Your heart

Contrary to orthodox belief the heart does not pump blood through the system
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But rather receives it listens to it and send it back out again.
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It is an organ of perception. 
.
According to what it senses about the blood, the heart produces a vast array of hormones.
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Many of them only recently discovered.
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That communicate with other parts of the body.
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Just as  its own cells are affected by exogenous hormones. 
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Most physiological descriptions of the heart liken it to a pump.
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But the heart does not provide the propulsive force for blood circulation at all. 
.
It would be impossible for a 300gram organ to pump a viscous fluid through thousands of miles of small blood vessels. 
.
In fact embryonic circulation begins before a functioning heart is even present.
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Possessing its own endogenous momentum sustained by its relationship to the entire body.
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The heart temporarily halts the flow, which expands the atrium before being released into the ventricle it is more similar to a hydraulic ram than a pump.
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With the addition of a twisting function to maintain the bloods spiralling motion.
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The spiral motion and discrete velocity being essential for different blood groups to reach their intended organ.
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The heart is indeed a wondrous organ and to date we still know relatively little about its more subtle workings.

Cold and flu

What happens if you scrupulously quarantine yourself from any contact with the cold virus?

Well, the cold and damp internal climate persists indefinitely until one eventually gets in.
.
Or until something worse happens.

As evidence for this conjecture, consider the simple fact that most people feel better after getting over a cold or flu than they did before they got sick.

You would think they'd be weakened.
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But no, they often feel revitalized.

Traditional Chinese Medicine lends further support to this theory in the adage:

If you don't get little illnesses, someday you'll get a big one.

If somehow the housecleaning functions of colds and flu are not allowed to operate.
.
The toxins or energy imbalances build up and result in major illness.

Perhaps it would be different in an absolutely pristine environment.
.
But the toxicity of modern lifestyles and environment means that today, occasional illness is a sign of health.

Provided that the symptoms aren't life-threatening.
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I let them fully express in my body.

Cold and flu medications thwart the very purpose for which our bodies invite in these germs.

It is much better to support the process and give your body the resources it needs to see it through safely.

What those resources are depends on the nature of the illness
.
And a qualified healer might help you figure out what they are.
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But invariably rest and quiet are required.

Convalescing also gives us a chance to clean out "psychic toxins" along with physical ones.
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The stress, worries and busy-ness of everyday life.
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Think twice before taking any flu shots.

Monsanto game plan

Replacing nature: "Nothing shall be eaten that we don't own"
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As Monsanto has moved forward with its master plan to replace nature, they have led the charge in buying up seed businesses and are now the world's largest. 
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At least 200 independent seed companies have disappeared over 13 years, non-GMO seed availability is dwindling, and Monsanto is jacking up their seed prices dramatically. 
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Corn is up more than 30 percent and soy nearly 25 percent, over 2008 prices.
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An Associated Press exposé  reveals how Monsanto's onerous contracts allowed them to manipulate, then dominate, the seed industry using unprecedented legal restrictions. 
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One contract provision, for example, "prevented bidding wars" and likely helped Monsanto buy 24 independent seed companies throughout the Farm Belt over the last few years: 
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That corn seed agreement says that if a smaller company changes ownership, its inventory with Monsanto's traits 'shall be destroyed immediately.
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With that restriction in place, the seed companies couldn't even think of selling to a company other than Monsanto. 
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According to attorney David Boies, who represents Du Pont-- owner of Pioneer Seeds: 
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If the independent seed company is losing their license and has to destroy their seeds, they're not going to have anything, in effect, to sell. 
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It requires them to destroy things -- destroy things they paid for -- if they go competitive. 
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That's exactly the kind of restriction on competitive choice that the antitrust laws outlaw. 
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Boies was a prosecutor on the antitrust case against Microsoft. 
.
He is now working with DuPont in their civil antitrust lawsuit against Monsanto.
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Monsanto also has the right to cancel deals and wipe out the inventory of a business if the confidentiality clauses are violated:
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We now believe that Monsanto has control over as much as 90 percent of (seed genetics). 
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This level of control is almost unbelievable,' said Neil Harl, agricultural economist at Iowa State University who has studied the seed industry for decades.
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Monsanto also controls and manipulates farmers through onerous contracts. 
.
Troy Roush, for example, is one of hundreds accused by Monsanto of illegally saving their seeds. 
.
The company requires farmers to sign a contract that they will not save and replant GM seeds from their harvest. 
.
That way Monsanto can sell its seeds -- at a premium -- each season.
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Although Roush maintains his innocence, he was forced to settle with Monsanto after two and a half years of court battles. 
.
He says his "family was just destroyed from the stress involved. 
.
Many farmers are afraid, according to Roush, because Monsanto has created a little industry that serves no other purpose than to wreck farmers' lives. 
.
Monsanto has collected an estimated $200 million from farmers thus far.
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Roush says, "They are in the process of owning food, all food." 
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Paraguayan farmer Jorge Galeano says, Its objective is to control all of the world's food production.
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Renowned Indian physicist and community organizer Vandana Shiva says, If they control seed, they control food; they know it, it's strategic. 
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It's more powerful than bombs; 
.
It's more powerful than guns. 
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This is the best way to control the populations of the world.
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Our food security lies in diversity -- both biodiversity, and diversity of owners and interests. 
.
Any single company that consolidates ownership of seeds, and therefore power over the food supply, is a dangerous threat. 
.
Of all the corporations in the world, however, the one we should trust the least is Monsanto. 
.
With them at the helm, the impact could be cataclysmic.
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To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit  www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.
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To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit  www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.
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About the author
.
International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. 
.
His first book,Seeds of Deception, is the world's bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. 
.
His second,Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. 
.
Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply. 
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Nature News

Dehumanisation

The men shown sold their kidneys.

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Not because they wanted to but because that was all they had to sell.

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And they were desperate.

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Today there is a market and a price for everything.

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Or in other words, that everything has a price. 

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Yet when residents of the Rocky Mountains were polled on how much money it would take for them to accept air pollution in their area, they said that no amount of money would be adequate compensation for their loss of fresh air and clear views.

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No amount of money they said and meant it. 

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According to economics, this is a profoundly irrational response. 

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But I am sure that your answer would be the same if asked how much money you'd take in exchange for your vision, your right leg, or your child. 

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Indeed, when such things are assigned a monetary value the consequences tend to be monstrous as in the kidney example shown above. 

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What else could we expect when the infinitely precious is reduced to a finite sum? 

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A fundamental assumption of economics is thus shown to be nonsense.

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And at worse anti-life. 
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So come on, how much do you want for your health? 
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For your friendships? 
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For your self-respect? 
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For your hours? 
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For your life?
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And here we have one of the nonsenses of modern life.
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Yes all of the above have been assigned a monetary value.
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So how and when did this come to be accepted and by whom?
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No surprise.
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By those who can make money from these arbitrary assignments of monetary values.
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And because we have accepted this we now have dehumanised lives.
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Dehumanised because we are all just digits of a monetary value to economists mind games.
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Mind games used by industry and governments alike.
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Games used to justify outrageous decisions.

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Game is not the right word maybe, cynical, hypocritical, dishonest, lying, feel more appropriate.

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But how to bring some sanity back into a world where prices have been assigned to things that are or should be held to be priceless?
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A starting point is to make our objections felt wherever and whenever we can.

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This we can all do through many modern forums.

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Your move to make your feelings felt.
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Notice also that the things that bring real pleasure year in year out are not quantifiable in monetary terms although the money men are trying their best to do so.

Real shark skin

Claims by a leading sports-clothing company, Speedo, to have invented a swimsuit fabric that emulates the surface properties of shark’s skin are not supported by experiments with real shark skin, scientists said.
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The Fastskin fabric of Speedo’s swimsuits is supposed to be based on the low-surface drag of shark’s skin which is coated with razor-sharp, tooth-like scales or denticles that reduce surface drag by disrupting water flow, rather like the drag-reducing dimples on a golf ball.

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However, researchers from Harvard University have compared Speedo’s Fastskin fabric with pieces of dead shark skin in water-flow experiments and have concluded that the clothing material does not reduce water drag significantly.

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In fact, it’s nothing like shark skin at all. 
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What we have shown conclusively is that the surface properties themselves, which the manufacturer has in the past claimed to be bio-mimetic, don’t do anything for propulsion, said Professor George Lauder of Harvard University.

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Full-body swimsuits that are tight-fitting give swimmers an added advantage in terms of being more streamlined but this had nothing to do with the acclaimed surface properties of the fabric in reducing drag, Professor Lauder said.

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There are all sorts of effects at work that aren’t due to the surface. 
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Swimmers who wear these suits are squeezed into them extremely tightly so that are very streamlined.

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They’re so tight that they could actually change your circulation, and increase the venous [blood] return to the body, and they are tailored to make it easier to maintain proper posture even when tired, Professor Lauder said.

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Previous studies of shark skin covering objects in water-flow tanks did not take into account the fact that the shark is moving its skin constantly as it propels its body through the water.

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When shark skin covers rigid objects, the denticles actually slow down the movement through water but when flexible objects are used, the skin boosts performance significantly, the study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology found.

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Full-body swimsuits have been banned in this year’s Olympic Games because of the advantages they give over classic swimsuits. 
.
Some scientists predict that this will mean that few world records in swimming will be broken in London this summer.

Natural food

Returning to the Basics
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Moving towards better eating habits is a smart idea
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But don't give up everything processed in your diet straight away. 
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Don't go start picketing your local supermarket or writing hate mail to the big consumer good food companies. 
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There is a happy medium where processed foods can still exist in your world.
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Just to a greatly reduced extent. 
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For starters:
.
Switch to eating at least 50% raw food, by this we mean fruits and vegetables.
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Eat at least one Big Salad a day...with just a little healthy dressing.
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In winter a vegetable soup or vegetables with your main dish.
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Eat mostly fruits and dried fruits and nuts for your snacks and limit the sweets and salty stuff
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Have a bag of dried fruit by your side when you get the munchies.
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Read the labels, if you don't know what it is don't eat it
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Reduce the processed food to only one meal a day.
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Reduce the amount of flavoured sugar water that you drink.
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Drink natural water that does not come from a bottle.
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Again, there is nothing here that is radical. 
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Set your goals and watch closely what you are eating. 
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Take small steps, if you need too, when you start. 
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Each day do a little more until you achieve your goal of living a healthier lifestyle.
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Your taste buds may be in for a shock without all of that salty processed food around. 
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Soon, you will find yourself enjoying that healthy snack and preferring it over the other stuff. 
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You will not get that hypoglycemic crash from coming down from your sugar high.
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And importantly you will have a more consistent energy level.
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Your immune system will be most appreciative too!

Food sterilization

Is not something we think about.
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Perhaps we should.
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Because the result of food sterilization is to make it less healthful, not more.
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All pasteurized food is depleted of enzymes and vitamins.
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This is important because the living bacteria in raw dairy and unpasteurized sauerkraut actually contribute to the intestinal flora that help nourish the body and ward off illness.
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Sterile food is a target for opportunistic contamination by harmful salmonella, E. coli, and other bacteria
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This is because they do not need to compete with the original benign bacteria in unpasteurized milk and other foods.
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And once this approach has been adopted it has to be maintained.
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Fermentation the approach used by traditional cultures is not acceptable as it is unpredictable.
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Unpredictability is no use for industrial food production that demands uniform products and long shelf life.
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Going one step further.
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The latest method of sterilization is irradiation, used extensively on spices, meat, and other foods.
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In this process the food is exposed to radioactive nuclear waste.
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This is done at a level sufficient to kill anything alive in it.
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How can anyone imagine that such food can nourish humans if it cannot nourish bacterial life?
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It cannot and yet there is no discussion.
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No alarm.
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No concern that we have removed the ambient microorganisms as well as complex cultures of hundreds of species of yeasts.
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Removed bacteria that were symbiotic with each other.
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And with the human beings they co-evolved with over generations.
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No wonder that we have so many intestinal problems we have removed our natural defences against illness.
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There are however some winners from this situation.
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If we can call destroying humanity winning.
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Looked at through eyes of money this is called winning.
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By any other measure it is evil.
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Food companies win as their products last longer.
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Pharmaceutical companies win selling us antibiotics against our new diseases.
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So called health supplement sellers win as they provide what the body used to look after for itself.
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Is there anything we can do?
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Yes get involved where appropriate fighting against these interests.
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Help publicise this situation.
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Eat naturally grown foods where possible.
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Support locally grown organic producers.
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Inform others about the above.
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Want to shock yourself then read below.
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Read between the lines what they are not saying.
.
Read what they imply.
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Information put out by an organisation promoting the irradiation of ever more of our foods.

Are they kidding!
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These people have money.
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They lobby for their interests.
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Note how one sector after another is approved for such treatment, year after year.
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Be active in promoting your well being by not buying such products.

Move your money

At Barclays headquarters in the City, the bank recently revealed billions in profits and hundreds of millions in bonuses to be shared among an elite pool of traders and directors.
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But down at ground level – and a world away from the marble and glass of the executive suites –
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There was a very different picture, as more than 50 customers queued outside a nearby branch, ready to close their accounts and cut up their cards.
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Campaigners are hoping this trickle of rejection will turn into a flood as the public vents its frustration against Britain's banks in the best way it can – by moving its money.
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The move your money campaign is a child of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
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Which captured the imagination of the broader American public with a simple but compelling slogan: "Invest in Main Street, not Wall Street
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It claims to have led to more than 10 million people moving their money to local financial institutions, with a "Bank Transfer Day" in November seeing more than 40,000 people switch.
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Move Your Money launches in the UK in March with the catchphrase "Bank on something better"
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In the belief we can all take concrete action to create a more stable and ethical banking system.
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We're all angry about the cuts, about what's happening to schools and libraries and so on, given the wheelbarrows of cash that have supported the banks, says Ed Mayo, head of Co-ops UK.
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At an individual level, you can't do everything to put an unfair economy right – but you can do something.
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Move Your Money is the new Fairtrade.
.
It is the campaign for our time.
.
The National Union of Students has joined, and is encouraging local student unions to junk accounts with the big five banks in favour of more ethical alternatives, such as the Co-op or Nationwide building society.
.
It's an echo of the hugely successful 1980s boycott against Barclays and its operations in apartheid-era South Africa.
.
So far, just over 2,000 people have signed a pledge on moveyourmoney.org,uk to "register your vote against business as usual", but organiser Louis Brooke says it's still early days, with the site open just for a few days.
.
In March, a series of events will try to keep the campaign in the public eye, including a nationwide petition.
.
And it's not just crusty protesters threatening to move their overdrafts.
.
The campaign says it's close to persuading even some Tory MPs to take the pledge.
.
If you want to join, what can you do?
.
Why should you switch? 
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Because you're appalled at bankers' bonuses, salaries and stock options. 
.
Because their trading and lending practices have left the western world's economy in ruins. 
.
Because you're fed up with your money financing arms dealers and dictators. 
.
Oh, and they also stung you for £25 last month when you went a few quid over your overdraft limit.
.
The banks failed badly, but despite receiving the biggest taxpayer-funded bailout in history, nothing much has changed. 
.
Banks continue to pour money into socially useless lending and risky speculation, leaving us exposed to more crises, commodity bubbles and instability.

Try again

Sit comfortably, either in a semi lotus or on a firm chair with legs uncrossed, hands in lap, left hand in right hand for males and the opposite for females.
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Your back straight, pushed away from the chair back.
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Shut off phones and other distractions.
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Face the East, where the sunrise comes from.
.
Allow yourself to become aware of your environment as you gently and slowly close your eyes.
.
Become aware of your body.
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Feel yourself sitting.
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Feel the contact your body makes with each surface, material.
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Feel your body resting comfortably and safely.
.
Draw your awareness inward as you feel your body relaxing.
.
Calmly be aware of your breathing.
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Without altering your breathing that is, just breath naturally.
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Let your attention rest on whatever comes into your consciousness.
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Let thoughts come in and out, do not pursue them let them go, just observe them.
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Calmly feel and be aware of the rhythm of your breathing.
.
When more thoughts come into your mind, don't try to stop or avoid them.
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Just be aware of them and let them drift away.
.
For some time to come thoughts will keep coming.
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Thinking all the time about this or that is hard wired into modern man.
.
Changing this or stopping this takes time and patience. 
.
Not to mention perseverance.
.
Meditation requires daily practice.
.
Why?
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Because your mind will not believe that you are serious until it experiences you meditating every day.
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Day in day out, week in week out, month in month out, year in year out.
.
Yes it is hard work to start with.
.
Do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
.
If you do not practice daily then your mind assumes that this is just another of your hobbies
.
Your mind then feels free to interrupt you whenever it wants with ever more thoughts.
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So regular daily practice is the way.
.
And yes you can find five or ten minutes every day for something that will change your life in a positive manner.
.
Always, as your mind wanders, bring it back to your breathing.
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Notice how you want to fidget.
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How you find lots of reasons for not doing it today.
.
We are all past masters at avoiding things that require regular effort.
.
No matter this time stick with it.
.
Just sit and listen to your breath
.
Stay aware.
.
Do this for five to ten minutes a day to begin with.
.
If you find yourself doing this for longer then great if not no worries.
.
It takes practice.
.
Meditation is a cultivated process. 
.
Be patient and kind yet firm with yourself.
.
Learn to enjoy each moment.
.
Learn to relax.
.
Do not "try hard" this does not help, on the contrary it makes things more difficult..
.
Some of the biggest blocks to meditation are impatience and expectation. 
.
Meditation is 
.
Allowing yourself to be alert and attentive.
.
Letting your mind be calm, telling it to shut up, to leave you alone.
.
Being concentrated without strain, yet focused.
.
Turning your attention inward.
.
Being in this moment now. 
.
Accepting that this is a process rather than a goal.
.
Benefits of meditation are:
.
Decreased stress and tension. 
.
More balanced emotions.
.
Strengthened immune system.
.
Sense of being calmer.
.
Over time a greater feeling of optimism and self-worth.
.
Meditation is not.
.
Falling asleep.
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Going into a trance.
.
Shutting yourself off from reality.
.
Meditation becomes part of your life once you reach the point where you realise that your life feels better for it.
.
At this point you miss it if you do not practice for any reason.
.
Meditation if done in the morning seems to set the day up in a more pleasing way.
.
Further down the road meditation is something you find yourself doing whenever you have odd moments to yourself
.
In buses, trains, planes wherever whenever.
.
Meditation is the only known way to impose control on your mind.
.
To become the master of your mind.
.
And it is of course your mind that causes you so much wear and tear.
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That is why we keep on banging on about it because it is your gate way to reduced stress and fear.