Happiness through positive thoughts

             

        Key words:  positive thoughts, happiness, healing power, affirmations

Thoughts have enormous powers. It can shape and mould one's life. Thoughts can be positive or negative. Positive thoughts can create happiness, health, overcome fear and inferiority complex. Scientific studies have proved that affirmations have got healing powers. No doubt medicines have got their own role to play in curing diseases.

Words saturated with sincerity and faith are like highly explosive vibration bombs and can bring desired changes. Affirmations repeated regularly can move the cosmic vibratory force to help in solving personal problems.

All affirmations in order to reach the super consciousness must be free from doubts and uncertainties. Affirmations for curing physical and mental illness must be repeated continuously at regular intervals.

Lord Jesus said:" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth."

Avoid using unpleasant words even if they are true.

Remember- A word spoken once can't be taken back.

It is very important to understand that in the use of thought as medicine, it should be seen that right thoughts are not neutralized by wrong thoughts.

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Laughter - the best medicine

                                  Laughter- the best medicine

        

 Tags: laughter, best medicine, comedy, positive emotions, smiling

One of the characteristics of human beings compared to animals is that  humans can talk and laugh; but animals can't. 

It is recognized all over the world that  laughter  is the best medicine! Researchers have found that  positive  emotions  have a beneficial impact on a person's health. It has been observed  that watching comedy films boosts blood flow to the heart. 

It was  also observed that artery blood flow was reduced after watching movie clips that caused distress; but  was increased  after watching movie clips that elicited laughter. The difference in flow between sad and happy responses exceeded an astonishing 50 percent.

The study was conducted on 20 healthy young adults after asking them to  view 15 to 30 minutes of  tragic / comic films. For the analysis 160 measurements of artery blood flow were taken before and one minute after exposing to phases of laughter or sadness.

The health benefits of smiling and laughing are:

-Decrease stress, strengthen immune system, improve mood, increase positive attitude

Now a days there are laughter clubs in metropolitan towns. Here  people in groups assemble early in the morning and engage in laughing for a brief period. 

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https://youtu.be/G09dfRrUxUM

Source: British Medical Journal - Specialty Journals / Kate Melville

                            Tapioca- Carrot Mixed Porotta

Introduction

Tapioca- Carrot Mixed Porotta is a special vegetarian dish of Kerala. In addition to a normal food item, this is very much suitable for school going children and employed persons for their lunch.

      

Ingredients

1. Wheat Flour (Atta)        3 cups                     

2. Tapioca                          500 g                       

3. Carrot                            3

4. Green Chilies                2

5. Oil                                 2 table spoon

6. Salt                                According to taste

7. Water                             1 cup

Method of Preparation

*Add water and mix thoroughly the wheat flour and roll into small balls

*Remove the skin of tapioca, cut into small pieces and boil it

*Wash the carrots and grate it nicely

*Knead the boiled tapioca, add salt, sliced green chilies and grated carrots

*Take one ball of atta and spread into circular shape of approximately 13 cms

*Take one portion of tapioca- carrot mix  and keep it at the center, fold from the sides and  spread again 

*Smear little oil on both sides, keep it on a  tawa and heat it till it  turns into brown color

*Have this with tomato sauce, chutney or pickle 

   

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Mental tension, worry - the problems of the modern world

key words:  mental tension, worry, yoga and meditation, depression

Yes! there is tension for almost all the people in this world, may be a school going child, male, female, senior citizen, rich, poor from any spectrum of the society. 

Actually what do we mean by worry? Is it possible to define that?

Worry can be defined as a state of being anxious and troubled over actual or expected problem. The severeness of the problem may vary depending on the individual concerned. For example, when a student  is preparing for an examination he  will be under some tension. But he has to concentrate on the study so that he can perform well in the examination. Similarly when a player is taking part in a match he is required to play well to win the match ; he may also be in  some sort of  tension. Like that  various situations will be there when one will be in mental tension.

Impacts of stress

Physical

- High blood pressure

- Heart disease

- Aches and pains

- Head ache

-Trouble in sleeping

Mental

- Depression

- Sadness

- Irritability

- Eating disorder

- Smoking

- Using drugs

How to reduce tension and worry?

- Discuss the problem with your close fiends and get their suggestions.

- Regular exercise will help in reducing stress hormone like cortisol in the body. At the same time exercise may help in generating endorphin in the body to stimulate good mood.

-Writing diary notes - Write down the problem in a diary and with a positive mind, try to analyze the problem and solutions may naturally crop up in the mind.

-Yoga and meditation - 

       - Increases self awareness

       - Reduces negative emotions

       - Increases patience and tolerance

       - Increases imagination and creativity

- listen to music

Music has a great impact on a person's mood. Listening music will help in lowering blood pressure and in turn helps in relaxation.

In a nutshell

It is not possible to avoid worry and tension completely. One will have to adjust the life and take necessary steps depending o the situation.

So do not worry about the future nor regret over the past.

Remember the old dictum -

                        " Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday

                           Why fret? if today be sweet!"

Do not keep your mind idle. Get engaged in some activities always -

Reading, Writing, Cooking, Painting, Gardening, Social service 

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Climate change and Global warming

It has been observed that there is a gradual increase of atmospheric temperature. Then naturally the question  crops up as why is this increase in temperature? Earth's temperature has risen by 0.14 Fahrenheit (0.08 degree Celsius) per decade since 1880 but the rate of warming is more than 0.32 degree F (0.18 degree C) since 1981.Higher temperature causes many problems like heat strokes and even death. The main reason for the increase in temperature is due to high concentration of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere. These gases are termed green house gases. The increase in the earth's temperature is known as global warming. Climate change refers to the  changes in the climate over long period of time. The changes include precipitation, temperature and wind pattern.               .

The manifestations of climate change are rising sea level, high atmospheric temperature, declining air quality and erratic weather pattern. This leads to negative effects on human health. WHO has reported that due to global warming about 1,50,000 deaths each year around the world. (Scientific American 2009). According to scientists, green house gases are mainly responsible for the increase in atmospheric temperature because these gases trap heat and prevent it from leaving the atmosphere. 

A green house is a building with roof and walls of transparent material such as glass. Plants are grown in these sheds as plants require regulated climatic conditions. A green house stays warm even in winter months.

      Green house 

Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) has set out basic framework and principles for international climate change cooperation with the aim of stabilizing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This was formed in 1992. It established an international environment treaty to combat human interference with the climate system. The global mean temperature in 2022 is about 1.15 degree centigrade above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) period.

Global emissions

Burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas is used for generating electricity. The largest contribution to climate change is due to this burning of fossil fuels; approximately 75%.The electricity is used for domestic consumption and for various industries. When trees are cut, they release the carbon they have been storing. Forests absorb carbon dioxide. Destroying the forests reduces nature's ability to keep emissions out of the atmosphere.

Problems of global warming

The problems are manifold. It impairs human health, rises sea level, changes the precipitation pattern, increases droughts and floods, and serves as threat to biodiversity. Allergies, asthma and infectious diseases will become more common. China is leading in global warming pollution, producing of about 26 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. USA, European Union and India come in the second, third and fourth positions regarding CO2 emissions.

Solutions to climate change

Reduce the green house emissions to the maximum extent possible. As trees help in absorbing carbon dioxide the cutting of trees should be  stopped as far as possible and at the same time plant more trees. The main  steps required to be adopted are:

- Limit the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

- Use renewable energy like wind, solar, tidal and geothermal power.

- Switch over from petrol/diesel driven vehicles to electric vehicles

- Plant more trees

- Protect the oceans as they absorb large amount of carbon dioxide from the  atmosphere

- Reduced use of plastic. Burning of plastic causes carbon emission and as such reduce the use as well as disposal by burning.

Mad Man of Naranath

 

Once upon a time there lived in a small village in Kerala a person called the Mad man of Narnath. He lived alone and led a happy life. One day, he decided to celebrate his birthday  in a grand scale. One day he decided to celebrate his birthday in grand scale and  invited all his neighbors for the feast.

 He went to the nearby market and purchased all the materials - rice, vegetables, jaggery, oil and other condiments. He also hired the services of two cooks. He found that  he was short of vessels for cooking. He then approached his neighbors and requested them to lend him some vessels for a couple of days.

 All his guests arrived on his birthday and enjoyed a sumptuous and tasty food. They thanked Naranath for his hospitality. Since the borrowed vessels were not returned even after few days,  neighbors came to his house and enquired about their vessels. He told them he would be returning the vessels with in the next two or three days.  As promised,  the vey next day Naranath went to his neighbors houses and returned the borrowed vessels. In addition, he also gave each of them another small vessel of the same type. When enquire about the additional vessel, he told them he had kept their vessels in an underground cellar in his house. When he opened the cellar to take back the vessels, he found the small vessels also there.  According to him, these were babies of the original vessels. The neighbors were extremely happy to receive an additional vessel and profusely thanked Naranath for his benevolence.

 After few months, Naranath decided to celebrate the death anniversary of his father. As before, he invited all his neighbors for the anniversary. This time also he borrowed few vessels from his neighbors. They were extremely pleased to give him the required vessels on loan since he had given them additional baby vessels in the earlier occasion.

After the feast was over, Naranath collected all the borrowed vessels, went to the nearby market and sold all of them. He could earn a good amount from the sale. Since the neighbors did not get back their vessels given on loan even after a week, they approached Naranth and requested him to return their vessels.  He told them that he was extremely sorry as he was not in a position to return their vessels. He told them he had kept their vessels in the cellar in his house. When he opened the cellar to give them back their vessels, to his utter dismay he found that all the vessels were dead. He expressed his deep sorrow on the death of their vessels. The neighbors were extremely angry and asked him as how their vessels could die? 

They all went in unison to the village court and lodged  a complaint. The court asked Naranath to explain his conduct and ordered to return the vessels. Naranath humbly and politely explained his case. He told the court that in the earlier occasion, he had returned the original vessels of his neighbors along with additional baby vessels. This time also he had kept the vessels in his cellar and when he opened it to return the vessels, to his utter dismay and sorrow, all the vessels had died.  He prayed to the court that he was in no way responsible for the incident. He told that  as birth was natural, so was death. The court dismissed the appeal of his neighbors.

It is told that Naranath lived happily for many more years.

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A Review of Earth Pressure Theories

 

A Review of Earth pressure Theories

Key words: earth pressure, retaining wall, wedge theory, plastic equilibrium,

Quite often retaining walls are to be constructed in connection with high way embankments, railway embankments, slopes, bridge approaches, tunnels etc to retain the soil. The soil mass exerts pressure in the lateral direction on the concerned structures. To design these structures, the magnitude of earth pressures is to be calculated. There are various theories to find out the magnitudes of earth pressure: Coulomb (1776), Poncelet (1840), Rankine (1860), Culmann (1866), Rebhan (1871), Resal (1910), Bell (1915) and Terzhaghi (1929).

 However the prominent among them are those of Coulomb, Rankine and Terzhaghi which are briefly described here in-

 

          Retaining Wall

Coulomb’s Theory

Coulomb’s theory considers the soil behind the wall as a whole mass. If the wall moves forward due to earth pressure, a rupture plane would develop somewhere between the wall and the surface of repose. The wedge of soil between the back of the wall and the plane of failure is taken for analysis. An analysis of the forces acting on the wedge at incipient failure will reveal the thrust from the lateral earth pressure. The main assumptions of Coulomb’s wedge theory are: The backfill soil is dry, homogeneous, isotropic granular material with no cohesion; the rupture surface is plane passing through the heel of the wall; the sliding wedge acts as a rigid body; the thrust acts on the back of the wall at one-third the height of the wall at an angle of friction between the wall and the backfill.

 Rankine’s Theory                

Rankine’s theory is relatively simple as compared to that of Coulomb. Rankine investigated the stress conditions as associated with the states of plastic equilibrium in a semi-infinite mass of homogeneous, elastic and isotropic soil with its self weight. A mass of soil is said to be in a state of plastic equilibrium if failure is incipient at all points with in the mass.

The important assumptions of his theory are: The soil mass is semi-infinite, homogeneous, dry, cohesionless; the ground surface is plane which may be horizontal or inclined; the face of the wall in contact with the soil is vertical and smooth; the soil mass is stretched or compressed for attaining active or passive states

Terzhaghi’s Theory
In 1929 Terzaghi conducted experiments on the retaining wall and showed the relation of pressure on the wall if wall changes its position i.e. to move inwards to the backfill, outwards of it or remain at its place. There are three types of earth pressures on the basis of the movement of the wall.

1.Earth Pressure at rest

2.Active earth pressure

3.Passive earth pressure

 Pressure at rest:

When the wall is at rest and the material is in its natural state then the pressure applied by material is known as Earth Pressure at Rest.
Active earth pressure:

When the wall moves away from the backfill, there is a decrease in the pressure on the wall and this decrease continues until a minimum value is reached after which there is no reduction in the pressure and the value will become constant.
Passive earth pressure:

When the wall moves towards the backfill, there is an increase in the pressure on the wall and this increase continues until a maximum value is reached after which there is no increase in the pressure and the value will become constant

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