Daily Thoughts & Issues

IN THIS ISSUE:

DECEMBER 27

Days left until the next millennium 01.01.3001

December 27 - Kwanzaa. On the second night, light the first candle, while a family member reminds everyone that it stands for umoja, then light the second candle, which will be the red candle to your left. That candle stands for kujichangulia or self-determination. To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others. Have somebody talk about the principle, then put out the candles. * Terrorists launch simultaneous attacks on the airports in Rome, Italy and Vienna, Austria (1985). * Day the Clear Water Act was enacted (1977); day to give thanks for the water we drink. The Mystic's Wheel of the Year * Eid-Al-Fitr: Celebrating with Fast, on the Islamic calendar date Shawwal 1, 1421. This feast/festival celebrates the completion of the Ramadan feasting and usually lasts for several days. Everyone wears new clothes, children receive gifts from parents and relatives; children are allowed to stay up late and participate in games, folk tales, plays, puppet shows, trips to amusement parks. This holiday is know as Seker Bayram in Turkey and Hari Raya Puasa in South East Asia. Different methods of "anticipating" the visibility of the new moon crescent at Mecca are used by different Muslim groups. * Radio City Music Hall opens on this date 1932 in New York City. * Birthdays: Louis Pasteur, George Cayley, Johannes Kepler, Lee Salk, Gerard Depardius, William Howell Masters.

DAILY THOUGHTS

Your soul, and its nurturing and crafting, is something only you have control over. Even if your life of getting and spending may have been less than a success, you still hold the power to shape the nature of your soul. New Passages

The most sensitive spot on my body is just behind my earlobe. - Teresa, 24 Best of 1001 Sex Secrets Every Man & Woman Should Know

Follow Your Bliss:  Can you match these people with their former jobs?  1. Singer Perry Como. 2. Actor Clark Gable. 3. Painter Paul Gauguin. 4. Author Henry David Thoreau. 5. Short story author O. Henry. A. Cowboy, b. Barber, c. Stockbroker, d. Lumberjack. e. Pencil maker. The Old Farmer's Almanac (Answer below)

Eliminate the unnecessary, complicated details to shed more light on your goals. Achieve Your Dreams

Things to Be Happy About: Enough firewood to build a big one. A simple holiday party.  Tea and crumpets. 14,000 Things to Be Happy About

You won't catch a whale with a worm. Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me

Think back to the adventures you have had in your lifetime. Those moments in which you took a leap of faith and expanded beyond your comfort zone are precious gifts, as they can remind you of the joy that is available to you when you embrace life with exuberance. These moments can be turning points in your personal history and inspire you to create new realities for yourself whenever you choose. If Life is a Game, These are the Rules

The character traits most critical to creating empowerment are: Integrity - habits are congruent with values, words with deeds, expressions with feeling; Maturity - courage balanced with consideration; Abundance Mentality - there is plenty out there for everybody. A person with these character traits can be genuinely happy for the success and accomplishments of others. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Simplify your monthly bill paying process by arranging to have your monthly bills paid through an automatic payment program. Call your bank today to set it up. Simplify Your Life

Fireplace and Wood stove Safety. Children are fascinated by fire, which means they are at high risk for serious injury when you light up a fireplace or wood stove. No matter what your child's age, taking a few simple steps can protect them: (1) Don't let them sit or play within three feet of a fire. Place a screen in front of a fireplace or around a woodstove for added protection. (2)  Make sure your child wears tight-fitting sleep wear, which is less apt to catch on fire if they come in contact with a heat course. (3) Supervise a young child at all times around a fireplace or wood stove. If you leave the room, take them with you. (4)  Have an inspector check your fireplace chimney or wood stove before you use it each year. Parents Tips & Tricks

Studies show that music played for patients before and after surgery helps reduce anxiety, decrease pain and lessen recovery time, and when music is played during surgery, patients require less sedative. Experiment with the healing benefits of music in your own life. Stress Busters

For the Kids:  Stir up this extra-creamy cocoa. For each person, combine 1 cup milk, 1/8 cup cream, and 2 drops vanilla in a bowl. Add 1 package instant hot chocolate powder, and stir until dissolved. Heat in microwave. Carefully pour into mugs!  To Do Today

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. - Henry David Thoreau. Win the Day!

La alfombra (ahlFOHMbrah) Carpet. Una alfombra de nieve cubre el jardin. The garden is covered with a carpet of snow. Living Language

Answers: 1. b; 2. d, 3. c, 4. e, 5. a.

