The PULSE: Darren Hardy Blog

How to Honor and Handle Mom

Mother’s Day is upon us. One day where we repent and honor the woman we have agonized, frustrated, bewildered and inflicted excruciating pain upon. Even still she suckled, nurtured, repeatedly forgave and loved us silly.

(At least) on this one day be sure to walk through the door with a big bouquet of flowers, long enveloping hugs and wet kisses. Make sure she knows she is special, loved and appreciated – she deserves it.

Now, a few tips for the other 364 days a year ;-)

8 Reasons You Shouldn’t (always) Listen to Your Mother

Momism #1: "Wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident!"

Truth: When emergency-room personnel cut the clothes off trauma patients, Dr. Alexander says, it's done so quickly that they never pay attention to whether the underwear is stained, dirty, or full of holes.

Momism #2:  "Don't go out without a coat or you'll get sick!"

Truth: Colds and flu are not caused by catching a chill or by dejectedly walking home from your girlfriend's in the rain without your rubbers. Nonetheless, this myth persists, largely because most people get sick during winter, when these situations commonly occur. Dr. Alexander suggests that it may even be possible to think yourself ill. If you dread damp feet, your brain may depress your immune system when it happens.

Momism #3: "Keep touching yourself, and it'll fall off!"

Truth: There's no evidence that doing “that” will cause your staff to revolt. Such exploration is "a normal part of growing up," says Dr. Alexander.

Momism #4: "Someday your face will freeze like that!"

Truth: No matter how far you stretch the corners of your mouth or how deeply into your nostril you plunge your tongue, facial muscles will never become paralyzed as a result.

Momism #5:  "You're gonna fall and crack your head open!"

Truth: Your skull can split like an egg, but it would require a severe impact, such as falling into the corner of a coffee table, says Larry L. Alexander, M.D., an emergency-room physician at Baylor Medical Center. "You're much more likely to fracture your skull."

Momism #6: "You'll poke someone's eye out with that!"

Truth: It's impossible to "poke out" an eyeball with a sharp instrument. What you'll probably do is pierce or rupture it. To actually pop an eyeball out, Dr. Alexander says, you "have to get in there with your fingers and pull it out."

Momism #7: "If you break a leg, don't come running to me!"

Truth: It's unlikely that you'd be able to run with a broken leg, but you could still walk. Dr. Alexander has seen people with broken legs walk into the E.R. "It hurts like crazy," he says, "but the muscles spasm and produce enough support to bear weight."

Momism #8 - "You pick your nose like that you might accidentally pull out your brain"

Truth: Uh, no.

Mom Make You a Little Loco Sometimes?
Stop These 5 Annoying Mom Habits

1. She musses your hair: The greatest intimacy between a mother and son occurs during early childhood, and hair- mussing is one way she showed her affection then. Or maybe she pinched your cheeks or, even more harrowing, pulled you close to her bosom. She's just reverting to old habits. Tell her it makes you feel silly. If that doesn't work, be thankful you still have hair to muss.

2. She calls you Joey or some other embarrassing childhood nickname: Again, she's relating to you the way she used to. If you've asked her to stop without success, do this: Think of an equally humiliating nickname for her. We suggest Bobshe, Bobba, Nana, Gammy, or Muz. Call her this in public. When she tells you to knock it off, propose a truce.

3. She visits unannounced: Don't let her get away with this more than once, or she'll be all over you like a full-length girdle. Tell her you enjoy seeing her, but she must call first.

4. She hollers at you on the phone: Hang up. That's right, cut her off in mid-wail. When she calls back, explain that a sustained holler of a certain pitch and tone can disconnect a phone. Suzie Bolotin, two-time national hollerin' champ, says that if she holds a particular note for a long time, she can trigger this "hang-up frequency."

5. She calls to remind you about every little thing: She's probably feeling lonely and unneeded. Be a good boy and listen. Just keep repeating the following four phrases in the order given: (1) "Uh-huh," (2) "No kidding!" (3) "That's too bad," and (4) "It's probably benign."

Free 411 service from Google

Here is another money saving tip...

