Posted on 26 May, 2010 -
An A to Z of tips and fascinating facts: Part 2
P is for the thing we all long for and our bodies hunger…
Some X-tra tips on curing arthritis from readers
V for Volcano, W for Weather and Y for Yoghurt for weight loss and stomach problems…
The days are hot, the evenings are long and the world is full of colour again. What more is there to ask for?!
So with no further ado, your A to Z of fascinating facts and tips Part 2:
M is for Living in the Present Moment. Something you can’t remind yourself of often enough. There is always great happiness to be had from really becoming aware of what you are doing and the world you can see right this minute around you. By focusing our mind on either the past or the present we often experience anxiety or pain. By focusing our minds on the present there is always freedom and joy.
M is also for the Moon as requested by reader Anne. “It is a lovely thing to see in the sky” she says. The “only heavenly object many town dwellers can see at night.” And now, after a little fact-finding about the moon, I have a completely new image of the Man in the Moon than the one I had as a child. Rather than eating cream cheese, this one rides a bike around it! Why? Well, according to a book of facts I have, a man cycling on the moon could keep up with the frontier between night and day, whose maximum speed is about 10 miles per hour. On earth, at the equator, it’s about 1,000 miles per hour.
N is for ‘No Return’ says another reader. Don’t dwell on things that have happened or look back with regret. We can achieve nothing by carrying those things with us. You can take forward with you any lessons you have learnt but do not allow them to stay with you and drag you down. Detach them and float them free.
O is for Oscar Wilde , the Irish writer and poet who was born in Dublin in 1854 to intellectual parents. He belonged to the Aesthetic Movement which emphasized aesthetic values over moral or social themes in literature and art. Best known for his play, The Importance of Being Artist and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Two of my favourite Oscar Wilde quotes are:
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
“I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.”
P is for Pleasure which is all we really long for! In one experiment, scientists attached electrodes to the pleasure centre in a rat’s brain. Over the course of one day, the rat pressed the lever that stimulated his feelings of pleasure an amazing 48,000 times - choosing the stimulator over food and water. Pleasure, I believe, is something we sometimes forget or even deny ourselves the right to. Spend a couple of minutes now thinking of things that hit a bull’s eye with your pleasure centres and how you can bring more pleasure into your own life.
Q is for Queens and the lives they have lead. By the time she came to the thrown at 18, Queen Victoria was so fed up of being constantly chaperoned and monitored that her first act after her coronation was to remove her bed from her mother’s room. Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Hentry VIII asked for the executioner’s ax and block to be brought to her room so she could rehearse her own execution. When Catherine the Great traveled from St Petersburg to Moscow for her coronation ceremony, the court followed behind in fourteen large sleighs and nearly 200 smaller ones. On just one of the sleighs was a miniature palace containing salon, library and bedroom.
R is for recreation as an antidote for stress. With anxiety and stress so rampant these days and so many people working at full-throttle, it’s important to remember that recreation can play a crucial role in allowing us to let off steam, take a break and look after our sanity. Pursuing enjoyable activities or hobbies an help us feel more satisfied with our lives, more satisfied with ourselves and more engaged in the meaningful flow of life.
S is for Slow and for Feeling STUCK in your work and/or financial situation. In an interview with JD Roth, the author of Get Rich Slowly, I liked his message for people who are unhappy in the work and or financial situation they’re in: “If you feel stuck, the first step is to figure out why you feel stuck. You can’t solve the problem if you don’t identify it. One way to help achieve some clarity is to take some time to actually set some financial goals. From my own experience, I know that if you don’t create a map for yourself, it’s easy to get lost; and when you get lost, it’s easy to become overwhelmed.... Also, I think that when many people feel trapped, they just sort of freeze. They don’t do anything.”
T is for Tramplines. Following my J for Jumping last time round, Richard adds that “jumping -in particular on a trampoline is extremely good for us as the body passes through a point of anti-gravity with each jump which stimulates a flushing action in the adrenal system.”
U is for the Upper Arm, the best place to touch somebody if you want them to do something you’re requesting. A light touch here is perceived as a sign of high status and can increase the chance of somebody doing something you request by as much as 20%. It won’t turn you into Derren Brown, but still worth a try!
V is for Volcanos. While the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland has been closing down a number of airports of late, this pales into significance compared to the eruption of Tomboro in Indonesia in 1816. By blocking the rays of the sun with its ash, it ruined crops in America and Europe and meant that there was no summer in many areas of the world. In New England, snow stayed on the ground all year round and there was red and brown snow in the US, in Hungary and in Italy.
W is for the Weather in our unbelievable World. Just think, for example, about the fact that lightning strikes the Earth at hundred times every second, from the 1,800 thunderstorms in progress at any given time. The fastest recorded temperature change happened in Spearfish, South Dakota on January 22nd when the temperature rose from - 4° to 45° F in two minutes in the morning.
X is for X-tra arthritis tips from readers. One reader, for example, said : “Both myself and my son (40 yrs) have used Margaret Hills book on ‘Curing Arthritis, The Drug Free Way’ printed by Sheldon Press. (ISBN 0-85969-689-8) My son had great difficulty playing a complete round of golf without being very disabled with pain. He had been told that he has arthritis in that hip but that he was too young for a replacement. Having nothing to lose he has been on the suggested diet in the book and he has lost the pain and can manage golf with no problem.”
Reader Susanna says the key to her was collagen tablets: “I noticed my skin got really soft and clear but about 6 months after that I noticed I stopped limping round when I got out of bed...I had been told I was mildly arthritic..I’m in my 50’s and a friend who’s in her late 40’s was noticing this happen too.. and lo and behold in last Sundays Express there was news of a great breakthrough for this ailment. Collegan..3 out 4 experienced almost complete relief.”
One source of collagen I found that seemed particularly targeted at joints was Collagena Medica. Find out more at this link: Collagena Medica website
Y is for the health and weight loss benefits of yoghurt. In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity (11 January 2005), obese individuals who ate 3 servings of low-fat yoghurt a day as part of a low-calorie diet lost 22% more weight than the control group who only cut back on calories and did not have extra calcium. They also lost 81% more abdominal fat.
Yoghurt is also good for reducing inflammation in the digestive tract so can give relief for conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis), ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Z is for Zonked , says reader Carol. If you feel zonked at the end of the day, it means a day well spent. If you feel zonked at the start of the day, it means it’s time to ease up a little.
