LIVING FULLY

Have you ever felt like the present moment is passing you by while you’re caught up worrying, analyzing, planning, and trying to protect yourself from pain and loss?

It’s one the pitfalls of the human condition: we often paralyze ourselves in the pursuit of happiness and abundance, and in the process, miss out on the joy right in front of us.Well change that to live fully ur life. We may not have the power to change whole world but we all have the power to change ourselves. So stop worrying and start living.

HAVE I ARRIVED

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” ~Matsuo Basho

“Everything is quite all right; our worth secure and true. Everything’s not quite all right; we’ve worthy work to do…”

Part of the longing and neediness I tend to feel comes from a rift between who or where I am, and where I believe I should be to be “successful.”

I’ve struggled endlessly with the concept of my “potential” and the frustrating feeling that potential will always add itself on to the top of any ceiling I break through, creating only more upward space in which to aim, aspire, and yearn.

And yet, any spiritual practice will allow us to see that we are whole, complete, and perfect just as we are in the very moment.

Spritulism encourages one to be grounded, to deepen, to see and experience one wholeness,accept for all my facets—just as one is. It allows one to be a work in progress, allows ones life to be a journey, and ones emotions a process.

I have utilized higherself as a tool of self-love, one that then immediately opens into compassion for others, and an expansive sense of self. I live my day with more love, more serenity, and more grace, when I actively dedicate time and energy to tapping into a calmer sense of being.

MADAM TUSSAD -HONGKONG

WANT TO BE A GOOD LEADER

1.Act with integrity
Tell the truth. Practice the principles you preach. Be genuine and sincere.
2.Listen like you mean it
Stop whatever you're doing and look the speaker directly in the eye. Tilt your head slightly to one side.
3.Commit to what you communicate
4.Be accountable for results
Accountability implies risk and reward. You earn rewards for success; you accept penalties for failure
5.Engage emotionally by being approachable
The combination of both competence and likeability characterizes outstanding leaders with personal presence.
6.Never whine
Constant complaining characterizes losers.
7.Follow protocol in mixing business with pleasure
Because of the heavy demands on their time, leaders blend their social and work lives,
                                                  DR M PANDE MD



 

HISTORIC PRESPECTIVE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

 

Just over a decade before the publication of the first issue of the Journal, President George Washington died of an acute infectious disease believed to have been bacterial epiglottitis.45 Washington's life reflects the history of his era and provides both a window into infectious diseases two centuries ago and a benchmark for measuring our remarkable progress since then. Washington was born in 1732, just before the deadliest diphtheria epidemic on the North American continent. He was scarred by smallpox, survived multiple debilitating bouts of malaria, suffered wound infections and abscesses, nursed his brother on a tropical island as he died of tuberculosis, and even had an influenza pandemic named after him (the Washington influenza of 1789–1790). During his presidency, he stayed in the then-capital city of Philadelphia while most of the government fled during the nation's deadliest yellow fever epidemic.5,12 At the time of Washington's birth, there was no well-defined concept of infection or immunity, no vaccines, almost no specific or effective treatments for infectious diseases,3,46 and little idea that any treatment or public health measure could reliably control epidemic diseases.

During Washington's lifetime, infectious diseases were the defining challenges of human existence. No one alive then could have imagined the astonishing breakthroughs that lay ahead. In this regard, it is noteworthy that almost all the major advances in understanding and controlling infectious diseases have occurred in the past two centuries (Table 3Table 3Selected Infectious Diseases of Importance from 1812 to the Present. and interactive timeline). Experimental animal-transmission studies that were conducted soon after the War of 1812 were followed by the development of better microscopes, which linked fungi to skin diseases and protozoa to mucosal diseases — for example, Alfred Donné's 1836 work with Trichomonas vaginalis and David Gruby's studies of Candida albicans in the early 1840s. The breakthroughs in the late 1800s, which taken together provided the compelling unifying principle of infectious diseases and must surely rank among the most important advances in the medical sciences, were the characterization of specific cultivatable microorganisms and proof of their association with specific diseases. This triumph was led by the work of Davaine and Koch in establishing anthrax as the first fully characterized infectious disease.47,48 This seminal process was facilitated by the development of defined criteria for establishing causality (Koch's postulates).

