Staying Healthy

The Five Most Important Reasons to Laugh

Life is not always funny. But if you are looking for some great physical and emotional reasons to laugh then you are going to LOVE our list. Check it out!

1. Laughter Makes Us Healthier.

Laughter is a good thing. Scientists tell us that laughter, humor and joy are an important part of life. Laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, and increases muscle flexion. It increases the circulation of antibodies in the blood stream and makes us more resistant to infection.

2. Laughter Touches Our Soul.

Laughter is good for us physically, but that is just the beginning. Laughter is good for the soul. There is a holiness in laughter. Laughter brings us closer to each other – and there is something holy about people coming together. Laughter provides us a moment of grace. It occurs spontaneously and unexpectedly. It catches us by surprise, and we respond with laughter. We never expect to laugh, just as we never expect grace or good fortune when it arrives. And in that grace, we can recognize the folly of our own pursuits.

3. Laughter Keeps Things in Perspective.

Laughter helps us to transcend ourselves, and I need that help. Too often I take myself far too seriously. There is a danger of taking ourselves, our beliefs and our life too seriously. Fanatics, it seems to me, see nothing as funny. Here’s a suggestion. The next time you’re in the middle of an argument, start laughing – not in a derogatory tone, but in the jovial sense of being in on a good joke. Then see if the anger begins to melt away and if you can find a more creative way to handle things. I’ve done this with my kids and it actually works. And you know what else? Now I know that when I think about doing it and don’t, that I have lost my perspective.

4. Laughter Helps Us Stay Positive.

Laughter can be an important tool for keeping our troubles in proportion, for realizing that things aren’t always as bad as we think they are. But even when things are as bad as we think they are, laughter helps create positive emotions and helps us find a frame of mind in which we can more easily cope with the struggles of life. Laughter eases tension and sharpens our ability to concentrate. Laughter is a lot like changing a baby’s diaper. It doesn’t permanently solve any problems, but it makes things a lot more acceptable for a while.

5. Laughter Is Loving.

If I am able to laugh with you in my mistakes as well as with you in yours, it suggests we are all flawed and imperfect. Embracing good natured humor, we find the humility to see the foolishness of trying to be perfect and the gift of enjoying the smiles and laughter of love.

Children laugh on average 200 times a day and adults only 26 times a day. How many times a day do you experience the rich joy of laughter? If we want to be happier, healthier, and more productive we seriously need to make time to laugh. Because when we laugh, when we really laugh, deep from the belly… we feel alive! Start looking for more reasons to laugh today.

BIO:

Barbara Lee, the Sex Minister, is an international author, award winning speaker and accomplished group facilitator and trainer. She has committed her vocational journey to the non-profit sector and ministry where she is an advocate for diverse populations, particularly the marginalized and voiceless in our society. Barbara has an MBA in Leadership Studies and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration. She is an ordained interfaith minister who has led pilgrimages to the Five Holy Peaks of Taoism in China. Barbara, a resident of Grand Haven, was a presenter at TEDxMuskegon 2013.

Her books include Sacred Sex: Replacing the Marriage Ethic with a Sexual Ethic and Tension in the Tank: Embracing Interfaith Mysticism Without Leaving the Church.

More information is available at thesexminister.com or barbaraleeauthor.com.

Attitude Adjustment

Never Allow Fear To Score More Touchdowns Than You Do

Fear should never be allowed to hinder one in life.

In reality, fear is nothing but, “false evidence appearing real”. That means that if you dissected the fear that a person had, then you would find no reason for it. A friend of mine told me recently of how she used to be afraid of dogs, until she was the age of 33. When my friend was a child, her aunt told her of a story of being bitten by a dog when she too was a little girl. She even showed my friend her wound. My friend became so terrified of dogs from that point on. It was almost as if my friend had “inherited” this fear from her aunt. Never had my friend been bitten or had any reason to be afraid of dogs, but she carried this fear for years. She assumed she would always be that way until one day she dated a guy who owned a Rottweiler. At first, she experienced those same dreaded reactions that she always would when she came into contact with a dog. However, this time she soon realized that, although the dog was huge, there was no cause for her being intimidated by him … he was just a 150 lb. puppy, who happened to be extremely loveable. From that point on, her fear of dogs vanished.

Stuck in the rut of fear.

