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Heart Health: Five Fast Facts That’ll Grab Your Attention

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Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli and Vanilla Almond Milk

Whether you’re 19 yrs old, 79 yrs old, or 29 like me (glances over shoulder for lightning bolt), it would be foolish not to start paying more attention to your heart and its well-being.  Today works for me, how about you?!

Fast Facts about Heart Health:

  1. Heart disease is the number 1 killer of American women. Number 1.
  2. Secondhand smoke kills.  While in a smoke-filled room, the blood vessels of a nonsmoker are as damaged as those of a person who smokes 2 packs a day.
  3. Know the signs of a heart attack:  chest discomfort, shortness of breath, pressure in the upper abdomen, unusual fatigue, pressure in the neck, jaw and arm, sweating, light-headedness, and fainting.
  4. A spokeswoman for the American Heart Association warns that a person might actually experience signs of an impending heart attack as much as 6 weeks beforehand.  She warns anyone experiencing less intense versions of the symptoms above to see the doctor without hesitation.
  5. If you have heart disease – or are at risk – the American Heart Association recommends that you do the following every day:
  • Exercise – it reduces heart attacks risk by 25 – 30 percent.
  • Eat oatmeal
  • Add an ounce of flaxseed to your cereal
  • Take baby aspirin
  • Use your head when you choose your bread.  White bread (and pasta, for that matter) make insulin levels spike.  This can eventually damage the blood vessels leading to your heart.  Whole grains are metabolized more slowly – no spiking, making them a much healthier choice.

Find a wealth of heart healthy advice and information on The American Heart Association.

 

Surprising Source of Motivation

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Leo the Lion

I can’t say that I totally believe in astrology – but I don’t let a day go by without reading my horoscope.

Before I go any further, I want to say that there are aspects to astrology that I do believe in, I just don’t personally think the stars hold our destiny.  That responsibility is ours.

That said, I love reading horoscopes like some people love reading comics!  They’re always entertaining and, every now and again, they’re downright motivation. Some of the best advice, inspiration, and motivation lies within these daily postings.

I guess you could say that I believe in their potency but not their prophecy.

Take, for example, part of my horoscope for today:  Someone may be prodding you to take action today, dear Leo. It may be best if you beat them to it and just motivate yourself.  I love it when my daily horoscope gives me a mini lecture.  This is one I needed, too.  I tend to be far too laid back – I got that from my dad, along with low blood pressure, outrageous allergies, a tendency to get  a sunburn – even in the shade, a green thumb, mad cooking skills, and a WILD addiction to coffee.

I try to work on this particular area because it irritates me  (the overly laid back bit, I embrace the coffee addiction). I just don’t seem capable of taking enough initiatives in life – I let far too many things just float by and then I wonder, “Why didn’t I do this…” or “Why didn’t I do that….”

Of course, being laid back has it’s perks. Again, like my dad, it takes a lot to make me mad. In a world where people get furious over having to stand in line for 5 minutes, it’s kind of cool to keep your cool.

It’s as though everyone’s psyche has its own persona.  Mine?  She’s somewhere between a beachcomber, a coffee-shop beatnik, and a Bohemian flower child.  I’m the one that if someone short-changes them a dollar, let’s it go and figures that life keeps score and I’ll find one down the road somewhere.

Anyway, for some reason, reading this horoscope today has given me new determination to try and become more self-motivated – to sort of “take it” to life rather than letting life “take it” to me.

I certainly wouldn’t have opened up those avenues of thought on my own.  My daily horoscope does that just about every day – gives me food for thought with a side order of motivation. Most of the time it’s just what I ordered, and sometimes (like today) it’s so good I hadn’t even had the sense TO order it.

Free advice and motivation?  Hard to beat.

