Conversations from the Universe

 Talking to the Universe/source/God/Creator whatever you wish to call it has always been interesting to me. I do it on a daily basis and I read many books that discuss reading the signs all around us and what it means to be in alignment with Source etc. The Power of Now by Eckard Toll and more...

We are a part of Universe/creator and everything we do is meant to be an expression of the divinity of creator. 

No matter how much we read or study regarding this, there is no better way to integrate and understand it than to feel it within your body, to sense it at a deep level. I have always heard this from different teachers and spiritual Masters and know it to be true from personal experience.

You do not know how much someone hurts from the death of a pet or loved one or from pain until you experience it. This experience allows you to have more empathy and compassion for those around you.

I am saying all this to get to the discoveries I have made this week and I may or may not be able to do it justice with words...

I did my usual Body and Brain class.  This consisted of moving my body, improving my mobility and flexibility of both body and brain. I love brain training days. We came to the meditation part of class and I was in a primed position to receive the communication from the Universe: Master Hong (our teacher) led us through the experience of breathing in and out and sensing the energy between your palms (held in front of chest a few inches apart) as you move them close together and then apart. I felt the warmth and pressure between my palms. We were then guided to place our hands on either side of our head and move them closer and further apart too. Whilst envisioning that we are stretching and contracting our brain. (what you can imagine and conceive you can create...this is how Universal energy works)

Then we took our energetic brains out of our skull and continued to expand and contract the energy/brain. What happened next was profoundly experiential for me. We were told to expand the energy by moving our hands as far apart as they wanted to go and imagine that we are stepping inside this energy brain. Inside this brain you can see all the neurons and tendril and inner workings of the brain and it was wonderful. (being in healthcare and having seen many pictures and videos of the brain, I had a pretty clear visual) And then we were guided to see the brain observing the body inside itself and then brain inside the body.

I totally got it...observing myself as the brain and observing the brain inside of me, observing me. Eckard Toll always talks about being present and being the observer and I work at this daily. To feel it so profoundly in my body was phenomenal.  

The next morning I got up to do my meditation and read a piece by Dr David R Hawkins (Daily Reflection) and it was another message felt in my body and recognized by my soul:

"a useful approach is to let the love of God replace the willfulness the is driving the seeking. One can release all desire to seek and realize that the thought that there is anything else than God is a baseless vanity. This is the same vanity that claims authorship for one's experiences, thoughts, and actions. With reflection, it can be seen that both the body and the mind are the result of the innumerable conditions of the universe, and that one is at best the witness of this concordance"

I'm not sure if you can see or integrate what this message is saying. I certainly felt it. We are all one. One energy and that energy is Source energy...we are the Universe and the Universe is in us.  And for me, the thoughts that we think are all from our pre-programming and from the Universal thought stream and we just resonate with it and there it is. Same goes for our actions, they are derived from the thoughts we think are ours etc. etc.

Boy, I'm sure I've lost some of you and this is a rabbit hole and I am probably not explaining this very well. It is sometimes challenging to put into words the feelings of the energy that hits you when you hear the conversation from the Universe meant for you in that moment.

Good luck with your conversations with the Universe/Source/Creator and continue to expand your understanding of how it all works, I sure am.

And incase no-one has told you: YOU are perfect just the way you are and YOU are lovable!

10 ways to live consciously

 

another great Daily Om Inspiration piece... 10 Ways to Live Consciously

How to have a more conscious life in our fast-paced world. 1. Live simply and deliberately. By choosing not to get caught up in the details of this fast-paced world, you are doing your part to slow down the rat race and quell consumerism. You will also discover that you have more time to enjoy being alive. 2. Stay in touch with yourself. Soul searching, meditation, and journaling are just a few of the many activities you can take part in to stay aware and learn as much as you can about your emotions, reactions, likes, dislikes, dreams, and fears. Having a solid sense of self gives you a firm foundation for living in this world. 3. Support or teach others as often as you can. This can help you form connections with people while also giving you an opportunity to make the world a better place. 4. Consciously choose what you will allow into your being. The media bombards us with visions of hate, war, and pain. Be judicious about what you read, watch, and listen to. 5. Acknowledge the beauty that resides around you. Whether you live in a sprawling metropolis or a stereotypical suburb, there are natural and man-made wonders just waiting to be discovered by you. 6. Nurture your ties to your community. If you don’t have one, create one that you can belong to. Modern life can be isolating. When you have a community, you have a circle that you are a part of. Its members – loved ones, friends, or neighbors – can be a source of support, caring, guidance, and companionship. 7. See the larger picture. Remember that the way you choose to live is not the only way to live. Widen your perspective by exploring other modes of being through research, travel, and discussion. 8. Embrace the challenges that life presents to you, and challenge yourself often. After a time, even the most exciting jobs or lifestyles can seem routine. Never stop assimilating new knowledge about whatever you are doing, and your life will never seem dull. 9. Move your body. In this busy world, it can be easy to live a sedentary life. Movement reacquaints us with our bodies and connects us to the earth in a visceral way. It also restores our vitality. 10. Make time for stillness, silence, and solitude. The world can be noisy, and we are subject to all kinds of noises nearly every waking hour. We are also often on the go and unable to relax. Being alone in a peaceful place and making time for quiet can help you stay in touch with yourself.

Healthy lifestyle and its impact on cognition later in life.

 

Healthy Lifestyle Linked to Better Cognition in Later Life

Eve Bender

February 08, 2024

Leading a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, and minimal alcohol consumption, is associated with better cognitive function in older adults, according to new research published in JAMA Neurology.

