5 Ways To Sharpen Your Senses

November 22nd, 2016

5 Ways To Sharpen Your Senses

Living healthy now can keep your sight, hearing, and other senses younger longer

NOVEMBER 3, 2011
woman holding glasses
Too often, we don’t appreciate what we’ve got until it’s gone. Look at our senses: We take them for granted and they have a way of slipping with age—we strain to read the menu or catch that punch line. But if we took the time now to baby our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands, we could have them firing on all cylinders for years to come. Keep your senses young and vibrant with this guide—your attitude will follow.

See Clearly for Life

The sense slip: Dry eyes At about age 45, you’ll experience a drop in estrogen and androgen, which often leads to fewer tears and eyelid inflammation. The result: light sensitivity, blurry vision, and burning eyes, says Robert Latkany, MD, director of the Dry Eye Clinic in New York City.

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  • Prevent it A diet rich in omega-3s can keep dry-eye syndrome at bay. If you don’t have at least one serving of fish or walnuts daily, talk to your doctor about supplements.
  • Reverse it If upping your omega-3s for a month doesn’t help enough, look into prescription drops like Restasis, which stimulate tear production.

The sense slip: Cataracts The condition—which clouds the lens, hindering vision—can arise as early as your 40s; by 80, more than 50% of Americans will have developed them.

  • Prevent it A Tufts University study found that 10 years of regularly taking vitamin C supplements cuts your risk by 60%. It’s smart to shun smoking and prolonged sun exposure—both prompt free-radical formation, which greatly increases your chances of a cataract.
  • Reverse it One of the most common fixes is surgery to remove and replace the clouded lens. As with any surgery, there is a risk of infection and bleeding.

Boost Your Sense of Smell and Taste

The sense slip: Faded smell After 65, about half the population will notice a weaker sense of smell. As you age, you lose cell receptors that detect odor.

  • Prevent it Minimize contact with smoke and household chemicals like insecticides; they can damage nasal membranes. Also, “There’s evidence that the more you seek out scents, the better you maintain your sense of smell,” says Richard L. Doty, PhD, director of the Smell and Taste Center at the University of Pennsylvania. It’ll increase nerve stimulation, making your sense stronger. Starting at age 50, take a whiff of items that have a distinctive scent, such as peppermint and cinnamon, first thing in the morning.
  • Reverse it Do the sniffing exercise twice daily and have your doc check you for nasal inflammation or growths that may be blocking aromas, but can be treated.

The sense slip: Dulled taste Tongue taste sensors start to be noticeably less effective around age 65, with sour and bitter often the first flavors to fade.

  • Prevent it Practicing good oral hygiene will help keep your tongue in top condition. It’ll also protect your tastebuds from potentially damaging infections.
  • Reverse it Unfortunately, there’s little you can do to reclaim taste lost because of aging. But you can make up for it by adding more orstronger spices and flavorings to your food—just be sure to limit sugar and salt. Doty suggests adding salsa to dishes for a healthy and flavorful punch.

The sense slip: Dry mouth An estimated 400-plus drugs, including common heart disease medications such as beta-blockers, can cause dry mouth, promoting tooth decay and affecting how things taste.

  • Prevent it Curb your intake of dehydrating caffeine and alcohol, and run a humidifier while you sleep to moisten the air you breathe. “But the best thing you can do is avoid the need for medications later by living the healthiest lifestyle you can now,” Doty says.
  • Reverse it On meds? Talk to your doctor about reducing your dosage or switching prescriptions. If you can’t make the change, you may be able to take Salagen or Evoxac, drugs that can help stimulate saliva. Chewing gum or adding lemon juice to water can also help.

Hear Better Than Ever

The sense slip: Gradual hearing loss You may begin to notice this condition, called presbycusis, in your 40s. Past exposure to loud noises or changes in your blood supply because of heart disease or side effects ofdiabetes may have damaged the sound-detecting cells in the inner ear. As a result, higher-pitched voices become harder to hear, and distinguishing speech against background noise becomes difficult.

