ADD reminds me of the movie Gremlins. If I remember correctly Gizmo was a cute fun little guy but had to be cared for by following very specific directions. If those directions were not followed to the “T” all hell broke loose. I supposed the same could be said about a person with ADD. With proper care and feeding people with ADD can thrive. With out proper care and feeding the life of those with ADD can resemble the movie Gremlins.

Maybe ADD really is a gift that we didn’t ask for but have no choice but to keep. Maybe all we need is somebody who actually knows what to do with it and can teach us how to use it. Just think about a gift like an Ipod, if somebody didn’t know what it was or how to use, it would just seem like a weird piece of metal. However once somebody explains what it’s for and all of the uses it becomes so much more.

I’m not saying that ADD is really truly like a Gremlin or an iPod but there are some similarities to both of them. I guess depending on what each person does to manage his or her own ADD, he or she can compare it to another type of gift too.

Snake oils and magic bullets are always associated with forms of quackery. More often than not it will be dietary supplements, potions, mysticism or new age remedies such as ayurvedic medicine, acupuncture, crystals, magnets and such like. However, snake oils and magic bullets can be provided by more trusted sources such as the medical community. An antidepressant drug being the main magic bullet that is anything but.

Another far less obvious magic bullet is provided by the ubiquitous food police. In our society, it is very difficult to go through a single day without experiencing interference from these well-meaning but misguided people who bang on and on about diet and how your eating habits are at the root of all of your ailments.

When it comes to excess weight then as we all know, over-eating will have a huge impact on your physical well-being. But can food really have an impact on your mental health and can it cure stress, depression and anxiety?

In short, no! The foods you eat and the fluids you drink CANNOT cause you to become stressed, anxious or depressed and they certainly cannot cure any of them and I’ll explain why right now.

The three main foods you are continually advised to restrict or even avoid are saturated fat, refined sugar and salt. And for your weight and your physical well-being, restricting your intake of these foods will provide a huge boost.

But, let’s ask a question: Does everybody who eats a poor diet with high levels of fat, sugar and salt enter into stress, depression or anxiety? The answer is a clear and absolute no! And conversely, does it follow that everyone who eats a good diet with low levels of the sinful foods and high levels of fresh fruit and vegetables lean meat, fish and chicken never enter into these illnesses?

Ah, that’s an interesting one isn’t it? Surely if healthy eating could help conquer these problems then anyone who eats a healthy diet would never experience stress, depression or anxiety. But it is blatantly obvious that such people aren’t immune from these problems.

Here’s another fact to realize about foods: In modern society, we are very lucky. There is an abundance of fresh food and it’s easily and cheaply available. But what about our forefathers? Go back to the pre-war years and you’ll see that life for most of them was very hard and food wasn’t anywhere near as plentiful as it is today. So did they all suffer from stress, depression and anxiety? Of course not!

Eating a healthy diet will not cure stress depression and anxiety and eating a poor diet won’t cause them either. This is because the cause of these problems lies totally beyond the foods that you eat and it should be quite clear to you that if you’re going to conquer stress, depression and anxiety then you can only do so by addressing and treating the root cause.

This is the reason why all of the snake oils and magic bullet solutions simply don’t work. They address everything else other than the root cause and apart from giving you a brief lift and lighter wallet, they will only provide temporary and illusory comfort.

See you soon.

I’ve found that piece of advice helpful on countless occasions as I’ve grown. I remember in elementary school feeling like my life had ended because my pet turtle died. I was over his death just a few hours later when my best friend invited me over for a sleepover. Our time was full of smiles and laughter. Or in high school I remember feeling like life couldn’t get much worse when I didn’t get asked to the prom by the guy I really wanted to go with. My mom reminded me to smile and assured me that my life would turn out just fine.

The older I’ve gotten the more I’ve learned to face every day in life with a smile. Good days and bad days alike I try to face knowing that for the most part, life tends to work itself out and return to normal after a little while.

I think the biggest thing that has taught me to live each day with a smile on my face is having children. My kids have helped to renew the sense of wonder and passion that I used to live with. They have helped me to rediscover the possibilities in new challenges and they have helped me to seize moments. They are constantly doing funny things that keeping me laughing and that keep a smile on my face regardless of the stresses of my day.

Think about your life. Do you have reason to smile today? Can you find positive things to focus on regardless of the hard things that might be happening? I hope so. I truly hope that you are able to learn that whatever happens in life, living with a smile is a great thing.

