One-Sentence Journaling- A Way to Improve Your Heart Health
Tonight the big ball is going to come falling down at midnight in Times Square. It’s New Years Eve, and I happened to read one of my favorite blogs: Zen habits (http://zenhabits.net)
As always it’s filled with insightful writing. 5 Powerful Reason’s to Make Reflection a Daily Habit, and How to Do it (http://zenhabits.net/2007/12/5-powerful-reasons-to-make-reflection-a-daily-habit-and-how-to-do-it/) is an amazing article on the power of reflection.
What really interested me was the idea of doing a one-sentence journal. Journaling has always been something that I have suggested to my patients and coaching clients because I know that it works. Yet, often people have trouble finding the time to journal.
A one-sentence journal is an amazing idea. It’s something that can improve your heart health. Writing out thoughts down has been shown to improve a person’s health.
The simple act of chronicling how you feel is liberating. It can be uplifting and very importantly it can change your life.
When we write down what we feel, really being honest with ourselves something happens inside at a very deep level. Our joys, pain, and yearnings come bubbling up from the inside. We allow ourselves to see things that we might not always want to see. The end result can be transformational.
The trouble with journaling is that it takes time- a precious commodity in today’s world. So the idea of a one-sentence journal is mind-boggling.
It you haven’t ever written a journal- consider it a great new years resolution.
Take just a minute to write down one sentence of what really moved you today or what really affected you today.
I’d love to hear your results.
December 31st, 2007 - Posted in Philosophical | | 5 Comments
Your Heart Health is Important
Your heart is important. You know this is true. Without our hearts we wouldn’t be here. Our hearts beat thousands of times a day pumping blood throughout our bodies nourishing us, sustaining us.
We rely on our physical hearts. Yet, many people don’t pay enough attention to their heart health. A recent report from the American Heart Association has shown that heart disease is still the number one killer in America. (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3018015)
Last year nearly a million people died because of cardiovascular disease. Women are also at risk. One out of every five women die because of heart disease and heart illness. Its clear that women’s health issues should include a focus on the heart.
So if we know that our hearts are important we should begin taking strides to take care of our heart health. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We can begin the process with some very simple steps.
1. Begin choosing to eat less saturated fat.
One very simple why to begin working on our heart health is to just cut back on our consumption of saturated fat. Saturated fat is the fat that comes from animal products. It has been shown to be a direct cause of coronary heart disease. The main sources of saturated fat are beef, most pork, and the dark meat from chicken. Eating these foods puts 40% saturated fat into your body. By comparison, the white meat of chicken has 20% saturated fat.
People often ask me about deer, buffalo, or venison. They want to know if they are healthier? Unfortunately, reports by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that these dark meats also contain 40% saturated fat. So them may be better than eating bacon, but they still contain a large amount of fat.
Other foods that contain saturated fat include dairy products. Fortunately, most products now list the amount of saturated fat that they contain.
So if you want to improve your heart health begin making the decision to put less saturated fat into your body.
2. Choose to move more.
It seems like such a simple concept. We need to move to keep our hearts healthy, but you’d be amazed at the number of people who do almost no physical activity. If you’re someone who hasn’t been doing much, don’t overdo it in the beginning.
Start very slowly. Keep it simple. Choose to take the stairs more instead of the elevator. Don’t always park in the closest parking stall. Make the choice to walk 20-30 yards every time to go somewhere. If you watch television, during commercials move out of your chair do some easy calisthenics. It doesn’t have to be anything outstanding, just some gentle activity. It’s frequently the little things that we do consistently that are most important.
Decide to move more. Put this thought into your head and you’ll be amazed at the ways you can put more movement into your life. Following these simple steps can make a difference in your life.
3. Spent 15 minutes a day on your emotional heart health.
Its been well documented that our emotions influence our heart health. Negative emotions: fear, anger, sadness, frustration, depression, anxiety, and just plain old stress- can have a harmful effect on our bodies. They can create heart disease.
Most people don’t have a daily program for reducing the stress and negative emotions in their life. I consistently talk to the heart patients who I see in the office and its only 1/10 that engage in any daily form of stress reduction.
An easy way to reduce the stress in your life is to sit quietly for 15 minutes and just breath deeply. Force yourself to take a deep breath in and blow it out. Do this for about 10 breaths and then just sit quietly and be aware of your breathing.
Many other simple forms of stress reduction are available. Yoga, tai chi, sitting meditation, Sufi prayer, biofeedback, and TM- are just a few. What’s important is to find a method that you feel gives you comfort and then do it. Spend 15 minutes every day defusing your stress.
What’s certain is that heart disease is preventable. Countless medical studies have shown this to be true. You can make the choice to live a life free from heart disease.
If you value your heart why not make the effort to live a life free from heart disease?
It’s all up to you.
December 21st, 2007 - Posted in Medical | | 3 Comments
Time to Find: Peace of Heart
Peace of mind-We’ve all heard this phrase. It means turning off the mental chatter, slamming the door to the wayward run-away thoughts.
You know what I’m talking about. Who can ignore it what with the frenzied: shop-till-you-drop, fight to find a mall parking stall, bowel over your neighbor for the last sale- attitudes that the holiday season brings.
