Key 2 Loans and More

Is your family ready for the big one? If not you should be and do not for a second believe that Earthquakes only happen in California. There are seismic faults all over the world and in some places you might not even think of. You might be surprised how close you live to one and realize with a big Earthquake damage can occur up to a 100 miles away and that’s only from the shaking, not even thinking of Tsunami wave action. One thing you must remember is simply because there has been a large quake does not mean there will not be many aftershocks which follow. The bigger the quake the larger the aftershocks and the longer they can continue. After the Indonesia Quake the aftershocks continued for nearly a year.

After an Earthquake, check to make sure there are no leaks, if you smell gas, shut it off.

You need to have some sort of plan for your family, workplace and household. It is always wise to have a family member or contact point out of state that you can call and check in with to communicate messages to your local family. It is smart to have shoes, extra set of clothes and a jacket in your car in case you can’t get into your house or find yourself with glass all around. Battery operated flash lights are important as well as transistor radio. Make sure to have a small medical kit for cuts and burns, which are common minor injuries, which do occur in Earthquakes.

Do not eat all your food supplies the first day, ration out your supply it could be days until you can get to a store and looting can get you hurt or shot. Also be sure to have spare food for your pets. After you see your family is okay fill up your bathtub with water, as there maybe water lines broken this could be your last chance. Do not fill it completely to the top as after shocks could spill it.

You should have enough food on hand for 5-7 days and do not expect the government to come give you food, you have to look out for yourself. Also if you take medicine always have two weeks worth. Don’t assume you can go on a free shopping spree, when people start looting the store shelves empty in less than a couple of hours. A Wal-Mart maybe a day, but food will go fast, do not counting on joining the looters. If you run out of water there is usually 40 or so gallons in the average hot water heater and you can drain it out, assume you will need 1 gallon a day per family member for drinking water to keep you alive.

I hope this helps get you thinking of the types of things you might need. There are some valuable resources online as well as government websites with more information, which can assist you in setting up your family disaster plan. The purpose of this article is to get you to think, do some research and not procrastinate; you never know when an Earthquake will happen.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

What are friends for and how can a friendship be tested? By behaving altruistically, would be the most common answer and by sacrificing one’s interests in favour of one’s friends. Friendship implies the converse of egoism, both psychologically and ethically. But then we say that the dog is “man’s best friend”. After all, it is characterized by unconditional love, by unselfish behaviour, by sacrifice, when necessary. Isn’t this the epitome of friendship? Apparently not. On the one hand, the dog’s friendship seems to be unaffected by long term calculations of personal benefit. But that is not to say that it is not affected by calculations of a short-term nature. The owner, after all, looks after the dog and is the source of its subsistence and security. People – and dogs – have been known to have sacrificed their lives for less. The dog is selfish – it clings and protects what it regards to be its territory and its property (including – and especially so – the owner). Thus, the first condition, seemingly not satisfied by canine attachment is that it be reasonably unselfish.

There are, however, more important conditions:

1.. For a real friendship to exist – at least one of the friends must be a conscious and intelligent entity, possessed of mental states. It can be an individual, or a collective of individuals, but in both cases this requirement will similarly apply.
2.. There must be a minimal level of identical mental states between the terms of the equation of friendship. A human being cannot be friends with a tree (at least not in the fullest sense of the word).
3.. The behaviour must not be deterministic, lest it be interpreted as instinct driven. A conscious choice must be involved. This is a very surprising conclusion: the more “reliable”, the more “predictable” – the less appreciated. Someone who reacts identically to similar situations, without dedicating a first, let alone a second thought to it – his acts would be depreciated as “automatic responses”.
For a pattern of behaviour to be described as “friendship”, these four conditions must be met: diminished egoism, conscious and intelligent agents, identical mental states (allowing for the communication of the friendship) and non-deterministic behaviour, the result of constant decision making.

A friendship can be – and often is – tested in view of these criteria. There is a paradox underlying the very notion of testing a friendship. A real friend would never test his friend’s commitment and allegiance. Anyone who puts his friend to a test (deliberately) would hardly qualify as a friend himself. But circumstances can put ALL the members of a friendship, all the individuals (two or more) in the “collective” to a test of friendship. Financial hardship encountered by someone would surely oblige his friends to assist him – even if he himself did not take the initiative and explicitly asked them to do so. It is life that tests the resilience and strength and depth of true friendships – not the friends themselves.

In all the discussions of egoism versus altruism – confusion between self-interest and self-welfare prevails. A person may be urged on to act by his self-interest, which might be detrimental to his (long-term) self-welfare. Some behaviours and actions can satisfy short-term desires, urges, wishes (in short: self-interest) – and yet be self- destructive or otherwise adversely effect the individual’s future welfare. (Psychological) Egoism should, therefore, be re-defined as the active pursuit of self- welfare, not of self-interest. Only when the person caters, in a balanced manner, to both his present (self-interest) and his future (self-welfare) interests – can we call him an egoist. Otherwise, if he caters only to his immediate self-interest, seeks to fulfil his desires and disregards the future costs of his behaviour – he is an animal, not an egoist.

Joseph Butler separated the main (motivating) desire from the desire that is self- interest. The latter cannot exist without the former. A person is hungry and this is his desire. His self-interest is, therefore, to eat. But the hunger is directed at eating – not at fulfilling self-interests. Thus, hunger generates self-interest (to eat) but its object is eating. Self-interest is a second order desire that aims to satisfy first order desires (which can also motivate us directly).

This subtle distinction can be applied to disinterested behaviours, acts, which seem to lack a clear self-interest or even a first order desire. Consider why do people contribute to humanitarian causes? There is no self-interest here, even if we account for the global picture (with every possible future event in the life of the contributor). No rich American is likely to find himself starving in Somalia, the target of one such humanitarian aid mission.

But even here the Butler model can be validated. The first order desire of the donator is to avoid anxiety feelings generated by a cognitive dissonance. In the process of socialization we are all exposed to altruistic messages. They are internalized by us (some even to the extent of forming part of the almighty superego, the conscience). In parallel, we assimilate the punishment inflicted upon members of society who are not “social” enough, unwilling to contribute beyond that which is required to satisfy their self interest, selfish or egoistic, non-conformist, “too” individualistic, “too” idiosyncratic or eccentric, etc. Completely not being altruistic is “bad” and as such calls for “punishment”. This no longer is an outside judgement, on a case by case basis, with the penalty inflicted by an external moral authority. This comes from the inside: the opprobrium and reproach, the guilt, the punishment (read Kafka). Such impending punishment generates anxiety whenever the person judges himself not to have been altruistically “sufficient”. It is to avoid this anxiety or to quell it that a person engages in altruistic acts, the result of his social conditioning. To use the Butler scheme: the first-degree desire is to avoid the agonies of cognitive dissonance and the resulting anxiety. This can be achieved by committing acts of altruism. The second-degree desire is the self-interest to commit altruistic acts in order to satisfy the first-degree desire. No one engages in contributing to the poor because he wants them to be less poor or in famine relief because he does not want others to starve. People do these apparently selfless activities because they do not want to experience that tormenting inner voice and to suffer the acute anxiety, which accompanies it. Altruism is the name that we give to successful indoctrination. The stronger the process of socialization, the stricter the education, the more severely brought up the individual, the grimmer and more constraining his superego – the more of an altruist he is likely to be. Independent people who really feel comfortable with their selves are less likely to exhibit these behaviours.

This is the self-interest of society: altruism enhances the overall level of welfare. It redistributes resources more equitably, it tackles market failures more or less efficiently (progressive tax systems are altruistic), it reduces social pressures and stabilizes both individuals and society. Clearly, the self-interest of society is to make its members limit the pursuit of their own self-interest? There are many opinions and theories. They can be grouped into:

1.. Those who see an inverse relation between the two: the more satisfied the self interests of the individuals comprising a society – the worse off that society will end up. What is meant by “better off” is a different issue but at least the commonsense, intuitive, meaning is clear and begs no explanation. Many religions and strands of moral absolutism espouse this view.
2.. Those who believe that the more satisfied the self-interests of the individuals comprising a society – the better off this society will end up. These are the “hidden hand” theories. Individuals, which strive merely to maximize their utility, their happiness, their returns (profits) – find themselves inadvertently engaged in a colossal endeavour to better their society. This is mostly achieved through the dual mechanisms of market and price. Adam Smith is an example (and other schools of the dismal science).
3.. Those who believe that a delicate balance must exist between the two types of self-interest: the private and the public. While most individuals will be unable to obtain the full satisfaction of their self-interest – it is still conceivable that they will attain most of it. On the other hand, society must not fully tread on individuals’ rights to self-fulfilment, wealth accumulation and the pursuit of happiness. So, it must accept less than maximum satisfaction of its self-interest. The optimal mix exists and is, probably, of the minimax type. This is not a zero sum game and society and the individuals comprising it can maximize their worst outcomes.
The French have a saying: “Good bookkeeping – makes for a good friendship”. Self-interest, altruism and the interest of society at large are not necessarily incompatible.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain – How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com

Hello! Happy new year. May you live a long healthy life and prosper.

According to a study by US dept. of Health & Human Services, 96% of Americans never achieve financial independence. They end up depending on charity, welfare, family, or are forced to keep working past their retirement age.

According to the IRS, 85% of the people reaching age 65 years don’t have even $200 in their bank accounts! US Census Bureau says that 97% of Americans never realize their dreams and desires in life, and are forced to retire on annual income of $10,000 or less!

The average American is $15,000 in debt, not including their homes and car payments.

Parents will have to spend over $150,000+ to raise their kids to the age of 18 years, and will spend another $77,000 to send them to college.

Every day, about 2,200 Americans lose their jobs, while more than 20,000 families lose their homes to foreclosure every year, and another 500,000 file for personal bankruptcy.

Some of the largest US corporations have been continuously downsizing their work force and laying off thousands of people during the past ten years.

America is weakening and sinking deeper into a debt nation. The paradox is that America is the richest and greatest nation on earth, and yet millions of the people live below the poverty level.

Why is it so? Why is it that 1% of the Americans control 37% of all wealth, 60% of all the corporations, and 10% of all the real estate?

One of the reasons is that most people do not know the SECRETS of the RICH and POWERFUL and are ignorant of the dynamics of wealth creation, preservation and perpetuation.

The majority of the people have been misled to believe that to achieve financial security, success and happiness, all they have to do is to go to college, obtain a degree and get a job.

Nothing can be further from the Truth!

To make both ends meet, both husbands and wives have to go to work.

In some cases, some people have two or more jobs: day job, evening job, and weekend job.

They spend every minute of their lives running from one job to the next, and have no time to enjoy the money they make or the company and love of their families.

Both the husband and wife hardly have time for each other or their children.

The children have no role models and are devoid of proper parenting. Some start missing classes, hanging out with the wrong gang, using drugs and committing crimes.

This leads to moral decay, lack of discipline, dropping out of school and life in and out of prison, teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency.

It is pathetic! Even when both parents are working, they still have mountains of bills to pay: mortgage, car, credit card bills and personal loans.

When they lose their jobs, they are unable to continue with the payments, so they lose their car, then their homes and credit line and probably end up on skid rows.

This leads to marital strife, discontent, divorce and depression.

And life in other continents and countries of the world are not better!

Since the economies and the currencies of the other countries of the world depend largely on American economy and currency, whatever happens in America ultimately affects the other countries!

America gives billions of dollars in financial and military aids annually to many countries in the world.

But many of the governments of these countries (especially the developing ones) are corrupt to the bone!

They steal these billions of dollars and salt them away in secret Swiss Bank accounts.

They don’t use it to build manufacturing industries that will create jobs for their country people.

They don’t use it to build the infrastructures to enhance the quality of life of their people.

Their people have no modern amenities and infrastructures, good roads, electricity, running water, telecommunication service, or jobs.

They have no business, no future and no hope!

That explains why some of them dabble in scams, while others escape to seek a better fate in America and European countries.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to these corrupt governments that enrich a few corrupt politicians, why not give the same billions of dollars to American corporations so they can go to those countries and help them build up their economies and create jobs that benefit the people?

That is what American government should be doing, if it is seriously interested in helping people from other countries of the world.

This may help improve international relationships and restore the respect and love that other countries once had for America.

Please feel free to print or publish this article anywhere and read and also send to your friends and well wishers and please preserve the resource box below.

Have a happy new year filled with sunlight, success, good health and may your dreams and ambitions come true.

