And now, the moment you have been waiting for all week.  No– not that moment.  It is the moment when yours truly presents the best, the brightest, the most informative, interesting, and entertaining of my sojourn on the internet.  Today I have gratitude, no worries, losing recognition of our own face, the God of the future, marrying biblical sisters, Scrubs and the end of life, and a football team without a home field, and eloping six year olds, amongst a lot of other really, really good stuff.  So dig in and enjoy the best of the internet (I could find)-

Regarding the Mind-

PsyBlog shares an evidenced based way we can all increase our happiness, through a simple exercise in gratitude.  I had trouble categorizing this one.  I hesitate to support the idea that empiric measurement moves matters of the soul to matters of the mind.  However, room is lacking and we are integrated beings.  It is wonderful to see science on spiritual truth out there, enriching both the life of the mind and soul.

At Reverse Thinking, John Eaton wants everyone to know that worrying is bad for your health, and helpfully shares some strategies for shutting the worries off.

At Neurophilosophy, Mo relates an interesting study revealing that touch sensation can disrupt our ability to recognize our own face.

Regarding the Soul-

At Zelophehad’s Daughters, Lynnette shares some profoundly hopeful, yet grounded theology on the depressing subject of human frailty, sins, and shortcomings, made more hopeful by looking forward rather than backward, as she asserts that her God is a God of the future.

Audacious Epigone has a breakdown of the much ballyhooed Pew survey that shows exactly how Religions compare at living life in community.

Mormon Heretic has a wonderful reinterpretation of the biblical story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel, as it can apply to anyone’s marriage, based upon our dual nature and our idealization of those we fall in love with.  We all see and desire a Rachel, but with her comes the Leah we did not anticipate.  When our hearts are large enough, we welcome both gladly.

Regarding the Body-

Medgadget reports the invention of one size fits all self adjustable glasses powered by water, making the fitting of glasses much, much cheaper and more available to the developing nations.  Very cool!

 Medical News Today reports an interesting studythat found the hormone Oxytocin, which I have blogged about before, increases facial recognition as part of its role in human trust and relationships.

At Bioethics blog, Summer Johnson, PhD, reports the discovery that pumping a bloodlike oxygen carrying substance through the blood vessels of donated kidneys makes for less transplanted organ failure, preserving an invaluable life saving resource and saving substantial medical costs. 

or All the Above-

Edwin Leap, MD writes a sparkling, stunning post celebrating the miracle of life, the miracle of medicine and the miracle of the human body.  Posts like this keep me going on the tough days.

At the Pallimed: Arts and Humanities blogcomes a shout out to the the most real, and most hysterical TV series on doctorhood ever to hit the small screen, Scrubs, as they share some poignant clips from a powerful episode on grieving the end of life for patients.

Peter Singer writes anobituary for Harriet McBryde Johnson, A New York Lawyer who was born with a severe muscle wasting disease, that challenged him in 2001 to a debate in which he argued against her very existence.

At Repairing the Healthcare system, Dr. Stanley Feld prescribes a reconception of the Doctor-Patient relationship that puts health in proper perspective and serves everyone well.

In a similar vein, At Health Skills Weblog, Amiedus Free shares some wisdom gleaned from the memoirs of Dr. Clifton Meador, about the fallacy of separating body from soul in the healing process, and the transition from fixer/curer to healer making the patient a  person once more.

and just because I Liked it-

At ESPN magazine, Rick Reilly has an amazing, heartwarming story about a Football team with no home and no fans and the city that took them in and let them know somebody cared.

The BBC has a report about two six year old German children, so much in love that they tried to elope across the world to tie the knot, until they found tickets and money are necessary for that kind of stuff.

At Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel shared this cartoon that has been making rounds this past Christmas on the internets.  Who knew we could all be so generous.

   With that I bid adieu.  Remember to vote early and often, for the blogger of your choice (Me!) at Wellsphere (-note- only one vote per blogger, but you can vote for all your other favorites as well).  Voting remains open at the medblogger awards at Medgadget as well.  If you have an unquenchable thirst for more, check out a treehugging edition of the Surgexperiences carnival at Reflections in a Headmirror, or a wonderful Grand Rounds at Edwin Leap, MD exploring profit and medicine.  Until next time, good day.

   Tagged: anxiety, Bible, body, children, community, culture, curing, elopement, end of life, facial recognition, football, glasses, gratitude, happiness, healing, health, life, marriage, medical ethics, miracle, organ donation, oxytocin, palliative care, perception, religion, scripture, scrubs, support, Theology, worry