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Resilient People Do These 7 Things Without Realizing it

August 19, 2021 by Deborah Tayloe

What sets resilient people apart from the rest? Is it an inner strength or part of their raisings that make them so determined? The strong folks are a different breed, and you will see them rise during adversity rather than fold.

Walking the floors of a hospital and talking to some patients can be a real eye-opening experience. Pain and agony make you vulnerable; however, some can rise above their circumstances with a mindset to win. How do you react during a crisis?

Do you stand up willing to fight, or do you lock yourself away, hoping the situation will fix itself? Some believe that resilient individuals have specific characteristics that allow them to bend but not break when facing hard times. The analogy is often made that people should be like trees, which are deeply rooted into the earth.

Did you know that a tree can take speeds of over 90 mph before it encounters any serious damage? According to Physics World, the diameter, height, and elasticity of the tree all come into the equation when it comes to strength. Some trees can take more of a direct hit than others, based on their flexibility.

The mighty redwood can sustain more pressure than the Colorado blue spruce, which has a reputation for being the weakest tree around, according to Houzz. It all comes down to the root system and the makeup of the plant. Do you tend to be more like the redwood and be strong, or do you tend to be weaker like the spruce?

Seven Common Things Resilient People Do Instinctively

If you want to check your resiliency, you can start by looking through a list of things that most people do. Since the strong person has specific characteristics that come into play, you may have many of these traits. Here are the seven most common things to look for in a resilient person.

1. Resilience Means Knowing How to Set Realistic Expectations

Having realistic expectations is a big problem in today’s world. Did you sign up to work two double shifts this week because the money looked good, but you discovered quickly that you were unable to do such a task without exhausting your body? Somewhere between your hopes and dreams lies reality.

Being resilient means that you understand that you must be realistic in your endeavors. You might want to hike the Appalachian Trail, but you know that with a bum knee, it’s not possible. It doesn’t mean you can’t hike at all; it just means you must do a trudge that fits within your capabilities.

Even the strongest people know their limits, and they don’t expect impossible things. Adjusting your mindset is half the battle, and it may be what you need to do to become more resilient.

2. Resilient People Are Resourceful and Think Outside the Box

When something strikes you out of the blue, you must learn to cope and develop skills to get through this storm. Assume your mother received a diagnosis of breast cancer. Rather than freaking out and accepting defeat, a resilient person automatically goes into defense mode.

They want to find out as much as they can about this disease. They want to know the mortality rate, the types of treatment available, and precisely what she’s facing. Rather than allowing their mind to wander into places that are not healthy, they arm themselves with knowledge.

Knowing all the facts and information allows them to be a better support system, as well as helping her make the proper decisions for her care. They’re not afraid to think outside the box and look at studies and trials to find alternative measures for healing. Isn’t this approach better than falling to pieces and accepting defeat?

3. Resilience Teaches That Flexibility Is the Key To Conquering Issues

Do you tend to go with the flow, or do you fall to pieces when things don’t go as planned? It’s hard to plan everything out perfectly, as life is ever-changing. However, being able to pivot is a key element of resilience.

Some people face more adversities than others, and life can be frustrating if you refuse to change. Trying to control every aspect of your life will cause you to deplete your resources and burn out quickly. When life doesn’t go as you thought it would, you can conquer whatever is thrown your way by being flexible.

4. Resilient People Are Solution Driven

When you receive a devastating blow, do you sit and complain or immediately go into resolution mode? Resilient people are solution-driven, and they want to find a way to improve the situation or resolve the matter altogether. They feel it’s a waste of time to use all their energy to figure out why life is so unfair.

Instead, they want to channel their energy towards solutions instead of wallowing in self-pity. It doesn’t mean they don’t cry, get upset, or feel sorry for themselves, but they shake off these feelings, as they know it’s not productive.

5. Resilient People Use Creativity To Resolve Issues

You’ve heard the saying that when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; well, resilient people are all about this way of living. They can get quite creative when they’re backed against the wall. Using their creative thinking skills, they learn to adapt and adjust to the changing tides.

If you use the same thinking to resolve the problems that you did to create them, then you will never get anywhere. Assume your car broke down on the freeway and you have no money to fix the vehicle. Rather than taking out a loan, you sell some antiques you have around the house to pay the bill. And if you want to gain more antique collections for yourself, better visit a reliable site like antiques.co.uk for more info!

You quickly went into resolution mode and solved the problem without creating debt. Being creative allowed you to get your car fixed and not make the situation worse.

6. Resilience Sometimes Means Accepting the Baseline

Accepting your current situation is always easier said than done. It would help if you acknowledged your baseline or the place you are right now. For instance, the blood sugar levels of a person with diabetes are much different than those who have normal glucose levels.

Generally, a doctor doesn’t like to see a number rise above 100 mg/dl. However, if a person has Type 2 diabetes and their sugar runs in the 400-500 range, a doctor might be ecstatic to get the numbers down to the 200 mg/dl range. Your baseline is the starting point.

Everyone’s baseline is different, so you must acknowledge where you are and what you need to do. Your average isn’t going to look the same as someone else, but it’s the hand you’ve been dealt in life. Do you ever ask yourself questions like:

“Why is this happening to me?”
“What did I do to deserve this?”
“Why is life so unkind?”
“Have I been cursed?”

The resilient person doesn’t ask such questions, as they accept the current situation and work from the baseline. It doesn’t mean they aren’t affected by whatever storms come their way; it just means they don’t let it get to them too much.

7. Resilient People Learn From Their Mistakes and Circumstances

Each situation that you go through in life was there to teach you a lesson. Perhaps you always had a stigma about mental health until you develop crippling anxiety. The lesson was to teach you that mental health issues can happen to anyone at any time, and you should never judge things you don’t understand.

A study by Oregon State University suggests that it is mentally sound to learn from your mistakes. Furthermore, they noted a connection between narcissists and a lack of embracing ways to fix errors.

Look back at some of the circumstances in your life, and you will see that there was a lesson to be learned from it. Take, for instance, a person who didn’t have their home inspected before they bought it. They thought it was a structurally sound place with no issues until they discovered the plumbing was troublesome two months later.

You always learn from your mistakes, and many of the situations you go through in life were because you didn’t do your due diligence. Resilient people are looking for the lesson they need to learn to help make them better.

Final Thoughts on Things Resilient People Do Without Realizing It

Did you find any of these things that you normally do in a crisis? Perhaps you’re a bit more resilient than you originally thought, or maybe you’ve discovered you have much work to do. Resilient people are strong, determined, and don’t fall to pieces every time a storm comes their way.

It doesn’t mean they don’t get upset, and it doesn’t mean that they don’t cry. However, they allow themselves a specific time to process the situation before they go into resolution mode. If you fall apart every time life doesn’t go your way and things don’t go as planned, then you’re going to have a hard time living.

There is no way humanly possible that you can control every aspect of your life or even a fraction of it. Nature teaches you how to be strong like the mighty tree, who’s rooted in the ground and able to withstand an indescribable amount of pressure before breaking. How deep are your roots, and are your foundations strong enough to sustain you?

12 Behaviors to Help You Release Guilt After a Breakup

August 19, 2021 by Chris Butler

As the famous song says, breaking up is hard to do. Whenever you’re the one who initiated the tough decision, it’s only normal to feel some guilt in the matter. The guilty complex you feel is compounded when the other party doesn’t want to part ways, and you’ve hurt them by making this choice. But you must release guilt to feel good again.

