Soft Breathing

This technique to help combat stress and anxiety is from Dr. Mark Hyman from his book, The UltraMind Solution:

Step 4. Breathe deeply into your abdomen and feel it expand as you count to 5.
Step 5. Pause for a count of 1.

Essential Oils: Try lavender, ylang-ylang, marjoram, and neroli

In a recent study, 83 participants with high blood pressure were tested to see whether essential oil inhalation would have an effect on blood pressure and cortisol levels (cortisol is the most common “stress chemical” that can be measured).

Participants were asked to inhale an essential oil blend of lavender, ylang-ylang, marjoram, and neroli with the following ratio (20 : 15 : 10 : 2).

The study group experienced the relaxation effects of this particular blend of essential oils leading to:

• significant decreases in cortisol levels
• reduced blood pressure
• stress reduction

Favorite for Anxiety: Mindful Belly Breathing

Believe it or not, the number one best way to ease anxiety is to BREATHE…as long as you do it the right way.

What I’m talking about here is learning a specific technique of conscious breathing, which is quite different from what we do moment-to-moment as part of our daily living.

If you take a minute to become aware of your breathing right now, you’ll find you are probably breathing short, shallow breaths into your lungs. This is how most of us breathe most of the time – unconsciously.

When you’re feeling anxious, you tend to unconsciously “overbreathe” with shorter, faster breaths into the lungs and chest.

This creates an imbalance between oxygen and carbon dioxide which can result in symptoms including:

racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, hot flashes or chills, and distorted thinking such as fear that something terrible will happen.

The Deep Breath Myth

There is a common misconception that taking a “deep” breath is the key. While the deep breath may be useful for some purposes, it is not the best for calming anxiety.

When you take a deep breath, you are making a sudden and significant change to your breath. Your amygdala (the “caveman” part of the brain that regulates the fight-or-flight response) does NOT like sudden change. Instead of relaxing, your brain goes on high alert when there is any sudden change because your amygdala wants to make sure there is no sabretooth tiger coming to threaten your safety.

Your brain can relax when breathing is calm, even and predictable, without sudden change.

Master the specific technique

The specific form of Mindful Belly Breathing described here is designed to reduce anxiety by calming your brain AND creating a real physiological change for your nervous system (activating the parasympathetic nervous system).

This can only be done by using the proper technique consisting of 2 parts:

1. lowering the focus of your breathing to the belly/diaphragm area (diaphragmatic breathing)
2. controlling the pace and size of each inhale and exhale (respiratory control).

This breathing technique is Mindful due to the addition of respiratory control. Diaphragmatic breathing alone can be helpful for many things, but what makes Mindful Belly Breathing so effective for anxiety is the combination of Mindful respiratory control + Belly Breathing.

Mindful Belly Breathing can be done anywhere, anytime! I teach this to most of my clients and literally every single client has reported a benefit from Mindful Belly Breathing.

How to do it:

1. Place one hand on your belly.
2. Inhale and exhale through your nose only, with each breath “normal-sized” and comfortable for you.
3. Lower the focus of your breathing by slowing pushing out your belly/diaphragm as you inhale and slowly pulling in your diaphragm as you exhale. Imagine a balloon in your belly that fills with each inhale and deflates with each exhale.
4. Notice the movements of your hand: you should see your hand moving up and down on your stomach as you breathe.
5. Now pace your breathing in a predictable and even way by silently saying to yourself:

“Inhale – 2 – 3 – Relax… Exhale – 2 – 3 – Relax”

Want help learning Mindful Belly Breathing?

You may like my downloadable Less Stress Now CD.

How you know it’s working

Here’s a little test to show you what a big difference Mindful Belly Breathing makes:

1. Stand up and just breathe normally
2. Look into a full-length mirror. Look sideways so you can see your profile. Go ahead and suck in your stomach to look your best (yes, we all do that sometimes!).
3. Now breathe while still holding your stomach in. Notice that only your chest is moving up and down with each breath. This is more or less what happens when anxiety kicks in. Notice how the airflow is restricted. Notice the pace of your breath. Does this create any feelings of anxiety or discomfort?
4. Let your stomach relax now and re-start your Mindful Belly Breathing. Notice how much more air you’re taking in now. Notice the sense of calm this brings.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Like any new skill or tool, Mindful Belly Breathing requires practice. You want this tool available to you in times of extreme anxiety, right?

Well, in those moments of anxiety your ability to think straight and remember what to do next can be very limited. In order to break that cycle, you need to be able to start Mindful Belly Breathing automatically – your body will remember what to do only if you’ve practiced regularly.

Make Mindful Belly Breathing a daily habit and it’s an investment…you’ll be able to use it anytime, anywhere to help you break free from anxiety. Regain control of your breath, your clear thinking, your physical/body sensations, and your life!

Which Thought Would Feel Better?

Thoughts create feelings. Anxiety thoughts create anxiety feelings. So when you’re feeling anxiety, you can be sure that you are having anxiety thoughts.

Ask yourself: What thought am I having right now that could be related to this anxiety? Write it down.

Then ask yourself: What different thought might feel at least a little bit better than that one? Write it down also. If fact, you might find multiple different thoughts that feel a little better.

Work on intentionally focusing on the thoughts that feel better. With practice, you will think better AND feel better!

What You Think About Stress Could Kill You

30+ years ago: Nobody ever connected stress to any physical issues. How could stress in your mind or your emotions ever effect your body? Don’t be silly.

More recently: Now we hear that stress contributes to (and exacerbates) MANY physical illnesses. And lots of research proves that.

2013-present: Emerging research is showing that your mindset about stress (in other words, what you think ABOUT stress) is really what causes the stress-illness connection.

UW-Madison study: Beliefs about stress matter most!

Kelly McGonigal, health psychologist and researcher at Stanford University, did a famous TED Talk in 2013 called “How to make stress your friend.”

She talks about a large-scale study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison of 30,000 participants who were followed over an eight-year period.

They asked people to rank their level of stress as low, moderate or high. They also asked the question: Do you believe stress is harmful for your health?

Then they used public death records to see which of the study participants actually died over the eight year period.

Bad news: Participants who had a high level of stress had a 43% increased chance of dying.

Surprising news: Here’s the kicker…. The 43% increased risk of dying was only true for people who believed that stress is harmful for your health!

• Participants with a high level of stress but who did not believe that stress was harmful to their health, had the lowest likelihood of death of anyone in the study (even lower risk than the people who reported the lowest levels of stress)!

What you think about stress matters! In fact, it matters more than your stress level itself!

What is your Stress Mindset?

What if you could think of stress as your body helping you rise to new challenges? What if you could think of physical symptoms of anxiety, such as changes in heart rate and breathing, as helpful to you?

Stress Mindsets are general beliefs about the nature of stress.

• A “stress-is-enhancing” mindset means you tend to believe that stress has the effect of enhancing performance, health and well-being.
• A “stress-is-debilitating” mindset refers to the belief that stress is dangerous, and should be feared because one may not have the internal resources to meet the external pressures.

People with a “stress-is-enhancing” mindset see day to day life stressors as challenges for which they have adequate resources to meet expected demands. Stressors can be seen as opportunities to grow, learn or step up ones game. Stress is seen as a challenge instead of a big problem to be avoided.

A 2013 study of employees at a large financial institution showed that those who had a stress-is-enhancing mindset enjoyed:

• greater life satisfaction
• reduced anxiety
• less depression
• increased optimism
• increased resilience
• increased mindfulness

What do you think?

Recent research suggests that your attitude and beliefs matter a lot. This is not to say that too much stress is somehow healthy.

