To be a Good Enough Mother Must You be a Super-Mom?

 

The child-care guru D.W. Winnicott wrote about “the ordinary devoted mother.”  He coined the term “the good enough Mother.”

A good enough Mom nourishes the connections she feels between herself and her child and she takes care, not only of her children, but also of herself.

Science is aware of how the connections between us as human beings affect us at a cellular level.  Nowhere is this connection more powerful than that between mother and child.

For instance, science tells mom not to be tense around baby or baby will feel the tenseness and become an uptight baby.  This is enough to make a new mom tense if she interprets the information to mean that she has to always be relaxed when she is with baby.  But, it can be helpful information if mom interprets it to mean that she has to take care of herself and focus on her needs in order to enjoy and to nurture baby. Yes, a tense Mom makes for a tense baby but baby cannot make Mom tense.  Mom makes herself tense by the pressures she puts on herself and by not taking proper care of her own mind-body needs.

Of course mothering is exceedingly important for the well being of the child.  But, Mom let’s go back to Winnicott’s time and remember that being good enough is good enough!  After all, you are not a perfect person and so no task you undertake will be done perfectly.  Rule number one for parenting must be to take pressure off of Mom!  I don’t think this happens often enough.  Actually I think many mothers are experiencing parenting as a pressure cooker.

Go to any gathering of young women and you will find them chatting about their kids and their parenting styles.  There is, I think, an underlying feeling of anxiety and competiveness in the conversation.  Who does more for their child?  Who does it better?  I wish they’d talk about politics—–even in today’s partisan world there might be less anxiety!

Is how the kids turn out mom’s report card on herself?  Wow!  If so that is a lot of pressure on both mother and child.  Kids often believe that their grades, their popularity, their success in sports or the arts is how you evaluate yourself.  Once they know that they begin to act for Mom instead of taking pleasure in their own successes.  This, in the long run creates an internal feeling of emptiness and it diminishes a desire to achieve.

Children need nurturing Moms who are happy within themselves and don’t lean on their kids for their self esteem.

How can you be a good enough mother?

There is not a recipe for rearing perfect children.  But if there were, the first line would read, “Remove parental pressure and anxiety.”

Children are amazing creatures. They see the world with fresh eyes, alert awareness and an open heart.  They need respect for their way of being, love, kindness and firm but loving boundaries.  They will grow up to reach their full potential if they receive positive messages.

We reinforce what we talk about.  If a child is sloppy, note the times they pick up their clothes.  “I notice you were very tidy when you made your bed today” is a powerful message for change.  “Why are you always so sloppy” is a powerful message for status quo. Telling a child that she is happy, healthy, and smart will go a long way to helping her to turn out that way.

Love the children but love yourself first and in this way insure that you do a good job for everyone: child and mother!

Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way is about the creation of health and its by-product, happiness.  The healthy and happy person is grounded and operates from a well of stability and flexibility. The maintenance of health and happiness through Ayurveda and meditation is the best insurance for the creation of competent, happy children.  Sandra and I suggest that you put on your oxygen mask first and that you focus on enjoying the small creatures God has placed in your care.  Enjoyment, love, positivity are the antidotes for pressure and guilt!

As always, we wish you perfect health and happiness.

Sleep and Panic Attacks

Are you wondering how sleep and panic attacks go together? 
They are intrinsically connected because sleep and panic attacks fit together like a hand and a glove

Sleep is important. Recent scientific research tells us that sleep, even more than smoking, exercise or high blood pressure is indicative of how long we will each live.  Ayurveda agrees and takes this one step further.  Sleep according to Ayurveda, is more important than even nutrition for our health and well-being.

In Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way Sandra and I discuss sleep and insomnia at length and offer many time-tested ways to encourage sleep. No one need suffer from insomnia and no one needs to feel as if the only solution for insomnia is to take a dangerous medication.  As a matter of fact during a chemically induced sleep our body does not efficiently go through the myriad tasks it performs when eyes are closed naturally. 

Sleep debt breaks the brain and sleeplessness goes against the dictates of Mother Nature.  Ayurveda tips can absolutely prevent and cure insomnia and help any one suffering from this disorder to get their zzz’s by simply closing their eyes. Dangerous medications are not necessary to solve the problem of insomnia.

Lack of sleep triggers bio-chemical imbalances. There is a correlation between bio-chemical imbalances and panic attacks but a correlation is not a cause.  It simply implies a connection.  It’s that chicken and egg story.  Which came first the chemical imbalance or the panic attack?  And, there are natural ways to balance brain chemistry.  Sandra and I also discuss these in Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way.

Genetics?  Science now tells us that very little is genetically programmed.  We have tendencies or leanings toward specific problems but if our physiology is in balance the problem need not come to us.  In other words, just cause Mom had panic attacks you need not experience them!

Panic attacks are often triggered by an upsetting life experience. We digest, ingest and assimilate all experiences at a cellular level.  Ayurveda suggests we focus on rebalancing the physiology.  With balance comes the ability to not dwell on upsets. With balance comes he demise of panic attacks.

Sleep enhances our balancing act.  Panic attacks are most often, according to Ayurveda, triggered by an exhausted physiology.  Upsetting experiences and exhaustion go together.  Often when we are upset our routine becomes disrupted and we don’t follow a regular schedule. By not paying enough attention to how much sleep we are getting we begin to set the building blocks for a panic attack in place.

Sleep affects mood. Like the low fuel light on the instrument panel of a car, the symptoms that accompany sleep deprivation are warning signals that you need to stop and refuel or suffer the consequences of running out of gas.  A panic attack is one of these symptoms. 

If you are experiencing either insomnia or panic attacks Ayurveda can help you.  Breathing techniques, meditation, tips for enhancing and insuring a good night’s rest, nutritional tips, restorative yoga and the right exercise routine are all part of the Ayurveda repetoire.  These natural remedies will help you to snooze and to avoid the terrible discomfort of panic.

Sandra and I send you a big wish that you will experience the contentment and good spirits that come with deep rest and blissful sleep!

 

 

 

www.depressionproofyourlife.com 

Let’s Have a Health Care System Instead of a Disease Care System!

The National Institute of Health, the federal government’s top medical research agency, recently completed a study comparing the health of Americans with the health of individuals living in other affluent democracies. At the completion of the study, Dr. Stephen Woolf, the panel chairman, and a professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, commented that he, and other panel members were struck by the gravity of the findings.

 

And what were those findings? According to The New York Times they were as follows:  American men ranked last in life expectancy among the 17 countries studied and American women ranked at or near the bottom in nine areas, including heart disease, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes.

 

The panel suggested a campaign to raise public awareness of the American health disadvantage and a study of what could alter this dismal picture.

 

I have a suggestion. How about a focus on prevention?

 

It has long been noted that the American medical system is focused on disease care.  Doctors attempt to fix sick people.

 

What Americans need is a health care system; a system that focuses on health and attempts to help people to create and maintain health.  This is called prevention and it is true health care—-not disease care.

 

Symptoms are the last stage of a disease process and by the time symptoms appear medical intervention is all too often too little too late.

 

On the other hand, Ayurveda, is a medical system that focuses on the elemental imbalances in the physiology.  Imbalances are readily assessed and identified by a well-trained Ayurvedic practitioner.  In the Ayurveda handbook are a plethora of interventions that can be utilized to restore balance.  It is unattended imbalances that eventually become symptoms.  Ayurveda nips these in the bud!

 

A few medical schools have incorporated Ayurveda into their curriculum.  Some western trained physicians have turned their attention toward Ayurveda.  In many cities there are Vaidyas (Ayurvedic practitioners) working to help people create and maintain health.  If you are interested in learning if there is a Vaidya in your zip code you can check out the NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association) website.

 

It is time for Americans to become health conscious.  It is time for our medical system to stop being a disease care system and to become a health care system.  It is our hope that the current study by the National Institute of Health will push us in the right direction!

 

As always, Sandra and I wish you perfect health and happiness!

 

 

 

www.depressionproofyourlife.com

Try Rethinking Your Resolutions To Better Inspire Your Mind-Body

Happy New Year!  I’ve been reading articles about the need to be careful when making a New Year’s resolution.The jist of these articles is that we start out with the best of intentions but do not stick to our resolutions. Most of us have forgotten our positive intentions by the middle of February. We aren’t quite “there” yet.  How are you doing?

Not sticking to what we said we would do or not do serves to harm self-esteem.  The majority of us will meet 2014 holding the same old worn out resolution. Isn’t this a sad state of affairs?

