Friday
August 15, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Silver Lining

The next morning I took my dog outside.  The temperature was a balmy  -5^N.  On a warmer day, she might have walked around the yard for fifteen minutes looking for a particular patch of grass to kill.  That day she watered the lawn in record time.  I didn't like the cold, but the freezing temperature did shorten the trip.

Today I will look for the silver lining.

  

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Freebie

This week's freebie is the Kindle version of Home Groupies a daily message book in the form of a novella.  It is available at  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S.


To read Kindle books on a PC or Mac, you can download a free app at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

 AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6820837-today

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

Take that, and that, and that … 75 years from now

Mice, being prey to many things, had developed exceptional hearing.  Brown could hear the rhythm of five beating hearts.  It made him happy.

A scientist might say Brown's special breeding, in combination with the virus, had altered his brain.  Whatever happiness Brown was feeling, they would argue, was the result of changes in serotonin, dopamine, and other brain chemicals. These changes allowed Brown to experience complex emotions most mice couldn't feel.

Listening to his offspring's heartbeats slowed Brown's heart rate and breathing.  It raised his temperature slightly, and released chemicals into his brain those same scientists found in animals with strong bonds to their mates.  Even a smart mouse like Brown couldn't understand how brain chemicals worked.  He just knew he felt good.

Today I will be grateful for chemicals I don't have to take to feel good.