This hidden aspect is how we feel, react and respond, or cope or don’t cope with the condition we find ourselves in.

Living with chronic illness impacts one’s physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Chronic illness often causes one to feel helpless and hopeless, discouraged and isolated. It can devastate one’s career and financial security, friendships and love relationships, creativity, concentration, motivation, and one’s very peace of mind.

It is important now and useful long-term, to remain as active, social, and productive as possible. That means focus on what you can do and let go of what you can no longer do. Create priorities for your body, mind, heart, and soul.

Ancient philosophers and healers recognized that the body and the mind were one. Modern research confirms this body/mind connection. In the last 15 years, Western medicine has coined a term for what the ancients knew: psychoneuroimmunology.

Harvard Medical School now publishes a professional journal called Mind/Body Medicine. Studies show that improved physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being stimulate an innate healing response in the body. It is possible to create a healthier lifestyle that will promote wellness. The key is to balance the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life.

Improving and maintaining physical well-being includes proper nutrition, rest, and exercise. It means carefully selecting the activities in which you participate and the people with whom you spend time to ensure that you are making good choices about expending energy and making the most of each day.

Paying attention to the psychological and emotional aspects of your life includes becoming a good observer of your thoughts, feelings, and how/what you feel in your body. This is a time to allow yourself to experience, examine, and express your thoughts and feelings in an honest and forthright way.

Accurately expressing yourself is one of the most important aspects of living with chronic illness. No one will know how you feel and what you can reasonably be expected to do or not do unless you tell people directly. Value yourself and take ownership of your feelings, and thoughts, your resources and choices.

Honor and express your deepest truth and make what you say and how you say it match what you feel. Say your real ‘yes’ and your real ‘no’ and say what you feel without blaming or needing to please others.

Don’t avoid saying what is in your heart or on your mind to say. Don’t hide your worries and concerns because you don’t want others to know you are not in control.

Accessing your spiritual nature can be as easy as watching the sunset or taking a walk through a beautiful garden. You might also consider meditation, yoga, chanting, or praying. Whether you call it God, the Universe, higher power, or ‘the force’ a la Steven Spielberg, it is quite comforting and healing to experience the inner peace that is uniquely you.

Sitting in the quiet and allowing your attention to flow inward is very foreign to men and women in the Western world. It is, however, a fundamental practice if one is to develop and maintain health and well-being, inside and outside.

The gift in adversity

Human beings are resilient and adaptable. When faced with seemingly insurmountable tasks, we rise to the occasion. Chronic illness often motivates us to re-evaluate and reconsider every aspect of life; to review and change habits, goals, choices, and decisions.

This review includes everything from food choices, career/work, social relationships and recreational activities, to including naps and going to sleep earlier. Now is the time to create a more flexible schedule and intentionally pace yourself.

Determination and persistence will enable you to stay motivated through the tough times, and stay involved in activities that are meaningful and joyful. Maintaining your sense of humor is essential.

Invite people into your life who are kind, respectful, and compassionate. Stay away from well-meaning, well-intentioned people who have an agenda for you and can’t see you or hear you accurately.

This is the opportunity to create the changes in your life that will bring meaning to every day and cause you to choose and maintain a lifestyle that promotes and sustains your well-being: physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual.

While chronic illness may close some doors, it will no doubt open others. Take good care! You’re worth it.

Remember, only YOU can make it happen!

If you like this article, please read more about
Dr. Jackie’s relationship dating advice and help for issues and problems.

***

The inner critic

Coping with chronic illness can often include coping with all of the mixed feelings that arise around it and at the beginning  many of them can be negative . I see it as an invitation to ‘clear out’the old negative ways of thinking to make room for positive feelings and experiences to rise and take their place. Here is a short video about the inner critic which all of us have and many of us find ourselves victim to. The key is to take control of its wild ramblings and not to take them so seriously.

I look forward to receiving any comments you may have about this video or article or indeed about anything else related to chronic illness that you would like to discuss or comment on

***

A note about the author of the above article: Dr. Jackie Black

Dr. Jackie is an internationally recognized relationship expert, educator and coach. Advice and coaching about personal relationships is Dr. Jackie’s passion. Her goal is to inspire and support single men, single women and couples through the challenges and pitfalls of dating, loving and building lasting, committed relationships in today’s fast-paced world. Dr. Jackie’s Relationship Coaching Programs and Groups, her Blog, downloadable PodCasts and her Internet streaming radio show are jam-packed with valuable dating tips and strategies.

Check out Dr. Jackie’s Podcasts here: http://www.relationshiptalkpodcast.com

Check out Dr. Jackie’s Blog here: http://www.askdrjackie.com

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Local students do their part in fighting cancer

We’re trying to give support to those families who have lost members to cancer, to show support for those who are fighting it right now and to make it so future generations won’t have to worry about cancer

Living the Good Life: Have You Been Touched by Cancer?

