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Achieving Optimum Health

August 7, 2011 By Admin Leave a Comment

“Optimum health is not just the absence of disease but the presence of wellness in mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social areas. Some would also include financial health.”

Introduction

Optimum health is essential at all levels, from the individual to the society we live in to the environment around us. We have to start thinking of wealth not just in terms of possession of money and properties but also the possession of mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual well-being.

Mental Health

The truth is mind is the forerunner of all states.

With a proper mindset, a poor man can still be happy. Conversely, if the mindset is not right, no matter how much material possessions you may have, you may still be a very unhappy person. Thus, Gandhi said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not enough for even a single person’s greed.”

So a healthy mind is one that possesses a mindset that can lead to happiness and contentment with self and the world around us. It provides clarity of thoughts, good insight and the ability to see things through an unbiased mind.

To be able to see things through an unbiased mind is no small feat. It is extremely difficult to note or observe the unfolding of events and phenomena without judging. We habitually associate emotions or feelings to events, and allow such emotions to direct our actions. Our likes for certain things and dislikes for others are closely associated with our emotions.

Emotional Health

It is our emotions that lead us to act impulsively at times. Thus a high level of self-awareness in this area is extremely useful. In fact, it is essential to our well-being. After all, things and relationships that may take us years to build can be destroyed in a moment of anger.

There are positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions such as love, compassion and joy should be cultivated, while negative emotions such as fear, anger and hate need to be eradicated.

When asked about this, a wise sage of India once illustrated with a story:

An old man said to his grandson, “Boy, I have two tigers caged within me. One is love and compassion. The other is fear and anger.”

The young boy asked, “Which one will win, grandfather?”

The old man replied, “The one I feed.”

At times, it may seem that we have no control over our emotions. This is not true. The truth is how well we manage our emotions depends on how aware we are of our emotions, particularly on the arising of our emotions. The earlier we are able to note the arising of our emotions, we better we can manage them.

More and more researches are showing that our well-being is closely linked to our emotional and mental health. Our body’s immune system is generally enhanced by positive mental outlook and emotion. Conversely, it is depressed by negative mental and emotional states. Thus, stress, worry, anger and fear are some states that may lead to physical illnesses such as hypertension, cardiac diseases, peptic ulcers, depression and a host of other ailments.

Physical Health

To maintain an optimum physical well-being, therefore, requires us to focus not only on our body but also our mind and emotions.

On a physical level, our body can be kept healthy through adequate sleep and rest, proper nutrition, regular exercises and a healthy environment that is free from pollution.

Spiritual Health

Throughout the ages, wise men have consistently informed and taught us that we are essentially spiritual beings.

Although medical science has not been able to reveal to us our spiritual nature, there are many indirect evidence that we would be foolish to ignore. Stories from people who had gone through a near death experience (NDE), or dying people with heightened nearing death awareness, or simply a cure from an ‘incurable’ disease all suggest that there is more to life than just the physical state.

Major religions of the world all based their teachings on the belief that we are essentially spiritual beings. According to these teachings, our physical existence is secondary.

While it may be true that we should focus our life more on our spiritual nature than our physical nature, it would be difficult for the majority of people to do so, at least not immediately. Things cannot change overnight. Mindset, however, can, and that is perhaps the best place to start.

Financial Health

However, on a more mundane level, most people are still stuck on how to survive from day to day, where to get the next cheque to pay for the house installment, so on and so forth.

Practically, therefore, we need to look into ways to achieve a financial state that would theoretically free us from the constrain of ‘forced’ work. This is where the concept of financial freedom is so attractive. According to this concept, one should strive for a state where we have one or more than one source of income that can be generated passively, that is, even when we don’t work.

This is what Robert Kiyosaki termed as ‘passive income’.

According to him, passive income can only be achieved by becoming an investor or a business owner, not a sole proprietor or an employee. To become an investor or a business owner, you must spend the time and money to acquire financial intelligence. Unlike IQ or EQ, you can acquire financial intelligence through self education.

To get a financial health check-up, consult an accountant, a banker or a financial planner you can trust.

Healthy Relationship

“No man is an island, entire by itself.”

As a medical doctor, I am in a unique position to confront and comfort dying patients. One of the most important thing that I have observed is that dying people do not ask about their money or possessions. Instead, they focus their remaining energy and strength on trying to heal wounded relationships. It is as though there is an inherent need to get a proper closure to a relationship.

Thus, forming and cultivating a healthy relationship is important for our well-being. Unfortunately, this is something we often ignored until it is too late. If there is any forgiving to be done, or the need to be forgiven, leaving things to the last minutes may end up with an unfulfilled desire for a closure.

Knowing this now, shouldn’t we spend more time and effort in improving our relationship with our loved ones, especially with our parents, spouse, children and siblings?

