Category: Body, Mind and Spirit Insights

Recognizing and giving thanks for the positive aspects of life can result in improved mental, and ultimately physical, health in patients with asymptomatic heart failure.

“We found that more gratitude in these patients was associated with better mood, better sleep, less fatigue and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health,” said lead researcher, the professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego.

Gratitude is part of a wider outlook on life that involves noticing and appreciating the positive aspects of life. It can be attributed to an external source another person or God). It is also commonly an aspect of spirituality. Because previous research has shown that people who considered themselves more spiritual had greater overall well-being, including physical health, reseachers examined the role of both spirituality and gratitude on potential health markers in patients.

The study involved 186 men and women who had been diagnosed with asymptomatic (Stage B) heart failure for at least three months. Stage B consists of patients who have developed structural heart disease (e.g., have had a heart attack that damaged the heart) but do not show symptoms of heart failure (e.g., shortness of breath or fatigue). This stage is an important therapeutic window for halting disease progression and improving quality of life since Stage B patients are at high risk of progressing to symptomatic (Stage C) heart failure, where risk of death is five times higher.

Using standard psychological tests, the researchers obtained scores for gratitude and spiritual well-being. They then compared those scores with the patients’ scores for depressive symptom severity, sleep quality, fatigue, self-efficacy (belief in one’s ability to deal with a situation) and inflammatory markers. They found higher gratitude scores were associated with better mood, higher quality sleep, more self-efficacy and less inflammation. Inflammation can often worsen heart failure.

What surprised the researchers about the findings, though, was that gratitude fully or partially accounted for the beneficial effects of spiritual well-being.

“We found that spiritual well-being was associated with better mood and sleep, but it was the gratitude aspect of spirituality that accounted for those effects, not spirituality per se”.

To further test their findings, the researchers asked some of the patients to write down three things for which they were thankful most days of the week for eight weeks. Both groups continued to receive regular clinical care during that time.

“We found that those patients who kept gratitude journals for those eight weeks showed reductions in circulating levels of several important inflammatory biomarkers, as well as an increase in heart rate variability while they wrote. Improved heart rate variability is considered a measure of reduced cardiac risk”.

“It seems that a more grateful heart is indeed a more healthy heart, and it supports cardiac health.”

-Spirituality in Clinical Practice

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec’s comments on “More Thankful Equal Better Mental and Physical Health”:

What is gratitude? The dictionary definition is “a feeling of being grateful to someone because they have given you something or have done something for you”. From the original Latin it means “gratitudinem (nominative gratitudo) “thankfulness,” from Latin gratus “thankful”.

This research just confirms what has been known for thousands of years. It was a simple but so powerful verse from the Bible:

1 Thess 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. NIV

How can you give thanks when you have a disease, when your spouse wants to divorce you, when you lost your job, or cannot pay your bills? How can you give thanks when everything is going wrong in your life?

Because no matter what hits you in this life and not matter how bad it appears you must put everything in its eternal perspective. What will matter 100 years from this day to YOU? Only things of the heart, only things of the spirit, only things of God. God did not bring the disease, the relationship problem, the job situation or the financial situation but what He did bring is the ANSWER to all the problems and situations. He sent His one and only Son to make sure you could overcome all obstacles and have the power of His Spirit living in your to give you the wisdom, the love, the power to go forth and walk in victory and freedom no matter how much this world tries to steal from you, no matter how much this world tries to kill you and the desires He has put into your heart, no matter how much this world tries to destroy who you are which is the son or daughter of God.

Remember and never ever forget:

“What the world means for evil God will turn it around into victory and freedom”.

How does this happen? You must walk by faith, totally trusting what HE said is True and that Truth will manifest in your life if you meditate on it day and night. Who are you going to believe your circumstances or GOD? Your body or GOD? Your finances or God? When you realize that God cannot lie and His Word is the same yesterday, today and forever then you will start trusting what He says more and more and what the situations say less and less. This is the faith, the trust that produces action steps in you led by the Holy Spirit within you.

This all begins with thankfulness. Thank God that He sent His Son Jesus to set you free from all the power of the lie and that He placed in your heart the Spirit of Truth. You will know the Truth (in each and every area of your life) and the Truth will set you free.

This world cannot defeat you if you live from a thankful heart to your Father in Heaven for sending His Son Jesus to set you free from all obstacles that could ever come against you and by constantly listening to the voice of Truth as the Holy Spirit guides you in your life journey.  Many of our patients have realized this Truth with our teaching on knowing who you are in Christ. The audio series is called “sally & george- Going Deeper”

Don’t forget to thank people in your life who help you and do things for you. This is the natural expression of a thankful heart to thank others for the good they do for you no matter how small it may appear. It acknowledges that they gave to you from their heart and this thankfulness empowers both their heart and yours.

New research shows that babies not only pick up on their mother’s stress, they also show corresponding physiological changes.

“Our research shows that infants ‘catch’ and embody the physiological residue of their mother’s stress,” says lead researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

“For many years now, social scientists have been interested in how emotions are transmitted from one person to another,” says senior author the Associate Professor of Emotion at UCSF. Indeed, research in the social sciences has shown that emotions can be “contagious” and that there is emotional synchrony between romantic partners.

Researchers wanted to extend this research by looking at emotional synchrony in the context of another close relationship: that between mother and child.

The earliest lessons about how to manage stress and strong negative emotions in our day-to-day lives occurs in the parent-child relationship.

The researchers recruited 69 mothers and their 12- to 14-month-old infants to participate in the study. Researchers attached cardiovascular sensors to both mother and infant and took baseline recordings from each. After settling in, mother and infant were separated and the mother was assigned to give a 5-minute speech to two evaluators, followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. Some mothers received positive signals from the evaluators, including nodding, smiling, and leaning forward. Others received negative feedback, such as frowning, shaking their heads, and crossing their arms. A third group of mothers did not receive any feedback. Mother and infant were later reunited.

As predicted, mothers who received negative feedback reported greater decreases in positive emotion and greater increases in negative emotion than did mothers in the other two conditions. They also showed signs of increased cardiac stress. And the infants quickly picked up on this stress response: Infants whose mothers received negative feedback showed significant increases in heart rate relative to baseline within minutes of being reunited with their mothers.

Importantly, the infant’s response tracked the mother’s response — that is, greater the mother’s stress response, the greater the infant’s stress response, an association that actually became stronger over time. Ultimately, these findings shed light on how health and well-being can have long-term consequences, transferring across generations.

– Psychological Science

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec comments on Stress is Contagious:

Stress is a negative energy that can be transmitted just being in another person’s presence. In this research they saw the connections in romantic partners and in mother/child relationships but it can be extended to any group.

The word is called “entrainment.”  What this means is if you put two people together in the same environment the negative person will negatively entrain the neutral person down to their level of thinking and emotions. This is why you do not participate in any group, social meeting, club or any organization that focuses on ANYTHING NEGATIVE. Whether they are negative about themselves or they are talking negative about others.

We are supposed to be speaking words of Life not death over each other. That is how the world will change. If you go into a group and they are negatively speaking or gossiping, you must stand up for Truth and speak words of Truth and Life or else their negative energy filled words, mindsets and emotions will entrain into you just the same as catching a cold. This study showed that these emotions are contagious meaning you can catch them just being in the presence of these negative people.

So how to you protect yourself?  You have two choices:

1.   Be the Light and Truth and the Life of the world, of the group, of the people. This means you do not let negative talk or emotions enter you by speaking the words of Life and Love over the group or persons. Remember if you do not speak out then you are in agreement with what is being spoken.

2.   Stay away from negative people, groups and stay out of the world system accept when you have to be there and when you do, be prepared to stand up for Truth and do not passively accept negative energy, words or emotions.

