I came across an interesting story by Coach Carol Soares on the Your Way Singles Network posing the question if weight matters are more of an issue to singles than to married persons?
I don’t believe I would discount it’s importance to a married person, but I can certainly understand that it might be perceived as an issue of greater urgency to a single; particularly if marriage or a long term relationship is in their future.
Like Coach Coarol, I agree that I think that a how one views their weight is a direct result of how they view themselves overall.
Categories: Health · Nutrition
What common human activity relaxes tense muscles; reduces blood pressure and heart rate; exercises the muscles of the face, diaphragm and abdomen; boosts the immune system; and causes the body to release pain-fighting hormones? The answer: laughter. Sound impressive? And, those are just the physical benefits. Laughter also helps you get some emotional distance from a distressing situation and see the humor in it.
Better Than a Massage
Researchers have shown that laughter increases relaxation. Muscle tension remains low for up to 45 minutes after a session of vigorous laughter. Real belly laughter can relax the muscles more than a vigorous massage. If you haven’t exercised your humor muscles lately, you may benefit from these tips on getting them in shape:
- Find things that make you laugh and do them. See a funny movie, read a funny book, memorize a joke and tell it to friends.
- The next time you’re in a distressing situation, mentally put yourself in the shoes of your favorite comedian. What would David Letterman have to say about it? Bart Simpson? Humor depends on being able to see the humor where others only see aggravation. It’s the difference between tragedy and comedy.
- Allow a feeling of playfulness to creep into your life. Let your mind be open to silly and uncensored thoughts. What if everyone came to work wearing Groucho Marx glasses and a fake mustache?
- Amuse yourself by indulging in humorous exaggeration. Stuck in traffic? Think of cobwebs forming between your car and the next; continental drift passing you by; snails overtaking you on the shoulder.
- Share cartoons, jokes and other funny material at work. Put cartoons up on the bulletin board. By helping others reduce stress, you make your own job easier. And people will just be more relaxed around you if they know you have a sense of humor.
- Get in the habit of laughing at life’s contradictions. You can bet your Groucho Marx glasses you’ll never run out of material.
- Finally, practice laughing at yourself. You just can’t help becoming more accepting of your own shortcomings, and that’s a sure-fire stress-buster.
Keep It Light
People will feel safe and comfortable around you if they know you can laugh–but not if you laugh at them. Humor that’s cruel or sarcastic breeds a negative attitude in both the humorist and the audience. Stay on the light side. Life is funny enough without resorting to vicious humor.
Rx for Laughter
The next time you’re looking for an easy way to relieve stress in your life, try a dose of laughter. You can get it without a prescription—from Drs. Groucho Marx, Robin Williams, and Jerry Seinfeld.
Categories: Emotions · Lifestyle
Sometimes it’s hard to learn to care for yourself as much as you care for others. And if you tend to view other people’s needs as more important than your own, it can be doubly hard. This exercise will help you identify some areas in which you might be shortchanging yourself.
On a piece of paper, list a few of the demands on your life that absolutely must be done. Include the needs and demands from your work, spouse, children, relatives, church, other organizations, etc. Now think about your own needs. Do you wish for any of the following?
- More free time
- Space to do work
- More time with spouse, kids, etc.
- Help with household chores
- Someone to talk to
- More help with the kids
Setting limits is a way of making sure you have time and energy to take care of yourself.
On your piece of paper, draw two circles or “pies”. The “pies” you draw represent your life. Divide the first pie to show how your life is divided today between your needs and those of others. How big of a piece are you getting?
Divide up the second pie to show how your time would be divided if you were taking better care of yourself. What limits can you set to guarantee that you’ll get your share of the pie? What are you willing to stop doing for others so that you can meet your needs? Write your thoughts down.
It takes practice to be firm about your limits. When you allow others to step over your limits, what’s the most common reason?
- I feel uncomfortable saying “no.”
- I’m afraid of losing someone or something (my friend, my job, my spouse, my children’s love).
- I feel guilty if I don’t.
- Their needs seem more important than mine at the time.
- Or is there some other reason?
When you allow time for your own needs, you’ll probably be surprised at how much more you accomplish all around.
Categories: Emotions · Health · Lifestyle
People can experience loneliness for many reasons, and many life events are associated with it. The lack of friendship relations during childhood and adolescence, or the physical absence of meaningful people around a person are causes for loneliness, depression, and involuntary celibacy. At the same time loneliness may be a symptom of another social or psychological problem (for example chronic depression) which should be analyzed. Keep reading →
Categories: Social · Stress
Food can be like a powerful drug. It can have a chemical affect on our body and alter our emotional state. To keep your mind clear and body in balance, eliminate foods high in refined sugar and unhealthy fats and replace with high quality nutritious food.
Categories: Nutrition
Cold showers have many benefits such as, improving circulation, better looking skin and healthier hair, and they can energize and invigorate you. The best way to take a cold shower is to start with lukewarm water and then reduce the water temperature slowly and spend the last few minutes of your shower in cool to cold water.
Categories: Health
To reduce stress and gain energy, simplify your life. Begin today to eliminate unnecessary activities and clutter that complicate your lifestyle and takes up your precious free time.
Categories: Lifestyle · Stress
Many people are having their energy depleted because they feel they should be doing something that they are not. Eliminate should from your vocabulary and replace it with goals and an action plan to create what you want.
Categories: Lifestyle · Stress
Research has shown that smell has a strong influence on our bodies and minds. Stimulating the olfactory nerves inside your nose will activate the limbic system of your brain, which is associated with mood and memory.
Categories: Balance · Emotions · Fitness
February 15, 2009 · 1 Comment
The average person drinks three cups a day: one in the morning to get them on their feet, another in the mid-morning or around lunch time, and the third cup later in the day.
Coffee drinking has become a habit, but is it a healthy one? The answer is: coffee can be quite useful sometimes, but we are advised to drink it with moderation. It stimulates our central nervous system. Thanks to caffeine, we stay alert in numerous trying circumstances, when we haven’t finished revising for an exam or a project at work is still incomplete. It is also used with medications, as it helps them be more effective.
Yet, we mustn’t turn drinking it into a longtime habit because its side effects are bound to literally ruin our health. There are some complications that may occur when too much caffeine is taken, among which we should mention: anxiety disorder, sleep disorders and even caffeine intoxication – cardiac arrhythmia, insomnia, increased blood pressure and rapid pulse. We might also feel our muscles twitch and – worst case scenario – become delusional.
These are serious problems that can occur when the body has got used to caffeine and the quantity we need in order to feel its effect is far too large. Caffeine is addictive and if we want to keep the addiction under control, we’d better reduce the quantity rather than eliminate it completely. A good way of reducing the quantity of caffeine (and not realize it) is making the coffee less strong and drink it with a little milk which ‘sweetens’ the effect it has upon our nervous system. A couple of cups of coffee a day are enough to enjoy the flavour and keep our health under control.
Categories: Fitness · Health · Nutrition
