Category Archives: Discoveries

The Greatest Speech Ever Written

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery.
We don’t want to hate and despise one another.
In this world, there is room for everyone. The good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way… Continue reading

Inside An Anxious Brain: Anxiety Changes Your Perception of Reality

Fear and anxiety have a huge effect on our mind, body and perception of the world. When we are feeling anxiety, it is common to make mistakes that we later regret. While we think that perhaps we should have acted differently at the time, in the end, we have to remember that we do not perceive the world accurately when we are in this survival driven state.

To better explain what I mean I want to show you the findings from a study published in the journal of Current Biology. This study found that people who are struggling with generalized anxiety disorder will perceive harmless things or people as threats on an unconscious level. This, unfortunately, will often cause the anxious person to filter everything through a lens of fear.

If you have ever struggled with fear or anxiety you know how slippery the slope can be and without a good set of rebalancing tools, you can quickly spiral out of control and end up feeling depressed.

Anxious People Tend to worry When There’s “Nothing to Worry About”

GAD or generalized anxiety disorder is the most common form of clinical anxiety which is recognized in the world of psychology.

According to google GAD is officially defined as:anxiety560bf5cc1b00003000dfdeb0

“a psychological disorder characterized by excessive or disproportionate anxiety about several aspects of life, such as work, social relationships, or financial matters.”
“extreme worrying almost every day for six months or more may signal generalized anxiety disorder”
Except here’s the thing:
Fundamentally, anxiety is a result or a symptom of the design of our society. We have created strict lifestyles, jobs and social statuses to constantly maintain. We are emotionally disconnected as a collective and exist in a system that ultimately oppresses us. There is a lot to be anxious about, even if it’s simply the state of the world.  Continue reading

12 Real Animals That Make Earth Look Like An Alien Planet

This amazing planet is filled with creatures, critters, and all sorts of crazy-looking beings- many of which we haven’t even discovered. In fact, there are over 1,367,555 non-insect animals that have been identified, and that number represents only 1% of all animal species that have ever lived! All over the world, we come across the most beautiful animals…and the creepiest ones as well.

The following 12 animals are almost unheard of; join us as we discover what lies beyond their hidden mystery.

1. Pangolin

The pangolin is a solitary mammal. They are nocturnal, and will either sleep in burrows or trees during the day.

They basically look like a scaly anteater, and their diet consists of a variety of insects and insect larva. The body of a pangolin is covered with scales, which are made of keratin- the same protien that forms fingernails and human hair. Even though you might not have heard of the pangolin, they are the most illegally-trafficked animal, and have been poached to near-extinction.

2. Star-Nosed Mole

 

No, that’s not an alien facehugger coming out of that creature’s mouth, that’s actually it’s nose.

The star-nosed mole has a nose only half an inch in length, but it holds over 25,000 mechanoreceptors, called Eimer’s organs, which give it an incredible sense of smell. In fact, this animal has the most sensitive nose in the entire animal kingdom. Which comes in handy because it is nearly blind, and hunts most of it’s prey underground. Continue reading

The Mountains Are Calling

Think about what it would be like to spend a week in the mountains, learning from modern practitioners of ancient earth skills. Think about taking that knowledge home and using it to ground your diet to the earth in the same ways that your ancestors did. If you’ve been wanting to actually learn about living with the land, this spring in Asheville, N.C. might be the time to do it.

 practictioners

Local practitioners and teachers of permaculture, such as Wild Abundance, hold weekend gatherings and week long intensives like Ancestral Foods Cooking Class at their homesteads, where hands-on skills are shared by true teachers of the ancient crafts.

 

Botanists, herbalists, foragers, and homesteaders flock to these mountains, as they are the oldest on Earth and make up one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Being able to explore these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with someone who is passionate and knowledgeable about the forest and its secrets is one of the most profound experiences you’ll find. It connects you with more than just your food, it connects you with the spirit of these mountains and the life to be found in them.

 

The permaculture and homesteading movement offers a chance to break out of the dependent consumer cycle that is killing our planet and our spirit. We owe it to ourselves to learn how to unplug from that. Taking back the food you eat is a great place to start.

 garden veggies

There are those that say switching to a diet of simple, raw, wild ancient foods and foraged foods have miraculous health benefits, including relief from common illnesses to more advanced diseases such as diabetes and even cancer. But the fact of the matter is that eating off the land just tastes good and feels good. You will soak it up and enjoy it in your every cell. You’ll feel happy and healthy and juicy and nourished and you will love it.

