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.

This year I’ve been making a real effort to get green and live green in every way.  When my clothes dryer conked out I got a new, super-energy efficient washer and dryer.  The front loading washer uses just 14 gallons of water per load, compared to the top loading washer’s 40 gallons of water per load!  But you don’t have to go to the expense of new appliances to make a difference in the laundry room.  In warm weather, it’s nice to dry clothes the “old fashioned” way right outside on the line.  You can also quit buying fabric softener and dryer sheets!  Did you know that most fabric softeners are full of phthalates, chloroform, camphor and other chemicals that can cause damage to our systems?  These fumes are released through the dryer vent, and the substances from the dryer sheets stick to our clothes!  Yuck!  The solution: dryer balls!  These are terrific.  And they’re a huge money-saver, too, because they last just about forever.  A couple of these spiky rubber balls bounce around the dryer, separating out the clothes so that you don’t get that nasty static cling, and clothes are soft and less wrinkly.  Sometimes the simple solutions are really the best.

Vanilla is a popular fragrance in perfumes and bath products.  It is warm and sweet, sensual and yet innocent.  It has a reputation as an aphrodisiac, since back in the 1700’s vanilla was often prescribed by physicians to ensure male potency.  Thomas Jefferson is said to have brought vanilla to the United States when he returned from France in 1789.  Soon after that, vanilla was used to fragrance perfumes and tobacco.  Vanilla extract hit the market in the late 1800’s and that made it easy to use in the home.  Women often dabbed a bit on their wrists, or behind their ears.  Recently Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation studied the effect of various fragrances and found that mature men were most aroused by the scent of vanilla.  So now science has proven what we’ve all suspected all along , vanilla may be subtle, but it’s powerful when it comes to love and romance!

I’ve always been interested in the power that our dreams seem to have.  I have a “Dream Dictionary” in my nightstand drawer so that I can analyze some of the more interesting, or absurd, dreams that I have at times!  Our dreams often speak to us, helping us to solve problems and give us direction.  Robert Moss has written a new book called: “The Three Only’ Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination.”  Here’s what he has to say about dreaming: “Fundamentally, dreaming is less about sleep than about waking up. In much of waking life we go about like sleepwalkers, propelled by routines and other people’s agendas. In dreams, we wake up to the bigger story. The ancient Egyptians, who knew a lot about dreams, recognized this in their language. In ancient Egyptian, the word for dream is rswt, which means an awakening’.”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1577315960?tag=brightideaspr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1577315960&adid=1KN2T3PWDR1RXXSQWB5E&

The word “honey” comes from ancient Hebrew meaning “enchant.”  Honey is used as a sweetener for food and drinks, but it also has many healing properties.  “Apitherapy” is treatment with honey, and it can be used to replenish energy and enhance physical stamina.  Honey is also known to calm the mind and promote deep sleep.  Honey can relieve indigestion, and is often used to treat respiratory illnesses.  Think about how good a cup of hot tea with lemon and honey feels when you have a cough or sore throat.  And honey can also be used topically, a thin coat applied to the skin can help disinfect and heal minor skin wounds and chapped lips.  When buying honey, look for brands that have been produced by beekeepers who do not use pesticides.  There are many kinds of honey available, and the taste depends on the types of flowers from which the bees collect the nectar.  As we move into the cooler months, here’s a “recipe” for a relaxing honey bath: -Mix 2 ounces of honey in a small cup with 5 drops of lavender oil.  Stir well, then drop 2 tablespoons of the mixture under the tap to blend with warm bathwater.  Prepare for a great night’s sleep!

We are very fortunate to live in a time when great minds have the opportunity to express themselves and be heard and understood in a global arena.  This is a time, more than any other, when wisdom and knowledge can be shared. One of these great minds, who has contributed so much wisdom in his 19 published books, is Dr. Paul Pearsall.  I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Pearsall at the Maui Writer’s Conference years ago, and I was taken with his kindness, and gentleness.  I told him I was a “groupie” because I had read and loved all of his books!  One of his books, “The Heart’s Code” I refer to often because it scientifically proves how the heart “thinks.”  Dr. Paul Pearsall passed away on July 13th, 2007, two months prior to the publication of Aw: The Delights and Dangers of Our Eleventh Emotion, a book he called “his life’s work.”   Here are his own words:

If awe is such an important emotion, why is this first book to describe it?
 
Dr. Pearsall:  It’s been neglected because the pace of our modern life causes us to suffer from wide-spread ADD Awe Deficiency Disorder.  Being in awe is often something we might allow ourselves as a kind of “vacation emotion,” a brief emotional buzz when we are away from our usual toxic striving and our overwhelmed mind allows us a moment of profound awareness that there is more much, much more to life than our cluttered consciousness usually has room for.  It happens when we suddenly transition from experiencing (from the Latin meaning “to try”) to awareness (from the Greek meaning to “fully see.”). Awe has also been neglected because its complex, spontaneous, and mystical nature seems to frighten many researchers.  Until recently with the emergence of the field of positive psychology, psychology has busied itself with concerns about our negative emotions like depression and anxiety and what is worst and broken about us more than what’s best and strongest.  Studying any human emotion isn’t easy and there are many ethical considerations.  You can’t manipulate peoples emotions so you have to catch them after the fact in the field and rely on reports. Awe’ the most difficult of all of our emotions to study because you can’ put a rainbow in the laboratory or your child’ first tears of joy in test tube.  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0757305857?tag=brightideaspr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0757305857&adid=0EBJQXR3ZYEA20CTS4EK&

Microfinancing.  This is a relatively new term that means lending a small amount of money for someone to get a business going so that they can support themselves.  This is an amazing concept, and it really works.  But how do we find people to help?  Now there is a wonderful website, Kiva.org, that introduces us to entrepreneurs all over the world who are looking for loans.  You’ll read stories of start-up businesses in Mexico, Nigeria, Cambodia, Paraguay, and more.  The total loan amount may be for as little as $200, and yet it makes all the difference in the world to these people, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.  And, we may lend as little as $25, because all of those loans add up when more people get involved.  This is how it works:  First you scroll through the list of businesses in need, and see which one you would like to help out.  Then you make a loan using your credit card and the PayPal system.  You will hear back periodically from the business you sponsor with a progress report.  When your loan is repaid, you can either withdraw your funds or re-loan to a new business.  99% of the loans are repaid in full! This is a great way for us to help out, and make a little money go a long way. Kiva.org

We each are very visual creatures.  It shows up when we talk, with phrases like “I see what you mean,” and “what would that look like.My friend Michele found this great website which gives us some insight into our personalities based on our visual preferences.  It’s called your “Visual DNA and it’s really fun!  You just pick your favorites from a series of photos, and then the computer “analyzes” your choices and comes up with a profile.  You can also see how many other people selected the images that you did.  It’s very interesting, and it’s free!