The Intouchables: A Humorous Dive into a Sparkling Friendship.

The Intouchables, originally a French Film, a winner of 38 “Best Foreign Language Film award”, a movie based on true events, an intricately fabricated profound work of art, surely is a medley of sparkling humor, subtle emotions, and a deep dive into nature of human relationships. It’s truly an irresistible delight for the connoisseurs of the finest cinematic experience.

The movie revolves around the two main characters — Philippe and Driss.

Philippe, played by François Cluzet, is a millionaire, and handsome aristocrat who is deep inside a free-spirited, fast-paced, adventure-loving, energetic and humor seeking person, meets an accident while Paragliding and happens to become a quadriplegic, a person who is paralyzed right from the base of his neck to the last toe on his foot. Philippe’s life, now due to the helplessness given by quadriplegia, is limited to mostly the walls of his mansion, the routine care of doctors and caretakers and the pity of the rest of the world. In summary, he is living hell in the midst of his affluence.

Due to the consistent exposure of pity, dependence, and helplessness, he happens to devote his life to intellectual activities, arts, music, drama, literary events, and epistolary relationships (distant conversations with a person through letters only). There is a lot of insipidity in his life. His true innate energetic and adventure-loving nature is now lost, which he has now accepted as his fate.

He happens to meet and finally hires Driss, Omar Sy, as his caregiver, who is totally opposite of what Phillipe is from the outside. Driss is black west African. He is impulsive, he is uncultured, raw, reckless, violent, free-spirited, fast-paced, humorous and aimless person. He comes from one of Paris’s poor, suburban high-rise ghettoes, and is seeking some money. He has also been recent to jail for 6 months for robbing a Jewelry store.

In spite of two of them being so different, what binds them together is their total love for honesty of character, sense of humor and contempt for stuffy hypocrisy. And, most importantly, Driss is actually the outward raw and honest manifestation of the innate character of Phillipe. What Phillipe likes about Driss the most is, he treats him like a normal human being with all his arms and legs, he doesn’t pity him, he doesn’t make him realize of quadriplegia all the time and rather he makes him feel good, makes him feel lively again and makes him laugh again. The laughter which was missing in Phillipe’s life for ages. This becomes the greatest binding force in their relation.

Philipe shares that he lost his loving wife the same time he got quadriplegia and his true disability is not having to be in a wheelchair, but it’s having to be without his wife.

Driss brings taste in Phillipe’s insipid life. They both learn and grow with each other. Phillipe learns to enjoy the daily life mundane things apart from his literary and intense interests and at the same time, Driss gets more responsible and civilized in the journey!

Both of them have performed phenomenally. Their every action and expression is praiseworthy. It’s an epitome of a true and deep friendship that grips, holds and takes the spectator on an around 2 hours long journey of humor and subtle emotions.

An inevitably must watch.

My Rating: 4.5/5.

Chapaak: The Splash of Acid!

“No death, no doom, no anguish can arouse the surpassing despair which flows from a loss of identity” and this is what an acid attack does to a person. Even the spectators of the movie “Chapaak” begin to feel that death is better than surviving an acid attack. I watched this movie with my parents and they were terrified of being the parents of a daughter.

“Chapaak” is a very good cinematic depiction of such a Spine-Chilling and Blood-Curdling issue. The film is based on a true story of Laxmi Agarwal who suffered from an acid attack in 2005.

The movie successfully touches the core issues behind such a horrifying act i.e. a conglomeration of Patriarchy, Misogyny, Hate, and Violent Tendencies. The following dialogue in the movie summarizes the “Hate” aspect of it. It says “Acid first dissolves in the mind and then it comes in the hand”.

While keeping the issue of “Acid Attacks” as the main theme, the movie rightly and meticulously also shows the inadequacy in jurisprudence as well.

The profoundly inspiring part of the movie is when after having suffered a terrible acid-attack the protagonist, Malti, played by Deepika Padukone, recuperates physically and psychologically and is ready to face the world with not only courage, but also with love and humility. It reflects in the following statement.

The kind of severe assault, Malti suffered with, can make anybody very hard-boiled, cynical, and distrustful, but as the movie progresses, the way Malti responds to various situations and the way she leads her life makes the spectator, fall in love with the beautiful character of Malti, behind the Acid Burnt Face.

If you have ever felt excruciating physical pain in your life, then you are bound to relate to the piercing cries of Malti, played by Deepika Padukone, who also co-produces the film with Gulzar. Towards the climax, just when you are beginning to relax your shoulders, the movie shakes you like a leaf, by portraying yet another gruesome acid-attack incident. This denial of catharsis is what gives Chhapaak its uneasy and poignant effect.

A must watch.

My rating: 4 / 5.

                              Laxmi Agrawal before and after Acid Attack in 2005.

Further Explorations

1. TED Talk by Laxmi Agrawal “He Threw acid on my face, but not on my dreams”.
2. Loving The Faceless: 26-Year-Old Champions Acid Attack Victims | Champions For Change | CNA Insider
3. Acid Attack Victims

The Bell-Shaped Curve: A Common Pattern in Nature…

Following is Maxwell’s Distribution of Velocity Curve, in Kinetic Theory of Gases.

Following is the Wein’s Displacement Law, in Thermal Radiations.

Following is the Distribution of Kinetic Energy of Beta Particles in Radioactive Decays.

Following is the distribution of Intelligence among people in general.

Following is the distribution of Salaries in various countries among people.

Do you notice a pattern here?

All of them are Bell-Shaped curves. All the graphs shown above come from completely different fields of studies and still, they share a similar distribution pattern. Isn’t it strange and amazing? Doesn’t that point to some hidden mysteries of nature?

The bell-shaped curve is a common feature of nature and psychology. In statistics it is called a “Normal Distribution” and it is given a lot of importance in statistics and probabilistic distributions.

What is a Normal Distribution in Statistics?

A normal distribution has a bell-shaped curve and is symmetrical around its center, so the right side of the center is a mirror image of the left side.

Most of the continuous data values in a normal distribution tend to cluster around the mean, and the further a value is from the mean, the less likely it is to occur. The tails are asymptotic, which means that they approach but never quite meet the horizon (i.e. x-axis).

For a perfectly normal distribution the mean, median and mode will be the same value, visually represented by the peak of the curve.

The normal distribution is often called the bell curve because the graph of its probability density looks like a bell. It is also known as called Gaussian distribution, after the German mathematician Carl Gauss who first described it.

Why is the normal distribution important?

The bell-shaped curve is a common feature of nature and psychology

The normal distribution is the most important probability distribution in statistics because many continuous data in nature and psychology displays this bell-shaped curve when compiled and graphed.

For example, if we randomly sampled 100 individuals we would expect to see a normal distribution frequency curve for many continuous variables, such as IQ, height, weight and blood pressure.

