The incidence of new cancer cases has been falling in recent years in the United States, the first time such an extended decline has been documented, researchers reported Tuesday.
Cancer diagnosis rates decreased by an average of 0.8 percent each year from 1999 to 2005, the last year for which data are available, according to an annual report by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and other scientific organizations.
Death rates from cancer continued to decline as well, a trend that began some 15 years ago, the report also noted. It was published online in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“Each year that you see these steady declines it gives you more confidence that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Dr. John E. Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute, who is not an author of the report. “This is not just a blip on the screen.”
Death rates from cancer fell an average of 1.8 percent each year from 2002 to 2005, according to the new report. Although last year’s report said death rates dropped an average of 2.1 percent each year from 2002 to 2004, a modest 1 percent decline in 2005 lowered the average percentage for the period.
The decline is primarily due to a reduction in death rates from certain common cancers, including prostate cancer and lung cancer in men, breast cancer in women and colorectal cancer in both sexes.
The report attributes the reductions to adoption of healthier lifestyles and improved screening, as well as advances in treatment.
The drop in annual incidence rates is harder to interpret. The data may point to a real decline in the occurrence of some types of cancer, experts said. Alternatively, the decline may reflect inconsistent screening practices, causing some cancers that used to be detected to now go undiagnosed.
Breast cancer incidence rates decreased by 2.2 percent annually from 1999 to 2005, for example, a drop some researchers attributed to large numbers of women quitting hormone replacement therapy after a national study linked it to breast cancer in 2002.
Yet mammography rates have also fluctuated in recent years, meaning that some breast cancer cases may be going undetected, said Ahmedin Jemal, the strategic director for cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society.
The incidence of prostate cancer declined by 4.4 percent a year from 2001 to 2005, after annual increases of 2.1 percent a year for several years, Dr. Jemal said. Yet prostate screening rates, too, have leveled off in recent years.
“This might not be good news,” Dr. Jemal said. “It’s always difficult to interpret the incidence rate.”
Christine Eheman, chief of the cancer surveillance branch at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was more optimistic about the decline in cancer diagnoses.
“I do think it’s a good sign,” Dr. Eheman said, “but I think we need to be very careful not to think we have this problem in any way beaten. We need to continue to do what we know works, and also find out why some cancers are not decreasing and not decreasing in certain populations.”
Some types of cancer are being found more often, the report said. Among men, incidence rates increased for cancers of the liver, kidney and esophagus, and for melanoma and myeloma. Among women, incidence rates increased for cancers of the lung, thyroid, pancreas, brain and nervous system, bladder and kidney, and for melanoma. Rates of leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma increased in both sexes.
The incidence of lung cancer has been declining among men for many years but rising among women, though the increase is slowing, according to the report.
“Women, unfortunately, got hooked on the smoking habit in the ’60s and ’70s,” Dr. Eheman said, “so there was a larger increase in smoking later on in time, and the prevention of smoking has been slower. The decrease in lung cancer that we hope will occur has not been happening yet.”
The report found sharp regional differences in lung cancer rates that appeared to be associated with local legislation, like smoking bans, and social attitudes toward tobacco and smoking. Lung cancer is diagnosed least often in Utah and most often in Kentucky, the report said.
State tobacco control policies appear to have had an enormous impact, the researchers said. In California, the first state to establish a comprehensive statewide tobacco control program, lung cancer death rates among men dropped by 2.8 percent annually on average from 1996 to 2005, twice the decline observed in many Southern and Midwestern states. California was the only state where the incidence of lung cancer among women had decreased.
Lung cancer death rates among women increased in 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee. Tobacco taxes are lower than average in many of these states, the report noted.
By RONI CARYN RABIN
Published: November 25, 2008
» A version of this article appeared in print on November 26, 2008, on page A14 of the New York edition.
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Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Apples, onions cross frontier in disputed Kashmir
Apples, onions cross frontier in disputed Kashmir
CHAKOTI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Trucks loaded with apples, onions and nuts crossed the frontier in divided Kashmir for the first time in decades on Tuesday as nuclear-armed India and Pakistan opened a trade link aimed at easing tension.
