Doc Meek

Archive for April, 2011

 

A religious fattening; published: 2011/04/12; Author: Celia Milne

“Something about religion makes people fatter. New research in Chicago has found that young people who do religious activities at least once a week are twice as likely to become obese at middle age as those with no religious involvement.”

Above image/text from MetroNews, issue of Apr 12, 2011: http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/ 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011. Today I am grateful for good research studies that can guide us in decision-making. However, even good studies may misguide us–may mislead us significantly! ~ Doc Meek

The above-mentioned study is a good example. When I looked into the study I found that this was not really about religion, even though the study subjects were affiliated with various religious denominations.

It was a good study about 2,433 young men and women who were followed for 18 years. Reported MetroNews: “[Dr. Matthew] Feinstein and colleagues from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine [in Chicago, Illinois, presented the data] at an American Heart Association scientific session in Atlanta, Georgia.”

“The people in the study were part of a larger study called the ‘Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults.’ The object of the study was to find out which groups are at higher risk for obesity, and therefore diseases and earlier death.”

In my opinion, the real finding really had nothing to do with religion.

It had to do with inappropriate nutrition at social functions. Sugar drinks, cakes, cookies, and other fattening food were served at young people’s activities.

The social gatherings just happened to be religious social gatherings. The same inappropriate nutrition is served at most social functions, religious or not, in our Western culture. 

So the real finding of this good study (I think) is this:

If we serve young people junk food at social gatherings anywhere (at home, at work, at church, anywhere), they are twice as likely to become obese at middle age.

Thank you, Dr. Feinstein and colleagues for a fine study. Maybe it is the media reports that can distort the study findings so as to give false impressions?

Doc Meek, Tues, Apr 12, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Prochaska, James O., John C. Norcross & Carlo C. DiClemente (1995).

CHANGING FOR GOOD: A REVOLUTIONARY SIX-STAGE PROGRAM FOR OVERCOMING BAD HABITS AND MOVING YOUR LIFE POSITIVELY FORWARD [Paperback]

Image/text from: http://www.amazon.com/Changing-Good-Revolutionary-Overcoming-Positively/dp/038072572X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302471141&sr=1-1

Monday, April 11, 2011. Today I am grateful for those people who work with addicts (that’s all of us, to one degree or another, maybe) and help them (us) mover forward in our lives in a positive way . . . permanently. Dr. Prochaska and his fellow Ph.D.s/colleagues are such people. ~ Doc Meek

I wrote to an ex-alcoholic friend about Dr. Prochaska’s work, as follows: 

Dear B, Drs. Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente put forward the idea that family or corporate interventions that rush/push addicts (or any of us) into changing their (our) behavior before they (we) are ready internally to make the change, are almost certain to fail.
From what you have shared with me, you know this already. This program greatly increases the success rate and greatly reduces recidivism (relapse).

Blessings and Gratitudes, Doc ………………………………………………………………………….
SIX STEPS OR STAGES for CHANGING FOR GOOD:
1. Precontemplation
2. Contemplation
3. Preparation
4. Action
5. Maintenance
6. [Self-management] Termination [the end of official formal therapy]
– Prochaska, James O., John C. Norcross &
Carlo C. DiClemente (1995). Changing for Good …………………………………………………………………………..

This inexpensive and powerful book has been read by many; here is one reader’s comment:

5 out of 5 stars. What a nice change!

Published on July 14, 2007 by Henry

Unlike most self-help books out there, this one is actually based on research for a change. Based on this PhD’s work on how people change, this guy has uncovered the different, predictable stages of change that people go through when they attempt to get themselves to change. Although the stages are fairly predictable, not everybody goes through them in the exact same…

DANIEL’S GLOVES, by Richard Ryan, Assistant Pastor, Old Capitol United Methodist Church

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street.  There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, ‘I will work for food.’ My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor.

I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car. [See the rest of the story in the P.S. below.]

Thank you, Pastor Richard Ryan, for being forthright and diligent!

Doc Meek, Fri, Apr 8, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me:  ‘Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square.’

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town’s newest visitor.

‘Looking for the pastor?’ I asked.

‘Not really,’ he replied, ‘just resting.’

‘Have you eaten today?’

‘Oh, I ate something early this morning.’

‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’

‘Do you have some work I could do for you?’

‘No work,’ I replied ‘I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.’

‘Sure,’ he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.  Where you headed?’

