Sponsorship & Recovery

Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression

2013-04-10T11:39:00.001+01:00

Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles. His desire was to help alcoholics stay recovered. This means he would have immediately brought this mineral replacement therapy that eliminates alcohol cravings forth without exception. Master of ceremonies, Andrew W. Saul, includes Bill Wilson as an inductee of the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame at the Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 29, 2006 in his induction speech, “…To this day, selective history records A.A.’s 12-Step Program, but has forgotten, or deliberately purged, what Bill wanted to be A.A.’s 13th step – orthomolecular therapy with vitamin B3.”[Lee Brack1] In February 2009, Orthomolecular Medicine’s founder, Abram Hoffer and Bill Wilson’s good friend, clarified to me over the phone, “..yes, Lee, he wanted to share this information as an added step and talked about it all the time because he felt so strongly about nutrition…” Abram Hoffer passed away a few months later in May having lived healthy and happily for ninety one and a half years.

6 April 2013 Tuned-In Centre, Majuba Road, Redcar, TS10 5BJ

2013-04-01T16:02:00.001+01:00

Event	North-West District of Cocaine Anonymous welcomes you to... Reaching Out in Redcar UNITY Day
Time	Saturday 11:30am Start
Address	Tuned-In Centre, Majuba Road, Redcar, TS10 5BJ
Additional Notes	Speakers; Cameron F (Canada) Will B (Spain) Danielle (Cheshire)
Information	TICKETS £5 (or donation). Refreshments provided. Click here to download flyer & contact info.

Understand the inherently peaceful presence of Awareness the art of Living in the NOW

2013-03-31T16:13:00.001+01:00

Understand the inherently peaceful presence of Awareness the art of Living in the NOW, and see that this peace is not dependent upon the condition of the mind, body or world, just as a screen is not dependent on the quality of the words or images that appear on it.

The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues

2013-03-29T06:59:00.001Z

There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues" (2) In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs (2).

Drugs seem to cause surges in dopamine neurotransmitters and other pleasure brain messengers. However, the brain quickly adapts and these circuits desensitize, which allows for withdrawal symptoms to occur (3). Drug addiction works on some of the same neurobiological mechanisms that aid in learning and memories (3). "This new view of dopamine as an aid to learning rather than a pleasure mediator may help explain why many addictive drugs, which unleash massive surges of the neurotransmitter in the brain, can drive continued use without producing pleasure-as when cocaine addicts continue to take hits long after the euphoric effects of the drug have worn off or when smokers smoke after cigarettes become distasteful." (4)

Since memory and pleasure zones are intertwined in the brain, many researchers have been using psychological approaches to stop drug use. Many rehabilitation centers have used classical conditioning to rehabilitate drug addicts. They combine exposure to drugs combined with cognitive scripts, like statements how drugs have destroyed a person's life or what can be accomplished without using drugs, according to DeLetis (5). By using classical conditioning, the drugs addicts pair the drugs with negative connotations and properties. "Adverse withdrawal symptoms can function as an instrumental negative reinforcer and can be linked to the opponent process theory of motivation." (6) However, drug addicts may relapse and start using again because of many environmental "cues", which are external forces that are associated with drug use in their lives. When the drugs addicts see these cues, their brain circuitry, especially the orbitofrontal cortex become hyperactive and causes these people to start craving drugs again (2). No matter how successful the rehabilitation treatment is, once those "cues" are around, the drug addicts remember how pleasurable the drugs felt and relapse into drug abuse again.

Through all of the research done about drug addiction and its affects on the brain, one can see how drug addiction is considered a brain disease. Drug addiction is a disabling disease and can ruin a person's life. By taking drugs, a person's brain becomes "rewired" to tolerate high amounts of dopamine neurotransmitters, but once those high amounts of dopamine cease to exist, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms. However, there are ways drug addicts can control their drug intake by using classical conditioning techniques, which allows them to associate drugs with negative attributes.

Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles.

2013-03-27T22:41:00.001Z

The Serotonin Support Group (SSG)

Is a mutual support group for people who suffer from low Serotonin levels, wishing to participate in a support group that uses as one method a vitamin supplement as a method of replacement or addition to a diet to help the sufferer.The historical basis of this form of nutritional treatment was discovered and researched by Bill Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous and it is to promote this Legacy to persons who suffer from low serotonin uptake and depression that the Group was formed.Bill Wilson wished to add a step to the 12 he had produced for AA. We struggle to make that possible and fulfill his promise. Without detracting from the message of recovery in the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. If alcoholics and addictive abusers of other drugs have specific chemical imbalances in the brain, and if these imbalances turn out to be reliable enough and measurable enough in sufficiently large numbers of human addicts, it is natural to wonder whether, eventually, science can find a way to correct them.

Some sort of neurotransmitter cocktail, maybe.

Or just possibly... a pill?

Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles. His desire was to help alcoholics stay recovered. This means he would have immediately brought this mineral replacement therapy that eliminates alcohol cravings forth without exception. Andrew W. Saul, includes Bill Wilson as an inductee of the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame at the Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 29, 2006 in his induction speech, “…To this day, selective history records A.A.’s 12-Step Program, but has forgotten, or deliberately purged, what Bill wanted to be A.A.’s 13th step – orthomolecular therapy with vitamin B3.”[Lee Brack1] In February 2009, Orthomolecular Medicine’s founder, Abram Hoffer and Bill Wilson’s good friend, clarified to me over the phone, “..yes, Lee, he wanted to share this information as an added step and talked about it all the time because he felt so strongly about nutrition…” Abram Hoffer passed away a few months later in May having lived healthy and happily for ninety one and a half years.

The results strongly suggest that the mechanism of depression after alcohol drinking may be related to serotonin.

2013-03-27T22:39:00.001Z

We examined tryptophan and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) levels in the blood after consumption of alcohol. Forty-five minutes after drinking, whole blood serotonin concentration was significantly reduced, whereas no changes were observed in tryptophan level. The diurnal rhythm of 5-HT in subjects who the day before had drunk alcohol was quite different from the control group, but very similar to that of patients with depression. The results strongly suggest that the mechanism of depression after alcohol drinking may be related to serotonin.

The important thing with serotonin, is to keep it at steady levels.

2013-03-27T22:36:00.001Z

The important thing with serotonin, is to keep it at steady levels. The medicines that raise the level of serotonin in the brain do so by slowing the reabsorbtion of serotonin. The alcohol increases the availible serotonin for a bit and then it drops off quickly, leaving the depressed person feeling worse, and they tend to not take the medicine correctly when they feel badly or are drunk. High serotonin levels do not mean somebody will feel happy or good, It makes it more likely that they won't feel realy bad.

Ms Sandiford to be executed for drug trafficking.

2013-01-22T10:23:00.001Z

Lindsay Sandiford was arrested in May last year after she tried to enter the Indonesian holiday island with illegal drugs worth £1.6 million hidden in her suitcase.

Local prosecutors had called for the 56-year-old housewife to be jailed for 15 years. But today there were gasps in the Bali courtroom when a panel of judges announced Ms Sandiford would be executed for drug trafficking.

As the shock verdict was announced, Ms Sandiford, from Gloucestershire, slumped back in her chair in tears before hiding her face with a brown sarong as she was led out of the courtroom.

Merry Christmas

2012-12-16T14:12:00.001Z

2012-12-10T09:10:00.001Z

Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We've all been there, finishing a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downing cookie after cookie while cramming for a big test. But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.

Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings. But understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it.

One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it's prompted by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they're stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine's Day or the celebration of a holiday feast.

Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. More often, though, it's the countless little daily stresses that cause someone to seek comfort or distraction in food.

Emotional eating patterns can be learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. A kid who is given cookies as a way to stop crying may learn to link cookies with comfort.

It's not easy to "unlearn" patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what's going on.

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT

2012-12-04T12:33:00.001Z

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT

You may be lost in the addiction to busyness if…

Your usual response to “how are you?” is “so busy”, “crazy busy” or “busy but good”
You spend time worrying about how busy you are going to be tomorrow
You get angry when your spouse or friends aren’t as busy as you
Your busy life keeps you up at night thinking about everything you didn’t get done
You make a point of letting people know that you stay at the office after hours
You check email several times a day
You zone out during conversations thinking about everything you have to do
You volunteer for things you don’t care about
You spend time complaining about how busy you are
You make list after list to make sure you don’t forget anything during your busy day
You allocate time each day to clean your desk or organize your stuff
You regularly eat in your car
You use a phone in the car because “it’s the only time you have to talk”

experts believe we can actually become "addicted" to stress.

2012-09-07T06:40:00.001+01:00

Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may increase our risk for cancer and other diseases), take a moment to exhale. In moderate amounts, stress can boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition.

Still, in some cases, stress does more than light a productivity-boosting fire under our butts. Both emotional and physical stress activate our central nervous system, causing a “natural high,” says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. “By activating our arousal and attention systems,” Pfaus says, “stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do.”

This may be why, experts believe, some of us come to like stress a little too much.

Type A and Type D personalities — or people prone to competitiveness, anxiety, and depression — may be most likely to get a high from stressful situations, says stress management specialist Debbie Mandel. Stress “addicts,” Mandel says, “may also be using endless to-do lists to avoid less-easy-to-itemize problems — feelings of inadequacy, family conflicts, or other unresolved personal issues.”

Some stress junkies have difficulty listening to others, concentrating, and even sleeping because they can’t put tomorrow’s agenda out of their minds, explains Mandel. Others tend to use exaggerated vocabulary — craaazy busy right now, workload’s insane!! And some begin to feel anxious at the mere thought of slowing down their schedule.

But psychologist and addiction researcher Stanton Peele cautions against labeling anyone a stress addict. “Only when that pursuit of stress has a significant negative impact on your life could it qualify as addiction,” he said, adding that many people are able to effectively manage — and in fact thrive under — high stress conditions. (Think: Olympic athletes or President Obama.)

Study: Stress Shrinks the Brain and Lowers Our Ability to Cope with Adversity

For budding stress “addicts” or for those who just, well, feel overwhelmed, here are some tips to dial down that anxiety:

Seek professional help if you’re verging on burnout. (Not only can hashing it out with a therapist take a load off your mind. Some studies suggest it also boosts physical fitness.)
Do something creative. Mandel recommends carving out a once-weekly time not to think about tomorrow’s agenda by painting, cooking, writing, dancing, or anything else that’ll take you off the clock temporarily.
Take it outside. Numerous studies show spending time in nature improves general well-being, lowers anxiety, stress and depression, and even boosts self-confidence. Especially for women. (As it turns out, most addiction recovery centers offer outdoor-immersion programs.)
Calm down quickly. If you really don’t have time for any of the above, these 40 tricks to chill take five minutes or less.

Some of us may seek out stress a bit more excessively than others and struggle to just relax. It takes skill to handle hectic agendas and long lists of responsibilities — without losing sleep or feeling frazzled. So try these tips and try not to freak out.

Worried that you or someone you know seeks out stress a little too much? Think stress addiction is a myth? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

For those red wine drinkers who’ve been feeling morally superior about all the health benefits of the relaxing glass or two sipped during dinner, there’s some bad news on the horizon.

2012-09-07T06:31:00.001+01:00

Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows. Spanish researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona found that non-alcoholic red wine reduced blood pressure in men at high risk for heart disease better than standard red wine or gin, according to the study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research. Although the reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was modest, decreases of just 4 and 2 mm Hg have been associated with a 14 to 20 percent reduction in heart disease and stroke, the researchers pointed out. “The daily consumption of dealcoholized red wine could be useful for the prevention of low to moderate hypertension,” they concluded. Although there have been many studies on the impact of moderate drinking on health, the findings have been mixed, with some studies showing a benefit and others suggesting none. The new study found that 3 ounces of gin a day had no impact on blood pressure, while consumption of regular red wine led to a small, but not statistically significant, improvement. The new study suggests that if you’re going to have a drink, red wine would be the healthiest choice, said Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt, a heart disease prevention specialist and a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, Spratt said, “while there are those of us in cardiology who believe in the benefits of red wine, we want to be wary. We’re not going like gangbusters recommending people go out and start drinking. There are a lot of problems associated with drinking, like weight gain, cardiomyopathy, alcoholism, an increased breast cancer risk in women who consume two or more drinks a day.” Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues suspect that blood pressure improvements were due to the impact of polyphenols, a red wine component, on nitric oxide. The theory is that nitric oxide molecules help blood vessels relax, which allows better flow and more blood to reach the heart and other organs. For the new study, Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues followed 67 men with diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors. During the study, the men were all required to consume the same foods along with one of three drinks: 10 ounces of red wine, 10 ounces of non-alcoholic red wine or 3 ounces of gin. During the 12 week study, the men tried each diet/beverage combination for four weeks at a time. The researchers determined that the standard red wine and its nonalcoholic counterpart contained equal amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant which has been shown to decrease blood pressure. Men who drank regular red wine saw minor reductions in blood pressure – too small, in fact, to be statistically significant. Those who drank gin with their meals saw no change in blood pressure. But men who drank non-alcoholic red wine saw a blood pressure decrease of about 6 mm Hg in systolic and 2 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues concluded that their findings show that the alcohol in red wine actually weakens its ability to lower blood pressure.

Dream Warriors Testament: PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM Flash News best selling new addiction book

2012-09-02T19:29:00.001+01:00

Dream Warriors Testament:PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM

Dream Warriors testament, Arriving at a time in my life after thirty years of not drinking to leave an honest account of what it was like, my experience the good and the bad, the addictions of which alcohol was but one, the spiritual experiences and the formation of my personal program.The founding of Narcotics Anonymous in Spain.The trails and tribulations of the battles and failures with the ego.Many people need to remain anonymous within my journal and many may see there rolls differently.The writing is by a dyslexic this is not an excuse but a fact.Without the help of AA,NA,CA,ALANON,OA,SA and CODA this story would have not been possible.Many Angels have appeared in my life and I acknowledge you all.My sponsor and authentic founder of NA Spain remains my confident and long term friend.This person without any thought of reward spent endless time supporting me threw the early years of recovery and whom I will be eternally grateful.

PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM

Now cast your mind back thirty years.A hopeless drunk is staggering our of a nightclub set in an area known as over the border in a North East English town. The street lights shimmering off the tarmac rushed towards me as I crumpled into unconsciosness My semicomatse head bouncing off the granite curbstones feeling like a gentle caress. Blackout, oblivion was where my advanced alcoholism always took me. The promise of a wonderous adventure filled illusions had long since disappeared.The idea that I could handle alcohol or drugs had seemed irrelevant the inevitability of my condition overcame me I dimmely felt hands rifleing threw my pockets. Hopelessly drunk I was incapable of doing anything even my bodily functions now took care of themselves. Death, whatever that was, would have been welcomed as yet another phase of insane bingeing ran its course.By know I was starting to understand that once I drank I had no control over the outcome.All the excuses had been used up and I was in utter bewilderment as to why my longtime friend alcohol had turned on me.Where had my friends disappeared to and the conviviality of there happy company.

The answer crashed into my befuddled brain I had used up all there excuses as well as mine and had become the unfunny court jester who continuosly embarrassed them with drunken brawling heaping abuse onto those closest to me as the full reality of my condition became apparent to them all.The witty raconteaur had become the stinking drunk,bloated vomiting and unfunny.In reality I sorted out dark places where people like me sort the company of like minded others.The illegal blues clubs and shebeens the drinking dens for prostitutes and criminals.I could not resist the call to visit once I had, had that first drink.It did not matter what it was for I had long since recognised that if it was a weak shandy or a double whisky the results would be exactly the same.It came as no surprise to be lying in the gutter blacked out.

What did come as a surprise was to be sitting in the back of a taxicab.What had happened had I met with a good Samaritan for they where a rareity in this area of dockland.I was over the years after this to try many times to attempt to rationalise this answer out. Had some golden lady of the night rescued me doubtful but possible or a kindly taxi driver even more improbable.Yet here I was being dropped off outside my front door in a small suburban village.My eyes fearfully scanned the street for what had become the inevitable results of my binges a police car.I thanked the taxi driver and searched for my keys.No police car but now the guilt and remorse the terrible psychical withdrawal from alcohol gripped my being. I must have another drink as my skin started crawling and the stomach wrenching vomit reflex took hold.

It was at this time I recognised that all the lights were on yet there was no one in the house.I stopped I glanced at the red flock wallpaper with the glistening remains of the whisky glass catching the evidential reflection of the lights.Yes this was the right house.There was the drinks cupboard it was open nothing remained. Panic,fear my head whirled a neon red sign shown in my head NO DRINK.No drink nothing.I heard a car drive up my car, my wife.I needed to get what was left of the brain into gear.I wracked my brain for a solution something that would work something that would give one more drink anything.She was on the path give me an idea any idea nothing. The withdrawls were kicking in the shakeing was starting with the first tremors my fingers twitched as the withdrawls started.Its just a hangover.You used the magic word that would start the withdrawl HANGOVER. I didn’t do hangovers anymore I just got sick very sick very quickly.How the hell was I to get a drink I must have a drink.I needed a solution fast any solution.

DREAM WARRIORS ADDICTION BOOK REVIEW

2012-09-02T18:05:00.000+01:00

The street lights shimmering off the tarmac rushed towards me as I crumpled into unconsciosness My semicomatse head bouncing off the granite curbstones felt like a gentle caress. Blackout, oblivion was where my advanced alcoholism always took me. The promise of wonderous adventure filled illusions had long since disappeared.The idea that I could handle alcohol or drugs had seemed irrelevant the inevitability of my condition overcame me I dimmely felt hands rifleing threw my pockets. Hopelessly drunk I was incapable of doing anything even my bodily functions now took care of themselves. Death whatever that was would have been welcomed as yet another phase of insane bingeing ran its course.By know I was starting to understand that once I drank I had no control over the outcome.All the excuses had been used up and I was in utter bewilderment as to why my longtime friend alcohol had turned on me.Where had my friends disappeared to and the conviviality of there happy company.

The answer crashed into my befuddled brain I had used up all there excuses as well as mine and had become the unfunny court jester who continuosly embarrassed them with drunken brawling heaping abuse onto those closest to me as the full reality of my condition became apparent to them all.The witty raconteaur had become the stinking drunk,bloated vomiting and unfunny.I now sort out dark places where people like me sort the company of like minded other.The illegal blues clubs and shebeens the drinking dens for prostitutes and criminals.I could not resist the call to visit once I had,had that first drink.It did not matter what it was for I had long since recognised that if it was a weak shandy or a double whisky the results would be exactly the same.It came as no surprise to be lying in the gutter blacked out.

What did come as a surprise to be sitting in the back of a taxicab.What had happened had I met with a good Samaritan for they where a rareity in this area of dockland.I was over the years to try to attempt to rationalise the answer out.Had some golden lady of the night rescued me doubtful but possible or a kindly taxi driver even more improbable.Yet here I was being dropped off outside my front door in a small suburban village.My eyes fearfully scanned the street for what had become the inevitable results of my binges a police car.I thanked the taxi driver and searched for my keys.No police car but now the guilt and remorse the terrible psychical withdrawal from alcohol gripped my being. I must have another drink as my skin started crawling and the stomach wrenching vomit reflex took hold.

The sight of my long suffering wife and the pain that showed her face.The shame and guilt I felt drove me into paroxysm of thoughts a committee sat down and debated all the excuses and denials blame people I had used to get me of the hook.Nothing, and yet there was a glimmer deep down in the recesses of my mind .Lurked one excuse I had never used one dark thought, one excuse not used.Now was the time yet there was another voice that told me not to use this one. I don’t really know but in the befuddled state I was in I thought more people had arrived. I had fears that I had acted inopreoriewtly with them previously perhaps they were my wifes parents.I needed that one excuse for it to work I needed a commercial telephone book. I flicked threw the pages my confused brain addled at the inappropriate usage it needed sleep, another drink or a strangers bed. Yes there it said it something to do with alcoholics, a safe haven anywhere all I needed was another drink anything. When would someone answer it rang and rang. The phone was answered by a lady I explained cryptically that I might have a drinking problem.No , she explained you’ve rung ALANON you need AA please ring this number. In my minds eye I can see the sceptical looks from the group of people that surrounded my phone or perhaps they were never there my withdrawls often gave me illusions usually of shadows but who knows.To me they were real.I needed to get away escape link my wounds like the wounded beast I felt myself to be.I rang the new number it was answered and the person on the other end had a rich deep calming voice.Do you want to stop.I looked at my real or imagined audience.Yes I said.Right I will be with you shortly.What did he mean with me shortly.Ah well I thought someone else to hide behind that was an advantage the chance for another drink..My mind was completely warped around the obsession to drink it filled every waking minute.

The doorbell rang.Hello my names Bill and I am an alcoholic. My first recollections of Bill were his description was correct he had a big brandy nose, yet he was kind a smile creased his face.I remember little of what we talked about except he asked me if I felt inferior.I said I did.He said right we are off to our first AA meeting.Just like that. I had been twelth stepped.I remember little of our trip the the local asylum because that’s where AA held it meetings. I followed Bill along the pea green corridors.A fire burnt in the grate most people were smileing.No one had smiled at me for a long trime some I recognised from my Rugby days.the rugby club had been a watering hole back when drinking had been fun. I listened to there stories and then talked telling them how different my story was and using my plethora of lies and ralionalisations which I had come to believe was my truth to explain why my case was special and different.I explained that I didn’t drink like them I had occasional binges and could stop for long periods.A total lie I had found many months ago the morning drink cure and topped up daily.perhaps I chose to ignore this fact.I was told in fact I was already projecting my next drink.I acceptedthat . Then someone said something which was to change my life. It was simple profound. You need not have another drink again.This one simple fact was to be the rock on which my sobriety was to be built.You need never have another drink again from this date forewords.

During experiments on the axons of the Woods Hole squid (loligo pealei), we tested our cockroach leg stimulus protocol on the squid's chromatophores.

2012-08-25T12:01:00.001+01:00

The results were both interesting and beautiful. The video is a view through an 8x microscope zoomed in on the dorsal side of the caudal fin of the squid. We used a suction electrode to stimulate the fin nerve. Chromatophores are pigmeted cells that come in 3 colors: Brown, Red, and Yellow. Each chromatophore is lined with up to 16 muscles that contract to reveal their color.

