Hannah Mitchell is 8 years old and blogging about her first Olympic games. What makes this blog so special? Seeing something as colossal as the Olympics and the beautiful city of Vancouver from a child’s point of view is refreshing and fun. It removes all the hype and gives you the child-like essentials, such as:

Then, we were walking back to the hotel when we saw six guys with suits standing outside a building. A limo pulled up and a man walked out, surrounded by the six guys in suits. We didn’t know who he was, but we asked a person next to us and she said it was the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. We looked his picture up on the Internet at the hotel, and it was really him.

Check out her blog when you get a chance. Get a child’s eye view of the Olympics and Vancouver!

Perhaps we inherently know this: when we feel happier and more content, our heart literally feels more at ease, as does the rest of our body. Conversely, when we’re stressed, we often feel the immediate effects physically. Now research proves our innate assumptions to be true:

Researchers in Europe discovered a unique independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease, for the first time ever. Appearing in the latest issue of the leading cardiology publication European Heart Journal, the study shows that happiness, content and enthusiasm are among the emotions that may be tied to a much better level of health, regardless of age and gender. The new, major review showed that happier people tend to experience a lot less hearth problems that those who spent less time laughing or feeling good.

According to scientists involved in the new observational investigation, the conclusions were produced only by looking at how people evolved over time. But the leader of the work, Dr Karina Davidson, an expert at the Columbia University Medical Center, says that the results could in the near future inform physicians on developing new approaches to safeguarding people from the risk of developing heart conditions. The scientist adds that more studies are needed on the issue, before medical recommendations can be given by experts without any risks

“We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,” she explains. Davidson is the director of the CUMC Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, as well as the Herbert Irving associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at the university. This latest study was conducted on 1,739 healthy adults, over a period of about ten years. All the 862 men and the 977 females in the investigation were a part of the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey, PhysOrg reports.

Source: Softpedia.com

There’s something comforting about quotes. It’s nice to know that people, since the beginning of time it seems, have experienced the deepest and most complex feelings, just like you. Not only have they experienced them, they’ve recovered. And that is our topic this week: RECOVERY

Courage consists in the power of self-recovery.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.” Joanne Kathleen Rowling “The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill, in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery.” Allen Klein “The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self. ” Marianne Williamson “Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery.” Fulton J. Sheen “A plane is a bad place for an all-out sleep, but a good place to begin rest and recovery from the trip to the faraway places you’ve been, a decompression chamber between Here and There. Though a plane is not the ideal place really to think, to reassess or reevaluate things, it is a great place to have the illusion of doing so, and often the illusion will suffice.” Shana Alexander “Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended; that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery.” Marcus Aurelius “It is when our budding hopes are nipped beyond recovery by some rough wind, that we are the most disposed to picture to ourselves what flowers they might have borne, if they had flourished . . .” Charles Dickens Marcus Aurelius

We’ve told you about the Songs of Love Foundation in previous posts but since their good work doesn’t stop, we have more to tell you. This week’s story is about rock musician Jason Mraz contributing to the cause for 13 year-old Christian Burn.

According to Good News Now:

Christian is battling Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, and Mraz recorded the song for the Songs of Love Foundation, which provides personalized songs to young people with serious illnesses. The organization draws on the talents of 350 professional lyricists, instrumentalists and vocalists.

Songs of Love was founded in New York by John Beltzer after his brother Julio, the lead singer in his band, took his own life. Shortly before dying, he had recorded a composition called “Songs of Love,” which inspired Beltzer to start his nonprofit.

Their first song was recorded for a 5-year-old cancer patient named Brittany in Memphis, Tenn. Mraz became involved with Songs of Love through a friend of his, Michael Natter, who also co-wrote the song with his wife, Nancy. Natter approached him about recording the landmark 20,000th song in the organization’s 14-year history.

Here’s the song and video. Beautiful!

Christian Burn

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and one of the longest married couples, Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher, were getting busy…on Twitter. That’s right. They took questions from people all over the world and revealed some the secrets of their 84 year-old marriage. Check it out at @longestmarried.

