WOMEN ARE MORE INTUITIVE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Most women know one of the quickest ways to infuriate a man is to say of a certain statement she's made, "Well, I just know, that's all there is to it" And the man is even more furious when the woman's intuition proves to be right. According to some authorities on the subject, there are persons who do possess this mysterious faculty of just knowing things are true. While some men are intuitive most psychologists agree it's more of women than men.

There isn't anything super natural about this trait. It's perhaps first evident in adolescence. A boy is more interested in asserting himself in action. A girl is more interested in her own feelings and others. Psychiatry has proven that your brain doesn't waste any of the impulses that flow from your sense organs. Your brain stores them up in your unconscious mind where they are ready for use.

What then is intuition? It is, according to the experts, simply finding new and deeper meaning in people and events and in trying to make sense out of life. Psychologists tell us that anyone can develop intuitive powers by being alert, sensitive, and by disciplining the mind. Most women instinctively know that the way a person acts is more revealing than what he says. I once read about a man who said his wife always knew when he was just daydreaming about another woman. And, women rarely need to be told anything about their husbands.If a woman is intuitive, she knows all she wants to admit she knows.

Life can be more interesting for the intuitive person. When you are quick to understand another person's feelings, when you are quick to understand them from the inside out, they will mean more to you and consequently, you will mean more to them.

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Son Barry recently had lab work at our family doctor's office. He also made an appointment for a follow up visit to discuss his tests with the doctor as is the procedure in the office. He had a pleasant surprise when the doctor's nurse called him a few days later and told him his lab work was excellent and he wouldn't need to come in for his scheduled visit. I have an appointment in few days for lab work as my tests four months ago showed a body inflammation. The doctor changed the dosage on my Lipitor and I hope and pray that the lab work this week will be fine.

See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 4:56 PM

 
NIGHT WORRYING CAUSES INSOMNIA

By Olivene Godfrey
Scarlet O'Hara's philosophy of thinking about some things tomorrow has its merits--especially when we are sort of overwhelmed with a lot of projects or problems that must be faced "tomorrow." For years, I couldn't relax at night for thinking of all the things I had to do tomorrow whether or not they were pleasant or unpleasant things. Logic would remind me that worrying about tomorrow, losing sleep, was a waste of time. But, habits are hard to break. Once formed and rigidly set, it requires a great deal of strength to break them.

One day, I decided I'd at least try to break that aggravating habit. It hasn't been easy. There are still times when "tomorrow" worries me. Still, I am making some progress in adopting Scarlett's practice. Sometimes I have to give myself a lecture, like, "come on,relax, soon enough tomorrow will come and chances are everything will work out fine." It's true there are times when we have genuine reasons for worrying and we'd be heartless zombies if we didn't worry. Often our insomnia is due to worrying about things we can't do anything about late at night.

I never had insomnia until a few years ago. And, I've experimented with everything I've ever heard of and tried a few methods on my own. One thing I have discovered is that a person can only go without sleep for a certain period of time and, then, you're going to sleep, no matter how many things are awaiting you tomorrow. I don't recommend driving yourself until you almost collapse from fatigue, even if I occasionally did before I stopped driving. According to a 2000 study published in the British Medical Journal, researchers in Australia and New Zealand reported that sleep deprivation can have the same hazardous effect as being drunk. People who drove after being awake for 17-19 hours performed worse than those with an alcoholic blood level of .05, which is the legal limit for drunk driving in most western European countries. (Canada, the U.S. and U.K. set their blood alcoholic limits at .08 percent.)

Perhaps the best method for relaxing nights and eventually curing insomnia is to develop somehow the method of erasing everything from your mind-- letting everything go until tomorrow. And television or a good book can help to take your mind off of your own thoughts and help you unwind before bedtime.

See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 3:03 PM

 
I'M BACK & GLAD TO BE ABLE TO TALK TO YOU TODAY

By OLIVENE GODFREY
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I'm glad to be able to talk to you today. I'm still not feeling great but hope I will feel better soon.

Since son Barry and I both have arthritis in our hands we're always looking for every day solutions to problems with using our hands. My arthritic hands are worse than Barry's but he has made some changes recently that has helped both of us. For instance, we have iced tea for supper every night and we like large glasses chocked full of ice cubes which makes the glasses very cold and slippery in our hands. Barry found some large acrylic glasses with handles on one side and bought four of them for us and they work like a charm.