The decision, taken only last month, to allow limited trade across the front line in Kashmir symbolises attempts to solve a bitter dispute over the Himalayan region by creating "soft borders" allowing the free movement of goods and people.
"I'm quite confident that this beginning will lead us to proper and regular trade and commerce," Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, told reporters.
But Khan cautioned against hopes the opening of trade across an old ceasefire line and the de facto border, known as the Line of Control (LOC), would lead to a quick solution of the more than 60-year dispute over Muslim-majority Kashmir.
"All these steps, cross-LOC trade, communication, people-to-people contacts, talks, all these things slowly and gradually they are most generally contributing factors towards the ultimate resolution," Khan said.
"But no high hopes should be attached, no wild wishes should be attached to only the one event of today. But this is a great success," he said.
Indian Kashmir's governor, N.N. Vohra, said the trade link was a major step in a slow-moving peace process: "Today is a historic day ... The trade volume will increase."
The South Asian neighbours, who claim Kashmir in full but rule in parts, have fought two wars over the region and were on the verge of a third in 2002 before pulling back from the brink.
On Tuesday, white doves of peace were released as 14 Pakistani trucks bedecked with the national flag crossed a bridge into Indian Kashmir carrying rice, onions and dried fruit.
Schoolchildren chanted "Long Live Pakistan" and "Kashmir will become a part of Pakistan" as a brass band played patriotic music.
"A DREAM COME TRUE"
Indian trucks garlanded with marigolds and banners reading "long live cross-border trade" set off the other way loaded with apples, honey and nuts.
"I'm delighted, it's a dream come true," said 35-year-old lorry driver Gulam Hassan Baba.
It was the first time vehicles had been allowed across the ceasefire line and the newly constructed Aman Setu, or Peace Bridge, since a 1948 war.
The opening of trade in Kashmir is the latest in a series of tentative peace moves that have done little to resolve their central territorial dispute, which has for decades hobbled regular trade across their international border further south.
But it does go some way towards meeting one of the demands of separatist groups in Indian Kashmir, who have been leading months of anti-India protests, some of the biggest in years.
India has moved slowly on opening up Kashmir's borders, believing that they could boost separatist militant attacks on Indian forces from bases in Pakistan. Militants have been battling security forces in Indian Kashmir since 1989.
A bus service connecting Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital, and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, was launched in 2005, one of many confidence-building measures undertaken since the two sides began a peace process in 2004.
But because of elaborate security checks, suffocating bureaucracy and mistrust, only 9,000 passengers have travelled between the two sides of Kashmir on the "peace bus" service.
For the time being, trade will take place just once a week, with a limited list of goods allowed. Khuwaja Farooq, head of the Muzaffarabad Chamber of Commerce, said he wanted free trade.
"It should be a permanent feature ... but as of now, nothing seems permanent," he said.
Yahoo News
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CHAKOTI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Trucks loaded with apples, onions and nuts crossed the frontier in divided Kashmir for the first time in decades on Tuesday as nuclear-armed India and Pakistan opened a trade link aimed at easing tension.
The decision, taken only last month, to allow limited trade across the front line in Kashmir symbolises attempts to solve a bitter dispute over the Himalayan region by creating "soft borders" allowing the free movement of goods and people.
"I'm quite confident that this beginning will lead us to proper and regular trade and commerce," Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, told reporters.
But Khan cautioned against hopes the opening of trade across an old ceasefire line and the de facto border, known as the Line of Control (LOC), would lead to a quick solution of the more than 60-year dispute over Muslim-majority Kashmir.
"All these steps, cross-LOC trade, communication, people-to-people contacts, talks, all these things slowly and gradually they are most generally contributing factors towards the ultimate resolution," Khan said.
"But no high hopes should be attached, no wild wishes should be attached to only the one event of today. But this is a great success," he said.
