Our 3-Ds and Glad Living

Live longer and live better by nurturing and protecting the health of your 3-Ds every day.

Belated Happy New Year and Keeping Resolutions.

I am late in wishing everyone a Happy New Year! I believe I am right on target for a timely discussion about keeping your resolutions this year being that it is the second week of January 2010 though. Around December 31st each year, many of us make those traditional resolutions for what we are going to accomplish in the year ahead. Some common New Year’s resolutions include, losing weight and getting fit, quitting smoking, getting a better paying job or pursuing a degree, gaining control over finances, improving relationships and finding love. The motivation to keep the resolutions you make traditionally wanes mid-February, if not within the first two weeks of a new year. The following tips may help you to keep yours this year.

Know why you made them.

Did you just choose something at random because all of your friends or co-workers were sharing theirs and you felt that you had to come up with something to say you would be reaching for this year too? If you did, it is okay to just forget them now and not bring them up in conversations with the people who heard your New Year’s resolution(s). Don’t worry; you will not be the only one doing this. Many of those who sounded so sure of the pledges they made for the new year have already or will soon be dropping those goals and hoping that no one asks them how they are coming on them. Why is there such a high failure-rate for the promises made at year’s end? Because you have to really, want to make a change or changes in your life in order for you to stay motivated and to take the necessary steps to make them lasting.

Plan to succeed or doom yourself to fail.

Wanting your life to be different requires more than just wishing it to happen. The desire to set a new course for your life will not have any legs to stand on and the power to propel you to the finish line without a well thought out plan to guide you along the way. Write down or type a plan of action for yourself instead of relying on your mind to remember why you want to make whatever change(s) you have chosen and how to go about doing that. We humans have an amazing ability to manipulate our own minds into selective memorization. This means that when the going gets tough many of us will simply tell our minds to forget this whole -let’s make changes in our lives thing and move onto easier and more enjoyable things. Change can be difficult and scary. Having a written plan outlining the steps you need to take to get to the place where you want to be in your life, can help you to stay on track and progressing towards meeting the goal or goals you have set for yourself.

Right-sizing goal(s) is important.

Dreaming the impossible can be lots of fun and quite entertaining. Trying to make them come true can be a nightmare and leave you feeling like a failure even though no one else could achieve such lofty dreams either. The odds of winning the lottery and never having to work again are staggering. It would be wiser to save your money now and perhaps retire comfortably later on. Very few people become famous movie stars and Hollywood celebrities without superb talents and strong industry connections. Honestly, assess your present skill-set and talents, and weight that against whatever it is that you are looking to achieve. Can you do it? Would you be able to if you took some college courses or attended some training seminars to give yourself a broader set of skills? Big dreams can come true if you give them everything you’ve got to make that possible. Maybe you have chosen a goal(s) that you can achieve with hard work yet it seems overwhelming in its totality, causing you to doubt your own abilities. In this case, you need to separate a large goal into smaller segments of the steps you need to accomplish in achieving your goal(s) and stop looking only at how big or how long it may take you to meet a goal. You will feel a sense of accomplishment as you check off each smaller segment of your goal and that will give you the momentum to continue working until you have completed a goal(s) in its entirety.

I am hoping that I can stick to my resolutions for this year so that I will not find myself repeating them again come December 31, 2010. I hope all of you will be able to keep yours as well. Feel free to share the goals you have set for yourself for 2010 and to come back and give us all updates on your progress too.

Happy Holidays

🎄 Wishing you and yours a  merry and bright holidays!!!

HINI (Swine Flu) Declared National Emergency

Over the weekend, President Obama declared a national emergency as the HINI virus has now spread to 46 US states and claimed 1000 lives thus far. Widespread shortages in the availability of the HINI vaccine around the country has resulted in long lines outside health clinics and mounting frustration for parents of the young children who have emerged as the most at risk group from this virus wanting to vaccinate and protect their children. Health experts admit that the production of the HINI vaccine dosages has been slower than originally projected, however they are quick to assure the public that the vaccine will be widely available by mid-November.

If you are among the many people who are waiting for the vaccination to become available in your area there are things that you can do to reduce your risks of exposure to the HINI virus.

· Cough/sneeze into your elbow and not into your hands. This goes against the longstanding advice most are familiar with to cover your mouth and nose with your hands whenever you cough or sneeze. This practice prevents bacteria expelled from the nose and mouth from ending up on your hands and either re-entering your body when you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, or from contaminating the surfaces and other people that you come into contact with around you.

·Frequent hand-washing with antibacterial soap and very warm water, as well as using hand sanitizers in gel form or wipes, is also recommended for reducing your exposure to the HINI flu virus. Sanitizer wipes tend to be more practical for younger children while teens generally find hand sanitizing gels more practical for them. Wash your hands after any possible exposure to HINI germs such as touching surfaces, handling money, or shaking hands with someone.

·Some people are pushing the ‘elbow-bump’ as the newest and safest way to greet someone else. This may not always be possible or appropriate in a business setting. In business and social settings today with everyone aware of the HINI pandemic it is acceptable to carry and use hand sanitizers after shaking hands to protect yourself from this deadly virus.

·Do not re-use tissues. Throw away your tissue after a single use and get a fresh one to avoid re-introducing germs back into your body that your immune system and body has already worked hard to get rid of.

·Avoid enclosed areas lacking proper ventilation with people in them wherever possible. Offices and other work spaces, restaurants, meeting places, as well as classrooms all need good ventilation to reduce the spreading of the HINI virus from person to person. Certainly if you or your child is sick with HINI, stay home until you have not had a fever for at least 24hrs without using fever-reducing medications, and do not expose others to the virus.

·Do your best not to panic over the presence of HINI this flu season. Top health experts have staid that there will be enough vaccines available in just a few weeks for everyone wanting the HINI flu vaccine. Media coverage of the HINI pandemic is sure to expand as confirmed cases of HINI grows and the government’s health department and health organizations issue new warnings to the public on how they can protect themselves from this deadly flu virus.

Stay healthy!