 

Pushing vs. Pulling

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As a dreamologist, I hear and read about a lot of dreams – literally hundreds a month.  I’m not a “You will meet a mysterious stranger who will be wearing stripes on the second Thursday of next month” dream prophet or anything as exotic as that.  I think of myself more as a dream analyst – I can decipher the meanings behind dreams….. the symbolism behind the dream and what, if anything, should be taken away from the dream.

A lot of study, research, and hands-on training has gone into this craft and I enjoy it almost as much as anything I do.

The greatest part of it is working with people, hearing what’s on their minds, what’s bothering them….and helping whenever I can.  The work and study are more than worth it when I get the e-mails thanking me for the insight and help. I’ve heard from the most colorful and amazing people in the world through my dream site and dream blog. It’s a shame I’m not a science fiction writer, I’d have enough material for several lifetimes!

I’ve noticed that a common theme for dreams centers around relationships.  A person who is grieving, for example, will often have incredibly vivid and troubling dreams, as the mind tries desperately to heal itself from the pain it feels.

Someone who has had a break-up, which is also a form of grief, will often have recurring dreams about this person.  Again, the mind tries to come to terms with a situation it isn’t comfortable with.

Something that amazes me about us (humans) is our knack to push ourselves.  We put so much pressure on ourselves to just move on and keep going – regardless of the circumstances.  I think we do ourselves more harm than good.

The really irritating thing is that we’ll tell others to “Take your time and heal.”  but we’ll tell ourselves, “Move on already!”  If only we’d be as understanding of and patient with ourselves as we are others.

Instead of pushing ourselves forward, sometimes I think it’s best to pull ourselves backward and just remember how to breathe.  Whatever situations we face – whether they’re grieving for a lost loved one, a lost relationship, or an empty nest – we should first ask ourselves what advice we’d give if someone we loved were facing this same situation.  Then, secondly, we should take our own advice.  I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t be, “Move on!”

We have to care for our psyche if we want our psyche to take care of us.

Whether we’re dealing with relationships, a healing process, or trying to motivate ourselves in our personal or professional life – it’s a good idea to check up on our approach from time to time.  Are we trying to push ourselves so hard that we aren’t even enjoying life?  Even worse, are we trying to push someone else so hard that THEY aren’t enjoying life?!

Very often, whether it’s YOU or THEM you’re pushing, you’re actually just making things worse. People generally respond to being pushed by digging in their heels. It’s just a natural, human reaction. We don’t want to be pushed unless we asked for a nudge!

Instead of always pushing, try pulling instead.

  • Pull back and evaluate the situation. Are you approaching it in the best way possible? In your “GO GO GO!” approach, have you overlooked something?
  • If you’re trying to help someone else, first ask yourself: “Is it even my place to help them?”  Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we overstep our boundaries and try to make decisions that aren’t our’s to make.
  • If this person does want and/or need your help, instead of pushing them, try to lead the way, then (if need be) reach back and gently pull them along.

Sure, there are times when pushing is better than pulling – pushing a child in a swing or orange sherbet up a “Push Up” – but more times than not, pulling is a much better approach.

Sleep Aids that Don’t Come in a Bottle

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Bo and Adam Sleeping
Have you ever been too tired to sleep?  Seems like an impossibility, until you’re right smack in the middle of the possible.  Maybe even worse is the feeling of not being able to turn your brain off long enough to drift off. I get bit by that one at least several times a month – when there are so many different things buzzing around my mind that I can nearly hear the buzz.  As a last resort, I have taken Benadryl before to halt the buzz and bring on the zzzzs, but I HATE having to fight through the mental fog it brings on the next day.  All the coffee in the world can’t totally make that fog lift.

From what I’ve heard, that’s a common problem for legitimate sleep aids as well.  Through research – as well as personal experience – I’ve found that there are plenty of natural ways to fall asleep. Sleep inducers that you control, all by yourself, are much better than having to rely on other methods.  For one thing, you’ll never “run out” and for another… no side effects!

Here are a few of the best ways to fall asleep naturally:

  1. Count backward from 500.  People who use this technique swear they never make it to the 200s.
  2. My favorite:  Focus all your attention and thoughts on relaxing each muscle of your body – starting with each of your toes, then working all the way up.  I’ve never, ever made it past my knees.
  3. Imagine that you’re in one of your all time favorite places, someplace relaxing, peaceful and calm.  Concentrate on feeling how you feel when there.  Mine would probably be lying on the warm white sand on Pensacola Beach, listening to the waves pounding the shore and the birds calling to the fish…using shells I’d found earlier in the day to draw pictures in the sand. Okay, it’s like a trillion degrees below zero where we live now and I just depressed myself.  Moving on!…
  4. Breathe deeply, concentrating on each breath.  Inhale and exhale deeply and slowly, try to mimic the sound and feel of “sleep breathing.”  Before long you won’t be faking it.
  5. Put a little lavender under your pillow.  Or you could use Downy’s Lavender and Vanilla fabric softener for your sheets and sleepwear – I use it religiously and it does have a relaxing effect on the senses.
  6. Falling asleep can be as easy as ABC. Choose a “category” subject (such as food, things you want to learn more about, actresses, actors, movies, animals…), then alphabetically list as many people, places, or things that fall under that category. Example: If you choose “food,” you’d start at A and list as many foods that begin with A that you can think of (apples, avocados, artichokes, asparagus), then move on to B (bananas, beets, beef).  When you do this trick, you probably won’t get very far in the alphabet – you may get hungry (especially around cookies, cupcakes, cake, cheesecake..), but that’s a chance you have to take!  Like the trick of focusing on relaxing your body parts, the whole idea is to simply focus on something other than falling asleep.

Here’s one I’m going to “list” separately because, quite frankly, it never works for me! The thing is, a lot of people say it’s their “go to” natural sleep inducer so I thought I’d list it. Maybe I’m the odd duck (wouldn’t be the first time), so this tip may actually work for you better than it does me:  Re-live or re-trace your day. Begin with getting out of bed in the morning, then on to breakfast, coffee, getting dressed, etc.  While, like a few of the examples above, this does require you to focus on something other than sleep – I inevitably run into the same type of issues: “Oh, man, I should have done this…” and “I’ll remember to do this tomorrow…” and “Why did I eat two cookies? Why not stop at one?”  You get the picture.  I don’t just re-trace my steps, I over examine them.

Why? Because I’m a pill.

However, give it a try – it may work for you.  Unless you’re a pill, too. 🙂

When all else fails, go to the couch and turn on the greatest sleep inducer of all – the weather channel.  Not that they’re boring…. they’re just so peaceful.  Come to think of it, the golf channel also tells a great bedtime story….

You Are What You Do

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You are what you do
I was doing research for an article on Chinese Proverbs when I came across a couple of writings by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.  I got so lost in her wisdom that I forgot about the article.

Below is a sample of what sidetracked my proverb-ial pursuit:

“You Are What You Do”  by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek

If the past has taught us anything it is that every cause brings its effect, every action has a consequence.  This thought, in my opinion, is the moral foundation of the universe; it applies equally in this world and the next.

We Chinese have a saying:  “If a man plants melons he will reap melons; if he sows beans, he will reap beans.”  And this is true of every man’s life; good begets good, and evil leads to evil.

True enough, the sun shines on the saint and the sinner alike, and too often it seems that the wicked wax and prosper.  But we can say with certitude that, with the individual as with the nation, the flouishing of the wicked is an illusion, for, unceasingly, life keeps books on us all.

In the end, we are all the sum total of our actions.  Character cannot be counterfeited, nor can it be put on and cast off as if it were a garment to meet the whim of the moment.  Like the markings on wood which are ingrained in the very heart of the tree, character requires time and nurture for growth and development.

Thus also, day by day, we write our own destiny; for inexorably we become what we do.  This, I believe, is the supreme logic and the law of life.

 Talk about proverbial wisdom.