It is ridiculous to think that a person could actually be fearful based on something that happened to someone else, right? Not really. This occurs every day. Too often, people are afraid to start a business, write and publish a book, go back to school or of making an investment in their future. Not because they have tried before, but because they knew someone else who tried and failed. Or you have the other end of the spectrum where a person may actually be afraid to succeed. Either case is a tragedy in life and could result in a person being stuck in their own world.

Fear causes you to lose.

No matter how you look at it, you can never win with fear. Fear can be just as devastating as a plague, if allowed to exist, and has the potential to spread to so many other areas in life. That’s why it is vital to face fear head on. In life, we should never allow fear to score more touchdowns than we do, if we expect to win. And we do. Instead, deal with your fears before they become so detrimental to progression in life.

The Solution?

How do we deal with fear? Although not always a simple answer, some steps include:

Acknowledge that you are afraid
Find your center or calm state – breathing slowly and deeply
Determine the underlying cause of the fear
Access whether the fear is real or perceived
Imagine how you would react without the fear
Make a conscious effort to overcome it by acting as if there were no fear
Track your progress as you step out of your comfort zone
Remember to celebrate success – no matter how small
Should you begin to feel fear again, repeat steps above
Seek professional help (if necessary)

Follow these steps with each fear that you may have. Make sure that you have conquered one before moving to another. Progress may not come overnight. Each person is different. Do not hesitate to seek professional help if your fear is deeply rooted and/or a result of trauma. Know that you are predestined to win in life, not lose to fear. Refuse to give up or give in. Make the choice to tackle your fears today!

Bio:

Shonda R. Murphy is a Life Coach at Divine Direction Life Coaching and a Financial Planner for Primerica, Inc. As an advocate of financial literacy, she thrives on helping individuals through life transitions as they get back on track, especially in the area of their finances.

Attitude Adjustment

Stop Should-ing All Over Yourself: Avoid Powerless Language

Four and a half years ago, I was in a mental hospital. A combination of a tumor forming in my pituitary gland altering my brain chemistry and an abusive relationship situation proved to be my breaking point. I needed help. Thankfully, I asked for it.

The three days and three nights I spent in that hospital were some of the worst of my life. I won’t go into details here, but it wasn’t a place for my healing. When I finally escaped (which is what it felt like) I went to an intensive outpatient group therapy program where, for 10 hours a week, I learned to manage my illness, change my thought processes, and how to understand what was going on in my mind (neurotransmitters and synapses and uptake -- oh my!).

In recovery, you learn not to beat yourself up (in my case, literally) for what you “should” have done because, quite frankly, if you were capable of making a better choice at that point in time, you would have done so. My therapist would stop us mid-sentence if we used the s-word, “No should-ing!” she’d say.

This lesson, more than others, stuck with me. And as an entrepreneur, I find myself caught into the should-ing trap more than I’d like to admit. I try to stop using the s-word.

It’s harder than you think.

Start counting the times during a day where you put this conditional word into conversations. In the majority of cases, it’s not a healthy word, and it’s also relatively powerless as a language tool.

“I should've picked a different website theme.”

“I should think about alternative sources of income.”

“I shouldn't have rushed that report.”

We’re should-ing all over ourselves!

If you knew that the theme you chose wouldn’t satisfy your business or aesthetic needs when you made the decision, you would have chosen differently. Should-ing this is nothing more than a veiled complaint at best, and an excuse for further lacks in productivity at worse.

Instead, say:

“A website theme with X functionality would better suit my needs.”

“I will brainstorm additional sources of income.”

“I need to manage time better, so I don’t rush reports.”

And then, of course, take action on these statements. Or, even worse -- we should all over others!

“You should’ve ended that relationship a long time ago.”

“You should change your business model.”

“You shouldn’t have hired that consultant.”

There’s little to no benefit that can come from this powerless, conditional word. At the absolute best, you get someone to realize that you think he made a poor decision and therefore he evaluates his actions in hindsight (but only after realizing that he has lost standing in your eyes). At worst, you’re belittling someone’s decision, placing blame, and giving no direction whatsoever.

The words we use speak volumes. When you’re working with clients, you want to communicate confidence. When you’re talking to a friend, you want to communicate empathy. “Should” does not fit into either of these scenarios.

In the words of Yoda “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Similarly, you did, or you didn’t -- there is no should.

Be proactive with your language. Give direction, not condition. Use powerful words that give advice, not powerless words that place blame. Stop should-ing. Start doing.

