Enjoy the Simple Moments November 10, 2012

It’s Tuesday-teach Yoga and go home.  That is what I do.  But this Tuesday, I decided to take myself out to lunch.  I don’t remember the last time I did, so must mean it’s been a while.  One of my favorite places to go is The General Store downtown.   If the first thing that comes to your mind is there is no food there, think again.  Yes, it is a store with over 500 different beers, candy from the good old days ( Neco, sky bars), they have more, but now I have lost my memory.   They also have incense, Saki, homemade soaps, Jamaican seasoning, green tea, you get the idea.  It is not only nostalgic, but the owners are like family.   Not to mention that the food is outstanding.    I had a veggie Panini and a cup of chicken turnip soup.   You can sit inside or outside, doesn’t matter which you chose, every time you go, something catches your eye that you didn’t see the previous visit.   When you are there, you go back to when life was simple and easy.  A little get away without spending a lot of money.

So, as I was enjoying my lunch, a magazine called “Charm” got my attention.  It is a small publication for the Treasure Coast, filled with short stories, local businesses and upcoming events.  There was one story that I liked the most and want to share it with you.

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE….AND YOUR BODY WILL FOLLOW

“I heard a definition once.  Happiness is health and a short memory!  I wish I’d invented it, because it is very true.” -Audrey Hepburn

This statement is true because when you are in good health, life is much happier.  There are fewer things to worry about when you feel good.  Even the common cold can play on you.  ”How am I going to take care of my family?”  ”How does the house get cleaned?”  Workouts, etc.?  

The short memory comes into play as it relates to stressful situations.  Sometimes, the less we remember about things, the better off we are.  I definitely have friends who are in denial or who have selective memory and seem much happier throughout their day.  But we all can’t go through life fluttering around from place to place and person to person.  We make commitments that have to be fulfilled.  The key is “how do we find happiness”  that allows our bodies and minds to keep moving?  For me, happiness stems from seeing my husband sleeping next to me, and then how I physically feel each morning as the alarm goes off.  When I wake up and get out of bed, am I moving slowly as I set off to wake my other happiness up for school, my daughter.  Am I sore from working out?  Did I get enough sleep the night before?  I look forward to my coffee and meditating until my daughter comes flying down the stairs.  That is my morning happy.  

Once my daughter is off to school and the dog is walked and my husband is off to work, I turn the focus to my next happy.  Working out…no matter what else is going on or how I feel, a workout enhances my good mood or can turn a bad one into happy.  In the words of Elle Woods, “Exercise makes people happy, happy people don’t kill their husbands.”  And why don’t happy people kill their husbands?  Happy people laugh a lot.  And laughter, according to Norman Cousins, “is a form of internal jogging.  It moves your internal organs around.  It enhances respiration.”

Vanderbilt University did a study that found that adults burn an average of 1.3 calories per minute of laughing.  Or laughing a 100 times is equal to 15 minutes on an exercise bike.  By the way, children laugh on average about 400 times per day, while adults laugh about 15 times.

From an anatomical standpoint, the anatomy of a laugh is as follows:

There are 12 facial, jaw, and throat muscles involved in the laugh/smile.  Zygomatic, risorious and ocular muscles of the face contract; mandibular muscles also may rhythmically contract.  While laughing, the abdominal muscles and diaphragm contract and the vocal cords uncontrollably vibrate.

Gelotology is the study of laughter and its effects on the body, from a psychological and physiological perspective, specifically to the cause and effect of laughter and stress on the body.  Laughter counteracts stress by accelerating heart rate, increasing blood pressure, and releasing dopamine into the brain(all similar to exercise).  These hormones restore balance.  Exercise and laughter have several other things in common.  They improve cholesterol and blood pressure, decrease stress hormones, strengthen the immune system and increase appetite.

Laughter Yoga, developed by Dr. Madan Kataria, found that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter.  Therefore, a person gets the same physiological and psychological benefits from both.  Through a series of childlike play, breathing techniques and the mind-body/body-mind connection, laughter is generated to increase overall well being.  A perfect example of putting on a happy face…And the body following.  through Laughter Yoga, you teach yourself to laugh even if you are not “in the mood” or you do not see something funny.  Dr. Kataria has said that, “You don’t see anyone dying of laughter, they die because they are not laughing.”  Laughter creates a happy state and  a person’s physiology can reflect that.  For more information, go to http://www.laughteryoga.org.  

Lord Byron said, “Laugh whenever you can; it’s cheap exercise.”  And now we know why.  Take the time to find your happiness.  Laugh as much as you can during each day, and like Eleanor Roosevelt said, you will find that your “happiness and well-being will be a by-product of a life well lived.”

