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It’s common to hear people on a spiritual path saying that you need to destroy or erase the ego. However, while you have a physical body, it’s necessary to have an ego just as much as you have a mind and intellect. Rather than focusing on eliminating the ego, your aim should be to balance it so it acts in harmony with all your other layers of life.

In terms of evolution, the non-local Absolute manifests the Jiva or individual soul. The individual soul brings with it the karma for this lifetime and creates the ego to help facilitate this. From the ego emerge the intellect, the mind, and your physical world as projections of your karmic tendencies. The karmic curse is that we have forgotten who we really are and instead, the ego creates all the stories, labels, and roles of who we think we are. Thus the ego knows us intimately and, if left to its own devices, becomes the director of our life story.

A Closer Look at the Ego

Up until the age of about two, the ego is fairly dormant. Then, all of a sudden the word “mine” is discovered. Even though this may be challenging for those around you, you enter the period when the ego plays an important role in your life. As you grow, the ego supports you in your education, career, starting a family, and generally establishing your life. The ego loves to organize things, but unfortunately, it also loves to control not only your life but also the world around you.

If not managed, this negative side of the ego manifests as arrogance, pride, vanity, judgements, and prejudices. In the more extreme cases, it emerges as the need to control, the lust for power, fanaticism, or an obsession with materialism. Unfortunately, many people forego a more spiritual approach to life and become stuck with these seductive qualities of the ego. This leads to one definition of ego as being Edging God Out!

Those of us who have begun to realize that there is more to life than materialism will sooner or later embark on a spiritual journey that will eventually take us “home.” However, this is a time when the ego can be most troublesome. The ego likes to be in charge to control, whereas your spiritual practices are to break you out of boundaries and live in freedom. When you first start your sadhana(spiritual practice), the ego doesn’t take much notice. It thinks, “It was that new diet last month and the exercise program the month before, this won’t last either.” However, as you continue and become regular with your meditation, yoga asana, etc., the ego starts to grow nervous.

The driving force within the ego is fear and, if you allow it, the ego will install fear into all areas of your life. Any greed, lust, intolerance, and anger are based in fear, and guess who’s behind it all? The ego. The ego knows all your weaknesses, your repressed desires, and your areas of denial, and it will use them against you, to knock you off your spiritual path.

Most of the doubts and worries you encounter are ego-based:

“Am I doing it correctly?”

“Am I on the right path?”

“Does this teacher know what he/she is talking about?”

Even simple thoughts like, “I don’t have enough time” or “When will the meditation be over” have been subtly slipped in by the ego

Now this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your common sense but, when these types of thoughts or doubts arise, ask yourself, “Is this my Higher Self or my ego talking?” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi used to say, “When doubts arise, first doubt the doubter.” The doubter is usually the ego.

While your techniques themselves are effortless, as you progress on your path, it’s important to remain focused, vigilant, and disciplined in your approach to them. As long as you have a physical body, an ego will be with you. When the karma for this lifetime has been exhausted, the body ceases to exist and with it the ego. A new ego will be born with a new incarnation, again as a reflection of the karmic contract for that lifetime.

Even after Enlightenment, some trace of ego still remains. In the Vedas, this is called Lesha-Vidya or the “left over seeds of bad habits.” An enlightened teacher must be very aware of this so he/she doesn’t fall prey to spiritual pride and arrogance. In the early stages of Samadhi, the yogi may gain new and exciting qualities and yogic powers. If these are recognized as merely a part of the journey and treated with humility, he/she will progress to the higher levels of Samadhi. However, if they are used to control and manipulate, the ego takes over becoming like a “hungry ghost.” Such a yogi may gain temporary power and fame but won’t progress spiritually and will ultimately sow the seeds of his/her own downfall. This is why Vedanta tells us to, “Seek the company of those who seek enlightenment but run from those who claim to have found it.”

How to Manage the Ego

To manage the ego, then, you need to live your life consciously. Be aware of your choices and why you are making them. Be aware of the effects your choices have on others. There’s an Arab proverb which says:

The words of the tongue should have three gatekeepers.

Before words get past the lips, the first gatekeeper asks, “Is this true?” That stops a lot of traffic immediately. But if the words get past the first gatekeeper, there is a second who asks, “Is it kind?” And for those words that qualify here too, the last gatekeeper asks, “Is it necessary?”

You may have heard the expression that someone has a “big ego.” Actually, it’s the opposite. People who stamp around with their chests puffed out have very small egos that are fighting for their lives, like a cornered wild animal. Love your ego, play with it, have fun with it, make it your friend and do not take it seriously. Seriousness is the ego playing the victim. Teach your ego humility through selfless service and compassion. When you love your ego, it will expand and cease to feel threatened. When the fear is removed, the ego will take its rightful place and become your biggest supporter on the path to enlightenment.

By Roger Gabriel (Raghavanand)

www.emotionsandbody.com

LIGHTWORKER 808: STARSEED ASCENSION SHORT-CUTS AND STAR RACES -- GFL & ASHTAR COMMAND DOWNLOAD
J--Tar'ia'h En Ra El -- jtariah@protonmail.com --www.20Dhealing.com

You probably think you are perusing this writing to learn more about starseed Ascension shortcuts and star races. Yet, reading these words begins your path towards a new reality. You are seeking your origins in the skies above: this is your quest. You are upon an adventurous intergalactic quest to find reflections of your innermost “self” -- patterns to identify with -- fractals which mirror you to your real Starseed family.