Bio:

Jill Schiefelbein, Impromptu Guru, is a communication expert who doesn't like should being thrown at her. She helps others communicate with confidence and be prepared to speak well any time and every time.

Learn more at impromptuguru.com or watch her in action on YouTube.

Personal Development, Self-Confidence

Three Mindset Changes To Improve Your Self-Confidence

The world loves a person with self-confidence.

We will gladly give our time, attention and money to a person who knows what they are talking about. Or at least thinks they know they are talking about. But self-confidence does not come naturally to a lot of people. I think our upbringing drastically affects whether we leave the nest with a ton of self-confidence or very little.

Self-confidence is the ability to believe and display the attitude that you know what you are doing. It is a virtue desired by employers, mates, and friends. The world is a beautiful balance of people who have varying levels of self-confidence. The people on one end of the scale are fearful that they are not good enough or don't know enough to open up and share their wisdom. The people on the extreme other end of the scale of self-confidence are brash, arrogant, and generally unpleasant to be around. If you can find a way to be confident but be just below the extreme, the world will love you and eat you up. They will applaud you and live vicariously through you. And as a bonus - they will pay good money to be around you and learn from you.

Here are the mindsets that you should remember when you are not quite sure of what you are getting ready to tackle - or even if you should be doing it:

Do less wishing and comparing, and more DOING. If you spend a lot of your time watching people that are at the level of life where you want to be, you will become jealous very fast (click here to see my post of being jealous of successful people) . It OK to take some time to study how they got to that level. But I would recommend severely restricting that time. Self-confidence comes doing something that you've never done before. Spend more time working on completing things you think are impossible. Start small. Try to make incremental steps in things that are just a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Then keep expanding those. Keep finding ways to put yourself in situations that make you a little uncomfortable. Want to write a book? Quit reading about how to write a book and start writing. Keep it down to just a paragraph a day. Eventually your speed will increase and before you know it you will have a completed book (something that I am working on right now too). The same rules goes for being in sales, for public speaking, or for any of the other numerous areas where people don't feel sure of themselves. Don't shoot for the big improvements. Work on the small ones and you will wake up one day and be sitting next to that guy/gal who has the same self-confidence that you don't think you have.

Know that you will make mistakes and fall. It is 100% guaranteed. But taking non-physical risks will rarely kill you. I believe that some people suffer from a lack of self-confidence due to the fear of failure and embarrassment. I will tell you firsthand that both will happen, and neither one has ever killed me. When you attempt to do something that you are not confident you can complete, understand that you just might crash and burn. But your desire for achievement needs to be just a little higher than your fear. The fear will never (and should never) go away. The fear is what helps you plan and protect yourself. But the fear should not stop the forward progress.

Believe that there are plenty of people want to know what you know and be where you are. Several years ago, I gave a presentation at a Toastmasters conference that talked about to get paid for your knowledge. (If you'd like to see the video click here.) One of the first topics I covered is believing that you have something to offer to the world. Whether you are 20 or 90, you've experienced some things that nobody else around you know about - but they want to know what you know. I made the audience yell "I believe" several times because I wanted to cement that in their head. You must believe in your story and your wisdom. It may seem very trivial to you. But it has shaped you in ways that you will carry to your grave. Be confident in your wisdom and your history because someplace out there, you have a fan that is waiting to hear from you.

Bonus:
When you see people that appear "self-confident" and wish you were more like them, remember this: They may have the same fears and insecurities that you do. Fifteen minutes before you saw them, they may have been sitting in their car doing self-talk to get up the courage to do what you are seeing them do now. Some of the people that appear confident in public are terribly insecure in private. They are just really good actors, and their desire for accomplishment is greater than their fear of failure.

What do you think?

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Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

You Think Too Much. And It Is Killing You.

And by you, I mean me too.

Most of the world thinks too much.

We think about doing great things.

We think about starting a business.

We think about writing a book.

We think about making a lot of money.

We think about creating a product that we can sell in our sleep.

We think about going to the gym.

We think about going on a road trip.

We think about becoming a speaker every time we see somebody else on stage speaking.

We think about learning a musical instrument.

We think about running a marathon.

We think about lifting weights.

We think about going to bed early.

We think about getting up early.

We think about eating healthy.

We think about what it would be like to be a millionaire.

We think about what it would be like to be a billionaire.

We think about charging a lot of money.

We think about being popular.

We think about being on T.V.

We think about starting a podcast or a blog.

We think about traveling more.

We think about learning to fly.

We think and we talk, and we wish, and we dream. And we often do this while sitting in a small room in front of a screen, mouse, and keyboard. We are wasting away precious minutes and years thinking about doing great things. Every day we sit in that cubicle our soul is slowly rotting and the dreams are getting more out of reach.

But there is really no rush, right? Because there is always tomorrow. That cool thing you want to do will still be there. Next week. Next year.

I'm reality and I am here to tell you that are you are wrong. Someplace in the world a dreamer who had several of those things on her or his list will get hit by a truck and die. And they will die wishing they had done just one of the things on their list.

For the love of all things holy: Don't let this be you.

Get off your ass and start working on your list.

Or you can sit there, read this again, share it on social media, and then bookmark it.

Because you can always get to it tomorrow. Or next week. Or next year.

Right?

Attitude Adjustment

You Don’t Want It. You Just Kinda Want It.

Your life is passing you by …

This is how I talk to myself when I am unhappy with doing what I am doing at the moment. I think you could use this also.

You've talked about that cool project you want to do. More than once.

But you have made zero progress on it. You'll get to it this weekend.

You've looked at average people that have several books on the shelf and thought 'I can do that'.

But you have yet to come up with a topic or write a single word.

You suck your gut in when you look in the mirror naked because you have not exercised in 10 years.

Your garden has weeds.

Your car is dirty.

You are still living paycheck by paycheck.

You hate your boss. You hate your coworkers. You loathe the drive to work. You stare at the clock when you are there.

You have not done anything special for your spouse in a while. Why bother? You are married.

You hate rich people because they get more than you. They have nicer cars. Nicer house and nicer drinks.

BUT ...!

You got on Facebook today. More than once.

You stayed up late watching TV last night.

You smoke and drink on a regular basis.

You sit in front of a computer all day long. You'll do it again tomorrow.

Your life is directly reflected in the movie 'Office Space'.

Hmmmm …

Staying Healthy

Friday Mindset: Go Get You Some

It's YabbaDabbaDoo time. Time to stand up and get the heck away from the desk. Do not do 'one more thing'. It will be there tomorrow. and it will be there Monday. Run, don't walk, to the nearest exit and go do something for yourself.

Me? I'm headed to the gym. For an hour I can immerse myself in doing what it takes to improve me health. I don't have to care about marketing. Or LIKEs. Or the weather. Or CNN. Or the cost of gas. When I am in the gym and focused it is ME time.

Go find you some ME time. You don't have to look hard. Just take a little bit of time away from other people that are not YOU and give it back to YOU. Your ME time should be a high priority for you. If you don't take care of yourself first, everything else suffers.

Go get you some.

Attitude Adjustment

Why Do They Say “Attitude Is Everything”?

Because attitude is the interpretation of life as it comes at you. Your senses pick up signals about the world around. Your brain has to listen to the things that people do to you, for you, and sometimes against you. Their words and actions are life coming at you. All those words and actions have to go through your attitude to get to the other part of your brain that controls your mood and your reaction. Two different people can ingest the same set of words and react to them differently because of the internal attitude.

Sometimes you cannot control all that outside crap that you must ingest. But the attitude is the ONE filter that you can always control. It is the only thing that matters when it comes to happiness, sadness, joy, and pain. Sometimes that attitude can get the crap beat out of it too. After so much sadness and pain the attitude has to just take a break. F that happy crap. I deserve to be a little pissy for a while. But it should eventually recover and be stronger on the other side.

If you have a pissy attitude, ride it out and get over it. It won't get you anywhere. If you have a great attitude, then the world is yours for the taking.

Try to have a great attitude today.

Attitude Adjustment, Personal Development, Podcast

SDN EP 13: 5 Things I Wish I Would Have Learned In High School

Do you ever wish you could go back to that very last day in high school and talk to yourself? I wish that all of the time. What you learned in high school does not even come close to preparing you for the real world. There are so many life lessons I'd share with myself. But more importantly I'd lay down a good set of ground rules and beliefs to guide me for the new few decades. It is great when you learn how the world is structured. But sometimes it takes too long to figure out.

I hope this post accelerates your learning curve or the learning curve of a high schooler. Please help me share it.

The link for the video (below) and the podcast of the show are below. We can also be found on Stitcher and Soundcloud.

Take care and stay hungry my friends~
~ Patrick

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