Secret To Immortality

If you are what you eat - and you want to live forever - then eat McDonalds hamburgers. They never decompose!

This video shows a true story about a guy who's been saving hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and Big Macs from McDonalds for over 18 years... and they look EXACTLY the same! Check it out - they haven’t decomposed in over two decades!

Visit Bionic Burger or The Best Day Ever for more information. And if you don't believe it, here's another video:

Sally Davies, a New York-based photographer took a fresh McDonald's Happy Meal On 10 April, 2010 to see if what she had read online about a school teacher with a 12-year-old McDonald's burger could possibly be true.

She's been photographing it regularly ever since. After 6 Months there was very little sign of decay.

Hara Meditation

I have no idea where this came from... I'm just methodically clearing out my "drafts" here at Shirley Twofeathers, this one is a couple of years old, and I was apparently pretty lax about making note of my sources. I wonder how well it works... maybe I should try it!

This is not strictly a Reiki technique but it is a useful practice to get in touch with your hara.

Your head should rest comfortably on your neck. Pretend that a puppeteer has a string attached to the centre of the top of your head. Your spine should be straight but not rigid so that your head balances there without much muscle tension keeping it in place. Your shoulders should be relaxed. Sit up straight and find that balance point. Your gaze should be slightly downward.

Your nose and your navel should be in line. So should your ears and your shoulders. You may rock a little front to back and to each side to find the balance point. Let your shoulders relax.

Shunryu Suzuki, in his classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, says, "If you put your left hand on top of your right, middle joints of your middle fingers together, and touch your thumbs lightly together (as if you held a piece of paper between them), your hands will make a beautiful oval. You should keep this universal mudra with great care, as if you were holding something very precious in your hand. Your hands should be held against your body, with your thumbs at about the height of your navel. Hold your arms freely and easily, and slightly away from your body, as if you held an egg under each arm without breaking it." This hand position will assist you in focussing on your hara.

Now release any remaining muscle tension and concentrate on your breathing. Let your breathing become very natural. It will find its own pace and you may notice that it slows and deepens. Breath in and out through your nose. Allow the inbreath to sink into your abdomen. Imagine that the breath is moving like a wave between your lungs and your hara, that point in the centre of your abdomen about eight centimetres below and behind your navel. Visualise your breath falling there.

Where the mind goes the Ki follows.

Allow the out breath to leave your body gently and loop out in front of your nose. On the in breath pick up that loop again and let it fall down to your hara.

Bring your attention fully to that energy centre, that balance point we are referring to as hara. Allow all of your attention to focus at that point. It may be helpful to imagine a point of red light in the dark of your abdomen. Whatever image you choose, allow it to aid you in focusing, and then when it has lost its usefulness, let it go.

Continue to return your awareness to your hara whenever it drifts away. Focus all of your attention there. Be in that place. Own that part of your body. Note any sensations you have there and let them go. Releasing your mental constrictions there will allow the energy of the hara to move up your spine and throughout your body. You may feel energized, yet at the same time you may feel the peace of being in balance.

Experience whatever comes without grasping. Focus your attention without desire for any particular result. Check your posture and bring it back to balance when you feel it slip. Allow the emptiness of non-doing to bring you peace.

You are back with the source... your true nature.

Turn Back Your Biological Clock

Rejuvenation is the deliberate restoration of youth and vigor through self-intervention in the aging process. Negative mental states such as anxiety, depression, hostility, and insecurity tend to be debilitating, hastening the aging process. Positive mental states such as self-confidence, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and a sense of personal adequacy are empowering and inject rejuvenating energies into the body, eradicating those disempowering states which contribute to aging. Love, for example, is one of the most empowering rejuvenation elements know. When present in the psyche, it neutralizes hate, its negative counterpart that is destructive. Dormant rejuvenating forces already exist within each of us and can be activated to intervene in the physical aging process.

