Beliefs : Mine and yours ✊

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful day..

Beliefs are a certain pattern of thinking in our brain that must have been perceived and ingrained in the course of our lifetime. It is a way of making sense and understanding the world around us, the people, behaviour, perceptions, facts, realities. Beliefs can be on our faith, religion, things, people and the world in which we live. Based on our beliefs, we assume something or someone as good or bad, whether something is worthy, acceptable or achievable. The mental representation of our beliefs makes us create our boundaries and limitations concerning every aspect of our lives. It is these subconscious mind beliefs which autopilot our day to day life, career path or choices, or the life journey itself.

Since the time of human evolution, certain thinking pattern has been carried out as strategies to learning, simplify things or conceptualized certain experiences, facts or perceived realities. The perceptual beliefs are mainly based on sensory experiences. That is how beliefs keep moving from one generation to another. As the child grows up, his whole personality and belief system start moulding and developing based on his parents, his experiences, environment in school, college and other authoritative figures. Whether true or false, facts or distorted, the person already grows up with a set of a belief system which helps him undertake his life journey. Since our beliefs are rooted deeply in our subconscious mind, our mind will constantly look out ways and means to prove them right. This is what the subconscious programming does. Every action, behaviour, habit, the emotion of our’s are all based on our belief system.

Beliefs are not necessarily based on truth. They can be based on distorted facts or can be misconstrued or can be simply mistaken beliefs. They can be negative or self-limiting beliefs. Many of our beliefs are based on observations, what we think, hear or see the physical world around us. So, as we start learning more and more, a wider understanding of this world, opened up to a great sea of knowledge and Science, we realise that some of the beliefs which we have been carrying, holds no truth in them. They are just false beliefs. But in spite of knowing clear information about the fact, we still hold onto such beliefs, unable to change them. They are so much ingrained in us and are difficult to change.

Certain examples of common disempowering beliefs, some of us may have like
I am not good enough.

I am not lucky enough.
I have to achieve a certain level of success to be happy in life.
I cannot trust the people around me.
I am not attractive enough.
I cannot lose weight.
I am not good at public speaking.
I am not a happy person.

These are some examples of subconscious programmed beliefs that we hold onto to be true. So, subconsciously, we will behave and act trying to proof or validate them, each time to be true.
The realisation comes much later in life when we fail to achieve something, unable to achieve our goal, failed relationship, unsuccessful career path.
Therefore, a real soul searching, self-awareness is required to identify our self-limiting beliefs which made us fail or difficult to achieve our full potential in
whichever aspect of life, it may be.

Some simple ways, we can try changing our beliefs :

•Changing the old pattern of beliefs is not an easy task. You have to be completely self-aware.
•Try putting down in a note because writing gives you a clear understanding of the mind.
•Once identifying your self limiting beliefs, reframe them with an empowering positive belief like I am good enough to succeed or I deserve to be happy, no matter what.


• Then, start
reminding yourself consciously every day with your new beliefs. Keep repeating because your subconscious mind learns by habit and repetition. It takes a long time. Reminding and repeating does create an impression in our subconscious mind and the outcome of our new beliefs will soon unfold.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post: How about a smart healthy brain 😇😍, anytime, any age? : 5 ways to facilitate the process.

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful weekend🙋🏻

Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis, two terms commonly used when it comes to brain health. We, just don’t need to dive so much into Neuroscience to learn what they mean and how we can help ourselves to keep our brain healthy. Brain health is important because as long as our brain is healthy, we keep learning new things and our memory is intact. As ageing progresses, we can prevent ourselves from certain chronic conditions like dementia, Alzheimers and Parkinson’s disease by maintaining good brain health.

Neuroplasticity, meaning that our brain is continuously changing through our entire lifetime depending upon our experiences, the environment, habits, behaviour. Neural pathways keep rewiring and dewiring depending upon what is necessary and what is no longer useful. Therefore, being in a positive environment, thinking and feeling positive is all very important.

Neurogenesis meaning formation of new neurons, that is our ability to learn new things and retain in our memory. Previously, it was believed that neurogenesis stopped once we reach our adulthood, that is around the age of 20. Now, researches have shown, that neurogenesis occurs throughout our lifetime. So, we can learn until the day we die. In our brain, the neurons are formed from the neural stem cells and progenitor cells which are in the Hippocampus mainly and also in other regions of the brain. Though every day, new neurons are formed, before, they could get matured, many of them get pruned. A special protein BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) has been identified which is responsible for promoting the maturation, survival and maintenance of the neurons.

So, how do we facilitate this process of neurogenesis and maintain the level of BDNF? 5 simple ways

1. Exercise: Any exercise which can increase the heart rate mainly aerobic exercise, running, brisk walking.


2.Food: Rich in omega 3 fatty acids like fishes (salmon, tuna, sardines), avocados, chia, hemp seeds and nuts. Other sources which help are turmeric, blueberries, goji berries, lotus roots, algae, green tea, coffee. However, too much caffeine is detrimental to neurogenesis.

3.Emotions: Experiencing positive emotions like joy, excitement, love and feeling good, stimulate Neurogenesis. Such emotional experience can appear by being creative, learning a new skill, going out in Nature, proper sleep, listening to Nature sounds, good music and sex. A positive relationship with partners, peers, relatives is helpful. Being in chronic stress, anger, anxiety are detrimental to neurogenesis.

4.Mind stimulation: Cognitive abilities like reading, learning, memorizing, discussing new ideas, taking up music lessons, problem-solving, all stimulate neurogenesis. Cognitive reserve (resilience against brain damage) can be built up by engaging mind stimulating activities or intellectual work.

5.Meditation: Prayers and meditation can stimulate neurogenesis. Practising mindfulness, compassion, being in silence, stillness all facilitate neurogenesis.

Some lifestyle factors which can decrease neurogenesis are a high intake of carbohydrate, sugar, fried foods, inflammatory foods, chronic caffeine intake, smoking, alcohol, obesity, chronic stress, lack of sleep, negative emotions like sadness, depression, lack of engagement, boring life. Direct trauma to the head can be very detrimental to neurogenesis. Nowadays, even environmental pollution is quite hazardous to brain health.

If you are intending to learn more about lifestyle changes that you can do to improve your brain health, I recommend the book: Neurogenesis diet and lifestyle by Dr Brant Cortright

Thanks for reading. Take care.

Blessings and Much love to all 💐

Post: 13 ‘No’s of Mentally strong people 💪

Hello everyone ! Have a great Sunday 🙋🏻‍♀️

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Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post: Fivesome – The effective medicine 🙌

Hello everyone ! Have a great Monday 🙋🏻

Chronic diseases contribute to huge healthcare expenses. Regular doctor’s visits, buying the prescription drugs, undergoing procedures, hospital treatments and stay, all of them incur huge expenses.

We know by now that inflammation is the key to all chronic diseases in the body. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, lung diseases like COPD and asthma, Crohn disease, arthritis, HIV, Cancers and the list goes on. Not only these, even brain diseases like Alzheimers, dementia, and Parkinson are also related to inflammation in the brain.

The only solutions to this huge health issues are prevention and controlling the chronic conditions. So, how do we do that? Researches have already proved that most chronic conditions are caused by food and unhealthy lifestyle. So, the easiest and efficient way to reach our goal to prevent and control chronic conditions is by switching on to a healthy diet and making lifestyle changes. 80% of our immunity comes from good gut health. So, eating right, removing stress, active physical life, all contribute to a healthy gut. Therefore , the five some ….

1.Food:The problem is that too much information on food flooding the internet, conflicting information, different diet regimens like keto, paleo, vegan, Meditteranean and the list is long. Too many lists of superfood come out daily. So, how do we know what is right for us?

I think following any diet, there is always pros and cons because you eat some and skip something else. Depending on your goal, whether to lose weight or maybe for some chronic conditions like diabetes, your diet is scheduled and designed. Though following a particularly strict diet, do benefit like losing weight in case of a Keto diet. Sometimes, it can lead to unhealthy outcomes. And, following a particular diet seems to be like, you are doing for a temporary phase. But, to have a goal of a healthy life, the food and lifestyle changes has to be permanent and adopt it as a way of life. It has to be a mentality shift.
Again, not every type of grain, vegetables, fruits available in every part of the world. Different regions grow different crops according to their climatic conditions. So, the best food is preferably,organic (devoid of pesticides) and locally produce grain, vegetables and fruits so that they are fresh. And locally produce grains, veggies, fruits are usually affordable.
Your daily consumption should be a majority, about 70% of plant-based food like greens, veggies, fruits, nuts. About 30% should be whole grain fibres, low fat and protein like eggs, chicken and fish. This is how simple a daily healthy diet plan can be.

