How to Effortlessly Attract Your Dream Life by Designing Your Perfect Average Day
How to Effortlessly Attract Your Dream Life by Designing Your Perfect Average Day |
- How to Effortlessly Attract Your Dream Life by Designing Your Perfect Average Day
- Meditation: the new medication
- The pioneering new Buddhist school that invites pupils to be happy
- Beyond the “defended self”
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/21/2012
- Movies Show Inaccurate Picture of Cancer
- Obese Children Less Sensitive to Tastes
- H&M Recalls Children's Water Bottles
- Women with Severe Endometriosis May Be More Attractive
- Sleep Apnea in Pregnancy May Harm Mom and Baby
| How to Effortlessly Attract Your Dream Life by Designing Your Perfect Average Day Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT  Do you think there's room for improvement? There always is, isn't there? Having a clear vision and knowing exactly what your ideal life looks like will get you moving towards your dream life faster. I'm not talking about cars, houses and lots of money. I'm talking about what you REALLY want, think experiences, friends and so on. We tend to think in vague terms and not really know what we want. We just know we want something better than what we have. I know I'm guilty of this. I've always found it hard to write things down, but once I've done it, I feel clearer and much more motivated. The Definition of a Perfect Average Day When I say perfect average day, I want you to think about a day that you'd want to live right now. There's no need to go into what ifs, because we can't predict the future. Just have fun when you're doing this exercise. Your focus should be on getting this done. Even if it is half-assed, you will get a lot of benefit out of it. What to Do Before You Start Set aside some quiet time and make sure you don't get interrupted, because the last thing you want is someone disrupting your flow. This may take you anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on how detailed you get. The more details you can dive into, the better! And remember, there are no limitations whatsoever. It doesn't matter if you don't have the money to do something or don't live where you want to live. Write down exactly what you want. Let your heart speak! What Does an Average Awesome Day Look Like? Go! through absolutely every single detail you can think of. Write down what you want your thoughts to be as you go through your perfect average day. What do you think about when you wake up? What do you think about when you're having lunch? What are you having for lunch? What are your last thoughts as you fall asleep? Absolutely everything has to come out. This really gets your mind going, because you have to think about what you truly and deeply want. Do you want to have kids? Do you want a spouse? If so, what is your spouse like? Why does your spouse like you? Why do your kids like you? Something that helped me is to look at this like writing a story. You are the puppet master and you get to come up with your dream life. Questions to Get You Going It's easy to get stuck and sit there staring at a blank piece of paper. If this is you, try interviewing yourself. Start asking yourself questions on what you do at different points of your day. Here are a few questions to get you going:
This is why I said to allot some alone time when you're doing this. The more details you can go through, the more you will be telling your brain what you want. When you d! o this, b! e ready for surprises, because you probably don't know what you want. You may think you do, but you don't. At least not in great detail. You May Not Always Know What You Want The scary part about this exercise is that you may realize that you're heading in the opposite direction of what you truly want. It's so easy to get caught up in the money, the cars and all those THINGS. We're human and we like bright, shiny objects and gadgets. This is normal, and it happens to me all the time. That's why it helps to re-focus and do an exercise like this from time to time. But whatever you do, stop making excuses and take action. Now it's your turn. Start writing right now and get this on paper, because if you don't start now, when will you?
