#I don’t understand why people do studies of exposed muscles etc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

perdev11-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Problems as a teenager

INTRODUCTION:

Teenagers face a lot of challenges and problems nowadays. They’re mostly victim of depression, anxiety, and other factors that affect their health. They usually not aware to these type of things, so they tend to suffer serious and critical illness which leads them to hurt themselves and the worst, to commit suicide. To prevent these such situations, we made this blog to spread awareness and to help our fellow teenagers to overcome challenges in their lives

Physical

Physical can mean a lot of things; it can mean or relating to the five senses. It means you can feel it, touch it, taste it, see it, and hear it. When it relates to physical health, it is when the body is functioning as it was designed to function. It also means that your body, freedom from disease, and the condition of optical well-being is in a good condition. Physical and mental health are connected, taking care of your physical health improves mental ability ang wellbeing and vice versa. If one of these may fail, the other one will be affected. There are many signs that we encounter of being physically unhealthy like; eating junk foods. Problems that we encounter in our physical health are the following; acne or pimples, menstruation, eyebags, under/overweight, poor eyesight, scars, and height.

A.) EYEBAGS

Eyebags are the puffiness and dark circles under our eyes due to lack of sleep, stress, etc. Mostly it is caused by lack of sleep. For teenagers, eyebags are normal and doesn't worry about it because it doesn't have effects of having it. According to mayoclinic, With aging, the tissues around your eyes, including some of the muscles supporting your eyelids, weaken. Normal fat that helps support the eyes can then move into the lower eyelids, causing the lids to appear puffy. Fluid also may accumulate in the space below your eyes, adding to the swelling. Causes of having an eyebags includes the following: fluid retention, lack of sleep, allergies, smoking, and heredity. Having eyebags doesn't require medical condition and is harmless.

B.) Scars

A scar is a mark left on the skin or within body tissue where a wound, burn, or sore has not healed completely and fibrous connective tissue has developed. No one can avoid scars since we always go to the outside and dangerous world. Some scars can be unpleasant to some people because it can be seen to an exposed part of the body and the trauma that it left behind.

When I was grade four, my classmates noticed that I got scars on my face and I got completely conscious about it since all of them didn’t even have a scar on their face. I tried searching for solutions to get rid of my ugly scars but no results. For the past 3 years I despised myself due to the scars I have on my face. Then grade 7 came and I was surprised that I got a classmate that has a scar on their face. They weren’t bothered about the scar because it’s already part of their life and they have no choice but to live with it. And I saw that other people see scars unique because that’s what makes them different to other people. I realized that why should I change myself when I’m already unique. I got fond of my scars because I saw it as a beautiful mark than an ugly blemish in my life. But over the years my scars suddenly faded. It’s not completely gone but it’s just that not very visible to people anymore. However, I still like showing my scars because I really felt unique about it.

People tend to hate themselves due to the scars that they have on their body. But what I’m telling you now that you shouldn’t hate yourself because of your scars rather appreciate your scars. You shouldn’t be afraid of showing your scars because they are the badges that shows you’ve won the battle that left you with it. It’s really ok to have a scar because it shows that you’ve come this far and you are stronger than your past. Never reject your own mark because that mark is what makes you unique about yourself and different from other people because you conqured your own demons by yourself.

C.) Height

The physical change I encounter is my change in growth, when I was 7 years old I was easily bullied by my friends cause of my height, I’m always their target because I'm small, then years past by I started growing and improve my height because of that, I started gaining self-confidence and be able to socialize with others. The possible solution to this problems are: First, you must develop self-confidence and help yourself accept criticism from other, Second one is ignore what they are trying to say because you know yourself. Third, always think that everything is temporary, everything change, so grow where you have been planted.

MENTAL

Mental relates to our mind. It also refers to the total emotional and intellectual response of an individual to external reality. Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioral, and emotional wellbeing - it is all about how we think, feel, and behave. The term 'mental health' is sometimes used to mean an absence of a mental disorder. Mental health can affect daily life, relationships, and even physical health. Mental health also includes a person's ability to enjoy life - to attain a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode.There are many symptoms of mental disorders such as anxiety, overthinking, depression, stress, etc.

A.) Stress

Stress is a normal part of life and can be caused by many different things. Stress on teenagers can be harmful to their health and wellbeing if it seems as though they have been enduring it for a long time. There many reasons why teen agers getting stress. Homework and school (especially exams) expectations and pressure from parents and their families to do well in school their social relationships with friends and boyfriends/girlfriends and the issue of sex life challenges, such as dropping out of school or going to tertiary studies or lack of time for work-having too much to do, feeling unprepared or overwhelmed lack of sleep. These are the reasons why teenagers get stress but there also a way how can they overcome it. When you believe that your child is depressed, speak to them about trying to determine whether these or other issues are happening. If you can understand how they feel stressed, helping them fix the cause and properly manage their stress will be easier. Yes maybe sometimes parents is the reason why teanager got stress, but they are also the way how their children can overcome it

B.) Overthinking

Overthinking is exactly what it means, thinking too much. When you think too much, instead of acting and doing things, you are overthinking. When you analyze, comment and repeat the same thoughts over and again, instead of acting, you are overthinking. This habit prevents you from taking action. It consumes your energy, disables your ability to make decisions, and puts you on a loop of thinking and thinking over and again. This is a kind of thinking that wastes your time and energy and prevents you from acting, doing new things and making progress in your life. It’s like tying yourself to a rope that is connected to a pole and going in circles again and again. In this situation there is more likelihood for worry, anxiety and lack of inner peace. On the other hand, when you don’t overthink, you become more efficient, more peaceful and more happy. Causes When you become more aware of your tendency to overthink things, you can take steps to change. But first, you have to recognize that overthinking does more harm than good. Sometimes, people think that their overthinking somehow prevents bad things from happening. And they think if they don't worry enough or rehash the past enough then somehow, they'll encounter more problems. But, the research is pretty clear overthinking is bad for you and it does nothing to prevent or solve problems I relive embarrassing moments in my head repeatedly. I have trouble sleeping because it feels like my brain won't shut off. I ask myself a lot of "what if..." questions. I spend a lot of time thinking about the hidden meaning in things people say or events that happen. I rehash conversations I had with people in my mind and think about all the things I wished I had or hadn't said. I constantly relive my mistakes. When someone says or acts in a way I don't like, I keep replaying it in my mind. Sometimes I'm not aware of what's going on around me because I'm dwelling on things that happened in the past or worrying about things that might happen in the future. I spend a lot of time worrying about things I have no control over. I can't get my mind off my worries. Effects You just can’t stop thinking about an event, a person, something that happened in the past, or on a problem. Instead of looking for a solution, taking initiative and being active, you just keep thinking and cannot get it out of your mind. At times, when something bad happens, you think about the worst scenarios, with thoughts like “what if?” or “why?”. You slip now and then into negative thinking patterns. You worry about past mistakes or current problems and issues, and how they might lead to negative outcomes. You obsess about or over-analyze your day-to-day experiences and interactions with people. You inflate every word, thought and event beyond really and reasonable proportions, reading into it things that aren’t actually there. If this happens often, you are what psychologists call a ruminator, or over-thinker. Psychologists have found that over-thinking can be detrimental to performance, and lead to anxiety and depression. How to overcome overthinking? There are various ways to get rid of this habit, like watching TV, playing video games or listening to music. Walking, swimming or exercising the body can also take your mind off temporarily from the habit overthinking. Anything that keeps your mind occupied with some activity that doesn’t allow you to overthink is okay. Watch yourself when you overthink and see how time and energy consuming it is, how you are behaving passively, instead of actively. Realize that thinking once, or a just a few times is enough. It leads you nowhere thinking over and again the same thoughts. You need to make a decision and act. The matter is that you might revert to overthinking – ruminating over and again. The above tips would help you, but if you want to completely overcome this habit, you will need to go one step further. You will need to learn to focus and calm down your mind, so that you can easily prevent it from revolving around the same thoughts over and over again.

C.) Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. It’s when you are not stable and not comfortable with your situation. It’s a type of mental illness where you’re unease. When you’re uncomfortable with your surroundings and when you tend to worry a lot with an uncertain outcome, you’re overthinking. Causes Environmental factors: Elements in the environment around an individual can increase anxiety. Stress from a personal relationship, job, school, or financial predicament can contribute greatly to anxiety disorders. Even low oxygen levels in high-altitude areas can add to anxiety symptoms. Genetics: People who have family members with an anxiety disorder are more likely to have one themselves. Medical factors: Other medical conditions can lead to an anxiety disorder, such as the side effects of medication, symptoms of a disease, or stress from a serious underlying medical condition that may not directly trigger the changes seen in anxiety disorder but might be causing significant lifestyle adjustments, pain, or restricted movement. Brain chemistry: Stressful or traumatic experiences and genetic factors can alter brain structure and function to react more vigorously to triggers that would not previously have caused anxiety. Psychologists and neurologists define many anxiety and mood disorders as disruptions to hormones and electrical signals in the brain. Use of or withdrawal from an illicit substance: The stress of day-to-day living combined with any of the above might serve as key contributors to an anxiety disorder. Effects it can make you sweat Can make you have headaches Excessive and ongoing worry and tension Unrealistic view towards problems Ongoing irritability Muscle tension and aches Can make you think of different views towards problems continuously This specific mental illness can bother you nonstop and make you have a negative outlook in life. Whenever we have or feel like we have anxiety or any other mental illness, we should check up with a professional. Anxiety can ruin your mind set and make you worry about things. To avoid this, we should try harder to be positive in life. It may make you think realistic about certain situations but it can go too much and become negative and toxic for our mental health. This also leads to us overthinking too much and may lead to anxiety.

Living with mental illness is not easy. It’s a consistent problem without a clear solution. While treatments like medication and psychotherapy are incredibly helpful, sometimes people experiencing mental health conditions need to do more day-in and day-out to feel good or even just okay. Some common self-help suggestions people receive are to exercise, meditate and be more present, which are helpful and work for many people. However, other proven methods aren’t mentioned as often. Many of them are quick and simple techniques that can easily be added to daily routines. Finding the right coping mechanism takes time and patience, but it can enormously impact how you feel. If you haven’t had success with techniques you’ve tried, or you’re looking to add a few more to your toolkit, here are seven coping mechanisms recommended by mental health professionals worth trying out.

EMOTIONAL

What is Emotional? If it has anything to do with feelings like happiness or anger, then we consider it as emotional. Emotion is a mental state associated with the nervous system brought on by chemical changes variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. It is often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation.

How do emotions affect behavior? Behaviors are different from thoughts and emotions. It is how we act or what we do. In contrast, thoughts and emotions are inside of us and we don’t have to act on our thoughts and emotions. Despites being different from emotions, behaviors are very strongly influenced by them. For example, when we feel frustrated, we sometimes acts on that frustration by saying mean things to our parents or on the people in our surroundings.

Here are some examples of Emotional Conflicts:

A. ) MOOD SWINGS:

"Mood Swings" is a typical term used to portray quick and seriously fluctuating feelings. Individuals regularly portray emotional episodes as an "exciting ride" of sentiments from bliss and satisfaction to outrage, peevishness, and even depression.

An individual may perceive something that has "set off" a move in their state of mind, for example, an unpleasant occasion at work. But on the other hand it's normal for mood swings to happen without an undeniable reason. Individuals may encounter these adjustments in mind-set through the span of a day or even inside several hours.

It's not unexpected to have days where you feel pitiful or days when you're thrilled. For whatever length of time that your state of mind changes doesn’t meddle with your life to an extraordinary degree, they're commonly viewed as solid.

Then again, you may have an ailment in the event that you change from incredibly glad to amazingly discourage all the time. On the off chance that you have genuine and visit mood swings, you should enlighten your primary care physician concerning them. They can talk about the potential purposes behind for what reason you're encountering them.

A few reasons for fast changes in conduct can be identified with emotional well-being, hormones, substance use, or other wellbeing conditions. Mood Swings can be a challenge to manage, particularly on the off chance that they meddle with your everyday life, school or work, and your connections. Changes in disposition that are continuous and extreme ought to be talked about with your primary care physician, as you should make sense of the hidden medicinal or potentially emotional well-being cause before you can adequately treat them.

Prescriptions called state of mind stabilizers, psychotherapy or advising, and mediations, for example, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) might be useful if a hidden dysfunctional behavior is causing emotional episodes or exacerbating them

If your good and bad times aren't influencing different parts of your life adversely, you might have the option to work through your emotional episodes without restorative consideration. You may have the option to manage your states of mind on the off chance that you do the following:

Keep a timetable. Attempt to make an everyday practice for yourself, particularly with regards to eating and resting.

Exercise consistently. Practicing normally has various advantages for almost all parts of your wellbeing, including temperament.

Get adequate rest. A decent night's rest is significant and lack of sleep can influence your mind-set.

Eat a solid eating regimen. A reasonable, solid eating routine can improve your state of mind and keep you sound. Here are a few hints to adhering to a solid eating regimen.

Practice unwinding. Participate in quieting practices like yoga or reflection.

Keep away from pressure. More difficult than one might expect, isn't that so? In the event that you can't maintain a strategic distance from it, plan to oversee and assuage worry as it comes.

Convey what needs be. Locate an inventive outlet to convey what needs be.

Work it out. Discover somebody to converse with, for example, a companion, relative, or expert instructor.

Remember that emotional episodes can shift in seriousness. Encountering a scope of feelings is a piece of life. You may need to modify your way of life to return to feeling ordinary in the event that you experience periodic emotional episodes.

You should take emotional episodes that adjust your conduct and contrarily sway your life or people around you truly. Contact your primary care physician in the event that you feel that emotional episodes have assumed control over your everyday life or in the event that you've been feeling unwell for an all-inclusive timeframe. These could be manifestations of a wellbeing condition.

B.) BREAKDOWNS

Breakdowns are term describing emotional or physical stress that temporarily makes someone unable to function in day-to-day life. Nowadays, teenagers are mostly the one who experience breakdowns. Knowing breakdown and knowing what are the causes are important, so we are aware if we’re experiencing it and to avoid having it. I already experienced having a breakdown and its really tough to overcome breakdowns because you are emotionally, as well as physically tired of doing something. Just like in a meal, you loss your appetite, You felt that you have no reason to live and no one supports you. So we should focus to this one.

Causes: Expectations and Standards, stress, Heart aches, failures, negative thoughts, Toxic People/Surroundings.

Symptoms: Feeling anxious, depressed, tearful, or continuously irritable, Withdrawing or avoiding normal social situations, Unhealthy eating and hygiene, Difficulty focusing or remembering, Lacks of motivation and interest in things

Treatment and Prevention: Spend some time alone, be aware of breakdowns, know what causes you to have breakdowns, reduce sources of stress, such as conflicts at home, workplace, doing exercises and yoga, talking with friends, family, partners about troublesome feelings.

Let us be aware of breakdowns and learn that everything has a purpose. Do not focus on the things that will make you lose your passion such as standards and expectations of others and keep yourself distant to toxic people and surround yourself with the person who really care about you.

C.) SHORT TEMPER

Short temper is an instantaneous display of anger. The ideal solution is not to control anger, but to be rid of Anger.

The problem with us is not our tempers, but the underlying anger in us. There are thousands of tips you will find online which will say things like:

Whenever you get angry, the first thing you should do is close your eyes and take deep breaths for a while.

Keep a watch on your current anger level and when you sense that you're about to lose your temper, do something to distract yourself and improve your mood, like making a joke to break the tension or remembering a happy memory.

The above suggestions are like using a band-aid to cover a gaping wound. It will give relief, but only temporarily.

What Causes Anger? A leading cause of anger is a person’s environment. Stress, financial issues, abuse, poor social or familial situations, and overwhelming requirements on your time and energy can all contribute to the formation of anger. As with disorders such as alcoholism, anger issues may be more prevalent in individuals who were raised by parents with the same disorder. Genetics and your body’s ability to deal with certain chemicals and hormones also play a role in how you deal with anger; if your brain doesn’t react normally to serotonin, you might find it more difficult to manage your emotions.

Emotional Symptoms of Anger-Related Problems

You might think the emotional symptoms of anger-related problem are limited to anger, but a number of emotional states could indicate that you are failing to deal with anger in a positive and healthy fashion. Constant irritability, rage and anxiety are possible emotional symptoms.

If you feel overwhelmed, have trouble organizing or managing your thoughts or fantasize about hurting yourself or others, you could be experiencing an anger disorder or another issue. Don’t wait for these emotions to take control of your life; maintain control by calling our hotline today at. Representatives are available to listen and offer advice 24/7.

Physical Symptoms of Anger-Related Problems

headache, Pressure in head, Fatigue, Pressure in sinus cavities, Heart palpitations, Tightening of chest, Increased blood pressure, Tingling

Strong emotions often bring about physical changes to the body, and anger is no exception. Letting anger issues go unaddressed can put your overall health at risk.

10 anger management tips:

Think before you speak

In the heat of the moment, it's easy to say something you'll later regret. Take a few moments to collect your thoughts before saying anything — and allow others involved in the situation to do the same.

Once you're calm, express your anger

As soon as you're thinking clearly, express your frustration in an assertive but non-confrontational way. State your concerns and needs clearly and directly, without hurting others or trying to control them.

Get some exercise

Physical activity can help reduce stress that can cause you to become angry. If you feel your anger escalating, go for a brisk walk or run, or spend some time doing other enjoyable physical activities.

Take a timeout

Timeouts aren't just for kids. Give yourself short breaks during times of the day that tend to be stressful. A few moments of quiet time might help you feel better prepared to handle what's ahead without getting irritated or angry.

Identify possible solutions

Instead of focusing on what made you mad, work on resolving the issue at hand. Does your child's messy room drive you crazy? Close the door. Is your partner late for dinner every night? Schedule meals later in the evening — or agree to eat on your own a few times a week. Remind yourself that anger won't fix anything and might only make it worse.

Stick with 'I' statements

To avoid criticizing or placing blame — which might only increase tension — use "I" statements to describe the problem. Be respectful and specific. For example, say, "I'm upset that you left the table without offering to help with the dishes" instead of "You never do any housework.". Don't hold a grudge

Forgiveness is a powerful tool. If you allow anger and other negative feelings to crowd out positive feelings, you might find yourself swallowed up by your own bitterness or sense of injustice. But if you can forgive someone who angered you, you might both learn from the situation and strengthen your relationship.

Use humor to release tension

Lightening up can help diffuse tension. Use humor to help you face what's making you angry and, possibly, any unrealistic expectations you have for how things should go. Avoid sarcasm, though — it can hurt feelings and make things worse.

Practice relaxation skills

When your temper flares, put relaxation skills to work. Practice deep-breathing exercises, imagine a relaxing scene, or repeat a calming word or phrase, such as "Take it easy." You might also listen to music, write in a journal or do a few yoga poses — whatever it takes to encourage relaxation.

Know when to seek help

Learning to control anger is a challenge for everyone at times. Seek help for anger issues if your anger seems out of control, causes you to do things you regret or hurts those around you.

D.) Low-Self Esteem

Low self-esteem is characterized by a lack of confidence and feeling badly about oneself. People with low self-esteem often feel unlovable, awkward, or incompetent. They tend to be hypersensitive and have a fragile sense of self that can easily be wounded by others. Low self -esteem is simply how you feel about yourself and how you judge your worth. This evaluation has a profound impact on the choices you make since it determines, to a great extent, what you consider yourself capable and worthy of doing.

People with low self-esteem – who feel poorly about themselves and judge themselves to be inferior to others – are at risk, then, of not fulfilling their true potential in life. They may not take the initiative to set and pursue personal goals; they may not put any effort into their education or careers; they may accept poor treatment from family, friends and romantic partners. This has been linked to a number of negative behaviors among teens, including:

Poor academic performance, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, earlier sexual activity, criminal behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, cutting, disordered eating.

Low self-esteem is more than an unpleasant feeling. It takes a toll on our lives. This are the causes of low self-esteem:

Uninvolved/Negligent Parents, Negative Peers, Trauma, Body Image, Unrealistic Goals, Previous Bad Choices, Negative Thought Patterns.

This causes leads to different negative effects of low self -esteem some of this are:

Negative feelings, Obsession with perfection, Lowered resilience, Lack of self-care, Struggling relationships, Being a “people pleaser” and believing you are powerless to change anything.

In our generation nowadays most of us is conscious of what other people might think of us. Because of this our confidence are affected and we are afraid of showing our real personality, identity and self to others. As a teenager sometimesI don’t what to show what I really feel because I’m afraid that the people around me might say something about it , also I’m afraid of taking risk because I always think what if this one fails and turns out to have a negative effect what will I do? How will I explain it to the people around me? How will I face all of their discriminations and judgements. But as time goes by I learned how to overcome it by accepting the results of the decisions I make. Here are some ways to overcome low self -esteem:

Live in the moment,develop awareness, be non-judgmental, stay connected to yourself, practice mindful meditation, participate in your own life, let go, and Show compassion toward yourself

And always remember “We are each gifted in a unique and important way.It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.”

As a teenager we are facing a lot of challenges. This leads us to different emotional problems that become a reason of some serious health and mental illness. But we should always put our mind that us a youth we have the freedom to just do what we want and what makes us happy. It is our decision to make whether we want to see a certain situation as negative or positive. Don’t let other people dictate you on what you should do, be your own voice towards happiness and peace. Always remember that each one of us is loved and cherished by our own families don’t ever compare yourself to others.

Always remind yourself are special, surround yourself with people who brings color to your life and not the one who destroy you as a person. Take care of yourself always. Be fruitful and grow where you have planted. There is a purpose in everything, and that’s for you to be a better version of yourself,

SOCIAL

What is social issues? Social issue is a problem with a particular place or group of people in the world. There are a lot of social problems around us, for example the lack of confidence, many people lack confidence because they don’t believe on what they can do and they don’t believe in themselves, they are afraid of what people may think about them, they are afraid to be judged. Some people are naturally born with introversion, maybe they inherit it to their parents, others may just don’t want to socialize because they think that others may just make fun of them and they can’t appreciate them, the way they want to be appreciated. While, shyness is another example of social issues, shyness is a characteristic of people who have low self-esteem. They’re shy to share what’s running through their mind. Shyness is like lack of confidence, they tend to feel weak, they’re shy to show what they really feel.

A.) SHYNESS

Shyness can be an awkward, self-conscious, anxious, shy, and insecure feeling. Often people who feel shy in situations may experience physical sensations like blushing, feeling weak, forgetting speech, or shortness of breath or rapid breathing. If people feel shy, they tend to hesitate to say or do something because they feel uncertain about themselves or about themselves.

There are a lot of ways to overcome shyness, first, Start practicing interacting and sharing or telling jokes or stories at any moment. In all areas of your life be more talkative and articulate. You should practice communicating, more freely, whether you're at home, with family, cousins and friends. Let's hear your voice and thoughts. Second, Part of overcoming shyness is about building trust in several areas of your life and not allowing you to get in the way of anxiety, fear of failure, fear of rejection or fear of embarrassment. You overcome the fear of the unknown by doing new activities and learn to handle your anxiety more effectively. Last, Learn how to earn confidence comes by experience, training, practice, and mastery. When you learned how to ride a bicycle, remember? At first it was scary, but you just walked for it and tried it, you got it, and you felt confident. Social confidence works in the same way.

B.) LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Having a lack of confidence is like losing more opportunities in life we must overcome this type of trait that has a big impact to every individual especially to those students. Feeling certain of success even when your knowledge suggests you might felt to fail. Even if you’re extremely skilled and talented, a lack of self-confidence can prevent you from performing at your best in pressure situations. For example, if you work in sales, it’s one thing to read a book and learn and understand some new sales techniques, but it’s a very different challenge to actually go out and apply those techniques when face-to-face with a prospect. The major limiting factor often isn’t a lack of knowledge or practice but rather the limiting belief that you can’t expect to perform well the first few times a self-fulfilling prophecy. Public speaking is a great example. Many people have the knowledge and skill to write a speech that an audience would enjoy, and when practiced in private, they may even do a decent job. But put them in front of an audience or even just suggest the idea and they quickly succumb to feelings of self-doubt and worry. However, if you take such people to a stage hypnosis show and they’re hypnotized, they’ll get up on stage and perform wonderfully with no fear at all, even with no rehearsal or prepared material. Being under hypnosis doesn’t magically bestow any new skills, but it can put people into a state where they have full and unrestricted access to their best internal resources. What new endeavors might you be able to take on if you were hypnotized to belief with absolute certainty that you would succeed at them? You may currently believe that confidence is the result of a history of success. While a history of success can certainly increase your confidence, you don’t actually need that history to feel confident. Confidence is a feeling of certainty, a natural inner resource that can be summoned whenever you want it. The key to feeling confident lies in a quote from Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” Even when your knowledge tells you to expect failure, you have the ability to consciously direct your imagination to override that impulse and feel certain of success anyway. Confidence is not panacea. But being able to make yourself feel certain of success can give you massive edge in many endeavors. And a lack of confidence can put you into the decrepit state where even though you have the intellectual resources to succeed, you don't even make the attempt.

B.) INTROVERSION

Every person has their own identity, each of us has our own personality. We all encounter problems, we all experience pain and we all fall and rise again. Who we are now is how we coped up with our problems from before. Pain changes us, experiences makes us realize that some people can become strangers.

Sometimes in our life, we seem to give up, but there will always be someone else who will make our lives worthy. Afterwards, people will leave again. But why? Life is a cycle, where one can't not change. We will be friends to someone then later on we'll get attached and they'll leave, leave us hanging and we will wondered why. Why do people leave? Why do I need to feel pain? All our why 's will never be answered because no one is there to answer. In all our problems in life, we all get tired, to the point where we don't want to meet new people anymore. You don't want to please these people just for them to stay. You don't want people to hurt you again. People will leave because they'll get tired on us, and yet we are expected not to. Each people who have left us in pain was the person we truly value but ended up fading away. They are the ones that makes us special even in a while. When we fall down, we got no one but ourselves. We will stand up and fix ourselves alone.

Pain makes us stronger, and makes us realize that at the end of the day, we'll be alone. You can be alone but not happy, otherwise you can be happy even though you're alone. Being happy is a choice. Why meet new people if in the end of the day, they'll just leave us pain? Why beg people to stay if they're just going to leave us for someone better? Why fix others if they can fix themselves? Why do you need others if you can fix yourself . Someone said no man is an island, but an island on it's own can be happy. If an island is resourceful, it will be a happiness for itself. If you, on your own, can do such things alone without anyone involved, you can be happy. Having barriers with people is not a bad thing, it's just you've learned from your past and you don't want others to hurt you again.

It's not bad if you let other people come into your life, but you must limit yourself from them, from pain. In case they leave, you can stand up on your own. In case they replace you, you can accept and it won't bother you. In case they'll be happy with others, you won't need anyone, because you have yourself. Be like the moon, who can be happy on its own and can be happy even though darkness surrounds it. You will never know the true meaning of love, if you can't love yourself. Self-love is the most important and most irreplaceable thing without needing someone. If you truly accept your flaws and imperfections, you will never get hurt by others. Everything in this world has ending and limitations. Everyone can give us pain and everyone can be an unforgettable person. But you, by your own, must limits yourself from people. Not because you're afraid but because you learned and you know your worth. You will not settle for less, because you know what you deserve. When people hurt you for the first time, it's their choice, but when people hurt you again, it's your choice because you let them in again.

We encounter different problems in our lives but there are so many ways to cope up with it. Problems is just a test to strengthen us however it will also teach us a lesson. We meet different people, we always socialize so we must conquer all our fears for us to have a good relationship with them. It might have a gap or barrier but you know how to communicate so you will not left behind and you will also know how to limit yourself from people. Meeting different kinds of people taught us how to know the good and bad, the real and fake and the one who'll stay and not. We learn on communicating different kinds of people and we also understand how to know them well. We must not push people away from us, if you know that they're not good for you, just limit yourself but never push them away. However if some people are good for you but they're keep on leaving you, never push yourself to them. Learn how to let go and how to hold on. Let go to those people who've cause you pain and hold on for those person who've never leave you and will always be there for you.

Economical

The society has a lot of struggles, thus we call it economical struggles, but some of these struggles are stuff we don’t take much time to think of in our daily lives. This blog will help us learn others struggles and their solution

A.) Hard Choices: Needs VS Wants

When thinking of the most basic steps in saving money, we must learn the difference of needs and wants. Sometimes, the painful lesson of realizing that even though we really want something we don't actually need it!

Our needs are the things we must have to sustain us day to day: food, shelter, clothing, personal care items, and in most cases safe, reliable transportation. While, wants are something you would like to have but do not need, a new car, expanded cable or a new pair of shoes.

But even within the needs category, the lines can blur. We must have food every day, but we don’t need to dine out to get it. We must be fully clothed to go out in public, but we don’t need the latest fashions just to be ‘in’.

Personally as a teenager, I need to admit that most of the time I always choose my wants, I already have shoes but I always want something new, I can eat in a local canteen but I chose to eat fast food. These are only a few examples of the choices millennial people. We’ve become a culture of want, addicted to the rush of newness and convinced it’s the road to happiness.

We are so fond of following the trends we see in social media or anywhere that sometimes we take our budget for granted, people don’t know how to be contented on what they have. Their phone is still working but seeing the new model makes them think they need a new one, our parents cooks our meals but we chose to eat fast food, to think that many of the things we want can sometimes be bad for us like fast food and expensive things because people will be in debt. Contentment is the only thing we should have to distinguish what we need in order to live, but what are the ways to find contentment?

First, you should look around and evaluate everything you already have. Chances are you’re far exceeding your basic needs in almost every area. Second, avoid advertisements as much as possible by unsubscribing from retailers’ promotional emails, recording television shows and skipping through commercials, and carefully choosing the online content you consume. Break the habit of going digital ‘window shopping’ when you’re bored. Third, practice the One-In-One-Out rule, it simply means that any time you bring a new item into your home, you must get rid of one that’s the same or similar. So, new pair of shoes, old pair of shoes out. New baseball cap in, old baseball cap out. Forth, appreciate what you have, When you find things that you want to buy or do that you currently can't afford, it becomes all too easy to focus on those things to the point of overlooking what you already have, we should be thankful for being fortunate to own such things because not anyone can have what we have and stop wanting more because something is better than nothing.

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” —Socrates

There were many reasons we chose to become minimalist and simplify our lives. Contentment is the lifeblood of minimalism. And without it, the journey towards minimalism is short-lived. Discontent will always rear its ugly head and become a great obstacle to fully thriving in a simple life. So let’s be contented and appreciate everything we have right now

B.) Education: Needs Vs. Wants

Money is something that is hard to earn but easy to spend. It is a necessity since we use it for education, transportation and other daily expenses. People have been using it for many expenses resulting to shortage of money.

Education takes up a long time to finish. Some people say that money is not necessarily needed in order to finish your studies as long you have perseverance, determination, goals and etc. But no, it is wrong. There are times that everyone must acquire money for school. Students who live far from their school must have money for their transportation whether it is for jeepney, bus or train. Students who doesn't have time to prepare their packed lunch must have money to buy food. In order for students to pass, group or individual projects must be completed and school events that should be participated for additional grades. Students from public or private school, both requires financial support.

Everybody has a right to study. That is why parents must be responsible to support their children's education. They should plan ahead of time and save up to avoid such struggles. Parents must avoid depending on debts. They should also avoid having bad habits like smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol often and buying unnecessary things. It is relevant to consult trusted banks for better secured savings. They should make a habit of packing lunch for their children instead of giving them money daily. It would be important for parents to teach their children about saving money so that when the time comes they know how to limit spending the money.

C.) Budgeting: Needs Vs. Wants

Budgeting is the act of saving ones money in order to prioritize the things that a person or a group of people should buy. Budgeting could be in the form of listing (writing, typing, mental writing of a list) or making your mentality “I shouldn’t buy my wants because I need to buy my needs”.

A personal experience I could share about Budgeting is; When I was an elementary student, I used to have budgeting problems because of the lack of guidance I got. I use to spend tons and tons of my money on my wants. However, there came a time that I really wanted something and my parents asked what had happened to the money they told me to keep. I hadn’t gotten that thing I wanted, and so from then on I started budgeting more, always prioritizing and mentally making a list of things I need and I don’t need, always having reserved money at my back pocket and always scattering my money in case of emergency.

The solution I can suggest for those that think budgeting is hard, would be: a.) plan your money on a weekly basis rather than daily. Ask for you allowance for the week rather than for the day, or save up on the previous week so you don’t use this weeks allowance. B.) Always keep in mind that there is gonna be something more valuable that you are gonna need so always leave a big amount of money in your savings. C.) even if your allowance or money is only for the day, try thinking that it’s for 3 days. It helps with the “I’ll buy this next time” mentality.

I hope this blog post helped on improving your economic skills. I hope to see you be more of a budgeter than I am. Thank you for your time reading this!

#problems #teenage problems #problems and solutions

3 notes · View notes

lindsay36ho · 4 years ago

Text

Lowell Liebermann’s Personal Demons

In this exclusive digital encounter with the praised and enigmatic composer Lowell Liebermann on his premiere recording as a solo pianist on the Steinway & Sons label, Piano Street’s Patrick Jovell meets the pianist behind the composer and the composer behind the pianist.

Clearly, Liebermann’s latest album release is in a way an attempt to measure a time span and it’s not only a 60-year celebration but a very personal way to – and by means of the piano – let us follow the composer’s ways into his musical universe. The album contains music “he wish he wrote” and also offers music that he actually has written. Liebermann follows Stravinsky’s dictum; “my music is about the notes themselves and nothing more”, but it still leaves us with the question about the communicating qualities of the composer’s music.

Click the album cover to listen to the complete album. This feature is available for Gold members of pianostreet.com Play album >>

Personal Demons – album content: Liebermann: Gargoyles, Op. 29 Kabeláč: 8 Preludes, Op. 30 Liszt: Totentanz, S525/R188 Liebermann: 4 Apparitions, Op. 17 Schubert: 13 Variations on a theme by Anselm Hüttenbrenner in A Minor, D. 576 Busoni: Fantasia contrappuntistica Liebermann: Nocturne No. 10, Op. 99

Piano Street: Thank you for letting us talk to you about your latest recording “Personal Demons”. Your album contains composers rooted in tradition yet with a strong urge to develop contemporary concepts. They are all solitaires, I wouldn’t say misfits, but persevering despite a lack of understanding in their times. Schubert, one of many working in the total shadow of the great LvB, Busoni, the omni genius without a homeland, Kabelac, rejected by the Czech communist regime and Abbé Liszt, exploring inner, spiritual development and thus new harmonic territories – away from the extravagant superstar showmanship of his early years. In a way the mentioned composers carry personal demons too (Busoni “cannibalizing” on Bach for example) and suggest that this is a way how music can develop through time. Lowell, you are a pianist and have therefore played vast amounts of music. If you were to extend your list of fascinations – not necessarily demons – which would these be and why?

