Tag Archives: motivation

Part 1: Where Are You Going to Live When Your Body Gives Out?

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Today I visited a Dialysis Center and watched so many (once vibrant) people being wheeled in and dropped off by medi-vans, helped in on walkers, or walking slowly by themselves or assisted by loved ones.  Three times a week they would be spending half of their day getting their blood purified on machines because their kidneys have failed. While there was an occasional smile, most seemed stoic, resigned to their fate, and devoid of energy.  The alternative however could be certain death.

High Blood Pressure Is Not Part of Aging

My sister and I were there with our step-mom.  So, I had more than just a casual interest.  My sister had just moved her up to Maryland this past weekend so that we could both look after her better.  Today was her first visit to the Maryland Dialysis Center and the three hours we’d expected turned into almost five hours.  We’d known for years that she had high blood pressure, but really didn’t know what that meant.  She was grown.  She took her medication and went on with her life.  Our attempts over the years to encourage her to change her southern diet and eat healthier were met with skepticism and resistance.  As fast as we’d throw out the salty staples of fat back, cracklins, and hambones, they’d reappear.  Even worse, the neighbors, friends, and church members would bring her a plate that contained many traditional yet salty foods.  And, after all, there were many people around her in her community in North Carolina with high blood pressure, so it was treated as part of aging, hereditary,  and no big deal.  Additionally there was no shortage of examples of people in their eighties, nineties, and even an occasional centenarian who were doing fine on the same diet that their parents and grandparents had been reared on.  She herself was approaching eighty-four so she’d obviously done a few things right.  Click to read Part 2: http://wp.me/ppImQ-mt

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author of six books, and trainer on value-based living themes.  She also offers Effective Communication, Diversity, Leadership, Time Management, and Goal Setting workshops.  Visit her at www.thepoetspeaks.com or contact her at 301-428-4831.  You may email her at Barbara@ThePoetSpeaks.com

Embrace Change or Not?

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I put it off for months.

But finally, I gave in and purchased a new phone. Can, or should we try to keep up with the latest technology?  I’m old school and thought that a phone only needs to do one  thing, make a phone call.  I barely used the camera on my last three hand me down phones and I never used the video.  After all I had a camera to take pictures.  I also had a camcorder gathering dust in the closet that was the size of a loaf of bread that still had a lot of use left in it.    For a whole week while  traveling on business in Indiana in early April  I was without a cell phone.

Can you imagine that?  I went to the Verizon store and was told that they did not make the battery anymore for my Blackberry model and I should just upgrade.  (BTW. I did not have a data plan so I was still using it as a simple phone.)   I declined and went another week without a phone.  Surely I could find a battery somewhere, perhaps on Ebay.  The phone had a lot more life in it.  I couldn’t just throw it away, could I?

Why was I not embracing change like everyone else?

Blame in on Annie Leonard and her forcefully compelling ‘Story of Stuff.’    http://www.storyofstuff.com/ Her cartoon explanation of how we are scared, seduced, and misled into buying stuff that we don’t need really got me to thinking about social responsibility.  I also didn’t want to become a droid and mindlessly give into the corporate scheme of planned or perceived obsolesence that was destroying our planet.

Now, when it comes to the latest software, I’m careful to make sure I get the latest, but I was still holding out on the phone.  Secretly I didn’t want anything that would keep me on the phone any longer than I already was.  I was resenting the fact that people were communicating less face to face and spending more time texting, gaming, social networking, or just playing on the phone.

There is an app for everything.    I had privately scoffed at people who seemed glued to their phones ignoring the people who were right in front of them. I was also highly concerned about the EMF rays.  I’d read reports about cell phone radiation weakening bones, affecting sperm quality, links to brain cancer… click to continue.  http://wp.me/ppImQ-oa

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author of six books, and trainer on value-based living themes.  She also offers Effective Communication, Diversity, Leadership, Time Management, and Goal Setting workshops.  Visit her at www.thepoetspeaks.com or contact her at 301-428-4831.  You may email her at Barbara@ThePoetSpeaks.com

Part 2: Embrace Change or Not?

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Continued from Part 1: http://wp.me/ppImQ-o7

I’d read reports about cell phone radiation weakening bones, affecting sperm quality, links to brain cancer, tumors, and Alzheimer’s, interference with sleep, radiation on skin, and it’s addictiveness.  (Click to find out which phones are safest.) http://www.sarshield.com/english/news.htm

I’d even heard reports blaming the increase of Prostate cancer on the increased use of cell phones because men wear them on their waist belts.  http://www.pri.org/health/cell-phone-use-and-cancer1926.html

And yet I finally gave in and purchased the Droid.  Blame that on my son-in-law who kept encouraging us to check out the Droid.  Within a few days I could see why people were robotic-ally glued to their cell phones.  Within minutes it became apparent what the hoopla was all about.  I was helping my daughter move into her new home in New York and the Internet was not yet hooked up.  So on the Droid I was able to book my flight, check several email accounts, and update my Facebook page.  I then played Poke a Mole with my three-year old grandson.  I even listened to some books on tape while I hemmed curtains.

On the way to the airport, we used the Droid’s GPS to find the airport in Syracuse.  I checked in for my flight on the way using my Droid and checked to see if I could find a window seat.  When I got to the kiosk, I was able to print out my boarding pass by simply scanning the bar-code from my email that was on my Droid screen.  And that’s just the beginning of the 50 apps I downloaded just to see what they could do.

