The largest organ in the body may have just been discovered -- and it could reshape our understanding of human anatomy

• Researchers have identified a network of fluid-filled spaces surrounded by connective tissue that fills the spaces between our organs, surrounding and potentially protecting our insides throughout the body.
• In a study, scientists define this network as a new organ, the interstitium, which they say could be the largest organ in the human body.
• Understanding this network as an organ could help us understand how diseases like cancer spread and it help explain what healing techniques like acupuncture are tapping into.

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It might seem like we should already have identified all the structures in the human body, even if we don’t know the function of every cell and organ.
But that assumption might be very wrong, if the authors of a study newly published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports are correct.

In between the spaces in our bodies – beneath the skin, lining the gut and lungs, surrounding blood vessels and fascia between muscles, and more – there’s a fluid-filled network of tissue.
The idea that there’s tissue and fluid in these spaces isn’t new; interstitial fluid is one of the significant types of fluid in the body, though we didn’t know it was contained in these structures.

But the authors of the new study say this tissue has a unified structure and function throughout the body that makes it an organ. Using that definition, it could be the largest organ in the body, taking up a bigger volume than even our skin.

This organ might help protect the rest of our organs and tissue. It could also explain the spread of certain cancers, as well as how a number of diseases progress in the body.

Illustration by Jill GregoryA newfound organ, the interstitium, is seen here beneath the top layer of skin, but is also in tissue layers lining the gut, lungs, and urinary systems, as well as those surrounding blood vessels and the fascia between muscles. The organ is a body-wide network of interconnected, fluid-filled compartments supported by a meshwork of strong, flexible proteins.

Finding a new organ

Researchers previously thought the area between other organs and tissues in our body was largely solid, comprised of structural supportive proteins known as collagen, as well as stretchier elastin connective proteins.
But an analysis using a newer kind of imaging technology (called probe-based confocal laser endomicrosopy) revealed that interconnected fluid-filled sacs run through the collagen and elastin structures.
Past attempts to look at this tissue under a microscope made it impossible to see these connected fluid-filled spaces and overall structure. Slicing it up caused the fluid to drain, emptying the sacs and causing them to collapse, and just leaving the supporting proteins behind.
Looking at things in a new way allowed researchers to view the structure of the tissue without causing it to collapse, significantly changing how we understand our insides, Dr. Neil Theise, a professor in the Department of Pathology and co-senior author of the study, explained in a news release.
The implications for all this are enormous.

Illustration by Jill GregoryOn the left you see the structures that make up the interstitium viewed in different ways, on the right you see different places doctors have identified this same tissue.

Functions of the interstitium

It appears that the interstitium might have a unified function or functions. That could help researchers decide if it really is an organ, since organs usually serve at least one specific purpose.
There are several ways the network of interstitial fluid and connective tissue could better explain how the human body functions.
The fluid-filled sacs throughout this tissue could help interstitial fluid travel throughout the body. That’s important because fluid in this network is the largest source of lymph, which is a critical part of the immune system.

“This finding has potential to drive dramatic advances in medicine, including the possibility that the direct sampling of interstitial fluid may become a powerful diagnostic tool,” said Theise.

A better understanding of this interstitial network could help us understand why skin wrinkles as we age, why limbs get stiff, and how inflammatory diseases spread. It may also explain why cancers that spread into the space between organs are more likely to show up in other parts of the body.

As something that surrounds our blood vessels and organs, the interstitium might help protect them from tearing and may help absorb shocks that could otherwise damage parts of our body. It’s even possible that studying these spaces could help reveal what acupuncture is or isn’t doing within the body.
It will take time and research before the medical community at large decides whether or not to treat the interstitium as an organ.

But the possibility that this network of fluid and tissue is an entirely new organ reveals that even in parts of ourselves we thought we understood, we still have plenty to learn.

Grammar Grandma

A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
A question mark walks into a bar?

A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."
A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
A synonym strolls into a tavern.
At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

A dyslexic walks into a bra.
A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television getting drunk and smoking cigars.

A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.

*(I can’t take credit for these, but the malapropism is my favorite. Enjoy!)