  • Prevent it Don’t smoke; it can damage blood vessels in the ear. In addition, wear earmuffs or earplugs when mowing the lawn, attending concerts, and when exposed to sound over 85 decibels for an extended period of time (normal speech is 65). And if you listen to your iPod for 90 minutes a day, you should keep the volume at 80% or lower, according to a new study from the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Boston. Listening longer? Go for 50% volume.
  • Reverse it Talk to a doctor about being fit with a hearing aid.

Give Your Touch a Touch-Up

The sense slip: Loss of sensation You’ll likely lose slight sensitivity as your skin becomes less elastic, starting in your 50s. There’s even evidence that the number of touch receptors in our skin decreases with age. Plus, certain meds, like the blood pressure med Cardene, can on rare occasion dull sensation.

  • Prevent it A heart-healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise, a low-fat diet, and shunning cigarettes will help keep the nerve fibers in your skin well oxygenated and responsive. Loading up on niacin- and B12-rich foods, such as dairy, poultry, and fish, will also help you hold onto sensation.
  • Reverse it Once nerve cells die, they can’t be regenerated. However, taking aspirin can dilate blood vessels and improve circulation, which will increase stimulation of the dermis, or innermost layer of skin. Check with your doc to see if any meds you’re on could be causing loss of sensation.

Sensory emergency

Age-related sensory losses occur gradually. If you experience a rapid decline, see your doctor right away.

An abrupt change in…Smell Could mean: A brain trauma

An abrupt change in…Sensation Could mean: Serious nerve damage or stroke

An abrupt change in…Vision Could mean: A blood clot in the brain or retina

https://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/5-ways-sharpen-your-senses

Embrace Your Destiny

September 1st, 2016

Three Keys to Unlocking Your Destiny


Three Keys to Unlocking Your Destiny

 

Your destiny can be found at the convergence point of three fundamental components: your design, your desire, and your development.

The challenge is to get these three to line up properly. Here are three keys for aligning these components in a way that moves you out of ruts that keep you from your destiny.

First, you’ve got to understand your design. Your design is simply the way God made you. Your design is a combination of your strengths (skills/gifts/talents) and your personality. I like to call this component your nature, because it is what comes naturally to you.

Whatever your design is, you don’t have to work for it. It’s who you are right now. And in fact, you’ve always been this way.

If you have a negative view of your design, you’ve got to change that. Perhaps all you can see are your flaws. If so, just remember that a flaw is nothing more than a gift misapplied. Every one of your weaknesses is simply a misapplication of one of your strengths.

I see this most clearly in marriage counseling. Whenever I ask a woman what she loves most about her husband, she’ll typically say something like, “He is such a go-getter! He doesn’t give up! Whatever he sets his mind to, he does.” Then, later in the session, I’ll ask the same woman what she hates most about her husband. The answer typically goes something like this: “He is so stubborn! When he gets something stuck in his mind, there is no moving him from it!!!” What she couldn’t see is that her husband’s greatest weakness is actually his greatest strength, just being exercised in the wrong context.

There are so many ways to learn about your design. Ask your friends to tell you what you are like. Ask your family members to tell you what you’re good at. Take a Meyers-Briggs personality assessment, or a Strength’s Finder 2.0 assessment. All of this will contribute to your understanding of the way God designed you. And as you discover more about yourself, stop to give God thanks for all that he has given you!

Second, you’ve got to embrace your design. Too many people waste time wishing they had other gifts, or that their personality was different. Don’t waste your time wanting what you don’t have; spend your time appreciating what you do have!

If God gave you a gift of singing, don’t waste your time wishing you could draw. I use this example because I always wished I had the ability to draw, but I just can’t. It doesn’t make sense to me. But I can sing and play the piano!

If you really embrace the gifts that God has given to you, you won’t waste any time wishing you had others. God was more than generous in giving you what he gave you. Don’t be greedy! Love the gifts you have.

And set your desires on the gifts that you have.

If you feel stuck. If you desire to move forward, but you just can’t seem to figure out how, the problem is very likely to be found in the realm of your desire. You want so badly to do something that you were never designed to do, and you are working hard to make it happen. It may happen for you in time, and that’s fine. But what’s better is discovering your design and maximizing that.

Embrace your design. Identify your gifts and like them. Then share them!

Finally, you’ve got to cultivate your design. Having a gift and a desire are not enough; you’ve got to add some rigor to the mix! Tiger Woods discovered that he had a gift for golf before the age of five. But having that gift and that desire was not enough. He had to work at it day and night until he developed the skill of a professional.

