IT'S THE CHOCOLATE, STUPID!

No, I didn't come up with that title to offend anyone, everyone, you. I just harkened back to the time when the Bill Clinton presidential campaign had that famous phrase that explained their whole approach--"It's The Economy, Stupid!" Of course, this most recent campaign, sixteen years later, was about the same thing. And that people don't get it--that they don't understand we have to come up with some new models in order not to exacerbate or repeat the current crisis. I think this is why such old school tycoons as Donald Trump and Warren Buffet are now recommending and even investing in network marketing.

Of course, there's that old saying that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the general public. I think the fiasco on Wall Street has shut down that one. But people are doing stupid things every single minute of every single day. Like the man in Moscow who was recently rushed to the hospital after a raccoon he was attempting to have oral sex with severely bit him. (I know, that's not relevant, but I couldn't resist squeezing it in somewhere!)

So what does this all have to do with chocolate? Well, in the research for my next book,
ChocolateLove, about the health benefits of dark chocolate, I was looking at the fact that chocolate seems to be one of the few recession-proof and depression-proof areas of our economy. A simple explanation is that while people may give up their cars, yachts, vacation homes, etc. during a several economic downturn, they tend to up their consumption of that all-time favorite comfort food, chocolate. It was one of the very few businesses that grew in
success and size during The Great Depression. Chocolate has it both ways, actually--when times are tough, people eat chocolate to feel better--it does have several mood-enhancing chemicals in its organic makeup, and when times are good, what better way to celebrate than with a piece of gourmet premium chocolate? And now that dark chocolate has been shown to have amazing effects on health and well-being, it all adds to the mix.

So it seems to make perfect sense to me that the perfect business opportunity for 2009 is
helping people discover the fantastic taste and profound health benefits of Xocai pure and healthy dark chocolate. And it's so easy to do this business. First of all, the top people in the company are fantastic at working with everyone by training on conference calls and videos,
and by getting on the phone with any associate and doing a three-way conversation with someone new. I know other companies do this, but not with the warmth and genuine interest in helping everyone succeed that I sense in this company. And I suspect that this may have to do with the fact that most of our top people are women, who bring an extra dimension to the way they do business.

I like, also, the way the company, MXI, has so many free marketing tools available, such as
all the videos. My sponsor and close friend, Susannah Lippman, sent the following e-mail to
me with links to some of the videos she recommends most highly:

For a brief overview video visit:
https://www.alphasonics.com/healthy-chocolate.htm

For three excellent videos: Intro (3 min), The Perfect Combination (15 min) & 5 reasons video (30 min):
http://sharechoc.com

You have GOT to see these photos of effects of oxidation & there's lots of good info too:
http://www.chocolaterave.com/id72.html.

For more in depth medical information see Dr Steve Warren's site and click on the various health conditions listed:
http://mydrchocolate.soundconcepts.com/

John McBride’s short testimonial Video by athlete on weight loss, pain
http://healthychocolateliving.soundconcepts.com/training/videos/johnmcbride.mp4

For a controlled scientific study of Xocai’s effect on gum disease by Dr.Steven Smith:
http://healthychocolateliving.soundconcepts.com/training/videos/drsmith.mp4

So looking at my title again, I realize it could be offensive even with an explanation..but I've promised to be completely honest in everything I do from now on in my life,including this blog, and this was my strong, honest inspiration for a title, so I'll keep it (I just heard the voice of Dana Carvey in my head, doing George Bush Sr. saying, "It's not prudent.")

Right now I'm on the hunt for a quote I heard about from the late, great

Malcolm Forbes (a lot smarter and more charismatic than his son, Steve). He was extolling the virtues of getting in the chocolate business--suggesting people stop whatever they were now doing and go into the chocolate business. When you think about all we are now learning about chocolate and its stability in this economy, it seems a better investment than gold. 

Of course the main criteria is that you have to love chocolate to get in the business. And if you don't, I feel sad for you, even though you don't really know what you're missing. It reminds me of a beautiful woman I dated way back when who was born without functional taste buds...she could not taste anything. It took a lot of fun out of being with her. She just ate to survive.