Paloma T. Gonzalez-Bellido of Roger Hanlon's Lab in the Marine Resource Center of the Marine Biological Labs helped us with the preparation. You can read their latest paper at:http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/08/13/rspb.2012.1374

she had faith

2012-08-23T20:15:00.001+01:00

Why does Jesus ask who touched him? It’s a bizarre question — even his disciples think he’s being goofy in asking it. They are surrounded by a crowd of people pressing him to see him. Who touched Jesus? Everyone did — two or three times, probably. Of course, that leads us to wonder why this woman in particular was healed. Surely she wasn’t the only one in the crowd who was suffering from something. At least one other person must have had something that could be healed — even just an ingrown toenail.

The answer comes from Jesus: she was healed not because Jesus wanted to heal her or because she was the only one who needed healing, but rather because she had faith. As with previous instances of Jesus healing someone, it ultimately comes back to the quality of their faith which determines whether it is possible.

This suggests that while there was a crowd of people to see Jesus, maybe they didn’t all have faith in him. Perhaps they were just out to see the latest faith healer do a few tricks — not really believing in what was going on, but happy to be entertained nonetheless. The sick woman, however, did have faith and thus was she relieved of her ailments.

There was no need to perform sacrifices or rituals or obey complicated laws. In the end, being relieved of her presumed uncleanliness was just a matter of having the right sort of faith. This would be a point of contrast between Judaism and Christianity.

These quotations will strengthen your faith. Also, study hope, it is the raw material from which the house of faith is built. And finally, to learn more about faith itself go here: Scriptures on Faith & Believing and Do God’s Promises Cover What You Want?

Smith Wigglesworth - “I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe.”

Kenneth E. Hagin Sr. – “Faith begins where the will of God is known.”

Joni Erickson Tada - “Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.”

Rex Rouis - Hope = Desire + God’s Promise Faith = Hope + God’s Witness (of the promise)

Mark 4:26-27,28-29 – Faith is like a seed; plant it in your heart. God gives the harvest at the appointed time.

Rex Rouis - “Seeing is not believing. Faith comes by hearing, and seeing comes by believing and acting on what you heard.”

Matthew Barnett - “Faith is believing that God is going to take you places before you even get there.”

Randy Furco - “You can have hope without FAITH, But you can not have FAITH without Hope!”

George Mueller - “I have joyfully dedicated my whole life to the object of exemplifying how much may be accomplished by prayer and faith.”

Mark Victor Hansen - “Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first you have to believe.”

Ralph Hodgson – “Some things have to be believed to be seen.”

Kamran Karimi - “The Bible is not supposed to make sense, it is supposed to make faith.”

Carrie Judd Montgomery – “You get faith by studying the Word. Study that Word until something in you “knows that you know” and that you do not just hope that you know.”

Henry Clay Trumbull – Not prayer without faith, nor faith without prayer, but prayer in faith, is the cost of spiritual gifts and graces.

Rex Rouis - “It is faith alone, in Christ alone, which alone moves God, when you are alone.”

Smith Wigglesworth - “How can one come to possess great faith? Now listen, here is the answer to that: First, the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Faith must grow by soil, moisture, and exercise.”

Bible in Basic English…”the words of my mouth came from the faith in my heart; in the same way, our words are the outcome of our faith;” II Corinthians 4:13

George Mueller – The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

Kenneth E. Hagin Sr. – “Feed your faith and starve your doubts.” (Also, Lester Sumrall, and perhaps even one if the early disciples)

C. Nuzum – “Faith is the hand with which we take from God. When we have met all the conditions and taken what God is offering us, we must believe that we have that thing.”

Martin Luther – “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.”

DS Cairns – “Faith is not trustful acquiescence.”

Martin Luther - “The whole being of any Christian is faith and love. Faith brings the person to God, love brings the person to people.”

Rex Rouis - “Seek faith at all cost; it is the evidence of the answer of God.”

Rex Rouis - ”God is the Judge, Jesus is our Advocate, and faith is the evidence.”

Smith Wigglesworth - “Fear looks; faith jumps. Faith never fails to obtain its object. If I leave you as I found you, I am not God’s channel. I am not here to entertain you, but to get you to the place where you can laugh at the impossible.”

Dwight L. Moody - “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

Gloria Copeland – “You can’t stand effectively on “blind” faith. You must have a “knowing” faith, and that comes from believing wholeheartedly what the Word promises. You know God has spoken it and declared it to be so, and you know you can depend on that.” God’s Keys to Life

Marcus Ashford - “Be like God, in that you are fully assured that what you say will happen, and will come to pass.”

Rex Rouis - “Always remember, you are just one “hearing” away from Faith, just one ‘knowing” away from Peace, and just one “action” away from total Victory.”

Smith Wigglesworth - “There are two kinds of faith. There is the natural faith. But the supernatural faith is the gift of God.”

Pastor Mirek Hufton – “Belief is a moral decision.”

Pastor Tim Hall - The world says, “Seeing is believing” – Faith says, “Believing is seeing”.

John Calvin – “The subject then of these chapters may be stated thus, — man’s only righteousness is through the mercy of God in Christ, which being offered by the Gospel is apprehended by faith.”

Unknown – “When you find out what the Scripture says about a particular situation, faith can be established in your heart, this knowledge will influence your soul (your mind, your will and your emotions).” Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Max Lucado - “Our belief in God is not blind faith. Belief is having a firm conviction something is true, not hoping it’s true.”

William James – “Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible”

Unknown – “Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding on to”

Rex Rouis - “Faith is God’s sovereign stamp of approval upon the things you are hoping for; His presence graced upon your seeking, and His witness placed upon your request.”

St. Thomas Aquinas – “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Martin Luther King, Jr – “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

Anselm - “I believe in order that I may understand.”

Unknown – “Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.”

Rex Rouis - Faith is a heart received sanction by the Sovereign of Heaven; given the moment His will for a specific promise has been met.

Carroll - “Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch.”

Rex Rouis - Faith comes alive when the Word read from the page becomes the Word heard in your heart.

Rex Rouis - If our Christian walk was a business, faith would be our profits. It is the currency of God. Prayer is a transaction supported by faith.

William Newton Clarke – “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see”

Mahatma Gandhi – “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever”

C.S. Lewis – “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods”

Kahlil Gibran – “Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”

Oswald Chambers – “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”

Oswald Chambers – “Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.”

Unknown – “Calmness is the way we show that we are trusting in God.”

Elizabeth Barret Browning – “Whoso loves, believes the impossible.”

Rex Rouis - ”Faith is the God sanctioned ability for man to trust what God can and will do.”

William Wordsworth – “Faith is a passionate intuition.”

Charles Finney – “I am speaking now of the kind of faith that ensures the blessing. Do not understand me as saying that there is nothing in prayer that is acceptable to God, or that even obtains the blessing sometimes, without this kind of faith (emphasis his).”

Smith Wigglesworth – “It is a blessed thing to learn that God’s word can never fail. Never harken to human plans. God can work mightily when you persist in believing Him in spite of discouragements from the human standpoint…I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe. No man considers how he feels if he believes. The man who believes God has it (emphasis his).”

Rex Rouis - “The hearing of faith is the sound of the Word of God coming alive in your heart.”

Smith Wigglesworth – “I can’t understand God by feelings. I can’t understand the Lord Jesus Christ by feelings. I can only understand God the Father and Jesus Christ by what the Word says about them. God is everything the Word says He is. We need to get acquainted with Him through the Word.”

Andrew Murray – “Every exhibition of the power of faith was the fruit of a special revelation from God. . . . Our spiritual power depends on God Himself speaking those promises to us.”

Martin Luther (Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans) – “O, when it comes to faith, what a living, creative, active, powerful thing it is. It cannot do other than good at all times. It never waits to ask whether there is some good work to do…”

Billy Bray - “He has made me glad and no one can make me sad. He makes me shout and no one can make me doubt…”

Dietrich Bonheoffer – “only the believer is obedient and only the obedient believe.”

Jerome – “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ”

Rex Rouis - ”Nothing can stop the individual who firmly believes that the wind in his sails comes directly from God.”

Saint Augustine – “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”

Saint Augustine – “If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”

Saint Augustine – “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

Saint Augustine – “He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.”

Scandinavian Saying – “Faith is like a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark.”

Carter Lindberg – “Faith enables persons to be persons because it lets God be God.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. – “Everything we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”

Martin Luther – “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”

Martin Luther – “Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.”

Rex Rouis - ”Faith is a happy peaceful narrow road.”

Norman Vincent Peale – “Frequently remind yourself that God is with you, that He will never fail you, that you can count upon him. Say these words, “God is with me, helping me.”

James E. Faust – “Believing requires action.”

Robert Louis Stevenson – “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

Rex Rouis - ”Corresponding action to the nature of God is called holiness. Corresponding action to the commandments of God is called obedience. Corresponding action to the promises of God is called believing.”

Henry Ward Beecher – “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”

Blaise Pascal – “I know whom I have believed.” (Latin – Scio cui credidi)

Blaise Pascal – “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”

Blaise Pascal - “Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.”

Unknown - “If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.”

Unknown – “Weave in faith and God will find the thread.”

Unknown – “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

Shoemaker, Samuel M. – “Eternal life does not begin with death; it begins with faith.”

Smith, Sydney – “It is always right that a man should be able to render a reason for the faith that is within him.”

Stott, John R. – “Faith is a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.”

Teller, Edward – “When you get to the end of all the light you know and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”

Thackeray, William M. – “Tis not the dying for a faith that’s so hard… ‘Tis the living up to it that’s difficult.”

Tocqueville, Alexis De – “Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?”

Rex Rouis - ”Doubt sees what currently is and no more. Hope sees what can be but is not yet. Faith sees what is and will be.”

Rex Rouis - ”Hope will have it sometime. Faith has it now. Believing acts on it now.”

Rex Rouis - ”In the same way that salt without taste is worthless, and a lamp that is hidden is useless, faith without actions is lifeless.”

Unknown – “As our faith increases, so does our ability to obey.”

Unknown - “Faith is the vision of the heart; it sees God in the dark as well as in the day.”

Unknown – “Faith is: dead to doubts, dumb to discouragements, blind to impossibilities.”

Unknown – “Faith makes: The uplook good, the outlook bright, the future glorious.”

Unknown – “Faith does not deny the evil, but it sees around it.”

Unknown – “We seldom lose our faith by a blow out, usually it’s just a slow leak.”

Unknown – “Faith is like electricity. You can’t see it, but you can see the light.”

Henrietta Mears - “Faith is caught rather than taught.”

Elton Trueblood - “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”

Martin Luther – “Reason is the enemy of faith.”

Martin Luther – “Faith is a living and unshakable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.”

Martin Luther – “Peace if possible, truth at all costs.”

Unknown – Don’t believe in miracles, rely on them!

Rex Rouis - ”Hope is Faith in Seed Form – Faith is Hope in Final Form”

C.H. Spurgeon – “If you wish to know God, you must know his Word. If you wish to perceive His power, you must see how He works by his Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word.”

J. Hudson Taylor – Written to his wife during one difficult time in the work of the China Inland Mission, “We have twenty-five cents – and all the promises of God!”

Eddie Zepeda - “Faith is doing God’s will when you don’t feel like it.”

Eddie Zepeda - “Say what you heard so you can see what you said.” Or – “Say what you heard so you can see what you heard.”

George Mueller – “To learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.”

George Mueller - “If the Lord fails me at this time, it will be the first time.”

Rex Rouis - ”God operates in love by faith. If we do not understand His love we have no foundation for faith. If we do not understand His requirement of faith it will affect our understanding of His love.”

Rex Rouis - ”The reality of the word of God must first be expressed in the heart before faith can express the reality of God to the world.”

John R. Stott - “Faith is a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.”

Rex Rouis - “The Word of God makes faith available. Faith makes the Word of God available. The Word of God made available through faith releases the power of God.”

Jack Coe – “If you have worry, you don’t have faith, and if you have faith, you don’t have worry.”

Dr. T. J. McCrossan – “When unbelief kept Christ from healing the sick on earth, it will surely do so today.”

Rick Renner – “Faith is the spark that ignites the impossible and causes it to become possible. When a person’s faith is activated, it sets in motion supernatural power that enables that person to do what he normally would never be able to do!”

E. W. Kenyon – “There is no sickness problem. There is simply a problem of the believer’s coming to know his inheritance in Christ.”

Edith Edman – “Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.”

Thomas Fuller - “He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.”

Smith Wigglesworth - “Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials.”

Smith Wigglesworth - “I cannot understand how God can give to any of His children glory and virtue, but it nevertheless is true that He does…. There is something about believing in God, that makes God willing to pass over a million people just to anoint you. I believe God will always turn out to meet you on a special line if you dare to believe Him.”

Lillian B. Yeomans – “Just believe what God says that Jesus has done for you, body, soul, and spirit – think about it, talk about it, sing about it, shout about it, and the praise cure has begun.”

Charles F. Parham – “The anointing of the Holy Spirit is given to illuminate His Word, to open the Scriptures, and to place the spiritual man in direct communication with the mind of God.”

Oral Roberts – “Faith is not something you have to get. It’s something that you, as a born-again child of God, already have. Act on it by releasing it to God. That’s when your healing starts!”

Rex Rouis - ”Believing is simply acting consistent with a knowing from God.”

John Osteen – “Believe you receive in the faith realm, and you shall have it in the natural realm.”

Corrie Ten Boom – “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Kenneth Copeland – “Fear tolerated is faith contaminated.”

Gordon Lindsay – “Never dig up in unbelief what you have sown in faith.”

Martin Luther – “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith…” The Small Catechism

affirmations are positive statements that you tell yourself to believe.

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They can help you create the life that you want because your actions are governed by your thoughts. You will find the most powerful and beautiful affirmations from God’s own book, the Holy Bible.

Be Strong and Confident in Life

“I can do all things through Christ.” Norman Vincent Peale, a world renowned lecturer and author of many books call this verse from the Bible as “the seven magic words”. Many times you are faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles in life. Saying this affirmation constantly to yourself will give you the realization that there is nothing you can’t do with God by your side.

Have Peace and Contentment in Life

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” This verse from Psalm 23 of the New Testament of the Bible can bring so much peace to one’s heart and mind especially in times of trouble. It creates the feeling of assurance that you are always safe with the Lord. You know that He will never let you go astray from the path of righteousness if you follow Him.

Be Healthy and Overcome Diseases

“I am the Lord that healeth thee.” What a consoling affirmation for people faced with illness. A visit to the doctor can scare you out of your wits. Or he may sap your energy with his frightening findings about your health. God promises healing to those who seek Him. There are so many stories of miraculous recoveries from life threatening diseases which are attributed to faith. What is indeed impossible with man is possible with God. Even doctors acknowledge that they are merely instruments of God. Spiritually healthy people are healthier according to findings. They also recover faster from sickness compared to those who don’t practice their faith.

Delight in God and Get the Desires of your Heart

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This beautiful verse from Proverbs 37:4 brings cheer and joy. Just like a loving father, God bestows blessings to those who love Him. God wants you to be happy because you are His child. When you have a joyful heart because of loving the Lord, you radiate this joy to other people Positive feelings can result to so many good things and happiness in life.

Positive affirmations cost nothing unlike synthetic drugs used to treat depression and other psychological problems. Why not try them? They can make your life more meaningful. You only need to believe the truth behind these words to help you create the life you want.

It was in God’s secret place that I was sheltered from the storms and where I received my rejuvenation and strength.

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Each evening after everyone had settled down, I would make my way to my sofa chair in my room, door locked behind me with a do not disturb sign on my door. Once seated and comfortable in my chair, I would put on some soothing music and then close my eyes. For the one to two hours I bathed myself in God’s love and glory. Almost immediately His sweet presence would enter my room. It was like having a daily appointment with God. I didn’t do anything in particular while I sat there. I was just abiding in Christ.

During this time sometimes I would imagine myself laying my head on Jesus’s knee as he sat or resting my head on his shoulder. Other times I would envision myself dancing with the Lord in a kind of waltz fashion. I would see his eye’s intently looking into mine with a piercing and penetrating love and power.

If anything was bothering me or on my mind, I would visualize myself giving it to the Lord or even nailing it to the cross. It was a time that I could cast all my cares upon him.

Sometimes the presence of God was so strong that I never wanted to leave this place. I felt I could sit there forever. I didn’t want to go back to reality. In God’s presence everything seemed okay. It was in God’s secret place that I was sheltered from the storms and where I received my rejuvenation and strength.

Little did I know that in just a few years I would find out that believers all over the world were engaging in this practice and that some had actually given it a name: Soaking in God’s Spirit or Soaking in the Spirit.

Just recently I held a Christian Meditation Retreat in the beautiful Shasta mountains where we, as a group, experienced what it means to soak in God’s spirit or his presence. The terminology for soaking in the spirit makes is similar to soaking up all of God’s attributes like a sponge or wading in his glory. It is a time that we are just “being” with God in the same way that Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day. The scriptures tell us that in God’s presence is fullness of joy.

Recently I have began again to incorporate the practice of soaking in God’s spirit into my Christian meditation practice and it is just as rewarding and meaningful as it was years ago. It, along with other forms of Biblical meditation, provides me with a variety of tools that help me to quiet my mind, tame my emotions, awaken my spirit, and subdue my fleshy nature. I can’t tell you how grateful that I am to be able to manage my thoughts and actions instead of them managing me. It is an ongoing process that will continue until I go to be with the Lord.

In the rest of this article I’d like to give you a few instructions or suggestions on how to soak in the spirit. I’ve given you many already, but here are a few more.

1.Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down where you won’t be disturbed for at least 30 minutes.

2.Choose a soothing music CD that ministers to your spirit or touches your heart, instrumental is best but you can alternate.

3.Set a timer for the length of time you want to dwell with God. It is easy for minutes to become hours and keeping a timer will keep you from missing important appointments.

4.Don’t use this time for Bible reading or doing anything other than sitting at Jesus’s feet. We are usually so busying doing for the Lord and trying to minister to Him and his people, that we don’t know how to let God minister to us.

5.You may use some of this time for prayer or journaling any inspirational words from the Lord to you, but let the majority of the time be just being.

6.The first 10-minutes are generally the hardest because our minds are often restless and filled with thoughts or other worries. Use this time to scan your body for any tension and use the power of deep breathing to breath into, release, and soothe away stress. If your mind won’t be still, keep it in the present moment by repeat the phrase “peace be still” or “Jesus is my peace,”each time you realize you’ve been caught in a mental drama.

7.If you have a particular care or worry, visualize yourself nailing it to Jesus’s cross or tell God about it and give it to him. He tells us to “cast every care upon Him because he cares for us” and “all you who are weary and of a heavy heart come unto me and I will give you rest.”

Artist Draws 8,628 Self-Portraits Under the Influence of Love and Other Drugs

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This self-portrait by Bryan Lewis Saunders shows his "normal face," but the other 8,000-plus images he's created over the past 16 years go into some pretty strange territory.

Drugs: Psilocybin Mushrooms

"I wanted to see how drugs changed my self-perception," Saunders said. "So I drew myself under the influence of a wide variety of them."

Drugs: Bath Salts

A self-portrait of Saunders after taking bath salts.

Third Ear Experiment, No. 2

Another self-portrait from the Third Ear Experiment series.

Third Ear Experiment, No. 1

"For 28 days I blocked up my external ears and attached a copper funnel to my mouth in an effort to connect my Eustachian tubes to my pineal gland by physically rerouting the way in which sound entered my body," Saunders said of the Third Ear Experiment series.

I'm All Out Of Hair, I'm So Lost Without You, No. 1

"I shaved my body hair and used it in my self-portraits to make e-cards letting people know how much I missed them." Saunders said.

I'm All Out Of Hair, I'm So Lost Without You, No. 2

Another body-hair-inspired piece.

Died: Great Aunt

Saunders describes his Died series as capturing "the difference between when a stranger or family member dies." This image was inspired by the death of his great aunt.

Died: Neighbor

Another self-portrait in theDied series, this time inspired by a deceased neighbor.

Naked Yoga: Casa Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

"I tried to do yoga and was using art as an incentive, but I think I waited too late in life to start," Saunders said of his Naked Yoga series.

My Drawings Aren't Messed Up, It's the Symmetry of My Face, No. 1

"Using the golden ratio and other ideas from geometry, I was trying to locate the precise imperfections of my face," Saunders said.

My Drawings Aren't Messed Up, It's the Symmetry of My Face, No. 2

Another self-portrait Saunders did based on the proportions of his face.

Facing Fear: Heights

"I wanted to use art to overcome some of my fears, so I drew myself while facing them," Saunders said of the portraits he did about confronting his fears. "A sort of 'exposure therapy.'"

Facing Fear: Trains

Saunders facing his fear of trains.

Popular Toys, No. 1

"From time to time I use art to revitalize myself," said Saunders of his Popular Toys series, in which he uses iconic playthings "to help bring out my inner child." This one is the artist as Mr. Potato Head.

Popular Toys, No. 2

This image in the Popular Toys series depicts a My Little Pony toy.

Psycho-Anatomy, No. 1

"Finding and connecting the similarities between different organs in the body," Saunders said of hisPsycho-Anatomy series. This image depicts the digestive system.

Psycho-Anatomy, No. 2

This image in Saunders' Psycho-Anatomy series depicts the brain.

Quitting Smoking, No. 1

"I wanted to see how quitting smoking changed my self-perception," Saunders said of the Quitting Smoking series. "I think I lasted a month before I started again."

Quitting Smoking, No. 2

Another self-portrait from the Quitting Smoking series.

Sensation Drawings: Ear Nibbles

"[This is] A project I did with my girlfriend to see how different and similar we felt the same physical sensations in or on our bodies," Saunders said of his Sensation Drawings series.

Sensation Drawings: Tummy Caresses

A self-portrait from Saunders' Sensation Drawings series based on the feeling of a stomach caress.

View as gallery

As of this moment, Bryan Lewis Saunders has drawn 8,628 self-portraits. By the end of the day, he’ll have completed 8,629. And although he’s recently become known as the guy who draws under the influence of drugs, his creations have been inspired by everything from death to body hair over the years.

“All day every day, images and feelings of the world come into me and it’s inescapable,” said Saunders in an e-mail to Wired. “So I thought if I did a self-portrait every day for the rest of my life, with no rules, the world and I could be more linked to my nervous system. And I could die knowing that I tried to experience as much as possible while I was alive.”

Saunders, a 43-year-old Virginia native who currently lives in Tennessee, comes off looking like the art world’s Louis C.K. in his wildly diverse images. He began his self-portrait experiment on March 30, 1995, after an art-history class discussion about the prevalence of artists who put themselves into images of the world around them. He didn’t entirely agree with that tack, so he flipped the concept on its head. (See his “normal face” self-portrait, which is the first image in the gallery above.)

