My Thoughts About Statins Prescribed to Prevent Heart Attacks – by Gary Smolker

Struggle

I’ve struggled for more that three years trying to decide whether I should take the “recommended” dosage of a statin medicine to prevent having a heart attack.

Various of my friends have struggled with the same question.

Below is a copy of a string of emails between me (Gary Smolker) and my good friend Paul Cook about whether he or I should take a statin prescribed by our physicians.

I have struggled with that questions for years because I never received a satisfactory answer to my question why should I take a statin, even though I’ve asked many physicians for their answer and have read more than ten books on diet, exercise, life style/healthy living in terms of what to do to prevent heart attacks/heart disease/diabetes, etc. etc.

The Unanswered Questions

I would like to know how much longer I would live if I took the recommended dosage.

I would also like to know what harmful/distasteful side effects would I experience if I took the recommended dosage.

What would be my quality of life over time if I took the recommended dosage vs. if I don’t take the recommended dosage?

My Personal Belief About Longevity

The principle which I used to make my decision about what dosage of statin, if any, to take was based on the following personal belief and principle.

“Its not the years in your life that counts its the life in your years.”  – Abraham Lincoln

My Personal Belief About Diet

Your diet consists of more than the food you eat.  It’s also the books you read, the shows you watch, the people you associate with, the people you are surrounded by, the people you meet, the places you see, the things you do, what you think about, your total environment.  Your “diet” also consists of what you drink and the air you breathe (i.e. second hand smoke from tobacco products, etc.), and especially including the water you drink.

My people believe the water they drink is poisoned (Flint, Michigan), the air they breathe is poisoned (Beijing) and food we all eat causes medical problems, including deformed babies, drug addicted babies, and miscarriages.

According to a recently published WHO (World Health Organization) Report, exposure to polluted environments is associated with more than one in four deaths among children under the age of five.  Research finds that some 1.7 million children’s death across the globe are attributable to environmental hazards such as exposure to contaminated water, air pollution, and other unsanitary conditions.

Exposure to hazardous chemicals through air, food and products used in every day life is also associated with hindered brain development in children.

Wellness

In my opinion:

• The poorest man is not the man without a penny.  It’s the man without a dream, a man without a purpose.
• Work without passion is slavery.
• There are seven days a week and “someday” isn’t one of them.
• An ambitious person working  9 to 5 their entire life is like a lion choosing to be caged at the zoo.
• HEALTHY LIVING is a giant multidimensional topic.

Drinking And Wellbeing

I’ve read that there are thirteen minerals that are essential for human life and all of them can be found in wine.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Is that true?  I don’t know. I would like to think so.

Hard driving stressed-out men, imagine this situation: It’s overcast today,  You chill by the fire with a pair of cocktails for yourself and your lady.  You each each have the following drink in your hand:  Anejo tequila, washed in browned butter, in a cup of coffee, garnished with Netflix and a warm blanket.

Recipe:

• 1 oz browned butter washed Gran Centenario Anejo
• .75 oz Borghetti coffee liqueur
• .25 oz Cynar 70
• Barspoon 2:1 demerara – 3 oz hot coffee
• Top with hand-whipped cinnamon cream

Don’t Just Exist.  Glow.

Does the woman in the picture below look like she is having a good time?

She is totally focused on her work.

Does the woman in the photo below look like she is going to have a good time?

Have A Good Time.

Make sure you have a good time.

Laugh a lot.

Laughter is good medicine.

My Personal Belief About Mistakes

Creative people don’t make mistakes.  They make discoveries.

Creativity is contagious.  Pass it along.

Personal Correspondence

Below is a copy of recent personal correspondence between myself (Gary Smolker) and one of my friends (Paul Cook) about taking stains to prevent heart attacks/heart disease.

The last [most recent] piece of correspondence is at the top, the first piece of correspondence is at the bottom of the string of email correspondence below.

Neither Paul Cook not I are/is a physician.

Neither one of us has any medical training.

Both of us have declined to take a dosage of a statin drug that we have been told/advised that we should take in order to prevent having a heart attack.

Thoughts for the Day

Consider the following before reading the correspondence below between Paul and me.

• Science is not decided by vote.  There is no consensus, there is only our best current understanding.
• If the “experts” had it right we would be living on a “flat Earth” around which the Universe revolves praying to Zeus for our lives.
• The practice of medicine today is better than it was fifty years ago and in fifty years from now the practice of medicine will be better than it is today.
• TODAY: More people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined.
• TODAY: The average human is far more likely to die from binging at McDonald’s than from drought, Ebola, or an aL-Qaeda attack.
• With respect to taking steps to have a high quality life, prevent heart attacks, etc we are dealing with (a) lots of uncertainty, (b) incomplete information, (c) a very complex situation, and (d) lack of significant and/or meaningful understanding of physical, biological, biochemical, and physiological processes and in particular we have an almost complete lack understanding of brain function brain health brain chemistry and cognitive processes.
• Risk changes as we get older.
• Much to my astonishment I read that taking statins can lower testosterone (in effect eliminate/lower sex drive and sex function), destroy cognitive function (make it more difficult to process information and to think, destroy short term memory, destroy long term memory), increase the chance of having Alzheimer’s disease, increase the chance of having diabetes, and speed up the aging process.  I don’t know if any of that is true (i.e., if there is any correlation between taking a statin and losing sex drive, or getting Alzheimer’s disease or if any of those dreadful potential side effects would happen to me if I took the recommended dosage of statin, now or when I became older (later)).

