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Helpful Tips For Anyone With An Aging Family Member

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Do you want the skin you had when you were young? Do you long for the passion for life and metabolism of yesteryear? Then this article was made for you. You can use this article to slow down your aging and get back to where you where.

Try improving the quality of your daily diet to battle aging. Your body needs even more nutrients as you age, so be sure to pursue a diet full of healthy fruits and vegetables, lean meats and whole grains. Make sure your three meals a day are sensible, and stop eating candy bars between meals. Instead, enjoy a few healthy snacks.

Strive to get about eight hours of shut eye every night. It will keep you looking young. It is important that you sleep enough, as this is the time your body uses to repair and renew itself. Although some people need more or less sleep, the majority of people require eight hours of sleep.

With age, a lot of people are simply not able to live on their own anymore. Sometimes we may even lose track of our personal hygiene. When this is the case, find an assisted living facility to move into or ask your family members if they have room for you. Although many people are resistant to living in a nursing home, there are situations where this is the best choice for everyone involved. Licensed professionals will administer quality health care that you cannot provide for yourself.

You need to have a safe and enjoyable activity to devote some of your time to. Staying active is key to maintaining your energy and fitness levels.

Try to get enough water. If you are older, you are more prone to dehydration. Everyone should drink at least eight glasses of water per day.

Avoid becoming a victim of fraud. Fraudsters often target older people to make easy cash. Be careful who you give your financial information to and always ask for identification when dealing with someone who comes to your home claiming to be an official or government authority. Also, before throwing away documents that contain your personal information, shred the papers. Steps such as these will ensure the security of your private information and your money.

The combination of cosmetics and aging skin can be improved if you make use of a primer. These types of products are silicone-based and can make a significant difference in the appearance of your makeup. Primers will fill in the wrinkles and make your skin seem smooth.

You should try to eat more foods containing antioxidants. Antioxidants are directly related to longer life, as research has shown. Antioxidants assist your body in removing free-radicals – the waste that results when oxygen and food are converted into energy. Try eating food that is rich in antioxidants and you should soon notice a difference.

You should have a healthy diet. Eat fresh fruit and veggies to have a diet that is low in fat and sugar. A well balanced diet helps both your body and mind to stay in tip-top shape, and allows you to go through your day with lots of energy.

Having hormonal balance is very important for both men and women who are aging. Hormonal imbalances can cause insomnia, depression and weight gain as we get older. Any of these three problems can lead to more problems, which can really have some negative impacts. Contact your doctor, and discuss your options for getting your hormones balanced, which will improve your quality of life.

Avocado oil has shown to have positive anti-aging effects on your skin. Avocado oil is made with a wonderful ability to get deep into the skin, which works well for dry or mature skin. Studies have shown the sterolins in avocado oil decrease the amount of aging marks.

Have a great time getting older! This is a great time for you to do the things you want and to make wonderful things happen. Fill your days with the people and things you love.

In reality, as you get older, exercise becomes more important. Naturally you won’t exhibit the strength and stamina you had in your youth. However, finding a less physically stressful activity is important. Walking is easy to do, and is great exercise. Swimming is a good exercise, as well, for those that enjoy the water. Perform stretching at home. Go for a bike ride and take your grandkids. If you make exercise fun, you’ll be more likely to do it.

Eating inordinate amounts of sugar can contribute to a shortened life span. Sugar decreases an individual’s lifespan, and it causes aging to speed up. Studies show that too much sugar can reduce the lifespan of any animal that can ingest it.

Make sure to get enough sleep daily. You want to sleep around 8 hours per night. Deficient amounts of sleep can lead to disorders like depression or cardiovascular conditions.

Frowning can increase the number of wrinkles in your skin. It may seem a little silly, but it’s true. If you find yourself frowning, give yourself a sharp pinch. In a matter of time you will stop yourself from doing this.

If you smoke, take the steps necessary to stop immediately, in order to look your best. Smoking gives you wrinkles and can make your lips thinner. In addition, smoking increases the process of aging, thereby, shortening your lifespan.

