Free Tools for Managing Your Big Projects 

Creative folks are always looking for new ways to order their ever-increasing menu of ideas.  Here are some free tools that can help you manage your projects and take them to the finish line!

TaDa List – Very simple check off list which allows you to literally create your lists and check off your tasks when you’re finished.  You can share your lists with others if you like.  TaDaList works on Mac, PC, and iphone.

To Do List – for personal project management.  ToDo list organizes your tasks into projects.
It has a built in calendar with recurring dates.  You can also make tasks links so all you have to do is click the link to go to the site you want to check.  Create subprojects.  You can color-code your lists, too and create custom labels for your tasks.  Use on computers or mobile phones.

We Do Ist – for group project management  WeDoIst allows you to assign tasks, manage files, meet deadlines, real time chat with your team.  It’s a nice free way to keep your intern tasks organized and stay in touch with interns.

A mind map is a diagram used to represent thoughts arranged around a central idea.  Mind maps can be used to organize information or as a starting point for visualizing and clarifying dreams/projects.  I usually start with a mind map and then move into a flowchart with the DIA software when I feel the ideas are taking shape.

Some great free tools to help you with mindmapping include…

https://bubbl.us/ is an easy, frill-free brainstorming tool.  (web-based)

Freemind is an open source software and you can download it here. http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download

Mind42.com is a browser based online mind mapping application, for personal use or collaborative mindmapping.  “Mind42 is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mind map editor supporting keyboard shortcuts, drag and drop, zooming and much more.” (from site)  You can add links, images, and notes to every node.

Wisemapping is an open source software that offers unlimited use of publishing, sharing and exporting mindmaps in seconds.  You can embed your mindmap in your blog post or on your website.   http://www.wisemapping.org/

As mentioned above, the DIA flowchart software is a nice change of pace from mindmapping tools, when you have fleshed out your idea and are ready to get your ducks in a row.  DIA makes creative ideas so easy to organize. (Windows and Mac) Five stars from me – I love it! http://dia-installer.de/index_en.html

Enjoy!

Lisa Rae Preston

P.S.  Sometimes big dreamers need a team of helpers to get their ideas off the ground.  If you’re ready to take your ideas from flowchart to reality, then why not “hire” some free help to make it happen?  You can secure a team of interns working for you, making your ideas, books, projects REAL.  These highly skilled interns will work for you in exchange for college credit!  You can find out more about setting up your own intern program here.  Free Work Force: Working with Interns for the Solopreneur

If you want to start with interns but don’t want to create your training systems to present to the college coordinators, no problem.  Here is a simple and fast solution.   Done For You Intern Training Systems

Need to find great content for your subscribers or your blog? 

Magazines supply the best research on just about any market you can think of.  Editors have done their due diligence when it comes to researching headlines that SELL the magazine.  You can find the most cutting edge details to share with your readers without laborious research… just scan through a few magazines in your niche.

However, highly-niched magazines can be expensive.  Especially if you’re looking for the really unusual ones that your library might not carry.

Thankfully, you can find and read some magazines online.   Here are my four top picks for the easiest and fastest sites to use for magazine research.

One answer for cutting edge content is a wonderful site called Issuu (http://issuu.com).  Here you can peruse thousands of publications, and all for free.  Science, organics, travel – you name it.  They have some really unusual niches as well.

Now, you can’t always read the entire magazine, but often the table of contents offers the best research anyway!   I am mostly looking for the headlines, as those reveal what the market concerns currently are.

The Free Library (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/) offers some journals and magazines, too, but it’s not initially clear which headlines would be on the covers.  It’s a great resource for research, though, as it has millions of articles on thousands of niches.

All You Can Read (http://www.allyoucanread.com/) boasts more than twenty thousand newspapers and magazines for free perusal, but beware, this is NOT a child-friendly site.  Easy to stumble upon some inappropriate content, so I wouldn’t want to be searching this site with children in the room.