And, yes, she was slender. I could probably handle it better today, but I was young and found it too depressing and oppressive to continue dating her.

But I'll tell you one thing, through the more than thirty years since then, I have often savored some special flavor and thought of her never experiencing it and felt a twinge of not-quite-sadness, but something tender. And today, I feel some of the same feelings when I am eating something delicious, like letting a Xocai Nugget melt in my mouth slowly, as I remember some of the guys I left behind serving life sentences at Folsom.                                           Jerry

If you haven't checked out my new dark chocolate website, www.UnguiltyPleasures.net, please do so,

I haven't really gone in and customized it yet, so would appreciate any suggestions. To get a free sample of the healthy dark chocolate, email me at jerrygillies@gmail.com

BIG BAD BIRTHDAY MUSINGS

SO HERE IT IS--my 69th birthday, my first one out of captivity in 13 years, the first one spent absolutely alone--and one of the happiest ones I can remember. I know the title doesn't make much sense, but I sort of like the rhythm of it, and can imagine Johnny Cash singing a song to me about enjoying a Big Bad Birthday Bash (for writers, alliteration sometimes gets almost annoyingly addictive).

I feel weird being 69, because I don't feel what I always thought being this age would feel like. People never guess how old I am, even the ravages of prison life did not do that much damage. I thought about deducting ten years from the total, which I think I could easily get away with (other than there being a lot of public records available now online). But no, I'm one of the people who has talked about age irrelevance over the years, and I may as well own up to the fact that I have reached an age at which my grandparents were definitely "old" people. And taking my daily large does of Resveratrol in my healthy dark chocolate will guarantee that I'll be around for a long time.

I feel great this morning, definitely awakening with "robust expectations."

For lunch, it will be lobster tail at Red Lobster...by myself so I won't even have to be concerned about chewing with my mouth closed. When I was at Folsom and would see the commercials for LobsterFest on TV, I would actually taste the flavor of lobster in my mouth as it watered. A lot of e-mailed birthday wishes have been coming in all weekend. Almost everyone I know and love is living somewhere else, as I would be if it were not for the conditions of my parole this first year of freedom. I suppose I could have flown somewhere to be with someone, but I have been enjoying being on my personal mission these past few months too much to want to interrupt it right now.

That mission involves a three-part agenda, and doesn't leave much time for a so-called social life. I say so-called, because it feels like I do have a social life, it's just mostly spent online. The parts are writing my book on the health benefits of dark chocolate, which seems to be expanding into the history, business, and psychology of chocolate; getting my own chocolate business off the ground; learning all that I missed by being without a computer or Internet access for twelve years--which seems like being in school full time. And I am thoroughly enjoying all three parts.

Life is about discovery, and on these terms this is one of the richest periods of my life. Every single day it seems there are new discoveries in each of my current activities. One of the things I will talk about in my book on the 12 Essential Freedoms, which will come after my chocolate book and perhaps before my prison memoir, is how The Freedom of Anticipation keeps us alive and well. To always have something you are looking forward to, and to plan your life so you are guaranteed this anticipation.

In prison, I would look forward to my quarterly packages of treats from friends on the outside, to responses from the cartoonists I was sending gags to several times a week--first word that they would draw up this or that idea, then I would be waiting for word of sales, then the actual check.

It wasn't a large amount of money, sometimes as little as $6.25, but it went a long way at the prison canteen and gave me a lot to anticipate--and, of course, I would look forward to this--finally being outside those gray stone walls.

And now I am looking forward to getting my book proposal to my agent in a few weeks, then finding out his reaction and that of editors he shows it to. And some powerful, successful people are seriously considering joining me in my dark chocolate adventure, so I await their decisions. And today I am going to buy some pre-scored card stock for printing business cards and start exploring creating my own cards in my new word processing program on my new computer. And there's that lobster tail, and an unopened chocolate treat that was the one thing I bought this weekend at the International Chocolate Salon. It's from a lady named D, who had samples in tiny plastic cups, one of which I grabbed and carried as I walked through the many chocolate company booths. I took one bite and knew I had to go back to her booth. It's an old family recipe egg custard tart, almost like pudding in its texture but firm enough to lift up to your mouth, and one taste tells you it was made with love. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest choice (I'm definitely not a fanatic in that area), but this crust-less chocolate egg custard tart lives up to D's slogan, "You'll be tempted to eat the whole tart." Check out www.dsweets.com

Maybe I'll go to the refrigerator now and sneak a breakfast bite.

Happy birthday to me--definitely.

Jerry

If you want more information, even a sample of delicious healthy dark chocolate,

contact me at: jerrygillies.gmail.com, or check out my website, www.UnguiltyPleasures.net Or watch a fantastic thirty minute video that will tell you all you need to know about why I'm excited about this business opportunity. That's

The 5 Reasons video at www.sharechoc.com

CHOCOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY

Sorry, I couldn't resist the title, a play on my book, PSYCHOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY, of course. But I have a good reason to be almost giddy with exuberance--not to mention my favorite robust expectations.

Today I went to the third annual INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE SALON in San Francisco. Dozens of chocolatiers were represented, including some of the giants and a number of small, artisan brands. And I tasted and tasted and tasted. At one point, I got a ham and cheese sandwich on a very good French roll and took a bite between tastings to cleanse my palate. A lot of the dark chocolate was quite delicious, with ingredients including everything from mushrooms to mangos to ginger and chili pepper. The Xocai healthy dark chocolate booth was one of the busiest. And it reconfirmed my judgement about the taste of Xocai when I found not a single sample that was better in any way. Of course this is totally subjective. But I also noticed that there was hardly a whisper of the health benefits from the other manufacturers--and with good reason, as almost all of them, with very few exceptions, heat and adulterate their chocolate in the processing, to greatly diminish the antioxidant content.  

So when I got back to my computer, I went to look up a book on Amazon.com, and found something I had never seen before, an article for sale instead of a book. And it was a research article, and was only 356 words long, just a single page, and they were charging $9.95! And I paid it, because the teaser line reads:

RESVERATROL IN DARK CHOCOLATE AND COCOA LEADS TO ANTI-AGING

When I got the article downloaded, it got really exciting, as it says:

The new age health obsession with anti-aging medicine and longevity has finally been given a fresh insight with recent scientific evidence proving the anti-aging abilities of a naturally occurring compound found in cocoa.

Recent research on the anti-aging effects of resveratrol has led to widespread media attention. Resveratrol is a compound found in dark chocolate, cocoa and red wine. Dr. David Sinclair, an Australian scientist and head of Harvard Medical School's anti-aging research team is developing what could turn out to be a genuine elixir of youth derived from resveratrol.

Resveratrol has been found to turn on the "longevity" gene which could assist organisms with living up to 20% longer. Dr. Sinclair's lab trials on mice over three years provided promising results and he sold his discovery to a pharmaceutical company for $750 million. The drug is currently in clinical trials and could hit shelves within the next five years.

This new research by Dr. Sinclair further reaffirms the health benefits of dark chococlate and cocoa as indicated by the American Heart Association.

I'll say. In fact, I did say--in several of these blog postings, including the February 18th post, THE SMELL OF CHOCOLATE--PART TWO in which I said:

"Just as I had decided I must include a chapter on how dark chocolate can increase longevity--a sort of follow-up to my earlier book, PSYCHOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY, I came upon by serendipitous accident on Canada.com, the story of the two ladies who have been certified as the longest living people ever, and both of them were chocoholics. Is that sweet or what?"

Not to mention..okay I will mention it..the posting from December 31st on A RESEARCH REPORT THAT CAN PROLONG LIFE, in which I said:

"I don't think I'm going too far out on the limb to suggest that consuming this high dose of antioxidants on a daily basis could reverse the aging process to the extent that it might add three to five healthy years to our lifespan."

So you can understand why I feel like thumbing my nose at all those folks who told me they can't see spending $110 a month for chocolate. And despite the fact that I kept repeating that it was a health food, a superfood, something that would produce amazing health benefits--not to mention probably the lowest start-up costs possible for a home-based business that can produce substantial financial rewards on a long term residual basis. No, I'm not going to say, "I told you so." But I can think it, can't I?

