We’re going to have a blast, doing all the traditional things one does on Christmas.

The stockings, hung by the chimney, will be opened first thing. I especially like the stocking stuffers — unexpected little trinkets that will almost surely never be used.

Christmas breakfast will follow, complete with Champagne cocktails. There will be a great flurry of activity in the kitchen. Fast, forward-looking eating in the dining room.

Afterward, the “real” present opening will begin. Will it be a mad rush? Or will we be more civilized, taking time to save the wrapping paper?

During the day, friends and family will come by and more presents will be opened, more thank-yous said, and more kisses given. Eggnog may be present. Bloody Marys too.

Christmas dinner will be for 20. Or more. It depends on who comes by. My wife is in charge of the food. It will be elegant and sumptuous.

At dusk, we’ll light the lights outside, light the candles inside, and continue to enjoy one another’s company as long as we can keep our eyes open.

Late tonight — probably much too late — I will fall asleep counting my many blessings.

I hope you do the same.

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So Where Do You Invest Your Money? – Traditional investments are a bit unpredictable these days. If you haven’t noticed… But certain “off the Street” investments are booming. Why? They make money whether the market goes up or down. Find out more about them here.

They are now seasoned travelers. But starting with their first trips, I’ve encouraged them to speak with strangers — on planes, in airports, and everywhere else. That’s right. I’ve taught my kids that they should speak with strangers. For how else will they learn about the world’s different peoples and cultures?

And I’ve shown them a great way to break the ice with fellow travelers whose native language is not English. What you do is ask them to tell you a good tongue-twister and teach it to you in their language. Your efforts are sure to make them laugh. And what better way is there to start a conversation — and a new relationship — than with laughter?

“Vasudaiva kutumbhakam” is a saying from the Vedas of ancient India. It means “The world is my family.” We are all members of one, big, international family. Breaking down the barriers to recognizing and appreciating that connection begins with one person at a time.

“I smiled when I read your opening article re: Goldman Sachs. They turn folks upside-down until ALL the money falls outta their pockets!
 
“I agree!
 
“Thanks again for speaking out.”

Your pal in Norfolk,
Buster Gibson

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So, how do you know if you are breathing properly?

Place one hand on your abdomen and the other on your chest. Take a deep breath. If you feel your abdomen rise, you’re doing it right. If you feel your chest rise, you are doing it wrong.

If you’ve been doing it wrong, here’s how to develop the habit of breathing properly: Two or three times a day, take a slow, steady, deep breath, inhaling through your nose and allowing your abdomen to expand. Then slowly expel all the air from your lungs.

You will be amazed at how this simple exercise in deep and purposeful breathing will relieve tension, increase your energy, and generate a feeling of well-being.

Yet it eludes us. All of our activities — our pursuit of fame and fortune, our quest for meaningful relationships, our drive to build or change things — are directed searches for this ephemeral state. We get there, but we can never heave a lasting sigh of relief because the feeling is gone almost immediately.

Can happiness be a permanent member of our household rather than an occasional and erratic visitor?

Think on this parable from psychotherapist and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello:

“A group of tourists sits in a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country; lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows of the bus. And all the time of their journey is spent in squabbling over who will have the seat of honor in the bus, who will be applauded, who will be well considered. And so they remain till the journey’s end.”

Too many of us are like those tourists, engaged in petty power struggles while the true beauty of life lies all round us, unobserved and unappreciated.

I see this all the time in the seminars I conduct. I have the participants call out things that would make them happy, and I write them on a flip chart. The list grows to 50 or 100 items in minutes.

Wealth is a common desire. Not run-of-the-mill, garden-variety wealth but a fabulous fortune. A trophy spouse is also popular, though people rarely label it as such. Instead the ideal spouse is described as extraordinarily good-looking and, as a self-justifying afterthought, intelligent to boot.

Lots of other items come up, too, including travel, good health, great sex, friends, loving relatives, and interesting work.

The truth is, none of those things is necessary for happiness. None of them.

This is an extremely important point. Because all of those things are dependent on outside circumstances that will never be in your control. And doesn’t that make the quest for them an extremely frail reed to lean on?

Don’t confuse true happiness and soul-satisfying joy with the temporary satisfaction you get when you gratify your ego. Your happiness is not dependent on your wealth, your intelligence, or your abilities. Your happiness is not even contingent on your continued good health or having loving friends, relatives, or significant others.

In fact, happiness is already a part of your nature. There is nothing you have to get in order to be happy. All you have to do is allow your inner happiness to surface.

When I get to this point in my seminars, I generally have a revolution on my hands. How can people be happy if they live in extreme poverty? Or if they are afflicted with a painful disease? Or if they have no friends or loved ones? Or if they’re in any other hypothetical situation along those lines?