It’s hard to stay positive when you’re trying to find ways to release guilt, but you must find a way to forgive yourself so that you can move on. Whether you’ve been dating or married for two months or twenty years doesn’t matter. Indeed, there will always be some level of guilt and regret that things didn’t work out.

Twelve Ways to Release Guilt After a Breakup

If you want to release guilt from a relationship gone wrong, you need to arm yourself with valuable tools for the job. It’s not going to be easy, and there will be plenty of lonely nights, but you can get through this difficult time.

Here are some ways to help you get through a broken heart from a toxic relationship and release any guilty feelings associated with it.

1. Understand Guilt Is Normal

First and foremost, you must understand that everyone feels some guilt when making such decisions as ending a relationship. When you step out of your comfort zone and make a declaration to stop something that was once so magical, you can’t get over it with ease.

However, you should allow yourself a certain amount of time to feel some regret for the relationship that didn’t work. The part that will eat away at you is that there were, no doubt, some good times.

2. Remember All the Sacrifices You Made

You’ve probably made plenty of sacrifices to make the relationship work. There’s a dynamic between two people that’s always unique, but you must remember all the times that things weren’t smooth sailing.

However, remind yourself of those bad times and what you did and ignored to keep the peace. Nothing helps to release guilt better than recalling all the trouble you went through trying to keep a sinking ship from going under.

3. Consider the Breakup a Favor to Your Ex

Why not look at your breakup through a different lens? Rather than feeling guilty for ending things, why not look at it as if you’ve done a favor to your ex? By releasing them, you’re allowing them to move on and find the right person.

You just did the inevitable, as this situation was going nowhere. However, it takes a strong person to stand up and say that’s something is over, even though both parties probably already know. Look at all the marriages that drag on for years when neither party is in love anymore.

According to Marriage, if your partner is a narcissist, getting them to make the first move to divorce you is nearly impossible. A self-fish person sees nothing wrong with the relationship, and they have no empathy towards others. So, while you may see things as toxic and unhealthy, they may feel the relationship is right where they want it.

4. Write Down All the Reasons Why

If you cannot get past the guilt, you feel in the situation. Then you should try to make a pros and cons list. Write down all the reasons why you felt this was the right choice. If your partner wasn’t the best and had many issues, you need to remind yourself of all these reasons.

You can begin to release the guilt when you consider that this person had flaws that forced you into making such a tough decision. This list can help you remove the baggage you’re carrying and put some of the blame on their doorstep.

5. Remember Their Flaws

While you’re making that list, consider the flaws they had that drove you mad. How many times were you sitting alone in a restaurant because they’re chronically late? This goes way beyond leaving the cap off the toothpaste and the lid up on the toilet, as you need to remember the things they did that sparked arguments or caused discord between you two.

Did they have a problem with lying, did they cheat on you, or were there times they were verbally abusive? Taking a trip down memory lane can be an eye-opening experience. Honestly, it’s one of the best ways to help you start to feel better about your choices and less guilty in the matter.

6. Be Honest With Yourself

Sometimes, you feel remorse for what you did, as you think there might have been a chance that you acted in haste. Being honest with yourself is never easy. You knew it wasn’t going to work out, and the longer you two stayed together, the more miserable you would have made one another.

Don’t let your mind trick you by replacing all the bad things with good times and being overwhelmed by the feelings of loneliness you’re experiencing. Be honest enough to recognize it wasn’t going to work, and the only thing worse than being single is being with the wrong one.

Scott Young is an esteemed author and motivational speaker. In one of his blog posts, he talks about how lying to yourself is easy. In fact, he says that you’re hardwired to lie, and it takes real effort to be honest.

What’s the first thing you do when you’re in trouble for playing hooky from work? You make up a white lie to cover the mistake. When it comes to relationships, you must be honest with yourself about the condition of your union.

Self-honesty is challenging, but you must do it in all aspects of your life. When you’re dishonest with someone else, they won’t trust you, but the consequences can be devastating when you’re lying to yourself.

7. Realize They Will Move On and So Will You

Another bright spot in this whole situation is that time will heal all wounds. Even if you truly loved them, you might find it hard to be together with all the issues. Sometimes, love isn’t enough to keep things going.

The good news is that both of you will move on and find another person. In fact, if you had stayed together in a dead-end relationship, you might have missed out on the perfect person for you. You will find someone else, and chances are things will work out much better in the long run for both of you.

8. Praise Yourself for Making a Good Decision

Instead of beating yourself up with guilt over making this decision, why not praise yourself for having the guts to do something so hard? It takes real grit to stand up to someone you love and tell them that it’s not working anymore. So please don’t feel so guilt-ridden over this situation, but rather pat yourself on the back for being an adult and ending things before it got too bad.

9. Stop Looking at Things Negatively

It’s hard not to think about all the negative aspects of a breakup, but you need to focus on the positive things. While the sting of moving on is not something soon forgotten, you must turn your focus towards the optimistic side. For instance, they will move on, find someone who suits them better, and you won’t have to be miserable anymore.

When making that pro and cons list, remember that you want to focus on all the good reasons why ending it was the best choice.

10. Block All Social Media Handles

Cyberstalking someone isn’t going to help you get over the guilt you feel. In fact, it’s probably going to make things ten times worse. How can you get over something if your ex-love posts about a broken heart and the sting of being dumped?

It would help if you blocked them from all your social media pages, even if it rips your heart out. Tell them why you feel it’s in your best interest to limit contact if you end things on a good note. Eventually, you might be able to add them back as a friend, but in the short term, it’s not a good idea to follow them when you’re trying to release guilt.

11. Link Up With a Counselor

Counselors specialize in breakups. If you were to pool a therapist about the issues they handle daily, you would find that probably a large portion was over broken hearts. Love is an emotion that’s challenging to maneuver, but when you break up with one another, the pain can be as deep as if someone plunged a knife into your heart.

A counselor can help you put things into perspective. They can help you with the guilt you feel by giving you assignments to help release it. Since they’ve become experts in this topic, they know how to provide you with practical tools to get through it.

12. Guilt Is A Battle Of Unforeseen

Turning to your higher power is certainly warranted in this situation. Not only do you need to forgive yourself for your part in the union, but you also need to pray and turn to your higher power for strength. The fact is that you decided to protect your happiness, and there’s never any reason to feel guilt over safeguarding yourself.

Final Thoughts on Ways to Release Guilt

You must recognize and accept your feelings of guilt, as it’s a normal part of a human reaction from a breakup. Even if the relationship was toxic, it’s still a loss that you must grieve.

The key is not to let the grieving process go on for too long. As they say, the best way to get over one person is to meet someone new, and it’s time for you to be happy with the right one.

7 Things to Remember Always About Mental Illness Recovery

August 19, 2021 by Chris Butler

Mental illness recovery is a journey that’s far from easy. It’s challenging to have a severe mental health issue that can last years or a lifetime.

The good news is that more than 65 percent of the people who suffer from mental illness have a successful recovery, according to National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The key is to be proactive in your healing process. The brain is an organ just like any other part of your body, and it can become sick and diseased. Sadly, people categorized mental illness in a different league, and the stigma causes many folks to forgo necessary treatment.

Breaking The Stigma of Mental Health Disorders

Perhaps, the number of folks who’ve recovered would increase if more people got help. If a person is diagnosed with diabetes, they learn how to manage the symptoms to live life to the fullest. The recovery process does not mean you’re necessarily cured of the condition, but it’s about learning to manage it effectively.

Diabetes isn’t a death sentence, but it can be if it’s not managed, and the same can be said of a mental ailment. Even if you have anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or borderline personality, you’re going to live. The key is the quality of life depends on you and your mindset.

Managing Mental Illness Recovery

None of these illnesses are terminal, but you can manage them by using the following tools:

Therapy
Self-determination
Support from family and friends
Staying active and not behind four walls
Hope and faith in your abilities
An excellent medical team behind you

Ask anyone who’s recovered from any illness, and they will tell you that your loved ones are an integral part of the process. The people who love you are there to listen to you when you’re hurting, help you develop ways to make things better, and guide you through their life experiences.

Seven Things to Consider About Mental Illness Recovery

The recovery process is different for each person, largely dependent on the type of illness. However, there are some basic strategies that you can use to manage the symptoms of your condition, and you will learn a new normal. Here are some things you can do to assist in your mental illness recovery.

1. Never Give Up Hope

Hope is the basis of all healing journeys. If you don’t believe and have hope that you will conquer your illness, you won’t accomplish anything. Have you ever met someone who has a condition like cancer who’s lost their will to live?

It won’t be long after they lose their will to keep going that they will perish. You must determine within yourself that no matter how hard the journey or where you must go, you will go on. Without hope, you won’t do much in life, let alone manage an illness.

2. Exercise Self-Determination

Do you know what it means to have self-determination? Many people might confuse this term with self-sufficiency or independence, but it means that you control your destiny. It’s a combination of your attitude and abilities and your desire to reach the goals you set.

When you have an illness, you need to take charge to see things get done. If you want to recover, then you must pursue recovery. It’s about more than just popping a magic pill, as it’s about seeking out the best treatment options and making wise decisions concerning your health.

Did you know that the treatment you choose during a mental health crisis can give you the power to take control over your health if you become incapacitated? Whether you’re dealing with mental or physical health, you must be a self-advocate. No one knows how you’re feeling but you.

Additionally, you have the right to ensure that you’re given the best care possible, and if you don’t agree with something being done, you must speak up. It’s your mental illness recovery, so that gives you the power to say yes and no to specific treatments.

3. Find the Right Care and Team

If you genuinely want to experience mental health recovery, then you need the right team standing behind you. Your visions must align with those of the practitioners. There will always be some degree of risk when considering treatment plans, but your physicians should listen to your desires before implementing any strategies.

Many community factors can impact your care. Some mental health recoveries will include finding affordable housing that provides some assistance. Others will need employment opportunities for those with special needs.

If your direct physician cannot help you with resources, at the very least, they should be able to direct you to someone who can assist.

4. Utilize Community Assistance

The growing attention for mental health care in this country has opened many resources. For instance, mental illness recovery today has more treatment plans, support, and trials than ever before. You don’t have to utilize traditional treatments, especially if you prefer a more holistic approach.

Did you know that many times mental illness is caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies? According to research conducted by the National Library of Medicine, it’s often found that people with depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and anxiety have deficiencies like omega–3 fatty acids, vitamin D and B, as well as magnesium.

So, no one says you must take the standard treatments, as you have a right to choose your path to fight for your mental illness recovery.

5. Managing with Stigma

The stigma regarding mental health recovery is widespread. Don’t be surprised if friends, family, or some medical providers still dishonor mental health care. In many instances, the damaging impact of this humiliation can be more significant than dealing with the illness.

When you don’t get the support you need from certain individuals, then you should limit interactions with those people. You want peers who will help you along the way and not hinder your treatment.

6. Connecting with Peer Support

Peer support is invaluable on this journey, according to research. When you connect with other folks going through the same issues, you suddenly don’t feel like an island all to yourself. Folks walking the same path can help you deal with the lonesomeness and isolation you feel, and they can offer the recognition and support you need.

Additionally, part of mental health recovery is having mentors who can share their experiences with you. Their tips and tricks can help you learn what to expect and what to avoid. Someone who has recovered can be an asset, as the journey is never easy.

You mustn’t lose your self-worth or your esteem in the process. Your illness should never define you, and people should never judge you based on things out of your control.

7. Don’t Delay Treatment

Do you know how many people know they’re sick but don’t reach out for help? They delay seeking treatment because of the stigma or just not wanting to face reality. When dealing with mental health, progress happens in a series of steps.

Just remember that one step can become two, and two can become four, and so on. Don’t make huge goals that you cannot meet, but you need to set small, obtainable goals that you can realistically achieve. If you’re dealing with driving anxiety, you don’t want to develop a plan to drive the I-95 freeway from Florida to Virginia.

Instead, you want to set something more realistic for yourself, like driving from your home to the post office. Maybe the next day, you will go a bit further. Patience and persistence are the keys to achieving whatever goals you set.

Another major part of your recovery is celebrating those successes. When you make it to the post office with your driving anxiety, celebrate. No, you don’t have to have a party with friends for each goal conquered, but you should pat yourself on the back.

Adults are much like children in that you like rewards for a job well done. So, reward yourself and stroke your ego a bit, as it will help you go further in your recovery.

Final Thoughts on Mental Illness Recovery

When you’ve been diagnosed with a mental or physical ailment, it can be devastating. You have more questions than answers initially, and you don’t know what to do to assist in your recovery. However, over time, you learn that peer supports, a medical community, and many other things can help you manage this condition.

You can gather support from mentors who’ve walked this path but remember that every journey is individualized. You must practice self-care and know that you get to call the shots in your mental illness recovery. What works for one person may not work for you, so you must find a practitioner and team to listen and advocate for you.

While you may never be cured of the mental health problems that plague you, you certainly can learn how to manage them. You will soon discover a new normal and start to enjoy the things in life that seemed impossible.

A Gifted Woman Does These 10 Things Without Realizing It

August 19, 2021 by Chris Butler

Everyone wants to be the gifted woman with everything going for her. Though they seem to be so put together on the outside, these ladies often suffer in society as they feel they don’t fit in. These beautiful gifts and callings on their life can become a significant challenge, but why do things have to be this way?

Why can’t they embrace the difference? Each person’s unique nature makes this world full of exciting people. Gifted folks often have strong values, go against the grain with stereotypes, and are prone to attacks from envious people.

Plus, they think differently than most other people. For instance, have you ever seen a gifted kid in school? They often face just as many challenges as those with special needs.

These children are often pulled from mainstream classes and put into a curriculum designed for their advanced minds. Gifted folks often have a real challenge engaging as they become easily bored when things are too simplistic to process. On the other hand, many are diagnosed with things like ADHD or anxiety, but it’s their internal drive that’s different.

NOTE: Women generally display these gifts more than men; thus, we address the behaviors of a gifted man separately.

Ten Things a Gifted Woman Does

There are some things that a gifted person does without even realizing it. Like many people get out of bed and have milk and cereal for breakfast without forethought, talented women become very disciplined. Here are the most common habits of the blessed.

1. Her Thoughts are Complex and Deep

While everyone has deep thoughts on occasion, the gifted woman often ponders the big things. While everyone else is wondering what to eat for dinner or what’s on TV that night, she’s thinking of the meaning of the Universe and why they’re on planet earth. It’s easy to see this lady’s mindset is lightyears above her colleagues.

2. Her Emotions are Intense

The gifted woman takes her emotions to a whole new level. She feels things so strongly with every fiber of her being. She has empathy for those around her, and she can often come across as an emotional mess.

