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Health Benefits of Choosing Good Friends
An author, researcher, and humanitarian, not only have I come across the benefits of friendship in my work, but I’ve experienced them personally. It’s important to be aware of other research which suggests that one should be careful to select positive friends, as the stress that comes from bad friends can negate the health benefits of having their friendship.
Boost Your Mood and Boost Your Health
Start looking at the glass half-full! Keeping oneself in a good mood is likely to stretch your life span. Studies show that people with a positive way of looking at things—even just regarding the aging process—can increase their life span by seven years. Stress and negativity can lead to overall bad health, affecting the heart, immune system, and endocrine system. Choose whatever healthy mood-boosters you know work for you—such as reading a good book, baking cookies, or taking a relaxing bath.
Study Shows Friendship May Lengthen Life
Having friends certainly makes you feel good. Now studies are showing that they may in fact be good for you! According to a recent Australian study, there’s evidence that friends may actually help your life last longer.
The Importance of Goal Setting
Women often approach me with the question of how I’ve been able to enjoy so much success in my professional life as a children’s author and researcher as well as in my personal life as a mother and wife. I attribute my enriched life to my personal goal setting, a fundamental activity which is the basis of everything I do.
Turn off the TV—Tips for Families
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does—television, that is. One of the best decisions I made years ago for myself and for my family was to cut down on television drastically. At first this may seem like a daunting task, but with a few simple tips, parents find it’s much easier than they suspected it would be.
Get Some Sleep
About 70 million Americans experience sleep problems ranging from chronic sleep disorders to sporadic sleep troubles. Studies show that just one night of insufficient sleep can affect memory, productivity, and even the ability to carry on a regular conversation. In my work as a writer, researcher, and humanitarian, with several radio interviews a week, I can’t afford to not be at my mental peak, and chances are you can’t either. Long-term sleep deprivation can have serious effects such as higher risk for high blood pressure, depression, heart attack, decreased immunity, obesity, and diabetes. As you can see, getting enough sleep should be as much a part of your health regimen as eating well and exercising. Fortunately, by making a few adjustments to your diet, you can improve the quality of your sleep.
Americans Need to Make More Friends!
Statistics are showing that Americans have fewer friends than they used to, according to a recent study, “Social Isolation in America,” which was published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that the number of Americans who feel they have someone with whom they can discuss important matters dropped by nearly one-third from 1985 to 2004, and the number of people who said they had no one they could discuss such matters with tripled to nearly 25 percent of Americans. The authors suggest the cause for this decrease in intimate friendships may be longer work hours and the increased popularity of the Internet and television.









Danny the Dragon – A Judge’s Commentary
Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy was entered in the 17th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards. Below I am sharing with you a wonderful, professional judge’s commentary on the book:
“What a terrific cover illustration! Danny the Dragon is wonderfully drawn and is sure to appeal to kid readers; Skipper and Jimmy are wonderfully drawn, too. The interior illustrations are as wonderful: bold, bright, comical, full of amazing detail, quirkily fun – wonderful for the story and wonderful on their own. The story itself is delightful. What child wouldn’t be intrigued by a talking shell – that turns out to house a talking dragon? Kids will love that the mother very calmly and casually invites Danny and Skipper to stay for dinner and even agrees to let the dragon spend the night. (They’ll wish their own moms would be so accommodating.) Danny is loveable and polite (a nice, subtle lesson in manners for the kids reading this book); Jimmy and Sally’s reactions to his appearance in their household ring true (it’s also nice that they’re shown, without comment, cleaning up after themselves – a nice lesson for kid readers that is done subtly enough to not seem like a lesson). The story sets up itself for a series of future adventures. Children will enjoy reading about Danny again and again.”
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