LL: You are right that the composers on this album are all, in one way or another, outliers, and that is part of their attraction. There are certainly other composers, more mainstream, who have had an even greater influence on my development as a musician. It was Bach who first made me fall in love with music. I was actually first exposed to Bach’s music through “Switched On Bach,” the synthesized versions by Wendy Carlos that have held up remarkably well, I think. But perhaps the most profound influence on my musical growth was Beethoven. My first composition teacher at Juilliard, David Diamond, had me follow a Beethovenian model of keeping sketchbooks and rigorously working out musical materials. And my piano teacher, Jacob Lateiner, was a Beethoven specialist. It was through working on the Beethoven Sonatas with him that I first fully appreciated the interconnectedness of every element of those scores: that the articulations, dynamics, etc, were inseparable from the musical content and development, and not to be altered at a performer’s whimsy. And then there is Ravel, who set a standard of musical perfection that is something to strive for.

Liszt’s Totentanz

PS: Let’s turn to the macabre part on your album and Liszt’s Totentanz, a work he re-wrote as a solo piece from originally being composed for piano with orchestra. The work is variations on the gregorian chant Dires Irae (the Day of Wrath), a theme used by many a composer. For instance, it appears in Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody where it merges with the original theme. You also wrote a Variations on a theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra along with three piano concertos. What do you win or lose when composing for piano with orchestra compared to piano solo?

LL: Of course, when composing with orchestra one gains all the orchestral colors and an enormous amount of creative flexibility that comes with all those added instruments. And I think there is also a special dynamic in the dialogue between a solo piano and orchestra that creates a unique kind of musical tension that also opens up all kinds of possibilities.

PS: What did Liszt gain in the solo version?

LL: Going from the orchestral version of Totentanz to the solo piano version is a very special case, I think. I think the piece gains a certain kind of austerity in the piano solo version that is entirely appropriate and beneficial. At this point, I prefer the solo version. Liszt made a cut in the coda in the solo version which takes some getting used to one is familiar with the orchestral version. Several pianists have reinstated this cut, transcribing those few measures themselves. I can understand the impulse to do so, but I prefer to leave the work it as Liszt saw fit.

Performing own compositions

PS: It’s a joyous favor being able to talk to a composer who is also the performer and history has given us so much amazing music from creators with this combination of function and skill. On the album you give us two of your own works; the immensely popular Gargoyles Op. 29 and your chosen 10th Nocturne Op. 99 (out of eleven, first Nocturne composed in 1987). This poses the question about person vs. persona. When performing your own repertoire, which works do you choose and – to add an even more pathologic dimension – are you interpreting the work or are you performing/projecting yourself?

LL: The composing and performing are two very different functions that require different focus and utilize different parts of one’s brain and psyche. There is a real danger in performing one’s own works that one thinks one knows them better than one in fact does. The kind of learning that you need to do as a performer is much different from the knowledge and memory you have of a piece from having written it. A very high percentage of the memory needed for performance is muscle memory rather than intellectual memory. And so, when learning one of my own pieces for performance, I have to forget that I wrote it, and approach it as if it had been written by someone else. And that includes studying all the dynamic and expressive markings anew, because one can forget one’s own intentions and get sloppy. And this also brings up what I think is a bit of a cliché, that a composer’s music is a direct reflection of their personality, or a reflection their emotional life at the time of writing the piece. This is simply not true. A composer can write a tragic piece at the happiest point in their life and vice versa. It is often more like acting via music rather than writing an autobiography in music.

A desirable pianistic style

PS: You are one of the few contemporary composers who can out the big names and take place in traditional pianist recital programs worldwide. What makes your music so desirable for pianists? Would you mind if I ask for a pianistic self-analysis?

LL: I’ve always felt that it is important for me, as a composer, to keep in contact with the act of performance. It informs my writing in so many ways, even just experiencing the sheer physical joy of playing certain things. I think keeping awareness of the fact that music is an act of communication in real time is very important, and it is easy to lose track of that when one has one’s head buried in the notes. One aspect of my music that, perhaps, has helped its popularity is that, no matter what is going on harmonically, my music is almost always melodically based. My music mixes tonality (usually not in a traditionally functional sense, though), atonality, octatonic or other synthetic scales, etc., basically anything that I feel fits the material at hand. Some critics have called my music neo-romantic (a label I disagree with) and I think what most of them are reacting to is the fact that it is melodically based. It’s just an element of music that I find has to be there to keep my own interest.

Composing for flute

PS: Melodic quality must be a key for any composer but after a look in your works list we very often see works for or/and including the flute. What is your story with this instrument?

LL: My very first commission for flute was a Sonata for Flute and Piano, which was commissioned by the Spoleto Chamber Music Festival for Paula Robison and Jean-Yves Thibaudet back in the late 80s. That piece “took off” in a really big way and started to be played all over the world. One flautist who included it in his repertoire was James Galway, who asked if I would orchestrate it for him so he could perform it with orchestra. I told him I would much rather just write a new Concerto for him, and that led to the commission for my Flute Concerto. Things escalated from there, and there were further commissions from him and other flautists: a Flute and Harp Concerto, a Piccolo Concerto, Flute Trios, etc. The flute community as a whole is one of the most enthusiastic groups of instrumentalists out there, who are constantly on the lookout for new pieces and perform them frequently. They share information and share new pieces. Flute works have indeed become an important part of my catalogue but, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, I do not play the flute myself.

The post-pandemic period

PS: We wish to congratulate you on your 60th birthday which took place on February 22! In terms of time spans and trajectories and in reference to composers in retrospective, will you now enter a new compositional period?

LL: I think those questions of composer’s “periods” are best left to musicologists after a composer has died, and I’m not intending to do that for a while! What I can say is that, although I don’t know what period I will be entering, I do feel that there will be some sort of tectonic shift in my composition, not so much because of this particular anniversary, but because of the circumstances we have all been living through. At the beginning of the present pandemic, all of my commissions were put on hold, which enabled me to focus on my piano playing and this new recording “Personal Demons”. But this has meant that I have not actually written anything new for the better part of a year, the longest amount of time I have ever spent without finishing a composition. Now that there are flickers of light at the end of the tunnel, the commissions are being rekindled, and I do now have to start writing again. But I think the time away from writing will have a natural effect of reassessment. How that will manifest itself, I can’t really tell until I do start writing again, which should be any day now…

from Piano Street’s Classical Piano News https://www.pianostreet.com/blog/articles/lowell-liebermanns-personal-demons-11052/

0 notes

ultramanismycopilot · 7 years ago

Text

Team Galactic, Or, How I Learned To Stop Feeling And Love Nothing

Like many people, Pokémon represents a big chunk of my childhood. I was hooked from the moment I placed Pokémon Blue into my Gameboy, and to this day I still hold the franchise very close to my heart.

I’ve played at least one mainline game in every generation, and there are very few of them I’d ever call “bad” (some better than others, sure, but none ever dipping below the “good enough” line!).

The 7th Generation of Pokémon games was an interesting experiment, with Sun and Moon taking a much more character-driven focus to its story, as opposed to simply having a wafer-thin plot to fill in the gaps between Gym Leaders.

I can only speak for myself, of course, but I actually rather enjoyed SM for this. Lillie’s story was very interesting to me, and many were the times were I found myself very curious to see where it was headed. That’s not to say there weren’t flaws, obviously (a cutscene skip option would have been nice), and the story wasn’t exactly to the level of the majority of RPGs out there, but for what it was, I found it rather enjoyable.

This was, in no small part, due to its main villain Lusamine, who I’ve seen quite some fans call her the most complex Pokémon villain to date. And while I wouldn’t take away the fact Lusamine is a very interesting villain in her own right, I feel she has strong competition in terms of villainy in the Pokémon world.

Whoever your favorite villain in the entire series is, obviously, down to personal preference. This is just me gushing about a team and villain that I find to be remarkably fascinating for a Pokémon game, and who I believe to be one that gets somewhat misunderstood among the community.

So, with that (way too long) introduction out of the way, let’s talk about Team Galactic!

Team Galactic, for those unaware, is the main villainous team of Generation 4. Their goal, as understood by its Grunts, is the reinvention of the entire universe so that they would be in charge of everything and everyone. They masqueraded as a company devoted to studying alternate energy sources, but behind that lie there were dreams of not just planetary conquest, but of all reality.

This already places them quite a few steps above in terms of ambition from the team before them, and even those that came later. It’s not money they crave like the Rockets, and they’re certainly not doing this out of a misguided attempt at saving the environment like Aqua or Magma.

Galactic’s Grunts, however, could possibly be described as even dumber than any of those teams, and that’s no secret. Despite their lofty goals, Galactic Grunts are dumb as rocks, acting like no more than petty thugs and thieves and bringing plenty of unwanted attention towards their organization. As they are, their sole strength is in numbers, as the Grunts alone would be incapable of staging any of attacks seen throughout the course of the game.

As such, Team Galactic relies on its circle of Commanders to get things done: Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and Charon (in Platinum). Unlike the Grunts, they manage to be somewhat of a bigger threat, but despite being smarter they still hold much of the same idea as Grunts in regards to their organization and what their goals are. There’s a few exceptions however: Saturn seems to be driven by curiosity; Mars seems to believe Team Galactic is doing the world a favor; Jupiter seems to only care about ruling over Sinnoh; and Charon is only in it for the money.

However, none of them, not even the Commanders, truly understood what their leader had in store, and what is real plans actually were. The man called Cyrus had plans far, far different from what his organization envisioned, and this is where the really interesting bits start to pop up.

Without beating around the bush any longer, Cyrus can be succinctly and quite accurately described in just two words: cult leader.

While Cyrus’s goals towards universal reset weren’t a secret to Team Galactic, what that actually entailed was. Cyrus brought in all of his followers with promises of power beyond their wildest dreams, and a chance to become greater than anything they every imagined. He’d rally them with passionate speeches about their mission, and the impact that Team Galactic, not just himself, would have upon the planet:

Cyrus: Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me! My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus. This world of ours is a crude one. In a word, it is incomplete. It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world. We humans and Pokémon are likewise incomplete. Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim... It is ugly. I hate the incompleteness. That we are all incomplete, I hate it with my entire body and being. The world should be complete. The world must change. Then, who will change it? Me, Cyrus. And Team Galactic. Yes, all of you. Together we pored over myths and exposed their secrets. Together we captured legendary Pokémon. And now, Team Galactic has obtained the energy to change the world! The power of dreams is within our grasp! Understand it, fellow members! My long-held dreamworld is on the verge of becoming reality. All those headed to Mt. Coronet, and those who remain here... Though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one. Let there be glory for Team Galactic!

This was the lie Cyrus told his followers, and while we only see this speech in the game, a post-game interaction with Saturn leaves enough implication this was a common tactic by Cyrus to get people to join him:

Saturn: Our leader, Master Cyrus, hated the very idea of spirit. He hated spirit for being incomplete. And yet, using fiery exhortations, he rallied the spirit of others. What he hated most, he used to control others. Isn't that ironic?

I’ll get to that last point later, but what Team Galactic didn’t realize was that Cyrus had no intention of allowing Team Galactic into his perfect world. Quite the contrary, Cyrus had no respect or use for his minions beyond them being the muscle that carried his plans:

Cyrus: You heard my speech, I take it. Snicker... A big lie, of course. It's true, insofar as my intention is to create a new world. But that world isn't for the likes of Team Galactic. I seek an entirely new world solely for myself. If not, it could never be the complete and perfect world. You've seen my minions of Team Galactic. You yourself must know that they are uniformly useless and incomplete.

Team Galactic were nothing more than pawns, and Cyrus knew this from the start. His entire organization was filled to the brim with morons, as morons don’t ask quite as many questions. But more than that, all members of Team Galactic go against Cyrus’s core belief: that spirit is at the core of life’s whole faults.

I think of one of the key points to try and understand Cyrus is his mention of “spirit”. This can mean many things depending on who you ask, but in Cyrus’s case, “spirit” can just as easily mean emotions and desires, if not the soul itself. Cyrus’s faith is that these things are at the root of all of life’s woes: it is the emotions that govern life that create the problems life faces. So, for example, anger begets violence; avarice begets lies and cheating; happiness and love cloud one’s judgment; etc.

Cyrus is a man who values logical thinking and judgment above all things, and his logical conclusion as to why bad things happen in the world is because “spirit” is the thing that blinds life to a perfect existence ruled solely by what is logical. To put it in even more simply: Cyrus wants everyone to be Vulcans.

It should be pointed out that Cyrus’s disdain of “spirit” isn’t only aimed towards the human spirit. He has plenty of hatred towards Pokémon as well. His struggle is against all life, rather than just a few portions of it.

But there lies a detail about Cyrus that I feel often gets overlooked, yet is why I find Cyrus to be one of the most interesting, if not complex, characters in the entire Pokémon franchise: Cyrus hates spirit not because he deems himself superior to it, but because he hates himself for being bound to it.

I think it’s a common misconception that Cyrus either wishes to become an all-powerful god or that he himself is already emotionless, when his character’s is more complicated than that. As far as Cyrus becoming a god is concerned, this is only the case in Diamond and Pearl, where the story takes a much different (and weaker, in my opinion) path. There isn’t much to Team Galactic there, and given how Dawn/Lucas meeting Giratina is mentioned in later games, I doubt they’re meant to be canon.

Platinum is where the real story lies, and where I think Cyrus stands in the canon proper. And in Platinum, while Cyrus certainly loves to brag about how he has left behind emotion and sentimentality to become a cold and logical machine, the story is set up to prove this is not the case. Cyrus is just as much a victim of the thing he hates, and this is what drives him above all else. This is the side of Cyrus we see when he gets transported to the Distortion World, and all of his plans start to unravel before his eyes:

Cynthia: ...The places we are born. The time we spend living... The languages we speak... We are all different. But the presence of Pokémon unites us. We share our lives with our Pokémon and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we were alone. That is why we can battle and trade with anyone we choose...

Cyrus: Silence! Enough of your blathering! That's how you justify spirit as something worthwhile?! That is merely humans hoping, deluding themselves that they are happy and safe! The emotions roiling inside me... Rage, hatred, frustration... These ugly emotions arise because of my own incomplete spirit!

This is what separates Cyrus from someone like Ghetsis (who took many inspiration from Cyrus’s plan): Cyrus, ultimately, hates himself just as much as he hates everyone he’s fighting against. He doesn’t want a new world to rule over it as the most perfect being, but instead so he can fix his own flaws and become perfect alongside the rest of the universe.

It is important to note that at no point in Platinum does Cyrus ever make the claim he wishes to rule the world. All of his lines are in relation to changing the world, and turn into a better place:

Cyrus: My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice! No one can interfere!

Cyrus doesn’t believe what he’s doing is a bad thing. More than that, he doesn’t think he’s doing it just for his own sake. In his mind, he’s doing everyone a favor by imposing his will and removing all emotion from existence. His introductory line isn’t a lie at all to him:

Cyrus: My name is Cyrus. I want to put an end to pointless strife and hostility.

He’s a man with an incredibly twisted, yet still at its core noble, goal. Someone who wanted to end all strife by causing strife; who used emotions to end emotions, and whose goals began because he felt so strongly about his creed. Cyrus himself is the very thing he hates, as he became the cause of the same strife he championed against by falling victim to the same emotions he fought against. As Saturn put it: “Isn’t that ironic?”

Another common misconception (one sadly perpetuated by the Generations youtube series) is that Cyrus got what he wanted in the end. Ending up in the Distortion World, he was finally in a world free of spirit. This is not the case, as Cyrus has no intentions or desire to remain alone, as the game pointed out:

Cynthia: Why do you seek to change the world? If you hate our world you should just go off somewhere alone. Find somewhere where you can live without seeing others.

Cyrus: Why should I run and hide from the world and have to wait quietly? My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice! No one can interfere!

Cyrus quest isn’t one for solitude. He has an enemy, and no reason to stop his goals as long as that enemy exists. After all, what’s to stop another megalomaniac villain to rise up and begins tampering with the fabric of the universe? The Distortion World isn’t immune to this, meaning even if it was his perfect world, it isn’t safe from the effects spirit has on those in the “real” world.

Cyrus is a man obsessed, and more likely than not, one that has plunged too deeply into the madness of his beliefs. This is why the ending to Platinum rings harder in my mind, and Cyrus himself sticks out as a fantastic villain in my eyes, not just in Pokémon, but just in general. Unlike Giovanni, he doesn’t choose to reform and study Pokémon. Unlike Archie and Maxie, he doesn’t see the error of his ways. Unlike Ghetsis, he doesn’t break down and gets captured. Unlike Lysandre, he isn’t presumed dead, and unlike Lusamine, he wasn’t under the influence of an otherworldly creature.

Cyrus leaves the story the same man he started it. His mentality remained exactly the same, as well as his goals. He had no intention to stop, no intention to redeem himself, and no intention to ever admit he may have been wrong. Instead, Cyrus exits the scene with a (as-of-yet unfulfilled) promise:

Cyrus: I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit.

(Thank you very much if you’ve stuck with this post this far!)

#pokemon #pokemon diamond and pearl #pokemon platinum #pokemon villains #pokemon villain #team galactic #team galactic cyrus #galactic boss cyrus #pokemon cyrus #cyrus

574 notes · View notes

professorpalmarosa · 7 years ago

Text

Kefkaesque (Kefka Palazzo - Final Fantasy)

@light-of-judgment was one of the people who donated for my friend Kat’s situation back in late August 2017. Due to the amount of money donated, this placed this donor in the category of having a bath bomb produced in a future batch.

I have emailed them the recipe on how to make this at home, but am posting images now so folks can see the end result! So behold the “Kefkaesque” bath bomb!

Note: This bath bomb was unfortunately part of the September 2017 batch which (you will remember) fell to pieces after a week of curing. Hurricane weather messed the whole batch up, leaving the above beauties looking like sad deflated sports balls. Since this batch was meant to be a gift for someone who did a good deed and paid it forward to someone else, I’ll be remaking this bomb before mailing it out.

I will reblog later this week to show the replacement batch.

Sandalwood Essential Oil

Sandalwood is all the rage these days and infused in several men’s products. It’s been used in several colognes, body sprays, and even incense burners in recent years, but has been used by humanity for millennia. Take one whiff of its distinct woody, welcoming scent and you’ll understand why!

There are also three major types of Sandalwood on the market (Indian, Australian, and Hawaiian). The demand is highest for Indian Sandalwood, making it one of the most expensive oils in the world. Immature trees are being scrapped for this process and the regrowth methods aren’t sustainable at present. Indian Sandalwood has a legitimate threat of becoming endangered if this keeps up.

While some essential oil snobs will tell you “use Indian or use nothing at all,” I’ve had no problems whatsoever with Hawaiian and Australian Sandalwood. If anything, I tend to buy the Australian version because I have a weakness for Australian essential oils (like Fragonia, Niaouli, etc.) and the price isn’t so insanely expensive. It’s also grown and produced in a more ethical, sustainable process; so if that’s important to you, you can buy the oil with a clear conscience.

Pros:

De-stress and decompress after a nerve-rattling day! One of the most beautiful things about Sandalwood is its ability to bring some clarity and peace of mind to you after a troubling experience. There’s a natural calming effect that comes from inhaling its distinct fragrance.

It’s an aphrodisiac! Even ancient civilizations recognized that the scent of sandalwood made men more vigorous, and its pleasant scent is liked by most people. Try replacing your AXE body spray with a diluted version of this oil and add some pep to your step!

Boost your memory! Using Sandalwood Essential Oil can make it easier to concentrate and therefore retain more information. Try using it the next time you have a cram session before a big exam!

Keep your skin clean and well-toned! Sandalwood Essential Oil is a mild astringent and antiseptic. You can use it as part of a skincare regimen to clean out your pores, add it to your aftershave for a boost, and reduce the intensity of acne outbreaks. Dr. Axe also mentions that gargling hot water with a couple drops of Sandalwood Essential Oil can combat a sore throat. Just remember not to swallow it, as ingesting essential oils can be dangerous!

Break up mucus blockages and fight a cold! Sandalwood Essential Oil has mild expectorant properties. Add a couple drops to a handkerchief and breathe in. The effects of your cough will become more mild, and it’ll be easier to get that crud out of your body. Delightfully, Sandalwood Essential Oil also has anti-inflammatory properties, meaning those airways won’t be as inflamed and swollen, making it easier to breathe.

Lower your blood pressure! A study conducted on laboratory mice showed that Sandalwood Essential Oil was able to lower their blood pressure. In another study where people applied it neat (undiluted) on the skin, their systolic blood pressure proved lower than the control group.

Reduce the effects of outward aging! Add 5 drops of Sandalwood Essential Oil to your lotion and apply it regularly to cut down on the appearance of sagging, wrinkled skin.

Cons:

Sandalwood Essential Oil is considered to be universally safe, though a few people have reported irritation when using it neat on the skin. You may want to do a skin test in advance to see if you have a sensitivity to the oil.

However, if you are taking Lithium, you may want to consult your physician to make sure there are no contraindications before using Sandalwood.

Frankincense Essential Oil

Frankincense is one of the safest and most commonly used essential oils on the planet. Like Elemi and Myrrh, it comes from the resin of a specific type of gum tree (Boswellia carterii) and is used for a variety of purposes. Its scent is slightly sappy, slightly spicy, and a bit amber-like.

It should also sound familiar to the Christian community, since Frankincense (like Myrrh and gold) was one of the gifts the three wise men provided for the baby Jesus in the Nativity story. Considering Frankincense is a great aid for colic, that gift was probably more to help out Mary and Joseph!

Pros:

Frankincense Essential Oil has been shown to do all kinds of wonderful things!

Relieve stress & anxiety! The smell of Frankincense immediately induces a calm, peaceful, serene feeling: which is probably why it’s one of the most popular essential oils to diffuse for personal use around the home. Many people believe Frankincense can increase your intuition and spiritual connection. Try diffusing it or applying it in your lotion during meditation, tai chi, or yoga!

Fight off the signs of aging! Frankincense Essential Oil has strong astringent properties, meaning it helps protect and clean skin cells. It can reduce the appearance of large pores, wrinkles, fresh scars, liver spots, and acne blemishes. Try putting it (with a carrier oil) anywhere your skin is starting to sag. Just be sure to do a patch test first to make sure you aren’t allergic!

Relieve symptoms of indigestion! If you’re like me and occasionally get digestive distress (gas, constipation, IBS, stomach aches, PMS, or cramps), guess what? Frankincense Essential Oil can be a good friend and help sort that nonsense out! It speeds up the digestion of food if you apply it over your stomach or abdomen.

Although Dr. Axe’s website says you can add two drops to a tablespoon of honey for GI relief, I want you to ere on the side of caution with that. First, you’d need to make sure it’s 100% pure food grade oil, since ingesting a fragrance oil, perfume oil, or even a diluted essential oil could be toxic and very, very, dangerous. Secondly, NEVER ingest an essential oil without first consulting your doctor.

Reduce the appearance of scars, stretch marks, and acne! Frankincense Essential Oil can decrease the appearance of flaws in your skin, as well as tighten up saggy skin. Mix two to three drops of Frankincense Essential Oil with an unscented base oil (like apricot kernel or argan) or lotion and apply directly to the skin. Healing skin and scabs are fine, but don’t apply it on broken skin.

Speed up your recovery time from a cold or the flu! The next time you have a bad cold or a respiratory infection, consider using Frankincense Essential Oil. It’s been used for centuries to expel phlegm from the lungs and throat. In fact, it’s best known as an expectorant! Breathing becomes easier, the inflammation in your nasal passage and throat goes down, and all it takes is inhaling a few drops’ worth in a steaming hot washcloth for a few minutes!

Note: Everyone’s body is different. When it comes to clearing up a stuffy nose, I’ve had the best luck with Cajeput Essential Oil and Camphor Essential Oil, but Frankincense Essential Oil works wonders for reducing inflammation (another benefit).

Cons:

Frankincense Essential Oil is considered to be one of the safest essential oils you can buy, and is even safe to diffuse in small quantities around babies and newborns. In a very small percentage of the population, minor skin rashes or digestive issues (stomach pains or nausea) may occur. This essential oil is asthma-safe and kid-safe.

Elemi Essential Oil

Elemi (like Frankincense and Myrrh) is a resin-based essential oil. It has a smell similar to tree sap, but with a bit of a dill-like undernote. One coworker said it reminded him of pine sap. Another said dill pickles (I didn’t get that at all, but it does kind of smell like dill weed flower). I think it’s a bit spicier than both and a bit amber-like in its fragrance.

Pros: Elemi is used to treat stomach conditions and bad cough. It’s also remarkable for topical treatment to scars and problem areas on your skin, as it helps speed up the rejuvenation process.

Cons: Elemi Essential Oil is generally considered to be universally safe. However, a small percentage of people experience nauseous symptoms when exposed to resin-based essential oils like Elemi, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Elemi is considered to be the mildest of the three.

Cassia Cinnamon Essential Oil

Everyone knows the soothing, savory, spicy scent of cinnamon. It’s used in Asian cuisines to add flavor to meats and savory dishes. In the Western world, cinnamon can also be used in candies and sweets. It’s one of the most recognized, universal scents in the world.

The type of essential oil I used came from Cassia (Chinese) Cinnamon. This type of cinnamon is the most commonly purchased type of cinnamon (as opposed to Ceylon Cinnamon) within the United States.

Pros:

Cassia Cinnamon can be used to assist with issues pertaining to diabetes, intestinal gas, muscle and stomach spasms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, infections, loss of appetite, chest pain, hernias, high blood pressure, kidney disorders, and the common cold.

Some people use it to treat bed-wetting in small children.

In part of a multi-ingredient treatment, Cassia Cinnamon can be used to treat erectile dysfunction. This is probably due to the numbing properties of eugenol (a chemical in Cassia Cinnamon).

For female health, Cassia Cinnamon can also be your friend and assist you through menopausal symptoms, menstrual problems, cramps, and heavy menstrual flow.

Cassia Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone and similar chemicals. These chemicals seem to improve insulin sensitivity. Cassia cinnamon also contains chemicals that may activate blood proteins that increase blood sugar uptake. These effects may improve blood sugar control in patients with diabetes.

Cassia cinnamon also contains cinnamaldehyde. This chemical might have activity against bacteria and fungi. It also seems to stop the growth of some types of solid tumor cells.

Cons:

Due to the high eugenol content of this essential oil, Cassia Cinnamon Essential Oil is toxic (and potentially fatal) to cats and dogs. If you plan to diffuse this, don’t trap your poor pet in the room with you!

In some countries, Cassia Cinnamon is used as an intentional abortifacent, since it can bring forward your menstrual flow and cause a miscarriage. If you’re pregnant or trying to become pregnant, avoid this essential oil.

Cassia Cinnamon can be overused and abused. Too much of it over a long period of time may cause side effects in some people. One of its chemicals (coumarin) may cause or worsen existing liver disease.

If you’re diabetic, Cassia Cinnamon may lower your blood sugar levels. Watch for signs of hypoglycemia and monitor your blood sugar carefully.

Cassia Cinnamon may lower your blood sugar and interfere with blood sugar control during and after surgery. If you’re scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks, don’t use this essential oil.

#Kefkaesque #Kefka Palazzo #Final Fantasy bath bomb #bath bomb #DIY #my stuff #Professor Palmarosa

17 notes · View notes

nakateleeli · 7 years ago

Text

More Welgaea asks

About time I wrap up some more of these to unclutter the blog. I should go back and try to organize them at some point so if someone wants to know something specific they can find it more easily...

A few notes of my own:

So I’m exposed to more books in my current job than I’ve been in a long time. Not that I read them, but I see the covers and sometimes read the preview on the inside cover. Today I saw a book called “The Twilight Wife”, and before I’d looked at anything else on the book I’d gotten this idea in my head of someone’s wife that only existed during twilight hours and what a cool fantasy urban legend that would be. Like, these two fell in love, and even managed to get married, but the wife explained that she could only ever be around at twilight, and couldn’t explain why. She ends up being a fairy and is only human shaped at that time or some unknown magical creature that actually ceases to exist when it’s not twilight. There’s so much mystery in understanding how the world works in those old tales and I’d love for Welgaea to be the kind of world where stuff like that could happen. Just on the verge of people’s society, on the edge of the place where monsters and magic reside, a lot of mysterious things happen.

I suppose after the previous post, and as a topic that may come up, I should probably talk briefly on reproduction and genetics in Welgaea. There are inter-racial relationships and reproduction, but much in the way an X/Y chromosome determines physical sex, genetically a child will be either one race or the other. So you don’t get halflings. No race is genetically dominant. Many traits can still carry over, but it’s relative. a tall human and average elf may have an elf child that’s tall for an elf, but not tall for a human.

I’ve also mentioned some monsters, such as succubi and kitsune, that would have human intelligence and be able to take on a human form. (I say humans, but I’m referring to any of the four humanoid races) Despite being monsters, some are able to fall in love with humans and potentially even reproduce with them. Genetically, a child will be either a human or a monster though. Still no halflings. Should this happen there’s a much higher chance of the child being a monster than not, and in some cases, like succubi, the child will always be a monster. A human child of a monster may be slightly more magically inclined than otherwise. Human-monster relationships are strongly looked down on.

I also like the idea of sufficiently powerful mages being able to create “temporary” matter. Like if someone wanted to create a block of ice instead of being forced to rely on water or water vapor in the environment they could just create some water, but it would only exist as temporary matter, dissolving into the energy used to make it after a short delay. This would let mages do stuff like attack with more traditional magical spells without having to worry about all this excess matter they’ve created from nothing building up.

Anonymous asked: (This is not so much a question, as it is a pointer, so, feel free to not answer this one.) Regarding the mutation question, it can be something like, say, heterochromia. It seems to me that it would be more likely for a welgaean to develop that condition, rather than, say, sprout wings (but, you never know). Mutations aren't always extremely apparent, or damaging, or the like. Looking into heterochromia itself might be a nice gateway into this field of study if one is so inclined , so... yeah!

I hadn’t responded to this right away mostly because it was more additional information than a question, but I do think things like heterochromia and other mutations that generally just “look cool” would likely be a little more common in Welgaea.

Anonymous asked: Has the world of Welgaea, throughout its existence, ever faced any worldwide extinction events (like the our Dinosaur Crisis)? If so, are any of them considered relevant by the population of Welgaea today, or are they not considered noteworthy (for comparison's sake, in our case, the Dinosaur thing is at least somewhat relevant, with its own field of study and such). Have any of these events left any residual effects on the environment (e.g. huge shifts in ecosystems, endangered species, etc)?

Can’t really say much without spoilers for much much later, but yes. One or two. Life as we know it didn’t start until after the most recent, thousands of years ago, and the few that lived through it took the knowledge of it to their graves.

Anonymous asked: On Welgaea and probability: taking how the biology of reproduction works into account, how do you figure mutations figure in this occasion, if at all? For instance, a human and a bestia lead to the conception of offspring; we know, by Welgaea rules, that the child will be either a human, or a bestia and never, say, an elf. However, as a prospective human-or-bestia, what mutations would be more-or-less likely to manifest (considering mutations to be as rare as ours, for a point of reference)?

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by mutation, and some more specific questions (or perhaps just a definition of what you mean) would help a lot. I’m not really up on my genetic biology. That said I’ll do my best. I’d say the probability of mutations is about the same as on Earth. More subtle, gradual changes and differences can be passed to offspring, giving rise to evolution, but more drastic changes are often the cause of genetic “malfunctions” so to say, and are rarely able to be passed to offspring. So, a bestia who happens to be kind of good at magic could likely pass that trait to their children and on. On the other hand, genetics don’t normally allow for a bestia/elf hybrid, instead just choosing one or the other, but that doesn’t bar the chance of the genes getting a little crossed and actually producing a bestia/elf hybrid. Since this isn’t a genetically intended result it likely wouldn’t be as eloquent as many who want a true halfling would want. It also couldn’t be passed to children, though they may potentially produce elf or bestia children.

As a follow-up to the mutation question, does Welgaea follow the same rules of dominant and recessive inheritance as our world does? Or do welgaean genetics do their own thing?

I’d be willing to say it’s the same dominant/recessive inheritance as Earth, if I’m remembering how it works correctly.

Anonymous asked: Once again on the topic of dragons, given that we now have a rough estimate of their intelligence, what do you figure their instincts are like?

I’d say their general motives are similar to any wild animal. The seeking of food and shelter. Though being as powerful as they are they tend to find these easily enough and have time to sleep, rest, or play. They tend to live alone and don’t mate for life, just sticking around until the children can fend for themselves. They also have a penchant for collecting things and being pack rats.

Being fairly powerful they aren’t easily susceptible to fear and tend not to be ravenously hungry, so they won’t often go out of their way to terrorize people due to either. For the most part they’re more laid-back and remain confidently unaggressive when approached. They do like their solitude, and are very protective of their belongings and homes, so approach too close and (if you’re lucky after a bit of a warning) they’ll quickly dispatch the intruder.

Anonymous asked: So, on the topic of Welgaea and the bell curve's properties of probability: I do recall you touching on the subject of welgaean dragons and the intelligence thereof. Regarding this subject, how high (or low) can the intelligence factor reach, and how high (or low) has it ever reached up to this point in time?

I think I mentioned last time that dragons are just monsters in Welgaea, a far cry from something like D&D’s elder dragons that can speak and philosophize, often shown as being smarter than humans.

To answer the question, dragons are fairly simple. I’d say they’d range from squirrels to octupi, with the smartest ever probably being near to a pig. This is a pretty rough estimate though, and I’m sure as I learn more about intelligence in general this impression may change.

Anonymous asked: Given what we know in regards to the population and races of Welgaea, it has been established that outliers do exist. However, is there any form of concept so outlandish that it will never actually appear as part of the population? Or does the bell curve do its thing and infinitely extend without ever touching the probability of zero?

I’d say that for sure some things are just physically impossible. But this goes to stuff like “how much muscle mass can a person have before they’re unable to move”. And in a similar vein most stats will have a top and bottom.

But even with that aside, probability goes down and down as you move farther from the center of the bell curve, and the population of Welgaea does have a limit. It eventually comes that even if something is physically possible, it’s so rare that not even a single person on the planet has been able to trigger it. Of course it’s also possible that it may have happened anyway, because probability, but for cases that rare and singular I’ll reserve the right myself to deem if it has happened or not canonically.

That may not be the most specific answer, but if you have any specific concerns about outlandish concepts, just ask and I’ll be sure to answer with a bit more accuracy!

Anonymous asked: Given that outliers in the population can exist (rare, though not impossible), would it be possible, by some in-universe twist of fate, for a beast-like bestia to have the capabilities of an advanced scholar (knowledgeable on many subjects beyond just nature) on top of bestian strength and be living a lifestyle more isolated than your average bestia (closer to how human or elfin relations would work)? (This is more or less to test the limits of how far from the average can an individual be.)

It’d be exceptionally rare, but technically possible. So for the question of variance, it can be quite wide! Averages are averages, but that won’t stop some from cropping up kinda far from it. I would emphasize just how rare this would be though. Probably rare enough that people wouldn’t believe it if you told them. Perhaps just a handful across the entire planet.

Anonymous asked: Regarding the goddesses and their worship across the races, would each race depict them with characteristics of their own race (for example, an abaia depiction having the goddesses portrayed with fins, or a bestia depiction having animal features - like a chimera, for the three-as-one)? Or is there a single, universal depiction that all races use? (Also, for the sake of fan art, do the additional eyes-per-goddess follow a standard, or can they be chosen at will (units, pairs, three-eyed, etc)?

