My father, exceptionally healthy and fit, had a stroke two years ago.  Thankfully, he recovered, but we are still learning about some of the effects to this day.  Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for.  One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke.  As it happened, she studied and remembered every moment.  She made a video explaining her experience.  This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness, of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.  The video is just 18 minutes long, and the video and transcript are both posted on my friend’s website.  Here’s the link:

http://urbandharma.org/udharma12/stroke.html

During the hot summer months there is nothing more refreshing than iced tea.  But we really could do without the caffeine.  And when entertaining, what is more special on a summer evening than a colorful pitcher of Sangria?  But we could really do without the alcohol.  I found a wonderful recipe from our friends at Organic India for the perfect summer beverage – cool, fruity, and absolutely delicious – with the added health benefits of Tulsi, the Queen of herbs!  Here’s the recipe!

-Put 10 tea bags of either Tulsi Raspberry Peach, Tulsi Red Mango, or Tulsi Passionfruit in a pot.  Pour 16 ounces of boiling water over the bags.

-Steep 20-30 minutes, or allow to cool to room temperature.

-While tea is steeping, chop 1 small apple, 1 small peeled orange, and ½ or a lemon into bite sized pieces, or into circles, and add to tea.

-Add a handful of any or all of the following fruits: grapes, raspberries, strawberries or blueberries.

-Once tea is cooled, remove the tea bags and discard, but leave in the fruit mixture.

-Pour into a pitcher.

I like to rim wine glasses with sugar and garnish with a piece of fresh fruit.  Serve the sangria over ice, and enjoy!

Most times, at least here in the U.S., when we go in for a hug we go towards the person’s right cheek.  Maybe this is because most of us are right handed, but it seems to be the norm.  If you do the muscle testing after this hug, you’ll find that your muscle is weaker, meaning your energy level is down.  However, when we hug left cheek to left cheek instead, the muscle testing shows that we are stronger, or that our energy level is up.  Why is this?  When we hug on the right side, we’re connecting liver to liver.  Our liver is where we hold our anger, so we are actually sharing our anger with each other for a brief moment.  That weakens our energy.  On the other hand, when we hug left to left, we connect at our heart centers, where we hold our love.  So for that brief moment, we are sharing our love from that place in our hearts.  Try it, and see if you can feel the difference!

I love it when I find a site where I can have fun, learn and also do something good for the world, and that’s just what I found at www.freerice.com.  With freerice.com you play a game to improve your vocabulary.  For every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to hungry people through the UN World Food Program!  If you’re online playing games anyway, you might as well play this one.  You’ll learn some new words, and help feed some people in need at the same time!

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.  To learn more about the world hunger problem, and the solutions they have in place to help, visit their site.

Eva Longoria hasn’t hyphenated, she simply added her married name onto her own to become Eva Longoria Parker.  Ashlee Simpson chose to hyphenate and became Ashlee Simpson-Wenz.  When I re-married, I dropped my “old” married name and became a Coffey.  My friend Carolyn kept her maiden name, and her kids use her maiden name as their middle names.  Many husbands are choosing to hyphenate, and some couples are choosing to come up with a new name for themselves altogether!  We have so many options now.  So how do we know what is right for us?  My friend Kelly Utt-Grubb has become an expert on this topic, and she’s come up with a wonderful audio book that will help you make a choice you’ll feel good about for many years to come.  In the audio book, she interviews expert, including me, and real life women who have gone through the process.  If you’re getting married, or maybe are just ready for some re-invention when it comes to the name game, check out all Kelly has to offer.

According to research from the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service in the UK, our sleep positions can give us clues to our personality.  It’s the same theory as body language, but it comes through when we are in the sleep state.  Here are some examples:

Lying on your back:  (The Soldier or Starfish position)  On your back with arms at sides, this position reveals the most skin, which, points to a high degree of confidence.  You may be quiet and reserved, but you know what you want, and you set your standards high. If you sleep with your hands up you’re a good friend and listener.   
 