We cover these concepts in the following teachings:

1.   Sally & George

2.   How to Know You Are Healed

You can be in the world but NEVER EVER of the world. If you are of the world then you will “catch” everything the world has. You were created for so much more than that. It is time to rise up and be who you ARE!

People feel good when they make a charitable donation, but they feel even better if they make the donation directly to someone they know or in a way that builds social connection. Research investigates for the first time how social connection helps turn generous behavior into positive feelings on the part of the donor.

Researchers at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Harvard Business School, Massachusetts, USA, wanted to examine the emotional benefits of giving to charity. They carried out three studies of charitable donations, and found that spending money on others or giving money to charity leads to the greatest happiness boost when giving builds a social connection. The conclusion is that donors feel happiest if they give to a charity via a friend, relative or social connection rather than simply making an anonymous donation to a worthy cause.

-International Journal of Happiness and Development, ScienceDaily

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec comments on “It is Better to Give than Receive”

We were designed by God to give. It is in the core of our being. We will always feel better, be healthier and live longer when we give. This all starts from the source and that is giving thanks to God our Father for all that He has done for us and for the very breath we breathe because of Him.

If you want to make a bad situation better just give a gift. This gift can be a kind word, a nice gesture, helping someone in need, or simple giving a smile and saying hello. What would the world be like if everyone came to give instead of get. This truly would be His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

So remember Thanksgiving is not about food it is about FAMILY and most importantly God’s Family which you are a member of. How blessed are we to be a part of the Family of God. It doesn’t get better than this. So go out and let the world know what kind of Family you come from

We cover this shift in thinking in the Sally & George Going Deeper audio series.

When you are filled up and overflowing it is so natural to give to those around you.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects those cells within the brain that are responsible for producing dopamine, a chemical necessary for the transmission of neural information to and from the motor centers of the brain and body. When these cells become damaged, or stop producing dopamine, people begin to experience a loss of muscle control. Symptoms of Parkinson’s typically begin to reveal themselves in people over the age of 50, however incidences of early onset Parkinson’s do seem to be on the rise. There is currently no known cure for Parkinson’s, and while research into the disease continues, conventional medicine can only hope to alleviate the most severe symptoms in patients diagnosed with the disease. For many Parkinson’s patients these treatments include a regimen of prescription medications that are often accompanied by unwanted side effects, and inevitable drug dependency. In extreme case, some Parkinson’s patients will be subjected to invasive surgeries in an attempt to alleviate their symptoms. Consequently, many people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are searching for alternative, all natural, treatments for their condition.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

The underlying causes of Parkinson’s remain unclear, although recent research seems to indicate a link between environmental toxins, such as pesticides and insecticides, with increasing incidences of the disease. The most common symptoms of the disease are tremors in the hands, arms, legs and face, as well as muscle rigidity, difficulty swallowing, impaired speech and difficulty walking and maintaining balance. The debilitating nature of Parkinson’s can also lead to depression, trouble sleeping and sudden emotional changes.

Lifestyle Changes for Parkinson’s Patients

While there is no cure for Parkinson’s, people suffering with the disease can take steps to strengthen their body and alleviate the chronic symptoms. One of the first, and most important, steps is to adopt a healthy diet. Much of the toxins people encounter on a regular basis are found in the highly processed foods they eat. By transitioning to a wholly vegetarian diet, with an emphasis on organically grown fruits and vegetables that have not been exposed to harmful chemical pesticides, Parkinson’s patients can help to strengthen their immune systems while giving their body the energy it needs to repair and replace damaged cells. While it has long been believed that brain cells cannot be replaced when they die, new research is showing that this is not true. But for the brain to repair or replenish damaged cells it requires good nutrition.

Regular exercise is also a vital component of treating Parkinson’s symptoms. Understandably, exercise can be difficult for some Parkinson’s patients, but even a light routine can help to strengthen the muscles and increase the body’s store of energy. Exercise as physical therapy helps people with Parkinson’s to more effectively deal with the loss of muscle control associated with the disease.

Nutritional Supplements for Parkinson’s

Two nutritional supplements have been shown to be of value to people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10 for short, is a naturally occurring compound that is responsible for producing the energy needed to repair and maintain the cells of the human body. It also helps to neutralize dangerous toxins within the body before they can harm healthy cells. CoQ10 is found in a number foods but can also be taken as a CoQ10 oral supplement.

Parkinson’s patients should also consider adding Omega-3 to their nutritional plan. Omega-3 fatty acids are vital to the overall health of the brain, as well as the heart and cardiovascular system. Recent studies have shown that Omega-3 helps to protect damaged cells in the brain, and in some cases helps to revive them. These studies also indicated that Omega-3s have the potential to counteract a wayward protein that is caused by a gene mutation common to Parkinson’s patients.

Faith and Parkinson’s

People diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease face many challenges, both physically and spiritually. Because of the debilitating nature of the disease it easy to forget what one’s purpose is. But by meditating on the spoken and written word of God, and learning to listen to His voice spoken into one’s heart, Parkinson’s patients can achieve calm in the midst of the storm that will help them cope with the often painful symptoms of their disease. Through prayer and fasting from the standard American diet and lifestyle those suffering with Parkinson’s will empowered by the Spirit to fight both the symptoms of their disease, and the disease itself.

According to Stanford University School of Medicine researchers, a good night’s sleep may even help fight cancer. The quality and quantity of a person’s sleep can have a tremendous affect on the balance of hormones in the body. That fact makes the sleep/wake cycle (circadian rhythm) a prime candidate for linking cancer prognosis to a person’s quality and quantity of sleep.

The circadian rhythm involves the hormones melatonin and cortisol. Melatonin is produced by the brain during sleep. It is a strong  antioxidant. Antioxidants remove damaging free-radical compounds. People with an altered circadian rhythm produce less melatonin. That means that their cells are less protected by the strong antioxidant affects of melatonin and more prone to cancer-causing mutations. Melatonin has also been shown to slow estrogen production. In many forms of breast and ovarian cancer, estrogen causes cancer cells to continue to reproduce. Workers on night shifts produce less melatonin and are therefore more prone to cancer. The second possible link involves the hormone cortisol. It normally reaches peak levels at dawn and declines through the day.

Cortisol  helps regulate immune system activity. This includes the activity of natural killer cells that help the body fight cancer. Research has found that women with breast cancer whose normal cortisol cycle was disrupted — their peak levels occurred in the afternoon instead of at dawn — died earlier from their cancer. The women with the disrupted cortisol cycle tended to sleep poorly, to have lost a spouse, and to have cancer-fighting ability of their immune system suppressed. -Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec comments on Good Night Sleep Can Prevent Cancer:

To have a healthy immune system to fight off or prevent cancer, bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infections you must get a good nights sleep.  The two hormones involved in the immune system and sleep are melatonin and cortisol.  Melatonin (only in the natural state and not in supplement form) is a powerful antioxidant consuming free radicals in the body that can cause cancer.  Cortisol is closely linked to killer cell activity which are the white blood cells that kill cancer cells.

To get these two hormones in the proper health maintaining range one needs to get to bed by 8:30 p.m. and wake up by 6:00 a.m.  This is 9.5 hours of sleep which is ideal for health and healing of a human being.  The best way to shift your sleep pattern to going to bed earlier is to start getting up earlier.  The earlier you get up in the morning the more tired you will be at 8:00 p.m. and will get to bed.  Remember this isn’t an all or none situation.  If you are used to going to bed at 11:30 p.m for each half hour you get to bed earlier your immune system is boosted proportionately.  Get up early and have your prayer time, exercise time, quiet time in the morning–early.

Also, remember night time is flesh- feeding time and spent on waste of time activities like watching television.  Get to bed early, get up early and be prepared for your day. Learn more about the importance of sleep in the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™

More than 23 million people in the United States suffer from migraines. 2 to 3 million of those Americans are chronic sufferers, experiencing a minimum of one severe migraine per month. Only a migraine sufferer can truly understand just how debilitating an attack can be. Migraines can seriously disrupt a person’s professional and social life, causing them to miss days at work or at school and forcing them to seriously restrict their day to day activities.

The conventional treatment for migraines is typically a combination of over the counter and prescription pain relievers. While these medications can offer some relief, they do not address the underlying causes of chronic migraines. They also come with a wide range of unwanted, and often dangerous, side effects. Migraine sufferers are increasingly looking for all natural ways to treat and prevent their chronic attacks. Fortunately, there are some measures that migraine sufferers can take to reduce the frequency and severity of their attacks, while eliminating the need for prescription drugs.

Common Symptoms of Migraines

Migraines affect every individual differently, and the severity of attacks can range from mild to intense. The most common migraine symptoms include:

• Throbbing pain, often localized to one side of the head
• Heightened sensitivity to light and sound
• Blurred or distorted vision
• Nausea and vomiting

For many migraine sufferers, any combination of these symptoms can require them to retire to their beds in a darkened and silent room, waiting for the pain and discomfort to subside. The intense pain can last for hours, or even days. In extreme circumstances, some migraine sufferers may require hospitalization.

Diet, Nutrition and Migraine Attacks

Certain foods are recognized as triggers for migraine attacks. Chocolate, citrus fruits, red wine and aged cheeses are a few of the most common culprits, but food triggers can vary widely among migraine sufferers. Keeping a food journal can help people with chronic migraines to identify those foods that act as triggers for their own attacks, so they can be restricted or eliminated from their diets. Over the course of keeping the journal, it will be easy to spot the correlation between certain foods and any subsequent migraines.

Some general dietary changes can help reduce the occurrence of migraines. Transitioning to a vegan diet has been shown to effectively reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks in chronic sufferers. Recent studies have also shown that increasing the intake of vegetables that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, such as flax seeds, hemp seeds, spinach, kale, and broccoli can also have a profound effect on the occurrence of chronic migraines. For those people who find that they cannot get the required daily allowance of Omega-3 from their diet alone, nutritional supplements can be taken to offset any deficiency.

Stress Management and Migraine Headaches

Stress and anxiety are key triggers for migraines. Conventional medicine tends to treat these with anti-depressants or other mood altering drugs. Understandably, most migraine sufferers would prefer to avoid taking these often dangerous medications. Fortunately, there are some stress management techniques which can be adopted to help reduce stress and anxiety naturally. Deep breathing exercises can help promote an overall sense of wellbeing, and can reduce the effects of daily stress. Progressive muscle relaxation, in which the patient systematically tenses and relaxes specific muscle groups within the body, has also been shown to help relieve anxiety and stress. A routine of regular exercise is also a powerful tool in managing stress and anxiety. Regular exercise also helps to maintain a healthy body weight, which has been shown to have a direct impact on the frequency and severity of migraine headaches.

Meditation and Prayer

Prayer and meditation can have a profound effect on every aspect of the mind body connection, reducing stress and helping to manage pain. Setting aside an hour a day to meditate on God’s Word and practicing listening to the Spirit of God speak truth to the heart, will help migraine sufferers to reduce the anxiety and stress that can trigger a headache, as well as help them better manage their pain during an attack. The Lord has designed the body with an innate body/mind connection, and spirituality plays a key role in maintaining total health. Keeping the spirit, mind and physical body balanced and operating at peak efficiency is vital for total health.

For those that suffer with migraine headaches the thought of an endless regimen sometimes harmful, prescription medicines is unacceptable. But by making some simple dietary changes, and employing certain stress management techniques, migraine sufferers can significantly reduce both the frequency and the severity of their attacks.

Sun exposure has a protective effect against the development Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), a blood cancer, Australian researchers report.

Dr. Anne Kricker, of the University of Sydney, and colleagues investigated the possibility that high sun exposure is associated with an increased risk of NHL – but they found the opposite — according the results of a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

The study involved adults between the ages of 20 and 74 years. In total, 704 cases of NHL and 694 randomly selected matched controls were enrolled.

The risk of NHL decreased with increasing hours of sun exposure. With the highest exposure, the odds of having NHL decreased by 35 percent compared with the lowest exposure level.

One effect of sunlight is to stimulate the body’s production of vitamin D. The researchers say that “increasing evidence that vitamin D may protect against cancer makes ultraviolet-mediated synthesis of vitamin D a plausible mechanism whereby sun exposure might protect against NHL.”
-International Journal of Cancer

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec comments on Getting the Right Balance of Sun Exposure:

Light is critical for health and healing.  Your immune system is intimately connected to the Light-Dark cycle.  This means when the sun is up, you need to be in it a minimum of 30 minutes a day.  When the sun is down, you need to sleep in total darkness with 8- 9.5 hours of deep, dark sleep.  This 8-9.5 needs to be divided into 3.5 or more  hours before midnight.  These two factors combined can triple your immune system defense to fight off bacteria, viruses, parasites, candida and cancer cell proliferation.
Lack of sunlight can also produce mental, emotional imbalances leading to more depression, anxiety and more emotional food cravings.  For those who cannot get outside everyday of the year, some options are:

1. Get 15 minutes of exposure through a (portable full-spectrum light therapy).
2. Get one hour of sun exposure per day in direct sun.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
NIV

Let us start with what love is NOT.  Love is not an emotion.  Love is not a feeling or sensation. The English language has only one word “love” whereas the Greeks used 5 different word for the meaning of love.

1. philia = friendship type of love
2. eros = desire, sensual and romantic love
3. storge = family love
4. koinonia = community love
5. Agape = unconditional love  

Philia refers to the love between friends. It involves commitment and support, a willingness to help, a tighter bond than just acquaintances.    

Eros is commonly used to refer to love that includes sensuality, sexuality and romance. It is self and significant other focused.

Storge refers to brotherly or sisterly love, parental love, family loyalty, bonds that are stronger than friendship, that cross generations and create unity within a group.

Agape is unconditional love.  This is the only true definition of love.

Agape is God’s love.  Agape is God.  Agape means covenant.  All the rest of the definitions of love are nothing more than feeling, emotions and are a product of the mind.  These are not love, because only God is love.

What is love? Love is God, God is love.  Love has been in us from the beginning, we were born from love.  We were created in God’s image.  God does not have love, God is love.  When we were born in the Garden of Eden, God gave man power and this power was his choice.  He could choose to live from the tree of life (from his heart) or he could choose to live from the tree of knowledge (from his mind).  Man chose to live from the tree of knowledge and that choice produced the world system that runs man’s life today.  But each and every moment of our life we do have a choice to live from the mind or from the heart.

The world system is a product of the tree of knowledge.  Many people cannot see the truth because they are run and ruled by

1. World system
2. Ego
3. Flesh
4. Personality
5. False belief systems
6. Religion
7.  5 senses bound thinking
8. Time past, time future bound thinking
9. Physical Bound Thinking

People live in a world system that cannot know love.  The false love that comes from the tree of knowledge is the old emotion that says ” I love you today”  but then when tomorrow come it says ” I don’t love you anymore”

Love is a spiritual state of being.  Love is an action.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. NIV

Love is a choice, and you will know you made the right choice because you are willing to die for that choice. By that choice you have now entered the covenant.

When you are willing to die for what God puts into your heart, now you have entered into the covenant.

God wants to be in covenant with us.  He brought His Son to bring us back to the tree of life, to show us the way home.  We have the same choice we had in the beginning; choose life or death.  When we choose to enter into the tree of life we enter into eternal life, we enter into covenant with God.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil produced fruit which was the old nature (old mind, old will and old emotions).  That old nature is still trying to run our mind, emotions and body.  We are not what our old mind tells us we are.   Our heart continues to lead us as long as we are willing to die to everything of the old mind/old will of the tree of knowledge.

To understand love you must understand covenant.

