Science of the SpiritS


Key

Is resilience the key to avoiding the sickening effects of stress?

Olga Khazan
The Atlantic
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 17:22 UTC
trauma
© Elizabeth Dalziel / AP A young Maoist soldier walks into a village in Kholagaun, Nepal, in 2004
A gritty attitude seems to prevent chronic inflammation from overwhelming the body in the aftermath of trauma.

It's well known that stress makes people sick, and extreme trauma makes them even sicker. But a new study suggests that not everyone who endures adversity is doomed to chronic illness. There might be a way to prevent the body from attacking itself in the wake of trauma.

For the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, a team of researchers examined the effects of resilience—a measurement of grittiness in the face of strife—on the immune systems of former child soldiers in Nepal. From 1996 to 2006, Maoist rebels fought a civil war against Nepal's monarchy and the government forces that protected it. One of their strategies was recruiting children, first in various "cultural" activities, such as dancing, but eventually in military roles. By the time the war was over, thousands of children had served as soldiers.

Comment: Read more about How to develop emotional resilience and why everyone should do it

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Wolf

7 tell-tale emotional signs that dog owners often miss: Submissive behavior

Dr. Becker
Healthy Pets
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:46 UTC
Collie
As a pet owner, it's important to take the time to get to know your pooch — not only, for instance, that her favorite toy is the squeaky pig or that she often forgets to bring said pig in from outside, but also how to read her sometimes-subtle body language.

The fact is that while you and your dog may communicate very well overall, there's always room for improvement. And it's surprisingly easy to miss certain nuances of your dog's posture, eye contact or vocalizations and in so doing miss out on an opportunity to connect and strengthen your bond.

Submissive behavior is especially important to be aware of, as it's your dog's way of letting you know that she's not a threat and may, in some cases, be looking for some extra reassurances from you.

Comment: See also: Dogs "catch" emotions from humans
  • Tail-waggers and their people share hormonal bond through mutual gazing
  • Dog 'walks 200 miles to find woman who nursed her back to health after hit-and-run accident'


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Question

Why do childhood memories usually completely disappear?

Alexa Erickson
Collective Evolution
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 19:22 UTC
childhood memories
When was your first memory? It's an odd question that somehow makes its way into conversations. When I think about it personally, a field of images come to mind, but one age, day, place, or action seems too concrete to pinpoint. I don't remember being a baby, getting my first tooth, or learning how to walk and talk, but I do remember holding my favorite baby doll, losing my first tooth, and learning how to ride a bike.

According to Carole Peterson, a professor of psychology at Memorial University Newfoundland who studies children's memories, small children are actually capable of recalling events from when they were as young as 20 months, but these memories seem to fade away by the time they're between 4 and 7 years old.
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Hiliter

Write it down: A regular habit of writing enhances healing, learning, mental clarity and creativity

Gregory Ciotti
Help Scout
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
benefits writing, journalling
When you attempt to envision a writer, I imagine many of you see a quirky recluse, hunched over a desk in some cabin, crumpled paper strewn about as they obsessively work on the next great American novel. But writing is so much more.

Prose is thought put to page, which makes all of us writers—even if we don't have the chops to tangle with Faulkner. In most cases, writing is most useful as a tool for thinking, expression, and creativity; cabin-dwelling novelists be damned.

Let's look at some of the benefits of making writing a regular habit.

Writing and happiness

Much of the research on writing and happiness deals with "expressive writing," or jotting down what you think and how you feel. Even blogging "undoubtedly affords similar benefits" to private expressive writing in terms of therapeutic value.

Expressive writing has also been linked to improved mood, well-being, and reduced stress levels for those who do it regularly, says Adam Grant:
"Research by Laura King shows that writing about achieving future goals and dreams can make people happier and healthier... And Jane Dutton and I found that when people doing stressful fundraising jobs kept a journal for a few days about how their work made a difference, they increased their hourly effort by 29% over the next two weeks."

Comment: For more information on ways to use writing exercises to improve health and emotional well-being, see:

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2 + 2 = 4

Why emotional abuse in childhood may lead to migraines in adulthood


The Conversation
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 16:58 UTC
migraines
© www.shutterstock.com
Child abuse and neglect are, sadly, more common than you might think. According to a 2011 study in JAMA Pediatrics, more than five million U.S. children experienced confirmed cases of maltreatment between 2004 and 2011. The effects of abuse can linger beyond childhood - and migraine headaches might be one of them.

Previous research, including our own, has found a link between experiencing migraine headaches in adulthood and experiencing emotional abuse in childhood. So how strong is the link? What is it about childhood emotional abuse that could lead to a physical problem, like migraines, in adulthood?

Comment:

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Heart

Autistic boy fails test and receives this touching letter

Amanda Froelich
True Activist
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 15:03 UTC
boy and letter
© Twitter
Recently, an 11-year-old boy named Ben Twist, who happens to have autism, took his schools SAT exams. Though he did his best, the results were far from what he was expecting.

When teacher Ruth Clarkson learned of his disappointment, she decided to do something special. She sat down and wrote a touching letter to Twist and sent it from the Lansbury Bridge School & Sports College.

