Taught in Stanford University | Connect with your Girlfriends

This is taught at Stanford University ....

In an evening class at Stanford University the last lecture was on the mind-body connection ... the relationship between stress and disease !!

The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman !!

Whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends !!

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious ....

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences.

Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.

Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. Women share from the soul with sisters/mothers, and evidentially that is very GOOD for health !!

He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged.
Not true .... In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking !!

So every time you hang out with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health .. We are indeed very, very lucky !!

Sooooo toast to your friendship with your girlfriends !!! Evidently it's very good for your health

Connect with all your girlfriends to stay in touch!

Say Thanks to all the girls in your life who have helped you stay healthy, happy, and feeling very loved !!

Do you BELIEVE or do you KNOW?

Imagine you were going skydiving for the first time. Your heart would be racing as the instructor gives you final instructions before you jump from the plane.

You ask an important question, “Are you sure this parachute will work?”

Now, which answer would you prefer your instructor to give:

“I believe it will work.” or “I know it will work.”

The word belief implies question. By definition there is a degree of uncertainty. Think about it, if you believe with certainty, then you wouldn’t say, “I believe”, you would say, “I KNOW”.

To know is to be certain. There is no question in knowing. There can be no doubt found when you KNOW something. Take time to analyze your internal dialog and perspectives. Do the words you use imply empowerment or disempowerment?

I’m reminded of a story I once heard about a community. This was a test between believing and knowing.

The story goes like this…
Several years ago, a small farming community was experiencing a terrible drought. The leaders of the community called a prayer meeting in hope of everyone attending and holding a group prayer for rain.

One man was in attendance with his small son. As everyone was praying, the small boy reached up and tugged his father’s shirt to ask, “Daddy, what is everyone doing?”The man explained that everyone was praying for rain and then went back to his prayer.

The boy looked around for a few more minutes and was puzzled. He tugged again on his dad’s shirt and asked,
“Daddy, if everyone is here to pray for rain, why didn’t anyone bring an umbrella?”
Think about it…
Do you believe you can reach your goals or do you KNOW you can?

Determination and Persistence

This is a real life story of engineer John Roebling building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years.

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.

“We told them so.” “Crazy men and their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.

In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task.

As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have faced or facing. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.