Eight Hours to Live

I felt betrayed by God. My heart was broken by the one who crafted me into existence – only to prematurely steal it. I failed to reason my deserving for a permanent absence. My wrongs were child’s play compared to many. I cried in remembrance of the time wasted on things unworthy of attention. The departure of my life made me crave it all the more. Death, mysterious in its nature, terrified me. He is a familiar stranger that I hoped I’d never meet. I wanted to be spared for “good behavior.” But he instead upheld his title as “undefeated.” Within hours I would be nothing more than a cadaver.

With the acceptance of my fate, I prayed. I was apologetic for my naïve pride. I also thanked God for my life and the people in it. At the brink of peace, gratitude, and joy, a seed of doubt sneaked into my thoughts. The uncertainty of heaven scared me. I longed for someone to prepare me for death, for some reassurance of eternal life validating my beliefs. I reflected upon my life realizing that I was the proof.

Feeling spiritually renewed, I informed my family. The news impaired them, sobbing filled the room. Although my circumstance were beyond my reach. I couldn’t help but feel like I failed them. My once bright future was limited to hours. I wanted my parents to witness my future success. And have a sense of satisfaction on my wedding day, and upon the lives of my children. Unfortunately, my genes died with me, and I died as I came.

The hardest goodbye was to my mom. We’ve conquered many battles together, but death was an unusual enemy, to all. In an effort to comfort her, I jokingly said, “the umbilical cord can withstand all adversity, even life and death.” She smiled, but tears continued to flood her face as she held me close. I felt safe in her arms, almost as if she could rescue me. It was there I wished to remain forever. However, I had to leave. I told my family to meet me at church in my final hour.

I have many friends, but Julia was the epitome of a true friend. Our friendship was rare. We were close, yet we had respectable secrets. But this secret effected more than myself. Tears were expected with the arrival of my news. She asked me, “why you?” My response was, “why not?” I advised my friend to view life as a timeline. That each present moment was becoming an instant past. I left with expressing my love and appreciation towards her. I encouraged her to live enough for the both of us.

My goodbyes were in order, but something continued to tug at my heart. I was reminded of a former friendship that recently ended abruptly. With pride no longer an excuse I called her, and apologized. I didn’t inform her of my current situation; her pity I did not seek. She accepted, and returned the apology. We talked as if it were any other Tuesday, resuming the friendship to its natural state. Death made me bold, yet humble. I only wished I had discovered this revelation sooner, instead of being a living procrastinator.

I spent the final hour of my life at church. I again prayed, this time at the altar, amongst my family. As they prayed for me I sent up requests for them. The sanctuary was still, and closed from the world. Death stalked all the more. Knowing my inevitable fate. I troubled my mind no longer. I enjoyed the reminiscing of my life’s greatest moments. I oddly found myself laughing. At the peak of joy, I witnessed a glimpse of heaven. Then, I remembered I was dying. Death achieved his final ambush. Because I would not stop for him, he kindly stopped me, and took my breath away.

50 Weird Facts about Humans

1. People with higher number of moles tend to live longer than people with lesser number of moles.

3. When filming summer scenes in winter, actors suck on ice cubes just before the camera rolls – it cools their mouths so their breath doesn’t condense in the cold air.

4. Thinking about your muscles can make you stronger.

5. Grapefruit scent will make middle aged women appear six  years younger to men. The perception is not reciprocal and the grapefruit scent on men has no effect on women’s perception.

6. The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

7. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream.

8. There are more people alive today than have ever died.

9. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair

10. Women blink twice as many times as men do.

11. The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

12. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

13. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

14. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!

15. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.

16. The brain is much more active at night than during the day.

17. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain.

18. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.

19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average.

20. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. Hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

21. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.

22. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court.

23. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph.

24. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water.

25. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day.

26. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

27. Babies are always born with blue eyes.  The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.

28. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

29. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.

30. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life.

31. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents.

32. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.

33. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do.

34. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing.

35. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore.

36. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest.  A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.

37. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors.

38. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.

39. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

40. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206.

41. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening.

42. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.

43. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria.

44. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves.

45. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.

46. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears.

47. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.

48. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands.

49. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.

50. Cna yuo raed tihs? I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

tastyhuman.com

Best Procrastination Tip Ever

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Your first thought as you look at this article will be, “I’ll read this later.”

But don’t. Let the urge to switch to a new task pass. Read this now.

It’ll take you two minutes. It’ll save you countless hours.

I’ve written the book on ending procrastination, but I’ve since come up with a very simple technique for beating everyone’s favorite nemesis. It is incredibly easy, but as with anything, it takes a little practice.

Try it now:

Identify the most important thing you have to do today.

Decide to do just the first little part of it — just the first minute, or even 30 seconds of it. Getting started is the only thing in the world that matters.

Clear away distractions. Turn everything off. Close all programs. There should just be you, and your task.

Sit there, and focus on getting started. Not doing the whole task, just starting.

Pay attention to your mind, as it starts to have urges to switch to another task. You will have urges to check email or Facebook or Twitter or your favorite website. You will want to play a game or make a call or do another task. Notice these urges.

But don’t move. Notice the urges, but sit still, and let them pass. Urges build up in intensity, then pass, like a wave. Let each one pass.

Notice also your mind trying to justify not doing the task. Also let these self-rationalizing thoughts pass.

Now just take one small action to get started. As tiny a step as possible.

Get started, and the rest will flow.

zenhabits.net

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

“Raise your hands all who are happy”. Two others, and myself, raised our hands as the rest of the class remained mute. I looked around in disbelief at the faces that contradicted their emotions. Just at the peak of my own happiness, it was kidnapped by guilt. I couldn’t help but feel responsible. Reality awakened me from the world inside my head. My own joy blinded me from the anguish of others. I strive to be a firefly at night, but my light has diminished. I am called to be a seasoned light not a season of light. My peers do not deserve temporary happiness, but unwavering joy. It is my duty to live in a way that will encourage them to follow me, as I, the Light.