Life in the 1500s

I am indebted to Dr Robert Davidson for this post. I think it is truly intersting. Thanks so much....
Life in the 1500's:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.

Baths equalled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually loose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water".

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets...dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs,"

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold".

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes... for 400 years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trencher were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake".

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.
So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift"
they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer".

And that's what life was like in the 1500's…

English is a difficult Language.

It doesn't make much sense does it?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce .

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn From Albert Einstein

1.. Follow Your Curiosity. "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
2.. Perseverance is Priceless. "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer."
3.. Focus on the Present. "Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
4.. The Imagination is Powerful. "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge."
5.. Make Mistakes. "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."
6.. Live in the Moment. "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."
7.. Create Value. "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
8.. Don't Expect Different Results. "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
9.. Knowledge Comes From Experience. "Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience."
10.. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better. "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."

The Four Thieves.

Four Thieves Vinegar: Antiviral, Germicide:

According to herbalist Elizabeth Kastner, "During the height of the plague in France in 1721, it was discovered that the homes of disease victims were being ransacked. At first, no effort was made to find the criminals, since all knew they were fools, soon to die of the plague.

"As time went on, it became apparent that the thieves were continuing in their raids... and quite inexplicably, avoiding falling victim to the disease. Soon, they became highly sought -- not due to their crimes, but in an effort to learn their secret.

"When they were finally captured, they refused to speak until a bargain was offered: remain silent and hang. Divulge the secret to their resistance to the deadly plague and walk away.

"It seems that the mother of several of the boys was a midwife and had a recipe which used plants which were easily wildcrafted... yet, she knew that this would change immediately if anyone learned the formula, so she swore her children to secrecy. Her sons saved their necks and shared the recipe for the disinfectant, which is still used in France to this day."

Given the simple ingredients of Four Thieves Vinegar and with all the yammering about smallpox, bioterrorism diseases, and flu vaccine shortages in the news these days, it seems prudent to me to prepare a home stock of this historical preventative for dread diseases. According to Kastner, the traditional recipe for Four Thieves Vinegar "makes a lot of sense, medicinally speaking."

You can make your own "Four Thieves Vinegar" by following the simple recipe below.

Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe: Use equal parts of the following herbs:

* Lavender
* Sage
* Thyme
* Melissa (lemon balm)
* Hyssop
* Peppermint
* A handful of garlic cloves

Blend ingredients in a glass jar and cover completely with organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, which is available in most health food stores. Cold infuse (let sit at room temperature in a cool place) for six weeks and then strain off herbs and garlic.

You can take Four Thieves Vinegar by the teaspoonful, use it as a salad dressing, or even add a spoonful to your bath water for personal protection. Four Thieves Vinegar and warmed organic coconut oil make an excellent salad dressing.

You can also use it as a topical spray to disinfect surfaces -- including skin -- and/or you can take it as a tincture. All of the ingredients in Four Thieves Vinegar are either potent antibacterials or antivirals!

Dynamic Labile Equilibrium

WHY DOES MAN GO ON LIVING IN THE SAME REPETITIVE CIRCLE, AGAIN AND AGAIN AND LIFE AFTER LIFE?

It is simple. Because you don't really live. That's why you want to repeat. If you really live, there will be no need to repeat. If you have loved, and known what love is, there will be no need to repeat; you will be finished with it. Whenever something has been known totally, you are finished with it. When something remains unknown, you hanker. Natural it is, you go on desiring. You have not loved in this life, you will desire another life. You have not loved THIS woman, you will desire another woman. You have not loved THIS man, you will desire another man, in some other world, in some other planet.

You have not been able to see and recognize and realize who you are in THIS life so you will hanker for another. The incomplete hankers to be completed, that's why.

And then you can understand my standpoint. That's why I say: Live totally! Live utterly! Whatsoever you want to do, do it! Don't avoid and don't repress, otherwise you will have to come again. And come again, and come again.

OSHO
THIS VERY BODY THE BUDDHA
CHAPTER # 2 : THE LAST ALLELUIA

Dynamic Labile Equilibrium

WHY DOES MAN GO ON LIVING IN THE SAME REPETITIVE CIRCLE, AGAIN AND AGAIN AND LIFE AFTER LIFE?

It is simple. Because you don't really live. That's why you want to repeat. If you really live, there will be no need to repeat. If you have loved, and known what love is, there will be no need to repeat; you will be finished with it. Whenever something has been known totally, you are finished with it. When something remains unknown, you hanker. Natural it is, you go on desiring. You have not loved in this life, you will desire another life. You have not loved THIS woman, you will desire another woman. You have not loved THIS man, you will desire another man, in some other world, in some other planet.

You have not been able to see and recognize and realize who you are in THIS life so you will hanker for another. The incomplete hankers to be completed, that's why.

And then you can understand my standpoint. That's why I say: Live totally! Live utterly! Whatsoever you want to do, do it! Don't avoid and don't repress, otherwise you will have to come again. And come again, and come again.

OSHO
THIS VERY BODY THE BUDDHA
CHAPTER # 2 : THE LAST ALLELUIA

"Ho'oponopono, by Dr Joe Vitale" The e-mail that started it all!

"Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any of them.
The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person's illness.
As he improved himself, the patient improved.

"When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend.
How could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself?
How could even the best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane?
It didn't make any sense.
It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.
"However, I heard it again a year later.
I heard that the therapist had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho 'oponopono.
I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind.
If the story was at all true, I had to know more.
I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am responsible for what I think and do.
Beyond that, it's out of my hands.
I think that most people think of total responsibility that way.
We're responsible for what we do, not what anyone else does--but that's wrong.
"The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility.
His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len.
We probably spent an hour talking on our first phone call.
I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a therapist.
He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years.
That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous.
Psychologists quit on a monthly basis.
The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit.
People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients.
It was not a pleasant place to live, work, or visit.
"Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients.
He agreed to have an office and to review their files.
While he looked at those files, he would work on himself.
As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.
"'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released were being freed.'
I was in awe.
'Not only that,' he went on, 'but the staff began to enjoy coming to work. Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.'
"This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?'

"'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said.
I didn't understand.
Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life- simply because it is in your life--is your responsibility.
In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.
"Whew.
This is tough to swallow.
Being responsible for what I say or do is one thing.
Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite another.
Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life.
This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy or anything you experience and don't like--is up for you to heal.
They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you.
The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you.
"I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live.
Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself.

"If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life.
If you want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing you.
"I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself.
What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?
"'I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again,' he explained.
"That's it?
"That's it.
"Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.
"Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an email that upset me.
In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message.
"This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method.
I kept silently saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in particular.
I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was creating the outer circumstance.
"Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person.
He apologized for his previous message.
Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get that apology.
I didn't even write him back.
Yet, by saying 'I love you,' I somehow healed within me what was creating him.
"I later attended a ho 'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len.
He's now 70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive.

He praised my book, The Attractor Factor.
He told me that as I improve myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when they read it.
In short, as I improve, my readers will improve.
"'What about the books that are already sold and out there?' I asked.
"'They aren't out there,' he explained, once again blowing my mind with his mystic wisdom. 'They are still in you.'
In short, there is no out there.
It would take a whole book to explain this advanced technique with the depth it deserves.
"Suffice It to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there's only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do it with love."

A Long Silence

It has been a long time since I last posted to this blogspot. There are varied and many reasons for that. But let's say it is all changing now! Today I would like to salute the beginning of a new era with the arrival of "Health Ambit Consultancy". How that works ....well have a look at the website. Yes, the website has been revamped,too. We are not quite there but on the way. Keep a look out because in the next few days I am going to be offering 3 copies each of my two e-books to the first three people who respond to the offer. It has not gone out as yet, but it's there in the offing.
The picture shows me and Dr Hew Len taken in Dubai last June when he led a Ho'opono pono Workshop there. He will be back again in Dubai this June. This is a tremendous opportunity of " making it all right" and of course learning to talk to Divinity. We were fortunate in having a relatively small group in the UAE. I believe there were more than 3,000 attendees in Tokyo! Look out for more details in the coming days.
Speak to you soon.
The Peace of "I".
Blessings
Alister