BY MIKE SCHWAGER - PUBLISHED IN FT. LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL, “OUTLOOK SECTION” (Sunday, April 25, 2010)

They are the beloved and comfort of millions. They connect us to what is natural and spontaneous and unconditionally loving in our lives. They take us out of our busyness and complexity, out of our everyday stresses, out of our heads, and bring us into the wonder and joy of each moment.

Dogs are members of more than 43 million households in America, and cats of more than 37.5 million. These feeling, intelligent, loyal creatures give comfort to people of all kinds - to the young, middle-aged and elderly, to families with children, to couples without children, and to those living alone. When they are brought into hospitals caring for children with grave illnesses, or into nursing homes tending to the aged, they become healers who bring smiles to faces. They defend homes as faithful watchers. They save lives, whether on the battlefield, or as brave aides to firefighters.

The fact is, each year we kill 3 million healthy and treatable dogs and cats at our shelters. Here in Broward, the number killed is 10,000 per year. At Miami-Dade Animal Services, it is a horrifying 40,000; and in Palm Beach it averages 18,000.

If we are agree that these animals are precious individuals who have a right to live, then we can also agree that a fundamental paradigm shift must take place at all animal shelters. The new underlying principle must be no-kill.

For those who don’t believe it is possible to transition from kill to no-kill, look at other shelters who’ve done it - in Charlottesville, Va., in Tompkins County, New York and in Reno, Nev. They’ve done it. They show it is possible.

Here are strategies needed for a transition to succeed:

Hire a director who embodies humaneness towards animals in his or her philosophy - someone committed to no-kill. This is the linchpin element in a successful conversion, and in the implementation of the other essential elements that must follow. The director must support a “culture of life.”

Hire staff people who are likewise committed to humaneness, and the no-kill principle. This means a review of the people on staff to determine who would support the new principle, the weeding out of those who don’t, and the recruitment of those who do.

Make comprehensive adoption programs central to the shelter strategy. Some examples:

Ongoing and intensive public relations/marketing programs. The new director should hire a director of PR/Marketing equally committed to the no-kill principle. If budget precludes a hire, enlist the support of a retired PR professional. This individual should enlist a team of other volunteer PR pros. Consultation with chapter leader of the local Public Relations Society of America can help pull a team together, as well as outreach to the heads of local PR agencies.

Outdoor or indoor adoption events. Work with local Petsmarts, Petcos, pet supply stores, community wellness centers, festivals and carnivals to set up booths presenting dogs and cats from shelters, and literature about the shelters. Arrange ongoing creative vehicles, and redesign a shelter’s website to reflect new culture of life, with a new name, e.g., “Friends of Best Friends.” Conduct active search engine optimization campaign for this website. Air public service spots on television and radio, and complement those with animal photos on major websites like Craigslist. Follow-up with speaking appearances by shelter officials at PTAs, churches, synagogues, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, as well as in-studio appearances on radio/TV. Use those venues to announce off-site adoption events, and incorporate effective signage allowing traffic to shelters.

Help to increase pet retention. The shelter must be perceived by the community as a place to turn to for advice and support on how pet owners can keep their animals at home. Advice can include everything from discipline and house-breaking training programs to neutering programs to food budget savings.

Volunteers. An impassioned, dedicated and large group of volunteers needs to be the lifeblood of the shelter, often complementing too few-in-number paid staff. At Broward’s ACARD, limits have been put on the numbers of volunteers recruited, and volunteers have been discouraged to photograph animals and post on sites like Craigslist, which previously had brought in hundreds of adopters. Recruit volunteers at booths showcasing animals at festivals, carnivals and local pet supermarkets. Heading the Volunteer Corps should be a humane, paid (or retired) director of volunteers. Reports from other shelters indicate that more enthusiastic volunteers will be recruited after it’s known that a transition to no-kill has occurred.

Rescue groups currently account for only a relatively small percentage of animals saved. They need to be encouraged to pull as many animals as possible from a shelter - and not get discouraged from doing so. And that includes not only purebreds but the many greater-in-number and wonderful mixed breeds as well. Rescuers free up cage and kennel space, and reduce costs for feeding, cleaning - and killing. They need our support, not our discouragement.

Feral cat TNR programs. Trap, neuter and release programs have been effected by a number of communities across the country to reduce death rates.