‘   St. Louis  ‘

‘Where you from?’

‘Oh, all over; mostly Florida .’

‘How long you been walking?’

‘Fourteen years,’ came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet  clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that  was startling He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red  T-shirt that said, ‘Jesus is The Never Ending  Story.’

Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona.  He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

‘Nothing’s been the same since,’ he said, ‘I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.’

‘Ever think of stopping?’ I asked.

‘Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.’

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: ‘What’s it like?’

‘What?’

‘To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?’

‘Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me.’

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, ‘Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.’

I felt as if we were on holy ground. ‘Could you use another Bible?’ I asked

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. ‘I’ve read through it 14 times,’ he said.

‘I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church and see’ I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

‘Where are you headed from here?’ I asked.

‘Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.’

‘Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?’

‘No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.’

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we’d met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

‘Would you sign my autograph book?’ he asked. ‘I like to keep messages from folks I meet.’

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I  left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, ‘I know the  plans I have for you, declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you  and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a  hope.’

Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘I know we just met and we’re really just strangers, but I love you.’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’ ‘The Lord is good!’

‘Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?’ I asked.

A  long time,’ he replied

And  so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new  friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been  changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, ‘See you in the New Jerusalem.’

‘I’ll be there!’ was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, ‘When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’

‘You bet,’ I shouted back, ‘God bless.’

‘God bless.’ And that was the last I saw of him.

Later that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them… a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: ‘If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two h ours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. ‘See you in the New Jerusalem,’ he said.  Yes, Daniel, I know I will…

‘I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I  shall not pass this way again.’

– Richard Ryan, Assistant Pastor, Old Capitol United Methodist Church, Corydon, Indiana, USA

Thursday, April 7, 2011. Today I am so grateful for parents who teach in small ways and children who learn in small ways. Both end up big in my eyes, and the result is big in lifelong benefits!

Re-shingling image from: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/roof/maintenance/reshingle/prep/tear_off.htm Skateboarding image from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/skateboarding%20driveway/silas_romig/Skateboarding/driveway_gap.jpg?o=1#!oZZ3QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia.photobucket.com%2Fimage%2Fskateboarding%20driveway%2Fpyrosk8erboy%2FMe%20Skateboarding%2Fe2aa466d.jpg%3Fo%3D3

My Mom is having her roof re-shingled.

This reminds my older sister Anita of the couple who had their own small business re-shingling roofs [rooves? :o].

(One of the big problems when the old shingles are being removed, is the small bits of asphalt shingle and roofing nails that fall into the gardens and lawns and flowerbeds surrounding the house.)

In the summer, when school is out, this couple bring their young child with them (8 or 9 years old).

Anita asks the child, “What are you doing?”

He says: “I am working; my job is to take this can and go all around the house all day and pick up any bits of old shingle or nails that fall from the roof.”

Anita: “That’s good. I can see that is an important job! I am glad you are able to help your Mom and Dad!”

Child: “I have to make sure that I get everything. See? [Shows Anita a bit of tar paper and an “invisible” nail in the lawn.]

Anita: “Wow, you must have really good eyes, eh?”

Child: “Yah . . .  and I have to remember to work below the side of the roof where my Dad and Mom are not working.”

Anita: “Why?”

Child: “So nothing falls on my head and hurts me.”

[CAUTION NOTE: THE DAD WOULD CALL DOWN FROM THE ROOF TO HIS CHILD FREQUENTLY TO MAKE SURE THAT THE CHILD WAS PICKING UP ON THE SIDE OF THE ROOF OPPOSITE TO WHERE THE COUPLE WAS WORKING, SO THAT THE CHILD WOULD BE SAFE FROM FALLING OBJECTS!]

Child: “When I am all caught up picking up stuff off the ground, I go skateboarding on the front driveway.” [Kids know how to combine work and play in a way many adults have forgotten.]

Thank you, Anita, for sharing this story of the young worker with us! And thanks to the parents on the roof who know how to help their children learn the value of work in small ways at a young age!

Doc Meek, Thurs, Apr 7, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

From the dust jacket:

“Thirty inspiring women share the enduring lessons they have learned from the defining moments of their lives.

“Life rarely works out exactly as we plan. Rejection by a cherished friend, the onset of an unexpected illness, struggle with body image and self-perception–these experiences may challenge us, but our triumphs come to define us.

“We find comfort, joy, tears, and laughter in the wisdom, insight, and empathy we gain.”