The dictionary defines internal as: having to do with or situated inside of the body; of relating to, or existing within the mind. Peace is defined as: a state of calm and quiet; freedom from disturbing thoughts; and an agreement to end hostilities. For the purpose of this article I will combine these two notions and define internal peace as: the integration of our thoughts and feelings culminating in a state of tranquility and harmony. One of the most important keys for this tranquility and harmony or ‘peace of mind’ as it is often called, is to honour our emotional nature and find methods to express feelings in appropriate ways that allow us to release them.

Practical Steps to Releasing Emotions
1. Learn to listen to yourself. Many of us have been harried for so long that we are out-of-touch with how we feel. A situation will present itself and we will ‘flip out’ and find it unbelievable that we have lost control. This actually results from a build-up of emotions that we have not been aware of.

2. Accept responsibility for your feelings. No one makes you feel anything; rather you choose how you think and feel based on what you interpret the situation to be. Blaming others gives away your power and when you feel like a ‘victim’ you react with anger and resentment.

3. Talk to a trusted friend or counsellor. Finding a ‘safe place’ where you are able to express feelings without anyone judging you provides an opportunity to release pent-up emotions.

4. Accept yourself. You are not supposed to be perfect and learning to accept yourself with all your strengths and weaknesses creates feelings of peace within.

5. Don’t judge yourself. Judging yourself means thinking you have to be perfect and creates feelings of not being ‘good enough.’ When feeling inadequate you judge yourself harshly and no matter what you do it will never be ‘good enough.’

6. Let go of the past. The past is over and you did the best you could with what you knew at the time. If the past evokes memories of painful experiences for you, release the memories and find forgiveness for yourself and/or others. This doesn’t mean you condone these behaviors. It means you release the memories and feelings to find your own inner healing and peace.
7. Learn to relax. Many methods exist that contribute to staying in balance and harmony. Practicing meditation as a daily ritual, reading, exercising, walking, or creating a sacred space where you can spend time feeling a sense of renewal and refreshment are all methods that take you away from focusing on ‘what is wrong’ to seeing yourself as having ‘control of your life.’

8. Practice gratitude. What you pay attention to increases as you give energy to your thoughts. Thoughts of peace, love, and abundance increases the inner healing and peace and leads to living lives that feel more balanced and harmonious.

9. Keep a journal. People have used journaling for many years in order to release emotions and make sense of what is going on. This journal or notebook is for your eyes only and allows you to say anything you want without anybody seeing it except you. Once expressed, emotions tend to dissipate and you will find they are released through this exploration. If this process doesn’t totally release them the first time, repeat the exercise.

10. Spend time in nature. We are part of nature and when we re-connect with the natural world we touch our inner self/ spiritual connection to something more. That something more is our connection to the Universal Energy whether we call it God, Goddess, All That Is, or Higher Power. Whatever we call it, when we feel connected to the ‘Whole’ we recognize our place in the world and feel a sense of peace and harmony and that ‘all is right in our world.’

Everyone loses their temper at times. There is no shame attached to getting upset when the dog has an accident on a freshly scrubbed carpet or a subordinate fails to complete a needed report for your one p.m. meeting. But if you find that you react in extreme ways, it may be time to consider anger management.

Anger Management – When Anger Turns to Danger

Do you raise your voice when things don’t go your way? Some people who are normally mild-mannered turn into yellers or screamers during a conflict. It can happen suddenly, where one moment you are self-controlled and soft-spoken, but the next finds your voice several octaves higher and many decibels louder. Your vocal tone and pitch, along with the words that come out of your mouth provide key indicators of whether you are a prime candidate for anger management.

Another symptom category to keep in mind when monitoring your mood is body language. Your fists may clench, your jaws tighten, and your muscles become tense as your ire begins to build. The next time this happens at home, head for the nearest mirror and study your profile. You may see things like bulging eyes, a frowning face, and a frozen posture. Conversely, serpent-like eyes and a frozen expression, coupled with a pale complexion, may suggest the need for anger management assistance.

Looking beyond the physical, it is also a good idea to seek others’ opinions about whether your temperament might benefit from anger management training. Some may suggest anger management exercises you can do on your own at home, perhaps while engaged in meditation. Others might advocate anger management counseling with a licensed, professional therapist, or anger management classes that you can work into your schedule.

You also may want to consider the consequences of any potential anger management problems you might have. For example, have you ever been written up at work for a problem stemming from your failure to practice anger management? Has your anger impacted a serious relationship in a negative way, whether it is with a spouse, child, parent, sibling, friend, or romantic interest? Has a family member or friend suggested that you need the help of anger management?

