Step Meditation

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

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

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

Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirel...

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

<table id="April2013" style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; background-color: #ffffff; width: 541px;" border="1"><tbody><tr><td width="105" align="left" valign="top"><br />Event</td><td colspan="3" width="420" align="left" valign="top">North-West District of Cocaine Anonymous welcomes you to...<br /><span class="style18" style="font-size: 16px;">Reaching Out in Redcar UNITY Day</span></td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top">Time</td><td colspan="3" align="left" valign="top">Saturday 11:30am Start</td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top">Address</td><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="style29">Tuned-In Centre,<br />Majuba Road,<br />Redcar,<br />TS10 5BJ</span></td><td style="width: 208px;" rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.cauk.org.uk/Downloads/Events/06-04-2013%20redcar%20unity.pdf" style="color: #0393f3; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="redcar" height="139" src="http://www.cauk.org.uk/Downloads/Events/06-04-2013%20redcar%20unity.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top">Additional Notes</td><td align="left" valign="top">Speakers;<br />Cameron F <em>(Canada)</em> <br />Will B <em>(Spain)</em><br />Danielle <em>(Cheshire)</em></td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top">Information</td><td colspan="3" align="left" valign="top">TICKETS £5 (or donation).<br />Refreshments provided.<br /><a href="http://www.cauk.org.uk/Downloads/Events/06-04-2013%20redcar%20unity.pdf" style="color: #0393f3; text-decoration: none;">Click here</a> to download flyer & contact info.</td></tr></tbody></table>

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

Event North-West District of Cocaine Anonymous welcomes you to... Reaching Out in Redcar UNITY Day Time Saturday 11:30am Start Address Tuned...

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

Understand the inherently peaceful presence of Awareness the art of Living in the NOW, and see that this peace is not dependent upon the con...

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

<p><p>There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues" (2) In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs (2).</p><p>Drugs seem to cause surges in dopamine neurotransmitters and other pleasure brain messengers. However, the brain quickly adapts and these circuits desensitize, which allows for withdrawal symptoms to occur (3). Drug addiction works on some of the same neurobiological mechanisms that aid in learning and memories (3). "This new view of dopamine as an aid to learning rather than a pleasure mediator may help explain why many addictive drugs, which unleash massive surges of the neurotransmitter in the brain, can drive continued use without producing pleasure-as when cocaine addicts continue to take hits long after the euphoric effects of the drug have worn off or when smokers smoke after cigarettes become distasteful." (4)</p><p>Since memory and pleasure zones are intertwined in the brain, many researchers have been using psychological approaches to stop drug use. Many rehabilitation centers have used classical conditioning to rehabilitate drug addicts. They combine exposure to drugs combined with cognitive scripts, like statements how drugs have destroyed a person's life or what can be accomplished without using drugs, according to DeLetis (5). By using classical conditioning, the drugs addicts pair the drugs with negative connotations and properties. "Adverse withdrawal symptoms can function as an instrumental negative reinforcer and can be linked to the opponent process theory of motivation." (6) However, drug addicts may relapse and start using again because of many environmental "cues", which are external forces that are associated with drug use in their lives. When the drugs addicts see these cues, their brain circuitry, especially the orbitofrontal cortex become hyperactive and causes these people to start craving drugs again (2). No matter how successful the rehabilitation treatment is, once those "cues" are around, the drug addicts remember how pleasurable the drugs felt and relapse into drug abuse again.</p><p>Through all of the research done about drug addiction and its affects on the brain, one can see how drug addiction is considered a brain disease. Drug addiction is a disabling disease and can ruin a person's life. By taking drugs, a person's brain becomes "rewired" to tolerate high amounts of dopamine neurotransmitters, but once those high amounts of dopamine cease to exist, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms. However, there are ways drug addicts can control their drug intake by using classical conditioning techniques, which allows them to associate drugs with negative attributes.</p><div></div></p>

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

There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonad...

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

<h4>The Serotonin Support Group (SSG)</h4><h4>Is a mutual support group for people who suffer from low Serotonin levels,  wishing to participate in a support group that uses as one method a vitamin supplement as a method of replacement or addition to a diet to help the sufferer.The historical basis of this form of nutritional treatment was discovered and researched by Bill Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous and it is to promote this Legacy to persons who suffer from low serotonin uptake and depression that the Group was formed.Bill Wilson wished to add a step to the 12 he had produced for AA. We struggle to make that possible and fulfill his promise. Without detracting from the message of recovery in the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. If alcoholics and addictive abusers of other drugs have specific chemical imbalances in the brain, and if these imbalances turn out to be reliable enough and measurable enough in sufficiently large numbers of human addicts, it is natural to wonder whether, eventually, science can find a way to correct them.</h4><p>Some sort of neurotransmitter cocktail, maybe.</p><p>Or just possibly... a pill?<a href="http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/page4.html" target="null"></a></p><h4>Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles.  His desire was to help alcoholics stay recovered. This means he would have immediately brought this mineral replacement therapy that eliminates alcohol cravings forth without exception. Andrew W. Saul, includes Bill Wilson as an inductee of the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame at the Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 29, 2006 in his induction speech, “…To this day, selective history records A.A.’s 12-Step Program, but has forgotten, or deliberately purged, what Bill wanted to be A.A.’s 13th step – orthomolecular therapy with vitamin B3.”[Lee Brack1]  In February 2009, Orthomolecular Medicine’s founder, Abram Hoffer and Bill Wilson’s good friend, clarified to me over the phone, “..yes, Lee, he wanted to share this information as an added step and talked about it all the time because he felt so strongly about nutrition…”  Abram Hoffer passed away a few months later in May having lived healthy and happily for ninety one and a half years.</h4><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>

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

The Serotonin Support Group (SSG) Is a mutual support group for people who suffer from low Serotonin levels, wishing to participate in a su...

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

We examined tryptophan and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) levels in the blood after consumption of alcohol. Forty-five minutes after drinki...

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

The important thing with serotonin, is to keep it at steady levels. The medicines that raise the level of serotonin in the brain do so by sl...

Merry Christmas

<p><div id="whichRead_1"><p>Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We've all been there, finishing a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downing cookie after cookie while cramming for a big test. But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.</p><p><img alt="diets arent the answer emotional eating" src="http://kidshealth.org/image/ial/images/1415/1415_image.gif" title="emotional eating" /></p><p>Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings. But understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it.</p><p>One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it's prompted by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they're stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine's Day or the celebration of a holiday feast.</p><p>Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. More often, though, it's the countless little daily stresses that cause someone to seek comfort or distraction in food.</p><p>Emotional eating patterns can be learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. A kid who is given cookies as a way to stop crying may learn to link cookies with comfort.</p><p>It's not easy to "unlearn" patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what's going on.</p></div><div class="rs_skip" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 30.399999618530273px; background-color: #ffffff;"></div></p>

Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We've all been there, finishing a ...

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT

<div class="article-header" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; display: table; text-align: center; width: 750px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="title entry-title" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 40px 0px 0px; color: #696f00; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; width: 670px; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;"><a href="http://galatictours.blogspot.com/2012/12/are-you-addicted-to-busyness-are-you.html" rel="bookmark" style="color: #696f00; outline-style: none; text-decoration: initial;">ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT</a></h1></div><div class="article-content entry-content" style="margin: 10px auto 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h3 style="margin: 0.83em 0px; position: relative; font-weight: bolder; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You may be lost in the addiction to busyness if…</span></h3><ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Your usual response to “how are you?” is “so busy”, “crazy busy” or “busy but good”</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You spend time worrying about how busy you are going to be tomorrow</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You get angry when your spouse or friends aren’t as busy as you</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Your busy life keeps you up at night thinking about everything you didn’t get done</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You make a point of letting people know that you stay at the office after hours</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You check email several times a day</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You zone out during conversations thinking about everything you have to do</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You volunteer for things you don’t care about</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You spend time complaining about how busy you are</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You make list after list to make sure you don’t forget anything during your busy day</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You allocate time each day to clean your desk or organize your stuff</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You regularly eat in your car</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You use a phone in the car because “it’s the only time you have to talk”</span></li></ul></div>

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO BUSYNESS ARE YOU A SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICT You may be lost in the addiction to busyness if… Your usual response to “how are ...

