Who are we without our memories?

Do you ever stop to think about what your life would be like if you woke up one day and had no memories + no visions for the future? If you woke up and were completely blank, with pure emptiness in your mind?

We would freak out. Or would we? Actually we wouldn’t. Why? Bc we wouldn’t even know that we had had memories to begin with. The only one thing we would freak out about was the feeling of being hungry and not knowing what it meant.

We would have nothing else to freak out about, because we had forgotten whatever known to us.

So it turns out memory is an exquisite illusion that shapes our sense of self. Without it we would just be like an animal, or not that even, cause animals do have memories.

If we could not remember past events - we could not learn or develop language, relationships, or personal identity.

Meaning language, how to get food all gone.

Memory is vital to experiences, it is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action..

We would be nothing with out it. Just pure flesh and bones, just molecules and atoms.

So.. take cafe of your brain, eat brain food, like walnuts, blueberrys etc and in general just take care of your health if you want to keep them.

Dementia keeps getting a sever problem amongst the elder… And it would be nice not to catch that.

Just.. take care of yourself.

Health & Time - Value number 1

It’s easy to get caught up in what people think thus end up doing things you do not want. Either its buying stuff so that you can show people that you represent something, that your identity is attached to some kind of materialistic shit, or not to say no to things you really do not want to spend your time and energy doing but end up letting everybody else control your agenda regardless.

To me thats the worst. My time, energy and health is precious. Health is the only home I have and I have to treat it well. When all is all, and if we look at everything in a high end perspective.. Time & health is all we got… So be mindful!

So.. Today I wont write a long piece on this topic as I actually am exhausted after a week of no sleep, meaning as this is a Saturday I am still spending it in bed. For the first time in months I slept until 11 am. How amazing was that!!!!!!

Anyhow. My biggest priority in life is health & time, cause I know - that if I do not feel good I wont be as productive and have a great mind as I normally would. And mostly that is entirely up to me. So gotta water my plants and treat my garden with love and it will flourish and stay fresh, nurtured and smell crazy good!

This should be your top priority too.. I mean …

Want To Live Longer?

I do. No doubt.
Not only that but I'd like to grow old respectfully of my soul staying healthy, not attacked by this horrifying disease called aging. At least me and several researchers name aging an illness. I truly believe we all will, in I guess about 20 years .

I've been writing posts on this topic previously. If your interested in learning more about my thoughts and findings, here you go: "Lets Put An End To Aging Together"

But before you scroll further down, watch the video below about how we potentially can extend our lives.

Healthy Stress, You Say?

We all know by now I guess (hopefully you do) how damaging stress it to both your brain and you body. There is no worse "disease trigger" actually, well, except aging of course. It breaks your neurons down and shut don your immune and internal organ system and it has your cells age faster and even kill them. You can read more about that here.

For about 9 years now I've been allergic to stress. One day, I decided, I can not do this anymore. «This tears my body down too much in such a young age, how will this affect me in the long run? With this lifestyle I wont survive until I'm 100 (or longer which is my wish).» I just couldn't accept that kind of future and I couldn't bare with the present state of mind and physical body. I was so stressed out that I simply couldn't cope with life. I was completely handicapped. So I decided, stress is way too dangerous to keep carrying in my body and it will destroy me if I do. Most likely get me killed. And, I, I wont let it.
And from that day on, I took control. I became the captain of my mind, the editor or author if you wish(to give a visual image). I claimed full control and the CEO position of my mind, really. Of course it took sometime to change and develop new habits and thinking patterns to stop avoiding my body creating that poison and pumping it out through my veins. But in a few months I managed and it haven't entered since. If I can feel tendencies to it, something in my environment or mind is on the wrong track and I study everything in detail to figure it out. Most times it's an obvious cause, so I kinda know quite easily what it might be because both my gut and intuition has a good overview at this point. What I do then is the following, I take action to have it go away as quickly as possible and start questioning myself and observe my daily habits, body language, eating pattern. Am I exercising enough? Am I eating too much sugary foods? Is it work? Or a situation at work? Or is it personal? A new friend? Or lover? Sleeping enough? Have I've been seeing grateful and inspiring people lately? Had any meaningful conversations or have I been mostly alone the past days and weeks? What is really on my mind? I'm studying every thought passing by, if there is some negativity in there that causes it, its time to switch that up with a positive one. Whats the gift in this negative though or the cause of the negative thought? Whats the instructions it gives me? Why is it there in the first place? Whats the opposite thought of this, what really is the positive in this thing? You can always, always find a reason of why this thought or event is a gift. I assure you. And mostly it is the guidance towards a better you who is the answer, but you'll always find what it concerns if you just give it some thoughts. But, I mean, nervousness before you enter a stage to do some public speaking, or do a presentation, or before a date or such things to me that is not considered stress. Thats just actually a healthy adrenaline shot that makes you more alert and focused, really. Or, at sometimes it can also blank you out, like it did with me the other day when I had the presentation on stage in front of 250. Haha. So, nervousness is just good, it doesn't last for too long either. Of course, if you're constantly trembling of nervousness thats not too beneficial for the neither the brain nor the body.

So, No entry in this body, stress. Has always been my policy. Until lately. Ive been thinking is all kinds of stress really bad? It's been a question in the back of my mind for a few weeks now. But haven't given it much thought really, hasn't even occured to me to google it. But, all of a sudden, I click play on the most recent podcast episode by Shawn Stevenson at the Model Health show, and guess what. Here's the title to have you understand: 

Stress Activated Foods, Intermittent Fasting, & The Principles Of Stress - With Ori Hofmekler

Wtf, right there, on a silverspoon delivered straight into my mouth I got some answers to the question. Thanks universe!