Magatopia (http://www.magatopia.com/)  is another great site, and even easier to use when it comes to researching the headlines.  You can find online finance magazines, online gardening magazines – the sky’s the limit.

Check out what folks are reading in your niche on these sites.  Then do some additional research on that topic online.  Find an expert to interview, glean awesome tips for your newsletters, search out the newest gadgets in your niche.

You’ll stay on top of the content game, providing the most cutting edge information for your readers.

And they’ll love ya!

Lisa Rae Preston

For help in creating a trusting relationship with your market and writing follow-up emails that provide valuable content AND build your profit funnel, check out Instant Niche Emails 3.  My program will help you write an entire year’s worth of these profitable connecting emails in one afternoon!

I jumped up from my desk at the sound of the phone and ran to answer.  The gentleman from one of my domain servicers was calling to check to see if I wanted to renew in bulk.

As he looked over some of my domain names, he asked about my obvious interest in quantum physics.  He shared a story with me, while renewing my domain names.

This gentleman had a scientist friend, who, along with other scientists, tried an unusual experiment. 

They took two kinds of water – one tainted, the other blessed.

The tainted water, when tested under the microscope, appeared chaotic.  You could see everything moving around rapidly.  The organisms in the holy water moved around calmly, slowly.

The experiment involved adding one drop of holy water to an entire gallon of tainted water to see what would happen.  Naturally, the hypothesis was that the more plentiful water would take precedence and all the water would end up looking chaotic when viewed under the microscope.  The drop of holy water would just become tainted.  Right?

Well, when the one drop of blessed water was added to the tainted gallon, the entire gallon went from the chaotic movement to the slower, calmer movement of the holy water.

The scientists were surprised and asked each other what could be the possible explanation.

I loved the story and enjoyed the conversation thoroughly.   What could be the answer?

Light overcomes the darkness.  Not just in the spiritual realm, but in the physical realm as well.  (my beliefs)

I loved this story, and the results are not surprising, given the research done by Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of The Hidden Messages in Water.  Of course, more than one test would have to be conducted in numerous settings before you could make solid claims that all holy water can “cure” tainted water.  But it does tantalize my mind and cause me to move my neurons outside the box.

By the way, Dr. Emoto’s work has been highly criticized by scientists, and you can read more about their criticisms on Wikipedia.  It’s good to present both sides of the story whenever possible, to be skeptical of what you read and hear.  It is interesting how Dr. Emoto’s work resonates with quantum physics theories, though!

Lisa Rae Preston

I received an email today for an offer I really felt would benefit my business.

The buy now button highlighted a giant $17.95.

“Great deal,” I thought and clicked it.

I was taken to an order page where I found there were NO more products available at that price.

“Sorry, you’ll have to pay $24.95, and there are only 3 left at this price before it goes up again.”

How effective is this pricing strategy?

AAARRRGGGHHH!  Nothing disappoints a female buyer like thinking she’s going to get one deal and then have it pulled out from under her nose unexpectedly at the last moment.

It’s the quickest way to lose a sale, I think.  When that happens to me, I suddenly think of all the reasons I didn’t need the product in the first place.  I’m irritated, and that frustration is now anchored to the company who I now feel “rips people off” by leading them to believe one thing and then changing the rules midstream.

Warrior Special Offers often use this technique, and I can’t even tell you the amount of times I have read through the comments on the forum, seen that others got the product at $7, and now the price is $37, and I immediately click away.  I feel as if I have “lost out” on the deal.  I don’t want to buy then, no matter what the supposed benefits of the product.

Is this some slick sales strategy, or are people really losing sales when they employ this popular scarcity technique and cement a feel of “negativity and distrust” about their company?

I can understand a pre-launch price that’s cheaper than the regular price -  then folks feel like they’re getting a deal (and they actually do.)  But to know you’ve missed out on a great deal?  Not a good idea, in my brain.

