1 2 3

And off we go

1 - Life has a purpose - we have many, many lives with each offering the chance to learn a major lesson leading towards enlightenment

2 - We are personally responsible for our actions and thoughts - which create the life we are experiencing now and which we will experience in our coming lives

3 - Karma rules - we do not escape punishment if we do wrong nor reward for doing right

Once these simple ideas are true for you then your life changes

Must change

The idea of many many lives is far from new, most of the world believing in reincarnation, except for modern Christians who are taught the unbelievable idea of one life and then heaven or hell for ever and ever. A teaching far from those of the founder of Christianity

In reality many many lives are necessary to teach us all that we need to know and experience as we move from selfishness towards altruism

Most of us do not think that our thoughts are more important than our actions, however it is so

Controlling our thoughts leads to control of our actions as the thought always comes first, even when we react to something it is on the basis of our thoughts about the situation

Karma is the first and most basic law of the Universe and all are subject to it.

Karma is accurate and as a result we get away with nothing, even if we might think we have at the time, karma will adjust the situation later in another life even.

These ideas are simple in concept and are not difficult to understand more importantly though do they resonate with you?

If they do then adjust your life to adopt the ideas given above

If they do not then a simple challenge does your current perception of how things really are make sense of the world and what is going on?

Is your understanding coherent, if not then think could your understanding be the truth if what you see around you does not make sense?.

Can this world be the work of a loving all seeing all wise God?

Can it be if it does not make sense?

Would any all wise God condone such behavior?

How can there be different religions hating each other?

How can any God condone genocide, murder, rape, incest, greed, and wanton destruction of the planet?

Don't think they could

Alternatively Karma and man having many many lives makes absolute sense in the context of each life being about growing and learning, other teachings do not and cannot explain human misery and apparent injustice, karma and reincarnation do

Moving beyond selfish behavior also makes sense as a direction for human evolution

What else does?.

1 2 3 is really the only way to go

Once this resonates with you and you start trying to be the best you can every day then your life will begin to resonate in a way that makes sense of your life and why you are here

Understanding why things are as they are changes us

Understanding truly why you are here changes you too

Acting upon these understandings brings peace of mind in a world out of control

A world forgetful of what it should be about

Make it your business to live your own life as it should be lived

Working and growing towards the light

Truly accepting and living by these simple precepts, be they the eight Buddhist precepts or Christian ten commandments they are in origin all the same

Over many lives humanity as a whole and us as individuals have the chance to change our behaviour

We say slowly because changing human consciousness is very hard and very slow

Giving up selfish behaviour only happens when people truly understand what life is truly for

Change your understanding of why and what you are here for and your world changes

The old saying if you want to change the world then start by changing yourself is a truism

Just 1 2 3 really

We should all

Back up our lists and files

On our mobiles and other electronic equipment and take that smallish effort to prevent them from getting lost or corrupted

And do we?

Often not because we are too busy

And then that horrible day comes when the phone gets stolen or lost and the device crashes or gets corrupted

Then we regret not having spent that little bit of energy to secure the numbers and information

In a very real sense life can be like this as well

So many little things we can do to make life easier

Yet often we are too busy or in too much of a hurry and never quite get around to taking those steps that can change our lives

Yes in a very real sense these little things can act as catalysts for major change in our lives

Notice how simple things do in fact change our lives

Mega life changes often arise or evolve from simple little things

Usually not those things that seem mega and important at the time

A challenge for you

Look at your life and see whether or not this is true for you

That the things that have changed your life were not visible nor planned they arose as a result of seemingly innocuous situations

Which if true then it says something about our lives

If in fact life throws up situations that change things in unexpected ways then why do we spend so much energy planning and trying to control things?

Let life unfold more

Give it a chance to show you how much better it often is to let go of the stress of trying to make things happen

Let go the illusion you control things

It is an illusion, which inside you know to be true

Just one dose of flu shows you the truth of that

Maybe it is nature's way of saying, yes be sensible

Yes plan if you must

Certainly write and save your back up lists and information

However understand that much of your life is not controllable

Nature will always surprise us both individually and as a race

Learn to be both sensible and to let go

Take the time to do those sensible things and then let go and enjoy something new

Take a risk or two do not arrive at old age having done nothing, having experienced nothing

Live a bit because no one can do this for you

The really big things in your life are not going to turn out as you think anyway so enjoy new actions and activities

A life containing adventure is so much more interesting than one of undue control

Too fast

For most of us

Life that is, it just seems to be flying by

I was looking at a sixties film the other day and noticed how few cars there were

How few people on the streets

How slowly things moved in both the film and the manner in which they talked

Were they so slow or is it us speeding up?

A bit of both

Life is certainly faster in the bigger metro areas around the world

Time seems to be such that our memories of even a few days ago no longer linger as they used to

The past is gone wiped out by the speed of our lives

Question can we any longer relax?

Or must we have noise and images around us all the time?

TV and film images often filled with violence

Music aggressive and dominant, lyrics no comment

Those who ski know that apart from the great feeling of skiing there is a peace about the whole experience, eating better, sleeping better, enjoying oneself unless of course you go out to night clubbing in which case your experience is something else

Apart from skiing beach holidays, inland holidays in mountains or other determinedly quiet holidays how is your ability to slow down?

Can you?

Is it possible when time is experienced as going so fast?

Just the sheer number of things we try to do each day

And that just to do the minimum to keep our lives on track

And yet if we do not learn how to slow down the penalties are severe

None of us can avoid paying with our health or relationships if we do not learn how to slow down

No exaggeration

No hype just a statement of fact

If we do not learn to slow down we pay

Most of us are not very good at observing those in front of us

.

Do it, see how the generation in front of you are doing

How many are doing well?

How many are in good health?

How many have found peace of mind?

So just one thought in this respect

If your mind is able to rest even for a short time each day you will be more relaxed

So as we keep on saying learn to slow down your mind

How?

As a starter just close your eyes, sit still and listen to your breath going in and out

Push stray thoughts away and focus

Mentally fill yourself with light

Imagine pulling the light down through your head to your stomach

Hold it there for a count of seven then imagine it being released throughout your body

Do this seven times

Then relax a minute or so more and get on with your life

Several times a day if you can

Once your mind realises you are serious it will one day to your great surprise stop bombarding you with thoughts

And when you hit this state you will know peace unlike any other you have known before

And then of course you have blown it because you are thinking again!

No matter once you have been in this state you will want to find it again

As they say every little helps

Slow your mind even for a few short periods each day

No matter how important your life and affairs

No getting away from them

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress...
but then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. --James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey, classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; and if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! -- P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! -- Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain (1866)

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. -- unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility whatsoever at the other. -- Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (1820- 1903)

There is no distinctly native American criminal class...save Congress. -- Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Thomas Jefferson

And Finally: The etymology of politician is: "poli" meaning many and "tic" meaning a blood sucking little parasite

Moving from being single

Is no longer a natural phase for many people between the end of one relationship and the beginning of another

But a state where they have become trapped

.

Bars and pick up joints are losing their allure

The Internet might provide more choice but makes it harder to choose;

For many having divorced parents makes it more difficult to trust others

All the recent social changes can result in meeting fewer prospective partners.

So what to do?

The first step is to take a long hard look at yourself.

Often the very things that we think protect us from getting hurt make it harder for new people to come into our lives

Without realising it we have become more judgemental and defensive

Creating a protective wall around ourselves

Hiding behind a protective screening list of things that are not acceptable or desirable in a potential partner

But because like attracts like it is important to understand that this very list or protective approach will attract similar people with the very same issues

So to move away from this self fulfilling situation involves changing the way that we search for love

We must become more open-minded

Learning the art of mixing

Making more fulfilling emotional connections with those we meet

Being less judgemental
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Consider also that most people know each other casually, or even distantly, before going out together.

For many where they work has been a low-risk way to meet people;

The great advantage of meeting someone casually as a friend of a friend or through work is that all the defences are down.

In such situations you are not meeting a potential partner

You are just going out together because it could be fun

From such a casual non committal point of departure both parties can be relaxed

And from such a relaxed date more can evolve

In other words the chances are better that something might evolve

Being single can become a trap however by recognising that changing yourself is the quickest way to find a partner is proactive and for sure better than sitting in judgemental isolation

Say something

Anything just say something new please

Something positive

Something I have not heard a thousand times before

Not the same old nothings

Going on and on about nothing

So often we accept monotony in our lives

Monotony rules because we have slipped into it

Why?

Because those choices seemed best for us at the time

It seemed to be the easiest course of action for us

We just sort of slipped into it

So we wind up saying nothing, our lives filled with monotony

Day after day doing nothing new

Nothing new coming into our lives

Lives.of habit

At some point one of us will find it impossible to accept the monotony of thought and expression

Maybe we finally stir when it is already late in our lives

Lives wasted through fear of change

Or laziness

Or the illusion of security

Stay in monotony if you want but be warned nature will stir you up at some point

Your decision

Make it a wise one

What appears to be the path of least resistance today is often the most difficult over time

Particularly in relationships

Say something new, learn something new, keep growing it is one of the secrets of a full life to keep growing throughout our lives

Decide whether or not the monotony in your life is worth it

Is this all you want from life?

If not then act not in deceit

Not by having affairs

Not by cheating

Not by avoiding the issue

But by stepping up and sorting it out

You only have this life once

Make it a good one because if you do not then guess what you will have to live it over again until you do learn your lessons

That's what karma and reincarnation mean in practice

Living the same life over and over until we learn

Only then can we move on

And moving on is surely what we want in this life too?

Beyond gross materialism

Is it possible that we can go much lower?

Maybe

However once we have produced every conceivable porno film

Brought every discussion down to it's lowest possible common denominator

Produced the ultimate banal useless product or movie

Then maybe, just maybe

We can leave those who need to consume such garbage to feed on it as they will

While the rest of us can lift our eyes and see

What has been there all along

A great big mystery waiting to be explored

Our future lies in the greatest exploration ever undertaken

The kiddy stuff has been done

We have climbed every mountain

Raced around and explored every ocean and desert

Built all we can use and then some

Consumed more than enough

Explored all the obvious and then some

So what next?

Our evolution is in inner space not the external physical space

We've done a lot of that

And it isn't giving us the answers we crave

It has not brought us peace of mind

Far from it we are more stressed than at any time in our recent history although we have more of everything

So our journey now is to understand consciousness

Why?

Because this is where so many answers lie

Mind does not allow the full exploration of consciousness

Consciousness goes so much further than mind can take us

Where can we go beyond mind?

What is there beyond mind?

What all the sages have ever said

The truth beyond our current myths

Yes there is such a thing as both relative and absolute truth

Every detail of human history from the first day until now is recorded

Every detail is in what is called the akash

And the only way to unlock this treasure is to go beyond mind

And there we can find the answer to our questions

The truth about ourselves

Where we come from

Where we are going

What causes nature to behave as it does

And so many other questions we would like answers to

Many answers

Answers the Masters have known for millions of years

And never shared

Why?

Because we have to earn the right to know these things

Have to be mature enough to face the truth

Have to be wise enough to understand the truth

That is why it is so difficult to approach

These things have to remain hidden until we prove ourselves ready and qualified to see

Each and everyone of us who wants to understand must qualify himself

Nothing is for free


Maybe that's why we ignore this great prize

We are not ready

But as we said before it is up to us all as individuals to choose whether or not we want to embark upon this adventure

The journey we are describing is not one for governments or organisations

They are not able to approach this

Culturally inappropriate if you will

But for those of a particular persuasion

Is there really anything more worthwhile?

Move beyond gross materialism it does not bring much

It offers no peace of mind

Nor does it answer that small voice in your heart.that says is this all there is?

There are answers but it is up to each of us to find them.

Life after life we have this choice

What are you choosing to do with your life?

How can I?

Find a better way of understanding myself?

Why don't I feel better?

Why do I feel depressed and down and not so happy?

Why is life so hard, what can I do to feel better?

Well we could give lots of answers, but we will leave out the ones given by the self help industry

An industry of hype dedicated to material return for the most part

Unfortunately for their consumers many of their solutions only "work" for a very short time

Even more are simply based on ideas that are simply not true, which is why they do not work after the ra ra has worn off.

The difficulty is in knowing who to trust and how do you know what is rubbish and what has merit?

Notice how seldom parents, school, church and governments offer satisfying ideas or answers to these questions about life

Questions central to all our lives

Why do I feel bad?

Why don't I like myself more?

What can I do to make my life better?

For sure parents, school, church and governments don't know the answers otherwise we would all follow what they suggest and live in a world of contented happiness

And no we don't live in a world of contented anything and come to think of it they don't have much to suggest at all

The only ones pretending to answer are companies or organisations offering products and services which theoretically will change your life in amazing ways

Usually the only amazing thing is how often so many people are duped

All they want is your money

Today so much talk is about money one way or another

Maybe that's why we all feel so unfulfilled and iffy because money does not do it

What makes a real difference to our lives though is understanding one or two simple things

Such as the true statement that we have many many lives, which once understood and believed gives us a psychological lift

Each life purpose is to learn one or two major lessons

These lessons stem from our successes and failures in previous lives

The purpose of these lives is to evolve our consciousness

To help us grow from being selfish and greedy to being unselfish and more altruistic

As an aside notice how greed and selfishness are almost worshipped today with the media uncritically full of stories about the greedy and selfish, with seldom a mention about how they obtained their wealth and power or any observation about how unpleasant so many of them are

To continue another important point is that what we do has consequences, meaning that we are responsible for ourselves and what happens to us, life has few if any so called accidents

Yes only you can determine what happens to your experience of life

For sure your karma is in play and brings lessons to you throughout your life

For sure you might blame things on bad luck

You might also blame things on others

Your family, boss, friends and so on,

In truth though it is you that creates the life you experience

No one but you

Cause and effect in other words

Asians would call it karma

Put the two points above together and you have reincarnation and karma

These two allow us to understand why the world is as it is and why our lives are as they are

In fact only reincarnation and karma can explain the genocide, greed and unhappiness on our planet

If this resonates with you then you can study this in more detail and understand more clearly why your life is not one of blissful happiness

You can move further and see that blissful happiness is not so likely under most scenarios, however peace of mind can be

Your life fulfillment is more important than happiness

Happiness being an emotion comes and goes as it will

We can get more of it once we feel that we know why we are here and what we are meant to be doing

And that is being the best we can everyday, day in day out, with whatever life throws our way

Growing and learning and along the way sharing and enjoying with those around us

That's how you can get more out of life and feel better about it

Knowing why you are really here and what you are meant to be doing makes life easier

Takes the strain out of many things knowing that nature just wants us to do our best

.

That's all

.

And that's how you can make a real difference to how you feel about yourself and your life

Inspiration

Is what people are hoping for from President Obama

The hope that he can inspire and lead

Does he have any real ideas, hopefully yes

Does he have a chance, yes because people need positive ideas after the disasters of his predecessor

Interestingly his talk of positive change is what people around the world want

People are tired of negative talk about so called wars on drugs, terrorism, poverty and the rest

So called wars that the US has been losing for years

Greed and selfishness are also becoming deeply unpopular

Around the world people have watched the rich and famous disporting themselves in ever more obscene opulence

The crescendo being reached in the greed that precipitated the current financial crisis

Enough of selfish greedy behaviour

So inspiration and talk of more admirable goals is definitely a possibility

Inspiration can set directions

Can change the mood

Can lead to changed behaviour

Will it?