Can you change the stressors in your life to achieve more happiness? If you think you can’t change the stressors in your life, I challenge you to challenge that assumption. Often times you do have more control over stressors than you think you do.

However, if you’re clear that you can’t change the external… you CAN change the internal – your own mindset about stress. Why not give it a try?

How To Do Mindfulness

Have you been hearing a lot about Mindfulness lately?

It’s gaining in popularity as a way to reduce stress and anxiety and increase happiness.

Wellness Counseling with Di PhilippiMindfulness is a way of being. It involves focus and attention on only what is happening in the here and now. It’s about attentive awareness of the present moment without judgement.

You’d be surprised how many moments of your day go by WITHOUT your conscious attention to the here and now.

Ever had a time when you were driving and suddenly realized you missed or almost missed a turn? Or that you were further along the road than you realized because you were driving on auto-pilot? At times like that, the body and the mind are doing two different things. Mindless.

I like to think of Mindfulness as your Mind and Body in same place at same time doing the same thing. Your body can only be in the here and now; but your mind can be all over the place.

How to do it?

People often ask me how to “do Mindfulness”… is it meditation or what?

While there are mindfulness meditations you can do, it is a way of being so you do not need to meditate to be mindful. You can start with mindful awareness of your sensory experiences. You can use your senses of: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch.

Here are just a few strategies for beginners to get an experience of mindfulness:

Eat a Raisin

Here is one simple way to experience and practice mindfulness using your mouth and your sense of taste:

Eat one raisin…mindfully. Take 4 minutes to pick up, look at, eat, taste and mindfully experience that raisin. Try to chew it at least 250 times! It is possible!

Notice everything you can about that raisin-eating experience… taste, texture, saliva production, how your tongue and teeth move, how you swallow, etc.

Mindful Listening

1. Sit still and bring your attention to what you can hear right now. You’ll probably notice that one noise jumps out at you – perhaps the loudest or most annoying.

2. Now, listen hard for what else you can hear at the same time. Closing your eyes can help. Do your best to divide your attention equally between every noise that you can hear. This will probably be challenging at first.

3. Notice when one particular sound has taken up your full attention, or when your mind simply wanders. Bring your attention back to all the noises and focus again on dividing your attention among all of them equally.

Do this for a few minutes and then notice how you feel compared to when you started.

Sitting Mindfulness Meditation

Science shows mindfulness and meditation help reduce anxiety. There are many, many techniques. This one is from Dr. Mark Hyman.

Meditating - Di Philippi, Holistic Anxiety Therapist, Wellness Counseling Milwaukee

Be aware of your posture!

a. The back is long and supports itself.

c. The face is relaxed.

Focus on one aspect of the breath.

b. Or the lifting and falling of the belly.

Watch that one aspect of the breath.

b. Do this as many times as you need to.

OCD Interview

I was recently interviewed by a local university for an article about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This Q&A explains the basics of OCD and the effective, non-medication treatment that works for OCD.

Question 1: What is the biggest misconception you’ve heard and/or seen about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Misconception #1: Many people believe OCD has to include compulsive behaviors like hand-washing or excessive cleaning. Truth be told, I actually see more OCD in the form of obsessive and intrusive thoughts than I do with the classic compulsive behaviors.

Misconception #2: There’s a misconception that people must live with anxiety their whole lives, or that they must take medication for it for their whole lives. That is not true! [READ MORE HERE]. The neural pathways in the brain which create anxiety and obsessive thinking can be changed. Thus, the root cause of anxiety can be addressed and resolved.

The answer: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can provide long-term, preventative relief from anxiety/OCD (see Question 6 below).

Question 2: From your experience with treating OCD, what seems to be the biggest trigger for the people who suffer?

OCD can look very different for different people so it is difficult to generalize. People with OCD suffer from repetitive (and often disturbing) thoughts that they can’t seem to get out of their heads – these are Obsessions. These thoughts, and the inability to “let it go,” can cause a lot of anxiety.

Sometimes that anxiety creates an urge for people to repeatedly perform certain behaviors or routines – these are Compulsions. The urge to do the behaviors is an attempt to try to ease their anxiety.

Some people with OCD have obsessions only, while others have both obsessions and compulsive behaviors.

Most people who have OCD are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational, yet they feel powerless to stop them which actually increases anxiety.

Common obsessive thoughts include:

• fear of a detrimental error by overlooking something
• worry about things being in proper order
• fear of harming someone
• feeling over-responsible for others
• worries about germs or illness

Common compulsive behaviors include:

• hand-washing
• counting
• arranging things
• cleaning
• checking and re-checking things (like did I forget anything?)

Question 3: OCD is often labeled a “mental illness.” Do you agree with this label?

I hate the label “mental illness” because some people attach a stigma to it…and that causes people to avoid getting treatment that could lead them to a happier life. At least 40 million American adults suffer from anxiety, but only about one-third of those seek help, even though anxiety is highly treatable without medication.

Like other types of anxiety, OCD involves what I call “a thinking problem” or “anxiety thinking.” There is a problem with the thinking process and in that respect it could be considered mental as opposed to physical illness.

The great news is that thinking problems can be corrected! Neuroscience research shows that the brain can reconfigure itself and learn new and more effective ways of thinking when trained to do so.

Question 4: Do you believe that people are born with OCD, or is it something that develops over time?

Research supports the understanding that OCD involves problems with the brain circuitry that causes anxiety thinking. No one knows for sure all the factors that could be involved in development of anxiety/OCD. Possible factors include perhaps genetic predisposition, perhaps learned behavior when kids grow up in a family where adults have anxiety, perhaps an illness, or even ordinary life stressors.

Question 5: How are patients diagnosed?

During an assessment, I look at whether a person has obsessions and/or compulsions, but the biggest factor in diagnosis is whether these thinking problems and behaviors cause a real problem in the person’s life.

I always say there’s not a problem unless there’s a problem. I’m looking to see whether the thoughts and/or behaviors are creating a problem with the person’s daily routine, job, school, relationships, social activities, or other activities the person values.

Question 6: What types of treatments are available to patients who suffer from OCD? Is there one particular treatment that seems to be more effective?

Extensive scientific research and my own clinical experience demonstrate that the most effective long-term solution for anxiety/OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

CBT is a very specific sort of non-medication treatment that is focused on correcting the anxiety thinking that is underlying the obsessions and compulsions. It helps people learn different and more accurate, effective ways of thinking – this can significantly reduce or eliminate obsessions and compulsions.

CBT is very focused on teaching people new tools and techniques for changing old thinking patterns and old behavior patterns. To address the behaviors associated with OCD compulsions, exposure treatment is often included in CBT.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a systematic way of gradually exposing people to the things/situations that cause anxiety while teaching them new ways to respond (eliminating the need for compulsive behavior).

Question 7: Do you think OCD can be cured?

The concept of a “cure” really means correcting the thinking problems and the anxiety thinking that are underlying the obsessions and compulsions. Yes! These thinking processes can be successfully changed with CBT.

Question 8: How did you become a therapist who specializes in anxiety disorders such as OCD?

I decided to specialize in holistic solutions for anxiety because so many people have been told they have to live with anxiety for their whole lives…or that they have to take medications for their whole lives. It is my mission to dispel this myth!

People don’t realize that is completely possible to get rid of all kinds of anxiety. They haven’t been education to understand that anxiety is caused by processes in the brain that they can learn how to change. They just need to learn the effective tools to use. I’ve seen so many people literally change their lives with CBT and holistic tools and techniques that treat anxiety.

Notice You’re Alright Right Now

This strategy was adapted from Rick Hanson, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist and author of the best-selling Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom.

Take a close look at this moment, right now. You are probably alright.

