New form of body exercises gaining popularity

Physical therapies and body exercises

Regularly, some body technique is promoted. Since the 1980s, techniques have thus passed where the utmost of the body was demanded, while other techniques focused on just a few parts of the body. In addition, yoga techniques have come and gone only to reappear in a different form.

Photo by Cliff Booth on Pexels.com

In recent years, many even went so far as to make exercise an essential part of their lives or even came to adhere to a body cult. Thus, in the early 21st century, a kind of new religion or body cult began to replace traditional religions.

People wished to feel good in their skin and were willing to go very far in this and even invest a lot of time, energy and money in it. But there were also many who actually wished to distance themselves from money and matter. For them, materialism was the enemy of our society and dependence on the matter was reprehensible and one had to train the mind to become master of the body again, through appropriate exercises on both spiritual and physical fleets. Several people were convinced that all facts (including facts about the human mind and will and the course of human history) are causally dependent upon physical processes, or even reducible to them.

Because of the augmented stress in our industrialised world or so-called developed countries, a lot of therapies were also doled out.

Physical therapy is a professional career which has many specialties including musculoskeletal, orthopedics, cardiopulmonary, neurology, endocrinology, sports medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, women’s health, wound care and electromyography. Neurological rehabilitation is, in particular, a rapidly emerging field. PTs practice in many settings, such as private-owned physical therapy clinics, outpatient clinics or offices, health and wellness clinics, rehabilitation hospitals facilities, skilled nursing facilities, extended care facilities, private homes, education, and research centers, schools, hospices, industrial and these workplaces or other occupational environments, fitness centers and sports training facilities

Fitness, a United States-based women’s magazine, focusing on health, exercise, and nutrition, launched in 1992.

As we entered this century, a lot of health mags found the publishing market while only fitness magazines left the magazine shelves. Though there appeared men’s and women’s magazines which also centred largely on well-being, body form, exercise, nutrition, health, and beauty. For a while, wellness was the fashion word. Lots of magazines presented several adverts for wellness farms and all sorts of wellness programs.

After all the years of hard, intense exercise with a lot of sweating, place was made for gentil exercises and feel good cures.

An aerobics class

All the brutal violence of the 80s with Aerobics, among others, now seems to have been pushed under the carpet for good. It has finally dawned on several people how bad such ‘good sweat and suffering’ programmes are bad for the body. It has taken several medics years to rid people of such techniques that do more harm than good.

However, a large part of the population has become aware that one has to take care of the heart and treat the body respectfully to know how to handle multiple things smoothly. One came to see that for doing cardio or cardio-respiratory exercise there is no need in such high intensity exercises but has to come to low-intensity enough that all carbohydrates are aerobically turned into energy via mitochondrial ATP production. Medium- to long-distance running or jogging, swimming, cycling, stair climbing and walking, have proven to be more effective and less damaging than the overpopular Jane Fonda Workout or Aerobics. The American actress, political activist, and former fashion model spawned imitators and sparked a boom of women’s exercise classes, opening the formerly male-dominated fitness industry to women, and establishing the celebrity-as-fitness-instructor model. The horrible “Feel the burn!”, became a common saying lots of people really started to believe, along with the proverb, “No pain, no gain.” The exercise motto that promises greater value rewards for the price of hard and even painful work, has been luckily now pushed in the corner. It is true that one has to put in the effort to achieve something and it is not all that simple. Effort is a must, but it should not be at the expense of a healthy body.

Something of a revelation to devotees of hard, intense exercise, Zone 2 is one of this year’s key fitness talking points. Influential US well-being podcasters such as the American neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and the Canadian-American physician Dr Peter Attia who focuses on the science of longevity, have been recommending Zone 2 to their many thousands of listeners.

In January 2021, Huberman started the “Huberman Lab Podcast”, focused on neuroscience and science-based tools.In those podcast s he gives attention to breathing/breathwork and the visual system influence the autonomic nervous system, stress, and other brain states, including sleep.

On his podcast Huberman said:

“Getting 180-200 minutes of Zone 2 cardio per week has enormous positive effects on longevity and general health.”

Stress, he says, is not just about the content of what we are reading or the images we are seeing. It is about how our eyes and breathing change in response to the world, as well as the cascades of events that follow. Both these bodily processes also offer us easy and accessible releases from stress. By doing body exercises the wrong way we build up negative stress.

If you need to run and catch your train, you want all the things that go along with stress to go pursue that train. But if the stress response is spontaneous or excessive, it can start to feel pathological.

In the previous decades those exuberant fitness programs won terrain because lots of women wanted to lose weight.

“Despite reaching epidemic proportions, obesity has been wandering in the wilderness of medical lexicon.”

says Attia.

It is striking and distressing to see how several fat people have been added in recent years. Notwithstanding so many fitness programmes and all kinds of diet items and drinks, obesity has increased enormously. (Today the definitions of overweight and obesity are based primarily on measures of height and weight—not morbidity.) Since obesity is often the on-ramp to cancer, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s, we sincerely need to do something against this worrying increase.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity varied across countries, across towns and cities within countries, and across populations of men and women. In China and Japan, for instance, the obesity rate for men and women was about 5 percent, but in some cities in China it had climbed to nearly 20 percent. In 2005 it was found that more than 70 percent of Mexican women were obese. WHO survey data released in 2010 revealed that more than half of the people living in countries in the Pacific Islands region were overweight, with some 80 percent of women in American Samoa found to be obese. {Encyc. Britannica}

The fattening population has everything to do with culture and lifestyle habits among which eating and exercise habits are the main ones.

People need to be aware that it is not about being physically engaged to the point of giving up. On the contrary, one should exercise in a balanced way and not overload the body. It comes down to finding the right balance.

Zone 2 training means exercising at a level of exertion where your body is working, but not very hard – at this level your body is able to use fat as fuel rather than carbohydrates. As you work harder and move up into Zone 3 and beyond you will switch to using carbohydrates, a quite different state in which your heart, lungs and muscles are under stress and will need time to recover. (You know this switch is happening when breathing becomes harder and you are gasping or panting.)

Thanks to its turbocharging effect on our cells’ mitochondria Zone 2 cardio exercises have a very positive effect on the metabolism, improving blood sugar levels and reducing insulin resistance.

The cardio is linked to lower rates of a whole raft of diseases including type 2 diabetes, dementia, stroke and heart disease.

Dr Richard Blagrove, senior lecturer in physiology at Loughborough University, says:

“In terms of both health and performance, Zone 2 training can be really advantageous. I don’t feel bad about getting on my stationary bike and reading a book for an hour.”

Photo by Rui Dias on Pexels.com

Yes, even in a simple and not too strenuous way, one can train their body and work on it. Of course, it is even better to get out now and then, say twice a week, to fully focus your mind on movement in, say, a beautiful green environment. Though such ‘biking’ can lay down an “aerobic base” before one goes training further and build to more intense modes of exercise for competition later in the year.

For the rest of us, Zone 2 can be transformative.

Blagrove points out.

Former professional cyclist and fitness coach at ATP Performance Andy Turner lost 24kg through this kind of movement.

“Zone 2 makes you better at utilising fats as a fuel source and it can help level out your blood sugar. Longer-duration aerobics work can sometimes be forgotten, now it’s all about time-efficient, 30-minute, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).”

HIIT cannot be done every day without strain and risk. It can take 48 hours or more for your body to recover from a session and unsurprisingly this does not speed up as you grow older, whereas Zone 2 provides its many benefits in a sustainable way.

Zone 2 works best in a mix with some high-intensity training – three Zone 2 sessions a week with two HIIT blasts is a good mix.

Zone 2 is the place where your body is working, but not very hard. Technically this is 60-70 per cent of your maximum heart rate, but I would recommend an easier way, namely to check the Talk Test. If one trains properly and performs breathing correctly, one should be able to simply converse without getting out of breath. If you were to call someone during a Zone 2 workout, you should be able to use complex sentences, not just sentiments such as “Help!” or “Taxi!”.

I hope now some more people will put aside that wrong thought of having to suffer to have some successful training. One should not do penance for having sinned by going to a dinner or party. Physical exercise should never continue as a punishment. It should be an enjoyable activity so that it is also a liberating activity.

Always take of your body, because it is the only one you got.

Photo by Chevanon Photography on Pexels.com

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Preceding

Happy First Day of Spring: Spring Cleaning!

What would you do if…? Continued trial

”For The Moment Of Happiness”

Anxiety Management During Pandemic Days~

7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System in Lockdown

Be it in May or September: Run the race

Do you have painful creaky knees

Reasons to be cheerful

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Additional reading

1. Strength of older people can be boosted by resistance training
2. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
3. The focus of multiculturalism in Europe on Muslims and Jews
4. Why are we surprised when Buddhists are violent?
5. Spreading good cheer contagious

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“Celebrate” – channelled spiritual message from The Circle of The Light of The Love Energy – Channelled by Kay Meade.