A day after I got home, my 12-year daughter needed help with ‘Factoring Perfect Square Trinomials or something to that effect.  I didn’t have a clue.  So, I did a voice search on my Droid and it pulled up a You-tube video that explained it to her easier than her teacher had.  I cooked dinner for my son who turned 29 and his fiancee.  After dinner my husband made an observation.  Everyone (except him) was on their cell phones.  No one was talking to each other about anything except their phones.  Normally we would be talking, joking around, watching TV together or playing a board game.  My husband is the sole hold-out.  He has a plain phone still.  It’s easy to get addicted to these new phones.  I’m still concerned about the children  growing up on these phones.  My 22 year old would go to sleep with the phone on her ear.  Researchers are concerned about brain tumors or cancer and that it will be years before we see the long term effect from the phones.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/prominent-cancer-doctor-warns-about-cellphones/

So now, I sit here conflicted while writing an article on ‘Embracing Change.”  As with all things, there is a delicate balance that has to be held.  It is possible to get too much of a good thing.  I guess it’s like the song on friendship.  “Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other is gold.” We’ve got to make friends with the new technology, but be careful that we don’t lose out on our golden relationships in the process.  Technology shouldn’t replace face to face conversations, spending time with loved ones, and …Hold on my Droid is alerting me that I have a new email…

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author of six books, and trainer on value-based living themes.  She also offers Effective Communication, Diversity, Leadership, Time Management, and Goal Setting workshops.  Visit her at www.thepoetspeaks.com or contact her at 301-428-4831.  You may email her at Barbara@ThePoetSpeaks.com

Part 2: Where Are You Going to Live When Your Body Gives Out?

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High Blood Pressure Is A Big Deal!

(continued from Part 1: http://wp.me/ppImQ-ld

It may be common, but it is still a really big deal.  Eventually the medication for the high blood pressure took its toll on her kidneys.  Again, more medication and business as usual.  She would have her gall bladder removed.  Then there was the shortness of breath that would lead to a slight heart attack, then congestive heart failure…. and more medicine.  Finally the kidneys failed all together.  The body does give us warning signs and we must learn to listen.  There were many points of possible intervention along the way with diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes that could have changed the tides.  But, since so many of her friends had the same conditions, she felt that it was a part of aging.  IT IS NOT!

High Blood Pressure Can Lead to Kidney Disease

Renal (kidney) disease affects all cultures and all were represented here, but there was a disproportionately large number of black people there today.  According to the CDC, “35% of African Americans have hypertension, which accounts for 20% of the African American deaths in the United States – twice the percentage of deaths among whites from hypertension.” Data in their February 2010 report suggests that the general population doesn’t fare much better, “About one out of three U.S. adults—31.3%—has high blood pressure.” “Having high blood pressure puts you at risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States.1 People of all ages and backgrounds can develop high blood pressure, and it’s preventable.”  Anemia accompanied by low energy also becomes a challenge.  Check out this report released on April 27, 2010 at Yahoo News: ‘Anemia Harder to Treat in Black Children With Kidney Disease.

Click to continue to Part 3: 10 Things You Can Do Now!  http://wp.me/ppImQ-mv

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author of six books, and trainer on value-based living themes.  She also offers Effective Communication, Diversity, Leadership, Time Management, and Goal Setting workshops.  Visit her at www.thepoetspeaks.com or contact her at 301-428-4831.  You may email her at Barbara@ThePoetSpeaks.com

Part 3: Where Are You Going to Live When Your Body Gives Out?

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1. DS Hartman et al "A Practical Approach to the Cystic Renal Mass" RadioGraphics 2004;24:S101-S115

Continued from Part 2: http://wp.me/ppImQ-mt

Your Body Is Your Real Home!

There are messages everywhere in the universe if we choose to acknowledge and learn from them.  You or someone you know has a 1 in 3 chance of developing high blood pressure.  So, heed  these statistics and take care of your body before it is too late.  Your body is your real home and good health is your real wealth and greatest gift.    While everyone needs to be concerned with hypertension, “African Americans with high blood pressure have a 4 times greater risk of developing hypertension related end stage kidney disease than the general population.” Source: “The Puzzle of Hypertension in African Americans,” Scientific American.

10 Things You Can Do Now!

  1. Listen to your body and the messages regarding health that come to you and do what you must to make the necessary changes before it is too late.  And, while you’re at it.  Learn about the function of each organ and how to keep it healthy.
  2. Reduce Stress.  Stress can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension).  High blood pressure can lead to kidney failure.  Kidney failure leads to dialysis.  So, chill!  Rest; Relax; Take it easy!  Take care of yourself.
  3. Eat more fresh and organic foods and less salt.
  4. Exercise!
  5. Maintain a healthy weight!
  6. Forgive!
  7. Live simpler!
  8. Have faith and worry less.
  9. Don’t drink or smoke.
  10. And, remember your body is your earthly temple and not just some meat suit.   So take really good care of it.  After all, where are you going to live when your body gives out?

Barbara Talley is a keynote speaker, author of six books, and trainer on value-based living themes.  She also offers Effective Communication, Diversity, Leadership, Time Management, and Goal Setting workshops.  Visit her at www.thepoetspeaks.com or contact her at 301-428-4831.  You may email her at Barbara@ThePoetSpeaks.com