"Stress can be ruthless. It’s a silent assassin that can break down your brain, screw up your internal organs, and pack fat onto your body. But… That’s only one face of stress. Stress can also be invigorating. It’s capable of making you more physically fit, biologically stronger, and literally keep your brain decades younger. So, how in the world can it be so good, yet so treacherous at the same time? Today we’re going to dissect the value of stress to maximize the benefits, and minimize the potential downfalls."

So it got me thinking, have I been missing out on something? Hm.. The right kind of stress is magically enough beneficial. I wish it was called something else though as I see stress as a relativily negative word. Excitement. Yeah, thats better. Not healthy stress but excitement. I am and always shall be excited to be alive.

What do you think about the concept of healthy stress? Is it really beneficial? Would you name it something else?

**Note; I might at some point write an in depth analytical post about this topic do not know when though so do not keep your expectations for that on default. **

What's The Gift In This?

Changing your thinking pattern for the better can be a rough job as we, human beings, are hard wired to survive, meaning we are constantly on the hunt looking for some dangerous and negative things that can hurt us. That's how our ancient brain was made to think, if we want to be happy, new neural pathways needs to be created. This, you can only train yourself to attain. Treat your brain like a muscle and exercise it to the point of a deep constant knowing, feeling and sensation of content and gratitude. Yes, this is possible.

And, when other people manage to do this you can too. 

It can start as simple as this;

When something that seems bad in the moment happens to you, how often do you ask yourself what is the gift in this? And.. How do you even know that an event occurring to you really is negative?
Because it doesn't have to be. Failure, unfavorable, big and small mistakes, heartbreaks, illness,  a bad email or phone call, or someone talking behind your back, someone bullying you, being broke, or saying something ludicrous and ridiculous to another person, or simply not getting what you want etc. Whatever you can think of that makes you not feel good about yourself. When you think about what happened, replace all depressing, frustrating, angry, thoughts with:
"What are the teachings, whats the guidance coming out from this? Really, what is the gift in this?"

Just do it. Let me know how it goes. Keep doing it. Because everything is really a gift, I might sound religious if being a kind and grateful person is what you associate with religion (which is absurd in the first place). Life itself is a gift and we all need guidance to get better at being who we are supposed to be and to serve ourself, others and earth as we are supposed to. So follow the signs to become a better human by saying, what is the gift in all of this?

So True, So True

Just don't.. don't go shopping.

I love this quote by Tim Ferriss. It’s well phrased and on point. I can assure you that if we look for it we can all find deep dark pain within. There are always things we?ve experienced, things people have said to us, things we?ve done to others that hurt us profoundly. The only differencedetermining how much it affects us on a day to day basis is with which perspective we look upon it.

Whatever we search for we find. Don’t let the past decide what the present and future moments bring you. Accept what you can not change, embrace it and move on. (Yes its easier said than done but you can exercise on it and it will get better)

Have a nice bright and shining day!

Love Yrja

If We All Could Think Just So

“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. ”

— Socrates

Book of the Month: Essentialism

If you haven't yet heard of the book Essentialism it certainly was about time you did.
I downloaded it yesterday all though one of my very best friends has been throwing it after me for months. I finally picked it up and I now understand why.

Taking a left turn for a few sentences: I believe she has the most helpful library in her home ever existing. She reads all the best books on how to have a life in fulfilment and peace, and how to get on track towards your vision and mission. So I value her recommendations highly. A bit more background info on her: she is one of the best time managers I've ever met in person. She also has three kids and a house, in Stavanger, addition to that she is divorced and have found a new boyfriend in Oslo and on top of that she is an entrepreneur. Her life if all about responsibility. She HAS to be a total pro in this field, like many others also need to, but the only difference, she manages to do it, on point. I respect her profoundly and she is one of my go to friends for advice and support. She is a huge inspiration source and the mist kind and joyful woman I know. How does she do it? Well, practice and reading a lot, and of course worshiping the book Essentialism, and now I totally understand why. If you'd like to learn more about how she does it and what she do You need to check her out actually, Siri Abrahamsen. Oh well this suddenly became a blogpost where I honor my dear friend but so be it and so while I'm at it you could also check out the Ingefær podcast where she guested some months a go. She is on a mission to spread the awareness of and build emotional intelligence amongst us. Which is highly needed in our time being. She mainly focus on kids and their parents but also work B2B and has written 3 books with the 4th and 5th on the way. Her main focus is how to create great relationships, with yourself, partner, family, kids, colleagues, friends. If you start follow her, you'll learn a lot on how to live a happier and more peaceful life. She is one of the most mentally wise people I know. And I'm lucky to have her as a friend and guide! In a way she is this book that I am talking about. It has become the core of all her choices and actions in life. She is super conscious about her time and what she use it for. And I believe this is the way we all should live to lead a life full of content and no stress.

Ok, so back to the book. Essentialism. What this book is all about is how to do this. How to actually adopt Siris mentality and how to implement it into actions in your daily life. It's all about asking yourself the right questions. The book starts with the author telling his story and what catalysed it. He hit the tipping point when he, as embarrassingly it was, rushed from the hospital where his wife just gave birth to their child simply to go to a meeting which nothing came out of but negativity. He lost his integrity and respect at work and at home that day.  From that point he understood he had reached rock bottom. I believe this might be the case for many people these days. Saying yes to everything with the feeling of not really be able to manage anything at all and the feeling of that hanging over them constantly. Always disappointing oneself and mirroring this feeling in managers, co-workers and family members. Divorces even happen because of unavailability to manage their time correctly. If you feel like one of these people you need to start reading this book asap, and if you are like me that just want to be more aware of how putting the tools into words so to being able to guide others properly this is also a book for you, and if you are simply curious on this way of thinking, read it!!! Let me know what you think. I guess that when I finished the book I'll add some more content to this post.

