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Monday, August 31, 2009
Please sign this petition to help save Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savebatnha
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Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
UCLA STUDY ON FRIENDSHIP AMONG WOMEN
UCLA STUDY ON FRIENDSHIP AMONG WOMEN
By Gale Berkowitz
A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more.
Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down. Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible, explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors.
It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by sabre-toothed tigers. Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just fight or flight. In fact, says Dr. Klein, it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect.
This calming response does not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because testosterone - which men produce in high levels when they're under stress - seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen, she adds, seems to enhance it. The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic "aha" moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA. There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded, says Dr. Klein. When the men were stressed they holed up somewhere on their own. I commented one day to fellow researcher Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress research is on males. I showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us knew instantly that we were onto something. The women cleared their schedules and started meeting with one scientist after another from various research specialties. Very quickly, Drs. Klein and Taylor discovered that by not including women in stress research, scientists had made a huge mistake: The fact that women respond to stress differently than men has significant implications for our health.
It may take some time for new studies to reveal all the ways that oxytocin encourages us to care for children and hang out with other women, but the "tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein and Taylor may explain why women consistently outlive men. Study after study has found that social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol. There's no doubt, says Dr. Klein, that friends are helping us live longer.
In one study, for example, researchers found that people who had no friends increased their risk of death over a 6-month period. In another study, those who had the most friends over a 9-year period cut their risk of death by more than 60%. Friends are also helping us live better. The famed Nurses' Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they aged, and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. In fact, the results were so significant, the researchers concluded, that not having close friends or confidants was as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight!
And that's not all! When the researchers looked at how well the women functioned after the death of their spouse, they found that even in the face of this biggest stressor of all, those women who had a close friend and confidante were more likely to survive the experience without any new physical impairments or permanent loss of vitality. Those without friends were not always so fortunate. Yet if friends counter the stress that seems to swallow up so much of our life these days, if they keep us healthy and even add years to our life, why is it so hard to find time to be with them?
That's a question that also troubles researcher Ruthellen Josselson, Ph.D., co-author of Best Friends: The Pleasures and Perils of Girls' and Women's Friendships (Three Rivers Press, 1998). Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships with other women, explains Dr. Josselson. We push them right to the backburner. That's really a mistake; women are such a source of strength to each other. We nurture one another. And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women. It's a very healing experience.
Taylor, S. E.; Klein, L.C.; Lewis, B. P.; Gruenewald, T. L.; Gurung, R. A. R.; & Updegraff, J. A. (2000).
"Female Responses to Stress: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight", Psychological Review, 107(3), 41-429.******************************************************
If you enjoyed this, would you please make a donation?
Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
By Gale Berkowitz
A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more.
Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down. Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible, explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors.
It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by sabre-toothed tigers. Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just fight or flight. In fact, says Dr. Klein, it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect.
This calming response does not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because testosterone - which men produce in high levels when they're under stress - seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen, she adds, seems to enhance it. The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic "aha" moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA. There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded, says Dr. Klein. When the men were stressed they holed up somewhere on their own. I commented one day to fellow researcher Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress research is on males. I showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us knew instantly that we were onto something. The women cleared their schedules and started meeting with one scientist after another from various research specialties. Very quickly, Drs. Klein and Taylor discovered that by not including women in stress research, scientists had made a huge mistake: The fact that women respond to stress differently than men has significant implications for our health.
It may take some time for new studies to reveal all the ways that oxytocin encourages us to care for children and hang out with other women, but the "tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein and Taylor may explain why women consistently outlive men. Study after study has found that social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol. There's no doubt, says Dr. Klein, that friends are helping us live longer.
In one study, for example, researchers found that people who had no friends increased their risk of death over a 6-month period. In another study, those who had the most friends over a 9-year period cut their risk of death by more than 60%. Friends are also helping us live better. The famed Nurses' Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they aged, and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. In fact, the results were so significant, the researchers concluded, that not having close friends or confidants was as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight!
And that's not all! When the researchers looked at how well the women functioned after the death of their spouse, they found that even in the face of this biggest stressor of all, those women who had a close friend and confidante were more likely to survive the experience without any new physical impairments or permanent loss of vitality. Those without friends were not always so fortunate. Yet if friends counter the stress that seems to swallow up so much of our life these days, if they keep us healthy and even add years to our life, why is it so hard to find time to be with them?