Do you have a bucket list? Here are 101 things to do before you die. Includes a tutorial on how you can create your bucket list too!          Read More @ Source 
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| Meditation: the new medication Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT
Billy Juliani, a junior in philosophy and the president of N.C. State's Buddhist Philosophy Club, defined meditation as the practice of "living in the present moment and being aware of what's around us." "It reduces stress and anxiety and promotes a more peaceful and thoughtful approach to looking at the world," Juliani said … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| The pioneering new Buddhist school that invites pupils to be happy Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT
The independent school in Etwall opened its doors to pupils for the first time earlier this month and 15 have already enrolled, with a further eight applications being processed. Teachers have travelled from as far away as America and Mexico to be a part of the pioneering new school, which has a curriculum that incorporates Buddhist teachings. And those behind the venture, near the established Tara Buddhist Centre, have set themselves … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT
In a barely controlled voice, he thrust in front of me a flyer I'd created for the event. "Just take a look at this." Immediately, I saw the typo in bold print—it was the wrong date. My heart sank: we'd just printed three thousand of them; I'd screwed up big time. Although my mind scrambled to solve the problem, the weight of failure sat like a big stone in my chest. At the end of our meeting I began an apology: "This was my responsibility," I said in a low monotone, "and I'm really sorry for messing up . . ." Then as I felt the others' eyes on me, I felt a flash of anger and the words tumbled out: "But, you know, this has been a huge amount of work and I've been totally on my own." I could feel my eyes burning, but I blinked back the tears. "It would have been nice if someone had been available to proofread . . . maybe this kind of thing wouldn't have happened." For the rest of the week I was trapped in self-disgust. Hour after hour my mind replayed every recent incident that highlighted my flaws: I'd lied to get out of a social obligation, exaggerated the size of my yoga classes to another teacher, gossiped to feel more like an insider. Instead of generosity and selfless service, my focus was on my own spiritual progress. Once again I found myself facing what I most disliked about myself: insecurity and self-centeredness. I felt disconnected from everyone around me, stuck inside a self I didn't want to be. Because my self-doubts seemed so "unspiritual," I didn't talk about them with anyone. At work I was all business. I withdrew from the casual banter and playfulness at group meals, and when I did try to be sociable, I felt like an imposter. Several weeks later, the women in our ashram decided to form a sensitivity group where we could talk about personal challenges. I wondered whether this might be an opportunity for me to get more real. At our opening meeting, as the other women talked about their stress at work, about children and health problems, I felt my anxiety build. Finally, when there was a pause in the conversation, my confession came pouring out. "I know I do a lot of yoga and teach a lot of classes, that it looks like I'm a helpful, caring person … That may be true in some ways, but it's also a front. What I'm covering up, what I don't want anyone to see, is how self-centered I am, how selfish and judgmental." After pausing and glancing around at the solemn faces, I took the real plunge. "This is hard to say, but … I don't trust that I'm a good person, and that makes it hard to really feel close with anyone."  Check out Meditations for Emotional Healing: Finding Freedom in the Face of Difficulty (2CDS), and other titles by Tara Brach. Suddenly I realized that this inner processing was yet more of the same. I was still trying to control things by figuring them out, by trying more practice, by trying to manage how others might see me. Recognizing these false refuges stopped me in my tracks—I didn't want to stay stuck. An inner voice asked, "What would happen if, in this moment, I didn't try to do anything, to make anything different?" I immediately felt the visceral grip of fear and then a familiar sinking hole of shame—the very feelings I had been trying to avoid for as long as I could remember. Then the same inner voice whispered very quietly, a familiar refrain: "Just let it be." I stretched out on my back, took a few full breaths, and felt the weight of my body supported by the futon. Again and again my mind tried to escape into reviewing what I'd said hours earlier, or rehearsing what else I could say to explain myself. Again and again the intention to "let it be" brought me back to the fear and shame I was experiencing. Sometime during the night, lying there alone in the darkness, these emotions gave way to grief. I was struck by how much of my life—my aliveness and loving—was lost when I was caught in feelings of unworthiness. I let myself open to that fully too, sobbing deeply, until the grief gradually subsided. I got up, sat on my cushion in front of my small meditation altar, and continued to pay attention. My mind quieted naturally and I became increasingly aware of my own inner experience—a silent presence suffused with tenderness. This presence was a space of being that included everything—waves of sadness, the feeling of my drying tears, the sounds of crickets, the humid summer night. In this open space thoughts again bubbled up —the memory of being defensive at