Google's Free 411 Service

After being sick and tired of the $5-$10 per month in 411 costs on my phone bill, I somehow got my wife to stop calling 411 and begin calling 800-Free-411. As you may have guessed, that's a free way to call information and get the phone number of a listed residence or business. The caveat with this service is it's free because you have to hear a commercial prior to getting your number.

Today, I noticed that Google has come up with a free service to compete in this market. Now you can call 800-GOOG-411. I tried it a few times this morning and I was pretty impressed.

Entirely based on voice recognition, you simply speak the common items such as city/state, and the name of the business. Without hearing any advertisements, you will be connected without delay.

Doesn't matter what you use, just don't pay for it.

Protecting your back (pocket, that is). Keep reading the blog... you never know what idea is gonna be the doozie for you. ~DH

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Why Humans (and Baboons) Stress So Much

By Sara Goudarzi LiveScience Staff Writer of Health SciTech

Being highly intelligent and social, humans suffer from more stress-related diseases than any other animal, worrying about family, health, jobs and even the future. The average beast, on the other hand, does not spend much time worrying about these things.

But baboons do stress out, according to research presented here Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Why is that? The answer sheds light on human stress.

New worries

Just a century or so back, the primary threats to human life were pneumonia, tuberculosis, childbirth, the flu and the like.

Nowadays, relatively few people die from the flu; instead most humans die of ailments that are relatively new to our species, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, said Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist.

“These are all diseases that are either caused by or being worsened by stress,” said  Sapolsky, who has written several books including "Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers" and "A Primate’s Memoir." He regularly visits Kenya to study baboons, primates with no predators that experience environmental and social stress sources like humans.

• Job Stress Fuels Disease

If you're stomach is ripped open...

Sapolsky explained homeostasis, is a state in which an organism or group is in balance, meaning for example, that there is an ideal level of glucose in the blood stream and the body’s temperature is favorable.

A stressor is anything in the outside world that knocks an animal out of homeostatic balance.

“You’re a zebra, a lion has leapt out, ripped your stomach open and you still need to get out of there,” Sapolsky told a packed room. “This counts as being out of homeostatic balance. The stress response is what your body does to reestablish homeostasis. That’s all you need to know about the subject if you’re a zebra.”

In the case of humans, however, the definition is expanded.

Humans can anticipate that something unfavorable is about to happen to them and can have a stress response prior to the event, which could help them cope.  On the other hand, if a person believes they are about to be knocked out of homeostatic balance, but they are really not and this belief continues, then they are dealing with chronic stress.

You’re being profoundly human in such a case, Sapolsky said. “Sit down a hippo and try to describe what’s up with the ozone layer and he’s going to have no idea what you’re talking about. We go exactly through that stress response as that zebra or lion, but we do it for chronic psychosocial reasons,” he said.

This condition among humans, Sapolsky said, evolved from dealing with short-term crises. “For 99 percent of the beasts on this planet, stress is about three minutes of screaming in terror after which it’s either over with or you’re over with.  And we turn it on for 30-year mortgages,” he said.

• Why We Love to be Scared

Stress response

Stress, a stimulus that causes a physical or psychological reaction, causes the release of hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, in all vertebrates. These hormones evolved to help facilitate behaviors that help vertebrates survive when they were about to become dinner.

During times of stress, animals go to their fat cells and liver and take out sugar and dump it in their blood streams.

“You go to the bank and you empty out the savings account and you turn it into cash, Sapolsky said. “Next, you want to deliver this energy as fast as you can. You increase your heart rate, your blood pressure and your breathing rate, to get that glucose to your thigh muscles in two seconds instead of three and you’re that much more likely to survive.” 

However, humans, also generate these responses in non-life threatening situations, he said. On a daily basis, humans could be worried about their jobs, missing deadlines and angering someone they love, among other things.

"If you turn on the stress response chronically for purely psychological reasons, you increase your risk of adult-onset diabetes and high blood pressure,” Sapolsky said.

“If you're chronically shutting down the digestive system, there's a bunch of gastrointestinal disorders you're more at risk for as well."

Baboon model

For 30 years, Sapolsky and his colleagues have been gathering behavioral and physiological field data—such as blood samples, tissue biopsies and electrocardiograms—on African baboons, close cousins of humans. They study stress and neuron degeneration in the lab.

Unhealthy baboons, Sapolsky found, similar to unhealthy humans, have elevated levels of stress hormones and their immune responses and reproductive system are compromised.

"We've found that baboons have diseases that other social mammals generally don't have," Sapolsky said. "If you're a gazelle, you don't have a very complex emotional life, despite being a social species. But primates are just smart enough that they can think their bodies into working differently. It's not until you get to primates that you get things that look like depression."

These baboons have served a good model for understanding human behavior.

"The reason baboons are such good models is, like us, they don't have real stressors," Sapolsky said.

"If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don't mess with you much. What that means is you've got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop," he explained. "They're just like us: They're not getting done in by predators and famines; they're getting done in by each other."

Unlike baboons, however, humans can find different ways of coping with psychosocial stress.

Coping mechanisms

"We are capable of social supports that no other primate can even dream of," Sapolsky said. "For example, I might say, 'This job, where I'm a lowly mailroom clerk, really doesn't matter. What really matters is that I'm the captain of my softball team or deacon of my church,' that sort of thing. It's not just somebody sitting here, grooming you with their own hands.”

Humans also have a strong networking and support system.

“We can actually feel comfort from the discovery that somebody on the other side of the planet is going through the same experience we are and feel, I'm not alone,” Sapolsky said. “We can even take comfort reading about a fictional character, and there's no primate out there that can feel better in life just by listening to Beethoven.” [end of article]

So what’s the bottom line? Proof that most everything that gives us stress we completely MAKE UP IN OUR MIND.

Stop being too smart for your own good. Be a baboon no longer, think like a gazelle. 99% of what you worry about, you have invented in your head and never comes to pass.

Chill out, or as the philosopher Bobby McFerrin puts very simply, but profoundly, “Don’t worry… be happy!”

~Darren Hardy

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Laughter - A Success Principle

Why I only read the funnies of the newspaper and why I give you the Friday Funnies (below) each week... it's good for you  ~DH

Laughter may truly be the best medicine. 

Laughter can be our personal armor against negativity and the harshness the world brings to bear on us.

Why start your day with the woes of the world by reading the morning newspaper or watching the news? Why not begin each morning with a hearty portion of laughter and lightheartedness?

Choosing one over the other can make the difference in how your day develops. Great thinkers of the world all affirm that we control our thoughts, our repeated thoughts mold our character, and our character creates our destiny.

Wholesome laughter, like good food for our body, nourishes our character in many ways. Thoughts are things both literally and metaphorically. You've heard the saying, "You are what you eat." Likewise, what you think about you become. Thinking good thoughts creates good endorphins in your physical self, and causes you to reap the just rewards of a healthier and happier you!

It's not necessary to be life's victim. Become the VICTOR by learning how to address many of the worst experiences life can dish out to you. Respond with laughter, and say what W. Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill's partner for over a decade, said no matter what happened - "That's good." And, remember it always is good. There is no other alternative for the person with a positive mental attitude.

Source: Judy Williamson, Director of the Napoleon Hill World Learning Center at Purdue University Calumet

Get your weekly dose of laughter, see Friday Funnies below.

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Is your microwave a cancer dispenser?

Cancer News From Johns Hopkins

1. No plastic containers in microwave.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

ATTENTION: Below info has been found to be an urban legion. Intuitively however, I still think it is a good idea to separate synthetic materials (that do burn and melt) from your food when putting it into the nuker - but that's just me and I'm no PhD! Remember doctors once thought cigarettes were good for you too ;-)

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center as well (I am told).

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer.

Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies . Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins
from the plastic.

Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to fo that
contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin.

So such things as frozen dinners, instant ramen noodles and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.

Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over! foods to be cooked in the microwave.
As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.

Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Love your friends and family? Send them this article: http://darrenhardy.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/is_your_microwa.html

Love - by the Numbers

Isn't it romantic? Depends on who you ask.

Men vs. Women on the love topic.