Additional breakthroughs followed quickly, including the discovery and characterization of pathogen-specific immune responses; the demonstration that when inactivated by heat or chemicals or grown under limiting conditions that changed certain biologic properties (e.g., attenuation), organisms or their products could safely stimulate protective responses in a host; and development of anti-infective serums and chemicals to destroy pathogens. Over the next 135 years, a wide array of vaccines and antibiotics and, more recently, antiviral agents have saved hundreds of millions of lives, greatly extended the human life span, and reduced untold suffering. Undeniably, these countermeasures against infectious disease rank among the greatest achievements in public health and medicine.

History reminds us that new challenges in infectious diseases will continue to emerge and reemerge. We must be prompt in identifying them and devising new countermeasures. In this effort, we still follow the familiar pathway that was set down in the late 1800s for the identification and characterization, both clinical and epidemiologic, of the causative agent; the characterization of the human immune response to the pathogen; and the development of pathogen-specific diagnostic tests, treatment strategies, and public health prevention strategies such as vaccinations.

KIDNEY

The two leading causes of CKD are diabetes and hypertension, both of which are often related to obesity. They constitute to two leading causes of CKD when other links, such as urinary obstruction or nephritis -- inflammation of the kidneys -- aren't present. Kidney disease is progressive, starting off at an acute stage and then becoming chronic. The disease is incurable, yet the good news is that losing weight, reducing the risk of diabetes and hypertension, is a good course of prevention.

It's remarkable how our kidneys, which we rarely think about, are connected to the body's overall intelligence. Your kidneys are fist-sized, bean-shaped organs found toward the back of your upper abdomen, tucked under the rib cage. The kidneys' main job is to filter the blood of impurities, but they do a remarkable number of other tasks as well.

First, they filter over 50 gallons of blood per day to remove toxins and metabolic wastes along with excess water while returning needed substances back to the blood. Wastes leave your body when urine is passed. The actual filtering process is nowhere near as simple as, say, the water filtration that keeps drinking water pure.

The functional units of the kidney are its nephrons, extremely fine blood-filtering tubules, about 1-2 inches long. Each kidney contains over a million nephrons. At the end of each is a cluster of tiny capillaries called the glomerulus. In the glomerulus fluid filters out of the blood, leaving behind the red and white corpuscles, and passes through the inner wall of the capsule into the nephron tubule. As it does, specific substances are secreted into it while others, like water, are selectively reabsorbed. The end product is urine.

Why does your blood need filtering? Not just waste is involved. The kidneys perform the vital job of maintaining the body's acid-alkaline balance, called its pH. Blood pH needs to be held in a narrow range, slightly alkaline but close to neutral. The kidneys do this job by providing the blood with a buffer solution that compensates for any rise or fall in the level of acidity or alkalinity caused by diet or stress. This buffer solution contains fluids as well as vital salts, called electrolytes, including sodium, potassium and calcium. In a sense your body is like a car battery, which also depends on electrolytes to produce electrical current. But a battery is static while your body is dynamic. Electrolyte levels of are continually adjusted as needed to maintain pH.

The kidneys also produce hormones, like renin, which helps to control blood pressure, and erythropoietin (EPO), that stimulates the production of red blood cells. Loss of kidney function, then, will be felt in every cell of the body. Because of their delicacy, the capillaries in the glomeruli are vulnerable. The high blood sugar in diabetes are toxic to these capillaries, creating them to develop tiny holes through which toxins can escape. Increased fluid pressure due to hypertension causes the walls of the blood vessels to thicken and the glomeruli lose their ability to filter blood.

The patient may be unaware of any symptoms, but as kidney function declines, along with proper pH and hormone balance, your cells detect the change. Damaged kidneys can't produce enough of the hormone EPO to create an adequate number of red blood cells, for example, and the result is anemia. The heart tries to compensate for this lack by pumping harder. Over time, the heart muscle becomes larger but weaker and starts to pump inefficiently. A damaged heart can no longer pump sufficient amounts of blood to the body's tissues. Edema (fluid waste) begins to back up into the lungs, and it becomes difficult to breathe. The final result is congestive heart failure.

Tests for kidney disease check the blood or urine for substances that are normally missing or found only in minute amounts, such as protein and nitrogen. How well the kidneys are filtering can be estimated by measuring how much of these substances is present. Other CKD tests look for chemical imbalances or anemia.

CKD can't be cured, but it can be prevented, and if caught early on, its progression can be slowed or stopped altogether.

1. Food for CKD

One of the most challenging aspects of having CKD is learning what foods you need to avoid and what you can eat, and in what amounts. As CKD progresses, your kidneys lose the ability to balance electrolytes and to eliminate excess water. For this reason, some foods you probably think of as being healthy, such as certain fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, may have to be limited or avoided.

It's extremely helpful to consult with a registered dietitian to create an individualized diet, which should include foods you like as well as nutrients you need.

SALT

Too much salt can cause fluid to build up in your tissues, creating swelling. Avoid foods high in salt, such as many canned foods, salty snacks, cured foods like ham and pickles, luncheon meats, and fast foods. Always check nutrition labels for sodium content.

PHOSPHOROUS

Too much phosphorous in the blood causes levels of calcium to decrease. To compensate, the body starts pulling calcium from the bones, weakening them. High-phosphorous foods include certain (not all) dairy products, organ meats, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, and sodas.

POTASSIUM

Excess potassium can cause an irregular heartbeat or heart attack. Potassium-rich foods include many fruits (such as avocado, apricots and oranges) and vegetables (including squash, carrots and tomatoes), as well as nuts and seeds.

PROTEIN

Protein digestion creates waste products that the kidneys must dispose of. For people not on dialysis, a low-protein diet can help minimize the amount of protein waste products. People on dialysis, on the other hand, lose muscle tissue. To counteract that loss, they need to eat a high-protein diet that includes lots of meat, fish, and eggs, or vegetable-derived protein.

CARBOHYDRATES

People who are overweight or have diabetes or risk factors for diabetes should limit carbohydrates. Otherwise, they are a good source of energy, as long as you don't overdo it. Desserts made with dairy products, chocolate, nuts, or bananas should be limited.

2. Fluids

Most people who have early-stage CKD can drink plenty of fluids. But as kidney disease progresses, the kidneys become unable to remove enough water from the bloodstream. Fluid builds up in the body, blood volume increases and the heart becomes overworked.

Tell your doctor if you are producing either more or less urine than you used to, if you have any swelling in your extremities or abdomen, or if the skin around your eyes is getting puffy.

3. Exercise

Loss of muscle tissue, fatigue, weakened bones, and lack of appetite are some of the worst side effects of CKD. Exercise can prevent or modify these side effects.

Aerobic exercise is physical activity, such as a brisk walk, that raises your heart beat and respiration rates over an extended period of time. Aerobic exercise strengthens your heart, lowers blood sugar levels, improves your appetite and gives you more stamina.

Anerobic exercise is short-term activity that uses up oxygen very quickly, such as weight training. Anerobic exercise builds up muscle tissue and counteracts the loss of muscle that often accompanies CKD. It can help to boost bone density as well.

It's especially beneficial to combine aerobic exercise with anerobic exercise, because building up your muscles helps you to perform both everyday activities and aerobic exercise better.

4. Other lifestyle measures

Weight loss

Taking off even modest amounts of excess weight can help to protect your kidneys. Losing as little as 10 lbs. can lower blood pressure. Losing 5-10 percent of body weight significantly reduces blood sugar levels. Plus, being at a normal weight lowers the strain on your heart and allows it to pump more easily and efficiently.

Smoking cessation

Smoking fills your kidneys with toxic heavy metals, including cadmium and lead, and damages all your blood vessels, large and small.

Stress management

Unmanaged stress raises blood pressure and damages blood vessels. Find ways to unwind if you're chronically stressed.

Because alert management works for many people, and since CKD is associated with diabetes and hypertension, two disorders that need to be prevented for many other reasons, most of us shouldn't focus on our kidneys directly. End-stage treatments, which involves dialysis or even a kidney transplant, are extreme cases. The main reason I bring up CKD is that it is too often overlooked in older people and secondly, because the more we know about the body's astonishing interwoven intelligence, the more true it is that prevention is vitally necessary for good health over the long lifetime that most of us are anticipating.

TO BE HAPPY

“He who depends on himself will attain the greatest happiness”

1.  Know Yourself

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is nobody else who is you-er than you.”
~Dr. Seuss

How many times have we heard “no one will love you until you learn to love yourself” or “nobody knows you the way you do”?

So get to know the right-now-real you, both the good and the bad, and own it. Write down your qualities, characteristics, values, strengths, and weaknesses. What makes you happy? What drives you crazy?

The good news is that if you don’t like certain aspects of yourself right now, you have it in your control to change that. But to change something you first have to know what you’re working with. So do some serious soul-searching and figure that out!

2.  Discover who your idealized self is and start working towards that.

“Open your eyes and look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”
~Bob Marley

The question we all got asked when we were little was “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Now the question is “WHO do you want to be when you grow up?” You’ve taken a good hard look at who you are in this moment, and now is the time to figure out what’s next.

Think of the “ideal you” and start doing the things that your idealized self would be doing. There was an article on Pick The Brain a while back entitled “How To Fake It Until You Make It” in which the author, David Wright, suggests that we imagine the qualities that your idealized self has (the work it takes) and start putting them into practice.

It’s time to stop playing make-believe and to start taking action! Let’s DO this!!!

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
~Dr. Seuss

3.  Be Authentic

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
~Bruce Lee

Always be true to yourself. When working towards becoming your idealized self it’s important not to lose sight of who you are in favour of who you think you should be. Don’t compromise your values, morals, or true personality. Your individuality is important! Some people live their lives trying to be more like somebody else. My question to you is this: If you’re trying to be somebody else, who’s going to be you?

There may be certain things about yourself that you’d like to change or improve upon, but be absolutely sure that you make these adjustments for yourself and for your best interest. If you change anything in your life for the sake of someone else, and it’s not really what you want, you will only become resentful and unhappy.

To be truly authentic, one must rise above the crowd and be a true individual. Find your truth; a reason for which to live and die.

“Few are those who can see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts”
~Albert Einstein

4.  Understand that you can only control yourself.

“When there are no enemies within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you”
~African Proverb

As I started my journey to being happy on purpose, I realized very quickly how little in my life was within my control. I had no power over other people; others will do, think, and feel what they want and there’s little I can do to change or even influence that. I could only manipulate my environment and the things that happened to me to a certain degree.

I started to wonder if I could control anything in my life at all and I realized that I can only control myself. More specifically I had control over my attitude and my reactions to what the world throws at me.

For example, if you lose the life of a loved-one, you are going to have feelings of grief and even despair or anger. You need the grieving process as a human being and part of being authentic is being true to your emotions; otherwise you are in denial of what you truly feel and want. You can, however, choose the attitude of “moving on” or choose to dwell on it. You can choose to react by lashing out to those around you and hiding in your room with nothing but your grief and anger for company. OR you could choose to spend time with people who will make you feel better or immerse yourself in a project or work to keep your mind off things until you start to heal.

The idea that you have such little control over life might be scary for some, but you can also choose to look at it as freeing yourself from worry. If I have no control over something, there’s no point worrying about it because I can’t change it anyways. If I have control over it then I can take action, and again I no longer have to worry because something’s being done!

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
~Maya Angelou

5.  Achieve balance in all things.

“Before Enlightenment – chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment – chop wood, carry water.”
~ Zen Buddhist Proverb

There is a Yin and Yang; everything has its opposite, and the key is harmony between them. For example you must strike a balance between selfishness and selflessness. Chose either extreme you will quickly find yourself unhappy. If you always give to others you end up being useless to everyone because no one will take care of you for you, and a person who never gives to anyone will live a lonely and unfulfilling life.

The same can be said for striking a balance between your emotions and your logic. Are you being true to your emotions (giving them validation) or are you totally absorbed in them (giving them control)? Your logic and your emotions should work together to guide you in a balanced and healthy way of living.

6.  Learn to let go.

Learn to let go of the things that are not within your control or that happened in the past. Instead embrace and work on your self-control and self-esteem. You will be more at peace with yourself and can then enjoy life despite what the world throws at you.

Ask yourself “How is this working for me?” Does it help you to feel sad or angry all the time? Is it productive and useful when you lash out when someone or something upsets you? Is it healthy to become obsessed about an issue, person, or event that you have no control over in the first place?

To let go is to fear less and love more. It means knowing that you can’t do it for someone else, that you have no control over another, and that the outcome is not in your hands. Letting go is making the most of yourself, not blaming another or trying to change them. It means caring about someone, not caring for them, and allowing another to make mistakes and be a human being. To let go is not to regret the past but to grow and live for the future.

“If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew; just go right along and you’ll start happening too.”
~Dr. Seuss

7.  Give your life meaning and actively seek your inspiration.

“Love the life you live. Live the life you love.”
~Bob Marley

So many of us go around searching for the meaning of life or waiting for inspiration when really it’s within ourselves and up to us – no one will do this for you!

While at the Woman’s Leadership Conference I had the privilege of listening to our guest speaker, Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist, Clara Hughes. She shared with us that she suffers from Clinical Depression and that sometimes she gets so down in the dumps that she forces herself to ACTIVELY seek her inspirations. Clara stated that inspiration hardly ever just falls on your lap and that if you need it you have to go and find it for yourself.

Don’t look for the meaning of life; instead give your life meaning! One way that I did this for myself was by becoming a “mother” to something – I got a dog. His name is Charlie, and he’s been such a blessing for me. We’ve worked really hard on establishing a good relationship and I’ve learnt a lot being a “Pack Leader” for him. In doing what was good for Charlie (teaching him commands, working on his walking habits, regular grooming, giving him lots of love and work for him to do) I also became a better person. I learned to be more patient, how to be more assertive, and have become more active.

So go out there and find your meaning! Get inspired! Join a not-for-profit group, volunteer, get a pet, become a Big Sister or Brother, and go to some self-improvement or awareness workshops. Invest in yourself and you’ll soon reap the rewards of being content and feeling productive in your life.

8.  Focus on the positive.

“There are two ways to live; you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle”
~Albert Einstein

The expression “everything happens for a reason” annoys and upsets some people because it suggests that your path is predetermined and that The Fates or God is in charge of your life. The idea that a child dying of cancer, for example, is meant-to-be is frustrating and unfair; but the reality of it is that you have no control over your outside world. So I choose to think “in everything I have to find my own reason”. Instead of asking “why did this happen to me?” I ask myself “What positive thing can I find in this?” By focusing on the positive of any situation (and trust me if you look hard enough you’ll find it) I help keep myself positive and happy.

The good wouldn’t be as sweet without the bitterness of the bad. You go through the tough times to strengthen you for the excruciating ones to come. It’s in experiencing these tough times where you will truly be able to live with gratitude for what you have that is good.

“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.”
~Bob Marley

9.  Surround yourself with like-minded people.

“A man should choose a friend who is better than himself. There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends”
~Chinese Proverb

Change is never easy. It’s even more difficult if the people you choose to spend time with aren’t the “right people”. Just ask someone who’s had to kick a bad habit (smoking, drinking, drugs, junk food, etc.) what it’s like being around people who haven’t quit or cut back yet. It’s easy to fall back into your old habits because they come with a certain comfort. It’s the same when you’re trying to be positive and happy and surrounding yourself with people who are negative and miserable. Misery loves company right?

So surround yourself, instead, with people in whose presence you feel optimistic, happy, and vibrant. If you can’t think of one person in your life that meets this standard it’s probably a good sign that you need to find new people!

I’ve had to “weed out” people who I thought were my friends – these were the people who always seem to be gossiping, talking about negative things, and focusing on the downside of every situation. I learned to be picky about the people I spend time with and limit the amount of time and energy I spend with those who tend to be toxic to my well-being. And no, it wasn’t fun or easy doing this, but it was worthwhile because they were just bringing me down.

Sit down and write out two lists for yourself – on one side write down the names of people who give you good energy and on the other side write down those who more often take your energy. Then try to steer clear of those who drain you and make an effort to spend more time with those who motivate you and are positive.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.”
~Dr. Seuss

10. Keep going

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I am purposely happy every day, even when it’s rainy and cold and everything seems to be going wrong.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”
~Albert Einstein