Student Spotlight
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Steven Jaffe, PhD candidate
“Finding better ways to live”
Corporate people who worked with Steven Jaffe in the 1970s remember an intense, driven marketing whiz who quickly made his mark within the high–stakes energy industry. When this daring strategist reinvented himself as an insurance entrepreneur who concurrently spun–off a direct mail advertising firm, no one seemed surprised that anything and everything Steve touched instantly turned to gold.
But in the ebbing, flowing balance of life, leaping from one mountaintop to the next is both tiring and it’s only one side of the equation. In the 1990s Steve’s energies spiraled downward, careening into the harsh shadows of litigation—in both his professional world and in his personal life. Various family crises brought so many layers of duress that by 1999, his heart was literally breaking.
“It was clear that having a Type–A personality didn’t serve me,” he says. “The medical world of drugs and multiple surgeries could artificially alter and patch me up, but what I really needed was to find my own way to make peace within myself.”
As a pragmatic problem–solver, Steve never lost faith that he could rebuild his health by choosing to have a change of heart. The change he found came from creating a revolutionary new mind diet.
“I reconnected my emotional, physical and spiritual health through journaling and poetry,” he explains. “The process (and processing) began when I coined the phrase ‘having a mind diet.’ Every time stress tried to come barreling down and retake control, I would shift my mental and emotional energies by writing poems and phrases that explored how I really felt about rebalancing, reflecting, regrouping…not just reacting.”
Steve discovered Clayton College because he wanted to establish his mind diet book series as a provable, systematic approach that’s rooted in each human being’s natural birthright: homeostasis.
“CCNH has the most balanced curriculum I’ve found. Motivated by inspiring books and an accessible, supportive, expert staff, I’m fully enjoying these graduate programs. My masters thesis, ‘Retyping Stress to Prevent Disease,’ addressed our innate ability to redirect our internal auto–pilot, ending the dangerous knee–jerk reactions to everyday stress. This initial research is now being published as the latest book in my mind diet series!”
Steve’s upcoming doctoral dissertation came to life when he met Clayton College adjunct professors at our annual natural health conference. “My newest research discusses our internal ability to entrain the heart and the mind, so that we can instinctively choose deeper–breathing and decide to take a mental time–out, even in the midst of being bombarded by the pressures of work, family, and other life situations.”
Steve and his wife, Nancy, are both living proof that a mind diet of exercise, balanced nutrition and intentional care does indeed restore health “from the inside, out.” She conquered cancer eight years ago, and he takes good care of his heart in every sense of the word.
Along with his five–part poetry and journaling series, Steve has written / is writing four novels. Nancy creates hand–painted silk art that celebrates victory; the Jaffes appreciate the gift of being alive and able to actively teach their grandchildren that there’s a better way to live!
For more information: www.Aminddiet.com and www.gossamersilkdesigns.com.
This article was based on an interview with the student.
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