FREEDOM with BONDAGE

<b>FREEDOM with BONDAGE</b>
You have no "FREEDOM" if your freedom of "choices" leads to your bondage of wrongdoings.

Monday, July 22, 2024

Immune System

 



MY MYASTHENIA GRAVIS


All About . . . .


Myasthenia gravis is one of the many autoimmune diseases, which, according to contemporary Western medicine, offer no known cure, except controlling or suppressing their many disease symptoms.

This book is based on the author's own experience of battling against his myasthenia gravis: how he stopped all his medications through a holistic approach to controlling and managing the disease. This book provides insight and well-researched information that he would like to share with those who are afflicted with myasthenia gravis or any other autoimmune disease.

Albert Einstein once said: "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." Believe in the miracle of self-healing. Healing comes only from within, and not from any external source. Every individual should avail every opportunity to initiate the self-healing process, which is innate in the human body. Just believing in the miracle of self-cure, however, is not enough; you must also empower yourself with knowledge and information to overcome myasthenia gravis through a holistic approach to the wellness of the body, the mind, and the spirit.

This book covers every aspect of holistic health to cope with autoimmunity: body detox, diet, lifestyle changes, exercises for muscle weakness, and mental relaxation techniques for vision problems associated with myasthenia gravis. "The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient's hopes are the physician's secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription." (Norman Cousins) Find your own ingredients in your prescription for a cure of your myasthenia gravis.

The above is what this book is all about. Click here to get your copy from AMAZON.

The  Outline of the Book . . . .

CHAPTER ONE: AUTOIMMUNITY

AUTOIMMUNITY

Autoimmune Diseases
What are the potential causes?
Who are more at risk?

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
The Cellular Health
How Body Cells May Become Damaged
The Damages by Free Radicals
Boosting Immunity
Protecting the Immune System

CHAPTER TWO: MY STORY

MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

MY STORY
My Conditions
My Treatment
My Rude Awakening
The Road to Self-Healing

CHAPTER THREE: UNDERSTANDING SELF-HEALING


THE MIRACLE OF SELF-HEALING

THE ESSENTIALS OF SELF-HEALING
The Power of the Mind
Changing the Subconscious Mind to Heal
Optimizing Subliminal Messages

CHAPTER FOUR: STEP 1 - STOP ALL DANGEROUS DRUGS

NO CURE FOR AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES

Steroid Therapy
The Dangers of Drugs
Take control of your health and escape the sickness industry

CHAPTER FIVE: STEP 2 - INTERNAL CLEANSING

A TOXIC BODY
 
Sources of Toxins
Common Symptoms of a Toxic Body
INTERNAL CLEANSING
Different Ways of Detoxification
Fasting to detoxify
Skin brushing to detoxify
Foot patches to detoxify
Hydrotherapy to detoxify
Exercise to detoxify
Foods to detoxify
Herbs to detoxify

CHAPTER SIX: STEP 3 - FOODS AS MEDICINE

USE FOODS TO BALANCE ACID-ALKALINE LEVELS TO HEAL THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Acidification
Sources of acidification
Diseases caused by acidification
Symptoms of excess acidification
Measuring acid-alkaline levels
Foods to balance acid-alkaline levels

FOLLOW THE BASICS OF EATING FOR A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
Eating to Live, Not Living to Eat
Eating Less, Not More
Eating Frequently, Not Three Time a Day
Eating Living Foods, Not Dead Foods
Eating Sea Salt, Not Table Salt
Eating No Refined Sugar
Eating Raw Occasionally
Chewing Thoroughly
Smart Cooking
FOODS FOR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Chlorella
Wheat Grass
FOODS TO BOOST THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Apples
Brown Rice
Garlic
Sea Vegetables
Sweet Potatoes and Yams
DRINK TO HEAL THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Burdock and Daikon Drink
Four Greens Drink
Pine Needles Drink
FOODS FOR BALANCE AND HARMONY
The Yin and Yang Diet
The Five Elements
FOODS TO AVOID FOR PROTECTION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Sugar
Suggested sugar replacements for healthy eating for a healthy immune system
Dairy Products
Soy

CHAPTER SEVEN: STEP 4 - LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HEAL

CIGARETTE SMOKING

The Health Hazards
Secondhand smoke
Quitting the Habit
ALCOHOL DRINKING
Beer Drinking
STRESS
Understanding the Causes of Stress in You
r Life
Ways to Handle Stress
Stress Management
Perceptions of stress
Long-term measures to manage stress
Manage stress the Chinese way

Dealing with Life’s Problems

CHAPTER EIGHT: STEP 5 - RELAXATION TO BOOST IMMUNITY


STRESS

Signs and Symptoms of Stress
SLEEP
OTHER RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Deep Relaxation
Meditation
How to meditate
How to breathe right to meditate and to relax

Mind Aerobics
Color Therapy
Mental Attention
Intense presence of the mind
Mind training to focus on the present moment

CHAPTER NINE: STEP 6 - OVERCOME MUSCLE WEAKNESS

MUSCLE WEAKNESS

Yoga
Qi Gong
YOGA ROUTINE FOR MUSCLE STRENGTH
CHAPTER TEN: STEP 7 - OVERCOME VISION PROBLEMS
WEAK EYE MUSCLES
DOUBLE VISION
EYE RELAXATION
Relax the Body to Relax the Eye
Self-Massage to Relax the Eye
Facial and eye massage
Rub the eye
Acupressure for eye massage and eye relaxation

Eye Exercises to Relax the Eye
Regular eye relaxation
Palming to relax the eye
The "8" eye exercise for relaxation and flexibility
The Taoist squeeze-and-open eye exercise for blood circulation to relax the eye
Learning how to blink
Yawning to cleanse and relax the eye
Stretching eye muscles for relaxation
Strengthening Vision
CHAPTER ELEVEN: FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM
BIBLIOGRAPHY




MY MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

Enlightenment of Your ANGRY NO MORE

 Enlightenment of Your ANGRY NO MORE

Angry No More is never easy. You need to know how and why through your enlightenment.

So, what is enlightenment?

Enlightenment is an endless process of knowing and understanding anything and everything that’re simply there and that’re available to all since the begin of time. Enlightenment is just like “knowing” the presence of sunlight at sunrise while “opening” the eyes.

Li Ching-Yuan, a Chinese herbalist, martial artist, and tactical advisor, known for his extreme longevity of well over 200 years—which far exceeded the longest confirmed lifespan of 122 years of a French woman—gave his profound perspectives of “enlightenment”:

“Before I had studied Zen (an ancient Chinese philosophy) for thirty years,
I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters.

When I arrived with a more intimate knowledge,I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters.

But now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest.

For it is just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters.” (Li Ching-Yuan)

Enlightenment is an endless process of knowing and understanding anything and everything that’re simply there and that’re available to all since the begin of time. Enlightenment is just like “knowing” the presence of sunlight at sunrise while “opening” the eyes.

Your mental capability to see “mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters”—which is the enlightenment itself—may or may not come to you now or even for the rest of your life. Enlightenment may still be important to you, but not that important. After all, many people pass through life with only some understanding but without really attaining the absolute truths of anything and everything in their lives.  Having said that, it’s important that at least you see “mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters”—which is already your profound understanding or your conscious intent to know the truths and to separate them from the half-truths or the untruths.Yes, delusions and illusions may go on indefinitely, but enlightenment may take only a moment. It’s the very moment of your consciousness without being self-conscious.

Universal Truths

Enlightenment is instrumental in “opening” your mind to your understanding of some universal truths:

 Impermanence is one of the universal truths. Everything changes with every moment, and nothing lasts forever.

 Nothingness is a universal truth derived from impermanence. Death will come in the end for all and sundry. This is the way of all flesh with a built-in mechanism in the genes to ensure the mortality of all humans.

Spontaneity is another universal truth. Everything in life follows a certain natural cycle: what goes up must also come down—just as life is inevitably followed by death.

Knowing and understanding universal truths may also change some of the perspectives of your anger:

Disappointment and frustration: Nothing lasts forever, and everything is changing. So, be positive and optimistic about your negative emotions and feelings.

 Abundance and lack: Everything becomes nothing. So, let go of all your attachments to accomplishments, fame, and wealth that only  inflate your ego.

Failure and success: Everything follows a natural cycle. So, your failure may be well on its way to success.

Stephen Lau
Author of ANGRY NO MORE









Sunday, July 21, 2024

One Bondage Leading to Another Bondage

Human freedom of choice is often held hostage by its bondage to the flesh, where your corrupted body dwells and the origin of the desires and wants of your thinking mind that ultimately change the freedom of your choice.

No matter how soft or strong your bondage may be, one bondage always leads to another. The more bondages you have, the greater their control on the freedom of your choices and decisions, and the more wrong things you will subsequently do.

An illustration of one bondage leading to another and yet another

On July 4, 2022, a 25-year-old Black man in Akron, Ohio, was shot 60 times by 8 policemen. The news was widely reported in the media because the victim was a Black man and the police had presumably used “excess force” to gun him down.

The victim, who had no criminal record, was initially stopped at a routine traffic stop.

Maybe “racial injustice” and “excessive use of force by police” told the victim’s mind that he had the “freedom” to get away. So, he chose to get away. His “freedom” tied him to the “bondage” of “getting away.”

Driving away his car and being chased by the police put him in another mental situation that gave him the “freedom” to choose to fire his gun to “stop the police chase.” His freedom of choice only reinforced his bondage to “getting away.”

After stopping his car at some point, the bondage of “getting away” told his thinking mind that he had the freedom to “flee on foot” and so he did.

While running, his bondage told his thinking mind that he had the freedom to turn around to do whatever he chose and decided to do. But he was shot dead.

The above tragedy could have been avoided if the victim had not taken his “freedom” to “get away” in the first place, which led to his bondage that distorted his thinking mind with another freedom of wrong decision leading to another and yet another bondage that finally tied him to his own death.

The "freedom" of choice of actions and decisions is controlled and manipulated by the human mind which lives in the flesh. Probably, that's what happened in the victim's mind: "I'm a Black, and the police don't like me. The police always use excessive force. I've my freedom to get away as soon as possible."

FREEDOM with BONDAGE shows you how to free yourself from your bondage to the flesh that gives you the "freedom" to make the wrong choices and decisions in your everyday life.

 Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Saturday, July 20, 2024

God and Marriage

 



ACCOUNTABILITY IN MARRIAGE TO GOD

Lack of accountability to God for what you’ve been doing to your marriage and your marriage partner is one of the reasons why divorce is rampant these days.

You’re living in a world in which injustice and vengeance are rampant. Living in the midst of this storm of unfairness may cause you unhappiness and even your own lack of faith in God.

But seeing the lack of accountability in others should, on the contrary, enhance your own accountability not only in your marriage but also in your everyday living. God is forever just and will bring judgment and justice to all—at His own timeline.

An illustration

In 1984, Archbishop Valerian Trifa was deported from the United States after being accused of being a Nazi supporter, who not only had incited attacks on Jews, but also was responsible for executing many Jews in World War II.

After World War II, the former Nazi supporter came to the United States as a refugee immigrant. He assumed the name of Valerian Trifa, and he was ordained as a priest of the Rumanian church soon after his arrival in the United States. He rose quickly to the rank of bishop and then archbishop, who lived in comfort in a 25-room farmhouse on a 200-acre estate maintained by his church.

Then, a dentist, who was a Nazi survivor, recognized the Archbishop as the Nazi supporter. The case against the Archbishop was reported in the media, and then pursued for more than a decade long by some survivors of the Nazi, Jewish organizations, journalists, as well as by the Justice Department of the United States. Their joint efforts helped focus public attention on those Nazi war criminals who were living in the United States.

At first, the Archbishop vehemently denied his former identity, despite some handwriting experts had confirmed that his handwriting was identical with that in some of the execution orders he had carried out while he was a Nazi supporter. As luck would have it, with the advancement of forensic science, some experts could incredibly still retrieve some DNA from those execution orders with the Archbishop’s own saliva on them. That was his undoing, and his final judgment.

In 1982, the Archbishop was ultimately ordered to leave the United States. But he had spent two years trying to find a country that would give him refuge. In 1984, Portugal admitted him, and he finally settled in Estoril, where he died at the age of 72 of a heart attack.

So, believe that God is merciful, but also a just God, who’ll judge injustice and any wrongdoing according to His own timeframe.

So, living in the presence of God is showing your accountability to every aspect of your married life. So, be faithful to your marriage partner to receive the blessings of God in your marriage.


Getting Married to Make You Happy?


Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

"Books By Stephen Lau"

BOOKS BY STEPHEN LAU

A New Blog about the 43 Books Written By Stephen Lau in the past three decades.

His books include books on Chinese Wisdom and Spiritual Wisdom, as well as books on Learning English, American Idioms, and English Slang and Colloquial Expressions.  Some of his books also focus on health, such as Autoimmune Diseases, Vision Health, and Longevity Living.

The Blog gives a brief Book Description and a Sample from each of the 43 books to help you see if any of them is suitable for you.

Go to: BOOKS BY STEPHEN LAU.

  

Friday, July 19, 2024

Health Awareness

 “All men by nature desire knowledge.” Aristotle


When it comes to erasing age, very often you are your own worst enemy.

Health Awareness

To become younger and healthier for longer, you must be aware of your own health conditions, whatever they may be at this moment

Do you have high blood pressure?
Are your blood cholesterol levels normal?
Do you experience regular physical pain, or frequent headaches?
Do you have difficulty going to sleep?
Do you have insatiable cravings for certain unhealthy foods?
Do you have anxiety or mental depression?
Is everyday life stressful to you?
Are you overweight?
Do you have any degenerative disease or chronic illness?

It is useless to deny the presence of any health problems you may have. Your awareness of your present health conditions is the first step towards erasing your age.

Health decision

Once you become aware of your own conditions, make a decision to bring about the necessary changes—a change in your attitude, and a change in your diet and lifestyle.

Adopt the right attitudes towards aging and wellness. The right attitudes include your quest for health information. According to a research study at Purdue University by Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, “individuals who searched for health information on the Internet were indeed more likely to be health-oriented than those who did not. Consumers who sought out medical information on the Internet reported higher levels of health-information orientation and healthy activities, as well as stronger health beliefs than those who did not search for medical news on the Internet.”

Knowledge is power. Knowledge not only gives you more options in life, but also enables you to make your own health decisions, instead of replying on others to make them for you.

Empower yourself with health information. Do not reply solely on doctors or pharmaceutical drugs to make you younger and healthier for longer. They offer no miracle cures.

Nowadays, many doctors may find themselves unable to keep themselves abreast of the new knowledge of medicine in spite of their continuing education. In addition, many doctors may become so preoccupied with the ever-increasing paper work required by the health care machinery that they simply do not have adequate time for their patients. If doctors cannot devote their full attention to treating you, it just makes good sense that you should be more reliant on yourself to keep yourself younger and healthier for longer.

The pharmaceutical companies and the FDA have convinced not only the medical establishment but also the gullible public that costly drugs are the answer to all their health problems, despite their dubious track records and often-deadly side effects.

The use, misuse, and abuse of drugs account for 250,000 to 500,000 deaths each year in the United States. And do you still believe that pharmaceutical drugs provide all the answers to your health problems?  Dr. O. W. Holmes, Professor of Medicine, Harvard University, had this to say regarding pharmaceuticals putting you in harm’s way: “If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and good for humanity.” Dr. Holmes’ statement speaks volumes of the potential harm of pharmaceuticals.

This is not to say that doctors and pharmaceutical drugs have no place in modern medicine—far from it. But you must equip yourself with knowledge to understand what your doctors are telling you, and why you should be taking certain medications, if need be. More importantly, become your own physician, and, indeed, the best you could ever have, because no man can be a perfect physician to you than yourself, and no one can tell you what your body needs other than yourself.

So, without the right attitude, it is difficult to initiate any meaningful change in your life. Let your mind control your body, and not the other way around. Therefore, what you feed you mind is as important as what you feed your body. A toxic mind is worse than a toxic body. Remember, your mind is most powerful if you harness its energies to create the reality for you.


Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Ancient Wisdom and Aging

The human body has built-in body wisdom that keeps it young and healthy, that is, an innate awareness of its basic needs, as well as its warning signs and signals of internal disharmony that may lead to imminent disease and disorder. Therefore, wisdom is required to enhance this human consciousness to create a new environment in which the biochemistry of the body becomes the substance of awareness of beliefs, emotions, and thoughts, thereby instrumental in maintaining and sustaining the overall wellness of an individual to remain disease-free as much as and as long as possible.

Body wisdom is no more than everyday eating and living habits. Eating is a science, and living is an art; they complement each other, just as "yin" and "yang" do. Human wisdom is, essentially, the capability in creating and managing this art and science to live a better and a longer life.

Ancient wisdom plays a pivotal role in aging. Ancient wisdom, however, is not the same as contemporary wisdom. The former has more to ays do with the mind -- how it thinks and perceives; the latter focuses more on knowledge acquisition, and its practical applications in life.

To illustrate, Lao Tzu, an ancient sage in China some 2,600 years ago, was the author of the immortal Chinese classic "Tao Te Ching," which is one of the most translated and extensively read books of all time. According to legend, Lao Tzu wanted to leave China for Tibet, but he was stopped at the city gate, where he was forced to put down his wisdom in writing before he could leave. Reluctantly, he expressed his profound and eternal wisdom in only 5,000 words, and that was how "Tao Te Ching" came into being..

How is the role of Tao wisdom in living a better and a longer life?

Lao Tzu's wisdom is unique in that it emphasizes "reverse" thinking of the human mind, instead of the "conditioned" contemporary mindset. In other words, one must, first and foremost, have an empty mind before one can even think out of the box, not to mention creating one's own box in thinking. To illustrate, Lao Tzu's focus on "under-doing" (as opposed to "over-doing" or "the more, the better" contemporary mindset), "living in the present" (as opposed to "multi-tasking" modern lifestyle), and "no expectation of result" (as opposed to "goal-oriented" or "goal-setting" attitude of this day and age) is conducive to creating internal peace and harmony, which is the essence of living a stress-free life. The essentials of Tao wisdom are fundamental to the art of living well and the science of healthy living without stress.

In addition, Lao Tzu believed that true wisdom lies in internalizing and self-intuiting eternal truths. Unlike contemporary wisdom, Tao wisdom has no blueprint for all -- just as the health of an individual is based on the unique body chemistry of that individual; true wisdom, therefore, is acute awareness of the needs of the body, which is known exclusively only to that individual.

Another example of ancient wisdom is that of Hippocrates (377-460 BC), the "Father of Medicine." His basic principles of health and wellness are profound. For example, Hippocrates said: "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." His wisdom is quite contrary to the conventional wisdom of modern medicine, which overtly emphasizes the use of drugs. The United States is the riches but also the sickest country in the world, and our healthcare costs have skyrocketed in recent decades.

Hippocrates also expressed his wisdom in the art of living: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The wisdom of modern medicine focuses on cure through drugs and procedures, rather than prevention through a holistic approach to health and wellness of the body, the mind, and the spirit. The wisdom of modern medicine is simply on quick fixing the symptoms, instead of preventing their occurrence in the first place.

The wisdom of Hippocrates echoed that of Lao Tzu's "non-doing" or "under-doing" when he said: "To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy." According to Hippocrates, "everything in excess is opposed to nature" because of the presence of the innate body wisdom in self-healing. Unfortunately, modern medicine chooses to do just the opposite, and thus opening the Pandora's box, creating many more human diseases and disorders through toxic drugs and procedures.

To conclude, wisdom is about acute awareness and profound perception through the human eye to see things as they really are, without looking at them through colored spectacles. 

Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The TAO in Anything and Everything

  The Bible says wisdom is everything. "Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding." ( Proverbs  3:13)...