And how about some applause for American science? 

 (Okay, Dr. Sinclair is actually an Australian, but he did his work here at Harvard--and more ChocoHistory, not that far from the site of America's first chocolate factory in Dorchester, Massachusetts, built by Dr. James Baker in 1765--and he was a Harvard grad.) 

 I feel great about a scientist trying to help humanity getting $750 million for his formula.  Maybe that will get some kids into science programs in school...it even looks good compared to the salaries of entertainers and sports stars.

                                                         Jerry

And if you haven't yet checked out my new website at www.UnguiltyPleasures.net,

and looked at the Xocai video, or e-mailed me to get a free sample of the healthy dark chocolate--and are waiting to be further convinced, forget about it. You're either ready or not. I can be reached at jerrygillies@gmail.com

THE HAPPINESS FORMULA

This morning, we had a couple of really entertaining and impactful speakers at Unity Church in San Francisco. Rick Foster and Greg Hicks were corporate consultants who decided to investigate happiness, and traveled to 7 continents to do so. They interviewed over 300 "happy" people and came up with nine things they all seemed to have in common.

I'd like to share these with you, and if you find them useful or valuable, do go to the website at www.choosetobehappy.com.

1. INTENTION--Rick and Greg say that most of the happy people they talked to have some sort of morning ritual that sets their intention to have a happy day. It reminds me of the comment I've often quoted from Norman Cousins about successful people waking up each morning with "robust expectations."

2. ACCOUNTABILITY--This involves making a conscious choice not to blame. I had to deal with this one a lot during my prison stay, choosing not to blame the bad lawyer, misguided judge, lying police and fumbling prosecutor in my case--after all, it was my bad decisions that got me in that mess to start with.

3. IDENTIFICATION--Happy people can identify what it is that brings them the most joy. For me, that's speaking, writing, dark chocolate, being funny, and beautiful women as friends and lovers and colleagues.

4. CENTRALITY--To make the above central to one's life, or as I talk about in MONEYLOVE, to do what you love.

5. RECASTING--Happy people still have unpleasant events in their lives.

But they do three things: Feel the feelings fully. Explore the meaning behind whatever traumatic event transpires. And look for the opportunities and learning that each such event contains. (this was a real challenge for me in prison, but with the help of some great mentors and friends and spiritual teachers, I was able to triumph over that particular adversity.)

6. OPTIONS--This is one that really struck a responding chord in me. If you've read my books or listened to my tapes, you know I am not a big fan of setting rigid goals. And here Rick and Greg are talking about the fact that happy people are continually opening up options, having a sense of direction, but not goals that prevent them from enjoying and acting on the surprises. This certainly relates to my previous article on serendipity. And I remember my old friend, the late Leo Buscaglia, telling me he thought the most important aspect of having a happy life was to always have lots of options in any given situation.

7. APPRECIATE--Here, Rick and Greg talked about the fact that appreciating someone else, or some situation, releases oxitosin, which they called "the trust hormone" and is the hormone released during pregnancy and nursing in women. They also pointed out that when you are appreciating, you are in the moment, and not thinking about the past or future.

8. GIVING--The authors pointed out that being a giving person, whatever form that giving and helping others takes, offers a biochemical reward. And several studies have shown some strong evidence that giving people tend to live longer.

9. TRUTH--Finally, happy people are committed to truth in their lives. You might want to check out my January 9 posting on THE TRUTH AND THE WHOLE TRUTH.

So, I think you can see why I liked these two guys and what they had to say so much. They agree with a lot of what I have to say and vice versa. And yet, illuminate some of these areas in ways I never thought of. Check out the website, and their books on Amazon, particularly HOW WE CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY and CHOOSING BRILLIANT HEALTH.

Jerry

HAPPINESS VIA HAPPENSTANCE

Happy accidents abound. This truly seems to be the texture of my life right now, filled with amazing coincidences I just stumble upon. I’ve been calling them serendipitous and am even considering doing a book on the subject.

