Friendship - It's Good For Your Health

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Cherish your friends because they will always be there for you.  No matter what your differences, no matter how much time passes since you last saw that friend or spoke with them - they'll be there in a minute if you need them.  Celebrate your friendships today by calling, texting or sending a card to your friends.  Here's a wonderful short video on the most unlikely group who have been best friends for the past 10 years...pass it on...it's really great!

 Watch the video here: http://www.wimp.com/livetogether/

Dedicate An Hour Of Your Day Today

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  yesterday, I dedicted my hour-long yoga practice to a friend who always is there for me with love, kindness and wisdom.  All my good intentions during that hour went to my dear friend; a small way to give something back to her.  Today, dedicate an hour to someone who has been kind to you, or send your thoughts to a person in your life who needs positive energy.  Organized religion would call it prayer....I call it paying it forward.

It's Friday Make It Friend's Friday

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  It's Friday, so let's make this Friend's Friday.  Call, text, email or send a card today to at least one of your friends and let him or her know how important they are to you and how much you appreciate and love them.

Treasure Your Friends

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  real friends are hard to come by; treasure and nurture your relationships with your friends.  You may only have one true friend in this life and if you do - consider yourself blessed.  Never betray your friendships or the trusts that come with these gems in life; these are the souls that will be with you no matter where you are or what life brings.  Call a friend today and tell him or her how much your friendship means.

Receiving the Smile Back

A few days ago, I wrote about the flowerbed that I started and how so many individuals became involved in my project.  The smiles that this little patch of hostas has given so many is truly remarkable.  Today, a patient of mine surprised me with a lovely ornamental basil plant to add to the flowerbed.  It 'will go to seed and before you know it, you'll have a whole lot of them for next year' is what my patient told me.  I was thrilled to receive this wonderful healthy and beautiful plant that will work in perfectly with all those hostas.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  When you put good intentions out there and help to make people smile and laugh, sometimes it comes back around the bend to you.  I got such a smile from this plant today....the circle is complete.  Remember, what goes around, comes around.  Try to throw some good vibes out there today!  There will be no blog tomorrow...I'm goin' fishin'!

Just For Fun Today... A Nice Story and Look at the Original Acupuncture Needle

A friend sent this to me today and it really was so nice, I had to share:
Fable of the porcupine It was the coldest  winter ever. Many animals died because of the  cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided  to group together. This way they covered and protected
themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other.  After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen.  So they had to make a choice:  Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it, was the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.
The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual
learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Learn to love the special people in your life.  None of us are perfect, so we should all take the quills with the kisses!

This is what a baby porcupine looks like....the ORIGINAL acupuncture needle!

Give Someone a Chance Today - You Never Know Who They'll Be Tomorrow

I'm going to get a bit personal today and tell you a short story.  I ran into an old photo the other day of me and my trusy therapy dog.  Over 13 years ago, a friend and I trekked 3.5 hours north of Manhattan so I could adopt a Golden Retriever.  Not that there aren't available dogs in the Metropolitan NY area - I didn't want to adopt an overbred dog (as they usually are here in NYC).  So, off we went to Troy, New York.  There were two dogs for me to meet.  At the end of the day, I was coming home with a dog, but who to pick?  There first came to the 'foster home' Ginger the dog.  Ginger was 18 months old, reddish and lean and a nice dog.  We went for a walk for 15 minutes to become acquainted.  The sponsors of the rescue organization told me to take Ginger and kept telling me I didn't really want to see the 'other thing' who was coming next.  Hey...I just schlepped 3.5 hours; I'm waiting to see the other dog!  They put Ginger out back and opened the front door to let in the 'other thing'.  We were sitting on stools in the back of the house.  A little Golden Retriever ran through the house, into the kitchen, jumped onto the counter to kiss the cat, kiss us and run out into the living room to take a nice big poop on the living room carpet.  The little dog then ran back to us with a huge smile on her face, wagging her tail as if to say 'YEAH!  Baby...Let's GO!".  It was love at first sight.  Our 15 minute 'get acquainted walk' was a bolt and sprint through the neighborhood (no wonder they asked me if I was strong).  The rescue people told me I was crazy to take this dog, but I said, "If she has manners, then she deserves a chance".  I placed a dog biscuit on the edge of my mouth, got her attention and told her to mind her manners and take it nicely.  This little dog gently took the biscuit from my mouth.  She had potential.  So, off we went, back to Manhattan.  She chose a new name for herself and after 2 days in the big city, she was running the show.
That little 'nuisance' became Nurse Sooki, my therapy dog who has brought smiles and good will to hundreds of people.  Nobody thought she'd ever amount to anything but trouble.  But I knew all she needed was a chance to grow and thrive and have some fun.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Don't 'blow off' anyone until you've given them an opportunity to show you what they've got first.  Whether it's a person or a pet, give them a chance.  You never know who they're going to become if given an opportunity to shine!  Who knows....it could be the next great peacemaker of this world, or the greatest scientific mind who discovers a real cure for cancer....just for fun, here's the photo of me and Sooki before I was a physician and before she became a great therapy dog!  I knew we BOTH had potential!

Friendship is Good Medicine

Today's blog is short...I'm back from a spectacular golfing sejour and up to my elbows in alligators back here in the office.  While sifting through emails, bills, scheduling and preparing for today's round of patients, I received telephone calls from two of my oldest and dearest friends who wanted to share some very funny, ironic and engaging stories with me.  I laughed until tears rolled from my eyes from one friend's tale and the other had a few good stories to share herself.  I always try to make my patients laugh and smile and put their problems aside for the time they spend with me.  Laughter is part of good medicine.  Today, I woke up with no fun stories to share with my patients and just as I thought I hit the bottom of the creativity barrel - my friends called.

Friendship....one of the finer gifts in life and sometimes, the best medicine you can have.  Call a friend today and let them hear your voice.  Share something fun with them and give them a day's dosage of the most precious thing you can give to them....your love.