Warmly,

I-key Benney

Visit Maychic’s website at: http://www.maychic.com

And also Maychic’s Amazon.com Store at:
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Active weight watchers consistently ask what foods can I eat and
what foods should I avoid. This is a genuine thing because if
you have set a goal to lose weight you want to be sure that you
are eating the right things. The good news is that there are
very few foods that you should avoid such as:

- Any type of fast food. (Pizza’s, burgers etc.) – All soft
drinks that fizz. – Never drink beer when you eat, or eat when
you drink beer. Beer will stop your body from breaking down fats.

What is more important is how much you eat. The excess weight
that you put on is the difference between calories digested and
calories burnt off through exercise. Therefore if you lead an
active life you are able to consume more calories and your
activity will burn them off. If your lifestyle lacks physical
activity you must consume less calories and search for ways to
become more active. Therefore the size of the serving depends
upon your lifestyle. The wife of a physical worker needs to
serve him larger portions because he needs it to create the
energy required to get through a physically exhausting day. The
risk that she takes is that by serving large meals to him she
tends to serves similarly large meals to herself; often using
the excuse that she is only eating two-thirds the amount he
consumes. If her activity level is only half of his then
two-thirds could be over-eating.

In the developed world adults consume on average 3,500 calories
each day. Adults actually require 2,000 calories to function
properly. Now imagine lowering your calorie intake to 3,000 per
day. The 500 calories less consumed each day equates to 3,500
calories per week less or six days food every seven days. It
just happens that 3,500 calories equals one pound in weight and
if you can lose one pound (450 grams) each week you are at the
optimum weight loss level. As a general rule diets that reduce
weight by greater than one pound per week are short term and 99%
of people put that weight back on. One-pound weight loss per
week is the most sustainable amount.

How can you achieve this reduction in calories consumed? Easy,
at the start of each day decide what you are not going to
consume that day. Say Monday becomes no bread day. That means
that you do not eat any bread on Monday. More importantly you
don’t eat more of something else to compensate. Tuesday may be
no potato day. Wednesday no cakes or cookies etc. etc. At the
same time as you do this you increase your exercise level. Park
the car at the furthest point from the supermarket door. Use the
stairs rather than an escalator. Take a walk after dinner. Just
do things that you’ve been avoiding and see how quickly you lose
weight and keep it off.

This article is copyright © David McCarthy 2006 and may only be
re-produced without alteration or addition.

Once again our landlord has left us in the lurch, this time legging it on holiday while our boiler quietly leaks gas in to our “luxury apartment”. Thanks very much, Mr. Thorn! We’re livid, as you might imagine, particularly as my niece was in the flat for a whole three hours after the plumber said the leak was fixed and there was no chance of a re-occurrence. Thank god we bought the testing kit rather than waiting until we got drowsy…our sense of smell might have smelt a rat prior to our shuffling off this mortal coil but I doubt young Emma has the lung capacity Brian and I do, and may well have been dead before anyone noticed a thing.

I’m outraged, and I’ll be writing to the Daily Mail as well as Basingstoke Council and my local MP. Along with anyone else I can bloody write to…what a disgrace.

I’m not sure what the law is on the subject and all I’ve managed to turn up so far is another scummy landlord who got fined for gas safety violations, but mark my words, I’ll find out what laws Thorne and Co. have broken and bring their whole sorry enterprise crashing down around them with it.

“He who asks a question may be a fool for five minutes, but he who never asks a question remains a fool forever.”

Tom J. Connelly

While killing time at my younger children’s swimming lesson, I usually sit and do some reading and note-taking for whatever topic I am concentrating on in my Coaching. I am one of the few parents who don’t sit pool-side, as I have found if I do this I get too hot, but also the children concentrate more on me than their lesson! So I sit out on some very hard, uncomfortable benches and enjoy the opportunity to read. Occasionally I chat to other people, but mostly I read and write….and have become an object of curiosity, as I found out this week.

A woman who is regularly there to collect her son from the class before ours finally plucked up the courage to ask me what I was doing. That led to some other parents joining in and asking me questions about what I do and why I am always reading and researching. It was good to explain that I enjoy learning new things to help me be the best Coach I can be. My education did not stop when I got my Coaching Diploma! As she left, I said that I really didn’t mind her questions and, next time, please just ask!