 

The permaculture movement also offers hope of a world that marries 21st-century technology with the ancient skills of cultivation and stewardship over ourselves and our land. Our ancestors developed these skills from a loving, nurturing, reciprocal relationship with the earth.

 

Here in Asheville and the surrounding areas, you will find a celebration of these values and the sacred lands that it occupies. Join us this spring as we celebrate the ancient ways with the gifts and wisdom of these mountains.

 

 

5 Natural Compounds That Save Lives

The connection between the natural world and medicine is profound.  The potential to yield new natural medicinal properties is obvious when many modern pharmacological findings are derived from nature.

Over half of all pharmaceuticals developed over the past quarter century are directly derived from or modeled after compounds from nature.

As big pharma increase synthetic drug production and the destruction of Earth’s biosphere continues, there’s a fundamental truth that’s being tragically overlooked. The human race depends on a thriving biodiversity that yields variety of all natural compounds.

1. The Madagascar Periwinkle makes pediatric leukemia and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma curable today.


2.  A Caribbean Sponge slows down HIV, stopping new growth to form.

3.  A Philippine Reef-dwelling Cone Snail produces a non-addictive venom that treats patients with severe pain refractory to narcotics.


4. The Pacific Yew Tree bark yields a chemotherapeutic agent that enhances the lives of women with breast and ovarian cancer.


5. On the Island of Borneo, within the ancient Sarawak forest, grew a tree with potential to save HIV patients. The massive discovery became a frantic search when the National Cancer Institute realized the tree has been demolished.

The island of Borneo isn’t an isolated issue. In tropical rain forests, less than 1% of plant species has been screened for medical potential.

Yet, over the last 20 years, more than 33 million hectares (338,000 km2) of Amazonian rain forest in Brazil alone have been cleared.

This isn’t a moment to feel helpless, there’s ways you can save rain forests from home. Ditch brand new! Buy antique, reclaimed, or restored furniture, cabinets, and other household items. Billions of consumers always buying new has a negative global impact. When shopping, use money as a vote for the future you want to see. Conscious buying is a powerful tool that will shut down unethical logging, mills, and farms.

Obscure areas of the rain forests and oceans receive public attention for their natural medicine, however, we can find the value of earth in every inch. No matter where you are and how you live, there’s an opportunity to improve the environment. Make a conscious choice to use less chemicals, reuse, upcycle, and with the remains recycle. Reduce your carbon footprint by choosing reusable beverage containers, bring reusable bags to the grocery store, eat sustainably caught seafood. Be proactive and pick up trash on the ground. Even creating a healthy wildlife habitat in your backyard is mutually beneficial.

Every person has an opportunity to stand for change and that includes you. We have the power to make the world better every day with conscious actions. When you look upon a flower, a beetle, and the beautiful nature earth blesses us with, remember there’s unlimited knowledge that can be discovered. As a whole, we can use our intelligence to unlock the potential surrounding us and within. Comment below ways you make conscious actions a daily practice.

Resource: Biotropica – The Journal of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Volume 42 Issue 5 pages 558-560

These Bees Were Taught How To Make Honey Out Off Marijuana

A 39 year old Frenchman beekeeper has made a break through in bee training. He has been training his bees for the last 20 years, to make  honey out of anything.

“I have trained bees to do several things, such as collect sugar from fruits, instead of using flowers,” he explains.

Not just fruits and flowers though, medical grade cannabis as well! He calls himself, Nicolas Trainerbees, and he has gotten a lot publicity on the web since figuring how to get the bees to collect this ‘canna-honey’. His passion for nature and and her remedies is fairly impressive. He trains the bees to collect the resin of the plant, since their enzymes turn nectar of sugar into honey.

The result is a unique honey with properties of wild honey, and cannabis. The cannahoney is very floral in scent, and doesn’t need to be smoked. The bees will copy the results to any strain, the process will look the same.

The bees sadly don’t get high as they lack the endocannabinoid system to process the cannabis. They see it as another food source.