Wherever you live in the world, undoubtedly you knew that here in the United States, we had a critical presidential election yesterday. Fortunately (according to this writer), President Barack Obama will remain in office for the next four years. Hopefully he will live up to his promises and make some much needed change to a country in flux and crisis.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, ‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.’

I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land.

Halloween used to be a time of simplicity. Throw on a sheet and you’re a ghost. Put on your cheerleader’s uniform and you were a cheerleader. Now it’s a bloomin’ production! Here are a few ways to simplify and make Halloween positive, simple and prudent.

1. You’ve got a costume in there. Your closets undoubtedly hold a slew of possible costumes. Think of hitting them (or a thrift store) beforehand. Your children just want to feel dressed up; it doesn’t have to be a production.

2. Stop the candy train, I want to get off. If you haven’t heard of the dangers of sugar by now, you must be living under a tootsie roll. Here’s a list of alternative healthy Halloween treats.

3. Ration, ration and ration. Since candy will be part of Halloween no matter how hard we try, make sure the amount your child consumes is as minimal as possible. One piece after dinner, for instance. It teaches your child the importance of budgeting as well.

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to attend Farm Aid 2012, a concert held for the benefits of farmers in USA. And trust me, they need all the help they can get. Because of corporate interests, “agribusiness” is pushing the little farmer out, leaving them little money or land. But Farm Aid continues to do its work to highlight the issues surrounding farmers.

For me personally, it was an eye-opening experience. I saw farmers break down in tears, under so much pressure to exist in an ever-changing world, living in constant fear that they’ll lose their farms or not be able to make ends meet.

BUY LOCAL!

That’s the message. Get your butt to the local produce market and forgo grocery store produce. Buy your meats locally or from sustainable farms (you can find some at the grocery store. Check out Laura’s Beef, for instance.)

Just remember: there are real people behind your food. And they need your help.

(Besides the food is just better!)

Two Pennsylvania farmers at Farm Aid 2012

It always pays to help people. Usually just the good feeling alone is more than enough. But in this case, a woman in need was literally paid for helping one well-known executive with driving directions:

Jennifer Vasilakos was confident, with enough hard work, she could raise the money needed to treat her life-threatening kidney disorder. In her wildest dreams, however, she never thought she’d wind up receiving it all in one check. That’s the incredible position she’s in now, though, thanks to the generosity of one Beanie Baby billionaire.

H. Ty Warner, the founder, CEO and sole owner of Ty Inc, was recently driving near Santa Barbara, California when he got lost and pulled over to ask for directions. A local festival was going on, and Vasilakos was in the parking lot handing out fliers in an attempt to solicit money for stem cell treatments. After a brief conversation, she wound up pointing him in the right direction, and he gave her fifty dollars.

According to ABC News, Vasilakos was extremely pleased with the donation from the nice man driving the nondescript car and never expected to see him again, but a few hours later, he was back with a promise. Warner formally introduced himself and told the woman he’d done some research on her condition and would make a larger donation when he returned to his office.

True to his word, Warner sent along a check for twenty thousand dollars, enough to cover her procedure, her lodging, her plane ticket and her food while in Europe. There’s still a fight ahead and a long road to recovery, but with the funds now in place, Vasilakos will be able to finally think about her own health without maxing out credit cards.

We are happy to announce one of our first guest bloggers on Only Positive News. Her name is Melanie Bowen and she’s an awareness advocate for natural health. She wanted to share her wisdom about a topic very near and dear to her: cancer and massage therapy. Read on:

Amidst the turmoil and stress, massage therapy can be used to alleviate the some of the various symptoms of a cancer diagnosis. Many physicians use massage therapy to decrease stress and anxiety, which is often associated with cancer. Cancer patients can receive a variety of types ranging from aromatherapy massage, deep tissue massage and Swedish massage. People who receive regular massages often benefit from a better quality of life.

Massage Therapy Yields a Better Quality of Life

Studies have been conducted on cancer patients who received a 30-minute massage once per week for three consecutive weeks. The breast cancer patients that participated in this study had typically a better quality of life and were able to sleep healthier. When massage is combined with aromatherapy, a 2004 review of 10 studies revealed a reduction in anxiety levels and improved psychological well-being.

Some studies have also shown that massage can increase energy levels and improve moods. Studies have shown that endorphins are released with massage therapy and those same endorphins are responsible for enhancing mood and overall a patient’s mental well-being.

Massage Therapy Promotes a Stronger Immune System

When stress is reduced; typically the immune system has a greater chance of fighting cancer-causing free radicals and other toxins in the body. According to a 2004 study, massage may also boost the number of lymphocytes and natural killer cells. Experts concluded this after studying breast cancer patients. These patients received three half-hour massages three to five times per week. After the study concluded, experts found a decrease in anxiety, depression and hostility.

These patients also had higher levels of serotonin and dopamine. Both of these chemicals are known to regulate mood.

Massage For Pain Management

Pain management is also facilitated by massage. Patients receiving radiation therapy reported decreased pain when receiving regular massages. A 2002 study supported these findings. Patients also reportedly had less anxiety and better sleep quality in this study also.

Massage is recommended as long as the patient does not have bone injury, osteoporosis or other bone-related problem. Patients with these injuries may benefit from light touch or may have to opt out of pain management altogether.

