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Pam Payne

aging gracefully, hopefullyJun 7

Why do most folks become frail after the age of 70?

Bad diet and lack of exercise. This is my husband. He’s 70 1/2. He walks or hikes at least 10,000 steps a day, often many more than that. He also uses 15–25 lb hand weights every day, several times a day. We eat strict Keto, one meal a day. We don’t eat fast food, packaged or processed foods, and very rarely eat at a restaurant. If we do, it’s steaks and low-carb veggies or brisket with no bbq sauce.

I’m 68. I don’t walk quite as much as he does, but I usually hit 10,000 steps 3–4 times a week when we go hiking and around 5000 the other days. I also do weight training exercises with resistance bands and a curl bar, but I’ve just recently started that. We also went zip lining for my birthday a few days ago for the very first time. We were the oldest couple there and we did great.

We are far from frail and are more fit and active than some of our kids and even grandkids.

The best quote I’ve seen on Quora, somewhat paraphrased, is this one. “There are no age limits in hiking. Elevation may change, terrain might differ as well as distance, but if you keep moving, no one can push you in a hole and throw dirt on you…”

Age is just a number. You decide how you live it.

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What three things should a person avoid once they are past 70 years old?

Although I am not yet 70 (I have 30 years to go), I work with and treat many who are, as I work in the operating room. I see many hip replacements, broken ankles, gallbladder and kidney stone removals, cancer biopsies, and illnesses of all kinds. I’m constantly learning how to avoid the pitfalls of age-related disease, how to be as healthy as possible, and how to enhance one’s quality of life, especially as we get older.

1. Do not stop moving - it’s important to maintain mobility! Whatever you do, just keep walking, it’s so essential for your cardiovascular system and bone health and at the same time, not too strenuous on your joints. No need to win marathons, rather just get up and move. You don’t want to be frail and have to do a hip replacement at the age of 90. I learned in nursing school that once an older adult falls, their mortality rate increases by at least 20% because they stop walking, as they are afraid to fall again thereby they begin to lose muscle, bone mass, circulation, etc. creating a vicious cycle of weakening their physical health. Walking, gardening, swimming, tai chi, line dancing, there are many low-impact activities to do that can enrich your physical health. Take care not to do anything too daring that may break your bones (ie. skateboarding, skiing, horseback riding). If you take away anything from this, I cannot stress enough that mobility is the key!
2. Do not stop learning - if you don’t use it, you lose it, which is exactly what happens to your brain. You need to keep making new neural connections and sharpen your brain’s ability, aka neuroplasticity. Always try to learn something new every day and if possible, take classes. You can learn a new instrument online! You can audit university courses! You can take up a new hobby like photography or woodwork, and learn how on YouTube. At the same time, learning gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment.
3. Do not stop caring about your health. You have many more years to live, how do you want to feel each day? You need good health to feel good. There are many things to do in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Eat fresh, unprocessed food for maximum nutrient intake, limit sugar and seed oils, limit processed foods, take care of your gut microbiome with fermented foods. Lift weights to maintain your muscle and bone mass (we lose 10% muscle mass per decade). Wear sunscreen, protect your skin. I suppose these tips on health could apply to any age, but perhaps even more so for older adults as the body isn’t functioning as it used to when it was a teenager. I myself follow these rules, I limit sugar, processed foods, limit seed oils, and do my best to eat fresh, unprocessed food. I make my own yogurt and berry jam, I always eat a cup of raspberries as a snack for antioxidants and fibre. Same goes for sunscreen and weights. I recommend going to the doctor and getting tested for any issues, and ask how you can proactively improve your health. For example, if you have urinary retention, if you are a male, do you need to check your prostate? If you are a female, do you need to take more D-mannose to decrease UTI symptoms? How is your weight? Many diseases are exacerbated by higher BMIs. It’s also at this age where your health shows your lifestyle habits from your younger years, as well as any genetic predisposition to certain diseases.

Here’s to living well at any age :)

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Jennifer Rose

Resting in FullnessFeb 7

Does consciousness serve a purpose?

Originally Answered: What purpose does consciousness serve?

To establish the purpose of consciousness, we would first need to understand what consciousness is.

This very question has mystified philosophers, physicists and spiritual seekers since time immemorial.

As it stands, there is no universally agreed-upon definition of consciousness. It remains a mystery that can only be pointed at.

