Recently, I read an article by Jayme Hirashiki on banishing fatigue, enhancing gratitude and taking response-ability. This is what he said and I agree that we should take responsibility for eliminating the things that drain us and focus on what will help us live a better life.
By Jayme Hirashiki
Today, the world moves at warp speed and the mind-body connection is often tested for its durability, especially when multi-tasking a number of assignments. How often have you heard someone say they’re running a few minutes behind? Does it feel like the faster you go, the behind-er you get?
In our technology driven world we daily interface with cell phones, smart phones, text messaging, Twitter, computers, the Internet, fax machines, television, radio-all competing for your attention. All this before you consider the people in your life. Picture yourself as a modern day juggler with a number of balls in the air at one time. Drop one, and your tightly scheduled day can go awry. Drop several, and you invite a downward spiral that affects your sense of well-being and sanity.
Is this the way you want to live? Of course not. And you don’t have to. Here are some amazingly simple and effective steps you can take to banish fatigue, enhance your gratitude and take response-ability for a better life.
Avoid Negativity: If you want to develop loving relationships and explore new possibilities, you should plan to stay optimally healthy and eliminate the negatives. Negativity is like a slow-release poison that drains your energy and creates a non-specific fatigue that diminishes your ability to enjoy life. Negativity requires nourishment to develop and grow so don’t feed it. Remove your focus from negative things, be it in the news, in your work or in your home environment. Refuse to participate with people who foster it. Instead, place your attention on doing one kind deed for another person every day, without asking for reward.
Cultivate Gratitude: The mind is a powerful entity and often modulates whatever goes on in the body. Cultivating gratitude and the habit of looking on the “bright side” becomes a healthful way to manage stress and enhance mind-body health. More now than ever, we must protect the brain and nervous system against its own primitive instinct to “fight or flight.” From the dawn of man, our bodies have been genetically programmed to automatically attack or flee from perceived threats. In these modern times, mental and emotional stressors can still flip the Paleolithic survivor switch. However, you can override it by building an internal sense of well being. You do this by cultivating a real sense of gratitude.
Recognize and Stop Brain Burn-out: For many people, prolonged tension turns into anxiety and is experienced as “burn-out”. Outward symptoms of burnout may include fatigue, moodiness, depression, low libido, food cravings, skin rashes, indigestion, memory loss, difficulty in sleeping and other physical disturbances. On a physiological level, this means your endocrine system is confused by the emotional and mental messages it’s receiving. The body’s circadian rhythms and hormone levels rise too high and fall too low. The mind is particularly vulnerable to this kind of unhealthy metabolism. Left unchecked, hormone and neurotransmitter imbalances can also lead to premature aging of the brain. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, be kind to yourself and focus on eliminating the cause.
Adopt New Habits: Do some research or seek the advice of a qualified health professional to develop new lifestyle approaches. Learn to adopt new positive habits to replace old negative ones. The best cure for the ills of modern day stressors is not just medicating. Discover ways to replenish your mind, body and spirit. The best plans are multi-fold and include eating a variety of the right foods, getting plenty of restful sleep, making time for regular daily exercise and changing unproductive mental thought patterns.
Consult your health care professional to advise you on how to use vitamin and mineral supplementation effectively, to use specific nutrients like a vitamin B complex. Effective strategies include eating an anti-inflammatory whole food diet, incorporating fermented foods and/or probiotics, taking vegetarian nut-based omega-3 fats and including vitamin B12 and D particularly during cold weather.
Take Response-ability: What’s that? It’s the ability to respond to the world in such a way that you maximize your capacity to learn, to love, to enjoy and express yourself fully. Response-ability is something you cultivate and is your greatest tool towards renewal and replenishment. Remember, response-ability is something you do for yourself. It’s what you practice in an unhurried manner with bold deliberation.
How do you do this? In next month’s article we will give you steps on how to banish fatigue, enhance your gratitude and take response-ability for a better life.
HealthKeepers Magazine December 2011