Universal Terms of Surrender

falling girl.jpg

This is the third time I’ve attempted to write this post.  Each time I’ve written it it mysteriously deletes itself or doesn’t save properly.   So...the Universe is asking me to practice what I preach (or post) with this one.

Surrender is one of those words that I believe has been deeply misunderstood in the English language.  Typically, it’s been used in conjunction with wartime to denote a loss on the battle field or a relinquishment of sovereignty.  When did we remove all of the beauty from this word and from this state of being?

I first connected to the word in a different way in relation to the qualities of the Divine Feminine.  Regardless of physical gender, we all have masculine and feminine qualities within, or yang and yin for those familiar with Eastern philosophy.  Surrender, along with the element of water, flow, the moon, compassion, creativity, nurturing and "being" is typically associated with the Mother principle, or divine feminine (yin) in Eastern spiritual traditions.  The masculine, Father principle (yang), is typically described as the active, linear, steady and "doing" force and is associated with the element of fire and the sun.

So surrender in the spiritual sense has a different meaning than the "rolling over" or "giving up" aspect we might associate with it.

The word surrender when we perceive it in a different way comes with a connotation of great strength rather than great weakness.  Surrender is the state of openness to the unknown, in which we cannot know what comes next in our lives but can allow each moment to stand exactly as it presents itself to us.  Surrender asks us to release our expectations about what’s next, to release our tight grip over control, and to allow a flow to take hold in our lives.  There is courage in facing exactly what appears.  True surrender doesn't shield one from difficulties or negative outcomes.  It simply asks us to accept that we can’t know or control each moment in the context of a broader orchestration or larger divine dance.

Surrendering to the possibilities around us at any moment contains an element of fear.  If I surrender to all of the unknown possibilities in this moment, it could mean that I could face some danger from which I won't recover.  But in the act of closing ourselves off to the anxiety of feared consequences, we often shut our emotional systems down to positive sensations as well, like love, pleasure, excitement, joy, and calm.

Sometimes we spend so much of our mental and emotional resources trying to predict or prevent small or large shake-ups in our lives that we lock away our energy into narrowly focused worries.   And we don’t realize that often these worst moments, when they happen, are the ones that end up defining us the most, unlocking the hidden resources and paths we didn’t before see.

Reconnecting to the flow in my life has required some extreme rewrites and redirects.  An ill-advised cleanse which landed me in the ER seven years ago led to a dietary overhaul and a search for answers through alternative medicine.  Quitting a job (that I thought I would love) eight months into a three year contract gave me the fire in my belly to eventually work for myself.   A jarring kundalini awakening five months before my graduation date led to an exploration of spirituality and energy healing.  For me, these moments of painful and unplanned surrender were unwelcome at first, but they represented the beginnings of a much larger and more rewarding healing journey.

The lesson of the Divine Feminine is that from our place of greatest struggle and pain comes our greatest potential and possibility, our greatest inner resiliency, if we can only open and let go.  The true face of surrender is not giving up.  It is allowing the freedom to feel all of ourselves without contraction and having the courage to release what needs to go and invite what wishes to flow.


Immune System Development

Your immune system is your body’s defense mechanism against harmful pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasitic worms, etc. The system is an interactive combination of various ways in which the body recognizes foreign cells, tissues and organisms and proceeds to fight them. The body system is your own, silent intelligence network and private army that identifies harmful organisms and destroys them throughout your life.

The immune can be of two types: Innate and Acquired. All livings beings are created with an auto-immune system or innate immune system. However, while some people are born with a strong immunity, others have to develop it. This is acquired or adaptive immunity. If you need to acquire better immunity, the following practices can strengthen and reinforce it.

1. Good Diet

All things related to the body start with healthy nutrition consisting of a well-balanced diet. Your immune system is also directly affected by the food you eat. Making some foods part of your staple diet can work wonders for your immune system. Citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, tangerines, grapefruits); berries, particularly strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries; papaya and kiwi are very potent immunity boosters.

Certain vegetables have ingredients, which can considerably enhance the potency of your resistant system. These are carrots, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, and onions. Even ordinary spices like turmeric, garlic, and ginger have medicinal properties that can toughen weak immune systems. Yogurt, almonds, flaxseeds, and mushrooms are some other foodstuffs, which can boost your immunity considerably.

2. Good Sleep

Proper rest and sound sleep can perform miracles on your mind and body. It is common knowledge that fatigue, stress, and anxiety have a negative impact on health. Intense stress and fatigue trigger a hormonal imbalance that can wreak havoc on your body with far-reaching consequences for your body’s immunity and the diseases you may be exposing yourself to.

Stress may even lead to loss of sleep, becoming a vicious cycle, which can be catastrophic. Hence, learn to worry less and never compromise on your sleep, however busy you may be. We would do well to follow the old dictum of “early to bed an early to rise”. Make sure you get your minimum daily sleep quota of 8 hours.

3. Reduce Stress

Exercise and physical activities are good stress busters. They are significant contributors to building better immunity. Physical exertion lowers the level of stress hormones in the body, thus enhancing your immune system. Another stress-preventer is meditation. Apart from keeping you mentally healthy, it also increases the body’s resistance to various bacteria, viral illnesses, and infections.

Spending quality time with your loved ones, being cheerful and having a positive attitude diminishes worries and keeps stress at bay. Stress has no place in the workplace either; you can take short breaks or go on annual vacations to revitalize yourself. Remember this mantra: The lower the stress, the stronger your immunity.

4. Lifestyle Habits

Smoking and alcohol consumption is bad news for the body but they can be particularly harmful to your immune system as well. What’s more, the dangerous pathogens present in them can actually weaken a strong immune system.

So, try and quit smoking and drink only socially if you want to fortify your body with a strong immune system. Trying to quit smoking may seem difficult, but if you consider how much more potent you can make your immunity, it’s well worth trying. All the best!

The Office Visit Ritual

The office visit is repeated in the clinics of millions of practitioners every day across America. In some offices 15 minutes is allotted, in others 20. Doctors who see fifty people a day must schedule about 8 minutes. If anything slows down the process, an elderly person, a talkative person, someone who needs translation or just needs to go to the bathroom the delicate mechanism is smashed as if by the fist of a storm giant. Somehow she must catch up; there are people in the waiting room getting mad and if something isn’t done the physician will face a whole day of angry patients forced to wait too long. No matter how she looks, in her head a little voice is whispering”hurry up hurry up”. Last month she did not meet her RVU target and she is facing a big salary cut.

In the first part of the visit, the caregiver stands outside the door and tries to confirm where she is on the computer schedule to make sure she clicks the right patient. Theoretically she knows him as this is not a “new patient visit”, but if the wrong computer chart is entered it can lead to catastrophic results. The dreaded “what are you talking about, I didn’t have a mammogram”or “Fill my Flexeril prescription? The only medication I take is Synthroid” will cause an icy chill in her spine. Once she is satisfied the door opens and she tries to immediately manage the interaction.

As the door opens, the patient scans her face and forms first impressions. He already has fixed beliefs about her from previous sessions. Strangely he may have already decided that she is “useless” and that he will ignore everything she says. He may be seething with anger at the medical profession in general. He may have deep-seated fears about anything that violates his personal space. He may be ashamed of his alcoholism or his sexual preferences or his obesity. Last time he promised to take his blood pressure medication but he hasn’t. Last time he said he would exercise and get a colonoscopy but there is no way he is going to do this. She reminds him of his very annoying sister who is the one who made him come in the first place. Today she just looks at the computer cradled in her arms not at him. “Looks pissed”,he thinks.

She sits down and launches into his prescriptions. He has not filled the expensive diabetes medication for months and there is no way he hasn’t run out. He insists he is taking it. The cultural tradition is that both accept this and move on. If she tries to argue with him it will waste time which is inexorably moving on like a fine flow of sand cascading down her back. He wants that Percocet from the ER refilled but she kindly refuses as it “is not in his best interest”. When he gets this news his sensory system may shut down, like lowering one of those metal screens in the front of an inner city store at night. He will signal this by grunting all subsequent answers.

She does a “review of systems” theoretically to get him to open up about any new symptoms or problems. Actually if there is a new problem she is forced by time to ask him to schedule another visit to discuss it. He would rather wrestle his mother in law in a sewer during a rainstorm than make an extra visit so he does not volunteer anything. She next performs an examination which probably does not involve getting undressed or putting on a gown. In her heart she knows this is not ideal but the clock is ticking. She launches into her assessment and orders tests including labs and X-Rays. She prints an after visit summary that generally looks like a small book and reads like “Moby Dick”.

At this point he is pointed toward the door. He never got to mention that he wanted some Viagra or that he has got up to urinate six times every night. Unless his sister makes him there is no way he will get that X-Ray.

