“The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – never knowing.”
― Jim Rohn
“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now”
― Zig Ziglar
It’s such a wonderful time of year to eat well, get fit and breathe fresh air. Fruits and vegetables are plentiful, the days are long, and the warm weather makes it easy to be outside to enjoy it all. Building good habits now will help us to carry a healthier mindset into winter when it is a bit more challenging to stay motivated.
Do it for your health as opposed to wanting to look good. That is a better motivator. If you feel confident that you can stay healthy for a long time by paying attention to what you eat, how much you exercise, and to your sleeping schedule, then the feeling of control can assist you in sticking with the good habits. Willpower isn’t necessary when you have clearly defined parameters of what it takes to operate at your best.
Waxing Moon – The Moon continues to cruise through Libra today, and that can inspire us to seek fairness and harmony. It moves into the mysterious sign of Scorpio next, getting there at 12:12 AM EDT tomorrow. It’s beginning to gain a presence in the sky again as it reaches its full first-quarter stage tomorrow. Plan the work and work the plan. This isn’t the time to let up on the momentum you have built. Nothing gets done without the doing part.
Better Testing – In some good news, Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that testing for COVID-19 is more effective when using people’s saliva as opposed to the rather uncomfortable long cotton swab currently used. They examined how often different collection methods produced a positive result. For nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, the rate was 54 percent, for oropharyngeal swabs, 43 percent, and for sputum, 71 percent. The rate of viral detection was significantly higher in sputum.
The timing of sample collection also mattered. Detection rates were highest within one week of symptom onset for all three tests. Jonathan Li, MD, a faculty member in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Brigham, said, “When it comes to testing, the earlier the better, as diagnostic accuracy is improved earlier after symptom onset, regardless of the sampling site. Unlike antibody testing, it’s very rare to have a false positive qPCR test when diagnosing COVID-19 early in the course of the disease using these methods.”
Progress towards effectively dealing with the virus is happening. You never know when the major breakthroughs are going to occur, and hopefully it will be soon.
Thought of the Day – Do what is within your control to feel good today. Think better thoughts, eat better food, and breathe cleaner air. It can change how you feel starting today, and that can inspire you to do even better tomorrow. It all makes a difference in the end. Have a satisfying day.
“Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally ‘count our blessings,’ give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.”
― Shakti Gawain