The following is an excerpt from  How to Know You Are Healed CD series   

Marriage keeps you healthy, married people are less likely to smoke, drink heavily or be physically inactive, the report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows.

They are less likely than singles, divorcees or widowed adults to be in fair or poor health, and are less likely to suffer from headaches or serious psychological distress.

“For the smoking rates between married and unmarried people, the differences were quite remarkable,” the report demonstrated.

“One in five married adults were current smokers compared to four in 10 of those living with a partner. Married people are about half as likely to be current smokers as those who are divorced or living with a partner.”

The report from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was based on interviews with 127,545 adults aged 18 and over.

It finds that 58.2 percent of adults are married, 10.4 percent are separated or divorced, 6.6 percent are widowed, 19 percent never married and 5.7 percent are living with a partner.

People living together but not married are more likely to have health problems than married adults, the survey found, and the findings hold firmest for the youngest adults.
–National Center for Health Statistics shows

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec comments on Marriage
What is marriage? It is a covenant relationship meaning each will give all they have—their time, their energy, their resources, even their life to help their covenant partner.This is total commitment, a commitment that does not see other options. This is why married people are healthier than people who live together, who are single, divorced or widowed.

Why would people who live together not have the same health benefits as those that are married? Because they have not truly covenanted to each other, they have not committed everything they have for the other, they are not willing to lay down their life for the other.  This is why their health showed to be worst than those who have married, than those who have entered covenant with each other.

Addison’s disease is a disorder of the endocrine system. Also known as hypocorticism, Addison’s is a chronic condition in which the adrenal glands fail to produce the necessary levels of cortisol and aldosterone, two hormones which are vital to the total health of the body. These hormones are instrumental in the proper regulation of blood pressure and insulin production, and help to control the body’s metabolism. Cortisol and aldosterone are also crucial to maintaining the healthy functioning of the heart and the kidneys. While Addison’s is relatively rare, it can present at any age, and affects men and women in equal proportion.

Symptoms of Addison’s Disease

Addison’s disease can be difficult to diagnose, as symptoms tend to present only when the patient is under extreme physical or emotional stress. The most common symptoms of Addison include:

• chronic fatigue
• muscle weakness
• dizziness
• nausea
• diarrhea
• loss of appetite
• weight loss
• dehydration
• dark skin blemishes

Left untreated, Addison’s can lead to sudden drops in blood pressure, kidney failure and shock. Conventional treatments for Addison’s consist of a steady regimen of drug therapies and synthetic hormone supplements. While these treatments can compensate for the output of the compromised adrenal glands, they leave patients dependent upon chemical therapies that are toxic to the body. Increasingly, Addison’s patients are turning to natural therapies to control their symptoms. These natural treatments help patients to manage their Addison’s symptoms without bombarding their bodies with often toxic drugs and chemicals.

Herbal Treatments for Addison’s

Herbal remedies can offer relief from the symptoms of Addison’s, and can help the body prepare for, and guard against, further symptomatic flare-ups. Naturopathic healers use herbal supplements that possess adaptogenic properties to treat patient’s with Addison’s disease. Adapotgens, found in many natural foods and herbs, improve the body’s overall ability to cope with physiological stress. Stress is a key component in the occurrence of Addison’s symptoms. Through the use of these adaptogenic herbs, clinicians can help their patients improve their ability to handle physical stress, thereby reducing the occurrence, and severity, of Addison’s symptoms. The most common herbs used to help with Addison’s include green tea extract, milk thistle, echinacea, Siberian ginseng and astragalus.

One of the most positive herbal additions for Addison’s involves the use of ashwagandha as a regular nutritional supplement. The extract from the roots of the ashwagandha plant helps to stimulate the nervous system, strengthening the body’s natural ability to cope with physiological stress. Ashwagandha also helps to address the low levels of cortisol production on Addison’s patients, and offers a natural way to increase cortisol levels without resorting to synthetic hormones or drug dependent therapies.

Exercise and Addison’s

Exercise can be difficult for some Addison’s patients. The chronic fatigue and muscle weakness associated with the disorder can make regular exercise seem impossible. But regular exercise can not only increase the body’s core strength, it trains the body to better handle those physiological stresses that can set of Addison’s symptoms. Cardiovascular exercises, such as rebounding, jogging, swimming and aerobic exercise offer the best support for Addison’s sufferers. These exercises are low impact, easy to perform, and can be eased into and developed as the patient builds up their strength and stamina.

Stress Management

As physiological stress is such a major component in the occurrence of Addison’s symptoms, it is important for patients to learn to manage both their physical and emotional stress levels.  Emotional stress and anxiety is a key trigger for physiological stresses that adversely affect the body. Nearly everyone can point to a case of the flu or common cold that was preceded by a period of anxiety or depression. If these emotions can lower our body’s ability to naturally stave off common maladies, they can definitely hinder the body’s ability to cope with more complex health issues.

Addison’s patients who have learned to manage their stress levels through controlled breathing techniques, and through the meditation on the word of God, have found that their symptoms become less severe. Indeed, through regular prayer and meditation on the word, Addison’s sufferers can relieve both the mental and physiological stresses which inhibit the body’s natural healing energy. Prayer, devotion, and meditation God’s word frees the natural energy of the body to cope with the physiological stresses that can trigger the symptoms of Addison’s disease.

A diagnosis of Addison’s disease can be life altering, and left untreated can lead to serious health conditions. But, with the help of natural approaches to restore one’s health, and a devotion to the word of God, patients can learn to manage their symptoms and experience the healing energy within themselves.

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Dreams act as a therapy

What are dreams?

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Multiple Sclerosis is an often frustrating, painful and debilitating disease. Patients struggling with the symptoms of MS face many challenges, not the least of which is the mystery of when, and how severe, the next attack will be. Conventional medicine seeks to manage MS symptoms with a regimen of often strong prescription drugs. These drug regimens are often accompanied by unwanted side effects that leave MS patients with a further set of health problems to overcome. But there are natural treatments MS patients can employ to help manage their recurring symptoms, and bring themselves some much sought after relief.

Causes and Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a progressive disease of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. MS causes a scarring of the myelin sheaths that encase the body’s nerves. This scarring leads to a disruption in signals from the brain to the rest of the body. The effects of MS can range from mild to increasingly debilitating. Multiple sclerosis is a mysterious disease, and symptoms can occur seemingly without reason.

While scientists have yet to determine the primary cause of MS, certain factors do appear to be linked to occurrences of the disease. Viral infections, exposure to environmental toxins, mental stress and immune system imbalances all appear to play a part in the development of multiple sclerosis in otherwise healthy individuals. Common symptoms of MS include fatigue, loss of muscle strength, loss of visual acuity, and recurring pain, tingling or burning in the extremities. In some cases MS can cause memory lapses, depression and bladder and bowel dysfunction.

Diet and Multiple Sclerosis

Recent research has shown a link between diet and the recurrence of symptoms in MS sufferers. Patients who kept a food journal were able to find a correlation between their dietary habits and their recurring MS symptoms. In some cases the symptoms were being triggered by previously undiagnosed food allergies, while in most it would appear that poor nutrition choices were a major cause of recurring flare-ups.

The whole body approach to managing the symptoms of MS begins with good nutrition. Those individuals suffering with multiple sclerosis should begin transitioning to a diet that relies less on animal proteins, and more on organic fruits and vegetables. MS sufferers should eliminate their intake of red meats, highly processed grains and sugars, butter, milk, eggs and cheese. Foods high in essential Omega-3 fatty acids, such as walnuts, hemp and flax seed, should be added to the diet. Omega-3 fatty acids are vital to maintaining a strong immune system, and also help to protect and strengthen the heart and cardiovascular system.

Certain vitamin supplements can be added to the diet to help support the body’s nerve function. Vitamin B-12, vitamin D and selenium all have a positive effect on the body’s nervous system, and individuals with MS often have a deficiency in these vital nutritional building blocks. Optimally, these nutrients should be acquired through diet. Multiple sclerosis patients should work with their doctor to determine what supplements may be needed to offset any vitamin deficiencies in their normal diet.

Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis

Regular exercise is especially important to individuals suffering with multiple sclerosis. MS tends to weaken the muscles of the body, and regular exercise will help patients maintain their core strength. A routine of sensible exercise also helps patients control their weight, boost their natural energy and relieve stress. Individuals with severe MS symptoms may find it difficult to exercise regularly, but even a light stretching routine, or a daily walk, can have a positive effect. As the patient’s strength and energy increases, further exercises can be added to their daily health regimen.

The Mental and Spiritual Connection

Multiple sclerosis sufferers often find themselves prone to mood swings, anxiety and depression. These can be the most difficult aspects of the disease to manage successfully. But mental and spiritual wellbeing promotes physical health. Through meditation on God’s Word and learning to listen to the voice of His Spirit, MS patients can find the direction that He is leading them to address this health challenge. Through this stillness, mental and spiritual balance can be achieved, and the Word of God will resound clearly in the soul. By tending to the spirit, MS sufferers will be able to cast off their anxieties and depression, and learn to live fully in the moment. Ultimately, the strength of the spirit and the mind will reinforce the healing of the body, and bring healing relief from the recurring symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

This life we live is a journey—the journey of life. One of the most important aspects of this journey of life is to BE PREPARED. What does this mean? It means do everything that has been shown to you (revealed to your heart) to be ready for what could happen along the path.

This journey sometimes is an upward climb, even a mountain climb, as we overcome the obstacles put into our paths. Each journey in life is unique to that person. No two people have the same journey. If two people have the same diagnosis of cancer does this mean that they have the same path, the same journey? Absolutely not! They might have the same effect (the cancer) but entirely different causes. One might be a product of stored emotional toxins of fear, while another might be because of physical toxin exposure of repeated smoking. No two journeys are alike but in each there are obstacles to overcome in order to live a victorious life—a life to the full. So, how can you possibly prepare for the unknown journey of life?

This preparation is three fold.

• Prepare your body
• Prepare you mind
• Prepare your heart

To prepare your body is to learn how to maintain it. This is similar to having a new car and reading in the owner’s manual the maintenance schedule. If you maintain the vehicle properly, you will have years of trouble free performance. What is your physical maintenance schedule?

The Seven Basic Steps to Total Health

1. Air
2. Water
3. Food
4. Sleep/Light
5. Exercise
6. Fasting
7. Prayer

1. Air-you must deep diaphragm breathing to oxygenate your body.
2. Water-you must drink 32 ounces of purified water per 50/lbs per body weight per day.
3. Food-you consume a diet of living/raw plant food which has the highest energy, bioelectricity, enzymes and bioavailable nutrient content to either maintain or restore your health.
4. Sleep-you must sleep 8-9.5 hours with 3.5 of them before midnight.
5. Exercise-you must exercise 30 minutes every day.
6. Fasting-you must fast from the normal Standard American Diet (SAD).
7. Prayer-you must take the time throughout your day to regularly still your mind so you can hear the voice of God spoken into your heart.

How do you prepare your mind for the journey of life? Is it by trying to learn about everything, about studying, acquiring knowledge about the millions of facets of life? Well, it could be but if that were the answer then the most successful sojourners in life would be the smartest, and this is definitely not the case. So, how do you prepare your mind? There are 3 ways that are critical to the journey of life.

Prepare your mind by:

• Programming it with Truth
• Letting go of the lies
• Get to know the One who has the answers to every question

To reprogram your mind with Truth is simply to see everything in your life as God sees it. Know that God is in everything, and everything is designed to strengthen you in your journey so that you become complete, mature, not lacking anything, also know that God is faithful; He will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear. But when you are tested, He will also provide a way out (up) so that you can stand up under it. The way out is the way up to the top of the mountain. When you reach the top of the mountain of your health or life challenge that is where you find victory and freedom.

To let go of lies is simply to let go of the old stored programs. You know what they are. The lies that say:

“you’re not good enough,”

“not smart enough,”

“not beautiful enough,”

“not talented enough,” and

“not loveable enough.”

The lie always judges and condemns you. You do have a freewill choice in everything that comes into your life. The choice is to either hold onto or to let go of lies. You can and will make the right choice when you let go of the old lie-filled mind which condemns you and tells you all that you are not, (and also that causes you to condemn and judge others); and grab onto the new Truth-filled mind filled with the thoughts that lift you up and tell you all that you ARE!

In this life journey, the most important person to know is the One who knows all things, the One who has all the answers to all the questions. The more time you spend with your travel guide (the Spirit of God), the more you come to know Him and His language which is a soft, quiet voice spoken like the drops on a still pond. Once you know your travel guide well, once you can listen to and understand His language, your journey becomes a truly beautiful experience. At every turn with every obstacle, He directs you, guides you, leads you and empowers you. This is true life—and without this, there is no life.

The last area to prepare for the journey is your heart. This is the most powerful and crucial preparation of all. To prepare your heart is to remove all the blockages of the heart which are the stronghold of the old mind. The old thoughts are the lies of our past that keep us in bondage at the present and prevent us from preparing and listening to our hearts. Always remember the mind is like a raging ocean of thoughts whereas the heart is like a quiet pond. To hear the voice of your travel guide (the Spirit of God) you must still the raging ocean of thoughts. Be still and know that I AM God.

Two of the most powerful steps in preparing your heart is to stop condemning and judging both yourself and others. The pure heart has been coated with layers of thoughts and attitudes of the lying old mind. One of the first steps in removing these layers is to stop pointing your finger at yourself and at others. Once you can break free from this and you begin to accept yourself and others for who you/they are, you have taken a quantum leap into preparing your heart.

When it comes to preparing your heart all you have to do is defeat the strongholds of the mind, which are:

• World
• Religion
• False Beliefs
• Personality
• Ego
• Flesh
• 5 Senses
• Time
• Physicality

Once you have put to death the old mind in these nine areas, your heart is prepared to receive the Truth each and every moment. Remember, you prepare each moment by:

• Stilling the conscious thinking, racing mind.
• Reprogramming/renewing the conscious thinking mind with nothing but Truth.
• Killing or putting to death the old lie-filled mind.
• Operating in the mind of God.

When you follow your heart and listen to God’s voice spoken into your prepared heart, you “know all things.” God will tell you everything you need to know about the journey if you just prepare your body, mind and heart. If you only think on what God has placed in your heart, not what the world system has put in your mind, you are prepared for the awesome journey called life.

Be prepared for each moment by taking care of your:

BODY with the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health

MIND by stilling, reprogramming and putting to death the old and by listening to our heart and “knowing all things.”

HEART by progressively having the victory over (putting to death) the blockages of the heart which are like strongholds of the old mind, and, always by spending all your time with your travel guide (the Spirit of God) so you will know all things and this knowing all things is knowing the Truth that will set you free each and every moment of the journey.

Practical Steps to Take

How to prepare my body with the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health?

Get up early and go to bed early. Sleep research has shown that a person that goes to bed before 9 p.m. and wakes up no later than 6 a.m. has the strongest immune system, the most balanced hormonal system, energy, strength and vitality.

The other reason you should go to bed early is because night time is flesh time. When do you usually eat wrong foods, watch TV, and feed the flesh? It is after 8 p.m. You do not usually think about eating and watching TV at 6 a.m. in the morning.

The morning is a powerful time to commune with God, to still your conscious, thinking mind, to reprogram your conscious mind, to take care of your body with proper living/raw plant food and exercise.

So get to bed early, wake up early and be prepared in body, mind and heart/spirit for your day. When you do, you will never have another bad day in your life. Why, because you are so built up, filled up that you can just ride the wave of that energy throughout the whole day. It is an awesome thing to always have a great day. So be prepared, be ready and have an awesome journey of life.

What does it take to move you? This is the big question. In life you are constantly confronted with situations that need decisions of action steps. What does it take to get you to take the proper action steps?

Let us explain with a few examples.

Example 1: If you are trying to change your diet to a living/raw plant diet from the Standard American Diet (SAD) but keep making excuses and even when you try, you fall back within a couple of days. Now you get a diagnosis of cancer and you amazingly switch over to the living/raw plant diet with no hesitation and do it without fail. What was the different? Motivation

Example 2: If I told you to walk across a piece of wood one foot wide and 50 feet long that stretched between two buildings 100 stories tall, your response would be “no way”. Now, if I told you to walk across the building 100 feet tall and I would give you a million dollars, your response might still be “no way” or “maybe” or even “I will do it”. The last situation is that I told you to walk across the buildings on the one foot wide board because your wife and children are in the next building and it’s on fire, and the only way of escape is by this one foot wide board to the building you are in. Your answer would then be absolutely there is no question I am going across to get them and bring them back. What was the difference?

Motivation

What determines how motivated you are?

Motivation can be classified in three groups:

1. Low or no motivation.
2. Highly motivated–product of mental power.
3. Highest motivation–done from the heart.

For those who have low or no motivation, they cannot go forward. They do not have the power to do it, to take the action step.

For those who are highly motivated but that motivation is from mind power, this also will fail for two reasons. First, because the mind is not unlimited and infinite, there is an end to how far it will and can go. Second, those who are motivated by mind power do it for a result (”I do this and then I get that”) mindset. If the only reason you are staying motivated is to get something in return, it will fail eventually.

For those who are in the highest motivation group, their motivation comes from the heart because God placed it in them. For them, there is no end, no limit to what lengths they will go to fulfill what He has placed in their heart. This is the purest form of motivation because it is all spirit, and is heart or spirit power which knows no limit or end. Secondly, those who are motivated by heart/spirit power do it not to get a result but because God has put it in their heart and they choose to obey what He speaks to their heart–never quitting, stopping or giving up no matter what.

To get something done in this life we have to be motivated to take the proper action steps and continue taking these steps no matter what the outcome appears to be. This is true power and this power will overcome any obstacle that is put into its path.

How do you access this type of motivation? The same way you access love–by following your heart, not your mind. When you still your mind, you begin to hear the voice of God speaking to the heart.

The mind is a raging ocean of thought, the heart is a pond of stillness that hears every drop that the Spirit of God speaks.

Marital bliss can help wounds heal faster and reduce the health effects of job stress, according to research presented at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

A study of 42 couples found that people in happy marriages take less time than those in unhappy marriages to heal from all kinds of wounds, ranging from minor scrapes and athletic injuries to major surgery.

A second study of 201 married adults concluded that a happy home life can also reduce the negative health effects caused by job stress.

“You may not be able to get away from the job stress, but a good marriage soothes people, minimizing bad effects from the job,” said researcher Brian Baker, a University of Toronto psychiatrist.

– USA Today

Dr. Keith & Laurie comments on Happy Marriage and Increased Healing:

This study confirms the concept that God created the two to be one and when there is a strong covenant marriage relationship, the body will not only heal quicker but it will be more stress resistant and disease resistant.

As further studies have shown, married people are less likely than single, divorcees or widowed adults to be in poor health and are less likely to suffer from headaches or serious psychological distress.

One of the reasons happily married people are in better health and more stress resistant is because of covenant.

Strong covenant partners means that where one partner is weak, the other is strong. So they are always building each other up in the journey of life. If you always have someone who loves you, to encourage you and lifts you up when you are down; then vice versa, you are doing the same for them. The universal law of giving and receiving is operating which produces life.

Learn more with our Christian Marriage Retreat.

In this day and age we see fear, hatred, anger, violence, war, disease at epidemic proportions in the world. In a world with so much darkness, so much pain and suffering, is there any hope that it can all change and be the world God created it to be?   Can the world be changed and be ruled by love, joy, peace and hope? The answer can be found in the scientific phenomenon called entrainment. It states that when two objects are placed together the presence of each other one will resonate with the other and match its frequency. This means if pendulum clocks are put together, in a short time they will resonate with each other and chime together. The same happens when women live together in a group setting. They will start to have their menstrual cycle at the same time. This is the effect of entrainment.

How does entrainment affect you and the world around you? Simply by this—there are two types of entrainment. They are positive and negative entrainments. Positive entrainment is demonstrated when a very positive, joyful, peaceful, loving person is put into a group of normal frequency people. What will happen is that one joyful person will raise the frequency of everyone in the group so the group as a whole becomes more positive, more joyful, peaceful and loving.

On the other hand, if you put a negative, depressed, pessimistic person in a group of normal people, that one person will negatively entrain the whole group in such a way that they will all start to become more negative, feel more depressed and become more pessimistic.

What does all this mean to you? It means that 80% of the world is normal and at a frequency that will raise up to the 2% that are positive, peaceful, joyful and loving or lower to the 18% that are negative, depressed, or pessimistic depending on the company they keep and most of the time it is the wrong frequency of the one bad apple (18%) that spoils the whole bunch (80%).

What can you do?

You have a choice in everything that comes your way in your life. Your choice is to see the good in it, see God in it, or you can choose to see the bad in it. If you see good in everything, then you are on your way to being the 2% that can positively entrain the world around you. If you see the negative side of things, you already are the 18% that is negatively entraining the world around you. If you see the world around you good at times and not so good at others, you are in the 80% group that will always be swayed/entrained by the other 2% or 18%.

How can you become one of the 2% that will upwardly entrain the world to a higher level of joy, peace and love?

The most important steps are inward. Change yourself and you will change the world around you. Heal yourself and you will heal the world around you. If you want to help your children to be all that God created them to be then work intensely on your total health and wholeness because the more balanced and unblocked you become in body, mind and emotions, the higher you will raise your frequency and the more HIS love and light will shine through you to positively entrain your spouse, your children, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your world, and the entire world.

How do you begin?

Health and healing flow from spirit to mind to body but they can be accessed from body to mind to spirit. This is done with the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health.

1. Air
2. Water
3. Food
4. Sleep/sun
5. Exercise
6. Fasting/detoxing
7. Prayer/stillness

1. Air-you must deep diaphragm breathing to oxygenate your body.
2. Water-you must drink 32 ounces of distilled water per 50/lbs per body weight per day.
3. Food-you consume a diet of living/raw plant food which has the highest energy, bioelectricity, enzymes and bioavailable nutrient content to either maintain or restore your health.
4. Sleep-you must sleep 9.5 hours with 3.5 of them before midnight.
5. Exercise-you must exercise 30 minutes every day.
6. Fasting-you must fast from the normal Standard American Diet (SAD).
7. Prayer-you must take the time throughout your day to regularly still your mind so you can hear the voice of God spoken into your heart.

Once you make these a daily routine, then your physical body will start to turn back on and you will have more energy, more vitality. Once you have more energy and you can do your daily activities without drain, the surplus energy goes upward to heal and release the stored mental/emotional toxins. As these release more and more you begin to experience more and more of HIS love, joy and peace as you become a purer vessel that HIS love, joy, and peace can flow through. His Spirit will flow into your spirit, your mind and emotions and into your body. You are now the true light of the world that will entrain the world to the highest frequency of His love, His joy, His peace and His hope.

Mother Theresa raised the world’s frequency when she unconditionally loved the sick and dying. You can do the same to your family, your world if you begin to balance yourself in body, mind and spirit.