What else can I call it when a few weeks ago I am on the phone with my literary agent Bob Silverstein , and happen to mention my long love affair with dark chocolate and tell him I am now involved with a company marketing the healthiest chocolate, perhaps the healthiest food, ever conceived. And he responds by telling me he is also passionately devoted to dark chocolate, has a favorite brand at Trader Joe’s, and first fell in love with it in the 1970’s at the Lilac Chocolate Shop on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village--exactly when and where I first discovered dark chocolate! And furthermore, we found we both lived on Hudson Street in the Village at the same time, about a block apart. And it was then that Bob, after we had discovered several potential book projects for me, suggested a book on the health benefits of dark chocolate might be a winner, and asked if I could write a proposal for him to shop around to New York publishers.

Or a couple of weeks ago, when, for the first time, I decided to try to figure out how to use a flash drive I had bought at Target. I had been waiting for a computer savvy friend to call and talk me through this first-time process, but decided to stop waiting and start doing. I did figure it out and spent three to four hours backing up all my writing and dark chocolate research files onto the flash drive.

And the very next day, water spilled onto my laptop keyboard and completely fried it. Apple told me they could probably bring it back to life--for $1040! But now that I have that flash drive, I decided to go for a brand new MacBook Pro instead. Of course, being broker than ever before, the entire $2000 was done on credit, but the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if a check suddenly appeared from a mysterious source.

And then there was last night. I was talking to my friend Tom in LA, someone who’s been a friend for about 18 years, and was one of my stalwart supporters during my prison stay. I happened to mention that I lived and worked in radio in Richmond, Virginia in the 1960s and he asked me what station I worked for. I said I was a newsman at WRVA. He asked if I knew Dave Dewitt, who worked there with his wife. I said I did, and Tom then told me Dave has been one of his best friends for all these years, going back to Richmond, where Tom lived and went to college during the time I was on the air. We very likely were at a couple of the same parties together. Dave, who was a low-keyed guy, has turned into the Pope of Peppers, with some thirty books on the fiery vegetables, and a long and distinguished career. I don’t know what happened to Cathy, who always intrigued me because she was a blue-eyed blonde with freckles and yet a full-blooded Osage Indian, whose father at that time was the highest ranking Native American ever in the federal government, as assistant Postmaster General.

Little things and big things, all kinds of fascinating things keep happening in my life since my parole six months ago. Maybe I’m super sensitive to these having had a rather dreary existence, at least on a physical plane, for twelve years. But it seems to be that life is endlessly interesting, engaging, and filled with delightful surprises. Is it any wonder that I wake up most mornings with what Norman Cousins once described to me as “robust expectations?”

Almost everyone I know is richer than I am at this moment, and has more intimate relationships, more possessions from electronic gizmos to a basic wardrobe than I do. But I don’t think anyone is savoring life more, is more optimistic, or has a more interesting group of long-distance friends, or more serendipity flowing into their life. And ideas, wild bursts of creativity in all sorts of areas...I’m reading dozens of research reports every day about dark chocolate, but no one seems to talk about it in terms of whether it enhances creativity---hmmmm, maybe there’s still another book beginning to form.

And I just had a thought about all the tangential paths I am discovering online. There are blogs and areas of discovery that have nothing to do with the health benefits of dark chocolate, but just seem to be little pieces of connection attached to other blogs and websites. So the phrase just popped up: The Law of Distraction. I guess I should Google it and find out if anyone else has thought of it--ideas do seem to happen simultaneously in different parts of the world. I'm not sure what I'll write about connected to this new law, but something will show up.

One blog I found by accident is by a very interesting woman writer who listed as her top three books, three of the very favorite books I read at Folsom State Prison. Her name is Mary Beth, she is a stay-at-home mom with a very interesting and homey blog called, all things, Salt and Chocolate (which is how I ended up at the site, www.saltandchocolate.blogspot.com). She is now experimenting with a project she calls “Vegan Till 6” which I’m just guessing means she observes that diet until her husband comes home for dinner. She also writes that she likes salty and sweet combinations, hence her blog title.

