Coming days to indulge in good food

Every day we get up and are confronted by the fact we have to eat something sometime. All year we have moments that we think about eating, looking at and for food for our wellbeing. Though we must admit, sometimes we eat more than we really need.

As we grow up, our eating pattern will change just as our life pattern takes twists and turns. Both should be in tune with each other and in balance with each other.

Throughout the year, there are certain days when we dare to indulge in (good) food. As we enter the winter days, we want to treat ourselves to even more warming items against the cold. The end-of-year festivities seem like the ideal time to indulge ourselves like this, with the excuse that to be together we should also enjoy rich food and lots of alcoholic beverages.

Have you ever thought about what you might consume? Over the course of a lifetime, it has been estimated that each of us will consume roughly 35 tons of food. That’s not such a small amount. And if we look at today’s youth, we will have to conclude badly enough that they are consuming even more and even going so far as to endanger their bodies. If you look around, you will be able to see plenty of overweight people walking around.

In these busy days of many visits and lots of food, we might want to take a look at our eating habits and find out what is best for our body, but also for our mind, to eat.

There are a few universal rules that will always serve us well,

says dietitian Priya Tew.

“Overall, throughout our lives we need to focus on that balanced plate. We need protein, whole grains, fruit and vegetables. We need healthy fats and dairy (or dairy alternatives). What changes within that list are the proportions as we age,”

she says.

There are times in our life when oily fish, ­fermented and folate foods should jostle for a starring role in our evening meal.

Over the years, many studies have been published on nutrition and what we actually need. Lots of people searched about the assimilation by living organisms of food materials that enable them to grow, maintain themselves, and reproduce. Over the years, many different ‘diets’ have also been published and we have seen many ‘hypes’ come to light.

Some felt that certain nutrients were best not eaten by a human at all. Others again felt that one could safely slaughter animals to eat and not exclude anything from the diet. But most people agree that we need a substance consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, fat, and other nutrients to sustain growth and vital processes and to furnish energy. Everybody seems to agree at least that the absorption and utilisation of food by the body is fundamental to nutrition and is facilitated by digestion. But what field days will find is that everything is not so easily digested and we may well overeat ourselves, after which our stomachs play up.

So best to think about our eating habits in the coming festive season now before the big feasts are upon us.

It’s never too late to start eating more healthily. As dietitian Dr Carrie Ruxton, co-author of the report, says:

“While we know that nutrition, even before we are conceived, can affect our health and disease susceptibility, it is always possible to make positive changes whatever stage of life you’re at.”

Which nutrients your body needs will depend on your gender and time of life. Whether we’re a growing child, a woman trying to conceive or an adult trying to hold back decline, our bodies change throughout our lives. As such, they need different foods at crucial moments to ensure the best for our bones, brains, guts and hearts.

Understanding the specific nutritional demands during the body’s life cycle should influence our food choices today.

If you’re feeling “sober curious” as the festive season gets into full swing, the good news is you don’t have to make any compromises on flavour. The low- and no-alcohol market is one of the most innovative in the drinks world and it’s growing rapidly – new products promising great taste without the booze hit the shelves daily.

Come to read more about it:

• What your diet should look like at every age
• More Britons than ever are going alcohol-free this Christmas – this is what they’ll be drinking – Cocktails and craft beers are on the menu – just without the hangover
• Thanks to rising costs, national strikes and avian flu causing all manner of product shortages, what could we do to reduce the cost of the festive meals: Britain’s top chefs reveal how to make Christmas lunch taste better on a budget

 

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Related

1. Are You Hungry?
2. One mom’s ‘at home for the holidays’ eating plan is going viral, and it’s an organizational masterpiece
3. Graceful Health: Enjoy Healthy Eating During the Holidays | columnists
4. Brett Arends’s ROI: Eating these simple foods may slow Alzheimer’s by a third 
5. Eating too much hummus can be dangerous.Here’s why you should eat it anyway
6. Stress eating? Here’s how to train your brain to crave healthy foods
7. Carolyn Hansen: Try the ‘addition’ idea to your healthy eating plan
8. Just Beet It!
9. Chicken Crescent Roll Ring
10. Super Festive Holiday Recipes
11. Rolled Turkey Breast Stuffed with Bacon, Cranberries and Pecans
12. Christmas dinner Majorca
13. Whether you’re cooking, catering, or hanging out, options abound.
14. Struggling to feel in control with your eating?
15. Holiday Weight Gain: 3 Easy Ways to Switch Up Protein and Avoid Food Temptations | Nutrition
16. Top 20 common myths about losing weight
17. Healthy Living
18. A Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of frailty in middle-aged and older adults
19. Adding nuts to the daily diet shows positive effects on mental health
20. Add Zucchini To Your Diet For These Amazing Health Benefits
21. How To Get Calcium On A Vegan Diet And 6 Foods To Keep Your Bones Strong
22. Scientists offer tips on how to beat overeating
23. Sustainable Diet
24. FDA Proposes Updated Definition of “Health” Claim on Food Packages to Help Improve Diet and Reduce Chronic Disease
25. 740 Nutrition Inspiring Wellness Efforts in Downtown Zanesville
26. Is this the diet that can save Australian children from obesity?
27. Ayurvedic diet to keep fit and warm during winters
28. Eating for Prediabetes
29. #24 White Fat and Brown Fat
30. Bone Health and Perimenopause
31. Science reveals which diet is best for losing weight and controlling diabetes
32. Jesse Stephen: Why are there so many female flight attendants so some fat flight attendants can’t even buckle up?
33. The real-life diet of Jack Champion, who ate “protein, protein, protein” to get in shape for Avatar

Cutting costs by discounted produce

As inflation in Great Britain reached 11.1pc in October, with food prices soaring even further – fuelled in particular by a significant rise in the cost of dairy products such as cheese and milk, as well as pasta, eggs and oils supermarket Tesco found it appropriate to have their customers looking at their reduced prices goods in a different way.

The third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in the world measured by revenues, the British multinational Tesco, headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England, renamed the “Reduced to Clear” section of their supermarkets to make it more appealing to customers, as a growing number of shoppers look to discounted produce to cut costs.