If your mind and body will believe whatever you tell them to, then by all means, tell them to be happy.  Do the things you need to do to induce happiness.  And remember, if you put on a happy face, your body will follow.

Article by Nancy Matican Bock

The Theft That Could Ruin Thanksgiving for Many November 2, 2012

I was disheartened just a few minutes ago when I read an article in the newspaper about someone stealing a truck from Mustard Seed Ministries, used to pick up donations for families in need.  Mustard Seed Ministries is a faith-based nonprofit that has organized the annual holiday feast for the past 23 years.  The immediate concern for Mustard Seed was that someone will fraudulently solicit or pick up donations using the truck, which has Mustard Seed logos on both sides, according to program director, Stacy Malinowski.  She urged people not to give donations to anyone who comes to their home or business unless they are wearing an official Mustard Seed T-Shirt with logos on it.  Someone apparently used a tool to break into the truck and then hotwired it at about 10:00 p.m.  A Mustard Seed employee who saw the truck heading onto Florida’s Turnpike from Okeechobee Road reported the theft.  Fort Pierce police had not recovered the truck yet, and are still investigating.  The theft left Mustard Seed with only one truck to pick up donations and haul tents, equipment and other items to the site of the Thanksgiving meal.  The trucks also are used to deliver furniture donations to the Mustard Seed Thrift Store, whose proceeds help people in need.  Though the truck was insured, the settlement won’t be enough to buy a new truck and won’t be received before the meal.  They are considering renting a truck which will take away money from their organization to help people in the community.

DONATIONS SOUGHT

Many of the more than 13,000 people expected to participate in the annual Thanksgiving Community Feast this year are among those who have lost their jobs or can’t afford to buy turkey and the trimmings.  Loneliness drives others there.  Like an older man dressed in a suit and tie who showed up last year, Malinowski recalled.  She was still mourning the loss of her husband when she talked to the man, who told her “he lost his wife two months ago and he didn’t want to be alone.”  The man was thankful for having that opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with others, she said.  ”There are a lot of people who can’t afford a meal,” she said.  ”That’s a good portion of what it’s about, but that’s not all it’s about.”  With the continuing slow economy, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain enough food and supplies, Malinowski said.  To meet the need, 1,000 turkeys are needed, and now we only have 420.  Donations and volunteers are needed to help make this year’s event a success.  Aside from money and gift cards, people are needed to donate cooked and deboned turkeys in advance, as well as prepare and serve food for the feast and deliver cooked turkeys on Thanksgiving Day.  The dinner includes turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and dessert.  Publix donates most of the desserts, but more are needed, Malinowski said.  Mustard Seed started the event, but named it the “Thanksgiving Community Feast” because that’s what it takes.  Volunteers include 35 churches, schools and colleges and more than 2,000 individuals, she said.  One perennial volunteer is the Big Heart Brigade of the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie County Firefighters smoke about 100 turkeys for the cause, according to fire district spokeswoman Catherine Chaney, St. Lucie County Schools with culinary programs also cook turkeys.  ”Without the community, this would not happen,” Malinowski said.

If you live in the Fort Pierce or Port St. Lucie Florida area, there are many ways that you can help.

To report on stolen truck: Call 772-465-6021

To prepare meals: Call 772-465-6021 in advance.

To serve meals:  Plan to work from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

To deliver meals:  Sign in at volunteer tent at 9:30 a.m. on November 22nd.

To donate cash, checks, gift cards:  

Mustard Seed Ministries, P.O. Box 3612, Fort Pierce, FL 34948.  Write “Thanksgiving” on check’s memo line.

To donate cooked and deboned turkeys:  Drop off from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, November 21st at

St. Mark’s Missionary Baptist Church, 921 Orange Ave., Fort Pierce: or from 8-11 a.m. Thanksgiving Day

at Orange Avenue and Ninth Street, Fort Pierce.

Where and When the event will be held:

Orange Avenue and Ninth Street, Fort Pierce and The Refuge, 7650 S. U.S. 1 in Port St. Lucie

For home meal delivery: Call 772-460-5414 before November 19th.

 

*If you would like anymore information or have questions, you can contact me via email at peace.love69@hotmail.com.*

This will be my third year volunteering and am looking forward to serving again this year.

Let’s help make this Thanksgiving a blessed and safe one for everyone.

May you be blessed,

Tammy More

Honor World Peace Day, September 21, 2012 September 20, 2012

Peace Mail: Spreading Good Will on Earth Through Art

Painter Franck de Las Mercedes, of New York City, has combined a pair of hopeful concepts—world peace and free art for all—in a quickly broadening art initiative inspired by an “Aha!” moment a the local post office.

“I had always painted on the boxes I shipped my paintings in,” relates the native Nicaraguan. “One day, a postal clerk commented that my boxes were like works of art. I thought about how I had prompted the worker to pause in her everyday routine and wondered, ‘What if I shared my painting on the outside of a box, rather than the inside, and what if it carried a message of peace?”

Since that pivotal 2006 encounter, the artist has sent more than 10,600 abstractly painted, pre-paid boxes, labeled with messages like, “Handle with Care: Contains Peace,” to individuals in 70 countries, as part of his Priority Boxes Art Project. Each empty box is symbolically “full” of meaning, engaging the thought of the recipient as well as the sender, plus the interpretation of all those handling it throughout its postal journey.

De Las Mercedes hopes that his painted-message boxes will stimulate new ways of communicating through art. He maintains, “We shouldn’t have to wait for world leaders to take a stand or create peace; it can begin through interpersonal dialogue.”

While many people write to the artist requesting boxes for themselves, others order them for loved ones. Requests vary widely, from a death row inmate that asked for a box for his daughter and a mom that wanted to give one to her son to a leukemia sufferer whose daily highlight was a trip to the family mailbox. The brightly painted boxes also have helped reconcile feuding friends and family members, serving as a peace offering from one to the other. It all helps to bring feelings of greater peace and understanding to the human race, one person at a time.

More than 100 schools across the United States have adopted the project, with students creating their own versions of the peace box in the classroom. School-sponsored peace boxes reach patients in hospitals and military personnel overseas and have been used in interschool box exchanges to support anti-bullying campaigns. It would be difficult to find a group that couldn’t benefit from such fresh inspiration.

 

 

To request a box, make a donation or start a local peace art project, visit fdlmStudio.com/Priorityboxes.html.

April Thompson is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. Connect at AprilWrites.com.

The Heart is Happiest When it Beats for Others August 13, 2012

I saw this on a local church marquee and it made me stop and really think about what this means.  Life gets busy and we all get wrapped up now and again with ourselves and what WE want.  Yes, it’s nice to have things and to love ourselves and our family, but when you focus on this particular phrase, our real purpose on this earth is to LOVE others.

Loving others, especially if you don’t know them is sometimes difficult.  But when you have faith, and the eternal love in your heart that God gave to us, love is never too difficult to share.

I mean who isn’t happy they have love or are receiving love.  Maybe not love, but a kind word, a smile, a thank you,  helping someone do a task they can no longer do.  Giving a person a meal,  coffee or a ride.

Whatever and whoever you share your love and kindness  with truly is a blessing because we are all one in this universe.  Our physical bodies are different, but our hearts and our love is all the same.

The day that I saw this was unique because not only did I reflect on it, but an amazing act of kindness happened at work.

Two young men were sitting in a booth, eating pizza.  There was a couple sitting in the booth in front of them.  Your probably saying, so what about it?  Well, after the couple finished  their meal, the woman came up to the counter to pay for her dinner.  Before she paid, she said she wanted to pay for the young men’s meal as well.   That just brought a smile to my face and my heart.

I politely asked her why and she said because she heard one of the young men say they were having financial trouble, so she wanted to help.  I thought that was very nice.  She continued to say not to let them know until she left.

When we told them what happened, they were so happy and shocked that they too had big smiles on their face.

So you see we are all connected, we just never know when our heart will become happy or what moment it will beat for others.

May you enjoy your day!  Peace and love to all!

Tammy

The Healthy Path to Helping Others July 12, 2012

It has been a while since I have been here, or so it seems.  Life has been busy and time has slipped by trying to remember everything I need to get done.  As I was taking a moment to slow down and just breath, not to hurry or stress today, I realized how I have missed all of you here.

I just want to let you know that even though I have been absent, you are in my thoughts.  I have done brain overload  to myself once again and still cannot figure out why I always think I have to do so many things.  But life is so interesting and there are so many wonders to enjoy and fascinating people to meet.  Everyday we learn and grow from something or someone, even if you don’t realize it’s happening.

As some of you may know I teach Yoga three days a week and I so love bringing all the many benefits that Yoga offers to people.  It not only relaxes your mind, but it soothes your soul and nourishes your whole body system, inside and out.   It is a perfect necessity to the stresses of life.

A few weeks ago I was talking to some people about my vision to join nutrition and Yoga.  Well, I was reading the classified ads and surprisingly a need for Nutrition Coaches, training provided, part-time or full-time.   So, I called and set an appointment for an interview.   The business was StartUp Nutrition.  I was going to talk with Martine, who was a very pleasant woman.  When I walked in, I did not know what to expect.  It was a nutrition club, where people come and get healthy meals to give them the vitamins and nutrients they need for their day.