There is a universal depiction of her, though there can be some small variety depending on local cultures. She’s depicted like most deities, like Kharon and Kentra, typically with a human-like appearance with pointed ears, though the speedy one is thinner, the wrathful one is more muscular, and the nurturing one has a more motherly weight to her. These features tend to combine and even out when they’re depicted together.

She’s typically depicted nude, but sexless, her skin glowing as though she were made of energy. Her hair is more of a wisp of energy than hair. There are a few diamond-shaped objects floating around the front of her head, somewhat like a large, disconnected tiara.

As for the eyes, the speedy one is depicted with her eyes closed, but a third eye on her forehead. The wrathful one is depicted with her eyes open, and the nurturing one is depicted with her eyes closed, but two thumb-sized dot-like eyebrows. When shown combined typically the features are shown together, that being the eye on the forehead, eyebrows, and regular eyes. None of the eyes have actual pupils, and if they even have irises they’re very unpronounced.

Do keep in mind that I’m still hammering this one out, so nothing’s set in stone! This is just sort of where I am now, I guess? So don’t worry about needing to be super-precise with the designs, it’ll likely change some anyway!

kuipernebula asked: Another random Welgaea question relevant to this Elf-Ninja OC I'm making. How prevalent are like, secret organizations in Welgaea? Or like, secret types of magic or fighting styles, etc.?

Just like groups of cultists or bands of thieves and the like exist, I’m sure secret organizations exist, though given the population and what it takes to get by as-is they wouldn’t be commonplace or large. You may find a rare individual (like Morgana) that can run a group well enough to control a large town from the shadows, but this is one-in-a-million, and even then even if she has a troop in another town exerting any real control beyond that one town is unrealistic. The distance and unavailability of manpower is just too great.

Anonymous asked: I don't really know how to ask this without sounding rude, but: Are there any boys who are major characters that you haven't revealed yet? I ask mostly because I always find it hard to find non-straight boys in video games, and I know you put a lot of effort into the diversity of your characters...

Admittedly my ethos is making lady characters. I sort of have to go out of my way to tell myself “hey, you could make that a dude”. But that said, there are a few males I have in mind. There’s one major character in the first game, but despite being a major character he wouldn’t really be a character-character. That doesn’t make any sense I’m sure. I can’t really say much more on him without revealing a bit much about the first game. There would be a few in the second game that would have something to do with Morgana, but I feel like going too much into them right now is revealing too much/doing too much design for the second game. Oh, I do believe the third ascended ability user, alongside Lucienna and Morgana, would be male. Probably an older guy. Haven’t done much design on him either. Not sure what role, if any, he’d have in any of the games.

Anonymous asked: Would it be a major spoiler to talk more about the Goddesses?

I’m still hammering out the details on them, so I couldn’t say much one way or the other. The three goddesses are the creators of Welgaea. They are all-powerful and all-knowing. The worship of them is the overarching religion of the world. Additionally, though they aren’t exactly active there’s enough evidence to their existence that denying their existence is being a bit of a flat-earth atheist.

Each represents a different aspect, the three balancing each other out. One represents power, strength, and force. She’s the one that smites those that threaten their children. One represents love, wisdom, and protection. She is the one that creates a safe place for their children, caring for all. The third represents speed, mobility, and charisma. She is the one that welcomes any and all into their embrace.

Though their worship is the overarching religion of Welgaea, different people, and even areas, can worship any one, two, or all three of them. When they are depicted they are always depicted as a single being, with additional arms and eyes if it is representing more than one goddess. The first goddess’s arms are raised high, as though to strike, the second’s arms are closed, as though to cradle, and the third’s are outstretched in welcome.

I do not yet know their names. Each one would have an individual name, though much like their singular depiction their names would be combined to make a single name as well when referring to more than one.

kuipernebula asked: Neat! So have you named all of the constellations/months yet?

Nope! The two major themes to the world are the three goddesses and the elements, and I don’t feel like the months would have anything to do with either. I feel like they’d just be shapes and figures that were recognizable to them, but they likely would have had names and stories attributed to them as well. They wouldn’t consider these part of the world’s mythology though, more just neat tales.

kuipernebula asked: So random Welgaea question: What's the astrology situation of Welgaea? Like constellations, is there a zodiac, do they determine birthsigns by a solar cycle like our zodiac, etc. If there isn't one, why not?

This is delving into an area I’m less studied in, but I’d say astrology is certainly a thing. It’s tied fairly close with the development of the calendar. There are twelve months, each 30 days long, and each named after an astrological sign, which in turn are named for constellations. Since it’s tied very closely to the months of the year there aren’t really birthsigns, as instead they just refer to birth month. I’d say astrology is treated about as seriously as it is today, which is to say some people try to tell fortunes and determine characteristics and compatibility between people using them, but the accuracy of these is across the board. None the less, it’s something many people tend to keep in the back of their heads as a “what if it’s true” sort of thing. Scientifically the constelations can have an effect on elementals and elemental energy, though minor, but this is tied closer to the time of year than anything astrology related. Their year itself is a few days shorter than ours, but each day is longer to compensate. The year may not exactly be 360 days long, though it’s very close. They don’t yet have the technology or interest to determine exactly how far off it is, but it’s likely only a few hours off. In the future, once they figure this out, they’ll likely introduce a leap-day every decade or so to compensate.

Anonymous asked: Which characters know each other by the start of Welgaea?

At the start of the first game nobody knows anybody! They all meet each other over the course of the three games. This actually complicates the puzzle game I’m working on…

thecrystalcavernsdynasty asked: Are there secret communities of monsters and humanoid races living in peace and harmony or are relationships so rare that would never happen?

Not really. The relationships are very rare, and the odds of one couple finding another, and above that wanting to build a society together, are unlikely. Additionally, intelligent monsters don’t have much in the way of communities. In general the more intelligent one is the more powerful it is, and the more powerful it is the less inclined they are to hang around each other. The simpler a monster is the more likely it is to have a community or group, but the less likely they’d be able to handle something complicated like a human mixing it up.

To give a few examples, succubi do live in small groups, but that’s mostly due to one “alpha” being powerful enough that the others act almost like servants while still benefiting from systems and organization of a group. The “alpha” is pretty much the sole thing keeping the rest from either splitting off on their own or killing each other. Though succubi do have to mate with humans, the insertion of a human here would not change how the community works, and would be subservient to either the mate or the “alpha”. Though they could make friends, they hold no power.

Kitsune are loners by nature, embarking out on their own pretty much as soon as they’re physically able to. They have no desire to be a part of a community. If a human mate drug them into a society they’re be very reserved and distant. Pretty much only as much a part of the community as they’re forced to be.

Fairies are a bit more complicated as they’re naturally much smaller than humans, at about two feet tall, but can shape-shift to a human’s size (This does take energy though, they can’t stay shapeshifted for long periods). Fairies, being lower on the power scale than succubi or kitsune, are a bit less intelligent. They’re personalities are a bit less distinct and have trouble grasping more complicated thinking. They’re very easygoing and somewhat aloof. Due to this they tend to live in small, simple, cooperative communities. This is very different from any human community, though, yet some humans would be happily able to live in and contribute to such a basic community. A single human would be a bit of a surprise, but would be fine as long as the human wasn’t very outgoing. Two humans would be rough, and three would be too overwhelming, making the fairies uncomfortable and they’d likely all just disappear one day, off to either start over somewhere else or split off, each joining some other fairies’ community. For fairies it would probably be easier for them to shapeshift to a human and live with the human, as long as it was still somewhat secluded from human society and the human did most of the community interactions.

kalanken asked: Are there any domestic animals on the floating island, or are all the monsters hostile?

Apologies if I can’t answer some questions in the most detail. I haven’t worked a lot of it out yet. I suppose one thing to explain is there is I do make a distinction between normal wildlife and monsters. Normal wildlife is generally passive, though may try to defend itself. Monsters, on the other hand, are largely aggressive, though some may be passive as well. Wildlife consists of things like insects that just bum around and do what they do, as well as smaller animals getting as large as sheep and perhaps cows. Anything larger, like bears, do not exist, instead being replaced in the ecosystem by monsters. Some wildlife can be domesticated and kept for wool or milk or the like, and even some passive monsters can be kept, such as getting some ooze from slimes. While wildlife can be domesticated and realize that staying in the people’s care is beneficial to it, monsters can not be domesticated. Some monsters are just simple-minded enough that they don’t really care that they’re in a pin. Typically monsters have fewer edible parts or parts that are more unsafe to handle, though aren’t all completely inedible.

I’m not yet sure what the distinction would be between monsters and wildlife to the people of Welgaea. After all, to them they would be the same. Also of note is that I really don’t want a lot of similarity between Earth animals and Welgaea animals. So I don’t actually want cows and sheep, but animals that would fill similar roles would be nice, like the sheep in FFXIV. To specifically the floating island, I don’t think they have many domesticated animals. At the very least they don’t have any just for meat, though they may have some sheep or something. They would go hunting for meat if they needed it, as well as growing crops.

Anonymous asked: Aside from the humanoid species, what is the wildlife on the floating island like?

It’s a bit hard to get into specifics until I get around to enemy design. But I can at least say that a few people live on the surface in relatively safe spots. A few animals live nearby and you’ll see some weak monsters about as well. It’s safest there. The further you get from where the people live, and the further underground you go, the stronger the natural monsters are and the harsher the environment gets. The wildlife there tends to just be smaller insects and the like that won’t get in the way of the monsters, and deal with the harsher environment mostly by not getting in its way. You won’t see any really high-tier monsters though, like succubi or dragons, for a few reasons, though lately the monsters have been getting bolder and stronger due to related reasons.

Anonymous asked: So, regarding the abaia, are the uniformly humanoid like the elves and the humans themselves, or do they have a wider range of appearances like the bestia?

They’re a bit more uniformly humanoid, yes. Of course as with any race some can look a bit more brutish than others, and with the abaia this tends to make them look a little more fish-like, but it would still stay in the realm of a normal humanoid.

Anonymous asked: Regarding the orders of elementals, it is to my understanding that a there are higher-order elementals 'watching over' lower-order elementals (like the tree-forest-island example). My question is, sir, is there a definite top (or bottom) to that ordering scheme, or is it infinitely ascending/descending? (In code: str = "A high elemental " | engage-infinite-loop { str = str concatenate-string "of high elementals "}) (the fact that infinite loops cause computer crashes notwithstanding, obviously.)

There is a top and bottom, yes. Higher-tier elementals are formed from the same elemental energy that forms the lower-tier ones, but the higher-tier ones are only really formed specifically from the gathering of energy into the lower-tier ones. So the lowest-tier elementals are ones that are formed directly from the environment and not from other elementals. These lower tier elementals are somewhat subordinant to their higher-tier ones, but more accurately they’re sort of a part of them. The absolute top comes when the distance between elementals is so great that they’re unable to contribute to a single higher-tier elemental. More powerful high-elementals do have a greater range for this, but distance will eventually override it. I’d say you could find a single high-tier elemental of each element residing over the entire planet, and then perhaps one for each continent or ocean below that. The distance between planets is so great that even if an elemental were able to form on a nearby planet (or the moons for that matter) they wouldn’t be able to contribute to an inter-planetary elemental.

thecrystalcavernsdynasty asked: Don't they have water-breathing magic or air bubble magic in Welgaea? Wouldn't that make it easier for people to interact with the underwater realm?

The mage community is still working on that one. None of the bigger cities have seen the need to pour so much research into developing technology for it. You may find an oddball living alone near the coast with a hand-made diving suit, but it’d be super jank and not give you much mobility or even go super deep. A magical device that can repel the pressure under water, as well as separate gases from the water into a form that’s breathable, while expelling unnecessary gasses so the person doesn’t suffocate, is quite complicated. Recently a kind of aqualung has been developed relying on magic to operate, that can separate water into breathable air, and then expel what’s breathed out, but you’d have to go to big magic research facilities to find one, and they still don’t offer any protection from water pressure. (For the purposes of gameplay, at least in the first game, I’m just going full-Mario and not worrying about it. You can just run around under water)

Anonymous asked: Are there plans for an underwater area in Welgaea?

Yes! There are plans for an underwater section in Welgaea 1. Development on the second and third games are far enough off I can’t say.

Anonymous asked: How plot-heavy is Welgaea shaping up to be?

Not terribly plot heavy. The first game is a metroidvania, so aside from a bit of dialogue here and there it wouldn’t be too big, but I’d still like to throw some twists and turns at you. I’d say more than Super Metroid, but not as much as Metroid Fusion. The second and third games would likely have more plot to them, but no more than, say, Zone of the Enders 2? Still exploration-based, but with a bit more action, especially come the third game. It’s hard to say for sure how much plot would be in the second and third though, with development on them so far off.

natsumehonnaji asked: In the world of Welgaea is there anything akin to a more traditional Kitsune? Curious because I'm contemplating putting something together.

I’d say much like the succubi, something like a kitsune could exist. That is to say, a creature classified as a monster with human-like intelligence and appearance but more monster-like morals. They’d be magical creatures like succubi. They would likely not be able to completely masquerade as a human, so they probably wouldn’t be able to hide their tails or something. Also I don’t know about that whole “a fox that gains a tail every 100 years” thing either. They’d probably be born as a fox with all nine tails, and as they grow and get better at manipulating magic they can take on a human form. They’d probably be about on-par with an ability-user for power. For them coming from both magical and physical ability. So the common person would be in trouble if one decided to attack. A seasoned adventurer would likely put up too much of a fight to be worth the engagement, and a couple adventurers or soldiers would be bad news.

kuipernebula asked: So I've been working on that Welgaea elf from a while ago, and had a brief question: In the writeup for elves, you mentioned that they're naturally thin and "even seeing one that’s fairly defined is rare." I was intending to make my elf character short and stocky as a bit of a play on expectations of fantasy elves, but I realize that the "stocky" part is really the only part that doesn't work. If I made him "half"-human or bestia, would it be unreasonable to say his bodytype is because of that?

There are no half breeds, he’s either an elf or a human, but that said, just because it’s rare doesn’t make it impossible!

Anonymous asked: In Welgaea, is someone's race inherited directly from their parents, or is it possible, for example, for two humans to produce an abaia if one of them has a parent/grandparent/etc. who's an abaia?

Race is directly inherited from the parents, yes. So even if a human’s parents are a human and an abaia, that first human will only produce a human (unless they pair with a non-human of course).

As sort of an aside, and not directly on-topic, I gave averages in the race posts, but that doesn’t mean that’s what all of that race is like. Even though on average the bestia aren’t great at magic, that doesn’t mean no bestia ever is good at magic, it’s just very rare. Most any race could be good or bad at anything, it’s just more or less likely to happen the farther from that average they are.

phantom-form asked: In Welgaea, will any antagonists have a change of heart or take up new professions in later games? If so, does their change ever influence Miss Naka's adventures?

Well now that would be a spoiler!

#Welgaea

2 notes · View notes

thekriegerpost · 5 years ago

Text

Annotated Bibliography

1. Schnee, Alex. “Running.” Fulton Library, Utah Valley University, 2018,

http://ezproxy.uvu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&A

N=114325118&site=eds-live.

The reason that I chose this source is because of the history that it gives of the art of running. It gives a good background of what running does to the body. The article then proceeds to give a brief history on running and how the sport of running has evolved, to how we know running today and how we participate in the sport. The article talks about the evolution of humans from the time we could stand on two legs to the competitions of the Greek Olympics. We then read about the anatomy of running and how there are three stages; the stance, float, and swing phases. The article then talks about good techniques and common injuries from staying relaxed to shin splints. We then hear about the benefits of running. Some benefits include improved respiratory health, bone and muscle strength, cardiovascular strength, increased calorie burn and more. Lastly, it talks about running events and competitions. We see events from many distances whether it be on roads, trails, or on tracks. There are competitions where you have to jump over hurdles as well. Some of the most well known events are the 100 meters, mile, 5K, half marathon, and marathon. This article will be great to include for those readers that don’t know much about running and will be a great overview. I chose this article for the great background it gives and all the important basic information of running it provides for my research paper and for the viewer to look over and read if they want further information on running.

2. Sarawut Lapmanee, Jantarima Charoenphandhu, Narattaphol Charoenphandhu, “Beneficial

Effects of Fluoxetine, Reboxetine, Venlafaxine, and Voluntary Running Exercise in Stressed

Male Rats with Anxiety- and Depression-like Behaviors.” Behavioural Brain Research, Elsevier,

21 May 2013, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166432813002891?via=ihub.

This article is about how some researchers took stressed male rats and gave them medication and wheel running to see if their depression and anxiety went down or improved. They first exposed the rodents to mild but repetitive stressful circumstances. They noticed that when they exposed the rodents to these stressful situations, they had a greater chance of developing a mental health concern such as an anxiety disorder or depression disorder. They concluded that regular exercise that is voluntary, combined with pharmacological treatment, especially fluoxetine and reboxetine, could lower signs of anxiety and depression in the stressed male rats. I chose this article because it shows many different things that I found interesting. It first shows that when the rats are introduced to continual stress that they are more likely to develop anxiety or/and depression. It then shows that for exercise to be beneficial it must be voluntary and not forced. Lastly, the article shows that medication can be a good thing. I think in today's society we speak of taking medication in hushed tones and no one really wants others to know. This article shows that it can help, and while I understand that these are just rodents that were tested, I think this source will be beneficial for my research paper. I think experiments like these and others can be very helpful and can show us many insights to things that we were unsure of and give us solid concrete evidence and facts.

3. Morris, Paul, and Helen Scott. “Not Just a Run in the Park: A Qualitative Exploration of

Parkrun and Mental Health.” Fulton Library, United Kingdom : Taylor & Francis , Sept. 2019,

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=b1475d8f-0bde-47fc-9163-c878cc5bcd7

7@sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU=#AN=2018-40729-001&db=psyh.

This article talks about how some guys in 2004 put on this event called a Parkrun where anyone could come for free at a certain place and time to run five kilometers. At first they only had 13 runners show up, they now have over 100,000 participants with 445 events all over the United Kingdom and the world. I have always found that it is a lot easier to exercise and run when I am with others and when there is a set time and place. This gives people groups to run with and gives them something to look forward to. In the article they talk about how exercise is very important to people who have mental health issues as they are more likely to have a poor lifestyle such as a bad diet, drinking, smoking, and being overweight. They say that people with lower physical activity have a higher chance of having some form of mental health illness. This also goes to show that people who have mental health difficulties are amongst the most socially excluded people. This also shows that people who are socially excluded have higher mental health issues. The question that they most want answered is what are the experiences of people who have had a history with mental health difficulties when participating in Parkrun? I think this article will be very beneficial while I am writing my research paper. It shows that more than just exercise can help you with your mental health. I also love that this gives readers a chance to find a local Parkrun near them and participate. Someday I would love to participate.

4. Sabourin, BC, et al. “Running as Interoceptive Exposure for Decreasing Anxiety Sensitivity:

Replication and Extension.” Fulton Library, Taylor & Francis Country of Publication: England,

2 Mar. 2015,

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=b1475d8f-0bde-47fc-9163-c878cc5bcd7

7@sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU=#AN=25730341&db=cmedm.

So this article is a little tricky, but I feel that it has some good stuff in it and it makes sense to why I chose it. In the study, they took 154 women who were afraid of how their body felt when it was aroused, rapid heart rate etc. The purpose was to see how running helped them decrease their anxiety sensitivity. They had them run 10 ten minute running trials over the course of 10 weeks. So, 10 minutes of running once a week. The goal of the trial and test runs was to get the females used to experiencing a rapid heart rate and all the things that occur to their bodies when they are running. This way their anxiety sensitivity towards arousal will go down. What their body experienced while running is somewhat similar to what they experience with arousal. If they get comfortable with how their bodies feel while running, their anxiety sensitivity towards arousal should go down. The studies in the article do show decreased signs of anxiety sensitivity in most of the women. The reason I chose this article is because it shows a different side of how running can be beneficial towards people with any mental health issue. Personally, I didn’t know that this was an issue, and I found it very interesting because I had never heard of it. I think it will be helpful to see all the different sides of how running can be beneficial not just for physical health but for mental and emotional health. I feel as though this article will provide a different view on how running can help people with mental health issues.

5. Stephenson, Sharon. “Vampire Running.” Fulton Library, Bauer Media Group, June 2017,

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=bcfd0943-089b-448f-8

1f8-82e3d74f6616@sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU=#AN=123265249&d

b=f6h.

This article that I chose is about a women who started to experience a deep sadness. She wasn’t experiencing such depression to where she was suicidal or wanted to harm herself but she just felt like a gloomy fog had overcome her. She had no reason to be sad. She had a family, a good job, food, and shelter. The winter sadness just seemed to hit her hard. So she decided one deary night that she was going to go for a night run and pull out the old running shoes. It was extremely cold outside but she was determined to out run the sadness. When she finally finished her run she felt endorphins flood her and felt that so called runner's high. She ran in any weather at night through that winter. At times she couldn’t feel her toes but she loved being out there by herself. She often complained but found comfort in doing it. A friend referred to it as vampire running, running at night when most wouldn’t. She soon began to feel less anxious and more calm. That was her favorite thing about running, how much it affected her mood for good. I chose this article because it yet again shows a different side of running and how it helped this woman. I love how we think of running as just running but there are so many different types and options for when and how to do it. Some prefer running in the morning while others at night and each work the best for every different person. I just love this source because it is a personal story and not just research or facts.

6. Freeland, Ben. “The Healing Power of Running Very Long Distances.” Medium, Medium, 27

June 2018,

https://medium.com/s/story/the-healing-power-of-running-very-long-distances-3ae36e2ca

d3a.

This article is about a kid who grew up as the non-athletic kid and never did much with sports. He had asthma so that always limited him but he always wanted to become an athlete and become a good runner. He was determined to do that but soon he had some severe asthma attacks in junior high that hospitalized him. Then to shoot down his determination even more he got into a car accident when he was seventeen that left him with a bad ankle fracture and some rehabilitation. Then at the age of 37 he took up running again due to the panic attacks that he started to have. He had had them in junior high and with asthma was used to the feeling of losing your breath but these ones seemed worse. By 2014 he was out of a job and found himself in a deep depression, the worst he had ever felt in his life. Running seemed to be the only thing to part the clouds of depression and all those anxiety attacks. I decided to choose this article because it spoke to me pretty personally. I have experienced anxiety attacks before and to see how much running has helped this man I just want to share his and my experience of how much running has helped us through our dark times. I just like the different views that this article offers and how it is a personal experience. I love reading personal experiences. They are very refreshing and meaningful.

7. Baca, Jimmy Santiago. “[Today, Running along the River] by Jimmy Santiago Baca.” Poetry

Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53240/from-winter-poems-along-the-rio-grande.

I chose to include this source because it is unlike any other source that I have in this annotated bibliography. It is a poem! I think there are many ways to interpret poems and each interpretation is slightly different or can be completely different! I just love the variety that it brings and will hopefully bring to my paper. What happens is this man is out on a run and many things are on his mind. It sounds like it is a fall day. He passes the cathedral. He sees many birds out on his run. He scares some off but others stay where they are. He soon thinks about this woman that he is interested in. He keeps reflecting back on the cathedral. He soon hears a voice as clear as day that tells him to stay close to his spirits and do all things spiritually. Stay close to the creator and all his worries will be answered in time. I just love how he begins the run worried and thinking of all different things and ends with such clarity and peace. He ends it with ‘ah it is a good run..’ I don’t know, I just simply love that. Such a little piece of writing but there is so much in the poem. I enjoy these poems that can be abstract and that don’t really have a meaning but at the same time they do. I like thinking through them and rereading them and trying to figure out what it means. I also love that every person has a different meaning of the exact same poem.

8. Suzuki, Wendy. “‘The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise.’” TED,

https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise/transcript.

The reason that I chose this source was mainly because it was a TED talk, but I love how different this source is as well from the other ones. I think that videos like this can help others really learn better than articles can do at times. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of neuroscience that delves into why exercise is the most powerful and transformative thing you can do for your brain right now. She then talks about the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This is the center of decision-making, focus, attention, and your personality. She talks about the temporal lobe as well. You have two sections to this part, a right and a left. The temporal lobe is responsible for storing your new long term memories for facts and events. Wendy Suzuki had become well known for all her discoveries with memories and she spent lots of time in the lab and dark rooms looking over brain cells and finding new discoveries. It was great for her but she noticed something. When she took herself away from the lab she noticed that she had no social life, had gained 25 pounds, and just was in a really depressed mood. She should have been happy but she just wasn’t. That is when she turned to exercise. She soon lost those 25 pounds and noticed that her mood was always so much better after exercising. She came to three conclusions. First is that exercise has immediate effects on the brain; second is improved attention and mood; and third is it provides protective effects on your brain.

9. Oaklander, Mandy. “Running Can Help You Live Longer. And More Isn't Always Better.”

Fulton Library, TIME Magazine ,

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=8e97f0c9-ceef-459b-87

b8-c66315ce74ec@sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU=#AN=139553396&db

=asn.

The reason that I chose this article is because it provides some solid facts and research into running but it shows how you don’t have to be a skilled runner who runs tons of miles every week. Researchers took over 200,000 people from all over the world and tracked their deaths and whether they ran or not. They found that runners were 27 percent less likely to die for any reason and had a 30 percent less chance of getting cardiovascular disease. Regardless of how much each person ran, they found that if a person ran at all they had the same benefits. When you run you grow new capillaries and small arteries which help lower your blood pressure. You also use up your blood sugar while running and this helps fight against cancer because your blood sugar is what cancer cells feed on. 46 percent of Americans don’t meet the physical requirements. I want to show how running can help with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety but I also want to show how it can help you with so much more than just your mental health! I’ve found myself to always feel so much better mentally and physically after I run. There are just so many benefits to running and you honestly don’t have to run that far. I think it is so horrible that almost half the American population doesn’t meet the physical requirements to keep their bodies healthy and up to shape. I understand that some really just can’t but still we need to try a little bit harder.

10. Reynolds, Gretchen. “3 Hours of Exercise a Week May Lower Your Depression Risk.” The

New York Times, 20 Nov. 2019,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/well/move/3-hours-of-exercise-a-week-may-lower-your-d

epression-risk.html.

I’ll be honest, I chose this article because I couldn’t find any other sources and this one fit right in with my topic. Studies have shown that any type of physical activity whether strenuous or intense has shown to offset a person’s genetic propensity for depression. Depression is one of the most common world disorders and affects more than 300 million people worldwide. Some people’s genetics give them a bigger chance of suffering from depression. This just sometimes runs in families. Though people may have these genetic defaults, exercise has shown that it can decrease depression and decrease the intensity or duration of your down times. Exercise doesn’t eliminate the complete risk of developing a mental disorder such as depression but it sure does help. They took 8000 men and women and took DNA samples and had them take a survey on how much they exercise each week. They found that no matter if you have a high or low risk of depression, they found that when the participants exercised they had a significantly lower chance of developing depression than those who didn’t exercise. Concluding the article, they want to enforce that your genes are not your destiny and that you can change, prevent, and live a different life than what your genes may say. I personally love the fact that they focused on humans genes in this because this is something to be thought that we can’t change or are destined to but I love how they flip that and bring light that you can prevent certain gene disorders that you may or may not have.

0 notes

adelelorienne · 8 years ago

Text

Unbroken

An FFXV fic. My humble attempt to fill in the story gap near the end of Chapter 9, and to reconcile with my emotions. (Update: Ep Ignis has now blown this scenario rather spectacularly out of the water, but I’m still keeping it up for reasons.)

SPOILERS for Chapter 9 and 13. Thank @ffxv-etc for editing help!

-the evening of Leviathan’s defeat-

"Healers are busy. They did the best they could."

The truth was that they were overwhelmed. The devastation to the city had been immense and the injuries many, though by some miracle, there were no deaths. Yet reported, anyway. The evacuation procedures had gone mostly without a hitch.

Mostly.

“Will you be all right?”

“I’ll manage.” Ignis’ voice was strained, teeth gritted in pain.

Prompto winced. He chewed the corner of his lower lip, forcing himself to remain still so as not to disturb Ignis further with his fretting. He tried not to stare, but he couldn't help it.

Ignis’ skin was raw beneath the bandages; the wounds that bled to the ridge of his cheekbones looked nasty. Almost like...acid burns, Prompto thought. Chemical burns, in addition to the lacerations. Maybe deliberate. He felt a sudden surge of something intensely hot inside himself, but it just as swiftly plummeted into a hollow, sickening pit in his gut. He held his tongue. It wouldn't do to prod Ignis for answers, especially now and probably not ever. It was why none of them spoke of their own losses and grief for Insomnia. Everything was an acceptable sacrifice when it came to Noctis’ safety and well-being. There could be no other focus.

Ignis answered Prompto's unspoken question anyway. "It doesn't matter." As expected. "Where's Noct?"

Prompto hesitated. Sucked in his breath, glanced toward the windows. He failed to keep the worry out of his voice. "Hasn't shown up yet. The...the tidal wave. He and Luna were out on the docks."

"I see." The falter in Ignis’ voice was slight, but Prompto marked it. Despite Ignis’ seemingly effortless ability to remain calm and focused during stressful situations, it was obvious that today’s events had pushed him to the edge. His composure was frayed, but, nonetheless, it remained. Ignis was attempting to handle this as he handled everything else: almost too well.

Prompto gently took one of Ignis' shaking hands, quelled the tremor in it after a moment. He didn't know how he wasn't trembling, himself. Keep the faith. Cling to hope. Smile despite the fear and make sure Ignis could hear the sun in his voice.

"I'm sure he's fine,” he insisted. “Luna, too, y'know! They're together. They did it... You should—" he barely caught himself before the rest of the words could come spilling carelessly out.

—you should have seen him up there, Iggy. He was shining.

"You should rest. Gladio will find them. He will."

Ardyn found Noctis first.

He'd almost missed him, the limp figure washed ashore on one of Altissia's many smaller, outlying islands. He seemed only another piece of wreckage on the rocks below; the strewn debris of yet another devastated capital. It didn't help that Noctis’ attire was that particular shade of black that seemed to allow him to pass with little notice through almost every location he visited. Here, in the colorless expanse of water and rock and threatening sky, it was downright camouflage.

"Ahh..." The smile in Ardyn’s voice was almost pitying. Or something else entirely; he couldn't tell the difference anymore. All his smiles were the same, a twitch and unfeeling stretch of his tired mask. So worn out. So many battles. He'd been forced to take the long way here, after all. He hummed to himself; his unending patience was about to pay off.

"Let's make certain you're not dead, shall we?”

There was barely room enough on the isolated strip of land to set down his airship, but he was too curious to simply pass on by—like a cat eager to resume the chase, compelled to prod its motionless prey in hopes that it was only feigning death. And after Noctis’ spectacularly exhausting show of strength in felling Leviathan, so much spirit energy coursing through such a slight mortal frame...he really should make certain.

Best be more careful with your vessel, he chided the stars. Don’t want to break him too soon.

Though it had been greatly pleasing to watch. From a distance.

His prey did not stir at his approach. Noctis lay motionless at the edge of the water, his back pressed into the small pebbles of the rocky beach. The tide caressed his fingertips, longing to pull him back in. Dark hair spilled across his face in random, broken patterns like bleeding ink—reminiscent of the daemon scars that marred Ardyn's own reflection whenever he looked into the mirror.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

He studied him a moment in silence, then noticed Noctis’ gloved hand, clenched tightly even in unconsciousness, concealing something against his palm. Protecting something.

Ardyn laughed suddenly. “Oh, I see you've finally got the ring! Good, good."

You'll be needing that.

Bored now, he prodded Noctis’ shoulder with the toe of his boot, then nudged the side of his face, turning it toward the water, exposing the pale line of his throat.

Still no response.

He bent over him. Noctis’ breathing was so shallow as to be nearly imperceptible, but the pulse of life still fluttered weakly beneath Ardyn’s fingertips. Hypothermia. Or shock. And being half-drowned, of course. Hmm.

Such a pretty throat... So open and vulnerable, begging to be torn out.

Ardyn lifted his fingers, allowed them to hover just above, half-crooked and distorted like claws. This miserable gray place would benefit from a vivid streak of color, wouldn't it...? Oh, it was tempting. Achingly. The things he could do to Noctis....

Patience.

He sighed. This king was a child yet, heedless of the true machinations at work, blind to the blazing star-trails etched by a millennium of turning skies. Oh, but Noctis would learn soon enough. When he opens his eyes and discovers that his beloved Oracle is lost to him. When he realizes that his safety net is gone. Will he crack? Expose a weak seam into which Ardyn can drive another blade? How many daggers will it take before that rift is forced wide enough for darkness to spill in?

All in good time. Time will make better sport of Noctis. Teach him the taste of blood. There will be understanding in those wide eyes when at last he tears Noctis' soul apart.

And despair. Oh, despair is the reason for all of this.

Ardyn withdrew his hand. He would watch the death of hope soon enough. Revel in the quelling of the light. And maybe, for a brief moment, be sad about it. This will be the final time. The last son. The Crystal's Chosen King. It will all end with this pathetic, sodden heap lying at his feet.

He straightened. Curled his fingers around the handle of the dagger tucked within his sleeve. Its blade was still sticky with the blood of the Oracle. He held it out over Noctis' face, allowed the now falling rain to purge the stain for him. Crimson drops fell onto Noctis’ face and neck, mingling with the web of his hair before the water swept even that trace of color away.

"Such a waste," Ardyn lamented, hissing. "Sweet oblivion... Wasted on you."

You don't even know what it means to want it.

He had been like Noctis once...so long ago. A prince, gentle and selfless, groomed to accept the terrible burden placed on him so that countless others might live. His memory flickered now, emotion distorted beyond recognition or naming. He had even been beautiful, once. Wasn't he, still? An illusion now, of course, but no one seemed to notice. No one ever gravitated toward him of their own volition.

His breath drew a snarl now, vicious and brief. The love and devotion constantly lavished upon this clueless child should rightfully have been his in exchange—no, in gratitude—for his own noble sacrifice! What other recompense for immeasurable suffering?

Heh. That was old news.

He felt tired of a sudden, empty. No—not empty. Countless personal horrors screamed in that void inside his chest. His shoulders slumped, jealous hatred burned fierce enough to warm his skin, crack it. He never felt the cold. He was always cold.

Contradictions. He thrived on them.

A low, rumbling sound on the water now—he tipped his head toward it, slid his eyes along the horizon. Someone was coming.

Of course someone was coming. Probably one of Noctis’ insufferably loyal companions; they were never far. Probably the loud one, whose muscles scarcely tolerated a shirt. Or the lying one, who handled mechanized weaponry with a familiarity glaringly at odds with the fumbling flake of a photographer he pretended to be.

Must be nice to have so many people care about you.

The world had long since ceased to care for Ardyn Izunia. And now, he longer cared for it.

"Farewell, Noctis," he crooned softly as he walked away, slinging the water from the edge of the blade before tucking it away, clean and ready for the last remaining brat of House Fleuret.

"Enjoy your slumber, while it lasts. We will meet again very soon. And oh...just maybe, in time, you will look forward to our meetings. I will be the only family you have left."

His smile was shrouded in his own darkness. All his smiles were the same.

The imperial airships had long since withdrawn. At least, so far as could be seen or heard in the expanse of growling storm. The noise of the yacht engine obliterated certainty of that fact, but what further reason would the empire have to linger here now? Unless they were also searching for Noctis and Luna. Gladio aimed to beat them to it.

His intense eyes followed the too-bright sweep of the searchlight along the shore. Noctis had to have washed up somewhere. Gladio simply would not accept the alternative. His heart beat a little faster as the moments passed, each full of nothing.

And then, he saw something. It might have been his imagination, but he would take no chances. He looked back and up toward the crewman manning the searchlight, speaking more harshly than he meant to.

“Pull the light back!”

Yes, there was definitely a figure lying there, dressed in black. The chances were good.

He saw and felt the wave swelling beneath the yacht. Ignoring Cid’s raspy shouting, he acted on impulse and dove over the side. He was a strong enough swimmer, and once he got close enough to the shore to be sure it was Noctis, he turned into a veritable athlete. Unceremoniously, he manhandled Noctis further up onto the sand, away from the reach of the crashing water. He put his ear to Noctis’ chest, struggling to discern Noctis’ breath and heartbeat from his own.

Relief flooded through Gladio, strong enough to break his voice. "You're still breathin'."

But those breaths were far too shallow, infrequent. Gladio wasn’t convinced that after every terrifying lapse they would start up again; there were few other signs of life to bolster it.

Time to fix that.

He knew the strength that resided beneath Noctis’ deceptively fragile appearance to be resilient and unyielding when roused. And he meant to rouse it. Flipping Noctis over onto his stomach, keeping him suspended just above the ground with one arm, he thwacked him soundly with the flat of his hand, just below his shoulder blades.

“C’mon!”

After the third time, a jerking response. A feeble, anguished noise spilled out of Noctis and he began to vomit up an impressive amount of water. He choked and coughed with the effort to breathe, sucking in ragged gulps of air. Gladio shook him by way of encouragement, just hard and annoying enough to provoke a measure of defiant resistance.

There it was—that familiar defensive flail. Progress.

He hoisted Noctis upright again, hoping to persuade him the rest of the way back to consciousness with another good rattling. Noctis hated to be touched without permission, particularly when it was meant to rouse him from sleep. A faint shimmer of blue magic preceded his instinctive attempt to evade further assault. Gladio grunted and grabbed for him again.

“Seriously, c’mon!”

But that was as far as it went. Noctis slumped against him and could not be riled again. The battle was over. But, he was breathing now, more steadily; shivering, his body now fighting the cold rather than surrendering to it.

Good enough.

There wasn't time for anything else. No shelter here, no dry place save within the rooms of the Altissian dwellings that had withstood the Hydraean's fury—Titan's intervention could be thanked for that, having diverted the majority of the tidal wave's force around rather than through the heart of the city. Gladio trusted that Ignis and Prompto had the foresight to secure one of those rooms, and to have a blazing fire already going.

Shouting to Cid above the noise of rain, he scooped Noctis up into his arms and made for the yacht.

The harshness of Gladio's shout cleared the hallway of any dazed and bewildered refugees wandering about the First-Secretary’s estate. "Coming through!"

Prompto got to his feet immediately, opening the door just before Gladio reached it. Ignis almost managed the same. Prompto caught only a glimpse of Noctis' disheveled hair and dangling limbs as Gladio made straight for the fire, swerving last minute to avoid colliding with Ignis.

"Report!" Ignis demanded.

Teeth clenched with cold, Gladio was unwilling to speak at present. He laid Noctis down by the fire, then grabbed Ignis by the wrist instead—gently, despite the urgency. He pulled Ignis down into a crouch beside Noctis, placing his outstretched, uncertain hand onto Noctis’ chest.

Ignis hissed, shifted his weight to his knees in order to use both hands. He could determine enough by feel and the input of the others that Noctis was not badly injured, aside from scrapes and bruises. But he was so desperately cold.

“Have neither of you heard of hypothermia??” he thundered.

Then he turned on Gladio. “Find someone on staff, find anyone, and tell them we need at least six blankets. Prompto, help me get these clothes off of him. Quickly.”

Prompto knew that now was not the time to get hung up about any part of that demand. Terrified of what Ignis would do to him if he didn’t, he sprang into action. He felt nauseous the whole time. This was a nightmare, and far, far from the triumphant outcome he had imagined for all of them at the end of the day. He tried to help Ignis, too, guiding his hands just a little toward efficiency.

Predictably, Gladio didn’t screw around about getting the blankets. Prompto had only just finished throwing the last of Noctis’ clothes into a sopping heap when he returned.

Useless now, Prompto hovered about, making worried noises like a nervous bird, until Gladio irritatedly shoved him back toward the couch. Prompto took the lower ground then, sitting on the floor, and then crawling over to Noctis at the first clear opportunity. He positioned himself at Noctis’ head, crossing his legs and serving as a better pillow for Noctis than the stiff carpet. He wasn’t sure how else to help.

After a moment, he made a hopefully-relevant observation. "What's he got in his hand?"

Gladio grunted, having noticed that himself. "I dunno, but he's got a death-grip on it. Even I couldn't pry his fingers open."

"The ring, I imagine," Ignis said absently.

A moment of uncertain silence. Prompto was afraid to voice his next question, but he spoke for everyone when he did. "L-Luna...?"

Gladio didn’t answer for a moment. Then he shook his head. There’d been so sign of her, and he hadn’t been the only one looking.

Prompto's eyes widened in disbelief. Then sorrow crumbled his face. His voice became uncharacteristically soft, the exquisite sound of his heart breaking. For Noctis, and maybe a little for himself. “Oh, Gods…”

The room was silent after that.

Except for the miserable shivering sounds still coming from Noctis.

They did stop, eventually, though they seemed to last as long as the night. Only when he was still and quiet again, and moved into the bed, could anyone else get to sleep. And only because they couldn't help it.

Ignis slept on the bed beside Noctis, providing extra warmth as well as being able to monitor him directly. Any twitch or restless stirring that might prefigure a return to consciousness or even the onset of fever, and Ignis would wake immediately. Though, Ignis’ sleep was hardly deep or restful: it was a broken, painful thing, a confusion of darkness and fire in which he swam alone. Waking was preferable—though the darkness remained, he could focus through it to tend to Noct and the others. But Noctis lit no such beacons of fuss to guide Ignis out of this searing fog. He lay still and silent, his breathing interrupted only by an occasional hitch.

Dawn brought no respite save an end to the wretched half-sleep for each of Noctis’ companions.

Gladio paced restlessly, wearily, the heavy tread of his boots defying his efforts to remain relatively quiet. He muttered beneath his breath, as though discussing important matters with himself and impatient to carry them out.

It was Ignis’ customary habit to rise at first light and see to necessary preparations for the day. Such a routine was so ingrained in his life that even now, despite his nerves and body wracked and exhausted beyond measure, his internal clock remained on point.

There was no sound at all from Prompto, which concerned Ignis slightly. The boy had a particular pattern of sighs and soft snores when he slept, which rather mimicked the frequency of anxious, excited or obnoxious noises he made while awake. With effort, Ignis struggled to raise himself into a sitting position.

At his movement, Gladio’s pacing stopped. Those heavy boots came toward the bed now. “Take it easy, Specs,” he rumbled.

Perhaps they should rethink that nickname.

“Where—” The broken, gravelly rasp of Ignis’ own voice startled him. It was so hoarse as to be mostly gone. He fell silent a moment before trying again.

“Has Prompto gone out?”

“No, he’s still here. Awake, too. Mostly.”

Gladio moved to the nearby dresser that held a tray with a pitcher of water and accompanying glasses. He poured a glass for Ignis and brought it to him, then placed the entire tray on the dresser next to the bed, making sure that Ignis could hear what he was doing.

“Thank you,” Ignis said. It was genuine, but terse. Perhaps water was not the exact type of drink he would have preferred at present.

“Sure. D’you need anything else?”

“No.” Ignis drew the word out like a sigh. His shoulders slumped and his head fell forward. Apparently the effort to maintain his posture required more energy than he currently deemed prudent to expend, all things considered.

Gladio gently took the glass back from him when he feared Ignis might topple over, with an anticipatory glance to judge where Ignis might land if he did. He could feel Ignis’ irritation at this, and decided to back off the role of nursemaid. Whatever Ignis needed right now, it was not to be worried over or attended like an invalid. Ignis did the tending to. That was an unspoken rule Ignis had subtly enforced himself, but a rule nonetheless.

A moment of silence followed, uncomfortable and decidedly loud.

“Listen, Iggy,” Gladio began, hesitant and apologetic, as though the harm that had befallen Ignis were due to his own failure to shield him.

“Don’t,” Ignis stopped him, firmly. His voice was softer now, stripped bare of any formality that might have veiled his emotion or weariness. “There was nothing you could have done.”

Another moment of silence, longer and more emphatic than the first.

Gladio cleared his throat, but his voice still came out grim and agitated. “What next, huh?”

“We stay with him,” Ignis admonished. “As a glaive should.”

“You stay with him.” The harshness fled Gladio’s tone, leaving it subdued. Obviously, Ignis was in no condition to further aid relief efforts for the city and returning civilians, but that was not what he meant.

For as long as Gladio could remember, Ignis had been at Noctis’ side. The young prince’s closest friend, steward and advisor, devoted to him on an intuitive level that had frequently earned him the (usually affectionate) nickname: “mother.” Though Gladio himself was also particular about Noctis and had his own ideas about how best to help and protect him, he well knew that in the times when Noctis felt the full weight of the world, it wasn’t to him, or even to Prompto, that he turned. Gladio acknowledged that now.

"It has to be you, Iggy. To tell ‘im…."

"Yes, of course." The softness remained in Ignis’ voice. Perhaps concern and love had, for the moment, eased his pain and frustration. But it was probably mostly sheer exhaustion.

Gladio laid a hand on his shoulder, gently enough. Whether Ignis was grateful for the sympathy and support or else too tired to swat him away, the gesture went unchallenged. Maybe it was Gladio’s imagination but Ignis might even have leaned into it a little.

They would all pull through this, as they had through every battle and trial hurled at them thus far, and must continue to do. The success of that hinged on being committed to each other’s well-being as much as to Noctis.’ Their king needed and relied on each of them in a different way, and expected every single one of them to be there when he opened his eyes every morning.

Well, maybe not this morning.

With a final glance at the motionless pile of blankets that was Noct—a rather familiar sight under most other circumstances—Gladio sighed. "I'm goin' out. Maybe there's breakfast to be had somewhere. I’ll bring somethin’ back if you want.”

“Don’t bother.” Ignis doubted he could eat at present if it were forced upon him, whatever quality of fare Gladio managed to procure.

“Right.” He raised his voice slightly. “Prompto, you coming?”

Prompto didn't respond to that, his tired, absent gaze directed at the cold light streaming through the window. He was still sitting where he had collapsed—on the couch across from the bed—still covered in grime and clothes that had dried stiffly in places. He hadn't even attempted to fix his hair. Now that was worrisome.

"Hey Blondie!" Gladio roused, a little more loudly. "Could use your help."

Prompto snapped suddenly out of his reverie. "R-right! Coming!" he responded automatically, not even knowing what Gladio had asked. For a brief moment he seemed lost and disoriented, swaying wearily to his feet. His eyes fell first on the bed and Ignis, then on Noctis.

"He’ll be fine," Gladio assured, deliberately vague at first as to whom he meant. He tried not to sound as cranky and tired of reassurances as he felt. Time to get outside and find some other task to occupy his mind, something difficult to throw his weight and skill into. No point continuing to mope about here. Ignis needed his space as much as Gladio needed fresh air. Seriously.

“U-uh yeah!" A smile flickered valiantly at the corner of Prompto's mouth, but didn't linger. "Of course he will."

Until he wakes up.

No one said it.

But he will wake up.

In the coming days very little changed. Noctis remained oblivious to the world, and Ignis kept vigil at his side. Food and water was brought, left on the table. Prompto hovered in and out of the room; Gladio came indoors only at night to sleep and tend to the fire. Umbra found them, as he always did, and left the notebook. Ignis placed it on the bed within Noctis’ reach.

And it will hurt. He will need us now more than ever. All of us.

Ignis knew that to falter now in his duty to Noctis was unthinkable, even should his sight never return. He will mend faster than Noctis. He was good at mending, and at exploiting the overlooked opportunities in every crisis. As he had taught himself the skills that best prepared him to care for Noctis in situations mundane or dire, so he could also learn to navigate this shade drawn over his world. Perhaps it was not inconceivable that Noctis' own magic would aid him, mark for him the dangers he could not see. With discipline, his other senses could be honed to compensate, to attune to that magic and to his surroundings.

There was no other alternative. He had taught Noctis to rely on him. Of the many things that had troubled and worried Noctis’ young mind, the idea that Ignis might not always be there for him had never been one of them. Ignis was not about to introduce that concept to him now, no matter what.

No matter what.

A slight rustling sound on the bed caused him to toward it, listening carefully. Blankets no longer covered Noctis; it was warm enough by day that Ignis always removed them. The blankets were in severe need of laundering, anyway.

The rustling came again, and there was no doubt now that Noctis had finally begin to stir.

Ignis steadied himself. Though his wounds yet burned raw, he reached up to carefully remove the bandage covering his eyes, replacing it with the only unbroken pair of glasses he still possessed—the sunglasses tucked away in his pocket. A familiar weight, and steadying, despite their function now being mostly aesthetic. He had put no less effort into achieving his usual immaculate appearance this morning, with a little help from Prompto, than he had any other morning prior. Someone in this group had to offset the image of street-punk with a respectable degree of grooming, afterall. And, he did not wish to alarm Noctis more than necessary, or to add to the grief that would soon rise like a second swell to wash over the bereft young king.

He took a breath at the same time Noctis did, as though just surfacing from deep water, rose to his feet as Noctis struggled to push himself upright. He turned toward him, imagining that Noctis blinked against a light that Ignis could now only feel.

But the light Ignis truly felt wasn’t the sunlight streaming through the window.

Noctis was awake.

#FFXV #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #Ardyn #Noctis #Ignis #Prompto #Gladio #MY DEAR IGNIS #I can only hope to art all the things I mean to #And write the things I cannot art

199 notes · View notes

zonechin48 · 5 years ago

Text

How To Keep Your NAD Levels Elevated (Without IVs) For Staving Off Aging, Cellular Health, Full Body Repair & Much More.

From pills to creams to meditations to exercises, it seems there is a multitude of oft-confusing ways to avoid aging out there. You may know I’m a bit inclined toward ensuring I research some of the more off-the-beaten-path methods of anti-aging and am happy to be the guinea pig who takes cold showers, does stem cell treatments, monitors my telomere length, and injects, swallows, and mainlines many different safe vitamins and well-researched anti-aging health supplements to see what works and what doesn’t. Of course, I also do incorporate many of the natural and free strategies I talk about here.

Among the many things you may have seen me talk about in my quest against aging is NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide) and experience with 8-hour IV drips of NAD and faster NAD push-IVs.

After all, when we talk about anything relating to aging, what we’re really talking about is cellular degeneration. Many of the signs of aging are often just the symptoms of a failing cellular mechanism or mitochondrial damage. And what do many cells need to operate at peak health? NAD. It’s crucial to many of the processes a cell carries out which benefit our bodies in numerous ways. This is why I believe increasing NAD in the body should be a top priority for anyone trying to support their health as they age. You’re about to discover why, and how to do just that.

The Signs Of Aging

There’s nothing like discovering your first gray hair or looking into the mirror and realizing even when you stop squinting the lines around your eyes stay put. The signs of aging are abundant, and yet you may not be noticing the less obvious warning signs that should be convincing you it’s time to take action to prevent the decline in health and body that occurs as you grow older. You may have already seen or are on the lookout for any of the following easy-to-notice physical signs of aging that can be determined even without the type of bloodwork I talk about here: A Deep Dive Into How To Interpret The Results Of Your Blood Testing – Ben Greenfield Reveals & Walks You Through His Laboratory Results From WellnessFX.

Hair Loss/Thinning – More hairs going down the drain than usual during showers or finding more strands in your brush or on your clothes.

Hair Graying – Transition of hair color to either gray or white depending on your genetics.

Receding Hairline – Male-pattern baldness or thinning at the temples.

Turkey Neck/Sagging Skin – Loose skin you can gather between your fingers or even just the hooded eye skin drooping its way down your eyelid.

Sagging Breasts – Your bosom may simply not quite stand to attention the way it used to.

Sun Damage – This includes everything from spots on your hands, face, and shoulders to dryness and “leathery” skin.

Fine Lines And Wrinkles – Some of them become less “fine” than others and the grooves only get deeper as the years go by.

Bunions – From years of wearing the wrong footwear or walking irregularly due to injury, risk for these tend to increase with age.

Yellowing Teeth – Even if you lay off the coffee and wine, enamel depletes with age and your teeth show the signs of a weakened state.

Decreased Testosterone & Growth Hormones – Along with this comes decreased drive, sexual dysfunction, hot flashes, mood swings, and a host of other unwanted side effects.

Insomnia and Bad Sleep – Your circadian rhythms get thrown for a loop as you produce less melatonin.

Forgetfulness and Memory Loss – Not to be confused with Alzheimer’s, dementia or any major mental illness, but a decline in cellular energy means your brains have less cognitive power and begin making errors.

Weight Gain – Usually this has more to do with a lack of energy, a lowered metabolism, and bad diet, but finding it harder to lose or maintain weight is also part of aging.

General Fatigue – This is (in many people’s opinions) the worst symptom of aging and involves losing the energy to exercise, keep up a social life, and even do meaningful work (which just feeds into the myth that we become less capable as we get older).

Everything mentioned above is only the eventual outward symptoms of what’s happening inside our bodies at a cellular level. As you age, your cells decline in their ability to be able to resist stress and damage, resulting in a gradual loss of cellular function that leads to many of the physical issues listed above. So it stands to reason that if you can prevent cellular aging, you can prevent the signs of aging in general.

A molecule called NAD can help support cellular health. Even if it can’t solve every problem associated with aging, it’s worth learning more about.

What Is NAD?

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD, is a coenzyme discovered over 100 years ago by scientists studying fermentation. NAD aids in the cell’s process of turning nutrients into the energy is necessary for metabolism. Your cells turn the energy stored in the food you eat into cellular energy (ATP). As part of the whole assembly line of operations that occur within a cell to get your organs to function, NAD is a crucial factory worker. If you appreciate your heart pumping, lungs breathing, muscles contracting, food digesting, etc. then you already have a healthy appreciation for NAD and the cellular energy it helps to produce.

Get The Low Carb Athlete - 100% Free!Eliminate fatigue and unlock the secrets of low-carb success. Sign up now for instant access to the book!<![CDATA[ #_form_64_ font-size:14px; line-height:1.6; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin:0; #_form_64_ * outline:0; ._form_hide display:none; visibility:hidden; ._form_show display:block; visibility:visible; #_form_64_._form-top top:0; #_form_64_._form-bottom bottom:0; #_form_64_._form-left left:0; #_form_64_._form-right right:0; #_form_64_ input[type="text"],#_form_64_ input[type="date"],#_form_64_ textarea padding:6px; height:auto; border:#979797 1px solid; border-radius:4px; color:#000 !important; font-size:13px; -webkit-box-sizing:border-box; -moz-box-sizing:border-box; box-sizing:border-box; #_form_64_ textarea resize:none; #_form_64_ ._submit -webkit-appearance:none; cursor:pointer; font-family:arial, sans-serif; font-size:14px; text-align:center; background:#eb7000 !important; border:0 !important; color:#fff !important; padding:10px !important; #_form_64_ ._close-icon cursor:pointer; background-image:url('https://d226aj4ao1t61q.cloudfront.net/esfkyjh1u_forms-close-dark.png'); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-size:14.2px 14.2px; position:absolute; display:block; top:11px; right:9px; overflow:hidden; width:16.2px; height:16.2px; #_form_64_ ._close-icon:before position:relative; #_form_64_ ._form-body margin-bottom:30px; #_form_64_ ._form-image-left width:150px; float:left; #_form_64_ ._form-content-right margin-left:164px; #_form_64_ ._form-branding color:#fff; font-size:10px; clear:both; text-align:left; margin-top:30px; font-weight:100; #_form_64_ ._form-branding ._logo display:block; width:130px; height:14px; margin-top:6px; background-image:url('https://d226aj4ao1t61q.cloudfront.net/hh9ujqgv5_aclogo_li.png'); background-size:130px auto; background-repeat:no-repeat; #_form_64_ ._form-label,#_form_64_ ._form_element ._form-label font-weight:bold; margin-bottom:5px; display:block; #_form_64_._dark ._form-branding color:#333; #_form_64_._dark ._form-branding ._logo background-image:url('https://d226aj4ao1t61q.cloudfront.net/jftq2c8s_aclogo_dk.png'); #_form_64_ ._form_element position:relative; margin-bottom:10px; font-size:0; max-width:100%; #_form_64_ ._form_element * font-size:14px; #_form_64_ ._form_element._clear clear:both; width:100%; float:none; #_form_64_ ._form_element._clear:after clear:left; #_form_64_ ._form_element input[type="text"],#_form_64_ ._form_element input[type="date"],#_form_64_ ._form_element select,#_form_64_ ._form_element textarea:not(.g-recaptcha-response) display:block; width:100%; -webkit-box-sizing:border-box; -moz-box-sizing:border-box; box-sizing:border-box; #_form_64_ ._field-wrapper position:relative; #_form_64_ ._inline-style float:left; #_form_64_ ._inline-style input[type="text"] width:150px; #_form_64_ ._inline-style:not(._clear) + ._inline-style:not(._clear) margin-left:20px; #_form_64_ ._form_element img._form-image max-width:100%; #_form_64_ ._clear-element clear:left; #_form_64_ ._full_width width:100%; #_form_64_ ._form_full_field display:block; width:100%; margin-bottom:10px; #_form_64_ input[type="text"]._has_error,#_form_64_ textarea._has_error border:#f37c7b 1px solid; #_form_64_ input[type="checkbox"]._has_error outline:#f37c7b 1px solid; #_form_64_ ._error display:block; position:absolute; font-size:13px; z-index:10000001; #_form_64_ ._error._above padding-bottom:4px; top:-41px; right:0; #_form_64_ ._error._below padding-top:4px; top:100%; right:0; #_form_64_ ._error._above ._error-arrow bottom:0; right:15px; border-left:5px solid transparent; border-right:5px solid transparent; border-top:5px solid #f37c7b; #_form_64_ ._error._below ._error-arrow top:0; right:15px; border-left:5px solid transparent; border-right:5px solid transparent; border-bottom:5px solid #f37c7b; #_form_64_ ._error-inner padding:8px 12px; background-color:#f37c7b; font-size:13px; font-family:arial, sans-serif; color:#fff; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; -webkit-border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; border-radius:4px; #_form_64_ ._error-inner._form_error margin-bottom:5px; text-align:left; #_form_64_ ._button-wrapper ._error-inner._form_error position:static; #_form_64_ ._error-inner._no_arrow margin-bottom:10px; #_form_64_ ._error-arrow position:absolute; width:0; height:0; #_form_64_ ._error-html margin-bottom:10px; .pika-single z-index:10000001 !important; @media all and (min-width:320px) and (max-width:667px) ::-webkit-scrollbar display:none; #_form_64_ margin:0; width:100%; min-width:100%; max-width:100%; box-sizing:border-box; #_form_64_ * -webkit-box-sizing:border-box; -moz-box-sizing:border-box; box-sizing:border-box; font-size:1em; #_form_64_ ._form-content margin:0; width:100%; #_form_64_ ._form-inner display:block; min-width:100%; #_form_64_ ._form-title,#_form_64_ ._inline-style margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-left:0; #_form_64_ ._form-title font-size:1.2em; #_form_64_ ._form_element margin:0 0 20px; padding:0; width:100%; #_form_64_ ._form-element,#_form_64_ ._inline-style,#_form_64_ input[type="text"],#_form_64_ label,#_form_64_ p,#_form_64_ textarea:not(.g-recaptcha-response) float:none; display:block; width:100%; #_form_64_ ._row._checkbox-radio label display:inline; #_form_64_ ._row,#_form_64_ p,#_form_64_ label margin-bottom:0.7em; width:100%; #_form_64_ ._row input[type="checkbox"],#_form_64_ ._row input[type="radio"] margin:0 !important; vertical-align:middle !important; #_form_64_ ._row input[type="checkbox"] + span label display:inline; #_form_64_ ._row span label margin:0 !important; width:initial !important; vertical-align:middle !important; #_form_64_ ._form-image max-width:100%; height:auto !important; #_form_64_ input[type="text"] padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; font-size:16px; line-height:1.3em; -webkit-appearance:none; #_form_64_ input[type="radio"],#_form_64_ input[type="checkbox"] display:inline-block; width:1.3em; height:1.3em; font-size:1em; margin:0 0.3em 0 0; vertical-align:baseline; #_form_64_ button[type="submit"] padding:20px; font-size:1.5em; #_form_64_ ._inline-style margin:20px 0 0 !important; #_form_64_ position:relative; text-align:left; margin:0px 0px; padding:20px; -webkit-box-sizing:border-box; -moz-box-sizing:border-box; box-sizing:border-box; *zoom:1; background:transparent !important; border:0px solid #b0b0b0 !important; width:300px; -moz-border-radius:0px !important; -webkit-border-radius:0px !important; border-radius:0px !important; color:#000 !important; #_form_64_ ._form-title font-size:22px; line-height:22px; font-weight:600; margin-bottom:0; #_form_64_:before,#_form_64_:after content:" "; display:table; #_form_64_:after clear:both; #_form_64_._inline-style width:auto; display:inline-block; #_form_64_._inline-style input[type="text"],#_form_64_._inline-style input[type="date"] padding:10px 12px; #_form_64_._inline-style button._inline-style position:relative; top:27px; #_form_64_._inline-style p margin:0; #_form_64_._inline-style ._button-wrapper position:relative; margin:27px 12.5px 0 20px; #_form_64_ ._form-thank-you position:relative; left:0; right:0; text-align:center; font-size:18px; @media all and (min-width:320px) and (max-width:667px) #_form_64_._inline-form._inline-style ._inline-style._button-wrapper margin-top:20px !important; margin-left:0 !important; #_form_64_ ._form_10 text-align:center !important; #_form_64_ ._x20518276 label,#_form_64_ ._field10 label text-align:left; #_form_64_ ._form_31 width:100% !important; ]]>

The second role this molecule plays within our cells is to boost the activity of sirtuins, which are important proteins used by cells. When sirtuins are activated and doing their jobs, they support cellular maintenance and repair. Sirtuins have been implicated in influencing a wide range of cellular processes like aging, transcription, apoptosis, inflammation and stress resistance, as well as energy efficiency and alertness during low-calorie situations. Sirtuins can also control circadian clocks and mitochondrial biogenesis.

So your cells need NAD and your body is capable of creating it, but as you age, your cells take on a lot of stress and NAD is rapidly consumed as the cells cope. Metabolic stresses such as overeating and consuming alcohol can contribute even further to the depletion of NAD. Worse still, NAD decreases as we get older – a 60-year-old is likely to have half the count of NAD that they did at 40.

So now you’re probably wondering what’s the best way to get more NAD, aside from the costly IVs I’ve spoken of already, and discuss in detail in my last two podcasts with Tom Ingoglia here and here, and also in my recent podcast with Dr. Craig Koniver here.

Preclinical research shows that exercising and calorie restriction can both aid in upping NAD levels. These are two strategies I already advocate for and just make sense as part of a holistic health regimen. However, one of the easiest ways to naturally increase NAD without an IV is via supplements, more specifically the B3 vitamins I discussed here in my podcast with Dr. Charles Brenner (but as you’ll discover later, not all B3s are created equal when it comes to producing NAD).

Through its essential role in cellular energy production, NAD contributes, in early cellular stages, to basically every bodily function we notice or don’t notice but appreciate subconsciously. Here are just a few ways our bodies use NAD each day:

Exercise Performance and Recovery – When we exercise, cells in our muscles go to work generating boatloads of cellular energy. NAD is crucial to this process. After a workout, NAD also helps restore muscles and aids in the work cells perform to build muscle. Our ability to recover from workouts, a thing that seems to get harder as we age, is reliant on NAD doing its job. And working out is essential to avoiding declining muscle mass, another common component of aging.

Processing Alcohol – NAD is required for both of the chemical reactions that detoxify alcohol in the liver. Drinking can lower the liver’s NAD resources as the liver processes the alcohol we’ve consumed. You may notice it takes less alcohol to induce a hangover as you get older or that a little alcohol goes a long way and it’s easier to get tipsy or outright drunk, even accidentally. Obviously, I recommend discretion when drinking and a healthy self-awareness of your limits, but also understanding how your cells help you to bounce back when you’ve had a bit too much comes in handy.

Skin and Sun Exposure – Skin is the largest organ of our bodies and thus requires a massive amount of cells and cellular regeneration to maintain. Your skin is exposed to quite a few stressors, the sun being our skin’s most bitter enemy if overexposure to UVA and UVB occurs. NAD activates certain proteins in skin cells to help signal when and where sun-related damage has occurred. It’s no coincidence wrinkles are among the earliest signs of aging. A wrinkle is basically a line of skin cells that have lost their ability to hold up the skin and have thus caved in. Interestingly, a recent preclinical study with mice linked the appearance of skin wrinkles directly to cellular mitochondrial health.

Circadian Rhythms – It isn’t just the earth that’s set on a very strict 24-hr schedule – your bodies also rely on daily rhythmic biological processes to keep you going. These circadian rhythms are integral to overall metabolism and health. NAD aids in cells maintaining their daily rhythms by helping to regulate circadian clocks at the cellular level. When faced with the mass confusion of facing a time zone change or spending too much time in the dark, our cells work overtime keeping up those rhythms. As long as our cells keep up the pace, everything can readjust and get back on schedule. When we don’t, boy do we feel it.

Breathing & Oxidative Stress – There are sometimes ways we can give our hardworking cells a break. After all, you do have the option of giving up alcohol or getting more sleep to rejuvenate yourself. But one thing we can’t stop doing is breathing and delivering oxygen throughout our bodies. As this oxygen is consumed by cells, free radicals can be produced that lead to oxidative stress. And the air you breathe contains more than just oxygen. Other sources of free radicals include air pollutants, chemicals, cigarette smoke and other issues I discuss in my last comprehensive article on air pollution. Fortunately, NAD and its molecular cousin NADP can arm your cells to counteract this stress and mop up free radicals.

To figure out how to get more NAD into your cells, you must first understand how vitamin B3 contributes to NAD.

Understanding The Vitamin B3s

There are actually 8 different vitamins that make up the B vitamin complex, one of which is B3. B3 vitamins are precursors to NAD, meaning they are basically ingredients that your body uses to create more NAD through cellular chemical processes. But there are three forms of B3, and the newest one to be discovered, nicotinamide riboside (NR), is the one scientists are getting especially excited about.

The B3 most people are familiar with is niacin (nicotinic acid). Niacin is available in supplement form and is also ingested in food because it is found in eggs, yeast, fish, meat, milk, green vegetables, and cereal grains. Since the 1930s people have used niacin for treating pellagra, which is a B3 deficiency caused by a lack of diet variety. However, niacin has the very annoying side effect of skin flushing and can create a red, warm face, an overall feeling of body warmth and tingly fingers.

The second of the B3s is nicotinamide, also known as niacinamide. This one’s much like niacin, but minus the painful skin flushing and without the useful cholesterol-lowering capabilities. Although it’s an NAD precursor, it deactivates sirtuins, those very useful longevity genes I mentioned earlier.

Then there’s nicotinamide riboside (NR), the most recently discovered B3 and a unique B3 when it comes to producing NAD. I interviewed the man who discovered the pathway that converts NR to NAD, Dr. Charles Brenner, on my podcast and got the skinny on exactly why NR is the superior B3 vitamin and all the benefits that it produces by supporting healthy, well-functioning cells.

NR serves as an NAD precursor and also activates sirtuins to jump in and do their job. Plus, it doesn’t cause flushing. Trace amounts of NR are found in milk, but you’d have to drink a heck of a lot of it to get the benefits of NR and in my opinion, the calories and high amounts of dairy proteins aren’t worth it.

TRU NIAGEN, The NAD Superbooster

If you listened to my podcast or read the transcript of my talk with Dr. Charles Brenner, you probably know a bit already about the supplement TRU NIAGEN, a B3 supplement in the form of NR. After Dr. Brenner discovered that cells can use NR as a precursor to NAD, interest in his work soared. Nutraceutical company ChromaDex licensed the patents for NR from Dartmouth College and asked Dr. Brenner to be their Chief Scientific Advisor.

Together they developed TRU NIAGEN, an NR supplement that has been clinically proven to increase NAD levels. By increasing NAD, TRU NIAGEN promotes cellular energy production. One capsule of TRU NIAGEN contains 150mg of the active ingredient NIAGEN nicotinamide riboside chloride, a patented and FDA safety-reviewed form of vitamin B3, as well as the inactive ingredients microcrystalline cellulose and hypromellose.

There have been over 150 scientific articles published around NR since 2004, many of them reflecting the positive effect NR has on NAD production. These include more than 100 preclinical studies published on the science behind NR and more than 20 human clinical trials published and ongoing. Specifically, the active ingredient in TRU NIAGEN, “NIAGEN nicotinamide riboside”, has been studied in four published human trials, which is more than any other NR supplement you’ll hear about.(See trials 1, 2, 3 & 4) From those trials, TRU NIAGEN has proven to safely and effectively increase NAD. NIAGEN has twice been successfully reviewed under FDA’s new dietary ingredient (NDI) notification program and has also been successfully notified to the FDA as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Summary

Currently, I take 1-2 capsules NR TRU NIAGEN in the morning, then again in the afternoon (it works best when taken twice a day to support normal circadian rhythm). I still do the NAD IVs too, but I use the NR in between the IVs to maintain my levels as high as possible. I also take extra NR after drinking more than two glasses of alcohol, traveling across multiple time zones, or any time I’ve put excess stress on my body.

You can get NR from TRU NIAGEN, and for your convenience, below I’m including all posts and podcasts I’ve done about NR or NAD in the past should you want to take a deeper dive.

–The Next Big Anti-Aging Drug: Everything You Need To Know About “NAD”.

–How To Get Your Own Vitamin and NAD IVs, The Truth About Umbilical Stem Cells, Peptide Injections & Much More With Dr. Craig Koniver.

–Advanced Muscle Building With Science: How To Biohack Body Composition With Stem Cells, NAD & One Workout Per Week.

–The New Darling Supplement Of The Anti-Aging Industry (& The Truth About Whether It Actually Works)

–Biohacking Alzheimer’s, Age Reversal, Young Blood, Stem Cells, Exosomes & More!

Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for me about NR or NAD? Leave your comments below and I will reply!

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

Source: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/anti-aging-articles/elevate-nad-levels/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

0 notes

blackbrian6-blog · 6 years ago