 

---

 

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Paul,

Thank you for the vote of approval and confidence in my point of view.

According to David B. Augus, M.D., a pioneering cancer doctor and researcher  [he is a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California and heads USC’s Westside Cancer Center and the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine), the top ten causes of death in the United States for the 2010 calendar year according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed as deaths in the United States for the 2010 calendar year were:

1. Heart disease: 597,689 deaths
2. Cancer: 574,4743
3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080
4. Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476 deaths
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859 deaths
6. Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494 deaths
7. Diabetes: 69,071 deaths
8. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476 deaths
9. Influenza and pneumonia: 50,097 deaths
10. Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364 deaths

Assuming you are going to eventually die, if you had a choice of cause of death which cause of death would/do you prefer?

For example: Do you prefer to die of heart disease or cancer?

In general, chances are if you don’t die from heart disease, you most likely will die from (1) cancer, or (2) chronic lower respiratory disease, or (3) stroke or (4) an accident/unintentional injury, or (5) Alzheimer’s disease, or (6) diabetes, or something else listed above.

Do you have any idea what it would be like to die from a heart attack or from cancer?

By the way, statistics are valuable  for understanding a population as a whole, but much less valuable for predicting an individual.

Gary

—–Original Message—–
From: Paul Cook
To: Gary Smoker <gsmolker@aol.com>
Cc: Many
Sent: Sat, Mar 4, 2017 6:18 am
Subject: Re: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Gary,

You are Exactly right!

Paul

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

——– Original message ——–

From: Gary Smoker <gsmolker@aol.com>

Date: 3/4/17 2:51 AM (GMT-08:00)

To: Paul Cook

Cc: Many

Subject: Re: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Paul

What meaningless garbage.

What is the “risk?”  How does (percentage) risk change over time?

What is the probability you personally would lower the “risk”?

How much longer can you personally expect to live without having a heart attack or strike if you take one dosage vs another dose or none whatsoever?

The problem with living longer is that you live longer at the end of your life at a time you might be in a dreadful physical and/or mental state.

You might be extending your life while you are an immobile deaf and blind person who can barely breath, and at a time on your life when you pee and shit in your pants all the time and are on dialysis and your body is in constant pain

It would be much better to extend your life when you are young, fully functional and at the top of your physical and mental game.

Gary

Sent from my iPhone

Gary S. Smolker

On Mar 3, 2017, at 4:09 PM, Paul Cook  wrote:

Thanks Gary,

I appreciate your input! I was told that if I took x mg of Statin I would lower the risk of stroke and or heart attack some exact %…. not necessarily so. But that’s what his computer said!

Paul

On March 3, 2017 at 3:50 PM Gary Smolker <gsmolker@aol.com> wrote:

FYI—–Original Message—–
From: Gary Smolker <gsmolker@aol.com>
To: Mayer
Cc: Many
Sent: Fri, Mar 3, 2017 3:48 pm
Subject: Context: The Missing Ingredient

Mayer,My criticism of advice regarding what to eat and do to accomplish the goal of preventing heart attacks and other physical, mental and medical disasters is that RAW DATA is only useful when we put it in context.

The advice given is usually too general or too wrong headed or on mere speculation.

ALWAYS medical advice given to me regarding taking statins has never been a full disclosure of what is known of practical significance.

Compounding the problem the public on the whole would be like swine being fed pearls if anyone would attempt to provide HONEST FULL DISCLOSURE of the plus and minus and percent chance of achieving various results.

Too little is known for any MD to be able to say with a high degree of certainty if you take a statin of any particular dose you will live a specific amount of time longer.

Best regards,

Gary

—–Original Message—–
From: Mayer
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Sent: Mon, Feb 20, 2017 6:19 pm
Subject: Fwd: Home Remedies That Work (and Some That Don’t)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: WebMD <health@messages.webmd.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 8:38 AM
Subject: Home Remedies That Work (and Some That Don’t)
To: Mayerblah blah

Copyright © 2017 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

“Brain Training” – by Gary Smolker

“We don’t see things as they are,

we see things as we are.”  – Anais Nin, essayist

Training

I spent six hours on Friday, November 4, 2016, taking courses California lawyers are required to take, including 4 hours of legal ethics, 1 hour of competence issues (formerly known as Prevention, Detection, and Treatment of Substance Abuse or Mental Illness) and 1 hour of elimination of bias in the legal profession – training my brain.

The legal education program I attended was presented by the Beverly Hills Bar Association in their offices at 9420 Wilshire Blvd, 2nd floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

My Reaction

The program was very disturbing.

The presenter of the elimination of bias lecture and the four presenters of legal ethics lecture painted a picture of legally mandated conduct, which in my opinion, which will lead to substance abuse.

That is assuming what the presenter of “substance abuse lecture” said about environmental factors which cause substance abuse is correct and that is assuming that people do not understand the underlying cosmic bigger picture message [which had nothing to do with “elimination of bias”] presented by the lecturer on the “elimination of bias in the legal profession” in the lecture on “elimination of bias”.

A Large Number of Attorneys Are Substance Abusers!

We were told/taught that large numbers of attorneys are substance abusers but we were not told why they became substance abusers or how they became substance abusers and/or to what extent literally following conduct mandated by Rules of Professional Conduct results in attorneys becoming substance abusers.

Which Comes First: (a) Drinking, or (b) Unethical Conduct?

After listening all day to the presentations, I wondered: Which comes first, [1] drinking or [2] prohibited non-professional conduct?