It’s important to be very careful as you age, especially when it comes to slipping and falling. Senior citizens who suffer a fall are at high risk for injury, bone fractures, or even death. Walking for thirty minutes, three times weekly aids your balance, while maintaining your physical and mental fitness. Keep your bones strong by lifting weights and getting enough of calcium and Vitamin D. This will reduce your chances of getting a fracture.

If you want to start taking anti-aging supplements, it is a good idea that your first talk to your doctor. Any anti-aging program should include antioxidants and multivitamins, as well as any other supplements your doctor recommends. These may be effective treatments to help stave off some of the deteriorating effects of age. Make taking these things a part of your everyday routine.

The insights in the article can benefit you in a positive way if you apply them to aging gracefully. Apply these tips and remember that age is about how you feel on the inside, not how you look.

Just how much will it cost you to take care of your aging loved ones?You can easily find out about the paychecks of the medical employees you will need at these two sites. The first is how much does a medical assistant make and the 2nd is medical assistant jobs in Houston Texas

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Vitamin B12 Deficiency Symptoms to Take Note Of

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Essential for good health, vitamin B12 is not produced by the human body and must be obtained from dietary sources or from vitamin supplements. In an age where so much food of so many varieties containing B12 is available, it is hard to believe there could be a vitamin deficiency occurring in some members of the human population, but it does.

Vegetarians may become deficient in vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin found in all animal products, meat, eggs, poultry, fish, etc. but plants contain little or none of the vitamin. For that reason, people who follow a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet, in which they choose not to eat meat and animal products, must obtain their required B-12 from vitamin supplements or from some of the fortified food products such as cereals or soy milk. There is also a type of nutritional yeast that provides vitamin B12 that may be suitable for those who can tolerate it.

Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms

Typical vitamin B12 deficient symptoms are not unlike the symptoms of other common ailments and for this reason, it may require up blood tests or other type of tests to confirm whether a deficiency exists.

Pernicious anemia

As might be a expected with anemia, the skin and lips will likely appear very pale. The human body requires vitamin B12 to produce healthy red blood cells. The condition known as pernicious anemia is a classic vitamin B12 deficiency symptom, a form of anemia that is caused by a decrease in the number of red blood cells when the body is unable to absorb B-12 from the body’s gastrointestinal tract.

It may take a long time for a deficiency to develop and be recognized because the human body stores vitamin B12 for a long time and requires only a small amount, the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) being 2.4 mcg for most adults.

Loss of mental acuity

Older people, as they age, may develop a difficulty in absorbing B12 from their intestinal tract and because of it become deficient in the vitamin. One of the most important vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms that can show up in the elderly is that they may begin to experience forgetfulness and exhibit other signs of confusion or impaired mental behaviour. The unfortunate situation that can then occur is that their condition may be mistaken for the onset of dementia and it is a fact that many have been unnecessarily separated from their loved ones and committed to homes for the mentally impaired. Recognized early, those mental faculties can be recovered with appropriate treatment involving vitamin B12.

Tiredness, fatigue, and loss of energy

Other vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms that may occur are feelings of constant tiredness and fatigue, light headedness and shortage of breath, weight loss, bleeding gums, frequent indigestion problems, constipation, and diarrhea – although many of those symptoms are also quite typical of other ailments to the extent that a diagnosis of B12 deficiency, when expected, requires a blood test to confirm.

With the aid and supervision of a physician, vitamin B12 deficiency can be treated by providing vitamin B12 injections or possibly with vitamin pills, or nasal sprays or some other delivery method, such as B12 patches for absorption through the skin.

As for all medical concerns, see a doctor at the first opportunity if you feel unwell and cannot be sure of the cause. Time and delay may be important, it is better to be safe now that to be sorry later.

More on this topic can be found at: About Vitamin B12 Deficiency Symptoms and also Benefits of Vitamin B12.

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My Religious Ways In Later Years

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

In my twenties I continued reading books on philosophy and religion, but I tended towards Buddhism and Hinduism, which seemed very closely related to my family’s spiritualist beliefs. I practiced yoga, but being physically lazyish by nature, I preferred the more esoteric exercises.

I meditated. I would not drink alcohol for 48 hours before the evening that I had asked for permission to meditate; then I would exercise, bathe and lie down in a dimly lit room. I used to begin by relaxing my body.

