CNN published an article today titled: “Happiness is contagious in social networks.“  Here are a few excerpts:

If you’re feeling great today, you may end up inadvertently spreading the joy to someone you don’t even know.  New research shows that in a social network, happiness spreads among people up to three degrees removed from one another. That means when you feel happy, a friend of a friend of a friend has a slightly higher likelihood of feeling happy too.

Also interesting to me – it appears that if you are healthy and happy, there is a larger chance that your friends will become so too!  That’s exciting… what we do does make a difference for our friends and family.

“Like happiness, both smoking behavior and obesity seem to spread within three degrees of separation in a social network.”

It’s like your mom always said… who your friends are DO matter.  On the road to embracing love, life and your health, it’s good to pick the right friends.  And, remember, who you are matters to your friends too!

Embrace Love, Embrace Life, Embrace Your Health!

Since my tooth trauma almost a month ago, and even before that, the fact that we are not covered by healthcare has been on my mind. And, if you’ve seen Sicko, you know even if you ARE covered by health insurance – it doesn’t mean all that much either (especially if you get really sick). Here in the US the only thing to do is be your own healthcare provider and provide yourself with PREVENTATIVE healthcare. For the most part, our doctors either don’t or aren’t equipped to have our best health interests at heart. I know for many it frustrates and angers them, but they are trapped in a system.

Now that I’m pushing forty, and have been feeling the effects of taking my own good health for granted… I know that’s not an option any more. I can’t foist the responsibility off on anyone or anything else. The buck stops here, as they say.

My goals are 1) to be fit enough to run, jump, and play with my daughter and be able to do whatever physical activity I want. If I want to learn to rock climb, I want to be able to do that. If I want to take a week long hiking trip through the Olympic Peninsula, I want to do that. If I want to run around the pond with my daughter at full speed, I want to do that! and 2) to eat food that brings health, healing and longevity to my body.

I think that sums it up without getting too complicated. I’ll be adding more details as we go along — but I think it covers everything in those two goals.

There’s a part of me that is convinced that I’m crazy to do another blog. And that said, I am certainly convinced that this is what I need to do. I wrote a few weeks back about doing the examen and how themes in everyday life can guide you. And the theme that has been there for me is ‘embracing my health‘. This isn’t a small topic – so it deserves it’s own blog.

This blog will follow my journey to optimal health, provide information, recommendations, resources and anything else that is helpful and encouraging to me on this journey (and my intention is that it will be for you too).

My commitment is to be honest even if and when I find it embarrassing. I’m going to share the ins and outs, ups and downs, the victories and the losses.

Ready? I am. Here we go.