femmes INTERNATIONAL Magazine Winter 2018

femmes INTERNATIONAL

IN MEMORY Linda Marsden Thomas A COLOR STORY

RISING Stars Making Their Paths Lou Schieffelin & Eudora Barnes

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk, Consciously Shaping Our World

femmes INTERNATIONAL Celebrating the Best of 3 Years

winter 2017

FROM 3906

I believe each day gives us something; a few minutes of afternoon light casting intricate shadows on a dining room wall, or a delicious Pesto because the basil got knee-high. Maybe some things broke my heart....... I write about them all. My name is Becca. I live in Dallas but I left my heart in Florence, Italy. I'd like to thank you for reading.

From3906.blogspot.com

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IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURES Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions. Do this instead by Leah Kay A Color Story by Linda Marsden Thomas Power is Pretty, says Tamara Batsell Ashley Bergess Talks Life’s Answers Which Are in Plain Sight

RISING STARS

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY 3 YEARS IN REVIEW Best of femmes INTERNATIONAL: Becca Menig Interviews Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk, Consciously Changing the World He Has a Gun, as told by Shetamia Taylor A Canopy of Diversity, femmes INTERNATIONAL Commissions Sculpture for City of Dallas Happiness Butterfly by Kathryn Eriksen Ashly Torian - Oh Fiddlesticks, It’s Time to Diet AGAIN!

Eudora Barnes, business professional who learned you can survive the trauma of having your family’s home destroyed by a tornado and turn it into a positive experience.

Lou Schieffelin, Miss Florida Teen USA 2018 want to be a lawyer and Senator from Florida so she can make positive changes for the future.

Less is More states Deborah Ricci What Is a Compunding Pharmacist by Donna Barsky, D.Ph, PharmD Denise Ackerman Speaks on True Beauty Cosmetic Procedures to Lift Your Spirits by Kathryn White, M.D.

ON THE COVER

In Memory of Linda Marsden Thomas, femmeExtraordinaire!

PR ~ STRATEGIC MARKETING ~ BUSINESS CONSULTING ~ EVENT PRESS

Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions. Do this instead.

By Leah Kay

It’s the start of the year. A perfect time for a novel new start. The sky’s the limit, we think of all that we should have done the previous year, all that we would have done, all that we didn’t get to do because of (insert excuse here) ___________ and (insert excuse here) ___________. Not enough. Never enough.

from which to grow on in the coming year.

Let’s shift your perspective, and by doing so, a personal miracle will naturally reveal itself.

What if this year you start off the month of January by simply accepting yourself where you are at right now, on your path on this beautiful journey called life?

Which ultimately leads our mind into a downward spiral and we laugh at the fact that setting New Year’s resolutions will ultimately set us up for failure. Why then even try?

To me that sounds like a dire recipe for selfsabotage and personal bullying at its finest.

Moreso, it doesn’t allow for a solid foundation 7

What if you could write a list of all of your qualities and everything that you are good at, all of the people you love and who reciprocate, reflect on how far you’ve come, how many obstacles you overcame, and celebrate that in the first month of the year?

So, this January, take the time to celebrate YOU. Let more self-love into your life. Review everything you overcame in the past year and see it as major accomplishments that allow you for that next level of personal and professional growth.

What if you could take a step back and forgive yourself for all of your woulda, coulda, shoulda’s?

This year, let your resolution be to acknowledge that you have come a long way and that you are proud of everything you have achieved thus far.

In forgiving all of the shame, blame, sabotage, and not enoughness, never enoughness we placed on ourselves for not getting everything we wanted done in 2017, what if you could just love yourself for how

Let 2018 be your year of forgiveness and acceptance into expansion in all areas of your life.

far you’ve come. In doing so, you’ll instantaneously give yourself room to expand even more.

Leah Kay Business & Life Purpose Coach for Spiritual Entrepreneurs www.LeahLaprise.com

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IN MEMORY of LINDA MARSDEN THOMAS

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A Color Story

By Linda Marsden Thomas

I had been in a constant state of taking color

wrote a book about it in 2014, which for now is

classes from great teachers all around the world.

titled, “COLOR NATION: The Power of Color in

I took a color class from one school twice. The

Business and Leadership”. My concept is you

teacher took me aside at the end of the program,

can’t go anywhere without a color, so you might

“Linda, you are the only person who has ever

as well know how people are reacting to you.

taken this class from me twice and you look just

Men have found this concept very useful in how

as frustrated this time as you did the first time. I

they dress whether casually or professionally,

suspect you may be color-blind.”

colors can make all the difference socially and

She

administered a Munsell Test for color-blindness.

professionally.

It is a simple, yet significant

I consistently missed 25%. I can see primary and

approach to being more effective.

secondary colors, but not all the shades in between known as tertiary colors.

This summer I ordered a pair of Enchroma glasses.

I had seen some of the videos on

YouTube where men are crying after a lifetime of never once seeing a few or a limited range of colors. My dad had red/green color-blindness and his father was only able to see black, white, As a corporate image trainer, I have always

and gray. Worldwide it known to affect 1 in 12

leaned more toward giving a macro view to an

men and 1 in 200 women. www.enchroma.com

audience on the powerful effects color has for us

has a test you can take to see if you have 1 of 7

in our personal and professional lives. I even

types of color deficiencies. My results were

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inconclusive, but I decided to order the glasses

never been able to see this toxic creeper when it

because of the 60-day return policy.

was growing on the ground in the grass. Until that day, it all looked the same!

I was alone when the glasses arrived. I decided to walk through the forest surrounding my home with my dog. The greens were so vibrant, it took my breath away. It was a sunny day and the blue sky looked the same color without or without the glasses. Many flowers I had always seen as white were actually pink.

The true white flowers

looked white when I had the glasses on, so I knew they were working. I always had a problem

When my husband got home, I asked him to

with depth perception, but I never thought it had

drive me down Main Street. I wanted to look at

anything to do with my ability to see colors or

signs, cars and more while he drove. Red was so

not. Now I could see deeper in the forest than

stunning! I had never really seen a true brilliant

ever before.

red before. I have always taught that red has a

The simple, but most important realization was

powerful influence on everyone physically and

when I came across a patch of poison ivy. It is a

psychologically. It has been measured to be able

totally different shade of green than the grass

to increase your brain activity, blood pressure

that surrounded it. My husband is allergic to

and heart rate.

poison ivy and caught a rash twice this year after

intellectual concept, it was my own personal

he petted the dog who was obviously walking

experience.

Now it was no longer an

into the poison ivy during our strolls. Yet I had

A COLOR STORY was written and contributed by Linda Marsden Thomas before her passing in December 2017 very unexpectedly. Her husband Carl, graciously honors her, as he said she would have wanted, by allowing us to share her article on seeing color, more color, in her world. She was, as we were, excited to be a new contributor to femmes INTERNATIONAL Magazine and we will miss the opportunity to hear her stories. In memory of Linda, enjoy her personal experience.

Linda Thomas founded Powerful Appearance in 1999 and has been known as a skilled business consultant, instructional designer and speaker. After that she had the experience of delivering memorable speeches and workshops before live and online audiences of all generations. Whether presenting to seasoned professionals, new hires or college students ready to enter the workforce, she delivers information they will remember and use from that day forward in how to present yourself as your best self in all business environments. Over time in the career market Linda found the colors people wear can mean the difference between a promotion, closing a deal, being influential and losing them all. This motivated Linda to write the book, COLOR NATION: The Power of Color in Business and Leadership.

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“A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.”

“If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat.”

Melinda Gates

Sheryl Sandberg

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”

Oprah Winfrey “The question isn’t who is going to let me – it’s who is going to stop me?”

Ayn Rand

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all woman.”

Maya Angelou

“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.” Amy Poehler 13

POWER IS PRETTY Embracing Our Inner Strength

By Tamara Batsell

Power can mean so many things to so many people. It can be a physical strength, mental toughness, or a controlling influence. To have power one often has the influence of others. And somewhere along the journey a certain confidence is bestowed.

Power along with pretty are labels that are strongly desired in this society. From the perspective of a woman pretty comes with some privilege. Have you ever witnessed someone who was considered by societal standards as attractive, be given ‘perks’ that were not extended to others? I can vividly remember in my younger years when I would go out and at certain clubs the personnel would walk the line that had formed and hand-pick the ‘pretty people’ to gain entrance while others remained in line.

Have you ever felt like that person left in line? Ignored and left-out is not a good feeling, especially if it’s totally out of your control with no recourse.

Positive self-talk and daily affirmations lead to internal strength and manifest our intentions. Being true to yourself and loving who and what you see in the mirror may take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Be kind to yourself. Remember there’s some one out in the universe who wishes they were in your position. Embrace who you are and know that you are stronger than you can even imagine. I think we may have a best-selling tshirt… ‘Power Is the New Pretty’.

But with time comes change. Although I don’t experience those lines anymore I have seen where women of power are now entering the doors before everyone else. To see a woman, stand in her truth, the good, bad and the ugly is highly attractive. Women such as Oprah and Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) are blazing paths of power and commanding attention. Being intelligent and a person of conviction is ‘pretty’ darn powerful. Finding your voice and inner strength exudes an attraction. Don’t you like people who are able to laugh at themselves but make you feel special?

Tamara Batsell 40+ Fashion/Lifestyle Blogger Website: www.tbstyleworks.com Email: www.tamara@tbstyleworks.com

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Life’s answers are in plain sight.

by Ashley Berges Throughout my years on this planet, I find we often overthink, overanalyze, and worry about the smallest things. We focus on things we can’t change and fixate on them until we feel paralyzed, unable to act, unable to feel, and unable to be at ease. It took me years to understand the difference between what I can and can’t change and what I can do about both. The things I am able to change are those that I make the decisions, the choices, and sometimes create my own roadblocks.

tracks when it comes in the form of a fear of success, failure, or overall blanket change.

Humans thrive on consistency and for the few people who don’t have consistency in their life, you know who you are, you work day after day in unknown situations with little worry for things that don’t matter.

Meaning, the bare necessities are the subjects at hand, the rest falls by the wayside because the brain can only focus on a few things at any given time.

In the process of creating our own roadblocks, we create and devise sophisticated road blocks which are built to challenge us because, we created them. We know exactly how to push all of our own buttons, and how to stop us in our own 15

Being a practicing therapist, I often work with clients who have a set day and night structure, have a house, condo, or town home, a car, dog or cat, children or no children, spouse or no spouse, and usually overall have a “good” life. However, many of those same clients can’t see the good in their life. Several see only the problems magnified, and how overwhelming these problems are, as well as overanalyzing the issues they see in their life. Because they have consistency when it comes to structure in their life, they use their time to overthink relationships, friends, family, and anything else that comes their general direction. Had their life be less consistent, needing to focus on attaining structure and establishing a routine, the interpersonal relationship issues wouldn’t have time or space in their mind.

somewhat interrupted. After I graduated from high school, my father decided he wanted to divorce my mother. In the beginning, I saw my father all the time; for the first time, I thought we were going to have a real father and daughter relationship.

However, our spending time together ended abruptly because he was flying out of town to date someone. As the months went by I got sad, depressed, overwhelmed, felt I had been thrown to the curb, and I didn’t know how to express my feelings. As many know, those feelings, when not expressed correctly morph and change into anger, resentment, and hatred. (I’ve always been against hatred and I knew hatred is too strong of a negative emotion/vibration, so I stuck with anger and resentment which aren’t that much better.)

The more time went by with little connection with my father, the resentment and anger grew. Without conscience knowledge, I allowed the anger to flow into all areas of my life. I was happy then sad, angry then mad.

My love relationship was falling apart mostly because of me and I didn’t realize it had everything to do with the resentment and anger I carried around daily because of my sadness over losing my father and our relationship. As time went by, my father bounced in and out of my life, with every bounce out, more sadness erupted. The sadness because I didn’t know how to deal with it became more anger and more resentment. Eventually after years, and listening to friends of mine who were 20 plus years older than me telling me about their father and how they don’t speak. Seeing their life from my perspective, I realized this anger and resentment was sucking the life from me and killing me slowly. That’s when I realized, I can control how I feel, I can control my expectations, but I can’t control him.

That day is when I got a major wake-up call.

It’s wonderful and less stressful to have structure, security, and the knowledge that for the most part, certain things are taken care of. In this life model, in order to ascend to the next level of understanding, one must push aside anger, jealousy, comparing ourselves to others, distrust, resentment, hatred, and fear on all levels. Anger is often called a secondary emotion because we tend to resort to anger in order to protect ourselves from or cover up other vulnerable feelings. Throughout life we feel angry because of what was done to us or not done to us. We feel angry after something has happened, it’s like our saving face emotion.

We cry then we get angry. Sadly, enough too many people are hiding behind anger and resentment to understand the real reasons we are on this planet.

I was raised by two parents, however my father was rarely around due to his job, so to some degree my relationship with him was 16

I prayed on my new-found freedom, praying it was real, and praying for me to continue to believe in myself. I prayed for my father and prayed that he would, if possible come back into my life on his own.

now friends, we communicate, and we’ve forgiven each other, better yet I forgave him.

I realize, when we hold grudges and ill feelings towards others, those feelings manifest within us causing us to suffer and creating dis-ease.

Years went by without communication from my father. One afternoon, around 4:30pm on the day of my birthday, the phone rang as I was driving onto the highway and heading southbound for a meeting. I looked down and saw my father’s name on the caller id of my phone, my heart began to pound. The pounding got louder and louder and the music blaring on the radio couldn’t drown it out. I turned the knob to the radio down then completely off and slowly answered the call. My father said hi and we talked, my heart pounding, happiness, and anger flooding in at the same time. He asked to meet up, we planned for that weekend at Starbucks near my house. When I arrived that day to meet him, he had gotten there early, and surrounding him were packages.

Some of the packages had birthday wrappings others Christmas. These packages represented all the gifts he had bought me in the last eight years that he never gave to me.

As we talked, it was difficult to overcome by anger, I was mad. I had sent him cards with no response and I let him know. After about an hour, he told me he needed to leave and got up and walked out. To me that represented he was running again and I collected the boxes, put them in the trunk of my car, and headed home. My husband was at the house when I arrived, and I voiced my anger.

The only true feeling is LOVE. When we love, we hold onto no other emotions. When we love, we love one another, accept others for who they are, and accept ourselves. Life’s answers are in plain sight because when we do what’s right we get right back. When we tell the truth we get the truth, and when we give unconditional love we get unconditional love. We receive it for two reasons, because we are bringing to us what we are, and we won’t accept anything else. As we rise to the occasion, others do too, or they fall back and out of sight.

Ashley has appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS, CW33, Fox, Style Network and now on Amazon Prime.

Ashley helps others to understand the value of their life and to offer them the necessary tools to create an honestly authentic and fabulous life.

Syndicated talk show host of Live Your True Life Perspectives, creator and host of The Celebrity Perspective on Amazon Prime, Life coach and licensed therapist. Her latest book, “The 10 Day Challenge to Live Your True Life” has become a guidebook for busy people who want to make valuable changes to their life. www.ashleyberges.com

Hours and days went by and I decided to pick up the phone and have my father over to discuss what had happened. Hours and hours of crying, yelling, and other emotions came about and I’m happy to say, we are 17

Rising femme Eudora Barnes

Tell me something about your life...an experience that maybe affected your life path.

Dec 26, 2015 (the day after Christmas), my family's home was hit by a category 5 tornado in Texas. The devastation was incredible. Never in my life did I think that I would have an experience as such. Contrary to the negative, I am thankful for it and grateful to still being alive to tell my testimony. It has affected my life in such a positive way! I know that life is not promised and the material things that I have don't matter. Live life to the fullest and love on your loved ones daily!

What is your passion? When did you know it was a passion?

My passion is truly helping others. I discovered this when I was just a little girl and it gives me such pleasure to assure those around me are taken care of and not in need. There's no greater feeling than making in difference in the lives of other people.

What do you believe in? As a young woman, what is important to you in the world you will help shape?

At this point in my life, I believe in God, love, and women empowerment. All three of those beliefs make the world go around! My faith truly sustains me and helps to motivate those around me, women empowerment is just that, acknowledgement that women can do whatever they want and are not less than the next. My mother is a perfect example of this and an inspiration to me daily. And finally... We are nothing without LOVE!!

How do you give back to your community?

I am big on community and wholeheartedly believe in reach one, teach one. You cannot make it in life without helping others. Heavily involved in ministry, I worked in nursing homes, hospitals, schools, Where I am needed is where I am willing to serve. Giving back is what makes a community and helps our world become a better place. And I want a better world for all of us and if we each contribute in any small way, it becomes a more tolerant peaceful coexistence.

Can you give us a quote that has meaning to you?

I have two: "If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room" and "The best way to predict your future is to create it."

My belief is that you never stop learning. If you feel like you are the smartest person where ever you go, or that you cannot learn something from others, then you miss the opportunity to expand your thinking. We can all give and learn from each other. On top of that, I feel that everyone has the opportunity to create their own future, so I love this quote for many reasons. We all have the capacity to succeed in anything that we want. Remove the excuses and affirm your way to the future. The world is your palette so paint away!

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Rising femme Lou Schieffelin

You recently ran for Miss Florida Teen USA. Why did you want to do this?

Not only am I proud to be a titleholder, but I am proud to be a teen in this great USA! My goal is to represent my title, my city, my family, and myself with poise, compassion, leadership, a positive attitude, humility, and with words, actions, and deeds that exude being a “Confidently Beautiful” role model.

Titleholders have the unique ability to open eyes and hearts through the visibility and voice of the crown.

I will use these priceless commodities to spread the message of the importance of community service and the pursuit to end distracted driving – STAY ALIVE: Don’t Text and Drive. I feel confident that I am ready for the next step as an advocate for the Miss Florida USA organization. I believe the young woman chosen for this responsibility should possess that “it” factor that everyone recognizes, but finds hard to describe.

Miss Florida Teen USA 2018 will represent the best of contemporary young women.

What was your first modeling job?

I’ll never forget my first professional booking as a young model was when I was 12 years old and on the cover and on the inside of the American Girl Doll Catalog for the month of May. Even more exciting was seeing my parents’ reaction when we traveled to New York City to the American Girl Doll Superstore on 5th Avenue and saw the cover and pictures of me blow-up to a larger than life size and hanging in all of the store windows. I will never forget being only 12 years old and having that opportunity to be looked up to by young girls.

How do you give back in your community?

Community Peer Educator – It’s important to support each other! I began educating my peers at 14 with bracelets and balloons in my Sunday school class about texting and driving after a girl’s life lost too soon made an impact on me forever. Now at 17, I have created a major awareness campaign STAY ALIVE: Don’t Text and Drive, educating hundreds through middle school presentations, community awareness, and newly supported Government outreach with my change in Legislation with the proposition of a new Florida bill. High School Peer Mediator - A position where those who are struggling in the social aspect of school find a safe place to be expressive and comfortable through conversation with a select few that have learned to become good listeners.

Wounded Warrior Touch a Pup - A fun event I helped organize to support the children and families who are under great stress of having a wounded family member, enjoy the company of loving animals.

Fantastic Life Choices – I was the first Junior Director of Marketing for the National Book Series written by a diverse group of Kindergarten to 5th grade writers and illustrators. The book series was launched into the North East Public-School Systems.

What is your passion for your future?

My goal is to become a National Merit Finalist and graduate high school with collegiate honors. I have been preparing to attend an Ivy League University to obtain a major in Business Administration (MBA) on a pre-law track. I respect our nation’s democracy and look forward to the opportunity to then enroll in Law School. My ambition is to be involved in our political system to make a difference and ultimately become a Florida State Senator What have you done that makes you proud?

Global Service Award presented by The United Nations - received for efforts with the Dr. Jane Goodall Institute for building solar powered school houses and clean drinking wells in Mali, Africa.

Honored by the Florida Board of Education as a “Top Ten Teens to Watch” for academic and community service efforts.

Completed to date over 700 Hours of Community Service.

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best of femmes

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk, Consciously Shaping Our World

By Becca Menig

Once upon a time, a baby girl was born on Mother’s Day, at 7:11 a.m. Five days later, she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Philp Thompson. Thompson was the eldest son of the founder, Joe C. Thompson, and at the time was the CEO of the Southland Corporation, commonly known as 7-Eleven.

outside Mexico City. As the polio threat moved closer, they all escaped to their friends’ ranch located even farther out from the city. There, her grandparents fell in love with the people and the culture and decided that when they could, they would return and build a home of their own.

Instrumental in Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk’s adoption, was Father William B. Wasson, who founded an orphanage near the Mexican town where the Thompson house, referred to as Casa Thompson, was built by her grandparents. When a polio epidemic hit Dallas, her grandparents were invited by friends to seek refuge in their home just

“The story that we’re told today,” says Thompson-Frenk, is that the grandparents drove and drove looking at land, her grandmother exclaiming, “Further, further,” until finally her grandfather stopped when they were in the middle of nowhere and said, “I’m not going any further.” There was a big, flat rock on a hill and he said, “That is 23

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as far as we’re going, and you can choose any piece of land that’s for sale out here, except that rock.” “So of course,” she explains, “my grandmother said, ‘I want the rock,’ and so that rock is where we built Casa Thompson.

At the time, the only thing in that area was a monastery and my grandparents were very social people and they always loved having people over for dinner, so that meant, they had a lot of monks for dinner! One of the monks was Fr. Wasson and he spent a lot of time with my grandfather and my dad. They quickly became very, very close friends and they influenced each other’s lives greatly.”

The younger Thompsons had tried to adopt, but with little notice had been denied adoption of twins because they were of a different race. Grandmother Thompson suggested they reach out to Fr. Wasson, which they did, and when this baby girl was born that day and time, Fr. Wasson said, “I think God has other plans for you.”

John Thompson made a pointed decision to raise this second daughter like he raised his sons. Thompson-Frenk recalls sitting in his office when he had meetings, her father instructing, “Don’t say anything. Observe.

I’m going to quiz you later.”

“When they would leave,” she says he would ask, “Who had something to offer that they didn’t put on the table? Who was lying? Who was nervous?” Her father taught her how to read body language, how to take command of a room by the way she entered, how to stand, to articulate. “It was a different kind of education, but he said this is what men have taught their sons forever.”

The teacher-student role reversed one day when, in fourth grade, she was looking at her father’s stack of business papers--his

homework as she thought of them--and in one column were countries listed, in another were amounts of money ranging from fifteen cents to twenty-five dollars. “What is this about?” she asked. He explained that the shareholders wanted to manufacture something but they didn’t want to do it for more than seven dollars and fifty cents. His daughter said, “Well then, go to the people asking for the least at fifteen cents and then give them the seven dollars and fifty cents you already have approved; you change everyone’s life and you’ve done something good and your shareholders are happy too.”

Just after, her father got on his knees, close to her so they made eye contact, and he said, “Thank you for reminding me what my job in this world is.”

Thompson-Frenk’s childhood visions for globalization grew with her, and she is today, the Co-founder/President of the Memnosyne Institute in Dallas, Texas. “The mission of the Memnosyne Institute is to help the diverse people of the world consciously encourage an evolution for themselves and for future generations by providing humanity with the means to encourage positive, peaceful global collaboration in seven main areas of knowledge.”

Global and Local Outreach Interfaith Inquiry & Innovations Indigent Cultures Spirituality Art Health & Medicine Environment, Science, Economics & Technology

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we buy something, how we interact, the decisions we make on a daily basis, are building the culture around us. Now, more than ever, we are creating that world. It’s really not a choice of whether you want to do it or not. You’re doing it by being alive in this time. The question becomes, ‘Are you going to create the world around you consciously or unconsciously?’”

That question and others are put to the young people of the world by the Nexus Global Youth Summit. Nexus is an international organization of millennial philanthropists, soon to inherit the majority of the world’s wealth. Thompson-Frenk says, “A humanitarian has to be a conscious capitalist as well as a philanthropist. You can’t make your money hurting people. How you’re making money has to be as important as how you donate it.”

As people, we focus on different issues and interests, with wealths of information to be shared. One exercise Thompson-Frenk offers, to help people understand how we connect, is demonstrated with a ball of yarn.

She asks who is concerned with environmental issues and hands go up so the yarn is passed with each person holding on as it passes. But that we can’t talk about environmental issues without talking about economics raises more hands and the yarn continues to go around. Economics are influenced by human rights issues and human rights issues can break down into diversity concerns such as gender, and then there are faith issues and more. The human graph of yarn has, in the end, visibly shown how connected each issue is to another and how our approach needs to be viewed as such in order for strategic solutions to be viable.

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk’s story, from birth to this day, may seem to some like a fairytale come true. “I had nothing to do with having the opportunity that it gave me. It’s not earned,” she says. Many people beg to differ. As a steward of a fortune, determined to do and promote only good, she holds the rest of us up to high but achievable standards. “To be given this opportunity means the opportunity for an education, the opportunity to meet and fall in love with my husband, the opportunity for all the different things that helped create my life, respective. All of these things came about because of one moment. It creates a great deal of gratitude.”

“It’s a very exciting time where we get to consciously shape our world the way we want it. To me, one of the best ways to serve humanity is to try and help all people become Conscious Cultural Creators. How

Becca Menig, www.from3906.blogspot.com

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He Has a Gun, Run!

By Robin Roberson

When the shooting started at the Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on that fateful evening of July 7, 2016, Shetamia Taylor shouted at her four sons to run. “They started running up the block and I was running behind them and I felt the bullet,” she stated quietly. Her last vision was of her eldest son, Kavion Washington, grabbing Jermar, her youngest, by the shirt front and throwing him down behind a stone pillar at a parking garage. Moments before the 12 year old, while marching, he had beamed to his mother, saying, “I’m making history!” He wants to be a policeman.

Taylor had been shot from behind, in her right calf. Still standing, she looked to a police officer ahead of her, a heavyset, balding white man. Then he was shot, too.

When asked why she took her sons to this protest rally, especially after all the dissention around the country, she said, “I raised my sons in a Christian home and have always taught them to respect themselves. If they do that, then they will respect others. After seeing senseless fear which lead to death, I wanted to show my sons that you should respect anyone in authority whether it be a police person, teacher, minister. Repeatedly I have told them to call home if they were ever stopped or in an unsettling situation; but to always be polite and respectful and most of all to do what they are asked. The situation can be discussed after all calms down.”

Taylor admired police but was increasingly disturbed by the recent spate of police shootings involving black men, and feared for her boys. It had been her idea to go to the protest, the family’s first, which she saw announced on Facebook. She felt it would be a learning experience. Shetamia is not an activist, protestor or even very outspoken. She and her family live in Garland, a Dallas suburb, and she works as a customer service representative for a national retailer. She likes her job and cannot wait to get back to work, which is still weeks away. Laughing she said, “we don’t know our way around downtown Dallas and had to follow GPS to even get there.”

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Amid the spray of bullets, this mother

frantically

threw

herself in front of her children as the boys tried to run to safety. She was shot in the leg while shielding her 15 year old son on the ground. The other three boys scattered.

The policeman in front of Taylor shouted, “He has a gun!

Run!” All she could think about was her sons as she watched them dart in different directions.

After she was shot, Taylor managed to grab her 15 year old son, Andrew Humphrey, and push him between a car and the curb, shielding him with her body.

“I was just laying on top of him,” she said. “If it was going to happen to one of my sons, it was going to happen to me first.” She watched police stream up the block toward them and the shooting. One of them shouted, “Is anybody hit?” Andrew yelled no, unaware that his mother was injured. Taylor didn’t want to alarm him, and called out quietly to one of the officers, “Yes Sir, I’m hit in my leg.” Adrenaline pumping, she would not realize the severity of her wound until a short time later.

Police rushed over, most of them white officers, and jumped on top of her and Andrew. With a far off look in her eye, she calmly remembers, “There was a policeman at our feet and another one over our heads and several of them lying against a wall. And they just stayed there with us. I had never seen anything like that before, the way they came around us and guarded us like that.”

Andrew was crying for police to move them, but they said it wasn’t safe. “It is not at all like you see on TV. Loud, scary, surreal. It must be like war,” she said as she recounted the ordeal. “It was hundreds of rounds, shots all around us.”

When the police decided it was time to move them to a nearby patrol car and get her to a hospital, she could see her leg was “riddled with bullets.”

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It appeared a scene out of a Hollywood movie: the automobile was covered with bullet holes, the car’s tires were flat and they were driving on rims. She remembers the driveway lined with medical personnel and police, and outside the emergency room, Taylor could see a police officer on a gurney.

