Stress Reduction
More than 100 research studies have shown that outdoor recreation reduces stress. In a study of individuals exposed to stressful videos of accidents, those who watched a subsequent nature video experienced faster recovery than those who watched a video with other content. Another study established that a view of nature, even through a window, speeds recovery from surgery, improves work performance, and increases job satisfaction. By observing the ever-changing environments in nature, individuals cultivate a positive attitude, renewed attention, mindfulness, and sensory awareness. In the words of renowned naturalist and essayist John Burroughs (1837-1921), “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”

Meaning & Purpose
Being in nature also bestows a sense of connectedness, meaning, and purpose. There is a sense of chaotic order in the way nature works; the plants and animals are interconnected in a series of complex relationships. Everything coexists in nature without the necessity of outside intervention. It is a system that has existed successfully since the beginning of time, which provides a sense of structure, coherence, and reliability for those wise enough to use nature as a model for life. Realizing that human beings are an essential component of this larger structure can supply a sense of purpose and belonging. For many, respect and enjoyment of nature also leads to a sense of spirituality and an appreciation for powers larger than oneself. The wilderness teaches that each individual is unique but also part of the larger whole. In a world bogged down by social pressures, standards of conduct, and the demands of others, nature gives people a chance to appreciate a grander sense that the world is alive, fascinating and meaningful. This universal appeal crosses all cultures and time periods. “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better,” advised legendary physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) .

Heightened Awareness & Physical Activity 
Outdoor settings beg for activity rather than passivity as the world is best explored on foot. Hiking through the wilderness merges a heightened sense of awareness of one’s surroundings with the need to take action to move through and be part of nature. People understand and process environmental information through mapping, exploring, and interpreting the landscapes, obstacles, and surroundings. This type of physical activity reduces depression and anxiety, reduces the risk of disease, and improves psychological well-being. In fact, research suggests outdoor exercise has even more beneficial effect than indoor exercise.  A strenuous trek through mountains or desert can represent both a physical journey and a journey of self. Spending time in nature’s silence better acquaints people with their own thoughts and feelings, leading to a sense of calm and inner peace. As expressed by early preservationist and Sierra Club founder John Muir (1838-1914), “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you… while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

A researcher at the University of Kansas believe iPad can improve the lives and cortical visual impairment (CVI) or a severe neurological disorder caused by brain damage that prevents the child properly interpret visual information.

Muriel Saunders, an assistant research professor at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute says it has tested 15 children and found the results really surprising.

“Every child is fascinated with the iPad. Children who usually can not see people, do not respond to an object or respond in a very repetitive, but it could actually glued to the iPad. It was an amazing experience,” he said.

Saunders, who works with children with CVI try to help them to develop language skills when doing therapy with parents by using a light box light box similar to the doctor to see the X-ray beam. This is because children with CVI have only able to see light and objects with high luminance.

“A person with severe CVI will spend plenty of time to see the lights,” he said.

“They may just sit and see a light in the house, or usually they see a bright sun with out the window. They might just see sesuat passing briefly. But they are not able to see a certain face and see clearly. So they looked looks like a blind man, “he explained.

With a bright screen and interactivity offered iPad like sound and color are much more appealing to children with CVI more easily recognize and see something on the iPad.

“We use some babies are very simple applications. One of them is called ‘Baby Finger’, where they just touch the screen and sound, image, and colored shapes will appear with a white background. It is not directly similar to a light box and not only offer black and white, because there are also bright color that is displayed iPad, “he explained.

Parents of children with CVI have seen that the iPad great potential as a therapy for their child. The use of the iPad as CVI therapy has begun to spread in internet chat rooms and social networking. But there has been no formal studies documenting the power of the iPad to help children with CVI.

Saunders hopes to make the change and is currently writing a proposal to the National Institutes of Health to conduct a thorough research using the iPad.

“There are so many applications are now available, we do not have to go out and create our own applications. There are applications available to create communication boards. There was also no application is available with different difficulty levels between parents and children with CVI , they’ve learned to use iPad intended to do therapy, “simpunya.