The new permanent signage will be installed in 100 stores by Christmas Credit: Tesco/PA

The look of the chain’s “Reduced to Clear” areas were found to have put buyers off the same as we can find it here in Belgium when chains mark their goods with “Reduced in price due to out of range” or “Nearly out of date”.

When the supermarket indicates that a product has expired, hardly anyone wants such a product. But if a product is close to its expiry date, this does not mean that the product (with its shelf life) is bad then or even in the first few days after. The bottom line is that we should be much more careful with our food and not just throw it away when the so-called safety date has passed.

As we have seen the prices of gas, electricity, petrol, petroleum and food skyrocket in our parts in recent months, consumers have resolved to get their supplies as cheaply as possible.

Of those who tend to look out for marked down products when out grocery shopping, a lot of customers look for reduced prices. In Britain 71pc said it’s a cheaper option when they want to eat the food straight away, whereas 51pc seek out discounted foodstuffs to stock up the freezer.

Tesco’s rebranded “Reduced in Price” section aims to accommodate customers by offering cheaper alternatives. It will

“offer reassurance that these products are just as nice”

as the non-discounted ones, the retailer has said.

Tesco offers fresh produce such as salads, meat, bread and sweet treats which are close to their expiry date at a discount to get them off the shelves – which the company says also helps to reduce food waste.

Shoppers can also pick up marked-down end-of-season produce or discontinued grocery items.

Meat products were the most popular items in the “Reduced to Clear” section, followed by ready meals, vegetables and then desserts.

Community Farming

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Preceding

Is Organic food even safe?

Nature's Kingdom

We all know that Food is the most essential requirement for the nourishment of human life. Even if a human being does not have shelter over their head or clothes over their body, they would still survive if they get wholesome nutrition. That is why all over human history, we have been motivated to search and seek food.

In March the Government has declared a Lockdown and people for Panic started living city, who staying in Bangalore they were facing lots of problems to buy grocery and daily needs, if they are in containment zone then nobody, where allowed, goes move out of the restricted area.

The community concept is for the people who care about fresh and healthy food, where local food come together to build and support community farms in their neighborhoods, and some assist community groups that are needed to govern the farm, some want to…

View original post 147 more words

Is Organic food even safe?

We all know that Food is the most essential requirement for the nourishment of human life. Even if a human being does not have shelter over their head or clothes over their body, they would still survive if they get wholesome nutrition. That is why all over human history, we have been motivated to search and seek food. {Community Farming}

For some years now we see that more people are looking for healthier ways to live and to eat. More people have become conscious about their ecological footprint.
Luckily there are more people who care about fresh and healthy food, where local food come together to build and support community farms in their neighbourhoods. In several areas we also see a new trend of people willing to go to farms to pluck the goods they need. Some assist community groups that are needed to govern the farm.

Those who simply wish to enjoy, healthy food or agricultural products grown without pesticides, fertilizer, or any other harmful chemical, are willing to pay a little bit extra for that healthier or less environmentally damaging food.

More people are aware that we need to take care more of nature. They want to accommodate the natural behaviour of plants, and to take care of them in a sustainable way.

But, people often forget that “Bio”-food is not always as healthy as it wants us to believe. Organic produce might not only be contaminated by pesticides permitted for organic production or airborne chemicals from conventional farms, but there is also always the possibility of contamination by groundwater and by air pollution from nearby factories.

Advantages of Organic Food

1. It contains no pesticides and fertilizers.
2. It is less harmful to the environment, as it reduces soil erosion, increases its fertility, saves water, and reduces pollution. It also protects natural habitat, such as birds who tend to get affected by the pesticides used in farms
3. More nutritious – We know we have used this word way too much. But, it is true. Organically grown foods are way nutritious than local ones
4. Provides strength – Makes us feel energetic, and therefore, increases our strength
5. Better taste – Who doesn’t like tasty food? So if you have not tried organic food yet, you now have a strong reason to.
   {Organic Food- Green and Clean}

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Next: Community Farming

Nature's Kingdom

organic fruits at a fruit stall

According to a growing body of data, natural foods may have some health benefits over conventionally farmed meals. Despite the fact that these studies have found food disparities, there is inadequate evidence to draw judgments about how these variations translate into overall health advantages.

Some of the potential benefits are as follows:

Fatty acids of the omega-3 variety are a type of fatty acid. The feeding needs of organic livestock production, such as the primary use of grass for cattle, result in higher quantities of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of fat that is less harmful to the heart than other fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in higher concentrations in organic foods, dairy, and eggs.

Metal that is hazardous. Cadmium is a toxic metal found naturally in soils and eaten by plants. Organic grains had somewhat lower cadmium levels than conventionally cultivated crops…

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Do you feel or lover writing about Food

From today onwards we added next to the tag Food, the Category Food. (For this, we went looking at our previous postings to see what could be related to Food.)

It would be great if we could find someone who would not mind writing for us and our readers a regular blog about food, cooking and our way to treat or handle cereals, vegetables and fruit. In case you feel the bug in your hand for writing about the goods we may eat and how we may eat them, you are welcome to show your kitchen talent in writing.

Are you a person who would love to show other people the value of plants for food and medicine to help keep our world and ourselves in good health?

Why would you not be one of those who puts herself or himself at the site at the service for others, bringing forwards ideas for having a better environment and for enjoying lovely meals?

Are you the suitable writer we are looking for?

> Writer wanted

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Find also to read

1. Do you have a writer or presenter in you?
2. Sharing for pleasure and for love
3. A charter for a truly free world and why we need it
4. Looking at man’s closest friend

Having a problem with wonkiness…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weight loss that works

Studies have shown that just about any diet will result in weight loss, if it’s one that someone can follow. Esteemed Yale physician and nutrition expert David Katz examined over 58 popular diets and found that the most successful in terms of both weight loss and nutrition consist of “real food.” By that he means plants, whole grains, nuts and seeds, as well as meat (ideally, from animals that ate plants). Basically, foods closer to nature. The other key is minimizing processed foods, including sugars and flours.

…

It’s hard to keep track of how much we eat. But a lot of research shows that when we keep track of intake, we eat less.

…

Most major weight loss is followed by weight gain, as people revert to their old habits. But, some folks manage to keep it off. How do they do it? Researchers have found that maintaining a healthy diet, ongoing self-monitoring, plenty of self-acceptance, as well as a high level of physical activity are all associated with keeping the pounds off.

