How to Improve your Health

John Cacioppo, Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago, is one of the nation's leading scholars on loneliness. He has shown that loneliness undermines health and can be as detrimental as smoking.

If you are lonely, you are not alone (irony intended). About one in five Americans experience loneliness, Cacioppo said.

The greatest aid to stopping unhealthy habits is the support of other people. Thus we have a wide range of "Anonymous" groups, for example, AA (Alcohol A.), Gambling A., Overeaters A.,etc. We should start a "Lonely Anonymous" group.

For this reason, I have begun my teleconference groups, called 4M: Mona's Monday Meetings for Mothers. As one woman said last night, "I feel the encouragement of all of you; it means a lot to me."

Reach out. You will find that we are there for you.

Pastors, Presidents and Parents

Listening to a radio program yesterday, I was struck by the comment, "We don't want leaders like ourselves. We don't want Sarah Palin. We want somebody who's better than us."

This comment holds true, I believe, for all role models. Our children don't want us to function on their level, neither to act like a friend nor get angry when they do. They need us to set an example for them to follow, to determine limits within which they will feel secure and protected, and to hold steady when they fall apart.

Similarly, each one of us wants to look up to the people whom we admire. Of course we can forgive small interpersonal mistakes, such as forgetting an appointment to meet us or not returning a phone call. But ethical mistakes or misdemeanors undermine our trust in them and our belief in their ability to be our role models.

Therefore, when one chooses to be a leader one takes on the responsibility of being accountable not only to oneself - and G-d - but to the entire congregation of people who depend on that person.

Pastors, presidents and parents have two-way mirrors in their homes.