It's one of the most romantic movie scenes ever, women say: Robert Redford washing Meryl Streep's hair in Out of Africa. "It's a nurturing gift to her," says Joy Davidson, Ph.D., a sex therapist in New York City. "It's something she normally does in a rushed, task-oriented way. He is transforming it into a sensual caress. It implies tenderness and dedication." When you try, use Bob-like gentleness: "Use your hands to communicate how precious she is to you."

Percentage of men who consider themselves romantic: 58
Percentage of women: 72

Percentage of men who believe in love at first sight: 48
Percentage of women: 49

Number of married men who aren't sure they're in love: 1 in 25

The average guy's most romantic weather: A snowstorm
Most romantic season: Spring 

Number of men who don't bother exchanging valentines with their wives or longtime girlfriends: 1 in 10 

The average guy's attitude toward Valentine's Day: "I can take it or leave it."

Runner-up: "It's for her, not me." 

And yet: Percentage of men who wish their wives or girlfriends would do something for them on V Day: 32

Number of guys in long-term relationships who tell her "I love you" nearly every time they part: 3 in 4

Percentage of women who think the average guy would prefer a night out with buddies to a romantic evening at home with her: 53 

Percentage of men who would prefer the romantic evening at home: 73

Percentage of guys who think a sense of humor is important in a romantic partner: 90

Percentage of men who have made a mix CD or tape as a romantic gesture: 55

What the average guy thinks is the best time to propose: A random date and time

The best place to pop the question: A place that holds sentimental value

Percentage of women who would prefer a romantic proposal to a gaudy ring: 84

Number of married men who got down on one knee to propose: 2 out of 3

Number of women the average guy will kiss before he gets married: 24

Number of facial muscles activated in a French kiss: All 34

Happy Valentine's Day... and good luck!

12 Common Email Mistakes Solved

I know I have made every one of these mistakes (some already today!), so I thought we all could use a refresher course in good email protocol. ~DH

1. Don’t email when you are angry.  You should always wait a little while and calm down before sending an email. Often your feelings can be misconstrued when you are upset and come across in the wrong way.

2. Don’t ever send sarcastic emails that can be taken out of context.  It is very hard to be funny or sarcastic in an email.  It is very easy to offend someone in an email when you do not mean to do it.

3. Don’t gossip in email.  Talking about others and writing about others may come back to haunt you.  You never know who the email can be forwarded too.

4. Don’t ever break up with your significant other via email.  Don’t leave a paper trail when you break hearts.

5. Don’t ever send emails from work that you don’t want your boss to see because eventually your boss probably will see it.

6. Don’t put anything in writing that may come back to haunt you.

7. Don’t ever hit ‘reply all’ when you just want to send an email to one person

8. Don’t ever email pictures of yourself to others.  Don’t forget to attach your attachments before hitting send

9. Don’t ever make any promises or commitments via email that you may not be able to keep.

10. When sending an attachment, make sure that you have attached the correct attachment.

11. According to Elliot Spitzer, the Governor of NYS and former Attorney General of NYS, “Never write when you can talk.  Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email.”

12. Back-up your email program regularly as it might be your best proof and defense when someone else (who didn’t read this!) violates the above with you.

See other Good to Know Tips and Great Success Tips

Help Me Help You...

Plan, Do, Review time for the DarrenHardyBlog...

Spare me 2 quick minutes for some feedback on how this resource might become even more enlightening, insightful and useful for you in 2007.

Come on... just 2 minutes - Do it Now... pretty please!

Click here to complete review (it's anonymous)

Much Appreciated!

Hello Winter!

Carrying on the tradition of my Dad who always reminded us kids the day of the Winter Solstice -

"Today is the shortest day of the year. It only gets better from here!"

(Maybe it was mentioned because we might not notice otherwise. Here in California we can move right through the seasons and barely notice. Oh, don't get all jealous now - we do have all that extra sunshine tax ;-) ) 

Learn more about the Solstice at Wikipedia: HERE

Buying the Wrong Gift Can be Hazardous

Warning: Learn from the mistakes of these guys...
Play below or CLICK HERE

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