Proactive redemptions. Often overlooked are lost animal reclaims. Sadly, besides having pet owners fill out a lost pet report, very little effort is made in this area. Becoming more proactive has proven to have a significant impact on life-saving and allow shelters to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families. Read animal advocate Nathan Wingrad’s book, Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation.

When you visit an animal shelter, walk up close to a dog or cat, and really look at it, appreciating it for its life and being. You can see and feel that you have simply connected with life, not only its life but your life. Then you can love it as you love yourself.

Mike Schwager lives in Plantation. His animal advocacy site: www.CompassionateAnimalFriendsofBroward.org. E-mail him at mikemaven@comcast.net.

This is the eulogy I wrote for my dear friend Luise Light, who passed away on April 15th.  I was unable attend the funeral in New York.  The remarks were read by her daughter Orrea. She will be sorely missed.

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I have Google to thank for finding Luise Light. It was 2007 and I was searching for a nutritional columnist for my new site, Enrichment.com.  I entered words like “nutritional experts, holisitic nutritional experts” and “stumbled” upon Luise and her book, “What To Eat:  The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and be Healthy!

 

I say “stumbled” – but now in retrospect, I know that meeting Luise was no accident.  It was as if I had reunited with a dear old friend, someone I had known for eons…and I had the feeling that we were two souls who had rediscovered each other.  Somehow, Spirit, with the help of Google, had let us to each other.

I have never met Luise in person.  That’s incredible to me because our connection was so deep and so satisfying, even if on the phone.  And who can mistake that rich and fullsome “Hello” as she picked up the phone.  Her unmistakable signature.  I think Luise could hardly wait to see who was calling.  For living up in Vermont, and living alone, the phone was her connector to the outside world.  The Internet too of course, but it was as if Luise rejoiced in connecting to people.  I think she celebrated each day in her phone meetings and exchanges with the people who constituted her galaxy of friends and colleagues.

I always felt Luise was full of energy, and enthusiasm, and eagerness to explore the world.  But it was much more than that.  For Luise was an intellectually brilliant person – and she was deeply spiritual in her own unique way.  You see, Luise CARED about the world, and about humanity.  Sometimes, when I’ve thought of Luise, I’ve thought of that statement by Rumi, “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”  Because there was some kind of joy in Luise, and I think this joy had an almost kabbalistic quality – and by that I mean Luise’s joy had to do with going about to repair the world, making the world a better place, bringing it aright the way God intended it to be.

Luise cared about what we cavalierly call “Quality of Life”.  But for her there was nothing cavalier about that phrase.  Luise was deeply suspicious and resentful of what happens when entrenched power works for greed, or for anything that demeans the natural and God-given health and quality of life of the individual.  Luise was a true champion of the rights of the individual, a defender of each of our rights to live full and happy lives, and healthy lives.  Consequently, she was a harsh critic of the pharmaceutical industry – an entrenched power that in too many respects, she felt works against our health, overmedicating us and making us sicker, not healthier – all for the sake of more profits – motivated not by a concern for people’s well-being, but by greed.

Luise’s seminal book, What To Eat, shows her as a pioneer in the wellness movement.  As the once director of dietary guidance and nutrition education research at the United States Department of Agriculture – the USDA – Luise was the creator of the famed Food Pyramid.  What many people may not realize is that Luise’s version of the Food Pyramid – the original first draft of the Pyramid – was holistic, and emphasized whole grains and fruits and vegetables.  She was devastated when the USDA turned the tables on her, and reset the contents of the Pyramid by deemphasizing whole grains, and allowing processed flours and sugars and hydrogenated fats to become part of the American diet.  The truth is, is that if Luise Light had been given her way, the great explosion of obesity and diabetes in this country may never have occurred.  That was the potential impact of Luise’s work – and I believe that her pioneering work in striving to navigate a more natural, holistic course for our country laid track for the advent of the holistic food revolution that was about to come.

Dr. Walter Willett, M.D., who was Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said of Luise’s book:  “From her experiences inside the USDA, Dr. Light brings new insights on how powerful agricultural and political forces have created the recipe for our national diet.  Readers who care about their health will find much to learn within these covers.”

 

What To Eat is still a great book, with great advice about healthy eating, and wonderfully nutritious delicious healthy recipes, all tested by Luise and all standing the test of time.

 

I recognized Luise Light as a genius early on in our collegial association.  She was clearly a democrat in the small “d” sense of that word – someone who wanted to bring to the light the darker forces at work in political and corporate power mongering – mongering that undermined the health and rights of the individual.  She was a brilliant investigator of the work and movement of these darker forces, and a writer of articles on subjects seeking to expose them.

 

As her friend, I came to sense that Luise, with all her passion, and brilliance, did not fully recognize the extent of her genius or greatness.  I sometimes felt called to acknowledge her for her great gifts, to remind her of them, and to urge her to continue on her mission – and that the potential for great accomplishments were still ahead of her.  And because she was my friend, I will be eternally grateful to her for standing as an acknowledger and reminder of my own gifts and talents.  We were two souls, each on a mission, who recognized each other, and supported each other by being mirrors of each other’s gifts.

 

There was something else about Luise – and that is that she was a powerful voice for the Feminine Principle – the principle of Compassion and Kindness that has been sorely lacking in our world for so many centuries.  Without that principle, and its integration into society, everything is lopsided and out of balance.  Wars become rampant.  Holocausts and man’s inhumanity and cruelty to man create great wounding in the world.

 

Luise was a voice for the reintegration of the Feminine Principle into our world.  She was working on Magdalene as an archetypal representation of that Principle, and I have no doubt that that book, had it been completed, would have received a great and wonderful reception.

 

Luise introduced me to a man by the name of Dror Ashuah, who is here with you today.  Dror has written a wonderful book, now in multiple volumes, called Conversation with Angels.  It is a book of healing, written by a gentle soul who has been receiving messages from a higher dimension, beings who love us and care about us.

 

The wonderful thing about Luise is that she could recognize great souls like Dror, who as a man is also a carrier of the Feminine Principle into the world.  Luise assisted Dror as an editor with some of his material.  She had that special gift of recognizing people who are here to bless the world with messages of love and brotherhood and sisterhood.

 

In so many ways, Luise Light, was an emissary of the Light, and of Universal Love.

 

Did she have her struggles?  Yes she did.  One trauma she revealed to me, which I feel I can share with you at this time, is that Luise as a very young woman, as a girl really, while on a student trip overseas, was raped.  The ferocity of this act, and the deep wounding it created, set her on a long and sometimes difficult course of healing.  My own feeling is that this experience, while utterly dreadful, also heightened her awareness of the need for the Feminine Principle I just mentioned, the need for Love and Compassion, to come into the world as it has never come in before.

 

When she told me she had cancer, several months ago, and that it was a particularly difficult type, I recommended a remedy from China that had put my mother Sonny into remission.  Luise began on this remedy, but unfortunately had an allergic reaction to it.  Never, in the several months since Luise learned of her illness, until the time she arrived at the hospice, until the last moments of her life – never did I hear any fear in her voice.  I think part of her greatness is that as much as she felt a great mission still ahead of her, she seemed to also accept the hand that Destiny had given her.  I believe Luise trusted God at the deepest level.

 

For weeks, and every other day, I had the great privilege to give to Luise, on the phone, a ten minute Spiritual Healing Mind Treatment.  In that treatment, words would be said to her like:  “You are an individualized creative expression of the Infinite Creative Power of God.  There is One Divine Source, One Spirit of Love and Light pervading the Universe.  You are at One with this great Creative Source of all that is forever giving out of the loving action of Spirit.  You ARE Spirit manifest as Luise Light, a being of Light.”

 

When words such as this were uttered to Luise, she would often respond with the Hebrew Words, “Baruch Hashem” – “Blessed be God’s name”.

 

In this, I realized that Luise Light had not forgotten her Jewishness.  That she was a true daughter of Zion, living this life as a Universal Jew – and as one truly dedicated to Tikkun ha-Olam – the Repair, the Restoration of the World.  Our great, sweet Luise was one who was here to help bring Heaven to Earth!

 

My dear great sweet friend – thank you for having been in my life – thank you for seeing me, and dear God, thank you for having in some small way allowed me to have been a mirror for Luise to recognize her own greatness.  For great she surely was and is.

 

I also want to say that Luise loved her daughters Sarah and Orrea very much.  She told me so, and that she was very proud of them.  I note that the first people – the “women healers” – she dedicates her book to are her daughters, Sara Light-Waller and Orrea Light.

 

God Bless you Luise – and may you be blessed by all the angels and archangels on the other side – and embraced in the unconditionally loving embrace of God’s warm Hands.

May your Dreams continue onward, into the Celestial Sphere, and may all you have touched and taught, revere you always and touch the world with your light and love.  Amen.

 

Mike Schwager

April 18, 2010

Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Joseph Campbell said about Dr. Grof:  “I know of no work that so well incorporates the findings of Freud, Jung and Rank, adding fresh insights, which the methods of those psychotherapists could never have achieved.”

Currently, Dr. Grof is Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, and teaches at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA

Here is what Dr. Grof described after an experience on LSD:  “What happened next was my consciousness catapulted out of my body.  I lost the research assistant, I lost the clinic, I lost Prague, I lost the planet.  I had the feeling that my consciousness had no boundaries anymore, and I had become the totality of existence….it became clear to me that consciousness is not a product of the neurophysiological processes in the brain, as I had been taught at the university, but something much higher, possibly superordinate to matter.  The idea that consciousness somehow mysteriously emerges from matter didn’t make sense to me anymore.  It was easier to imagine that consciousness could create the experience of the material universe by an infinitely complex orchestration.  I was suddenly in the realm of the Eastern philosophies, where consciousness is a primary attribute of existence and cannot be reduced to anything else.”

It is this statement that fascinates me, and confirms my own speculations and intuition, without ever having experimented with LSD, but validated by various forms of meditation and especially an energetic form called “Body Focusing” taught by Don Kollmar, formerly of New York City, and now of Amsterdam, Holland.

On Enrichment.com, please also read my interview with renowned physicist Dr. Amit Goswami, author of “Creative Evolution” - who says that Evolution is guided by Higher Consciousness (the Consciousness undoubtedly referred to by Dr. Grof).

Tilikum, the Orca Whale at Seaworld, must be saved.  Orcas are great intelligent beings, and should not be confined to pools that are far too small for their size and spirit.  The ocean is their natural habitat – and in the case of Tilikum – who did not intentionally kill its trainer – it should be released to a larger environment and not killed.  Tilicum and the other Orcas are energetically suppressed at Seaworld.  A terrible thing.  Like the other Orcas at Seaworld in Orlando – and other entertainment parks – the Orcas are confined because they are an entertainment attraction that bring in big bucks.  This must stop. The Orca does not deserve this.

Tilikum is now confined to an even smaller space – a tiny holding space – where it can barely move.  This is atrocious – cruel – horrible.  Because Tilikum has been confined for so long, it should be moved to an Ocean area much, much larger than the pool at Seaworld, yet that has wide and large boundaries so it is under some kind of protection, but not a crippling protection.

 

Mark Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, who was interviewed for Enrichment.com [see: www.Enrichment.com (Enrichment.com Interviews Mark Bekoff, author, The Emotional Lives of Animals) said in Psychology Today:  “Unfortunately, killer whales and other highly sentient beings are shipped here and there from one zoo or aquarium to another to be used in shows that generate a lot of money. We need to respect these beings for who they are and not put them on display as if they’re some sort of commodity or object who live for our own entertainment, because they’re not. Indeed, many whales possess spindle cells that are important in processing various emotions and anyone who’s been around orcas and other cetaceans know that they are extremely emotional beings. Some people argue that cetaceans may fulfill the criteria for being called ‘persons.’”

 

Michael Yaki, writing for SF Gate, said:  “Does a species that research shows has its own unique language and dialects, … that has documented teaching behavior passed between generations, whose brain is complex enough to process multiple dimensions of sound and sight, and who is built for the open water, deserve to be subject to the bounds of concrete tanks? Is there something inherent in their conditions that, for lack of a better word, drive some of them crazy? … Let’s not just free Willy. Let’s free them all.”

 

Please send an urgent protest letter or fax to the two people who can save Tilikum.  Demand that Tilikum be saved, and sent to a larger environment.  Demand that all the Orcas be removed from Seaworld and returned to the ocean or sent to a much larger environment where their spirits can soar – and where the cruelty of confinement can end.  Demand compassion NOW.  Protest the exploitation of these great Beings for monetary gain.  Protest your refusal to visit Seaworld unless and until Tilikum is saved, and the Orcas are rescued from this horrible confinement.

 

Mr. Keith M. Kasen

Chairman and President

Seaworld Parks & Entertainment

9205 South Park Center Loop

Suite 400

Orlando, FL 32819

FAX:   314-613-6049

Phone: 314-577-2000

and

Mr. Stephen A. Schwarzman

Chairman & CEO

Blackstone Group

345 Park Avenue, 31^st floor

New York, NY 10154

FAX:   212-583-5712

Phone: 212-583-5000

 

The Blackstone Group is an alternative asset management group which owns Seaworld Parks & Entertainment.  Its sole purpose is to make money.  Mr. Schwarzman must be told in no uncertain terms that the sacred lives of the Orcas must not be hijacked for profits.  It is an abomination!!

