Fly your flag

Depression shouldn't affect your feelings about yourself unless it is highlighting self-esteem or self-image issues that are causing trouble for you. It is an obligation borne on all of our shoulders, and it only evolves if we evolve. Your commitment will always be to the better angels of our nature--which is why you will never stop pressing people to rise to the occasion of themselves. THE SUN IN PISCES Sometimes it feels like you're a sleepwalker in life--shuffling through the day, performing activities by rote, and winding up in places you can't remember setting out for. Loved ones and friends have grown accustomed to your dazed expression, that far-off look in your eyes signaling that the lights may be on, but nobody's home. And it's not like you're deliberately choosing to be preoccupied or absent. It's just that to be born under Pisces means that you're a fish out of water wherever you go, and the only time when you're truly yourself is when you can return to the undersea world of your imagination. You might do this in your dreams, with your VR headset, or through mind-altering drugs and alcohol. But you don't do this because you're an escapist who can't cope with the demands of everyday life. You do it because you feel like you've been marooned on a desert island and you're desperately searching for a way back home. Gut Friendly: Probiotic, Prebiotic (High Fiber), Tight Junction Supporting The more science learns about intestinal health and the microbiome, the more significant it appears to be for the brain and emotional health. The intestinal tract is so rich in neurons, it is called the enteric nervous system, and sometimes referred to as the second brain. It's the only organ with its own independent nervous system, connected to the brain via the vagus nerve. It has an enormous role in how we feel. The microbiome consists of those friendly bacteria that line the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract. While initial estimates had gut bacteria outnumbering the body's cells by ten to one, more recent studies have revised this. Researchers now believe that the cells in the human body and the microbiome are close to equal. The microbiome number ranges from 30 to 50 trillion, and the number of cells in the body is about 40 trillion, each living in a mutually beneficial relationship.

These bacteria produce vast amounts of chemicals that are essential for us to thrive. If they don't go slowly, run! THERE'S HOMEWORK TO DO Even Dr Sadick, who helps develop over-the-counter skin care products for Dior, confirms that there are limits to the kind of dramatic results you can get with an over-the-counter cream or serum. Are you talking about erasing deep wrinkles? Absolutely not, he says. Are you talking about smoothing fine wrinkles and slowing down the wrinkling process? Absolutely yes. Hydrating the skin, stimulating new collagen, and decreasing redness are realistic goals. Women spend an estimated $470 million a year on antiaging products, but simply spending more isn't necessarily going to buy you any better ammunition for your battle against wrinkles. According to Consumer Reports' Shop Smart magazine, which tested nine wrinkle creams at various price points, some of the most effective (Olay) were drugstore brands, while some of the least effective (La Prairie) cost hundreds of dollars. There are numerous benefits of neuroplasticity. The main importance of this process in this case is that it is a natural remedy to cure anxiety. Other benefits of neuroplasticity are listed below. Changes your habits Reduces stress Eliminates brain connections between our fears and fear triggers Rewires your brain to reduce anxiety Enhances your mind's sense of optimism Alters how anxiety affects you

Neuroplasticity for Anxiety; I believe in possibilities. Anytime you see your reflection today, repeat these affirmations: I am at peace. I have all the time I need. I flow with life easily and effortlessly. The Power Is Within You: Your Day 17 Journaling Exercise Close your eyes and drift back to your past. See yourself when you were five years old. Where are you? What do you like to do? How do you view the world? The more important other people's opinions become for us, the more of our freedom we give away; We do less of what we want to do, we say less of what we want to say, and we even think less of what we want to think and we inevitably pay the price for it. It's impossible to develop a healthy self-esteem while we overrate the opinion of others and take them to heart. Even worse our self-esteem gets worse because in the worst case we feel we are lesser persons than those whose opinions we depend on. It's of utmost importance to (re-) claim your freedom and be independent from other people's opinion. It's a great life. You will love it. Remember the article about criticism and how not to take them personally? Now that it's said, there's more to it.

There are few things that tell you more about your self-esteem than your reactions towards criticism. Conscious breathing disrupts the swirling vortex of anxiety that's become a fixture of our go-go-go culture; When your breath is deep and steady, you are grounded, clear, and focused. You don't need to be a meditation guru or yoga practitioner to tap into the power of the breath. Conscious breathing is easy to learn and can be practiced anywhere at any time: at your desk, sitting in traffic, or on line at the post office. I recommend that clients start slowly, by spending a few days simply bringing their attention to their breathing, an act that mostly goes unnoticed. Check in with your breathing right now: Is it speedy and shallow, located primarily in your chest and throat, or are your breaths longer and deeper, coming from your diaphragm and belly? From there you can experiment with altering your breathing patterns, extending the inhalations and exhalations, feeling your lungs and ribcage expand as you draw in air, and contract as you expel it. As you become more familiar with your breath and more confident in your ability to breathe consciously (instead of being breathed unconsciously), there are a few simple and powerful exercises you can practice whenever you'd like to feel less anxious and more grounded, or simply want to relax deeply. You don't need to be a meditation guru or yoga practitioner to tap into the power of the breath. Belly Breathing 101 Long-term memory is like a durable and ridiculously spacious storage unit, holding all your knowledge skills and experiences. Since the days of Atkinson and Shriffin, psychologists have recognized that the classical definition of short-term memory didn't capture all the processes involved in the transfer of information to your long-term memory. Later generations of psychologists revisited the whole idea of short-term memory and updated it to the more comprehensive concept of working memory. Working memory Working memory involves all the ways that we take short-term information and stash it in our long-term stores. Increasingly we think of it as involving both explicit and implicit processes. Those ways are: Visual-spatial information Central executive

Auditory rehearsal Though you may not always be able to prevent freezing, there are some things you can do to help your loved one through it. Play some fast-paced music (with a strong beat that you can march to) to keep your loved one going. Even better, carry a music player (iPod/smartphone) around with their favorite tunes so you can get them plugged in anytime they need a lift. This cane projects a bright red line across your path, which acts as a visual cue to help break freezing episodes and increase stride length. This can trick their brain and allow them to walk straight ahead with no problems. Preventing Falls The advice I had from our occupational therapist was to have a walk-in shower installed and grab rails fitted in the bathtub for my husbands' safety. Unfortunately, because of the nature of Parkinson's and how it affects balance and stability, people with this disease are prone to falling. Falls become more common as the disease progresses. In fact, up to two-thirds of people with Parkinson's experience falls each year (compared to a third of the general elderly population). A friend of mine owns a restaurant. I was telling her about the power of sharing information with her people. She just wasn't buying it. She didn't think certain information was any of her people's business. To help her move from her 'stuck' position, I had her call together all the folks who work at her restaurant one night at closing timethe hostess, waiters, dish washers, chef, everyoneand had her sit them down at tables in small groups and answer the following question: 'Of every sales dollar that comes into this restaurant, how many cents do you think go to the bottom line as profit that can be returned to me as an owner or reinvested in the business? What did they say? Marvin asked. The lowest guess was 45 cents and the highest was 75 cents. When my friend told them the correct answer was 8 cents, they were shocked.