Monday, January 30, 2012
Melanie Bowen and Journals - for cancer, arthritis, and other illnesses
Melanie Bowen read my blog and asked me to post the information below. I agreed because I know and I have known friends and family who deal with cancer, diabetes, stress, anxiety, arthritis, and many other challenges. I will read the information and evaluate as I go you should too.
Melanie also asked me to include the link to the blog below. I believe Melanie is a contributor to this blog. Of course, blogs lead to other blogs. I find this new technology interesting because in many ways people now have the ability to share information.
Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog
Melanie also asked me to include the link to the blog below. I believe Melanie is a contributor to this blog. Of course, blogs lead to other blogs. I find this new technology interesting because in many ways people now have the ability to share information.
Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog
Melanie sent me the piece below.
Health Benefits of Journals
Many people keep journals as a way to catalog their desires, joys, fears and hopes. Non-writers often find this to be a silly, perhaps even trite waste of time. However, several studies have found that keeping a journal can have real health benefits. Roger Himestra reports in issue 90 of "New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education" that studies have found that people who wrote about their problems often experienced improved physical health.
The same study also found that keeping a journal actually contributed to improved psychological health, healing and psychological growth. Some psychologists have often prescribed Journaling as an alternative to serious psychological treatments. It helped to greatly decrease their feelings of stress and anxiety.
People who suffer from a serious disease know all about stress and anxiety. People with arthritis, mesothelioma, AIDS, lung cancer, diabetes and others feel stress and anxiety every day of their lives as they struggle to get over their diseases. They can often lose hope due their prognosis. There is no reason to lose hope even in what seems to be your darkest hour. Start a journal to keep track of your hopes.
Keeping track of your hopes and dreams in this way serves as a tangible reminder on your progress in resolving these dreams. A constant reminder can help keep you focused on meeting them and can give you the drive you need to succeed.
Once your hope and drive has been increased, you may notice a positive change in your mood. You may feel less depression, anxiety and worry about your daily life and your disease. This step is vital to the journaling process. It helps to decrease the importance of your disease.
Journaling helps avoid you falling into the trap of defining yourself by your disease. Being defined by your disease turns you into a victim and narrows your appeal. Avoid this trap by focusing on other aspects in your life completely unrelated to your disease. Remember, you are more than your disease. You have wild goals and dreams that stretch beyond your condition.
Highlight these goals by creating a "bucket list" of activities you want to perform and things you want to achieve in your life. These goals should be wild and beyond your normal activity range. Activities like traveling, cooking and learning to fly can make your life exciting and hopeful.
The best thing about journaling is that it is simple. All you need is a pad of paper and a pencil to start a journal. However, if you want to share your journal a blog may be more your style. A blog shares your hopes and dreams with friends and family on the Internet. Never too late to start your inspiration outlet.
Many people keep journals as a way to catalog their desires, joys, fears and hopes. Non-writers often find this to be a silly, perhaps even trite waste of time. However, several studies have found that keeping a journal can have real health benefits. Roger Himestra reports in issue 90 of "New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education" that studies have found that people who wrote about their problems often experienced improved physical health.
The same study also found that keeping a journal actually contributed to improved psychological health, healing and psychological growth. Some psychologists have often prescribed Journaling as an alternative to serious psychological treatments. It helped to greatly decrease their feelings of stress and anxiety.
People who suffer from a serious disease know all about stress and anxiety. People with arthritis, mesothelioma, AIDS, lung cancer, diabetes and others feel stress and anxiety every day of their lives as they struggle to get over their diseases. They can often lose hope due their prognosis. There is no reason to lose hope even in what seems to be your darkest hour. Start a journal to keep track of your hopes.
Keeping track of your hopes and dreams in this way serves as a tangible reminder on your progress in resolving these dreams. A constant reminder can help keep you focused on meeting them and can give you the drive you need to succeed.
Once your hope and drive has been increased, you may notice a positive change in your mood. You may feel less depression, anxiety and worry about your daily life and your disease. This step is vital to the journaling process. It helps to decrease the importance of your disease.
Journaling helps avoid you falling into the trap of defining yourself by your disease. Being defined by your disease turns you into a victim and narrows your appeal. Avoid this trap by focusing on other aspects in your life completely unrelated to your disease. Remember, you are more than your disease. You have wild goals and dreams that stretch beyond your condition.
Highlight these goals by creating a "bucket list" of activities you want to perform and things you want to achieve in your life. These goals should be wild and beyond your normal activity range. Activities like traveling, cooking and learning to fly can make your life exciting and hopeful.
The best thing about journaling is that it is simple. All you need is a pad of paper and a pencil to start a journal. However, if you want to share your journal a blog may be more your style. A blog shares your hopes and dreams with friends and family on the Internet. Never too late to start your inspiration outlet.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Final moments at the Cave Hill Campus - sitting on a bench under a tree - what a breeze
I am always a little down as my last day approaches. There are no words to describe a Caribbean breeze relieving a steady strong sunshine... trees swaying... I wonder how I live without this in my life daily; young girls walking pass and you wonder why are we so committed to Western style clothing; I watch them and my mind's eye sees them with clothing that reflects the vibrant croton plants in the background, the luscious hibiscus, the many greens ... deep dark and leaves with yellow specks; it makes me really "see" the results of the outside dominance of centuries.
As a youngster I was too... ensnared in this mindset of anything other was better than ours... done without any critical thought and no education to combat that this was always being fed to us and it lined the air we had to breathe; now the idea of jeans, sweater, shirt and tie, stockings and closed shoes.... are filled with nightmare suffocatings. I hear it now like magnified echoes... the fireplaces in our tropical homes; the concrete columns and the four and five story brick layered homes.
Why are we so wedded to these styles? I've seen designers exhibit clothing much more comfortable and appropriate for the tropics. Yet, time and time again, these styles are rejected by many of us only as we continue to sport clothing styles made out of material more suitable to colder climates. For the life of me, I can't understand our reluctance to carve our own paths.
As a youngster I was too... ensnared in this mindset of anything other was better than ours... done without any critical thought and no education to combat that this was always being fed to us and it lined the air we had to breathe; now the idea of jeans, sweater, shirt and tie, stockings and closed shoes.... are filled with nightmare suffocatings. I hear it now like magnified echoes... the fireplaces in our tropical homes; the concrete columns and the four and five story brick layered homes.
Why are we so wedded to these styles? I've seen designers exhibit clothing much more comfortable and appropriate for the tropics. Yet, time and time again, these styles are rejected by many of us only as we continue to sport clothing styles made out of material more suitable to colder climates. For the life of me, I can't understand our reluctance to carve our own paths.
Friday, January 13, 2012
website for remigrants - things to do - a particular attitude
You can go to the website below and sign up. There you can learn about the schemes for remigrants; you can learn about the different regions; you can also fill out the application.
www.chpa.gov.gy
for questions
info@chpa.gov.gy
(592)226-1332
It has to be the attitude. My opinion, of course, is that if you plan to return to Guyana to live and participate you must be real about the situation and you must have a positive attitude about the future.
You must have patience.
Last year I spent two mornings getting a passport renewed. Take a book; be ready to chat with lots of people.
www.chpa.gov.gy
for questions
info@chpa.gov.gy
(592)226-1332
It has to be the attitude. My opinion, of course, is that if you plan to return to Guyana to live and participate you must be real about the situation and you must have a positive attitude about the future.
You must have patience.
Last year I spent two mornings getting a passport renewed. Take a book; be ready to chat with lots of people.
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