Survey finds small publishers confident, but here's 4 realities that will bite in 2018

Survey finds small publishers confident, but here's 4 realities that will bite in 2018

 

Power of print: despite media fragmentation, small publishers are buoyant about the future.

Big media has defined the public impression about print - closures, sell-outs, layoffs and dwindling profitability.

But in the world of small publishers it is actually a far more positive scene.

Community newspapers, which comprise the overwhelming number of newspapers across the world, tell a different story to the big media’s narrative of How Digital Killed Print.

The small newspaper market faces similar challenges from media fragmentation, but the strong appetite for hyperlocal news means the local paper continues to provide a great sales and marketing environment.

Take New Zealand.

That reader value is strongly established in local newspapers does not mean the status quo will sustain them ...

I rang the New Zealand Community Newspapers Association president Simon Ellis to ask him how his members were faring. As a consultant working across Australia and NZ, I wanted to understand their pains. I expected they would be caught in the slipstream of the fast-flowing changes in media.

That was true to an extent, but Ellis conveyed a more optimistic picture than I imagined. Smaller publishers, he said, would continue to survive on the back of unique and relevant content. And there was nothing like getting directly into someone’s home with print.

The NZCNA represents 80 mastheads, which produce more than one million newspapers each week and reap about NZ$52 million in advertising per annum.

As someone romantic about newspapers, I wanted to check in that I was not being a Pollyanna about print. As a journalist, I wanted to know the truth. As a consultant, I wanted to know how I could help.

With the NZCNA’s co-operation, I surveyed their members - and, yes, they were buoyant about 2018.

Almost 80 per cent of the respondents were very or extremely confident about the future of their businesses. As well:

• Three-quarters of them said moving to a digital focus was a low priority;
• Audience engagement and subscribers were top priorities, followed by sales and creating quality content; and
• Starting new business ventures was not the radar.

Their confidence in the small newspaper market is supported by a study released in 2017 by the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism based at the Columbia Journalism School.

Small newspapers comprise the bulk of the North American newspaper market. In fact, of the 7071 newspapers in the US, almost all (6851) have circulations under 50,000.

As a body, this market has been little researched - and the iconic American papers have defined the narrative about the fortunes of print.

The study found change is impacting on the smaller newspaper market, but it has been slower than for large mastheads. It also confirmed the important place local newspapers had in their communities, providing the bulk of local, quality storytelling.

That reader value is strongly established in local newspapers does not mean the status quo will sustain them, though. The report advised publishers to prioritise income diversification.

“Most small-market newspapers will not be able to survive based on their traditional mix of subscriptions, advertising and single-copy sales. Multiple income streams will be essential if outlets are to secure the stablest future possible,” the report said.

The bigger chains have the resources, partnerships and influence to do this. Smaller publishers, as my sample indicates, are more wary about straying from what they know. Certainly, I find newspaper managements that will talk about the need to diversify but for various reasons struggle to get off first base.
​

Kiwi snapshot: NZ's community newspaper market is decidedly upbeat. Image courtesy NZCNA.

For all publishers there comes a tipping point. Best then to have a plan that is in place and activated.

An obvious area of opportunity for local papers, as the study identifies and I have long advocated, is in events.

Local newspapers are always harassed to sponsor and cover events - but, sheesh, why not run and profit from them directly? Even in the most distressed markets, and I have seen a few, there are opportunities to develop joint ventures.

Newspapers, along with their associated media interests, bring to the table unmatched reach. Partners bring event infrastructure, processes and specialist know-how.

Partnerships reduce the risk and divide the load - and it is a helluva lot easier growing revenue from a handful of good events each year than trying to flog additional column centimetres in a distressed advertising market.

Some larger media outlets, notably Stuff (Fairfax Media) in New Zealand, who we consult to, and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) are staking their future on joint ventures. Stuff has partnered to provide fibre-optic internet services, retail energy and subscription entertainment. SPH is profiting from health and education services. You can argue whether these should be core activities for media companies, but the proof would seem to be in the bottom line.
​
When publishers contemplate such things, they can encounter self doubts and obstacles such as “we do not have the … experience, skills, relationships, strategy (fill in the blanks).”