Here are some of their response Tweets:

• With each day that passed, our relationship was more solid and secure. Divorce was NEVER an option - or even a thought.
• We grew up together & were best friends before we married. A friend is for life - our marriage has lasted a lifetime.
• We wouldn’t change a thing.There’s no secret to our marriage, we just did what was needed for each other & our family.
• (Re: Mr. Right) Mine was just around the corner!He is never too far away, so keep the faith - when you meet him, you’ll know.
• Respect, support & communicate with each other.Be faithful, honest & true. Love each other with ALL of your heart.
• The children are grown, so we talk more now. We can enjoy our time on the porch or our rocking chairs - together.

In a world still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, it’s refreshing to see Europe making such substantial changes. Take a look at these figures:

Wind and solar technology made up over half of Europe’s new electricity generating capacity in 2009, as the number of new coal and nuclear facilities fell.

More wind capacity was installed in Europe during 2009 than any other electricity-generating technology, according to statistics released today by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA)

Wind accounted for 39 per cent of increased European energy capacity, ahead of gas (26 per cent) and solar (16 per cent). In contrast, the nuclear and coal power sectors decommissioned more megawatts of capacity than they installed in 2009, with a total of 1,393 MW of nuclear and 3,200 MW of coal decommissioned.

According to the EWEA report, €13 billion has been invested in wind farms across the EU in the last year, which are now capable of meeting 4.8 per cent of EU energy demands.

Spain is the country with the biggest share of new wind capacity (24 per cent), followed by Germany (19 per cent), Italy (19 per cent), France (11 per cent) and the UK (10 per cent).

The wind energy sector has grown by an average of 23 per cent over the last 15 years, with annual installations up from 472 MW in 1994 to 10,163 MW in 2009.

This week, we tackle a tough topic. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, let’s talk about the flip side of love (or is it?) - heartbreak.

Here are some quotes for people who may be in love recovery mode this week. Remember, heartbreak is essentially positive. It means love stopped by for a visit.

It hurts to breathe because every breath I take proves I can’t live without you.
Anonymous

To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful.
Bess Myerson

A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.
Anonymous

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
Marcus Aurelius

Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never knew.
Anonymous

The stupidest mistake in life is thinking the one who hurt you the most, won’t hurt you again.
Anonymous

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.
Anonymous

Love is unconditional, relationships are not.
Grant Gudmundson

For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, It might have been.
John Greenleaf Whittier

My friend Ruby had some coping techniques for those without a significant other this Valentine’s Day. Here’s what she has to say:

First of all, Valentine’s Day is tough even if you do have a significant other. It can cause a lot of needless pressure. People feel the need to get it right.

Now, if you don’t have that special someone, there are ways to celebrate anyway - after all, it’s about love and love doesn’t just mean the romantic kind.

I like to celebrate the areas in which I do have love, whether it’s a friend or a family member, a pet…or even ways I’ve learned to love myself more over the years. Love is a blessing in its many forms and it deserves attention and celebration, too.

In the past, I’ve also used Valentine’s Day as a time to reflect on what I really want romantically, down to the smallest detail. I let my imagination run wild. Simply by dedicating some energy to what I’m looking for in a partner, I feel like I’m a step closer to that person already.

Listen - it’s easy to feel that Valentine’s Day is a drag when you don’t have that certain someone. It takes a little more effort to use it in a way that’s positive and productive.

Even if you’re not a football fan, it was glorious to watch a city in serious need of a celebration revel in a world-class victory.

The Saints, indeed, came marching in!

Perspective is everything. It’s so easy to get spun out on our own endless, constant thoughts. Today, come up with some creative ways to be present, quickly and simply.

A friend of mine swears by this:

“When I feel like I’m stuck in my own head, I just look up at the sky for a minute. Well, more than look at it - I take it in. I realize the space, the openness. Sometimes just a few seconds is enough to derail the buzz going on in my head.”

What way can you become more present? Maybe it’s a bath, a breath, a song, a laugh, a stretch, a walk, a talk, a yell, a smell, a dog, a plunge into cold water…