Tag Archives: Emma Palova WordPress writer

Be kind, love like a kid

Be kind in an unkind world

“Change is in the air, as old patterns fall away and new energies are emerging. Consciously release what needs to be released, and welcome with a full embrace the newness you’ve prayed for and so richly deserve.”

Marianne Williamson

 

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- I’ve never seen a more varied reaction to the happenings in Washington D.C. than this week following the presidential inauguration of Mr. Donald Trump on Jan. 20.

Any psychology student would have had a great doctoral thesis if he or she had analyzed and tabulated the responses to president Trump’s inauguration, Women’s March on Jan. 21, the first executive orders, retreat in Philadelphia, the Right to Life March and the mainstream media commentaries. Not to speak of late night shows, Saturday Night Live, and the fashion comparisons of the First Lady to historical figures and her linguistic disabilities.

ew-be-kind-jan-27

Only the death of the incarnate of the modern woman Mary Tyler Moore, and maybe watching “Charlie Bartlett” kept the weights of humanity from tipping over completely.

“So tell me what you think about all of the above and I’ll tell you who you are,” independent analysts and charlatans tested the Internet waters.

Facebook, twitter and other social media were bubbling like a witch’s potion with all the ingredients starting with hate to complete apathy, withdrawal and secure rationalization.

In between reigned ridicule, sarcasm, vulgarity, hopelessness, fear and despair.

Of course, there were observers patiently waiting to render their opinions after all others have gone first, ala “risqué” style.

I’ve tasted my share of firsts with the post “Join 10 Actions in 100 Days”, a story about a local inspiring woman Sharon Ellison, a participant in the Women’s March.

The overwhelming reaction was that the women were vulgar and inappropriate like Madonna in order to get attention.

I didn’t catch what an editor would have caught, that is a vulgar phrase on a sign accompanying the post. It cost me some.

However, one of the best observations in the last 8 days was the use of the “alternate fact” term as the means to justifying anything.

I find that term especially useful in teaching my American born protégé Josephine Marie Palova, 3, the Czech language.

“My dear Josephine, a cow is actually a horse, or vice versa, depending on what you need it to be.”

Not, that this is anything new in politics.

“What you meant to ask me, was….?” A city manager restructured my question to his prepared answer.

“What I really wanted to say was that…”

“But you said something else,” I said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that.”

The politician’s word play is like a bad game of chess. No matter how good you are, the opposing party will claim they had won…….although in a different game.

Well, at least the Wall Street was happy in this game as the stocks soared past the 20,000 mark, if that is any indication of anything, according to ill-willed analysts.

I found some reprieve in the pacifist stance on the matter of the affairs in the union, in the world and in the universe, thanks to a post from a friend in Iowa, Sheryl Groen.

“Change is in the air, as old patterns fall away and new energies are emerging. Consciously release what needs to be released, and welcome with a full embrace the newness you’ve prayed for and so richly deserve.”

                                                                                      Marianne Williamson

 

There’s means to an end, my friend.

Be kind, everyone else is fighting a hard battle. Love like a kid, because love wins.

Featured photo thanks to Michelle Emaus of Lowell.

 

 

Copyright © 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Happy birthday America

Celebrate Independence Day

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- I love the Fourth of July holiday for many reasons. Most of all the Independence Day reminds me of my independence when I decided on my own free will to leave my homeland Czech Republic to pursue a better future in America.

Most of my dreams have come true and I am working on the ones that haven’t materialized yet. I am grateful to this great country that I have the freedom to express myself without censorship, that I can fly as high as I choose to, that I can be a woman entrepreneur.

Lowell Showboat decked out for July 4th
Lowell Showboat decked out for July 4th

While honoring the past in Czech Republic, I am moving ahead with life in the USA. Sometimes seemingly small steps lead to bigger victories. The path is not always straight, it winds and twists much like life itself. We now have deep roots in USA with the fourth generation already born here on the continent right at Bronson and Borgess hospitals in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

I trust that Josephine, 19 months old and the new guy will be fully bilingual in this ever-changing world. I know they will be able to travel to the old country to trace their roots and marvel at the European culture, try some Czech beer and the national dish; pork, dumplings and sauerkraut.

