Category Archives: Health & Wellness

Your Energy Pie

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Apple Pie

While our energy might seem boundless when we are young, in reality it’s limited.

I felt depleted one or two days this past week.  This led me to consider how I am dividing up my energy pie.  For example, thinking takes considerable energy.  It takes energy to work with challenging emotions and situations.  It takes energy to heal.  And we haven’t even started on work yet.

I was reminded that without making conscious choices, there’s the possibility of using up one’s fuel in the wrong areas. Or running dry.

Question for reflection:

How much energy do you have?  How do you want to use it?  What’s your energy pie look like?  Is it divided into the right pieces?

Image:  Public Domain

If you like this reflection, please share the link with others.  I would love to connect with you on Google+ or the Always Well Within Facebook Page.  With love, Sandra

The Magic of Hypnotherapy

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Butterfly - symbol of change through hypnosis

Have you ever longed for a faster path to altering undesirable behaviors and emotions like smoking, weight gain, low self-esteem, or anxiety?

Hypnosis has proven to be a highly effective and relatively quick treatment for a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges.  It can also help you cope more effectively with a spectrum of common medical conditions.

The Mayo Clinic explains hypnosis like this:

“Hypnosis, also referred to as hypnotherapy or hypnotic suggestion, is a trance-like state in which you have heightened focus, concentration and inner absorption. When you’re under hypnosis, you usually feel calm and relaxed, and you can concentrate intensely on a specific thought, memory, feeling or sensation while blocking out distractions.

Under hypnosis, you’re more open than usual to suggestions, and this can be used to modify your perceptions, behavior, sensations and emotions. Therapeutic hypnosis is used to improve your health and well-being and is different from so-called stage hypnosis used by entertainers. Although you’re more open to suggestion during therapeutic hypnosis, your free will remains intact and you don’t lose control over your behavior.”

Hypnosis is generally considered safe.  It has been recognized as a valid medical procedure by both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Psychological Association (APA).  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also recommends hypnotherapy as a treatment for chronic pain.

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What Makes You Feel Better?

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Filling out medical forms the other day, I came across these two questions:

  • What makes you feel better?
  • What makes you feel worse?

These are the quintessential questions, aren’t they?  They apply not only to our physical well being, but to our emotional, mental, and spiritual health as well.  They empower us to transform the negative into the positive; unhappiness into contentment.

In his book, Adrenal Fatigue, the 21st Century Stress Syndrome, Dr. James L. Wilson offers a similar exercise to determine what contributes to your health and what detracts from it.

He suggests taking a piece of paper, dating it, and drawing a line down the middle.   Write the heading “good for me” at the top of the first column; write “bad for me” at the top of the second column.  Then let you stream of consciousness pour onto the page in a simple list format.

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Chemical Time Bombs Ticking in Your Body

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Plastic and the Ocean

A styrene metabolite in my pee?

Recently, I took a urine organic acids test, which measures metabolites – the end breakdown of various chemical substances  – in the urine.

The test is not intended to measure levels of environmental toxins in the body.  It just happens to measure mandelic acid, a  metabolite from the breakdown of styrene.  High mandelic acid usually occurs from exposure to styrene.

I was surprised to find that my level of mandelic acid was slightly elevated.  This might be due to the normal metabolism of the neurotransmitters phenylalanine or tyrosine since the levels were not extremely high, but it got me wondering.

What Is Styrene and Why Is It a Problem?

Styrene (vinyl benzene) is commonly found in plastic and, of course, Styrofoam.  On June 10, 2011, the US National Toxicology Program described styrene as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen“.

US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) studies on Americans have shown that 100% of human fat samples contain styrene.  Once in the body, there’s no mechanism for getting all of the styrene out.

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You Are Not Your Brain: Book Review

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Book Review: You Are Not Your Brain, The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life by Jeffrey Schwartz, M. D. and Rebecca Gladding, M. D.

You Are Not Your Brain is a brilliant guide to understanding and transforming what the authors call “deceptive brain messages” – our well worn repetitive stories that lead to fear, worry, bad habits, low-self esteem, unhealthy behaviors, stuck patterns, and other dysfunctional impulses, feelings, and actions.

While it’s not groundbreaking news that it’s possible to change unhealthy beliefs and dysfunctional habits, most people still find it extremely difficult to do so.

What makes this book stand out is the way the authors – two neuroscience experts – describe in clear, lay person terms the precise brain biology that creates these faulty messages and how the very way the brain functions makes it extremely difficult though not impossible to change them.

Having this knowledge in hand coupled with their well explained set of research-proven techniques, empowers you to conquer these unhelpful messages and harmful behaviors once and for all.

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22 Reasons to Slow Down the Pace

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“It’s so nice to be home. It’s so quiet here!”  These are the sentiments of my friend upon her recent return from Bali.

“It’s so busy there,” she exclaimed. “And loud and polluted.”

I wonder:  Is the whole world being engulfed by busyness? What about your personal world?

“There’s more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mohandas Gandhi

21 Reasons to Slow Down

Lately, I haven’t been able to keep up myself. As spring slides into summer, it’s clear I need to slow down my pace.  These are my reasons for downshifting. Maybe they’ll resonate for you, too.

1. To imbibe the sweetness of life.

2. The leave the city of overwhelm.

3. To loosen my attachments. You have to give up all the busyness when you die!

4. To nourish myself.

5. To be in the present moment.

6. To allow ample time for reflection, inspirational reading, and meditation.

7. To let my thinking mind relax.

8. To foster intuition.

9. To cultivate the felt-sense.

10. To genuinely connect with others heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind.

11. To de-stress.

12. To write articles for you that are meaningful, inspiring, useful and/or thought-provoking without feeling rushed.

13. To allow time for healing and bolstering my health – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.

14. To absorb nutrients from the food I eat.

15. To care for my garden, which, in turn, cares for me.

16. To connect with the elements – earth, water, fire, air, and space.

17. To smell the roses.

18. To access clarity, insight, and wisdom.

19. To put perfectionism to death.

20. To read all the books I’m wanting to read and blog posts I’ve been missing.  Apologies if I haven’t been to your blog lately!

21.  To better serve others.

22.  To be part of creating a more peaceful, loving, joy-filled world.

Slowing down is not easy for me. My neurotransmitters are entrained to fire at high speed. There’s a vulnerability in slowing down and simply being.  It takes courage to let go.

But I know it’s the only way to unpeel all the layers and live from my true essence. And this is the basis for being of service to others in a non-sticky way.

Is all the busyness really necessary or even helpful? We need to make a living, but how much more do we really need to do? Doesn’t it make sense to be satisfied with what you have instead of endlessly trying to improve your conditions?

“Remember the example of an old cow;

She’s content to sleep in a barn.

You have to eat, sleep, and shit – That’s unavoidable.

Beyond that is none of your business.”

- Patrul Rinpoche

Interestingly, the flavor of sweetness is associated with the earth element and the health of the digestive system in Chinese medicine.  Often, when we are too busy and stressed, our gut ends up tied in knots.  Just look at the checkout stand at most drugstores and you’ll see an abundance of of antacids.  A more natural solution is to simply slow down and reconnect with the earth element.

What does this mean for my blog?  I will simplify and post once a week on Sunday. I like the idea of pouring myself into creating one article each week that is really worthy of your time and attention.

I may occasionally share entries during the week if I feel there’s space and time.  A possibility, but not a promise.  I’m also intrigued by the idea of challenging myself to write succinctly.   I’ll continue to link to my articles at the What Meditation Really Is blog twice a month too.

My purpose in blogging is to be here for you in a genuine way that – at the same time – supports my own personal growth so I will better walk my talk.  May we all have space, sweetness, and love in our life.

A few questions and reflections for you:  Do you too need to slow down the pace of your life?  Or, are you already able to stay sane amidst all the busyness of this world?  If so, what’s your secret?

Image: @Sue Alexander, Inspired Type

Thank you for reading.  If you liked this article, please share the link with others using the share buttons below.  And, I would love to hear from you in the comments or see you at the Always Well Within Facebook Page.  Thanks so much for your support!  Sandra

Worried, Nervous or Stuck? Release Yourself with the Wind

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Feel the gentle breeze and internalize it.

Air is the very essence of life.  All pervasive, it represents movement, change, curiosity, learning, flow, and flexibility.

You can connect with air to lift yourself up when you feel down, breakthrough constricted habits and mental pattens, or get unstuck from an entrenched argument or point of view.

Tuning into the 5 elements – earth, water, fire, air, and space – is a powerful way to transform moods, accelerate personal growth, and activate the healing power within.

Each element represents unique qualities that exist both in the outer environment and the internal environment of the body.  Thus, connecting with the outer elements can help restore balance to the inner elements.  This will aid in bringing about greater well-being in mind, body, and spirit.

In the first article of this series, I suggested nourishing yourself with space.  This time we explore the transformative power of the air element.

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