A Loving Massage for Your Valentine

In many ways our culture has associated touch exclusively with sexual intimacy.  We learn at an early age to “keep our hands to ourselves” and to maintain an appropriate space between each other.  I’d like to take a moment and remind you that there are many ways that touch can be used to express a connection with someone – and that sexual touch is only one of them.  During this Valentine season, it’s a perfect time to re-connect with someone you love through the touch of massage that is both nurturing and sensual, yet doesn’t have to be sexual.  In this post, I’ll offer some suggestions to help you give massage to someone you love that is both satisfying for them to receive and gratifying for you to give.

First, let’s explore the definitions of those two key words above.  The word nurture is a verb and it’s primary meaning is to feed and protect, as in to nurture one’s offspring.  In fact, anthropologists surmise that the origin of the kiss is associated with the nurturing act of an adult partially chewing food and feeding it to a child.  We see this in many examples of other species feeding their young.   Today (now that we have baby food in a jar), a kiss is a sign of affection and respect.   The manner in which we touch someone is another way we can convey this intention to feed and protect.  Expressing this desire to nurture your partner is key in giving a Valentine’s massage that is satisfying.

Sensual is an adjective and while it can have connotations of over-indulgence and a lack of moral restraint, I believe that in its pure definition it pertains to the physical senses and what can be experienced through the physical senses. Touch is one of our primary physical senses and that is why in giving our massage we will want to pay close attention to not only how your partner’s body feels in your hands, but also how your hands feel on your partner’s body.   This awareness will tell you if you are using too much/too little pressure, squeezing too tightly or anything else that might make your touch uncomfortable for the recipient.

One more definition:  Intention. This is a noun and it is your purpose for doing something with the expectation of achieving a specific outcome. As it relates to giving your massage, you can have many intentions for your Valentine’s massage and what ever your intention, your partner will feel it through your touch.   This is important to understand, because your touch doesn’t lie.  Even though you might say you have a specific intention,  your true intention will be revealed to your partner in your touch without fail.   This is why it’s so important to be truthful in the intention you set.

There are an infinite number of intentions you can set for your Valentine’s massage.  My suggestion is to use nurturing as your fundamental intention.  The reason is that the basic act of caring for your partner is one of the purest expressions of love.   In my mind, connecting through that expression of love is what Valentine’s Day is all about.

Preparation:

Tell your Valentine at the beginning of the day that you have made arrangements for a special massage session for them at the end of their day.  Anticipation is a magnifier of the senses.  So as they think about it all day, they’ll likely be more eager to receive when the time comes for their massage.

Set the proper room temperature. The location in which you give the massage must be comfortable for your partner.  The temperature is best a little warmer than you think you’ll need, because as your partner relaxes, their body temperature will naturally drop and they’ll likely begin to feel chilled.  Nothing ruins that nurtured feeling more than being cold.

The same goes for any oils or lotions you might use during the massage as well as the temperature of your hands.  Warm them up first.  The shock of cold oil on cold hands is definitely a romantic mood breaker.

Dim the lighting. If your light is not on a dimmer, you might shield the direct light with a more opaque shade or screen.  Try using a lower wattage bulb or you can just use some candles.  Lower lighting levels helps the brain produce the hormones that help your partner relax.

Use some mood music that your Valentine loves.   Use slow tempo tunes that don’t have any words.  The tempo can help slow your partner’s breathing rate which will enhance their relaxation.  If your music has words, that can distract them from your touch which is what you want them to be focused on, not the song.   For the same reason, keep the volume low, because the music should support the massage not overpower it.

Trim your fingernails. Being scratched or speared with a sharp fingernail is not my idea of nurturing relaxation.  So before you begin, make sure your hands are clean and your fingernails are trimmed and filed.  Filing your nails after you clip them is important because it smooths out the sharp edge created by the clipper.  (Ladies, this might give you the perfect excuse to get yourself a manicure!)

Giving the Massage

If you don’t have a massage table or a firm surface that is high enough to work over and move around, I suggest that you work on the floor with some blankets and pillows.  Invite your Valentine to make themselves comfortable on the blankets and pillows that you’ve set up for them, either starting face up or face down.

Begin with some deep breaths (both for them and yourself).  This will help both of you relax.   It’s important that you are relaxed as well, because if you’re not, your partner will feel it in your touch.

If your partner is starting face down, the easiest place to begin the massage is with their back – but it really doesn’t matter where you start.  Just begin by touching them with a confident and nurturing intention.  Use firm but gentle pressure in long flowing movements.  Focus on areas with the most muscle and avoid the bony places.  You can’t go wrong with massaging your partner’s hands and feet!  Most importantly, have fun, listen to your partner and adjust what you are doing to suit their feedback and guidance.

