Incorporate new things into your daily routine – without feeling like it’s a struggle

“Many people have been conditioned into thinking of January 1 as a day when we deprive ourselves of all the things that we have been encouraged to indulge in during December,”

neurologist Dr Rachel Taylor says.

“But the brain is hardwired to make it difficult for you because it does not deal with deprivation well.”

Dr Taylor advises that if you need extra motivation to make a change,

“start to really reflect on how that food/drink/activity makes you feel.

In these dark days, it is easy to get carried away with dark thoughts. For this, we must be careful not to get discouraged or start feeling miserable. The danger is that if you get carried away by those dark thoughts, you will also start feeling inferior and others will notice your weakness and take advantage of it.

We need to be aware that everyone encounters dark moments from time to time and that not everything can always be rosy. There is really no need to always show ourselves strong. We should not always put away our weaker points. It comes down to finding the right people with whom to share our weaknesses and talk quietly about things that bother us. Sharing our weaknesses shall make us vulnerable, but to make you vulnerable shall show your strength.

Marcus Ampe always advised people to bring the mind in balance with the body. For him, it is clear we need, first and foremost, to sort out our own inner self before we start working on the outer. If we are not happy with our appearance, we must find ways to accept our “self” as it is, be it too fat or too skinny, or not the shape we would like.

“Before taking drastic action on our body, we need to calm our “soul” by going for a walk in the great outdoors, for example.”

he says.

As we walk, we can safely think about many things that bother us. But we should also try to quiet our minds while observing the greenery and animals around us. Therefore, according to Mr. Ampe:

“Even if others may want to take us deeper, we must convince ourselves that we are worth being there and that we can contribute enough to others.”

Thus, during those walks in the morning and afternoon, we need to open up to what we are, but also to change that we can let come to ourselves.

“The brain is much more likely to accept change when you have done a sound job in convincing it that it is worth the extra effort and energy it is going to have to expend on managing the change.”

Even though these are dark days, we must not let our thoughts darken. According to M. Ampe, it is therefore also best to start fully enjoying the sun’s warming rays (albeit little) after sunrise.

Dr Rachel Taylor, like him, finds that an early morning blast is essential.

“The rate of production of serotonin has been shown multiple times in research to have a direct correlation with the amount of sunlight a person gets: it rises quickly when access to sunlight increases.

In Scandinavian countries, therefore, often light therapy is used, to reduce suicides during these winter months.

“The more serotonin you have the more melatonin your brain can make, which is not just good for sleep, although that is its primary role, but is a really powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound.”

That early dose of sunlight could have added benefits for weight loss: a study from the University of Alberta found that lack of exposure to sunlight could lead to an increase in fat and therefore contribute to weight gain.

Especially with these dark days and upcoming holidays, we do dare to go beyond our means and eat more than we actually need to, while also reaching for sweets a lot quicker, to feel better.

It is no use that we let ourselves become stressed by what we would go to eat at Christmas and New Year, or what presents we are going to buy. Stress is to be avoided. Though this period is one in which many people get unnecessarily stressed out. Many are very busy, dealing with endless to-do lists and struggling to balance it all. This search for trying to do the best for others results often in a day-to-day life that feels too hectic. Our running back and forth in search of the right gifts and food gets us so excited that we throw ourselves off balance.
By putting their body these days into overdrive, lots of people do not see it is taking them down. Fatigue becomes the master of them.

A good way to get back to folds should start as early as breakfast.

Many think their daily serving of breakfast cereal is a healthy dose of calories and vitamins. But the majority of people use breakfast cereals with added sugars. And these are bound to be avoided. So no granola or caramelised cereals, even those with hoing processed breakfast cereals should be taboo. The concept of cereal food that originated in the vegetarian beliefs of the American Seventh-day Adventists, who in the 1860s formed the Western Health Reform Institute, later renamed the Battle Creek Sanitarium, in Battle Creek, Michigan, was very healthy, but the food industry made something sweet after it to tempt more people to come to enjoy their products. Therefore forget those ‘modernised’ grainproducts and go back to the  source, ditching the sugary, high-carb cereal for a more balanced start to the day.

“If you start your day with a good quality source of protein, some fat and some vegetables, you will balance your blood sugar levels,”

says nutritionist Grace Kingswell, who advocates eggs and vegetables to start the day.

But, Mr Ampe warns, in doing so we must be careful not to be tempted in the supermarket to buy fruit and vegetables that do not belong in our own region during the particular season.

“Only seasonal fruit and vegetables should be put on our plates.”

he says.

In doing so, choosing the right food at the right season will bring us into balance with nature and provide the necessary nutrients and vitamins for that time of year.

“It will have positive benefits for your hormone balance, PMS, energy levels, mood, stress response, cravings, satiety, weight management, and so much more.”

remarks Kingswell.

Researchers at the University of Missouri found that a higher protein breakfast produced lower spikes in glucose and insulin after meals, which led to increased feelings of fullness throughout the day (if you struggle to eat first thing, try adding a protein shake, such as one from strongnutrients.com). Increased vegetables also have added benefits for your gut health.

After having started the day with a good meal, one can go for the first walk of the day. Before that walk, like at other moments during the day, it is, according to Mr. Ampe, also not bad to take the Bible at hand and to read, every day, some verses out of that inspiration book. The part read that day should bring something to think or meditate about.

For good reason, private devotion or mental exercise encompassing various techniques of concentration, contemplation, and abstraction, is regarded as conducive to heightened self-awareness, spiritual enlightenment, and physical and mental health. Meditation has never been more popular: there are currently more than 51 million posts on Instagram.

Neuroscientists at UC San Diego recently reported that mindful meditation can be as effective in reducing pain relief as medication. While in another recent study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers found that a guided mindfulness-based program was as effective as the use of medication for patients with anxiety disorders.

Even for a beginner with no serious health issues, a 13-minute daily meditation improves mood, sleep and memory, according to researchers at John Hopkins University.

“There is no need at all to repeat all the time some words or phrases,”

says Mr. Ampe.

“It is much more important to get toward mental, emotional, and physical well-being, by concentrating on the Words given by our Creator, Who has provide the most complete words or thoughts to instruct and form or mould us in the best human being we should become.”

Some prefer through the repetition of a mantra, to still the activity of thought and to experience a deep state of relaxation, which is said to lead to enhanced contentment, vitality, and creativity, but by repeating such mantra, the source of the problem is not taken away. By using the Bible as a source and backbone of life, a person shall be able to attack the real problem and origin of the troubles. Feeding yourself every day with such spiritual food shall enrich and strengthen yourself more, so that you and others shall be able to notice changes in yourself. At the same time you should not be afraid to use that active, voluntary, and systematic thinking about a biblical or theological topic, to be part of your conversation with others, by which you shall come to feel that a certain confidence shall also give you more strength.

“The meditations are designed to be incorporated into your everyday life and can be done sitting, standing or while doing light exercise such as walking, hiking or stretching. We want to make it as easy as possible to meditate any time, anywhere,”

says Julz Arney, director of fitness for health technologies at Apple.

By knowing the Divine Creator, Jehovah God, and giving time to yourself to think about His Words and worship Him, you shall find out that you will gain the first step to coming at ease with yourself and making you strong enough to tackle this world.

The tips from the experts here are small changes that you can start to incorporate into your daily routine – without feeling like it’s a struggle.

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Preceding

Facing our existence every day

O, little voice within…

Echo

Soul Pampering Time

Share Your Smile

Blossoming and healing the planet

Thinking about thinking

Thoughts and reflections taking only a few minutes

Deeper Call

‘I try to keep my hate in check. If you can’t hate, you can’t love.’

Crying is good for inner self!!

A little ray of sunshine.

Mini-MAX-malism: A Bigger Approach to Less is More

New form of body exercises gaining popularity

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Additional reading

1. Expectations for kashrut to meet individual and contemporary norms
2. Christians, secularism, morals and values
3. Every athlete exercises self control

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22. Just What If…
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30. You Are Not
31. Weakness is Powerful
32. Vulnerable
33. Causes Of Sudden Weight Gain
34. Eating Disorder in the Psych Ward.
35. Tips for avoiding holiday weight gain.
36. Today’s Health Tip ~ Want to Lose Weight?
37. Part One – Will Adrenal Fatigue Cause Weight Gain?
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39. Patterns of weight gain or loss later in life may increase risk
40. Boost the Effects of Exercise on Weight Loss and Health (Without Changing Your Workout Routine)
41. Offering A Little Brightness During The Darkest Months Of The Year
42. Journal Prompts & Activities to Boost Positivity this Winter
43. Day 125 – A Stunningly Sober Holiday Season
44. What is your foundation for optimal health?
45. How Can I Have True Spiritual Power?
46. He Knows Storms Are Coming
47. Give Yourself Fully to the Work of the Lord

Try to get it!: Choices😍

Ěl Shaddai, the High or Exalted One, has given every human being a brain, with the capability to think, question, make choices and decide.

Al-Azeez – Al-Azeem (The Mighty – The Great One – The Strong One) wants us also to become strong and to be masters over ourselves. He is no dictator that wants everything done His way in His time. He allows us to make up our own minds in our own time. But created in His image, He would love to see us become like His image, free of wrong thoughts with a pure conscience.
Al Khaleeq (The Divine Creator) is the Al-Mubdi’ (The Originator – Starter of everything – Creator of mankind) Who is the beginning but also the end. As such, we should try to reach the end He has provided for mankind. Our eyes and ears should be directed in His direction, going for and with Him.

He does not commit anyone to anything but does suggest the best for all of us. As it is up to us to follow His Will or not, out of the free will, it is to say out of making our own choice for Him.