I also wondered how many of the listeners to the “elimination of bias” speaker’s lecture had any idea of the what she was really talking about.

“The fool wonders, the wise man asks.” – Benjamin Disraeli, statesman

Pain Is 60% Emotional.

The “Substance Abuse” presenter emphasized that to escape pain people drink and people take drugs.  They are doing so to escape from pain.

The person who presented the “substance abuse lecture” told us that alcoholism is a disease;  that the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic is 60% genetically determined and is brought about 40% of the time by environmental factors.

After the program, a hypnotherapist friend of mine with whom I discussed the program told me:

Pain is 60 percent emotional.

Hypnotherapy is used to reduce pain.

The success in reducing pain is in the belief and motivation of people to re-frame their perception of their pain.

Under hypnosis, you train your brain to not feel so much pain.

Two of the major scripts used in hypnosis for reducing pain are:

• The Control Room, where you actually visualize turning down your own scale of the volume of your pain on a machine.  Number Zero being not feeling any pain.
• The Glove Anesthesia, which is a freezing numbing visualization of the pain once you have visualized moving that pain from wherever it is in your body into your hand and fingers, and then submerge your hand in deep snow or ice.  Cold is numbing.

Alcohol and drugs are numbing too.   But, just for a few minutes.  Taking drugs and/or drinking alcohol leads to being in a vicious circle you cannot come out of.

You forget the pain in your mind for a few moments but it is not really gone so it resurfaces stronger.

Once you take on the habit of “alcohol or substance abuse”, it becomes an addiction.

Being an addict means that nothing can stop you from harming your health.

Unhealthy habits deliver different types of rewards into your neurological system.

Mainly, serotonin and dopamine are biochemical active emotional control responses brought into your neurological system to make you temporarily happy and comforted.

In her presentation, the substance abuse presenter told us: over time, it takes more and more alcohol and more and more doses of drug to get the same response.

My Takeaway

A Full Life Doesn’t Live Itself

Text on billboards lining our highways and byways sponsored by bourbon manufacturers state, “A FULL LIFE DOESN’T LIVE ITSELF.”

I agree with that statement.

“Education is civil defense against media [and advertising] fallout.”  – Marshall McLuhan, philosopher

The six hours of legal education lectures I attended on on Friday (November 4, 2016) focused on how to interpret that message.

Competence Issues – formerly known as Prevention, Detection and Treatment of Substance Abuse or Mental Illness

Presented by Joelie Jacobson, M.A., L.M.F.T.,P.P.S., Hazelden Betty Ford

I am unmarried man who has three adult daughters; two of my daughters are single.

I found Joelie’s lecture very practical and relevant to me.

My takeaway from Joelie’s lecture is

• Out of self-defense, I shouldn’t date or marry a woman who is an alcoholic,
• Chances are if one of a women’s parents or siblings is an alcoholic she will be or is prone to become an alcoholic too.
• Generally speaking, with carefully considered exceptions, I should not date or marry any woman who drinks more than one glass of wine at a meal or constantly drinks as part of  an active social life.
• In general it is highly likely such a woman is or will become an alcoholic.
• If a woman or a man has a high stress job and/or if a man or woman is an empathetic person and is constantly, day in and day out, exposed to people in emotional trauma and/or high stress or pain it is almost guaranteed as a result of the type of person he or she is and the environment he or she works in that he or she will turn to alcohol or take drugs to escape the pain he or she feels in his or her clients or patients and will turn into an alcoholic.
• I should warn my single daughters of the dangers of getting involved with a man who is an alcoholic or drug user.
• I should warn my single daughters of the danger of getting involved with a recovering alcoholic or drug user.
• I should warn my single daughters of the potential dangers of getting involved with a man who has a sibling or has a parent who is an alcoholic.

Joelie’s presentation of how terrible and how dangerous it is to be associated with an alcoholic, of how horrible and dangerous it is to become an alcoholic was very disturbing and alarming.

The take away message forcibly and persuasively taken away by me after listening to  Joelie’s lecture and to the lecture on elimination of bias in the legal professional and to the lectures on legal ethics was, to me, as a lawyer licensed to practice law in California: To comply with Rules of Professional Conduct, I must eliminate any bias I may have [for reasons of self-defense] against associating with alcoholics and substance abusers [people who need to have a drink or take a controlled substance] in my own life even though associating with such a person potentially will put me at a substantial risk of suffering great physical harm and emotional trauma!

High Levels of Stress and Trauma

Jolie explained that “chronic pain”, “high levels of stress”, and “trauma caused by adverse events” are environmental factors that drive people to have a drink and/or to take drugs which eventually results in them becoming alcoholics and drug addicts.

Jolie emphasized that escaping pain by abusing drugs or drinking alcohol in the long run does not work and is instead self-destructive.

A handout from the Betty Ford Center given to everyone at the program by Jolie states, “There is a growing body of evidence that, as a whole, drug therapies for pain management are largely ineffective.”

Secondary Stress and Trauma

Jolie explained that those attorneys and health care professionals who are highly empathetic who come in daily contact with people who are suffering high levels of pain are often driven to drink or drugs to escape the pain they suffer as a result of feeling the pain their clients/patients are suffering.  Side comment:  It is highly dangerous to be empathetic in such situations.

Neurocognitive Enhancement

According to the Betty Ford Center handout Jolie gave us:

Essentially we [Betty Ford Centers] help patients reshape and retrain the pain center of their brain.

