I have been inspired!  Dr. Mark Evans’ video: 23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? is classic mediatherapy!

I’ll let it speak for itself!

Happy holidays!

Dr.P

Awe is an amazing feeling to cultivate…

“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.”      - Walt Disney

Disneyland was built in only 366 days.

Now that’s impressive!

Even our plane ride was pretty amazing… we started in Vancouver at 4 degrees Celsius (39 F) then flew in a seat at 37,000 feet and ended up in L.A. at 24 degrees Celsius (75 F)… 

We won’t even talk about the hand held data device which communicates to the world.  The access we have to all of the world’s knowledge is mind boggling (or is that mind googling?).

Sometimes we can take it all for granted.

It is important to slow down and enjoy, savour and appreciate these awe-inspiring times.

Epic!

Dr.P

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was lots of fun!  It was also a wonderful experience with regards to reflecting on middle brain wants and the Chilling Consequences which can follow.

The popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise is testimony that we love pirates.  They are rebels who challenge conventional thinking (the authority of the day).   Johnny Depp’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow, is the loveable (yet deplorable?) rogue who gets himself into mischief and must make choices whether to give into the wants of his middle brain or transcend it and  make a more evolved choice.

I believe that it is this quality which makes Captain Jack so appealing and helps us identify with him.  We all have to make decisions in our lives where we must either give into the wants of the selfish middle brain or make a healthier (cortical) choice.  One which takes the future consequences of a behaviour and its effect on others into consideration.   The cortex helps give us a more balanced perspective.

As said, the Pirates ride and movies glamourize the life of a pirate.  The fun, the intoxication with alcohol (rum anyone?), revenge on authority (dunk tank anyone?) and the wanton sex – the lust and desire which goes with this (middle brain) behaviour.

In reality, pirates were drunken, brutal and self-serving thieves. 

And with this behaviour, there were Chilling Consequences to face.  The noose.

The novotherapy in all of this is that, the middle brain’s desires must be sated very carefully, because if overindulged, it can lead us into trouble.

This is so true with addictive behaviours or any (obsessive) desires we may have.

More on this later.

Arrrrrgh!

Dr.P

It’s been too long…

Like everyone, we have been busy.  I am finishing up a new weight loss book for the fall and on that writing, I have been inspired to do this writing!

We just visited Disneyland and it was pretty amazing.

You can say what you want about the perils of corporate greed, the perpetual marketing and commercialism, but at the same time one can admire the simple dream of one man (Walt Disney) which was to build an amusement park where parents and children could have fun together. 

Disneyland is truly is a different world.  It definitely is a place to have fun and “amusement” in, but I think it is a little bit more…

I was inspired to take a reflective journey this past week, one which considers the lessons required to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Travelling to the “happiest place on Earth” can transform one to live their happiest life on Earth.  Parents can consider these TOPICS, the next time they travel to Disneyland to enrich the experience.

And yes, Disneyland with its many rides and amusements is mediatherapy!

Goof on!

Dr.P

Can you believe that there is mediatherapy on tv?

I have officially become a Glee(k)…

I have enjoyed this well written show which blends story, humour and music…

Right now, I can’t get their version of ”Don’t Stop Believin’” out of my head!! 

This song is so relevant for any behaviour change, whether it’s quitting smoking, losing weight or overcoming depression or any mental health issue.  In Glee (Episode 1), Mr. Schuester has just about given up on the Glee club when he hears his students belting this song out on stage… the rest is history

Don’t stop believin’

Hold on to the feelin’

It’s this feeling of efficacy and the confidence that goes with it that gets the job done! 

Dr.P

It definitely catches your un-”divided” attention!

You have to hand it to PETA – it makes us think.

Enough said.  Have a healthy week.

Dr.P

We had been so caught up in the Olympic pandemonium, we forgot to blog!

We have been quite busy, but will really try hard to update this blog a few times a month. With all of the mediatherapy and lessons out there, it would be a crime if we didn’t!

So with that, the Story of Stuff gets the nod for this week:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

It says it all… thanks Annie!

Dr.P

The world stopped to watch, to listen, to feel and to share…

Some amazing things happened over the past 17 days… 

The initial tragedy of  Nodar Kumaritashvili,  Jennifer Heil’s silver medal (Canada’s first medal),  Alexandre Bilodeau’s gold medal (Canada’s first gold medal),  Petra Majdic’s triumph (skiing to bronze with broken ribs and a punctured lung), Melissa Hollingsworth (her tears), Jon Montgomery (enough said!), Shaun White’s amazing performance, Hannah Teter’s generosity, Sven Kramer’s lost gold, the courage and grief of  Joannie Rochette,  Team Canada’s men and women hockey teams’ gold winning performances… and the list goes on.

Over the next few weeks, I will reflect on some of the more powerful messages and meanings from these Olympic stories.  Millions of people experienced these events almost first hand (can you say mirror neuron?), they will have (of course) a mediatherapeutic spin to them…  The gold medal men’s hockey game was the most watched event in Canadian history.  We all shared the moment!

From this Canadian’s perspective, these Games were much more than sports and medal counts… I believe it has awoken an entire nation… nationalism and patriotism at this very moment have never been higher… and I’ll postulate, if we take these lessons and apply them… we may finally rise to celebrate globalism…

Go world!! 

Dr.P

BTW  We will explore paradoxical thinking and consider what would have happened if Canada won silver instead…

The largest grossing movie of all time turns out to be mediatherapy at its finest.  It’s entertaining and has a message.  James Cameron’s epic 3D-adventure is a fable about love, greed and the environment.   Our “mirror neurons” fire as we experience the Na’vi’s plight especially in 3D (seeing, hearing and feeling) and come to our own conclusions about humanity.  

Cameron has stated in interviews that our “industrial society” is “causing a global climate change” and “destroying species faster than we can classify them.”  Humans have a “terrible history” of “entitlement” in which we “take what we need” from nature and indigenous peoples “and don’t give back.”

Many critics (political, movie, etc.) have lined up to tear this film down, stating that it is “trite” and “unoriginal.” 

Hmmmmm.

Before we all go out and get “post Avatar depression syndrome”…

The best rebuttal to this is that with worldwide box office ticket receipts at $2,266,696,179 and counting… the numbers speak for themselves.

Bravo Mr. Cameron!  My only critique is that by 2154, cigarettes will be extinct… with books like “First You Smoked Now You Live” and movies like “Quit Quitting: Hospital Bedside Smoking Intervention” and more mediatherapy to come, we as a planet will have wiped out addiction! 

Dr.P

To help celebrate Weedless Wednesday and shamelessly promote the book, First You Smoked Now Live…  We filmed reading of the Introduction from the book at the Buzz Coffeehouse.  The book parallels the Central Island Smoking Intervention Clinic’s 7 week smoking cessation program…  it’s a self-guided book which helps give the tools needed to quit smoking for good!!

To purchase “First You Smoked Now You Live” online ($24.99 plus $5.00 shipping and handling):

Please visit: http://www.cisic.ca

Next week’s topic: James Cameron’s movie, Avatar, is mediatherapy!

Dr.P