Over the years, he’s created self-portraits based on love, the loss of family members and neighbors, his attempts at quitting smoking and the time he shaved off his body hair. And even though he’s not a “brony,” he once drew inspiration from My Little Pony. In the process, the amazingly prolific artist has opened a weird little window into life in modern America.

For the series based on his experiments with recreational and prescription drugs, he took everything from cocaine and Abilify to cough syrup and computer duster, then drew while under the influence. The resulting self-portraits range from intricately beautiful (psychedelic mushrooms) to insanely brutal (bath salts).

He’s undertaken other strange adventures as well, using the unusual experiences to generate unique imagery. “For 28 days I blocked up my external ears and attached a copper funnel to my mouth in an effort to connect my Eustachian tubes to my pineal gland by physically rerouting the way in which sound entered my body,” he said of his Third Ear Experiment.

“Only a severe stroke or coma could stop me from completing the self-portrait-a-day work.”

To date, Saunders has filled stacks of sketchbooks with his drawings — some days he does as many as nine of them. For the first decade of the project, the self-portraits were his primary artistic outlet. (In addition to drawing, Saunders now also does spoken word and performance art, and collaborates with musicians).

He doesn’t have any plans to stop cranking out the creative images. “Only a severe stroke or coma could stop me from completing the self-portrait-a-day work,” Saunders said.

Even though he’s had offers over the years to show his self-portraits at galleries, he’s been wary to hand them all over for fear of losing his life’s work. (He once had an entire exhibition stolen and had another sculpture vandalized during a show.) However, a collection of his drug-influenced self-portraits will be on display early next year at La Maison Rouge in Paris.

Addiction Books For relaxation When 50 Shades of Grey doesn’t cut it.

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The Science of Addiction: From Neurobiology to Treatment

Carlton K. Erickson
312 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company (2007)

Amazon Overview: Neuroscience is clarifying the causes of compulsive alcohol and drug use––while also shedding light on what addiction is, what it is not, and how it can best be treated––in exciting and innovative ways. Current neurobiological research complements and enhances the approaches to addiction traditionally taken in social work and psychology. However, this important research is generally not presented in a forthright, jargon-free way that clearly illustrates its relevance to addiction professionals. In The Science of Addiction, Carlton K. Erickson presents a comprehensive overview of the roles that brain function and genetics play in addiction.

The Addiction Solution: Unraveling the Mysteries of Addiction through Cutting-Edge Brain Science

David Kipper and Steven Whitney
304 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books (2010)

For decades addiction has been viewed and treated as a social and behavioral illness, afflicting people of “weak” character and “bad” moral fiber. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic technology have enabled doctors, for the first time, to correctly diagnose the disease and prove that addiction is an inherited, neuro-chemical disease originating in brain chemistry, determined by genetics, and triggered by stress. In their groundbreaking Addiction Breakthrough, David Kipper, MD, and Steven Whitney distill these exciting findings into a guide for the millions of adults who want to be free from the cycle of addiction, and for their loved ones who want to better understand it and to help.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Gabor Maté
520 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (2010)

Based on Gabor Maté’s two decades of experience as a medical doctor and his groundbreaking work with the severely addicted on Vancouver’s skid row, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts radically reenvisions this much misunderstood field by taking a holistic approach. Dr. Maté presents addiction not as a discrete phenomenon confined to an unfortunate or weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs throughout (and perhaps underpins) our society; not a medical "condition" distinct from the lives it affects, rather the result of a complex interplay among personal history, emotional, and neurological development, brain chemistry, and the drugs (and behaviors) of addiction. Simplifying a wide array of brain and addiction research findings from around the globe, the book avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting a thorough and compassionate self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness.

Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines his Former Life on Drugs

Marc Lewis
336 pages
Publisher: PublicAffairs (2012)

Marc Lewis’s relationship with drugs began in a New England boarding school where, as a bullied and homesick fifteen-year-old, he made brief escapes from reality by way of cough medicine, alcohol, and marijuana. In Berkeley, California, in its hippie heyday, he found methamphetamine and LSD and heroin. He sniffed nitrous oxide in Malaysia and frequented Calcutta’s opium dens. Ultimately, though, his journey took him where it takes most addicts: into a life of addiction, desperation, deception, and crime. But unlike most addicts, Lewis recovered and became a developmental psychologist and researcher in neuroscience. In Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, he applies his professional expertise to a study of his former self, using the story of his own journey through addiction to tell the universal story of addictions of every kind.

The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction

Dirk Hanson
472 pages
Publisher: BookSurge (2009)

A book for anyone concerned with the care and healing of addiction, substance abuse, and the latest advances in the area of addiction science. In The Chemical Carousel, science writer Hanson takes the reader on a voyage through the heady world of addiction science, from the lab to the clinic to the junky on the street. Hanson explains the workings of common neurotransmitters and documents the direct effect drugs and alcohol produce on the reward pathways of the brain. He shows how scientists and treatment professionals have finally given us an answer to the perennial question about addiction: Why can't those people just say no?

An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine

Howard Markel
336 pages
Publisher: Vintage (2012)

Acclaimed medical historian Howard Markel traces the careers of two brilliant young doctors--Sigmund Freud, neurologist, and William Halsted, surgeon--showing how their powerful addictions to cocaine shaped their enormous contributions to psychology and medicine. When Freud and Halsted began their experiments with cocaine in the 1880s, neither they, nor their colleagues, had any idea of the drug's potential to dominate and endanger their lives. An Anatomy of Addiction tells the tragic and heroic story of each man, accidentally struck down in his prime by an insidious malady: tragic because of the time, relationships, and health cocaine forced each to squander; heroic in the intense battle each man waged to overcome his affliction.

How to Change Your Drinking: a Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol

Kenneth Anderson
86 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (2010)

This book is the first comprehensive compilation of harm reduction strategies aimed specifically at people who drink alcohol. Whether your goal is safer drinking, reduced drinking, or quitting alcohol altogether, this is the book for you. It contains a large and detailed selection of harm reduction tools and strategies which you can choose from to build your own individualized alcohol harm reduction program. There are many practical exercises to help people change their behaviors, including risk-ranking worksheets, drinking charts, goal choice worksheets, and many more. There are also innumerable practical tips from folks who "have been there" and have turned their drinking habits around for the better.

Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do about It

William R. Miller and Kathleen M. Carroll
320 pages
Publisher: Guilford Press (2010)

While knowledge on substance abuse and addictions is expanding rapidly, clinical practice still lags behind. This state-of-the-art book brings together leading experts to describe what treatment and prevention would look like if it were based on the best science available. The volume incorporates developmental, neurobiological, genetic, behavioral, and social–environmental perspectives. Tightly edited chapters summarize current thinking on the nature and causes of alcohol and other drug problems; discuss what works at the individual, family, and societal levels; and offer robust principles for developing more effective treatments and services.

Writers On The Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency

Diana Raab and James Brown
204 pages
Publisher: Modern History Press (2012)

Writers On The Edge offers a range of essays, memoirs and poetry written by major contemporary authors who bring fresh insight into the dark world of addiction, from drugs and alcohol, to sex, gambling and food. Editors Diana M. Raab and James Brown have assembled an array of talented and courageous writers who share their stories with heartbreaking honesty as they share their obsessions as well as the awe-inspiring power of hope and redemption. Frederick & Steven Barthelme, Kera Bolonik, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Maud Casey, Anna David, Denise Duhamel, B.H. Fairchild, Ruth Fowler, David Huddle Perie Longo, Gregory Orr, Victoria Patterson, Molly Peacock, Scott Russell Sanders, Stephen Jay Schwartz, Linda Gray Sexton, Sue William Silverman, Chase Twichell, and Rachel Yoder

WHEN YOUR HIGHER POWER FAILS YOU

2012-08-22T14:20:00.001+01:00

It happens every time. Without fail. Without exception. I bet it's happened to you also. Just think about it. How often has your god failed you? Every single time. Every single time I have turned a human being into a god, or turned something man-made into an idol, or placed my trust, expectation, hope, and confidence in anything else but the one true God, my god has failed me. Some people are slow learners. I am one of them. I have made the same mistake countless times. And every single time, that's right, you've got it. It happens every time. Maybe I should be more careful when I place my trust, expectation, hope, and confidence in a human being. Maybe I should be more choosy with the human I choose. Not so. No matter the human, the same outcome will arise. My god will fail me. I did it again recently. I made the same mistake. But my mistake wasn't the human I chose. My mistake was the choice I made to pick a human. And guess what happened? You guessed it. My god failed me. But how can this happen, time and again? Easily. First, it happens when I fail to remember when I need not to forget. Never, ever, place what belongs to God in heaven in the hands of a human. My love and trust, my loyalty and faithfulness, my belief and confidence, my hope and expectation, must be placed in the Lord first and foremost, above all and everyone else - whether it be someone or something else, or whether it be myself. Second, it happens not because I forget, but because I don't realize and recognize what I have done. Hard habits sometimes die slowly, don't they? And slow habits die hard. It has been a hard lesson for me, and I have to be vigilant to ensure I don't unconsciously do what I have so often done. So what is the outcome of this all? My gods fail me. Every human I have ever made into a god, every person or thing I have ever turned into an idol, the result has always been the same. My false gods have failed me, hurt me, let me down, forsaken me, abandoned me, rejected me, broken me, fallen short, messed up, and a zillion other things. Seriously? Yes. Will the real God please stand up?

Researchers completing a new study on alcohol consumption have discovered that college-age students who binge drink are happier than those who don't.

2012-08-21T01:11:00.001+01:00

Those who engaged in binge drinking tend to belong to so-called high-status groups: wealthy, white, male and active in fraternity life. And those who did not belong to the high-status groups could achieve similar levels of social acceptance through the act of binge drinking. In fact, the study results suggest that students engaged in the heavy drinking practice to elevate their social status amongst peers rather than to alleviate depression or anxiety.

"The present study offers another insight into the nature of a seemingly intractable social problem," the study released on Monday reads. "It is our hope that by drawing attention to the important social motivations underlying binge drinking, institutional administrators and public health professionals will be able to design and implement programs for students that take into account the full range of reasons that students binge drink."

The Washington Post reports that the study's co-author and Colgate University associate professor Carolyn Hsu presented some of the findings during the American Sociological Association gathering in Denver last week.

Interestingly, the study results compiled from surveying 1,600 college students also continues to support past evidence suggesting that binge drinking leads to a number of problems affecting the mind and body, including alcoholism, violence, poor grades and risky sexual behavior.

"I would guess it has to do with feeling like you belong and whether or not you're doing what a 'real' college student does," Hsu told LiveScience. "It seems to be more about certain groups getting to define what that looks like."

Binge drinking was defined as consuming more than four drinks in one occasion for women and more than five drinks for men. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they had engaged in the practice, compared with 36 percent who said they had not.

Those statistics differ from similar evidence gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC's statistics measure binge drinking in the same quantity but limit the consumption period to two hours or fewer. Its results also found that the majority of binge drinkers (70 percent) were over the age of 26. The CDC has also found that 90 percent of alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 is done in the form of binge drinking, compared with 75 percent among all U.S. adults.

The Five Keys to Mindful Communication

2012-08-19T00:32:00.001+01:00

The first key of mindful communication, according to Chapman (2012), is having amindful presence. This means having an open mind, awake body and a tender heart. When you have a mindful presence, you give up expectations, stories about yourself and others, and acting on emotions.

You are fully in the present moment; your communication isn’t focused on the “me” and what the “me” needs, but the we.

Mindful listening is the second key to mindful communication. Mindful listening is about encouraging the other person. This means looking through the masks and pretense and seeing the value in the person and the strengths he or she possesses. It’s looking past the human frailties and flaws that we all have to see the authentic person and the truth in what that person is attempting to say.

Mindful speech, the third key, is about gentleness. Speaking gently means being effective in what you say. It’s about speaking in a way that you can be hard. To be gentle with our speech means being aware of when our own insecurities and fears are aroused to the point we are acting out of fear rather than acceptance.

Practicing self-compassion for our fear, envy, jealousy and self-doubts is more effective than focusing on others as being a threat or attempting to change them. When you use gentle speech, you are communicating acceptance to the other person and saying what is true, not an interpretation or an exaggeration or a minimization.

The key to mindful relationships is unconditional friendliness. Unconditional friendliness means accepting the ebb and flow of relationships. Sometimes you meet new friends, sometimes friends move on, sometimes there is joy and sometimes there is pain. Sometimes you’ll feel lonely, sometimes you’ll feel cherished and connected, and then you’ll feel lonely again.

Unconditional friendliness means that your acceptance of others is not dependent on them staying with you or agreeing with you. You don’t cling to relationships to avoid loss.

Mindful responsiveness is like playfulness. Playfulness is the openness that you can have when you let go of preconceived ideas and strategies. It’s like creating something new. Imagine two skilled dancers who alternatively lead each other in creating a new dance in every interaction, never doing the same complete dance over and over. They respond in the moment to the message sent by the other. There are no rules or expectations and yet they both bring skillful behavior.

Mindful communication requires practice. If you choose to practice the keys, you might choose to focus on one at a time. Being willing to regulate your emotions is a prerequisite to mindful communication and mindfulness of your emotions is necessary for emotion regulation.

Mindfulness is a core skill for the emotionally sensitive.

References

Chapman, Susan Gillis. The Five Keys to Mindful Communication: Using Deep Listening and Mindful Speech to Strengthen Relationships, Heal Conflicts and Acceomplish Your Goals. Boston: Shambhala, 2012.

ADDICTION charity Focus12 has received a huge financial boost after a codumentary about Russell Brand was shown last night.

2012-08-17T10:56:00.001+01:00

The documentary Russell Brand: Addiction to Recovery resulted in an immediate boost in donations and inspired the managing director of Bury St Edmunds based Chevington Finance and Leasing to offer the charity £106,000 over three years.

Russell Brand attended Focus12, the Bury St Edmunds abstinence-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, in 2003 and is now a patron of the charity, describing it as ‘a really excellent example of a small cost effective rehab that can help people change in dramatic ways’.

Chip Somers, Focus12’s chief executive, said: “Russell’s documentary and his work this year to raise the profile of abstinence based recovery has got people talking about addiction in a different way, and made them realise that there is a viable alternative to simply giving up on addicts, or parking them on methadone.

“We are blown away by the generosity of Chevington — this financial support will make a huge difference to us as a charity and will certainly mean we can continue to stay open and help those who need us for longer. Raising funds for a recovery charity has never been harder than it is at present, every day is literally a struggle to keep afloat and we are very grateful.”

Clive Morris, Managing Director of Chevington Finance and Leasing said: “My wife and I were incredibly touched by last night’s documentary, which inspired us to endorse the local treatment centre Focus12, and we have today agreed funding assistance for the charity of £106,000 over the next 4 years.

“We believe that as a successful, responsible and reliable company we have a duty to help local charities survive this recession and the work that Chip Somers and his team do is fantastic and we fully endorse their abstinence based programme and have seen what a difference it makes to people’s lives.”