Saunders perform initial tests support the use of IPAD with cooperation from the Junior Blind of America in Los Angeles.

Cloning is the act of making a genetically identical organism. This paper will address whether the cloning of humans should be legalized in the United States. There are several different kinds of cloning; however, I will be addressing two of them, therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning of humans should be legalized, but reproductive cloning of humans should not be legalized.

If someone was to need an organ transplant then there are two major obstacles which they need to negotiate. One, they would have to wait for an organ donor. Two, their body’s immune system would have to accept the donated organ. If the immune system does not accept the organ right away, the patient would need to go on antibiotics to suppress their immune system. The danger in this is that the patient would be vulnerable to many diseases that a normal immune system would have no problem fighting off. A common cold or ear ache could become fatal to the patient. If this person got infected, they would have to be taken off the antibiotics long enough for their immune system to overcome the infection. The exclusion of the antibiotics would then cause the immune system to reject the organ. Therapeutic cloning of humans is the use of cloning to produce new body tissue from stem cells-a cell that can be made into other cells of the same type indefinitely-for use in the treatment of disease or injury. With therapeutic cloning scientists could clone specific tissues of the patient and grow a new organ for the patient in a laboratory. This would eliminate the waiting for an organ because one will be grown for them in the laboratory. This could also eliminate the possibility of the immune system rejecting the organ because it is from the patient’s own body; therefore, the immune system would not recognize the new organ as a threat.

            Another example would be if someone needed an arm. If someone were to get seriously hurt in war or a car accident, then therapeutic cloning of humans could give them an arm or leg. Again, the body would not reject it because it is coming from the body’s own cells.

Along with organ transplants, therapeutic cloning can help with advances in curing vital diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes. Scientists can take just a few skin cells from a patient with diabetes, let it grow for 14 days, and then its stem cells would be extracted. Scientists would then try to find a cure for the disease. This takes many human embryos because it is a trial and error process to find a cure for such intricate diseases. It takes many tests to see if the cure is effective, and if the rest of the human body will be able to handle the cure without any side effects.

            Reproductive cloning of humans is using cloning to produce a new genetically identical human from the cells of another human. Reproductive cloning should not be legalized because it is morally and ethically wrong that children are being born in laboratories with a group of scientists for parents and a patent on them. Scientists are said to be “playing god”, and that is morally and ethically wrong. Sexual reproduction has worked for thousands of years so why should we change that now? For some scientists the answer is selective traits, or choosing what traits they want to see appear in the new born baby. They believe they can give wanted traits like strength, speed and desired looks to humans like they do with plants. This is like “playing god”. The human is no longer a unique individual, but rather a piece of property with a patent on it. This is similar to what Hitler wanted to do. He wanted to make a “super army” by selecting traits, this way he could have an unlimited amount of big, strong, and fast men. This is not only unethical, but dangerous! Reproductive cloning of humans is not all bad. There is an advantage to it. The advantage is: if an infertile couple wants to pass on their family genes, then cloning themselves would pose as a great way to create children. Sure, that would be great for that family, but how many times would scientists fail in finding that perfect way to clone humans? How many babies would be successful in birth, but then have mental and/or physical defects for the rest of their life. We cannot take the risk of having that happen to hundreds or even thousands of children. As you can see, reproductive cloning of humans is much different than therapeutic cloning of humans.

            The difference between therapeutic cloning of humans and reproductive cloning of humans is that in therapeutic cloning the embryos never come to term. Reproductive cloning is just the opposite: To have a clone of an original individual. Therapeutic cloning can help in several medical advances such as cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes. Reproductive cloning is used primarily to have another human in the world that looks like another. An identical twin is the same idea. With the population rising drastically, why do we need extra people? The only benefit is to allow an infertile couple the passing on of their family genes. Though this is good for them, the risk factor in finding exactly how to clone a healthy human is too high because in finding how many fetuses will die before birth or will be born with mental and/or physical defects for the rest of their life. Therapeutic cloning has many more advantages than reproductive cloning and is worth making legalized for the medical advancements. No humans suffer in therapeutic cloning of humans.