2. Exercise: Right from evolution, we, humans are meant to be active. So, being active is essential. Follow your daily routine exercise of at least an hour. Do whatever you like, running, walking, swimming, cycling, gymming., dancing. The workout you enjoy doing. There is no hard and fast rule.

3.Meditation/ Mindfulness: I have already written posts on meditation and it’s benefits. it is important to empty our mind daily, at least for some time.Spend a few minutes in silence every day. If you can, be mindful (being aware ) as much as you can. Being mindful means, paying attention to your thoughts, emotions without being judgemental. Staying mindful, by following your natural breaths, simply just being aware of, at least 20 mins or more is very beneficial. It reduces your stress level.

4. Support: Have always a support system. Loneliness is a major factor in many health issues. People with a good support system can better control chronic conditions. Rely on your spouse, partner, friends or a social support group where you can open up.

5.Sleep: Though ideally recommended in adult as 7-8 hours of sleep. But the fact is, the quality of sleep is more important than the quantity.
When you follow sleep hygiene of going to bed and getting up from bed at a routine timing, whatever hours of good sleep, you get is enough.

All these 5 steps can guarantee you for a healthy life for the longest time. Even, if you suffer from a chronic condition, it can be maintained better with a disciplined lifestyle.

Thanks for reading. Take care

Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post : Beautiful inspiration from an Eagle 🦅 ❤️

Hello everyone! Have a great Friday and happy weekend too 🙋🏻‍♀️

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Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post : Feeling resentful 😠 3 simple approaches !

Hello Everyone! Have a great day 🙋🏻

Resentment is a common feeling. We, all must have harboured at some point in life. It is a feeling of anger or a sense of bitterness after an unfair incident, an event that has happened to us. It may happen very often in our everyday lives. Resentment can be felt from as simple as rude behaviour or unfair comment from a friend to as large as issues like racism or religion.
The immediate reaction after we feel resentful is an emotion of anger,hurt, pain, annoyance or even shame. Very often, we get affected so much that we start to harbour a feeling of revenge. The emotion gets trapped when we are unable to express our feeling of bitterness after the hurtful experience. It may come from either a true situation or a misunderstood situation of injustice.

How emotion of resentment get trapped in us from different situations?
Any kind of tense relationship maybe between partners, a colleague with a boss, or between friends.
*A feeling of fear or avoidance to confront the person or similar situation.
*A feeling of regret, low or dejected.
*Continuously ruminating the strong emotion against the incident, person or experience.

  • In a normal healthy individual, though there is an immediate feeling of pain, hurt, annoyance after the experience, you tend to overcome the feeling by letting go. Thinking it as a part and parcel of life or just an unfair or bad experience in life. Moving away from the negative situation or the negative person.
  • Or maybe, thinking that we have misinterpreted the person or the situation.

But the real problem arises when it started to affect our mental health. The resentful feeling continues to ride over us in spite of trying to let go of or trying to move on from the person or the experience. We started to develop a fear, negative attitude for every similar situation or person in our lives. It affects slowly our every perception of reality. We start looking at every situation with a negative outlook. We start having fear and fail to trust people. It becomes difficult to hope for positive outcomes. We, finally land up in the hands of a Therapist or counsellor.

So, the simple approaches, how we can help ourselves get over it.

1.Practice self-compassion: Compassion over self is a key to all kinds of negative situations, experiences or persons, we encounter in life. Holding self-compassion helps us to give a sense of security which is important. It helps us to restore our self-identity, self-worth which otherwise have the fear of losing if resentment is held up for a long time. Self-compassion helps us to overcome the feeling of lowness or less.

2.Being empathetic: We deal with people every day. There are both good and bad experiences of people with us. So, trying to empathize and understand the other person’s perspective or the circumstances which influence the behaviour will surely reduce the feeling of resentment. Many times, we may have misunderstood or the person who did it may not have realised that it can be hurtful.

3.Practice Gratitude: Practising gratitude and thankfulness for everything, everyone we have in our life is important. It gives us a sense of security and wholeness. So, unfair treatment or unfair incident can be overlooked with ease as they hold hardly any value to the beautiful life we lead. If we focus on how privileged and fortunate we are in life, harbouring resentful feelings look just meaningless.