Those who are an empath and can feel things in the spiritual realm often takes on the sorrow of others. News of a death or significant sickness can affect them for days on end, even if it’s not close family.

3. A Gifted Woman Has a Passion for Knowledge

She is ever eager and always wants to learn more. She may have several college degrees because she constantly wants to expand her horizons. Some may say she’s overeducated, but she loves learning so much that school is appealing.

Since she’s so well educated and always wants to know more, she’s brilliant and keen. Her vast knowledge expands many categories, and she’s the one to call for help.

4. She’s Constantly Looking for Purpose

It’s not enough to get up and go to work each day. This gifted lady wants to know her purpose on planet earth. She wants to make a difference and not just do the 9-5 and go home.

You will often see these individuals working volunteer jobs in their free time, as they like to give back and help others. However, given her empathetic nature, these community helps can often be emotionally overwhelming to her.

5. She Seeks Patterns and Logic

The gifted soul is always looking for patterns or logic to things. They’re usually very scientific, but they’re also open to spiritual meanings. They may see numbers or patterns that hold significance to them throughout their lives.

Some folks have the gift of seeing spiritual number sequences or angel numbers. According to Learn Religions, the Light beings from the Higher Realms can communicate through such methods. However, someone gifted quickly picks up on these sequences and tries to make sense of them. Others may have overlooked them.

6. She’s an Independent Thinker

Most people try to conform to societal norms and don’t want to cause too many ripples along the way. However, someone who is gifted likes to think outside the box. She has an internal set of unique values and isn’t afraid to shake things up a bit.

It’s not so bad to be so independent. Where would the history of this country be without folks who went against the grain? Remember Amelia Earhart?

It was believed that only men could fly planes, and women were more equipped to stay home and raise children. However, she thought she could do just as much as any man, so she traveled across the Atlantic and beat Charles Lindbergh’s record. According to the Irish Post, she did make it across the Atlantic Ocean, but she didn’t beat his record.

However, what she proved was so much more valuable to ladies throughout the generations. She was one of the first women to start the movement towards equality of men and women, though it would be the late 1960s before the Women’s Rights Movement was in full swing.

7. She Holds Herself to High Moral Values

Everyone has moral values that they use to govern their life. It just so happens that her moral stance is a bit higher than most. She doesn’t just preach one thing and live another. Instead, she holds her values near and dear to her heart.

She probably has a close connection with her family, and the things she learned as a child are significant to her. She doesn’t care what the rest of the world is doing or what is perceived as right, as she knows what is correct and acceptable for her to live a good life. Finally, she puts her head down on the pillow at night, knowing she’s living to the best of her abilities.

8. A Gifted Woman Feels Sad at The State of The World

Since the gifted woman doesn’t go with the flow, she often questions the state of the world. She isn’t afraid to challenge leadership, so her strong personality may be off-putting to some. On her job, she’s known for being an active participant in change, and she won’t rest until she fulfills her moral obligations.

9. Her Intellectual Capabilities Bring Meaning to the World

Being gifted puts someone on a higher plane with their thought processes and life. However, she uses her intellect to bring change and beauty. These women often have a creative outlet, like art, that they use to inspire others.

Take, for instance, the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She was known as a feminist icon, according to Biography. While she painted, few know that she was a trailblazer in her time.

She wasn’t afraid to join wrestling or be on a swim team, which was highly unheard of for a lady in those days. She didn’t start her painting career until she was in a terrible streetcar accident.

A car hit the streetcar, and it caused one of the steel handrails to come loose and pierce her body. She went home to her father during her recovery time, and this incident inspired her to paint. Most people would have laid and suffered in self-pity over the incident; however, she rose above it and turned her “ashes into beauty.”

10. She’s Adventurous and Dependable

One unique thing that the gifted woman does well is balancing her sense of adventure with her dependable nature. It’s not easy to do, but she knows how to prioritize her life so that she is the free spirit she longs to be. Still, others know they can count on her.

For instance, she might take an impromptu trip for the weekend to jam-pack history and sightseeing into one. However, she knows that it’s back to the grind on Monday morning, and she will be there for work. Those around her have come to love the adventurous side of her, and she’s often the first one called when planning a trip.

Final Thoughts on the Gifted Woman

The gifted woman has unique traits that set her apart from other ladies. While some of these attributes might be due to her esteemed intellectual intelligence, most of them come from her creativity and successes in life. Her unique characteristics allow her to feel that she’s different than others, and at times she feels quite misunderstood and abnormal.

Many gifted women with these high aspirations notice from an early age that they’re different, and their differences make them special. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if everyone were the same? You will often find that the gifted lady won’t fit the classic mold, and she busts through society’s stereotypes.

Still, some ladies don’t like to use the word “gifted,” as they want to feel just like everyone else. Standing out from the crowd is something that affects them deeply. They’ve always been different and always will be, but they certainly won’t conform to any molds no matter how they feel.

Young Woman Beats Food Addiction and Changes Her Life

August 19, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

When a young woman decided to put her food addiction behind her, she completely transformed her life. Instead of the food controlling her, she found the power within to tame her desires. In that way, food became more enjoyable since it wasn’t always available. She still ate what she liked in moderation, but she opted for healthier foods the majority of the time.

In addition to eating better, she also began exercising to lose weight. Because of her determination, she now weighs 186 pounds, down from her highest weight of 250. Here’s GiGi’s incredible story of triumphing over bad habits and becoming a better version of herself.

“When I was little, I’ve always been the chubbier kid on the block and I’ve always really had an issue with positive body self-image. I’ve had a lot of issues: food addiction, I’ve had eating disorders, I’ve exercised way too much, and so I know, it’s hard,” she says.

She finally had enough after seeing photos of herself from a friend’s wedding a couple years ago. That’s when her real weight loss journey began. After seeing the pictures, she realized that she needed to make changes. GiGi didn’t feel her best, both physically and mentally, so she wanted to become healthier for her future.

She said this:

“I did a lot of research; I found an eating plan that worked called Bright Line Eating. Essentially you weigh out your food, and you eliminate sugar and flour from your diet. I know it seems extreme, so for the first two weeks, it was. What I quickly realized was that my body was addicted. But after that, I really found my groove.”

According to their website, “Bright Line Eating (BLE) is a scientifically grounded program that teaches you a simple process for getting your brain on board so you can finally live Happy, Thin, and Free.”

Also, it involves eliminating sugar and flour from your diet so the addictive centers of your brain can heal. When you don’t give into cravings, your dopamine levels become regulated. This way, you can make clearer, better decisions about what you eat.

The eating program also helps you build better habits so you don’t drain your willpower constantly. By relying on second-nature habits, you won’t have to make so many choices regarding food that drain your energy. Finally, it helps restore leptin levels, a hormone that regulates hunger and appetite.

The young woman lost 80 pounds just from following Bright Line Eating

“I felt lighter, happier, stronger [in] mind, body and soul, as cheesy as that sounds. I started January 1st of 2019 at 255 pounds and I’m only 5’5, so I was definitely in the obese category,” the young woman says.

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A post shared by GiGi ⚡️ (@gigigaribaldi)

However, by following the eating program alone, and not even including exercise, GiGi lost a whopping 80 pounds. She wanted to make sure she had control over her eating habits before jumping into a workout routine. Once she had the eating part down, she then started exercising. She chose the Sweat app by Kayla Itsines, designed for users who want to work out at their own pace at home.

“That paired with Bright Line Eating really helped me hone in on my healthy habits. Now, after quarantine and the rough year we had, I did gain about 30 pounds back as I’m sure so many of you have,” GiGi says.

However, despite the setback, she learned a valuable lesson. She realized that a health journey isn’t just about your weight or how much you can lose. It’s about enjoying the journey and being happy with the little wins. It’s really about learning as you go, and not getting too caught up in the details.

“So for me, it’s really about loving myself where I’m at, and continuing to strive for those healthy habits, but not punishing myself if I don’t reach them all the time,” the young woman says. “My biggest advice I’d give to anyone who’s starting their health journey is to really sit with yourself and write down your triggers. What makes you want to go on those binges, or those late night runs, or the store to get ice cream? I encourage you to look at the health elements, because that’s really what got me motivated to start in the first place.”

This young woman totally changed her life with mindfulness and self-love

GiGi shows us that being too focused on the end result takes the joy out of the process. No matter what you’re striving for, if you can’t have fun along the way, is it really worth it? Slowing down and appreciating where you’re at will get you farther than stressing out about how far you have to go. As they say, slow and steady wins the race. Stop and smell the roses once in a while, so you don’t miss the beauty of your own transformation.

GiGi says: “Some of the positive things that have come out of this whole thing is that I’ve created an amazing, amazing community on my Instagram page. So for me, it’s really about cultivating that community and realizing that I’m not alone, and that there are a lot of women out there that are struggling with the same thing.

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A post shared by GiGi ⚡️ (@gigigaribaldi)

“Really, the mindset is the biggest positive power player in my life. I feel more genuinely happy with where I am at. I’m just excited to see where else I’m gonna go.”

Final thoughts on the young woman who beat food addiction and changed her life

Many of us use food as a coping mechanism for the stresses of daily life. Our brains want instant rewards, but we end up paying for quick gratification later on. You can transform your health by moderating your eating habits and learning healthier ways to deal with stress. This young woman shows what’s possible when you stop beating yourself up and love yourself instead.

Just remember, you can accomplish anything you want in life, but don’t forget to appreciate where you’re at this moment.

20 Easy Ways to Reduce Viral Infections and Bacteria

August 19, 2021 by Chris Butler

If there was a way that you could boost your immunity to reduce viral infections, would you do it? You are exposed to contaminants daily as you go about your life. Some toxins will result in sickness, while others won’t affect you. It all depends on your immune system.

When it’s working as it should, you won’t notice all the dangers lurking in the air around you. Nevertheless, when it’s not operating properly, then you can develop serious health problems. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and talking about how to boost your immune system.

While it can be done, it’s not going to happen overnight. Strengthen your body’s immune response takes hard work and lifestyle changes. The best way to accomplish this is by using antimicrobial and antiviral herbs, changing your lifestyle, and eating the right things. These changes have immune-boosting effects that help your body to combat germs.

Common Immune Conditions

Many conditions can result from your immune system being out of whack. Some of the most common disorders stem from an overactive or underactive immune system. Having these might heighten your risk of catching a “bug:”

•Allergies

Many people have allergies, but few realize that they are immune-related. When you’re around harmless environmental things, like grass or cats, your body overacts to the allergens. The headaches, dripping nose, and watery eyes are all immune response.

•Asthma

Asthma and allergies run together. With asthma, allergies that trigger the body cause the airways to close, inhibiting breathing. It can also cause you to have a chronic cough when exposed to irritants too.

•Autoimmune Diseases

When you have an autoimmune disease, your body attacks healthy cells and tissues. It’s an immune response that is not fully understood. You see this in conditions like lupus, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

•Immune Deficiency Disorders

An immune deficiency disorder occurs when the immune system is deficient in one or more of its working parts. The lack of functional interest causes it to react too slowly to a threat.

The most practical health problems from this defect are HIV/AIDs. Sadly, some of the impairments to your immune system can allow pathogens to enter the body, which causes infections. Many of these infections can be deadly. One should be careful of STDs and HIV. Thankfully, there are now HIV Prevention programs that can help people at risk of getting infected.

Twenty Ways to Reduce Viral Infections

Your immunity is vital to your overall health and well-being. Here are some essential oils, foods, and practices you can observe to improve things.

1. Vitamin C Foods

Why do you think people drink orange juice when they’re sick? Oranges are a citrus fruit full of vitamin C. Oranges aren’t the only fruit that can improve your immunity; try eating pineapple, mangos, honeydew, guava, and black currants. When you get a common cold or a more serious condition like bronchitis, try reaching for some fruits rather than cough syrup.

2. Oregano

Oregano oil has antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. But it can also easily fight infections. Oregano has carvacrol and thymol in it, which has substantial antimicrobic assets. Bacteria doesn’t stand a chance with this potent essential oil.

3. Garlic

Garlic has long been used as a natural antibiotic. No wonder it keeps vampires away with its potent smell. It’s considered a superfood because it’s packed with nutrients. Garlic could improve those with cancer and keep it at bay for others.

4. Myrrh

To reduce viral infections, why not try myrrh? Did you know that it’s the most widely used of all the essential oils in the world? It can stop a fever as well as clean wounds. It also has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic properties.

5. Take Protective Measures

You must be proactive if you don’t want to get sick. You can reduce viral infections by wearing a mask, washing your hands, and staying a reasonable distance away from people during cold and flu season.

6. Green Tea

To reduce viral infections, you might want to incorporate green tea into your day. There have been many studies that have proven that this fragrant tea has both antioxidant and antifungal properties. It can help strengthen your immunity and fight germs when you’re sick.

7. Exercise May Reduce Viral Infections

If you want to strengthen your immune system and reduce the risk of viral infections, you need to exercise. All you need is 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Not only will it help your immunity, but it will also boost your feel-good brain chemicals.

These health care workers spread joy for others during the pandemic by making dancing videos.

8. Probiotics

Leaky gut is a relatively new condition that’s getting much attention. It can cause your immune system to weaken, food sensitivities, and autoimmune disorders within the body. However, probiotic foods help to detoxify your colon, and it helps your immunity.

Probiotics supply your gut with good bacteria that can help you with a disease caused by weakened immunity. If you want to reduce viral infections, start with your gut health first.

9. Ginseng

From the root to the fruit, this plant can help to fight infections and boost immunity. This plant also has antimicrobial compounds that can help you keep both viral and bacterial infections at bay.

The American Journal of Chinese Medicine posted a study showing that taking ginseng effectively stimulates antigen-precise antibody reactions. These antibodies smother the poisons and infections in your body, preventing them from invading your healthy cells.

10. Echinacea

Did you know that this herb has potent immune system stimulants in it? No wonder it provides such significant therapeutic value. Naturopaths use this herb to treat reoccurring infections.

11. Bone Broth

Don’t confuse stock and broth, as they’re two different things. Bone broth is excellent for your immunity as well as gut health. It’s known to help with leaky gut syndrome and boost your immune system. It tastes great in soups, sauces, or many other recipes.

12. Beta-Carotene Foods

When you think of beta-carotene, you think of carrots and eye health. However, lots of fruits and veggies have this nutrient, and it does more than improve your eyes. Add pumpkin, sweet potatoes, apricots, kale, spinach, and red bell peppers to your diet to improve your immune system.

Look for color when it comes to shopping. Anything with bright orange or red colors has an abundance of beta-carotene.

13. Elderberry May Reduce Viral Infections

Many people express surprise when they learn that the elderberry plant’s berries and flowers can be used medicinally. Shockingly, herbalists relied on this plant for thousands of years. At one time, it was considered the “go-to” for helping the immune system.