The course of action that worked best for me was to imagine little factory workers in overalls at every muscle and, beginning from my feet, I would send them off for luncheon. I would march them all up into my head and out of my ears so that I was ‘paralyzed’. Then, I imagined a crevice opening up in the middle of my mind and I made my thoughts jump across it as it grew wider.

Petty thoughts disappeared quickly, but even persistent, deep-seated concerns would eventually fall down the crack. Then I would be left alone in me. I never got rid of ‘me’ strive as I might. The next step for me would be to pose a question.

An instance is: ‘How can I tell the difference between a meaningful dream and my mind just processing the day;s activities?’ Invariably I would see myself, from the back or over head, sitting in a cinema or a theatre alone.

Then someone would appear on stage and begin a film. The person would commentate and stop and restart the film until I understood the answer to my question. The person was nearly always the same one, but if it was not, I made him tell me his name before I would pay any attention.

In this state, people who saw me reckoned that I was asleep, but I could hear each noise that was made in the household and on the street outside. People said I snored as well, but I could hear myself snoring.

To this day, if I relax deeply, I snore but I can hear everything and am not asleep. My wife often turns the TV off while I am listening to it. I know that lots of men say that, which makes it more, not less, true. It shows that meditation is natural and that we can all do it if we give ourselves the opportunity.

When I was a teenager, I got into the habit of scribbling my dreams down, because I have the sort of memory that remembers items once I have written them down. I can throw the paper away then and I will remember|.

Anyway, I can remember my dreams now without having to write them down, but what is more valuable than that in my mind is that I have always known if I am dreaming. One last thing, when I walk in my dreams it is on two legs but if I run it is on all fours like a dog. Many people have called me ‘wolf’ or ‘bear’ in my life, have they seen something? (My wife says she sees me as a wolf too)’

I do not mean anything weird, but it is something of a coincidence or not? Last year, I was talking to a girlfriend of my wife and she said that she runs on all fours in her dreams as well. She was flabbergasted when I said I did as well. How many more are there?

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with non-religious beliefs. If you want to know more go to What is Religious Belief?

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Catholic Rosaries

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

If you are not a Catholic, you might not understand the importance of a string of Catholic rosary beads. This is because a Catholic’s rosary beads are an aid to prayer and penance. It is because of this that Catholic rosary beads have the same number of beads all around the world. The beads are ticked off as the prayers are said.

Rosary beads are gifted to young Catholics and frequently a set of beads will be handed down through generations as heirlooms. It is considered an honour to get given a set of rosary beads that are decades or more old, just as it would be if a relative left you anything else old and valuable. Old rosary beads can become very valuable, depending on what the beads are made of, their age and the type of metal used to string them together.

The Catholic Rosary is used to matter off the number of prayers said in repetitions in the same way that an abacus is used for counting money. Rosaries have ten small beads followed by a large one to indicate that the repetition should be started again.

It is an old style of prayer harking back to when people were less schooled. However, beads aid the person praying concentrate on the prayer and not on the counting as well.

Most Catholic rosary bead chains have enough beads for five cycles of prayers. This makes it easier for followers of the Catholic Church to say their prayers and do the penances metred out to them by their priest for ‘committing sins’.

In fact, the Catholic Church is losing ground very rapidly in Europe particularly in such traditional strongholds as Eire (Southern Ireland) and the southern provinces of the Netherlands. They are also losing ground in Spain, Portugal and America, usually due to the sex scandals involving priests.

Whatever one thinks of the Catholic Church, the pope and the Catholic clergy, rosary beads are a feature of the history of mankind’s development in the West during the last 2,000 years. Whether you see Catholic rosary beads as a symbol of devotion to God or as a symbol of the Catholic Church’s tyranny over scared people, the rosary in itself is an interesting phenomenon.

Some individuals make a hobby out of collecting rosaries because they are widely traded and can be quite valuable. It is not unusual for a set of Victorian rosary beads manufactured of a semi-precious stone on a gold chain to go for thousands of dollars at auction.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with religious beliefs in China. If you would like to kcurrently more go to What is Religious Belief?

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Strategies On The Way To Continue to be Much younger Much longer

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Undoubtedly, the ingredient results of getting older start to appear within our appears as well as the way the body really feel, which alters our lives and programs. We would really prefer to have ways to sluggish or quit these indications of aging anytime feasible. There are several ideas listed below that may help you avoid issues associated with getting older.

Take care of your system, and this will take care of you in opposition to lots of the most popular difficulties of outdated time. Maintaining a healthy diet, vitamin-bundled meals along with proper actual physical exercise and emotional activation can help a lot in preserving your brain and the body.

Exercise keeps people young. Studies have proven that those who exercise regularly show fewer physical signs of the stress of aging than their counterparts who get little exercise. Working out will not only improve your muscle strength, but will also improve your body overall, from your cardiovascular system to your skin.

Maintaining the skin healthful is vital to getting older gracefully. When you’re young, you have to make sure to safeguard the skin from Ultra violet rays as they are dangerous. You are able to steer clear of obtaining early facial lines and melanoma by keeping from the sunlight.

Avocado oils is a good therapy to stop growing older on the skin. Avocado oils penetrates seriously to moisturize and color anxious facial skin. In addition, it includes sterolins that are able to minimize time places.

In no way end studying. You will definately get wiser when you time but ensure you also obtain expertise. That can be done some thing as elementary as find out personal computer knowledge with a community college or university or do crossword puzzles, in any event you may truly feel a whole lot more youthful.

Tend not to set store in statements about male menopause. Guys do often expertise a gentle decline in their testosterone creation, however it is not just a stark minimize. To get a gentleman to endure any unwanted effects, they will need to have ranges significantly less than regular. In case you have a hormone imbalances difference, then chances are you have got a condition. Hormone imbalances solutions really exist if you suffer from coming from a severe difference, nonetheless, the final results from analysis have demostrated inconclusive final results concerning regardless of whether these methods are successful.

Have program check out-ups together with your physician. Getting reviewed regularly will allow your physician capture any possible health issues and cope with them prior to they come to be as well significant. Numerous illnesses, even cancers, could be effectively dealt with when they are captured at the beginning.

Take in wholesome. Your diet plan needs to include a lot of fruits and veggies but minimal levels of fatty acids and all kinds of sugar. Ingesting a good, well-balanced diet regime offers you the power you should reside every day for the fullest extent when feeding a good physique and brain.

This really is great guidance you are able to stay by. It really is feasible not only to sluggish a few of the results of getting older, but to avoid numerous issues prior to they begin. You have to plan for a wholesome existence being a mature now. How old you are ought to make no distinction in how you would like to really feel and appear properly in your golden many years.

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Techniques For Delicate Ageing

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

You may have possibly been revealed to numerous the typical knowledge in terms of preventing the indications of aging. This article provides you with intriguing techniques concerning how to prolong your younger vigor as far as possible.

Don’t expose your skin to harsh environments. Spending too much time in either intense heat or cold damages your skin. This can lead you to age faster and give you serious skin problems.

Concentrate on the good characteristics of getting older while you go back to a pastime or appeal to you experienced prior to. As you now get more spare time and much less commitments, you can begin concentrating on hobbies and passions that could have already been moved aside in the last few many years. Hobbies are a good way to fill up your daily life with joy and happiness.

The application of concealer changes a little as the skin ages. First you need to apply your foundation and after that try a concealer that’s moisturizing and is a shade or two lighter than the foundation. After applying your concealer following your foundation, you will be able to see any imperfections more easily. Use a small brush to blend your concealer and have a more natural look.

Don’t concentrate on the figures in your daily life. Physicians are compensated properly to consider things like how old you are, bodyweight and size. House on age group, bodyweight and appearance will make you overlook essential occasions and possibilities.

Using every day anti–oxidants is an excellent concept. Health care experts promote this to reduce or neutralize dangerous toxins in your entire body. Darker, richly coloured generate provides the most anti-oxidants. Some fruits and vegetables to consume consist of tomato plants, squash, berries, and green spinach.

Use primer for using make-up to wrinkled complexion. This a brand new kind of item which can be used as make-up, along with its primary element is really a made from silicon. The silicone fills within the facial lines of the complexion to sleek out your tough areas. This will make using your make-up much more sleek.

Speak with your physician concerning the proper anti–getting older health supplements which are good for you. Any anti–getting older plan ought to include anti-oxidants and multivitamins, along with every other health supplements your physician suggests. The advantages from all of these is they enable you to become more energetic, and should you do have getting older problems, you’ll have much less lower time. Consist of these as a crucial part of the program daily.

It can be frequent to have a lowered libido with time. Females, specifically, must talk to a healthcare professional should they get rid of fascination with sexual intercourse. Hormone products really exist, and doing exercises a lot more could be all you have to make your libido rear.

Don’t overlook to beverage adequate normal water. As folks time, dehydration gets to be more widespread. To stop this, it can be proposed that 8-10 sunglasses water be intoxicated every single day.

With a little luck this post offered a supply of new info you can utilize to combat growing older. Find out approaches to keep youthful and also you are certain to have a youth-increased standard of living even while you achieve outdated time.

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What Everyone Should Know When It Comes To Tinnitus

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

Many people often complain about the pain and frustration associated with tinnitus. Although tinnitus is very frustrating to deal with, it becomes so much easier for someone if they know what to do to manage their tinnitus effectively. This article contains great tips to help you manage your tinnitus and avoid much frustration.

Learn to control your stress. You can use a variety of methods such as yoga, meditation, support groups, or making sure you get enough sleep. Anything that helps you decrease stress in your life is worth doing. The more stressed you are feeling, the more tinnitus flares up or bothers you.

You might want to visit a specialist who can determine if you need hearing aids. You may find that partial hearing loss at certain ranges is contributing to the unwanted sounds you are experiencing. Beware though that if the tinnitus sounds occurs at the same frequency level as that of the hearing loss that hearing aids may worsen the condition.

Try taking a warm bath with lavender in the water before bed to relax you and lower your blood pressure, thus lowering the volume of your tinnitus and allowing you to fall asleep quickly. It will also help you to relieve the stress from your day which can also aid in reducing the symptoms of tinnitus.

If you’re having a difficult time falling asleep due to your tinnitus, try to concentrate on the background noises in your room. Figure out what is causing each noise and isolate it in your mind. Play with the sounds as if you’re creating a symphony, and then focus back on each one by one.

It’s possible for alcohol to make tinnitus worse, so consider abstaining from it completely. You have to weigh out how much fun or enjoyable drinking is as compared to the suffering tinnitus symptoms are bringing you, and decide which is more important to you.

One factor which aggravates tinnitus sufferers is smoke. If you are a smoker avoid smoking, or even try quitting the habit at all costs. If you go to bars where people smoke, or in cramped quarters where people smoke try to avoid them. The less aggravating factors you are around the better.

One of the rare forms of tinnitus is pulsatile tinnitus. The person who suffers from pulsatile tinnitus can hear rhythmic pulsing usually in time with their heartbeat. The known causes are abnormal blood flow, irregularities in the brain structure, some brain tumors, and veins close to the inner ear. On occasion, surgery is a suggested remedy for the most serious of cases, but only to fix the underlying cause, not to cure the tinnitus.

Wear earplugs when you’re going to the dentist. It will help you to keep the loud noises from tools to a reasonable level and your tinnitus shouldn’t act up from the sound. Close your eyes and imagine you’re in a far away place where everything is beautiful and serene and peaceful to help you get through the stress.

Try to avoid stimulating drugs. Ingesting too much caffeine or other stimulants can increase your level of arousal and awareness of annoying tinnitus sounds. Therefore, limiting your intake of coffee, tea, cola beverages, and chocolate, as well as decongestants and other stimulating medications, is a simple way to help reduce the discomfort of tinnitus.

When your tinnitus is bad, think about all of the good things in your life. Make a list of everything that you are thankful for, and look at this list whenever you are having a bad day. It will remind you of all the positive things that you have and help to offset the terrible negativity that tinnitus can induce.

To summarize, you desire the best information possible for your tinnitus because it is preventing you from getting out there leading the life that you want to live. Start now and use the expertly written advice that has been given to you in order to make this condition as bearable as possible.

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Anti–Getting older Methods For Any Healthful Existence At Every Age!

