So, chickies, how've things been going?  Are "we" anxious for the weather to stay warm? Ah, the last 4 years have spoiled all of us here in the Southwest and this Winter the other shoe dropped, I fear, but eventually the ground will be warm enough to plant flowers and get the automatic sprinkling system checked out.  How's your Spring workout schedule going--or it is gone already?  Start back up and I promise you'll feel and look and MOVE better and with a greater sense of self-confidence--and it will be easier to bend over and water and weed in your flower garden.Speaking of water--remember to drink water during the day and, especially, before and after physical exertion.

Where was I? Oh, yes, feeling and moving better and there's a book, by my side here, that utilizes your FEELINGS to help you physically (now, wasn't THAT a neat lead-in to this column devoted to Non-Fiction titles?) and, says its author, this book "bridges the gap between neuroscience and psychology." Uh-huh. Let's hope we are not being urged to sit in a circle, hold hands, gaze in the eyes of the person to your right and discuss "the real meaning of life and whether there are some men who should not wear speedos to go swimming" (I've just returned from being in Hawaii and was privy to some beach sightings that will haunt me for 3 weeks!) 

So, let's see what ""Primal Healing: Access the Incredible Power of Feelings to Improve Your Health", by Dr. Arthur Janov, has to say. By the way, he is the author of the powerful bestseller, "The Primal Scream" and heads the Primal Scream Center in Venice, Cal. and I can remember the impact--pro and con--his theories made at the time! His main  thesis is that all people's problems--from high blood pressure to sleep apnea to claustrophobia --is due to what conditions were present as to love and attention directed to YOU from the womb to the next 3 years--period. The end of story.

Re-read the last sentence and know that you could be "taken back to that time" by a quiet room, a therapist, and, afterward, reliving and understanding what took place at that beginning of your life!  Attendez! "Low body temperature or low blood pressure can be part of an over-all memory of a terrible struggle at birth or a trauma BEFORE birth where abandoning the struggle was the end result. The END scenario is stamped in the unconscious and remains as a tendency thereafter i.e.low blood pressure, asthma, migraines and finally depression may be the silent reminders of this struggle and are PERMANENT aspects of the imprint.

Observing the birth trauma includes a setting that is not time-bound, that is quiet, sound-proof and darkened and the patient must be lying down, not sitting up and talking to a therapist or he is not going to arrive at a deep access." An interesting look at "what's behind your behavior" and written in an easy-to-understand style, if a little "deep" to access. 

About 3 years ago, Himself and I were up on top of one of the tallest cliffs in Hawaii, on the island of Molokai, looking down at a beach and huts/buildings down to our right,where some of the remainder of the people afflicted with Leprosy still live.  They, the original people with the disease, were unloaded there in 1866 with this ugly, disfiguring, and yet non-contagious medical condition and lived in a definite prison atmosphere--never to go home or see their families again--under terrible physical and emotional stress and this is all documented in ""The Colony; The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai", by John Tayman.

His outstanding "cast" if people includes Father Damien who VOLUNTEERED of live among the lepers and found the disease, death, and sainthood;  a German scientist who "undertook one of the most unsettling cases of human experimentation in history" and the writer, Robert Louis Stevenson who carefully and cunningly got into the lepers and fell ill , "then emerged to sketch a stunning portrait of the colony" and letting the world know what it had on its hands for, make no mistake, it was an "experiment" and "medical segregation" such as the world had not ever known! 

There is, and has been for several years, a chain across the path going down to where the leper colony was and you need a special pass to go down it--I think the last of those who still live there deserve their dignity and privacy and I would NEVER unhook that chain.  However, you can come and read the book and enter a forgotten world in that way.  You know what haunts me? For 103 years, the "experts" in two civilized governments moved more than eight thousand people onto Molokai's desolate shores believing that Leprosy was contagious, isolation was the ONLY means of treating and controlling it, and that every person it put out there was a hopeless case!  On all three counts they were wrong!  It isn't, there are other methods, and they weren't.  Come read the book and be prepared to find tears in your eyes.

Stephen Covey's  always a "read " author because people know he has not only strong points to make  in all of our lives but also illustrates how they help in personal relationships AND in healthy business ways, as well. His newest is wonderful, well written, common sense-packed and come and get ""The Speed of Trust; The One Things That Changes Everything" and , I guarantee you, even if you think--"I haven't got time for awhile"--once you read even the foreword, you're hooked!  In his view, Trust, is not merely a "soft, pleasant, social virtue" but a hard-edged economic tool, a lever to lead others and "a learnable and measurable skill that makes organizations more profitable (always a favorite word with most people!), people more promotable and relationships more energizing(and getting along better with people is ALWAYS to be desired and certainly makes your personal space more pleasant!)" The last phrase is mine, not Covey's.

In this book, he delineates to business leaders and those in government and education "how to quickly and permanently gain the trust of their clients, coworkers, and partners" Let me give you one excellent example--he talks about building "Trust Accounts" and by behaving in positive ways that build trust in people, you make a large "deposit" in your account and, conversely, by behaving in ways that destroy trust, you make "withdrawals."  To use these terms make it easy to understand and talk about Trust. Deposits for your Trust Account would be sending a caring E-mail to a friend who's lost, as I did, a beloved dog (or a note serves the same purpose), attending a graduation party or a birthday party, or saying "Thank you" for a favor.

Now, what constitutes a "deposit" to one person may actually be a "withdrawal", so always remember that what constitutes a deposit to one person may not be to another (as in offering someone on a stringent diet a hot fudge sundae as a "treat"!)  Warren Buffet said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it."  Watch carefully how large your withdrawals are from your Trust Fund and to RAISE your level of performance, dear readers, you not only need to strengthen the DRIVING forces but RESTRAIN the ones holding you back.   Great, fun, easy-to-read book for you to come and check out. 

The last book is "Ripperology; A Study of the World's First Serial Killer and a Literary Phenomenon", by Robin ODell, and this author does not attempt to "solve" the mystery of the murders or the identity of the killer. The aim of this book is to tell the story of the amazing theories and huge effort to solve the puzzle so while there are no names or finger pointing, the author does try to examine all the many theories and "exaggerated claims are debunked and misconceived ideas are dispelled."

So, did all the carnage and fear and publicity (this was all happening at a time that the British press was coming into its own and looking for readers--lots of readers!) have even a small "good side"? Yes, it brought the awful, humiliating, dirty daily "life" of London's East end into the consciousness and guilt of the fashionable West end. They were made aware and had to read and discuss what crime and prostitution was in THEIR city--London had mud, murders, eighty thousand "women of the evening", robberies, filth, disease--and the murders put these conditions front and center for people to read and talk about.  I've not read, yet, Patricia Cornwell's non-fiction "Jack the Ripper; Case Solved" but this book is very carefully researched also. Anyway, reforms were slowly but surely put into effect for the inhabitants of the East End, for the greater health and living atmosphere of the whole area. Really a riveting book.

Hey--take advantage of the good weather this weekend by walking, then putting a steak on the"barby", start thinking seriously about a trip this June, and get your Easter basket supplies ready. Our annual Live Onstage membership drive is about to start and it's the beginning, in the new concert series starting this Fall, of our 60th year--and we're having 6 concerts to celebrate! The prices are the same as last year, so plan on seeing wonderful "live entertainment". 

Our Poetry contest is on again, this year, and I'll put all the details in a news story in the SWDT next week, but there are two important things to remember--all poems are to be submitted to the library BY APRIL 14, at noon, and our annual Coffee House is May 4 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We will NOT return any poems so keep a copy of it in your possession!  This is a juried poetry contest with 3 local and VERY good judges, so get to composing!  See you at the concerts next Fall (we have one concert left this Spring) and the poetry coffee house in May! Bye!