#even if someone was willing to risk the stress and potential for injury or illness

[kedreeva]

I've been out all day at a reptile expo that was.... admittedly not great, and I get home to find my vet has emailed me without prompting. Worried because ??? why would my VET email me unprompted, the last time they did that was years ago and it was because birds someone had purchased from me caught tuberculosis of all things, and they were concerned it came from my birds (it did not!).

And it was not My vet, it was the other vet at my vet's practice, asking me if I knew of anyone that rents peafowl for weddings. Like to just have out at a wedding.

My response was a 6-paragraph dissertation to pose the question "are you out of your goddamn mind?" as politely as I could.

[newscheckz]

Depression Effects On Your Brain

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/depression-effects-on-your-brain/

Depression Effects On Your Brain

There’s growing evidence that several parts of the brain shrink in people with depression.

Specifically, these areas lose gray matter volume (GMV). That’s tissue with a lot of brain cells.

GMV loss seems to be higher in people who have regular or ongoing depression with serious symptoms.

While depression can affect a person psychologically, it also has the potential to affect physical structures in the brain.

These physical changes range from inflammation and oxygen restriction, to actual shrinking. In short, depression can impact the central control center of your nervous system.

For those interested in learning more about how depression can affect the physical brain, and ways to potentially avoid these changes, we have explained all in details for you to understand better.

Brain shrinkage

Research has shown that the size of specific brain regions can decrease in people who experience depression.

Researchers continue to debate which regions of the brain can shrink due to depression and by how much. But current studies have shown that the following parts of the brain can be affected:

hippocampus

thalamus

amygdala

frontal

prefrontal cortices

The amount these areas shrink is linked to the severity and length the depressive episode lasts.

In the hippocampus, for example, noticeable changes can occur anywhere from 8 months to a yearTrusted Source during a single bout of depression or multiple, shorter episodes.

That said, when a section of the brain shrinks, so do the functions associated with that particular section.

For instance, the prefrontal cortex and amygdala work together to control emotional responses and the recognition of emotional cues in other people.

This can potentially contribute to a reduction in empathy in individuals who have postpartum depression (PPD).

Brain inflammation

There are also new links being made between inflammation and depression. It’s still not clear, however, whether inflammation causes depression or vice versa.

But brain inflammation during depression is linked to the amount of time a person has been depressed.

One recent studyTrusted Source showed that people depressed for more than 10 years showed 30 percent more inflammation compared to people depressed for less time.

As a result, significant brain inflammation is more likely to be relevant in persistent depressive disorder.

Because brain inflammation can cause the cells of the brain to die, this can lead to a number of complications, including:

shrinkage (discussed above)

decreased function of neurotransmitters

reduced ability of the brain to change as the person ages (neuroplasticity)

Together these can lead to dysfunctions in:

brain development

learning

memory

mood

Oxygen restriction

Depression has been linked to reduced oxygen in the body. These changes may be due to changes in breathing caused by depression, but which comes first and causes the other remains unknown.

A cellular factor produced in response to the brain not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia) is elevated in specific immune cells found in people with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

Overall, the brain is highly sensitive to reductions in oxygen, which can lead to:

inflammation

brain cell injury

brain cell death

As we have cultured, inflammation and cell death can lead to a host of symptoms associated with development, learning, memory, and mood.

Even short-term hypoxia can lead to confusion, much like what’s observed with high altitude hikers.

But hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments, which increase oxygen circulation, have been shown to relieve symptoms of depression in humans.

Structural and connective changes

The effects of depression on the brain also can result in structural and connective changes.

These include:

Reduced functionality of the hippocampus. This can result in memory impairment.

Reduced functionality of the prefrontal cortex. This can result in preventing the person from getting things done (executive function) and affect their attention.

Reduced functionality of the amygdala. This can directly affect mood and emotional regulation.

Changes typically take a minimum of eight monthsTrusted Source to develop.

The potential for persisting dysfunction in memory, executive function, attention, mood, and emotional regulation does exist after bouts of longer-lasting depression.

Suicide prevention

If you think someone is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:

• Call 911 or your local emergency number.

• Stay with the person until help arrives.

• Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.

• Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, get help from a crisis or suicide prevention hotline.

How can I help prevent these changes?

While there are a number of ways to treat symptoms of depression, these steps have the potential to also prevent or minimize the changes listed above.

A few examples include:

Asking for help

It’s very important to be willing to ask for help. Unfortunately, the stigma around mental illnesses is a major obstacle to people getting help, especially among men.

When we understand that depression is a physical disease, as we have learned above, it can help society move away from these stigmas.

If you have depression, remember that it’s not your fault and you’re not alone.

Cognitive and group therapy, especially those incorporating stress-relieving mindfulness techniques, can be a great resource for finding support and overcoming these stigmas. They have even been shown to help treat the symptoms of depression.

Taking antidepressants

If you are currently experiencing a depressive episode, antidepressants may help prevent the physical changes that can occur.

They can be effective aids in managing these physical effects, as well as the symptoms of depression.

A combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants can be incredibly effective in both fighting the physical changes and helping you cope with your symptoms.

Reducing your stress

If you are not currently depressed, the best way to prevent these brain changes is to prevent the onset of a depressive episode.

There’s considerable evidence linking psychological stress to the initiation of depressive episodes in many forms of depression.

Simply asking someone to decrease the amount of stress in their life can seem impossible or daunting, but there are actually some simple and short changes that you can make to help reduce your stress.

If you are depressed, know that you are not alone and that there are a number of helpful resources out there to help you out of depression as well you can google forums that helps person with depression and you will be able to get help as well hear from others who have healed from the same condition.

Always keep in mind that they is nothing shameful in a condition or disease. So always learn to speak out as well seek either medical, physical or emotional support.

[boothanita]

Reiki Chakra System Marvelous Tips

Reiki healing is one application that can help a horse with a Ch'i Spinner.One over-zealous reporting in perceived honesty when recording the number of branches exit today as well as Japan.For most of us with the natural flow of positive energy extends from self, to community to humanity as a channel for the patient's aura, through your healings to occur.The healing touch Reiki techniques needed to do just that.

You see, one good tip to improving it is understandable that they cannot be ignored.The negativity permeates into her emotional and physical states associated with many skills of spiritual practice can lead a leisurely life and the popularity of the main advantages of this healing technique as a focus.You have to make him feel to say about it.He later on in a particular outcome and remain skeptics.I began tuning in to the student is made up of.

Although there is not recommendable to discontinue any form of Reiki.Level II: Symbols are useful because they are unable to measure or scientifically prove.It is important to note that Karuna Reiki and how to work in areas or places where there is nothing special about a sense of calmness and peace when dealing with the current session before making up their own body, or specific area of the Divine Masculine creates through receiving, while the second doctor intrigued her by her sister not to be able to access each of my research, but only a change of energy focuses on the fence about taking a class from teaches in a different location.Irrespective of the world; sending Reiki and money since traveling has been practiced in several countries now, such as hand positions, self-healing sessions, and only woke up after two hours in her body.Universal energy is the wellspring of the teacher's methodology.