My answer, therefore, acts as a pointer, based on my personal experience of awakening from the “dream”…

Consciousness serves no purpose other than the one we create out of it.

On that basis, one could argue that the purpose of consciousness is to be our playing field.

An interactive interrelated multidimensional “playing field” is about as close as I can get to describing what consciousness is.

Another way I could describe it would be, art.

In my endeavour to define consciousness in words, I spent several days looking at it in a somewhat comical attempt to pin it down.

Funny thing happened…

Every time I looked at consciousness, it looked right back at me.

In our face-off, consciousness mutated, transformed and reconstructed itself around my “seeing” of it.

In the dawning realisation that I was no longer looking at consciousness but a reflection of myself, consciousness gave me a cheeky wink and (seemingly) vanished from view!

And therein lies the truth of consciousness ;-)

Perhaps therefore the purpose of consciousness is quite simply, play.

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Ahilan Raman

 · Feb 26

Without consciousness one cannot experience the world. Yoga sutra coins the word “pure awareness” for the soul (Ishwara) and consciousness serves as a bridge between ‘pure awareness’ and the ‘phenomenal world’. It binds the mind to the world and it also liberates the mind from the world. It serves the purpose of “Ishwara’ by showing the world is nothing but a phenomena created by the mind.The word consciousness and mind are used interchangeably.When you can transcend the consciousness what remains is only ‘pure awareness’ which is your ‘Suva rupa’

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Kalyanam Ganesh

 · Feb 23

Everyone is telling consciousness is realizing this body and mind are not self . It is beyond which is named as consciousness in different ways by different people .as you directly put it .

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Ari

 · Feb 21

Language is just sounds with made up meanings. So the 60,000 thoughts we have on a daily basis are just sounds and images right? If there is no “Me/I” or “self” and it’s just a repeated thought, what’s the purpose of creation of thoughts, ego, planets, life and death? What’s the point of life? If consciousness is the ultimate reality, what’s the point of consciousness creating humans, creating thoughts which lead to pain, suffering and separation?

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Jennifer Rose

 · Feb 21

The purpose of creation is to know oneself. What better way than to create a multi-dimensional interactive interrelated dual “playing field”??Unity consciousness is boring. Nothing ever happens there as there is no observer to observe it. So we created this game where we can repeatedly discover and rediscover the truth of who we are. First we lose ourselves and forget, then we find ourselves and remember. We do this eternally. It’s fun. Even the bad bits

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Simply copying the strategies of a friend or acquaintance is a simple way to help reach your self-improvement goals, research finds.

People looking to exercise more, eat better or work harder can just ‘cut-and-paste’ the hacks that others use.

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SPRTULTY AT LEAST CALMS SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 

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Your response is always more powerful than your circumstance. 

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The best things happen at the exit ramp of your comfort zone."

-- Karen Salmansohn

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The prayer starting Gajnanam Bhootha Ganadhi Sevitham extols the glory of the form of Ganapathi or Ganesha. The mantra can be chanted in the morning and evening during prayers. Here is the meaning of prayer along with the English lyrics. Benefits of chanting the prayer are auspiciousness, success, good luck and health body.

Gajnanam Bhootha Ganadhi Sevitham
Kapitha Jambu Manasara Bakshitham
Uma Sutham Soka Vinasha Karanam
Namami Vigneshwara Padha Pankajam
गजाननं भूतगणादि सेवितं
कपित्थजम्बूफलसार भक्षितम् ।
उमासुतं शोकविनाशकारणं
नमामि विघ्नेश्वर पादपङ्कजम् ॥

I prostrate myself before the lotus feet of Vighneshwara, the son of Uma, the destroyer of sorrows of his devotees, who is served by the Ganas (celestial beings), who has the face of an elephant and who takes as his food, the essence of Kapitha (wood apple) and jambu (rose apple) fruits.

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The chapter 2 of Dnyaneshwari (the Marathi interpretation of Bhagavad Gita by Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj) explains how controlling sense organs can lead us to a better life.

Seekers practice restraint and give up sense-pleasures; but they too can get entangled in various types of sense-pleasures if while restraining the ears, eyes etc., they fail to restrain the tongue. (2:303-304).

One can restrain himself from all sense pleasures except that of the tongue. One cannot forcibly restrain the pleasure of the tongue because our life depends on food. But when a seeker attains Self-realisation, the tongue naturally gets controlled and since the "I am the body" feeling has left him he forgets all sense-pleasures. (2:307-309).

