george's random thoughts

AFI TOP 100 U.S. FILMS
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941. 2. "The Godfather," 1972. 3. "Casablanca," 1942. 4. "Raging Bull," 1980. 5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952. 6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939. 7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962. 8. "Schindler's List," 1993. 9. "Vertigo," 1958. 10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939. 11. "City Lights," 1931. 12. "The Searchers," 1956. 13. "Star Wars," 1977. 14. "Psycho," 1960. 15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968. 16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950. 17. "The Graduate," 1967. 18. "The General," 1927. 19. "On the Waterfront," 1954. 20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946. 21. "Chinatown," 1974. 22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959. 23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940. 24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982. 25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962. 26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939. 27. "High Noon," 1952. 28. "All About Eve," 1950. 29. "Double Indemnity," 1944. 30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979. 31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941. 32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974. 33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975. 34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937. 35. "Annie Hall," 1977. 36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957. 37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946. 38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948. 39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964. 40. "The Sound of Music," 1965. 41. "King Kong," 1933. 42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967. 43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969. 44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940. 45. "Shane," 1953. 46. "It Happened One Night," 1934. 47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951. 48. "Rear Window," 1954. 49. "Intolerance," 1916. 50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001. 51. "West Side Story," 1961. 52. "Taxi Driver," 1976. 53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978. 54. "M-A-S-H," 1970. 55. "North by Northwest," 1959. 56. "Jaws," 1975. 57. "Rocky," 1976. 58. "The Gold Rush," 1925. 59. "Nashville," 1975. 60. "Duck Soup," 1933. 61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941. 62. "American Graffiti," 1973. 63. "Cabaret," 1972. 64. "Network," 1976. 65. "The African Queen," 1951. 66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981. 67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966. 68. "Unforgiven," 1992. 69. "Tootsie," 1982. 70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971. 71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998. 