Walking Amidst Beautiful Things

"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees."
-  Karle Wilson

"I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world."
-  George Santayana

"I was never less alone than when by myself."
-  Edward Gibbon

"The walking stick serves the purpose of an advertisement that the bearer's hands are employed otherwise that in useful effort, and it therefore has utility as an evidence of leisure."
-  Thorstein Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class

"... the brisk exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh and healthy blood circulates through the brain, the mind works well, the eye is clear, the step is firm, and the day's exertion always make the evening's repose thoroughly enjoyable."
-  Dr. David Livingstone


Currently, 2010, I am reading the following two books:

The Birth of Hedonism: The Cyrenaic Philosophers and Pleasure as a Way of Life. By Kurt Lampe. Princeton University Press, 2014. 304 pages. ISBN: 978-0691161136. VSCL.

Happiness: A History By Darrin M. McMahon. New York, Atlantic Monthly Press, Grove Press, 2006. Index, notes, 544 pages. ISBN: 97808022142894. VSCL.
Walking - Quotations, Sayings, Poems, Lore

Solitude - Quotations  

Traveling, Camping and Hiking in Oregon

Pleasure, Satisfaction, Desire - Quotations



I walk four miles along a quiet paved country lane.  The photograph below, taken by Karen in 2010, was on a early Spring day.  In the summer, I walk at first daylight - the Dawn Walk.  

Today, there was a half-moon in the morning sky.      

Quintain Poem: Time Sits on the Windowsill

Time Sits on the Windowsill

By mpgarofalo

Time loosens its sandals in the garden,
resting among rosemary and stones.
A breeze turns the pages of the afternoon,
each moment a leaf briefly lifted,
before settling back into the long green now.

Time sits on the windowsill like a tired coin,
sunlight counts its edges and forgets to return,
I fold my day into the pocket of a shirt---
the stitches hum with small, inevitable clocks,
and somewhere a minute learns to be brave.

Daybreak perches on the windowsill, a thin coin of light,
it counts the rooms awake with a slow, indifferent hand.
A kettle remembers how to begin; steam writes a small apology,
the street folds its shadow into a single neat crease,
and we cup our hands to catch whatever the morning offers.

Time sits on the windowsill like a tired bird,
counting the light into small, obedient coins.
A kettle remembers the hour before it sings,
the calendar peels itself away, slow as skin,
and we keep the fingerprints of what we almost did.

Bundled Up, Volume 8, BU 4008

The Tick Tock Tractatus
Speaking of Time: The Poetic Investigations

Do You Have Good Mental Health?

Traits and Behaviors of Mental Heath

"Although no group of authorities fully agree on a definition of the term mental health, it seems seems to include several traits and behaviors that are frequently endorsed by leading theorists and therapists (e.g., Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, Rudolf Dreikurs, Fritz Perls, Abraham Maslow, Marie Jahoda, Carol Rodgers, Rollo May, Albert Ellis, etc.).  These include such traits as self-interest, self-direction, social interest, tolerance, acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, flexibility, acceptance of social reality, commitment, risk taking, self-acceptance, rationality and scientific thinking.  Not all mentally healthy individuals possess the highest degree of these traits at all times, but when people seriously lack them or when they have extreme opposing behaviors, we often consider them to be at least somewhat emotionally disturbed.  

Self Interest:  Emotionally healthy people are primarily true to themselves and do not subjugate themselves or unduly sacrifice themselves for others.  Realizing that if they do not primarily take care of themselves no one else will, they tend to put themselves first, a few selected others a close second, and the rest of the world not too far behind.

Self-Direction:  Mentally healthy people largely assume responsibility for their own lives, enjoy the independence of mainly working out their own problems, and, while at times wanting or preferring the help of others, do not think that they absolutely must have such support for their effectiveness and well-being.  

Social Interest:  Emotionally and mentally healthy people are normally gregarious and decide to try to live happily in a social group.  Because they want to live successfully with others, and usually to relate intimately to a few of these selected others, they work at feeling and displaying a considerable degree of social interest and interpersonal competence.  

Tolerance:  Emotionally healthy people tend to give other humans the right to be wrong.  While disliking or abhorring other's behavior, they refuse to condemn them as total persons for performing poor behavior.  They fully accept the fact that all humans seem to be remarkably fallible; they refrain from unrealistically demanding and commanding that any of them be perfect; and they desist from damning people in toto when they err.  

Acceptance of Ambiguity and Uncertainty:  Emotionally mature individuals accept the fact that, as far as has yet been discovered, we live in a world of probability and chance, where there are not, and probably ever will be, absolute necessities or complete certainties.  Living in such a world is not only tolerable but, in terms of adventure, learning and striving, can even be very exciting and pleasurable.  

Flexibility:  Emotionally sound people are intellectually flexible, tend to be open to change at all times, and are prone to take an unbigoted (or at least less bigoted) view of the infinitely varied people, ideas, and things in the world around them.  They can be firm and passionate in their thoughts and feelings, and they comfortably look at new evidence and often revise their notions of "reality" to conform with this evidence. 

Acceptance of Social Reality:  Emotionally healthy people, it almost goes without saying, accept was is going on in the world.  This means several important things: (1) they have a reasonably good perception of social reality and do not see things that do not exist and do not refuse to see things that do; (2) they find various aspects of life, in accordance with their own goals and inclination, "good" and certain aspects "bad" ─ but they accept both these aspects, without exaggerating the "good" ones and without denying or whining about the "bad" ones; (3) they do their best to work at changing those aspects of life they view as "bad," to accept those they cannot change, and to acknowledge the difference between the two. 

Commitment:  Emotionally healthy and happy people are usually absorbed in something outside of themselves, whether this be people, things, or ideas.  They seem to live better lives when they have at least one major creative interest, as well as some outstanding human involvement, which they make very important to themselves and around which the structure a good part of their lives.

Risk Taking:  Emotionally sound people are able to take risks.  They ask themselves what they would really like to do in life, and then try to do it, even though they have to risk defeat or failure.  They are reasonably adventurous (though not foolhardy); are will to try almost anything once, if only to see how they like it; and look forward to different or unusual breaks in their usual routines.  

Self-Acceptance:  People who are emotionally healthy are usually glad to be alive and to accept themselves as "deserving" of continued life and happiness just because they exist and because they have some present or future potential to enjoy themselves.  They fully or unconditionally accept themselves.  They try to perform competently in their affairs and win the approval and love of others; but they do so for enjoyment and not for ego gratification or self-deification.  

Rationality and Scientific Thinking:  Emotionally stable people are reasonably objective, rational, and scientific.  They not only construct reasonable and empirically substantiated theories relating to what goes on in the surrounding world (and with their fellow creatures who inhabit this world), but they are also able to supply the rules of logic and of the scientific method to their own lives and their interpersonal relationships. "

-  Albert Ellis, Ph.D.  The Albert Ellis Reader: A Guide to Well-Being Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 1998, pp. 235-252.  Based on the 1962 essay titled "The Case Against Religion: A Psychotherapist's View."  


How to Live the Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Virtues

An Old Philosopher's Notebooks

Walking Just Might ...

"It engages your buttocks with the world
It modestly reduces fat
It improves glycemic control, especially after meals
It improves triglyceride levels and lowers blood pressure, especially after meals
It might help you live longer if you do it briskly
It is well tolerated by people with arthritis
It is good for your brain
It reduces stress
It boosts immune function
It helps prevent falls in the elderly
It gives you a chance to think
It can be a kind of meditation
It is in your blood, in your genes
It enables recognition of the felt presence of immediate experience."
-  Mark Sisson, Reasons to Walk this Year, 2014