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21. Aerobics and ale
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Not having the space for large trees in your garden

In case you are able to have a garden, it is not always to have enough space for planting trees.

A small garden does not mean you cannot experiment. Not everyone has the space for large trees, but there are some smaller specimens that not only provide structure and interest to a garden, but are prized for their scented flowers.

You might be surprised what can still be planted in a small garden to have nice fragrances and fine colours throughout the year.

Although it is not advisable to plant trees too close to the house, Tom Brown would suggest that you consider planting these trees near the house so that you can enjoy and appreciate the perfume when they’re in full bloom.

Azara microphylla

Please come to know more about the Crataegus monogyna (or the common hawthorn), the Azara microphylla, the Acacia dealbata, or sweet mimosa, the Magnolia salicifolia, and the Hamamelis mollis (or the Chinese witch hazel) you could plant in your garden to bring some variation colour and smell.

Get to read more about scented flowers: A small garden doesn’t mean you can’t experiment – try planting one of these

Some wanting a #childfreemillennial in an ‘overpopulated’ world

In the late 1970s and early ’80s by the central government of China there was an official program initiated to restrict the amount of children, reduce the growth rate of China’s enormous population, making that today there are not enough youngsters to pay for the older generation. There were even forced abortions and sterilizations (the latter primarily of women).

The one-child policy produced consequences beyond the goal of reducing population growth. Most notably, the country’s overall sex ratio became skewed toward males—roughly between 3 and 4 percent more males than females.

It seems now several youngsters also have preference not to have children. They seem to forget that when they would be over 60 there shall be no children able for them to take care. The consequence of not wanting children is not providing a generation who shall be at work whilst the elders would be retired, so that there would not be money to provide for those retired people. Something which has become a huge problem in China.

We wonder if those who now say it will be great to have a child-free life still would say that when they passed the age to have children. shall they still say

“You’ve slept in, woken up to a tidy home, it’s quiet, and you’ve got the rest of the day to potter around, no interruptions. A child-free life is a good life.”

when they find themselves in that quiet home where they are just with themselves and nobody to continue their family generation.

The above message floats over a video that captures a scene of serene domesticity. Posted on TikTok a few days ago, it has already racked up more than 100,000 views.

The video’s creator, “Danni ‘childfree’ Duncan”, who seems mainly to be concerned about his own freedom, is among those who have been able to start a movement under their generation which clearly has decided not to have children. That movement even has its own hashtags (#childfreebychoice and #nothavingkids).

One could easily think that all this is a whim of short duration. But we rather have the impression that these young people do not really realise what their childless life might be in a few years.

However, we obviously cannot ignore or overlook this movement, because it involves not just a few but thousands of women all over the western world.

This craze is just one small part of a wider, and highly significant, demographic issue: across much of the world, birth rates are plummeting.

On Nov 15 this year, the global population is expected to reach eight billion. The United Nations predicts it could grow to about 8.5 billion by 2030 before peaking at 10.4 billion in the 2080s. After that – and some predict it will happen 20 years earlier – the world’s population will start to fall.

Some on the other hand argue that we here in the West should curb births because in the poorer countries, far too many children are coming into this world and thus will overpopulate it. In certain countries they thought lots of children would die because of Covid or because of global warming disasters. In the industrialised countries there was a growth of babies born.

“About nine months after the pandemic, we see what we call a ‘baby bump,’”

said Martha Bailey, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the authors of a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

After more than a year, lots of people having been in lockdown, in those countries with economic unemployment we could notice more children being born than normally in the same period over a year. In several countries, lots of 80+ and 90+ people died from the Coronavirus, but still, we can see that the number of 70-79 year-olds increased a remarkable percentage.

We should be aware that usually in countries where conditions for survival are more difficult that more children will be born there, but also more deaths will occur. In the West, similarly, with improved living conditions and a reduction in child deaths, we have had a reduction in births.

The few decades of projected global population growth that remain will be driven by a small number of undeveloped countries, many in the Sahel region of Africa. In countries like Niger, which has the world’s highest fertility rate, economic conditions remain so harsh that women continue to have an average of six or more children in order to survive.

In contrast, for most of the rest of the world – including Britain – it’s a baby bust. And it’s happening now. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), women born in 1975 had on average just 1.92 children. This compared with the average 2.08 children produced by their mothers’ generation (taken as women born in 1949) and is far below the 2.1 children needed for the existing population to replace itself. For a country it is accepted that, to maintain stability in a country, an overall total fertility rate of 2.1 is needed, assuming no immigration or emigration occurs. A total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1 is known as the replacement rate. Generally speaking, when the TFR is greater than 2.1, the population in a given area will increase, and when it is less than 2.1, the population in a given area will eventually decrease, though it may take some time because factors such as age structure, emigration, or immigration must be considered.

Last year, the French were urged to have more children after the number of births in the country slumped to its lowest level since the Second World War, with 1.83 children born per woman, compared with 2.02 more than a decade earlier. The birth rate in Spain also dropped to a historic low last year, hitting just 1.19 children born to every woman – a 29 per cent fall compared with a decade earlier.

And in parts of Asia the situation is even worse. South Korea’s fertility rate sank to its lowest ever in 2020, a meagre 0.84 children per woman, giving the country the lowest birth rate in the world.

If, on average, women give birth to 2.1 children and these children survive to the age of 15, any given woman will have replaced herself and her partner upon death.

If young people have now decided not to have children, it means that in a few years’ time, we will indeed have a reduced number of people in several countries but there will also be a very ageing population for which not enough young people will be able to care, a problem China is now facing.

Europe and the U.S.A are already facing a similar problem too because although fertility rates remain well above the replacement rate in many parts of the world, the global TFR has declined significantly since 1970. The decline may be so drastic that populations are expected to halve by 2100 in more than 20 countries, including Spain, Portugal and Japan.

While some may think that humans will have to move to other planets due to overpopulation, some also realise that there will be an emerging population reduction. Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla chief executive, has called it

“one of the biggest risks to civilisation”.

But why, when living standards and freedoms have never been higher, are women across the globe having so few children or rejecting the concept of motherhood altogether? And what if anything can policymakers do to reverse the trend?

What we should be concerned about is why young people, if not out of selfishness, do not want to bear children. Is it because those twens consider children an economic drain caused by housing, education cost and other costs.

Economic stresses and spiralling house prices mean more couples will feel they can’t afford children,

explains Lyman Stone, chief information officer at Demographic Intelligence.

To promote “no children” may also just be an excuse to avoid such an obligation to share each other with a third party and if they find they can no longer have children, hide it behind their so-called “no children policy”. It looks like many youngsters do not want to invest time or money in any other beings in their relationship. Most of them want leisure time, and time to focus on their own well-being and development.

The reverse of the leisurist coin is the “workist” mindset, in which they value their job very highly as a source of meaning and purpose in their life. Getting higher in work has become a very important factor, and that goal of reaching a high position is considered much more important than having children.

Like leisurism, it is not hugely compatible with parenthood. More than one study has suggested a correlation between workist attitudes – which Stone says are prevalent among a growing share of adults – and lower fertility.

A survey last year by the Pew Research Center in the US found a rising share of childless American adults said they were unlikely to ever start a family. Some 44 per cent of non-parents aged 18 to 49 fell into this category, up from 37 per cent in 2018. While some cited financial reasons, climate change or their lack of a partner as a reason, the majority (56 per cent) said they probably wouldn’t have children because they just didn’t want to.

It’s a group that’s becoming more vocal. In 2015 and 2017, the NotMom Summit – billed as one of the world’s first major conferences for women without children – was held in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2021, Erin Spurling, a British woman in her mid-30s, created the Childfree Lounge, an online community for women without children.

Many of those no-children lovers say they love their freedom, spontaneity and peace and quiet. They often also value time alone or just with a partner or even want to change partners regularly.

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Find also to read

Child-free by choice: The birth rate crisis gripping the West

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Additional reading

1. How the pandemic created an unexpected “baby bump”
2. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #4 The Family pact
3. Ecological economics in the stomach #3 Food and Populace
4. How to look back at Cop26
5. What effect does population have on climate change?
6. Overpopulation not the cause of overusing our earth

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Related

1. Boomers miss the boat: Qld population shift leaves two age groups stranded
2. A Small Circle in Asia Contains More Than Half the World’s Population | HowStuffWorks
3. Book review: ‘Letter to the American Church’
4. Sexual Selection In Men
5. Special Release on 2020 CPH, Municipality of Cabusao7
6. Top 10 Most Populated Countries in Europe #shorts #facts – YouTube 채널: Swapna Ideas
7. Is Large Population a Problem?