72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994. 73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969. 74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991. 75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967. 76. "Forrest Gump," 1994. 77. "All the President's Men," 1976. 78. "Modern Times," 1936. 79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969. 80. "The Apartment, 1960. 81. "Spartacus," 1960. 82. "Sunrise," 1927. 83. "Titanic," 1997. 84. "Easy Rider," 1969. 85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935. 86. "Platoon," 1986. 87. "12 Angry Men," 1957. 88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938. 89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999. 90. "Swing Time," 1936. 91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982. 92. "Goodfellas," 1990. 93. "The French Connection," 1971. 94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994. 95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971. 96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989. 97. "Blade Runner," 1982. 98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942. 99. "Toy Story," 1995. 100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　·胡　涣· 弗兰克尔（Ｖｉｋｔｏｒ　Ｆｒａｎｋｌ，１９０５－１９９７）是奥地利著名心理学家。二战中被投入纳粹集中营，历经九死一生，其父母、兄弟、妻子皆死于集中营。弗兰克尔凭着坚强的毅力得以生还，出狱后就其集中营经历写出《寻找生命的意义》（“Ｍａｎ’ｓ　Ｓｅａｒｃｈ　ｆｏｒ　Ｍｅａｎｉｎｇ”），广受欢迎，被多次重印和再版。我在书店买到的这一本是其英译本的第７３次印刷。出版六十年后仍能在书店的书架上找到，足见其思想的生命力。 弗兰克尔作为心理学家和大屠杀幸存者的双重经历让他对人生有了常人体会不到的感悟。Ａｌｌｐｏｒｔ教授在本书序言中写道，“他失去了所有的亲人和财产，他所有的价值观都被践踏得粉碎，他每天都面临饥饿、寒冷和暴行，他每时每刻都可能被拉出去处死。在这样的环境中，他怎么还能觉得生活值得继续下去呢？一位亲身经历了这样极端环境的心理医生的话是值得一听的。” 支持弗兰克尔在这样的绝望中活下去的，是他的发现：人有一样东西，是永远丢失不了的，是在丢失了所有别的东西之后还有的。这就是，人在任何一个给定的环境下，都有选择自己心态（Ａｔｔｉｔｕｄｅ）的自由。他为自己选择的心态是：接受现实；在今天、在囹圄之内发现生活的意义，而不是寄希望于明天。 弗兰克尔认为，人生的意义有三个层面：创造、经历与心态。 首先，人通过创造出自己以前没有的东西来证明自己的能力。多数人的理想，比如当个成功的企业家、科学家、艺术家，拥有一所大房子，培养一个好孩子，在公司得到认可、获得提拔，等等，所追寻的人生意义就是在这个层面。也即马斯洛所谓的“自我实现”。在创造层面，人是个演员，扮演着主动的角色。 其次，生命的意义还体现在经历的层面。在这个层面，人是个观众，是个被动的角色。旅游、看电影、读书、体验被爱的感觉，就是在经历层面追寻人生意义的种种体现。 第三个，也是最高的层面，是心态层面。弗兰克尔解释道：“即使是一个最绝望无助的人，在面对着一个他无法改变的命运时，他还是可以超越自己、战胜自己，进而改变自己。他可以把一个人生悲剧转变为辉煌的胜利。”在这个层面，人既是演员，也是观众。但这个观众不是在看着别人表演的观众，而是在看着自己表演的观众。正因为看到了自己的表演，所以才能耻于自己的表演，才能让自己的表演更尽善尽美。 由此我想到了一位面对死亡的人和另一群面对死亡的人。一位是“死得其所，快哉快哉”的谭嗣同。一群是河南艾滋病晚期病人。我被网上那些艾滋病人的照片震惊了。震惊之一是病人症状之恐怖。虽然以前也有耳闻，但百闻不如一见。震惊之二是病人的表情之干枯、绝望与无助。同样是面对死亡，我对前者的感情是敬，是自惭形秽；对后者的感情是悲、怜、和一种想要施舍点什么给他们的欲望。这鲜明的对比，大概可以作为对生命意义之最高层面的注解吧？ 弗兰克尔对快乐的论述也很精彩，翻译一段如下： “在欧洲人看来，美国文化的一大特点是人被要求必须快乐。但是快乐不是能直接追求得到的。人只能去追求因，而快乐是果。人要快乐必须有一个理由，而理由一旦找到，快乐就会不请自来。所以，人不是去寻找快乐，而是去寻找让他快乐的理由——通过发现在当下的环境中蛰伏着的意义。 “快乐对理由的需要与另外一个为人类所独有的现象很相似：笑。如果你想让别人笑，你必须给他一个理由，比如说，你得给他讲个笑话。强求他笑，或让他强求自己笑，都不可能让他真的笑出来。这样做就像照相时让人说“起士”，结果发现照出来的是僵硬的假笑。” 用这段话我们可以来理解，弗兰克尔所说的“把一个人生悲剧转变为辉煌的胜利”是不是鲁迅所鄙夷的“精神胜利法”呢？鲁迅所鄙夷的是没有理由的、空洞的精神胜利，而弗兰克尔描述的是有理由的、真实的胜利。这胜利不是打败了别人的胜利，而是战胜了自己的胜利。陶渊明的退隐田园与阿Ｑ的虚妄，都可以说是精神胜利，但胜利表面之下实质的不同是显而易见的。 弗兰克尔曾治疗过无数有自杀倾向的心理病人。很多病人告诉他，他们多么庆幸自杀没有成功，他们现在觉得多么快乐。看来，对于很多人，只有当死神真正逼近时，生活的意义才彰显出来。况且，没有亲眼见过死神面孔的人，谁又敢夸口说已经了解了生命的意义呢？弗兰克尔于１９９７年去世，享年９２岁。他曾每天都仰仗死神的鼻息而生存，却因此无比清晰地认识到了生命的意义。他的长寿也许是对他的理论的一个最好的旁证吧。