Try to get it!

Life is But a matter of choices
By a free will we choose our way
By a free will we open our ears
We choose the voice we want to hear
With no compulsion
Or an interfere
Sohair
Allah says
مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ تُرْجَعُونَ
If any one does a righteous deed, it ensures to the benefit of his own soul; if he does evil, it works against (his own soul). In the end will ye (all) be brought back to your Lord.
Chapter 45 Crouching سورة الجاثية

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Our existence, the world showing up for us and holding up a mirror

The world doesn’t just exist, it shows up for us. It appears as the pure experience of the present moment. And one of the most amazing things about the world is that it changes – from age to age, generation to generation, over the course of a human lifetime.

We can not ignore the world. We live in it, and we have to face those things that happen in that world. Today it would even be very difficult to live on a desert island just to live on our own without any interruption or interference from other human beings.

We are here and though others can ignore us, we can not ignore them nor deny our own existence. We have our fleshy bodies within it our brains which enable us to think and reason. From the moment we are born we are confronted with the world and shall have to learn to live in that world. From that first step on earth, time does not let us on our own but however we want, time binds us to itself. It makes hours, days, months and years go by while we have to hold in it and come to the realisation that we are getting older. However, we turn it or turn it and look for the ‘why’ we are here and the ‘how’ we can make it true here, we are pulled in all directions to do this or that or to be here and there.

Sometimes we even wonder not only why we exist, but also why this world and this universe exist. Lots of people also wonder what there would be in outer space. In the darkness behind the horizon, stars and planets get us dreaming of other planets and perhaps also about other living beings. Why should we be the only intellectual beings?

When we see time passing, we often feel as if we are running out of time. Looking at how glaciers melt and how waters rise, but so many in the world do not want to believe climate change is a serious business and that we are heading for an unseen natural disaster if we do not act quickly to combat global warming.

If nothing existed there would be nothing to contemplate existence and no existence to contemplate. Now we have to think about a lot of things. In fact, it happens that our brains don’t let us rest easy and get our heads spinning with all sorts of (sometimes foolish) thoughts.

Why did anything happen?

Why didn’t nothing happen?

Why did all those planets came into existence?

Why does anything at all exist?

What does it mean to exist?

Why did man came into existence and why does he thinks he is superior to all other beings?

Why are we here?

What is life all about? or What is the purpose of existence?

Is that what we think to see realy there? Or is it just an illusion?

Philosophers through all ages have tackled this most fundamental question of existence. Many persons came to practice or investigate the systematised study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. There was and is the searching, the rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a whole or of fundamental dimensions of human existence and experience. We know of major Eastern philosophers, like Buddha; Confucius; Dai Zhen; Han Feizi; Laozi; Mencius; Mozi; Nichiren; Nishida Kitarō; Wang Yangming; Xunzi; Zhu Xi.

But in the West, they did not have to undercut and could in turn make others think and philosophise with a variety of thoughts. There were many Ancient Greek philosophers, like Aristotle and his followers, who brought a whole movement into being,  Aristotelianism. Epicurus and Epicureanism.
The Western world provided lots of major Western philosophers, like Peter Abelard; St. Anselm; St. Thomas Aquinas; St. Augustine; Noam Chomsky; Jacques Derrida; Duns Scotus; Michel Foucault; Jürgen Habermas; Martin Heidegger; David Hume; William James; Saul Kripke; Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz; John Locke; John Stuart Mill; Friedrich Nietzsche; Hilary Putnam; Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Bertrand Russell; Jean-Paul Sartre; Socrates; Benedict de Spinoza; Bernard Williams; Ludwig Wittgenstein, and so many more who request our attention.

Some of those philosophers from the east and west will tell you that everything that we experience as real is an illusion. Especially in Eastern philosophies, we find ‘masters’ or ‘teachers’ who will say this is all a dream.

Could it be that we are part of a dream or living in some surreal universe?

And is there some Being managing it all?

Is there a Creator or Manipulator? And are we just His toys?

We may see all this physical stuff around us, but in which way is it real, or do we get to know how it really is?

Over the years, mankind had to change its views about so many things. More than once, man had it wrong. More often there were groups of people or organisations, who wanted to have control over people and made it a rule or doctrine that people had to believe. The Roman Catholic Church was (and is still) a master in that.

Many people have high ideas about themselves. Sometimes it happens that they suddenly become confronted with themselves and have to come to see that their thoughts and emotions are ‘nothing’. It is all, they will say, the play of pure consciousness. John Locke considered “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind” man’s consciousness.

Pure being is all that really is. Everything else is an illusion created in an ungraspable field of consciousness, awareness and sentience. Some philosophers regarded it as a kind of substance, or “mental stuff,” quite different from the material substance of the physical world. From such philosophers’ ideas many started to believe we exist out of more than one element. They managed to have several people believe that when they die that there is a spiritual element (the soul) that will go to other places (like purgatory, hell or heaven) and another physical element that will transform into another body (incarnation and reincarnation). That reincarnation, also called transmigration or metempsychosis, in religion and philosophy, would be a rebirth of the aspect of an individual that persists after bodily death — whether it be consciousness, mind, the soul, or some other entity — in one or more successive existences. Depending upon the tradition, these existences may be human, animal, spiritual, or, in some instances, vegetable, depending on the way one lived before.

The French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher René Descartes for instance as one of the first to abandon Scholastic Aristotelianism, formulated the first modern version of mind-body dualism, from which stems the mind-body problem. Because he promoted the development of a new science grounded in observation and experiment, he is generally regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. We all know his expression

“I think, therefore I am” (best known in its Latin formulation, “Cogito, ergo sum,” though originally written in French, “Je pense, donc je suis”).

The medieval English logician St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033/34–1109), is at the heart of Descartes’s rationalism, the view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge, knowledge about an existing thing solely on the basis of reasoning from innate ideas, with no help from sensory experience. Descartes has an innate idea of Allah Al-Aliyy or Most High God, being The Sublime God as a perfect being. For him, it is clear that God necessarily exists, because, if He did not, He would not be perfect. It is That God Who presides in the great assembly (Psalm 82:1) of human beings, who often think they are greater than others.

Jim Holt, the American journalist, author in popular science and essayist, who often contributed to The New York Times, wrote the nonfiction work and NYTimes bestseller for 2013, Why Does the World Exist?, presented the central question ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’, which lies in the domain between philosophy and scientific cosmology. Also the English cosmologist and astrophysicist Martin Rees looked at the big-bang theory of the origins of the universe. By examining the nature of existence itself Holt was following in the path of the philosophy called ‘Existentialism’, which stresses human existence in the world concreteness and its problematic character. for those writers ‘Existence’ is primarily the problem of existence (i.e., of its mode of being); it is, therefore, also the investigation of the meaning of Being. Going back to the intitial thought of previous philosophers

What is Being?

What does it mean to be?

To be is the question!

What does it mean to exist?

What is the nature of being?

For the German philosopher, counted among the main exponents of existentialism, Martin Heidegger, the human subject had to be reconceived in an altogether new way, as “being-in-the-world.” Because this notion represented the very opposite of the Cartesian “thing that thinks,” the idea of consciousness as representing the mind’s internal awareness of its own states had to be dropped. With it went the assumption that specific mental states were needed to mediate the relation of the mind to everything outside it.

Man philosophers had the above questions, bringing them to think about their own being and the being of others around them. Those people thinking and writing about those life questions bring the deep contemplation of what it means to be human. We think no other living being is concerned with such questions. Even pets don’t wonder what their role in the family might be (we think). Even though plants and animals have sentience, we suspect that they have no thinking capacity whereby they would ascertain their essence in this world.

On the other hand, it can well be that one of the reasons that other creatures don’t worry about the meaning of life could be that they don’t seem to have any choice about how to live it. Dogs and cats just live the way dogs and cats live. They respond to circumstances the way dogs or cats generally do. Sure they may differ one to the other, but generally speaking they act more or less predictably like dogs or cats.

But human beings can also be very predictable. We also could say human beings act in a similar way. Many people around us are also very predictable. Though we can notice that even when the majority lives a standard way of living, we can find people who follow a totally different course. There are human beings who stand out and surprise us. We also find several people who do not want to follow the tract the majority follows. They don’t live an ordinary life. They live an extraordinary life, that is remarkably new and different from the norm. And sometimes these rare human beings discover a way of being that eventually becomes the new norm.

Martin Heidegger was convinced that the history of Western thought has failed to heed the ontological difference, and so has articulated Being precisely as a kind of ultimate being, as evidenced by a series of namings of Being, for example as idea, energeia, substance, monad or will to power. He recognised that most of us live as ‘the one’, or that we do generally what ‘one’ does or what would be the general norm to do. Though we are often concerned with what ‘one’ tends to be concerned with.

He spoke about “Dasein” or “being there”, the most fundamental a priori transcendental condition or mode of being not so much to be seen from the point of being there but from the perspective of how the being essentially unfolds. As Heidegger puts it:

“A being is: Be-ing holds sway [unfolds]”.

The hyphenated term ‘be-ing’ is adopted by Emad and Maly, in order to respect the fact that, in the Contributions, Heidegger substitutes the archaic spelling ‘Seyn’ for the contemporary ‘Sein’ as a way of distancing himself further from the traditional language of metaphysics.

We all should be aware that somehow we come on this planet and have to make the best of it. We receive an overdose of information during our lifetime and are fed an untold number of knowledges and rules, with which and by which we try or must try to live. Through all these influences we have to go through, we have to try to build our lives and live a generic human life.

Unlike the rest of the animal kingdom, a human being could, if they were heroic enough, choose to live a different kind of human life and could come to live a profoundly authentic and original human life. The American lecturer, poet, and essayist, the leading exponent of New England Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson called such human beings ‘representative’ because their lives represented new possibilities for being human.