Have You Been Touched by Cancer? Our family has had its run of cancer…as have many other families. Supporting our local Relay for Life is important. Our town used to have a HUGE event in which we participated in each year.

NIH awards benefit FIU College of Nursing

Examining the impact of breast cancer on couple interaction and relationships ; Identifying caregiver issues and the role of family dynamics in providing care to the chronically ill elderly ; Resolving grief issues post cancer surgery and in caregivers coping with Alzheimer’s Disease 

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Tired of Living with a chronic illness? Of course you are. Tried traditional medicine or certain alternative practices and found they haven’t completed the healing? But have you tried the Doctor Within?

C. G. Jung, the great Swiss psychiatrist, believed that when we sleep, we come in contact with a healing force that is not as available during waking hours. This is quite an uncommon statement in light of modern beliefs in the restorative power of contemporary medicine.

But Jung’s statement came to life when it was authenticated in one of my dream seminars.

Part of the all-day dream workshop I conducted included a dream incubation and induction that prepared people to have a meaningful dream that evening on any life issue or problem that was resistant to resolution. As usual, a high percent of the participants fell asleep during the induction and several of those remembered a helping dream. (The incubation is a technique for asking a dream for an answer to a specific question, and the induction is a guided imagery with deep contemplation that brings about a problem-solving dream.)

Meditation , guided imagery, breathing exercises, deep contemplation,  listening to relaxing music whilst focusing on the issue at hand are all excellent ways to address the problem amd often bring about surprisingly good results. It is a question of finding the right one that works for you.

One young lady had a foot neuropathy that had been troubling her for two years. She had tried numerous medicines and procedures, but nothing worked. The following is a transcription of her exact words concerning her healing dream during my dream seminar and its aftermath.

“Nothing was as pressing as the throbbing pain in my foot. Did I think it would work? No! But I was in so much pain I thought I would give it a try. A psychologist had told me years earlier that I couldn’t relax enough for hypnotherapy and terminated my “quit smoking” sessions. Whenever I was in a training presentation on visualization, meditation, or relaxation, I would scoff silently at these techniques because I thought they were silly and useless. I think what made the difference this time was that the dream induction took place halfway through the seminar. By that time, there was a very peaceful environment, and the material was so interesting, credible, and thought-provoking.

Her dream follows: I saw an image of my foot, and I could see through it like I had x-ray eyes. Suddenly, a bright light scanned and enveloped my foot, penetrating into the interior.

I sensed and knew it was a healing light. When I came out of the induction, I was pain free. I think I remembered everything, and it feels great to be pain free. Oh! One other thing, I did have some moments of doubt after I had my healing dream, and every time I had those doubts, the pain would return. I expressed this to a woman sitting next to me, and she said, “Keep believing and hold fast to your healing.” She was right. When the doubt went away, the pain would go away. It happened a few more times during the following weeks, but I remembered what she said and have held fast to my healing. I checked with her nine months after this experience, and she was still pain free. The inner and outer features of this curing experience point out the dual nature of the healing route we can often take. When these two forces come together according to an individual’s needs, they can become a powerful wonder drug.

If you can ‘stop’ long enough to allow healing to occur – which is a very natural process that often only requires us to drop our resistances and deeply relax and trust, miracles can and do happen. The only thing left is your choice of a technique to allow that to happen, whether it is through dream technique, laughter, guided meditation, energy work such as EFT, relaxing with music or binaural beats, hypnosis and so on

The potential for healing and the healing power is always already here. We simply need to learn how to tap into it … and the key lies in relaxing and trusting our higher power

Learn more about how to produce healing and health information dreams and get help solving problems you are stuck on http://www.Dreamtechniques.com

Author Arthur Bernard, Ph.D. is the founder of the Dream Center in Sherman Oaks, CA. He is the author of his recently published book, “God Has No Edges, Dreams Have No Boundaries.”  a ‘must read’ for all those on the spiritual path and seeking alternative healing methods. Website: http://www.Dreamtechniques.com

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New Life From Damage, Chronic Illness Pain Daily Devotionals

Living with chronic illness can sometimes make us feel like we are damaged. God is faithful and can still use those damaged lives, if we allow. Him to make something new from them. 

Health Tips: 5 Pillars of Chronic Illness

There are clearly some direct relationships that have been confirmed in the study of chronic illness. We do not develop any of the aforementioned chronic illnesses due to random chance or faulty genetics. 

Living with Chronic Illness

Swine flu and chronic illness. Should you be worried? Find out here. 

My Story: Living with Chronic Fatigue

Living with this illness has caused me to get real honest with myself…to go within…to unburden my heart of a lot of baggage. It has challenged me to look at who & what is important in life…what isn’t…what can wait. 

