Heart attacks, strokes, car accidents- oh my. The consequences of Daylight Savings Time (DST) and how to avoid them.

Daylight Savings Time – the artificial lengthening of the day which starts in the spring and ends late fall— shifts time against the natural body clock, or circadian rhythm. This one hour time adjustment means a loss in sleep and increased stress. The weeks following the Spring onset of DST leave millions of Americans with increased daytime sleepiness, a higher likelihood of cardiovascular incidents and decreased attention spans.

Know the risks to avoid disaster:

Stroke:
In the first two days following DST, Incidents of ischemic stroke increased by 8% in the regular population, but rose to 20% increase in people over the age of 65 and people who had malignancies. If you observe someone with

Facial Drooping
Arm Weakness
Speech Difficulty
Time to call 911
Think FAST

I came across three interesting comments from the writer, Nabokov, that are worth taking to heart.  The world would be a  better place if writers, advertisers and politicians followed these ideas

• “A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”

• “We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.”

• “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.”

Some thoughts on feeling lucky…….plus a poem!

When will we stop tearing one another down
There’s strength in numbers weakness in division
Certain groups didn’t really feel the recession
Why can’t we empower one another
Why can’t we love our brothers
Why wont we help our sisters
Different minority groups hating within
Think about it.. who really wins?

-Dionne MT-

Breathe Think Write Release

Mistake. Not very popular word in our vocabulary and it is something you usually don’t want to hear about. But guess what, we are all just humans. And it means we all do make mistakes. It’s a natural part of learning curve and there is nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve been in research and writing for about twenty years and after 50+ published papers, numerous research projects, two dissertations, 3 books and year and a half of blogging, I still do make mistakes. And I don’t mean like grammar and typos. Sometimes I don’t manage to express myself as clearly as I wanted or at times I’m not assertive  enough to share my work… but that all doesn’t matter.

I’m not talking about these kind of mistakes. I’m referring to behavioral attitudes that many young or new writers somehow acquire that can slow down or even hinder their success…