American Heart Walk

Good Morning Health is Spiritual Fans!  This May I will be participating in the American Heart Walk in my hometown.  My personal goal is to raise $1000.  I know that may seem like a lot, but the money spent is worth it if it means saving a life.  Here are some interesting statistics on heart disease:

The Plus Side:
3% of Americans are thought to have optimum cardiovascular health, according to a recent study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for which researchers questioned more than 350,000 people nationwide about their body mass index, cholesterol levels, fruit and vegetable consumption, and more. but the findings weren't all doom and gloom. For instance, if you're between the ages of 35-54, you're in the bracket most likely to have an "ideal" ticker.
Edelstein, Julia "Real Simple" (2013)

The Burden:

• About 600,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.¹
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009 were in men.¹
• Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing more than 385,000 peopleannually.¹
• Every year about 935,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these, 610,000 are a first heart attack. 325,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack.²
• Coronary heart disease alone costs the United States $108.9 billion each year.³ This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.

CDC-DHDSP "Heart Disease Facts"

No One is Safe:

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most ethnicities in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. For American Indians or Alaska Natives and Asians or Pacific Islanders, heart disease is second only to cancer. Below are the percentages of all deaths caused by heart disease in 2008, listed by ethnicity.⁴

Race of Ethnic Group	% of Deaths
African Americans	24.5
American Indians or Alaska Natives	18.0
Asians or Pacific Islanders	23.2
Hispanics	20.8
Whites	25.1
All	25.0

Please visit my pledge page and donate.  Even if it's only $1.00. Let's work together to create a better, heart healthier country!  Let's rid that map of all that red!

http://twincitiesheartwalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1033008&supid=379205584

Quote of the Day

 Your work is to discover your work and then with all you heart to give yourself to it. 

                       

                               ~Buddha

Setting Goals to Build an Outstanding Life

Setting goals is a part of human nature.  We all at some point in our lives have looked a head and said to ourselves: "I want to be there!" where ever there was.  At some point in our lives we lose track of those goals, we get busy, life just seems to get in the way.  How do we refocus on what we need to do in order to accomplish what we saw as something worth our time and effort to reach for, to achieve?

Becoming a goal accomplisher should start first with a goal, but more than that it starts with making a goal oriented life.  What do I mean by a goal oriented life?  A goal oriented life should be one that allows you to focus on a lot of mini-goals that will ultimately allow you to achieve the bigger goals.  Many mini-accomplishments can snow-ball your momentum and confidence for reaching higher then you may have thought possible.

Think of one goal or one thing that you have always dreamed about doing, or becoming, a career you have always wanted to try.  Now what steps would you have to take to see that goal come to fruition?  Depending upon your thought, the steps could be a daunting amount.

Let's say for example: your goal is to run in the Boston marathon.  If you've never run in your life this can seem like a very scary, almost impossible dream.  Yet if you turn this dream into a set of mini-goals you will find yourself one day standing at the starting line of the Boston marathon surrounded by the hundreds of thousands of other runners, and a feeling of accomplishment will follow you over the finish line.

How to turn a big dream into mini-goals:

1. determine what your goal or achievement is
2. set a date in the future that will allow you the time to appropriately complete any steps that may be required
3. research what is needed to get to your goal's finish line
4. set your mini-goals up in easily achievable increments (cont. with our marathon example).

• talk to a health care professional about your health and any issues that might be present that could result in injury or failure
• read some running literature to educate yourself on the many different styles of running 
• find a good pair of shoes that work for you (only use them for your running training sessions)
• if you've never run, first see if you can walk a mile, 2 miles, or even a 5K.
• ask for running assistance from friends that run or find a running coach
• run your first mile, your first 5K
• actually run in a public event
• increase speed, time, and distance always striving for further, longer, and just a little bit faster (no one's going to be disappointed with you if you don't beat the Boston marathon time record on your first attempt)
• Once these mini-goals have been accomplished keep training and sign up for the big day.  Get your airline tickets and hotel accommodations.  If you invest that much money in the event it makes it harder to back out.

But why set goals in the first place:

"If you don't have a goal in life, you are spending your life running around and not achieving anything for yourself." ~Bill Copeland

Our whole existence as humans is to achieve something, even if it's nothing more than to live.  While the achievement of just living is much easier now than it was say one hundred or even a thousand years ago we have lost touch I think with what it meant to really work at just living.  We need goals, we need something to look forward to, something to strive for it is a part of our nature.  By acknowledging them through journaling or blogging about them can help give you clarity about what it really is that you are attempting to achieve.  Goals are a representation of our desires and ideas of what it means to be in a better place or a better version of ourselves.  Having a physical reference (yes even a blog is physical) allows you to go back and remind yourself what you want to do which can help you maintain focus.  Blogging about your goals, especially on a public forum, makes you accountable.  Not only do you become more aware that you have slipped out of the energy expenditure required for your goal but those who follow along are aware as well.

Finally -and this is important: 

Goals force you to strive out of your comfort zone and into new life experiences that broaden the mind and can enlighten the spirit.  Even if you feel that you have already accomplished all that you ever wanted, setting even little goals that force you to experience the best that life has to offer can make your life outstanding!

"Goals ensure you get the best out of life, for two reasons.

Firstly, by becoming a better person, your new found knowledge and abilities let you experience more out of the same life events compared to the previous you. Think about how your worldview is different now vs the you 10 years ago. Do you see life with much more clarity, depth and perspective today than you were in the past? What may be a simple daily occurrence in the past holds a lot more meaning to the more highly evolved you today.

Secondly, time passes in our life, whether we want to or not. Goals with specific measures and deadlines ensure we are maximizing our output and experiences during our time here. If you have already discovered your life purpose, your goals will ensure you get the best out of your purpose" (Celes: on Jan 19, 2009).

Personally I have monthly goals right now that I blog about (clearly not here, so now you know where all my blogging time goes).  Since I started these goals last June I have noticed a dramatic change in my outlook on life.  Yes there are down falls, and yes there are times when it can seem that the goal is too lofty or to difficult to reach; but then sometimes it really is the little things that get you going and matter the most; and sometimes we need those little reminders, that gentle push of our dreams calling to us from our future to remind us we have purpose.

Blog:
www.30dayssomethingnew.blogspot.com

Reference:

Celes (Jan 19, 2009). 6 Important Reasons Why You Should Set Goals. http://personalexcellence.co/blog/6-important-reasons-why-you-should-set-goals/

Flavored Milk; Petition to Amend the Standard of Identity for Milk and 17 Additional Dairy Products

U.S. dairy industry petitions FDA to approve aspartame as hidden, unlabeled additive in milk, yogurt, eggnog and cream - by Mike Adams 

You probably already know that the FDA has declared war on raw milk and even helped fund and coordinate armed government raids against raw milk farmers and distributors. Yes, it's insane. This brand of tyranny is unique to the USA and isn't even conducted in China, North Kora or Cuba. Only in the USA are raw milk farmers treated like terrorists.

But now the situation is getting even more insane than you could have imagined: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition with the FDA asking the FDA to alter the definition of "milk" to secretly include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.

Importantly, none of these additives need to be listed on the label. They will simply be swept under the definition of "milk," so that when a company lists "milk" on the label, it automatically includes aspartame or sucralose. And if you're trying to avoid aspartame, you'll have no way of doing so because it won't be listed on the label.

This isn't only for milk, either: It's also for yogurt, cream, sour cream, eggnog, whipping cream and a total of 17 products, all of which are listed in the petition at FDA.gov.

As the petition states:

IDFA and NMPF request their proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity to allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (e.g., chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener -- including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame.

This is all being done to "save the children," we're told, because the use of aspartame in milk products would reduce calories.

Milk industry specifically asks to HIDE aspartame from consumers
Astonishingly, the dairy industry is engaged in extreme doublespeak logic and actually arguing that aspartame should be hidden from consumers by not listing it on the label. Here's what the petition says:

IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as "reduced calorie" are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk -- including flavored milk -- as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can "more easily identify its overall nutritional value."

In other words, hiding aspartame from consumers by not including it on the label actually helps consumers, according to the IDFA and NMPF!

Yep, consumers are best served by keeping them ignorant. If this logic smacks of the same kind of twisted deception practiced by Monsanto, that's because it's identical: the less consumers know, the more they are helped, according to industry. And it's for the children, too, because children are also best served by keeping them poisoned with aspartame.

Consumers have always been kept in the dark about pink slime, meat glue, rBGH and GMOs in their food. And now, if the IDFA gets its way, you'll be able to drink hormone-contaminated milk from an antibiotics-inundated cow fed genetically modified crops and producing milk containing hidden aspartame. And you won't have the right to know about any of this!

The FDA confirms this "secret" status of aspartame, stating, "If the standard of identity for milk is amended as requested by petitioners, milk manufacturers could use non-nutritive sweeteners in flavored milk without a nutrient content claim in its labeling."

FDA requests comments
The FDA is requesting comments on this petition. You have until May 21st, 2013 to submit your comments. Click here for instructions.

This is a clue to stop drinking processed milk and milk products altogether
There's a bigger story here than just the industry hoping to get FDA approval to secretly put aspartame in milk products while not listing aspartame on the label.

The bigger question is this: If an industry is pushing to hide aspartame in its products, what else is it already hiding?

How about the pus content of its dairy products? How about its inhumane treatment of animals who are subjected to torture conditions and pumped full of genetically engineered hormones? How about the fact that homogenization and pasteurization turn a whole food into a dietary nightmare that promotes obesity, autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular disease?

There are lots of dirty little secrets in the dairy industry of course, and that doesn't even get into the secret closed-door conversations to encourage the FDA to destroy the competition of raw milk.

The only rational answer to all this is to stop buying and consuming processed dairy products, period!

I gave up ALL milk products many years ago and have never looked back. I drink almond milk, not pus-filled pasteurized cow's milk. (Click here for a recipe to make your own almond milk at home.) I don't eat yogurt. If I want probiotics, I get them from tasty chewable probiotics supplements such as Sunbiotics. I parted ways with processed dairy products many years ago, and as a result, my cardiovascular health, skin health, digestive health and stamina have all remained in outstanding shape.

There's also a philosophical issue here: Don't buy products from an industry that habitually LIES about everything. The dairy industry is like a mafia. They actively seek to destroy the competition, keep consumers ignorant and monopolize the market. They run highly deceptive ads with ridiculous claims like, "drinking milk helps you lose weight" and other nonsense.

The U.S. dairy industry is steeped in deception at every level, and now they want you and your children to unknowingly drink aspartame that's secretly blended into the product.

The dairy industry is to food as Lance Armstrong is to sports. It's all a big lie, laced with secret chemicals and false claims.

Stop drinking milk. Stop financially supporting the food mafia.

Recommended videos:
Raw Milk Rover (hilarious animation)http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=273C2497DFDE9F61CB9E8867113CA5CA

Got a PUStache? (satire)
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=C463AA940B9AEBA5D294F87FF0716579

Jonathan Emord raw milk freedom speech:
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=F8DF9A42CC5479D8829A2445C56AFEF3

Farmageddon interview with Kristin Canty
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=3340FCCC93B2C17EEFA43C7E6296728D

Sources for this article:
This petition was originally brought to our attention by a reader who says it was covered on Activist Post. I haven't yet read that article but may update this article with a link to that article once I identify the URL.

FDA petition page:
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-03835/flavored-milk-petition-to-amend-the-standard-of-identity-for-milk-and-17-additional-dairy-products

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/039244_milk_aspartame_FDA_petition.html#ixzz2LwUdhS6j

Thanks goes to the Citizens Action Network facebook page for sharing this vital information.  Please! If you live in the US and you drink milk, eat yogurt and cheese -do NOT let our Government continue to decide what we put into our bodies and our children's bodies!  Aspartame is a poison and while as adults we have the choice to drink diet soda's (the leading sweetner is aspertame) and poison ourselves but if it is in our children's milk supply, millions of school children who MUST rely on school lunch will be subjected without consent to this horrific and addictive drug.  Please read up, learn more about it, and choose to stand up against the true tyranny!

Creating Wealth thru Happiness

I'm not sure who sent me this email or who the original author is but what a great concept!

Money does buy happiness, but happiness also creates wealth.

All the wealth in the world cannot buy you these 2 precious  things health and happiness.

Health is wealth.

Assuming you want to create both wealth and happiness for yourself and those around you, you have two approaches: wait until you're wealthy to be happy, or become more happy now and thereby create more wealth.

I maintain that, in today's economy, it's easier to start with the happiness, because unlike wealth (which takes time to accumulate), you can increase the amount of happiness in your life within minutes, simply by taking more notice of things that make you happy.

With that in mind, here are ten things that can make you happy immediately, regardless of where you are in the cycle.

1. Life

It's easy to forget that the mere fact of conscious existence--that you are alive--is itself a miracle. As the old saying goes "every day above ground is a good day."