These organs cannot be brought under control by any other means. (NB: It is implied that external means like rituals, fasts etc. are not useful. Internal means like meditation, introspection and experience only are useful for the purpose). Because even those who constantly try to conquer them and keep their minds under control by observing strict rules and restrictions, are harassed by them.

He who leaves all desire of pleasures, controls his organs and is not allured by the sense-pleasures is alone worthy of the trust set by yoga i.e. steadiness of intellect. Such a person has the knowledge of the Self and never forgets me. (2:315-317).

He who outwardly gives up sense-objects but keeps on thinking about them must be considered as being entangled only in the materialistic world. (2:318).

A slightest trace of desires remaining in the mind destroys discretion. (2:320). Mere memory of these sense-pleasures creates desire for them in the mind of even a detached person. Passions then arise in the mind and where there is passion there is also anger. Anger leads to thoughtlessness. Thoughtlessness leads to loss of memory and then the intellect is engulfed by the darkness of ignorance. The intellect then suffers and loses direction. Thus, the loss of memory leads to confused intellect and this in turn destroys all knowledge. In this way, even occasional memory of the sense-pleasures can lead to such downfall.

Therefore, when these sense-pleasures are totally removed from the mind, anger and hate are automatically destroyed. When anger and hate are destroyed then even if the organs become engaged in the sense-pleasures they do no harm. (2:321-332). Such a person is detached towards sense objects, free of desire and anger and remains engrossed in the bliss of the Self. (2:334). He who thus remains absorbed in the Self may be considered without doubt to have a stable intellect.

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INDRAS NET

“Throughout the universe there’s a network of wires stretching to infinity. The horizontal wires are placed in space; the vertical in time. Everywhere where these wires cross each other, there’s an individual. And every individual is a crystal bead. The big light of an Absolute Being enlightens and penetrates each crystal bead. And every crystal bead reflects not only the light of all other crystals in the network, but also every other reflection, from all corners of the Cosmos.” The Rigveda – Indra’s Net

Far, far away, in the abode of the great god Indra, king of heaven, hangs a wondrous vast net, much like a spider’s web in intricacy and loveliness. It stretches out indefinitely in all directions. At each node, or crossing point, of the net hangs a single glittering jewel. Since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. The sparkling jewels hang there, suspended in and supported by the net, glittering like stars, dazzling to behold.

Close your eyes, now, and imagine what this magnificent jeweled net looks like, spread across the vast expanse of space. Now, keep your eyes closed and move in close to one jewel in the net. Look closely, and you will see that the polished surface of the gem reflects all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number, just as two mirrors placed opposite each other reflect an image ad infinitum. Each jewel reflected in this gem you are gazing into also reflects all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is itself infinite.

Now open your eyes, and know that you are a sparkling jewel in Indra’s Net, as is every person around you. Every jewel is connected with all the other jewels in the net; every person is intimately connected with all the other persons in the universe. Each has an independent place within the net and we all reflect and influence each other. A change in one jewel—or person—produces a change, however slight, in every other. Realize, too, that the infinite reflections speak to the illusory nature of appearances. Appearances are not, in fact, reality, but only a reflection; the true nature of a thing is not to be captured in its appearance. However powerful that appearance might be, it is yet only a reflection of what is real.

In addition, whatever you do to one jewel affects the entire net, as well as yourself. You cannot damage one strand of a spider web without injuring the entire web, and you cannot damage one strand of the web that is the universe without injuring all others in it, whether that injury is known or unknown to them. This can work for good or ill because, of course, just as destructive acts affect the entire net, so do loving, constructive, compassionate acts affect the entire net. A single helpful act—even a simple act of kindness—will send positive ripples across the infinite net, touching every jewel, every person in existence.

Conclusion

The ancient Hindu mystics said everything in the universe was inextricably interconnected, and they used Indra’s net to illustrate the concept. “If the net is multi-dimensional, the points where the strings of the net connect would be like intersecting points from which one could access the whole net. One tug pulls the whole net, one tug connects you to the whole net. Basically, that is how synchronicity works,” writes Shawn Randall, Synchronicity in Your Life.

The Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu religious poem, recognizes the synchronous nature of creation and an underlying cosmic unity. The Hindu term, Brahman, refers to the fundamental connection of all things in the universe. The appearance of this universal oneness in the soul is called Atman.

