Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Please, don't worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren't paying attention to. Seize the day. Make your life extraordinary.
     The human spirit is more powerful than any drug - and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

~Robin Williams~

IT'S TIME FOR 

JUST JOKING MONDAYS

     Ever since my children were born, the moment I looked at them I was crazy about them. Once I held them I was hooked. I am addicted to my children sir. I love them with all my heart and the idea of someone telling me I can't be with them, I can't see them everyday. Well, it's like someone saying I can't have air.

     Everyone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying "I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award." The other is "You want fries with that?

~Robin Williams~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns

     October 17, 2023: There is a widening chasm between the righteous and unrighteous, which will change the dynamic in relationships. This interruption will continue as some people you have been in touch with in the past and present will just seem to fade away. You must rise up and walk in the divine flow of My Spirit. Otherwise, you will try to fill the void created by these changes apart from My will, says the Lord. Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

 T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N 

     There is a time in the life of every predicament where it is ripe for resolution. Emotions provide the cue to act when a problem is big enough to see, yet still small enough to solve. By understanding your emotions, you can move adeptly through your current challenges and prevent future ones. Emotional self-control is the result of hard work, not an inherent skill. 
     People who fail to use their emotional intelligence skills are more likely to turn to other, less effective means of managing their mood. They are twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and even thoughts of suicide. Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships.

~Travis Bradberry~

Kenneth Davis

 T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N 

         The control center of your life is your attitude. You are younger today than you will ever be again. Make use of it for the sake of tomorrow. Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. Assume responsibility for the quality of your own life. It is well known that panic, despair, depression, hate, rage, exasperation, frustration all produces negative biochemical changes in the body.
     On the quality of life: #1. Realize that each human being has a built-in capacity for recuperation and repair. #2. Recognize that the quality of life is all-important. #3. Assume responsibility for the quality of your own life. #4. Nurture the regenerative and restorative forces within you. #5. Utilize laughter to create a mood in which the other positive emotions can be put to work for yourself and those around you. #6. Develop confidence and ability to feel love, hope and faith, and acquire a strong will to live.

~Norman Cousins~
 

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Scientists Discover Strange Link Between Internet Use and Dementia

Story by Noor Al-Sibai • https://futurism.com/

     Scientists investigated whether internet use is linked with the likelihood of developing dementia — and found, interestingly, that moderate and regular internet use seems to be cognitively helpful to older folks, even if their Facebook posts might sometimes suggest otherwise. Published in the August edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the paper's authors at NYU's School of Global Public Health, were inspired by the dearth of research on the "long-term cognitive impact of internet usage among older adults," especially with most of what is out there focusing on the negative impacts of internet use rather than potential positives.
     The researchers followed the healthcare outcomes of dementia-free adults between the ages of 50 and 65 for up to 17 years using the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal survey that contains information about 20,000 older American adults. Every two years between 2002 and 2018, the Michigan study's coordinators asked participants if they "regularly" used the internet and, if so, how much they used it. The answers varied, but 65 percent said they were regular users and 21 percent saw their habits change significantly over their participation period. Unfortunately, some participants either died or developed dementia during the period as well.
      Of those participants who were active users, the new study's authors found that there was a 1.54 percent risk of developing dementia, whereas non-users seemed to have a whopping 10.45 percent risk. Measuring the amount of time it took for the survey's participants to develop dementia, the AGS study found that regular internet users were just half as likely to develop the cognitive disorder than their non-using counterparts. An important caveat, though, was that there did seem to also be a correlation between using the internet too much and developing dementia as well, with the risk seeming to increase in those who used it for more than two hours per day.
     "Among older adults, regular internet users may experience a lower risk of dementia compared to non‐regular users, and longer periods of regular internet usage in late adulthood may help reduce the risks of subsequent dementia incidence," Gawon Cho, then at NYU, told Medscape Medical News earlier this year of the study's findings. "Nonetheless, using the internet excessively daily may negatively affect the risk of dementia in older adults." As with many other studies, of course, there's always the chance that the relationship between correlation and causation is more complex than it appears.
    "It may be that regular internet usage is associated with increased cognitive stimulation, and in turn reduced risk of dementia," Claire Sexton of the Alzheimer's Association, who was not involved in the research, told Medscape, "or it may be that individuals with lower risk of dementia are more likely to engage in regular internet usage." To clarify that causation issue — and to better understand this link in the first place — Sexton said that there needs to be further research. But in the meantime, this new piece of evidence shows that maybe a little screen time isn't the worst thing in the world as you age.

