Good questions, bad questions, good thoughts, bad thoughts

Last evening, Glenda Christianens, who is, as it turns out, the "Good Nurse, Glenda", provided a great example of healthful behavior in the integrative health conference at the University of Utah. This is the "cancel, cancel" technique. When a non-serviceable idea crosses your mind, you use this phrase, understandable to us all in this techno-centric world, to get rid of it.

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What runs through out minds is so important to our health; this is now widely understood. We harbor concerns for our health and this alone is problematic. I was on a glorious walk on the Utah bench this morning and I was thinking about thoughts (yes, for we cognitive psychology neophytes, that indeed is what meta cognition is). I was walking past the offices of basically all things medical in the research park, which reminded me of all of the things we have to worry about in our health, particularly when things get creaky and stiff.

Should we worry about our heart, the condition of our veins and arteries, etc? To be sure, we need data and in some cases, only data will do. On a walk, however, we are better off thinking about the kinds of things that walks bring to mind, things that do not come to mind while driving a car. This many be anything, of course, but we are best off thinking of the loves of our lives and people and conditions we are grateful for.

Since on a walk you must decide where to go, your mind is well-occupied with questions such as whether you can make it to the top of the hill in the fifteen minutes you have left. If you are more fortunate than that and have all the time in the world, you may wonder whether you can make the crest of that hill to sit under a tree and doze for a while. Such are questions well worthy of consideration.

Worrying about your heart, your arteries, whether you have some kind of noxious problem, without data -- bad idea. Get data and get better.

And, by the way, what a glorious day we are having already.

Regards,

Ken