"Walking might:
Allow you to see new aspects of your local environment
Make you a bit mellower and more peaceful
Set a good example for others
Enable you to meet other people and dogs
Make for good conversations with a friend while walking
Engender more gratefulness and kindness
Lift your mood and improve your attitude
Give you time to think, reflect, or contemplate alone
Energize your body, mind, and spirit
Bring new scents and smells to your nostrils
Provide mystical experiences and epiphanies
Reduce or resolve your worries 
Enjoying good memories or testing your memory 
Allow you to feel and see the effects of our invisible Air
Give you more confidence in achieving your goals
Get you in better awareness of your feelings
Change your perspective 
Allow you to help with neighborhood watch
Let you be alone for awhile
Make your legs feel good
Appreciate the beauty in our world
Allow you to come under the 'Spell of the Sensuous'
Provide some time for listening to music or lectures
Reduce the onset or ameliorate physical ailments or diseases."
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Ways of Walking, October 2016  



Ways of Walking Website:  Quotations, Information, Facts, Poetry, Inspiration

Benefits of Walking

Caloric Expenditures While Walking

Walking Meditation

Exercise Options for Older Persons

Aging Well

Red Coals Pulse Like Distant Stars

Red Coals Pulse Like Distant Stars

By mpgarofalo

The last light slips behind the ridge,

a thin ember of day still glowing.

Boots thud softly on the packed earth,

the air cooling with each step.

Evening begins before we notice.

A match flares against the breeze,

brief and stubborn in the dim.

Paper curls into orange petals,

logs shift as if waking.

Fire learns its shape slowly.

Smoke threads upward in loose spirals,

finding its own quiet route.

A kettle hums near the campfire coals,

steam rising like a soft prayer.

Night accepts our presence.

Tall trunks stand just beyond the glow,

their crowns lost to the dark.

The fire paints their bark in strokes

of copper, rust, and shadow.

Even giants enjoy a little warmth.

Voices soften as the flames steady,

words drifting like sparks.

Some tales are true, some nearly so,

all of them shaped by the night.

The campfire listens without judgment.

Logs collapse inward with a sigh,

a slow settling of heat and memory.

Red coals pulse like distant stars,

steady, patient, unhurried.

The night grows deeper around them.

The fire shrinks to a quiet glow,

its edges soft as worn cloth.

Ash gathers in pale drifts,

the remains of what kept us warm.

Nothing ends abruptly out here.

The final spark dims into silence,

leaving only the scent of smoke.

Stars settle into their places,

unbothered by our small rituals.

The forest closes gently around us.

From Bundled Up, Volume 8, BU 4020

The Five Corners of Time by Mike Garofalo

 

Bundled Up

By Mike Garofalo

 

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions
Quintain Sonnets, TextArt
Gogyohkas, Limericks, Wakas, Quintets
Remarks, Epigrams, Commonplaces, Seeings
Ad Free Webpages, Translation Menu

Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Wakas, Quintillas, Tankas, Quintets
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Gogyohkas, Limericks, Wakas
Rhymes, Remarks, Listenings, Insights
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Rhymes, TextArt, Epigrams
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Remarks, Rhymes, Seeings, Onions
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Sonnets, Time, TextArt, Koans, Remarks
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Sonnets, Time, Language, Thought
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

Bundled Up, Volume 7
Quintains, Delight, Strangeness, Things
Quintain Poems 3,500 - 4,000

Bundled Up, Volume 8
Quintains, Collaboration, AI, Places
Quintain Poems 4,000 - 4,500

Quintains - Research

The Tick-Tock Tractatus
Speaking about Time: The Poetic Investigations

 

!! New Book !!

Five Corners of Time
202 Eclectic Quintains and Onions
By Mike Garofalo
TextPreSS Couve, June 2026, 110 pages, EBook.

Time: The Poetic Investigations - The Tick-Tock Tractatus by Mike Garofalo

The Tick-Tock Tractatus

Speaking About Time: The Poetic Investigations

By Michael Peter Garofalo, mpgarofalo, .m.p.g.

            

 

 

Sections

1. Time: time-space, movement, measurement

2. Past: memories, habits, fixed, specific, tradition

3. Present: now, here-now, day, duration

4. Future: maybe, planned, anticipated, uncertain

5. Passing: change, cycles, aging, growth, death

6. Beginning: renewal, starting, enthusiasm

7. Psychology: learning, experience, knowing

8. Middle: in progress, half-way, steady, living

9. Language: poetry, philosophy, ordinary

10. Silence: inexpressive, nonsense, illogical

11. Mystical: numinous, profound, intense, insightful,

12. Beauty: art, crafts, music, reading/writing

13. Social: ethics, morality, economics, manners, value

14. Philosophy: ethics, history, analysis, arguments, logic

15. History: landmark events, books/printing, memory

16. Eternity: forever, infinite, unimaginable, death

 

Preface

Key to Books Cited

Bundled Up Quintains about Time

Additional Notes

A Pragmatic Non-Religious Life

 Reasons for living one's life without religious interference.

Living a Good Life Without God
A freethinker's ruminations.
A Practical and Pragmatic Persons Views on Religions

1. Since religions have little scientific, technological, or practical daily life value, you just don't need to bother with them.  For examples: If you needed good medical advice about a proper lifestyle for coping with Type II diabetes, see a competent doctor; and the Bible is useless for this advice. I you needed information on repairing your bicycle chain, don't waste your time reading the Koran. I you want to know how to create and care for an orchard, the Bagjavagita would be useless.  If you wanted to learn a foreign language, reading the Book of Mormon would unnecessary. If you needed to improve you mathematical skills, consulting the Pranjaparamitra Sutra would be useless.

Religious works are filled with stories and fictional tales of ancient tribal peoples, just like some fictional literary works. They might be pleasant leisure diversions, but have little or no substantive practical value.

2. Don't waste your time going to religious services at a Church or Temple. You have heard all these theology stories in the past, read about them in childhood, and listened to preachers splitting theological hairs and repeating the same old stories over and over, year after year. Why use your limited time listening again and again to the same old sermons? It is a non-productive use of your limited leisure hours; like seeing the same old situation comedy over again, watching football games for hours on end, or watching the "News" on TV for many hours. Get off you butt, take a walk, or garden, or practice on your piano, or read a science book. Don't be a passive listener, a dolt in a pew, a dullar sponge of a mind. Free yourself from boring indoctrination by preachers and priests telling you what and how to think. Quietly laugh at their threats, and never return. Think of how many thousands of hours saved for worthy practical and enjoyable pursuits by just not attending any church or temple meetings. 

3. You don't have enough money to give to religious organizations that have little value in your personal, daily, and social life. Don't pay for religious tax free buildings, and put some more money on your own mortgage. Don't fatten the wallets of wealthy preachers and priests, invest your money, or help a friend or somebody struggling. Don't pay for religious pre-schools that indoctrinate little children with absurd ideas. Don't give money to religious institutions that want to control politics, make everyone follow their own lifestyle, advocate violence and hate towards peaceful people of other religious or ideologies. Financially helping hospitals, food banks, libraries, public schools, rest homes, the homeless, children's music programs and sports teams might be a few good alternatives for you expenditures. What would be more useful to your community, a new up-to-date hospital or another church building? Improve your own family home before giving any money to an old worn corner church with few members that have rather rigid opinions about how everyone should live their version of a "moral" and 'godly' life.

4. Don't bother arguing with religious people. They  have been indoctrinated since childhood in the habitual thinking of their parent's religion.  Such habits of thought are seldom changed by talking with non-religious persons. Just mentioning to them that you just don't find religion very useful or practical is enough on your part. Don't let them preach to you or try to convert you; tell them that you are just not interested. Save yourself the time and trouble. 

5. Be skeptical of anyone who acts like they know it all, possess the one truth, speaks with with an attitude of unquestioned absolute authority, and claims to know an invisible god's thoughts. Beware of preachers and priests with spiritual insights and opinions that cannot be questioned. Don't be fooled by "Mysteries" that surpass human understanding. Don't let dramatic and clever preaching get in the way of clear understanding and reasoning. Find other thinkers to read and listen to that have some humility, some practical ideas, some generous humanity, know about limits, and have some common sense.