Parametric significance tests require a normal distribution of the samples’ data points. The most powerful (parametric) statistical tests used by psychologists require data to be normally distributed. If the data does not resemble a bell curve researchers may have to use a less powerful type of statistical test, called non-parametric statistics.

The normal distribution is so important in statistics that statisticians have written down books and have developed several theorems on just this single idea! One of the epitome of such theorems is Central Limit Theorem, which summarizes the idea discussed so far.

Later, I posted the same question on Physics Stack Exchange too, to receive more knowledge on the subject and yes it resulted positively. Following is the conversation.

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/521843/why-most-distribution-curves-are-bell-shaped-is-there-any-physical-law-that-lea

Further Readings and explorations.
1. The Normal Distribution: Crash Course Statistics #19
2. What is a Normal Distribution in Statistics?
3. Why is Normal Distribution Bell Shaped?
4. The Normal Distribution and the 68–95–99.7 Rule (5.2)
5. Why do airlines sell too many tickets? — Nina Klietsch

 

Perpetual Motion Machines — Why They Don’t Work?

Around 1159 A.D., a mathematician called Bhaskara the Learned sketched a design for a wheel containing curved reservoirs of mercury. He reasoned that as the wheels spun, the mercury would flow to the bottom of each reservoir, leaving one side of the wheel perpetually heavier than the other. The imbalance would keep the wheel turning forever. Bhaskara’s drawing was one of the earliest designs for a perpetual motion machine, a device that can do work indefinitely without any external energy source. Imagine a windmill that produced the breeze it needed to keep rotating. Or a lightbulb whose glow provided its own electricity. These devices have captured many inventors’ imaginations because they could transform our relationship with energy. For example, if you could build a perpetual motion machine that included humans as part of its perfectly efficient system, it could sustain life indefinitely. There’s just one problem. They don’t work.

Ideas for perpetual motion machines all violate one or more fundamental laws of thermodynamics, the branch of physics that describes the relationship between different forms of energy.

The first law of thermodynamics says that energy can’t be created or destroyed. You can’t get out more energy than you put in. That rules out a useful perpetual motion machine right away because a machine could only ever produce as much energy as it consumed. There wouldn’t be any leftover to power a car or charge a phone.

But what if you just wanted the machine to keep itself moving? Inventors have proposed plenty of ideas. None of them work.

Even if engineers could somehow design a machine that didn’t violate the first law of thermodynamics, it still wouldn’t work in the real world because of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that energy tends to spread out through processes like friction. Any real machine would have moving parts or interactions with air or liquid molecules that would generate tiny amounts of friction and heat, even in a vacuum. That heat is energy escaping, and it would keep leeching out, reducing the energy available to move the system itself until the machine inevitably stopped.

Various kinds of Perpetual Motion Machines can be classified in the following categories and here we see, why they are doomed to fail given our current understanding of Science.

• A perpetual motion machine of the first kind produces work without the input of energy. It thus violates the first law of thermodynamics: the law of conservation of energy.
• A perpetual motion machine of the second kind is a machine which spontaneously converts thermal energy into mechanical work. When the thermal energy is equivalent to the work done, this does not violate the law of conservation of energy. However, it does violate the more subtle second law of thermodynamics (see also entropy). The signature of a perpetual motion machine of the second kind is that there is only one heat reservoir involved, which is being spontaneously cooled without involving a transfer of heat to a cooler reservoir. This conversion of heat into useful work, without any side effect, is impossible, according to the second law of thermodynamics.
• A perpetual motion machine of the third kind is usually (but not always) defined as one that completely eliminates friction and other dissipative forces, to maintain motion forever (due to its mass inertia). Such a machine should satisfy the following 3 properties, at the least.
  The machine should not have any “rubbing” parts: Any moving part must not touch other parts. This is because of friction that would be created between the two. This friction will ultimately cause the machine to lose its energy to heat.
  The machine must be operated inside a vacuum (no air): The reason for this has to do with the reason listed in number one. Operating the machine anywhere will cause the machine to lose energy due to the friction between the moving parts and air. Although the energy lost due to air friction is very small, remember, we are talking about perpetual motion machines here, if there is a loss mechanism, eventually, the machine will still lose its energy and run down (even if it takes a long, long time).
  The machine should not produce any sound: a Sound is also a form of energy; if the machine is making any sound, that means that it is also losing energy.
  It is impossible to make such a machine, as dissipation can never be completely eliminated in a mechanical system, no matter how close a system gets to this ideal.

So far, these two laws of thermodynamics have stymied every idea for perpetual motion and the dreams of perfectly efficient energy generation they imply. Yet it’s hard to conclusively say we’ll never discover a perpetual motion machine because there’s still so much we don’t understand about the universe. Perhaps we’ll find new exotic forms of matter that’ll force us to revisit the laws of thermodynamics. Or maybe there’s a perpetual motion on tiny quantum scales. What we can be reasonably sure about is that we’ll never stop looking. For now, the one thing that seems truly perpetual is our search.

Following are some popular proposals for Perpetual Motion Machines, which may seem convincing in the first sight, but on detailed analysis, they contradict at least one of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

There are concepts and technical drafts that propose “perpetual motion”, but on closer analysis, it is revealed that they actually “consume” some sort of natural resource or latent energy, such as the phase changes of water or other fluids or small natural temperature gradients, or simply cannot sustain the indefinite operation. In general, extracting work from these devices is impossible.

Resource consuming

Some examples of such devices include:

• The drinking bird toy functions using small ambient temperature gradients and evaporation. It runs until all water is evaporated.
• A capillary action-based water pump functions using small ambient temperature gradients and vapor pressure differences. With the “Capillary Bowl”, it was thought that the capillary action would keep the water flowing in the tube, but since the cohesion force that draws the liquid up the tube in the first place holds the droplet from releasing into the bowl, the flow is not perpetual.

• A Crookes radiometer consists of a partial vacuum glass container with a lightweight propeller moved by (light-induced) temperature gradients.
• Any device picking up minimal amounts of energy from the natural electromagnetic radiation around it, such as a solar-powered motor.
• Any device powered by changes in air pressure, such as some clocks (Cox’s timepiece, Beverly Clock). The motion leeches energy from moving air which in turn gained its energy from being acted on.
• The Atmos clock uses changes in the vapor pressure of ethyl chloride with temperature to wind the clock spring.
• A device powered by radioactive decay from an isotope with a relatively long half-life; such a device could plausibly operate for hundreds or thousands of years.
• The Oxford Electric Bell and Karpen Pile, driven by dry pile batteries.

Low friction

• In flywheel energy storage, “modern flywheels can have a zero-load rundown time measurable in years”.
• Once spun up, objects in the vacuum of space — stars, black holes, planets, moons, spin-stabilized satellites, etc. — dissipate energy very slowly, allowing them to spin for long periods. Tides on Earth are dissipating the gravitational energy of the Moon/Earth system at an average rate of about 3.75 terawatts.
• In certain quantum-mechanical systems (such as superfluidity and superconductivity), very low friction movement is possible. However, the motion stops when the system reaches an equilibrium state (e.g. all the liquid helium arrives at the same level.) Similarly, seemingly entropy-reversing effects like superfluids climbing the walls of containers operate by ordinary capillary action.

Thought experiments

In some cases, a thought experiment appears to suggest that perpetual motion may be possible through accepted and understood physical processes. However, in all cases, a flaw has been found when all of the relevant physics is considered. Examples include:

• Maxwell’s demon: This was originally proposed to show that the Second Law of Thermodynamics applied in the statistical sense only, by postulating a “demon” that could select energetic molecules and extract their energy. Subsequent analysis (and experiment) have shown there is no way to physically implement such a system that does not result in an overall increase in entropy.
• Brownian ratchet: In this thought experiment, one imagines a paddle wheel connected to a ratchet. Brownian motion would cause surrounding gas molecules to strike the paddles, but the ratchet would only allow it to turn in one direction. A more thorough analysis showed that when a physical ratchet was considered at this molecular scale, Brownian motion would also affect the ratchet and cause it to randomly fail to result in no net gain. Thus, the device would not violate the Laws of thermodynamics.
• Vacuum energy and zero-point energy: In order to explain effects such as virtual particles and the Casimir effect, many formulations of quantum physics include background energy which pervades empty space, known as vacuum or zero-point energy. The ability to harness zero-point energy for useful work is considered pseudoscience by the scientific community at large. Inventors have proposed various methods for extracting useful work from zero-point energy, but none have been found to be viable, no claims for extraction of zero-point energy have ever been validated by the scientific community, and there is no evidence that zero-point energy can be used in violation of conservation of energy.

References
1. Why don’t perpetual motion machines ever work? — Netta Schramm
2. Science Explained: The Physics of Perpetual Motion Machines
3. Perpetual Motion.

Ford vs Ferrari: Truly Exhilarating Cinematic Experience…

Ford vs Ferrari is the Incredible, Spectacular, Big-Budget, Star-Powered, Thrill Ride from Bale and Damon with stunning visual racing scenes is a must watch on the big screen. The movie doesn’t even let you lean on your recliner, keeps you straight up with excitement and finally gives you the perfect Movie-Gasm multiple times in its course, the pulsating effect of which continues for a few hours even after you exit from the movie theatre. Even if you are not a motorhead, you will certainly be thrilled by this high-velocity bromance, powered by zealous acting and Mangold’s fastidious direction.

It is pulse-pounding and propulsive, despite a two-and-a-half-hour runtime. The racing sequences are so authentically mounted that you can almost smell the gasoline and burning rubber as the squealing tyres pierce your soul and your seats shudder every time a car roars across the screen.

In the mid-’60s, Ferrari is dominating the racing world, effortlessly winning prize after prize. So Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) orders his underlings to construct a car that will have Ferrari drivers choking on fumes. Enter Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale), two mavericks who might just be able to pull it off.

The title Ford vs Ferrari is not a perfect title for the film, as it is not primarily about Ford vs Ferrari, but Obsessions vs Egos. It is primarily a battle between The Makers and The Managers at Ford. The movie shows how in a corporate style, hierarchical system, what ultimately may matter is not the perfection, but the perception!

Ford v Ferrari works as an entertainment for dozens of reasons, not least of which are the performances. It simply won’t be an enjoyable experience at home, and in that regard, Ford vs Ferrari, certainly demands a drive and not a walk to the theatre. You cannot afford to miss it. Watch it late at night, because the chances are, the pulsating hangover of the movie will compel you to extremely fast drive on the tracks, which otherwise you may regret later on a crowded day time road!

My Rating: 4.5 / 5.

“Section 375” Will Just WoW You!

“We are not in the business of Justice, We are in the business of Law” says Akshaye Khanna in “Section 375”. This statement will reiterate in your mind a lot of times after having watched this “Astounding” movie!

This is one of the best “Intellectually Invigorating” movies I watched on Courtroom Portrayal in Indian Cinema. The earlier one I relished was Shahid (Rajkumar Rao) along with some others.

This film has Richa Chadha and Akshaye Khanna cast as lawyers. While Richa Chadha represents the victim Anjali Vasudev Dangle who is played by Meera Chopra, Akshaye Khanna represents the accused Rohan Ravi Khurana who is played by Rahul Bhat. Anjali works as an assistant costume designer with film director Rohan Ravi and accuses him of raping her. This is where the film starts. Akshaye Khanna chooses to advocate the accused, Rohan Ravi Khurana.

Director, Ajay Bahl, through this movie, is trying to draw viewers’ attention towards the difference between “Justice” and “Law”. Movie sets out its theme in the starting itself when Akshaye Khanna in a speech to Law students says “Justice is the goal, Law is just a tool to get there”. He, in spite of being a Lawyer himself and giving a speech to Law students, says, “One should not fall in love with the Law. Law is a Jealous Mistress, it requires a prolonged courtship and may finally disappoint you in the end”.

Akshaye Khanna is shown as a mature lawyer in the movie, who is aware of harsh realities in the Law and who knows that the Law may not always deliver justice. Richa Chaddha, on the other hand, is shown as a new enthusiastic lawyer who wishes to ensure justice with the Law as a tool, only destined to realize by the end of the movie that Law and Justice are not synonymous.

Director, in this movie, in a very balanced and amazing way, is able to show various inconsistencies and limitations in the current Law system and successfully able to draw the attention of the viewers, the various pressures Law system faces from the society and in the course of which, may fail to deliver the Justice. The Law system is there to uphold the law, but in the end, whether the Justice is ensured, is questionable!

Radical Subject, Superb Direction, Marvelous Dialogues with Magnificent Delivery, and Awesome Acting. One of the Incredible dialogues still echoing in my mind is “The Law is a fact, Justice is abstract”. Another one is “Will is more important than the Consent”.

This is not a family entertainer, as was evident from just 10 of us (I and some others I do not know about) watching the movie in the entire theater. If you like Intellectual Stimulation, If you are interested in the theme of the movie or if you like to watch some good directed and well-acted movies, then I would highly recommend it to you.

My rating — 4/5.

Benefits of Fasting:A Miracle Healer

Fasting is the willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. Following are some amazing benefits of fasting. Before dwelling into this article, you may like to read my previous article on “Science of Fasting: Autophagy”.

1. Fasting is an excellent tool for weight loss.

There have been studies that support fasting as an excellent tool for weight loss. One 2015 study found that alternate day fasting trimmed body weight by up to 7 percent and slashed body fat by up to 12 pounds. (1)

Another study, this one out of the University of Southern California, discovered that when 71 adults were placed on a five-day fast (eating between 750 and 1,100 calories a day) once every three months, they lost an average of 6 pounds, reduced inflammation levels and their waistlines and lost total body fat without sacrificing muscle mass. (2) If you want to lose weight and lose belly fat, fasting even irregularly could be the key.

2. Fasting promotes the secretion of human growth hormone and hence slows down the aging process.

Human growth hormone, or HGH, is naturally produced by the body, but remains active in the bloodstream for just a few minutes. It’s been effectively used to treat obesity and help build muscle mass, important for burning fat. HGH also helps increase muscle strength, which can help improve your workouts, too. Combine these together and you have an effective fat-burning machine on your hands.

A common way biochemists define aging is as “the slow accumulation of dysfunctional proteins and organelles in our cells” – which leads eventually to cell dysfunction and/or death.

Owing largely to the stimulation of autophagy, fasting can reverse this process, stimulating cells to “clean house”, preventing the dysfunction that can lead to disease (including cancer).

While not yet proven in humans, early studies in rats seem to link intermittent fasting with increased longevity. One study found that intermittent fasting decreased body weight and increased the life span in rats (6). Another found that a group of mice who fasted intermittently actually lived longer than the control group, although they were heavier than the non-fasting mice. (7) Of course, it’s not clear that the same results would happen in humans, but the signs are encouraging.

3. Fasting is great for Improving Blood Sugar and for normalizing insulin sensitivity.

When you eat, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. A hormone called insulin is responsible for transporting the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it can be used up as energy.

When your body gets too many carbs and sugar, it can become insulin resistant, which often paves the way for a host of chronic diseases, including type-2 diabetes. If you don’t want to go down this route, it’s critical to keep your body sensitive to insulin. Fasting is an effective way to do this.

A study published in the World Journal of Diabetes found that intermittent fasting in adults with type-2 diabetes improved key markers for those individuals, including their body weight and glucose levels. (3) And another study found that intermittent fasting was as effective as caloric restrictions in reducing visceral fat mass, fasting insulin and insulin resistance. (4) If you’re struggling with pre-diabetes or insulin sensitivity, intermittent fasting can help normalize things.

Insulin doesn’t always work effectively when you have diabetes, which can result in high blood sugar levels coupled with symptoms like fatigue, thirst and frequent urination.

Some studies have found that intermittent fasting benefits your blood sugar levels by keeping them well-regulated and preventing spikes and crashes.

In one study, participants with diabetes fasted an average of 16 hours daily for two weeks. Not only did intermittent fasting cause weight loss and a decrease in caloric intake, but it also helped significantly reduce blood sugar levels. (6)

Another study showed that fasting decreased blood sugar by 12 percent and also lowered insulin levels by nearly 53 percent. Preventing a build-up of insulin allows it to work more efficiently and keeps your body sensitive to its effects. (7)

You may like to read following two articles in this regard:
– 8 People Reversed Their Type 2 Diabetes Doing This One Thing.
– Successful reversal of type 2 diabetes inspired by Dr. Jason Fung

4. Fasting can Keeps Your Heart Healthy and lower Triglyceride levels.

When you consume too much bad cholesterol, your triglyceride levels may shoot up, increasing your risk of heart disease. Intermittent fasting actually lowers those bad cholesterol levels, decreasing triglycerides in the process. (5) Another interesting thing to note is that fasting doesn’t affect the levels of good cholesterol in the body.

One of the most impressive intermittent fasting benefits is its favorable effect on heart health. Studies show that intermittent fasting improves your heart health by lowering certain heart disease risk factors.

In one study, fasting was shown to influence several components of heart health. It increased good HDL cholesterol and decreased both bad LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. (8)

One animal study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry showed that intermittent fasting caused an increase in levels of adiponectin. (9) Adiponectin is a protein involved in the metabolism of fat and sugar that may be protective against heart disease and heart attacks. (10)

In fact, in one study, rats who fasted every other day were nearly 66 percent more likely to survive a heart attack than those on a normal diet. (11)

5. Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation is a normal immune response to injury. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can lead to chronic disease. Some research has even linked inflammation to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. (12)

A study published in Nutrition Research followed 50 individuals observing Ramadan and showed that they had decreased levels of some inflammatory markers during Ramadan fasting. (13) Another study in 2015 found that a longer duration of nighttime fasting was associated with a decrease in markers of inflammation. (14) In the journal Rejuvenation Research, alternate-day fasting helped reduce markers of oxidative stress. (15)

While more research is needed, these studies provide promising evidence showing that fasting may help reduce inflammation and fight off chronic disease.

6. Protects Your Brain

In addition to keeping your heart healthy and warding off disease, some studies have indicated that intermittent fasting protects the health of your brain.

One animal study showed that intermittent fasting helps enhance cognitive function and protect against changes in memory and learning function compared to a control group. (16) Another animal study found that intermittent fasting protects the brains of mice by influencing certain proteins involved in brain aging. (17)

Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of intermittent fasting may also help slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. (18)

Some also say that fasting promotes autophagy, or “self-eating,” which is our normal bodily process of cellular renewal — a process that is supposedly aided by fasting, though more scientific evidence is needed until this is certain.

7. Cancer Prevention/Treatment

Talk to most anyone involved in research around calorie restriction or fasting and they’ll tell you these are tragically underused tools in the cancer cell treatment toolkit.

Fasting has been shown to comparable in efficacy to chemotherapy in delaying the growth of certain types of tumors. Think about that: fasting is comparable in efficacy to the unbelievably toxic chemical soup that works by (hopefully) killing cancerous cells ever-so-slightly faster than it kills the recipient. Why is this not more used in oncology?

At minimum, a fasting protocol should be used in addition to chemotherapy, as it has been shown to preferentially protect non-cancerous cells from chemo drugs.

8. Decreases Hunger

Leptin, also known as the satiety hormone, is a hormone produced by the fat cells that helps signal when it’s time to stop eating. Your leptin levels drop when you’re hungry and increase when you’re feeling full.

Because leptin is produced in the fat cells, those who are overweight or obese tend to have higher amounts of leptin circulating in the body. However, too much leptin floating around can cause leptin resistance, which makes it harder for it to effectively turn off hunger cues.

One study with 80 participants measured leptin levels during intermittent fasting and found that levels were lower at night during the fasting period.

Lower levels of leptin could translate to less leptin resistance, less hunger and potentially even more weight loss.

9. Fasting can normalize ghrelin levels.

What is ghrelin? It is actually also known as the hunger hormone, because it is responsible for telling your body that it is hungry. Dieting and really restrictive eating can actually increase ghrelin production, which will leave you feeling hungrier. But when you fast, though you might struggle in the first few days, you’re actually normalizing ghrelin levels.

Eventually, you won’t feel hungry just because it’s your usual meal time. Instead, your body will become more adept in discerning when it actually needs food.

10. Fasting may be good for athletes.

Fasting has been found to have positive effects on body mass as well as other health markers in professional athletes. This is because, as previously mentioned, fasting can effectively shed excess fat, while optimizing muscle growth, because of HGH production. Traditionally, athletes are advised to consume high-quality protein half hour after finishing their workouts (post-workout nutrition) to simultaneously build muscle and reduce fat. Fasting is advised for training days, while eating is encouraged on game days.

Following is an amazing lecture by Dr. Berg on what happens inside the body when we fast. A must watch.

References

1. The Profound Benefits of Fasting (and Autophagy)
2. 7 Benefits of Fasting + the Best Types of Fasting

3. Fasting enhances growth hormone secretion and amplifies the complex rhythms of growth hormone secretion in man.

 

 

The Science of Fasting: Autophagy

On October 3rd 2016, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for Autophagy.

But what is Autophagy? The word derives from the Greek auto (self) and phagein (to eat). So the word literally means to eat oneself. Essentially, this is the body’s mechanism of getting rid of all the broken down, old cell machinery (organelles, proteins and cell membranes) when there’s no longer enough energy to sustain it. It is a regulated, orderly process to degrade and recycle cellular components.

There is a similar, better known process called apoptosis also known as programmed cell death. Cells, after a certain number of division, are programmed to die. While this may sound kind of macabre at first, realize that this process is essential in maintaining good health. For example, suppose you own a car. You love this car. You have great memories in it. You love to ride it. But after a few years, it starts to look kind of beat up. After a few more, it’s not looking so great. The car is costing you thousands of dollars every year to maintain. It’s breaking down all the time. Is it better to keep it around when it’s nothing but a hunk of junk? Obviously not. So you get rid of it and buy a snazzy new car.

Autophagy – replacing old parts of the cell

The same process also happens at a sub-cellular level. You don’t necessarily need to replace the entire car. Sometimes, you just need to replace the battery, throw out the old one and get a new one. This also happens in the cells. Instead of killing off the entire cell (apoptosis), you only want to replace some cell parts. That is the process of autophagy.

What activates autophagy?

Nutrient deprivation is the key activator of autophagy. Remember that glucagon is kind of the opposite hormone to insulin. It’s like the game we played as kids – ‘opposite day’. If insulin goes up, glucagon goes down. If insulin goes down, glucagon goes up. As we eat, insulin goes up and glucagon goes down. When we don’t eat (fast) insulin goes down and glucagon goes up. This increase in glucagon stimulates the process of autophagy. In fact, fasting (raises glucagon) provides the greatest known boost to autophagy.

This is in essence a form of cellular cleansing. The body identifies old and substandard cellular equipment and marks it for destruction. It is the accumulation of all this junk that may be responsible for many of the effects of aging.

Fasting is actually far more beneficial than just stimulating autophagy. It does two good things. By stimulating autophagy, we are clearing out all our old, junky proteins and cellular parts. At the same time, fasting also stimulates growth hormone, which tells our body to start producing some new snazzy parts for the body. We are really giving our bodies the complete renovation.

You need to get rid of the old stuff before you can put in new stuff. Think about renovating your kitchen. If you have old, crappy 1970s style lime green cabinets sitting around, you need to junk them before putting in some new ones. So the process of destruction (removal) is just as important as the process of creation. If you simply tried to put in new cabinets without taking out the old ones, it would be pretty fugly. So fasting may in some ways reverse the aging process, by getting rid of old cellular junk and replacing it with new parts.

What turns off autophagy? Eating. Glucose, insulin (or decreased glucagon) and proteins all turn off this self-cleaning process. And it doesn’t take much. Even a small amount of amino acid (leucine) could stop autophagy cold. So this process of autophagy is unique to fasting – something not found in simple caloric restriction or dieting.

Autophagy Benefits

Research suggests that some of the most important autophagy benefits include:

• Providing cells with molecular building blocks and energy
• Recycling damaged proteins, organelles and aggregates
• Regulating functions of cells’ mitochondria, which help produce energy but can be damaged by oxidative stress
• Clearing damaged endoplasmic reticulum and peroxisomes
• Protecting the nervous system and encouraging growth of brain and nerve cells. Autophagy seems to improve cognitive function, brain structure and neuroplasticity.
• Supporting growth of heart cells and protecting against heart disease
• Enhancing the immune system by eliminating intracellular pathogens
• Defending against misfolded, toxic proteins that contribute to a number of amyloid diseases
• Protecting stability of DNA
• Preventing damage to healthy tissues and organs (known as necrosis)
• Potentially fighting cancer, neurodegenerative disease and other illnesses

How to Induce Autophagy

When does autophagy occur? Autophagy is active in all cells but is increased in response to stress or nutrient deprivation (fasting or starvation). This means you can utilize “good stressors” like exercise and temporary calorie-restriction (fasting) to boost autophagic processes. Both of these strategies have been linked with benefits like weight control, longevity and inhibition of many age-associated diseases.

1. Practice Fasting

When it comes to diet and lifestyle habits that are in your control, the thing that triggers autophagy most is fasting, including the dietary strategy known as intermittent fasting (or IMF). Fasting is a pretty simple concept: You abstain from eating for a certain period of time (you can still drink water and liquids like coffee or tea).

If you’re not yet familiar with intermittent fasting, this is a type of cyclic fasting that involves time-restricted eating. There are many different forms of IMF that you can practice to promote autophagy, such as Alternate Day Fasting or limiting your daily “eating window” to somewhere between just 4 to 8 days per day.

How long do you have to fast for autophagy? Studies suggest that fasts between 24–48 hours probably have the strongest effects, but this isn’t always doable for many people. (4) Try to at least fast for 12 to 36 hours at a time.

An easy way to accomplish this is to eat just 1 or 2 meals per day, rather than grazing on many small meals and snacks. If you usually finish dinner at 6 or 7 p.m, then try to fast until at least 7 a.m the next morning— or even better, don’t eat until 11 a.m. or 12 p.m.

You might choose to occasionally do a 2–3 day fast, or even longer once you’re more experienced with fasting. If you prefer alternate day fasting, then you will severely restrict the amount of calories you eat during fasting days (eating only 1 or 2 meals of about 500 calories), then eating to your stomach’s content on non-fasting days.

2. Consider the Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic (“keto”) diet is a very high-fat, very low-carb diet that works in similar ways to fasting. The keto diet (KD) involves getting about 75 percent or more of your daily calories from fat, and no more than 5–10 percent of calories from carbs. This forces your body to go through some major changes, as metabolic pathways are shifted so that you start using fat for fuel instead of glucose from carbs.