Getting Rid of A Cold Sore – Natural Remedies and Medication

Home Remedies

Natural remedies include:

• lemon tea and its compresses
• lip balms with no less than 1% lemon
• witch hazel oil, mint, and peppermint
• Aloe vera gel to soothe inflamed lesions while giving moisture.
• licorice root, with glycyrrhizic acid
• sage and rhubarb mixtures
• milk, with l-lysine and antibodies

• Orajel and Anbesol numb sores, reducing pain
• Rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide keep the lesions clean

Prescribed medications for cold sores include:

• Valacyclovir (Valtrex)
• Acyclovir (Zovirax, Xerese)
• Penciclovir (Denavir)
• Famciclovir (Famvir)

What Are the Different Diseases Which Come Under Neurosurgery?

Brain and spinal cord are the two most important parts of the nervous system. It acts as a relay. It transmits information to different parts of the body. The actions taken by the body is because of the information given by the nervous system. This system is divided into two sub categories – central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Together, they make sure our body is working fine. Some diseases prevent this system from working in a normal manner. The branch of medicine which deals with the conditions and diseases of the nervous system is known as neurology. When the treatment requires surgical intervention, then neurosurgery comes into play.

Following explained are the conditions which are dealt by a neurosurgeon

• Brain Tumor

It is the condition in which abnormal cells from within the brain. They can either start in the brain or at other places and travel to the brain. A malignant tumor is cancerous whereas a benign one of non cancerous. The rate at which it grows depends on the extent of the tumor. This growth determines the function of the tumor.

Some of the types of tumor are glioma, meningioma, brain metastases etc. These occur when there is error in DNA mutation. It is identified with the help of symptoms such as onset of headache, nausea, vomiting, vision problem, seizures etc.

• Epilepsy

It is a group of neurological disorders in which there is abnormal brain activity leading to seizures. There is a random period of unusual behavior which causes sensation and loss of awareness. The symptoms which are observed by the patients can be of different intensity. Some people twitch their arms while some of them can stare at a blank space.

You should consult a doctor when they last for more than five minutes and after it has stopped, there is no return of consciousness. It is linked to various factors such as genes, head injury, brain conditions etc.

• Pituitary Tumor

Tumors that begin in the pituitary gland are known as pituitary tumor. Most of them are non cancerous and don’t spread to other parts of the body. They cause glands to produce lower levels of hormones. There may not be symptoms in each and every case. Some of the symptoms which are associated with these tumors are headache, vision loss, feeling cold etc.

Some of the common treatment options are as follows

• Brain Tumor Surgery

It is an operation to remove tumor from the brain. Surgery depends on the type and grade of the tumor. It is the first treatment which is recommended by the doctor. There are different surgical options. In cortical mapping, areas of the brain which control the senses and language, are identified. If the skull needs to be opened, then craniotomy is the way to go. You are first given anesthesia and then incisions are made in the scalp to remove as much tumor as possible.

• Epilepsy Surgery

It is a surgical procedure given to control seizures. The main aim of this surgery is to remove the particular part of the brain which causes seizures. In vagus nerve stimulation, a device is placed under skin which lowers the onset of seizure by giving an electrical jolt. Temporal lobe epilepsy is treated by cutting away the area of the brain tissue which is affected. Focus of the seizure is removed in this method.

• Deep Brain Stimulation

It is a surgical procedure which is mostly done for Parkinson’s disease, OCD and Dystonia. Electrodes are implanted in certain specific areas of the brain. They produce electrical impulses that regulate abnormal impulses. The impulses given are controlled by a device which looks like a pacemaker. There may be some side effects after the surgery such as seizure, infection, headache, stoke, temporary pain at the site of implantation etc.

5 Tips That Can Help You Choose A Good Family Doctor

Choosing a good family doctor is not easy. You need to see a doctor who can perform the right diagnosis based on the symptoms of the patient. So, we suggest that you take your time while doing research before choosing a doctor. Given below are 5 tips that may help you make the best choice.

1) Consider an In-Network Specialist

If you have a health insurance policy, you may be able to avail the service of a doctor at discounted rates. Seeing these doctors won’t cost you an arm and a leg. These are in-network professionals. This type of pro can help you avoid any additional fees or surprise co-pays.

2) Opt for Specialized Care

3) Consider the Commute

4) Schedule an Initial Visit

You need to see the doctor in person before you choose them as the doctor may not have the bedside manners you want. Typically, most professionals offer a free of charge initial consultation. This discussion can help you find out if they have a good personality.

5) Read reviews and Ask for Referrals

Nowadays, you can read reviews on almost anything under the sun if you have access to the internet. The same goes for family medicine. It is not a factor that you have to consider, but it can help you get a deeper insight into the quality of service the doctor offers.

For instance, talking to the referrals will help you find out if the staff is friendly. By reading reviews and talking to a few referrals, you can make a better decision.

The Takeaway

Looking for a good family doctor is really important. So, it’s better that you do your homework and consider all the options that your insurance provider gives you. Actually, what you need to do is look for a doctor that you can work with for a long-term. After all, your health, as well as the health of your family members, depends largely on good health care. So, make sure you consider these tips before choosing a family doctor.

Mom! Do I Have To Eat That?

Vitamins and Minerals

You know, I may be barking up the wrong tree but if you are a type B personality (more on that later) then chances are you need to take the vitamins and minerals given to you. But will you take them? Probably sporadically at best! That’s just your nature. You’re so calmed, cool and relaxed that nothing seems to stress you out. You’re also probably one of the more well liked people out there.

These are the building blocks for any man or woman. As such, they need to get re-balanced. Type B people need this re-balancing more than type A people.

To determine if you are a type A or B answer the following question: If you had three things to do, all at the same time, all the same priority, would you do one to completion, do the second to completion and do the third to completion or would you start one, think about the other one, start one and two together and then think about the third one as well, and go ahead and start all three at once? If you answered option one where you do one at a time then you’re most likely a type B personality. While type B people are great at handling stress they don’t absorb vitamins and minerals very well. For this reason, they must be re-balanced from them. Type A people, however, are vastly different from type B people. Type A’s absorb the vitamins and minerals like no other but they don’t handle stress, worry or concern very well.

While type A people could use a re-balancing of the substances as well, they don’t lack them like the type B people do. But, ironically, it is the type A people who will come to me first whereas the type B people are so cool and relaxed that they will get to it when they get to it, which may never happen!

Neuroplasticity: How to Improve It?

Neuroplasticity is the ability of human brain to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. It allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease, and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.

Our brain does this by axonal sprouting, in which undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect neurons whose links were injured or severed. Undamaged axons can also sprout nerve endings and connect with other undamaged nerve cells, forming new neural pathways to accomplish a needed function. For example, if one hemisphere of the brain is damaged, the intact hemisphere may take over some of its functions by reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons. In order to do so, the neurons need to be stimulated through an activity.

Neuroplasticity is also called brain plasticity or brain malleability.

Its Characteristics

  • Neuroplasicity is at work throughout our life.
  • Most of us have very different behaviors and thoughts today than we had 25 years ago. This is because of action of neuroplasticity resulting in changes in brain structure and organization as we experience, learn, and adapt.
  • It is the ‘muscle building’ part of the brain. With every repetition of a thought or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway. Similarly, with each new thought, we begin to create a new way of being.
  • As we age, change doesn’t come so easily because the brain loses some of its plasticity and we become more fixed in how we think, learn, and perceive.

How to improve neuroplasticity?

The research has shown conclusively that the brain can form new neural pathways and create neurons throughout life. Notwithstanding our genes we inherit, our lifestyle plays an important role in improving this unique quality of brain. The following are ways that help you improve your brain fitness by harnessing neuroplasticity:

Do exercise regularly – Regular exercise and increased fitness promote brain functioning through a variety of mechanisms, including increased brain volume, blood supply and growth hormone levels.

Undertake intermittent fasting – It is a great way to increase brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). In the brain, the BDNF protein is active at the connections between nerve cells (synapses), where cell-to-cell communication occurs. The synapses can change and adapt over time in response to experience, a characteristic called synaptic plasticity. Moreover, it detoxifies the body and recycles old proteins with new ones through the process of autophagy. The brain will benefit from this as well since a short fast has profound effects on neuronal autophagy.

Do meditations regularly – There is a ton of evidence that regular meditation has profound effects on the brain. The neuroscientists now view meditation as the top way to upgrade your brain, with the potential to transform your life in many big ways. Mostly it has to do with increased attention span, improved memory and higher activity at the prefrontal cortex. There are also a number of studies showing that it enhances cortical thickness and the density of grey matter.

Take adequate sleep – Sleep might be the most essential nutrient for neuroplasticity. The sleep deprived brain is muddled with connections, causing disorder of nervous information. Sleep restores that. Sleep provides a soft wipe of the brain, giving you the opening necessary to lay down new connections, form new memories, and learn new skills.