Many highly gifted people never amount to anything because they think they can ride on the power of their natural ability. History has hosted a sparse few individuals who actually can get away with that. But the rest of us must be intentional about developing our talents until they become skills.

A talent is raw potential; a skill is a honed ability. Don’t settle for talents; develop some skills, and hone them to perfection.

You need the second key to do the third key, because if you are going to maximize the capacity latent within your design, you’re going to have to want it . . . bad.

If you feel that you are missing out on your destiny, don’t just sit and wait for God to drop it in your lap! God will make a way for you, but you’re going to have to walk it out!

Come into agreement with God by embracing your gifts, forsaking your foolishness, and working hard to excel in them.

Did this entry help you? Which one of these keys do you need to work on right now? Let me know in the comments below.

Trusting Life

August 1st, 2016

How does the issue of trust show up in your life? Do you trust the Universe? Do you trust that everything is going to work out okay? Do you trust others? Do others trust you?

In this article we are going to look at how trust plays out in your life, and why you should start trusting life more.
Have a think about this…
  • Do you experience anxiety or panic attacks?
  • Do you worry about the future?
  • Do you harbor regrets?
  • Do you hold yourself back?
  • Do you suffer from irrational fears?
  • Do you wish that the past was different?
  • Do you repeatedly analyse things you did or didn’t say/do?
  • Do you suffer from feelings of jealousy?
  • Do you procrastinate or put off making decisions for fear of getting it wrong?
Well, if you said yes to any of the above questions, current findings from research show that you are not alone…
Dr Benedetto De Martino, a Sir Henry Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow and first author of the report, explains: “Imagine you’re on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. You’ve just answered the £500,000 question correctly and have moved on to the final question. You’re down to your 50:50 lifeline but don’t know the answer. If you get it right, you’ll win £1 million; if you get it wrong, you’ll drop back to £32,000. The vast majority of people would take the ‘loss averse option’ and walk away with £500,000.”
Over the past 4 years of working with hundreds of people individually and in workshop situations, one of the biggest obstacles to transformation and living an inspired life is TRUST.
Here are 5 reasons why you should start trust life…
1. Trust enables you to go outside of your comfort zone
When you trust yourself it is much easier to step outside your comfort zone. Comfort zones keep you stuck and living within the confines of comfort zones for a long period of time leads to stagnation and same old, same old. Going beyond your habituated comfort zone allows you to live an exciting, adventurous and inspired life.
2. Trust allows you to grow
Trusting in life and yourself, will allow you to take the necessary risks required for you to grow and live an expansive life. With trust on your side you can do things you might be too scared to do (think go on a yoga retreat in Italy, do a new yoga pose or have the courage to change something in your life).
You may feel fear within you (remember, as you are growing, feeling fear is normal!) but with trust on your side, you will also be imbued with courage. Having the courage to take risks leads to personal growth.
Cultivating trust is the magical key to your continuing growth and expansion.
3. Trust gives you back your life force energy.
When you live in trust, you don’t waste any of your precious life force energy worrying about the past or the future.
As you live with trust on your side, you can develop a strong internal belief that no matter what is happening in your life, everything will be okay. This inner trust radiates from your center, out into the world. With trust, you can take responsibility for how you respond to things that show up in your life, allowing you to live from a place of inner power and strength. Feeling empowered will enable you to live a full and powerful life.
Living in alignment with your life force energy allows you to live in the mystery of life, so that you can truly experience the feeling of joy and alive-ness!
4. Trust catalyzes transformation and healing.
Living with trust, allows blocked energy to start to flow; unexpected friendships, opportunities, synchronicities and connections appear, like ‘magic’. Cultivating the power of internal trust precipitates deep transformation and healing.
Living with trust, means you will no longer want to play the role of victim or blame. You will make empowered choices that are right for you, truly aligned with your heart, your soul and your dreams.
Transformation and healing allows you to be in the moment. It is an amazing fact, that many of people are so afraid of dying that they hold themselves back from living. If you live from a place of self-doubt and uncertainty, know that this fear invisibly radiates into the physical world. Trust enables you to look within and begin the healing process.
Trust is the doorway to transformation and healing so that you can start living a powerful, empowered and inspired life.
5. Trust initiates health and happiness.
When you develop that sense of inner trust in your life, you will start to heal andrelease old patterns. Releasing old patterns will allow you to wake up feeling great! When you feel good on the inside, you begin radiating happiness on the inside.
As you do, you will begin to feel more powerful, confident and self-assured which will naturally increase your life force energy in your life and in your body. With high self-esteem, watch as the Universe opens up like a beautiful bud blossoming into a radiant flower.
The circle of trust! It’s a catch 22.
The more you can step into the energy of trust, the more evidence you will get to trust more in the process of life. The less you trust in the process of life, the more situations that will show up in your life that will cause you to doubt and question trust in all things, including ourselves.
Cultivating and developing the quality of trust enables you to gently begin the healing process so that you can live an amazing life that you love!
www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4536/5-Reasons-to-Trust-Life.html

