Category: Blog

“Helping People in the Grip of Anxiety and Depression”

By: Robin Hills

 

People in the grip of intense unpleasant emotions, such as depression or anxiety do not need advice, and certainly not from me!  What they need is someone who they can talk to, someone who they can open up with, and someone who will listen to them.

They certainly do not want people to sympathise with them.  Empathy is a fundamental component of both emotional and social intelligence, yet it’s a highly misunderstood term.

When people think of empathy, they often think first about sympathy and compassion. However, empathy has a much broader in scope. Empathising with another person isn’t the same as sympathising with them. They are two completely different capabilities.

Sympathy is about taking pity or feeling sorry for someone else, whereas empathy is the act of listening and understanding feelings to take on the other person’s viewpoint or perspective – what they see, feel and want – and working to truly try to understand their situation.

People who are feeling depressed and anxious will be unlikely to be looking for your sympathy.

Empathy is about accurately reading other’s feelings. It’s about respecting others’ feelings whilst creating a solution where both parties gain.

Sympathy, on the other hand, is an act of reacting to emotions to try to prevent alleviation of suffering. Sympathy is based upon pity and is not necessarily concerned with how others are feeling.

When you show sympathy, you take a position of superiority and, more often than not, you are trying to do something that will alleviate your own concerns and satisfy your own emotions.  So, sympathy is not necessarily concerned about how others are feeling – it’s more about doing something that makes you feel better.

People feeling any intense unpleasant emotions will be unlikely to be looking for your sympathy.  

Rather than showing sympathy, be kind and give them your time on their terms, not yours.  This is a more empathetic approach.

Sympathy sets people apart, whereas empathy brings people together.

Robin is based in the UK in the Greater Manchester area and is the Director of Ei4Change. With over 35 years’ successful commercial and leadership experience, he has worked in a variety of sales and marketing management roles with a wide variety of companies from small start-ups to large multinationals. These include the NHS, major pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, universities, charities, finance, and recruitment organizations.

Robin has the British Psychological Society Test User Occupational Ability (Level A) and Occupational Personality (Level B) certificates in psychometric testing. He is qualified to use trait-based assessments (NEO and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire), type-based assessments (Myers Briggs Type Indicator Practitioner (Step I and II)) and behavioral-based assessments (Advanced DISC), and the EQ-i 2.0 assessment.

He uses all these with pragmatic business-focused applications. His special interest lies in emotional intelligence and, in particular, linking together the outputs from assessments to give real practical relevance to improve effectiveness and productivity.

“How Laughter Leads You To Deep Meditation, Peace & Stillness”

by: Pragito Dove

Laughter can lead me to deep meditation?

I never imagined such a thing was possible. As a child I longed to laugh, giggle and be funny but this was frowned upon in our household. Yet the giggles remained, albeit stuffed down deep in case inappropriate gales of laughter erupted at an inopportune moment.

As an adult embarking upon therapy to heal childhood wounds, I experienced a lot of sadness. Allowing those feelings was deeply healing, but unknown to me at the time, the laughter was waiting to bubble up to the surface and make it’s own powerful contribution to my physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

In my late twenties I  traveled to India to delve deeper into the expressive meditation techniques I had heard about, which were created by the enlightened mystic Osho. Amongst the range of expressive techniques, including laughter, tears, dancing, and gibberish, I found a different kind of therapy, a meditation therapy, that worked quickly and powerfully to heal and transform my fear and sadness into joy and inner peace.

The Laughter Meditation was my favorite. Just laughing for the sake of laughing was an inexplicable joy, awakening my creativity, innate happiness and sense of humor. Everything changed, as if life had gone from black and white to technicolor. I could hardly believe that so much joy was possible. I discovered there is always more laughter, more joy, more happiness because it comes from inside us, from our very source of being. It has nothing to do with anyone or anything on the outside.

The laughter washed through my body, opening my heart, releasing all the tensions, calming the anxiety and fear in my mind and allowing me, for the first time, to experience  deep, inner peace.

Laughter serves as a bridge to take you deeper into your inner silence. Laughter is an ordinary experience that can give you an extraordinary experience, a glimpse of no-mind, of meditation, of a transcendence of mind. It can be used as a preparation for meditation.

Through the Laughter Meditation technique, you can make a conscious practice of using laughter to release your stress and drop deeper into inner silence and stillness.

 

 

Laughter gives you a glimpse of freedom from the mind

For those moments when you are totally laughing, you are free of the mind. All your problems disappear for a few seconds, don’t they? In those seconds of hilarity you are brought from worry to joy, from tension to relaxation, from fear to trust, from timidity to courage, from the mind to the heart.

You cannot think and laugh at the same time. In those moments when you are out of the mind you are in meditation. In those seconds the mind is not and you are in the present moment. Meditation is being in the present moment!

THE LAUGHTER MEDITATION

Step One: (One Minute)

Start laughing. You can shout out “Yahoo” a few times and raise your arms up in the air, or use a funny Youtube video, or any idea you have to start yourself laughing.(It’s easier, especially at the beginning, to do this with at least one other person.) Do not speak in any language you understand (Gibberish is good).  Just laugh!

Step Two: (One Minute)

Sit in silence with your eyes closed. If there is still laughter bubbling up, allow it. Never repress your laughter. Eventually your laughter transforms  into a joy-filled silence.

You can do this technique for any amount of time that you wish. For example two minutes of laughter followed by two minutes of silence. Take the same amount of time for each stage.

Laughter is one of the easiest ways to free yourself from the mind’s constant thought process and find inner peace. It will make you more alive, more healthy, more creative, and more silent. Simply relax into the enjoyment. You will discover in yourself a tremendous natural talent for rejoicing in life. You may even laugh your way to enlightenment. Yes, it’s that good. Remember to laugh, a lot, every day! 

Reproduced with permission from Pragito Dove www.discovermeditation.com

Create a Mental Movie to Achieve Your Goals

By Judi Moreo

We all have something in life that we want to achieve. Most of the time, we don’t know how to go about achieving these goals, so we allow ourselves to fail by simply giving up. Creating a mental movie can increase your chances of success as it is a creative and simple way to program your mind.

A mental movie is a creative visualization technique used by Neuro Linguistic Practitioners to help clients reprogram their minds to overcome fears or phobias, heal past traumas or achieve work or life goals. If you know the goal you want to achieve, then you can take advantage of this powerful tool to help you create a successful outcome.

Step 1: Decide on your goal.

It is essential that you can identify the goal you want to achieve. It must be precise. Write it down.

Step 2: Create a blueprint.

You know the end point; the goal. It is important that you create a blueprint describing the exact change you want to make. For it to be useful and generate a successful outcome it must:

• Use all five senses;
• Be very descriptive; and
• Be written in the present tense

For example, if your goal is to become more confident in social situations, your blueprint might look like this:

I am at a party for a colleague’s birthday. The room is brightly lit with music playing. There are red, blue, yellow and green balloons everywhere. I can hear people talking and laughing. I am standing in the center of a group of colleagues talking about a movie. Everyone is listening. They are smiling at me and I feel happy. The beat of the music pulses through me making me feel invigorated. I feel comfortable talking and listening with others.  With every sip of my drink, I feel stronger and more confident. Each bit of the delicious food makes me feel happier. I am smiling…

You can include different scenes, just like in a real movie. So change the situations to include any that are important in helping you create the movie of the life you desire.

Step 3: Relax

It is important to relax as this is how you will get your subconscious mind to open up and be receptive to your mental movie.

Find somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes. Tense every muscle in your body and then release. Repeat twice more. Next, breathe in deeply through your nose to a count of five and out through your mouth to a count of eight. Repeat this three times or until you feel relaxed. 

Step 4: Play your movie

This is where the mental programming takes place. You play your mental movie visualizing you living the goal you set. It is important that your movie is played as if you are living it now. Feel the emotions, experience the sights and sounds. Don’t forget to include all your senses to make the experience feel real.

To make sure that your new mental program is fully installed you will need to repeat steps 3 and 4 every day for 30 days for best effect. 

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill

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Judi Moreo is one of the most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches in the world. She is the author of 24 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Ignite the Spark.”  As a personal achievement coach, Judi will help you discover that you really are More Than Enough to achieve the success you desire.  She has informed, inspired, challenged, motivated and entertained audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe.   Judi has received many awards including the Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur; the Nevada Business Person of the Year; has been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame; and in 2020, received a HerStory Award from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. To contact Judi Moreo, judi@judimoreo.com or 702-283-4567.

“How Do We Become Strong & Confident From Within?”

by: Pragito Dove

First, be one with yourself. Accept yourself. Love yourself.

Society conditions, educates, and “civilizes” each of us in such a way that we begin to condemn ourselves. For example, society states that you should not be sad. You should be happy. If your truth is that you are sad, you repress the truth, and become something you are not; you become phony. This phony side of you is what society accepts. A division is created within yourself. 

Psychological pain exists because you are divided, at war within yourself. As a result, life becomes complicated. When you lose touch with your inner truth, and are living from a divided self, pulled this way and that, by your desire to please and be accepted by others, you find yourself lost, isolated, and deeply unhappy. You create challenges, adversity, and difficulties to keep yourself distracted and to prove to yourself that you are worthy.

 

If, however, you are able to live your sadness with total authenticity, the division disappears. For example: you are sad: that is the truth of this moment. But your conditioned mind says: “You have to be happy. Smile! What will people think of you?” 

Here is the problem: you pretend, you act, you repress the truth. The phony becomes the ideal.

How can you know, and love yourself, if you don’t accept yourself?

Live your sadness in total authenticity, and you will be surprised. A miraculous door opens in your being, because the division disappears. Sadness is there and there is no question of any ideal to be anything else. There is no effort, no conflict, no war. “I am simply this” and there is relaxation. And in that relaxation is grace, and joy.

Psychological pain exists because you are divided. Pain means division, and joy means no-division. You might be thinking: how can feeling my sadness bring joy? It looks paradoxical, but it is true. Try it. However, please note: accepting your sadness with an agenda to feel joy, is not going to work. Joy arises through your authentic expression of sadness. 

Joy is a by-product of being authentic.

 

Joy is a natural consequence of being united with your sadness, because it is your truth, in this moment. In the next moment you may be angry: accept that too. And the next moment you may be something else: accept that too.

Live moment to moment, with acceptance, without any division, and self-love, self-worth, self-confidence arise within you, naturally, and automatically.

Drop all ideals of how you should be, and accept who you are, in each moment.

 

The journey of self-acceptance starts with becoming aware of your feelings, and allowing yourself to feel your feelings. We are human. Feeling is a part of the human experience. Get used to feeling because feeling is to LIVE, feeling is to be ALIVE. When  uncomfortable feelings arise: allow, experience and accept.

On the other side of your sadness, hurt, and despair is your magnificent, brilliant, luminous spirit, which is not damaged. Your spirit is love, and when aligned with your authenticity, guides your life with grace, and ease.

Accepting yourself, warts an’ all,  helps you become strong and confident from within, so that no matter what other people think or say, you are deeply rooted in your own self-worth. Your feelings are the key. Love is always waiting on the other side. The only thing blocking you from receiving more love is your resistance to feeling your feelings.

Are you thinking: I don’t want to feel because I don’t want to be hurt any more?

I understand. I went through this very same experience.  As I allowed myself to start feeling, something wonderful happened. I began to feel more love,  to laugh, and enjoy my life more. I was  liberated  from a prison of pain and opened up to more self-love, self-worth, and self-confidence, AND  to receiving more love from others.

Inner strength and confidence are an inside job. When you get to the point where you can accept yourself, the need for challenges, adversity, and complications, just falls away, because you don’t need to prove your worth any more to yourself.

Meditation: Accept Yourself– 4 minutes

Benefits: In the very experiencing of your feelings, a spaciousness is created, and miracles can occur. Trust that, even when you feel miserable, on the other side of the misery, is love. Our natural state is love. All we have to do is accept who we are, in any given moment, and love is there.

 

Start gently, with compassion for yourself.

Sit, or lie down, whichever is most comfortable for your body.  Breathe, relax your body, open your palms upwards, in a receptive posture. Allow your feelings, whatever they are, without judging, condemning or criticizing yourself. Accept what is happening, in each moment, without wanting it to be different. When you fight what is, you make it worse. You are the way you are: accept yourself with joy, with gratitude.