Experience shows, though, that opening up partnership conversations quickly flips the mindset. Finding businesses with complementary skills and resources is a winning strategy.

What then makes small publishers confident amid such disruption? Perhaps one of the drivers is the self-satisfaction to have seen plenty of wrong moves by digital media wannabes. Better the late adopter, hey?

But for everyone, there is, or will be, a tipping point.

Even in the best of circumstances, producing newspapers is a complex business with lots of moving parts, fixed costs and market vagaries. This makes breaking away from the operational day-to-day, to think and act strategically, almost impossible.

Typically, I get calls from owners and publishers when they realise that everything they have spent building up over the years (sometimes we are talking generations of family ownership) could disappear before their eyes.

For CEOs and general managers, righting the ship will not get any easier unless a firm plan, including diversification and reconciling the place of print, is developed and activated.
​

It all comes back to this ... diversify or die.

​Four big realities will also bite, if they have not already:

1. Digital advertising is a mirage: Game over. Google and Facebook own that space. According to e-Marketer, the two tech-giants took 56 per cent of global digital advertising in 2017, and by other reports, up to 90 cents in every digital advertising dollar in the US. Very few publishers have been able to fully supplant print revenue loss with digital revenue gain. Meanwhile ... 
2.  
3. Paywalls and digital editions are not the panacea: The New York Times, with 2.5 million digital subscriptions and seeking 10 million, and national titles like the Wall Street Journal and The Australian have the right content, audience and critical mass to make a paywall successful. But the maths does not make it a viable business proposition for smaller fish. This would seem to put smaller publishers in a bind. 
4.  
5. If they cannot monetise their content online, and print circulation is dwindling, what are they to do? On one hand we say their niche content is what is of value, but, what the heck, give it away for nothing? (One solution highlighted at the International News Media Association conference in New York in 2017 was the hybrid paywall.) The situation will be compounded because ...
6.  
7.  
8. Amazon is about to blow up main street: For a long time, strip shopping centres, the life blood for the “local line” on publishers’ P&Ls have been changing. The local electrical goods store that once took a couple of full-page ads per week has closed. Other retailers vulnerable to online shopping have either shut or been sucked into the vortex of national chain stores. But that will be nothing compared to what Amazon does to the remaining retail sector. 
9.  
10. Consider, too, for many small publishers most of their revenue comes from retail. Just as man cannot live on bread alone, main street’s future is surely more than a plethora of cool but ubiquitous coffee shops and hole-in-the-wall bars. Batten down. Which all comes back to ...
11. Diversify or die: Because is there another alternative? If there is, you know where to find me.

***

Newspapers, the research shows, equate to trust, credibility and retention of message. Which is everything social media is not. Digital might get our attention but print gets our respect.

Of all newspapers, the local paper is in the best position. Indeed, on the the back of a reawakening about “real news”, the industry should be seeking ways to creatively promote itself as of distinct and high value. Newspapers can also do more to work within their own industry for a networked approach across activities.

However, local papers have a clear call to arms - to act decisively - because of what is ahead.

In short, print can survive but it will have a reduced and distinct place in a broader media ecosystem.

This is complex stuff  to get right. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are consistent themes to be addressed, including:

• reducing fixed costs by streamlining newspaper production;
• retaining and extending reach;
• leveraging that penetration for future prosperity; and
• executing superb self-promotion.

The small newspaper market cannot change the societal and technological forces at play, but it can reset its own operations within the context of today.

Ultimately, success is defined by something less tangible and which no consultant can package up and provide.

Courage.

Publishers need courage to make bold decisions. Courage to break from the pack. Courage to stay the course. Courage to change.

In many respects, the next chapter in the story of print is, quite aptly, in the capable hands of the people who publish.

* Stuart Howie is executive director of Flame Tree Media and creator of SMART Print™. He is a former editorial director of Fairfax Regional Media, a stable of more than 180 newspapers and associated websites across Australia.

