Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, And My Friend Amy
One night, upon returning from a "Musica Sacra" concert at Carnegie Hall, we saw our doorman propping up against the front wall a tall, drunken young lady. Mateo (the doorman) is a small man and was in bad need of help.
"It's Amy-In 10E!" Mateo said.
Needless to say, we --my husband and I-- immediately lent the poor doorman a hand, and in no time we walked Amy into the lobby and settled her in the wooden bench right across from the reception desk. In a while, Amy sobered up a little, letting us know that she could now walk. Since Mateo could not abandon his post, we decided to accompany Amy to her apartment. The rocking motion of the old elevator must have made her sick, for an abrupt avalanche non-digested hors d'oeuvres soiled her black taffeta cocktail, divinely deep-décolletage dress and my sequined sweater and white silk pants. Even my husband's Armani tux got speckled.
The next day, Amy called.
She apologized profusely and I told her the same white lie my beloved grandfather had told me when I threw up on his new suit on Christmas Day when I was five: "Marc's tux was new and a man's suit never really hangs right until it has been dry cleaned once, Amy. My grandfather taught me that, and, as for me, I am way too messy to wear white pants without spilling something on them. Red wine this time. Not to worry, sweetie-been there done that!"
A couple of weeks went by and I forgot about the incident. I would have forgotten it altogether had it not been for my husband's eagle eye.
"Mary Patricia!" I heard my husband yelled with definite urgency. "Hurry, come see Amy."
Being addicted to the TV series "Law and Order" --and all their spin-offs-- we tape them all and watch them every day. When I reached the living room, my husband, standing, was poking at the TV,
"Right here-there she is!"
"Oh, yeah! She looks pretty. Is she a member of the jury?"
"No, she's the court recorder."
Amy was a young actress, tall, pretty, a sweet voice, and what one would call 'stage presence.' Was she from Boston? Did that well-mannered sweetness say Boston? Although we were never close friends of hers, we loved seeing Amy play many roles in TV shows. We saw her being interviewed by Oprah on a piece about struggling actors. Later in the week, billed as the nameless face you've seen in so many TV shows, we even saw her do an impromptu dance with Ellen DeGeneres. For a while, she seemed to be in every talk show and situation comedy; never a big star, but always busy.
That summer we gave an evening party in her honor.
Marc and I live in a penthouse apartment and we used to have a terrace, but I convinced my husband, the co-op board, and the city to let me seal it in. For many years, Van Johnson --a mega movie star of the fifties-- lived in our building before he moved to Sutton Place; something that made us proud of living in this building. And now that Amy's career was taking off, gave us even more reason to feel pride once again.
Amy was the belle of the party.
2
One evening as Marc --my husband-- went for his walk, he told me that he had seen Amy in the lobby and that she was a nervous wreck; that she looked bad: red-eyed, shaky hands, twitching lips. Men can be so curt. Not only do they tell you half a story, but in the next instant they turn on the news, leaving you dangling, eager for details. Try as hard as I might, I couldn't get a good idea of what he meant. But going around and around, finally between him and the TV, I got the whole story. Amy --because of her drinking-- had been fired from different shows. And that was true, for we no longer saw her in TV; at least not with the same frequency as before.
"Going through a rough patch, isn't she?" I said.
"She said she couldn't afford to live here anymore."
"Maybe she should move into one of those empty studios-temporarily," I said.
"She's broke," Marc said casually.
A couple of weeks later, since Marc was running out of his Merlot, I went to the Lexington corner store to order a case of Chilean wines that he likes so much. Amy was there. How can one miss a tall, gorgeous young lady in stretch pants, Hermes scarf casually draped, and oversized dark Coco Chanel sunglasses on top of her head. What a pity, I thought, such lovely features being ruined by booze.
Yet, an aura of class, chic, and mystery seemed to glow around her. The mystery part of the equation disturbed me a lot because I, without reason, attributed it to an unnatural dread, an impending gloom. Though I am practical woman, I'm also quite intuitive and can sense tragedy and disaster before they hit.
Amy and I chatted for a while. She intimated that her brother in Connecticut had been helping her with the maintenance payments, but that he couldn't do it anymore.
"The cupboard is bare," she said.
I admired her candor.