Hours later she learned the fate of her other three sons, ages 12, 14, and 18, and of the dozen officers shot, five of them fatally, by 25 year old Micah Xavier Johnson who wanted to kill white people, especially white officers, in retribution for police killings of black men. But Taylor was only a mother of four black sons, who wanted to show them a peaceful protest could happen.

Later, she was just a loving mother who was determined that nothing would happen to her boys.

“I just kept praying for everyone; for my sons to be safe, for the officers,” she said.

The bullet had indeed fractured a bone in Taylor’s leg, but a surgeon repaired it with a metal plate and screws and said she would be able to walk in a few months. But her biggest concern continued to be the safety of her sons. She now says it felt bad to “be celebrating my kids being alive while I’m listening to how many officers didn’t make it. It hurt. Of course I was thankful that my babies were okay, but somebody’s dad, somebody’s husband, was not.”

Taylor and her strong, brave sons are all doing well. The memories exist, but they have resources, family, and professionals to help them through this time of healing. Her faith is strong and she knows they will make it through.

Reverent, thankful, and supportive of Dallas police officers, Taylor and her respectful sons praise those responders who gave no consideration to their safety but rather were totally concerned for all the citizens they were there to protect, especially them. Her family members report that all she kept repeating was, “Lord, be with those families of those police officers.” She said it over and over. And it was repeated many times as we spoke about that night in July.

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A CANOPY OF DIVERSITY

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In keeping with the motto of femmes INTERNATIONAL, ‘exploring and celebrating the commonality of our diversity’ which we do one conversation at a time, the idea for a statue promoting hope, honor, and healing for a positive future was consciously created. femmes INTERNATIONAL is a Dallas based women’s organization with a monthly networking social hour, digital magazines and an internet radio station with music and talk, which supports ladies in business, balancing life, and charitable deeds.

In the May-June issue of our publication, femmes INTERNATIONAL Magazine, the cover story on Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk, Co-Founder and CEO of the Memnosyne Institute and The JPTFoundation, talked about her philosophy that the peoples of the world had seven philosophies in common. The photograph we initiated to accompany the feature article expresses such a philosophy on a small scale and is the inspiration for our artistic statue concept.

Fast forward to the unfortunate shooting in Dallas and the discussions which have followed in hopes of healing and moving us forward, again leveraging the diversity of our city in positive ways, and the idea of the statue grew in concept particularly after a video we viewed on Facebook in which a woman in Virginia held an event on Unity with a similar theme and one that galvanized a community in conversation.

Again, femmes INTERNATIONAL was spurred to action on developing a plan to create an honorarium for those policemen who gave their lives in the line of duty, yet promoting the healing process and leaving a positive legacy of remembrance showcasing our common diversity; a statue to the City of Dallas that honors all lives.

The statue will be a response to the divisiveness and negative rhetoric in America and our Dallas community and we hope it will raise consciousness about the labels we give ourselves and others and explore how those labels both support and limit building interconnected, diverse communities. It will promote the healing process, build unity, and encourage individual and collective flourishing.

The statue will provide a framework for people to come to their own realizations about how important diversity is to building a strong community. It will also help us reflect relating to each other on a more human level, remembering and honoring those who selflessly protect all our lives and that we are important in our unique and collective ways.

The cover photo, representing Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk's philosophy that lead us to this concept, explores how we all do have many things in common, many similar likes and dislikes, so even though we are different in age, race, religion, and philosophy we still have much that allows us to consciously create a common ground no matter what the issue.

Thompson-Frenks describes her story about yarn:

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“The mission of the Memnosyne Institute is to help the diverse people of the world consciously encourage an evolution for themselves and for future generations by providing humanity with the means to encourage positive, peaceful global collaboration in seven main areas of knowledge.�

Global and Local Outreach Interfaith Inquiry & Innovations Indigent Cultures Spirituality Art Health & Medicine Environment, Science, Economics & Technology

As people, we focus on different issues and interests, with wealths of information to be shared. One exercise Thompson-Frenk offers, to help people understand how we connect, is demonstrated with a ball of yarn. She asks who is concerned with environmental issues and hands go up so the yarn is passed with each person holding on as it passes. But that we can’t talk about environmental issues without talking about economics raises more hands and the yarn continues to go around.

Economics are influenced by human rights issues and human rights issues can break down into diversity concerns such as gender, and then there are faith issues and more. The human graph of yarn has, in the end, visibly shown how connected each issue is to another and how our approach needs to be viewed as such in order for strategic solutions to be viable.

A Canopy of Diversity.

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After the Dallas shooting, a woman in Virginia held a public art event on Unity with the thought that when society seems more divided than ever, it's important to remember what brings us together. Her project was temporary and was a larger-than-life structure that helped her community celebrate their uniqueness and strengthens, their ties to each other. The project consisted of 32 posts, each with identifiers such as, “I’m a survivor; I speak English as a second language; I identify as LGBTQ,” etc. Participants tied colorful yarn to posts that reflected their identities. Their yarn intertwined with others’ to create a web of interconnection. In the end, you see that all were connected by something, and it's their diversity that builds a strong and vibrant community, just as in Mary Ann Thompson-Frenks’ philosophy and the photo from femmes INTERNATIONAL.

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Happiness is Butterfly Living

By Kathryn Eriksen, Ph.D in Heart Dancing There is an old Indian story of creation, which carries truth for us even today.

beauty, but only after resting inside the cocoon.

The unseen transformation of surrender became visible in the iridescent colors of the butterfly’s wings.

The Creator was having difficulty keeping the world together. The spinning of the earth threatened to pull everything apart. The caterpillar offered to help, which made the Creator pause. As the caterpillar spun a web of imperceptible silk, the entire world was cocooned inside, held safely together. The Creator’s gift to this humblest of creatures was to allow it to transform itself into speechless

We move through our lives, striving and searching for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual sustenance. Our focus becomes the external and we move away from our inner world. At the most basic level of existence, we block our light by creating shadows.

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meilleur des femmes The world urges us to keep trying. Try this new product. Buy that service from the person who has helped thousands. Join my program and you too will be changed. But the answers promised by others never seem to fit our needs.

Happiness becomes as elusive as the butterfly we so desperately want to capture.

The transformation we seek (from a humble caterpillar to butterfly) does not take place outside in the world. The people who appear successful are not overnight sensations, bursting on the scene from nothingness to stardom. Their worldly success is the end result of inner transformation, combined with consistent effort toward their dream.

You see their butterfly wings, not the moments spent inside the cocoon.

When was the last time you spent time with yourself, alone with your thoughts, cell phone muted and out of reach, resting in the silence of creation, knowing that this moment is as perfect as it will ever be?

You are like the world in the old Indian story, spinning on its axis as it threatens to come apart.

Continue to ignore your inner world and eventually your energy will be gone, your emotions depressed, your ability to concentrate non-existent, and your spiritual fuel depleted.

Life wins and you lose.

There is a better way to live.

Meditation. Mindfullness. Yoga. Energy healing.

Reiki. All of these practices are forms of the unseen made visible. Each one holds unique qualities of silence that can become your cocoon. Choose the one that sings to you and follow it deep into its center. Become immersed inside of that practice and begin to notice the changes in your perception as you move through your daily routines.

As the poet Mark Nepo describes this process, [if] we still ourselves long enough within the web of all there is, we will eventually come to know the lightness of transformation.

When you shift on the inside, it is reflected in your outer world. As you remember and connect with something greater than yourself, the petty concerns of the external fade away. Your shadows disappear as your light shines onto the other souls who appear on your path.

Your transformation from caterpillar to butterfly will be noticed, admired and seen. It will also be judged, criticized and condemned, because your shift changes the dynamic relationship energy with those closest to you. A gentle reminder their discomfort belongs to them, not you. It is their decision to join you on this new path. Allow the happiness, joy, and peace you feel inside every moment to be the evidence of change. No defense is necessary other than that.

There is no lack, limitation, or obstacle in your life that cannot be transformed into love. Bring all of your pain, shame, and blame with you, inside your cocoon, and watch how infinite love absorbs and transmutes it. As you surrender your darkness in this safe place, your shadows dissolve and the light of creation shines ever brighter. You realize that it was your attachment to the pain that caused the shadows in your life.

A truth is revealed: the darkness you carried with you for so long cannot exist inside the stillness and light of your cocoon.

Only you can bring your darkness into the stillness. Discover your cocoon and revel in the peace it brings. Intend each day to become clear in your thoughts, emotions and body. Allow the light of creation to flow through you and into your physical world. Watch for unexpected moments of gratitude to fill your heart. Drink in the beauty that is life, just as the butterfly floats from one flower to another.

Your butterfly wings will slowly unfold and spread wide as a rainbow, the talisman of your transformation.

Kathy Eriksen, Mindful Lawyer, Heart Dancer and Certified Trainer of Infinite Possibilities. www.KathrynEriksen.com/

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Oh Fiddlesticks! It’s Time to Diet AGAIN!

By Ashly Torian

Diet is typically a four-letter word in most people’s book. It brings on angst and discomfort. The knowledge that restriction is right around the corner is troublesome for most. This discomfort and angst brings on more weight gain.

is what is keeping you from living in a body you love at a healthy weight.

FEAR is the enemy, NOT FOOD. The two main reasons people go on a diet in the first place, are: 1. To lose weight 2. Health issues Both of these are very good reasons, however, diets do not give these results for the long term. Why? Because very few people can live with this type of restriction day in and day out. In fact, 98% of those that go on a diet for the sole purpose to lose weight, gain it back within two years.

Eliminating foods that they love, living under the stress of the number on the scale, and knowing this isn’t the last time, is more than the human psyche can take.

It is astounding that this feeling around diet causes more health issues then the action itself.

Remember, what you think about is what you create. This environment dieting creates is a stress pool. And STRESS causes a collection of adipose tissue (fat) around the waistline. So the big question is: Why diet in the first place?

The quote, “The mind is everything, what you think you become,” is very true in this case. (Buddha) Or Wayne Dyer, “Keeping reminding yourself: I get what I think about, whether I want it or not.”

If dieting is your MO for each new year, then this is the merry-go-round of your creation.

“OUCH!” I know that hits close to home, so here is the break down.

Are you ready to try something new? These criteria of eating works for those who experience: • • • • •

If all you think about is dieting, then you will live on a diet each year. Your body will create this need via weight gain or inability to lose weight. The great fear and what I hear all the time is, “If I don’t diet, I will be big as a house,” or “If I don’t restrict my foods, then I will go hog wild and over eat.” This very fear

Overeating Binge eating Excessive dieting Restriction Fear of food

You name it … the following steps will repair your relationship with food, so you will see it 35

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as a friend instead of an enemy that causes weight gain, social issues, depression, anxiousness, frustration, despair … just to name a few.

Food is actually your friend, comforter, and nourisher. Food is grounding; it lets you know you are alive. So, how can it be bad?

Here are three actions you can take this NEW YEAR that will END the need for dieting in your life.

1. Check to see if you are breathing!

I know this sounds funny; of course, you are breathing. You wouldn’t be able to read this article if you weren’t. However, assess HOW you are breathing. Short and shallow or long and deep? Long and deep is the way to go.

When you breathe short and shallow, the body actually goes in to a stressed state. The blood is shunted away from the gut and into the arms legs and head, so you can think fast and move with herculean strength and speed.

When the blood is no longer in the gut region, digestion slows down, the body burns muscle for energy and stores fat.

If you want to burn fat while reading this article, then I suggest breathing slow and deep.

yourself the mechanism.

perfect

portion

control

3. Protein and Essential Fat are the Keys to Satisfaction Eat a protein and essential fat at every meal and you will feel satisfied. If you experience hunger shortly after eating, most likely protein and essential fat were not a part of that meal. These two macro-nutrients are key to weight loss efforts and energy.

Protein, such as lean meat, fish, and eggs, builds lean tissue and lasting energy. The greater amount of lean tissue on the body, the more calories the body will burn at rest.

Essential fats are key to our health. These include nuts and seeds in all forms, butters, oils in their whole state, olives, avocado, and coconut. Not only do they give us healthy skin and nails and a plethora of other vital needs, but also much satisfaction. When we experience satisfaction with food, we tend to not overeat.

The point is, change the way YOU show up with food and food will give you the results you desire; energy, vitality, satisfaction and pleasure.

2. Eat at a snail’s pace and enjoy the scenery!

Yes, you have heard this before, “Slow down and you won’t eat as much.” Did you listen?

The reason is to stimulate the head phase of digestion, your senses, and to wake up the gut brain. Doing this will increase your digestive power by 40-60 percent and you do not eat as much so you have just given

Ashly Torian is a speaker, author holistic eating & body love coach. www.ashlytorian.com

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Less is Most Definitely MORE!

By Deborah Ricci Every year at this time, when the countdown is imminent, and while there is still a chance, I pull back and think about how I want our holidays to turn out. Of course, like many others, I wish it to be free of the stresses that most certainly accompany the months of November and December; for sure! Couple it with the busyness, buzzing, and buying we all seem to struggle with and you’ve got the old family recipe for burn-out. I’m sure you echo my sentiment for less work and more play, but without the aid of my magic wand, which happens to be on the fritz at this moment, I must regroup sensibly and choose what is. My plans can sometimes get caught up in an unrealistic measuring process. Don’t be blindsided by the hustling and bustling. We are still relegated to living in real time: 24 hour days, right? So, here’s our chance to forgo anything that might not be top priority as I am reminded that most expectations do indeed lead to suffering.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be decking, baking, and caroling as much as the next gal, but committing to an unrealistic amount of holiday happenings might just get you on the naughty list.

Remember … we don’t have to book ourselves for every activity that gets thrown our way.

Instead, let’s be more reserved with accepting invitations, choosing only the ones that truly represent our idea of merry making. We can pull back, keeping our overzealous plans simple. But, wait … what will happen then? Well, the pay-off might just be that we get to enjoy our most peaceful holiday season ever! Imagine waking up on December 26th and NOT feeling huge pangs of relief and remorse both at the same time! What would that look like? Sounds pretty merry to me!

Pick one or two thoughtful things that you and your loved ones might enjoy doing and set a limit using the real time formula. (I know … tough to remember.) It just might be the difference between making popcorn balls and being stress balls! Besides, making really nice memories and creating new traditions will stay with you for generations to come. For instance, every year I send the grandchildren in our family a special ornament, and one day when they venture out into their adult lives with trees of their own, they will have a head start on their decorations and also have great memories of Aunt Deb sending them along every year!

