Greetings to All,
Welcome new members! TIPS FOR PROCRASTINATORS [how to put procrastination in the 'cross hairs'] It is seldom the top complaint, but is a real limitation for many patients Generally it is due to fear of failure, making mistakes or reacting to a dislike, aversion and similar negative emotional state. Procrastinators tend to be perfectionistic. Understand, perfection is an abstract term, not really possible in reality due to its multi ordinal nature [different meanings at different times, places, situations, etc.]. You can go for and be highly competent and proficient, knowing that some mistake will be made along the way and allowing for that. Be aware of the very first thought that comes up about procrastination, STOP and notice what your mind is telling you. Often by knowing and embracing that thought, you can change it. Break the task up into smaller parts. Many procrastinators tend to forget that most tasks you can break into smaller units, also you can start with small steps forward. Reward yourself, Invest lots of good, positive feelings into even small successes. Do the easy things first, Working up to the harder ones. If you really feel courageous, do the big ones first! Procrastinators often have low self-confidence/esteem You are much more than your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, you are unique and have talents. THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY A negative thought is harmless unless you believe it. It is not the thought itself, it is our emotional attachment to the thought that matters. An easy path and the right path are rarely the same, the struggle not on the path, but the path itself. "We cannot be made a captive of any psychological condition to which we have not silently granted our consent." It takes a great deal of courage to admit that something needs to change, and a lot more courage still, to accept the responsibility for making the change happen. But doing so is worth every bit of effort you can muster. I have taken a couple of suggestions and "modernized" my writing style. Live in the moment, IBP Greetings to all and to new members,
This is my 24th blog, completing 2 years of blogs. I know for sure that the blog has helped some and hope that it has benefited many others in various ways. Some comments about sleeping problems. I believe that around 2/3rds of my patients have some degree of sleep disturbance. It is labeled "insomnia" by the medical profession for classification purposes, but the label itself carries certain expectations and characteristics in one's mind that can be problematic. Common presumed causes include increased activity of the HPA [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal] axis, NREM sleep, dysregulation of the arousal system and cognitive system defects. I believe that there is a sizable genetic component as well. My experience has been that the problem often occurs in families of the sleep impaired. These are my top recommendations for getting for better sleep: 1. Lose the word "insomnia, go to not getting as much sleep as want, forgotten how to sleep, etc., 2. Don't set sleep expectations too high. Change common misconceptions and expectations- I must have [need] 8 hours sleep a night to my body can accurately determine my sleep needs. I cannot function or do anything after a poor night's sleep to I have functioned adequately on days that I did not sleep well, etc.. 3..Do not try to sleep. Sleep is basically a state of "non-doing", of letting go of your day times. If you are trying to sleep you are putting effort into it, which is the opposite of what you should do. 4. Shut down the "chatterbox". Most sleep challenged people find that once they get quiet in the evening and their minds are not being concentrated on something, the little voices in their heads start up. This generally is rehashing the day's events, worries about tomorrow or yesterday and other regrets or concerns. The process is called rumination and seems almost universal in poor sleepers. Remember the day is over, what you did or didn't do is in the past. The future is unknown. In spite of what you may have heard, great thoughts are rare after bedtime. Basically , once in bed there is nothing that cannot wait until tomorrow. Good ways to shut down the chatterbox are sending the voice behind a curtain or wall, moving the voice somewhere else, such as out to the left shoulder [studies have shown that this location cuts way down on chatter] or outside. Slowing it down by dragging out each word, etc. 5. Beware the sleep paradox, i.e. "Don't think about it" almost always becomes "think about it". Very true with sleep. Often you can avoid it by knowing that your body is programmed to sleep and it will sleep no matter what at some point. Make no effort to sleep, just look to relax, get quiet and calm and let the sub-conscious programmer do its job. Thanks for all of the comments over these past two years. They are inspirational to me. Please keep it up! Sometime I forget to repeat my 4 basic steps to a better life, a simple morning routine with gratitude, ongoing self-hypnosis, journaling, and be in the now. Thoughts for the day [most from others, a few originals and paraphrases]: Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. With gratitude, IBP Hi to everyone,
