To Be Joyfully Determined
By the Reverend Joshua Pawelek
Can you recall a time when things weren’t going well for you? When you didn’t feel quite right, didn’t feel quite like yourself—a time when there was some emotional or mental dissonance in your life; when you felt disconnected, depressed, anxious, weak, subdued, out-of-whack, broken; a time when your sense of purpose and meaning waned, and you sought help. You sought help from a therapist—a psychologist or a psychiatrist or some other mental health professional; or you talked to a social worker or school guidance counselor. Maybe you attended a twelve-step group, or an affinity group for bereavement, divorce, cancer. Maybe you talked to a minister, priest or rabbi; maybe your doctor. Maybe you turned to a friend you could trust to give good advice. I assume most of you have been in this situation at some point: you’ve sought help when something didn’t feel quite right.
Put that memory aside and recall a time when things were going great, when you felt exactly like yourself—a time when you felt emotionally and mentally healthy; a time when you felt joyful, happy, inspired, powerful, whole; a time when you had a potent sense of purpose and meaning, and you sought help. You said to yourself, “Wow, I feel so good I need help immediately! I need help to figure out what I’m doing right so I can keep doing it; so I can do it more, do it better.”
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Flatten Your Belly
by Amy Van Winkle (Healthy Eats)
Spring is finally here and in full swing. Anxiously awaiting the warm weather, we uncovered our grills and cleaned the spider webs off our lawn chairs. We, then, dug out our shorts and bathing suits and discovered that they shrunk while piled in the back of our closets this past winter. My shorts were not this tight on me last year! We were so careful about our diets and eating habits over the winter, so what happened? <more>
Sci-Fi Trifecta
by Paul Wishinsky (The 50 Yr.Old Critic)
Over the last few weeks, there has been a trio of outstanding science fiction series running brand new episodes. Two of them just ended their respective seasons on BBC America, Dr. Who and Torchwood. Fortunately, the next season of Dr. Who has already started on the Sci Fi Channel, home of the third series Battlestar Galactica. Together, these shows have presented some of the best television that you could ever hope to see. <more>
Short Answer Month
by Steve Woron (Dr.Mac)
Q: I have a keyboard that must be older as it doesn’t have the Eject key on it. How do I eject a CD or DVD?
A: Press F12
Q: My wireless router doesn’t seem to have the range it boasts on the box. What can I do to extent the range to where I need it? <more>
The Future is Now
by Tom Woron (Outdoors Guy)
Just recently I was rummaging through my basement when I came across a set of photos. This set of photos was from twenty-five years ago. Twenty-five years ago! It just didn’t seem possible. What made these photos so significant was that several of them had me suddenly re-living a very memorable day.
Thursday June 2, 1983 happened the way it did by chance. Earlier in the week my friend Joe and I made tentative plans to do some shad fishing. That itself was not unusual since we fished for American shad, a large member of the herring family, every spring. But this spring was different. <more>
Talking Trash
by Loretta Wrobel
May is the quintessential clean-up month. Ads, flyers and notices proliferate in newspapers, businesses and at town halls announcing trash clean-up days. Our Connecticut neighborhoods stretch after the long winter and start evaluating all that has accumulated during the winter. I, too, not to be upstaged, am part of a clean-up day in my town of Ashford. <more>
Electricity; Not in My Backyard
by Marc Svetz (Willimantic Now and Then)
It remains to be seen whether a plan that would inflict four jet engines generating electricity, burning as much as 60 tanker trucks worth of diesel fuel a day, will be approved for Card Street in Lebanon. What seems clear, in any event, is the shortage of leadership in our state and nation. <more>