The joy of life for my Spanish Rainbow

The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth, In making bright and fruitful the entire desert spots of earth. In facing odds and m...

: People don't really want to grow up, people don't really want to change, people don't really want to be happy

<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you think I am going to help anybody? No! Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Don't expect me to be of help to anyone. Nor do I expect to damage anyone. If you are damaged, you did it; and if you are helped, you did it. You really did! You think people help you? They don't. You think people support you? They don't. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">There was a woman in a therapy group I was conducting once. She was a religious sister. She said to me, "I don't feel supported by my superior." So I said, "What do you mean by that?" And she said, "Well, my superior, the provincial superior, never shows up at the novitiate where I am in charge, never. She never says a word of appreciation." I said to her, "All right let's do a little role playing. Pretend I know your provincial superior. In fact, pretend I know exactly what she thinks about you. So I say to you (acting the part of the provincial superior), 'You know, Mary, the reason I don't come to that place you're in is because it is the one place in the province that is trouble-free, no problems. I know you're in charge, so all is well.' How do you feel now?" She said, "I feel great." Then I said to her, "All right, would you mind leaving the room for a minute or two? This is part of the exercise." So she did. While she was away, I said to the others in the therapy group, "I am still the provincial superior, O.K.? Mary out there is the worst novice director I have ever had in the whole history of the province. In fact, the reason I don't go to the novitiate is because I can't bear to see what she is up to. It's simply awful. But if I tell her the truth, it's only going to make those novices suffer all the more. We are getting somebody to take her place in a year or two; we are training someone. In the meantime I thought I would say those nice things to her to keep her going. What do you think of that?" They answered, "Well, it was really the only thing you could do under the circumstances." Then I brought Mary back into the group and asked her if she still felt great. "Oh yes," she said. Poor Mary! She thought she was being supported when she wasn't. The point is that most of what we feel and think we conjure up for ourselves in our heads, including this business of being helped by people. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you think you help people because you are in love with them? Well, I've got news for you. You are never in love with anyone. You're only in love with your prejudiced and hopeful idea of that person. Take a minute to think about that: You are never in love with anyone, you're in love with your prejudiced idea of that person. Isn't that how you fall out of love? Your idea changes, doesn't it? "How could you let me down when I trusted you so much?" you say to someone. Did you really trust them? You never trusted anyone. Come off it! That's part of society's brainwashing. You never trust anyone. You only trust your judgment about that person. So what are you complaining about? The fact is that you don't like to say, "My judgment was lousy." That's not very flattering to you, is it? So you prefer to say, "How could you have let me down?" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So there it is: People don't really want to grow up, people don't really want to change, people don't really want to be happy. As someone so wisely said to me, "Don't try to make them happy, you'll only get in trouble. Don't try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it irritates the pig." Like the businessman who goes into a bar, sits down, and sees this fellow with a banana in his ear - a banana in his ear! And he thinks, "I wonder if I should mention that to him. No, it's none of my business." But the thought nags at him. So after having a drink or two, he says to the fellow, "Excuse me, ah, you've got a banana in your ear." The fellow says, "What?" The businessman repeats, "You've got a banana in your ear. " Again the fellow says, "What was that?" "You've got a banana in your ear!" the businessman shouts. "Talk louder," the fellow says, "I've got a banana in my ear!" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So it's useless. "Give up, give up, give up," I say to myself. Say your thing and get out of here. And if they profit, that's fine, and if they don't, too bad! </span><br style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; background-color: #f9fcd8;" /></p>

: People don't really want to grow up, people don't really want to change, people don't really want to be happy

Do you think I am going to help anybody? No! Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Don't expect me to be of help to anyone. Nor do I expect to damage ...

The Four Steps To Spiritual Wisdom

<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The first thing you need to do is get in touch with negative feelings that you're not even aware of. Lots of people have negative feelings they're not aware of. Lots of people are depressed and they're not aware they are depressed. It's only when they make contact with joy that they understand how depressed they were. You can't deal with a cancer that you haven't detected. You can't get rid of boll weevils on your farm if you're not aware of their existence. The first thing you need is awareness of your negative feelings. What negative feelings? Gloominess, for instance. You're feeling gloomy and moody. You feel self-hatred or guilt. You feel that life is pointless, that it makes no sense; you've got hurt feelings, you're feeling nervous and tense. Get in touch with those feelings first. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The second step (this is a four-step program) is to understand that the feeling is in you, not in reality. That's such a self-evident thing, but do you think people know it? They don't, believe me. They've got Ph.D.s and are presidents of universities, but they haven't understood this. They didn't teach me how to live at school. They taught me everything else. As one man said, "I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it." That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Negative feelings are in you, not in reality. So stop trying to change reality. That's crazy! Stop trying to change the other person. We spend all our time and energy trying to change external circumstances, trying to change our spouses, our bosses, our friends, our enemies, and everybody else. We don't have to change anything. Negative feelings are in you. No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy. There is no event on earth that has the power to disturb you or hurt you. No event, condition, situation, or person. Nobody told you this; they told you the opposite. That's why you're in the mess that you're in right now. That is why you're asleep. They never told you this. But it's self-evident. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Let's suppose that rain washes out a picnic. Who is feeling negative? The rain? Or YOU? What's causing the negative feeling? The rain or your reaction? When you bump your knee against a table, the table's fine. It's busy being what it was made to Be -- a table. The pain is in your knee, not in the table. The mystics keep trying to tell us that reality is all right. Reality is not problematic. Problems exist only in the human mind. We might add: in the stupid, sleeping human mind. Reality is not problematic. Take away human beings from this planet and life would go on, nature would go on in all its loveliness and violence. Where would the problem be? No problem. You created the problem. You are the problem. You identified with "me" and that is the problem. The feeling is in you, not in reality. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The third step: Never identify with that feeling. It has nothing to do with the "I." Don't define your essential self in terms of that feeling. Don't say, "I am depressed." If you want to say, "It is depressed," that's all right. If you want to say depression is there, that's fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that's fine. But not: I am gloomy. You're defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That's your illusion; that's your mistake. There is a depression there right now, there are hurt feelings there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything. Your depressions and your thrills have nothing to do with happiness. Those are the swings of the pendulum. If you seek kicks or thrills, get ready for depression. Do you want your drug? Get ready for the hangover. One end of the pendulum swings to the other. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This has nothing to do with "I"; it has nothing to do with happiness. It is the "me." If you remember this, if you say it to yourself a thousand times, if you try these three steps a thousand times, you will get it. You might not need to do it even three times. I don't know; there's no rule for it. But do it a thousand times and you'll make the biggest discovery in your life. To hell with those gold mines in Alaska. What are you going to do with that gold? If you're not happy, you can't live. So you found gold. What does that matter? You're a king; you're a princess. You're free; you don't care anymore about being accepted or rejected, that makes no difference. Psychologists tell us how important it is to get a sense of belonging. Baloney! Why do you want to belong to anybody? It doesn't matter anymore. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A friend of mine told me that there's an African tribe where capital punishment consists of being ostracized. If you were kicked out of New York, or wherever you're residing, you wouldn't die. How is it that the African tribesman died? Because he partakes of the common stupidity of humanity. He thinks he will not be able to live if he does not belong. It's very different from most people, or is it? He's convinced he needs to belong. But you don't need to belong to anybody or anything or any group. You don't even need to be in love. Who told you you do? What you need is to be free. What you need is to love. That's it; that's your nature. But what you're really telling me is that you want to be desired. You want to be applauded, to be attractive, to have all the little monkeys running after you. You're wasting your life. WAKE UP! You don't need this. You can be blissfully happy without it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Your society is not going to be happy to hear this, because you become terrifying when you open your eyes and understand this. How do you control a person like this? He doesn't need you; he's not threatened by your criticism; he doesn't care what you think of him or what you say about him. He's cut all those strings; he's not a puppet any longer. It's terrifying. "So we've got to get rid of him. He tells the truth; he has become fearless; he has stopped being human.'' HUMAN! Behold! A human being at last! He broke out of his slavery, broke out of their prison. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">No event justifies a negative feeling. There is no situation in the world that justifies a negative feeling. That's what all our mystics have been crying themselves hoarse to tell us. But nobody listens. The negative feeling is in you. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred book of the Hindus, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, "Plunge into the heat of battle and keep your heart at the lotus feet of the Lord." A marvelous sentence. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">You don't have to do anything to acquire happiness. The great Meister Eckhart said very beautifully, "God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the soul, but by a process of subtraction." You don't do anything to be free, you drop something. Then you're free. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It reminds me of the Irish prisoner who dug a tunnel under the prison wall and managed to escape. He comes out right in the middle of a school playground where little children are playing. Of course, when he emerges from the tunnel he can't restrain himself anymore and begins to jump up and down, crying, "I'm free, I'm free, I'm free! A little girl there looks at him scornfully and says, "That's nothing. I'm four." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The fourth step: How do you change things? How do you change yourselves? There are many things you must understand here, or rather, just one thing that can be expressed in many ways. Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, "Very well, I've understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!" The patient replies, "Thank you very much, Doctor, that makes me feel much better." Isn't that absurd? But that's what we all do. The person who is asleep always thinks he'll feel better if somebody else changes. You're suffering because you are asleep, but you're thinking, "How wonderful life would be if somebody else would change; how wonderful life would be if my neighbor changed, my wife changed, my boss changed." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We always want someone else to change so that we will feel good. But has it ever struck you that even if your wife changes or your husband changes, what does that do to you? You're just as vulnerable as before; you're just as idiotic as before; you're just as asleep as before. You are the one who needs to change, who needs to take medicine. You keep insisting, "I feel good because the world is right." Wrong! The world is right because I feel good. That's what all the mystics are saying. </span><br style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; background-color: #f9fcd8;" /><br style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; background-color: #f9fcd8;" /></p>

