What Happy People Know That You Don't
I once worked with a woman who vacuumed her house every single morning -- before she left for work. Now I knew this about my colleague only because her young daughter dropped it one day in casual conversation... her attitude being one of "Doesn't everybody?" Well, no, everybody doesn't... but neither does it matter. Still, my colleague considered her cleaning addiction crazy enough that she kept it her little secret. The truth is, every one of us has crazy behaviors and beliefs.
These are what one character in the movie "The Family Stone" referred to as a freak flag. And how much easier it would be, the movie implies, if we all carried around "freak flags" that announced our personal craziness for the world to see.
WHAT IS YOUR FREAK FLAG?
Life coach Lauren Zander of the Handel Group (www.handelgrouppc.com) agrees completely with the concept of flying personal freak flags. Being upfront about our crazy quirks is not only truthful, she says, it also acknowledges that everyone has a variety of them. They belong to and brand us and are the interesting things we do that make us human. She notes that a giant realm of personal craziness includes the category of food and eating -- from chowing down behind closed doors to never co-mingling foods on a plate.
Sexuality is another big area of personal quirks and preferences. Although universal, most people feel too weird about their sexual attitudes and ideas to speak honestly about them. Professional athletes have their crazy secret beliefs about what will help them win a tournament. Children have rituals, objects or imaginary friends they use to help them feel safe. Grown-ups have a wide variety of behaviors or harmless biases they cling to for a bevy of reasons. Example: Ask pack rats why they insist on keeping all that "stuff" with no obvious worth or value.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN
As human beings, we are all in the same interesting and weird boat, Lauren observes, trying to grow up and deal with our small vices -- but at the same time wanting to be "normal" and look good to others. Let it go, she says. Claim the joy to be found in admitting to your quirks. Fessing up to the crazy quirks is funny and freeing and endows people with a new sense of control about their behavior.
Accepting your own quirks also provides an opportunity for a whole new understanding of the quirks and freakiness of your spouse, kids, parents and friends. A huge percentage of marital squabbles involve one spouse's intolerance of the other spouse's quirks -- remember the classic toothpaste tube argument? Everyone around you has his/her own set of quirks that you can either learn to love as part of who that person is... or you can let them drive you crazy. I have a friend who never sends thank you notes -- not even for her wedding or baby gifts. I know that she is a loving and generous and devoted friend. So, I accept that she is not wired to send thank you notes. Some people might sever a relationship over not being thanked and sacrifice all the great things that are part of that lifelong relationship.
FINDING YOUR OWN
It is possible that crazy quirks are so well hidden they are hard even for the individual to find. To find yours, Lauren advises looking first for any behavior or attitude you don't want other people to know about. That is certain to be a freak flag candidate. Another place to look: At your grievances and annoyances about other people. If certain things about others really bug you, chances are strong that there is a little personal freak flag in there. As an example, Lauren notes that arrogance in others makes some people furious, but probably they carry around arrogance themselves, just better disguised. Because people are not generally bothered by behaviors that don't exist somewhere in themselves, being upset is a big signal to go looking at that.
Identifying it and accepting that bit of freakiness will loosen the steam you have built about your grievance and annoyance about others, Lauren says.
It may feel scary to fly a freak flag at first, but be brave. It won't take long to start experiencing the rewards. By admitting to your own craziness you bring a fresh openness in your dialog with others. By acknowledging, for example, that my husband is right in telling me that I sometimes forget things if I don't write them down allows us to have fun with my "forgetful-ism" and also creates a structure in our relationship that supports my need to write things down. It's now a big family loving joke about the notes I leave for myself for fear of forgetting.
Being honest about yourself, stripped of spinning and lying, gives people around you permission to put up their flags as well. Flying the flags breaks down the boundaries between you and the barriers to real human nature -- at last, everyone starts to be who they really are.
What Happy People Know That You Don't
* Meredith Haberfeld, co-founder and CEO, and Lauren Zander, principal, Handel Group Private Coaching (www.handelgrouppc.com).
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish
Oh daaa... Damb can people get really STUPID!!!
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish: "The precipitous decline in large predator sharks in the Atlantic Ocean in the past decade has made ecologists worry about a trickle-down effect on the ocean ecosystem.
A new study supports the case. With the large predators gone, their prey—smaller sharks and rays—are free to feast on lower organisms like scallops and clams, depleting valuable commercial stocks.
“Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the East Coast of the U.S., meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators,” said study team member Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Disappearing sharks
Shark populations all over the world have plummeted because of intentional fishing for their fins, which are eaten and used for medicines in Asia
For this study, published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science, the researchers looked at surveys of populations of 11 great shark species, conducted between 1970 and 2005. Every species had substantially declined in just those few decades. The smallest observed decline was in sandbar shark populations, which had decreased nonetheless by 87 percent. Other species, including the bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks, may have declined by more than 99 percent.
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish: "The precipitous decline in large predator sharks in the Atlantic Ocean in the past decade has made ecologists worry about a trickle-down effect on the ocean ecosystem.