"Now I have to scrape some money to fly to L. A. I have a screen test next week," she said, her sweet voice cracking a bit. "It's a small role," she added. "But like Maggio for Sinatra, it could be my ticket to the big leagues."
Of course I didn't offer to help, but I was itching to. When I saw that Amy's eyes clouded with, what I took to be, frustration and despair, I must declare though, that the thought of giving her a loan crossed my mind. Filled with excitement I ran home to tell Marc about Amy's possibilities in the 'big leagues.' Naturally, my telling was laden with hints that perhaps he should open up his wallet. Marc, who has a soft spot for damsels in stress and distress, without any direct prodding, agreed quickly that we should help; monetarily, that is.
"Below that rough exterior there's a velvet heart," I said as I planted a loud kiss on his wide and ample forehead.
3
Marc called Amy and congratulated her on her screen test and asked her if we could take her out to dinner and celebrate.
"No dinner, please!"
Instead, Amy insisted that we should come to her apartment for cocktails.
"An extra pound, and there goes the screen test," she explained.
Weight, nutrition, eating well, feeling good about one's body is something I truly understand. So I spoke over Marc's voice: "Drinks is fine!"
Moments later, down we went to see her.
"What are you going to wear?" I asked Amy, my mind racing ahead, already envisioning her reading her part.
She brought out an outfit that was mostly black, way too New York in my opinion and wrong for her coloring. Launching into my favorite prattle on the power of color, especially on film, I knew I had Amy's complete attention when I told her she was a "Spring" and that black made all Springs look old.
While Marc got busy with the TV to find a soccer channel, Amy and I went to her bedroom, straight into her closet.
In a New York minute, I suggested to Amy that she wear a peach open weave Jacket, a periwinkle silk tailored shirt, a rust linen knee-length skirt that was the color of her hair, a cream Prada bag and fabulous creamy beige Chanel sling backs.
"I'd never thought of that," she said, a semi-tone of caution and doubt in her voice.
I smiled to set her at ease. "You realize this combo reflects your coloring: peaches and cream skin, bright blue eyes and auburn hair?"
Then I explained to her the concept of 'signature' to a woman, and suggested we look for some 'signature' jewelry.
She paled and gave me a distraught look.
Given her dire financial straits she had sold everything of value. I ran to the penthouse and returned with a peach pearl freshwater 18" necklace, graded for 4-8 mm and matching 7 mm studs. When she put them on, they were just perfect for her for they enhanced the exquisite peach-like texture of her angelic face.
"Now, that is elegance!" I exclaimed.
Yet a definite nervousness shone in her eyes.
"Doesn't borrowing real jewelry bring bad luck?"
"Who's borrowing," I said. "This is a gift."
Confused, she kept quiet.
"These pearls are all wrong for me. I have a pink set which are much better for me. So I want you to have them. Peach will bring you good luck."
For a second I thought she would not accept the gift. But she did.
Amy hugged me and thanked me as we ambled into the living room to join Marc.
The furniture in Amy's apartment was sparse. "Minimalist," Marc said later. Somehow I got the impression that Amy did not wish to be anchored to the place; "weighed down," would be a more apt description. Yet, her long wall in the living room had a few pieces of original art. An original graphic by Andy Warhol and a small canvas by Robert Rauschenberg caught my attention. Unable to contain my admiration I let her know how envious and covetous I felt.
"Both artists freeze time with their icons," she said, oblivious to the whisper-like quality of her voice. When she said 'freeze' it sounded more like fweeze, which again made me guess she was from Boston, where people omits r's in their speech.
"You'll be an American icon-soon," Marc (Mr. Amiability) added.
"I'll tell you how I came to own those two pieces some other time--not today."
That laconic remark made me think that perhaps such event would account for that veil of melancholy that seemed to shroud her divine countenance.
Marc is now retired from business, but during his long career, he's handled many individual and institutional investments. He's never embarrassed to talk money. So, as I expected, in no time he had the situation under control. Placing a check on the coffee table all he said was:
"This will get you to L. A. and back."
Amy nodded, and whispered what I took to be 'thank you.'
That was the last time we saw her; in person--that is.