the staff meeting and my subsequent attempts to offer a real apology; then a flash forward to me teaching the yoga class I'd scheduled for the following morning, trying to project a positive, confident energy. This time, as these scenes came into view, I felt like I was witnessing a character in a play. The character was continually trying to protect herself, but in the process, she was disconnecting more and more from herself, from authenticity, from the potential sustenance of feeling connected to others. And in each scene, I saw her perpetually "doing" in order to feel better about herself, "doing" in order to avoid pain, "doing" in order to avoid failure. As I sat there watching this play, I had, for the first time, a compelling sense that this character wasn't really "me." Her feelings and reactions were certainly familiar, but they were just ripples on the surface of what I really was. In the same way, everything happening at that moment—the thoughts, the sensations of sitting cross-legged, the tenderness, the tiredness—were part of my being but could not define me. My heart opened. How sad to have been living in such a confined world; how sad to have felt so driven and so alone! That night by my altar, an old sense of self was falling away. Who was I, then? In those moments I sensed that the truth of what I was couldn't be contained in any idea or image of self. Rather, it was the space of presence itself—the silence, the wakeful openness—that felt like home. A feeling of gratitude and reverence filled me that has never entirely left. Read More @ Source
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| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/21/2012 Posted: 21 Sep 2012 04:00 AM PDT  "Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity." ~The Buddha       Read More @ Source 
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| Movies Show Inaccurate Picture of Cancer Posted: 20 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT
The portrayal of cancer in movies is often untrue to life, researchers concluded after reviewing 75 films in which one of the main characters had cancer. For instance, cancer patients in movies tend to be young people who suffer from rare cancers, such as brain tumors and lymphomas, said study researcher Luciano De Fiore, of Sapienza University of Rome. "Though breast cancer has a very high impact on female subjects, it is barely represented," De Fiore said. In addition, the ill character often succumbs — death occurred in 63 percent of the reviewed movies. "Death is somehow useful to the plot's outcome," De Fiore said. "This pattern is so strong that it's persisting in spite of real progress of treatments." De Fiore and his colleagues reported reviewing 75 movies made over the last 70 years in 13 countries. They included "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), in which Burl Ives plays an overbearing patriarch dying of cancer; "A Little Bit of Heaven" (2011), with Kate Hudson as a terminally ill ad executive; and "50/50" (2011), in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character figures he has a 50-50 chance of surviving a malignancy on his spine. The researchers took into account the fact that cancer treatments available when some of the earlier movies were released were different from treatments available now,De Fiore said. Forty of the ill characters were women and the other 35 were men, and most were upper-class or upper-middle-class individuals. Twenty-one movies did not mention the type of cancer the character had. According to data, the actual risk of cancer rises with age, cancer is more common in men than women, and people from low-income groups are the most likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancers. The films' portrayals of cancer symptoms, diagnostic tests and treatments were more representative of real life, the researchers found. Diagnostic tests were mentioned in 65 percent of movies, and symptoms were considered in 72 percent, the researchers said. Chemotherapy was most commonly mentioned as a treatment. Doctors and nurses appeared in 77 percent of films. Despite inaccuracies, movies can serve to raise cancer awareness, the researchers said. "Using the big screen to show stories about cancer could help raise awareness about how large the problem is, and what new therapies are available," De Fiore said. The study is to be presented this week at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Vienna. Pass it on: Cancer patients portrayed in movies are often younger than most people with cancer. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.  Read More @ Source 
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| Obese Children Less Sensitive to Tastes Posted: 20 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT
Obese children have a less-sensitive sense of taste compared with kids of normal weight, a new study suggests. Their blunted ability to distinguish the five tastes of bitter, sweet, salty, sour, and umami (an earthy, savory flavor) may prompt obese children to eat larger quantities of food to register the same taste sensation, the researchers said. The results are based on a study of 94 normal weight and 99 obese children ages 6 to 18, who were in good health and not taking any medications known to affect taste and smell. Participants tasted 22 "taste strips," which were placed on the tongue —for each of the five taste sensations, there were four strips of varying intensity — for example, a very salty strip, a salty strip, a somewhat salty strip, and a slightly salty strip — plus two blank strips. The children were asked to identify the taste of each strip, and rank them by their intensities. Children could score a