…

The old adage is “eat less, exercise more,” and this is still true, to some extent. But human beings are psychologically and sociologically complex creatures, and that adage is a lot harder to follow than it sounds. For average adults who do not have contributing medical or psychological issues, a nutritious plant-based diet low in processed foods and carbohydrates, consistent self-monitoring of intake and progress, forgiving oneself when expected lapses occur, all combined with regular physical activity, can result in weight loss for life.

 

Monique Tello

Continue reading: Weight loss that works: A true story

Fresh vegetables are important components of a healthy diet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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2. It’s that time of the year again
3. Almost Spring time … what’s below the clothes? Our body we must love it!
4. Isn’t there a grand stretch now spring is finally here! Happy that our farmers get a bit more brightness in their day #FarmerFriday
5. How Jogging can Change your Life (1 min read)
6. Actually, you don’t need eight 8 ounce glasses of water every day
7. Why are you avoiding gluten?
8. Boost Your Energy and Mood By Eating Well
9. Measurement Day
10. Lose Weight in 2 Weeks – 8 Tips for Easy Weight Loss
11. Lose 10kg in 10 weeks
12. 7kg down in 4months: week 1
13. Lent Day 10: 3/10/2017
14. Try This
15. Diet Plan for Men – Living Healthy
16. Macronutrient Diet?
17. Protein Diet Plan for Weight Loss
18. Kick Your Appetite to the Curb
19. Food on Friday ~ Comfort Food
20. I feel bad for eating meat
21. Vegetarians/Vegans and Me
22. Corn Salad

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• Physical Activity May Help Outweigh Impact of Obesity on Cardiovascular Disease
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• Exercise May Not Be Completely Linked To Weight Loss, Study Finds
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Looking at man’s closest friend

When we look at those who walk on the street we can find many more people who start looking like a lot of people from over the Atlantic Ocean.

Every October 24, thousands of events all around the United States of America bring Americans together to celebrate and enjoy real food and to push for improved food policies. On that day they have a ‘Food Day‘ which has to inspire Americans to change their diets and their food policies. Nutritionists generally recommend eating a wide variety of foods; however, some groups of people survive on a very limited diet whilst others think they need to eat as much as possible of all sorts of stuff.  The theme for 2016 was “Toward a Greener Diet.”

That Greener diet is something what lots of Europeans should be looking too and why they were afraid for the American trade agreements. But having heard the bad news Donald Trump becoming the president, Europeans will have less fear they have to come to accepting the genetically manipulated products and seeing TTIP not going through.

But back to the four legged friends. Today we want to present Bailey who is a basset who likes sustainability and his boss Hannah who is a writer who likes bassets.

Like for human beings we can see that their four-legged friends often also could use some specific allowance or selection of food, esp prescribed to control weight or in disorders in which certain foods are contraindicated.

As a dog, that basset may not have a whole lot of food options

–it’s dry, brown meat-flavored bits day in and day out (with the occasional apple slice or piece of dropped chicken thrown in there). {Jump on the Local-motive!}

Fritz (Marcus Ampe his Shetland Collie)

My Shetland Collie (Fritz) also to be happy with his dry brown crackly little bits of three different brands (two per day, at night always the same brand) and around the end of year some extra special health food to calm him down for the fireworks

Sometimes we can see the look in our dogs face

Why not for me?

He looking jealous for us, human beings, having an endless choice of nice looking dishes and great smelling products.

We ourselves do keep to as much as possible natural products and not much meat or fish. Our dog receiving more meat, dried lamb and dried chicken with his dried vegetables, every day, and when, in the season, we eat some wild meat (wild boar, roe deer, deer and pheasant) he is happy to receive some ‘real’ pieces of cooked meat (a big treat).

Like we try to limit the ecological footprint Bailey’s boss is also aware of the urgent need to look at where we get our food from.

Living in Asheville

There are about 1,000 reasons to choose local food when you can (that’s 7,000 in dog reasons), but I’ve got some napping to do in this lovely autumn sunlight, so I’ll give just a few of them here. {Jump on the Local-motive!}

I wonder how Baily was settling in to watch the outcome of this presidential election which could some of the European tummies turn around. Though on their site it was noted

Something to ponder–why is it so many candidates don’t list their views on the environment? Is it that they don’t care? Is it that it’s not important enough to voters for them to feel the need to do it? {America! – Great debate} (I love the picture of the dog with the Gaelic ale by her article)

Baily who likes sustainability also loves apple slices, like my dog, and sleeping on the couch. But mostly he wants to talk to you about sustainability. So perhaps it is not bad those from far away would also give him an ear and listen how he’s going to tell all about different sustainability projects happening in his town – greenways, community gardens, eco-houses, all kinds of great stuff.

And with every post I’ll share an easy sustainability tip that you can do right away. {I’m Bailey…}

Carnivore Bailey who can hardly preach vegetarianism, but wants to shed a light on his and the humans their way of eating and handling nature

Being a very health-conscious basset he is well aware of the average American diet which is contributing to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems – problems that land them in the hospital and cost Americans more than $150 billion per year.

Now having a man coming to steer the nation, who himself is not one of the leanest, but wants to have the American products on the first line, he and we can wonder how he is going to tackle all the pollution, the emission of the US companies he want to stimulate their production.

That other ‘carnivore’ becoming president who does not like to listen to others perhaps also listens to Bailey who knows that

a meat-heavy diet takes a terrible toll on the environment.

