Raising Mindful Children

The Mindful Child

Article c/o The New York Times

It’s long been known that meditation helps children feel calmer, but new research is helping quantify its benefits for elementary school-age children. A 2015 study found that fourth- and fifth-grade students who participated in a four-month meditation program showed improvements in executive functions like cognitive control, working memory, cognitive flexibility — and better math grades. A study published recently in the journal Mindfulness found similar improvements in mathematics in fifth graders with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And a study of elementary school children in Korea showed that eight weeks of meditation lowered aggression, social anxiety and stress levels.

These investigations, along with a review published in March that combed the developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience literature, illustrate how meditative practices have the potential to actually change the structure and function of the brain in ways that foster academic success.

Fundamental principles of neuroscience suggest that meditation can have its greatest impact on cognition when the brain is in its earliest stages of development.

This is because the brain develops connections in prefrontal circuits at its fastest rate in childhood. It is this extra plasticity that creates the potential for meditation to have greater impact on executive functioning in children. Although meditation may benefit adults more in terms of stress reduction or physical rejuvenation, its lasting effects on things like sustained attention and cognitive control are significant but ultimately less robust.

A clinical study published in 2011 in The Journal of Child and Family Studies demonstrates this concept superbly. The research design allowed adults and children to be compared directly since they were enrolled in the same mindfulness meditation program and assessed identically. Children between 8 and 12 who had A.D.H.D. diagnoses, along with parents, were enrolled in an eight-week mindfulness-training program. The results showed that mindfulness meditation significantly improved attention and impulse control in both groups, but the improvements were considerably more robust in the children.

Outside of the lab, many parents report on the benefits of early meditation. Heather Maurer of Vienna, Va., who was trained in transcendental meditation, leads her 9-year-old daughter, Daisy, through various visualization techniques and focused breathing exercises three nights a week, and says her daughter has become noticeably better at self-regulating her emotions, a sign of improved cognitive control. “When Daisy is upset, she will sit herself down and concentrate on her breathing until she is refocused,” Ms. Maurer said.

Amanda Simmons, a mother who runs her own meditation studio in Los Angeles, has seen similar improvements in her 11-year-old son, Jacob, who is on the autism spectrum. Jacob also has A.D.H.D. and bipolar disorder, but Ms. Simmons said many of his symptoms have diminished since he began daily meditation and mantra chants six months ago. “The meditation seems to act like a ‘hard reboot’ for his brain, almost instantly resolving mood swings or lessening anger,” Ms. Simmons said. She believes it has enabled him to take a lower dose of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug used to treat bipolar disorder.

Whether children are on medication or not, meditation can help instill self-control and an ability to focus. Perhaps encouraging meditation and mind-body practices will come to be recognized as being as essential to smart parenting as teaching your child to work hard, eat healthfully and exercise regularly.

To learn some meditation techniques you can teach your child, read Three Ways for Children to Try Meditation at Home.

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The Eightfold Path to a Truly Great Hug.

 

A truly great hug is a rich experience that has you pull another human body deliciously tight into yours as a way of saying, "I so deeply value your presence that I'm taking this exact moment to feel you, smell you, breathe with you - essentially stamp your being into my cellular memory so that even though we may be soon apart, you will in fact always be with me in the living fabric of my existence."

Also, hugs are physically and emotionally healthy for you - oxytocin, dopamine, bonding, decreased stress, etc.  Sooooo.....


1. Hug like you mean it.

Hugging some people is like embracing a telephone pole.  Now, I can literally hug the hell out of a telephone pole, (see pic below), but a truly great hug is definitely a two-person co-created gig.  However, some people just aren't ready for a truly great hug, for whatever reason.  They might not be comfortable with affection, might be in a rush, or they simply might not trust you, regardless whether they have good reason.

A great hug can quickly turn creepy hug when you feel your partner initiate the disconnect but you won't let go.  So hug like you mean it, but if you feel your partner moves to let go, then let go and live to hug another day.  However, if you suddenly find yourself in an embrace with truly great hug potential - or if you're uncomfortable hugging others and would like to experience a truly great hug - read on.


2. Be willing to be vulnerable.  Open your arms.

The act of hugging is an inherently vulnerable act.  As we open our arms, we expose our chest, our very heart, to the person before us.  It's a complete gesture of vulnerability, letting the other person know that we trust them enough in this moment to grant them passage into our personal space.  You can't experience a truly great hug if you don't allow yourself to be vulnerable.  That's why so many hugs these days are stiff and unsatisfying.  Too many of us are afraid to let each other in.  So if you're with someone you know will behave respectfully inside your embrace, take the risk and allow yourself to be vulnerable.  Open your arms and...


3. Close your eyes.


4. Breathe into the embrace.

Once the embrace has begun, rather than immediately unplug the hug before an authentic embrace has even happened, simply take a deep breath.  Allow yourself at least one deep breath before you even think about releasing.  You might find both bodies spontaneously synchronize to each other's breathing.  Breathing in harmony with another body pressed against yours is a wondrous experience.