Indian Kashmir's governor, N.N. Vohra, said the trade link was a major step in a slow-moving peace process: "Today is a historic day ... The trade volume will increase."
The South Asian neighbours, who claim Kashmir in full but rule in parts, have fought two wars over the region and were on the verge of a third in 2002 before pulling back from the brink.
On Tuesday, white doves of peace were released as 14 Pakistani trucks bedecked with the national flag crossed a bridge into Indian Kashmir carrying rice, onions and dried fruit.
Schoolchildren chanted "Long Live Pakistan" and "Kashmir will become a part of Pakistan" as a brass band played patriotic music.
"A DREAM COME TRUE"
Indian trucks garlanded with marigolds and banners reading "long live cross-border trade" set off the other way loaded with apples, honey and nuts.
"I'm delighted, it's a dream come true," said 35-year-old lorry driver Gulam Hassan Baba.
It was the first time vehicles had been allowed across the ceasefire line and the newly constructed Aman Setu, or Peace Bridge, since a 1948 war.
The opening of trade in Kashmir is the latest in a series of tentative peace moves that have done little to resolve their central territorial dispute, which has for decades hobbled regular trade across their international border further south.
But it does go some way towards meeting one of the demands of separatist groups in Indian Kashmir, who have been leading months of anti-India protests, some of the biggest in years.
India has moved slowly on opening up Kashmir's borders, believing that they could boost separatist militant attacks on Indian forces from bases in Pakistan. Militants have been battling security forces in Indian Kashmir since 1989.
A bus service connecting Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital, and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, was launched in 2005, one of many confidence-building measures undertaken since the two sides began a peace process in 2004.
But because of elaborate security checks, suffocating bureaucracy and mistrust, only 9,000 passengers have travelled between the two sides of Kashmir on the "peace bus" service.
For the time being, trade will take place just once a week, with a limited list of goods allowed. Khuwaja Farooq, head of the Muzaffarabad Chamber of Commerce, said he wanted free trade.
"It should be a permanent feature ... but as of now, nothing seems permanent," he said.
Yahoo News
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World's largest sci-tech museum
China unveils world's largest sci-tech museum
China has unveiled the world's largest science and technology museum in the southern city of Guangzhou that will demonstrate the country's newest achievements in the field.
The Guangdong Science Centre, with an area of 450,000 square metres, is situated at the far western tip of Xiaoguwei Island, also the location of Guangzhou University Town in Guangdong province.
With a floor area larger than Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, the steel-structured main building of the museum features a blooming kapok flower.
To be officially opened to the public Sep 27, the science centre offers eight exhibition areas, four science cinema halls, two open laboratories and a digital 'family experience' hall.
Outside the main building, there is an 80,000-square-metre artificial lake for water-theme exhibitions and an outdoor science square.
It cost the government about 1.9 billion yuan ($279.4 million) to build over a period of five years, Zhang Ming, deputy head of the Guangdong science and technology bureau, said at the centre's unveiling ceremony Friday night.
He said the centre would demonstrate China's newest achievements on science and technology. Among 400 items of such exhibits in the centre, more than half would be on their debut show.
He said the outdoor area of the non-profit science centre would be ticket-free.
Zhang added the provincial government hoped that the museum would become an attraction for the promotion of new science and technology and a venue for academic exchanges.
Visitors to the interactive science centre can also experience simulated earthquake and typhoon environments, or a satellite launch process, and play with a robot.
Yahoo News
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China has unveiled the world's largest science and technology museum in the southern city of Guangzhou that will demonstrate the country's newest achievements in the field.
The Guangdong Science Centre, with an area of 450,000 square metres, is situated at the far western tip of Xiaoguwei Island, also the location of Guangzhou University Town in Guangdong province.
With a floor area larger than Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, the steel-structured main building of the museum features a blooming kapok flower.
To be officially opened to the public Sep 27, the science centre offers eight exhibition areas, four science cinema halls, two open laboratories and a digital 'family experience' hall.
Outside the main building, there is an 80,000-square-metre artificial lake for water-theme exhibitions and an outdoor science square.