The Four Steps To Spiritual Wisdom

The first thing you need to do is get in touch with negative feelings that you're not even aware of. Lots of people have negative feelin...

And where is this heaven

To a disciple who was obsessed with the thought of life after death, the Master said, "Why waste a single moment thinking of the hereaf...

more important than "asking for" things and "getting for" things and "getting" things.

Celebration and praise, loving attention to the presence of God, become more important than "asking for" things and "gettin...

the long, slow, boring and often painful route

When it comes to our development, when it comes to real change, the long, slow, boring and often painful route is quite reliably, the most ...

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."...

Rule of Life is an intentional pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth

<div>Rule of Life is an intentional pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and </div><div>direction for growth in holiness.  A Rule establishes a rhythm for life in which is helpful for </div><div>being formed by the Spirit, a rhythm that reflects a love for God and respect for how he has made </div><div>us.  The disciplines which we build into our rhythm of life help us to shed the “old self” and </div><div>allow our “new self” in Christ to be formed.  Spiritual disciplines are means of grace by which </div><div>God can nourish us.  Ultimately a Rule should help you to love God more, so if it becomes a </div><div>legalistic way of earning points with God or impressing others, it should be scrapped.  If the </div><div>traditional, ancient term “rule” concerns you because it sounds legalistic, think of “rule” as a </div><div>“rhythm of life” or as a “Curriculum in Christlikeness” (Dallas Willard), or as a “Game Plan for </div><div>Morphing” (John Ortberg). </div><div>In order to be life-giving, a Rule must be realistic!   It is not an ideal toward which you are </div><div>striving to soar.  Instead, your initial Rule should be a minimum standard for your life that you </div><div>do not want to drop below.  It’s a realistic level of engaging in the spiritual disciplines for which </div><div>you can honestly and truly be held accountable.</div>

Rule of Life is an intentional pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth

Rule of Life is an intentional pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth in holiness. A Rule estab...

Practicing a Rule of Life with others moves us against the grain of our individualistic culture.

Practicing a Rule of Life with others moves us against the grain of our individualistic culture. However, I believe that a Rule should grow ...

an apocalypse on Earth on December 21, 2012

an apocalypse on Earth on December 21, 2012

To live in communion, in genuine dialogue with others is absolutely necessary if man is to remain human.

To live in communion, in genuine dialogue with others is absolutely necessary if man is to remain human.

Come, dervishes: here is the water of life. Dance in it.

Come, dervishes: here is the water of life. Dance in it.

Benedict (like Bill W) realized we must understand our dependence on God before being restored to sanity.

Benedict (like Bill W) realized we must understand our dependence on God before being restored to sanity. “We are like a child on its moth...

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

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

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

Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows. Spanish researchers led by Gemma ...

Marbella Forest Fire

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

<p><div class="article-header" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; display: table; text-align: center; width: 750px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="title entry-title" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 40px 0px 0px; color: #00b2b4; width: 670px; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;"><a href="http://galatictours.blogspot.com/2012/09/blackout-oblivion-was-where-my-advanced.html" rel="bookmark" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;">Dream Warriors Testament:PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM</a> <span class="blog-admin" style="display: inline;"><a class="edit" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3922196140932006510&postID=8579897959452871652&from=pencil" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(data; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 21px; opacity: 0.8; position: relative; top: 3px; width: 21px; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" target="_self" title="Edit"></a></span></h1></div><div class="article-content entry-content" style="margin: 10px auto 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left;" dir="ltr">Dream Warriors testament, Arriving at a time in my life after thirty years of not drinking to leave an honest account of what it was like, my experience the good and the bad, the addictions of which alcohol was but one, the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_experience" rel="wikipedia" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" target="_blank" title="Religious experience">spiritual experiences</a> and the formation of my personal program.The founding of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotics_Anonymous" rel="wikipedia" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" target="_blank" title="Narcotics Anonymous">Narcotics Anonymous</a> in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.4333333333,-3.7&spn=10.0,10.0&q=40.4333333333,-3.7%20(Spain)&t=h" rel="geolocation" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" target="_blank" title="Spain">Spain</a>.The trails and tribulations of the battles and failures with the ego.Many people need to remain anonymous within my journal and many may see there rolls differently.The writing is by a dyslexic this is not an excuse but a fact.Without the help of AA,NA,CA,ALANON,OA,SA and CODA this story would have not been possible.Many Angels have appeared in my life and I acknowledge you all.My sponsor and authentic founder of NA Spain remains my confident and long term friend.This person without any thought of reward spent endless time supporting me threw the early years of recovery  and whom I will be eternally grateful.<br /><br />PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now cast your mind back thirty years.A hopeless drunk is staggering our of a nightclub set in an area known as over the border in a North East English town. The street lights  shimmering off the tarmac rushed towards me as I crumpled into unconsciosness My semicomatse head bouncing off the granite curbstones feeling like a gentle caress. Blackout, oblivion was where my advanced alcoholism always took me. The promise of a wonderous adventure filled illusions had long since disappeared.The idea that I could handle alcohol or drugs had seemed irrelevant the inevitability of my condition overcame me I dimmely felt hands rifleing threw my pockets. Hopelessly drunk I was incapable of doing anything even my bodily functions now took care of themselves. Death, whatever that was, would have been welcomed as yet another phase of insane bingeing ran its course.By know I was starting to understand that once I drank I had no control over the outcome.All the excuses had been used up and I was in utter bewilderment as to why my longtime friend alcohol had turned on me.Where had my friends disappeared to and the conviviality of there happy company.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The answer crashed into my befuddled brain I had used up all there excuses as well as mine and had become the unfunny court jester who continuosly embarrassed them with drunken brawling heaping abuse onto those closest to me as the full reality of my condition became apparent to them all.The witty raconteaur had become the stinking drunk,bloated vomiting and unfunny.In reality I sorted out dark places where people like me sort the company of like minded others.The illegal blues clubs and shebeens the drinking dens for prostitutes and criminals.I could not resist the call to visit once I had, had that first drink.It did not matter what it was for I had long since recognised that if it was a weak shandy or a double whisky the results would be exactly the same.It came as no surprise to be lying in the gutter blacked out.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What did come as a surprise was to be sitting in the back of a taxicab.What had happened had I met with a good Samaritan for they where a rareity in this area of dockland.I was over the years after this to try many times to attempt to rationalise this answer out. Had some golden lady of the night rescued me doubtful but possible or a kindly taxi driver even more improbable.Yet here I was being dropped off outside my front door in a small suburban village.My eyes fearfully scanned the street for what had become the inevitable results of my binges a police car.I thanked the taxi driver and searched for my keys.No police car but now the guilt and remorse the terrible psychical withdrawal from alcohol gripped my being. I must have another drink as my skin started crawling and the stomach wrenching vomit reflex took hold.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was at this time I recognised that all the lights were on yet there was no one in the house.I stopped I glanced at the red flock wallpaper with the glistening remains of the whisky glass catching the evidential reflection of the lights.Yes this was the right house.There was the drinks cupboard it was open nothing remained. Panic,fear my head whirled a neon red sign shown in my head NO DRINK.No drink nothing.I heard a car drive up my car, my wife.I needed to get what was left of the brain into gear.I wracked my brain for a solution something that would work something that would give one more drink anything.She was on the path give me an idea any idea nothing. The withdrawls were kicking in the shakeing was starting with the first tremors my fingers twitched as the withdrawls started.Its just a hangover.You used the magic word that would start the withdrawl HANGOVER. I didn’t do hangovers anymore I just got sick very sick very quickly.How the hell was I to get a drink I must have a drink.I needed a solution fast any solution.</span></span></div></div></div></p>

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

Dream Warriors Testament:PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM Dream Warriors testament, Arriving at a time in my life after thirty years of not drinking to ...

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

The results were both interesting and beautiful. The video is a view through an 8x microscope zoomed in on the dorsal side of the caudal ...

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

<p><div id="gallery-658"><div id="blog_slideshow_previous_next"><div><img alt="Normal Face" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Normal-face.jpg" title="Normal Face" /></div></div><br /><div><p>This self-portrait by Bryan Lewis Saunders shows his "normal face," but the other 8,000-plus images he's created over the past 16 years go into some pretty strange territory.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Drugs: Psilocybin Mushrooms" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Drugs-1-Psilocybin-Mushrooms.jpg" title="Drugs: Psilocybin Mushrooms" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Drugs: Psilocybin Mushrooms</h2><p> </p><p>"I wanted to see how drugs changed my self-perception," Saunders said. "So I drew myself under the influence of a wide variety of them."</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Drugs: Bath Salts" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Drugs-2-Bath-Salts.jpg" title="Drugs: Bath Salts" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Drugs: Bath Salts</h2><p> </p><p>A self-portrait of Saunders after taking <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_salts_(drug)">bath salts</a>.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Third Ear Experiment 2" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Third-Ear-Experiment-2.jpg" title="Third Ear Experiment 2" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Third Ear Experiment, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>Another self-portrait from the Third Ear Experiment series.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Third Ear Experiment 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Third-Ear-Experiment-1.jpg" title="Third Ear Experiment 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Third Ear Experiment, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"For 28 days I blocked up my external ears and attached a copper funnel to my mouth in an effort to connect my Eustachian tubes to my pineal gland by physically rerouting the way in which sound entered my body," Saunders said of the Third Ear Experiment series.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="I'm All Out Of Hair I'm So Lost Without You 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Im-All-Out-Of-Hair-Im-So-Lost-Without-You-1.jpg" title="I'm All Out Of Hair I'm So Lost Without You 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>I'm All Out Of Hair, I'm So Lost Without You, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"I shaved my body hair and used it in my self-portraits to make e-cards letting people know how much I missed them." Saunders said.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="I'm All Out Of Hair I'm So Lost Without You" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Im-All-Out-Of-Hair-Im-So-Lost-Without-You-2.jpg" title="I'm All Out Of Hair I'm So Lost Without You" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>I'm All Out Of Hair, I'm So Lost Without You, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>Another body-hair-inspired piece.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Died: Great Aunt" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Died-Great-Aunt-2.jpg" title="Died: Great Aunt" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Died: Great Aunt</h2><p> </p><p>Saunders describes his Died series as capturing "the difference between when a stranger or family member dies." This image was inspired by the death of his great aunt.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Died: Neighbor" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Died-Neighbor-1.jpg" title="Died: Neighbor" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Died: Neighbor</h2><p> </p><p>Another self-portrait in theDied series, this time inspired by a deceased neighbor.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Naked Yoga: Casa Setu Bandha Sarvangasana" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Naked-Yoga-1-Casa-Setu-Bandha-Sarvangasana.jpg" title="Naked Yoga: Casa Setu Bandha Sarvangasana" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Naked Yoga: Casa Setu Bandha Sarvangasana</h2><p> </p><p>"I tried to do yoga and was using art as an incentive, but I think I waited too late in life to start," Saunders said of his Naked Yoga series.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Imperfect Face 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Imperfect-Face-1.jpg" title="Imperfect Face 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>My Drawings Aren't Messed Up, It's the Symmetry of My Face, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"Using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio">golden ratio</a> and other ideas from geometry, I was trying to locate the precise imperfections of my face," Saunders said.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Imperfect Face 2" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Imperfect-Face-2.jpg" title="Imperfect Face 2" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>My Drawings Aren't Messed Up, It's the Symmetry of My Face, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>Another self-portrait Saunders did based on the proportions of his face.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Facing Fear: Heights" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Facing-Fear-2-heights.jpg" title="Facing Fear: Heights" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Facing Fear: Heights</h2><p> </p><p>"I wanted to use art to overcome some of my fears, so I drew myself while facing them," Saunders said of the portraits he did about confronting his fears. "A sort of 'exposure therapy.'"</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Facing Fears: Trains" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Facing-Fears-1-trains.jpg" title="Facing Fears: Trains" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Facing Fear: Trains</h2><p> </p><p>Saunders facing his fear of trains.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Popular Toys 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Popular-Toys-1.jpg" title="Popular Toys 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Popular Toys, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"From time to time I use art to revitalize myself," said Saunders of his Popular Toys series, in which he uses iconic playthings "to help bring out my inner child." This one is the artist as Mr. Potato Head.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Popular Toys 2" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Popular-Toys-2.jpg" title="Popular Toys 2" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Popular Toys, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>This image in the Popular Toys series depicts a My Little Pony toy.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Psycho-Anatomy 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Psycho-Anatomie-1.jpg" title="Psycho-Anatomy 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Psycho-Anatomy, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"Finding and connecting the similarities between different organs in the body," Saunders said of hisPsycho-Anatomy series. This image depicts the digestive system.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Psycho-Anatomy 2" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Psycho-Anatomie-2.jpg" title="Psycho-Anatomy 2" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Psycho-Anatomy, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>This image in Saunders' Psycho-Anatomy series depicts the brain.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Quitting Smoking 1" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Quitting-Smoking-1.jpg" title="Quitting Smoking 1" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Quitting Smoking, No. 1</h2><p> </p><p>"I wanted to see how quitting smoking changed my self-perception," Saunders said of the Quitting Smoking series. "I think I lasted a month before I started again."</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Quitting Smoking 2" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Quitting-Smoking-2.jpg" title="Quitting Smoking 2" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Quitting Smoking, No. 2</h2><p> </p><p>Another self-portrait from the Quitting Smoking series.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Sensation: Ear Nibbles" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Sensation-1-Ear-Nibbles.jpg" title="Sensation: Ear Nibbles" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Sensation Drawings: Ear Nibbles</h2><p> </p><p>"[This is] A project I did with my girlfriend to see how different and similar we felt the same physical sensations in or on our bodies," Saunders said of his Sensation Drawings series.</p></div><br /><div><img alt="Sensation: Tummy Caresses" src="http://www.wired.com/underwire/wp-content/gallery/self-portrait-series-resized/Sensation-2-Tummy-Caresses.jpg" title="Sensation: Tummy Caresses" /></div><br /><div><p> </p><h2>Sensation Drawings: Tummy Caresses</h2><p> </p><p>A self-portrait from Saunders' Sensation Drawings series based on the feeling of a stomach caress.</p></div><br /><div id="blog_slideshow_previous_next"><div>View as gallery</div></div></div><p> </p><p>As of this moment, Bryan Lewis Saunders has drawn 8,628 self-portraits. By the end of the day, he’ll have completed 8,629. And although he’s recently become known as the guy who draws under the influence of drugs, his creations have been inspired by everything from death to body hair over the years.</p><p>“All day every day, images and feelings of the world come into me and it’s inescapable,” said Saunders in an e-mail to Wired. “So I thought if I did a self-portrait every day for the rest of my life, with no rules, the world and I could be more linked to my nervous system. And I could die knowing that I tried to experience as much as possible while I was alive.”</p><p>Saunders, a 43-year-old Virginia native who currently lives in Tennessee, comes off looking like the art world’s Louis C.K. in his wildly diverse images. He began his self-portrait experiment on March 30, 1995, after an art-history class discussion about the prevalence of artists who put themselves into images of the world around them. He didn’t entirely agree with that tack, so he flipped the concept on its head. (See his “normal face” self-portrait, which is the first image in the gallery above.)</p><p><span id="more-118648"> </span></p><p>Over the years, he’s created self-portraits based on love, the loss of family members and neighbors, his attempts at quitting smoking and the time he shaved off his body hair. And even though he’s not a “brony,” he once drew inspiration from My Little Pony. In the process, the amazingly prolific artist has opened a weird little window into life in modern America.</p><p>For the series based on his experiments with recreational and prescription drugs, he took everything from cocaine and Abilify to cough syrup and computer duster, then drew while under the influence. The resulting self-portraits range from intricately beautiful (psychedelic mushrooms) to insanely brutal (bath salts).</p><p>He’s undertaken other strange adventures as well, using the unusual experiences to generate unique imagery. “For 28 days I blocked up my external ears and attached a copper funnel to my mouth in an effort to connect my Eustachian tubes to my pineal gland by physically rerouting the way in which sound entered my body,” he said of his Third Ear Experiment.</p><div>“Only a severe stroke or coma could stop me from completing the self-portrait-a-day work.”</div><p>To date, Saunders has filled stacks of sketchbooks with his drawings — some days he does as many as nine of them. For the first decade of the project, the self-portraits were his primary artistic outlet. (In addition to drawing, Saunders now also does spoken word and performance art, and collaborates with musicians).</p><p>He doesn’t have any plans to stop cranking out the creative images. “Only a severe stroke or coma could stop me from completing the self-portrait-a-day work,” Saunders said.</p><p>Even though he’s had offers over the years to show his self-portraits at galleries, he’s been wary to hand them all over for fear of losing his life’s work. (He once had an entire exhibition stolen and had another sculpture vandalized during a show.) However, a collection of his drug-influenced self-portraits will be on display early next year at La Maison Rouge in Paris.</p></p>

