MSI Press Blog

    excerpt from  How to Live from Your Heart  by Nanette Hucknall - Understanding the Heart   Imagine yourself in a deeply loving and completely fulfilling relationship, excited by each new day. Imagine you awake to intellectually stimulating work that matters in the world. Picture the deepest longings in your heart blooming into real, tangible manifestations of your creativity. You can have all of this. You already have the road map and the knowledge to create this beautiful life, and all that wisdom resides in your heart.  Your heart knows:       • Right from wrong       • Creativity from procrastination      • Love from lust      • Joy from mania      • Honesty from falsehoods And more.  And here’s the best news. Tapping into your heart communications skills will:      • Bring you a deeper perspective on events in your own life and in the ...

  I recently came across a wonderful post on Caring Bridge , a site that helps critically ill people and their caregivers establish to communicate with family members (so as not to have to repeat the same information many times). It also has a lot of other ways of providing support and supportive information. Among that information I discovered this great piece that I wish I had seen when I was the stressed-out caregiver for my husband and MSI Press typesetter, Carl Leaver .  Here is the post. Following the post is a list of 8 tips for managing spouse caregiver burnout -- and boy, are they great, starting with #1, "understand that your feelings are valid." You can read the tips HERE . What Is Spouse Caregiver Burnout? Spouse caregiver burnout is a state of exhaustion and stress that can affect people who provide ongoing care to their partner. Also called caregiver stress or caregiver fatigue, it’s something that can affect someone physically, mentally and emotionally. Unfortu...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. Standardized Tests   I’m not young enough to know everything  ~James Barrie   Teachers learn about students’ academic progress by using a variety of methods. They assess students by observing them in the classroom, evaluating their day-to-day work, grading their homework assignments, keeping close records of how they change or grow throughout the year (such as in portfolios), and administering tests. One type of test many teachers administer is a Standardized Test. Standardized Tests are not created by the classroom teacher. Rather, Standardized Tests are objective tests that are usually created by commercial test publishers. Some names of standardized tests that you may be familiar with include the California Achievement Tests (the CAT), the Stanford Achievement Test (the SAT), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (the ITBS...

  Probably, most people would not connect sleep deprivation and cancer, but some new research indicates there might be a connection. There appears to be as well a connection between sleep deprivation and obesity and between obesity and certain kinds of cancer.  According to various research projects, long-term sleep deprivation can affect the body's biological clock, which controls sleep and other functions, potentially raising the odds of cancers such as breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate. Night owls can be particularly at risk. Exposure to light during overnight shifts for several years can reduce levels of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep and may also have a role in preventing cancer growth. Here are a couple of the websites:  Does Sleep Affect Cancer Risk? | American Cancer Society  and  How does being a night owl impact quality of life and why? . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and ...