Does this speak to how difficult it is for the human being to change even if change is in a desired direction?

Perhaps it is difficult for the human being to achieve real and lasting change but I think we also make a mistake when we set our intention for change.  All too often the desired change is coupled with deprivation or hard work.  Examples of this are the intention to eat less or to work out more.  We set ourselves up for punishment; not reward.  Why would anyone want to stick with something that doesn’t feel good?

When I read these articles I was reminded that we are all more aware of our weaknesses than we are of our strengths.  When we want to change we look at behaviors we perceive that we do incorrectly instead of the things we do correctly and well.  We think of improvements we “should” make instead of thinking of how we can enhance our arsenal of strengths.

We also forget that as human beings we lead with our hearts; not our heads.  In other words, it is difficult to change a behavioral direction unless we acquire a means to relieve internal stresses.

Feeling positive leads to positive behaviors.  It is difficult to maintain positive behaviors if the feeling life remains chock filled with stress.

How about doing two new things in 2013.  First, think of something you do well and resolve to do more of it.  In this way you will enhance an existing strength.   Second, consider adopting an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

An Ayurvedic lifestyle is geared to helping the individual to feel perfect health and its by-product, happiness.  What more could you possibly desire for yourself in 2013 (or any other year, for that matter)?

In our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body WaySandra and I help you to identify your unique constitutional type and we give suggestions for the creation and maintenance of health and wellbeing. Ayurveda never suggests making a big lifestyle change all at once.  Big lifestyle changes are like New Years’ resolutions.  They aren’t lasting.

According to Ayurvedic philosophy we should chose one or two easy things to do.  The physiology responds quickly to positive change and as we feel better we can add another alteration to our lifestyle. The mind-body will always lean in the direction of more health if it is encouraged to go in that direction. Feeling good is the best encouragement one can have to add another positive lifestyle change.

How about re-thinking your resolutions and  choosing something easy?  Perhaps you will begin to go to bed an hour or even a half hour earlier. Maybe, for you, eating a warm lunch will be a health promoting change.  Or perhaps you will profit from choosing to imbibe in drinks which are at room temperature, foregoing ice and its deleterious effects on the physiology.  Maybe you will eat fresher food or to find another way to enhance digestion and create increased vitality for yourself.

Perhaps you desire to receive more positive feedback from other people.  If this is your wish you can begin to offer to others more of what you want from them.  Every communication is a response to what was heard and positive communication breeds more of the same.

Have you guessed yet what I am going to suggest for your New Year resolution?  I am suggesting that you buy a copy of Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way and that you choose something   positive that you can do to enhance your overall health.  Do this with the realization that as you feel better it will be easier to correct any perceived weaknesses.

Have a blessed and happy 2013! Sandra and I wish you health and prosperity in the New Year.

A Look at Where We’ve Been and Where We Are Headed

I became interested in Ayurveda in the early nineties.  At that time I had a good friend who had an M.D., and training in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.  He was sort of a medical one-man-band.

Because he had knowledge of different medical systems Paul would become frustrated with what he saw as deficits in Western medicine.

I remember that he would rail at the fact that Chinese medicine and Ayurveda were referred to as complimentary or alternative.  These medical systems were, he would say, thousands of years old. How did they become “alternative” or “complimentary?”

From Paul I learned a great deal that wasn’t, in general, spoken about at that time.  Often now, when reading a newspaper or magazine I am reminded of things he said 15 or so years ago.

For instance, in the early nineties he said that the medical profession was a leading cause of death in the United States.  I was shocked to hear the statistics on how many people died from taking prescription drugs as prescribed.  I was surprised to learn how often things in hospitals went awry.

Just a few weeks ago Newsweek published a piece on the dangers of Western medicine and gave pretty much the same statistics

(although somewhat more severe) than Paul had stated in the 90’s.  I guess things haven’t changed very much:  unfortunately.

Certainly it is a tragedy that Western medicine remains dangerous. However, I do believe that there are some positive changes too.

It takes a long time for research to go from the laboratory to the mainstream but some of the issues Paul spoke of are being addressed.

I remember that at some point in the 90’s a well-known hospital installed a fast food restaurant.  The rationale was that people should be able to eat what they wanted.  If a patient desired a cheeseburger and fries then they should have easy access to that food.

Paul was horrified but not surprised. He told me that most of the M.D.’s he knew looked at food as “fuel.”

His view was that doctors should not view nutrition as a matter of regularly filling the tank with gas and just making sure that, at least most of the time, this gas wasn’t too high in octane (fat).

I believe that awareness about food has increased during the past 15 or so years.  Much of this awareness initially came from cardiologists interested in heart health and it has spread throughout the medical community.

Currently there are many books available that tout the importance of knowing what are the right foods for you.  (Of course, the best of these books is Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way by Liebler and Moss!)

Doctors do, I believe, talk about nutrition with their patients. Proper nutrition is known to enhance the I.Q. of growing children and to extend life and enhance good health.  There is a strong belief in our society that good nutrition is pivotal to a good life.  There has been a backlash against the cheeseburger and fries state of mind!    This change was a long time coming, but as a society there is now awareness of and interest in good nutrition. Obesity is a major issue but it is being talked about and dealt with.  Awareness of the importance of healthy eating is on the rise.

Sleep was another issue that Paul and I discussed.  He would become dismayed with his colleagues if they had a “you snooze you lose” mentality.  He said that every aspect of health and life is dependent on proper sleep.  One’s happiness, growth, strength, knowledge, and life all depend on sleep.  Because the effects are not immediate, we can deceive ourselves into thinking that missing sleep has little consequence. However, the accumulation of poor sleep over time, of cutting sleep regularly, of staying up later than the body feels comfortable all affect the body and one’s health.

Recently I have noticed several articles in popular media about sleep and its importance.  I do chuckle when I read that line “current research shows……”

I chuckle because current research is showing what the ancients knew thousands of years ago.  Sleep is important for health.

The benefits of meditation have also reached the mainstream.  For years I referred to myself as a “closet meditator.”  Meditation was considered to be weird or at the very least, unusual.  I didn’t want to defend my practice or myself so I kept what I did quiet.  Nowadays research has validated the effects of meditation and millions of people meditate.  The way people think about meditation has changed dramatically. The benefits of meditation have reached mainstream thinking and doctors frequently recommend meditation to their patients.

Millions of people are now aware of the dangers of Western medicine and millions seek out natural medicine of one form or another. Over time the popularity of natural medicine will affect Western thinking.  Consumer demand will insure that Western medicine will become more prevention oriented.

These are challenging times but I look forward to reading that more and more of the things Paul told me back in the 90’s have been “discovered” by modern Western medicine. Hopefully, over time we will witness a blending of all that is good in different systems—-and utilize interventions that work and eliminate the dangerous.

Sandra and I send you our best wishes for perfect health and happiness!

Parents and Back to School Jitters!

Kids and parents get the back to school jitters.  Susie and Johnny want to like their teacher, be liked by both teacher and fellow students and, of course, they want to grasp the learning.  Really, no one marches off to school on that first day thinking they want to screw up the year.

 

Mom and Dad desire success for their offspring and they have their own challenges to face at the start of the school year.  Frequently parents are nervous about handling the scheduling challenges this year will bring.

 

What is the situation in your home?  Are there two parents or are you a single parent?  If there are two parents do both work outside the home  or does only one person work outside?  Do your children go to the same school and have similar schedules or different schools and wildly diverse schedules?  Are the children close in age or spread out over several years?

 

As a society, life in the fast lane has ramped up. I scratch my head in wonderment when I hear of the demanding schedules people keep!  One friend of mine joked that she wished the automakers would put microwaves in cars.  She said, “If they did I could arrive home from work at night, pull in the driveway and carry dinner into the house.”  (At least I think she was joking!)

 

Everyone knows that the kids need lots and lots of sleep if they are to be successful.  They need to eat nutritious food to nourish the mind-body.  I want to remind you today that in order to have successful children it is also helpful to have sane parents. Following are a few tips for keeping your sanity in the face of all the busyness.

 

Environmental Management! 

 

• Take the time to organize yourself and if you have a partner work on establishing a cooperative work share plan with him or her.  Discuss duties and divide workload.

 

• Download schedules and put the weekly schedule in a place that is easily accessed by all family members.

 

• Plan transportation in advance so you aren’t scrambling at the last minute.  Car pools are good things to be in!

