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Coping with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): A Few Quick and Easy Tips

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Remember to Pause to See the Beauty in Every Season

Those of us who have never suffered from  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) should take a moment right now and express our complete and unrestrained gratitude. From what I’ve seen, heard, and read, it is a miserable and seemingly relentless cloud of misery.

Fortunately, there are a few ways to cope with and even overcome SAD. Will every tip work for you personally? Doubtful… but more likely than not a few will help you tremendously. Being proactive will, all by itself, help to some extent.

It always feels better to know we are taking positive steps to make our lives better – as well as the lives of those who our life touches.

Tips for Coping with SAD:

  1. Take a multi-vitamin and a Vitamin D Supplement. Vitamin deficiencies have a large number of symptoms and many of those associated with being more emotional than physical. One of my daughters once found herself feeling extremely tired and sluggish. Worse, she’d sometimes cry without having any idea WHY. When she went to the doctor, she had tears in the examining room and told the doctor she had no idea why. Being a sharp doctor, she ordered blood-work – specifically wanting to check her Vitamin D. It wasn’t just low, it was VERY low. She was prescribed a Vitamin D supplement (though they are available over the counter) and her symptoms improved almost immediately.
  2. Let some sunlight in! Something as simple as opening blinds and curtains during the day may help. When you’re able to look outside at nature (even if it’s just a single tree or the sky and grass), you’re instantly reminded that nature is beautiful year round, not just in the warmer months. The light, itself, can lift your spirits.
  3. ALWAYS have something to look forward to. I’m convinced that (to a certain extent) SAD can result from a “let down” after a string of exciting, high-charged holidays and events. Think about it – September (back to school), October (Halloween), November (Thanksgiving), December (Christmas), January (New Year’s Day). That leaves the rest of January, February (let’s face it, Valentine’s Day is only so so on the excitement meter), and some of March in many parts of the world. It’s only reasonable that there will be a let down, a feeling of “What do we get ready for or look forward to now???” Why not begin planning for your own party or family get-together?! Plan for a Super Bowl party, a movie-watching party (pick your favorite movie… after all, it’s your party!), or any kind of random party you can think of (masquerade party, game day party, use your imagination and see where it takes you). If you aren’t the party type (aside from family birthdays, I’m not either, actually), start planning Movie Nights with a loved one or all by yourself. Pick a night of the week when you don’t have to cook anything (no cleanup… yay!), order pizza, pop the popcorn, and watch a couple of great movies. You’ll find yourself looking forward to movie night so much I’m sure you’ll keep the tradition rolling all year.
  4. Move more! I’m not saying you have to hit the gym – trust me, the last gym I was in was in high school (and gym was short for gymnasium)! Simply make yourself become more active. We move a lot more in the warmer months and the sudden dip in activity takes it’s toll on the body and, perhaps, even mind. Bundle up and walk around the yard or block, turn on music and do your chores with more showmanship (my favorite), take up yoga or pilates, learn a new dance… just move it!
  5. Essential Oils can be effective. The following essential oils can be very helpful in lifting moods (the links go to Amazon, where each can be readily found): Lemon, Jasmine, Lavender, Cinnamon, and Peppermint essential oils are a few people swear by.

I place this final piece of advice separate from the rest because it is both different and vital. So vital, in fact, that I’m not sure any or even all of the tips above will work if it is left undone. When we suffer from things like SAD, we have to stop giving it more power than it already has.

Each time someone says any of the things below, they give Seasonal Affective Disorder more power…

  • “I can’t be happy, I have SAD.”
  • “I’d like to go out for dinner with you, but I can’t, I always feel depressed this time of year.”
  • “I hate winter – it makes me feel so unhappy.”
  • “I wish I could be happy… guess I’ll have to wait for summer.”

Any form of these statements give the disorder power and place the individual in the role of victim – and I don’t know about you, but that’s a role I have no interest in playing!

Statements to Give YOU the Power…

  • “Less light outside doesn’t have to mean less light inside!”
  • “I’m going to make a list of fun things to do this month…”
  • “A problem is nothing more than a question that hasn’t found it’s answer yet… this year, I will find that answer!”

I am in NO WAY trying to make light of SAD – it is a very, very real condition. However, you have more power than it does, you’re smarter than it is, you have more resolve, and you’re a heckuva lot better looking.

My money is on you. ~ Joi (“Joy”)


Science Behind Human and Dog Bond

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Quote About Dogs

 

by Hayden

The chemistry between dogs and humans is one that has existed over the years. Many people love dogs, and dogs love them. Pet owners go all out to take care of their dogs because of the bond of love that exists between them. In the same way, dogs are very loyal to their owners and fight tooth and nail to protect them. 

Can the strong bond between dogs and humans be explained? Science has an explanation for why things happen the way you do. In the same way, we can explore the science behind the bonding of these two creatures as is in this article:

Use of eye contact

Dogs make eye contact during bonding. Like with human beings, eye contact with another party is the first way to establish a strong bond with them. When dogs want to bond with humans, they maintain eye contact. This is especially so when they are taking instructions and accepting compliments eye contact is the best way to measure whether or not your dog attends to you when you speak. 

Studies have been conducted around this logic. It has been proven by researchers in Azabu University, Japan that when a dog establishes eye contact with his owner, that moment allows for the generation of oxytocin, which is mostly known as the “love hormone”. This is the same hormonal response in human beings that bonds us to babies, even at a very young age.