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

We have been all likely to get older. It is a fact that some individuals age group much more gracefully than the others. Continue reading for methods to remain younger for a longer time and age group much better.

Think of age as just a number. How old you are is not what really matters. What matters is how you feel, both inside and out. If you take good care of your body, you will feel younger than your years. You can be young at heart regardless of your chronological age. Try not to let your age have a negative affect on the way you feel. Focus on the positive aspects of aging, not the numbers.

Be on the lookout for scams. The elderly are a common target for con men searching for an easy mark. Do not give out personal information over the phone or Internet to people you do not know. Also, do not leave personal papers lying around the house when someone comes to your home, as scammers can steal this information. These steps will help you keep your money secure with you.

Leading an active lifestyle will help you to age gracefully. You can expect to appear more youthful, and feel that way as well, if you keep yourself active and keep your mind that way as well. Being inactive in both body and mind reduces your quality of life as the effects of aging increase. Do something active every day to stay younger on the inside.

You need to have a safe and enjoyable activity to devote some of your time to. Having fun and staying active will help to keep you feeling young and forgetting about aging completely.

A highly-well-balanced diet regime could be your solution to developing outdated in health insurance and contentment. Be sure that your diet regime is loaded with soluble fiber, fresh vegetables, whole grain products and fruit. Be sure that you will be only consuming foods that don’t have plenty of bad cholesterol and awful fatty acids. Ingesting these types of food will offer your system the vitamins and minerals it requires.

Make sure you go to your medical doctor and carry out the exams that happen to be advised. In case you adhere to by means of with normal tests, your medical professional might possibly discover prospective health conditions just before they turn out to be extreme. The earlier you street address your worries, the earlier start to remove or take care of the situation.

Exercise is quite important as you age. Your workout doesn’t have to be as vigorous as it was when you were 20, just get out there and do something every day to stay fit. Walking is easy to do, and is great exercise. If you enjoy the water, join a gym that has a pool. Try some stretching in the comfort of your own home. Go bicycling with your grandkids. Find ways to integrate fitness into your everyday activities.

Your life expectancy can be shortened if you eat too much sugar. Sugar intake has been linked to increased aging. Research indicates that all animals can be negatively impacted by sugar, including a reduction in their lifespan.

By applying the above mentioned guidance, you are able to age group with elegance and dignity. Very best of good fortune in keeping younger!

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a biography (called www.vooruwkinderen.nl in
Dutch) is no simple task. It
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specialization. Biographies is likely to be
amongst the best things you can
pass on to your own kids, so do the
sensible thing and locate a
pro to have one made!

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My Teenage Religious Experiences

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

By the time I was a teenager, I had four younger brothers, the youngest of whom was eight years younger than me and I was trusted to look after them for short spells during the day on the weekends, which gave my Mum a little more time to get out of the house. Therefore, I assume, there was no longer any requirement to take me and my younger brother to church on Friday evenings to give her a rest.

Whatever the reason, my Dad stopped taking me to church with him when I was a young teenager. I did not miss it. However, I continued to wade through my mother’s books on Buddhism (especially Tibetan) and my father’s books on yoga. I say ‘wade through’, but I found the philosophy fascinating and ’so obviously true’, although I practically never discussed them with my parents.

The only chats we had regularly in those days were on dreams, but we had discussed dreams since I was around six years of age. One of my earliest recollections, when I was about six, was going down to my parents after being sent to bed and complaining that I could not get to sleep because ‘the Indians kept talking to me’ – I meant native Americans.

My parents did not scold me or tell me not to be stupid. Instead, Dad came up to my bedroom and had a chat with the Indians, explaining that I had to have my sleep. I could still see them, but they stopped talking to me. The next weekend, my wallpaper was changed for one with cowboys and Indians on it and I never had that ‘difficulty’ again.

During my teens, one of my favourite times of the week was discussing my dreams with my mother while eating breakfast. One day I was telling her that my dream the previous night had been about her and me standing on a jetty in Portugal, when a car stopped by us. She interrupted me and said that she had had the same dream. She described the car, it’s colour and what took place next.

We had had the same experience and she showed me a book on Astral Travelling. I had already read it, but it was great to have had a personal, practical experience. There was no holding me from then on.

I began rising three hours before I needed to go to school to do yoga practice both physical and breathing types. I meditated for hours each week. My father’s mother must have got to hear of this and she sent word for me to go down to visit her.

She applauded my interest in what she called ’spiritualism’ – she would not call it ‘the supernatural’, because she said it was as natural as breathing. Anyway, the purpose of wanting to see me was to alert me to the dangers of carrying out spiritual exercises ‘without permission’.

Serious spiritualists, she said, asked permission to ‘hold a seance’ at least a week beore conducting one, which is why seances and services are held on a regular basis. The person holding the seance or service has to organize protection for those attending the session. This is quite easily done and practically never refused, but you still have to do it.

My grandmother explained that people do not change into angels simply because their body has died. There are decent dead people and mischievous dead people. Without permission, that is without a guard, these mischievous spirits might enter the living body through the base of the spine and make that person appear to be crazy – literally out of his mind (because someone else is in there too).

She made me promise there and then never to ‘do anything spiritual’ without authorization, but particularly never to use Ouija boards and never ever to ‘try anything’ if I was under the influence of any drugs that made me ‘lower my guard’.

At the age of 13-14 in South Wales in those days, I had no notion about drugs or alcohol, but I have never forgotten my promise, because I know that my grandmother has not either.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with non-religious beliefs. If you want to know more go to What is Religious Belief?

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You Want To Join A Church, Do You?

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

It is a common fact that more people used to go to church than they do now – in the West at least – and it is a further well-known fact that it tends to be the older people who go to church, maybe because they would like to hedge their bets before it gets a little late. Well, now the Baby Boomers are getting old, so does that mean that the Western religions will see a renaissance?

It is also true that people have got used to travelling away from their town of birth to find a job, which has been made easier by a better road and rail network, better public transport and cheaper cars, so many people might find themselves in an region, where they have been for years, but where they do not know traditional institutions like the churches.

So what should someone do if they want to (re)kindle their religious custom at church in a town where they do not know anything about the churches, their histories or their clergy?

Well, the first and most obvious question to resolve is: which denomination do you like the most? Let’s suppose you reply ‘Catholic’; if there is no Catholic Church in the area, would you be happy to go to a Protestant Church – a Baptist or a Methodist Church? The same is true of other religions, but I cannot give names with the same amount of confidence as when talking about Christianity.

If you are uncertain, you are in a better position than many, because you can go on a fact-finding tour without any bias. So, if you do not know which church or even which religion you favour, go to a different one every week.

Sunday is not always the best day to go to a Christian church because it is the most crowded day of the week, but you will see on the notice board outside or in the foyer which other days the church holds services on.

If you are a white ‘Christian’ type, do not feel that you may not go into churches of denominations from all over the world, but take a little time to do some research first so that you do not flagrantly upset any customs or taboos.

For example, lots of religions forbid the wearing of shoes in church and some require that the head is covered. Ask a friend to go with you if you are uncertain. People of all religions are happy to take visitors who are sincere in their quest for enlightenment. Language may be your biggest stumbling block with religions established abroad.

If walking into a church of an unfamiliar religion is too much, you could look on Google for on line forums that deal with the religion that you are interested in. That way, you are more likely to find information in your own language too. There are numerous English-language forums on Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and more.

If you do walk into an unfamiliar church alone, sit towards the back but endeavour not to sit yards and yards from the nearest person or you will feel isolated. It is good to sit towards the back though because then you are not intruding and you can leave if you are not comfortable.

After the service is finished, do not be in a rush to leave. Merely sit there quietly, reading through the hymn book.

Give it ten minutes or so. By then, someone ought to have noticed that they have a stranger in their congregation and someone ought to have come over to see how you are.

Some churches will even offer you tea or coffee, biscuits and a chat. This is your chance to see how friendly the congregation is. If no-one comes to you to introduce themselves, I personally would not go back there.

If no-one comes over, say hello to the person who gave the service on the way out, but try to be one of the last out so that they have the time to talk to you if they want to. Again, if they just shake your hand, mutter something like ‘nice to see you again’ and move on to the next one, so would I – I would move onto the next church.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with religious beliefs in China. If you would like to know more go to What is Religious Belief?

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