Who am I and what am I living my life for?

Kidneys…why and what do they do?

The liver and why you have one...

 What is the liver?  

Your liver is your body’s largest solid organ. On average, it weighs around 3 pounds in adulthood and is roughly the size of a football. This organ is vital to the body’s metabolic, detoxification, and immune system functions. Without a functioning liver, a person cannot survive.

The liver’s position is mostly in the right upper portion of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm. A portion of the liver is located in the left upper abdomen as well. The gallbladder, where bile is stored, is found in a small hollow on the underside of the liver.

What’s the purpose of the liver?

The liver’s major functions are in the metabolic processes of the body. These include:

• breaking down or converting certain substances
• balancing energy metabolism by converting glycogen to glucose and storing extra glucose by converting it to glycogen
• making toxins less harmful to the body and removing them from the bloodstream

The liver does this by receiving blood with nutrients from the digestive organs via a vein known as the hepatic portal vein. With the help of vitamin K, the liver produces proteins that are important in blood clotting. It is also one of the organs that break down old or damaged blood cells.

The many cells of the liver, known as hepatocytes, accept and filter this blood. They act as little sorting centers, determining:

• which nutrients should be processed
• what should be stored
• what should be eliminated via the stool
• what should go back to the blood

The liver stores fat-soluble vitamins as well as minerals such as copper and iron, releasing them if the body needs them. It also helps to break down fats in a person’s diet. It either metabolizes fats or releases them as energy.

The liver plays a central role in all metabolic processes in the body. In fat metabolism the liver cells break down fats and produce energy. They also produce about 800 to 1,000 ml of bile per day. This yellow, brownish or olive green liquid is collected in small ducts and then passed on to the main bile duct, which carries the bile to a part of the small intestine called the duodenum. Bile is important for the breakdown and absorption of fats.

In the metabolism of carbohydrates, the liver helps to ensure that the level of sugar in your blood (blood glucose) stays constant. If your blood sugar levels increase, for example after a meal, the liver removes sugar from blood supplied by the portal vein and stores it in the form of glycogen. If someone’s blood sugar levels are too low, the liver breaks down glycogen and releases sugar into the blood. As well as sugar, the liver also stores vitamins and minerals (iron and copper), and releases them into the blood when needed.

The liver also produces an estimated 800 t0 1000ml of bile each day. This bile is transported via bile ducts that eventually join and form the common bile duct that flows into the small intestine. The small intestine uses the bile to further help with break down and absorption of fats. Extra bile is stored in the gallbladder.

The liver produces and breaks down proteins as well. The byproduct of breaking down amino acid proteins is called ammonia, which can be toxic to the body in large amounts. The liver turns the toxic ammonia into a substance called urea. The liver releases this into the blood where the kidneys excrete it via the urine. The liver also removes alcohol from the blood, as well as affects many medications a person takes.

As if these functions weren’t enough, the liver also plays major roles in the following:

• creating immune system factors that can fight against infection
• creating proteins responsible for blood clotting
• breaking down old and damaged red blood cells
• storing extra blood sugar as glycogen

When taking all this into consideration, it’s easy to see how important the liver is to a person’s health.

The liver is a half-moon shaped organ that’s fairly straight on the bottom. It’s tilted slightly in the body’s cavity, with the left portion above the stomach and the right portion above the first part of the small intestine.

Compared to the rest of the body, the liver has a significant amount of blood flowing through it — an estimated 13 percent of the body’s blood is in the liver at any given time.

The liver is truly an amazing organ in that it has the capacity to regenerate. This means that after an injury or surgery to remove tissue, the liver tissue can grow back to a certain extent.

The liver starts growing back by having the existing cells enlarge. Then, new liver cells start to multiply.

Within a week after removing two-thirds of the liver, the liver can return to the same weight it was before surgery. The liver has been known to regenerate completely after as many as 12 partial liver removal surgeries.

Unfortunately, there are many diseases that can affect the liver and its functioning. Examples of common conditions that affect the liver include:

Autoimmune hepatitis

This condition occurs when the body’s immune system attacks itself and destroys healthy liver tissue. Autoimmune hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis and other liver damage.

Biliary atresia

Biliary atresia is a condition that adversely affects a person’s bile ducts and bile flow from when they’re an infant. If left untreated, the condition can cause liver scarring and affect liver tissue.

 Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is a condition where scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue. A number of conditions can cause cirrhosis. They include long-term excessive alcohol use, chronic hepatitis, or rare genetic disorders, such as Wilson’s disease.

Hemochromatosis

This condition causes an excess of iron to build up in the body. Too much iron can damage the liver, sometimes causing cirrhosis.

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis generally refers to a viral infection that causes liver inflammation, although there are other possible causes of hepatitis. The hepatitis virus types have different letters, including A, B, C, D, and E. Each has a different cause and severity.

