But hard does not mean depressed, just as easy does not mean content.

To be clear, I worry as much about the impact of the Internet as anyone else. I worry about shortening attention spans, the physical cost of sedentary ‘surfing’ and the potential for coarsening discourse as millions of web pages compete for attention by appealing to our base instincts.

I am a particular fan of integrative exercise – that is, exercise that occurs in the course of doing some productive activity such as gardening, bicycling to work, doing home improvement projects and so on.

Carbohydrate density is simple to calculate – just divide the quantity of carbohydrate in food by the weight of the food. The more carbs packed into a given gram of food, the higher its carbohydrate density.

If we can make the correct diagnosis, the healing can begin. If we can’t, both our personal health and our economy are doomed.

The world is beset by many problems, but in my opinion, this hijacking of our brain’s reward centers by electronic media is potentially one of the most destructive.

Citizens must pressure the American Hospital Association, the American Public Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and other relevant governmental agencies to make greening our hospitals and medical centers a top priority so that they themselves don’t create even more illness.

Remember that breath walking – as with any meditation technique – should not be pursued with a grim determination to ‘get it right.’ The point is to cultivate openness, relaxation and awareness, which can include awareness of your undisciplined, wandering mind.

I have always believed that the primary function of doctors should be to teach people how not to get sick in the first place. The word “doctor” comes from the Latin word for “teacher.” Teaching prevention should be primary; treatment of existing disease, secondary. I.

My personal opinion is that the neutral position on the mood spectrum – what I called emotional sea level – is not happiness but rather contentment and the calm acceptance that is the goal of many kinds of spiritual practice.