Welcome to new members as well. We are entering the holiday season with Thanksgiving tomorrow. Thanksgiving in this country presumably began as a time of celebration for the abundance of the harvests by early settlers – some of the details remain controversial. However, it was a time of gratitude for those celebrating. Gratitude is one of the fundamental elements of a healthy emotional system. Gratitude can cut a wide swath into one's negative thinking patterns. It is one of the major pillows for a positive life style. A few comments on negative thinking. Most of us tend to think more in negative terms than positive ones. Why is that? As usual, many voices with varying opinions. A popular one is people tend to think "worst case scenarios" and do not consider all the options. Worst case scenarios are like emotional insurance to prepare for the worst. Another one is that we are constantly exposed to negativity via all media coverage, being as negative coverage greatly exceeds positive coverage. A few tips on how to deal with negative thoughts and actions. Important to remember that all thoughts are your thoughts, no one can create your thoughts. That means you can choose all the thoughts you had or will have. Maybe not quite that simple, for many thoughts, particularly strongly embedded and powerful negative ones, have been used so many times that they become almost automatic and often subconscious. Many people try to avoid those powerful negative ones by pushing them aside or resisting them, which generally is ineffective. The "secret " is to be aware of them. If a negative thought is associated with that unpleasant, unwanted feeling (the fight or flight response) then it represents a strong negative emotion and you need to be aware of it. Once aware, you can ask the thought what it is telling you. You do this by greeting the thought and accepting it, not pushing it away or resisting it. Generally when you take the time to understand it, you often will learn to manage or control it. Being aware of strong negative thoughts also has another advantage – generally the same thoughts recur over and over and these often signal a deeper or more general origin and pattern. Thoughts for today: "I will not hold the past against myself." In spite of what you may have seen or heard, your past does not determine your future, you can learn from the past, but what you do every day that is positive will allow the best possible future. If someone hurts you, don't take it personally. It is generally a reflection of their pain or problems, not yours. You can take control of your thoughts before they take control of you. You can't solve your problems with the same thinking you used to create them. Always look at what you have, instead of what you think you have lost. You need to ignore what everyone else is doing and achieving. – Your life is about breaking your own limits and outgrowing yourself to live YOUR best life. Comments welcome, can cancel by requesting it. Live in the moment, IBP Greetings to all,
This is your day – make it count for you! As you know by now, I use a lot of repetition because most people generally remember things that are extremely important to them, but if less important they may forget quickly. So today I am going to repeat a few items that seem to be more important in helping one become the very best versions of ourselves. You cannot control everything that happens to you, but you can control to how you respond to what happens. You are in control of your life, often a lot more than you would think. You are definitely in control of your thoughts. I know, it doesn't seem that way, as some of the more pervasive negative thoughts are essentially unconscious and pop in there as if not controlled. Be aware of these types as they often are the most important negative ones and you need to know what they are telling you. Life is made up through and with choices. If you choose to be miserable, you will find reasons to be miserable. Fear and anxiety are examples of "highjacked" fight or flight responses and are not real. Too many people believe that if you feel it, it must be real. Unfortunately, negative emotions are definitely not trustworthy sources of reality. Finally, don't let anxiety or fear guide your present or control your future. I have also said a strong negative emotion represents a signal that there is a discrepancy between what you have, desire, expect and something you want to be different. The moment you step outside of your problem (emotion) and observe it, you create a different context, you are now a witness, not an emoter (my word). The easiest way to avoid this problem is to ignore the negative emotion or thought, but for most people this is not easy. So many experts in the mental fields have added ideas for disengaging from our emotions. These include, step back from your emotions (feelings) and create a space between you and the emotion. This gives you a feeling of being separate from it. Observe an emotion without judging it. Emotions are just emotions, they are not commands or orders. One of my favorite sayings, "The feel is real, but the why is a lie." Thoughts for today: "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself." "Conflict cannot survive without your participation." "The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about." "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Comments welcomed. Thought I was going to forget self-hypnosis and morning routine? Nope! In the now, IBP We are testing a new service called "Living Matrix." It is for both current patients and those who have a first appointment with IHC. It is a way to organize health information and symptoms for people with complex chronic health problems - which fits it into the functional medicine "matrix". This will help Elizabeth and you together figure out some of the root causes of illness and problems. Anyone can fill this out and we can pull it up and go over it together in an office visit. It is a time consuming process to fill out all the information, taking about 1 - 1 1/2 hours, and a full visit to review the results.