Stop stressing and start living. There is nothing more important than living with content and calmness in the now. There is nothing more important than being happy with your life right here right now. As long as you're moving forward, no matter how fast or slow, it's a success. Health and wellbeing in this very moment is what to cherish. Base all your actions and thoughts on this. 
And ask yourself what truly matters.

What are the trade-offs by me doing this?
How many people do I help by using my time on this?
What really matters? 
What really makes me happy?
What makes me smile?
What give me the sense of wellbeing, in which mindset and situation is this?
What would happen if I could figure out the one thing I could do at work that would make the highest contribution?
All these questions and more are SO important to ask yourself to map out your road to a better and healthy life for yourself and those around you. All your relationships will get better when this is on the right track.

This is also the core of my life. This is what makes me do whatever I do in life. Sometimes I of course wish I could accomplish and move in a faster pace more but when I think about how I'd feel if I felt constantly in a rush it's not a positive answer. So.. I'm rather happy with moving in my own pace and not comparing myself to everyone else. I need to be calm and stay happy, smile and laugh a lot. And I only do that when I follow my core belief. So.. Lots of things need to be sacrificed but the most important things are worshiped and cultivated by living this way. So mission accomplished. I think so.

"If you don't prioritise your life, someone else will."

View fullsize

NO THANKS.

Foods That Resemble The Body Parts They're Good For

Wait, what?

Perhaps you've never thought or never even heard about this before, that there exists foods in nature that mirror the body parts they provide nutrients for? Or perhaps you've heard some mentions here and there about walnuts being good for the brain but never really had your curiosity triggered into indulging in the wisdom of earths magic?
There is all this forgotten/hidden yet essential information about our existence and mother nature that we never learn anything about while growing up... Such wisdom, such knowledge, all lost. Gone.

Anyhow, I find it extremely fascinating that some of the food growing right next to us actually look like our organs and not only that, the organ that the food resemble happens to be beneficial to this exact organ. Wait what? 
I must say, after my opinion, nature is simply way too perfect to be random. Don't you think? Seems like someone is trying to give us a message. No?
Is it really such a simple message that we're apparently too ignorant to receive it?

Well, I thought I'd write about this topic cause I'd like to put everything I've ever learned about that topic in one place and memorise it. It's handy to know, then you get a sense of what to eat to strengthen the different body parts, and perhaps this time I will actually remember to eat accordingly? 
I also find it in my duty to spread this knowledge as it seems not too many people out there are aware of this. Neither Youtube nor the web is flowing with videos or articles on knowledge. No words. Oh wait? Is it because of the food industry? Or the pharmaceutical industry? We won't know for sure but something is quite odd about this.

Though these healthy foods are beneficial to the whole body, the list below is a fun reminder of what to eat to target specific areas

Carrots. If you examine a slice a carrot you can avoid seeing that it looks quite like a human eye.
And, according to science, eating carrots greatly enhances blood flow to the eyes. Carrot gets their orange color from a plant chemical called beta-carotene, which reduces the risk of developing cataracts. The chemical also protects against macular degeneration an age-related sight problem that affects one in four individuals over the age of 65.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red in color. Our heart can be described the same. It's red and has four chambers. Research has confirmed that tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and it is indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes resembles our lungs. The lungs are made of branches of ever-smaller airways that finish up with tiny branches of tissue called alveoli. These structures allow oxygen to pass from the lungs to the blood stream. A diet high in fresh grapes has shown to reduce the risk of lung cancer and emphysema. Grape seeds also contain a chemical called proanthocyanidin, which is thought to reduce the severity of asthma triggered by allergy.

Grapefruits, Oranges, and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. The similarity between round citrus fruits––like lemons and grapefruit––and breasts may be more than coincidental. "Grapefruit contains substances called limonoids, which have been shown to inhibit the development of cancer in lab animals and in human breast cells," says Dr. Moulavi.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries. An Italian study found that women whose diets included a lot of olive oil had a 30% lower risk of ovarian cancer. The reasons are unclear, but the healthy fats in the oil may help suppress genes predisposed to causing cancer.

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Studies have shown that Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the sperm count as well as overcoming male sterility.

Avocados and Pears are good for the health and functioning of the womb and cervix of the female and look just like these organs. Modern research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances the birth hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and can even prevent cervical cancer. It even takes exactly nine months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit, just like a human baby! There are said to be over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods.

Celery, Rhubarb, Bok-choy and more look just like bones structure. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are made up of 23% sodium and these foods have sodium in them. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

A Walnut certainly looks like a little brain with a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are similar to those of the neo-cortex. Scientists claim that walnuts help in developing over three dozen neuron-transmitters within the brain enhancing the signaling and encouraging new messaging link between the brain cells. Walnuts help warding off dementia. They also extract and break down the protein based plaques associated with Alzheimer’s diseases, according to a study by Dr. James Joseph of Tuft University in Boston.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function by providing a variety of minerals and vitamins. All though, a catch I find odd is that if your kidneys are diseased, you actually might need to moderate your intake of kidney beans.

Sweet Potatoes resemble the pancreas and can actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics. The oblong sweet potato bears a strong resemblance to the pancreas, and also promotes healthy function in the organ. Sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene, which is a potent antioxidant that protects all tissues of the body, including the pancreas, from damage associated with cancer or aging.

