https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPU0DGjK3XA
Author Archives: admin
MRI captures and magnifies the movement of the brain
Footage captured by a new video MRI technique developed by an international team of scientists captures the brain’s ‘beating’ and could help catch concussions and aneurysms earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po-1tm8wS6c
Original Article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5783681/New-technique-captures-incredible-footage-brain-beating-heart.html
Original Video: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1698038/Video-Brain-scan-shows-memory-fades-people-older.html
“Energy is the real substance behind the appearance of matter and forms”
Randolph Stone, DO, DC, ND (1890-1981)
“All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves”
Bill Hicks
“Many people misunderstand the concept of safety. They think they can gain it by protecting themselves from other people or choosing safe people. Safety actually occurs when we learn to trust our ability to take care of ourselves.”
Mary MacKenzie
“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”
Alan Watts
The 75-Year Study That Found The Secrets To A Fulfilling Life
What if there was a study dedicated to unearthing the secrets to a happy and purposeful life? It would have to be conducted over the course of many decades, following the lives of real people from childhood until old age, in order to see how they changed and what they learned. And it would probably be too ambitious for anyone to actually undertake.
Only, a group of Harvard researchers did undertake it, producing a comprehensive, flesh-and-blood picture of some of life’s fundamental questions: how we grow and change, what we value as time goes on, and what is likely to make us happy and fulfilled.
The study, known as the Harvard Grant Study, has some limitations — it didn’t include women, for starters. Still, it provides an unrivaled glimpse into a subset of humanity, following 268 male Harvard undergraduates from the classes of 1938-1940 (now well into their 90s) for 75 years, collecting data on various aspects of their lives at regular intervals. And the conclusions are universal.
We spoke to George Vaillant, the Harvard psychiatrist who directed the study from 1972 to 2004 and wrote a book about it, in order to revisit the study’s findings. Below, five lessons from the Grant Study to apply to your own pursuit of a happier and more meaningful life.
Love Is Really All That Matters
It may seem obvious, but that doesn’t make it any less true: Love is key to a happy and fulfilling life. As Vaillant puts it, there are two pillars of happiness. “One is love,” he writes. “The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away.”
Vaillant has said that the study’s most important finding is that the only thing that matters in life is relationships. A man could have a successful career, money and good physical health, but without supportive, loving relationships, he wouldn’t be happy (“Happiness is only the cart; love is the horse.”).
It’s About More than Money and Power
The Grant Study’s findings echoed those of other studies — that acquiring more money and power doesn’t correlate to greater happiness. That’s not to say money or traditional career success don’t matter. But they’re small parts of a much larger picture — and while they may loom large for us in the moment, they diminish in importance when viewed in the context of a full life.
“We found that contentment in the late 70s was not even suggestively associated with parental social class or even the man’s own income,” says Vaillant. “In terms of achievement, the only thing that matters is that you be content at your work.”
Regardless of How We Begin Life, We Can All Become Happier
A man named Godfrey Minot Camille went into the Grant study with fairly bleak prospects for life satisfaction: He had the lowest rating for future stability of all the subjects and he had previously attempted suicide. But at the end of his life, he was one of the happiest. Why? As Vaillant explains, “He spent his life searching for love.”
Connection Is Crucial
“Joy is connection,” Vaillant says. “The more areas in your life you can make connection, the better.”
The study found strong relationships to be far and away the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. And in terms of career satisfaction, too, feeling connected to one’s work was far more important than making money or achieving traditional success.
“The conclusion of the study, not in a medical but in a psychological sense, is that connection is the whole shooting match,” says Vaillant.
As life goes on, connections become even more important. The Grant Study provides strong support for the growing body of research that has linked social ties with longevity, lower stress levels and improved overall well-being.
Challenges –- and the Perspective They Give You — Can Make You Happier
The journey from immaturity to maturity, says Vaillant, is a sort of movement from narcissism to connection, and a big part of this shift has to do with the way we deal with challenges.
Coping mechanisms — “the capacity to make gold out of shit,” as Vaillant puts it — have a significant effect on social support and overall well-being. The secret is replacing narcissism, a single-minded focus on one’s own emotional oscillations and perceived problems, with mature coping defenses, Vaillant explains, citing Mother Teresa and Beethoven as examples.
“Mother Teresa had a perfectly terrible childhood, and her inner spiritual life was very painful,” says Vaillant. “But she had a highly successful life by caring about other people.
Creative expression is another way to productively deal with challenges and achieve meaning and well-being.
“The secret of Beethoven being able to cope with misery through his art was when he wrote ‘Ode to Joy,’” says Vaillant. “Beethoven was able to make connection with his music.”
Article written By Carolyn Gregoire
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Researchers Create a Song That Makes Babies Happy
Meditating in the rain
An article written for the Shine August Newsletter
The benefits of a meditation practice as a means of coping with anxiety and stress is well known. It can literally re-shape the brain, transforming our perception of life for the better.
It has helped me to become more focused, more present, calm and more appreciative of everything in my life.
Thousands of studies have shown the positive impact that meditation has on our health and well being. It helps to develop clarity, concentration and a sense of emotional positivity.
There are many different kinds of meditation, with many different approaches. However, what they all have in common is the cultivation of a calm and positive state of mind.
My daily mindful meditation practice has helped me to better understand my own mind and emotional processes. This practice is quite simple, yet transformative.
I meditate between 15 minutes to one hour depending on the day. I usually meditate with my eyes open as it helps me to stay present and more connected with what is happening around me.
These are the steps that I use to anchor myself in the present moment during the practice and I keep coming back to them when the mind wonders during the meditation.
1. To start the meditation practice I sit with an open mind and a curious attitude trying to let go of any expectations.
2. I scan my body and notice if there are any pains or areas of tension. I feel my breath and acknowledge the quality of my breathing.
3. I pay attention to my senses, noticing the noises, smells and temperature around the room (or at the park if the weather is nice!)
4. I feel what is going on with my emotions allowing them to be as they are.
5. I listen to my thoughts trying to accept them regardless of whether they feel positive or not
Through meditation, over time we can notice our automatic behaviours and conditioned thought patterns, allowing the space for us to see them without having to re-enact them. This wider awareness develops into a more compassionate attitude towards ourselves and to the world around us.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
-Vivian Greene
Alfredo Hunter – Craniosacral Therapist
Letting go of old patterns from the Shine Newsletter
Oh, not that old chestnut again?!
How many times do we find ourselves going head first into an old pattern?
It could be a familiar tension in the neck as the deadlines mount at work, tossing and turning in bed after a petty argument, or even that excessive and prolonged stress that brings a constant feeling of being burnt out.
We consciously know that there has to be a way to successfully manage our daily routine, but it can be frustrating when these patterns just keep showing up.
I have studied patterns of behaviour for a long time now and I have an understanding of why this happens. As a Craniosacral Therapist, I work with an array of clients from different backgrounds, ages and symptoms. What I see is that the body will always try to do it’s best to help and protect us, by comparing and using information from past experiences to choose how to react.
Our body’s system can go into alert/danger and protection mode when in reality this is not always necessary; it can tend to over react.
Lets look at an example: Giving a presentation in a board meeting in front of co-workers at a new job, can make the Central Nervous System (CNS) go into red alert, if it has no experience of how to deal with this kind of situation. The person can present anxiety, tension and a foggy state of mind with no clear train of thought.
A reaction such as this, will not only affect the presentation, it could also peak stress levels and ripple to disturb the whole of the week. It may even dwell within the body for a long time with a high chance to trigger every time the system feels at risk and in need to use this “resource” of high alert again. The person may then build the association that Presentation = Panic. It is like being stuck in a loop and sometimes if not addressed, these patterns can grow to become a state of constant anxiety.
Sound familiar?
Many of us live this way, as we are so used to this constant feeling of anxiety, that we forget how it used to feel to live with a sense of being calm and still.
Using Craniosacral Therapy, under the safe hold of the practitioner, clients have the opportunity to bring their awareness to the present moment. Once the client experiences this kind of connection, the body can start to relax and unwind, letting go of what is no longer needed. Muscles and connective tissue can re-orient, softening their tone and quality, becoming supple once more. The Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nerves can then glide freely through the bones and fascia. This generates balance and support which can help the body to achieve a much needed level of homeostasis, where patterns of thought, body tensions and stress hormone levels can be brought to a more peaceful, natural state.
This freedom of movement from within can help the CNS to finally let go of old patterns (physical, emotional and mental) that are hard wired within the brain allowing clients to re-connect with their bodies as a whole while gently re-aligning to a more relaxed and spacious quality of being.
Alfredo Hunter