I do not think “Life is But a Dream” even when we may dream that we live or imagine our life to be a certain way. When we are dreaming it can well be that we are not aware that we are asleep. But also when we are awake it can happen that we wonder if we are dreaming, because what we encounter seems to be so unreal. How often does it not happen that we must come to the conclusion that we were in a dream-world. And that dream world was not always to our liking. More than once the dream world that comes into our mind, is one that can cause fear, but luckilly there is also that dream world that causes joy, surprise, and myriad other emotions. Dreams take us, seemingly, to worlds we’ve been to and worlds that we have never experienced. In them we re-live what we lived before in that world we should recognise as the real world. But we should be aware that very often we are deceived by the real world around us. Often we do not want to know that this world has played tricks on us.

Every day we have doubts about certain things, often which we should recognise as facts. There and then we once more are confronted with those questions that come up into our mind so often. Oh, so often we are troubled, and question our own self and all the things we see happening around us. Then we might ask

What is our role in this all?

What happens when we become older?

As time passes we start getting in contact with other peoples and other cultures. Mostly how we grow up is decided by our parents and our surroundings. The culture of our homeland, the religion of our parents, and the friends we hang out with, all influence us and mould us in a form we do not mind or which bothers us. In case we do not like the form in which we are moulded we get frustrated and come into a stressful position. sometimes people would love to have been born in an other place or have lived in other circumstances. But the choice is not up to us. We are dropped in a time and place and have to find our way in it.

We have no memory of a previous life, because there is just not such another life.

Could we prove that we have ever lived if we did not have our memories?

No, there would be no way to prove it. There is not one person who ever could recollect and prove some previous existence. Even for those who are born, when young, their memory is too short and after some time they shall not be able to tell what happened in those first years of life. When you would ask a toddler to prove he lives, he would not be able to do so, because he has not enough memory and not enough knowledge. The very young cannot prove they live because they do not have memories. Memory starts to develop a bit later than the first few years of life. Memory is an essential component to the human mind, so important that we cannot say that we exist without memory. Knowledge and memory are two requirements to realise that one is alive and can be. In other words, our very existence is hinged on our capacity to remember. Without our capacity to think, or to have thoughts, we can not remember nor can we analyse. And to be able to know we live we need to be able to think, consider and to review.

Memory, as the encoding, storage, and retrieval in the human mind of past experiences, is unconditionally linked to thought and being. Without awareness, there is no knowledge of being. We can notice this when people have reached an age when they start to suffer from dementia. It is then as if their thinking but also their “being” falls away.

Memory is both a result of and an influence on perception, attention, and learning. It is those thoughts of past events and influences that help shape us, making us who we are. With that awareness and understanding of that event and of that personality we are confronted with, we ourselves are presented with a mirror, in which whether or not we will accept, love or hate that reflection. But dar we will recognise that this is that “I” that we wish, desire or curse.

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Preceding

With Positive Attitude

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”

I and Thou

Our existence..

Leap

To come to live in the peace of fulfilment of our own Divine Identity

What is Existential Ergonomics?

On the Anxiety of Non-Being

Running out of time

Why does the world exist

Our real self ever perfect and free

Life’s Purpose

Modern Living

Quandary of Reflections

Existence in the non-existent and non-existence in the existence

Human experience maintained in a fragile existence

Soul-searching

Vivamos Videre, the more we live, the more we are a witness to life

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Additional reading

1. Immortality, eternality – onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
2. Onsterfelijkheid – Immortaliteit – Immortality
3. About The story of Creation 1 Existing cosmologies
4. Genesis Among the Creation Myths
5. Creator and Blogger God 1 Emptiness and mouvement
6. Creation of the earth and man #14 Formation of man #6 The Uncreated One, neshemet ruach chayim and nephesh
7. Jesus begotten Son of God #11 Existence and Genesis Raising up
8. A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
9. Ability
10. Ability (part 2)
11. Ability (part 3) Thoughts around Ability
12. Ability (part 4) Thought about the ability to have ability
13. The Opinionated Truth
14. God make us holy
15. Two states of existence before God
16. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
17. Wisdom Quote #21…..seeking within with Carl Jung!
18. Living in this world and viewing it

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Related

1. Who am I to…?
2. Spike the obit
3. Awareness is All
4. Trouble being myself
5. #being as details
6. Conditioning and Consciousness
7. Becoming
8. What Descartes Proved
9. The ABCs of Python: The Identity of “is”
10. When I sleep, I think, I dream [A philosophy post?]
11. Wisdom Collection Collection 26. Human thinking is a creation process with devastating results. Thinking is separation of myself from my source.
12. Mind and language essays on descartes and chomsky
13. Therefore (Quote Series)
14. Essays on the philosophy and science of rene descartes
15. Descartes proof for the existence of god essay
16. My favorites: philosophy ideas
17. I remember therefore I am
18. Descartes, Perception, and Society
19. Strange nonsense
20. Perception and Reality
21. How Ego Disrupts the Cosmic Brilliance of ‘Is’
22. I am
23. What is Left to Doubt?
24. Life is But a Dream
25. In here and out there
26. Confusion of knights
27. Awareness, Consciousness, Experience, Mind
28. Interlude: Descartes’ Role
29. Descartes
30. Consciousness, Personhood
31. St. Borges of Canterbury
32. Spirituality of the Left
33. Breakthrough
34. The floating consciousness
35. Useful Heideggerian Concepts
36. At The Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell is a biography of existentialism
37. Martin Heidegger, the Standing Metaphor, and the Politics of 1935
38. Time and Being
39. Heidegger and the Question of Being
40. Existential Reflections: The Shadow Side of Human Existence (2)
41. Second Principle- Freedom in Being
42. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.
43. The ‘Man for All Seasons’ and Ontological Exigency
44. Martin Heidegger Quotes
45. Religion, Consumerism, and Absurdism: Modernity and the Quest for Meaning
46. Two reviews of The Early Foucault (Polity, 2021) by Colin Koopman and Jasper Friedrich – and a note on Heidegger
47. [Reflections] Why Does the History of Philosophy Matter to Philosophy?
48. Modern Transcendentalism
49. Ralph Waldo Emerson
50. American Voices: Ralph Waldo Emerson
51. Transcendentalism literary origins in america and influence essay
52. Living in Subversia
53. Ernest Holmes and the Science of Mind Part One: ‘Ye Are Gods’
54. What are the main features of Shelley’s Transcendentalism ?
55. Autumn, Concord, and Transcendentalism
56. Transcendentalism : An American Movement
57. Self-Awareness, Self-Reliance and Non-Comformity

Long-term consequences of acute Covid on the brain

As new research shows Covid is associated with an elevated risk of dementia, we examine how to protect your grey stuff in midlife and beyond.

It is common to feel a bit fuzzy-headed and fatigued in the days and weeks following a bout of Covid but in some rare cases, it appears that the virus may actually precipitate cognitive decline.

This summer, the Lancet Psychiatry journal published one of the first major studies looking at the long-term consequences of acute Covid on the brain. Using health records from more than 1.2 million patients across the UK, US, Australia and five other countries, the study found an increased risk of neurological problems in the months and years following infection.

One particularly concerning example of this is in over-65s, who were found to have a slightly elevated risk of dementia after contracting Covid. Medical experts still do not know why exactly this is the case, and there is a worry that it will place greater strain on the NHS in the coming years.

> Read more about it: Eight (scientifically-proven) ways to keep your brain healthy

Make your brain more efficient

Charly W. Karl

Source: healthproductsforyou.com

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Poor balance as an indicator of potential stroke and reduced lifespan

Can standing on one leg really predict how long you will live?

According to research, Yes

Kyoto University researchers led by Yasuharu Tabara have identified poor balance as an indicator of potential stroke and reduced lifespan.

The research studied a group of 1,300 middle-aged and older people. They found that being unable to balance on one leg for 20 seconds or longer is associated with early changes to blood vessels in the brain that potentially indicate future stroke risk.

They found the subjects who had trouble balancing for this length of time had cerebral small vessel disease, minute haemorrhages, or both.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) falls are the second commonest cause of accidental deaths worldwide.

> Read more and take the Test: You Can Predict How Long You Will Live in 10 Seconds or Less

Do you want to take control of your life?

A danger for our own personality is when we allow other people to take over our mind and control ourselves.
Mind and body have to be in unison with each other and when there is an unbalance we should find our way by meditative arts. Kounovsky, Yoga, Mindfulness and meditation a.o. can help to get back in balance, having a healthy body as a covering of a healthy spirit.
A lot f people also forget that there is a Word Which can bring us back on the right path and make us stronger to cope with all the difficulties of life. That book of book is available in so many languages that everybody, wherever living in the world, can get to read that Guide to live in the best way we can.

Anita's Perspectives on Life.

What are boundaries and how to set them?

As discussed in my last article on” Gaslighting”, some people try to control other people around them. The main reason behind this kind of mentality is gaining power over others through their actions. If you are in this kind of situation, it becomes very important to gain control over your own life, so that no one can overpower you and your life.

What is the most crucial part of taking charge of your life?

You should have full control over your body and mind. Mind and body connection is the link between a person’s thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Everyone knows now that emotions can affect our physical health and longevity.

You must have experienced that your body responds to stress and anxiety or depression. When you are stressed, you might develop high blood pressure or headache. While feeling depression or anxiety, you…

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Corona season

One has not to fool your brain about your exam, as is written in this article, but one has to find the inner strength and capability to do things, trusting in the self.
Concentrating on the material to learn, taking away distraction tools is much better than to fool your brain because you will be fooling yourself.
Ther conclusion of the article is right: the vibe should be to study. To read, learn and think, study and study.

