Lifestyles have changed in the past decade. For most of us it is like living in the fast lane every day. There is so much to be done and there is so little time. As a result, we become stressed and this results in many illnesses and even death.

Studies show that stress is the common cause of anxiety. It damages our body and mind, causing panic attacks, lack of sleep, phobias and many more. Apart from these, it also triggers health diseases such as heart problems, high blood pressure, asthma, eczema, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome and alopecia.

Other signs of stress include headaches, palpitations, wheezing, irritability, low energy, poor memory and increased emotions.

Stress is often caused by finance, work and relationships. Treatments vary and drug induced ones can sometimes cause more problems instead of fixing it. We must keep in mind that in the end it is up to us. Our perspective and choices lead us to the kind of life we choose.

Here are some tips to reduce stress:

Identify what causes you stress and do something about it. It may be easier said than done, but let’s face it, we only get stressed if we let it get to us.

Reduce stress by being more organized. Make a list of personal and professional priorities and make time for them. Keep an organizer, so that you won’t forget anything.

Allow yourself to be emotional at times. You are human and it is normal to laugh or cry when needed. Keeping these emotions can result to long term issues.

Learn how to value yourself. Make a list of your positive qualities and go through it whenever you feel down.

Find your passion. It may be a hobby, a sport or even volunteering for a cause. Outlets help you cope and make you feel good about yourself.

Learn to relax wherever you are. If you feel like losing control, take deep breaths until you feel better.  Meditate when you can. Simply close your eyes and imagine yourself in a beautiful spot where you would want to be.

Write down how you feel. It lets you release your feelings and makes you feel better. Keep a journal. It is always nice to look back and know how you were able to cope.

Take a break. Go on a holiday whenever you can. It allows you to recharge. It also helps you learn new things and gather new experiences. Plus it gets you away from stress.

Lastly, learn how to do nothing. Keeping quiet and still helps you think clearly.

Image from judacoregio

Confucianism is a philosophical and ethical system or a way of life taught by Confucius in the 5^th-6^th century BC. Some see it as philosophy or religion, as an “all-encompassing humanism that neither denies nor slights heaven”.

Confucianism is known to be a combination of ren also known as “benevolence or humaneness” of people within a community. It is a reflection of excellent character in accordance to li or ritual norms, yi or the moral disposition to do good, zhong which is loyalty to one’s nature, shu or reciprocity and xiao filial piety. Altogether they are seen as de or virtue. Confucius also believes that it is necessary to give up one’s life “passively or actively for the sake of upholding cardinal and moral values.

These beliefs are all characteristics of a positive view of human nature and faith that all human beings are gifted and can do wonderful things. They are all capable of improving, being taught and reaching a certain level of perfection through ‘self-cultivation and self-creation’.

Confucius saw heaven or T’ienas a personal universal force and he regarded it as positive. This belief was contrary to what people assumed that he was a skeptic or agnostic who did not believe in a higher power.

Confucianism does not have specific rituals or practices apart from its ‘ethical principles’. Most of these so called practices are a combination of Taosim, Buddhism and Chinese religion.

This way of thinking has a huge following. It has become a moral compass, even influencing political and spiritual life in China. It has even spread out to neighboring Asian countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and Japan.

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Meditation is a state where the made goes into a deeper level of thinking or awareness. Through meditation you gain a better hold of your emotions and reactions towards things and situations. It helps you become more patient and allows you to easily let go of negative attitudes such as anger.

The first thing you should do is to make time to meditate. Set a certain time of day, preferably in the morning to meditate. Making it part of your daily routine will yield better results. A friend once told me that meditation is spiritual hygiene –a way to let go of negative feelings.

Next, find a quiet and relaxing environment that is free from noise or other distractions. It will help you calm your mind and clear your thoughts. If you have a strong sense of focus and you can meditate amidst the hustle and bustle then feel free to do so.

Sit on level ground preferably on a cushion with your back straight so that you can breathe easier. Let your arms fall freely on your sides or put them on your lap. Make sure every part  of your body is relaxed. Find a better posture or position if needed.

Focus on how you breathe. Get into the rhythm and recite a mantra such as “uhm” repetitively if needed. You may say it out loud or in your mind. Visualize a relaxing place and allow yourself to be there. Calming thoughts and images make meditation easier.

Lastly silence your mind. Let thoughts and feelings flow without judgment. Send off the negative things and keep the good thoughts and feelings. Let it envelope you. Maintain the fuzzy and warm feeling from the positive energies and allow them to flow.

Image from  lisadragon

About the Buddha. The word “Buddha” is an adjective, which translates to “enlightened one.” Therefore, Buddha should actually be referred to as “the Buddha.” The Buddha was a real person who lived in India around 400 BC. He was a famous teacher and social reformer, who owned slaves and died of diarrhea (no joke). His wise words were not printed until five centuries after his death.