The question so many ask on the journey of life is when will I get there? Or am I there yet? To answer the question let us use a story as an example: The Wizard of Oz. In this classic, Dorothy ends up in the Land of Oz and she must go on a journey first to the Wizard to see if he can know a way that she can get back to her home in Kansas. Then second, after meeting with the wizard she must go on another journey to kill the wicked witch and bring back her broomstick to the Wizard so he will then grant her request to return to Kansas. What happens in the story is that she successfully puts the witch to death, returns to the Wizard with the broomstick and he, a Kansas native himself, decides to go back also and agrees to bring her with him via hot air balloon. Well, at the last minute she misses her balloon ride and thinks she is stuck in Oz the rest of her life when the good witch appears and tells her the secret of life. With the ruby slippers she was wearing she could have gone home any time. What is the moral of this story?

We are there, not we will get there someday, or how much longer before I get there.

What is there? There is overcoming the disease, overcoming the relationship struggle, overcoming the financial disaster, overcoming the three year long unemployment or just overcoming the need to get somewhere, anywhere other than where you are right now.

Coming to Terms with “Why Me”?

As the truth of the saying goes, “This is as good as it gets.”  Coming to terms with suffering and learning how to live with a “this is as good as it gets” mind set may help overcome life’s challenges.

This brings up many questions:

1. How can this be as good as it gets when I am suffering and dying with cancer?

2. This cannot be as good as it gets when I have been out of work for three years, I have spent all my savings and am about to go on welfare?

3. My husband has left me and my four children for another woman. I have no money and no one to turn to. If this is as good as it gets, then my life is as good as over. How can this be?

To answer these questions, I will use some questions.

1. Where does suffering come from?

2. Where does cause and effect come from?

3. Where does good come from?

God’s Guidance

Suffering can be defined as a state of the mind, thinking that you want to or you need to be anywhere else other than where you are. The story of Job covers this topic in detail. After Job lost his wealth, lost his family and lost his health, he questioned his very existence saying “why was I even born?” Then, God shows up and asks Job “where were you when I created the heavens and the earth?” The story ends with Job humbly saying to God “I spoke of things I did not understand”. Basically, Job said “You are God and I spoke out of line to every question of why you allow certain things to occur”. Everything has a purpose in God’s plan for our lives and in the end Job received even more wealth, his family and his health.

Where does cause and effect come from? It comes from the physical realm. It comes from the mind. In this physical world, if I do this, I get that. This is how you have grown up and been trained. If I dedicate myself to success and put all my energy toward that, I will reap what I sow–success. Some of the richest people have continued to press forward despite great odds, great losses, great hardships, but in the end received what they knew was theirs for the taking–success.

In the spiritual realm, there is NO cause and effect. You no longer work to achieve anything or to get anywhere because you are already there. In the spiritual realm, time no longer exists. So everything is NOW. Even God’s name is NOW. His name is “I Am” not I was or I will be but I Am. What this all means to you is that when you rest in Him, you rest in what is, not what was or what will be.

In Heaven you will not be trying to achieve anything or be trying to be someone or get somewhere. You will already be all that you were created to be and you will live in that state of being.

Now, if you could imagine for a moment the Kingdom of Heaven coming to earth, the Kingdom of Heaven is actually within you. While you are on earth, you can access the truth of the statement “This is as good as it gets.”

To understand “This is as good as it gets” you must understand what good means. Good means God and God means good. There is no one good in their old human nature. Good only comes when we are one with God and then His goodness becomes our good.

So to say this is as good as it gets really means to say: This is as God as it gets. Another way the phrase it is God is fully in this moment. The question is–are you fully in the same present moment as He is, or are you living in the same moment He lives in?

God lives only in the infinite, eternal “I Am” present moment. He does not live in the past or the future. When even you find yourself trying to live in the past or the future you have stepped out of His presence and that is called suffering.

When you do not accept “What IS” then you suffer.

When you do not see Him behind everything that comes into your life, then you suffer.

Everything He allows into your life has a purpose, and the purpose is to transform you into His likeness and image. To bring you to live and walk more in the spiritual realm and less in the world-filled, ego-filled, flesh-filled, lie-filled old mind realm.

When the doctor says you have three months to live with this cancer, you must not live in the future–the three months but in the moment–where God the I AM lives.

Would you rather live 75 years in bondage to fear, death and the old mind or just one day fully in His Presence living life to the full, free from all fear, all bondage, and all the lies of the old mind?

What you will find is once you start living fully in the moments, they become so beautiful, so God, that you are no longer looking at time, no longer looking at the cancer, the relationship loss, the financial crisis but instead living life to the full as He intended you to. This is eternal life, this is heaven coming to earth, this is His Kingdom come.

Learn more about this powerful truth from the How to Know You are Healed Series.

Lack of sleep is leaving Americans with deteriorating productivity, and dangerous driving practices.

According to the 2005 Sleep in America poll by the National Sleep Foundation, only half the country sleeping well almost every night. The other half is split between those getting “a good night’s sleep” a few nights each week and those resting well a few nights a month or less.

“This is very much in line with what I’m seeing in my practice. People in the U.S. don’t make sleep a priority,” said Dr. Stasia J. Wieber, director of the Comprehensive Center for Sleep Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. “It really is a very important aspect of one’s health care and public health. It affects your personal health and also can put others in jeopardy.”

The poll of 1,500 adults was released as part of the sleep foundation’s Eighth Annual National Sleep Awareness Week campaign.

Lack of sleep is on the rise but too often ignored, the poll found. Although half of those surveyed reported a sleep problem such as waking up during the night and 24 percent said the problems affected their daily activities, 75 percent of the respondents didn’t characterize their symptoms as a lack of sleep.

On average, Americans sleep 6.9 hours a night, just below the recommended seven to nine hours. But more people today say they are sleeping less than six hours on weeknights (16 percent vs. 12 percent in 1998) and on weekends (10 percent vs. 8 percent in 1998).

More than one half (54 percent) of respondents said they had at least one symptom of insomnia a few nights a week or more. The most commonly cited symptoms were waking up feeling unrefreshed (38 percent) or waking during the night (32 percent).

Half of the survey respondents said they felt tired or “not up to par” during the day and 17 percent said they felt this way just about every day.

The repercussions of not having a good night’s sleep are numerous and can be serious, even life threatening. Sixty percent of adults licensed to drive said they had driven while drowsy over the past year, the highest rate since the poll was first conducted in 1999. Four percent said they had had an accident or near accident due to drowsiness while behind the wheel. If extrapolated to the rest of the population, this would mean that about 115 million people felt tired behind the wheel while more than 7 million drivers had an accident or near accident due to lack of sleep, the researchers said.

Almost one-third of working adults said they had missed work or made mistakes at work because of lack of sleep or sleep problems in the past three months.

The poll also found that poor health was often associated with poor sleep. Adults with at least one common medical condition, such as high blood pressure or arthritis, are less likely to sleep well and are about twice as likely to feel drowsy during the day.

In line with other studies, this poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) are overweight or obese — and that this condition contributes to sleep problems. Compared to adults of normal weight, people who are obese are more likely to sleep less than six hours each weeknight (18 percent vs. 11 percent) and often feel sleepy during the day (37 percent vs. 26 percent).

Overweight and obese individuals were also nearly six times as likely to suffer from sleep apnea than normal-weight individuals. According to the report, more than a quarter (26 percent) of respondents were at risk for sleep apnea, a condition marked by disruptions in breathing while a person is asleep. The condition is associated with high blood pressure and stroke.

“People need to make sleep a priority,” Wieber said. – 2005 Sleep in America Poll, National Sleep Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Stasia J. Wieber, M.D., director, Comprehensive Center for Sleep Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec Comments on Lack of Sleep Causes Health Problems:

Sleep is one of the most important basic steps taken that keep one healthy and whole. You can go three minutes without oxygen, then you will die. You can only go two days without sleep, then you will pass out. You can go only five days without water and you can go thirty plus days without food. So in the big scheme of life and health, sleeping is close to the top. How much sleep should you get? Ideally for health and healing a person is in bed by 8:30 p.m. and wakes up at 6 a.m. This is 9.5 hours of sleep which has tremendous affects on balancing the body. 9.5 hours of sleep with at least 3.5 hours before midnight causes:

1. The hormonal system to balance

2. The immune system to balance

3. The blood sugar to begin to balance

Basically, to not get this needed sleep makes you fat, diabetic, cancer prone, anxious and depressed.

