Youve probably noticed the word organic popping up in grocery store aisles and restaurant menus. You know that foods marked organic are supposed to be healthier and noticeably pricier, but you cant help wondering if an organic, non-GMO apple is really that much healthier than a regular apple. Theyre both fruit, right?

The difference is in how the two apples are grown. Organic produce is grown without pesticides, synthetic fertilizer, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Before labeling food organic, the USDA sends a government-approved certifier to inspect the farm where the food is grown to ensure the farmer is following all the necessary rules to meet the USDAs organic standards. Still wondering if the benefits outweigh the hefty price tag attached to all things organic? Read through the benefits of going organic in this healthy eating cheat sheet.

Conventional farmers apply anywhere from twoto 12 synthetic pesticides to their crops. An average serving of leafy greens, peppers, berries, tree fruits, and grapes can contain three to four pesticide residues, which have been linked to serious health problems including ADHD, autism, obesity, and cancer. On the other end of the spectrum, USDA organic products cannot be grown with pesticides, additives, fortifiers, and other synthetic substances.

Deriving nutrients from your food is important, but some studies show that the nutrient value is less in conventional products when compared to its organic counterparts. In tests, organic fruits win at blind taste tests and tend to be smaller, brighter in color, and denser. Organic products test higher in antioxidant levels, including vitamin C, magnesium, phosphorous, and iron. The difference is in the soil. Organic products are grown in soil that is managed and nourished using sustainable standards.

While many countries have banned the practice, the United States still genetically engineer food and allow genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in the growing of food. These products are artificially manipulated to create genetically modified products that are unnatural. Buying organic is the only way to ensure you avoid GMOs, which show up in crops like corn, alfalfa, soy, zucchini, squash, and more.

Organic agriculture considers the long-term impact of growing food on the environment and the ecosystem. Organic farms work to produce food while establishing a plan to keep the soil nutrient-rich and fertile for future years. Unlike conventional farms whose use of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides pollute the groundwater, organic farms use organic fertilizers like compost and animal manure to reduce the risk of groundwater pollution.

Support families in your community by purchasing organic, locally grown products. As giant agricultural businesses continue to dominate food production, small family farms have trouble competing with big business prices. When you buy organic, you support farmers who are being stewards of the environment and nutrition. Take it to the next step by buying from the farmers directly at your local farmers market.

Originally posted here:

5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Organic Foods - The Cheat Sheet - The Cheat Sheet

The middle way is an approach to life- whether monastic or as a householder- tethered to suchness. Suchness means, in practice, that only harm actually matters. In the middle way, for those who pledge to be guided by its spirit of harmlessness, the first challenge is to know the self well enough to stop the harm in which that self is complicit. Each day brings its own set of conditions favourable to the emergence of avarice, ill intent and misinformed behaviours.

The Sanskrit word for suchness istathta.It translates, as my root teacher used to say, ...things as it is. It is a term intended to indicate a state of awareness that is bereft of ideologies. To be tethered to suchness is to be tethered to the present and the imminence of all being. How can such an ideal become the basis for our practice? Our practice in real life is to apply the principle of kindness is more important than rightness. Obviously, in the beginning, anyone who wants to figure this shift out is liable to make a fool of themselves from time to time. Although we often recognize its truth right away, our binary habits easily steer us wrong. Even so, shift happens.

The harm in which we are complicit comes from a comparative mindset in which there is no interface between essential choices. In other words being judgmental, opinionated and certain about many things. Often we justify these harmful attitudes as being 'right', either through inherent superiority or in compliance with divine will. Another way to say this is to mentally set up things we like against things we do not like. This is the disease of the mind, this reflex of adversarial comparison, and if we can weaken this habit of mind we can engage in the harm reduction goal of middle way practice.

Meditation is the venue that brings all these conceptions into alignment. What this means is to cultivate an openness so thoroughgoing that it harbours no preconceptions at all. In the meditator's awareness there is only suchness; things (plural) as it is (singular). Perception moves; sometimes many sometimes one; movement completely consistent with the breathing in and breathing out that is the mark of stillness. In stillness we experience the interface between breathing in and breathing out, reallythe only thing going on at that point. We note that at the basis there is no conflict or harmful wish between breathing in and breathing out, the ideal karmic conditions; we do this in meditation.

Wayne Codlingis a former Zen monastic and a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. He teaches Zen style meditation in various venues around Victoria. Waynes talks and some writings can be found on his blog http://sotozenvictoria.wordpress.com

You can find more articles from our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, HERE

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Why We Need Meditation - Times Colonist (blog)

It seems that when you ask anyone how they're doingwhether it's friends, family, colleagues, or strangers on the streetthe answer is always "stressed." What is causing all that stress? Turns out that most of the strain is coming from our jobs. The World Health Organization even estimates that stress costs American businesses up to $300 billion a year in job turnover costs, health care expenditures, and absenteeism.