She mentions in the letter that the exams aren't everything and writes that Ben has many other talents that aren't measured in the tests. It is mentioned that he should be proud of his artistic talents, abilities in sport, his musical ability, his kindness, and his growing independence which set him apart from other students.

Comment: It's refreshing to see a head teacher with such understanding, who values their students based on their individuality, rather than an externally imposed model of judgement.

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Rainbow

Being in the flow: Where energy moves in the direction of our intentions

Claire Dorotik-Nana
PsychCentral
Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
power mind, flow state consciousness
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (the researcher who coined the term "flow") originally set out to study exemplary people because he wanted to understand what constitutes those "peak experiences" often described by champion athletes, recognized artists. However, what he discovered was a state not just where psychic entropy is absent (he calls this state "negentrophy") but where optimal experiences happen.

What Csikszentmihaly uncovered was that the state of flow differs greatly from all other states of consciousness - such as psychic entropy, where information conflicts with our existing intentions or prevents us from carrying them out. In the state of flow, the entirety of our attention is devoted to the task at hand. The example that Csikszentmihalyi gives is the difference between being distracted at work by the flat tire you will have to deal with on your way home, and being completely immersed in what you are doing. Csikszentmihalyi describes this type of experience as "the order of consciousness", where all of the information that comes into awareness is congruent with our goals. In this state, psychic energy flows in the direction of our intentions. That is to say, we operate without distraction, worry, self-doubt, or questioning ourselves (Csiksentmihalyi, 2005).

According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow experiences result when the challenge in front of us perfectly matches our skills. Describing what he calls a "flow channel", when our skills exceed the task we face, the result is boredom, and on the other hand, when the task is too challenging, we experience anxiety. To have flow, then, challenges must fall into the "channel" just enough to challenge us, but not too much to overwhelm us.

Comment: See also:

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Che Guevara

What is Sovereignty?

Zen Gardner
Wake-up World
Wed, 13 Jul 2016 16:49 UTC
sovereignty
This subject or concept is a hot topic in the alternative community. I recently attended the Anarchapulco conference that featured a wide range of aspects of this important subject regarding our personal awakening and growing financial, legal and spiritual independence and empowerment.

Cryptocurrencies were featured along with our current geopolitical situation and alternative lifestyle choices, while roundly exposing the futility and anachronistic nature of statism, brilliantly done by Larken Rose and many other speakers. Understanding what we've been programmed to accept and learning to question every aspect of what the social engineers have indoctrinated us with is paramount to any real truth seeker.

When I approach these subjects touching on sovereignty, whether it be freedom from the binding maritime law-based legal system or questioning all forms of the hierarchical control paradigm, I look at it from a spiritual perspective.
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Clock

New mathematical model explains why flying Eastwards worsens jet-lag symptoms

Sara G. Miller
Live Science
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 17:50 UTC
Jet Lag
© Perfscience
If you've ever found that recovery from jet lag took even longer than you expected it to, physicists have answers: A new mathematical model helps explain why flying east is tougher on jet-lag recovery.

The model takes into account how certain cells in the human brain respond to crossing time zones, according to the study, published today (July 12) in the journal Chaos.

These cells, called "neuronal oscillator cells," regulate people's circadian rhythm, or biological clock, by syncing up with one another and also linking up with external cues, said Michelle Girvan, an associate professor of physics at the University of Maryland and a co-author of the study.

But the cells don't quite operate on a perfect 24-hour schedule, Girvan told Live Science. Rather, their activity follows a cycle that lasts slightly longer than that, about 24.5 hours, she said. That means that it's easier for a person to extend the length of a day — for example, by flying west across time zones — than to shorten the day, by flying east, she said.

The researchers incorporated the activity of these cells into their model of jet lag, Girvan said. They found that jet-lag recovery doesn't quite fit into a neat pattern of the widely touted advice to give yourself "one day of recovery for every time zone crossed."

Rather, the amount of time it takes for a person to adjust to a new time zone depends on not only how many time zones are crossed but also the direction in which the person travels.
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Brick Wall

The modern day school system: The incarceration of children

Razi Berry
Wake Up World
Wed, 13 Jul 2016 21:47 UTC
modern day schooling
CAFOs, also known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, are confined feedlots in which animals raised for food products are kept in confined prison-like conditions absent of natural vegetation. Here, animals are kept outside of their natural habitat and fed feed they would not eat in nature. The filthy conditions and poor nutrition make for sick animals, so the CAFOs depend heavily on antibiotics which are given prophylactically. Beef and dairy cattle, pigs, turkeys, and chickens are among the animals in the more than 257,000 AFOS in the United States.

Rather than eat native foods such as grasses, vegetation and insects, they are "fed" mostly genetically modified crops such as soy and corn, or cereal based feed made from these crops. Instead of eliminating waste naturally on the land, which acts as fertilizer, the waste is stored in anaerobic "lagoons". These cesspools of waste emit carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia into the air and leach antibiotics, endocrine disruptors, heavy metals and bacteria into the land. Without going much further in to the devastating science of why CAFOs are bad for human and animal health, and our environment, it is safe to say that animals do best in their natural habitat, living, reproducing, eating and eliminating as nature intended, and that we as omnivores do best when eating food raised in its wild or natural habitat.

Comment: The key to a real education: Self discovery

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