4
A month went by and we never heard from her. One day, when I went to pick up the mail I asked Mateo if Amy had returned from L.A. Shocked and perplexed, I learned that she had moved out. Moved out! I kept repeating to myself as if the echo would somehow deny the fact. Neither a telephone number nor a forwarding address had she left with the front desk. For some time Marc and I were a little disappointed that she had scamped without saying goodbye to us. We felt sorry we had befriended her, not because of the loss of the money ($5,000) we had loaned to her, but because of the breach of trust and cruel indifference.
To add insult to injury, one day the super --a plump wide-girthed Irishman-- asked me point blank,
"When are you going to pick up that crate?"
"What crate?"
"10E left it. It's marked 'To be stored in PH.'"
The next day, one of the porters brought a crate half as tall as I was and about as wide as the door, but it was December and, up to my neck in the usual festivities. I put it away in the pine closet. But time that heals all wounds healed our wounded pride and never gave the crate another thought.
5
When the movie for which Amy had tested and gotten the part came out, Amy became an incredible success. We went to see it and Marc all but took credit for the acting performance, and with puffed up chest, much like a father who is proud of an accomplished child, he lavished praise on Amy for days on end. Other movies followed; all successful to say the least. At Oscar nights, Marc and I would see her on the red carpet posing gracefully --sweet, articulate, gorgeous-- yet melancholy. During the awards ceremonies, when the cameras panned and focused on her, Marc and I would swoon and become intoxicated with her success.
Nothing gave me more pleasure than to see Amy always wearing my pearls. She hadn't changed in that respect--she wore no jewelry other than the necklace and earrings I gave her for the screen test. That detail didn't escape my attention; and in moments of solitude I would entertain the thought that she really never forgot us. With much awe, love, and adoration we followed her career. Amy's mega star fame and success spilled over to us, for we felt that we were the partial architects of her fate.
This last year, she was nominated for supporting actress. Dressed in a Dior Periwinkle strapless chiffon with a slight Grecian drape, and my pearls, she was a vision reminiscent of Grace Kelly --the star who became a princess-- and that night we prayed fervently for her to win the Oscar, but to no avail.
"Close, but no cigar," Marc remarked with obvious disappointment in his voice.
"Next year she will--for sure, maybe she will wear an American designer," I said.
But there was no next year.
By now, newspapers, magazines, and TV, have well recounted all the gruesome bits of the accident that took her life--an insane fatal DUI. Despite the abundant coverage in the media, no written article or TV piece did ever capture that mysterious beauty that seemed to emanate not from her looks, but from her soul: the sweet lilt of her speech; the languor of her hesitant smile; the dreamy mystic stare of those who linger on visions of the other shore. She was buried in her signature periwinkle blue and peach pearls; she had not reached 30.
We were devastated.
When the torrential news cycle wore down to a trickle, Marc asked me,
"What are we going to do with that crate?"
"She had a brother in Connecticut," I said. "We could ship it to him, if we knew his address."
Amy's name was a stage name and we didn't know her real name. The managing agents for our building were useless, totally reluctant to help.
So one weekend, we opened the crate. An envelope contained a brief note:
Dear Marc and Mary:
It makes me happy to know that you love these two pieces.
Enjoy them. I never did because they came to me as part of
the division of assets of my failed and much painful marriage. My ex husband purchased them for $5,000-a long time ago! Thanks for the loan.
Amy.
The Warhol and the Rauschenberg now hang in the long wall of our living room, next to a small shrine that honors Amy's loving memory.
About the Author
Retired. Former investment banker, Columbia University-educated, Vietnam Vet (67-68).
For the writing techniques I use, see Mary Duffy's e-book: Sentence Openers.
To read my book reviews of the Classics visit my blog: Writing To Live
"Dear woman," the voice of Grandmother Growth seems to float in the deepening twilight, echoing, reverberating, ringing in the ears. "Bring me your pain. Bring me your pain. Bring your pain to me. Bring your burdens. Bring all that you can no longer bear, can no longer bear, can no longer carry, can no longer bear, can no longer be responsible for. Give it to me. Put it on. Let us pass in council together and listen to the stories your pain tells. Menopause is a journey that requires you to travel light. Heavy things - bitterness, regret, vengeance, clinging to pain - will make your tiring journey you down. Take only the stories. Leave the rest behind. Burning pain in your hot flashes. Let it leave you. This is change. Let it change you, dear wife, let it change you. "
Step 0: Do nothing
Dealing with fibromyalgia, women have less pain if they sleep in a dark room. If not possible, wear a sleep mask.
