-have-dogs-and-not-wives.html

(Thanks to Bob A. for sending this link.)


  

 

What Makes Happy People Different?

Maia McCann, commenting in Distractify, puts together 35 traits that make happy people different from the rest of the world. Contributors are acknowledged at the end of each point.

She asks what we might cherish and what we might regret as we take stock of our lives.  One characteristic of happy people is that they realize "Getting even doesn't get you ahead in life"(Marc Chernoff) ; another is "They pay attention to how people treat their parents" as a good predictor of how they will be in a marriage. Also "the way they treat a waiter (or any service person) shows you their character."(Dr. Karen L. Smithson)

And  "They're authentic, and they listen to their 'small, still voice'.  Your intuition is your superpower." Next, they enjoy "being in the moment. You will have to focus on the future so much as you get older--being mindful to the moment is a lost gift."(Dr. Karen L. Smithson)  Also,  "They're excited about other people's success"(Scrawnytobrawny.com).

Other characteristics of happy people  include "They're always, always, always honest"  (yannis_volta); "They ask questions"(nik3daz); They give their parents a chance" (igotnothineither); "They know they aren't the smartest person in the room"(selfstairway.com)

For the complete list of 35 traits and the great examples within each, click on
http://news.distractify.com/people/20-things-i-wish-i-knew-earlier-8-is-absolutely-vital/?v=1