The best way to shape up? Reconsider everything you think you know about your diet

From the by the Telegraph

Professor Tim Spector has advised that we all delay our first meal of the day if we want to stay healthy and lose weight Credit: Jason Ford

By Katherine Lovage, NEWSLETTER EDITOR

Good afternoon, Are you enjoying summer so far? It’s been a very busy time for me, with weddings, birthdays and a few live events. However, there has been an unfortunate downside to my stuffed schedule: my diet has well and truly slipped. For example, I’ve been devouring every fried food and carbohydrate in sight. In fact, I rustled up some focaccia two days ago and have single-handedly powered my way through the entire loaf. In my defence, it was delicious; mastering bread was one of the few silver linings from my 2020 lockdown. Unfortunately, my slap-dash approach to eating has left me bloated and weighed down, an uncomfortable feeling which is magnified by the hot weather. So, I welcomed this handy article about 11 of the most common diet myths and what to do instead to point me in the right direction. In this feature, epidemiologist and microbiome expert Professor Tim Spector says that our obsession with calorie counting can be incredibly unhelpful. Drastically restricting the amount one eats can lead to yo-yo dieting. In better news, cheese and coffee may not be as bad for us as we have been led to believe. Spector also usefully lists eight of the best foods for the gut, from artichoke to kimchi. We might also need to reconsider our relationship with ‘the most important meal of the day’. It transpires that everything we know about breakfast is wrong – but adjusting what and how we eat in the morning can have a positive effect on our health, from cognitive function to stress levels. If you’re ready to reconfigure your diet then good luck! I’ll be making my first change this week: all homemade focaccia must be shared with at least one other person. How do you keep track of your diet? Let me know by emailing me at katherine.lovage@telegraph.co.uk. PS I almost achieved full marks, scoring 9 out of 10 in this week’s news quiz. Can you chalk up that elusive 10?

To help you out today

	The everyday foods sneaking salt into your diet – and 11 easy ways to cut down. Try these simple swaps to lower your intake.
	Diana Henry’s best French-inspired tart recipes. From a nectarine and lavender tarte tatin to a cherry and chocolate frangipane, these feel-good bakes are simple yet showstopping.
	The secret supplement that can fix brain fog. Unable to concentrate or feeling exhausted? Your body may be running low on a key vitamin…
	The surprising new approach that could ease arthritis. Discover the unexpected treatment that could improve your symptoms – medication-free.

Iedere tuin biedt op zijn eigen manier mogelijkheden

De tuin van Tessa en haar man Jaap is een bijzondere tuin. Ze wonen samen met hun twee dochters Michelle en Senna in een voormalig graanpakhuis in Lekkerkerk. Een oud, hoog huis met een prachtige gevel en loopbrug. Onder de loopbrug vind je een unieke tuin; een klein terras met veel hoogteverschillen. Benieuwd hoe ze dit hebben aangepakt? Bekijk hier de video en het gehele artikel.

Favorieten van Tessa Benieuwd welke eyecatchers Tessa in haar tuin heeft staan? Je vindt haar favoriete meubelen hier.

Modewereld en Oekraïne

Noor Putteneers

Wereldwijd zetten steeds meer modemerken samenwerking met Rusland stop

View original post 108 more words

Mode-industrie en Oekraïne

Noor Putteneers

Mode-industrie toont solidariteit met Oekraïne tijdens ‘fashion month’

“We see you, we feel you, we love you”

Tijdens de modeweken in onder andere New York, Milaan, Londen en Parijs uitten meerdere modemerken, maar ook individuele figuren, hun steun aan Oekraïne. Dat melden verschillende modebladen, kranten en de modehuizen zelf. Zo bracht de creatief directeur van het Spaanse modehuis Balenciaga een gedicht voor de Oekraïense bevolking voor de show van start ging. Ook het Franse modemerk Dior en de Italiaanse modemerken Giorgio Armani en Valentino bleven niet stil over de situatie.

Ook de mode-industrie steunt Oekraïne

View original post 493 more words

Be it in May or September: Run the race

The last two academic years have been very weird with many restrictions. September is here again and soon it will be October, the month when everybody is back at work or back in school. Once more we faee a new academic and church year. Once more we are reminded we have work to do on this earth. We have our obligations and we have to strive to get some results in what we are supposed to do.

In Belgium, last year, sports were more a thing for one person on his own, because no group events were allowed. Everyone had to stay in isolation and contact sports were not allowed. The text underneath normally was to be published in May, when we had the underneath ‘prayer theme’ for the month, but we got somewhat behind with a lot of work, because other matters, like taking care of people, providing food to isolated people and help for those in need, certainly after the floods, required our attention.

In the Covid period it might not have been easy for many. Now it could well be that this year may be a year of transition, for becoming back to normal.

Jane Edwards has a look at what happened mostly in May. In her country that is the time the sun starts showing herself more and more attention is given to outside sports. She then thinks of the race which we have to finish.

Be it May or September, each day we are confronted with a lot of matters. Every day of the year, we have to get on and continue our way.

°°°

Run the race

When I was at school, the month of May meant only one thing…..
Practicing for Sports day.
Today, children are encouraged to just take part, and they are all winners. Helping others along the way to finish together.

When I was at school, it was all about the winning!
Who could run fastest.
Who could throw furthest.
Who could jump highest.

Winners were winners, and losers were just that – losers.
Winners received prizes, losers were scorned.

There were cheers, and plenty of boos.

I hated Sports day. Whilst I enjoyed hockey and netball – team games, I hated the one against one competition of Athletics – mainly because I was rubbish, and not really built to run!

We are told in the Bible in Hebrews 12 that we need to ‘run the race’ , but we are also told that ‘bodily exercise profits little’ in 1 Timothy 4v8 – which is correct?
Of course we need to exercise.
For our hearts and minds exercise is good, but too much can become an obsession – and take us away from other activities that matter.
So, what race do we need to run?

Of course, this is the race to the Kingdom. This race is much better than the ones I failed miserably at school. This race, (perhaps more apt to call it an Obstacle Course) makes everyone a winner!
It’s about getting to the finish line – some may reach that before others, but everyone has a chance to finish and win… and have help from others along the way.
And the prize – eternal life!
No boos, but cheers from the Heavenly Hosts.
As we watch our children on Sports Day, or think about exercise for ourselves, let us remember the most important race of our lives.

 

 

 

Dear Lord,
Please be with us as we run the race to your Kingdom.
Some of us may be slower through lack of faith, anxiety, and fatigue.
Give us the encouragement and strength needed to make it to the finish.
Please help us to help others to the end,
giving them encouragement as you have to us.
Amen

 

Jane Edwards

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Preceding

Race and Grace

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong

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Additional reading

1. Life is like a ten-speed bike.
2. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus
3. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
4. Followers with deepening
5. Troubles testing your faith and giving you patience and good prospects
6. Matthew 20 Are you willing to work for Jesus?
7. Today’s Thought “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (May 27)
8. Every athlete exercises self control
9. Running the battle
10. A race not to swift, nor a battle to the strong
11. Run for the Everlasting Cure
12. Atonement and the race been bought
13. Being of good courage running the race

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Related

1. “Fit In!”
2. Just Keep Going by Bridget A. Thomas
3. A Crown Beyond the Sun
4. Running The Race
5. Running The Race by Tara Randel
6. Running This Race Called Life
7. His Closed Circuit!
8. Life’s race
9. How do you stay strong in the midst of change
10. ending well
11. Leaning On The Father
12. Running the Race of Holiness: DON’T give up
13. Catching up to the Win
14. Old and Heavy
15. The Race
16. It’s Friday…Run With An Eye For Nothing Less
17. Preparing to Fly!
18. First of All!
19. How To Run A Steady Race Right Into Glory
20. One Thing I Know
21. With “Blinders” of Grace!
22. The Surrendered Disciple!
23. The Funneling Effect!
24. With Reverence, Returning…
25. Reawaken the Redeemed!
26. Saved from Self’s Strainings!
27. The Second Hand’s Moment!
28. His “Stone Soup” Creations!
29. Sunday Morning 7/25: Unit 34, Session 4: Running the Race
30. Clear ye the Way!
31. Shaking the Comatose!
32. Eyes on the Goal
33. A Cloud of Witnesses
34. The Fool’s Boundary!
35. Discarding Camouflage!
36. The Piper’s Promised Peace!
37. Keep the Focus
38. Choice Intersections!
39. Faithful to the End
40. Wholeness…in Him!
41. Running the Race
42. Finishing well

Why Oldies Are Goldies

Music is something that always vibrates and keeps coming back in all sorts of forms. Regularly artists find again inspiration in older songs , give it some contemporary touch and soon those who hear the renewed cover go looking for the original music which can receive a new life again.

Anita's Perspectives on Life.

Are you a fan of old music…then this blog is for you.

The connection people have with old music is far from grey and old. Even teenagers and young adults do like old music. People have always had a close connection with music because its ability to evoke our emotions and feelings.

The stronger your feelings are while listening to a song, the stronger a connection you make with the music. Music represents who you were when you first made a connection with it.

This holds especially true when you are adolescents and very young. From the age of 13 to 26, people are going through the most physical and psychological changes. This is a transition time for them and they face their first heartbreaks and other emotional turning points, which turns them towards making a strong connection with music.

Music plays an important role in our lives. Sometimes we…

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Let South America come to you #2 For those with a good taste

When you can not go to South America, why do you not bring South America into your home?

For those with a good taste

From waterfalls to wines

South America is the continent that is home to a vast array of rich cultures, history, traditions, food, and once-in-a-lifetime places to visit.

Angel Falls, Venezuela | © David Kjelkerud / Flickr

When you would love to go exploring South America it would not be bad to prepare yourself and to get already some taste of it before you take the long voyage. A place you have to visit is the waterfall in the Guiana Highlands in Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela, on the Churún River. Before you would like to fly over Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, coming in at over 3000 feet it would not be bad to feel a bit like an angel tasting all sorts of well-tasting goods from that continent, which will bring you to the seventh heaven.

You also do not have to go straight away, deep in the Amazonian rainforest to find a melting pot of indigenous traditions and a perfect place to see centuries of Peruvian history and culture coming together.

Before you would go to the Belén Market, the largest traditional market in the Peruvian Amazon, and a place where visitors can taste and see the food, textiles, and wares of the region, on the web there is a place where you already can have a peep-show of some handicrafts from the South American continent

Mendoza, Argentina

Wines

As state and local governments order people to stay home to limit the spread of the virus, toilet paper and canned goods are not the only items people are snapping up. Wine sales at wine shops are soaring and large, highly-distributed wine brands are struggling to keep wines on the shelf.

Meanwhile, small wineries that depend on restaurants and on-site sales are trying to figure out how to survive. The question on the mind of everyone in the wine business is what will things look like on the other side when they get the virus under control.

Having poached the Malbec grape from Europe and turned it into a roaring superstar, Argentina is rightly celebrated for its wine producers.

The Mendoza region, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region, dominates Argentina’s wine scene. It enjoys prestige for the wine produced on its vineyards. It also can be refreshing to see genuine contenders from elsewhere, such as the Bodegas Callia from the San Juan province.

In the Mendoza region, you may find one of the original Bordeaux grape varieties from the Bordeaux region of France, namely Malbec. Because grown on a higher altitude then in France the wines tend to have a higher level of acid, which makes them ideal to go with the Argentinian meat.

The Cabernet Sauvignon which was introduced in Argentina in the 19th century by the French agricultural engineer Michel Amié Pouget. He further introduced Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Malbec vines to Argentina and founded the first vine nursery and agricultural school in his new country.

Located in the Tulum Valley, Bodegas Callia aims to produce the best Shiraz in Argentina.

Since we cannot go to South America, we will have to bring the heat and sun here. And what better way to do so than with a few good bottles of wine? Certainly when those wines earn it to keep on the palate.

The dry, hot climate of Argentina is really great for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes ripen very easily, so these Cabs are almost always filled with tons of blackberries, cherry, pepper and vanilla with a little bit of mint. If you like rich, full-bodied wines with dark fruit flavours, then you might want to try a Cabernet Sauvignon from Navarro Correas Private Collection which since a few moths you now easily can get over here in Europe by an excellent deliverer.

When you are looking for a nice rich tempting wine with a big, nutty, creamy nose or bitter cherry awash with orange peel and gravely splendour, you might find it at Pequeña SudAmerica.

As the second largest country in South America and the eighth largest in the world by land mass, Argentina could even offer much more in case the country would have been more organised and receiving more support from those in charge.

Beers

Stylistically Argentina is perhaps the most European of Latin American countries, especially when it comes to cuisine. You can find the traditional wineries (the world’s fifth biggest wine producer) and you also may find the principal beer types which were based on central European styles of lager and wheat beer. It is impossible to taste every beer produced in South America, Pequeña Sudamerica offers a very good selection of 6 or 7 selected beers in a trial pack.

The historical influences in South America which have created a cuisine that offers a variety of delicacies has also brought some very, very tempting sweets around the corner. For diabetics is it not always so easy, because a lot of sweets and drinks are very sweet.
But nimble fingers and kitchen princesses can already prepare a lot for those who want a taste of that delicious South America.

Craftworks

It might not always be easy to bring Argentinian wines over to Europe, but for traditional artisans, it is even more difficult to get their goods over to Europe. Those craftsmen in particular have serious difficulties to virtuously market their products.

Carla Scalia

With corona-restrictions the Argentinian Carla Scalia, now living in Belgium, could only go twice to her home country to bring some beautiful handicrafts from her family and friends with her. Therefore those craft works are very limited. And because they are not made in a factory they are all individual pieces of art, which makes them special. This makes that when you might see some sculptures or drawing on the website, next time you come onto the website they already might be gone.

Mate Alados by Noelia Álvarez

All the South American accessories Pequeã SudAmerica is offering are hand made by local artists, and by selecting it properly at the artist’s workshop this is how they ensure to always offer you the best quality. As such they present mate cups of the best quality in an exclusive and unique design, hand painted and varnished for complete protection.

You also shall be able to find a selection of original accessories for your kitchen and table.

From the southern United States to northern South America the Lignum vitae, with its evergreen leaves can be found. As a source of a very hard and heavy wood that is brownish green in colour, the wood being relatively waterproof because of its high fat content, makes it ideal for making kitchen utilities. It is used to make pulleys, shafts, axles, and bowling balls, and Pequeña SudAmerica is offering the tropical wood in magnificent small objects, like food and toothpicks.

Argentinian artist Noelia Álvarez, who has performed incredible exhibitions in San Rafael, Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina and Catalonia, Spain, is not only responsible for a great variety of mate cups with a unique design. Although her work focuses on paintings with incredible designs and details, Noelia has taken her passion to the limit and from painting large murals and paintings in acrylic on canvas, she designed very beautiful and exclusive wooden mate cups.

For sure, the founders of the webshop Pequeã Sudamerica took great risks to start their business to bring Sud American articles to the European continent, whilst there was and still is a Coronacrisis, limiting them going back and forth to Argentina to contact local traders, to support them and offer them a fair price for their goods. At the moment Carla Scalia her parent’s wines are not yet available, but perhaps this would be made possible in the future (when some good shipping arrangements could be organised).

Pequeña Sudamérica, or “Little South America”, has the goal to make South Americans in Europe taste home again, and get Europeans to experience their great specialities.
In addition to the best known mate tea brands, you shall be able to find a wide variety of drinks, delicacies and accessories.

We would say:

Enjoy some chocolate and dulce de leche products at your afternoon tea.

And enjoy South America at your home in our wet regions, so that the sun (at least) may shine in your house.

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Please find the shop:  https://pequena-sudamerica.eu/en/

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Preceding

Let South America come to you #1 Reasons to stay away from South America

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Related

1. Mining Camp Memories — Foreword, Prologue, Chapter #1, and first part of Chapter #2
2. Wonderful Place!
3. Aerial view of Churun Meru in Canaima National Park, Venezuela
4. Angel Falls, Venezuela by Gabriel Riva
5. Angel Falls, Venezuela by Austin Shaffer
6. Angel Falls, Venezuela – by Aegis Wanderlust
7. 10 Best Places to Visit in Argentina – Travel Video
8. Haurez
9. Lomas de Lachay
10. Buenos Aires Electronic Music Travel Guide by Forma
11. For The Love of Wine: A brief history of South American Wine.
12. Here’s what was #inmyglass
13. Argentinian Malbec
14. Following Malbec’s fingerprints to identify terroir
15. “I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday”
16. Dalwhinnie Shiraz 2006 Wine Review
17. Que Syrah Syrah…
18. Baked Chorizo Gnocchi With Fat bastard Shiraz
19. Salad Shirazi – Cucumber and tomato salad with dried mint dressing

Earth’s pandemic and T-shirts for young people

We at the Belgian Christadelphian office have passed a certain age, so that it would not be appropriate to walk on the street with a T-shirt. As elders, we tell the visitors in our churches about the task we as human beings have when living on this planet. We talk about our responsibility and the task God has given us. But we do know the majority of inhabitants of this planet are not believing in God and are mostly concerned about gaining as much money as possible, whatever the cost may be.