     
 Curled up in a ball: (The Fetal Position)  People who sleep in this position are tough on the outside, but sensitive at heart.  They may be a little guarded at first, but when they feel comfortable around someone they relax. This is the most common sleep position.  Women sleep in this position twice as often as men.
 
 Sleeping on your  side: (Log or Yearner position) These people have are open to life and new experiences.  They like meeting new people and being considered popular.  Sometimes they can be a little too gullible.  They take their time making decisions, but once they have made up their mind that’s it.       

  Sleeping on your stomach: (Freefall position) Stomach sleepers are outgoing, the life of the party.  They’re good at getting things started.  But they can also have a thin skin, and they don’t like to be criticized.  They also avoid conflict and emotional situations.

The day after Christmas Day is celebrated as “Boxing Day” in England, Australian, New Zealand and Canada.  The modern day interpretation is that this is a day to return unwanted gifts to the store and get in on the good after-holiday sales!  But the origins of Boxing Day as an official holiday date back to the middle of the nineteenth century.  Tradesmen and service people would often work on Christmas Day, and have the day after Christmas off to spend with their families.  When they left for home, their employers would give them a Christmas box filled with money, food and gifts as thanks for the reliable services they provided throughout the year.  This traditional celebration also included giving money and other gifts to charitable organizations and people in need.  Priests would open their charity boxes on this day and distribute the contents to the poor.  I like this tradition of giving.  We get so much, in abundance, over the holidays.  What can we box up and share with others who really need it?

Hopefully we will all have a little time off this holiday season. Time to rest, relax, restore our spirits. Maybe even time to do some reading! I have been traveling so much this year, and being on airplanes stresses me out. I can’t work on a plane, so I like to take a book. When it’s a good book, the time goes by quickly. I read a lot of nonfiction, so this last trip I was looking for something different, something meaningful, and yet fun; some story that would take me away from the hassles of travel and let me coast on my imagination for awhile. I went to my local bookstore to browse around, and was drawn to “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. Maybe it was the title, maybe it was that I knew I could get through it in one flight, or maybe it was the fact that the story is partially set in Spain, and I seem to have a fascination with Spain these days. Whatever the reason, I bought the book, read the book, LOVED the book! The Alchemist first came out in English in 1993, so this is not a new book, it’s just new to me. The theme could be summed up in this line from the book: “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.” If you haven’t read “The Alchemist,” I encourage you to do so. It is beautifully written, inspiring, and just magical! I bought copies for many of my friends and relatives as holiday gifts this year.

The Alchemist

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’ve got a computer, or access to a computer.  Here in the western world, we’re lucky to have computers on hand either at home or at our local library.  Computers are quickly changing from being a luxury item to a necessity.  Now there is a campaign called “One Laptop Per Child” headed up by Nicholas Negroponte, director of the media lab at M.I.T.  He wants to get a computer into the hands of every child in the world, no matter where they are.  He’s developed a super-affordable laptop called the XO, which is solar, electrical, or manually powered.  The goal is education.  Because schools and teachers are hard to come by in developing countries, these laptops are a connection to the world and a way to learn just about anything.  For a donation of just $200 One Laptop Per Child will send one of these sturdy and amazing little laptops to a needy child in a developing country.  Check out their website for all the information:
http://www.xogiving.org

Do you have the gift of gab?  If so, chances are your memory is pretty good, too.  A recent study from the University of Michigan showed that people who socialize, spend time talking with people, have sharper memories and intellect.  The more social contact, the higher the level of mental function.  This research is to be published in the February issue of Personality and Social Psychology bulletin.  We’ve often heard that doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku is good exercise for the brain, but now there is scientific proof that a simple conversation can have the same effect!  So, go ahead and pick up that phone and call a friend, spend a little time catching up with your neighbor when you’re getting the mail, engage in some good old-fashioned chit-chat as you go about your day.  Besides being good for the mind, it’s good for the spirit to connect with people, too.