6. Religious people can become fanatical, mean, and violent. History provides ample horrible evidence for this claim. Avoid and do not in any way support these people.

7. Religious hypocrites talk on an on about the terrible dangers of secularism, modernism, and consumerism. Yet they live just like everyone else in our modern society. Be suspicious of holier-than-thou hypocrites, and wealthy preachers railing against secularism.

8.  Beware of any religious organization that is male dominated, supports macho attitudes, denies women rights, has only male leaders and elders and speakers, keeps women in the back of the church, and encourages male domination over women. Half the population everywhere are women. Don't give your money or time to religious organizations that denigrate and subordinate women.  Such behavior is impractical, unfair, unkind, and spiritually limiting. Support equal education for women, women's rights, and support women in leadership roles in our community. 

9. Being Non-Religious does not mean being Anti-Religious. There are decent people with religious beliefs that you can share your life with. Tolerance, pluralism, compassion, and friendship are good to share with everyone. Yes, there are some extremist religious fanatics you should avoid, shun, and be cautious around. But don't let the bad apples ruin the apple harvest. It is best for us just to avoid and not participate with religious rituals, organizations, and believers rather than persecute and or harass them.  Let the few great writers and orators, like the New Atheists, present the articulate arguments against the negative impacts of religion.

10. Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Keep your spiritual and philosophical opinions to yourself in daily life. In America, religious people might hamper your success in work and business or public service if they know about your non-religious views.  Speak in general humanistic ethical ways, and avoid references to religious views in your daily ordinary life. Be neutral.  Don't proselytize for non-religious views amongst your ordinary daily contacts with people. 

11. Lead by example.  Make your lifestyle and thinking a model for others seeking alternatives to religious indoctrination and authoritarianism and magical irrelevance. Consult my "How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons" for ample information on a viable humanistic lifestyle for the 21st Century.

he Little Book of Humanism: Universal Lessons on Finding Purpose, Meaning and Joy. By Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts. Piatkus, 2022, 256 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope. Penguin Press, 2023, 454 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

American Humanist Association

Humanists of Greater Portland, Oregon

Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.  By Greg M. Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University.  William Morrow, 2009, 250 pages. FVRL, Hardbound. Outstanding presentation!

Bone Marrow Washing Chi Kung

Repost from August 2013:

John wrote to me asking,

"Hello, Mike. I have enjoyed all of your guides and articles, and know if I have a guestion I just need to go to your website and I usually always find an answer.

I have been researching Xi Sui Jing or Bone Marrow Washing. I have had no success, and wonder if you may be able to guide me in the right direction to either find a teacher, literature or video on this system. I am told there are 18 forms or exercises. Is this true?  I have non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer and thought this may help with my chemotherapy treatments, although the doctor thinks it's a waste of time and money. Thank you."


John,

Intelligently listen to your oncologist's "advice" about treating cancer in terms of complementary medicine and physical exercises.  Some favor exercise and others do not as a complementary therapy.  Many people do not feel much like doing qigong exercises while undergoing chemotherapy.

I can't agree with your doctor that practicing Qigong would be a waste of money since it is very inexpensive or totally free to learn and pracice.  Books and instructional DVDs are quite inexpensive these days, and free UTube video are readily available.  Some people argue that the current elaborate and extremely costly conventional medical treatments for cancer are a waste of time and money, and cause undue suffering, and decide on other options, including doing nothing (wu wei).  This makes for very difficult decisions by the patient.

Based on considerable worldwide research, people who are overweight and don't exercise and eat improperly and use unhealthy drugs have a higher incidence of poor health and diseases and die younger than people who are trim, fit, eat properly, don't use recreational drugs, and exercise regularly.  Nevertheless, I do not believe that Qigong or other fitness modalities can be of significant benefit in curing or slowing the progress of cancer; and people who actively practice Qigong may get cancer anyway.  Cancer has many causes and its appearance is currently unpredictable, although more likely above the age of 60, and cancer "cures" are actively being researched and evaluated.   There is lively debate on the subject of the best treatments for the complex and serious disease of cancer.  Read the book "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Dr. Stephen Hoye and Siddhartha Mukherje, 2010, for a thorough discussion of this important subject, although a depressing account.   