Hepatitis A is more common in developing countries without clean drinking water and with poor sanitation systems. Most people can recover from hepatitis A without liver failure or long-term complications.

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B can cause a short or long-term infection. The younger you are when infected, the higher the risk for long-term infection. While in U.S. adults the disease is most commonly spread through sexual contact, a person can also get it through sharing needles or accidentally sticking themselves with a contaminated needle.

The condition can cause serious complications, including liver failure and cancer. There’s a vaccination you can get against the disease.

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C can be an acute or chronic infection, however the majority of acute hepatitis C infections will turn chronic. It’s most commonly spread by contact with blood containing the hepatitis C virus in it, which includes sharing contaminated needles to inject drugs or apply tattoos. Although less common, transmission through sexual intercourse can occur.

This condition can cause inflammation that can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and NASH

These are conditions where fat builds up in the liver. An excess of fat can damage the liver, causing inflammation.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that causes scarring or fibrosis. People who are obese or have conditions relating to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, are more likely to have this disease.

The takeaway

The liver has many functions in the body as well as an amazing capacity to regenerate itself. Without it, a person couldn’t gain energy from food or break down fats and proteins in their daily diets.

However, there are many medical conditions that can affect a person’s liver function. This is especially true if a person is a heavy drinker, as excess alcohol can place too great a strain on the liver’s function.

Maintaining a healthy weight and practicing balanced eating and exercise habits can help you maintain your liver health.

 

The good news is there are several different nutrients and herbs to bolster your liver health.

It is always a good idea to check with your health practitioner which are the best and most beneficial for your particular condition.

(information gained from educational platforms: -

healthline.com)

Life under constant surveillance...

I am inundated with various outlets regarding our current situation in the world of Pandemics, "vaccines" and the domino effect of mandates and the effects on health freedom.

I respect the information that we have received in the past from this Doctor and wanted to share it here.

As with all information that is available to you...take way you wish, listen to what resonates and stay open to new possibilities and views. (this is not intended to start any debates, alienate anyone etc. It is merely here to give you another perspective (we don't always have to like or agree with what is presented but we can stay open to listening)

 https://healthythinking.substack.com/p/life-under-constant-surveillance?r=lo8rn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy

Relationships....

 Oh my word,

I am being blown away by the information and wisdom coming to my inbox lately.

I am an avid follower of shamanism and Alberto Villoldo and he wrote this beautiful piece on relationships/marriage and I know you will all learn or receive something from this if you stay open.

"In many cultures around the world, the Spiritual Seeker is celibate – and that’s a wonderful way of avoiding the complexity and complications of relationships. The shaman understands that we are attracted to those people that we have to learn with and learn through. Most of our early relationships are deeply karmic. We are looking for that person who can help us heal our wounds, who can help us find ourselves. And, of course, we can never do that through the Other. The Other only serves as a mirror for what it is that we need to heal. A friend of mine who is getting divorced recently told me: “I miss the woman that I married, but I don’t miss at all the woman I’m divorcing.” And that’s because she became such a clear mirror for him of what he needed to do to heal himself. I told him, “You have to stop looking for the right partner, and instead work on becoming the right partner.” When we understand that marriage is the arena where we can go to meet Spirit face-to-face, and when we practice deep gratitude for all of those difficult lessons that our partner is offering us, then we can truly evolve our relationship. But if we insist on making the Other wrong, then we are only going to dig ourselves deeper into our hole. Our task is not to look for someone who is going to be more like us, but to find the person that we can commit to a healing journey with. When you think you have found that person, go through a courtship process like the one I did with my wife, Marcela. Examine the seven chakras on the body and make a commitment at the level of each chakra. At the first chakra: How are you going to help each other with your survival needs, your basic identity needs, and are you going to commit to each other in meeting your most fundamental needs? This is where you will learn if you have the foundation to keep building. Do you feel safe? Can you disclose yourself, who you really are, and not who you want others to see you as? Can you trust this person to not hurt you if you show your soft underbelly? This is what it’s all about, and you have to be willing to reveal yourself, and to talk about it – which can be scary and painful. At the second chakra: How are you going to embrace the Other for who he/she is – and all the gifts, blessings and curses? Are you willing to receive them and embrace them and commit to help the Other discover the fullness of their being? At the third chakra: How can you acknowledge, respect and contribute to each other’s power and expression in the world without feeling threatened by it? At the fourth chakra, the heart: How can you dedicate yourselves to practicing unconditional love – and by that I mean love that is not conditioned by our upbringing, by mommy and daddy. Unconditioned love is based on honoring the Other. At the fifth chakra: How can you respect each other’s voice? Can you make a commitment to hear the Other deeply, to be a good listener, to be a careful witness to your partner and invite their voice to be developed to its fullest, versus a hidden whisper for fear of offending. At the sixth chakra: How can you support each other’s vision of your journey in the world? At the seventh chakra: How can you have a joint spiritual practice? You must go through the seven levels of deep commitment that are required for a fulfilling relationship, because if you have only six – say that at your second chakra, your sense of self, you don’t feel you are being received or respected by your partner – it’s not going to work. If you do the work at each of these levels, then you can grow the kind of relationship that can thrive, even in the most challenging of times. Many of us start out hoping we have found the most perfect partner out there … and that lasts for about two weeks (or if you really stretch it, maybe two months). But we can become the right partner by going through this series of initiations. Blessings, ​ ​ Alberto Villoldo - The Four Winds"

