Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley |
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I thought it worthy to post a Blog from a person I deeply admire for her work. She combines Science and the Word of God.
One of her books is “Who switched off my Brain”
I’ve Highlighted in Red the points I thought verified my continued pursuit of the Mind body Connection when it comes to Weight management/Health and Wellness.
Enjoy:
Blog
Sins of the Grandfathers
Posted on December 15th, 2010.
Last month I started telling you about the amazing neuroplasticity of the brain, the literal ability to rewire the brain and create new and better networks. This aligns so perfectly with the Romans 12:2 -the renewing of the mind. I also introduced you to the newish science of Epigenetics which studies the extra-cellular factors that influence genetic expression. More specifically how we with our “I-Factor” have the ability to influence our own genetic expression.
This month, as we approach Christmas, I want to make you aware of how your thoughts not only affect you, but also your family and children and even as far down as your great great grandchildren! Science is showing us that the life experiences, thoughts and decisions of grandparents and even great-grandparents change their eggs and sperm so indelibly that this is passed onto their children up to 4 generations…this sounds a lot like the scripture “the iniquities of the father reach to the third and fourth generations” (numbers…)! As I love to point out: science is finally catching up with the bible.
This scriptural principal is scientifically termed: transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and basically means something outside the cell (diet, exercise, thoughts, nurturing) changes the “on/off” switches on the genes of the DNA in sperm and eggs.
Scientists has known for a while about these switches -clusters if atoms called methyl groups – but the fact that they can pass through the generations and that these tags can be reset is a new idea. Research labs around the world are are finding that experiences -lab rats being exposed to substances; people overeating; the decisions we make – leave a very tenacious imprint, an actual change in the switches.
These transgenerational effects can be healthy or toxic; for example what happened to your mother during her youth can affect your memory positively or negatively. Here’s the GREAT news: no matter what happened, your gift, your ability to think in your unique way, can be used to change any epigenome you have created or that passed through to you through the generations. It’s up to you, your “I-factor”. This is basically he principle of renewing the mind (Romans 12:2)
You Have Control Over Your Brain Fitness
Posted on November 15th, 2010.
Brain scientists in recent years have discovered how the state of our mind – what the brain does – influences our overall mental and physical health. It’s wonderful news that our intellectual limits are NOT “set” or “fixed” in childhood only to then decline from the age of 25! This bleak and incorrect view of the human brain has, thank goodness, been overturned by the astounding new research that the brain grows and changes no matter what your age; it all depends on how you USE your brain.
When you adopt a lifestyle of intense mental focus, you quite literally “switch on” neuroplasticity, the marvelous ability of the brain the grow branches and unending scaffolds of networks to increase your intelligence. I have, in my own research, seen patients with severe trauma to the brain move to intellectual heights never dreamed off; students who thought they could not make it academically become master scholars; and people whose depression threatened to overthrow them set free.
Strategic approaches to thinking necessitate an understanding of your gift (see last months blog), how you think – which will create new neural pathways and strengthen existing ones for as long as you live! How you think and what you are thinking, which I call the “I-factor” are being proven scientifically to have as much if not more influence over our genes than diet and exercise. This is an emerging new field called Epigenetics and means control over and above the genes. This is very exciting because it means we are not victims of our biology, as we have been erroneously told, but are “captains of our souls” (from the poem ‘Invictus’).
What we think influences every aspect of who we are and how we feel physically. A fascinating study, one of many of this kind, done at Ohio State University shows that healing can be slowed by as much as 40% when one is stressed. Considering that stress is the body’s reaction to our thought life, our state of mind (our thought life), is quite literally determining our mental and physical health.
epigenetic ability to deal optimally with all the challenges of life.
It all boils down to the I-Factor, in other words it’s up to us to follow the words of scripture ” Every day I lay before you life and death; choose life so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 18:19).
Blog
Missouri’s Gooey Butter Cake.
Posted on September 20th, 2010.
I have heard a lot about this pudding these last several days and it sounds rather…sticky, to say the least. And let us not even dare consider the calorie count. Or the carbs, mind you. We would induce a fat heart attack at the mere thought of such terrible things! But then I began drawing a brain parallel…odd, I suppose, as many would say that the normal human being does not have a tendency to find brain metaphors in puddings; nonetheless this viscous desert struck me with the veracity of mankind. It quite seems that the entire human race, myself included, is as “gooey” as this pudding…all our ingredients so muddled in illness and distortion that they only end up creating a messy copy of what we really should be…a beautiful creation to be enjoyed without the extra “weight” of misery about our soul’s thighs!
Yet thank God for His infinite grace and mercy! Mercy that is renewed each and ever day, a mercy that sent his one and only son to die for us so that us, these wretched humans, may live! Are we not blessed beyond belief? But these beatitudes do not cease their scintillating parade of life here! Did you know that even if we happen to fail again (and again…and again), we are still able get up, and with the help of God, move on forward to achieve the great things we were destined for? We can change, and we have the power through God to transform our mind into a power tool for the divine! We are neuroplasticians! We have epigenetics!
“Neuro palsto what what?” “Epi who who?” “Sounds…demonic!” Ah yes…I can see the bemusement on your faces…but before you shut down your computer in a moment of fear that you will not be too overly fond of these alien terms, wait! They are not as scary as they appear; in fact they are completely wonderful! These are two of God’s most precious gifts to mankind, and they make me over-the-moon excited that I am His amazing creation!
You see, neuroplasticity is, to give you a basic definition, the brain’s ability to change itself. And, considering that 87-92% of illness (both Physical and Mental) come from our though life, this is no little fact! We can change our thought, and we become fulfilled and whole, because God gave us the ability to do so! Is this not so wonderful? We can change, no matter what our past was or our present is!
And just how can we do this, you may be asking? Epigenetics is how! This term, simply put, means we have the ability to influence our genes…thus we are not a victim of our circumstances or our biology, but that we are a unique, beautiful, gifted creation with the power to choose the way we live our lives! We don’t have to accept depression, anger, fear, hatred…these are just distortions of our true, beautiful nature. We are wired for love, and we can choose to have as much love and beauty and happiness and joy as we want! Praise God!
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Note: So funny and intriguing that I've in the past used the reference to "Pudding Head".... I must have read it before? Oh, where do we get our ideas?
Ciao And Salute to your Health and Wellness