Detail a win/win and everyone’s happy.  Jerk away a deal or show that others got a great deal and you’re too late does almost nothing for me except turn me off.

Anyone else?  Do these techniques cause you to buy, or leave you with such a bad taste that you don’t purchase?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts below!

Lisa Rae Preston

For help in creating a trusting relationship with your market and writing follow-up emails that provide valuable content AND build your profit funnel, check out Instant Niche Emails 3.  My program will help you write an entire year’s worth of these profitable connecting emails in one afternoon!

Why did Glenn Beck Call Retirees Back to Work?

On today’s Glenn Beck radio show, the host made a not-so-astonishing announcement.  In a nutshell – Retirees can’t just kick back in the old recliner and muse their way through their last third of life.  Beck encourages them instead to become entrepreneurs – start their own companies.

Why?

Haven’t these sixty-somethings already given their all to the work force?  Don’t they deserve to take the rest of their lives off, warming their toes in the sand on some remote beach, far from society?

That was the “old” 1960’s to 2004 way of thinking.
Times, well, they are a changin’.

In fact, Beck unashamedly states that the best thing retirees can do is invest in mentoring and apprenticeship programs that relate to becoming an entrepreneur, because our current US administration is destroying the future of our economy.

Retirees could be the saviors of the current economy and that of the next generations according to investors who believe entrepreneurship is what will keep our economy stable and build a more financially sound future for all.

Beck isn’t the only one sounding the entrepreneurial alarm.

I’ve come to realize that entrepreneurship is not risky.  Being unprepared is risky.  -Robert Kiyosaki

You can’t depend on anyone else to guarantee a living for you.  You must take control of your own financial state, whether you’re 18 or 65.  Part of becoming an entrepreneur is to take back control, says Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, authors of Why We Want You To Be Rich (among other famous exploits).

“…the computer and the Internet make being a national or international entrepreneur much easier and less expensive.  For less than a thousand dollars, I can buy a computer and access the world markets as a business owner or an investor.  The question is, do you have the education, experience, mind-set and core values to be a national or international entrepreneur?”  (page 316, Why We Want You to Be Rich)

Enter the need for no-nonsense mentoring and training for retirees, as Beck suggests.

Quite frankly, retirees don’t have time to dawdle and waste years wondering if this or that way  is the right path for starting one’s own business.  They want mentoring from folks who’ve been-there-done- that and can provide the sound advice and shortcuts necessary for the quickest success. 

Kiyosaki goes on to say that “If you want to make yourself rich, solve problems.  Identifying a problem creates the opportunity for creating a solution.”  (page 60, Why We Want You to Be Rich)

Think about this.  How many retirees have the knowledge and life experience to create solutions for others?

Just about every single one of them!  Who do we look to for advice on a regular basis?  Someone who’s lived life, found the shortcuts and is willing to share their knowledge with us.

As someone who’s been coached by wonderful mentors in business, I would suggest that anyone (Baby Boomer or otherwise) who wants to build a business (that can later be sold if desired, putting many more times the work you invest back into your pocket) consider an online training school, like Directions University.  For a minimal investment, you receive sound training and personal mentoring in setting up a business based around your knowledge – solving the problems you already know how to successfully address.

One of the reasons I love Directions University so much is that they generously share the first 30 days of training with you at no cost.  There’s no credit card required or investment upfront.  You can decide after receiving training if you want to continue.  Perfect for those who aren’t really sure if setting up an online business is for them.

Mindy Fetterman, reporter for USA TODAY, write in June of 2005, “Boomers are likely to continue working, either part time or full time, as consultants or by setting up their own companies, surveys show.”

She hit the nail perfectly on the head.  I think Beck, Trump and Kiyosaki would echo the applause.

Lisa Rae Preston

For more information about Directions University, the online training school for successful entrepreneurs-to-be, visit Directions University Online.

Know Your Connecting Style/Type

   When creating a trusting relationship with your market, it’s important to know two things right off the bat –

1.  your own connecting style,

2.  and the connection style of your audience.