The three books she lists are: the 1943 classic, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith,
which I had wanted to read for years and finally got around to about two years ago; OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS by Anne Lamott, who has become one of my favorite writers since discovering her during my incarceration (Interestingly, Lamott writes that her father taught writing classes at San Quentin). I consider her BIRD BY BIRD: Some Instructions On Writing And Life to be one of the most useful and charming and funny books about writing I have ever encountered, resting on my bookshelf alongside my other favorite writing books by Ray Bradbury and Rita Mae Brown (both of whom I found fascinating and gracious in person as well, as we were all on the faculty at The Santa Barbara Writers Conference at the same time in the early 1980s). I love Anne Lamott’s section called SHITTY FIRST DRAFTS, something any writer can identify with. And the third book Mary Beth listed was one I happily discovered called I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith, who wrote The One Hundred And One Dalmations. It’s a book written for young adults in 1948, but like the Harry Potter books, quite well worth any adult’s time. Well, I felt such a kinship with Mary Beth that I immediately sent her an e-mail and she sent me a warm and friendly reply, saying she enjoyed my blog, too.

I’m writing this early in the morning, will edit it in a bit for typos and then post it, and I must admit, I am expecting some more delicious stuff to happen to me and around me today--especially since Friday the 13th has always seemed to be a fortunate event in my life.
                                        Jerry

And if you'd like to play with me in my serendipitous life and dark chocolate business, or would like a sample to taste,
just send me your address at jerrygillies@gmail.com.   Remember, this is chocolate that is unprocessed, combined with the amazing Acai berry, with more antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable on the planet, no processed sugar, wax, or filler. So you don't have to feel guilty eating it, hence the name of my brand new website, 

                                 www.UnguiltyPleasures.net                

It has videos and descriptions of all the Xocai products. I haven't done much to customize it yet, it's a work in progress and I'm open to any suggestions you have to make it more effective, but there is some stuff of interest, so check it out.

FLOURISHING VERSUS LANGUISHING

As a writer, I’ve always been fascinated by words and the potency of their impact. Two words I’ve come across a lot recently are “languish” and “flourish”.
In fact, most people can be divided into those two categories--those who languish and those who flourish. Almost all of us have experienced both, but what matters is how long you spend in those very specific states of existence. Let’s look at the definitions.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says languish means:
d to be or become feeble. 

d to be or live in a state of depression or decreasing vitality.
d to become dispirited, to suffer neglect.
d to assume an expression of grief or emotion appealing for sympathy.

The Free Dictionary adds:
d to exist or continue in miserable or disheartening conditions.
d to remain unattended or neglected.
d to become downcast or pine away in longing.

And finally, Wiktionary uses the word in a sentence:
d “He languished in prison for years.” 

Which is exactly how I saw it used recently.

Those of you who read some of my earlier blogs and know my history know, I hope, that I did no such thing. As I’ve written, I did manage to wake up each morning in the state Norman Cousins described to me, “robust expectations.” So I think you can safely say I flourished.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says for flourish:
d to grow luxuriantly, to achieve success.
d to be in a state of activity or production.

The Free Dictionary says:
d thrive, to do or fare well.
d prosper.

Wiktionary adds to all that:
d to be in a period of greatest influence.

So here’s my point. Everything you do, say, feel, believe, and project out about yourself fits into these two categories--Flourish or Languish. Take your current work, what you do to support yourself. Is it something that allows you to grow luxuriantly, to be in a state of activity or production--are you thriving and prospering? In other words, do you have a sense of forward momentum about the work you do? Are you passionate about it? Are you having fun doing it? I think this would be a good spot to mention my three criteria for successful work, that it should bring you as much PLEASURE, PROFIT, KNOWLEDGE as possible. Simply put, Are You Flourishing?

And you can use the same filter to look at your health, your relationships, and every other aspect of your life.

On the other hand, do you feel miserable or disheartened and neglected in your work? Do you have low energy when doing it? Do you complain a lot about various aspects of what you do for a living?