TODAY'S ISSUE: SELF DETERMINATION

Vaster is man than his works. - Rockwell Kent

We define ourselves and others as well by what "they do." In almost any social setting, where a group of men congregate, there is a moment where each man describes "what he does." This territorial definition serves a number of purposes, but more and more I see something in that exchange far more sinister than wheat appears on the surface.

In this setting men are proving to one another (and this extends to men relating to women as well), that they work the hardest, have the most responsibility, the most demanding careers, and finally, this exchange serves to define the individuals.

Our work is not us. We are so many things. We need not subject ourselves to the most common and misleading denomination: our work. Meditations For Men Who Do Too Much

Hey Man: Did you make a difference yesterday? Let us know at Contact Us. Today I will try to define myself to others not in terms of my work, or a physical manifestation of my career, but rather another, deeper kind of disclosure. Meditations For Men Who Do Too Much Want to make a difference but you don't know where to start?

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Dumbest Generation: How the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future (0r, don't trust anyone under 30) by Mark Bauerlein. Do the digital diversions of the young cut kids off from history, civics, literature, fine art? Does mounting screen time dumb them down? The author thinks "Yes." And this book was designed to open debate for sober skepticism. It was to counter the sanguine portraits of informed and agile teens at the keyboard with dismaying survey results and illustrations of youth insulation and ignorance, kids shunning books and vaunting their digital nativity. We won't know the full intellectual impact of text messaging, Web 2.0, Facebook and the rest for many years and it will show up in distant measures such as the money firms spend on writing coaches for employees, the number of students in remedial classes, popular demand that politicians elevate their rhetoric, and whether the vocabulary level of newspapers inches downward or upward. This book is definitely a wake-up call. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2009, ISBN 978-1-58542-712-3

 

SPECIAL URLs

 