YES, YOU are enough

 Oh my word,

This article hit the spot for me. I could not have said it any better....

There are many times that I have feelings of inadequacies and it usually happens when I am comparing myself to others and the major accomplishments and philantrophic work they do. I forget that being me, being true to myself and loving myself is enough. The energy of that fullness and radiance emanates and shines on everyone you meet. 

We never know how our being-ness and energy affects others and the healing affect we have by giving a smile, a hug, words of encouragement and/or positivity. By following our passion and sharing ourselves authentically we have a powerful impact on the world around us. We are all and integral part of the tapestry of life and the world needs us to be just as we are.

I hope this article from the DAILYOM inspires and touches your heart like it did mine...

You Are Enough

Just being here, being ourselves, is enough. Most of us have the feeling that we are here to accomplish something big in our lives, and if we haven't done something that fits the bill we may feel as if we are waiting. We may feel incomplete, or empty, as if our lives don't yet make sense to us, because they don't line up with our idea of major accomplishment. In some cases, this may be because we really are meant to do something that we haven't yet done. But in most cases, we can let ourselves off the hook with the realization that just being here, being ourselves, is enough.   As we live our lives in this world, we share our energy and our spirit with the people around us in numerous ways. Our influence touches their lives and, through them, touches the lives of many more people. When we strive to live our lives to the fullest and to become our true selves, we are doing something big on an inner level, and that is more than enough to make sense of our being here on this planet at this time. There is no need to hold ourselves to an old idea in the back of our minds that we need to make headlines or single-handedly save the world in order to validate our existence.   We can each look within our hearts to discover what is true for us, what gives our lives meaning, and what excites us. We can release ourselves from any pressure to perform that comes from outside of our inner sense of purpose. Staying in tune with our own values and living our lives in tune with our own vision is all we need in order to fulfill our time here. Our lives are a process of becoming so that we cannot help but cocreate; being who we are, responding to each moment as it comes, we can trust that this is enough.

Judgement...why we suffer

 I am practicing the art of acceptance and surrender and releasing judgement. I find myself judging myself often..the way I look, the way I speak or some of the things I say, my body, my abilities etc. and therefore I end up placing judgment upon others, either consciously or mindlessly. It can be a knee jerk reaction and is usually associated with my own fears and insecurities. I am choosing to pay attention to these moments so that I may heal my inner wounds and pre-conceptions and create the world of love and kindness I wish to live in. It all starts with me.

I love this piece as It sums up the subject very succinctly...Enjoy!

Judging Others (Daily OM)

To acknowledge that we have judged and why, is the first step to a path of compassion. Though it is human to evaluate people we encounter based on first impressions, the conclusions we come to are seldom unaffected by our own fears and our own preconceptions. Additionally, our judgments are frequently incomplete. For example, wealth can seem like proof that an individual is spoiled, and poverty can be seen as a signifier of laziness -- neither of which may be true. At the heart of the tendency to categorize and criticize, we often find insecurity. Overcoming our need to set ourselves apart from what we fear is a matter of understanding the root of judgment and then reaffirming our commitment to tolerance.   When we catch ourselves thinking or behaving judgmentally, we should ask ourselves where these judgments come from. Traits we hope we do not possess can instigate our criticism when we see them in others because passing judgment distances us from those traits. Once we regain our center, we can reinforce our open-mindedness by putting our feelings into words. To acknowledge to ourselves that we have judged, and that we have identified the root of our judgments, is the first step to a path of compassion. Recognizing that we limit our awareness by assessing others critically can make moving past our initial impressions much easier. Judgments seldom leave room for alternate possibilities.  Mother Teresa said, "If you judge people, you don't have time to love them." If we are quick to pass judgment on others, we forget that they, like us, are human beings. As we seldom know what roads people have traveled before a shared encounter or why they have come into our lives, we should always give those we meet the gift of an open heart. Doing so allows us to replace fear-based criticism with appreciation because we can then focus wholeheartedly on the spark of good that burns in all human souls.  ~ dailyom.com