During this season of reflection, consider the words of my colleague, Beth Weinstock. May her musings inspire you to think outside of the box for ways to share of yourself in the coming new year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-weinstock/reflections-on-giving-and_b_399602.html

It’s that time of year for active giving and receiving. As I choose which of the soliciting envelopes to open, and which worthy organization will receive small checks from me, I’ve been reflecting on my own different ways of giving and receiving back.

As a psychologist, some people say that I am giving all the time. For some reason, I suppose because it’s my profession, the offering of my skill and attention does not feel like I am in service; it does not feel like a gift given feely. Well, it’s not, is it, if I get paid for it.

For the last number of years I have committed myself to one offering of time and energy a year. After hurricane Katrina I went with a friend to New Orleans for a wild, wonderful, wacky, poignant four days. We were the two middle two middle aged women in a dorm with a million spirited college kids, sweating and shoveling out the remains of people’s homes. It was one of those heart opening experiences that instilled a sense of connection with all of humanity. I was awestruck with the team leaders who spontaneously emerged from the work groups sent out to different sites. I was inspired by the young people who will inherit our future. When I returned from our days of shoveling I promptly got pneumonia from the dust and mold stuck in my lungs, but it was worth it.

The next year I volunteered a week in Amsterdam chaperoning and emotionally supporting an Iraqi victim of sexual violence who was seeking citizenship outside her country. (My expenses were paid for by an American concerned citizen.) My tasks involved accompanying this frightened and traumatized woman to appointments with lawyers, doctors, Amnesty International, etc. Hers was a story with mysteries that still escape me. I know not if her tale was 100 percent true, but if only half the events she alluded to happened, she was worthy of my efforts. In my week away I got the gift of leaving the normalcy of my life and pushing my own envelope on comfort for the possible good to a lost soul.

This year I just finished a pro-bono series of sessions in Leadership Development for senior staff women, and project managers, who work for agencies under the umbrella of Women’s Way in Philadelphia. I like running groups. I like facilitating leadership development workshops. I know that these women, the next generation of smart and capable female activists, don’t get the opportunity, or funding, for advanced and expensive leadership programs that are most often paid for by large corporations who have an investment in their potential high performers. I decided to offer my time and energy towards their development. It was truly gratifying.

Recently I heard Barbara Greenspan Shaiman speak about her new book Living Your Legacy: Ten Simple Steps to Find Your Passion and Change the World. She reminds us that too often we think of giving, or volunteering, as time spent being good people, divorced from activities that come from our passions. She invites us, instead, to find what we love, and how to offer it to others. It’s a good message for any time of year.

I look forward to my next year’s adventure in service; it feeds my soul. I hope, and trust, that in the process of satisfying my own personal need to feel connected and a part of something outside myself, I am truly giving.

My Wish for this New Year about to unfold, is that I be more loving and compassionate with myself and others, and that my efforts inspire similar actions and attitude in others. It is all too easy to pick ourselves apart but the path that leads us down, is one I’d prefer to stay away from. Acts of Kindness & Compassion help strengthen the road to living more in attitudes of appreciation and gratitude than in complaints and anger for what isn’t happening.

I’m not encouraging complacency. I’m supporting purposefully focusing our attention on the positive available, what is working and why, what we would like to improve, and what might help organize ourselves to get there. Change is slow and it can be frustrating along the way - to hang in with the process, which is often slower than our comfort supports. As you come close to the end of 2009, consider the lessons from the past year. Try and state them in neutral or positive ways. Continue to intentionally focus yourself on noting the lessons from the year. And then consider what you’d like to hold as Intentions for Change in the coming year.

I am grateful for friendships and have a peaked awareness of how precious our time together is. How we can’t assume that it will always be here and that while here, we need to engage in ways that express appreciation and promote connection with one another.

I am thankful for all the opportunities given to me to communicate with people and fortify more folks with the skills for dealing with life’s challenges. My passion is in leading large group events, so I feel quite fortunate for 2010 - allowing me to lead the workshop “Calm Your Inner Critic & Quiet Your Anxious Mind” both this winter in Philadelphia (Jan 30) and in the fall at Kripalu in the Berkshires (Oct 22-24). I am ready to enter in to a new year and open to the surprises it has in store.

May your holiday season be filled with peace, joy and happiness, and may you be with compassion throughout the months.

Jane

Jane Shure, PhD, LCSW

This interesting research was sent to me by a colleague raising question as to the usefulness and validity of  the BMI to predict health. Read on…….

http://suewidemark.com/fat-fit-new.htm - this has some very basic data. His research is about how BMI is irrelevant, that they looked at cardiovascular health and age at death to determine “health.” In all cases, across weight levels, they found that physical fitness was key. They even looked at people who are considered morbidly obese, and those that were physically fit and morbidly obese had lower rates of heart disease and greater longevity than “average” weight people who were unfit. Fitness was measured by stress tests they gave at the Institute.

Fit and Fat
by Steven Blair, Miavita Scientific Advisor

Most people think that you can tell if someone’s fit, active and healthy just by looking at them. It’s not true! Fit, healthy people come in all sizes and shapes. The same is true of unhealthy people. I know several thin people who are unfit and have serious health problems. Weight Isn’t Everything.

How is it possible to be fat and fit?
Quite simple. You may have the genetic predisposition to be “stocky,” yet you engage in regular exercise. A colleague once asked a 5′ 4″, 200-lb. woman how she viewed her weight despite routinely devoting an hour a day to vigorous exercise. She replied, “I used to weigh 100 pounds more than I do now.” In terms of her health, that’s a tremendous difference. I often tell people that I was short, fat and bald when I started running, but that after running nearly every day for more than 30 years and covering about 70,000 miles…I am still short, fat, and bald. But I suspect I’m in much better shape than I’d be if I didn’t run.

Fitness = Longevity:
For much of my career, I’ve tracked a large group of patients from the Cooper Clinic. Each individual received a medical examination upon entering the study, including measurements of height, weight, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness. We have followed these patients over the years to see who gets sick, who stays healthy, who lives and who dies. The results are fascinating.

Our follow-up has shown that the death rate for women and men
who are thin but unfit is at least twice as high as their obese counterparts who are fit.

In fact, across every category of body composition, unfit individuals
have a much higher death rate than those who are fit.

Fitness appears to provide protection against early mortality
no matter how much you weigh.

Defining Fitness:
Being fit, as defined in our study, does not require high-level athletic training. It means meeting the consensus public recommendation of a cumulative 30 minutes of moderate intensity daily activity, such as walking. Doing more brings additional health benefits. Overall, our data show about 50% lower mortality in the moderately fit as compared with the low fit; highly fit individuals lower their risk another 10 - 15%.

Another interesting finding:
Many people classified as obese by current standards actually have a good health profile. We see that as many as 40% of obese individuals have normal cholesterol and blood pressure, do not smoke and are physically fit. Anyone who struggles with their weight should take this as good news.

My recommendation is to focus on good health habits, no matter what number
you see on the scale. Give fruits, vegetables and whole grains a major place
in your daily diet. Be moderate about fat and alcohol. Don’t smoke.
Work on managing stress. Perhaps most important, get out
of your chair and start moving for at least 30 minutes every day.

Steven Blair is the Director of Research at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas.