Category Archives: Body, Mind & Spirit

Snopes—Nope

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Originally published on www.mercola.com

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • In their purported fact-checking of a report by CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, Snopes spewed propaganda, not real facts, in an attempt to discredit the report and the potential vaccines-autism link
  • Snopes wrote the article without contacting Attkisson, who went on to state that they also listed claims she never made, then declared them to be false, and even were incorrect in one of their own claims
  • It’s dangerous to rely on any one source or group of individuals as authorities on truth, as it sets up the path for inevitable censorship
  • Industry propaganda and censorship of health and media information that strays from the mainstream is a growing problem
  • In your search for the truth, always follow your own guiding light — not one maintained by Snopes or any other internet watchdog or censorship authority that tries to lead you down their own biased path

In the barrage of information you come across daily online, how do you know what’s true and what’s nothing more than hearsay, gossip or all-out lies? Some people use Snopes as their go-to source for online fact-checking, believing it to give the unbiased and credible final word on all those widely-circulated stories.

If you’re relying on Snopes as your arbiter of truth, however, you’re in for a surprise: Snopes engages in massive censorship of natural health and general promotion of industry talking points. What started as a tool to investigate urban legends, hoaxes and folklore has manifested into a self-proclaimed “definitive fact-checking resource” that’s taking on topics like whether or not vaccines can cause autism.

Yet, in their purported fact-checking of a Full Measure report1 by award-winning investigative reporter and former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson,2 Snopes simply spewed propaganda, not real facts, in an attempt to discredit the report and the potential vaccines-autism link. In the end, though, they actually ended up confirming the main point of Attkisson’s report. For this, Attkisson wrote, “Snopes gets an ‘F’ for predictable propaganda in [the] vaccine-autism debate.”

Snopes Attempts to Discredit Investigative Report on Vaccines-Autism Link

Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist, is a pro-vaccine expert witness the U.S. government used to debunk and turn down autism claims in vaccine court. “Zimmerman was the government’s top expert witness and had testified that vaccines didn’t cause autism.

The debate was declared over,” Attkisson reported. “But now Dr. Zimmerman has provided remarkable new information,” she said in the Full Measure report, adding:3

He claims that during the vaccine hearings all those years ago, he privately told government lawyers that vaccines can, and did cause autism in some children. That turnabout from the government’s own chief medical expert stood to change everything about the vaccine-autism debate. If the public were to find out …

And he has come forward and explained how he told the United States government vaccines can cause autism in a certain subset of children and [the] United States government, the Department of Justice [DOJ], suppressed his true opinions.”

Zimmerman declined to be interviewed for the report, but referred Attkisson to his sworn affidavit, dated September 7, 2018, in which he stated that, in 2007, he told DOJ lawyers he had “discovered exceptions in which vaccinations could cause autism.

“I explained that in a subset of children … vaccine-induced fever and immune stimulation … did cause regressive [brain disease] with features of autism spectrum disorder,” Zimmerman wrote.

This reportedly “panicked” the DOJ, which subsequently fired him, saying his services would no longer be needed, but essentially attempting to silence him. According to Zimmerman, the DOJ then went on to misrepresent his opinion in future cases, making no mention of the exceptions he’d informed them of.

“Meantime, CDC [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] – which promotes vaccines and monitors vaccine safety – never disclosed that the government’s own one-time medical expert concluded vaccines can cause autism – and to this day public health officials deny that’s the case,” according to the Full Measure report.4

Attkisson’s report also reveals how Congressmen who wanted to investigate the autism-vaccine link were bullied, harassed and threatened. Dan Burton (R-IN), Dr. Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL) are among 11 current and former members of Congress and staff who told Attkisson they were warned by PhRMA lobbyists to drop the vaccine safety issue.

Snopes Gets an ‘F’ for Fact-Checking

In an article that attempts to fact-check Attkisson’s investigation, Snopes calls out many of the claims as false while clearly attempting to “debunk” vaccine-autism claims. However, in a rebuttal, Attkisson explains that Snopes earned a failing grade for its reporting.

“[T]he Snopes article debunks claims that were never made and uses one-sided references as its sources – other propagandists – without disclosing their vaccine industry ties.”5

For starters, Snopes labeled Zimmerman as a supporter of vaccination, as though this was something that Attkisson hid. In contrast, this point was central to Attkisson’s story and a large part of what makes his statements regarding vaccines and autism so noteworthy. Some of the additional egregious tactics Snopes used to try to discredit Attkisson’s report included the following:6

  • Snopes claimed Attkisson’s reading of Zimmerman’s sworn affidavit was flawed when she “simply quoted from the affidavit”
  • Snopes states that Zimmerman’s view is “not held by many scientists,” but did not survey several reputable scientists who hold the view
  • Snopes fails to address what its headline promises: the question of whether the government censored its own expert witness’ opinion

It’s important to note that Snopes also wrote their article without contacting Attkisson, who went on to state that they also listed claims she never made, then declared them to be false, and even were incorrect in one of their own claims, specifically that the existence of a potential link between vaccines, mitochondrial disorder and autism was not news at the time of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services omnibus autism proceedings in 2007.

“In fact, this suspected link was not previously known before the so-called ‘omnibus’ groups of vaccine-autism cases litigated a decade ago, and it is not widely known among doctors or the general public today; at least as of recently. That’s why it has proven to be so newsworthy,” Attkisson wrote, adding:7

Snopes demonstrates reckless disregard for the truth when disparaging my reporting by falsely stating that it contains ‘misleading claims’ …

Refuting claims never made in my report and putting out one-sided vaccine propaganda makes one wonder whether Snopes author Alex Kasprak even read or watched the report he attempts to criticize, or just blindly printed the propaganda provided to him by vaccine industry interests.”

Snopes Author Uses Industry Sources for ‘Facts’

November 16, 2016, Snopes looked into claims made by Food Babe that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might have shut down its residue testing of glyphosate due to complaints from Monsanto. “False,” Snopes declared.8 Ironically, the page declared that no corporate influence played a role and “the broad scientific consensus is that [glyphosate] is not a risk.”

Yet, a Twitter exchange clearly showed that the fact-checker for Snopes, Kasprak – the same author who wrote the critical review of Attkisson’s investigation – got his information about glyphosate’s safety from Kevin Folta, Ph.D.9

Folta, a University of Florida professor and a vocal advocate of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), who vehemently denied ever receiving any money from Monsanto, was caught lying about his financial ties to the company in 2015. The most flagrant piece of evidence against Folta shows that not only did he solicit funds from Monsanto, but he did so with intent to hide the financial connection between them.

Ironically, getting back to Attkisson’s case, the Snopes report ended up confirming exactly the point she was trying to make, stating, “Zimmerman, a scientist with serious credentials who was once a government expert on vaccines, believes that narrow circumstances might exist in which the combination of preexisting mitochondrial dysfunction and vaccination could trigger ASD [autism spectrum disorders].”10

“Snopes fabricates claims that were never made, debunks the fabricated claims,” Attkisson wrote, “and then ultimately agrees that the report I produced was accurate.”11

Snopes Founders Embroiled in Controversy

It’s dangerous to rely on any one source or group of individuals as authorities on truth, as it sets up the path for inevitable censorship. Even under the best circumstances, everyone is subject to their own biases, but in the case of Snopes, it was founded on fabrications from the start.

Snopes was created in 1995 by Barbara and David Mikkelson, who posed as “The San Fernardo Valley Folklore Society” in the beginning in order to gain credibility. Such a society does not exist as a legal entity, according to an investigation by the Daily Mail.12

The company soon expanded, but ultimately its founders divorced – amid claims that David Mikkelson embezzled company money for prostitutes and Barbara Mikkelson took millions from their joint bank account to buy property in Las Vegas.

According to Daily Mail, Mikkelson’s new wife, Elyssa Young – a former escort, self-proclaimed “courtesan” and porn actress who ran for Congress in Hawaii as a Libertarian in 2004 – was then employed as a Snopes administrator, even though the company claims to have no political leanings.

In response to the allegations, Forbes published an article weighing whether it was just another case of fake news, but ultimately was astonished by the lack of transparency given by the company’s founder when asked for comment, who stated that he was unable to respond due to a confidentiality clause in his divorce settlement. According to Forbes:13

This creates a deeply unsettling environment in which when one tries to fact-check the fact-checker, the answer is the equivalent of ‘its secret’ …

At the end of the day, it is clear that before we rush to place fact-checking organizations like Snopes in charge of arbitrating what is “truth” … we need to have a lot more understanding of how they function internally and much greater transparency into their work.”

Hardcore Censorship of Alternative Health and Media in Progress

Whether it be the recent flu shot stunt at the Golden Globes or the industry-driven “facts” published by Snopes, it’s clear that industry propaganda and censorship of health and media information that strays from the mainstream is a growing problem.

In a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy, 73 percent said they believe the proliferation of “fake news” on the internet is a major problem, and only half feel confident that readers can get to the facts by sorting through bias.14 And the fact is, fake news is a real problem. But it’s important to do your own research before believing even “fact-checked” sources like Snopes.

NewsGuard is another outlet to be wary of. The entity is setting itself up as the self-appointed global arbiter of what information is “trustworthy” – based on nine “credibility and transparency” factors – not only for information viewed on private electronic devices, but also for information accessible in public libraries and schools.

Once you’ve installed the NewsGuard browser plugin on your computer or cellphone, the NewsGuard icon rating will appear on all Google and Bing searches and on articles featured in your social media news feeds.

These icons are meant to influence readers, instructing them to disregard content with cautionary colors and cautions, but I believe the true intent will be to bury this content entirely from search results and social media feeds.

It is very likely Google, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms will use these ratings to lower the visibility of content – making nonconformist views disappear entirely. It’s a concerning prospect, especially since NewsGuard received much of its startup funds from Publicis Groupe, a global communications group whose history of clients includes the drug and tobacco industries.

Now more than ever, it’s important to be aware of what companies may be filtering your news media and how their own agenda may color what you see. In your search for the truth, always follow your own guiding light – not one maintained by Snopes or any other internet watchdog or censorship authority that tries to lead you down their own biased path.

For additional research on the underreported adverse effects of vaccination visit the GreenMedInfo database on the subject. 

References

1, 3, 4 Full Measure January 6, 2019

2, 10 Snopes January 21, 2019

5, 6, 7, 11 SharylAttkisson.com January 21, 2019

8 Snopes November 16, 2016

9 Twitter, Kevin Folta and Alex Kasprak

12 Daily Mail December 21, 2016

13 Forbes December 22, 2016

14 Knight Foundation January 16, 2018

mercola

Dr. Mercola is the founder of the world’s most visited natural health web site, Mercola.com, a NY Times best-selling author, and a thought leader in the field of alternative and integrative health. Read his full biography on his website.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

from:    http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/why-snopes-gets-f-fact-checking

The Opportunity of Crisis

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Is Your Life Crisis Really a Spiritual Calling in Disguise?

February 28th, 2019

By Mateo Sol

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

So many are alive who don’t seem to care. Casual, easy, they move in the world as though untouched. But you take pleasure in the faces of those who know they thirst. You cherish those who grip you for survival. You are not dead yet, it’s not too late to open your depths by plunging into them and drink in the life that reveals itself quietly there. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke (Rilke’s Book of Hours)

In our journey towards “civilization” we’ve found more and more ways to numb and disconnect ourselves from Spirit. We live and work in gated communities, shopping centers, and office buildings, with air conditioned houses and cars, fences, landscapers, animal controllers, and we spend our leisure time immersed in complex and absorbing technological worlds.

In order to deal with our soul starvation, we drown ourselves in prescription medications, alcohol, recreational drugs, consumerism and other soul-numbing forms of escapism. We even suffocate ourselves in rigid belief systems that moralize and judge others, promising to alleviate our sense of alienation from life and existential turmoil.

But our souls are wiser than all of this. There comes a moment in our lives where we grow out of the collective values and ways of living common to our societies. At a certain point in our lives, we realize that the values, attitudes, relationships and beliefs we’ve held no longer contribute to the development of who we truly are: our authentic selves.

This life crisis, although painful, provides a vital opportunity for us to begin our spiritual journeys towards wholeness.

Quarter-Life, Middle-Life and Deathbed Crisis

In our Western soul-suppressing societies, many of us experience our “true callings” towards the spiritual journey throughout life, but most of us never truly “hear” or answer to them.

This spiritual calling presents itself in many ways throughout our lives such as the death of loved ones, suicidal depressions, illnesses, near-death experiences, divorce, and so forth. But there are three main milestones that call to us the most loudly.

The first calling is what we modernly refer to as the “quarter-life crisis.” The quarter-life crisis happens in the first quarter of life: generally after we finish high school or university. At this time in our lives, we intuitively know that we need to “find” ourselves by leaving behind our family, friends and hometowns. These people and places formed our juvenile identities as children and teenagers.

When I answered this calling, I remembered feeling intense fear and uncertainty. Saying goodbye to everyone and everything you love is a very hard task.