Some Qigong (Chi Kung) enthusiasts and teachers do believe that their exercises, breathing, meditation, and visualization methods do significantly help people with serious diseases, including cancer.  Medical Qigong offers clinics attempting to help people with all kinds of health problems, and schools training future Qigong medical practitioners and healers exist worldwide.  However, Caveat emptor.

High hopes that the body will heal iteself using some method is very important.  The placebo effect is a real factor.  If you have confidence that Qigong will help in your healing, then it just might work for you.


As for Bone Marrow Washing (Xi Sui Jing) Qigong:  

Gabi Greve from Japan sent me information on Daruma Bone and Marrow Washing Exercises.

Roberto Gravez recommended "The Scholar Warrior" by Deng Ming-Dao.  This book gives all 24 movements of Bone Marrow Washing Chi Kung with drawings and instructions. The book also provides guides for diet, meditation, and so forth.  Mr. Gravez criticized my skepticism about the use of qigong in healing cancer.  I agree with him that "Scholar Warrior" is a fine and useful book, and Deng Ming-Dao is a good writer and expert on Taoist matters. 

Dr. Bikum Hu in Berkeley, California, teaches Bone Marrow Washing Qigong.  

As for general well-being, an increased sense of vitality, feeling good, psycho-spiritual progress, positive visualization, and relaxation, qigong has helped many people. Most people who regularly practice qigong generally have positive comments to make about their experiences.


Yang Jwing-Ming and Mantak Chia have written books on the Bone Marrow Washing Chi Kung form, and, as I recall, give instructions on a version of the set. Yang Jwing-Ming's books are usually very informative and useful for learning forms, and have excellent, detailed background theory.

There are both harder and easier verions of the Xi Sui Jing exercise as with Shaolin White Crane Qigong. 18 Lohan Qigong, another Shaolin Qigong form, is also popular.

I'd recommend The Eight Section Brocade Qigong for a general introductory form, and you don't need to spend any extra money learning it (I explain it for free on a webpage); and, there are many free UTube verison online.  Please, don't spend more than 20 mintues a day, at first, doing the form in the early morning. Also, enjoy some walking if you feel up to it!

I find the exercises, postures, and movement routines of many "different" qigong forms to be quite similar.  Likewise, there are also many named "styles" of yoga, but the postures of physical (hatha) yoga are common and familiar, even if named differently.  For example, lunges or moving the shoulders/arms through a full range of motion are found in all qigong, taijiquan, and yoga practices.

Visualizations of energy flow inside and outside the body, philosophical emphasis, vigorous vs gentle movements, breathing instructions, and descriptions of esoteric anatomy or meridians vary more in qigong forms. 

John, my very best wishes for a long remission, improved well-being, and a peaceful soul.

Mike Garofalo

Pacific Beach State Park, WA, Yurt Camping Trip: Day 3

Pacific Beach State Park, Washington, Yurt Camping Trip, Day 3

Yurt Camping, March 10, 11, 12, 13 in 2025

Yurt Camping in the Pacific Northwest
Tips, Information, Locations, Experiences
Oregon and Washington
Off Season Camping
By Michael P. Garofalo

During this camping trip, I visited all these small towns and villages (along a 30 mile stretch of Washington road 109) along the southwestern Washington coast: Ocean Shores, Oyehut, Ocean City, Copalis Beach, Friday-Griggs State Park, Iron Springs, Ocean Grove, Seabrook, Pacific Beach, Moclips, Qui-nai-elt Village, and the Quinault Indian Nation town of Taholah. 

Along Highway 101, I visited: Olympia, Aberdeen, Hoquaim, Lake Quinault, Queets River, and Kalaloch. I ate dinners at the nearby Seabrook restaurants, and meals in Olympia, Hoquaim, Ocean Shores, and the Lake Quinault Lodge.

Generally, comfortable weather from 40-505 F, little wind, and intermittent light to moderate rain. Lovely cloudy and misty skies. Full moon at night.

