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4 Surefire Ways to Remain Stuck in a False Destiny

Gary Z McGee
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11
4 Surefire Ways to Remain Stuck in a False Destiny

“You must change in order to find your truest self. And keep changing. The false idol is any form that hangs around too long and gets fossilized. It’s worth considering that if your ideas of God don’t change, then your ideas are dead. God is not dead. He simply went elsewhere because you were too boring.” ~ Bradford Keeney

Do you want to remain stuck? Do you wish to spiritually stagnate? Do you fancy being boring? Then all you have to do is reject change, become fossilized in your beliefs, remain imprisoned by your worldview, and embrace your cognitive dissonance like a good little comfort-zone dependent co-dependent. Not enough for you?

Okay then, here are four more ways to remain stuck in a false destiny.

do-you-want-to-remain-stuck

1. Fear everything

“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie –deliberate, contrived and dishonest- but the myth –persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~ JFK

The world can be a scary place, especially within a culture that preys upon the paranoid insecurity of its own people. We’re preconditioned to fear each other. In some cases perhaps we should.

But we’ll never know how to distinguish between preconditioned fear and real fear until we courageously question all so-called authorities. You want to make sure you get stuck in a false destiny?

Then by all means fear everything. Fear the government. Fear the law. Fear the dreaded “other.” Fear the state. Fear your neighbors. Fear being vulnerable. Build a hardened shell of invulnerability. Become a tank. Block all things. Sidestep any and all knowledge that doesn’t keep you safe and secure.

Don’t question anything. But, if you want to discover an authentic destiny, then you’ll have to get uncomfortable. You’ll have to dismantle the tank. You’ll have to get vulnerable, really vulnerable. You’ll have to become courageous.

You’ll have to get in the face of authority. You’ll have to absorb new knowledge and reject that which insults your soul. Every single day you are at a crossroads. Every single day you are faced with a choice. One path is hardened invulnerability, the other is absolute vulnerability. Hardships-often-prepare-ordinary-people-for-an-extraordinary-destiny.-C.S.-LewisThe choice is yours.

Like Derrick Jensen said, “No redemption can be found in the avoidance of difficult issues. Redemption comes only after we have moved through the horrors of our present situation to the better world that lies beyond it. By confronting the problem as courageously as we can and at the same time presenting alternatives, our barriers to clarity, including our false hopes, may crumble to reveal previously unseen possibilities.”

2. Wait around for something to happen

“Not to dream boldly may turn out to be irresponsible.” ~ George Leonard

Do you want to ensure you get stuck in a false destiny? Wait until you retire to travel. Wait until you are rich to do anything. Wait around for a miracle. Wait for something, anything. Whatever you do, don’t do anything authentic. Don’t do anything genuine. Stick to the mundane. Stick to the ordinary routine. Stick to the daily grind.

Hey, maybe you’ll win the lottery! You’re just one person anyway. What can one person do? You might as well just sit this one out. Twiddle your thumbs until kingdom come. Stay locked up safe in your domestication. Burn the days away working nine-to-five for corporations that might as well be plantations and you their slave. Or, you can slit the yoke.

You can liberate yourself. You can grab your destiny by the throat and start laying down some tracks. Rail by rail, tie by tie, your groundwork can slowly become a railroad. With enough time you can begin the difficult work of designing your own Train of Destiny. But you’ll have to do the scary work of figuring out what works for you and what doesn’t, which means getting derailed more than once, a thousand times if you’re lucky.

Like Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

3. Wait around for someone else to do something

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” ~ Oscar Wilde

destinyImagine if Martin Luther King had decided to wait around for somebody else to “have a dream.” Imagine if Gandhi had decided to sit out the Salt March, thinking to himself, “Surely somebody else will do it.” No, Gandhi, nobody else would have done it.

The Crashing Airplane analogy comes into play here. In order to be there for others who are less capable, you need to secure the oxygen mask on yourself first. If our unhealthy, unsustainable culture is indeed a “crashing plane” then we need more people who are capable of putting the mask on themselves first so that they can be there for people who are less capable. You must be healthy of mind, body and soul if you are going to be the type of person who can help others become healthy in mind, body and soul.

That’s why you put the mask on first. It takes a person willing to redefine courage itself to right this type of crashing plane. But if you want to remain stuck in a false destiny then by all means wait for someone else to be the hero. The problem is that this “hero” may never show up.

Joel Salatin put it poignantly: “What do you mean, “What can I do?”

You can participate. You can connect. You can get actively involved. You can turn off the TV… Just like today — whatever today looks like — is the manifestation of billions of individual decisions accumulated over time, tomorrow will be too. We must stop this incessant victimhood mentality.

Somebody else will not fix things. Somebody else will not make me healthy. Somebody else will not make me happy. These things are my responsibility. Not the neighbor’s, not the government’s, not the church or the civic club. Mine!”

4: Curse the darkness

“If people base their identity on identifying with authority, freedom causes anxiety. They must then conceal the victim in themselves by resorting to violence against others.” ~ Arno Gruen

This is probably the easiest way to remain caught in a false destiny. Taking the pitiful woe-is-me approach to stagnation only requires a boo-hoo, whiny sob-story of shoulda-woulda-coulda, while curling up into a cry-baby ball in the corner and railing at the universe for not fulfilling your every wish and desire.

Do you want to remain stuck? Curse the darkness. Do you want to keep from actually doing anything? Complain about everything. Do you want to stay safe and secure in your victimhood? Don’t do anything courageous. Do you want to keep your beliefs and your worldview secure?
fate
Don’t think outside the box. Don’t stretch your comfort zone. Don’t question anything. Do you want to remain codependent? Don’t be proactive about anything and simply wait for a “savior.” Do you want to keep the current paradigm of human governance intact?

Stay cooped up in an unhealthy, unsustainable, overindulgent, superficial, materialistic lifestyle of one-upmanship that keeps you chasing your own tail while a few people at the top of the giant Ponzi Scheme reap all the benefits and leave the planet bleeding and dying at their feet.

It’s so easy it’s stupid. Just stay comfortable. Stay secure. Stay safe. Stay stupid. Surely someone else who is smarter and more capable will come along and “right the ship.” In the meantime you have celebrity gossip, armchair quarterbacking, and bipartisan claptrap to keep you distracted. So it goes, and c’est la vie!

Image Source:

Dusty Road
C.S. Lewis Quote
William Jennings Bryan Quote
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The Connection between Food and Soul

Garima Roy
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The Connection between Food and Soul

“We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.” ~ Adelle Davis

Have you had moments where you have eaten enough food, but you end up feeling like you haven’t eaten anything at all? Or you get hunger pangs at odd hours in spite of eating meals on time?

This is because the food you eat isn’t fulfilling the kind of energy your body and soul requires. Whatever food goes down our system is directly proportional to the energy we possess.
Mindful-eating
The key to maintaining good energy levels within the body is in knowing that the food you eat isn’t just impacting your body, but your life force (chi) is equally dependent on it. According to Vedic Chakra System, the seven energy centers or chakras within our body thrive on different kinds of food to maintain its energy level and it is susceptible to change. Therefore, our body’s demand for food might differ from time to time as well.

For example, if you feel difficult to express or communicate your actual problems to your closed ones, is due a blockage in the throat chakra and consuming juices and fruits turns out to be of great help in rejuvenating the throat.

The ones who have energized the throat chakra might have blockages in the heart chakra, which is responsible for our ability to feel, love, compassion and courage to forgive. Green-colored food, which is rich in chlorophyll, raw foods like sprouts, green teas, etc., helps in breaking the negative force blocking our heart chakra.

Each chakra seeks and derives energy from the food you consume. The diagram below will guide you with the list of food items required for the respective chakras.

Chakra-Energy-Centers

Practicing Mindful Eating

Mindful Eating is to reconnect ourselves with the experience of eating and enjoying our food, to savour each morsel, to shun all the distractions and be fully aware of what you are eating. We are living in an age of fast food, diet cans, pizza and non-exemplary amount of junk food. Come to think of it, “food fashion” is the worst thing that has happened to the food industry.

The marketing gimmicks to attract consumers, making the food look good, results in extra amount of colour, chemical additives in the food which is harming us. Therefore, each time you are tempted to follow the food fad, ask yourself whether your life force would cherish that food item as well and connect yourself with the food that links to your energy vibrations.

Most of the time, we cling to food to escape from boredom, hunger or exhaustion because of the scientifically proven fact that highly palatable food stimulates the centre of the brain releasing dopamine (pleasure hormone).

030413p42_clip_image002Mindful/Conscious eating is a process of choosing your food to feed your body and soul. It is about knowing the relation of your food with your brain. Ask your mind and tune into your life force to know what is needed on your food plate. Know the color, smell, texture and the taste of the food in order to thoroughly derive its benefits. Moderation is an essential component of mindful eating as well.

In Chinese medicine, it is recommended to eat only until you are 80% full and never to “top off your tummy,” because this weakens the digestive power of your stomach and intestines, putting too much stress on them over the long haul.

Nutritionists don’t recommend finishing your food in a hurry or having a serious or any sort of conversation while eating. This is because in doing so, we tend to forget to enjoy our food. Just the simple act of chewing your food carefully, can save yourself from multiple types of stomach disorders.

Also, apart from choosing your food, you should also pay attention to its source and preparation method. Eating food that is made with positive energy makes you feel the same.

Mindful eating takes practice, and once you are used to it you will eat more carefully.

Remember this, “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” ~ François de la Rochefoucauld

Reference and Image Source

Alex Grey
Reasons to Chew Your Food Properly
Mindful eating
Mindful eating
Chakra food chart

The Reinvention of Oneself

Juan Pablo Hern
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4
The Reinvention of Oneself

There are many things a person is capable of achieving in their life – one of them is the capacity to reinvent our self; to leave behind things that don’t serve us, and embrace those we think as valuable.

As opposed to machines who invariably respond as programmed, we can change our behavior at will. Our past conditions us, but it doesn’t define us. It can leave a strong imprint on certain aspect of our personhood, like our personality or alter our perspective of the world, but its effect is never too strong to impede us from transforming ourselves.

Transformation-Butterfly

Let us grow away from our past, if we wish, and head towards a vision. We are always more than our past like a system is more than its constituent parts, for we hold the faculty of reinvention. We can always change the outcome of today, for we possess what Eckhart Tolle calls: “The Power of Now”.

Our condition in the present time can be characterized as an openness towards how we respond at every moment. This thought is what has led many people to say things such as: “Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present”. And it truly is! With the ability to re-direct our life towards the ever-branching possibilities, the future is open.

personalgrowthThe thought part of it is that our mind is a tricky thing, once it has made a concept out of something, it’s reluctant to change it. To leave fatalism and determinism out of our world view and to remember that the possibilities are there for those who believe and are brave enough to seize them.

Like imagination, personal reinvention feeds on creativity. The truth is that we are creatures of habit. Every day there is recursion in our thoughts and actions. When was the last time we did something crazy? We need to give ourselves an extra boost to create an anomaly in our pattern, so that we can increase our ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Every individual is as unique as every cloud is. Day by day, we construct our own story, whether we choose it or not, for even not to choose is a choice! There is a constant requirement for us to respond. Let us remember that this response is always a chosen one.

This reminds me of the painting “The Raft of Medusa” by Théodore Géricault, where we can appreciate different attitudes from a group of castaways. Despite being in the same situation, some choose hope while other despair, creating a ‘Pyramid of Hope.’

There will be times when we feel a sense of satisfaction with our personal success, or the thing that we have come to be. At this point, we might want to create a new self: discard the things we don’t like and adopt those that we do. Like a snake that sheds its skin, we can do it too!1280px-JEAN_LOUIS_THÉODORE_GÉRICAULT_-_La_Balsa_de_la_Medusa_(Museo_del_Louvre,_1818-19)

The only thing that is impeding us from making a change within, is an attachment to our ego. The aberration of our mind to say that we are so and so, will sabotage our transformation. I find it quite interesting that the word “person” was originally used to designate a “mask” or a “false face” in ancient Greece.

It came to be used in the context of drama as an “assumed character”; eventually this linguistic usage stuck in our common language to designate a human being. Perhaps this is because life and the works of art work very similar. There seems to be some sort of script that we follow in order to operate in society.

Even if we don’t follow any script that has been given to us from the outside, there is always an internal construction of who we are, an identity. We can change this construction, but we can never get rid of it. This is why there is always a reinvention and not a suppression of the self. Ideally, a self that is flexible, comprehensive and compassionate.

We possess hyper complex structures that allow us to create our own self, we are autopoietic beings (from auto-self, and poiesis-creation). We create unique entities, with unique stories within a broader story.

This means that we, as individual, have three functions, as described by the Spanish philosopher Xavier Zubiri: as agents, authors and actors. As agents, we execute the actions; as authors, we choose creatively over other possible actions; and as actors, we are inscribed in a broader reality that surpass us, but where we can make an impact.

MyIdentity_KatBJust like the “pure” reality can never be seen because it is seen in a particular way (with our eyes, a specific band of colors, etc.), we can never be without a mask. Behind every mask there is a mask. What mask do we want to wear? Personally, I wish to wear a magical one.

When somebody asks us: who are you? We respond with our name, or occupation and things of that sort. But why don’t we say that we are someone who dreams of such things? Why don’t we respond that we are a child of the universe who dances to the sound of the singing air? Why don’t we respond that we are, under construction?