That's a question that also troubles researcher Ruthellen Josselson, Ph.D., co-author of Best Friends: The Pleasures and Perils of Girls' and Women's Friendships (Three Rivers Press, 1998). Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships with other women, explains Dr. Josselson. We push them right to the backburner. That's really a mistake; women are such a source of strength to each other. We nurture one another. And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women. It's a very healing experience.
Taylor, S. E.; Klein, L.C.; Lewis, B. P.; Gruenewald, T. L.; Gurung, R. A. R.; & Updegraff, J. A. (2000).
"Female Responses to Stress: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight", Psychological Review, 107(3), 41-429.
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Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Please read: Mauna Kea is a Microcosm for the World's Current Ecological Dilemmas
http://www.naturalnews.com/026899_Mauna_Kea_Hawaii_YouTube.html******************************************************
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If you enjoyed this, would you please make a donation?
Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Star Speaks About Mauna Kea's Sacredness
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Thursday, August 20, 2009
Bring Inner Peace With a Simple Word, & Remembrance
Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18399-Honolulu-Health-and-Happiness-Examiner~y2009m8d20-Bring-Inner-Peace-With-a-Simple-Word--Remembrance
OM, like Amen, means the Divine which manifests as all that is. OM is the "word. As the Bible says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word." One interpretation of "Word" in this passage is primal sound or vibration from which all other names and forms arise and to which we all return. OM is the Alpha and the Omega.
Repetition of OM or AUM dissolves the mind into its Divine Source. If you chant OM several times out loud it purifies the atmosphere. It clear the mind, and it brings you peace. Try it. Chant at least 7 OM's in succession. Make each breath last as long as possible. Take a deep breath in and start the exhalation with Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh then Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh then Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Also, try this with a group of people. In the group, each person - all together - chants OM continuously with no breaks for 5 minutes. Fill the air with OM. It will ring through your whole heart and body. You will experience such joy and peace. (Note: If you feel self-conscious, then please just continue and practice allowing your voice to be heard. Practice self-acceptance, and your body will begin to relax.)
Each day, practice chanting OM for five or ten minutes. (Even one minute helps so much.) Then sit for a moment of Silence. You will be amazed! Experience is better than all words! Practice is better than tons of study. As Rumi said so beautifully, "Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open teh door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."
Try repeating OM as a mantra for meditation. Repeat OM silently to yourself. You can practice this all day long and everyday. It will always bring peace to your heart and life. It will bring you into the "new" as my beloved guru Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati teaches us (www.kashi.org). When the mind wanders bring it gently back to OM again and again.
You can also practice this with the word "God" or your name for your Beloved. Repeat "God" all day long. When the mind wanders and gets stressed, simply bring the thoughts back to God. Aloha.
© 2009 Heather Havey, M.A. www.peacethroughkindness.com
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100 Items That Disappear First in a Disaster
100 Items That Disappear First in a Disaster
Link to full article below
1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy..target of
thieves; maintenance, etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers (Shipping delays increasing.)
3. Portable Toilets (Increasing in price every two months.)
4. Seasoned Firewood (About $100 per cord; wood takes 6 - 12 mos. to
become dried, for home uses.)
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce,
stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel (URGENT $2.69-$3.99/gal. Impossible to stockpile too
much.)
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots
8. Hand-Can openers & hand egg beaters, whisks (Life savers!)
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugars
10. Rice - Beans - Wheat (White rice is now $12.95 - 50# bag. Sam's Club,
stock depleted often.)
11. Vegetable oil (for cooking) (Without it food burns/must be boiled,
etc.)
12. Charcoal & Lighter fluid (Will become scarce suddenly.)
13. Water containers (Urgent Item to obtain. Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR
PLASTIC ONLY)
14. Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won't heat a
room.)
15. Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
16. Propane Cylinders
17. Michael Hyatt's Y2K Survival Guide (BEST single y2k handbook for sound
advice/tips.)
18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term
lighting is difficult.)
19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula/ointments/aspirin, etc
20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
22. Vitamins (Critical, due to daily canned food diets.)
23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is
dangerous without this item.)
24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products
25. Thermal underwear (Tops and bottoms)
26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets & Wedges (also, honing oil)
27. Aluminum foil Reg. & Hvy. Duty (Great Cooking & Barter item)
28. Gasoline containers (Plastic or Metal)
29. Garbage bags (Impossible to have too many.)
30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, paper towel
31. Milk - Powdered & Condensed (Shake liquid every 3 to 4 months.)
32. Garden seeds (Non-hybrid) (A MUST)
33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
34. Coleman's Pump Repair Kit: 1(800) 835-3278
35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
36. Fire extinguishers (or.. large box of Baking soda in every room...)
37. First aid kits
To read the full article: http://www.frugalfolks.com/emergenc.html#A
******************************************************
If you enjoyed this, would you please make a donation?
Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
Link to full article below
1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy..target of
thieves; maintenance, etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers (Shipping delays increasing.)
3. Portable Toilets (Increasing in price every two months.)
4. Seasoned Firewood (About $100 per cord; wood takes 6 - 12 mos. to
become dried, for home uses.)
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce,
stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel (URGENT $2.69-$3.99/gal. Impossible to stockpile too
much.)
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots
8. Hand-Can openers & hand egg beaters, whisks (Life savers!)
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugars
10. Rice - Beans - Wheat (White rice is now $12.95 - 50# bag. Sam's Club,
stock depleted often.)
11. Vegetable oil (for cooking) (Without it food burns/must be boiled,
etc.)
12. Charcoal & Lighter fluid (Will become scarce suddenly.)
13. Water containers (Urgent Item to obtain. Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR
PLASTIC ONLY)
14. Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won't heat a
room.)
15. Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
16. Propane Cylinders
17. Michael Hyatt's Y2K Survival Guide (BEST single y2k handbook for sound
advice/tips.)
18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term
lighting is difficult.)
19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula/ointments/
20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
22. Vitamins (Critical, due to daily canned food diets.)
23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is
dangerous without this item.)
24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products
25. Thermal underwear (Tops and bottoms)
26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets & Wedges (also, honing oil)
27. Aluminum foil Reg. & Hvy. Duty (Great Cooking & Barter item)
28. Gasoline containers (Plastic or Metal)
29. Garbage bags (Impossible to have too many.)
30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, paper towel
31. Milk - Powdered & Condensed (Shake liquid every 3 to 4 months.)
32. Garden seeds (Non-hybrid) (A MUST)
33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
34. Coleman's Pump Repair Kit: 1(800) 835-3278
35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
36. Fire extinguishers (or.. large box of Baking soda in every room...)
37. First aid kits
To read the full article:
If you enjoyed this, would you please make a donation?
Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
FRUIT & VEGETABLE GARDENING – More about Pots
FRUIT & VEGETABLE GARDENING – More about Pots
by Diana Greenwood Mead
August 11, 2009 Link to full article below
This is the time of the year when most things in the garden are going well – flowers are flowering as though the sun would always shine, and the fruit & vegetables are ripe for picking – some of them growing with such enthusiasm that you can’t keep up with the picking!
Now is a good time to take stock and decide what should be changed or added to next year – not that you should move plants when they are at the height of their production, but it is helpful to make a few notes and take a some cuttings. I grow great swathes of lavender as I love hanging bags of the dried flowers in my closets and layering more in drawers and on shelves, but I’ve realized that in my tiny garden the bushes are just in the wrong place, so I’m taking a dozen cuttings to be ready for planting out next spring.
To read the full article: http://www.supermarketguru.com/index.cfm/go/sg.viewArticle/articleId/663
******************************************************
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Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
by Diana Greenwood Mead
August 11, 2009 Link to full article below
This is the time of the year when most things in the garden are going well – flowers are flowering as though the sun would always shine, and the fruit & vegetables are ripe for picking – some of them growing with such enthusiasm that you can’t keep up with the picking!
Now is a good time to take stock and decide what should be changed or added to next year – not that you should move plants when they are at the height of their production, but it is helpful to make a few notes and take a some cuttings. I grow great swathes of lavender as I love hanging bags of the dried flowers in my closets and layering more in drawers and on shelves, but I’ve realized that in my tiny garden the bushes are just in the wrong place, so I’m taking a dozen cuttings to be ready for planting out next spring.
To read the full article: http://www.supermarketguru.
If you enjoyed this, would you please make a donation?
Even $1 or $5 helps us to serve you.
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