Watch What You Say

I was listening to Mornings with Brant this morning on the way in to work, and Brant, one of the three hosts (and obviously the person the show is named after), was talking about how he has difficulty remembering things that he has on his schedule. Two phrases he used really stood out at me while I was listening. He said that when he has an important event on his schedule, he always tells himself over and over, “Don’t forget this. Don’t forget this,” but he inevitably forgets. On a slightly different topic a few minutes later he stated that he takes anti-depressants because if he doesn’t, then every time he makes a mistake or feels like he’s made a mistake, a recording plays in his head that says, “You’re a failure”. He explained that by taking the medicine, he is able to stop and say, “I’m not a failure”. So, the two phrases he used that really stuck out were 1.) don’t forget and 2.) I’m not a failure. These statements are phrased in the negative, using the word “not”. The problem with this is that the human brain only recognizes positives. This means that if you tell yourself “Don’t forget this”, your brain only hears the positives and so it hears “Forget this”. Likewise, if you tell yourself “I’m not a failure”, your brain hears “I’m a failure”. Most people are not aware of this aspect of the human brain and, therefore, use ineffective language when speaking to themselves. It’s best to use positive language when speaking to yourself. So, instead of “Don’t forget this”, you should say “Remember this”, and instead of “I’m not a failure”, you should say “I’m a success”. It takes a while to get used to this form of self-speak, but it does make a difference.

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Shooting Up For a Good Cause

I had an appointment with the travel consultant in Denver a few days ago. We went over the safety and health precautions for travel to Haiti. She suggested tetanus, typhoid, and hepatitis vaccinations. I had already begun my hepatitis vaccination series through the Denver STD clinic since they offer it for free as opposed to the immunization clinic’s fee of $65 per shot. She also mentioned the rabies vaccination, but since it cost somewhere around $600 for the series and it only gives you an extra 24 hours to get to a hospital if you are exposed, I opted not to get it. So, I ended up getting the tetanus shot and typhoid pills. I had heard a lot of horror stories about how painful and sore the tetanus shot would be, even from the woman who gave me the hepatitis vaccination just before I went to the immunization clinic. While all the stories about the pain of the tetanus shot may be true for some, or most, people, I didn’t have any pain or soreness from it. It may have something to do with the fact that I went running for 2 hours after I got the shot, but maybe it’s just that I have some superhuman immunity to pain from immunization shots.

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Let It Snow

The man on the radio was talking about a big storm moving in last night. You may be reading this thinking, spring storm, no big deal; however, when I woke up this morning, there were 3 inches of snow on the ground. Check out the photos.

A shot from the driveway looking out toward the lake

This hanging basket might not be doing so hot this year

Tree being weighed down by the snow

Simple shot of the rocks next to the driveway

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Haitian Training, Part 2

We had our second round of training for the Haiti trip today. Our homework was to do some research on Haiti and share something interesting we learned about the country and to bring some type of foreign food for a potluck. I checked the CIA World Factbook website to get some information. I thought it was interesting that 80% of the population in Haiti claims to be Christian, yet more than half of them practice voodoo. Matt explained that they practice voodoo more as a good luck charm than as a serious religion. My foreign foods were dried squid and mochi from the Asian market. The dried squid is like squid jerky. It’s white and very salty. I actually haven’t tried it myself because I’m allergic to it. Most of the people said it tasted alright, but it was very chewy and salty. Mochi is pounded rice, rolled into a ball and filled with red bean curd. It’s meant to be a dessert. It is sweet, but not as sweet as American desserts. It wasn’t too popular among the other missionaries.

I was curious what the safety policy was for everyone on the trip. More specifically, I was wondering what the policy was if we woke up in the middle of the night and heard one of the others being dragged out of their tents and being kidnapped. Matt said that his plan was to come out of his tent ready to take action. That sounded good to me. I just wasn’t sure if the policy in those situations was compliance rather than resistance. I’m sure there won’t be any problems, but it’s always good to be prepared.

I was planning on taking a group photo to post with this entry, but I forgot to do it before everyone left. I’ll be sure to include one with the report on the next training session.

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