Life is So Good by George Dawson & Richard Glaubman

Dawson, George, and Richard Glaubman. Life is So Good. New York: Penguin, 2000.

George Dawson was in his nineties when he learned to read. He was a centenarian when he and coauthor Richard Glaubman wrote his biography, Life is So Good. I think Dawson’s life was good, and not just because it has been so long.

Even a good life is sometimes hard. Most of Dawson’s life was hard. Black and poor were not auspicious beginnings for a boy in Texas at the beginning of the 20th Century. In the opening chapter, Dawson tells of how, as a boy, he witnessed the lynching of a young black man falsely accused of raping a young white woman. Dawson was ready to become bitter and withdraw from all contact with white people, but his father would not allow him to even consider it.

Dawson presents his parents and wise and pragmatic, making things better for themselves bit by bit. He picks it up and does the same thing in his own life, especially once he settled down to start his own family.

He had some wandering to do first. His early life of travel and adventure makes for interesting reading. He road trains all over North America, sometimes as a ticketholder and sometimes joining the hobos. He was able to find work wherever he went, mainly because there was no job so hard or unpleasant he was unwilling to try it.

Traveling opened his eyes, especially to race relations in the U.S. Growing up in the South, he thought the discrimination and oppression he was accustomed to be the way things were. In Mexico and Canada, even in parts of the U.S., he was treated like anyone else, regardless of color. Mexican villagers welcomed him like family and delighted in the novelty of someone so tall. Canadian lumbermen were curious about his home and happily directed him to the snow he had never seen before—it almost killed him. In his early days, he found it strange to be in places where no one cared which train car he was in or the restaurant at which he ate.



Things changed a lot in Dawson’s more than 100 years of life, though racism hasn’t disappeared. (I grew up in a town that was 99 percent white and I’m barely 40 years old. In the same county were villages that were almost entirely black.) Even in the face of difficulties, Dawson persisted and bit by bit made life better for himself and his family. When retirement came it wasn’t time to rest from his labors, it was time to pick up the education he had been denied as a boy because he had to work.

Dawson’s life story is worth reading simply because he is a witness to history who tells his story in an interesting and accessible manner. It’s worth reading because, without trying, it has a message too: don’t worry. Dawson recommends that people not worry if they want a good life. I think it’s very good advice. Arguably, though, he was working too hard most of his life to have time for worries, even though he had cause for them.

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First Thessalonians

First Thessalonians.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Paul covers several topics in this letter to the church at Thessalonica.  The main theme is that Jesus Christ will return and believers should be reassured in that fact.  He mentions the second coming twice before teaching about it in some detail.

Paul praises the church for their faithfulness and godly character in the face of persecution.  Their behavior was a sign to all of their faith in gospel of Jesus Christ.  They could bear troubles with patience because they new He is coming again and He had already rescued them from the judgment he will deliver on His return.

Part of the persecution the church face appears to involve attempts to discredit Paul and the gospel he taught.  He presents two defenses.  First was his conduct during his time in Thessalonica.  He did not try to take advantage of the people, but worked hard to take care of them.  Second, the proof of the gospel was the endurance and faithfulness of the people who believed it.  Paul concludes this section of his letter with another reference to the second coming, stating how much he will delight in them with the Lord at that time.

The letter was prompted in part by Timothy’s visit to Thessalonica and his report on the state of the church there.  Paul is encouraged by what he hears and encourages the Christians to continue in the faith.  It may seem disheartening that he reminded them to live lives of sexual purity, good order, and peace.  A glance around almost any church even today will show how much we need such reminders.

Before wrapping up, Paul gets deeper into the subject of the second coming.  First, he addresses the question of those who die before Christ’s returns.  Is that the end for them?  Will they not be with the Lord?  They though Christ might return in their own lifetime, and were concerned about Christian brothers who had passed away.  Paul reminded them of Christ’s resurrection, and taught that dead Christians would be brought back to life in the same way.  When He comes again, all of His people, alive and dead raised to new life, will join Him.  We don’t need to worry, those who God calls He will keep forever.

The other question about the second coming, one that people still ask, is: When will it happen?  Only God knows.  The rest of us will be caught by surprise.  For Christians, though, this is no cause for fear.  At any moment we could be with the One we long to be with, our God, our Savior, our Helper, with a kind of unveiled intimacy we have barely tasted.  In the meantime, we should live with faith, love, and hope as we have been called.

Paul’s message to these Christians, and by extension to us, is simple.  You believed the truth and God has saved you.  Keep living well.  Don’t worry.  Jesus Christ is coming and we will be with Him.