And right here I’ll mention a new book I just received. Egbert Sukop got in touch with me through this blog and let me know that MONEYLOVE was very impactful for him and helped inspire him to write his first book. He is a provocative philosopher and quite a pessimist. The new book is titled, HOW TO BETTER HATE YOUR JOB. I like the opening line a lot:

“Today I am worse than I will be tomorrow.” Which Egbert calls “the unwritten tenet of self-improvement.” I would say that “flourishing” is about experiencing tomorrow as always better than yesterday, a sense you are moving forward. Egbert’s book is a fun read--I’m just starting it but can tell by quickly zipping through. It can be shocking and entertaining to see him shooting down a lot of popular concepts. I don’t recommend it if you are languishing, however, as it just might put you over the edge in your miserable, depressed state.

The thing I find interesting about any attempt to put a label on life is that it's bound (as in “boundary”) to limit our thinking--on the other hand, in a temporary exploration, it can be useful. It can teach us a lot about ourselves to make a list of those things in our life that are FLOURISHING and those things that are LANGUISHING. And one of the things we can discover is which aspects of our life we are not clear about, that we cannot put into either category.

Our economy is now said to be LANGUISHING, but for some people it is
FLOURISHING. This is certainly true for the dark chocolate business with sales up 40% as most other things are going down the toilet. But, as I will write about in a whole chapter on the business of chocolate in my next book on the health benefits of dark chocolate, this was also true during The Great Depression. Chocolate boomed. Talk about a win-win situation. People reach for chocolate when they are LANGUISHING or depressed--and they’ll give up big ticket luxuries before they’ll give up their gourmet chocolate treats. And people reach for chocolate when they are FLOURISHING, to celebrate success, to celebrate love--even when it’s not Valentine’s Day. A billion people ate chocolate today. It’s not always healthy chocolate, but they are already sold on the product and just have to be shown there’s a tastier, healthier version now available.

Chocolate is no longer a Guilty Pleasure. In olden days (like the 1980s) it was considered bad stuff--causing obesity, diabetes, even acne. Now healthy dark chocolate is known to help all those conditions. What a turn-around! This is why I reserved a new domain name for my new website about this product. It is still in the development stage, but a lot of stuff is ready for viewing and you can check it out at:
www.UnguiltyPleasures.net
That’s right--Unguilty Pleasures. In fact, instead of feeling guilty about consuming healthy dark chocolate, you can feel proud you have the good sense to do so. It could just as easily be called a Proud Pleasure. No wonder this business is flourishing, not languishing.
                                Jerry

By the way, I am still putting together a team of prosperous dark chocolate specialists who I intend to help prosper using my MONEYLOVE strategies in conjunction with this fun home-based networking adventure. The working title of my follow-up book will be TEN PEOPLE I HELPED MAKE RICH IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES. Find out more by getting in touch with me at jerrygillies@gmail.com, or that new website, www.UnguiltyPleasures.net  

Join the fun and profit!

THE CREATIVE CONTINUUM

As this blog evolves, I expect to experiment with visual changes, like font and type size and color--but more importantly with revelation. Have you ever noticed how, when you first meet somebody, they tell you about themselves, and then as you get to know them over weeks and months and even years, it's as if an onion is being peeled, one layer, one deeper level of information emerges after another. Well, I hope as you get to know me through my blog, this will also be true. It's what, after all, keeps life interesting--don't you agree?

Unless you read my 1981 book, PSYCHOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY: Using Your Mind To Extend Your Life, you may not know that I consider myself an immortalist. There is a whole movement built around the belief that human beings do not have to die. A major pioneer in creating and inspiring this philosophy was Leonard Orr, who also first popularized the concept that your attitudes about money dictated how much of it you could earn.

As I talked to the major longevity scientists at the National Institute on Aging and the
National Institutes of Health, research scientists like Dr. Richard Cutler, and visonaries like Norman Cousins and Ray Bradbury, I came to the conclusion that, while it was still unclear whether we could actually live forever, we certainly could live a lot longer, and stay younger a lot longer. With all the advances in health and fitness and nutrition, that has already happened. Not only have a few years been added to the human lifespan since then, but a 50, 60, or 70 year old today does not look, feel, or act the way people of that age looked, felt, and acted in the 1940s and 1950s and even 1960s.
We are taking advantage of what I termed our "biological opportunities".