Anger is a healthy emotion that enables us to express dissatisfaction or disappointment with something in our lives. But when it becomes out of control, this personal irritation needs to be trained to remain behind wholesome boundaries. If you have questions about anger management control, visit anger-management-information.com for help in diagnosing any potential anger management situations for which you may need help or support.

Graphic designers and layout people will tell you that white space is what makes it possible for us to register text on a printed page or a computer screen. White space gives order, context, and emphasis to what matters.

White space facilitates delight: it makes it possible for the contents of a page or of a life to be arranged in a pleasing way. It requites and allows artful choice. Without it, everything seems equally urgent, similarly important.

Because it is empty, it is tempting to fill white space when the pressure is on. If you’ve ever tried to read an email that isn’t broken up into short paragraphs, you know what happens when too much content squeezes out the white space. It is hard to track meaning, hard to isolate key points, hard to know how to respond.

The same thing happens when there is not enough white space in our lives. When we steal time from the white space to make another meeting, start another project, make another call, we end up distracted, confused, and reactive. Depending on our individual styles, we may get irritable, weepy, bossy, or simply forgetful, none of which saves time, makes money, or engenders effective collaboration. In an ironic turnabout, we may start saying “no” to things we’d like to say “yes” to and vice versa. Play feels like work, work loses its charm, work life balance quits us.

However, if we expand or maintain white space in times of great challenge, we will often notice that unexpected opportunities and solutions arise. When a problem is too big or complex to be solved with available resources, we have to go to another level to solve it. White space helps us find that other level and bring work life balance back, when pushing harder and moving faster won’t work.

I wrote a version of this article in September, 2001, when I realized that grappling with the events of that month required extra energy and that I needed more white space for a while as I adapted to the demands of those times. I think we are in similar times now, when, regardless of your politics or perspective, world events require our heartfelt and intelligent reflection, a process that is not likely in the short term to result in clear cut solutions. Staying awake, connected, and present in such times is a big job, and it’s the kind of job that requires white space.

I’m renewing my commitment to white space for the next few weeks. I leave for a month-long vacation soon, and it is tempting to work round the clock until I go. But I know too well the costs of that choice. So I’m getting out into the garden this weekend, taking time for music and reading, and making myself available for an afternoon nap or two. This is not self-indulgence. It’s not even self-care. It’s cultivating the white space that I need in order to maintain work life balance, show up, serve, and prosper in every aspect of my life and work.

If there is not enough white space in your life to sustain work life balance, or if, like me, you need more white space than usual right now, take some time to revise your commitments and declare a moratorium on promises for a few days. If you are a manager, ask yourself how you can support your people in having the white space they need. It’s not necessary to make a production of this; you can accomplish a good deal by simply keeping white space in mind as you assign tasks, evaluate performance, and manage the context and mood of your teams.

Caring for white space can allow the shape of what is truly important to emerge while giving us the breathing room to stay balanced and respond more completely and effectively, if at a slower pace.

I was born two months premature in Trinidad in 1965. I was only 4 pounds and had to be in an incubator for my first few weeks of life. The doctors told my mom not to get attached to me because I only had a ten percent chance of surviving. My mother didn’t believe them.

And touched and loved me and willed me to live. And live I did. I grew into being a 6’3″, 200 pound man in almost perfect health. Such is the power of love, such is the power of touch.

We tend to get touched less and less as we get older, although our primal need for touch never diminishes. Touch deprivation is a significant form of sensory deprivation. Most of us wouldn’t dream of going weeks or months without opening our eyes, or keeping our ears plugged, yet many of my patients tell me that they haven’t been massaged or held for weeks or months.

Our world is becoming too formal, too stiff, too emotionally cold.

For the sake of your physical, emotionally, mental and spiritual health, give your self more permission to touch and be touched. You can never overdose on loving touch.

Don’t limit touch to sex. Don’t limit touch to just your partner and family. Reach out and touch more people.

Close your eyes sometimes and experience your world through touch.

Your skin is your biggest organ- use it. Get more skin to skin contact.

Everyone can heal and be healed through touch.

Be a great healer and lover by experiencing the miracle of touch as often as you can.

Christopher Scipio
Homeopath/Herbalist
Holistic Viral Specialist

Firstly write down a statement outling your intent and alter it so that it becomes an affirmation or set of affirmations. Make it present tense and very positive in nature. “I am increasing my confidence everyday”, “I am self assured and self confident in every situation” and “I can feel my self-esteem increasing everyday” are a few good examples.