George Carlin upon the death of his wife

Isn’t it amazing that George Carlin – comedian of the 70’s and 80’s – could write something so very eloquent…and so very appropriate.
A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
If you don’t send this to at least 8 people….Who cares?
-George Carlin

Take Control Of Your Stress

Take Control Of Your Stress

Stress is a formidable emotion that can creep into our lives and dictate our day-to-day mental well-being, often before we even realize.
Strictly defined, stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. It does not manifest in everyone in the same way and seemingly, some people are not affected at all.

The complexities of stress will not be unraveled by a three-hundred word blog post, but let’s try understanding its effect on the body and how we can mitigate some of its negative impacts.

Let us first look at short term or acute stress responses. There are two main responses of the body; first, a flood of hormones is released to make energy stores more accessible and use-able. Second, energy is diverted to where it is needed the most, the muscles and the brain, and it also provides a boost to our immune response.

This is achieved by an increase in blood pressure, dilation of blood vessels and increase in heart rate. Things such as digestion and the production of growth hormones are suspended because they are non-essential to our Fight or Flight response.

Now imagine if this kind of response is continuously activated, or maladapts. With continuous stimulation of your cardiovascular system, muscles that constrict the blood vessels thicken, elevating your resting blood pressure and forcing the heart to work harder. There is also a suggestion that your immune system is suppressed under medium and long-term stress, which leads to slower wound healing and increased vulnerability to viral infections. Long-term stress is not something to be light-hearted about as there are strong links to respiratory diseases, exacerbation of autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease and poor mental health, to name a few.


Some symptoms to look out for include; frequent headaches, upset stomach, worrying or feeling of anxiety, increased blood pressure, changes in appetite, worsening of existing physical problems, interrupted sleep and back and neck pain.
Now, ironically, writing this has left us pretty stressed out, time to find out what you can do to help reduce the affects of stress on our body.

1. Address the stressors – it is important to recognize what is causing your daily stress. Work related stress is one of the most common forms of stress, and while we can’t stop working, managing our time better to maybe get more sleep will help.

2. Eat and sleep – our diet plays a crucial role in how we feel on a day to day basis. Having a look at our eating and sleeping patterns may uncover some unhealthy habits that are easily changeable.

3. Regular exercise – developing a routine to get more regular exercise is a wonderful way to prepare yourself for the day, or to unwind at the end of it. Find something that you enjoy, or that you can do with friends such as a team sport or group fitness class.

4. Take time out – do something that brings you happiness or a hobby that you can fully immerse yourself in. While finding time can be difficult, it is worth making the effort to introduce this into a weekly routine.

5. Negative thinking – I’m sure we are all guilty of this at some point. Consistently thinking this way all the time has ill effects on stress and will more than likely strip us of motivation to change anything.

6. Professional help – you may wish to seek the help of a professional to learn self-calming techniques such as mindfulness or meditation to calm the mind. Psychologists are equipped with the knowledge to help you address your stress and regain control of your thoughts and emotions.

Early Signs That Cancer Is Growing In Your Body!

 

Besides doing regular tests you should be really paying attention to the strange things that are happening with your body.
Things that are unexplainable, or they were not on your body previously are signals that your body is sending to you that you should not ignore.
That way you will provide yourself the best protection from cancer.

Signals that are commonly overlooked are:

1. Difficulty swallowing – linked with esophageal or throat cancer, and in rare cases with lung cancer as well.

2. Chronic cough or chest pain – linked with lung tumors and leukemia

3. Wheezing or shortness of breath – the major sign of lung cancer

4. Frequent fevers or infections – linked with leukemia

5. Nipple changes – linked with breast cancer, the biggest threat to women

6. Changes in nails – if there are brown or black streak or dot under the nail that it might be skin cancer. Pale or white nails can indicate liver cancer and newly discovered ‘’clubbing’’ (enlargement of the ends of the fingers with nails that curve down over the tips) can be lung cancer.

