With all the bad news, it's easy to forget...

With all the bad news around at the moment from phone hacking, to the collapse of the Euro, from rising fuel bills to falling wages it's easy to forget the good things that are happening.

Remind yourself that the sun WILL rise tomorrow, that even  now apples are ripening in orchards, that babies are being born who are untainted by the troubles of the world.

Remember that the sun will shine and the rail will fall regardless of what happens to stock markets or pension plans and even in the depths of the longest and deepest economic depression for 60 years, people are still donating time, money and goods to charities.

It's easy to fall into a melancholic slump from time to time. it happens to me too, but when you get away from the man-made problems you can see there are so many good things that happen too.

Take a moment to today to find just one thing to enjoy and be thankful for. Honestly, it will help you feel better about the negatives and help you put them in their place.

Snippets & updates:Oil, music, diabetes & skinny eaters

A variety of interesting thing from the web that caught my attention in the last week or so.

Olive oil and Alzheimer's disease

It seems that one of the chemicals in olive oil that gives it its peppery taste may play a part in slowing down the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Having seen how this illness robs people of themselves, I'd love to see more research in this area.

DIABETES SPIRALS OUT OF CONTROL WITH 145,500 NEW CASES IN A YEAR

Type 2 diabetes is on the rise and we seem to be following the American example in terms of the health outcomes. Remember that too much carbohydrate especially highly refined types like sugar will lead to problems. This is especially true when you have a relatively inactive lifestyle and don't eat a balanced diet. (Balanced in this case means a good mix of fruit, vegetables starchy foods, fats and proteins. By the way, all the indications are that diet style drinks may actually make this worse. They are the devil's brew; try Googling Aspartame.

Learning a musical instrument helps to boost children's memory

I have suspected for some time, that playing (or learning to play) a musical instrument works parts of the brain otherwise untouched in the pencil & paper type learning that often passes for schooling. This article form the Time s newspaper seems to vindicate my views. By the way, I'm still learning to play the harmonica!
This is my current musical nemesis...

Want to Lose Weight? Avoid Skinny Overeaters

It seems that naturally thin people who eat large portions can cause us to eat more than we should. There is news about a fascinating study in the link where it seems that if you see a thin person pile up their plate your more likely to follow their example than if a fat person were to do the same.

After all no one wants to be seen to be eating more than a fat person but someone thin can validate a choice to eat more than we should; well if they can be thin with that size portion...

Am I (or you) a news junkie?

I have come to realise that listening to the news may well be having a negative impact on my life.

What do I mean by that?

It has become clearer to me that 'the news' media seek to create the maximum amount of drama out of any given situation; a Government minister resigning is not just a man resigning it is a 'crisis for the Government'. Someone dying is not simply sad it is a 'tragedy' (it is for him and his family but is it for me?). News by its current definition is almost universally the imparting of bad rather than good news. My very unscientific view is that 90% of what we hear as news is profoundly negative in content and style of delivery.

So 90% of the time that I spend watching a TV news program I am being subjected to a stream of very negative programming about how awful the world is today. That much programming has to have a negative effect on my own thoughts processes and ability to think rationally about the world around me.

So for the next seven days I am going to try a 'no news experiment'. I will avoid watching all TV news programs (that should claim back a few hours of my time each week) and avoid the current affairs programs on the radio when I travel in the car.

I'm doing this because I feel as if I have become a bit of a news junkie. I routinely get up at 5am, at 5.30 I'll watch the financial news (that is never good), then I 'll catch 15 minutes of breakfast TV (rarely good) and if I'm travelling in the car I'll listen to a current affairs program on the radio (mostly bad but some good spots). If I don't get my 'fix' I think I may have missed something important, so I keep listening or watching; no wonder there are times when it get me down!

All this negative programming can really only raise fear and anxiety and there is already plenty of that to go around; So I'm boycotting bad news.

I'll let you know how I get on but I wonder if you are a bit of a news junkie too?