Paul also wrote

Colossians

First Corinthians

Galatians

Philippians
Romans
Second Corinthians

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The Solution by Lucinda Bassett

You may have heard of Lucinda Bassett and the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety. I remember hearing her on radio commercials talking about a book or audio program. You may have seen her infomercial or an appearance on a talk show, notably Oprah.

As you can guess form the name of her business, Bassett focuses on helping people overcome stress, anxiety, and fear. That is the purpose of her book, The Solution.

The first part of The Solution is a description of the problem. Of course, a certain amount of fear, stress, and anxiety are natural. They are our built-in emotional and physical responses to threats in our environment. They become problems when we experience them too often, when they capture us in constrained and unsatisfying lives. The worst part is that much of the fear, anxiety, and stress we experience is our own doing, responses to worries and imagined threats.

Worry turns our imagination into our worst enemy.  We seek out threats, conjure catastrophes, and foresee the worst. Bassett says we can turn this around. We can train ourselves to use our imaginations positively, to seek opportunities, to foresee desirable results. This notion is fundamental to most self-help, but Bassett frames it a little more interestingly. We can worry positively. A great worrier can be a great success.

These worries and the habitual behaviors they trigger, are rooted in a core story. This is another opportunity for reframing. A core story that once lead to defeat and discouragement can become motivation to strive for something better. Exercises in the book guide the reader in discovering his core story.

The second half of the book presents six strategies for dealing with stress and anxiety.

•  Detachment is about accepting and letting go of things you cannot change, being honest, and holding on to peace.
• Security is about improving your attitudes and beliefs about money and getting your financial house in order.
• Good health is important to coping with stress. Diet, exercise and sleep are the keys to good health.
• Compassion is a potent antidote to anxiety. Show yourself compassions by stopping the negative messages you repeat to yourself and intentionally practice positive self-talk.
• Reconnects with you dreams and decide what you want, the develop a plan to achieve your goals. Put the plan into action.
• A balanced life looks different for different people, but balance helps us all feel less anxious. Set your priorities, act on them, and live with purpose in the moment.

 
The strength of the book is Bassett’s own experience. She is someone who was once hindered by anxiety who has turned her imagination from and enemy to an ally. She reframed her core story from one of loneliness and lack to motivation to have a good life of family and abundance. Bassett also enlivens the book with stories of her clients, popular figures, and historical people.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen

Secrets You Keep from Yourself by Dan Neuharth

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Bassett, Lucinda. The Solution: Conquer Your Fear, Control Your Future. New York: Sterling, 2011.

What I Read

Back at the end of 2004, I received from my wife a small journal in which to record the book I’d read and a few notes on them. I didn’t record in this journal every book I read since, but I’ve recorded those that seemed especially noteworthy or interesting to me at the time.

I’ll be reproducing that journal here, in a web-enhanced version. You might think of these notes as micro-reviews. I hope you find them useful and interesting.
Date: February 15, 2005
Title: Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar Author: Zig Ziglar
Thoughts: I enjoyed See You at the Top and Over the Top. I’m encouraged that he learned this over time and overcame setbacks—some surprisingly recent. I hope soon to put aside being a “wandering generality” and start living the life God made for me.



Date: February 17, 2005
Title: No Plot? Not Problem! A Low Stress-High Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days Author: Chris Baty
Thoughts: I’m not sure I’ll undertake this challenge. I do need a kick in the pants to jumpstart my creativity. I hardly do anything anymore simply for the joy of doing it. I need to get some fun back in my life and do some thing I like doing.



Date: March 1, 2005
Title: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Author: Dale Carnegie
Thoughts: “Therefore, do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father know you need all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32).



Date: March 3, 2005
Title: Independent Consulting
Author: David Kintler with Bob Adams
Thoughts: This is one of the books I read while preparing to start a consulting and training business.



Date: March 7, 2005
Title: Forever Ruined for the Ordinary Author: Joy Dawson
Thoughts: I read this book quickly, but there is much in it I’d like to ponder.

Break Out by Joel Osteen

In Break Out, Joel Osteen encourages readers to leave behind limiting beliefs and stretch themselves to have faith for and achieve a bigger life. The themes of this book are very similar to those of his other books.

First, Osteen teaches that God can turn things around. Your past is not an indicator of your future. God can make things change quickly. In the meantime, Osteen encourages readers to do what is right.

In light of this, one should dream big dreams. Not only can God turn things around, He can accomplish more in your life than you can imagine. Hope for things that seem beyond your reach; God can help you achieve them.

