Worries for parents in America Today

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid reports of a growing youth mental health crisis, four-in-ten U.S. parents with children younger than 18 say they are extremely or very worried that their children might struggle with anxiety or depression at some point. In fact, mental health concerns top the list of parental worries, followed by 35% who are similarly concerned about their children being bullied, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. These items trump parents’ concerns about certain physical threats to their children, the dangers of drugs and alcohol, teen pregnancy and getting in trouble with the police.

Parenting a child of any age is tough—”the toughest job you’ll ever love,” to quote a line from the Peace Corps — but parenting a teenager can be challenging on a whole other level. It’s as if the day your first child turns 13, you get a force-fed dose of Morpheus’ “red pill,” causing you to fall down the rabbit hole of The Matrix and into a disorienting reality where every aspect of your psychological existence is not as it seems.

When asked about their aspirations for their children when they reach adulthood, parents prioritize financial independence and career satisfaction. Roughly nine-in-ten parents say it’s extremely or very important to them that their children be financially independent when they are adults, and the same share say it’s equally important that their children have jobs or careers they enjoy. About four-in-ten (41%) say it’s extremely or very important to them that their children earn a college degree, while smaller shares place a lot of importance on their children eventually becoming parents (20%) and getting married (21%).

There are sharp differences by race and ethnicity when it comes to the importance parents place on their children graduating from college: 70% of Asian parents say this is extremely or very important to them, compared with 57% of Hispanic parents, 51% of Black parents, and just 29% of White parents.

In a nod to the adage about family life that parenting is the hardest job in the world, most parents (62%) say being a parent has been at least somewhat harder than they expected, with about a quarter (26%) saying it’s been a lot harder. This is especially true of mothers, 30% of whom say being a parent has been a lot harder than they expected (compared with 20% of fathers).

At the same time, most parents give themselves high marks for the job they’re doing, with 64% saying they do an excellent or very good job as a parent; 32% say they do a good job, while just 4% say they do an only fair or poor job as a parent. Mothers and fathers give themselves similarly high ratings, but there are differences by income and by race and ethnicity (upper-income and Black and White parents are the most likely to say they do an excellent or very good job).

 

Come to read more:

Parenting in America Today

What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Teenager

Why did experiencing mental illness make me question becoming a mum?

When Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett weighed up the decision to have a child, she found herself frightened by the prospect of being a parent who’d struggled with mental health – and may struggle again

Why did experiencing mental illness make me question becoming a mum?

It is often said that we are in a mental illness epidemic. Such language is sensationalist, but there is no denying that the world in which we live doesn’t always seem designed to facilitate psychological wellbeing. One in four of us will experience mental illness in our lifetimes, and the conversation around it is increasingly open, writes Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett. For my generation, there is far less shame attached to “admitting” that you have experienced anxiety and depression (though it is worth noting that there are other mental health conditions that are far more stigmatised), or have seen a therapist, or are taking medication. This can only be a good thing, and when I suffered my own bouts of mental illness – two episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder in my twenties – I was moved but not surprised by how many friends and relatives opened up about their own struggles. There was one part of life, however, where I did feel that historical stigma, and that was when I was weighing up whether or not to become a parent. Parenthood, after all, would mean being totally responsible for the life and wellbeing of a child, and I was haunted by the idea that I might negatively impact that child’s life were I to become unwell again.

For the full story click here >

Feeling more go-go-go than ho-ho-ho.

A lot of people get a bit more stress at the end of the year, it is actually unnecessary and stupid that they are so rushed by the economic market that is flooding us with masses these days advertisements to buy this and that or to do this and that.

It’s the holiday season, yet not many of us feel rested. We’re more go-go-go than ho-ho-ho. It’s hard to pause when there’s always something we could be doing. We feel guilty admitting we need a break. And even if we do grab a quiet moment, we rarely mentally relax – we’ll check our emails.

Many argue that this is the time to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to be happy to bring the light into this world. However, many of them forget to put his message of peace into action and also feel completely free from the works that the Nazarene Jew did some 2,000 years ago.

By putting our attention more on him we could become a lot calmer, but commerce wishes to tell us that we have to provide many gifts and extensive meals this holiday season.

Many let their night’s sleep be disrupted by bobbing about what they were going to do at Christmas and what gifts would they buy for whom or who they would invite to those holidays.

The last few days, several people had put up candles, being it for Chanukah or Christmas. One would think it are both celebrations which bring us together to enjoy each other’s company.

When one loves each other there should be no reason to worry to have such a gathering, but should be looking forward just to being together. In these darker days, we also should find ourselves at ease in the warmth of our living room, with perhaps some warm drink and a cosy chat and film. Time to indulge in some relaxation.

Trouble is, rest is not an indulgence. It’s a critical part of our functioning, with one recent survey by Sleep School – The State of UK Sleep in 2022 – finding that 46% of us are currently unsatisfied with our sleep, and 58% feel unrefreshed on waking. Anxiety, stress and difficulty switching off mentally were primary contributing factors.

Too often, people don’t understand that lack of downtime or period of time when one is not working or engaged in a planned activity, is detrimental to their mental and physical health, says Dr Sabine Donnai, founder of the Viavi Health Strategy clinic.

“When people burn the candle at both ends, they’re releasing an enormous amount of cortisol, the stress hormone.”

Cortisol, also called hydrocortisone, the major glucocorticoid in humans is an organic compound belonging to the steroid family that is the principal hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent used for the palliative treatment of a number of conditions, including itching caused by dermatitis or insect bites, inflammation associated with arthritis or ulcerative colitis, and diseases of the adrenal glands.

We need that Cortisol because it plays a major role in our body’s response to stress. It helps to maintain blood glucose concentrations by increasing gluconeogenesis and by blocking the uptake of glucose into tissues other than the central nervous system. It also contributes to the maintenance of blood pressure by augmenting the constrictive effects of catecholamines on blood vessels.

Lots of people are so used to those cortisol rushes, they don’t realise they’re on high alert.

“They misunderstand this – ‘Oh, I’ve got lots of energy, I can just carry on, do a million things, cope on six hours sleep every night’ – and maybe they’re an A type personality that wants to do a million things.”

There are the good things of having cortisol, but like most things that can be good, having too much of it is bad.

We can need some stress to be active and get some work done quickly and in a good way. Our bow cannot always be tense. We must perform well at the right times, but we must also take the necessary rest at the right times in order to regain our senses and build up energy again.

Our stress response is supposed to be short-lived.

“If I’m chased by a lion, I’m either going to outrun it, or kill it, or it’s going to kill me,”

says Donnai.

“Either way it’s not going to take long.”

But if the stress response goes on and on and on, she says,

“your adrenal glands become fatigued and that’s what we call burnout.”

> Please read more about it: > Why putting your feet up is vital for good health – Having plenty of energy might be a sign you’re close to burnout

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Preceding

Coming together in dark days

Death and rest

The Proper Place of Excess

Witnesses of Christ and of his gospel

Soul Pampering Time

Hope on the Horizon: Pandemic Anxiety Management II~

Broken daily routines

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Additional reading

1. Bereshith 1-2 The Creation of the World – The Seven Days
2. Hellenistic influences
3. Looking at September 2016
4. The express train of the speeding time
5. Come ye yourselves apart … and rest awhile (Mark 6:31) (Our World) = Come ye yourselves apart … and rest awhile (Mark 6:31) (Some View on the World)
6. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
7. Why we do not keep to a Sabbath or a Sunday or Lord’s Day #1 Before rain of food from heaven
8. Not withholding the Good News

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Related

1. Sabbath Rest
2. Alone on Christmas Eve…
3. Rest
4. Merry Christmas!!!
5. between now and then,
6. Refuge
7. Taking A Mum Break
8. How resting can aid your mental health
9. Christmas Reflections
10. Security
11. Dealing with Discouragement
12. Relax During the Holidays
13. 🥰Arts And Craft Time With My Boy And Sisters!🥰
14. 12 Activities For You To Try Out During Boxing Day
15. 6 Tips For Reducing Stress in 2023
16. How To Meditate Properly? 8 Simple Points To Follow
17. 🥰Fashionable Cozy Xmas Selfie Time With Grinch And Max Lol🥰
18. December 26th – Psalm 46:10
19. A Better Way of Life … A Rest For Our Souls
20. How To Meditate Properly? 8 Simple Points To Follow
21. A Relaxing Environment

Two Unconventional Ways to Self-Soothe

The Curious Mag

Published on Happinez Magazine on the 18th of July. Article here

Worry, anxiety, stress, frustration, and sadness are a part of life that no one is excluded from experiencing. As we become adults, we have to learn to stand on our own two feet – especially when it comes to handling our emotions (this is of course not including the help that we can receive from our friends, families, therapists, and/or support groups). We might develop certain coping mechanisms or self-soothing techniques that help us get by and get through the tough times. 

DeAndre Bush

What is self-soothing?

Self-soothing is defined as an individual’s efforts or capacity to calm oneself while in a state of emotional distress. When you find yourself experiencing negative emotions, not only is it important to sit with your feelings but also to not let yourself plummet or spiral into an emotional state that has you…

View original post 926 more words

Sense of scattering which can only be gathered by turning to Allah

Created in the image of the Highest, each of us has the possibility to let Him enter into the weak human heart, so that it can be able to withstand attacks from outside and make the frail human being strong enough to continue on its way closer to the One we need.

How can we help ourselves and others find better ways to respond to anxiety?

Elisha Goldstein is a psychologist and author who combines traditional psychotherapy with mindfulness to achieve mental and emotional healing. Elisha teaches people to find space in moments of anxiety or overwhelm, and offers practical strategies to calm anxious minds, transform negative emotions and facilitate greater self acceptance, freedom and inner peace.

At this event, Elisha will share how you can use his “Now Effect” strategies to handle difficult emotions and situations and train your brain to recognise the ‘mind traps’ we set ourselves. By taking time to compassionately observe our physical reactions to stressful situations, we can redirect difficult emotions, find greater focus and feel more empowered and in control of our lives.

> Transforming Anxiety – with Elisha Goldstein
Tues 25 May – Online via Zoom
7pm UK time (see your time zone here)
Tickets: Open to all with optional donation

On the Anxiety of Non-Being

“The basic anxiety, the anxiety of a finite being about the threat of nonbeing,
cannot be eliminated. It belongs to existence itself.”

– Paul Tillich ‘

 

2020 a year of having more idols but also more personal problems

The Spring of 2020 brought something new to the world which made everyone and everything coming to a standstill but brought also many to having psychological problems. At first, it seemed incredible to hear certain churches calling for their members to come to church, even when the governments asked people to avoid contact with many. Some pastors dared to go so far as telling people that if they would become infected with Corona that would be because they had not enough faith. Such saying we can only call “criminal”. Several Christian groups, mainly in Holland wanted people to believe that as faithful people would come to the service they would not be harmed because they would do what God expected from them.

Lots of people got in problem with their mind, having become pulled away from their social contacts by the lockdown. Depression, bipolar episodes, and anxiety attacks were hindermost in the running.

Because depression isn’t often discussed in churches, a great deal of misunderstanding has popped up in this year when there were so many more people with a lot of psychological problems, who could not be helped by medical staff.

We want people to believe that the first step is realising what this disorder isn’t:

“It’s not a character defect, a spiritual disorder or an emotional dysfunction. And chief of all, it’s not a choice.”

Also we want Christians to be aware that it is not, like some Trinitarian preachers wanted their flock to believe

a penalty from God.

When you do not feel well in your skin it is not that God would be punishing you because you would have done something wrong or that you would not have enough faith in Him.

We also must be aware that just because someone seems “happy,” that doesn’t mean they’re healthy or that they really would be happy. Look at the very popular Flemish influencer. Social media seemed to take more people in its ban this year. The advertising flow is drying up, so professional users of social media tell more about their concerns and they seemed for many to provide some good information. After the death of that 21 year old boy more than ever, several influencers came to understand their role in the youthgroups and to realise that good mental health is important.

This way NokNok wants to teach young people that it is normal to not always feel perfect. Staff member Eline De Decker:

“Nobody walks on clouds every day. Sometimes you get up and immediately feel that it is going to be a terrible day. Sometimes you doubt yourself or feel insecure. Or are you stressed or disappointed with friends or family. That is normal.
And that’s all okay. ”

NokNok wants to convey that message clearly and shows young people between the ages of 12 and 16 what they can do to gain more self-confidence, have less stress and go through life as positivo.

Instagram has been around for ten years, and what the app has perhaps achieved best during that period is creating the illusion that users can “work independently” via the platform. Certainly influencers, people who live off sponsored photos on their Instagram profile, are an example of this bogus self-employment.
They live off Instagram, but much more for Instagram – they tweak their entire lives to create the best photos and videos. And once their Instagram goes down, they have nothing to fall back on.

With the rise of social media, the phenomenon of fanship has changed drastically. About ten or twenty years ago, an idol was someone you idolized by hanging posters on the wall, playing CDs, maybe watching movies or TV shows. The relationship fan-
Idol was pretty one-sided: the fan was occasionally thrown a treat – a new song, a TV appearance, a message about a wedding in a gossip magazine – and he or she had to settle for that.

But with digitization, the relationship between fans and idols has turned inside out,
British sociology professor Ellis Cashmore writes in his book Kardashian Kulture, in which he examines how celebrity culture has changed in the 21st century. No longer are fans from outside looking at the world in which their idol lives – they are right in the thick of it.

Certain churches used those idols also in church and wanted to attire people to their meetings by using a lot of music and disco settings. In 2020 we saw a continuation of the pulpits shrinking and even disappearing while bands and lighting have grown. But faith does not come from music, dynamic experiences, or supposed encounters with God. Faith is birthed through the proclamation of God’s Word (Rom 10:17).

Our assurance is threatened.
Whilst certain churches kept calling their flock to the church building, others tried to bring entertaining video presentations. All that attention or focussing on those idols and entertainement made many youngsters feeling even more alone, when there was no such church meeting any more. If we associate God’s presence with a particular experience or emotion, you can ask what happens when we no longer feel it.

We search for churches whose praise band, orchestra, or pipe organ produce in us the feelings we are chasing. But the reality of God in our lives depends on the mediation of Christ not on subjective experiences.

Musicians are given priestly status.
When music is seen as a means to encounter God, worship leaders and musicians are vested with a priestly role. They become the ones who bring us into the presence of God rather than Jesus Christ who alone has already fulfilled that role. Understandably, when a worship leader or band doesn’t help me experience God they have failed and must be replaced. On the other hand, when we believe that they have successfully moved us into God’s presence they will attain in our minds a status that is far too high for their own good.

Division is increased.
If we identify a feeling as an encounter with God, and only a particular kind of music produces that feeling, then we will insist that same music be played regularly in our church or gatherings. As long as everyone else shares our taste then there is no problem. But if others depend upon a different kind of music to produce the feeling that is important to them then division is cultivated. And because we routinely classify particular feelings as encounters with God our demands for what produce those feelings become very rigid. This is why so many churches succumb to offering multiple styles of worship services. By doing so, they unwittingly sanction division and self-centeredness among the people of God.

Scripture is full of exhortations to God’s people to sing and make music to Him. Our God has been gracious to give us this means to worship Him. But it is important to understand that music in our worship is for two specific purposes: to honour God and to edify our fellow believers. Unfortunately, many Christians tend to grant music a sacramental power which Scripture never bestows upon it.

Intense relationship
Those churches who by the years focused more on the show element of their services brought their members now in a situation where the lockdown is felt more as a restriction and limitation. Some even came to find that they could not serve God any more or did not give Him the full worship they had to offer Him. The fact they felt they could not serve their God any more made them feeling very bad. Instead of making them to understand they also could worship God in their own house in their own small bubble, some churches gave them even more a feeling of guilt by keeping to tell them they should not stop coming to the church building.

Against the lonely feeling they said what’s needed was the gathering and coming to feast again for God. But what is really needed is a loving community where people are encouraged to speak up and get help. And that speaking can be done by internet meetings and help can be giving by phone calls as well as by sending material by land mail.

People should know that when fear comes into their heart, they themselves can call to God. They not only should trust on the entertaining sessions of their church.

God Loves You

The fundamental message of the Gospel is that God loves you.
Do you understand?
God loves you. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, God will always love you. Dr. Kenneth Hutcherson describes it like this,

“No matter what kind of situation you may find yourself facing, don’t be afraid, because God will always be with you and have your best interests in mind since He loves you.  Whenever feelings of fear creep into your life, turn to God for the help you need to overcome them and successfully navigate your circumstances.  Whenever you sense God calling you to do something that requires taking a risk, move forward without fear because God will empower you to do whatever He calls you to do.”

It’s Alright to Feel Sad

No one likes to feel sad. We frequently try to avoid feelings of pain, or bury them under the weight of our daily routines. But sorrow cannot and should not be ignored. Accepting our sorrow doesn’t mean we’re weak, or a failure, it means we’re human. Just look what Ethan McCarthy of Christianity Today had to say,

“Our faith is predicated on sadness. As we grow in Christ’s service, we begin to recognize ourselves in Christ’s sad gaze in the icons. The sadness of Jesus exemplifies the sadness of Christians everywhere, and through it the whole world is redeemed. For the sadness of Jesus is not an ultimate sadness: the Bible also promises the end of sadness, and the wiping away of all tears: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matt. 5:4).”

After bad times better times

2020 may not have been an ideal year, but we should know there have been lots more worse years in the past. When looking at those horrible years of illnesses, pains, horrible situations and wars, we should see that we did not have it as bad as some want us to believe.

Hope is a frail thing, but it’s hard to kill. If you’ve found yourself struggling in the valleys of life, please don’t give up. Surround yourself with friends who will comfort you and mourn with you. If you’re suffering from depression, have courage and make an appointment with a doctor. Above all, remember that God loves you, and that will never change.

2020 has been a year where a lot more people had psychological difficulties. The helplines got a lot more calls. Lots of people were struggling with depression.  More than 1 in 5 youngsters this year had difficulties with the isolation brought unto them. Christians should see signs and then should come to help.

Every suicide is a tragic end to a life that’s precious to God. If you’re willing, God can empower you to help save the lives of people he loves from ending their lives before they’ve completed the lifetimes he intends for them. Here’s how you can help prevent suicide by reaching out to struggling people you know:

Recognize warning signs.

The American Association of Suicidology says that people who are at risk of committing suicide often display warning signs such as: communicating a desire to kill themselves, looking for ways to kill themselves (like seeking access to guns or medications), expressing a lack of purpose or hope in life, demonstrating dramatic mood changes, behaving in significantly anxious or angry ways, sleeping too much or not sleeping enough, feeling trapped in a challenging situation, taking reckless risks, abusing alcohol or drugs, and withdrawing from relationships with family and friends.

Listen well and offer unconditional love, like God does.

Pay attention to the troubling thoughts and feelings that people share with you. Listen carefully to what they express, and ask them questions to clarify and seek more information. If suicidal people know that you’re genuinely interested in them and that they can trust you not to judge them, gossip about them, or avoid them when they tell you something disturbing, they’ll likely open up to you. Ask God to help you love suicidal people unconditionally – like He does – and that will give them hope they desperately need while struggling with embarrassment and shame.

Pray specifically.

Let people know that they can count on you to pray for them about every specific issue they’ve shared with you. Ask God to bring them the help and healing they need, and pray in Jesus’ name against any form of evil that may be attacking them spiritually.

Give people a fresh perspective on themselves and their problems.

Suicidal people often become so preoccupied with their own failures and the problems in their lives that they blow them out of proportion. When that happens, they feel overwhelmed and can’t see how they can ever find solutions to their problems or find relief from their suffering. Mistakenly thinking that there’s no hope for them to experience better lives, they then may choose to simply end their lives. If someone tells you that she hates herself or feels like a burden on others, you can encourage her by pointing out specific ways she has enriched your life. When someone you know is distraught about a problem that seems insurmountable, you can gently and respectfully point out other aspects of her life that are positive to help her gain a better perspective. Refrain from giving unsolicited advice, which can seem judgmental to someone who is struggling. But remind your friend that there’s plenty of good in her, and in her life, despite the bad aspects that trouble her. You can also point out that every problem – no matter how severe – is temporary, but suicide is permanent. Encourage suicidal people to give themselves time to see how their problems can resolve in unexpected ways, rather than prematurely ending their lives.

Strong churches don’t “fix” depression.

Even large churches may not have the framework currently in place to deal with mental disorders. So, what’s needed?

“Healing comes from a prayerful, loving community that seeks to truly understand major depressive disorder and related conditions, and one that develops a positive response.”

Depression can feel like a huge weight that keeps pulling a Christian down again and again. Breaking free from the clutches of this disorder may seem impossible, but Margaret Ashmore (of the Association of Biblical Counselors) says that one of the most important things a sufferer can do is “the next thing”:

“So ‘doing the next thing’ might mean getting right with someone you’ve wronged, making restitution on outstanding payments, putting away once for all that website or magazine which feeds a monstrous, lustful appetite, taking back a purchase of self indulgence whose only outcome was more debt – you will have your own list. I certainly have mine. But be assured, this principle alone can take you from a shrugging Atlas with the weight of the world on your shoulders to that of renewed vigor and reviving refreshment….”

“The choices we make to obey despite our feelings or to give in to the downward pull of a fallen world filled with fallen people – mean everything.”

If you suffer from anxiety of depression, you’re not alone.

The one true source of freedom: Jesus.

People who kill themselves are trying to break free from their pain. But suicide just makes people dead, not free, and it actually causes more pain by spreading grief around to deceased people’s loved ones. Tell struggling people you know that while suicide can’t make them free, Jesus Christ can. Jesus is the way to God. He is the mediator between God and man, and having been here on earth as a man of flesh and blood, he very well knows the pains man can have to face.

No matter how difficult, certain things may look for us, when we pray to God we may find solutions to get over those difficult situations.

 

(With parts of articles by a.o. Todd Pruitt, John UpChurch, Ryan Duncan, Whitney Hopler of Crosswalk.com)

 

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1. Inhale, Exhale, Everything Will Be Okay, Won’t It?
2. #52 The pain of a world changed for ever
3. Distress
4. Level Up your Street Style Quotient
5. Distress Signals: Special Servicers Are Keeping Busy as 2020 Draws to a Close
6. Verse Of The Day – Psalm 18:6
7. Help me
8. Shame: Let me reflect some on this epic emotion
9. A quarter of all young Americans seriously consider suicide!
10. Jesus Set Me Free
11. Does “Time Heals All Wounds”?
12. God’s plan > My plans
13. Reflecting on a Decade
14. Encounter To Faith: Part I
15. Encounter To Faith: Part II
16. Then Jesus Danced for Me!
17. The Encounter with God
18. Encounters with God: Job 35 – Psalms 25
19. Refined By Fire~Blessed Assurance
20. The LORD, Sarah and Abraham: A study in Encounter.
21. God is immeasurable
22. Ultimate Happiness
23. Crying out, “Abba! Father!”
24. No one else!

A difficult year soon to forget and a Kindness Calendar

2020 has been a difficult year in so many ways.

This year many have suffered with uncertainty, anxiety, isolation and challenges with their financial situation, health or relationships.

Though we had not many opportunities to meet friends in real life, luckily we had the cool media tools like Zoom, Hangouts, Jitsi meet, Meets, Messenger and FaceTime to have some virtual contact and be some balsam against loneliness. Many did not see directly a solution for their bad feelings and how to continue. They should know they were and are not forgotten.

One thing that can hold us together and help us get through is kindness. Although we can’t change our situation, we can choose to respond to others (and ourselves) with kindness. And when we’re kind, everything goes better. We help others, we help ourselves and we encourage others to be kinder too.

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Do you know there exists a Kindness Calendar?

The Do Good December calendar is full of ideas to help you help others. It’s the advent calendar we need in 2020! Please share the calendar with others

Here’s how you can get involved and make a difference:

• Take daily actions using that calendar and app
• Go deeper & learn more by joining a local group
• Spread the word on social media #DoGoodDecember

This month’s theme is based on Giving: Do things for others which is one of the Ten Keys to Happier Living >> Find out more about the Ten Keys.

7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System in Lockdown

Because lots of people seem to be in a state of panic; supermarkets aisles made empty with people having bought more food than they could possibly consume in the coming weeks,  Natalia Ramsden B Psych, Arts. MsC Occ Psych. MBA, Founder at SOFOS Associates on Thrive Global writes about

How To Strengthen Your Immunity During The Coronavirus Pandemic

In her place like in many supermarkets here in Belgium too, hand sanitizer has become a hot commodity, and people stare angrily if they even suspect you are unwell (regardless of whether you show symptoms or not).

Now when we are requested to stay as much as we can indoors and to avoid contact with others, even family members, she implores you to try the actions below. Not just because you will feel better but because they will enhance your performance and frankly we find ourselves in a time where our well-being depends on it. And so here they are, 7 hacks for boosting your immune system.

1. Sleep

• crawl into bed & get an early night = no fear of missing out to keep you awake.
• Sleep deprivation (+ poor quality sleep) weakens immune system => susceptible to illness.

2. Take A Cold Shower

• Cryotherapy = causes blood vessels near skin to contract (vacoconstriction) + redirect blood to major organs to maintain core body temperature. =>  blood fills with oxygen, nutrients + restorative enzymes > this blood makes its way back to skin, muscle tissue + organs. => speeding up metabolism, reducing inflammation, improved quality of sleep, enhanced focus + improved immune response.

3. Mindfulness – Adult Colouring

• mindfulness meditation increases activity in prefrontal cortex, right anterior insula + right hippocampus (command centre for body’s immune system) = stimulates these areas which => helps immune system function more effectively.

4. Exercise

• physical activity = improves defense activity + metabolic health> Through promoting good circulation, immune system’s cells + substances move through body freely + efficiently => improve mood, reduce stress + enhance general well being overall. T

5. Consider Your Diet

• limit anxiety inducing foods such as processed meat, fried foods, refined cereals, refined sugars, alcohol and caffeine.
• try to load up on leafy greens, oily fish, nuts
• looking for to dust off those cookbooks + experiment in the kitchen

Read the article to find out how in these unprecedented times, we must do what we can to get through this period and can ensure we are well equipped to deal with the challenge ahead

> 7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System in Lockdown

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Preceding

CoViD-19 warnings

Anxiety Management During Pandemic Days~

Hope on the Horizon: Pandemic Anxiety Management II~

Pandemic Anxiety Busters~

Mel Brooks saying “go home” to Max Brooks

Christian Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

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Please find also to read:

1. Using fears of the deadly coronavirus
2. Europe in Chaos for a Pandemic
3. Making deeper cuts than some terrorist attacks of the near past
4. The unseen enemy

Anxiety Management During Pandemic Days~

When living in Lockdown places, even in cities when still able to go some kilometres away from home, even if it has now become more limited in several places, those not limited by (1-1-1 or 1 person 1 meter from home at a time) may be happy to count themselves to the lucky ones who may still move around and should be enjoying to see all those things for which they previously had not taken enough time to notice them.

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To remember:

• shrieking headlines > increasing anxiety, worry, sleep disruption, feelings of helplessness, panic, and/or depression.
• some ideas that can help:
  • a customized anxiety toolbox to pick and choose
  • looking at positive images = objective + powerful anxiety reducer.
  • Self Talk Reframing (Cognitive Therapy)
  • Guided Imagination/Visualization
  • Exposure Management
  • Progressive Relaxation
  • Distraction in Action
  • Self Soothing
  • Spiritual Meditation/Prayer
  • Second Voice
  • Exercise, Diet & Good Health Practices
  • stay well informed + safe >> constant media onslaught = psychologically overwhelming + add to an unhealthy level of anxiety => reduce exposure to news.
  • Look for positive imagery +  Write blogs + stories.

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Continue reading: Hope on the Horizon: Pandemic Anxiety Management II~

Preceding

CoViD-19 warnings

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Please find also to read:

1. Using fears of the deadly coronavirus
2. Europe in Chaos for a Pandemic
3. Making deeper cuts than some terrorist attacks of the near past
4. The unseen enemy

Many of us are experiencing emotional distress from the pandemic which can affect each of us in different ways, but often presents as increasing anxiety, worry, sleep disruption, feelings of helplessness, panic, and/or depression.

The shrieking headlines don’t help do they? So what can we do to manage these feelings and feel stronger emotionally and psychologically as we prepare ourselves to face the difficult days ahead?

As a psychotherapist who has practiced for many decades, I have some ideas that can help. So if you are interested, read on.

We are going to make a customized anxiety toolbox. One approach doesn’t work for everyone, pick and choose what feels right for you. Of course I’m including relaxing photos intermixed in this post because looking at positive images is an objective and powerful anxiety reducer. What you perceive influences how you think and feel.

ANXIETY TOOLBOX:

Self Talk Reframing (Cognitive Therapy)

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When I run after what I think I want,

Purplerays

When I run after what I think I want,
my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety;

If I sit in my own place of patience,
what I need flows to me, without pain.

From this I understand that what I want also wants me,
is looking for me and attracting me.

There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it.

~ Rumi

Text & image source: Mystic Path to Cosmic Consciousness https://www.facebook.com/Mystic-Path-to-Cosmic-Consciousness-143005819116554/

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​How2 deal with Anxiety/Overthinking.

Overthinking = caused by thinking too much about the future => to live in the moment.

enjoying + noticing senses being used in the present moment.

controlling your mind > not letting it do what it wants to do.

By fear to be eccentric in opinion

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion,
for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
― Bertrand Russell

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Bij angst om excentrisch te zijn in je opinie

Bertrand Russell 1907 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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• Humanity 2.0: The Unstoppability of Singularity
• Jeff Koons was a cotton trader – and 9 other things you didn’t know about the connection between art and finance
• The Linguistics of Democracy

Reflection by the making of worries

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you
if you realized how seldom they do.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Reflectie bij het maken van zorgen

Eleanor Roosevelt with Fala (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• ‘A terrible war is raging between the cabal and Osinbajo’
• How To Make Peace With Fear & Anxiety

Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world

In the previous articles we have spoken about the world clinching to material wealth like velcrostrips hoping to have all luck in the world.

The materialistic desires have conquered the world. Those who know were they come from and Who they should honour do know they should not give their love to material things.

15 Do not love either the world or the things in the world.+ If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him;+ 16 because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh+ and the desire of the eyes+ and the showy display of one’s means of life*—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. (1 John 2:15, 16)

In the articles we also could see how many love to be moulded by this system of things. (Romans 12:2) The worldly desires have run high in our society, but at other times people also fell for those distractions and attractions.

It Conquered the World (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The love of money or the desire to amass riches and possess material things can corrupt the heart, leading a Christian to do things that go against God’s will. A few have become dishonest at work, have cheated others, or have even stolen money or objects that do not belong to them.