Anxiety is always about either:

a) the future (worries and “what if” thoughts), or

b) the past (dwelling on what happened, second-guessing, etc)

Reduce anxiety by intentionally dwelling on the NOW. In this one single moment, are you alright? It may not be perfect, or ideal. You may feel some pain in the now (physical or emotional). But are you safe and OK and basically alright just for this one moment of now?

You are probably alright. Right now. Use this strategy many times throughout your day to bring yourself back into the peace of the present moment.

10 MORE Great Ways to Love Yourself

Last February I wrote about Loving Yourself and it was so popular I decided to add 10 more ways to love yourself this year….

Gifts that Say I Love You to Yourself

1. Rest. My Vipassana meditation teacher from Burma says (in his Burmese accent): “Take Rest, Take Rest, Take Rest.” Whether it be sleep or a 2 minute break, rest is a gift to yourself so…Take it!

2. Self-compassion. Are you harder on yourself than you are on everybody else? Stop beating yourself up. Treat yourself with the same kindness, care, and support that you would offer to another person that you care about.

3. Schedule fun. Make a list of 20 things you think are fun. Then put them into your calendar and make your fun just as important (or even more important!) as all your other appointments.

4. Make a list and check it twice. Sit down and don’t get up until you’ve listed 10 things you love about yourself. If it’s very easy, then make it 20.

5. Let learning be enough. Forgive yourself for past mistakes or errors in judgment. Hindsight truly is 20/20 so take the lessons away from past mistakes and they will help you move forward. Self-forgiveness is the antidote to guilt, self-blame and self-criticism.

6. Stand up for yourself. Know that your needs and opinions matter. Be confident in asserting yourself and letting others know what is important to you. You’re worth it!

7. Practice being truly present. Learning how to be mindful adds more pleasure and meaning to life. Plus it reduces stress and anxiety. This is a continual practice. You don’t ever have to become an expert – you just need to keep practicing. Start with the intention to “be here now”… and practice.

8. Hang out with the best. Consciously choose to spend your precious time with people who lift you up, who treat you well, respect you, and accept you just the way you are.

9. Embrace this 4-letter word. H-E-L-P. Why do we think we are supposed to do everything on our own? Who made that rule? Asking for help is a sign of wisdom, not weakness. Help is what makes the world go around, and makes us feel connected. It is a gift knowing you don’t have to do it all alone.

10. Celebrate your successes. Acknowledge yourself for all accomplishments big and small. Writing them down in a success journal helps your brain to remember them and builds confidence. Read over your list regularly and see the proof in writing of how truly capable and amazing you are.

The 4 Minute Raisin

You’ve heard of mindfulness and research is clear that mindfulness helps reduce anxiety. But HOW can you be mindful?

Here is one simple way to experience and practice mindfulness: Eat one raisin…mindfully. Take 4 minutes to pick up, look at, eat, taste and mindfully experience that raisin.

Sound impossible or silly? Give it a try and get a taste of mindfulness – pun intended 😆


This interview is reprinted from The Sun magazine by arrangement with the author.

Pema ChdrnPema Chödrön, an American Buddhist nun, is widely known for her down-to-earth teachings on compassion and meditation in the Shambhala lineage of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Her books, including the best-selling "When Things Fall Apart" and "The Places That Scare You" are popular among people from many spiritual traditions. Chödrön, whose Buddhist name means "Lotus Torch of the Dharma," was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Chödrön spent many years as an elementary-school teacher and in the 1970s began to study Buddhism, which she turned to earnestly in the wake of her divorce. She was ordained a Buddhist nun in 1981 and today is the resident teacher of Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastic center in Nova Scotia. Now in strict retreat much of the time and suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, Chödrön occasionally teaches at the abbey and a few other retreat centers, including Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York, where the author, James Kullander, the executive editor at Omega, conducted this rare interview.

Jump to Pema Chödrön talking about:
Discovering Buddhism Judging ourselves The "death feeling" Negative emotions Turning toward pain Meditation Peace in a violent world 9/11

You've been a Buddhist monastic since 1974. That's a long way from being a wife, a mother, and an elementary-school teacher. What attracted you to Buddhism?

The truth is I didn't know it was Buddhism that I was attracted to initially. In 1972, I read an article by Chögyam Trungpa, who would become my principal teacher. The article made terrific sense to me, but I had no idea that he was describing Buddhism. I was living a countercultural life in northern New Mexico. There were a lot of communes around, and I explored them all. One week there'd be a Hindu swami in the neighborhood, the next a Zen roshi, the next a Native American teacher, and the next a Sufi master. I really didn't distinguish between them, and no one encouraged me to do so.

Then my marriage ended and-I've realized since then that this is fairly common-it was one of those crises where everything fell apart. I couldn't feel any ground under my feet. It was devastating.

The word depression was not used much back then, but I think I went into a major depression. At the time, however, I had no words for it. All I knew was that the pain was intense, and there was nothing I could do to get out of it. Any of the usual strategies for entertaining myself or finding comfort only exaggerated the pain. Going to a movie, eating, smoking dope-it all somehow made the pain worse.

I started looking for ways to deal with my anger, which seemed unfamiliar and out of control. The groundlessness I felt had a fearsome and panicky quality to it. I was offered plenty of advice, but it all seemed to boil down to a similar message: "Turn toward the light" or "Chant yourself into a higher consciousness." It was useless to me. If I could have simply turned toward the light, I would've done so happily.

I had two children and was teaching school at the time, and one day I came out of work and got into a friend's pickup truck. On the front seat was a magazine that Chögyam Trungpa had published in the 1970s. It lay open to an article titled "Working with Negativity." The first line was something like: "There's nothing wrong with negativity." I took this to mean: "There's nothing wrong with what you're going through. It's very real, and it brings you closer to the truth." The article explained that when you find yourself caught in extreme discomfort or negativity, the negativity itself is not the problem. If you can have a direct experience of that pain, it will be a great teacher for you. The problem is what Chögyam Trungpa called "negative negativity," or reacting against negativity and trying to escape it. It was the first sane advice I had heard for someone in my situation. As I read, I kept nodding and saying to myself: This is true. I didn't even know that Chögyam Trungpa was a Buddhist teacher, or that it was Buddhism I was reading about. Once I connected with it, though, I never looked back. I felt-and I still feel-as if I had connected with an unfinished story, or rediscovered a path that I'd lost long ago.

After I'd read that article, I moved up to the Lama Foundation in northern New Mexico for the summer. (My children were with their father.) I remember seeing Allen Ginsberg drive up in his Volkswagen bug with Tsultrim Allione, who was then a Tibetan nun. When she got out of the car, I was struck by her robes and everything about her. It was almost a physical shock. And I remember thinking to myself: What is this? I hardly remember Allen at all. I started talking with Tsultrim, and I must have mentioned the article, or maybe she mentioned that her teacher was Chögyam Trungpa. She said that if I wanted to meet him I could come with her up to Boulder, Colorado, where he taught.

A Tibetan Buddhist lama came to the camp. His name was Lama Chime. When I saw him, I had the same experience that I'd had with Tsultrim. His talk didn't make any sense to me, but the minute it was over I went up to him and asked, "Could I study with you?" He didn't have a center or anything like that, but he lived in London and said if I came there, he would give me some instruction. After I'd been with Lama Chime for two weeks, I took refuge, a vow through which one formally enters the Buddhist path. Then I took the bodhisattva vow, a personal vow to seek enlightenment and help others do the same. Two years later I was a nun. I thought I was so worldly-wise. I was only thirty-six years old.

Do you recall having any early spiritual or religious inclinations?

