Living Life Abundantly

A few months ago I got an email about a mad man known as “The AIDS Man” who goes around intentionally infecting women with HIV. The email had a link to video , I clicked it and was deeply disturbed by what I saw and heard. This video is pretty intense but I’m posting it anyway so that you can see and hear it …

watch this video (warning extremely foul language)

After watching this I had a flood of thoughts and emotions. I wasn’t sure if this real. Who sleeps with that many women? Who knowingly infects people with HIV? Is this really what the world has come to? It just didn’t seem possible or plausible.

I was angered but at the same time I tried to find something positive (no pun intended). I concluded that perhaps this video would serve as a wake up call… or twisted public service announcement some how…

Then the other day I get a link to video of a woman saying that she’s pregnant by “The AIDS Man” also known as “Trash Man.” I thought omg this has to be a joke! I watched the video and to my surprise found it funny. This video is intense too. I’m posting it so that you can maybe see why I found it hilarious. I’ve been told that my sense of humor is warped but anyway…

watch this video (be advised extremely foul language)

After watching this video I couldn’t resist doing some research and I was relieved to find out that these videos were meant to be like Scared Straight PSA’s and no one was hurt, pregnant, or infected with HIV.

watch this video (warning extremely foul language)

The makers of these provocative videos were creatively making a point. They managed to piss a lot of people off and get the attention of many. I think they really made made some folks think! I knew there had to be a method to the madness.

Too many people are taking too many risks. Living Life Abundantly is realizing that your body is your temple. To live life abundantly you must not only recognize your body as your temple, but you must also value and respect life. Having unprotected sex with numerous sex partners is like having a death wish. Be safe or be sorry!

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Forget “fight or flight” as the only duo of responses in the face of stress. For women, there’s a third response: “befriend”. A landmark UCLA study turned five decades of stress research on its head with the revelation that a cascade of brain chemicals gives women a larger behavioral repertoire when confronted with stress. The hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress response in women. It controls the fight/flight response and, instead, encourages her to tend children and gather with other women.

Accordingly to co-researcher Dr. Laura Cousino Klein, now assistant professor of bio-behavioral health at Penn State, the study suggests that this “tending and befriending” response to oxytocin produces a calming effect. Although it will take new studies to reveal all the ways in which oxytocin encourages women to care for children and band together, it might also explain why women consistently outlive men.

I have addressed numerous women’s conferences and corporate networks of women and I can attest to the observable behavior that participants leave these sessions feeling stronger, encouraged, and positive. I believe they also leave healthier. The famed Nurses Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends people have, they less likely they are to develop physical ailments and the more likely they are to cope better with challenges.

Sadly, today’s busy agendas often find women canceling the most positive and healthy thing they can do: gather with other women to engage in the kind of “rapport” and “report” talk that hallmark feminine conversations. The corporate women’s networks that generate the most return for the time and money investment allow for the nuts-and-bolts training needed for the business while also creating plenty of opportunity for mentoring, problem-solving and the informal sharing of personal issues.

Create a gathering of women and stand back. The energy reborn from conversation, caring, compassion and concern can move a community, a business, and a nation into a higher place.

About the author:
Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE is head of McDargh Communications, a training and consulting practice founded in 1980. She’s also an award-winning author, radio commentator, and on the Board of the National Speakers Association. Eileen can be reached at http://www.EileenMcDargh.com

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One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.–Maya Angelou

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please; you can never have both. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Always tell the truth. That way you don’t have to remember what you said.–Mark Twain

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.–Malcolm X

The folks who know the truth aren’t talking…. The ones who don’t have a clue, you can’t shut them up! –Tom Waits

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.– Martin Luther King Jr.

A half truth is a whole lie.  –Yiddish Proverb

When you know the truth, the truth makes you a soldier. –Gandhi

Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence. –Henri Frederic Amiel

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie…deliberate, contrived and dishonest…but the myth…persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. –John F. Kennedy

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.–Jesus

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I believe in miracles. Miracles happen around us every day. The living life abundantly lifestyle is about acknowledging, believing in, and even expecting miracles.

What is a miracle?

According to the dictionary, a miracle is: An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God.

I know a woman that was diagnosed with cancer. She was on the phone with someone while they were praying for her. While on the phone she began coughing and she coughed up some blood during the prayer. When she went back to the doctor no trace of cancer could be found. True story! Doctors couldn’t explain it. This was many years ago, this woman is healthy and strong and has never had any other problems. That is a miracle!

Years ago, my dad was getting on the freeway, my grandfather was in the back seat sound asleep. While driving up the on ramp, my dad went into an epileptic seizure causing him to floor the gas pedal. My grandfather woke up, hopped over the seat and miraculously was able to gain control of the car and get him and my dad to safety. Nobody was hurt. That is a miracle!

Miracles are real. We can all look back on our lives and the lives of others and point out instances of miracles. In acknowledging that miracles are possible and that they indeed occur, why shouldn’t we expect or hope for miracles even in the most dismal of circumstances?

I have heard people say, “there’s no hope.” I have seen people give up hope. It saddens me. Why? Because what you believe is what you will receive. What you say is what you will have. These are universal Spiritual principles that work whether you believe in them or not.

Do you believe in miracles?

Tess Buys a Miracle

Tess was a precocious eight year old when she heard her Mom and Dad talking about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex next month because Daddy didn’t have the money for the doctor’s bills and our house. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and it was looking like there was no-one to loan them the money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother with whispered desperation, “Only a miracle can save him now.”

Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! “And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen in ages”, he said without waiting for a reply to his question. “Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really, really sick… and I want to buy a miracle.” “I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist. “His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?” “We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. “I’m sorry but I can’t help you”, the pharmacist said, softening a little. “Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn’t enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs.”

The pharmacist’s brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does you brother need?” “I don’t know,” Tess replied with her eyes welling up. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money”.

“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago.

“One dollar and eleven cents”, Tess answered barely audibly. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.

“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents–the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.” He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.” That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well.

Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. “That surgery”, her Mom whispered. “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?” Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven cents …… plus the faith of a little child.

A miracle is not ALWAYS the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law……

~Author Unknown But It’s Said That This Is A True Story~

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He who knows not,

and knows not that he knows not,

is a fool;

shun him.

He who knows not,

and knows that he knows not,

is a child,

teach him.

He who knows,

and knows not that he knows,

is asleep;

wake him.

He who knows,

and knows that he knows,

is wise;

follow him.

~Persian Proverb~

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5 Simple Rules To Be Happy

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Never abandon an old friend. You will never find one who can take his place. Friendship is like wine, it gets better as it grows older.

~Author Unknown

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Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man couldn’t hear the band - he could see it. In his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”

Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.

“Today is a gift, that’s why it is called the present.”

—author unknown

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