Onions look like our body's cells. Research shows onions clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. 

Ginger looks like the stomach and it also aids in digestion. Indians and Chinese have been using it for over 5000 years to calm stomach and cure nausea, and motion sickness. It also slows down the growth rate of bowel tumors

A Mushrooms when sliced in half resembles the shape of the human ear. Mushrooms improve hearing abilities, since they contain Vitamin D, which is healthy for bones, especially the 3 tiny bones in the ear that transmit sound to the brain.

Broccoli believe it or not but it actually looks like cancer cells. A team of researchers at US National Cancer Institute found if a weekly serving of broccoli was enough to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 45%..

Ginseng root looks like a human body, and it is a holistic cure for almost everything.

Red wine, what does it look like? Blood. Wine is rich in antioxidants and polyphenols, including powerful resveratrol. And this apparently loads up on the healthy stuff that protects against destructive things in the blood, like LDL cholesterol. There's also a blood-thinning compound in red wine, so it reduces blood clots, which are associated with stroke and heart disease. 

FASCINATING!

How To Beat Your Repetitive Negative Mind? Part I

Did You Know That 95 % Of Your Thoughts Each Day Are Repetitive?

Usual Thoughts

Terrible. Right? 60.000 is the amount of thoughts your brain holds each day. And guess what 95 % are the same everyday. Yes, 95% of your mind is repetitive. Depressing? Right? But whats even worse is that 80% of these thoughts are negative. Nahh you say, that can't be? Well, a study in 2005 by the National Science Foundation says so. 
And if you start paying attention to your thoughts and feelings, let me know if they aren't. We humans get annoyed, worried, become in doubt, in despair, shameful, irritated, guilt, insecure, sad, envious, jealous, angry, stressed all the time, yes everyday apparently we hold thoughts having us feel like this. We often dwell in the past or the future, obsessing about mistakes we might have made, battling guilt or planning ahead. We are constantly drifting into fantasy, fiction and negativity. Consequently, an absolute minuscule number of our thoughts are actually focused on what is truly important and real: the present moment. The moment is all that is, every was and will be. Everything else is elusive and illusory, particularly as our subjective awareness and feelings are concerned.
You recognise those feelings and thoughts, don't you? Some people just fires up if the person in front of them drives too slow when they have to catch a meeting starting in not too long and some people gets annoyed when their partner didn't clean up when he came home earlier than you. Etc.. Apparently there are sooooo much things to get frustrated about. It basically seems like the human mind is wired for neuroticism. 
But, you might also be one of the persons that are really aware of your consciousness and also knows how your subconsciousness works and know how to manipulate and alter your state of mind to take control and be in charge and quit having these feelings and thoughts. But if you really do not work on yourself to discover your brain, you might be one of those people who copes with negative thoughts and feelings 80 % of the day. You really have to go through lots of self observance and hard work to get rid of them and live with happy and content thoughts and feelings. You might also be one of the lucky people who have no feelings at all only good ones and a quiet and peaceful mind, but believe me, there are not too many of you guys out there.

So seriously, whats wrong with us? And how can we really alter our minds? Is it even possible?
Yes as I mention above there is a way. It might have seemed a bit understandable when you read it if you have never been thinking about these things before... But let me break this down for you.
And to mention first, I find it really annoying that emotional intelligence is nothing that we learn in school or in our community or really not from our parents either, cause they haven't learned this themselves.. Sadly, it fucks us up. Depression is increasing, suicide is increasing, mental illnesses is increasing in general. Clearly we live in a society in which we weren't mentally prepared for after centuries of just living from day to day feeding ourselves, hunting for food and water and making clothes all day. And now things are moving to fast for us to even keep up. We haven't learned any tools to cope with our minds, to understand others and to truly be happy, peaceful and content within ourselves and in relations with others. This society have made us more isolated even though we are surrounded by more and more people everyday. And as we are people persons this is not good for our mentality but again, we really don't learn this in school and we don't learn how to do anything about it. How to get a stable mind and life. So, I'll do my best to give you some tips.
Being aware of this is what is called mindfulness. 

1. Do Not Believe Everything You Think
Basically 80 % is just pure nonsense. Never ever consider everything you think as real. Most of it might be shaped by society or your own insecurities or your egocentric and ignorant perspective on the world. Which might be complete bullshit. So..

2. Do Not Dwell in The Past
You can't do anything about it anyways. Up until now, there is no way we have a chance to go back and rewrite our past. It's possible in quantum physics but not the physics or which we are currently in. Dwelling of the past, is what makes you feel guilt, sorrow, 

3.  Neither think about the Future
The future is, believe me or not, actually completely unpredictable. Even though most likely a scenario where you while tomorrow walking down the streets get a brick in your head, you never know what tomorrow holds. You don't even know what surprises the next hour might bring you. So why worry or plan to much a head. Of by course covering your basic need you need to plan a bit ahead, like housing, money, clothing, educating, nurturing the relationships with the people you care the most about to keep the relationship healthy, educating you kid etc is a necessity. But besides this, there really ain't nothing else to think about, so why do it? You can not predict it anyways. Of course its nice to plan things to look forward to but don't do to much of it, cause as I said.. You dont know..

An important note is that: Anxiety and stress is future related, depression is past. If you live in the present, these negative thoughts will swiftly go away and content will enter you body and mind.

4. Get Your Sleep
A study tracking peoples sleep showed that after even just one night with no sleep made some of the test people psychotic. Say what? Thats insane. It's super important, it disturb your mental state so much, making it run faster and even more difficult to control. It also fires up your amygdala, which is the fear center of the brain.

5. Eat Healthy
What is healthy these days? There are all these different diets out there online each one of them claiming they are the best. Well, I will argue that you do it as simple as simply eat plant based, and keep the meat, fish and animal products on a moderat level. Why?
It doesn't just reduce your waste line or make you body healthy, but.. your brain aswelll!! A healthy lifestyle help build a healthy mind. Again its the same as with sleep. Give your brain healthy fuel and it will work with you, easier to get mindful and stress will lowers it gears.

7. Studies have proven that months of exposure to stress can destroy neurons in the brain permanently, which affects learning, memory, reasoning and impulse control.

Stress literally kills your brain, in addition to having severely negative effects on the rest of your body. When you’re stressed, your body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol which can kill, shrink and stop the generation of new neurons in the part of the brain called the hippocampus. Next time you feel stressed out, reading can reduce stress by 68% – more than listening to music or taking a walk.(source)

More to come later.

Why I Am Vegan

Lots of people become vegan because they feel sorry for the animals. Me? Because I cherish my body too much and want to stay well and live as long as I possibly can (next to caring for the planet and animals of course)
I didn't even consider going vegan, it just happened. Due to allergies and stomach problems I was forced to change my eating habits 8 years ago. Animal milk, gluten and sugar had to leave my diet. To begin with it was such a struggle, cause I was used to eat yoghurt, lots of cheese and bread. Yes that typical Norwegian way of eating. But after a few weeks I started to get to know my body, I got this connection I never experienced, it started to tell me what it needed and what I should stay away from. Before I had just eaten everything and thought that feeling bloated and sick was how it was supposed to be. Like just 10 years ago the ignorance when it came to food was super high, its even lots of ignorance today but then.. gluten allergy? Milk allergi? Wtf is that? My dad, which is a doctor, didn't even believe that I could be intolerant to gluten and milk, that was too alien info for him. But what started to happen was that my body start telling me that all animal products wasn't good for me, I started to eat plant based and felt sick just if I ate some pieces of dead animals. I felt heavy, tired, foggy and my digestion became worse every time. So why should I continue eating it when health was not optimal? And the less I started eating it the better I felt both mentally and physically. I had energy, strength and clearity like never before, how come I hadn't done this yeaaars ago? I actually to be honest had abstinence for three weeks when I quit animal products, which I thought was crazy. How can something be healthy when I crave it like a drug? It did not at all feel good, and had me thinking even more about how this must be just a big joke forced upon us by society and big brands wanting to earn money. Yes, people argue that we always have been eating that, but as hunters we were never were able to catch a prey every day and eat in such huge amounts that we do today, perhaps we got met every once in a while but several times a day, no. And we had no choice but to eat it because there were not much else but now, we can access all of the worlds options of food just 500 meters a way to the closest grocery store. We can get all the vitamins and minerals we need from countless food items. Plants, fruits, nuts in abundance. Why should we then stick to meat who doesn't feed us with all the essentials of vitamins and minerals we need? Doesn't make sense. We live in a time of luxury, with a preventive pharmacy next door. Lets just start in that end of the circle right? Not actually eat meat and then having to go to the "real" business pharmacy to get drugs??

The environmental benefits of being vegan means a lot to me as well. Not only is it bad for our health but also for our planet. How come we do it? Such a fucked up species just thinking about ourselves in the moment. 

The movie "What the health" give us an accurate picture on whats going on, you should definitely watch it and perhaps consider being of service to yourself and the world?

Why not leave a legacy, make an impact and stay well? What the Health is the best documentary on this topic so far and leading scientists within this field are featured. Watch trailer below.

But first of all you should watch this, more than worth 15 min of your time.

Let me know what you think?

Think Twice

Got kids? Or perhaps you're sometimes around them? Well, if there is alcohol involved, think twice. Kids are way more sensitive to human behavior than grown ups. Be responsible or else you might ruin someones life by creating traumas the person wont be able to cope with.

Could A Higher Meaning Be Our Cure?

I respect Jason Silva(modern philosopher) a lot and have watched most of his shots of awe videos. If you haven't already time has come to do so. He talks about many interesting and relevant topics in a poetic visual way. In this video he talks about the power of our brain, that if one let the negative patterns win it can kill you.

800,000 commit suicide every year. Which is 800,000 too many. More people die like this than in natural disasters and war combined. What is going on?
What I am thinking is that purpose must be missing. But how to find your inner higher meaning? It's way too difficult for many people. We don't even learn about tools on how to find it, except in religion of course but for most people, that's not an option.
It's for sure difficult but you have to create it, you can trick yourself into anything, even that you are not valuable enough and should commit suicide, when you are just like the person of value next to you who doesn't take it, then why do you then have do?

How can we solve this?

Purpose. Higher Meaning.

Friendly Turnaround

In 2016 my friend path took a left turn down on a waaay better road.
A spark kickstarted the whole thing (well.. it was the end of a heavy relationship), and it just escalated from there and today I find myself in an amazing friend circle which I couldn't be more grateful for, and best of all they keep coming, more and more wonderful people seem to enter. And these are people I can call close friends after just a few meetups. We simply speak the same language. I never thought it was possible for me to discover such relationships other places than in California but damn, there are some great people out walking in Oslo too, people who really want to make an impact in the world, people who want to make the world a better place. Those people, thats the kind of people I'm fortunate enough to call my friends. 

So, if you haven't found those kinds of people that lifts you up as a person, meaning give you a personal upgrade and push you to keep aiming for you dreams and be a better person for yourself and this world, hope must not leave the building cause they are out there. The only downside is of course that they wont just one day come knock at your door, you really really need to go out and seek them. Those are the people who have found themselves, grounded and started walking towards their mission in life. They have a reason to be alive which is to make the world a better place.

I know I've mentioned this in another post recently, but this is really really important for getting a quality life, a life full of purpose, a life worth living, not dull and negative but beautiful and loving. There is no need to be lonely cause love is out there but it's not just served on a silver plate.

Some of my favorite human beings <3

Choose Your Friends Wisely

From an early age I've been very cautious about who I've chosen to be my friends. And I must say I've been fortunate to be able to do so because of my skill in making friends. I've made friends easily at both an early age and as a grownup. I know this might be hard if you are not super extroverted.. How it works for me: I can see a public speaker which is super inspiring to me while he/she gives a talk and afterwards I approach them and ask if they'd like to meet up for coffee, most times they say yes, I'm actually not sure if I've ever met someone who's said no. Most people are open for new friendships... And this are how som of my friendships starts.

Anyhow, my point being, there is this saying that you end up becoming the 5 people you spend the most time with. And thats a big deal if you ask me. I'd rather not be a depressing woman only talking shit about other peoples back and not growing as a person, so in order to not fall into that category I need to take action.

I've let friends come and go into my life, because I've always been interested to grow as a person. I've always felt that if a person stop inspiring me or don't do it at all from the very first time, or isn't teaching me something, either during our conversations or just through their actions or behaviour, and if I do not feel unconditional love there is nothing for me to get out of it. If a person for instance has a big ego there is really not much to get out of it.

When high school was over I cut loose them unhealthy and boring relationships and went out searching for inspirational peeps to surround myself with, and I've found many on my way but it's actually not until 2016 I've found people who stood out to me as amazing human beings here in Norway. Every time I think about them I become happy, every moment with them is like a birthday present, and they inspire all of the actions I do in life. They cheer for me and I cheer for them. We have such interesting and educational conversations when together. Conversations that matter. It's friendship taken to a whole new level. With them I develop. With them I grow. They want to change the world and they do it. They wake up every day to make the world a better place for others in their work and as a hobby. To me there is no bigger inspiration than that. Thats the people I value, Thats the people I want to be my friends. In order to be the best version of me I need to surround myself with people who push me forwards. People who want me to grow. I make sure that all of my friends comes from a place of love and are in a mission in life to serve others.

Note to self: Get rid of toxic relationships, run away. If your closest friend drain you or just talks bad about others run away. It doesn't help you grow or become the best of you. Perhaps it's your boyfriend, perhaps it's your best friend, perhaps its your mum or sister, og just another friend you hang around sometimes. STOP! You and your time is precious. Remember that. It's precious. 

Week in Review - April 2nd

Hey there!

Hardly one week goes by without Elon Musk being in the news. This week he launched a new company and made history by reusing a rocket. I'm such a fan of this man. Such a role model!
He is founding companies in all different fields and even if he has no knowledge on the topic that's not a problem.. Have an idea? Just go for it! Articles, blogs, youtube is right there in the tips of your hand. Just do the work, within 6 months you can be anywhere.

On a personal side this week has been a very exciting and joyful week.
I'm up to some really interesting things that I look forwards to share with you. But first, let's have a look at the awesome stories of this week!

Hope this sparks good conversations. 

Wish you a wonderful Sunday!


SPACE

30th of March SpaceX made history by successfully relaunching and re-landing a used Falcon 9 rocket booster for the first time. SpaceX's orbital rocket system is already the most affordable in the world, but reusability could save companies more than $18 million per launch which is 30 % cheaper.

AI

Elon Musk just launched a company to merge your brain with a computer.
The company which is called Neuralink. Its ultimate goal is to create a series of devices that can be implanted in the human brain.  
"For a meaningful partial brain interface, I think we're roughly 4-5 years away" Elon Musk Says.
 

AUGMENTED HUMANS

Brain implants have allowed a quadriplegic to move his arm.
He used a system combining a brain-computer interface (BCI) and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) technology to move his arms again just by thinking.
 

MEDICINE

Research shows that 40 % of all cancers are entirely preventable.
Scientists have published new research suggesting that up to 60% of cancers could be caused by random DNA mutations, rendering those cancers completely unavoidable. The other 40%, could be prevented via diet, exercise, and other environmental factors.

 

BIOLOGY

Researchers from Worcester Polytechnic create working heart tissue from a spinach leaf!!
Plants could eventually help us treat heart attack patients or others whose hearts have difficulty contracting.

PHYSICS

The U.N. Met To Negotiate A Complete, Global Ban on Nuclear Weapons.
This week, over 3,400 scientists came together in support the United Nations' nuclear ban negotiations, signing a document by the Future of Life that calls for a total disarmament. Notable signees include Freeman Dyson, Stephen Hawking, and Daniel Dennett. More than 2,500 scientists from 70 countries have signed an open letter in support of the nuclear disarmament negotiations. Neuroscience professor and Nobel Laureate, Edvard Moser, believes nuclear weapons represent one of the biggest threats to our civilization.

SOCIETY


US Congress voted to allow internet providers to sell your browsing history/data.
 

ARCHITECTURE

Another skyscraper concept entered the news this week. Architects propose an insane skyscraper suspended from an orbiting asteroid.
Could we survive on it?

Skyscrapers of the future. You gotta check these out! I could definitely live in one of those, as long as it was co-living focused.

Dubai is going to be the home for the world's first 3D printed skyscraper. Construction firm Cazza Technologies is behind it.

INTERNET OF THINGS

Any surface can be a touch screen with this new device.