14. Reduce Stress

Stress weakens your immune system and makes you more susceptible to getting sick. You can have a heart attack, stroke, or get extremely ill from stress. If you can’t reduce the stress, then use exercise and healthy eating to help combat it.

15. Vitamin D

The Massachusetts General Hospital studied the importance of vitamin D and respiratory health. They found that insufficient-level participants were more apt to suffer from infections.

Vitamin D can be absorbed naturally in the sun; you can eat foods enriched with it or take a supplement. It’s a vitamin level that you don’t want to drop too low.

16. Astragalus Root

Astragalus is one of the plants used for centuries as part of traditional Chinese medicine. This plant can fight disease as well as boost your immunity. It’s favored over immunosuppressants and chemotherapeutics as it has fewer side effects and is just as potent.

17. Improve Sleep

Your body needs adequate sleep to restore all the damage done during the day. Your cells are repaired during the night, and your immune system works hard to clean out any bacteria or viruses you’ve been exposed to. When you don’t get enough rest, your immune system becomes damaged and run down.

18. Ginger

Ginger is one pungent herb, but healers noted its use throughout history. Practitioners believe that ginger helps to remove toxins that get into the organs. If you’ve ever tasted ginger, you know it has a real warming effect.

It also provides a scrub brush to your lymphatic system to remove waste, poisons, and other harmful materials.

19. Zinc

Zinc is a mineral that’s getting a lot of attention when fighting infections. It also helps with the common cold and reduces the buildup of bacteria in the body.

20. Limit Alcohol Consumption

Some alcohol, like red wine, is right for you in small doses. However, there is no nutritional value in alcohol, and it can destroy your liver. Drink no more than two drinks a week to promote immune system health.

Final Thoughts on Taking These Steps to Reduce Viral Infections

To reduce viral infections, you must boost your immunity. Your immune system is composed of cells, organs, and proteins that defend the body from foreign invaders. When functioning as it should, you won’t notice when you encounter viruses and bacteria.

However, if your system becomes compromised, then you will get sick. Thankfully, you have a strong defense when you use herbs, minerals, food, and plants to boost your immunity and fight infections.

21-Week Preemie Who Defied the Odds Celebrated His First Birthday

August 19, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

The world’s earliest preemie baby recently celebrated his first birthday after being given a 0% chance of survival.

Richard Scott William Hutchinson made his grand entrance into the world on June 5, 2020. With a due date of October 13, he’d been born four months earlier than anticipated.

Richard’s mom experienced medical complications and went into labor unexpectedly. Doctors delivered him and did everything in their power to sustain his life. At just 21 weeks two days old, Richard was 131 days premature. To put that in perspective, most babies are born at around 40 weeks old.

Richard had the odds stacked against him from the start, weighing just 340 g (11.9 oz) at birth. That’s about the weight of a can of soup and measures just one-tenth of an average newborn’s weight. When his parents held their son, he fit into the palm of their hands. Because of his highly premature birth, doctors didn’t feel optimistic about his odds of survival.

They transferred Richard to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis. There, doctors gave his parents the news they’d been dreading. Dr. Stacy Kern, part of Richard’s neonatology team, told them he had no chance of survival during prenatal counseling.

They wanted to prepare them for the worst, but Dr. Kern felt a glimmer of hope on the horizon. She knew Richard would struggle the first few weeks of his life. But, if he could get through that, she felt he’d survive.

Thankfully, her intuition was correct, and the preemie “miracle baby” celebrated his first birthday on June 5, 2021. A first birthday marks a huge milestone for any child, but it’s even more special for Richard. Guinness World Records officially declared him the most premature baby on record to survive.

The tiny preemie inspired everyone with his determination to survive against all odds.

It seems that Richard gets his fighting spirit from his parents, Beth and Rick Hutchinson. Dr. Kern believes they played a massive role in their son’s success story.

“I credit his miraculous survival to his wonderful parents who were there for him every step of the way and to the entire neonatology team at Children’s Minnesota. It takes a village to care for and support these babies until the time they are ready to go home,” Kern told Guinness World Records.

She added that Beth and Rick fought for Richard the whole time and never stopped advocating for him. Their strength and positive attitude throughout a terrifying, difficult time greatly inspired her and the entire neonatal team.

The first few months were the hardest to get through. Doctors weren’t even sure Richard would make it, even though they remained hopeful. To add even more stress to the situation, Richard’s birth happened during a global pandemic. Hospitals had many restrictions in place, limiting visitation hours even for parents.

They couldn’t stay at the hospital overnight with him or share visiting duties with other family members. So, Rick and Beth commuted daily from their home in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, to Minneapolis to see their preemie son.

“We made sure we were there to give him support,” Rick told Guinness World Records. “I think that helped him get through this because he knew he could count on us.”

Despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic, Richard’s parents always found a way to visit him. They asked doctors for updates constantly so they could remain informed about his condition. Over six months, Richard continuously improved, gaining both weight and strength. In early December 2020, doctors finally released him from the hospital after a long road to recovery.

Baby Richard was given a 0% chance to live, but instead he ended up breaking the record for the youngest surviving premature baby. | https://t.co/LqfLD7u6BH

— WCCO – CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) April 14, 2021

A miracle unfolded

That day, emotions ran high for both the family and the neonatal team who cared for Richard.

Dr. Kern said: “The day Richard was discharged from the NICU was such a special day. I remember picking him up out of his crib and just holding him with tears in my eyes.

“I couldn’t believe this was the same little boy that once was so sick that I feared he might not survive. The same little boy that once fit in the palm of my hand, with skin so translucent that I could see every rib and vessel in his tiny body. I couldn’t help but squeeze him and tell him how proud I was of him.

“He taught me what it truly means to be resilient and, every time I look at him, I’m reminded how strong and amazing all these little beautiful babies are!”

Richard’s come a long way and enjoys a happy, healthy life at home

Richard recently celebrated his first birthday surrounded by his parents and relatives. The family also owns three dogs, and Richard loves hanging out with them. Beth says he’s a very happy baby, always sporting a smile on his adorable little face. He’s got bright, blue eyes that shine with life, mesmerizing everyone around him.

While the preemie has made so much progress, he still requires regular doctor visits and medical equipment at home. Currently, he’s on oxygen, a pulse oximeter machine, and a pump for his feeding tube. The family hopes he can survive without the machines soon, but they’re just happy to have him home. He’s come a long way since his days in the NICU, and his parents couldn’t be prouder.

Beth continues to spread awareness about premature births to help other parents with the experience. Richard fought hard to survive, but he couldn’t have done it without his dedicated team of doctors and nurses. The Hutchinsons have endless gratitude for Richard’s neonatal team.

“They are the most amazing team,” said Beth. “We love the staff that took care of our son and wish we could share him with them all the time. He was called the ‘miracle baby’ when he was there. I agree with them.”

As Richard continues to thrive at home, his family remains deeply appreciative of the medical advancements that support his ongoing care. For many parents of premature babies, managing feeding tubes is a significant part of daily life. NG/OG tube placement plays a crucial role in ensuring that feeding is done safely and effectively.

To enhance the accuracy of tube placement and avoid potential complications, tools like RightSpotpH® Indicators can be invaluable. These indicators provide precise verification of the tube’s position, ensuring that it remains correctly placed and functions properly.

