Failure, stress, and disappointment are like the wind that bends the lone tree on the mountaintop. For without the wind to repetitively stretch the tree’s many wooden fibers, the tree would be weak and subject to easily snap at its midpoint. One may consider wind to be nature’s exercise for a tree’s muscle, in that each time a tree has to withstand stronger winds, its muscle fibers grow even stronger. Then there are trees that have grown against the rocks and move little as winds blow. These rigidly protected trees are very inflexible and will usually break at the top when burdened with snow.

In many ways, the stresses in our lives should be like those mountaintop winds. If we learn to bend a little with each stressful event, we grow stronger in our ability to handle the next, even if larger. However, should we resist, fail to learn, and become inflexible to those stresses, then we may snap as the untried and rock sheltered tree of the deep valley.

Some cultures actually seek stress and failure at very young ages in order to slowly exercise their mental fiber. Unfortunately, our generation has felt it better to help kids avoid failure and we often treat failure, stress, and disappointment as something to be avoided. We tell our kids and ourselves that in order to succeed in life, we must ask ways to avoid such stress altogether. When we do so, we are not allowing our young trees to flex and grow stronger with the wind. Now with this in mind, let’s look at a few ways to handle our stress when the world seems to be falling apart.

1. Think of a stressful moment, disappointment, or failure as an opportunity to succeed. After all, if you have failed at something, at least you can learn how not to do it next time. Thomas Edison was once asked why he failed so many times in the invention of the light bulb. He responded that he had not failed! He had simply discovered hundreds of fibers that he could not use! When J.C. Penny lost his accounting job, he didn’t give up. He learned from his stress and became very rich as a result. How many times have you heard someone say: “I lost my job and thought the world would end.” “But a few weeks later I found a great one with higher pay and better benefits!”

2. Try to step back and take a look at your failure as if it had occurred to someone else. It’s hard to see the forest when you’re standing amongst the trees. The same is true when you dwell on failure. You won’t be able to see the lesson to be learned from your disappointment. You may also choose to discuss the event with a close friend to get another point of view. Remember, your thinking is probably cloudy when you’re stressed. You’re not at your best! (Uncle Frank is one of my sounding boards.)

3. Sleep on it, unless it is absolutely an emergency. You say it’s hard to go to sleep with that on your mind? Ok, before you go to bed, write on a piece of paper everything you can remember about the disappointing event. Then list possible solutions and lessons to be learned. Place these pages on your nightstand, then treat them as thoughts filed away so you don’t have to worry about them in your dreams. (I use a ringed notepad as a diary for such events.) I’m sure you’ll probably have more answers when you’re fresh from a good night’s sleep.

4. Be flexible when it comes to placing blame. Don’t beat yourself to death over something that is clearly beyond your control. If you’re not willing to be flexible with yourself, then how are you going to treat others? Remember the tree that was inflexible? The next time a really strong wind came along, it snapped in the middle. Your mental fiber becomes weaker every time you attack it.

 Hopefully these exercises in life will help you and your family be very successful in all you wish to accomplish.
Frank Barnhill, M.D.

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Dr. Frank’s years of experience are available to you at no fee. Our website offers common sense solutions for life’s little problems, as well as sources to help you and your family reach important goals. Our free newsletter provides monthly up to date information on depression, ADHD, stress burnout, success training, and may other medical topics.
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DIET EXCUSES
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1. But the doughnut was calling my name.

2. I felt left out because they were eating.

3. But it was my birthday, so I had to eat the whole cake.

4. The kids overseas are starving, so naturally I have to clean my plate.

5. I had to get the bitter taste out of my mouth from eating the so- called dish, so I had an ice cream.

6. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

7. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are canceled out by the diet soda.

8. When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you don't eat more than they do.

9. Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER count, such as hot chocolate, brandy, toast and Sara Lee Cheesecake.

10. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

11. Movie related foods (Milk Duds, Buttered Popcorn, Junior Mints, Red Hots, Tootsie Rolls, etc.) do not have additional calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

12. Cookie pieces contain no fat - the process of breaking causes fat leakage. Exception: Cookies sold by TEXAS D'LITES distributors. Great "Meal Replacement" with little or no FAT content, low in calories, lots of fiber, protein, and other nutritional ingredients.

13. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something. Examples are peanut butter on a knife making a sandwich and ice cream on a spoon making a sundae.

14. Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and white chocolate. NOTE: Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other food color.

15. Foods that are frozen have no calories because calories are units of heat. Examples are ice cream, frozen pies, and Popsicles.

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Q: What do you call three hundred religious singers
   drinking diet cola and eating fruit?

A: The Mormon Tab-and-Apple Choir.

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A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

Are you unhappy with the way you look? Would you like to loose weight? Are you interested in toning-up or increasing your muscularity? Would you like to improve your health and quality of life? Are you thin and like to gain weight? If you have answered "yes" to any of these questions, We are confident our diet and exercise program will quickly get you to your goals. Your diet and exercise program is tailored to your individual needs and situation. We are here to help you every step of the way. Please visit our web site at www.bestbodyever.com . There are some great "before and after" pictures on the site that will motivate you to make the decision to improve your health and build your best body ever.

This month's health tip is in response to a reader's questions about smoking. This past weekend I received an email from a potential subscriber who wanted to know how to stop smoking. I wrote him back and asked "Why in the world would you want to stop?  There are many health benefits from smoking that have just been released in the new research published
by the JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) of which I am a contributing member."

These latest research findings are going to cost our governmentand we the taxpayers a small fortune.  It seems the federal and the state governments will have to refund all that money they won in court and return it to the tobacco companies.

Here were the findings:

1.   Long term smokers who quit required more doctor visits for eye, ear and nose infections. It seems one of the additives in the pesticides that was sprayed on the tobacco leaves is actually a bacterial inhibitor for staphylococcal infections.

2.   In one blind study 2 out of every 10 people surveyed who stop smoking were found to be more susceptible to STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

3.  Coughing actually strengthens and exercises the lung and heart muscle.  For those who stopped smoking there was a 40%
reduction in lung capacity within the first 6 months.

With all this information in hand I've decided to go back to smoking.I have fond memories of cruising the beach in my '57 Ford convertiblewith a pack of cigarettes rolled up in my tee-shirt sleeve, and a lit cigarette in the other hand with ashes flying back in my face and smoke burning my eyes.  Boy did the girls think I was cool, you know they weren't looking at the car!

Those were the real good old days!  I didn't care about additives that protected me from staphylococcal infections, STD's (sexually transmitted diseases), or exercising my heart muscle.  Well, they must be right, I started coughing the first night.  Just think of all the exercise my heart's getting and now no more infections. So let's all take up the torch and start smoking.

This kind of ridiculous health tip can ONLY and I mean only be found in Bob Osgoodby's Tip of the Day.
 

APRIL FOOL - Enjoy good health and this ain't the way to do it!!

Join me next month and we'll talk about ways to get a good night's sleep. These health tips can only be found in Dr.Osgoodby's Body Transformations Newsletter. Join me next month and I'll talk about sugar substitutes.

Live in Passion and Good Health,
James Groves

Can exercising help reduce the risk of stroke?

Exercise has many wonderful health benefits. It can help you lose weight, reduce stress, and even reduce the risk of stroke. A study was conducted on 16,878 men aged 40 to 87 over a 10-year period to determine the effective of exercise on cardiovascular health. The results revealed the most highly fit men had a 68% lower risk of stroke, while the moderately fit men had 63% lower risk when compared to the other less fit men.

I recommend at least 20-30 minutes of exercise each day to help support your heart health and to reduce your risk of stroke. In addition, I recommend you take a multivitamin daily and eat a well-balanced diet.

Visit http://keith.freelife.com

If you need to lose weight, you must be in caloric deficit. This can be accomplished by cutting down your caloric intake, or increasing the amount of calories you burn by exercising. I recommend both. Even though a calorie is a calorie when it comes to weight loss, a calorie is not a calorie when it comes to your health. Make sure your daily diet includes several servings of fruit and vegetables and whenever possible, avoid foods that contain trans fat.

If you have a friend who would like to subscribe, you can subscribe them at:
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 If you don't wish to receive this publication in the future, use the link below and send us a blank email. Please ensure that Bestbody is in the Subject Line and nothing else. bosgoodby@comcast.net?Subject=Bestbody

Yours in Health
Bob Osgoodby

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