Healthy Living DIY

Bookmarks have been on my mind lately for several reasons. Turns out that both literally and metaphorically, they can save you (and me) a lot of time. And in the process, help us become more efficient, creating time and energy to spend on all that fun stuff we say we want to do!

Starting at the practical-yet-mundane level, there's the computer bookmark. You know, those virtual systems that have sprung up in the last couple of years to allow you to save favorite articles for reference rather than having to print them out. Saves on physical clutter.

(Raise your hand if you're in favor of less clutter!)

I'm talking about those little icons you'll find at the end of each of these blog posts, as well as elsewhere around the web. Like del.icio.us, furl and Digg.

Now even as we speak, it turns out I'm having computer issues. Seems my trusted friend latched onto something the anti-virus and anti-spyware software couldn't beat. So I've been marginally concerned about preserving the data stored on my hard drive. But guess what? I haven't had to worry about losing my bookmarked articles. They're stored somewhere else!

Cool, huh?

Then there's the "feeling" bookmark. This came out of a conversation I had just yesterday with one of this quarter's wellness coaching participants.

In honor of good St. Valentine, let's explore heart energy and its value in creating health. From the perspective of energy medicine, heart energy is the center of your universe. Your heart connects the physical "doing" parts of you with the mental "thinking" parts of you.

The heart, as you perhaps already know, is related to the expression of love. You can love other people, your pets, the environment, or even a cause you're deeply committed to. You can receive love from as many sources. One excellent way of validating a decision or choice has to do with a palpable feeling around your heart center -- when your inner wisdom leads you to a self-affirming choice, you may actually feel your heart soften.

Dr. Dean Ornish, who some years ago made medical headlines by developing a program to reverse heart disease, was very well aware of this phenomenon. While he first publicized the now-obvious physical changes he encouraged in his patients (things like eating more vegetables, getting some exercise, and not smoking), he later came "clean" with another amazing revelation.

In his book, Love and Survival (1998), Dr. Ornish says that one day he was reflecting on the well-accepted fact that heart patients tend to be more hard-driving than the rest of the population -- to the point of hostility. And he had the insight to ask himself, "I wonder what makes them so hostile?"

Today's article is going to be quick, because I'm about to take my hopefully un-leaky tires on the road in a few minutes to head out for a holistic fair in Minneapolis this weekend. (At the Earl Brown Center -- stop by and say "hi" if you're in the areas!)

Anyway, I just wanted to share a little analogy you might find helpful in distinguishing the difference between Stress Management (a temporary quick fix which is, of course, sometimes necessary) and Resolving Stress (which hopefully gets to the bottom of things so you can move on.

Stress management is kind of like putting a shot of air into a leaky tire...