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

This self-portrait by Bryan Lewis Saunders shows his "normal face," but the other 8,000-plus images he's created over the past...

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

<p><h3></h3><div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; background-color: #ffffff;"><div><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5g86TO5HN5hkNaX4886Q0RYWNVnSrFyaDPeL5ya9Xt6j4pONap_IIkbLbHpG-3II3XQHd1NmdWSD1ugDyeGG39DOmDnAGNCuIqlvfqsPNr3eb2L-mDUkKt1CZZ_TkWeRnWd7p-qi8ZnAU/s400/reading+on+beach+03.jpg" width="400" /></div><br /><br />The Science of Addiction: From Neurobiology to Treatment <br /><br />Carlton K. Erickson<br />312 pages <br />Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company (2007)<br /><br />Amazon Overview: Neuroscience is clarifying the causes of compulsive alcohol and drug use––while also shedding light on what addiction is, what it is not, and how it can best be treated––in exciting and innovative ways. Current neurobiological research complements and enhances the approaches to addiction traditionally taken in social work and psychology. However, this important research is generally not presented in a forthright, jargon-free way that clearly illustrates its relevance to addiction professionals. In The Science of Addiction, Carlton K. Erickson presents a comprehensive overview of the roles that brain function and genetics play in addiction.<br /><br /><br />The Addiction Solution: Unraveling the Mysteries of Addiction through Cutting-Edge Brain Science<br /><br />David Kipper and Steven Whitney<br />304 pages<br />Publisher: Rodale Books (2010)<br /><br />For decades addiction has been viewed and treated as a social and behavioral illness, afflicting people of “weak” character and “bad” moral fiber. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic technology have enabled doctors, for the first time, to correctly diagnose the disease and prove that addiction is an inherited, neuro-chemical disease originating in brain chemistry, determined by genetics, and triggered by stress. In their groundbreaking Addiction Breakthrough, David Kipper, MD, and Steven Whitney distill these exciting findings into a guide for the millions of adults who want to be free from the cycle of addiction, and for their loved ones who want to better understand it and to help.<br /><br /><br />In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction<br /><br />Gabor Maté<br />520 pages <br />Publisher: North Atlantic Books (2010) <br /><br />Based on Gabor Maté’s two decades of experience as a medical doctor and his groundbreaking work with the severely addicted on Vancouver’s skid row, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts radically reenvisions this much misunderstood field by taking a holistic approach. Dr. Maté presents addiction not as a discrete phenomenon confined to an unfortunate or weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs throughout (and perhaps underpins) our society; not a medical "condition" distinct from the lives it affects, rather the result of a complex interplay among personal history, emotional, and neurological development, brain chemistry, and the drugs (and behaviors) of addiction. Simplifying a wide array of brain and addiction research findings from around the globe, the book avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting a thorough and compassionate self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness. <br /><br /><br />Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines his Former Life on Drugs <br /><br />Marc Lewis<br />336 pages <br />Publisher: PublicAffairs (2012)<br /><br />Marc Lewis’s relationship with drugs began in a New England boarding school where, as a bullied and homesick fifteen-year-old, he made brief escapes from reality by way of cough medicine, alcohol, and marijuana. In Berkeley, California, in its hippie heyday, he found methamphetamine and LSD and heroin. He sniffed nitrous oxide in Malaysia and frequented Calcutta’s opium dens. Ultimately, though, his journey took him where it takes most addicts: into a life of addiction, desperation, deception, and crime. But unlike most addicts, Lewis recovered and became a developmental psychologist and researcher in neuroscience. In Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, he applies his professional expertise to a study of his former self, using the story of his own journey through addiction to tell the universal story of addictions of every kind.<br /><br /><br />The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction<br /><br />Dirk Hanson<br />472 pages <br />Publisher: BookSurge (2009)<br /><br />A book for anyone concerned with the care and healing of addiction, substance abuse, and the latest advances in the area of addiction science. In The Chemical Carousel, science writer Hanson takes the reader on a voyage through the heady world of addiction science, from the lab to the clinic to the junky on the street. Hanson explains the workings of common neurotransmitters and documents the direct effect drugs and alcohol produce on the reward pathways of the brain. He shows how scientists and treatment professionals have finally given us an answer to the perennial question about addiction: Why can't those people just say no?<br /><br /><br />An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine<br /><br />Howard Markel<br />336 pages <br />Publisher: Vintage (2012)<br /><br />Acclaimed medical historian Howard Markel traces the careers of two brilliant young doctors--Sigmund Freud, neurologist, and William Halsted, surgeon--showing how their powerful addictions to cocaine shaped their enormous contributions to psychology and medicine. When Freud and Halsted began their experiments with cocaine in the 1880s, neither they, nor their colleagues, had any idea of the drug's potential to dominate and endanger their lives. An Anatomy of Addiction tells the tragic and heroic story of each man, accidentally struck down in his prime by an insidious malady: tragic because of the time, relationships, and health cocaine forced each to squander; heroic in the intense battle each man waged to overcome his affliction.<br /><br /><br />How to Change Your Drinking: a Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol<br /><br />Kenneth Anderson<br />86 pages <br />Publisher: CreateSpace (2010)<br /><br />This book is the first comprehensive compilation of harm reduction strategies aimed specifically at people who drink alcohol. Whether your goal is safer drinking, reduced drinking, or quitting alcohol altogether, this is the book for you. It contains a large and detailed selection of harm reduction tools and strategies which you can choose from to build your own individualized alcohol harm reduction program. There are many practical exercises to help people change their behaviors, including risk-ranking worksheets, drinking charts, goal choice worksheets, and many more. There are also innumerable practical tips from folks who "have been there" and have turned their drinking habits around for the better. <br /><br /><br />Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do about It<br /><br />William R. Miller and Kathleen M. Carroll<br />320 pages <br />Publisher: Guilford Press (2010) <br /><br />While knowledge on substance abuse and addictions is expanding rapidly, clinical practice still lags behind. This state-of-the-art book brings together leading experts to describe what treatment and prevention would look like if it were based on the best science available. The volume incorporates developmental, neurobiological, genetic, behavioral, and social–environmental perspectives. Tightly edited chapters summarize current thinking on the nature and causes of alcohol and other drug problems; discuss what works at the individual, family, and societal levels; and offer robust principles for developing more effective treatments and services.<br /><br /><h3>Writers On The Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency</h3>Diana Raab and James Brown<br />204 pages<br />Publisher: Modern History Press (2012)<br /><br />Writers On The Edge offers a range of essays, memoirs and poetry written by major contemporary authors who bring fresh insight into the dark world of addiction, from drugs and alcohol, to sex, gambling and food. Editors Diana M. Raab and James Brown have assembled an array of talented and courageous writers who share their stories with heartbreaking honesty as they share their obsessions as well as the awe-inspiring power of hope and redemption. Frederick & Steven Barthelme, Kera Bolonik, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Maud Casey, Anna David, Denise Duhamel, B.H. Fairchild, Ruth Fowler, David Huddle Perie Longo, Gregory Orr, Victoria Patterson, Molly Peacock, Scott Russell Sanders, Stephen Jay Schwartz, Linda Gray Sexton, Sue William Silverman, Chase Twichell, and Rachel Yoder<br /><br /><br /></div></p>