 

Reproduced with permission from Pragito Dove www.discovermeditation.com

“Are You Afraid of Failure?”

By Judi Moreo

People can be so afraid of failure that they do unimaginable things to avoid it. They avoid taking any chances because if they try something and it doesn’t work out, they think will be looked upon as a failure. To make matters worse, we often see successful people’s profiles in the media and think they must either be geniuses or they were naturals at what they did. And yet, if you look closely at the lives of these people, you will discover a much different picture. What is not shown is all the hundreds of times these people have failed, prior to being successful.

Failure is a great tool to figure out what not to do the next time around. If something you tried didn’t work, that is no reason to give up on your project. It should be used as a road map to reevaluate what went wrong and adjust to make it work.

Sometimes, you may need some help as you won’t know why what you tried was a failure. In this case, it may be worth it to find a mentor who can evaluate what you are doing and help you to get back on track. This may cost you some money upfront, but good mentors are certainly worth the money when they help you produce results.

Even if you decide to try everything on your own, seek out influential people who can help you. Read about what they have done and how they handled their failures. There are many biographies of famous people and what it took them to get where they are.

There is a side benefit to failure and that is showing others your tenacity. By continuing to evaluate what went wrong and never letting it get you too far down, it is hard to imagine that you won’t succeed. There will always be setbacks, and sometimes it may be necessary to take alternative measures like side jobs, etc. By keeping focused on what you are trying to accomplish and continuing to implement what works and discard what doesn’t, you are well on your way to succeeding in whatever it is you are attempting.

One aspect that you will see common among people that have used failure as a learning tool is they never stop learning. They are constantly making themselves better at everything they do. They read and follow other successful people and try to emulate what those people have done. It is truly a case of success begets success.

Judi Moreo is one of the most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches in the world. She is the author of 24 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Ignite the Spark.”  As a personal achievement coach, hypnotherapist, and NLP practitioner, Judi will help you discover that you really are More Than Enough to achieve the success you desire.  She has informed, inspired, challenged, motivated and entertained audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe.   Judi has received many awards including the Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur; the Nevada Business Person of the Year; has been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame; and in 2020, received a HerStory Award from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. To contact Judi Moreo, judi@judimoreo.com or 702-283-4567.

“Music and the Brain”

By: Stephanie Thompson

As I mentioned in a previous article, neurologists have found that music activates the brain in unique ways. According to Kathleen M. Howland, a Speech and Music Therapist, babies and newborns can detect the beats in music and sea chanties were used to bring sailors together to complete a universal task. People with Parkinson’s Disease can walk normally to music and children with autism respond well to it. In his book, “This is Your Brain on Music,” Dr. Daniel J. Levitin tells how he had patients who were unable to read a newspaper, but were able to read music. People who have had strokes may not be able to speak, but they can communicate through song and people who stutter, do not do so when they sing.

In the book, “Music and Autism, Speaking for Ourselves” Michael B. Bakan explains that ‘the strong identification with music that many autistic people have, sometimes in tandem with exceptional musical abilities, has been observed frequently since the advent of autism studies in the 1940’s.’ Autistic people are able to express themselves through music or the playing of music when they can’t talk to communicate.

Dr. Daniel J. Levitin goes on to say in his book, “This is Your Brain on Music,” ‘that musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about and nearly every neural subsystem.’ In other words, nearly all five parts of the brain; the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and cerebellum are all affected by music in some way.

Let’s review what the different areas of the brain do. ‘The frontal lobe is associated with planning and self-control.’ For purposes of music, ‘trying to follow along with music that you know… recruits additional regions of the brain, including the hippocampus-our memory center-and subsections of the frontal lobe.’ ‘The temporal lobe is associated with hearing and memory. Listening to or recalling lyrics involves language centers… in the temporal and frontal lobes. The posterior part of the frontal lobe is associated with motor movements and spatial skill. The occipital lobe with vision.’

‘The cerebellum is involved in emotion and the planning of movements. Tapping along with music involves the cerebellum’s timing circuits. And ‘the emotions we experience in response to music involve structures deep in the primitive, reptilian regions of the cerebellar vermis, and the amygdala-the heart of emotional processing in the cortex.’

