The art of letting go II

Love is economics too. There is a supply of emotion because there is a demand for it. Irregularities between the supply and demand of emotion create a commotion. The demand should only meet the supply. Venturing into an amorous relationship involves investment of time, effort, energy, body and life. Therefore, there should be equitability between partners. If you settle for anything less, then that is tantamount to doing a great disservice to yourself. That is not love.

When you are down and out, alone and lonely, do not go to the one you love. Instead go to the one who loves you. Go to the right places where good people congregate. There is more to life after separating from the guy/girl you idolized and whom you gave your all. Don't blame yourself for giving your all because that means you can retrieve it again at a hundred percent basis. Don't hide crying. It's alright to cry because you get hurt. Tears cleanses the soul and purifies the spirit. But never run around like a headless chicken. Do not give the person who hurt you have the opportunity and satisfaction to see you suffer. You will not authentically love someone unless you authentically love yourself. If we go by the rule of authentically, there's no love loss. This is because at the end of the equation, you will find yourself -scathed but fighting, bruised but still waging a conscious sure-win battle of conquering your own fears, weakness and loneliness.

If you are the aggrieved party, part of moving on - though it may come later on the process is - forgiving the person who hurt you. Forgiveness and coming back are two different things. You can forgive him but that does not mean you have to come back to each others arms again.

On the other hand, if you have aggrieved someone, learn how to apologize. Those who do not know how to say Ï am sorry, are insulting our capacity to forgive.

The ärt of letting-go

In the department of romance, the art of letting go, is mathematically proportional to the art of self-preservation. Letting go and preserving one self are crafts that can be mastered by people who want to get out of the crude and rude vicious cycle. These skills are the summation of one's conscious conviction -albeit prepared and punctured with nerve cracking and heart wrenching feelings - to be happy and complete to one's silence and solitude. Love makes the world go round they say and there is no remedy to love but to love more. Loving yourself more by letting go of someone who loves you less makes you a better person.

The reason why many people live in an unhappy life is because "the unhappy people have not truly and exceptionally love themselves." They have killed themselves by loving others and forgetting that they have their own life to live and love.

All problems can not be solved, but can only be managed. Problems concerning the affairs of the heart can not be remedied right away. Letting go is part of problem management. Many suffer from broken-heartedness because they do not want to move on. Why hold on your love for someone who will not love you? If the love of your life has another love already, please be brave enough to penetrate the deep and depressing recesses of your life or else you'll be broken-hearted. Empower yourself. Tell yourself that you will only love him/her until the day he/she loved you. Remember, no one has the monopoly of power.

The art of letting go starts from the ultimate conviction that you love yourself more and you believe that you don't deserve to be hurt. After all, happiness is a personal responsibility.

If you're into a relationship, and you continually hurt each other, it comes to a point when you have to make a decision whether or not love is enough to salvage the relationship. If hurting situation is recurrent, have wisdom to know when to hold and when to fold. If you come back to each others arms again, and hurt each other again, love becomes self-defeating, an exercise in futility.

STRESS Management

Stress is caused by two opposing forces pulling against each other. We usually think of this something negative, but some kinds of stress are actually essential for life. Take gravity for instance - it puts stress on your body, but you can't live without it. You'll never be able to eliminate all stress from your life. You wouldn't want to. But you can reduce the intensity of stress and you can learn to manage it.

When a violinist tightens the strings on a violin, she applies stress on them. The strings are pulled in two directions. The capacity of a string to be stretched is called "tensile strength". But if the strings are strong, the violinist is able to produce beautiful music.

People are like that. When pulled in two different directions some people snap from the stress. Others, however are able to handle the stress and use it to produce something beautiful. The difference is the spiritual strength of the individual.

How to recharge spiritually when feeling stressed:

1. PAUSE. Take a deep breath, quiet yourself and focus on the fact that God is with you at the very moment. God is ready to help you. Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

2. PRAY. Prayer is a powerful stress- reliever that you can use any time of the day. Tell him how you feel. Psalm 42:3 When I am afraid, you LORD, know the way out.

3. PRIORITIZE. Pinpoint what's really important and what isn't. You can not do everything, so clarifying your priorities is essential to reducing stress. Your work will be determined by pressures or priorities. It's your choice. If you don't determine what's important, others will decide it for you. Ecc 8:6 There is a right time and a right way for everything.

And in all things give - THANKS. Fight fear with Faith knowing that God would not allow you to go through anything you can not bear.

HAPPINESS and your HEART

" If you aren't naturally a happy person, just try acting like one" said Dr. Karina Davidson of Columbia University Medical Center. Davidson and colleagues used a five-point scale to measure people's happiness. They then statistically adjusted to account for things like age, gender, and smoking. For every point on the happiness scale, people were 22% less likely to have a heart problem. The study was paid by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and others.

Research said happy people are more likely to have a healthier lifestyle. It could also be there is an unknown genetic trait that predisposes people to be happy and have less heart disease. Happiness itself could result in a healthier heart compared to other emotions such as stress or depression.

Stress often releases hormones that can damage heart muscle. Stress can also cause blood vessels to open too wide, allowing plaque build-ups to break off and clog the arteries.

Be aware, the other benefit of trying to be happy is to have a better mental health.

BREAST CANCER CURE

Roche announced recently its new long-term follow up-data from two large pivotal studies evaluating adjuvant trastuzumab in HER2 positive early-stage breast cancer presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Both studies, N9831 conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group and BCIRGOO6 performed by the Breast Cancer International Research Group consistently showed that -trastuzumab - reduced the risk of the cancer returning by about one third in women with HER2 positive early breast compared to patients receiving chemotherapy alone. In both studies, at least 80% of women receiving one year of trastuzumab were alive free of the disease at five years follow-up.

The trials confirmed trastuzumab's favorable cardiac safety profile at long-term follow-up. In addition, both studies were seeking to answer questions the medical community has been contemplating regarding the best way of giving their patients trastuzumab treatment.

BCIRGOO6 evaluated trastuzumab in combination with anthracycline-based chemotherapy versus an anthracycline free regimen. The study showed that both approaches extended survival without the cancer returning as well as overall survival compared to chemotherapy alone.

Be aware, N983D1 is a US, Phase III randomised, multicentre, open label trial of one year of adjuvant trastuzumab. Patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer were given other chemotherapy alone, trastuzumab following chemotherapy (sequential) or trastuzumab at the same time as chemotherapy (concurrent).

WATER VAPOR drop may have lead to warming slowdown

The slowdown in global warming in the last few years may have been caused by a decline in water vapor in the stratosphere, a new report suggest. While climate warming is continuing - the decade of 2000 to 2009 was the hottest on record worldwide - the increase in temperatures was not as rapid as in the 1990's.

Balloons and satellite observations show the amount of water vapor in a layer about 10 miles (16 kilometers) high declined after 2000. The stratosphere extends from about eight to 30 miles (48 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

The reason for the decline is unknown according to researchers led by Susan Solomon of the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. Water vapor enters the stratosphere primarily from air rising in the tropics.

Be aware, water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas, and it's decline in the stratosphere would reduce the rate of global warming expected from other gases such as carbon dioxide, research said.

Strickly "NO VALENTINES"in Saudi

The Saudi religious police launched yesterday a nationwide crackdown on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentine's Day, a Saudi official said. Members of the feared religious police were inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red and ordering store owners to get rid of them, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Red- colored or heart-shaped items are legal at other times of the year, but as Feb 14 nears, they become contraband in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom bans celebration of Western holidays such as Valentines Day, named after a Christian saint said to have been martyred by the Romans in the 3rd century.

Most shops in Riyadh's upscale neighborhoods have removed all red items from their shelves. A statement by the religious police, informally known as the muttawa, was published in Saudi newspapers warning shop owners against any violation. 'Those who don't comply will be punished,"the statement said without spelling out what measures would befall the offenders.

The Valentine's day prohibition is in line with Saudi's strict Wahhabi school of Islam that the kingdom has followed for more than a century. The birthplace of Islam also bans several Muslim holidays except the two most important ones because it considers them "religious innovations"that Islam doesn't sanction.

