Epidemic:

• Several heroin overdoses this week. One kid who has been injecting for 5 years and has no complications. No infections. Good family that hasn’t given up on him yet. Chance for a truly clean slate, a new start.
• It is such a reward to see the look on these patients’ faces when you treat them like human beings who made / are making mistakes. Not one of them wants to be addicted and burn their family members. The time you are nice to him or her might be the time it finally works and they get clean.  

Rainy Day:

• If you live in Louisville, you are likely getting tired of this rain. Challenge: next time it rains, walk outside and just stand in it. Stand on the earth, not cement. Let it hit you in the face. Taste the raindrops.
• Major pearl: do this with your kids. My kids still remind me of the time months ago when we walked out of the house to purposefully run around in the rain and splash in puddles. But kids are not necessary.
• Seeking that pleasant smell is probably programmed in us. Get the negative ions flowing.

Extreme Moderation:

• Article in Harvard Business Review on moderation. The author calls out the competitive, high-achieving, workaholic, fitness enthusiast people out there who seem to turn not only work but even hobbies into all out exhausting efforts. I like her premise, that one should practice moderation in life. Going back to Aristotle and the Golden Mean.
• But I would counter that tendency with Tony Robbins’s advice that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. Instead of intending not to “go all out” on your work or exercise or health, intend to go hard at those pursuits, but go equally hard at rest and presence. Sleep, stop and look at things, breathe. Thanks Meghamsh Kanuparthy for the recommendation.

Reading in bed:

• This study compared reading at brightest intensity on a tablet to reading a physical book in the hours before bed. In the study, participants used a small lamp in both conditions. Lux levels (brightness) were 67 in the book group, 102 in the tablet group. Color temperature was 2674K in the book group, 7718K in the tablet group. So slightly brighter light and much cooler light coming from the tablet (ie blue light). BUT the book condition still had a somewhat bright and somewhat high temperature light source, compared to candlelight or a dim orange light bulb (*my favorite).
• Results showed no changes in sleep or melatonin between groups. Of course the ambient lighting was brighter than I would recommend.
• But the main intention of the study was to compare these two scenarios AFTER [controlled] bright light exposure all day. The authors seem to have succeeded in adding more evidence to the maxim that bright light at night is not as deleterious if you get bright light exposure (ie the sun) during the day. 

Poem:

Bear in Mind
by John Martin

A bear is chasing me through a meadow
and I’m running as fast as I can but
he’s gaining on me—it seems
he’s always gaining on me.
I’m running and running but also
thinking I should just
turn around and say,
“Stop it! Stop chasing me. We both
know you aren’t going to catch me.
All you can ever do is chase me. So,
think about it—why bother?”

The bear does stop,
and he sits on his haunches and thinks,
or seems to think. And then
the bear says to me,
“I have to chase you, you know
that. Or you should. And, sure,
we both know I’ll never catch you.
So, why not give us both a break and
just stop thinking about me?”

But, with that said, he gets back on four feet,
sticks his long pink tongue out, licks down
both sides of his snout. Then he sighs, looks
behind himself, then at me and says, “Okay,
ready when you are.”

“Bear In Mind” by John Martin from Hold This