AgingBoomersBlog.com

Since it’s been pouring down rain all night and most of this wet Friday morning, I thought I’d take a few minutes to share some interesting water facts that baby boomers (and everyone else for that matter) should keep in mind:

Did you know that 75% of Americans, and most of the world population, are chronically dehydrated?

In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters

Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

For more good reading about pure water and how important it is to your body, check out my large collection of water articles.

Chet

Tags: drinking water, pure water

Just a quick note today to say I’m closing down my old Natural Health Circus blog and from this point on will be doing all blogging here at the Aging Boomers hangout.

This isn’t a particularly big deal, I guess, since that blog never did capture much of an audience — which was my fault because I didn’t put enough time and energy into it.

Before shutting up, I should add that there are more than 350 natural health tips and recipes on the old Natural Health Circus that are worth looking at if you find yourself with time on your hands and nothing better to do.

Chet

Tags: natural health circus

I’ve been meaning to post this video link for quite a while, but repeated aging boomer brain farts somehow interrupted the synaptic connections that allowed me to complete the task.

Enough with the excuses.

If, like me, you are continuously held captive by the music of Leonard Cohen, then you are in for a real treat when you listen to Over the Rhine’s moving and powerful interpretation of Hallelujah:

If you don’t have goosebumps after listening to what you just watched, your blood circulation is in serious trouble.

In fact, you may well be dead!

Learn more about Over the Rhine on their website and in the interesting entry at Wikipedia.

Tags: Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, Over the Rhine

I have an interesting meditation for you today that also effectively relieves stress. I based this meditation on a point made by Richard Albert, also known as Ram Dass, who wrote…

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Ram Dass’s insight works great as a stress reducer.

How so?

Keep reading.

Take a long, slow deep breath, hold for a second, and then exhale slowly. Repeat several times until you feel your consciousness shift into the quiet moment.

Now listen. Become aware of the multitude of sounds in your life in this moment.

Focus on one sound and let it reverberate through you.

And for the final step, let go of that one sound and now listen only to the deep silence that is your true nature.

Ah, peace and bliss.

The sound of silence.

And where there’s silence, there is no stress.

If you like this meditation, you’ll love my meditation newsletter.

Tags: Stress tip

I’m wishing myself a happy birthday today since as of earlier this morning I’ve now reached the august age of 62 years and am one year closer to the grim reaper’s knock on the door.

Oh my, how weird is that?

Interestingly enough, I don’t feel a day over 23.

Except when I’m trying to remember my zip code or telephone number or where I left the car keys.

I hope to do more with this blog in 2010 than I did in 2009.

Tags: Happy Birthday

I watched True Romance, one of my favorite movies of all time, last night.

I’m going to write about the movie itself at a later date, but right now I want to share a link to Chris Isaak’s Two Hearts, the song that director Tony Scott chose to accompany the closing credits.

I turned the DVD player off around eleven p.m. last night and then sat at my computer here in my little home office with my guitar for two more hours listening and signing along to Two Hearts…  over and over again.

Ridiculous, eh?

Well, this song made me feel like I was 18 again instead of 61 plowing rapidly toward 62.

Today when I should have been working, I spent several more hours thinking about how this song was constructed, and how the lyrics worked so well with the music.

The whole thing just comes together like a perfect waffle.

I mean, seriously, Two Hearts is quite remarkable on multiple levels.

Listen to it and then share a few comments of your own, will you?

Tags: Two Hearts

For this week’s meditation we turn to a wonderfully simple but also richly meaningful haiku by Matsuo Basho, the most famous poet of Japan’s Edo period from 1603 to 1868:

Year after year
… on the monkey’s face
a monkey face.

Ha, isn’t that great?

I promise this week’s exercise will keep you challenged and busy during the coming seven days.

Here are the “how to” details…

Take a long, slow deep breath.

Hold for a second.

Exhale slowly.

Repeat several times until you’re clear and still.

Now visual instead of the monkey’s face your own face. This might be tough at first. Think of looking at your face in the mirror. That should bring up an image or a thought pattern like an image. Either will work.

Once you have your face in mind, breathe it in and out for a few breaths.

Nice and slow breaths.

Nice and deep breaths.

Now instead of your face in the mirror, breathe in your face before you were born.

Hold for a second.

Exhale slowly and completely let go of your face before you were born.

Repeat breathing in your face before you were born and letting go of it until you feel a physical shiver of bliss.

Then repeat as long as you can stand the sheer joy of complete peace of mind, but don’t do it at work because you might get fired from your job.

Do not, repeat, do NOT try to understand this meditation intellectually because trying to do that might drive you insane.

Well, that wouldn’t happen but trying to understand it intellectually isn’t going to get you anywhere but to Frustration City.

Instead, just do it.

And then let go of your face before you were born.

Wow, that’s bliss and peace of mind.

Note: This is an extremely powerful meditation so it’s worth working with. Don’t try it with three wimpy breaths and then give up. Practice it every day.

Once you get it, kaboom, you’ll know you now have something for the rest of your life that is very, very special!

If you liked this meditation, I bet you’d find my free EarthRain meditation newsletter useful.

Tags: face before you were born

For this week’s meditation we turn to a classic Taoist saying…

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

Would you like to experience what it’s like when the universe surrenders?

You would?

Great. Here’s how to have that experience…

Take at least four long, deep breaths until you’ve slowed down and centered yourself.

Now focus entirely on your breathing. With eyes closed, inhale slowly through your nose and put your attention on the area where your nose and upper lip meet.

You are attending now and only focusing on feeling the area between your upper lip and nostrils.

Breathe in and feel the air moving on the skin in the upper lip and nostril area. Hold for a second or two and savor the stillness where the air had moved only a moment before.

Exhale slowly and be aware of every aspect of the air leaving your nose and drifting past your upper lip.

Repeat this breath focusing exercise until that’s all there is.

No thoughts. No desires. Just the air moving.

Now let go of the air moving.

The mind is still.

Ah!

The whole universe has surrendered and you are free.

And, yes, of course this exercise will free you from any problem that might be on your mind.

Tags: Meditation

For today’s meditation, let’s learn something important from Maurine Stuart, who writes:

The practice is what you throw yourself into. Unconditionally. The practice is the teacher. Your practice is your teacher.

You might be asking, “What is my practice?”

That’s so easy to answer:

Right now, this very moment, breathe in, hold for a second, exhale and be still. Feel the shift of consciousness.

Repeat three times.

That is your practice.

That is your teacher.

All the rest is noise and window dressing, so pay it no heed.

Instead, throw yourself into your practice.

Until next time,

We return to one of my favorite songs this Saturday morning –  Stand by Me.

Today’s version comes courtesy of the late great John Lennon:

It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that, does it?

Well, actually it does.

Don’t believe me?

Then click here for a big, wonderful surprise.

Tags: music video