Yet the statement holds. There is nothing you have to get in order to be happy.

One question remains. If happiness is our nature, why do we not experience it more often? Why are our lives filled with angst and sorrow?

The answer is simple: We have constructed mental models for ourselves in which happiness comes as a result of getting something — money, power, fame, etc. In the reality that we have created and that we live in, our achievements define us. We are “better” if we are “successful.”

The media reinforces those beliefs, subtly painting pictures of what successful and happy people have and look like. Your parents reinforced them too, imprinting on your mind that what they found valuable was what you should value. In all probability, they got their beliefs from their parents and accepted them without question. Your friends, relatives, teachers, classmates, and coaches all played a role. So did the movies and TV programs you watched, the books and magazines you read, the music you listened to, and what you observed in the world around you.

They all contributed to your mental model. And they succeeded because you did not question the beliefs and values they presented to you. But now, in your quest for happiness and freedom, you must question them.

When you want something — and you get it — there is a brief moment when you are content, when you are not your habitual wanting self. And in that moment, you experience the happiness that is always a part of you. You are content. And full. But the very next moment, some other desire raises its ugly head and you are off on another fruitless quest for happiness. It is a never-ending cycle.

The problem is that you do not realize why you experience that moment of happiness. You do not recognize that it is because, at that moment, you are free from want. The happiness springs from an acceptance of the Universe as it is. It is your innate nature bubbling forth in the absence of the bonds you put on it with your incessant demands.

Instead, you attribute the happiness you briefly felt to the acquisition of whatever it was that you got. And so you try to get the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing.

If you go barreling through life, desperately doing things to make yourself “happy,” happiness will elude you. It is like a puppy that runs away when you try to entice it to come to you. But as soon as you ignore it and start reading your newspaper, you feel its cold nose in your hand.

It really does work that way. You are bound by the things you own as long as you need them emotionally. The moment you sever this psychological link, you will experience freedom, a marvelous sense of liberation that cannot be described.

Think back to your life 10 years ago. You had a list of wants at that time, things you thought would bring you lasting happiness. Odds are, you now have many of them. Have they made you happier than you were back then? Probably not.

Pick any item you currently desire. Now imagine yourself as a 95-year-old person about to leave this world. From that perspective, does having that item really matter? Again, probably not.

Enjoy, truly enjoy, what you have. Strive for what you do not have but want. But strive joyfully, knowing that the pleasure is in the doing, not in the getting. If you succeed, wonderful. If you do not, still wonderful.

P.S. Finding true happiness won’t happen overnight. With my Personal Mastery Success Program, you’ll get all the tools you need to make a break with negativity, sadness, and disappointment. Soon you’ll be living your life to its true potential.

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“If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, we’re about to make a hell of a lot of money!” - The multi-billion dollar “home shopping” industry got its start on cable access. It was a low-budget public access “operation” run by three guys in Clearwater, Florida. Before they had even made their first dollar their success was a sure thing. They had the “Billionaire Mindset”…

But staying tired — week after week — is a health problem, one you don’t have to live with and shouldn’t.

If you have been feeling tired for a while, answer these three questions:

• Are you getting seven to eight hours of quality sleep at night?
• Are you eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet?
• Are you getting enough B vitamins?

If you answered “yes” or “I don’t know” to any one of these questions, you need to know this: Most people understand the relationship between sleep and fatigue, but few realize the huge effect diet has on energy levels.

There is an easy fix.

Reduce or eliminate sugars and high-carb starches — bread, rice, pasta, etc. They strip your body of stored energy and turn it into a fat-storing machine. And eat lots of protein — eggs, fish, and meat.

That kind of diet will keep you lean, supercharged, and focused all day long. It works because it not only delivers quality proteins, it’s loaded with vitamins B12 and B6.

You need B vitamins to be able to fall asleep easily, wake up refreshed, and zip through the day. And as you age, your ability to absorb these nutrients from food decreases. So if you are over 40 — to be on the safe side — consider taking a good B complex supplement every day.

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The Relaxation Technique that Eases Stress in Seconds

You’re stuck in a boring meeting… a long line at the bank… or bumper-to-bumper traffic… Your blood pressure is rising. Your stress is through the roof…

But with one unconventional (and often misunderstood) technique, your frustration, anxiety, and stress simply slip away. You’ll feel peaceful, in control, and happy within seconds. Any time. Anywhere.

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They eat and drink like they have a free pass to longevity. But studies show that too much food and too little exercise — after years of intense activity — can quickly erase a history of perfect fitness.

Greek researchers, for example, found that overweight ex-athletes have no better protection against heart disease than anyone else. As their waistlines increased, two factors associated with heart disease — C-reactive protein and triglycerides — increased. And that means their risk also increased.

