Fix this Language.

Hi, thanks for your visit.

Recently the London newspaper, The Independent ran an article on use of language. You can read it here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/miles-kington/mind-your-language-or-

he-word-squad-will-have-kittens-803134.html

The idea of keeping the language intact has been put into practice by the French who value it but English has just grown unchecked from the day grunts were associated with meaning.

Now it is a conglomerate of whatever language the many invaders used. Words were modified to fit the mispronunciation of travelers or coupled with other words already distorted to form hybrids. This mixing and adopting continues today.

This island where nothing is far from anywhere else except in language is unique. The Scots, Welsh and English speak different languages. In many cases the English from one county speak differently than the next. London English is the “official” language yet this is constantly changing.

When the brave dissidents left England for The New World they brought their Puritan speech and writings with them. After a while the word spread back home and further abroad. Soon the French, Spanish and who knows who wanted a part of the action with free land and no taxes. They all contributed to the lingo.

By the way there was not a time when German was almost the official language of America. It is a myth. Go to http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa010820a.htm

Australia was settled by brave and brutal jailers and brave and desperate prisoners. It was so far from home there was no way back. The prisoners who didn’t die in confinement settled in the sunnier shores along with the governors. But the language stayed more or less proper English despite the gold rush influx of nationalities. Even in the 1950s Australians felt British.

The influx now is being made by texting, slovenly Americanisms, youth ignorance because they weren’t taught well and a need for brevity that often takes longer to interpret than proper words.

The article up top was an April fool’s day joke. Did you notice? But English is changing rapidly and increasing pace. There really is a need for some official body to give it direction to stop it splintering into tinder. The French, Italians and Dutch have them.

Obviously easier, more phonetic English is desirable. Where ‘c’ is pronounced like ‘k’ use ‘k’ as in ‘kake’ not ‘cake’. Similarly with ‘g’ when it has a ‘j’ sound as in the suffix ‘ology’. It hasn’t got the sound as in ‘gear’. Does ‘oloji’ seem too daunting? How about ‘f’ instead of ‘ph’ as in ‘fone’? That would be easy to get used to.

The ‘ough’ puzzle is a hurdle to students of English; bough, trough, through, etc.

Why use silent letters that need to be written but ignored by the reader?

This article from Wikipedia gives a summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_reform. Please read it.

America seems to be the worst offender in corrupting its native tongue. This is mostly due to the hopeless education system where spelling was ignored as long as it made some sense. Now we have words like ‘gonna’ (going to), ‘wanna’ (want to), ‘thet’ (that), and misuse of words. “It’s bigger then that.” “It flew by it’s self.” “It was plane wrong.” He put it their. “He became a where of”

I’m not concocting these. I read them and cringe every day.

Some of it makes sense. Replacing ‘a lot’ with ‘alot’ is amusing and somehow valid.

Texting is abbreviated phonetics. Let’s hope it remains a second language or at least a fad like teentalk. I used it once in my own way in a forum. A girl replied that she couldn’t understand what we were saying. That was the whole point. I think ‘sumfin’, for ‘something’ is going too far.

The scary bit is that these people are teaching others by example.

Start by correcting your own bad habits and then teaching kids the proper way to speak and write. You don’t have to speak like the Queen of England, just sound a bit better educated or at least like a news reader or TV host. You’ll be treated better if you don’t seem like a brainless yobo.

Language is there to communicate! That’s its purpose. If your reader can’t understand you; why bother? English speech is easy enough to learn but the spelling is woeful. We need to change it.

I was a founding member of SR1 many years ago. You can look it up on that previous link. It wouldn’t work now. Changing the language bit by bit would be totally impractical. A full change would still take many decades.

Australia changed to the metric system of weights and measures in 1970 to ‘77 but we still hear of miles and inches after all this time. I do blame the prevalence of American TV and movies partly for this. Fortunately moves to change this U.S. attitude are looking promising. Let’s hope it happens. Imagine if there were 12 dimes to a dollar. Why work with 12 inches to a foot or 5280 feet in a mile? Surely 1000 meters in a kilometer is simpler. If you can influence this or a more phonetic English; please do so.

This language is the most widely spread and looks like being the planets’ world language. It outstrips all other attempts at invention. We can put it into gear by making it phonetic.

We can ensure this extremely adaptable language will establish itself as the world standard if we correct its faults.

We see massive constructions and mind bending projects across the planet. Some of them are astonishing. This is another one that the future will hail as a great leap for mankind. It will still take decades but it starts with one step. Let’s take that step in this generation.

_______________________

Stimulate your toes for thinking?

“Jay, have you gone nutty or been smoking some of that stuff again?”

“No, listen to the explanation and give it a chance.”

Reflexology states that acupuncture meridian points for the head and neck are located in the foot; particularly in the big toe. These can be stimulated to enhance mental clarity.

You can play with your tootsies and feel better for it. What have you got to lose by trying?

Put your right foot over your left upper leg and stimulate the area below the toenail with your thumb. Use a firm circular pressure but don’t hurt.

Continue this down both sides of the toe but pay most attention to the area you started on. Keep this up for about three minutes.

This has benefits for the master glands – the pituitary, hypothalamus and pineal.

Just type these into Google for a stack of information.

Do this with the other toes but only for a minute or less for each toe.

Now it is only a matter of swapping feet and repeating.

You can do this anywhere you can take your bare feet and it feels good. Get into the habit of doing this after a shower or during a work break. You can even do it at the park. That’s a good place to be to get away from the everyday work load.

-------------------------
Keep well and if you see somebody without a smile give them one of yours.

Jay Ross.

Study and Environment.

Hello again,

IQAdult has strayed from the original idea of a learning site to one of social comment. One thing has stayed the same though; the lack of feedback, comment.

Even when I have been deliberately controversial it has passed unnoticed.

This is in spite of the fact that there are readers.

What does it take to get you to put hairy or delicate fingers on the keyboard to give your opinion?

None of us is right about everything and we all should be trying to see the other side in any debate. So please tell me when you believe something opposing what I say. Give some reason and we’ll take it from there.

We’re not going to fall out over it. A healthy debate should stimulate thinking.

There are enough somnambulist proles walking this planet who will never consider the other side of any topic. Many stop at the gate and say there is no other side.

Let’s hear your side.

As a bonus I’ll advertise your blog or site if you have one. Maybe you have an opinion that gets a lot of replies. If so you can use this as a testing ground for a blog of your own.

*********
Want to save some reading time?

The way to do it is the way good students do it.

What is your purpose and that of the author? All of us have found at times we need to reread something because it just didn’t sink in. That can be tiredness or disinterest in the topic. It happens often with students because they don’t really care for the subject. Maybe it’s bad writing; too many words or dry language.

The key here is to identify the reason. Why am I reading this?

If it is an article in a newspaper or magazine it will be written with the topic and main point at the beginning so read the first two paragraphs. The evidence and padding fills the article and the conclusion is given. So if you get the drift of the article after the intro just go to the end.

Go back to get any detail you need for your purpose in reading.

If you need to comment on what you’ve read, look for the key words. Often a thousand word ‘piece’ can be reduced to fifty words and if you understand the topic, reduced even further. These become your notes, whether written or mental. Take a little time to organize this summary when you’ve finished. This helps your understanding.

So many books and movies have been made with the “Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back again,” plot. That need not detract from a good novel. The plot takes second place to the author’s skill in his craft. A page can transport you to heaven or hell.

In a movie we have come to be more concerned with the content (effects, drama, spectacle, emotion, etc.) than the plot.

But with non-fiction it’s different. Pick what the author is saying.

Do you agree or think he’s missed important information?

Is the article logical or has there been screw ups in his thinking?

Are you wrong? Both you and the author are vulnerable to mistakes.

