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: inspiration
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.
What to Say to Someone with Anxiety?
For those who haven’t been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, it might be difficult to truly understand what’s going on inside the mind of the 40 million American adults who live with it.
What exactly do you say to a loved one who is feeling extreme stress and anxiety? How do you make them feel better if you can’t understand it or relate to it yourself? It may feel like a fool’s errand, but the truth is, anxiety disorders are more relatable than you think. Continue reading
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
How to do Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is moment to moment awareness. It is being fully awake. It involves being here for the moments of our lives, without striving or judging. Mindfulness involves a formal practice and an informal practice. In formal practice we take time for sitting meditation or mindful movement practices like walking meditation or yoga or chi gong. Informal practice is a way of life in which we meditate as we do what we do. It involves being present in the moments of our lives. Mindfulness meditation is a formal practice of mindfulness or of being mindful. It helps teach us to live in the present moment. Continue reading
Eating Better to Learn Better
We all need to learn right? Whether you are in school still or you are at work, there is always something new to learn. Your teacher tells you to learn geometry or your boss tells you to learn the operating system the company is using now. We all need to learn and then there’s the old adage “you learn something new every day.” Think about how many days are in a lifetime. If I learned something new every day in my lifetime, and learned it well enough, I would be a pretty darn smart guy. So what do we do to help us learn? Because learning new things isn’t always the easiest. I dare say its sometimes a very hard thing to do. One way to help us learn is quite literally to change our eating habits. Eating a healthy diet has been shown many times to improve focus, concentration, and memory. So here are some quick and simple helpful ideas of what to eat to help you learn new information quicker and easier. Continue reading
Counseling Comedian. Affirmation Aficionado. Meditation Man. 