Have a burger, a Budweiser and a great holiday,

Emma and the EW team

Copyright (c) 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

Tea with VanGogh & Betty

On the health benefits of tea

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- I am a lifelong tea drinker, even though I had my periods of drinking coffee during the early 2000s while working for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.

My love for tea goes back to my childhood. We cured everything with either chamomile tea or plum brandy.

We used chamomile tea with honey to calm us down and at night to sleep. Quite often stories circulated about giving a brew from raw poppy heads not quite mature yet to kids, so they sleep better.

Healing teas and VanGogh's self-portrait
Healing teas and VanGogh’s self-portrait

The love for tea grew stronger while living in Sudan, Africa. There is a huge misconception that in hot weather you have to drink cold beverages. Actually, the body and the beverage temperatures should be close, just like in cooking.

“Everything has to have the same temperature,” says my cousin Brona Pink, a trained chef. That’s probably why Russians eat ice cream in winter.

Not knowing this fact back then, we drank by default both cold and hot tea in huge pitchers at the African apartment complex. I didn’t know much about herbs back in the 1970s, so we used mostly black tea with caffeine.

Betty Dickinson penned ""Creating a healthy corner"
Betty Dickinson of Ionia

The next run with tea was after I gave birth to my daughter in 1979 and started having problems with my gall bladder and digestion. I looked deeper into herbs and teas. There are many teas that are good for digestion. These are mostly made from bitter herbs like dandelion. Dandelions are not just those ugly yellow flowers in your lawn. Our friend in Czech Republic used to make wine from them.

“They are one of the nature’s best medicine,” writes herbalist Betty Dickinson in her book “Creating a Healthy Corner.”

“I eat the leaves fresh early in the spring before they blossom,” she writes.

My encounter with Dickinson in 2000 after I came back to USA from a trip to Czech Republic was one of the most important milestones in my life.

Dickinson was and still is a columnist for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard and she also writes for EW Emma’s Writings and for E Health & Wellness.

I was already organically bound as opposed to using chemicals, but she helped me understand the workings of nature.

I was overweight at the time and she suggested a tea mix consisting of celery seeds, kelp and nettle. I still use it to this day. Nettle and burdock are in most digestive teas.

Tea has always inspired me to a point that I wrote seven chapters of “Tea Council” in 2000, and lost them later when I switched computers.

The most recent run with tea was in 2012 when I lost my hair for unknown reasons. Dickinson had a cure for me; nettle again and yucca.

I also discovered the best tea line ever the “Health King.”  Their “Hair Regeneration” with privet root and black sesame helped me get my hair back. But their “Dong Quai Lady’s tea is the true king.

Ironically, my mom, who is a former pharmacist does not believe in herbs, teas or supplements.

“That’s a bunch of bullshit,” she says.

Well, all I can say is how I feel when I have the teas and when I don’t. The Lady’s tea with Angelica chinensis helps maintain normal gynecological functions and it alleviates cramps.

Whenever tired after long hours of writing I use yerba mate by EcoTeas.

The Organic India tea line is also good.

My love affair with teas continues. I love to serve them, I love to drink them and the artist in me loves their colors. They range from yellow jasmine to dark chocolate yerba mate. Maybe, there is a British or a Russian person in me. Plus drinking tea is a highly social event in many countries like the United Kingdom in the form of “high tea.”  The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island also serves “high tea” at 5 p.m.

You can order Dickinson’s book by e-mailing me at emmapalova@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

New eyes with Dr. Verdier II

The evaluation of the cataracts

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Note: This is the second part in the mini-series about Emma Palova’s journey from near blindness to new eyes with 20/20 vision. It is a story about cataracts that cause blurred vision.

The first part “Eyes set on Dr. Verdier” was published on EW Emma’s Writings http://emmapalova.com on Sept. 6.

The evaluation

Grand Rapids, MI – I was in at the Verdier Eye Center for an evaluation of the cataracts on July 11.

“Sweet,” said Dr. Nate Schlotthauer as he examined my right eye after dilating it with eye drops.

He called in a technician to look at the “perfect” cataract that plagues younger people than 60. Hereditary factors play a role in the fast-moving cataracts, as well as exposure to the sun, and birthdays, according to Schlotthauer.

I could not read the chart with rows of letters during the examination.

“It’s like looking through a foggy window that gets foggier as more layers are added,” said Schlotthauer. “Only a surgery can fix that. If you live long enough, you will eventually develop a cataract.”