On the basset’s wise site you can find that he/she has written

Cattle on a pasture in Germany

about before, large-scale agriculture has a huge carbon footprint, and livestock farming is particularly hard on the environment. Four-fifths of the deforestation across the Amazon rainforest (where some of my more exotic cousins like the capybara and the golden lion tamarin live) could be linked to cattle ranching. Factory farms where pigs and other livestock are kept in very tight quarters can produce as much sewage waste as a small city (that’s a lot of poop!). On those farms they use lots of antibiotics to keep the animals healthy, but using those antibiotics creates antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria – bad news for humans and bassets.{Happy Food Day!}

More than half of the Shetland catch by weight and value is Mackerel. Shetland Islands Council (2010) pp. 16-17 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the better or the worse, the Americans and the rest of the whole world shall have to face a new president of the United States of America, who made his money by not being conscious about the environment and not willing to have an eye for the welfare of humans let withstand animals, so curious how Bailey and other animals in that world which made their choice these last few hours, shall look at the next coming four years, though at his first speech after it was known he would be the next president he mentioned

“two, three of four years”

whilst others in the past spoke about

my first term

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Find Baily and his boss her voice at: SustainaBailey

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Preceding articles

How to make sustainable, green habits second nature

What would you do if…? Continued trial

Building a low-carbon world: the sixth industrial revolution

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Additional reading

1. Ecological economics in the stomach #1 Alarmbell
2. European Guidelines and Low Carbohydrate Diets for Diabetes
3. Organic Food
4. Royals, mini busses and environment
5. Wolves left in the cold

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Further reading

1. Education | Result of Seminar, Food Day
2. For the Love of Food
3. For the Love of Food
4. At the Fall/Winter 2016 Table
5. An Apple A Day
6. Nine and ten, begin again!
7. An Ecological Footprint in Context
8. Making the regenerative city
9. What China’s Monumental Move to Cut Meat Could Mean for the Future of our Planet
10. A startling result
11. Walk this way …
12. How You Can Reduce Your Ecological Footprint
13. Regulars Complain About Popular NYC Restaurant’s Plan To Go Vegan – Why The Owner Doesn’t Care
14. Food Technology That May Save The Planet: Plant Based Protein
15. Don’t Want To Be A Vegan? Make One Change… Veggie Burgers
16. Footprint Calculator – Global Footprint Network
17. Help Save 45,000 Wild Horses From Being Killed
18. Homemade = Less Money & Less Waste
19. Environmentalist on a Budget
20. A Step in the Right Direction: OTF “How Big is your Ecological Footprint?” Lesson Plan Review
21. If Everyone Lived in an ‘Ecovillage’, the Earth Would Still Be in Trouble
22. US Elections November 2016
23. Is This Real Life?
24. Donald Trump Crashes Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Dream After Historic Election Victory
25. What have children learnt from the US election?
26. Trump: Europe’s nightmare? Maybe we should take a breather.
27. What Trump’s win means for the rest of the world
28. How we can respond positively to the result of the Presidential election

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Save

Related articles

• On the Election – II
• Clinton says Trump would be Putin’s ‘puppet’
• As seizures of deadly chemical top 400 in U.S., China carfentanil trade thrives
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• Trump brand of migrant demonization #2

Grain for the heart

Spring coming along, the men on the fields are sawing again. But how about our spiritual grain and the abundance in our hearts?

Many today are not so much interested in sawing are trying to get the best seeds, as long as they can have as much fun as possible. There sex life is not build on love but on personal pleasure and used as a hunting trophy

Away with it oh no! – Weg er mee, oh neen

In sommige landen, als België en Frankrijk, zijn er grootwarenhuizen die er voor zorgen dat er niet aan ‘dumpster diving” wordt gedaan. Schandalig stellen zij alles in het werk om te verhinderen dat mensen nog iets bruikbaars uit hun vuilbakken zouden halen.

On the Flemish television we could see in a few documentaries where also hidden camera’s were used, how In some countries such as Belgium and France, there are supermarkets that ensure that is not to “dumpster diving” can be done in their trash-bins. Scandalously they make sure that nobody shall be able to retrieve something from their dustbins.

> Voor de Nederlandse versie: ga verder naar beneden a.u.b.

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Aanvullend tot: Met minder is … nog genoeg

Related articles

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• How To Dumpster Dive in L.A.
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• [Ticker] Belgium withdraws Waterloo coin after French protest

Culinien Nienemin

Away with it oh no! (English version)

Day 1038.. there you throw away another meal again. The leftovers, which are superfluous because it was to much. I hear it a lot around me and sometime in the news they come with a new message about dumpster diving people who go looking for edible food in the garbage. Last year I talked on my blog about the recycling of food. Here I mentioned Damn Food waste. This is a day in Amsterdam where they make dinners from waste. The waste of food is enormous. Luckily, there are new initiatives for the proper handling of food.

Last Sunday I was watching 24 kitchen, there was a program about recycling food forward. I immediately got inspired and went to look for some interesting developments in the field of food recycling.

Last year, in besides the Damn Food waste festival also Restival was organized…

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Less… is still enough

On the trash of the wealthy the poor try to survive – People who earn their living by collecting and sorting garbage and selling them for recycling, Payatas, Manila, Philippines.

Less… is still enough!

The facts.
The collective wealth of all the Belgian people is more than 2.000 billion euro (De Tijd). The 10 richest families together own almost half of all that wealth (Knack). Yearly in Europe – and you read it correctly – we throw away 590.000.000 ( five hundred and ninety million) tons of food. 20 % of all young people between 13 and 20 years of age  regularly think about suicide (Enquiry National Youth Service).

Are you still following?
Is each one of us not a prisoner of conventions, caught in material things and that what is on the surface? Are the energy we invest in production and the effort we make in order to consume, not out of proportion?

In the middle of progressive thinking the question arises about what proof we need to realise that some thing or other is getting out of hand? To put it in a different way: what else has to happen to us before we come to an insight ? Usually it is difficult to admit that to have ‘more’ and ‘property’ are addictive. With (a little) less it would become quite difficult for some. For the poor without doubt, because they always live with ‘less’.

Professions without borders
This is a televsion programme in which professional people from here go and cooperate with colleagues in far away countries. At the end of their trip, filled with experiences, each one of them nearly always has the same reaction:

“Do we really realise what a good life we have in Belgium”?

Confronted with shortage and poverty, ‘people that have a lot’ get to know the inner side of ‘people with less’. The encounter is very emotional and touching. It is ‘enrichment’ that they receive from these ‘poor’ people. Who helps who?

Someone said it as follows:

“Since I live with less, I do not feel the shortage, but rather have the experience of ‘more'”.

Or less is more … or at least enough!