So often, we quickly disconnect our hugs because we're afraid of holding the other beyond their comfort zone.  But you'll be amazed how many people in our world are completely starving for affection.  We don't lovingly touch each other enough.  We're literally dying to be touched.  That longer, deeper embrace you're willing to share just might be medicine to the person you're embracing.


5. Lean into the embrace.

I'm not a fan of the "tent hug," that hug where we create a tent by sticking our butts out so far because we're afraid our genitalia might touch.  Look, we're creating a non-sexual hug here, but it's ok that our bodies touch.  In fact, the most delicious, satisfying hugs are those where two bodies really meet each other, our chakras all lined up and zapping each other with good vibes.

Unfortunately, because we live in a culture so sexually screwed up (so to speak), a truly great hug does risk jiggling repressed sexual hot buttons we don't want jiggled.  So find the balance here.  There's little less satisfying than hugging someone so afraid of hugging me back that I can feel them exiting before we've even begun.  But there's also little more icky than hugging someone I'm not attracted to who starts writhing in my arms and pressing her pubis up against my groin (it's happened).  Just find the balance.


6. Squeeze, but don't suffocate.

A true hug is an embrace, an encircling, a loving act of surrounding another to let them know they are safe, accepted, loved.  Beyond the superficial world available to our mortal eyes, a genuine embrace is a deep form of embodied communication by which one beating heart can whisper to another, "I see you."  A great hug is definitely not an imposition on another.  We do not temporarily imprison another in our arms.  Rather, it's firm enough to say "I've got you" and loose enough to say "you're free to leave whenever you want."


7. Just be with the person you're embracing.

A truly great hug is a deeply mindful practice.  It's a moment to really be with another human.  The very gesture itself is a curious, even if ultimately futile, attempt by two bodies to occupy the same space at the same time.  We're literally pressing our bodies together as if to say, let's just both be here together, as one body, in this one place, at this very moment in time.  It's an extraordinary gesture.  Give yourself to the experience and really be here, in this brief moment, with this one person.  Drink in the scent of their hair, notice the pressure of their body pressing against yours, notice all the thoughts that arise in your mind, and then simply let them pass.  Be here now.


8. Let go. Smile. Breathe.

Absolutely nothing in life is meant to last forever.  A truly great hug ends with the simple act of letting go.  Letting go is one of the most powerful lessons we can learn in this lifetime.  It's our way of actively participating in the Life's evolution, for there can be no new creation if we hold on to what once was.

But if you do it right, that great hug will linger with you like sweet perfume for a brief moment, and you'll be able to recall it in your mind whenever you want to.  Nonetheless, it's time for you both to let go and return to your separate journeys.  Just know that the electrical magnetic fields of your two heartbeats intertwined in that embrace and so you are, indeed, now indelibly marked by each other's being.  You literally carry information about each other in your bodies.  And that's no woo-woo metaphysics!  That's for real!


9. Bonus Technique for the ambitious - The Massage Hug.

This is a real fan favorite.  Sometimes when I'm hugging another, I'll use my hands and fingers to gently massage their back.  It's just amazing how starved we are for touch, and this little added gesture can take a great hug and make it absolutely unforgettable.  However, I suggest you attempt this only once genuine trust is established.  And you probably shouldn't attempt it with your co-worker in the hallway.  You'll know when it's right.

Now get out there and hug somebody like you mean it!  Lives may very well depend on it... and Love definitely does!

p.s. No one to hug?  Just wrap your arms around yourself and give it to you.  Yeah I know it's better with another human being.  It just is, let's not kid ourselves.  Still, hugging yourself, if nothing else, is a great way to stretch your shoulders!

Whatever you do, have fun doing it!

Article c/o Bryan Reeves for Elephant Journal

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If you're feeling down, here are 13 reminders to lift you up...

We've all gone through hard times.  And we all get through them.  However, some get through them better than others.  So what is their secret?  Most of it has to do with attitude.

Here are 13 things to remember when life gets rough:

1. What is, is.
Buddha's famous saying tells us: "It is your resistance to 'what is' that causes your suffering."  Think about that for a minute.  It means that our suffering only occurs when we resist how things are.  If you can change something, then take action!  Change it!  But if you can't change it, then you have two choices: (1) either accept it and let go of the negativity, or (2) make yourself miserable by obsessing over it.


2. It's only a problem if you think it's a problem.
Many times, we are our own worst enemy.  Happiness is really dependent on perspective.  If you think something is a problem, then your thoughts and emotions will be negative.  But if you think it's something you can learn from, then suddenly, it's not a problem anymore.


3. If you want things to change, you need to start with changing yourself.
Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world.  Don't you know people whose lives are chaotic and stressful?  And isn't that largely because they feel chaotic inside?  Yes, it is.  We like to think that changing our circumstances will change us.  But we have it backwards - we need to change ourselves first before our circumstances will change.


4. There is no such thing as failure - only learning opportunities.
You should just wipe the word "failure" right out of your vocabulary.  All great people who have ever achieved anything have "failed" over and over.  In fact, I think it was Thomas Edison who said something like, "I did not fail at inventing the light bulb, I just first found 99 ways that it didn't work."  Take your so-called "failures" and learn something from them.  Learn how to do it better next time.


5. If you don't get something you want, it just means something better is coming.
That's hard to believe sometimes, I know.  But it's true.  Usually, when you look back at your life, you will be able to see why it was actually a good thing that something didn't work out.  Maybe the job you didn't get would have made you spend more time away from your family, but the job you did get was more flexible.  Just have faith that everything happens exactly the way it's supposed to.


6. Appreciate the present moment.
This moment will never come again.  And there is always something precious about every moment.  So don't let is pass you by!  Soon it will just be a memory.  Even moments that don't seem happy can be looked upon as something that you might miss someday. 


7. Let go of desire.
Most people live with "attached mind."  What this means is that they attach themselves to a desire, and when they don't get it, their emotions plummet into negativity.  Instead, try to practice "detached mind."  That means that when you want something, you will still be happy whether you get it or not.  Your emotions remain happy or neutral.


8. Understand and be grateful for your fears.
Fear can be a great teacher.  And overcoming fears can also make you feel victorious.  For example, when I was in college, I feared public speaking (one of the top 3 fears of all humans).  So I find it humorous now that not only do I speak in front of a group every day by being a college professor, I also teach public speaking!  Overcoming fears just takes practice.  Fear is really just an illusion.  It's optional.


9. Allow yourself to experience joy.
Believe it or not, I know way too many people who don't allow themselves to have fun.  And they don't even know how to be happy.  Some people are actually addicted to their problems and the chaos in them so much that they wouldn't even know who they are without them.  So try to allow yourself to be happy!  Even if it's just for a small moment, it's important to focus on joy, not your hardships.


10.  Don't compare yourself to other people.
But if you do compare yourself, compare yourself with people who have it worse than you.  Unemployed?  Be grateful that you live in a country that gives unemployment compensation, because most people in the world live on less than $750 a year. 


11. You are not a victim.
You need to get out of your own way.  You are only a "victim" of your own thoughts, words and actions.  No one "does" something to you.  You are the creator of your own experience.  Take personal responsibility and realize that you can get out of your hard times.  You just need to start with changing your thoughts and actions.  Abandon your victim mentality and become victorious.  From victim to VICTOR!


12. Things can - and do - change.
"And this too shall pass" is one of my favorite sayings.  When we are stuck in a bad situation, we think that there is no way out.  We think nothing will ever change.  But guess what?  It will!  Nothing is permanent except death.  So get out of the habit of thinking that things will always be this way.  They won't.


13. Anything is possible.
Miracles happen every day.  Really - they do.  I wish I had enough space to write about all the miraculous that have happened to people I know - from healing stage 4 cancer naturally to having their soul mate appear out of nowhere.  Trust me: it happens all the times.  You just need to believe it does.  Once you do, you have won the battle.



Article c/o Kasim Khan
for thespiritscience.net

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10 Foods That Are Hurting Your Brain

 
Enjoy this article c/o Power of Positivity
www.powerofpositivity.com
 
 
 
 
In our world today, we constantly get bombarded with images and commercials advertising delicious, tempting, unhealthy foods.

 

Our society seems more focused on making ends meet, even at the cost of having an overweight, nutrient-deficient, lethargic population. Many of us work long hours, and don’t feel like making healthy foods when we get home. We want something quick, easy, and readily available to us, which usually means TV dinners and fast food.
 
Staying on track with a diet can seem utterly impossible when you walk into a store filled with more toxic, chemical-laden, nutrient-poor foods than healthy, nutritious, nurturing foods. However, even though having some things in moderation won’t really damage your health, consuming them on a regular basis can cause serious, even fatal, diseases. To have optimal health, you should avoid the following foods at all costs, or at least eat them very sparingly.

Here are 10 foods that are hurting your brain:

 

1. Tuna  

In a study performed earlier this year, University of Michigan researchers reported that mercury levels in yellowfin tuna had increased almost 4 percent annually from 1998 to 2008. Regular exposure to mercury can cause serious, sometimes irreversible, brain and nervous system damage. Our oceans have become contaminated with a dangerous cocktail of environmental pollutants, which the marine life inevitably absorb. When we consume seafood nowadays, most of it will contain several toxic heavy metals which our bodies simply don’t digest or absorb properly.
An analysis by health experts at the magazine Consumer Reports found that a 140 pound woman would exceed safe mercury exposure by consuming just 4.5 ounces of tuna per week. A 48 pound child who eats more than one-third a can of tuna per week, or the equivalent of the amount on a single tuna sandwich, could suffer permanent brain damage from mercury exposure.
If you do choose to eat tuna, go for canned light tuna rather than albacore, as this kind contains less mercury. Better yet, you could cut out seafood entirely, or go for shrimp, scallops, sardines, or wild and Alaskan salmon, which all have low levels of mercury.
 