Question the article. If you are doing this for an exam the teacher will be more impressed with a well thought out reply than a copy of main points. Besides, by questioning you start to think for yourself. That’s what learning is about. It’s not to become a parrot.

A lot of books have an end of chapter summary. These are so useful. Read these and fill in the details of vague points from the text. Very often the whole book can be mastered in a very short while.

If there is no summary read the ‘contents’ to see what ground is covered, then the conclusion. Go to the index to pick areas you need further explained.

Learning depends on your attitude and relevance to you. New information must be linked to something you already know. A bad student may be able to remember every goal and name of every footballer of a team for the past ten years but not be able to remember anything about school taught history. Its relevance, interest is not there.

If you can link history to football; he’d remember it.

You are reading for a purpose. What is it?

************
This has been mentioned before but it has relevance not just to learning but to life in general. It’s your immediate environment. Where is your computer? Where do you study or read? How is your family life?

Your surroundings influence you in so many ways. Nobody can say that growing up in a Brazilian slum, uptown New York or a country town doesn’t make a difference to the way you think. Of course it must.

The wellbeing of our home planet is being degraded by people without ethics. Too much needs to be done to change that but you can change your personal environment. All it takes is to see the benefits and act on it.

We can’t all live with a seascape or hilltop view; or can we? There is an increasing number of professional people moving out of the city and living a healthier life in rural settings. The communications revolution means so many jobs can be done at home so why not make your home where you want to live? Cleaner air, less noise, fewer distractions, less crime and more scope for a healthier lifestyle make it an attractive option.

A rural setting may not provide the wealth of social opportunities available in city life but weigh the benefits against the occasional traveling. Is the party, concert or bar life worth more than your health? Start to think about your environment.

I’ve talked about study conditions before but if you spend a lot of time with the P.C, get the best conditions. Your chair needs to be comfortable, with arm rests and adjustable height. Keyboard needs to be easy to use. I found a cordless keyboard works well for me because it can be relocated when a small change in view is needed. It’s all part of refreshing the mind.

Get rid of distractions like noisy kids, annoying music or visitors. Make it your corner of the world and your time. Let people know you’re ‘at work’ even though you’re at home. Have some plants in the room and make sure lighting is comfortable.

Another aspect is important. Your household environment influences your personal relationships. It must feel like home and be a place to relax. If there is conflict at home it may not be only incompatibility. The place may be depressing, dull and lifeless. Family members can be brought together in a cooperative effort to achieve a redecorating. An ugly view can be covered by a few lush plants. A paint job can do wonders. A ‘throw-over’ will change a couch. Coordinating colors or fixing annoying faults can do a great deal for morale.

Get rid of objects that obstruct movement. Never leave things dropped on the floor. Ease of movement is essential especially in hallways. Let sunlight in. We often have either too much or too little furniture. Make it right. Be innovative. Take some wall hangings down and put up shelving to get organized. Have a yard sale to get rid of stuff or go to them to buy stuff.

Hopefully a strengthening of family ties will provide the impetus for more unity if you get to work on a common goal. These ideas are easily found in decorator mags or on TV so there is no excuse for ignorance. Believe me, your environment does influence your thinking and emotional state. Make yours friendly. It’s easy to do.

------------------

Stay well,

Jay.

Mail iqadult@gmail.com to get in touch personally.

© All issues are copyright but permission to reprint parts is available. Just email me. There are also articles available on http://www.ezinearticles.com under my name.

Laws and You.

This piece first appeared in IQTeens some issues ago. I’ve represented it here with a lot more added because it fits.

------------------------

Society has a lot of rules and laws; too many in fact. The rules change while you’re playing and nobody tells you them before the game anyway. It can be a mess.

You’re taught one set of rules by whoever you grow up with and obviously there are sets of rules used by other people that don’t match yours. You will, and probably still, believe the first set of rules whether they’re right or wrong because that’s what you were taught by your parents.

Your parents are good people, hopefully, but they are still fallible like the rest of us. They believe something from their era and its evidence or just because they were taught by their parents. They’ve probably never analyzed it.

There can’t be impartiality in a one sided teaching. You have to realize this and weigh the evidence. But you can’t compare it to what you’ve been taught. It must be weighed against reality. Anything that is only opinion must be seen to be just that. You have to think for yourself. Question everything.

Just changing neighborhood can change the rules. Go to a different country and they change again. What’s good here can be bad there and vice versa.

There are different ways to dress, words to say or not say, manners to abide by, rituals to go through, and while a lot of it is made to ensure society runs smoothly, a lot of it is man made rubbish to protect the people who can’t handle change. Either that or they have a position of power and don’t want to lose it.

Some rules are necessary so we don’t have chaos. Imagine having no road rules. If everybody just drove where they wanted like shoppers walking in a busy mall we’d all end up with battered ball shaped cars.

Thou shall not kill is a rule but sometimes it happens without intent so we have rules about that too. When soldiers go to war we forget about the rule and encourage them to kill. Indeed we make sure they want to kill other Mother’s boys. Both sides say God is on their side. What is right? When someone does kill and we sentence them to death aren’t we committing the same crime when we execute them?

There are rules to protect the frail or innocent people in society. We don’t live in the “Minority Report” movie world but often the police can’t do anything until a crime against these people is committed. By then it can be too late so what can we do?

Thou shall not steal is obviously a good rule for anybody who has something worth stealing. For those who don’t have; it may be the only way to eat. But for most theft the punishment is wrong. If Fred steals your car and smashes it, he is put in jail. What happens to you? You haven’t got a car. Putting Fred in jail is no use to you. Fred should be made to pay for a new car and all expenses on the way to getting it.

If vandals burnt down a shop they should pay back the insurance company or shop owner for restoration.

Our prisons are overloaded with minor criminals and the most “freedom” loving country on the planet puts more of its citizens in jail than any other country. Something is wrong there.

How many of the rights your forefathers fought for are you willing to give up for so called “Security’? So much information about you is stored and available for anybody to use if they know where to look or have the right gadget or money for a bribe. Laws of privacy are being eroded every day.

How about victimless “crimes” like smoking marijuana? Does the government have a right to deprive liberty from someone who isn’t hurting anybody? We allow alcohol but only arrest a drunk when he becomes violent or a threat to others. I’ve never seen someone high on pot smashing someone’s face.

Does the government have any rights to tell you what you can do sexually with a consenting adult in private? If “public morals” are the guide line; we know what they are because of the internet. Sexy photos and movies are a massive market. Should the laws be changed to reflect reality?

We know that ‘speed cameras’ are used for revenue raising, not to protect the public. The facts support this. Yet we put up with the fines rather than band together to fight them. At times in various parts of the world, there have been no traffic cops or lights and the result was fewer accidents, safer road courtesy and better traffic flow.

By far the majority of people are law abiding and will take care of each other. We don’t need so many laws.

There are a lot of corrections to be made in our legal system. The need for so many laws has to be reexamined.

If you are thinking of a career in the legal profession or just want to make some changes, get active, because there is a lot to do.

Maybe you could bring up this topic at work or with friends to get their opinions or send a comment to the world via this site. Don’t listen to the ones who say “Forget it; you’ll never change the law”. It only takes one to start anything.

Are there any Legal people out there who would like to make a comment?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

IQTeens has opened and if you have anything constructive, naturally, to say, please tap on the keys.

Keep well and alert,

Jay Ross.

Hello again,
Evan Hadkin has made a couple of comments about matters
raised on IQAdult and while I had read some of his blog "Livingauthentically.org " I put off an in depth reading because of time constraints.
I wish I hadn't. It is well worth spending time there.
There are several valuable downloads and lots of other interesting blogs are mentioned.
Here is a piece from his blog.
----------------------
"You know those arguments where you feel you have been there before? Where you feel that you can predict what is going to be said next? As if the people were following a script?

At times like this we have often slipped into a role. One of the simplest ways of looking at these roles comes from analysing stage drama. In this analysis (and there are many others) there are three basic roles: persecutor, victim and rescuer. The dramatic element is the switching around of these roles.

Here’s an example to explain what I mean. Imagine a Western. The hero (rescuer) rides in to save the fair damsel (victim) from her evil uncle (persecutor) plotting to take her farm from her. Imagine the scene where the evil uncle (now victim) is held at gunpoint by the hero (now persecutor) and the fair damsel (now rescuer) pleads for her uncle’s life. The hero is distracted by the fair damsel allowing the evil uncle (now persecutor) to gain possession of the gun and hold at gunpoint both the hero and fair damsel (now both victim). At this point for there to be more drama a rescuer needs to be introduced (cue the cavalry).

These roles can be found in pretty much any dramatic work, a detective story, a comedy, science fiction or romance, the list is virtually endless.

Often in those moments where we feel that know what is going to happen next we have slipped into these kinds of roles. The challenge is to step outside of the role and this will be the topic of my next post.

This way of analysing relationships was developed by Stephen Karpman in the early days of Transactional Analysis. The best introduction to Transactional Analysis (and the best self-therapy book I know) is Born To Win by James and Jongeward. It includes a chapter on games.

To reflect on:

• Choose a situation that you don’t like and you feel like “I’ve been here before” or “I know what is going to be said next”.

• Look for the switch.

• Ask yourself who is playing what role.

• Ask yourself what is it that I get from playing this role. (It may confirm ideas you have about yourself and others).

Once again here is Evan's edress. "Livingauthentically.org ". Do read the "About us" section at the top left.

Loads of books and studies have been compiled about role playing. It's not surprising seeing it happens in every aspect of interpersonal contact. It's in the office, at the shop, within families, among lovers and with authority figures.

Knowing what role we are playing consciously or unconsciously is an insight into our character and motives behind our actions. Knowing yourself is the key to understanding others. If you realize you are taking the victim role or persecutor: ask yourself why. What do you want, or more importantly lack?

Do you lack courage or belief in yourself so you take the victim role? Do you feel angry and emotionally deprived, so you take the agressor role? Recognizing this is the beginning of understanding the most important person in your life - you.
If you are struggling mentally or emotionally; analyze the role you play.

If you can see the roles others are playing it may very well save you pain in the future or deepen a friendship. In any case it will make you more aware of how to treat situations by the role you consciously take rather than simply react to their role. This can be a valuable asset.
----------------------------------
So many people join chat forums and start their own blogs so it puzzles me why so few bother to comment on blogs that are already going.

Look at the blogs you visit and note how few comments there are. Did you know you can get a training and make your name on someone elses blog? Just have your say about the topic and make it more than one or two sentences. You can start a whole new section that will be yours if you want it.

We get things done in life by colaborating with each other. Say something to me and I'll publish it. I'll promote your blog if it is of value to my readers. I'll help if you are sell something. Get in touch. http://iqadult.blogspot.com
----------------------------------
IQTeens is up and running now so if you know a teenager or have raised young adults or have advice for teens ( other than "grow up!") get on board.

The free book for a sign-up is still available. So far I've only sent out six! It's all explained two blogs ago.

Learn something new today,
Jay Ross.

God or chemistry?

The original Hippies were embracing the essence of Christianity. “Make love, not war,” isn’t really different to “love thy enemy”. Instead of fighting the cops, it was good to give them a flower. This was Gandhi, Jesus, Mother Teresa, philosophy with a novel twist. The idea of today’s open source PC programs and freeware came from the same attitude.

When the ignorant pleasure seekers got in on the idea of unrestricted drug use and “make love” became “have sex” it was ruined. The ‘weekend hippies’ had a new participatory entertainment. The establishment, when they weren’t making money from it, (Hippy kits were being sold.) became frightened about the social revolution. The times were indeed a-changing. Something had to be done.

The real Hippies had moved out to the collective farms. So many of those who stayed, debased the original idea with sex, drugs, pounding heartbeat ‘music’ and gave Hedonism a new meaning.

But something else emerged; the psychedelic drugs that mimicked the effects of meditation. They gave many people a new and lasting awareness of their inner Self. It was spiritual without being religious in the common sense.

My question here is;

If chemicals like LSD, psilocybin and mescaline can awaken areas of the brain in such a way, what is the nature of the experience?

Are we and our thoughts merely products of chemistry?

Is what we call “Reality” only an outcome of what we ingest?

It’s not a new idea. But now it’s no longer only in the realm of philosophy or laboratory.

Alcohol changes our mood and even personality in many cases. Several natural drugs stimulate our pleasure centers. Genes carry traits and hereditary factors that not only control our bodies but also our minds.

Food substances have an effect for good or bad on our thinking and bodily functions.

Cannabis stimulates appetite and calm awareness with time slowdown.

We are dependent on water and food to live. We need these chemicals to survive.

Now look at techniques aimed at ‘enlightenment’ used in religions. The swirling of the Dervish, the constant beat of drums and dancing, chanting, are all designed to attain trance states that have surrendered the everyday ‘self’. This surrendering of the ‘self’ leaves you open to suggestion. You’ll now accept the ‘message’ whether it’s political or religious.

Modern day evangelists use group psychology and powerful emotional displays to persuade people to lose the ‘self’ in the group. The mass singing, grand buildings, repetitive mottos (Praise the Lord! – Allah is great, Hare Krishna, etc.), replace individual thought.

Ritual and robes give it authenticity and historic legitimacy too. All this is to make you open to suggestion.

Techniques of manipulating beliefs are many. The bad cop/good cop system still works and people have been subjected to so much pressure that they ‘confess’ to a crime they did not commit. But for more serious conversions, stripping the individual of ‘self’ is the first step. This can be in the form of torture, deprivation of sleep, food, hygiene, rights, status, etc. It’s a matter of creating a problem and then offering a solution.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people are too distracted by day to day living to see they are being manipulated. They are filled with sport, celebrity, mindless TV and earning a living. This is intentional.

If you thoroughly convince someone they are sinners and offer the solution to being redeemed, saved; it is the same technique as deprivation of self belief. If you put fear into the mind, increase suggestibility and offer a solution they will accept it. This fear could be of burning for eternity in hell (itself a construction), threats to security or lifestyle (personal, loved ones, home, homeland), or being rejected by peers for any reason (status, bad breath, fashion).

Repetition reinforces the instilled belief.

Religion and spirituality are different in so many ways. Were we taught when we were young and unable to question the information? This is why children born to adults of a particular faith become adults of that faith.

If American Christians grew up in Iran or India they’d be Moslem or Hindu.

Did we get the belief in a highly emotional state, after the death of a loved one, facing our own death or at a time of great stress, suggestibility?

If so, you can see that the belief was induced.

But then people have worshiped sun gods, tree gods, ancestors, snakes, spacemen, and devils with the firm belief that their religion was the only true religion. They have even died defending these beliefs.

So it is easy to instill a belief.

But there is another way that beliefs alter. The chemical way is faster and more permanent.

At this stage I must warn you that irresponsible use of drugs without preparation and experienced guidance could completely stuff up your life. You may end up in an asylum.

The purpose of this issue is to raise questions about the nature of our beliefs.

The fact that we are profoundly influenced by chemicals is incontestable.

The fact that some synthetic and natural substances can give rise to profound religious feelings and convictions must challenge the validity of such beliefs.

When a cherished, secure, ‘fight to the death’ belief can be altered by a chemical action I wonder at the worthiness of the original belief and the second, replacement belief.

The chemicals’ effects are also dependent on external stimuli. The same amount given to the same person under different settings and expectations will cause vastly different reactions.

The ‘bad trip’ can be set up or happen because of bad organization, environment or company. The spiritual or insightful voyage is the same, open to suggestion and influence. So what are we to trust?

There is no ‘outside reference’. How can there be?