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Translation from the Dutch / Nederlands origineel: Met minder is… nog genoeg

 

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Additional reading:

1. Capitalism
2. Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey
3. Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
4. Luxury
5. Capitalism downfall
6. Increasing wealth gap of immense proportions in the Capitalist World
7. Self inflicted misery #1 The root by man
8. European Year for combating poverty spurred mobilisation and commitment
9. Yad Vashem: Remembering the Past, Shaping the Future
10. Catherine Ashton on the EU annual report on human rights
11. Looking to the East and the West for Truth
12. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #1 Up to 21st century
13. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #2 First two decennia of 21st century
14. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #3 Right to Human dignity
15. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #4 The Family pact
16. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #5 Housing
17. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #6 Transport factor of immobilising financial growth
18. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #7 Education
19. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #8 Work
20. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #9 Consumption
21. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #10 Health
22. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #11 Participation
23. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #12 Conclusion
24. Poverty and measurement
25. Poverty placed in history
26. 1985-2012 Poverty in Europe
27. 2014 Economics
28. Poverty and conservative role patterns
29. Ability for a community to come back from a crisis
30. Bleak forecasts for children in the UK
31. Violence against disabled children
32. Anti-Crisis anger calling out
33. A risk taking society
34. Securing risks
35. Green Claims in Europe
36. A Snippet of Advice on Cultural Analysis
37. The natural beauties of life
38. Problems by losing the borders
39. Migrants to the West #3
40. US poverty worse than previous recessions
41. Nearly 50 million poor North Americans
42. Expanding opportunities for more American families
43. Subcutaneous power for humanity 5 Loneliness, Virtual and real friends
44. Depression Is and When
45. High time to review the right to keep and bear arms
46. Your struggles develop your strengths
47. If we, in our prosperity, neglect religious instruction and authority
48. From Winterdarkness into light of Spring
49. Reflect on how much idolizing happens
50. Message of Pope Francis I for the 48th World Communications Day
51. Pope Francis says Catholics must become evangelisers
52. Full text of Pope Francis’ Interview with ‘La Vanguardia’
53. When we love we do not need laws
54. Catholicism, Anabaptism and Crisis of Christianity
55. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
56. Being Religious and Spiritual 8 Spiritual, Mystic and not or well religious
57. All I want is peace!!!

+++

Related articles

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  London is now a city of contradictions. It is the richest part of the country, but also its most unequal, with the highest levels of poverty. It is home to some of the world’s most expensive real estate, but has the highest proportion of renters of any area of the country, many of whom are locked out of home ownership. It has some of the world’s best teaching hospitals, but suffers from profound health inequalities.

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  Although the economy has grown slightly and unemployment is relatively low, the poverty rate in Germany has increased; it has been rising almost continuously since 2006 and now stands at 15.5 percent. This means that about 12.5 million adults exist on less than €845 per month as unmarried persons or less than €1,873 in a family with two children.

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Warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates

BIRDS

Birds are warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates and are oviparous, that is, egg laying. There are some 300 references to birds in the Bible, with about 30 different varieties being specifically named. Reference is made to their flight, often in escaping their enemies (Ps 11:1; Pr 26:2; 27:8; Isa 31:5; Ho 9:11); their roosting in trees (Ps 104:12; Mt 13:32); their nesting (Ps 84:3; Eze 31:6); their uses, particularly young pigeons and turtledoves, in sacrifice (Le 1:14; 14:4-7, 49-53) and as food (Ne 5:18), including their eggs (Isa 10:14; Lu 11:11, 12); and God’s provision and care for them.

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

26 Observe intently the birds of heaven;+ they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are?   (Matthew 6:26)

29 Two sparrows sell for a coin of small value,* do they not? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.+ (Matthew 10:29; compare De 22:6, 7).

Birds were among the earliest living souls on earth, coming into existence on the fifth creative “day” along with the marine creatures.

20 Then God said: “Let the waters swarm with living creatures,* and let flying creatures fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”*+21 And God created the great sea creatures* and all living creatures* that move and swarm in the waters according to their kinds and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters of the sea,+ and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)

Of the general terms used in the Bible that apply to birds, the most frequent Hebrew word is ʽohph, basically meaning “flying creature” (Ge 1:20), which may include not only birds but also winged insects. (Compare Le 11:13, 21-23.) The Hebrew tsip·pohr′ also occurs in a large number of texts and is a generic term applying to birds in general. (Ge 7:14) A third Hebrew term, ʽa′yit, is applied solely to the birds of prey.

Bird – Seagull enjoying the sunset (Photo credit: blmiers2)

The following terms are found in the Greek Scriptures: or′ne·on, meaning simply “bird” (Re 18:2); pe·tei·non′ and pte·nos′, both literally meaning “flier.” (Ro 1:23; 1Co 15:39; compare Int.) At Acts 17:18 Athenian philosophers referred to the apostle Paul as a “chatterer.” The Greek word here (sper·mo·lo′gos) was applied to a bird that picks up seeds, while figuratively it was used of a person who picks up scraps by begging or stealing, or, as in the case cited, one who repeats scraps of knowledge, an idle babbler.

A thoughtful study of birds gives convincing proof of the Biblical teaching that they are of divine creation. While birds and reptiles are both oviparous, reptiles are cold-blooded, often sluggish, whereas birds are warm-blooded and among the most active of all earth’s creatures; they also have an unusually rapid heartbeat. The evolutionary view that reptilian scales and front limbs eventually developed into feathered wings is both fanciful and baseless. The fossils of birds called by scientists Archaeopteryx (or, ancient wing) and Archaeornis (or, ancient bird), though showing teeth and a long vertebrated tail, also show that they were completely feathered, had feet equipped for perching, and had fully developed wings. No intermediate specimens, exhibiting scales developing into feathers or front legs into wings, exist to give any semblance of support to the evolution theory. As expressed by the apostle Paul, birds are of a distinct “flesh” from others of earth’s creatures.

Bird – Duck – Mallard (Photo credit: blmiers2)

39 Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one of mankind, there is another flesh of cattle, another flesh of birds, and another of fish.  (1Corinthians 15:39).

The psalmist called upon the “winged birds” to praise Jehovah (Ps 148:1, 10), and birds do this by their very structure and their complex design. A single bird may have from 1,000 to over 20,000 feathers. Yet each feather is composed of a shaft from which branch out hundreds of barbs forming an inner web, each barb containing several hundred smaller barbules and each barbule having hundreds of barbicels and hooklets. A single six-inch wing feather of a pigeon is thus estimated to contain some hundreds of thousands of barbules and literally millions of barbicels. The aerodynamic principles built into birds’ wings and body design surpass in complexity and efficiency that of modern-day aircraft. A bird’s hollow bones contribute to its lightness, and thus the skeleton of a frigate bird with a 2-m (7 ft) wingspan may weigh only about 110 g (4 oz). Certain wing bones of large soaring birds even have trusslike supports, like the struts inside airplane wings, within the hollow portions.

At the time of the Flood, Noah introduced into the ark for preservation pairs of birds “according to their kinds.”

7 So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, man together with domestic animals, creeping animals, and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.” … 19 And bring into the ark two of every sort of living creature+ in order to preserve them alive with you, a male and a female;+ 20 of the flying creatures according to their kinds, the domestic animals according to their kinds, and all creeping animals of the ground  (Genesis 6:7, 19-20)

3 also of the flying creatures of the sky by sevens,* male and female, to preserve their offspring alive over all the earth.+ …

23 So He wiped every living thing from the surface of the earth, including man, animals, creeping animals, and the flying creatures of the sky. They were all wiped off the earth;+ only Noah and those with him in the ark survived.+ (Genesis 7:3, 23)

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is no certain way of knowing how many different “kinds” of birds then existed, some types of birds having become extinct even in recent times. However, it is of interest to note that the listing of birds according to present-day scientific classification presented in The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1985, Vol. 15, pp. 14-106) gives a total of only 221 bird “families,” including some that are now extinct or known only in fossil form. There are, of course, thousands of varieties included within these “families.” {Note}

Following the global Flood, Noah offered up “clean flying creatures” along with animals as a sacrifice. (Ge 8:18-20) Birds were thereafter made allowable by God for inclusion in man’s diet, as long as the blood was not eaten. (Ge 9:1-4; compare Le 7:26; 17:13.) The ‘cleanness’ of certain birds at that time therefore evidently relates to some divine indication of acceptableness for sacrifice; the Biblical record shows that, as regards their being used as food, none of the birds were designated as “unclean” until the introduction of the Mosaic Law. (Le 11:13-19, 46, 47; 20:25; De 14:11-20) The factors determining which birds were designated ceremonially “unclean” are not expressly stated in the Bible. Thus, while most of those so designated were birds of prey or scavengers, not all of them were.  This prohibition was lifted following the establishment of the new covenant, as God made evident to Peter by a vision.

9 The next day as they were continuing on their journey and were approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour* to pray. 10 But he became very hungry and wanted to eat. While they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance+11 and saw heaven opened and something* descending like a great linen sheet being let down by its four corners on the earth; 12 and in it were all sorts of four-footed animals and reptiles* of the earth and birds of heaven. 13 Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, because I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.”+15 And the voice spoke again to him, the second time: “Stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” (Acts of the apostles 10:9-15).

Birds (Photo credit: Emyan)

The identification of the birds specifically named in the Bible presents a difficult problem in some cases. Lexicographers generally are guided by the root meaning of the name, since this is usually descriptive, by indications in the context as to the bird’s habits and habitat, and by observation of the birds known to be found in the Bible lands. In many cases the names are believed to be onomatopoeic, that is, imitating the sound produced by the bird.

The diverse topography of Palestine, ranging from cool mountain peaks to deep sweltering valleys and from arid deserts to maritime plains, all together near the SE corner of the Mediterranean Sea, makes it a focal point for a great variety of bird types. Mount Hermon, in the N, is snowcapped for much of the year, while the region about 200 km (125 mi) to the S along the lower Jordan Valley and near the Dead Sea is hot and tropical. Each of these zones contains birds peculiar to its own environment, either alpine or tropical, as do also the temperate zones and the desert regions. (Ps 102:6; 104:16, 17) Additionally, Palestine is on one of the major migrational routes followed annually by birds (storks, turtledoves, quail, swifts, swallows, bulbuls, cuckoos, and others) traveling N from Africa in the spring or S from Europe and Asia in the fall. (Ca 2:11, 12; Jer 8:7) Thus it is estimated that about 470 varieties of birds may be found in Palestine at some time during the course of a year. In view of the deterioration of Palestinian forests and vegetation over the centuries, it is likely that in Biblical times the bird population was even greater.

Particularly notable are the great numbers of birds of prey (Heb., ʽa′yit) found in Palestine, including eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, and vultures. Back in Abraham’s time, birds of prey tried to descend upon Abraham’s sacrifice of certain animals and birds, obliging him to drive them off until the sun began to set. (Ge 15:9-12; compare 2Sa 21:10.) In their search for food these birds rely on their powerful telescopic sight, rather than on their relatively weak sense of smell.

The well-known sight of a cluster of scavenger birds gathered around a carcass often served as the basis for an ominous warning to an enemy (1Sa 17:44, 46), and repeatedly formed part of divinely inspired prophetic warnings to the nation of Israel and its rulers (De 28:26; 1Ki 14:11; 21:24; Jer 7:33; 15:3) as well as to foreign nations. (Isa 18:1, 6; Eze 29:5; 32:4) Thus, the one used by Jehovah to execute judgement was figuratively represented by “a bird of prey.” (Isa 46:11) Desolation of a city or land was depicted by its becoming the habitat of certain birds of solitary nature (Isa 13:19-21; compare Re 18:2) or by the disappearance of all bird life. (Jer 4:25-27; 9:10; 12:4; Ho 4:3; Zep 1:3) The proclamation calling all the birds to gather to feast upon the dead bodies of Gog of Magog and his crowd (Eze 39:1-4, 17-21) is paralleled by that recorded in Revelation in which the bodies of national rulers and their armies become food for “all the birds that fly in midheaven” as a result of the executional work of Christ Jesus as King.

11 I saw heaven opened, and look! a white horse.+ And the one seated on it is called Faithful+ and True,+ and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.+12 His eyes are a fiery flame,+ and on his head are many diadems.* He has a name written that no one knows but he himself, 13 and he is clothed with an outer garment stained* with blood, and he is called by the name The Word+ of God. 14 Also, the armies in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. 15 And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword+ with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron.+ Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.+16 On his outer garment, yes, on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.+

17 I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven:* “Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God,+18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of military commanders and the flesh of strong men+ and the flesh of horses and of those seated on them,+ and the flesh of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.”