2. Partially hydrogenated oils

If you see hydrogenated oils on a label, please do yourself a favor and put the product back on the shelf. Hydrogenated oils have no place in the human body, and some studies have even found that the oils leave scars on the internal walls of the arteries due to nickel often used in the hydrogenation process. That’s right; partially hydrogenated oils contain a catalyst of some sort in order to heat the oil up faster, and nickel, platinum, or even aluminum are used in the process. Heavy metals such as these have been linked to Alzheimer’s and other mental problems, so anything with partially hydrogenated oils should be avoided at all costs.
Hydrogenated oil is only one molecule away from plastic, so think about the adverse effects you could experience from consuming this toxic man-made concoction.
 
 

3. Sugar

Of course. naturally occurring sugar from fruits and starches is perfectly fine to consume, but when it is extracted and added back into processed foods, then it becomes a problem. Refined sugar, for one, doesn’t contain any nutritional benefits, so it’s just empty calories at the end of the day. In various studies, refined sugar has also been linked to an increase in anxiety, depression, and addiction, and a decrease in learning and memory. 

4. Fructose

Naturally occurring fructose found in fruit will not harm your health; it only becomes an issue when you eat fructose out of its natural state, such as in boxed or canned foods. Consuming too much processed fructose can lead to insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, a fatty liver, high blood pressure, and much, much more. Not to mention, fructose can cause neural activity to stagnate for up to 20 minutes, according to a 2011 study on the impact of glucose and fructose on the brain.

 

5. Saturated fats

Most people know that a diet high in saturated fat can clog the arteries and contribute to heart disease and strokes, but did you know that a diet heavy in saturated fat can impair cognitive function as well? A study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology found that consuming large amounts of saturated fat can lead to reduced cognitive function and also a dulling of the dopamine reward system, increasing dependency and addiction to unhealthy foods.
According to Stephanie Fulton, a professor at the University of Montreal’s Department of Nutrition, “Our research shows that independent of weight gain and obesity, high-fat feeding can cause impairments in the functioning of the brain circuitry profoundly implicated in mood disorders, drug addiction, and overeating — several states and pathologies that impinge on motivation and hedonia.”

 

6. Processed foods

Processed foods usually have a laundry list of chemicals, some of which have been linked to mental and behavioral disorders. Aside from the dangers of the ingredients, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2012 found that consuming a diet high in fatty processed foods can even lead to damage in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain that regulates hunger and thirst levels.

 

7. Fast food

More and more studies have been published about the detrimental effects of fast food on the body, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise why fast foods can cause so much damage. These “foods” have been stripped of almost all nutrients, and altered drastically from their natural state. A better way to describe them would be “food like substances,” because these culinary inventions really don’t resemble food at all. Fast foods lack many vitamins and minerals, including iron; iron deficiency might lead to poorer scores on tests in students who regularly consume fast food.

 

8. Microwave popcorn

Another highly processed food, this one causes even more damage due to the way in which one must prepare it. Not only does the popcorn contain toxic chemicals and additives, but popping it in a microwave strips the food of any nutrients that might be left, increases white blood cell levels, and creates carcinogens. Not to mention, the radioactive emissions generated from the microwave can lead to a slew of mental health problems.

 

9. Cookies and chips

Another form of refined, processed food, cookies and chips have pretty much zero nutritional benefits, but add on unnecessary calories. If you want a snack, go for some fresh fruit or vegetables to avoid all the chemicals and extra sugar in these highly addictive foods.

 

 

 

 

 

10. Corn syrup

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, consuming drinks or foods with high fructose corn syrup disrupts the part of the brain that tells us when we’re full, which leads to eating or drinking unneeded calories. Also, consuming free fructose (not in fruit) has been proven to be just as addictive as drugs, which means food marketers all over the place know this, and use this to take advantage of us.

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How Meditation Affects the Gray Matter of the Brain

Article c/o David R. Hamilton, Ph.D.
The Huffington Post

I like to meditate. It makes me feel at ease and I am convinced that the sense of calm it produces helps me to handle the daily challenges of my life. There are, of course, times when I don't keep up my daily practice of sitting quietly for 10 or 15 minutes, but these are the times in my life when I experience more stress.

Stress affects everyone. I don't know a single person who doesn't get stressed. But unfortunately, it plays a major role in illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in fact, up to 90 percent of doctor visits in the U.S. may be stress related. Meditation is an antidote to stress, just as an aspirin can counter a headache. A regular practice can be a major boost to health.

It calms the nervous system. It's good for the immune system. It's also good for the heart; it helps produce nitric oxide (not nitrous oxide -- that's laughing gas!) in the arteries, dilating them and reducing blood pressure. It also smooths heart rhythms.

But thanks to an explosion of brain research we now know that it also physically impacts our gray matter.

One study to show this was led by scientists at the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Aarhus University in Denmark. Comparing MRI scans of the brains of meditators with the brains of non-meditators, they showed that meditation causes actual physical changes in the gray matter of the lower brain stem. Meditation makes the gray matter grow.

In another study, scientists Giuseppe Pagoni and Milos Cekic, from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, compared the volume of gray matter in the brains of people performing Zen meditations with another group who were not meditators.

