Positive Thinking

I was reading an article today about how negative thoughts can blossom into broader negative feelings about one’s self. The article was specifically about weight, but I was thinking the same principle applies to everything – just fill in the blank – be it unhappiness, health, age, beauty, success or whatever else brings us a degree of unhappiness or discontent. 

Engaging in talk about a “problem” tends to blossom into broader negative feelings about oneself and adds to feelings of helplessness.

So we are encouraged to fight back feelings of lack in our lives and focus on what we do have. We are told not to focus on not feeling well, although of course if we’re ill we should seek medical attention, but we all know people to enlarge every pain in their body into something major and they want to tell us all about it!

We are advised to think “wellness” thoughts, thin thoughts, young thoughts and happiness thoughts.

Now we’ve probably heard all these things before – the power of positive thinking – but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded once in a while.

We need to focus on our strengths, what we’re capable of, the beauty of live and living. We should really try not to be so critical of our self. Know that each of us is unique; that no one else is exactly like us. And associate with positive people! Negative people have a way of dragging us down.

This was my little mind joggle today.  I need them ever so often. How about you?

A few quotes from famous people to inspire us:

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. Norman Vincent Peale

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness. Oprah Winfrey

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.Willie Nelson

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence. Helen Keller

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.Arthur Rubinstein


Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. Anthony J. D'Angelo


Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours. Swedish Proverb


Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitable bring about right results.James Allen


Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life become more secure, more fraught with action, richer in experience and achievement.Edward Rickenbacker

 Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success. Dr. Joyce Brothers

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.Denis Waitley

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not remain so if you only perceive an ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still without. James Allen

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright


There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative. W. Clement Stone

Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left. Hubert Humphrey

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.Winston Churchill

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. William Allen White

Sunday Lunch

Quiche with bacon, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers. A large pinch of Coleman's mustard powder and grated fresh nutmeg take it to another level.

Iced tea with lemon and fresh mint

Green salad of arugula and spring onions from the garden, rommaine, radishes, bell pepper, garlic, tarragon vinegar.

Love the planning, preparation and eating

but

the cleanup....not so much!

This is only what wouldn't fit into the dishwasher!

Apricot Nectar Cake with Almonds. To be glazed later with fresh lemon juice and confectioners sugar.

Happy Sunday!

Moonglow

Did you go outside to see the supermoon tonight? The moon was a bit nearer Earth tonight at the time it became visible on the horizon in the eastern sky. It looked huge! The experts tell us the difference of its nearness to Earth was small, but closest to Earth at the exact moment, or within a minute or two, of the time it became a full moon. 

I didn't need to know that to be astounded by the beauty of it. An orange ball that at times had lines of clouds across it had me almost hypnotised. I didn't want to take my eyes off it but I also wanted to get these pictures. Used my iPhone with the Instagram app for different effects.

If you didn't see it, pictures are a somewhat poor substitute for the real thing, but I think they turned out relatively nice in almost darkness.

Enjoy!

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~Vincent Van Gogh



 

Special Things

Both our dogs are Golden Retrievers, but each looks totally different. Kris is light, Valerie is reddish. Both are rescued Goldens from the Retriever Association. Absolutely delightful dogs. I sometimes think rescued dogs make the best pets. In some ways, they seem appreciative of their new found forever homes.

Kris, giving his sad look (or is it a guilty look?) Special effect with Instagram

Valerie, Queen of the House



It really isn't appropriate to call precious pets "things" because they are truly members of the family.

Valerie, left, and Kris take a break in the kitchen. Waiting for dinner!

Two of my favorites things are blooming in the garden


Gardenia "August Beauty." I keep eight potted plants in the sunroom during winter months, so small buds had already begun to form when I brought them outside several weeks ago. I believe I may get a "bumper crop" of blooms this year. Smells so good! Bring it on!

The majestic Southern Magnolia. Here's a bloom just beginning to open. Even a few  perfume the entire garden at dusk. Their thick, creamy white petals feel like velvet to the touch.




Blogger is not cooperating tonight. I had more images to upload, but couldn't make it happen.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Responding to Unwanted Questions

We've all been there. Someone asks you something you don't wish to share creates a very uncomfortable situation. And we all know someone who only seem to be satisfied when they are probing into the personal lives of others, i.e., ours.

If you don't know anyone like this, then maybe you haven't been living long enough or you are a complete hermit. The point here is that there are simply people in this world who do not know how to honor others' "territorial bubbles." Most of the time, the nosy people of the world are those closest to us, co-workers, friends, family, etc.; they are not generally strangers off the street.

We are not the type of people who gain pleasure out of hurting others' feelings. So this means that we must find a delicate way to both protect our privacy---and let the person know that he/she has crossed the line. Some may say that these methods are socially impolite. But alas, there are ways to defuse the nosy energy of the people whose paths you cross everyday.

If you are like me, you think later about what you SHOULD have said and want to kick yourself for not being quick enough. The one tactic I try to always remember to us is respond with a question to them. "Why do you want to know" works great. Puts the focus back on them. This is a good one to remember for those times when every other response possibility has taken a vacation from our brains.

Another way is to respond with humor or an outrageous response. For instance, if someone asks you how much you weigh, you could say, "Well, why don't I just tell you all my secrets." Or asks your age, you could say,"Old enough to know better than to tell you," or some clever response as appropriate. Pretty dress; what size is it? could be answered with, "is your next question going to be asking the size of my underwear?"

"When are you getting married," could be answered with, "Oh, I was married six months ago. The wedding was a fabulous event. All our best friends were there." Now that would leave them gaping!

Or how about "when are you going to start your family?" This may one of the most sensitive of all questions that nosy people ask. It could likely create a great deal of hurt for a young couple having difficulty conceiving a child. I am sort of stumped on what the response should be on this one. Humor? Probably not. Ourtageous response? I don't think so. Maybe just a glaring stare at the person asking the question would be the best non response.

We don't have to be "mean" to people in order to let them know what your boundaries are. These dialogue examples may be wrong for your circumstances. But you can certainly choose "milder" versions of these methods in order to gently convey that you won't tolerate questions which are too personal. At times, people are oblivious to the effect that their actions have on us. But if our personal space is compromised by someone's questions, it is definitely within our right to let him/her know this.

Do you deal with people who ask you questions you would rather not answer? How do you deal with them?

Catch 22

Is the phrase “Catch 22” part of your vocabulary? It is mine. I wonder how many of us use it but don't know where it originated.

Well, perhaps most people of the baby-boomer generation know where the term originated, but the phrase is popular with many of the young set as well.

Fifty years ago, this new phrase began to make its way into American conversations: "Catch-22." Joseph Heller's irreverent World War II novel — named for the now-famous paradox — was published on Oct. 11, 1961. His take on war meshed perfectly with the anti-authoritarian generation that came of age in the 1960s. And half a century later, the predicament of a “no-win trap” still resonates with a new crop of young people distrustful of their elders.

The following information is from National Public Radio:

In August 1944, Heller flew on a mission over the French town of Avignon. Sitting in the plexiglass nose cone of a B-25 bomber, Heller faced the very real possibility of death for the first time. That mission, says Heller biographer Tracy Daugherty, shaped the way Heller thought about war, a sensibility that permeates his novel.

"After that mission over Avignon, Heller really understood that this is not an abstraction," Daugherty says. "They are out to kill me personally, and he didn't like it — and Yossarian, Heller’s creation in the novel, doesn't either."

Yossarian an everyman soldier who is trying as hard as he can to get out of the war. But the more he tries, the more he is caught in the famous catch: "Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy," Doc Daneeka, the Army physician, explains.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. [Bomber pilot] Or was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions.

When Catch-22 was first released, it wasn't universally well-received. Until then, books about war tended to be serious works, often tragic in tone. Heller's war was a black comedy, filled with orders from above that made no sense and characters who just wanted to stay alive. The novel seemed to offend some reviewers. The New York Times called it an "emotional hodgepodge." But other critics took on the book as a cause.

By the time Catch-22 came out in paperback, the word of mouth was more positive than negative and the book became a best-seller. But Daugherty says it was more than just the praise of critics that turned the tide in its favor.

"Really what turned the tide I think was that the Vietnam War began to heat up and was more and more in the news, and Heller's book seemed to prophesy what was happening," she says.

The young people who took to the streets to protest the war embraced Catch-22. Heller may have based the novel on his own experiences in World War II, but the voice that emerged captured the tone of a new generation that had lost respect for authority and refused to take anything at face value.

"What was being stated publicly [in the mid-1960s] was clashing so obviously with the images we were seeing on our television screens," Daugherty says. "And so I think in a large sense, the entire culture began to distrust language. We were being told one thing and seeing another, and there's the paradox. That's the heart of Catch-22."

Catch-22 is a concept everyone can understand. That's why it so quickly became part of the language — a phrase to be called upon when there seems no way out of the traps life can set for you and when humor really is the best response. And that is why the book has endured.

Is the phrase “Catch-22” part of your vocabulary? Have you read the book? I read it years ago and now I want to read it again!

A Dose of Hadacol

Today while riding in the elevator with three of my fellow employees, one mentioned she wasn’t feeling up to speed. When I replied, “sounds as if you need a dose of Hadacol” I got a blank stare from the other two.

What is Hadacol, one asked. The person I directed the comment to said she knew what it was, as she had heard of it from her grandmother.

We gave the other two a short synopsis: Hadacol was a patent medicine marketed as a vitamin supplement. Its principal attraction, however, was that it contained quite a bit of alcohol, and people were apt to take it for “whatever ailed them.”

"Need a dose of Hadacol" was a term I heard old-timers use when I was growing up. It was a saying passed down and became synonymous with any panacea or "cure-all" of dubious origin.

I wanted to know more so I did a bit of research and here are some additional details I learned:

Hadacol contained 12 percent alcohol, listed on the label as a “preservative,” which made it quite popular in the dry counties of the southern United States. In case you are not familiar with what a dry county is, that’s where the sale of alcoholic beverages is illegal, as opposed to “wet” counties where it is. There remain, in the South at least, wet and dry counties to this day.

It also contained B vitamins and minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphorous and dilute hydrochloric acid, which the maker claimed allowed the formula to be absorb more easily into the body. A small bottle of Hadacol normally sold for $1.25. The recommended dosage was 1 Tablespoonful four times a day. It was marketed through a multi-pronged campaign that included old-time traveling medicine shows, traditional advertising, comic books, and jingles.

Hadacol was the product of four-term Louisiana State Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc of Louisiana. He was not a medical doctor, or a registered pharmacist, but had a strong talent for self-promotion. Time magazine once described him as "a stem-winding salesman who knows every razzle-dazzle switch in the pitchman's trade".

LeBlanc conceived the idea that became Hadacol in New Orleans, when he injured a foot. He asked a doctor to give him medication for pain: then he found that what the doctor gave him was a B-vitamin elixir, which he proposed to duplicate with a few changes and market it to a mass consumer market.

While those who used Hadacol often reported that it relieved their symptoms, the United States Food and Drug Administration found no evidence to support LeBlanc's claims, and he was obliged to withdraw them.

LeBlanc made millions on his snake oil before he sold the company to a cancer research organization, which quickly discovered the Hadacol company was deeply in debt, and that they, not LeBlanc, were responsible for paying off the creditors. There have been two unsuccessful attempts to resurrect the product.

Hadacol was the subject of several Country, R&B and Cajun tunes of the time, such as "Hadacol Boogie" which was covered by a number of musical acts, notably Bill Nettles and His Dixie Blue Boys and, more recently, Jerry Lee Lewis.

This is likely more than you wanted to know about Hadacol. But I thought the story behind the product was so interesting!