Inner Voice

Honestly people who are both enjoying and suffering from covid situations are students. They are enjoying their no school time + chilling at home but at the same time struggling to keep study track.

Now why are we struggling :

1. Lack of aim
2. Lack of strictness
3. Lack of discipline

Why is it necessary? For example you are struggling to do regular exercise . Now imagine One day you wake up to see no clothes fit you , you weigh 80 kgs , everyone bullying you, your favourite dress no longer fits you, you are driven into eating disorder and depression. Now , will you face that same struggle of irregularity ? Or would you be working extra hard to to burn off extra calories , to have your dream body, or that 6 abs … Now the same applies with your exams. I know no one of us want to…

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Trouble in my brain

Who does not want to be loved? Who is not longing for attention, recognition, acknowledgement and for being recognised as a human being, to be seen and heard and why not for receiving a hug?

E.T.'s blog

I’m so confused.
There’s a big mess in my head.
I don’t know where to start and where to end.
There’s no problem in my life.
The only problems are made by me.
I’ve got no big threats against my life.
Then why is my brain fried?
Problems are problems, if you give them the space to be problems.
Because the only one recognizing those problems, is you.
It’s your brain telling you there’s a problem, but when is it really one?
My brain is fried with problems.
Or aren’t they such things?
Are they just thoughts, which pass my mind too many at the same time, so that I can’t see which one is which anymore?
I can’t differentiate between them.
I want things but do I have the right to?
I’m aware of my past and my failures.
I try to stop myself from doing weird things.
But…

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Moral Patterns and Moral Decisions

All human beings were created in the image of the Divine Creator and as such got implanted in them brains which could think or reason. After getting to know good and evil, each one of us has the instinct for knowing the difference and having the choice to choose between good and evil.

Too many christians do think because they are saved they do not have to obey the commandments of God. They are so wrong and deceiving themselves. Still today they have to base their moral reasoning on obeying rules (deontology), on producing good results (utilitarianism), on imagining what a good person would do (ideal observer theory) we daily having to recognize the often heartbreaking difficulty of moral choice, letting us engage both logic and feeling.

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To remember

• we always want things to be simple =/= just intellectual laziness => Our minds automatically prefer things that are simple + symmetrical
• 20th century, Gestalt psychology explored how we find patterns in information > Pattern-finding = one reason our memories are often unreliable.
• moral decision =/= always simple >requires more than just logic => also requires feeling, imagination, + courage.
• God gave us both intelligence + conscience. => giving us questions => expecting us to figure out the answers

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Additional reading

1. Framework and vehicle for Christian Scholasticism and loss of confidence

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Related

1. God is the greatest question
2. Is Pain Necessary?
3. You got me so wrong
4. “Whatever we may think or affect to think of the present age, we cannot get out of it”*…
5. Utilitarianism Discuss the ideologies associated with utilitarianism and deontological ethics concerning human behavior and the ethical or unethical decisions and/or actions of those working in law enforcement
6. Utilitarianism Utilitarianism (Religion and Ethics 2b) Which two thinkers do you need to know about for the exam? What kind of theory is Utilitarianism? What is meant by the term Principle of Utility?
7. Is Utilitarianism a thing?
8. Utilitarianism against Utility
9. Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill
10. An Argument for Utilitarianism: Omelas
11. Notes on Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): An Act is Right or Wrong According to Its Consequences
12. Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham
13. Utilitarianism and its controversies according to Jeremy Bentham
14. Discussion on Bentham’s and J. S. Mill’s Doctrines of Utilitarianism (university paper / philosophy)
15. The Dangers of Utilitarianism in “The Lathe of Heaven” by Ursula K. Le Guin
16. How to be happy-according to Jeremy Bentham
17. Why I became a utilitarian
18. A Letter to Utilitarianism
19. The red light
20. Good for Goose and Gander; One and All?The Free Will FallacyThe Profound and the Mundane – Moral Choices

The Thousand-Year View

My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post:

Some things in life are simple. Some aren’t. In fact, a lot of them aren’t.

That’s a problem, because we always want things to be simple. And if they aren’t, then we still try to see them as being that way.

It’s not just intellectual laziness. Our minds automatically prefer things that are simple and symmetrical, whether they are political ideas, scientific theories, melodies, or geometrical shapes.

In the 20th century, Gestalt psychology explored how we find patterns in information, even if the patterns aren’t really there. Pattern-finding is one reason that our memories are often unreliable. If a past event didn’t make sense to us, then when we remember it, we unconsciously impose a pattern so that it makes sense in retrospect.

Moral situations are often too complex to fit into simple patterns or be solved by simple moral principles. Consider…

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Where to Begin and What to say Next about OCD

Today’s guestwriter is working on overcoming the mental disorder where people feel the need to check things repeatedly, perform certain routines repeatedly (called “rituals”), or have certain thoughts repeatedly (called “obsessions”), Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) disorder (also called obsessive–compulsive neurosis) by all means possible.
She decided to learn new ways to deal with her OCD and it has brought great satisfaction to her finding out through this trial the comfort and satisfaction it gives her to express herself in writing to reach out to others and let them know… they are Not Alone.

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To remember

Writing has proven to be therapeutic > not liking to take NO for an answer => keeps trying

much work to do in educating people about OCD and what is really is

> rising through the humiliation is a large dose of humility {The Big 3 (OCD, Anxiety, Panic) Bully}

Find also: Answers, Help, and a Sense of Belonging

Logically Illogical with OCD

It has been so great to learn how much I enjoy writing!  It is great to get some stuff out of my mind and on to the page.  But as with everything my OCD and perfectionism has to come along for the ride.  So I am stuck inside my mind trying to decide what to blog about.  I have so many things I want to say and share, yet the question I continually have is Where to Begin and What to say Next about OCD. 

I just came back from the OCD conference in Chicago.  It was fantastic!  Any my mind is telling me that I shouldn’t write about anything else until I have properly written about the conference and shared all the wonderful information that I received.  However, while I want to share all of the information…it just isn’t what I feel like sharing now.  While my OCD tells…

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About a human being or not and life

For many the argument against abortion may be in the answer to the question

“Is the foetus a human being or not?”

Rev. Richard C. Eyer, D.Min., who spent twenty years as hospital chaplain counselling, Concordia University Wisconsin, wrote  in his reading for the Lutheran Conference about abortion and the Gospel in 2000

Of all the women I counseled who were considering abortion I never had one tell me she did not believe the foetus within her was a human being. In fact, she would have thought it naive of me that I would even press the point. She would have said, “Of course, it is human, but I don’t want to be pregnant.” {Abortion and the Gospel, 2000}

too many people overlook that those women considering abortion are usually in crisis and that in first instance the crisis needs to be addressed with attempts at healing.

If addressed with compassion and truth spoken gently in the name of Christ who gave himself for desperate sinful men and women, the heart might be won over. Even if not, the path has at least been prepared a way for repentance to follow later. The Church needs to speak boldly against abortion, but more boldly still about the love of Christ for sinners considering and perhaps even participating in abortion. {Abortion and the Gospel, 2000}

writes Rev. Richard C. Eyer.

Not all those who look for abortion are people with a faith life. Lots of them are not having an active religious life, but that does not mean they will not be able to come to such a position that they would like to enjoy worship of God with many others. For them the church has to be ready to receive them with open arms.

Anti-abortion demonstrators taking part in the 5th Paris March for Life (Marche pour la Vie) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

God’s temporary permission of evil has afforded all of us the opportunity to show him what is truly in our hearts. We may see lots of evil in this world and we may encounter lots of things we personally do not like. How we cope with them is very important. Concerning abortion we do see in certain countries pro-life groups which manifest such a lot of hate against those people who want to visit or work in an abortion clinic that we can not call that an exemplary Christian attitude.

It is great to see that there are such people who have their mouth full of Jesus, but we would like to see them also taking on the same attitude as Jesus did. They should better know that Jesus is the Way to life and the Way to God and the way to salvation and God’s Kingdom. Jesus did not come for the good ones in this world alone. He came to bring salvation for all people and certainly was there and is there for those in big need.

Jesus was fully aware that he cannot do anything without his heavenly Father, the Only True God, Who is the One Who decides about the giving and taking of life. We do agree that it is not up to man to decide about life. But man is weak and has a spot on him that makes him fallible.
The God who made the world and all the things in it, being, as He is, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord above all lords, He is the Greatest and Most Almighty of all. Jesus who knew very well that this God is much grater than him and does not dwell in handmade temples, wanted all people come to know his heavenly Father, the God of Abraham. It is He himself Who gives to all people life and breath {+} and all things. This God made out of one every nation of men to live all over the face of the earth, determined their appointed seasons, ordaining prescribed epochs and the limitations of their residence. {Acts 17:26}

Instead of condemning those who are questioning themselves what to do with  that they  feel in their body, the pro-life groups better would talk to them lovingly and show them how God is the Source of life. {Psalm 36:9}

(Psalms 36:9 [CPDV]):  (35:10) For with you is the fountain of life; and within your light, we will see the light.

Not always we do know the reason why those women are faced for such a difficult decision. We do not have to judge them but should have to give them an ear and let them know that there are times in our spiritual experience when human counsel or sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or help us, but that we still can try to come into contact with the Only One Who has all the answers. We can show them some answers and guidance God has given mankind to cope with the difficult situations.

Even those with a broken heart shall have to know that there will come a time that the tears they have will dry up and that they shall be able to rejoice again.

(Revelation 7:17 [CPDV]): For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will rule over them, and he will lead them to the fountains of the waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

All should know that Jehovah views the life of a child as precious even during the very early stages of development after conception.

