Unusual Question

One day a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor handed out the question paper, with the text facing down as usual.

 

Once he handed them all out, he asked his students to turn the page and begin. To everyone's surprise, there were no questions....just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor seeing the expression on everyone's face, told them the following: "I want you to write what you see there."

 

The students confused, got started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor took all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them with no exceptions, described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc. etc. etc.

 

After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor began to explain: "I am not going to grade you on this; I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot - and the same happens in our lives. We have a white paper to observe and enjoy, but we always focus on the dark spots.

 

Our life is a gift given to us by the Almighty Allah, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate - nature renewing itself everyday, our friends around us, the job that provides our livelihood, the miracles we see everyday.

 

However we insist on focusing only on the dark spots - the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend and so on.

 

The dark spots are very small compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your eyes away from the black spots in your life. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be happy and live a life filled with LOVE,"

Of Strength and Power

Quotes of Lao Tzu(Old Master)

Lao-Tzu was a philosopher and poet of ancient China. He is best known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism, but he is also revered as a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Although a legendary figure, he is usually dated to around the 6th century BC and reckoned a contemporary of Confucius.

Blood Building Vegetables

Stress less

Memorable Quotation of Frida Kahlo de Rivera (1907-1954)

Kidneys, 15 Habits that Damage Our Healthy

It's hard to notice when we do our kidneys damage. Even if 80% damaged, kidneys can still do their job, and so we rarely realize they're on their last leg. Often, even common daily habits can cause your kidneys continual damage, and when you finally discover something's wrong, it's too late.

Our kidneys are incredible organs that work very hard. By themselves, they absorb minerals and nutrients, produce hormones, act as a filter for toxins in our blood, produce our urine and maintain a normal acid to alkaline ratio. We cannot live without our kidneys functioning properly. The Chinese, for example, have looked at the kidneys as a site of essential life force for centuries.

If you're serious about looking after yourself, then taking care of your kidneys should be one of your primary concerns. If you want to make sure your kidneys thrive and continue to serve you in the coming years ahead, here's a helpful list of habits you should definitely avoid:

1. Drinking Sodas
A study conducted on employees working at Osaka University in Japan found that drinking 2 or more soda drinks a day (either diet or regular) may well be connected to a higher risk of kidney disease. The study included 12,000 people, and those who drank larger quantities of soda were found to have protein in their urine, which is one of the first signs of kidney damage. However, early detection can reverse the disease with proper treatment.

2. A Deficiency in Vitamin B6
The healthy function of our kidneys also depends on a healthy diet, especially one that contains certain nutrients. According to a study performed at the University of Maryland, a vitamin B6 deficiency increases the risk of the formation of kidney stones. For healthy kidney function, a person should have at least 1.3 milligrams of vitamin B6 in their food every day. The best sources for this vitamin are fish, beef liver, potatoes, starchy vegetables, chickpeas and non-citrus fruits.

3. Smoking
Perhaps not surprisingly, smoking has been linked to arthrosclerosis - the narrowing and hardening of blood vessels - which influences the blood supply going to all the major organs, including the kidneys. According to a study published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, just 2 cigarettes a day are enough to double the number of endothelial cells (the cells that line our blood vessel walls) present in your bloodstream. This is a sign of arterial damage.

In addition, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology references a number of different studies conducted in the last decade that link smoking to decreased kidney function.

4. Lack of Exercise
Another good way of protecting your kidneys is to get some exercise. A comprehensive study published in 2013 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found that postmenopausal women who exercised had 31% (!) less risk of developing kidney stones.

5. Magnesium Deficiency
Magnesium is what helps our body to properly absorb and assimilate calcium. If we don't get enough magnesium, we get overloaded in calcium and, once again, develop kidney stones. To prevent this from happening, add some leafy vegetables, seeds, nuts or beans to your diet. Another good source of magnesium is fresh avocados.

6. Disrupted Sleep
I just love a good night's sleep and, as it turns out, so do my kidneys. According to Science Daily, a chronic disruption in our sleep can cause kidney disease. According to Dr. Michael Sole, Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the University of Toronto, kidney tissues get renewed during the night while we're sleeping, so when we can't sleep without constant interruptions, the kidneys suffer direct damage.

7. Not Drinking Enough Water
One of the most important things for our kidneys is for them to get hydrated enough to perform their functions. If we don't get enough water in our system, toxins start accumulating in our blood because there isn't enough fluid to take them through the kidneys. The National Kidney Foundation recommends drinking at least 10-12 glasses of water every day. An easy way to check if you're drinking enough is to make sure your urine is a light color or clear. If it's dark, you're not drinking enough. You can check the color of your urine with this helpful guide.

8. Not Emptying Your Bladder Fast Enough
When you hear the call to pee, you should listen to it. Obviously we're not always at a place where we can pee right away, but if you 'hold it in' on a regular basis, it will increase the pressure of urine on your kidneys, which can lead to renal failure or incontinence.

9. Having Too Much Sodium in Our Diet
Salt is an important nutrient, but a disaster when taken in excessive amounts. Over-consumption of sodium will raise your blood pressure and put a lot of strain on your kidneys. We recommend limiting yourselves to no more than 5.8 grams (0.2 ounces) of salt per day. So put down that salt shaker!

10. Consuming Too Much Caffeine
We usually drink more caffeine than we think we do. There's coffee, tea, soft drinks and sodas - before you know it, your body is full of caffeine every day, which causes your blood pressure to shoot through the roof and your kidneys to suffer damage.

11. Abusing Pain-Killers
Many of us have a daily routine of taking medications. When we suffer from pain, our first reaction is usually to swallow a pill. They do help the pain, but you should think twice before taking too many. All pharmaceutical drugs have side effects, and many of them cause kidney or liver damage. Check out some natural painkillers you can find or make at home. That said, some drugs SHOULD be taken, which brings us to my next point...

12. Not Taking Certain Drugs You Need to
If you suffer from high blood pressure and/or type 2 diabetes, two very common conditions these days, you will probably also suffer kidney damage. Don't leave these conditions untreated and take your daily meds to reduce your blood pressure and control your insulin levels. Without them, you're almost guaranteed to suffer kidney damage.

13. Consuming Too Much Protein
According to a study conducted at Harvard University, an overdose of protein in our diet can cause our kidneys damage. When we digest protein, our body produces a byproduct - ammonia. Ammonia is a toxin that your already-hardworking kidneys need to neutralize. This means that the more protein we consume, the harder we work our kidneys, which can eventually lead to kidney failure.

14. Not Treating Common Infections
We all get lazy sometimes and ignore a simple cold or a flu, which can push our body to the brink of exhaustion. Studies have shown, however, that people who do not rest or treat their infections often end up with kidney disease.

15. Consuming Alcohol
Now this is a no brainer. The toxins in alcohol not only damage the liver, like many believe, but they are also something your kidneys simply hate to deal with. 

Rose: A Great Inspiring Story

I was flabbergasted as an old lady addressed me “Hi handsome. I am Rose, eighty-seven years old. Can I have a hello with you?”

Surprised, I hesitated a moment but responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant hand shake. Her body was more bones than flesh.

She happen to be my course mate. “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked, little confused. She replied in her apparent seriousness “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”
 

She was an instantly likeable person, easy going, affable. However, I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having college education. Now I realized that I can't postpone it any further. So here I am. Like me?” she asked. "Yes, of course". I said.

After class, as we walked, we shared a chocolate milkshake. We were instant friends.  Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk non-stop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “Time Machine”, as she shared her wisdom and experiences of long wise life with me.

Over the course of year, Rose became a campus icon since she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress well and revelled in the attention bestowed upon her by other students and faculty alike. She, definitely, was LIVING IT UP.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”

As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing". She was now speaking flawlessly ex-tempore, as if living those eighty seven years all over again. It was pin drop silence. Everyone was truly mesmerized by this little frail woman carrying the weight of her words in tons. Everyone seemed to be accompanying her down memory lane. It was a speech par excellence, the Best I had heard, and perhaps the Best I am going to hear in my life time.

As per her, there are Four Secrets to Staying Young, Being Happy and Achieving Success.

1. You have to laugh and find humor every day.

2. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.  We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!

3. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.

 4. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what THEY DID, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.” She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.

At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

We make a living by what we get but we make a LIFE by what we GIVE.