The volume of our gray matter normally reduces as we get older and this is what the scientists found in the group of non-meditators. But for the meditators, their gray matter hadn't reduced at all with age. According to the scientists, meditation had a 'neuroprotective' effect on the meditators: It protected the brain from some of the effects of aging.

This mirrors some 2008 Harvard research that analyzed the genes of meditators against non-meditators. It was the first study of its kind to measure the genetic impact of meditation and found that 2,209 genes were differently activated in long-term meditation practitioners compared with non-meditators. And even looking at novice meditators, they found that 1,561 genes were affected after only eight weeks of meditation practice. They concluded that the genetic effects of meditation may have long-term physiological consequences, one of which was a slowing down of the rate of aging.

We have all heard the stories of people under extreme stress whose hair turns white in a matter of weeks. We know that stress can speed up aging. So why should it be a surprise to us that a technique to combat stress should be able to slow aging?

There are many different forms of meditation. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital examined the impact of the Buddhist 'Insight' meditation on the brain. Insight meditation is a technique of moving our attention over the body or focusing on our breathing. The study found that it caused an increase in thickness of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, the part just above the eyes and associated with attention.

Several areas of the brain are active when we meditate, but most pronounced is the prefrontal cortex because when we meditate we are focusing our attention on something -- whether that be the body, our breathing, a word, a candle or even a spiritual ideal. When this area is active, just like a muscle being exercised, it grows.

Neuroscientists use this analogy to describe the way the brain changes. When we exercise a muscle it becomes larger and denser with muscle mass. In a similar way, when we exercise any part of the brain, which we do when we meditate, it becomes larger and denser with neural mass -- gray matter. The phenomenon is known as neuroplasticity and describes how the brain actually changes throughout life.

When I attended university I learned that the brain is hardwired once we reach young adulthood. The analogy used is that when we are young, the brain is a bit like dough, which can be kneaded into various forms, but when we reach young adulthood we put the dough in the oven and it comes out with a bread crust on it. The brain is then 'hardwired,' we were taught.

But this analogy has since been abandoned. We now know that we never put the dough in the oven.
Our gray matter is ever-changing as we experience life; as we learn, walk, run, dance, and when we concentrate, as we do when we meditate.

Our gray matter is changing until the last seconds of our life. It grows even with our last breath.


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Why People's Opinions of You Aren't Real

 

 

 

From keynote transformative speaker Kyle Cease, enjoy this short video showcasing the natural perceptions we have of ourselves and how to change them... 

 

 

 

 

 

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12 Things Your Soul Wants You To Remember

Enjoy this great article c/o thespiritscience.net

Although it may feel like it, your soul is not separate from you. In truth, your soul is your true existence. We are simply shadows of all that we are, and so it’s easy to forget who we are, where we come from and all that we can be. Sometimes we need just a little reminder.

1. You are exactly where you a supposed to be
No matter the circumstance, no matter the ride that got you to where you are in this very present moment. The choices, the outcomes, the paths you could have taken and didn’t. Your soul wants you to know, that everything happens for a reason, and nothing happens by chance. Have faith, it will all work out.

2. Everything is temporary

Nothing lasts forever, the good the bad and the ugly, nothing is permanent. So be impermanent. Be like water and flow with the ups and downs of life.

3. Everything you need is already within you
Know yourself, sit with yourself and understand yourself. Everything you need, your strength, courage, compassion and love, all exists within. You have the choice as to which you need to find and bring out into the world.

4.You’re OK just as you are
The main goal of life is to not force change upon yourself or undergo a major transformation.
It is to be at peace with who you are at any given moment despite what you have done or not done; said or not said.  Transformation is a choice we all have, but it is not to be forced due to under satisfaction. True transformation comes first with acceptance.

5. Self worth is measured by you, and only you
If you constantly seek outside yourself for approval and validation, you will never be happy. We are all different and we all perceive things in different ways but your reputation is not something you can really control. Your reputation is not really in your hands, so stop trying to please everyone around you and start pleasing your own self.

6. When times get tough, change your perspective
All emotions of worry, strife, guilt regret and sadness come from not living in the present moment. It is only by experiencing the present moment to the fullest that we can shift our perspective and understand that life’s hiccups on a grand scale are minor.
To put it in perspective your incarnation in this lifetime and when it is done, will be summed up in an hour.
So that leads us to…

7. Live in the present 
Don’t dwell in the past or dream of the future. Find your passion and take action. The next moment in your life is not more important than this moment right now. Do today what you dream of later, and understand that your past actions were meant to occur so that you can learn and grow. So let them go, let them be and appreciate all that you have right now.

8. Release your fears
There are only two truths in the entire universe, the first is Love and the second is Fear. In equal opposition to each other.
In order to dwell in a state of true and pure love, the essence of existence and life itself, one must not carry fear.


9. Release your need for control
Holding on to the fallacy that you can have control over the outcomes of life is an illusion that you have created for yourself. We do not know what the future will bring and we cannot perceive to understand the consequences of each action and reaction, therefore we must Love without attachment, live without expectation and perceive without judgment.


10. Remember where you come from

When you know the beginning, you will know the end– When we understand that our consciousness is eternal we understand that we are in fact energy.

