Gout

Gout has flared up the last several days. It started on the left toe joint and later around ankle. I've been taking Advil to reduce the pain and swelling. I have a low fever, headache and feel a sense of helplessness walking with severe pain around the house on crutches. It has not been fun.

Happiness

Yesterday evening we saw “Happiness”, an excellent PBS special.

Dr. Tal Ben Shabar is a Harvard professor teaching class about happiness. His thesis of ingredients for a happy life includes:

1. Simplification of life. The many choices that we have bring confusion and chaos. He proposes that we ought to simplify our life with simple pleasures; perform less multi-tasking activities; take time out to recover from stress.

2. Positive acceptance. This is not passivity. Positive acceptance means to make choice based upon available information; learning from mistakes and move on.

3. Exercise. Referenced many medical studies, Tal Ben Shabar posits that regular physical exercise reduces stress, disease risks, … which will lead to a happier, healthier life.

4. Happiness can be learned.

5. Mindful meditation. The simplest daily exercise is the deep breathing method. More advanced mindful meditation will further relaxation, stress-reduction and many other benefits.

6. Focus on the positives. An attitude of gratitude concentrating upon all the good things in our life is an important element for a happy life.

Tal Ben Shabar has written several best-sellers including “Happier” and “Pursuit of Perfect”.

Pan's Labyrinth - the Movie

We saw it yesterday eve. I was absolutely mesmerized and amazed
by the many layers of interpretation of reality and un-reality, fantasy and religiosity,
dream vs. life, good vs evil... Especially, when all these layers are seamlessly interwoven into great story-telling with many subplots.
The last scene when Ofelia was killed is the most astounding: it brings up the historical context of the Spanish Civil War, the alliance of General F. Franco's dictatorship and the Catholic Church against the International Brigades. Her death and the afterlife sequence is the memorial of the deaths of many innocents during the War and the implication of martyrdom which ironically is on the side of the Church opponents; at the same time the evil of the Captain is explainable: he had a job to do and he could not see the faun Ofelia conversing with and I am sure that he believes that she was possessed and worse.

It was an incredible movie.