Can a night spent naked in a pit in South Dakota change your life?
I'm not here to judge. I'm only relating what I read in Natural Health (March, $4.95).
Here's the story:
It seems that a certain photographer, Marco Ridomi, was not happy despite success in his career.
Depressed, he went on a 5-year quest for fulfillment, finding no solace. Finally, he came to the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where a healer prescribed a vision quest spent in a deep, dark hole overnight.
Alone and bereft in the hole, he hit rock bottom, then amazingly regained his spirit. Transformed and full of joy, he returned to Italy, where he married. He bought a beautiful Tuscany vineyard and lived happily ever after amid wine and olives.
Is there a lesson here for the rest of us? Of course: Before you get to Tuscany, you have to go through a lot of South Dakotas.
Here are more tales, fables, facts and morals from the pages of the latest magazines:
l Men's Health (March, $3.99): Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw is one tough 52-year-old. Maybe you can learn from him. He runs 4-6 miles but, ooh, he threw out his back a few months ago, so he's had to cut out most of the running. He lifts weights but, gee, because of football, he has no ligaments remaining in his right elbow and can't extend his arm.
The moral: Not being a pro football player starts paying off at 52.
l Science & Spirit (February/March, $4.99): Is America the closest thing to heaven? A poll of 1.2 million people around the world for Project Planet found that 36 percent of Americans think it is. That many believe they will go to heaven, while only 26 percent of people from other nations do.
The poll also asked people about religion, evolution, parenthood, crime and marriage.
Moral: It may be harder for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but it doesn't stop the rich man from believing he should be first in line.
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