So, because I am a bit of a MacGyver-type gal, I can fix my wand and get just enough magic out of it to grant a few moments of cherished time filled with love, generosity, and peace. Let’s take time to reflect on our own personal needs before the season gets away from us, by giving ourselves the most precious gift of all … time. Set aside some personal space just for you to enjoy some special little thing. It could be making yourself a genuine cup of hot cocoa, picking up your favorite pen and setting out to get your holidays cards finished early this year. By claiming some well deserved moments, we will have the energy and intention to host a beautiful and meaningful celebration no matter its size or grandeur. And by keeping your expectations smaller, good times can be had by all!

Deborah Ricci is a freelance writer living in McKinney. Feel free to write her at: Deborah@Teresinas.com

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What is an Independent Compounding Pharmacy?

By Donna S Barsky, D.Ph, PharmD

Compounding is the Art and Science of Creating Personalized Medications Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing personalized medications for patients.

Compounded medications are made based on a practitioner’s prescription in which individual ingredients are mixed together in the exact strength and dosage form required by the patient. This method allows the compounding pharmacist to work with the patient and the prescriber to customize a medication to meet the patient’s specific needs.

A Brief History of Compounding At one time, nearly all prescriptions were compounded. With the advent of mass drug manufacturing in the 1950s and ‘60s, compounding rapidly declined. The pharmacist’s role as a preparer of medications quickly changed to that of a dispenser of manufactured dosage forms, and most pharmacists no longer were trained to compound medications. However, the “onesize-fits-all” nature of many mass-produced medications meant that some patients’ needs were not being met.

Unique medication delivery for your unique needs Compounding enables prescribers and pharmacists to meet the special needs of patients. One of its most important benefits is to those patients who have difficulties with commercially available medication. With the prescriber’s authorization, pharmacists can custom-prepare medications in a variety of unique dosage forms, including: • • • • • • • •

Capsules Oral liquids Troches or lollipops Topical preparations Suppositories Eye and ear drops Nasal sprays Sterile Injections

THE RESULT? A WAY TO TAKE MEDICINE THAT HELPS INCREASE PATIENT COMPLIANCE. 39

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Custom Flavoring Custom flavoring is available for most oral medication forms, and unique delivery systems may be employed to help give medication to finicky patients. Many medications can be taken through a flavored lollipop. Infants especially benefit from alternate delivery devices such as pacifiers or baby bottles. These devices, which are provided in childproof packaging, allow parents to dispense prescription medicine easily and accurately.

Capsules Medication can be compounded into customized capsules, especially in cases where an alternate strength is required or to omit potential allergens or irritants, such as dyes, preservatives, or gluten. To lessen the number of doses to be taken, multiple medications often can be combined into a single dosage or made into sustained-release capsules.

Vegetarian capsules made from cellulose are available for patients who do not want to take a gelatin capsule.

Oral Liquids Many medications can be compounded as oral liquids for those patients who have difficulty swallowing tablets and capsules. Some patients may have problems tolerating the taste of a commercially available liquid, but a compounding pharmacist can make a pleasant-tasting, custom-flavored oral solution or suspension which can be administered easily and accurately. Some medications may be available as effervescent powders, which are mixed with water to make a fizzy drink.

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Troches/Lollipops

Troches and lollipops are used to keep drugs in the mouth when local action is needed there. Troches also may be placed under the tongue and allowed to dissolve, which allows the medication to enter the bloodstream quickly and easily. Some troches can be chewed and swallowed by a patient who cannot or will not take a capsule or tablet. These dosage forms can be enhanced with natural sweeteners and pleasant-tasting flavors, making them ideal for geriatric and pediatric patients.

Topical Preparations Topical methods of delivery also are widely used because they allow the absorption of medicine directly through the skin, and may help avoid potential side effects such as stomach upset or drowsiness. Topical medications often are prescribed for pain management, inflammation and nausea/vomiting. They are easy to use and are effective delivering the medication as needed. Topical medication forms include:

Gels • Creams & Lotions • Sprays • Foams • Stick Applicators, such as Lip Balms

Suppositories Patients who cannot take medications orally are ideal candidates for compounded suppositories. Available in various shapes depending on the route of administration, suppositories can be given rectally, vaginally or urethrally. By melting or dissolving into the body cavity, they allow the medication to pass quickly into the bloodstream. They can be used for hormone replacement therapy (HRT), to fight nausea, or to treat local conditions such as hemorrhoids, infections, or inflammation.

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A compounding pharmacist working closely with you and your physician can prepare medication in a dosage form that has been customized to your particular needs.

Fortunately, compounding has experienced a resurgence as modern technology and innovative techniques and research have allowed more pharmacists to customize medications to meet specific patient needs.

Trained, PCCA member pharmacists can now personalize medicine for patients who need specific:

▪

Strengths

▪

Dosage forms

▪

Flavors

▪

Ingredients excluded from medications due to allergies or other sensitivities

What else makes an independent pharmacy different?

Patient care and customer service The independent pharmacy offers a wide variety of services to the public, including medication therapy management services—more than half of independent community pharmacists offer this important service—as well as health screenings, Clinical nutritionist, orthopedic supplies, compression wear, wound care and individual consultations for better health and anti-aging.

Customer service is the mantra in these privately owned drugstores, perhaps even more so than in other settings. Independent owners take great pride in serving their patients and playing an important role in their communities. Close to 60% of them participate as speakers for local organizations, so it is not surprising that communication is one of the top skills necessary to succeed as an independent pharmacist. You must be able to foster unique patient-to-pharmacistto-physician relationships.

There is more accessibility for the patient for one-on-one direction to help better your health and find the pathway to a more active life.

We know that we are living longer, however, we don’t always life better. It is the independent pharmacist’s job to help make that active longer life happen.

If you are looking for that healthy pathway and need help, contact us at www.Texasstarpharmacy.com and make an appointment for your first step toward your new lifestyle.

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True Beauty

By Denise Stricklin Ackerman

Walking through a crowded mall the other day, I became very conscious of the swarms of giggling teenage girls passing by. Perfect faces under layers of makeup: false eyelashes, dyed hair, the doll like looks of fashion models just coming from a day of shooting. In the periphery of my eye, I compared them to the mannequins in the displays of stores. Each with their well-designed faces and cute curvy figures, it was tough to tell which was real and not real. The girls, the real ones, also showed their tanned, perfectly sculpted tummies peeking from their low cut jeans and their budding breasts rounding above their push up bras, tantalizing observers, especially the young men goggling these delectable ripe fruits of womanhood.

As an aging, overly ripe bit of womanhood myself, one could say I was jealous that I no longer could catch the eye of a man. I’ve had my turn, my day with youth. It is not the perspective of the jealous older woman from which I view, instead it is the sage in me, my wiser older self.

Knowing that we all wear masks, I understand the outward expression of youth. At that age, all things seem external. Craving acceptance, youth will do anything to feel beautiful, as they navigate the treacherous climb to adulthood and beyond.

Greater offenders of this quest for beauty are adult women who are schooled in the Lesson of Looks, taught by society and the media, that beauty is an outside job. Paying attention to what 43

meilleur des femmes the media and unfortunately some parents emphasize, young women today spend thousands of dollars trying to become a beauty on the outside while ignoring where true beauty lies. Looking at any magazine from cover to back, pictures of perfection are all the eyes see.