We help them relearn how to focus their attention …

So, rather than focusing on the physical cause of the pain, our pain management program is based on neurocognitive enhancement – reshaping how the brain reacts to pain.

You do not need drugs to manage your pain. 

Our integrated treatment approach is safe and effective. 

Patients who complete our program tell us they literally feel reborn.  They find a freedom they never thought possible.

Disease

According to Jolie, alcoholism is a disease.  It is not curable.  It is only treatable.

Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession

Presented by Pamela Tedeschi, Esq.

According to Pamela, “We don’t marginalize people like us.”

Women, Not Men, Have Vaginas

Side comment: Perhaps women having vaginas and men not having vaginas is one of the reasons women who marginalize men marginalize men and vice-versa.

Pamela told us:

• We carry on our historical ancestry.
• Cultural training and societal imperatives are positive and/or negative reinforcement.
• We don’t feel safe with things we are not familiar with.

Pamela urged us to challenge traditional biases

• Religious and cultural elitism
• Class system disenfranchisement
• Sexism – misogyny
• White privilege

Side comment:  Aren’t those biases the major factors that are driving the drama and suspense connected with the November 8, 2016 election of the next President of the United States, and what will determine the final outcome of that election?

Symbols

“Those who rule the symbols rule us.” – Alfred Korzybski, linguist

Lawyers Are Standard Bearers

Pamela said:

• We lawyers are standard bearers.
• What really makes a difference is being an excellent lawyer… seeking justice, fairness and equal protection.

Pamela didn’t say, but I think Pamela would agree:

If a lawyer does his or her work only to make money (bill clients) or only to win (whatever win means) that lawyer will not be happy.

The only way for a lawyer to be happy with “legal work” is to work on something the lawyer believes in, to do what you do as part of living a purposeful life.

I know a lawyer who defends unlawful detainer cases.

When he represents a “poor” tenant who is being bullied and can’t paid this lawyer’s legal fee, this lawyer tells the landlord’s lawyer:

“I am working for free because I don’t like bullying.  I am committed to handle this case from womb til death do we part, I will not rest until my client wins this case.”

And he means it.  He doesn’t quit giving the case his all until the case is over.

Susan Sarandon

In a recent interview Susan Sarandon said she wasn’t going to vote for Hillary Clinton for President.

Ms. Sarandon explained, “I don’t vote with my vagina.”

In addition to saying she “doesn’t vote with her vagina”, Ms. Sarandon  also said:

“I am worried about the wars, I am worried about Syria.  I am worried about all of these things that actually exist.  I am worried about fracking.  I’m worried about the environment.  No matter who gets in they don’t address these things because money has taken over the system.”

There are many big money making people who are doing what they are doing solely for the sake of making money, they are doing the things the way they do them – without heart – solely to earn “more” money.

They feel they are entitled to make lots of money.

They are never happy.

They can never get or make enough money.

A friend of mine responded to Susan Sarandon’s comments as follows:

“I think Sarandon makes comments that show her to be in a bubble of unreality.  Money, among other things, has always been one of the drivers of the car of capitalism and democracy.  It obviously has its frailties as well as its benefits for our system and many other’s.  But her statements reflect her reasons for being a Bernie supporter – and a judgmental one at that.”

Safety and Security

Pamela urged the attorneys attending her lecture (a) to seek common values, and (b) to seek safety and security for themselves and others.

Easier Said than Done

Human nature:

• People are tribal.
• People are tribal for self-protection safety reasons.
• However, very few people are willing to commit to one another.
• Very few people are willing to be part of a team that compromises for the greater efforts of the whole, other than to participate in common core action to provide safety from attack from other people.

Knowledge Is Dangerous

People who want to treat pain by changing the focus of someone’s mind need to be strong and mature:

“What we learn at my school about human behavior is extremely disturbing and confusing.  If you are not strong enough or too young and too vulnerable it can be lethal.  One girl in my class hanged herself last week at 24 years old.  She was depressed.  Never talked to any one about it.

“Knowledge is a double edged sword.”

Human Warmth

“Sharing human warmth on all levels – as humans, we turn to others for validation, approval, cushions, and love as well as advice, thoughts and opinions.

“Business runs best when people commit to one another, the core values of whatever they are doing, and the willingness to be part of a team that compromises for the greater efforts of the whole.”

Legal Ethics

Presented by Edward O. Lear, Esq., Hon. Donald Miles, Dianne L. Karpman, Esq., Dominique Snyder, Esq.

Four hours of lectures were presented by a team composed of three lawyers who defend attorneys accused of violating Rules of Professional Conduct and one of the Five Judges in the State Bar Court of the State of California whose job is to decide whether an attorney accused of violating the Rules of Professional Conduct is guilty and punishment.

Takeaway

• The number one type of complainer bringing a complaint to the State Bar against an attorney is a client who just doesn’t want to pay attorney fees.
• Every attorney should read the Rules of Professional Conduct at least once a year.
• The job of the State Bar is to protect the public, not to punish attorneys.
• Lawyers are prosecuted for Rules of Professional Conduct violations to protect the public.
• The cover-up is always worse than the act.
• The explanation for conduct is sometimes more damning than the conduct.
• When defending an attorney accused of violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, “Ignorance is a lawyer’s worse offense.”
• “Saying I didn’t know is not a defense or mitigating.  It is aggravating.”
• How you think is everything.
• Goals are nothing without action.
• Justice ought to be in the heart of the lawyer and in the heart of the law firm.

OPTIMISM is the belief there is a next time.

I am an optimist.

I look forward to listening to those presenters give another lecture in the future.