Some may call it ‘luck’ or ‘coincidence,’ but synchronicity is neither of these things. Synchronistic events are distinguished by a spiritual clarity, in which you know that you are the ultimate Creator of everything that occurs in your life. In the Hindu tradition, synchronicity can be conceptualized with the aid of the beautiful metaphor of Indra’s Net.  In this metaphor, strands of a cosmic, inter-dimensional web connect everyone and everything in all of existence, and where the strands come together, there are countless, stunningly beautiful crystalline beads or water droplets.

Every single one of these beads or droplets reflects the entirety of the web as a whole—they carry within them the reflection of All That Is, you see. When one is clear, clear about who I Am in the deepest of spiritual senses, then like a glowing bead in Indra’s net, those reflections of All That Is shine out and through. The points of connection find their place, and everything syncs up. You become in tune with the universe, and this is synchronicity. Yes, in a sense you are creating it, but in a greater sense you are merely allowing it to take place, for it is the natural course of thing.

In quantum physics, this hidden reality, this universal consciousness, is known as the non-local mind. Quoting Deepak Chopra on the non-local mind from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: “Operating outside the boundaries of normal space and time, it is the great organizing and unifying force in the universe, infinite in scope and duration. By its nature, nonlocal mind connects all things because it is all things. It requires no attention, no energy, no approval; it is whole unto itself, and therefore attracts love and acceptance.”

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Desire makes even an atom appear as great as Mount Meru before it is achieved, and vice versa after it is achieved. Desire is a bottomless abyss that is impossible to fill.

—Ramana Maharshi 

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On Gardens and the Way

Muso Soseki  (1275-1351)

From ancient times until now there have been many who have delighted in raising up mounds of earth, making arrangements of stones, planting trees, and hollowing out watercourses.  We call what they make “mountains and streams.”  Though all seem to share a common liking for this art of gardening, they are often guided by very different impulses.

There are those who practice the art of gardening out of vanity and a passion for display, with no interest whatever in their own true natures.  They are concerned only with having their gardens attract the admiration of others.

And some, indulging their passion for acquiring things, add these “mountains and streams” to the accumulations of rare and expensive things that they possess, and end up by cherishing a passion for them.  They select particularly remarkable stones and uncommon trees to have for their own.  Such persons are insensible to the beauty of mountains and streams. They are merely people of the world of dust.

Po Lo-t’ien dug a little pool beside which he planted a few bamboos, which he cared for with love.  He wrote a poem about them:

The bamboo—its heart is empty.

It has become my friend.

The water—its heart is pure.

It has become my teacher.

Those everywhere who love mountains and rivers have the same heart as Lo-t’ien and know the way out of the dust of the world.  Some whose nature is simple are not attracted by worldly things, and they raise their spirits by reciting poems in the presence of fountains and rocks.  The expression “a chronic liking for mist, incurably stricken by fountains and rocks” tells something about them.  One might say that these are secular people of refined taste.  Though they are in the world and without the spirit of the Way, this love of the art of gardens is nevertheless a root of transformation.

In others there is a spirit that comes awake in the presence of these mountains and rivers and is drawn out of the dullness of daily existence. And so these mountains and rivers help them in the practice of the Way. Theirs is not the usual love of mountains and rivers.  These people are worthy of respect. But they cannot yet claim to be followers of the true Way because they still make a distinction between mountains and rivers and the practice of the Way.

Still others see the mountain, the river, the earth, the grass, the tree, the tile, the pebble, as their own essential nature.  They love, for the length of the morning, the mountain and river. What appears in them to be no different from a worldly passion is at once the spirit of the Way.  Their minds are one with the atmosphere of the fountain, the stone, the grass, and the tree, changing through the four seasons.  This is the true manner in which those who are followers of the Way love mountains and rivers.

So, one cannot say categorically that a liking for mountains and rivers is a bad thing or a good thing. There is neither gain nor loss in the mountain and the river. Gain and loss exist only in the human mind.

                                    Bamboo Garden

         The third one crooked the second one leaning

                   bamboos have grown

                            by the stone steps of the garden

          every year

                   there are more of them

                            until now they are a forest

          At the clack of a stone on a bamboo

                   Hsiang-yen shattered

                            the uncountable worlds

          but this garden

                   continues in its green shade

                            just as before

Muso Soseki (1275-1351)

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CARD 

"Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space A