            I believe a solution is to make laws stating specific rules on each type of cloning and whether or not they are legal. Reproductive cloning will be continually banned, and therapeutic cloning will be allowed with tight rules. Many people are afraid of what the future will hold if therapeutic cloning is legalized. Those people have a right to be scared. New things are scary, but can we seriously let the advantages go to waste because new things are scary? Obviously, fright is no reason to back down. In other efforts to keep reproductive cloning research to a minimum and to help therapeutic cloning of humans we can fund human therapeutic cloning in hopes that those scientists will be driven towards the legal research rather then trying to legalize or illegally research reproductive cloning of humans. Reproductive cloning will never be dropped completely, and will always be an issue in the future, but for now it is just an effort to look away from it.

            Another solution could be to do something similar to what the United Kingdom did. An embryo is the early form of a human. We could make a law that an embryo can only be grown for a two week period and then must be disposed. In this case it is known that until the embryo has reached the fetus state (two weeks of growth) it is not considered a human. This would ensure that it could not be grown into a human, and because it has that two week period to grow they can still extract the cells they need to grow an organ for organ transplants or even an arm for someone.

            In conclusion, therapeutic cloning should be legalized due to the medical advances in curing serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes. Therapeutic cloning does not involve bringing embryos to term, or the expected time for birth of a child. Reproductive cloning is unethical and morally wrong because we are making humans in a laboratory where they are not meant to be born. Reproductive cloning of humans should not be legalized in the United States. A possible solution for this is to enact laws against reproductive cloning of humans. Therapeutic cloning of humans will not be banned, but funded, which will also help minimize the want to practice reproductive cloning research of humans.

There are those who give their fur babies treats on Valentine’s Day. Animals have a knack for showing unconditional love that we would do well to learn from. The warm greeting you receive as you enter your home after a hard day of work is an example. Feel the stress of the day melt away with your dog’s expressions of love. Learn from you dog, and offer a warm greeting, and a listening ear. Does your dog ever interrupt anything you have to say? He/she patiently allows you to ramble on.

Unconditional Love

The Love of a Child

The innocence of a child is refreshing, even if it is embarrassing at
times. Children often say what they think, but their comments are not
meant to be malicious. Their hearts are pure and beautiful. The Bible
recognizes the child: “and a child shall lead them” Isaiah 11:6. We can
learn to love without deceit, innocently, and with a child’s faith. The
beauty of a child’s love is truly remarkable.

Former Medical Group Chief John Gebhardt calming a victim of the war was quoted as saying “I got as much of it as the baby did. I reflected on my own family and life and thought about how lucky I have been.”

Express Love from your Heart

It may be easy to ask someone to pick up a gift for you to give to that
special someone, but is that really personal? Nothing could be more
personal than the feelings one has for another. An expression of those
feelings is more appreciated when it is genuine and expressed by the
individual giving the gift. If the message comes from someone else
other than the sender, is it sincere? Sometimes even Hallmark cannot
express one’s heart felt feelings. I would prefer a heart felt message
over a Hallmark card any day. Remember those old love letters tucked
away in a shoe box? They mean more than any amount of money.

Make a Personal Card/Note

Why pay Hallmark’s (sorry Hallmark’s) to say what you know is in your heart, unless they can say it the way you want it said? What was the first thing you noticed about your special someone? What thought is it that keeps you going on those long days? What do you appreciate about him/her? It’s nice to see it in writing once in awhile. Slip a note in their lunch box, pocket, attaché case, or some where you know they will look. Being appreciated and loved can go a long way towards making someone’s day.

Be a Friend

If you are truly fortunate, you have a friend who knows some of your
deepest darkest secrets, but would never betray you. A true friend will
answer the door at 2:00 a.m., because they are needed, and not
complain, will sit up all night while you cry on their shoulder because
you have been hurt, disappointed, or betrayed. A true friend will get
out of their warm bed and rush you to the emergency room, when you are
not feeling well. Friends are more precious than gold. Have you told
your friend how much you appreciate them being there for you?