Remove stress – Stress dampens neuroplasticity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex while increasing it in the amygdala, which is associated with fear, anger, anxiety, and other autonomic emotional responses.

Learn an instrument – Music training enhances brain plasticity. The research has found that children, who engage in musical training, show increases in IQ, verbal memory, and linguistic ability, even when the control group is composed of kids with otherwise similar backgrounds such as socioeconomic status, academics, etc. except for the music training. Merely listening to the same music doesn’t have the same effect. You have to actively participate in its creation.

Learn something new – The process of learning something new improves brain plasticity. Learning and practicing a new language or an art skill has been found to strengthen the brain.

Read a novel – The researchers at Emory University have found that reading fiction creates heightened connectivity in the brain. Apart from this, reading stories provides a chance for you to relax.

The crux

Neuroplasticity is a unique characteristic of our brain to reorganize itself so as to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust to changes in our situations and environment. It is at work throughout our life but with age there occurs a gradual decline in this special ability of the brain. We can improve this unique ability by taking appropriate measures.


Care for Your Ears During Summer Swimming

July 4th, 2018

swimmers-earThere is nothing like dunking yourself in cool water to avoid blistering summer heat. If you avoid swimming for fear of swimmer’s ear, a popsicle can only do so much to keep you cool. There are steps you can take while enjoying a summer swim to help your ears stay healthy while you stay cool and comfortable in the water.

First, pick your pool carefully. Avoid swimming in bodies of water that may be contaminated with bacteria. Check for regular cleaning and disinfecting schedules if using a public pool. Research pollution level warnings before planning a swim in local rivers, lakes or ponds.

They may not look cool, but wearing a swimming cap helps protect your ears from getting wet while you are swimming. It is important to put the swimming cap on properly with the ears completely covered. To put it on, stretch the swimming cap open. Lean forward and slide the cap on, slowly moving your hands downward as the cap slides onto your head. Once the swimming cap reaches your ears, remove your hands completely and tug the cap down until snug.

Or, wear ear plugs as an alternative to a swimming cap to prevent water from entering the outer ear canal. Ear plugs come in both disposable and reusable versions; people who do not have latex allergies should consider using reusable latex plugs. Just be sure not to push the plugs too deep into your ear.

When you are done swimming, dry your ears thoroughly. Tilt your head and pull your earlobes in different directions to help drain the water. Use a clean, soft towel to pat your outer ear, and tilt your head to the side to allow any water that has gotten into the inner ear to drain out. Or, use a blow dryer on its lowest setting. Hold it a foot out away from each ear for about 30 seconds. It is possible to buy over-the-counter eardrops to help dry up any leftover water. But don’t put eardrops in your ear if you have had any ear pain, ear surgery, or have a tear in your eardrum.

If you have pain or discomfort inside your ear or a pussy oozing from your ear after swimming, make an appointment so that we can help you get back on the pool floatie faster!


Official Party Response

Question 1: Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits

If elected, will your government:

C) Cancel the two-week waiting period for EI Sickness Benefits so that sick Canadians are not penalized?

Question 2: Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Benefit is a taxable monthly payment that is available to people who have contributed to the CPP and who are not able to work regularly at any job because of a disability ( However, about 60 per cent of CPP disability claimants are initially turned down, one of the highest rejection rates for a disability insurance program among the nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In addition, the new appeal system has still not cleared the backlog of 11,000 cases, resulting in some patients left unable to work but without benefits for years.

If elected, will your government:

A) Conduct an investigation into the reasons why 60 per cent of disability claimants are initially turned down.

B) Ensure that Canadians are informed about how to properly and successfully apply for CPP Disability Benefits.

Question 3: National Pharmacare Program

A new study[ii] released in July 2015 makes a compelling case for expanding our universal public health care system to include the cost of prescription medicines. In addition, a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that more than 90 per cent of Canadians back the concept of pharmacare.

A) What is your party’s position on the creation of a national pharmacare program?

Question 4: National Healthcare Leadership

How would your party show leadership in work with the provinces and territories on healthcare issues?

A) Would your party modify federal transfers to the provinces so that they are age-adjusted and not just based on population numbers?

B) Please indicate other ways that your party would show federal leadership on healthcare issues.

A Liberal government will call a federal-provincial meeting to reach a long-term agreement on health care funding. Together, we can make measurable progress on the issues that matter to Canadians – like wait times, the affordability of prescription drugs, the availability of homecare and community-based services, and coping with an aging population.

We also know that investing in home and community-based services is more cost effective and provides better outcomes for patients. To this end, we will make an unprecedented $20 billion investment in social infrastructure over the next ten years that will fund t, among other things, sorely needed affordable housing for seniors, long-term care infrastructure, and seniors’ facilities.


I Became a Morning Person and Here’s How You Can Too

Just to preface, mornings and I have never been friends — the groggy confusion and anger when the alarm clock rings is all too familiar to me. I’m typically late for everything because it takes me about twenty minutes of simultaneously willing myself to get out of bed and convincing myself it won’t take me as long to get ready as I know it will — and then actually getting out of bed. A couple cups of coffee and a few hours after waking up is the minimum I need to become a functioning adult, and I am readily annoyed at the people who are too chipper before 10am. No, I have definitely never been a “morning person.”

But I came to the sad realization that adulting means you kinda have to become a morning person. With a schedule that leaves me busy all day, I couldn’t help but think about how nice it would be to not only be able to function in the mornings, but to also actually wake up earlier than absolutely necessary, and maybe even take my time getting ready or do other stuff like exercise or get work done. Just imagine!

So I decided to attempt to become a self-proclaimed early riser. And guess what — it worked! Of course, there are the obvious tricks like getting to bed earlier to get your 7-8 hours of sleep the doctor recommends or chugging a cup of coffee/Red Bull (no judgment) upon awakening. While those are helpful, they weren’t enough to convince me to get up early and actually enjoy it enough to make it my new routine. Here’s how I, a late riser and sleep lover, actually became a morning person.

Think about how you could use mornings to improve your life, and set (realistic and small) goals

I quickly found out that waking up at 6:00am to go on a run was not going to motivate me to get out of bed, since running is not an activity I particularly enjoy. It’s more like I severely dread it. So when the 6:00am alarm started to annoyingly ring, the excuses of “but I can run tomorrow,” “well I did eat a salad for dinner last night,” and “experts say sleep is just as important as exercise!” convinced me to hit snooze.

So I thought about what I actually wanted to use the mornings for. Not just the idea of “being a morning person” for the sake of feeling like a health blogger or Gwyneth Paltrow, but what would actually help me live a better, healthier, and happier life. After much brainstorming, I decided I wanted to use early mornings for something that is good for my mind and body.

I always wanted to try meditation, so I made the goal to wake up every day at 6:00am, sit up in bed, listen to a mindfulness app, and try to focus on just my breathing before getting up for the day (with plenty of time to get ready and eat breakfast). After a week, I moved from sitting up in bed to sitting cross-legged on a pillow on the floor (aka what all the legit meditators do). After another week, I planned to try a 6:30am yoga class. And turns out… I loved the feeling of moving my body and getting a whole workout done so early in the day. It made me actually excited to wake up and get to the class. I started adding in other classes like spin or barre — things that I truly enjoyed and made me feel centered and energized for my day, so that I looked forward to waking up for these classes. I can now say, not only am I a morning person, but I actually prefer to exercise in the early morning. I know, I already sound like Gwyneth Paltrow, right?

Sleep with your shades open

If you are someone who is able to jump right out of bed and switch the lights on, then major props to you. But that has never been me. The longer you stay in darkness (aka my habit of laying in bed after my alarm clock already went off), the more our body is told it’s time to go to sleep, making you tired and groggy throughout the morning even once you get out of bed. Waking up naturally with the sunrise is actually what our body is supposed to do. Light coming through the window tells our body it’s time to wake up, and it made me feel refreshed and awake. If you don’t have natural light to wake you up, want to wake up earlier than the sun, or are just a tech junkie, try an alarm clock that mimics the sunrise with light.

Don’t hit snooze!

There are two kinds of people: the people who set an alarm on their iPhone, and the people who set five different ones to make sure they wake up. I’m sure you could’ve guessed that I’ve always been the latter. When I say I woke up at “6:00am,” I really meant I set an alarm for 5:59am, 6:00am, 6:02am, 6:04am, and 6:06am. But when we fall back asleep, even for a a minute or two, our body is told it’s time to go back to sleep, as it’s not completing a full sleep cycle.

Even if you think the extra few minutes of sleep is helping you, you’re more tired through the day if you hit snooze than if you got up the first time (science says so). Trick yourself to get up at the first alarm by putting  your phone or alarm clock across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off, or using an app like Sleep Cycle that wakes you up when you’re at the lightest point of your REM cycle so you won’t feel groggy and tempted to hit snooze.

Allow yourself some pleasurable time in your wake-up routine.