Owning The Future

June 30th, 2016

take-action2                                                  

Owning the Future

By Meenal Patel and Sahan Khounh

Christian Faith At Work

  1. Move from the past into the present.  If you can literally change your focus and direction by turning around from facing the past to facing what’s in front of you change is possible.  Once we look forward it is as the word says looking forward to the present and the future will be open right in front of you.  When you can see the present and future you can act on them with your free will.  If you focus on the past you will just keep repeating the cycle. You will do the same things from the past over and over again that is why you should start looking forward instead of backwards. For example when you are angry stop and look in your past to see where you got that anger from. Maybe you got yelled at or you didn’t get what you needed. What did you want in that moment in the past, support, love, acceptance? Give yourself what you wanted before in your past now, so you can let go and move on to a better life in the present and future.

 

  1. Make choices that you would like because you can and not because you have too.  When you see the options in front of you, you will notice there are many things to choose from.  Choose wisely, always making sure what you want does not hurt anyone else and supports everyone by being a healthy choice.  Sacrifice is not necessary there are an abundance of options for everyone. What makes you happy? What makes you unhappy? What is a healthy choice for you and everyone else? Identify what makes you happy and unhappy also healthy choices that will benefit everyone, and then choose from there what you want and never compromise yourself.

 

  1. Take action!  Once you have chosen, move towards your choices to manifest them.  Write down the steps needed to achieve your goals.  If you don’t know the steps then do some research and find guidance.  Then take action by following your steps with enthusiasm, effort, and responsibility. You can’t just sit at home and think the choices that you made will happen. You have to make the choice and do it. “JUST DO IT” like Nike says. Put effort, love, passion, and all your heart into how you want your life to be, how you want it to look and feel.

 

  1. Whatever you do bring kindness with you.  In all actions and desires you will succeed if you offer kindness.  If you offer kindness remember it bounces back to you so you will receive much kindness back all around.  Kindness brings its friends Love and Joy along wherever it goes. If you give anger it will bounce back to you just like kindness will. With anger you will not succeed because people will give the same thing to you that you gave them. Instead offer love and kindness and you will be presented with love and kindness back. That is why kindness will help you succeed.
  1. Own you.  Take charge of yourself.  Do this in a way you would have always wanted but never allowed yourself.  If you look forward for the first time and see many options and you choose with kindness you can have what you want.  The resistance moves and success is possible. If you put all the effort in something that you want you will achieve it. So take time and focus on the things you desire and like to do. Let yourself be free don’t let anyone control you do what you think is the best for you.

 

  1. Be grateful and offer appreciation for your success and it will return to you again and again.  Success will be your new friend.  Imagine having all these new friends that you have been waiting for your whole life: Kindness, Love, Joy, Success, etc…  It’s time for a party. Look forward with focus at your mind full choices take action with kindness you will find success in all that you do. Success is not always about getting what you want when you want it. Success can show up in many different ways.       Keep your eyes open. If you are looking for success with your heart you will find it or it will find you.

Being Present

June 1st, 2016

Being Present Is A Present For Yourself

Being Present Is A Present For YourselfI’m studying self-improvement for a long time now, self-improvement actually brought me to the online world and I was progressing on self-improvement alongside with my business. It’s a topic that excites me and has helped me transform, reinvent myself, to be the best that I can be. Self-improvement is a never ending practice, you read something you apply it, you read more you apply it, then you abandon some of the practices and forget some others then you read something and start applying it again.

