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Live Life Fully with Eyes Wide Open – by Gary Smolker
Posted by Gary S. Smolker
I’ve been living in a rut.
I got out of that rut on the weekend of January 13, 2017.
My Creative Weekend
During the weekend of January 13 through January 15, 2017, I discovered many treasures, including a double-Decker-merry-go-round-carousel in the Westfield Topanga Mall in front of the Target store.
My goal/project for Saturday (January 14, 2017) was to hang a plate on a wall in my kitchen.
However, I didn’t have any nails.
I decided to go get some nails at Home Depot.
In the process of going to get some nails at Home Depot, along the way, I ended up at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park …. where I discovered the double-Decker-merry-go-round-carousel pictured above.
Art
My housekeeper had given me a plate the day before, on Friday (January 13, 2017) early in the morning before I went to my office in Encino.
Below is a picture of the plate she gave me sitting on a granite counter-top in my kitchen.
On Saturday (January 14, 2017), I decided I would hang that plate on a wall in my kitchen.
However, I didn’t/don’t know how to hammer a nail in a wall and (at the time) I didn’t have any nails.
Luckily I know a woman (Christy Rusk) who knows how to hang a plate on a wall and how to hammer nails into a wall.
My Nine Hour Hanging A Picture on A Wall Project
It took me nine hours from the time I left my home to buy nails to when I got home, hammered nails in a kitchen wall and hung the plate.
To get my project done, I picked up Christy (a young lady who knows how to hammer nails in walls) to help me with the task at hand.
I picked up Christy at Christy’s home near the Grove in West Hollywood, at 11:15 a.m.
After picking Christy up, Christy and I meandered over to the Home Depot store in Woodland Hills, located at 7345 Variel Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA. 91367.
The Lost City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is a lost city.
I say that because Los Angles is spread over so much territory that hardly anyone living in Los Angeles has seen (or been to) every part of it.
On our way to Home Depot, Christy and I stopped at the Westfield Topanga Mall to look for a store that would replace a dead battery in Christy’s watch or would sell Christy a new battery to replace the dead battery in Christy’s watch.
None of the jewelry stores or watch repair stores we visited in the mall would do so for a reasonable price.
That is how we ended up in the Target store at the Westfield Topanga Mall, where I discovered a most amazing book.
The Most Amazing Book
See photograph below.
I didn’t know that book existed.
I found it by “chance” in a Target Store while looking for a new watch battery with Christy.
Fashion As Fine Art
Before Christy and I got to the Target Store, Christy and I meandered through the Nordstrom in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Mall.
While meandering, we walked into the “Chanel Store” and the “Gucci Store” located in the Nordstrom Department Store.
What an eye opening experience that was.
Chanel
Below is a picture I took of a “Clutch” I saw in the Chanel Store.
That clutch is a recycled used cigar box.
It sells for $14,000.00.
Gucci
I also saw amazing purses and clutches at the Gucci store.
See photograph below of a $2,800.00 clutch.
Look at the attention to detail.
Isn’t the attention to detail amazing?
I think so.
Next, I looked at and took a photograph in the Gucci store of a $3,800 Gucci Purse.
See photograph below.
I think the attention to detail in that Gucci purse and the design of that Gucci purse are amazing.
But wait, next I saw and took a picture of, another astounding and even more expensiive Gucci purse.
See picture below.
Don’t you agree that Gucci purse has priceless style, intricate stitching and fabulous design?
The sales price of that Gucci purse is $5,800.00.
Lush Cosmetics
While we were in the shopping mall, Christy wanted to purchase some soap.
She loves Lush Cosmetics Soap.
We meandered over to the Lush Cosmetics Store.
It was an amazingly creative fun experience to be in that store.
Below are three photos of signs I saw above three of the different types of soap.
TAKE AWAY: Signage counts.
Lush Cosmetics knows how to merchandise their products.
See photos below.
In my imagination, prompted by being in that store, I could see myself bathing by candlelight in my bath with a girl friend …. to add a sense of calm, magic and seduction to taking a bath.
I have enchanting candle holders on the side of my oversized bathtub.
The Ultimate Decadent Bathing Experience
I have a wine glass holder on the side of my bath tub.
I was missing the right kind of bubble bath.
Now, thanks to my trip on Saturday (January 14, 2017) to Lush Cosmetics store in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Mall, I have everything I need for the ultimate decadent bathing experience except a woman to take a bath with me.
How sublime.
I am taking one tiny step at a time.
Heat Is the New Black
According to an article I recently read,
- “Hyperthermic conditioning (calculated heat exposure) can help you increase growth hormone (GH) levels and substantially improve endurance.”
- Hot baths can significantly increase GH over baseline, and have been shown to cause a massive release in prolactin, which plays a role in wound healing.
- If nothing else, they seem to dramatically decrease DOMS (delayed on-set muscle soreness).
