My Project Paradise in the world Began When I Fell in Love

I first learned about Project Heaven on Earth when a colleague wrote to me about a friend who was interested in meeting me, but who had not gotten any response to his previous emails. I hadn’t received the emails, so asked him to write again, which he did.

After reading about Project Heaven on Earth and its founder Martin Rutte, we met for a brief chat, and it became very clear that Martin was a kindred spirit, and our meeting would be the beginning of a long-term collaboration. I knew I wanted to do an interview with Martin for my podcast, and I ordered his book, Project Heaven on Earth: The 3 simple questions that will help you change the world…easily.

It was a wonderfully informative interview that you can watch here.

I will admit that I was a bit put off by the book title. Heaven on Earth seemed a bit Airy-Fairy and religious. I’m also put off by programs that promise simple solutions to the world’s problems. “Three simple questions that will help you change the world…easily”? Give me a break.

I felt a little better when I saw that the book’s Foreword was written by Jack Canfield, a long-time colleague who created the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print. I soon learned that Martin has had a very successful business career both in the U.S. and Canada.

He has worked with such organizations as The World Bank, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Southern California Edison, Virgin Records, Apple Computer, Esso Petroleum, and London Life Insurance helping them expand their outlook and position themselves for the future. He is also the co-author of The New York Times Business Bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, with sales of over 1.1 million copies and translations into 15 languages.

In his book, Project Heaven on Earth, Martin offers a clear and honest look at the challenges we face:

“Humanity is at a crossroads. I’m deeply concerned about the state of our world and pained about the direction we’ve been taking. The sufferings of the world seem overwhelming, they continue and continue — war, hunger, poverty, the threat of global financial collapse. Resignation is being stockpiled. Hope is in short supply. Optimism is hiding in a cave.”

Martin goes on to say,

“I believe what’s needed to move us forward at this point in our evolution is the birthing of a new possibility for our world — a new story of what it means to be human (an individual) and what it means to be Humanity (the human condition). I capitalize ‘Humanity’ because I want us to start thinking about experiencing us as one family with extraordinary potential.”

Here’s how Martin describes Project Heaven on Earth:

“Project Heaven on Earth as a Noun: This Project is a thing you do, something you put your energy into. It’s a vehicle for the alignment of Humanity.

“Project Heaven on Earth as a Verb: You project yourself, your Being, your intention, into the world to build the world of your dreams and yearnings.”

He concludes:

“The intention of Project Heaven on Earth is to collectively change Humanity’s current story from one that doesn’t work for a great number of people (hunger, war, poverty, etc.) to one that works for you, me, and everyone.”

Addressing the Three Questions of Project Heaven on Earth

Martin invites us to address the following three questions:

Question 1: Recall a time when you experienced Heaven on Earth. What was happening? Describe what happened, how it felt, how you perceived the world. What was your experience of yourself, of others, of life?

Question 2: Imagine you have a magic wand and with it you can create Heaven on Earth. What is Heaven on Earth for you? Take as much time as you need with this. Open your heart. Let your mind go. Marinate in what Heaven on Earth is for you. What would be present, what would disappear and no longer exist, and what would newly appear?

Question 3: What simple, easy, concrete step (s) will you take in the next 24 hours to make Heaven on Earth real? By making the step simple, by making it one you know you can do and by doing it within 24 hours, you’ve actually begun creating Heaven on Earth. Take a baby step. It’s as simple as that.

Here are my answers to the three questions Martin invited me to address:

Question 1: Recall a time when you experienced Heaven on Earth. What was happening?

Heaven on Earth began for me when I fell in love with a young woman in 1965. I was a twenty-one-year-old senior, and she was a seventeen-year-old freshman at the beautiful, newly created campus, at U.C. Santa Barbara. My beloved and I talked about children and agreed we wanted to have a child and, given that the world already had children who needed a home with loving parents, we wanted to adopt a child.

Fast forward to Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo. Following graduation, we married, my wife became pregnant, and I was coaching my wife through the relaxation and breathing techniques we had learned in the Lamaze child-birthing classes. After many hours of labor, we were told it was time for my wife to move into the delivery room. I still remember the words of the nurse.

“OK, Mr. Diamond, your work is done now. You can go to the waiting-room, and we’ll let you know when your child arrives.”