The Hutchinsons understand the importance of reliable medical equipment and are grateful for the resources that support their son’s health.

For those interested in learning more about how to manage NG/OG tube placement effectively, visit this site to explore how RightSpotpH® Indicators can assist in maintaining the accuracy and safety of tube placement. By integrating such tools into their care routine, families can navigate the complexities of feeding tube management with greater confidence and peace of mind.

Final Thoughts: A few words from preemie Richard’s NICU doctor

Dr. Kern feels so thankful for her role in the preemie’s inspiring success story that’s touched the lives of millions.

“Richard is the youngest baby I have ever had the honor to care for. I feel so blessed and honored that I was the neonatologist on service the week Richard was born. To be a part of his incredible story… I can’t even put into words how amazing that feels.”

“I think Richard’s story has inspired so many people around the world and I think we will all continue to learn from him. Thank you, Richard, Beth, and Rick for all you have taught us. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.”

Artist Creates Functional and Beautiful Handmade Ceramics

August 19, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

Amy Brummond, the artist maker behind Pine Zen Pottery, makes unique handmade ceramics that are both functional and beautiful. She calls herself a “middle-aged clay enthusiast,” finding joy through creating art for the world. After being a stay-at-home mom for years and sending her kids off to school, Amy realized she had the freedom to reinvent herself. While she’s still a devoted mother, she also discovered a new identity within herself as an artist.

For Amy, having a midlife crisis didn’t mean going out to buy an expensive, flashy car or jet setting around the world. Instead of chasing after material things, Amy looked within for the answers. Since she had so much free time on her hands, she didn’t quite know how to spend it. After going through a spiritual awakening, she suddenly found herself “smack dab in the middle of the clay life.”

“About five years ago, my youngest son started kindergarten, so suddenly, I was like, “Huh, what do I really want to do?” Amy says. “So, I got a kick wheel and a kiln and set up a studio, and it’s a gorgeous space. I have no formal training in clay, and I have totally given up working on the wheel even though that’s how I started. I am a hand builder – I work with flat slabs and I turn them into vessels of all sorts.”

While she’s self-taught, she also learned a great deal from other potters who shared their knowledge in videos or books. She gathered as much information from them as she could and allowed her creative juices to guide the rest of her journey.

Learning all the ropes about pottery doesn’t happen overnight; it’s an ongoing, lifelong process. However, Amy doesn’t let that discourage her, and goes by the famous quote attributed to Ishi (aka “the last Indian”): “always be more curious than afraid.”

Amy’s handmade ceramics serve a purpose in everyday life

From coffee mugs to ramen bowls, Amy’s got all the bases covered when it comes to pottery. She also creates plates, pint glasses, flower vases, and more! The inspiration behind her work comes from the idea of “making the world a bit smaller.” In our fast-paced lives, we often don’t get a chance to slow down and really connect with our loved ones. Amy hopes her pieces will encourage her customers to become more present at mealtimes or while sipping their morning coffee.

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On her website, she says: “I want the pots I make to become integral parts of our lives—offering moments of presence and connection—over a shared meal or a cup of tea. The objects we surround ourselves with should spark joy whether sitting on the shelf or in daily use.”

As a society, we’re naturally attracted to beautiful things. However, in our quest to obtain the latest shiny item, we’ve done quite a number on Mother Earth, unfortunately. Amy’s handmade ceramics aim to serve humanity’s needs while being kind to the planet as well. Her pottery will last for many years and is even dishwasher and microwave safe.

According to her website, here’s how she makes the beautiful ceramics: “I utilize layers of pattern and color to create functional wares that I hope will become modern heirlooms. My inspirations range from vintage fabrics and mid-century modern patterns to fashion and the natural world.

“Each pot starts as a flat slab of red stoneware clay that transforms into a blank canvas once painted with porcelain slip. I like to layer on different patterns and color through tinted slips, ceramic transfers and screen prints—creating a visually interesting surface that is playful and invites you to touch.”

Amy believes we all have a creative side untapped within us

As the quote says, “Earth without art with just be ‘eh.’” When Amy looked deep within, she realized she had a lot left to contribute to the world. Creating handmade ceramics gives her a new way of relating to herself and others, making her feel more whole. She continues to explore innovative and unique prints and molds that will facilitate her growth.

“One of my favorite things that inspires me and keeps me going, is to see where the evolution of ideas take me. Because you might start one place and with one idea and then all kinds of rabbit holes open up,” she says.

“I really believe that we all have a creative spark inside of us, and it’s just a matter of finding the medium that excites you and ignites that spark. But, I think we’re all very creative and I would encourage someone to just realize that you have creativity inside of you, waiting to come out.”

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A post shared by Amy Brummond (@pinezenpottery)

Amy’s journey has taken her on a wild ride the last four or five years. What started as just a hobby transformed into a small business that truly feeds her soul. While she works solo, she utilizes other art forms to keep her engaged while creating the handmade ceramics.

“There are so many tools; of course, I can’t live without clay, I can’t live without all my shaping tools. But my phone is really integral to my creative business – I make a lot of process videos. I also can’t live without music and podcasts. I have a home studio, so sometimes that can feel very isolating, I think I use the podcasts and the music to feel connected and have some company in the studio,” she says.

Final thoughts on the artist who creates functional, beautiful handmade ceramics

There’s something about sipping your morning coffee in a clay mug that makes you look at the world with new eyes. It connects you to the Earth and yourself in a much deeper way. That’s what Amy hoped people would find through her art – a new appreciation for a slower, more eco friendly lifestyle.

While all of her handmade ceramics are currently sold out, keep checking back for new updates! I think we all could use one of these coffee mugs right about now.

9 Ways Negative Thoughts Can Lead To Anxiety (and Ways to Prevent It)

August 19, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

Negative thoughts are pretty mundane. Something people deal with all the time. But too much negativity is dangerous for your mental health. One of the biggest concerns is the potential for cognitive distortions that alter how you perceive things.

These negative thoughts can make the world around you a torturous source of anxiety. At worst, it can damage your grip on reality and require years of work to be undone. Nip it in the bud by learning nine ways negative thoughts can lead to anxiety and ways to prevent it:

1. Guilt

Guilt makes you uncomfortable in your skin, a gnawing feeling that you’re wrong. You become cynical about the decisions you make, anxiously distrusting yourself. This anxiety is damaging to your sense of self and is likely to interfere with your recreational enjoyment. Here’s how guilt can lead to anxiety and how to tackle it:

· Indecisiveness

When you don’t trust yourself, each decision increases your anxiety as you overthink. Frequent handwringing keeps you stuck in remembering past mistakes. You’ll take each bad memory as more proof that you can’t make good decisions.

· Self-image

Erode your guilt by being positive and reaffirming who you are. Tell yourself that you’re a good person, and think of how your mistakes aided your personal growth. Believe that bad things happen because you’re not perfect, rather than blaming yourself and wallowing in shame.

· Confront the source

You might have to confront head-on whatever is making you feel guilty. If it’s about something that wasn’t your fault, remind yourself daily that you can’t control anything and everything. It can be more complicated than that, like if you indirectly hurt a loved one. Quality time together or in-depth conversation can heal deep invisible wounds.

2. Catastrophization Causes Negative Thoughts

Catastrophization is built on anxiety-worsening assumptions. You’re paralyzed by how things could go wrong, telling yourself there’s no point in even trying because you know that everyone will look down on you or that you won’t get the job. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· A Drain On Your Willpower

Catastrophization saps your will when you assume the worst possible outcome is inevitable. A misjudgment could make you think your partner doesn’t love you any more or that your boss wants to fire you. Having to stave off panic is draining and time-consuming.

