Fridays with Manny

  

How to Get to Appeasement

As part of my morning routine, I read excerpts from the book, “Kabbalah 365: Daily Fruit from the Tree of Life” by Rabbi Gershon Winkler. Recently I read that “Darkness is but a garment of light” (Seifer Ha Zohar, Vol.1, folio 226). He explains, “It is still light, but veiled; the darker it is, the more layers of the veil. Likewise, everything in life is one with the opposite. For example, if you are feeling anger, this is an extremely thick veil for the opposite – appeasement. So gradually, try to remove the layers until you discover appeasement. If you are feeling hate, it is a thick layer of the opposite, love. And so with everything, all is one.”

This definition is different from the one I found in Online Dictionary – “Darkness is partial or total absence of light.” For me, photographing in the darkness always produces unexpected results, which allows light to manifest itself.

Fridays with Manny

  

Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

If you’ve traveled abroad, you may have encountered dogs sniffing passengers’ luggage for drugs at the airport. Dogs are employed in this occupation because their noses have around 300 million scent receptors making them superior smellers to humans who only have about 5 or 6 million.

I learned about this in an article which appeared in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Your Next Covid-19 Test Could be a Dog’s Sniff”. The other article, which was published by the American Lung Association on the same subject, “Can Dogs Sniff Out COVID-19?” pointed out that dogs can detect different diseases, including lung cancer, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.

I hope this revelation will bring a new respect for your four-legged friends, like Max, Gus and Mandy.

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Fridays with Manny

  

How To Get More Love

I was cleaning some old stuff in my office and came across an article which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17th, 1984. The article written by Frances Sheridan Goulart, was titled “Ten Reasons To Put More Love in Your Life”.

Online I learned that Ms. Goulart is the author of 16 books about health, nutrition and fitness, including “Super Immunity Foods” and “God Has No Religion”. The article offers a number of simple recommendations. My favorite one is “Love and Laughter have healing powers. Laughter can stimulate endorphins, the body’s own naturally synthesized painkiller”. 

So, the next time you have pain or need more love, just open “42 Encounters with Laughter”, or look at these images of dancing flowers.

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Fridays with Manny

  

What To Pray For

You might have read, heard or viewed the news about the latest events in Israel. This story, which I translated from Russian, brings some sad awareness.

The major TV network found out that there was an old Jew in Jerusalem who went to the Western Wall to pray to God for many years. They sent a correspondent to interview the old man. When he came to the Wall, he immediately spotted the man. He was old, frail, and walking with a cane. After the introduction, the correspondent asked the old man how many years had he been praying there? “For at least 70 years”, he answered. “And what do you ask from God?” The correspondent inquired. “I ask for peace between the Jews, Christians and Muslims. I ask for there to be no wars and hatred. I pray that our children grow up in safety, to become people who love one another and be responsible for their actions. I ask God that politicians would always speak the truth and put people’s interests ahead of their own”. “And what is your feeling after 70 years of prayers?” asked the correspondent. “I feel that I am talking to the wall,” answered the old man.

Jerusalem means “city of peace” and it is the capital of the state of Israel, where Jews, Christians and Muslims can live in peace. On one of my visits there, I encountered representatives of all three religions.

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Fridays with Manny

  

A Body in Motion
Tends to Stay in Motion

Last week I shared a quote with you about our brains, taken from Sanjay Gupta’s, MD. book “Keep Sharp. Build a Better Brain at Any Age”. But there was more about the well-being of our bodies.

“When people ask me what’s the single most important thing they can do to enhance their brain’s function and resilience to disclose, I answer with one word: exercise – as in move more and keep a regular physical fitness routine. Fitness could very well be the most important ingredient to living as long as possible, despite all the other risk factors you bear – age and genetic included.”

Though I was a walker, even before Max came to our life, after reading those lines, I decided to increase my efforts. How about you? During my walks I encountered laughing people, who ended up in my book “42 Encounters with Laughter”. Perhaps reading jokes will encourage you to go out and to encounter other people, as I did.

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