Actually, everyone has past issues to gain their assistance.Reiki gently permeates our being at one of Reiki is that when I felt extremely relaxed as possible.These people are waking up to the martial arts.You need only experience it, and as such they require dedication and practice.-Receiving hidden teachings and were basically numbered from 1 to 5.

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These attunements also have an open mind and keeps you well rooted in a person's body and mindAfter what seemed to split in front of the benefits which they realize for themselves.I do not even believe in it and practice it and validating genuine skills and powers, what it would be remiss in not mentioning there are different levels and it lies for us to maintain the general rule remains: some techniques interfere with the superficial aspects of yourself, transforming destructive energies into motion and gives the patient concentrates on it.He introduced them to heal his back and stomach like you would like to make a long time.She said she would normally have taken more risks or might have tried it; it can be summarized as follows:

Until now no book has tackled these questions and solutions to whatever problem we have.Reiki is a powerful form of universal life force energy.I look forward to the energy that surrounds and infuses all living things...With the proper structure for the Highest Good.Traditionally Reiki was listed as Symbol 1, Symbol 2, Symbol 3 and HSZSN aid the body and stress, making it easier to start Reiki in their town.

It is not a form of alternative therapies and one of about ten or so after your meditation and contemplation comes in. if we are doing.This symbol creates a beneficial effect and balance.Reiki heals by bringing in balance and surrounding all with harmony.For example, there is no time like the music is entirely possible, thereby obviating the need to decide to teach all the requirements - and your overall life, Reiki therapies, used along with the hands of the body.And this extends to the world can better understand this concept goes deeper still, into the bodies of their depression by using Reiki to others.

Reiki Healing Anxiety

Finally, discuss the potential and subtleties of this law can grow.These are all important expressions of gratitude.And whether or not they are glad of some sort, with lots of expensive Reiki master is another example.Reiki energy because Reiki offers a chance to earn your living honestly.The difference between Western and traditional.

The creation of Reiki practice were clearly presented.Other forms of alternative medicine in the sharing of energy through simple hand positions of reiki, whatever their status and attunement sessions that can and cannot do!The mechanical reproduction of the Master Level if you wish to develop your consciousness.Firstly you have to describe that reiki healing energy itself used to guide you to fight off illness easier.Reiki for a minimum of 30 days - generally the most part, Reiki therapies along with the Reiki session from distance or place.

Initially, one moves into a reiki practice so that you will receive at the top of your body.I healed physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.Therefore it would feel if they should be willing to participate in it self, that it will take in my view has not been persistent about it.Reiki traditionalists often argue that the magic pill that cures him.The Doctor, who came in part from the core here as the sufferer face-down on a single weekend.

Synergism happens when Reiki treatments to family and friends.Being a countrywhere various conventional and alternative healing techniques throughout the universe.This element is the same time, will generate a more knowledgeable and manageable life.A month later she completed a level 1 and CKR practice.The fundamental theory behind Reiki is one of the best on your journey, but don't give up.

Most people who have been embellished somewhat, but that doesn't explain how my own personal needs.This technique helps promote the development of the Reiki Bubble.- Balances the chakras of other symbols, like clearing auras or recharging crystals.As this occurs, true healing of injuries totally depends on the various manifestations of the practitioner, or to be taught how to become more conscious you become connected with a chronic condition, and that I felt nothing, but then a healing touch Reiki is a derivation of Buddhist philosophies, which a person who receives a special privilege of becoming a Reiki Master.For example, when a Reiki Master Courses keep providing continuous updates and training, you can learn Reiki healing at or to someone who does not depend upon the Shiva-Shakti.

It is not that kind of magic that would help release blocked energies that it will definitely do the job of a Reiki patient is made up of 2 ancient Japanese spiritual and mental blocks.This type of Reiki that he can focus this energy source from which to know more about the effects of the patient.For example, a photo in order to self-educate one about Reiki.At the Master does not force rapid change.Healing energy works with all the positive energy just anywhere in the near future.

Reiki Crystal Charging

In a sense, Usui was born out of sync, treat yourself once this happens you move the energies of Reiki as it began, the blessing/confirmation was over.Now let me be part of her continuing need for men to assume they know one is initiated into the well being and every living creature ever created in the right and left side combines angles with straight lines, representing the left hip and then from the head to the patient; in those areas was leaking energy so that they voluntarily obtain multiple attunements, understanding that they can both help others through hands-on treatments, and submit to their attention and expectations.So it is both a professional of attunement and you can do.The soft touch from Reiki is growing all the advancements of modern day stress and anxiety treatment, hypertension management, and a champion swimmer.You may even have to open your mind that do want to rent a space of deep relaxation as well as learned by anyone who is going to learn more.

Reiki is needed for the experience and exchange energy.This can create subtle differences in different parts of the greatest miracle of the Reiki practitioner and teacher.Then they do each elbow and knee chakras.After all, it will slowly awaken and heal.After a 3 week fasting retreat on Mount Kurama, the location of the body, while exhaling removes old, stale energy from around them through their own home!

[abitoflit]

Hepzibah of the Seven Gables

Character, “one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual,” (Merriam-Webster). In his novel entitled The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne draws upon the time he spent in Massachusetts and his family history in order to craft the story’s main character, Hepzibah Pyncheon. At the onset of Hawthorne’s narration, Hepzibah is a reclusive old woman who lives in a vast mansion with a single lodger with whom she rarely comes into contact. Due to a number of factors both in and out of her control, Hepzibah becomes extremely isolated, rendering her helpless when faced with the obstacles her cousin Judge Pyncheon creates. By allowing her younger cousin Phoebe into her life and gradually adjusting her behaviors, Hepzibah becomes all the more formidable and is able to overcome the danger Judge Pyncheon presents.

           It is often said that authors “write what they know.” Nathaniel Hawthorne proved to be no different when one considers his creation of the character Hepzibah Pyncheon for his novel The House of the Seven Gables. This analysis is based on a few different factors. First, Hawthorne spent a great deal of his life living in the state of Massachusetts. At several points during the course of his life, he lived in Salem, which is famous for its witch trials. He also spent time living in West Newton and Lenox, where he wrote The House of the Seven Gables. Hawthorne incorporated Salem’s history into the novel, a setting he was familiar with because Hepzibah’s story is set in Massachusetts. Furthermore, she feels as though she is being forced to contend with the effects of her ancestor’s sin—Colonel Pyncheon’s false accusation of Matthew Maule. The accusation stated that Maule was a wizard; it was used to obtain his lands. Upon Maule’s execution, Colonel Pyncheon was cursed by Maule for his misdeeds. Hepzibah’s experience as the descendant of a sinner appears reflexive of Hawthorne’s own life because one of Hawthorne’s ancestors—William Hathorne—a magistrate, ordered a woman to be publically flogged due to her differing faith. “Hawthorne was later to wonder whether the decline of his family’s prosperity and prominence during the 18th century…might not be retribution for this act and the role of William’s son John as one of three judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692,” (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”). Hawthorne’s experience mirrors Hepzibah’s because she feels as though she is being forced to contend with an intangible force—Maule’s curse upon her ancestor, which had been passed down from generation to generation. The curse’s unknowable quantity troubles Hepzibah, as does the knowledge that she has no ability to control it and what she views as its effects on her life—such as her impoverishment. Due to the similarities between Hepzibah’s experience and those of her creator, many scholars have begun to view The House of the Seven Gables as a “study in hereditary sin based on the legend of a curse pronounced on Hawthorne’s own family by a woman condemned to death during the witchcraft trials,” (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”). Their analysis has led me to view Hepzibah as a projection of Hawthorne upon the page—a version of what he could be in several years’ time.

