Saturday, November 20, 2010

Emotions at the base of our actions!

When I was reading about Dan Hill's Emotionomics, it became more clear that mankind has been always using emotions as the basis of its actions. But we deny it by placing logic and rational thinking before it. Dan Hill himself says, 'We make decisions emotionally but we try to justify (or defend) them rationally!'. Science has always tried to decipher mysteries of life through logic and rational application of scientific facts. For example, science says that the feeling of love is initiated by complex impulses generated in the brain and heart has little role to play! Well, there are yet many things which science is yet to dissect into and man keeps himself mystified, bewildered, challenged and exhilarated in the process. It is all a process of the inherent human nature of being a child at heart. A heart filled with emotions like curiosity mixed with surprise, astonishment and thirst for knowing the reason behind it or in some instances as Paulo Coelho says the compulsive need of humankind to explain everything!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Green Tea for those beautiful days in everyday life!



Chinese medicine for thousands of years has believed and practiced in drinking green tea as a sip of good health each day. As the Chinese proverb goes: 'Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one', a cup of tea gives such enormous benefit to the health that we cant afford to ignore it. Chinese knew the secret of green tea and hence it is a part of their lifestyle for many years. 

Green tea is well known in China, Japan, South Korea and other Middle East countries. It is nothing but tea made solely by the leaves of  Camellia sinensis with minimal oxidation during processing. There are different varieties of green tea depending upon the differences in growing conditions, processing time and harvesting time. As a result you can find varieties of flavor and different grades of pale green color in a cup of green tea. 

Recently many scientific studies have tried to elucidate the health benefits of green tea. 

Green tea brightens up your spirit with its increased ability to heighten the cognition. It relieves stress and rejuvenates the body cells to bring you fresh energy to sustain yourself.  Not only its stress relieving property it also has been found to be effective in as many body ailments as you can think of! Here is a list of beneficial effects of green tea consumption which I could collect: 

1. Green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. It is rich in anti-oxidants polyphenols especially epigallactocatechin gallate (EGCG). Apart from killing cancer cells it also has an effect in lowering Low Density Lipoprotien Cholesterol and increases the ration of HDL to LDL.

2. Green tea helps in protecting the heart by lowering the LDL cholesterol and by reducing the risks of heart diseases. 

3. Green tea fights against tooth decay too. Regular consumption of green tea reduces the activity of a bacterial enzyme gyrase and this could be attributed to its role in maintaining oral hygiene. 

4. Keeping a check on weight is easier with consumption of green tea. Green tea drinkers have an average of 17% more rate of fat oxidation compared to non drinkers according to a study conducted by the Israel Institute of Technology. It not only increases fat oxidation at moderately intensive exercise but also increases insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in young healthy adults.

5. Green tea extract EGCG helps older adults and geriatric patients by helping to restore damaged neurons in the brain. It also helps protecting the neurons from dying. This has shown a greater possible benefit in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

6. Breast cancer which afflicts young women across the globe can be well kept at bay by regular consumption of green tea. The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it not too late to start our day with green tea.

7. Green tea keeps your Eyes healthy too. The catechins in green tea are absorbed into our retina and lense and helps in reduced oxidative stress keeping our eyes away from eye diseases like glaucoma.

8. Its rich antioxidant properties helps build a stronger immune system which can keep infections at bay and also helps fight against inflammation like rheumatoid arthritis.

9. Green tea is also rich in minerals likechromium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and certain phytochemical compounds. It contains carotenoids, acsorbic acid and tocopherols which all add to its wonderful properties.


10. Green tea works wonders on your skin too. Studies on humans and animals have shown that topical application of green tea reduces skin damage caused due to sun exposure. If used along with sun screen lotion it greatly helps in reducing the free radicals and inflammation caused due to sun burn. Because of its great anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties it helps fight against the signs of aging. It has also shown to be effective against acne on long term topical use combined with consumption of green tea.

Till date no harmful effects of green tea is documented. You can consume as many cups of green tea as you want without any fear and enjoy its soothing effect which brightens your cognitive ability for every day challenges of life.


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Reflection!

I was just thinking how we human beings have got this wonderful ability to have thought process and also able to Reflect upon our thoughts. But the ability or the practice of reflecting on one's own thoughts is not seen commonly. It requires a great deal of insight into our perception and actions and also a mind to critic our intentions and consequences of our actions. We perform many day to day activities out of routine practice, sometimes not even asking ourselves why we have been practicing or performing certain actions. We take it for granted that it is an accepted way of life and our actions are justified by the fact that everyone else in the society are also doing the same since ages. Well, is this what our education teaches us? To just imitate what others have been doing in the past especially if they are approved by our elders or some authority approves so? Many social practices as well as cultural practices exist today in this manner. May it be Dowry system, an extravagant and exuberant wedding, performing rituals in order to bring peace and order in the family or society, or even as simple as other behavioral actions like throwing away plastics, papers or any waste into our own surroundings! Just taking it for granted that everybody does it, so there is no harm in it! How many times do we reflect upon our actions? How many times do we feel responsible for our meaningless and many times harmful practices? 


Well, the art of reflection towards our thoughts and actions, the process of thinking about our thinkings, knowing our intentions and projecting the consequences of our thoughts is a great way into making our life really meaningful. Reflecting brings us joy in life since we can truly enjoy every moment of this life lived meaningfully. Celebrating life and following the heart go hand in hand! And to make it a beautiful journey and never to compromise on our conscience and integrity Reflection plays a major role. I do remember what Paulo Coelho says in one of the stories (On Elegance) of his book 'Like the Flowing River' and I would like to quote that excerpt here: 


When you make a decision, set it in motion, try to review mentally each stage that led you to take that step, but do so without tension, because it is impossible to hold all the rules in your head. With your spirit free, as you review each step, you will become aware of which were the most difficult moments, and how you overcame them. This will be reflected in your body, so pay attention!
Paulo Coelho was relating the external body postures to elegance of the inner self. It so beautifully and in a very simple manner helps us to understand how our actions bring about elegance in our outer and inner self. In order to bring this elegance into our lives we need to reflect on what we do and how we do and why we do certain things. This comes with simplicity of thoughts and actions and at the same time a complex process of cognition and metacognition which takes place in our brain. Well, sometimes thinking simple requires a complex process of perception, analysis and application with reflection at each step. Thats the beauty and joyous elevation gained by our soul! 

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A cup of tea!



Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.  ~Catherine Douzel


Drinking a cup of tea is like drinking a cup of happiness. Happiness that derives out of the pure pleasure of savoring the bitter sweet sour taste of ingredients which make up a wonderful cup of tea. A cup of tea large enough to soothe your body, large enough to rejuvenate your taste buds, large enough to lighten your spirits yet small enough to make you want even more of it. Well, all tea lovers have derived even more abundant mixture of feelings from each sip of tea, as many pleasures as there are varieties of tea! Feelings which are always soothing, caring, nourishing, satisfying, relieving, refreshing, chilling, cooling, still many!!

Apart from this great experience we also have a lot of health benefits from a cup of tea (http://www.tjpr.org/vol6_no3/638Sharma.pdf).

Its never too late to enjoy a sip of tea everyday!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Smile heartily





I have a blog now with a 'Smile' :) 


Oh! Smile!!! What a beautiful expression which does not require any words to convey, yet so pleasantly powerful that you cant escape from its effects. Even the person who smiles at others is blessed with its effects. It is like a touch of a tender flower which reaches the hearts of the bestower and the receiver. 

I have a smile on my face writing this post and even though its only virtual I am sure this smile pleasantly touches our hearts.

I post my first writing with a note on 'smile' wishing myself and hoping that writing brings pleasure and reconnect what I perceive around me.  
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported LicenseCreative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.