Buddhist atheism. Those who practice Buddhism do not acknowledge any God, but rather stress that true spiritual enlightenment comes from practicing mindfulness, leading a moral life, and pursuing wisdom. They don’t worry as much about finding =installment loans online= or buying a new car as much as they are concerned with living a peaceful life free of burdens. Buddhism is not a religion as much as it is a philosophy of life, and Buddhists are tolerant of all religions.

War over Buddhism. Unlike most other religions (especially Christianity), there has never been one war fought over Buddhism. That is because Buddhism does not stake a claim in the world of religion, and does not acknowledge labels associated with religions.

The law of karma. Everyone has heard the common cliché that personifies karma as a not very nice woman. The truth is that many people don’t even know what the law of karma is all about. Karma is about intention. Therefore, those who hope or intend negative outcomes for other people in the name of karma are actually bringing negative karma to themselves.

The life of Buddhist monks. Pop culture would have you believe that Buddhist monks live high on some mountain temple where they are completely shut off from the rest of society, and that they live their lives completely ignorant of the ways of the modern world. Buddhism requires that monks actually maintain ties with the outside world, in order to maintain balance, and Buddhist colonies must rely on the population for food to force this interaction.

Hopefully these interesting Buddha facts surprised you a bit, and inspired you to see the world with an open mind. Things aren’t always what they seem, or what popular opinion would have you believe. There is more to Buddhism than meets the eye, and much that you could take away from this knowledge in order to better your life and the world around you.

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The Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has a number of great health benefits. Not only can meditation help lower your blood pressure and heart rate, but it can also enhance your immune system and reduce PMS symptoms. Of course, health isn’t the only beneficial reason to use meditation. Meditation is also used for psychological and spiritual reasons. The psychological reasons behind mediation can range from increasing one’s willpower to decreasing the potential for mental illness. Those who work for places like payday advance lenders, correctional facilities, or other busy environments find their jobs stressful and need to rebalance themselves. Meditation has even been known to help those with aggression and phobias. When it comes to using meditation for spiritual reasons people find that it gives them a closer relationship God, but it can also be beneficial in helping people find themselves and understand their true purpose.

Choosing the Type of Meditation

Just as there are many types of benefits of mediation, there are also many different types of meditation. The type of meditation you use is based on what you hope to achieve from the practice. It is also believed that there are opposite forms of mediation for each type. The following are the types of mediation as well as their counterparts: upward/downward, mind-centered/heart-centered, monastic/in-life, observed/lover, passive/active, fantasy-based/reality-based, trance/awakening, denial or dualistic/inclusive and religious/heart-centered.

The Technique Matters

The first step is to determine what you hope to achieve from the process. You can then choose a type of meditation that best suits your needs. Next, it helps to meditate in a quiet and scenery atmosphere. While outdoor meditation can be more beneficial, it isn’t necessary. While it is recommended to focus on your breathing, you can also focus on a sound. The key is to empty your mind so that you can focus on the outcome you’re trying to achieve.

Meditation has many health, psychological and spiritual benefits. The exact type of meditation you need will depend on the outcome your hope to achieve, but there are a variety of techniques you can use to make the process easier to master.

The Beginner’s History of Philosophy by Herbert Ernest Cushman. This book starts at the birth of philosophy and takes the reader through all of the three major periods of philosophy: ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy. It’s a great starting point for understanding how the collective mindset of man has changed over the ages, and how deeply philosophy is ingrained in culture and society.

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. As the title suggests, this book provides a basic overview of Western philosophy’s growth and evolution over history. It contains a thorough analysis of must-know Western philosophical views, such as those of Kant, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Dewey and Nietzsche. Russell was an extremely educated man, with a well-rounded knowledge of everything related to philosophy, and his writing is clear, easy to follow, and never obscure.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. No matter where you begin in your quest to understand philosophy, it will no doubt be a mentally taxing task. The Oxford Companion is the most comprehensive philosophy dictionary available, and should be readily available when you delve into any philosophy text.

Plato’s Five Dialogues. These expound on the basic arguments of philosophy, and are written as a discourse between student and teacher, making then not only educational, but also entertaining and easier to read than many of the other philosophical writings.

Reading Philosophy by Guttenplan, Hornsby and Janaway. This is a guide to reading philosophy. It primes the reader to the mindset and critical thinking skills that are necessary to effectively reading, understanding, and assessing any work of philosophy, using actual philosophical texts as examples.

If you want to learn about philosophy, then prepare yourself with the knowledge that getting acquainted with philosophy will be a real labor of love. However, it will be worth the effort, as philosophy can open your mind and life in ways you might’ve never imagined. Begin with these texts, be patient, and eventually you will have the mental foundation necessary to taking on any work of philosophy you choose.

Block out societal pressures. This doesn’t mean you have to go live in a cave somewhere. However, you must learn to focus in on what your inner voice is telling you, and discard societal pressures to live up to material definitions of what is expected of you. YOU know best what is best for you, and you are not a cookie-cutter creation. You are an individual with unique strengths, talents, and potential. Discover them by listening to YOU.