A new study supports the case. With the large predators gone, their prey—smaller sharks and rays—are free to feast on lower organisms like scallops and clams, depleting valuable commercial stocks.
“Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the East Coast of the U.S., meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators,” said study team member Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Disappearing sharks
Shark populations all over the world have plummeted because of intentional fishing for their fins, which are eaten and used for medicines in Asia
For this study, published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science, the researchers looked at surveys of populations of 11 great shark species, conducted between 1970 and 2005. Every species had substantially declined in just those few decades. The smallest observed decline was in sandbar shark populations, which had decreased nonetheless by 87 percent. Other species, including the bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks, may have declined by more than 99 percent.
“They’re all down dramatically,” said study co-leader Charles Peterson of the University of North Carolina."
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites
Oh cool, do I have the solution for YOU... lol...
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites: "This first project of One Planet Business aims to inspire and catalyse change towards mobility and access solutions within planetary limits.
Passenger transport is placing an ever-growing demand on global resources and the climate’s absorptive capacity. Currently, the final demand for personal mobility represents 26% of the word’s CO2 emissions. Current technological advancements in personal mobility are not keeping pace with the rate of growth or the scale of the challenge, not least the minimum 60% reductions required in CO2 emissions. It seems clear that further solutions have to be explored.
One Planet Business Personal Mobility will explore the fundamental drivers for change, such as:
* identifying the barriers impeding a complete technological revolution for low-carbon mobility;
* exploring the possibilities for switching to low-impact transport and how this could be encouraged;
* questioning the value of such high levels of mobility in promoting a better quality of life and identifying which areas of mobility consumers may actually like to reduce (e.g. commuting);
* understanding how shifts in lifestyles could reduce personal mobility;
* thinking through the economic consequences of changing mobility patterns; and
* exploring access to key services such as shop"
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites: "This first project of One Planet Business aims to inspire and catalyse change towards mobility and access solutions within planetary limits.
Passenger transport is placing an ever-growing demand on global resources and the climate’s absorptive capacity. Currently, the final demand for personal mobility represents 26% of the word’s CO2 emissions. Current technological advancements in personal mobility are not keeping pace with the rate of growth or the scale of the challenge, not least the minimum 60% reductions required in CO2 emissions. It seems clear that further solutions have to be explored.
One Planet Business Personal Mobility will explore the fundamental drivers for change, such as:
* identifying the barriers impeding a complete technological revolution for low-carbon mobility;
* exploring the possibilities for switching to low-impact transport and how this could be encouraged;
* questioning the value of such high levels of mobility in promoting a better quality of life and identifying which areas of mobility consumers may actually like to reduce (e.g. commuting);
* understanding how shifts in lifestyles could reduce personal mobility;
* thinking through the economic consequences of changing mobility patterns; and
* exploring access to key services such as shop"
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times
I wonder about all the other crap they feed cattle, chickens and fish.. Like the GMO's modified to like more pesticides. . .
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times: "Men whose mothers ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a sperm count about 25% below normal and three times the normal risk of fertility problems, researchers reported Tuesday.
The problem may be due to anabolic steroids used in the United States to fatten the cattle, Dr. Shanna H. Swan of the University of Rochester Medical Center reported in the journal Human Reproduction. It could also be due to pesticides and other environmental contaminants, she added.
If the sperm deficit is related to the hormones in beef, Swan's findings may be 'just the tip of the iceberg,' wrote biologist Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia in an editorial accompanying the paper.
In daughters of the beef-eaters, those same hormones could alter the incidence of polycystic ovarian syndrome, the age of puberty and the postnatal growth rate, he said.
'It's a small effect, but it is a significant effect,' said Dr. Ted Schettler, an environmental health specialist at the Institute for Global Communications in San Francisco. 'It's not surprising. The more you look at dietary factors, the more you turn up interesting information about how diet during pregnancy affects lots of aspects of human health.'"
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times: "Men whose mothers ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a sperm count about 25% below normal and three times the normal risk of fertility problems, researchers reported Tuesday.
The problem may be due to anabolic steroids used in the United States to fatten the cattle, Dr. Shanna H. Swan of the University of Rochester Medical Center reported in the journal Human Reproduction. It could also be due to pesticides and other environmental contaminants, she added.
If the sperm deficit is related to the hormones in beef, Swan's findings may be 'just the tip of the iceberg,' wrote biologist Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia in an editorial accompanying the paper.
In daughters of the beef-eaters, those same hormones could alter the incidence of polycystic ovarian syndrome, the age of puberty and the postnatal growth rate, he said.
'It's a small effect, but it is a significant effect,' said Dr. Ted Schettler, an environmental health specialist at the Institute for Global Communications in San Francisco. 'It's not surprising. The more you look at dietary factors, the more you turn up interesting information about how diet during pregnancy affects lots of aspects of human health.'"