Because you are not living alone, but always have the aid of God, you don’t have to worry about being inadequate. If you lack anything you need to achieve your God-given dream, He can provide what you need.

This likewise should affect your prayers. Talk to God about your bid dreams. Especially talk to God about the promises in His Word or examples of how He had provided similar help to others.

As I have mentioned in reviews of other books by Osteen, his works are not especially or uniquely Christian. Like the works of Norman Vincent Peale or Robert H. Schuller, if you strip out any mention of God, you’ll still have a self-help book. An the self-help messages may help you be happier and achieve more. A Christian message, however, cannot be stripped of Christ, why we need him, and what He does for us, and still have content.

Joel Osteen also wrote

I Declare

You Can, You Will

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested it

Be All You Can Be! by John C. Maxwell

Creative Living for Today by Maxwell Maltz

Life's Not Fair, but God is Good by Robert H. Schuller

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

Power in Praise by Merlin R. Carothers

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Osteen, Joel. Break Out: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. New York: FaithWords, 2013.

What I Read (End)

Date: November 27, 2008
Title: His Excellency
Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Thoughts: A readable and balanced biography of a great man.

Date: December 25, 2008
Title: The Spirit
Author: Darwyn Cooke
Thoughts: Great, fun detective stories.

Date: December 28, 2008
Title: Wisdom from the Batcave
Author: Cory A Friedman
Thoughts: A fun way to look at serious ethics.

Date: January 3, 2009
Title: Blink
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Thoughts: The good, the bad and the hope of snap judgments.

Date: January 5, 2009
Title: The Unfinished Game
Author: Keith Devlin
Thoughts: It’s comforting that someone as smart as Pascal had trouble grasping probabilities, though he was handicapped by having to invent the idea first.

Keith Devlin also coauthored The Numbers behind NUMB3RS.

Date: January 15, 2009
Title: The Water Room
Author: Christopher Fowler
Thoughts: An interesting and enjoyable detective story, but he main draw to me was the underground rivers of London.

Date: January 22, 2009
Title: The Joy of Supernatural Thinking
Author: Bill Bright
Thoughts: A very challenging book.

Date: January 31, 2009
Title: The Big Necessity
Author: Rose George
Thoughts: It’s amazing how many people could have better lives if they could just dispose of their shit, and how hard it seems to be to accomplish it.

Date: February 24, 2009
Title: Why Good Things Happen to Good People
Author: Stephen Post & Jill Neimark
Thoughts:
“The generous soul will be made rich,
And he who waters will be watered himself” (Proverbs 11:25).

Date: March 1, 2009
Title: How to Write Mysteries
Author: Shannon OCork
Thoughts: Lots of good ideas. Now to put them to use.

Date: March 17, 2009
Title: The Emotional Energy Factor
Author: Mira Kirshenbaum
Thoughts: “Worry never comes up with good ideas. It never yields comfort. It never brings your ship to any safe harbor” (quote from the book).

Date: March 26, 2009
Title: Mastering Fiction Writing
Author: Kit Reed
Thoughts: “You’re going to have to write a lot of crap in your life before you write anything good, so you might as well get started” (quote from the book).

Books I Want to Write
Goal Setting that Works
A hardboiled, science fiction crime story
The Prodigal
Phin

Other parts of What I Read:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,
Part 11, Part 12

Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine M. Pittman & Elizabeth M. Karle

We can face all kinds of situations that cause anxiety. For some of us, that anxiety can be overwhelming and get in the way of living the life we want. Feelings of anxiety are produced in the brain as a response to triggering circumstances, and we can retrain our brains to lessen our anxious responses. Psychologist Catherine M. Pittman and her co-author Elizabeth M. Karle explain this in Rewire Your Anxious Brain.

The authors devote quite a bit of the book to describing the workings of those parts of the brain most involved in our sense of fear and anxiety. These are the amygdala and the cortex.

The amygdala has a lot of control over our fight, flight or freeze response. It is centrally located and well connected in the brain, so it can produce a powerful response before our thinking mind—the cortex—can figure out what is going on. In addition, the amygdala has its own emotional memories, independent of the cortex, so you may have an anxious response to a stimulus you have little conscious awareness of.

A big part of dealing with anxiety is retraining the amygdala. This can be difficult because it involves exposure to situations that produce anxiety. When you face those situations and see that there is no negative impact, or that they were less than you expected and you can handle it (you didn’t die), your amygdala learns that these situation aren’t so threatening and it will stop producing anxious responses. The authors show how you can take this in steps, starting will less anxiety-inducing stimulus and working your way up, but it may be faster to dive into the deep end.