Barry also found plastic pitchers used for juice and milk with handles that are less likely to be dropped or spilled than the original containers. Barry has purchased a variety of gadgets that assist us with opening cans, jars and bottles.

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I recently watched a gospel singing group on television who were discussing a question surely all us have asked, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I liked the observation made by one of the group as follows, "When Mother Teresa was asked what the first words would be when she saw the Lord when she went to heaven, Mother Teresa replied, 'Lord, you have some explaining to do .'" The gist of the discussion was that during bad times, the Lord will walk beside you and hold your hand and won't forsake you.

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I recently received an e-mail from my sister-in-law, Joyce who lives on the shore of a popular lake in Northeast Georgia. She and her late husband, Ray, built a cabin with a sandy beach and boat dock below their beautiful home years ago. Their three daughters and their families still spend time there playing in the sand and water and spending the nights on bunk beds in the cabin. Over the years, the extended families of Ray and Joyce spent time at the cabin, too. I remember when Barry was a little boy he loved to go over there and play in the sand and sleep on a bunk bed. I have many memories of Godfrey reunions held there and a lot of memories have been and continue to be made at the cabin. My late husband, Ralph, also spent time over there when he and Ray would go fishing in Ralph's boat.

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Our wonderful neighbor, Genevelyn, brought us a bag of fresh green beans from her garden. Green beans cooked Southern style is Barry's favorite vegetable and when I cooked the beans last week for supper one night, he ate until he nearly popped.
See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 1:53 PM

 
By Olivene Godfrey

This is a brief entry to explain why I haven't "talked" to you this week. Last weekend, I had a horrendous episode of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) that lasted several hours and the pain was so intense that in my experience it can only be compared with childbirth labor pains.. It left me feeling as if I had been badly beaten. Fortunately, Barry was here and when I fainted several times was able to keep me from falling. I don't need to be here alone all day so I am going to see about an Alert pendant soon. I am still feeling weak.
My GI doctor prescribed a laxative a day to avoid the constipation that leads to an IBS attack and I have decided to try it.

See you soon, I hope!
- posted by Olivene @ 3:22 PM

 
WHY SOME ARE INTERESTING

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Do you ever wonder what makes one person dull and the other fascinating? Maybe you think that you won't be very interesting or attractive to another person if you're difficult to understand. According to one study a few years ago, enigma fascinates. They found that the people who were considered the most interesting were those whose personalities presented something of a challenge, who were too complex to be understood and typed as "such and such."

Now we may actually like the person who we can "read like a book" better than we do the more complex person. But, we can be fascinated without liking. I know if I meet a person whose personality is a challenge, I'm fascinated and have a desire to try to find out more about him or her. Then we've heard that "opposites attract". And, for a short period often appears to be true. But,studies have shown that the like-attract-like principle holds true in the majority of cases. We tend to find people interesting, attractive and agreeable who have most in common with us.

Some human behavior experts have told us that the way to become a good conversationalist is to bone up on a wide variety of subjects. And that is good advice. But, it takes more to gain a reputation for being an interesting conversationalist. First, you must be adept at drawing people out. Then, if you really want people to adore you, cultivate the art of being a rapt and attentive listener. It's just about foolproof and works like a charm as you're permitting the other person's ego to expand pleasantly, giving him a feeling of well-being. And it's rewarding for the listener,too. (You can also learn a lot by listening.)

So you think that being beautiful or handsome goes hand in hand with an interesting personality. It does sometime happen. But, some of the world's most fascinating people have been neither exceptionally handsome nor possessed of outstanding beauty.
ON the other hand, there are many men and women whose physical attractiveness is virtually their only social asset as their personalities are dull,boring or lacking in either wit or imagination. Still, studies have shown that most people expect physically attractive people to be interesting, despite the fact that they're often disappointed.

See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 3:26 PM

 
INTERVIEW MAY BE REVERSED

By OLIVENE GODFREY

I remember reading about a reporter who said that once in awhile the pattern of an interview with a subject takes on an unexpected turn. The reporter suddenly realizes he or she is being interviewed-- that the roles have switched. This happened to me often before I retired, and such subjects are usually individuals who have an intense curiosity about everything and everybody.

The interviews are stimulating and fun. But you have to stay on your toes and use self-control and ingenuity to obtain information about your subject before the interview is over.
Talking about oneself can be heavy, especially for a writer.
But, I guess when you are in a profession where your success depends upon public recognition and acceptance, "writers, politicians, actors, etc"...,you have to be something of a ham.

Many people who aren't in such professions find it difficult to understand why anyone would deliberately seek personal publicity. I know some introverts who say such publicity would be embarrassing to them. I don't think these people could ever be politicians, as they'd be too modest to say they were "the best for the job."

There is a difference in conceit and self-confidence. Conceit is an exaggerated estimate of one's ability and importance. On the other hand,self-confidence means to have confidence in one's ability, one's judgment, and so forth. We've all noticed that the person who has let a bit of success go to his head tends to rest on his laurels. He forgets there is standing room only at the top with no room to sit down. And one can't rest very often on the way up the mountain of success. There are always others coming up behind you.

New writers get a special kind of thrill the first time they see their work in print. They can't help but savor every word printed under that shiny byline. Actually, I don't think any writer ever gets indifferent to by-lines, especially when you feel you've written something well. I read my own printed writings now for self-criticism. Also, while I could never recite verbatim anything I've written, I can spot in an instant a changed word, or any form of editing, in the published piece.
I think everybody needs an editor as no matter how beautiful your prose sounds to you, it can usually be improved by editing.
But, there is danger in too much sell-criticism. The critic that lives in all of us will question at once the seed of an idea. So, it's best to play around with the idea before rejecting it as too stale or dull.

See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 5:15 PM

 
LET IRRITATIONS OFF LIKE STEAM

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Sometimes we are told that we shouldn't let irritations bother us. We should be passive, always smiling, no matter what happens to us. Now, those who go around with chips on their shoulders and who seem to believe that every comment made in their presence is a personal insult aren't my favorite kind of people. But, I became irritated by people who go around, "Ho, Ho, HA HA'ing" constantly never seeming to have a bad day. Maybe I just envy them. But, often I feel as if they aren't for real either.

Normally, I 'm fairly good natured. But, I have days when everything seems to go wrong. And on such days it's no easy matter to be gentle and passive. Surely even the mildest individuals get a bit irritated sometimes. Then some days we start thinking about an injustice and get upset. We know it's trifling to let such things get under our skin. But, surely even the mildest persons get a bit irritated sometimes. There is the worker who wants to punch his boss in the nose. But, he doesn't dare. So, he goes home and snaps at his wife and kids. Or, he may turn his aggressiveness on himself.

If we don't have an outlet for our angry feelings, they can, after awhile, become destructive, bringing on ulcers, high blood pressure, worry and other ailments. Then, they may be turned upon by other people in the form of rudeness, gossip, nagging, or fault finding. So, it's obvious we need a safety valve for our excess of emotional steam. Many people find that physical exerciser is a good way to drain off aggression. Long walks, push-ups, sports where you can smash something like golf, tennis, bowling, or punching the bag, are good ways to relieve tension.

I think women have intuitively recognized the value of heavy muscular exercise when they are upset. Many of us re-arrange the furniture or go on a house-cleaning binge. If I'm upset while cooking,I bang pots and pans and slam cupboard doors like mad. Then, another good device, one which I use most, is to vent your anger in writing. Write a letter to the person who has frustrated or angered you. Don't leave anything to the imagination. Get him or her told off good, everything you've been thinking. But, then burn that letter! (You'll be even more upset if you mail the letter.)

But, for me and I'm certain countless others, work remains one of the best therapies of all, not only for getting rid of aggressive feelings for the periods of sorrow, as work is also the best tranquilizer for a troubled spirit.

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Thanks to Barry, I have discovered the magic of headphones especially when you're hard of hearing as I am. I have trouble understanding dialogue in modern movies and words of song on musical TV programs. Music heard with the headphones sounds like I am at a live concert, especially the instrumentals.

See you next time.
- posted by Olivene @ 5:01 PM