2. Health

Rather than thinking of illness as something bad that happens to you, start thinking of health as something good that's happening to you.

3. Purpose

There is nothing more conducive to long-term happiness than knowing that your actions are making the world a better place.

4. Friendship

Almost everyone has friends, although it's easy to lose track of them in the rush of events. Take a few minutes--today--to reconnect with some of them.

5. Family

If you've got a good relationship with your family, rejoice! You're experiencing one of the deepest sources of happiness on the planet.

6. Self-reliance

Feeling secure that you can count on yourself to accomplish what you set out to accomplish creates a quiet but potent happiness.

7. Community

Having the support of a wider group makes you more aware that you're part of something greater than yourself.

8. Gratitude

Rather than focusing on what you don't have or what's out of reach, be thankful for the wonderful things already in your life.

9. Laughter

It is impossible to laugh and be miserable at the same time. Regular doses of laughter are more than medicine... it's the flavor of life.

10. Love

Create these ten things in your life and I guarantee that you'll either become more wealthy or, if not, you won't really care anyway because you'll already have what's important.

Photowalk

Spiritual Growth or Winter Blues

I ended 2012 and started the new year immersed in a set of books all geared toward spiritual enlightenment or betterment of the self in one way or another; not to mention my own physical regrouping after an arduous 33 days of antibiotics.  While the physical reboot has been going along well and despite a minor setback of catching a rather wicked virus which forced me to sleep for 36 hours almost straight thru -thanks to my healthcare associated day job - I turned toward an internal (spiritual/soul searching) reboot as well.  I don't know if it is due to the time of year; the mortality of the world clearly displayed in the bleak color of winter brown and the onset of temperatures that could freeze you where you stand, or the simple fact that this time of year has documented proof of increased death rates during the Holiday's, the lack of sunlight, and the urge to curl up beneath a pile of blankets till the spring thaw.  How ever the urge arose, I found myself spending my free moment's nose deep in several books.

The Secret of Quantum Living by Dr. Frank J. Kinslow
The first book I pulled off my overflowing shelves is actually a part two; a fact I was unaware of at the time I came across this book. The first being The Secret of Instant Healing which if I ever get around to obtaining a copy I will most likely devour within a few days.  Thankfully the author does a refresher set of chapters for those of us who did not happen to read the books in order so that the main concept is clear and understandable.
Quantum Living is based off similar principles to Quantum Physics and the reader is guided through the process of Quantum Entrainment or QE™.  Dr. Kinslow teaches the reader how to recognize the True Self through pure awareness exercises, and works through the whole self in four parts: The Mind, Body, Relationships, and Everything Else.
While it is a good instructional book when you actually get to the instructions and exercises the opening is a bit sluggish in that it really should be read as a sequel to the first one.  I would recommend this book for anyone ready to do some serious self-study and opening the dusty piles of baggage that have accumulated over your years.

The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles by Marianne Williamson
This book could certainly be a continuation of The Secret books as it is along the same theme: what you think/feel/desire is manifested no matter if those thoughts/feelings/desires are beneficial to you or are detrimental.  While the book was a little Bible heavy for my tastes the message was still there and easily discerned.  The universal law is that we are all OF and FROM the universe (god, divine power, love, etc), we are perfect beings attempting to live up to our perfect potential and while we will make mistakes along the way it is our job to accept that, move on, ask for guidance, and let go of those things which prevent us from reaching our absolute potential.  My only complaint for this book and other books like it are for the "examples."  I understand the need for examples of negative behavior/thought patterns, but there's a part of me that has worked so hard NOT to behave/think that way, that I feel in the process of reading the examples I am regressing.  Positive Examples Please!

 
How to Read the Akashic Records: Accessing the Archive of the Soul and Its Journey by Linda Howe
A great instructional book and guide for some serious self healing.  While the author recommends some extensive commitment from the reader -a month- to become acquainted with the how's, who's, and why's of asking, accessing, and gleaning such deep insight to the secrets of not only our soul, but to the universal and spiritual presence of our place in the history of our soul.  Clearly with my nose so deep in two other books, I have yet to make that commitment.  This book requires an open mind and a little bit of faith in the understanding of reincarnation and that ALL information throughout all of time is accessible if we only know how to access it.

Happy Reading Fans!

If you are interested in reading any of these books please click on the titles as they are affiliated links.  Thank you for your audience and patronage.