Dr Tim Ong is a medical doctor with 15 years of experience in family medicine. He is also a speaker, trainer and counsellor in his community. He has a personal website at KlinikOng.com

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: balanced life, emotional, financial, health, mental health, physical, Relationships, spiritual

5 Secrets for Optimal Health

March 24, 2011 By Admin Leave a Comment

By Teal Scott –

Modern medicine has seen a lot of changes in recent years, but there’s still too much focus on dealing with specific physical ailments rather than preventing them. Learning to utilize the intensely symbiotic relationship that exists between the mind and the body can help you to maintain a healthy life. Here are five practical ways to achieve optimal health that your doctor won’t share with you:

1. Change Your Thoughts. The role of the placebo effect has largely gone unnoticed, misunderstood and even trivialized, which is unfortunate. The mind’s effect on the body (which we call the placebo effect) could be the single most important part of the healing process. Many people believe they do not have control over their own thoughts. This is not true. Changing thoughts, like anything else, simply involves practice. The things that tend to get our attention are things we do not like about our lives, or the negative thoughts, while the things that are positive about our lives go unnoticed. Change your thinking to one of optimism and gratitude. Consciously looking for things to enjoy, appreciate and be thankful for is enough to dramatically change the energy that you are projecting into your world, as well as into your body. Learn to recognize your negative thoughts and beliefs, and then replace them with thoughts that feel good to think. Soon, you will find you have let go of the thoughts that are standing in the way of your physical and mental health.

2. Stop Paying Attention to the News. We often get so familiar with our normal routine that we do not realize we are filling ourselves full of information that is not in line with good health. Many people get out of bed and immediately tune into the news. This ensures that you will start the day off on a negative foot. News, like any other business, must find a way to sell. Shock value sells. Negativity sells. It evokes a strong reaction from the reader or watcher that ensures it will get the attention needed to stay in business. The news paints an inaccurate view of our world. We often think that it is important to pay attention to “reality” and what is going on in the world, but the extreme and negative things that are going on, are not all that exists in our world. There are also (even more so than the amount of negative things) positive things going on every day. These are the things that don’t make for good headlines. When we hear or see something negative, but can’t do anything about it, it fills us with the feeling of powerlessness and fear. It helps form an inaccurate belief that the world we live in is one which we should be afraid of. We also form the belief that we can be a victim at any moment. This way of seeing the world is incredibly detrimental to all aspects of mental and physical health.

3. Eat for Health. You are what you eat. When you are in a positive mind set, you will find that you gravitate towards foods which are a match to your overall health. When you are in a negative mind set, you will gravitate towards foods which are not a match to your overall health. It remains true that physically taking steps towards health is no match for taking mental steps towards health. However, when you are nourishing your body with healthy things, it can definitely help you to achieve mental health as well. Realize that feeding your body in a healthy way is one way of showing love to yourself. Try to have fun expanding your palette. No matter what you’ve heard, healthy food does not have to taste bad, it can even taste better than unhealthy food. Deliberately look for restaurants with healthy options on their menus. Eat whole foods, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. Eat less processed foods, and get help to slowly overcome your attachments to sugar, alcohol, caffeine and other “junk” foods. This should not be a stressful transition to make. The stress involved in dieting often only worsens the problem instead of solves it. So, set attainable goals and make the transition from unhealthy foods to healthy foods a gradual one. In no time, you will notice a difference in your energy level and your overall health.

4. Find an Exercise You Love to Do. It is no secret that regular exercise plays a large role in health. You are living life in this physical body, so… use it! You do not have to be athletic to exercise and it does not have to be a source of stress for you. In fact, exercise for the sake of exercise when you don’t enjoy it is detrimental to health. No one likes to force themselves to exercise. The way to get around the stress involved with exercise is to make exercise a part of something else you love to do. If you do not yet have a particular exercise you enjoy, you can start by searching for an activity that incorporates exercise which raises your heart rate for at least 30 minutes. You may try several activities before finding the one that really fits. Any type of exercise turns from a burden into a joy when you are focusing on what you love to do. For example, people who love being in water can exercise by swimming and because they love water so much, they will look forward to the exercise they are doing. The focus involved in a game of racket ball, for example, can make players forget the amount of exercise they are actually getting. Physical exercise can also be a great way to get out and socialize in the community. Exercising with other people makes the process of exercise not only easier but more enjoyable. A lot of people are looking for other people to exercise with. If you integrate exercise into your daily routine, it will lead to a longer, healthier and more fulfilling life.

5. Put out Into the World What You Want to Get Back. Simply put, you get back what you give out. We have a tendency to expect others to change the way that they are thinking and acting without realizing that the only person we can ever change is ourselves. The interesting dichotomy is that the minute you change the way you think and act, the world outside of you will also change. Begin to experiment with this by practicing random acts of kindness. Some good examples include: writing an affirming note with a message such as “you are worthy of all this life has to give” and putting it anonymously on someone’s car windshield or opening someone’s door for them. These simple activities empower you. They help you to see that you can make a positive change in the world. You will start to feel capable and proactive. The positive way you will feel as a result of doing this will reflect out into all aspects of your body and mind. You will begin to notice very quickly that you are being treated the same way you are treating others and there is nothing quite like a supportive environment to help you achieve your optimum health.

Taking steps towards your mental and physical health, along with making your health a priority, enables you to live the fulfilling and joyful life which you deserve to live. Your life is an open canvass. Enjoy it and make a masterpiece of it. Let your physical and mental health pave the way.

Teal Scott, The Spiritual Catalyst is a contemporary spiritual guide who writes and teaches publicly about spirituality, the meaning of life, and the road to health and happiness.

See more at http://www.thespiritualcatalyst.com.

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: body, exercise, health, illness, mental health, mind, nutrition, placebo, Teal Scott, The Spiritual Catalyst

Christmas For One: Mental Health Over the Holidays

November 26, 2010 By Admin Leave a Comment

By Kristin Johnson -

My dear friend, poet Dessa Byrd Reed, often spends holidays alone as a widow. However, she doesn’t see this, as many people often do, as a depressing circumstance. In a November 2000 POETIC VOICES interview, she said, “Because I am single and live alone, I eat out a lot. I love to talk to strangers. That’s one of my favorite things. I go out for breakfast and talk to people.”

Another talented writer, Leslie Lafayette, dealt with being a childless woman by choice in WHY DON’T YOU HAVE KIDS?: Living a Full Life Without Parenthood. You can bet that because of her choice many people would pity her. She writes the “Alone Again, Naturally” column for the outstanding magazine THE DESERT WOMAN. Observers might conclude she’s miserable on the holidays.

Both Leslie and Dessa have full lives and radiate Christmas cheer, not just in December but all year round. While we all need human contact, it’s a mistake to conclude that people without the traditional family dinner are all on suicide watch. Anyone who has negotiated where to have Christmas and which family members can come when, not to mention refereed in-law and spouse disputes, knows that the allure of having a table for one at Christmas is powerful.

However, when people aren’t alone by choice, Christmas can be lonely. In Michigan, I interviewed a woman, the founder of a divorced and widowed support group, who chose to have Christmas dinner every year for lonely widows, widowers and divorced people, usually from her support group. Her children understood that she needed to start this new tradition in her new life.

Similarly, having children around, even with the relentless gimmes and commercialism, lends a special magic to Christmas, which is why playing Santa appeals to so many.

The holidays can be joyous if you’re alone, or they can be difficult. As with so much, your feelings depend on your personality, your circumstances, your childhood, and in many cases on medical or psychological conditions.

Some tips to remember if you’re alone or without your support system:

*Take advantage of counseling services in your community, including from your local church, synagogue, temple or other place of worship.

*Take time out for spirituality. You might attend services just to experience human contact and community. People are generally nicer at Christmas.

*Do all the things you wanted to do but couldn’t in your former life. Travel. Even in this post-9/11 world, you can visit faraway places. There are many tour groups for singles.

*Attend art walks, holiday concerts, lectures, and movie screenings alone. Or invite a friend you haven’t talked to in a while.

*Volunteer–it’s a wonderful way to make friends, stay active, and feel fulfilled.

*Go out to dinner alone! While women in particular feel uncomfortable, project an air of confidence. You are a strong, vital woman. This doesn’t mean that you should go bar-hopping or take risks alone at night. But you have the right to ask for a table for one without feeling as though people are judging you. (Most people are too preoccupied with their own lives to notice.)

*Gather a circle of friends or people in the same situation–just make sure the evening doesn’t turn into a pity party.

*Don’t overdrink, overeat or do drugs. It’s just not a good tradition.

*Bake cookies if you’re so inclined. Cookies make wonderful Christmas presents and ways to reconnect with your friends.

You may be tempted to think of yourself as Ebenezer Scrooge. Don’t, and boil anyone in his own pudding who calls you “Scrooge.” You are honoring Christmas in your own heart and keeping it always. Christmas for one, anyone?

Kristin Johnson is co-author of the “enthusiastically recommended” Midwest Book Review pick, Christmas Cookies Are For Giving: Stories, Recipes and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts (ISBN: 0-9723473-9-9). A downloadablemedia kit is available at our Web site, http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com, or e-mail the publisher (info@tyrpublishing.com) to receive a printed media kit and sample copy of the book. More articles available at http://www.bakingchristmascookies.com

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: alone, Christmas, Depression, holidays, mental health, Relationships, self improvement, self help

Who Is Really Responsible For Our Health – Our Doctor Or Us?

October 12, 2010 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By Carolyn Hansen -

We have always been told to see our doctor about our health, yet we go to see them when we are sick or when we feel there is something not right. So really, our doctor treats our sickness. They are trained to diagnose and treat sickness and if they say we are well and healthy it really means we are not sick or that things have not got so bad that they can find actual disease symptoms.

They tell us to get checks, tests and screening for signs of early disease yet this has nothing to do with our health. They are still looking for disease and if they find it early enough they hope to be able to treat it with modern medicine. How can they call this ‘health care’?

But true health is more than not being sick or an absence of disease. It is really an abundance of energy, vitality and peak performance both physically and mentally. It is about emotional balance – of being happy with ones lot in life regardless of what life has dished out or what ones age is.

Real heath gives you the ability to fight off disease and illness, you do not get colds, and you do not suffer from preventable diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes or any of the other dozens of ‘lifestyle’ diseases that rob the health of so many people. Your healthy body allows you to enjoy a health span that matches your long and healthy life span, rather than a life cut short after many years of pain, disability and ill health.

Many people do not have real health or have not experienced it for a long time. They put up with aches and pains, of being overweight and sluggish. They put up with a lack of body strength and vigor, of energy and vitality. They go from day to day barely feeling alive, tired and struggling to make it through the day.

These people could be called the ‘walking wounded’ as many have poor health with symptoms ranging from mildly irritating to massively intrusive and debilitating. How do we think that these problems are the responsibility of our doctor?

How can we just drift along without taking responsibility for our own health until something goes wrong then off to the doctor to get it fixed (if we are lucky)? This is not taking responsibility. Our doctor is the breakdown service – we are responsible for our own health. We have to do the maintenance and eating processed foods and living a no exercise lifestyle is not proper maintenance of our health.