When you are finished, resist the temptation to have them give you a massage in return.  This session is for them.  You’ll get yours on a different day.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Drinking Water Quality: To Filter or Not To Filter

When you think of it, we’re pretty spoiled here in the United States.  We typically don’t give much thought to our drinking water other than to turn on the tap and fill up a glass.  The U.S. has one of the safest and reliable water supplies in the world, yet according to the Water Quality Association, Americans spend billions of dollars each year on home water treatment.  More than 40% of the American population uses some form of home water treatment – and that doesn’t even include the people who choose to drink bottled water and avoid the tap all together.  But is it really worth it – both from a financial and a health perspective?

While the quality of the water supply on a national scale might be superior to the rest of the world, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the water that comes out of your tap is tasty, let alone healthy.  The reason is that water quality in the U.S. can vary widely from region to region around the nation based on the the source of the water and the treatment it receives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set maximum standards for the levels of contaminants that drinking water from a water supplier can contain.  While the EPA doesn’t regulate private wells, they have published guidelines for well owners.  So before you consider investing in a home water treatment system, first learn what’s in your water.

The EPA requires both municipal and private water suppliers to publish an annual water quality report called a consumer confidence report.  In it, you’ll find contaminants listed that have been found in that water supply and the levels at which they’ve been found.  Those levels will also be compared to the acceptable levels as established by the EPA.

While your water supplier might go to great lengths to ensure the quality of the water they push through the water lines to your curb, the quality of the plumbing in your house can greatly alter what’s in your water.  For example, lead, common in the pipes and soldered joints of older homes, can leach into your tap water.   That’s why Andrew Weil, MD recommends having your water tested by an independent lab.   He also recommends avoiding the free tests provided by companies that sell home filtering systems for the obvious reasons that they want to sell you a filtering system.

A complete test will look for microorganisms like bacteria and viruses; inorganic chemicals like arsenic, copper and lead that might be naturally occurring  or man made;  organic chemicals that are usually the result of agricultural runoff or discharge from nearby industrial sites; radionuclides; and even byproducts from the water treatment itself.

Once armed with the knowledge of what is actually in your water, you can then make the choice to filter or not to filter.  If you choose to filter, what’s actually in your water will help you determine what method of filtration will be the most effective on those contaminants – because not all filtration methods are effective on all contaminants.

Your first major decision is to filter at the point of use or at the point of entry.  Point of use filtration can be as simple as the $20 pitcher filter on up to distillers and reverse osmosis systems that connect to the plumbing under your sink.  Point of entry filtering systems are typically located at the place where the water line enters into your house and filters the water before it travels through the rest of the plumbing.  These filters include aerators, water softeners and adsorption media type systems.

Depending on your circumstances, you might find that a combination of filtration methods is necessary or you might be lucky enough to avoid filtering all together and turn on the tap to fill up your glass without giving it much thought.  Either way, the most important point is that you drink enough good quality plain water to stay hydrated so that your urine runs pale to clear.  When you maintain a proper balance of hydration, your body will reward you with good health a vitality for many years.

- Paul Kulpinski

Sources:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

NSF International

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Andrew Weil, MD

Why is Wintertime Cold and Flu Season?

Did you ever notice that most people get colds in the winter?  Some people even say that’s why its called a “cold” – because you get it in cold weather.   As early as the 1960’s, British researcher Dr. R. Edgar Hope-Simpson theorized that a “seasonal factor” was responsible for the annual outbreaks of influenza following the winter solstice and the disappearance of it after the summer solstice.   This has been a long standing mystery to the medical community, since it is well documented that the people are exposed to the influenza virus year-round.  Why would we be more susceptible to the virus during winter?

Research also shows that vitamin D levels are at their lowest of the year during winter months and highest during the summer months.  Is there a connection?  New evidence is beginning to link the two.

The name “vitamin D” is actually a bit misleading, because vitamin D is actually a hormone in the same family of hormones as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol.   These types of hormones play an important role in the function of the nucleolus of our cells.   Vitamin D’s role in the body’s absorption of calcium for bone growth, but its only recently that scientists have discovered the link between vitamin D and our cell function.   The latest research, published last year, links vitamin D and our body’s immune system.

While many people take vitamin C to help their immune system, there is little evidence to support its effectiveness.  Vitamin D however, has a growing base of evidence in its role related to the immune system.  Some of the latest research was published in the February 23, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. In that report, researchers studied nearly 19,000 people and found that people with lower levels of vitamin D in their blood were up to 40% more likely to have experienced a cold.  The connection was even more dramatic for those who suffered from asthma or other respiratory disease.

When most people think of vitamin D, they think milk.  However, cow’s milk contains little to no natural vitamin D.  Actually, the U.S. Government began requiring the fortification of cow’s milk with vitamin D as early as the 1930’s in its efforts to combat the bone deforming disease rickets.  That’s how the vitamin D gets into milk.  While there are other dietary sources that do contain natural vitamin D, the best source is to make it yourself.

Your skin synthesizes vitamin D upon exposure to the Ultra Violet B rays of the sun, which are greatest during the middle part of the day.   For people living near the equator, exposing your skin to 15 minutes of sunlight twice a week is enough to generate the vitamin D your body needs to stay healthy.  The farther away from the equator you live, the more exposure time you need because of the indirectness of the suns rays.  So what happens in wintertime?  We stay indoors more, we bundle up in clothing when we do go out and the suns rays are even more direct, limiting our exposure to the UVB rays that produce vitamin D.

The link between wintertime colds and vitamin D is getting stronger isn’t it?  While the researchers do want to study vitamin D’s effects on colds in some clinical trials, it seems worth it to me in the meantime to go outside and get some sunshine each day to help your body manufacture some vitamin D.   It might be just what you need to get you through this cold and flu season.  As for all of the warnings about avoiding the sun, that’s a topic for another blog post that you can read about here.

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:
Risk Of Colds And Flu May Be Increased By Vitamin D Deficiency

What Is Vitamin D? What Are The Benefits Of Vitamin D?

Epidemic Influenza And Vitamin D

The Vitamin D Cure

Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin D

Vitamin D

What’s Your Resolve?

Many people can’t wait to close the door on 2009 and start anew in 2010, giving them an opportunity to resolve to do it differently this time.  Of course that’s the heart of the “New Years Resolution” – getting that fresh start.   Well, I took the liberty of compiling some statistics from a couple of web-based surveys and did my own mini meta analysis to come up with what might be some trends for 2010.   Now by no means is this scientific, but let’s have a look anyway, shall we?

I looked at two surveys, one from squidoo.com and the other from Kalamazoo news (they seem like credible sources, don’t they?).   Interestingly enough both surveys had the same major resolutions with a couple of minor ones that were unique to each.  So I did a little manipulation to combine a few and I just disregarded some that were really minor (hey, it’s my blog posting here so I can exercise some liberties – right?).  Anyway, here are the results of my mini meta analysis on the popular new years resolutions for 2010.

Click on the Chart for a Larger Image

As you can see, the perennial “lose weight” ranks at the top with 22% of the respondents indicating that as their resolution (probably again) for 2010.  I’ll explain why I say “again” below.  But also notice that the second place resolution with over 18% is about getting out of debt and saving money.  That’s a new one and is a solid indicator as to why so many people can’t wait to kiss 2009 good-by.   Almost 15% of people want to enjoy life more, or in other words reduce their stress.  But I get the impression that people have the expectation that there is still a long road ahead of them financially and with that they expect a moderate amount of stress associated with it – hence the low desire (only 2.5%) of people to want to give up drinking!  So for these folks, managing their stress will be key for 2010.  The nice part about it is that in losing weight and getting fit (the number 3 resolution), stress reduction is a handy side benefit.  So you may actually be able to achieve more than one resolution if you’ve ranked yourself in the top three resolutions.

All right, so here’s why I said that many people are probably making losing weight as their resolution again this year:  most people drop their commitment to their resolution by the beginning of February.  Why?  Experts say that most people become discouraged with the slow progress they initially make and that the happiness they associate with the resolution does not materialize right away.

I want to encourage you that what ever your resolution is, you can make 2010 the first and last year that it is a resolution for you because it can be achieved if you prepare yourself in a couple of simple ways.  First, recognize that you are making a life style change by choosing to abandon an old habit and form a new pattern that with time will create a new (more beneficial) habit.   This requires sustained effort and repeated commitment – multiple times a day at first and less and less as you progress.

It will involve physical discomfort.  As you begin to change, your body will want to respond in accordance with the old habit.  You’ll need to choose and re-choose your goal as if your are a person who has already achieved the goal.  For example, a fit person does not see exercise as a chore, but rather a pleasure.  Start thinking this way (fake it if you have to at first) and your body will respond faster with less resistance.

It will involve emotional discomfort.  This is a biggie and one that is often unexpected which causes people to relapse into the hold habit.  As you begin to change, the people around you, while supportive at first, might become uncomfortable with the “new you”.  They will have to negotiate a new way of relating to you and that may make them uncomfortable.   They might begin to say stuff like “you’re getting too thin” (if you want to loose weight).  Ignore them.  Their discomfort is their problem not yours.  Stick to your plan and they’ll get over it.

It’s a matter of time, so take it one day at a time yet balance your success over the span of several days.  That way if you have a small set back on one day, it’s not the end of the plan.  Pick yourself up and balance it out on the next day.  Measure your progress over the span of several months.  This gives you time to achieve measurable results before you start to analyze the effectiveness of your plan.  Avoid declaring final success until December 2010.  That way you have the realistic time span needed to make a complete lifestyle change.

It is possible to make any change you desire for yourself.  So make 2010 your year to do it.  Best wishes and Happy New Year!

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:

About.com: Mental Health

Kalamazoo News

Squidoo.com

The Gift of Frankincense

As if the social and economic stress of 2009 isn’t enough, here we are in the 11 hour of the most stressful time of the year:  Christmas.  Got to get the gifts in the mail on time so they make it there by the 25th.  Got to send the cards out and make sure that we include everyone who sent us a card this year too.  Got to make the cookies for the office.  Got to attend all those holiday parties.  Don’t forget the decorations and the lights!  It’s enough to drive you insane – or at the very least put unnecessary stress on your body.

Stress is the reaction of the body to a perceived threat or expected outcome.  I’ve placed emphasis on the words perceived and expected, because these are the operational words in stress.  To the degree that we perceive something to be a threat or expect something to turn out poorly, our stress will rise proportionally.   If Aunt Mathilda doesn’t receive her Christmas card on time, we will perceive ourselves as not living up to her expectations which may create tension in the family relationship which will make us feel inadequate…. and so forth.

The key is to monitor what we perceive and what we expect.  We need to be careful here because perceiving something to be a threat requires us to anticipate a future possibility, just as expecting a certain outcome is a projection into what is only a possible outcome.  When we find ourselves in this future, anticipatory consciousness by definition we are not present in the moment.  If you are fearing the future, you can’t be in the present.  The paradox is that our ability to monitor our perceptions and expectations exists only in the present moment.  It’s staying in the moment, that’s the trick.

Enter the three wise men.  Legend has it that one of the gifts of the magi was frankincense.  Frankincense is an aromatic resin produced from the sap of the Boswellia tree and was a prized herbal remedy during the time of Jesus, so it’s no surprise it was brought as a gift, but why.  Frankincense (as is Myrrh, another of the gifts) is an anti-inflammatory.   It is particularly useful in reducing inflammation of the lungs and bronchial tubes thereby allowing a deeper breath and helping a person under stress to relax.  The Mayo Clinic even today lists frankincense as an effective herbal remedy in treating asthma.  So it might have been helpful in aiding a new-born or even the mother in breathing after delivery.

New research has also verified the psychoactive properties of frankincense, which may have been helpful in calming and anxious mother and reduce the effects of postpartum depression or calming a baby suffering from colic.  In a 2008 study published in the on-line Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found that a constituent of frankincense called incensole acetate activated channels in the brain that lowers anxiety and creates anti-depressive behavior.

So how can all of this help you with your holiday stress?  Frankincense is available in modern times as resin nuggets and as essential oil which is distilled from steaming the resin.  Inhaling the smoke from the burning  resin or the aroma from the essential oil will deepen the breath, open the lungs and calm the nervous system.  Inhaling the sweet, balsamic aroma of frankincense can produce a meditative state from which you can focus yourself in the present moment and objectively monitor your perceptions of possible threats and expectations about the outcomes of your choices.   When you can do that, stress is much more manageable.

So give yourself one of the gifts of the magi and treat yourself to some frankincense.  ‘Tis the season.

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:

Irish Times.com

Dreaming Earth Botanicals

Mayo Clinic

Wikipedia

Think Gene

Ski Season Safety

Ski season is here once again with the scheduled opening of the Arizona Snowbowl tomorrow, December 17th!  While I’ve been skiing, both alpine and cross country for the past 35 years, this is my year to learn how to snowboard!  With that prospect comes the realization that I’m going to do a lot of falling and with that the potential for injury.  But how dangerous is skiing and boarding?   The results might surprise you.

Despite the high profile ski related deaths of celebrities over the past several years, only about 40 skiers on average die on the slopes each year, with even fewer borders meeting that fate.  Perhaps it’s what doesn’t kill you that we need to worry about.  Again, the reality is that with improvements in equipment injuries have been cut in half during the time that I first learned how to ski.

In an article published in the November 2009 issue of Sports Health:  A Multidisciplinary Approach, researchers who have studied skiing injuries for nearly 40 years debunk 12 myths about skiing injuries.  Some highlights include:

1. Myth: Skiing is among the most dangerous activities.
2. Myth: Buying new ski equipment is safer than renting.
3. Myth: Exercise can prevent skiing injuries
4. Myth: If you think you’re going to fall, just relax.
5. Myth: Formal ski instruction will make you safer.
6. Myth:  Children need plenty of room in ski boots for their growing feet.

Yet, there are some common factors to skiing injuries.  A study of risk factors was published in the September issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  Some of the findings might surprise you and others are pretty obvious.

Factors in the “pretty obvious” category are:

1. Male skiers between 18 and 50 years old are most likely to be injured, especially those who are eager to get into challenging terrain like moguls and jumps (who would have guessed….)
2.  Drug use combined with skiing increases your risk of injury (I’m shocked….!)

I do find the factors that follow interesting because at first glance the risks might not be so obvious.

3.  Many injuries actually occurred while the skier was moving slowly.
4. Using new ski equipment
5. Skiing on “old” snow.
6.  Many injuries occurred late in the day when the skier was fatigued.

So if you’re planning to hit the slopes tomorrow, here are some things you can do to improve your safety.

1.  Have your equipment professionally fitted and set.  Don’t think that you can re-set your binding release settings yourself.
2. Warm up at the beginning of the day with some easy runs.
3. Rest when you are tired and fatigued and try to avoid that “one last run” mentality when your body says it’s time to hit the lodge for some hot chocolate.
4.  Probably most importantly, learn how to fall.

Yup, it’s that last one that I’m not looking forward to for myself in learning how to snowboard – but isn’t that what snow is all about?  It’s about getting down in it and rolling around!   Yeah, that’s what I’ll try to remember with each fall – right after the “Ouch”!

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:

British Journal of Sports Medicine

Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Sports Medicine

Ski Knees

New York Times

A Sweet Tip For Healing Wounds

Injuring yourself by a cut or a burn can be painful.  One of the things we sometimes seek after an injury is to be soothed to help soften the pain.  Sure spreading some anti-biotic ointment and slapping a bandage on the wound might be a practical solution, but here’s a scientifically proven trick to make it even sweeter.  Use honey instead of the anti-biotic ointment.

Honey has been recognized in its healing effectiveness for thousands of years.  Yet only recently have we understood how honey works in its healing.  Honey is a sweet food produced by honey bees from the nectar of flowers.  Bees make honey for themselves to feed the colony in cold weather and during food shortages.  What bee keepers have learned to do is to encourage bee colonies to produce more honey than is needed, so a portion of the honey can be harvested and eaten by us – or in this case, spread onto a bandage to cover a wound.

But first, I need to possibly disgust you a bit in explaining how bees make honey, because it’s in this process that honey gets it’s special healing ability.   When the honey bee finds a flower, it drinks the nectar produced by the flower.  Then the bee returns to the hive and regurgitates the nectar.   Then the bees then work together to ingest and regurgitate the regurgitated nectar not just once, but several times until the partially digested nectar reaches the highest quality.  Yum!   It’s in this digestion process that the bees add an enzyme that, for their purposes, preserves the honey – but for our purposes helps in healing wounds.  More on that in a moment.

Skin wounds heal best when kept moist by covering it with a bandage, however this moist environment is perfect breeding ground for microbes that cause infection.  The University of Waikato in New Zealand has studied  honey and has documented its ability to kill the seven most common bacteria that are know to infect wounds, including E-Coli, Staphylococcus and Salmonella.  They found that the chemistry behind this is multi-fold.  First, honey is a super saturated solution of sugars leaving very low water content.  Bacteria needs water to grow and multiply.  So honey by default is a poor breeding ground for bacteria.  Second, honey is very acidic having a pH below the levels bacteria need to grow.

This is all fine, if the honey remains undiluted.  If you add water to the honey, the water content naturally increases and the pH rises effectively eliminating its use as in wound healing.  This is a problem as most wounds will naturally seep body fluids and this moisture will dilute the honey on the bandage.  Well, here come the bees to save the day.  Remember that enzyme that the bees put into the honey as they digested it?  Well, as the water content in the honey rises, this enzyme becomes activated and creates a chemical reaction that produces hydrogen peroxide which then kills any bacteria that might grow in the diluted honey!

But that’s not all.  Not only does honey kill microbes, it is also anti-inflammatory, helps  promote the removal of dead skin cells as the wound heals, and has also been shown to help the growth of new blood capillaries.  As an added bonus, using honey on a bandage allows for fewer changes to the wound dressing and doesn’t irritate the skin the way anti-bacterial ointments can.

According to Waikato, the amount of honey needed for a dressing depends on the amount of fluid the wound is likely to produce – the more fluid the more honey.  They recommend about 1 ounce of honey per 4×4 inch bandage spread evenly across it.  The bandage should be large enough to completely cover the wound and any surrounding inflammation.   A second layer of either absorbent or waterproof dressing is needed to help keep the honey from oozing out.    Using this method, Waikato states that several days can elapse before the dressing might need to be changed.

Now, depending on the severity of the injury, seek medical attention if the wound is severe enough or conditions don’t improve in a few days.  Also, honey should never be eaten by infants and young children because their digestive tracts are not fully developed and serious complications can result.

For more information, check out these sources:

The University of Waikato

How to Heal a Wound with Honey

Science Daily

Greenliving Ideas

Wikipedia

It’s What We Do

It can be hard to find something to be thankful for during this current economic recession.  Perhaps you or someone you know is struggling to stay employed or worse, the job you had is no longer there.   Some Thanksgiving celebration it’ll be.  Or will it?  I guess it depends on your perspective.  It reminds me of a short story I wrote several years ago that might help put some perspective on the employment uncertainties we are all facing and maybe help you find some additional things to be thankful for this week.  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

It’s What We Do – A Short Story by Paul Kulpinski

The town of Billet Falls has always been this way for as long as anyone can remember.  It’s a town, not unlike many others.  It’s full of people who are all busy doing the things they do in the places they do them.  There’s the banker who works at the bank.  The butcher who works at the market.  The nurse who works at the hospital and of course the Mayor who works at City Hall all working to keep things running along smoothly and without disruption, because that’s the way it’s always been done.  The people of Billet Falls liked living life that way and no one ever dared to try living life any differently.

It was the first warm day after a particularly long cold winter when Mr. Lincoln and his family moved to Billet Falls.  Their home, while new to them, had previously been occupied by the dry cleaner who ran the laundry near city hall.  It was a beautiful house, located right in the heart of town.  So it was that after unpacking their belongings, Mr. Lincoln decided to conduct some business and establish themselves as the town’s newest residents.  His first chore was to open a bank account, so he went to the bank and met the banker.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lincoln”, said the banker.  What do you do?”

Mr. Lincoln noticed the family pictures on the banker’s desk and replied, “I do the same things you do.”

“Oh, you’re a banker too?” asked the banker with a tone of concern.

“Not at all.  I rear two beautiful children with the help of my lovely wife,” said Mr. Lincoln.

This puzzled the banker who replied, “Oh, that’s nice, I guess.”

The next morning, Mr. Lincoln decided to buy some fresh bread and pastries for his family’s breakfast.  So he ventured out early to the bakery where he met the baker.

“Welcome to Billet Falls Mr. Lincoln”, said the baker.  What do you do?”

“I am a father.” replied Mr. Lincoln.

The baker chuckled, “I see, and do you do any work?”

“Oh, there is a lot of work to do rearing two beautiful children.  Without the help of my lovely wife, I don’t know that I could get all of the work done!”  exclaimed Mr. Lincoln.

This confused the baker who was left to wonder as Mr. Lincoln walked back to his home in the heart of town with his fresh bread and pastries whistling a happy tune in the morning sunlight.

By the third day, Mr. Lincoln began preparing for a far-away trip he had scheduled so he stopped by the barber shop where he met the barber.

“Have a seat, Mr. Lincoln” said the barber inviting him into the chair by the front window.  “I’ve heard all about you.” As indeed word was spreading about the strange ways of Mr. Lincoln and his family.

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Mr. Lincoln.  “Then you know about what I do.”

“Well, no not exactly.  What is it that you do?”  asked the barber as his scissors began snipping away around Mr. Lincoln’s head.

“I’m the husband of a beautiful lady who has the deepest green eyes and who embodies that joyful feeling of a cool summer breeze,” said Mr. Lincoln with admiration.

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of work,” commented the barber as his scissors snipped on around Mr. Lincoln’s right ear.

“We’re quite busy actually, what with our two little one’s there’s barely a moment where we’re not doing something new and amazing!”

This wasn’t quite good enough for the barber so he pressed on.   “That’s nice, but what’s your real job,” he asked.

“I can’t think of any more important job than that!”  Mr. Lincoln thought for a moment then said, “Perhaps after the children are grown, I’ll find one.”

After Mr. Lincoln left with his fresh haircut, the barber turned the sign on his door to “CLOSED” and collapsed into his barber chair, stunned by what he had just heard.  If what Mr. Lincoln had said was true, this wasn’t good for Billet Falls.  For as long as anyone could remember, the people of Billet Falls knew each other by what they did and the very important titles they held because of it, like the banker, the baker and of course the barber.  What could it mean to be just a father?  The barber thought long and hard and it could only mean one thing.  So he went to the police station where the police officer worked and after talking for a moment, they went to the hospital where the doctor worked and after a while they went to the accountant’s office where the CPA worked and soon a large crowd of the people of Billet Falls, not knowing what to do about this new threat to their way of life went to City Hall where the Mayor worked.

The Mayor was outraged to learn that there could even be one citizen of Billet Falls who was not working at doing something productive.  So the Mayor marched off to Mr. Lincoln’s house in the heart of town followed by the banker, the baker, the barber, the policeman, the doctor, the accountant and the large mob of the other townspeople of Billet Falls which had become quite agitated.

The Mayor pounded on the door of Mr. Lincoln’s home.  When the door opened he demanded to know what Mr. Lincoln did.

Once again, Mr. Lincoln calmly replied,  “I am rearing two beautiful children with the help of my lovely wife.”

“What does it mean to rear two beautiful children with the help of your lovely wife?” blurted the Mayor.

“It means that I build model rockets with my son.  It means that I have tea parties with my daughter.  It means that my two beautiful children, my lovely wife and I take regular picnics in the parks around Billet Falls.  It’s that simple,”  said Mr. Lincoln.

“Ah, ha.  So you are unemployed!” the Mayor said accusingly.

“No, not at all!  I fly airplanes for the airline at the airport.” declared Mr. Lincoln.

The townspeople gasp in unison and then shouted in relief, “Oh, you’re a pilot!”

“No, I’m a father,” insisted Mr. Lincoln.  “It just so happens that I fly airplanes to earn money.”

A low murmer arose from the crowd as they grew uneasy again.  “I am no different from any of you,” Mr. Lincoln added.

But this did nothing to calm the crowd, until the fireman spoke up, slowly.  “So, you’re saying that because I am rearing my son that I am a father, who happens to put out fires for money”?

“Exactly,” said Mr. Lincoln.

Then the nurse spoke up, “I don’t have any children, Mr. Lincoln.  Does this mean that I am no body?”  There was a great commotion, as the crowd now believed that Mr. Lincoln had been defeated and maybe life could return to normal.

“Not at all,” said Mr. Lincoln.  “You’re someone’s daughter and perhaps even someone’s friend, correct?”

“Yes” she said.

“Then you are a daughter of two people who love you very much, who happens to take care of sick people for money,” said Mr. Lincoln.

The Mayor, still frantic about maintaining order in his town shouted, “How can we have a town full of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends and neighbors?  We will never get anything done!  The town will collapse!”

But Mr. Lincoln knew that would never happen.  “Mr. Mayor” he said, “jobs come and go but the relationships you have with your family, friends and neighbors will outlast them all.”  Then Mr. Lincoln extended his hand to the Mayor, “my name’s Tom.  Tom Lincoln.”

The Mayor stammered slightly, then with a laugh he shook Mr. Lincoln’s hand firmly and replied, “my name’s Robert James Turner.  My friends call me R.J.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, R.J.,” said Mr. Lincoln.

And with that handshake, the matter was settled.  Before long, the people of Billet Falls began to think of themselves as fathers, mothers, sons and daughters; friends and neighbors all of whom did this or that for money.  Did the town collapse?  On the contrary.  It thrived as an amazing thing happened – some people actually decided to swap the jobs they did for money, because the banker really didn’t like banking and the plumber hated water.  What would have been the scandal of all scandals in the history of Billet Falls in the past, was now a minor event because Susan was a better banker than she ever was a plumber and Henry became the best plumber the town of Billet Falls had ever known.

© 1999, 2009  Paul Kulpinski

 

Cancer Cells Like a Bland Diet

Some like it hot, but new research bolsters the evidence that cancer cells do not – at least in the diet.   It is well documented that people who eat a diet high in turmeric (the bright yellow spice found in most curry dishes from India) have a lower incidence of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers.   Research with mice back in 2005 identified curcumin, as the component in turmeric with the cancer fighting properties.   It’s no wonder.  Cancer is an inflammatory disease and curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory with anti-tumor, anti-oxidant and anti-arthritic properties.

Curcumin has been and is currently being studied in the treatment of a number of diseases including cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer, malaria, HIV infection, Herpes simplex infection and Alzheimer’s disease.

The latest research out of Brittain shows curcumin’s effectiveness in killing cancer cells in the esophagus.  The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that curcumin started to kill the cancer cells in as little as 24 hours after exposure and once the cancer cells were altered by the spice, they began to “digest themselves” according to a BBC News report.

Turmeric, the spice that contains curcumin, is a member of the ginger family and while being mild in flavor, can taste bitter.  This combined with turmeric’s connection with spicy Indian food can lead many Americans to avoid using it in cooking.   While there are commercially available curcumin supplements available, Dr. Andrew Weil recommends consuming the whole turmeric because of the potential synergy between all of the compounds found in the spice.   Dr. Weil recommends brewing the turmeric into a tea and drinking it cold and unsweetened.

While I certainly like ginger tea, I’ve never tried turmeric tea.  We do use it occasionally in cooking and we are always looking to more ways to use it in recipes.  So maybe some tea might be worth a try, especially now that there’s a fall chill in the air.

But either way, for improved cancer prevention, add a little spice to your diet.

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:

BBC News

Dr. Weil.com

Wikipedia

The Real Fear of Halloween

There’s been so much fear circulating around these days, from the economy to terrorism to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that I’m feeling a bit overdosed with it. Now comes Halloween, one of those holidays that strikes fear into the hearts of most parents as their little one’s go out into the night taking candy from strangers! Well, let’s put this into perspective and see what there really is to fear this Halloween.

First, I hope that most of your neighbors are not strangers. I hope that you at least know their names and could recognize them at the grocery store. If not you have something to be concerned about not only at Halloween, but also on the other 364 days of the year. If this is the case for you, start by getting to know your neighbors.

Many parents today were trick-or-treaters themselves during the 70’s and early 80’s during the candy tampering scare that panicked the country. As a result, many of today’s parents believe that this is still something to fear. The reality is that there has never been a case of a child becoming ill or dying from tampered candy obtained during trick-or-treating at Halloween – or any other holiday for that matter. So what started the candy scare in the 70’s? While the exact origin is uncertain, there seems to be a watershed event that happened in Pasadena, Texas in 1974. A father, who recently had taken out a life insurance policy on his 8-year-old son, put a cyanide laced Pixy Stix in his son’s candy bag.  The boy died and the father was quickly caught, tried and in 1984, executed for murder.  If you’d like a complete history of the candy scare, read more about it in this Wikipedia article.

Another Halloween fear stems from the perception that child molesters are more likely to use trick-or-treating as a lure for unsuspecting children.   While this seems plausible, the truth is that there is no increase in sex crimes around Halloween.  In fact, sex crimes against children are at their highest during the summer months.  Researchers at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida studied crime statistics over a 9 year period found that the number of sexual related crimes against children remained unchanged  during the Halloween season.

The real reason to fear Halloween is in the increase of auto accidents with pedestrians.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of child aged pedestrian deaths increases four times on Halloween compared to the same time period (4pm – 10pm) on any other day of the year.   The reasons for this according to the CDC includes the small physical size of children making them difficult to see, compounded with dark costumes that further decrease their visibility.  Additionally, children trick-or-treating during Halloween will tend to cross streets at the shortest route rather than at the safest route.  Likewise, the costume itself can reduce a child’s peripheral vision making hazards like moving vehicles unnoticeable – not to mention uneven walking surfaces that might cause a stumble and fall.  Finally, Halloween can invoke a kind of “magical thinking” that can create feelings of protection and invincibility that can cloud decision-making.

So to be safe this Halloween, make sure your younger children are supervised by an adult during their outings.  For your older trick-or-treaters, make sure they have flashlights, review traffic safety rules and your expectations of their behavior.  Ensure that there are not potential costume problems like long drapes that might cause them to trip, or masks that block their vision while walking.    Finally, let them be scary.  Research has shown that when children are able to pretend to be scary, they can develop an improved sense of confidence in confronting their own fears during the rest of the year.

Maybe some of us adults could use a little of that confidence for ourselves this Halloween.   I’m thinking I’ll dress up as Frankenstein this year.  How about you?

- Paul Kulpinski, LMT

Sources:

Wikipedia

Halloween Safety Myths

Free-Range Kids

The Palm Beach Post

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention