Delicious Chemotherapy

The title of this post might sound weird but not to naturalists, I suppose. What you can see in the photo here is a favorite recipe in the Philippines, it is called "Seafood Afritada". The seafood that can be recognized are the squid rings and the shrimps, perhaps not so much the fried dory fillet and fish tofu. The basic ingredients of "afritada" like potatoes and red bell pepper were of course included.

How about the sauce? Of course there is tomato sauce and soy sauce for seasoning and more, and that "more" is my secret which I would like to share. I add turmeric powder and black pepper, and one important information I'd like to share about these two spices is that when they are mixed together they make a very powerful chemotherapy for cancers. Wait, there should be a salad to go with afritada, and guess what will make the already powerful mixture of black pepper and turmeric as chemotherapy more powerful? It is broccoli, so that should be included as a default in any salad you'll serve with afritada.

Happy eating!

Red lips without lipstick

Do you want your lips to be red? That would be easy if you're an adult, just apply a red lipstick! But for kids, there are really more ways since it is not normal for them to use lipsticks and therefore have to be resourceful. When I was a kid we would just eat a strawberry flavored candy or wipe on our lips the petals of some red flowers.

Yesterday, I was not so comfortable when I was on my way to the FLEX (Foundations of Leadership Excellence) seminar because I forgot the case where I put my lipstick, blush-on and eyebrow pencil, which I usually apply on my face while inside the car.

I planned to use what I learned from TCM which is to stimulate the best acupoint of the spleen meridian found at the middle portion of the inner leg, around four fingers away from the inner ankle, to make my lips red. I could do that by rubbing or pressing the knuckle of my index finger to that point. But my lips were not really pale so I thought there was no need to do that.

I won't deny I was surprised why my lips were not pale as usual that was why a lipstick is an indispensable make-up for me. I thought perhaps my spleen was functioning well yesterday. But there was more to that and I just found out now. I just read that though worrying and over thinking will be bad for the spleen resulting to pale lips and suppressed energy, the opposite, meaning openness or positive thoughts and emotions will help the spleen function properly and that will be manifested by reddish lips. During the two days in the seminar, the participants were required to be open in their thoughts and emotions, especially on the second day.

But wait, there is one more fact to be considered. The spleen will not function well when exposed to cold, even just to cold drinks.

So if you want your lips to remain red or reddish in color, just be positively transparent in your thoughts and emotions , don't worry or over think, wear warm clothes in cold weather or temperature and don't take cold drinks. The bonuses are very important: a continuous supply of energy, good memories that the spleen could direct to the kidneys which are later transferred by the kidneys to the heart. Isn't that awesome?

"The Spleen's positive psycho-emotional attributes are trust, honesty, openness, acceptance, equanimity, balance, and impartiality; its negative attributes are worry, excessive thinking, pensiveness, obsessiveness, remorse, regret, obsessions, and self-doubt."

I'm mad!

Don't get me wrong, that was just the title of this post though I was really a bit mad a few days ago. The title is to call your attention to express your anger, but not by quarreling another person at that angry moment.

Some tips to express your anger:
1. Cry but don't let everyone know you're crying.
2. Shout your anger to the hills, the seas or any place of nature that can easily engulf your anger and replace it with a nice feeling.

Releasing your anger will not only release you from bad feelings but will prevent your liver from stress and from developing cancer cells that will later be distributed to the other vital organs. Anger is the number one cause of breast cancer.

If it's another person that caused your anger, cool down at least a day or two, and when you're in the right senses to listen and understand and speak rationally, discuss the issues with the other person involved.

Mankind Chi

This year of the Metal Rabbit, Feng Shui experts like Lillian Too predicted that "Mankind Chi can be harnessed very effectively to overcome the discordant energies of heaven and earth this year. We can focus on the mankind chi within all of us - focus on strengthening it - and in so doing, more effectively harness the spiritual energy of the empowered self to overcome obstacles and emerge triumphant."

Having read that, I wondered how I am going to harness my mankind chi. All I knew was to get together with people to accomplish that. As a result of meeting people, I was invited to a seminar on "Soul Consciousness". I hope to be more enlightened about my spiritual energy so I immediately said yes! It was amusing to discover how simple it is to place one's spiritual energy at a higher level and I'd like to share that to all.

Each and everyone should actively achieve the original qualities of the soul: peaceful, powerful, pure, positive, loving and joyful. Ten minutes before your regular waking time, meditate on achieving the original qualities of the soul, your soul, for the whole day. If that seem too hard to accomplish, focus on one quality first, until such time all qualities are achieved.

Change should start within ourselves, and now that we know how, we can be confident that everything in our surroundings will change too!

In case of emergency

When a friend or relative suddenly dies, that is so sad. Before my father died of cancer this second week of April, a friend and mentor from Toastmasters Club died of heart attack. And then another friend died yesterday of cardiac arrest. Perhaps people should know the acupoint that may save a person who has passed out for any reason. The acupoint is called Shuigo or GV-26 and is found at the middle right below the nostrils (at the junction of the upper and middle third of the philtrum).

Shuigo or GV-26 is the main point for restoring consciousness, for shock, revival from fainting, weakness, or helps patient to awaken. Specific indications include manic-depressive disorders, epilepsy, infantile convulsion, coma, trismus, puffiness of the face, deviation of the mouth and eye, pain and stiffness of the lower back. In case of emergency and no acupressure or acupuncture gadget is available around, use your fingernail and press on this acupoint obliquely towards the brain. In my case I always bring my Acupoint Treasure with electric pulse which is really intended for emergencies.

How I wish all my friends can read this so I won't hear any bad news anymore. By the way, the time of our friend's death yesterday was around 11:15 in the morning. I've told this friend one time to avoid activities between 11AM to 1PM because the heart is so active within these hours and can be prone to heart attack, and also to stop smoking! Anyway, we just learned he has a congenital enlarged heart. All we can do now is pray for him.

Jet Lag

It has been a very busy season and I haven't started researching for the nice things that can happen this year based on Feng Shui, so in the meantime, since there were a lot of people who spent Christmas in their hometowns, I thought it would we nice to share this very simple tip.

This tip teaches travelers to alleviate jet lag through an acupuncture point or acupoint called "LI4" or "Hegu" found at the joint intersection of the thumb and index fingers (please see illustration). While inside the plane, just press this point with the thumb of your other hand for 5 seconds, then while still pressing rotate clockwise for ten seconds, press for 5 seconds then rotate counterclockwise for 10 seconds. Repeat the cycle for one to three minutes and repeat the whole procedure after 4 hours. That balancing action will help you easily adjust to the timezone of another country. That is just the bonus of that action which mainly benefits the lungs (reduces cough and colds), eyes and many others. For fever, rotate counterclockwise because LI4 is a "yang" acupoint which is hot and moving, so to reduce or sedate, the "tonify" or clockwise action should be reversed.