If you haven’t taken the STEP into Destiny core-passion test yet, you can do so
for free at http://www.StepIntoDestiny.com and read over your results. That will help in understanding your own connecting type.

Four Primary Relational “Connections” People Make

The four main connecting types are Service, Truth, Empathy and Potential.

• The Service type connects with others based on personal history and life details.
• Truth types connect based on a cause or sharing opinions.
• Empathy core-passion types connect based on feelings.
• The Potential connects with others based on their dreams and ideas.

Let’s look closer at each of these styles.

Service – Personal History and Life Details 

My grandmother was a Service extraordinaire.

I remember the gentleman who came to the funeral home to talk about my mom’s death with my grandmother. He came in and sat down, and the first thing she asks is “Where are you from? Where’s your family from?” That was always important, as she was reared in the area and knew a lot of people. She would typically know a person who was related to someone in everybody’s family.

This gentleman told her that he was from Camargo. Gran said, “You know, I used to live there. We had a sawmill there.” She threw out some different last names of families, and sure enough, they found a connection. You always felt like you and your family were important when you were in my grandmother’s presence.

Truth  – Causes and Opinions

Now, my friend Paul is a Truth connector. Be it something political – national or local issues – he’s got an opinion on how to make things fair and right. He’s going to share those opinions, and if you share yours as well (even if it’s not the same), there’s that connection. The conversation may get a little lively, even progressing to debate. The connection is being established through that interchange.

Empathy – Feelings

My friend Carol’s style (Empathy) is connecting through feelings. Her writing is filled with encouragement and joy.  She wants to know how an even affected you or how you’re feeling at the moment.  Of great importance to Carol is helping folks feel happy and valued. People feel drawn to her and as if she’s really understanding where they’re coming from.

Potential – Dreams and Ideas

I’m a Potential connector. I focus on a person’s individuality and potential, on self-awareness (like taking a core-passion test). When I meet someone, I’m not likely to ask who their family is, or what their opinions are about the latest political scam. I want to know their dreams – what they feel their destiny and legacy are. I’m going to naturally connect strongly with people who know their dream or are looking to discover it.

You have your own style of connecting and relating to people. There’s no reason
to act like someone you’re not. Go ahead and carry that style of connecting in
your writing – your emails, salescopy, website content, information products.

 Be YOU…

AND at the same time, be aware of your market’s basic connection needs.
You will naturally relate to others based on YOUR core-passion connecting type
unless you make an effort to do otherwise.

Consider the weight loss market. Well, that’s pretty broad, and you’re going to
find every kind of core-passion in that many people.  Let’s subniche it a bit.

Say you’re dealing with moms and weight loss. You might write to that market in
an Empathy style, as many women are either core or secondary Empathies . I’d
connect with them based on feeling – nurturing, helping them feel embraced and
cared for, encouraged and uplifted. Show that you really understand their
frustrations and that you really want to help them.

Let’s consider gardening next. This niche is basically a hands-on group. They
love the feel of the dirt, the softness of the flower petals. They’re very
tactile, in tune with their environment and nature. They’re often
detail-oriented. They love tips on how to save time. Gardening has had a family
feel to it traditionally, so you might talk a bit about your family in your
emails and blog posts.

Gardening, cooking, quilting, woodworking, – hands-on kinds of niches as a whole will be drawn to folks who connect with them based on personal history and succinct bullet points and old time wisdom and tips that have stood the test of time.

Let’s contrast that with the self-help niche. In general, self-helpers are more
cerebral. I’m not saying they’re not hands-on, but they tend to be as a group
more in tune with their feelings, with their strengths and weaknesses, and they
long for their potential to be realized.

When writing to a self-help audience, establish a connection with their dreams,
visions, goals, and personal mission. Use metaphors and imagery to spark their
creativity. Encourage them to dream and explore new ideas.

If you’re connecting with a list based around Truth or a cause, you’re stating
your passion and your opinions. You may be a little upset even or controversial
on purpose. “What did you think about the election? Did that not freak you out
when this happened?”

Cause connectors don’t usually get bothered by controversy. It gets attention,
and may get you some unsubscribes, but other people will tune in to see your
opinion whether or not they agree with you.

So, knowing the personality of your niche helps establish that crucial trusting
relationship with them. Honor your niche by writing to them from their
connecting style if you want to build the strongest bond.

Connect through your sales copy, emails, web content, products – always focus on
relating and building relationship.

Ideally, you’re in a niche in which you can connect in your natural style – and
your style is the same of your niche.

But if you’re in several markets, I would make a strong attempt to relate to
that niche in their style, not yours.

Hope that’s helpful!  Talk to you later!

Lisa Rae Preston

P.S. For help in creating relational follow-up emails that provide valuable
content as well as build your profit funnel, check out Instant Niche Emails 3.
My program will help you write an entire year’s worth of these profitable
connecting emails in one afternoon!

How Are Your Buying Habits Manipulated?

Think of the last 3 receipts handed you from the store or sent into your email box.

Do you know WHY you bought each item on that receipt?

Why the Progresso soup instead of Campbells? 
Why the tuna in water instead of in oil? 
Why the Toshiba laptop instead of HP?

Do you actually know the reasoning behind why you made the choices you did, or could some of that reasoning be hidden?

I just watched a profound video called “Just Say Yes”, featuring Dr. Robert Cialdini, the leading expert on Influence and Persuasion.

This video reveals some of the principles of persuasion- the most profound and simple ways people get others to do what they want them to.

It gives you powerful insight into the way we’re blindly led into purchasing items we really don’t want, and if you look carefully, you’ll see some ethical ways of helping others connect with the blessings of what you have to offer them.

An extra plus of watching this little video is that you may be able to save hundreds of dollars by not purchasing things you don’t need – by seeing through marketing ploys with laser precision, based on the psychology of persuasion. 

If you’re keen on training your brain to think for success, you will not want to miss this revealing short film.

Here’s Dr. Cialdini explaining the magic.

Just Say Yes” Opener:

“All my life I’ve been a victim of various kinds of sales appeals or appeals from charity organizations asking me to contribute to their causes.

“Even when I didn’t want what was being offered or I had never heard of this particular cause, I would find myself contributing. And I thought to myself, ‘Well, wait a minute, there must be something other than the merits of what was being offered to me that was getting me to comply-to say yes.’

‘It must be something about the psychology of the presentation of the possibility or need or product that caused me to be willing to associate myself with it.’

“Why DO we say yes to requests? Why DO we comply with the appeal of advertisers or marketers or politicians who want us to do something?”

See this incredible short film at http://urplay.se/164832

Enjoy!

Lisa Rae Preston

P.S.  If you want to create marketing messages with integrity that provide extreme value for your clients AND bless your bank account, check out the new Instant Niche Emails 3 – a program that helps you create a year’s worth of email messages for your subscriber list in one afternoon!  Instant Niche Emails

The following University of California study has me wondering about the ability to dream and how it relates to creativity.  Have you noticed that the more you dream, the more ideas you have?  Or that the more dreams you have, the more “inner healing” and insights you seem to receive?  I’ve noticed that the more dreaming I do, the more inner work goes on.  God seems to be up to something, drawing me into a new level of emotional healing.

REM Sleep Stimulates Creativity  By Maria Schamis Turner

Sleep has often been associated with creative insights, but its role in the process has remained unclear. A new study into the effects of napping suggests that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep may help the brain to create associations between unrelated ideas, enhancing creative problem solving.

Researchers led by Sara Mednick, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, tested 77 people using a creativity task called the Remote Associates Test (RAT). After taking the test, study participants were randomly assigned to take a nap or to rest quietly without sleeping. Those who napped were further divided based on whether they entered REM sleep or not. The three groups showed similar improvements upon retaking the test, indicating that the passage of time alone increased creative problem solving.