Though it seems like every successful woman who has it “all” jumps out of bed at the crack of dawn ready to get sh*t done, this just isn’t realistic, nor would it be healthy for your stress. Let yourself actually have time to wake up and enjoy your morning. Once I got used to waking up early through meditation, I started putting on some music and made either warm water with lemon or coffee (depending on whether I was feeling particularly healthy and inspired or just needed the damn coffee), while scrolling through news articles or looking at Instagram accounts that inspired me. This became my ritual, whether I was going to a yoga class afterwards or using the morning to catch up on work.

You should be warned, however: I found it crucial to my morning and wellbeing that I didn’t spend these few precious and quiet moments mindlessly scrolling through social media or playing a game on my phone. Going back to my goals (“do something good for my mind and body”), I chose to read through articles or catch up on certain Instagram accounts because I felt smarter, more aware, inspired, and more creative for the rest of the day. Always do something you genuinely enjoy in the mornings, and it’s much easier to wake up at an ungodly hour, knowing you’re going to do something enjoyable.

Source: Alexa Dagmar

But listen to your body and allow sleep when you need it

Even Gwyneth Paltrow has to take a break sometime. When I came to enjoy and ritualize an early morning routine, I learned a lot about what my body actually needed. I knew that on the mornings, every so often, that I had had a particularly late night, was feeling extra sick or exhausted, or my body just really needed the extra sleep, I had to listen to what my body needed, knowing I would look forward to getting back to my early morning routine the next day. After all, everything in moderation, right? Yes, even early mornings.

I hope these tips help you rise and (literally) shine! But, maybe, just avoid becoming one of those people who are so chipper in the mornings that they annoy the not-so-morning-people. We’ve all been there.

Would you call yourself a morning person? What are your tips for being an early riser? Which of these tips would you want to try?

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Biomedical Research

Clinical study and safety analysis of propofol and fentanyl on painless gastroscopy examination

Objective: To study clinical application/effects of propofol and fentanyl on painless gastroscopy examination and evaluate its safety.

Methods: This study selected 130 patients with gastroscopy in our hospital. They were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group, each 65 cases. The control group was given anesthesia of venous injection propofol before gastroscopy examination. The experiment group given anesthesia before surgery by venous injection of propofol and fentanyl. Then we observed and record index changes of medication, heart rate, average arterial pressure, oxygen saturation, body movement and respiratory depression in various groups.

Results: Average artery pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation all decreased obviously in two groups, which decreased stably in the observation group. Medication in the observation group lower than the control group obviously (P<0.05); during treatment, body movement in experimental group lower than the observation group obviously, there were statistical differences (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Medication dose of propofol and fentanyl on painless gastroscopy is little. Clinical effects are better, which has functions of analgesia, sedation etc. Adverse reactions less. The safety is higher, it deserves importance and generalization.

Author(s): Wei Fujiang, Liang Lisheng, Sun Fude

Abstract Full Text PDF


River Crossing Project - Public Workshop April 25, 2018

Join project staff to share your perspectives on the redevelopment of River Crossing. This event will focus on four big questions:

How do we draw people to River Crossing?

How do we move to and through River Crossing?

How do we make River Crossing a complete community?

How do we steward River Crossing sustainably?

Feedback that we receive through the workshop will be reported back to the public and will support the creation of redevelopment concept design options.

Date: Wednesday April 25, 2018
Time: 6:30-9pm (doors open at 6pm)
Location: Old Timers Cabin, 9430 Scona Rd NW

Register to attend

For more information go to: https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/communities_neighbourhoods/west_rossdale/river-crossing-business-plan.aspx?utm_source=virtualaddress&utm_campaign=rivercrossingplan


The 3-E’s of the Employee/Employer Relationship: Is your Organization Practicing all Three?

The 3-E’s, early, eminently, and equality, thus forming the fundamental principles of the employee/employer relationship.  Too many times only early is practiced, and the problems emanating result in reduced employee morale, purposeful negative actions, and disruption of the business by both customers and employees acting in a resentful manner.  In order to fully understand the power of combining the 3-E’s, we must first detail, define, and describe.

Early is often considered as akin to new, fresh, and initial; yet, the better application for this topic is in timeliness, punctuality, and promptness.  For example, when a problem occurs, the earlier it is addressed the faster and less damaging the problem becomes to the business as a whole.  Not taking precipitous action leaves the problem festering and infecting eventually leading to organizational cancer (Dandira, 2012), low employee morale, and managerial inertia slowing business processes and increasing the damage.  Hence, prompt, punctual, and timely action to address a situation early enough to affect positively the outcome remains the order of the day and the strongest power business leaders can take with the 3-E’s, but early action is not enough.

Eminent is often considered as akin to celebrity, paramount, and superior; yet a more preferred definition for this topic is often conspicuous and influential.  When an eminent action is taken, the action tends to supersede current policies, procedures, and overlaps or drowns normal work.  Overlaps and superseding are dangerous actions leading to increased costs, lost work, customer complaints, and a general lack of trust in business leadership to properly prior plan and produce positive performances from the business structure.  These thoughts are fed with celebrity-like marketing on new policies, business leaders, and changes, which are not fully understood and appreciated by the employees most affected.  Hence, the need to be frequently engaged, seen being influential in the lives of employees, and known as a person who cares remains the key leadership quality developed by eminent action; yet eminent actions, even if conducted early, are insufficient to properly influence and meet the demands of business.

Equality is often considered as sameness, fairness, and uniformity; yet, all of these definitions fail to capture what equality truly is and the power of equality.  For this topic, consider the following:  equipoise, parity, and concurrence.  Employees are individuals. They might have similar job titles and responsibilities, but the individual approach to the position provides power and separates the individuals and does not collect, compress, and concentrate into carbon copies.  Hence, the same approach of uniform application is not meeting the needs of the employees nor is it meeting the definition of fair.  Thus, the employee needs equality that treats them as individuals concurring in practice, but are individual in approach, and brings parity into treatment as an expression of equipoise.  While early is good and early mixed with eminence is better, but without early, eminent, and equal combined into an action, the employee and the employer suffer in an environment of disaster fed by chaos, corruption, and cancer as detailed by Dandira (2012).

Consistency remains key to employee/manager relationships.  While the principles of 3-E’s are important, all the work of the 3-E’s can be wasted if consistency is not honored and observed by the employees.  Consistency requires flexibility, firmness, and fungibility to meet the demands of creating success in using the 3-E’s appropriately.  The main factor in employee/employer relationships continues to be the individual nature of each employee, not the requirement to make all employees the same carbon copy of another employee or an “ideal” of the desired employee.

Putting these principles into practice requires asking questions, such as “Are employee communications being expressed early, eminently, and equally?”  “Are actions taken by business leaders being perceived as meeting the 3-E’s?”  “Do the trend lines in application indicate consistency or inconsistency?”  While employee perceptions can and often remain hidden, except through properly capturing actionable data in key performance indicators, the answers to these questions and more are evident.  Look at the employees, who show up to work excited, enthused, and enthralled.  Ask them why they possess these qualities.  Then, ask those employees not possessing them and hone in on the differences.  Will employees change from day-to-day; probably, but the answers continue to be important indicators as to whether communication in the organization is occurring.

Sinek (2009) offers that asking why and truly listening to the answers being returned remains the most effective question and action series employers can take from day-to-day as the pulse of the organization.  Gitomer (1998) adds that leaders after asking “why” should ask “what” to empower change and drive motivation.  Consider for a moment, an employee is asked “why” they feel the way they feel, then “what” would that employee like to see changed to aid in feeling differently, and project the employee’s reaction to having been heard.  Project that employee’s reaction if they see the changes they offered implemented into business practice.

Are all employee suggestions implemented; no, this is not feasible and the employees know this when making suggestions.  Yet, when employee suggestions are implemented, this changes the employee dynamic for all employees.  Ask yourself, when was the last time an employee suggestion was implemented and marketed to the other employees?  If the time is longer than 6-months, the program is not consistently being implemented and there is a problem with using the 3-E’s.

Steenhuysen (2009) reported on research discussing the power of praise.  Where praise is offered genuinely, praise has the power to change, and the research supports that the power of genuine praise operates on the same reward sections of the brain as cash. Anecdotal evidence shows many employees appreciate genuine praise, sometimes more than cash.  As a business leader or employer, ask yourself, “When was the last time I caught someone doing good and offered praise?”  If the answer was not yesterday, there is a problem with the 3-E’s, and consistency will be needed to rectify this problem.  Are you setting the goal to not leave the office without offering genuine praise?  Remember, Steenhuysen (2009) is reporting that praise is its own reward.  The research and anecdotal evidence present praise as being as good as cash to the brain.  Hence, praise is its own reward; can objects be added to potentially increase the reward, yes.  But start with praise, honestly provided and employing the 3-E’s.