We've morphed into a culture that expects a frenetic pace, demands that we don't stop until our energy is depleted, and asks that we limit self-care to the bare minimum. But finally, employees are resisting this speed, and employers have realized that slow and steadynot crazy and all over the placewins the race. The idea of "mindfulness" has made its way into the mainstream with apps like Calm and best-selling programs from Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. It's become clear that the workforce needs to decompress, calm their thoughts, and take the adult version of nap time during their workday to succeed without imploding first. The solution? Meditation rooms in the office. These were once a "new age" perk pretty much only available in the start-up cultures of places like Silicon Valley. But more and more companies are now recognizing that the ability to sit still and meditate during the workday is good for employees.

A study conducted at the University of Washington found that those who had meditation training in the workplace were able to stay on task longer and were less distracted. Meditation also improved memory and alleviated stress.

Major companies are trying to capitalize on these benefits, incorporating meditation into their culture on a daily basis. Etsy's headquarters include a "breathing room" where digital devices are not allowed. The only furniture is a stack of mats. Google goes a step further by offering their staff mindfulness courses, including one called "Search Inside Yourself." At General Mills, there's a dedicated meditation room in every building of their vast campuses, and they offer all staff members weekly meditation sessions and yoga classes. They also teach "Mindful Leadership" to settle the mind and create a calmer, more productive workforce. And Zappo's, in addition to encouraging their team to meditate throughout the day, offers their employees EnergyPod chairs, massage chairs, regular wellness fairs, and on-site health screenings.

"Everyone gets stressed, so it's important to have ways to manage it in order to stay productive," explains Nico Pronk, Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M., F.A.W.H.P., president of HealthPartners Institute and chief science officer for HealthPartners. "Precision, accuracy, speed, and quality of work all suffer when people are stressed."

You guessed it: This benefits companies just as much as it benefits employees. "More productive employees create a more pleasant company culture and an increased bottom line," explains Steve Orma, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist and specialist in insomnia and anxiety. "This kind of culture attracts the most talented applicants, because they want to work in that kind of environment," he says. "Just look at all the perks companies like Google offer their employees and how that attracts the smartest people in the world."

If your company doesn't offer a quiet room (yet), then make it a priority to take 10 to 20 minutes every day to quiet your mind. Add it to your calendar. Go outside and sit on a bench to close your eyes, clear your head, and take deep breaths. Put on headphones and listen to a meditation on an app such as Calm or Headspaceyou can do it at your desk.

Continued here:

Why More Companies Are Incorporating Meditation Into the Workplace - Shape Magazine

I used to hate meditating. I hated the whole concept of just sitting in one place, not really moving, not really thinking about anything going on in my life.

However, time and time again, I have been put into situations where I am forced to try it out, and Im told, you were probably doing it wrong last time this time will be better!

Lies.

Every time, I tried my best to be loose, calm and relaxed, and every time I failed miserably to gain anything out of it besides frustration with myself for not being able to clear my mind.

I told myself I hated meditation because of how restrictive it was the fact that you arent really supposed to be thinking about your plans for the next couple of hours or what homework assignment is due soon stressed me out.

Every time I was put into a situation to try meditating, I resisted it because I thought it was causing me more stress.

Then, about a week ago, I heard something in my social psychology class that made me realize another reason I could be failing at meditation a reason that wasnt my fault.

We were talking about group influence and how the mere presence of others causes us to become aroused. As humans, we have varying levels of evaluation apprehension, meaning we naturally feel at least a little uneasy in the presence of others because we are concerned we are being evaluated by them.

This is when I realized that every single time that Ive been encouraged to try meditation, it has been in a group setting.

There was always at least one other person present every single time Ive tried to meditate.

Then I thought, what if I tried meditating alone? But then I realized I needed someone to guide me through the meditation (I wasnt just going to sit in silence with my eyes closed sitting crisscross applesauce) and gave up on the idea.

That is, until a Facebook advertisement popped up on my feed only hours later, advertising this app called Headspace a meditation app.

So I started using the app, and the 10-minute a day meditation sessions have actually been helping me de-stress to some extent.

The calm it brings me lasts for a few hours, but then I start getting back into my routine of overthinking everything and getting myself stressed out again, whether I consciously realize it or not.