Accolade

All the presentations were full of practical valuable relevant information.

All the presenters did an excellent job.

Each one of them exuded a friendly attitude.

Each of their presentations exhibited their insight and intelligence.

Each of their presentations was a call to action.

There are a few inspirational words of encouragement I would have said if I was one of them.

Inspirational and Aspirational Things I Would Have Said If I Was One of the Presenters

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi, statesman

“Our goals can only be achieved through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act.  There is no other route to success.”  – Pablo Picasso, artist

Most men succeed because they are determined to.

Gary S. Smolker, publisher, movie reviewer, social commentator
The Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange
www.garysmolker.wordpress.com

Gary Smolker, fashion blogger
Dude's Guide to Women's Shoes
www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com

Copyright © 2016 Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

Nature-Deficit-Disorder – by Gary S. Smolker

Live A Little

I’ve concluded that life is for living.

I have concluded that the best type of life for me is one in which I stop being afraid of wasting my time by going out or by going to new places or by meeting new people and instead that I should travel to new places, meet new people, have new experiences and learn new things while doing so.

Medicine Is A Way of Life.

In my opinion life is beautiful and how I live my life is either good medicine for me or poisonous.

The key to being “healthy” for me is knowing how to live.

I’ve found I can –

• Be Happy, Healthy and Full of Wonderment.
• Relieve stress, regenerate my spirit, laugh and be joyful.
• Go out in “nature” and see directly in front of my eyes that all living things (plants, animals, fish and fowl] that live naturally in harmony with their nature flourish.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I recently went on a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee with my three adult daughters.

One of the great things I discovered while being high up the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is that there is no cell phone reception there.

Consequently it was a place where I could relax and (re)connect with nature.

While I was in the Smoky Mountains I was able to decompress, relieve stress and regenerate my spirit as a result of  being in nature with no distractions – as a result of being in a place where there was no cell phone service.

I personally experienced the value of (a) breathing fresh air, (b) seeing clear clean running water in streams creeks and rivers, (c) seeing picturesque waterfalls, (d) hiking in pristine woods and (e) solitude.

As a result of “being “n nature” without the distractions imposed on me by cell phones, Internet connection, talking texting or emailing I was able to see clearly the way things work “in nature” and as a result of that after I returned from my “retreat” in nature with my daughters I have been able think clearly without distraction about several things of concern to me.

Additionally, my trip to the Smokies was an amazing bonding experience with my daughters, nature and myself.

During the entire time I was in the Smoky Mountains I was happy, healthy, full of wonderment and stress-free.

The kinds of experiences I had on my trip to the Smoky Mountains have provided memories which I will enjoy for years to come and a reference point and base line to use when thinking about things in my daily life that are important to me.

The experiences I had and the observations I made on that trip have increased ability to think many fold about how I spend my time and other resources and about medical, financial, family and emotional issues of great concern to me.

The Area In and Around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The whole area in and around the Smoky Mountains is quite stunning – light traffic on the freeways, lush green all around the hills and in the mountains.

“Nature” is preserved in a pristine state in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

People Who Know How to Live

The people I met in the areas in and around the Smoky Mountains during my vacation/retreat in the Smoky Mountains with my three daughters know how to live.

They live rustic sensible refined remarkable and somewhat “funky” lives.

Every one I met was good -natured, calm, friendly, hospitable and grounded, and seemed to be alert and happy.

The people I saw and met in cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores during my sojourn in and around the Smoky Mountains were striking different from the people I typically see in similar places in and around Los Angeles.

The people I met in the South (in and around the Smoky Mountains) were all very calm, relaxed and laid back.

I didn’t meet or see anyone during my sojourn in and around the Smoky Mountains who was up tight, anxious, or stressed out.

Below is a photograph I took of a man a man I met in the “Lil Black Bear Cafe” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

I’ve never seen anyone wearing a T-shirt in Los Angeles like the T-shirt the man in the photograph above is wearing.

By the way, the chocolate Bear Claw served in the “Lil Black Bear Cafe” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is something to write home about.  I ate one.  See photos below of the Bear Claw I ate in the “Lil Black Bear Cafe.”

I survived eating the Bear Claw pictured above.

I purchased a T-shirt to celebrate my accomplishment.

See photograph of the T-shirt I bought.

The people I met, and the culture and way of life I observed, in and around the Smoky Mountains was tremendously different from the culture I experience every day in Los Angeles.

I think people in the South (at least the people I met and interacted with) are more “natural” and more in tune with their core human nature that people in and around Los Angels that I see when I go out to eat or to a grocery store or to any other public place in Los Angeles.

Below is a photograph of a man I met in a grocery store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and a close up photograph of the T-shirt that man was wearing when I saw and met him.

I’ve never seen anyone in Los Angeles wearing a T-shirt like that.

 

Popularity of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular park in the National Park System.

Ten million people per year visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Everyone Needs A Perfect Place to Think

Everyone needs a perfect place to think without distraction, a retreat.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is such a place.

All four of us (Leah, Judi, Terra and me) found the Smoky Mountains to be a perfect place to think.

My Search for A Clear Mind

The search for a clear mind is one of my fundamental goals.

The search for a “clear mind” is the fundamental goal of “all” creative and highly productive people.

During my trip to the Smoky Mountains, the solitude I experienced and my interaction with (a) my daughters, (b) nature and (c) the people I met gave me a clear mind.