I talked in that book about "controlling your own aging process," so it is fascinating to me and others that I now am talking about the same thing, and that modern science has actually come up with a way to do that. I'm talking about antioxidants, of course,
the way to overcome the ravages of free radicals roaming through our bodies, causing some 200 degenerative diseases and probably the major factor in the aging process.

One thing I noticed when interviewing many physicians, gerontologists, geneticists,
and other longevity researchers was they would speculate on the possibilities much more when I gave them a promise of anonymity, telling them their comments would be "off the record". Most of them were dependent on government funding and didn't want to lose that funding by being considered "nut cases" on the outer fringes of what was considered traditional science. Some, like Dr. Richard G. Cutler, of the National Institute On Aging, were willing to speak out--they were so highly respected there was no way anyone would dare threaten their funding or research.

As Dr. Cutler told me when I first interviewed him almost thirty years ago, "What we're talking about is not living older longer but living younger longer. And that's a new
concept. People think of being senile longer when they think of life-extension. The concept that there might actually be something to keep you younger longer people find unbelievable."

Dr. Cutler has since then achieved almost mythological status. I notice there are inquiries online as to whether he actually existed and really made his famous statement that the amount of antioxidants you have in your body may determine how long you will live. Yes, he existed and still is doing longevity research, and is
now advocating the taking of pure dark chocolate as the major source of antioxidants.
I hope to interview him again for my book on the health benefits of dark chocolate.

Of course I didn't remember everything Richard Cutler told me, but had to go back to the book to jog my memory. One thing, however, I have remembered all these years is
his using the example of an elephant. He was describing the toxic free radicals as a natural by-product of breathing in oxygen, and said, "Elephants have very low oxygen consumption and it's right in proportion to their longer lifespan." Since we are among the largest mammals, along with elephants, we have longer lifespans than most other mammals by far.

This all indicates to me that there is merit in attacking this from both ends. One, which I am now doing, is by taking in major amounts of antioxidants which can absorb and neutralize the dangerous free radicals in our bodies. The other is to lower our oxygen consumption. Most doctors agree that most of us do not breath properly. Many body therapies teach more efficient breathing techniques and this is an area certainly worth exploring. Two new friends of mine, Helen Luce in Tucson and Bud Weiss in New York, both teach something called the Buteyko Breathing Technique, invented by a Russian doctor for the relief of asthma, but with apparently a much wider range of benefits. I haven't yet experienced this, but it's on my list of things to do. You can check out the Tucson work at www.thebreathablebody.com and in New York, it's www.buteykonyc.com And there's Rebirthing, invented by my old friend Leonard Orr, and even Progressive Relaxation created in the 1930s by Dr. Edmund Jacobsen, and which definitely cut down on oxygen consumption.

I was one of the last people to interview Dr. Jacobsen, and I remember we had a discussion of the relative merits of meditation as compared to his Progressive Relaxation. He felt all the benefits attributed to meditation were because it cut down on oxygen intake by relaxing the muscles, which thereby needed less oxygen for oxygenation. He felt his own relaxation techniques did this more effectively and efficiently.

So do I think I'm going to live forever? Not necessarily, but I've long planned my 150th birthday party, and now feel 200 is a reasonable goal. So I'll continue to take my daily dose of pure healthy and delicious dark chocolate combined with Acai berry, and learn to breath more effectively, and thus create biological opportunities for that longer lifespan.
And in 2090 I hope you'll still be around for the big party. I'll save you a dance.

                                          Jerry

And if you do intend to stick around for a lot longer, you'll need to focus on a source of passive income to support that aspiration. Might I suggest joining me in this fun business of eating and sharing deliciously pure dark chocolate--the healthiest superfood of all. Check it out. Watch the video on the Chocolate For Health link at www.alphasonics.com, or check out the website www.darkchocolatebenefits.net, or

get in touch with me directly and I'll send you some samples-- jerrygillies@gmail.com