Ensure that you do not include the negative aspect your goal or what you do not want such as “I am no longer lacking in confidence” or “My low self-esteem is getting better”. These statements focus on the situation as it is not how you want it to be. So remember keep the statement positive and only include what you do want! While still in a waking state imagine how you would look and feel if these statements were true. Make a quick mental movie of how the new you would walk, talk and interact with people. Create a mental movie that shows you being confident in situations that would normally leave you feeling a lack of confidence. You will use this mental movie during your self-hypnotic trance session.

Begin by breathing deeply. In through your nose to the count of five and out through your mouth to the count of five. This will relax your body.

Focus your gaze softly on a spot in front of you. Look for somewhere that is slightly above eye-level while you keep your head straight.

Relax each muscle group of your body beginning with your feet and moving up to your head. While doing this allow your eyes to close when they begin to feel heavy.

Now take a deep breath and on the exhale mentally repeat your affirmation. Do this for several cycles until you feel that the affirmation is beginning to feel like the truth.

Continue to breathe deeply and imagine that you are at a movie theatre. Directly in front of you hangs a huge wide projection screen. Up on the massive widescreen begin to project the mental movie you made earlier and let it run several times. Hear the audience cheer as the movie runs. Clap and cheer yourself as you watch that ‘other’ you acting how you want to act and exhibiting the type of confident behaviour you want to have.

Continue your deep slow breathing as it will keep you relaxed.

Now imagine that you are floating up towards the screen. The audience is going wild as they know what is about to happen. They are cheering you on! Imagine that you float into the screen and become part of the movie. You stop behind the “other confident you” and find yourself facing the back of his/her head.

At this time take a step and walk into that ‘new’ you just as you would step into a projection or as though you wear trying on some new clothes. The new you is a perfect fit! Watch as the colours around get brighter, the sounds get louder and the scene gets bigger. As you enter the new you, feel how it feels to be that person. See what that person sees. Hear what that person hears.

In the distance on the other side of the screen you can hear the audience going wild with delight as you perform and act as that ‘other’ you would act. Feel how good that feels.

Now repeat your affirmations as you imagine the ‘other’ confident you would say them. Believe the truth behind these statements and feel that they are true. Say them with conviction.

Now once you feel all those great feelings of confidence, self assurance and self esteem just allow the scene to begin to fade. Mentally begin to count down from five to one as you allow your eyes to slowly open. Become fully aware of your surroundings as you bring yourself back to physical reality but bring with you all those good feelings.

All of us lose our patience at some point of time in our life. Some of us do it very quickly. For others it needs something big to disturb otherwise they are patient all the times. What is your patience? Have you thought about it? Certain ties in life, we can do nothing, but we still act impatiently. That does not help at all. It may hurt us.

What if you are stuck in a traffic jam? You want to reach for a meeting, but the traffic refuses to move because of some mishap ahead. Will acting impatiently help? No. it would be better to get cool and listen to some music or make notes of your work or plan of other things. Take this time as a gift and use it positively. This depends on us.

Success comes easily to those who understand their emotions and don’t let the emotions overwhelm them always. One who is always driven by emotions meets failures from time to time. We have to apply our mind and analyze every situation. We have to react after that. We have been given the ability to react by nature. Touch any hot object and you will get away immediately. That is natural. But reacting immediately in every situation can be bad for our career and home life. Patience plays a very important role in that.

The question is – how to find the weaknesses? Many times, we realize our weaknesses ourselves. Sometimes, our friends and
family members tell us about them. In the same way, quizzes about our personality can help us find our strengths and weaknesses.

Science has developed many tests and quizzes to find about personality traits. But none of these tests and quizzes can be precise. Every theory gets demolished after few years and gets replaced by a new theory. So are the quizzes based on any particular system of any help? Questions are the answers. Human mind has developed over the years by asking questions. Was the sun revolving around the earth or the earth was revolving around the sun? Why things fall when dropped? Why does wind blow? Why do we have day and nights? Why do we get angry? Why do we have emotions? There are so many questions that have hammered us over centuries and with questions, the answers have emerged. The answer is found out only if you ask questions. Let us look at this in terms of quizzing.

In tests and quizzes, we are asked many questions, and given options to mark our answers. The questions may not be perfectly drafted, nor are the answers are given after a great thought. No one can evaluate a person by quizzes and tests. It can only give an indication of probability. But it helps raise questions in the mind of the quiz taker. When he/she comes across a question, the mind thinks about that. That development of thinking process is the biggest advantage of quizzing and testing. Quizzes and tests by themselves may not give any perfect answer. But they can make a person think.