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 LIVING HAPPY     
UPLIFTING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING NEWS FOR OUR MIND, BODY,AND SPIRIT   

From Carole Kane


  Vol. I  No. 11                                                                   April 10, 2011

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in this issue
TV commercials - in sickness and in health
Slice of life: Reflections on Happiness
Destination: Cuzco, Peru
Think a little, laugh a little
Your space - for guest writers, ghost writers, and commentators

And year Friends,

Carole Kane

Carole Kane 

M.A., N.C.C. ret.

Welcome to Living Happy,  a nice way to feel and be our best!  Rather than concentrating on all the "bad" news in today's media, Living Happy is  about good, interesting, and fun things for everyone.  

 

If you noticed the newsletter is a day late - it's because yesterday was the first really beautiful Spring day in my part of the world,  and I took full advantage of it - gardening until I couldn't stand up anymore!  So I took my own advice, Lived Happy, and procrastinated!  Felt good!

 

In our "slice of life" this week,  Rev. Victor Langhorne reflects on the happiness he shares with his little granddaughter as they spend their Saturdays together.

  

Dr. Brad Holway tells us about his trip to colorful, memorable, mystical Cuzco, Peru.

 

You'll find an article from me about television commercials...  hope you get a laugh out of it - as well as some inspiration.

 

Please feel free to contribute, comment, or criticize to your heart's content.  Just look for the "Comments" link below. 

 

Happy reading!

Love, Carole XXX OOO

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TV commercials - in sickness and in health

 

If you're like most of us, as soon as a commercial comes on the television, you start to channel-surf, looking for what else is on.  In the past, you could actually watch more than one complete show at the same time, flipping back and forth between commercials.  Somewhere along the line, they got wise to us - and now almost every channel airs their commercials at the same time;  we just can't get away from them (that's the time to walk around the house for five minutes).

 

With the exception of a very few entertaining ads, we might begin to think that all of America suffers from halitosis, arthritis, obesity, allergies, incontinence, headache, sexual dysfunction, eczema, low energy, digestive disorders, discolored teeth, acid reflux, diabetes, constipation, diarrhea, varicose veins, depression, loose-fitting false teeth, insomnia, thin hair, and pain! pain!  pain!  What a sorry bunch we are!

 

www.CartoonStock.com 

This media blitzing could make us think that we actually are unhealthy and must take a pill or medicine just to get through the day.  Have we bought into it?  A look in our medicine chest will prove this.  Don't we have

antacids, pain killers, sleeping potions, cold remedies, laxatives, anti-laxatives, mouthwash, skin creams, six kinds of tooth whiteners, on and on?

 

Would you like to get off this stupid merry-go-round and live like the healthy, vibrant person you really are?  I thought so.  So here's a good way to start:

 

Exercise!  Sorry, but it's true.  Exercise can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reverse Type II diabetes or at least lower the glucose numbers, counteract depression by producing endorphins, banish constipation, relieve arthritis pain (especially water exercise), help with flexibility and balance as we age, relieve insomnia, help lose weight, and raise self-confidence immensely.

 

Add good nutrition to this picture, and the sky's the limit.  With the proper "fuel" and the proper "burning" of that fuel, our bodies will run without squeaks and funny noises for a lot longer.  Clear skin, shiny eyes, healthy hair, fresh breath - ours for the taking!

 

The icing on the cake (sorry!):  Get enough sleep!  When we exercise, this will happen.  Think of this:  For serious health problems we need to depend on our doctors and their prescriptions. But for day-to-day problems like those already mentioned, our bodies have their own built-in pharmacy.  While we sleep, it heals and repairs us.

 

What a disappointment for the media!

 

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Reflections on Happiness                                   By Rev. Victor Langhorne

"Papa," my soon-to-be-sixyear-old granddaughter, Mackenzie inquired, "Can we go to Burger King today?"  

It was Saturday, and Saturdays have developed into the one day each week I make a point to try to see her.  Mackenzie noticed the Saturday pattern, and began to develop a litany of plans for what she would like to include in our time together.

On her agenda: buying toys; going to McDonald or Burger King to eat and to get a toy;  and visiting places where she might meet other children with whom she could play.   On one of the first Saturdays, I  asked her if she would like to go and see her "Cousin Elsie." 

Her enthusiasm was unbridled, and she excitedly begged my daughter, her mother, "Please, mom, please, may I go with Papa to see 'Cousin Elsie'?"  Permission granted.  My own excitement was only dimmed when we arrived at Cousin Elsie's; she was as excited to see Mackenzie as I was to show off my precocious granddaughter.  Mackenzie made her entrance, behaving a bit coy at first, as I had expected.  She held onto my leg half-hiding behind it as we went through the entrance hallway and into the kitchen where Cousin Elsie entertained her guests.  Having not seen Mackenzie for so long that Mackenzie did not really remember her, Cousin Elsie remarked about how much Mackenzie had grown, and on and on.  Finally, Mackenzie impolitely pulled my ear to her mouth and whispered, "Where are Cousin's Elsie's children?"

