1 Apr 2016

Unconditional Love - The Kind of Love

Unconditional Love

"The greatest power known to man is that of unconditional love. Through the ages, mystics, sages, singers and poets have all expressed the ballad and call to love. As humans, we have searched endlessly for the experience of love through the outer senses. Great nations have come and gone under the guise of love for their people. Religions have flourished and perished while claiming the true path to love. We, the people of this planet, may have missed the simplicity of unconditional love. . .
"Simply stated, unconditional love is an unlimited way of being. We are without any limit to our thoughts and feelings in life and can create any reality we choose to focus our attention upon. There are infinite imaginative possibilities when we allow the freedom to go beyond our perceived limits. If we can dream it, we can build it. Life, through unconditional love, is a wondrous adventure that excites the very core of our being and lights our path with delight." - from Harold W. Becker in Unconditional Love - An Unlimited Way of Being.

Defining Unconditional Love

Back in the early 1990's, TLF Founder, Harold W. Becker, developed a rather unique, and perhaps unconventional, contemporary definition for unconditional love and shared it in his first book, Internal Power - Seven Doorways to Self Discovery. Ever seeking a practical and universal definition, he chose to understand and evolve each of the two words "unconditional" and "love" to their core essence of meaning. Then combining them into one idea he realized a useful insight for applying this profound perspective found in this unique combination of two words. Harold's definition simply stated - "unconditional love is an unlimited way of being".

This definition doesn't necessarily speak to the typical expected response or popular collective understanding of most cultures. Instead it reveals something more important - the individual potential that resides within each of us every moment. It merely asks that we approach each moment with clarity and right perspective and recognize the vast unlimited possibilities to choose a new way of thinking and feeling.
Such a sense of profound love comes when we first forgive and accept ourselves for all our limiting beliefs, mistakes, judgments and misunderstandings and apply the "unconditional" to us personally. We recognize our self worth, value our talents, and allow ourselves to be who we are rather than what we think others wish us to be. In turn, we naturally understand those around us and extend our helping hand without condition, judgment or expectation. We see ourselves in the reflection of another and know that everyone deserves to love and be loved without condition.
By embracing the present moment with openness we realize and know we have the solutions and answers already within us. We begin building a reality that is based on love, wisdom and power in perfect balance. For each step we take personally, we impact the world with this amazing energy of love.
Unconditional love turns hope into knowing in a collective reality that is often seen as hopeless or seemingly impossible to overcome. When you know something is possible you empower this to manifest with your very being. So know from now on that you are loved and loving and see how the world responds to your light and knowing. Watch how your peace and strength is sought out by others and how the limitless love you have to share is the love you receive in return.

Why Unconditional Love?

When we allow ourselves to understand the impact our actions have not only on ourselves but the planet we live on, we realize the necessity to take loving action. We each have the power to correct conditions within as well as to affect the world we live in.
There are so many ways to apply love in our everyday lives. Yet, if we do not take care of ourselves, it is virtually impossible to feel and share love with the world around us. As an act of self-love, we can begin to educate ourselves and learn to take care of our physical bodies as well as keep our thoughts and feelings positive and loving. Nurturing ourselves also teaches us how to nurture life around us.
Practice constant acts of kindness and you bring kindness upon this planet. Forgiveness is the easiest and most powerful act of kindness you can make. Both for yourself and for others, this activity promotes unity, harmony and oneness that transmutes the old into the new.
This magnificent planet is filled with opportunities to experience love, respect, peace and joy. When we, as individuals, realize our potential to love unconditionally, we transform ourselves and the planet at the same time. Such is the power we wield every moment of every day. The choice is ours to create a world of joy and happiness, love and goodwill.

Living With Love

The power of love is held within each of us every moment. This wondrous energy is available merely by our use and conscious recognition. When we choose to love one another we transcend the lower personality perceptions and rise to a higher truth. We recognize our oneness, wholeness and interconnectedness.
This is not a conditional love or the type of love one may try to use to earn favors or expect validation, rather this is a universal and unconditional love that recognizes the beauty in life every moment. It is of a higher nature. It is a natural expression that does not expect an outcome. It is giving just for the sake of giving.
It is in the sharing and giving of love to others that we receive the same that we give. Give love and surely you will experience love itself. Express love to the world around you and the world will reflect back to you the power of love.
Each of us desires to understand and realize this experience of love. Just listen to the lyrics of most music, for example, and you will quickly see how much the notion of love plays a part in our personal journey of life. We seek it in our families, relationships, careers, religions, hobbies, and even at times we look to nature itself. All the while, it is right within us ready to be given out and experienced.
Love is such a powerful force especially when shared.

Choose Love

Who do you perceive/believe yourself to be right now? How do you want to experience life? Will you be more kind, gentle, forgiving, tolerant and loving? Or will you continue to give your power away to the fear and doubt that is so prevalent right now in our society? The choice is ultimately yours.
Might we suggest a resolution to love unconditionally? Within you is an unlimited supply of love and you hold the key to its release. Fear and doubt, anger and hate, have no more control over our lives than we allow. Can it be that simple? It really is. Loving is a choice we can make every moment.
Begin with yourself. Realize that you are a powerful, spiritual and angelic being and can create with love. Take care of your thoughts and feelings and make sure they reflect the positive you. Also observe your actions and insure that they have a loving intent too.
Even when our emotions get the best of us and the stress and concerns of life become a bit overwhelming, just remember we have tools of forgiveness, gratitude, meditation, visualization, and letting go, to assist us in overcoming the negative experiences we encounter each day. Most things we concern ourselves over are not worth worrying about or holding on to.
When you are clear and receptive to your own higher, loving nature, you can then direct this love to people and places around you. Your peace becomes the peace for others. Your love becomes the love other people feel.
Be the angel you are and choose to live freely and joyfully. In doing so, you make this a better world to live and love in.

"If we make our goal to live a life of compassion and unconditional love, then the world will indeed become a garden where all kinds of flowers can bloom and grow."
-Dr. Elisabeth K?bler-Ross, Late Author of On Death and Dying

Smoking During Pregnancy And Its Effects On Fetal DNA

Smoking During Pregnancy Seems to Alter Fetal DNA, Study Finds

THURSDAY March 31, 2016, 2016 -- When a pregnant woman smokes, the fetus' DNA is altered in ways also seen in adult smokers, researchers say.
The researchers were also able to pinpoint new development-related genes that were affected by a mother-to-be's smoking.
The findings may help improve understanding about the connection between smoking during pregnancy and children's health problems, the study authors said.
For the study, researchers collected blood samples from newborns, mainly from the umbilical cord. Compared to babies of nonsmokers, those born to regular smokers had over 6,000 spots where DNA was chemically modified.
About half of those locations could be linked to specific genes, including those involved in lung and nervous system development, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, and smoking-related cancers.
The investigators also found that many of these DNA changes were still present in older children whose mothers had smoked during pregnancy.
The study was published March 31 in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
Smaller studies have found links between smoking during pregnancy and chemical changes in fetal DNA, the authors of the new study noted. But this large study, which included over 6,000 mothers and their children, improved the researchers' ability to detect patterns.
"I find it kind of amazing when we see these epigenetic signals in newborns, from in utero exposure, lighting up the same genes as an adult's own cigarette smoking. There's a lot of overlap," study co-senior author Stephanie London said in a journal news release. She is an epidemiologist and physician at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
"This is a blood-borne exposure to smoking -- the fetus isn't breathing it, but many of the same things are going to be passing through the placenta," London explained.

More information
The March of Dimes has more about smoking during pregnancy.

Checkout Ufedo Sunshine Curves and Shape - Photos

Ufedo Sunshine Curves and Shape

http://www.newseveryhour.com/2016/04/ive-lost-many-roles-for-denying.html

Experimental Drug for Rheumatoid Arthritis Shows Promise

An experimental drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis showed promise in a new six-month trial.

Baricitinib substantially reduced symptoms and improved daily physical functioning among people who failed other treatments for the autoimmune disease, researchers found.

"If you have active disease and you've failed existing treatment options, you should have hope," said lead researcher Dr. Mark Genovese. He is a professor of immunology and rheumatology at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. "There is another therapy, which will hopefully become available, that has demonstrated it can work in that situation."

The report was published March 31 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The trial was sponsored by Eli Lilly and Co., the manufacturer of baricitinib. Lilly is currently seeking approval of the drug from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

For the phase 3 trial, Genovese, who is a consultant to Lilly, and colleagues randomly assigned more than 500 patients at 178 centers in 24 countries to one of three groups. One group received 4 milligrams of baricitinib a day, the second group got 2 milligrams, and the third group received a placebo for 24 weeks.
The researchers found that about 55 percent of the patients taking the higher dose of baricitinib experienced a reduction of at least 20 percent in the number of affected joints at week 12 of the study.

For patients on the lower dose, 49 percent experienced a similar reduction. Among patients on placebo, only 27 percent saw this effect, the researchers said.

In addition, patients taking either dose of baricitinib had improved physical function and reductions in inflammation. These benefits remained after 24 weeks, according to the report.

The most common side effect of baricitinib was mild upper-respiratory infections among as many as 77 percent of patients taking the drug, compared with 64 percent of those taking the placebo, the investigators found.

Also, after 12 weeks, about 2 percent of patients in the high-dose group, versus 1 percent and 0.5 percent in the low-dose and placebo groups, respectively, developed shingles. Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by a dormant chickenpox virus.

Baricitinib also raised both high-density ("good") and low-density ("bad") cholesterol, the findings showed.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive, inflammatory, autoimmune disease affecting about 1.5 percent of the worldwide population. It causes pain, stiffness, swelling and eventual destruction of joints, typically in the hands and feet. About three of every four people with the disease are women, the researchers said.
Baricitinib is in a new category of small-molecule drugs, available in pill form, called Janus-kinase inhibitors. These drugs work by interfering with enzymes necessary for various inflammatory substances in the body to function, Genovese explained.

Although many new drugs have been developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, long-term use makes these drugs less effective for some patients, researchers have found.

As a result, 15 percent to 20 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients find themselves having used up the available drugs, Genovese said.

Dr. Waseem Mir is a rheumatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He said that "a new drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis patients is always welcome, because when you get to treat many patients, you see that most of the drugs stop being effective."

The study shows that baricitinib can help rheumatoid patients who have failed other drugs, he added.
"However, I do not want the rheumatoid arthritis patients to get too excited, as the study shows only a 20 percent improvement. But in combination with other rheumatoid drugs, it could be effective in helping patients," Mir said.

More information
For more on rheumatoid arthritis, visit the American College of Rheumatology.

Posted: March 2016

Checkout Toke Makinwa's New Hairstyle And Make up

Toke Makinwa slayed yet again in this lovely monochrome outfit for an Africa Magic event this evening.. The hair suits her. See photos below...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDqqyaKDnnB/?taken-by=tokemakinwa

Diabetes Linked to Epilepsy Risk, Study Suggests

Type 1 Diabetes Linked to Epilepsy Risk, Study Suggests

People who have type 1 diabetes may be nearly three times more likely to develop the seizure disorder epilepsy than people without type 1 diabetes, a new study suggests.
The youngest people with type 1 diabetes -- under 6 years old -- seemed to be six times more likely to develop epilepsy, the researchers reported.

But, those with the highest risk of epilepsy appeared to be children with type 1 diabetes who had to be treated in a hospital for a severe low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). The study found the risk of epilepsy was 16.5 times higher for these children.

It should be noted, however, that the study did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the two conditions. And the "absolute" risk of any one person with type 1 diabetes going on to develop epilepsy remains very small.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder affecting less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

"Even though the risk of epilepsy is increased, most type 1 diabetics wouldn't have it," said Dr. Scott Stevens, attending neurologist at Northwell Health's Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center in Great Neck, N.Y.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes destruction of the body's insulin-producing cells. Insulin is a hormone necessary to use the sugars found in foods. To replace the missing insulin, people with type 1 diabetes must take multiple daily injections of insulin or use an insulin pump with a thin tube inserted under the skin to deliver the insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

However, achieving the correct dose of insulin can be difficult. Too little insulin, and high blood sugar results. Over time, high blood sugar can cause serious damage to blood vessels, especially in the eyes, kidneys and heart. Too much insulin also poses a danger, causing low blood sugar levels, which if left untreated can cause unconsciousness and even death, according to the ADA. Previous research has shown that people with type 1 diabetes experience approximately two episodes of low blood sugar each week. Severe hypoglycemia is much less frequent, however.

The researchers aren't sure how type 1 diabetes and epilepsy may be linked.
But study author Dr. I-Ching Chou of China Medical University's Children's Hospital in Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues suspect a variety of factors may be at play, including immune abnormalities, brain lesions, genetic factors and metabolic abnormalities.

Blood sugar levels that are too high or too low have also been shown to trigger seizures in elderly people, the study authors added.

And previous studies have suggested that having type 1 diabetes at an early age and having severely low blood sugar are critical risk factors for brain abnormalities, the researchers said.

Dr. Gerald Bernstein, an endocrinologist and coordinator of the Friedman Diabetes Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that when people with diabetes don't rigidly control their blood sugar levels, tiny blood vessels in the brain can be affected.

Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, the study authors pulled records on almost 2,600 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, and a comparison group of 26,600 people without a type 1 diagnosis.

Children with type 1 diabetes were about 10 years old, while youngsters in the comparison group were about 11 years old, on average.

Each child in the study group was matched with 10 control-group children for factors including sex, and whether they lived in an urban or rural area.

In kids with type 1 diabetes, the risk of developing epilepsy, after adjusting for other factors that might affect the results, appeared to be 2.84 times higher than in people without diabetes.
Children in the study group with intellectual disabilities were also much more likely to develop epilepsy, the study found.

The study authors acknowledged several limitations with the study. The insurance database, for one, didn't provide information on lifestyle habits, body mass index, physical activity, socioeconomic status and family history. The lack of that information could have skewed the results.
While there may be some connection between type 1 diabetes and epilepsy, the authors concluded that further study is needed.

Based on this study alone, there's no reason to screen every child and adolescent with type 1 diabetes for epilepsy, Stevens said.

"It would create unnecessary stress and unnecessary testing," he said.
What parents should do is advocate for the most contemporary management of type 1 diabetes from its onset, Bernstein added. That includes the use of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pumps, which insurance doesn't always cover, he said.

With the advantage of those technologies, people might maintain much tighter blood-sugar control over time, he explained.

Findings from the new study were released online March 31 in the journal Diabetologia.

More information
Joslin Diabetes Center has more about type 1 diabetes.

Posted: March 2016

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Asthma - 10 Things You Need To Do To Keep It In Check 808 0 0 1 of 11 1. Understand what your different inhalers are for Knowing which inhaler does what is vital for keeping your asthma symptoms under control. Traditionally, blue inhalers contain reliever medicines to relieve breathlessness and brown inhalers contain corticosteroids (type of preventer medication) but this custom is not always followed and inconsistencies in the colour of inhalers can be very confusing. You could ask your doctor or Pharmacist to put an “R” or a “P” on your different inhalers, or to colour code them with dots. Your reliever medication needs to be used when you are short of breath or before exercise. Your preventer medicine (if prescribed) needs to be used daily, usually twice a day, even when you feel fine. Preventer medicines help keep your symptoms under control long term, lessening the risk of an asthma attack. Long acting reliever medicines are also available. These help with breathing when used on a daily basis, but will not help symptoms of an acute attack. Consumer Updates Fighting Allergy Season with Medications Medications for High Blood Pressure Irritable Bowel Syndrome Treatments Aren't One-Size-Fits-All Fighting Diabetes' Deadly Impact on Minorities More FDA updates Drugs.com Mobile Apps The easiest way to lookup drug information, identify pills, check interactions and set up your own personal medication records. Available for Android and iOS devices. Explore Apps Read more at: https://tr.im/4LJtk

Deep Questions To Ask Before Getting Married: Part 3

Deep Questions To Ask Before Going Too Far In A Relationship

Stopping yourself from falling for the wrong person is easier than mending a broken heart. These deep questions will tell you who they really are.

On our previous post we have discussed some of these questions to ask before actually consider settling down. Here are more questions you should ask. No Knowledge is a waste.

20 How adventurous are you in the bedroom?

If you think that the key to a healthy sex life is trying new things, then it is critical to know whether someone is willing to be open and share new sexual experiences with you, or if missionary is all that they are interested in trying.

21 You have an extra $1000—what do you do with it?

Would they spend it on you or them? Would they save it or spend it? This question will tell you if they are generous or stingy with their money.

22 Would you go to a movie by yourself?

How comfortable are they with themselves and being alone? People who are okay being by themselves are more comfortable in their skin and don’t need someone to make them happy. They want to have someone to make their life more meaningful, rather than fulfill a need.

23 Do you like talking about politics?

How open are they to different opinions? Do they judge people for what they believe? Often, someone who doesn’t want to engage in a touchy subject either gets too upset by conflict, or worries it will alter the way that they view you. It is important to be on the same political wavelength, but opinions change. Are they open to new ideas and discussing uncomfortable things?

24 Did you hate any children growing up and why did you hate them?

Were they the bully or the object of bullying? The playground is where we decide what behavior is acceptable, and what is not. What is unacceptable behavior to them?

25 Has someone ever broken your heart?

Are you going to be dealing with someone else’s baggage? If someone broke their heart, they are likely to have residual trust issues that will pop up in the future. It is important to find out if they have been let down, and how, so you know if they are likely to guard their heart.

26 When do you think it is appropriate for a guy to cry?

Is he a “guy’s guy,” or does she think crying is weak? This question tells you whether you can be yourself around someone and be as sensitive as you want to be. How much can you let your guard down and be who you are?

27 Are your parents proud of you?

Are they constantly feeling not good enough, or as if they let people down? Someone who is confident in their accomplishments will say that they have parents who are proud of them. It will also tell you how they were treated growing up, and if their parents fostered their emotional well-being.

28 What do you want people to say and remember about you when you die?

What is it that they value in human beings and hold as the epitome of what is important in a lifetime?

29 How long do you think you are going to live?

How optimistic are they about their life? If they believe they are going to die young, question them about why they have such low hopes for a long, happy future. Are they fatalistic, pessimistic, or even a hypochondriac?

30 What makes your best friend your best friend?

What are the qualities they think make someone a good friend, and what is it about their best friend that allows them to take that important role?

These deep questions are sometimes hard to ask, because we don’t really want to know the answers. If you are falling in love with someone, it is better to find out that they aren’t what you believed they were at the start, than to be blindsided in the end.

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