Here is an excerpt of a poem by Amado Nervo:

Because I see at the end of my rough way
that I was the architect of my own destiny
and if I extracted the sweetness or the bitterness of things
it was because I put the sweetness or the bitterness in them
when I planted rose bushes I always harvested roses

How to be More Interesting

Gary Z McGee
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4
How to be More Interesting

 

“Not my circus, not my monkeys” ~ Polish Proverb

One of the keys to happiness in this life is finding your own circus and accepting the monkeys that keep it going. Hug them. Wrestle them. Laugh with them. Slap them around a little, and let them slap you around a little as well.

After all, they are you and you are them. Your circus is a terribly beautiful thing, an appallingly delightful soulcraft. It’s yours to steer. It’s yours to crash and burn and put back together again.

Don’t worry, the monkeys will help you. And if not, there is always play and the cultivation of a good sense of humor. Here are four ways to be more interesting.

how to be interesting1. Accentuate Your Eccentricities

“In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.” ~ John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Capitalize on your Quirks. Crucify conformity. Staple custom to the wall and throw darts at it. You’ll know when you hit the bull’s-eye because the confederacy of the dunces will quibble and moan, choking on your nonconformist air.

Be extravagant. Be boisterous. Be you; just be the full-frontal version of you. What makes you interesting makes you valuable. And what makes you interesting is embracing your own weirdness in a sea of people afraid of being weird.

Like Edith Sittwell said, “I am not eccentric. It’s just that I am more alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel set in a pond of catfish.”

Only you can express what you know. Embracing your own weirdness gives you the courage to express yourself. And your self-expression is invaluable to the community. And don’t let anybody tell you different.

Odd-one-out

2. Own Your Oddities

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” ~ Bertrand Russell

Flaunt your foibles. You’re going to make plenty of mistakes. In fact, if you’re not making plenty of mistakes then you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. Push yourself hard enough. Fail. Fail fast. Then pick yourself up off the floor and learn from your failure.

Flaunt your faults. Show off your shortcomings. Get it out there. That way it’s no longer a hurdle for you. It’s not inside you tripping you up anymore. It’s out there being pointed and laughed at. So what?

Laugh and point along with them. If you can’t poke fun at yourself then you have no right to poke fun at all. The strange ways you go about failing and flaunting your failure will be a stepping stone for future versions of yourself, while also setting a damn good example for others. Make mistakes, learn from them, and then become wise.

 

3. Embrace the Weirdness of Others

“The old ways are dead. And you need people around you who concur. That means hanging out more with the creative people, the freaks, the real visionaries, than you’re already doing. Thinking more about what their needs are, and responding accordingly. Avoid the dullards; avoid the folk who play it safe. They can’t help you anymore. Their stability model no longer offers that much stability. They are extinct, they are extinction.” ~ Hugh MacLeod

3Culture can be a suffocating thing. It’s daunting, looming over us like an invisible pseudo god with its fingers in everyone’s pie. But there are silver linings out there, beautiful flies (gadflies, butterflies) in the toxic ointment, catalyzing everything around them, and they take the form of other eccentric, creative, visionary people.

They’re a wonderful shock to an unhealthy culture, slapping the face of that pseudo god and knocking it off of its pretentious high horse. They poke holes in the hollow narratives of the Powers-that-be, revealing that the wizard is no wizard at all.

He’s just a withered, old, insecure man behind a false curtain. Indeed, embracing the weirdness of others is a surefire way to evolve past the rampant devolution of the current unhealthy cultural paradigm, exactly because doing so requires empathy in an otherwise uncompassionate collective, solidarity in an otherwise discordant system, and reveals that not even so-called authority and power is outside the realm of transparency and interrogation.

"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen
“You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” -Sam Keen

4. Be Perfectly Imperfect

“Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together.” ~ Brené Brown

Nobody is perfect, especially not you. Let perfection go. Embrace your being imperfect. We’re all our own worst critic, but we’re also our own worst cheering section.

They are two sides of the same warped coin. They are opposite ends of the spectrum known as the human condition. It’s between these two, right smack in the middle of our weirdness, where the most authentic version of ourselves flourish.

We are never as interesting as when we’re dancing a jig between our notions of perfection and imperfection. So kick up some dust. Blur the mirror. Accept that you are never going to be perfect, while at the same time striving to be the most perfect version of yourself possible.

If you fail, so what, at the end of the day there’s always a pint of don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously with a shot of humor on the side. And your circus monkeys will always be around to cheer you up. Cheers!

Image Source

Smoking Chimp
Odd Duck
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5 Common Spices that Destroy Diseases

Clyde
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2
5 Common Spices that Destroy Diseases

Over the recent years we have been moving further away from the pharmaceutical industry by taking small steps, if you recollect we did an article on how to cure a child from common ailments using an extract from five leaves.