Supporting Good Causes
While at Lush Cosmetics I purchased:
- A Twilight Bath Bomb, price $$6.95
- A Yoga Bomb Bath Bomb, price $7.95
- A Tisty Tosty Bath Bomb, price $6.75
- A Frozen Bath Bomb, price $8.95
- A Avobath Bath Bomb, price $6.75 and
- A container of Charity Pot hand and body lotion, price $7.95.
The purchase of these products supports good causes and good groups like …. the “International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council” which provides education and resources on wildlife rehabilitation to promote conservation and welfare worldwide.
According to their literature, Lush Cosmetics funds grassroots groups working on environmental, human rights and animal protection issues.
By the Way
There are beautiful things to be seen all around us.
On Saturday (January 21, 2017) I went to Glendale with Christy Rusk to eat Dim Sum at Din Tai Fung.
While waiting to be seated we walked outside and saw a little girl who had one hand holding her mother’s hand and her other hand holding a string connected to an elephant balloon.
I also saw many young women wearing sweat shirts broadcasting the printed message: “The Future is Female.”
Copyright © 2017 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
By the way,
- I am a fashion blogger for Dude’s Guide to Women’s Shoes.
- Check out my posts on Dude’s Guide to Women’s Shoes at http://www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com
- I am also on Instagram.
- Check out my posts on Instagram @garyspassion
Posted in being present, cultivating yourself, Exhiliarating Life Experiences, human progress, Life Itself Is The Most Wonderful Fairy Tale, living life fully, maximizing your potential, mindfullness, Role of Women, self-awareness, social order, sophistication, The Cost of Achieving Success, The Energy of A Challenge, Your Soul Is The Center of Your World
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Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin – by Gary S. Smolker
Posted by Gary S. Smolker
ONLY YOU CAN BE COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN
We are living in a time of large scale social change, marked by creativity, innovation, questioning of authority, rugged individualism, concern for self, the emancipation of women, changing demographics, wide scale use of smart phones and many other significant life style transformations.
Today, people are devoting significant amounts of their personal time and energy focused on themselves. Many people are making strong efforts to take charge of their own individual future.
Today, a developing emphasis on the individual and individual responsibility is growing, the power of authority over the individual is constantly being questioned and reassessed, the traditional authority relationship between men and women – granting authority to the men – is undergoing change and scrutiny, and there are significant changes in the racial educational and economic composition of the population in the United States.
The increased emphasis on the individual cannot be over emphasized.
Concern for individualism has vigorously appeared.
Today, compared to times past, women have attained a great deal more responsibility and freedom.
As a result of having more freedom and responsibility women have themselves come to question their traditional family and social roles and reciprocally, males have raised similar questions about male-female relationships.
As women move out of confinement to the domicile, they experience new outlets and opportunities, demand power/empowerment, respect and “equality”, and are more and more interested in change.
Improvements in methods of contraception and the increase in experiential access to opportunities outside of the home have released women for participation in new roles and functions as never before.
As a consequence of “women’s liberation”, on-going debates on issues of gender and racial equality; the government’s ever growing increase of public debt and social change, including laws regarding contraception and birth control; a cascade of new technologies; and, being bombarded by an avalanche of messages, visual images of massive disintegration of society, a steady stream of information and misinformation and ideas; and, as a result of being constantly exposed to loud acrimonious debates over different points of view, it has become impossible for anyone to live in solitude or in the past.
People Are Tired of Being Talked To, They Want to Be Talked With
The mega-trends that are shaping our times have massively accelerated.
One mega-trend is that there has been a seismic shift from presentation to participation in many areas of daily life. People are fed up with being talked-down-to.
The shift from presentation to participation means that the days of the Gods, sitting up on Mt. Olympus and telling us how things are and what to do, are long gone or rapidly coming to an end.
People are tired of being talked to they want to be talked with.
Today, people can use technology to search for information and to have a global conversation.
People are hyper-connected: As a result of our use of the Internet and other communications technologies we all engaged in a global conversation.
We are using technology to connect with others – not just with people we already know, but with people who have similar or related interests that resonate with us – and not just to search for information.
In fact, it is estimated that 3 billion more people will join the Internet’s community by 2020.
Everyone’s perceptual space, expectations, life style and peace of mind has been shaken up.
Taking Care of Your Body and Mind
Understand Your MD’s Behavior
Move Forward
Take responsibility for your own life.
REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS
Mind Expanding Experiences
Another one of my MDs friends further explained to me why there is such a pronounced lack of creativity and innovation in the medical profession as follows:
- “Most MDs are one trick ponies.”
- This friend (a highly acclaimed MD – who does not practice one trick pony medicine) further explained to me – “If you only know how to use a hammer, everything is a nail.”
Energizing the Minds of Physicians
Is It True that Physicians Are “Poor” Businessmen/Have No Business Sense?
- QUERY:
- (1) How many physicians practicing medicine have thought about what practicing medicine has done to the functional capacity of that “muscle” in their head called their brain as a result of lack of mentally stressful mind-strength building exercise in their daily lives?