The second great calling presents itself as a “midlife crisis.” This crisis may come in the form of an affair, a divorce, severe job unhappiness, an empty nest, lifeless relationships, endless life dissatisfaction, or disappointment with the way life has gone. Ultimately, in my opinion, the midlife crisis comes at a moment where you’ve gathered enough wisdom to know that you’re not going to live forever.

Most people who experience midlife crises have spent their entire lives raising a family, or working in a career. They haven’t had the time, or capacity, to ask the important questions in life. Eventually, something triggers the question, “Is this all there is?”

The third and final calling often comes as a deathbed crisis if we didn’t answer the previous two callings. The inevitability of an imminent death creates such immense turmoil and ego distress, that the light of consciousness is finally permitted to shine through us. Many hospice workers have confirmed this with me.

Although it’s better late than never, what a shame that so many people wait until their last moments to taste truth, deep insight and peace. Some never even experience it.

We all have to accept our imminent death someday in order to live life more fully. The sooner we come to terms with this, the better. But even if we receive this calling late in life, we are still blessed to receive it.

Surrendering to the Hurricane

Listening to your calling and accepting your spiritual awakening comes like a great hurricane.

Suddenly everything you’ve ever known is ripped away from you and lost in the tempest. The more you struggle, the more you get thrown around mercilessly. But the moment you surrender, you stand in the eye of the hurricane peacefully allowing everything that doesn’t serve you to be swept away.

Surrendering is extremely important in two ways. Firstly, it allows you to let go of your former limiting self, e.g. all of your beliefs, ambitions, roles, and perceptions of how you were suppose to be. And secondly surrendering allows you to embody your Soul, that is, all of your deepest longings, dreams and wildest passions.

It’s natural to experience fear and resistance in the face of the hurricane. You’ll need to deeply explore what parts of you are creating resistance. There are several ways to do this but the simplest way (in my opinion) is to write down how the fear feels in your body. What images and memories arise during your process of surrendering? Writing down what happened when you were “called” to the spiritual journey is also a great exercize, for example: where you were when it happened, what catalyzed it, how your body felt, what emotions arose within you, and other significant life events connected to it.

As you walk into the heart of your life crisis, you will need to confide in others who are going through similar experiences. This can bring a great sense of emotional alleviation and kinship, and you can find many online and local groups dedicated to inner awakenings. (For example, you’ll find a lot of kindred spirits on this website!)

Be prepared to experience immense loneliness as well. After all, surrendering your former worldview essentially separates you from your habitual way of life, including your old anchors, comforts and even friends or family members. Here are some ways to handle this temporary loneliness.

Unfortunately some people that go through life crises handle their previous responsibilities and commitments in unhealthy ways. You don’t necessarily need to quit your job, get divorced, sell your house, abandon your children, and leave your friends to embark on the spiritual path. Instead, starting your journey means becoming more in-tune with your soul, and exploring what is no longer supporting your growth and self-exploration.

I like to think of this period in life as “spiritual simplification.” In other words, what roles, relationships, activities, and possessions are in the way of Spirit flowing through you?

4 Signs You’ve Had a Spiritual Calling

So how do we know if we’re experiencing a deep calling towards spiritual awakening, or just a momentary mood swing or desire to escape from our life responsibilities?

Mythologist Joseph Campbell notes four qualities that accompany the spiritual calling. I’ve found them to be quite accurate and useful:

1) It’s not an avoidance of responsibility. Rather than providing you an opportunity to escape from your problems or burdens, a spiritual calling feels almost ominous. We all have problems we’d rather not face in our daily lives, but if you’re experiencing a spiritual calling, you’ll somehow sense that a difficult and overwhelming journey lies ahead of you. Despite this, there is a profound desire to embark on it.

2) It’s familiar yet frightening. Many describe the sensation as déjà vu or familiarity when listening to the voice of their souls.

3) You feel as though you’ve reached the end of your current journey. Whether you want to realize it or not, you feel as though your current path has reached a dead end. What once made you happy and excited now feels empty.

4) You weren’t looking for your true calling, it found you. Your calling was unexpected and unwanted. But now you face the fork in the road that demands your decision.

Other signs include feeling intensely powerful emotions and even altered states or mystical experiences during spiritual awakenings.

Ask yourself, what would happen if you ignored this calling? What emotions arise within you at the thought, and what do they reveal? You might also like to listen to whatever you feel drawn towards, pursue it, and pay attention to whether it feels intuitively right, or has undertones of fear beneath. When it’s a spiritual awakening, a true calling, you’ll feel closer to home with every step.

from:    https://wakeup-world.com/2019/02/28/is-your-life-crisis-really-a-spiritual-calling-in-disguise/

It’s Up To You

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THE NEGLECTED POWER OF FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Zen Gardner, Contributor
Waking Times

The degree of freedom to consciously make our own decisions in life is something we’re continually waking up to. It’s similar to living in the now. We keep trying, knowing it’s right, and making fresh runs at it daily to live in the moment more and more fully, either by conscious decisions or spontaneously.

What impresses me is how easy it is to fall into unsatisfactory routines. Be they habitual behaviors or living within self circumscribed limits, whatever the reasons or excuses may be. Physical life lends itself to routine for comfort and convenience. This includes survival issues which can appear quite daunting, and even insurmountable, leading to our environment being dictated by base needs and desires.

It gets more complicated when we consider personal relationships which we can often become trapped in. These go hand in hand with whatever environment we find ourselves – our location, finances and true quality of life being the basic guidelines for most. Now add life purpose to this and let’s consider how free we are able to find that true fulfillment our hearts crave. They don’t always work together without seriously draining compromises.

Freedom has to be fought for.

Are we Prisoners of Our Own Making?

The point is we can change these conditions and much more anytime we want. It’s remarkable just how free we are. We “blame” external limitations such as the system, upbringing, mates, family, friends and finances, but these conditions rarely lead us to what we truly desire and are for our highest good. The question looms, are we truly confined by these? Do we only do those things that are prescribed by previous conditions we find ourselves in, either by choice or by simply continually defaulting to external pressures and circumstances?

It’s worth re-evaluating these questions continually, as I see it. When we honestly get down to analyzing the various areas of our personal progress, how would we score ourselves? What needs changing or challenging that we’re either too lazy to do anything about, or too afraid to rock the boat and lose our seeming support system or the comfort of our routine, whether financially, socially, psychologically, spiritually, etc? What’s holding us back from making the changes we know we need?

More importantly, why are we so often afraid to go into the unknown? What prevents us from stepping out to find our truest expression?Change – Ready or Not, Here It Come

The entire game board of life is being shaken from the cosmic down to the very social structure of our planet, and it’s wonderful! Only truth will endure. This isn’t good news to those holding tightly to what they currently have or how they want things to be, whether born from a culturally reinforced fear based mentality, belief system, deep self issues or not. It’s time to wake up and shake off the programming and follow our guts, our hearts. It’s way easier to do it voluntarily by our own volition and heart born desire than to be forced into changes.

A time of personal challenge is now hitting us all. It’s starting with a self clean-up opportunity to prepare us for much greater changes to come. If anyone is going through this you are not alone. However, many will miss the significance of what’s going on right now energetically and will pass along with increased cognitive dissonance and stubborn resistance to change. That’s their choice, but unfortunately in most cases it will affect the rest of us. This is something to be very aware of as the external confusion will only grow. It’s just the nature of things right now. Similar to natural “disasters”, anyone’s life can be turned upside down at a moment’s notice. When we live a more conscious life this realization is ever before us. The key is to not be at the wrong place at the wrong time, in every sense.

The active ingredient within us is our free will, the power of choice, no matter the circumstances or conditions.

As Don Juan aptly said:

“Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”

This is a brief life on this planet. One day our lives will end. It’s time to be alive, not dead in some rut – aptly called a grave with the ends kicked out.

We are fully free to move about the planet, and the Universe. As we always have been.

Let’s exercise our freedom and not let it go to waste. The energy and fulfillment to be released are unfathomable!

Love, Zen

PS. The above was inspired by a lucid dream where I found myself listening to someone demonstrating and going on about something I had no interest in, yet felt trapped in some small gathering of onlookers. As I went through the lucid dream transition to waking up, I found myself wondering why had I just subjected myself to this experience? The resultant thoughts and realizations extrapolating that dynamic quickly ensued, leading to honestly making my own life list evaluating my current situation. A true eye opener from the heart level and great exercise for me. This is simply sharing my experience and personal insights, for what it’s worth to others.

About the Author

Zen Gardner is an impactful and controversial author and speaker with a piercing philosophical viewpoint. His writings have been circulated to millions and his personal story has caused no small stir amongst entrenched alternative pundits. His book “You Are The Awakening” has met rave reviews and is available on Amazon.com.

from:    https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/03/01/the-neglected-power-of-freedom-of-choice/

Some Bits of Advice

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8 Pieces of “Bad” Life Advice That Are Actually Good

“Your goodness must have some edge to it—else it is none.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

1.) Put less energy into fixing breaks and more energy into breaking fixes

“There is no riskier risk than refusing to risk at all.” ~Jen Sincero

This one’s tricky. I’m not saying don’t heal. I’m not saying don’t lick your wounds. I’m saying make it priority two or three, not one. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing yourself in a tiny comfort zone.

The only way your comfort zone gets bigger is by taking risks. Breaking your fixes is calculated risk taking. Whether your fix is an addiction, an outdated belief, a cultural conditioning, or a political/religious indoctrination, when you focus more on breaking fixes, you are being proactive about getting the horse of your life in front of the cart of your unreasonable (and often unfounded) expectations.

Look at it like a cycle of health and self-improvement. Break your fix, let the risky adventure break you (hero’s journey), fix your breaks, then get back to breaking your fixes. In order to achieve wise and holistic interdependence (cosmic heroism) you’ll need courageous and risky independence (personal heroism) to break yourself away from the comfortable but stagnant codependence (fear).

2.) Embarrass yourself as quickly as possible

“Passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.” ~Mark Manson

Before you can get better at something you have to suck at it first. Forget about talent. Forget about luck. Talent and luck pale in comparison to perseverance. Sure, they might help you get better faster, but they are out of your hands. So it’s better not to even waste your energy on them in the first place. Focus on what you can control, and that’s self-improvement.

Self-improvement takes practice. And practice means action. It might even mean looking like a fool. So be it. Embarrass yourself. Make mistakes as soon as you can. Free yourself to write, paint, produce, sculpt or play the worst thing ever created. Don’t fear failure. Embrace it. Own it. Learn from it. Then recreate from the vital knowledge gleaned from your plethora of mistakes.

If you avoid failure, embarrassment and fear, then you will never create anything meaningful. So go all in. Fail fast. Embarrass yourself as quickly as possible. Make glorious mistakes. Samuel Beckett said it best: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

3.) Use philosophy as a chisel for the hardened beliefs within you

“Philosophical thinking that doesn’t do violence to one’s settled mind is no philosophical thinking at all.” ~Rebecca Goldstein

Philosophy helps you discover that everything is connected despite what you’ve been taught.

Questioning what you think you know diminishes the broadcast of the codependent ego so that you can tune into the broadcast of the interdependent whole.

If wisdom is what you’re seeking, then the interdependent whole is a good place to start. If your goal is to get out of the rat race, to transcend the stagnant status quo and to overcome the default setting, then questioning what you’ve been taught is a good first step.

Rather than importing wholesale whatever framework for life the codependent status quo programmed and conditioned you to accept, use philosophy (the art of questioning all things) to discover how everything is connected to everything else.

Using philosophy as a chisel is self-actualizing. It deconstructs meaning. It interrogates worldviews. It is proactively self-improving.

It teaches you how to be relentless in your questioning, how to be ruthless in your circumspection, and how to self-overcome so as not to be overwhelmed by the tribe. More importantly, it will help you discover your most authentic self by providing a flexible yet fierce way of being and becoming human in the world.

4.) You’ll reap no evolution if you don’t sow a little revolution

“The revolution begins at home. If you overthrow yourself again and again, you might earn the right to help overthrow the rest of us.” ~Rob Brezsny

Humans may not agree on much. But one thing most of us can agree on is that we all hope for a healthy and progressive evolution for our species.

The problem is that most of us live in profoundly sick societies. Societies that pollute the air they need to breathe, the water they need to drink, the food they need to eat, and the minds they need to co-evolve with.

Any system that forces its people to breathe polluted air, drink polluted water, eat polluted food and then reinforces its people (whether through brainwashing, political propaganda, or cultural conditioning) to continue doing all the things that causes that pollution is a profoundly sick society. As Krishnamurti wisely put it, “It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

So what can you do about it? For starters, educate yourself. Honor the golden rule, the nonaggression principle, and the 7th generation principle. In the face of a profoundly sick society this might mean sowing a little revolution.

Next, if you’re really feeling courageous, dare yourself to become David against the Goliath of the state. Become Heracles against the Hydra of the war machine. Become a well-armed lamb contesting all votes. Become lionhearted despite all cowards.

But before any of that, you must check yourself. You must become free. Becoming free is the most revolutionary act you can take. You must be free in order to gain the courage necessary to create the kind of change that leads to a healthy and progressive evolution for our species.

5.) Your “love and light” could use a little tough love and darkness

“These mountains that you’re carrying, you were only supposed to climb.”~Najwa Zebian

Happiness is overrated. “Good vibes only” is just plain lazy. Get out from underneath the burden of needing to be happy all the time. That’s too much weight to be carrying around. Take it easy on yourself.

Forcing yourself to be positive and happy all the time is just an ego trap set up by the scared-shitless part of you that doesn’t want to face the shitty parts of life. That’s blatant repression.

Stop demonizing sadness. You cannot be happy all the time. Happiness, like sadness, is a passing storm across the sky of the Self. Some storms are refreshing and invigorating, like happiness. Some are painful and rough, like sadness. Both can be overwhelming. But both are merely information. They just happen to be information that you “feel.”

As far as information goes, pain and sadness will teach you more than comfort and happiness ever could. Use that information to make yourself healthier. Use it to create meaning. Happiness will become a convenient bi-product of your self-improvement. The best you can do is hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. And nothing prepares you for the worst better than the vital information gleaned from pain and sadness.

6.) Don’t allow your life to become overly domesticated:

“Society tames the wolf into a dog. And man is the most domesticated animal of them all.” ~Nietzsche

Get away from the zoo-mentality, the menagerie of madness. Let your mind out of its steel cage. Crucify any routine that kills your dreams. Nail it to a cross and fill your winecup with its blood. Play more. Dare more. Adventure more. Trust more. Love more. Domesticate less!

Problems arise from excess. Excessive culture. Excessive domestication. Excessive control. Excessive tidiness. Excessive pacification. When anything becomes excessive it smothers wildness. It smothers freedom. It smothers the soul.

Learn to be nourished by solitude rather than defeated by it. The wild is the greatest teacher in the world. Meditation in solitude is a sacred strategy that helps bring balance between nature and the human soul. Let the interconnected cosmos teach you the difference between healthy and unhealthy through a “language older than words (Derrick Jensen).”

So get out there. Get off your overly-domesticated ass. There’s nothing stopping you, but you. There’s an entire world to explore. There are wild places calling out to your heart. It’s a call to adventure. It’s a hero’s journey.

Life is too short not to feel your deepest darkest wildness howling inside you. I implore you: don’t just become another domesticated dog. Discover the wolf hidden inside you.

As Nietzsche profoundly stated, “Truth as Circe. Error has turned animals into men; might truth be capable of turning man into an animal again?”

7.) Kill your old self and bury the body in the back yard

“Unless you are constantly practicing it, this dying and being reborn, you are only a guest on this dark planet earth.” ~Goethe

The art of healthy ego-annihilation: question thyself, destroy thyself, rebirth thyself.

Why is all this killing and rebirthing necessary for self-improvement (or spiritual development)? You kill your codependent self so that your independent self can emerge with the courage to become an interdependent force of nature. In other words: your ability to adapt and overcome is directly proportional to your ability to self-overcome.

Sometimes the only way to discover that the “door to your jailcell has always been open” is to lose the mindset that conditioned you into thinking that you were trapped. The trapped mindset is also the fear-based mindset. It’s the indoctrinated mindset. In short: it’s your codependent self. Kill it, as soon as possible. Learn from it. Then “bury” it in your muscle memory (back yard).

Learn to do this again and again and it becomes a healthy cycle of self-overcoming that can lead to profound self-improvement and deep enlightenment. With enough practice, this questioning yourself, destroying yourself and rebirthing yourself will come as easily as your body sheds its skin.

8.) Love dangerously

“Healthy, strong individuals seek self-expansion by experimenting and by living dangerously. The good life is ever changing, challenging, devoid of regret, intense, creative and risky.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

What is loving dangerously?

Loving dangerously is loving without hope. It’s loving courageously, vulnerably, honestly. Which is likely to hurt. Therefore, loving dangerously is being open-hearted enough to be okay with having your heart broken. In fact, it’s about becoming adept at adapting to heart break. It’s about overcoming the slings and arrows of life and becoming resilient, robust, and antifragile because of heartbreak.

On a long enough timeline heartbreak is inevitable anyway. So, you might as well get better at adapting to it, at learning from it, at transforming it into something that can make you stronger. Taking risks, loving dangerously, loving vulnerably with your heart on your sleeve… That’s true courage.

Loving dangerously is loving without an agenda. It’s being a true hopeless romantic rather than just talking out your ass about it (like hopeful or hopefool romantics do). It’s allowing others to love the way they must love. It’s letting go of your ego’s attachment to love. It’s loving at the edge of the human condition: fallible, uncertain, hungry, in a frenzy.

Paraphrasing Samuel Becket: Ever loving. Ever broken hearted. No matter. Love again. Break your heart open again. Break it better… That’s loving dangerously.

Life is short. Love is risky. Courage is uncomfortable. But more of life comes from love laid open and bare than love closed-up and made invulnerable in vain. So, take the leap into the dangerous and vulnerable waters of love. There is adventure to be had. As Rumi suggested, “Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absentminded. Someone sober will worry about things going badly. Let the lover be.”

from:    https://themindunleashed.com/2019/02/8-pieces-of-bad-life-advice-that-are-actually-good.html

What About Healing?

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True healing and true health are deep concepts which by their very definition imply oneness and unity (the word heal is etymologically derived from various words such as the Old English hælan meaning “to make whole”).

True healing includes the many levels within you beyond just the physical – the integration of the emotional, sexual, mental, spiritual and other selves or layers. True healing is far beyond just “managing”, “treating” and “curing” disease, which Big Pharma and its lapdog the FDA like to focus so exclusively upon.

Western medicine has its place in society as an excellent tool for specialized surgical or other emergency interventions – however it came into being from the Rockefeller-Big Pharma cartel, whose business model thrives on repeat customers who can’t get off the hamster wheel of drug after drug after drug.

On a deeper level, is it really any wonder that Western medicine can’t deliver true healing, when its approach is narrow and materialistic, rather than broad and holistic – when it’s fixated on managing, treating and curing, rather than healing?

Big Pharma and Western Medicine: Hooked on “Treating” Disease

If you’re wondering where the notion of “treating” come from, look no further than the FDA-mandated disclaimer that many natural health and holistic practitioners and companies are forced to use on their products.

It states that “this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease” because only a drug can legally make such a claim. And, in a great example of FDA circular logic, if a substance does have an effect on the human body such as preventing or curing a disease – then it must be drug and not a food!

