Cracking Your Knuckles

I pop/crack my joints. Fingers, wrists, elbows, back, hip, knees, ankles, toes and neck. Yep. I’m a popper. Now you know. What is the relevance of this information? Glad you asked.
Habits/Routines and the effect on others.

Things we do, both consciously and unconsciously, have an effect on other people. Think of the contagious yawn. We see someone yawn and we yawn. Or, in a classroom when someone clears their throat or coughs and several others see the opportunity to do the same. Knuckle cracking is the sort of the same but a little different.

Some people are grossed out by hearing the sound of a joint being popped. I respect this, although, I do take pride in my pops. The louder the pop the more proud I am of it. I usually have the greatest sense of accomplishment in a pop with my right thumb. The joint where the thumb meets the hand, (the proximal phalange meets the metacarpal bone). By placing the base of my left palm directly over the top of this joint and pressing downward directly on the joint I can create a pop sound beyond imagination. I usually get one or two good pops out of this joint in a day. Each one is a victory!

I have specific techniques and processes to follow to get certain joints to pop. We learn as we go what works and what doesn’t work.

So regarding habits and routines what are you doing (or not doing) that has an effect on other people? Everything that you do has some kind of an effect on other people. Be it directly or indirectly, your actions do have an effect on others.

Does this change the way we behave? In most cases no. Should it change the way we behave? It depends on what we are doing (or not doing). This brings about another point. Not reacting or not acting on something is just as much of an action/reaction. Our choices have an effect whether we do something or don’t do something in our given situation. There is a price to pay or an award to receive when we react or don’t react.

Medical doctor Donald Unger conducted an experiment in which he regularly cracked the knuckles of his left hand for fifty years while not manipulating those of his right. No arthritis or other ailments formed in either hand, and he was awarded 2009's Nobel Prize in Medicine.

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GO DO!™
By Tony Wolfe

Everyone Makes a Difference

I believe we would agree that we all make a difference in some way or another. The difference could be a negative or it could be a positive. It’s still a difference.

Passionate people tend to want to make that difference so that the world can be a better place. Remember Hands Across America on Sunday, May 25, 1986? It was a publicity campaign intended to raise money for charities (USA for Africa) and it ended up with nearly 5.5 million participants and raising about $20 million. That’s a lot of money and a lot of people.

The event actually got shorted somewhere around $35 million. People were supposed to donate $10 to participate. That’s 3.5 million people who didn’t donate but were participating anyway. That’s 3,645.8 miles worth of people who didn’t donate. The event was shorted more than it benefitted. How’s that for making a difference?

Had the 5.5 million hand-interlocked people formed one continuous chain, it would have stretched across the 48 contiguous US states. There were many breaks in the chain but the event was still declared a success. In my area (Southern Indiana), we stood in the rain, sang the song and were happy doing it. The Indianapolis 500 (same day) was rained out. We were one of the only areas in the entire country that did not have a celebrity somewhere in the chain. Jim Neighbors was just up the road a piece ready to sing Back Home Again in Indiana at the Speedway.

If you were one of those that held a stranger’s hand in the human chain but didn’t make your donation, you still can. Visit www.usaforafrica.org to do the right thing. There are plenty of folks who could really put to good use the missing $35 million.

GO DO!™
by Tony Wolfe
www.TonyWolfe.com

Getting Inside a Balloon

As a child I was intrigued by balloons. I often thought about being inside of one and what that would be like. Aside from the suffocation danger, I didn’t see why I couldn’t be in there. I would be isolated, yet I could still see out. The world would take on a strange transformation. Everything would be yellow or pink or blue. Everything would somehow be brighter but at the same time blurred. It wouldn’t be the view that you would want all of the time but it was cool at least for a few moments. Those few moments provided a child with the opportunity to let the imagination run wild and to see things in a different light.

Looking through a balloon still allows us to see tones and shades. We still have the ability to see objects and make them out. More things just sort of run together.

Imagine looking at the world through a balloon all of the time. Imagine being inside that balloon and just watching. Okay, now what? You are in there. What’s the big deal? Everything is one color. Wow. Why did we want for this?

We wanted for it because it was something new. It was an experience that we hadn’t experienced. It was the enjoyment of an adventure that we had not yet explored. But once we went, it became old news.

How many of you still look forward to new things? As an adult, do you still seek adventure? Do you still let your mind wander and allow yourself some time for “free thinking”? You should.

Whatever your situation, whatever your status in life, whatever you think about yourself, you should get inside your balloon once in a while and look at things in a different light. Oh, you’ll have to come out eventually, so don’t get too comfortable.

GO DO!™
by Tony Wolfe