I’m happy to announce that I am now hosting a new Internet radio show called “The Enrichment Hour” on The Sedona Talk Radio Network.  Here is the link:  www.sedonatalkradio.com/the-enrichment-hour.  My show airs every other Tuesday, from 7 PM to 8 PM Eastern, and 4 PM to 5 PM Pacific.  You can call into the show at this number:  917-889-8553.

The Enrichment Hour is loosely based upon my spiritual/human potential/humanitarian web portal, www.Enrichment.com.  Its slogan:  “Enrich Your Life…Enrich Our World”.

I’m interested in speaking to authors, celebrities and opinion leaders on topics that can inspire people to enrich their lives inwardly and outwardly.

If you have a guest for The Enrichment Hour, you can e-mail me at:  mikemaven@comcast.net, or call me at 954-423-4413.   Thank you.

HELP HAITI !! Folks - the 7.0 earthquake that just hit Haiti was catastrophic. It has devastated this little country, the poorest in the world. The Prime Minister has said hundreds of thousands have already died, and the numbers may skyrocket to above a million. It’s a terrible situation for a nation mired in deep chronic poverty; and evidently the epicenter was near the capital city of Port-Au-Prince, in an area of very poor people.

The Miami Herald just published a good page with relief organizations to which people can donate. Please help and give as generously as you can. Here’s link and below:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1421696.html

Last month, on December 10th, in Oslo, Norway, President Obama delivered his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize.  I thought it was a great speech, and has not been given enough attention or acknowledgement.  In that speech, the President navigated between the onward movement towards justice, humanitarianism and human rights, reduction of global poverty, global cooperation and world peace - with a recognition that “evil” exists in the world and that it must be confronted.  Here is a small excerpt:

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

“I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago - “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive - nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

“But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”

As someone who sees himself as dedicated to helping to raise consciousness in the world - to being involved in looking for ways to encourage the expansion of human potential and dialogue between peoples (see my website www.Enrichment.com, and tune into my Internet spiritual radio show “The Enrichment Hour” on The Sedona Talk Radio Network [http://www.sedonatalkradio.com/the-enrichment-hour]), I am part of that group of millions who wish to help build a better world that allows for a real worldwide peace that constitutes the forward movement of human development and creativity, and human progress in science AND the human heart.  That said, I am also the son of German Jewish parents who fled Nazi Germany, and whose father lost his beloved mother and brothers and sisters to the awful hand of Hitler’s extermination squads.  My father, along with others who survived the Holocaust, was a wonderful man who used to tell me to “never judge another human being by his or her race or religion.”  I came to know too that he never totally recovered from the anguish of his losses, nor later the losses of his buddies who he fought with as a soldier in Darby’s First Ranger Battalion during World War II.

It was in part, I think, my awareness of my father’s experiences that brought to life my understanding of the horrors of war and totalitarianism, and my dedication to in some way work to build a gentler, kinder world.   I’ve come to understand that “consciousness” is the key, and that we must dedicate ourselves to first, developing our own consciousness, which includes acknowledging both the shadow side within us and working on the elimination of our own demons, along with accessing our inner greatness and gaining an understanding of our unique talents and missions - followed by helping in some way to inspire others to do the same.

I became momentarily discouraged as a consequence of 9/11, wondering if all the work of so many to build the better world, was in vain.  I quickly snapped out of it, though, recognizing that the forward march of consciousness has always encountered challenges and seeming setbacks.  Our duty, it seems to me, is to counter the adversarial forces with steadfastness of purpose - and I came to recognize that that steadfastness included the reconciliation of two “seeming” opposites:  first, a commitment to spiritual/humanitarian growth and development; and second, our recognition that “evil” in the world must sometimes be aggressively challenged.

I urge those of you who have not read President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech to read it.  MSNBC has a full online transcript at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34360743/ns/politics-white_house/

Those of you who have read my postings on this blog know that I did not vote for President Obama.  McCain was my choice in part because I knew that he would not take lightly the Al Quaida threat, and do his utmost to protect our country and encourage other nations to join forces to help rid the world of this tyrannical force.

That said, I think that this speech brilliantly outlines the recognition of this force and the necessity to combat it ALONG WITH the need to build the better world we all yearn for.