Later the issue of asking and questions came up again when I was in touch with a young friend who is having some family problems. The family exchanges seem to consist of shouting-matches or silences. I have encouraged him to choose his moment carefully and ask all the questions that are running around his head. Those questions, while they remain unanswered, will only serve to make him feel worse, but also will add to the family tension. So, this week, what questions do you need to ask? What have you been putting off for fear of asking?

What questions can you ask this week that will help to move you forward? What do you need to know? Who do you need to ask? This could be either at work or elsewhere. Think about what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes the right question asked of the right person can provide the key to progress. What will your question be?

Which questions have you not asked that won’t go away? They run around your head, taking valuable thinking-space and pop up at the most awkward moments. Stop putting it off and start asking! If you need to, jot the questions down on some paper to help you make sense of them. Your head will be a much less cluttered place without them!

Ask questions of yourself. “What do I really, really want?” Take it further. Be specific. “What do I want from my job?” “What do I want from my relationships?” Go as far as you can. Then – “How can I make this happen?” “What steps do I need to take?” Break it down by questioning yourself.

Ask yourself “What can I do to add more activity into my day?” Others can make suggestions until they’re blue in the face, but only you will know what is right for you and what will fit in with your other commitments. Choose something that you’ll enjoy and that you’ll stick to. Don’t forget, every little bit of activity counts, so if you can only do a bit here, a bit there etc, it all adds up!

Have you asked yourself recently about why you do the things you do? If not, make this the week that you do. If you are doing things because you have to, you will not be so committed to them and will not feel engaged. This may mean that you need to do some negotiating to get the task reassigned, or perhaps you need to look at it in a different way and approach it from a different angle.

“What can I do today to add something new to my life?” What a great question! This opens you up for so many new experiences. Enjoy!

How can you get creative this week – with your questions or something else? You can be creative in so many ways. How many can you think of that appeal to you? Where can you make space to express that creativity in your daily life?

What does asking a question cost? A bit of thinking time and some effort while speaking to make your words clear. What is the worst that can happen if you ask for something? You could get a negative response. Will the world come to a standstill? No. On the other hand you may be rewarded with the positive answer you are looking for or with some new information which will help you work better or live better. So how can you find out? You only have to ask…….

Kate Harper is based in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Check out her website http://www.harpercoaching.com.

She works with people from all over the world who are seeking change in their lives. If that is you, please take a look at Kate’s website. Her special interests are the promotion of Wellbeing and Self Confidence through her coaching.

“The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.” Madame Marie du Deffand

Take your first step today and contact Kate.

I’ll never forget it. Several years ago I was on my way to see
KISS in concert (first time seeing them with makeup, I might
add) with a good friend of mine. She was interested in music as
I was; she had taken piano lessons for ten years or so.
Inevitably the conversation during the drive turned to
music…all different aspects of it.

We got to the subject of what exactly music instrument lessons
really teach you, and I asked her a very simple theory question:
“What is the chord spelling for a minor chord?” (in case you are
wondering, the answer is 1, flat 3, 5…more on this in later
articles).

I was shocked to find out that she had absolutlely NO idea what
I was talking about.

I tried to explain to her the basic theory behind this question,
but see seemed to get more confused as we went. I just could not
understand how someone that had taken lessons for ten years
could not have the slightest inclination as to what she was
playing. She stated “all I ever was taught was how to read music
- what notes on the page corresponds to what key on the piano”.

This simple conversation had shown me how important it was to at
least have some sort of understanding of basic music theory. I
know…there are many, many guitar players and musicians out
there that are perfectly happy with their level of knowledge (
my brother-in-law has been trying to learn guitar for the past
year simply to be a chick-magnet).

I guess my point is this: going beyond the chord books and scale
charts and guitar tab and standard music notation is this
living, breathing “thing” that you can’t really appreciate until
you “get into it”. I have found that once you get the urge to
develop more knowledge about theory, it can be hard to stop.
Granted, everyone has a level where they are comfortable…but
you would be doing yourself and your music a dis-service by not
trying to get to that point. It kind of struck me as sad that I
would never be able to jam with my friend and be able to yell
out “follow me – play a 1-4-5 12 bar blues in ‘E’”.

Do I know or claim to know everything about theory? Absolulely
not…but I am comfortable with the level I am at. I can sit in
with any rock back and hold my own. Now jazz on the other
hand…I know I would have to do some work. But you know what?
That’s OK!

