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Lifestyle & Culture

Using Voodoo To Outlive Your Doctor

[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 19, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Can a positive mental attitude help you live longer? Can a terminal prognosis kill you?

My Proposal For A New American
Medical Association Logo

Years ago an acquaintance of mine, upon being diagnosed with cancer, made the joke that “no-one’s ever died of undiagnosed cancer”. Meaning, of course, that he was more concerned about the treatment killing him than the illness. He ignored his doctor’s prognosis of impending death, embraced all of the treatments he could learn about – both traditional and alternative – and took on a sort of punk rock attitude of “if all the other things I’ve done haven’t killed me, this won’t either”. Ten years later, he’s still alive and well. I personally hold the belief – in spite of any solid science to back it up – that mental attitude and spiritual discipline have as much impact on health and wellness as medicine. Which is why I found this New Scientist article about Voodoo fascinating. They actually touch on a topic that seems taboo amongst medical professionals – the powerful effect of placebo and nocebo. While there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence and popular belief that a good attitude can prolong life, it’s hard to find positive stories (from credible sources, that is) about the topic. This ABC story, for instance, focuses on the fact that support groups don’t seem to help cancer patients live longer, while overlooking the fact that these cancer patients are being treated in the same health care system that inspires movies like Sicko. I’d love to hear your story if you have one, especially one like this story about a man who was told by American doctors in the 70′s that he had just months to live. He’s alive and living happily on a Greek island today; all of his American doctors are dead.

You’d Freak Out A Lot Less If You Weren’t So Perfect

[ 4 Comments ]Posted on May 14, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Some ideas for getting back on track when work has you paralyzed with anxiety or feeling like screaming in terror. Any ideas of your own?

This was me about a week ago.

Under ordinary circumstances, I’m someone that most people would refer to as very organized. I mean, I actually ENJOY books like Getting Things Done, I’m easily fascinated by reading about the Noguchi Filing System, and I actually get weak knees in certain aisles of the office supply store. Unfortunately, the same reasonably healthy compulsions that make me so orderly can suddenly turn on me and make me a paralyzed, unproductive twit. Ninety percent of the time, I am the go-to guy, a motivator, a social connector. But when that other ten percent shows up, avoid me. I have horrible skills for dealing with my own failures and shortcomings. But I’m working on it, and I’ll get to that in a minute. It’s actually simple stuff. Especially with the recent economic situation, many of us are facing some unexpected events in relation to our livelihood. Many are facing the loss of their jobs, or pay cuts. Those of us who are self-employed may be more used to adapting to a shifting workscape, but may still find ourselves hitting a new kind of wall. When you find yourself so paralyzed by anxiety that you find it difficult to focus on the work you do have, what can you do? Well, you could panic. But as Seth Godin points out in that brief piece, that’s usually not especially productive. We could alternately spend a lot of time exploring planning and time management tools, but the irony there is obvious. What we’re usually dealing with at times like these is a form of fear. Krishnamurti described fear as the state between the familiar and the unfamiliar, and that is actually a very comforting description; it allows room for the knowledge that the new thing will become familiar, and some level of comfort will Read the rest of this entry »

Long Line At The Body-Mod Shop? It’s Okay To Take Cuts

[ 4 Comments ]Posted on May 7, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Does ANY form of body modification really qualify as normal?