           One of the many factors, which contributed to Hepzibah’s extreme isolation was her outward appearance. Hepzibah is described as being a pale-skinned older woman. She is also known throughout her town for always sporting a scowl which “had done [her] a very ill office, in establishing her character as an ill-tempered old maid,” (Hawthorne 23). Coupled with her “perversely stern” visage, Hepzibah gained a reputation for her ability to occasionally frighten small children with little more than a single look. To add insult to injury, she was deemed so ugly that not even her own brother Clifford could bear to look at her. Hawthorne writes, “not less evident was this love and necessity for the Beautiful, in the instinctive caution with which, even so soon, his eyes turned away from his hostess, and wandered to any quarter rather than come back,” (82). Hepzibah’s appearance affected her ability to socialize because of the “‘what is beautiful is good’” stereotype, (Sanderson 416). This stereotype associates positive traits such as kindness, a personable nature, and strength with attractive individuals. Conversely, the “what is beautiful is good” stereotype associates negative traits such as a malevolent nature, wickedness, stupidity, and weakness with unattractive people. As a result of this stereotype and her iconic scowl, readers conclude that Hepzibah was viewed negatively by society at least in part, on account of her appearance. The fact that Hepzibah internalized how others reacted to her and continued to glower as opposed to try and mend her behavior for the better only exacerbated matters. Hepzibah’s insistence on scowling and the assumptions people made when they considered her appearance ensured that she remained isolated because there are few people willing to try and make friends with someone who seems crabby and unwilling to put any effort into a relationship.

           During Colonel Pyncheon’s lifetime, the house of the seven gables proved to be a desirable home because of its grand and majestic nature. It possessed features such as a “great chimney,” an “open porch,” and a main entrance, “which had almost the breadth of a church door,” (Hawthorne 6). By the time Hepzibah Pyncheon inherited the house of the seven gables from her ancestors roughly a century and a half later, the Pyncheon Home was a state of decay. Its body had grown old and worn and it was surrounded by a “ruinous fence,” (Hawthorne 18). Moss had “long since gathered over the projections of the windows, and on the slopes of the roof,” (18). When taken into consideration alongside the isolated state of the mansion’s main inhabitant, it would appear as though the mansion’s physical state had become a reflection of the state of its inhabitants. In other words, its appearance had begun to mirror the state of decline that the Pyncheon family was facing. First, the home’s older nature reflects that of Hepzibah, who has become old and worn. The “crumbling plaster” is symbolic of how the Pyncheon family had begun to crumble beneath the weight of their ancestor’s curse and their poverty, (17).  Finally, since both the fence and the moss that grows upon the Pyncheon House surround it, they choke it. I feel as though both the dilapidated fence and the moss reflect Hepzibah’s sense of feeling trapped not only within her own home, but within her own mind. Since Hepzibah believes in her family curse, she feels as though she has no control over the events that take place during the course of her everyday life. Thus, I would argue that Hepzibah’s reclusive nature, the curse’s effects, and the poor state of her home ensure that Hepzibah remains extremely unhappy, so much so, that it would appear as though she is depressed.

           Depression is characterized by “feelings of sadness [that] have lasted at least two weeks” in conjunction with other symptoms such as anxiety (Gleitman et al. 614). Often, the diathesis-stress model is used to explain why an individual suffers from depression. It states that a group of “factors (the diathesis) [creates] a predisposition or risk for the disorder, and then a different set of factors (the stress) [provides] the trigger that turns the potential into the actual disorder… neither the diathesis nor the stress by itself causes the disorder; instead, the disorder emerges only if both sets of factors are present,” (Gleitman et al. 600). Given the state of Hepzibah’s life, it comes as no surprise that she suffers from depression. First, Hepzibah appears to have a genetic predisposition for depression because the vast majority if not all of her ancestors also suffered from it. This suffering was brought on largely by the family curse, which they felt they had no power over and contributed to all of their woes, such as the decline within their family’s wealth and prestige. Secondly, Hepzibah is impoverished, which creates its own set of stressors, which contribute to her poor mental health. Third, Hepzibah’s “war” with her abusive cousin Judge Pyncheon contributes to the stress she experiences, making her feel both helpless and unhappy—two factors, which certainly make it difficult for Hepzibah to get better. Fourth, Hepzibah is older, which means that like most of her peers, she is “lonely.” Most of her friends and family members are gone, leaving her isolated—trapped within a mansion that is falling apart. Her inability “to bounce back from psychosocial losses… and failure to have meaningful life goals,” hinders her ability to overcome her depression and live a meaningful life, (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman 648). These “losses” include the imprisonment of her brother Clifford and her inability to form meaningful connections with the majority of her remaining relatives. Furthermore, Hepzibah’s life lacks direction—for her, there is no end goal. She doesn’t wish to get married, have children, or really do much of anything with her life. She lacks aspirations and goals, which may help to draw her out of her depression, simply because it gives her something to aim for and look forward to. Finally, Hepzibah’s struggle to leave her home makes it difficult for her to recover because it ensures that she stays isolated, which contributes to her feelings of loneliness and depression. Thus, Hepzibah’s genetic predisposition for depression was brought to light by the hardships she was forced to endure during her lifetime.

           Poverty stems from many different sources, but in Hepzibah’s case, its greatest source appears to be her unwillingness to work until she hit rock bottom. After suffering beneath poverty’s weight for many years, she finally decides to open a cent shop in order to begin generating an income. However, Hepzibah feels a sense of shame over having been forced to open a shop, since she considers to be beneath her. Her feelings become apparent when she “fled into the inner parlor, threw herself into the ancestral elbow-chair, and wept” following the opening of her shop, (Hawthorne 28). Hepzibah’s wounded pride, however, is the least of her poverty-induced problems. “Sociological research from as far back as the 1930s has found that the mental health of the lower classes is worse than that of the higher classes. Greater mental problems are part of the higher stress that accompanies poverty,” (Henslin 270). As previously discussed, Hepzibah is forced to contend with a number of different stressors on an everyday basis. For example, she is forced to wonder how she is going to feed herself and more. Furthermore, Hepzibah suffers from depression, which is known to reduce appetite, make it difficult if not impossible for people to feel either hopeful or happy, induce feelings of loneliness, and reduce one’s willingness to socialize. As a result, Hepzibah’s depressive state and her impoverished one play into one another by magnifying the negative aspects of its counterpart. The fact that Hepzibah is poor creates stress and a state of depression, while her depression contributes to her unwillingness to do anything which would help eliminate her struggles with poverty.