Whether the President is fully up to implementing an effective war on terrorism IN ACTION, however, is open to question.  He and his Administration handled the Northwest Airline bomber incident disastrously.  He has recognized the system failed, but has not yet shown his willingness to put into place more effective, experienced and competent people to safeguard our national security.  Janet Napolitano, and others, should be replaced as soon as possible.  It remains to be seen how and when this will happen.  Hopefully it will happen soon.

I believe that “kindness” and “strength” can co-exist.  Spiritual/creative/human development can and must continue - for they represent the inexorable upside impulse in Evolution - and the willingness to confront “evil” in the world must simultaneously be accepted as a decision of necessity in order to ensure a safer and freer world that allows the forward movement of consciousness to continue.

I view “evil” as the absence of light and spiritual awareness.   Whatever it is, if it impinges on our right to exist and/or to live as free men and women, it must be fought.

 

I’m glad to announce the launching of two new YouTube videos today.  Part I - “The Power of the Wire Services…and National Publicity”.  Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EEWxX9elh0&feature=related

Part II - “Values in PR” - which articulates the basic values that drive my search for clients.  Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_op2Bslgo&feature=related

I’d be happy to hear your comments about these YouTube videos.  Indeed, you can rate and comment on each video at YouTube itself; and you can leave your comments here, or write me at:  mikemaven@comcast.net

Thanks and best,

Mike Schwager

Happy Thanksgiving.

“Gratitude” is the key theme of this distinctly American holiday.  A former client of mine, Sir John Templeton, the great financier and investor, believed that “gratitude” was one of the keys to his success.

Sir John also funded many projects through his Templeton Foundation.  The intention of these projects were to advance our understanding of spirituality through science.  In this project, a grant was given to Dr. Robert Emmons from the University of California at Davis, to better understand “gratitude.”  Dr. Emmons conducted eight years of intensive research on gratitude.  His research culminated in a best-selling book, “Thanks! How The New Science of Gratitude Can Make  You Happier.”  Here are his findings, courtesy of his website, GratitudePower.net.

The New Science of Gratitude

Author and researcher Dr. Robert Emmons has discovered what gives life meaning: Gratitude. Emmons found that people who view life as a gift and consciously acquire an “attitude of gratitude” will experience multiple advantages.

Gratitude improves emotional and physical health, and it can strengthen relationships and communities. Some strategies include keeping a gratitude journal, learning prayers of gratitude and using visual reminders.

“Without gratitude, life can be lonely, depressing and impoverished,” said Emmons. “Gratitude enriches human life. It elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms. People are moved, opened and humbled through expressions of gratitude.”

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is tough.

It is, according to Emmons, a “chosen attitude.” We must be willing to recognize and acknowledge that we are the recipients of an unearned benefit.

Emmons’ research indicates that gratitude is not merely a positive emotion; it also improves your health if cultivated. People must give up a “victim mentality” and overcome a sense of entitlement and deservedness.

As a result, he says, they will experience significant improvements in several areas of life including relationships, academics, energy level and even dealing with tragedy and crisis.

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). For example, Watkins and colleagues (Watkins et al., 2003) had participants test a number of different gratitude exercises, such as thinking about a living person for whom they were grateful, writing about someone for whom they were grateful, and writing a letter to deliver to someone for whom they were grateful. Participants in the control condition were asked to describe their living room. Participant who engaged in a gratitude exercise showed increases in their experiences of positive emotion immediately after the exercise, and this effect was strongest for participants who were asked to think about a person for whom they were grateful. Participants who had grateful personalities to begin with showed the greatest benefit from these gratitude exercises. In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude (McCullough, Tsang & Emmons, 2004).

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Highlights from the Research Project on Gratitude and ThankfulnessDimensions and Perspectives of GratitudeCo-Investigators: Robert A. Emmons, University of California, Davis

Synopsis. Gratitude is the “forgotten factor” in happiness research. We are engaged in a long-term research project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being. Scientists are latecomers to the concept of gratitude. Religions and philosophies have long embraced gratitude as an indispensable manifestation of virtue, and an integral component of health, wholeness, and well-being. Through conducting highly focused, cutting-edge studies on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its consequences, we hope to shed important scientific light on this important concept. This document is intended to provide a brief, introductory overview of the major findings to date of the research project. For further information, please contact either of the project investigators.

