�Who Says You Can�t Teach an Old Dog a New Trick or Two�

So what is it that brings celebrities across the Atlantic to voice their concerns in regards to the harvesting of seal pups, but prevents them from voicing their concerns to protest the plight of child exploitation in the mines and the Coca plantations of Africa.

I don’t know? But I’d hate to think that those poor little seal pups have a greater value to our society than African slave children.

But then again maybe it’s easy to protest seal pup killings because seal skin doesn’t interfere with the luxuries of life that we’ve worked hard to indulge in. Or maybe access to the children suffering on the coca plantations and in the mines is to dangerous. Or maybe it’s something else – in any case it appears out of sight out of mind.

My suggestion for this Christmas season would be to weigh out your options prior to buying a piece of chocolate or contemplating the purchasing of a precious gem – maybe it’s time we stand up and say no (COMMERCE RULES ALL) or maybe we look to balance our happiness in helping and giving as opposed to wanting and having. Far too often one man’s luxury comes at another man’s expense.

So don’t be a silent contributor – if you have some spare time at least look at the other sides of luxury before you choose to contribute.

Coca Plantations – http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1208/Child-labor

Children and Tanzanite Mines – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geQrt1LDvu8

Diamonds – 4 Parts – Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aenFOPbBvQo

Greed Kills – http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGeXdv-uPaw

Lesson 36

Reflections on life based upon the book “God Never Blinks – 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours” By Regina Brett

Growing Old Beats the Alternative. Dying Young Looks Good Only in Movies.

Whenever I call to say hi and ask my friend Ed, “How are you?” he always gives me the same answer: “I’m old.”

Turn 50 and Hallmark dresses your birthday in black and declares you over the hill in cards, banners, shirts, balloons and stickers. Turn fifty and you are officially an antique…

So there you have it – we are branded and I didn’t like it! That is why I wrote the book Your Second Fifty, started this blog and started an online magazine yoursecondfifty.com.

Simply put our second fifty has more potential than our first fifty. No live at home kids – in most cases – meaning less responsibility. We are twice as smart as we were in our twenties. We can appreciate the small things in life and other than being held prisoner by our possessions – which we could dump at any time and run – we are free.

On my fiftieth birthday I jumped on a plane and flew to Thailand to teach English. I had had enough of my houses owning me. Of living the expected normal life of finish school, get a job, get a car, get a girl, get a kid, get a house, get grand kids, get a pension, get older and get dead.

I wanted to live and live is what I did. I helped at 3rd world hospices and learned to value the gifts that I had never considered gifts before – breathing, walking, talking, just to name a few. I helped little children learn English so that they could communicate with people from other countries. But most importantly I found me. A soon to be 57 year old goofy guy – not afraid to try and fail – not afraid to walk through the doors of uncertainty and finally after all these years a guy that now understands that the only happiness in getting – is the happiness of providing others with an opportunity to give. It’s all in the giving!

And I wouldn’t trade anything to be a day younger – in fact like Regina – I look forward to living each of my remaining years one day at a time (43 if my books any good – but hey maybe by then I can write a new one – Your Third Fifty haha).

“You can use most any measure when you speak of success;

It’s the way your son describes you when he’s talking to his friend.”

Author Unknown

As human beings it’s natural to think how any and all situations affect us – First! Yes we are selfish beings by nature and that’s OK – it’s a survival tool. However it doesn’t mean we must always act upon our first thought. We do have a choice.

As a parent we are provided with an opportunity to learn the gift of wisdom and love by considering the impact our actions will have on others and then based upon those options, act accordingly.

So what happens if as a parent we slipped up and made a few to many selfish decisions in our past? No Problem! The great news is that it’s never to late to make amends and reestablish positive, productive, healthy relationships with our families if harm has been caused – all it requires is a little give and a lot more give – that’s love give, give, give.

As for myself – I’m a lucky guy – I’ve worked hard and have established a good relationship with my father and he has worked hard and has established a good relationship with me. As for my sons – same – same! In fact today I’m lucky enough to be able to go watch Kung Fu Panda 2 with two of them, and their ladies. The other two well, we’ll just have to Skype it (today’s technology certainly is wonderful when it comes to maintaining a solid family connection.)