7. Unusually heavy or painful periods or bleeding between periods – linked with uterine cancer

8. Pain in the back or lower right side – linked with liver cancer and breast cancer

9. Swelling of facial features – linked with lung cancer

10. Sore or skin lump that does not go away or it becomes crusty or bleeds easily – linked with skin cancer

11. Swollen lymph nodes or lumps on the neck, underarm or groin – changes in lymphatic system can be indicator for cancer

12. Weakness and fatigue – indicator for different kind of cancer and it should not be ignored

13. Excessive bruising or bleeding that doesn’t stop –linked with leukemia

14. Bloating or abdominal weight gain – linked with ovarian cancer

15. Feeling full and unable to eat – another sign that can be indicator for ovarian cancer

16. Pelvic or abdominal pain – linked with ovarian cancer and leukemia

17. Unexplained weight loss – early sign of colon and other digestive cancer, it can be a sign that a cancer is spreading to the liver.

18. Stomachache or upset stomach – indicating colorectal cancer

19. Rectal bleeding or blood in stool – indicating colorectal cancer

20. Red, sore or swollen breast – breast cancer.

No matter if you are man or woman you should pay attention to all the signs that your body is sending to you. It can be something unexplained happening on your body or it can affect your energy levels. If you notice some of the signs you should immediately visit a doctor because you never know what is behind those symptoms. And the earlier you discovered that you have a cancer, the higher are the chances for you to survive.


There is not actual cure for cancer, but you can stop it with controlling the growth and the spreading of it since it is a disease that is characterized with uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells.

You should start with changing your lifestyle. You will prevent cancer if you eat healthy, exercise, you are sleeping and resting enough, you have enough sun exposure and you control your emotions and stress.

You should understand that many types of cancer can be treated without going to any kind of treatments such as surgeries, chemotherapies and radiations. All those treatments are really risky and plus really expensive.

It was proved that people are more likely to die from the cancer treatment such as chemotherapy, then from this disease.

The number of people diagnosed with any type of cancer is increasing from year to year. In 2009 in US there were 1.5 million new cases of cancer. In US nearly one out of four deaths is caused by cancer, which means that there are around 1,500 people that die from cancer daily.

The biggest causes of cancer are obesity and overweight, physical inactivity and poor nutrition. Also the cause of cancer can be lack of vitamin D from sun exposure in some cases.
If you unfortunately are diagnosed with cancer, you should not panic, but you should be strong and to open your mind right away so you can cure it. Many people are choosing treatments like chemotherapy because they think that that is the only treatment. 


But that is wrong, there are safer and natural options, and you might have one of them right now in your home – baking soda.
Baking soda can kill the cancer cells without any side effects, and chemotherapy has side effects. Baking soda is so effective when it comes to cancer, and you might ask yourself – if that is true why no one is promoting baking soda? Well today everything is about the money, baking soda is a cheap product and everyone can buy it from almost any store, which means no one will have profit from it, like there is profit from the treatments like chemotherapy.

With using a local infiltration device (catheter) and with that to deliver the sodium bicarbonate directly to the infected site in your breast tissue or bladder can heal cancer in just six days, without going to treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Many cancer patients are vitamin D deficient, because calcitriol (the activated form of vitamin D) is protecting against cancer with inducing cell differentiation and controlling cell proliferation. And people with low vitamin D will be less able to make activated vitamin D in that amount where it can protect against cancer.



Here are some tips that can help you to reduce the risk of cancer:

1. Exercise regularly.

2. Sleep enough.

3. Normalize your vitamin D levels with getting enough sunlight exposure, or with supplementation.

4. You should control your fasting insulin and leptin levels.

5. Boil, poach or steam your food instead of frying it or charbroiling it.

6. You should eat at least one-third of your food raw.

7. You should reduce the exposure to environmental toxins such as household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners, air pollution and pesticides.

8. You should limit the exposure from radiation and to get protection from the radiation from your cell phones, base stations, or WiFi stations.

9. You should eliminate processed foods, sugars and grain carbohydrates from your diet.

10. You should eat according to your nutritional type.

11. You should have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes, such as Meridian Tapping Technique.

12. With taking high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat you will normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.

Increase Your Mental Clarity

(Read this post on Personal Excellence)
 

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Today I’m going to share a simple exercise that I use to achieve mental clarity quickly. This is a great way to

1. Clear your head (especially if you are feeling cluttered)
2. Calm yourself down (if you are feeling restless, troubled, or stressed up)
3. Free up mental energy (if you are feeling tired)

I often recommend this exercise to my clients to clear mental blocks too.