We are engaged in three main lines of inquiry at the present time: (1) developing methods to cultivate gratitude in daily life, (2) developing a measure to reliably assess individual differences in dispositional gratefulness and (3) designing experimental studies that enable us to distinguish the differential causes and consequences of gratitude and indebtedness.

This project is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation of Radnor, PA.

Gratitude Interventions and Psychological and Physical

Well-Being

In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

A related benefit was observed in the realm of personal goal attainment: Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.

A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others). There was no difference in levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.

Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.

In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.

Measuring the Grateful Disposition

Most people report being grateful (average rating of nearly 6 on a 7 point scale).

Well-Being: Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.

Prosociality: People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others. They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Spirituality: Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities such as prayer reading religious material score are more likely to be grateful. Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002).

Materialism: Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of wealthy persons; and are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

Here is the transcript of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations on September 24, 2009.  These words needed to be spoken.  President Ahmadinejad’s lies about the Holocaust needed to be exposed.  There will never be Peace until all nations and all Peoples are accepted as members of the human family.  That’s the premise of the United Nations.  As member-States of the United Nations, all countries have equal status.  But lies such as Ahmadinejad utters must be denounced - and denounced vociferously.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen. Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland.
   
I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust.  It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events.  Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth. Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants.  Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.
   
Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee.  There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people.  The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments.  Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews.   Is this a lie?  A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.  Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself.  Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered.  Is this too a lie?This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp.  Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie? And what of the

Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie?  One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration.  Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own.  My wife’s grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis.  Is that also a lie?Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium.  To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you.  You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame?  Have you no decency?  A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace!  What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!  Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews.  You’re wrong.  History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others. This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.  In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims.   It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others.  Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated. The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization.  It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death. The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century.  The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day.   Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future.  And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope.   The pace of progress is growing exponentially.  It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet.   What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come. We will crack the genetic code.  We will cure the incurable.  We will lengthen our lives.  We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.    I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment.  These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise. 

But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time.   And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after a horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind.

That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction, and the most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge?  Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom?
 
Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood? Will the international community thwart the world’s most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism? Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
 
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime.  People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall.   Will the United Nations stand by their side?Ladies and Gentlemen, the jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging.  Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims.  That is exactly what a recent UN report on

Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.

For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities.   Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks.
 
We heard nothing – absolutely nothing – from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.
     
In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza.  It dismantled 21 settlements and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis.  We didn’t get peace.  Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv.   Life in Israeli towns and cities next to

Gaza became a nightmare.You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.
 
Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault,

Israel was finally forced to respond.  But how should we have responded? 

Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country’s civilian population.  It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II.  

During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties.  

Israel chose to respond differently.  Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians –

Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers.

That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances.

Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas.  We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave. Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy’s civilian population from harm’s way.   Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn?

Israel.  A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot.
 
By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals.  What a perversion of truth!  What a perversion of justice!Delegates of the United Nations, will you accept this farce?    Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies, when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat. If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity.
 
And in condemning Israel, this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace.  Here’s why.  When Israel left

Gaza, many hoped that the missile attacks would stop.  Others believed that at the very least,

Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense.  What legitimacy?  What self-defense? 

The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us –my people, my country - of war crimes?  And for what?  For acting responsibly in self-defense.  What a travesty!

Israel justly defended itself against terror.  This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments.   Will you stand with

Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?  We must know the answer to that question now.   Now and not later.  Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow.
 
Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.Ladies and Gentlemen, all of Israel wants peace.   Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace.   We made peace with

Egypt led by Anwar Sadat.  We made peace with

Jordan led by King Hussein.  And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of

Israel, will make peace.  But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace.
In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples – a Jewish state and an Arab state.  The Jews accepted that resolution.  The Arabs rejected it.   We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years:  Say yes to a Jewish state.  Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people.   The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of

Israel.   This is the land of our forefathers.

 
Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.  They shall learn war no more.”   These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of

Jerusalem.   We are not strangers to this land.  It is our homeland.As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own.   We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity. But we must have security.  The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel.  That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized.   We don’t want another Gaza, another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.
 
We want peace. I believe such a peace can be achieved.  But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran, that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order.
 
The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.
 
Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the “confirmed unteachability of mankind,” the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them. Churchill bemoaned what he called the “want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong.”

I speak here today in the hope that Churchill’s assessment of the “unteachability of mankind” is for once proven wrong.  I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history — that we can prevent danger in time.
  
In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage.  Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.