Shoveling Your Way to Better Perspective!

B'SD


10 Sivan 5772

One of the noticeable characteristics in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge is the cheerful dialogue going on between the reader and the writer. Yes, readers keep letting me know that it seems they can hear me "speaking" to them about their concerns as they look at the book. They tell me that they feel more optimistic and energized while reading and after taking action on the suggestions in the text.


Why did I focus so much on the happiness and optimism factor when I wrote that reading material? Because negativity is like a nasty shovel. If you keep repeating the awful stuff going on in your life, it becomes something of a mantra. Not good. That repetitive recitation of your woes is flinging them into your immediate and long-term future. Happiness, and the potential for it, are literally buried under the pile. It's an image I learned from my dear friend, Penina Tal-Ohr.


Read the jokes and witticisms in the book and share them with loved ones, friends, and medical personnel - even your bus or taxi driver! Describe your future in ever-better terms, Count your blessings, announce your successes and focus on what's going right. Fling yourself into a nicer future with an optimistic attitude. 


Practice makes perfect. It'll stop feeling fake after a while.






EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge at http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Catching UP When You Feel Life has Left You Behind

B'SD


9 Sivan 5772


A journalist as well as an author, my schedule is filled with several complicated projects. One of them was not contracted for. It was a recent conversation with friends over a dinner together.


Those friends informed me of people suffering medical problems and all the emotional and financial costs that tend to go with them. We sighed together. I then named the pages of

that held solutions for the specified problems. As promised, I met with one of the affected individuals to offer some words of comfort and direction. Several days and book sales later, a grateful parent thanked me for having written the book: "Yocheved, now I feel like I'm catching up after I felt like life had  left me and my family behind." 


I'm still crying over the privilege of having been able to help yet another person struggling with medical, mental health or disability issues.






EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge at http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism. .

Music and Melodies: Life Goes On

B'SD


4 Sivan 5772


I apologize for not updating this blog much the past week. I'm helping a friend who is desperately ill, working hard at my writing life (I'm preparing the manuscript for my next book, The Comfort Foods Cookbook: Recipes to Calm You Down FAST Without Widening Your Waistline) and living the details of my daily life, too. My online activity was minimal at best for several days.


One of the repeated messages in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge and the medical-mental health world is that optimism is a great coping mechanism for stress. Sometimes we have to pretend that we feel optimistic. After doing it enough to earn Oscars, we begin to realize that we're actually feeling as lighthearted as we've pretended to be! Yes, practice can perfect our behaviors, though emotions tend to rise and fall with a life of their own, it seems. As you'll read in

The purpose of this workbook is to be a tool for strengthening your resolve. Emotions go on a rollercoaster when a person learns of the medical and/or emotional/spiritual crisis that seems to be engulfing them. That’s a sign of being human, of being normal. Despite your yearning to master and to control the situation you’re in – or even to get rid of it, reality dictates that you remain calm and logical. The temptations to go ballistic are innumerable. We all suffer with that problem.


The mark of a refined human being, a "decent person," is that he or she behaves pleasantly and intelligently despite the pain, setbacks and sadness of the problem in their life. In the 21st century, however, a huge sense of confusion clouds our thinking: we became used to instant solutions back in the 20th century. Technological advances gave us instantly cooked food zapped in microwaves. We advanced from s-l-o-w snail mail or telegram-facilitated communication to real-time Faxes, Instant Messaging, quickly received and responded to E-mail, cell phones, PDAs, blackberries and more. We lost the sense of having to wait for results.


That loss of perspective affects our understanding of emotional restraint and spiritual growth. They develop with the repetition of polite behavior despite inner turmoil. Time and patience are crucial factors for becoming refined individuals. They’re critical coping tools for medical challenges.


You turn every mistake into a blessing when you decide that it will not weigh you down and choose to use it to rise to greater heights. Growth means rising above present limitations, after all.


I pray that the humorous content and insights within my manuscript will help you to renovate your inner life, your very soul and mind. Persist at making your character over into that of a more tolerant and flexible person. And when you fail after making or approaching success, know that our spiritual ancestors went through the same trials and errors. Psalms/tehilim are full of those thoughts. King David knew of what he wept. You do, too.


Persist in your efforts to improve your behavior and thinking patterns. Make it a hobby. Your accomplishments and lofty goals join the spiritual power of Toraitic lessons. None of your efforts can be wasted. A universal reality makes this so.

***

Okay, enough of the book. Here's an illustration of the reality that going forward with life as much as possible despite illness or a disability can help mere mortals. Click on the words The Beat Goes on, Despite Cancer.

Still feeling a need to cry now and then? A medical crisis - you'd cry too, if it happened to you. Use your tissues and handkerchiefs with my blessings borne of experience. GOD gives you Permission to Weep. And you can say that to any critics after explaining that "It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To." There's a heavenly license to cry inside the book!




Buy the E-book or print edition EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge today for a brighter outlook and sense of well-being: Click on http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Hope and Help for People with Autism - and Their Loved Ones!

B'SD


1 Sivan, 5772


I'm happily counting the days to Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai. It happens this coming Sunday.


I'm further delighted to have read this Autism scientists search for help, for their own kids' sakes article in USATODAY.


Meanwhile,  you're facing some sort of medical, mental health or disability problem right now. Care to read a book endorsed by an NIH researcher plus medical and mental health professionals?

Buy it at Booklocker.com

http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Masculinity and Healing Part 2!

B'SD


28 Iyar 5772

As promised, here's Part Two, selections about the masculinity of healing and needing help from

Say these statements out loud: I will ask people to help me to walk, to reach medical appointments, to do my housecleaning, and laundry. I will let people know my dietary needs and ask them to help me with appropriately prepared meals.

You have vastly improved your spiritual state already. You're not mourning you're living.

Want to increase the speed on your psychological progress in coping with a medical challenge and/or crisis? Read the findings of people who've studied the impact of sports psychology and how it enables people to WIN!

Ask around at libraries for Norman Triplett's 1898 writings about the effects of an audience on competitive bicycling. Switch it around to the people rooting for you to recover and/or to handle your medical crisis with as much intelligence, class and sophistication as possible. Research by Coleman Griffith of the University of Illinois made him America's father of US sport psychology. Israel's Dr. Gil Goldzweig and Barak Slutzker of Meir Medical Center in Kfar Sava have written compelling material on the sports psychology topic. Find the archived 1986 edition of the first Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. It became a handbook less than a decade later.

The above literature can teach you how to manage stress, how to achieve an optimal level of anxiety and excitement, plus how to think positively. You'll also learn how to filter out negative mental thoughts from yourself or others that would otherwise distract you from going emotionally and mentally forward. You'll be able to make wise choices about your medical care and personal affairs with such knowledge at your service.

Go ahead, read the rest of the book and see what it does for you. Buy it at http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Buy print edition or E-book EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge from Booklocker at  http://www.booklocker.com/books/4244.html

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
With all your manly strength.

Masculinity and Healing

B'SD


26 Iyar 5772


I read an Is Social Media too Feminine? article. Then I wondered "How many men are inspired to heal from social media?" One glance at the sites mentioned in the article had my gut churning with big doubts about that.

So I'm giving male readers 

a sneak peek 

into some manliness-oriented 

content of

Here you go:

Spend Time on Spirituality
Shore-up your Spiritual Life in Practical Ways.
A medical challenge can make a person want to question GOD's wisdom and compassion.


Plato spoke throughout the ages when he said, "If the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul."


It's easy to be spiritual when life makes sense and rewards seem to follow good deeds. But watching someone suffer or being that sufferer tears at someone's confidence in a loving GOD. The problem calls for an intensified spiritual understanding and appreciation of what is going on in the affected person's life. Challenges can present themselves in mystifying ways. I describe a few of them below and present tools for potential solutions.


The Isolation Challenge: Some people isolate themselves from others as they try to hide painful truths from themselves and others. I call it "Sitting Shiva (mourning) for Yourself." It's a downward road to more suffering that you don't have to take. You can leave that road if you're already on it.


You or your loved one might be finding it difficult to accept comforting words and certain teachings. That's normal. It is not denial of your belief in GOD or a rejection of sound psychological principles. It is a cry of pain.


GOD gave you the challenge you're facing, and He knows better than you do how vulnerable you are to feeling angry, hurt, lost and more. He is also observing how you choose to handle the situation. He is also keeping all possibilities open for your spiritual response to this medical challenge. Among those possibilities are an enhanced relationship with Him, a greater awareness of your capabilities (some are showing up for the first time, others might be improving), and inner growth.


This is an opportunity to let the intellect rule over the emotions. Sounds dull and impossible? Hang on. The reward for letting your intellect rule over your emotions is a richly rewarding, much more meaningful emotional life. And that enriched meaning of life means a lot less stress. And it's all a matter of pretending until you believe in what you're doing. Think of a baby flopping to the floor every time it tries to walk. The baby never lets depression rule the situation. Nope, the baby gets up and tries again. Even if it walks like a Frankenstein monster, the baby will repeat using its legs and feet until he or she hits a smooth stride.


Changing the way we think is the same technique. You flop around until repeated practice helps you to master the task.


Skeptical that you can feel happy? Consider this reality. I've mentioned babies a few times in my text. The reason is this: we are born cheerful. We feel secure, interested in our lives and surroundings. We eventually realize that our thoughts and actions are effective. Happiness is our natural state. It is when other people or circumstances hurt us and we make mistaken conclusions or choose to hold grudges that we fill up, maybe overflow with, feelings of insecurity, boredom, irrelevance, and/or depression. The solution is intellectual and emotional. We need to choose to our focus, to stay with it, and to develop the tenacity to return to states of gratitude, acceptance, and happiness. GOD gave us the tools so it could happen. We have the ability to control how we think and feel!


Here's your homework assignment for Strengthening Your Spiritual Life. Set priorities. You're the first priority, particularly in regard to your physical and spiritual health...


Praying is a priority. To be realistic about it, be honest about the fact that you want to cry, scream, beg and dialogue with GOD. You want answers, help, and an easier life. That stuff tends not to show up in prayer books. My solution? Pray from the heart rather than a script. GOD has more intelligence than you or I can measure. He'll understand you with all the love that a Heavenly Father has. He's with you in all this. If the only prayer you can come up with is to crack your knuckles, sigh or change the speed of your movements in a rocking chair, He'll "get it." Stock up on soothing books, magazines and recordings of spiritual philosophy that help your sense of perspective.


Say these statements out loud: I have to be happy in order to heal. When I am happy, my body chemistry is receptive to healing therapies. Happiness also helps my body to heal itself to some extent.


Now set your next priority.


Say this statement out loud: I need help in order to heal.


Part of the help you need in order to heal is medical. Other necessary help is the love and practical support of people helping you with daily tasks. If you are debating the manliness of receiving such help, I ask that you consider King David, Forefather Jacob and Forefather Isaac. They were very masculine men. And they accepted medical, emotional, and spiritual assistance without losing one iota of their male egos. So has Lance Armstrong, the professional bicyclist who won the body-busting Tour de France seven times in a row after recovering from testicular cancer and metastasis to his brain and lungs...


More content is coming for men. Part 2 is scheduled to appear after the weekend.




Buy the E-book or print edition today for a brighter, healthier you: Click on the words EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Like a MAN.

The Patient Checks Up!

B'SD


25 Iyar 5772


An unexpected bunch of things happened as I was preparing for minor surgery yesterday. For some reason I could not readily fathom, the surgical team wanted oodles of brand new information about me. So off I went back to my personal doctors' office for blood tests, EKG, blood pressure check and a weigh-in.


Hospital doctors eagerly awaited the results in order to reschedule me for outpatient surgery.

The envelope, please...

No surprise at my end of the information-sharing effort. I check out as years younger than I am.

Want to recover from sort of devastating medical or disability experience in your life? Or a loved one's? 

Find out what I've done and how you can mimic that effort in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

It's quite a bargain. The book lowers your level of stress and is loaded with information to cut your medical costs. Buy it from Booklocker. Click on I'm EMPOWERing Myself Today! 

Yes, I'm feeling quite upbeat today. Hat tip: GOD!

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Stand By for Updates

B'SD

23/24 Iyar 5772


I'm not sure how much online time I'll be sharing after tomorrow. I'm scheduled for outpatient surgery and I'll need time to heal for a few days. If you don't hear from me, know that I'll be reading print materials, chatting with people face to face or sitting in my lovely garden to soak up healing sun rays, pretty sights and honeysuckle perfume. Ahh...






Why am I in so little pain and not even flustered over impending medical care? I read EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge! Buy it from Booklocker at  http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

REDUCING The Cost of Preventable - and Other - Health Problems

B'SD


23 Iyar 5772


Are you cringing every time you hear someone scold you for suffering with preventable health problems? Are you wondering how to pay your medical bills?

Here's an Improve Your Life solution 
that's easy to use!

Learn about the cost-cutting, stress-reducing solutions in E-book and print editions of It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

You'll read about...

1. How take the chaos out of your medical life.
2. How to live more sensibly with can-do ideas and 
3. How to contact charitable organizations that provide part or full payment for someone's specific medical costs - all around the world! 
4. There's even a source for free, brand new wheelchairs worldwide!

There's a reason that readers call or write to thank me for writing the book. It's helping them to cope with their medical challenges! Reduce the pain of yours. Read doctor-recommended EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 


Buy it at http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html TODAY.





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Pain Management 1-2-3!

B'SD


19 Iyar 5772


I recently responded to an ad seeking information about pain management. It could prove instructive to you. Here's the ad:

RE: 2) Summary: Pain Management Products 

Name: - - - 

Category: Biotech and Healthcare 
Email: [removed]
Media Outlet: MSM
Deadline: 1:00 PM EST - 11 May 
Query:

I am compiling pain management products for an upcoming "Pain Management" magazine published by USA Today. I'm looking for products aimed at relieving chronic pain for all parts of the body, including feet, back, and head. I am only interested in non-drug-related products. These might include but aren't limited to insoles, heating pads, rubs, etc.  

Requirements:


Please reply to this query with a brief description of the
product and, if available, a link to more information. Please do not send attachments as they will not make it through the [XYZ] system. I will contact you for additional information, images, and pricing once we've narrowed down the submissions. Thanks very much!

Here's my response to it:

Dear [identifying info removed], I suggest reading the Coping with Pain section in It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge for solutions that cost less than a few dollars. Some readers have hugged me in gratitude for those "THEY WORK!" ideas (specific food items, a thin bar of ---- under the fitted bed sheet and specific homeopathic drops placed under the tongue, among other suggestions!)

The e-book and print edition save lots of wear and tear on a reader's  nerves, let alone their wallets. Doctors recommend this book for a reason. It's helping people worldwide.

Face your medical problems with dignity.

Face your future with optimism.

Yocheved Golani
View my LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink
http://twitter.com/yochevedgolani
http://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/ 

Author of It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge

Find me on Facebook! http://tinyurl.com/36fqch3

Buy the E-book or print edition today: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Drug-Free Pain Relief! Pain Management Products that are Affordable, Pleasant and User-friendly!

B'SD


17 Iyar 5772

All in a day's work (mine starts before dawn). Early this morning I sent this message in response to an information request from a USA Today Reporter:


Katy I suggest reading the Coping with Pain section in It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge for solutions that cost less than a few dollars. Some readers have hugged me in gratitude for those "THEY WORK!" ideas (x, y, z and then some!)

The e-book and print edition save lots of wear and tear on a reader's nerves, let alone their wallets. Doctors recommend this book for a reason. It's helping people worldwide.


Face your medical problems with dignity.Face your future with optimism.