How It Works – By Increasing Mental RAM

Now, I assume all of us reading this have a computer (or at the very least, has access to one).
Every computer has RAM — random-access memory, a form of data storage — which determines its processing capacity. The more applications you run, the more RAM it uses, the slower your computer gets. If you have used resource-intensive programs or played games like Halo or Diablo below, you have probably closed unwanted applications to free up some RAM.

Like the computer, our brain has its RAM too. Our RAM is used for all kinds of brain work, from thinking to recalling past events to analyzing data. The more free RAM you have, the more RAM you can use for your tasks at hand.

However, not all our RAM is available for use all the time. Half of it is usually occupied with mental clutter — thoughts running in the background.
What are these thoughts about? Anything really, like a task we need to do next, a problem we are currently facing, or some music we just heard in the mall.

It’s never obvious what's going on in our head until we stop to observe our mental activity, say through introspection or meditation. Think of this clutter as the unimportant programs running on your computer. You don’t need them for your computer to function. When you let them run in the background, they use up precious resources.

Likewise, when you don't process your mental clutter, you'll have less RAM for active use. The more your mental clutter, the lower your mental clarity. Eventually, your mind becomes so full of clutter that you have no more mental RAM left. This is when you get very irritable and you find it hard to focus.
Luckily, we have a natural process to clear our mental clutter — REM sleep. However, this is not an effective process as we only undergo REM during 25% of our sleep time. Meditation helps us clear our mental clutter too. Many people feel calmer and experience greater clarity after meditating because of this reason. However, you may not be able to meditate whenever you want — say when you are at work, when you feel too restless, or when you're sleepy and may fall asleep during meditation.
That's where today's exercise comes in. :)

Increase Mental Clarity via Brain Dumping

This exercise is known as brain dumping since you dump out the contents of your mind through writing. Here's what to do:

1. Pick a medium. You can use the pen/paper or word processor. I prefer the word processor as I type faster than I write. Plus you save paper too!
2. Type whatever comes to mind. When I say whatever, I mean whatever! For example, if you are looking at the paper and thinking, Wow, this looks so white, then write that. If you don’t know what to write, then just write, “I don’t know what to write.” Basically, dump out whatever is on your mind. There’s no need to overthink this. It’s about pouring out what's in your head.
3. Just keep doing this for the next 15 minutes, or however long it takes for your thoughts to clear up. 10 minutes is usually enough for me. I can take an hour when I feel really weighed down.

With brain dumping, your writing speed determines how fast your mind gets cleared. If you type fast, you can process lots of clutter really quickly.

I use this exercise when I feel bogged down, when I need to achieve 100% focus, or when I feel stressed up. In just 15 minutes, I can clear a lot of clutter. If I was sleepy before, the exercise makes me more awake. I can concentrate more easily. :)

It’s interesting to review what you write after the exercise. Usually, you will notice your thoughts jumping all over the place. One moment you may be thinking about your breakfast; the next you may be thinking about your work meeting; and the next you may be thinking about your next vacation. As weird and random as they may be, these thoughts have always been on your mind.

The exercise merely brought them out. The longer you brain dump, the more clutter you can clear, the higher your mental clarity.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you stop thinking about X after you clear a thought on it. Maybe you have 50 thoughts about X and the exercise only removed two of these thoughts. Maybe you come across X later or see something that reminds you of X, thus creating new thoughts about it.

Since you will always be exposed to external stimuli, you need to brain dump regularly to maintain a high level of mental clarity. Just like showering, eating, and sleeping, you should brain dump frequently as part of personal cleansing. Do this often and you will feel a greater calmness in your life.

You can also take this exercise to the next level — beyond just dumping out what's on your mind, dig into the root causes of those thoughts. Why am I thinking this? What's making me feel this way? Keep asking why and dig into the interesting thoughts. You may arrive at some deep realizations in the process.

Do you Suffer from Heel Spurs or Plantar Fasciitis?

 

 

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Do you Suffer from Heel Spurs or Plantar Fasciitis?

We all know that muscle attaches to bone, but this is not the case for most myo-fascia. If we use the Plantar Fascia as an example, this attaches to the bone through a tough plastic wrapping called the periosteum.