An energy, a soul, a consciousness that is always evolving, learning and growing. With each incarnation comes new lessons, and new experiences. We come from energy and to energy we will return.

11. Accept
By placing your disposition into a state of acceptance, acceptance of all that is good and bad. You release your need for control, you release your fears and you release your expectations in order that you can live in the present moment.
Without acceptance, nothing can flourish. This is true prayer, not asking for what you want– the desires of your heart, but accepting all of life’s blessings and giving gratitude for everything in return. A cycle of love that continues growing.

12. You are never alone
It is said that Albert Einstein believed that there was indeed an alternate reality or another world, beyond our own vision. As the physical eyes were only capable of viewing the 3D spectrum in a limited amount of colors.
What is beyond the veil of our physicality is energy. Immense energy, sometimes you can feel it, other times you may pick up slight irregularities. We are never truly alone. You are always surrounded by the unseen, and if and when you choose to call out, trust me, you might just be surprised with an answer.

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Boost Your Brain Through Your Gut

Healthy Gut, Healthy Brain

MEET YOUR SECOND BRAIN

Understanding just how closely the gut and the brain are related is essential.

Think of the last time you felt sick to your stomach because you were anxious, scared, or over-the-moon elated. Scientists are learning that this intimate relationship between the gut and the brain is bidirectional: Just as your brain can send butterflies to your stomach, your gut can relay its state of calm or alarm to the brain.

 

The vagus nerve, the longest of 12 cranial nerves, is the primary channel between millions of nerve cells in our intestinal nervous system (sometimes called the enteric nervous system) and our central nervous system, which comprises the brain and spinal cord. “Vagus” is Latin for “wanderer,” an apt name for this nerve that runs outside the brain and through the digestive system. The vagus extends from the brain stem to the abdomen, directing many bodily processes that don’t require thought, like heart rate and digestion.

 

At the same time, the bacteria in the gut directly affect the function of the cells along the vagus nerve. And some of the gut’s nerve cells and microbes release neurotransmitters that speak to the brain in its own language.

 

The neurons in the gut are so innumerable that many scientists are now calling them the “second brain.” This second brain not only regulates muscle function, immune cells, and hormones, but also manufactures an estimated 80 to 90 percent of serotonin (the “feel-good” neurotransmitter).

This means the gut’s brain makes more serotonin — the master happiness molecule — than the brain in your head. Many neurologists and psychiatrists are now realizing that this may be one reason antidepressants are often less effective in treating depression than proper dietary changes.

 

FOOD MATTERS

Perhaps the most significant factor related to the health of the microbiome — and thus, the brain — is the food we eat. It is also the greatest challenge to the microbiome and brain. Food matters enormously, trumping other factors in our lives that we may not be entirely able to control.

 

5 WAYS TO BOOST YOUR BRAIN THROUGH YOUR GUT

I am frequently asked how long it takes to rehabilitate a dysfunctional or underperforming microbiome.  Research shows that significant changes in the array of gut bacteria can take place in as little as six days after instituting a new dietary protocol, like the one I present in my book (the highlights of which I’m sharing here). But everyone is different; your Brain Maker rehab will depend on the current state of your gut and how quickly you commit to making changes.

 

1. EAT FOODS RICH IN PROBIOTICS

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeast that support good digestive health. Long before probiotics became available in supplement form, the health benefits of fermented, probiotic-rich foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, and yogurt were well recognized. The Chinese were fermenting -cabbage 6,000 years ago.

 

2. GO LOWER-CARB; EMBRACE HIGH-QUALITY FATS

A diet that keeps your blood sugar balanced keeps your gut bacteria balanced. A diet high in rich sources of fiber from whole vegetables and fruits feeds good gut bacteria and produces the right balance of short-chain fatty acids to keep the intestinal lining in check. A diet that’s intrinsically anti-inflammatory is good for the brain.

Diets high in sugar and low in fiber fuel unwanted bacteria and increase the chances of intestinal permeability, mitochondrial damage, a compromised immune system, and widespread inflammation that can reach the brain. It’s a vicious cycle; all of these further disrupt our protective microbial balance.

 

3. ENJOY CHOCOLATE, COFFEE, WINE, AND TEA

You can rejoice in the fact that, as far as your brain’s health is concerned, you can embrace chocolate, coffee, and wine in moderation, and tea to your heart’s desire.

Research abounds concerning dark chocolate’s benefits. In one study, Italian researchers demonstrated that in elderly individuals suffering mild cognitive impairment, those who consumed the highest level of flavonols (one category of polyphenols) from cocoa and chocolate showed heightened cognitive function.  On that note, Spanish researchers have found that LPS levels, a marker for both inflammation and intestinal permeability, were dramatically reduced in individuals who consumed red wine in moderation (one to two glasses per day).