Guess what? The moment something becomes a drug and not a food, it’s regulated differently. If you’re a producer of a food that wants to state its natural effects on the body, now you have to jump through all sorts of expensive hoops just to state the truth.

This is despite the fact that scientific studies have shown, for instance, that cherries have a positive effect on gout and arthritis, coconut oil on Alzheimer’s, and turmeric, spirulina, graviola/soursop on cancer. It is an upside-down, outrageous situation where people are being silent about the clear and scientifically provable effects of foods and other natural medicines out of fear of being sued into poverty, taken down or taken out.

Ignorant people defend the Big Pharma system by claiming it’s backed by “science”; meanwhile, insiders and experts state categorically that most scientific research is fraudulent, and most science is actually corporate junk science that is paid to produce the results its funders want.

Managing Disease: A Big Pharma Specialty

The truth is that managing disease is a Big Pharma specialty. The most profitable customers are those patients who are going to be reliant on prescription drugs – just to exist – for the rest of their lives. In those cases it’s all about managing disease. How interesting that the word itself management is a very corporate word.

Another aspect of the managing of disease is all the unnecessary (but very fancy and impressive sounding) testing that is done to people, under the guise of “early detection”.

In his revealing book Confessions of a Medical Heretic, Dr. Robert Mendolsohn quotes an article entitled “Cleveland’s Marvelous Medical Factory” which boasted of the Cleveland Clinic’s “accomplishments last year: 2,980 open-heart operations, 1.3 million laboratory tests, 73,320 electrocardiograms, 7,770 full-body x-ray scans, 24,368 surgical procedures.”

Seems wonderful … except for the very obvious point that none of these procedures has been proven to have anything to do with restoring health or true healing.

When people get screened for a disease, they are being subjected to dangerous radiation (more money for the Rockefellers) which harms tissue and can end up causing the exact disease it is supposed to be protecting against – as happens daily with the mammogram scam, designed to drum up new breast cancer clients.

Healing vs. Curing

Healing vs curing: there is a difference. Healing takes into account the energetic and holographic nature of our body and reality.

At this stage you may be thinking: well, Big Pharma and Western medicine do a lot of “managing” and “treating”, but aren’t they also in the business of “curing”? Yes – but even in this case, Western medicine is falling short of the ultimate goal of healing. Curing a disease and healing a disease are different things.

As this website Healing Through The Arts states:

“Curing is what medical science attempts to do through medication, treatment and external intervention. It usually is the result of a series of treatments that hopefully lead to an event – the absence of disease.

“Healing is an internal process you do for yourself. Healing restores the balance and harmony to the body, mind and spirit. It can be done without a cure. Healing activities are essential when the negative influences of illness, loss or life changes encompass your life.”

The website MindBodyGreen states:

“Curing is a restoration of health, an absence of symptoms, and a remedy of disease. Healing, on the other hand, is a restoration of wholeness — not the level of wholeness before the diagnosis, but a restoration of wholeness that is new, different, and comparatively better than before the onset of disease. Healing is not the removal or cessation of symptoms, but rather an integrative process that transcends the physical and includes mental, emotional, and spiritual vitality and wellness.”

Others have defined curing as the “elimination of all evidence of disease” and healing as “becoming whole”.

There are many ways to conceive and verbalize the difference between curing and healing, but the overall point is that healing is a deeper concept which includes the understanding that we are not just physical beings.

If we want to attain true health, we must address all the levels of our being. Often a “disease” is merely an outer physical manifestation of a psychological, energetic or spiritual blockage which is taking place at a much deeper level.

Big Pharma has (rightly) been accused of making drugs that just mask symptoms without healing the underling cause.

In many cases, they transfer the disease or imbalance from one part of the body to another. From a holistic perspective, this is only minorly helpful or not helpful at all, because as long as you have some imbalance, you’ve still got a health problem you have to deal with.

So, even if Big Pharma actually cures your disease, rather than just treating it or managing it, you still aren’t really at a place of true healing, or real health and balance. If the cause of your disease is happening on an energetic level, how can drugs, surgery or radiation ever address it?

Towards True Healing

In conclusion, if you want true healing, look at all aspects of your entire life. Are you indulging in negative thought patterns? Are you involved in toxic relationships? Are you getting the right type, frequency and duration of exercise? Are you sleeping well? Is your lifestyle too sedentary? Are you allowing questionable food items into your diet? How are you dealing with stress?

Even if you are doing a good job on most of these, being weak in one of these areas may be enough to throw your system off balance and lead to disease. We’re all on a journey of remembering our true selves, and reclaiming our wholeness through true healing is an inseparable part of it.

By Makia Freeman, HumansAreFree.com

from:    http://humansarefree.com/2019/02/true-healing-beyond-managing-treating.html

Consciousness & A Link to Light

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CONSCIOUSNESS, BIOPHOTONS, AND MULTIVERSES

Every now and then I get one of “those” articles that’s so stunning in its implications that I have to blog about it, if simply for the sheer fun of crawling out to the end of the High Octane Speculation twig, and launching myself into thin air and just let the speculations run where they will. Well, this article that was spotted and shared by Mr. V.T. is definitely one of “those” articles:

Scientists Discover Biophotons In The Brain That Could Hint Our Consciousness Is Directly Linked To Light

What grabbed me here was this:

Scientists found that neurons in mammalian brains were capable of producing photons of light, or “Biophotons”!

The photons, strangely enough, appear within the visible spectrum. They range from near-infrared through violet, or between 200 and 1,300 nanometers.

Scientists have an exciting suspicion that our brain’s neurons might be able to communicate through light. They suspect that our brain might have optical communication channels, but they have no idea what could be communicated.

And that led the author or authors of the article to ask an obvious question:

This raises the question, could it be possible that the more light one can produce and communicate between neurons, the more conscious they are?

In other words, in contrast to the “older” model of consciousness being a kind of “either/or” question, with humans obviously “conscious” and rocks obviously not, and animals in some frustrating philosophical no-man’s land in between (“dumb animals”), might it be more of a spectrum or continuum? Well, maybe. Personally, I’ve always been more comfortable with the latter view than the former, and I suspect that anyone who has owned a pet is too; they certainly don’t behave or act as simply “dumb biomechanical machines.”

However, there’s a catch in the article, and it’s revealed by that very “continuum of consciousness” idea: do more biophotons and neurons not indicate a materialist view of the mind, i.e., that mind and consciousness arise solely from materialistic causes? It may seem that way, but the author/s of the article are quick to catch the implications of the finding, which, when one thinks about it a bit, flips the whole argument of emergent consciousness from material causes on its head:

Just think for a moment. Many texts and religions dating way back, since the dawn of human civilization have reported of saints, ascended beings and enlightened individuals having shining circles around their heads.

From Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, to teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, among many other religions, sacred individuals were depicted with a shining circle in the form of a circular glow around their heads.

In other words, that famous verse from Genesis that many of us learned in Sunday school – “Let there be light” – might be a kind of biophysical euphemism for “Let there be conscious existence.” But they don’t stop there:

But one of the most exciting implications the discovery that our brains can produce light gives, is that maybe our consciousness and spirit are not contained within our bodies. This implication is completely overlooked by scientists.

Quantum entanglement says that 2 entangled photons react if one of the photons is affected no matter where the other photon is in The Universe without any delay.

In other words, the patterns of biophotonic activity, if they do give rise to consciousness, means precisely that that a specific pattern could be entangled somewhere else in the universe, and hence, that specific consciousness is not localized within “this particular brain” but could, in fact, be localized in several brains. That really captured my imagination, for it seems to square with many other hypotheses, from Dr. Rupter Sheldrake’s “morphogenetic field” to the idea – voiced by Bearden and some other authors – that each species has its own unique “electromagnetic signature”, which signature again is a non-local phenomenon; even the idea of epigenetics seems to be implied by the idea, i.e., that there is some mechanism influencing evolution that is beyond the sum total of material “bits of information” (the genome itself), influencing development.

It’s that possibility of the entanglement of biophotons that could also impact on something else: the multi-verse theory of Everett and Wheeler, who first posited that interpretation of quantum mechanics. The idea is, that for every set of possible observations, there must be a “timeline” or “universe” actualizing that potential (to put it crudely). They were, it should be noted, very uncomfortable with their own idea, because it seemed to make no sense. Plus, it gave rise to all sorts of thorny problems: if there were a multitude of universes, was it possible for one to “bleed through” into the other? Conventional wisdom would say no. But if those multiverses are a reflection of “entangled biophotons,” something very different would seem to result, for the first result is: the template of an individual consciousness itself might be non-local, but it is found present simultaneously in a multitude of “universes” (or if one prefer, timelines), and it’s that which might account for “bleed through” or “overlap” of one into the other. If all this high octane speculation be true, then a great deal will have to be re-thought, from reincarnation to multiverses, for it would appear that this idea of an entangled, non-local template of consciousness would be, more or less, a common surface uniting them all.

See you on the flip side..

from:    https://gizadeathstar.com/2019/01/consciousness-biophotons-and-multiverses/

Cancer Cure on the Horizon…

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Israeli Scientists Claim to Have a “Complete Cure” for Cancer Coming Soon

  • Jan 29, 2019
Israeli scientists claim they’ve made a breakthrough in devising a cure for cancer that could be proven within the year.

Known as MuTaTo, or multi-targit toxin, the new anti-cancer drug is being touted as “a disruption technology of the highest order,” according to The Jerusalem Post.

Dan Aridor, the head of Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd (AEBi), told the paper that his small team of scientists had developed an all-around treatment or “complete cure for cancer,” explaining:

“Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market… Our solution will be both generic and personal.”

The cure is expected to render the disease manageable in the same way that the “triple drug cocktail” made AIDS a survivable disease.

The treatment is based on SoAP technology, a platform designed by AEBi, which the paper describes as providing “functional leads to very different targets.”

The MuTaTo treatment will act as a cancer antibiotic that uses a web of cancer-targeting peptides to attack cancer cells simultaneously, wrapping around them in an octopus-like manner and attacking them from multiple angles, while using a strong peptide toxin to eliminate them.

Because the peptides are so small, they would go undetected by the immune system and avoid counter-attacks that commonly lead to side effects like nausea.

AEBi CEO Dr. Ilan Morad touted the potential treatment as more advantageous than antibodies and also small, cheap, and easy to produce and regulate.

Morad explained:

“We made sure that the treatment will not be affected by mutations; cancer cells can mutate in such a way that targeted receptors are dropped by the cancer. The probability of having multiple mutations that would modify all targeted receptors simultaneously decreases dramatically with the number of targets used.

Instead of attacking receptors one at a time, we attack receptors three at a time — not even cancer can mutate three receptors at the same time.”

Given that an estimated 18.1 million new cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide in 2018 alone – making every sixth death in the world a result of cancer and ranking it as the world’s second leading cause of death – the news is very exciting.

Critics, however, remain skeptical about the cure, especially because the only study done so far was performed on mice. Even the inventors themselves concede that human trials will take a while to begin and complete.

In a blog post, Dr. Leonard Lichtenfield, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society (ACS), has urged the public to remain “aware that this is far from proven as an effective treatment for people with cancer, let alone a cure,” noting that while the Israeli team has devised an “interesting approach,” one must bear in mind that “the process to get this treatment from mouse to man is not always a simple and uncomplicated journey.”

In his blog on the ACS site, Dr. Lichtenfield adds:

“It will likely take some time to prove the benefit of this new approach to the treatment of cancer. And unfortunately–based on other similar claims of breakthrough technologies for the treatment of cancer–the odds are that it won’t be successful.”

from:    https://themindunleashed.com/2019/01/israeli-scientists-complete-cure-cancer.html

Opening to Your Truth

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Things are happening very quickly right now, and part of what is going on is confusion, discombobulation, and outright deception.  It is up to you to untangle the threads of just what’s what and who’s who.

Not so easy, you say?  The key to finding and knowing the truth for yourself involves going within, looking within, and trusting the messages that come from within.  Although we can be masters at lying to ourselves, in an atmosphere of authentic longing to see through the illusion, what is real will stand out.  This is not to say that it will be the only thing there in your awareness, however the chances are that it will be the one that ultimately makes the most sense to you.

The one thing that can keep you from allowing your truth to shine through is fear.  So, what ARE you afraid of?  In making up your mind, in choosing your preferred alternatives, in allowing your truth, there is courage, and courage always looks beyond fear.  it knows that it is there, but being true to your inner light illuminates the path, and fear scrambles away because in the light of what is real, the insubstantiality of fear becomes manifest and it dissolves.

SO be your truth and you can be amazed at how others respond to you and just what you attract to yourself!

 

Invite In Your Desires!

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The Means to Fulfill Your Desires

~ ADMIN

desiresAA Gabriel – All things in life are a part of the Universal Consciousness. This includes the desires of your heart. You have within you all that it takes to fulfill these desires and create the life you want to have. Know that each time you feel a deep longing, the seed of fulfillment is inherent within it.

There is a deep re-awakening within you, showing you a potential for all that you desire. This re-awakening results from your connection to God and the remembrance of the Angels who are guiding you always. As you commune more and more with this energy, your life will begin to take on the magical qualities you desire.

It begins with letting go. When you know in your heart that all your needs will be abundantly met, you can release the part of you that wants acquisition. You will now be free to discover the true desires in your heart. True desires have qualities that are fulfilled when the desires have been manifested. If the desire is for money, there is a quality that your heart seeks to have fulfilled — a sense of safety, an abundant lifestyle, or perhaps, simply freedom from worry.

Becoming aware of these qualities allows you to take action to gain these first, which will then allow the material form to manifest in a form which is in your highest good. The first step after discovering the qualities you seek, is always to ask for what you want, making sure you clearly state the qualities you are seeking to have. The Angelic Dimensions stand ready to assist you in the process of gaining all you desire in your life. Clarity is key.

Practice

It is truly God’s Plan to have all beings live in a state of abundant joy and freedom from fears: people living with peace, harmony and love in the world as well as within their families.  These qualities are not too much to ask for in your prayers because they are the natural state of balance in God’s world.  Your prayers you offer in order to attain them opens your mind and heart to fulfillment in your personal life.

It is also vital to be in the company of like-minded souls who believe that miracles are not only possible, they are also willing to have them manifest in their own lives. It is clear that in some situations in the world, only a miracle of divine proportions can create a solution. With enough people believing miracles are possible, there is no doubt that creative solutions, which are beyond the mind’s ability to understand at this time, will occur.

Begin now to allow miracles to manifest in your world. Be the first one to ask for Divine Intervention, and to share your belief with others, so that all may live in a new level of conscious awareness and abundant joy.

Those desires in your heart are there to remind you that miracles happen, and God provides you the ways to have all the good you desire in your life. Know that you are blessed and profoundly loved.

Call on the Divine Presence and the Angels, then allow the desires of your heart to be fulfilled.

Remember, you would not have the desire without the means to fulfill it.

Shanta Gabriel for Archangel Gabriel © 2019

from:   https://www.shiftfrequency.com/the-means-to-fulfill-your-desires/#more-118880

On Keeping Warm

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It’s Cold! A Physiologist Explains How to Keep Your Body Feeling Warm

  • Jan 27, 2019
Whether waiting for a bus, playing outside or walking the dog – during the colder winter season, everyone is looking for ways to stay warm. Luckily, the process your body uses to break down foods serves as an internal heater.But when the weather is cold, some defensive strategies are also necessary to prevent your body from losing its heat to the surrounding environment. As the temperature difference between your warm body and its frigid surroundings increases, heat is lost more quickly. It becomes more of a challenge to maintain a normal body temperature.

And two people with the same exact body temperature in the same exact environment may have very different perceptions. One may feel frozen while the other is completely comfortable.

But beyond the subjective experience of coldness, researchers do know that natural physiological responses to cold as well as behavioral adaptations – like bundling up! – can help keep your body around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit and make sure you feel warm.

Some jobs necessitate being out in inclement weather, and your physiology has some defenses against cold conditions. U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Cody Rowe, CC BY-NC

What your body does

Your blood courses through your body carrying nutrients, oxygen and other biological important substances. And this delivery system also brings heat produced in the muscles to the skin, where it’s released.

When you enter a cold environment, your body redistributes blood to the torso, protecting and maintaining the warmth of the vital organs there. At the same time, your body constricts blood flow to the skin. Narrowing the roads to the skin means less heat can make the journey, and so less is lost to the environment. And minimizing how much blood goes to the skin – which is in closest proximity to the cold – means you can hold onto more of your internal heat longer.

Another defensive strategy the body uses to stay warm is cranking up muscle activity. This in turn increases your metabolism and creates more heat. Think of a brisk winter walk when the mercury has really plunged – your teeth may chatter and your arms and legs may shake uncontrollably in shivers. This seemingly nonproductive use of the muscles is actually an effort to increase body temperature by breaking down more nutrients to stoke your internal furnace.

Differences in body size, body fatness and metabolic activity influence how different individuals experience cold. Smaller people with lower levels of body fat lose more heat to the environment than larger people with more body fat. A bigger individual may have increased muscle mass, which is a producer of heat, or elevated body fatness, which functions as an insulator to reduce heat loss. These differences are not easy to change.

Things you can do

In order to maintain a feeling of warmth, you can manipulate your clothing, your activity and your food.

The most common thing people do to stay warm is wear a coat, hat and gloves. Obviously increasing clothing thickness or piling on the layers helps. Winter clothes serve not to warm you up, but more as a means to keep the heat you are producing from dispersing to the surrounding environment.

Contrary to popular belief, the head is not a greater source of heat loss than any other adequately covered body part. If you were to wear a warm hat and no coat, your torso would contribute the most to heat loss, thanks to how your body redistributes its blood in cold conditions. If you can keep your torso warm, you’ll maintain blood flow to your limbs and can often keep the arms, legs, hands and feet warm.

Secondly, being physically active causes your muscles to contract, breaking down more nutrients, which generates additional heat. This additional heat production can help maintain body temperature and the feeling of warmth. Maybe you’ve noticed this in your own life if you’ve run in place for a bit or done a quick set of jumping jacks when you’re out in the cold.

Unfortunately, physical activity or layers of clothing can tip the balance past what you need to offset heat losses. In that case, you’ll experience an increase in body temperature – and your body will start sweating in an effort to cool down. This is a bad outcome, because the evaporation of sweat will lead to greater rates of heat loss.

Finally, eating increases the body’s production of heat. The process of breaking down food is going to slightly increase body temperature. Sometimes campers will have a snack before bed in an effort to stay warmer through the night. While the metabolic impact of a small snack may not be huge, the tipping point between heat balance and heat loss is pretty small.

You may also notice the urge to urinate – what physicians call cold diuresis. It’s a side effect of constricting blood vessels and the resulting increase in blood pressure as the same amount of blood has a smaller space available to travel through your body.

And if you’re the type who tends to feel cold and leave your coat on even inside, you might want to rethink the habit. Your skin will be flush with blood as your body tries to dissipate excess heat inside. Worst of all, you may start to sweat. Once you head back out the door, you might feel even colder initially than you would have as the cold air saps the heat from your skin and your sweat evaporates. To stay comfortable, your best bet is dressing appropriately, whether inside or outdoors this winter.

from:    https://themindunleashed.com/2019/01/its-cold-a-physiologist-explains-how-to-keep-your-body-feeling-warm.html