————————–

Thank you, Andrea Buchanan, for teaching all of us the agony and joy of overcoming obstacles, including ourselves!

Doc Meek, Wed, Apr 6, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Recently I was grateful (and shocked!) to learn that I did not know how to breathe! Surely we all learned this at birth!? Yes, and our over-scheduled lives can take away that basic infant learning.  Even babies, if they have overly-traumatic births, can fail to learn to breathe for health. ~ Doc Meek

Image above and text below from: http://www.amazon.com/Breathwalk-Breathing-Your-Revitalized-Spirit/dp/0767904931/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302019787&sr=8-1

Breathwalk: Breathing Your Way to a Revitalized Body, Mind and Spirit

Gurucharan Singh Khalsa (Author), Yogi Bhajan (Author); 12 customer reviews

Reader J. Roberts comments:

“I bought the book because it incorporated elements from two of my favorite exercises, yoga and walking. After reading the book front to back, I took a walk. I was amazed. It opens your senses, quiets your mind and changes your mood in a quick 15-30 minutes. It’s something you can do anywhere (your neighborhood, parks, malls, airports, work and even on a treadmill), no special clothes or equipment required, and it’s soooo easy! Read the book, get your friends to get one and read it too, then go for a walk together.”

Reader D. Kemper comments:

“What a terrific book! Despite the fact that it’s an exercise book, it is extremely engaging, and the concepts easy to follow. The challenge is to have the patience to read the book through completely so that you understand fully what Breathwalk is all about, before trying it out haphazardly.

“One reviewer felt the book was disorganized, and there should have been a brief overview chapter so the reader could quickly dive into Breathwalking.

“My good judgment tells me that the presentation of the material was quite deliberately thought through so that the reader would have a firm foundation of what to do before striking out. A Breathwalk – though its basic components are as simple as breathing and walking – requires a certain level of precision and, as importantly, consciousness of what you’re doing at any given moment, so just getting a vague idea of it wouldn’t be useful at all.

“I see a close similarity, in that respect, to yoga. Carefully learn and consciously practice a few yoga basics and you’ll immediately feel some rewards (just like learning one Breathwalk program). But you can very satisfactorily spend a whole lifetime enhancing your practice of yoga (or Breathwalk) and, in turn, continuously reap more and more benefits.

“I’d recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an exercise program that addresses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, is easy to do but provides you with lots of opportunity for real mastery.”

……………………………………….

Thank you, Dr. Khalsa (not the medical Dr. Khalsa), and your co-author, Yogi Bhajan, for this enlightening book about learning to really do for health what we all thought we already knew how to do–breathe!

Doc Meek, Tuesday, April 5, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Video (“Spread Your Wings”) of above image at: http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/108-Breakaway

Monday, April 4, 2011. Today I am grateful for Moms and all courageous women who help make our world a much much better place for all of us. – Doc Meek

Video Transcript below of above video at: http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/108-Breakaway

“Spread your wings” (Music in video and lyrics below):

Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I’d just stare out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I’d end up happy
I would pray
I could break away
I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes, till I touch the sky
I gotta
Take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And break away
Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get on board a fast train
Travel on a jet plane far away
And break away
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget the place I come from

.
Super: “Spread your wings. Pass it on. A message from The Foundation for a Better Life.”

Images above from: http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/108-Breakaway

Thank you, Values.com, for inspiring all of us to live a better life!

Doc Meek, Mon, Apr 4, 2011, Sherwood Park, AB, CANADA

We Took Dr. Dharma’s
“Free Memory Test”
You Can Too

Image and text from: http://www.drdharma.com/Public/Home/index.

Friday, April 1, 2011. Today I am grateful for those who help us help our brains to work better. Such a one is Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD.

Image above and text below from: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Longevity-Breakthrough-Medical-Improves/product-reviews/0446673730/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

BRAIN LONGEVITY: THE BREAKTHROUGH MEDICAL PROGRAM THAT IMPROVES YOUR MIND AND MEMORY

By Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, with Cameron Stauth; (30 customer reviews)

5 out of 5 stars Exciting book, readable, full of information
While most of us are losing our minds (literally cell by cell), some people are razor sharp well into their nineties. Is this just heredity or good luck, or is there something we can do to keep our mind and memory from going the way of Alzheimer’s? Dr. Khalsa thinks so. In fact he presents quite a program for rejuvenation. The question is, does he have the goods in this book to help YOU?