.May 24, 2004: 4:58 PM EDT By Joan Caplin, MONEY Magazine
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Buying houses that have been seized by lenders is a popular way to invest in real estate. It can be profitable -- but it's not easy.
Dr. David Coffey remembers well what made him a convert to investing in foreclosures. It happened a few years back, when an elderly patient offered to sell him a commercial property at a great price, and he said no. Real estate was so far from Coffey's mind that the patient might as well have offered him a skunk at a discount.
Later, though, the doctor started dreaming about how much the property he'd rejected might be worth someday. He was a changed man. He signed up for real estate seminars, he read books, he joined a local real estate club, and he decided that foreclosures were the way to go.
"I started thinking of them as a way to retire early," he says.
Coffey is one of a new breed of investor, burned by the stock market over the past few years, who have found real estate in general and foreclosures in particular to be a good place to put their money.
And for good reason. The average home price, according to Case Shiller Weiss, a real estate research firm, has shot up 42 percent over the past five years while interest rates have kept falling. Meanwhile, 1.8 million homeowners were behind on their mortgages and 167,550 houses entered foreclosure in the last quarter of 2003, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Foreclosures
The potential profits on the purchase and resale of a foreclosure can be tempting. Some experienced investors say such a deal should yield a profit of no less than 30 percent.
Such hefty margins are possible because nobody likes an empty house. Not the neighbors, not the community missing out on tax dollars, and certainly not the lenders forced to take back the property. Lenders want to get foreclosed houses off their books fast, and that means they're often willing to sell them cheap.
Buyers can profit either by doing a few repairs and reselling promptly -- a process known as "fix and flip" -- or by holding on to the property for some time and renting it out.
The latter choice has become more popular lately as a result of changes in the tax laws that scale back capital-gains taxes on assets owned for more than a year.
The basic equation is simple, but actually doing it right and making money isn't. The investors MONEY spoke to have profited from buying foreclosures, but usually only after a process of trial and error.
It's not as easy as the late-night TV, best-selling get-rich-in-real-estate gurus (Carleton Sheets, Robert G. Allen, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad's" Robert Kiyosaki and the like) make it sound. Potential deals are abundant, but good ones are few, and competition for them is intense.
Investors can and do get stuck with houses they can't sell. And to make the whole thing even more daunting, laws and procedures vary widely from state to state.
Still, it can be done if you're willing to take the time and do your homework. The first lesson is learning your way around the three basic types of foreclosure deals.
They are pre-foreclosures, in which the homeowner is in trouble with the lender but still has the house; auctions, in which the homeowner has defaulted and the house has been seized and put up for public sale; and REOs (real estate owned), in which a lender has wound up owning a house and is trying to sell it, either directly or through a real estate agent.
Each kind of deal has its own set of opportunities and problems, economic and otherwise. The experiences of Dr. Coffey and two other real estate investors, Chai Voraritskul and Toni Menchetti, provide a basic road map through the foreclosure landscape.
Pre-foreclosures
When homeowners default on their mortgage payments, generally after 90 days, lenders begin foreclosure. Notice of these proceedings is public information filed with county registrars or other authorities; in some places it's available online.
Some investors prefer to contact homeowners at this early stage, before the lender has seized the property and sent it to auction. One advantage is simply beating other bidders to a potentially good deal.
As Alan Smith, the communications director for Foreclosures.com, an online listing and advisory firm, puts it, "The longer the investor waits, the more likely someone else will get there before him."
People on the verge of eviction are not always thrilled to be contacted by a stranger offering to buy their house.
Debbi Smith, a Mesa, Ariz. foreclosure investor, goes in the front door -- literally. She says, "I don't look threatening or all professional. I go in casual clothes and I say, 'Hi, I'm Debbi. I'm an investor. Do you know anyone who's in trouble, behind in their payments?'"
Other would-be investors prefer to court homeowners via letters. Chai Voraritskul uses an even softer sell.
"I'm not pushy," he says. "I let people come to me." Voraritskul, 62, has been investing in real estate full time for almost two years. The retired Allstate insurance agent spends a lot of time driving around the Dallas/Fort Worth area in his pickup, looking for property. A sign on the tailgate reads WE TAKE OVER MORTGAGES. STOP FORECLOSURE. His phone number is posted on the doors and rear window.
"I get one or two calls a day," he says.
In February, for instance, Voraritskul got a phone call from a homeowner in the town of Wylie who had been unable to sell his three-bedroom house and was starting to have trouble keeping up with his mortgage. Voraritskul agreed to take over the monthly payments, allowing the man to walk away without the black mark of a foreclosure on his record.
Voraritskul thinks of himself as somebody who can help homeowners in trouble, not somebody who is just trying to benefit from their hardship.
"The people are in a very depressed state," says Voraritskul. "The owner knows he's in trouble, he knows others know he's in trouble, and he's very defensive."
In the case of the Wylie house, Voraritskul brought in a tenant under a lease-option agreement that gives the renter two years to buy the home. By the time the lease option runs out, the tenant will have built up $5,000 in equity toward the purchase price. (Such deals are attractive to people with bad credit who can't get mortgages initially.)
If the tenant chooses not to buy, Voraritskul will keep the $5,000 on top of the $235-a-month profit he's making on the rent.
"I'll either put it back on the market," he says, "or I'll use it as a rental. I have two years to think about it."
Auctions
When a homeowner actually defaults on his mortgage, the lender gets the right to sell the house at a public auction. (The timing and exact procedure for this vary by state.)
Not all auctions are created equal, however. If the loan was guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), then the department takes ownership of the home and either sells it through a real estate agent or auctions it on the Internet.
These properties are not the bargains some potential investors think they are. For one thing, there's a lot of competition; in February the department put 3,250 houses up for auction and got 22,000 bids. For another, HUD's Web site states that it "sells homes at market value" and that bidders who intend to move in get preference over investors.
As for auctions of homes owned by banks or other private lenders, investors should not show up without preparation. All investors should know the state's laws and the particulars of the property they wish to bid on.
They should also be ready to put down a cash deposit of 10 to 20 percent of the sale price on the spot should they win the bidding. The balance will most likely be due in less than 30 days -- in many cases in as little as 24 hours.
Toni Menchetti bought her first three foreclosures at a single auction in 2000.
"I was terrified," she admits. "You get into this auction mode, this ego thing. You're bidding and people are bidding against you and you think, 'I'm going to get this.' It's dangerous."
Menchetti, 42, a single mother who decided to pursue real estate investing for extra income after her divorce six years ago, bought the three foreclosed properties having seen only slides of them.
"I knew the towns and the average comps [the sales price of neighboring homes]," says the North Haven, Conn. resident, "and these were about 40 percent less."
Menchetti bid roughly $25,000 for each of the houses. She paid her 10 percent deposits and then went to inspect what she'd bought.
"One was a complete mess," she recalls. What's worse, the houses were appraised at only $23,000 apiece. "I didn't realize," she says, "that the banks wouldn't give me a mortgage for anything lower than $25,000, and they wouldn't combine. I gave [the houses] back because they were all contingent on financing."
Menchetti was lucky. Some auctioneers, including HUD, will not return deposits for any reason.
Today, Menchetti says, she makes sure her financing is in place before the auction. She's bought and sold four foreclosures for a total profit of $162,500.
Financing is not the only obstacle for buyers at a foreclosure auction. The homes may still be occupied by the delinquent owners, and it is up to the high bidder to deal with the messy question of eviction. In some states, the former owners have up to a year after the sale to buy back their home for the amount they owe plus foreclosure costs.
Also, don't expect a clean title search or title insurance to accompany an auctioned property. It is not uncommon for a winning bidder to be unpleasantly surprised by an unpaid $6,000 bill from a roofer or a claim by a third cousin who has an interest in the property.
And while some auctions take place in a house's front yard, allowing you to actually look the place over, just as many are sold online or "on the steps," meaning at the county courthouse. Good luck locating someone with a key to let you in for an inspection beforehand.
REOs
Here's the investor's last chance. If the foreclosure didn't sell at auction, it has nowhere else to go but back to the lender, where it takes on a new name: real estate owned.
Lenders hate REOs. An empty house is a nonperforming asset on their books. The longer a house sits unoccupied, the more its value depreciates. Meanwhile, the lender is spending money for its upkeep -- or not, in which case it faces the possibility of a thorough trashing and an "as is" sale price.
Most large lending institutions won't deal with investors directly, preferring to hand over properties to real estate agents. But smaller banks, eager to save on the commission, may want to talk.
Dr. David Coffey's first purchase was a three-bedroom REO in fairly good condition in the Cincinnati area. He found it with the help of a childhood friend who had become a real estate agent.
The duo negotiated $5,000 off the $83,000 price tag; Coffey paid in cash and then refinanced the property. He used the refi money to buy another house he found, again through his agent friend.
"It was a major repo," Coffey, 42, recalls of the first house. "The previous owners had busted up the toilets, busted through walls, and the basement had eight inches of water. But I thought I could make money on it. I figured no retail buyer was going to touch it."
Coffey says he's made more than $170,000 total on all his foreclosures to date. He follows a 70 percent rule -- he buys only when he calculates that he can sell a place for 30 percent more than he put into it, including any renovations.
His first foreclosure was a textbook example of the 70 percent rule: Purchase price: $78,000. Cosmetic work (painting and a new carpet): $2,000. Sale price one year later: $115,000.
When in doubt, don't
Every homeowner knows stories of houses in his town being "fixed and flipped" for quick profits. In fact, for a lot of would-be investors, the word "foreclosure" is practically synonymous with this technique, and a lot of no-money-down real estate gurus base their teachings on it.
But Coffey has held on to four of his five purchases, and Voraritskul has done the same with his properties. This is partly because capital gains on sales of assets held a year or less are taxed as regular income, while gains on assets held longer than a year are taxed at a top rate of 15 percent.
The other reason investors like Coffey and Voraritskul hold on to the buildings they purchase, despite the burdens of being a landlord, is that profitable foreclosures are hard to find. Menchetti looks at a minimum of 10 properties for every one she bids on. Voraritskul says he acts on one out of 100 calls.
And Coffey disciplines himself with this rule: Don't fall in love with a house. "If you get desperate and think you have to buy today," he advises, "you might just get hosed."

from http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1631176_1630611,00.html

Count your blessings — but not everyday. Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside, found that people who once a week wrote down five things they were grateful for were happier than those who did it three times a week. "It's an issue of timing or frequency," says Lyubomirsky, "When people do anything too often it loses the freshness and meaning. You need to have optimal timing." Lyubomirsky added that it has to feel right. She tried to count her blessings and hated it. "I found it hokey. It didn't work for me. Just like a diet program, what you do has to fit your lifestyle, personality and goals." In essence, gratitude might not be for everyone. But if it is, another exercise is to think of a person who has been kind to you that you've wanted to thank — a teacher, mentor or parent — and write a letter, once a week to different individuals over two months. You don't even have to send it to feel happier.

Count Your Blessings
Count your blessings — but not everyday. Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside, found that people who once a week wrote down five things they were grateful for were happier than those who did it three times a week. "It's an issue of timing or frequency," says Lyubomirsky, "When people do anything too often it loses the freshness and meaning. You need to have optimal timing." Lyubomirsky added that it has to feel right. She tried to count her blessings and hated it. "I found it hokey. It didn't work for me. Just like a diet program, what you do has to fit your lifestyle, personality and goals." In essence, gratitude might not be for everyone. But if it is, another exercise is to think of a person who has been kind to you that you've wanted to thank — a teacher, mentor or parent — and write a letter, once a week to different individuals over two months. You don't even have to send it to feel happier.

Snog. Canoodle. Get It On.
It's no secret that a roll in the hay, and all that leads up to it, feels good. Endorphins are the neurotransmitters in your brain that reduce pain and, in the absence of pain, can induce euphoria. A rush of such chemicals might seem like a temporary solution to a dreary day, but there are added benefits, not the least of which is expressing affection and strengthening the bonds of a relationship. Oxytocin is released by the pituitary gland upon orgasm; often referred to as the "hormone of love" or the "cuddle chemical," it is associated with feelings of bonding and trust, and can even reduce stress.

Nurture Your Spirituality
Survey after survey shows that people with strong religious faith — of any religion or denomination — are happier than those who are irreligious. David Myers, a social psychologist at Michigan's Hope College, says that faith provides social support, a sense of purpose and a reason to focus beyond the self, all of which help root people in their communities. That seems reason enough to get more involved at the local church, temple or mosque. For the more inwardly focused, deep breathing during meditation and prayer can slow down the body and reduce stress, anxiety and physical tension to allow better emotions and energy to come forward.


Nurture Your Spirituality
Survey after survey shows that people with strong religious faith — of any religion or denomination — are happier than those who are irreligious. David Myers, a social psychologist at Michigan's Hope College, says that faith provides social support, a sense of purpose and a reason to focus beyond the self, all of which help root people in their communities. That seems reason enough to get more involved at the local church, temple or mosque. For the more inwardly focused, deep breathing during meditation and prayer can slow down the body and reduce stress, anxiety and physical tension to allow better emotions and energy to come forward.

Laugh Big
Be it a slew of good jokes, a slapstick comedy or laughing yoga, find something to give you a good hearty laugh that brings tears to the eyes or a giggle fit that makes the sides of your body ache. People are 30 times more likely to laugh in groups than alone and, not surprisingly, laughter is associated with helping to develop person-to-person connections through a feedback loop characterized by laughter, social bonding and more laughter. Laughter, like so many other endorphin-triggers, helps to reduce certain stress hormones and, while it might be contagious, it strengthens your immune system rather than weakening it.


Do Something Nice for Someone Else
Hold a door open for someone at the bank, give someone directions if they look lost or make a point to compliment three people on your way to work. Small or big, directed at friends or strangers, random acts of kindness make the person performing the kind act happier when they're grouped together, according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside. Doing a considerate thing for another person five times in one day made the doer happier than if they had spread out those five acts over one week. Lyubomirsky explains that because we all perform acts of kindness naturally, it seems to please us more when we're more conscious of it. There are social rewards, too, when people respond positively.

Make More Money Than Your Peers
Midas might have been an unhappy guy, but that's probably because he didn't know any other kings who could also turn things into gold. Money as an absolute may not make you a happier person but making more money than others in your age group does, according to a sociological study done in 2005 by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. But keeping up with the Joneses isn't the only way that money brings happiness. Saving it for retirement or a rainy day brings together a variety of positive emotions that can lead to happiness, such as anticipation and expectation, a sense of delayed gratification and reward.


Make More Money Than Your Peers
Midas might have been an unhappy guy, but that's probably because he didn't know any other kings who could also turn things into gold. Money as an absolute may not make you a happier person but making more money than others in your age group does, according to a sociological study done in 2005 by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. But keeping up with the Joneses isn't the only way that money brings happiness. Saving it for retirement or a rainy day brings together a variety of positive emotions that can lead to happiness, such as anticipation and expectation, a sense of delayed gratification and reward.


Identify With Your Heritage
Whether it's getting comfy with a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, dancing at a Japanese Obon festival or scarfing down a hot dog at Coney Island, embrace your culture. Appreciating one's culture creates and strengthens bonds with others who share that culture and also allows one to identify and appreciate cultural difference. A recent study showed that adolescents of Mexican and Chinese ethnicity maintained feelings of happiness despite daily stress when they had a strong sense of cultural identity. In other research, psychologists found an association between stable cultural identity and overall positive emotion in African American and Native American communities.


Use a Happy Memory as a Guide
Learn to scan your memory bank for your strengths, talents, passions, interests, practical coping skills, and earlier potential — whether it's actualized or not. Scanning this memory bank and gleaning material that can be used to reinvent yourself to be happier is key, says Barbara Becker-Holstein, psychologist and author of Enchanted Self: A Positive Therapy. For example, someone who would like to be more altruistic can scan their past and know that they didn't like Girl Scouts in elementary school. That crosses off being a PTA mother. But they might remember that as a child they enjoyed collecting soda bottles and giving the money to the local fire station where they knew the firefighters. That person might consider giving money and time to a local group where they can socialize with people rather than mailing in a check to a distant organization. "Looking at one's personal style, tastes and interests as we look for ways to be happy today is very important," says Becker-Holstein.


Use a Happy Memory as a Guide
Learn to scan your memory bank for your strengths, talents, passions, interests, practical coping skills, and earlier potential — whether it's actualized or not. Scanning this memory bank and gleaning material that can be used to reinvent yourself to be happier is key, says Barbara Becker-Holstein, psychologist and author of Enchanted Self: A Positive Therapy. For example, someone who would like to be more altruistic can scan their past and know that they didn't like Girl Scouts in elementary school. That crosses off being a PTA mother. But they might remember that as a child they enjoyed collecting soda bottles and giving the money to the local fire station where they knew the firefighters. That person might consider giving money and time to a local group where they can socialize with people rather than mailing in a check to a distant organization. "Looking at one's personal style, tastes and interests as we look for ways to be happy today is very important," says Becker-Holstein.


Try New Things
Stop putting off seeing the aurora lights, warming up in the hot springs of Greenland or learning a new instrument — just do it. If you often do one thing that makes you happy, then try another. Psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University looked at 30,000 event memories and over 500 diaries, ranging from durations of 3 months to 4 years, and says that people who engage in a variety of experiences are more likely to retain positive emotions and minimize negative ones than people who have fewer experiences. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, studies her broaden-and-build hypothesis of positive emotion. Her research suggests that the optimal ratio of positive to negative emotion in humans is above 3 to 1 and below 11 to 1. Walker has observed that once the ratio of positive to negative events hit 1 to 1, it opens the door to potential disorders, such as anxiety and depression.

Tell Your Story to Someone
Talking about the good and bad things that happen can lead to happiness — even if it is from opposite ends of the phone line. In a controlled lab experiment, psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University found that the reasons are two-fold: people tend to emphasize positive emotions and mitigate negative ones when telling a story, since memory's natural bias is to keep tabs on the good stuff and gradually lose the emotional intensity of a bad event; and the process of storytelling can affect how one feels about what happened even up to a week later. In other words, talking about a negative experience made the emotional intensity of that memory fade faster than if the event had not been recounted. Walker says that storytelling works best when there is a lot of audience diversity — it helps to tell the story many times to a variety of people.