I was on the phone with my brother the other night, telling him about how stressed Ive been lately. He believes that I am overextending myself, and so he challenged me to cut something out of my life in the next couple of weeks.

However, the thing is, theres nothing that Im spending time doing that I could ever cut out.

Everything Im doing Im doing with a purpose and a passion cutting any of it out of my life will surely make me feel less fulfilled, and so it wouldnt be worth it.

Then I got to thinking: what if my stress isnt coming from the number of activities Im doing, but just how Im going about my daily life? What if, instead of cutting things out of my life, I need to be adding in more stress-relieving activities, like meditating?

But meditating alone clearly isnt enough.

I was almost as busy as I am now when I was in high school, and I was stressed, but not to the point where it was affecting me as much as it is now. What was I doing differently?

-I read more paper books

-My time between classes was spent socializing, not staring at my phone screen

-I had study halls

- I took art classes

Ive always been good at adding new things to my plate and finding room in my schedule for new clubs, new classes and new friends.

I believe if I actively try to mix some of my old activities into my life, such as reading before bed instead of scrolling through Facebook, my stress levels will decrease.

According to a Telegraph article, a research study was conducted at Mindlab International at University of Sussex to see what activities generally believed to relieve stress actually worked.

The study, found that, out of reading, listening to music, drinking a cup of tea, taking a walk, or playing video games, reading relieves the most stress.

David Lewis, who conducted the test, said in the Telegraph article losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation.

So, I could think about meditation and reading as more time-consuming activities to add to my schedule, eat up my time and stress me out.

But, I could also see them as necessary breaks that allow me to take a step back from my hectic everyday life.

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How I went from medihater to meditator - The Daily Collegian Online

Can meditation be beneficial to you? Art of Connection host Baya Voce says that most people know that mediation could help them, even if they don't practice it.

"I've dabbled in meditation, but never got all that into it until my fiance ended our engagement and my life as I knew it seemed to shatter in front of my face into what felt like a zillion pieces and lil ole Type A, semi-control freak, thought I had it all figured out, me.. all of the sudden had nothing figured out," she explained.

Baya said that through this experience she has turned to meditation, and doing so has been a game changer. She wants to share her new knowledge with viewers, soon April 1st she is starting a free 30 day meditation challenge for anyone who wants to join.

"I'll make sure you have all of the resources you need so it doesn't matter whether you're a beginner or a pro. You'll be introduced to an incredible community who also wants to better their lives, and you and I will get to talk once a week because I'll be hosting calls where I'll be teaching lessons, taking questions and we'll be swapping stories and miracles," Bayasaid.

Head to bayavoce.com to sign up.

If you found this episode helpful, please pass it on and make sure to head to bayavoce.com to sign up for the email list where you'll get The Art of Connection episodes in your inbox every week to support you in living the most fulfilled life you could possibly imagine.

Also visit http://www.Good4Utah.com/connection for a new weekly episode every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

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How this free 30 day day meditation challenge can help you - Good4Utah

The common people heard Him gladly, Mark 12:37.

It the context of this verse, Jesus was teaching in the temple. The scribes and the Pharisees were present, and they were questioning the deity of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees had an outward appearance of being religious, but inwardly they were very proud and thought themselves to be better than others.

Common people are down-to-earth people who know that there is no difference between them and other people. Common people may be rich, poor or in between with regard to wealth.

To be common is to identify yourself with everyone else and to know that you are no better than any other person.

The common people heard Him gladly because they knew that they had sinned against God and that putting on religion was not the answer to their sin problem. They knew that they needed the Savior; for Jesus had said, I am not come to call the righteous (Jesus was speaking to the self-righteous Pharisees) but sinners to repentance, Matthew 9:13.

Common people, whether rich, poor or in between, know that they need to repent of their sins and accept God salvation.

You fill find Him in John 3:16.

Originally posted here:

GUEST MEDITATION - Common people - The Daily Progress

The Hindu

Mitra Milan culminates in Ugadi fete at ashram The Hindu Ugadi was celebrated in a traditional manner, including a havan, at Kala Ashram here on Wednesday. The participants of the three day Mitra Milan programme here got to taste the Ugadi pachhadi and other aspects of the Telugu New Year celebration.

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Mitra Milan culminates in Ugadi fete at ashram - The Hindu

Bhatkallys News Service

Bhatkal 28 March 2017: A student of Anand Ashram Convent School Bhatkal today succumbed to the injuries which he sustained a day before, due an explosion caused by the gas leakage from an Geyser at his house.

The victim has been identified as Mranal Shetty, an class 10th student of Anand Ashram School. Mranal was admitted in an private hospital in Mangalore where he breathed his last today morning.

Sources close to the family reported that Mranal, yesterday was trying to switch on the Geyser at his home, and after several unsuccessful attempt he complained his parents about the Geyser not switching on. By the time his parents came in to try their hands to switch the Geyser on, it had already leaked enough gas to explode and injured all three of them.

All three injured were rushed to Mangalore hospital, where Mranal eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Continued here:

Bhatkal: Geyser Explosion killed an Grade 10th Student of Anand Ashram School - Bhatkallys

NEW YORK -- The trendy Meatpacking district on Manhattan's west side was buzzing last Saturday afternoon at dusk, the cramped streets jammed with locals and tourists flocking to the many bars and restaurants.

New York Jets cornerback Buster Skrine was in the middle of the mayhem, surrounded by 40 or so people in a crowded, pulsating room with flashing lights and loud music.

Early clubbing? Hardly.

Skrine was leading a high-intensity aerobics class at Kore New York on West 13th Street.

Welcome to his offseason.

Instead of working out on his own in preparation for April 17, the start of the Jets' offseason program, Skrine is staying in shape among mostly strangers and helping them do the same.

He decided to teach aerobics, in large part, to satisfy his charitable spirit. The proceeds go to a handful of charities, including his own foundation, Path Mentorship, which helps single mothers and children in need.

"We're giving back to people health-wise and they're giving to us in a way of serving the community," Skrine, covered in sweat, said after a 60-minute class. "It's a win-win. You can benefit and help other people."

Skrine said the idea was hatched last year while home in Atlanta. One day he visited the Atlanta Children's Shelter, where he got a chance to sit down with the kids. He did a lot of listening.

"Hearing the kids' stories and meeting the moms that were abused, I felt bad because I wasn't really doing anything," he said. "I said to myself, 'I have to do something.'"

Always into conditioning, Skrine figured aerobics would be a fun way to raise money. Essentially, he's sweating so those less fortunate don't have to. He taught himself how to be an instructor by watching videos on YouTube, practicing his routines in his home studio. With only 2.7 percent body fat on his 5-foot-9, 185-pound frame, Skrine can be a poster boy for excellent fitness.

His first class at Kore drew only six people, five of whom were acquaintances. Now he's packing the place, even luring teammates to class. Fellow cornerbacks Marcus Williams and Darryl Roberts have participated. Defensive end Sheldon Richardson also stopped by.

"He just watched," Skrine said with a laugh.

Skrine teaches three classes a week and he has a big event on Saturday, Pros versus Joes at Life Athletic at Sky in Manhattan. Several teammates will be on hand, and proceeds go to Path Mentorship and Eternally Cherished, a non-profit organization that helps women.

"I'm probably in the best shape of my life," he said.

Sound body, big heart.

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Jets' Buster Skrine leads aerobics class to raise money and heart rates - ESPN (blog)

Trace Adkins has a released a beautifully relaxing music video for his newest singleWatered Down. The clip spotlightsfarm life and shows how thingslook just a little bit simpler with age.

Readers can press play above to see the Watered Down music video. Viewers first see Adkins heading into the kitchen of a quaint farmhouse to pour a cup of coffee. He spends some time out on the farm, putting in a hard days work: fixing a tractor, moving hay and building a brush bonfire and when he heads to a bar, its coffee hes drinking, not alcohol. Adkinscheers to the woman sippin something strong across the bar and his wry smile at the bottles behind the counter show hes remembering his younger, wilder years, but moved on from them.

Written by Matt Jenkins, Trevor Rosen and Shane McAnally, Watered Down isthe first single from Adkins forthcoming new album,Somethings Going On. As its accompanying musicvideo suggests, the songis a slower tunethat finds Adkins reflecting on growing up, settling down and raising a little less hell:I dont go all in, but Ill take a gamble / And I dont burn both ends of the candle anymore We still like our whiskey / Now its just a little watered down.

When I first heard Watered Down, I felt an immediate connection with what I wanted to say, Adkins explains. A man comes to a point in his life where he begins to reflect on his past and what hes learned, and thats what fueled this song. If youve led the kind of life Ive led, at some point you have to temper your vices.

Adkins 12th studio album,Somethings Going On, will drop on March 31; it will be his first release on BBR Music Groups Wheelhouse Records. The record is available for pre-order on iTunesnow!

New Country, Americana, Alt-Country, Bluegrass and Folk Albums Coming in 2017

Unforgettable Trace Adkins Moments

NEXT: Top 10 Trace Adkins Songs

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Trace Adkins Releases 'Watered Down' Music Video - The Boot - The Boot