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

The Science of Addiction: From Neurobiology to Treatment Carlton K. Erickson 312 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company (2007) Amazon O...

WHEN YOUR HIGHER POWER FAILS YOU

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

WHEN YOUR HIGHER POWER FAILS YOU

It happens every time. Without fail. Without exception. I bet it's happened to you also. Just think about it. How often has your god fai...

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

<p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_348"> </p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_343">Those who engaged in binge drinking tend to belong to so-called high-status groups: wealthy, white, male and active in fraternity life. And those who did not belong to the high-status groups could achieve similar levels of social acceptance through the act of binge drinking. In fact, the study results suggest that students engaged in the heavy drinking practice to elevate their social status amongst peers rather than to alleviate depression or anxiety.</p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_349">"The present study offers another insight into the nature of a seemingly intractable social problem," the study released on Monday reads. "It is our hope that by drawing attention to the important social motivations underlying binge drinking, institutional administrators and public health professionals will be able to design and implement programs for students that take into account the full range of reasons that students binge drink."</p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_350">The Washington Post reports that the study's co-author and Colgate University associate professor Carolyn Hsu presented some of the findings during the American Sociological Association gathering in Denver last week.</p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_351">Interestingly, the study results compiled from surveying 1,600 college students also continues to support past evidence suggesting that binge drinking leads to a number of problems affecting the mind and body, including alcoholism, violence, poor grades and risky sexual behavior.</p><p>"I would guess it has to do with feeling like you belong and whether or not you're doing what a 'real' college student does," Hsu told LiveScience. "It seems to be more about certain groups getting to define what that looks like."</p><p>Binge drinking was defined as consuming more than four drinks in one occasion for women and more than five drinks for men. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they had engaged in the practice, compared with 36 percent who said they had not.</p><p id="yui_3_5_1_21_1345507711715_374">Those statistics differ from similar evidence gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC's statistics measure binge drinking in the same quantity but limit the consumption period to two hours or fewer. Its results also found that the majority of binge drinkers (70 percent) were over the age of 26. The CDC has also found that 90 percent of alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 is done in the form of binge drinking, compared with 75 percent among all U.S. adults.</p></p>

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

Those who engaged in binge drinking tend to belong to so-called high-status groups: wealthy, white, male and active in fraternity life. An...

The Five Keys to Mindful Communication

<p>The first key of mindful communication, according to Chapman (2012), is having amindful presence. This means having an open mind, awake body and a tender heart. When you have a mindful presence, you give up expectations, stories about yourself and others, and acting on emotions.</p><p>You are fully in the present moment; your communication isn’t focused on the “me” and what the “me” needs, but the we.</p><p>Mindful listening is the second key to mindful communication. Mindful listening is about encouraging the other person. This means looking through the masks and pretense and seeing the value in the person and the strengths he or she possesses. It’s looking past the human frailties and flaws that we all have to see the authentic person and the truth in what that person is attempting to say.</p><p>Mindful speech, the third key, is about gentleness. Speaking gently means being effective in what you say. It’s about speaking in a way that you can be hard. To be gentle with our speech means being aware of when our own insecurities and fears are aroused to the point we are acting out of fear rather than acceptance.</p><p>Practicing self-compassion for our fear, envy, jealousy and self-doubts is more effective than focusing on others as being a threat or attempting to change them. When you use gentle speech, you are communicating acceptance to the other person and saying what is true, not an interpretation or an exaggeration or a minimization.</p><p>The key to mindful relationships is unconditional friendliness. Unconditional friendliness means accepting the ebb and flow of relationships. Sometimes you meet new friends, sometimes friends move on, sometimes there is joy and sometimes there is pain. Sometimes you’ll feel lonely, sometimes you’ll feel cherished and connected, and then you’ll feel lonely again.</p><p>Unconditional friendliness means that your acceptance of others is not dependent on them staying with you or agreeing with you. You don’t cling to relationships to avoid loss.</p><p>Mindful responsiveness is like playfulness.  Playfulness is the openness that you can have when you let go of preconceived ideas and strategies. It’s like creating something new. Imagine two skilled dancers who alternatively lead each other in creating a new dance in every interaction, never doing the same complete dance over and over. They respond in the moment to the message sent by the other. There are no rules or expectations and yet they both bring skillful behavior.</p><p>Mindful communication requires practice. If you choose to practice the keys, you might choose to focus on one at a time. Being willing to regulate your emotions is a prerequisite to mindful communication and mindfulness of your emotions is necessary for emotion regulation.</p><p>Mindfulness is a core skill for the emotionally sensitive.</p><p> </p><p>References</p><p><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=dreawarrreco-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1590309413" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><p>Chapman, Susan Gillis. The Five Keys to Mindful Communication:  Using Deep Listening and Mindful Speech to Strengthen Relationships, Heal Conflicts and Acceomplish Your Goals. Boston: Shambhala, 2012.</p>

The Five Keys to Mindful Communication

The first key of mindful communication, according to Chapman (2012), is having amindful presence. This means having an open mind, awake body...

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

<p><p>The documentary Russell Brand: Addiction to Recovery resulted in an immediate boost in donations and inspired the managing director of Bury St Edmunds based Chevington Finance and Leasing to offer the charity £106,000 over three years.</p><div><p>Russell Brand attended Focus12, the Bury St Edmunds abstinence-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, in 2003 and is now a patron of the charity, describing it as ‘a really excellent example of a small cost effective rehab that can help people change in dramatic ways’.</p><p>Chip Somers, Focus12’s chief executive, said: “Russell’s documentary and his work this year to raise the profile of abstinence based recovery has got people talking about addiction in a different way, and made them realise that there is a viable alternative to simply giving up on addicts, or parking them on methadone.</p><p>“We are blown away by the generosity of Chevington — this financial support will make a huge difference to us as a charity and will certainly mean we can continue to stay open and help those who need us for longer. Raising funds for a recovery charity has never been harder than it is at present, every day is literally a struggle to keep afloat and we are very grateful.”</p><p>Clive Morris, Managing Director of Chevington Finance and Leasing said: “My wife and I were incredibly touched by last night’s documentary, which inspired us to endorse the local treatment centre Focus12, and we have today agreed funding assistance for the charity of £106,000 over the next 4 years.</p><p>“We believe that as a successful, responsible and reliable company we have a duty to help local charities survive this recession and the work that Chip Somers and his team do is fantastic and we fully endorse their abstinence based programme and have seen what a difference it makes to people’s lives.”</p></div></p>

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

The documentary Russell Brand: Addiction to Recovery resulted in an immediate boost in donations and inspired the managing director of Bury ...