The power of touch

Human beings are best known to appreciate and acknowledge the power of touch. In the same way, dogs are sensitive to a touch of affection. When human pets a dog, the dog responds with signs of affection. This can be through licking the person, wagging the tail, or jumping up and down around the person.

You can best experience this when you are grooming your pet. After using the best dog shampoo to wash him, the whole process of drying your dog and brushing his fur can instill feelings of love. Notice also how much dogs love to be petted, even by children. 

Social creatures

The reality of both of these species is that they are social creatures. This makes the relationship between a dog and a human mutually beneficial, as both are working to make a new friend and share the love with a different party. In that case, it is easier for a dog and a human to form a relationship than it is for a human and a cow.

Dogs are outgoing

Humans may be outgoing, but not all of them. With dogs, it is not the case. Most dogs, if not all of them, are outgoing by nature. They exist best where they can be active, walk and play around. Given that humans are the most entertaining of such behaviors, it is easy for dogs to form strong bonds with humans. For example, it is like a dog to run out and greet their owners when they walk into their homes. Since human beings also enjoy the warm welcome, the bond is automatically formed. 

Dogs are adaptive to different personalities

Much as a dog gets its personality from the genes, a lot of how a dog behaves has to do with their owners. A great way to observe this is to take a sample of a similar breed of dog raised by different owners. While both are dogs, their personalities will be a lot similar to their owners. In this case, it is easy for dogs and humans to form relationships.

Summary

Evidently, the symbiotic relationship between dogs and human beings has significantly affected both species. As more people become dog owners, and rescue groups gang up to help stray dogs, the bond is yet to grow stronger in the years to come.

Quote About Relaxation

Quote Graphic About Spring (Cat and Flowers, What More Could you Want?!)

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Quote About Spring

Four things I am BEYOND obsessed with are cats, flowers, laughter and spring…. so the graphic and quote above? It’s so “me,” I may as well be the cat!

Spring is a perfect time for cleaning out the cobwebs, and I don’t mean just the ones in the corner on the carport. Although they have got to go.

If spring were a holiday, she’d be New Years Day, for sure. It’s a time of cleansing, reevaluating, and, for lack of a better term, coming back to life. Everything comes back to life in the springtime – trees, yards, flower beds… even songbirds suddenly remember they have a song to sing.

The same can be true of us as well. Things we’d like to change? What better time to attack them?!

If we’d love more happiness in our lives… what better time to invite it right in?!

Take this spring and make it what you want it to be. It’s yours after all.

~ Joi (“Joy”)

You Can (Almost) Always Find What You’re Looking For… So Be Careful What You Seek!

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Perspective Quote

Short story to set the stage – even if it does involve telling on myself and my ridiculousness in the process:

A few years ago, my husband was away for a business trip. I’m not the bravest person in the world, so when my daughters began talking about something VERY scary they had read about one afternoon, my brain whispered, “Well, if this doesn’t keep you awake all night, nothing will.” I pushed the whisper aside and reasoned that by the time bedtime rolled around and the lights were off, I’d be fine.

WRONG.

As soon as the lights turned off, the brain turned on. It felt compelled to remind me of the “true” horror story. Being very familiar with myself and knowing what it’d take for me to get any rest whatsoever, I grabbed my iPhone and Googled, “Why {insert horror occurrence} is a hoax.” Badabing! I found explanation after explanation of why this couldn’t possibly have happened and found “holes” punched everywhere within the story.

I slept like a baby.

Here’s the tricky thing – Had I been a complete idiot and Googled, “Why {insert horror occurrence} is true,” I’d have found… you guessed it… just what I was looking for.

I’m sure you’ve figured out where this is heading, right?

So often, in life, what we “find” doesn’t happen by mistake or coincidence – we “find” it because, whether we realize it or not, it’s what we were looking for.  I see it online with social media almost daily. There are some people who seem absolutely SET on finding drama and stirring up stress and emotions. I don’t want to get off track, here, but what is up with these people?! I want things to be as calm and peaceful as possible… who, in their right mind, wants drama circling around them?!

Whether it makes sense or not, they search for it and, naturally, they find it.

I’m always amused when, after it hits the fan, they act shocked and confused like, “How did this storm happen???”

You did the rain dance, honey, that’s how!

By contrast, there are people (raising my hand high) who get on social media to be informed, entertained, amused, and (hopefully) provide these things for others. Again, what they seek is generally what they find.

Have you ever seen a 4 year old who is tired and cranky? He/she seems to be actively looking for trouble, don’t they? How like children adults can be!

This is a short post because the real trick is simply to get your thoughts flowing. You don’t need me to tell you if you set out looking for drama, gossip, and maybe even a little argument now and then. You don’t need me to tell you if you actively seek out calmness, harmony, and goodwill. You already know you – as well as I know my Chicken Little ridiculous self! I’m only here to ask you this – Is what you seek conducive toward your happiness and mental health or not? Is what you tend to actively look for constructive to your relationships or destructive?

Make no mistake about it, each of these questions has a clear answer.

We find what we actively seek… make sure you’re looking for something worth having, because you will find it.

~ Joi

Life Changing Inspirational Quotes by Mother Teresa

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Mother Teresa Quote About Smiling

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
~ Mother Teresa

This Mother Teresa quote about life is a sermon and an education in 16 sentences.  The simplicity of this great woman was part of her beauty.  What takes the rest of us billions upon billions of words to convey, it was a though Mother Teresa said, “Give me 16 sentences and I’ll get my point across.”

And that she did.  Every single time.  She’d have been a Twitter rock star.

More Mother Teresa Quotes:

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.