Fortunately for me, I was raised by a very wise mother whose exquisite face stopped observers as she obliviously went about life curtailing her growing brood. With no time for fluff and little means to feed us all, beauty was rarely something she got to think about. Probably because of these circumstances, she taught her children that the true beauty of a person lies within, a truth that has resonated in me all my life.

There is an old saying, “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” Inner beauty can be seen in the eyes. With their essence of childlike joy, sans the exterior need for outer embellishments, children express this best. In their innocence and simplicity, joy is the face they wear. They light up any happening with their expressions of delight.

Turning within, we too can light up a room. Clearing the heart of jealousy, anger, and resentment, we free ourselves to wear the cloak of true beauty, a shimmering cloak of joy.

When the heart is light, the countenance is beauty, no matter the structure or condition of face. There are countless cases of maimed, disfigured people who bring pure joy to those they encounter.

What would our world be like if our magazines were filled with images of unadorned faces and bodies with headlines such as “Beauty: The Inside Job,” or “The New Look – Your Inner Essence.”

Would our focus still be so external? Not only would our pocketbooks be fatter, our lives would be fuller, essentially richer in spirit. We’d spend more time on our inner selves, learning to find the creative parts of ourselves, allowing our children to express more who they are instead of what they look like. Perhaps our world might be a kinder, bully free world.

Today when you consider the garment you wear, the makeup you must have, take a pause. Ask yourself what garment are you choosing inside? Is it a garment of anger or resentment, or the garment of joy? And as you dress and teach your children, choose carefully the lessons they learn from you. Your beauty, no matter your face, size, or age, is a reflection of the beauty within you.

Denise Ackerman, Productivity Coach and Empowerment Coach facebook.com/denise.s.ackerman

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Cosmetic Procedures for Raising Your Spirits

by Kathryn White, M.D.

Raising your spirits is easier if you feel good about your appearance. The aging process is often not very kind, and gravity is not your friend! Fortunately, there are a variety of non-surgical options that may erase several years in just a matter of minutes. We will focus on just a single class known as injectables.

No one likes needles but there is really minimal discomfort associated with these treatments and they are some of the most common cosmetic procedures done every year. Injectables encompass products that add volume (dermal fillers) and, also relax muscles to soften wrinkles.

The most common of these is Botox™. Botox™ is derived from botulinum toxin but is extremely safe and also now commonly used to treat many medical conditions such as migraine headaches.

For cosmetic usage, the most common area of treatment includes the “11’s” which are those frown lines between our brows. It can also be used however to treat crow’s feet, forehead lines, 45

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fine lines around the mouth and some other indications in the lower face. Not, all of these indications are FDA approved but it is used off-label very safely in a variety of other locations. In general, it takes about three to five days for the effect to begin and it is optimal in about two weeks. Wrinkles are often significantly softened and in some instances, completely erased! The effect is temporary and will generally last about three to four months on average. With regular usage, you might even begin to space your treatments out to four to five-month intervals.

Adverse effects are extremely uncommon and generally resolve quickly. The most common is bruising but occasionally there can be some asymmetry of the face or drooping of the eyelid.

There are two other products also derived from botulinum toxin which are alternatives to Botox™. They are Dysport™ and Xeomin™. They are very similar and can be used interchangeably.

Another group of injectables are the dermal fillers. While Botox™ and related products are used to treat wrinkles caused by facial movement, fillers treat wrinkles caused by volume loss. Loss of facial fat and volume are a very common consequence of aging.

Dermal fillers are used to replace the volume, plumping up the facial contours for a more youthful appearance.

This effect is also temporary however they generally last significantly longer depending upon the product used.

There are many different fillers available and we will focus on only a few of them. One class of fillers is made from hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is a normal component of our skin and attracts water. That is how it maintains the volume for a period of months. There are several different fillers of this type to choose from including Juvederm™, Restylane™, Voluma™ or Belotero™. There are also fillers made from other products as well, such as Sculptra™ or Radiesse™. These types of fillers are also able to stimulate your own collagen production which provides long lasting results. None of these fillers require any skin testing prior to injection like the collagen fillers of years ago. Any type of allergic reaction is extremely rare.

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Fillers are most commonly used in the nasolabial folds which are the lines coming from the sides of the nose down to the mouth. They are also used for lip augmentation and to soften those “smoker’s lines” around the mouth.

Some fillers are meant to be injected deeper than others and are great for correcting volume loss around the cheeks and mid face. Other areas commonly injected are the temples, along the jaw line, marionette lines at the corners of the mouth and even the chin. Radiesse™ has also recently been FDA approved for injection into the hands for rejuvenation there as well.

Serious side effects with dermal fillers are rare. It is often possible to have some swelling and bruising for several days. The injected areas may be tender but that generally resolves quickly.

On occasion, there may be lumps or asymmetry. Some fillers have lidocaine in them to help with discomfort during the injections and topical anesthetic creams and ice are also used. Overall, they are well tolerated with these anesthetics. Dental blocks can be performed for lip augmentations if necessary as well. The length of time that fillers will last varies depending upon the type of filler used and location injected. In general, they can last between six to eighteen months.

A combination of a dermal filler and one of the agents to block the wrinkles of motion can give very nice cosmetic results. There is minimal downtime with this yet it can result in a much more youthful and rested appearance. Since there are so many options available, it is best to discuss your desires with a knowledgeable practitioner.

Go ahead … treat yourself and raise your spirits not only during the holiday season but well beyond!

Kathryn E. White MD is a Board Certified gynecologist practicing for over 20 years in the Plano/Frisco area whose practice focuses on women’s health/wellness, hormone replacement therapy and weight loss. She provides surgical services at Baylor Medical Center Frisco and is also the Medical Director of Azure Med Spa in Frisco, Texas.

Dr. White personally performs all injectable procedures in her spa.

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Lisa 214 650 3344 This is a little bit about our family journey . My sons have been an integral part of it all as they grew up living it. I have been in the restaurant business for 37 years. I was the previous founder, creator and operating owner of Luna de Noche Tex-Mex Grill in the Dallas Metroplex. I built a successful business with award winning dishes, sat on many boards with causes I believed in. I achieved more than I ever could have imagined . The best part of it all was all the community involvement and the opportunity I had to make a difference in people's lives. Life took me on an unexpected break for a couple of years and then I started a new concept called Lunada , great place , tough location . Restaurants can be life-consuming , I was at a crossroad about continuing on this path.

One day I receive a call asking if I can cater a party so I met with these two sweet sisters Patty and Victoria and along with their sisters Diane, Jeri, and Nedra they were planning their mother's 94th birthday party. My restaurants were Tex Mex so thank God I have quite an extensive dish selection because it was anything but a TexMex menu with Bbq, cucumber salad, cold pasta, veggie trays, hamburger sliders, etc etc. I realized then I did not have to specialize only on Tex-Mex, I embraced that fact and that was the day I decided to open this catering business that has no boundaries on what I create.

The reason I started a restaurant so many years ago was because I enjoyed entertaining and people loved my cooking. This brings me back full circle to what I know how to do. After years of being in the business , I created many dishes in my kitchen, I would invite family and friends to a test tasting before I placed them on my menus. I now get to share these on a personal level one special occasion at a time!

www.seasonedcrea,ons.com