Step 1: Collect Information
Disorder in chronic pain I have called "all the ills on" when I wrote this article ten years ago, is now big news. Ninety percent of the 4 million Americans with this debilitating, frustrating condition - known as fibromyalgia - are white women, and many of them are postmenopausal.
Neither the cause nor cure for fibromyalgia is known. This is not a disease but a set of symptoms characterized by chronic widespread pain on both sides of the body, above and below the waist. (As one of my apprentices, said: "But I am not wrong in all these places at once. The pain moves. I never know where it will be next.") Some women have a low fever in addition to pain. More than half of those who suffer from fibromyalgia also headaches, endometriosis, and / or irritable bowel syndrome. The symptoms of fibromyalgia are quite variable, making diagnosis difficult. (Orthodox diagnosis is based on research of pain in trigger points). Fibromyalgia mimics aspects of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, arthritis, hepatitis C, hypothyroidism, lupus, polymyalgia rheumatica, and early dementia. Many women with fibromyalgia, it is said, their distress is "all in your mind."
It is not in your mind (alone). Menopause can leave the impression that you were beaten. Muscles respond to hormonal changes and feeling painful mood. Loss of sleep can make you pain. (Non-restorative sleep is a hallmark of fibromyalgia.) Lack of calcium (and other minerals) can make your bones pain. Whether you are facing these challenges, or the greater problem of fibromyalgia, why not give Wise Woman Ways a try? The remedies mentioned here have been remarkably successful in helping many women.
"People with fibromyalgia are not only sensitive to pain, but also find noises, strong smells, and aversion to light." - Daniel Clauw, MD, director: chronic pain and fatigue Research Center, Georgetown University
Step 2: Engage the Energy
* Having a support group is one of the most important factors keeping fibromyalgia under control. * Homeopathic Arnica is an amazing remedy for sore throat and muscle aches. Daily use of homeopathic Rhus Toxicodendron reduced pain by 25 percent in those with fibromyalgia. * Make a list of things you have angina (anger, angry) about. Where do these things live in your body? With the help of an expert bodywork, loosen the scene. Women with fibromyalgia are very likely to be survivors of trauma (sexual assault or domestic violence, alcoholism). * Return to your Mother. Floating in the ocean. Lie belly down on the earth. Naked. Let yourself ease. Let it heal you. * Listen to a relaxation tape. Ask someone to show you how to do the yoga position called the "Corpse Pose". Learn to put yourself in a deep state of mind calm and peaceful. * Hypnotherapy can help you acquire a certain degree of mental control over their symptoms. Behavior of cognitive therapy is also useful.
Step 3: Nourish and Tonify
* The use of feed infusions, especially comfrey leaf and stinging nettle, instead of coffee, tea, soft drinks and is the only thing I know to effectively mitigate and overcome fibromyalgia. * Gentle exercise - walking, yoga or tai chi practices - keeps muscles from weakening and increasingly painful. Experts suggest starting with as little as three minutes a day, and the gradual establishment of at least four sessions of five minutes each per day. Still, the reward is worth it. * Regular consumption of yogurt also proves very useful for those who have fibromyalgia. Perhaps it is because yogurt to enhance the ability to feed and immunity, some suspect fibromyalgia is the result of a malfunction of the immune system. * Magnesium is an essential nutrient for preventing pain in muscles and connective tissues. Legumes, whole grains, vegetables and feed the infusions - like nettle and Oatstraw - are the best sources. * Moxibustion is also known as acupuncture without needles. Safe and easy to do at home by yourself, moxibustion gives fast relief from sore joints and aching muscles. It not only relieves pain but strengthens, the decrease in the future pain and gradually make a "cure". You can buy a moxa "cigar" at a pharmacy or health food Oriental. Bring the glowing end of the moxa (after lighting it) near the painful area and move in small slow spirals until the heat becomes too intense. (This May take several minutes or more). Pain relief is usually immediate and often lasts for twelve hours or more.
Step 4: Stimulate / sedation
* Tinctures of willow bark or spirea (1-2 dropperfuls/1-2 ml is a dose) is strongly recommended that the green allies by women dealing with fibromyalgia. * St. Joan's wort tincture - not capsules, not the tea - is a powerful ally for women with fibromyalgia. He is one of the best muscle relaxants I have ever used. A 25-30 drop dose not only stops but also prevents muscle aches. I have used it as often as every twenty minutes (ten doses) when the occasion necessitated. St. Joan's wort prevents pain when taken after exercise, and even better if taken before. I take a dose every hour while on an airplane to prevent muscle aches and jetlag. * Regular massage from an experienced therapist stimulates the circulation of blood and energy, relieves pain, reduces fatigue and promotes rigidity. Avoid deep tissue massage, it increases the pain. The light and mild strokes Myofascial Release are most useful. Chiropractic manipulations are of little benefit. * Massage with heated stones and other heat treatments work wonders for some women. For others, the treatments work better in cold (but not too cold, and not for too long, either, please). * Ginger compresses, hot or cold, movement and encourage the mobilization of the body healing agents to act and to relieve your pain. I grate several ounces of fresh ginger into simmering water and cook gently for ten minutes, then soak a cloth in the liquid and use it as an application to the painful area. * The National Institute of Health lists fibromyalgia as one of the few conditions that acupuncture can relieve. * If an act of lying down to sleep the pain, slip into something relaxing: valerian, skullcap, or St. Joan's wort tinctures, drops to a 1 ml of one, twice if necessary .
Step 5: Use Supplements
* A study has shown little interest from those who have fibromyalgia is taken SAM-e or 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan - a precursor of serotonin). Do not use 5-HTP if you are taking St. Joan's / John's wort. * Lack of sleep can rapidly aggravate the symptoms of fibromyalgia. (See Step 0.) Confused If you sleep, melatonin at bedtime, the lowest dose you can get help in May.
Step 5b: drug use
* Oil of lavender was recommended by several women who have dealt with fibromyalgia for many years. Dilute with olive oil or jojoba and use as a rub. * Orthodox treatment of fibromyalgia relies heavily on drugs, primarily antispasmodics, antidepressants and muscle relaxants. But Celebrex, Vioxx, Valteran, amitriptyline (Elavil), fluoxetine (Prozac), vanlafaxine (Effecor), trazadone (Desyrel), alprazolam (Xanax) and cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) can affect the liver and disrupt the system immune. * Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen do not reduce fibromyalgia pain for most women. * Tramadol (Ultram) is a drug that addresses both the modification of brain chemicals and the signals from the pain of those who have fibromyalgia.
Step 6: Break and Enter
* Beware of invasive diagnostic tests. Many women say sustainable endless series of tests to put a name to their pain, without success and at the cost of physical, mental and moral. * The injection of lidocaine, a drug that temporarily numbs nerves, are effective in relieving fibromyalgia pain for some women. Injections of capsaicin (cayenne) relieve pain by destroying nerve endings.
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If you liked this article by Susun S. Weed, you want New Menopausal years Wise Woman Way available from http://www.ashtreepublishing.com.
Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to replace medical treatments. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, condition or symptom. Guidance and personal use must be provided by an herbalist or other clinical health care practitioner qualified with a formula for you. All materials contained in this document are provided for information only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation. Contact a doctor if you are deemed to need medical care. Exercise self-empowerment of seeking a second opinion.
Susun Weed PO Box 64 Woodstock, NY 12498 Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Dynamic, passionate and involved, Susun Weed has won an international reputation for his lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and vast encyclopedic knowledge of medicine plants. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and conferences are committed with enthusiasm and often profoundly provocative.
Holiday stress relief could come from banishing holidays, but there has got to be at least one holiday, maybe Groundhog day, that you like.
So maybe it is not the holiday that brings stress, but the thoughts about the holidays, and if I change the thoughts, then I change the physiology in my body, which is what stress is, right, an uncomfortable physiology in my body?
(Stress physiology happens fast, perhaps four times as fast as I can blink my eyes, and has a purpose, and it is not designed to be a habit).