Psalms 139:13-16 (CPDV): 13  (138:13) For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother. 14  (138:14) I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly well. 15  (138:15) My bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower parts of the earth. 16  (138:16) Your eyes saw my imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in them.

Not only sees God the imperfection of the unborn baby but also of the bearer of the child. God also sees the heart of the woman with lots of questions and doubts. For her He is there to help if she wants and loves to hear His Voice. God has given man also brains and has also given talents to people. Those talents should be used rightly and in honour of God His creation.

The Pro-life or anti abortionists the same as the one arguing for abortion should also listen to those skilled in the medical field. But we also should know that not always medical opinions are right. It is not bad sometimes to ask an other opinion. We also should question if it would be right to kill a fellow human because that one might harm his fellowman? If at the time of childbirth a choice must be made between the life of the mother and that of the child, it is up to the individuals concerned to make that choice and not to outsiders who often do not know the situation. However, advances in medical procedures in many lands have made this situation very rare.

When ending the presence of the foetus in the mothers womb it is as ending a human life and taking part of God’s creation in own hands. Every human being should be fully aware that anyone taking life a way from a human being could be considered shedding man’s blood.

(Genesis 9:6 [CPDV]): Whoever will shed human blood, his blood will be poured out. For man was indeed made to the image of God.

It is true that the Bible says that every fatal striker of a soul should be slain as a murderer, but it also presents circumstances where there may not take place a killing of that person who took life from somebody else.

Numbers 35:11-15 (CPDV): 11 discern which cities ought to be for the protection of fugitives who have shed blood unwillingly. 12 And when a fugitive is in these, the kinsman of the deceased shall not be able to kill him, until he stands in the sight of the multitude and his case is judged. 13 Then, among those cities which are separated for relief to fugitives, 14 three shall be across the Jordan, and three in the land of Canaan, 15 as much for the sons of Israel as for newcomers and sojourners, so that anyone who has shed blood unwillingly may flee to these places.

Every person is responsible for his or her own body and for those around them. So often today our rights are trampled on by others; many just don’t care what happens to other people or they are very quick to judge the other person and do not mind condemning him or her. Only Jesus has received the authority to judge the living and the dead concerning life. The others who may judge in this world are the judges, which is a profession also instituted by God. As long as Jesus did not return it is their right to bring civil judgement.

People should trust the decisions made by judges who are given latitude to investigate and consider motives and attitude of violators, along with the circumstances surrounding the violation and who are not to oppress the people placed under them, nor widows and orphans, who seem to have no protector, for Jehovah is their fatherly Judge and Protector. (Le 19:33, 34; Ex 22:21; 23:9; De 10:18; 24:17, 18; 27:19; Ps 68:5)

It is good to know for us and for the one who has questions concerning life and abortion that the Bible provides guidelines that can protect us. To receive the benefits, though, we must also accept the responsibilities.’

In the past many mothers have been abandoned by the men who fathered their children. Throughout history we also find many cases of women who were the victim of sexual violence, got pregnant but did not want to loose that life which they felt in them. In the end we also can find women who decided not to have an abortion and were very happy they did make that decision. Others who got an abortion regretted it afterwards.

We always best avoid to have people brought in front of this terrible choice. The best way to do that is by creating an environment where many love the Word of God and are willing to live by Bible standards. In such places we can see that children will have respect for others and that people shall not use their sexual lusts to harm somebody else. In such places where from young age people grow up with the Word of God as guide we shall find more people with respect and genuine love for others. In such communities the husband will really love his wife and children and loyally stay with them and provide for them. (1 Tim. 5:8; Eph. 5:28-31)

 

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Preceding articles:

1. Fruitage of the womb
2. Abortion: The expulsion of an embryo or foetus before it can live on its own
3. The Risk Factors Associated with Abortions
4. Should I Have An Abortion
5. My Choice (by Jezabel Jonson)
6. The Real ‘Choice’
7. “They Told Me What I Wanted To Hear” – Real Abortion Stories
8. The Things We Carry, by Penny
9. Not an easy decision to make
10. Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion
11. Stop Burning Rape Survivors at the Stake
12. How to heal after childhood sexual abuse
13. “Til It Happens To You” by Lady Gaga
14. Abortion — Not a Trouble-Free Solution

Next: The Catholic synod on the family and abortion

 

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Additional reading:

1. Youngsters, parents and the search to root in life
2. About lions and babies
3. Westboro Baptist Church and Catholic Truth against Nelson Mandela
4. Always a choice
5. A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person

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 Further reading:

1. The Church of the Inappropriate
2. Watch “The Silent Scream (Full Length)” on YouTube
3. Dr. Ben Carson Opposes Abortions In Cases Of Rape Or Incest
4. Ben Carson compares abortion to slavery
5. Ben Carson Misogynist
6. Ben Carson says women who have had abortions are like “slave owners”
7. Desperate Ben Carson Resorts To Tired Abortion & Slavery Argument In Grab For Votes On Religious Right
8. “Ben Carson: I would ‘love’ to see abortion ruling overturned”
9. Richard Corriere’s “In Their Own Words.” FBI director clashes with Obama
10. Putting on Monday Morning Combat Boots
11. Homo-Lobby comes out in support of child butchering
12. Heaven & Miscarried (+Aborted) Babies Part I
13. Responsibility
14. Lady Bits episode 35: Feminism is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
15. Abortion, Homosexuality, Prostitution: Amnesty International Loses its Way
16. Freakonomics Abortion Chapter
17. He Told Me I Needed To “Get Rid of It” – Real Abortion Stories
18. Hot Topic #3, Abortion!!
19. Ways To Stop Abortion!
20. Random Headlines — 10/25/15
21. Random Headlines — 10/16/15
22. GOP Inbreeding
23. If you want to know what’s ahead for America, look north to Canada
24. trajectories and closed loops
25. “21 Thoughts” by Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the father of modern genetics
26. How America Is Inured to Violence and Immorality
27. The Tree of Life
28. We Need To Change The Way We Deal With Abortion
29. The Problem with Pro-life Politics
31. Mis-shaped fruit is just as good for you
32. Will America listen to this baby’s story?
33. Abortion Rants From A Pro-Abortionist
34. Why I’m Pro-Abortion
35. #ShoutYourAdoption! Pro-lifers fight back against repulsive pro-abort hashtag [pics]
36. How do Pro-Lifers care for the born? Let me count the ways….
37. Abortion Advocacy Is Extremisim
38. The #StandWithPP Roundup: Shutdown Narrowly Averted
39. Court Rules to Keep Clinic Open
40. When Choice Is Not An Option
41. Anti-Abortion Attackers & Protesters of Planned Parenthood Exposed (Resources)
42. I agree with Karl du Fresne… but not in the way you think
43. Forensic Analysis Shows the Real Planned Parenthood Scandal Is the Videos Themselves | The Nation
44. Rep. Elijah Cummings is Ready to FIght for Women
45. Media Release: Politicians Must Act Now
46. Why We Need to Talk About Later Term Abortions
47. 4 November 2014. This Is Why I Oppose ALL “Personhood” Amendments Absolutely and Without Question

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Related articles

• Unreal: Pelosi promotes abortion and gushes over popes in same interview
• Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
• Psalm 24 version C21st
• Invented Traditions: No, Christianity doesn’t forbid Abortion
• Abortion and forgiveness: what is the Pope really saying?
• Sunday Reflections, Sept. 20: Delight of the World
• Catholic Clerics, Knights Warn Youths Against Abortion
• Peace for Your Soul
• The viability myth
• Joe Biden says ‘life begins at the moment of conception’ – won’t stand up for that life, though

The I Am to explore

When looking at the world man and animal can be seen moving around, sometimes men going about more than wild beasts.

In that universe where everybody in his worldly life is so busy with working and with earning money to be able to buy as many gadgets as they would like and to make their material dreams realised, lots of people consider those who have faith in a Supreme Being to be loosers or people who live in fantasy worlds. Lots of them do believe that when in faith you just have to accept everything blindly. For them and many faith is a mystery, where you need to ask any questions.

It is true that we mortals can not understand everything. We could even say that we should not even try to understand everything. Question is if you may look at faith on a rational way. Can you believe in a Higher Being Which or Who created everything. And do you have to approach all the saying about It/Him rationally?

Portrait of René Descartes, dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, after Frans Hals c. 1648 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last few years focus has been on the rationale. René Descartes with many followers could say “I think, therefore, I am”, and we can only agree because when you are not in existence you can not “be“. When born and not able to think the being of that person is also like as if without life and can not do anything. To be able to do something a creature (animal or man) has to think or to use its/his/her brains. Without the use of the brain, without letting the ‘electricity’ go through the nerves, creature shall not be able to do much. It has to receive something, analyse it, act and react to it. But before it can go into action and reaction it has to have knowledge of the self. It has to have a working ‘I am‘ and has to feel as an ‘I am‘.

Though man faces some problems.
First there is the “I am”, the “Self” which it has to come to face and has to try to understand.
Secondly it has to come to see that the “I am” is only part of a bigger part of “I Am”. When it comes to know that it can go searching for that Bigger “I Am” and hopefully shall come to recognise the “I Am Who Is” without nothing can exist.
Thirdly each little “I am” has to recognise that manifesting the “I am” demands interaction, but that such interaction is never ending. One word only points to another word and never to reality itself. Having brains thinking, receiving interpretations and having to make interpretations itself, it shall have to come to the conclusion that no one interpretation can ever be regarded as final.

As in interpretation, so in life: everything becomes undecidable.