Be aware, many Saudi's who still want to mark the popular Valentine's do their shopping weeks before the holiday. Attitudes toward Valentines Day vary across the Arab world, with devout Muslims opposing the holiday as a Western celebration of romantic love that corrupts Muslim youth.

Year of the WHITE METAL TIGER

For the Chinese faithful, this is the start of their New Year, not January 1. This is because the Chinese Calendar is based on the cycle of the moon. It is celebrated on the second new moon after winter solstice which is around December 21. There really is no fixed date for that Chinese New Year but almost always it happened between late January and early February.

The year is named after 12 animals and they also go in a cycle. The animals are like the 12 Western zodiac signs (e.i. Cancer, Gemini, Virgo and Scorpio and include the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. That is the cycle in order , so based on this order we are on the third year of the 12-cycle.

To add to the confusion is the cycle of elements which are as follows: Earth, Metal, Wood and Fire. Last year was the year of the Earthen Ox, so that makes it the year of the Metal Tiger for this year. Next year (February 3, 2011) would be the Year of the Wooden Rabbit.

Ancient Chinese philosophers believe that a person's character is based on the characteristics of the guide animal and element of the year that he was born. Metal tigers (those born this year and on 1950) are said to enjoy standing out in a crowd. They are good looking but they definitely suffer from mood swings ad temper tantrums. They are known to jump to conclusions and to act too quickly without weighing the options or understanding the consequences. But they are assertive and competitive doing anything in order for them to achieve their goals.

Be aware, don't forget that this is but an assumption cooked up by ancient philosophers and does not necessarily mean that it's true. Always remember that you are what you make yourself to be.

Vit D cuts risk of colon cancer

Patients with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood had a nearly 40% lower risk of colorectal cancer compared to those with the lowest levels. Vitamin D derived mainly from sunlight but also found in foods, plays a key role in bone strength by increasing levels of calcium in the blood

It is unclear whether vitamin D supplements are any more effective than a balanced diet or getting regular exposure to sunlight. Further work is needed to show whether the statistical link in the investigation is born out - and whether there could be any side effects from taking supplements or eating food fortified with Vitamin D.

Be aware, smoking, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, alcohol and eating red and processed meats had previously been established as factors in cancer of the colon and rectum.

Running BAREFOOT better than with shoes

Three-quarters of runners who wear shoes land squarely on their heels - about 1,000 times for every mile run. But even well-cushioned sports shoes that help distribute weight across the foot can not fully absorb the shock of these blows: 30% - 75% of regular runners each year suffer repetitive stress injuries.

By contrast, the vast majority of unshod runners don't hit the ground with their heels, landing instead on the sides or balls of their feet, the study found. The practice is especially common in several east African countries where long-distance running is nearly a national past time.

By not "hell-striking", barefoot runners avoid painful and potentially damaging impacts that concentrate the equivtalent of 2 or 3 times one's body weight on to a coin-sized surface. People who don't wear shoes when they run have an astonishing different strike. By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, research showed.

Be aware, up to now there has been little scientific evidence suppotring the claim that barefoot is better. Most people today think that barefoot running is dangerous and hurts but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surface without the slightest discomfort and pain, the study found.

Well-covered bum & big hips "good for health

Carrying fat on the hips, thighs and bum, rather than around the waist, has a range of health benefits and actively protects against diabetes and heart disease researchers said. Fat around the hips and thighs is good for you but around the tummy is bad. A big bottom is much better than carrying fat around the waist, which tends to release more harmful fatty acids into the body, the research shows.

Belly fat also releases molecules called cytokines which trigger inflammation - raising the risk of diabetes and heart disease. But fat carried on the thighs traps these harmful fatty acids and stops them from latching on to the liver and muscles and causing a range of health problems, including insulin resistance. Although fat around the thighs and backside tends to burn slower and be harder to shift, it can release beneficial hormones which protect the arteries and help blood sugar control, the research showed.

Be aware, it is only recently that thigh fat and a larger hip circumference have been shown to promote health, that lower body fat is protected by itself. It is shape that matter - and as far as health is concerned, being "pear-shaped" is much preferable to being ""apple-shaped". In an ideal world, the more fat around the thighs the better - as long as the tummy stays slim.