There has recently been a noticeable increase in terms of research and general interest on matters regarding the interrelationship between mental health and spiritual or religious beliefs. Continue reading
Tag: history
The Evil Eye “Kako Mati” a History and Understanding
The evil eye is a belief that a particular person may cast a malicious gaze which will cause another person, animal, plant, or other property to become ill, die, suffer grievous harm, or inflict bad luck upon someone toward whom they are either openly or even unknowingly envious towards. The evil eye belief is extremely ancient having been referenced as early as 3000 B.C. with the Sumerians, then on to Babylon, then in 7th Century B.C. Acadian and Assyrian literature, in ancient Greek and Roman writings, and finally in the Hebrew Bible and in more modern Judeo-Christian culture and traditions. The historian and biographer Plutarch, described in his De Iside how the Egyptian goddess of nature Isis killed the son of the Byblos by a mere glance of her eye. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, a manual for ancient priests used around 1000 B.C., has numerous instructions for incantations, charms, and amulets to defend against the evil eye. Continue reading
The Health Benefits of Greek Coffee
In a recent study published in the Journal of Vascular Medicine entitled “Consumption of a boiled Greek type of coffee is associated with improved endothelial function: The Ikaria Study” (a link to the full article is at the bottom of this post if you care to read it yourself) researchers went out to study the association of coffee consumption with cardiovascular disease by examining the association between chronic coffee consumption and endothelium function in elderly inhabitants of the Greek island of Ikaria. This is the only research of this kind that I am aware of. Continue reading
Overcoming Your Fears
Don’t let fears rule your decisions and life. I like to think about the word fear as an acronym that stands for, false evidence appearing real. Continue reading
Kindness Exercise
Life can definitely be very stressful sometimes. As human beings we have all found numerous ways of complaining about our fellow humans. Continue reading
We Direct Our Own Lives
“At other times, the fault may be there, but by focusing on it, sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, you amplify it. And what you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself.”
-Eckhart Tolle
What the …. is he talking about here, right? I mean, here is some more of that new age esoteric spiritual stuff so many are talking about nowadays. Well, my interpretation of this quote from spiritual leader Eckhart Tolles’s hit book, A New Earth, is that basically what you focus on is what you become. Not so different from the classical and more new age versions of cognitive theory, which is extremely popular in psychology today. Try to find one school that hands out degrees in psychology (graduate or even undergraduate) that does not even mention cognitive theory and its founder Aaron Beck. Cognitive theory, in a very condensed format, says that your thoughts effect your behaviors and feelings, and vice versa. But this post isn’t about cognitive theory. I just mention this to show you the similarities in what various disciplines such as modern psychology and spirituality preach.
5 Simple Statements to Help You Through a Bad Day
Ever just had a bad day to the point where it seemed like there was nothing you could do to get out of that funk? Of course you have, you are a human. All of us have days like this. It’s only human. It’s part of our existence. It’s part of our lifelong learning. Without some bad days you cannot fully appreciate the good days to the same degree. Continue reading
Breathing is Living
Breathing is a powerful contributing factor of our physical state. When we are stressed, we often take short shallow breaths where our shoulders rise and fall. Our chest may feel like a weight is bearing down on it making it difficult to breathe. When our body becomes restricted like this our thoughts and actions are affected too. Our concentration and focus become clouded and we are often quick to react, which then later results in regret or recourse. Continue reading
A New Me
What do I say… how do I start this… well, life can throw you some curve balls sometimes. It’s an interesting process when you put your whole life into something, and then it’s gone. It can be anything. It can be a career, a relationship, a loved one dies, a hobby, some other life goal, and just about anything that you can put your everything into and focus on for more parts of a day than not. Something that you start to identify with. When someone asks you “Who are you?”, you’ll respond with this thing that you’ve put everything into. Then if you take this thing away from your life, from your everyday process, from basically part of your identity… it’s scary. It’s a major life change whether you know it or not. Continue reading
STOP Saying You’re Sorry to EVERYTHING!
In my experiences I have come across many a person that seems to apologize for even the slightest thing that goes wrong in a day. This type of individual is usually someone who works for someone else (non-independent type job), is some sort of paid or unpaid intern/extern, or is a student. These types of people tell their significant other, their boss, the cashier at Walgreens, a driver who cut them off, their friend(s), their pets even that they are sorry for the slightest things. YES, if someone does not work out in the ideal way that you had it pictured in your mind, then we have a slight instance of what I call the “oh shit” feeling. Continue reading
Counseling Comedian. Affirmation Aficionado. Meditation Man. 