Now there is a difference between all who want to understand and try to approach the many “I ams” in this world. Into this decidedly undecided world, there are people who have opened their eyes and have come to see what is behind the ordinary “I am”. They have found The Bigger “I Am.” They might have found it by listening to their inner voice or by coming to read, see and hear the Word of God. For them the curtains have gone open and the biblical message as reasonable thinking person has come to them with common sense. They have come to see and understand that Faith and logic are not really opposites.

Genesis 1 tells us that man was created in God’s image (Genesis 1: 26-27).

“26  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27 NAS)

Diagram from one of René Descartes’ works. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being created in the image of God, means also each person we see around us has something which might be found also in God. Each person we do encounter can carry something from God with him or her and can share it with others. The person who has come into the faith, believing there is a Creator Deity, and who has seen the Works of that God (Source of knowledge) shall also come to the understanding of the importance of sharing the knowledge of that “I am” with others. For the one with faith it is like being with child, incredible exiting and giving lots of energy. It is as an extra breath given to you.

In the past many man of all sorts of professions have already felt the special awareness and consequences for them of having faith in the Elohim, Divine Creator of heaven and earth. The “I Am Who Is” or the “I Am that I am” is the Most Almighty God of gods, Who overshadows any other god or “I am”. He is also One God Who demands recognition for His important Pole Position. He does not like to see that His creatures do love other gods more than Him. Believers, man of faith, should recognise that and take it into account, worshipping only that One and Only One True God.

To help us to understand that Bigger “I Am” and our own “I am” This Eternal Being has given His Words and let it hem be notated by the many faithful men. All those writings about the “I Am” are bundled in the Book of books, the Bible, the infallible Word of God.

In the several books of the Bible we can find a.o. the Book of Psalms in which we can find the answers:

1. God gave us the Psalms and other Books of the Bible
2. as a prayer book for our lives.
3. to show the friends of God.
4. to learn through poetry and song.
5. to experience the transcendence and the imminence of God at once
6. to affirm the mystery of life
7. to educate and to exhort ourselves
8. to show us our sins
9. to remind us of the brevity of life
10. to remind us of the necessity to live the right way
11. to show us the way to a better and easier life
12. to express our heartfelt longings
13. to discover God His Character
14. to discover God His Will for our lives
15. to learn to direct ourselves to the utmost important things in life
16. to learn how to behave
17. to learn to pray aright
18. to reveal His sovereign grace to us
19. to show us the Way to Salvation
20. to show us and give comfort in finding the Way to the Kingdom of God

Created in the image of God, the image of the Big “I Am” this is not just an outward likeness, for God is Spirit, and is only for our understanding presented in a description which is derived from that of a human. Upon further reading in the Book of books, the Bible, we can see that God’s Word reveals that humans, unlike animals, are provided with rational. Man can think and reason logically, but above all he is able to know God; and the latter goes. An animal has no sense of higher values, let alone God, a man does. But that is also exactly what sets him apart. A man who does not have these capabilities, or does not use them, is indeed no more than an animal:

“Man in [his] pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:20 NAS)

In fact, it is precisely this ability to abstract reasoning that,

according to the apostle Paul, makes the infidel shall not go unpunished because when he looks around himself he should be able to see the many things God provided. It might be true that the invisible things of God can not be seen, but even his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived since the creation of the world are working with the mind, so that they are without excuse.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20 NAS)

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Preceding articles:

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”Find Inspiration and Follow Your Dreams

Believe in your greatness

Believe in yourself!

Be Kinder to Yourself

Be realistic, do not pretend

The world starts with yourself

Little i

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Additional readings:

1. What is life?
2. Looking at three “I am” s
3. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
4. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
5. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality
6. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
7. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
8. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
9. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
10. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
11. Being Religious and Spiritual 6 Romantici, utopists and transcendentalists
12. Improving the world by improving the Faith
13. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
14. Faith because of the questions
15. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
16. Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
17. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
18. Leaving behind the lives we have touched.
19. Only the contrite self, sick of its pretensions, can find salvation
20. God won’t ask
21. Pieces
22. There is no true and constant gentleness without humility
23. For those who make other choices
24. Do you believe in One god?
25. Revelation 1:8 – Who is Speaking?
26. Use of /Gebruik van Jehovah or/of Yahweh in Bible Translations/Bijbel vertalingen
27. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
28. Only worhsip Creator of all things
29. A great man does not lose his self-possession when he is afflicted

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Related articles

• Love: Reuniting the objective and subjective… (thosecatholicmen.com)
  The modern world has fallen into a dualism of body and soul in many ways. Descartes, a founding father of modern philosophy described the soul as a “ghost in a machine.” It is only too easy to focus on the body in an animalistic fashion, focused on pleasure and gratification. The opposite extreme is to fall into emotionalism or even a spiritualism that sees no compelling connection to the body.
• Descartes and the Begining of Modern Philosophy (joshpcb.wordpress.com)

  n the 17^th and 18^th century Western philosophy was in strife – split between British empiricism (figures such as Locke and Bacon) and continental rationalism (such proponents as Leibniz and Spinoza), both camps disagreed with one another on the topic of epistemology and metaphysics.

  Important to add to the context is that in this time, scholasticism was the most prestigious method of education; it entailed Aristotelian values with a significant religion input. Scholasticism used logical methodology to deduce and then resolve contradictions. It was also qualitative, looking at objects and people and how they worked behaved, i.e., their qualities, and it was this manner in which Descartes was educated

• Last lecture of the semester: Foucault and Derrida on Madness (foucaultnews.com)
  We need a history of that other trick that madness plays—that other trick through which men, in the gesture of sovereign reason that locks up their neighbor, communicate and recognize each other in the merciless language of non-madness; we need to identify this moment of that expulsion before it was definitely established in the reign of truth, before it was brought back to life by the lyricism of protestation. To try to recapture, in history, this degree zero of the history of madness, when it was undifferentiated experience, the still undivided experience of the division [of madness and reason] itself. To describe…[what] allows Reason and Madness to fall away, like things henceforth foreign to each other, deaf to any exchange, almost dead to each other. (my emphases)

Happiness mapping and getting over gender mapping

For years people did believe that it was important to mark the differences between boys’ and girls’ because they would have different brains, and therefore the two should be taught differently, and possibly separately.

Developing back to such a trend may be dangerous, enabling again creating a trend, which can have damaging consequences – not only in classrooms, but at home and work.

Such claims may often be made on the basis of isolated brain imaging studies that have not been replicated, and in some cases have found to be wrong.

Studies have shown that the differences between the sexes are either non-existent or they are so small so as to be of no practical importance in, for example, an educational setting.
Dr Cordelia Fine presented also such an argument in 2013 at the Australian Council for Educational Research Conference in Melbourne on the brain and learning, where she said that males, for example, are often described as having a “spotlight brain” that processes information such as language in one hemisphere, while girls are supposed to have a “floodlight brain”, using both sides of the brain.

Fine says everyone is a mix of masculine and feminine qualities and there’s no fixed way in which the qualities line up.

“So being good at maths doesn’t make it more likely that you’ll be more aggressive, for example,” she says.

“That’s not to say that biological sex doesn’t make a difference in terms of the brain, brain development, or brain responsiveness, but it does undermine the idea of the male brain and the female brain.”

As part of this idea of a more interconnected female brain, females are supposed to have a larger corpus callosum, the thick band of neurones that connect the two hemispheres.

She says while older smaller studies support these differences, the bulk of more recent data has found otherwise.

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Additional reading:

1. Equal?
2. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #3 Right to Human dignity
3. Poverty and conservative role patterns
4. Milestones for women ordered
5. Women their education and chances to become a parliamentary
6. Gender connections
7. A bird’s eye and reflecting from within
8. Father and motherhood
9. Father counterpart of the mother
10. Women, conservative evangelicals and their counter-offensive
11. Dignified role for the woman
12. Cosmina Craciunescu looks on Positivism
13. Let’s Talk Happiness
14. 30 things to start doing for yourself – #6 is vital.
15. Subcutaneous power for humanity 4 Not crossing borders of friendship
16. Thirst for happiness and meaning
17. We all have to have dreams
18. Happiness an inner state
19. The business of this life
20. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands

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Related articles

• What’s stopping the spread of gender-neutral restrooms? (mydoorsign.com)
  Last year, Philadelphia introduced a pro-LGBT bill that was touted as “the next iteration of civil rights and freedom in the United States.” The bill aims to provide equal rights to the trans community and Mayor Michael Nutter hopes that with this new law, Philadelphia might become “the most LGBT-friendly” city in the world. As part of the new legislation, new or renovated city-owned buildings are required to include gender-neutral bathrooms in addition to traditional men and women’s restrooms.

  In a positive response to transgender students’ complaints of harassment or discrimination, more than 150 colleges and universities have created gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.

  Whether to construct each restroom separately on the basis of socially accepted genders, or to create one restroom that is open for all, is still under debate. Some universities have taken the middle ground, and have built another gender-neutral restroom apart from the already existing gender-segregated ones.

• Sexing the Brain Part 2: Function, Anatomy, and Structure (psychologytoday.com)
  My previous post, “Sexing the Brain (Early Days)” considered the early approach to consider sex differences in terms of perceptual asymmetries. That post ended on McGlone’s (1980) conclusion that men were more lateralized than women, supporting Levy’s (1971) hypothesis. This conclusion was as definite as it could get in 1980. However, McGlone could not quantify the sex differences.

  From this perspective, my contribution to this debate came in the form of a meta-analysis that quantified the magnitude of sex differences in perceptual asymmetries. In my 1996 meta-analysis (Voyer, 1996), I considered measures of perceptual asymmetries in the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities and provided some support for Levy’s hypothesis.