Retraining the amygdala can be aided by relaxation. The book describes several relaxation practices.

Though the amygdala is always involved in producing anxiety, the cortex can be the source of it or can perpetuate it. Retraining the cortex is mainly a matter of changing your thinking. When you recognize anxiety-producing thoughts, you can change what you are thinking. You might use countering thoughts that you prepared for the situation or you might distract yourself by thinking of something altogether different. Mindfulness is a helpful practice in that it helps you to recognize that your thoughts are not necessarily the reality and you can remain peaceful while the thoughts come and go.

The book is a mix of science and how-to aimed and helping anxious people find relief. The authors strongly suggest that you get help, and I think this is a reasonable suggestion. If anxiety is interfering with your life, you will probably benefit from the aid of a professional. This book can help you understand what is happening and what can be done about it, but you may need some help to actually adapt them your own needs and put them into practice.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel

The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson with Miriam Z. Klipper

Secrets You Keep from Yourself by Dan Neuharth

The Solution by Lucinda Bassett

Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat

Pittman, Catherine M., & Elizabeth M. Karle. Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic & Worry. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2015.

Timeless Healing by Herbert Benson with Marg Stark

Herbert Benson, M.D., is known for discovering the relaxation response. This is a natural, restorative state of the body that can be elicited with practices similar to meditation. Though the relaxation response is discussed in this book, it is not the focus.

Timeless Healing is about the power of the mind, especially the power of belief, to cause or accelerate healing. Benson specifically refers to the well-documented placebo effect, which he refers to as “remembered wellness.” Remembered wellness is a phenomena distinct from the relaxation response, though both can be useful.

Benson summarizes the results of several studies related to remembered wellness. Patient beliefs, caregiver beliefs, and positive patient-caregiver relationships have significant, large effects on healing and the effectiveness of medical treatment. The body affects the brain and the brain powerfully effects the body; they are intimately linked and there is no body-mind dichotomy.

This connection between body and mind was recognized in historic medicine. Because the processes of the body were not understood, ancient physicians relied heavily on remembered wellness. As scientific knowledge increased, medical practitioners became reluctant to acknowledge the effect of remembered wellness, instead preferring the newfound power of science.

That very science had to account for remembered wellness. The placebo effect in powerful.  Traditionally, placebos were thought to be about 30 percent effective; studies conducted by Benson and his associates showed them to be 70 to 90 percent effective. Instead of dismissing the placebo effect as an oddity, Benson advocates recognizing and using remembered wellness in medical practice, patient care, and especially self-care.

Another element of belief that affects health is faith. We seem to be wired to believe in God (or something greater or an ultimate power).  Benson sites studies that show that regardless of the particulars, religious beliefs and observances contribute to healing. He refers to the combination of remembered wellness, the relaxation response and belief as the “Faith Factor.”

Mind-body medicine has gained popularity in the 17 years since Timeless Healing was published, but the overall medical system has not changed a lot, in spite of the constant talk about and changes to medical policy. There is still relevance to Benson’s chapter on incorporating remembered wellness into the medical system, and the billions that could be saved by helping people heal themselves of the mostly stress-related symptoms that drive them to physicians. The book also has a chapter on how an individual can incorporate remembered wellness into his self-care and his relationship with his physician and medical care.

Some strategies for self-care using remembered wellness include

-challenging negative automatic thoughts,

-using visualization and affirmations (especially combined with eliciting the relaxation response),

-focusing on helping others,

-letting go of worries (and stopping obsessing over health and all the medical news),

-recognizing the healing power within yourself while wisely recognizing the need for medical care,

-finding trustworthy guides and advisors

-trusting your instincts and recognize the value of your emotions as well as analytical facts, and

-letting your faith, religion, or belief in God be part of your healing.

There is also a note of warning in the book. The placebo effect can also produce negative results, or a “nocebo” effect. Our beliefs can cause illness and negate the effectiveness of medication. Negative beliefs, stress and worry are bad for your health.

Herbert Benson also wrote The Relaxation Response.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Change Your Brain Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Benson, Herbert, with Marg Stark. Timeless Healing: The Power of Biology and Belief. New York: Scribner, 1996.

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Dog Days by Dave Ihlenfeld

Dog Days is a memoir by fellow University of Missouri alumnus Dave Ihlenfeld about his year as a Hotdogger. A Hotdogger is one who drives one of Oscar Mayer’s Wienermobiles.

As you expect from a memoir, the focus is personal recollections. To me, this was the least interesting part of the book. I have little interest in reading about a young guy falling in love with half the pretty women he meets and trying to get laid. Too many television shows and films are already built on that premise. Ihlenfeld writes for television now, so he may have been playing to a strength. There is a little bit of a coming of age story; a year in the Wienermobile calls for resourcefulness.

There is a little history of the Wienermobile in the book. I found this to be some of the most interesting stuff. If you have only a casual interest in the Wienermobile, don’t worry. The history parts are short an dispersed throughout the book. It is not the focus of the book, but it adds something good. Sure, Hotdogger is a silly job in some ways, but it is connected to a long history of successful marketing.

The book is a little bit travelogue. I wish there could have been more of this. I don’t normally read travel books, but the context of it made me open to reading about the destinations. Perhaps the problem is that too many of destinations were county fairs, Walmarts and grocery stores. You can only go so far to make them interesting, especially when your memory of the is clouded by exhaustion (and I suspect the occasional hangover).

I enjoyed the book , though. It is an interesting mix of the personal, historical and geographical. It’s a glimpse into something few people experience. And while I don’t mean to offend Ihlenfeld if he is still working there, it is much better than Family Guy.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Paperboy by Henry Petroski

Ihlenfeld, Dave. Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. New York: Sterling, 2011.

The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson with Miriam Z. Klipper

Benson, Herbert, and Miriam Z. Klipper. The Relaxation Response. Updated ed. New York: Whole Care, 2000.

Dr. Benson presents the relaxation response as a natural ability of people to reduce the activities of their sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is our “involuntary” nervous system, which responds to stress and relates to our fight-or-flight response.

For a variety of reason, modern living causes us to respond inappropriately to stresses with the fight-or-flight response. This leads to hypertension, or high blood pressure, which significantly contributes to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and other diseases like heart attach or stroke. Benson is a cardiologist, so much of the book focuses on high blood pressure and related diseases.


The relaxation response is something of an opposite of the fight-or-flight response. Instead of preparing the body for action, it is a state of relative inaction and recovery. Blood pressure and oxygen use are lower during the relaxation response. Regular elicitation of the response results in generally lower blood pressure, and hopefully reduced risk and severity of related diseases.

Also in contrast to the fight-or-flight response, which kicks in automatically, the one must consciously enter the relaxation response. Though many techniques may elicit the response, they all amount to some form of meditation.

Two essential meditative practices that activate the response are a mental device and a passive attitude. The mental device is usually a word or phrase repeated silently or aloud. It may also be a gaze fixed upon an object. This focuses the attention and reduces distraction. When thoughts or outside stimuli distract, return to the mantra or fixed gaze.

A passive attitude is also necessary; it may be the most important thing. Disregard distractions. Do not try to force the relaxation response, let it happen. Do not worry about getting it right.

A quiet location and a comfortable position aid meditation. Too much comfort may result in falling asleep. Sleep is different from the relaxation response.

Write Your Heart Out by Rebecca McClanahan

McClanahan, Rebecca. Write Your Heart Out: Exploring and Expressing What Matters to You. Cincinnati, OH: Walking Stick Press, 2001.



Write Your Heart Out differs from many other books on writing because less on the craft and business of writing and more on the life of writing. It covers the journey of being a writer from the inside out.

McClanahan begins the journey with journaling and other private writing that is not meant to be shared. Private writing provides the opportunity for writing without worry of judgment, recording daily events or major life passages and discovering yourself. Writing can be a way to preserve memories, deal with a painful past, find your way and celebrate joys. Private writing doesn’t have to lead to anything else, but it can; even a mundane diary may spark a memory or provide perspective and inspiration for creative works.

The next passage in the journey is letters. Here a writer begins to communicate with others. Letters can be powerful and tangible ways of connecting with others. McClanahan offers advice on how to write various types of letters and what to include. If you’re looking for a way to express your sympathy or love, this chapter can help you get started.

The writer moves on to working with other writers and writing in or about work. Working with other writers can mean collaboration, but in can also be any level of sharing with other writers to help them and receive their help. McClanahan describes several ways you can be part of a community of writers. Unless you’re one of the relative few who make a living writing full time, you’re already a part of a community of work. Your job or profession can be a rich source of material for writing. Use your expertise, or even your failures.

Moving to being a public writer involves honing your work. At this stage, a writer looks for sharable ideas in their work, tests their ideas against readers and their own standards, commits to revision and learns to let go of what they’ve written. For some, writing will become a way of life and they will find a way to keep at it with diligence.

If your interested in this book, you may also be interested in
You Can Write a Column by Monica McCabe Cardoza
You Can Write for Magazines by Greg Daugherty