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born. I believe we are here to do good. It is the responsibility of every human being to aspire to do something worthwhile, to make the world a better place than the one we found.
     From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. 

~Albert Einstein~

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER

Kenneth Davis

 T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N 

     In regard to music, I just think that it's always best to have an attitude of being a perpetual student and always look to learn something new about music, because there's always something new to learn. Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized and there's just no outlet, there's no venue for it, in terms of media.
     Jazz music by its very nature is just a conglomerate of a lot of different kinds of music. Jazz music should be inclusive. Smooth jazz to me rules out a certain kind of drama and a certain tension that I think all music needs. Especially jazz music, since improvising is one of the cornerstones of what jazz is. And when you smooth it out, you take all the drama out of it. Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.

~David Sanborn~

    WELCOME TO 
SMOOTH
 CONTEMPORARY JAZZ 
FRIDAYS

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N 

     Look closely at the present you are constructing it should look like the future you are dreaming. In every life there comes a point when you have to make a decision about how you will live. Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
     Every small positive change we make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future. You have to steal back yourself. You have to steal back your own mind. Meditation helps in that area. We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that's going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

~Alice Walker~

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE FOR A LITTLE BLUES ON SATURDAY!

Kenneth Davis

  SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns

     October 22, 2023: I will lead you to a high place in the Spirit, says the Lord. Progression will be your theme as you move with Me. I have things to show you, but you need to make sure that your reach is beyond your grasp; that your expectation is beyond what you can see in the natural realm. That which seems impossible will become possible when you align your will with Mine. Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.

 T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     What one can be, one must be! If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life. You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety. One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.
    I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness. When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love, and self-esteem.

~Abraham Maslow~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS

TO

BEVERLY BELL MILLER

     Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious. There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. 

~Thomas Aquinas~

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Run towards that very thing that you fear, because there's amazing blessings on the other side. If you don't go towards the thing you fear, you won't be able to say you lived. The best piece of advice someone has ever given me was 'do it scared.' And no matter if you're scared, just go ahead and do it anyway because you might as well do it scared, so it will get done and you will feel so much better if you step out of your comfort zone.
     The thing I want to really say is that I still mess up. I still go out there and say things on TV that I know the Lord is like, 'Sherri what are you doing?' but I know I can go back and get on my knees and say, 'Lord forgive me.' I know he will never leave me nor forsake me. The wonderful thing is He answers my prayers in spite of me.

IT'S TIME FOR 
JUST JOKING MONDAYS

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS

TO

WANDA TAYLOR

     I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world. Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments. I know not age, nor weariness nor defeat. I have come to the conclusion that the most important element in human life is faith.

~Rose Kennedy~

Kenneth Davis

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns

October 24, 2023: Examine your heart and make sure that you have no ill will or unforgiveness towards anyone, for that would negate the blessings I have in store for you. This is an opportune time to get your heart and mind aligned with My word and My will, says the Lord. Be generous in your attitudes; there is no need to be snarky. Mark 11:25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     People can look to me as a teacher, but I consider myself a student of hip-hop. I'm forever learning and that's why I'm always able to create new styles and new dimensions of hip-hop. I've learned how to look at things and not judge them, but respect them and use it in a way that people understand that I respect them, show them love and respect their reality.
     I always say, 'Man, the Creator is preparing me for something. He's keeping the sun on me for some reason. He's keeping me aligned with that generation.' Because I genuinely love people, I love hip-hop, and I love using it as a tool to communicate and to create a better vibration. Life is short. I guess I'm lined up for a reason.

~Doug E. Fresh~

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy life. Seventy-five percent of MS sufferers are women. If you get a diagnosis, get on a therapy, keep a good attitude and keep your sense of humor. I think there are a lot of myths about MS, and it may have affected my career.
     Oddly enough, MS has made my life so much better than it was before. I now appreciate what I have and I am not running around like a rat in a maze. I'm wondering if they haven't reported all the people with MS, because if all of the cases were reported, the government would have to step in and give more financial aid to us.
     I have a disease, but I also have a lot of other things. There's always going to be somebody worse off than me. You have to find out what's right for you, so it's trial and error. You are going to be all right if you accept realistic goals for yourself. I have an enormous fondness for delicious food. It's very comforting. I plan to live to be 120!!!