 

4. CONSUME FOODS RICH IN PREBIOTICS

Prebiotics are food-borne fuel for the beneficial bacteria that live in the gut, and they occur naturally in raw garlic, cooked and raw onions, leeks, chicory, Jerusalem artichokes, and jicama. Estimates suggest that for every 100 grams of prebiotic carbohydrates we consume, a full 30 grams of good gut bacteria are produced.  Prebiotics have many additional benefits, including the ability to reduce inflammation in inflammatory-bowel disorders, enhance mineral absorption, and promote a sense of satiety. Animals given prebiotics produce less ghrelin, the hormone that signals the brain that it’s time to eat.

 

5. DRINK FILTERED WATER

Consuming plenty of water is important to intestinal health, but it’s critical that the water doesn’t contain gut-busting chemicals like chlorine. Environmental toxins can disrupt the microbiome and disturb brain physiology.  I recommend using a household water filter. There are a variety of home water-treatment technologies available, from simple filtration pitchers to under-sink units with a separate spigot. Make sure the filter you buy removes chlorine as well as other contaminants, and be sure to maintain and change it regularly.

Finally, ditch plastic water bottles and choose reusable bottles made from stainless steel or glass instead.

 

 

www.transcendct.com

Being Too Nice Can Bring You To Depression

By Elzbieta Pettingill
Guest Writer for Wake Up World




There is such a thing as being too nice, too giving and too caring. To overcome depression you must stop the habit of bending over to gain people’s approval. I know, it’s easier said than done. But no one said it’d be easy.

 

Those who are affected by depression tend to be people-pleasers. And yet, ironically, quite often their actions are viewed by others as selfish and self-centered. For over three decades I believed in that crap myself. I believed I was selfish and self-involved. I was convinced I had nothing to offer. I also thought that it didn’t matter what I thought. That my opinion was less important than anyone else’s. It seemed as if I was always living someone else’s life.

 

Finally, after two major brain seizures caused by a suicide attempt, I stopped living someone else’s life and looked deep within…

 

Someone Else’s Life

I was the child who was “too young to understand things” and therefore to make decisions. My life was run by the grown ups, who weren’t able to see the serious damage caused by the primitive belief such as; “children should be seen but not heard.” Then later, I became an young adult, clinging to any guy who’d find anything whatsoever appealing in me. At that time my looks seemed to have the only value in the eyes of others.

 

I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t who I am. I was a “slave” to anyone who was willing to have me in their life. The fear of rejection always steered my thoughts into the direction that led others to benefit from it more than I did.

 

How tiring was that!? How exhausting it is having to constantly put others before your own self! And how little reward you get at the end of it…

 

All this, so you can keep deluding yourself that someone cares about you, at least enough to stick around. For a while, at least… ’til they get tired of it.

 

Then what do you do when the inevitable happens and when they leave? You blame yourself, of course. Consciously, or subconsciously, your already low self-esteem gets reinforced. It spirals downward in a lightening speed and you get even more depressed, thinking that there is no tomorrow for you…

 

Well, there is. And it’s a bright one, too!

 

You’ve heard the phrase: “You teach people how to treat you” but you’ve ignored it so far. Maybe because when you did try to stand up for yourself it always seemed to have backfired. You might even had finally snapped and told others to f--- off, which they deserved to hear, only to find yourself being labeled as too aggressive and not “lady-like.”

 

Well dear, who the f--- gives a damn? Who cares what others think and, or say? Let me just remind you – it shouldn’t be you. There is only one person in this entire world whose opinion should matter to you, and that is YOU and you ONLY.

 

There is only one person in this entire Universe that needs your pleasing, and that person is you.

There is only one person who needs your caring the most, and yes, you’ve guessed it – it’s you again.

 

 

Just remember this: if you care too much – others will care too little… If you remain too available – others will always remain too busy for you. Without even being apologetic about it, people will always make you wait for them, making you feel as if your time is not nearly as valuable as theirs. You get the picture…

 

You will encounter resistance from those around you when you start making those long-overdue changes, but that’s OK. Have fun with it. See that sense of amusement on their faces and that sense of disbelief… Stare back at them without blinking.

 

Be prepared to deal with the consequences of having the courage to do what’s right for you. In your mind let go of the fear of not having that job in case your boss decides to fire you. Maybe it means it’s time to do something else for a living.

 

Be ready to let go of your significant other if s/he continues to refuse to treat you in a new, more loving and respectful way.

 

Make yourself OK with being alone for now. Make yourself comfortable with being with… YOU. Get to know yourself. Find out exactly what your needs and desires are and then become unstoppable in fulfilling them! Be selfish. You’ve been accused of it so many times before, now it’s time for you to show others (and yourself) how selfish you can really be! Show them that you mean business…

 

 Renounce the guilt. Let go of it. Completely. It’s time to release it.

 

Be your number one. Be bold. Be spontaneous. Learn to be yourself in every situation and around everyone.

 

This is how you start to love yourself…

 

 

 

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Treat Your Body Like A Temple

The body is really a tool and our chance at spiritual growth. With it, we are able to develop the mind and nourish the soul so that we can evolve as spiritual beings. And as we’ve been born into a human body, we’ve been gifted the opportunity to experience the joys of life, and even each other.