Not sure about you, but when I was a little guy and school started and football started and the leaves turned colors, I felt excitement about the time of year, and looked forward to it, and as I remember delivering the Minneapolis Star Tribune on my early morning route some 50 or so years ago, I feel that same excitement. So that memory of events that happened over 1/2 century ago changes my body today.
That one half century old memory still brings the physiology of pleasure to my body, and that process is the key to holiday stress tips.
But back to the story. As a little guy, when I heard the first Christmas carol on the radio or TV, I felt excitement too, about Christmas, and that physiology was based on an anticipation of what might happen.
Our economic reality was not good, so I knew that I would not get a mountain of presents, but I still felt the excitement, and that is what we would now call eustress or good stress, linked to a positive anticipation.
I still get that tingle when I hear Christmas carols, although they start much earlier in the year now.
And then I change that positive anticipation, that eustress, to distress, by adding in many thoughts about responsibilities I know have including visits to the family and how do I keep my business moving ahead and attend to the holidays for example, and how do I handle my wife's expectations about what the holidays should look like.
For her it involves lots of family and parties and chatter,ect.
For me it involves quite contemplation, oftentimes done in private.
There is a collision of lifestyles, and when I think about hers, I feel anxious, so it is the thought of fall and fall colors and football and Christmas carols which brings an eager anticipation and the thought about large gatherings of noisy people, even though I like the people, which brings the feeling of anxiety.
Holiday Stress Relief Tip #1
Change the thought to change the feeling. And do it on a schedule.
Is there some reason that I must feel anxious more than I feel good, since it is my thoughts that bring my physiology?
No reason at all, so I believe that we should schedule our thoughts about gratitude, for example, for every five minutes, for at least two heart beats.
That way I get my body used to the idea that it can feel good, whenever it wants to.
Now this is not a rapturous, transcendent kind of pleasure, it is a quiet contentment, and I see no reason not to have it on demand.
After all, I had that kind of physiology as a kid, but got trained out of it, as I grew up.
Time to remember that I can feel a quiet contentment and still take care of my responsibilities. Feeling good is not limited to payday, or Friday before the weekend, or that special date, or TV show, it is ok to feel good anytime.
It is actually the norm for humans to feel ok, the stress response should happen when I need to move quickly into fight, flee, or freeze action, and then I should rest while the feast is cooked.
And a tool to help with this process since it is so easy to get locked into the worst case scenario mindset?
Holiday Stress Relief Tip #2
Learn heart rate variability biofeedback. Heart rate variability biofeedback is a powerful tool that gives real time feedback about how your thinking impacts your physiology, and how fast that happens too, using a computer.
As you learn how fast you can move from an affiliative, cooperative heart centered physiology, you learn how easy it is to switch back to that physiology, so your holiday stress relief is actually done heart beat by heart beat, and that is at the slow end of the scale, because you will get trained in a cue thought to use with the Freeze Frame practice that works at the speed of thought.
For example, when I first heard of Heartmath in 2000, and bought it, I created a thought where I pictured my children, Shane, and Hannah Marie, as best I could, and placed that image inside my chest next to my heart, and the brain in my heart (yes, your heart has its own nervous system) learned that it was to get itself very coherent and feel a lot of love whenever I had that thought.
So I practice that thought routinely over the course of the day, to feel love, because that feeling of love feels good and is far healthier for me than distress over their various kiddie crimes.
Why create distress unnecessarily over kiddie crimes that happened in the past, or have not yet happened?
I prefer to solve problems from a place of eustress rather than distress and heart rate variability biofeedback is the tool for eustress.
Are you an athlete seeking to perform at your peak, or a student preparing for the Graduate Records Exam, Law School Admissions Test?
Heart rate variability biofeedback is an excellent tool to open the higher perceptual centers of the brain for brainstorming.
Yes, there is Research Proof
Heart rate variability biofeedback has grown out of research in the new field of neurocardiology, which is the study of the heart's own nervous system. The heart can learn and make decisions on its own, it senses a number of things, and sends much more data up about emotional issues than the brain sends down.
So regulating your hearts coherence is a must do for holiday stress relief.
Oh, it took me all of six one-half hour practices to get a good solid feel for the process, which means I no longer need the computer to complete the eustress creation, on demand, on any given heart beat.
Want to check it out?
