Report: Sacklers using fake doctors, false marketing to sell OxyContin in China. As Purdue files for bankruptcy, business in China is ramping up.

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Is this successful treatment for Alzheimer's significant or a one-off thing?

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Is this successful treatment for Alzheimer's significant or a one-off thing?

Is this successful treatment for Alzheimer's significant or a one-off thing?

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https://ift.tt/37pAqfJ November 21, 2019 at 09:13AM https://ift.tt/1R552o9

Hong Kong mulls South East Asia pig imports as pork prices jump on China swine fever outbreak

Hong Kong mulls South East Asia pig imports as pork prices jump on China swine fever outbreak
Reuters: Health
Hong Kong is looking into importing live pigs from countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, to supplement a dwindling supply from mainland China that has caused pork prices to surge, Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan said on Wednesday.

In debate, Democratic White House contenders back impeachment inquiry of Trump

In debate, Democratic White House contenders back impeachment inquiry of Trump
Reuters: Health
Democratic White House contenders backed the impeachment inquiry of Republican President Donald Trump during a debate on Wednesday, saying his efforts to press Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden was an example of the administration's corruption.

How to Make Time for Friendships in Your Busy Schedule

Make a real connection, no matter how busy you are!

What to expect: This article will help you enjoy and benefit from investing in your friendships, even when you’re super busy ─ which you often are.

Here, investment relates to creating wealth for yourself and others from what’s accessible right now.

Instead of increasing bucks, you’ll receive great intangible value from making good human connections that continue contributing to your personal and professional life.

In the process, you’ll have improved health, happiness, and purpose.

Rather than self-promotion or fishing for old connections, suggested actions below open possibilities for calm and meaning in the frenetic whirl of reactions to daily demands.

For a more successful path, you can replace a narrative of busyness with being focused and productive.

Transcend Tech

At this fiftieth anniversary of the information age, a “friend” can be a click away on Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat. You can be and become followers, into the hundreds and even thousands.

On LinkedIn, your network members are called connections. Ideally, the person is a trusted business contact or at least well-known to you. Yet in so many cases, I wonder if these social media contacts have become just a numbers game when I see someone has hundreds or more of them.

To transcend a “technology suck” and find some time and space in your life for authentic friendship, consider how much you already give to routines, responses, and reactions.

Surely you have some wiggle room there for moving beyond busyness to better self-care and outreach to others that has mutual meaning and appeal.

For example, how much of your waking hours are devoted to smartphone use? What are the trade-offs in attention, distraction, and substitution for intimacy?

Why You Should Surround Yourself With Friends Who Will Stay

Reaching Out

As with investments in general, though, there is no assurance that what you put into a friendship will reap the benefits you want; there is no automatic cause and effect.

That’s why I encourage you to replace such expectations with your intuition and attention to realities.

A desired friend may be as short of time and energy as you are. In fact, author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar advises, “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.”

Then start with neutral expectations and a small gesture of interest. Perhaps suggest a shared meal since you both need to eat once in a while and could probably find a few times in common.

That’s a two for one: something you’d do anyway that provides a chance for conversation and connecting. The choice need not be expensive nor time consuming either. At minimum, experiment with a cup of tea or coffee, a drink, or snack.

Another two for one is sharing any experience you’d both enjoy.

Here are suggestions to try, adapt, or explore. Identify the following:

• A sport to learn or play together.
• A museum exhibit to explore something new or deepen what’s familiar.
• A lecture, concert, show, movie, or comedy act that appeals.
• A place to walk in nature or sit on a park bench for a chat.
• A chore in common, such as a child or animal care that serves both your needs.

I’m sure you can think of other possibilities, especially when you discuss ideas together. But if nothing comes immediately to mind or you feel a little shy about initiating this, imagine a conversation.

Maybe start with: “I noticed _____ and wonder if you’d like to _______.” Alternatively, “I’ve been wanting a change of pace and breathing space. Would you be interested taking an hour or so to ______________ with me? If not, what activity would interest you?”

I encourage you to be picky as well as patient about how you identify and choose partners for use of precious time and potential friendship. As Socrates advised: “Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.”

Here are questions for making some promising choices:

• Do you look forward to “spending time” with the person?
• Do you feel energized or at least at ease in someone’s company?
• Can you learn from and productively challenge one other?
• Is there potential for mutual trust and respect over time?
• How complementary or stimulating are your senses of humor or interests?

Moving Forward

Friendship will take some time, patience, and commitment. So, the previous suggestions are just a start unless you already have seeds germinating or planted.

For example, they could be good connections you have already such as former colleagues and roommates, neighbors and professional contacts.

Avoid expectations of immediate understanding or receptivity in favor of listening and attending to the other person. Do this gently, with humor or playfulness using your natural style. You’ll then be more likely to benefit from your good instincts and common sense as you identify matches that could work well.

If no one comes to mind right now, it’s probably time to expand your activities and make room for the serendipity of chance encounters. Join a club or house of worship, attend new functions or take a class.

Go on your own or with someone from whom you could comfortably detach yourself as you reach out to others. In other words, find someone you’d enjoy being with who’d also benefit.

Alternatively, here’s an example of “cold outreach.”

When I sat next to someone at a play, I had this unlikely experience. I introduced myself and asked her name. It turned out to be my middle name, the one I had planned to use starting in kindergarten if no one else had it according to the deal I made with my mother.

The woman’s name was Mara. She was the kindergarten classmate who kept me from “becoming” Mara! Also turned out we were we both active in the same professional organization.

So, you’ll never know if your encounters will be an adventure with legs, just a pleasant exchange, or a dud when you start a conversation with a stranger.

As you reach out to others, known and unknown, keep testing and clarifying your own commitment and interest by asking yourself what you want in a friendship and what you’re willing to invest to encourage it?

8 Habits of ‘Popular People’ That Make Us Want to Be Their Friend

Finally, How “Unbusy” Are You Willing to Get?

Will you let go of one or two matters weekly to leave a few hours for starting or deepening a relationship? If not now, when?

Whether you tend to be a sociable extrovert, an introvert who prefers privacy and solitude, or someone in between, attend to the tradeoffs and balances in the close connections you have and will nurture.

Choose people who appreciate, understand, and accept who you are among a range of individuals who complement or strengthen your own potential as well as generous tendencies and nature. They may include curiosity, courage, caring ─ and love.

These words of diarist and author Anais Nin may inspire and advance you further: “Each friend represents a world in us, possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

This guest article was originally published on YourTango.com: How To Invest In Your Friendships ─ Even When You’re Super Busy.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.

7 Keys to Finding Balance in Complex Times

We live in a complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing time, and one aspect of daily life that seems elusive is a sense of balance. Often when people talk of happiness, they are really speaking of the by-product of living in a balanced and meaningful way. Yet many forces, some internal and others external, push and pull in the moment or over the course of the day or week, enough so that we find ourselves off center. Too much time spent in this mode wears us out and invites a feeling of being out of synch and trying to catch up or catch our breath.

Complexity challenges us to change for an important reason: simplicity. The process is one of transformation (not just addition) and we become more able and complex individuals, better able to integrate into the ongoing demands of each of our roles. Less really is more. But only if we find the power and perspective afforded by a sense of balance. 

Are there consistent aspects of daily life we can attend to in order to cultivate this sense of balance? The path to simplicity can be complex, and the answer takes time and reflection but…

Here are 7 Keys that are worth a space in your daily life, balance points that keep us centered on simplicity, growth, and well-being. 

1. Move

Simply put, our body structure gives away that we are not meant to be sedentary. Movement is a keystone of good health and we learn and think more effectively when movement is a part of our day. Movement helps mood and attitude. More than just an exercise program, movement honors our form and how we are wired. Plan your exercise and movement as much as you plan other important events. Get up and move, especially after stretches of not moving.

2. Manage Energy

Added to movement, what we consume and how we repair and restore during sleep are vital to all aspects of health and balance. And consumption goes beyond nutrition. In this era, consumption includes media and technology which influences health and sleep. Also, managing energy requires discipline in planning our commitments, an intentional action that keeps us from over-planning or living in a reactive mode. Make the effort to monitor and adjust these key areas of energy to keep the feeling of vitality.

3. Make Space

A bird’s-eye view of the modern schedule reveals a trail of events and transitions. While structure lends a sense of control, too much structure and busy-ness can lead us off path. Making space in the moment connects value with choice (as we are constantly making decisions). And making space within the day’s structure connects action with meaning (ask: did I attend to what matters most?). Active reflection is the ultimate to becoming more purposefully responsive in the moment and connecting a future vision with daily intentions. Planning and adding these “down” times in your day keeps you up in spirit.

4. Appreciate

Balance from this key comes in two forms: gratitude and growth. We are centered when we appreciate life and its inevitable ups and downs. And when we appreciate and purposefully develop our mind, body, spirit, and relationships we are aligned with the flow of being alive. Planning time with the most important people in our lives and reaching out with gestures of gratitude centers us on our most significant relationships — and who are sometimes taken for granted. And actively developing in mind, body and spirit all bring a sense of balance and a positive, creative mindset. Notice how you appreciate and make it a part of your day.    

5. Ride Momentum

Just as we were born to move, life does not stand still. We are either moving forward or sliding backward. All living and open systems obey this. If we notice and reflect on the first four keys, we get a sense of moments building upon each other. Momentum is inevitable based on actions. Setting goals (appreciate) or developing skills are good ways to get a feel for momentum. As you make progress you notice change on several levels. You have overcome the inertia of an old way of thinking or doing. The opposite of forward momentum is feeling “stuck” which is really an off-center state. Momentum is a process we can notice in these balance points and ride its force.

6. Integrate

Notice how all your roles and goals go together. While the whole is always greater and of a different quality than the sum of its parts, noticing how these parts integrate feeds a sense of balance. This global sense of living highlights the relationship between parts and whole and where we are aligned or misaligned. This is different than the typical “compartmentalized” mindset that may work in the moment but not in the long run. We can’t keep putting stress or things that don’t work in a mental box on a shelf. Relief is not progress. But we can learn, change, let go, and align so what we can truly integrate our roles, goals, and relationships in a meaningful whole. 

7. Inspire

One universal feeling we all seek is a sense of “being alive” and connected to something bigger than us. This state resides far from boredom, routine, and productivity, and runs wide and deep. Inspiration can be a purposeful connection to meaning or the Divine. Or separating from the “schedule” and taking a quiet walk in nature. Or reading words that inspire. While awe seems lacking in daily life, its absence drains a vital sense of connection to a greater community. We don’t do well with long periods of feeling uninspired and this often leads to habits of cheap versions of immediate pleasure. Having a daily ritual that inspires can provide the ultimate sense of balance and help to provide the space for life’s most difficult questions and challenges. 

In summary, consider making a wheel with these 7 keys to balance on the spokes and “you” at the center. Just spending some time each day noticing the connection between “you” and the keys can be eye-opening and influential. When we feel balanced all the spokes of the wheel are aligned and oriented to the center. When we feel unsteady and off balance, chances are insight and remedy are in these 7 keys.