Balance Work and Home
The grin of our society is blue-toothed. With BlackBerrys and corporate email at home, we are tethered to technology unlike any previous generation. This newfound flexibility between our work and private lives works for some people but is problematic for others. In 2003, Michigan State University researchers found that those who establish boundaries between work and home are more connected to their families and have less conflict than those who integrate the two. The researchers divided people into what they call integrators and separators and suggested that knowing the appropriate boundaries between work and home can have an impact and improve happiness.

Be Like the Danes: Keep Expectations Realistic
Last year, the first world map of happiness was produced, and Denmark came out on top. For more than 30 years, the nation has ranked first in European satisfaction surveys. Researchers in the British Medical Journal tried to understand why the Danes felt more satisfied than the Swedes or Finns, who share similar aspects of culture, and came up with two plausible explanations: the lasting impact of the Danes' victory in the 1992 European Football Championship has kept them in a state of euphoria since; and the nation, while satisfied, has shown low expectations for the coming year, unlike the Greeks and the Italians who rank low on satisfaction. While there were other reasons that contributed to the satisfaction of the Danes, one thing is clear: the higher one's expectations, the further they fall

Make Time
Society is plagued by time bankruptcy. But what if people asserted more control over their time to optimize their use of it? "Maybe you need to burn bridges, discard habits or situations that waste time and avoid emotional vampires," says Mary Ann Troiani, co-author of Spontaneous Optimism. "It's like house-cleaning at that point." Psychologists will say prioritize, set realistic daily goals that fit into the bigger picture and some time might be recovered. Troiani usually asks one pointed question to shock her clients out of their rut: How would you feel in two or three years if you still feel this way? "People sit there like a deer in headlights," she says. Her response: picture and imagine what you want to feel like. Maybe set aside two nights in your calendar to focus on those things that you'd like to spend more time on. Or as she puts it: cut the chase.


Visualize Happiness
We are unique creatures in that we can mentally simulate situations by remembering the past and visualizing the future. We can also play a hand at perhaps creating the future — at least in terms of preparing our emotional state for what may come. It's a valuable tool and one that can lead to happiness when applied to specific goals. There is much research behind visualization and emotional changes, as it has been shown that positive thoughts have an impact on the brain's biochemistry. Many psychologists ask people to imagine or picture what they would like in their life, creating a mental state that makes the person think that it is achievable. "If you experience that visualization with your eyes closed, your mind doesn't know if it's real or unreal," says Mary Ann Troiani, co-author of Spontaneous Optimism. "Neuropsychological ways makes them feel as though they have it and tricks the mind into thinking they have [what they are visualizing] now. It makes them more confident about it."


Smile
Go ahead. It won't hurt you. It might actually make you happier, too. Based on the psychology that a person feels whatever emotion they are acting at the moment, you will probably feel better if you smile. To avoid what is called cognitive dissonance, in which our thoughts and actions don't match up, our minds react to the change in our facial expression to bring our beliefs in line with our behavior. And, like laughter, it's contagious. If you smile, chances are that those around you will too.


Marry Happy
Since there may be no point in marrying rich (see previous), then marry happy. Research shows that depressed singles receive greater psychological benefit — from things such as intimacy and emotional closeness — from getting married than those who are not depressed. And for the married population, first of all, congratulations: people in committed relationships have been shown to be happier than those who aren't, despite how satisfying their marriages actually are. Research done by an economist at the University of Warwick suggests that if you're married to someone who is happy, then you are happy as well. The research concludes that happiness, like material things in a marriage, is shared. Awww...

Labels: health

特稿：助你一觉好眠的10种食物
DWNEWS.COM-- 2007年6月13日22:56:42(京港台时间) --多维新闻网

多维社记者林紫乔报导／想要扎扎实实睡个7到8小时，究竟有没有什麽好办法？走到厨房去，从下列10种食物中，挑选1、2种来享用，它们能帮助你放鬆紧张 的肌肉，让嗡嗡作响的头脑安静下来，还能使睡眠相关的贺尔蒙--血清胺(serotonin)与退黑激素(melatonin)顺畅流动。这些让你看了也 想打呵欠的食物分别是：(chinesenewsnet.com)

多维美食频道(chinesenewsnet.com)

