Now That's Weird: Hefty Calves have a Leg-Up on Resistance to Strokes

Dear Yin Weaver,

I remember once when I was in my twenties I was walking down the street in a skirt.  Suddenly, a car full of black men drove by and started shouting something at me.  Sensing it was some sort of "dog-whistle"--and obviously short on self-esteem that day--I called out, "What?"  Because I didn't understand what they were saying.  So they shouted the compliment again.  "What," I called again.  Once again, they bellowed. 

I still didn't understand, so I turned to a gentleman walking next to me and said, "Did you hear what they were saying?"  "Yes," he replied, "they were saying 'look at them fat calves.'"  Well, this was long before the days that hearing "baby got back" was high praise, but I learned from some of my coworkers later that day this comment on my calf size was indeed appreciative. 

Needless to say, this little white girl was mortified.  At least now I can look back and laugh.   Not only that, as it turns out my "swimmers calves," as I like to call them, may be healthier for me: "Though it sounds counterintuitive, a French study found that women with small calves (13 inches or less around) tended to develop more carotid plaques, a known risk factor for stroke. The subcutaneous fat in larger calves may pull fatty acids from the bloodstream and store them where they are less of a risk factor, say researchers."


The author suggests sipping green tea to stay heart healthy is probably more useful than hitting the gym to bulk up those babies. "In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those who drank five or more cups of green tea every day had the lowest risk of dying of heart disease and stroke."

Well, we're not in Japan, and with our problem with obesity, we are high on the list of at-risk nations for stroke:  "Over 20 million per year worldwide have a stroke and over 5 million per year die from strokes. In the U.S. about 700,000 people a year have strokes. 500,000 are first time strokes and 200,000 are recurrent strokes. About 61% of stroke deaths are women. Strokes are the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart attacks and all forms of cancer combined."

It's quite possible, then, you may some day be in a position to help someone who is having, or who has had, a stroke.  So grab that cup of tea and read the following  taken from An Energy Practitioner's Guide to Medical Emergencies on how to identify when a stroke is occurring, and what you can do to improve the victim's chance of recovery.

STROKE SYMPTOMS:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the arm, leg, or face, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble understanding or speaking
Sudden trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination, or dizziness
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden severe headache with no known cause

The symptoms of a stroke can be difficult to recognize, and this can spell disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:


Ask the person to smile
Ask the person to raise both arms
Ask the person to speak a simple sentence
If the person has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

WHAT TO DO FOR SUSPECTED STROKE UNTIL THE PARAMEDICS ARRIVE:

Medical Necessities: If the person has stopped breathing, administer CPR, including chest compressions if there is no pulse. This is the top priority.

Common Sense: Make the person as comfortable as possible.

ENERGY METHODS to help restore neurological balance:

Do a hook-up (one hand in navel, one hand on third eye, push in and pull up).

Push the middle finger of one hand into the person’s “power point” (indent at center base of skull where skull meets the neck) and with the other hand hold the K-27s firmly for at least a minute.

Hold the “electrical points” at the base of skull just above the neck (on either side of the power point) for at least a minute.

Do a crown pull

Do a frontal/occipital hold (one hand across the forehead area at the hairline, the other at the back of the head where the skull joins the neck) until you feel a pulse in the forehead. The top part of the hand on the forehead activates the liver neurovascular points (liver meridian feeds the heart) at the hairline and the bottom (across the eyebrows) activates the bladder neurovascular points (bladder meridian governs the nervous system).

Hold spleen neurovascular points (one inch above ear on either side of head) for one to two minutes.
The triple warmer strengthening points (TW3 & GB41, then TW2 & BL66) if the person appears to be leaving the body. Talk to the person and ask the person to stay with you. If you have help available, have another person pulse the K1 points on the bottom of the feet.
Even if you're not trained in Eden Energy Medicine, just doing a few of these according to the directions can be immensely helpful. 

If you are in the position of helping someone who has been a stroke victim, Donna Eden suggests the following: 

"Tracing figure eight energies helps the energy cross over from the left hemisphere to the right side of the body and from the right hemisphere to the left side of the body. It also helps energies cross over every part of the body, through the organs, even the cells. Another person can do this tracing of the cross-over energies (see the discussion of the Celtic weave in Energy Medicine Chapter 6). The stroke patient can also imagine the energies weaving. If possible, the person could trace figure eights of any size with a finger or a hand, or you could do it for the person by tracing the eights directly on or just above the body. Also, encourage the person to "doodle" by drawing figure eights on a piece of paper. This helps to imprint crossover energy patterns into the brain."

By the way, a figure eight is nothing more than the number eight lying on its side, or an infinity symbol:   ∞

Last but not least, you can increase your own heart health with Eden Energy Medicine by practicing the Daily Energy Routine on a--guess what--daily basis!  In addition, clear your heart chakra on a regular basis.  Check out my blog on the heart meridian as well for more tips. 
  
Blessings,
Rose

 

How Do You Make a Good Decision?