Oh by the way – Kung Fu Panda —- MY CHOICE – I guess I still have a ways to go haha!

Lesson 24

Reflections on life based upon the book “God Never Blinks” 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours” by Regina Brett

Start Saving 10 Percent for Retirement as Soon as You Get Your First Paycheck.

In this lesson Regina discusses her early views on saving for retirement and her misunderstanding of the bible quote, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” In fact her neighbour tried for years to get her to invest in a 401(k) but she refused to trust others with her money.

From there Regina discusses the book The Wealthy Barber and in particular the story of the twins and how when they were 22 years of age one invested $2,000 for 6 years then stopped and the second twin waited seven years and then deposited $2,000 a year for 37 years. At age 65 they both went for dinner and asked each other how much they had saved – both had saved $1,200,000.00. “Bottom line: start saving for retirement now and leave the interest alone to collect interest.”

Ok so those reading this are likely over fifty – BUT we do have kids and grandchildren and that we can guide pertaining to these principles.

Of course there is one other valuable lesson we can teach as well and that is, what you want is not always what you need – impulse buying bequeaths useless clutter. When the urge hits – deposit

In China back in the 1970’s most of the people were isolated from the world with no outside TV or news. China decided to enter ice dancing in the Olympics and called upon a boy named Yoew Bin who grew up skating.

The Chinese started training couples for entering the skating competition. Because of the isolation of China, they only had to go by some imported newspaper clippings and what their inexperienced coaches knew.

Even though they were rusty they left China for the first time to enter the World Championships. There was not enough money for the coaches to go so they went alone, not knowing anything about the world outside China and only speaking Chinese. Their skating was terrible in competition and they fell many times. The crowd laughed at them as they left the ice. Yeow Bin left the ice dejected but determined.

Over the next 30 years he became a coach and with great determination he developed the Chinese ice skaters into world-class competitors.

Shen and Zhao were his skaters that he trained in China over the last few years and planned on entering them into the 2006 Olympics. But the male skater had an accident 2 years ago and cut his Achilles tendon in two. He had surgery to repair his tendon and many people doubted he would skate again. He continued to train as best he could with his foot in a cast. The couple trained and practiced hard. Zhao had to get a special ice skate shoe big enough to support his repaired heel.

They entered into 2006 Olympics and Monday night won third place Bronze.

Yeow’s other skating team was Zhang Hao and Zhang Dan. They were a dynamic couple with very good jumps. They decided to try what had never been done in Olympic history: a quadruple salchow. Monday night he threw Zhang Dan into the air for this never been done jump. She landed wrong and crashed to the ice damaging her left knee. She could barely stand after sliding into the retaining wall. She was helped off the ice where she was checked over by coach Yeow Bin. After a few minutes they decided to try and finish their performance and pickup where they left off. They skated carefully for the next part of their routine and finished the rest of their performance flawlessly to the standing ovation of the whole coliseum. Even with the fall, they won second place receiving the silver medal. Many couples would have quit after such an embarrassing and painful fall.

And then there was the Russian Couple Totmiyanina and Marinin.

They had an accident 1 year ago in competition when during a hand lift move his skate caught an edge. Marinin fell to the ice hitting her head and knocked unconscious. She was put in the hospital a few days where she regained consciousness. He was devastated and lost all of his confidence. Many skaters would have quit after such a tragedy. They gradually skated simple moves and advanced back to jumps and lifts.

Monday night they skated their best and won the Gold.

All three of these couples over came setbacks, hardships, and physical pain.

There is a Chinese saying: The strong and beautiful tree of success grows from the seedling of failure and struggle. You will only achieve your goals by hard work and determination.

Lesson 9

Reflections on life based upon the book “God Never Blinks” 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours by Regina Brett

The Most Important Sex Organ Is the Brain.

In this story Regina discusses her relationship with her husband and how he seduced her through intellectual kindness. She goes on to discuss how he didn’t want to have sex until they had had The Talk or in other words not until they had experienced intimacy in a platonic manner. She concludes, “When it comes to sex, the most important erogenous zone is between your right ear and your left ear.”

At 56 I totally get what Regina is saying here, however in my past sex had more to do with instinct, releasing stress and filling the emptiness.