Lots of people do have many things of which they want to boast of is this. Lots of people also do think man is full of wisdom and that they have ‘most’ wisdom’. They do not want to look into their conscience which might bear witness. They are full of fleshly wisdom.

Material pursuits may bring on anxiety. For example, some complicate their lives by living beyond their means. Others have been enticed by get-rich-quick schemes and risky financial investments. For others, secular education as a means to attain financial success becomes a snare. The Bible warns: “Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin.”

9 However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation+ and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires,+ which plunge men into destruction and ruin.+ 10 For the love+ of money is a root+ of all sorts of injurious things,*+ and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.+ (1 Timothy 6:9, 10).

Essential to not being drawn into a materialistic way of life is cultivating the ability to distinguish between right and wrong when making decisions. This ability is developed by regularly partaking of ‘solid spiritual food belonging to mature people’ and by ‘having our perceptive powers trained through use.’ (Hebrews 5:13, 14) Making sure “of the more important things” when setting priorities will also safeguard us from making wrong choices.

9 And this is what I continue praying, that YOUR love may abound+ yet more and more with accurate knowledge*+ and full discernment;*+ 10 that YOU may make sure of the more important things,+ so that YOU may be flawless+ and not be stumbling+ others up to the day of Christ, 11 and may be filled with righteous fruit,+ which is through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.+ (Philippians 1:9,10,11).

A materialistic life-style can blind us, leaving little or no time for spiritual pursuits.
How can we examine ourselves and avoid being ensnared by such a life-style?
We need to consider prayerfully how and to what extent we can simplify our life. King Solomon of ancient Israel said:

“Sweet is the sleep of the one serving, regardless of whether it is little or much that he eats; but the plenty belonging to the rich one is not permitting him to sleep.” (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

Does taking care of unnecessary material possessions consume a lot of our time and energy? The more we own, the more we have to maintain, insure, and protect.
Could it be to our advantage to simplify our life by freeing ourselves of certain belongings?

Lennon (right) performing “All You Need Is Love” with The Beatles in 1967 to 400 million viewers of “Our World”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We think life can much be easier when not loving the material things and not focusing on the world and its worldly life.

On the other hand, by cultivating a healthy fear of displeasing Jehovah, loving justice, and being determined to hold a good conscience, we show that we love “purity of heart.” That love moves us to continue to “conduct ourselves honestly in all things.” (Hebrews 13:18)

18 Carry on prayer+ for us, for we trust we have an honest conscience, as we wish to conduct ourselves honestly in all things.+ 19 But I exhort YOU more especially to do this, that I may be restored to YOU the sooner.+ (Hebrews 13:18

When we act uprightly, honesty can result in a fine witness.

Emilio, an Italian Witness who works as a driver for a public transport company, found a wallet containing 470 euros ($680, U.S.). To the surprise of his colleagues, he handed the wallet to his supervisor, who later gave the wallet to the person who had lost it. Some of Emilio’s colleagues were so impressed by his conduct that they became interested in the Bible and started to study. As a result, seven people from two families have accepted the truth. Yes, behaving honestly from a pure heart really can move others to praise God.—Titus 2:10.

Materialism may not seem to be an issue of loyalty, but it is. Do we trust in Jehovah’s promise to provide what we really need?

33 “Keep on, then, seeking* first the kingdom and his righteousness,+ and all these [other] things will be added to YOU.+ 34 So, never be anxious about the next day,+ for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own badness.  (Matthew 6:33-34)

5 Let [YOUR] manner of life be free of the love of money,+ while YOU are content+ with the present things.+ For he has said: “I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.”+ (Hebrews 13:5)

Rather than striving to obtain at any cost some of the “better” things in life that are presently beyond our reach, can we do without them? (Read Philippians 4:11-13.) Are we tempted to forgo theocratic privileges in order to get what we want now? Does loyal service to Jehovah have first place in our life? Our answers will largely depend on whether we are wholehearted in our service to God or not.

“It is a means of great gain,”

wrote the apostle Paul,

“this godly devotion along with self-sufficiency. For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.”—1 Timothy 6:6-8.

In a revelation to the apostle John toward the close of the first century, the glorified Jesus Christ delivered a message to the congregation located in Laodicea, Asia Minor. It was a warning message against materialism. Though materially rich, Laodicean Christians were bankrupt spiritually. Instead of continuing to walk by faith, they allowed material possessions to blind their spiritual vision. (Revelation 3:14-18) Materialism has a similar effect today. It weakens our faith and causes us to stop ‘running with endurance the race’ for life. (Hebrews 12:1) If we are not careful, the “pleasures of this life” can smother spiritual activities to the point that they are “completely choked.”

14 As for that which fell among the thorns, these are the ones that have heard, but, by being carried away by anxieties and riches and pleasures+ of this life, they are completely choked and bring nothing to perfection.+ (Luke 8:14).

Time ran out for the world of Noah’s day, and it will run out for the present system of things. The apostle Peter assures us:

“Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered.”

Neither the symbolic heavens — wicked governments — nor the symbolic earth — mankind alienated from God — will survive the heat of God’s burning anger. Indicating how we can prove ourselves ready for that day, Peter exclaims:

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah!”—2 Peter 3:10-12.

A key to spiritual protection is contentment rather than the use of this world to the full and the enrichment of ourselves materially. (1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 Timothy 6:6-8) We as such do not have to look so much at the world of mankind or the kingdom of mankind but at the world of the Kingdom of God. When we walk by faith and not by sight, we find joy in the present spiritual paradise. As we partake of nourishing spiritual food, are we not moved to “cry out joyfully because of the good condition of the heart”? (Isaiah 65:13, 14) Moreover, we take delight in our association with those who manifest the fruitage of God’s spirit.

22 On the other hand, the fruitage+ of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness,+ faith, 23 mildness, self-control.+ Against such things there is no law.+ 24 Moreover, those who belong to Christ Jesus impaled* the flesh together with its passions and desires.+ (Galatians 5:22, 23)

How vital that we find satisfaction and refreshment in what Jehovah provides in a spiritual way!

Some questions we do well to ask ourselves are:

‘What place do material things occupy in my life? Am I using the material possessions I have to live a life of pleasure or to promote true worship? What brings me the greatest satisfaction? Is it Bible study and fellowship at Christian meetings, or is it weekends away from Christian responsibilities? Do I reserve many weekends for recreation instead of using such time for the field ministry and other activities in connection with pure worship?’

Our regularly attending Christian meetings and sharing in preaching the good news are included among the necessary acts and deeds of godly devotion. May we perform them with heartfelt devotion to God while we wait patiently for Jehovah’s great day. Let us “do [our] utmost to be found finally by [God] spotless and unblemished and in peace.”—2 Peter 3:14.

Walking by faith means that we keep busy in the Kingdom work, with full trust in Jehovah’s promises.

58 Consequently, my beloved brothers, become steadfast,+ unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord,+ knowing that YOUR labor is not in vain*+ in connection with [the] Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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Preceding articles:

Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth

For The Love of Stuff

Learning that stuff is just stuff

Watch out

Thought of the day: We want more, i want more, but why is that?

Mini-MAX-malism: A Bigger Approach to Less is More

Less… is still enough

Less for more

The Art of Doing Less – Your Time is Finite

Why “Selfishness” Doesn’t Properly Mean Being Shortsighted and Harmful to Others

Looking at a conservative review of Shop Class As Soul Craft

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Additional reading:

1. What is life?
2. Greed more common than generosity
3. Some one or something to fear #2 Attitude and Reactions
4. Some one or something to fear #3 Cases, folks and outing
5. Some one or something to fear #4 Families and Competition
6. Struggles of life
7. It continues to be a never ending, exhausting battle for survival.
8. Searching for fulfillment and meaning through own efforts, facing unsatisfaction and depression
9. Daily portion of heavenly food
10. I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late!
11. How should we react against the world
12. A call easy to understand
13. Followers with deepening
14. Come ye yourselves apart … and rest awhile (Mark 6:31)
15. Suffering redemptive because Jesus redeemed us from sin
16. Looking forward to God’s faithfulness
17. Count your blessings
18. God should be your hope
19. Always set a place in your life for the unexpected guest
20. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
21. Be a ready giver
22. Contribution – Contributie, bijdrage
23. Bearing fruit
24. A small company of Jesus’ footstep follower
25. What’s church for, anyway?
26. Making church
27. Meeting – Vergadering
28. Congregate, to gather, to meet
29. Gathering or meeting of believers
30. An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
31. Not bounded by labels but liberated in Christ
32. Breathing and growing with no heir
33. Breathing to teach
34. Reasons to come together
35. God won’t ask
36. Communion and day of worship
37. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #6 Prayer #4 Attitude
38. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #18 Fulfilment

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Further reading:

• What Controls you?
• “Things”
• Properties
• Buy now, don’t think: the urgency trap
• Shopping Addictions – Day 168
• Greed is Wrong, But What About Wealth Itself?
• A Journey Toward Your Goals
• Virtuous egoism
• In brief: Why you should admire and not covet.
• Nothing & Everything
• The Sticky Fingers of Things
• Material girl
• Simple Girl In A Material World
• Pursuit
• Finding Satisfaction
• Less is more or getting rid of the clutter in your life
• What Really Matters
• The 2 Things That Matter Most
• Romans 7:18 – The Struggle is Real
• How is life measured? — from Luke 12:15
• What Jesus ask us to give up is nothing compared to what He want to give us
• Freedom from Minimizing | Personal
• Seek First The Kingdom
• The Minimalism
• The Cares Of This World
• What can I leave behind – A packing guide for relocation
• Quality over Quantity 💖
• The Pursuit Of Happiness

Related articles

• The Dollar Store (And Moar) (lunaticoutpost.com)
• China Containerized Freight Index Collapses (financialsurvivalnetwork.com)
• How Utah Became A Bizarre, Blissful Epicenter For Get-Rich-Quick Schemes (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• How Australia’s Big 4 Banks Can Sink the Entire Economy (wolfstreet.com)
• Why Your Financial Goal Should Be to Stop Trading Time for Money (lifehacker.com)
• ZAP / POOF: State Of Confusion Part 1 of 2 (dinarrecaps.com)
• Rich People can Enter the Kingdom of God (idkh.org)
• Creflo and the Dollar Whores (almost) get their jet! (firebreathingchristian.com)
• 1 Timothy 6:1-21 Godliness (jimerwin.com)
• Joy as Fruit (genesisone.wordpress.com)

It continues to be a never ending, exhausting battle for survival.

Posttraumatic stress disorder does not have to be a lifelong disorder. Being exposed to one or more traumatic events, such as sexual assault, warfare, serious injury, or threats of imminent death may result in feelings of intense fear, horror, and powerlessness and for sure can make it that we carry the memories of it and the anxiety with it all our life with us. But it has not to derange us for all our lifetime. The bad experiences which we encountered we can use also for the good, conquering the problems it gave us and helping others with the bad experience we had.

In case we allow the bad experience get deep into us and let it make us depressed, we allow it to conquer us. We should try to make ourselves stronger than the experience, how bad it might be, and stand up against it, showing our teeth or or ‘balls’.

Jehovah God also provided a solution for all the evil in this world and brought salvation for our pains and worries. By the death of His son we are saved. When we accept the sacrificial offer of Jesus Christ, the son of God, we can find solace, but we must know that shall not take away the temptations, the tribulations, the pains, a.o. we shall have to endure whilst in this time system.

It is in God and in His son we must put our hope and look forward to the return of Christ and the coming Kingdom of God.

In the meantime we can trust the Most High He will protect us and never let things test us more than we can bear. But when we are victim of bad events we should let us get down and let evil win. The adversary of God, (Satan) which can be any or every person, shall be able to feel our doubt and try us out. We should stand strong.

It is impossible to be strong every day, or to feel at ease or to be happy all the time. We have to face our ups and downs and be aware we have more strength in us than we ever would think. It is there deep in us, but we ourselves have to dig after it.

And yes at moments we do have to give ourself a break, but having self compassion shall never help. Self-pity is the thing we can miss most. Though it does not mean we can not have days that we just find it okay to lie down, pull the blanket up over our head and say nope…..”I can’t do this right now.” But know that there is tomorrow again a day and than it would be possible perhaps. Just get up and try to do it. You can!

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Please do read: Fear, struggles, sadness, bad feelings and depression

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Related articles

• An Analysis of Self (christopherryandueck.wordpress.com)
  Some days I find myself agreeing whith those people who think what I have is nothing more than an excuse to be miserable. Maybe my headaches, my joint pain, my halucinations and all the other problems I deal with are simply me wanting to be a victim. I spend entirely too much time second guessing myself, especially when it comes to the depression and anxiety I feel almost constantly. What if I am making it all up? It isn’t something I can “prove” to people who don’t think that mental illness is a real medical problem and because of that I sometimes fall into that trap. I feel guilty for going to my many doctor’s appointments even though I know I would not be able to hold onto a job if I didn’t, but try explaining that to people who’s idea of dealing with mental health is “suck it up”.
• We All Have A Choice (foodforthespiritualsoul.wordpress.com)
  Love of the self. It is something that we have been deceived into thinking, and reasoning out to ourselves, that hinder us from completely being obedient to God, the Father of Creation’s, Will of the lives He gave us. Jesus Christ, as God’s Son, showed us through His Death on the Cross, at Calvary, that complete obedience to God’s Ways of Unconditional Love, Mercy, and Nonviolence, should be upheld at All Costs, even if it requires death to the human body, to save the soul that He has given you to keep guard over. That we value God’s Ways, above the world’s ways, that is running rampant with Violence, Unforgiveness, and Self Love. People say we should love ourself.
• Psalm 6 (kittyjonesblog.wordpress.com)

  O Jehovah, self-existent One,

  please do not breathe out angry condemnation or discipline over me,

  even though I deserve it.

  Please be merciful for I am weak and vulnerable.

• Thick or thin, the battle within. (meaningfulmeanderingsofsuz.wordpress.com)
  We hear a lot about thick vs. thin skin and it is even somewhat of a mantra in many households.   Parents tell their kids they better get it or life will be just so much harder to survive.   Companies tell their employees to not be so sensitive about rejection or what anyone else says. Thin skinned people seem to be perceived as weak and too fragile to deal with real life. And then there’s sensitivity training for those who have built the proverbial thick skin they were chastised for not having in the first place and then expect everyone else to have the same rhino-esque qualities.
• Persistent symptoms following concussion may be posttraumatic stress disorder (medicalxpress.com)
  Concussion accounts for more than 90 percent of all TBIs, although little is known about prognosis for the injury. The symptoms cited as potentially being part of PCS fall into three areas: cognitive, somatic and emotional. But the interpretation of symptoms after MTBI should also take into account that injuries are often sustained during psychologically distressing events which can lead to PTSD.

  The authors conducted a study of injured patients at an emergency department in a hospital in France to examine whether persistent symptoms three months after a head injury were specific to concussion or may be better described as part of PTSD. The study included 534 patients with head injury and 827 control patients with nonhead injuries.

  Three months after the injury, 21.2 percent of head-injured and 16.3 percent of nonhead-injured patients met the diagnosis of PCS; 8.8 percent of head-injured patients met the criteria for PTSD compared with 2.2 percent of control patients.

• Why Me?! (christiboronow.wordpress.com)
  I could not count how many times I’ve asked this question…whether it be because something awesome just happened and I’m stunned that it happened to me. Or because I’m going through some ridiculous trial and am at a loss of strength and will to keep fighting. This evening I asked, “why me, God…why?”
  Not because my life is going according to my plan, but because it seems like my whole world is falling apart. The last several months have been a constant trial and if I’m completely honest, I am at my absolute end. I have no strength to keep fighting, my body is exhausted, I just had an emergency surgery, my grandma is in her last few miles of life fighting cancer, and I have hit a massive brick wall. I sit here typing this post as my stomach flips out in pain and all I want to do is sleep.
• Write to the Point with Angie Brashear (5020genesis.wordpress.com)
  As a nonbeliever for the majority of my life, I enjoyed reading speculative fiction and it was the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis which ultimately opened my eyes to Christ. My prayer is that my stories will do the same for others. I also hope believers will enjoy the Christian undertones of my work.
• The End? (wifeafterdeath.com)
  After Mark survived His sudden and savage illness in 2008, He had one goal: never to let it define Him. He took the pills, checked in for INR tests, trundled down to Oxford for His annual review. He reluctantly acceded to these things because a man with a stethoscope and big glasses told Him He had to.

  A less optimistic person may have allowed the regime to take over their lives. But not my husband. It spurred Him on to achieve and conquer. In fact, most of the time He’d have you believe it never happened. (Except in those rare, dark moments of reality which seeped in unseen and made us both sob at the cruelty of it all.)

Healing From Complex Trauma & PTSD/CPTSD

Woke up at around 4am’ish, from a nightmare. A nightmare about severe abuse no-one should ever even know about, let alone endure, feel such pain and suffering.

To re-experience this kind of abuse, always seems so deeply cruel. Wasn’t it enough that I had to suffer at that time, do I have to keep enduring it over and over? Seems like I do. Because I am.

It feels like I am being punished, ‘getting what I deserve’, as I was told in the past. Repeatedly.

I do try really hard to be as positive as I can, but days like today are so hard. Already tired, waking up with major anxiety from the nightmare, is not the best way to start your day.

On days like today, I wonder if I will ever be free of PTSD? Free of nightmares? Free of re-experiencing severe sexual abuse, I never deserved and…

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What IF you’re only driven by stress?

As first posting I come to present something which is not of my own, but which I would like to share with you, because it can be a good lesson for all of us, how bad previous experiences can lighten us up and can let us conquer many negative things , by helping others.

The writer of this reblogged article is Eman Kawas, who had a very nasty experience in her life. There were times when people disappointed her and let her down, but those were the times when she had to remind herself to trust her own judgement and opinions, to keep her life focused on believing in herself and all that she was and is capable of.

Every person in this world caries her or his own story with awful but also nice experiences. All of us will have to face challenges to make in their life. The outside world may put pressure on us with many things. We should know we always should be in charge to make our own choices and that we can not be called guilty for those things which happened to us, without our consent.

In our life we often let us be carried away by bad experiences or let others ‘kill our spirit’ because of bad things they have done to us or like to do to us. At work, in our neighbourhood, in our circle of friends and family, we may encounter many circumstances which would like to impress on us positively but also negatively.

To make the best out of our life we first of all have to know where we stand and where  we would like to be. Before we can go forward in our life we get to get rid of all the ballast and do away all the dirt lying in front of us.
We have to take care we do not have to face a negative emotion that can produce negative experiences. Because once negative experiences are present, they can take us in a negative spiral, downward on the road instead of upwards. Basic daily events or tasks at hand, may never going to suck the good energies from us and turn them into negative energies. We may never let it come to a point where that what we have to do or to tackle comes to look like impossible or seems not to be solved.
We always should take care that we are able to be ready to undertake the ‘battle of life’. We should take care we do not come into a situation where we think the only solution would be to take a flight. We should always remember that we have to choose to fight our given problems and that we never should fear so much man, or run away from them. (the only One we should really fear is the Divine Creator God. )

When we become aware of too much stress we should think about going into the defence by ‘becoming calmer’ and by using the flight of the ‘own personality’, making sure that you start to regain your full positive energy from your life.

Never may we get carried away by thinking our stress is a sign of weakness. It is up to us to make us stronger by putting all experiences up to the good and to relative many issues. Sometimes taking distance of what bothers us can help. Going for a stroll or a nice walk in the green nature, calming us down and taking care we come not so stressful that we do come in a circle of depression.

A little bit of stress or anxiety can help us to stay alert and to stimulate us to undertake certain actions. Let us use it for our advantage to create new things and to be very active. But let it not destroy our creativity nor our aim to continue that what we believe would be good.
Therefore always keep faith in yourself, believe in yourself and in your own family and always ‘stay your self’ whatever the circumstances may be. Always keeping your own personality shall already avoid much of stress taking you down.