Researchers then looked at the effect of “priming” on the results. Study participants completed analogy tests after taking the test in the morning, the answers to which contained words that, unbeknownst to participants, would later appear on an afternoon test. The REM-sleep group scored significantly higher on the afternoon test than the non-REM and quiet-rest groups.

Original Source: http://www.dana.org/news/brainwork/detail.aspx?id=22664

“Only the REM group was able to answer more of the questions with answers from the analogy test,” says Mednick. “They were able to take those words and generalize them to a completely different test, which is the creative leap.”

The study authors hypothesize that modulation of norepinephrine and acetylcholine that occurs during REM sleep may help incorporate information into associative pathways in the brain. Levels of these two neurotransmitters are higher when we are awake and inhibit recurrent connections in the neocortex.

Just a side note.  I find it interesting that (according to Wikipedia) “during REM, the activity of the brain’s neurons is quite similar to that during waking hours. Sleep aids the process by which creativity forms associative elements into new combinations that are useful or meet some requirement. This occurs in REM sleep rather than in NREM sleep.”

One thing’s for sure – the brain needs sound sleep. If you want to power up your idea generation, a good night’s sleep may be just the ticket!

Can kindness reduce physical pain?

I remember physicians I saw in the past who spoke with a tender voice, shared a kind story, or just acted like they cared to spend time with me, really listening.  My body and mind would begin to relax, and I would start to feel better almost immediately.

Then I recall those doctors who talked to me with one hand on the doorknob, almost like I was an irritant to be dismissed as quickly as possible.  Some of them looked at me like I couldn’t possibly be telling them the truth about how my body was feeling.  In those cases, I tensed up, feeling misunderstood and physically stressed.

Does kindness reduce pain?  In my experience, I believe it can.  The bedside manner of a health professional can promote healing or hinder it.

Have you ever had the experience of waking up sick in the morning, calling in to work to take a sick day, and then almost as soon as you hung up the phone, you began to feel better?

Perhaps this is what occurs when your body realizes YOU are going to be kind to it, allowing it to rest and recover.

A study at the University of Maryland suggests that, indeed, ‘the way we read another person’s intentions changes our physical experience of the world.’  Let’s take a closer look at the research.

The following article comes from a press release at http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/print.cfm?articleID=2587

“Good Intentions Ease Pain, Add to Pleasure: UMD Study

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A nurse’s tender loving care really does ease the pain of a medical procedure, and grandma’s cookies really do taste better, if we perceive them to be made with love – suggests newly published research by a University of Maryland psychologist. The findings have many real-world applications, including in medicine, relationships, parenting and business.

‘The way we read another person’s intentions changes our physical experience of the world,’ says UMD Assistant Professor Kurt Gray, author of ‘The Power of Good Intentions,’ newly published online ahead of print in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Gray directs the Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab.

‘The results confirm that good intentions – even misguided ones – can sooth pain, increase pleasure and make things taste better,’ the study concludes. It describes the ability of benevolence to improve physical experience as a ‘vindication for the power of good.’

While it seems clear that good and evil intentions can change the experience of social events – think of a reaction to a mean-spirited, cutting remark compared to gentle teasing spoken with a smile – this study shows that physical events are influenced by the perceived contents of another person’s mind.’It seems we also use the intentions of others as a guide for basic physical experience,’ Gray writes in the journal.

SPECIFIC FINDINGS

The power of good intentions to shape physical experience was demonstrated in three separate experiments: the first examined pain, the second examined pleasure, and the third examined the taste of a sweet treat.

PAIN: EXPERIMENT 1.