I looked around me in the dark room with the expensive optical equipment and I wondered where the surgery will take place.

Optical equipment at the Verdier Eye Center
Optical equipment at the Verdier Eye Center

“Dr. Verdier will come now to see you,” said Schlotthauer.

Smiling Verdier with curly blonde hair walked in fast. I slightly remembered him from the story interview almost 10 years ago. Little did I know that I would be needing his eye care.

“I can’t drive. I can’t write and I can’t see myself in the mirror,” I described the fast progression of the cataract in the right eye. I have trouble seeing you doctor.”

Verdier examined the cataract nodding his head.

Dr. David Verdier, a recognized eye surgeon
Dr. David Verdier, a recognized eye surgeon

“We’ll fix you up. We’re going to do the right eye first,” he said. “Don’t worry. But remember, you still might need eyeglasses. Look at me.”

A technician flooded my right eye and performed measurements of the eyeball for the future lens implant that will replace the natural lens with the cataract. She also made me an appointment with the family doctor to make sure that I was fit for a surgery.”

“Okay, you’re all set for July 22,” she said.

The Verdier Eye Care office center is located on the main floor of the 1000 E. Paris building. It is a network of hallways, examining and waiting rooms, almost like a glass house labyrinth. Technicians in Cherokee blue uniforms were running around.

Boards with blinking lights showed which rooms were occupied. Clearly there was a system and an order underlying the chaos.

I got my Patient Information booklet about the upcoming surgery. My husband picked up the prescribed Polytrim ad Prednisolone eye drops for me. I was all set.

About the featured photo; This is what objects seem  like with a cataract.

For more information on eye surgeries go to http://www.verdiereyecenter.com

To be continued with “The surgery”

Copyright © 2014 story by Emma Palova

Happiness engineering

Happiness engineer resolves computer drama

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI-Happiness comes in many forms. What brings a smile to your face?

A WordPress happiness engineer brought a smile back to my face.

I panicked after I lost two-thirds of followers of EW Emma’s Writings on Monday. The photo below depicts exactly what I felt like. The caricature is by Olin Pink

Emma Palova deals with a technical hiccup.
Emma Palova deals with a technical hiccup.

 

“Losing followers, including shares and subscriptions, is like losing gold or accounts,” I wrote in the original story that I have decided to completely rewrite.

The help I received was efficient, fast, analytical and comforting. Each email ended with “Cheers.”

I got links that  narrowed down the problem and finally resolved it with a best wishes farewell.

Happiness engineering is like Russian nesting dolls
Happiness engineering is like Russian nesting dolls

Happiness engineering reminds me of Russian nesting dolls. Happiness engineers work to narrow down the problem and what caused it.

The happiness engineers around the world work as a team until the problem is solved.

The WordPress support distributed team works in a similar environment like the users, according to a presentation by happiness engineer Andrew Spittle. Here is an excerpt from Spittle’s talk at a 2013 conference in San Francisco.

The sec­ond prin­ci­ple I hold to be true is that happy peo­ple are most inclined to share and spread that happiness.

We’re Hap­pi­ness Engi­neers, right? We don’t want to cre­ate a cul­ture of sad­ness. That’s not going to help our users. If we can ori­ent deci­sions toward increas­ing our hap­pi­ness then it will also inevitably increase our users’ happiness.

We can step back from the pres­sure, trends, and iso­la­tion of any par­tic­u­lar geo­graphic area. There isn’t a cen­tral, geo­graphic ide­ol­ogy that’s pre­dom­i­nant. The lan­guages, val­ues, ideas, and lifestyles of our team are dis­trib­uted around the world, just like our users.

That built-in geo­graphic dis­tri­b­u­tion, what I ear­lier called being location-agnostic, means we can say No to a lot of things. A lot of things peo­ple assume to be required of a cus­tomer sup­port gig we don’t need to worry about. In our day-to-day work we have:

We have no set shifts. We pre­scribe no par­tic­u­lar sched­ule. And we ensure that no one pulls a grave­yard shift.

Thanks to the entire support team and especially to the angel happiness engineer somewhere out there in that vast Internet space.