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To take in consideration:

Dangers:

• whatever you achieve is not satisfying to you and something is always missing
• constantly looking for something that you don’t know what it is

Signs:

• faced by “sink or swim situations”
• driven by negative impulses or stress
• dissatisfaction
• not feeling to achieve
• feeling bored
• cynicism
• strange reactions from your part
• short answers
• mistrust
• feeling like running on our toes
• overeating, heart disease, hypertension, stroke

Avoid:

• exposing yourself to long- term stress > causing physical dysfunction
• let it drive you
• neglect of spiritual life
• loosing hopes, loves, dreams, plans
• to be taken by the maelstrom of the earthly experience
• negative people
• constant noise(background music)
• uncomfortable clothing (too tight shoes, hosiery, itchy sweater)
• too much stuff, a cluttered home or office
• disorder around you

Solutions:

• see challenges as opportunities to succeed
• set smart goals for yourself => Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely goals
• remain positive > ready for opportunities that rise
• bring a sense of connection, renewal and  energy
• dare to think things over and try to meditate on it
• let it be useful > if it was a short-term stress
• keep people from stealing your joy
• keep optimistic
• concentrate on the nice things around you
• seek someone else’s love and assistance
• talk with someone close to yo, whom you can trust
• be ready yourself for others
• bless different circumstances and bless others around you
• concentrate on the people with positive thoughts
• concentrate on the positive thoughts in yourself
• focus on shifting what drives you from stress to performance – from negative to positive –
• nurture yourself as any garden does
• realize > what truly makes a difference = way you see things.
• Do know what your driver is
• Remember Which Source you can have with you

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Additional reading:

1. What is life?
2. A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person
3. Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
4. Searching for fulfillment and meaning through own efforts, facing unsatisfaction and depression
5. Kitty Werthmann her account of growing up in Austria under Nazi regime
6. Fragments from the Book of Job #7 Epilogue
7. Fear knocked at the door
8. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
9. Depression Is and When
10. How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
11. Seems no future in suffering
12. Suffering
13. Suffering – through the apparent silence of God
14. Suffering continues
15. Suffering leading to joy
16. Surprised by time in joys & sufferings
17. Words from God about suffering
18. Working of the hope
19. Getting out of the dark corners of this world
20. Running away from the past
21. Walking in the Light of Life
22. Hope does not disappoint us
23. If you do pray you shall not be disappointed
24. Always a choice
25. We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace
26. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
27. Aligned
28. To Work Longer or Die Younger
29. We all have to have dreams
30. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement
31. Peace Takes You
32. Answering a fool according to his folly
33. Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church
34. Feel-good Factor?
35. How to Feel Good About Yourself
36. Ageing and Solidarity between generations
37. Everything that is done in the world is done by hope
38. Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.
39. Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
40. Hope does not disappoint us
41. See the conquest and believe that we can gain the victory
42. Change should not be stressful
43. Happiness is like manna
44. Spreading good cheer contagious
45. Spark of Positivism
46. Thanksgiving wisdom: Why gratitude is good for your health
47. Importance of parents 1
48. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
49. Depression, Anxiety, Pressure and megachurches
50. Breathing and growing with no heir
51. Come ye yourselves apart … and rest awhile (Mark 6:31)
52. United people under Christ
53. Commit your self to the trustworthy creator

 

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Find also:

How to Relieve Stress (with Stress Relief Techniques) – wikiHow How to Relieve Stress. Stress. We all deal with it. Whether it be our jobs, family life, drama with friends, a relationship problem, or finances, stress is there. http://www.wikihow.com/Relieve-Stress

How to Deal With Stress (with Stress Reduction Techniques) How to Deal With Stress. Life can be stressful; sometimes you’ll have to deal with ongoing stress positively. Stress can have a variety of causes such as family … http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Stress

How to Create a Stress Ball: 5 Steps – wikiHow Feeling stressed a lot? Having a way to relieve stress at your desk, in front of the TV, or wherever your health and one very simple way is to use a stress ball for … http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Stress-Ball

Managing Stress – how to articles from wikiHow wikiHow has Managing Stress how to articles with step-by-step instructions and photos. http://www.wikihow.com/Category:Managing-Stress

How to Avoid Stress During the Holidays: 12 Steps (with Pictures) How to Avoid Stress During the Holidays. Although the holiday season is supposed to bring joy and harmony to all, the many expectations that lay behind the … http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Stress-During-the-Holidays

How to Beat Workplace Stress: 12 Steps (with Pictures) – wikiHow How to Beat Workplace Stress. People in many professions work well over the usual 40 hour work week and end up bringing workplace stress home with them. http://www.wikihow.com/Beat-Workplace-Stress

How to Avoid Stress on the Internet: 7 Steps (with Pictures) How to Avoid Stress on the Internet. Believe it or not, using the Internet can be a major source of stress for some people. This article will offer some tips of … http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Stress-on-the-Internet

How to Be Calm in a Stressful Situation (with Helpful Techniques) Identify the cause of your stress. Is your heart pounding because that idiot just cut you off on the freeway, or is it because of that presentation you have to give to … http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Calm-in-a-Stressful-Situation

How to Reduce Stress (with Stress Relief Techniques) – wikiHow How to Reduce Stress. Reducing the stress in your life will take a lot of reflection and action, but it will be worth it. If you’re less stressed, you’ll be able to sleep … http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Stress

Related articles

• Tackling stress in a tough climate (hiscox.co.uk)
  Not surprisingly their biggest source of stress is the fear of losing their business (57%). But pressures in today’s tough business climate are also putting an increasing strain on them. Many worry about losing clients (54%) or feel the pressure of bringing in new business (52%). A tailored professional indemnity insurance policy may help to mitigate these risks.

  If the business they have worked so hard to build is under threat, it’s understandable that company owners will try to keep as much of a work/life balance as they can while doing everything possible to keep the business afloat. However on a positive, most (68%) say they try to keep a good work/life balance.

  Many entrepreneurs would say they thrive on stress, that they make better decisions under pressure and have some of their best ideas when up against the clock. But stress is meant to be a temporary condition. If it becomes the norm rather than the exception in your working day it can quickly lead to burnout. Chronic stress can lead you to make poor decisions causing your business to suffer.

  It’s important for entrepreneurs to take steps to tackle stress so you can stay at the top of your game. Eat healthily, take exercise, get enough sleep, but also get away from work once in a while. Spend time with your family and go out with your friends. Put it in your diary if you have to. You’ll appreciate it. And so will they.

• What Is Stress (debatabletopicsx.wordpress.com)
  You are not the only one with either personal or collective problems, because rest of the human kind can have deep predicaments with great fears. On the other hand, stress can find you, with a repeated daily tasks. This involves your entirety of your life. Now you must analyse everything about yourself, and understand how you ended up in such condition. Then take the right action or confront your greatest fear and solve the problem there and then. This may not be easy but when you accomplish your goal, your entire life may outlook into more easy times. You see, problems are not assignments to deals with, but they are part of life, to teach you, one thing, and that is to gain higher experience in life. This leads to complete knowledge of a certain wisdom in life.
• The Karma of Stress. ~ Beatrice Bachleda (elephantjournal.com)
  It begins with one thing, and when we don’t get right down to the cause and take care of it, it begins to sneak into other things. Eventually the small things that we would never think about twice become the reason why we suddenly burst into tears or begin snapping at people we love.The problem with stress lies in our conditioning. It’s in the “agreement” we made that stress is a negative thing and must be demolished instantly or else we are to blame for its existence. The agreement says we “shouldn‘t let stress get to us.”
• Why stress might not be so bad (thelondonuniversity.com)
  Much of what we know about the physical and mental toll of chronic stress stems from seminal work by Robert Sapolsky beginning in the late 1970s. [Sapolsky, PhD,] a neuroendocrinologist, was among the first to make the connection that the hormones released during the fight-or-flight response—the ones that helped our ancestors avoid becoming dinner—have deleterious effects when the stress is severe and sustained. Especially insidious, chronic exposure to one of these hormones, cortisol, causes brain changes that make it increasingly difficult to shut the stress response down.
• Owning our Health: Taking control of stress (blogs.vancouversun.com)
  Cynicism is that nagging, negative feeling of mistrust and doubt due to a build-up of life’s ups and downs; its hurts and betrayals. Viewing life through mistrustful lenses, we are constantly on the alert and on the defensive – our fight or flight reactor permanently switched on. This negative viewpoint can silently drain us for years, going undetected and unnoticed.
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  To be healthier in every way, we need to consciously take care of this important part of us in a way that heals cynicism as well as other signs of stress. What’s needed is a rethink about how we view our world and our place in it.

  Understanding the circumstances that lead us to feel mistrustful, at risk, not valued or cared for and, thus, cynical is a great start. Often we find it is the continual remembering of a whole history of negative events that brings us to that stressed and cynical viewpoint. But we shouldn’t stop at just recognizing the problem.
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  Nurturing a spiritual practice builds a stronger, more rooted sense of unity with the divine. And, this builds a sense of stability, safety as well as new perspectives. The prayers of Jesus, for example, show us that in communing with God we can find a safe place where we can learn to see ourselves from a more spiritual standpoint, which allows us to respond to difficulties more effectively. Even in our darkest of moments, this action can redefine how we see the world – lifting the mistrust, anger, and fear that breed cynicism.

• How the stress of our “always on” culture can impact performance, health and happiness (scopeblog.stanford.edu)
  During a recent Café Scientifique event, Palo Alto-based organizational psychologist Jay Azarow, PhD, discussed how our “always on” culture can negatively impact your performance, health and happiness. In the video above, he provides an overview of science-based yet practical approaches to reducing and managing stress, increasing energy and enhancing focus and productivity.
• Planetary Healing: Take a Break from Stress (wesannac.com)
  Everyone gets stressed out at times, and here on earth, a lot of things can bring us down and make it much harder to re-find a good vibration if we let them. Our emotions and expressions affect the vibration of the entire planet, and to heal this world, it’s essential that we situate ourselves on a good vibration as much and as often as possible.

  It’s more than easy to dip into stress and frustration when circumstances in our lives allow for it, and here, I’d like to offer five things we can do when stressful situations pile on and make it harder to be in a positive space.
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  Remember that you’re never alone, and if you need to, take some time off from whatever’s stressing you out and ease into your unfolding higher-vibrational perception. In due time, stress will cease to bring people down like it has for so long, but for now, we have to be able to be here for each other when it gets the best of us.

  Stay strong, fellow seekers, because stress or no stress, our greatest work is just beginning.