Does kindness reduce pain? Three groups of participants received identical electric shocks at the hand of a partner. Members of the first group were in the ‘accidental’ condition: They thought they were being shocked without their partner’s awareness. The second, or ‘malicious condition, group thought they were being shocked on purpose, for no good reason. The final group (‘benevolent’ condition), also thought they were being shocked on purpose, but because another person was trying to help them win money. The result: Participants in the ‘benevolent’ group experienced significantly less pain than both the ‘malicious’ and ‘accident’ participants. This finding should ‘provide relief to doctors and even those caring parents who are sometimes compelled to inflict pain on their charges for their [charges] own good,’ Gray writes in the paper.

 

PLEASURE: EXPERIMENT 2.

Do good intentions also heighten the experience of pleasure? People sat on an electric massage pad in an easy chair which was repeatedly turned on – either by an indifferent computer or a caring partner. Although the massages were identical, Gray found that partner massages caused significantly more pleasure than those administered by a computer. ‘Although computers may be more efficient than humans at many things, pleasure is still better coming from another person,’ the study concludes.

 

TASTE: EXPERIMENT 3.

Does benevolence improve how things taste? Subjects were given candy in a package with a note attached. For the benevolent group, the note read: ‘I picked  this just for you. Hope it makes you happy. The non-benevolent (indifferent) version read: ‘Whatever. I just don’t care. I just picked it randomly.’ The candy not only tasted better to the benevolent group, but it also tasted significantly sweeter. ‘Perceived benevolence not only improves the experience of pain and pleasure, but can also make things taste better,’ the study concludes.

APPLICATIONS

The findings of these studies suggest clear applications. For example, the first experiment suggests that medical personnel should make sure to brush up on their bedside manner. ‘How painful people find medical procedures depends in part upon the perceived intentions of the person administering it,’ says Gray. ‘Getting blood taken from stony-faced nurse hurts more than from an empathic one.’

For those in relationships, which is pretty much everyone, the message is to make sure your partner, sibling, friend, etc. knows you care. Gray notes, ‘It’s not enough just to do good things for your partner – they have to know you want them to feel good. Just imagine saying, ‘fine, here’s your stupid hug,’ – hardly comforting.’ The same would also seem to apply to cooking, where emphasizing your concern about the experience of the diners makes things taste better.

Relatedly, these results also apply to business strategy. ‘It’s no surprise,’ says Gray, ‘that food companies always pair their products with kindly old grandfathers and smiling mothers – thinking of this make believe benevolence likely increases our enjoyment.’

The study also suggests the general benefits of thinking that others mean well – including God. ‘Painful events attributed to a benevolent God should seem to hurt less than those attributed to a vengeful God, says Gray. ‘To the extent that we view others as benevolent instead of malicious, the harms they inflict upon us should hurt less, and the good things they do for us should cause more pleasure,’ the paper concludes. ‘Stolen parking places cut less deep and home-cooked meals taste better when we think well of others.’

STUDY AVAILABLE ONLINE:
‘The Power of Good Intentions: Perceived Benevolence Soothes Pain, Increases Pleasure, and Improves Taste,’ Kurt Gray, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10.1177/1948550611433470 http://spp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1948550611433470v1

The Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab, under the direction of Prof. Kurt Gray, investigates moral judgments and how people perceive the minds of others. Linking mind perception and morality can help explain why people debate torture, why they believe in God and how good (and evil) deeds can make people physically more powerful.”

If others are actually looking to us for a sign that they can recover, and their bodies will actually respond to our love, then let’s believe and show that we believe- no matter what the circumstances say – that our loved ones are whole, beautiful, and worthy of every grace.  What a beautiful way to honor those around us who are not feeling well.  And what a lovely way to honor our tender, kind Father, who knitted each of us together with the utmost care while we grew inside our mothers’ wombs.

Lisa Rae Preston

Appearances Can Be Deceiving When It Comes to Brain Function

Recent scientific studies and new information from the world of autism shed new light on how much can be going on in the brains of those who don’t seem to be interacting with those around them.  While we’ve often thought that little expression and response indicates little or no brain function; quite the opposite has proven to be true.