Case in point, I have worked with a VP of Customer Service Operations who carries with them yellow and purple post-it notes.  The purple are for catching people in the act of good.  From simple actions to amazing calls, they all get recognition on purple post-it notes as a very noticeable action the business leader can take to catch and praise the good.  The yellow post-it notes go to the team leader when training is needed.  Consistent action over the years has developed a spirit of competition to earn and be caught doing an act of good.  The yellow notes are not remembered at bonus time; more serious infractions have a set process to follow, and the less serious yellow post-it notes are simply a means of providing timely feedback employing the spirit of the 3-E’s.  Upon starting this program, almost a full year passed before the employees caught on and the word of this action spread.  Let consistent action be seen, not marketed, and let the word spread by enthused employees.

The best part of the program from an employee perspective is the highest earners of purple post-it notes eventually began earning additional non-cash rewards also presented in a quiet manner.  The rewards ranged from leaving an hour early with pay, longer lunches or breaks with pay, to movie tickets and dinner cards.  These extra steps were implemented when trends reflected some employees were taking extra efforts to be caught thus necessitating a need for other levels of reward to keep the interest of the employees in acting and performing to a higher level.  Never are these employees recognized openly, e.g., at a company meeting, marketed to other employees, e.g., in a company newsletter, and receiving the purple notes is not a competition.

These purple post-it notes are an expression of gratitude from a person in leadership to an employee working hard.  Quiet, consistent, application of the 3-E’s provided a failing business unit new life in employee interactions with each other and the external customers.  The actions taken here should not be rare or the exception in employee/employer relationships, but the standard and personalized to each business and business leader.  What can we learn here to apply to all business units and organizations?

  1. Whatever is done consistent action remains critical.
  2. Simple, quiet, and direct remain key to affecting positive results on a personal level. Be brave!  Be honest!  Be courageous!  Be seen acting as you would see all employees act.  These will provide an impetus for others to emulate actions taken and good will develop.
  3. Know the 3-E’s, whether you are currently an employee or a business leader of hundreds or thousands. The 3-E’s are a two-directional action possessing power for positive results.  Use this power to drive a solution that can be consistently applied.
  4. If what is being tried is not working, do not act abruptly. Quietly adjust until positive actions can be seen and verified through trend lines.  What is being done currently might simply need more time or more quiet publicity to be discussed by the employees.  Make small adjustments and act for the interest of individuals; the whole population will catch on.
  5. A word of caution. Never use this program for self-aggrandizement; this will kill the program faster than a bullet to the 10-ring.  Do not enter into this program and offer non-genuine praise or false and ambiguous words and canned phrases.  Be specific and capture the incidents exactly, ask questions if needed, but be genuine and specific.

Steenhuysen, J.  Praise as good as cash to brain: study. (2009, February 26). Reuters. Science. Accessed from:

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury

All Rights Reserved

Assimilation: A Plea to All Immigrants and Americans!

America has recently opened its doors to large groups of people from countries around the globe, but especially from war-torn and ravaged lands.  Welcome, I am glad you are here!  The Mayor of London recently came to America and derided, denigrated, and demeaned America for asking immigrants to assimilate.  Yes, America will ask you to assimilate; yes, this request includes those legal and illegal immigrants and refugees; yes, assimilation is hard but worth it.

Assimilation is simply taking the best of your native culture, ideals, values, and beliefs, and adding them to the best America has to offer.  America is not a perfect country; we are asking for your help to improve our country by adding the best of your experiences to our best experiences and build America into a greater nation with greater opportunities for freedom.  Why does America ask you to assimilate, even though it is hard; the answer lies in the principles of unity, responsibility, and achieving the “American Dream.”

What is the “American Dream?”  Simply put, the “American Dream” is to realize freedom, all the benefits of freedom, shouldering all the responsibilities of freedom, and achieving these freedoms through work, education, and self-discovery.  A lesson many Americans need to be reminded of is that the “American Dream” has nothing to do with acquiring stuff.  The “American Dream” has nothing to do with spending money, although great freedoms are found in earning money and spending that money according to our own desires.  The “American Dream” has nothing to do with purchasing a home, even though owning property is a cherished freedom.  The “American Dream” is realizing freedom in all its glory and all of its reality.

The “American Dream” means failure, struggle, hard work, loss, gain, understanding value, and so much more.  The “American Dream” has tragedy and heartache, misery, and the ultimate joy of achievement.  Some of the hardest struggles in understanding the “American Dream” are found in sending loved ones marching to war and not seeing those same loved ones marching back home.  The “American Dream” is to understand and embrace freedom, to see the best and worst of humanity and realize that freedom is still the best form of government available, notwithstanding all the imperfections.  The “American Dream” means unifying around a single standard.

What is the single standard to rally around?  That single standard is the US Constitution and the American Flag.  Does rallying around this standard mean suddenly easy street, riches, and smooth sailing; absolutely not!  Rallying around this standard simply means unifying, dropping the labels, the hyphenations, the separations, and realizing that together we are better than we are separate.  Again, the “American Dream” is all about understanding freedom in all its glory, majesty, and terribleness.

The principles of unity are many, but also very few.  Unity is all about choice, choice is all about freedom, and freedom is all about shouldering the consequences of making choices to either become more unified or less unified.  Simple and complex, easy and difficult, unity is not a paradox; unity is a learned principle.  Consider the young child. Being a child is hard, learning the language, culture, basic standards of education, and growing.  The same is true for immigrants.  Many come here and are overwhelmed.  Like children, simply asking for help becomes a great challenge, and many times that challenge is because immigrants do not realize that help is available and simply requires asking.  Hence, the responsibility is on you, not everyone else; this means the consequences for asking or not asking are also on you; this is freedom.

The principles of unity are found in a common language.  America is the only country on earth where you can keep your language, and the national language, American English, can be a second or non-primary language.  Yet, the choice to learn American English has consequences, and those consequences come with a cost.  Learning American English is hard, requires work, and many times will not make sense until time and experience are added to learning.  Not learning American English is harder, restricts freedoms and the ability to enjoy all America has to offer, and forces you to forever remain outside America’s embrace.

The principles of unity include understanding, learning, and choosing to plot your own path.  No one is going to run your life for you.  Choosing to run your own life requires learning, understanding value, and shouldering the consequences of choices for good or ill.  In America, you can choose to be homeless, and this is perfectly acceptable.  You can choose to chase money; acquiring great riches is possible and completely acceptable in America.  Acquire those funds legally and America rewards greatly.  Acquire those funds illegally, and eventually, American justice will prevail, and those funds will be lost in a very public trial.  Again, we see unity combined with choices leading to coming together under the same standard and enjoying positive consequences or refusing to come together under the standard and enjoying negative consequences.

The principles of responsibility go hand in hand with the principles of unity.  In fact, many of the principles of unity overlap with the principles of responsibility.  For example, failure to rally under the standard of the US Constitution by breaking a law will reveal how quickly the consequence leads to being forced to shoulder the responsibility of failing to unify and how it affects you personally with the full weight and scorn of the American people.  Do illegal actions sometimes not get caught and punished; yes, but eventually society will know and act scornfully.  Justice gets served in myriad different ways.

Consider dishonest politicians.  Sometimes, dishonest politicians are not apprehended and exposed to the harsh reality of the American justice system, but they lose the respect of voters, lose their title, and remain outcasts and pariahs in American society through the media retelling their stories, through a loss of income, and through American society continually chastising them for their misdeeds.  American society can be very harsh for those choosing to not assimilate because the refusal to assimilate means a refusal to unify under a single standard, which requires everyone to do their part to make America better.

Making America better is not a job that can be shirked, forgotten, ignored, or refused.  America is all about working together.  Work requires sacrifice, learning, and properly using freedoms to achieve more freedoms.  Working together requires a common language; the common language signifies a common bond amongst those striving to achieve freedoms as a symbol of desiring more freedoms.  Please, take the best you have, add it to the best America offers, and assimilate into America.  Unify with us in a beautiful patchwork quilt of diversity and togetherness.

Diversity should never be sacrificed for unity, and unity must never be sacrificed for diversity and individuality.  It takes both diversity and unity to make America.  It requires sacrifice and responsibility to make America.  It requires a willing mind and open heart to achieve freedom and to understand more freedom is possible with assimilation than without assimilation.  The choice is yours; the consequences are yours; choose carefully.

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury

All Rights Reserved

Confirm thy soul in self-control – Thy liberty in law!

From “America, the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates (1913) comes the principles of this post and its title. This phrase comes from the second verse of the song after requesting “God” to “mend thine every flaw.” While many will consider this either religious or political, the principles being discussed transcend labels and form the bedrock of good followership, which is simply being a good leader without the title and responsibility.