 

 

Quill Pen

I am talking about when whatever you achieve is not satisfying to you and something is always missing, when you’re constantly looking for something that you don’t know what it is, then you still get things done but the motivation differs.
Those are signs that you are driven by stress, when you’re faced by “sink or swim situations” and that’s the only way that you would go above and beyond, then that’s when you realize you are driven by stress. A recent discovery took me to a place to see the reason I am dissatisfied, not achieved or maybe just bored.
Performance driven people are the ones that see challenges as opportunities to succeed; they tend to set SMART goals for themselves, no magic involved (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely goals) and remain positive to be ready for the opportunities that rise, on the other hand stress driven people perceive…

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Anxiety’s Hold

Even the greatest moments, calmest actions, most peaceful energy, would be unable to tear it off once it sticks
it winds you up for everything and causes one to just pace instead
Eyes get dizzy from observation of another’s and can assimilate the same hold
Tension continues to escalate and bottling it up only makes the explosion imminent
No one likes it
Some look to escape through things that actually increase it
An insanity I’ve dealt with and still resisting
Depravity of vice while the resuscitation of life simultaneously reacts from one thought and act of will
It’s hell to deal with
I think the void between two lives would be more difficult than this
At least then you could be fascinated by the new journey
Than to continue the same and battle the duality of choosing a side
Or dealing with human ordeals such as quitting smoking or relationships
Decisions can create a hold on you, but when it’s out of nowhere….
The confusion continues the hold

– Shane Engisch

Shane Engisch was born and raised in Michigan. After High school in a small country town she went to college in a city near Detroit. All of her life she has aspired to be many things involving with the arts: Actor, musician, entertainer, martial artist, singer, dancer, but her best and foremost skill (according to her) is writing.

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Anxiety

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Related articles

• 6 Things To Say To Help Someone Through An Anxiety Attack (thoughtcatalog.com)
  When you get sick, it feels hopeless and never-ending. I have never felt strong enough to survive an attack without becoming depressed or even sicker after. In my first article with Thought Catalog, I mentioned the startling fact that every hour at least one person goes to the ER for a panic attack. This hellish place we’re in feels like we’re fighting a hopeless fight against ourselves and our own bodies. Believing in people can go a long way, telling the person you believe in them can go even farther. Knowing that someone else is there for us can often be the little bit of strength that we need to get through.
• 6 Things You Should Never Say To Someone With Anxiety (thoughtcatalog.com)
  Anxiety needs a new perspective to the population, it’s not just worry, fear, or feeling scared. I’m almost scared to tell people that I have anxiety in fear to get a lecture on how to deal with it or get over it about coming from a person who probably has no factual information on this disorder or has ever been through. Next time you meet someone with anxiety, try to remember that it’s not something someone has any large control over — and if we could have our way, we wouldn’t even have anxiety in the first place.
• Tweens and Anxiety (fashionplaytes.com)
  All children experience anxiety and it comes in many forms. Young children may experience separation anxiety when their mom or dad leave them with someone else for the first time. They may become scared at night and may want a nightlight – another form of anxiety begins. As children grow, it’s a parent’s job to calm the jitters and make them less anxious about the big world around them. But, for some tweens, being anxious can take on a whole new meaning. It can be the difference from having a productive and happy day or being completely unable to function, withdrawn, sad and depressed.
• How to Get From Anxiety to Zen (psychologytoday.com)
  “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” ~Bruce LeeThe best wellness tools involve mind games to keep us calm, focused and productive.But what happens when life gets stressful, as it inevitably does?
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  When we’re stressed out, we tend to over-breathe (rapid, shallow breaths that resemble panting) which can lead to panic attacks, or under-breathe (hold our breath) which can cause dizziness or hyperventilation.
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  Physical boundaries pertain to privacy and personal space. What’s the acceptable distance between you and another person? Are you comfortable with affection, or are you more reserved? Do you shake hands upon meeting someone? What does your home decor reveal? Are you organized or prone to clutter?
• 10 Anxieties Brought On By Texting (refinery29.com)
  Now that we’re fully aware of our ability to hide behind emotionless, glowing words, our yearning to somehow convey emotion has skyrocketed. The emphasis has shifted away from tonal inflection to grammatical nuances and emoticons. Since we’ve removed the audible voice from conversation, our need to know whether our digital voice was delivered, heard, and seen is now paramount to our sense of well-being. (Don’t deny it, the “seen” notification on messaging these days is the bane of your existence.)
• Do You Suffer from an Anxiety Disorder? Find Your Symptoms on our Checklist (bodymindbeautyhealth.com)
  Anxiety is a fact of life. In fact, some anxiety is necessary. You need a little anxiety to get to work on time or to get to the grocery store before it closes. If you didn’t have anxiety, you wouldn’t know to get out of the way when you see a truck bearing down on you in the street.Anxiety can be a bad thing, however, if you worry that your boss doesn’t like you, even though you have no realistic evidence that he does not, or if you feel panic when there are “too many” people in the grocery store, or if you avoid crossing streets, because you never know when a truck is going to come out of nowhere.
• What It’s Like To Have Severe Anxiety (thoughtcatalog.com)
  Chronic anxiety is debilitating, and can leave you a mass of nerves, too terrified and nervous to even so much as leave your bed. The misconception of anxiety is that it’s just fear, something that everyone feels.
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  Anxiety gave me the courage to fight. Anxiety let me appreciate my good moments a million times more. Anxiety has given be a better understanding of others. Anxiety made me realize it’s amazing what you can hide just by putting on a smile.
• What Is Anxiety Disorder (tolynov.wordpress.com)
  Most individuals suffering from chronic anxiety are treated with the use of both medication and therapy. In some cases, therapy alone is effective in reducing your anxiety symptoms and getting your life back to normal. With the help of your doctor you can develop a course of treatment that works for you and allows you to feel calmer and experience everyday activities without unnecessary worries
• The Courage That Comes with Anxiety (psychcentral.com)
  Courage is not usually a word anxiety sufferers would list as one of their most outstanding attributes. Yet it should be.For even the best of lives are thorn-ridden with frustration, disappointment, and loss. Add the extremely difficult challenge of trudging through outer problems while contending with the inner turmoil of anxiety, and it’s apparent that fortitude, determination — and yes, courage — are some of the strengths that anxious people may not even realize they posses.Yet people with anxiety probably carry these strengths in higher reserves than those without anxiety.
• Anxiety – Joy – A Journey (riselikeair.wordpress.com)
  I strongly suggest that you read the article whether anxiety is a part of your life personally, of someone you know or of someone you may know in the future.  She has done an amazing job, in my opinion, of creating a window into a life with anxiety.

  Anxiety hurts. It’s the precise inverse of joy and blots out pleasure at its whim, leaving a dull, faded outline of the happiness that was supposed to happen. It’s also as sneaky as hell.”  Kit Kinsman

Searching for fulfillment and meaning through own efforts, facing unsatisfaction and depression

Dark season to cope with

On “Voice, the Christian E-book blog” in Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble is given an interview about Depression and Anxiety is with Perry Noble, founder and senior pastor of NewSpring Church, a multicampus church whose mission is to reach 100,000 people in South Carolina with the gospel.

Mostly the Winter season is marked with people having a lot of difficulty to cope with depression. Spring brings more anxiety to people feeling sometimes pressed in a corner or not able to develop their own talent. Seeing everything coming up  in the parks and fields they become frustrated that nature looked death, but every year can recover so much and bring every time such new beautiful things, whilst they can not.

Today people are not concerned about God and His Creation, but they always will be confronted by that creation. In a way this may become a little bit frustrating for them and for the believers who would like to bring the unbelievers closer to the Creator. By those believers there also may rise a lot more questions when everything comes to live again, and they do not see Spring coming into their life, but see them getting older and less vibrant.

Spring-cleaning

Spring brings also the Spring-cleaning and making us to confront the old things, deciding what to throw away and what to keep but brings also questions, how to continue, and what to do this year. More than the 1st of January people now get wondering what to do and how to succeed in this New Year.

For many, like us it might be the start of trying to meet more  people and getting them to see where they and we are and bringing them to where they and we need to be in a relationship with Jesus and his Father, which should be also Our Father, the Most High God.

People will always get offended—it’s inevitable. The question we have to ask is: would we rather offend religious people or lost people? When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he offended the religious people at the same time he healed a lost person.  {Perry Noble}

Searching for fulfilment and meaning

Perry Noble thinks people are searching for fulfilment and meaning through their own efforts — jobs, money, cars, kids, hobbies— whatever the next big thing might be. The reality, though, is we’ll only be truly fulfilled when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Today we find a lot of people who become frustrated because they can not reach the goals they had set in front of them. Everywhere they seem to see negative elements, blocking their advancement. Lots of people do not feel they get recognition for what they do and having their work not being appreciated they start doubting in the quality of their work or in their ability to bring something others can appreciate.

Man who do not seem to get out of the darkness become struggling with depression. They do not dare to come to others with their problems and do not want to see they are depressed and perhaps need help from specialised people. They need to ask for help immediately.

Elements that can help

Noble who’s first book, Unleash! Breaking Free from Normalcy was a New York Times bestseller, also has struggled with depression. He says:

I was overwhelmed (in an awesome way) with an amazing amount of encouragement and support by my church when I shared my struggle with depression.

For so long, I thought I should be able to pray away how I was feeling or snap out of it and if I did tell anyone what was going on, they would think I was a bad Christian or didn’t really love Jesus. That’s just not true and only by speaking up and asking for help was I able to see this. I don’t think anything is wrong with medication if it’s something a doctor recommends. If you needed medicine to fix your heart you would take that, so why wouldn’t you take medicine to help fix your brain?

Our relationship with our brain and moods

Complete neuron cell diagram. Neurons (also known as neurones and nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. In vertebrate animals, neurons are the core components of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It looks like many people are afraid for their own brain. Certainly when their brain does things they themselves do not like it to do.

It’s often said that depression results from a chemical imbalance, but that figure of speech doesn’t capture how complex the disease is. Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, depression has many possible causes, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. It’s believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression. {What causes depression? first printed in Understanding Depression, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical Schooll}

We got to know that the brain, and not the heart is the centre of our life and the place for all our emotions. We would love to control those areas of the brain which help to regulate mood, but we do not seem to be always in control of them.

Researchers believe that — more important than levels of specific brain chemicals — nerve cell connections, nerve cell growth, and the functioning of nerve circuits have a major impact on depression. Still, their understanding of the neurological underpinnings of mood is incomplete.

Experts have long wondered why, if depression were primarily the result of low levels of neurotransmitters, people don’t feel better as soon as levels of neurotransmitters increase.