Copyright © 2014 story and photo by Emma Palova

Writing journey

Writing; a wild journey into the unknown

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI- Three things prompted me to think about the writing business: 101 Challenge by WordPress, 100 Posts & beyond that I have achieved in a year and my worsening eyesight.

Sometimes people ask me what would  I be if I wasn’t a writer.

“I’d be a queen,” I answer laughing. “The queen of hearts.”

First of all writing is a business and it should be approached as such. I never quite got the idea of some of the Internet writers’ magazines screaming out loud on Facebook:

“Writers, do you want to get paid for writing?”

How is writing any different than going to get your groceries and paying for them? Or gas at the local station? Air ticket?

I love to blog
I love to blog

Actually it should be paid higher than your average retail position because the fact of the matter remains that minority entertains the majority.

“People would die of boredom if it wasn’t for writers and artists,” I always say. “What would you do without us?”

But, there does come a time when you feel like giving up after all the ups and downs, the encouragements and the discouragements.

It is that time when you’re bombarded by self-publishing houses that want your credit card number for your book on demand; by your spouses who want you to make money rather than use it on print cartridges, your aging parents who want to hold that long dreamt about book.

Then, kicks in the thing about driving traffic to your Internet sites and likes, which somehow magically will transfer into sales.

Not to forget about traditional publishers who want everything by snail mail, and 10 months later they still haven’t responded to you.

I don’t know how to change things to get different results or more likes and followers.

I like to encourage others to keep on trying doing the things they want along with the wanted outcomes.

100 Posts on WordPress
100 Posts on WordPress

My wanted outcomes are the publishing of my memoir and a book, but I seem to be lost in a sea of unexpected results on winding paths. This is not always bad, it’s just something else than you wanted.

It’s like going into the woods to get morels, and instead you bring back blackberries.

“It leads to new discoveries,” I say.

Like in this typical example of having a blog to increase your online presence and publishing capabilities while writing your memoir.

Well, accidentally you pick out WordPress, the best of the bunch. You are a perfect match, and you’re on your way.

“I love doing the blog more than writing my memoir,” I told my husband the other day.

There’s better and instant feedback, the constant challenge of maintaining the blog and coming up with new things, new challenges.

Then in turn you get picked up by other Internet giants and you’re headed into the unknown, like on a spaceship.

“I like being its captain,” I say.

This is part of the 100 Posts & beyond series.

Copyright © 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova

True American stories

Watch for my true American stories “A day in the country” with the Jones family and  “Reducing stigma of mental illness” with Ionia County Community Mental Health director Bob Lathers.

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Follow me on Emma Blogs as I enter the next 100 posts on word press.

Copyright (c) 2014 story and photos by Emma Palova

Dr. Verdier

Waiting for Dr.Verdier

By EMMA PALOVA

EW Emma’s Writings

 In the spirit of 101 Challenge: The Commons I wanted to write about finding your feature niche II for your blog yesterday. I wanted to thank everybody for participating in the challenge yesterday. I wanted to write about the month of May being the mental health awareness month and my friend CEO of Ionia County Community Mental Health (ICCMH). I wanted to do everything yesterday.

Writing with a magnifying glass
Writing with a magnifying glass

But destiny wanted something else.

I can hardly see the screen. Yesterday, I couldn’t see at all. I couldn’t write. The screen was dipped in a faraway 3=D mist. Google was floating somewhere in a distance.

I barely made it back home from town with my medication as I couldn’t see the oncoming cars.

I went to see the eye doctor this morning. Eyes are the second most precious asset that I have.

“What brings you here on a Friday,” asks the eye doc.

“I couldn’t see yesterday, it was creepy,” I said.

The eye doc conducts a thorough exam and says:

“Putting something in front of the foggy lens is not going to solve your problem,” he said. “You have cataracts in both eyes at a young age. It’s very progressive.”

“Does it run in the family?”

“Most definitely,” he said.

“I need to see Dr.Verdier,” I said.

“You know him,” asks the eye doc looking at me through his spectacles.

“I wrote about him,” I said. “He travels around the world fixing eyes.”

“Did you write that article about him on the Orbitz plane,”asks the eye doc.

“I did.”

“Then you know he’s worth waiting for,” says the eye doc.

The first consult appointment with Dr. Verdier is on Aug. 22. I still have to write. I have a book deal in the making, but I need to see.

 

Copyright © story and photo by Emma Palova