Reactions to the latest events on a personal or global level, ConnectionZen's series of blogs will enrich your outlook on life and put a Zen perspective on current affairs.
Add your own personal perspective by leaving a comment on one of our blog posts.
Tears and Tantrums: What to Do When Babies and Children Cry, Aletha Solter, Shining Star Press, 1998
Great great great book! It can literally save your life as it helps you to understand and deal with children's tantrums. It explains how tears are necessary in the process of stress release. Very touching and respectful.
The organic foods sourcebook, Elaine Lipson, McGraw-Hill, 2001
Holding Time, Martha Welch, Fireside Books, 1989
How To Raise An Amazing Child The Montessori Way, Tim Seldin, DK Adult, 2006
The Hows and Whys of Alternative Education: Schools Where Students Thrive, Darlene Leiding, Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007
Many of the topics that are discussed on ConnectionZen could be considered to be “extreme” by the “General Public,” such as veganism, CrossFit, barefoot running or co-sleeping. Does that mean that being Zen is all about doing extreme things. Are all extreme things therefore good?
I just love this quote from Haruki Murakami’s book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.” School sports for me was very traumatic and, despite being there for good reasons, thoroughly turned me off physical activity, including running.
For many years we have been bathed in messages from the health industry, government and food processors that we need to eat foods low in fat. Moreover, industry has been telling us that we can eat the junk food we like because they’ve created low fat versions that will keep the fat off.
The population of animals in the arctic has been recorded over a 34 year period. Some have increased and some have diminished. While it’s not clear yet the impact of climate change, there are some indications that warming may be effecting arctic populations.
A research group at Princeton University has recently discovered that High-Fructose Corn Syrup is more effective in making people fat than other sweeteners. So if you want to put weight on, make sure that you’re consuming a lot of this product.
In the study, rats were given a diet which included water either sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or table sugar, sucrose. The weight gain in the HFCS fed rats was 48% greater than that in the sucrose fed rats, with much fat added around the abdomen.
Here are a couple of presentations by Mark Bittman and Michael Pollan on how they recommend eating and why. I really like their approach, which is to consume mainly plants with only a limited amount of animal derived foods. Check out the videos and see if it's an approach that could work for you.
It’s no secret that western societies are aging. It’s also no secret that this aging population will require more health services as they age and that this will fall on the shoulders of younger tax payers. Can reforming the food chain help manage this change?
Show your awareness of environmental issues and turn off your lights on Saturday! In a global show of the need to tackle climate change, ordinary people like you and me will be turning off their lights for one hour.
I was pretty horrified to come across this advert, in the Canadian magazine Macleans, promoting milk....
It is created by the Dairy Farmers of Canada (who will certainly assert their copyright), and whilst it states nothing that is legally wrong, it is shocking. It's shocking when you've learnt that milk contains several substances that are not good for human health. It's like Philip Morris complaining that Canadians are smoking enough cigarettes.
Sir Ken Robinson, the noted education expert has been interviewed on CNN following his presentation at TED. He made a few really pertinent remarks about why our education systems are not serving the needs of society.
Many of the topics that are discussed on ConnectionZen could be considered to be “extreme” by the “General Public,” such as veganism, CrossFit, barefoot running or co-sleeping. Does that mean that being Zen is all about doing extreme things. Are all extreme things therefore good?
I just love this quote from 
For many years we have been bathed in messages from the health industry, government and food processors that we need to eat foods low in fat. Moreover, industry has been telling us that we can eat the junk food we like because they’ve created low fat versions that will keep the fat off.
The population of animals in the arctic has been recorded over a 34 year period. Some have increased and some have diminished. While it’s not clear yet the impact of climate change, there are some indications that warming may be effecting arctic populations.
According to a new 
A research group at Princeton University has recently discovered that High-Fructose Corn Syrup is more effective in making people fat than other sweeteners. So if you want to put weight on, make sure that you’re consuming a lot of this product.
Here are a couple of presentations by Mark Bittman and Michael Pollan on how they recommend eating and why. I really like their approach, which is to consume mainly plants with only a limited amount of animal derived foods. Check out the videos and see if it's an approach that could work for you.
It’s no secret that western societies are aging. It’s also no secret that this aging population will require more health services as they age and that this will fall on the shoulders of younger tax payers. Can reforming the food chain help manage this change?
Show your awareness of environmental issues and turn off your lights on Saturday! In a global show of the need to tackle climate change, ordinary people like you and me will be turning off their lights for one hour.
I was pretty horrified to come across this advert, in the Canadian magazine Macleans, promoting milk.... 
Sir Ken Robinson