What is the difference between the work you do and your life’s purpose or mission?

Life is so much more than working 40 hours a week to get a paycheck. In this life we were created by God to work. God created Adam to work; and this is a good thing, a God thing when it is done from the heart and not the mind.

To really be satisfied and fulfilled in life is to do, or work at what God created you to do. People ask, “How do I know what God created me to do?” To answer this you must go on an inward journey, a journey of the heart.

First, you must answer the question “What is my purpose in life?”

The answer is divided into the following categories:

• To know God
• To see Him in everything and everyone
• To be free
• To live life to the full in every moment
• To not try to change the moment, the “what is”.
• To obey the heart and not the old mind
• To die (to the old nature) before you die
• To transform into God’s image in body, mind and spirit
• To be the light of the world in body, mind and spirit

To know what God created you to do and what work He has called you to do. You must also ask yourself these questions.

1. Would I do what I am doing if I had only 5 years to live and I had to work those 5 years?

2. Do I look forward to each day of work as a new adventure seeking to see what God is going to show me today or do I dread each day just trying to make it to the end of the day, end of the week, living for the weekend and holidays and vacations.

The next big question is:

Are you working from your head or from your heart? Are you working from what the world system has put in your mind or from what God has put in your heart?

The two of these do not agree with each other. You are either working to do something, achieve something or be somebody in the world or you are working doing God’s will, and becoming transformed more into His image moment by moment.

A few other things to remember in your work:

1. The grass is never greener on the other side. So many people think that another job would be better, my boss would appreciate me more or my co-workers would treat me better, or the work would be easier. God has a plan and purpose for everything and that job is one of the vessels that will grow and mature you into His image. The way you know it is time to move on to another job is when your free not to take another job, then God will open the door, instead of you opening the door.

2. “I want to get a job that can glorify God and help people instead of working in this day to day boring routine where I am changing nobody’s life.” The greatest way you can bring glory to God is to live fully in the moment that He allowed into your life for the specific reason to help you grow in the journey. When you have learned to see Him in everyone and everything, when you can persevere in the most difficult, mundane and monotonous situations, when you can stand strong in Him when the whole world around you is coming against you, these are the things that victory and freedom are made of, this is when cleaning toilets will become such a divine moment that you will never want it to end. “Whether I eat or drink (or clean toilets) I do it all to the glory of God.”

So in this life you live, live it to the full no matter what job you are in, see it as an opportunity to become more like Him who created you. Do not live for the promise land because if you do, you will dread the wilderness. Instead by living fully in each moment in the wilderness you will experience the miracles of God in each moment—the manna from heaven in every moment, and what awesome moments they will be.

At Total Health Institute we have helped thousands of people restore their total health in the last 27 years with our: Inpatient programs, Outpatient treatments/teaching, Disease Prevention program, Stay at Home program, Spa services and our Total Health Store and products. We are an alternative and integrative healthcare medical facility. For more information how you can improve your total health and be symptom/condition/dis-ease free, drug free and doctor free permanently go to www.totalhealthinstitute.com

A happy person is a healthy person, say British researchers who have found evidence of a biological connection between a positive sense of well-being and reduced risk for disease among middle-aged men and women. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors report that simply being happy — at work and at play — is directly related with specific bodily functions that protect against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune deficiencies and stress-related illnesses.

“There’s a direct link between how we’re feeling and the biological processes which relate to illness and illness risk,” said study author Dr. Andrew Steptoe, the British Heart Foundation professor of psychology at University College London. “Biology is going to be on the side of those people who are going to be in a more positive state of mind, and it may well stand these people in good stead for their future health.” Steptoe and his colleagues administered laboratory stress tests and standardized mental health questionnaires to more than 200 men and women, aged 45 to 59. All the participants were employed civil servants, with income levels ranging from high to low.

Medical exams had determined that all were in relatively good physical health, with no prior history of heart disease or high blood pressure. The researchers reported that age, marital status, gender and income appeared to have no impact on how happy the participants said they felt while at work.

Steptoe and his team also observed that those men and women who demonstrated the lowest levels of psychological distress on the earlier mental health screenings appeared to be generally happier people. And those men and women who were happiest at work seemed to be happiest at play, they said — although, for all participants, happiness was in more abundance during days off at home than during days “on” at the office. Cortisol readings did appear to firmly back the notion of a biological connection between stress and happiness. The researchers found the happiest men and women had the lowest levels of cortisol. Cortisol levels were, on average, more than 32 percent higher among the least happy individuals. The researchers noted the danger that high stress hormone levels can pose over time, highlighting the association between elevated cortisol and a higher risk for developing high blood pressure, diabetes, abdominal obesity and a decreased resistance to infection.

On another biological front, the authors reported that blood tests revealed up to 12 times higher levels of a liver-produced protein known as plasma fibrinogen among the least happy men and women. Fibrinogen works to stop bleeding by helping clots to form, but elevated levels of the protein have been associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease. The researchers concluded that a having a strong sense of well-being and happiness may help boost biological systems, ultimately helping to lower the risk for developing a range of illnesses down the road. And they emphasized that this happiness-healthiness pathway appears to be a direct mind-body link that is independent of lifestyle choices, such as exercise, smoking and drinking. “There’s no doubt that people should do the healthy lifestyle things — being physically active, and more prudent in their diets, and not smoking — irrespective of this biological link,” Steptoe advised. “But we need to think about things that will lead to more positive states as well.

Doing things that you want to do, and getting gratification from those things.” “Most of our sense of happiness seems to relate to having good relationships with family and friends, and that’s not something that can be maintained without some investment of effort, and keeping an appropriate balance. That balance, of course, is going to be different for different people.” Dr. Albert Ray is regional coordinator for health promotion and preventive care for Kaiser Permanente Southern California in San Diego said, “There’s no question that people with a positive attitude have lower blood pressure, suffer less illness, usually have lower cholesterol and better resistance to most infections,” he said. “And when they do get sick, usually a positive attitude can result in shorter illness.” – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec Comments “Happy People = Healthy People”

What is important in this study is when people are happy, they have higher levels of health.  The question though is this:  “What does happy mean and what does joy mean?”

Does happy mean I am healthy, I have a lot of money, I have a great paying job, I am an important person in my workplace, I have a healthy family, I am doing very well in school or job place.

If this is happy, then yes when everything is going your way you will secrete less adrenaline (the hormone that regulates stress response) you will have a stronger immune system and life will be good.  This is why the study showed that they were happiest (and healthiest) when they were not at work.  (See above about work.)

The question is this:  “Would you rather be happy or filled with joy?”  Before you answer this, let me tell you the difference between the two.  Happy is a state of mind and being so it has the opposite of sad always being connected to it.  This means when the world goes my way such as I get a promotion, my family is healthy, I have investments for a financially secure future, I am happy.  But when I get fired from my job, my wife or husband is diagnosed with cancer and my investments meet with unexpected disaster and are all gone I am sad.  You cannot take happy without taking sad also.  What is joy?  It is a spiritual state of being.  It is a part of God’s nature within you and being such it has NO OPPOSITE.  There is no opposite to God and no opposite to His nature which He places inside of us.  So, joy is seeing His presence in everything.  Joy is the excitement of living every moment to the full in Him.

Joy is what the Apostle Paul had when he had been beat, was in great pain and was imprisoned in Philippi.  It was the joy in his heart that caused him to sing songs of praise to God.  It was not dependent upon the environment, the situation, or the people.  It was the unchangeable nature of God that was flowing in him and through him.

So, once again, would you pick happy and healthy or joyful and in total health?