Believing is seeing. Look at this as an experiment, if you need to, until you’ve gotten the hang of it: believe that anything you desire is possible. Open your mind to these possibilities and make the conscious decision to acknowledge that the world will open up to you in return. Let go of the societally-imposed cynicism that dictates to you your limitations, and instead CHOOSE to believe that you have everything you need to accomplish what you want.

Make yourself available to opportunity. Once you believe anything is possible, you must make yourself accessible to the possibilities. They most likely won’t come knocking at your door (although sometimes they will). If you believe anything is possible, then you must be willing to try anything to open yourself to those possibilities. For example, if you’ve always fantasized about being an artist, then you must put yourself in a place to become an artist: join an artist’s club, take art lessons, attend art shows, etc. Open yourself up to the world of being an artist and that world will, in turn, open up to you.

Goals. Begin by setting some small goals, just to get into the habit of using your positive mindset to achieve success. Choose things that might’ve seemed too far off for you to focus on, and really focus in on them. Be conscious every day of your determination to live out those goals and you will subconsciously make choices that are in line with those goals, eventually seeing them to fruition.

There is perhaps nothing more satisfying in life than knowing you hold the key and the power to create your own success and happiness. You are NOT a victim of circumstance, but rather the master of your own experience. What an empowering realization Achieving success with your mindset is a skill that can be developed, so start today.

The growing movement started at a small park off Wall Street in New York City when a number of protesters peacefully took over Zuccotti Park and vowed not to leave. There cause seems to run a gauntlet of ideas and covers a litany of concerns although it appears to be rooted in anger with corporate greed and government corruption. The two-month-old protest in New York City’s financial district has grown to include thousands of participants.

Keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution grants citizens the right to peacefully assemble and air their grievances, so at least in a technical sense the protesters are well within their rights, and due a certain degree of latitude from authorities, despite their disruptive nature. Whether you agree or disagree with the cause, the act of protesting is ingrained in this country’s identity.

The dilemma regarding Occupy Wall Street involves the manner in which police departments (particularly in New York City where Wall Street resides) handle the protesters and how media organizations cover the events. In other words, how can police departments and news agencies that are beholden to corporations fairly manage anti-corporate protests?

So far, the answer has been they cannot.

We’ll start with the police. There have been numerous claims that New York City officers have acted unnecessarily aggressive or antagonistic toward protesters. Some of the incidents – such as police randomly pepper spraying protesters – have been caught on video.

The dilemma comes into play in how the police balance their duty toward the citizenry (residents, business people and protesters alike) with other special interests. I’m talking about a $4.6 million donation made earlier this year (months before the protests began) by J.P. Morgan Chase bank – one of the major targets of protester ire. Sure, that money is no doubt a good thing for the inhabitants of New York; however, it begs the question of who the New York Police Department actually serves. Money like that can buy a lot of influence. An argument can be made that it appears the department is in the bank’s pocket.

The second dilemma involves the news organizations covering the events in Zuccotti Park. It used to be news agencies – newspapers especially – were independent organizations beholden to none but the truth. Now, most of those properties have been bought up by a handful of large conglomerates. All of the nation’s major newspapers, radio stations, television stations and Internet providers are currently owned and operated by corporations – again, entities at the forefront of the situation. How can corporate media organizations rightly cover protests against corporations?

After ignoring the protests for days, and weeks in some cases, despite a growing number of participants, many media outlets mocked the participants when they finally decided to cover the events. There have been claims that coverage has been unbalanced and skewed to create a negative impression. It’s not hard to imagine the pressure a reporter may be under from corporate bosses to deliver a certain type of product in this case.

The situations mainstream journalists and New York City police officers find themselves in are classic conflicts of interest. How can these entities effectively serve two bosses? But these are merely examples of the ethical dilemmas these types of relationships are wrought with regarding a spectrum of issues.

Thomas Nelson believes healthy debate is a keystone characteristic of American-style democracy. When he isn’t reading or catching up on current events, Thomas loves to do research on topic of jobs such as, jobs for occupational therapists, nursing, medical assisting and other area of healthcare industry.

Alice came to a fork in the road.  “Which road do I take?” she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire cat.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

At one point in our lives, there comes a time when we are confused and we do not know what to do. We rethink our past and have “what ifs”, after we move forward aimlessly, just moving with no final destination. Seasons change and time pass and yet we still feel that we are in the exact same place where we started.

One thing we have to accept about life is that it is full of choices. Roadblocks are part of the package. They are there so we can pause and think about what we really want. Worse, they will appear again and again until we learn our lesson. We must continue to move forward and become better.

We must be open to change.  It may seem as if we have no direction, but in reality we are learning. Each day and experience is full of new things to see or do. We just have to be open.  Options will always be there. We must accept that we cannot take both roads at the same time. There are things we can and cannot do in a personal capacity, but either way it contributes to our well-being if we allow it to.

So if you don’t know where you are heading, just live. Take it easy and enjoy the ride. In the end the road you took will not matter and most likely there will be no regrets because you have probably gained so much more than what you have asked for.

Photo Courtesy Of:  whale05