The last few months, lots of people were very worried about the Covid-pandemic, but for years there has been another big virus circling around us, which most people seem to ignore. Though for more than a decade, several of the Boom generation with the millennials and the Generation Z have been writing essays, articles and making posters for awareness about global warming and cried out into the world to save our planet. Because that planet is getting very ill. People have used and wasted earthly resources, if nothing. In our so-called ‘civilised’ countries most citizens were and are not concerned about the pollution they cause.

For us the time of publicly protesting and going on the streets, protesting for this and that, may be gone or not so appropriate.
But for young people, we would like to introduce some very interesting clothing and tote bags with a different angle. We are namely very concerned about the world where we and our children and grandchildren but also next generations have to live in. Therefore, we do find it five past twelve to call on all the responsible people to use their senses and to do something against the horrible state we have brought our planet. We cannot sit still and do if global warming does not exist.

Everybody can use his own voice to bring awareness to others. A T-shirt is a wearable message board that can pull the attention to our planet and to what we have to do about it. The world needs to change as we are currently hurtling towards climatic changes that will alter the way the planet is configured. This will certainly be to the detriment of humanity if not cause its extinction. Crazy you may say but 99.99% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct so just because we can walk and talk and use a smart phone does not mean that we will not go the same way.

Scientists and philosophers don’t in general want to be celebrities but it is important that we listen to what they have to say because they offer the only way out of this current crisis. So enjoy our range and change the world at least in one tiny way, an environmentally friendly piece of clothing. {Scientist and Philosopher}

It is not bad to have a look at their products to make others aware of this dramatic situation.

> A collection to highlight the need for us all to stop and think. > Think

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Find also to read

1. Weather, climate-change and man-made global-warmingGlobal WARming: An Overlooked Pandemic
2. Hot weather
3. Global Warming
4. Global Warming Was Explained in 1856. By a Woman
5. Environment
6. Climate explained: how the IPCC reaches scientific consensus on climate change
7. Rapid Climate Change Makes It Hard for Butterflies and Moths to Adjust
8. From CNN: Unprecedented heat, hundreds dead and a town destroyed. Climate change is frying the Northern Hemisphere
9. Time to write again, getting the word out, climate change is a reality
10. Too Dumb to SurviveThe Arctic’s last ice area
11. Last Ice…
12. Update on Climate Referendum in France
13. Julia Conley: ‘This Is Our Future’ Without Climate Action, Advocates Warn After Pipeline Causes Fire in Gulf of Mexico
14. IPBES/IPCC Report: Tackling the biodiversity and climate crises together
15. The Climate Crisis Is Accelerating – Now What?
16. An Actual Space Laser Shows How Devastating Sea Level Rise May Be
17. Climate Change & Joshua Tree National Park
18. Highest Ever Temperature Recorded In Finnish North
19. Why Polar Bears are on The Verge of Extinction
20. The monarch butterfly cab use our help to stay alive by Kalpana Sutaria, Austin American-Statesman
21. Seabird Salvation
22. Impeach Bolsonaro and Topic on Climate
23. global participation…

Having a problem with wonkiness…

In the European Union there are so many rules and regulations that certain things become a little bit ridiculous or do more damage than good.

When looking at the food stands, is there something you notice?

We have been trained to look for “beauty” and became accustomed that vegetables have to look a certain way to be good.

Beauty standards for food? Sounds crazy right? The function of food is to nourish and fuel our bodies, and yet every day, without our input or knowledge, perfectly edible food is being discarded around the world because it does not fulfil an arbitrary standard.

And to be clear, this is not a standard of whether it is edible, it could be that it’s been classified too small, too big, too pitted, blemished… wonky. Sounds familiar right? A standard on aesthetics that is being imposed by invisible faces. We treat our food like we treat out bodies – as items that need to be perfect, blemish free, symmetrical and picture-perfect. This is utter lunacy – and hugely damaging.

Whilst millions struggle to ‘achieve’ a certain beauty standard promoted through fashion and social media, farmers and producers around the world are struggling in a similar way – trying to produce food, yet control nature to fit the box of what others have deemed acceptable.
But what happens when nature does not play ball?
Whilst food is the most essential element we need to survive and hugely energy (and water) intensive to produce… often it goes to waste. Ploughed back into field, left to rot, fed to animals. All because it doesn’t tick a box somewhere.

Read further: Beauty standards for food? We have a problem with wonkiness…

Non-kosher fish eaten in Jerusalem during early days of Judaism

Richard Jonathan shared a link on the Facebook Christadelphia Christadelphians page:

https://www.newscientist.com/…/2278415-non-kosher-fish…/

An interesting archaeological story doing the rounds today showing that plenty of scaleless fish were being eaten in Israel in Old Testament times, despite them being forbidden in the Law of Moses. This is in contrast to the near absence of pig remains – indicating that this aspect of the Law was being observed.

Some will see this as evidence that the Torah was written quite late. However, all it tells us is that this aspect of the Torah wasn’t being kept, which is entirely consistent with the Old Testament account of even pretty major parts of the Law being routinely ignored (e.g idolatry / Passovers not being kept).

Either way, it’s a reminder that the strict focus on keeping the Law that we associate with the Pharisees is something much more characteristic of the Greek and Roman periods, and not Jews in earlier periods.

The full journal article is here: https://www.tandfonline.com/…/10…/03344355.2021.1904675

newscientist.com

Non-kosher fish eaten in Jerusalem during early days of Judaism

Do books with more reviews get better ratings?

How factors like number of ratings and number of reviews have an impact on book ratings.

Book-reading is an activity that a lot of people enjoy. It is one that places one’s mind in a different setting while providing one with an empathetic feeling.

Mubarak Ganiyu was stunned by his discovery that The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown got a rating of 3.8/5 from the book collection website Goodreads.

Stunned by this discovery, he decided to look into the highest rated books on Goodreads. As he got higher up the list, he noticed a trend that highly rated books generally got more reviews.

Therefore, it became a task for him to confirm this hypothesis of him which is: Do books with more reviews get better ratings?

Read more about it: Do books with more reviews get better ratings?

+find a 3-d image to perfectly show how the relationship occurred between the books’ average ratings, the text reviews count and the ratings count.

a Path to explore more

When I started with this website, I wanted to share common thoughts or give similar minds an extra open door to reach others, as well as to present a selection of websites, blogs and writings I thought (and think) worthwhile reading or looking at.

For years on all my websites I also presented a “Related” articles list, to give my readers other opportunities to find more writings on the subject. After the many complaints having linked to their article, and having to search for placed links I was asked to remove, from this year onward, I stop to invest time looking for related articles, investing time to read them for after approval, placing links after the posted articles. Now much more time shall come available to publish more articles which are in unison with my thoughts and not bringing readers away from my own sites. (From the statistics more readers from this site went looking at the mentioned site, than receiving readers from the linked site.) At the same time on my websites I shall not any more bringing people to websites which are against me or my beliefs.

After giving all my energy to the world of dance my body could not fit any more the physical world of exuberance and graceful unlimited mobility. Having reached a certain age where they consider a human being not able enough to give enough to the world, I was made redundant, considered to be part of the ‘third age’ group.
First having been very disappointed by the way I was treated, the first two years I did not want to do much with ballet or theatrical dance. Not having to work full time for our living, receiving retirement fund, I could spend more time to my church work. My religious activities started even taking so much time I had less time to write at my own personal blog. (Because pensions not enough to survive I still have a few days a month I work for my living.)

I feel blessed that I am allowed to work at three Bible translations, even when it might consume also a lot of time and lots of thinking-work, being it a seriously very faithful responsibility, not to add or change anything in the saying or purpose of the original words supplied by God. Therefore, those translations in Judaic Dutch (Yiddish Dutch or Flemish), with the eye of two (or three) different groups (namely a Jeshuaist, a Jewish and an Orthodox Jewish public) is and shall be a time-consuming job with lots of thought and consideration).

This does not take away that I would have lost my interest in humanity and how man treats other people, animals and plants. I even became more active, spending also time in meetings concerning our way of life, necessary political actions a.o..
I must admit at meetings and conferences I seem to belong to a minority who strive to get unity in Europe, with some liveable world for everyone. Convinced we have to do something against this capitalist greedy world which does not show respect to the gross of people, animals and plants, I keep going strong and letting my voice being heard.

From  the moment I got retired I did not stop to seek a connection of like minds, to share common positive beliefs, and to be able to learn from each other about how to live life to the fullest.

