What is whole heath?

I just finished reading a book called What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, which I loved, and so I went to author Dr. Lissa Rankin's website called Owning Pink. Lissa was a gynecologist for years until she became fed up with what she considered an incomplete system. She felt the medicine she was trained to practice was missing something, so she quit her job and spent some time coming up with a new, more holistic model that I think makes much more sense.

I'll be honest and say that if I had come across Owning Pink without having read Lissa's book and not knowing her background, I probably would have dismissed it as touchy-feely crap that somebody made up 'cause they don't like going to the doctor. That's not what this is. Dr. Rankin has extensive medical knowledge from being a physician for 8 years, and she had the courage to give up a secure job and stable life because she knew the system in which she worked was not quite right. It didn't jive with her picture of what it meant to be completely healthy.

Her view on "whole health" is not just about physical health, it includes spirituality, sexuality, relationships, financial issues, life purpose, and environment, among other things. The idea is that all aspects of your life need to be healthy in order for you to be "wholly" healthy, and if any of these parts are crumbling, your physical health deteriorates, showing signs of this unhealthiness. It's really very logical. I recommend you take a look at Lissa's own explain on her website. (The theory applies to both men and women, but most of the Owning Pink website is aimed at women.)

The Guard and the Wrong Guy

A couple weeks ago I went to see The Guard with Kristine, a library coworker. It's an independent Irish film starring Brenden Gleeson and Don Cheedle, and I loved it! It's very typical Irish dark humor (hilarious!), and the acting, of course, is brilliant (my favorite baddie, Mark Strong, is in it too!). It's nice to see a non-Hollywood, non-American film every once in a while to keep me from getting bored with movies. Especially after a summer full of mostly conventional blockbusters (which is pretty much every summer, to be honest), I like to refresh myself with a little odd indie film like this one. In fact, I think this is probably my favorite film of the year so far! It's the first feature from director John Michael McDonagh--I think I may have to keep an eye out for what he produces in the future.

The Guard trailer:

I checked out another book from the library on a whim. It's called How Not to Marry the Wrong Guy by Anne Milford and Jennifer Gauvain, MSW, LCSW. It has the subheadings of "Is He 'the One' or Should You Run?" and "A Guide to Living Happily Ever After," with a picture on the cover of a wedding cake with a little bride and groom on top, and the bride dashing away. I laughed when I saw it and read the first few lines. They intrigued me! I decided to check it out just to see what it ridiculous things it might say, but now I find myself actually reading it through. It's quite interesting! The authors interviewed numerous women from varying backgrounds asking them to give advice to other women on how not to make the mistakes they did. So the book is filled with snippets and stories from women who have been through bad relationships and marriages, giving the reader a good idea of how to recognize "red flags." It also serves the purpose of letting the reader know she's not alone in her situation. The book's objective is to help women recognize unhealthy relationships, and to realize that although it is hard to break it off, it will only get worse if it's allowed to continue. I personally am in a very satisfying relationship, but I still feel as though I'm learning from this book. At the very least, the various anecdotes given within have helped me realize why it's possible for so many women to stay in relationships they know aren't good for them. (It also helps confirm for me the healthiness of my own relationship.) Regardless of one's relationship status, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the psychology behind bad relationships, or anyone who wonders why the divorce rate is so high in this country.

Did a lot of stuff today!

So this morning I slept in really late 'cause I was having a really interesting dream. It was about Harry Potter. It had Harry Potter characters in it, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, McGonagall, Bellatrix Lestrange, etc. The plot, however, was not the one from the books. The characters were the same, but the events were completely different. Also, I was not in it. Most of the dream was in third person, like I was just watching it happen, but for some parts, I was seeing things in first person from Harry's perspective! In one these instances I was Harry was flying on a broomstick. That was cool! Awesome dream.

Soon after I got out of bed, I went to pick up Aleithia. We ate lunch at the Spicy Pickle (mmmm!) and then went to see Beginners at AMC. We were originally going to see Horrible Bosses, but I'm rather glad we picked this one instead. It was very different than anything I've seen recently. The story itself was original, about a man named Oliver (Ewan McGregor) who is in a new relationship with a Bohemian girl (Mélanie Laurent) and thinking back on his last years with his recently deceased father (Christopher Plummer) who came out of the closet at age 75 when his wife died. And the storytelling was quite refreshing, as well. Oliver's dog has subtitles (which are Oliver's thoughts being projected onto the dog by the character), and as Oliver thinks back to the past, photos flash onto the screen as he tells us, "This is was what nature looked like in 2003. This was the president." Perhaps an odd way for a narrator to tell a story, but it was effective at guiding the audience to see from Oliver's perspective. It's not exactly a feel-good movie, but it has a relaxing air to it and I could see myself watching this on DVD at home, snuggled up on the couch. I just might buy it when it goes to video.

After that was work at the library, from 5-9pm. Uneventful, but I checked out Fun & Creative Dates for Dating Couples since I enjoyed Fun & Creative Dates for Married Couples. I did like Dating Couples better than Married Couples, though, for obvious reasons. They both have similar ideas in them, but with small detailes pertaining to which kind of relationship you're in. And I can't exactly recreate my marriage proposal, as I've not yet had that experience. I would definitely recommend both books. Dating Couples for those people, and Married Couples for those other people.

Tonight I was watching Jay Leno (I don't rightly know why) and Daniel Craig was a guest (maybe that's why). The clip they showed from Cowboys & Aliens made me excited for the midnight premier, for which I just bought tickets. I think it's gonna be really entertaining, if not generally amazing.

Here's a cute trailer of Beginners: