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Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
5 Fab Father’s Day Gift Ideas
The boundless energy and the unconditional love father’s exhibit, compel every child to follow their footsteps in the hope of learning something new each time. While fathers seem like dominating characters at home, the fact is they are softest at heart. Their patience and perseverance make every little thing possible for the happiness of their children and their family. It’s sometimes perplexing and challenging to understand from where this energy and optimism comes from. We all can agree that this relation can’t be appreciated in one day. But, we can take time out to show our father what he really means to us. So, don’t fret. We’ve made the perfect father’s day gift guide for you this Father’s Day! Grooming Gift Set A set of essential skincare products like face wash, scrub, trimmer and hair serum is a perfect way to pamper UR dad. Social media is full of ideas on the perfect ensemble of products and how to use them. Before purchasing any products do consult UR family doctor. Fitness tracker It is fit for a father who is considerate of his health. UR dad can enjoy his workout sessions without breaking a sweat over the cost. In simple terms, this is a gift of health to UR dad, who works tirelessly, day-in and out. A Dose Of Nostalgia Revive his most cherished moments of the past. A collage of vintage photos of his childhood or arranging a conference call with friends should do the trick. Think of any such activities that you know for sure will make him smile. The old school way Build a fort, make a personalised family tree or play some self-invented games with UR father. Take him down the memory lane of his childhood and how he used to have fun without many screens around. Gift vouchers They are an ideal present to gift UR dad. If he really likes a particular store or brand. This way, no one has to bear a loss or compromise, he can utilise the gift card whenever he wants to And purchase an item of his liking.
How To Settle The Mind During A Crisis
At first only a few voices spoke of positive change after the COVID crisis ends, or at least becomes livable once again. Now one hears a chorus calling for change, much of it from younger people. The main message is about global cooperation and preparing better for the next pandemic. But I think people are pondering personal change, too. In the midst of widespread trepidation, what are the new goals that each of us might start pursuing right now? The first goal should be a settled mind. Fear is persuasive and panic easily goes viral. At the best of times most people turn their backs on worrisome problems rather than dealing with them directly. But unless you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you can settle your mind and go beyond fear. The first steps to gaining mastery over fear are open to everyone, as follows. • Sit down and candidly talk about your level of anxiety. Assemble the adults in your family, and perhaps older teenagers. Discuss your feelings in the context of getting past them. • Don’t dwell on anxious thoughts. When one arises, say to yourself, “This isn’t helping. Go away, I don’t need you.” Talking back to the voice in your head is actually effective. • Plan rationally for the situation you find yourself in. Problems can be divided into three categories: things you can fix, things you have to put up with, and things you should walk away from. Take each individual issue that faces you, and write down which category it falls into. Most people aggravate their worries through indecision. They vacillate between trying to fix something, putting up with it, and fantasizing about running away from it. Be clear in your reasoning; pick one strategy from the three, then stick to it. • Empathize with other people’s anxiety, but don’t make it a daily habit. Be helpful and reassuring. If this doesn’t work, you should tune out the most anxious complaints and focus on anything positive that emerges. • Be creative with your free time. Idle minds are fear’s playground. • Don’t obsess over the news. Limit your viewing time to short periods two or three times a day. This is a crisis unfolding in slow motion. You don’t have to keep up with it minute by minute. • Seek consoling and uplifting things to read and listen to. • Devote some time several times a day to sit quietly, close your eyes, and use deep, regular breathing to reach a settled state inside. If you are patient enough to practice regular meditation, do that. • Write down a vision of your future as you would like to live it after the crisis passes. Detail all the things you want to achieve and experience. • Foster hope in your immediate circle, but don’t make it up if you don’t actually feel hopeful. • Take time every day to do something that makes you smile and laugh. As you can see, none of these things are mysterious. They are available to everyone, and if you seriously undertake it, the project of defeating fear is more than doable. At a more inward level, you can also confront the misleading ideas that anxiety fosters, replacing them with positive ideas any time they recur. First, the false ideas that are typically born of fear: • If I worry, it shows I care. • I have to worry because others around me don’t seem to. • By worrying I am fending off the worst things that might happen. • Sometimes the things I worry about come true, which justifies all the times they do not come true. • Worrying doesn't hurt anybody, so why not worry? • The world is hard and life is difficult. It is only healthy to worry. • I know my worries make me feel bad, but that's the price I am willing to pay. • A lot of people worry, so I am not alone. At the very least I get a lot of reinforcement on the news and in social media. • If I worry now, it's a kind of insurance that will help me not be hurt in the future when bad stuff happens. • Worry shows my family that I love them. • If my anxiety touches others, they will want to help and take care of me without me having to ask. Habitual worriers will recognize these familiar thoughts, and all of us entertain some of them in anxious times. But each thought is the product of fear. Clear, positive thoughts should be put in place of them, as follows: • Despite my worries, I am safe and cared for. • Any problem is best dealt with when it actually occurs. • Planning for a bad eventuality should be done once, take very little time, and then left alone. • If you have coped in the past, you can trust yourself to cope now and tomorrow. • Worrying is pointless as a way to solve anything. It blocks the part of the mind that actually solves problems. • If you feel bad from anxiety, your hurt is self-inflicted, and getting out of the hurt involves taking responsibility for your own reactions. • The people around you do not like you better because you worry about them. They find it a nuisance but do not want to oppose you, so they adapt and put up with it. • Worrying drives others away. • Worrying blocks a healthy sense of self because it is basically an expression of insecurity. • Anxiety doesn't protect you from future hurt. It actually brings hurt into the here and now. • You are not your fears, but if you accept that you are, personal growth is blocked. You might even find it helpful to take these two lists and discuss each item with people close to you. The project of overcoming fear knows no specific time and place. In normal times we should be gaining control over fear to the extent we can. Now, however, the need to settle the mind is more urgent than ever. DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
Emotional Intelligence: Escaping The Matrix Of Fear
For many young people, the COVID virus outbreak will bring their first experience of fear and anxiety as a pervasive mood. As a society we are afraid of fear, and most of the time we can turn our backs on it. But this kind of denial is unworkable in a crisis. As bad news mounts daily and society becomes ever more anxious, countless people become enmeshed in the matrix of fear without knowing how to escape. Social forces can drive you to participate in the matrix of fear, but society cannot get you out of it. Escape is something each person must confront on their own. I believe that freeing yourself from fear and anxiety is possible. More than that, you can learn how to be free of fear long after the COVID crisis has passed. The key is to cultivate emotional intelligence. The term had a burst of attention some years ago, but the value of emotional intelligence never changes, and when you focus on it, you will achieve something worthwhile for life. Here are six principles to guide you through the process. Commit to never complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim. Imagine a creative, positive future for yourself. Don't regret the past. It no longer exists. Be present in every situation as it occurs. Be independent of other people's criticism or approval. Be responsive to feedback. It is fair to say that hardly anyone hits upon these principles by trial and error or through experience of life. A person can live a long time without paying attention to emotional intelligence, and among men, the word “emotion” too often connotes something undesirable, as if showing emotional sensitivity is a sign of weakness. But emotional intelligence is gender neutral. The fact that humans can observe their emotions is a remarkable trait, and once you begin to observe your own emotions, you can counter the power of an unwanted emotion like fear and anxiety. Whether we admit it or not, emotions fascinate us, as Hollywood well knows. Empathizing with emotions onscreen is easy and pleasurable, but we are too attached to our own emotions, and it takes very little experience of anxiety, humiliation, rejection, and failure to train us to avoid the mine field of emotions in general. So it’s worth saying that developing emotional intelligence isn’t scary or difficult. All you need to do is notice and pay attention. By pausing and standing back a little, you can observe how you are reacting at any given moment. You can even turn the six principles into questions posed to yourself. Am I complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim? Do I see my future in a creative, positive way? Am I pointlessly reliving the past? Do I see what’s going on right now? Am I afraid of someone else’s criticism or craving their approval? Am I listening to what other people are trying to tell me? These are not mysterious or metaphysical questions. We can pause to ask them any time we want, and we should. But we are blocked by old conditioning and the habit of feeling uneasy about our emotions. There is a great deal of social pressure to behave with very low emotional intelligence, a kind of dumbing down on the feeling level. As a result we act in self-defeating ways. To give a few examples, We repeat the same reactions in most situations. We imitate how others behave, starting with our family. We act on impulse without a second thought. We don’t really see how others are reacting to us. We let negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, and resentment have their way. We easily go into denial and seek outside distractions. A whole way of life is implied in these examples, and when collective fear mounts, as it is right now, people often have little or no idea how to escape. Denial and distraction simply become more intensified, and playing the victim is more tempting than usual. Alternatively, we tell ourselves that we need to stay in control more than ever. But what is needed isn’t emotional self-control but emotional resilience. Resilience is the most important single aspect of emotional intelligence. You allow your emotions to rise and fall naturally, without trying to stop or control them. Once an emotion has passed, you feel better, and you are able to return to a state of peace and calm. The opposite of emotional resilience is seen when people are stiff, reserved, bottled up inside, censorious, aloof, proud, or remote. In all of these cases past experience has made certain emotions unacceptable. The only way to deal with them is through avoidance. One is reminded of the adage that trees can be blown over by a storm while grasses bend without breaking. Because the mind by nature is restful, alert, quiet, and at peace, that state of balance is the basis for developing emotional intelligence. You need the experience of balance in order to return to it at will. The experience comes naturally to everyone unless it is thrown off by stress and crisis. Then it takes a bit of intervention on our part, through meditation preferably. Meditation no only returns the mind to its balanced state, but it also allows you to observe what is happening, to experience it directly, and to identify with the quiet state of mind. Ultimately, this is how fear can be escaped permanently. Meanwhile, everyone can benefit from lessening the anxiety being experienced all around us. Emotional intelligence goes a very long way to expanding your awareness and making you free of stress and anxiety right now.
How Does UR Brain Affect UR Weight
How Does UR Brain Affect UR Weight Managing optimal weight is a component of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This is because being obese and overweight are risk factors for several serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart attacks, high blood pressure, brain strokes among others. Overweight and obese people, therefore, need to lose weight to minimise the risk of acquiring these lifestyle diseases. Weight loss involves a healthy diet regimen coupled with regular exercises. And the brain plays an essential role in helping people to stick to these activities. This is because there are components by which the brain regulates diet control and eating. Role Of The Hypothalamus The hypothalamus is an endocrine gland positioned in the brain. It is deeply involved in regulating eating behaviour. It has 'satiety' and 'hunger' centres, which make us eat food when hungry and stop, when full. These deal with a variety of chemicals/hormones. Leptin It is also known as the 'hormone of energy expenditure’. It is abundantly made by adipose (fat) cells. It monitors energy balance by prohibiting hunger. Less hunger leads to less food consumption, which eventually means weight loss. Leptin expands its effects by acting on the hypothalamus (arcuate nucleus). Obese people have 'leptin resistance,' which means that hunger is not inhibited, despite the presence of higher levels of leptin, resulting in overeating. This is equal to 'insulin resistance' in diabetic patients. Ghrelin This one is also known as the 'hunger hormone.' Ghrelin acts on the hypothalamus to trigger hunger. Hence, the effect of ghrelin is quite the opposite of that of leptin. After eating, ghrelin levels decline to the lower levels. It rises again before the time of the next meal, to stimulate hunger. So it is always the balance between the levels of leptin and ghrelin that monitor eating behaviour. Cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide-1 are released when the food enters the small bowel. So these hormones make us feel full, and we eventually stop eating. Pleasure Centres In The Brain And Eating Behaviour Food is vital for survival; it is a pleasure linked with food that makes eating worthwhile. When we are happy, we eat more! The reverse is also true. When an individual has eaten to his/her heart's desire, there is happiness and satisfaction. Almost in every celebration or party, it involves a good spread of various food items. Happiness combined with eating food; as a result, food accelerated the same reward system of the brain that gets accelerated by other pleasurable activities such as games or watching a movie. The area tangled in a 'reward feeling' is the mesolimbic cortex of the brain and the effects are resolved by a neurotransmitter, dopamine. All types of food stimulate reward centres of the brain. However, the effects are more initiated with sweet items or high-calorie foods such as cakes, chocolates, sweets, aerated soft drinks, etc. This explains why some people crave for more sweets/cakes. The pleasurable sensation associated with eating desserts can force an individual to have them, despite being full. Over a period of time, eating can become an 'addiction' too, similar to smoking or alcohol addiction. A 'food-addicted' person eats purely to experience the pleasurable sensations associated with eating, rather than to satisfy hunger. This behaviour can result in obesity and overweight. Psychiatry and counselling consultation may help in these situations. Role Of Special Senses In Eating Behaviour When it comes to the exclusive and liking of food, plethora of factors play a role. These include the smell, look and taste of food. An aroma of food can be experienced from a distance, which increases the appetite and desire to eat. The taste of good food is vital, as it increases appetite. A dish nicely arranged and well served is very appealing Thus the sensations - sight, smell and taste of food are recognised and appreciated in specific brain centres. Hence, damages or disorders of neurons in these particular brain areas can affect eating behaviour of an individual.
Quick bites to whip up under 10 minutes
1. Know why and when you have hungry pangs Eating at night can be triggered by habit or boredom. It becomes a habit as we tend to use food as a tool to deal with our feelings like sorrow, anxiety, rage, or frustration. These feelings are symptoms of depression and sleeping difficulties, which can also lead to obesity and obesity-related issues. 2. Plan UR meals Planning UR meals and eating healthy snacks decreases UR cravings, avoids distractions and keeps your hunger at bay. 3. De-stress Anxiety and stress trigger us to binge eat as a solution to our negative emotions. Research states that relaxation techniques like breathing exercises, meditation, hot baths, yoga, or stretching can help you control these trigger points. 4. Eat regularly When hungry, we are likely to make bad food decisions and swallow high-fat, high-sugar junk foods. Eating regularly as per the suggestion of UR nutritionist manages your appetite. 5. Keep junk food away If you can't see it, you can't eat it! Replacing junk food with foods like fruits, berries, simple yoghurt and cottage cheese helps you stay healthy and promotes sleep. All-Time Favourite Midnight Snacks 1. Milk & whole-grain cereals (cornflakes, oatmeal or bran flakes) keep you full and induces sleep. Make sure that the whole-grain cereals are in their original form and not sugar coated or flavoured. 2. Apple or banana elevate mood with its natural content of sugar and keeps you satiated. 3. Almonds, walnuts and pistachios regulate the sleep/wake cycle of our body. Eating a handful of these nuts will put you right to sleep. 4. Turmeric milk or buttermilk are great substitutes for sugary drinks like cola and sugary drinks. Drinking a glass of turmeric milk or buttermilk helps you stay full and slashes the chances of midnight binges. Healthy Options For Sweet Cravings Homemade banana ice cream Orange carrot cupcake Healthy Options For Savoury Cravings Upma Phool Makhana Mix
How To Preserve Fruits, Veggies, Grains & Pulses During Monsoon
Monsoon is one of the best seasons of the year, especially in India. The Earth is in full effect, lush and green, making the monsoon season even more charming, fun and enjoyable. While the country enjoys the weather during COVID-19 with precaution, we should also be a bit mindful about what we eat and how we store our food during monsoon! Every monsoon brings the possibilities of food getting spoilt or contaminated quite easily. This is only because of the weather and temperature fluctuating from being hot or humid, which can fasten the growth in disease-causing microorganisms. However, with proper preservation and storage techniques, you can keep your food items fresh for long. Where Should You Start? The kitchen especially should be kept hygienic to avoid any chances of microbial contamination during the process of food preparation. Cooked food items should always be kept covered and away from raw food items where they are most likely to be contaminated with microorganisms. Best Way To Preserve Different Food Items Baked products such as cakes, pastries and other confectionery items are easily susceptible to spoilage by moulds. So, make sure not to keep these food items exposed to the moist air for long periods. Keep these in airtight containers and consume as soon as they are out of their sealed ait-tight containers. Dairy products are vulnerable to contamination and spoilage by microorganisms in hot and humid weather. All dairy products should be appropriately pasteurized. So, keep cheese refrigerated always. Vegetables and fruits You can wash and wrap them in cloth mesh bags to maintain their freshness or freeze them in airtight containers for later-use. Fruits should always be stored in refrigerators. Do not keep cut fruits, even in the fridge; consume fruits as soon as they are cut. Similarly, fruit juices should also be consumed fresh and not stored for later consumption. In the refrigerator, the cooked food should be kept on the upper shelves while raw food should be kept on the lower shelves. Grains and pulses Should always be kept away from moisture as much as possible. Store these items in airtight containers to increase their shelf life. Another way is to dry roast grains and pulses or maybe microwave them for 2-3 minutes before storing. However, put them in containers only after they have cooled down. Pulses that can be sprouted like kidney beans, chickpeas, and Kabuli chana should be stored in the refrigerator. Addition of little boric powder keeps the pulses dry. However, wash them thoroughly before each use to remove all traces of boric powder. Spices should be stored in the refrigerator placed in airtight containers. Bay leaves can be added to whole spices like cardamom, black pepper, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Salt and sugar - To keep salt dry, put a few grains of rice in its container as these will absorb any excess moisture. To prevent sugar from becoming lumpy, add some cloves in the box. By just being a little careful in storing food correctly, we can prevent food from being wasted this monsoon season.
Revealed: Health Secrets Of Living Water & Hydrogen
Revealed: Health Secrets Of Living Water & Hydrogen Joshua J. Holland, Co-Founder SystimFit (Dedicated Biohacker, Celebrity Fitness Trainer, Holistic Health Coach & Sports Professional) & Tessa Cash, NYC-based creative writer - www.tessacash.com The concept of living water has been present in human consciousness for many years. It is the energising life force that creates a generative and fecund environment for the cultivation of life on earth; essentially one of Mother Nature’s best creations! However, the extent to which water sustains life is dependent on the quantity and quality of ‘life’ in the water. Today, the water on our planet is ill-treated to the point of detriment, thus resulting in the absence of ‘life’ present within it. The damage endured strips the water of its natural ability to optimally support living beings. Our most pressing environmental priority is ensuring that the quality of ‘life’ in our water sources remains intact. ‘Dancing with Water: The New Science of Water’ is an investigation into water’s liquid crystalline phase, a state in which water molecules create a repeating geometric pattern similar to the molecular organization that occurs in the construction of a solid quartz crystal. Although the molecules remain mobile, they appear to move together as a coherent ‘whole.’ This specific arrangement of molecules is referred to as full-spectrum living water. Full-spectrum living water is created and maintained via a series of elements that cultivate life-supporting frequencies – water that supports life at its fullest capacity. These include movement or turbulence, a gentle, structural energetic force, mineral ions, a period of stillness which provides the water with the opportunity to organise itself and lastly a frequency based input, most important of which is the resonance of the Earth. According to Dr. Gerald Pollack, professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, “liquid crystalline phase of water is intimately connected with the generation of life.” Much of the water in a healthy human body is in a liquid crystalline/structured state, which creates a solid platform for the instantaneous transfer of signals and other biological information. Healthy DNA is surrounded by structured water. As water loses its crystalline formation (a byproduct of age and disease), the integrity of the DNA is often compromised. I make a very concerted effort to ensure the water I consume is well and truly alive. QLife.com, along with WaterandWellness.com both, sites have solid information as to how to reinstate the liquid crystalline molecular phase into your water source, thus recreating full-spectrum living water. If you live in an area around the world where there is a plentiful source of naturally flowing spring water, then you’re at an advantageous optimum in terms of the quality of your water! However, as many of us dwell in inner city areas, access to this precious resource is cut off. Not to worry, this is where biohacking comes in very handy! A culmination of science and experimentation plus a few handy tools purchasable on these fabulous websites make it possible to recreate the state of naturally occurring living water. As stated by Albert Szent-Györgyi, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, hydrogen, rather than oxygen, is the fuel of life. When hydrogen is infused with oxygen, water is formed. Hydrogen is plentiful in the universe and is created on a daily basis by our body. It is the most fundamental antioxidant, as it is the smallest of the chemical elements and thus reaches every organ and every cell of the body. Hydrogen inhalation or ingesting molecular hydrogen assists the cells that make up our bodies fight oxidative stress as hydrogen has abundant antioxidant powers. From a therapeutic standpoint it also helps reduce inflammation, combats allergic reactions, prevents cell death, aids digestion, restores and repairs the nervous system and boosts energy metabolism. Studies indicate that molecular hydrogen supplementation infused with water to create hydrogen-rich water enhances performance in sports, leads to better recovery and across the board wellness. Drinking hydrogen-rich water prior to exercise helps to reduce blood lactate levels and aids and abets muscle function which can decrease during exercise. There are numerous methods in which to incorporate hydrogen into your daily wellness routine. Choosing one will depend on your lifestyle and preferences. Hydrogen inhalation devices produce regulated amounts of hydrogen gas, which saturates arterial blood, enters cell membranes and easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, providing benefits at the sub-cellular level. They can be used for up to an hour a day. These devices are costly but of course only require a one time, long-term investment purchase. Hydrogen can also be consumed via molecular hydrogen tablets which are handy if you happen to travel a lot and serve as more cost effective in the short-term. Delivery via inhalation is the most systemic as absorption through the nasal and sinus cavities travel straight to the lungs and bypasses the digestive system. However, oral consumption via tablets can improve digestion and clear up ailments within the digestive tract so each system has its benefits and contribution! There is a company that makes hydrogen bath tablets so you can pop these into a foot bath or bath tub apparatus and soak up the fantastic anti-inflammatory, soft tissue soothing, skin rehabilitating wonders. Incorporating all three absorption methods is what I would call a trifecta, as you'd be effectively be covering all bases! I personally like to use a combination of all methods to fulfill my daily molecular hydrogen intake. I have access to an inhaler device so I use it in conjunction with taking two tablets to reestablish the quality of life within the water in my body! It's also great to consume it orally, so it really helps with digestion and sort of anything that is needed internally. From a cost effective point of view, in comparisons to water filters and other purifying devices, molecular hydrogen is relatively inexpensive and has an array of added benefits that complement the prolific capabilities of living water. From my standpoint, any product that enriches your health is definitely worth the investment.
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Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
5 Fab Father’s Day Gift Ideas
The boundless energy and the unconditional love father’s exhibit, compel every child to follow their footsteps in the hope of learning something new each time. While fathers seem like dominating characters at home, the fact is they are softest at heart. Their patience and perseverance make every little thing possible for the happiness of their children and their family. It’s sometimes perplexing and challenging to understand from where this energy and optimism comes from. We all can agree that this relation can’t be appreciated in one day. But, we can take time out to show our father what he really means to us. So, don’t fret. We’ve made the perfect father’s day gift guide for you this Father’s Day! Grooming Gift Set A set of essential skincare products like face wash, scrub, trimmer and hair serum is a perfect way to pamper UR dad. Social media is full of ideas on the perfect ensemble of products and how to use them. Before purchasing any products do consult UR family doctor. Fitness tracker It is fit for a father who is considerate of his health. UR dad can enjoy his workout sessions without breaking a sweat over the cost. In simple terms, this is a gift of health to UR dad, who works tirelessly, day-in and out. A Dose Of Nostalgia Revive his most cherished moments of the past. A collage of vintage photos of his childhood or arranging a conference call with friends should do the trick. Think of any such activities that you know for sure will make him smile. The old school way Build a fort, make a personalised family tree or play some self-invented games with UR father. Take him down the memory lane of his childhood and how he used to have fun without many screens around. Gift vouchers They are an ideal present to gift UR dad. If he really likes a particular store or brand. This way, no one has to bear a loss or compromise, he can utilise the gift card whenever he wants to And purchase an item of his liking.
How To Settle The Mind During A Crisis
At first only a few voices spoke of positive change after the COVID crisis ends, or at least becomes livable once again. Now one hears a chorus calling for change, much of it from younger people. The main message is about global cooperation and preparing better for the next pandemic. But I think people are pondering personal change, too. In the midst of widespread trepidation, what are the new goals that each of us might start pursuing right now? The first goal should be a settled mind. Fear is persuasive and panic easily goes viral. At the best of times most people turn their backs on worrisome problems rather than dealing with them directly. But unless you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you can settle your mind and go beyond fear. The first steps to gaining mastery over fear are open to everyone, as follows. • Sit down and candidly talk about your level of anxiety. Assemble the adults in your family, and perhaps older teenagers. Discuss your feelings in the context of getting past them. • Don’t dwell on anxious thoughts. When one arises, say to yourself, “This isn’t helping. Go away, I don’t need you.” Talking back to the voice in your head is actually effective. • Plan rationally for the situation you find yourself in. Problems can be divided into three categories: things you can fix, things you have to put up with, and things you should walk away from. Take each individual issue that faces you, and write down which category it falls into. Most people aggravate their worries through indecision. They vacillate between trying to fix something, putting up with it, and fantasizing about running away from it. Be clear in your reasoning; pick one strategy from the three, then stick to it. • Empathize with other people’s anxiety, but don’t make it a daily habit. Be helpful and reassuring. If this doesn’t work, you should tune out the most anxious complaints and focus on anything positive that emerges. • Be creative with your free time. Idle minds are fear’s playground. • Don’t obsess over the news. Limit your viewing time to short periods two or three times a day. This is a crisis unfolding in slow motion. You don’t have to keep up with it minute by minute. • Seek consoling and uplifting things to read and listen to. • Devote some time several times a day to sit quietly, close your eyes, and use deep, regular breathing to reach a settled state inside. If you are patient enough to practice regular meditation, do that. • Write down a vision of your future as you would like to live it after the crisis passes. Detail all the things you want to achieve and experience. • Foster hope in your immediate circle, but don’t make it up if you don’t actually feel hopeful. • Take time every day to do something that makes you smile and laugh. As you can see, none of these things are mysterious. They are available to everyone, and if you seriously undertake it, the project of defeating fear is more than doable. At a more inward level, you can also confront the misleading ideas that anxiety fosters, replacing them with positive ideas any time they recur. First, the false ideas that are typically born of fear: • If I worry, it shows I care. • I have to worry because others around me don’t seem to. • By worrying I am fending off the worst things that might happen. • Sometimes the things I worry about come true, which justifies all the times they do not come true. • Worrying doesn't hurt anybody, so why not worry? • The world is hard and life is difficult. It is only healthy to worry. • I know my worries make me feel bad, but that's the price I am willing to pay. • A lot of people worry, so I am not alone. At the very least I get a lot of reinforcement on the news and in social media. • If I worry now, it's a kind of insurance that will help me not be hurt in the future when bad stuff happens. • Worry shows my family that I love them. • If my anxiety touches others, they will want to help and take care of me without me having to ask. Habitual worriers will recognize these familiar thoughts, and all of us entertain some of them in anxious times. But each thought is the product of fear. Clear, positive thoughts should be put in place of them, as follows: • Despite my worries, I am safe and cared for. • Any problem is best dealt with when it actually occurs. • Planning for a bad eventuality should be done once, take very little time, and then left alone. • If you have coped in the past, you can trust yourself to cope now and tomorrow. • Worrying is pointless as a way to solve anything. It blocks the part of the mind that actually solves problems. • If you feel bad from anxiety, your hurt is self-inflicted, and getting out of the hurt involves taking responsibility for your own reactions. • The people around you do not like you better because you worry about them. They find it a nuisance but do not want to oppose you, so they adapt and put up with it. • Worrying drives others away. • Worrying blocks a healthy sense of self because it is basically an expression of insecurity. • Anxiety doesn't protect you from future hurt. It actually brings hurt into the here and now. • You are not your fears, but if you accept that you are, personal growth is blocked. You might even find it helpful to take these two lists and discuss each item with people close to you. The project of overcoming fear knows no specific time and place. In normal times we should be gaining control over fear to the extent we can. Now, however, the need to settle the mind is more urgent than ever. DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
Emotional Intelligence: Escaping The Matrix Of Fear
For many young people, the COVID virus outbreak will bring their first experience of fear and anxiety as a pervasive mood. As a society we are afraid of fear, and most of the time we can turn our backs on it. But this kind of denial is unworkable in a crisis. As bad news mounts daily and society becomes ever more anxious, countless people become enmeshed in the matrix of fear without knowing how to escape. Social forces can drive you to participate in the matrix of fear, but society cannot get you out of it. Escape is something each person must confront on their own. I believe that freeing yourself from fear and anxiety is possible. More than that, you can learn how to be free of fear long after the COVID crisis has passed. The key is to cultivate emotional intelligence. The term had a burst of attention some years ago, but the value of emotional intelligence never changes, and when you focus on it, you will achieve something worthwhile for life. Here are six principles to guide you through the process. Commit to never complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim. Imagine a creative, positive future for yourself. Don't regret the past. It no longer exists. Be present in every situation as it occurs. Be independent of other people's criticism or approval. Be responsive to feedback. It is fair to say that hardly anyone hits upon these principles by trial and error or through experience of life. A person can live a long time without paying attention to emotional intelligence, and among men, the word “emotion” too often connotes something undesirable, as if showing emotional sensitivity is a sign of weakness. But emotional intelligence is gender neutral. The fact that humans can observe their emotions is a remarkable trait, and once you begin to observe your own emotions, you can counter the power of an unwanted emotion like fear and anxiety. Whether we admit it or not, emotions fascinate us, as Hollywood well knows. Empathizing with emotions onscreen is easy and pleasurable, but we are too attached to our own emotions, and it takes very little experience of anxiety, humiliation, rejection, and failure to train us to avoid the mine field of emotions in general. So it’s worth saying that developing emotional intelligence isn’t scary or difficult. All you need to do is notice and pay attention. By pausing and standing back a little, you can observe how you are reacting at any given moment. You can even turn the six principles into questions posed to yourself. Am I complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim? Do I see my future in a creative, positive way? Am I pointlessly reliving the past? Do I see what’s going on right now? Am I afraid of someone else’s criticism or craving their approval? Am I listening to what other people are trying to tell me? These are not mysterious or metaphysical questions. We can pause to ask them any time we want, and we should. But we are blocked by old conditioning and the habit of feeling uneasy about our emotions. There is a great deal of social pressure to behave with very low emotional intelligence, a kind of dumbing down on the feeling level. As a result we act in self-defeating ways. To give a few examples, We repeat the same reactions in most situations. We imitate how others behave, starting with our family. We act on impulse without a second thought. We don’t really see how others are reacting to us. We let negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, and resentment have their way. We easily go into denial and seek outside distractions. A whole way of life is implied in these examples, and when collective fear mounts, as it is right now, people often have little or no idea how to escape. Denial and distraction simply become more intensified, and playing the victim is more tempting than usual. Alternatively, we tell ourselves that we need to stay in control more than ever. But what is needed isn’t emotional self-control but emotional resilience. Resilience is the most important single aspect of emotional intelligence. You allow your emotions to rise and fall naturally, without trying to stop or control them. Once an emotion has passed, you feel better, and you are able to return to a state of peace and calm. The opposite of emotional resilience is seen when people are stiff, reserved, bottled up inside, censorious, aloof, proud, or remote. In all of these cases past experience has made certain emotions unacceptable. The only way to deal with them is through avoidance. One is reminded of the adage that trees can be blown over by a storm while grasses bend without breaking. Because the mind by nature is restful, alert, quiet, and at peace, that state of balance is the basis for developing emotional intelligence. You need the experience of balance in order to return to it at will. The experience comes naturally to everyone unless it is thrown off by stress and crisis. Then it takes a bit of intervention on our part, through meditation preferably. Meditation no only returns the mind to its balanced state, but it also allows you to observe what is happening, to experience it directly, and to identify with the quiet state of mind. Ultimately, this is how fear can be escaped permanently. Meanwhile, everyone can benefit from lessening the anxiety being experienced all around us. Emotional intelligence goes a very long way to expanding your awareness and making you free of stress and anxiety right now.