So, Martine offered to feed me, she handed me a list of shake flavors and I saw the Cafe Latte, and of course that was it!  Now, this was not an ordinary shake that you get from the health food store or from Tropical Smoothie.  Their shakes provide 9 grams of protein per serving and made with water.  Soooo yummy!

To make a long story short, I have completed the training for Personal Wellness Coach and now am in the process of the Nutrition Coach training.  I am grateful that I answered this calling because I love nutrition and helping others be healthy.

Before I started with Herbalife, I was always tired and had no motivation to complete projects for the day.  Now that I have the core nutrition for my body, I have more energy and am happier that I am getting the protein that I was obviously lacking and am happier than I have been in a while.

There are also many facts on nutrition that I am learning, which I thought I already knew.  Everyone is a teacher and a student.    We breathe, we love, we grow!

If you want to learn more about nutrition or know someone who would be interested, you can go to my website at https://www.goherbalife.com/tammymore1/en-us.

Have a peaceful and blessed day!

Tammy

June 4, 2012

Reblogged from kind living blog:

Hello lovely bloggers! For those participating or who want to in the Power of Kindness class, here is the assignment for the week. Patience my pretties.

May 29, 2012

Reblogged from kind living blog:

Power of Kindness class students: Assignment 8- Giving something of value that you own or possess to another!

Happy Memorial Day!! May 28, 2012

Reblogged from LadyRomp:

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. -Joseph Campbell

An inspirational message for all. May you all have a Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who have defended and are still defending our freedoms. God bless. Tammy

The Well Died and Water’s Eyes are Dry May 21, 2012

“You have no water” my mother  had told me on Wednesday night.   A shock to one’s system when water is available to us everyday, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Funny how we just go about our lives and can get so involved with going here, getting this or that finished, paying bills, etc. , not ever thinking that something so vital could be gone like the snap of a finger.

By now you may ask the question: “how did it happen?”  Let’s just say that water for my house was provided by a well.  Water was available for my house as well as two others.  For many years this mechanical beauty has provided a service and now her time had expired.  She was tired and could not keep up the pace any longer.

When I first heard that there was no water and probably would not be fixed for a couple of weeks, I had a feeling of aggravation.  But after the shock wore off and I sat there for a moment to take it in, I began to think how blessed I was to even have the luxury of water.  Yes,  I am referring to water as a luxury because my mind pictured all the people in the world who have a limited supply of water and those who don’t have water at all.

So, I decided to embrace this as a life experience and not as a tragedy.  When you really take a step back and see how rich you are (not in the material aspect), but for life’s little blessings, the love and happiness from within shines out.   I was on a stay here retreat of surviving with natural resources and thankful for the opportunity.

The  length of my retreat was only four days, but the knowledge I gained will be with me a lifetime.

May your day be blessed and peaceful!

When those things in life seem to have you frustrated or stressed, just remember how blessed you are to  experience them.

Tropical Jerk Brings Jamaica to Fort Pierce April 30, 2012

Saturday night and I get the opportunity to have dinner with my parents.  I am grateful because they are taking me to dinner in celebration of my birthday.  Life gets busy and time is so precious and there are many moments I lose myself and forget how blessed I am to have the best mom and dad in my life.

I was able to pick where I wanted to eat, and I chose the Tropical Jerk Restaurant, on U.S. 1 and Georgia Avenue in Fort Pierce, Florida.  Every weekend I pass it on the way home, hearing the Reggae music that the live band beautifully plays on Friday and Saturday  nights.   I was so excited to try the food and my stomach was ready as well.

We arrived about  7:00 p.m. and a young woman opened the

door with a radiant smile and said: “hello, welcome to Tropical Jerk.”  As we walked in, it was as if you were in Jamaica.  The walls painted with Jamaican scenes, beautiful flowers, fish and a soothing fountain.

So, we are looking at the menu and everything sounds delicious.  They have Jerk Chicken, Seared Yellowfin Tuna, Curry Chicken, Fried Calamari, Fried Plantains and Sweet Potato Fries, etc.

We started with an appetizer: Fried Plantains and Sweet Potato Fries.

We finally decided what we were having: Dad and I had the Seared Yellowfin Tuna, which comes with soup or salad and two sides.

The photo above is the Yellowfin Tuna-cooked medium with rice and peas and plantains.  It was quite tasty!

This was the first time I have dined here and it was a beautiful experience!  This restaurant is owned by Mark and Mike Anderson and the hospitality and the love for all who walk through the doors is amazing!  They greet you with a smile and treat you like part of the family.

If you have not been there to eat, I highly recommend trying it!

We are going again this Saturday.

If these photos make you hungry, go over there and eat, they are open for lunch!