A Therapeutic Garden

There is more in your garden than plants and soil. The opportunity for renewed mental and physical health grows there, too.


Cultivate Healthy Minds

For all of recorded history, gardens have been viewed as places of wonder, capable of restoring health and peace to those who entered. Physicians in pharaoh-ruled Egypt prescribed walks through gardens to improve mental well-being. Monks of yore used their gardens to soothe world-weary travelers. And one of the seven wonders of the ancient world -- the Hanging Gardens of Babylon -- was built by King Nebuchadnezzar to heal his wife, Amyitis, of homesickness and depression.

Today, research and insights are bearing out an age-old truth -- the natural world influences the mind, body, and soul in remarkably complex ways. "Gardening is a wonderful means to improve physical fitness and mental outlook," says Diane Roberts Stoler, an avid gardener and health psychologist who practices in Boxford, Massachusetts. Here's a look at how you and your family can improve your health, garden-style.


Cultivate Healthy Minds

Multiple studies show that a plant-filled environment helps people relax, raises pain tolerance for people with chronic disorders, and improves moods. One of these studies, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, found that regular exposure to natural environments such as gardens helps people recover from the ill effects of stress more quickly.

Why is that? "Gardens surround us with sensory feedback very different from that of the urban scene," says Maria Gabaldo, a horticultural therapist at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Horticultural therapists use plants to promote health, well-being, and social contact among people recovering from disabilities, substance abuse, illness, and other problems.

Research from Kansas State University's Department of Horticulture finds that colorful flowers work more effectively than green foliage alone to reduce tension. "Flowers are symbolically and emotionally integrated with human life," says Eunhee Kim, the research assistant professor at Kansas State who led the studies. Seeing them can be a powerful distraction from stressful thoughts.

Gardening may also delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, says Paul Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist from Pittsburgh and author of Brain Health and Wellness. "It's an excellent mental workout because it requires sophisticated brain activity," he explains. "Learning a new skill, like gardening, helps plow and nurture new neural connections in the brain."

Pat Davis has been gardening at her Massachusetts home for more than 30 years. When she had a mild stroke at the age of 53, she could barely move, let alone tend to her flowers. But during physical therapy, she figured out how to replicate the exercises in her garden. Instead of pinching Silly Putty to improve her dexterity, she peeled the seedpods on her money plants. "It was very therapeutic," says Pat, who is now fully recovered.


Let Your Body Grow

Tamara Dorris used her Sacramento County, California, plot to treat an ailing body. In 2002, she was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis, an illness that nearly killed her. She schooled herself in the theory that nutrition is vital to healing and gives most of the credit for her full recovery to her strict disease-fighting diet of whole foods. "I also believe the act of watering and pulling weeds and picking foods from the garden was meditative and helpful in my overall recovery," says Tamara, who wrote a book about her experience, titled Get Well Now!

Gardens are good for bodies in other ways as well, such as motivation for regular exercise. "Since so many people enjoy yard work, they are more likely to continue doing it for many years," says Lori Turner, associate professor of health science at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. New findings uncovered by Turner and her research team indicate that gardening is second only to weight training as an activity most likely to ward off osteoporosis. All that pulling, lifting, and digging is a great way to expend calories too. A person weighing around 180 pounds will burn about 200 calories after 30 minutes of gardening.

More and more, evidence shows that people who consume diets rich in fruits and vegetables and get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day or so are less likely to develop a host of illnesses, including heart disease.

Best yet, all this bounty is no farther than your backyard. And the garden-fresh taste of homegrown veggies is out of this world compared to the taste of ones that have often been shipped thousands of miles to your grocer.


Sow Soulfully

"Quality of life is directly related to the ability to closely connect to the natural world," says Nancy Easterling, president of the American Horticultural Therapy Association. As gardening brings nature to us, it inspires patience and contemplation. Being responsible for the care of another living thing "can be very powerful for feeling good about oneself. We all need to be needed, to feel useful. Our sense of confidence grows in a garden," says Rebecca Haller, director of the Horticultural Therapy Institute in Denver.

An example of that philosophy in action can be seen at the Avon Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center at San Francisco General Hospital. There, you'll find Sanctuary Gardens, created by garden architect Topher Delaney as a way to nurture wounded psyches and offer a safe, serene place for patients. "Gardens are about faith in the future," says Delaney. "They are magical and miraculous healers of the spirit."


Get the Kids Involved

Your children may moan and groan about having to help in the garden, but you should still insist that they partake. Not only will they develop a lifelong love of things that grow, they'll have you to thank for a healthier diet.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, had fourth-graders learn about gardening by doing things such as planting seeds indoors and outdoors, spending time recognizing types of weeds, and studying proper harvest techniques. After 17 weeks of gardening, the children made a surprising discovery -- they liked many vegetables that kids are renowned for loathing. Among the vegetables the children grew to love: carrots, broccoli, snow peas, and zucchini. Now that's the miracle of gardening.

The Physician's Revenge

This story is adapted from the Jatakas and shows how important it is to evaluate advice before acting on it.

A girl threw a firebrand at a goat that was eating her corn and the goat’s coat caught fire. Maddened with fear, it ran to a haystack and started rubbing against it . The haystack was soon ablaze. The fire spread to the barn and then to the stables in which the royal elephants were housed. Some of the elephants were badly burnt before the fire was finally put out.

The men looking after the elephants could not heal their wounds. So the king sent for his own physician.


On the way to the palace the physician lay down under a tree for a nap. Hardly had he closed his eyes than he felt something warm running down his face. He got up with a start and found that a crow that was sitting on a branch directly above him, had spattered him with its droppings.The physician cursed the crow and wiping his face, continued on his way, but in a foul mood. When he reached the palace and the king asked him for a remedy for the elephants’ wounds he replied: "Rub the wounds with crow's fat, lots of crow’s fat!"

And so began a great slaughter of crows. Thousands were shot and it looked as if the slaughter would continue till all the crows in the kingdom were dead. One day, a crow flew into the palace and settled down in front of the king. Soldiers rushed forward to catch it, but the king waved them back.

"Let it be,’ he said. "Perhaps it has come to tell me something."

"I have," said the bird. "I am the king of crows and I have come to tell you that you are doing us a great wrong. You are being led astray by a man bent on revenge against my brethren."

"You are making a serious accusation," said the king." Have you any proof?"

"I have," said the crow. "The proof lies in the fact that crows have no fat, otherwise you would have got bucketfuls of it from the thousands you have already slaughtered."

The king felt ashamed of what he had done and immediately stopped the slaughter of the birds.

Layer Cake With Cocoa

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

¾ cup (170 g) butter, softened
¾ cup (170 g) sugar
3 eggs
1+¼ cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (60 g) finely ground almonds
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons boiling water

Ingredients for frosting:

½ cup (110 g) butter
1½ tablespoon water
8 oz (225 g) icing sugar
1½ tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).
2. Line a 9 inch (23 cm) cake tin with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin.
3. Beat the softened butter with sugar.
4. Add one egg at a time, mix well between each egg.
5. Mix with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla extract, and finely ground almonds.
6. Add 5 tablespoons of boiling water and mix well.
7. Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, ca. 40-50 minutes.
8. Cool the cakes and cut each in half, horizontally. They are easier to cut if they are kept in a refrigerator for a few hours before cutting.

Frosting:

1. Melt the butter with 1½ tablespoon water in a sauce pan and remove from the heat.
2. Mix with icing sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
3. Use one third or the frosting to sandwich the two layers together and coat the cake with the remainder of the frosting.
4. Cool the cake in the fridge to harden the frosting. Place the cake at room temperature 1-2 hours before it is served.

Please note that frostings made with chocolate are usually better than those made with cocoa! Click here for more frostings.

Variations:

1. You may substitute the hot water with hot coffee.
2. If you mix some boiling water with the cocoa powder prior to adding it to the frosting mixture it would melt all the little lumps of cocoa powder you would get.
3. If you do not completely melt the butter but softens it you will get a far more rewarding result.

Alcohol Warnings

Subject: Alcohol Warnings

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:

* Indubitably
* Preliminary
* Proliferation

THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:

* Specificity
* Antidisestablishmentarianism
* Loquacious
* Transubstantiate

THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:

* Thanks, but I don't want to have sex
* Nope, no more booze for me
* Sorry, but you're not really my type
* Oh, no, I just couldn't. No one wants to hear me sing

NEW Alcohol Warnings:

Due to increasing products liability litigation, American liquor manufacturers have accepted the FDA's suggestion that the following warning labels be placed immediately on all varieties of alcohol containers:

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your bra and panties.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with other members of the opposite sex without spitting.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burns. On the forehead, knees and lower back.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.

WARNING:

The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.

WARNING:

The crumsumpten of alcahol may mack you tink you can tipe reel gude.

Gangs and Prison Tattoos

Tattoos have always been used as a tool for identifying members of specific gangs. Members use tattoos for several reasons. Some members will have multiple tattoos, especially if they have spent in jail. These tattoos may include one or more characters are accepted as something unique to identify the members.



As a tear drop tattoo under the eye or a cobweb prison. Many members will have their name tattooed in large bold letters so that rival members will be scared. For the uninitiated unauthorized tattoo bears can be very dangerous especially in prison. Inmates at the prison have been known to remove unauthorized tattoos from members of literally no interruption of the person tattooed flesh.



Some special pride in themselves and their brand outside of conventional society. Tattoos are also used to express their often nihilistic philosophy. Most tattoos, popularized by Gangsta Rappers are often carried out in a stylish black and gray and depict firearms, bullets, secret letters, written in old English or Gothic. It is common for the person's name tattooed on the back of the neck or a slogan tattooed on his chest.


Clearly, the tattoos were accepted by society, though not very high class multi-Wannabes are ready to facial tattoos, or tattoos on their hands - a common practice among members.



But although gang members try to use tattoos to separate from society, meaning it has had on hip young middle class is undeniable. Young people who may have no idea about the meaning of these characters' original lies tattoos, which were originally worn by gang members as badges of honor.


There are many gangs in prison in California, the two main parties are:

Sureños which is Spanish for Southerners. They are a group of hundreds of Hispanic street gangs originating in Southern California. They are linked to Mexican Mafia prison organization. Sureños California gang were first to avail themselves of gang colors to be distinguished from other gangs.


State of California prison system provided railroad handkerchiefs to inmates in a standard color: blue. Hispanic inmates from Southern California selected or claimed the blue BANDANAS to identify. As a member of the Alumni Sureños street outside the prison system and they are determined as part of the Mexican Mafia organization.


Sureños identify with blue and sometimes gray, mostly to avoid service in Los Angeles (City baseball team to their home), Duke University and Dallas Cowboys apparel. Their number thirteen in the group is in Arabic or Roman numerals or a combination of both: 13, XIII, or X3 and other creative symbolism. This means that 13 letter of the alphabet, the letter M or M says La EME, Mexican Mafia.


Numbers are included in tattoos, as Tres Points (Spanish to three points) or X3 for the number 13 (see also: Three points tattoo), which has representation for number three within the Aztec number system. Additional important to avoid service in Los Angeles is the number that corresponds to the letter of the alphabet: L (12) + A (1) = 13.


Norteños which is Spanish for Northerners. They are also called Nuestra Familia (Our Family), are a coalition of Hispanic gangs in North America, based in Northern California. Member of these gangs is norteño (male) or norteña (female), based on the use of Spanish, these names are often capitalized when it comes to individual members. Mexican Americans who are not gang members, but to feel strong cultural links with others in Northern California can call themselves norteños / norteñas or just Northerners.


Norteños traditional rivals are Sureños (Southerners). Dividing line between Norteños and Sureños traditionally one Bakersfield, California. At the end of 1960, Mexican-American residents of California state prison system began to be divided into two rival groups, Norteños (Northerners) and Sureños (southerners), according to their hometowns place in the north-south dividing line is near Bakersfield. Part of the motivation to share is Norteños want to be independent of La EME, aka the Mexican Mafia.


As with other gangs, Norteños were involved in drug trafficking and smuggling, and armed conflicts with other gangs and police. According to investigators, the requirement for full membership in Nuestra Familia is held at least one gang killing.


Federal agencies, law enforcement, no longer can penetrate the group began to accelerate his studies in the late 1990's. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on charges of fraud, including some who allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. Thirteen defendants pleaded guilty; other cases are still pending. Two defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade.

Four Hot Signs Of Attraction

In today's society, beauty, physical attraction, and sexuality are all commonly misunderstood as some transcendent inevitable fact; falsely interlocking the three makes it seem doubly true that in order to initiate attraction between a man and a woman, both sexes should be beautiful to be sexual.

That of course is not true at all. The definitions of beautiful, attraction, and sexual constantly change to serve the social order, and the connection between the three ideas is a recent invention.

Some psychologists contend that the disparity among the concepts of beauty, attractions, and sexuality is based on the premise that both sexes are inclined to physical or sexual attraction because women are able to view men just as men view women, as subjects for sexual and aesthetic evaluation.

In a survey conducted by an "evolutionary psychologist," from 10,000 individuals who were interviewed, it was found out that men have high-regards to physical attraction in their budding sexual mates, while women attach importance to prominence, goals, and monetary sources.

No wonder why most cases of attraction are all based on sexuality and physical attributes. This is because men and women would rather have their significant others physically and sexually capable of giving them their necessities.

For instance, men are attracted to women who look good because this indicates excellent vigor and the capacity to produce offspring babies. On the other hand, women are attracted to men who look good because this indicates abundance in financial resources, in which, the ability to provide the basic necessities to their children is generated.

The point here is that both men and women may have their own basis for attraction but everything is generally focused on the physical and material aspects. This is because attraction is associated with the fact that the physical attributes motivate that part of the brain known as the "hypothalamus" that will produce different kinds of reactions from the body such as sexual arousal, increased heart rate, and perspiration.

So the question now is: How can the individual identify the clear signs of attraction?

There are many probable actions that might suggest attraction. However, the real signs include but not limited to the following:

1. Visual contact

This is when both a man and a woman gazed upon each other and instantly prolonged the moment as they look at each other longer than the typical glance.

Both are completely immersed on each other's anecdote, and every word will impress them both. All eyes are glued to each other that send a message that they are drawn to each other.

2. Preen

Preening means to adorn oneself carefully or to groom oneself with particular attention to details. Hence, attraction sets in when both would try to instantly make a quick fix and conquer each other's space.

3. Flirting

Teasing could have been the more appropriate term for it. This is when both sexes converse in a relaxed manner, with bodily actions associated to their thoughts and feelings, where, most often than not, sexual tensions and arousal are the primary upshots.

4. Physical contact

This is when a woman leans to wards the man and places a modest hand on his hand or arm. In this way, the woman is trying to tell the other person that she is attracted to him and that she is open to possibilities that involve the concerned person.

All of these things are boiled down to the fact that the asymmetry of the correlation among beauty, attraction, and sexuality that tells both men and women lies on how they both perceive each other's physical attributes. This is inevitable because the lack of it will definitely keep them sexually estranged.

Attraction is generally focused on imagery that is exclusively on the physical attributes of both men and women, where the society has created a very important role. This goes to show that the signs of attraction indicate the clear identification of desirability.

Given all that, both men and women should make the choice, by and large, to take each other as human beings first and not just mere sexual objects.

It should be well noted that these signs of attraction may be well confined on the premise that both men and women send out these signs as a ticket to conquer each other's space so as to start the "getting-to-know-each-other" stage.

Can't-Be-Beat Cranberry Relish

Fresh fennel adds a captivating licorice-like flavor and lots of crunch to this festive Can't-Be-Beat Cranberry Relish.

Ingredients

* 1 cup fresh cranberries
* 1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
* 3 tablespoons water
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 large red beet, cooked, peeled, and coarsely chopped*
* 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and coarsely chopped or 3/4 cup chopped celery


Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine cranberries, apple juice concentrate, water, salt, fennel seeds, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer; uncovered, about 3 minutes or until cranberries pop.

2. Cool slightly. Stir in beet and fennel. Cover and chill for up to 48 hours. Makes 8 (1/4-cup) servings.

Test Kitchen Tip: To cook beet, cut off all but 1 inch of stem and root. Do not peel. Cook in boiling water for 35 to 40 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool slightly. Slip off skin.

Nutrition Facts

* Servings Per Recipe 8 (1/4-cup) servings
* Calories 31,
* Total Fat (g) 0,
* Saturated Fat (g) 0,
* Cholesterol (mg) 0,
* Sodium (mg) 92,
* Carbohydrate (g) 7,
* Fiber (g) 1,
* Protein (g) 0,
* Vitamin A (DV%) 0,
* Vitamin C (DV%) 0,
* Calcium (DV%) 0,
* Iron (DV%) 0,
* Other Carbohydrates (d.e.) .5,
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet







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