Finding Balance

Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

Feng shui is an ancient art/science developed over 3,000 years ago in China that believes in using the laws of Heaven and Earth to improve one’s life by receiving positive “qi”. It deals with how to balance the energies of any given space to assure health and good fortune for people inhabiting the space.

Feng means wind and wind chimes are used today to help find that balance. The Chinese also use gongs outdoors, in their operas and in their temples for that purpose as well as the tones that are derived.

Qi (pronounced chee) is a moveable negative or postive life force that plays an essential role in feng shui. Qi traditionally related to a structure, the direction it faced, it’s age and it’s interaction with the surrounding environment (slope of the land, vegetation etc.). At Hong Kong Disneyland, the main gate was shifted by 12 degrees as the builders understood the importance of feng shui to the Chinese culture.

Shui means water and many people have an indoor fountain as their symbol to improve the energy in their homes. Symbols are important in feng shui for their history and their meaning, The usual ones are Chinese dragon coins tied with a red string and three legged toads. Today, interior decoration plays an important part in the Western world’s practice of feng shui to help people live prosperous and healthy lives.

The environment is important in feng shui and arbors and trellises play an part in supporting an eco-system. The environment is in a delicate balance and it can be harmed by planting “lucky bamboo” in an area that can not support it. Many believe that feng shui and the eco-system are used for healing purposes and block negative energies that might otherwise have bad effects. There are many ways to improve the energy both inside a home and outside to help in finding balance.

Pioneers carried the first roses West  in  their covered wagons. With today’s roses, it’s all about color but in the past it was about fragrance. Rose water served as cologne, deodorant, air freshener and disinfectant in the frontier towns. Roses were a useful addition in everyday life. In late summer, the rose was also a source of food with a high content of vitamin C as well as other vitamins.

Rose fruits became medicinal. They were used for treating illness with astringent tea to cool a sore throat and kill bacteria. The early roses had no official names and were sold by their local nicknames. Today’s roses are descended from the 18th and 19th century dog rose, Damascus rose and Apothecary rose.

source: Scripps Howard News Service

This summer has been sizzling weather wise and we’ve had more sunny days than in past years. If people used solar kits to harness the sun’s energy it would be very effective both cost-wise and energy-wise. Samlex Solar Charging Kits have everything to start the process including a solar panel, solar charge controller, cables, connectors and mountain hardware.  They have 3 solar kits and an expansion kit. These   provide an eco-friendly way to continually keep batteries fully charged.

For centuries, people have expected our natural resources to be available and as we’ve found out, they are  quickly being depleted.  Solar energy systems are one way that people can help conserve energy in an effective, inexpensive way. What will it take to realize that we’re running out of time and that as a nation we need to start being pro-active?

 The Pink Dolphin, also known as botos is a friendly animal whose only enemy is human. They live in the rivers of the Amazon. Their brain capacity is more than 40% greater than humans, but they still get hurt and killed by them and are now an endangered species because of this. Their pink color comes from the water it lives in, the food it eats and capillaries close to the surface of the skin. The rain forests where the Pink Dolphins live are endangered because of human destruction and chemical dumping in rivers. Pink Dolphins are also caught in fishing nets. To try and help stop the decline in their numbers, many captive breeding programs have been started.

The dolphins have a long beak to get prey and small eyes which help them see well in the water. Pink Dolphins can swim at a speed of up to 20 mph. They have very little to protect themselves. They might use their flippers (also used for mating) and their long beaks. Their best protection is staying in a pod or group. When in danger, the dolphins can make squeaking sounds to call to it’s pod. Pink Dolphins eat large quantities of food every day. Not liking to eat alone, they’ll make a loud sound to call the rest of their pod. They enjoy crustaceans, catfish and small water fish. At night, they search for zooplankton.

The dolphins are similar to grey dolphins but have some differences. It doesn’t have a dorsal fin. Instead it has a hump on it’s back. The Pink Dolphin’s tail is bigger and it has two flippers that look like leaves. The neck is long and there is a little hump in the forehead and it has the ability to turn it’s head 180 degrees.

Sharks have been around for approximately 400 million years so they must be doing something right. Is this due to their resistance to cancer and other diseases? Shark cartilage  has been sold by health food stores with the claim that it can “cure cancer”. It’s advertised as having many curative powers based on the belief that “sharks don’t get cancer“. Carl Luer of the MOTE Marine Laboratory’s Center for Shark Research has been studying the shark’s resistance to cancer. Luer has said “Sharks have a low incidence of disease” but not only do they get cancer, they can get cartilage cancer.

They have been fished commercially since the 1800’s and there have been few reports of anything out of the ordinary when removing internal organs or preparing the meat for market. Sharks have been dissected for years by medical students because their basic systems are like humans but in a simpler form. Luer says that sharks aren’t entirely cancer free, which is a mistaken perception that has gained acceptance. Gary Ostrander, professor of Biology and Comparative Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore says that just because there’s not a lot of evidence that they do get cancer doesn’t mean that sharks aren’t getting cancer.

The first shark tumor was recorded in 1908. Since then, scientists have discovered benign and cancerous tumors in 18 of the 1168 species of sharks. In 2000, an accidentally caught blue shark was found to have cancerous tumors in it’s liver and testes. Several years later, a cancerous tumor was removed from the mouth of a sand shark.

Sharks, like humans, seem to contract tumors in response to environmental toxins and pollutants. They seem to develop tumors in response to foreign objects/bodies (one shark developed mouth cancer after a hook was embedded in the side of it’s mouth). Despite the evidence that shark cartilage has no curative powers against cancer, sharks continue to be harvested for their cartilage.

Stay in Shape the Extreme Way: Go Mountain Climbing

These days, more and more people are getting into what are known as extreme sports. One of the fist known extreme sports, which was done by millions of people before it ever became an extreme sport, is mountain climbing. This is a fun and exciting way to get plenty of exercise, and, if you can’t get to a mountain, the sport has become so popular that you can find indoor rock walls to climb in just about every city and town across North America.

When you get into rock climbing, you will gain strength, improve muscle tone and increase flexibility, all things you need to be able to mountain climb in the first place.

Outdoor Rock Climbing Lets You Commune with the Great Outdoors

When you decide to make rock climbing your sport/exercise of choice, you will be getting into a sport that will really allow you to commune with nature. You will be out there facing the elements, and must use your physical strength to get yourself to the top of the rock or mountain. Rock climbing is great for your cardiovascular system, and when added to the fact that you will be breathing in fresh mountain air, you will be doubling the benefits.

Don’t Let Foul Weather Stop You

Often, especially for those of us living in North America, we don’t always live in an area where the weather is good enough to mountain climb year-round. But, you don’t need to let this stop you. As we mentioned earlier, there are all kinds of places where you can climb on indoor rock walls, and you get pretty much the same benefits as outdoor rock climbing, with the exception of the great scenery and fresh air. But, it’s better than nothing, and you’ll more than likely have loads of fun doing this as well as climbing outdoors.

Wear the Right Gear

You need specific gear for most sports to ensure safety, but this is especially true with mountain climbing. You need to wear clothing that is comfortable and not constricting, but that is not loose-fitting either, because you don’t want pant legs or sleeves catching on rocks and branches, causing you to lose your footing or grip. Make sure that you wear a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads, and wear the proper footwear. If you are unsure of what you need, talk to a sporting goods expert to get the right gear.

Once you have your gear, and a place to climb, you’re all set to start off on many fun and exciting adventures that are going to help keep you in awesome shape.

Written by Jared Young from ExtremeHomeWorkout.com, the elite website to GetInsanit

A chiminea is one way of  containing fire. Originally used for cooking, they’ve made a comeback and are very popular as an outdoor heating source helping to  keep the environment safe from fires. A  major effort  to control forest fires began in the mid 1950’s and was helped by the campaigning of Smokey the Bear (officially Smokey Bear). Caught in a forest fire in the Lincoln National Forest, Smokey had climbed a tree to escape  the fire. With burns on his paws and hind legs, he was rescued by a game warden. After he was taken to a veterinarian for treatment of his burns, a Game and Fish ranger and his family took care of him. Word of Smokey’s story spread and he became a celebrity. He died in November, 1976  at the age of 26 and is buried at what is now Smokey Bear Historical Park.

Another way to control fire while still enjoying it is with a fire pit table. The fire is  in a contained and controlled environment. No special methods are required  to put it out and it won’t spread. The fire pits don’t  run on electricity which is a very difficult type of fire to douse.  Foam is about the only way to get that type of  fire  out.

Homes didn’t have patio fireplaces when I was young, but my family did have an indoor one. I remember making popcorn and baked potatoes and roasting marshmallows on Sunday nights listening to the radio (yes: this was before there was a television in every home). My parents had all the fireplace tools and a screen that really kept the fire contained. If the wood we were burning was pine, the sparks flew and there where loud popping noises when the pine tar burned.  A couple of times, a few  of the little sparks managed to make their way  out through the screen. My mother had the most beautiful fan that she’d put behind the andirons when the fire place was cleaned out.

When I was driving the other day, I passed a house that had a tire swing hanging from a large, gnarled apple tree.  It made me think back to the days when I was little and we visited my grandparents. They didn’t have a tire swing but  had the most fabulous wooden outdoor glider. My sister and I would play on it for hours  at a time and wave to the engineers on the trains that passed not far from her house. We loved the glider. It was a wooden one wrapped in grape vines and my grandmother made jams and jellies  from the grapes. The only time we didn’t use the glider was when the grape vines were in bloom as the flowers attracted hundreds of bees and hornets.

Another thing I loved at my grandmother’s house was sitting on her wicker patio furniture. She had a huge screened in porch and when it rained my sister and I would sit on the porch and listen to the rain. We spent many hours on the furniture playing “Monopoly”. There was a little boy who lived down the street from my grandmother’s house and he liked to come over when we visited. He always wanted to be the banker in the game and it didn’t take  long for my sister and me  to figure out why: he was skimming from the bank!

Sadly, over the years things change. My grandparents passed away, their house was sold and all the tangible items were gone with it. But what fabulous times I had and what wonderful memories I’ve got. I’ve recently started looking for patio furniture for myself and one of the brands I came across is Woodard patio furniture which is know for it’s quality and style. Chaise lounges, patio chairs and patio tables, gliders and rockers are all under consideration as new additions to my patio.