Around 50 percent of people in our modern world have a chronic disease or ailment; many have multiple conditions. When are we going to wake up? We have now left a legacy to children being born today of a lessened life span of 20-30 years less than ours today. We should collectively be ashamed of this.

Most diseases are caused by the lifestyle choices we make each and every day particularly to do with healthy eating and proper exercise. The problem is it is much easier to put off actually doing these things until tomorrow. For so many people tomorrow never comes.

So what are you doing? How many processed low quality foods do you eat in the course of the day? How many muscle building and maintaining exercise sessions do you do each week? Just two would be enough so it is not a lot to ask.

You should be taking the health messages to heart, and if they are not all part of your life now, you should be making changes and gradually introducing them so that they become so. The truth is that our health (or lack of it) is down to each of us and the choices we make every day. We really do need to take good care of our body as it is the only place we have to live.

Do you want to discover the secret to rejuvenating your body, regaining lost vitality and improving the quality of your life? Download my free ebook “I’ve Found the Fountain of Youth – Let Me Show You Too!” http://www.over50looking30.com

Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner who in her nearly 30 years of fitness and bodybuilding competition experience she has helped thousands of people start their journey towards losing weight, becoming strong, fit and youthful at any age.

Sign up for her free newsletter on Weight Loss Tips http://FitnessWeightloss.com and get her free report “Discover ‘Secrets’ That Most People Will Never Know About To Really Lose Weight”.

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: health span, ill health, mental health, poor health, proper exercise, self improvement, strength training exercise

Laugh – The Healing Power of Laughter

July 31, 2010 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By Wambui Bahati -

“If you can laugh at it, you can live with it.”

- Erma Bombeck

Norman Cousins is often described as the man who laughed himself back to health. According to his autobiography, Norman Cousins-a prominent political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate-was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful spine condition. He put himself on large doses of vitamin C and humor-which included watching a lot of Marks Brothers’ movies. He says, “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain free sleep. When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again, and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

We all know how good it feels to laugh. Have you ever “laughed ’til it hurts?” Well, perhaps that’s a sign that those laughing muscles are not used often enough. Whenever possible and appropriate, laugh. Don’t laugh at the expense of someone else’s feelings. A healthy laugh requires a healthy attitude. A hearty laugh should embrace those around you, not alienate them.

I love to laugh. Whenever I’m feeling down, I just start smiling. There is no way you can feel bad, sad or depressed if you force yourself to smile and laugh. Try it! Yeah, right now. Doesn’t that feel great? Drs. Gael Crystal and Patrick Flanagan, authors of the article entitled Laughter-Still the Best Medicine (1995), say, “Laughter is a form of internal jogging that exercises the body and stimulates the release of beneficial brain neurotransmitters and hormones. Positive outlook and laughter is actually good for our health!”

Try to see the humor in day to day situations you might find yourself in. Don’t be overly sensitive to what someone says or to another person’s point of view.

“So, how many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one-but it will take a long, long time, and the light bulb has got to really want to change“. – Unknown

Wambui Bahati “Miss Inspiration” is a professional speaker, entertainer and lifestyle coach. She is the author of the important, inspiring and highly acclaimed book: “You Don’t Know Crazy – My Life Before, During, After, Above and Beyond Mental Illness.” http://www.wambui-bahati.com/

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: benefits of laughter, Laugh, laughter, mental health, Wambui Bahati, You Don't know Crazy

Physical Fitness and Mental Health and Wellbeing Are Closely Linked

May 28, 2010 By Guest Contributor 2 Comments

By Carolyn Hansen

We are all aware of the physical benefits of a structured exercise program. Stronger muscles, joints and bones, better body weight control, protection from disease and a slowing of the aging process. But we tend to think of fitness as stopping at the neck and it is easy to forget that our brain is the central processing unit for the systems and processes of the human body and its health is important for our well being.

Often our mental and emotional health is taken for granted and it is easy to believe that its well-being is out of our hands. But the fact is that our mental health is closely linked to our physical health and if you have physical ill-health you can have mental ill-health as well. Research is uncovering this link and the importance of physical activity as both a preventative and healing medicine for our mental and emotional heath and well-being.

It has been estimated that one person in every group of five people has a diagnosable mental disorder. This means approximately 20 percent of the population is experiencing symptoms of mental impairment. Mental illness is a bigger disease burden than that caused by all cancers put together and by 2020 is will be the highest cause of death and disability in the world.

The human body was build to be active – very active. Vigorous movement is the body’s way of staying healthy as ‘growth and repair’ hormones are stimulated when our muscles are challenged regularly. Without these hormones chemicals tell the cells and tissues to decay, degenerate and die.

This is what happens when we live an inactive and sedentary lifestyle which 8 out of 10 people do. They do not get enough muscle building and maintaining activity to remain healthy and end up with a premature and preventable physical and mental disease.

When our body carries out the vigorous physical movement that we are designed to do it makes us feel good about ourselves as when we work our muscles natural chemicals are released that regulate and calm emotions, dissipating anxiety and stress. Proper exercise oils the wheels in our brain and boosts its activity affecting everything from the way we think, to how we feel and what we do.