It cost the government about 1.9 billion yuan ($279.4 million) to build over a period of five years, Zhang Ming, deputy head of the Guangdong science and technology bureau, said at the centre's unveiling ceremony Friday night.
He said the centre would demonstrate China's newest achievements on science and technology. Among 400 items of such exhibits in the centre, more than half would be on their debut show.
He said the outdoor area of the non-profit science centre would be ticket-free.
Zhang added the provincial government hoped that the museum would become an attraction for the promotion of new science and technology and a venue for academic exchanges.
Visitors to the interactive science centre can also experience simulated earthquake and typhoon environments, or a satellite launch process, and play with a robot.
Yahoo News
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China unveils world's largest sci-tech museum
Xinhua
Sat, Sep 20 11:22 AM
Guangzhou (China), Sep 20 (Xinhua) China has unveiled the world's largest science and technology museum in the southern city of Guangzhou that will demonstrate the country's newest achievements in the field.
The Guangdong Science Centre, with an area of 450,000 square metres, is situated at the far western tip of Xiaoguwei Island, also the location of Guangzhou University Town in Guangdong province.
With a floor area larger than Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, the steel-structured main building of the museum features a blooming kapok flower.
To be officially opened to the public Sep 27, the science centre offers eight exhibition areas, four science cinema halls, two open laboratories and a digital 'family experience' hall.
Outside the main building, there is an 80,000-square-metre artificial lake for water-theme exhibitions and an outdoor science square.
It cost the government about 1.9 billion yuan ($279.4 million) to build over a period of five years, Zhang Ming, deputy head of the Guangdong science and technology bureau, said at the centre's unveiling ceremony Friday night.
He said the centre would demonstrate China's newest achievements on science and technology. Among 400 items of such exhibits in the centre, more than half would be on their debut show.
He said the outdoor area of the non-profit science centre would be ticket-free.
Zhang added the provincial government hoped that the museum would become an attraction for the promotion of new science and technology and a venue for academic exchanges.
Visitors to the interactive science centre can also experience simulated earthquake and typhoon environments, or a satellite launch process, and play with a robot.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xinhua
Sat, Sep 20 11:22 AM
Guangzhou (China), Sep 20 (Xinhua) China has unveiled the world's largest science and technology museum in the southern city of Guangzhou that will demonstrate the country's newest achievements in the field.
The Guangdong Science Centre, with an area of 450,000 square metres, is situated at the far western tip of Xiaoguwei Island, also the location of Guangzhou University Town in Guangdong province.
With a floor area larger than Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, the steel-structured main building of the museum features a blooming kapok flower.
To be officially opened to the public Sep 27, the science centre offers eight exhibition areas, four science cinema halls, two open laboratories and a digital 'family experience' hall.
Outside the main building, there is an 80,000-square-metre artificial lake for water-theme exhibitions and an outdoor science square.
It cost the government about 1.9 billion yuan ($279.4 million) to build over a period of five years, Zhang Ming, deputy head of the Guangdong science and technology bureau, said at the centre's unveiling ceremony Friday night.
He said the centre would demonstrate China's newest achievements on science and technology. Among 400 items of such exhibits in the centre, more than half would be on their debut show.
He said the outdoor area of the non-profit science centre would be ticket-free.
Zhang added the provincial government hoped that the museum would become an attraction for the promotion of new science and technology and a venue for academic exchanges.
Visitors to the interactive science centre can also experience simulated earthquake and typhoon environments, or a satellite launch process, and play with a robot.
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
Pistachio nut, green way to keep your heart healthy
Washington, Sep 27 (IANS) Pistachio nuts lower cholesterol levels and may be good for keeping your heart healthy in a green way, according to a new study.
'We investigated mechanisms to explain the cholesterol-lowering effects of the pistachio diets,' said Sarah K. Gebauer from Penn State University, one of the co-authors of the study.