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If you can’t laugh about yourself and the things that happen to you – you’re headed for a heart attack or some other malady, it’s the way the body works.

Laughter lightens the moment and strips away the seriousness that many of us approach life with; it releases the pain and chases away your personal rainstorms leaving a bright sunshiny day.

Scientists have also discovered that  laughter strengthens your immune system and increases your cardiovascular flexibility (your blood vessels exercise through dilation).

According to Dr. Goodheart,  the laughter doctor , laughter convulses your diaphragm, which in turn massages your internal organs.

Massaged internal organs are happy internal organs and they cooperate by staying plump and juicy.

She says that laughter also causes you to gulp in large portions of air, oxygenating your blood.

When that air is expelled, it’s been clocked at 70 miles an hour, providing the lungs with an excellent workout. By laughing, she says, you lose muscle control, which relaxes the skeletal system. According to Dr. Goodheart, four-year-olds laugh 500 times a day, while adults laugh a mere 15! She’s convinced that if we laugh as much as a four-year old, we’ve have the heart rate and blood pressure of that same child.

On top of all that, she continues, laughter causes the brain to produce hormones called beta endorphins which reduce pain and causes our adrenal glands to manufacture cortisol, which is  a natural anti-inflammatory that’s wonderful for arthritis.

Laughter also provides a catharsis, which means to purify or purge, to the emotions. It also brings about a spiritual renewal or release from tension. You notice how sometimes you’ll see a comedian on television, and while he may not be that funny, something just makes you laugh uproariously? Your body seems to know that it needs the chemicals that are released through laughter.

I’ve always felt better after a good belly laugh or two. For me that means some very large-sounding snorts and a few donkey brays thrown into the bargain. Some people won’t even go to the movie with me because when I start laughing I cannot stop. My daughters always used to go, Mom! as they slunk down into their seats trying not to be seen.

When someone’s laughing, others laugh along. It’s contagious. You can’t help it. Oftentimes in my movie-theater laughter excursions, I have motivated a whole theater-full of people laughing right along with me. All this during the credits! (John Belushi being escorted through the prison in the opening credit scenes of The Blues Brothers. If you notice very carefully, while walking he has his butt cheeks pressed ever so tightly together as he’s leaving the prison. It was a subtle physical comment that kept me laughing. The more people turned and looked at me, the harder I laughed! Finally, they just gave up and joined me!).

The Difference between Laughter, Humor, Teasing and Tickling

However, there is a difference between laughter, humor, teasing or tickling. Humor is your way of looking at the world, it’s an intellectual exercise. It’s your idea of what’s funny; it’s not the actual act of laughing. Teasing and tickling are really a way of ridiculing someone. Tickling is something beyond someone’s control and is actually a physical invasion of sorts. Children laugh when you tickle them because the body works that way, but it’s actually a form of emotional ridicule that can result in very unpleasant feelings.

How to be happy now without the teasing

Teasing usually has an edge to it. People say they’re teasing, but essentially they are dead serious. I think teasing is a passive-aggressive way of hurting someone through the guise of humor. Teasing, according to Dr. Goodheart, “involves our having information about something that another person has very strong feelings about – usually painful feelings – and then bringing that information up without permission.” She also says that as people become very good friends they might give each other permission unconsciously to push each other’s buttons. Husbands, wives, lovers, and friends play with each other’s pain with permission. “When you tease without permission in order to trigger laughter, it’s very manipulative and controlling.”

All in all, when you’re feeling down and need a lift, try laughter. It may be hard at first, but just try laughing. Force yourself. Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself laughing at your own laughter and the looks you get from your family members.

They’ll begin to wonder what’s so funny and the corners of their mouths will crinkle up in the beginning of a smile. Now you’re laughing because they give you these quizzical looks wondering what you’re laughing about.

Pretty soon, your laugh is real, your belly aches, the tears flow from your eyes, and the world takes on a different hue.

The pain of any illness dies away and you are left feeling much more positive about life again and in the meantime your immune system is grateful for the boost!

As for me when I laugh like this, I need Depends. I laugh so hard sometimes I wet my pants and that has nothing to do with my age.

I can still hear my friend’s mom yelling at me today nearly 38 years later (while grinning ear to ear) to get off her brocade couch whenever I started laughing.

She knew what would happen.

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Former managing editor of California’s oldest continuously published weekly, Brenner recently completed her book about the law of attraction. Pick up your copy today of the Little Book of Becoming, www.LittleBookofBecoming.com

VIDEO: Dr. Scherwitz – Heart Disease Risk Factors

So, stress can affect the heart both directly in biological ways, as well as indirectly on how we cope with it. About Dr. Scherwitz, Ph.D.: Larry W. Scherwitz, PhD, is a leader in the field of behavioral medicine research with 25 years experience

Anxiety and Stress – A Risk of Heart Attack?