If you are in a cycle of negative thoughts and worries you can use your exercise sessions as a distraction to take your mind off this pattern of behavior. Doing something positive to manage anxiety or depression is a healthy coping strategy

When we get our blood pumping with proper strength training exercise it benefits every cell, tissue and organ. Oxygen and nutrient rich blood stimulates energy in our body and gives the software in our brain a boost as well. This is why you feel a million dollars after an exercise session.

You can be rejuvenated almost instantly no matter if you are tired, fatigued or stressed. It is virtually impossible to continue feeling these things when you are strong and fit. Try it and see for yourself and let exercise help you feel so much better.

If you are looking to lose weight permanently go to Fitness Weight Loss for a free ebook and check out the new Hot Metabolism Fitness System.

Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner who coaches clients to look and feel younger. In her nearly 30 years of fitness and bodybuilding competition experience she has helped thousands of people start their journey towards being strong, fit and youthful at any age.

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Filed Under: Emotional Health, Health, Physical Health Tagged With: mental health, mental ill-health, physical health, proper exercise, strength, strength training exercise

The Three Types of Health We All Need

November 11, 2009 By Guest Contributor 1 Comment

By Guy Blews -

When we hear the word health, we probably think first of our physical health… Our mental health and our financial health come second and third.

But, as with all things, we should look for balance in life; and although our physical health is the most important of the three, it is good to realize that one without the other two does not make for a great life. We have to maintain all three if we are going to have the optimum existence; we must work at all three if we are to find any sort of peace in our daily lives.

Our physical health is the basis to our daily ability of movement and general achievement. If we are not physically healthy, it will effect both our mental and our financial health; if we feel unwell or unable, then we are mentally challenged through each day to overcome the pain we endure and the lack of movement we battle against. Added to this, we are less likely to be on our game when it comes to earning money and we are more likely to spend our time in medical treatment centers which will cost us money.

When it comes to our mental health, we are dealing with emotions, the most notoriously difficult aspect of our existence, the hardest thing to overcome, the most powerful part of any human; if we can learn to control or come to terms with our emotions then we have the ability to achieve anything; our mind is our strongest ally when it works for us and our biggest enemy when it conspires against us, it is the one thing we have with us all the time, chattering away, telling us that we can (or cannot) do something; our mind has the ability to cause illness or avoid illness, it has the strength to give us the adrenaline to enact feats of heroism or collapse into moments of weakness and desperation. Positive mental health is imperative if we are to be happy.

Financial health is the least important of the three, yet it has the power to breed confidence. If we are financially stable we have the ability to enjoy many forms of freedom, to experience numerous ways of life, to devour unending types of pleasure. However, the imbalance of financial ‘success’ can also cause enormous amounts of stress, the responsibilities mount up with the assets, the inequalities with our mental and physical health can grow more acute with the financial burdens. The other end of the scale is no more attractive – financial poverty often leads to mental and physical poverty too. Balance is essential if we are to find what we truly desire.

To achieve the balance required, to come to a place of physical, mental and financial health is not easy. We are (as in so many things) ‘miseducated’ about what we truly need and what we can truly do without; we are not encouraged to find a balance in life, we are generally pushed towards one type of health or the other by those around us or that voice within us, given a specific life goal we have to achieve at the expense of finding a healthy balance in all three.

Physical health is very possible by doing a few simple things; drink water, lots of it – not sodas, fruit drinks, power drinks or alcoholic drinks; exercise regularly – and by that I mean do something for your body everyday, stretch, yoga, weights, walk, run, swim, whatever, but something that raises your temperature, that gets the blood flowing and the fat burning, you will be glad you did; eat small amounts but often, begin to change your 3 meal a day habit – snack on healthy foods, eat fruits, vegetables and proteins and vary your diet so it becomes a lifestyle not a fad. If you do these three things, then you can also splurge on the treats like alcohol once in a while, resting after exercise and candy every few days (not hours); once you begin to exercise properly and ingest food regularly your body’s metabolism will work constantly and will devour whatever you put into it so that even the ‘bad things’ disappear more quickly, and either way, you will notice an improvement in your energy levels and a rise in your self esteem. But, as I said, it has to become a way of life, not a momentary fad, and as it becomes a way of life it will become easier and easier to continue being healthy.

Mental health is achievable by being objective with your life. Humans are a very subjective species (meaning that we see a situation from our point of view without looking at it from the outside); and this subjectivity renders us helpless when it comes to overcoming our emotions; we must learn to see the bigger picture, and if we are able to do that we are able to see that we cannot control another human’s actions, we cannot force the world to bend to our will, we will always be confronted with obstacles and we will always have to avoid drama; that is just the way it is. So, knowing that, it suddenly becomes easier to accept change, to accept that each day we will have to keep our cool and work out a solution rather than trying to force life to be what we wish it was. It is imperative that we accept life for what it is, and then we can foresee most of the problems, issues and dramas that seem to blind side us so regularly. If we go forward hoping for the best but prepared for the worst then we go forth with a positive attitude and we are not horrified or defeated the moment something ‘unexpected’ comes our way because we were prepared to deal with whatever life throws at us. Simplifying a life is the best way to be at peace mentally; learning to eliminate unnecessary objects, people or occasions is the easiest way to find a life with balance which in turn will create mental stability and mental health.

Being financially independent is important; and we can all do it if we put our mind to it; no matter what socio-economic class you might come from it is possible to live in a home that is clean, efficient and attractive without having to go into debt, without having to stretch yourself to the limits. But it does come with the need for balance, and the self control to realize what you can and cannot afford at this time. For example there is no point having a television if you cannot pay your rent or afford a car; there is no point burdening yourself with the expense of cable if it means you cannot pay for gas or insurance on your car. And if you cannot afford a TV, then go to the library and read – you will learn more and you will grow more. Spend less and you don’t have to work so hard, learn to enjoy the simple pleasures again, realize that all of the best things in life are free and the all of a sudden you will come up with interesting ways to pass your time, more satisfying ways to spend your life, think outside the financial box, try to do things differently from the way you were taught, look at how the world really works and then question any choices you make to make sure they are right for you (not just what everyone else does), save a little and enjoy alot, be wise with your purchases, don’t buy something for the momentary buzz or screw someone over for the profit you think you gain, begin to re-work the way you employ yourself and try to work at a career you love, not just a job that makes you money – once you find financial balance you will feel a weight lifted off your mind. Financial freedom is possible with a little self discipline. On the other end of the scale, the need to be excessively wealthy will only impact your mental and physical health in the end, for your financial health will only be maintained if you spend an improper amount of time maintaining it at the expense of your physical activities and your mental capabilities. Being financially healthy requires balance, self discipline and the ability to see what you can and cannot afford to burden yourself with.

Your health is essential if you are to live with freedom; your physical health allows you the freedom to go wherever you may so desire; your mental health gives you the freedom to be alone or to surround yourself with positive energy; your financial health buys you the freedom of experience. Maintain each of these; decide to change the inbuilt ‘miseducation’ of the past and work out a new and easier way to exist.

Anything is possible if you choose health.

Guy Blews

Guy Blews is the author of ‘Marriage & How To Avoid It’ and is the instigator of Realistic Relationships. He has a blog at http://www.RealisticRelationships.com and his latest book, ‘Realistic Relationships’ is designed to help you find optimum balance and health in every aspect of life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Guy_Blews

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Financial Health, Health, Physical Health Tagged With: Financial Health, mental health, physical health

Is Mental Health Illness Or Well Being?

September 1, 2009 By Guest Contributor 2 Comments

By Peter Damien Ryan -

What does your mind conjure up when you see the words ‘mental health’? Yes, the phrase does reek with all sorts of connotations doesn’t it!

When you think of the phrase Mental Health ….. is it about
People who are strange or not normal.
Mental illness is a stigma or label to be avoided or kept quiet about
Referring to issues of incapacity of the mind and behaviour
A term that is a label to describe insanity, madness, weird people
Pathologies like depression, schizophrenia.
Or even the Mental Health department in your State’s Health Department?

The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

Not the first thing that comes into many people’s minds with that phrase is it?

Part of the problem is the actual term ‘mental health’ – it conjures up images of illness, yet the word health is the opposite of illness – if we have health, we have wellness, not illness.

Formally, it is a term used to describe either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

The problem lies in the term itself – it is not accurately descriptive of what it means
So perhaps mental wellbeing or wellness is more to the point when encouraging or doing something positive about your own inner health.

Mental health can also be defined as an absence of a major mental condition (for example, one of the diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, IV) though recent evidence stemming from positive psychology suggests mental health is more than the mere absence of a mental disorder or illness. Therefore the impact of social, cultural, physical and education can all affect someone’s mental health.

We live in a society that takes great care of physical health or well being/wellness – look at the tremendous technological, pharmaceutical and research advances occurring every day.

Consider all the resources for physical health we have put before us constantly – weight loss programs and diets, gyms and exercise programs, fitness activities, sports, obesity concerns, nutritional supplements and so on.

Yet where is the equivalent education and push for mental well being? We readily take steps to ensure we avoid infections, injury and organic conditions (e.g. heart) – yet what do we do to avoid negative effects on our mental wellness ?

So do you think of your own mental health? And take care of it?

This is critically important when you consider that depression and anxiety affect so many, let alone more serious mental illness diagnoses.

In families, do we put as much conscious focus on mental well being as we do on physical health. Many know lots about good physical well being activities, but are we as informed about good mental health equivalents as we raise and teach our kids.

And, what State doesn’t have under-funded mental health department?

We have lost the concept of an holistic approach to our bodies, lives and society. We too readily compartmentalize – and put mental health into the too hard basket or simply neglect it.

We have ‘abnormalized’ mental health, instead of seeing it as important to our well being and a normal part of life – even if someone suffers from a mental illness.

People who suffer adverse mental well being conditions are still ‘normal’ people – just as an injured person is ‘normal, or just as a deaf person is normal.

Peter Damien Ryan

See us at Mental Health Center.org for information on Depression and Anxiety [http://mental-health-center.org]Click to be better informed

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Damien_Ryan

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Health, Intellectual Health Tagged With: Happiness, mental health, self improvement, well-being

Mental Health Maintenance Is Made Simple

March 18, 2009 By Guest Contributor 1 Comment

By Cliff Kuhn, M.D. -

Your mental health is often drastically improved when you use the techniques Dr. Kuhn teaches in this article. When you are able to experience this improvement, your relationships blossom, career paths open, and people find you attractive and accessible. You deserve to have fun and joy in your life – and Cliff Kuhn, M.D. will help you do that.