The researchers conducted a randomised, controlled feeding experiment to test the effects of pistachios added to a heart healthy moderate-fat diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The participants began the study by eating a typical American diet consisting of 35 percent total fat and 11 percent saturated fat for two weeks, according to a Penn State University statement.
They then tested three diets for four weeks each with about a two-week break between each diet. All three diets were variations on the Step-1 Diet, a cholesterol-lowering diet in general use.
The findings were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The diets included, as a control, a Step-1 Diet with no pistachios and about 25 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat. The pistachio enhanced diets were Step 1 Diets with 10 and 20 percent of the energy supplied by pistachio nuts, respectively.
The 10 percent pistachio diet had 30 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat and the 20 percent pistachio diet had 34 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat. Participants ate half their pistachios as a snack and the rest incorporated into meals.
The researchers reported that 'inclusion of pistachios in a healthy diet beneficially affects cardiovascular disease risk factors in a dose-dependent manner, which may reflect effects on Stearoyl CoA Desaturase (SCD).'
'SCD is an important enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism,' said Gebauer.
Researchers also noted that reduction in LDL or bad cholesterol observed was seven times greater than would be expected from only the fatty acid profile of pistachios.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080927/938/thl-pistachio-nut-green-way-to-keep-your.html
Sat, Sep 27 11:30 AM
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Washington, Sep 27 (IANS) Pistachio nuts lower cholesterol levels and may be good for keeping your heart healthy in a green way, according to a new study.
'We investigated mechanisms to explain the cholesterol-lowering effects of the pistachio diets,' said Sarah K. Gebauer from Penn State University, one of the co-authors of the study.
The researchers conducted a randomised, controlled feeding experiment to test the effects of pistachios added to a heart healthy moderate-fat diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The participants began the study by eating a typical American diet consisting of 35 percent total fat and 11 percent saturated fat for two weeks, according to a Penn State University statement.
They then tested three diets for four weeks each with about a two-week break between each diet. All three diets were variations on the Step-1 Diet, a cholesterol-lowering diet in general use.
The findings were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The diets included, as a control, a Step-1 Diet with no pistachios and about 25 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat. The pistachio enhanced diets were Step 1 Diets with 10 and 20 percent of the energy supplied by pistachio nuts, respectively.
The 10 percent pistachio diet had 30 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat and the 20 percent pistachio diet had 34 percent total fat and eight percent saturated fat. Participants ate half their pistachios as a snack and the rest incorporated into meals.
The researchers reported that 'inclusion of pistachios in a healthy diet beneficially affects cardiovascular disease risk factors in a dose-dependent manner, which may reflect effects on Stearoyl CoA Desaturase (SCD).'
'SCD is an important enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism,' said Gebauer.
Researchers also noted that reduction in LDL or bad cholesterol observed was seven times greater than would be expected from only the fatty acid profile of pistachios.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080927/938/thl-pistachio-nut-green-way-to-keep-your.html
Sat, Sep 27 11:30 AM
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Sunday, August 24, 2008
Useful positive websites
www.positivethinkingmag.com
www.successconsciousness.com/index_000009.htm
www.lifepositive.com/Mind/psychology/positive-thinking/positive-thinking.html www.lifepositive.com/Mind/psychology/positive-thinking/live-www.lifepositive.com
www.businessworld.in/index.php/B-School/Positive-Thinking.html
www.mindbodynsoul.com
www.affirmationsforpositivethinking.com
www.marin.cc.ca.us/~don/study/2positive.html
www.successconsciousness.com/index_000009.htm
www.lifepositive.com/Mind/psychology/positive-thinking/positive-thinking.html www.lifepositive.com/Mind/psychology/positive-thinking/live-www.lifepositive.com
www.businessworld.in/index.php/B-School/Positive-Thinking.html
www.mindbodynsoul.com
www.affirmationsforpositivethinking.com
www.marin.cc.ca.us/~don/study/2positive.html
Saturday, August 23, 2008
positive quotations
Every artist was first an amateur.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
First say to yourself what you would be;and then do what you have to do.
-Epictetus
Inspiration and genius--one and the same.
