I’m a super fan of the human brain. With 86 billion neurons to it, we owe everything that makes sentient life great. Our art, music, technology, feelings of joy, longing, melancholy -- all are thanks to the three-pound lump of fat sitting quietly behind our eyes. The flagship product of millions of years of evolution, it is (to borrow from a popular meme) much amaze, and so very wow.
Yet it’s under attack. Currently there are 5 million people in the US with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common (but not the only) form of dementia which robs us of the very essence of who we are, and, contrary to popular belief, is not a normal part of aging. That number is expected to triple by 2050. Recently, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the lack of awareness at just how much control we have over our health outcomes, especially where the brain is concerned. In August of this year, when Lancet Neurology published a study indicating that 1/3 of all Alzheimer’s cases worldwide may be caused by potentially modifiable risk factors (i.e., could have been prevented), it sounded the alarm that Alzheimer’s prevention was an idea worth taking seriously. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green.
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When stress weighs you down, and life becomes overwhelming, it's time to make a change. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part.
"Stress," "demands," "pressure." These are the words that come up on repeat during my workshops with entrepreneurs, CEOs, start up execs, and other leaders. Since stress does not discriminate, most people have experienced feeling like they've lost control in a stressful situation where relentless demands become overwhelming. To reclaim your life from this pressure, I offer a powerfully simple system. The first step is to ask yourself these three questions: 1. What do I need to stop? What's keeping you stuck? Maybe you need to stop working 24 hours a day. Maybe you need to stop eating unhealthy food, or give up a bad habit or toxic relationship. Maybe you need to stop magical thinking or expecting someone else to make your problems go away. Identify the things that aren't working, and challenge yourself to stop them. When you stop the meaningless tasks, the fruitless relationships, the busyness, you make room for things that are more aligned with what you really want. Continue reading. Originally posted on Inc.com. In one of my recent articles on MindBodyGreen, some of the commenters asked me how to go about loving yourself. They especially wanted to know what the specifics are, since it's so easy to tell someone, "Love yourself," and much more difficult to describe how to do it.
Inner bonding is a powerful six-step self-healing process that offers a road map for learning to love yourself. Learning and practicing these six steps will gradually result in loving yourself rather than continuing to abandon yourself. The Six Steps Of Inner Bonding: 1. Be willing to feel pain and take responsibility for your feelings. All feelings are informational, letting us know whether we're loving ourselves or abandoning ourselves, or if others are being loving or controlling. Step one is mindfully following your breath to get present in your body, and compassionately embracing all feelings. It's about moving toward your feelings rather than away from them with various forms of self-abandonment, such as staying focused in your head, judging yourself, turning to addictions to numb out, or making someone else responsible for your feelings. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. Talking therapy is more effective than pills in treating social anxiety disorder, a study has found.
Social phobia - one of the most common anxiety disorders - is a persistent fear of social situations. A review of 101 clinical trials found talking therapies were more effective and more long lasting than medication. Medication should be used only when psychological treatments are turned down, said the UK/US team behind the study in The Lancet Psychiatry. "Social anxiety is more than just shyness," said Dr Evan Mayo-Wilson, of the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a co-researcher on the study. "The good news from our study is that social anxiety is treatable. Now that we know what works best, we need to improve access to psychotherapy for those who are suffering." The study, involving more than 13,000 participants, compared different types of psychological therapy with medications such as antidepressants and benzodiazepines. Continue reading. Originally posted on BBC News Health. “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” ~Paul Boes
In October of 2010 I was engaged after only three weeks of dating. I was scared to tell my family but I was terrified to tell my father. My parents divorced when I was five and I couldn’t spend weekends at Dad’s because he lived thousands of miles away. I saved him for last and decided to take the cowardly way out by emailing him. It was not the best decision I’ve ever made. Not only did it infuriate and hurt him, it ended up producing a phone call that would alter my life forever. It was a call filled with horrible words that left me in tears and him hanging up on me. I’ve managed to erase most of the words from my head but not how devastating they felt. Six months later we were married in a private ceremony on a beach in Jamaica. After we got back I was still bothered by the fight I had with my father, but I tried to push it to the back of my mind. Shortly after, my father began reaching out to me through emails and voicemail. He wanted to meet my new husband and see me. Through email, things became pleasant and we made plans to come visit him in Florida that August. Continue reading. Originally posted on Tiny Buddha. It's incredibly difficult to get people to break bad habits, even if they're deadly. I'm reminded of this when one of my favorite patients, who has suffered several heart attacks, tells me that she ate fried Oreos with whipped cream before finishing her first pack of cigarettes that day.