We will see

And for each person individually how does it touch you?

Only through example can real change take effect

Will your own example embrace new fairer, kinder values and behaviour?
.
Or are you looking to become rich and famous?
.
Leading a life of kinder fairer values moves one to a life of greater satisfaction and peace of mind
.
A life pursuing money and fame leads to suspicion and over time paranoia
.
Aspiring to money and material things must over time lead to emptiness
.
Check where you are going and think twice if it is after money and objects
.
Make your life one of contribution

Self-help

Forget about self-help.

The "self" is fine just the way it is

It doesn't need any help

Because our self is not our body

Not our mind

Our self is what many call our higher self

And it is absolutely fine as it is

Why?

Because being our higher self it knows

It knows how we should behave

What we should do

What is real and what is not

Why we are here

In fact everything we need or might want to know

Which is why we keep urging that you learn to meditate

So that you can control and still your mind

Because only by going beyond mind can you reach your higher self

Except of course for those rare occasions when you "just know" something

Or assign knowing to intuition, which is really your higher self

So if you want to grow and communicate with your higher self then the way is clear

Learning to approach our true self is arguably the most important work we can do on ourselves

Nothing can yield more support and help, more truth about the nature of things

Unfortunately the journey

For that is what it is

Is the hardest we can undertake

Which is why so few do so

Coming to you

Why not!

What else are you doing?

Something more important?

Is your life really so great?

How is your peace of mind?

Make your life choices consciously

It would be a shame if you come to the end having made none

Or worse maybe having just copied others without ever having thought for yourself

Or maybe just gone along with the prevailing cultural fashion without ever asking yourself if it made any sense or had any feeling of truth to it

Or answered any of your deeper needs

If life has not yielded these truths for you then start thinking because this journey you are on is yours alone and no one can do these things for you

Your higher self is waiting for you to make contact

Buddha's words - 2

Attachment is the source of all suffering.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. - Buddha's last words.

'He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me.' Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

He who never thinks of anything as mine' does not feel the lack of anything: he is never worried by a sense of loss.

I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment.

If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.

Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.

Look within, you are the Buddha.

Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my most ungrudging love; and the more evil comes from him, the more good shall go from me.

Perfume

The very word “perfume” has feminine overtones to many male ears.

Men can be sold “deodorant” and possibly “aftershave”, but the idea of all those dinky little bottles with their fussy paraphernalia is too much for the sensitive male ego.

Yet no industry can afford to neglect half its potential market, and perfume-makers are ever keen to crack the shell of male reticence. Now they may know how to do so.
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Craig Roberts of the University of Liverpool and his colleagues—working with a team from Unilever’s research laboratory at nearby Port Sunlight—have been investigating the problem.

They already knew that appropriate scents can improve the mood of those who wear them.

What they discovered, though, as they will describe in a forthcoming edition of the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, is that when a man changes his natural body odour it can alter his self-confidence to such an extent that it also changes how attractive women find him.

Half of Dr Roberts’s volunteers were given an aerosol spray containing a commercial formulation of fragrance and antimicrobial agents.

The other half were given a spray identical in appearance but lacking active ingredients.

The study was arranged so that the researchers did not know who had received the scent and who the dummy.

Each participant obviously knew what he was spraying on himself, since he could smell it.

But since no one was told the true purpose of the experiment, those who got the dummy did not realise they were being matched against people with a properly smelly aerosol.

Over the course of several days, Dr Roberts’s team conducted a battery of psychological tests on both groups of volunteers.

They found that those who had been given the commercial fragrance showed an increase in self-confidence. Not that surprising, perhaps.

What was surprising was that their self-confidence improved to such an extent that women who could watch them but not smell them noticed.

The women in question were shown short, silent videos of the volunteers.

They deemed the men wearing the deodorant more attractive.

They were, however, unable to distinguish between the groups when shown only still photographs of the men, suggesting it was the men’s movement and bearing, rather than their physical appearance, that was making the difference.

For Unilever and other manufacturers of men’s scent, this is an important discovery.

The firm’s marketing of its main product in this area, a deodorant called Lynx, plays up the so-called “Lynx Effect”—which is supposed to make men irresistibly attractive to women.

Dr Roberts’s experiment, however, suggests that the advertised “Born chicka wah wah” of the product may have nothing to do with a woman’s appreciation of the smell, and everything to do with its psychological effect on the man wearing it.

Nor is this the only example of science illuminating the true role of perfumes.

How they work to make people attractive is, as this example shows, not as obvious as it might seem.

Born chicka wah, ker-ching chicka ching

There are three broad theories of perfume use.

One is that people employ it to mask body odours that they perceive as bad.

The second is that some perfumes contain chemicals that mimic human pheromones—elusive, mysterious (and possibly mythical) substances believed by some to play a role in mating.

The third is that people use it to heighten or fortify natural scent, and thus advertise sexual attractiveness or availability.

All three theories could be true. In particular, the role of perfume as an olfactory disguise is obvious. Even here, however, there are some subtle twists.

Bad smells are not just a matter of poor hygiene. Illness and old age both bring characteristic odours of their own, and neither state makes people more attractive.

Perfumes may spoof these messages.

Hence the marketing of a new scent called Ageless Fantasy, by Harvey Prince, which claims its product disguises the “odour of ageing”, suggested to be caused by the breakdown of a particular fatty acid in the skin.

As to pheromones, whether humans have these is questionable.

A pheromone is a chemical that elicits a specific behavioural response at a distance.

Some insects, for example, can release sex pheromones that will attract a mate from many kilometres away.

The most likely human candidate is a substance called androstadienone.

This is a derivative of testosterone that is found in men’s sweat and is known, from brain-scanning studies, to promote activity in parts of women’s brains.

That this results in changes in behaviour has not, however, been clearly demonstrated.

Terri Molnar, a spokeswoman for the Sense of Smell Institute, a research organisation in New York tied to the fragrance industry, says of human pheromones, “I think we believe they exist but they do not function as an attractant.

They will elevate one’s mood but not attract a mate.”

The fallen sons of Eve?

The most interesting area, though, is the interaction between perfumes and natural scents that carry messages but do not have the specific properties of pheromones.

Odours co-ordinate a wide range of human behaviour.

Mothers can recognise their children by smell.

Children can recognise each other.

Relatives can be distinguished from non-relatives, even to the extent of understanding who is genetically different enough from the smeller to be a good choice of mate.

The sexes themselves smell different, too, and women can glean information about a man’s social status from his smell alone.

As long ago as the 1950s, a perfumer called Paul Jellinek noted that several ingredients of incense resembled scents of the human body.

It was not until 2001, however, that Manfred Milinski and Claus Wedekind of the University of Bern wondered whether there was a correlation between the perfume a woman preferred and her own natural scent. They found that there is.

The correlation is with the genes of what is known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

This region of the genome encodes part of the immune system.

It turns out that one of the most important aspects of mate choice in mammals, humans included, is to make sure that your mate’s MHC is different from your own.

Mixing up MHCs makes the immune system more effective.

The MHC is also thought to act as a proxy for general outbreeding, with all the hybrid vigour that can bring.

Fortunately, then, evolution has equipped mammals with the ability to detect by smell chemicals whose concentrations vary with differences in the MHC of the producer.

That means people are able to sniff out suitable MHC genomes in prospective partners.

A woman, for instance, will prefer the smell of T-shirts that have been worn by men whose MHC genes are appropriately different from their own.

Dr Milinski and Dr Wedekind also found an association between a woman’s MHC genes and some of her preferences for perfume.

Perception of musk, rose and cardamom is correlated with the MHC. Perception of castoreum and cedar is not.

Women, it seems, choose not the kind of smell they would like on a partner, or even one that might mask a nasty odour of their own, but rather something that matches their MHC. In other words, they are advertising their own scent.

There are many useful inferences that might be drawn from this research.

One would be that a woman’s choice of perfume will resist the vagaries of fashion.

This may explain why most innovation in the industry involves changes in packaging and marketing, producing all that fussy paraphernalia, rather than changing what is in the bottle.

Another implication, says Dr Roberts, is that it is probably best that people choose perfumes for themselves rather than for someone else—unless they happen to know what the recipient likes.

If you have made a good genetic choice of partner (ie, someone with a significantly different MHC), then the theory suggests that you should not be able to choose something that smells nice to them based on your own preferences.

You might, though, have better luck choosing for a close relation, because she would probably have an MHC similar to your own.

The research also raises the question of what so-called unisex perfumes are for.

In any genetically successful love match, one of the partners ought to hate a unisex perfume.

Perhaps, in a world of olfactory fakery, this is one tip for the wise.

If your partner has a strange knack of being able to pick out all the right perfumes, this may not be a good sign at all.

And that, of course, means that the best present you can hope for is that he has bought you a perfume that you absolutely hate.

The Economist

Gardening in the winter

At this time of year it is difficult to see any good in gardening

And this because many people become self-centered, irritable, unproductive and unhappy during the long months of winter.
Life goes on and all of us find different ways to combat the winter blues

Some have found that nothing works better than getting outside and gardening.

Some of this is just being out in the fresh air, especially on a crisp winter's day.
But if it was just that then good walk would suffice

Gardeners would tell you that there is something more going on, something intimately connected to the soil and to growing things.

It is something to do with being directly tuned into nature and in being in tune with the weather, the seasons and the tiny details of your own garden that make it such a special place

Certainly something is going on when more than eleven million in Britain alone make an effort to garden regularly through all the seasons of the year

Some of it is to do with making a beautiful garden and some of it to do with the love of plants

We would suggest rather that it is mostly to do with the sense of well-being that it gives
But the real pleasures of gardening are much simpler and more mysterious than any of this.

Gardens are for many as spiritual as modern man gets as it is the only relationship to nature many people have.

It feeds back to the gardener a wisdom that has much to do with an immeasurable sense of rightness and belonging

And this is one of the fundamentals of good health

It is also fun - or should be if you are doing it with the right approach

It really does not matter what it is that you are doing.

There is no hierarchy in gardening

Gardening does need attention and concentration though and here is another clue as both are guaranteed to make you feel at peace with yourself and the world.

It's not a bad deal.

If you get to know your piece of ground it becomes personal and with that is a sense of responsibility and nurture.

You give something of yourself to it and it gives back.

Sounds a bit funny but it works.

Gardening is accepted as a gentle thing that people grow to love as they move into middle age and beyond.

The truth is much more powerful and dynamic than this.

Gardening is the door through which we all can go to connect with a natural rhythm that can heal our pains

It is the door through which we tap into a life departed for most modern men

It is a means for modern society to remember its roots

Of growing some fresh seasonal food to remind us when there were seasons for food and to share in that process

Gardening is many things and above all a therapy that asks only that we share of ourselves

Working with nature is special so if you can then why not you too?

Just plain mean

Just mean, really mean
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And we all know some

Tight with money

Not just tight never offers to pay for anything either

Always whining about the cost of everything

Always relates everything to money

Happy to buy things for self though
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Never offers to pay always finds ways to avoid offering help in any given situation

When you look around it is surprising how many people are mean

Always talking about money and how much things cost

How difficult times are

And this just before you hear that they have just spent a lot of money on a holiday

Or just bought a new car or whatever

Being mean with money is usually accompanied by a meanness of character

Being mean with money is a choice people make

A life choice

Unfortunately it extends into everything else as well

Mean people show their meanness in so many little ways

Ways that are forever restrictive

Selfish

Usually at the expense of others

So if you are mean then time to look at what it does to others

Then look at what it does to yourself

Meanness closes options, spoils relationships, isolates you in your little world of meanness

Shuts down love and other possibilities because everything is valued in money and can only be understood in monetary terms because this is what life has been reduced to

A monetary zero sum game

Everything is analysed for it's cost or advantage

Nothing is spontaneous

Everything calculated

So if you are mean be warned meanness is dangerous not only to your health but also your experience of life

A life lived in meanness is a life wasted

Determine to live a life of love not meanness

Just different

This is unusual I hope you like it

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Empty feeling

No need to describe really

We have all had them

Just feeling a loss of meaning, of anything being of any use

No interest in carrying on

Overwhelming

Total despair

Before you hit this again

And indeed hopefully you will not

However if you do then it is sensible to have done some work beforehand to mitigate the despair

Firstly suicide is a no no

Suicide solves nothing and places the higher you in some considerable jeopardy

Suicide means hanging around until the time you would have died in a most unpleasant state with no relief or way out. None

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Another reason is that nature does not accept suicide so you will have to experience another life where you will have to face the same or a similar situation over and over until you face up to whatever it is

So suicide whatever the pressure or despair is out

Get this fixed firmly in your mind that there is to be no suicide

Never, no way, no how, will you go down this avenue

Secondly whatever comes your way you will see it through

Whatever pain or loss or grief comes your way you will fight your way through it

Know this grief is natural and correct all of us should grieve

Not for ever and not as a way of abandoning our own journey

However close we are to someone we did not comes here only for them

We came into this life to grow our own souls

To create and experience our own journey

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Thirdly understand that only time heals

Time we must come through

So get busy occupy your time and self

Be near life and those who are loving life

Put yourself around positive people

Do these things before life drives you to despair

Why?

Because when and if you hit such a time you will not be in any state to think clearly

Do so in advance so it is there for you if and when such a time comes

Preparation can alleviate a lot of pain and despair

What?

Do sneezing, yawning and coughing have in common?

Bet you cannot guess

So after thinking for a second or two give up

It is impossible to think while doing any of them

Yes it is not possible to think while yawning, sneezing or coughing

And so?

This is where it gets interesting

When you cannot think then you are also able to be in touch with your higher self

Your spirit if you will

And this is something that most people can seldom do

Not consciously anyhow

And when this occurs direct ideas can come to you

Ideas that can influence your life

Ideas that because we do not filter them are clear and clean because our higher self has only our best interests at heart

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During such times we also experience self healing because only when we are not thinking are we at rest and only at such times can we self heal and this seldom occurs while we are awake

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This split second is enough to make a difference

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In fact any of these actions can also slow down our emotions

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And this for sure can be helpful at times

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Which is why we often have that slightly different feeling just after coughing, sneezing or yawning

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So next time you cough, sneeze or yawn imagine that much more is going on than you were aware of before you read this

Gratitude

Helps us to put things into perspective:

Human beings have this habit of letting the bad things in life fill their mental vision leaving precious little or no room for the good

We find that this habit also seems to be reflected and perpetuated in our television, newspapers and other media.

As individuals it takes just one bad thing to happen for us for us to get depressed, no matter how many good things are happening to us at the same time

This is where gratitude comes in

By becoming aware of the importance of gratitude we can stop and reverse the process of automatic depression that kicks in whenever we have bad news.

Gratitude lifts us above and away from the up and downs of life.