(Don't forget that one of the leading brain fitness gurus, Alvaro Fernandez, at Sharp Brains, rates heart rate variability as the best stress management tool).
About the Author
Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com
easter onesie all these questions in one place for a low low price?
1. do you think the problem with Big Foot is that he is blurry and its not the photographers fault? i find that frightening.
2. what type of person wants the attention that fame brings?
3. wouldn't it be cool if someone made a toothbrush that made war sounds? i mean if your going to be fighting plaque and gingivitis shouldn't you have the sound effects to go along with it?
4. do you think Scotland's shoreline is covered with Highlander statues kinda like Easter Island?
5. who runs a better record label? Slug or El-p?
6. would you buy your kid a Wu-Tang onesie? http://stores.wildchildpdx.com/catalog/wutang-med.jpg
7. what is a song that makes you happy every time you hear it?
Unicorn > Bigfoot riding Nessie
http://www.keithford.com/wp-photos/BigfootRidingNessie.jpg
1. Actually, correction Big Foot is obviously moving at a speed so fast the photographer was only able to get him more at his lowest speed, which is almost the equivalent to a pigeon flying backwards in the winter with a rocket strapped to it's back.
2. An attention whore....
3. YESSSSS, only if I get one that makes the sound effects from the 3 Stooges.... I'm just tempted to have one
4. Of course, hopefully there isn't any superstitious stuff to those though ....
5. Slug
6. Of course, I have one pre-ordered for Little Thought.
When the idea is not right, God says "No".
No - when the idea is not the best.
No - when the idea is absolutely wrong.
No - when though it may help you, it could create problems for someone else.
When the time is not right, God says, "Slow".
What a catastrophe it will be if God answered every prayer at the snap of your fingers.
Do you know what would happen? God would become your servant, not your master.
Suddenly, God would be working for you instead of you working for God.
Remember: God's delays and not God's denials. God's timing is perfect. Patience is what we need in prayer.
When you are not right, God says, "Grow".
The selfish person has to grow in unselfishness.
The cautious person must grow in courage.
The timid person must grow in confidence.
The dominating person must grow in sensitivity.
The critical person must grow in tolerance.
The negative person must grow in positive attitudes.
The pleasure-seeking person must grow in compassion for suffering people.
When everything is alright, God says, "Go".
Then miracles happen:
A hopeless alcoholic is set free!
A drug addict finds release!
A doubter becomes like a child in his belief.
Diseased tissue responds to treatment and healing begins.
The door to your dreams suddenly swings open and there stands God saying, "Go!" - Dr. Robert Schuller.
easter crafts-How to Excite Kids with This Colorful Easter Egg Craft Fit For a Gift
This project is a simple way to personalize an Easter craft project that you and your child can do together. Teachers would also benefit by having their students create this one of a kind personalized gift for their parents, grandparents, or anyone special to them. For this project an Easter gift for grandparents was created.
For this project you will first need to fill the bottom section of your plastic egg. We filled ours with a package of jelly beans, but wrapped candy, chocolates or other types of gift items, such as an Easter wash cloth or pot holder with a bag of candy or nuts would also do. Once the inside of the egg is filled, put the clear egg top on. Next, take two strands of fun fur yarn (purple & pink) long enough to wrap all the way around the center of the egg, leaving enough to tie a small bow at the top. This will hold your egg tightly in place and add visual texture. Next, remove transparent word stickers and place them horizontally across the front of the egg top. Make sure to gently smooth out any air bubbles. Next, remove sticky gems from the package and stick above or near words to add dimension and sparkle. This project is quick, yet such an easy way for your child or student to personalize an Easter gift for those they love.
Supplies:
1 large clear plastic egg with removable top (we chose a lavender base with a clear top)
1 package of sticky gems (we used purple, lavender, pink & fuchsia with an emerald style)
1 package of transparent word stickers (we chose words about grandparents)
1 package of fun fur stripes yarn in pastel colors (we chose purple & pink)
1 package of jelly beans.
About the Author
Linda Johnson is a degreed and experienced crafter and interior/exterior decorating specialist, with years of experience helping friends, family, and clients solve their decorating and craft needs. Linda and her contributing writers invite you to submit your own great ideas for free, and also find tons more craft ideas and decorating projects like this with photos to try yourself