My dear Cousin Elsie is 89-years old and a childless widow.  She was present when I was born and urged my mother to name me "Victor," the name she had chosen for her own son that she had learned she would never be able to have.   So that became the story that Mackenzie learned about how Papa got his name, which led to a discussion about how Mackenzie got her name.

These Saturdays have evolved into dates.  A few weeks ago, a visit to Burger King exceeded Mackenzie's expectations.  A girl came into BK who appeared to be about Mackenzie's age.   The young girl directed her grandma, who is Thai, to a table adjacent to ours, and  I observed as the two girls quietly and quizzically ogled one another.  

I broke the ice  (after securing permission nonverbally from the girl's grandmother), and asked the little girl her name and age, to facilitate an introduction between the two girls.  She said, "Corinne.  I am five, soon-to-be six on April 1st ."  

 That was all it took.   They engaged in the comparison of BK toys and questions about their respective schools.  An invitation was extended and accepted to go to play that very day at the Buddhist Temple where Corinne's grandmother prepares and serves food for the monks.   We exchanged their respective parents' names and phone numbers.  On her way home, Mackenzie excitedly exclaimed to me that she had a "BFF" (best friend forever) now.

Every Saturday since, I have heard, "Papa, can we go see Corinne today?"  Last Saturday, she showed me with great relish the gift that she would be taking to Corinne's birthday celebration. 

Rev. Langhorne is Associate Minister at  Providence Baptist Church, Newport News, Virginia

 

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Destination:   Cuzco, Peru                                          By Bradley Holway, PhD

   

It has been some thirty years since I last set foot in Cuzco and I'm sure it has greatly changed since then.  Still, Peru, particularly the "Sierra", is a land where tradition is revered and where elements of the past continue to thrive in the cold light of the present.  This is particularly true for Cuzco, the former capital of the Incan Empire.  Here was a fairly large city, comparable in size to Richmond or Buffalo, where half the street traffic consisted of mules, donkeys and llamas, all bearing burdens and mostly led by women speaking Quechua, the language of the fallen empire, or Aymara, spoken by the people whose ancestors built the ruined city of Tiahuanaco in nearby Bolivia.

 

The highlight of Cuzco is the magnificent main square, or "Plaza

Cuzco Plaza de Armas

Photo:  Julio Costa  Flickr.com

de Armas", as it is called in Spanish.  It is here that the Spaniards constructed their government buildings and ornate baroque churches atop the interlocking stone foundations laid by the Incas.  The side streets are lined with clubs where you can drink with the locals and listen to live bands clad in traditional Andean garb, playing the foot-stomping flute-and-panpipe music for which Peru and Bolivia have justly become famous.  Along these same streets are numerous curio and artisanry shops selling bevelled copperware, leather goods, traditional silver jewelry, painted pottery and beautiful hand-woven alpaca and llama wool textiles including rugs, wall-hangings, sweaters, shawls and ponchos.  The place is a paradise for visitors ranging from casual souvenir shoppers to serious folk art collectors.

 

Less than an hour's hike or a short ride from the center of town stands the mysterious ancient fortress of Sacsahuaman, built of huge, irregularly-shaped stones fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  The stones are so precisely worked that, to this day, it is a major challenge to wedge a razor blade between them!

Machu Picchu, Peru

Flickr.com 

 

Cuzco can also be used as a base for day trips to the starkly beautiful Urubamba Valley or to Peru's most famous tourist attraction, the abandoned Incan city of Machu Picchu, set like a rough, unpolished jewel on a steep hill amid the cloud forest on the Amazonian side of the Andean crest.  These places are worthy of a travel article in their own right!


 

 

 

 

 

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Think a little - laugh a little

 

Q: How many MicroSoft technicians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Three: two to hold the ladder and one to hammer

dog and cat calories

Today I ate two bowls of dog food, a sandwich crust, some spaghetti that fell on the floor, half of your cat food, a wet tea bag, three bugs, and the inside of a sneaker.  How many grams of fat is that?.

the bulb into the faucet with a wrench.

 

 

Horse walks into a bar. Bartender asks him, "Why the long face?"

  

 

 Old is when you remember when the Dead Sea was only sick.

  

 "Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do." 

  --  Khalil Gibran

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Your Space - For Guest Writers, Ghost Writers, and Commentators

 

Thank you to Rev. Langhorne and Dr. Bradley Holway for their contributions this week.  


        Would you like to contribute an article?  
 

                      - Do you have a little "slice of life" to share?  

This Could  be YOU!

 

        - A review of your favorite book or movie?

 

- I'd love to start a space called "Psychic Safari"

- got any scary (true) stories for us? 


Do you have comments about Living Happy?

What would you like to see more/less of?

 
For Comments and to Contact Living Happy  click this link.
 

 

I'd love to hear from you!  And thanks!!! 

 

                                                                                   Carole  XXX    

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