London's secret music venue and their livestream act

<div><h3></h3></div><div id="15745"><img alt="boiler-room-ch1.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch1-thumb-800x533-45065.jpg" width="620" /><p>With an invite-only door policy and super secret location, <a href="http://boilerroom.tv/" target="_blank">Boiler Room</a> is London's most exclusive music venue. But elitism isn't the premise for its clandestine nature—in fact, anyone with an Internet connection can easily join in the fun. Using a simple webcam, the crew behind Boiler Room livestreams each set for the world to see free of charge, and each month more than a million viewers tune in to see performances by artists like James Blake, The xx, Roots Manuva, Neon Indian, Juan Maclean and more.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch2.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch2-thumb-800x533-45066.jpg" width="620" /><p>We recently chilled out to the smooth sounds of Brooklyn's <a href="http://howtodresswell.com/" target="_blank">How To Dress Well</a> before rocking out to revered musician <a href="http://boilerroom.tv/matthew-dear-40-min-mix/" target="_blank">Matthew Dear</a>, who brought down the house with an intense 40-minute DJ set. Keep an eye out for our interview with Dear, but for now you can get a little more insight into the underground music scene's most talked about livestream show by checking out our interview with assistant musical programmer and Boiler Room host Nic Tasker.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch3.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch3-thumb-800x533-45067.jpg" width="620" /><h5>How important is it for Boiler Room to remain secret, at least in its location?</h5><p>That is quite an important aspect of it, purely because it means when you do shows you don't get a lot of groupies, pretty much everyone in the room is either a friend of ours or one of the artist's. It helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere for the artist and I think they feel less pressure. They're also just able to chill out and be themselves more rather than having people being like, "Hi can I get your autograph?" If the artists are relaxed usually you get the best music.</p><h5>It seems like there is more interaction among the crowd than at a typical venue, is that intentional?</h5><p>It's definitely a social place. All the people that come down, most of them we know and they're all our friends. So they come down, hang, have a drink and just chill out, basically. From our very set-up, we do it with a webcam, we're not a highly professional organization but I think that's kind of the charm of it. The main thing is people come down with the right attitude.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch4.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch4-thumb-800x533-45068.jpg" width="620" /><h5>How much of the show is prescribed?</h5><p>I guess that depends on the artist. We never say anything. Literally, whatever they want to do—we're kind of the platform for them to do whatever they want, so if Matthew Dear wants to come and play an hour of noise with no beats, he can do that. That's fine with us, and I think that's why artists like coming to play for us. We're not like a club where you have to make people dance, we don't give a shit if people dance. It's nice if they do and it makes it more fun, but some nights you just get people appreciating the music, which is equally fun.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch5.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch5-thumb-800x533-45069.jpg" width="620" /><h5>Is there a particular kind of artist you guys look for and ask to come perform?</h5><p>No, not particularly, it's just whatever we're feeling. Thristian [Boiler Room's co-founder] has the main say on musical direction, but it's a massive team effort. In London there's five of us, New York there's two, LA there's one and Berlin there's two.</p><h5>Tonight you had different set-ups for each artist, do you tailor their positioning in the room to their style?</h5><p>It definitely depends on the act and what kind of music they do. With live bands we found what works nicely is having them opposite each other because it's like they're in rehearsal, like they're just jamming. Which is again trying to give them that chilled out feel that they're just at home jamming and there happens to be a camera there. For some of our shows we've had over 100,000 viewers. When you think of those numbers it's quite scary, but when you're in the room and it's all friends it creates that vibe that people don't mind. You can imagine if you had all those people in front of you it would be a very different situation.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch7.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch7-thumb-800x533-45072.jpg" width="620" /><h5>Have you ever thought of Boiler Room as an East London version of Soul Train?</h5><p>It's never crossed my mind like that, but I can see why you think that. I like to think of us as the new music broadcaster, kind of the new MTV, but obviously we operate in the underground scene mainly. But I like to think that what we do is as revolutionary as what they were doing. We're always growing into something new.</p><img alt="boiler-room-ch6.jpg" height="413" src="http://www.coolhunting.com/assets_c/2012/08/boiler-room-ch6-thumb-800x533-45070.jpg" width="620" /><h5>What's up next for Boiler Room?</h5><p>We have had visual people in doing 3D mapping, and that's something we're looking forward to progressing—doing more with the visuals. We've got the upstairs as well, we're starting to do breakfast shows with some high profile DJs, we're going to be doing that regularly. Each will have an individual format. The next step is progressing the US shows, we're alternating weekly between New York and LA, so the next step is to take Boiler Room to America</p></div>

London's secret music venue and their livestream act

With an invite-only door policy and super secret location, Boiler Room is London's most exclusive music venue. But elitism isn't t...

Pigs worship God of Materialism

<div><h1>If ever there was a god to prevent you from worshiping material things, it would be this one.</h1><div><dl><dt><br /></dt></dl></div><p>The hideous pig-like thing is the masterpiece by Chinese artist Chen Wenling called God Of Materialism.</p><div><img alt="godmaterialism" height="300" src="http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/09/godmaterialism2EPA_450x300.jpg" width="450" />Ugly pig with green eye darting at thier master</div><p>Looking chuffed, the huge greedy pig has minions of other tiny, and just as unattractive and scary, pigs worshiping in awe at its heels.</p><p>The group stare up at their master, adorned with a plethora of jewels and necklaces representing the grotesque love of material things.</p><p>The sculpture, which looks like a bad dream, can be found at the Asia Art Centre in Beijing.</p></div><div class="clrd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; min-height: 1px; zoom: 1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="art-lft" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; width: 480px;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And if you're brave enough to go and see it, it will be there till October 18th 2008.</p></div></div><p><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /></span></p>

Pigs worship God of Materialism

If ever there was a god to prevent you from worshiping material things, it would be this one. The hideous pig-like thing is the masterpiece ...

True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is. Moderate feelings of guilt are beneficial because they encourage the individual to do the right thing

<p>The Scottish psychologist R.D. Laing once said:  True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.  Moderate feelings of guilt are beneficial because they encourage the individual to do the right thing. If nobody felt guilty about anything it would likely lead to a fearful world and it could even threaten the survival of the human species. There is also a more negative form of guilt which is excessive and harmful. This refers to a situation where the individual carries a sense of guilt around with them most of the time. The reasons for why the individual may become a victim of excessive guilt include:  They have a poor self image. It can be a sign of mental health difficulties. Some people fall into negative thinking and this tends to include guilt. The individual has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse. Unhealthy relationships can leave people with feelings of guilt. Excessive stress. Alcohol or drug abuse.</p>

True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is. Moderate feelings of guilt are beneficial because they encourage the individual to do the right thing

The Scottish psychologist R.D. Laing once said: True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is gui...

A million Britons live with the hell of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

<p>Nadine Stewart was convinced she was going to die. Just ten minutes after setting off for a pop concert with her sister, she felt a tingling sensation in her arms and pain in her chest.</p><p>‘I knew I was having a heart attack,’ says Nadine, 41, a customer services adviser from Morecambe, Lancashire. ‘I begged my sister to take me to A&E: I ran in and screamed that I was having a heart attack.</p><p>‘They put me on a monitor and my heart was fine — what I had suffered was a panic attack. I have no idea to this day what caused it, but it terrified the life out of me.’ </p><div><img alt="Nadine Stewart has to do everything nine times or fears her husband will die" height="565" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/25/article-2178978-13FDCCA8000005DC-228_634x565.jpg" width="634" /><p>Nadine Stewart has to do everything nine times or fears her husband will die</p></div><p>But worse was to come. ‘Afterwards, I developed a fear that if I didn’t do something nine times, something terrible would happen to me, my husband Paul or a member of my family.’ says Nadine. </p><p>‘If I made a drink I had to stir it nine times. If I locked the door I had to check it nine times and if I used a cloth to wipe a surface I’d have to wipe it nine times. I don’t know why it was nine. I realised I was being utterly irrational. But every time I tried to curb it — such as only stirring my drink three times — I’d begin to panic.'</p><div> ‘If I didn’t do these things nine times, I’d imagine Paul and me veering off the motorway in our car and see his injured face in the aftermath.’</div><p>Nadine had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the top ten most disabling disorders in terms of its effect on quality of life. </p><p>Last month both the British actress Emily Blunt and the MP Charles Walker revealed they suffered from it, with Walker admitting he had to do everything in multiples of four — and felt the need to wash his hands hundreds of times a day. </p><div> Who knew?<br />Surveys estimate that fewer than<br />10 per cent of those suffering OCD are currently receiving treatment.</div><p>They are not alone. Around a million people in the UK are thought to be undergoing treatment for OCD, the majority of them women. Women are twice as likely as men to develop anxiety disorders such as OCD — and high-achieving perfectionists are particularly at risk. </p><p>‘There are two parts to OCD, the obsession and the compulsion,’ explains Joel Rose, of charity OCD Action. ‘The obsession is a thought that pops into your head, about harm coming to someone you love or you causing harm to someone.'</p><p>‘Everyone has these thoughts but most of us ignore them and get on with our lives. Someone with OCD will develop a compulsive ritual as a reaction to them. It can be continually washing their hands or something invisible like repeating the same phrase over and over in their heads.'</p><p>‘The time spent on these compulsions lengthens with time. A severe OCD sufferer might spend six or seven hours a day washing their hands in the hope nothing terrible happens to their children.’</p><p>The cause of the condition is not known, though a stressful event in someone’s life may trigger an underlying problem. </p><p>Nadine has never pinpointed the root of her troubles — though they began in the year she started a new job, moved house and got engaged. ‘I had no reason to feel anxious,’ she said, ‘though I suppose there was a lot of change.</p><p>‘I became scared of choking to death so I stopped eating and lost three stone in less than three months. I couldn’t leave the house without Paul, and even then it would take me three hours to pluck up the courage.’</p><p>Someone who can empathise with Nadine is Jeni Scott, 31, who’s had OCD for three years. <br />It began when her father had a heart attack and her mother was diagnosed with cancer, soon after Jeni left university. </p><p>‘I became obsessed with doing things in order,’ says Jeni, a tutor from Newport, Wales. ‘I started making lists but it had everything on it such as “get up, have shower, make a cup of tea” and if I didn’t stick to it I would punish myself by denying myself a treat.</p><div><img alt="Actress Emily Blunt, star of Five Year Engagement, has revealed she suffers from OCD" height="1060" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/25/article-2178978-139B6B4A000005DC-908_306x1060.jpg" width="306" /><p>Actress Emily Blunt, star of Five Year Engagement, has revealed she suffers from OCD</p></div><p>‘I developed a phobia of being in the rain in the wrong clothes and had to take a backpack with spare bra, pants, coat, shoes and umbrella everywhere with me. I’d carry antibacterial gel in my bag and use it every ten minutes. I’ve still no idea why I did it, I just found it helped me.’ </p><p>Aisha Faisal, from Reading, Berkshire, also suffers from OCD — and it’s getting worse. ‘I developed it in my teens when my mother fell ill and I had to clean the house,’ the 26-year-old says. ‘Now I’m obsessed with everything being super-clean. I wash my hands 14 or 15 times a day, I shower for an hour at a time and wash the shower head and bath thoroughly before I step in. </p><p>‘If someone touches me, I cringe. My neighbour touched my scarf to tell me it was pretty and I had to have a shower and put all my clothes in the wash.’ Aisha, who has three children under four, admits her obsession extended to giving birth. </p><p>‘Each time I had Caesarean sections — the thought of having a natural birth makes me feel physically sick.’ She made the surgeons assure her everything had been scrubbed thoroughly before each operation. Understandably, her OCD worries the rest of her family. ‘My husband Ali finds it very hard to see me like this. I won’t let him touch me when he comes in from work: he has to shower and put on clean clothes before he can hug me.'</p><p>‘With three young children, being clean is impossible and I bathe them twice a day in the winter and sometimes four times a day in the summer if they’re hot and sticky.’</p><p>As a result of her obsession her own hands are red raw and she suffers from eczema. ‘I have been to the GP but it’s very difficult to treat. I know I must do something soon, because my eldest daughter, who is four, is picking up on my behaviour and I feel very guilty about that.'</p><p>‘The other day she came in from the garden and said she was dirty so needed to get out of her clothes and I washed her and cleaned her thoroughly. My husband can’t believe our electricity bill because the washing machine is on constantly.’</p><p>While Aisha is still in the grip of OCD, Jeni and Nadine have overcome the condition. According to the NHS, the two recognised forms of treatment are Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which helped Jeni, and anti-depressants. </p><p>But Nadine used another therapy called The Linden Method — a two-day workshop costs £995 — when she reached her lowest point early last year.</p><p>‘I was unable to work, leave the house or answer the phone,’ she says. ‘My vision became blurry, my hands would spasm and I’d get pains like rheumatism. I began to think: “What’s the point in living?” yet I was too scared to kill myself.’</p><p>The Linden Method — which has also helped OCD sufferers Jemma and Jodie Kidd — works by convincing the sufferer’s sub-conscious that they are safe. </p><p>‘I’m a different person,’ says Nadine. ‘I can leave the house, I’m applying for jobs, taking up hobbies and it’s transformed my relationship with Paul. </p><p>‘He says it’s like having a wife in a wheelchair who can walk again. Except I feel I can not only walk, I can fly.’</p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /></span></p>

A million Britons live with the hell of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Nadine Stewart was convinced she was going to die. Just ten minutes after setting off for a pop concert with her sister, she felt a tingling...

Finding right meditation technique key to user satisfaction

<p>New to meditation and already thinking about quitting? You may have simply chosen the wrong method. A new study published online July 7 in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing highlights the importance of ensuring that new meditators select methods with which they are most comfortable, rather than those that are most popular.  If they do, they are likely to stick with it, says Adam Burke, the author of the study. If not, there is a higher chance they may abandon meditation altogether, losing out on its myriad personal and medical benefits. Burke is a professor of Health Education at SF State and the director of SF State's Institute for Holistic Health Studies. "Because of the increase in both general and clinical use of meditation, you want to make sure you're finding the right method for each person," he said. Although meditation has become significantly more popular in the U.S., Burke said, there have been very few studies comparing multiple methods head to head to examine individual preference or specific clinical benefits. To better understand user preference, Burke compared four popular meditation methods -- Mantra, Mindfulness, Zen and Qigong Visualization -- to see if novice meditation practitioners favored one over the others. The study's 247 participants were taught each method and asked to practice at home and, at the end of the study, evaluate which they preferred. The two simpler methods, Mantra and Mindfulness, were preferred by 31 percent of study participants. Zen and Qigong had smaller but still sizable contingents of adherents, with 22 percent and 14.8 percent of participants preferring them, respectively. The results show the value of providing new practitioners a simpler, more accessible method of meditation. But they also emphasize that no one technique is best for everyone, and even less common methods are preferred by certain people. Older participants, who grew up when Zen was becoming one of the first meditation techniques to gain attention in the U.S., in particular were more likely to prefer that method. "It was interesting that Mantra and Mindfulness were found to be equally compelling by participants despite the fact that they are fundamentally different techniques," Burke said. Mindfulness is the most recent meditation technique to gain widespread popularity, he added, and is often the only one with which a novice practitioner or health professional is familiar. Not surprisingly, Mindfulness was the method most preferred by the youngest participants. "If someone is exposed to a particular technique through the media or a healthcare provider, they might assume because it's popular it's the best for everyone," Burke said. "But that's like saying because a pink dress or a blue sport coat is popular this year, it's going to look good on everybody. In truth, different people like different things. One size does not fit all." If an individual is not comfortable with a specific method for any reason, he said, they may be less likely to continue meditating and would lose out on such benefits as reduced stress, lower blood pressure or even treatment for addiction. Burke hopes to see more comparative meditation studies, especially to determine if particular methods are better at addressing specific health issues, such as addiction. If that's the case, he said, healthcare professionals would be able to guide patients toward techniques that will be most effective for them. Additional studies are also needed to determine if there is a way to predict which method will be best suited for any particular individual, he said.</p>

Finding right meditation technique key to user satisfaction

New to meditation and already thinking about quitting? You may have simply chosen the wrong method. A new study published online July 7 in E...

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