MENSTUFF COLUMNS BY AUTHOR

  • The Advice Diva - The Advice Diva - relationship and sexuality issues discussed - www.menstuff.org/columns/advicediva/archive.html
  • Peter Alsop - Song of the Month - www.menstuff.org/columns/alsop/archive.html
  • Reid Baer - A Man Overboard - Interview of the Month - www.menstuff.org/columns/overboard/archive.html
  • Reid Baer - Poetry - poetry read on YouTube - www.menstuff.org/columns/baer/archive.html
  • Molly Barrow - Shrink About This - www.menstuff.org/columns/barrow/archive.html
  • Peter Baylies - At Home Dads - on at-home-dad issues that impact fathers who stay at home to raise their kids - www.menstuff.org/columns/baylies/archive.html
  • Tom Blake - Middle-Age Relationships - from an expert on dating after 50. www.menstuff.org/columns/blake/archive.html
  • Mark Brandenburg - Great Fathers - on fathering issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/greatfathers/archive.html
  • Ted Braude - BoysWork - a columnist in the The Detroit Free Press "Body and Mind" section www.menstuff.org/columns/braude/archive.html
  • Armin Brott - A Father's Guide - hosts "Positive Parenting" on radio www.menstuff.org/columns/brott/archive.html
  • Dan Bulf - Get Real - weekly pod cast on men's issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/bulf/archive.html
  • Ken Byers - Transition - on men's life transitions - www.menstuff.org/columns/byers/archive.html
  • Sandra L. Caron - Sex Talk - college students get answers to their questions - www.menstuff.org/columns/sextalk/archive.html
  • Neil Chethik - Relationships - www.menstuff.org/columns/chethik/archive.html
  • Otto & Susie Collins - Susie and Otto - relationship issues discussed - www.menstuff.org/columns/susie&otto/archive.html
  • David Copeland - How to Succeed with Women - www.menstuff.org/columns/howtosucceed/archive.html
  • Forrest Craver - Spirituality & Social Change - www.menstuff.org/columns/craver/archive.html
  • Layne & Paul Cutright - Powerful Partnerships - relationship issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/cutright/archive.html
  • Ron DesMarais - Cavemen in the Kitchen - great recipes for men - www.menstuff.org/columns/desmarais/archive.html
  • Jed Diamond - Irritable Male Syndrome - www.menstuff.org/columns/diamond/archive.html
  • Doc Love - Women Don't Lie, Man Don't Listen - answers to relationship issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/doclov/archive.html
  • Barry Durdant-Hollamby - Creating Change - creating change in your life - www.menstuff.org/columns/durdant/archive.html
  • Irv Engel - The Real Deal - www.menstuff.org/columns/engel/archive.html
  • Nancy Fagan - Expert Dating Advice - with Nancy Fagan - www.menstuf.org/columns/fagan/archive.html
  • Warren Farrell - Men's Issues: Facts and Perspectives www.menstuff.org/columns/farrell/archive.html
  • Leonard Felder - Wake Up or Break Up - www.menstuff.org/columns/felder/archive.html
  • Marty Friedman - Strong Men, Strong Marriage - www.menstuff.org/columns/friedman/archive.html
  • Kim Garretson - Mansgland - using humor to encourage prostate exams - www.menstuff.org/columns/mansgland/archive.html
  • Lion Goodman - How to get Women to Love You - www.menstuff.org/columns/goodman/archive.html
  • Liz Halliday - In a Man's World - www.menstuff.org/columns/halliday/archive.html
  • Rick Hanson - Just One Thing - www.menstuff.org/columns/hanson/archive.html
  • Tim Hartnett - Daddyman Speaks - being a father www.menstuff.org/columns/daddyman/archive.html
  • John Hershey - Blood, Phlegm & Bile: Parenting with Humor - He writes a syndicated biweekly humor column about parenting and family life. www.menstuff.org/columns/hershey/archive.html
  • Gary Hoeber - Psychotherapy as Soul Work, www.menstuff.org/columns/hoeber/archive.html
  • Patrick Houser - Fathers Make a World of Difference, www.menstuff.org/columns/houser/archive.html
  • Paul Joannides - The Guide to Getting It On - on sex - www.menstuff.org/columns/getiton/archive.html
  • Jack Kahn - NOMAS Boston - www.menstuff.org/columns/kahn/archive.html
  • Patrick Kennedy - Seniors - www.menstuff.org/columns/kennedy/archive.html
  • Joe Kort - Gaydar - to increase understanding between gay and het men - www.menstuff.org/columns/kort/archive.html
  • David Kundtz - David Kundtz - presents seminars, workshops, retreats, and conference presentations in the areas of men's emotional health, stress management, and spirituality. www.menstuff.org/columns/kundtz/archive.html
  • Bruce Linton - Dr. Dad - on fathering - www.menstuff.org/columns/drdad/archive.html
  • Ron Louis - How to Succeed with Women - www.menstuff.org/columns/howtosucceed/archive.html
  • Wendy McElroy - Wendy McElroy on Feminism, www.menstuff.org/columns/mcelroy/archive.html
  • Robert N. Minor - Minor Details - on GBT sexuality - www.menstuff.org/columns/minordetails/archive.html
  • Robert L. Moore - Man & Mythology - www.menstuff.org/columns/moore/archive.html
  • Dennis W. Neder - Being a Man - general questions about men's lives - www.menstuff.org/columns/neder/archive.html
  • Marty Nemko - Worklife - general questions about men and work - www.menstuff.org/columns/nemko/archive.html
  • Eli Newberger - Eli Newberger - general information on men's lives - www.menstuff.org/columns/newberger/archive.html
  • Linda Nielsen - Embracing the Father - working with the father/daughter relationship. www.menstuff.org/columns/nielsen/archive.html
  • Kathy Noll - Bullies and Youth Violence - working with schools, teachers and parents to end school violence - www.menstuff.org/columns/noll/archive.html
  • Mark Phillips - Stay-at-Home-Dads - helping men maintain that which makes us men, instead of becoming hairy Mom-substitutes - www.menstuff.org/columns/phillips/archive.html
  • Carey Roberts - Socialism & Feminism - is a social commentator on political correctness. www.menstuff.org/columns/roberts/archive.html
  • Perry Rose - Dating, Relationship, Sex
  • Glenn Sacks - His Side - on fathering - www.menstuff.org/columns/sacks/archive.html
  • Trudy Schuett - Domestic Violence - serving the under-represented www.menstuff.org/columns/schuett/archive.html
  • Carl J. Schutt - Circumcision - social commentator on circumcision - www.menstuff.org/columns/schutt/archive.html
  • Hugo Schwyzer - A Pro-feminist's Response - www.menstuff.org/columns/schwyzer/archive.html
  • Michael Shaffran - Men's Issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/shaffran/archive.html
  • Judith Sherven - Judith & Jim - discussion and answers regarding relationship issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/judith&jim/archive.html
  • Judith Sherven - The New Intimacy - www.menstuff.org/columns/newintimacy/archive.html
  • George Simons - Bellicose Veins - is a US specialist in intercultural and gender communication who hangs out in Mandelieu - la Napoule, France, as well as in Santa Cruz, CA. www.menstuff.org/columns/simons/archive.html
  • Andy Smith - Hard Hat Brotherhood - www.menstuff.org/columns/hardhat/archive.html
  • David B. Smith - Fighting Father Dave - www.menstuff.org/columns/smith/archive.html
  • Jim Sniechowski - Judith & Jim - discussion and answers regarding relationship issues - www.menstuff.org/columns/judith&jim/archive.html
  • Jim Sniechowski - The New Intimacy - www.menstuff.org/columns/newintimacy/archive.html
  • Reena Sommer - Custody - is an internationally recognized relationship and divorce consultant. www.menstuff.org/columns/sommer/archive.html
  • R. Don Steele - Don Steele - relationship questions answered -
    www.menstuff.org/columns/steele/archive.html
  • David Steinberg - Comes Naturally - on sexuality - www.menstuff.org/columns/steinberg/archive.html
  • Mary Lou St Lucas - A Mother's Love - www.menstuf.org/columns/stlucas/archive.html
  • Surprise - Surprise Author - From a new columnist every month - www.menstuff.org/columns/surprise/archive.html
  • Steven Svoboda - Fatherhood, Activism and the Law www.menstuff.org/columns/svoboda/archive.html
  • Michael Taylor - A New Conversation with Men - www.menstuff.org/columns/taylor/archive.html
  • Bruce Van Horn - Yoga for Men - issues around the health benefits of yoga for men - www.menstuff.org/yoga/archive.html
  • Michael Webb - Secrets of Blissful Relationships - on relationship - www.menstuff.org/columns/bliss/archive.html
  • Stuart Wilde - Spirituality - www.menstuff.org/columns/wilde/archive.html
  • Dr.Williams - Sex Health - on sexual health - Dr. Williams, www.menstuff.org/columns/sexhealth/archive.html
  • KC Wilson - On Gender Politics is a social commentator and author. www.menstuff.org/columns/wilson/archive.html