What types of foods are most beneficial if you plan to follow the KD? High-fat, whole foods like coconut oil, olive oil, eggs, grass-fed butter, ghee, grass-fed meat, fermented cheeses, avocado, seeds and nuts. Vegetables are also included for fiber, vitamins and antioxidants.

In response to such severe carb restriction, you’ll begin to start producing ketone bodies that have many protective effects. Studies suggest that ketosis can also cause starvation-induced autophagy, which has neuroprotective functions. For example, in animal studies when rats are put on the ketogenic diet, the keto diet has been shown to start autophagic pathways that reduces brain injury during and after seizures. (5)

3. Exercise

Another “good stress” that can induce autophagy is exercising. Recent research has shown that “Exercise induces autophagy in multiple organs involved in metabolic regulation, such as muscle, liver, pancreas and adipose tissue.” (6)

While exercise has many benefits, it’s actually a form of stress because it breaks down tissues, causing them to be repaired and grow back stronger. It’s not exactly clear yet how much exercise is needed to boost autophagy, but research does suggest that intense exercise is probably most beneficial.

In skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue, as little as 30 minutes of exercise can be sufficient to induce autophagy. Can you exercise while fasting? Most people can. You might even find that you feel energetic once you get the hang of fasting, giving you more motivation for exercise.

Precautions Regarding Autophagy & Fasting

There’s still a lot we have to learn about autophagy and how to best induce it. Beginning to induce autophagy by incorporating fasting and regular exercise into your routine is a great place to start.

However, if you are taking certain medications to control any health conditions, it’s best to consult your doctor about introducing fasting.

Final Thoughts on Autophagy Benefits & Mechanisms

• Autophagy translates to “self-eating.” It’s a beneficial process that describes consumption and recycling of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process.
• Researchers believe that autophagy is a survival mechanism that has anti-aging benefits. It helps cleanse waste from the body, provides energy, and potentially fights cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and other chronic illnesses.
• Autophagy is induced through starvation, fasting and other “stressors.” You can increase autophagic processes by doing some type intermittent or alternate day fasting, exercising, and/or following the ketogenic diet.

Following is an amazing lecture by Dr. Berg on what happens inside the body when we fast. A must watch. 

References

1. How to renew your body: Fasting and autophagy.
2. Benefits of Autophagy, Plus How to Induce It
3. 5 Day Water Fast: What to Expect on the Healing Journey
4. Fasting enhances growth hormone secretion and amplifies the complex rhythms of growth hormone secretion in man.

 

 

Apple Cider Vinegar: The Miracle Drink

Following are some amazing health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).

1. Controls Blood Sugar
   Apple cider vinegar can help you make glucose more sensitive so you’ll have less insulin resistance. Less insulin being produced can help you with your weight loss efforts.
   
   
2. Improves Immune System
   It can help boost your immune system with its antibacterial properties. It can stimulate white blood cells to speed up function and fight infection.
   
   
3. Decreases Acid Reflux / Acidity
   Normally, your stomach needs to be very acidic to be able to close the valve at the top of your stomach. This valve prevents your stomach acid from coming up your esophagus. When your stomach acid levels are low, the valve doesn’t close and the acid can reflux up your esophagus. The term for this condition is GERD, which stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease. To feel better, you take in any antiacid. Yet the next time you eat, it becomes worse. Why? Because you’re making that acid less acidic. So over time, that valve just stays open and you’ll have constant reflux, making you dependent on medication. If you consume apple cider vinegar, it helps the valve close fully, improving the symptoms of acid reflux and GERD.
   
   
4. Breaks Down Protein
   Protein breaks down into amino acids when metabolized. You need acids, like apple cider vinegar, to activate the enzymes to do this.
   
   
5. Helps Release Bile
   Your liver needs a specific amount of acid to produce bile, which then gets released to the gallbladder. Apple cider vinegar can help serve as a trigger and release the bile that’s congested in the liver. You, then, feel less bloated. Acid also helps release enzymes from the pancreas for a more complete digestion.
   
   
6. Can Decrease Gas and Bloating
   The last thing you want is undigested food in your digestive tract. Apple cider vinegar speeds up the breakdown of food to aid in complete protein digestion.
   
   
7. Helps Absorb Minerals
   Calcium, magnesium, and iron all need a certain pH to be absorbed. If your stomach is too alkaline, you won’t be able to absorb as many minerals. Vitamins K, C, and even B12 need acid to be absorbed.
   
   
8. Controls Pathogens
   If you think about it, you have pickles and other fermented vegetables that are acidic. The acid they are kept in preserves the food and prevents bacterial growth. When you consume apple cider vinegar, it helps prevent the overgrowth of microbes, especially if you have a condition called SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. SIBO or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth Definition: This is a condition where you have bacteria growing in the wrong place, e.g. in the small intestine instead of the large intestine.
   
   
9. Aids Digestion
   Apple cider vinegar speeds up digestion and activates gastrointestinal enzymes. There are a lot of enzymes in the stomach, in the pancreas, and other places in the body that are dormant. These enzymes can only be activated by certain things. Acid is one of the activators for the enzymes in the stomach to help you break down protein. This is the process that helps the stomach digest food faster.
   
   
10. Maintains Healthy Cholesterol
    Apple cider vinegar can increase the good cholesterol so you maintain a healthy heart and cardiovascular system.

Basically, ACV does amazing things in the body. Start having it today!!

Following are Dr. Mercola’s views on ACV.

No doubt, you’ve seen them — lists touting the amazing curative power of apple cider vinegar for an amazing number of ills. “ACV” (as it’s sometimes referred to in studies) has been praised for its ability to balance your pH, increase good gut bacteria and help control your weight, as well as many other beneficial things.

Here’s the kicker: All those are true, and more besides. One of the most sensational is its ability to balance your blood sugar. A study¹ at Arizona State University tested 11 volunteers with type 2 diabetes (diagnosed by a doctor) who weren’t taking insulin but continued taking their prescription medications.

Each participant took 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with a snack — an ounce of cheese — before bedtime. The researchers demonstrated that in the morning, the study subjects had lower blood sugar readings than when they had the same snack with 2 tablespoons of water.

This is important and potentially life-changing news for half of the American population, as NBC News reports that half the country suffers from either high blood sugar or full-blown diabetes.

What is the best time to take ACV

Well best time is depend on what is the basic purpose of drinking Apple cider vinegar. Best time of drinking Apple cider vinegar is in the morning with empty stomach it will helps you many ways like detox your body from harmful chemicals, maintain pH level of your body and all. For weight lose purpose you may take it two times a day. Firstly in the morning empty stomach and another one after lunch, but make sure half an hour gap you maintain.

A Tasty Apple Cider Vinegar Delight

1. One glass of Cold Water.
2. Cinnamon Powder 1/2 teaspoon.
3. 10 ml Apple Cider Vinegar.
4. Stevia Drops – 4 Drops.

That is all. Mix it and have it.

If you are practicing Intermittent Fasting or any kind of Fasting, then do NOT add Stevia, Artificial Sweetners, Cinnamon. You can simply have Apple Cider Vinegar with Himalayan Pink Salt, in cold water. Trust me, it is also very satiating and tasty.

Following are some YouTube videos on the topic, you may like to watch.

References:

1. Why You Should Take Your Apple Cider Vinegar at Night

The Delusion of Spirituality!

Are You Spiritual? Here Are 8 Ways You May Be Fooling Yourself!!

Who is more aligned with their path of spiritual evolution?

• A person sitting in a lotus position, taking deep breaths and in perfect composure?

• Or a person curled up in a ball, crying hysterically?

If we base our answer on everything we have learned from “new age” philosophies and most spiritual teachings out there, I think it’s fair to say that the person meditating wins. He/she appears peaceful, at ease, and detached. Now I’m not about to “shock” you and say that the opposite is true. But I would argue that this image is just that: an image.

This is why:

Even the most peaceful, composed, and “spiritually correct” person in the world can be completely out of alignment with themselves, even more than someone who isn’t into spirituality at all. How come? Well… because of our tendency to be dishonest with ourselves. I say this from experience: no amount of sophisticated spiritual jargon has been able to aid my evolution more than an honest look at my raw, vulnerable self.

P.S. I don’t mean to say that all spiritual people fool themselves. These are simply traps that I have noticed are common in the spiritual community, and which I myself have fallen for on occasion.

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HERE ARE 8 WAYS SPIRITUAL PEOPLE CAN FOOL THEMSELVES:

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 1. I Have To Feel Good And Stay Positive All The Time

Translation: I’m terrified of feeling pain.

This belief is quite common among the “positive thinking” community. Now there is nothing wrong with thinking positively, but using the power of thought to gloss over any surfacing negative emotions is one of the biggest blocks to our spiritual growth. Why? Because what our souls actually desire is to become whole again. And this means reconnecting with all the fragmented aspects of ourselves (fears, negative beliefs, past emotional traumas) we have dissociated from so that we may acknowledge and transform them.

Newsflash: That’s NOT going to happen if we continually avoid and suppress them. It’s not going to happen if we perceive them as enemies and invaders. The truth is, each and every painful emotion that is surfacing in our lives is like a child in distress. When we repress them, it is as if we purposely lock this child self into a room, forcing it to relive a trauma alone and behind closed doors while we look the other way. In other words, it is self-abuse.

“That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

– John Green

Being completely emotionally honest with ourselves takes bravery. It means putting ourselves right into the very emotions we have spent our lives shielding ourselves from feeling again. But once you allow yourself to feel and release what is stored inside of you, you are basically letting your brain and body know that it is now safe to feel, that you are no longer in the scary situation that created the trauma in the first place, and that you are now ready to learn from it and and move on to better things.

It can help to have a friend or an animal holding space for you while you release emotion, because it is important to feel safe. You will find that when you make it a habit to feel and release the emotional charges that are stuck in your body, the lightness you will feel will be more worth it than all the effort put into avoiding and suppressing!

P.S. If there were really something wrong about feeling all ranges of emotions… your soul wouldn’t have chosen to incarnate in a body capable of feeling them all!

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2. I Behave Spiritually, Therefore I Am Growing Spiritually!

Translation: I’m really just scared and confused. So I’ll keep repeating “love n’ light!”

Many spiritual people believe that a “spiritual” behavior is all that is required to be on the “spiritual” path; that if you say loving words, follow spiritual principles, and act like Jesus, you’re pretty much enlightened. Well… let me just say that the most emotionally wounded and ‘in-denial-about-it’ people I have ever met had a very strong spiritual ethic and personality. I know because I have been one of them.

Spiritual people often fall into the trap of using their understanding of spiritual concepts to feel like they are above emotions and duality. This defeats the whole purpose of our soul, which is to learn from emotions and duality through our own felt experience — not just through theory!

“Spiritual Bypassing: A term first coined by author John Welwood. The spiritual bypass is the tendency to jump to spirit prematurely, usually in an effort to avoid various aspects of earthly reality (practical challenges, unresolved emotions and memories). The bypass has many symptoms – the starry-eyed bliss trip, radical detachment from one’s self-identifications, premature forgiveness, ungrounded behaviors, wish-full thinking etc.”

– Jeff Brown

There is a purpose and lesson behind every emotion and feeling, and simply adjusting and focusing on our behavior prematurely is pulling us away from where our greatest learning is.

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3. I Use Self-Conviction To Make Me Feel Like I’m On The Right Path

Translation: I’d rather live through the safe stories I tell myself than trust my intuition.

Have you ever noticed yourself going overkill with grand speeches and declarations of why something is right (or wrong) for you, whether it be a “twin flame,” a job, or a new year’s resolution? Now that doesn’t mean it must necessarily be wrong for you, just like it doesn’t mean it must be right. It just means that using self-conviction is a process of mental rationalization, not of intuition.

When we do this, we are much more likely to fool ourselves into something that doesn’t align with our true self. No big deal though, because following through on a choice that is out of alignment will eventually teach us that we are better off trusting and being honest with our intuition and feelings — a lesson that usually gets learned once our illusion crashes.

Many times, I have convinced myself of things to make me feel “good” about a decision or situation despite a nagging suspicion that something isn’t right. And many times, I have screwed myself! So now, I do my best to follow my intuition instead of getting lost in my mind. The best part is, when we stop fooling ourselves, we automatically become more honest with others. This guarantees more fulfilling relationships and the dissolution of fake ones!

“Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.”

– Walter Anderson

The tricky part is that sometimes, our intuition leads us directly toward a choice that would make us face a fear or difficult emotion, which is precisely why we often rationalize ourselves out of taking the leap of faith. That’s why following our intuition often requires courage. Although I promise you… the maturity, wisdom, alignment, and freedom gained from following it is always worth it in the end!

“You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind.”

– Anne Lamott

• How To Hear Your Intuition When You Don’t Know What To Do

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4. I Preach When I Feel On Top Of My Game, But Blame When Triggered

Translation: I’ve got Issues.

We reaaaaaally need to get off our high horses, or perhaps I should say, our “spiritual unicorns.” Sure, preaching may make us look wise and majestic for a while, but at what cost? At the cost of not ACTUALLY evolving. It prevents us from truly growing and maturing from the inside out. Now it doesn’t mean we can’t offer valuable wisdom even if we still deal with personal issues. But we shouldn’t wear our wise insights like a badge, only to resist growth when it’s our turn to feel vulnerable. 