Thanks for reading !

Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post: Attitude matters ✋❤️

Hello everyone ! Have a great Monday 🙋🏻‍♀️

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Blessing and much love to all 💐

Post : Placebo effect and Nocebo effect 🤗

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful Friday 🙋🏻

I am sharing with you today, a beautiful talk by Dr Lissa Rankin MD, which gives you the idea how powerful is our mind, which has the ability and the enormous capacity to heal the body from any disease and illness.

Hope, you like watching it as much as I do.

Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post: Your life right now ! ❤️

Hello everyone ! Have a great day 🙋🏻‍♀️

Pinterest

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Much love and blessings to all 💐

Post : Reverse your wrinkles. 6 interesting ways 🙌

 

Ageing is inevitable. Signs of ageing start appearing in every part of our body. So, does in the face which appears as wrinkles. The beauty industry has earned billions of dollars every year on the entire range of anti-ageing products. Not only this, there are several cosmetic procedures like wrinkle fillers, Laser resurfacing, facelifts, which are done to reduce and improve the wrinkling of the face. Though, these products and procedures do give results temporarily but may not have a long-lasting effect or cannot reverse the process of ageing. So, it is important to understand why wrinkling happens and how can we, actually reverse the process?

The tightness of the skin is mainly due to complex polysaccharides named (GAGs), glycosaminoglycans which attract water and act as the lubricant to the skin and prevent from sagging. It keeps the skin and collagen tissues, electrically hydrated. The collagen and elastin are the proteins which give the structure and stability to the skin. Hyaluronic acid is also a form of unsulphated GAGs. That is the reason, many anti-ageing products contain hyaluronan. The GAGs also contributes to bone mass density. Therefore, with ageing, GAGs levels decline which causes wrinkles to appear in your face, and your bone density also reduces, causing weaker bones and joints. Over the years, other factors like exposure to sunlight, pollutants, unhealthy eating habits, lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol, all contribute to the wrinkling process. Then, there is the day to day stress, which results in a high level of cortisol which also further increases the wrinkling.

Now, the problem is how do we reverse the wrinkles? Yes, as we know, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, eating healthy, sleep improvement can help to a great extent.
But, how can we maintain the level of GAGs in the body?
GAGs levels are mainly stimulated and synthesized in the body by a hormone made in the liver called IGF -1 (Insulin-like growth factor -1).

Therefore, 6 interesting tips to maintain the level of GAGs

1.Low insulin: Insulin levels are inversely linked to IGF-1 levels. When insulin levels are high, the IGF -1 level is low and vice versa. So, people with diabetes whose insulin level fluctuate, their IGF-1 levels also fluctuate oppositely. The ageing effects are also more prominent in them. So, in a normal individual, to maintain a low insulin level, and get high enough IGF-1, we need to cut down carbohydrate to a great extent. Follow a low carb diet,with plenty of fluids, avoid all kinds of sugars and regularly exercise.

2.Enhance the liver function: Liver is important because it produces the IGF-1 hormone which in turn result in GAGs production in the body. Cutting down alcohol is a healthy choice when it comes to the liver. Eating organic, fresh vegetables, fruits like apples, grapes, blueberries, nuts, beetroot is important to enhance the liver.

3.Intermittent fasting: You should have a meal and remain fasting for a long interval until you have your next meal. Because, when you are fasting, your body secretes growth hormones, including IGF-1. When you eat, your body produces insulin which deactivates the IGF-1. So, a considerable period of fasting or intervals between meals is important when you don’t eat anything not even snacking.

4.Fat-soluble vitamins: Daily intake of good sources of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K2. Sources can be organic egg yolk, green leafy vegetables, fish liver oils, butter, spinach, kale, carrots. Vitamin D is found in fatty fishes, fortified dairy products. It is better to take dietary sources of vitamins than supplements.

5.Moderate Protein intake: Daily intake of a moderate amount of protein can result in an adequate amount of GAG in the body. According to DRI (Dietary Reference Intake), 0.8 gm/kg or 0.36 gm/pounds is ideal. The right amount of protein depends on the individual ‘s age, muscle mass, current health status.

6.Sleep: Good amount of sleep of 7-8 hours a day releases growth hormone adequately in the body including IGF_1. Also, during sleep, your cortisol level is low giving enough time for cells to repair and regenerate.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings and much love to all 💐

 

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