Plus

  • Health Tips - on general health - www.menstuff.org/columns/healthtips/archive.html
  • Independent Means - resources for raising financially fit kids - www.menstuff.org/columns/independentmeans/archive.html
  • Numbers - www.menstuff.org/columns/numbers/archive.html
  • Questions - www.menstuff.org/columns/q&a/archive.html
  • Surprise - from a new columnist every month - www.menstuff.org/columns/surprise/archive.html
  • Words Can Heal - helping children grow up healthy - www.menstuff.org/columns/wordscanheal/archive.html
  • Wuzup?! - National or international events happening this month - www.menstuff.org/columns/whassup/archive.html 

AWARENESS EVENTS THIS MONTH

December is Kidstuff month. Also check Toy Safety and Happy Holidaze. Holiday Designated Driver, Colorectal Cancer Education and Awareness; Hug-A-Week for Hearing Impaired; International Calendar Awareness; *National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention; National Stress-Free Family Holidays; Safe Toys and Gifts; Universal Human Rights Month.

11/1-12/13: Merlin's Snug Hugs for Kids, 11/27-12/26: Ramadan. 11/1/00-01/01/01: Tie One on the Safety; 11/4-12/4: Jewish Book Month. 11/26-12/25: Operation Blessing International's 30 Days of Holiday Hope. 12/1-7: National Aplastic Anemia Awareness; Tolerance; 12/10-16: *Human Rights Week. 12/15-21: International Language Week 12/16-24: Posadas.. 12/17-23: Tell Someone They're Doing a Good Job Week. 12/22-29: Chanukah. 12/25-31: It's About Time Week. 12/26-1/1: Kwanzaa. 12/1: Day without Art/*UN World AIDS Day; 12/2: Pan American Health; International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, Advent/Festival of Lights. 12/3: UN International Day of Disabled Persons. 12/5: Bathtub Party; International Volunteer Day for Economy and Social Development Day. 12/7: *National Pearl Harbor Remembrance; UN International Civil Aviation Day. 12/9: UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). 12/10: * Human Rights; International Shareware; UN Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination Day. 12/12: Poinsettia Day. 12/15: *Bill of Rights; Underdog; One Day. 12/17: End Violence Against Sex Workers (International) *Pan American Aviation; Wright Brothers Day. 12/20: Louisiana Purchase; Mudd Day. 12/21: Forefathers'; Humbug; Phileas Fogg Wins a Wager; World Peace Day. 12/25: Christmas, A'phabet Day. 12/26: National Whiner's; Boxing Day. 12/28: Holy Innocents Day. 12/29: UN International Day for Biological Diversity Day. 12/31: Namahage (Japan); Make Up Your Mind Day. World Peace Meditation.

* Means a Presidential Proclamation has been made.

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Men are so competitive that we even "out-die" women in all 15 of the major causes of death in the U.S. Most of these deaths are preventable with a positive change in life-style, eating habits, and/or general health care. Let's not strive so hard to hold on to this record. See what you can change now to live a healthier life.
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