My Trip to the Smoky Mountains

I left my in Encino, California on May 14, 2016 and visited the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee for ten days, from May 14 to May 24, 2016, with my three daughters Leah, Judi and Terra.

As a result of taking my trip to the Smoky Mountains, I feel totally connected to life – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

It is clear to me that the state of my energy, my health and of my over-all-well-being are dependent on being connected to nature.

The Best Way to Live

Life is about choice.

I advocate relieving stress, being healthy and living a creative down to earth purposeful gratifying meaningful healthy life.

I’ve found that the best way for me to live is by being connected simultaneously with my natural core and nature.

I’ve discovered it is okay for me to enjoy a glass of wine, to have a beer, to have a shot of whiskey; it is not crazy or a waste of my time to go for hikes in woods, to do yoga, to read a book, to think and reflect in solitude, or to go to car shows, or to take photographs with my iPhone of whatever strikes my fancy, and that it is beneficial for me yo travel to new places to meet new people and to see new things.

In my opinion going to new places, meeting new people, connecting to nature, and having new experiences should be part of everyone’s life goals.

As a result of my recent vacation in the Smoky Mountains I have concluded that –

1. I will achieve clearer thinking and better health by connecting myself to nature.
2. My live is energized by experiencing a sense of oneness in the energy flow I make when I am in the moment.
3. My life is about making choices.
4. The best “medicine” for me is living the way of right relationship – I found that living a healthy  LIFE is about doing that.

Failure and Making Mistakes Are A Natural Feature of Life and of Making Progress and of Making Something New

Creativity is a resource we continually draw upon to make something from nothing, to make the non-existent come into being.

Part of being healthy is to not be afraid of trying something new, or trying to do something new.

Inevitably active alive and creative people experience failure and make mistakes.

Healthy people realize mistakes are not a necessary evil.

Mistakes are an inevitable consequence of doing something new, and as such, they such be seen as being valuable; without them, we’d have no originality.

Mistakes and failures are learning experiences.

Think of failure like learning to ride a bike; it isn’t conceivable that anyone could learn to ride a bike without making mistakes – without toppling over a few times.

Personality Plus

The first place I landed on my way to the Smoky Mountains was in Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville is known as “Beer City, USA” because it has so many microbreweries.

We went to Asheville first because my daughter Leah is a beer connoisseur.

I saw “good humor” and “personality plus”, and experienced “positive energy” and “social commentary” everywhere I went during my three day stay in Asheville, North Carolina.

The people I met in Asheville had good nature, and were happy, hospitable, calm, and grounded.

It was pleasant to interact with each person I interacted with in Asheville.

Each of them exhibited a good sense of humor.

Below is a picture of a sign I saw posted in the window of the “12 Bones Smokehouse” in Asheville, North Carolina.

That sign made me laugh when I saw it.

By the way, the “12 Bones Smokehouse” is President Obama’s favorite rib joint.

While in Asheville I saw another which made me laugh.

See picture of that sign below.

It is a sign on the wall of a place where you can self-wash your dog.

The Most Famous Place in Asheville, North Carolina: Biltmore House & Gardens

I love chocolate.

During my trip to the Smoky Mountains, I visited the most famous place in Asheville, North Carolina: the Biltmore House.

The Biltmore House was built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt.

It is a 250 room house.

It is situated on a 8,000 acre estate.

It has gardens and trails, a conservatory, a bass pond, a boathouse, lawns and woods.

In “the house” itself, there are restaurants, a courtyard market, a bake shop, a ice cream parlor, and specialized stores for shoppers and highly specialized shopping experiences.

For shopping there is a store called “Christmas Past”, a store called “Bookbinder’s”, a store called “Carriage House”, a store called “Confectionery”, a store called “Toymaker’s”, and a store called “A Gardener’s Place.”

My favorite part of the house is the candy store (the confectionery).

I am a fan of tasty chocolate and good advertising.

My First Most Favorite Experience at Biltmore House

My favorite experience, while I was touring the Biltmore House, was seeing what was printed on boxes of chocolate for sale in the “Confectionery.”

See photos below.

I also love cupcakes.

I was thrilled when I saw the package below in the confectionery, advertising cupcakes, yum.

My Second Most Favorite Experience at the Biltmore House

My second best experience at Biltmore House was looking at the exotic flowers growing in the Conservatory at the Biltmore House.

Below are photographs of exotic flowers I saw growing in the Conservatory at the Biltmore House.

My Third Most Favorite Experience at the Biltmore House

My third best experience at the Biltmore House was looking at a group of flowers growing in a pond above the gardens.  Those flowers are shown in the photograph below.

Character and Assertive Individuality Have Been Alive and Well in the Great Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee for Many Years

For various reasons the Great Smoky Mountains have always been a very special place.

The people who lived in the Smoky Mountains in the recent past were famous for hiding their stills from tax collectors and for selling their homemade distilled spirits when it was against US Federal Law to do so.

Being surrounded by natural beauty and making homemade distilled spirits and having a great down to earth sense of humor has been a way of living in and around the Great Smoky Mountains for generations.

When it was illegal to manufacture or sell liquor, certain people [who lived in and around the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee were called Moonshiners and also called bootleggers] manufactured and sold homemade distilled spirits nicknamed “moonshine”; they manufactured and sold “homemade” wine and whisky (“moonshine”) in violation of federal law.

Doing that earned them a “romanticized” place in the history of the United States.

Today, it is not against federal law to manufacture or sell distilled spirits.

