Fill Your Lungs with Clean Air andNegative IONS

Up here in Big Sky Country Montana we enjoy a lot of mountain air.

I live 3,300 feet above sea level, and am surrounded by mountains. It's not just the view that I enjoy, but the invigorating and healthful AIR that I can breathe.

Just hiking up to the top of the mountain across the road from my house fills my lungs with purifying negative ions.

I think that naturally occurring negative ions, in the mountains, at the beach, alongside a waterfall, are even better than the "negative ion generators" that many people buy for their homes to purify the air.

The jury is still out on whether or not negative ions are good for your soul, but we know they are good for our bodies. The positively-charged air of our air-conditioned shopping malls and commercial buildings increase the burden placed on our lungs.

One excellent article on the benefits of negative ions is published at WebMD, called Negative Ions Create Positive Vibes.

Smoke-filled rooms are the worst, and the effects of second-hand smoke are well-documented. Third hand smoke, that is, the particulate that remains in the air and on surfaces where it is continually agitated and recirculated throughout the room, is only now being fully evaluated for it's debilitating effects on health.

We endure enough stress on our lungs just by driving our cars and inhaling the horrible air along city streets and interstate highways; by walking around in a downtown area that is filled with polluting cars, carbon monoxide, and positive ions.

I highly recommend we all take a breather once in a while and hike up to the very highest nearby peak (within reason of course) and task our lungs with a fast pace and expand our lung capacity.

Breathe in those negative ions! Live long and Prosper!

Feng Shui for the Mind

I was just reading about Feng Shui, the Chinese Art of Placement, which is a method for determining the placement of furniture and other objects in a room, a home, or an office in order to achieve the optimal flow of Chi. I have a couple of friends who are feng shui practitioners and consultants, so I have a general idea of the theory.

I am just beginning to study this subject and I am withholding judgement, but I tend to give a lot of credibility to anything that has lasted thousands of years.

I was thinking how my mind is like my home too, with lots of little rooms that are locations where stuff is perceived, manipulated, evaluated, stored, etc.

A lot of my mental rooms are pretty messy and I think they must be disorganized as well, and in need of some mental feng shui.

After looking at the feng shui bagua, which is the eight-sided figure above, I have decided that most of my mental feng-y stuff is crossing over and in between the areas. Yup. Messy and disorganized. I need to apply some feng shui.

What I envision here is establishing purpose and priorities. At this phase of my current life, now age 61, I am past the concerns of career, so I can concentrate my efforts on the "Life Path" portion of the Water area.

There are so many family and relational aspects of life that transcend three or four generations in our lifetimes, that I see why we continue to struggle with these areas of the bagua forever. I will have to give this entire "mental feng shui" idea some additional thought, and I would welcome any contributions.

Living in the Light or Living in the Dim

If you feel that you are in touch with spirit; if you feel that you do the right things by others, give more than you receive, treat others with respect, kindness and gentleness, then perhaps you are on an enlightened path.

If you rob banks, shoot people, hurt, molest, curse, cheat, and otherwise work only towards your own benefit without regard for the interests and well-being of any others then you are living in the darkness.

But what of the rest of us? We who are "kinda" okay most of the time, don't do anything overtly damaging, hurtful or endangering to others, while at the same time we don't go out of our way to help anyone else, do not contribute to charitable causes, do not volunteer for charitable organizations, provide only the support for others that is required by conformity or law. Where do we fit in? Where are we on the path? Or have we fallen to the side and can't find our way back again? We see everything through our own "filters" which is kind of like looking at the World from inside our screen door, never opening the door to let in the full light. Can it be said of us that we live in the "dim"?

Life in the "dim" is pretty much self-centered--egocentric--I guess, is the word. The World revolves around us. Like a child who believes that the Sun comes up in the morning "because it is time for me to wake up" some of us never grow beyond our own smallish ego-centered world.

We who live in the "dim" need a wake-up call. Oftentimes this comes in the form off a serious accident, injury or illness that forces us to face our own mortality and neediness.

If we turn ourselves around in this time of need, perhaps we have a chance to find our way back onto the Path. If not, we may be assigned to the gutter where we will remain until the day we die.

Better hope for reincarnation and another chance.

A Little About Our New Dog, CheyAnna

A Dog can bring so much love into a home...particularly a puppy. And...oh God...but they can be FUNNY!! Our new puppy is so full of energy...her little tail wags so fast and furious that I'm surprised she doesn't hurt herself hitting it against the coffee table edge. That blur you see in the photo above is her tail spinning!!!Just looking at her little photo you would probably think she is a Dalmation, but you are only "half-right." She is also half Boston Terrier, plus there is a little of something else mixed in too, but we don't know what it is. She is called a "Dalton Terrier." I have "googled" that but come up with very few entries that are not related to my own sites. She is learning to potty outside...and we give her a little treat after each outside "trip." I think, in the dark, she has learned to "fake it" and then come rushing back onto the deck to tell me she is "done." I can't say "not this time" to her because I do want to reward her good behavior. She has learned to come up to me and fervently "paw away" at my arm or leg to tell me she needs to "go" We have had her for only two months, but she is now the queen of the household that she shares with a 100 pound male lab-rott cross, and three cats.

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