Does stress actually increases the risk of heart attack? According to a recent research it has been indicated that people with stress or panic disorders tend to possess a more active coagulation System and inhibited fibrinolysis. … A lot of scientific evidences have suggested that metal stress tend to affect the cardiovascular System adversely. Tasks promoting stress can result in blood flow decrease to the heart that ultimately result in…  

The Positive Effects of Exercise in Stress Management

But despite our needs for basic commodities, too much work would often lead to stress that will affect us physically, mentally and emotionally; an imbalance that will render us incapable of making decision and will lessen our productivity … Since physical exercise involves a lot of body movements, this will improve your cardiovascular functions and greatly strengthens your heart – this will practically free you from possible effects of stress like heart… 

Technorati Tags: benefits to laughing, best, Chronic Illness, laughter, medicine, non-medicinal pain relief, physical benefits of, stress effects body

Everyday you must be laughing for different reasons. Have you ever noticed, how you feel relaxed after laughing? There are a number of health benefits of laughing and that’s why, laughter is stated to be the best medicine.

Every person laughs several times a day for different reasons – after hearing a joke, watching a comedy movie or reading a comic book. Humor is one of the important senses that human being is blessed with. Laughing expresses a feeling of happiness. Humor and laughter are contagious and they cause a cumulative effect of amusement and joy.

In addition, they offer a number of  positive health benefits.

Laughter makes it easier for us to cope with different challenges in life. It improves and strengthens our immune system and helps prevent a number of diseases.  Laughter therapy can be used to cure several diseases such as hypertension, ulcers, arthritis, stroke, diabetes and even heart diseases. It offers good relaxation and helps you relieve stress and depression. Read on to know about benefits of laughing in detail.

Benefits of Laughing

Get a free list of 47 Laughter Yoga exercises!

Laughing is not just related to facial expressions, but it causes a number of chemical changes within the body. Good hearty laughter helps release enzymes and hormones that are helpful for normal functioning of various organs. This is due to a connection between laughing and stimulation of brain and different glands. Laughter enhances the body to release natural antihistamines. It also activates T-cells, a natural anti-biotic produced in the body. It helps boost the immune system and fight infections. It prevents numerous diseases by strengthening the immune system.

Laughter reduces the levels of certain hormones, namely cortisol, growth hormone, epinephrine and dopac, which are associated with stress response. Thus it helps  relieve stress, depression, anxiety, grief, anger and irritation.

Laughing also decreases pain by releasing a hormone, endorphins. It improves our attentiveness, pulse and heart rate.

Laughing is proven to be very beneficial for the people suffering from hypertension. It helps lower the blood pressure to normal. Laughing causes deeper breathing and increase in blood flow, due to which oxygen and essential nutrients are supplied to all body parts.

Laughter is a good workout for respiratory, abdominal, leg, back and facial muscles. It tones intestinal functioning, massages abdominal organs and strengthens abdominal muscles. This activity is advantageous for digestion as well as absorption. Laughter also helps burn calories and is beneficial for weight loss.

In addition to

physical health benefits of laughing

it offers several

psychological health benefits .

It boosts self-confidence and gives mental strength to cope with conflicts and challenges in life. It also helps us come out of anxiety and depression. It improves out mental health and makes us forget all the tensions in our daily busy lives.

Laughing enhances our ability to connect with others. It also causes a number of behavioral changes. It makes us energized and increases our interest in daily activities.

Laughing also offers many social benefits. A person with a smiling face is always popular amongst a group. It lessens the distance between two individuals and brings them together. It increases healthy communication with others.

Laughter positively affects many aspects of your life , including your health, well-being and energy, leading to a healthy, quality life. So always smile, it improves your face value too.

By Reshma Jirage

Change your Attitude in 4 Days

And when you make a mistake, learn the lesson in that mistake and laugh at yourself. In fact people who can’t laugh at themselves are not only more negative, but they’re also more susceptible to cancer, stroke, and heart disease. … As boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson said, “To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.

Top 10 Funniest Websites

If you want to see your neigbour up to something then it is all here! 4.Ask Uncle Ralph- This website is radically funny. It is about real questions and real answers from the “experts” to make you laugh! Go on to post yours! … You will find weird news so weird it is out of this world! 7.Comedy Central – A another popular haunt for people looking for comedy shows. 

Laughter quotes – Best Laughter Quotes Laughter Sayings Phrases Poems

Laughter is subcategorized into various groupings depending upon the extent and pitch of the laughter: giggles, clicks (which can be almost silent), chortles, chuckles, hoots, cackles, sniggers and guffaws are all types of laughter. 

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