The principles of self-control are paramount to living in any society, but especially in the American Society consisting of a Constitutional Republic. For example, rules and laws exist in a society as they do throughout the universe because there is no right or wrong without them, and tumult, discord, terror, and chaos in the absence of rules and laws result. The principles of self-control will prevent those laws from ever needing to be enforced provided control of selfish desires are properly employed. According to Webster, self-control is all about controlling one’s own emotions and desires or the expression of those desires in one’s behavior.

Self-control is the foundation to freedom. There cannot be any society without self-control of the individual members and that requires a sense of morality. Lack of self-control forms barbaric societies where the biggest/strongest get their needs and appetites fed and everyone else can suffer. We see this style of thinking with President Bill Clinton and the long list of sexual appetites displayed, and President Obama through his long list of vacations, foods, and family trips, along with many other federal, state, and local politicians; lack of self-control leads to barbaric actions, feeds one’s own appetites to the detriment of all other societal members, and ultimately concludes with the frustration and destruction of society as a whole. Rome was a nation that tried to curb appetites using law not moral action, refusing to stress the need for individual self-control in all citizens as a paramount virtue, including its politicians, and fell gloriously. To avoid falling, America needs to remember self-control and the liberty created through proper self-control.

The concept of law being liberating is as foreign to many as saying, “War is kind,” a concept from the poet Stephen Crane. The concept of law as being liberating stems from the foundational principles of self-control and the lessons of Alexis de Tocqueville, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” John Adams said something very similar, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion… Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other;” thus, driving home the point that self-control is the first foundational building block of a moral society, the chief cornerstone, and the mortar upon which laws are cemented into the resulting society. If the mortar of self-control becomes cracked and splintered, the entire construction of society crumbles.

Consider ENRON and the debacle that occurred with this organization, which began with flaming success and crashed and burned into abject horror and misery. The business was originally built upon self-control, good leadership, and correct principles. Then, a new leader came into power who lacked self-control, refusing to follow established accounting principles, preferred to be a barbarian feeding individual appetites and lining his own pocket, and launched a meteoric rise in ENRON while also launching the demise and destruction of the same. When leaders lack self-control, followers will abandon self-control and follow the leader into destruction.

Self-control is difficult, but liberating. Self-control is a challenging taskmaster, and choosing to exercise self-control remains the chief lessons of childhood. Consider the story of the “Affluenza Teen;” because the parents did not teach self-control, self-restraint, and consequences for poor behavior, the child abandoned any sense of wrongdoing, and society now must take responsibility to teach the child how to behave. The “Affluenza Teen” learned that a lack of self-control is a good thing from the only teachers available, his parents. This is a replicating story in millions and millions of lives every single day in America currently. Lack of parental involvement advocating a lack of being held accountable and the only lesson learned being feed your appetite without restriction caused the “Affluenza Teen” less liberty, less freedom, and less ability to thrive. Appetites, desires, and passions must be controlled to enjoy liberty and freedom and discover other life enjoyments.

There remains a strong connection between self-control and liberty, so before God “may mend thine every flaw,” we must learn and teach self-control as the true path to freedom, as the only path to liberty, and as the main responsibility of societal members to other members in the same society. This means a return to morals and ethics as taught by religion; no, this does not advocate one religious belief system over another, as freedom of religion is a right. This means advocating for a return to religion from the wastes of “free love,” popularized in the 1960’s flower power generation, that has stripped America of much of her beauty. Those lacking self-control created multiple generations of Americans, who prefer to speak about “Rights” without shouldering any of the “Responsibilities.” Hence, self-control was the first victim of the 1960’s “Hippie Movement,” and self-control remains in the hospital on life support while society has crumbled, wilted, and died in the ensuing period of time.

In short, the chains of not possessing self-control are strong and choking the life out of American Society. We have lost liberty to government and bureaucrats of government. Those lacking self-control are honored and immortalized, e.g., “Kardashian’s,” “Clinton’s,” “Pelosi,” “Obama’s,” and so forth, while those with honor and integrity are scandalized and harangued, e.g., “Ronald Reagan,” “Benjamin Franklin,” “Robert E. Lee,” “Margaret Thatcher,” and so forth. Leaving politics and political affiliation out of the discussion, those with the most self-control enjoy the most liberty and those with the least self-control enjoy less liberty.

Some erroneously make the argument that they are freer for having less self-control except that the items being pointed to reflecting liberty are nothing more than selfish desires of the individual wanting the same appetite fulfillment. For example, according to tabloids and media, the “Kardashian’s” are symbols of sexual immorality and are filling this appetite. Sexual immorality is the epitome of enslavement and remains highly addictive. Sexual impropriety is life threatening. Sexual impropriety is an insatiable appetite, consuming everything good unless bridled, and controlled; but worst of all, sexual impropriety is mind altering leading from one perversion to another until the person is left an empty shell, damaged goods, unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

Where is liberty to be found? Control of appetites and passions has been handed down from the 1960’s as immoral, immaterial, old-fashioned, and out dated. Engaging in immoral, uncontrolled sexual permissiveness often leads to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Planned Parenthood’s success rates are an indicator. How often does lack of sexual self-control lead to sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s)? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has a special website just for STD’s. The symptoms of no sexual self-control are all around us. Media companies advertise alcohol and sex with no control or limitations as a good thing and warn in the same commercial break of rampant problems from the lifestyle lacking self-control.

There is no freedom without sacrifice, no self-control without making decisions, no liberty without moral convictions tried and tested in the fires of unpopularity. The freedom and liberty found in self-control are not boring or uneventful, simply different from those lacking self-control. Those lacking self-control might find pleasure in the moment, but how pleasurable are hangovers from too much alcohol? How happy is an unwanted pregnancy? How happy are those with STD’s whose lives are permanently changed, affected, or outright destroyed? Let us take the words of this beautiful piece of music to heart, “… confirm thy soul with self-control” and find “… liberty in law” then we can rely upon “… God to mend thine every flaw.”

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved

Organizational Diversity: Is Your Business Diversity Commitment Only Skin Deep?

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved

Organizational Culture: A Leadership Opportunity and Responsibility

In the interest of full disclosure, I have been employed by both organizations mentioned. Both employment situations have ended, and I currently have no further business with either organization. I do continue to develop relationships inside these organizations and have great hope for both businesses to further succeed. It is hoped that the commentary here promotes and helps, as nothing said here should be taken as derogatory. The comments come from research of more than a decade in both organizations, long discussions with employees, vendors, stakeholders, and other customers of both organizations. If either organization would like to comment, their full and unedited commentary will be posted in following discussions.

Creating a culture follows a basic set of principles, namely the example of the leaders, including their words and actions, followed by repetition and the passage of time (Tribus, n.d.). Tribus (n.d.) specifically places the core and creation of organizational culture in the example of the leaders regardless of whether the leader is a leader or a manager by action and word. Hence, the example of the leaders and managers remains more potent to organizational culture than any other single item. As an example of this, Quicken Loans has “ISM’s” which the entire organization is expected to live creating the culture of the business. These Quicken Loans “ISM’s” are exemplified first by the leaders, supervisors, directors, managers, to front-line and new hires from the first interaction with Quicken Loans.

We need clarity here: a leader is never a manager and a manager never leads. While a leader might have duties similar in nature to a manager, the point of focus in the leader is to build others, while the manager’s focus will be to protect and defend their own patch of ego. A leader welcomes inputs, allows freedom, and generates followers. A manager throttles all organizational communication, refuses to accept responsibility or accountability, and destroys any who might be perceived as a threat. An overabundance and overreliance upon managers has been the major cause of problems in business for 40+ years. The dearth of leaders and leadership remains a core organizational cancer for many businesses, to the detriment of all societies, associations, and environments.

To create a culture specific to adaptability, several additional key components are required, namely, written instructions, freedom, and two-directional communication in the hierarchy (Aboelmaged, 2012; Bethencourt, 2012; Deci and Ryan, 2000; and Kuczmarski, 1996 & 2003). Again, the example of Quicken Loans “ISM’s” remains important and applicable. Quicken Loans has an “ISM’s” book available for free to any visitor and any office. This printed material forms a contract with the vendors, customers, visitors, etc., who desire a copy to judge the organization on each of the “ISM’s” printed. The same information is part of the Quicken Loans website. ISM’s remain subject to change to improve the entire organization. Ability to change is a key quality required for all organizations and cultures.

Alvesson and Willmott (2002) add another component to this discussion. As the organizational culture takes hold of an individual employee, the employee begins to embody the culture, for good or ill, in their daily interactions both personally and professionally. This hold develops into an identity adding another level of control from the organization over the employee binding them to the organization. The identity control becomes a two-edged sword, as the employee will form loyal opposition that can be misinterpreted to be intransigence, and the loss of that employee causes other employees to question their identity and the organizational culture. Or the opposite, the cultural hold is one that breeds desire to not only onboard the culture but personally invest in the organizational culture, and the employee experiences a positive feedback loop building trust in the organization.

