TRANQUIL TUESDAYS

It's the last day of National Heart Month.  It's been  proven in scientific studies that depression and anxiety make the heart less healthy.  The reason is that they activate the  "fight or flight" part of your nervous system (a.k.a. sympathetic nervous system) which, when overly active, can overstimulate heart rhythm, speed and the force of the the heart's contractions.

Thoughts that are OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SOLUTIONS to life's challenges help you create a defense -  A MENTAL SELF DEFENSE - that INSPIRES  and  CALMS  the mind!

                CALM YOUR MIND AND STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART.

                                

Thoughtful Thursday

Our society has a way of teaching us that we’re never good enough, or smart enough, or successful enough, or –whatever enough to be accepted. 

Part of our job is to learn how to accept and love ourselves, not because we believe we’re perfect, because none of us are, but because we recognize that we have good qualities and the potential to do good things for people.

 One way to start is by making a list of your own good qualities and then write some evidence from your life, that supports the fact that you exhibit these good qualities. If you are unable to list anything take that as a sign that you need a partner to do it and get a close friend or a cognitive therapist to help you.

If you’re working with a friend, you can make a similar list for them. If you feel uncertain at all about the qualities on your own list, then you can try visualizing yourself in front of one or more persons (the more, the better) telling them what’s on your list and why. You can try to imagine your voice as you say each word to them in a very convincing tone and repeat your list and the evidence for it until all doubts have been erased.

Wellness Wednesday

For centuries, slow deep breathing has been practiced as a part of certain forms of meditation and as part of developing focused concentration and calmness. 

Multiple scientific studies have shown its benefits for people with hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, anxiety, and excessive stress. 

You can learn how to properly utilize slow deep breathing in Qigong classes, in many yoga meditation classes, and from select psychotherapists who specialize in breathwork.

Tranquil Tuesday

When you’re under a lot of stress, it’s easy to lose perspective and think that “Nothing is worse than what’s happening to me,” but I found a simple experiment helped me regain my perspective:

I asked myself which situation could I handle for a longer time period, bearing my stressful problem or holding my breath. I quickly found the lack of oxygen infinitely more difficult to handle. I couldn’t hold my breath for more than a minute, but I had been bearing with my stressful problems for days. This little experiment, as silly as it sounds, caused a shift in my thinking that made it easier to with my personal life stressors.

Motivational Monday

Feelings of gratitude have been found to increase feelings of happiness in scientific studies (Emmons and McCullough 2003).

Soulful Sunday

Know it or not, the world communes with us. To commune is to share and in every drop of water we drink, breath we take, or morsel of food we eat, the world communes with us. The need for communion; to be in contact with nature and to express and share thoughts and feelings with empathic people, can supply a kind of energy and inspiration that sustains you in the new week. 

Nature is as close as the nearest tree or bird or blade of grass, or the picture in your mind of peaceful nature in a park, field, or forest. If supportive friends or family are not available, empathic people are as close as the local crisis line, community center, ethical society, or religious center.

Satisfying Saturday

Ask yourself, “What can I do today that I can look back on years from now and feel real satisfaction that I helped someone else?  You may need to write or type a short list of ideas. If one that looks manageable in the time you have today, why not go ahead? 

If all your ideas look impossible, instead of making a NEGATIVE PREDICTION, try listing the individual things that need to be done to make your idea for helping someone else become a reality. Break them into smaller and smaller actions until they only take 5 or 10 minutes  each.  Now, do the first one! Tomorrow you can do the second one, and so on each day.  This is how the continuous dripping of a substance as insubstantial as water will wear down the hardest rock. As the great Bruce Lee said “Be like water my friend,” and achieve real satisfaction.

Friendly Friday

It’s Friday, you’ve made it through the week! Do you feel successful? 

Well, when you examine the facts you’ll see that you deserve to feel that way. Just remember that millions and millions of micro-cellular events had to occur successfully in order for you to be born! The truth is, you were already successful when you were born! So reassure yourself over and over. Use the power of your mind and remember - Repetition works….. Repetition works… Repetition works….Repetition works…..  Repetition works…..Repetition works……

Thoughtful Thursday

Does your mind know where you are? Behind on a deadline? Beside yourself? Over a barrel?  Unemployed? Underemployed? 

Is your mind asking questions like “What am I learning to make my life easier (or at least more bearable)? Is it coming up with answers or at least making a date with you for later that day to look for answers on the web, in libraries, and from people with more experience? 

Answers are out there. From Hi Tech: A wristwatch (google ‘personal management wristwatches’) that will download your schedule from your personal computer, display it on your watch, and help you manage your time with alarms, to Low Tech: Advice on innovative strategies for finding jobs by asking priests, ministers, or Rabbis, etc. There are more out there than you could ever use, so set your mind out after them!