I was sorry to have to leave at this point, but we had been told the rules. Fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. I kissed my wife, wished her and the baby well, and told her I would see her soon. She was wheeled in one direction, and I went the other way.

But as I was going through the waiting-room doors, something stopped me. I felt the call of my unborn child telling me:

“I don’t want a waiting-room father. Your place is here with us.”

I immediately turned around and made my way to the delivery room. I came in and took my place at the head of the table as my wife began the final stages to bring our child into the world.

There was no question about my leaving. I knew where I belonged. No hospital rules were going to keep me away. It didn’t take long for the final push and our son, Jemal, was born amid tears of joy and relief. Holding him for the first time I made a vow that I would be a different kind of father than my father was able to be for me and to do everything I could to help create a world where fathers were fully engaged with their families throughout their lives. Two-and-a-half years later, we adopted a two-month-old, African American baby girl, who we named Angela.

For me this Heaven on Earth experience began with the magic of falling in love, which opened our hearts to wanting to share that love with a child we birthed and with a child who needed a loving family. It culminated with the spirit of our soon-to-be born son calling me to break the rules in the service of love and connection and our reaching outside our comfort zone to find and adopt our beautiful daughter.

Question 2: Imagine you have a magic wand and with it you can create Heaven on Earth. What is Heaven on Earth for you?

For me, Heaven on Earth is a world of fathers who are fully healed and lovingly connected with themselves, their families, the community of life on planet Earth.

In my book, The Warrior’s Journey Home: Healing Men Healing the Planet I quoted my friend and colleague Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man,

“The radical vision of the future rests on the belief that the logic that determines either our survival or our destruction is simple:

1. The new human vocation is to heal the earth.
2. We can only heal what we love.
3. We can only love what we know.
4. We can only know what we touch.”

Heaven on Earth is the end of war as we’ve known it and a new kind of warriorship. In The Warrior’s Journey Home, I quoted Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa.

“Warriorship here does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Here the word ‘warrior’ is taken from the Tibetan pawo which literally means ‘one who is brave.’ Warriorship in this context is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness.” Trungpa concludes, saying, “Warriorship is not being afraid of who you are.”

Question 3: What simple, easy, concrete step (s) will you take in the next 24 hours to make Heaven on Earth real?

I will share the answers to these three questions with Martin Rutte and continue exploring ways to collaborate to bring Heaven on Earth for all.

You can connect with Martin Rutte and his work here: https://projectheavenonearth.com/

You can watch my interview with Martin here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Krt5t4aYM

You can receive my free weekly newsletter and read my latest articles here: https://menalive.com/email-newsletter/

The post My Project Heaven on Earth Began When I Fell in Love appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: My Project Heaven on Earth Began When I Fell in Love
Sourced From: menalive.com/project-heaven-on-earth-love/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=project-heaven-on-earth-love
Published Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2025 18:38:51 +0000

Skill of the Week: Effectively Traverse the Monkey Bars

An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.

When you attempt to do the monkey bars, after taking an extended post-childhood hiatus from the practice, you’re apt to think one thing:

“$@%#! This feels awful!”

That terrible feeling is partly due to the fact that your arms have to support a lot more weight than they did when you were seven.

It’s also due to the fact that you probably don’t do much hanging as part of your fitness routine (even though you really should).

It’s worth getting over this shock to the system, though, and tackling the monkey bars more regularly. As an exercise that works your shoulders, back, arms, core, and grip strength, as well as your agility, there’s a reason the monkey bars are a standard fixture in both military and civilian obstacle courses. 

To make it across the monkey bars at all, you’re going to need a baseline of strength. General strength exercises like pull-ups will help get you there, but don’t ignore working on your grip strength; often the reason someone falls off the bars prematurely isn’t because their arms aren’t strong enough, but because their grip strength isn’t adequate. You can find a guide to strengthening your grip here.

Beyond general strength, traversing the monkey bars more comfortably and efficiently requires working on some foundational movements, as well as your technique.

On the former front, you’re going to want to start hanging on the regular, and Danny Clark, Master Instructor for MovNat, recommends these exercises in particular:

• Upward Reaching (focus on allowing the shoulders to flex fully instead of compensating with spinal extension)
• Side Hang (minimize “arching” the back and grip the bar with the pad of the hand; work up to at least 45 seconds)
• Scapular Pull (work up to 5 reps)

When it comes to technique, there are a few different ways to traverse the monkey bars. There’s the side swing, where your body is perpendicular to the bars and your palms are facing each other; this approach can sometimes feel more accessible and stable to beginners. The Front Power Traverse is a good method for when you’re looking for speed. If you’re first starting out, or find yourself in wet, slippery conditions, you may want to grip each bar with both hands before moving one hand to the next bar; while this method can feel more stable, it does make the traverse harder, as it stalls your momentum, slowing your progress and sapping more energy. As you get more comfortable on the rig, move to alternating your hands on the bars (i.e., you only have one hand gripping a bar at any given time).

For smoothness and efficiency, use the Forward Swing Traverse which, with tips and instructions from Danny, has been illustrated above. This traverse allows you to do the monkey bars with true primate-like flow.

The more you practice the monkey bars, the less terrible this effective bodyweight exercise will come to feel. So don’t leave the monkey bars behind in your childhood, and instead jump on them the next time you’re at the playground (there are a bunch of other exercises you can do while you’re there, too). 

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

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By: Brett & Kate McKay
Title: Skill of the Week: Effectively Traverse the Monkey Bars
Sourced From: www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/how-to-do-the-monkey-bars/
Published Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2025 12:50:34 +0000

How to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage: The Simple Secret Your Marriage Counselor Won't Tell You

I have been a marriage counselor for more than fifty years. When I finished graduate school in 1968, I had great hopes of helping couples fulfill their vows to “live happily ever after.” I married my college sweetheart in 1966, and we looked forward to having children and growing old together. It didn’t turn out that way. We successfully managed the “growing old” part, but our marriage didn’t survive. If you visit my website, you can watch my introductory welcome video, “Confessions of a Twice-Divorced Marriage Counselor.”

                It is not that counselors are holding back on sharing the good news about how to have successful, long-term, relationships. It is because we know the theory of how to “live happily ever after,” we just haven’t been successful in practicing what we preach.

                Most people know that the chances of having a long and happy marriage are not good. The statistics tell a disheartening story.

                “Since 1955 the divorce rate in American has been hovering around fifty percent.”

                These are the first words of an incredibly powerful and hopeful documentary by Emmy-nominated duo, Chris Brickler and Michael Romero. The film explores the lives and livelihood of Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt, two of the most prominent pioneers in the world of relationship communications for the past 40 years.

I first met Harville and Helen in 1988 shortly after the publication of their best-selling book, Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples. We have been friends and colleagues ever since. Like my wife, Carlin and I, Harville and Helen had both been divorced before they met and married. What I learned from reading their book (and reinforced by reading all their other books), has enabled Carlin and I to have a long and joyful marriage. We’re still going strong after forty-five years together and continue to practice the simple, let profound skills, that Harville and Helen have developed.

I have interviewed Helen and Harville numerous times in the past. I recently had the good fortune to interview Harville alone when Helen was unable to join us because she was called unexpectedly to speak at another event. Harville and I had the opportunity to discuss more deeply some the things men can do to live happily ever after.

In addition to working with couples, my work in the field of Gender-Specific Medicine and Men’s Health, focuses a lot on helping men. Our colleagues John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman had an interesting thing to say about men:

“What men do in relationships is, by a large margin, the crucial factor that separates a great relationship from a failed one. This does not mean that a woman doesn’t need to do her part, but the data proves that a man’s actions are the key variable that determines whether a relationship succeeds or fails, which is ironic, since most relationship books are for women. That’s kind of like doing open-heart surgery on the wrong patient.”

                So, what is the simple secret for divorce-proofing your marriage? The secret is having safe conversations. As Helen and Harville remind us, the most dangerous things humans do with each other is talk. They explain in their wonderful book, Making Marriage Simple,

                “We need to create safe spaces to talk with each other. By safety, we mean two people living in relationship with neither feeling hurt, criticized, or put down by the other. When your partner doesn’t feel safe, they put up their defenses. Healing happens only in safe environments.”

This is easier said than done.

The Heart of Dialogue: The New Film That Can Change the World For Good

I was excited when I recently received an email from Harville and Helen: “Today is the global premiere for the “The Heart of Dialogue,” a new 70-minute documentary of Harville and Helen’s storied life. I love books. I’ve written seventeen of my own and I recommend all the books that Harville and Helen have written. But there’s nothing like being with them in person. Watch the film and you will find yourself being up-close and personal with Helen and Harville and the participants in one of their workshops.

But that’s not all, you will be introduced to a new technology that will allow you, and millions of others, to interact with Helen and Harville now and in the future. Though I’ve known Helen and Harville for years, I had not heard of Chris Brickler and Michael Romero. I’d like to introduce them to you now. Their work is exciting and lifechanging.

                Chris is an Emmy-nominated producer and director of documentaries, dramatic shorts, and music and commercial videos. He is currently Founder & CEO of Mynd Immersive, a technology startup that provides immersive experiences for seniors to improve cognitive function & quality of life. For most of his professional career, Chris has been a leader in bringing groundbreaking new technologies to market. His latest endeavor is called Eternalize, an AI-lab that creates, preserves and powers the interactive digital twins of cherished loved ones and public personalities for future generations.

                Michael is also an Emmy-nominated producer and director of documentaries. He has spent his career in business development. He has built some of the largest brands in consumer goods, medical devices, and technology industries. Michael is also part of the Externalize team.

                The gifts that Harville and Helen have given to millions of couples all over the world would make them my heroes forever. But they didn’t stop after helping us save our marriages. They recognized that what worked for our most intimate relationships could work for all our relationships — with those we love and those we distrust and fear.

                In their book, How to Talk with Anyone About Anything: The Practice of Safe Conversations, they say,

                “Pandemics, warfare, natural disasters, and political upheaval have driven us apart, isolated us, and sent us fleeing for shelter. Far too often these days, you may find yourself feeling stressed out, burned out, and checked out.”

                I have certainly felt that way many times and have felt despair about the future of humanity. One of the greatest dangers I see is that consciously or unconsciously more and more people believe that humanity is doomed. But Helen and Harville’s Safe Conversations can not only save our marriages, but could even help create a safer world now and forever.

                “Clearly, we need a way to restore safety and civility to our daily interactions so we can talk to one another without triggering arguments or violence. Our method for doing this is to replace one-way monologue conversations with two-way dialogues that put you on a path to safer and more productive interactions and relationships.”

                We can each take a step in the direction of the future we all want and help, in the words of my colleague Charles Eisenstein, to create “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.” If you choose, you can begin now.

                You can watch the film here.

                You can learn more about Harville and Helen here.

                You can learn more about having safe conversations here.

                You can learn more about me and my work here.

                If you would like to read more articles like these, I invite you to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter here.

The post How to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage: The Simple Secret Your Marriage Counselor Won’t Tell You appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: How to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage: The Simple Secret Your Marriage Counselor Won’t Tell You
Sourced From: menalive.com/divorce-proof-your-marriage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=divorce-proof-your-marriage
Published Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2025 14:41:20 +0000

Offer First: How to Help Others Without Short-Changing Yourself

For more than fifty years I have enjoyed a successful career in the emerging field of Genders-Special Medicine and Men’s Health. In a recent article, “Men’s Work: Why I Do What I Do,” I responded to a request by a colleague to answer these two questions:

1. Why Do What You Do?
2. What Do You Receive?

Like many colleagues I know in the “helping professions,” I developed an early interest in helping others when a family crisis turned my world upside down. When I was five years old my mid-life father took an overdose of sleeping pills after he had become increasingly depressed when he couldn’t find work to support his family. Though he didn’t die, our lives were never the same.

                My father was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, north of our home in Los Angeles. My uncle Harry visited my father every Sunday and I was charged by my mother to go with him. I was confused and scared and asked my mother why I had to go. She told me:

                “Because your father needs you.”

                She also thanked me for being her “Good Little Man,” a role that caused a great deal of stress, confusion, and unachievable demands I have made towards myself over the years.

I grew up wondering what happened to my father, when it would happen to me and what I could do to keep it from happening to other men and their families. My own healing journey and what I’ve learned is reflected in my most popular books and on-line courses:

• The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression.

• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Overcoming Romantic and Sexual Addictions.

• My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound.

• “Heal The Irritable Male Syndrome.”

• “Navigating The 5 Stages of Love.”

• “Healing the Family Father Wound.”

As a child thrust in the role of caregiver long before I was capable of helping anyone, I learned to sacrifice my own needs to care for others. The old adage: “It is better to give than receive,” seemed the most natural thing in the world. It has taken years of therapy, self-reflection, and support to learn that I had to give to myself before I really had anything I could give to others.