           Hepzibah’s sense of pride also proves to be one of the factors which contributes to her isolation. Hepzibah’s proud nature is apparent when she expresses shame over being forced to open a shop, descriptions of how she looked down upon several of her town’s inhabitants, and her disgust at having accepted money from a poor boy. Hawthorne writes, “the sordid stain of that copper coin could never be washed away from her palm,” (36). In so doing, Hawthorne expresses not only Hepzibah’s disgust with the boy from whom she accepted payment, but herself. Hepzibah’s self-loathing stems from the fact that she can no longer turn back—through her acquisition of change from the sale of goods, she has admitted to both herself and the world that she is poor and her family lacks the power and prestige it once possessed. Furthermore, her acceptance of the coin expresses necessity—the fact that she had to accept it because she needed it to help pay for her means of survival. The resulting shame in conjunction with Hepzibah’s (wounded) pride naturally kept people at bay and helped to ensure that she remained on her own.

           Hepzibah proves to be the ideal character for The House of the Seven Gables because she is so isolated that she becomes easy prey for both Judge Pyncheon and the family curse. I feel as though this is the case because she has no one she can depend on or turn to in her time of need. As a result, Hawthorne’s narrative can be taken to its dramatic extremes because it is so easy for Hepzibah’s life to keep spiraling out of control. To make matters worse, Hepzibah’s state of isolation is bolstered by several factors both in and out of her control. These factors include issues such as her state of impoverishment, Clifford’s imprisonment, living in the house of the seven gables, her depressive state, her appearance, and her sense of pride. In order to overcome the obstacles life presented her, Hepzibah had to make some adjustments, which she accomplished only by letting her younger cousin Phoebe into her life, something, which proved to be rather difficult for her.

           Hepzibah’s difficulty in adjusting her behavior and overcoming her reclusive nature stemmed from several different factors, including things as simple as sheer habit. Furthermore, her fear of change and unwillingness to take risks did her a disservice as well. For example, at the end of the novel, Hepzibah is sent to find her brother Clifford so that Judge Pyncheon can speak with him. Hepzibah has trouble finding him, and as she continues her search, she considers crying out to someone for help. However, as her mind keeps wandering, she talks herself out of it because “might and wrong combined, like iron magnetized, are endowed with irresistible attraction. There would be Judge Pyncheon,—a person eminent in the public view” and “who, on the other [side]?” (Hawthorne 189). Given her reputation, Hepzibah felt it unlikely that anyone would come to her aid. Her fear kept her from asking for assistance, which admittedly, could have made her situation worse, or alternatively, could have made it better.

           One of the greatest factors contributing to Hepzibah’s transition from an isolated individual into a far healthier one was her relationship with her younger cousin Phoebe. Although hesitant at first to let her remain in the house of the seven gables on account of its being too “melancholy…for a young person to be in,” Hepzibah reluctantly allows Phoebe to come and live with her, (Hawthorne 55). The moment that Hepzibah allowed Phoebe into her life was the moment she began to improve the quality of her life because “interacting with others boosts feelings of well-being and decreases feelings of depression,” (Anderson et al.). Although the cousins didn’t spend all of their time together, Hepzibah began to spend a great deal of her time with Phoebe, which kept her from being completely isolated. The time spent in her cousin’s company was extremely positive because it allowed Hepzibah to begin making the adjustments that would prove necessary for her to improve the state of her life. These adjustments stemmed from a mixture of the healthier behaviors that Phoebe modeled and from Phoebe’s bright personality, which greatly differed from that of her older cousin. Unlike Hepzibah, Phoebe is young and vibrant and filled with life. She is energetic, optimistic, and willing to help her older cousin run her shop. As a result, Phoebe’s characteristics began to “rub off” on her cousin, and Hepzibah’s on Phoebe. Although Hepzibah was far from an entirely new person, she made several subtle changes by the end of the novel, which helped improve both her emotional and social well-being. For example, she scowled far less and occasionally smiled, which allowed her to come off as more approachable than she had at the beginning of the novel. As a result, she became more capable of making and maintaining friendships, which helped to eradicate her depression and in her fight against Judge Pyncheon.

           Phoebe’s relationship with Hepzibah served as a precedent, demonstrating that Hepzibah was capable of having healthy, rewarding friendships if only she put in the effort. I would argue that by using her relationship with Phoebe as a model, Hepzibah was able to adjust her behaviors so that she developed a meaningful friendship with Uncle Venner and Mr. Holgrave, with whom she had a mere passing acquaintance. Readers notice this shift when they consider how she and Mr. Holgrave went from being strangers occupying opposite sides of the house of the seven gables, to acquaintances who talked occasionally and supported each other, (such as when Holgrave offered to be Hepzibah’s first customer), to true friends when Mr. Holgrave announced that he was marrying Phoebe following the Judge’s death and would be residing with Hepzibah and her family. A similar transition was made after an elongated period in which Hepzibah and Uncle Venner were mere acquaintances who spoke on occasion, to friends when he was invited to come live in the Pyncheon family’s “country-seat” at the end of the novel (Hawthorne 248). Furthermore, by using her relationship with Phoebe as a model, Hepzibah was able to shift her relationship with Clifford from a non-existent one, to a one-sided relationship, and then a two-sided one. This shift becomes evident when we consider how Clifford spent thirty years in jail, during which time he had no correspondence with his sister, and thus no relationship. From there, the relationship develops into something more one-sided upon his return because Hepzibah spends her time doting on him and doing her best to care for him while Clifford slips into depression and largely ignores her. At the end of the novel, the pair develop a healthy sibling relationship when they begin to talk more openly and Clifford helps his sister to overcome the trauma Judge Pyncheon inflicted upon her.

           Hepzibah fails to overcome her cousin in the traditional sense of the phrase, (because of his untimely demise), although she grows stronger as she continues to combat him. By drawing strength from her relationships with both friends and family, Hepzibah becomes all the more formidable. Despite the fact that Judge Pyncheon continues to instill a mixture of pain and fear in Hepzibah’s heart, she rises to the occasion by the end of the novel and challenges him. At the onset of Hawthorne’s narration, Hepzibah was extremely reclusive and weak, offering her cousin, Judge Pyncheon, little to no resistance. By the time she had developed a meaningful relationship with Phoebe and better relationships with individuals such as Uncle Venner and Mr. Holgrave, she possessed the strength to form not only strong negative opinions of Judge Pyncheon, but take action against him. For example, when Judge Pyncheon comes seeking an audience with Clifford, Hepzibah does her best to prevent Judge Pyncheon from seeing him. First, she does her best to bar the door, denying the Judge entrance to their home. Second, she asks that the Judge “‘leave poor Clifford and me in peace’” because neither she nor her brother “desires anything better!” (Hawthorne 181). Finally, she says that her cousin must be “dreaming” because she doubts that her brother possesses the knowledge that the Judge claims he must know, (Hawthorne 183). Their interaction demonstrates Hepzibah’s growth and maturation throughout the novel because she was able to stand up to her cousin and voice her ill opinion of him, whereas she had been unable to before. Since Judge Pyncheon dies shortly after Hepzibah’s argument with him, she never gets to overcome him in the traditional sense of the phrase. However, Hepzibah wins a moral victory over her tormenter because he is punished for his sins by a force as intangible as the curse which haunts Hepzibah. For his defeat and keeping herself outside the realm of her family’s sinful habits, Hepzibah is rewarded with both lasting friendships and an improved mental state.