By the way (just in case you were wondering)…the concert was
AWESOME!!!

The casual golfer who would like to brush up their game, and the
person new to it, don’t always have the time to commit to a long
course of lessons. For them, a one-day session on the golf
course may be enough to smooth away some rough edges, or in the
case of a new player, it may show them just where they really
need help, and they can enroll in a course or lessons that
address those issues.

Many courses and golf schools will offer a one-day course of
instruction, which may start in the morning or afternoon, and
cover nine holes of their course. Some people prefer being out
in the actual environment of the golf course, and for them, this
session may provide both tips on their game, and a chance to
enjoy the outdoors.

Depending on how the school has structured these sessions, you
may be able to take a private lesson, as a group, or as couples.
Ideally, if you need more focus on some aspects of your game,
either the private or couples lesson is best, as there will be
fewer distractions for both you and the instructor.

Just as in “full” school programs that last several weeks of
lessons and practice, you’ll cover golf basics such as the type
of clubs a bag includes, what they are used for, and how to get
the most out of them.

Lessons start as soon as you step up to the tee, with
instruction on how to approach the ball, position your body,
estimate the impact required for a good drive, and body
positioning on both the upswing and follow through.

Once you’re onto the fairway, you’ll be dealing with the change
from woods to irons, and the situations in which each should be
used. This is also the area where inexperienced golfers, and
even the experts, sometimes find themselves in trouble with the
sand traps and roughs. Your instructor will provide the
strategies, stance, and proper swings to chipping yourself out
of bad spots, as well as how to get the most distance out of a
shot off the rough.

Onto the green, and you’ll learn how to make the most of your
putter, taking into consideration the angle of the shot, rises
or dips in the ground, the grass around the cup, and how to
properly estimate the amount of power needed to get the ball to
the flag and not beyond it.

Along with the practical lessons on your clubs, shots and
strategies, most instructors will also touch on the mental
aspect of the game. It’s not something just for PGA players, and
even the weekend duffer will benefit from learning to focus and
tune out the world around them.

Remember when you weighed over 300 pounds and you literally felt “stuffed” into your clothes? Zippered pants and tailored shirts just weren’t your “style”, or closer to the truth, you couldn’t find any zippered pants that fit you well or shirts that didn’t peep open of pop buttons! Elastic became your closest buddy! Do you recall how self-conscience you were to not bend over for fear of busting out your seat? Or how about the way your large thighs would rub so much against the inside seam of your pants, you were glad that nobody could see that you had splitting material in between your legs?

Those are awful and painful memories of what life was like before your gastric bypass weight-loss surgery! It almost feels as if those memories are a whole lifetime behind you now, doesn’t it? And for those who have had the surgery and are still working toward their goal weight, those memories aren’t far enough away yet.

Many gastric bypass patients, as they slim down, do not know how to wear smaller-size clothing. They find the freedoms of loose-fitting garments to be refreshing, less binding, and more relaxing. They often adore this newly-found delight and are happy with the way their clothing “hangs” on them instead of wraps tightly around their body.

These same patients who wear the loose clothing often have issues with thinking they have not lost enough weight. They will say things like, “the scale shows I’ve lost weight, but when I see myself in the mirror, I still look so large.”

For those patients who are feeling that way, I want to make a suggestion that just might be the simplest fix; I’ve dubbed this to be my “Getting Rid of the Baggies” campaign.

And I don’t mean sandwich baggies either!

Losing weight so quickly is an adventure, to say the least. We go through a lot of size changes every few weeks. I recall when I was losing, I was going to the thrift stores every three weeks to buy more clothing to fit me until the next drop in size came. Not very expensive when they are “used” items. It was something I had to do!

Some patients have no clue that they are trapped in their baggies until someone points that out to them. This should be done in the kindest of ways, or in the manner that suits your friendship. If you truly are friends with someone who is trapped in the baggies, then you can be blunt and to the point by saying, “Get out of those baggies!” Others may require a gentler tone if you are to remain friends.

What if nobody is telling you that you’re trapped in the baggies? Does that mean you’re not?

NO. It probably means that they are too afraid to tell you at risk of hurting your feelings.

This is where I jump in