• Langton and Dupre try to unconfuse journalists about minds, brains, and gender (leiterreports.typepad.com)
  if the mind is the brain, any mental difference will be a brain difference. Suppose there are some actual mental differences between men and women, whatever their prior causes. (Hard to imagine training up half of humanity one way, half another, without creating some differences between them.) There will then be some neural differences. Suppose you have two televisions, whose images are different. You call in the technician, who trumpets the discovery that they differ in their pattern of pixels.
• Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference (sciencebookaday.wordpress.com)
• Getting in a Tangle Over Men’s and Women’s Brain Wiring (wired.com)
  You may have heard there’s a new study that claims to have found that men’s and women’s brains are wired differently. Published in the respected journal PNAS, the researchers based at the University of Pennsylvania used a technique known as diffusion tensor imaging to plot the brain wiring maps of 949 people aged 8 to 22. Ragini Verma and her colleagues said their results showed “fundamentally different connectivity patterns in males and females.”

  Specifically, they reported that men’s brains had more connectivity within each brain hemisphere, whereas women’s brains had more connectivity across the two hemispheres. Moreover, they stated or implied, in their paper and in statements to the press, that these findings help explain behavioral differences between the sexes, such as that women are intuitive thinkers and good at multi-tasking whereas men are good at sports and map-reading.

• Brain Mapping Gender Identity: What Makes A Boy A Girl? (kiramoorescloset.wordpress.com)
  An article written by Susan Scutti and posted at the Medical Daily reports on a study published last year which explores the extent to which brain anatomy is associated with gender identity.
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  The degree to which one identifies as male or female has a profound impact on one’s life. Yet, there is a limited understanding of what contributes to this important characteristic termed gender identity. In order to reveal factors influencing gender identity, studies have focused on people who report strong feelings of being the opposite sex, such as male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals.
• So my mushy head is ‘hardwired’ for girly things, is it? If this is science, I am Richard Dawkins | Suzanne Moore (theguardian.com)
  

  Is female inferiority located in individual brains or in culture? Photograph: SMC Images/Getty Images

  If you cut my head in half, out would spill sugar and spice and all things nice, obviously. The part of the brain that does parking would be small, but the part that organises cupcakes and friendship would fizz like sparkling rose. Because I am a girl whose mushy head is “hardwired” for girly things.

  As ever, when I see the latest stuff on gender differences in the brain, I feel that I am barely female. Some parts of my brain have gone rogue. But before anyone gets out a soldering iron to rewire me, let’s um … think about it.

• Gender gap a scientific myth, says psychology expert (guardian.co.uk)
  “Avid readers of popular science books and articles about gender may well have formed the impression that science has shown that the path to a male or a female brain is set in utero, and that these differently structured brains create essentially different minds,” says Fine, whose book is published in the UK this week.

  “These cultural lores, which in popular hands can become nothing short of monstrous fiction, are standing in the way of greater sex equality – just as measures of skull volume, brain weight and neuron delicacy did in the past”.

• Gender and Sexual Diversity (dissidentvoice.org)
  The recent article by Robert Jensen, “Some Basic Propositions about Sex, Gender, and Patriarchy,” espouses concepts that both reflect and perpetuate cissexism and transphobia. Jensen correctly anticipates that readers will recognize much of his article as unabashedly transphobic. He reacts by preemptively dismissing any such observations as mere “tactics.” In the third to last paragraph he writes, “Labeling a radical feminist position on these public policy issues as inherently “transphobic” or describing radical feminist arguments on the issues as “hate speech” are diversionary tactics that undermine productive intellectual and political discussion. A critique of an idea is not a personal attack on any individual who holds the idea.”
• From the comments, more on LBGT as deserving of respect (marginalrevolution.com)
  If it turns out you are born “different” in these ways (I’m not even sure what are the right words to use to cover all the relevant cases), what is the chance that your social structure will be supportive?  Or will you feel tortured, mocked, and out of place?  Might you even face forced institutionalization, as McCloskey was threatened with?  Most likely things will not go so well for you, even in an America of 2014 which is far more tolerant overall than in times past, including on gay issues.  Current attitudes toward transsexuals and other related groups remain a great shame.  A simple question is how many teenagers have been miserable or even committed suicide or have had parts of their lives ruined because they were born different in these ways and did not find the right support structures early on or perhaps ever.  And if you are mocking individuals for their differences in this regard, as some of you did in the comments thread, I will agree with Barkley Rosser’s response: “Some of you people really need to rethink who you are.  Seriously.”

Marcus Ampe's Space

When we look at the different societies in this world we notice that everywhere people are looking for the same answers and trying to find the best of luck and happiness.

Happy girl 5 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We could have a look at those people around the world and see how much their ideas about happiness co-inside. We could use a scale from 1 to 10 to let them allow to give a rate for them feeling sad, happy, or somewhere in-between in their lives. Such scores could allow us to evaluate whether members were less or more happy as changes took place in their environment or surroundings.

An other way, certainly for places where people are not so literate or can not write, is to let them draw three faces – sad face, moderate face, and happy face. When present at the evaluation and the person is not…

View original post 2,044 more words

Searching for fulfillment and meaning through own efforts, facing unsatisfaction and depression

Dark season to cope with

On “Voice, the Christian E-book blog” in Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble is given an interview about Depression and Anxiety is with Perry Noble, founder and senior pastor of NewSpring Church, a multicampus church whose mission is to reach 100,000 people in South Carolina with the gospel.

Mostly the Winter season is marked with people having a lot of difficulty to cope with depression. Spring brings more anxiety to people feeling sometimes pressed in a corner or not able to develop their own talent. Seeing everything coming up  in the parks and fields they become frustrated that nature looked death, but every year can recover so much and bring every time such new beautiful things, whilst they can not.

Today people are not concerned about God and His Creation, but they always will be confronted by that creation. In a way this may become a little bit frustrating for them and for the believers who would like to bring the unbelievers closer to the Creator. By those believers there also may rise a lot more questions when everything comes to live again, and they do not see Spring coming into their life, but see them getting older and less vibrant.

Spring-cleaning

Spring brings also the Spring-cleaning and making us to confront the old things, deciding what to throw away and what to keep but brings also questions, how to continue, and what to do this year. More than the 1st of January people now get wondering what to do and how to succeed in this New Year.

For many, like us it might be the start of trying to meet more  people and getting them to see where they and we are and bringing them to where they and we need to be in a relationship with Jesus and his Father, which should be also Our Father, the Most High God.

People will always get offended—it’s inevitable. The question we have to ask is: would we rather offend religious people or lost people? When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he offended the religious people at the same time he healed a lost person.  {Perry Noble}

Searching for fulfilment and meaning

Perry Noble thinks people are searching for fulfilment and meaning through their own efforts — jobs, money, cars, kids, hobbies— whatever the next big thing might be. The reality, though, is we’ll only be truly fulfilled when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Today we find a lot of people who become frustrated because they can not reach the goals they had set in front of them. Everywhere they seem to see negative elements, blocking their advancement. Lots of people do not feel they get recognition for what they do and having their work not being appreciated they start doubting in the quality of their work or in their ability to bring something others can appreciate.

Man who do not seem to get out of the darkness become struggling with depression. They do not dare to come to others with their problems and do not want to see they are depressed and perhaps need help from specialised people. They need to ask for help immediately.

Elements that can help

Noble who’s first book, Unleash! Breaking Free from Normalcy was a New York Times bestseller, also has struggled with depression. He says:

I was overwhelmed (in an awesome way) with an amazing amount of encouragement and support by my church when I shared my struggle with depression.

For so long, I thought I should be able to pray away how I was feeling or snap out of it and if I did tell anyone what was going on, they would think I was a bad Christian or didn’t really love Jesus. That’s just not true and only by speaking up and asking for help was I able to see this. I don’t think anything is wrong with medication if it’s something a doctor recommends. If you needed medicine to fix your heart you would take that, so why wouldn’t you take medicine to help fix your brain?

Our relationship with our brain and moods

Complete neuron cell diagram. Neurons (also known as neurones and nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. In vertebrate animals, neurons are the core components of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It looks like many people are afraid for their own brain. Certainly when their brain does things they themselves do not like it to do.

It’s often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance, but that figure of speech doesn’t capture how complex the disease is. Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, depression has many possible causes, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. It’s believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression. {What causes depression? first printed in Understanding Depression, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical Schooll}

We got to know that the brain, and not the heart is the centre of our life and the place for all our emotions. We would love to control those areas of the brain which help to regulate mood, but we do not seem to be always in control of them.

Researchers believe that — more important than levels of specific brain chemicals — nerve cell connections, nerve cell growth, and the functioning of nerve circuits have a major impact on depression. Still, their understanding of the neurological underpinnings of mood is incomplete.

Experts have long wondered why, if depression were primarily the result of low levels of neurotransmitters, people don’t feel better as soon as levels of neurotransmitters increase.

The answer may be that mood only improves as nerves grow and form new connections, a process that takes weeks. In fact, animal studies have shown that antidepressants do spur the growth and enhanced branching of nerve cells in the hippocampus. So, the theory holds, the real value of these medications may be in generating new neurons (a process called neurogenesis), strengthening nerve cell connections, and improving the exchange of information between nerve circuits. If that’s the case, medications could be developed that specifically promote neurogenesis, with the hope that patients would see quicker results than with current treatments.

Depression connections in the brain 5 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Regulating mood

Many of our brothers in our community believe that the ultimate goal in treating the biology of depression is to improve the brain’s ability to regulate mood.

We now know that neurotransmitters are not the only important part of the machinery. But let’s not diminish their importance either. They are deeply involved in how nerve cells communicate with one another. And they are a component of brain function that we can often influence to good ends.