- (2) How many care?
- By the way: “Scientific” experiments demonstrate that use of the brain builds neural networks that enable the brain to process information faster and more efficiently. In other words, using your brain makes you smarter, increases brain function.
- The old saying “use it or lose it” applies to brain function.
GIANTS IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
There are giants in the medical profession who are human wonders.
Also, the conventional make-up of the scientific and educational background, personality, values and world-view of a growing number of people in the medical profession is changing.
I am meeting a physician this afternoon at the check in area of jetBlue at Logan Airport in Boston before I fly back to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport.
This physician has an open mind, but that description seriously understates the reality, which is that he is totally curious and eager to learn and asks question after question.
This morning my daughter and son-in-law took my ten year old grandson to be examined by a retina specialist and a trauma eye surgeon for a follow-up examination.
The first thing the retina specialist and eye surgeon said when he saw my grandson was: “I know how to make toys. Would you like to see me make toys?”
The surgeon then proceeded to make an origami hopping frog and a flying helicopter. He precisely folded pieces of paper and precisely tore pieces of paper with his own fingers.
When he was done those pieces of paper had been transformed into a hopping frog and a flying helicopter.
This is a true story – someone with that dexterity and people skill actually practices medicine as an eye surgeon in Boston.
He is an expert in the retina of the eye.
The rest of the members of the clinical medical team have extraordinary expertise and are just as kind and as extremely accomplished and competent physicians as the toy making eye surgeon who made toys for my grandson just before examining his retina early this morning.
Males Being Rebuffed by Stunning Women
- Believe they will prove their worth to their parents by being an MD. They psychologically are not well formed or mature adults. To the contrary, they will have a never compelling need to obtain their parents’ approval, the approval of the rest of their family and of their community and her approval by being a money making machine.
- The feeling of lack of worth has been so consuming in their lives that nothing short of overwhelming financial success will make them feel acceptable.
It is her opinion that those young men are unhappy and will always be unhappy.
For all the reasons listed above, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with any of those young suitors.
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One beautiful smart successful woman explained her mindset: She is revolted at being cast in the role being a dynamic businessman’s Gucci purse.
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She is revolted at being a prestige high status decoration.
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Another beautiful smart successful woman explained to me that the pressure of being phony – while accompanying her successful husband at ‘society events: While at parties and social events the amount of phony interest she must display and being forced to be entertaining she is is too emotionally exhausting.
-
She would rather stay home and watch TV than go to another party in the star studded world she lives in. The routine of being a member of high society is maddening. Doing the same thing day after day, year after year, is maddening to her. She cannot imagine anything more boring than living her present high society life.
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The routines people in her social circle have taken up are tasteless.
-
She is a rugged individualist, who is physically fit and intellectually cultured, who can’t stand the “over-civilized life” she is forced to live.
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The boorishness and meaninglessness of her existence tests the very limits of her endurance.
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She is resolved to escape her present life.
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These women know who they are and who they want to be in a very fundamental way.
- They have self knowledge.
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They are dedicated to protecting their dignity in their money-driven every day world where their souls and status as a person are constantly under attack.
- They realize how precarious the balance is between creation and annihilation and destruction in the life they lead and in the business world they and the men in their lives inhabit.
- In that world everyone always is seeking investors and to make more money.
- In such a world everyone feels they must “look” successful. They must spend a lot of money on clothing and cars and houses and jewelry, etc. etc. etc.
- However, the “thinking” women described above – who are moving towards becoming the persons they want to be, and have understood who they are and the psychodynamic forces at play in the world work – don’t want to be emotionally and financially dependent on a man or to be his “eye candy.”
- They are not hostile or bitter or resentful.
- Nor do they have destructive feelings.
- They know what they want.
- They want to be loved and to love; they want to receive bliss and to give bliss.
- They want to give and receive care and nurturance.
- They are not fickle.
- Their sexuality and emotions are inextricably intermingled.
- Their bodies wear the smile of accomplishment; they emote a subjective sense of freedom.
SOCIAL STATUS AND NUMBING OF A PHYSICIAN’S BRAIN
- Cal Tech students have the highest SAT scores —
- Additionally, it is a small elite school. There are only 1,000 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students and a faculty of 1,000.
- This leads to lots of interaction between students with one another and with faculty which is prized by everyone.
- The faculty wants to teach the most brilliant students.
- The most brilliant students want to be taught by the most brilliant faculty and to interact with other brilliant students.
- The amount of interest in entrepreneurship at Wharton is just crazy.
- Historically the school has been associated with careers in finance and consultancy.
- For the first time, more Wharton students are interested in starting companies than in buying them.
- A growing number of Wharton graduates are willing to trade wing tips, three-star Manhattan restaurants and Tribeca lofts for sneakers, take-out pizza and sleeping under their desks as they race to get a product out the door.
- In fact more members of the Wharton graduating class of 2013 started a company than joined a hedge fund.
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