Mindconnection eNL, 2005-01-23

Apparently, quite a few people have recently taken heed. Our hottest selling item right now is the Gold FatTrack II Digital Body Fat Caliper. I personally own an older version of this, and it's accurate. Click on the image at right for more information.

• You realize you forgot to turn the dishwasher on last night, and there's no flatware for your breakfast.
• You snag your coat getting into your car.
• You are stuck behind a slow-poke who won't get out of the way. Fifteen miles under the speed limit for the next four miles....
• You have a wannabe racer sitting 5 inches off your rear bumper.
• You get to work only to find your passkey card doesn't work. You have to wait in the cold for someone else to let you in.
• Someone threw a banana peel in your wastebasket last night, and now your cubicle stinks.
• Your computer takes forever to boot up, then you realize you have to call tech support to fix it. And you have a deadline to meet.
• Two hours later, your computer is running again. But your mouse sticks so you are frustrated as you try to click on things.
• Your socks fail to stay up after lunch, but they were fine when you put them on in the morning.
• That pest from another department is over in your department apparently trying to set a new record for most gas emitted by a single human being.

And on and on it goes. Each of these annoyances just grinds away at your ability to concentrate--unless you quickly disperse the negative feelings. We all have a tendency to "reach the boiling point" and just be so mad we can hardly see straight. That's OK. But don't stay mad. Don't fuel the fire by yelling or going into a snit. Instead, acknowledge that you have a right to be mad. Then move on.

Sometimes, it helps to think of pleasant thoughts. For example, recent accomplishments, that great supper you had, a world without the IRS.

Anger isn't the only path to being "brain dead." Other emotions can also interfere with our ability to think. Most divorced people will tell you love is one such emotion. So, should you shut out emotions? Not at all. What you need to do is be in the moment. Have that emotion, but don't mix it with the thinking process. Sometimes, this means delaying something that requires thought.

For example, you have a fight with your spouse. This kind of thing happens, and it's not necessarily bad (unless you don't fight fairly). But while you are upset, don't hop in your car and get out into traffic unless you absolutely must.

What if you are in the car and you start arguing? First of all, that was just a bad place to start arguing. What you can do, rather than get in an accident, is say, "You know what? You made a good point. I don't agree with it, but maybe I should pull off at an exit and we can walk for a bit and talk about it."

Of course, it's easy to advise these kinds of things. It's very hard to put them into practice. But the reason it's hard to put them into practice is we're all so used to allowing our emotions to try occupying the same space as our thinking. And that prevents you from being successful with either your emotions or your thinking. Let each have its place.

Macular degeneration is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 50. The risk goes up by a factor of four for smokers. If you value your eyes (and every other organ that has a blood supply going to it--which is every organ), don't smoke.

Now, keep in mind that you cannot define "smoking" by who is sucking on the butt of a given cigarette. You are smoking any time you are breathing smoke, no matter if you are also sucking on the butt. A cigarette has no way of knowing who is sucking its butt and who is not. Smoke does not magically become harmful in one direction and harmless in another. And those filters on cigarettes do not protect you. So, don't smoke--that means don't place your face in air where people are burning cigarettes. Remember, you do not have to wrap your lips around the exhaust pipe of a bus to gag from the fumes. Ditto for cigarettes.

Smoking damages your eyes in other ways, too. Cataracts are a common result. This is where the lens of the eye starts clouding over, and it keeps going until eventually you are blind. Smoking is brutal to the thyroid, and this causes thyroid eye disease. What happens here is an overactive thyroid causes enlargement of the muscles that move your eyes. If you think this feels good, then jam your fingers into your eye sockets while reading the entire text of War and Peace.

Ah, we're not done yet! Smoking also fills your bloodstream with free radicals. So, your chances of eye cancer go up. Additionally, the smoke from cigarettes is abrasive, and that can lead to eye infections. If you would like to try out a smoke-induced eye infection but aren't able to get enough smoke, try wiping your eyes with 40-grit sandpaper or steel wool to speed up the process. You'll get the same result as being in smoke-laden air, but in less time.

If you can't imagine life without going to smokey bars or other places where cigarette smoke is in the air, then imagine life without eyesight. Buy a blindfold and wear it for 90 days. If you still think your eyesight isn't a precious gift worth protecting, then at least you have some experience to back up that opinion. If you have children or pets, though, it is your duty to protect them from the ravages of this insane practice of burning various chemicals known to cause severe damage to the body.

Delusion is a common escape from responsibility and a path toward tragedy. Think of all the delusions that surround you. They aren't easy to identify, but you can start by looking at the "it won't happen to me" delusion. You'll see this in effect when people mow their lawns without wearing safety glasses, or when they engage in other risky behavior. How many other "it won't happen to me" delusions can you spot in the next three days? Make a list. You'll be amazed.