The idea of achieving peace of mind in this atmosphere is challenging, if not totally impossible. The holiday’s can even raise our risk our of having a heart attack. To see what I mean look at this article posted on MSN about rich holiday foods and how they can cause a heart attack: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3034546/.
So why not journey down a different avenue. Why not look for what I call: Peace of Heart. What is peace of heart? Peace of heart is that place we go to where the heart feels calm and portected. It’s a soft centered place filled with peace, wisdom, and joy.
Finding peace of heart requres that we begin operating from a place that is beneath the radar of life’s usual hectic pace. We abandon the mental chatter and hold onto the serentiy that lies within all of us.
So how do we find Peace of Heart? How do we do this on a practical level?
1. Move Past Your Mind:
Our minds are wondrous things, but they can lead us astray. We can become possessed by fearful, nagging thoughts. Anyone who has tried to control their thoughts knows how difficult it can be. Much better to not worry about the mind. Instead begin to focus on your heart. Work from the Heart Math Institute (www.heartmath.com) has shown that our hearts contain an innate intelligence. Indeed, 40,000 neurons exist in the heart which is more than some parts of the brain. These neurons have been shown to influence the body, altering our hormones and biochemistry. The intelligence of the heart can have a calming influence on the whole body. It can promote wellness and prevent illness.
2. Touch Your Heart:
When you feel particularly stressed out, just take 30 seconds (it’s not a lot of time) and just place a hand on your chest and touch your heart. The heart lies just to the left of your breast bone. Just this simple act of touching our heart region will have a calming effect.
3. Take a Deep Breath:
As you are touching your heart just take a deep breath in and let the air travel down into the heart area beneath your hand. Repeat this 2-3 times in a slow rhythmic fashion. Let your breath penetrate the heart region. In almost every form of relaxation using our breath plays an integral part. As you touch your heart and breath, you’ll find that more and more calmness is filling you.
4. Be Grateful:
Finally, find something to be grateful about. All of us have a reason to feel gratitude. It could be the fact that we have food to eat or a roof over our heads. It could be the fact that we are still breathing. Whatever your reason’s just find a couple of things to be thankful for in your life. Let the thoughts and feelings of this thankfulness fill your chest. Continue breathing, touching your heart, and feeling thankful.
Hopefully after doing this exercise you’ll be know what it means to have peace of heart. Just by becoming more aware of your heart, breathing, and finding something good to feel you’ll be on your way towards being more calm.
I’d like to know what you think of this exercise. If you read this and have the time give me some feedback about what peace of heart means to you.
December 11th, 2007 - Posted in Emotional/Psychological, Uncategorized | | 2 Comments
The Miracle of Kindness
Miracles happen. They’re not that uncommon, but we have to look for them. We have to be open to the possibility that they exist.
Take something as in seemingly insignificant as a simple act of kindness. We might brush off random acts of kindness such as another car letting us merge more easily on the free way, but small acts of kindness can add up. They can build on one another and turn literally into miracles.
8 years ago, a man by the name of Philip Schmucker related an amazing story of the miraculous power of a simple act of kindness. Philip had grown up on the northern fringes of Metro Detroit. At birth he had been injured and had developed severe cerebral palsy. In those days (1940’s) medical care was not what it is today.
As a young child Philip was sent to live in a rehabilitation institute with other children with similar diseases. Separated from his parents, he vividly remembered the day when he was told that he couldn’t come home until he learned to walk. Can you imagine the fear, the trauma of being pulled from your comfortable surroundings and told such a thing.
But Philip did learn to walk. Yet, the rest of his life was a series of uphill battles as he tried to fit into a society that rejected people who were different. Disappointment and despair lead to much anger and a failed marriage. Eventually it lead to alcoholism and feelings of extreme unworthiness.
Rejection had been the story of Philip’s life. But a simple act of kindness helped Philip find hope. One day Philip, who was feeling particularly down and unwelcomed-walked into a church called the Church of Today in Warren, Michigan. Now as Philip told it to me- he’d been to many places of worship and the first impressions hadn’t always been that great.
However on that day as he walked into the building, a perfect stranger approached him. He asked Philip his name and then gave him a hug and said, “Philip we’ve been waiting for you. I’m glad you showed up today.” Although the man wouldn’t know it, that simple act of kindness changed Philip’s life.
Suddenly, Philip had found a place where he felt welcome. For the first time in his life, he felt loved. It was such a little thing- a hug and some simple words. But because of that event Philip would gain the confidence he would need to dramatically improve his life.
Philip would go on to write his autobiography, assist with the television production at the church, and even gain the confidence to become a public speaker. Philips story later was told on PBS in Detroit.
All of this was possible because one man offered a simple act kindness. It was only a simple word and gesture, but ultimately it proved to be the catalyst that dramatically impacted Philip’s life.
Life doesn’t always have to be complex. We don’t have to change everything. All we have to do is to offer hope, a kind word, or just a smile.
If we do we never know when our tiny gestures will end up being a miracle of kindness.
December 3rd, 2007 - Posted in Emotional/Psychological, Uncategorized | | 0 Comments