However, in an attempt to take advantage of romantic and nostalgic feelings about “moonshine” and “moonshiners” , major distillers pretend to sell “moonshine” — and promote the sales of their products (wine and whiskey) with sales messages associating their products to individualistic rebel character traits romantically associated with moonshine and bootleggers.

These messages are printed on ancillary merchandise – soft good items – such as T-shirts, pillows, and dish towels sold in “Moon Shine” stores and boutiques in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge Tennessee.

For examples, at their stores in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge the “Old Smoky Tennessee Moonshine” company provides free moonshine tastings, live music, distillery tours and sells “moonshine” (jars of whiskey) as well as T-shirts, Sweat Shirts, and sundry other items.

Master Enjoyment of A Glass of Wine Because You Have Worked Hard and Traveled Far

Wine is a symbol.

The wine industry in Tennessee has made a successful effort to have me associate drinking wine with Individuality, Character, Relaxing, Relieving Stress and Being A Fun and Wise Person.

In their boutique wine and whiskey tasting stores near the Smoky Mountains their customer (me) can’t help but associate Being Fun with Drinking Wine, Wine Drinking.

Below are pictures of miscellaneous soft good items imprinted with messages celebrating and encouraging the consumption of wine.

I recently took the pictures below in a so called wine tasting store in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Notice that each of the items shown in the photographs below cleverly delivers the message that a person who drinks wine is a fun person.

Each message has a “fun”, “be fun”, “have fun” emotional arc I relate to.

I had “fun” reading each message.

I smiled when I read each message.

I took each of the above photographs on May 23, 2016 at the “Bootleggers Home Made Wine” store in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Gatlinburg is a small town located at the foot of the Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee.

The Majesty of Nature

Seeing nature in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a spiritual as well as a physical and mental experience.

I can’t imagine any person with sight not being able to visually spiritually and mentally experience the majesty of nature on display in the Smoky Mountains and our deep rooted connection with nature.

Below is a series of photographs I took of the Smoky Mountains behind a layer of clouds I observed from my Majestic View cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, at 6:30 a.m.

Note: the clouds in front of the Smoky Mountains look like smoke coming up from and rising up from the Smoky Mountains.

 

 

Next are photographs I took of the same view from the cabin with the Majestic View four hours later at 10:40 a.m. – after the morning mist and clouds in front of the Smoky Mountains began dissipating, then dissipated and then disappeared.

Below are photos taken later in the day.

Below are photographs I took at sunset while standing on the deck outside the kitchen at my cabin.

More Than 40 Note Worthy Waterfalls

There are over 2,000 miles of sparkling rivers, prongs and branches and over 40 noteworthy falls in the Smoky Mountains.

During our time together in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, my three daughters Leah (age 28), Judi (age 31) and Terra (age 45) and I hiked together to several of those noteworthy waterfalls.

Below is a series of photographs I took at one of those waterfalls.

The first photograph is of one of those waterfalls.

 

The second photograph is of my one of my daughters standing next to that waterfall.

 

 

The third, fourth and fifth photographs below are photographs of my daughter standing behind that waterfall.

 

 

 

Below is a photographs I took of my two youngest daughters standing in front of another waterfall.

Below is a photograph of my youngest daughter with me in front of that waterfall.

Below is a photograph of me standing in front of that waterfall.

Below is a close up photograph of of the top of that waterfall.

Below is a photograph of another water fall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park we hiked to.

Sparkling Rivers Prongs and Branches

Professionally taken photographs:

My photographs:

Hiking To Abrams Falls

Below is a picture of my youngest daughter Leah (age 28) Leah took of herself while Leah and I were hiking together through the woods in the Smoky Mountains to Abrams Falls.

It took us five hours of hiking through woods in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to get to the Abrams Falls.

At Abrams Falls water water with the volume of a river plunges 25 feet into a large pool.

The force of the fall throws spray over 50 feet into rhododendron and hemlock on the bank opposite the trail we hiked on to get to the falls.

The deep pool under the falls has a very strong undercurrent.

A sign near the falls warns people not to swim in the pool under the falls – swimmers have drowned.  See sign below.

People are also warned to be aware of bears near the falls.  See sign below.

Below is a photograph I took of myself in front of Abrams Falls.

 

Below is a series of photographs of Abrams Falls.

Messages Printed on T-Shirts Present Moonshine as The Nectar of Pure Unadulterated Living

In Gatinburg, several breweries give free tastings in addition to selling “moonshine (whiskey)”; they also sell  T-shirts on which are printed provocative messages.

The photographs below were taken by me in the “Old Smoky Tennessee Moonshine’s” store on the Parkway, in Gatinburg, Tennessee on Monday night, May 23, 2016, after Leah and I finished our hike to Abrams Falls.

Knoxville Vibe

All of us (Leah, Judi, Terra and Me) got back to our homes by flying out of Knoxville Airport.

Leah and I spent the morning looking around the Art District and the Old City District of Knoxville.

Both are very cool places.

Below are photographs I took which express the “come on in” attitude I experienced in and around the Art District in Knoxville, Tennessee.

I Saw Art and Beauty Everywhere During My Trip to the Smoky Mountains

At the Curious Dog in Old City Knoxville, Tennessee

See photograph below I took of a  booth in the “Curious Dog” in the Old Town section of Knoxville, Tennessee on May 24, 2016.

Photos below are close ups of sections of the mural in the photograph above.

Photograph of a guy sitting in that booth.

Photograph I took the sign on the exterior street side of the entry door to the “Curious Dog.”