When you are truly Ascending and/or when you have already Ascended to the 5th Dimension, you will constantly be experiencing serendipity, a sense of inner wisdom, your body will be growing younger, and you will be instantly manifesting your wants and needs! Not quite there yet? Here are some super easy Starseed Ascension Shortcuts for you to use to rocket yourself to the 5th dimension and beyond!

Go Vegan Plus Probiotics -- this will get rid of all of your sleepiness and all groggy feelings, plus this will remove all ''time-loss'' scenarios!

Wear only Cotton or Hemp -- this will increase connections to your Guides, Angels, and Twin Flames, because synthetics block higher dimensions!

Remove Metal from Your Wardrobe --- this also increases connections to the Angelic realm. Only copper is Angel plusFaerie Sidhe friendly!

Be Celibate or Twin Flame Monogomous -- Being sensual only with your own Soul, with the self, with your Twin Flame heightens your dimension!

Create and Maintain Starseed Altars -- Creating Starseed Altars with your higher dimensional desires is a sure gateway to maintain your 5D reality!

Take Salt Baths -- Dunking in salt water followed by clear water daily removes 3D annd 4D residue from your Soul, body, and Merkaba!

Keep Crystals On You -- Drilled & copper-wrapped crystals -- and on your body, and in your bedroom -- help you maintain higher dimensions always!

Use Essential Oils & Hire Shamans for Healing -- Avoid western medicine in order to Ascend your pure Soul to the higher crystalline dimensions!

If you do not know ''HOW'' to do these shortcuts, write to me at jtariah@protonmail.com and I will help you out at no cost! And yes, I AM doing all of these shortcuts myself, daily!

Your Starseed relatives -- within the ships -- are attempting to talk with you now. They are trying all means of communication available. They approach you through dreams, visual signs, plus you may sense them physically of feel their ever-persistent presence in the psychic realms. Are you listening? Are you feeling? Are you sensing?

While you believe you are sleeping, you are -- in fact -- *on assignment* on your ship above. You are now attending ship-side schools related to your skill-set and Starseed race. Fundamentally, you're being *reprogrammed* for a brighter intergalactic future every night.

Many factors and tests (in the ships and higher dimensional areas while you believe you are sleeping) have decided your upcoming roles and jobs -– in the very near future -– in these primary arenas:
- Acting as a Liaison between Humans and many other Star Races;
- Being a journalist on one of many media 7D holo ships;
- Returning to your home planet for rest and reunions;
- Working in this system for the Ashtar Command;
- Being a VOYAGER with your Twin Flames;
- Employment in space farm agriculture;
- Negotiating within a liaison / alliance;
- Performing within a committee;
- Being an empath healer;
- Working for the GFL;
- Being an artist;
- Performer;
- Pilot.

Most of these posts involve living on a ship, if only for a short time. This calls for traveling to a different planet within another galaxy -- or to an alternative dimensional reality such as a parallel universe -- or to even to a higher frequency of expression.

While you are co-habitating within a starship, flagship or lightship, you will be interacting with those from across the Cosmos! They will not be comparable to anything you’ve seen, felt, or perceived with your current reality veils (in this incarnation thus far).

Since you are now experiencing dimensional shifts leading to *life aboard the ships with your star race family* it is crucial to be as open-minded and open-hearted as possible: there are infinite prisms of kindness and utility that can be found within each planetary civilization.

Your Starseed relatives cannot *yet* be completely understood from your current vantage point, but will be holistically perceivable during your ecstatic love-filled multidimensional Starseed reunion.

You will be surrounded by non-human *family* on these ships (and your appearance will most definitely reflect theirs in your future). What will they look like? What will they be like? Here are some basic essential traits of just a few of the planetary star races you will relate with very soon:

Andromedans:
1) The 7D, 8D and 9D humanoid group-thinkers from the Andromedan Star System, or; 2) term identifying the race of sentient service-to-other beings occupying the livable planets such as Aion in the Andromeda sector, as well as; 3) Sentients known for perfecting co-creation for peacefully-running planets and star bases.

Arcturians:
1) Both 6D and 7D Sentient service-to-other beings occupying the livable planets and bases in the area of the star Arcturus, and; 2) These individuals are known by their deep compassion and unfailing kindness towards all walks of life in all dimensions.

Centaurians from Meton in Alpha Centauri:
1) 7D - 12D Loving high dimensional humanoids who are descendants of Venus Beings; and 2) Wildly strategic deep mental thinkers who are holographically connected to the Great Central Sun and maintain a 12D Akashic Library within it, and; 3) Gorgeous brainy beings whose ships appear in the form of a Merkaba spinning.

Centaurians from Proximi Centauri:
1) 5D to 7D Beings who come in the form of Humanoids and Reptoids, and hybrids who have both types of DNA; 2) Strategists, counselors, and empaths who are excellent benevolent thought-broadcasters; 3) machine savants who can fix anything mechanical, and; 4) Peaceful and harmonious group-thinkers with telepathy.

Lyrans:
1) Felines -- the original progenitor race of this Universe -- who are beautiful bipedal (standing) cats, and; 2) 6D through 12D Creators originally from the Vegan Star System of a planet called Lyra, but now live everywhere in the Universe, and; 3) Planners of many flagships and living planets, plus; 4) Cat-Beings who have a keen sense of fair play in all arenas, plus; 5) Sentients who believe that their young have more wisdom than elders.

Orion Beings:
1) 4D and 5D polymorphs who are either chameleon-reptilian or humanoid-reptilian hybrids, and; 2) Beings from the Orion System – also called the Orion Nebula – whom reside upon planets and space stations throughout the Universe, and; 3) Individuals and soul-collectives from Orion who have tendencies towards high intellectual pursuits in physics, plus; 4) Sentients whose self-ascension practices are linked to extreme isolation, as well as; 5) Beings well-known for the utter perfection of holographic recreation of other star races' emvironments.

Pegasians from the Pegasus Galaxy:
1) Humanoid descendants from Sirius B and Dinoids plus hybrids who have DNA from both; 2) Innovators, scientists, and diplomats in many sectors; 3) Expert polite gracious beings who are expert in creating peace, plus; 4) Linguists whose brains are adept and learning thousands of languages at once.

Pleiadians:
1) 5D and 6D humanoids as well as reptilian-humanoid hybrids (in gorgeous prismatic skin colors) from the planets surrounding the stars Targeta and Maia; 2) Soul-collective service-to-others beings who are artistic and sensual in nature, plus; 3) Beings who are masters of storytelling as well as inspired artistic ingenuity in
both music and projected visualizations.

Sirians from Sirius A:
1) 6D - 8D hybrids with a variety of humanoid, canine, and fox-like appearances resulting from tremendous dna manipulation, as well as; 2) Star races who are experts in bodily implant-device-tracking over eons of time, plus; 3) Beings well-versed in hyper-advanced bio-technology and organic holographic realities, and; 4) Sentients who are well-known across the Universe for their senses of humor, and their love of practical jokes.

Sirians from Sirius B:
1) Nektons of hyper-intelligent water beings -- called Chloglians, who look like Cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and orcas) of Earthshan -- whom group-think within pods, and; 2) Chloglian-humanoid hybrids, who are bipedal in shades of pale blues and greens, and; 3) Higher dimensional Sentients who reside in and upon many planets to raise vibrations, plus; 4) Playful and loving group-consciousness beings, known for their intricate songs, and also; 5) Advanced Beings who can live as numerous souls (called a pod) within one biological entity, such as a whale or orca.

Now that you have some depictions of some of your biological star race relatives, spend some time each day communicating with them -- until you have a constant rapport -- so you can quickly Ascend upward beyond the mundane.

Multidimensional life with your Starseed relatives is multi-layered, and must be cultivated by **you** making an effort to be alert to all subtleties. You need to reach out towards your Star relatives to begin communicating with them to have a relationship with them in a pro-active way!

It is the time to discipline yourself to be silent and aware of every nuance through waking hours of hearing (e.g.; you hear songs about specific constellations, star beings, etc.). Also it is vital to be hyper-aware of what you’re seeing (i.e.; you notice paintings of aliens, observing lightships everywhere, seeing number sequences indicating names of universes). Focus all of your six senses on receiving signals from your NOW future’s new realities.

Force your inner “Self” to wake up! Attempt to be lucid while your projected Earthshan body sleeps: talk to whomever you meet in dreams, as they just might be your relatives in the ships above.
In the near future -- the upcoming articles will cover electrifying intergalactic chronicles, including: future home planets, Starseed missions, how to interact with non-organic life forms, and more! Meanwhile, WAKE UP -- shake others awake -- and remember that you are not *Home* yet…

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About the Author:
J--Tar'ia'h En Ra El is a Walk-In from three space sectors. Every night during lucid dreaming, she is within the ships above attending school. Currently – during the day – she is a published poet, author and artist. Her Lightworking includes being a PR specialist for Sananda’s Eagles: www.sanandaseagles.com. Her new post-Matrix website can be found at www.20dhealing.com. In the near future – her upcoming articles will cover exciting multidimensional information, including: future home planets, intergalactic cultural understanding, how to interact with non-organic life forms, and more!

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Distribution Information:
You are free to distribute this essay only if you do so in its entirety, including the article and graphics plus the “about the author” bio with the article links. Thank you and enjoy your new Freedom. This writing is NOT copy written.
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Lightworker 101:
http://tinyurl.com/101-lightworker
Lightworker 202:
http://tinyurl.com/202-lightworker
Lightworker 303:
http://tinyurl.com/303-lightworker
Lightworker 404:
http://tinyurl.com/light-worker-404
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http://tinyurl.com/lightworker-505
Lightworker 606:
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http://tinyurl.com/707-lightworker

jtariah@protonmail.com

This Landscape in China Wasn’t Caused by Photoshop or Pollution (PHOTOS)

Zhangye Danxia Landform's colorful rock formations were created over the course of millions of years.

July 7, 2013
Andri Antoniades

Zhangye Danxia Landform in China's Gansu province remains untouched by the country's environmental ills. (Photo: Melinda Chan/Getty Images)

Almost every country is guilty of causing some amount of pollution, but if any one nation has become the most notorious for it, that would be China.

With its algae-infested waters, a scarlet river, excessive coal consumption, and air quality so dangerous it could be described as lethal, China has understandably gained a reputation as the Wild West of environmental ills.

That may be why this month the Chinese government declared it would put a stop to polluters—by killing them. Not all of them, just the most serious offenders. The rest will reportedly face fines and detention.

It’s about time (for the fines, not the executions) because the nation is quickly losing what’s left of its natural beauty. One area that’s remained seemingly untouched by any pollution is the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park, which sits in the Gansu province.

hangye Danxia is known for its saturated color patterns, which are caused by red sandstone and mineral deposits laid down over the course of 24 million years.

The formations carved into the park, such as valleys, pillars and waterfalls, were shaped over millions of years by rains and winds.

Though the park is becoming a more well-trafficked tourist destination, parts of it have been protected under the UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for obvious reasons. China may still be figuring out where it stands on environmental protections, but the landform remains an ecological wonder in a country known for its environmental chaos.

(Photos: Melinda Chan/Getty Images, Unbelievable Info)

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/07/07/zhangye-danxia-landform-china

Your money or your documents: how hackers can hold your files to ransom

By Chris Hall | Yahoo News – Tue, Nov 19, 2013

Yahoo News - The Cryptolocker software locks users out of their files, and asks for payment in return for the key - which is unlikely to be delivered. (Symantec)
Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued a warning to businesses over a wave of hacking attacks that have seen hackers take control of computer files and demand a £900 ransom to unlock each one.

The attackers use spam emails to target small and medium-sized businesses, with attachments that look like invoices, voicemails or other business documents.

An example of a Cryptolocker-infected email, with malware attachment, as found by Symantec

The NCA says that 'tens of millions' of people may have been targeted in Britain, and noted that the attacks seemed to be aimed predominantly at companies. It described the attacks as a 'significant risk'.

The attachments contain a piece of malware called Cryptolocker - an automated piece of ransom software that, if activated, will search for documents and encrypt them so that they cannot be opened or read by the user.

Microsoft Office documents were the most commonly affected, but different variations of the malware also searched for other documents, such as .pdf files.

Cryptolocker then prompts the owner of the files to pay two Bitcoins (each worth £449 as of 19/11/13) for the key to unlock the files.

Bitcoins are a private and anonymous digital currency that can be traded against other major world currencies. The exchange rate can fluctuate wildly.
Ransomware has been on the rise since last year. A report from Symantec Internet Security noted that for a much cheaper ransom, of 5,300 computers infected, 'About three percent of victims paid the ransom, which netted the criminals about $30,000.'

The NCA said in its statement that it 'would never endorse the payment of a ransom to criminals and there is no guarantee that they would honour the payments in any event'.

Lee Miles, Deputy Head of the NCCU says "The NCA are actively pursuing organised crime groups committing this type of crime. We are working in cooperation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public."

The malware should be detected by up to date antivirus software. Users should exercise caution over opening unfamiliar attachments. Some of the attachments are notable for having a double file extension, such as " FORM_101513.pdf.exe."

Decrypting files that Cryptolocker has been able to encrypt is 'not feasible', according to Symantec. But there are ways that affected users can recover their files even if they have been locked out, using free Windows tools.

If you have made backups of your files, Windows Backup will be able to revert the file to its pre-locked state. Similarly, you can right-click on a file before opening it and choose to open a previous version, giving you the chance to retrieve data from the file.

If your computer does become infected, you should disconnect it from your network, and run a full antivirus scan to identify and quarantine the affected files.

A spokesman for Symantec said: 'Symantec does detect and protect against this threat. We continuously work to protect customers against this threat through various technologies, including the Symantec Email Security.cloud solution.'

This is also posted to the Buddha group

What is Vipassana or Insight Meditation?

Vipassana (insight meditation) is the ultimate expression of Socrates' dictum, "know thyself." The Buddha discovered that the cause of suffering can actually be erased when we see our true nature. This is a radical insight. It means that our happiness does not depend on manipulating the external world. We only have to see ourselves clearly— a much easier proposition (but in the ultimate sense, knowing oneself with clarity reveals there is no permanent self, as the Buddha taught).

Vipassana meditation is a rational method for purifying the mind of the mental factors that cause distress and pain. This simple technique does not invoke the help of a god, spirit or any other external power, but relies on our own efforts.

Vipassana is an insight that cuts through conventional perception to perceive mind and matter as they actually are: impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal. Insight meditation gradually purifies the mind, eliminating all forms of attachment. As attachment is cut away, desire and delusion are gradually diluted. The Buddha identified these two factors— desire and ignorance— as the roots of suffering. When they are finally removed, the mind will touch something permanent beyond the changing world. That "something" is the deathless, supramundane happiness, called "Nibbana" in Pali.

Insight meditation is concerned with the present moment— with staying in the now to the most extreme degree possible. It consists of observing body (rupa) and mind (nama) with bare attention.

The word "vipassana" has two parts. "Passana" means seeing, i.e., perceiving. The prefix "vi" has several meanings, one of which is "through." Vipassana-insight literally cuts through the curtain of delusion in the mind. "Vi" can also function as the English prefix "dis," suggesting discernment— a kind of seeing that perceives individual components separately. The idea of separation is relevant here, for insight works like a mental scalpel, differentiating conventional truth from ultimate reality. Lastly, "vi" can function as an intensive, in which case "vipassana" means intense, deep or powerful seeing. It is an immediate insight experienced before one's eyes, having nothing to do with reasoning or thinking.

Is insight meditation a religion?

No. Although it was discovered by the Buddha, insight meditation is not Buddhism. It is the method by which the Buddha and his disciples freed themselves from every form of suffering and attained awakening. This simple technique is a democratic method, open to people of any faith or those who ascribe to none.

Is insight meditation an escape from reality?

No. On the contrary, it is the ultimate confrontation with reality.

http://www.vipassanadhura.com/whatis.htm

Mysterious "unkillable" computer virus could be new kind of cyberweapon - or is it?

A researcher and his team have battled the infection for three years - and believe it spreads using sound, so it can infect machines nearby.

By Chris Hall | Yahoo News

Yahoo News - Is BadBIOS a new kind of weapon? (Rex)

Somewhere in a Russian computer lab lurks a computer virus so deadly, so indestructible that it can spread even when machines are disconnected from Wi-Fi - or power cables.

A researcher and his team have battled the infection for three years - and seen it infect Macs and PCs, and return even once machines have been wiped.

Dragos Ruiu calls it “BadBIOS”, and claims that it is “the tip of the warhead” - a new type of cyberweapon, which he believes spreads by sound.

It can infect PCs or Macs with equal ease.

British tech site The Register are a little more sceptical, describing it as The Loch Ness Monster of computer viruses.

“This "virus" is pure rumour and conjecture currently. No actual sample has been identified,” says Orla Cox of Symantec. “As a result Symantec is not in a position to comment right now.”

Its most terrifying power, according to Ruiu, is the ability to hurdle “air gaps” - a last ditch security measure where PCs are disconnected from any system that might lead to the internet.

Ruiu’s machines - even ones he had “cleaned” - acted as if they were connected to the internet, he says.

“How can the machine react and attack the software that we're using to attack it? This is an air-gapped machine and all of a sudden the search function stopped working,” he said, in an interview with Ars Technica.

Ruiu admits that BadBIOS sounds like “the stuff of urban legend” - but says he will reveal more in two weeks’ time.

On Twitter, he and fellow security researchers are analysing sounds from the lab, to see if the infected machines are somehow sending signals. He also supplied other researchers with forensic data - but has met with raised eyebrows.

"I am getting increasingly skeptical due to the lack of evidence," researcher Arrigo Triulzi told Ars Technica, who ran the original piece.

Research from the University of Birmingham at Alabama proved earlier this year that even low-powered PC speakers could send “messages” - short signals which could be used as a trigger in a cyber attack.

Whether this is enough to explain Ruiu’s three-year nightmare remains to be seen.

Ruiu says that his infection may be a warning - “the first stages of a larger attack.”

Sites such as Techworld speculate it could be something that accidentally escaped from a lab - or even perhaps, part of a cyberweapon designed by a nation state. Ruiu recently discovered that it could spread via infected USB memory sticks - a hint that it’s designed to attack industrial systems, with isolated computers.

Chest Pain in Women: Heartburn or Heart Attack?

It May Be More Than Just Severe Heartburn
By Michele Bender, Special to Lifescript

A little heartburn may come after a big, greasy meal. But could that pain be a heart attack? Recognizing the differences between the two may help save your life. Read on to learn the symptoms, risk factors and triggers of each, and how to treat and prevent them...

In the middle of dinner, you feel a sharp chest pain. Is it a heart attack – or severe heartburn?

The pain may feel similar, but the potential consequences are a matter of life and death.

Unfortunately, too often women ignore the pain, making a potentially fatal mistake.

About 12 million Americans get heartburn once a month, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. Approximately 10,000 women 29-44 years old have a heart attack each year.

“People often confuse the symptoms of a heart attack and heartburn,” says Nieca Goldberg, M.D., chief of women’s cardiac care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and author of Dr. Nieca Goldberg’s Complete Guide to Women’s Health. “Unfortunately, they usually think they have heartburn instead of a heart attack – this can be a tragic mistake.”

Both heartburn and a heart attack cause a feeling of pressure and a gnawing or burning sensation in the chest. But that’s where the similarity ends.

A heart attack occurs when the artery walls narrow, severely reducing the flow of oxygen and blood to the heart.

Heartburn, however, has nothing to do with your heart; it's a digestive problem. Acidic liquid from your stomach backs up into your esophagus and inflames its lining.

If you’re not sure which one you’re experiencing, go to the emergency room immediately. But here are a few tips to figure out what you have and get the right treatment:

Heartburn or Heart Attack? Symptoms to Watch for

Heartburn: When you experience heartburn – or acid reflux, the backup of the stomach's contents into your esophagus – you may feel a burning in the chest, an acidic or sour taste in the mouth or a sensation that you’re full. Other people have nausea, a dry cough or sore throat.

Unlike heart attacks, heartburn symptoms are similar for men and women.

Heart attack: The image of a woman gripping her chest and falling to the floor really isn’t what happens with a heart attack.

“In fact, only half the women who have heart attacks have chest pain, which is the most common symptom for men,” Dr. Goldberg says.

Unfortunately, women’s symptoms are more subtle and easy to miss. These include:

• Pressure or burning feeling in the chest
• Unexplained, extreme fatigue
• Pain or discomfort that radiates to the arms, jaw, neck and/or back
• Nausea, dizziness and/or vomiting
• Breaking out into a cold sweat
• Shortness of breath

Still not sure which it is?

Here’s a tip: “Pain that can be reproduced by changing position, pressing over the area of pain or that can be brought on by deep breathing or coughing is unlikely to be related to the heart,” says cardiologist Elizabeth Klodas, M.D., author of Slay the Giant: The Power of Prevention in Defeating Heart Disease and spokeswoman for the American College of Cardiology.

Then again, you might not feel pain, says Mary Ann Bauman, M.D., of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign. You just may not feel like your usual self and that may be your heart talking to you.

Are you suddenly breathless while climbing stairs? It could be a sign that your heart isn’t getting enough oxygen, Dr. Bauman says.

What Are the Risk Factors?

Heartburn: Being pregnant increases your risk. In fact, almost 50% of moms-to-be get heartburn, especially in the second half of pregnancy, according to the American College of Gastroenterology.

Initially, the culprit is high levels of the hormone progesterone, which cause the muscle located between your esophagus and stomach to relax. In later months, heartburn is caused by the growing fetus pushing your stomach (and its contents) up toward your diaphragm.

Weight also plays a role.

“Obese women are six times more likely to develop heartburn than women of normal weight, but simply gaining weight has been linked to increased risk,” Dr. Goldberg says.

Additional risk factors include smoking and drinking too much alcohol.

Heart attack: High blood pressure or cholesterol levels, diabetes , family history, older age, and being a smoker and overweight can boost your risk of heart disease and, thus, a heart attack.

“If you’re at high risk for a heart attack, you need to be more cautious about the symptoms you’re experiencing, especially if they’re new,” Dr. Klodas says.

In other words, don’t shrug off unfamiliar chest pain.

What Triggers Attacks?

Heartburn: The commercials for heartburn relief are right – eating can set off the pain. Certain foods can trigger heartburn, such as chocolate, peppermint, fried or spicy foods, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and acidic fruits and veggies. These cause the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) muscle to weaken, which allows acid to flow up into the esophagus.

A peek into your medicine cabinet may also reveal possible sources.

“Both prescription and over-the-counter medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, Aleve, prednisone, iron, potassium can all cause heartburn,” Dr. Bauman says.

These drugs inhibit prostaglandin, a compound that protects the stomach’s lining from its acid.

Heart attack: You won’t get much warning with a heart attack. Often, they occur after exertion, such as shoveling snow, which causes blood pressure to rise and blood vessels to constrict.

But most heart attacks come out of nowhere.

Soothing the Pain

Heartburn: Although our instinct is to lie down and rest when we hurt, don’t: That exacerbates heartburn. Being horizontal causes stomach acids to flow back up into your esophagus.

Instead, stay upright for a few hours after eating. When you’re ready to sleep, keep your head above your stomach by resting on a wedge or elevating the head of the bed.

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are talking about and get the skinny on the latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!), and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!

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Mild heartburn symptoms can be soothed with over-the-counter antacids, such as Tums, which counteracts stomach acid.

“Some people find that drinking milk helps too,” Dr. Klodas says. But its relief is short-term: Milk may neutralize heartburn-causing acid, but its nutrients, particularly fat, will stimulate more production later.

Also, figure out which foods trigger the ‘burn, so you can avoid them.

Don’t chow down on a heavy meal before you hit the sack, eat smaller meals, quit smoking and "reduce stress because it increases stomach acid that can cause heartburn,” Dr. Goldberg says.

If you have heartburn more than twice a week, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition characterized by chronic, persistent acid reflux.

See a doctor as soon as possible, because GERD is linked to more serious conditions, such as esophageal ulcers and bleeding, peptic stricture and Barrett's esophagus, which increases the risk of cancer. A physician can also prescribe stronger medications to reduce acid production.

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are talking about and get the skinny on the latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!), and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!

Get the latest celebrity health news! Find out how the stars get those picture-perfect, red-carpet bodies. Tune into Lifescript’s Hollywood Health Report, every week. Only on YouTube.

Practicing Acceptance

Which is harder: Accepting the situation you are in, or fighting it?

BY: Brandi-Ann Uyemura

I think one of the greatest obstacles we grapple with is learning how to accept what is instead of moaning and groaning about what we don’t have.
It’s like we’re sitting there one hand full of riches and the other hand open full of potential. But we don’t see it. Nope. We’re too focused on the fact that the other hand is empty and not filled yet.
“Why oh why is it not filled yet?,” we ask.
It causes us to transform back into our 2-year-old selves, throwing punches to the air, crying out for all the things we deserve to have, but don’t. Praying about how much we need it, how much better our lives would be with it. And there we are so focused on our poor, wounded souls that we neglect the jewels that fill us, surround us and already make us whole.
If you ever need to be reminded of that, check in with your nearest and dearest furry child. Notice how they seem utterly forgetful about all the mishaps you do. Analyze how a mere treat, a pet on the head or a cuddle could make them silly with joy. See how they seem to pass up the chance to moan about their loss sibling that you had to adopt them away from or the fact that they don’t have a mate, kids or even anyone that even slightly resembles them. They just move on.
Accepting your situation can feel hard. It can be like welcoming an uninvited guest or settling for less.
But it’s not.
Learning how to accept whatever you’re going through and wherever you are is a gift.
It’s about returning to a state of vulnerability in realizing you have less control over life than you think. And that is okay.
It’s about loosening your grip over the outcome and opening your heart up to possibility instead of forced intention.
It’s about seeing your life as a large red carpet unfolding in front of you instead of a predetermined path.
It’s about releasing the rigidity of adulthood that sometimes tricks us into believing we know everything.
It’s a lesson in gratitude for what you have instead of what you still haven’t received.
It’s a muscle being flexed to exercise resiliency.
It’s a reminder that the events of your life ebbs and flows like waves. No matter what you’re going through it will not always be this way.
More importantly, it’s about relinquishing the need to know what’s next. It’s about continuing to relax and release when we feel the need to grasp on harder. It’s about giving up our ego and just letting things be.
Acceptance isn’t easy.
But if we let go into the wave of difficulty rather than force our way through it, we will find the ride much easier. And almost always it will take our breath away.
Make sure to follow Brandi-Ann Uyemura's Happy Haven blog!

http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/Articles/Practicing-Acceptance.aspx?source=NEWSLETTER&nlsource=10&ppc=&utm_campaign=Inspiration&utm_source=NL&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=yahoo.co.uk

Helping, Fixing or Serving?

by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, Original Story, Apr 16, 2012

Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.

Service rests on the premise that the nature of life is sacred, that life is a holy mystery which has an unknown purpose. When we serve, we know that we belong to life and to that purpose. From the perspective of service, we are all connected: All suffering is like my suffering and all joy is like my joy. The impulse to serve emerges naturally and inevitably from this way of seeing.

Serving is different from helping. Helping is not a relationship between equals. A helper may see others as weaker than they are, needier than they are, and people often feel this inequality. The danger in helping is that we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them; we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity or even wholeness.

When we help, we become aware of our own strength. But when we serve, we don’t serve with our strength; we serve with ourselves, and we draw from all of our experiences. Our limitations serve; our wounds serve; even our darkness can serve. My pain is the source of my compassion; my woundedness is the key to my empathy.

Serving makes us aware of our wholeness and its power. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness in life. The wholeness in you is the same as the wholeness in me. Service is a relationship between equals: our service strengthens us as well as others. Fixing and helping are draining, and over time we may burn out, but service is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will renew us. In helping we may find a sense of satisfaction; in serving we find a sense of gratitude.

Harry, an emergency physician, tells a story about discovering this. One evening on his shift in a busy emergency room, a woman was brought in about to give birth. When he examined her, Harry realized immediately that her obstetrician would not be able to get there in time and he was going to deliver this baby himself. Harry likes the technical challenge of delivering babies, and he was pleased. The team swung into action, one nurse hastily opening the instrument packs and two others standing at the foot of the table on either side of Harry, supporting the woman’s legs on their shoulders and murmuring reassurance. The baby was born almost immediately.

While the infant was still attached to her mother, Harry laid her along his left forearm. Holding the back of her head in his left hand, he took a suction bulb in his right and began to clear her mouth and nose of mucous. Suddenly, the baby opened her eyes and looked directly at him. In that instant, Harry stepped past all of his training and realized a very simple thing: that he was the first human being this baby girl had ever seen. He felt his heart go out to her in welcome from all people everywhere, and tears came to his eyes.

Harry has delivered hundreds of babies, and has always enjoyed the excitement of making rapid decisions and testing his own competency. But he says that he had never let himself experience the meaning of what he was doing before, or recognize what he was serving with his expertise. In that flash of recognition he felt years of cynicism and fatigue fall away and remembered why he had chosen this work in the first place. All his hard work and personal sacrifice suddenly seemed to him to be worth it.

He feels now that, in a certain sense, this was the first baby he ever delivered. In the past he had been preoccupied with his expertise, assessing and responding to needs and dangers. He had been there many times as an expert, but never before as a human being. He wonders how many other such moments of connection to life he has missed. He suspects there have been many.

As Harry discovered, serving is different from fixing. In fixing, we see others as broken, and respond to this perception with our expertise. Fixers trust their own expertise but may not see the wholeness in another person or trust the integrity of the life in them. When we serve we see and trust that wholeness. We respond to it and collaborate with it. And when we see the wholeness in another, we strengthen it. They may then be able to see it for themselves for the first time.

One woman who served me profoundly is probably unaware of the difference she made in my life. In fact, I do not even know her last name and I am sure she has long forgotten mine.

At twenty-nine, because of Crohn’s Disease, much of my intestine was removed surgically and I was left with an ileostomy. A loop of bowel opens on my abdomen and an ingeniously designed plastic appliance which I remove and replace every few days covers it. Not an easy thing for a young woman to live with, and I was not at all sure that I would be able to do this. While this surgery had given me back much of my vitality, the appliance and the profound change in my body made me feel hopelessly different, permanently shut out of the world of femininity and elegance.

At the beginning, before I could change my appliance myself, it was changed for me by nurse specialists called enterostomal therapists. These white-coated experts were women my own age. They would enter my hospital room, put on an apron, a mask and gloves, and then remove and replace my appliance. The task completed, they would strip off all their protective clothing. Then they would carefully wash their hands. This elaborate ritual made it harder for me. I felt shamed.

One day a woman I had never met before came to do this task. It was late in the day and she was dressed not in a white coat but in a silk dress, heels and stockings. She looked as if she was about to meet someone for dinner. In a friendly way she told me her first name and asked if I wished to have my ileostomy changed. When I nodded, she pulled back my covers, produced a new appliance, and in the most simple and natural way imaginable removed my old one and replaced it, without putting on gloves. I remember watching her hands. She had washed them carefully before she touched me. They were soft and gentle and beautifully cared for. She was wearing a pale pink nail polish and her delicate rings were gold.

At first, I was stunned by this break in professional procedure. But as she laughed and spoke with me in the most ordinary and easy way, I suddenly felt a great wave of unsuspected strength come up from someplace deep in me, and I knew without the slightest doubt that I could do this. I could find a way. It was going to be all right.

I doubt that she ever knew what her willingness to touch me in such a natural way meant to me. In ten minutes she not only tended my body, but healed my wounds. What is most professional is not always what best serves and strengthens the wholeness in others. Fixing and helping create a distance between people, an experience of difference. We cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected, that which we are willing to touch. Fixing and helping are strategies to repair life. We serve life not because it is broken but because it is holy.

Serving requires us to know that our humanity is more powerful than our expertise. In forty-five years of chronic illness I have been helped by a great number of people, and fixed by a great many others who did not recognize my wholeness. All that fixing and helping left me wounded in some important and fundamental ways. Only service heals.

Service is not an experience of strength or expertise; service is an experience of mystery, surrender and awe. Helpers and fixers feel causal. Servers may experience from time to time a sense of being used by larger unknown forces. Those who serve have traded a sense of mastery for an experience of mystery, and in doing so have transformed their work and their lives into practice.

This article is reprinted here with permission. Rachel Naomi Remen, MD is Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. She is a pioneer of Relationship Centered Medicine and Medical Education and her course in Formation for medical students, the Healer's Art, is taught annually in more than half of American medical schools and 6 countries abroad. Her books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings are published in 21 languages. Her nationwide training programs remind physicians and students that the practice of medicine is essentially an act of love.

Be The Change
The next time you catch yourself in "fixing" or "helping" mode, try moving into a mindset of service instead.

http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=218

UFO or an elaborate hoax? Flying saucer-like object filmed from plane causes stir on Web

A video showing what appears to be a UFO whizzing past a commercial jet has been creating a stir on the Web.