FUTURE OF FOOD


Impossible Foods  (looking like a real burger, having the texture as one and tasting like one - but is plant based) are ready to scale up and bought a huge factory in Oakland (!!) This new facility of 60,000 square feet will make 12 million pounds of plant based burgers a year.  By the end of the year they are aiming to be in 1000 restaurants all over US.
The “meat,” developed by a team led by former Stanford biochemistry professor Patrick Brown.

Still fancy "old-fashioned" meat? Why not chose Memphis Meats, it's the same meat you eat from the animal, the exception is that the animal is left out of the whole process. We are 5 years away from lab grown meat hitting store shelves. Its healthier, cheaper and way better for our planet.

CARS

You can now design your own car and change it as much as you want.

SingularityHubs Top 5 Picks of The Week

Week in Review - March 26th

There are way too many awesome stories around the web every week and especially this week I had a hard time picking. But I managed to choose a few things.

So, here we go. 

Hope this sparks good conversations.

SPACE

"I said YES immediately"
Stephen Hawking is going to outer space! This week Hawking accepted the invetation by Virgin Galactic to take him to space, for free. If there is one person I'd like to see going to space, of course he is the guy.
At 75 years of age, Hawking won’t be the oldest astronaut ever (that designation belongs to John Glenn, who went to space at the age of 77), but he will definitely be the first person to go to space with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ASL) disease.
"Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the people I admire most in the world, an undisputed genius who has opened our eyes to the wonders of the universe, while also happening to be a kind and delightful man. He is the only person I have given a free ticket with Virgin Galactic, and he is signed up to fly as a Future Astronaut with us if his health permits it." Sir Richard Branson says.

AUTOMATION

Swedish Startup Wheelys opens up its first test store in Shanghai, its the world's first unmanned Convenience Store.
No Clerks Required in World's First Unmanned Convenience Store
"The customer installs an app on their phone, which allows them to access the store. When inside they simply scan the bar code of the goods they want and upon leaving the store their credit card will be charged for their purchases. ...Much like Wheelys' strategy selling its bike-cafes, the company's ultimate goal is to license the technology so any retailer can integrate it into their pre-existing stores. In the company's words, "What Uber did for taxis, we do for retail."

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Google created an AI that can learn almost as fast as humans. 
Their method mimics the processes of learning that occur in human and animal brains.

MOSTLY HUMAN: Dead, IRL
If you could create a digital version of yourself to stick around long after you've died, would you want to?
If you've binged on all the episodes in Black Mirror you probably remember the one where the boyfriend dies and his girlfriend decides for a company to collect all his data and recreate his personality virtually. Well, not fiction anymore. This service exist in our reality too.
"In November 2015, Eugenia Kuyda's best friend Roman unexpectedly passed away. She created an experiment to bring parts of him back to life...Using artificial intelligence, she created a computerized chatbot based off his personality."


Chatbots are getting more and more real.

• A startup are creating humanly realistic virtual faces for their customer service chatbots. And they've also go the ability to read yours.
   
• Lonely? Hugging Face is another chatbot which apparently makes you feel you've got a friend.
   

IBM Infographics
I love the company IBM, to me it seems like they are in the forefront within every field, from machine learning, quantum computers, blockchain, medical research etc everything. 
This week Futurism published an infographic, so I give you the pleasure to check it out!

An emotionally intelligent computer might already have an EQ higher than yours.


EARTH & ENERGY

A river in New Zealand was just granted the same legal rights as a human being.

 

VIRTUAL REALITY

Disney Researchers Catch a Real Ball in Virtual Reality
Disney is in the forefront of technology and dedicated to Mixed Reality
Now Disney's researchers have made catching a real ball while immersed in VR possible.
"It's very difficult to convey touching something in the virtual world with physical feedback. But what if you could interact with real world objects that appear in the virtual world. Disney Research decided to carry out just such an experiment by asking the question: can you catch a real ball in virtual reality?"

You can now control your VR game with your brain waves

BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain is helping us feed the poor.
"The World Food Programme (WFP) is using the Ethereum blockchain to securely and transparently distribute cash assistance to the hungry.
The WFP's pilot program, Building Blocks, is demonstrating how blockchain can empower humanitarian organizations to quickly and safely send aid to undeveloped nations."
Blockchain will revolutionize every industry. I'm certain of that.


BIOTECH

The world's firt head transplant will take place in December 2017..

MEDICINE

The Amazing Hela Cells
I found the story about the Hela cells great and important. And I can't help but wonder how come we didn't learn about this study in school. In fact, 

Breast Cancer
A new drug destroys breast cancer tumor within 11 days without the use of chemotherapy.

Longevity
An anti aging drug might be on the market within 2020. 

ROBOTICS

Animal cyborgs

SOCIETY

According to a recent study done by UN Norway is the happiest country in the world. Well I got lucky. I'm a citizen of this beautiful country but I'm not sure where all this happiness is, I'd rather say we are content. Perhaps thats also why we are not the most innovative country?

COMMUNICATION

Researchers created a new type of Li-fi system thats 100 times faster than Wi-fi. So, it might replace Wi-fi in not too long hopefully...

SingularityHubs Top 5 Picks of The Week

March For Science

View fullsize

This is insane. #savescience

Trumps federal budget includes big cuts to science and research (say what?!)
If the budget proposal pass the congress, The National Institute of Health would lose $6 billion (!!!!!). Futuristic batteries, metal and energy are eliminated from funding. And climate change research is apparently wasted time, according to Trump. Wow. 

22nd of April, there will be a protest in DC, if you're there, join in, if not there will be local protests everywhere in the world. Just as the Womens March! If not you can donate your time, money or words. Let's stick together and speak up for what's important and create that revolution we are all awaiting.

If Trump had the opportunity to make America like North Korea I'm sure he'd jump on it.
Science is the key in order for the world to develop. .

And I'm just saying, Trump is the last snowflake launching an avalanche. 

Week In Review - March 19th

View fullsize

South By South West, an annual festival that should be high up on priority if you are interested in tech and future, music and film. Latest news and the pioneers in the field will be there.

Hope this weekly wrap-up sparks great conversations!

The annual SXSW was held in Austin this week, which is one of the ultimate festivals to go to. Ive been wanting to go for years but it's way to expensive if you dont travel for business purpose. I have a goal to be able to go there in 2018.
Haven't heard of it? Well you should definitely put that on the map travel destination if you are into tech, film and music. Its a massive festivals and the whole of California camp in Austin for a week to participate and get an update on the latest news in the field and where we are heading. If you are working on something, this is the best place to go to show case. Luckily many of the talks were live streamed so if you have some time, go watch a few!

Want more in dept information and news? Sign up to my weekly newsletter!

Space

View fullsize

China unveils working on a rocket that will land people on the moon by the early 2020s
Their announcement comes shortly after the US announced plans to fly two private citizens around the Moon by late 2018, under private aerospace company SpaceX.
China is working to develop a new spaceship that can both fly in low-Earth orbit and land on the moon.

NASA release the first images of the Trappist-1s planets
The Earth Like planet was discovered by the Kepler telescope as part of its K2 mission.

AI

At the SXSW he announced for the masses that the singularity will take place in 2045 and human level intelligence will be reached by 2029. For people who's been diving into Ray Kurzweils material this is nothing new, but now it seems to have been picked up by the masses as its been all over the news. 
The Singularity happens when the Artificial Intelligence in machines surpass human intelligence.
He us super optimistic, and so am I :)

Sustainable Energy

We can officially collect solar energy without solar panels.
Science has now figured out a molecular "leaf" that can harvest sun power.
The molecular leaf is the most efficient method of carbon reduction to date.

Lab Grown Chicken by Memphis Meats, one of the many startups focusing on lab grown meat production. The firm's approach to what it calls “clean meat” is to culture animal cells in the lab, feed them nutrients until they grow into pieces large enough to cook and eat. Fried chicken might never be guilt-free. But you may soon be able to remove at least part of the remorse the next time you chow down, because it might not have required a single bird to be harmed.

Biology

Scientist are fully close to creating a fully human genome by the end of the year.
Prior to this announcement, the team had been able to completely synthesize one of yeast’s 16 chromosomes. And now they have discovered 5 more. They say they’re on track to finish the remaining ten chromosomes to form a completely synthetic genome by the end of this year.

DNA-editing
“What if a cell’s DNA could be edited just like the text of a document so that you could actually erase letters, you could erase whole sentences, [you could] replace sentences, and you could do things that would enable scientists to change the mutations that might cause genetic disease, make changes that allow us to understand the function of DNA and different kinds of organisms and perhaps, enable us to really direct the way that organisms are evolving on the planet?”
Watch Jennifer Doudna's talk at SXSW

Medicine

It's now possible to detect cancer through a blood test.
It screens the DNA through dying blood cells which then detects tumor and where it is.

Nanotech gets smaller and smaller, so the nano boots get better and better. Swimming in your bloodstream and entering molecules and cells. Pretty amazing. Read a detailed article about it here.

Assisted suicide? This roller coaster will make you die blissful.

Please make these ambulance drones mainstream asap!

Fashion-tech

The Levis and Google collaboration has been released. It's a smart denim jacked where you can answer calls and lower the volume and etc..
The future of wearable is no more devices but its smart clothes.
 

Automation

An AI just completed 360 000 hours of finance work in seconds.
In June, JP Morgan Chase & Co, the biggest bank in US, started implementing a program called COIN, which is short for Contract Intelligence. COIN runs on a machine learning system that’s powered by a new private cloud network that the bank uses.
The Bank has more than 240 000 employees, some of those employees are lawyers and loan officers who spend a total of 360,000 hours each year. Now, the company has managed to cut the time spent on this work down to a matter of seconds using machine learning.

Here is the weekly sum-up video of this weeks happenings by Singularity Hub!
 

It's Greener Because It's Fake

View fullsize

Yes, it's absolutely easy to vision that the grass is greener on the other side and who doesn't do that sometimes? We are constantly exposed to these gardens appearing so perfect. But how often do we go check it, touch it, feel it to see if its actually real? How come we don't do that too often? How come we keep living within that dream of the awesomeness of another persons life or the perfect life you could have if only.. 

Isn't it about time to get out of that fantasy bubble and start watering and growing your own real grass? Comparing yourself to the greenness off fake grass will only make you miserable but remember, real grass has a wonderful touch, it smells good, every grass straw is different and it can even grow flowers, plants and food! You just have to do it not use your time looking at tour neighbor's color.  Go make your garden beautiful, water it, nurture it, love it. Its entirely up to you how valuable and stunning you want it to be.  

Remember, you can't do whatever you want. There is no recipe. Even though your culture, religion, country's norms and rules and standard expectations says so. Don't listen. What makes you smile? What makes you laugh? What makes you excited? What fires you up? Go do that on a daily basis and you'll fuel yourself with nutrition and love, and you'll be an example the world needs to see. The world is a playground, it's your playground. You have a great opportunity all you have to do is to take it! 

For reference, by garden I mean both your own mind and your physical life. If you dont have a healthy mind you'll never be content no matter which life situation, if you have a healthy mind you can be content anywhere and also figure out how to change your life to a more optimal you.  If wanted.

Go love it.