Should we trust our gut?

I strongly believe in technology, advances in science, and the latest and greatest ingredients; But they're only a few tools in my workshop, or one dimension of total skin wellness. Healthy, radiant skin is the result of a healthy, radiant spirit, body, and mind. Balance is the foundation--and it's something that I'm still learning to practice myself. EARLIER THIS YEAR, Marlee came and stayed with me. It was January, about a month and a half before COVID-19 would truly hit the US. It feels like ages ago, but we spent a few days cooking, talking, writing alone, watching Sex Education in my bed, and going to the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Park Slope. She danced for me, and we blew smoke out the kitchen window. I was just officially falling in love with my now partner, and she guided me through it. Held me as I remembered, completely lovesick, the intensity of falling in love again and what it meant to be so moved by love, unexpectedly. She talked about Jackie, her partner, and there was a feeling of the sincere relief you get when you are able to talk to someone who understands queer partnership (because they're also in one). In the time that I've known her, she's made me understand why I saw her in our shared hotel lobby. There's something deeply compelling about the work she has dedicated herself to. As her friend, we talk about it often. I spent the next three years relaxing. It was a great luxury to have that option, and it did indeed remove most of the stress from my life, but it wasn't all that exciting either. I dabbled in various pursuits, met friends for lunch, and watched a lot of TV. Things didn't vary much from that routine until one day, comfortable but bored, I took the recommendation of a friend and went to a personal-growth seminar-- and I only did it because he swore it would be fun and a good way to meet women! At the seminar--which was fun, by the way, and a good way to meet women--I got a glimmer of something I had never consciously addressed before: the idea that there was something I could do to make my life more enjoyable and meaningful. At the time, this was just an intellectual idea;

I didn't know what it would mean or feel like to have more fulfillment in my life. All I knew was that in the past, there had been times when I felt life was great, delightful, meaningful, worthwhile--and then, somehow, those times dissolved into the more usual texture of my life: coasting along, focusing on various problems or goals with a little boredom, a little anxiety, a little confusion, a little or a lot of stress. When I tried to get the good times back by attempting to repeat past experiences, it seldom worked, and when it did, the good times that resulted still filled only a short part of a long day. But at this seminar, I got a glimmer of what was possible for me. The most important part is the smallest part. The time you spend on this earth. All the years that come between the two dates are compressed in that dash. And that has to count. It has to mean something. You have to leave some mark in life. What we have to consider is that we're here for a purpose. We have to find that purpose, and not let people or events deter us. We have to push forward and progress. And that's all part of the dash. One is to add to their lives by creating new opportunities and another is to do old things in new ways. Either way we make important shifts in how we live so that there is less stress and discrepancy between who we really are and who we appear to be. A person with a well-matched lifestyle is not wasting energy on irrelevant activities that were originally designed to please a false self or impress others. Michelle, who had come to me because of a deep depression, found that the discovery of her true self led her into a passionate interest in writing. She had always been interested in it but didn't know how to get started. Plus she was too busy pouring her energy into being a full-time wife and mother.

Michelle had always prided herself on being home with her children and not using day care, especially with the last child who had arrived unexpectedly when Michelle was in her forties. However, after taking her first writing workshop, Michelle was filled with excitement and enthusiasm for her new creative outlet. Then she had to face the fact that her goals now as an older mother were quite different than those she had enjoyed when her other children were little. It was hard for Michelle, but she made several changes in her lifestyle in order to give herself time to pursue her writing. I hope you will use the skills and strategies in this article to find your way back to the things in life that matter to you, feeling confident in your ability to understand and manage your depression. Understanding Your Depression CBT for depression is an empirically validated treatment that is proven to be very effective for reducing the symptoms of depression and developing skills and strategies that will enable you to relate to your emotions more effectively. In the next two articles, you will learn what depression looks like, how it is maintained, and how it is treated. You will also learn how to use a simple symptom questionnaire to track your progress as you make your way through the exercises and strategies in this article. Many people struggle with feelings of depression at some point in their lives, and depression is experienced by all types of people, at any age, and under many circumstances. If you have been depressed, you know it is much more than simply having a low mood or feeling blue. It can feel overpowering and overwhelming, like a heavy weight you just can't escape from. The world can seem to lose its color and turn dull and gray. You may feel tired, empty, and hopeless, and lose touch with the things that matter to you. I felt awesome and thought I looked awesome, too. I was clearly doing something right, and I could see that it was inspiring other women to get strong, look after themselves, and thrive in their forties as well. Life was good. I was living the dream! Then I turned forty-three. Something happened that changed everything I knew about my body and my health.

It started after one of my bi-weekly boxing classes, where I worked exceptionally hard, punching a huge heavy bag with all my might. I loved that class (it reminded me of my old karate days), but that afternoon I had to go home and lie down. I assumed I had just pushed a little too hard in the class. You know that feeling when you're on a high after an epic workout but afterward are so spent that all you want to do is sleep? I never worried about going to sleep or staying asleep, because that came naturally. I didn't always get a good night's sleep, but that was my choice. Like most teenagers, I was keen to burn the candle at both ends. As a medical student, I often stayed up partying, then went straight into some feverish last-minute cramming. Which I now realize was wildly counterproductive. You need sleep to consolidate your memories, as I will explain in this article. As my medical training progressed, sleep became ever more precious. I found I just couldn't function any longer on a few hours' sleep a night. I became intensely irritable and I'm sure that both my judgment and my empathy were impaired. But, even so, I could still go to sleep and stay deeply asleep for hours when I was given the chance. Kids perform exercises that foster feelings of self-love. Young minds soak up new habits that change their concentration and improve the way they observe the world. Watch how much detail your child notices after just a few of these activities. Self-soothing techniques ensure that your little one is always comforted, even when you are not around. Your little ones will learn the basics of meditation, visualization, and breath control. Introduction

Thank you so much for your purchase of Mindfulness Exercises for Kids: 75 Relaxation Techniques to Help Your Child Feel Better . This article exists to help children become well-versed in mindfulness. Scientific research has shown that kids exposed to meditation and mental health exercises are more emotionally intelligent than average. Through the activities inside of this article, children will learn to love and accept themselves while maintaining an affection for the world they occupy. The success stories all have a few things in common. They all managed to heal their brains with simple methods that were easy to understand, and easy to do (once understood); They just implemented simple empowering daily choices. So you may be wondering what kinds of choices they made. They made choices like: Eating the right foods, avoiding the wrong foods. Taking supplements that are smart, efficient, safe, affordable, easily available, and best for your brain. Only taking supplements for as long as necessary, and preferring to transition to a lifestyle of sustainable optimal living in the long run. They all made efforts to reduce stress, they began to sleep properly, and insisted on appropriate and wise exercise regimens. Systematically healing damaged parts of the body that support the brain - especially optimizing the heart, blood vessels, immune system, and gut. Mnemonics means any system or device designed to support memory, typically letter patterns, ideas, or associations, such as ROYGBIV, to remember the rainbow's colors. Chunking : To remember or share a phone number, you are likely to chunk the numbers so that they are easier to remember: 888 555 0000-rather than the more memory-intensive 8 8 8 8 5 5 5 0 0 0 0. Animate the images : The more you can make these images animated and vibrant, the better. Doing this creates deeper, fresh links between the word or number and an image in your brain. Writing : There are a few explanations of why handwriting is superior to using your laptop when it comes to memory. First, the physical act of writing activates cells at the base of your brain, called the reticular activating system (RAS).