Young@Heart

Friday, 15. January 2010 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

I saw the documentary about “Young@Heart” on PBS the other night. I found it quite inspiring.

Young@Heart Chorus is a fluctuating group of about two dozen singers in Northhampton MA, whose average age is 80.

The documentary concentrates on the rigorous preparation for a 2006 concert at the Academy Theater in Northampton. Guided by the chorus’s demanding longtime director, Bob Cilman - instead of comfortable walks around the block, rehearsals (three a week) are demanding hikes over hilly terrain - yet the challenge only makes the “summit” that more exciting.

* The first video clip is a song sang during their performance at the theater. The second clip is an earlier performance for inmates. Enjoy.

Clip One

Clip Two

Finding Purpose… Even In Difficult Times

Saturday, 03. October 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

“He who has a WHY to live for can bear with almost any HOW.” – Nietzsche

Life does not always go the way we plan – It is not always a bed of roses, for along the way, the thorns that co-exist with those roses will find ways to let you know they are still there. 

When some people enter into a time of sorrow, suffering, or difficulty, they can become lost.  A painful experience can cause a person to question the meaning of it all… But we must never forget that an individual can find true purpose and meaning – even in the face of severe and difficult situations.

Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl tells this story:

“Once, an elderly physician came to talk to me because of his severe depression.  He just could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before, and whom he had loved above all else.

Now, how could I help him?  What should I tell him?

Well, I refrained from telling him anything, but instead confronted him with the question, ‘What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?’

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!’  Whereupon I replied, ‘You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her of this suffering – to be sure – even at the price that you now have to survive and mourn her instead.’ 

The Doctor said no words, but shook my hand and calmly left my office.  In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning – such as the meaning of a loving sacrifice.”

In that moment I succeeded in changing his attitude toward his unalterable fate… helping him to see a meaning in his suffering.”

** When we are not able to change a situation we face – we are then challenged to change ourselves.  I am a firm believer the difficult times can always be redeemed in ways that (though difficult) can provide sincere meaning, purpose, and service to others.

What difficultly in your life needs to redeemed by discovering it’s meaning and purpose?

The Fuel of Sustained Leadership - Your Health

Sunday, 26. August 2007 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

10 Useful Tips for Taking Care of Your Health and Weight

One way a Leader can maximize their effectiveness is to make sure their health, energy, and weight are carefully maintained.  The following are a few wise tips: (Revised from: http://www.global-nutrition-inc.com)

1. Eat 4-6 small meals each day.  Spread your calories out evenly during the day to help keep your metabolism moving and your energy levels naturally high.  Try to target balancing each meal so that they contain roughly the same amount of calories.  Meal replacement and nutrition bars are an easy way to supplement up to 3 meals a day.

2. Balance each meal with protein, carbs and fat.  By providing reasonable amounts of these three essential nutrients at each meal, your body will have the fuel it needs to run at an optimum level.  Balancing the nutritional make-up of your meals also helps prevent the storage of body fat.
• Preferred sources of protein are: fish, lean meat, chicken, eggs, turkey, lean pork, protein powders.
• Preferred sources of carbohydrates are: fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains.
• Preferred sources of fats are: olive oil, nuts, fish oils, canola oil.

3. Choose the right carbohydrates.  When choosing a meal, select complex carbohydrates that are “colorful” and high in fiber (like fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts).  Try to avoid highly processed carbohydrates like pasta, bagels, crackers, chips, soda and candy.  Highly processed carbs have little nutritional value and can easily be stored as body fat.  If it’s a carbohydrate and it comes in a bag or a box, you should be suspect.

4. Don’t forget completely about the fat. Despite all the hype, fat IS an important part of a diet and is necessary for fat loss.  One benefit is that fat digests slowly and thus makes you feel full so you eat less.  Fat also helps in the proper digestion of carbs and protein; without it your body just cannot process food efficiently.  The key is to select foods that are rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.  These include salmon, mackerel, almonds, walnuts, olive and canola oils.

5. Eat until you are no longer hungry, not until you are stuffed full.  A common mistake people make in their everyday eating habits is they just eat too much.  You do not need to be stuffed at every meal, or eat every bite . . . despite what your mom told you, it is ok to leave food on your plate.  Even better, don’t put so much on your plate in the first place.  Keep your portion sizes under control.  (** If you find yourself eating for no reason, or you just can’t stop, you are probably eating to fill a void in your life.  Taking time to evaluate the areas of your life that are making you unhappy will help.  More food is never answer, and overeating will always result in feeling worse.)

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