We are testing this out and not yet sure if we will continue to offer this in the long run. To get into the system and fill out the forms, you will need to request a link from the office, sent to your email. https://integrativetally.livingmatrix.com/users/sign_in Elizabeth Markovich, DNP Integrative Healthcare 850-878-4434 Greetings to all and new members,
Good feedback from last month blog – patient said comments on failure had helped her solve a big problem. Read recently that fancy brain imaging studies had demonstrated that dogs understand a lot of human vocabulary. I think most dog lovers knew that anyway. A couple of recent office experiences created these comments on one of my favorite subjects, the pitfalls of cause-effect linear[scientific method] medicine. Medicine has made great strides using the scientific method. They are proud of that and should be. I also sense that there is a built in arrogance that allows them to minimize the effects of the mind on the body. Also, because of the complexities of the mind, it is very difficult to apply scientific principles. I believe that most physicians know that the mind plays a big part in disease, but practicing medicine is hard enough without having to add psychology[and lots of time]. So we get meds for anxiety, stress, etc. [25% of all prescriptions for anxiety, stress, depression, etc.] . A diagnosis is generally a label [ a generalization] and it is hammered into the patient, particularly if it is chronic. So through repetition and self-reflection, the label is deeply ingrained as a negative emotion with resulting anxiety responses. They have now become beliefs, very strong ones too. I find that pain, insomnia and various GI problems particularly fall into that category. My best efforts to deframe and reframe these beliefs fall short because of solid and effective indoctrination by the medical community. I feel that there is no belief that can't be modified for improvement, and I do my best to change these negative meanings, but sometimes the medical indoctrination is too great. That complaint out of the way, I will move on to more reality. Fear is a feeling, not a fact. Your life is yours alone. Others will try to persuade you, but they can't decide for you. They may walk with you, but not in your shoes. So make sure the path you decide to walk aligns with your own intuition and desires. The quality of your life is a function of the quality of your meanings. The mind wants comfort. It's afraid of discomfort, pressure and change. The mind is used to its comfort zone, and anytime we try to stretch that zone too far, for too long, the mind tries desperately to get back to ground zero at any cost... including sacrificing our long-term health, happiness and success. The basic nature of the mind is to dwell in the past or to worry about the future. Our uneasiness about what's to come is actually our strategy to prepare for the future – our mind's ingenious way of ensuring that we're equipped to survive. Our mind is constantly toggling between these two opposing tendencies. We fear the inevitable end brought by the "who-knows-when" tomorrow. Tomorrow is risky, frightening, and in some way, represents one step closer to the end – from something to nothing. The result of such preoccupation often is helplessness, depression and fear. Because the present is given to us, our mind perceives it as something not worth dwelling in – it's not worth thinking about the present because it's simply guaranteed. Thoughts for the day: You can't change yesterday, but you can ruin today by worrying about tomorrow. When you spend your time worrying and over-thinking everything, you're simply using your imagination to create things you don't want. Successful people monitor, suppress or ignore their negative self-talk, focus more on the positive and avoid "should/must have" and "what if "statements. Detach yourself from the habit of taking things personally. – If you take everything personally, you'll remain offended for the rest of your life. What other people do is often because of them, not you. Don't obsess about hitting home runs every second. Just get on base, daily. Finally, repetition is needed for all successes [and failures]. Do your self-hypnosis and have a simple morning routine! For the moment, IBP Evening Class on The Daniel Plan – 40 Days to a Healthier Life
We are hosting a seminar on Thursdays at 6:30 pm for 6 weeks from September 22nd to October 27th at our office. The cost is $40 per person & will be lead by Jane Springer, a Tallahassee-based life & wellness coach. Please call the office to RSVP - Pre-paying IS an option if you are willing to give a credit card # over the phone. You WILL receive a receipt. For more information on the Daniel Plan, please refer to the recent newsletter. In Case you Missed it!! The Fall 2016 IHC Newsletter!
You can also sign up for future newsletters! Once you click the link, there are options at the top. If you click "subscribe," you can add yourself. If you ever want to discontinue, you can "un-subscribe" in the email itself, at the bottom. That time of month again. Time, what is time? One of the truly great mysteries. Is it subjective comparison, here by design or enigmatic purpose? Appears unlike quantum time, affected by gravity, mass? Who knows, who cares [outside the elite timewatchers]?
We do know that real time is, for us, in the fleeting moment that is the present moment. All previous moments are “past” and all moments ahead of this moment are in the future. One searches the past for valuable lessons, significant points, and truths to live by, but remember it is just an experience from the past, not something as a reason to feel down. The future will be made out of the actions, thoughts, beliefs, that one creates today. Focus your energies on what he you can do today to aid a more enticing future. Life is made up through and with choices. If you choose to be miserable you will find reasons to be miserable. Too many people are skilled in making themselves miserable. You are in control of your life, often a lot more than you would think. Even when everything seems to be going in the wrong direction, instead of blaming and faultfinding, turn your attention to some small effort or action that moves you in a positive direction. Choose can, will, wish and to get to over must, ought, got to, can’t and won’t. Again, a reminder that all thoughts are your thoughts, no one can think for you, someone may try to persuade you, but in the end it is what you think that counts. Take control of your thoughts before they take control of you. Remember that you cannot solve problems using the same thinking that created the problems. Many of the patients I see tend to take criticisms and judging too personally. They are usually sensitive to these because of diminished self-esteem. I tell them that words cannot hurt you (sometimes a tough sell) the truth often is the criticizers are responding to their own personal hurts and failures. I would be remiss if I did not again recommend self- hypnosis. Done at bedtime without skepticism or prohibition, it gives you a definite power boost for your life. Thoughts for the Day: Being positive isn’t ignoring the negative, it is overcoming the negative. Letting go is not forgetting, it is remembering without any fear. Overthinking will mess you up. It confuses, twists things around, makes you worry and often everything seems worse than it actually is. Have a great month, IBP |
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