Tryptamines (LSD, psilocybin, etc.) and phenethylamines (mescaline, etc.) seem to be a quick way to gain insight if directed properly. Mescaline has long been used by Mexican Indians for spiritual enlightenment. There is careful preparation and supervision during the experience.

Back in the sixties a properly planned trip included ‘ground control’ (an experienced guide who stayed ‘straight’) and a safe natural environment.

Meditation involves guidance and a lot of work on your self; always a difficult thing to do without instruction. But those who attain this profound state KNOW it is real.

Mario Beauregard of the University of Montreal put 15 nuns through functional magnetic resonance imaging ( continuous two minute brain scans) while they relived “intense union with God” experience.

He and others have found the prefrontal cortex, right anterior insula, parietal and temporal lobes and a few other minor spots are all involved in some way with profound spiritual states.

It’s not yet a simple case of stimulating these areas electrically or chemically. It is a complex arrangement but like the first aircraft; it will some day be possible. The psychedelic drugs have already shown us that. What does this say about spiritual and religious beliefs?

Curiously there are various views on this. One side says it shows there is no God, only brain functions; another says here is the door to a higher state of evolution and the nuns said that this is proof of how God speaks to us.

Have the Buddhists got something in saying this is all an illusion, a state we are trapped in?

An interesting article on these experiments can be found here http://www.sciam.com/search/index.cfm?q=searching+for+god+in+the+brain&submit.x=21&submit.y=7&submit=submit

I want to know what you think. iqadult@gmail.com or the comment button below.

---------------------------------------
If you’d like notification of each issue of IQAdult just send your edress with “send IQAdult” in the subject line.

There’s a free book if you introduce a friend to IQAdult. See last weeks issue on meditation.

©. Jay Ross.

Meditation ummmm

Hello folks,

There is an important message at the end of this segment. But let's get on with the job.

Meditation has been mentioned a few times on this blog. Most people think of it as a quick way to relax during their hectic lifestyle. While it does fulfill this function, that is not real meditation.

If you practiced true meditation, you wouldn’t need to find ways to relax.

Yoga and meditation became widely known to the western world in the 1960s via the Hippy movement. Alternative religions and lifestyles came to be considered. The use of valuable psychotropic substances like LSD left the realm of psychiatry to enter the real world. And it was quickly discovered that they gave intimations of states of mind only fully available through deep meditation.

By that is meant, they opened the doors of perception to the real Self as opposed to the temporary ‘self’ that we think we are. The ‘self’ is something we have just like the physical body. The Self, with upper case S, is eternal and constant.

If you think meditating is sitting down with a whisky and letting uncontrolled thoughts rampage through your non-disciplined mind, you’ve been mislead. Concentration is essential to clear the muddy waters so you can see without the distortion.

The object is to concentrate awareness on a particular theme or subject so that you become part of it. In the process you lose your ‘self’ to the subject. You become mind-less, beyond words and ideas, and experience unrestrained Consciousness.

A Mantra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra is a sound that is repeated often to aid concentration. The favored sound for beginners is “Aum” or “Om”. It represents the eternal or ultimate and is also the sound this planet makes. Users of LSD in natural settings like beside forest streams or Rocky Mountain highs know the sound as a huge choir somewhere over the horizon.

This is by no means advocating illegal use of these substances. It is to understand the historical setting and it returns later in this article.

A mantra can be anything from your own name to the Deity you believe in or a concept like ‘love’. Whatever it is, you need to be guided through concentration first. It is useless to think that meditation is just a way to have a pleasant interlude letting the mind drift aimlessly. Go have a nap. It will do just as good.

The Mandala http://www.google.com.au/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=mandala&meta=&btnG=Google+Search is a visual aid to do the same thing. You can combine them.

“Yoga” means ‘union’. Naturally the greatest desirable union would be with the Supreme Being; whatever you understand as that. So meditation is of use to all and any religion. It is of great help in understanding yourself, your motives, fears, passions, needs and mental or emotional conflicts because it surpasses them. They become insignificant in the light of the greater awareness.

There are so many techniques but all involve stilling the mind of thought so that you become empty. It’s not an easy task. The idea is to become, not think.

When you relax thoughts run through your head. You either don’t bother with some of them or dwell on some that you are concerned with, and let others carry you into interconnecting areas of total irrelevance. This has to stop.

All these thoughts have to be marshaled into a stream and let flow away from you. Sink below the stream where thoughts can’t enter. The mind must remain free of thought. You must get rid of brain and mind, to achieve a state of ‘essence’ of simply “being”.

You must take off your clothes to put on new clothes and so your mind must be empty to be filled with a new understanding.
This freeing of the mind is difficult for some people. They think they won’t have control and may do some psychological harm but it is exactly the opposite. The Christian Bible says to give your burden to Christ. The very act of letting go is healthy. That mental release flows to your physical body too.

You’ll find anguish disappears and some habits like over-eating (caused by a mental problem) taking the same path. As you continue, more changes will occur.

Surface benefits include sound sleep, less stress, greater self confidence, greater self respect, more understanding of, and therefore empathy with other people, a realization of wholeness and unity with life.

You will find that God is not some anthropomorphic bearded gentleman watching each of us from a throne in some mystical paradise. Only the briefest realization of the union of your Self and God/the universe/supreme consciousness/universal force/the eternal ‘IS’ will change you for the better.

You can tell if someone has been there. They are calm. They have a quiet knowing that sees where you are in your development. They also see what you can become. If you see this in a person, you are on the road too.

There are books galore about meditation techniques. You really don’t have to sit in an uncomfortable lotus position. Sit upright with a ‘straight’ spine. Breathe in deeply through the nose, filling the whole lungs, hold, and forcefully blow out through the mouth. Do this three times.

Concentrate on your single word mantra until you merge with it. Stay there in conscious no thought awareness.

It’s that simple and that difficult.

There are many variations in ways to meditate because there are many types of people. Many paths, one heaven.

If you want something thorough, two books by Mouni Sadhu are recommended – “Concentration” and “Meditation”.

There are many free courses around. Here is one you should investigate. http://meditation.org.au/

I’ll have to save that link to LSD ‘till next week.

-----------------------------------------------

If you would like notification of each issue of IQAdult sent to you, just email me at iqadult@gmail.com You only have to put “send iqadult” in the subject line and your edress so I can send it. This will save looking for a new issue and make it only one click away.

Some comments would be appreciated about what you like or not, or suggestions for topics.

There are plans for IQAdult but to implement them I need to get a greater base of readers. To that end I’m offering this 173 page ebook

FREE E-Book: "Making Your First Million - A Practical
Guide to Principle-Centered Prosperity"

"I first discovered this amazing book by George Parry a couple of years ago, and to this day it's still one of the finest guides to success I've ever read. The book contains the distilled experience of $70 million in mail-order and Internet sales over 20 years, and it has my highest recommendation. Now, George has generously agreed to let me share it with you for free. This is a very valuable resource!"

The above is the blurb that goes with the book but I can back it. It has a religious slant at the end so if that isn’t your thing ignore that part. But I would advise reading it. This is a valuable book for any business person.

You can also get his free net marketing course at http://tinyurl.com/2qh8mz

To get the book just send the first name and edress of a friend who would like to get IQAdult. You will get the book when your friend accepts. Naturally you can send the book to your friend when you get it so you both benefit.

-------------------------------------

© Permission to use any articles on this or my other blogs may only be a mail away so ask.

If you have a relevant blog and would like it publicized here, talk to me. iqadult@gmail.com

SUGAR and WELLBEING.

As consumers of roughly 160 pounds of sugar per person annually, according to recent reports, we need to be asking what the cost of our consumption is on our bodies and our health. Whether it's the sugar in what we eat or drink, and this includes the lattes, juices, sodas, and some alcoholic beverages-we owe it to ourselves to understand that sugar is making us fat and disrupting our body organs. Another more subtle but equally detrimental effect is sugar's action on the brain.

For many of us, sugar has an addictive pull that rivals cigarette smoking or heroin addiction. It may seem a bit outrageous to compare our sugar love affair to these drug addictions-I mean, doesn't just about everyone on the planet eat the stuff? Hasn't it been around-well, practically forever? If that's your brain talking, read on even if you don't have a weight challenge, because you'll add years to your life by becoming educated on the topic. And while it takes more than knowledge to change one's habits, the tragic truth is that most people never learn the facts or the solutions to food challenges they could otherwise overcome.

The first step to getting a handle on your sugar habit is to take a look at the science of sugar and its effect inside your body. But before we take a look at what happens when we eat this non-food called processed sugar, let's talk about the law of sugar, which many of you have experienced first hand.

What happens when we consume it? For most people, it sets off a craving for more sugar. This is the law of sugar in action. There are very few of us who haven't felt the urge for more cookies or chocolate, after just having one. I have met a few individuals who don't eat sweets at all and generally these folks fall into three categories. They've either gotten a handle on their sugar consumption and avoid it entirely or they never had an issue with it in the first place. Other people consume alcoholic beverages regularly and get their daily sugar from that source. It makes sense: most recovered alcoholics will tell you they discovered a significant sweet tooth after they got off the alcohol. That's because many alcoholic beverages already contain a high sugar content.

Now, why exactly does eating sugar trigger a strong desire for more sweets or calories? Eating sugar triggers the release of opiates in the brain. Opiates are chemicals which make you feel good. For anyone who isn't sure what opiates are, understand that they are the in the same class of drugs as heroin or morphine. Eating sugar will also begin a cycle of craving or compulsion for more of the same feeling that was caused by the release of the opiates. You may not "get high" the way you would with a powerful narcotic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't impact your mood or your brain.

Sugar consumption has been linked to challenges such as depression, CFS, ADD and ADHD, PMS, as well as overall poorer cognitive functioning. Most of us know about sugar's link to diabetes, but have you considered its possible connection to cancer as well? What if excessive sugar consumption was indirectly causing something as frightening as cancer? If it were possible, would you take the risk?

It's not surprising that we have such a terrible rise in obesity over the past twenty years when we have manufactured sugars like high fructose corn syrup being put into so much of our food. HFCS is literally manufactured in a laboratory to be much sweeter than natural sugar.

If you have ever heard the term "sugar blues," all you need to know is that your blood sugar and your health will rise and fall like the Roman Empire if you eat like a king when it comes to sugar. Sugar's effect inside our bloodstream is even more straightforward: when we eat or drink sugar our blood sugar goes up, our insulin goes up, and we throw that metabolic switch that says store body fat. Meanwhile, as we get fatter we continue to overtax the pancreas and develop insulin sensitivity, which leads into diabetes. The picture being painted is not so pretty, is it?

Here's something amazing: even thinking about a sweet food we love can trigger a chemical response in our brains to eat it. Essentially, the chemical response and memory trace which eating sugar creates inside our brains urges us to go back for more. Meanwhile, that false sense of comfort we achieved from eating our sweets keeps us returning to the source over and over again and we form the insidious habit of associating comfort with food.

This "comfort" food is anything but friendly to our health.

The truth is that most of us avoid thinking about the harm sugar or similarly damaging high-carbohydrate diets are causing to our bodies. We do this because of the pleasure it gives us. It's even more pronounced when we use it as a reward or as a release from our busy, stressed-out lives. Sugar does make us feel better for a brief while, perhaps. But nearly all of us have at one time or another experienced the downside that comes with the crash, even if we didn't know what was going on exactly inside of us to make us crash. The ultimate tragedy is that while we might acknowledge that we have a sugar challenge-some of us might even be self-proclaimed addicts-we also tend to feel powerless to do anything about it.

But we're not entirely powerless. If more people looked at sugar's opiate triggering power and treated it like an addiction, doesn't it stand to reason that they'd have a better chance at overcoming their sugar habit? Yes, ignorance is bliss. But this kind of ignorance is literally destroying our health and the health of our children.

Commit to yourself now that you will continue to educate yourself on both the problem and the solution. Books on sugar abound, so the good news is that there is an in-depth solution you can read up on further if you're serious about overcoming sugar addiction. If you're serious about kicking the habit, consider working with a naturopath or health coach. A great way to kick off your new resolve is to embark on a low-glycemic diet, especially if you can join a group that is doing it together.

Just be aware that if you take up the challenge, you'll have to step out of your comfort zone for awhile. For awhile, you'll miss it like an old friend who has moved away, but like anything else, you'll get used to it. And I promise you, once you experience the wonderful clarity of mind and feel the natural energy your body provides without sugar's artificial high, you will never want to go back.

Maria Calidonna is a weight management coach and writer who lives in Westchester County New York. She is married with five children and in training for the 2009 Track and Field World Master's Championships in Finland. You can visit Maria's product website at http://www.marketamerica.com/bodyandmind and order your Low Glycemic Transitions Weight Management Kit and other related health supplements and products. She also invites you to visit her weight management coaching blog at http://www.mariacalidonna.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maria_Bleasdale-calidonna

It’s nice to have somebody else write my issue this time. It won’t become a habit but with Christmas feasting coming up this is a timely reminder. When you look at those sweets remember what they can do to you, and your children.

All the best for the holiday season. Take this time to reflect on what you have achieved this year and plan for what you want to achieve in 2008.

Where do you want to be when 2009 is looming? This year can change your life.

All of us have some aspect of life we would like to change so take some quiet time to sort things through and write down goals.

Do it any way you want but make subheadings of actions you will take. Divide these into further do-able strategies.

Above all, be practical about your time scale and actually DO work toward your goals.

It may sound like a lot of thinking but planning is essential to goal achievement. If you only do some of them you’ll be better off.

NEWS. I’ve got an ebook out! It deals with a proven strategy to overcome psychological addictions like smoking, over-eating, gambling etc. It does deal with alcohol too but AA already uses part of this method.

I say “proven strategy” because it is just that. It does work.

Price is just $5.00. How many cigarettes or spins on the slots can you get for that?

Just email IQAdult@gmail.com and I’ll send details.

Visit or recommend IQChildren.blogspot.com to someone. The most recent issue is about the Santa lie.

Stay safe,
Jay Ross.

(c) Permission to republish these issues may only be an email away. Ask me.

A CLEAR MIND

Look for the Special Offer at the bottom of the page.
Hello again.

We broached this topic once before but I thought it might need elaboration. Both study time and work time need to be broken in a way that refreshes the mind. Many people know about having a break and yet they push on without it in some martyr fashion or don’t do it properly.

It’s not only the small breaks that are necessary, we need larger breaks to get the big picture of where we are. It’s usually called a holiday. But then Sir Richard Branson is (in his own word) “fortunate” in having an attitude that spawned wealth and a life style that doesn’t need a holiday. Life is one long happy ride.

Let’s have a look at both of these.

If you went to work eight hours a day, seven days a week you’d be running low on ideas and enthusiasm. You’d be stale. As an employer I wouldn’t get the freshness needed in an employee. You’d go home grumpy, yell at the kids, kick the dog and have an argument with your partner. You’d be doing this because of not having time alone to rest or encounter something new.

We all need outside stimulation.

If you arrived at work one day and your boss said to fix up any urgent work quickly because we are all going to the beach or a theme park for the day, you would probably think he was nuts. But when it hit you he was serious how quickly would you get through the next job? You’d get through it without a gripe or hitch or stop. You’d work flat out to get the job done.

How much more enthusiasm would you take home and bring to work the next day?

I wonder if there is a boss out there who does this. It would be great for morale.

Working alone or studying needs to take you places to keep your mind fresh. Take a pad and biro but don’t try to get ideas or draft sentences, just go and let the mind free to enjoy new surroundings. Don’t go to the same park or coffee shop or quiet spot you usually go to.

Do something different. That’s the whole idea of having a break. Get on the river ferry and go somewhere you haven’t been or take a train ride to ten suburbs away.

This is a mental holiday wherever you go as long as it is out of the ordinary.

If there is some reason why this can’t be done then you have your own perfect mental health Eden inside your head. Just like ‘Second Life’ but without the cost or fear of being attacked you can create a rejuvenation mini world nobody else can enter.

Here’s how. Just sit back and relax with a straight back. Take a few deep breaths through your nose, hold and exhale quickly through your mouth driving out all the air you can.

These breaths should alternatively fill your lungs as full as possible and then empty them as much as possible.

Then sit and picture as vividly as possible a totally relaxing place. It may be a forest glen, a deserted beach, a hillside overlooking a green valley or sitting in a boat on a placid lake at sunrise. What color is the sky; light or dark blue or streaked with sunlit clouds? Maybe it’s the colors of sunset or sunrise.

It’s your place. Try to imagine that place now. It doesn’t matter if you change it later but it is good to go with your first choice at this stage so you get the hang of it..

Now become totally aware of how you feel. You feel at one with your surroundings. This is where you can relax. Feel the soft breeze on your face and body; notice the temperature and the scent of the place. Is there freshly mown grass or the aroma of flowers blooming? Maybe you can smell the ocean breeze or crispness of the mountain air.

Do you hear any sounds, like crickets or bird calls? Maybe there is a waterfall nearby and you hear its water cascading over the mossy rocks to a pool below. Can you hear that celestial choir over the horizon? Maybe you can hear the silence.

What are you dressed in? Are you barefoot or in comfortable soft shoes? Loosen any tight clothing. If you have long hair, let it flow.

Touch the elements in your surroundings. Feel the hardness or softness of them. Let the sand run through your fingers or roll in the grass and look at the clouds as they pass slowly.

Walk a while and taste the delicious fruit nectar or drink the crystal water. Wipe the sweet smelling herb on your arm. Are there butterflies? Can you see that little animal watching you? Do you want to say “Hello” and pat it? There is nothing here that can hurt you. This is your place.

Gaze at the pastel shades of the plants and marvel at the crimson of others.

Relax like you have not relaxed before. You can always relax here and the more times you come here, the more you will be able to relax.

Take a few breaths to get back to the jobs at hand.

As you become more familiar with this place you will be able to go to it whenever you want to rejuvenate. Nobody can take this from you. The only secret you need is to DO it.

Now let’s look at Sir Richard Branson. He has obviously got a fertile mind interested in a whole range of topics. That very fact is what makes his life a joy to live.

He would be bored to distraction watching TV. A regular job would offer nothing to stimulate his mind. So why do so many people kill their lives by accepting monotonous, dead end occupations?

Maybe it’s fear of loss or of success; ignorance of what they could achieve; just plain dumb ignorance; laziness; childhood teaching; apathy or inability to think beyond their immediate world. Who knows?

Several facts stand out. Branson is not interested in what Mrs. Jones next door is doing. He has a wide view of the world. He has his own life. He looks at what he does as an opportunity not a chore. He analyses situations. He has faith in his judgment. He makes decisions and he DOES something about it.

It is a fact that less than 5% of people will actually do something to achieve any major lasting improvement in their life.

If you got the magic words “Open Sesame” there is only a 3-4% chance that you would bother going to the cave. Ask yourself why.

Branson’s first venture into the aircraft business came about when he realized it was cheaper to hire a plane to get to his destination than pay for a ticket. He simply filled the plane with paying customers and made a profit.

Here is a very short summary of his life http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3693588.stm

His attitude is positive and he finds joy in newness. His self confidence is rampant but with a good deal of research behind it.

He will follow an idea no matter how silly it may be just to see where it could lead. He will give it a try, after all what can happen? We all started with nothing.

If he lost all his money he would make more to replace it.

How does his attitude differ from yours? He is willing to try! If you do nothing you will get nothing. It is simply a matter of mind. You probably will make mistakes. We all do at some time but the trick is to anticipate them.

His break from work is the challenge of the new; the freshness of a new venture. He stimulates his mind with further challenges..

You may not be able to start a Virgin Galactic but you can start a home business or tune a hobby to be financially rewarding. Try to make an extra $5 per day for the next month. Start tomorrow and mark the calendar. If you don’t get it find out why and try again.

Try for ten dollars per day when you have got it right.

If you can make five or ten per day; can you repeat the idea to make ten or twenty per day?

There is a need for volunteers in so many groups in your area. Helping can change your life. You can make a difference and be rewarded with new friendships.

Anything you can do to refresh the mind is going to help you. It provides an increasing confidence, happier nature, better mental and physical health and expands your interests.

We could talk about epinephrine, alpha waves, biofeedback or meditation but these are all available on the net so if you have a particular curiosity type them in.

For any artists wanting to start a project Your Eden is a great place to put you in the mood.

*****

Thanks for the comment about the previous issue, Evan.
Click on Evan’s blog about acupuncture at the bottom of that issue.

http://iqchildren.blogspot.com is only a click away. Call in.

Want your blog mentioned? Make a comment. I'll be glad to include you.

SPECIAL OFFER. Beat bad habits like smoking, alcohol dependence and overeating with this Excellent book priced at only FIVE dollars. Yes, only $5.00. Just send your edress (e-mail address) to iqadult@gmail.com I'll send you an invoice. This is real value. Get it now.

Bye for now,

Jay Ross.

BODY HEALTH FOR MENTAL WELLBEING.

Your physical health is important to your mental health. You can’t operate as well mentally when you are sick or tired or in distress. But just as important are exercise, cleanliness, proper breathing, eating correctly, clear blood flow and freedom from mind numbing drugs.

Here is a quick run down of a few things we should consider to help our body so our minds work better.

You have one of the greatest inventions ever in your bathroom – soap. Simply washing your hands after being in contact with anything that may harm your body internally should be as routine as balance when walking. I shared a house once with a cook who didn’t wash his hands after sitting on the toilet. He is dead now; not surprisingly after all the problems he had.

Wash hands after gardening. You wouldn’t eat potting mix so get it off your hands before touching anything that may go into your mouth.

Changing diapers requires the same thing; so does handling poisons like insecticides or herbicides, petrol or cleaning fluids. Use sense.

Use your own towel after washing or, after touching dangerous material and washing, use a disposable rag. Have your own bathroom satchel with hair brush, razor, toothbrush etc. Bad bacteria can be greatly reduced simply by washing with common soap. It is the front line attack.

Bacteria build in your body and the bad ones cause illness that is often treated with antibiotics. But bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. One reason is that people don’t take the full course prescribed. So the bacteria become immunized instead of eradicated and they can pass this on (via DNA bundles called ‘plasmids’) to other bacteria and viruses, helping them to become stronger. We get ‘Super bugs’.

If you have been prescribed antibiotics; take the full course.

Getting sick in the first place is largely your fault. Wait a minute – I said “largely” not “always”. Taking pills for every ailment that you think may be happening to you can cause illness. Start getting away from pills and into a healthier lifestyle.

You don’t have to join a gym to exercise. Do a few pushups at home. Leg raising or sit-ups, squats and stretches are the same. Lift a couple of bricks ten times sideways away from the body, then in front once or twice a day. Walk up and down stairs more often. Old people have trouble with their legs. Prevent it. Go fast walking and later jogging once a day. It all builds till you notice a difference and then you feel encouraged to keep going. That’s the point to get to. From there it takes on a life of its own. You’ve broken that “start barrier”.

Most people don’t know how to eat – seriously. Shoveling food into a mouth and swallowing it is NOT eating. Chew the stuff. Chew it over and over so that saliva fills your mouth and the food is reduced to almost nothing. Savor the flavors. You’ll discover different tastes you didn’t know were there. The saliva is essential for digestion and you’ll need less food because you won’t be overloading the stomach. Less food properly digested means more nutrition and less fat.

In general, water and fruit clean the body; vegetables build the body. But you also need protein which is available from various plants but we mainly get it from animal meat. I won’t go into the vegetarian debate here. Suffice to say eat much more fruit and vegetables; better still grow some of your own. It’s easy, they don’t have poisons and they taste better. Anybody can grow tomatoes, capsicum, beans etc. All you need is a sunny window or small plot of ground. A dwarf Orange tree is a great decorator idea.

Fasting is going without food to clean the body. “Break-fast” is the morning meal after not eating overnight. When you fast longer than overnight your body eventually starts using the poisons in your body for fuel. That’s why you can feel week or not in top form. You may develop bad breath or feel headachy. It’s because the rubbish is being put into your blood stream to flush out.

After fasting about three days your body starts using the fat reserves for fuel and generally you feel better. Water or diluted fruit juice helps the process. Do not drink alcohol.

Consult your doctor about fasting. A seven day fast every three or four months usually does a great deal of good for the body. Avoid heavy exercise but do not just sit. The idea is to get rid of baggage so do light exercise to turn fat into body toning.

When finishing a fast, start with a light meal of vegetables. Gradually increase this to eating a proper meal but not the type that gave you a reason to fast in the first place. From here start to eat with regard to what you eat.

Breathing fresh air and breathing it to full benefit is a lost ability for many. The bigger the city you live in and the closer to the ground you are have a great deal to do with the quality of air. Carbon monoxide kills. So do other pollutants that your body has to live with.

Breathe through your nose! Keep your mouth shut is often good advice and particularly when it comes to breathing. Sit and walk upright. Slouching diminishes the amount of oxygen getting to your lungs and causes stale air to stay. This opens the gate for infection. Every so often lift your chest up and breathe in deeply (nose), hold it and quickly blow (mouth) as much air out of your lungs as possible. Do this about five times. Try it right now.

Go to the beach or mountains or countryside every so often. It’s not only good for your physical health; it’s good for your mental outlook.

How many people live in a state of permanent sedation? Popping mild sedatives can become a lifestyle habit. It dulls your mind, preventing your dealing with problems. It enables others to take advantage of you.

Do not use drugs that diminish your thinking capacity. Be wary of all drugs including medications. Type their name into a search engine and learn about them. It’s your one and only body you’re playing with so know what you are doing.

Escapism is not the way to cope. Party drugs supplied by strangers can contain substances that kill brain cells or induce psychological states that are not easy to cope with. These can tip the balance in a person who is already unstable or having problems. You need only look at what people have done on alcohol to see lives destroyed.

I think it was an American president who said, “I tried whiskey once and liked it so much I never had it again.” There is wisdom.

What has your nose got to do with bad breath?

All of our close social contacts can be adversely affected by bad breath. In intimate encounters it can be disastrous.

Mucus from your nose can run down the back of your throat and settle on the back of the tongue. It can stay there for days. So keep your nose clear. This is just one factor in the world wide concern that confronts us every so often. Other causes are dental problems, tonsils, food scraps in the mouth and various medical conditions. But bad oral hygiene can create medical conditions that affect the rest of the body.

What happens? Bacteria munch away on dead cells like mucus and food scraps and at the end of the feast they have sulphur and nitrogen gases that stink. Unlike body odor which can appeal or disgust, bad breath always turns people off. It is the odor of faeces or decayed meat.

What can we do about it? Use your toothbrush often and have dental problems fixed. (Dentists don’t use a pair of pliers and a foot on your chest any more.) Use a mouthwash before going to bed to be effective overnight. When using a mouthwash stick your tongue out and gargle so you get to the back of the mouth where the main problem lies. By the way; those mouthwashes that sting do not mean they are more effective. It’s just that people think they are. A disinfectant does not have to smell like ammonia to kill germs.

Don’t use mouthwash after toothpaste because you’ll diminish the effect.

We’ll have a quick rundown of other matters another time.

Comments are welcome and you can contact me at iqadult@gmail.com

Check IQChildren if you have children and if you think you may have something to say in the upcoming IQTeens please get in touch.

Be good to each other.

Jay Ross.

(c) 2007

Tags. Health, Wellbeing.

SEX , LAW, REALITY.

Recently, here in Australia a young man was awarded damages after he alleged he was molested by a Scout master when the boy was 14 y.o. He and four other men are saying the same thing.

He said he suffered mental and emotional trauma ever since and described various nasty events in his life that he maintained were an outcome of this molestation.

OK, these things happen and we have to address them.

What got me interested was the fact he was awarded well over one million dollars in compensation.

I’ll cut to the bottom line. I think this is encouragement to accuse any older male who some guy has a gripe with or even someone he knows is gay and it is a sure fire way to set himself up for life.

He can own a home and invest enough to live comfortably till his dying days. It’s a very good business and it can all be done in about six months.

Teenagers face all sorts of challengers in those developmental years. Suicide rates among teens are high. Read some of the morose and frightening stuff they write in forums.

Sexuality and puberty can cause massive upheavals.

The stealing and vandalism stage sets in. They push every boundary to test it. Alcohol and drugs offer their invitations and peer group pressures take hold.

A lot of them do get into trouble.

Boys will get erections anywhere; on a buss, in a parade, walking along a street, just sitting or playing with the dog.

Testosterone driven boys will stick their new found manhood anywhere that might feel good. They experiment. It’s all part of growing up.

Now there are two types of adult male who can take advantage of this.

The first is the type who provides an alternative to masturbation. He is usually family or a family friend, therefore trusted. His role is an extension of an older brother model. If you think brothers don’t experiment then you are wrong. It depends on the years between them; more years, less interaction.

But this relationship, which happens to involve sex, is generally a stabilizing factor in growing up. When the boy discovers girls the relationship usually dissolves but they remain friends.

The other type is the predator who coerces and takes over the master/slave role. He uses fear to keep hold of his prey. This guy is sick and needs help. This is the guy who beats people and has an insecurity problem.

He or she (it’s common for women to do this but less than men. Women use a slightly different method) uses the ‘partner’ as an owned object to do their bidding like a trained dog.

This is the personality regardless of sexual orientation that beats his partner and kids and is cruel to animals.

He usually puts on the face of exactly the opposite, being friendly and kissing babies. Any relationship based on fear or insecurity is destined for disaster.

A youngster in such a situation will be scarred emotionally and grow up to repeat it if he does not get psychiatric help. I can’t see how giving him a million dollars will stop him from carrying the mentality of a future abuser.

I can see other men saying that father O’Leary or Scout Master Smith or any prominent, well moneyed male who would fit the profile, forced me to have unwanted sex with him all those years ago when I was 14. Therefore the traumas I have faced in these turbulent years are because of him.

(He is the reason I take these tripy, er I mean medication and why my marriage to that slu..er beloved wife broke up and why I’m too laz..er can’t hold a job and…Yes, I know I’m making fun of it now)

But it has been happening with women for ages. Notice how few paternity cases there are now that DNA testing is here.

Molestation is difficult to prove. It usually relies on others agreeing to the same facts or story. These men knew each other for years.

Quite frankly if I didn’t have any scruples, I would spend a week or two getting my story straight for a million dollars.

Throw in a few tears and a good deal of indignant anger and maybe some rewritten lines from an obscure movie and you’ve got your last payday. Just hold the “yippee” till you get back home.

This is by no means support for any abuser but if this enticement to wealth continues the system is wide open for abuse.

**Men are usually the ‘baddies’ in the teacher/ student relationships but in recent years women have been put in jail for having affairs with male students. I used to think like most people; that the guy was getting his good times by taking unfair advantage of the girl. But when women got into the picture I reconsidered.

I would have loved to have been shown the ropes by a mature aged woman.

It would have made me much more mature. Heaven knows at that age a guy can handle the physical side of things with flying colors. It’s all that painfully slow growing up that hurts.

Establishing such a relationship would have kept me off the streets with the lads on Friday and Saturday nights seeking alcohol and girls who would drop their knickers if we filled them with cheap bubbly.

The aimless “nothing to do” vandalism would disappear.

The age of maturity comes in here too. Girls mature before boys. Some boys mature physically at 12, others at 18. Emotional maturity is anywhere. Many adults are not emotionally mature.

I don’t think adults should go so far as having sexual relationships with teens but it is obvious that a more complete open relationship is beneficial.

Parents should be more like big brother/ big sister than law makers and authority figures.

Find out more about what is happening in the young world today. Asking them questions not only informs you but brings both of you closer to mutual respect.

**Here’s another case that can stimulate discussion. Recently “60 Minutes” TV told the story of a boy in a forum or chat room on his PC who was offered $50 if he took off his shirt while on camera.

He did and was paid the money. Soon there were many other offers of the same amount and the money duly paid.

Naturally this moved on to pants, undies and eventually masturbation for the camera. All this while collecting lots of money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in fact. $?00,000!

He got all this money for doing what he would normally do in private but he had the camera on.

He was still in his room, untouched, unafraid, able to stop any time, safe, with no ‘manager’ to pay and laughing all the way to the Pay Pal account.

He was exploiting people who got their thrills watching what they needed for stimulus to pleasure their selves.

This is the same thing as strip shows or exotic dancers or full Monty male shows only going the extra distance. He could do that because he was safe from harm.

You could say he prostituted himself but nobody touched him.

Where did the money go? Did he blow it all on good times when he should have invested in rental property? Or he could have started several high yield businesses while honing his entrepreneur skills. He could have been set for life with a start like that.

Now what about the people who paid him?

What is society doing to create people who need to pay to see this? Shouldn’t we be more open and less Victorian or Puritan?

If we keep looking at porn we get bored with it. There’s only so much can be done with the body. When you’ve seen enough, you’re done. It’s gone. Keep hiding it and we want to seek it out.

Your views on these issues are welcome. Click the ‘comment’ at the bottom and have your say.

Understanding breeds love.

Jay Ross.

Check IQChildren while you’re in the neighborhood.

Permission to use parts of these blog issues will be given if you give me details, and credit Jay Ross at http://IQAdult.blogspot.com otherwise all content is copyright. ©

Write to iqadult@gmail.com

STATES OF MIND ARE PERHAPS ...

States of mind are perhaps the secret to life.

Without getting into the philosophical or scientific aspects of that statement, this article by Steven Barnes provides a solution to the problem a lot of us face.

Many people have to write as part of their job, and many make a living writing. Writer’s block is a serious affliction and there are many ways to combat it. Here is one of the best because, mastered, it leads on to greater heights mentioned in the later half of the piece.

Turning Writer's Blocks Into Stepping Stones

Years ago at a presentation at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, I promised an audience to teach them to conquer this beast once and for all. Later, another instructor approached me and said “why did you say that to those people? It’s not possible.”

Poor woman. All she was saying is that SHE cannot break writer’s block, which told me all I need to know about her career. In all likelihood a promising beginning, perhaps an award-winning poem or book…and then pain.

It is not only possible to end writer’s block forever, but you can actually use it to your advantage!

First, let us define it in some useful way: Writer’s block is the inability to:

1) Produce new text.
2) Edit and polish existing text
3) Finish projects on a reasonable schedule
4) Send those projects out for editorial judgment.
5) Continue sending them out until they are sold.

Accepting the above, I’m going to give you a definition of the root cause of Writer’s Block that will actually help you in every arena of your life.

“Writer’s Block is nothing more than a confusion of two different states of mind: the Flow state, where you produce new text, and the Editing state, where you evaluate and polish what you have written.”

The reason WB is such a killer is that most of us have done far more reading than we have writing, and spend far more time in critical analysis of finished, polished work of the masters than in experiencing our own early drafts. So when we try to create text, we measure our first draft efforts against the polished work of the world’s great writers. Immediately, that “this is garbage!” voice goes off in your head, and you have a block.

It is said that novice writers must work through a million words of garbage before reaching their true voice. How in the world will you ever get through it if you constantly judge every word? If you will learn to turn that voice off, you will learn a massive and important lesson about the structure of the human psyche.

But what exactly is “Flow”? It is the psychological state where time seems to vanish, where you “fall into the page”, where the rest of the world floats away as you concentrate. This is similar to the “hypnogogic” state experienced just prior to sleep, and the first thing in the morning. It is experienced in distance running, dancing (remember the lyrics to “Flashdance”? “She’s moved into the danger zone, where the dancer becomes the dance”) and, to be perfectly frank, it is experienced during sexual relations in the moments just prior to orgasm. It is the dissolution of the subject-object relationship sought by numerous schools of meditation.

1) Alternate days (or work sessions) between flow and editing. If necessary, wear different hats, or sit in different chairs for each. NEVER DO BOTH IN THE SAME SESSION

2) Set yourself a daily output that will get you to your goal of one million words in less than 5 years. 1000 words a day will do it in three years. That’s roughly comparable to earning an AA degree. Not too shabby!

3) Explore and specifically study “Flow State” as a discipline. Do your internet searches and find a physical or mental activity (running, dancing, meditation, Tai chi, yoga, etc.) that opens a doorway to this inner world.

4) Listen to largo rhythm, sixty-beat per minute string music. Vivaldi is perfect for this, and induces “Alpha” (flow) state rapidly and effectively. Stay away from music with lyrics, but soft jazz is also terrific.

5) Practice making pictures in your mind, and then writing down what you see WITHOUT judging the quality of your descriptions. You want to enhance the connection between your deep consciousness and your typing or writing.

6) If you can’t find a good meditation technique, just sit and “listen” to your own heartbeat for 15-30 minutes a day.

There are many other ideas, but these will get you started. The most valuable thing you will learn is to “turn off” or ignore the negative voices in your head. And an artist who learns to do this on demand is on the way to integration of the deep levels of the unconscious…and greater joy in the act of creation.

---

About the Author
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction, been nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, and wrote the Emmy-winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of the Outer Limits. He is the creator of the Lifewriting™ high performance system for writers. Get a free daily Lifewriting tip at: www.lifewriting.biz

The “Flow” is similar to the athlete’s “Zone” but to a lesser degree. It is an altered state of consciousness that can be achieved with some practice.

But the real benefit comes with what is learned via meditation. I don’t mean relaxation technique. Real meditation embodies sustained focus as well.

What Steven is saying here too is the separation of the right-left brain activities.

Let the creation happen. Organize it later.

Actors talk about “the Stage Doctor”. Many great performers suffer nervous attacks before a performance. But upon walking onstage they enter the Flow or Zone. They become the part. It is a merging with the role.

This is a secret that can be used repeatedly in all aspects of life. When we learn to slip into the appropriate state of consciousness for the activity we are involved with, it flows with an astonishing intensity and ease.

This UNION with the act is what he means by “becomes the dance”, as the actor becomes the role, as the love making transcends the physical to become cosmic.

Whether it’s writing, building a box, gardening, eating, shooting pool or listening to a concerto, become that activity.

Your life will be so much richer.

*****
You can have your say by sending a comment. This is your blog too, without the work. From now on I’ll pick a comment and post it here (without your edress) and that person will get a gift if they give me their edress to send it to.

The reason for this is to get comments. Six billion people and only 3 comments! Is it that tame? Have you told anybody about IQ Adult?

*****
"People who believe in predestination still look before they cross the road." Maybe Steven Hawking said that. ?

Keep the blood pumping,
Jay Ross.