If you would like a more in-depth look at the brain, and how it functions, I highly recommend Dr. Levitin’s book. He goes into intricate detail which I found fascinating but for the purpose of this article, was not necessary.

Stephanie Thompson is a classically trained inspirational pop singer-songwriter, vocal coach, actress voice-over artist, and member of SAG/AFTRA and Actor’s Equity. She is the Entertainment Director and the main performer for EmpoweringHumanityTV.com, and the networking events. Currently, Stephanie is impacting many lives with her healing through music online educational programs.

Discover How to End Limiting Beliefs

By Judi Moreo

Are limiting beliefs holding you back from achieving your goals? You can end them if you want to.

Limiting beliefs are often ingrained within us from a very young age. You may feel that you can’t do math as you weren’t good at it in school and your teachers may have reinforced that feeling by telling you that you weren’t any good at it. If you suffered bullying as a child, then you may feel that you are worthless.

Our subconscious minds store everything we experience through our senses. Some of these will be hidden away but others will be recalled, often unwillingly, throughout our lives. They can hamper development by creating a limiting belief.

Many who are overweight will continue to stay that way as they have been told that they have always been fat, ‘it’s in the genes’ or perhaps they have tried diets that failed.

Mind-set is a key component in goal achievement. It is also crucial for mental programming. The mind is a powerful tool and, if used correctly, and programmed well can help you achieve your goals and the life you desire.

How to end limiting beliefs

• Identify the outcome you wish to achieve. Be specific. For example, don’t set a goal of losing weight, instead set a goal of losing 20 pounds.

• Identify the limitations or problems that are holding you back from achieving the goal. For example, if you are overweight, it may be that you eat too many snacks or don’t limit your portion sizes.

• Take ownership of the limiting beliefs and problems. It is important in this step that you do not apportion blame or any recriminations. For example, simply write down that you eat too many sugary foods every day.

• Analyze what has held you back and why. Journaling is a powerful tool to help with this step. If your goal is to lose weight, then keeping a food diary and adding notes of how you feel and what you do each day can help you identify any situations that may trigger binge eating.

• Create the change you need to achieve your desired outcome. The following are methods you may choose to use to help you with this step:

• Self-hypnosis
• The Swish
• Mental movies
• Affirmations
• Visualization
• Hypnotherapy
• Coaching
• NLP

If you choose a method that does not succeed then don’t give up. Try another method as that may suit you better.

The key to successfully ending limiting beliefs is not only the five steps above but also your mind-set. It is essential that you believe in yourself and that you want to make the change. As Henry Ford said,

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right!”

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Judi Moreo is one of the most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches in the world. She is the author of 24 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Ignite the Spark.”  As a personal achievement coach, Judi will help you discover that you really are More Than Enough to achieve the success you desire.  She has informed, inspired, challenged, motivated and entertained audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe.   Judi has received many awards including the Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur; the Nevada Business Person of the Year; has been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame; and in 2020, received a HerStory Award from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. To contact Judi Moreo, judi@judimoreo.com or 702-283-4567.

Are you having trouble staying in a positive state of mind when challenging circumstances present themselves? The Universal Laws state: so without, so within. Everything is a mirror. We cannot change the reflection, but we can change the original (ourselves), and then, automatically, the reflection changes. Here are my top 5 Keys that can help you cultivate not only a positive mindset, but also the feeling state necessary for the positive Law of Attraction. The more you focus on bringing awareness to accepting and loving yourself, the more your inner beauty and harmony is reflected in your outer circumstances.

 

1. RELAX AND ACCEPT

 

Relax and accept the challenging situation. Don’t fight it because that will make it worse. The more relaxed you are, the more productive you are. Creativity arises out of a relaxed state. And it’s creativity that you need to come up with solutions to the situation you are in. Notice that I use the word “situation” and not the word “problem”. There is no such thing as a problem, only a situation. When you shift your perspective and see the situation as it is,without negative commentary, then you come up with creative solutions, and/or you find the right person to help you.