Jonathan Hilton seems also on such a track. He writes:

Even when things don’t go as we plan, we all know no matter how hard we plan, life will throw us curve balls designed to engender growth. Our lives are defined by the lessons we learn at this moment and the way we handle ourselves. {Mind Connections}

Raising his level of consciousness has become Jonathan Hilton’s passion in life.

and understanding that when I follow and focus on certain core principles in my life and live in alignment with them, things go well. {Mind Connections}

He writes on the opening of his blog Mind Connections, admitting:

When I fall off, and my focus isn’t so sharp, then things are not so pleasant. Conscious thought about where my attention goes allows all of my energies to flow in that direction. {Mind Connections}

With the knowledge that each viewpoint may bring a different set of emotions, a different thought process, and a different reality to the perceiver it only can be enriching to share thoughts and to get to know more people from all over the world and getting to know how they manage to make the best of their life.

We have little control over the perceptions of others, but we may not forget that when we utter our ideas, share our thoughts, we might bring others to other ideas too.

How often do we not wonder if what we are doing is or would be right? How often do we not wonder if we should openly write what we think or if we should write in ways and words others would love to hear? I always have been a bad one at that. By creating my ballets I did not mind criticising the way our society was moving. I never tried to be popular by my creative works. [Choreographing fashion shows was a totally different matter, there I tried to bring the customers to find a connection in a future world to form. (We always had to be seasons ahead, manipulating the fashion trends – and yes, there stimulating human desires of consumption.) There it was also part the business to know beforehand what others would love to wear and see. ] In such way I also kept busy to try to find out what others would like to see and read.

On the surface, it is a simple choice, but in reality, it is a constant battle, {Life is a Mirror}

Hilton notes.
According to him

There is only a short time allotted to each of us to write the story of your life and with that time, we are tasked with a lot of things to accomplish. You have really only one life to get things right and sing the song that you want to sing. {The Story of Your Life}

We can try to make our dreams so compelling, that we will that we can’t wait to work on them, because waiting to experience them, in reality, is too painful. Often it is that enthusiasm which gets us to be restless and gets us up in the middle of the night to scribble something down or even to write certain texts.

A difficulty might be to:

Tune your enthusiasm to the size of your goals and attack it like your story depends on it because it does. That is how you write the story of your life. {The Story of Your Life}

At this blog I want to give, as many people as possible, the opportunity to share their thoughts which they and I find interesting enough to think about. I keep chasing my dreams that we can find enough people all over the world willing to bring others to see how we have to be careful which way of life we want to choose. As a Christian I also would love to see more people sharing the faith in One God and in His Gift and Good News of the coming Kingdom.

Once more, I dare to invite people to join us to share positive thoughts, but also to bring warnings how to tackle ecological and other problems.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, for becoming a part of joining hands across this globe.

Ten simple rules to avoid negative effects of social media

Always keep your feet on the ground and do a reality check when encountering messages on the internet. Plus keep everything in perspective.

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To remember

Social media = the link that links us all in an ever expanding virtual community = much wider, bigger + beyond anyone’s control.

looking at selective best moments of friends, seemingly living better lives => feel low and depressed

Social media has some serious issues and it’s negative effects can’t be ignored. But we can’t avoid it’s use completely.

dependent on it for sharing information + reaching out to wider communities.

can’t avoid using it but definitely can avoid some of it’s negative effects.

ten simple rules to avoid negative effects of social media –

Rule #1
Don’t take anything personally

Rule #2
Laugh at yourself

Rule #3
Do not indulge in unnecessary comparisons

Rule #4
There is no such thing as the perfect life

Rule #5
Curb your enthusiasm to share personal information at all cost

Rule #6
Never ever share anything when you’re feeling emotionally charged up

Rule #7
Keep a limit on the time you spend on social media

Rule #8
Use every setting available to minimize distractions

Rule #9
Acknowledge your feelings, even of jealousy and envy

Rule #10
Last but not the least, love your real life more than the virtual

Educated Unemployed Indian

“Distracted from distraction by distraction.”
~ T. S. Eliot

Social media has become the link, the link that links us all in an ever expanding virtual community. A community much wider, bigger and beyond anyone’s control.

It will make you feel popular one moment and deserted the next. It can leave you feeling quite lost if you don’t bring along your only defense-a sense of humour.

“Yet the best determining factor of how comfortable we are with ourselves, is our ability to laugh at ourselves.”
~Wes Adamson

A lot of people are of the opinion that social media tends to make people feel low and depressed. That makes sense; looking at the selective best moments of friends, seemingly living better lives will do that to anyone.

Social media has some serious issues and it’s negative effects can’t be ignored. But we can’t avoid it’s use completely.

We’re…

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A great five-minute “film” from Bianco, a Danish shoe brand

Receiving followers of my personal blog, it gives me also more possibilities to find writers from all over the world who have something good to contribute or giving others possibilities to discover other things.

Today I found my way to a

“Husband, dad, brother, uncle, nephew, friend, teacher, ex-swimmer, blogger, vegan, juggler, learner, introvert”

and as such someone who many more people could fit this cultural stereotype. As a “60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it” he does not mind going into minds of others or showing what others might think and feel. Doing that he gives us the opportunity to have some nice feeling coming over us. Sometimes he even might write a post he had not planned. {The 18 Uses for Dr. Bronner’s Amazing Soap}

I am not so good in following the fashion world any more (though I must admit I also made my way of living of it by choreographing fashion shows in the past). We should not be afraid to know presents brands, soon our children or grandchildren may let us know about them or give it to us. {The 18 Uses for Dr. Bronner’s Amazing Soap}. Mr. Jim Borden may always be looking for something to write about,

it almost became a necessity to proactively go out into the world and do things or to simply observe more closely what is going on. {Writing Is a Symptom of Thinking}

The blogger may know that the essence of Wheeler’s Which is that the customer should always be given a choice between something and something, not a choice between something and nothing. {What in the World Is Wheeler’s Which}

Good to notice that last year, the company Bestseller made great strides towards sourcing 100 percent more sustainable cotton and made a significant commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions plus revealed plans to build its own solar power plant. More: Fashion FWD seems to be Bestseller’s ambitious strategy that will make sustainability central to its way of doing business. Bestseller wants to do its part to transform the fashion industry for a sustainable reality. It’s the right thing to do and it also makes good business sense.

There you can get shoes of Bianco, which was founded by René Piper Laursen in 1987 with a vision of developing an international brand based on a profitable franchise concept. Bianco tells its customers that it offers fashion-forward footwear with sublime international standards and at an affordable price to a wider audience of women and men. Bianco is represented in more than 100 retail stores (a mix between own stores and franchise) and wholesalers in Scandinavia. I must confess I do not know if they succeed to make great shoes, pumps, stilettos, trainers, hi-tops, boots, bootees, ballerinas and other cool accessories like bags, belts, clutches, scarves and jewellery, but for sure I was pleasantly surprised when by the article of Mr. Borden I could enjoy one of their “spectacular ad campaigns”.

Lovely to see they dare to touch social strings.

He presents a film of the Danish shoe brand, part of Bianco’s “Step Out of Your Head” campaign and gives their description of it from the campaign web site:

In this year’s campaign, we’re encouraging you to silence your worst critic, yourself. Most of us tend to let our thoughts run away with us, and let our insecurities take hold. But by giving our inner thoughts its time in the limelight, we might inspire a more positive way of thinking about ourselves.

He too had never heard of Bianco before watching this video, and he also would not have known that it was a footwear company based on watching it. {Falling in Love on a Lift} (Though when they look down at their feet one could perhaps notice the Product Placement – and by law in Belgium it should have the PP logo in the right corner when screened publicly.) (- On the video there is no PP-logo, so viewers might stay in the dark. -)

I loved the short film.

In any case it is by such findings and people writing about their explorations we too can find some other worlds and interesting things to see. Therefore, now my turn to introduce you to Mr. Borden his blog and the Bianco film. Please do enjoy his trying to figure out the world, and his place in it.

Borden’s Blog

Falling in Love on a Lift

Stereotypes

Today many focus on social media to find their (fake) mirror-image, all wanting to be better, smarter and richer than they are, plus able to outshine others.

That is what our world makes so crazy and going wrong, having lots of people with burn out and depression, not feeling happy in their skin.

 

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Further related

1. Stereotypes
2. Stereotypes for a reason | Happenology
3. Stereotypes Suck…
4. Breaking down The Alpha Stereotype
5. Gender Stereotypes and Children
6. Media smoke and mirrors
7. Personality
8. 16 Personalities test
9. Blank Mind
10. Superficial Personality
11. Misandry
12. Thoughts
13. How Do I Describe Me?
14. Kokology
15. 10 assumptions I have had to deal with
16. Why Community Awareness is Important

Alive

No one is meant to be perfect, that is why pencils have erasers.