I have no memories of any childhood spiritual aspirations, though I was raised Catholic. But some friends I grew up with say that they always thought of me as a spiritual person. For example, one woman I know from those days once said to me: "When my cousin died, you were the only one who really sat down with me and talked with me about the fact that my very close relative had drowned." We must have been fifteen years old at the time.


Finding your Passion, in Search of Tension

I’m currently reading this short infographic book WHAT TO DO WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN (and it’s always your turn), by Seth Godin. There’s more info about him on his “about the author” page, but he’s really big in the inspirational author, blogger, and business fields. To sum up the book, here’s a quote:

“Explores, as directly as I can, the dance we all have to do with our fears, the tension we all must embrace in order to do work that we care about. It pushes us to dig deep inside so we can do better work and impact the things we care about.”

This post is just a small reminder on how to be mindful in whatever work it is you’re doing. As a student working on this blog, and after just finishing finals, its hard to just take some time for yourself and remember why we all do the work we choose to do.  On reading this page, I was motivated to share the insight from Seth with others. I thought about what it really takes to ‘find your passion,’ and how most people really are afraid to take the leap necessary for reasons like they might fail or will “turn others off.” What really struck me was this:

“Great work is the result of seeking out tension, not avoiding it.”

A lot of planner’s work, or anyone for that matter that works with the public, deals with the continuous balancing act of public and private- systems that are usually in tension with each other. However, by avoiding the tensions that may come up in any work, we are denying ourselves chances to produce great work. It may not work, but then again it just may; thus the tension is worth it.

He writes after this page that even when one does not feel “motivated” they still must write/paint/sing, whatever it is you do for your work. Because each time that one says they need motivation, they’re actually hiding in fear from the opportunity to take their turn, to use their freedom, and to do something great. One has to

“develop a habit…of showing up on a regular basis…pitching in every single time…How motivated you are today has nothing to do with the opportunity and the obligation you face.”

So when you’re having one of those days where you think you just can’t possibly produce anything worth reading, or you’re just not motivated enough to give your best, remember this. Needing motivation is just a hiding technique. Show up every time, because you never know what you’re capable of until you actually get started. And who knows, you might just produce something great all  because you believed in yourself enough to show up and remain dedicated to the work.


Greek bailout fundamentally flawed

The original upload can be viewed here, together with comments.

ECB money printing will prop up zombie banks

Why libertarian groups should not take government money

EU_enlargements_map 150x150 It is difficult to think of anything more hypocritical than libertarian groups taking state money. But worryingly the vast majority of organisations in continental Europe that style themselves as ‘free-market’, ‘libertarian’ and ‘classical liberal’ are funded with money appropriated from taxpayers. And given that libertarians in the US and UK spend a great deal of time arguing against foreign aid, it is rather ironic, to say the least, that many of these groups have been willing recipients of aid money from the US, EU and other governments.

This is not just a matter of principle. The government money has typically been tied to particular research projects and events programmes. These have promoted policy agendas that a high proportion of libertarians would find deeply objectionable and that bear little relation to genuine free markets.

Unsurprisingly there is a close correlation between such output and key priorities of the European Commission and US economic/foreign policy. Thus one observes a plethora of reports and events on deepening European integration and harmonisation; on strengthening the protection of ‘intellectual property rights’ – a particular focus of US lobbying; on cracking down on the informal economy (Konkin must be turning in his grave); on introducing pseudo-markets, coercive welfare systems and sham privatisations; and on entrenching the special privileges of large corporations through rigged-trade agreements such as TTIP.

Needless to say, senior figures at these organisations have frequently been prominent apologists for US foreign policy, even if this has meant completely betraying basic libertarian principles. Many of these state-funded bodies have also enjoyed an unhealthily close relationship with political elites, particularly in some of the smaller central and eastern European countries. Staff have often gone on to assume senior positions within governments, while some organisations have engaged in detailed policy engineering in cooperation with state bureaucracies.

Such politicisation is tempting – concrete examples of political influence make it easier to attract donations from special interests. But it’s also very dangerous. It increases the temptation to sell-out on principle and distorts research priorities towards those areas most helpful to political elites, while deterring organisations from criticising their political patrons. Worse still, it can do serious long-term damage to the libertarian/free-market movement when initially sensible policies are captured, distorted and rendered dysfunctional by state agencies, politicians and vested interests. Take the numerous botched privatisation programmes that resulted in crony capitalism and/or inefficient rigged markets. Fed through the government grinder, they have brought immense discredit on libertarian ideas.

This is not to say that the overall impact of these government-funded groups has necessarily been negative. Often they have been effective at raising awareness of the dangers of heavy taxation and high inflation, for example. Their agenda may well be preferable to many of the other statist traditions in the region. Perhaps the main objection is therefore their use of terminology – how they describe themselves as libertarian and free-market, pepper their literature with the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’, when in reality they are promoting a particular model of state-capitalism that largely serves certain special interests in the West. And given their prominence, there must be a danger that potential libertarians in Europe will be led astray. Students may not realise that the ‘libertarian’ events they attend or websites they visit are funded by the EU, German government or USAID, and accordingly promote worldviews that differ markedly from genuine libertarianism.

Finally, it should be noted that it is unlikely to be in these organisations’ own interest to continue taking government money. Their dependence on state funds undermines their credibility, not only with the wider libertarian/free-market movement, but also among ‘opinion formers’ in their own countries. At worst, they risk being viewed as sock puppets for the US and EU, particularly as the rise of the internet and social networking makes it increasingly difficult for them to keep their state-funding secret.

These groups have important lessons to learn from organisations that have enjoyed sustained, long-term success in the US and the UK: don’t take government money, stick to your principles, and keep politicians at arm’s length.

Unless otherwise stated, all articles on this website are written in a personal capacity.

Euro crisis: the dangers of fiscal integration

More and more vested interests would become dependent on such spending, making it difficult to roll back and leading to an enlarged role for the central EU authorities. There is therefore a strong likelihood that fiscal integration would eventually lead to the creation of a ‘transfer union’, with stronger countries subsidising weaker ones. The stronger economies would be damaged by higher taxes, while the transfers would crowd-out private-sector activity in the weaker economies, preventing their recovery – as we see in peripheral regions of the UK that are heavily dependent on subsidies from the South-East. An additional danger is that fiscal integration would eventually lead to tax harmonisation – destroying the benefits of tax competition. In conclusion, fiscal integration threatens to undermine the competitiveness of the EU’s more successful member states and thereby speed up the region’s already rapid relative economic decline.

27 October 2011, IEA Blog

Euro crisis no surprise to economists

They were warned. In the late 1990s, eminent economists queued up to explain the flaws in the euro project. Chief among them was Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, who in 1999 – the year the euro was born – predicted that “sooner or later, when the global economy hits a real bump, Europe’s internal contradictions will tear it apart”.

But the fatal conceit of EU policymakers triumphed. The euro was a key plank of their long-term programme to centralise power at supranational level. Given this agenda, it is unsurprising that the EU’s response to the current crisis has been to further emasculate member states. Following the bailouts, the fiscal policies of Greece and Ireland are severely constrained. In the longer term, a similar approach may be rolled out across the Union.

The Stability and Growth Pact was supposed to prevent governments getting into too much debt. Budget deficits were to be under 3 per cent of GDP, while national debts were supposed to be under 60 per cent of GDP. But the pact proved impossible to enforce. Several countries – including Germany – broke the agreement, with no sanctions. Others only satisfied the criteria through creative accounting.

Stricter EU controls on government borrowing – for example a new Stability and Growth Pact with real teeth – clearly have the potential to reduce the economic problems associated with government debt. But policymakers are deluding themselves if they think this approach will solve the fundamental problems of the eurozone.