maximum of 20 points, by correctly identifying all five types of tastes at the four different intensities. Scores ranged from two to 19. Girls and older children were better at picking out the right tastes, according to the researchers. Overall, the children were best able to differentiate between sweet and salty, but found it hardest to distinguish between salty and sour, and between salty and umami. Obese children found it significantly more difficult to identify the different taste sensations, scoring an average of 12.6, compared with an average of just over 14 by children of normal weight. Exactly why people have differing taste perceptions is unclear, but genes, hormones, cultural experiences and exposure to different tastes early in life are all thought to play a part, say the authors. Previous research indicates that heightened sensitivity to different taste sensations may help to reduce the amount of food eaten as less is required to get the same "taste hit," the researchers said. Pass it on: Obese children may have less sensitive taste-buds compared to normal weight children. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| H&M Recalls Children's Water Bottles Posted: 20 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with H&M Hennes & Mauritz, New York, N.Y., announced a voluntary recall of about 2,900 Children's Water Bottles. Hazard: The water bottle's spout can break off, posing a choking hazard to children. Incidents/Injuries: H&M has received one report of an incident in England of the water bottle spout breaking off in a child's mouth as the child was drinking from the bottle. No injuries have been reported. Description: The 16 oz. water bottles are pink plastic with a crackle design or blue plastic. The bottles have flip-top lids in coordinated pink and blue colors. "H&M Sweden" and "www.hm.com" are embossed on the bottom of the bottle. The recalled products were manufactured in June 2012. The water bottle contains the manufacture date in an embossed date clock on the bottom of the bottle. The inner circle on the clock contains the number 12 with an arrow between the two numbers. The arrow points at the number 6 in an outer circle of numbers. Sold exclusively at: H&M stores with children's departments nationwide from July 2012 through August 2012 for about $ 5. Manufactured in: Italy Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the water bottle and return it to H&M for a full refund. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact H&M toll-free at (855) 466-7467 or visit the firm's recall page on its website at www.hm.com. Read More @ Source 
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| Women with Severe Endometriosis May Be More Attractive Posted: 20 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT
Observing that women with the most severe form of endometriosis happen to be unusually attractive, researchers in Italy speculate that the qualities that led to the women's good looks also predisposed them to the painful gynecological condition. In the study, independent observers rated 31 percent of women with severe endometriosis as attractive or very attractive, while just 8 percent of women with milder endometriosis, and 9 percent of women without the condition were rated that highly. "Several researchers believe that a general phenotype exists which is associated with the disease," said study researcher Dr. Paolo Vercellini, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Universita degli Studi in Milan. It may be that a more feminine body type is the result of the same physical characteristics that predispose women to develop severe endometriosis, Vercellini said. Female attractiveness is linked with higher estrogen levels, and it's possible that the hormone "might favor the development of aggressive and infiltrating endometriotic lesions, particularly in the most feminine subjects," the researchers wrote in their study. The study was published online Sept. 17 in the journal Fertility and Sterility. A more feminine silhouette In endometriosis, cells that normally line the uterus leave the organ and become deposited in other sites within the body, such as on the ovaries, rectum, bladder or pelvic area. These deposits respond the same way as normal uterine cells do to the hormone changes that occur over a woman's monthly cycle — they thicken, and then shrink — which can cause pain in the pelvic region, and bleeding. Endometriosis is thought to affect 5 to 10 percent of women. The severe form, called rectovaginal endometriosis, is much less common than milder forms, Vercellini said. In the new study, researchers looked at 100 women with rectovaginal endometriosis, 100 women with less severe endometriosis, and 100 women without endometriosis who were undergoing gynecologic surgery for other reasons. Most of the women in the studies were in their late 20s or early 30s. Two male and two female doctors who did not know the women's diagnoses met with each woman for a few minutes, and rated her overall attractiveness on a 5-point scale. Other researchers took measurements of the women, and calculated their body mass indexes, their waist-to-hip ratios, and their "breast-to-underbreast" ratio — a measure of breast size. Results showed that the women with severe endometriosis had lower body mass indexes, and larger breasts, than those without the disease. The women also completed a questionnaire about their sexual history, and the results showed that women with severe endometriosis were more likely to have had sexual intercourse before age 18. This could be a result of these women being more attractive, even during adolescence, the researchers said. One measurement of attractiveness — waist-to-hip ratio — was not