Spark - Working Better Together for Social Innovation

"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all facts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from that decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would come his way."

W.N. Murray of the 1951 Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Why you have to have a positive vision & think about the positive reasons for doing exercise

In "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink (GREAT BOOK), he describes a research project they conducted where they served a wine they described as "two-buck Chuck" with two different descriptions. One was described the wine as a California red; the other had the SAME
wine was described as North Dakota red.

The people at the meal served the "California red" not only reported the wine as better, but the entire meal as well; the "North Dakota red" found the eaters with less enthusiasm for the meal. The capper is that both groups were served the SAME food too!

A Placebo Effect for Pricey Placebos in Placating Pain

BOSTON, March 4 -- Irrational and extraordinary as it may seem, expensive placebos offer greater pain relief than cheap ones, found researchers here.

Put another way, placebos that cost pennies may be no therapeutic bargain in a patient's eyes compared with placebos that cost dollars -- even though they are the very same placebo.

One implication is that extra-clinical factors – such as price or brand name -- may alter the perceived efficacy of a real medication, according to Dan Ariely, Ph.D., of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues.

The finding emerged from a randomized, blinded study, in which 82 healthy paid volunteers were given what they were told was a new opioid and asked to rate its effect on painful electric shocks, Dr. Ariely and colleagues reported in a research letter in the March 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Carefully consider the placebo effect when explaining medications to patients and do not emphasize elements such as price discounts or brand names. In fact, the volunteers were all given the same placebo, but some were told its price was $2.50 a pill and others were told the cost was discounted to 10 cents a pill, the researchers reported.

Those who got the perceived expensive pill had significantly greater pain reduction (P=0.02) than those who thought they were getting the cheaper version, Dr. Ariely and colleagues found.