We should actually embrace it when our foundation gets shaken. Many of us think we must fight to stay on our comfortable throne, yet little expansion and joy exists there. True expansion and joy happens when we embrace the fact that our vulnerability connects us all.

We’re all human, and we’re all vulnerable. Imagine how warm, compassionate, and friendly this world would be if we weren’t so busy hiding, suppressing, and feeling shame for the things we all learn and experience! In such a reality, anyone acting preachy and denying their own vulnerability would actually be the odd ones.

Being transparent is scary, I know. But the RIGHT people will LOVE you for being real, for being you. It’s always the wrong people that love you for your image.

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5. I Use Spiritual Perspectives To Bypass Human Emotions (THIS ONE IS KEY!)

Translation: I want to get to my destination quickly and bruise free. I resist and devalue the journey towards it.

This is something I’ve done quite a bit, and with the best intention. Of course I want to remind myself that everything happens for a reason when I feel hurt and heartbroken after a difficult breakup. Of course I want to remind myself that every soul is made of love when I believe that I shouldn’t feel anger or rage toward someone who has betrayed me. But this is a HUGE problem among the spiritual community: the belief in shoulds and shouldnt’s when it comes to emotions. The belief that anger, fear, and grief aren’t as much a part of our spiritual progress as feelings of love and transcendence.

The thing is, we actually ARE headed toward a state of consciousness where we can feel the beauty and value of every challenge and every soul. But every single one of the emotions that come up along the way should be valued as stepping stones, each containing a valuable lesson designed to bring us closer to that state.

“Anger is a river. It wants to be released into the vaster ocean. It wants to move naturally. When we repress it with premature forgiveness, block it with false positivity, repress it in the name of pseudo-peace, we just dam(n) our natural flow. The river then turns inward, against the self, or explodes outwardly, against innocents. Better we express it when it is in our awareness – not in a way that is destructive to humanity – but in a way that is authentic and that restores the integrity of our being. Anger isn’t the enemy. Misplaced anger is. Let the river flow…”

– Jeff Brown

The truth is, anger, fear, and grief can be amazing catalysts for change and transformation when embraced. For example, anger is a very potent energy to get you moving and clear up the clutter in your life, whether it be toxic people, situations, or limiting beliefs. It doesn’t need to be destructive or vengeful; it is a fire that should be used to fuel positive action. Once you have made the appropriate changes, you no longer need it and can move to a higher vibration.

Fear is also a valuable emotion. It points you to another layer of your being that needs peeling so that you may experience greater freedom past it. It shows you where your growth is. Grief thrusts us into our deepest wounds of separation so that we may find ourselves again. It has the power to shatter our illusions and reconnect us with what truly matters.

So go ahead and feel it all! You are not alone in this.

“Real shadow work does not leave us intact; it is not some neat and tidy process, but rather an inherently messy one, as vital and unpredictably alive as birth. The ass it kicks is the one upon which we are sitting; the pain it brings up is the pain we’ve been fleeing most of our life; the psychoemotional breakdowns it catalyzes are the precursors to hugely relevant breakthroughs; the doors it opens are doors that have shown up year after year in our dreams, awaiting our entry. Real shadow work not only breaks us down, but breaks us open.”

– Sera Beak, Red Hot and Holy

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6. I Can Talk/Read About Spiritual Growth All Day, Yet Avoid Using My Own Life As My Teacher

That’s kind of like reading a bunch of video game strategy guides, but never actually playing. The actual fun, the “levelling up” and the progression, happen as you play it! 

Many spiritual people understand the mechanics of personal and spiritual growth like the backs of their hands. I’m pretty knowledgable about it myself. I know that we create our own reality, that life is literally a reflection of the thoughts, emotions, and energy we put out, and I even know the science behind it. So it’s sort of ironic that I still sometimes manage to remove myself from this equation. I sometimes believe myself to be a victim of circumstances and slip into a passive attitude toward my life, ignoring my own guidance and cues to move forward. This usually happens when I forget that my life itself IS my purpose and mirrors what is necessary for me to evolve.

Our lives are meant to be lived, our feelings are meant to be felt, and our challenges are meant to be learned from. All of our experiences — internal and external — are like quests in a video game, designed to bring us to the next level. So let’s play!

“If we can live life consciously and authentically—understanding that things do not happen to us, but rather for us—we can use everything that comes into our lives to our benefit. We can locate all the barriers that keep us from beauty, love, abundance, intimacy, joy and good health.”

– Erin Lanahan

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7. I Have Found The Truth! Let Me Anchor That In Forever And Shut Down Any New Perspectives

Translation: I am forgetting that I am a unique, fluid, and ever-changing being on a unique, fluid, and ever-changing path that adapts to what I need to learn in any given moment.

What we need in one stage of our lives may be completely different from what we need in another. What feels right one day may not feel right the next. And there’s a reason for this. We are unique and multi-layered beings. Sometimes, we hit layers that require us to learn commitment and goal-setting. Other times, we hit layers that require us to learn flexibility and “going with the flow.” We may at one time need to learn compassion and softness, while at another time need to learn firmness and resolve.

The problem is when we become set on ideals rather than staying tuned to our intuition (similar to what we talked about in #3). Our paths and lessons adapt to what is best and most important for our evolution. When we get stuck in our minds and adopt a fixed spiritual ideal, we miss out on the actual cues that our feelings, intuition, and life experiences whisper to us.

As much as the truth may very well be that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively and that we are a way for the universe to know itself… well, it seems the universe wants to know itself through very UNIQUE perspectives and paths. We are not meant to live in a synchronized fashion and all move the same, think the same, and feel the same. We are here to be complimentary to one another, much like a puzzle requires unique pieces to create a beautiful image.

8. I Am “So Spiritual,” But Forget To Treat Others Like I’d Want To Be Treated

Translation: I skipped the most basic yet important step to my own spiritual growth, which is to be an expression of love.

It might sound cliché, but Jesus had it right. It doesn’t matter if you have read all the books or mastered all of your spiritual abilities; if you keep all of that magnificent love, generosity, care, and compassion locked in a little cellar within your heart… you have missed the entire point of your spiritual growth. You are still operating out of fear and need to clear out whatever barrier is preventing you from accessing the loving being that you are. The world needs you!

I once met someone who disregarded the importance of love because he believed it was too much of a cliché and cookie-cutter approach to spirituality. What I would say to that person today is that, regardless of how different and unique every flower within a garden may be, you wouldn’t want to water any of them with poison. You would ideally use the purest water to see them thrive and beautify the environment in their own unique way. The same goes with human beings. If there is one universal law that applies to us all, I believe it is that we thrive best in the vibration of love. If we can all strive to grow into more loving, compassionate, and authentic versions of ourselves, what a wonderful world this would be!

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

― Albert Einstein

Source:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/19/are-you-spiritual-here-are-8-ways-you-may-be-fooling-yourself/