Every part of your body, including your brain, is controlled by genes. Genes make proteins that are involved in biological processes. Throughout life, different genes turn on and off, so that — in the best case — they make the right proteins at the right time. But if the genes get it wrong, they can alter your biology in a way that results in your mood becoming unstable. In a genetically vulnerable person, any stress (a missed deadline at work or a medical illness, for example) can then push this system off balance.

Mood is affected by dozens of genes, and as our genetic endowments differ, so do our depressions. The hope is that as researchers pinpoint the genes involved in mood disorders and better understand their functions, treatment can become more individualized and more successful. Patients would receive the best medication for their type of depression.

But mood is also a lot influenced from outside, the people we meet, the activities we see developing around us, how people interact, etc..

View of the world and influential factors

sympathy|for|the|anxiety|explosion (Photo credit: massimo ankor)

Cognitive psychologists point out that your view of the world and, in particular, your unacknowledged assumptions about how the world works also influence how you feel. You develop your viewpoint early on and learn to automatically fall back on it when loss, disappointment, or rejection occurs. For example, you may come to see yourself as unworthy of love, so you avoid getting involved with people rather than risk losing a relationship. Or you may be so self-critical that you can’t bear the slightest criticism from others, which can slow or block your career progress.

How we look at the world can be influenced by many factors, but for sure the media are not helping to have a positive look on it. Therefore we on this site world love to have an other look at the world and see the positive aspects of the world. Therefore we would like to put some photographs , like the previous one published, more in the picture. When you see all those little flowers coming up and giving colour unto our world, we should also like to give colour to our world we are living in.

Many affected by stressful experiences

In the United States of America nearly 19 million adults each year are affected by depression and worldwide we may find more than 35 million people having problems with it. Many of them do not see any more the beauty of nature and do not see any more what marvellous things this world has to offer.

The depression they got in often followed stressful experiences. The brain interprets events and decides if they are threatening, then controls the behavioural and physiological responses to those events. The brain’s reaction to stress is useful in that it supplies extra energy to help a person act on or flee from dangerous situations. Sometimes, however, brain chemical levels that increase during stressful situations stay at high levels and cause problems such as depression.

Would it not better to avoid such route where we went to far on the wrong (site) track? And can we not see by people around us when they are floating away?

Some may think

This world is becoming More Wicked by the moment: and If We; the older men and women, do not speak up: Then How Will the Young Folks learn anything about history?

Knowing history, knowing how people reacted in the past, will avoid that people go again in the same wrong direction.

Depression is a very real issue and it has impacted everyone—either it’s happened to us or someone we know. I think the church needs to talk about this issue and help people understand what the Bible says about overcoming fear, anxiety, and stress. The church should be a place where people meet Jesus, find hope, and have the courage to ask for help! {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Having eyes for the other and helping each-other

Each of us can help a person not getting so far that he or she gets into a depression. We should see when people around us get more into a deep well or in a bottomless pit. By being positive ourselves we can radiate ourselves positiveness that can infect others, making them to see the bright site of life.

Depression is dark and lonely, and there is a misconception that Christians shouldn’t struggle with depression; if you love Jesus, you should just be able to pray it away. But that’s just not true!

Many times, if things are messy, the church doesn’t want to talk about it. {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Churches should also talk about this and other matters people do have to struggle with, also when they are Christian. It is not because we have accepted Jesus in our life that we are free of pain and struggle. Do not believe that. But be sure in our faith we can find guidance and lots of help to be able to cope better with those struggles.

In most cases, people will identify with your pain more than they will your success. Sharing stories of your past and where God has brought you from could help someone take the next step with Jesus. If God can use my pain for someone else’s progress, then I want him to use it! {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Believers and non-believers, people adhering a religion or not, have to see that depression, anxiety, and fear are very real struggles. They should know that they can help each other to overcome it. Every person in the community should take care he or she is no cause that an other shall come in problems or would feel bad.

To endure

Those who are Christian should remember the pains Jesus and his family had to endure. They should remember how Jesus his mother continued her life and how the brothers and sisters went on after Jesus was killed. One of his brothers got the strength to to continue the preaching of his brother, telling not about the negative point that he had lost his brother Jesus, but telling about the positive news his resurrection for us was.

In Christianity we can see how many overcome the many struggles they had to face. Also today we still can find many living proofs that it is possible to overcome being overwhelmed.

We should stop being held back by life’s everyday struggles, and learn to overcome stress and anxiety. And we should concentrate ourselves on the nice things this world may offer to all living people, religious and non-religious. Those who have faith in the Only One True God, should show others how they are and can be further blessed by the Magical Hand of the Divine Creator. So that others may see the marvellous things this world has to offer and how we may enjoy it all.

We all can do much more than we think. Because all people are created in the image of God theyall have received inner forces from the Creator. When we are willing to look in ourselves for those inner forces, we shall be able to use them. Even when you do not believe in God, you would be better to start looking for those inner forces which are implanted in your being. By opening your mind for the search of those inner forces you might well be able to find that what gets you stronger and shall enable you to recover much faster than synthetic medical drugs can do. Animals in the wild do not have the doctor and medicines with them, but they can help themselves by what nature is providing for them. Start seeing what is in nature to help you live a better and easier life.

 

Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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Find additional reading:

1. Meaning of life
2. Feed Your Faith Daily
3. My Christadelphian Faith

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• Subjects in Distress

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Related articles

• An Honest Christian Look At Depression: Perry Noble’s Book, “Overwhelmed” (johnweirick.com)
  “I wanted to kill myself.”Few people want to admit that, and even fewer pastors would.
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  “Overwhelmed” is not for people who have it all together. It’s not for those among us who seem to glide through life, unaffected by tragedy or discomfort. This book won’t help someone who lives a conflict-free life. Anyone who’s got a perfect family, a perfect past, and no fears or doubts — just skip this book. And for those who expect to get everything they want out of life and never suffer resistance of any kind, this book will be completely useless.
• My Opinion on Overwhelmed book by Perry Noble (chunton.wordpress.com)
  The book taught me that if you are in Christ Jesus He’s for you and if He’s for you He loves you and with all of things on your side nothing can hold you back and keep you down! No matter what you’re facing Jesus is greater and He wants you to overcome not be overwhelmed!
• Blog on Perry Noble quote (chunton.wordpress.com)
  The church today needs to focus more on pointing people to Jesus and the fact that He’s alive! The fact that the resurrection happened should be a weekly topic on our church’s because that’s just not something one can simply get over if they truly love Jesus.
• Three Resources by Perry Noble (resourcesforus.wordpress.com)
  Perry provides honest scenarios and practical solutions on how to win the war against worry.This is a book that can help you learn more about the character of God and His ability to help you through these difficult times in your life. You CAN overcome being overwhelmed!”
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  Pastor Perry Noble challenges all followers of Christ to make a bold move by fully embracing the exciting adventure God has called us to. Are you ready to unleash all the life he has created you to live?
• What Is Depression? Examining the Link Between The Physical and The Emotional (Part 1) (megsanity.com)
  People around you owe you more than, “It’s all in your head.” Because that simply isn’t true.
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  Kramer notes that depressives may actually have more realistic views of the world, for example understanding that they aren’t likely to win the lottery or a poker game. However, they are actually less likely to listen to those instincts which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and reinforcement.
• Is Depression Just Bad Chemistry? (scientificamerican.com)
  The general idea is that a deficiency of certain neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) at synapses, or tiny gaps, between neurons interferes with the transmission of nerve impulses, causing or contributing to depression. One of these neurotransmitters, serotonin, has attracted the most attention, but many others, including norepinephrine and dopamine, have also been granted supporting roles in the story.
• Unraveling the Mystery of How Antidepression Drugs Work (scientificamerican.com)
  Depression strikes some 35 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, contributing to lowered quality of life as well as an increased risk of heart disease and suicide. Treatments typically include psychotherapy, support groups and education as well as psychiatric medications. SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, currently are the most commonly prescribed category of antidepressant drugs in the U.S., and have become a household name in treating depression.
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  Everyone could use a little confession every now and again to get out what’s been eating them inside. The philosophical “black bile” seems like recalled memories that trigger episodes, and an inability to control the reaction. Who doesn’t engage in percussive maintenance when they encounter an embarrassing thought? Pills aren’t going to fix that unless they make you numb, which also means prevented growth.
• 4 Quick Tips for Helping Someone With Depression (thereseborchardblog.com)
  Education is always the starting point because until a spouse or daughter or friend of a depressed person understands the illness, it is impossible to say or do the right thing to be supportive. Do your own research by going online to NAMI.org (National Alliance of Mental Illness) or dbsalliance.org (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance), by doing your own Google search, or by reading some of the articles about depression on this site.
• Pastor Perry Noble Taking 2 Month Leave from Megachurch (blackchristiannews.com)
  The extended leave is not due to a marriage, family or church problem, he has clarified. Instead, Noble said he realized he needed to do “what sets me up for long-term success and sets this church up for the same way.”
  With 90 percent of people entering into ministry and not finishing and some pastors being worked too hard by their church, he noted, he decided to take a sabbatical.
  Noble made the announcement to his congregation, which draws around 16,000 people every weekend, last week. Attendees expressed their support of his decision.
• Perry Noble on Modern Day Phariseeism (blackchristiannews.com)
  I became obsessed with religious rules and legalism and forgot all about the grace that God had poured out on me through Jesus. As I look back on that time in my life there are eight things that really defined me…
  #1 – I was way more obsessed with the sins and shortcomings of others and made it my obsession to point out their faults so that I did not have to deal with my own. (Matthew 23:27-28)