What to Consider Before Starting a Massage Therapy Regimen

Patients in chemotherapy treatments often have lower platelet counts. Because of this, they may bruise easily. Deep tissue massage may be uncomfortable. Light touch is recommended instead. Radiation therapy treatment patients often cannot receive deep tissue massage either. Discomfort increases as a patient’s progress in their treatments.

Patients with tumors should avoid massage in the area of the tumor. The cancer could spread and cause more difficulty in the healing process. Massage or manipulation of bone in an area near cancer could cause a fracture and should be avoided.

Are You a Candidate for Massage Therapy?

In general, most cancer patients are candidates. Even mesothelioma patients can benefit from massage. Cancer patients should consult a physician to determine if they are a good candidate for massage therapy and get out there immediately and start feeling better inside out amidst your recovery process by getting a massage!

Melanie Bowen joined the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance in 2011 as an awareness advocate for natural health and cancer cure initiatives. You will often find her highlighting the great benefits of alternative nutritional, emotional, and physical treatments on those diagnosed with cancer or other serious illness. Melanie also assists in social media outreach in her efforts to spread awareness.

Keep up with Melanie’s work here.

We’ve heard that “pride comes before a fall” yet we all know that pride also empowers us and fuels our ability to achieve. So what is it? How much should you have before it’s too much?

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up. It’s all a matter of pride.
Nancy Lopez

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.
Horace

After all these years I had the privilege of naming my private part, cause we have nicknames. So I named my private part pride… it’s not much but at least I have my pride.
Jay London

Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
Mahatma Gandhi

Despite what people think of cowboys, they take pride in how they look, and that look is important to them.
Steve Kanaly

Everyone I know has attention deficit, and they say it with great pride. It’s a bad time to be right.
Joni Mitchell

It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.
John Ruskin

Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.
Emily Brontë

After all these years I had the privilege of naming my private part, cause we have nicknames. So I named my private part pride... it's not much but at least I have my pride. Jay London

Here in the US, it is the fourth of July. We celebrate our independence. Countries all over the world celebrate their independence as well. So today, let’s talk freedom:

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
- Gloria Steinem

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
- Coco Chanel

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

“Lock up your libraries if you like, but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
- Virginia Woolf, A Room Of One’s Own

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.”
-  Jim Morrison

“Freedom lies in being bold.”
- Robert Frost

“I’m single because I was born that way.”
- Mae West

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

We often don’t think in terms of what “the other” experiences on a daily basis. What is a day like for someone dealing with chronic pain, for instance? Or someone who has just lost his or her mother? Or job? Okay, how about this: what is it like to be the tallest man in the world and never have a pair of shoes to wear?

Being tall isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be as Igor Vovkivinskiy can attest to. The 7-foot, 8.33-inch man is the tallest man in the United States and considered by many to be a giant of a man in more ways than one.

Vovkivinskiy is a man with a big heart both metaphorically and physically. His actual heart is double the size of the average man’s heart. In spite of his kindheartedness, he has been struggling to find adequate footwear his whole life.

He suffers from constant pain because of deformities in his feet which are the result of the 16 surgeries he’s been forced to have over the last five years. Since his teens, he has been unable to find shoes in a store that fit him. It has been so long since he could buy shoes that he isn’t even sure of the size.

Currently, the only pair of shoes he owns is a pair of clogs which provide no traction, no support and no protection from the elements in Rochester, Minnesota where he has lived since age 6. The shoes cause pain to his feet, legs and back.

So Vovkivinskiy devised a plan to come up with the money to pay for custom-made shoes. He created a Facebook page and a website for fundraising and began asking for donations to cover the cost of the shoes. People have delivered an outpouring of compassion and cash. Vovkivinskiy has raised over $37,000 to cover the cost of his shoes.

Read more about a tall man and his new shoes!

The longer I wrote about positive news - or simply the concept of positivity - the more I realize the importance of gratitude. It can turn just about any situation around. The next time you’re steaming mad about something or someone, take a moment. What is good about your life right now? That person you’re so angry at - how have they contributed to your life? What small, incidental experience occurred today that made you smile inside? Maybe the bloom of a flower or a bird singing a cheerful tune? Maybe a wave from a neighbor that made you feel a little more connected to your community?

Write out your gratitude list. Write out your positive news. I know you may have heard this suggestion time and time again. But there’s a reason why: it works. It shifts your energy from the negative to the positive.

Because guess what? There are tons of things to be grateful for! I’m grateful to write for this blog, for instance. It has changed me on numerous levels.

Whether metaphorically or literally, singing is a beautiful way of expressing yourself. So let your heart sing out or sing your favorite song proudly. Let these quotes inspire you to sing today. Sing like you just don’t care.

My heart is like a singing bird.
Christina Rossetti

I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe’s singing until somebody told me that it wasn’t a joke.
Spike Milligan

Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.
Rudyard Kipling

Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much.
Zora Neale Hurston

My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil’s mind, and behold, all things are changed!
Anne Sullivan

No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?
Bertrand Russell

Nothing I have done professionally will top the feeling I got when singing with John Farnham at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Olivia Newton-John

Singing is the love of my life, but I was ready to give it all up because I couldn’t handle people talking about how fat I was.
Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/singing_2.html#ixzz1nmobtYjx