Psychic Rejuvenation

• Step 1:

Relaxation. Physical relaxation sets the stage for using your psychic faculties to intervene in the body's many functions. Close your eyes, slow down your breathing and allow your muscles to relax...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in the Alternative Therapies section, here: Turn Back Your Biological Clock

A Kitchari Fast

In Ayurveda, the ancient wisdom of India dating back 5,000 years, this mix of rice and mung beans is considered extremely easy to digest and is said to purify the digestion and cleanse the body of toxins. Ayurvedic physicians often prescribe a kitchari diet before, during, and after panchakarma, a rejuvenative treatment that cleanses toxins stored in bodily tissues as it restores systemic balance.

Kitchari provides solid nourishment while allowing the body to devote energy to healing. You can safely subsist on kitchari anytime in order to build vitality and strength as it helps balance all three doshas. For restless vata, the warm soup is grounding; for fiery pitta, its spices are calming; and for chilly kapha, it provides healing warmth...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in the Eating To Live section, here: A Kitchari Fast

Heart Attacks and drinking Warm Water

Here's an interesting tidbit that made it's way to my inbox. Who knows, maybe it'll do someone some good! Ready? Here it is:

This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about heart attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot green tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.



For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and may lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.

What not to say when someone is grieving.

The list of what to say or do for someone grieving is much shorter than the list of what not to say.

One of the best things to say is simply, ''I'm sorry." If you have a happy memory, share it. Most of all, listen.

"It's so important to listen and just let the person say what they need to say," said the Rev. Beth DeVan, staff chaplain for Mercy Medical Baldwin County Home Health. ''Your presence says more than anything else. And it says it better and it says it without the dangers of all those other things."

Which question or comment inflicts the most pain is hard to say, but those who've suffered significant losses have heard more than their share.

Here's a look at what not to say - and why.

1. "Are you over it yet?"

• ''It's not a cut on the arm that gets better," said Lonn Spencer, whose 21-year-old son, Charlie, died of complications of an undetected heart condition while out running a few years ago. ''I mean, every day (you) wake up your son is not there or your daughter, and so you can't get over that. You just can't."

2. ''I know how you feel."

• ''If you've suffered a loss then you may have an idea," said Rabbi Steven Silberman of Congregation Ahavas Chesed, ''but you don't know exactly how I feel."

3. ''God needed him more than you" or ''God needed another angel."

• ''In my book that's not a valid explanation because I think it's just a tragedy," Spencer said.

4. ''He's in a better place."

• ''He's not here," Spencer said. ''And he may be in a better place but he's not here that I can put my hand on him and hug him."

5. ''He's with God now."

• ''God's eternal. And my dad's spirit is eternal. So my dad's eternal spirit is going to be with God for eternity, and so if I want my dad for another few years and my mom wants to be with her husband for another few years, you know, don't say that to me," Silberman said.

6. ''Time will heal."

• ''It's not helpful to say soon after a death because it does sound like it trivializes the person's grief," DeVan said. ''When you start grieving it is so intense that you can't imagine life ever being different."

7. ''Well, you've got more children, don't you?" or ''Thank goodness you have your other child/ren."

• It treats the surviving child like a spare tire, said Sarah Snell, whose son Anthony died when he was 6 weeks old. Furthermore, parents grieving the death of one child may now be particularly fearful that their other child or children may die.

8. ''It was God's will."

• ''No one knows what God's will is but God, and it's real presumptuous," said local grief counselor Nikki MacDonald. ''It never makes the griever feel better."
  

Emotions - More Than You Ever Wanted To Know

Now that we're on the subject of emotions, I might as well upload this:

Human emotions have deep evolutionary roots, a fact that may explain their complexity. What is an emotion? More than 90 definitions have been offered over the past century, and there are almost as many theories of emotion—not to mention a complex array of overlapping words in our languages to describe them. Robert Plutchik offers an integrative theory based on evolutionary principles. Emotions are adaptive—in fact, they have a complexity born of a long evolutionary history—and although we conceive of emotions as feeling states, Plutchik says the feeling state is part of a process involving both cognition and behavior and containing several feedback loops.

This three-dimensional model describes the relations among emotion concepts, which are analogous to the colors on a color wheel. The cone’s vertical dimension representsintensity, and the circle represents degrees of similarity among the emotions. The eight sectors are designed to indicate that there are eight primary emotion dimensions defined by the theory arranged as four pairs of opposites.

Generally, humans seek to re-establish an equilibrium state in their inner emotional life. In human experience it is common to use the term “emotion” to describe the feeling state, but in fact emotion is considerably more complex.

Robert Plutchik, author of "The Nature of Emotions" created a wheel of emotions in 1980 which consisted of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions each composed of 2 basic ones, here's what that looks like:

Basic Emotion -- Basic Opposite

• Joy -- Sadness
• Acceptance -- Disgust
• Fear -- Anger
• Surprise -- Anticipation
• Sadness -- Joy
• Disgust -- Acceptance
• Anger -- Fear
• Anticipation -- Surprise

The article goes on and on... drones actually... and I found it really intriguing that there can be so much intellectualizing and labeling and categorizing something which I think defies the intellect, resents being labeled, cannot be contained, and must be allowed to the freedom to just BE.

That being said, here we have the last of it, which I uploaded as a separate post because a small portion of it is actually interesting to me: General Principles for Working With Emotions

General principles for Working With Emotions

1. Recognizing emotions is the basis of self-knowledge and interaction.
2. Emotions are connected with your own memories and observations, bringing them into your mind when needed.
3. It is possible to experience deep joy only after you have recognized and lived through the negative emotions stored in your subconscious and your body.
4. The possible emotional locks will open in their own time without breaking the ego only in a mutually respectful, safe and loving atmosphere.
5. Repressed emotions may break out as symptoms in the body, crying, gestures, expressions, dreams or exaggerations in the emotional life.
6. An emotion that has not been dealt with will come up to the conscious level when a person is ready to cope with it.
7. Working with emotions may be more exhausting than mental or physical struggle.
8. While the breathing is becoming freer it will also create a freer expression of emotions – and vice versa.
9. Emotions can lead you astray or hide behind each other.
10. Inner healing is possible.
11. Our own beliefs, attitudes and verbalizing of our thoughts crucially affect our emotional lives.
12. Faith is not dependent on emotions.

Why Kombucha Tea?

So, a friend of mine asked me to find a recipe for brewing kombucha tea, which I did. You can find a definitive how-to here. She bought me a bottle, which was pretty pricey, and I thought it tasted alot like sour, carbonated, rotten vinegar - and that was the "strawberry serenity" flavor, so before you get all crazy and start brewing it, it might be a good idea to try some. My friend says it gives her a lift, a sense of euphoria and makes her slightly giddy. I did not have that experience. An ice cold beer on a hot day is more my speed.

However, if you're curious, here is some information found:

You may have heard you should drink fewer soft drinks and ingest more tea. While investigating teas, you’ve probably heard of the many claims of incredible health benefits of kombucha tea. However, there is a great deal of controversy over this unusual tea, ranging from testimony that the tea prevents cancer and helps with AIDS symptoms to accusations that the tea has caused allergic reactions and even death.

What is Kombucha Tea?
Kombucha drinks are different than traditional teas. Kombucha is a cake-like colony of bacteria and yeast, often referred to as a mushroom. It is prepared by adding sugar, water and tea (usually green or black tea) to create a sweet (yet sour) fermented beverage that resembles both wine and tea simultaneously. Sometimes kombucha is powdered and added to green or black tea in tea bags and steeped like traditional tea.

Kombucha Health Benefits
Kombucha advocates claim the tea can produce such health benefits as extending your life span, improving digestion, detoxifying the body, thickening the hair and dissolving gall stones. It is taken for a large range of reasons – to calm the nervous system, to ward off colds and to deal with chronic headaches.

Most people who drink any sort of kombucha drink report feeling slightly intoxicated, calm and euphoric. However, when scientists put kombucha to the test, they found little to support many of the health claims associated with the tea. The most obvious health benefits can be attributed to the presence of a significant amount of B vitamins, amino acids and to the fact that the fermented beverage does indeed work much like a glass of wine to calm the nervous system and promote a general sense of well being. The teas used to prepare these drinks provide significant amounts of antioxidants, which can prevent cancer.

Kombucha Health Risks
Many people have reported allergic reactions to Kombucha, including nausea and hives. The fermentation process of Kombucha also creates a type of vinegar and acid which may be responsible for leaching metals from certain drinking utensils, making it important to use drinking and fermentation vessels that will not leach lead into the beverage. It is recommended that you limit your intake of kombucha, especially when first trying the drink, to two to four ounces of fermented kombucha per day, just to make sure it agrees with you.

You can buy kombucha online from kombucha dealers, or you can ferment and brew the tea at home. Just be sure you have the proper equipment and take proper precautions. If you want to try kombucha without the hassle of home brewing, buy bottled kombucha or try a pre-made kombucha tea bag concoction.

My New Toy

I want to thank everyone who has been so kind those of you that I know personally, and the wonderful people who have commented here, giving me words of encouragement even though they don't know me. You are all deeply appreciated.

On Monday, I got this email from my friend Cindy:

Sorry to hear about your dad and your sweet doggy. My dog, Tigger, had a cancerous tumor on her rear foot last year right about the time we were moving. The vet said we needed to amputate at least her foot if not her leg. We then took her to the oncologist who said we needed to amputate her hind leg at the hip. Well, I have had a 3-legged dog before and know they do great, but I just wasn't ready to do that to the girl! So I bought a Genesis tuning fork which is supposed to destroy cancer cells and I used that on her along with Reiki (and Lexi Reiki'd too, which I think kid Reiki is even more powerful than ours) and her tumor went completely away! And has stayed away!!!!

A friend of mine who is also an animal communicator does tuning fork healings and I bought the Genesis fork through her. I think it was about $30 plus tax. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!! FOR YOU DAD AND FOR YOUR DOG!!! It doesn't hurt, although with Tigger, she didn't like it - I think she could feel the vibration of the cancer cells shattering. I heard a story from my friend Linda about a couple who had a little boy with cancer and they did the tuning fork on him every day pretty much non-stop and it worked for them. I do believe that there are certain paths that are set to happen and it could be your dad's or your dog's time to go, but maybe not - worth thinking about anyway.

My vets are just astonished that Tigger's foot is now COMPLETELY healed and perfect!

So, naturally, I immediately went out and got myself one. I got it from Linda Trent, Cindy's friend. Here's what it looks like:



So what does it do? I think the idea is that through the use of sound waves, the cells are raised to a higher vibrational level which in turn facilitates healing. But I'm not exactly sure. This is the blurb I found about it online:

This fork is combined with the others to cause things to happen or to create things. It can be used alone or with the Gabriel fork to repair damaged portions of DNA. It can also be used alone or with the Shekinah fork to destroy cancer cells. It also will move bones and joints back into place when they are out of alignment. It will also repair and rebuild muscles and tissue. These are just a few of the amazing things we are discovering about this frequency. The possibilities are endless. Included are instructions for usage and a velvet pouch with drawstring.

Well that's all well and good... but does it work? I don't know if it's going to heal my dog or not. The jury is still out on that one. I did, however, use it on myself. I was curious to see how it felt, and what it might be able to do. And the results were astonishing to say the least.

For the last 3 months, I've had a lot of problems with one of my feet. It felt as if I had somehow broken one of the bones on the top of my foot - that kind of pain. Nothing worked. Then I noticed that there was a fatty tumor right where the pain would start from, and I think it was pressing on a nerve or putting pressure on a ligament, or pushing a bone out of place.... something like that. Anyway, I have no medical insurance - so I was just ignoring it mostly, and taking tylenol if it hurt too much.

Well, when I got the tuning fork, I was curious to see if it "felt" like anything, so I used it on my foot. It was interesting, because I could actually feel something happening, and then the rest of the day my foot didn't hurt at all. I used it for 3 days and this morning, I realized that the fatty tumor is gone. Yep. Gone. And my foot? It feels fine. So, we'll see what happens with Cinnamin! I haven't noticed any spectacular changes. Her appetite did pick up a little bit, and when I use it on her, she does look a little perkier... and if nothing else, it gives me something to do besides worry and fret.

Sun Salutation Mantra

This mantra invokes the healing power of the sun. When using it, for maximum benefit spend some time in the sun each day. You will achieve optimal results by practicing the mantra between ten and twenty minutes each day for forty days.

Om Hiranyagharbhaya Namaha
(Om Heer an yah gar bah yah Nah mah hah)

-oOo-

"Om and salutations to the Shining One who heals and is golden-colored."

Heart Math

Ok, so now that I've been inspired to post some stuff about heart attacks, it occured to me that it might be a good idea to put in a plug for HeartMath.


At work, a couple of weeks ago, a HeartMath training seminar was offered... well, actually it was MANDATORY that we attend. So I went grumpily in on my day off, prepared to be thoroughly unimpressed by "propaganda" designed to force us to like our jobs and be happy with the additional stress that management has been piling on us. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be something actually useful!

They use techniques that are similar to ones I've already used. For example, breathing into the heart (a common practice in Sufi Meditations), and focusing on feelings of gratitude or love - both of which I explored at the prosperity project. And then they back up those techniques with lots of medical and scientific jargon, graphs, and charts.

Up until now, I'm not too impressed. As a matter of fact, the whole thing is one big yawn as far as I'm concerned. I'm thinking to myself, "Been there - done that."

Now comes the interesting and fun part. They have this cool little hand held biofeedback machine. They don't call it that, they call it emWave, or something like that. Here's an ad I pulled off their site:

It was so much fun to play with!! The thoughts that brought me into the best state in terms of coherence and no stress were memories of when we had 3 kittens one Christmas, and they wouldn't stay out of the Christmas tree. I'm thinking to myself - kittens... I'm going to have to invest in kittens so I can stay happy and healthy!

The other memory that brought a really healing emotion into my heart chakra was the time my sister and I climbed Dog Canyon. I'll tell you guys about it some time - but for now, all I'll say is that I was sure that climb was going to kill me dead! And when we finally got to the little oasis at the top, and sat down to eat, the food was manna from heaven. I kid you not. Just thinking about it, triggered an immediate "green" response in the little emWave gadget, indicating deepest harmony.

So, their gadget is way cool... I finally gave up feelings of lack and limitation, and decided I wanted one of those little thingys more than I wanted - well - running water or internet service. As soon as I decided that, the "Master of the Universe" sent me some extra work that more than covered the cost of the emWave ... so it's ordered and as far as I'm concerned Nirvana is on it's way!

And no, you don't have to have a emWave gadget to use their technique. The "how to" is pretty simple, and they do offer books - here are some of them:


Here's some more stuff (it's kind of dry, but informative nonetheless) from an interview with Dr. Howard Martin, executive VP of strategic development at Heartmath and coauthor of the book, The Heartmath Solution.

What role does the heart play in the body?
The heart is the main command center of the body. It actually sends information to the brain and to the rest of the body -- information that is essential to a person's overall health and well-being. As a person learns about the communication between the heart and brain, and how to shift this communication, positive changes in how that person thinks and feels begin to take place. It's really a shift in paradigm to say that it's not just the brain, but that the heart also has a big role in how we think and feel.

What is HeartMath?
Heartmath is a system designed for high performance effective living that consists of concepts, tools, techniques and technology. In general, they all involve heart focus breathing -- really focusing on the area of your heart and making an effort to activate positive feelings.

How did Heartmath come about?
Heartmath's been around for the last 11 years, and began on the initiative of a man named Doc Childre. It started out through self-study. By his own admission, Doc was a relatively undisciplined young man who set about on a course of trying to achieve new levels of self-management. His scientific research along with his understanding of other people and of himself, led him to develop his own philosophy as well as his own tools, techniques and concepts. For 20 years he never externalized anything, working quietly and leading a normal life. It was only in 1990 that he agreed to begin to more formally share some of his information with others. From there the companies were born and we entered into the training programs, books and technology that we have today.

How proven is Heartmath?
We know for sure that the heart does communicate with the brain and the body, and that's beyond a doubt. The field of neurocardiology studies this. The tools, techniques and concepts used in Heartmath are scientifically grounded, with a great amount of biophysical and social scientific proof to back them up.

How does Heartmath differ from other stress reduction techniques such as meditation?
Well first of all let me preface any comments by saying that we never like to be cast as any kind of a competitor, as better or worse than other systems of personal development and personal growth. We like to be seen more as a facilitator of any of those things. That being said, Heartmath is designed to be very interactive, very in the moment, very appropriate for the speed at which we're living in today's modern world. Techniques like meditation can be valuable but sometimes there is a cultural difference. Meditation comes from an Eastern culture and it doesn't necessarily overlay very well on modern western culture. It requires a lot of change in some of the basic stuff involved in a lifestyle and most people aren't willing to do that. Heartmath techniques are very appropriate for modern times, and very interactive with daily life and things that people can do in the moment.

How does Heartmath address individual stressors?
The tools and techniques can be used to create shifts of attitude or shifts in perception that lead to shifts of attitude. To manage stress or to begin to shift stress, you have to learn to shift perception first. It's the perception of the event that really creates the stress. It begins right there, with perception, and changes in perception lead to changes in behavior, how we process things, how we view things, how we act or react around certain issues. Those changes of behavior come relatively quickly once we begin to learn how to at least adopt different kind of perceptions of the stressful events.

Where are Heartmath techniques being used?
We are around the world, providing face-to-face training for over 20,000 people a year. We are focused primarily on large organizational clients, doing training programs in major Fortune 500, and Fortune 100 companies around the world. We deal with the individual customer who is interested in improving health and reducing stress through our books tapes, and freeze-framer software.

(This information is an extract from an article titled ‘Listening to the tell tale heart’ by Noel Boivin in February 2006 issue of Your Health.)

Ok, yeah, I'm pimping this stuff. I don't go commercial on this site very often, and I do think the emWave has value, and yes, I went ahead and signed up as an affiliate. So, hey, go get one for yourself. I think you'll like it, I really do!

What is a heart attack anyway?

• A heart attack results when a blood clot completely obstructs a coronary artery supplying blood to the heart muscle.
• A heart attack causes death of part of the heart muscle.
• The site of blood clot formation during a heart attack is usually a cholesterol plaque on the inner wall of a coronary artery.
• A heart attack can cause chest pain, heart failure, and electrical instability of the heart.
• Electrical instability of the heart can cause life threatening abnormal heart rhythm.

Treatment of a heart attack may include:

• Prompt administration of drugs to dissolve and prevent blood clots
• Performance of angioplasty or intracoronary stenting to open an obstructed artery
• Medications that open (dilate) blood vessels.
• Early reopening of a blocked coronary artery reduces the amount of heart muscle damage, lessens the size of the heart attack, and improves prognosis.
• Patients suffering a heart attack are hospitalized for several days to detect heart rhythm disturbance, and observe for shortness of breath, and chest pain.

Women and Heart Attacks

I got this via email this morning, and it occured to me that maybe I would share it here on the off chance that it might be important and/or beneficial to someone, somewhere, some time. I did not write it, nor do I know who did. So, here ya go:

I am an ER nurse and I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest, and dropping to the floor that we see in the movies?

Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack:

'I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion; NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on.

I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up'.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drinks a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics .. I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts.

She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude E R on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.

'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.'

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up .. which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING unpleasantl is happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can, take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the road.

Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.

Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail (or reads this post) sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

**Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male & female) you care about!**

Impeach the President!!

Only one Congressman had the personal courage and the profound respect for our Constitution to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and exercise his right and his responsibility to bring Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush - Ohio Representative Dennis J. Kucinich.

Now, Americans who cherish our Democracy and the Constitutional principles upon which it was founded can stand up, speak out, and take action by signing the one official petition that carries the full and unqualified support of the one and only original sponsor of the impeachment resolution: Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich.

Kucinich Petition

Well, I don't know if it's really worth the time and effort, since he's a lame duck and on his way out, but I went ahead and signed it. If you want to, you could sign it too.

WHEREAS, in his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed abuses of power.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States and that he be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Sign the Petition!

Damn it!!

Ok, so I was looking for an image for a Prosperity Project post, and ended up on this website... I'm never eating meat again! I say this... and I think it might even be true. I don't want one dime of my money to go to support the companies that do this shit!!

This really pisses me off! If I actually follow through on this, my life just got way more complicated!! Me not eating meat is one thing, but what about my dogs? I have been making my own dog food with turkey and rice. It's easy, it seems (now I'm not so sure) to be healthy for my dogs, and up until today, I felt pretty good about it. Now, I'm not so sure... How can the food we eat be even remotely good for us when this is what happens to it?


For example:

• Over 300 million turkeys are killed every year in the United States, 40 million of them specifically for Thanksgiving.
• The majority of these are raised in factory farms where they are stacked in cages in windowless sheds where they can't live naturally (or happily) in any sense of the word.
• Often they cannot move, and many die in the conditions before they are fully grown.
• They are debeaked and declawed without anesthesia, making it difficult or even impossible for them to eat.
• Those who survive are fed until they are grotesquely obese and cannot stand because their skeletons are too weak from confinement.
• Over-burdened in this way, and trapped in close quarters with too little oxygen, many turkeys die when their hearts explode from the physical stress....

... I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in it's entirety here: Damn it!!

Meditation for Repair and Restoration

Today at work, I found this really great meditation in The Sufi Book of Life by Neil Douglas-Klotz. I'm going to commit to it as a 40 day practice.

Here's what he says about it:

Perhaps something in your life, inner or outer, needs repair or restoration. Life is calling you now to take action and take yourself in hand. Instead of being afraid that you can't do it, allow yourself to feel the One Being acting through you. This pathway of the heart asks for concentrated, creative energy.

The Meditation:

Center again in the heart. Breathe the sound Ya JaBaar rhythmically, bending slightly forward as you breathe out, and back as you breathe in. Allow the sound to rock you into action, like the feeling of riding a camel in the caravan of life. Allow the sound to spread first to the periphery, and feel healthy boundaries restored. Then gently invite all voices of your inner self to gather, and allow the arms of the Beloved to enfold you in healing.

Learning Symbolic Sight

What is symbolic sight? It's the ability to use your intuition to interpret the power symbols in your life.

When a person seeks to see more, healing is inevitable. But you need an internal method of absorbing this information to make it real for you.

1. Focus your attention on learning to interpret your life's challenges symbolically. Find a meaning in them. Think and feel how they connect to your health. Bring attention every day to the challenges you face and to how your mind and spirit respond to them. Observe what causes you to lose power, and where you feel the loss. Evaluate the spiritual and biological activity that occurs as a consequence.
   
   
2. Think of yourself at all times as an energy being as well as a physical one. The energy part of yourself is the transmitter and recorder of all your thoughts and interactions. Keep in mind at all times that your biography becomes your biology. Develop the habit of evaluating the people, experiences, and information you allow into your life. Consciously and regularly evaluate your interactions and their influence on your emotional and physical power.
   
   
3. Conduct energy self-evaluations on a daily basis. Reflect on each power center (or chakra) for a minute or two in a quiet, objective way. Don't wait to become ill before you attend to the health of your energy system. Learn to sense the stress accumulating in your energy field, and take the steps to heal yourself at the energy level. Make self-evaluation a habit.
   
   
4. When you discover an energy leak, focus on only the essentials that can help you recover your energy. Always address the question "Why am I losing power?" In healing any imbalance, whether it is energetic or physical, you must always involve both your mind and your heart. Always strive to see beyond the physical components of a crisis. Refer to the seven sacred truths of energy - one or more of those truths will be involved in your stressful situation.
   