 

We should treat our bodies as temples, remembering that they’re not forms to be abused, but houses for something much more sacred and everlasting. We must keep our individual temples clean. We have to be careful what we put inside of the temple, and we have to give the temple love and attention when it needs repair work.
 

Yoga, mindful fitness, conscious nutrition and meditation are great gifts we can give ourselves! Your beautiful essence deserves a healthy and efficient vessel to shine through. 

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The Autumn Smoothie

What better way to glide easily into the next season than combining fruit from the tropics with the colors of fall?


The Turmeric Smoothie   

Used for over 2500 years in India, Turmeric has had a notable reputation in the culinary world for being the elite source of curcumin, an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, antibacterial, and antiviral agent. 

A relative of the ginger plant, this spice and medicinal herb, commonly used in many sweet and savory dishes, also helps flush out dietary carcinogens, boosts liver detox and treats depression.

Enjoy this delicious smoothie and the multiple benefits of turmeric.

Recipe:

-1 cup hemp or coconut milk
-1/2 cup frozen pineapple or mango chunks
-1 fresh banana
-1 tablespoon coconut oil
-1/2 teaspoon turmeric (can be increased to 1 tsp)
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ginger
-1 teaspoon chia seeds
-1 teaspoon maca (optional)
Process these ingredients in a blender until smooth

The 7 Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

A slew of scientific studies suggest that mindfulness meditation offers some powerful holistic health benefits. And while researchers caution that no one study should be interpreted as a prescription for treatment, mindfulness is increasingly being considered a viable complement to conventional health care. Here are just some of the ways it can help you:

 

 

 

1. Stay Focused

Learning to sustain one’s attention through mindfulness seems to improve overall ability to focus and maintain attention during everyday tasks. In a 2012 study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers evaluated individuals with no previous exposure to meditation. Some of them received three hours of mindfulness-meditation training and were asked to meditate for 10 minutes each day for up to 16 weeks. During tasks that involved attention to detail, those who meditated showed more control over executive functions involving attention than non-meditators. The research suggests that even “low doses” of meditation training can significantly change neural function related to processing conflicting stimuli.

 

2. Manage Anxiety and Depression

In a 2014 meta-analysis, Goyal and his partners at Johns Hopkins found that mindfulness meditation might be on par with antidepressants in treating depressive symptoms. In a 2014 study in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers examined 15 participants with no prior meditation experience. Over the course of just four days of mindfulness-meditation training, participants experienced significantly less anxiety. Essentially, mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety by improving mood and enhancing cognitive control mechanisms.

 

3. Reduce Stress

Research suggests that mindfulness-meditation training not only reduces stress and anxiety following a stressful episode, but that practicing it can actually help mitigate stress in the moment. In a 2013 study, Kirk Warren Brown, PhD, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and colleagues reported that mindful individuals showed lower brain arousal in response to highly unpleasant images compared with controls. This suggests that mindfulness changes how stress-related emotion centers in the brain are activated. As a result, not only do these brain areas get less active when provoked, but the reaction may be easier to regulate because it’s not so strong, says Brown.

 

4. Ease Pain

In a 2011 study, Wake Forest researcher Zeidan and his colleagues showed that after just four days of mindfulness-meditation training, meditating during episodes of 
pain reduced the unpleasantness by 57 percent and participants’ pain-intensity ratings 
by 40 percent. The researchers also identified specific brain regions that appear to 
be involved in the experience of pain and how it is modulated through meditation. 
By altering the context for pain via cognitive control and emotional regulation, 
meditation may change the way we perceive pain (i.e., viewing it as fleeting).

 

5. Boost Gray Matter

By spurring the growth of gray matter in various brain regions, mindfulness may improve learning, memory, and emotional regulation, several studies over the last decade have shown. In a 2011 study published in the journal Psychiatry Research, for instance, researchers scanned the brains of participants who had little or no previous experience with mindfulness training. The study participants then completed an eight-week MBSR course, and researchers scanned their brains again. Individuals who took the meditation course showed significant increases in gray matter.

 

6. Fight Alzheimer’s

Mindfulness might slow the brain degeneration that leads to Alzheimer’s disease. In a pilot study published in 2013, Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, at Wake Forest and her colleagues reported that in adults with mild cognitive impairment (a transitional stage between normal aging-related memory loss and full-blown dementia), participants who practiced mindfulness meditation showed less atrophy, or shrinking, in the hippocampus, a brain region that is altered in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, compared to the control group. The study also revealed that an area of the brain called the default mode network, which is involved in activities like daydreaming and thinking about the past and the future, shows greater neural connectivity in meditators than non-meditators. Larger studies are still needed to confirm these early-but-promising results, says Erwin Wells.
 

 

7. Avoid Colds and Flu

Mindfulness meditation may help boost immune function. In a 2012 Annals of Family Medicine study of adults aged 50 or older, researchers showed that mindfulness meditation is about as effective as exercise for reducing the occurrence of acute respiratory infection, which includes colds and seasonal flu. This bolstered previous studies which showed that mindfulness meditation can help fight illness by reducing stress and therefore helping to support a healthy immune response.

 

 

 

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