Dear Yin Weaver,

Since we're on the topic of decision making this week, I thought I'd drop in a quick article here (see below) on the subject.  Of course, I know you can surf the web as easily as I can, but let me tell you...the hardest decision I had to make was choosing which article to cut and paste!  If you know of a better one, or have your own techniques for making a good decision, let me know! 

I found another website on decision making I decided was too complicated to reproduce here.  But it's worth checking out.  Here's a bit of wisdom from Decision Making Confidence:  We all have freedom of choice, but you will never have freedom of consequences.  Choose wisely.


Blessings,
Rose

Simple Laws for Making Good Decisions

from Good Decision Makers

Charles Foster, PhD

I have spent 10 years studying decision makers -- identifying 35 people who generally make good decisions and 35 people who frequently make bad decisions... then watching over time as they make big decisions.

My research has led me to two conclusions...

Good decisions come from disciplined thinking. If you follow the basic laws of decision making, most of your plans will work out. Think haphazardly when you make a decision and little of what you plan will pan out.

They are habit-forming. Each time you make the right decision, you gain the necessary self-confidence to keep making good decisions. That’s why following the laws of decision making is crucial.

Here are seven rules for making great decisions...

Focus on the most important thing. This seems obvious, but it is the decision-making principle that is most often violated. People overload the decision-making process with so many variables that what’s really important gets lost.

Example: Most decisions only require you to answer one yes or no question, such as, Do we launch this product? But then someone says, What about this? and someone else says, What about that?

What should have been a straight-forward decision gets confused by minor considerations. You lose the focus for making the right decision.

In every decision, one factor usually is the most important. Close your eyes, and concentrate on that element, forgetting all other considerations. Once you’re focused only on what’s most important, the odds are you’ll make the right decision. Everything else is a detail.

Turn big decisions into a series of little decisions. Some decisions appear overwhelming. You want to focus on what’s most important, but there are so many unknowns that your focus gets blurred.

Example: Taking a new job means learning new skills, moving to a new city, etc. With so many variables to juggle, you wind up making a bad decision -- or no decision at all.

Break that big decision into several smaller, more manageable decisions.

Take time to study the new employer in depth. Decide if it is a company you really want to work for. Spend a few days in the new city. Decide if you want to live there.

After you make all the little decisions, the big decision will essentially be made.

Base your decision on self-acceptance. Self-acceptance covers a lot of ground…

What you like.

What you’re interested in.

What you’re good at.

Any decision based on who you really are... how you really work... what you really like... probably will work out.

Problem: People think a decision will transform them from who they are to who they would like to be. Job offers aren’t measured by suitability -- as they should be -- but by whether they will make them better people. Their future becomes hostage to that lack of self-acceptance. A decision made under such circumstances is a disaster waiting to happen.

Ask yourself what you really like and what makes you comfortable. If the decision won’t add to your feeling of comfort, it probably would prove to be a bad decision.

Consider all the good things your decision can bring. Decision making is, for many people, an exercise in disaster avoidance.

Instead of making the decision that might cause something wonderful to happen, we often make the decision we hope will hurt us the least.

Reality check: There’s nothing wrong with running through possible negative outcomes when making a decision. It would be foolish to make decisions on the assumption that nothing could go wrong. But decisions turn sour when you fail to examine positive scenarios as well.

The decision-making process must be fueled by the possibility that your decision will lead to something wonderful -- a new career, a stronger marriage, etc.

Keep reworking the decision until you see it leading to something wonderful. If you rework the decision and nothing wonderful emerges, you risk making the wrong decision.

Get what you need to make your decision a success. Especially in business, this rule gets broken again and again. A meeting ends with the decision to do such-and-such, but no plans are made to implement the decision.

Example: Many dot-coms recently went under because they had no plans for obtaining all the capital they would need to feed the beast.

If there is no passion to implement the decision -- or if you know in advance that the resources you need won’t be available -- you haven’t decided anything. It is window dressing meant to satisfy someone’s ego or to be included in a report to show your department is on the ball.

Start with how you’re going to implement your decision and work backward.

Keep things as simple as possible. Even smart people break this law. Because they see the big picture, they want the decision to cover every issue that might arise. They draft plans so that no possibility is overlooked.

Reality: The more things that can go wrong, the more things that probably will go wrong. Keep the number of things that must go right for the decision to succeed to an absolute minimum.

Venture capitalists are justifiably wary of overly complicated plans for a new business. Business plans that are easy to grasp are the ones that are most likely to get funding.

Consider all your options. I have never met a decision maker -- good or bad -- who had checked out all possible options. Invariably, I come up with options never considered.

Example: Think back to when you mislaid your keys or your wallet. You convinced yourself that you had looked everywhere. But when you found them, chances are they were someplace you hadn’t looked.

Don’t assume you know everything there is to know to make a good decision. Talk to people who are more experienced about the subject than you are. Ask what they would consider when making the same decision. Not only will they present you with new options, their insights could completely change the way you think about the decision.

________________________________________

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Charles Foster, PhD, MBA, director of The Chestnut Hill Institute in Boston, a research and consulting firm focusing on the psychology of business success. He is author of What Do I Do Now: Dr. Foster’s 30 Laws of Great Decision Making (Simon & Schuster).