· Breathing Exercises

Research shows that you can quiet your dire assumptions by undergoing an unusual breathing exercise twice a day. This involves breathing more slowly and shallowly for a therapeutic impact on your body. The treatment is effective in reducing the chances of hyperventilation.

· Reserve Judgment

Try to reserve judgment and fill your mind with positive thinking. Remind yourself that instead of getting anxious, you should wait until things are further along and have more information. It helps to say that you can always back out of something, but you’re giving it a chance for now.

3. Self-Defeating Criteria

You live in a state of anxiety when your standards are unrealistic. Disappointing yourself reduces your self-esteem and makes you angry. Having such a warped view of the world threatens your stability and tarnishes your perception of your achievements. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· Never Satisfied

A common self-defeating criterion is a perfectionist, making you think nothing less than the best is good enough. Imperfections should be normal but instead make you feel like an undeserving person. You can end up putting off tasks as you desperately think of how to complete them the best way possible.

· Back To Basics

Self-defeating beliefs make you feel powerless to live a fulfilling life. Strip everything back and ask yourself what you need in life. List things that upset you and plan to remove them. Embark on a radical lifestyle change, and remember that you’re still evolving.

· Be Comfortable With Yourself

Remind yourself every day that you’re a complete human being with imperfections. Your quirks are a badge of honor, not something to be ashamed of. Whenever you do something wrong, list the things you like about yourself.

4. All Or Nothing

All or nothing thinking, also called splitting, divides your views into extremes. If something doesn’t turn out well, that somehow means there wasn’t anything good about it. You have to choose between seeing yourself as a success or failure. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· Limited Perspective

Such black and white thinking makes it difficult for you to appreciate the small successes that go along with mistakes. This is a serious impediment to growth and critical thinking. You can’t praise yourself because if something wasn’t wholly correct, it might as well have been a total failure.

· Shades Of Grey

Ask yourself a question: is life simple? You have to cut yourself some slack and hammer home that we all experiences shades of grey if our lives. Challenge yourself to play devil’s advocate and imagine how situations might be good when you initially think they’re bad and vice versa.

· Put Your Foot Down

Admit that all or nothing thinking is hazardous and stops you from taking care of yourself. You don’t want your relationships with loved ones to be damaged by extreme views on their personalities or actions. Stay positive and know that bitter polarization has torn people apart, sometimes violently.

5. Disqualifying The Positive

Disqualifying the positive is a process of minimizing what’s good while magnifying what’s bad. This exacerbates anxiety because it’s hard for you to get catharsis from positive thinking. Adding negative caveats to pleasant things will set you on a downward spiral of depression. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· Lack Of Gratitude Leads to Negative Thoughts

Small victories are stepping stones to greater success in life, but you can’t understand that when you disqualify the positive. You might get a promotion at work, only to write it off since you only got it because someone else was recently promoted and a vacant position needed filling.

· Keep Asking Questions

Ask yourself questions when you can’t appreciate what you have. Inquire why something good doesn’t matter. Ask if you would think it doesn’t matter if it happened to a friend who was doubting themselves. Ask how you would feel if your recent accomplishments were taken away.

· Make A Game Of It

Author Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., says that what people say to themselves mentally in response to situations largely determines their mood and feelings about those situations. So if anxious naysaying is creeping in, actively replace your bad observations with good ones. It can be fun to see how much good you can find in things.

6. Arbitrary Blame

A lack of confidence can cause anxiety that centers on your inadequacies. The ensuing self-blame normalizes negative self-talk and makes you imagine what others are thinking. Psychologist Regine Galanti, Ph.D., says most people with anxiety know they’re irrational, but that doesn’t help because fear controls us. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· You Become Your Punching Bag

Anxiety exhausts your goodwill, letting you take your feelings out on yourself. You engage in mind reading, thinking things like “they look mad, and it must be because of something I did.” You might call yourself dumb or useless just because you weren’t quite sure how to handle something.

· Recognize Responsibility

Make a deal with yourself that you’ll weigh things in terms of responsibility. Life works in a gradient, as you might be partially responsible for something while the rest was someone else’s doing or the result of chance. If you did do something wrong, your priority should be fixing it to make you a better person.

· Support Yourself

Depression cuts an open wound that shakes your emotional balance, so plan small steps throughout the day to support yourself. Look forward to your hobbies, and breathe deeply when necessary. Studies show that night owls experience greater depression than earlier risers and that waking up just one hour earlier than usual can cut your risk of depression.

7. Mislabelling

Mislabelling is when you take bits of negative information and use them to generalize people and situations. Your anxiety diminishes nuance, prompting you to make judgments about the world bitterly. Here’s how this affects you and how to tackle it:

· Removing Complexity

The distortion has you slap labels on things based on petty incidents. Because you failed a test, you’re labeled a failure, and because someone made a disrespectful comment, they’re labeled a jerk. The label becomes all that matters, causing you to view things too simplistically.

· Reveal The Absurdity

Remind yourself what happened, so you don’t think of things in terms of labels. Instead of calling a co-worker irresponsible, recite to yourself that they were just late to work. Labels seem increasingly silly when you recall the circumstances that lead to them.

8. Emotional Reasoning

Your emotions don’t necessarily reflect reality, but when you’re gripped by anxiety, it’ll seem like they do. Emotional reasoning induces stress that makes you believe what you’re feeling is true. If your feelings say you can’t pass a test, or you’ll be laughed at during a speech, you’re cowed by it.

· Pressure And Panic

Believing your feelings can put a lot of pressure on you. If you think strangers dislike you or you’re in some danger, your stability will weaken. With enough time, you may suffer through the fight-or-flight response and panic attacks.

· Relieve Stress

Prevent future episodes of emotional reasoning by letting yourself unwind and decompress. Research shows that just a single one-hour introductory mindfulness meditation session can reduce anxiety overall. You’ve got to put time into nurturing yourself and being at your best.

9. Mental Filtering

Mental filtering makes you focus only on the negative aspects of a situation while brushing aside all positive ones. A small but negative event can become a bad memory because you won’t balance it with anything good. You can filter out evidence that you shouldn’t be anxious, leaving you feeling unprotected and scared.

· Emotional Fatigue

Filtering out the good means you can’t be reassured. If someone walks out while you’re teaching a class, the praise you receive from students who stayed will not cheer you up. Your life might as well be a string of disasters, which is unsustainable and emotionally fatiguing.

· Make The Little Things Count

Notice the good in life and reassure yourself to quell anxiety. Whether someone gives you a pleasant smile, touches you on the shoulder, or holds a door open for you, allow good experiences to sink in. With positive thinking, you can reflect on life’s richness and feel lucky that it happened to you at all.

· Reframing Your Negative Thoughts

You’re capable of looking at the same events in multiple ways. Reframe what makes you sad so that you can get over it. It’s a “fake it until you make it” thing. If someone you hoped was paying attention didn’t want to talk to you, remember the good conversations you had the same day. It can be as simple as replaying good memories in your head, so they remain more important to you.

Final Thoughts On How Negative Thoughts Can Lead To Anxiety

Sometimes it feels like living with emotions is too tricky, but they do make life worth living to begin with. Be good to yourself to squash negative thoughts and face your fears. Set aside time for well-being and seek the support of others so that anxiety never twists your mind.

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