 

2. WATCH THE MIND

 

Make a practice of watching the thoughts of the mind with non-judgment and compassion for yourself. It is not the thoughts that are the problem, it is our identification with them that creates stress and anxiety. For 5 minutes a day sit with eyes closed, body relaxed, and observe the thoughts of the mind. You don’t have to censor them, or force them to be other than they are, simply observe with non-judgment, and let them pass by. Over time, you become less identified with the thoughts, and more connected to your creativity, wisdom and clarity.

 

3. CREATE POSITIVE THOUGHTS

 

A powerful way to undermine the influence of negative thoughts on your well being is to create a practice of saying positive thoughts to yourself. At the beginning these might seem tedious or silly, but believe me, it works! The easiest way to break a bad habit of self-judgment and criticism is to create positive phrases that you repeat to yourself as often as possible. Even if you don’t really believe them in the beginning, say them anyway! Over time they become a habit and the negative thoughts simply dissolve.

 

4. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE

 

Be alert to people who like to complain, bad-mouth others, and/or have a depressed outlook on life. AVOID THEM. Keep yourself in the company of positive thinking people. This is a powerful way to keep yourself in a positive energy field which will LIFT YOU, rather than bring you down. Your life is not determined by outside circumstances, but rather by how you respond to those outside circumstances. Remember that all things are possible, there is a lot going on that is unseen to you. The more you keep yourself on a positive vibrational level, the greater your chances of having positive outcomes to challenging situations.

 

5. BE GRATEFUL, LAUGH, CELEBRATE

 

Be grateful for what you have. If things are really bad, be grateful for being able to breathe, get out of bed in the morning, use your legs. Be grateful for the sunrise and sunset, for the beauty of the sky, the trees, the birds and flowers. There is always something to be grateful for. Put your focus there and celebrate what you have. Laughter is a powerful attractor factor. Seek out ways to bring more laughter into your life. You will be amazed at the miracles that occur.

 

 

MEDITATION: BEFRIENDING THE MIND

 

Benefits: When you befriend the mind you are surprised how radically life can change. It becomes much easier to disidentify from the mind’s constant chattering and see yourself, and life’s situations, with more clarity and objectivity. You see life’s dramas with perspective and compassion, and insights and understandings arise naturally.

 

Directions: Find ways to befriend your mind. The mind is our bridge from the subconscious to the conscious, our gateway of expression to the outer world. Be grateful for it. Find ways to appreciate the insights, understandings, and creativity it brings. See it not as an enemy but as a friend.

 

As this friendship with the mind deepens, your mind no longer disturbs you. You are not fighting it; you are simply letting it’s thoughts pass by. Your ego/ mind wants to make things complicated, but they are not. Life sings a different tune when you are not controlled by the mind. Your natural joy, spontaneity, self-acceptance, love and compassion arise quickly and easily.

 

 

If you would like to publish this article on your website or magazine, you have my permission as long as you include the following: Reproduced with permission from Pragito Dove www.discovermeditation.com

Taking Chances for Bigger Thrills

By Judi Moreo

People want to be safe in everything they experience. We always want to see if others experienced something before we decide to pursue that experience ourselves. But the very idea of staying safe can actually bring us to a point of not living the life we really want to live.

Take skydiving, for instance. Many people would shy away from jumping out of an airplane as they fear the parachute won’t open when it is supposed to. Even having a reserve or emergency parachute will not change their minds. And there certainly have been instances where both the main parachute and the reserve did not open and the skydiver plunged to his or her death.

So, why do people do such things as skydiving or mountain climbing, etc.? The answer is because they get a thrill from doing it. Many will call it a “head rush” but it means the same thing. Natural thrill seekers and daredevils never seem to have a problem with the risks associated with these activities. But for everyone else, it can take a lot to muster up the courage and go on a thrill seeking adventure.

If you want to break through this, the way to do it is to choose activities that don’t have as high a perceived risk. For instance, many indoor rock climbing facilities harness the participants so that if they slip, the harness will keep them from falling to the ground. The thrill can still be there for these less risky activities. And it is often a great stepping stone for moving onto higher risk thrills.

A portion of taking chances (or not) is part of a person’s traits. As mentioned previously, some people are naturally prone to taking big chances while others would never conceive of doing such things. However, we all have the ability to push ourselves past our own traits. Often, this is accomplished with the help of friends that are thrill seekers themselves. Since they have experience in various thrill seeking activities and are still alive to talk about it, you may feel more at ease when trying them out for yourself when those friends are with you. They can also answer any questions you have about the activities that you may not be clear about.