The study, which combined longitudinal and cohort data with postmortem brain pathology reports, found that the association held even in those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, suggesting that lifestyle factors may provide cognitive reserve and improve cognitive abilities in older age.

"While we must use caution in interpreting our findings, in part due to its cross-sectional design, these results support the role of lifestyle in providing cognitive reserve to maintain cognitive function in older adults despite the accumulation of common dementia-related brain pathologies," Klodian Dhana, MD, of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues wrote.

The study was published online on February 5, 2024 in JAMA Neurology. <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2814688>

Better Cognition

The study included 586 participants (71% female) who were followed from 1997 until 2022 as part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project longitudinal cohort study.

Investigators collected information on lifestyle and demographic factors at regular intervals, as well as information on diet, alcohol intake, and time spent participating in moderate or vigorous physical activity such as gardening, walking, calisthenics, biking, or swimming. Participants also received annual cognitive tests.

In later years, participants answered questions about whether they played card games or checkers, read, visited a museum, or did other cognitively stimulating activities.

Postmortem exams allowed the researchers to assess brain pathology (mean age at death, 91 years).

Participants were categorized as living a healthy lifestyle if they scored well in five categories: They exercised moderately or vigorously for 150 minutes per week, did not smoke, consumed one to two drinks per week, regularly played card games or did puzzles, and followed the Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet.

For every one-point increase in the healthy lifestyle score, there were 0.120 fewer units of beta-amyloid load in the brain and a 0.22 standardized unit higher score in cognitive performance (P < .001).

After adjusting for the beta-amyloid load, phosphorated tau tangle, or other dementia-related brain pathologies, the healthy lifestyle score remained independently associated with cognition (P < .001).

More than 88% of a person's global cognition score was a "direct association of lifestyle," investigators noted, leaving slightly less than 12% affected by the presence of beta-amyloid.

"The mechanistic link between lifestyle and cognition could be attributed in part to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities of each lifestyle factor (eg, nutrition and physical activity) and cognitive reserve (eg, cognitive activities) that contribute to less inflammation and oxidative stress," the authors wrote.

Further studies are necessary, they added, especially research investigating the association of lifestyle factors with markers for inflammation to understand the mechanisms of how lifestyle is associated with better cognitive scores in old age.

Study limitations include the reliance on self-reported data because cognitive impairment could interfere with inaccurate reporting. In addition, the authors noted that cognitive abilities may affect adherence to lifestyle factors.

'Important Evidence'

In an accompanying editorial, Yue Leng, MD, and Kristine Yaffe, MD, of the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, California, noted that the new study adds "important evidence" to the debate over modifiable risk factors and reduction of AD risk.

"These interesting results add strength to the concept that health and lifestyle factors are important strategies for prevention and suggest that several mechanisms may be at work," they wrote, adding that the study is "one of the first to harness brain pathology to investigate these mechanisms and is a crucial step forward in addressing these important questions."

Still, critical questions remain regarding the mechanistic pathways linking modifiable risk factors and cognitive aging, Leng and Yaffe wrote.

"There is an urgent need for more well-designed randomized controlled trials to pave the way for dementia risk reduction in the era of precision medicine," they wrote. "These strategies should be offered in conjunction with AD medications, similar to the approach in cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment in which medications along with lifestyle strategies are the standard of care."

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging. Dhana reported grants paid to his institution from the Alzheimer's Association. No other disclosures were reported.

 The Daily Om....

I love this article and thought I would share it for those who love napping and feel guilty about it.

My hubby loves naps and he never feels bad about it, I on the other hand keep thinking about all the other things I could have should be doing. I am also working on that should aspect.

So, may you all feel free to enjoy your naps from now on and may you feel rejuvenated after.

The Importance of Napping

The desire for a short nap during the day does not arise out of laziness, rather the need for the body to rejuvenate. In the modern world, we’re often compelled to be as productive as possible during as many hours of the day as we can be. While this can lead to great feats of accomplishment, we may become exhausted and find ourselves craving rest and rejuvenation. We may feel like taking a nap but feel guilty about indulging in even ten minutes of rest. This need for personal downtime, which many people experience in the early afternoon, isn’t a sign of laziness nor is it necessarily related to how much sleep you had the night before. There was even a time when taking a nap was considered a natural part of everyone’s day. Napping is a pleasurable yet brief period of sleep when our minds and bodies can take a break. Though judged by many to be a pastime for children or the elderly, napping can benefit people of all ages. The desire to nap is a trait shared by many mammals, and napping is still an important part of the day in some countries. Snoozing for a half-hour can be an enjoyable way to promote physical well-being, and naps have been known to improve your mood and memory. A 20-minute nap can sharpen your senses and revitalize you, while a ten minute nap can leave you feeling more cheerful. Falling into a light sleep during the daytime can feel meditative. The thoughts you have as you are taking a nap and the dreams you experience may offer you insights about your life that you may not have at night when you are in a deep sleep. In order to fully enjoy the benefits of napping, you may need to give yourself permission to nap. Feeling guilty about snoozing or worrying about your to-do list won’t do you much good when you are trying to take a nap because your thoughts or feelings will keep you awake. Try to nap at the same time each day, and use an alarm clock to ensure that you don’t sleep for too long. Learning to nap and enjoy its restorative benefits can help you wake up restored, rejuvenated, and ready for the rest of your day.