Sweet Dreams

The average human adult needs 8 hours of sleep to be fully rested and alert the next day. Children and teenagers need more than that. Cats will sleep for up to 16 hours every day. Though in differing amounts, sleep is something that we all need.

The process of getting to sleep may seem mundane: we slowly slip from a relaxed but awake state, into a light sleep where our brainwaves change,  and muscle tension, body temperature and heart rate all begin to drop. From light sleep we slowly progress to deep sleep until our muscles are completely relaxed, our breathing and heart rate slow, blood pressure and body temperature low.

Then something very strange happens. Before very long we begin climbing up the stages of sleep from deep to light again until we enter a stage of sleep known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep. This is perhaps the strangest and most paradoxical stage of all. During REM our muscles are completely relaxed, yet our heart and breathing rates quicken and blood pressure increases, almost as if we were doing physical activity. It is also in REM sleep that people dream.

Dreams themselves are fascinating. While most of us dream in colour, a small amount of people dream in black and white. Most dreams occur only once, yet a majority of people will experience recurring dreams in their lifetime. Negative emotions are more common in dreams than positive ones. Some people will remember their dreams very vividly, while others may not remember them at all.

Various attempts to explain dreams have been made. One theory is that dreams are used to sort through all the mental connections and memories made during the day, and to discard the “junk” that you don’t need. In this case it would make sense that we dream about what we’ve been thinking about during the day.

Another theory is that our dreams are manifestations of our hopes and fears for the future. Which could explains some of our nightmares, in an abstract sort of way.

Some people also believe that dreams can be prophetic, telling of the future. Such prophetic dreams are seen in the bible.

There is also every possibility that dreams are simply random firings of our synapses while we sleep. Creating for us a world all of our own.

 

Peace Children

It’s Christmas Time In The City

(an old post from 2008)

Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time in the city.... Rockin' around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop.... Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way....

Is this what Christmas has become? Silver bells jingling, Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe? Or even worse, has Christmas become a consumer holiday, centred around money and buying. One thing I've learnt from working in retail during the lead up to Christmas is that it is crazy; the shops are full and the shelves are emptying at a rapid rate of knots. The big shops earn big bucks and run out of the stock that they started ordering in crazily large amounts in early November. Where is the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of this consumerism? Can it even be found?

Of Course! If we only just take a few moments to remember that Christmas isn't all about the presents, it's not all about bells, santa, reindeers and christmas trees. What Christmas is really about is LOVE! It was in love of us that God gave Jesus to us. It was love that started His life as a man and in love that he lived. So when we're celebrating Jesus' birth shouldn't we too celebrate it in love?

Santa Isn’t the Answer!

(Jesus is)

Recently I have been  thinking about how far from it’s Christian roots Christmas has actually strayed. And one way that it has done so is the invention of Santa. And I truly don’t understand why we tell children about this “Santa” at all.

First of all, Santa is a lie. He doesn’t really even exist. It’s not Santa that brings children presents. It is their parents. Didn’t God command us not to lie? Eventually children will find out that Santa does not exist and that their parents have lied. Is this a good influence on them?

Secondly, Santa teaches children that love is conditional. Children are told that if they’re good they’ll get a present from Santa but if they’re naughty they’ll get a sack of potatoes or lumps of coal. This teaches them that in order to be loved they have to be good. Where does this leave children who don’t get a present, not because they haven’t been good, but because their parents can’t afford it? God taught us that love should be unconditional when he sent his son to save us DESPITE our faults and mistakes. Isn’t this the love that we should be teaching children about?

Thirdly, telling children a new story about Santa, elves, reindeer and presents detracts from the most beautiful story of all: the one in which God sends his son. Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus’ birth and what that meant for mankind, not a holiday focused predominantly on gift-giving!

So, I implore you, before you start telling children about Santa, just ask yourself: is this what’s really best for them?

Peace and Blessings!

 

Now Your Printer Can Go Green Too!

Care about the environment, but need to print lots of stuff for work or school? Ever wondered how many trees got cut down to make the paper you just used for that assignment?

A lot of us think about the paper we’re using. But not a lot of us think about the ink. The truth is, the manufacture of the ink we’re using, just like paper, can be damaging to the environment, especially in large amounts.

We’ve heard of recycled paper and know we can use it as a greener option, but what about all the ink we’re using?

Although there may not be a greener ink to use, we can do something to ease the burden. It is as simple as switching fonts!

Recently a Dutch company has developed a new font that they call “ecofont”. The font uses 20% less ink than other standard business fonts, by incorporating holes into the letters. This font is not only cool because at a regular size you can hardly even tell, but it looks pretty awesome in large lettering as well!

Ecofont is free to download from the following site:

http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html

Give it a try!

Peace and Blessings!

An Inherent Contradiction?

Recently I have been talking to a friend about some of his Zen Buddhist beliefs and in an effort to understand a bit more also began to search the internet for more on Zen Buddhism. In my search, I came across an interesting little concept: “Zen mind is not Zen mind”

After discussing this with my friend I was able to get a handle on what this phrase actually means. Let me explain…

The idea is that if you are trying hard to achieve Zen mind, with that as your goal, then you have missed the entire point of Zen mind, which is to live entirely in the present with no goals or expectations.

As I began to understand this concept, it occurred to me that there are parallels in Christianity that can be drawn. There is a big difference between being a true follower of Christ and getting caught up in Christianity as a religion.

Even Christians who are committed to following Christ deep in there hearts can find themselves getting caught up in Christianity: dressing for church as they think they are expected to, or acting as they feel they are expected to, or doing all the right things.

Perhaps there is something that we can learn from our Zen Buddhist friends. :)

Peace & God Bless!

 

Relationship not Religion

I've just finished reading this book called "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young. It's an amazing book and brings up some very interesting and relevant points. Doubtless I'll be writing about more of them later on, but for now I want to focus one point, that is that God is all for relationship, not religion.
This may seem like a strange concept, especially for those of us who always though that religion, believing in God and going to Church every Sunday, was what God wanted. But if we look at religion as what it really is, this concept starts to make a lot more sense.
The Collins Paperback English Dictionary defines religion as:
1. belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control over human destiny
2. any form of institutionalised expression of such a belief: the Christian religion.

Not that any of this is a bad thing, but this can all happen without any closeness to God (we all know you can worship someone, maybe Brad Pitt, and not be close to them at all). In such a way a person can be religious without really being close to God at all, and religion can simply become a ritual, a thing done to stop God's wrath and judgement. But this isn't what God wants at all!

God really wants you to be close to Him, and relationship, rather than religion, is a much better way for this to be achieved. A relationship involves sharing, love and respect, something that religion can lack. Relationship can provide fulfilment, happiness, love and trust. By all means keep worshipping God, because that is important too, but remember that His love is much better experienced in relationship with Him.
We also must remember that relationship doesn't start and end with God. It's important to maintain relationship with people as well. After all when God created the church it wasn't a building or an institution, it was a brother&sister-hood of His faithful. Church is not only about the sermon (although that can help us learn a lot!), it's also about the relationship between you and the other faithful.

Dear Readers

Just to let you know, I’m beginning to move some old blogs over to this one, as one blog is easier to manage than 2.

I hope you enjoy reading some of my older blog posts in any case. :)

Peace!

 

42

Since the release of ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy’ it has become common knowledge that the meaning of life is 42. “How could 42 possibly be the meaning of life?” I hear you ask.  Well ladies and gents, after much thought I have come up with an answer. Please allow me to explain:

Lately I have come to realise what we are created for, or "the meaning of life" if you will, and that is to be in relationship with God. "Oh no!" I hear some of you moan, but honestly relationship with God isn't really what you think... it's more about embracing love... but I'll get to that in some other post.

So anyways, "how does being in relationship with God equal 42?" I hear you ask. Well really it is quite simple. There is one God, so therefore God=1, but at the same time God has become three (Heavenly Father, Jesus & the Holy Spirit) so therefore God=3 also. And since there is one of each of us we=1 (Me=1)
And therefore God+Me=1+1=2 & God+Me=3+1=4

So when you put the two together... 4 & 2 .... you get 42.
Okay, so it does sound a little dodgy, but it made sense in my head.

Peace Out Brothers and Sisters

Don’t Believe The Magazines!

Ever wished that you looked like “that” model on “that” magazine? Yes? Chances are most Australians have thought this or something like this at some point in their lives. We live in a world filled with beautiful women and handsome men in movies & magazines, on billboards and the internet. But have you noticed something? There is a suspicious lack of those ridiculously “hot” people walking down the street, in the supermarkets and in our workplaces. Where do these people spring up from, you wonder?

Recently Dove started a campaign called ‘Real Beauty’ which gives us the answer to this very question: The people that you see on the street, the “fairly pretty” or “attractive” people, become the flawlessly beautiful people in the magazines and on the billboards.

A regular person…

 

with the aid of make-up, hair curling and lighting becomes…

with the aid of Photoshop becomes…

See the video on (click on ‘Evolution’): http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.au/dove-self-esteem-fund/

The sad thing is that exposure to these modified, hyper-real people is that we are not only being fooled into believing that these people actually exist, but also that we have to try and be as beautiful as they are! How wrong is that?!

For years now, girls, we’ve been hiding our true beauty and our individuality behind foundation, shaved legs and fake tan, and it’s time that we realised that we don’t need to!

Not just the girls, but the guys too! You don’t need to hide you really are  behind a macho exterior. If you like pink, that’s okay!

I guess what I am trying to say is: just be yourself, don’t try to be something that you aren’t, and don’t let yourself be squeezed into the mould of the world.

Peace Out brothers and sisters!