Does it make one option a better choice than the other – I think not – it only matters that the two consenting adults enjoy each other’s company. What we get out of it, each to their own.

1.  Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.

3.  When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, but also to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet to eat more adequately and healthy, 4-5 times/day and by including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy  involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells  also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract.  Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat, like chicken. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of  80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an  alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12.  Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14.  Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells.  Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15.  Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.  Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

ALSO IMPORTANT

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at CastleHospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

The other day I went into McDonald’s with a friend of mine. Ok I can’t say I’m a huge fan of fast food, but I have always been a fan of McDonald’s. In the past it was because of the efficiency of the people and the operation, but as of late it is more so because of their hiring policy.

I like the fact that McDonald’s hires, people with disabilities, seniors and minorities. Now you can say all you want about lower wages etc. but the proof is in the pudding – they do it.

Back to the other day.

When we walked in and up to the counter – (Yes I love the McFlurry) we were greeted by a young man in his early twenties that appeared to face a number challenges.  He was very caring and polite and his manors were exceptional when he brought my friends food to the table. But what really caught our attention was the fact that he kept looking out the window.

In fact it wasn’t long before both of us were looking out the window as well, but no one or nothing appeared. That was until minutes before we left and in walked a young lady with a beautiful, happy little baby boy.  We immediately realized what he had anxiously been awaiting. The smile on this proud dad’s face and the love that flowed between the three of them was something right out of a story book and you know without McDonald’s hiring policy this story may not have had such a lovely ending.

A few months back my buddy had a heart attack. It was pretty serious and it was touch and go for a while there. He has always been a hard worker, with a bit of a short fuse, but all in all a great friend.

What I’m getting at is that for years he was completely focused on his immediate goals and needs. Rarely had time to visit his kids; worked hard dawn til dusk and pushed himself intensely.

Well, I had the opportunity to spend time with him over the past week and while he’s still the same great friend – the heart attack has changed him and it’s a good thing.

He told me he’s no longer going to bust his butt for an extra buck in the bank, he’s going to appreciate life for what it has to offer. He’s going to be more available for his family and he’s going to enjoy each day to the best of his ability. AND he’s doing it!

BUT the coolest part was watching his self discipline and emotional control. The doctors told him not to push his heart over 90 BPM, so every time it reached that level no matter what he was doing he stopped. He accepted the doctor’s advice and he works with it – not against it. He also controls his emotions by accepting the frustration that his normal speed of 200 MPH is no longer attainable or at least right now and he lives with it and doesn’t fight it.

In any case, if you think that this type of behavior is easy to attain or is an obvious forgone conclusion that everyone just does it because they need to – just look in the cemetery. It’s tough to give up old ways regardless of what the implications might be.

I rarely discuss religion in a public forum, but this needs to be addressed by everyone in the West – well at least in my opinion.

Right now 1/5 of Pakistan is under water and 97% of Pakistani people are Muslim. The country that is providing the most humanitarian aid is the USA and that is the best way to fight terrorism.

Really, if the West is seen as the good guys in this situation, they win the support of the masses over there, and that needs to be promoted.

Then it can be taken a step further. Just think if the US military allocated one minute of their annual defense budget towards education in an Islamic 3^rd world country like Indonesia – they could provide quality education for every child for one year.

Sure we will never be able to stop the current Islamic extremists, they’ve already been brain washed or should I say suffer from a lack of education. BUT if the Western World were to educate the children, and show them the West are the ones who are in fact improving their lives they would over time, certainly have enough education to question some of the misleading or inaccurate age old doctrines that now, appear to go unchallenged.

And if you don’t think things will change with improved education, just look back at our Christian based history. In the 1950’s women here may not have worn hibayas, but they certainly weren’t treated as equals either. Check out the Guidelines for a 1950’s Housewife.

Oh ya one last thing. The Muslim people fighting for a mosque at Ground Zero in New York (if anything it does raise questions) are creating a great deal of negative press at a time that millions and millions of fellow Muslims in Pakistan don’t need it. Again it is the US (predominantly Christians) that comes to the aid of Muslims in crisis – just look back at the tsunami in Indonesia – the USA gave $902,000,000 where all Muslim countries together only gave $177,500,000.00 – not even one quarter.

This is a story I think needs to be told.