This truth came home to me when my wife and I were raising our two young children. As every parent knows, little ones require a huge amount of time, attention, love, and care. But if we don’t take care of ourselves we can easily become overwhelmed and burned out. I was forced into self-care when my doctor told me my stressful job would kill me if I didn’t get some regular exercise.

My wife told me our marriage wouldn’t survive if we didn’t have more time for each other away from the kids. She insisted on a Wednesday, date-night, that soon became sacrosanct. Over the years I have continued to find ways to give to others without short-changing myself.

Give First: The Power of Mentorship

In recent years I have been approached by experts in the field who had books or programs coming out and asked for my support in promoting their work. I turn down most requests as not being aligned with my expertise or where I don’t feel my help would significantly contribute to the field of men’s health.

I see part of my role as an elder in the field to offer support and mentorship to others. For those I felt were doing significantly good work in the field of Gender-Specific Medicine and Men’s Health and where I felt I had something significant to offer, we set up a time to talk. Here are a few of the people I felt would be helpful to do an on-line interview, write an article, and share it with my large community:

• Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World: Brenda Snow Healthcare Maven Extraordinaire.

• The Compassionate Warrior: The Power of Mature Masculine Psychology.

• Revolutionizing Male Birth Control: Dr. Darlene Walley Offers Plan A for Men.

I don’t charge for the time I spend interviewing them, writing articles, and sharing them with my communities. I have been helped by others in the past and I enjoy helping where I can. But this isn’t just “Giving.” I always get something back. It may be from the person who I helped. It may be from someone else. The old saying “What goes around, comes around,” seems appropriate.

I recently came across a book, Give First: The Power of Mentorship by Brad Feld. Feld has been an early-stage entrepreneur and investor since 1987. He co-founded two venture capital firms and multiple companies including Techstars. His view of giving helped me make sense of what I had been doing for some time. He says:

“One of my deeply held beliefs to the secret success in life is to give before you get. In this approach, I am always willing to try to be helpful to someone without having a clear expectation of what is in it for me. If, over time, the relationship is one way (e.g., I’m giving, but getting nothing), I’ll often back off on my level of give because this belief doesn’t underlie a fundamentally altruistic approach.

“However, by investing time and energy up front without a specifically defined outcome, I have found that, over time, the rewards that come back to me exceed my wildest expectations.”

That was certainly true for me and I believe it is true for most colleagues I know who are successful in their careers and in their lives. Based on his work at Techstars (Techstars is a global startup accelerator and venture capital firm founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City.) Brad Feld and his partner David Cohen developed “The Techstars Mentor Manifesto” with 18 practices that Feld elaborates in the book. Here are some of the points that particularly resonate with me and my work:

• Be authentic — practice what you preach.
• Be direct. Tell the truth, however hard.
• Listen. (With your heart as well as your head).
• Clearly commit to mentor or do not. Either is fine.
• The best mentor relationships eventually become two-way.
• Know what you don’t know. Say “I don’t know” when you don’t know. “I don’t know” is preferable to bravado.
• Be optimistic.
• Provide specific actionable advice; don’t be vague.
• Be challenging/robust but never destructive.
• Have empathy. Remember that startups are hard.

Although Feld’s book, Give First, was written from his experience as an entrepreneur developing startup communities, I believe there is a lot of wisdom here for parents, therapists, business leaders, artists, writers, and healers. For example, you can read an article I wrote about giving love, “The 5 Stages of Love and the Go-Giver Marriage,” and an interview I did with best-selling author John David Mann.

For more articles like these, please visit me at https://menalive.com/

The post Give First: How to Help Others Without Short-Changing Yourself appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: Give First: How to Help Others Without Short-Changing Yourself
Sourced From: menalive.com/help-others-and-yourself/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=help-others-and-yourself
Published Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2025 18:22:03 +0000

Male's Work: Why I Do What I Do

For more than fifty years I have been helping men and their families to live fully healthy lives. Over the years I have developed expertise in the emerging field of gender-specific healing. I call what I do, simply: “Men’s Work.” A colleague of mine is writing a book, A Call to Wise Elders: Leaving a Legacy of Goodness for Future Generations. He asked me to contribute and address two questions:

                 1. “Why do what you do?”  Give a voice to the impetus that moved you to work to make those around you safer, more comfortable, more fulfilled, and /or make the world a better place for ensuing generations.

                2. “What do you receive?” Describe the way you personally feel rewarded, (emotionally, psychologically, spiritually) by the process of giving your knowledge, resources, time and energy in service to a purpose larger than yourself.

Here’s how I addressed these questions.

                “Why do what you do?”  This is the answer that is most alive for me as I write today.

                It has been said that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why. The first important day is straightforward and specific. I was born December 21, 1943 in New York City. The day I found out why was November 21, 1969 at Kaiser hospital in Vallejo, California.

                The second important day requires a bit more historical context. When I met and fell in love with my first wife, we were college students at U.C. Santa Barbara. As young couples do, we talked about our future and desires for children. We agreed that once we were married, we wanted two children. We hoped the first child would come naturally, but decided we wanted to adopt our second child so that a child in need would have a good home.

                Now back to Kaiser hospital in 1969. After coaching my wife with the relaxation and breathing techniques we had learned in the Lamaze child-birthing classes, we were told it was time for my wife to move into the delivery room.  I still remember the words of the nurse.

                “OK, Mr. Diamond, your work is done now. You can go to the waiting-room and we’ll let you know when your child arrives.”

                I was sorry to have to leave at this point, but we had been told the rules. Fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. I kissed my wife, wished her and the baby well, and told her I would see her soon. She was wheeled in one direction, and I went the other way.

                But as I was going through the waiting-room doors, something stopped me. I felt the call of my unborn child telling me:

                “I don’t want a waiting-room father. Your place is here with us.”

                I immediately turned around and made my way to the delivery room. I came in and took my place at the head of the table as my wife began the final stages to bring our child into the world.

                There was no question about my leaving. I knew where I belonged. No hospital rules were going to keep me away. It didn’t take long for the final push and our son, Jemal, came into the world amid tears of joy and relief. Holding him for the first time I made a vow that I would be a different kind of father than my father was able to be for me and to do everything I could to help create a world where fathers were fully engaged with their families throughout their lives. Two-and-a-half years later, we adopted a two-month-old, African-American baby girl, who we named Angela.

                For fifty-six years now I have worked in the emerging field of Gender-Specific Medicine and men’s health. According to my colleague Marianne J. Legato, M.D, the founder of the professional field of practice and author of Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women were essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and that everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the ways they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato acknowledges that most of the focus in the field has been on women. She has applauded my work with men and how it deepens and expands her work with sex and gender issues.  

                I have written seventeen books, including My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound. The book recounts my father’s healing journey from the time he took an overdose of sleeping pills when I was five years old and was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital to his escape after his “treatments” made him worse.

                It took many years and a lot of help and support for him to recover. I also lived with his legacy as I dealt with my own depression and recovery over the years. I share what I’ve learned in a number of on-line courses: “Healing the Family Father Wound,” and “Navigating the 5 Stages of Love.”

                My present wife, Carlin, and I now have six grown children, seventeen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Our work in the world continues as we move into our eighties and explore our contributions as elders.

                “What do you receive?” The answer to this question would require more books than I have already written. But the simple answer is that by engaging this work, I am able to fulfill my life’s destiny, fulfill the promise I made to my family, and to offer guidance and mentorship for the those who resonate with me and this vital healing work the world needs now more than ever.

                Following the publication of my fifteenth book, I thought my time writing books was complete. It seemed that fifteen books was a good body of work to complete my writing career. My wife, Carlin, surprised me when she said,

                “You need to write at least one more book. There is so much separation and conflict between men and women these days (that was during the height of the #MeToo movement and many men in positions of prominence and power were being accused of sexual misconduct), you need to write a book about what is good about men.”

                I was surprised at her insistence since she had always been supportive of my writing but had never told me I should write another book. Books require a lot of research and time alone to think and create. They take time away from family. I also wanted to do more teaching, training, and mentoring and less time doing counseling and writing books.

                After deep reflection I agreed that I had some interest and energy for book writing and began work on my 16^th book, 12 Rules for Good Men and later my 17^th book, Long Live Men! The Moonshot Mission to Heal Men, Close the Lifespan Gap, and Offer Hope to Humanity. I do love to write and I feel it’s a gift that I want to continue offering.

                The gift of these elder years is to engage with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and the generations that will follow me. I believe that men are both the canaries in the coalmine warning us about the dangers we face as humanity continues to be out of balance with the natural world. Healing men is also the hope for the future. I’ve also learned that when we heal men, we also heal women, children, and our communities.

                I very much resonate with the words of historian Thomas Berry who offered this warning and call to action.

                “We never knew enough. Nor were we sufficiently intimate with all our cousins in the great family of the earth. Nor could we listen to the various creatures of the earth, each telling its own story. The time has now come, however, when we will listen or we will die.”

                The greatest gift any of us can ask for is to have the courage to step up at the most challenging times in which we live and support those who are creating, in the words of my colleague Charles Eisenstein,

                “The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”

                I look forward to connecting more deeply.

                Jed Diamond, PhD, LCSW, Founder/VHS (Visionary, Healer, Scholar in residence) MenAlive.com

The post Men’s Work: Why I Do What I Do appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: Men’s Work: Why I Do What I Do
Sourced From: menalive.com/mens-work-healing-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mens-work-healing-men
Published Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:17:28 +0000

New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40

I have been working in the men’s health field since 1969. My work expanded greatly in 1997 following the publication of my fourth book, Male Menopause, which soon became an international best-seller translated into seventeen foreign languages. In the book I defined the male “change of life” this way:

“Male menopause (also called andropause or manopause) begins with hormonal, physiological, and chemical changes that occur in all men generally between the ages of forty and fifty-five, though it can occur as early as thirty-five or as late as sixty-five. These changes affect all aspects of a man’s life. Male menopause is, thus, a physical condition with psychological, interpersonal, social, and spiritual dimensions.”

                I went on to say,

                “The purpose of male menopause is to signal the end of the first part of a man’s life and prepare him for the second half. Male menopause is not the beginning of the end, as many fear, but the end of the beginning. It is the passage to the most passionate, powerful, productive, and purposeful time of a man’s life.”

                I listed the following symptoms I had seen over the years with clients I treated. The most common physical symptoms include:

• Less endurance for physical activity
• Taking longer to recover from injuries and illness
• Weight gain
• Loss of skin tone

                Common psychological symptoms include:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Loss of purpose and direction in life

                Common sexual symptoms include:

• Loss of erections
• Low libido and interest in sex
• Increased anxiety and fear about sexual changes
• Increased fantasies about having sex outside of primary relationship

                I discussed the impact of hormonal changes for men going through this life passage.

                “Lowered levels of hormones at midlife are central to the changes associated with male menopause. Although hormones tend to decrease with age, each man is unique and individual levels vary widely. In one study, for instance, the average level of testosterone for men in their fifties was 600 ng/ mL. However, individual levels ranged from 200 ng/ mLl to 1,000 ng/ mL.”

                I also detailed the early experiences with testosterone replacement therapies (TRT) and some of the concerns about its use.

                “While clinicians in the U.S. debated the risks and benefits of TRT, British physicians were already beginning to use hormones to treat men who showed symptoms of testosterone deficiency.”

                Over the years, there continues to be controversy about the use of TRT in treating men. Nevertheless, testosterone continues to be prescribed widely for millions of men. I recently wrote about a new company, GameDay Men’s Health, that has been expanding rapidly with new clinics throughout the country. Says their founder, Evan Miller, PhD,

                “By focusing all of our energy on delivering premium testosterone replacement therapy, removing the stigma around erectile dysfunction services and more, we ensure our clients’ experience is relaxing, fast, and most importantly, delivers results.”

Acesis BioMed: Revolutionizing Treatment of Low T and Other Health Problems

I recently learned about a new company, Acesis Biomed, that is taking a different approach to treating low testosterone in men. Acesis Biomed was founded by Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas.

                Dr. Papadopoulos is Dean of the University of Southern California Alfred Mann School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds the John Stauffer Decanal Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences and is a professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine at USC. Before joining USC, Dr Papadopoulos served as Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada.

                Dr. Karatzas is Acesis’ CEO and has over 35 years of experience in Life Sciences in the public, private and academic sectors. He attended McGill University, where he earned his Ph.D., in Molecular Biology. He has over fifty peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor with 18 patents. From 2009 to 2021 he was the Director of Business Development and Contracts Office at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.

                I recently had an opportunity to talk with Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas about their company and their new approach for helping men with low T. They told me,

                “Millions of men suffer from low testosterone (T), leading to reduced quality of life. Acesis Biomed is pioneering a first-in-class, patented, oral treatment that restores the body’s natural T production — without synthetic hormones.”

                From my experience working with mid-life men and their families for more than fifty years, I believe this is a monumental breakthrough in what will be offered to men. Up until now, men who were experiencing symptoms of low testosterone were limited to taking Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Now, for the first time, Acesis Biomed, is offering a treatment approach that helps men restore their testosterone levels through a potentially safer and more natural approach by inducing the testes to produce testosterone.

                “Our vision is to unlock the body’s ability to restore testosterone, rather than using external steroids, setting a new approach for men’s wellbeing,” they told me.

                 They continue by stating:

                “What if a pill could help millions of men feel like themselves again — without needles, patches, gels or synthetic hormones? At Acesis, we are on a mission to transform the way low-T or deficiency is treated.“

                Dr. Karatzas stated that,

                “Our unique solution is rooted in the science, developed by Dr. Papadopoulos. His research has led to a better understanding of the pathways leading to steroid hormone synthesis, the pharmacology of steroid formation in the periphery and brain, and the identification of new molecules targeting key elements in diseases where steroids play a determining role.”

                They told me they want to be sure that when this new medication is available, it is safe and has undergone the necessary clinical trials and regulatory scrutiny.

                “Our current goal is to complete our preclinical program and transition to First-in-Man clinical trial in men with low testosterone, also known as male hypogonadism.”

                As a leader in the field of Gender-Specific Medicine and Men’s Health I am excited to continue learning more about the ground-breaking work that Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas are doing.

                The field of Gender-Specific Medicine is relatively new. My colleague, Marianne J. Legato, MD founded the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine in 1999. In her book, Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life, she says,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women are essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the way they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato has told me on numerous occasions that there is a great need for new approaches to helping men. In her book, Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan, she says,

                “Despite the significant opportunities and advantages most societies afford men, they remain shockingly vulnerable on many levels. Researchers have largely ignored the phenomenon, with tragic consequences. Simply put, we never turned a gender-specific lens on men. We have not thought enough — if at all — about why they are uniquely prone to disability and premature death.”

                It is time that men’s health got the recognition it deserves. I will keep my readers posted on these innovations and look forward to hearing more from Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas in the future. You can learn more about Acesis BioMed and their work to transform men’s health by visiting their website here.  If you would like to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter and read articles about innovations in field, you can visit me at MenAlive.com and subscribe to the newsletter here.

The post New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40 appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40
Sourced From: menalive.com/new-health-technology-for-men-over-40/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-health-technology-for-men-over-40
Published Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:06:21 +0000

Podcast # 1,076: The Microbiome Master Secret-- How 100 Trillion Bacteria Influence Your Weight, Mood, and All-Around Health

When you think of the microbiome, you probably think of your gut. But bacteria live all over your body. And they’re incredibly numerous; you play host to about as many microbes — a hundred trillion of them — as you do human cells.

As my guest will explain, these microbial ecosystems are not only ubiquitous but hugely influential for your health — impacting everything from your weight and mood to your risk of developing many diseases.

Dr. Brett Finlay is a microbiologist and the co-author of The Microbiome Master Key. Today on the show, Brett explains what the microbiome is, how modern life — including our overemphasis on hygiene — has damaged it, and how the quality of your microbiome is connected to nine of the top ten leading causes of death, as well as everything from depression to Parkinson’s. Brett also shares how we can boost the health of our microbiome, including whether probiotic supplements are effective, how something as simple as flossing your teeth can cut your risk of Alzheimer’s by 50%, and why you might want to let your dog lick you in the face.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Let Them Eat Dirt documentary 
• AoM Article: How and Why to Eat More Fiber
• AoM Article: Don’t Be a Stick in the Mud — Why You Should Let Your Kids Get Dirty
• Probiotic gum

Connect With Brett Finlay

• Brett’s faculty page

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

Listen to the episode on a separate page.

Download this episode.

Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice.

Transcript Coming Soon

 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

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By: Brett & Kate McKay
Title: Podcast #1,076: The Microbiome Master Key — How 100 Trillion Bacteria Influence Your Weight, Mood, and All-Around Health
Sourced From: www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/health/podcast-1076-the-microbiome-master-key-how-100-trillion-bacteria-influence-your-weight-mood-and-all-around-health/
Published Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:21:39 +0000