Applying a one-size-fits-all monetary policy to a huge geographical area with different cultures of saving and debt, different banking systems and different economic conditions, will inevitably blow up inflationary bubbles where interest rates are inappropriately low. The effect is exacerbated by the implicit bailout guarantee given by eurozone membership, which reduces the risk premium demanded by lenders.

In Ireland and southern Europe, a fake boom based on credit rather than productivity growth led to a huge misallocation of resources – particularly into property markets. Wages rose rapidly, especially in the construction sector.

Once the supply of credit dried up, this house of cards collapsed. And the countries that experienced inflationary booms now face a very painful adjustment process. Bad investments must be liquidated and wage rates will have to fall by around 25 per cent to become competitive with the core nations of the eurozone. This is horrendous. It suggests countries such as Greece and Portugal face a fall in living standards comparable to that suffered in the United States during the Great Depression.

Worse still, high levels of employment regulation in southern Europe are a huge obstacle to the necessary correction in wage rates. The likely result is mass unemployment. Southern Europe is also cursed with traditions of social unrest and hostility to economic liberalism. Moreover, rapidly ageing populations will put extra pressure on public finances, while environmental policies threaten to undermine vitally important tourist industries by dramatically increasing the cost of air travel.

Yet recovery is still possible and the EU could do a great deal to help southern European countries bounce back. In particular, it could undertake a systematic programme of deregulation, rescinding directive after directive to lower dramatically the costs of doing business. The EU can also encourage member states themselves to reform, for example by liberalising labour markets. But so far the response to the economic crisis has involved more regulation, not less. For example, many more restrictions have been placed on financial markets, which are crucial to the investment that drives recovery.

The absence of a deregulation agenda raises the question of whether the eurozone should be broken up, with some countries re-adopting national currencies – though perhaps still allowing the euro to be used as legal tender. The new currencies could fall in value, allowing wage rates to fall without overt cuts in pay. However, the devaluation option – which happened repeatedly in many countries before the euro – arguably encourages reckless tax and spend policies.

A break-up could also lead to mass defaults on euro-denominated government debt in those countries that left the zone. Much of this debt is held by banks across Europe. Default could trigger their collapse and demands for yet more bailouts. Break-up of the euro would also be deeply humiliating for politicians and bureaucrats who have staked so much on the project and a European centralisation agenda that appears to have no reverse gear.

There are large political incentives to maintain the status quo. Struggling countries will continue to be propped up by subsidies and the fundamental flaws in the euro will remain. The EU may increasingly become a transfer union which redistributes resources from more successful countries to failing ones. Necessary adjustments will be delayed and eventually the economies of the stronger nations may be undermined.

For the last twenty years, Western Europe has suffered from slow growth and rapid relative decline. The euro crisis threatens to speed up the region’s descent into economic irrelevance.

23 March 2011, PSE


James Cromwell's Height

James Cromwell's height is 6 feet and 6.5 inches. That's 78.5 inches tall.

Or in metric units, James Cromwell is 200 centimetres. That's 2 metres and 0 centimetres.

James Cromwell is 29 centimetres (11.5 inches) taller than the average celebrity (the average is 171 centimetres, 5 feet 7 inches or 67 inches tall).

James's Name

People The Same Height As James Cromwell

There are 8 people the same height as James Cromwell:

Relative Heights

How tall is James Cromwell compared to the average person?

And how tall are you?

James Cromwell
6ft 6.5in tall

Average Person
5ft 7in tall

Choose A Celebrity

Tallest And Shortest


There are few things more important when it comes to running a successful business than making sure that you’re using the right kinds of communication methods to be able to complete all of the projects that will need to be done. Because companies today are large and very spread out over the globe, they will need to be able to work with a lot of different resources to help them ensure that they can stay in contact with everyone in their departments in order work well together. You’re going to find that there are a lot of different types of elements involved in to trying to make sure that data is moving around the right way between colleagues.

This is why so many companies these days will be using some sort of special network to ensure that there are no delays when it comes to transmitting data and basically ensuring that the company is firing on all cylinders. In particular, you’ll discover that there are a lot of businesses that are choosing to work with some sort of software-defined wide area network as their main platform for providing their workers with an array of networking services. Anyone who wants to know more about what these kinds of networks can offer will find a lot to like in the following article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software

Before you really start taking advantage of this type of software-defined wide area network, it’s important to understand their function. You’re going to find that a good network will be something that will be attuned to the specific types of data that will be moved across it. This means that any proprietary software that your business uses will be able to run much more efficiently and quickly when there are multiple people using it. You can work with a number of network design teams to help you ensure that you’re getting your own SD WAN up to speed.

Once you’ve been able to get the best SD WAN put into action, there will be no question that you’re going to be able to protect all your data. When you’re dealing with a variety of information about products and customers that should not fall into the wrong hands, you can see how the best networks will ensure that no data is able to escape.


Saudi regulator approves exchange listing of domestic government bonds

DUBAI, April 1 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's securities regulator said on Sunday it had approved the listing of local currency government bonds on the Saudi Stock Exchange, part of efforts to spur secondary market trading of debt and strengthen state finances.

The Capital Market Authority said over 204.4 billion riyals ($54.5 billion) of riyal bonds would be available to trade, including floating- and fixed-rate bonds and Islamic instruments. The CMA did not say when trade would start, but it usually begins within weeks of the CMA approving an instrument.

Authorities hope exchange-based trading of government debt will help to expand ownership beyond banks to insurers, mutual funds and even individual investors, making it easier for the government to finance its budget deficit.

By creating transparent benchmark prices for debt, the trading could also encourage more Saudi companies to issue corporate bonds, reducing their reliance on bank lending, which is high by international standards.

In mid-2015, the government began offering local currency bonds in monthly auctions to help cover a huge budget deficit caused by low oil prices. It suspended those issues in late 2016 as banks struggled to absorb so much debt and Riyadh began to borrow overseas, but launched monthly sukuk issues in mid-2017. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Mark Potter)


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January 23, 2017

For the court to think about

What is the Panama case? Is it a media trial or a court trial? Is it the 2018 election campaign that has started prematurely? Where is the long-cherished norm of public behaviour that a case that was sub judice could not be the focus of discussion out in the open?

In the olden days, the judiciary was kept aloof from public pressure, discouraged from socialising and shielded from the political agenda of either the government or the opposition. Now, in the age of mass communication, it seems that the institutional functioning of the higher courts has been overwhelmed by the crossfire among the rival contenders for power.

How can the judiciary allow itself to be deemed good or bad, partisan or impartial, weak or independent, minute by minute according to the tenor and idiom of court proceedings or the projected final verdict? It is true that political and constitutional cases have often ended up in controversy. In the past, the judiciary typically focused on the issue of independence from the executive. From the perspective of the current political environment, it has been obliged to safeguard its independence from both the noise on the street – characterised by demonstrations, press(ure) conferences and slogans – and the media, especially TV coverage.

If the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on extra-judicial input into the judicial proceedings, the daily routine of the pendulum of public opinion moving from one end to the other would have become a thing of past. Ever since the Panama case hearing started, its entertainment value has overtaken its judicial importance in the context of a strictly legal approach. Various anomalies have followed from that.

The day starts with production of ‘evidence’ in the court that the rival party hardly considers as one. That is followed by questioning from the bench and answers by the lawyers. The electronic media then reports the court proceedings, followed by a press conference or at least a mini-meet-the-press conversation and a forceful rebuttal from the other side. Finally, the prime-time TV programmes get engaged in commenting, analysing, discussing and ‘covering’ the day’s events. It is amazing to see the nerves of the viewers moving in circles. The circus goes on because there are several stakeholders who would fiercely like the case to end up on one side or the other. In sum, the case has been overly politicised.