19 And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the one seated on the horse and against his army.+20 And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet+ that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast+ and those who worship its image.+ While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulfur.+21 But the rest were killed off with the long sword that proceeded out of the mouth of the one seated on the horse.+ And all the birds were filled with their flesh.+ (Revelation 19:11-21; contrast this with God’s comforting words to his people, at Ho 2:18-20).

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals of the field,+ And with the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground;+ I will rid the land of the bow and the sword and war,+ And I will make them lie down* in security.+19 I will engage myself to you forever; And I will engage myself to you in righteousness and in justice, In loyal love and in mercy.+ 20 I will engage myself to you in faithfulness, And you will certainly know Jehovah.’+ (Hosea 2:18-20)

Worship of birds as representing the true God was prohibited to the nation of Israel (De 4:15-17) but was prominent among the pagan nations, particularly in Egypt. (Ro 1:23) Hundreds of bird mummies have been found in Egyptian tombs, principally of birds such as the falcon, the vulture, and the ibis, all of which were sacred among the Egyptians. Egyptian hieroglyphics contain some 22 different bird signs.

Bird (Photo credit: DeusXFlorida (5,003,637 views) – thanks guys!)

+

{Note}: The “kinds” of animals selected had reference to the clear-cut and unalterable boundaries or limits set by the Creator, within which boundaries creatures are capable of breeding “according to their kinds.” It has been estimated by some that the hundreds of thousands of species of animals today could be reduced to a comparatively few family “kinds”—the horse kind and the cow kind, to mention but two. The breeding boundaries according to “kind” established by Jehovah were not and could not be crossed. With this in mind some investigators have said that, had there been as few as 43 “kinds” of mammals, 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles in the ark, they could have produced the variety of species known today. Others have been more liberal in estimating that 72 “kinds” of quadrupeds and less than 200 bird “kinds” were all that were required. That the great variety of animal life known today could have come from inbreeding within so few “kinds” following the Flood is proved by the endless variety of humankind—short, tall, fat, thin, with countless variations in the colour of hair, eyes, and skin—all of whom sprang from the one family of Noah.

Sleeping Caribbean Flamingo at the Metro Toronto Zoo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

+

Additional reading:

1. Praise be to God
2. Praise the God with His Name
3. Praise the most High Jehovah God above all
4. Make a joyful noise unto Yahweh, rejoice, and sing praise unto Jehovah

+++

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  Pterosaurs were Earth’s first flying vertebrates. Although birds and bats have taken wing in the 66m years since their extinction, we don’t have any flying creatures that approach the size of the biggest pterosaurs. The largest known specimen, Quetzalcoatlus, had a 10-metre wingspan. An immense vertebra recently found in Romania suggests that pterosaurs may have grown even bigger than that. The largest flying animals today, such as the wandering albatross and the Andean condor, average a wingspan of around three metres.

• Birds (milliesmindofmadness.wordpress.com)
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A bird’s eye and reflecting from within

Can you imagine flying birds travelling for miles and miles, crossing habitat regions and places where nearly no human being tramples on the ground.

metropolis (Photo credit: jonfeinstein)

From high above those birds can see how those earthlings destroy their own habitat. They see them wanting to live in their own dirt.

Those birds look down at those creatures who so often dream about what they can do and worry so much about the day of tomorrow. They do not imagine the life those people want, though many of them might imagine wonderful things.
Those beings down there spent lots of their time focusing on gathering all sorts of material gadgets. Their world seems to turn more around money than on getting food. Though we must be honest lots of them also focus their intention toward realizing their deepest desires and dreams.

How many of those people dare to go up in the sky and go forward to that one goal, thousands of miles away?

How many would begin to believe those dreams, aims and goals were possible?

A Soul Talk questions:

If you gave your attention to those things in your mind that spoke of your great beauty and talent, would you start to believe and have confidence in yourself again?  If life all around you is simply a reflection of those thoughts you most focus on, wouldn’t you be more careful of what you repeated over and over again to yourself?

When we look in nature we do see that the seasons decide what shall going to happen. The animals do not doubt. They are not going to wait and see if it will be worthwhile to take off or to settle down.

The birds can often see man as a fish which fails to see the water it swims in. They have a brain but use it strangely and are so often more concerned about figuring things out. they all think they are able to make and control their own world. Most of them want to play for God. Everything they do becomes calculated. Modern mind has become more and more calculating.

The calculative exactness of practical life which the money economy has brought about corresponds to the ideal of natural science: to transform the world into an arithmetic problem, to fix every part of the world by mathematical formulas. Only money economy has filled the days of so many people with weighing, calculating, with numerical determinations, with a reduction of qualitative values to quantitative ones. (“The Metropolis and Mental Life” p.412)

They all look for consistent and reliable formulas to how life works. For them formulas are re-assuring, such as

“be a banker/lawyer/accountant/doctor, because these jobs translate into big numbers, and these big numbers mean success”.

Success is something which they can count and measure. They have their eyes focused on those pieces of papers with heads and figures on it, but do not see where they are flying at.

Eddie Tay on Hong Kong lucida writes:

Of course, there are many successful bankers/lawyers/accountants/doctors who lead meaningful lives and who enjoy their jobs. I’m only arguing against the confusion between quality and quantity. Quality cannot be easily quantified. Sometimes we play this soundtrack too readily. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

Hong Kong Kowloon Panorama Victoria Peak 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the birds it may look like life for man is oh so infinitely easy, and everything seems to lie at their fingertips. They have their big nests,  buildings which want to compete with the trees and air around, hoping to be the tallest one. They have their educational institutions, in the wonders and comforts of space-conquering technology, in the formations of community life, and in the visible institutions of the state. They offer themselves fantasies and create fro themselves an overwhelming fullness of crystallized and impersonalized spirit that the personality, so to speak, cannot maintain itself under its impact. From all sides they allow ideas coming up to them, in the hope they can become a personality like by the others. From the others they want to receive stimulations and interests. They all are consumed by time.