   
5. Learn what rather than who draws power from you. Understand that the person who seems to be drawing your energy is actually only a reflection of some part of yourself. When you erroneously conclude that a specific person is the cause of your feeling depleted, you are slipping into fear and blame. You need to refocus on your power center until you get an impression of what kind of power that person has in relation to you. Once you set your sights on the lesson rather than the teacher, you have achieved a significant benefit of symbolic sight: you see that truth being delivered to you through the challenge.
   
   
6. Simplify your requirements for healing. The requirements to heal any illness are essentially the same. Think of the illness as a power disorder - almost like a technical malfunction. Once you identify which sacred truth applies to your situation, organize your internal healing process around learning from that truth. Combine your internal healing with any conventional medical treatment that is essential, and stick to your program. reach out for any support that you require, and use that support appropriately. Remember that the task is to move through your wounds, not to live in them.
   
   
7. Do all that is necessary to support your physical body, such as taking the appropriate medicine, maintaining a daily exercise program, and eating properly. Simultaneously, do all that is necessary to support your energy body, such as releasing unfinished business and forgiving injuries from the past. Make whatever personal changes are necessary for healing to take place. The specific changes you make are not the important point here. The point is to actually make the changes that healing requires.
   
   
8. Talking does not heal; taking action does. While it is essential to work at maintaining a positive attitude whatever your illness, healing requires dedication and commitment. Visualization will not work if you practice it only once a week, and no one's body becomes fit from only one trip to the gym. Healing one's body or one's life challenges - or developing symbolic sight - requires daily practice and attention. Healing illness in particular may be a full-time occupation, although you can simplify the steps required to accomplish the task.
   
   
9. Simplify your spirituality. In all likelihood we have made our lives far more complex than they have to be. Achieving health, happiness, and an energy balance comes down to deciding to focus more on the positive than on the negative and to live in a manner spiritually congruent with what we know is the truth. Making those two commitments alone is sufficient to allow the power contained within our Divine biological system to influence the content and direction of our lives.

from: Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss

Points to Live By

From Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss, come these points to live by:

• All circumstances can be changed in a moment, and all illness can be healed. The Divine is not limited by human time, space, or physical concerns.
  


• Be consistent: live what you believe.
  


• Change is constant. Every life goes through phases of difficult change as well as peace. Learn to go with the flow of change rather than try to stop change from occuring.
  


• Never look to another person to make you happy - happiness is an internal, personal attitude and responsibility.
  


• Life is essentially a learning experience. Every situation, challenge and relationship contains some message worth learning or teaching to others.
  


• Positive energy works more effecively than negative energy in each and every situation.
  


• Live in the present moment, and practice forgiveness of others.

Redirecting power

Once we make conscious our emotional needs, it's impossible to forget them. Once we become aware of the source of our unhappiness we cannot expunge that awareness. We have to make choices. The ability to choose is an active power - and the sensation of having active power is both thrilling and threatening, because it makes us want to change those parts of our lives that are no longer appropriate. And changing those parts inspires us to challenge other aspects of our lives that are not satisfactory.

Changing our lives is often difficult because of our existing loyalties. Usually we learn about loyalty within our family structure and as a connection toward our family. Loyalty to oneself, however, is an entirely different virtue, and adhering to it can cause tremendous upheaval in a family.

In truth, there are not many ways to successfully introduce your personal needs into a circumstance that was created before you realized what your personal needs were.

The necessity of change makes healing a terrifying experience for many people. These individuals know, consciously or unconsciously, that unplugging their energy circuits from a power target is the same as saying good-bye to it. They enter into an unsettling limbo where they want simultaneously to unplug from their power target and to hang on to it. Some people end up trying to live in the two worlds simultaneously, not entirely inhabiting the one that no longer suits them, yet never quite moving on to the next either. Thus it is that many people journey to the well of healing but find, once they get there, that they cannot actually drink.

from: Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss