http://www.care2.com/greenliving/life-nourishing-aging.html
Life-Nourishing Aging
If we look beyond the false duality of “old” and “young,” what we find is a different reality: The body is a network of messages constantly being transmitted and received. Some of these messages nourish and sustain us, while others lead to disorder and breakdown. Life-nourishing experiences go far beyond cell biology.
If newborns are touched and caressed, their levels of growth hormone increase, and a protective coating of the motor nerves, myelin, becomes thicker. A mother’s loving urge to cuddle her baby translates directly into life-sustaining biochemical reactions. Babies deprived of loving attention can become emotionally stunted or dysfunctional.
The tenderness of a mother watching her toddler walk for the first time feeds the baby’s body. To a growing child, the sensitive encouragement of a teacher is as important as a hot lunch. What makes for a straighter spine, vitamin-D milk or self-esteem?
Once we reach adulthood, gaining the wholehearted respect of co-workers wards off heart disease as effectively (and much more naturally) as counting milligrams of cholesterol. Respect makes the heart feel trusting and confident, two ingredients that belong inside any healthy body.
Adapted from Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1998).
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add your comment »Human beings generally let you down, animals NEVER do. They accept you, unconditionally, as you are. I thoroughly recommend anyone who feels unloved or misunderstood to adopt an animal.
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I am currently reading Deepak's new updated version of this book "Grow Younger - live Longer" and highly recommend it. Blessings. www.GrassdancerEssences.com
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I was rejected by my mother, for some reasons my relatives ignored me and I was sent away,I had never been touched until I was married and that was not sucessful. Result, I cannot trust, I do not know how to love and I remain lonely, I can explain my feelings, I can view my life in an intelligent manner, yet I cannot seem to change.I have tried therapy and yet I remain unloved because I was never loved and unable to love. I can only love animals.
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Any guilt that a parent thinks about his/her contribution to a child's disability is because of science and/or psychology. These treat the person without considering the soul.
If you believe in the eternal validity of the soul and karma, then the child has more to do with whatever it experiences from the past, than YOU had to do with it's challenge in this lifetime. I've recently read that autism is the way a person mind functions. That an autistic person thinks in pictures where people without autism think in word structure. That is where the difficulty begins. If we all practiced understanding, we could better relate. I have a nephew who is unable to speak clearly due to the shape of his palate. Because of that, it slowed his development. People who carefully listen to him can understand him. People who have little patience don't bother. He gets frustrated.
If I train my mind to see pictures and send the picture, or if I think strongly on any one thing I can communicate that thought to anyone who is open to receive. Light sleep state is a easy way to transfer thought and also when the mind is in a state of calm.
Try seeing in pictures...it would be a step in creativity...but not easy for a mind based in word structure. Autistic people just may have a one-up on others. They are closer to creativity. They get angry because they are misunderstood to a greater degree than you or me.
I'm a firm believer in...we create our own reality...as well as fantasy. ;)
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I hope people don't still believe that
an 'unloving mother' caused an autistic
child (in our case- that has not been the case at all!?) We love our son very much, and ALL of us have suffered greatly, then
moreso by the callous/uninformed comments
of the general public. I love your works & think the world of you- so it saddened me greatly to see this comment- which could be so easily 'put to heart' by all your adoring fans, but that would make life even more difficult for people who are suffering through an already very difficult and painful experience. I'm sure you didn't mean to say that- but I hope you will clarify to your readers, because I think that could easily be misunderstood.
Many thanks to you, and best wishes.
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"Babies deprived of loving attention can become emotionally stunted or dysfunctional" This is true....and pain follows...which indirectly helps us to become evolved individuals....although not the best way for a healthy happy life...but then again when we learn to deal with the suffering and move beyond it....suffering was not in vain.
Thank you Deepak
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"Respect makes the heart feel trusting and confident, two ingredients that belong inside any healthy body."
Respect inward and outward~*
energy towards oneself and all others is healing or deadening.
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praise for your simplicty, deepak
it allways inspires a full smile
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No doubt, "life nourishing experience go far beyond cell biology". Just as King David of the Old Testament encouraged himself in the Lord, the times comes when it is necessary for folk to nourish themselves with kindness because gentleness and wholehearted respect will not be found anywhere else. Babies are not the only ones who can become emotionally stunted or dysfunctional when deprived of loving attention. It happens to adults as well. Thank you Dr. Chopra for this beautiful insight.
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