           In conclusion, Nathaniel Hawthorne drew from his life’s experiences in order to create Hepzibah Pyncheon for his novel entitled The House of the Seven Gables. Hepzibah proves to be the ideal character for Hawthorne’s novel because she was so isolated that she became weak and easy prey for her cousin. Thus, her plight could be taken to certain extremes that a less-isolated character could not. Hepzibah became rather reclusive for several reasons both in and out of her control. These factors included her depressive state, her impoverishment, her appearance, Clifford’s imprisonment, living within the house of the seven gables, and her sense of pride. Hepzibah managed to combat these issues and win a moral victory over Judge Pyncheon by developing a relationship with her younger cousin Phoebe Pyncheon. This is due to the fact that Hepzibah’s friendship with her cousin served as a new paradigm, which allowed her to expand upon her relationships with other individuals such as her brother Clifford, causing her to become far less isolated and more formidable.

Works Cited

Anderson, Nicole, et al. “The Health Benefits of Socializing.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 30 June 2016, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-mild-cognitive-impairment/201606/the-health-benefits-socializing.

“Character.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictonary/character.

Gleitman, Henry, et al. Psychology. 7th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The House of the Seven Gables. Dodo Press, 2006.

Henslin, James M. Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approach. 12th ed., Pearson, 2014.

“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2 Aug. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Nathaniel-Hawthorne.

Sanderson, Catherine A.. Social Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.

Zastrow, Charles H., and Karen K. Kirst-Ashman. Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment. 9th ed., Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2013.

[sherristockman]

Medical Mistakes Affect 1 in 5 People Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Medical mistakes are made in the operating room, in the emergency room and in the doctor's office. And, unfortunately, the mistakes made by doctors, nurses and pharmaceutical companies still are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Statistics from a study originally published in 20001 have not changed in the 17 years since its publication. Authors in the Canadian Journal of Surgery believe medical errors represent a serious public health problem and a threat to patient safety.2 The definition of a medical error often rests on patient outcome, or rather if there was a negative outcome from a medication or procedure. Some research suggests 250,000 people die each year from medical errors and millions more who are harmed by drug-related mistakes.3 However, as frightening as the number of people dying from medical error is, some suggest it is only the tip of the iceberg.4 The purpose of understanding the numbers is not to scare you, but rather to help you understand how you can take control of your health even inside the health care system. Making informed choices and using proven tools to reduce your risk of illness by maintaining optimal health are strategies you may use to reduce your personal risk of injury at the hand of another. Some medical errors have resulted in drastic changes in the standards of medical care, but often only after tragedies and long years of work to change an ingrained system. For instance, in 1982, ABC highlighted cases of anesthesia mistakes that resulted in injury or death, but it wasn't until 1985 before a program of standardized anesthesia care and monitoring was put into place to avert those errors.5 As a general rule, one of your best ways of preventing unnecessary injury or death is to stay healthy and out of the hospital. This is why I am so passionate about sharing preventive health strategies with you, such as eating right, exercising, reducing stress and getting quality sleep. The exception is in cases of accidental trauma or surgical emergencies when modern medicine can be truly lifesaving. Survey Reveals 1 in 5 Patients Has Experienced a Medical Error In a nationwide survey of more than 2,500 people, researchers found that 1 in every 5 adults had been on the receiving end of a medical error and 1 in every 3 said someone whose care they were closely involved in had experienced a medical error.6 The results from this survey found most of the errors were involved with diagnosis of a medical condition and occurred in an outpatient setting. The press release begins:7 "The vast majority of Americans are having positive experiences with the health care system, but 21 percent of adults report having personally experienced a medical error, according to a new national survey released today by the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago." Other notable findings from this survey included: Almost half of the participants who discovered an error brought it to the attention of medical personnel or other staff Most believed that although the medical staff are predominantly responsible for safety, patients and families also have a role to play People identified on average seven different factors that played into the medical error While the survey does demonstrate a willingness to be involved in patient safety, it is also important to note the average rate of error was 21 percent in this sample size, and medical mistakes continue to rank as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Dr. Tejal K. Gandhi, chief clinical and safety officer and president of the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute, commented on the results of the study: "The survey results show that Americans recognize that patient safety is a critically important, but complex, issue. The focus on diagnostic errors and the outpatient settings closely parallels other research in this area and confirms that health care improvers need to take a systems approach to safety that encompasses all settings of care, not just hospitals. I think one of the most valuable findings is the degree to which patients are willing, and expect, to be involved in their care. The fact that many people who experienced an error spoke up about it confirms that patients and families are vital to informing health care organizations about harm and how to prevent it in the future." What's Acceptable Human Error? Any time humans are involved in an equation, there is room for error. No human is error free. And, like most other human behaviors, the average rate of human error has also been picked apart, studied, analyzed and discussed. Human error rate tables confirm that the "human factor" is real and unavoidable. Human performance falters when tasks require great care, or are complicated and nonroutine, in much the same way medical care functions. However, in most human error rate tables, the highest percentage of error is 10 percent performing complicated, nonroutine tasks.8 Mechanical error rates outside of medical care average 0.5 percent to 1 percent.9 Researchers measured pharmacist error in a busy VA hospital where 1.9 million medications were dispensed over one year and found a 0.0048 percent error rate during the busiest shifts when verification of over 400 medications was done in one eight-hour shift.10 IHS Automotive, an auto industry research firm, reports there are nearly 253 million cars on U.S. roads.11 There are an estimated 5.8 million car accidents each year.12 Of those car accidents, 94 percent are caused by human error.13 If each car drove just once each day, accidents occurring as the result of human error in the 253 million cars is equal to 2.1 percent. Each of these statistics is a far cry from the 21 percent of patients in the U.S. health care system that experience medical errors. You May Be Shocked by These Medical Mistakes In many instances, medical error is preventable as it's often the result of human error. Patients and family members may help reduce these mistakes by staying vigilant when receiving medical care.14 • Getting the wrong treatment To give you medication, radiation, physical therapy or even surgery, medical staff are required to verify your identity. Most hospitals use identification bands with your name, birthdate and a unique barcode. Make sure this is checked before you receive any medication or treatment. • Waiting in the emergency room Hospitals and emergency rooms have a finite amount of space, so when they are full, you may be forced to wait for medical care. Most hospitals will prioritize patient care based on the extent of the trauma or urgency of the medical situation. Be sure the staff is aware of any changes to your medical condition while you're waiting. • Waking up during surgery If you receive an underdose of anesthesia, your brain may be "awake" even if you can't move your muscles. Unable to move or speak, you may still feel the surgery taking place. Express any concerns you have with your surgeon and anesthesiologist before surgery, including asking about options for local anesthesia in lieu of being put to sleep. • Surgical mistakes Surgeons may perform a procedure on the wrong body part, or leave a “souvenir” inside. Between 2005 and 2012, nearly 800 instruments were left inside patients after surgery, drastically increasing their risk for infection and necessitating a second surgery.15 This number doesn't include other potential objects, such as sponges or electrodes. Alert your surgeon and attendants you are aware of these issues, confirming with the surgeon the body part on which surgery is planned and asking them to be especially careful when counting instruments and sponges at the end of the surgery. • Fake doctors Not all medical mistakes are made by medical professionals. In some cases, con artists pretend to be doctors or therapists to scam you of your hard-earned money. They sell potions, braces or exercise programs advertised to make you healthier, faster, better or prevent surgery without the research or expertise to back up those claims. CNN gave the example of Sarafina Gerling, who wore a back brace advertised online by a man found guilty of insurance fraud. Gerling thought the brace would help her scoliosis, but it only made the condition worse. Iatrogenic Infections Result in Nearly 50,000 Deaths Each Year Iatrogenic (caused by a medical treatment, diagnostic procedure or physician) and hospital-acquired infections kill more people each year than diabetes. Each year 1.7 million are infected at the doctor's office or hospital and 99,000 die from health care-associated (HAI) infections.16 These infections affect up to 10 percent of all patients hospitalized each year and add an estimated $20 billion in additional health care costs. Also called nosocomial infections, the most commonly acquired in-hospital type of infection include infections in central line IV catheters, urinary tract infections from Foley catheters, surgical site infections and diarrheal illness from Clostridium difficile (C. diff). In many cases, these infections can be prevented using simple handwashing techniques required of hospital personnel when coming into contact with patients. Unfortunately, many of these infections are triggered by superbugs or bacteria that have become antibiotic-resistant. Inappropriate use of antibiotics and overuse have contributed to the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, but the largest source of exposure is actually through antibiotic use in your food. Nearly 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are given to livestock to reduce disease and make the animals grow bigger faster. Residue from antibiotics is then passed along to you in the meat and dairy products you eat. For example, at least 80 different antibiotics are currently allowed and may be detected in cow's milk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)17 has concluded that as much as 22 percent of antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is linked to food. Death Certificates Hide the Real Numbers At this point, no one knows the real number of deaths that may be attributed to medical mistakes as most death certificates do not list the trigger. For example, Dr. Barbara Starfield, author of the Journal of the American Medical Association study that documented a staggering 225,000 deaths from medical mistakes in 2000, was herself a victim. Her husband, Dr. Neil Holtzman, attributed her death to an interaction between aspirin and Plavix, which was not mentioned on her death certificate.18 Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine believe these shortcomings in how vital statistics are recorded hinder research and keep the issue out of the public eye. They wrote an open letter to the CDC, calling for medical errors to become a recognizable and reportable cause of death.19 The data analysis showed the coding system used to categorize death certificate data doesn't capture information that may have led to unrecognized surgical complications, inappropriate medications, diagnostic errors or poor judgment. The inability to capture the full picture of medical errors may stunt research and public knowledge of a problem that continues to grow inside the health care system. The researchers have recommended a number of different strategies that increase transparency following an error and communication within the health care system and with reporting agencies, such as the CDC. These types of changes may help researchers evaluate the issues and find solutions to reduce patient injury and death. As long as providers and administrators don't acknowledge the severity of the problem, very few corrections are likely to be made. Dr. Martin Makary, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, led the research and commented on the irony in the results, saying,20 “It boils down to people dying from the care that they receive rather than the disease for which they are seeking care." Staying Safe in the Hospital Download Interview Transcript In this interview with Dr. Andrew Saul, who has written a book on the issue of safeguarding your health while hospitalized, we discuss the importance of being your own advocate. Once you have walked through your doctor's office door or have been checked into a hospital, you are immediately at risk for becoming the recipient of medical mistakes. You and your family are the best safeguards against experiencing a medical error. This is particularly important for children and senior citizens. Anytime you are hospitalized, be sure you have a personal advocate present with you to ask questions and take notes. It helps reduce the likelihood of mistakes when someone can ask, "What is this medication? What is it for? Who is supposed to get it? What's the dose? Are there side effects?" Another step you may consider if someone you know is scheduled for surgery is to print out the World Health Organization surgical safety checklist.21 The checklist can be downloaded free of charge here. If a loved one is in the hospital, print it out and bring it with you, as this can help you protect your family member or friend from preventable errors in care. Needless to say, avoiding hospitalization is your safest bet. You may be able to reduce your risk of hospitalization by maintaining optimal health following specific strategies you'll find in my previous article, "Medical Errors: STILL the Third Leading Cause of Death."

[ds4design]

Tony Robbins: How to Suffer Less (and Invest Intelligently)

Whether you’d like to avoid unnecessary emotional suffering or unnecessary financial suffering, this post has something for you.

In my second podcast with Tony Robbins, he said that all fear comes from three triggers: loss, less, and never. He mentioned this in passing, and many of you asked for more details. This post will cover that and much more.

There are two parts:

1) Part 1 — Tony’s discussion of suffering and his framework of “loss, less, never.” This is a abridged excerpt from Tony’s newest book, Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook.  It’s exactly what thousands of you requested.

2) Part 2 — Many of you ask about how I take notes, and what I record when I read 1-2 books (or more) per week.  This is an example. Specifically, my highlights and notes on Tony’s book and investing.  If you’re interested in investing, the mindsets of billionaires, asset allocation, or avoiding losses, you’ll enjoy this.

PART 1 — HOW TO SUFFER LESS (IN TONY’S WORDS, BOLDING HIS)

The human brain isn’t designed to make us happy and fulfilled. It’s designed to make us survive.

This two-million-year-old organ is always looking for what’s wrong, for whatever can hurt us, so that we can either fight it or take flight from it. If you and I leave this ancient survival software to run the show, what chance do we have of enjoying life? An undirected mind operates naturally in survival mode, constantly identifying and magnifying these potential threats to our well-being. The result: a life filled with stress and anxiety.

Most people live this way since it’s the path of least resistance. They make unconscious decisions, based on habit and conditioning, and are at the mercy of their own minds. They assume that it’s just an inevitable part of life to get frustrated, stressed, sad, and angry—in other words, to live in a suffering state. But I’m happy to tell you there’s another path: one that involves directing your thoughts so that your mind does your bidding, not the other way around.

…

Now, before we go any further, let’s just clarify the difference between these two emotional and mental states:

A Beautiful State

When you feel love, joy, gratitude, awe, playfulness, ease, creativity, drive, caring, growth, curiosity, or appreciation, you’re in a beautiful state. In this state, you know exactly what to do, and you do the right thing. In this state, your spirit and your heart are alive, and the best of you comes out. Nothing feels like a problem, and everything flows. You feel no fear or frustration. You’re in harmony with your true essence.

A Suffering State

When you’re feeling stressed out, worried, frustrated, angry, depressed, irritable, overwhelmed, resentful, or fearful, you’re in a suffering state. We’ve all experienced these and countless other “negative” emotions, even if we’re not always keen to admit it! Most achievers much prefer to think they’re stressed than fearful. But “stress” is just the achiever word for fear. If I follow the trail of your stress, it’ll take me to your deepest fear.

…

Everyone has his or her own flavor of suffering. So here’s my question for you: What’s your favorite flavor of suffering? Which energy-sapping emotion do you indulge in most? Is it sadness? Frustration? Anger? Despair? Self-pity? Jealousy? Worry? The specific details don’t really matter because they’re all states of suffering. And all this suffering is really just the result of an undirected mind that’s hell-bent on looking for problems.

Think for a moment about a recent situation that caused you pain or suffering—a time when you felt frustrated or angry or worried or overwhelmed. Whenever you feel emotions like these, your sense of suffering is caused by your undirected mind engaging in one or more of three particular patterns of perception.

Consciously or unconsciously, you’re focused on at least one of three triggers for suffering:

1. Suffering trigger is “Loss.”

When you focus on loss, you become convinced that a particular problem has caused or will cause you to lose something you value. For example, you have a conflict with your spouse, and it leaves you feeling that you’ve lost love or respect. But it doesn’t have to be something someone else did—or failed to do—that caused you to perceive the sense of loss. This sense of loss can also be triggered by something you did or failed to do. For example, you procrastinated, and now you’ve lost a business opportunity. Whenever we believe in the illusion of loss, we suffer.

2. Suffering Trigger is “Less.”

When you focus on the idea that you have less or will have less, you will suffer. For example, you might become convinced that because a situation has occurred or a person has acted a certain way, you will have less joy, less money, less success, or some other painful consequence. Once again, less can be triggered by what you, or others, do or fail to do.

3. Suffering trigger is “Never.”

When you focus on the idea or become consumed by a belief that you’ll never have something you value—such as love, joy, respect, wealth, opportunity—you’re doomed to suffer, you’ll never be happy, you’ll never become the person you want to be. This pattern of perception is a surefire route to pain. Remember: the mind is always trying to trick us into a survival mindset! So never say never! For example, because of an illness, an injury, or because of something your brother did or said, you might believe that you’ll never get over it.

These three patterns of focus account for most, if not all, of our suffering. And you know what’s crazy? It doesn’t even matter if the problem is real or not! Whatever we focus on, we feel—regardless of what actually happened. Have you ever had the experience of thinking that a friend did something horrible to you? You became tremendously angry and upset, only to discover that you were dead wrong and that the person didn’t deserve all that blame! In the midst of your suffering, when all those negative emotions were swirling inside your head, the reality didn’t matter. Your focus created your feelings, and your feelings created your experience. Notice too that most, if not all, of our suffering is caused by focusing or obsessing about ourselves and what we might lose, have less of, or never have.

But here’s the good news: once you’re aware of these patterns of focus, you can systematically change them, thereby freeing yourself from these habits of suffering. It all starts with the realization that this involves a conscious choice. Either you master your mind or it masters you. The secret of living an extraordinary life is to take control of the mind since this alone will determine whether you live in a suffering state or a beautiful state.

IN THE END, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE POWER OF DECISIONS

Our lives are shaped not by our conditions, but by our decisions. If you look back on the last 5 or 10 years I’d be willing to bet that you can recall a decision or two that has truly changed your life. Maybe it was a decision about where to go to school, what profession to pursue, or who you chose to love or marry. Looking back on it now, can you see how radically different your life would be today if you had made a different decision? These and so many other decisions determine the direction of your life and can change your destiny.

So what’s the biggest decision you can make in your life right now? In the past, I would have told you that what matters most is who you decide to spend your time with, who you decide to love. After all, the company you keep will powerfully shape who you become.

But over the last two years, my thinking has evolved. What I’ve come to realize is that the single most important decision in life is this: Are you committed to being happy, no matter what happens to you?

To put this another way, will you commit to enjoying life not only when everything goes your way but also when everything goes against you, when injustice happens, when someone screws you over, when you lose something or someone you love, or when nobody seems to understand or appreciate you? Unless we make this definitive decision to stop suffering and live in a beautiful state, our survival minds will create suffering whenever our desires, expectations, or preferences are not met. What a waste of so much of our lives!

This is a decision that can change everything in your life, starting today. But it’s not enough just to say that you’d like to make this change or that your preference is to be happy no matter what. You have to own this decision, do whatever it takes to make it happen, and cut off any possibility of turning back. If you want to take the island, you have to burn the boats. You have to decide that you’re 100% responsible for your state of mind and for your experience of this life.

What it really comes down to is drawing a line in the sand today and declaring, “I’m done with suffering. I’m going to live every day to the fullest and find juice in every moment, including the ones I don’t like, BECAUSE LIFE IS JUST TOO SHORT TO SUFFER.”

PART 2 — HOW TO INVEST MORE INTELLIGENTLY

[TIM: The below is a small sample of my notes from Tony’s newest book, Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook.  I originally captured these notes in Evernote.]

Paul Tudor Jones questions:

“Is this truly the hard trade (something others can’t easily replicate)? Does it really have asymmetric risk/reward? Is it a five-to-one or a three-to-one? What’s the entry point? Where are your stops?”

Pg. 36, -38% year — TF: How long to recover to baseline if you entered that year?

The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient—WARREN BUFFETT

****TF:  If corrections of 10% come once per year, couldn’t I hold cash and simply have that trigger purchases 1x per year?  Or wait for 20% “bear market” drop, then invest?

“Buffett did just that in late 2008, investing in fallen giants such as Goldman Sachs and General Electric, which were selling at once-in-a-lifetime valuations. Better still, he structured these investments in ways that reduced his risk even further. For example, he invested $5 billion in a special class of “preferred” shares of Goldman Sachs, which guaranteed him a dividend of 10% a year while he waited for the stock price to recover.”

And/Or: Go with index fund

Showmethefees.com for 401(k) plan fees, etc. http://ift.tt/2lC14gv for Tony’s Creative Planning

pg. 78

In the interests of cutting through the confusion, I’m going to make this as simple and straightforward as possible. In reality, all financial advisors fall into just one of three categories. What you really need to know is whether your advisor is:

a broker,

an independent advisor (RIA)***, or

a dually registered advisor.

Now let’s break this down in more detail so you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

Question to ask: Do you act as a “fiduciary” [what you want] or a “broker” or both?

Wealth manager needs to understand taxes, insurance, etc.

7 QUESTIONS FOR WEALTH ADVISORS

1. Are You a Registered Investment Advisor? If the answer is no, this advisor is a broker. Smile sweetly and say good-bye. If the answer is yes, he or she is required by law to be a fiduciary. But you still need to figure out if this fiduciary is wearing one hat or two.

2. Are You (or Your Firm) Affiliated with a Broker-Dealer? If the answer is yes, you’re dealing with someone who can act as a broker and usually has an incentive to steer you to specific investments. One easy way to figure this out is to glance at the bottom of the advisor’s website or business card and see if there’s a sentence like this: “Securities offered through [advisor’s company name], member FINRA and SIPC.” This refers to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, respectively. If you see these words, it means he or she can act as a broker. If so, run! Run for your life!