In the classic Frank Capra film, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey’s mental health is overwhelmed by the difficulties of his life and he wishes he’d never been born. George’s guardian angel grants his wish and takes him to a grim reality as it would’ve been without him. George feels nothing when he reaches into his coat pocket to retrieve the flower his daughter, Zuzu, placed there – and that’s when George knows that his wish has come true…he’s never been born.

Wishing she had never been born, Roberta became my patient, seeking desperately to improve her mental health. Like the fictional George Bailey character, Roberta’s depression and anxiety had grown so strong as to threaten her ability to lead any semblance of a normal life. Fortunately for Roberta, she soon discovered exactly why the natural medicine of humor is one of the most powerful adjunctive treatments for improving mental health, because humor literally pours water on the fire of depression and anxiety.

Roberta is not alone. As many as 35% of all Americans suffer from depression and anxiety, the twins that make mental health elusive for millions. Your depression and anxiety is exacerbated by your seriousness – taking yourself too seriously. As we move into adulthood, we unfortunately buy into the notion that responsible and productive people must be “serious.” As we make the biggest mistake of our lives and relegate our humor nature and fun to recreational activities (if we experience fun at all), we doom ourselves to all the symptoms of the corresponding seriousness that fills the void – declining health, rising stress, increased pain, lessened energy, impaired creativity, and more.

The good news for your mental health, however, is that we know how to shrink your deadly seriousness to practically nothing and reduce almost completely the sway it holds over your health, vitality, wellness, and zest. The natural medicine of humor is an incredibly powerful resource that you already possess; you’ve only forgotten how to use it to maximum effectiveness. You will soon discover that, while not a panacea, the natural medicine of humor is a tremendous tonic for depression or anxiety and will also supercharge other treatments because it is an amazing adjunctive medicine too!

I have distilled the natural medicine of humor, through my years of medical practice, into an amazing prescription I call The Fun Factor. Based on what I learned over twenty years ago from a terminally ill fifteen-year-old patient, I created a unique set of principles I call the Fun Commandments, then forged these Commandments into my Fun Factor prescription and have been prescribing The Fun Factor with great success for years. This report will show you how to use just three of my Fun Commandments to turn your mental health around, and gain new joy, pleasure, and appreciation from your life!

Improve Your Mental Health Using My Fun Factor Prescription

Step One: Always Go the Extra Smile

The first Fun Commandment I recommend for improved mental health is: Always Go the Extra Smile. This Commandment is doubly helpfully for depression and anxiety because not only does it provide measurable emotional and physical relief, but it also is completely under your control – regardless of your circumstances. Because smiling remains totally under your control, it can be your greatest resource for using humor’s natural medicine to accelerate your mental health.

Smiling produces measurable physical benefits you can experience immediately: your stress decreases, your immunity improves, your pain and frustration tolerances increase, and your creativity soars. And guess what? You experience all these benefits even if your smile is “fake.” That’s right…forcing a smile onto your face perks up your immune system and lightens your mood just as readily as a genuine smile. Fake a smile and you’ll soon feel well enough to wear a real one!

This is great news for your proactive stance on sustainable mental health. You have an amazing amount of pre-emptive control over your mood – you can, literally, choose more energy and happiness. The key for your use of this Fun Commandment in enhancing your mental health is to start practicing right now, so that smiling becomes an entrenched, habitual method of accessing the natural medicine of humor. If you wait to smile until your mental health has taken a turn for the worse, and depression or anxiety has taken hold of you, it will not be as effective.

Step Two: Act and Interact

Smiling leads us right into the second Fun Commandment you’ll find instrumental in maintaining your mental health: Act and Interact. Humor’s natural medicine works best when we are sharing ourselves and this Commandment will teach you how to capitalize on the control you’ve taken over your physiology and mood by smiling. Acting and interacting is now easier for you to do because you’re smiling more. Not only is your mood improved, but your smile is also a pleasant invitation to other people.

My suggestion is that you solidify the power of this Commandment by setting a reasonable goal regarding the number of people you will interact with each day. These social interactions are great for your mental health, forcing you to exchange information and ideas with another person. Combined with your commitment to smiling, your interactions should be pleasant, because your heightened energy, lessened pain, and lowered stress levels are very attractive to others.

Beyond keeping you out of isolation, there is another reason why acting and interacting with the people you encounter fosters improved mental health. It allows you to avoid spiritual “flat tires.” Spiritual flat tires occur when you sidestep, or avoid, an interaction that is about to happen naturally – you duck into an office to avoid encountering someone in a hallway or you don’t answer the phone because you don’t want to talk to the person calling. This type of avoidance drains and deletes your reservoir of powerful natural energy and siphons your mental health reserves.

Have you ever noticed that it usually takes you twice as much mental and physical energy to avoid doing a job than you would have expended just doing it? It also takes twice the energy to avoid acting and interacting with the people who cross your path because you are, in effect, saying, “I’m going to correct the mistake that nature made by putting this person in my path and I’m going to correct it by being mentally and spiritually negligent.” Mental and spiritual negligence have the same effect as physical negligence (isn’t it strange how you get tired if you don’t exercise?). If your mental health can afford to allow this much energy to be drained, then you have a much bigger reservoir than I!

But spiritual flat tires do more than drain our energy, they are detrimental in at least two additional ways:

We miss out on an interaction with a teacher. If nature didn’t have a lesson for you, that person you just avoided would not have been placed in your path. You say that the person you just avoided was a negative influence or would’ve wasted your time? I know we have legitimate schedules to keep, but if I am avoiding people based on my prejudgment of them, I’m cutting myself off from my greatest teachers – those very same people.
We all learn tolerance from the intolerant, patience from the impatient, temperance from the intemperate, gentleness from the ruffian, etc. I am supremely grateful for those teachers and the lessons they give me.

We create a small, nagging spiritual void of dishonesty, the kind of dishonesty that keeps us from laying our heads down with complete peace of mind each night. Our spiritual flat tire is caused by the pothole our avoidance created; it is a natural consequence, or symptom, of our spiritual dishonesty. These consequences clutter our lives with mental and emotional baggage that further drains us of our energy and vitality.

Step Three: Celebrate Everything

The third Fun Commandment which will help you use the natural medicine of humor to charge up your mental health is: Celebrate Everything. Celebrating everything may sound like a monumental task to someone who’s mental health isn’t up to par, but you will find this part of my doctor’s orders much easier to fulfill once you start practicing my first two Commandments. In fact, celebrating everything is more than a maintenance step providing sustainable mental health. It will also become your lifestyle, the more you practice it, because you will enjoy the results so much.

How do you celebrate everything and how will this keep your mental health on the upswing? The epitome of this Commandment is found in the old joke about the boy who wanted a pony for his birthday. Instead, he found a room full of manure waiting for him. But he dove right into the dung, gleefully exclaiming, “With all this manure, there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”

Laugh as we might, we’re quick to remember that, as adults, we would never allow ourselves such “naive” enthusiasm. Why not? Do you realize what is behind such a “grown up,” “mature” decision? Your deadly seriousness (taking yourself too seriously) encourages the attitude that a mature adult should not let herself be so optimistic and thus mental health is jeopardized.

We could do more than chuckle at this birthday boy’s unabashed optimism – we should emulate it! When was the last time you encountered an unexpected pile of manure in your life? You had absolutely no control over the mess, right? But you had absolute control over your reaction to it and this is the key to using celebration to keep your mental health improved!

When you celebrate everything, the natural medicine of humor creates spiritual, emotional, and mental health like nothing you’ve felt before. You will find that your fears become much less controlling when you are celebrating everything because it no longer matters so much how things turn out. In fact, you are literally ready for anything because you are prepared to find the blessing in whatever happens.

My daughter-in-law, for example, broke her back last year. My son, who is often my model for the embodiment of my Fun Commandments, can tick off a laundry list of blessings his family has received as a direct result of his wife’s “tragedy.” Not that his mental health hasn’t been challenged, but faced with the choice of depression and anxiety over an event he couldn’t control versus finding the blessings waiting for him, he has chosen the latter.

The choice to celebrate everything is not a panacea; my son’s choice did not change the reality of his wife’s injury. What did change, however, was his ability to respond to the injury and, thus, keep his mental health on an even keel. Celebrating everything changes our lives because it allows us to positively control the only things we have control over – our actions, ideas, and attitudes.

There you have it. Start by going the extra smile, use your newfound smiling energy and vitality to act and interact with people, and celebrate everything to maintain your positive momentum. Say good-bye to imprisonment from depression and anxiety and welcome to your new world of improved mental health!
Start Using The Fun Factor to Improve Your Mental Health…Right Now

Here are some simple, easy steps you can take right now to turbo-charge your mental health.

Subscribe to my Fun Times newsletter. The Fun Times is all about using your natural power of humor to increase the quality of your life – including your mental health. The Fun Times is 100% free, and is delivered instantly, every week, to your email inbox. If you sign up now, I’ll also throw in a copy of my “Stop Your Seriousness” Ecourse and my book, Ten Ways You Can Be Happier…Right Now! which will show you how you can use my Fun Factor prescription in your life to increase your mental health!

Check out The Fun Factor. This prescription has changed so many lives for the better – it would be a shame if you passed it up. Check it out here if you’re sick of wishing for mental health and want to finally achieve your greatest mental health!

My patient Roberta, by the way, learned to use these three Fun Commandments – and the rest of my Fun Factor prescription. She has enjoyed the same job for three years now and was recently engaged to be married. Roberta occasionally has setbacks, as most people suffering from depression or anxiety do. But, her mental health has never been stronger as she continues to apply The Fun Factor to her life.

In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is so shocked by the grim vision of a world without him that he decides he wants to live again and begs to return. He knows he is back when he finds Zuzu’s flower petals in his coat pocket again.

Let this article be like finding Zuzu’s petals. Move forward today with a new, positive outlook on your improved mental health by using my Fun Factor prescription.

Clifford Kuhn, M.D., America’s Laugh Doctor, teaches people and organizations to be more healthy and successful through the use of fun and humor. A psychiatrist, and the former associate chairperson of the University of Louisville’s renowned Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Kuhn now dispenses his prescription for turbo-charging your health, success, and vitality from http://www.natural-humor-medicine.com/EZA3 On his website you will find tons of fun, free ways for you to maximize your sense of humor, and enjoy a life others will envy.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cliff_Kuhn,_M.D.

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Health, Intellectual Health Tagged With: Humor, laughter, mental health, Self Improvement

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