The more you learn to be grateful the more it expands until even when bad news comes along you find that you are putting this into a wider perspective

A wider perspective that understands that good and bad are just experiences that make you wiser and stronger

And all of this is leading you towards greater peace of mind

Peace of mind as we often write is what all of us want to find and attain

This effort leads us to slowly recognise that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves

That we are part of the universe

That we are part of something so much more powerful than our limited being

Our limited egos if you will

Gratitude is felt as an emotion, by our hearts

It awakens a higher part of our being

To awaken and grow this quality for this is what it is requires effort and daily work

Simply we are not in the habit of feeling gratitude and so need to work on it

Every day until our minds move away from automatic misery

Re programming our minds to move beyond and above our current responses to bad news

In the morning is a good time as we are usually alone at some time in our waking and going to work or wherever

Take five or more good points to be grateful about every morning

Clearly identify them

Clearly say to yourself that you are grateful

Get in the habit of expressing gratitude whenever you experience good news

And when you experience bad let it slide into a higher context where you can see it differently

Over time many events or items that today appear to be bad news will be seen to have really been good news later

And do you show gratitude when you realize this to have been so or do you just dismiss this thought?

Yes it takes work to feel gratitude as a reflexive experience

However the rewards are very powerful to our growing

And lead us to increasing peace of mind

Insights - 3

I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend - Abraham Lincoln

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A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. - Harry Truman

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We don't see things as they are. We see them as *we* are. - Talmud

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It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. - Claude M. Bristol

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As you believe, so you become. As you become, so you believe. - Unknown

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Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it. - Goethe

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Finish each day and be done with it.You have done what you could.Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in;forget them as soon as you can.Tomorrow is a new day;begin it well and serenelyand with too high a spiritto be encumbered with your old nonsense.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The less you think of yourself, the less you become. The less you give credit to yourself for having intelligence, the more of an imbecile you become. The less beautiful you think you are, the more ugly you become. The more impoverished you think you are, the more wretched you become - because YOU have ordained it to be so. - Ramtha

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Each entity knows before he comes here that he is not coming back to be the grand beauty or the wealthy entity or the wretched pauper. He comes here because he wants to live here and to be enterprising in emotional learning on this level - to obtain EMOTIONAL understandings that he wants to fulfill within his being. That is the true treasure of your life experiences, whether here or on other planes or dimensions, for that is the only thing that remains with you throughout eternity. - Ramtha

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To be desireless, there is nothing wrong with that at all. I will tell you why. Most that are filled with unquenchable desires never know who they are for they are too busy wanting. When you realize that everything you want is within you, then the Source brings a treasure at your doorstep and leaves it there every moment of being. And you have everything you ever wanted - YOU."

- Ramtha

State of mind

Financial people all over the world nervously wonder how far the world economy will be affected by the American sub prime mess which precipitated current market volatility

And so they might

Having through their greed started the whole thing

And now our governments bail them out

The small tax payer pays so that they may keep their privileged lifestyles

Has it ever been thus

Now recession begins to bite everywhere

A needed adjustment to slow down their greed maybe

So what started in the financial sector now drags us all in with years of difficulty in store

How much is in our state of mind and how much is it the tighter credit and difficult financial situation?

Slowly we all buy in and so create what we are worrying about

The media helps to fan the flames

Pundits endlessly pontificate

Has it ever been thus

And your own view of this is what?

Do you buy into the fear?

Time maybe to decide to cut back, adopt a simple life style

Let the others pile up more debt

Chose instead to live with pleasure in what you have and not what you do not have

Materially that is

These times can be challenging for many who have never seen a severe recession

Indeed this catalyst could cause many surprises

Take steps now of your own choice to change your life

Do not be forced to respond later because that is always tougher

Your state of mind will determine how you experience what is coming at us all

State of mind is all

Change yours

Mmmmm - 68

Birth and death

Nothing comes from nothing,

matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but only transformed

Everything evolves from preexisting material

The growth of the body of an organism is initiated on inner planes, and involves the transformation of higher energy-substances into lower, more material ones

together with the attraction of matter from the environment.

When an organism has exhausted the store of vital energy with which it is born

the coordinating force of the indwelling monad is withdrawn, and the organism 'dies' ie falls apart as a unit, and it's constituent vehicles components go their separate ways

The lower vehicles decompose on their respective subplanes, while, in the case of humans, the reincarnating ego enters a dreamlike state of rest and assimilates the experiences of the previous incarnation

When the time comes for the next embodiment, the reincarnating ego clothes itself in many of the same atoms of different grades that it had used previously, bearing the appropriate karmic impress

The same basic processes of birth, death, and rebirth apply to all entities, from atoms to humans to stars

D. Pratt

More extinctions on the way

Maybe not quite yet

But getting pretty close

One thing, however, is for certain – great white shark numbers at many locations are plummeting due to overfishing, .

Sharks do not have the capability to repopulate quickly.

They are slow to reach maturity and when they do they produce only a few young per year.