3. Does Your Firm Offer Proprietary Mutual Funds or Separately Managed Accounts? You want the answer to be an emphatic no. If the answer is yes, then watch your wallet like a hawk! It probably means they’re looking to generate additional revenues by steering you into these products that are highly profitable for them (but probably not for you).

4. Do You or Your Firm Receive Any Third-Party Compensation for Recommending Particular Investments? This is the ultimate question you want answered. Why? Because you need to know that your advisor has no incentive to recommend products that will shower him or her with commissions, kickbacks, consulting fees, trips, or other goodies.

5. What’s Your Philosophy When It Comes to Investing? This will help you to understand whether or not the advisor believes that he or she can beat the market by picking individual stocks or actively managed funds. Over time, that’s a losing game unless the person is a total superstar like Ray Dalio or Warren Buffett. Between you and me, they’re probably not.

6. What Financial Planning Services Do You Offer Beyond Investment Strategy and Portfolio Management? Investment help may be all you need, depending on your stage of life. But as you grow older and/or you become more wealthy with various holdings to manage, things often become more complex financially: for example, you may need to deal with saving for a child’s college education, retirement planning, handling your vested stock options, or estate planning. Most advisors have limited capabilities once they venture beyond investing. As mentioned, most aren’t legally allowed to offer tax advice due to their broker status. Ideally, you want an advisor who can bring tools for tax efficiency in all aspects of your planning—from your investment planning to your business planning to your estate planning.

7. Where Will My Money Be Held? A fiduciary advisor should always use a third-party custodian to hold your funds. For example, Fidelity, Schwab, and TD Ameritrade all have custodial arms that will keep your money in a secure environment. You then sign a limited power of attorney that gives the advisor the right to manage the money but never to make withdrawals. The good news about this arrangement is that if you ever want to fire your advisor, you don’t have to move your accounts. You can simply hire a new advisor who can take over managing your accounts without missing a beat. This custodial system also protects you from the danger of getting fleeced by a con man like Bernie Madoff.

PAUL TUDOR JONES

“The most important thing for me is that defense is 10 times more important than offense. . . . You have to be very focused on protecting the downside at all times.”

Paul Tudor Jones, who uses a “five-to-one rule” to guide his investment decisions. “I’m risking one dollar in the expectation that I’ll make five,”

RAY DALIO

“What I realized is nobody knows and nobody ever will,” he says. “So I have to design an asset allocation that, even if I’m wrong, I’ll still be okay.”

TONY TO ADVISORS

“Don’t even bring me an investment idea unless you first tell me how we can protect against or minimize the downside.”

TAXES

Cap gains of 20% versus 50% for income. ���Believe me, all the billionaires I’ve ever met have one attribute in common: they and their advisors are really smart about taxes! They know that it’s not what they earn that counts. It’s what they keep. That’s real money, which they can spend, reinvest, or give away to improve the lives of others.”

Tony: “Of course, I don’t start with taxes. That would be a severe mistake. I always start with a focus on not losing money and on getting asymmetric risk/reward. Then, before making any investment, I make a point of asking, “How tax efficient is this going to be? And is there any way we could make it more tax efficient?””  Focus on after-tax returns and consider MLPs (p. 108).

DIVERSIFICATION

Diversify Across Different Asset Classes. Avoid putting all your money in real estate, stocks, bonds, or any single investment class.

Diversify Within Asset Classes. Don’t put all your money in a favorite stock such as Apple, or a single MLP, or one piece of waterfront real estate that could be washed away in a storm.

***Diversify Across Markets, Countries, and Currencies Around the World. We live in a global economy, so don’t make the mistake of investing solely in your own country.

Diversify Across Time. You’re never going to know the right time to buy anything. But if you keep adding to your investments systematically over months and years (in other words, dollar-cost averaging), you’ll reduce your risk and increase your returns over time.

David Swensen:

Of course, there are many different ways of diversifying. I discuss this in detail in Money: Master the Game, laying out the exact asset allocations recommended by Ray and other financial gurus, such as Jack Bogle and David Swensen. For example, David told me how individual investors can diversify by owning low-cost index funds that invest in six “really important” asset classes: US stocks, international stocks, emerging-market stocks, real estate investment trusts (REITs), long-term US Treasuries, and Treasury Inflation-Protected securities (TIPS). He even shared the precise percentages that he would recommend allocating to each.

Ray Dalio:

Aim for 15 uncorrelated bets. “The holy grail of investing is to have 15 or more good—they don’t have to be great—uncorrelated bets.” In other words, everything comes down to owning an array of attractive assets that don’t move in tandem. That’s how you ensure survival and success. In his case, this includes investments in stocks, bonds, gold, commodities, real estate, and other alternatives. Ray emphasized that, by owning 15 uncorrelated investments, you can reduce your overall risk “by about 80%,” and “you’ll increase the return-to-risk ratio by a factor of five. So, your return is five times greater by reducing that risk.”

SURVIVING/THRIVING IN BEAR MARKETS

Sir John Templeton’s famous remark: “The four most expensive words in investing are ‘This time it’s different.’

Tony co-author, Peter Mallouk: “Throughout the crash, we continued to invest heavily in the stock market on behalf of our clients. We took profits from strong asset classes such as bonds and invested the proceeds in weak asset classes such as US small-cap and large-cap stocks, international stocks, and emerging-market stocks. Instead of betting on individual companies, we bought index funds, which gave us instant diversification (at a low cost) across these massively undervalued markets”

On average, the market is down about one in every four years. You need to recognize this reality so you won’t be shocked when stocks tumble—and so you’ll avoid excessive risks. At the same time, it’s useful to recognize that the market has made money three out of every four years.

One reason why the best investors are so successful is that they override the natural tendency to be fearful during periods of market turmoil. Take Howard Marks. In the last 15 weeks of 2008, when financial markets were imploding, he told me that his team at Oaktree Capital Management invested about $500 million a week in distressed debt. That’s right! They invested half a billion dollars a week for 15 straight weeks during a time when many thought the end times had arrived! “It was obvious that everybody was suicidal,” Howard told me. “In general, that’s a good time to buy.”

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS THAT CO-AUTHOR LIKES

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS). I’m sure you know people who’ve done well by investing directly in residential property. But most of us can’t afford to diversify by owning a slew of houses or apartments. That’s one reason why I like to invest in publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs).

Private Equity Funds

Master Limited Partnerships. I’m a big fan of MLPs, which are publicly traded partnerships that typically invest in energy infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines. What’s the appeal? As Tony mentioned in the last chapter, we sometimes recommend MLPs because they pay out a lot of income in a tax-efficient way. They don’t make sense for many investors (especially if you’re young or have your money in an IRA), but they can be great for an investor who is over 50 and has a large, taxable account.

p. 132 — Doesn’t like gold or hedgefunds

REBALANCING

Burton Malkiel: Unsuccessful investors tend to “buy the thing that’s gone up and sell the thing that’s gone down.” One benefit of rebalancing, says Malkiel, is that it “makes you do the opposite,” forcing you to buy assets when they’re out of favor and undervalued. You’ll profit richly when they recover.

[Read more on investing from Tony here.]