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Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
5 Fab Father’s Day Gift Ideas
The boundless energy and the unconditional love father’s exhibit, compel every child to follow their footsteps in the hope of learning something new each time. While fathers seem like dominating characters at home, the fact is they are softest at heart. Their patience and perseverance make every little thing possible for the happiness of their children and their family. It’s sometimes perplexing and challenging to understand from where this energy and optimism comes from. We all can agree that this relation can’t be appreciated in one day. But, we can take time out to show our father what he really means to us. So, don’t fret. We’ve made the perfect father’s day gift guide for you this Father’s Day! Grooming Gift Set A set of essential skincare products like face wash, scrub, trimmer and hair serum is a perfect way to pamper UR dad. Social media is full of ideas on the perfect ensemble of products and how to use them. Before purchasing any products do consult UR family doctor. Fitness tracker It is fit for a father who is considerate of his health. UR dad can enjoy his workout sessions without breaking a sweat over the cost. In simple terms, this is a gift of health to UR dad, who works tirelessly, day-in and out. A Dose Of Nostalgia Revive his most cherished moments of the past. A collage of vintage photos of his childhood or arranging a conference call with friends should do the trick. Think of any such activities that you know for sure will make him smile. The old school way Build a fort, make a personalised family tree or play some self-invented games with UR father. Take him down the memory lane of his childhood and how he used to have fun without many screens around. Gift vouchers They are an ideal present to gift UR dad. If he really likes a particular store or brand. This way, no one has to bear a loss or compromise, he can utilise the gift card whenever he wants to And purchase an item of his liking.
How To Settle The Mind During A Crisis
At first only a few voices spoke of positive change after the COVID crisis ends, or at least becomes livable once again. Now one hears a chorus calling for change, much of it from younger people. The main message is about global cooperation and preparing better for the next pandemic. But I think people are pondering personal change, too. In the midst of widespread trepidation, what are the new goals that each of us might start pursuing right now? The first goal should be a settled mind. Fear is persuasive and panic easily goes viral. At the best of times most people turn their backs on worrisome problems rather than dealing with them directly. But unless you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you can settle your mind and go beyond fear. The first steps to gaining mastery over fear are open to everyone, as follows. • Sit down and candidly talk about your level of anxiety. Assemble the adults in your family, and perhaps older teenagers. Discuss your feelings in the context of getting past them. • Don’t dwell on anxious thoughts. When one arises, say to yourself, “This isn’t helping. Go away, I don’t need you.” Talking back to the voice in your head is actually effective. • Plan rationally for the situation you find yourself in. Problems can be divided into three categories: things you can fix, things you have to put up with, and things you should walk away from. Take each individual issue that faces you, and write down which category it falls into. Most people aggravate their worries through indecision. They vacillate between trying to fix something, putting up with it, and fantasizing about running away from it. Be clear in your reasoning; pick one strategy from the three, then stick to it. • Empathize with other people’s anxiety, but don’t make it a daily habit. Be helpful and reassuring. If this doesn’t work, you should tune out the most anxious complaints and focus on anything positive that emerges. • Be creative with your free time. Idle minds are fear’s playground. • Don’t obsess over the news. Limit your viewing time to short periods two or three times a day. This is a crisis unfolding in slow motion. You don’t have to keep up with it minute by minute. • Seek consoling and uplifting things to read and listen to. • Devote some time several times a day to sit quietly, close your eyes, and use deep, regular breathing to reach a settled state inside. If you are patient enough to practice regular meditation, do that. • Write down a vision of your future as you would like to live it after the crisis passes. Detail all the things you want to achieve and experience. • Foster hope in your immediate circle, but don’t make it up if you don’t actually feel hopeful. • Take time every day to do something that makes you smile and laugh. As you can see, none of these things are mysterious. They are available to everyone, and if you seriously undertake it, the project of defeating fear is more than doable. At a more inward level, you can also confront the misleading ideas that anxiety fosters, replacing them with positive ideas any time they recur. First, the false ideas that are typically born of fear: • If I worry, it shows I care. • I have to worry because others around me don’t seem to. • By worrying I am fending off the worst things that might happen. • Sometimes the things I worry about come true, which justifies all the times they do not come true. • Worrying doesn't hurt anybody, so why not worry? • The world is hard and life is difficult. It is only healthy to worry. • I know my worries make me feel bad, but that's the price I am willing to pay. • A lot of people worry, so I am not alone. At the very least I get a lot of reinforcement on the news and in social media. • If I worry now, it's a kind of insurance that will help me not be hurt in the future when bad stuff happens. • Worry shows my family that I love them. • If my anxiety touches others, they will want to help and take care of me without me having to ask. Habitual worriers will recognize these familiar thoughts, and all of us entertain some of them in anxious times. But each thought is the product of fear. Clear, positive thoughts should be put in place of them, as follows: • Despite my worries, I am safe and cared for. • Any problem is best dealt with when it actually occurs. • Planning for a bad eventuality should be done once, take very little time, and then left alone. • If you have coped in the past, you can trust yourself to cope now and tomorrow. • Worrying is pointless as a way to solve anything. It blocks the part of the mind that actually solves problems. • If you feel bad from anxiety, your hurt is self-inflicted, and getting out of the hurt involves taking responsibility for your own reactions. • The people around you do not like you better because you worry about them. They find it a nuisance but do not want to oppose you, so they adapt and put up with it. • Worrying drives others away. • Worrying blocks a healthy sense of self because it is basically an expression of insecurity. • Anxiety doesn't protect you from future hurt. It actually brings hurt into the here and now. • You are not your fears, but if you accept that you are, personal growth is blocked. You might even find it helpful to take these two lists and discuss each item with people close to you. The project of overcoming fear knows no specific time and place. In normal times we should be gaining control over fear to the extent we can. Now, however, the need to settle the mind is more urgent than ever. DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
Emotional Intelligence: Escaping The Matrix Of Fear
For many young people, the COVID virus outbreak will bring their first experience of fear and anxiety as a pervasive mood. As a society we are afraid of fear, and most of the time we can turn our backs on it. But this kind of denial is unworkable in a crisis. As bad news mounts daily and society becomes ever more anxious, countless people become enmeshed in the matrix of fear without knowing how to escape. Social forces can drive you to participate in the matrix of fear, but society cannot get you out of it. Escape is something each person must confront on their own. I believe that freeing yourself from fear and anxiety is possible. More than that, you can learn how to be free of fear long after the COVID crisis has passed. The key is to cultivate emotional intelligence. The term had a burst of attention some years ago, but the value of emotional intelligence never changes, and when you focus on it, you will achieve something worthwhile for life. Here are six principles to guide you through the process. Commit to never complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim. Imagine a creative, positive future for yourself. Don't regret the past. It no longer exists. Be present in every situation as it occurs. Be independent of other people's criticism or approval. Be responsive to feedback. It is fair to say that hardly anyone hits upon these principles by trial and error or through experience of life. A person can live a long time without paying attention to emotional intelligence, and among men, the word “emotion” too often connotes something undesirable, as if showing emotional sensitivity is a sign of weakness. But emotional intelligence is gender neutral. The fact that humans can observe their emotions is a remarkable trait, and once you begin to observe your own emotions, you can counter the power of an unwanted emotion like fear and anxiety. Whether we admit it or not, emotions fascinate us, as Hollywood well knows. Empathizing with emotions onscreen is easy and pleasurable, but we are too attached to our own emotions, and it takes very little experience of anxiety, humiliation, rejection, and failure to train us to avoid the mine field of emotions in general. So it’s worth saying that developing emotional intelligence isn’t scary or difficult. All you need to do is notice and pay attention. By pausing and standing back a little, you can observe how you are reacting at any given moment. You can even turn the six principles into questions posed to yourself. Am I complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim? Do I see my future in a creative, positive way? Am I pointlessly reliving the past? Do I see what’s going on right now? Am I afraid of someone else’s criticism or craving their approval? Am I listening to what other people are trying to tell me? These are not mysterious or metaphysical questions. We can pause to ask them any time we want, and we should. But we are blocked by old conditioning and the habit of feeling uneasy about our emotions. There is a great deal of social pressure to behave with very low emotional intelligence, a kind of dumbing down on the feeling level. As a result we act in self-defeating ways. To give a few examples, We repeat the same reactions in most situations. We imitate how others behave, starting with our family. We act on impulse without a second thought. We don’t really see how others are reacting to us. We let negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, and resentment have their way. We easily go into denial and seek outside distractions. A whole way of life is implied in these examples, and when collective fear mounts, as it is right now, people often have little or no idea how to escape. Denial and distraction simply become more intensified, and playing the victim is more tempting than usual. Alternatively, we tell ourselves that we need to stay in control more than ever. But what is needed isn’t emotional self-control but emotional resilience. Resilience is the most important single aspect of emotional intelligence. You allow your emotions to rise and fall naturally, without trying to stop or control them. Once an emotion has passed, you feel better, and you are able to return to a state of peace and calm. The opposite of emotional resilience is seen when people are stiff, reserved, bottled up inside, censorious, aloof, proud, or remote. In all of these cases past experience has made certain emotions unacceptable. The only way to deal with them is through avoidance. One is reminded of the adage that trees can be blown over by a storm while grasses bend without breaking. Because the mind by nature is restful, alert, quiet, and at peace, that state of balance is the basis for developing emotional intelligence. You need the experience of balance in order to return to it at will. The experience comes naturally to everyone unless it is thrown off by stress and crisis. Then it takes a bit of intervention on our part, through meditation preferably. Meditation no only returns the mind to its balanced state, but it also allows you to observe what is happening, to experience it directly, and to identify with the quiet state of mind. Ultimately, this is how fear can be escaped permanently. Meanwhile, everyone can benefit from lessening the anxiety being experienced all around us. Emotional intelligence goes a very long way to expanding your awareness and making you free of stress and anxiety right now.
How Does UR Brain Affect UR Weight
How Does UR Brain Affect UR Weight Managing optimal weight is a component of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This is because being obese and overweight are risk factors for several serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart attacks, high blood pressure, brain strokes among others. Overweight and obese people, therefore, need to lose weight to minimise the risk of acquiring these lifestyle diseases. Weight loss involves a healthy diet regimen coupled with regular exercises. And the brain plays an essential role in helping people to stick to these activities. This is because there are components by which the brain regulates diet control and eating. Role Of The Hypothalamus The hypothalamus is an endocrine gland positioned in the brain. It is deeply involved in regulating eating behaviour. It has 'satiety' and 'hunger' centres, which make us eat food when hungry and stop, when full. These deal with a variety of chemicals/hormones. Leptin It is also known as the 'hormone of energy expenditure’. It is abundantly made by adipose (fat) cells. It monitors energy balance by prohibiting hunger. Less hunger leads to less food consumption, which eventually means weight loss. Leptin expands its effects by acting on the hypothalamus (arcuate nucleus). Obese people have 'leptin resistance,' which means that hunger is not inhibited, despite the presence of higher levels of leptin, resulting in overeating. This is equal to 'insulin resistance' in diabetic patients. Ghrelin This one is also known as the 'hunger hormone.' Ghrelin acts on the hypothalamus to trigger hunger. Hence, the effect of ghrelin is quite the opposite of that of leptin. After eating, ghrelin levels decline to the lower levels. It rises again before the time of the next meal, to stimulate hunger. So it is always the balance between the levels of leptin and ghrelin that monitor eating behaviour. Cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide-1 are released when the food enters the small bowel. So these hormones make us feel full, and we eventually stop eating. Pleasure Centres In The Brain And Eating Behaviour Food is vital for survival; it is a pleasure linked with food that makes eating worthwhile. When we are happy, we eat more! The reverse is also true. When an individual has eaten to his/her heart's desire, there is happiness and satisfaction. Almost in every celebration or party, it involves a good spread of various food items. Happiness combined with eating food; as a result, food accelerated the same reward system of the brain that gets accelerated by other pleasurable activities such as games or watching a movie. The area tangled in a 'reward feeling' is the mesolimbic cortex of the brain and the effects are resolved by a neurotransmitter, dopamine. All types of food stimulate reward centres of the brain. However, the effects are more initiated with sweet items or high-calorie foods such as cakes, chocolates, sweets, aerated soft drinks, etc. This explains why some people crave for more sweets/cakes. The pleasurable sensation associated with eating desserts can force an individual to have them, despite being full. Over a period of time, eating can become an 'addiction' too, similar to smoking or alcohol addiction. A 'food-addicted' person eats purely to experience the pleasurable sensations associated with eating, rather than to satisfy hunger. This behaviour can result in obesity and overweight. Psychiatry and counselling consultation may help in these situations. Role Of Special Senses In Eating Behaviour When it comes to the exclusive and liking of food, plethora of factors play a role. These include the smell, look and taste of food. An aroma of food can be experienced from a distance, which increases the appetite and desire to eat. The taste of good food is vital, as it increases appetite. A dish nicely arranged and well served is very appealing Thus the sensations - sight, smell and taste of food are recognised and appreciated in specific brain centres. Hence, damages or disorders of neurons in these particular brain areas can affect eating behaviour of an individual.
Quick bites to whip up under 10 minutes
1. Know why and when you have hungry pangs Eating at night can be triggered by habit or boredom. It becomes a habit as we tend to use food as a tool to deal with our feelings like sorrow, anxiety, rage, or frustration. These feelings are symptoms of depression and sleeping difficulties, which can also lead to obesity and obesity-related issues. 2. Plan UR meals Planning UR meals and eating healthy snacks decreases UR cravings, avoids distractions and keeps your hunger at bay. 3. De-stress Anxiety and stress trigger us to binge eat as a solution to our negative emotions. Research states that relaxation techniques like breathing exercises, meditation, hot baths, yoga, or stretching can help you control these trigger points. 4. Eat regularly When hungry, we are likely to make bad food decisions and swallow high-fat, high-sugar junk foods. Eating regularly as per the suggestion of UR nutritionist manages your appetite. 5. Keep junk food away If you can't see it, you can't eat it! Replacing junk food with foods like fruits, berries, simple yoghurt and cottage cheese helps you stay healthy and promotes sleep. All-Time Favourite Midnight Snacks 1. Milk & whole-grain cereals (cornflakes, oatmeal or bran flakes) keep you full and induces sleep. Make sure that the whole-grain cereals are in their original form and not sugar coated or flavoured. 2. Apple or banana elevate mood with its natural content of sugar and keeps you satiated. 3. Almonds, walnuts and pistachios regulate the sleep/wake cycle of our body. Eating a handful of these nuts will put you right to sleep. 4. Turmeric milk or buttermilk are great substitutes for sugary drinks like cola and sugary drinks. Drinking a glass of turmeric milk or buttermilk helps you stay full and slashes the chances of midnight binges. Healthy Options For Sweet Cravings Homemade banana ice cream Orange carrot cupcake Healthy Options For Savoury Cravings Upma Phool Makhana Mix
How To Preserve Fruits, Veggies, Grains & Pulses During Monsoon
Monsoon is one of the best seasons of the year, especially in India. The Earth is in full effect, lush and green, making the monsoon season even more charming, fun and enjoyable. While the country enjoys the weather during COVID-19 with precaution, we should also be a bit mindful about what we eat and how we store our food during monsoon! Every monsoon brings the possibilities of food getting spoilt or contaminated quite easily. This is only because of the weather and temperature fluctuating from being hot or humid, which can fasten the growth in disease-causing microorganisms. However, with proper preservation and storage techniques, you can keep your food items fresh for long. Where Should You Start? The kitchen especially should be kept hygienic to avoid any chances of microbial contamination during the process of food preparation. Cooked food items should always be kept covered and away from raw food items where they are most likely to be contaminated with microorganisms. Best Way To Preserve Different Food Items Baked products such as cakes, pastries and other confectionery items are easily susceptible to spoilage by moulds. So, make sure not to keep these food items exposed to the moist air for long periods. Keep these in airtight containers and consume as soon as they are out of their sealed ait-tight containers. Dairy products are vulnerable to contamination and spoilage by microorganisms in hot and humid weather. All dairy products should be appropriately pasteurized. So, keep cheese refrigerated always. Vegetables and fruits You can wash and wrap them in cloth mesh bags to maintain their freshness or freeze them in airtight containers for later-use. Fruits should always be stored in refrigerators. Do not keep cut fruits, even in the fridge; consume fruits as soon as they are cut. Similarly, fruit juices should also be consumed fresh and not stored for later consumption. In the refrigerator, the cooked food should be kept on the upper shelves while raw food should be kept on the lower shelves. Grains and pulses Should always be kept away from moisture as much as possible. Store these items in airtight containers to increase their shelf life. Another way is to dry roast grains and pulses or maybe microwave them for 2-3 minutes before storing. However, put them in containers only after they have cooled down. Pulses that can be sprouted like kidney beans, chickpeas, and Kabuli chana should be stored in the refrigerator. Addition of little boric powder keeps the pulses dry. However, wash them thoroughly before each use to remove all traces of boric powder. Spices should be stored in the refrigerator placed in airtight containers. Bay leaves can be added to whole spices like cardamom, black pepper, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Salt and sugar - To keep salt dry, put a few grains of rice in its container as these will absorb any excess moisture. To prevent sugar from becoming lumpy, add some cloves in the box. By just being a little careful in storing food correctly, we can prevent food from being wasted this monsoon season.
Revealed: Health Secrets Of Living Water & Hydrogen
Revealed: Health Secrets Of Living Water & Hydrogen Joshua J. Holland, Co-Founder SystimFit (Dedicated Biohacker, Celebrity Fitness Trainer, Holistic Health Coach & Sports Professional) & Tessa Cash, NYC-based creative writer - www.tessacash.com The concept of living water has been present in human consciousness for many years. It is the energising life force that creates a generative and fecund environment for the cultivation of life on earth; essentially one of Mother Nature’s best creations! However, the extent to which water sustains life is dependent on the quantity and quality of ‘life’ in the water. Today, the water on our planet is ill-treated to the point of detriment, thus resulting in the absence of ‘life’ present within it. The damage endured strips the water of its natural ability to optimally support living beings. Our most pressing environmental priority is ensuring that the quality of ‘life’ in our water sources remains intact. ‘Dancing with Water: The New Science of Water’ is an investigation into water’s liquid crystalline phase, a state in which water molecules create a repeating geometric pattern similar to the molecular organization that occurs in the construction of a solid quartz crystal. Although the molecules remain mobile, they appear to move together as a coherent ‘whole.’ This specific arrangement of molecules is referred to as full-spectrum living water. Full-spectrum living water is created and maintained via a series of elements that cultivate life-supporting frequencies – water that supports life at its fullest capacity. These include movement or turbulence, a gentle, structural energetic force, mineral ions, a period of stillness which provides the water with the opportunity to organise itself and lastly a frequency based input, most important of which is the resonance of the Earth. According to Dr. Gerald Pollack, professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, “liquid crystalline phase of water is intimately connected with the generation of life.” Much of the water in a healthy human body is in a liquid crystalline/structured state, which creates a solid platform for the instantaneous transfer of signals and other biological information. Healthy DNA is surrounded by structured water. As water loses its crystalline formation (a byproduct of age and disease), the integrity of the DNA is often compromised. I make a very concerted effort to ensure the water I consume is well and truly alive. QLife.com, along with WaterandWellness.com both, sites have solid information as to how to reinstate the liquid crystalline molecular phase into your water source, thus recreating full-spectrum living water. If you live in an area around the world where there is a plentiful source of naturally flowing spring water, then you’re at an advantageous optimum in terms of the quality of your water! However, as many of us dwell in inner city areas, access to this precious resource is cut off. Not to worry, this is where biohacking comes in very handy! A culmination of science and experimentation plus a few handy tools purchasable on these fabulous websites make it possible to recreate the state of naturally occurring living water. As stated by Albert Szent-Györgyi, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, hydrogen, rather than oxygen, is the fuel of life. When hydrogen is infused with oxygen, water is formed. Hydrogen is plentiful in the universe and is created on a daily basis by our body. It is the most fundamental antioxidant, as it is the smallest of the chemical elements and thus reaches every organ and every cell of the body. Hydrogen inhalation or ingesting molecular hydrogen assists the cells that make up our bodies fight oxidative stress as hydrogen has abundant antioxidant powers. From a therapeutic standpoint it also helps reduce inflammation, combats allergic reactions, prevents cell death, aids digestion, restores and repairs the nervous system and boosts energy metabolism. Studies indicate that molecular hydrogen supplementation infused with water to create hydrogen-rich water enhances performance in sports, leads to better recovery and across the board wellness. Drinking hydrogen-rich water prior to exercise helps to reduce blood lactate levels and aids and abets muscle function which can decrease during exercise. There are numerous methods in which to incorporate hydrogen into your daily wellness routine. Choosing one will depend on your lifestyle and preferences. Hydrogen inhalation devices produce regulated amounts of hydrogen gas, which saturates arterial blood, enters cell membranes and easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, providing benefits at the sub-cellular level. They can be used for up to an hour a day. These devices are costly but of course only require a one time, long-term investment purchase. Hydrogen can also be consumed via molecular hydrogen tablets which are handy if you happen to travel a lot and serve as more cost effective in the short-term. Delivery via inhalation is the most systemic as absorption through the nasal and sinus cavities travel straight to the lungs and bypasses the digestive system. However, oral consumption via tablets can improve digestion and clear up ailments within the digestive tract so each system has its benefits and contribution! There is a company that makes hydrogen bath tablets so you can pop these into a foot bath or bath tub apparatus and soak up the fantastic anti-inflammatory, soft tissue soothing, skin rehabilitating wonders. Incorporating all three absorption methods is what I would call a trifecta, as you'd be effectively be covering all bases! I personally like to use a combination of all methods to fulfill my daily molecular hydrogen intake. I have access to an inhaler device so I use it in conjunction with taking two tablets to reestablish the quality of life within the water in my body! It's also great to consume it orally, so it really helps with digestion and sort of anything that is needed internally. From a cost effective point of view, in comparisons to water filters and other purifying devices, molecular hydrogen is relatively inexpensive and has an array of added benefits that complement the prolific capabilities of living water. From my standpoint, any product that enriches your health is definitely worth the investment.
How To
Helpful step-by-step instructions for your wellness
Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
5 Fab Father’s Day Gift Ideas
The boundless energy and the unconditional love father’s exhibit, compel every child to follow their footsteps in the hope of learning something new each time. While fathers seem like dominating characters at home, the fact is they are softest at heart. Their patience and perseverance make every little thing possible for the happiness of their children and their family. It’s sometimes perplexing and challenging to understand from where this energy and optimism comes from. We all can agree that this relation can’t be appreciated in one day. But, we can take time out to show our father what he really means to us. So, don’t fret. We’ve made the perfect father’s day gift guide for you this Father’s Day! Grooming Gift Set A set of essential skincare products like face wash, scrub, trimmer and hair serum is a perfect way to pamper UR dad. Social media is full of ideas on the perfect ensemble of products and how to use them. Before purchasing any products do consult UR family doctor. Fitness tracker It is fit for a father who is considerate of his health. UR dad can enjoy his workout sessions without breaking a sweat over the cost. In simple terms, this is a gift of health to UR dad, who works tirelessly, day-in and out. A Dose Of Nostalgia Revive his most cherished moments of the past. A collage of vintage photos of his childhood or arranging a conference call with friends should do the trick. Think of any such activities that you know for sure will make him smile. The old school way Build a fort, make a personalised family tree or play some self-invented games with UR father. Take him down the memory lane of his childhood and how he used to have fun without many screens around. Gift vouchers They are an ideal present to gift UR dad. If he really likes a particular store or brand. This way, no one has to bear a loss or compromise, he can utilise the gift card whenever he wants to And purchase an item of his liking.
How To Settle The Mind During A Crisis
At first only a few voices spoke of positive change after the COVID crisis ends, or at least becomes livable once again. Now one hears a chorus calling for change, much of it from younger people. The main message is about global cooperation and preparing better for the next pandemic. But I think people are pondering personal change, too. In the midst of widespread trepidation, what are the new goals that each of us might start pursuing right now? The first goal should be a settled mind. Fear is persuasive and panic easily goes viral. At the best of times most people turn their backs on worrisome problems rather than dealing with them directly. But unless you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you can settle your mind and go beyond fear. The first steps to gaining mastery over fear are open to everyone, as follows. • Sit down and candidly talk about your level of anxiety. Assemble the adults in your family, and perhaps older teenagers. Discuss your feelings in the context of getting past them. • Don’t dwell on anxious thoughts. When one arises, say to yourself, “This isn’t helping. Go away, I don’t need you.” Talking back to the voice in your head is actually effective. • Plan rationally for the situation you find yourself in. Problems can be divided into three categories: things you can fix, things you have to put up with, and things you should walk away from. Take each individual issue that faces you, and write down which category it falls into. Most people aggravate their worries through indecision. They vacillate between trying to fix something, putting up with it, and fantasizing about running away from it. Be clear in your reasoning; pick one strategy from the three, then stick to it. • Empathize with other people’s anxiety, but don’t make it a daily habit. Be helpful and reassuring. If this doesn’t work, you should tune out the most anxious complaints and focus on anything positive that emerges. • Be creative with your free time. Idle minds are fear’s playground. • Don’t obsess over the news. Limit your viewing time to short periods two or three times a day. This is a crisis unfolding in slow motion. You don’t have to keep up with it minute by minute. • Seek consoling and uplifting things to read and listen to. • Devote some time several times a day to sit quietly, close your eyes, and use deep, regular breathing to reach a settled state inside. If you are patient enough to practice regular meditation, do that. • Write down a vision of your future as you would like to live it after the crisis passes. Detail all the things you want to achieve and experience. • Foster hope in your immediate circle, but don’t make it up if you don’t actually feel hopeful. • Take time every day to do something that makes you smile and laugh. As you can see, none of these things are mysterious. They are available to everyone, and if you seriously undertake it, the project of defeating fear is more than doable. At a more inward level, you can also confront the misleading ideas that anxiety fosters, replacing them with positive ideas any time they recur. First, the false ideas that are typically born of fear: • If I worry, it shows I care. • I have to worry because others around me don’t seem to. • By worrying I am fending off the worst things that might happen. • Sometimes the things I worry about come true, which justifies all the times they do not come true. • Worrying doesn't hurt anybody, so why not worry? • The world is hard and life is difficult. It is only healthy to worry. • I know my worries make me feel bad, but that's the price I am willing to pay. • A lot of people worry, so I am not alone. At the very least I get a lot of reinforcement on the news and in social media. • If I worry now, it's a kind of insurance that will help me not be hurt in the future when bad stuff happens. • Worry shows my family that I love them. • If my anxiety touches others, they will want to help and take care of me without me having to ask. Habitual worriers will recognize these familiar thoughts, and all of us entertain some of them in anxious times. But each thought is the product of fear. Clear, positive thoughts should be put in place of them, as follows: • Despite my worries, I am safe and cared for. • Any problem is best dealt with when it actually occurs. • Planning for a bad eventuality should be done once, take very little time, and then left alone. • If you have coped in the past, you can trust yourself to cope now and tomorrow. • Worrying is pointless as a way to solve anything. It blocks the part of the mind that actually solves problems. • If you feel bad from anxiety, your hurt is self-inflicted, and getting out of the hurt involves taking responsibility for your own reactions. • The people around you do not like you better because you worry about them. They find it a nuisance but do not want to oppose you, so they adapt and put up with it. • Worrying drives others away. • Worrying blocks a healthy sense of self because it is basically an expression of insecurity. • Anxiety doesn't protect you from future hurt. It actually brings hurt into the here and now. • You are not your fears, but if you accept that you are, personal growth is blocked. You might even find it helpful to take these two lists and discuss each item with people close to you. The project of overcoming fear knows no specific time and place. In normal times we should be gaining control over fear to the extent we can. Now, however, the need to settle the mind is more urgent than ever. DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
Emotional Intelligence: Escaping The Matrix Of Fear
For many young people, the COVID virus outbreak will bring their first experience of fear and anxiety as a pervasive mood. As a society we are afraid of fear, and most of the time we can turn our backs on it. But this kind of denial is unworkable in a crisis. As bad news mounts daily and society becomes ever more anxious, countless people become enmeshed in the matrix of fear without knowing how to escape. Social forces can drive you to participate in the matrix of fear, but society cannot get you out of it. Escape is something each person must confront on their own. I believe that freeing yourself from fear and anxiety is possible. More than that, you can learn how to be free of fear long after the COVID crisis has passed. The key is to cultivate emotional intelligence. The term had a burst of attention some years ago, but the value of emotional intelligence never changes, and when you focus on it, you will achieve something worthwhile for life. Here are six principles to guide you through the process. Commit to never complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim. Imagine a creative, positive future for yourself. Don't regret the past. It no longer exists. Be present in every situation as it occurs. Be independent of other people's criticism or approval. Be responsive to feedback. It is fair to say that hardly anyone hits upon these principles by trial and error or through experience of life. A person can live a long time without paying attention to emotional intelligence, and among men, the word “emotion” too often connotes something undesirable, as if showing emotional sensitivity is a sign of weakness. But emotional intelligence is gender neutral. The fact that humans can observe their emotions is a remarkable trait, and once you begin to observe your own emotions, you can counter the power of an unwanted emotion like fear and anxiety. Whether we admit it or not, emotions fascinate us, as Hollywood well knows. Empathizing with emotions onscreen is easy and pleasurable, but we are too attached to our own emotions, and it takes very little experience of anxiety, humiliation, rejection, and failure to train us to avoid the mine field of emotions in general. So it’s worth saying that developing emotional intelligence isn’t scary or difficult. All you need to do is notice and pay attention. By pausing and standing back a little, you can observe how you are reacting at any given moment. You can even turn the six principles into questions posed to yourself. Am I complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim? Do I see my future in a creative, positive way? Am I pointlessly reliving the past? Do I see what’s going on right now? Am I afraid of someone else’s criticism or craving their approval? Am I listening to what other people are trying to tell me? These are not mysterious or metaphysical questions. We can pause to ask them any time we want, and we should. But we are blocked by old conditioning and the habit of feeling uneasy about our emotions. There is a great deal of social pressure to behave with very low emotional intelligence, a kind of dumbing down on the feeling level. As a result we act in self-defeating ways. To give a few examples, We repeat the same reactions in most situations. We imitate how others behave, starting with our family. We act on impulse without a second thought. We don’t really see how others are reacting to us. We let negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, and resentment have their way. We easily go into denial and seek outside distractions. A whole way of life is implied in these examples, and when collective fear mounts, as it is right now, people often have little or no idea how to escape. Denial and distraction simply become more intensified, and playing the victim is more tempting than usual. Alternatively, we tell ourselves that we need to stay in control more than ever. But what is needed isn’t emotional self-control but emotional resilience. Resilience is the most important single aspect of emotional intelligence. You allow your emotions to rise and fall naturally, without trying to stop or control them. Once an emotion has passed, you feel better, and you are able to return to a state of peace and calm. The opposite of emotional resilience is seen when people are stiff, reserved, bottled up inside, censorious, aloof, proud, or remote. In all of these cases past experience has made certain emotions unacceptable. The only way to deal with them is through avoidance. One is reminded of the adage that trees can be blown over by a storm while grasses bend without breaking. Because the mind by nature is restful, alert, quiet, and at peace, that state of balance is the basis for developing emotional intelligence. You need the experience of balance in order to return to it at will. The experience comes naturally to everyone unless it is thrown off by stress and crisis. Then it takes a bit of intervention on our part, through meditation preferably. Meditation no only returns the mind to its balanced state, but it also allows you to observe what is happening, to experience it directly, and to identify with the quiet state of mind. Ultimately, this is how fear can be escaped permanently. Meanwhile, everyone can benefit from lessening the anxiety being experienced all around us. Emotional intelligence goes a very long way to expanding your awareness and making you free of stress and anxiety right now.
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Top 5 Ways To Reduce Stress Now!
Stress can be good for some people. We sometimes find it motivating but when it gets out of control we end up not getting much done, not completing tasks and feeling even more stressed about that. Women are more likely than men, 28 per cent vs. 20 per cent (according to the American Psychological Association), to report having a great deal of stress at 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. I’m going to give you 5 quick and effective techniques to calm down and stay that way. Do One Thing At A Time Do you get you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is look at your phone or tablet? Start surfing Facebook, reading your emails or just surfing the net without purpose and before you realize it, 30 minutes has passed? Or maybe you have 20 tabs opened on your laptop and keep switching between them, while you watch TV in the background and read your text messages at the same time. Struggling to stay focussed on any one of them for long enough to digest and act on what they are about? Multi-tasking is bad for your health! Living like this creates constant interruption and sets up a pattern that makes it difficult to focus on one thing at a time. We have been living in a world where multi-tasking has been applauded and encouraged. In fact, women are the champions of multi-tasking and many pride themselves on being able to do many things at a time but we now know it’s not a good idea. So here’s a way to retrain your brain and feel calmer and less stressed. Get your favourite colour of Post-it note and write on it ‘One thing at a time’ and distribute them throughout your life. On your mirror, dashboard, computer, phone, wallet and anywhere else that you look at regularly will help. This is called an anchor and will remind you to do exactly what it says on the paper…one thing at a time! Stop. Breathe. Smile Imagine that your mind was like a snow globe. When you shake the snow globe, it looks like a blizzard of snow and when you sit it down on a table, the snow begins to settle on the bottom and the top becomes clear. When you are feeling overwhelmed, it’s like there is a blizzard of thoughts going on in your mind and you can’t think straight or make good decisions. I call it SBS…Stop, Breathe, Smile. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed sit down if you can, if not, stop moving. Take 3 really deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the final one give a long sigh of relief. And then smile and say “All is well”. It has been proved that the mind releases fear when you breathe and smile simultaneously. So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by too many thoughts and are unable to make a good decision, SBS is your answer. Then you will have calm and clarity and be able to make a good, clear decision. Spot the Difference Linking thoughts and emotions to colours works very well because the brain links a visual stimulus to a thought and is a great and easy way to change behaviour. Do you have something in your life that you would like to change your attitude about? Perhaps you lack confidence and you feel stressed at a job interview, a date or making a presentation? Get yourself some sticky coloured spots and load it with a positive affirmation like “I am confident”, “I am loved” or “I am calm” and then put them in places like the back of your phone, at your desk, on your bathroom mirror and every time you see it, repeat the affirmation. By practising and repeating this you will change your perspective and get a different and positive outcome. Name That Tune When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world and all the information is coming at you and you just want a calm and peaceful place to go but you’re stuck on a train, a plane, a car or just walking down the street? Or maybe you’ve get to make a presentation or go to a meeting and you’re just not feeling that confident as you sit in the room before your go in. Music is the answer to changing your state to a calm, motivated or relaxed one. We filter our world through our 5 senses and the sense of sound is one of the most powerful ones. We can hear a song that transports us back to our childhood, just like that. Or, we can hear a song that reminds us of a time in our lives that we would like to forget! So my tip is to create playlists to put them on your phone under a word like calm, motivational and relaxed. Be creative and have fun! Sleep Easy In times of stress and anxiety, the first thing that usually goes south is your sleep. Not being able to get to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with dark thoughts spinning around in your mind. I want to give you some top tips for getting a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed. Turn off all your electronic equipment at least 30 minutes before going to bed…phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. These have humming sounds and flickering images that over stimulate us and that’s the last thing we need before going to sleep. Sleep naked, if it’s appropriate. Recent research has proved that sleeping naked reduces our adrenaline, cortisol and blood pressure and releases a wonderful happy chemical called oxytocin which makes us feel great. Then connect with the room and the bed. Focus on the photos on the wall, the texture and temperature of the sheets, the cashmere throw and stay focused on what you can feel, hear and smell. Really and be present and allow of the stuff of the day to melt away and subside. Get yourself a relaxing oil like Lavender and put a few drops on your pillow on the side you sleep on near your nose and then put some relaxing sounds on from your ‘calm’ playlist and allow yourself to be bathed in the sensory experience and add some self-Havening to this and you will be asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and self-Haven for about 5 minutes and I’m fast asleep again. And finally, instead of waking up to an alarm sound that sounds like a nuclear alert, link up a happy song to your alarm ring tone for better start to the day. Something like Happy by Pharrell Williams works very well.
5 Fab Father’s Day Gift Ideas
The boundless energy and the unconditional love father’s exhibit, compel every child to follow their footsteps in the hope of learning something new each time. While fathers seem like dominating characters at home, the fact is they are softest at heart. Their patience and perseverance make every little thing possible for the happiness of their children and their family. It’s sometimes perplexing and challenging to understand from where this energy and optimism comes from. We all can agree that this relation can’t be appreciated in one day. But, we can take time out to show our father what he really means to us. So, don’t fret. We’ve made the perfect father’s day gift guide for you this Father’s Day! Grooming Gift Set A set of essential skincare products like face wash, scrub, trimmer and hair serum is a perfect way to pamper UR dad. Social media is full of ideas on the perfect ensemble of products and how to use them. Before purchasing any products do consult UR family doctor. Fitness tracker It is fit for a father who is considerate of his health. UR dad can enjoy his workout sessions without breaking a sweat over the cost. In simple terms, this is a gift of health to UR dad, who works tirelessly, day-in and out. A Dose Of Nostalgia Revive his most cherished moments of the past. A collage of vintage photos of his childhood or arranging a conference call with friends should do the trick. Think of any such activities that you know for sure will make him smile. The old school way Build a fort, make a personalised family tree or play some self-invented games with UR father. Take him down the memory lane of his childhood and how he used to have fun without many screens around. Gift vouchers They are an ideal present to gift UR dad. If he really likes a particular store or brand. This way, no one has to bear a loss or compromise, he can utilise the gift card whenever he wants to And purchase an item of his liking.
How To Settle The Mind During A Crisis
At first only a few voices spoke of positive change after the COVID crisis ends, or at least becomes livable once again. Now one hears a chorus calling for change, much of it from younger people. The main message is about global cooperation and preparing better for the next pandemic. But I think people are pondering personal change, too. In the midst of widespread trepidation, what are the new goals that each of us might start pursuing right now? The first goal should be a settled mind. Fear is persuasive and panic easily goes viral. At the best of times most people turn their backs on worrisome problems rather than dealing with them directly. But unless you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you can settle your mind and go beyond fear. The first steps to gaining mastery over fear are open to everyone, as follows. • Sit down and candidly talk about your level of anxiety. Assemble the adults in your family, and perhaps older teenagers. Discuss your feelings in the context of getting past them. • Don’t dwell on anxious thoughts. When one arises, say to yourself, “This isn’t helping. Go away, I don’t need you.” Talking back to the voice in your head is actually effective. • Plan rationally for the situation you find yourself in. Problems can be divided into three categories: things you can fix, things you have to put up with, and things you should walk away from. Take each individual issue that faces you, and write down which category it falls into. Most people aggravate their worries through indecision. They vacillate between trying to fix something, putting up with it, and fantasizing about running away from it. Be clear in your reasoning; pick one strategy from the three, then stick to it. • Empathize with other people’s anxiety, but don’t make it a daily habit. Be helpful and reassuring. If this doesn’t work, you should tune out the most anxious complaints and focus on anything positive that emerges. • Be creative with your free time. Idle minds are fear’s playground. • Don’t obsess over the news. Limit your viewing time to short periods two or three times a day. This is a crisis unfolding in slow motion. You don’t have to keep up with it minute by minute. • Seek consoling and uplifting things to read and listen to. • Devote some time several times a day to sit quietly, close your eyes, and use deep, regular breathing to reach a settled state inside. If you are patient enough to practice regular meditation, do that. • Write down a vision of your future as you would like to live it after the crisis passes. Detail all the things you want to achieve and experience. • Foster hope in your immediate circle, but don’t make it up if you don’t actually feel hopeful. • Take time every day to do something that makes you smile and laugh. As you can see, none of these things are mysterious. They are available to everyone, and if you seriously undertake it, the project of defeating fear is more than doable. At a more inward level, you can also confront the misleading ideas that anxiety fosters, replacing them with positive ideas any time they recur. First, the false ideas that are typically born of fear: • If I worry, it shows I care. • I have to worry because others around me don’t seem to. • By worrying I am fending off the worst things that might happen. • Sometimes the things I worry about come true, which justifies all the times they do not come true. • Worrying doesn't hurt anybody, so why not worry? • The world is hard and life is difficult. It is only healthy to worry. • I know my worries make me feel bad, but that's the price I am willing to pay. • A lot of people worry, so I am not alone. At the very least I get a lot of reinforcement on the news and in social media. • If I worry now, it's a kind of insurance that will help me not be hurt in the future when bad stuff happens. • Worry shows my family that I love them. • If my anxiety touches others, they will want to help and take care of me without me having to ask. Habitual worriers will recognize these familiar thoughts, and all of us entertain some of them in anxious times. But each thought is the product of fear. Clear, positive thoughts should be put in place of them, as follows: • Despite my worries, I am safe and cared for. • Any problem is best dealt with when it actually occurs. • Planning for a bad eventuality should be done once, take very little time, and then left alone. • If you have coped in the past, you can trust yourself to cope now and tomorrow. • Worrying is pointless as a way to solve anything. It blocks the part of the mind that actually solves problems. • If you feel bad from anxiety, your hurt is self-inflicted, and getting out of the hurt involves taking responsibility for your own reactions. • The people around you do not like you better because you worry about them. They find it a nuisance but do not want to oppose you, so they adapt and put up with it. • Worrying drives others away. • Worrying blocks a healthy sense of self because it is basically an expression of insecurity. • Anxiety doesn't protect you from future hurt. It actually brings hurt into the here and now. • You are not your fears, but if you accept that you are, personal growth is blocked. You might even find it helpful to take these two lists and discuss each item with people close to you. The project of overcoming fear knows no specific time and place. In normal times we should be gaining control over fear to the extent we can. Now, however, the need to settle the mind is more urgent than ever. DEEPAK CHOPRA™ MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
Emotional Intelligence: Escaping The Matrix Of Fear
For many young people, the COVID virus outbreak will bring their first experience of fear and anxiety as a pervasive mood. As a society we are afraid of fear, and most of the time we can turn our backs on it. But this kind of denial is unworkable in a crisis. As bad news mounts daily and society becomes ever more anxious, countless people become enmeshed in the matrix of fear without knowing how to escape. Social forces can drive you to participate in the matrix of fear, but society cannot get you out of it. Escape is something each person must confront on their own. I believe that freeing yourself from fear and anxiety is possible. More than that, you can learn how to be free of fear long after the COVID crisis has passed. The key is to cultivate emotional intelligence. The term had a burst of attention some years ago, but the value of emotional intelligence never changes, and when you focus on it, you will achieve something worthwhile for life. Here are six principles to guide you through the process. Commit to never complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim. Imagine a creative, positive future for yourself. Don't regret the past. It no longer exists. Be present in every situation as it occurs. Be independent of other people's criticism or approval. Be responsive to feedback. It is fair to say that hardly anyone hits upon these principles by trial and error or through experience of life. A person can live a long time without paying attention to emotional intelligence, and among men, the word “emotion” too often connotes something undesirable, as if showing emotional sensitivity is a sign of weakness. But emotional intelligence is gender neutral. The fact that humans can observe their emotions is a remarkable trait, and once you begin to observe your own emotions, you can counter the power of an unwanted emotion like fear and anxiety. Whether we admit it or not, emotions fascinate us, as Hollywood well knows. Empathizing with emotions onscreen is easy and pleasurable, but we are too attached to our own emotions, and it takes very little experience of anxiety, humiliation, rejection, and failure to train us to avoid the mine field of emotions in general. So it’s worth saying that developing emotional intelligence isn’t scary or difficult. All you need to do is notice and pay attention. By pausing and standing back a little, you can observe how you are reacting at any given moment. You can even turn the six principles into questions posed to yourself. Am I complaining, criticizing, or playing the victim? Do I see my future in a creative, positive way? Am I pointlessly reliving the past? Do I see what’s going on right now? Am I afraid of someone else’s criticism or craving their approval? Am I listening to what other people are trying to tell me? These are not mysterious or metaphysical questions. We can pause to ask them any time we want, and we should. But we are blocked by old conditioning and the habit of feeling uneasy about our emotions. There is a great deal of social pressure to behave with very low emotional intelligence, a kind of dumbing down on the feeling level. As a result we act in self-defeating ways. To give a few examples, We repeat the same reactions in most situations. We imitate how others behave, starting with our family. We act on impulse without a second thought. We don’t really see how others are reacting to us. We let negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, and resentment have their way. We easily go into denial and seek outside distractions. A whole way of life is implied in these examples, and when collective fear mounts, as it is right now, people often have little or no idea how to escape. Denial and distraction simply become more intensified, and playing the victim is more tempting than usual. Alternatively, we tell ourselves that we need to stay in control more than ever. But what is needed isn’t emotional self-control but emotional resilience. Resilience is the most important single aspect of emotional intelligence. You allow your emotions to rise and fall naturally, without trying to stop or control them. Once an emotion has passed, you feel better, and you are able to return to a state of peace and calm. The opposite of emotional resilience is seen when people are stiff, reserved, bottled up inside, censorious, aloof, proud, or remote. In all of these cases past experience has made certain emotions unacceptable. The only way to deal with them is through avoidance. One is reminded of the adage that trees can be blown over by a storm while grasses bend without breaking. Because the mind by nature is restful, alert, quiet, and at peace, that state of balance is the basis for developing emotional intelligence. You need the experience of balance in order to return to it at will. The experience comes naturally to everyone unless it is thrown off by stress and crisis. Then it takes a bit of intervention on our part, through meditation preferably. Meditation no only returns the mind to its balanced state, but it also allows you to observe what is happening, to experience it directly, and to identify with the quiet state of mind. Ultimately, this is how fear can be escaped permanently. Meanwhile, everyone can benefit from lessening the anxiety being experienced all around us. Emotional intelligence goes a very long way to expanding your awareness and making you free of stress and anxiety right now.
UR Crash Course On Psychological Disorders
Psychological disorders are the pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms which impacts several areas of your life. They are also termed as mental disorders as they create the distress among the persons who may experience poor ability to function in their ordinary life. Types of Psychological Disorders There are different types of psychological health disorders, but the type of disorder is normally determined by the root cause. In most cases, it is determined by the peculiar symptoms a person experiences, along with any family medical history of psychological disorders. Most common types of Psychological Disorders include: ANXIETY DISORDERS Anxiety is defined as an uncomfortable feeling of fear, terror, dread or danger. A group of psychiatric conditions that involve anxiety, and are termed as Anxiety disorders. You may experience occasional anxiety which is a normal part of life but, during this disorder you may experience intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about your regular activities. The following disorders are identified as anxiety disorders: • Agoraphobia • Generalized anxiety disorder • Selective mutism • Substance-induced anxiety disorder • Panic Disorder • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) • Phobias, also called Social Anxiety Disorder In most instances, anxiety may be linked to an underlying health issues such as Heart disease, Diabetes, Thyroid problems, Respiratory disorders, Drug misuse, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and rare tumours. It is not always possible, to predict the cause of an anxiety disorder. So, it is better to seek immediate medical attention, if you think that you are at the risk of any of the following Anxiety disorders. MOOD DISORDERS Mood disorders are also called as affective disorders. During these disorders, your general emotional state, or mood gets swayed with your circumstances and interferes in your functional ability. You may experience frequent feelings of sadness, overly happy feelings, fluctuation from extreme happiness and even extreme sadness. Most common mood disorders are: • Major depressive disorder • Bipolar disorder • Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) • Cyclothymic disorder • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder • Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) • Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder • Depression related to medical illness Mood disorders in most instances can be successfully treated with medications and psychotherapy talk therapy. However, your mood disorder may not go away on its own, and it may get worse over time, if it is neglected. It could be easier to treat early on, so seek professional help before your mood disorder becomes severe. EATING DISORDERS Eating disorders are referred to an unhealthy attitude towards food, and these are related to persistent eating behaviours. This eating disorder can negatively impact important areas of life including your health, emotions and ability to function. This disorder can have a negative impact on your weight, body shape and disturb your body’s ability to absorb appropriate nutrition. Most common types of eating disorders include: • Anorexia nervosa • Bulimia nervosa • Binge-eating disorder • Rumination disorder • Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder Eating disorders aren’t easy to manage or overcome, if you think you may have an eating disorder, it is best to seek immediate medical help. PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS Psychotic disorders are severe mental disorders that involve distorted awareness and thinking. The usual symptoms of psychotic disorders are hallucinations and delusions. People with these types of disorders lose touch with reality. These disorders can be genetic and most commonly found in people in their late teens, to early thirties and it affects men and women equally. The examples of a psychotic disorder include: • Schizophrenia • Schizoaffective disorder • Schizophreniform disorder • Brief Psychotic disorder • Delusional disorder • Substance-Induced psychotic disorder • Psychotic disorder due to a medical condition • Paraphrenia Most psychotic disorders can be treated with medication and psychotherapy. Self-help will also help in managing these psychotic disorders. However, the patients are advised to learn how to cope when these episodes occur, as it could be vital for managing a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. IMPULSE CONTROL AND ADDICTION DISORDERS Impulse Control and Addiction Disorders are considered as behavioural addictions where people have the inability to resist urges, impulses and perform acts that could be harmful to themselves or others. People with these disorders become involved with alcohol and smoking, while ignoring their responsibilities and relationships. Some of the most common types of impulse control disorders include: • Intermittent explosive disorder • Kleptomania • Pyromania • Trichotillomania • Pathological gambling An impulse control disorder co-occurs with other psychological disorders such as mood or anxiety disorders. Various psychological disorders that can occur alongside impulse control disorders: • Bipolar disorder • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) • Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) • Conduct disorder (CD) • Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) • Depressive disorders • Antisocial personality disorder Opting treatment for any of the following disorders will help in reducing the potential negative consequences and improve the overall quality of your life and your loved ones. Your doctor may also conduct comprehensive mental health tests and medical evaluations to analyse the condition and implement a treatment plan that is specific to your needs. So, don’t ignore your mental health, when you can take charge of it!
A Breath Of Relaxation With Guided Meditation
The human mind absorbs and stores both the good and bad energy of its surroundings. Therefore, considering all the stressors that exist within the environment we live in, it’s quite natural that our mind and body show signs of anxiety and stress. To cope with stress levels, every individual has his/her unique choice of intervention. However, among all of the stress-relieving activities, meditation has gained significant momentum in the past few decades. And one of the many types of meditation routines that can help alleviate stress, anxiety and improve focus is a guided meditation, which has gained a lot of attention and appreciation due to its efficiency and consistency. So let’s understand how we can integrate this type of meditation in our lifestyles. What Is Guided Meditation? Guided meditation is a form of meditation where participants meditate in response to the guidance and instructions provided by an expert, teacher or practitioner. The format of communication between the instructor and the student could be either in person or via music, video or written text. The instructive nature of this format of meditation makes it easier for the individual to be much more structured and ordered in their practice. Nowadays, there are many guided meditation videos available online, which can help you meditate with ease. How We Can Incorporate It In Our Lifestyle Meditation is an activity that can be performed anywhere and anytime without prior preparation. The only thing to keep in mind is to channel all your focus on the task of meditation. Guided meditation, as the name suggests, helps an individual meditate without the burden of thinking about how and what to do if he/she is unfamiliar with the task. Meditation could also mean that a person is sitting in silence and reflecting upon life. The trouble with such types of meditative practices is that there is no framework to it. On the contrary, guided meditative practices have a finite set of instructions, which makes the process easier. If you are looking for long-term benefits, meditative practices only during episodes of stress may not be quite as effective. Try to include 10-15 minutes of guided meditation routine either in the night or morning, depending on your schedule, every day, without fail to reap its full benefits. Once you are comfortable with 15-minute intervals, you can increase the duration and go up to one hour, if time permits. However, most individuals will be able to stay focused and relaxed up to 30 minutes, if practised daily. Benefits Of Guided Meditation • As opposed to other meditative practices, guided meditation saves you the trouble of planning the routine, as it is pre-recorded or designed. You can either drop by a class and follow the instructions or plug in your earphones and follow the guidelines. • It reduces stress hormones in the body and promotes a sense of well-being. • 15-30 minute episodes of meditation practised daily have shown to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of hypertension. • It leads to slower brain wave activities, which helps in reducing the stress all the while triggering human growth hormones (HGH). • It also helps in reducing inflammation by neutralising acidosis, thus minimising pain as well. With technology at our fingertips, meditation has become an easily accessible practice. Moreover, many apps are now available on your smartphone that can give you instructions about meditation and how to start meditating, if you are new to it. Give these meditative practices a try to live a stress-free life!
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