I hope that all are doing well.

Just so that there is no confusion re: magnesium oil that has recently
been mentioned in a couple posts in this forum. I have no first-hand
experience with the product so can not recommend a person use it or
not. It is not part of the program that I suggest.

From the posts that I've read from the person that is promoting this
product, my impression is that he is very knowledgeable. His focus
seems to be on the importance of magnesium for health. I agree that
magnesium is important, but so are a number of other minerals and
nutrients. The importance of any one is relative to the individual
and her/his own deficiencies or excesses of it. In general, most
people in the US are deficient in magnesium.

As I said I have no experience with the product but it sounds like it
is some mixture of magnesium and some kind of oil (I'm guessing olive
oil since fish oil would be a little too aromatic) and it is applied
topically, to the skin. The magnesium and oil is then absorbed
through the skin.

My thinking on this is that this pathway may be necessary for those
that, for some reason, are not able to eat since the design of the
body is to obtain this nutrient from the foods that we eat.

If a person needs magnesium, they had better be eating foods that are
good sources for magnesium. Any supplement should should not be taken
to compensate for poor choices in the diet. If ignorant of what foods
are good sources of magnesium, do a google search on the topic. Don't
concentrate on any one food item, but include a variety of all. As
each food will provide a different mix of nutrients.

A person could eat a diet rich in magnesium foods but still exhibit
signs of deficiency. Is this a situation in which the person should
look to a topical application of the mineral to obtain it?

It takes time for the body to correct a mineral imbalance, maybe a few
months. If the body is unable to get it from the foods that we eat,
assuming the nutrient is in the food, then this may indicate that
there might be other areas that may first need to be addressed.
Either there may be a problem with digestion in which the body is not
able to take up the mineral or there may be a problem in which the
body is using up magnesium faster than it is being provided in the
diet such as too much protein or too much sugar, or alcohol, or
caffiene all of which require more magnesium. In either case, these
areas need to be corrected too, before magnesium balance can be restored.

Well enough on magnesium. On to what I had wanted to write about, our
greatest freedom: choice.

You and I are where we are because of the direct and indirect
consequences of the choices that we have made. And, in part, the
choices of those that have gone before us, our parents, grandparents,
etc..., have contributed to our current state of being.

Now I might think, "I did not choose this". Had I known that certain
choices would have lead me to this state, I might have chosen
differently. "Had I known" is a key point. In most things we don't
know what the long term effects of our choices will be. Especially
since the choices made by others will sometimes have an influence upon
the outcome.

Life is all about choices. We can choose to act or not to take act,
but our inaction too is a choice. We make the choice, we live, and we
learn. If the outcome is not what we had wanted hopefully we can make
the connection and correct our choices such that they bring about the
desired outcome.

Abraham Lincoln said "Man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to
be". If I were asked to make a list of persons in history noted for
being happy, Abraham Lincoln would probably not be listed. Given the
amount of hardship and stress in his life It is no wonder he did not
appear to be more happy. Maybe this was something that he learned as
a result of his hard life? And so was not able to apply the principle
except toward the end of his life.

Victor Frankl, enduring the horrors in the concentration camps during
WW2, found that the one thing that could not be taken from him is his
freedom to choose his attitude toward his circumstances. From his
book, Man's Search for Meaning, "We can discover this meaning in life
in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a
value; and (3) by suffering."

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what
life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of
life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being
questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in
talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life
ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to
its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for
each individual." p.122
http://www.geocities.com/~webwinds/frankl/quotes.htm

Well, that should be enough to ponder for a while. For those that
chose to ask for information on the revised program and will choose to
follow it, I hope that you will also let me know of your status, how
you are applying it, and your progress.

All the best,
Jim

I used to work at International House of Pancakes. You set your goals.
You go for them. It's a dream. I made it happen. It was the worst job
I ever had in my entire life. I tell you something: When people would
be rude...I'd touch their eggs. -Paula Poundstone