Take the story of this young lady who began communicating quite articulately to the surprise of her family and teachers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And another example…

The following article originates from http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vegetative-patients-may-be-fully-conscious-lancet.

‘Vegetative’ patients may be fully conscious: Lancet study  by Kathleen Gilbert

A study published in one of the most respected medical journals in the world this month has found that many “vegetative” patients are in fact fully conscious and aware.

Experts at the University of Western Ontario conducted the experiment by applying an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, a common mechanism for measuring brain waves, to a large group of unresponsive patients suffering from brain injuries.

The New York Times reported that, when researchers asked “vegetative” patients to imagine squeezing their hand into a fist or wiggling their toes on cue, they found the brain waves of about 20 percent of such patients responding in precisely the same way as healthy patients.

The research was anticipated by several smaller-scale studies and anecdotal evidence from experts showing the “vegetative” diagnosis to be unreliable at best. A lengthy article published in Discover Magazine in July followed the years of research by two leading experts who say they have witnessed such patients – some of whom had only a “shadow of fluid” in their skulls where the brain should have been – reconnect with the outside world again and again.

But the hurdles for advancing treatment may be higher than science alone can traverse. Dr. Joseph Giancino, director of rehabilitation neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, told Discover of the level of prejudice he witnessed against the most helpless patients at one prestigious hospital where he presented his findings. 

“The head of trauma thanks me and in a very jovial manner says, ‘In my day, the term for these patients was jellyfish.’ And he laughs and moves on,” he said. “What do you do with that?”

While one of the researchers of the Lancet study concluded that the experiment was “a strong sign of our inability to correctly diagnose people in the vegetative state,” some disability advocates say the diagnosis should be abandoned altogether, arguing that it is a tool routinely used to discriminate against the cognitively disabled.

Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo and founder of the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, said in response to the Discover article that the “[persistent vegetative state] diagnosis needs to be eliminated by the medical community.”

“Not only is it highly flawed and unscientific in its diagnosis (misdiagnosed upwards of 50% of the time), but it is dehumanizing to the individual being labeled as a ‘vegetable,’” said Schindler. “More importantly and most disturbing however, is the PVS is being used as a criteria to kill those with cognitive disabilities as it was used to deliberately kill my sister, Terri.”

Terri Schiavo was diagnosed with PVS in 1991. A court order sparked by her family’s battle to keep Terri alive against her husband’s wishes forbade her food and fluids and led to her infamous death by dehydration in 2005, despite video and photos showing her alert and responsive.

Bioethics commentator Wesley Smith expressed concern that the new testing would likely do little to stop the routine dehydration of minimally conscious patients.

“We’ve known for years that PVS is often misdiagnosed, but don’t expect learning that a patient is conscious to lead many bioethicists to advocate against their dehydration,” he wrote.

“In fact, many of the same bioethicists who once said removing tube-supplied sustenance should be limited to the unconscious, merely pivoted and argued that if someone is ‘minimally’ conscious, it is even more reason to pull the tube because they will be suffering from potential knowledge of their condition or limitations.”

While the test should certainly “become part of the practice of medicine” if it is accurate, Smith said, “we really need to change our values so that all of us are embraced and accepted as moral equals regardless of our cognitive states.”

How a person responds or behaves may not reveal what’s actually being learned or processed in the brain.  No matter how “slow” a person seems, chances are the person is a lot more aware, a lot smarter than one might assume.

I remember my grandmother taking care of a lady in a nursing home.  We called her Miss Lulie.  After a stroke, Miss Lulie had been bedridden, unable to speak coherently for years.  Yet my grandmother talked to her, read the newspaper to her, connected with her just as if she understood everything perfectly.  I am grateful for this role-modeling.  One could easily have assumed Miss Lulie couldn’t understand what we were saying, based upon her responses.  But my grandmother treated her as if she were  completely whole.

A beautiful way to treat our fellow man – regardless of appearances.

Lisa Rae Preston