Paintings on the Two Walls in A Dead End Alley in the Old Town Section of Knoxville, Tennessee

While walking around the Old Town section of Knoxville on May 24, 20167, with my daughter Leah, we found ourselves walking down a blind alley, an alley the “dead-ended”, an alley which had no exit.

Below are photographs of paintings I saw painted on the two walls in that alley.

Chair In A Shop in the Chicago O’Hare Airport Terminal

Below is a photograph I took of a chair I saw in a shop in O’Hare Airport, Chicago, Terminal 1, Gate B-6, on May 24, 2016 as I was on my way to catch a connecting flight to Los Angeles International Airport, LAX.

I had started my journey home to Los Angeles from the Smoky Mountains on a flight departing from Knoxville Airport.

My trip home involved taking a plane from Knoxville Airport to O’Hare Airport in Chicago and then catching another plane at O’Hare Airport that flew me back to Los Angeles.

It took over 10 hours to get back home from the time I left the Knoxville Airport to the time my plane landed in Los Angeles at LAX, the airport in Los Angeles.

Art and Beauty Everywhere

On Saturday, June 4, 2016 I went to return a computer to the Apple Store at the Grove — a upscale shopping cent in Los Angeles.

While I was at the Grove I discovered there was an event, an auto show, at the Grove.

By the way, the Grove is located near the intersection of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, California.

Of note to me, as a father of three adult women and a lover of women, I saw more women then men looking at the cars on display on the street at the auto show.

So much for the cliche that boys like cars and girls like dolls.

Below are pictures I took of three of the multitude of  “classic cars” I saw on the street, on display, as part of the car show at the Grove.

Really interesting: on the top two cars pictured above, the rear view mirror is strapped to the spare tire.

 

 

Save Yourself from Nature-Deficit-Disorder, Get Out: Visit The Great Smoky Mountains; Travel to, Visit and Explore New Places

The Smoky Mountains are one of the most bio-diverse places on earth.

According to the National Park Service over 18,000 different types of animals and plants live in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) are one of 19 species of fireflies at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  They are the only species in the Americas whose individuals can synchronize their flashing light patterns.

No one is sure why the fireflies flash synchronously.

The fireflies do not always flash in unison.

They glow in the dark.

They may flash in waves across hillsides, and at other times will flash randomly.

Synchrony occurs in short bursts that end with abrupt periods of darkness.

The Smoky Mountains is also the home of the “American Black Bear.”

More than 1,500 black bears live protected “in the wild” in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

More statistics:

• More than 1,500 different specifies of wild flowers are found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, more than in any other North American National Park.
• More than 100 different species of trees grow there.
• More than 240 different species of birds have been spotted there.

The Southern Appalachians are one of the temperate zone’s hot spots for plants.  North of the tropics, only China has more species.

The climate of the park encompasses a range of conditions from warm to cold temperature, and rainfall is abundant everywhere.

Elevations in the park range from 850 feet to 6,643 feet.  As one moves from lower to high elevations the climate becomes cooler and wetter and cloud cover is more frequent.

Rainfall ranges from about 55 inches at low elevations to 90 inches on high peaks.

Differences in elevation and the ruggedness of the mountains – topographical features affect soil moisture – result in a vast variety of environments that produce a wide variety of vegetation.

Slope aspect, slope position and slope shape all combine to determine the amount of sunlight reaching a site, its warmth, and its ability to retain soil moisture.

Even if you stay in a narrow elevation range, the habitat changes dramatically.  And because habitat changes, the species of wildflowers and plants you see growing also varies.

As a result of its biodiversity and its closeness to population centers, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular park in the National Park System; 10 million people visit the park each year.

The National Park Services maintains 380 miles of scenic roadways, 800 plus miles of trails and bridges, 9 front country campgrounds, and more than 100 back country campgrounds in the Smoky Mountains National Park.

ASIDE:

• The National Cancer Institute and other groups have repeatedly visited the Smokies to take, under permit, small plant samples, looking for new medicines.
• Fully, 25 percent of our prescription drugs contain at least one ingredient taken directly from a higher plant.
• The Cherokee had documented uses for 60 percent of the flora in the Smokies.
• Over 600 species from these mountains were or are still used as medicines by the Cherokee.
• Generations of trial and error of uses of plants in these mountains represent a refined knowledge of plant biochemistry and the potential for use.
• A recent study showed that study of traditional cultural use of plants in an area is a faster route to discovering new medicines than blind screening of all plants in an area.

The prime directive of all national parks is to preserve not only native species, but also the natural processes that maintain them.

This year (2016) the American National Park Service turned 100 years old.

THE ART OF LIVING

I see art everywhere and beauty everywhere.

I can’t wait to tell you about “the Swag” in Waynesville North Carolina; “Lil Black Bear Cafe” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and, “Curious Dog” and a blind alley in Old Town Knoxville, Tennessee, which I will do in a future blog post article on the “Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange Blog.”

The Swag

Below is a photograph of what I found on my bed when I went to my room at the Swag.

There was also a backpack on my bed.  See photo below.

There was a note explaining the materials inside the backpack.  See photo below.

On one of the night stands besides the bed was a book of poetry.  See photo below.

I adopted “Mr. Rocky”, the Black Bear I found on my bed in my room at “the Swag.”

I can’t wait to tell you more about “the Swag.”

Conclusion

We determine the trajectory of our lives.

We should learn how to see.

We should live with our eyes wide open.

We should travel to places we have never been to before and meet people we have never met before.

Having/enjoying good health is a way of life.

 

 

Copyright © 2016 by Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved