In Pure Spirit

For open minds

About Geist Escrigui

Geist Escrigui is a portmanteau Catalan and German words. Translated the name means "Ghost Scribe". That's right, Geist Escrigui is In Pure Spirit's resident guest writer account. If you want end up writing a piece for the blog then it may be Geist Escrigui who puts the post live for you.

Oh. Imagine that. We've a "Ghost Scribe" responsible for making things live.

You can follow Geist's wisdom, along with the rest of our writers, at @InPureSpirit on Twitter.

The healing power of a simple smile

by Leave a Comment

We all sometimes take the little things for granted. And there’s one simple remedy for many of life’s ills that we all carry around with us every day but probably rarely give a second thought to — our smiles.

Sure, we look for smiles to see whether someone is angry with us or enjoying our company, and we offer a friendly smile to a child or someone who could use a little reassurance. But how many of us ever consider the healing possibilities of that simple little facial expression?

Smiling flower (slightly creepy)

Smiling enhances your mood.

It may seem contradictory to recommend putting a grin on your face when you’re down, but wearing a smile even when you not feeling happy can put you in a better mood. Of course, thinking of those things that inspire joy and happiness will put a smile on our faces and thus lead to a better disposition. But even the act of smiling itself can trigger a brighter frame of mind. Emotions are not only activated by thoughts but also by physical cues. The next time you find yourself in a sour mood, try lifting the edges of those lips and see if it doesn’t lift your spirits.

Smiling can reduce stress and lower your blood pressure.

An added benefit of the elevated mood our smiles bring us is its effect on our physical well-being. Sour moods can cause our bodies to tense up, tightening our muscles and restricting blood vessels. Not only is this a recipe for discomfort, but it can also noticeably increase our blood pressure. Taking a deep breath, thinking happy thoughts, and putting a smile on our faces will relax those tense muscles and allow the blood to flow more freely, improving our health in the short and long run.

The healing of a smile is contagious.

Not only does smiling make us feel better, but wearing a warm smile can brighten the mood of other people around us. Human beings have a natural tendency to imitate, or ape, others people around them, often subconsciously. One or two moody individuals will usually bring down the whole group. But the reverse is also true. Going into a social situation with a large smile on your face will trigger a reaction in the faces of others in the group, and before long, everyone is smiling and feeling happier. Smiling regularly within a group you frequent, such as work or school, can set into motion a chain reaction that improves the overall atmosphere for everyone.

Smiling even has its own day.

You may be wondering why, if smiling has so many amazing benefits, it has not received more recognition. Well, it has. Graphic designer Harvey Ball, famous for creating the iconic smiley face design, founded the World Smile Foundation in 1999 to promote “good cheer and good works”. In addition to backing several children’s charities, the foundation established World Smile Day on the first Friday of each October. The event’s motto is “do an act of kindness — help one person smile,” a worthy gem of advice to follow every day of the year.

In Pure Spirit

Do you believe in the healing power of smiles?

5 Reasons To Sponsor A Guide Dog For Father’s Day

by Leave a Comment



Father’s day is coming up and for most this means it’s time to shop online for a gift. Instead of going for the usual toiletries, socks and booze however, why not get your dad a different gift this father’s day by sponsoring a guide dog puppy? There are many great reasons to do so but we’re going to narrow it down to the top 5 reasons you should consider this unusual gift.

1. They’re cute

This almost goes without saying but who doesn’t love puppies? They’re absolutely adorable and the best part is, when you sponsor a guide dog puppy you’ll get regular ‘pupdates’ on their progress, including pictures, videos and text, all the way from young 6 month old pups to fully mature guide dogs. You get to track their progress and watch them grow up from adorable young animal to working guide dog, enjoying all the best parts and never having to worry about cleaning up any messes!


Father's Day ideas
Sponsor a Puppy

2. They perform an important function

Though guide dog puppies are undeniably cute, they do also perform a very vital function. They can help disabled people, such as those who are blind, to live a much more independent life than they would be able to without them. Guide dogs can help otherwise very vulnerable individuals to feel safe doing normal, everyday things that would otherwise be taken for granted. Things like crossing the road and going to the shops can feel like daunting tasks when you are blind, but a guide dog can offer both a level of safety and confidence, enabling those to live a far more independent life than they would otherwise be able.

3. They need your help

Guide dogs are very expensive to train, not least of which because they fulfil such a vital role and they are depended on so much. They are still dogs that are curious about the world and are naturally very easily distracted by everything from dropped food to small animals running around. Guide dogs need to be trained well to learn to ignore such distractions and not endanger their handler. As you may imagine, this is expensive to do and funding is low, so your gift donations really can help make a difference.

4. They’re a companion

Being blind can be a very isolating experience and it can be very lonely. A guide dog is not just a support animal, but it is also a companion and handlers can become as attached to their guide dog as any other pet. Having this companion be with you and help you through every day can help make even the darkest days seem a little brighter, and this can be important in keeping spirits up. This alone can be why some people choose to use a guide dog over simply using a cane; they are so much more than a simple seeing eye aid.

5. They’re a conversation starter

Being blind can be a very obvious disability to others and people will go out of their way to make a clear path for them. While this has the best of intentions, it often results in blind people being almost avoided in public and it can be very hard for blind people to meet new people and socialise because of this. A guide dog functions as a great conversation starter. As people stop to compliment the guide dog, it is a great opportunity for the handler to do anything from ask for directions to strike up a full conversation over a cup of coffee!

Tempted? Sponsor a Guide Dog puppy for your dad today!

In Pure Spirit

What would you add to this list? Not sure. Plenty of time to sponsor a puppy while you mull it over.

Marry Your Outdoor Indoor Space With Ease

by 4 Comments

When spring finally arrives, and the weather starts to warm up – the bright yellow daffodils bring us lots of visual sunshine, the rays of the sun are warming and not just defrosting the ice, the animals begin to nest and flourish. This is where most of us are excited to get outside and enjoy the new season.

It’s so satisfying to go back into the garden, perhaps tend to the plants, sit on comfortable garden furniture and enjoy a cup of coffee on a nice day. The kids are usually excited to get outside and play too. The garden is our own, little space to recharge our batteries and get some fresh air, all of course, within easy distance of the house. To make this garden to house enjoyment even easier, a lot of people choose to integrate both their indoor and outdoor space.

Many people opt to integrate their outdoor and indoor space, so that there is easy flow and accessibility between the two. There are many different reasons to do this, including:

  • Easy access to the garden, and easy access back into the house
  • A visual effect inside the home that brings the outdoors in
  • The ability, with certain setups like french doors, to open up the living room into the garden, making the indoor space appear a lot bigger
  • Easy ventilation in summer
  • Easy access for entertaining in the garden
  • A great layout for parties where guests are in and out of the house
  • A great way to have double dining options between the living room or the decking
  • Great for kids who like to be in and out of the garden
  • A way to enjoy yoga or exercise on your decking, within easy access of music playing devices, yoga tutorials on the TV, or yoga equipment you may store inside to keep dry

If you choose to connect your indoor and outdoor space, it will enable you to have a living room that appears much bigger, and an indoor space that brings in all the peacefulness and greenery of the garden.

When you decide to bring the outdoors in and connect your living space to your garden, it is important to ensure that you take steps to integrate the two areas together. If you don’t, the look can be disconnected, the maintenance may be higher, and you may not get the practical benefits or the ‘feel’ you were looking for. If you’re considering merging your living room and outdoor space, these useful tips will help you get started:

A Colour Scheme For Both Areas

Ideally, you can have at least one colour or pattern theme that runs from the living room into the garden. Perhaps you have a lot of duck egg blue in the living room, and you could opt for duck egg blue patio furnishings, or garden planters. Just one colour or theme that runs all the way through, and the two spaces will be connected.

Lighting All The Way Through

This is most important when it comes to enjoying the area during the evening, so that you can make the most of the entire space. One lovely thing to do, is add soft lighting all the way down your garden, onto your decking and into your living room. The cheapest and easiest way to do this is with LED lighting like fairy lights, or LED lanterns. With fairy lights you can wrap them around anything and they tend to look pretty. No need for electricians or wiring changes, just make sure you use weatherproof ones in the parts of the garden exposed to the elements.

Flooring From The Inside Out

This isn’t an option for everyone, but it can be a very practical option for some. Floor tiling that goes all the way from the living room and onto the patio really does bring the space together, and adds a practical element in terms of bringing in dirt and mud from outside. You can also do this with wood.

Height Matters

If the living room leads straight onto decking or a patio, make sure the levels are the same height.

Make It Easy To Get Outside

Floor to ceiling doors are a must when it comes to integrating your indoor and outdoor space. External bi-fold doors are perfect for adding light to your living room, and making it easy to open your living room up to your outdoor space.

Keep It Green

Even though you can see the outside from the living room, a good thing to do is to ensure there is actual greenery both sides of the doors. Perhaps use a planter with grasses on your decking, and then have a similar indoor plant on the inside as well. This unifies the two spaces and actually brings the outside in.

Keep It ‘All Weather’

To make use of your outdoor space in all weathers, why not add some covering over the top of the patio or decking. This ensures you can easily sit outside with your partner, with a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket if it is snowing, or perhaps take shelter under a quick summer shower, without having to drag everything indoors. A patio heater is also a great idea to prolong your outdoor entertaining through the seasons.

Take Your Time, And Keep It Unique To Your Family

Hopefully, these tips have given you lots of inspiration for how to integrate your indoor and outdoor space. Remember to take your time, do lots of research, and most importantly – keep it personal and unique to you, this is a special space for your family to spend time in and enjoy, it should be personalised to your needs and tastes.

In Pure Spirit

What tips do you have for bringing outside inside? Let us know in the comments below.

This is a sponsored post. Money goes to hosting costs.

Are Parabens bad for you?

by Leave a Comment

640px-Johnson's_Baby_Product_Shelves_at_KrogerParabens are chemicals found in natural foods like beans, carrots and cucumbers, and man-made parabens have been used to preserve everyday products from toothpaste to cosmetics for more than six decades. However, some believe paraben preservatives could pose health risks – whilst the cosmetic industry deny there is cause for concern, governments decline to ban them, and regulatory bodies continue to sanction their use.

So is this just another peripheral debate among the ‘worried well’, or breaking news of a fresh health scandal? Perhaps it’s time to examine the facts …

The paraben family

Parabens are derived from para-hydroxy-benzoic acid, a compound which occurs in blackberries and raspberries. Their most-prized attribute is an ability to inhibit the growth of moulds and bacteria, which makes them ultra-effective preservatives. Synthetic manufactured versions of natural-world parabens are the most commercially viable, and in this form they are extensively used by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries to keep products fresh for longer, on the shelf and in the home. The most frequently used paraben compounds are butylparaben, ethylparaben, heptylparaben, methylparaben and propylparaben.

Most family bathrooms contain paraben-treated products such as shampoos, skin-care creams and lotions, tanning preparations, shaving products, make-ups and much more. In addition, anti-bacterial parabens are used to prolong the effective life of medicines, and also as food additives.

Research perspectives

As far back as 2004, Philippa Darbre’s research team detected parabens among cancer cells in 90 per cent of the breast tumour tissue samples they examined. Though researchers carefully avoided labelling these as carcinogenic, the popular perception was that parabens might still be ‘in the frame’. Despite widespread interest in these findings, this research has been criticised by sceptics in the scientific community for not taking the logical step of also testing a comparative sample of normal tissue. Faced with no real evidence of a harmful connection, those concerned about parabens could only say the outcome warranted more investigation.

Another strand of the paraben debate notes that animal testing has demonstrated parabens have a ‘weak ability to mimic oestrogens’, which are themselves implicated in the development of breast cancer. However, checking the data reveals the paraben quantity tested was 25,000 times greater than the tiny amounts used as preservatives. Likewise, the observed paraben effect was 100,000 times weaker than the action of estradiol, a natural hormone responsible for the creation of female reproductive tissue.

Public safety verdicts

Whilst labs have replicated Dabre’s results, no study has shown parabens have adverse health effects. Even so, some suspicions remain and paraben-free alternative products are now available for those still nervous or exposed to much greater risk. Summarising recent work, a 2013 study led by Gerhard concluded: ‘Despite 20 years of research a human health risk from exposure to low concentrations of exogenous chemical substances with weak hormone-like activities remains an unproven and unlikely hypothesis.’

Such conclusions, plus their own tests, have been enough to convince supervisory health watchdogs in the USA, Canada, the EU and elsewhere that parabens are safe in their present forms of low-level use.

Risk assessment

It’s not always easy to stay level-headed where risk is concerned. However, looking at the theoretical ‘paraben risk’ in comparative terms can be helpful and informative. For example, the Golden, Gandy & Vollmer review, published in 2005, concluded that even ‘worst-case daily exposure to parabens would present substantially less risk [than] naturally occurring endocrine-active chemicals in the diet.’

Nevertheless, the greatest independent source of informed and reasoned reassurance is likely to be your family GP who knows your medical history. Not only can you air your own concerns, you can also enquire whether your doctor would recommend you adopt a paraben-free lifestyle, and indeed whether he/she personally does the same.

In Pure Spirit

Are you reassured about parabens or still concerned?

Image credit: ParentingPatch

Chinese New Year 2016: What does the Year of the Monkey mean?

by 1 Comment

Year of the Monkey fashion collection

With the advent of 2016, the Chinese New Year is almost beginning and in tandem with the Chinese zodiac, it is the Monkey’s Year. It is set to start on Monday, 8th February. If this year is to be the Year of the Monkey what does that mean?

The Chinese Zodiac.

The Chinese zodiac is a method in the Chinese folklore of naming personality traits in association with zodiac animals according to the person’s year of birth. This system has 12 animals, and thus, the cycle rotates over a period of 12 years. The following animals are considered zodiac animals;

  1. Goat-People born in the year of the goat are often associated with these traits; sensitivity, kindness, politeness and creativity.Some of the years are;1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015,2027.
  2. Monkey-People in the year of the monkey is known to be witty and quite intelligent. Some of the Monkey years are 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016,2028.
  3. Rooster-Independence and punctuality are the traits associated with people born in the Rooster years;1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029.
  4. Dog-Honesty and loyalty are the major traits associated with people born in these years 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030.
  5. Pig-People born in these years are friendly and lazy;1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031.
  6. Rat-Adaptability and intuition are an association of the people born in the year of the rat. The years include;1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020.
  7. Ox –People born in these years 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021,2033 are known to be conscientious and moral.
  8. Tiger-Courage, unpredictability and stubbornness are traits associated with people born in the year of the tiger.They are; 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034.
  9. Rabbit-People born in these years 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023,2035 are associated with compassion, modesty and are known to be impulsive.
  10. Dragon-Confidence, wit and dominance are traits associated with these years 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024,2036.
  11. Snake-Intelligence, wisdom and privacy are traits associated with the year of the snake 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025,2037.
  12. Horse-People born in this year are popular, free spirited, hard working and intelligent. The zodiac years are 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026, 2038.

So, if you’re a Monkey, according to the Chinese zodiac you are lively, smart and witty. You are also short-tempered and jealous, but you are quite gentle and honest.

Love.

In matters of love, Monkeys are more compatible with the Ox and the Rabbit though they should avoid the Tiger and the Pig because they are considered a bad omen.
This year, however, will be a challenging year for Monkeys. They will have colourless relationships though they have higher chances of getting lucky during the 7th and 12th Chinese lunar months.

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers.

Like a Monkey, your lucky numbers are 1,7 and 8.However, you should avoid 2, 5 and 9.

Career.

Monkeys will have prosperous careers this year if correctly aligned with the year Monkeys will have prosperous careers if properly aligned with the Tai Sui star. Monkeys should focus on their jobs and discipline themselves otherwise; they won’t achieve anything.Monkeys should be wary of untrustworthy people and be taught to avoid getting in trouble. They should seize opportunities during the 2nd, 5th and 12th Chinese lunar months as these are their luckiest.

Health.

Monkeys will experience minor illness, but they won’t come to a lot of harm if they are careful.They should take caution of traffic when going about their daily activities and avoid taking risks.

Some famous monkeys include; Tom Hanks, Mick Jagger and Kim Cattrall.

In Pure Spirit

Is the Chinese New Year special to you? What does the Year of the Monkey mean for your family? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Meaning of Boxing Day

by Leave a Comment

boxing_dayMany people want to stay in countries that are celebrating the Boxing Day right after the celebration of Christmas Day. But most of them are not aware of its importance in the tradition of those people who belong in American and European nations. Boxing Day is one of the most special traditions that can be found in the United Kingdom, United States and other countries in the different parts of the globe. History shows that this event has been created to promote the season of giving in the duration of the Christmas season. Its name has been invented  to describe Christmas gifts in boxes. It’s a season of giving and it was designed to give real happiness and joy to the Christmas celebration of servants who deserve to be happy in the celebration of Christmas season.

This tradition is already well known in the different parts of the globe in the duration of 18th century. Until now, it remains as one of the most important traditions in English-speaking nations that can be found in Europe and America. This celebration has nothing to do with the popular sport in this world that is well known as boxing. It’s a great time for enjoyment and relaxation for those people who want to stay on the side of their family members in one of the most special days in the whole celebration of the Christmas season.

The exact date for Boxing Day this event is December 26. It’s an annual event that was designed to serve as a day off for all servants who want to provide their family members with gifts right after the celebration of Christmas day. On the exact date of this celebration, all servants will be provided with Christmas boxes by their masters as a sign of thanksgiving and humbleness while celebrating the birth of the Jesus Christ. Servants can use all things that can be found in their Christmas boxes as gifts for their family members when needed.

The main purpose of Boxing Day is to make sure that all people in this world will be happy and aware of the true spirit of Christmas celebration for the rest of their lives. In other countries, new terms and words were used to introduce this event. In South Africa, the term that was used since 1994 to describe this tradition is Day of Goodwill since it encourages people to be humble and aware of the real meaning of love while celebrating the second day of Christmas season. In Europe, the most common term for this special tradition is Second Christmas Day.

At the present time, the new term that has been introduced to describe this celebration is bank holiday. This is because Christmas boxes are no longer popular in the whole celebration of Christmas day in this modern world. There are times that the celebration of this event will be moved to December 27 if December 26 falls on a Sunday. This tradition is something that all servants or workers should never miss in the whole celebration of Christmas season.

In Pure Spirit

What does Boxing Day mean for you? Is it about hitting online stores like Amazon and eBay in search of sales? Is it about recovering from a busy Christmas Day?

What tips do you have for getting the most out of Boxing Day? Let us know in the comments below.

Image Credit: Patheos.

Disclosure

This blog discusses ideas and causes. Urban myth, science and faith combine here. So do editorials and technology; In Pure Spirit uses affiliate marketing and some links might earn us money. You can read more about that here.

Policies

Member of The Internet Defence League