The Self Improvement Learning Circle

Now, this might sound stupid, like a never ending circle of learning what you already know or just forgot, but it’s not like that. It takes time to internalize the practices that you learn, if you read a self-development book you usually get hundreds of ideas that you can apply and you get into an information overload so, you do some of the things, you ignore a lot of the stuff, but there’s still a lot of changing that started happening and after sometime you abandon a lot of the practices and stick with only a few great ideas that you learnt.

Information Overload

Chances are that you are similar to me and you don’t read just one book, you read a ton and you also watch videos on the internet and download all kind of audio courses and your head just gets filled with self-improvement ideas and there’s no time to apply them and internalize. So, you just pick up on stuff that’s relevant at the moment and you keep improving bit by bit, that’s how self-improvement goes for me, it’s a never ending journey.

So, as I said I have been studying this topic for quite some time now and I wanted to share with you a concept that I found the most powerful, I have learnt tons of them and for me by far the greatest one is this – being present.

There are three states that you can be in: the past, the present or the future. From these two states only one is real and that’s the present moment, we get stuck in the past or in the future thinking about it over and over again and we forget that it isn’t real, the place where we should be is in the now. When you are in the now you don’t feel stress, you don’t have problems only challenges, you feel more happy and energetic and it feels almost like all the planets have aligned to help you.

www.easym6.com/2013/07/09/being-present-is-a-present-for-yourself/

Awaken

May 10th, 2016

By Kathy Juline, SCIENCE OF MIND

Eckhart Tolle’s first bestseller, The Power of Now, has riveted readers with its enlightened insights. Staying in the present moment, he says in that book, is the way to eliminate the suffering created through identifying with the mind. In his latest book, A New Earth, Tolle continues his theme of present moment awareness, elaborating on it with his unique clarity and depth, and he also explores how an awakened consciousness aligns us with our life purpose. We have both an inner and an outer purpose, according to Tolle. Our outer purpose changes with circumstances and necessarily involves time, whereas our inner purpose remains always the same: It is to be absolutely present in whatever we do and so let our actions be guided and empowered by awareness, the awakened consciousness, rather than controlled by the egoic mind. We fulfill our destiny and realize our purpose when we awaken to who we are: conscious Presence.

Tolle has taken the essence of spiritual wisdom from such great teachers as Jesus and Buddha, and put this wisdom into meaningful expression for today, just as Ernest Holmes has done through his formulation of a Science of Mind and Spirit. When Holmes says of spiritual mind treatment that it is “clearing the thought of negation, of doubt and fear, and causing it to perceive the ever-presence of God,” he is gleaning the same wisdom from ancient teachings that Tolle has also done in his books. Now, with A New Earth, he makes this key to enlightenment—being fully conscious in this very moment—real and alive for us in today’s words and for today’s world. His book title comes from the biblical passage in Revelation promising a new heaven and a new earth. It is a metaphor for the state of conscious awareness of infinite being (heaven), which continually comes forth in a new way into new form (earth). Because his meaning goes beyond an intellectual grasp, Tolle’s ideas ask for contemplation. They are more to be opened up to than studied. “Words are only pointers,” he says. “What is being communicated lies beyond words, but we can use them to go at least in the direction of what is meant and that is helpful.”

SOM: In your vision of a new earth, the purpose of life involves what you call awakened doing. What do you mean by this?

Tolle: Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is Life itself, it is an insane way to live.

In awakened doing there is complete internal alignment with the present moment and whatever you are doing right now. The doing is then not primarily a means to an end, but an opening for consciousness to come into this world. Aligning yourself with the Now is aligning yourself with universal purpose, the purpose of the whole. What is the purpose of the whole? The birth and flowering of consciousness. The whole then guides you in whatever you think or do.

As I explain in A New Earth, awakened doing has three modalities, depending on circumstances and the nature of the activity. They are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. If there is neither acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm in what you do, you are out of alignment with universal purpose. You are creating unhappiness, that is to say suffering in one form or another. One way of defining the ego is simply this: a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment. What I refer to as the “new earth”—the outer forms created by awakened doing—arises as more people realize that their purpose is to allow consciousness to emerge through whatever they do.

continue reading at: www.eckharttolle.com/article/Awakening-Your-Spiritual-Lifes-Purpose

Going with the Flow

April 8th, 2016

 

gowithflowAlign your goals with the vision and voice of your soul to achieve your destiny!

When you are in alignment with your Soul’s desires, the Universe conspires in your favor. Things go with the flow, and synchronicity is part of your manifestation process. It is fun! Your goals suddenly seem easier to achieve than you thought.

The one thing you must do is act on the inspiration and impulses that are given to you. Do not wait for later because by then the quickening is gone.

Years ago I wanted to attend a seminar with Doreen Virtue. I had a very strong desire and kept hearing messages that I should go. My only concern was how to get the $1,200. Of course, we all know that if this workshop was meant to be for me, the money should not be an obstacle stopping me from going.

One day as I was on the phone with a client, I told him that his next session could not be scheduled the following week because I was in the midst of planning a trip to Doreen Virtue’s seminar. It was silent for a moment, and then he said, “I was told by Sai Baba to give you $1,200 (how did he know the exact amount I needed?) on loan, and that you would pay me back many years from now at a moment when you feel like it.”

Miracles happen! Yes, they do! And not only by praying and vision boards, but by actively pursuing your goals and making your move before you have it all figured out.

Years later I contacted that same client and asked him how he was. He was in the midst of planning a trip to the ashram of Sai Baba in India. I asked if I could pay back the money. Apparently, at that time it was exactly the amount he needed for his airfare.

Have you ever had an experience like this? I am sure you have.

If what you want is not in alignment with your destiny – the one your Soul envisions – you feel the forces of resistance push against you. Those are the moments you wish for a miracle but it doesn’t happen.

I’ve had plenty of these moments too, and the problem is that it sometimes takes a bit of time to become aware that what you want is not in your highest good.

So let’s tune in.

What are your goals?

If you feel passionate and happy about your goals, I’ll bet they are in alignment with your destiny. Go for it and pursue them.

How do you know if they are aligned with the vision and voice of your Soul? If things go in the flow, they are.

Just make sure you’re daring enough to express your absolutely unique voice.

That’s what the Universe supports. Be playful with your Soul this week and allow her to move out of any box.

With love,

Saskia

Balancing Your Yin and Yang

March 8th, 2016

7 Ways to Balance Your Yin and Yang Energies

-yang-energies/” target=”_blank”>HJ: Life is about balance.  The atom, which is the fundamental building block of all matter always strives towards balance of positive (proton) and negative (electron) charges.  If it cannot maintain balance within its own structure, it forms clusters that maintain balance with other atoms and molecules are formed.  The point being, that even at the most fundamental level, the universe seeks to maintain balance.  Nature’s endless dance is all about maintaining balance in the natural ecosystem and in the species present on the planet.  Why should humans be exempt from this grand cosmic interplay? Of course, we are not, but we do let ourselves get further out of balance than is healthy at times.  In these instances, we would be wise to bring ourselves back into harmony by identifying those areas which are becoming polarized.

7 Ways to Re-establish Balance Between Yin and Yang

yin yang balance tree

Stress and illness are nature’s way of telling you that you’re out of balance. All life is ruled by the interplay of two dynamic forces known in traditional Chinese medicine as yin and yang. Yin is negative, yang positive. Yin is feminine, yang masculine. Yin is passive, yang active. They’re opposite yet complementary forces, never equal, but cycle together in harmony. One is always ascending while the other descends. The yin/yang symbol is a wonderful expression of this interplay. Even though they’re opposite, yin and yang can’t exist independently. As Alan Watts put it so eloquently in Tao: The Watercourse Way, “My inside arises mutually with my outside and though the two may differ they cannot be separated.”

When the yin and yang of your body are in disharmony, it’s like trying to ride a unicycle with the spokes of the wheel short on one side and long on the other. The hub is out of center and your ride is very bumpy. If you continue for long, you’ll break the wheel and perhaps the bike. Just so, if your body continues in disharmony for long, illness occurs.

Some aspects of Yin & Yang
Yin:

feminine
negative
passive
inward
downward
soft
cold
dark
inner organs
back
bottom
Yang:

masculine
positive
active
outward
upward
hard
hot
light
outer organs
front
top

yin yang balance

A good example of how this works is caregivers—those people who give of themselves to nurture, nourish, guide and heal others. Teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses, body workers and parents are all caregivers. When caregivers are living harmoniously, they balance giving (yang) and receiving (yin) so they don’t deplete their reserves. They know when they’re in need of care and allow themselves time to receive to balance their giving. However, many caregivers ignore their own needs until they’ve given so much of themselves that body and soul begin to cry out, “What about me?” The imbalance begins to affect their health, sleep, emotions, focus and relationships.

The cure is simple in this case. Balance can be re-established by receiving what was given in excess. Take the time to nourish yourself, to nurture yourself. There are many ways to find your way back to balance. You may find that one method works best for you or you may find that you need a little of various methods. Here are a few suggestions on how to begin:

  1. Reach out to nature – take a walk and absorb the qi of nature into yourself with every breath.
  2. Nutrition – take time to eat health foods instead of grazing on empty junk.
  3. Water – plenty of pure, clean water will help flush out toxins and rehydrate you. Most people underestimate their need for water.
  4. Healing” href=”http://zazenlife.com/2012/11/10/chakra-balancing/” target=”_blank”>Meditation employ some quality quiet time to get in touch with yourself—realize where you’ve become deficient and work to correct the deficiency.
  5. Bodywork – focused attention from a body worker allows guilt-free relaxation and releases the physical manifestations of stress.
  6. Medical qi gong these practitioners specialize in recognizing the many faces of disharmony and balancing the qi of the body.
  7. Tai chi and qi gong classes – these movements help to balance body, mind and spirit so that you will recognize disharmony before it gets out of hand.

By: Kathi Remsen | Mindful Word

Living A Holistic Life Style

February 1st, 2016

What Are the Benefits of Living a Healthy Lifestyle?

| By Gail Morris

author image Gail Morris
Gail Morris has been writing extensively since 1997. She completed a master’s degree in nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and practiced in medicine for more than 20 years. Morris has published medical articles in peer-reviewed journals and now writes for various online publications and freelances for Internet marketers.
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Fast foods are a tempting way to cut corners but cause significant health problems. Photo Credit BBS United/Photodisc/Getty Images

Overview

Living a healthy lifestyle can be a challenge when you are faced with processed foods, lack of time for exercise and going out with friends. Too many options are available for fast food, poor exercise choices and alcoholic beverages that negate other healthier lifestyle choices you may have made. There are significant benefits to improving the way in which you live so you can have a healthier and longer life.

Disease Prevention

One of the long-term benefits of living a healthier lifestyle is the prevention of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. According to MayoClinic, these changes can be difficult. Even though you may understand the relationship between eating specific foods and your risk for heart disease, it can be difficult to undo years of unhealthy eating habits. However, the benefit is the prevention of arthritis, osteoporosis, stroke, diabetes and other immune-mediated illnesses that are affected by the dietary and lifestyle choices we make every day.

 

Injury Prevention

Living a healthy lifestyle includes paying close attention to safety issues that may increase your potential for being injured. For instance, according to FamilyDoctor.org, using appropriate lifting techniques when weight lifting will help to prevent back injuries that can plague you for the remainder of your life. Other smart lifestyle choices include wearing a helmet when bike riding, wearing seatbelts in the car and using appropriate safety gear when playing sports.

Increased Energy

Changing lifestyle choices and eating healthy food are not about being unrealistically thin but rather about having more energy and staying as healthy as possible. According to HelpGuide.org, eating smart is about both what you eat and how you eat. Eating healthy can boost your energy levels and allow you to participate in more activities on a daily basis. According to a study at the University of Georgia, researchers found overwhelming evidence that regular exercise also plays a role in increasing energy levels and reducing fatigue. Researcher Patrick O’Connor, from the exercise physiology laboratory at the University of Georgia, commented that while people may not want to exercise while fatigued, a bit more activity will often help to reduce feelings of fatigue and exhaustion.

Healthy Weight

The healthy lifestyle choices of stopping smoking, reducing alcohol intake and eating a well-balanced diet that is high in fruits and vegetables and low in processed foods and fats will help to maintain a healthy weight. According to the Cleveland Clinic, reducing weight to within normal limits can also significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and improve overall health and well-being.

Good Mental Health

Your mental health also depends upon your healthy lifestyle choices. According to HelpGuide.org, eating well and exercising can help defend against depression and will sharpen your memory and stabilize your mood. By learning to expand your range of food choices and make smart lifestyle decisions, such as reducing or eliminating alcohol from the diet and stopping smoking, you can benefit with an improved mood and a better outlook on life.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/289651-what-are-the-benefits-of-living-a-healthy-lifestyle/

January 7th, 2016

How the detoxification system works and what happens when it fails

www.naturalnews.com/045752_Detoxification_Toxins_Liver.html

Detoxification

Learn more: https://www.naturalnews.com/045752_Detoxification_Toxins_Liver.html#ixzz3waGy9xKQ(NaturalNews) When the world we live in becomes infiltrated with toxins from every conceivable angle, it’s not time to panic, but to become aware of how the body works and how to support the system that eliminates these unwanted agents. A strong understanding and toning of this system could easily be the most important thing to do in order to maintain a good quality of health. If not understood or taken care of, the consequences can be dire.

How the detoxification system works

In a healthy individual, the body’s detoxification system is able to neutralize and eliminate toxins, which helps eliminate tissue damage and prevents illness. The system has two lines of defense, with specific organs preventing toxins from entering the body, while others neutralize and excrete the poisonous compounds that get through this initial line of defense. Key components of the detoxification system include the gastrointestinal barrier (including small and large intestines), lymphatic system, kidneys, bladder and other components of the urinary system as well as the skin (including the sweat glands) and the lungs.

The gastrointestinal system serves as the first line of defense against toxins entering the body. When it becomes compromised, it allows other disease causing agents a place to fester, often to the point where they eventually break through the intestinal membrane and enter the bloodstream. Once the bowel is toxic, the rest of the body follows suit.

At this point, undigested food particles, bacteria and other substances normally confined to the intestines escape into the bloodstream, triggering an immune system response and inflammation. If this continues, the liver, kidneys, skin and other organs involved in detoxification become overwhelmed.

The liver bears most of the burden for eliminating toxins once they have entered the bloodstream. All foreign substances are carried to the liver to be filtered and dispatched from the body. Using enzymes and antioxidants, the liver chemically transforms toxins into harmless substances that can be excreted through the urine and one’s stool. Others are eliminated through the lymphatic system, kidneys, skin and respiratory system.

What happens when the detoxification system quits working properly?

Toxins can overwhelm the detoxification system. This overload causes congestion in the lymphatic system, in which thickened lymph accumulates in the nodes without being emptied into the blood for removal from the body. This congestion can also cause intestinal constipation and liver dysfunction.

Unable to properly remove the toxins causes accelerated ageing, chronic degenerative disease processes and other health problems such as:

  • Poor digestion

 

  • Poor assimilation of nutrients

 

  • Bloating and gas

 

  • Immune dysfunction

 

  • Hemorrhoids

 

  • Skin problems, such as eczema, acne, hives, itching and rashes

 

  • Pronounced chemical sensitivity

 

  • Obesity

 

  • Loss of weight

 

  • Sinus and tonsil issues

 

  • Loss of appetite

 

  • Diabetes

 

  • Hepatitis

 

  • Headaches, dizziness and shivering

 

  • Mineral deficiency

 

  • Jaundice

 

  • Eye problems

 

  • Anemia

 

  • Hormonal imbalances

In order to start to remedy these conditions, the detoxification system as well as ALL other areas of the body need to be properly supported.

A complete approach is required for proper detoxification

Detoxification is not as simple as buying some lemons, cayenne and maple syrup. This type of cleanse may do some good, but it may also cause harm. A proper detoxification protocol takes a holistic approach to the body due to the interrelatedness of all of the systems and parts, and how they affect each other’s proper functions. Therefore, you need to be aware of how detoxification works and be wary of quick fixes. A healthy body depends on it.

Sources for this article include:
Trivieri, Larry, and John W. Anderson. Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide. 2nd ed. Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 2002. Print
www.healingthebody.ca
www.naturalnews.com

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