Higher Perspective

Puma Punku is a temple located near Tiwanaku, Bolivia. If you plan to visit ruins anywhere in South America, make Puma Punku your #1 spot. It’s a place of great mystery where one loses their sense of space and time.

One of the greatest mysteries about the ruins is how ancient builders managed to transport such large blocks, and how the engineers of the day managed to fit them together using some seriously precise cuts.

The featured image above is one of the most fascinating features of the ruins. These are andesite blocks, an incredibly solid and difficult material to work with. And yet, holes like this one are carved with such incredible precision. How is it possible?

The perfection and elegance is baffling to say the very least about it. How could they possible have done this? It remains a mystery. It’s certainly possible they had technology that we don’t usually attribute to ancient people.

What do you do to calm yourself down after a long stressful day? Listen to some music? Go for a hike? Roast a bone and watch Family Guy? It turns out, this one boring chore can actually improve your overall well-being and improve your stress levels.

A study published in Mindfulness found that doing the dishes had a remarkable impact on your emotional self:

“We hypothesized that, relative to a control condition, participants receiving mindful dishwashing instruction would evidence greater state mindfulness, attentional awareness, and positive affect, as well as reduce negative affect and lead to overestimations of time spent dishwashing,” wrote the study authors at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

“While washing the dishes, one should only be washing the dishes. This means that while washing the dishes, one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes,” wrote the study authors. In other words, wash the dishes, but omit negative and distracting thoughts. Focus on the present moment.

One of the greatest rarities in this world is seeing an ancient tribe that has gone largely uninfluenced by the modern world. In the south Sahara Desert of Africa in Mali exists the Dogon tribe, a tribal people believed to be descendant of ancient Egyptians. The tribe’s lore dates back to 3200 BCE.

The Dogon are unique in another way – they believed, possibly long before anyone in Europe, that the Earth is round and that it circles the sun. Their texts contain very accurate information about a neighboring star, Sirus. Their texts write about its companion star, what they call Po Tolo, and its 50-year elliptical orbit. In 1926, astronomers found this information to be accurage.

Aside from their interesting lore and incredibly accurate celestial knowledge, the Dogon are known for their incredible masks and intricate woodcarvings. They wear 80 different types of masks depending on what they’re celebrating.

Art by: Android Jones

We’ve all known someone at some time or another who has been overly negative. It really brings you down. After a while, their negative energy is embodied in you and that’s never good. How can we protect ourselves from people like this?

1. React appropriately.

Don’t meet negativity with more negativity. Don’t just react. React the right way. Be mindful of what you say and how you say it. Don’t just react.

2. Keep it light.

When things start getting a little too heavy, change the direction of the conversation to something lighter. Find positive things to talk about. Don’t be afraid to steer them away from negative subjects.

For emotionally sensitive people, life can be a little bit like introversion. After you’ve been around a lot of people or gone through an emotional time, you really just need to take some time and recharge the batteries.

Sometimes that’s easier said than done. You need to have a plan in place to give you the space you need. What are some of the ways highly sensitive people can recharge?

1. Spend some time alone.

What I typically enjoy doing is heading out into nature with my tent and my dog. There’s nothing like a small crackling fire, campfire food, the quiet sounds of nature, and a little bit of alone time to recharge the batteries. It gives me plenty of time to consider my life and prepare myself to head back.

Empathy is something all humans have. We’re soft wired for it. Empathy is the social force at work when you see someone hurt and you feel their hurt, nearly physically. If you’ve ever been around a toxic person, though, you know how empathy can make their negativity rub off on you. So how do we make sure negative people keep their energy to themselves?

1. Let go of expectations.

You’re not going to be able to please everyone, so don’t go seeking out toxic people to make happy. Their negativity stems from unhappiness, and happiness can only come from within them. If you try to make them happy, all that’ll happen is your energy will be brought down to their level.

2. Don’t invite negativity into your life.

Your immediate environment should be your temple, and you’re not going to want to let negative people into that temple. Sure, let them stop by, but never invite it in to stay. They won’t respect you or your home.

It can be hard to tell if and when you’re being manipulated. People can be skillful at the craft of covering up their true intentions. Here’s what you should be looking out for.

1. Knowing they’ve manipulated others.

Want to know the easiest way to peg a manipulator? Know that they’ve tried being the puppet master for others in the past. Someone with a history of manipulation is likely to do it again, and maybe even to you.

2. They’re the fast moving fast talking types.

They do things as fast as they can, particularly building relationships with people. It enables them to be able to use people more efficiently and move on when you’re no longer of use.

General anxiety disorder is common, effecting millions of Americans every year. It’s no wonder too. We work stressful jobs, live in stressful places, and often aren’t living the kinds of lives we want to. Anxiety seems like the predictable response to that.

In extreme situations, medication may be needed, but generally speaking, relaxation is the ultimate destroyer of stress and anxiety. One thing crystals are known for is producing relaxing energy and calming your energies. These 5 crystals are perfect for soothing anxiety.

1. Kunzite

Kunzite is one of my favorites. It’s perfect for dealing with inner turmoil. It soothes the heart and improves your tolerance for stress.

We’re bombarded with negativity all the time. We see it in the news, we see it on TV, heck, go to the park and you’ll probably see it their too. But do you know how you combat negativity? Not by being negative yourself. You combat it by being positive. So how do you transform yourself into a positive thinker?

1. Be thankful for what you have.

This is step number one. Look around you. You likely have a home and a family who loves you and friends who like you and an expensive electronic device with which to read this. You’re doing better than a vast majority of people. This isn’t meant to make you feel bad, it’s just important to remember how good things are. Things may not be perfect, and it’s perfectly fine to acknowledge it and fight for what you want in life, but face it: life’s pretty cool right now too.

2. Don’t be the queen of drama.

Eliminate drama from your life at once. Drama is such a nasty, unfortunate characteristic to have. Part of ditching drama is ditching dramatic people. Forget the gossip, it doesn’t do anyone any good and only serves to spread negativity.

Nikola Tesla is often called the man who invented the 20th century, and there are lots of good reasons for that. And yet he’s still not nearly as famous as some of his contemporaries, like Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, engineer, physicist, and futurist who is most well known for his design of the modern alternating current electric supply system.

He emigrated to the United States in 1884 to work with Thomas Edison in New York City, but with financial backers, he was able to set out on his own.

In the end, he dies alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. He died of a coronary thrombosis and his work covered up for decades. Recently, there has been an awakening in interest in his life. These are some of his quotes that we think will help challenge your ideas about science and the world at large.

1. Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine. – A Visit to Nikola Tesla, by Dragislav L. Petkoviæ in Politika (April 1927)