Although Julia (not her real name) always listens to my requests to improve her lifestyle choices, she doesn't actually take my advice. Years into her battle with heart disease, she is following her own path — one that I fear will end tragically. So why do some people make changes to improve their health while others stick to bad habits? Surely you know someone you wish would “wake up” and get with the program, whether it's changing his behavior around nutrition, exercise, smoking, stress management or sleep. Or perhaps you've struggled to implement a lifestyle that you know you should follow? Thankfully, psychology can explain why some people finally break bad habits and others don't. James Prochaska, the Director of the Cancer Prevention Research Center, has created a model for understanding change that has helped doctors and researchers develop strategies for success. His research was inspired by his own struggles with an alcoholic father who wouldn’t make changes for his health. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. Google this: How to get motivated. Or “how to find willpower” or “how to stop procrastination.” You’d think that there would be something hidden in the inter-webs, perhaps some magic pill to swallow where *poof* we turn into balls of energy and motivation.
Sadly, there is none. I’ve looked. We’re sensational rationalizers. Especially when it comes to the things we need to do but don’t want to. We’ll craft compelling reasons to “not work” only to be met with feelings of guilt and inadequacy, and then we wonder – What’s wrong with me? Where is my will power? Where is my grit? Why can’t I just kill it – like Oprah? Or Beyonce? Do we lack the gene? Maybe, but it’s not a very productive question. The better one is – how do we create it for ourselves? Because if there is work to do that, for us, is meaningful and important, then we have no choice but to train ourselves to show up every day, even when inspiration fails us. And there are a few ways to get there. Continue reading. Originally posted on Steven Aitchison.co.uk. One of the biggest stressors for most people is time. We simply don't feel we have enough of it. In fact, most of us do have enough time — we are just not using it in a savvy way. We either waste it or allow others around us to waste our time.
Time management doesn't mean shoving more and more tasks into less and less time. It means learning to plan our work time more effectively, putting things in the right order, using all available resources, then following through with the plan. It means working smarter, not harder. That way, we will have more free time for things we enjoy doing. Here are seven smart tips on time management that really work to reduce stress: 1. Organize your day. Planning out your day is something you should do every day, either in the evening of the previous day, or first thing in the morning. There are always interruptions and unplanned demands on your time, but create a definite plan for the day. Be sure to include all of the important health habits like menu planning, time for exercise and relaxation exercises, and socializing. Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” ~Anna Quindlen
“Oh, my god,” she said, “I forgot to shave my left leg!” That may not sound like a particularly dramatic announcement, but Jenny and I were sharing a seat on the chartered bus taking our senior class to the beach for “Senior Cut Day” a few weeks before graduation, and her discovery horrified me. An unshaved leg, it seemed to me at the time, was scandalous in the extreme. Had it been me who forgot to shave, I would have kept my sweats on all day rather than display my embarrassing imperfection. Jenny, on the other hand, not only shared her faux pas with me, she then announced it loudly to the entire bus. She laughed about it, and invited everyone else to laugh, too! Continue reading. Originally posted on Tiny Buddha. I'm a high energy New Yorker with lots of plates spinning. Anxiety is in my blood. My default is to plan ahead, attempt to predict the outcome and fret endlessly over every detail. My mind is constantly brewing up ideas or drumming through my growing to-do list. I tend to be an anxious person.
In all fairness, I manage a lot. A full-time job, a roster of clients and groups, monthly workshops, on-line communities, a vibrant newsletter, a growing business, tight deadlines, a demanding schedule, and much more. Though most of these things are joys in my life and the things that fill me up, at times they are also the source of anxiety, worry, stress and self-doubt. Feelings that keep me stuck and drain me of precious time and energy. I realize that bumps in the road are inevitable side effects to growth and success. But, anxiety and stress can get the best of me, and I know this is the case for so many others. So how do I combat anxiety? Here are my eight tips for reducing stress, worry and anxiety: Continue reading. Originally posted on Mind,Body,Green. |
Please Note:All postings on the NEWS page are made purely for information and interest. I do not endorse or denounce any of them but find them all very interesting. I leave it up to you to decide if what you read will work for you. Archives
June 2023
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