Two examples, two separate cultures, two distinct differences in employee attitudes and behaviors are as follows. University of Phoenix has a problem with organizational culture being mentioned from the first day of training, such as employees discussing “how things used to be” and “desiring a return to previous cultures and leaders.” This attitude forms its own culture, creating distrust, and invalidating organizational change. Other attitudes and managerial expressions reinforce this negativity to the detriment of all employees, customers, vendors, and stakeholders. Regardless of the printed statements to the contrary, changes have not become embodied in the organization and the example is telling.

The second example is Quicken Loans. Talking with previous employees reveals a favorable rating of the organization. Talking with current employees on any level reveals a personal favorite “ISM” that speaks to them as a motivating influence for improving daily. The same holds true for decision-makers; many of the vendors and most of the longer-term customers all share a similar “ISM” experience. Example makes the difference!

Quicken Loans and University of Phoenix are creating a culture attuned to the kind of organization they desire, what the organizational leaders communicate, how leaders are seen exemplifying the organizational culture, and building that culture one employee at a time until that employee then begins to sponsor other employees into the organization’s culture. For good or ill, the same process of example propels the organization towards growth and development or trouble and market share loss. The organizational leader must set clear goals, define the vision, and obtain employee buy-in prior to enacting change, then exemplify that vision after the change (Deci and Ryan, 1980, 1985, & 2000). To change an organizational culture, this process must be followed.

Key to this process is Tribus’ (n.d.) [p. 3-4] “Learning Society” vs. “Knowing Society.” The distinction is crucial and the organizational culture must be learned and the process for continually learning honed and promoted to protect the culture from variables both internal and external. A “Learning Society” adapts, builds, grows, and is continually flexing in change akin to a finely crafted sword. A “Knowing Society” is overrun with bureaucracy and managers, fails to grow, cannot flex in change, and remains brittle under a polished exterior, which consequently stresses that exterior causing problems to erupt in a multitude of different areas taxing already tight resources and impacting future ability to adapt to change.

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved

Hopelessly Confused: “Peace Be Still.”

I was casting around for a topic to write about and came across regarding leadership and decision-making when two topics, combined into the same single strand, thought, came into focus. Addressing the question, “how does one change their mind?” From one of my favorite authors, Robert Fulghum, author of “Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten, Uh-Oh, and several other books” comes a thought, “Hopelessly Confused.” This was a sign a woman was holding in Mr. Fulghum’s neighborhood witnessed by the author several times over a period of days/weeks and discussed the book referenced.

The other topic comes from the final phrase in James Allen’s “As a Man Thinketh” (1903) treatise on the mind, how the mind matters, and philosophy of thinking. Mr. Allen discussed the “tempest-tossed souls,” “whose thoughts are controlled” by the winds and storms of life instead of the other way round where control of thinking improves the steadiness and serenity of the individual. The idea is that one’s thoughts influence outcomes and becomes reality.

For many months, I have had as a status on my student profile at the University of Phoenix, the following, “Thoughts become things. QED how we think determines success.” I taught a class where we discussed this exact topic. Thoughts leading to words, words becoming actions, actions producing a product, and that product in turn, generating more thinking, thus fulfilling the cycle and moving the soul further down a path, regardless of whether that path is valued as good.

James Allen adds another interesting aspect to this puzzle, “Serenity is the last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul.” “Peace be still!” Bringing to point the idea, choices and thinking remain relevant to the one who would enjoy serenity. Peace is a choice; thoughts, properly controlled, are choices; developing that choice, protecting, harboring, and controlling the ability to choose drives the choice and the result is serenity.

If the thoughts driving action are based upon choice, then “hopelessly confused” was a choice. The woman holding the sign chose to be confused, and the endless running of that thought placed her in a position to become “hopeless.” Let us take a moment to explore these two words for a moment. “Hopeless” as defined by Webster includes the terms “inadequate; incompetent; feeling despair.” Confusion as defined by Webster, contains the following: “the state of being unclear in one’s mind, lacking understanding, and embodying uncertainty.” Hence, the reader is left with a state of mind regarding personal inadequacies or incompetence leading to despair.

Since confusion is a state of mind, correcting thinking on the individual’s part remains a concrete action to be personally undertaken to end the current state of mind and discover a new state of thinking and acting. Yet, what would be the impetus for beginning this process of mental change, choice. Some religions would call this agency or the individual’s personal ability to choose. Many choices remain transactional in nature; we as individuals see value in a different track or course of action, and from that desire for increased value comes the motivation to exercise agency and choose.

At this moment in the choice cycle, the individual does not know that value will come and improve the current situation. The individual has simply completed a mathematical formula and discovered potential for a higher value in a different course of action. The next step moves from inaction to action, from thinking to doing, taking the information gleaned and applying it in a fundamentally different way to realize the desired, but still elusive, potential. By taking action, the individual has shifted slightly and this shift, while ever so slight, over time has energy to achieve greatness.

A religious leader, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (2008), himself a pilot, described the change as “a matter of a few degrees.” Using an airplane analogy, the young pilot is only off a minor tenth of a degree, then corrects the course, then drifts ever so slightly to a new heading. Over time, the plane is now several hundred miles off course and the young pilot in serious trouble. The same can be said for the confused person, the slight change in position, over time, brings innumerable changes in thinking, understanding, and action into a life. While failure to change, drives the same individual further and further down the path of “hopelessly confused.”

Regarding highways, the degrees needed to change from one highway to another without a cloverleaf is generally 10-15 degrees. Starting small, tenths of a degree, time and distance become the variables of great change. Provided proper planning for the lane changes are made, the movement from one highway to another can be done quickly, easily, and safely, without undue wear and tear on the vehicle at highway speeds, which places the next step firmly into the thinking process, planning. Proper prior planning of thoughts takes understanding the variables, naming the problems, and plotting change.

Planning new thinking entails knowing what the end goal should look like. For example, if the starting point is “hopelessly confused” and serenity is desired, then serenity is the end goal or state of mind. This holds true for all desired end states; to plot and plan effectively, one must first know where to go. The second step in planning is knowing that which motivates the change. For example, what condition is driving a desired change in thinking; name the variables or individual desires feeding the change. Planning requires understanding these motivators on a level deeper than intimacy. Finally, the best plans remain flexible but fixed. While this might sound like a paradox, it is not.

Fixed but flexible speaks to the desired end state, not the journey to that end state. While the desired end goal remains serenity, understanding that the journey will involve and necessarily require setbacks, reroutes, and difficulties. The end desired goal thus remains fixed, and the journey to that end desire will fluctuate. This is the same thinking military commanders use when attempting to overcome obstacles. Fluidity in planning and flexibility in application provides for making mistakes, for opposition, and is a learned thinking trait that must be trained into operational thinking.

Finally, James Allen provides the concluding actions in changing mental states. “Self-control is strength; right thought is mastery [of self]; calmness is power [to break the mental chains which bind]. Say unto your heart, “Peace be still.” The mental change does not happen overnight, rarely occurs with the first attempt, and will always resemble the pattern of an hourglass, but like the hourglass, moving between areas is possible, requiring both effort and time. As the narrow neck that limits change becomes closer, understand this constriction, sometimes experienced as restriction of choice, and lack of growth is only temporary. Change is coming and with change comes freedom. This hope for additional freedom is required to maintain that effort to change. Agency starts the adventure of change, hope sustains the journey, motivation and desire feed the fires of hope, and the power generated by hope’s fuel propels the change. To thy heart, “Peace be still.”

 © 2016 M. Dave Salisbury

All Rights Reserved

Allen, J. (1903). As a man thinketh. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

Fulghum, R. (2007). What on earth have I done? Stories, observations, and affirmations. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Uchtdorf, D. F. (2008, April). A Matter of a Few Degrees. Retrieved June 20, 2016, from

Leadership and Kipling: 7-Kipling Quotes to Consider

This following is a reflection on life lessons learned at the feet of a great writer, Rudyard Kipling. Below is the quote; then the life lesson. While not a post intended to be read alone or all at once, this message is designed for pondering, thinking about how these words impact your current life, how they echo deep in your mind, and relate to others the personal meaning. Consider this a weeklong journey of thinking and pondering, a mental exercise and imaginative journey.

 1.  Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. – Kipling

  • I first came across this quote during a difficult period where my choices and reliance upon words and phrases was creating the problems experienced. Long had the lessons of my youth regarding proper English, pronunciation, annunciation, and word choice been giving me problems socially, but I could not understand why. The words we choose become addictive. The experience of using those words to achieve provides a positive feedback loop sustaining word choice, and very carefully the mind closes, the heart congeals, and we begin to attract those just like us. Breaking the cycle requires choosing different words, expressions, and raising our consciousness to the power of expression. Make the choice to choose words more carefully and specifically, and then see where that choice takes you.

