All posts tagged "Ask the Expert"

  • What to look for in a pre-school

    Looking after your children’s needs in the first two years is relatively easier compared to the task of looking for a good preschool.  That’s because there are too many things to consider for families especially those new...

    • Posted December 17, 2013
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  • Is FoMO Your Biggest Barrier to Success?

    Living in Japan offers plenty of opportunities to get out, learn, explore and try new things. From personal experience, I know that saying yes to these opportunities can be a huge catalyst for expanding your career or...

    • Posted December 15, 2013
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  • Why Japan scores poorly in employee engagement

    October is Healthy Workplace Month in Canada, so last month I was immersed in a sea of research, articles and best practices for creating healthy, thriving workplaces. When this annual promotion of healthy workplaces started thirteen years...

    • Posted November 9, 2013
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  • Little Red

    Perhaps you saw the shocking headlines: “CDC Issues Level 2 Travel Alert for Japan”. Radiation? Earthquakes? Tainted sushi? No, it’s rubella (little red, in Latin), which has recently made a roaring comeback in Japan. Although now relatively...

    • Posted October 6, 2013
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  • Are Your Kids Overscheduled?

    Hobbies and passions are important – so important, in fact, that I worry about kids (and adults) who have none. But sometimes we push our kids to do too much. Here are some signs that your child...

    • Posted October 6, 2013
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  • Less is More: End Decision Fatigue and Resolve Your Personal Energy Crisis

    In a world overloaded with choice, one might be tempted to think that the more options we have to choose from the better. A growing body of research on willpower, decision-making, energy, performance and happiness shows the...

    • Posted October 6, 2013
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  • Bracing for balance

    In today’s fast-paced world, most successful people you talk to would say that they would love more of one thing – balance. The challenge with achieving this balance is that balance, by definition, is about maintaining a...

    • Posted September 12, 2013
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  • My munchkin is obsessed with shopping bags

    Mommy question Q.   My munchkin is obsessed with shopping bags. He scoots around the house with bags of all sizes.  I am curious as to why he adores them and is  happy having them close by even...

    • Posted September 11, 2013
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  • Divorce by international couples

    Japan’s Health, Labour & Welfare Ministry’s latest statistics reveal a continuing decline in the number of  divorce by international couples. While this may be a good thing,  couples going through one may find themselves in emotionally charged...

    • Posted September 7, 2013
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  • “You’re so annoying!”

    When I think of “annoying”, I imagine a tiny mosquito hovering around my head in the dark, as I’m trying to sleep. Apparently, the drone of a mosquito doesn’t even come close to how annoying I can...

    • Posted August 5, 2013
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  • Is sugar bad for you?

    “It is not good to eat much honey” Proverbs 25:27 Do you know the Japanese kanji for sugar (satou)? Here it is: 砂糖 Next time you go shopping,  look out for this on packets of processed food...

    • Posted July 5, 2013
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  • Soul Success, Part 1: Define success on your terms

    The biggest challenge with achieving success is that it is defined in reference to the traditional status quo. The assumption is that when you have the good job, the house, the car, the husband or wife and...

    • Posted July 4, 2013
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  • Speech delay in children

    Q:  My little girl is 2 years old and hardly says a word.  She is very happy but most of the time instead of words, she just points and grunts.  Should I be concerned that she is...

    • Posted June 18, 2013
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  • Tsubos, Spirit and Success

    (This is an excerpt from the introduction to my forthcoming book, Crafting Your Spirit)   It is easier to write a resume than to craft your spirit, But crafting your spirit makes resumes irrelevant, and success, on...

    • Posted June 18, 2013
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  • Dizzyland

    The commonest reasons for requests for hotel visits – which I do as a normal part of my work – are respiratory infections (coughs, colds and influenza), and stomach upsets (diarrhoea and vomiting).  Often the patients are...

    • Posted May 7, 2013
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  • Ask the Expert

    Q What is the relationship between the economy and mental health?   A. This in an interesting question that can be approached from a few angles. One is that of how a person’s personality style or mental...

    • Posted May 7, 2013
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  • Kyosei, a personal practice

    Living in Japan, one of the characteristics of the culture that I found most fascinating was the desire and ability to function harmoniously as a group. Far more so than in Western culture, Japanese culture promotes the...

    • Posted May 1, 2013
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  • The Anxiety Makers

    This is the title of a book, first published in 1967, by a doctor with the splendidly appropriate name of Alex Comfort, in which he debunks with scholarly aplomb certain medical pre-occupations of that time which were...

    • Posted March 3, 2013
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  • The year of no excuses

    We are now well into March and a majority of people have already fallen off their New Year resolution wagon. Most have good excuses for doing so and are still telling themselves that they will get on...

    • Posted March 3, 2013
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  • The dark side of ganbatte

    “Ganbatte” is a seemingly innocuous word that every foreigner in Japan quickly becomes familiar with regardless of their level of Japanese. On the surface it appears to be a friendly motivational phrase that is used to encourage...

    • Posted February 3, 2013
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  • Out with the old

    Japanese year-end traditions are one of the many things about Japan that have continued to play a big part in my life and work since I returned to Canada more than a decade ago. I don’t eat...

    • Posted January 2, 2013
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  • Immunisation safety

    There was a recent news item of a tragic case where a boy of around 10 years of age was given Japanese encephalitis immunisation.  Shortly after he collapsed and died. This story is a sad reminder of...

    • Posted December 3, 2012
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  • Learning to let go

    Successful people often attribute their success to the tenacity with which they hold onto their vision, their principles, and their ideas about the right and wrong way to do things. Yet it is precisely this attachment to...

    • Posted December 3, 2012
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  • Don’t sweat the ‘chisai mono’

    In our world, August and September are usually slow from a work perspective. Many clients postpone sessions due to holidays or because they are busy ramping their families up for fall. This year was a different story. ...

    • Posted October 31, 2012
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  • Japanese boy died after receiving vaccination

    Nikkei news reported on October 18, 2012 that a fth-grader, ten-year-old boy fell into an unconscious state after he was vaccinated with Encephalitis at the Hirata Aikawa Mino Children’s Clinic in Gifu prefecture.  The boy was conrmed...

    • Posted October 31, 2012
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  • Of mice and men

    At least the headline, in the 14 July 2012 edition of the British Medical Journal, is honest.  “Animal experiments rose in 2011 despite coalition pledge to reduce them”. That’s bad news – for the animals.  But what...

    • Posted September 30, 2012
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  • Chiropractic in Japan

    Everyday, our bodies are exposed to laborious hours in meeting rooms, working with computers, moving around the city with a baby or children in tow or carrying heavy shopping bags, etc.  Doing these day to day tasks...

    • Posted September 28, 2012
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  • Red socks and tattoos

    This past month I came across two very powerful metaphors – red socks and tattoos – that are trans- forming my choices in life and work. First, the socks – Red socks (or any other red item)...

    • Posted September 28, 2012
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  • A course, B course, or C course?

    I do not mean the choice of lunch menus in Japanese restaurants, which are generally nourishing and good value.  I am referring to the different types of routine medical check-ups, the ‘human dock’ examinations offered in many...

    • Posted August 30, 2012
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  • Ancient wisdom, modern practice

    It is curious that these days much medical activity is directed, not to the sick, but at people who are well.  The idea, it seems, is to detect disease at an early stage, before symptoms develop, so...

    • Posted July 31, 2012
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