They simply cannot tolerate high rates of mortality.
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If all fishing were to cease, modeling results from the 1998 stock assessment indicate that there is less than a 50:50 chance that these shark populations could recover to their MSY level (the "sustainable" level or that which responsible fishery managers would never let a population slide below) even after 30 years!
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Nearing Extinction - The species in the greatest danger of slipping into extinction is the western north Atlantic population (stock) of blue-fin tuna.
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Thanks to 4 decades of overfishing, it has been driven to just 3% of its 1960 or pre-longlining abundance - a decline of 97% (ICCAT is the international commission that claims management authority over all tunas, marlin, swordfish and the other big fish of the Atlantic) In comparison to blue-fin,
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Atlantic white marlin abundance has been driven to 6% of its pre-longlining abundance, and Atlantic blue marlin has been driven to 20% of its pre-longlining abundance.
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Long lining is the current favoured method of fishing whereby set lines of over 100km are common

Yes that's over 100km of line.

Attached to it are literally thousands of baited hooks.

An estimated 1 billion hooks are set annually by the world's longline fleets.

Depending on the type of long line, buoys, floats and/or weights are used to position the line on the seabed or at the required depth in the water.
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Of course modern radar and other aids mean that the fish have no chance, hence the continuing rapid decline in numbers
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For a long time, the north Atlantic swordfish stock has been declining more rapidly than any other marine species.
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It has been steadily doing so at the same rate each year for the past 20 years!
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Destruction of this population has been meticulously documented each year for ICCAT by its scientific advisory committee.
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Yet ICCAT has failed limit the catch of its member states sufficiently in order to produce its stated management objective - the maximum sustainable yield or MSY
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The cause of this decline in abundance is excessive fishing pressure by commercial fishing fleets.
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By 2000, it had grown to 4 times higher than the sustainable level or MSY .
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Fishery managers should never allow fishing mortality to remain above the MSY level.
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Populations of the "Large Coastals" are Down by 50 to 80%
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The population status of most "large coastal" shark species of the U.S. Atlantic coast (39 species) is less well documented than those for Atlantic swordfish, other billfish and tunas
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But, they appear to have declined even more severely and in a shorter period of time.
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These include many familiar species such as hammerheads, bull, lemon, blacktip, sandbar, nurse and great white.
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It is estimated that the large coastal shark group has declined from roughly 9-11 million fish in 1974 to an estimated 1-2 million fish in 1998 or about 30-36 percent of the population size needed to produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY).
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The status of the "pelagic" shark group is unknown. It includes the makos, porbeagle and blue shark.
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OK so politically those responsible refuse or are unable to control or ban the fishing of these endangered species

And of course this is not in isolation from everything else in the world's oceans where the impact of this slaughter is not yet understood in its knock on effect

What is clear is that humans are wiping out a major source of food

Humans are destroying millions of years of evolution

Difficult to see what can be done at this late date given the lack of imagination and political willpower

Still you can always tell your children that you once saw live fish swimming in the ocean

What a mess

Context is all

Maybe maybe not however context surely has a major impact on everything

When we look at our lives we see how context has played a major role in our experience of life

Without context we understanding things differently

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An example or two

A sports team knowing it has lost the championship does not try very hard

Another team knowing it can win the championship plays above itself and wins

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You have no pressure on holiday you sleep better

You are in love the world seems a nicer more interesting place

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You see your friend kissing someone you are unhappy

You find out it is his sister you relax

You just got a rise in salary life seems good

You get an unexpected tax demand life losses its lustre

The world economic crisis and companies going out of business certainly creates a new context

So much of what we experience is influenced by context

Context changes everything

If you go along with that then how about your life?

If you believe that life is a one off random event with a big nothing at the end of it

Then for sure as you get older the pressure mounts as the big nothing approaches

It can also influence how you approach your major life decisions

On the other hand if you believe that you are going to heaven to sit around eating grapes strumming a harp then again your feelings about life are different from the idea of going to hell

Your understanding of the context is the variable in many situations

For our lives the context is much more important than we think

How we look at our life determines so much

It influences, often dictates how we experience it

Having an understanding of your life context is therefore pretty powerful

Knowing the truth more so

Leaving aside myths and popular cultural fantasies the truth of how our world and everything in works can be summed up in two words

Karma and reincarnation

They are our context in this life

They govern and explain everything unlike many other philosophies which offer confusing ideas that do not stand up to scrutiny and cannot explain so much that niggles us

Karma the law of cause and effect is also known as the law of harmony

Reincarnation the vehicle by which we learn

If this resonates with you then be clear what you do here matters

Every thought every action

Is governed by karma

What you think now determines what you will experience in the future

And this is fine because now you have a clear context

Life is different because death need have no fear as it is merely a transition from one state to another

Life itself is clear and changes any need to compete with others for status or fame

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Because the real judgement is in ourselves about ourselves

Life assumes a different perspective when you know you will have many many lives

And no once born a human you do not come back as an animal as some erroneously believe

You might and will come back in difficult circumstances if you refuse to learn or behave badly

Essentially for most of us each life presents new challenges, all moving us towards greater altruism and less selfishness

Knowing this context allows us to see that we are part of an amazing journey

We belong

We have a right to be here

And this makes more sense than having no clue about anything

Indeed the whole structure of life makes sense when we understand the context