 

• Take the time to make a weekly meal plan and be a well-organized shopper.  You don’t want to be making frequent runs to the grocery store.

 

• Set up a specific time for homework and give the kids a good set up for doing it. Efficient set up is about 90% of any successful and creative job!

 

• The entire school year will be busy but the busyness will also come in waves.  A good body surfer knows you have to stay ahead of the wave.  Efficiency, good planning and being organized will not only save your sanity.  They will create a state of calmness in your home that will nurture and nourish the children.

 

• Efficiency, good planning and being organized will  also  make the year  more  pleasant for you and enable you to enjoy family life.

 

• Get out once in a while.  Have some fun.  Cater to yourself.  It can’t be all about the kids 100% of the time.  Make it about you every now and again!

 

As always, Sandra and I send our best wishes for perfect health and happiness.

 

To Be Good It Helps to Feel Good!

 

 

My husband, Bud, and I attended a funeral this morning.  Bud gave one of the eulogies.

 

The funeral was for a man named Patrick, a former colleague of Buds’.

 

Don’t funerals help you to place things in perspective?  Attending funerals, or celebrations of life, as they are so often referred to today, always remind me of the importance of character and values.  Isn’t it our character and values that help us to navigate life’s difficulties?  Integrity is a quality that keeps us thinking straight even when the going is rough and tough.

 

On one hand, it seemed as if Patrick had had a relatively easy life.  He had a lovely wife, a successful career, and two grown sons, who made him very proud.  But was it all easy?  Patrick’s Mother died when he was four years old.

 

He had had to drop out of college because of a lack of funds.  Eventually he did go back to school.  He battled cancer as a younger man and after 28 healthy years he had to resume this battle.  This time he lost.

 

Each speaker today mentioned Patrick’s integrity, his fine character. He was described, over and over, as a “good, good” person.  I think his character dominated his life experience and were evident to all who came in contact with him.  I am certain that it was character and values that guided him through the rough patches, he, like all of us experienced.

 

In our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way Sandra and I discuss the importance of keeping the mind-body in harmony with nature.  The necessary tools for this endeavor are awareness and intentionality. We are constantly affected by the environment; by what happens to us and what goes on around us.  In spite of challenges it is possible to maintain our natural internal balance.

 

Physiological balance allows us to think more clearly and to have happy feelings even in times of stress.  Physiological balance helps us to maintain our character.  No one behaves well if they feel dreadful emotionally, physically, or mentally.  Balance is key for character, values and integrity.

 

The mind, body and spirit is one seamless energetic system and no matter where we intervene we affect the totality.  Are you behaving the way you believe you ought to behave?  Are you following your values and living according to your belief system?  I hope you are but if you are letting yourself down how about checking into Ayurveda?  This ancient system of medicine can help you to find internal balance, to feel better, and to, therefore, be who you want to be!  The thing about Ayurveda that we treasure is simply this:  it works!  It helps us to achieve perfect health and this assists us in becoming the person we wish to be.

 

As always, Sandra and I send you our best wishes for perfect health and happiness!

 

 

Eat This: Don’t Eat That

Last week we wrote about our national pill-poppin’ craze and we received many comments.

We know our blogs are speaking to the choir as our readers are mostly people interested in health and prevention.  Nevertheless we were surprised at how many people wrote to tell us they agreed that the current focus on prescription pills was alarming. A few people told us that their doctors rarely talked about prevention.  Readers mentioned an overwhelming medical focus on disease care, mostly medications;  instead of health care i.e. prevention.

 

We desire health but without a medical focus on prevention it is difficult to know how to create and maintain a healthy mind-body.  Television blasts us with messages telling us that a pill exists as an antidote for almost every and any problem.  However, from the response our blog received it is safe to say that many people know that there is “another way”—–that pills are not the most viable answer in the quest to create health.

 

Those who do not wish to hop on the pill bandwagon are often very interested in food as a way to create health.  Books telling us what to eat have been selling like wildfire.  In other words, folks do know that the morsel on the end of the fork is important for health.  But what should we eat?

 

Grocery stores are chock full of options and with so many available choices we want to be told what to eat.  There is a great deal of easily accessed advice but most falls under the eat this; don’t eat that category.” The counsel is one-size fits all  and often contradictory.  We end up with our head spinning.

 

Ayurveda takes a different tack. The Ayurvedic focus is not on eat this: don’t eat that but on how to eat; how to optimize your digestion.  If your digestion is optimal you should be able to have a bit of everything.  Ideally, you should get to a point where you have intuitive eating.  No one need to tell you what to eat or what not to eat.  Your intuition, your sense of your body and its needs will be your information center.  Optimal digestion and intuitive eating go hand in hand.

 

In our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way Sandra and I give tips for the creation of optimal digestion.  We explain that how we eat is as important as what we eat.

 

Ayurveda fosters the development of an awareness of how our body functions.  If we develop this awareness then we can intuitively know how  different foods affect us.  An impulse from the body will inform us that we need a warm food or a heavy food, or a light food.  With awareness comes the sense that it is the qualities in the food that affect us deeply.  For instance, fresh food, freshly prepared is going to have a totally different effect on the body than food that has been frozen or been in the refrigerator for a few days.  Food loses its prana or life force if stored.

 

In our book we offer several tips for the development of awareness and optimal digestion.  One of these tips is to eat only when you are calm.  If the nervous system is in high gear then adrenalin will mess up the works and food will not be digested efficiently.  If the parasympathetic nervous system has kicked in then enzymes will be released which help you to digest efficiently.  Take your time, clear your mind, look at your food, taste it and remember the primary reason for eating is to nurture the entire ecosystem that is your mind-body-spirit. Don’t engage in that great American past time of eating on the run as it is damaging to your health. How we eat effects whether or not the nutrients in the food are absorbed by the body.  The same food will have a completely different effect if it is eaten on the run as opposed to consumed in a quiet setting by a calm mind-body.

 

What is prevention?  There are many aspects to prevention but food is certainly primary.  We urge you to take your focus away from finding out what to eat and to place the focus on how to eat.  First optimize digestion and your ability to do intuitive eating will expand. Our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way can help you in this journey!

 

As always, Sandra and I wish perfect health and happiness for you!  And a yummy dinner tonight, a dinner which leaves you feeling satisfied on every level of your being!

 

– Nancy

Our Pill-Poppin’ Nation!

 

Mitch Albom is a columnist for the Detroit Free Press.  He is also the author of several best selling books.  Do you remember hearing about, or perhaps reading his first book Tuesdays with Morrie?

 

Yesterday Mitch’s Free Press column was titled Pills-a-poppin’:  Our medication nation.  The title informs us of the content.

 

Mitch wrote about a recent experience his eighty three year old father had.  Mr. Albom suffered a medical emergency. The doctors he visited at the hospital were amazed that he wasn’t on a multitude of medications.  Mitch and his Dad were amazed by the doctors’ amazement!  They learned that the average American fills twelve prescriptions a year and most medicine cabinets are filled with little brown bottles.  This hospital experience with his Dad inspired Mitch to investigate the use of medications in America and in Sunday’s paper he told us that we are a pill-poppin’ nation.

 

I was delighted to read this article.  Recently I’ve seen other similar pieces.  I hope articles of this type have the effect of waking us up.  It would be beneficial for Americans to realize that supporting the systems of the body is a better way to go than attempting to modify through medications.

 

The human physiology is an ecosystem.  It is a manifestation of the natural world.  If we live within the laws of nature we have an excellent opportunity to foster our health without utilizing dangerous medications that have adverse side effects.  By living within the laws of nature we do not create fertile ground for disease to flourish.

 

Are you scratching your head and wondering what the dickens I am talking about when I mention something as lofty sounding as “laws of nature”?

 

Let’s begin our lesson on laws of nature with one axiom—and that is this:  cows don’t eat pizza at midnight!

 

In other words we cannot eat “whatever” at any random time of day, cannot neglect exercise or over exercise and cannot give up regular hours of sleep without becoming ill. We need to mind the body.  We need to pay attention to lifestyle.

 

In our book Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way Sandra and I explain that Ayurveda offers a manual on utilizing the laws of nature for the creation of heath.  This ancient science gives advice for prevention and offers interventions to nip diseases in the bud. It teaches us that through lifestyle and natural interventions we can successfully tap into our internal pharmacy.

 

Ayurveda gives us a message of empowerment.  We do not need to run to the doctor and request a pill for every problem we experience.