In today’s world of stereotypes, everyone seeks to protrude but ends up as replications of one another.

In the quest of being ‘perfect’, we are losing our originality.

The society is entangled in this web of so-called perfection and is failing to acknowledge the significance of flaws in one’s personality.

View original post

Are you doing Thanksgiving

Today in several countries believers have a special honouring day for God, being thankful for everything He did and still does.

In the United States of America it is a national holiday at which they think of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, gathering with the family and friends over a meal.

In the Bible, Thanksgiving meant Thanksgiving. There were no turkeys, football, Squanto, or Pilgrims. {You Are Probably Doing Thanksgiving All Wrong}

We should think about the spiritual and physical bread God provides for mankind. He gave them manna and still provides that we have plenty of food from the fields and fruit-trees. Today we make time to thank God for all that we can find on our plate.

This day is the opposite of tomorrow, when in the materialist countries it shall be “Black Friday”, showing how greedy our society has become and how more interest there is in this world for things we can see and hold in our hands. The Unseen shall not find a place in many hearts which love more the money and material goods.

In Jesus’ day, people were thankful without all of the extra baggage we’ve attached to the idea of being thankful. Their idea of gratitude derived from an appreciation of being alive. We find it hard to appreciate being alive without first confronting the emotional depths of a cat meme or having a relative with a serious illness. Jesus’ followers were able to find gratitude for their daily bread despite their brother having leprosy or their sister’s calling to be a prostitute by the local well. Gratitude isn’t something picked up from comparing yourself to the misery of others; it is our response to God’s presence in the universe. {You Are Probably Doing Thanksgiving All Wrong}

Lots of people have forgotten why and for what they have to be grateful for. Believers should tell them why today we remind ourself of our blessings. For lots of people it is only this “One day a year we officially give thanks as a nation”. {You Are Probably Doing Thanksgiving All Wrong} In their country they have a holiday with puritanical religious overtones where no one goes to church. In other countries it shall be this coming Sunday that many, like us, shall take time to remember all the blessings coming over us thanks to the Most High.

In most parts of the commercial world it’s a secular (holi)day where societal convention dictates to overeat, watch football, and nap, people doing Thanksgiving once a year because the calendar says so.

In short, it’s a moral and ethical mess of our own design.

The reason Thanksgiving feels forced, blasé, and awkward is that it is forced, commercialized, manufactured, and has nothing to do with real honest to God gratitude or thankfulness. {You Are Probably Doing Thanksgiving All Wrong}

For those who call themselves Christian it should be a day to remember all that god has given to the world. The Unseen God always was with His people and gave the world His only begotten son so that Gentiles also could become partakers in a heavenly calling and of the Body of Christ made able to enter the Kingdom of God. Let us today show our thanks for what God has given to the world.

No matter where you live, no matter where life finds you, there is always something to be thankful for. {Happy Thanksgiving!}

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Preceding

Time to be strengthened, thankful and to be prepared

Many opportunities given by God

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Additional reading

1. Thanksgiving wisdom: Why gratitude is good for your health
2. By counting our blessings we not only feel good, but we multiply our good
3. Life in gratitude opens glory of God
4. Thanking God by thinking of people
5. Give thanks to the One Who gave much
6. Being thankful
7. Give Thanks To God
8. Praise Jehovah, ​You people

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Related

1. Happy thanksgiving In 1621, long before the birth of the United States of America, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a bountiful harvest feast.
2. Happy Thanksgiving 11/22/18
3. It’s Officially Dead Turkey Day
4. Thanksgiving Blessings from Ireland
5. Giving thanks
6. Sharing the bread
7. Give Thanks. Be Kind. Love.
8. gathering
9. what is enough?
10. Thankful
11. Happy Thanksgiving
12. Happy Thanksgiving!! Pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, the stuff your mother makes but you don’t know what it is!! Today is the day to feast like you never have and enjoy time with family and friends.

Even in the so-called freeworld countries racism exist

Source: WisdomToInspire.com

In Europe we may find lots of people who say they are a Christian, but in fact are just name Christians. They often do not know much about Christ and his teachings and often go against his teachings, what is worse.

Victor Uyanwanne, who lives in Lagos, Nigeria with his wife and two kids also knows that

There are people around the world who think that they are Christians simply because of the home or geographical location they were born into. {Being A Cultural Christian Is Not Enough}

Many people may think they are the owners of the place where they live and consider it to be for them alone. Some, like the majority of North Americans, forget that their ancestors took away the country from the original indigenous population.

Truths OfALostKid sees Mexican, black, white, Asian, Indian and wonders

Who are we

Mexican, black, white, asian, Indian.

…

The world says who you are and will not let go of that idea until you show what you are and how you are “different”

If I am of color I am now held to that standard will I be a typical failure or will I be “different” {Lost kid return home writing of 2018/01/23/}

and asks herself and her readers

Why is race important to anything? God made us brother and sisters love one another and do not assume who somebody is just for the flesh God gave them for he has made us all in his image and with the same love. {Lost kid return home writing of 2018/01/23/}

As an American she often wonders

does the racism here play out the same in different parts of the world? What does racism look like other places?

She also often wonders of the races within each country, undergo similar feelings

The world is so big there has to infinite potential of races and mixed races living in different countries. Are they accepted in there own country or are there still barriers and such around? How is the president in other countries ? Are they racist or are they for everyone? Please if you are from a different country explain to me how race all plays out in your country and all the different types of race and mixes there is! {Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?}

For her

The value of words and discipline are key! And the realization that this world is at your very finger tips and can be exactly what you’d like it to be. You don’t have to work violently to get results. {Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?}

Today many words are spoken by different political groups. also the once from the racist site get stronger and stronger and are not afraid to use any body who can fit in to push their agenda.

Edmark M. Law says

In Hong Kong, we have a diverse number of races here so racism is generally frowned upon. Ironically, the greatest targets for racism here are the ones from Mainland China. If someone say that you look like someone from China, it has several negative connotations, e.g. you’re rude, has a bad sense of fashion, ignorant or something like that.
But I can tell you that the average HK people are too busy to care about racism!

Can it be that perhaps too many Europeans are not busy enough with other things that they may look angry at the immigrants which they consider coming to take away their jobs (which they do not have, because many sit on unemployment benefit)? Also we can see several immigrants taking up jobs no European wants to do. As such they are not really taking away jobs from the local population.

Not only the younger immigrants, who look for a better way of life seem to be a problem today. Older people are looked as if they are standing in the way or not giving youngsters the possibility to work. And the retired people seem to take away money from those who are working. (so it looks like when we would believe the sayings of some agitators.)

A prolific writer of Science Fiction, Rock Music and alternative style semi-autobiographical books and fiction, who has written 49 books, also feels the same as many of the Belgian older generation feels. Like many of us here he saw  the 1960s counter-culture and got to understand our way of choices was not a fashion statement but a way of life.

It looked at the boring establishment, the old-boys network, the stereotypical attire, the joyless lack of creativity, the conventions, religion, politics, blatant selfish greed, exploitation, inherent racism and sexism and looked to create something better. I was part of it. {Who I am}

He writes, but now is confronted with an other reality.

My intellectual faculties are pretty intact though obviously my short-term memory is not quite as sharp as it used to be but I get there. But three times in the last two days I have found myself on my blog being described as an old man as if being 68 has suddenly made me worthless. It is put in such a derogatory way that indicates that the younger people concerned consider my views worthless, that I am suddenly out of touch, that my life experience is irrelevant and my intelligence has diminished. {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

The views of those born in the 1940ies and 1950ies are considered of no value and looked as if those people can not fit in this world or should not belong to it any more. at the moment there is a movement going on of people who only think about themselves and who want everything also for them alone; Others do not seem to fit in the picture.

Now that racism, homophobia and sexism is heavily frowned upon are these people turning their attention to older people? Is ageism the new racism? Do we put aside all need to listen to what older people have to say, to disregard their experience and views, and simply put them down as irrelevant and worthless? {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

Naturally we must be aware that ageism started long ago. also in the 1950ies we could see a lot of advertisements for anti-aging creams. (To be honest we also used and still use such creams.) Though we do know we cant stop getting older and less performant. But that does not mean we should be considered useless.

calensariel remarks

Why, they even called Justin Timberlake old (so I heard) on the Superbowl. He’s 38? Someday the tables are going to tip and folks — especially employers — are going to find out experience is a much more valuable tool that youth!

Today experience doe s not count at all. The employers are throwing the baby away with the bathwater. The do away of so much useful knowledge. They do not allow experience to be the seed of their next employees.

According Heather Patterson we reap what we saw.