They carry the person as if in a stream, and one needs hardly to swim for oneself. On the other hand, however, life is composed more and more of these impersonal contents and offerings which tend to displace the genuine personal colorations and incomparabilities. This results in the individual’s summoning the utmost in uniqueness and particularization, in order to preserve his most personal core. He has to exaggerate this personal element in order to remain audible even to himself.  (“The Metropolis and Mental Life” p. 422)

Eddie Tay finds this to be rather depressing.

The modern concern with the uniqueness of our personality emerges out of an anxiety. Now that everything is for sale, we’re compelled to be “unique”, “autonomous” and “individual” so as to differentiate ourselves from other cogs in the giant capitalist machine. “Look at me I’m so unique and interesting,” I tell myself and others, knowing that there are tens of thousands of people around me (and many with blogs like this) saying precisely the same thing. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

Many more people should be aware that

We are surrounded by things we buy with numbers. And these things, whether tangible or intangible, which we buy and sell, turn us into who we are. {The Metropolis and Mental Life}

Photo from Eddie Tay, Honk Kong lucida

We make ourselves, by what we consume for our mind and for our mind. Stomach and brain take up the food what we present it, we can either make it healthy or poison it. When you look at certain markets, it seems that people can not get enough of material, but also are drowning themselves by it. Too many people forget what impact all those things around them can have on their life.

We all should better take a moment to transfer ourselves in a bird and look at ourselves from way up there in the sky. We should take some distance, now and then, from what we do and want to do, and reflect on what we did, want to do and on what we would like to succeed and which goal we would like to make.

With Spring time we should not only do our Spring cleaning but we could take a new start. You too, can start today to believe that you can impact your external world by placing your focus on images of love, kindness, and joy and you will truly be surprised by what you attract to yourself.

Start today to live in consciousness as to what is happening within you, you will then have the grand opportunity to create what is happening around you in a more remarkable and enjoyable way. {Simply a reflection from within!}

The mother of Soul talk has learned her lesson from the wise song of her toddler which continues to ring true- in the face of adversity “Never give up never never give up!”.

Keep the faith and you shall persevere- I have learned this very difficult lesson recently and can tell you your only choice is to keep the faith and move forward-the alternative is not so appealing- I can promise you that-your biggest break can be just around the corner and if you did not move towards it you would never know. {Never give up!}

Every year again the birds make their nest. They never seem to be tired to do it over and over again. We should also continue trying to do the things we really want to do.

There are millions of people who do not know they have a security key in their own hands. They themselves have been given, by birth, the key to knowledge and inner peace. All being created in the image of the Divine Creator we do have elements from this Eternal Spirit. He acknowledges our being, but we ourselves are not willing to see our own being in relationship with Him. There lies the biggest problem of humankind.

In case we would accept the Creator of our being, and accept that He has to be the Most High Master, than we could find fulfilment and guidance by following His instructions which He has given to the whole world.

In the Garden of Eden He has given man the right to take care of the world himself. But He always was prepared to help those who wanted Him next to them. Those who want His Guidance He is willing to give.

As adults, we build upon the hopes of our parents and the fertile imaginations of our youth. We continue to foster the dreams that were born in our hearts on our first day of life, yet now have the tools to bring those dreams forth into our realities. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

That is not bad. We all should have dreams and continue to make dreams. We should try to build up our life by dreams coming through. We have to foster our dreams and have to build up courage to see them through.

The courage to step beyond our fears of failure. The courage to meet doubt head on.  The courage to pursue the ideas that were born in us, given to us, to be discovered by us to enjoy the fantastic world that begs for us to explore. The courage to make all our dreams come true. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

In case we would accept the Guiding Hand of the Creator and dare to ask Him to help us, He will be there for us.

If we ask, believe, and have the courage to act, and begin to receive, the life we have imagined can be the life we are living.  When we start to believe and have faith in all that is possible for us, then we align with the hopes of our parents, the child within who dared to be whomever she wanted to be, and the adult whose courageous acts of faith allow those dreams to become a reality. {With courage, our dreams become reality!}

We often forget just to take some time to be with that Mightier Being. We mostly trust to much those who are of this earth, instead of counting on the one in heaven.

Why not trying to take a turning point? Why not simply taking the time each day to focus on those positive attributes and intentions that give you great happiness? Putting on the right mind shall help us but also those around us, on the right track and bring them in the right mood. When we do take a positive attitude we may rest assured that people and things will start to show up in your life that will greatly add to your happiness.

Let it be said that a person who feels good on the inside will experience that good on the outside.  A person who looks at life with a glass half full mentality, will eventually have their cup runneth over.  Your world is but a mirror of what is happening inside of you. So before you start your day, promise yourself that you will take a moment or two to reflect on what you are grateful for to charge those positive emotions, then set out to experience your own something wonderful  when you start from that joyous place within. If your world is simply a reflection from within, wouldn’t it be in you best interest to make it the best reflection of a well lived life that you could ever imagine!   {Simply a reflection from within!}

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Preceding articles:

Birds, Birds Everywhere

Birds’ Eye

Food for Thought-Birds of Caution

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Additional reading:

1. Searching for fulfilment and meaning through own efforts, facing unsatisfaction and depression
2. The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places
3. Some one or something to fear #2 Attitude and Reactions
4. God Feeds The Birds
5. Food as a Therapeutic Aid
6. Men as God
7. People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life
8. People Seeking for God 6 Strategy
9. Religions and Mainliners
10. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
11. A Living Faith #2 State of your faith
12. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
13. A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
14. A Living Faith #12 The Love for Jesus
15. Some one or something to fear #7 Not afraid for Gods Name
16. Texts, writers, accessibility and willingness
17. Rest thy delight on Jehovah
18. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
19. A goal is a dream with a plan
20. A treasure which can give me everything I need
21. Opportunity!
22. Count your blessings
23. By counting our blessings we not only feel good, but we multiply our good
24. Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
25. A good idea to halt all activity for one hour some day
26. We should use the Bible every day
27. Come ye yourselves apart … and rest awhile (Mark 6:31)
28. God does not change
29. See the conquest and believe that we can gain the victory
30. Not holding back and getting out of darkness
31. A New Perspective
32. The Paradigm of Instinct, Intuition and Intention
33. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
34. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
35. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
36. How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
37. Points to remember of philosophy versus spirituality and religion
38. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
39. Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal
40. Try driving forward instead of backwards
41. Life is like a ten-speed bike.
42. Suffering produces perseverance

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