The answer may be that mood only improves as nerves grow and form new connections, a process that takes weeks. In fact, animal studies have shown that antidepressants do spur the growth and enhanced branching of nerve cells in the hippocampus. So, the theory holds, the real value of these medications may be in generating new neurons (a process called neurogenesis), strengthening nerve cell connections, and improving the exchange of information between nerve circuits. If that’s the case, medications could be developed that specifically promote neurogenesis, with the hope that patients would see quicker results than with current treatments.

Depression connections in the brain 5 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Regulating mood

Many of our brothers in our community believe that the ultimate goal in treating the biology of depression is to improve the brain’s ability to regulate mood.

We now know that neurotransmitters are not the only important part of the machinery. But let’s not diminish their importance either. They are deeply involved in how nerve cells communicate with one another. And they are a component of brain function that we can often influence to good ends.

Every part of your body, including your brain, is controlled by genes. Genes make proteins that are involved in biological processes. Throughout life, different genes turn on and off, so that — in the best case — they make the right proteins at the right time. But if the genes get it wrong, they can alter your biology in a way that results in your mood becoming unstable. In a genetically vulnerable person, any stress (a missed deadline at work or a medical illness, for example) can then push this system off balance.

Mood is affected by dozens of genes, and as our genetic endowments differ, so do our depressions. The hope is that as researchers pinpoint the genes involved in mood disorders and better understand their functions, treatment can become more individualized and more successful. Patients would receive the best medication for their type of depression.

But mood is also a lot influenced from outside, the people we meet, the activities we see developing around us, how people interact, etc..

View of the world and influential factors

sympathy|for|the|anxiety|explosion (Photo credit: massimo ankor)

Cognitive psychologists point out that your view of the world and, in particular, your unacknowledged assumptions about how the world works also influence how you feel. You develop your viewpoint early on and learn to automatically fall back on it when loss, disappointment, or rejection occurs. For example, you may come to see yourself as unworthy of love, so you avoid getting involved with people rather than risk losing a relationship. Or you may be so self-critical that you can’t bear the slightest criticism from others, which can slow or block your career progress.

How we look at the world can be influenced by many factors, but for sure the media are not helping to have a positive look on it. Therefore we on this site world love to have an other look at the world and see the positive aspects of the world. Therefore we would like to put some photographs , like the previous one published, more in the picture. When you see all those little flowers coming up and giving colour unto our world, we should also like to give colour to our world we are living in.

Many affected by stressful experiences

In the United States of America nearly 19 million adults each year are affected by depression and worldwide we may find more than 35 million people having problems with it. Many of them do not see any more the beauty of nature and do not see any more what marvellous things this world has to offer.

The depression they got in often followed stressful experiences. The brain interprets events and decides if they are threatening, then controls the behavioural and physiological responses to those events. The brain’s reaction to stress is useful in that it supplies extra energy to help a person act on or flee from dangerous situations. Sometimes, however, brain chemical levels that increase during stressful situations stay at high levels and cause problems such as depression.

Would it not better to avoid such route where we went to far on the wrong (site) track? And can we not see by people around us when they are floating away?

Some may think

This world is becoming More Wicked by the moment: and If We; the older men and women, do not speak up: Then How Will the Young Folks learn anything about history?

Knowing history, knowing how people reacted in the past, will avoid that people go again in the same wrong direction.

Depression is a very real issue and it has impacted everyone—either it’s happened to us or someone we know. I think the church needs to talk about this issue and help people understand what the Bible says about overcoming fear, anxiety, and stress. The church should be a place where people meet Jesus, find hope, and have the courage to ask for help! {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Having eyes for the other and helping each-other

Each of us can help a person not getting so far that he or she gets into a depression. We should see when people around us get more into a deep well or in a bottomless pit. By being positive ourselves we can radiate ourselves positiveness that can infect others, making them to see the bright site of life.

Depression is dark and lonely, and there is a misconception that Christians shouldn’t struggle with depression; if you love Jesus, you should just be able to pray it away. But that’s just not true!

Many times, if things are messy, the church doesn’t want to talk about it. {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Churches should also talk about this and other matters people do have to struggle with, also when they are Christian. It is not because we have accepted Jesus in our life that we are free of pain and struggle. Do not believe that. But be sure in our faith we can find guidance and lots of help to be able to cope better with those struggles.

In most cases, people will identify with your pain more than they will your success. Sharing stories of your past and where God has brought you from could help someone take the next step with Jesus. If God can use my pain for someone else’s progress, then I want him to use it! {Winning the War against Depression and Anxiety: An Interview with Perry Noble}

Believers and non-believers, people adhering a religion or not, have to see that depression, anxiety, and fear are very real struggles. They should know that they can help each other to overcome it. Every person in the community should take care he or she is no cause that an other shall come in problems or would feel bad.

To endure

Those who are Christian should remember the pains Jesus and his family had to endure. They should remember how Jesus his mother continued her life and how the brothers and sisters went on after Jesus was killed. One of his brothers got the strength to to continue the preaching of his brother, telling not about the negative point that he had lost his brother Jesus, but telling about the positive news his resurrection for us was.

In Christianity we can see how many overcome the many struggles they had to face. Also today we still can find many living proofs that it is possible to overcome being overwhelmed.

We should stop being held back by life’s everyday struggles, and learn to overcome stress and anxiety. And we should concentrate ourselves on the nice things this world may offer to all living people, religious and non-religious. Those who have faith in the Only One True God, should show others how they are and can be further blessed by the Magical Hand of the Divine Creator. So that others may see the marvellous things this world has to offer and how we may enjoy it all.

We all can do much more than we think. Because all people are created in the image of God theyall have received inner forces from the Creator. When we are willing to look in ourselves for those inner forces, we shall be able to use them. Even when you do not believe in God, you would be better to start looking for those inner forces which are implanted in your being. By opening your mind for the search of those inner forces you might well be able to find that what gets you stronger and shall enable you to recover much faster than synthetic medical drugs can do. Animals in the wild do not have the doctor and medicines with them, but they can help themselves by what nature is providing for them. Start seeing what is in nature to help you live a better and easier life.

 

Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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Find additional reading:

1. Meaning of life
2. Feed Your Faith Daily
3. My Christadelphian Faith

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• Subjects in Distress

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Related articles

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  “I wanted to kill myself.”Few people want to admit that, and even fewer pastors would.
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  “Overwhelmed” is not for people who have it all together. It’s not for those among us who seem to glide through life, unaffected by tragedy or discomfort. This book won’t help someone who lives a conflict-free life. Anyone who’s got a perfect family, a perfect past, and no fears or doubts — just skip this book. And for those who expect to get everything they want out of life and never suffer resistance of any kind, this book will be completely useless.
• My Opinion on Overwhelmed book by Perry Noble (chunton.wordpress.com)
  The book taught me that if you are in Christ Jesus He’s for you and if He’s for you He loves you and with all of things on your side nothing can hold you back and keep you down! No matter what you’re facing Jesus is greater and He wants you to overcome not be overwhelmed!
• Blog on Perry Noble quote (chunton.wordpress.com)
  The church today needs to focus more on pointing people to Jesus and the fact that He’s alive! The fact that the resurrection happened should be a weekly topic on our church’s because that’s just not something one can simply get over if they truly love Jesus.
• Three Resources by Perry Noble (resourcesforus.wordpress.com)
  Perry provides honest scenarios and practical solutions on how to win the war against worry.This is a book that can help you learn more about the character of God and His ability to help you through these difficult times in your life. You CAN overcome being overwhelmed!”
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  Pastor Perry Noble challenges all followers of Christ to make a bold move by fully embracing the exciting adventure God has called us to. Are you ready to unleash all the life he has created you to live?
• What Is Depression? Examining the Link Between The Physical and The Emotional (Part 1) (megsanity.com)
  People around you owe you more than, “It’s all in your head.” Because that simply isn’t true.
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  Kramer notes that depressives may actually have more realistic views of the world, for example understanding that they aren’t likely to win the lottery or a poker game. However, they are actually less likely to listen to those instincts which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and reinforcement.
• Is Depression Just Bad Chemistry? (scientificamerican.com)
  The general idea is that a deficiency of certain neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) at synapses, or tiny gaps, between neurons interferes with the transmission of nerve impulses, causing or contributing to depression. One of these neurotransmitters, serotonin, has attracted the most attention, but many others, including norepinephrine and dopamine, have also been granted supporting roles in the story.
• Unraveling the Mystery of How Antidepression Drugs Work (scientificamerican.com)
  Depression strikes some 35 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, contributing to lowered quality of life as well as an increased risk of heart disease and suicide. Treatments typically include psychotherapy, support groups and education as well as psychiatric medications. SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, currently are the most commonly prescribed category of antidepressant drugs in the U.S., and have become a household name in treating depression.
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  Everyone could use a little confession every now and again to get out what’s been eating them inside. The philosophical “black bile” seems like recalled memories that trigger episodes, and an inability to control the reaction. Who doesn’t engage in percussive maintenance when they encounter an embarrassing thought? Pills aren’t going to fix that unless they make you numb, which also means prevented growth.
• 4 Quick Tips for Helping Someone With Depression (thereseborchardblog.com)
  Education is always the starting point because until a spouse or daughter or friend of a depressed person understands the illness, it is impossible to say or do the right thing to be supportive. Do your own research by going online to NAMI.org (National Alliance of Mental Illness) or dbsalliance.org (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance), by doing your own Google search, or by reading some of the articles about depression on this site.
• Pastor Perry Noble Taking 2 Month Leave from Megachurch (blackchristiannews.com)
  The extended leave is not due to a marriage, family or church problem, he has clarified. Instead, Noble said he realized he needed to do “what sets me up for long-term success and sets this church up for the same way.”
  With 90 percent of people entering into ministry and not finishing and some pastors being worked too hard by their church, he noted, he decided to take a sabbatical.
  Noble made the announcement to his congregation, which draws around 16,000 people every weekend, last week. Attendees expressed their support of his decision.
• Perry Noble on Modern Day Phariseeism (blackchristiannews.com)
  I became obsessed with religious rules and legalism and forgot all about the grace that God had poured out on me through Jesus. As I look back on that time in my life there are eight things that really defined me…
  #1 – I was way more obsessed with the sins and shortcomings of others and made it my obsession to point out their faults so that I did not have to deal with my own. (Matthew 23:27-28)