~Teri Garr~

 
  WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Study Finds This Common Fruit Can Help Improve Brain Function

Story by Stacey Ritzen -  https://www.mensjournal.com/

     Strawberries are already known for being one of the healthiest, nutrient-dense fruits, chock full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. However, according to a new study, strawberry consumption may also be linked with improved brain function and lowered blood pressure. The study, which was conducted by San Diego State University and funded by the California Strawberry Commission, presented the findings at the American Society of Nutrition's 2023 Nutrition conference last month. The sampling of participants, described as a group of about "35 healthy older adults," consumed 26 grams of a freeze-dried strawberry powder—or the equivalent of about two cups of fresh strawberries—daily for eight weeks.
     Researchers primarily measured cognition based on neurological and behavioral function, as well as cardiometabolic health assessed by blood pressure and waist circumference. What they found was that cognitive processing speed increased moderately among participants who consumed the strawberry powder. Strawberry consumption also reduced systolic blood pressure, reduced waist circumference, and increased total-antioxidant capacity.
     "Prior to conducting our clinical study, some of the similar effects were shown in animal studies and some human studies, but different populations and different designs," Dr. Shirin Hooshmand, San Diego State University associate professor and co-author of the study, told Good Housekeeping. "Following strawberry consumption daily for eight weeks, cognitive processing speed increased by 5.2 percent, systolic blood pressure decreased by 3.6 percent, and total antioxidant capacity significantly increased by 10.2 percent." The new research only reinforces that strawberries are a nutritional powerhouse. At just under 50 calories, one cup of the fruit boasts three grams of fiber and only about 11 grams of carbs. 
     A one-cup serving of strawberries also pack in 85 milligrams of vitamin C, which meets about 100 percent of the recommended daily intake of 75 milligrams per day for women and 90 per day for men. As an antioxidant, vitamin C helps boost immune function, benefits healthy skin, and can also reduce the risk of several chronic diseases. And with plenty of ways to incorporate strawberries into food and beverage recipes, there's never been a better time to eat (or drink) up to your health. 

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N  

     Transitions are a part of life, allowing for perpetual renewal. When you experience the end of one chapter, allow yourself to feel the emotions of loss and rebirth. A bud gives way to a new flower, which surrenders to the fruit, which gives rise to a seed, which yields a new sprout. Even as you ride the roller coaster, embrace the centered internal reference of the ever-present witness.
     Authenticity is an alignment between your beliefs, your desires and your choices in the world. Desires that are in alignment with core beliefs generate powerful actions. Like a wave that draws from the depths of the ocean, actions connected to your authentic self are more likely to manifest your intentions.
     You have the capacity to change the plot line of your life, even if you've been acting from the same script since before you can remember. No matter what has happened up to this point, you have the right and the capacity to be happy. You are an innately creative being, capable of writing a love story worth living.

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER

Kenneth Davis

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS

TO

MARGIE McRAE REED

     The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles. Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get. It is not length of life, but depth of life. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Joycelyn Lacy (Somerville)

Bonnie Pippin (Mills)

Thanks, Estella, I can listen to Luther any time, any where all the time!!!! 

Estella Wright (Mayhue-Greer)

Happy Birthday Margie! 

Here is a little blues for you to enjoy on your special day. 

Kenneth Davis

   T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N   

     Art matters. Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change. Jazz can be a blank canvas full of possibilities. Jazz is the art of thinking out loud. Jazz vision for me is seeing my art in musical term. It offers me an visual expressions in an ever-changing musical palette. Jazz vision is a wordless conversation between musical notes and visual expressions.

~Barbara Januszkiewicz~

WELCOME TO 
SMOOTH
 CONTEMPORARY JAZZ 
FRIDAYS

Kenneth Davis

  T H O U G H T   F O R   C O N S I D E R A T I O N   

     Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.
     Meditation is about seeing clearly the body that we have, the mind that we have, the domestic situation that we have, the job that we have, and the people who are in our lives. It's about seeing how we react to all these things. It's seeing our emotions and thoughts just as they are right now, in this very moment, in this very room, on this very seat. It's about not trying to make them go away, not trying to become better than we are, but just seeing clearly with precision and gentleness.