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Money is not the key to happiness. More ‘stuff' is not the key to happiness. Winning the lottery and spending the rest of your life on a tropical island - while intoxicating to the ear - is not the key to happiness.

What is, on the other hand, is exciting news.

Over the past few years, science and psychology have been experiencing quite a shift in focus, thanks to men such as Dr. Martin Seligman. It couldn't have come too soon.

The New Psychology
Through his work at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Seligman has created an entirely new branch of psychology. Instead of focusing solely on neuroses in life, he decided to study what makes us feel good.

Since the first days of his groundbreaking work, positive psychology has definitely caught on.

One of the focuses of this branch is - you guessed it - happiness. Through the work of countless positive psychologists, the path to such feelings has become more and more clear.

The Key to Happiness
They've discovered through their clinical investigations that happiness is tied tightly to your strengths - the things you're good at. People have been proven to be happiest when applying their unique skills toward a challenging project or goal.

You don't need millions of dollars or a personal island to be happy. All that you need is already within you. Discover your strengths, apply them to a challenging goal, and you'll see for yourself.

I left the lights on a lot when I was kid. My bedroom, the basement, the hall, the bathroom--they seemed sad when left in the dark. I was told to flip the switch, but I still wasn't good at it. As I got older, and the electric bills were addressed to me, I changed teams. I saw the reason behind the request.

This scenario describes the trouble most people have with their health. They know they should work out or eat right, but they don't really know why. Being alive is a great incentive--it always beats the alternative--but that is too general. It's also a far-away thought.

If you want to feel motivated, you need specific and immediate reasons, which is why my tip for this article is to learn about your body.

Learn about the systems inside, why they need activity and the right food and what happens when they don't get either. What happens, exactly, when you don't eat your fruits and veggies? What happens, precisely, when you confine your muscles to channel surfing and walking to the kitchen.

With the facts tucked away in your mind, you'll have an arsenal of incentives ready to dispatch any time temptation hits. You may walk to the kitchen and reach for the cookie, but the better part of you will stop the reach, deliver the message, and guide you toward the carrots.

A molecule found in grape skins and red wine could reverse diabetes by lowering insulin levels, even among sufferers who have a high-fat diet.

The molecule, resveratrol, normalizes insulin levels after five weeks’ usage, even when there was no change to diet or body weight, a study of laboratory mice has discovered.

But researchers warn diabetics not to rush for the red wine. The experiments with the mice involved direct injections of resveratrol into their brains, and usually the molecule has a hard time crossing the blood-brain barrier. They think that the amount of alcohol needed to be consumed in order to have similar effects would be detrimental to a person’s health.

(Source: Endocrinology, 2009; doi: 10.1210/en.2009-0528).

We often see people walking around with copper bracelets on their wrist. The bracelets are supposed to ease muscle aches and arthritis pains – but do they actually work?

Apparently, they are no better than a placebo, or sugar pill – and nor are magnetic wrist straps, which are also worn to ease musculoskeletal pains, a new study has discovered.

The devices were tested on 45 osteoarthritis sufferers, but the researchers couldn’t detect any real difference between them, or when measured against a ‘dummy’ magnetic strap, or non-copper bracelet.

(Source: Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2009; doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2009.07.002).

Provided by What Doctors Don't Tell You on 10/26/2009

A plant that scientists in the 16th century believed had magical powers could prove to be an effective treatment for osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease.

The ‘vegetable lamb’ plant (Cibotium barmoetz) still plays an important role in Vietnamese folk medicine – and now researchers believe it could help osteoporosis sufferers develop strong bones.

In one study, the plant blocked bone-destroying cells from developing without harming other cells. But it is not the first time that ‘vegetable lamb’ plants have been credited with magical properties – in the 16th and 17th centuries scientists believed its fruit turned into baby sheep.

(Source: Journal of Natural Products, 2009; 72: 1673).

"This pioneering program gives individuals personal insight into 12 dimensions of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness, and provides tools to transform this new awareness into lasting lifestyle change and a heightened sense of health and wellbeing. An invaluable program for health professionals, clinics and hospitals, the Wellness Inventory is a powerful tool for 21st century integrative medicine."

Larry Dossey, M.D., Author, Healing Beyond the Body, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words. Executive Editor, Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

"I've been familiar with the Wellness Inventory and the work of John Travis for many years, and have found it to be enormously helpful. I've seen the Inventory open up new understandings and stimulate creative therapeutic responses for people with a wide range of clinical conditions. The Inventory also helps those who are still well to develop strategies for feeling even better. I highly recommend this program."

James S. Gordon, M.D.
Founder and Director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, author of Manifesto for a New Medicine

"People are proactively looking for life and health enhancement strategies. The Wellness Inventory is a 21st century tool which helps people transform valuable insight into results-oriented action."

Kathleen Hurley, CEO, Integral Health, Inc.