Whether you will ever make it to daredevil status (and whether you should) depends on several factors including your own personality. But consider pushing yourself to a place where you take chances that you would not normally take. It can be the thrill of a lifetime!

Judi Moreo is one of the most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches in the world. She is the author of 24 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Ignite the Spark.”  As a personal achievement coach, hypnotherapist, and NLP practitioner, Judi will help you discover that you really are More Than Enough to achieve the success you desire.  She has informed, inspired, challenged, motivated and entertained audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe.   Judi has received many awards including the Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur; the Nevada Business Person of the Year; has been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame; and in 2020, received a HerStory Award from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. To contact Judi Moreo, judi@judimoreo.com or 702-283-4567.

Do You Practice What You Preach?

Stephanie Thompson

Do you practice what you preach?  I had occasion the other day to really take that to heart. The Thompson family of which I’m a prominent member, has a history of trick backs.  I recently went to the doctor and described my back pain and where it was located and he was a really good doctor. He asked me a multitude of questions to rule everything else out and after he was through with his physical examination, he said, “Well, I think you have a back strain.  I’m going to order you a shot and give you two prescriptions.  One is for Ibuprofen and the other is for a muscle relaxant.”  

So, I got the shot and I must admit it did initially help a lot.  I took the Ibuprofen every eight hours for eight days.  I only took the muscle relaxant once because it made me drowsy.  After the eight days were up, you guessed it, my back pain was back.  I had no more of the Ibuprofen prescription and I could only take the muscle relaxant at night, so I took some Advil and suffered.  After a day of that, I had enough and thought to myself, I can’t live like this.

The next day, after a rough night and persistent back pain and nothing helping, I told myself, I can’t just wait this out, I have to do something.  And then a funny thing happened.  I started to think about all of the different resources I’ve read and talked about how music is healing, so I decided to practice what I preach.  As a professional singer, I practice every day, so I thought ok, I’m going to do an experiment.  I’m going to go into my studio and practice and sing and see what effect this has on the pain in my back.   So, I did exactly that.  For an hour, I warmed up my voice and walked around and practiced different songs.  And do you know what?  Those acts of singing and practicing reduced my pain considerably, to the point that I almost forgot I had any pain in the first place.  As I’m sitting and writing this article, my back pain has subsided to a dull roar and all I did was sing.   And it is definitely possible for anyone to have a similar experience. The beauty of it is that you don’t have to be a professional singer to reap the benefits of singing.   

Why did singing help my back?  Well, it’s actually a scientific fact that singing can have a positive impact on your health.  For one thing, as cited on Takelessons.com, singing improves our overall mental health because it releases endorphins and it increases our mental alertness, by sending more oxygen to the brain, affecting our concentration and memory.   According to an article I read recently in healthline,*singing has a positive effect on stress because it can lower the cortisol levels in your body. I can attest to that because singing for me is a stress releaser.  I’ve noticed a difference between when I just listen to music and when I’m singing my heart out and actually they did a study where they observed a group of people who sang and the other group just listened to music. The group that listened to music was calmer, but the singing group had higher levels of Immunoglobulin A, which is an antibody that fights infection.  

There are other instances in my life, when I was going through hard times and singing was very cathartic for me.  Even if I would be part singing part crying, after I was done, I would feel better.  I was teaching one of my young students the other day and I stopped her at one point and said, “ How did you feel just now when you were singing that part?”  She looked at me and said, “Good.”  I told her, “Do you know when you sing like that from your heart, you create joy for me listening to it?”  She nodded her head no.  “Well, it’s true.” I told her. “It brings me happiness to hear you sing.”  That was a revelation to her.  So, the next time you’re feeling a bit blue or you’re having some pain, bust out a song or sing in the shower or do a little karaoke.  I think you might be amazed at the results.  

Www.healthline.com 10 Ways that Singing Benefits your Health  Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph.D., MSN, R.N., IBCLC, AHN-BC, CHT — Written by Rebecca Joy Stanborough, MFA on November 10, 2020

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Enjoy your Music.❤️