8 Tools to Open Your Heart and Encourage a More Joyful life

Isn’t it wonderful when the heart is in balance, where feelings of love and appreciation, connectedness and compassion take center stage? But when this energetic center is off-kilter, a darker side emerges and we experience periods of depression, anger, jealousy, resentment or bitterness.

Mainly, we just feel ornery towards ourselves and those around us. If you would like to break this pattern of unpleasantness — or simply give your heart chakra a well-deserved tuneup — the following eight practices can help.

Cashew: A Disease-Destroying, Bacteria-Blasting Super Nut

The bacteria responsible for acne, tooth decay, tuberculosis, pneumonia and leprosy have met their match with, of all things, the cashew nut. Containing anacardic chemicals that destroy gram-positive bacteria, this tasty seed of the cashew apple helps eradicate dangerous pathogens that cause a multitude of issues. Not only that, but cashews have also been shown to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and certain types of cancer.

Native to Brazil and grown worldwide in countries such as India, Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria, cashews are an outstanding source of copper, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and zinc. However, sound harvesting and processing practices are crucial to avoid contamination with the caustic resin located within the cashew shell -- otherwise, the nut is unfit for consumption. This is the reason why cashew nuts are always sold pre-shelled.

Access to Clean Water Has Reached Crisis Point Worldwide

By John Hawthorne

Water across the world in in such a short supply, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to not have it as accessible as it is in the west. We don’t take into consideration that most people across the world do not have the ability to drink clean water. Astonishingly, there’re approximately one billion people on the Earth that do not have a means of getting access to safe drinking water. Unicef estimates that 2.6 billion people do not have access to a sanitary septic system or means of using a bathroom. The damage done by not having an ability to get fresh clean water has a variety of effects.