-Victor Hugo
To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says:"Leave no stone unturned."
-Edward Bulwer Lytton
Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration?
-George Eliot
If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.
-William Arthur Ward
If you would create something,you must be something.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
No great man ever complains of want of opportunities.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Men do less than they ought,unless they do all they can.
-Thomas Carlyle
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
-Leon J. Suenes
http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/inspirational-quotes-1.html
Friday, August 22, 2008
positive news
This blog is to help everyone getting exposure to only positive news and inspirational stories. We all know that while we open the pages of newspapers or blogs in the fresh morning, we get the news of violence, kidnapping, terrorism, and other negative vibes. But the only way to fight this is to fill your brain with positive, stronger, and inspirational news and stories as we can stop negative news to publish.
This is my humble, little effort to get positive thinking in the hearts and minds of all of us. Thanks.
This is my humble, little effort to get positive thinking in the hearts and minds of all of us. Thanks.
http://www.pugmarks.com/qsnaire/positive.htm
Are you the one to face problems chin up or do you get easily bogged down by failures? Find out:
1. You're on your honeymoon & the car gets a flat tyreYou are glad. It prolongs the fun!You are worried 'cause it might soon Start pouringYou feel the driver's to blame
2. Out of the three colours you would chooseBlueBrownGrey
3. When you fight with your best friendYou let things be for some time before calling her upYou feel it was her fault & she should make the first moveyou feel it's the end of the world
4. You spot your steady with a groovy numberYou put on your best smile & join the funGet insanely jealousConfront the two of them
5. No matter what you do the boss simply can't stand youYou ask him to either explain what he wants or shift you to another departmentYou invent occassions to send him giftsYou resign
6. You've studied hard for the scholarship. You don't get itYou take up a job to support your studiesYou blame the selection committee for being biasedYou give up the course
7. You are in line for promotion but somebody else gets itCool. Beside you didn't quite fancy moving up one floor just as things were warming up here!You plan to make life miserable for the other guyYou start a hate compaign against him
8. Your best friend steals your boyfriend/girlfriendYou heave a sigh of relief! You were beginning to get really guilty of two timing him/herYou have a slanging matchYou lose interest in life
9. Your pet dog hasn't been his usual exuberant selfYou decide it's time to get him a mateYou rush him to the vetYou decide he is suffering from a terrible disease
10. On your way to a party you get absolutely drenchedYou just proceed to do the same to ev'one at the party till it turns into more of a pool party!You ask the host to lend you some outfitYou are in no mood for a party. You return home
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Hello Friends,
Do action instead of more words... An important message , Indian government has introduced a new scheme of grievance form submission through online. which is attached below. Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://pgportal. gov.in/ Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA ? The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they face while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc. So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. This way we can raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ' System ' in India . Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.
-- Malay Shah
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THINK POSITIVE
By Ernest Vinaya Kumar If you want to live longer, be happy, healthy and successful, all you have to do is tell yourself that you can do it by tapping the healing forces within There is no greater joy than a healthy, positive life. You feel exhilarated, energetic, happy and on top of the world. A sense of total well being permeates your mind. The future looks bright. You feel good to be alive. Great, but how do we get out of our innumerable worries, tensions and fears that the increasingly competitive life burdens us with? Simple! Tell yourself that you are good, healthy and capable. That is the power of positive affirmations. Such affirmations are also called self-suggestions. It is a powerful tool for transforming your inner self into an amazing health generating, self-healing entity. You can record these affirmations on a tape synchronized with pleasant instrumental music and replay them often to make them more effective and permanent.
SELF-INDOCTRINATIONPsychology says that our mind controls our body. So, taking charge of your mind becomes a vital factor in keeping your body healthy. You can do this through affirmations that establish the power of your mind. Try: "With the power of positive thinking I now take charge of my body to maintain perfect health, strength and happiness unconditionally, now and always, so be it." When you repeat this, the misleading programs of your mind will be erased. It is said that we are never given a wish without the power to fulfill it. Each person is capable of programming his own mind to achieve what he desires. You can tap this capability by following a few simple steps. But before you begin, make yourself totally relaxed and be consciously willing to adopt the method.Attuning yourself with nature guarantees an overall healthy life. To modify this statement into an affirmation, say: "I attune myself with nature to stay healthy now and forever."You can have the right kind of food by affirming: "I can attract healthy food to keep myself fit, healthy and strong, everyday."You can develop the habit of exercising your body and mind by affirming: "I can easily get up early in the morning everyday to exercise and keep fit and cheerful."In case you are an insomniac, all you have to do is repeat: "I can relax into sound sleep now and wake up revitalized, alert, bright and cheerful early in the morning. It is done. So be it."Sometimes, social influences play their part in either inducing or encouraging negative thinking. This is the stage where most doctors give up the case as incurable. So, to find the right doctor, suggest mentally to yourself: "I will locate the right doctor who can cure me completely in a simple, easy and positive way, now and always."Your health problems can be dissolved by affirming: "I can now dissolve all my health problems, worries and fears easily, quickly and successfully in simple, easy and positive ways. So be it."
MAGNETIC RELAXATIONUnlike sleeping, magnetic relaxation requires you to be physically at rest but subconsciously alert. When your conscious mind is relaxed, the positive suggestions seep into your subconscious. To achieve maximum benefit from relaxation:
Sit in a comfortable chair or lie down on a bed.
Let go of all the tension by repeating to yourself: "I can now relax comfortably. I can now relax my body. I can now relax my mind. Easily, quickly and positively. Now I can enjoy the state of alert relaxation peacefully."
Let a feeling of soothing comfort take over.
Let go of yourself totally. Feel a universal healing energy surrounding you and getting absorbed into your body and mind.
Feel a cool breeze around your body. Visualize a white sparkling light pouring through your head down your body and seeping deep within you.
Think that soothing and healing forces are vibrating within and radiating from you.
Maintain a positive and peaceful state of mind during the session. Also, take precautions that you are not disturbed.
Mentally repeat to yourself: "Day by day in every way I'm getting better and better and better."This is a general formula that will heal you of all sickness. Emile Coue, a French doctor, recommended it for physical, mental and emotional well-being. It can be mentally repeated as many times as possible.
MAGNETIC ABSORPTIONThe subconscious has the knowledge, power, wisdom and understanding to heal and maintain perfect health. It is the interference of negative suggestions that causes ill health and weakness. So, whenever you feel that something is not right, use affirmations to get back on the right track. Here is a simple one that can be absorbed into your subconscious to keep your body fit: "Attuned with universal healing powers and the source of life, all my body organs are now becoming normal and fit, and they will function perfectly to maintain excellent health, strength and vitality up to a great age."
USING THE SUBCONSCIOUSThe subconscious mind is perfectly programmed with a survival package in the form of universal instincts that can be synchronized with conscious programs to live in harmony. Accepting your subconscious instincts relieves you of half of your health problems.The subconscious is always receptive to suggestions that transpire from your conscious mind. So keep your conscious mind filled with creative, positive, pleasant, peaceful and productive thoughts. When you repeat an affirmation in a relaxed state of mind, it works wonders. To retain these suggestions, repeat them often, till you feel confident that they have become a permanent habit.The subconscious mind is an all-powerful, omnipresent and omniscient gift. Peace will prevail in your life when these conditions are maintained. So, affirm often: "I most willingly accept healthy, happy and self-healing success programs of my subconscious mind consciously for total fitness, now and always."It is easy to program your subconscious to integrate your inner healing power into a self-healing force. All that you aspire for will come to pass. New friends, new relationships, new ideas, new thoughts and new plans can motivate you to become a powerful optimist. So affirm: "Today I am a new, dynamic, and optimistic futurist flooded with positive thoughts of successful self-healing."