God is Love

A young boy named Logan summed up love more eloquently than I could in a radio call he made to a local station near him. Listen to the soul stirring conversation of the disc jockey and Logan.

Logan realizes more about love than some adults do because he knows that God demonstrated true love by giving up His only son to die for our sins. In knowing that Logan is accepting of the hand dealt him, and recognizes God’s love and understanding in any and all situations.

Give of Yourself

Performing volunteer work, doing random acts of kindness, going out of
your way to make someone else’s day will not only help them, but will
be of immense benefit to you also. We grow in character and strength
when we show compassion to another.

The benefits one reaps from doing good deeds should not be the
motivating factor, however, doing acts of kindness has been proven to
be therapeutic and stress relieving.

Take for instance Suzie and Sylvan who created the Boo Boo Zoo. Their
love for one another and for the sick, injured, and abandoned animals
worked a miracle in Suzie’s life by curing her of terminal cancer.

Suzie and Sylvan embody love for one another, and for the abandoned, and injured animals they treat, and provide homes for at the refuge. If not for them these animals would otherwise die. 

It is only in giving of yourself that you truly find the power of love. Love has to be given away to come back in its most powerful form. Why wait for Valentine’s Day? Give some love today.

Picture Source

I have been keeping a diary since the 6th grade. It has been something that I cannot remember ever not always just being a part of my life. When I had no one else to turn to, my diary was ever present, faithful and dependable. It “listened” endlessly as I poured out my deepest desires, dreams, hopes and fears. It never judged me; it never told me to do anything. It was just always there for me, always.

When I first began writing in my diary it was at the suggestion of my non-biological mother (I am adopted). It sounded like an interesting idea to me, so I thought “why not?” and started right away. Now as an adult, I realize that it has been one of the most healing and powerful practices I could have ever started in my life. And, ironically, as a writer it is probably one of the very best practices I could have been introduced to.

In almost every book I have read about sharpening one’s writing skills, it has been suggested that one should make writing something every single day a part of one’s daily routine; most valuably free flow writing that allows you to just let yourself write whatever is on your mind without stopping, without editing, without worrying about content. This type of writing is exactly what you do when you write in a diary. And, if you keep it private, no one will ever be able to read your most intimate thoughts which will add the extra element of feeling completely free about the content. This practice can additionally open doors to creative possibilities within you that you never knew existed.

As you put pen to paper, you are practicing, sharpening and honing the intuitive voice inside of you. Becoming closer to it, trusting it, and listening to it more, so that when you need to write an article, a novel, etc. it becomes an easier, more natural endeavor.

To this day, I continue to keep a diary; and, I write in it even more than I did when I was a child. Not only is it therapeutic for me, but it just has become such a natural part of my life I cannot imagine ever not documenting my daily thoughts. They are infinitely important, invaluable pieces of my history that I want forever saved.

If you are a writer, I completely recommend beginning a diary of your own or if you already have a diary to write in it as much as possible. Not only will it improve your writing skills, it can act as a tangible best friend when you find yourself dealing with difficult trying moments that you feel you just cannot share with another person. Sometimes, just getting your thoughts and feelings out on paper can be an extremely liberating and healing endeavor. I know that it has helped me in more ways than I can ever fully list. From my experience, I know that keeping a diary is truly a priceless, invaluable practice.

Joie Schmidt © Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved.

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Dreams of the Heart – volume I by Joie Schmidt is available:

  * Volume I: Amazon Kindle, Adobe Reader, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad and iBooks

Dreams of the Heart – volume II is available:

  * Volume II: Amazon Kindle, Adobe Reader

———> Stay tuned . . . vol. II will soon be available on iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad and iBooks!

(*In memoriam of the tragedy in Japan all proceeds from – volume I – sales will go to the relief efforts until 3/11/12)

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