The Pince-nez Becomes The Pierce-nez

[Please Note: many of these links are NSFW] We’ve touched on body modification before (see tattoos for teeth, self-embedding, or self-harm coverups), but I must confess my own eccentricities and open-mindedness leave me perplexed as to what I really feel about body modification of any kind. Although I’ve done some self-branding, I would probably never get a tattoo, unless it was for some ritualistic purpose. At the same time I admire nice ink work on my friends. I think most cosmetic surgery is a mistake – we’ve all seen the more dramatic examples – but even more “successful” work leaves me befuddled. For instance, I think almost all the breasts in this cosmetic surgeon’s folio were more attractive before the surgery. So where is “normal” in all of this? I find it hard to believe that a person who endures the discomfort and resulting permanent alteration of getting a tattoo doesn’t have something going on besides merely adorning themselves, but the limited studies that have been done on the topic suggest that although a person with tattoos is perceived negatively by others (especially if they’re a woman) there’s little to support the notion that they’re aberrant; in fact, one of the few comprehensive studies suggests they’re simply risk-taking personality types. And even when referring to less fashion-oriented body-modding like self-cutting, it seems to have a positive side. Personally, I kind of have to draw the line at things like the pierce-nez (even the pince-nez is hard to pull off, unless you’re Morpheus), corset piercings, or head implants (for the record, the guy in that head implant link apparently is a little aberrant, he’s up on teen sex charges). But who am I to judge? If you’re interested in a little DIY modding of your own, check out this Instructables Guide To Elf Ears, or 8 awesome things you can implant into your body. And if you’re not emo enough to really cut yourself, there’s always the on line self-cutting generator.

Read the rest of this entry »

I Hope You’re Happy Now

[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 6, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Because it may be fleeting. Science is proving that giving makes you happy, and that real happiness is temporary, but sustainable.

Are you happy? I occasionally ask people this, and the ones who most emphatically say “yes” often strike me more as pleased, rather than what I’d call “happy”. Pleased with their accomplishments, pleased with their possessions, pleased with their social standing. Is that happiness? I’ve spent much of my life trying to be happy. I don’t know why it’s been such a struggle. I mean, it’s an “Inalienable Right” written into our constitution (“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”), isn’t it? Sometimes I feel the country I live in should actually be called Anhedonia. We talk about happiness all the time, but rarely seem to be experiencing it. Which is why I’m glad that science finally has it figured out. There’s even a How To Be Happy Wiki. I jest a bit (because I’m happy!) but I was recently inspired (ironically, while I was feeling a bit down) by an interview in the Sun Magazine with Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist in the relatively new field of Positive Psychology. Fredrickson’s research suggests that, as she puts it, “…positive emotions are by nature subtle and fleeting; the secret is not to deny their transience but to find ways to increase their quantity…”, adding that one of the challenges of being happy is to understand that it simply is not a stable, long-lasting state of being. I’m somehow not surprised that science is also proving that giving makes you happy (someone should tell JournalWatch about this, then they’d let us read this article for free!), and I personally try to remember this when I’m in a rut. It works. Which is why I’m also including the little “donate” button below. Trust me, it’ll make you feel better. By the way, are you happy? I’d love to know, and I’d love to know why. Read the rest of this entry »

When Did Americans Become Such Chickenshit Crybabies?

[ 7 Comments ]Posted on April 30, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

I mean, my generation grew up prepared for NUCLEAR WAR, for cryin’ out loud. I hardly think a scary coloring book would’ve phased us.

Yes little Billy, we’re all
going to die. Eventually.
Get used to it!

On top of the recent swine flu panic and the panic in the skies of New York, the hubbub about the FEMA produced children’s coloring book (get the whole thing here as a PDF, 3.5MB) got me thinking again about what a bunch of sissy crybabies Americans have become. I keep seeing images in my head of thousands of surgical mask-clad citizens running to and fro like Godzilla movie extras every time a plane flies too low over their city. When half the world has to deal with bombs (often American ones) falling on their houses, starvation and poverty every day, where do we get off whimpering about things like the flu and government-produced children’s coloring books? I mean, take a look at what Chinese kids get to color, and I don’t recall reading about any Columbine-like incidents in China lately. Chill out, America, everything will be fine. On that note, let me help you. Why not kick back with the Gangsta Rap Coloring Book or the O.J. Simpson Coloring & Activity Book? Or my fave, The Executive Coloring Book, which includes pages like “This is my suit. Color it gray or I will lose my job“. And remember, it’s okay to color outside the lines if you feel like it.

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