Dec 16, 2010

A friend and I were walking around Mackinac Island in northern Michigan yesterday morning and we both noticed something worth repeating. The island, if you’ve never been, is free of motor vehicles. To move about the island you have three choices: (1) walk, (2) bicycle and (3) horse drawn carriage. It is a piece of heaven, geographically speaking, that...

Dec 15, 2010

As a father, a husband and a citizen of the world, I am compelled to do everything within my power to leave the world a better place than I found it. In my life I have witnessed many remarkable changes, the collapse of one of the world’s great superpowers, the invention of new modes of communication that make instantaneous communication possible ...

Dec 14, 2010

A long-standing central desire of mine is to help my fellows live healthier, happier lives. I do my best to center my words, my work and my living on the theme of life enhancement, yet I am often surprised by how rarely people tend to act on what they know they need to do to live healthier, more balanced lives. A circuit breaker blows somewhere...

Dec 13, 2010

I heard an interesting segment on NPR the other day entitled “The Mysterious Healing Power of Placebos.” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126802142). Jennifer Ludden interviews two guests: the first a neurosurgeon from Washington D.C. and the second, a doctor and the Director of Psychiatric Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital,...

Dec 12, 2010

Certain types of music can help to bring order to the conscious mind.  Robert Gupta, violinist with the LA Philharmonica, shares a fascinating story about an encounter he had with this phenomenon. Nathanial Anthony Ayers, a Julliard-trained violinist, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.  He left school and became homeless, only to be discovered by a...