Learn to be Aware

Let's put the situation in its crudest, crassest terms. Manufacturers and retailers know the importance of creating appealing packaging to sell a product. The package is the consumer's first contact with the merchandise. Is packaging superficial? By far the most common complaint I get with necks is the overwhelming feeling of tightness in the upper traps and surrounding neck muscles. Many people believe that it's where they carry their stress, which can be partially true but is usually not the root cause of the problem. The feeling of tightness is the effect. The cause is often a combination of factors. It's an old neck injury that didn't quite heal right, sleeping with two pillows instead of one, spending years at a desk staring at a computer, or looking down at the phone to text or read the newspaper every day. You may believe these things are trivial, but the combination of them all over many years can cause a compound effect leading to neck pain, especially for those over the age of 50. Again, the average human head weighs somewhere between 8-12 pounds, which is the equivalent of a bowling ball. Picture a bowling ball balancing on a bamboo stick, which is your spinal column. Life is good when the bowling ball is balancing on a relatively straight, vertical bamboo stick. However, if you begin to let the bowling ball drift forward when you look down to text or use a laptop, then the bamboo stick, your spine, begins to bend. Dr Rahm does believe that one cup a day is good for you, as coffee has antioxidant benefits. Try drinking an eight-ounce glass of water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in it before you have your cup of joe--this will help neutralize the coffee's acid and is better for your skin. You should limit your alcohol intake to one to two drinks per day. If you want to enjoy a drink, opt for red wine, which contains the protective anti-aging compound called resveratrol. However, please note that one serving of wine is just five ounces. To take supplements, or not to take supplements?

I get asked all the time why I believe in taking them. Well, the truth is that most of us, no matter how hard we try, just don't eat the variety and quality of foods we need to eat daily to obtain all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients we need to ensure radiant skin. There are lots of reasons, including that we're busy, we've skipped a meal, we've had an extra cup of coffee, we're dehydrated, or we didn't have any fresh veggies in the fridge when we started to cook dinner. Again, if we're eating conventionally grown foods, we're getting those that have been depleted of some of their natural nutrient content. As more time passes, and I lean more into myself and my sexuality, it comes with a certain harshness of myself, of How could you not know? How could you not see this? I was in my early twenties the first time I publicly identified as queer. I had had sex with women, I knew I liked them, and I was still in complete denial that I had ever been in love with a woman. I had managed to fall in love, and to be physical--but never could match the two up. Being queer doesn't have to have anything to do with who you have sex with. Plenty of cis folks in hetero-presenting relationships are queer--as was I! At twenty-nine years old, when I finally matched my love and physical intimacy with a woman, my mind sort of imploded. How could I not know? How could I have existed in the queer community and not known that this was here for me? I'm not a fan of this emotion, although there are some popular religions that make it practically a cornerstone. Since this article is about enjoying life, though, I'm going to talk about how to get rid of it. If you enjoy guilt, you can skip this part. Part of the stress I built up when I was going through the most difficult period of my life was in the form of loads and loads of guilt hanging over my head. The more guilt I had, the more stressed I got. The more stressed I got, the more things I did that I felt guilty for.

I had no idea how to get out of that cycle short of turning tail and running away, which I eventually did. Before you call the FBI to come investigate these things I felt guilty about, let me give you two examples: Sometimes I goofed off during working hours. There were some parts of my job that I felt unqualified for. It was a huge risk. The industry was in flux. Nothing was guaranteed. But I'd made my call: this unreliable, unstable media world would be mine. I still occasionally hear from the odd student from that apprentice teaching year. They reach out. One of them, Evron Joseph, became an IT specialist and went on to work at BlackBerry. He invited me to his wedding and keeps in touch via social media. I am so touched by that. And I remember how it felt to see the light in a student's eyes when they were learning. Streamline Your Routine Vacuum on Thursdays. Clean the mirrors when you dust. Clean the shower before you get out. Clean the toilet before you shower because toilets are gross. Your cleaning routine doesn't have to be elaborate, be based on days of the week, or even be a routine at all.

Deciding once simplifies cleaning, period. Pause and think about the cleaning tasks that sap you dry. What would happen if you made one decision just one time to make the process a little bit easier? DECIDE TRADITIONS ONCE He felt guilty that he had taken the position when he was clearly not up to the challenge. When he arrived at my office, he had missed several days of work and had barely been able to leave the house. Setting Goals As I mentioned earlier, depression is better described as something that you do, rather than something that you have. Goal setting is a way to support you as you begin to do your way through your depression. Each time you set and achieve a goal, you have new evidence to prove that you are able to move forward with your life and through this difficult time. There are many strategies that can help you stay motivated and make your goals more manageable. Simply having a goal and setting your intention to move toward it can increase your motivation and confidence that you can achieve the goal. Remember to use the self-compassion skills we practiced earlier to encourage yourself and remind yourself that the aim is progress, not perfection. Research shows that simply taking a small step toward a goal increases your commitment and motivation to keep moving forward. I initially thought I had food poisoning, because I couldn't stop puking. The next day when I had to nip to the loo for the tenth time, I realized that I might have a UTI. A quick pee stick purchased from Walmart confirmed this so I headed to the doctor. Boy, did I feel rotten, but within a few days of taking antibiotics I was totally fine again. More than three million women suffer from UTIs annually, and they are very common during menopause. So why does this keep happening?

Well, our vaginas are inhabited by lots of healthy bacteria which happily co-exist, with estrogen allowing good bacteria called Lactobacillus to thrive. This bacteria produces acid which then lowers the pH levels in our vagina, keeping the bad bacteria out. You following? As we know in menopause, estrogen declines and that in turn alters the level of good bacteria and acid in the vagina, making it easier for the unwanted bacteria to be absorbed. Nine minutes doesn't sound like a lot, but it is similar to the impact of taking a sleeping pill. Keeping a journal also reduced the tendency to wake up in the night. While you've got your journal out, you might also want to write in it three good things that happened to you that day. It can be anything from a friend admiring your clothes to watching a great sunset. Expressing gratitude, also known as counting your blessings, is a proven way to reduce stress, one of the main causes of insomnia. When I was young, I was quite religious and I used to kneel by my bed most evenings and pray. I would thank God for the good things that had happened and ask him to forgive me for the stupid and thoughtless things I had done. It was a good way of finding peace before getting into bed. I'm no longer a believer, but I find the practice of writing down three good things has a similar effect. Thinking of, and then, importantly, writing down three good things works because it shifts your thoughts toward the pleasant things that happened during the day, helping to counter the natural tendency at night to ruminate and worry--it is these ruminations that frequently keep us awake. Instruct the children to find a position in which they are comfortable. Your audience could rest in a chair, at a desk, or sitting on the ground with their legs crossed in front of them. Direct the kids to allow their hands to fall into their lap. Close your eyes as we take a few deep breaths together. We are going to breathe in through our nose to a count of three. Hold the air inside your chest and stomach while you count to four.