different between the groups, the researchers said. What the findings mean Previous studies have found that several physical characteristics — such as body size, body mass index, hair color, eye color, skin color and fat tissue distribution — may be different in women with endometriosis than in the general female population, Vercellini said. This line of research may shed light on the hormones or genes linked with women's risk of developing the uterine condition, the researchers said. While it's not exactly clear why women with severe endometriosis may be more attractive than others, the hormone estrogen could play a role, the researchers said. Studies have shown that more-attractive women have higher levels of estrogen, and higher levels of the hormone also may be linked with the development of endometriosis. On the other hand, it could be that the same genes that play a role in women's physical appearance also raise the risk of developing severe endometriosis. "It is tempting to speculate" that genes that interact with hormones to produce a more feminine appearance may also predispose women to severe endometriosis, Vercellini said. However, the findings are preliminary and need to be verified in further studies, he said. Vercellini noted that in the study, the attractiveness of the women with mild endometriosis did not differ from that of women without the condition — it was only the women with rectovaginal endometriosis who appeared to be more attractive. Pass it on: The most attractive women may be predisposed to developing a severe form of endometriosis, Italian researchers say. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| Sleep Apnea in Pregnancy May Harm Mom and Baby Posted: 20 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT
Women who experience sleep apnea during pregnancy may face an increased of risk of health problems, for both themselves and their newborns, a new study suggests. In the study, babies born to women with obstructive sleep apnea were more likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit than babies born to women without the condition. All of the women in the study were obese. In addition, the women with sleep apnea were more likely to develop preeclampsia, a condition of high blood pressure during pregnancy, and to deliver their babies by cesarean section. Pregnancy complications linked to obesity — such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes — are better understood than sleep apnea, which is an understudied and under-diagnosed condition in pregnant women, the researchers said. There is a need for better ways to screen and treat sleep apnea in pregnancy, said study researcher Dr. Judette Louis, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Florida. People with sleep apnea experience pauses in their breathing during sleep. With obstructive sleep apnea, the pauses are due to a blocked airway. Obesity increases the risk for obstructive sleep apnea because the extra fat tissue can narrow in the inside of the windpipe, according to the National Heart and Blood Institute. In the new study, the reseachers analyzed information from 175 obese pregnant women who were tested for obstructive sleep apnea at home using a portable device. About 15 percent of participants had obstructive sleep apnea. Those with sleep apnea were more likely to be heavier, and have chronic high blood pressure than those without sleep apnea. Among those with sleep apnea, about 65 percent required a C-section, while 33 percent of those without the condition required the surgery. Additionally, 42 percent of those with sleep apnea had preeclampsia, compared with 17 percent of those without sleep apnea. The rate of premature births was similar between the groups. The percentage of newborns requiring admission to the NICU was 46 percent for mothers with sleep apnea, compared with 18 percent for those without sleep apnea. Many of these admissions were due to breathing problems. The higher rate of NICU admissions for infants born to mothers with sleep apnea may be due to the higher rate of C-sections in this group, the researchers said. The best way to reduce the risks that come with obesity-related sleep apnea would be to treat obesity before a woman becomes pregnant, although losing weight is often difficult, the researchers said. Because the study only included obese women, it's not clear whether sleep apnea could have the same effects in women who are not obese. The study is published online today (Sept. 20) in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Pass it on: Babies born to obese mothers with sleep apnea are at increased risk for admission to the NICU. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND on Twitter. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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Kenneth Pham, Technician Online: Thanks to pop-culture representations, meditation is seen as something that takes place in the isolation of a lush forest at the top of a Himalayan mountain. Those who practice the delicate art know one does not have to be alone or in an exotic location to meditate.
Derby Telegraph, UK: With eachers who have flown in from across the world and meditation sessions punctuating the day, it is clear that the Kadampa Primary School will be a little bit different.
During the years right after college, I was the director of a yoga studio at the ashram where I was living near Boston. One day, at a time when we were behind in promoting our major event of the year, which featured a number of well-known teachers, the head of our local community arrived late to our weekly staff meeting, visibly upset. I asked him what was wrong. 
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