Secrets Of The World’s Healthiest Women
Jan 13
The places we're usually told to emulate are known as Blue Zones or Cold Spots. Blue Zones were pinpointed by explorer Dan Buettner and a team of longevity researchers and are described in his book "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest." They're areas in Italy, Japan, Greece, California, and Costa Rica where the people have traditionally stayed healthy and active to age 100 or older. Similarly, Cold Spots, as identified by integrative medicine physician Daphne Miller, M.D., author of "The Jungle Effect," are five areas in Mexico, Iceland, Japan, Greece, and Cameroon with low rates of "Western" ailments like heart disease, depression, and certain cancers. So I took a look at a few key regions to see which habits we Americans could make our own...
The Nine Common Characteristics Of The World’s Longest Living People
Jan 13
Working with a team of scientists, we found the nine common characteristics of all the world's long-lived people. The secret of how to live longer lies not in diets or excise programs but in creating the right surroundings. These nine characteristics we call Power 9™ can help you get up to 12 good years out of life and help you look and feel younger at every age...
Karma Kitchen & The Gift Economy
Dec 05
Karma Kitchen first opened in Berkeley on March 31st 2007, by several volunteers inspired to seed the value of a "gift economy". Run by volunteers, their meals are cooked and served with love, and offered to the guest as a genuine gift. To complete the full circle of giving and sustain this experiment, guests make contributions in the spirit of pay-it-forward to those who will come after them. In keeping this chain going, the generosity of both guests and volunteers helps to create a future that moves from transaction to trust, from self-oriented isolation to shared commitment, and from fear of scarcity to celebration of abundance...
Quote: Dalai Lama
Dec 05
"Even more important than the warmth and affection we receive, is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness. More important than being loved, therefore, is to love." -- Dalai Lama
Older Men Value Kissing & Cuddling, Older Women Value Sex
Jul 07
A Kinsey Institute study indicates that kissing and hugging are more important to the happiness of men than of women. Men who reported frequent kissing or cuddling with their partners were on average three times as happy with their relationships as men who reported limited snuggling. For women, such shows of tenderness didn't have much impact on relationship satisfaction. The study involved 1,009 heterosexual middle-aged and older couples in long-term (average 25 years) committed relationships in five countries...
Quote: Eve Ensler
Jun 11
"When we give the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside of us." -- Eve Ensler
The Power Of Smiling
Apr 07
Smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms in a way that even chocolate, a well-regarded pleasure-inducer, cannot match. In a study conducted in the UK (using an electromagnetic brain scan machine and heart-rate monitor to create “mood-boosting values” for various stimuli), British researchers found that one smile can provide the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars; they also found that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 Pounds Sterling in cash. That’s 25 grand a smile… And unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling has documented therapeutic effects, and has been associated with: reduced stress hormone levels (like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine), increased health and mood enhancing hormone levels (like endorphins), and lowered blood pressure...
Happiness Peaks In Our Eighties
Apr 07
We become happier when we grow older, according to scientists who claim our best years do not arrive until our late seventies and eighties...
The Pathwork Lectures On Relationships
Feb 14
The Pathwork Lectures provide the best, most clear and inspiring material I have ever come across when it comes to the importance of human relationships -- especially male/female relationships. What follows are quotes from some of my favorite lectures, including Pathwork Lecture 44: "The Forces of Love, Eros, and Sex", which presents the best overview of relationship dynamics and potentials I have ever encountered...
Quote: Joseph Campbell
Jan 28
"Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else." -- Joseph Campbell
Mindfulness Meditation Changes Brain Structure In 8 Weeks
Jan 25
Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s grey matter...
Interview: Counterclockwise – Ellen Langer
Dec 17
If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now, in Counterclockwise, she presents the answer: Opening our minds to what’s possible, instead of presuming impossibility, can lead to better health -- at any age. Drawing on landmark work in the field and her own body of colorful and highly original experiments -- including the first detailed discussion of her “counterclockwise” study, in which elderly men lived for a week as though it was 1959 and showed dramatic improvements in their hearing, memory, dexterity, appetite, and general well-being -- Langer shows that the magic of rejuvenation and ongoing good health lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to social and cultural cues. Examining the hidden decisions and vocabulary that shape the medical world (“chronic” versus “acute,” “cure” versus “remission”), the powerful physical effects of placebos, and the intricate but often defeatist ways we define our physical health, Langer challenges the idea that the limits we assume and impose on ourselves are real. With only subtle shifts in our thinking, in our language, and in our expectations, she tells us, we can begin to change the ingrained behaviors that sap health, optimism, and vitality from our lives. Improved vision, younger appearance, weight loss, and increased longevity are just four of the results that Langer has demonstrated.
Video: Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index
Sep 03Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation’s success by its productivity — instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn’t have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be...
Quote: Deepak Chopra
Aug 30
"The cosmos are structured to bring about growth, and growth is always in the direction of greater love and happiness." -- Deepak Chopra
Quote: Robin Sharma
Aug 30
“The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it.” -- Robin Sharma from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
To receive email notices (one a day) whenever new content is added to this website, enter your email address below. You can also follow us on 