Say that you are someone that runs on the balls of your feet, you are constantly pulling at the calcaneal attachment (heel bone) where the plantar fascia (a fibrous band of connective tissue under the foot)  blends into the periosteum (bone) covering.  A heel spur is often more times than not associated with Plantar Fasciitis.

In some cases of Plantar Fasciitis a space is created between the connective tissue and the bone.  The body is really quite remarkable, it has the ability to fill in the bone with bone using osteoblasts- (bone building cells).

These cells are constantly cleaning and rebuilding the outer surface of bone.
If you have plantar fasciitis it means you have inflammation or a tear somewhere along the fibrous band of connective tissue, but a heel spur will occur when a repetitive strain in the plantar fascia pulls the bone of the heel away from the periosteum (a dense fibrous membrane covering the surfaces of bone). This is when those amazing little osteoblasts come into play and fill in the hole created by the strain and lays down more bone, crating a heel spur.

Heel spurs can be quite common, the pain of a heel spur usually happens when a sensory nerve is involved which is often the case.

A great way to stop a heel spur happening is to look after your plantar fascia. By simply using a trigger ball under the foot to find any tight spots can start to rejuvenate the connective tissue and help prevent any dysfunction. I also believe in using footwear that allows the foot have it’s natural mobility. Barefoot trainers by companies like Merrell offer a zero drop shoes that allow your foot to move through pronation as it was designed to do.

Mansplaining: the One Thing Men Do Which Irritates Women Most of All

Mansplaining is probably one of the most annoying male behaviors towards women. Even if you are not familiar with the term, most likely, you have experienced it.

The irritation spark sets off gradually. First, you are in a casual discussion about common everyday concerns around you.

Then it starts. The male pulls himself back and starts to blurb out a lecture. You get instructions on exactly how you should proceed with what you have been doing perfectly well for ages with a set of implicit ‘terms and conditions’!
Having researched facts and figures, you have a decent grasp of your subject and suddenly, the male element of the interaction begins with a monolog to lay out the basic terms without even assessing your level of knowledge.

Now a male probably thinks females need instruction. Women are known not to have a grasp on numbers and policies right. Males tend to believe they have unique insight.

An article in Cosmopolitan, seventeen examples of these kinds of ‘women need to be educated’ are reflected upon.

One example is that a man kept on insisting a woman pronounced her own name incorrectly! Another respondent, an employee at a racetrack for about fourteen years, noted that male customers often start to explain to her how gambling functions when she takes their bets.

The term of this behavior is ‘Mansplaining.” It is defined by the Urban Dictionary as the patronizing behavior of males towards females. It is when a man speaks condescendingly to a woman,
 believing that she is ignorant when in fact, his personal knowledge on the topic is incomplete.

He just cannot fathom that she just may have more insight into the topic than he does!

Psychology and communication research papers need to catch up with mansplaining cultures.

In a recent publication by Northeastern University, Joseph Reagle examines the alienation of women in the online communities and refers to ‘geek feminism.’ When women enforce their obligation to research well, they are “accused of PMS”.

The investigation of ‘geek culture is identified by Reagle as a Unicorn Law concern. Unicorns like ‘technical women’ are rare or invisible unless they reveal themselves.
Male geeks brag about technical abilities, but women do not take note of their accomplishments. This is when mansplaining becomes seeded and roots out. Men become over confident of the abilities they possess and assume women need instructions and education. If women do rise and challenge, they are accused of PMS.

Recourse If a ‘Mansplainer’ Is Within Your Life System

The best way to deal with mansplaining is to become conscious of the situation. Mansplaining is about assuming you do not know what you are saying when you know that you did. It makes you feel deficient; Refrain from questioning yourself and what you are capable of. Realize that the problem standing in line is not yours. Do not reinforce the insinuation that you need the ‘education.’

The condition of mansplaining is easy to remedy. Be aware of its existence, whether you may be the victim or the perpetrator of it. Show respect for beliefs and attitudes in interactions, as well as, most importantly, the knowledge possessed by individuals you interact with.

Eight Ways To Rebuilding Your LIfe