A few dogwoods in bloom amidst the leafless deciduous branches and evergreen firs, cedars, spruces, and pines.

Internet Photographs:

Tai Chi May Boost One's Immune System

"Dr. Michael Irwin of University of California – Los Angeles conducted a research study that found that after 25-weeks of Tai Chi practice, older adults’ immunity against shingles was slightly higher than people who did not practice Tai Chi but got shingles vaccinations. Combining Tai Chi practice and vaccination, the seniors’ immunity index was twice as high as vaccination alone, the same level of people 30 years younger.

The Chinese Culture University in Taiwan found that Tai Chi Chuan increased circulating myeloid dendritic cells which are antigen-presenting cells of the immune system.

Chang Gung University in Taiwan found that regular Tai Chi Chuan exercise enhances functional mobility and important T cells in the immune system. It also discovered that regular Tai Chi practice improves T cell function of patients with type 2 diabetes.

If that wasn’t enough, even Dr. Oz’s personal trainer Donovan Green and world Kung Fu champion Master Karl Romain endorse taking Tai Chi for developing a stronger immune system.

From a western scientific standpoint, it’s difficult to explain exactly why and how Tai Chi affects our immune system. Dr. Peter Wayne, Assistant Professor of Harvard Medical School and author of the Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, comments with many active ingredients—movement, breathing, attention, visualization, and rich psychosocial interactions, Tai Chi is a multicomponent intervention."
-  "Can Tai Chi Boost Your Immune System?" from Asian Fortune

Infographics and Mind Maps 2

I have explored the free version of the Wondershare Edraw MindMaster software.  This software looked really good for my skill level and purposes.  I want to create info-graphics, charts, tables, mind maps, flow charts, knowledge representations, and visual-textual representations of concepts, processes, ideas, tasks, etc.  This software can export and import in many ways.  

The "Lifetime Permanent Pro" package offer (ending 3/30/2021) was very appealing to me because in included three Wondershare software products:  MindMaster, EdrawMax, and EdrawInfo software.  I purchased this software combination package on 3/19/2021 for $344.00.  

There are many creative and informative examples of Mind Maps on the Internet.  There are both online and offline software available, for free or fee, for creating Mind Maps.  I have used free online versions of FreeMind and UVE from Tufts University.  

Here are my notes on using Mind Maps.  

Mike Garofalo's Hypertext Notebooks

This is a .png file of a mind map created with FreeMind.  I did link each node/topic to a webpage.  However, no export file in FreeMind creates a file that is clickable online.  You must have the file open in FreeMind to use all the hyperlink functionality and other features of FreeMind.  

Here is an example of charts I created with Wondershare Edraw MindMaster:

Pacific Beach State Park, Washington

 Pacific Beach State Park, Washington

State Park Information

Wikipedia

Images

Pacific Beach Beach Towny

Seabrook Beach Town

Ocean Shores Beach Town

Aberdeen, Grays Harbor

Four Days in Grayland

Grays Harbor Bay

Yurt Camping, Pacific Beach, WA, February 12-15, 2024, Mike Garofalo solo camper.  Cancelled due to poor health of Mike Garofalo.  

Mike Garofalo at Wallapa Bay

Yurt at Pacific Beach

Pacific Beach State Park

Pacific Beach State Park

Seabrook Village, WA
South of Pacific Beach

The Longevity Plan

 The Longevity Plan: Seven Life-Transforming Lessons from Ancient China. By John D. Day, M.D., Jane Ann Day, and Matthew LaPlante. Harvard Paperbacks, 2018, 304 pages. VSCL.  

The Seven Lessons are:
1. Eat good food.
2. Master your mind-set.
3. Build your place in a positive community.
4. Be in motion.
5. Find your rhythm.
6. Make the most of your environment.
7. Proceed with purpose. 

Dr. Day, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist from Utah, stayed and studied at the Longevity Center in Bapan, CR China.  He has thoroughly researched the topic and tells us how he applied to his own life.