Yawning, why not?

I’ve been taught that yawning means I’m tired, or that my body or brain is looking for more oxygen, that it’s impolite to yawn in public. I know that there are times when I cannot stop yawning, mostly when I’m in a boring meeting and can’t pay attention. Just the other day I was at a stop light and the driver in the car stopped next to mine yawned- and sure enough as the light changed, I was yawning, too.

A friend sent me the essay on Yawning by Andrew Newburg, director of Penn’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind. It is from the book: HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN. Newburg suggests that yawning can change our brain by regulating neural functions and that it is important to yawn, perhaps bringing yawning more into our daily consciousness- for example, to yawn before working or meditating.

It is a persuasive essay encouraging more yawning in our lives in order to enhance cognitive function and neurotransmitter production. Clearly, the simplicity of the mere yawn and the capability of any human to manifest a yawn makes this an inherent skill that anyone can bring more into awareness.

I am going to conscious bring yawning into my life- right now, 10 yawns- kind of delicious!

Read the Yawn essay.

 

 

Simple and Nourishing Eye Make Up Remover

I am tired of struggling to take off eye make up- I hardly wear it, anyway, because I end of crying or rubbing my eyes- but still the removal is troubling- most make up removers have chemicals, and soap dries the fragile eye tissues. What to do?

Gotta love this simple use for coconut oil. Pour a small amount on a cotton pad and gently wipe eye make up away. If congealed, just scoop out a small amount and warm in your hand and apply to pad, then eye. Voila!

You don’t even have to watch the video, but here it is anyway-Coconut Oil Make Up Remover

 

Hat Tip: sixtyandme.com

This is a Great Idea- I’m Going to Try it!

Check out this simple design for a mosquito magnet: 

Hat tip: wonderfulengineering.com

A simple Messy Person’s Guide

 

I am not the neatest person I know. I like to spread out when I work and I particularly love working on the dining room table and leaving it all out there – but that means we eat somewhere else or I have to clear it off- I’ve improved over the years by following the advice of many neat friends on how to organize. Here is a simple Messy Person’s Guide from The Daily Muse.

Recycle Old Electronic Equipment- free shipping!

Don’t throw away your old computer, phone or monitor. You can recycle with free shipping through Sims Recycling Solutions domestic processing facilities. Zero-landfill policy and proven sustainability so you know that your electronics will be managed responsibly.

AND- Apple batteries- free recycling at any retail Apple store.

Jane McGonigal’s amazing TED talk on SUPERBETTER

Building personal resilience- WONDERFUL! A must watch!

What’s In Your Glass? – Newcastle’s First ‘Real Wine’ Event.

Welcome to Wine Idealism...

The idea was simple. An informal degustation dinner to recognise four organic wineries in the Hunter Valley, and showcase their wines alongside a simple fair of food and good company. I wanted to promote the idea of wine idealism – wines that recognise their sense of time and place (terroir) in an authentic and honest way – within the context and the history of the Hunter Valley.

What’s In Your Glass? is Newcastle’s first ‘real wine’ fair, and features over 30 different winegrowers from the Hunter Valley, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, the ACT, NSW, New Zealand, and Europe. It aims to promote natural, organic and biodynamic wines from around the world, with a focus on Australia and New Zealand.

Newcastle and gastronomy aren’t often seen playing together by those outside the city due, in part, to the looming Steel City moniker that it was branded with during the bright…

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Sunlight, Bones and More

I always appreciate Vivian Goldschmidt’s timely, simple and effective advice about Bone Health. Everyone has become so afraid of the sun. Many never allow the sunlight to touch their skin. Vivian reminds us: don’t burn, but do take sunlight for Vitamin D.

Check out her 5 simple things to do this summer.

Hat Tip: saveourbones.com

 

Get your very own EMF Detector

This just in courtesy of Micah: Mr Ghost EMF Detector

EMF smog is invisible and this device will reveal the vibrational world!

The dangers of EMF and RF’s are becoming known and because we cannot feel or see the fields this is a handy device to alert us to the areas of high radiation as well as safe or quiet spots. The earth’s magnetic field is a very different resonance than the frequency chosen for digital equipment and more and more research is revealing the weakening and deleterious effects of these fields on our health.

SImply google EMF’s and you will find a slew of articles. Here is just one of 1,000’s that will clarify the basic thoughts about EMF’s.

Be safe.

Economic Impact of Local Businesses vs. Chains

 

 

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and has compiled some key studies on local store vs chainstore impact on local economics.

Of interest from a study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Friends of Midcoast Maine, September 2003.: “Three times as much money stays in the local economy when you buy goods and services from locally owned businesses instead of large chain stores, according to this analysis, which tracked the revenue and expenditures of eight locally owned businesses in Midcoast Maine. The survey found that the businesses, with had combined sales of $5.7 million in 2002, spent 44.6 percent of their revenue within the surrounding two counties. Another 8.7 percent was spent elsewhere in the state of Maine. The four largest components of this local spending were: wages and benefits paid to local employees; goods and services purchased from other local businesses; profits that accrued to local owners; and taxes paid to local and state government. Using a variety of sources, the analysis estimates that a national big box retailer operating in Midcoast Maine returns just 14.1 percent of its revenue to the local economy, mostly in the form of payroll. The rest leaves the state, flowing to out-of-state suppliers or back to corporate headquarters. The survey also found that the local businesses contributed more to charity than national chains.”

And in The San Francisco Retail Diversity Study – By Civic Economics, May 2007: “Every $1 million spent at local bookstores, for example, creates $321,000 in additional economic activity in the area, including $119,000 in wages paid to local employees. That same $1 million spent at chain bookstores generates only $188,000 in local economic activity, including $71,000 in local wages. The same was true in the other categories. For every $1 million in sales, independent toy stores create 2.22 local jobs, while chains create just 1.31. The final part of the study analyzes the impact of a modest shift in consumer spending. If residents were to redirect just 10 percent of their spending from chains to local businesses, that would generate $192 million in additional economic activity in San Francisco and almost 1,300 new jobs.”