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.

Give Your Parents A Break - They Paid Their Dues

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Some of my friends lost parents this weekend.  My friends are all independent adults and didn't burden their elderly parents with their own selfish life dilemmas.  When they saw their folks, they only told them stories of happiness and shared their dreams for their futures or their childrens' futures.  When it was time for their mother or father to leave our world, they told them it was ok and go in peace.  Your parents have paid their dues...they raised you.  Now it's up to you to be and act as an adult.  Do not burden your mother or father with your emotional, financial and social pollution....that's your own baggage to carry.  Treat your parents with respect, love and above all - gratitude.  It's their time to be appreciated.

Kissing is Healthy For You

The lips are one of the most sensitive parts of our anatomy.  They contain many tiny nerve endings that, when stimulated by cold, heat, pain and other stimuli, send crucial messages to the brain.  Did you know that when we engage in a passionate kiss, much more oxygen reaches the brain, our pulse quickens, our pupils dilate and dopamine (a neurotransmitter) gets released into the system.  Dopamine gives us that 'rushy' euphoric feeling of elation and sensation as if we're 'walking on a cloud'.  But like any other 'high' in life, our bodies can become accustomed to that 'warm fuzzy feeling' we get from kissing our partners and before you know it, kissing becomes 'old hat'....no more dopey-ness when you smooch your honey.  So, what's a doggie to do???

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  To keep that natural high in you and your parnter's lives, switch up your kissing!  Steal a passionate kiss when your partner least expects it, share a strawberry between your lips - whatever turns you on, keep the passion lit.  That dopey feeling and energy you get from smooching will keep you and your honey happier and healthier in the long run.

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!

On Commitment and Letting Go

As many of you know, my lovely little Golden Retriever, Sooki has been diagnosed with a mass in her abdominal cavity.  At this time, we are waiting for the results from a full body CT scan performed yesterday.  Only a clear diagnosis will tell me what path we will take....yes, WE.  Sooki is 14 years old and we have been in a most committed relationship for over 12 years since she adopted me.  Sooki took me under her care on one of the most darkest days of my life and has been with me through thick and thin, fun and not so fun times, been my guinea pig while in med school (ever look up a dog's nose with a magnifying glass?  Fascinating!), letting me test her reflexes and practicing acupuncture on her.  She's run 5 miles every morning with me for years while I trained for my fights.   In return, I've let Sooki chase squirrels, rabbits, eat everything and more or less do anything else her little heart pleases.  In the past few years, she graduated from Therapy Dog School just so she could assist me in my practice by making sick patients smile or just sharing her love. 
Now, after all these years of her taking care of me, it's time for me to take care of Sooki.  I will make sure she has normalcy and great quality of life and we will continue to do what we always do everyday until she tells me it's time to go onto her next adventure.  We have no regrets, we only have happy memories of all the crazy things we've done together.  And when her time comes to retire from her present job, I will certainly miss her physically, but she will always be next to me.
Sooki is one of God's lesser angels.  They come into our lives when we need them most; they take care of us and show us what love is.  They only leave us when they are certain their job is done.  Sooki has led me to the path of knowing true love for humans and has led me to the loving arms of one very special human in particular.  That has been her job.  She's certainly worked very hard all these years and I know she's already planning her next adventure.
So, if you're around our downtown office, feel free to stop by and say hello...all treats gladly accepted (Auntie Felicitas has already sent her goodies...thank you!) and thank her for the fun and laughter she's given to you.
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Life can be short, life can be long.  It's all relative.  Do your lives with no regrets and remember, it's YOUR LIFE AND NO ONE ELSE'S.  Don't allow other people's rules or opinions steer you away from doing what you know is going to give you a full life.  No one else walks in your skin and no one has a right to tell you how to do your life, so don't fall into the trap of false guilt ; this is unhealthy and leads to stress-related physical disease.
If they love you, they will stay committed to you, love you and allow the winds of life dance between you.

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.