Yocheved Golani
View my LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink
http://twitter.com/yochevedgolani
http://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

Author of It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge
Find me on Facebook! http://tinyurl.com/36fqch3


RE: 2) Summary: Pain Management Products


Name: Katy Tomasulo USA Today
Category: Biotech and Healthcare
Email:
Media Outlet: USA Today
Deadline: 1:00 PM EST - 11 May


Query:


I am compiling pain management products for an upcoming "Pain Management" magazine published by USA Today. I'm looking for products aimed at relieving chronic pain for all parts of the body, including feet, back, and head. I am only interested in non-drug-related products. These might include but aren't limited to insoles, heating pads, rubs, etc.


Requirements: Please reply to this query with a brief description of the product and, if available, a link to more information. Please do not send attachments as they will not make it through the HARO system. I will contact you for additional information, images, and pricing once we've narrowed down the submissions. Thanks very much!




Brighten your life with pain relief today! Buy E-book or print edition EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Drug Recall Alert!

B'SD

16 Iyar 5772


My colleague Star Lawrence has an interesting FYI for anyone taking prescription or over-the counter medication at Uh-Oh RECALL!

When I studied pharmacology I asked one professor how many doctors can keep up with the MUSHROOMING lists of ever-new drugs on the market? He quietly admitted that most practitioners use their own formulary (a limited list or stock of medications) year after year, hardly ever adding or subtracting items. 

They have so much continuing education to do, patients to see, procedures to perform, travel between appointments, meetings to attend etc. Plus they need sleep, eating and recreation time. NOBODY can keep up with the worldwide pharmacopoeia (the collected listings of all known drugs) and all the reading material that goes with it. 


Yes, patients must educate themselves. See Drugs, Herbs and Supplements at MedLine Plus.
Be sure to see this brief description of Prescription of Drugs Not Listed in a Clinic's Pharmacopoeia for another 1000 or so, too. 


Always study the foldout that comes with your prescription. Life-saving information is supposed to be in there. Use it.

Want to know how to get past 
those rude, impatient, maybe clueless 
members of the medical profession 
whom Star mentioned in her blogpost?


Be sure to read the 

Three Easy-to-remember Things You 
Can Do to Preserve Your Health 

section about how to advocate for yourself 

despite rude or indifferent medical personnel, 
plus

Listen to the Person Before You 
- Lessons for Caregivers

 in

Buy EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge TODAY!


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Stand By for Updates!

B'SD


11 Iyar 5772


Israel has been wracked with recent hack attacks on Internet servers, disrupting my ability to update this blog. I lose connectivity mid-post.


I'm waiting for others to correct the problems so I can spend adequate time updating this blog and you about helpful information for ill and disabled people.


Stand by for updates. I'm confident that all will be well after the weekend.


Meanwhile, here's one of my older online articles: Appreciating Health Care from Both Sides of the Bedrail. 


Ready to help yourself to feel and manage better in your healthcare efforts - even lower the costs? Read EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

A Request to My Readers: Do YOU or Someone You Know Have Prosopagnosia?

B'SD


9 Iyar 5772


[My apologies! I neglected to make this post go "live" earlier in the day]


You know that I'm an author, but I do have a journalism side to my life. Once in a while I post messages about that on this blog.


I'm developing a feature story about Prosopagnosia, the inability to identify faces. You might have seen the 60 Minutes show about that. My assignment is to interview someone with prosopagnosia.

I need factual information regarding the personal impact  of prosopagnosia on its sufferers and their loved ones, the latest findings on causes, co-morbidities plus treatments, statistics etc. I do not wish to repeat information already available on the Internet. I want to provide original insights from affected persons and their support team (doctors, therapists, friends, relatives).

I'm familiar with Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and The Mind's Eye. I seek newer developments, insights, and successes beyond what is described there.

The angle of my presentation would be telling the story of a person who is face blind. 


In addition to studying available information about Prosopagnosia I need to interview a prosopagnosic (ideally more than 1) willing to let me write of their situation. I am certainly willing to leave out identifying information and allow a person to retain their privacy. I seek only to know the impact of prosopagnosia upon them.

Can you possibly help me to connect with such persons? I'd need proof of their diagnosis, too.

Mental health is one aspect of the topics covered in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.