Here’s the deal. When it comes to your health today, your body doesn’t care how fit you used to be. If you want to stay healthy, stay active.

In fact, it’s a health problem for men too. And because most men don’t know they’re at risk, they’re far less likely to take action to prevent it.

Men get one-third of all osteoporosis-related bone fractures. But their chances of complications are dramatically higher than they are for women. Men with prostate cancer are especially vulnerable. Both the disease and a common treatment — androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) — contribute to bone loss.

Here’s how to lower your risk:

• Maintain adequate levels of vitamin D. All it takes is two or three hours per week of exposure to sunlight, say the folks at Total Health Breakthroughs. If you can’t spend that much time in the sun, take a vitamin D supplement or cod liver oil.

• Get at least 1,000 mg of calcium per day, preferably from your diet. A high-protein diet makes more calcium available for building bone density. Just one more reason to make healthy protein part of every meal.

Dr. Al Sears, my personal physician, has helped me lose more than 25 pounds of fat, reduce my blood pressure, and strengthen my heart with an amazingly easy “eating program” he has developed over several years. It’s based on relatively large quantities of high-quality protein (wild salmon, grass-fed beef, and organic eggs, cheese, milk, beans, and nuts).

How does it work? By exceeding your body’s daily protein requirement, you boost your metabolism. As a result, you stop storing fat and start burning it.

For an active person like me, Dr. Sears recommends 1 gram of protein per day per pound of lean body mass (LBM).

Lean body mass is the weight of your body minus the fat. (There are several simple ways you can measure your own LBM. I’ll explain how to do it in a future issue.). So a 180-pound man with 15 percent body fat would have an LBM of 153 pounds. And he should be eating 153 grams of protein a day. To give you an idea of what that means, an egg has 7 grams of protein, 6 ounces of fish has 42 grams, and a cup of cashew nuts has 21 grams.

I crave protein, so this is easy for me. I eat eggs every morning for breakfast and all sorts of high-quality protein throughout the day. My snacks are high-protein. And my dinners are a combination of proteins and organic vegetables.

One big benefit you will notice right away: By eating more protein and less starchy carbs, your appetite will decrease dramatically. Try it. Let me know how it works for you.

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Latest News

Have you signed up for our sister publication, Total Health Breakthroughs, yet? As an ETR reader, you’ll get it free for six months.

Check out Melanie Segala’s latest piece to see what THB is all about. She writes about the one supplement you should be taking right now to boost energy and immunity, protect your heart, and more.

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Turns out that statins, a $20 billion cash cow for the drug industry, have a serious side effect: They can cause a huge drop in the body’s level of CoQ10. And if you’re one of the 13 million people on statins, there’s a good chance your doctor is not aware of it.

CoQ10 lowers blood pressure and reduces cholesterol. It also boosts immunity and protects the brain. Most important, Total Health Breakthrough’s Melanie Segala points out, this essential nutrient facilitates the production of energy in every cell in your body.

If you take statins, read Melanie’s recent “Undercover” article. Then talk to your doctor about supplementing with CoQ10.

Dr. Al Sears calls CoQ10 “a miracle heart energizer.” He recommends 100 mg per day if you take statins or have high blood pressure, heart disease, or chronic fatigue.

It has already been shown that the phosphates in soft drinks and snack chips cause calcium to leach from the bones, linking them to osteoporosis and kidney stones. Now we can add cancer to that list.

Research conducted at Seoul National University has determined that inorganic phosphates have been associated with both the development and growth of lung cancer in laboratory rats. These effects were found at levels that mimicked our intake on a typical American/Westernized diet.

In a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers observed lung cancer tumors in mice fed with either a 0.5 percent or 1.0 percent phosphate diet. At the end of four weeks, the mice on the higher-phosphate diet had an increase in the formation of new lung tumors as well as an increase in the size of existing tumors. The researchers think it may be due to the role phosphates have in biochemical signaling pathways.

Although naturally occurring phosphates are necessary for human nutrition, the researchers noted that the consumption of phosphates in processed foods has more than doubled since the 1990s. Our hectic American lifestyle – which leaves little time or energy for home cooking – often forces us to rely on convenient pre-packaged foods and restaurant meals full of health-harming substances.

While food industry experts have downplayed this study, I would strongly recommend limiting your intake of inorganic phosphates. Doing so will help protect your bones, and could even lower your risk of lung cancer.

Stick to foods in their most natural state. Especially limit high-carb processed foods laden with cancer-causing phosphates. If you want to save on prep time for meals, choose precut veggies and salads and frozen vegetables. But always read the labels to make sure they have no additives.

[Ed. Note: Making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle can have a dramatic effect on your health. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - can give you easy-to-understand directions for living the healthy life you've always wanted. Learn more here.]