Footage captured by a startled-sounding passenger seemingly shows a white bowl-shaped object flying over Seoul, South Korea, at high speed.

At first the object keeps pace with the aeroplane, before suddenly disappearing out of shot as the passenger tries to zoom in for a closer look.

Later in the video the mysterious shape is magnified and slowed down.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video#video=28906241

But is the UFO sighting authentic or just a computer-generated hoax?

Whatever the explanation, the video - which has racked up almost a million views since it was posted three days ago - has divided viewers. The owner of the video has speculated that it could be a military drone.

Others humorously suggest that it is a giant frisbee or flying Mentos.

Watch the video and decide for yourself.

WATER

#1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population)

#2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger.

#3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as 3%.

#4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

#5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

#6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

#7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

#8.. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day?

COKE

#1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from
the highway after a car accident.

#2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days.

#3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the 'real thing' sit for one hour,
then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

#4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds
Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

#5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble
away the corrosion.

#6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

#7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into
the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake.

Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

#8... To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

#1. the active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.
It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric
acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major
contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis.

#2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the
commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place
cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.

#3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean
engines of the trucks for about 20 years!

Now the question is, would you like a glass of water?

or Coke?

Are You Running Your Life or is it Running You? How are you spending your time and energy?

by Jan Hornford



There has been a great deal written on the concept of time management. The simple fact is that each of us has the same 24 hours a day. We cannot create more time. What we can do is manage our energy and our thoughts to change how we experience time and make considered choices on how we are spending our time.

It is all about living with purpose and spending your time and energy on what is most important to you. Honoring your priorities and focusing on one thing at a time will help you to have a less stressful experience of time and will allow you to accomplish more with less effort.


Dangers of Multi-tasking and Multi-thinking

We often fill up our time with thoughts of the past (thinking about all the things we did not get done) or the future (thinking about all the things we have to do) instead of where we are right now. We often try to do a number of different tasks at the same time. Splitting our thoughts and attention in these ways contributes to our sense of feeling rushed and pulled in many different directions.

When we multi–task we often end up with having a number of things half done, which leaves us feeling anxious. When we only listen to our child or colleague with half an ear while we think about tomorrow’s meeting, we create an experience that is stressful, unfulfilling and ineffective for both you and the other person.

Being Fully Present

What if you could focus all of your energy and attention and place it on what you are doing in this moment? What would be possible for you then? When we give our full attention and presence to whomever we are speaking to or to whatever we are doing, we step off of that hamster wheel of frenetic activity and enrich our lives and the lives of others.

Choosing to focus our thoughts and energy in the present moment, doing one thing at a time and doing it well, will not only help you to accomplish more, it will help you to create a peaceful experience of time.

How are You Using Your Time?

We are constantly confronted with multiple possibilities of how to spend our work and personal time. There is not enough time to do it all. We often must give up one thing in order to have time to do another. We often get caught up in doing all sorts of things that we think we should be doing, but are not very important.

Many people spend up to 35 hours per week watching television. Is this a real priority for you? Perhaps you would rather choose a movie or one really good television show that you enjoy and let the others go. This would free up huge amounts of time for you to do a myriad of other things.

When you know what is most important to do and have clear priorities, then it is easier to make choices on how to use your time. When we focus on things that are important, we make more effective use of our time and we feel better because we are spending our time doing what is important and meaningful to us and will likely accomplish more as a result.

Setting Priorities

Setting priorities will help you make conscious and informed choices on how you are using your time. It is all about living with purpose. Honoring your priorities and focusing on one thing at a time will help you to have a less stressful experience of time and will allow you to accomplish more with less effort.

When you are setting priorities consider:

Why am I doing this?

Is this something I need to do or is it something I want to do?

Or neither? Who else can do this?

Is it important that I do this right now or can it wait?

Will doing this support my goals and my values?

It is important to recognize the priorities in all aspects of your life: work, relationships, self–care, home, and responsibilities. You can then make choices that enable you to fulfill your priorities and can choose to let the less important things go for now. Be honest with yourself about what you can do and what you want to do.

Priorities will change day–to–day, week–to–week, and year–to–year. Different things will be more important to you at different times in your life.

Schedule Your Priorities

Schedule time to take care of your priorities and set a completion date. Be sure to build ‘flex’ time into each day. Flex time is 30 –60 minutes of time that you block off. This time can be used to deal with the unexpected or for things that are taking longer than you anticipated, or as time for yourself.

Spending your time focused on priorities will increase your peace of mind and bring greater meaning and purpose to your life because you are focused on what is really important to you in all aspects of your life.

Coaching Questions

Of the activities you are doing now, which ones energize you? Which ones drain you?

What do you want to have more of in your life?

What is most important for you to have in your life right now? (Consider all of your roles and responsibilities).

What is stopping you from doing these things?

Take Action

How Are You Really Using Your Time?

Over the next week carry a notebook where you write down what you are doing for every minute of your day.

Keep a record of how you spend your time and energy for the next 7 days.

After 1 week consider:

How are you using your time?

What are you missing out on because of your current lifestyle?

Is there time in your life for the things that are most important to you?

How can you make more time for what you value most?

Action Steps

List 3 ways you misuse your time (such as watching T.V. or checking your email every hour) and then list 3 things you can do to minimize these activities.

Identify 3 areas where you might be able to delegate tasks or ask for more help in and then list 3 actions you can take to help you create more time in this area.

For example:

Area: Household chores:

Action:

Have shirts pressed rather than iron them yourself.

Have each family member take on an additional household task.

Get curb side recycling instead of recycling it yourself.