Exercise For A Better Life

When you are working towards having a great or better life, your health becomes important so that you can enjoy it. Being in poor health will result in spending your time and money at doctor offices or in hospitals. So taking care of your physical self is just as important as the mental self. I have written previously about this balance in life with my "Wheel of Life" articles.

This physical part of your life can be reasonably easy to maintain. It is said that 30 minutes of exercise a day can be quite beneficial. But where to put this exercise time into your schedule can be difficult to do. You need to find the time and here are a few tips I came upon in an article by Jorge Cruise in an interview with Bobbi Brown, the CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and author of "Bobbi Brown Living Beauty."

- Set your alarm 45 minutes before your family gets up or before you would normally get up.

- Make exercise a part of your social life. "I even asked all my friends to join me for a walk on my birthday," the beauty expert says. For myself (Joe Primm), my church is building a new wing that will house a very modern and well-equipped exercise facility. Open to both church members and the community, a great way to round out your life.

- Cut out the junk. "if you're not eating properly, you're not going to feel like exercising.

- Create any kind of home gym you can -- even if it's just a few free weights or an exercise ball.

- "Music is key," she notes. " like popular rap music; it really keeps me motivated.

So do something, anything, to make your life physically better. You'll feel better, you'll perform better, your life will be better.

Happy Independence Day

To all of my fellow Americans and to our soldiers stationed abroad, thank you for making it possible.

Influencing Yourself

Here we are into the first day of a holiday week here in the U.S. Our independence holiday is on Wednesday, so many people have taken days off and most work schedules are relaxed. There are those of us that are working all week with the holiday itself off. Yet there are many people that will be working on the holiday, as happens around the world on holidays of many kinds. The wheels of business must continue to turn and it takes people to make it happen.

As my week begins, it makes me think of what impact each of us can have upon our own lives as well as others. My friend and pastor, Dean Sweetman recently said, "what you think about is what you are. What you read about is what influences you." Pretty simple logic but it is something we tend to forget.

Everyday we have the ability to influence our own lives by what we choose to read, watch and the people we associate with. Our own lives are ours to choose how to live and to determine those influences. While we have to exist in a world where there are thousands of positive and negative influences, each of us have the power of choice.

I have had people state to me that there is no choice in circumstance. To a degree, circumstance is the unpredictable nature of life itself. But how you react to it, how you position yourself to overcome negative circumstance is the choice you make. You can remain entrenched in negative influences or choose to move out of it.

Placing yourself around other people that are more supportive in nature, changing your reading habits to something more uplifting and choosing positive words will move you towards overcoming the negative. None of this means that you shield yourself from reality or hiding from the bad things. What it means is teaching yourself how to overcome adversity and prevent yourself from being dragged down.

A week like this allows a quieter atmosphere to perform your job and to also take time to think of new ways. The seven minutes of thought for yourself, to develop ways to encourage yourself and to change any negative habits...use those minutes to influence yourself.

Teen Driving Safety

Driving while young, a worrisome thought for most parents as their children attempt this right of passage. All of us have gone through this and most have successfully navigated the learning to drive process. There are those that some would argue still need to 'learn how to drive'.

But any humor aside, there is concern over the amount of training given to young drivers today. As Rose Rougeau of the American Automobile Association says, "It's clear from this analysis that young drivers' lack of experience on the road is a major traffic safety issue." Some of the sobering statistics about teen driving are;

• The number one cause of death for 15-20 year olds is car collisions.
• This age group makes up 7% of licensed drivers, 14% of fatalities, and 20% of all reported collisions.
• In 2004, 7,386 people were killed in crashes involving young drivers ages 16-20 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, 2005)
• 3,523 young drivers ages 16-20 were killed in 2004. (NHTSA, 2005)
• 53% of teen driver deaths occur on weekends.
• Nearly two-thirds of teen passenger vehicle occupants killed were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2003)
• Forty-one percent (41%) of teenage motor vehicle deaths in 2003 occurred between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (IIHS, 2004)
• Staying up late puts teen drivers at high risk for automobile collisions due to drowsiness.
• Teens are more likely than any other age group to be involved in a single vehicle crash.

Very tough statistics to think about but what do we do? Mandatory drivers education courses in the public schools. Driver and traffic safety education began as a concept in 1928 as part of a doctoral thesis by Albert W. Whitney whom argued that since so many high school students were learning to drive cars, schools had a responsibility to include driver education and safety instruction in the curriculum.

I am a proponent of schools providing this training to better prepare our teens to be better and safer drivers. An organization called Drivers Edge provides training around the country as a free service. They are able to do so due to corporate sponsorships, but your donations and support can help keep it this and help them to expand.

Founder of the organization, ex-race car driver Jeff Payne provides the following tips:

1. For your teen's first car, you shouldn't compromise safety to save money. And don't encourage buying a flashy hot rod, which invites high-speed driving.
2. Even the best kids can make poor decisions, and many are afraid to call their parents when they've had too much to drink. Stress this: "You can call us anytime. We won't ask questions."
3. When she goes out, know her destination, and tell her she needs to call you if she heads to a new location.
4. For six months after getting a license, make sure your teen drives alone. Having friends in the car, especially if they're rowdy, is a dangerous distraction.

Do what you can to keep your teen safe, give them the necessary tools to drive safely and remind them of what it takes to remain safe.