Having a Bad Day, is Ok!

We all have days we want to just stay in bed.  Or days, where we can’t stay in bed, because of our minds are racing going over all the things we should have done, wish we could do, and so on.  Days that are just off, or days that are stressful, days were we worry too much.  Dr. David Burns states, “One minute of feeling upset is okay. Or an hour, a day, or a week. But I don’t want my patients to have to struggle with weeks, months, years or decades of misery.  I always tell my patients that we are all entitled to five happy days per week. If you aren’t having your five happy days, you need a little mental “tune-up! But if you’re having more than five happy days per week, that could be a problem,…” Blog post 2017-03-10, “Feeling Good” retrieved 2018-05-30 from: https://feelinggood.com/2017/03/10/is-it-possible-to-be-happy-all-the-time/

I had one of those days recently.  I am currently in a life transition and I find myself worrying about things I care about like friends and family who are struggling with life issues.  What if you listed all the good things about your sadness, stress, or anxiety? Like this: my worry about my friends and family says I care, I love them.  It reveals my thoughts are of them and I want what’s good for them.  It reminds me to make them a priority and not let life just float past.  These are all positive things and since my worry only lasts a day or two, I can accept and embrace it instead of being more anxious because I have a little worry in my life. 

Fear of fear, anxious of worry, frustrated about being angry. Worrying about negative feelings is a curse we all face at some point.  Maybe we recognize it, maybe we don’t.  Understanding that negative feelings are not all bad is a great step in finding true inner peace and happiness.  Struggles are part of life, and in fact, often make us better people.  They can remind us to look outside ourselves for a source of strength we can rely on, like spirituality.  For me that is a loving creator God.  What is your external strength? Can you rely on it?

Visit www.BodyMindHealthCoach.com and take our free course “Optimal Health” to learn more about the science of spirituality and how it affects your happiness, quality of life, and how long you live.

Coping With Information Overload

I had a client recently who came to me to learn more about plant based nutrition, as many do.  They had concerns about whether or not they were eating right because of various symptoms they had.  In the course of our sessions, she discovered one of her biggest issues was actually information overload.  While, she did need help with menu planning, the heart of the matter wasn't food but rather trying to wade through all the things in her life that demanded her attention.  Believe it or not, information can put some of most intense demands on you.

We are constantly bombarded with a myriad of useless facts, family updates, intense controversies, pseudoscience, and more on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google.  Add to that shopping, like cereal choices at the grocery store, choices on which store to shop at, keeping track of sales, etc. and that's only TWO aspects of your life that flood you with information.  What about work, recreation, family, and other more important parts of life?

This all adds up to stress or stressors that are all around us every day, day after day.  How do we cope with this flood of facts, stories, questions, decisions?  It will vary from person to person.  You may choose to limit the time you spend online, for example I only go on Facebook a couple times a week. Or limit the sources you know to be accurate so you're not spending more time trying to figure out if what you are reading is true or false. These help me tremendously.  Others find meditation or relaxation techniques helpful.

Learn more about stress and stress management with our online course "Cooling Down Stress" which comes with an e-book and videos, regular priced $100, SALE 90% off, for only $10 OR get all our courses for $1 for one month.  Use coupon: blog90 when you check out. Click here to learn more.

Angela Poch, CN

Good Mood Weather or Not!

The sun was shining yesterday, and as I soaked it in, I realized how much the weather affects our mood.  From Seasonal Affective Disorder to the grey day blues, we are often influenced by the world around us, even when we don't realize it.  So how can we combat the rainy day blues?

Before we talk about that, let's have a little look at the research to see if this phenomenon is even real or just a misperception. According to an article in Web MD, "If you feel down during a downpour, it’s not your imagination: Bad weather can indeed have a negative effect on your emotions. According to one study, nearly 9 percent of people fall into the “rain haters” category."1

A second article in PsychCentral confirms there maybe something to this. "There’s a fair amount of research in this area (more than the 3 or 4 studies mentioned in the blog), and I think the overall preponderance of evidence suggests that weather can have more than just a “little effect” on your mood." 2  This same author writes a follow up article stating there is evidence on weather and mood and how that actually affects us, IE: heat and crime, rain and depression, sunshine and good moods.3  Dr Mercola also shares some references about the way weather affects us as well as ways to combat it in this article: How the Weather Can Affect Your Mood.

Ok, there's at least there is enough evidence to suggest we look at it further, after all we know health is a complex and interconnected process.  So what can we do about it? First of all we can take advantage of good weather.  Don't put off that nature walk because you're too busy, because you can't control when the sun is shining.  I did NOT want to go out kayaking yesterday because I was so tired.  We had just spent several hours doing some brain activities combined with a drive home from town and all I wanted to do was sleep.  But my son, turning 18 soon, wanted to go and I have enough for site to know time with our kids is short, so I mustered up the effort to get in the truck after the guys loaded the boats and off we went.  Once I got out on the water in that beautiful sunshine my fatigue melted away.  That's not to say I was all of a sudden roaring around the lake, but the oppressive weight of tiredness was gone. 

We can also enjoy the good weather after it has passed.  Yup, even photos of gorgeous scenery can improve mood. The previous article from Dr Mercola.com states, "When photos of green spaces were seen after the math test, the parasympathetic nervous system was activated and lowered heart rates."4

So, take the time to take it in when the going is good and save those memories for a rainy day with well framed images of those pleasant moments.  To learn more about how you can improve your mood, lengthen your life, and enjoy better health through positive lifestyle choices, take our free course "Optimal Health" www.BodyMindHealthCoach.com 

Angela Poch

References:


1. Taylor, Julie. “Can Rainy Days Really Get You Down?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-rainy-days-really-get-you-down#1.

2. Grohol, J. (2008). Weather Can Change Your Mood. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 12, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/weather-can-change-your-mood/

3. Grohol, J. (2014). Can Weather Affect Your Mood?. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 12, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-weather-affect-your-mood/ 

4. Mercola.com, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/03/31/weather-affects-mood.aspx.