 

Through Mitch’s column I learned a few facts that I previously was unaware of.  Did you know that the pharmaceutical industry typically spends nearly twice as much on advertising as it does on research?  Did you know that only the U.S. and New Zealand even allow direct-to-consumer drug ads?

 

We are inundated with ads encouraging us to run to our physician and request a pill for any problem we may encounter.  Is this empowering?  Of course it isn’t.  It is downright dangerous, expensive, and in many cases unnecessary.

 

I encourage you to read about prevention.  Of course I think you should start your investigation by picking up a copy of Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way but the truth is that there are many good books on this ancient wisdom available.  Chopra’s early books are quite good and if you contact MAPI. com you can order a copy of Contemporary Ayurveda by Hari Sharma and Christopher Clark.

 

I’m with Mitch in hoping that Åmericans will make a paradigm shift and move away from poppin’ pills and turn toward natural means of prevention and health maintenance.  I hope you are with me on that.  I know many of you are.  I frequently hear from readers who tell me their success story in treating problems through natural interventions and alterations in life style.

 

Today I want to thank Mitch for sending out a wake up call and of course, as always Sandra and I send our best wishes to you for perfect health and happiness!

 

 

 

Happiness is Your Birthright!

I was a student in Catholic schools during the 1950’s.

 

All organizations are influenced by culture and at that time the culture inherent in my school was that we must suffer to attain the bliss that the after life offers.  Life was a valley of tears and only heaven offered happiness.

 

The belief systems given to children form the foundation for their perceptions about life.  Perceptions become a part of us and we take them for granted.

 

I did not realize how deeply I had ingrained the belief that there is glory in suffering until I began to study Ayurveda.  When I first heard through Ayurveda that happiness was equated with perfect health and was the birthright of all human beings, I experienced an internal release that fascinated me.  This was the experience of a major shift in perceptual awareness.  I became more open to the experience of happiness!  I am certain that being more open to happiness enhanced my overall health as well as my overall happiness.

 

If we are healthy and our doshas are in balance, positive thinking will come naturally to us.  At the same time, positive thinking can move our physiology in a healthier direction.  The mind, body and spirit are connected at a deep level and whatever affects one aspect of our being affects the totality.

 

Ayurveda (and modern science) teaches that it takes very little to change our physiology in a healthier direction.  We can do this by using our mind and our attitude.  Think of it this way:  if you tug on one leg of a table the entire table moves.  If you make a mental shift you can reset your entire physiology.  For instance, modern science and Ayurveda teach us that the experience of love and of being a loving person is healing to the mind-body.  Making a decision to “be more loving” can create a change in your cellular structure, bringing you closer to ideal health.

 

One of the most exciting fields in modern medical research is Psychoneuroimmunology. PNI studies the links between the mind and the body.  This science has demonstrated that our emotional body conducts many of our physiological responses.  Consider the following:

 

• The feeling of joy, defined as “mental resilience and vigor” by researchers, was the second strongest predictor of survival time among women with recurrent breast cancer, following “length of disease-free intervals.”

 

• The two highest risk factors for a first heart attack in men under fifty are not the ones taught in medical school—overweight, smoking, diabetes, family history, or high cholesterol—but a lack of job satisfaction and a low level of general happiness.

 

• Herpes infections recur more frequently in people who are depressed.

 

• Bereavement causes a drop in the number of T-cells, an indication of the diminished capacity of the immune system to respond, which subsequently normalizes as the grief lessens over time.

 

• Some terminally ill people, especially women, are able to “postpone” imminent death until after an event they cherish and long to see, such as a family wedding or the birth of a grandchild, or even until a meaningful holiday has passed.

 

• In one study, flu was found to be most common amount the employees whose morale was lowest.

 

(A Woman’s Best Medicine, Lonsdorf, Butler and Brown)

 

The convergence of ancient medicine and modern science is exciting.  Both are telling us that happiness on earth is not only possible, and, indeed, our right as human beings, but that this emotion can be stabilized and it will enhance our health.

 

Yes, suffering is a part of everyone’s life.  But an attitude that embraces suffering is not in our best interest.  On the contrary, the experience of love and happiness enhances our spirituality and our overall health. Happiness is ours for the taking and yes it is our birthright!

 

As always, Sandra and I wish you happiness and perfect health!