1、香蕉。香蕉事实上就是一种天然的助眠药，它除了含有帮助睡眠所需的血清胺与退黑激素，香蕉还富含镁质，可以让你的肌肉放鬆。睡前吃一根香蕉，不仅帮助你舒服入睡，还能一觉好眠到天明。(chinesenewsnet.com)

2、洋甘菊茶(Chamomile tea)。洋甘菊茶是最适合睡前时间的茶，原因在于它具有温和沉着的作用，对于不安定的身体与情绪，洋甘菊茶本身就是最佳的天然解决良方，睡前只要来一杯，就能让你宝贵的宁静时光，更加安详，更有品质。(chinesenewsnet.com)

3、温牛奶。牛奶有助于睡眠的说法并非是个传言，它含有具镇定作用的氨基酸，也富含钙质，可以帮助头脑有效利用这种胺基酸。因为这些特点，牛奶长期就是健康、放鬆的同意词，是提升睡眠效果的绝佳饮品。(chinesenewsnet.com)

4、蜂蜜。在你的温牛奶或药草茶中，滴入一些蜂蜜，其中的葡萄糖能传递讯息，让你的脑子关闭orexin物质，这种物质是最新发现与人的警觉意识有关的神经传送体，蜂蜜有助于降低体内的orexin，让你睡得更稳更熟。(chinesenewsnet.com)

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助你一觉好眠的10种食物

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5、土豆。少许的烤马铃薯不会害你增胖，却能去除一些体内的酸性物质，让一些与睡眠相关的色氨酸不受干扰。想要发挥土豆最佳的助眠作用，你不妨製成马铃薯泥，并且加入一点牛奶。(chinesenewsnet.com)

6、燕麦粥。燕麦是富有激发睡意的退黑激素的丰富来源，上床之前，来一碗玉米片或燕麦粥，加上香甜的枫糖浆，这绝对是最健康味美的睡前点心。(chinesenewsnet.com)

7、杏仁。抓一把有助心脏健康的杏仁，它不仅能保护你，还能让你忍不住打起瞌睡，因为这种坚果含有丰富的色氨酸，以及足够让肌肉放鬆的镁质含量。(chinesenewsnet.com)

8、亚麻籽。当你感觉生活不太顺畅，或是沮丧的感觉不断困扰你，间接影响了你的睡眠品质，别担心，试着在你睡前的燕麦粥中，加入2大匙的健康小种子--亚麻籽，它富含欧米茄3脂肪酸，是一种让人心情起飞的天然食物。(chinesenewsnet.com)

9、全麦麵包。切一片全麦土司，搭配你的蜂蜜茶，将有助于人体释放胰岛素，帮助色氨酸到达你的脑子，并且被转换成血清胺，在你睡觉的时刻，这种物质能够召唤你进入甜美的梦乡。(chinesenewsnet.com)

10、火鸡肉。火鸡肉除了是感恩节餐桌上的主角，也是色氨酸的最重要来源之一。但那实际上是现代民间传说。色氨酸运作的最佳状态是，当你的胃部裡有一点点 食物，但基本上不是过度饱胀，也不是充满蛋白质，因此，你不妨拿一片全麦麵包，搁上一两片精瘦的火鸡肉，这份睡前美点能给你一个舒适的夜晚，让你精神奕奕 迎接第二天。 想要把上述食物的功效、与美味的口感发挥到极致吗？提供你一道适合睡前的点心菜谱，香蕉的美味搭配蜂蜜的香甜，吃了这份健康又助眠的美味，你能睡得比别人更香更熟。(chinesenewsnet.com)

*助眠低脂小鬆饼(chinesenewsnet.com)

材料：2杯全麦酥皮点心麵粉(whole-wheat pastry flour)、1/2匙盐、1大匙发酵粉、2大根熟香蕉、1/3杯苹果酱、1/4杯蜂蜜、1/2杯牛奶。(chinesenewsnet.com)

做法：将烤箱预先加热至350F。在一个大碗中，将麵粉、盐、和发酵粉充分溷合。利用搅拌器，加入苹果酱、蜂蜜、和牛奶，将香蕉製成泥状。将香蕉泥加入麵 粉等成分中，再加以均匀搅拌，作成麵团。把麵团平均分配置入鬆饼烤杯中，烘烤30分钟，直到表面呈现鬆软状与澹澹的棕色。(chinesenewsnet.com)

营养成分：每份鬆饼含有119卡路里、1克脂肪、2.5克蛋白质、27克碳水化合物、10克糖、133毫克钠、3克纤维素、与35毫克的镁。