The first casualty was rooted in the spillover effect of the political controversy created by the PTI leadership about the new chief justice of the Supreme Court for being partisan. The latter felt obliged to form the requisite bench by extricating himself from it. It is not directly comparable to what happened sometimes in the case of a lower court in the midst of a case hearing relating to the blasphemy law when the courtroom was surrounded by an unruly mob demanding a verdict of a certain kind. But, this amounts to an indirect contribution towards the formation of public opinion which provides a certain ‘moral’ context to keep a judge away from the bench.

Second, there is a great dilemma of judging the case according to the rules of game of one institution – the judiciary – while the rules of the game of the parliament as the foundation of government formation according to the principle of majority on its floor operate through an entirely different logic. We have experienced a clash of institutions earlier when former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry dismissed the then prime minister Gilani, even as he enjoyed the support of a majority in the National Assembly. This remains the first ever, and, till now, the last example of the Supreme Court directly dismissing an elected prime minister. These acts are in contrast to similar actions performed by bureaucrat governors-general – such as Ghulam Mohammad and Iskander Mirza – the military coup-makers or presidents like Ishaq and Leghari who were equipped with the killer clause, Article 58(2)(b).

The practice of broadcasting public comments for and against the ongoing arguments of lawyers from the PTI or the PML-N – the opposition and the government – is in fact not representative of the game of numbers on the floor of the National Assembly. The PTI’s demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif preceded the issue of the Panama leaks. It represents the model of resignation first and its justification later – be it election rigging, the perceived ‘dictatorship’ of Nawaz Sharif, or corruption.

Why is it not an issue between the government that wields a majority on the floor of the National Assembly and the non-PTI opposition that far outweighs the PTI opposition in the national legislature? The answer lies in the non-parliamentary logic of politics that has dominated the parliamentary politics for some time. The ‘aggressive’ political participation in the name of representing the nation has harmed the parliamentary form of government which must operate according to the game of numbers.

How is it that the non-PTI opposition does not share the logic, initiative or blame game of the PTI? How is it that the PTI and the PML-N continue to exchange allegations of various kinds with reference to the Panama case while the case is sub judice? Their idiom is extremely partisan. The timing of their intervention is non-judicious, to say the least.

The Supreme Court seems to be in a state of denial about serious encroachments on its territory. Its institutional ethos that is supposed to be rooted in insularity from the bipolar or, for that matter, a multi-polar, world of politics seems to have been overshadowed by the strong winds of public opinion blowing across the world of electronic media.

What should the court do to shape a neutral environment to hear the Panama case? Perhaps the minimum requirement is that the cacophony of statements, accusations and counter-accusations and predictions of the doomsday for one or the other party must stop. The Supreme Court could and should see to it that a sub judice case is really considered sub judice by the parties involved as well as by the media. Otherwise, the principle of justice will continue to evade the practice of judicial performance in terms of the daily routine of court hearings and the expectations of society.

Both the defenders and opponents of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif must stop their rhetorical performance in the form of personal attacks. Let the judiciary take care of it. As for the Supreme Court, it must impose its own rules of game on the litigants who seem to have transgressed the available legal space and opted for influence-peddling. In this regard, the media hype is unproductive, misleading and unhelpful for a fair judgment. We must allow an untainted and unprejudiced social and political environment to flourish. This would be conducive to the cause of justice and do more to strengthen democracy than the present rigmarole.

The writer is a professor at LUMS.


Parking on Tour de France days

Following a stage of the Tour de France requires some organisation to choose the best viewpoint and await the cyclists safely. Here are some guidelines to benefit fully from the day:

Where and how to park to see the race?

Parking at the foot of Mont Ventoux

Note that the following car parks will be closed:

- the car park in La Frache as well as the forest track leading to the car park.

- in Bedoin the "chemin des granges" from 13 July at 8pm

- in Bedoin the car parks in the village centre on 14 July from 7am onwards

- the hill going down towards Sénanque.

Parking areas currently planned are as follows:

- in Mazan to the west of the village

- between Gordes and Venasque at Col des Trois Termes, on the right hand side leaving Sénanque on the RD177 and on the RD24

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Review: Edward II

Tom Richards’s production of Edward II, by Christopher Marlowe, is complete with smoky night clubs, the sweet-sour smell of weed, star-cross’d lovers, and violence. Like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, the production has moved an Elizabethan play into a modern gangster setting. Edward II highlights the correspondance between the power game in Marlowe’s early modern court and the one-upmanship in the mafia world, adding in political controversy from Edward’s homoerotic affairs. However, exciting as this premise is, the actual execution of the play falls slightly short of expectation.The play explores the complications that love causes in a political context. Ben Galpin captures Edward’s anguish as a young man yearning, but is not so convincing when playing Edward as king. Krishna Omkar is convincing in the role of Gaveston styled as Edward’s melancholic lover. Arabella Lawson as Queen Isabella plays a bitter, desperate wife fallen from her husband’s favour, but the political intrigue surrounding her, including a connection to the IRA (a modern equivalent of Marlowe’s French intrigue) is not quite convincing. They portray passion, yet the shades of passions are rarely identified and distinguished.The staging of Elizabethan drama in a modern-styled production is problematic and aspects borrowed from both periods are never quite brought together. The actors change awkwardly between their dual identities, never quite sure whether they are playing nobles or gangsters. This is a production which overwhelms and excites the viewer with its modern adaptation of a Marlowe play, yet it has not quite fulfilled that potential. Just as Edward in the play could personally testify, it is never easy to balance politics and love in life; in theatre, the same applies. By Chen-yi Liu


Accept Challenges

In the video below, Elliott Hulse answers a viewer’s question about replacing squats in a 5×5 program. I assume it’s something like Reg Park’s 5×5, StrongLifts 5×5, Madcow’s 5×5 or maybe even Texas Method, but that’s not really the issue being discussed in the video. I’ve added some cliffs and personal notes under the video. (And no, you cannot replace squats in these programs.)

Cliffs and Personal Notes:

If something is difficult and presents a challenge to you, do it. (Within reason of course. Don’t try to jump off a bridge because you’d like to be able to fly and expect to make it work.)

If your knees hurt from squatting, it’s likely a mobility, stability, muscle imbalance and/or strength imbalance issue. Figure out what’s causing the problem, fix it and continue to squat. A nice resource for fixing just about any lifting-related issue you might have (unless you require surgery or just have a disability that completely rules out some lifts) is Kelly Starrett’s ‘Supple Leopard‘ book.

Approach all difficult situations with this mindset of putting in your best effort to overcome obstacles and you will succeed in life as a whole.

The dedication and ability to effectively solve problems are two characteristics that can be honed in the gym. The newly acquired discipline and will to achieve a goal can easily carry over to other areas of your life.


Ethan Blake is Addison and Marinette's agent. He is also an agent of some unnamed characters.

Ethan's BackstoryEdit

In The Premiere, it was revealed that Ethan grew up poor and had to work hard to become such a high-ranking agent.

In his second date, Pier 1 True Love, he reveals that during his earlier years of Hollywood University, he tried to only make contracts with big stars, including Zoe Rodriguez, who turned him down.

In his third date, The Heart of L.A., he tells you that he helped the restaurant and dessert place you stopped by rise in popularity by doing free "advertising" for them. Because he helped them, both places allow him to skip the long lines and give him the best food and service they have to offer. Also in this date, Ethan reveals that part of why he wanted to become an agent was when he was a child, he had always wanted to watch a baseball game in a stadium. When he wasn't able to get in after waiting in a long line because the tickets were too expensive, he decided he wanted to be an agent to skip the long lines and expenses.