But today I’ve cooked up a bunch of spices and common food ingredients that you can use to keep good health and even help and protect you from a range of diseases.

It shouldn’t be surprising that some of the ingredients used in your food can even help protect you against terminal diseases. Lets start off with one of my personal favorites, Garlic.

let food be thy medicineI know a 70+ year old man who has no blood pressure issues and a perfect blood sugar level that he attributes to his habit of eating three to four raw garlic cloves daily. But this is not just a figment of his imagination, take a look at what this herb has to offer, apart from bad breath that is 😉

Garlic

One of Garlic’s main benefits is that it helps reduce Cholesterol. The Linus Pauling Institute’s review of several studies found that people who consumed garlic for three months had a 6% to 11% reduction in total cholesterol. Also since garlic is an antioxidant, it may prevent the oxidation of cholesterol in the arteries.

When you crush Garlic you are immediately greeted by the pungent spell, that is due to Allicin, which is responsible for its medicinal benefits. It’s said that the daily consumption of garlic can help lower heart disease risk by as much as 76 percent. It also thins the blood and hence cuts down on the chances of dangerous blood clots.

Even cancer fears Allicin, especially stomach and colorectal cancer as it flushes out carcinogens even before they can damage cell DNA. If that’s not enough, Garlic has super strong antibacterial and anti-fungal properties and can help with yeast infections, some sinus infections, and common cold.

Avoid processed foods, fresh food for every meal.
Avoid processed foods, eat fresh food for every meal.

Turmeric

What would we do without Turmeric – we have mixed it with warm milk for cold and cough, given Turmeric and sugar (to make it edible) for kids when they bruise themselves and as a quick fix for animal injuries.

Turmeric is well known to reduce inflammation, while in Indian medicine its also used to increase appetite and as a digestive aid. Turmeric gets its golden color from Curcumin. Curcumin is considered as a powerful anticancer agent and quells the inflammation that contributes to the growth of tumors. Yes, powerful lab studies suggest that Turmeric helps stop the growth and spread of cancer cells.

There are numerous studies that talk about the benefits of using Turmeric against cancer and animal tests show that it even helps protect from Alzheimer’s disease.

Ginger

Ginger is such a powerful natural medicine that it finds itself not only in Ayurveda but also in the ancient Chinese medical texts. We have been using Ginger to treat cough and cold. It has anti-nausea properties and is a digestive aid. Ayurveda recommends eating raw ginger before meals for appetite as well as digestion.

While in modern times researches have found Ginger effect in combating inflammation and even in reducing the pain and swelling in people suffering from arthritis. Apart from these benefits, ginger can help with Migraines and may even prevent and slowing the growth of cancer. It’s good for the tummy and even makes a cup of tea so delightful to have.

Dr. Sinatra's Top Healing Spices

Cinnamon

Cinnamon packs a punch when it comes to fighting diabetes, it helps control blood sugar levels and also cuts down on triglycerides and total cholesterol.

Since it cuts down on the triglycerides and cholesterol its awesome for your heart and as a bonus its also rich in antioxidants. Along with a bunch of other spices, cinnamon has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties as well.

Another reason to add it into your diet is that its high in fiber and can also reduce heartburn in some people. Wow, bring on the cinnamon buns and rolls 😉

Cloves

Who hasn’t used cloves or clove oil to stop a tooth ache? Well with the kind of teeth I have, sticking cloves in my mouth has been part of the norm thanks to its numbing effect. But I wasn’t aware that even people suffering from Arthritis can get relief from the pain as it slows down the cartilage and bone damage caused by the disease.

Yet again, even cloves have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can protect one from heart disease, stave off cancer and also appear to improve insulin function. Cloves are also known to have killed certain antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Food is the Best Medicine

I just wanted to include this informative image of the benefits of certain fruits ~

fruit benefits chart

This is just a short list of herbs and spices with benefits that are still being uncovered. There are so many more that have positive effects on the human body, Basil, Coriander, Cumin, Mustard etc are all documented to boost our health and protect us from disease.

Eating healthy is a choice you make three times a day, its perhaps the easiest and most efficient way to fight disease. So what will you choose to do for your next meal?

Resources :

Garlic supplements reduce high cholesterol and decrease risk of heart disease
Garlic and Organosulfur Compounds
Clinical studies with curcumin
Studies and Uses of Cinnamon
Cinnamon and Diabetes
Ginger
Everytime You Eat or Drink Image
Fruit Chart
Let Food Be Thy Medicine
10 Healing Herbs and Spices
10 Kitchen Spices with Healing Powers
10 Spices that Heal Cancer Diabeties and More
Turmeric

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