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Biz magazines spotlight the sustainability revolution | By John Elkington, Mark Lee | Grist | Full Disclosure | 27 Mar 2007
"If the business press is any indication, sustainability issues have risen up the corporate ladder and are now seen as a central challenge for companies in the coming decades.
Fortune
In its first-ever green issue, Fortune commends '10 Green Giants' -- corporations that are making impressive environmental gains. The editors decided to bypass GE and Wal-Mart, whose eco-endeavors have been heavily publicized, and instead highlight companies whose sustainability efforts have been less high-profile recently -- among them, Hewlett-Packard, Continental Airlines, S.C. Johnson, Suncor, and Alcan. While its list focused on big, mainline corporations, its cover went to an idealistic maverick who runs a 350-employee, uber-eco outdoor-gear company -- Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia.
Fortune's Marc Gunther writes in an intro to the green package that environmentalism in corporate America has gone beyond mere compliance and efficiency: 'Now we're at the threshold of a different era, one in which smart companies are trying to figure out how to profit by solving the world's big environmental problems.'
Fast Company would seem to agree. Its latest annual "Fast 50" edition -- which spotlights trendsetting companies and leaders -- features California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on the cover and lauds him for "focusing the power of the free market on major problems" like climate change and dependence on foreign oil. In fact, this year the "Fast 50" is wholly focused on companies aiming to be green or socially responsible, from NativeEnergy to EcoFish to Home Depot, which now boasts that 95 percent of its wood products come from sustainably managed forests. The issue's lead essay argues that we have to shift to Business 3.0 -- a new, socially and environmentally sustainable set of economic and business models that acknowledge "we can't continue indefinitely to cannibalize our life-support systems for spare parts.""
Fortune
In its first-ever green issue, Fortune commends '10 Green Giants' -- corporations that are making impressive environmental gains. The editors decided to bypass GE and Wal-Mart, whose eco-endeavors have been heavily publicized, and instead highlight companies whose sustainability efforts have been less high-profile recently -- among them, Hewlett-Packard, Continental Airlines, S.C. Johnson, Suncor, and Alcan. While its list focused on big, mainline corporations, its cover went to an idealistic maverick who runs a 350-employee, uber-eco outdoor-gear company -- Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia.Fortune's Marc Gunther writes in an intro to the green package that environmentalism in corporate America has gone beyond mere compliance and efficiency: 'Now we're at the threshold of a different era, one in which smart companies are trying to figure out how to profit by solving the world's big environmental problems.'
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikes - washingtonpost.com
Someone is getting smart out there... lol...
"On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.
"On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.
By the end of the year, organizers and city officials say, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1,450 stations -- or about one station every 250 yards across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere -- particularly in Lyon, France's third-largest city, which launched a similar system two years ago -- regular users of the bikes will ride them almost for free.
"It has completely transformed the landscape of Lyon -- everywhere you see people on the bikes," said Jean-Louis Touraine, the city's deputy mayor. The program was meant "not just to modify the equilibrium between the modes of transportation and reduce air pollution, but also to modify the image of the city and to have a city where humans occupy a larger space."
The Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delano?, has the same aim, said his aide, Jean-Luc Dumesnil: "We think it could change Paris's image -- make it quieter, less polluted, with a nicer atmosphere, a better way of life."
"Dr. Sigmund Freud, Dr. Wilhelm Reich
Freud is the founder of the modern study of Psychology. His main theory is that sexual frustration leads to mental and emotional illness, which manifests primarily as Frustration- Aggression Syndrome, Transferral of Guilt onto innocent others, and simple hateful jealousy against those better than ourselves.
This all carried over into Reich's works, such as: "The Murder of Christ...The Emotional Plague", which is about how we destroy those superior than ourselves, thus ending their vital ministries to mankind. Also: "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", in which the ass-kissing cowardly populace knowingly conforms to an erroneous norm, sacrificing the brave and courageous, in order to save their cowardly, dishonorable selves.
Like I always said: "They will sacrifice any Truth, no matter how sacred, on the altar of selfish and cowardly conformity. To put it into perspective: They have rejected their own Salvation, in order to protect themselves from the "puta", which is really their own irrational fear and the government to which it gave rise. I always said: Get rid of the bitch and the horse it rode in on." Because of what all of you are, I fear for the life of the world and its multitude of living creatures
This all carried over into Reich's works, such as: "The Murder of Christ...The Emotional Plague", which is about how we destroy those superior than ourselves, thus ending their vital ministries to mankind. Also: "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", in which the ass-kissing cowardly populace knowingly conforms to an erroneous norm, sacrificing the brave and courageous, in order to save their cowardly, dishonorable selves.
Like I always said: "They will sacrifice any Truth, no matter how sacred, on the altar of selfish and cowardly conformity. To put it into perspective: They have rejected their own Salvation, in order to protect themselves from the "puta", which is really their own irrational fear and the government to which it gave rise. I always said: Get rid of the bitch and the horse it rode in on." Because of what all of you are, I fear for the life of the world and its multitude of living creatures
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