Personality and CharacteristicsEdit

Ethan is clever, quick-witted, and charming. He tends to flirt with many of the girls that he meets. However, Ethan demonstrates on dates with him that he can also be a romantic. He prides himself on knowing everything about everything that's going on in Hollywood. He is a great supporter of his clients, as shown in numerous occasions towards the character and Addison. He also helps failing businesses on occasion, as he reveals to Your Character in her third date with him that he prevented the dessert place she stopped by from going bankrupt. He is a hard worker and understands the value of treating someone like they deserve.

Ethan has dark skin and close-cropped black hair. He has a navy blue pinstriped Armani suit, and his face is exclusive to him.

Character RelationshipsEdit

Addison SinclairEdit

He is Addison's agent, but is also a very close friend of hers. They interact a lot, as they are the two main characters besides your character.

Your CharacterEdit

He is your agent and close friend. You have the option to date him when Amour is unlocked. His second date is Pier 1 True Love. His third date is The Heart of L.A.. There are then three 'Snapshot Dates': Making Time , A House, A Home and Tailor Made. Ethan's fourth 'real' date is Family Connections.

In the fourth date in Amour, it is revealed Ethan has a younger half sister, Violet. They didn't grow up together, but ever since Violet's move to L.A., they've grown closer.

Fun Facts and TriviaEdit

  • Zoe Rodriguez fondly refers to Ethan as 'Cufflinks'.
  • Ethan was originally designed with thicker hair and blue eyes.
  • It was stated that he used to be a Class Clown.
  • It's revealed that Ethan is part of the secret society The Silver Circle.
  • In the quest 'Behind the Beard', it as revealed that when Ethan was six years old, his Christmas wish was to get an Armani suit.
  • He appears in another game by Pixelberry called ‘Choices’ in a story named ‘Red Carpet Diaries’


One new way to introduce progressive technology into your classroom is thru digitally based mostly and delivered educational assets. I really like Google Classroom because I’m able to simply ship digital content material and assignments to my college students. On December 12, 2017, the BVSD Board of Education adopted a Pupil Information Privateness Policy, as mandated by the state. In response to the fast advance of technology, this is the first time our district has had a sturdy policy round knowledge privacy. The wording was tailored from the Colorado Affiliation of Faculty Boards (CASB) mannequin coverage that was developed by district leaders from all around the state last 12 months.

The first session of the day noticed Louise Robson discussing Encore (the brand new name for Lecture Seize at the college) and her journey using this technology in her Department, Biomedical Science. She described how capturing lectures had benefitted her students and not led to any lower in attendance, as well as talking about attention-grabbing options such because the pause button and the power to edit certain elements of lectures. James Slack and Laura McNally then gave an summary of how the lecture capture works. This is a growing system that’s rapidly increasing across the University.

Non-earnings provide an surroundings for learning that is designed while preserving the scholars in mind. Non-income are owned by no one and the board of administrators operates them without getting any fee. There are not any shareholders and shares to generate revenue for, both. So, they’re free to keep the motivation and concentrate on providing an schooling with prime quality to their students. Ms. Jackson has proven herself to be a really capable leader. She has the power to continue Apple’s accessibility superiority and resolve present challenges. Her work on environmental initiatives has been very successful, propelling Apple towards the highest of the technology business by way of sustainability. The future of Apple product accessibility seems bright, and I’m excited to see what innovations come next.


Saturday, March 15, 2008

Voice of Conscience

One of the most important historical influences on literature is the classic Shakespearean Tragedy. Shakespeare's tragic heroes will be men of status and the misfortunes that transpire will be unexpected and extremely disastrous. The hero will suddenly fall from high status, honor, or happiness. We feel sympathy at the depths to which the hero is suddenly plummeted. As a result, the tragedy will be enormous. Such great suffering and misfortune will affect those he most cherishes. The principal sources of tragic emotions, especially pity, are essential ingredients in the tragedy.

In Voice of Conscience, author Behcet Kaya implements the attributes of a Shakespearean Tragedy to create a modern day story of love, loss, retribution, and redemption. The protagonist, Ramzi Ozocomert Junior., is a young boy living in Atamkoy, Turkey, in 1962. In Ramzi’s culture, arranged marriages are often a part of their customs. Ramzi’s parents are confronted by a family who want to arrange a marriage between their son and Ramzi’s sister. Ramzi’s parents deny the request and allow their daughter to marry a man she truly loves. As the family prepares for their daughter’s wedding, Ramzi’s parents and sister are brutally murdered. Ramzi, fearing he will be murdered, is forced to flee his home.

Ramzi embarks on a journey where he lives in emotional isolation relying on instincts and his upbringing to survive. As he becomes an adult, he develops a strong work ethic and grand career ambitions while at the same time being haunted by the memories of the brutal slaying of his family. While in England, he falls in love with Megan, a young American who is the daughter of wealthy and powerful business man. As Ramzi becomes involved with British High Society, and when he goes to America to become a successful business man, he embraces a new culture and values. Despite his new life and loving family, he is haunted by his family’s death and overwhelming guilt for not avenging those who destroyed his childhood.

Within the story, such themes as honor, love, vengeance, obsession, and overwhelming guilt are predominant. Readers will gain insight into a culture and their beliefs while at the same time revealing human qualities that we all share. The blur between justice and revenge is an important theme.

Voice of Conscience is a compelling drama with the author incorporating the traits of a Tragedy very successfully. Readers will empathize with Ramzi’s trials and tribulations. It is highly recommended to readers who enjoy compelling stories of human frailty.

Write Field Services

Paperback: 356 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (June 26, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1432706284
ISBN-13: 978-1432706289
Available: and
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Thinking Is Authorized! Refreshing Philosophical Perspectives For Real Spiritual Growth

In today’s world, religious debate and scientific exploration are hot button issues for many people. In his book, Thinking Is Authorized!, author Nash Khatri engages readers in a philosophical and reflective discussion on how one obtains real spiritual growth and development.

Khatri explores how we perceive our religious beliefs and explains that real spiritual growth is an ongoing process rather than a point to be reached. Khatri proposes that to achieve real and meaningful spiritual growth, we must open our minds and imaginations to the idea that there is more to time and space than what we can comprehend through our five senses. Using a cognitive approach, he presents a thought-provoking discussion on how to stretch our imaginations to gain a better understanding of how we define ourselves, our beliefs, and rationalize life’s great mysteries. Khatri discusses how we are not only connected to each other, but to the universe and everything it holds. He explains how life is a continuous series of inter-linked events and how we perceive and react to the events determines our future. Regardless of how minor our actions may seem, everything directly or indirectly affects our future. Spiritual development requires configuring our thought processes to accept that discovering truths beyond what we can currently grasp does not diminish one’s faith in a Higher Power.

Khatri makes it clear that his book is not anti religious. It is designed to seek self-awareness and expand our knowledge by broadening our minds to go beyond our senses. For instance, Khatri discusses the notion of lack-of-time-and-space and used it to support his perspectives on the soul, death, afterlife, and God. For a 100 page book, it is filled with informative and philosophical concepts about our thought processes and perceptions, and how overcoming our fears of the unknown are a necessary step to spiritual evolvement. A key message of the book: It is not necessary to accept blind faith as the only way to explain what we have yet to understand. As Khatri states, “Real spiritual advancement requires a broad frame of mind and is conducive to a more tolerant, peaceful, and non-judgmental attitude that is inclined toward uniting people.”

The book is a spiritual journey that imparts cognitive development skills. Spiritual maturity is a journey of raising questions, not finding the easiest answers to life’s unknowns. Another core message imparted: Questioning religious beliefs and ideas will enhance one’s spiritual journey. Because the book is not designed to reveal opinions as absolute truths, some may disagree with the ideas and concepts presented. The book is more centered on what its title states: Thinking is Authorized!

Thinking Is Authorized! is highly recommended to those who enjoy philosophical observations as a method of rational self-reflection, spiritual growth, and religious contemplation.

Write Field Services

Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: AuthorHouse (September 7, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1434321584
ISBN-13: 978-1434321589
Available: and
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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Breaking A Sunbeam

Write Field Services

Paperback: 390 pages
Publisher: Trafford Publishing (February 27, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1425107451
ISBN-13: 978-1425107451
Available: and
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If to an emotion we can call it secret or hidden, that is the shame, and curiously almost everyone, if we look at our past, we can find something that would be known by others, make us Redden. Shame!. And the strangest thing is that we can come to feel ashamed of feeling shame. Simply with what is written so far, we are already able to link shame with self esteem, and in principle, and in a general way, we can guess that the more healthy is a person’s self-esteem, fewer situations or personal performances, will make you feel shame. The fear of rejection, the sensation of having broken a certain group or social norms, or fear to transgress imaginary boundaries, make, many people feel constant fear to mess up. A person ashamed of many aspects of his life, is an emotionally dependent, since, far from building a full personality, as a shameful person viewed constantly in the mirror of others. If one can not be seen, does not accept or does not want, will feel the constant need that others are demonstrating constantly as well that how nice that is, drops them, as though that does everything, and this is the price that your self-esteem is sold.

The shameful transmuted into a sold, and when it does what you want, what you want or what you need, feels bad. Feels shame. And be very careful, since the approval of others works as a drug, and one can fall hooked to it, so that any decision taken, any initiative, it has to submit to the consideration of others, without whose approval no starts. Feeling shame is the result of thinking that the needs, wishes and the standards of others, are more important than their own; There are aspects of one’s life that would make me the others refuse, since the shameful constantly thinks that not worth for what is, but by what others think it is.


Doctors are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, and, naturally, one of those is the simple fact that there are only so many hours in the day in which to fit those challenges. Physicians are pressured to see more patients per hour in an industry that rewards efficiency and speed, while still needing to find a way to educate their patients about complex diseases and chronic illnesses, which can be difficult to do in 15 minute increments.

While education is often best delivered in one-on-one personal engagements, common sense and practice has shown us that learning is most efficiently accomplished in group settings, such as what our children receive in their classrooms, or in the crowded lecture halls in colleges across the nation.

In a group setting, an educator can address a group that shares the same learning goals, whether they be academic or practical. Many doctors are now using “group visits” to achieve similar goals with patients who share the same chronic condition, such as diabetes or heart disease. In the article “How Group Visits can Improve Chronic Condition Management,” as reported by Medical Economics, Marianna Sumego, MD, says, “In today’s healthcare environment, it’s challenging to simultaneously maintain access, engage patients, and improve quality of care. Group visits can help us address all three of those challenges.”

According to the article “Group Visits 101,” published in the AAFP, there are a few reasons why many doctors are adopting “group visits” as part of the practice’s offerings. Group visits are thought to help increase physician productivity and decrease the practice’s cost per visit. They can provide a break from traditional office visits, where doctors find themselves repeating the same advice and information to patients with shared medical conditions. Group visits can reduce backlogs in schedules that are typically clogged with low-acuity recheck appointments. And perhaps most importantly, they can provide improved care for patients with chronic conditions, and can lead to an increase in both patient satisfaction and compliance.

The AAFP article cites two studies that show that group-visit patients had fewer ER visits, visits to subspecialists, hospital admissions, and made fewer phone calls to doctors, while having an overall higher satisfaction rating with their care.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the same: patients thrive in groups. Sumego continues, “There’s value in patients encouraging each other that we as physicians are not able to capture when we see them one-on-one…one of the main benefits of shared medical appointments is to leverage the value of shared experiences among peers.”

But be warned, there are challenges to implementing group visits in your arsenal of care.

Probably the most critical challenge is remaining HIPAA compliant in the group setting, with many physicians opting to have their group-visit patients sign confidentiality agreements and HIPAA disclosure forms, confirming that their participation in the group setting is voluntary and promising to keep all information confidential. Doctors will also have to make sure they can get reimbursed for group-visits which can be tricky from a billing perspective. In addition, coordinating a group of patients can be a logistical hurdle, and may lead to frustration if patients are required to wait on other members of the group, not to mention the task of having an adequate workspace where the group feels comfortable.

As reported by Medical Economics, Dennis Saver, MD, part of a 12-physician group practice, says, “You need a setting where you can host a group and there’s a lot of prep work involved on the front end. But once it’s up and running, it becomes easier to keep it going.”

Saver, who hosts group-visits in his employee lunchroom, says, “Your team is critical and should be included in developing the workflow and the implementation plan from the beginning. Talk with everyone about what it will take to check in 12 patients at once.”

He also reminds us that it’s essential to identify someone within the practice—whether it’s a physician or another clinical staff member—who can act as a facilitator. This person should have the skills to lead and direct interactive group discussions. “Group visits are not meant to be lectures,” he notes, “The process should be fun and useful and encourage patients to share their personal experiences and insights with others.”

Of course, we once again get back to the issue of HIPAA and patient privacy, so any physician choosing to go down this path should discuss their plan-of-action with their lawyer and insurance company to make sure they are HIPAA compliant.

So what might one of these “group-visits” look like?

Medical Economics suggests that group visits typically include around a dozen patients who share the same chronic condition, such as weight loss or diabetes. A group visit will typically start the same as a normal office appointment, with clinicians taking vitals and adjusting medications in private, and then moving on to group presentations that will be relevant to the group. These presentations could be a forum for discussion on disease-related topics, or they could be more about fostering social interaction between patients, and the formation of support groups for patients with similar ailments.

The same article also gives a nice “best practice” list, which should give any doctor a good starting point.
As a final statistic to mull, in 2006, the AAFP cited a study by The Future of Family Medicine Project that suggested that group visits have the potential of generating an additional $15,411 per physician per year, while enabling patients to interact with, learn from, and encourage one another. They also reduce the redundancies that family physicians face in one-on-one sessions in which they have to essentially explain the same concept to similar patients. The work on the front-end to get group visits up and running appears to be fairly time-intensive, though it ultimately may be able to help physicians generate more income, deliver higher patient satisfaction, save physicians time, and most importantly, lead to better outcomes for patients.

  1. Involve your Team. Explain the concept to your staff and asses how it will affect office workflow. Explain the benefits of group visits, what you hope to accomplish as a team, as well as the challenges you may face.
  2. Think through the Logistics. For instance, in a 2 hour group visit, you will need to use part of that time to check in patients, take vitals, adjust medications, and the like. Overall satisfaction will increase both with your patients and employees by having a concise schedule with no surprises or unplanned wait times.
  3. Determine the appropriate size. This is as much determined by the size of where you wish to hold the group-visit as it is by the nature of the topic. The number of patients in the group setting should be small enough to manage but large enough that it makes sense from a financial perspective
  4. Invite guest speakers. Once your group is rolling and meeting regularly, keep patient interest levels high by inviting other perspectives to the group.
  5. Don’t do it alone. It’s very difficult to lead a group, take notes, update charts, and conduct individual patient check-ups. In addition, it would be wise to discuss your plan with another trusted associate who has already implemented group visits or has been associated with the process in some way. Similarly, to make sure that you aren’t violating HIPAA, it would be wise to discuss any group-visit program with your attorney and insurance carrier.