The big changes occurred in society following the world wars. Started slowly after WW1, then more so after WW2, then Korea, then Vietnam and so forth. Each one with a host of vociferous objectors, conscious writers tapping into the heart of the pulse, all the 1950’s Beat Poets – you should know them.
All venomous complaints aimed at these decrepit old fucks wanton on sending young men to their deaths in the millions for what? Glory? King? Country?

does she mean we did wrong to protest against the War in Vietnam? Where we to active proclaiming peace and a loving world? where too many artists of our ‘after war’ generation to much involved in youth dreams and flower-power business that some of us got carried away in their dreams of a world which is impossible to get?

Heather Patterson finds that

You are upset because a much younger person stole your torch and they said it before you even thought of it. Anybody could see the way you operate a mile away. No credit given with Opher, unless he is always seen in the best light before anybody else.

and looks at Opher’s World saying she thinks that 68 year old writer has

fallen fowl to your inner most fears of being seen as a write off, has been, former self etc. Everything is a threat to your crumbling domain which was really only a house of cards anyway as it was bound to be toppled by the next generation and so forth. What was important to your generation in the 1950’s such as what you liked to read holds not a bit of similar levels of interest today.
That’s just the way it goes.
Isn’t it disappointing to see bitterness creeping in to the winter days of the elderly. {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

Though it is just our generation that wants to tell others how ridiculous worthless war is. It are just we who have seen the tale of world war II and have seen the ‘after wars’, like Vietnam and Balkan war, where the most avoidable atrocities happened and brought human beings to a lower level than animals.

The Baby Boomers are portrayed as having had it easy and perhaps we did. But to call us the cause of what we have now, some saying we reap what we sow, is not correct. We sang about peace and equality, we lived in communes and perhaps we were to easy concerning the matter of ‘love’, but it was always about respectful relationships and with no restriction concerning skin colour or nationality. We strove for equality of classes and taught our kids to be respectful to everybody living on this earth and to act on terms of equal footing. We taught our children not use bad language. We did not like our children to use curse words, not to use to much alcoholic drank, not to smoke or to take drugs (though we had used drugs when we were young). Even when we had certain religious ideas we  learned our children to accept that not all people think nor feel like us, and that they should know about gay and transgender people and should respect their choices as well.

As such all that right-wing and nationalist talk is not something we gave our kids. We agree we went against establishment and perhaps some of those today thought that would mean we always should react against order and state, but that was not what we said or hoped for.

Rebecca E. Blanton writes

The internal racism and bi-phobia and sexism in our communities has to be addressed so that we can stand together and fight to make our country a safe place so that anyone can love who they want without threat of harm. {Love in Times of Great Danger}

We may not keep silent and have certain political parties mislead the people and get them to hate others.

Opher says

racism and patriotism has always been the currency of populist rabble-rousing politicians who want to arouse passions and gain power. It’s a shame people still fall for it.

At Victor’s corner it is also recognised that

More than many people are willing to admit, racism (that “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”) is still an in issue being grapled with in 21^st Century America! . {Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}

He admits

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees that it is wrong, neither is everyone actively engaged in fighting against it. {Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}.

Victor Uyanwanne

We must be aware that racism does not affect only the black or coloured people and that it is not alone a matter of black or coloured against whites. Victor Uyanwanne writes that what pepole may refer to as racism in America,

takes a different hegemonic form here in Nigeria.

It is called tribalism, which, just like corruption, manifests itself in all aspects of our collective existence. But unlike racism, tribalism has nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin.

So you can imagine how odd it felt to be referred to as “people of colour” when you know that everyone else around you has the same skin colour as you.

…

racial discrimination and prejudices wear attires in Nigeria different from the ones they wear in America.

In the words of Chimamanda Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah, “In Nigeria race is not a conscious and present means of self-identification. Ethnicity is. Religion is. But not race.”

This response she gave in a Goodreads interview as far back as 2013 aptly captures the differences between race issues in America when compared with same in Nigeria.

Unlike the experiences often reported amongst blacks in the US, no one in Nigeria is identified or should I say discriminated upon on the basis of the colour of his or her skin.

All of us are black! Instead of race, we talk of our ethic origins, religious affiliations and regional bases.

{Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}

We in Europe do face racism on matters of nationality or origin, i.e;. ethnicity, but also on religion and political stance. Perhaps it also has something to do with a form of ‘tribalism’ and not belonging to a certain ‘tribe’ or ‘certain folks’.

racial discrimination and prejudices wear attires in Nigeria different from the ones they wear in America.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, and nonfiction

In the words of Chimamanda Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah,

“In Nigeria race is not a conscious and present means of self-identification. Ethnicity is. Religion is. But not race.”

This response she gave in a Goodreads interview as far back as 2013 aptly captures the differences between race issues in America when compared with same in Nigeria.

Unlike the experiences often reported amongst blacks in the US, no one in Nigeria is identified or should I say discriminated upon on the basis of the colour of his or her skin.

All of us are black! Instead of race, we talk of our ethic origins, religious affiliations and regional bases.

He ends his article with

While racism is the issue in America, tribalism it is in Nigeria. While racism exists as a result of differences in colour of the skin, tribalism hinges on differences in birth-roots. Both are common societal evils that must be dealt a decisive blow in order for us to have a better world.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite – Nelson Mandela.

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Preceding articles

Growing anti-Semitism possible sign of certain times

Quiz questions, views, left- and right-wing anti-Semitism

Mass Media’s Deception Causing Division

It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

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Additional reading

1. Martin Luther King’s Dream Today
2. A world with or without religion
3. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
4. Stand Up
5. Added commentary to the posting A Progressive Call to Arms
6. Walls,colours, multiculturalism, money to flow, Carson, Trump and consorts
7. Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque
8. Back from gone #3 Giving worries to God and believing in His promises
9. Immigration consternation
10. Forms of slavery, human trafficking and disrespectful attitude to creation to be changed
11. Speciesism and racism
12. Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism
13. Love envieth not
14. The Greatest of These is Love
15. Never too late to start going to the right end
16. Vatican against Opponents of immigration

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Further related

1. Institutional Racism
2. the stench of racism
3. Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?
4. It’s not always racism
5. This Isn’t About Just Race
6. 32 Quotes That Perfectly Explain Racism (To People Who Don’t “See Color”)
7. Different views and racism at The Standard
8. Earth, Wind, Fire, and Racism
9. Trump and the hidden racism inside us
10. Trump displays his racism to the whole world
11. I am an American!
12. 跟外國人拍拖被歧視的經驗 – Racism in our countries: how it affects interracial couples?
13. Racism, History, and How To Get Away With Murder’s Bold Statement
14. Black History Month. The Harlem Hellfighters and Chicago “Black Devils”: Battling Racism and Germans on the Western Front in 1918
15. An Open Letter to My Black Friends About My Own Racism
16. I’m back. Still black. And think we need to keep talking about racism!
17. Black Folks: Your Reluctance to React to Racism Doesn’t Make You More Sensible Than Thou
18. The dream
19. Treason.
20. White Supremacists Have Control of our Elected Offices, our Militia, Police, Guns, Christian Congregations, and the Media, . . . but we shouldn’t be alarmed.
21. Power of Apologies
22. Love in Times of Great Danger
23. Racism and Transphobia Behind the Pink Pussy Hat Ban
24. Build Community, Not Walls
25. Anti-Semitism lives on 75 years after Germany’s Kristallnacht
26. (William E. Grim) The Return Of Anti-Semitism To Germany: It Never Really Left
27. Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan | The Japan Times
28. Opinion – Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan | The Japan Times – John Gelmini
29. Anti-Semitism, anti-leftism and anti-Christianity
30. How anti-racism became racist: All lives matter
31. Can we only understand racism in terms of postmodern litcrit academic jargon?
32. How the Migrant Crisis is Tearing Europe Apart
33. What Color Am I? A True Story About Race Identity and Racism.
34. “You Married One Those?” #race #racism #blackhistorymonth
35. Racism and the Economic Hoodwink
36. My first experience with true racism
37. From drugs to racism in six steps
38. “Systemic Racism Kills”
39. travel, racism, and compassion
40. Racism isn’t Patriotism
41. racism in my white working-class roots
42. Trolls: Show me proof of racism so that I can reject it!
43. Racism is fear based
44. How Racism Makes Us Sick?
45. Combating Speciesism in a Time of Racism | Daily News
46. Time Jumps, Sex Talk and Racism // A Taxonomy of Love review
47. Racism and the making of an English traveller
48. The colour of judgement – a poem about racism
49. Rev. Dr. Barber Explains White Evangelicals Southern History Of Racism
50. Ruin Racism
51. Seven Benefits for All in Dismantling Racism