"The Wellness Inventory is a powerful tool for health and wellness coaches and their clients. Coaching is all about motivation, intention and follow through, and the Wellness Inventory provides clients with invaluable feedback and the ability to track progress in any of the 12 areas of life. This tool should be part of every coaches tool box."

Patrick Williams, Ph.D.
Master Certified Coach
CEO, Institute for Life Coach Training (www.lifecoachtraining.com)
Training professionals in life, health and wellness coaching

"This self-assessment tool offers new insights into what makes life worth living, and loving, and breathing. Medical care will never bring you to the brink of joyfulness, zest for life, and treating the environment responsibly. The Wellness Inventory puts the health back into health care."

Kent W. Peterson, M.D., F.A.C.P.M., Former director, American College of Preventive Medicine; Past president, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine; Clinical Associate Professor, New York University

"As one of the first people to computerize the Health Risk Appraisal, Dr. Travis saw its limitations early on and developed the Wellness Inventory to extend into the all important quality of life issues. For over 25 years, he has continued to keep it at the forefront of wellness."

Kenneth R. Pelletier, Ph.D., M.D.(hc),Chairman, American Health Association
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Director, Corporate Health Improvement Program (CHIP), University of Arizona School of Medicine
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine,
and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry University of California School of Medicine (USCF) San Francisco

Doctors have become almost parrot-like in telling us that being overweight can dramatically affect our health – but a new study suggests they are wrong. And being a little on the tubby side even seems to protect you against cancer.

A new report from Germany reveals that being overweight – having a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 30 – doesn’t make any difference to how long you may live. In fact, men who were overweight had a 7 per cent lower death rate from cancer than men with a normal weight.

In a review of 42 studies, researchers from the University of Hamburg found that our weight affects our health only when we become obese, which is defined as any BMI score above 30. Overall, the death rate among obese people is 20 per cent higher than in people with lower BMI scores. But as we get older, even obesity seems to have less of an impact on our health.

(Source: Deutsches Artzeblatt International, 2009; 106: 641).

Many of us suffer tingling pain and numbness in our extremities – and now researchers have discovered that the hot stuff in chilli peppers could be an effective antidote.

The active ingredient, capsaicin, is used in skin creams such as Zostrix and Capsin, and it helps ease nerve pains in four out of 10 sufferers, a new review has discovered.

Researchers reviewed nine studies that involved 1,600 participants who suffered tingling and numbing pains because of diabetes, AIDS, shingles and arthritis. A common side effect of capsaicin creams is local skin irritation, such as burning, stinging or redness, and some people stopped the treatment.

(Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2009; issue 4; doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007393).

The saying goes: The expert in anything was once a beginner in everything. Truer words were never spoken.

But this isn't what we see. This isn't what we feel when we watch these Olympians. It isn't what we think when we watch any expert or great success.

We see the finished product, shining brightly in designer packaging. We see triumph and achievement, not training. We see the riches, not the rags.

And this, as much as anything else, is why motivation - that inner drive that carries us toward all we desire - continues to escape us.

Today that comes to an end. Today I will open your eyes to a new way of viewing the changes you wish to carry out and the challenges that are attempting to stop you.

The Olympians we admire might possess unique physical talent and natural gifts, but that inner fire that compels them forward is within us all. It's time to set it free.

Authors Don't Write Books
Whether it's a a friend who lost forty pounds or a track star streaking across the screen, our eyes can only see what is in front of us.

And more often than not, that picture of success is daunting.

It's overwhelming, to see ourselves reaching those heights. No, it's more than that. It's unbelievable.

When we view success at its peak, we feel separated from it. We see ourselves as incapable of doing something similar.

Take a book, for instance.

Seeing a novel on a shelf leads to the same conclusion in the minds of anyone posed with the question: 'Oh, I could never write a book.'

This view is all wrong. The reason? Authors don't write books.

What Do Authors Write?
Authors don't write books; authors write words.

This is one of the most important ideas to understand. I know it sounds simple, but it separates those who progress from those who wish and wait.

We've already said that most see the finished product and feel overwhelmed by the prospect of achieving the same goal.

If this only occurred when watching an Olympic athlete, there would be little issue. But that's not how it works. We get that same sense of inability when viewing any worthwhile achievement.

Losing weight, finding a new career, starting a business or new relationship, overcoming personal debt - these are outcomes millions wish to pursue but don't believe they can achieve.

They can't see past the finished product.

To get motivated, to truly ignite your drive, you must see your goals as achievable. You must believe in yourself and your abilities. You must see success, not as a matter of unattainable greatness, but merely as a matter of time.

Losing weight begins with a single decision. Finding the job you love begins with a single Google search. And starting a new relationship begins with a single look.

The world is built upon blocks, not one massive stone.

One step, one movement, one decision, one action. These are the things that feed success. These are things that you can do today.