VITAL LIFE ENERGYMagnetic energy plays a vital role in self-healing. The more energy you generate through eating, breathing and exercising, the longer you will live with health and happiness. It is said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of his mouth. When we speak to ourselves in positive terms, we tend towards self-healing. We can build up positive statements like:
I am healing myself positively.
Positive energy is keeping me healthy.
Healing myself and others is easy for me.
I have the positive habit of deep breathing.
Today I am feeling better than ever before.
Tomorrow I am going to be perfectly all right.
FEEL YOUNG, LIVE LONGERAge is an attitude of the mind. When you think youthful, you feel youthful. Energy can also be enhanced by being active, alert and awake most of the time.In my experimentation with autosuggestion, I feel that new frontiers can be explored in the process of evolution. Some of them are:
Assert firmly to reverse aging. Take it as a challenge.
Use the countdown method to feel young and energetic after 50. Subtract the number of years that you are over 50 from 50 and affirm that age constantly. For example, if you are 55, all that you have to do is to count downwards the years of your age by subtracting five from 50 and imagine that you are 45. Now build up positive magnetic statement like: "Today I am 45 years young."
The second phase is to regain the natural color and abundance of youthful hair on your head. But consistent practice coupled with firm determination is required on your part. You can begin the practice right now by affirming: "I am determined to regain all the hair on my head with its natural youthful color as soon as possible." Mentally repeat it 21 times just before you go to sleep at night.
SELF-HEALING IN SEVEN DAYSThe magnetic self-healing schedule that follows is an invincible method that can take you to the height of perfect health, strength and happiness. After practicing it for a period of seven days you will find that all your past health problems automatically disappear. The watchword here is consistency. All that you have to do is read the affirmations as soon as you get up in the morning and before going to sleep. It has cured me. It can do the same for you. Now read the following:
I'm relaxed, my body is relaxed.
My mind is relaxed, my emotions are relaxed.
I am now totally relaxed.
I am getting better, stronger and happier forever.
Now make yourself comfortable. Read the affirmation given below focusing your eyes in a half-closed manner as if you are reading it half asleep.Hold your breath comfortably and read each statement twice. Relax after reading it. Don't hurry. Don't worry. You will see the difference from the very first day. After you practice the magnetic affirmations for seven days, let go of it. You can always come back to the seven-day program whenever you feel the need. You can mentally repeat each affirmation for the whole day but remember to hold your breath while doing so. Now repeat:
My body and mind are clean and energetic. I love my body.
Today I am becoming strong, powerful, dynamic, happy-go-lucky and attractive.
Today I can choose to take total interest in regaining perfect health successfully.
Today I assert, affirm and relax with total freedom to heal myself with the power of thought.
Today I am on the way to recovery easily, quickly and successfully to become healthy, happy and free.
Today I have regained normalcy with the power of positive thought successfully.
Today health and energy are vibrating and radiating from me. Do it for seven days at a stretch and discover the new, optimistic you who can take anything in his stride. It only takes a little belief and a little determination to change your life.
Life Positive, August 1998
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Think Positive ++
Here is a list of Robin Sharma's favourite books and Movies:
Favorite Books
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
A Manual For Living - by Epictetus (Interpretation by Sharon Lebell)
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antonius
Hope for the Flowers - Trina Paulus
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin
The Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership - Joe Jaworsky
The Message of a Master - John McDonald
The Brand You 50 - Tom Peters
The Aladdin Factor - Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind - Jerry Lynch
The Power of Optimism - Alan Loy McGinnis
Take Your Time - Eknath Easwaran
The Go-Getter - Peter B. Kyne
The Art of Happiness - Howard Cutler
The Art of Worldy Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian
University of Success - Og Mandino
Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty - Harvey Mackay
Small Graces - Kent Nerburn
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
The Dark Side of The Light Chasers - Debbie Ford
The Magic of Believing - Claude Bristol
Walden - Henry David Thoreau
Favorite Movies
The Matrix
Million Dollar Baby
Braveheart
The Shawshank Redemption
Wall Street
Scarface
Scent of A Woman
Gladiator
Life is Beautiful
Dead Poet's Society
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