2.  We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse. – Kipling

  • I had a football coach in Altamont, UT who said something very similar. When I discovered this quote several years later, I remembered that coach. More importantly, the lessons of working, striving, achieving, and failure came to mind as well. Failure is to be expected, anticipated, and even appreciated. Not for the excuses, but for the lessons, failure can either be a teacher and builder or ultimate destroyer. The choice to build or destroy remains lodged in the one person who can choose; you. Choose wisely!

3.  For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. – Kipling

  • This could be the ultimate team quote, but I refuse to think of this quote that way. This is the ultimate society quote, as society must always remain cognizant of the power of the individual and the collective fit that individual has in society. As my injury and disability has grown year-over-year, the realization of this statement from Kipling drives ever more powerfully home. I have had the pleasure of working with some amazingly talented disabled people, who have been shunted to the side, abandoned, forgotten, but their power to impact lives was not diminished. I firmly belief our society or “wolf pack” is stronger for those struggling with disabilities. Embracing the philosophy that all can contribute empowers, supports, strengthens, and builds the wolf pack.

4.  Fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run. – Kipling

  • The best leaders I have ever been privileged to know never inspire people to engage in long tasks, but short bursts of power. Consider the movie “The Patriot” with Mel Gibson. In this movie is a scene where he asks the militia forces under his command not to fight for the whole day or even fire three shots, but simply fire two shots, implying the need to stand and act just long enough. This is the essence of the action discussed by Kipling. Large events hinge upon small acts, small efforts that were made by people filling 60-seconds of life with full effort and purpose. Leaders must remember to only ask enough and no more; enough is most often simply filling 60-seconds of life full to the brim.

  • Acknowledging the “Power of Work” and the “Law of the Harvest,” which are two powers that change the world one engaged person at a time. Hard work is the investment upon which harvest is born. How often does a person refuse to do the work and then cries about harvesting bitter and useless fields? We see this in a lot of different places, people engaged in sowing hate, envy, strife, and discontent, then complaining that their harvest of bitter crops is too great to bear and wants a new harvest of honey and milk. Leaders must exemplify the need for hard work and the patience required to harvest fields of good crops to their followers. In training, the answer to understanding work comes and delivers its own lessons to be appreciated.

6.  I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. – Kipling

  • Do we understand the power and conviction of this choice? Choosing to believe the best in another requires preparation and a desire to have the best in us be trusted, believed, and seen. Leaders, who personify the quote as internal characteristics, form the backbone of change, the foundation of good society, and reflect the courage needed in difficult times to thrive and build. The time for choosing is today, the need for choosing apparent, and with this single choice, America will never be stronger.

7.  If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten. – Kipling

  • The human condition is a condition of storytellers. Through stories, we teach, learn, and relate. The choice of words we use in telling the stories teaches values, ideals, and heritage in a most influential way, and most importantly our culture is relayed. Historical events are stories, Hollywood tells stories, books tell stories. Through these stories memories are kept, attraction to or detraction from the storyteller occurs, and language is preserved. James Allen reports in “As a Man Thinketh” (1903) about thought and purpose claiming, “Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.” Continuing to further claim, “They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pitying’s.” History provides the link between thought and purpose; stories of history are the mold the character of a person is poured into. Hence, both the need to learn history and the requirement to tell history as a story for others to learn requires serious consideration.

Why undertake a weeklong mental exercise, the answer lies in the words of James Allen:

“Mind is the master power that moulds and makes,
And man is mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: –
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking glass.”

Contained in these words is understanding, leadership in the current world requires both understanding thought and a commitment to preserving thought in those who follow. Consider and ponder upon these gems of intelligence. The power of these words from Kipling to guide, mentor, and build others cannot be understated. There is great need for leaders in America; leadership continues to be a choice. If we keep this in mind, the world would be a much better place!

© 2016 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved


Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Bone abnormalities in systemic autoimmune disease

An article published in Experimental Biology and Medicine details abnormalities in bone pathology that occur in systemic autoimmune disease. The study, led by Dr. Yasuhiro Kon, Professor in the Department of Basic Veterinary ...

Gerontology & Geriatrics

Think you should slow down as you get older? Think again

Muscle strengthening exercises are important for building bone strength and preventing osteoporosis, but new research shows that even just 10,000 steps a day can help to keep bones strong.

Medical research

Keeping bone in its place

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is the formation of bone within soft tissue such as muscle, leading to pain and potentially the inability to use a limb. Once thought to be primarily a genetic disease, the cause of most trauma-induced ...

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The interplay of dietary polyphenols and gut microbiota in mammary tumourigenesis and metastasis

Applications Close: 28 March 2019

Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women in the UK and is a leading cause of cancer mortality. Its prevalence is rising, potentially due to increasing population age but also due to effects of diet and lifestyle. Epidemiological data indicate the benefits of diets rich in plant-derived polyphenolic compounds but experimental data remain sparse, primarily employing cell-based models. Our recent work from has demonstrated a key role for gut microbiota in mammary cancer, via modulation of the mucosal and systemic immune systems. Co-applicant Prof Cathie Martin has generated a suite of experimental tomato strains enriched for the production of specific polyphenols, eg anthocyanins, resveratrol, isoflavones. Diets based on these strains have been shown to influence the gut microbiota ecosystem.

Our objectives are:
1) Evaluation of the impact of diets based on polyphenol-enriched tomatoes on mammary cancer development and metastasis in mice.
2) Investigation of changes in gut microbiota in tumour-bearing versus control mice on the different diets.
3) Evaluation of the effects of diets on systemic immunomodulatory factors and immune cell repertoires in tumours.

This PhD studentship at the Quadram Institute Bioscience sets out to bring together aspects of the expertise of the Norwich Research Park, namely plant bioactives, gut microbiota and mouse cancer models, to ask the critical questions of whether and how do dietary factors and gut microbes interact in the development and spread of breast cancer.

The project is multi-disciplinary and students will receive training in microbiology, in vivo mouse tumour models, immunology, bioinformatics and mathematical modelling approaches to understand how diet-induced changes in the microbiota affect breast cancer progression and tumour immune surveillance.

For further information, please visit our website:

Funding Notes

This project is awarded with a 3-year Norfolk Cancer Charity BIG C PhD studentship. Tuition fees are covered for UK/EU rate only (£4,327.00 2019/0 rate). Students liable for international tuition fees will need to fund the difference between the UK/EU fee level and the international fee level (£18,700. 2019/0 rate). A stipend will be provided for each year of the studentship (2019/0 rate is £15,009.00). Research training support funding is available.


The Juvenile Court : An Adult Offender

991 Words Jun 18th, 2016 4 Pages
The Juvenile Court was established in 1899, under the Juvenile Court Act. The Act was established under three principles; children at a certain age are too young to be held accountable for their actions, they are not mentally competent, and they are more likely to be rehabilitated than an adult offender. However, in the past years juvenile are committing more violent crimes that suggest they should be tried in criminal courts rather than juvenile courts. It is my belief that if a child under the age of 18 commits a violent crime they should be charged as an adult offender. Certain criteria should be established when charging a juvenile as an adult; at what age should a child know right from wrong, the type of crime a child has committed, and if the child is a repeat offender. These three things should be questioned when charging a child as an adult. Researchers have discussed that at the age between 12 and 15 is when a child starts to develop the understanding of their actions. Psychologically, their brain starts to advance into creating their own thought process. Dr. William Womack a Psychiatrist states that young children have not yet developed the mind set to value another human’s life. A minor who commits a crime at a young age should pay for the consequences as an adult would. Their thought process doesn’t start after they commit the crime, it starts before they commit the crime. I believe that when a minor commits a violent crime they know what they are doing.…
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Storytelling for idiots

I am not a natural storyteller. I'm a natural writer, and a moderately natural creator-of-characters, but when it comes to figuring out what happens next, forget it.

Conversations with myself at chapters 3, 9, 22 and 31 tend to go something like this...

ME: World comes to an end and they live happily ever after?

ME1: Crap.

ME: Tree falls in the forest, everyone hears?

ME1: Nice twist, but...nah.

ME: Heroine turns out to be alien?

ME1: Next.

My lack of story-telling prowess is the reason I fall back so frequently and comfortably on The Journey. Lead your innocent character through a dark wood and things are bound to happen. And as I frequently suggest to my audiences of keen young people (or the jaded middle-aged, with whom I identify far more), you can always steal a plot and make it your own — as long as you don't pilfer whole paragraphs of prose, or someone else's voice, or that quirky unusual ending where the clown and the dog turn out to be long lost sisters.

But recently it occurred to me that there is one piece of simple biological evidence that we are all storytellers.

Night time arrives, our conscious brains shut down, and the subconscious goes to town — creating whole worlds complete with long forgotten friends, bizarre landscapes, elaborate symbolism and weird plotlines that wouldn't occur to us when we're awake.

Access that subconscious. It's all waiting for you.