Ow Di Body?

"Ow di body?" is the way folks greet each other in Sierra Leone. The appropriate response to the inquiry is "Da body fayne." This special greeting appeals to me in that it seems a much more personal inquiry that "Hi, how's it going?" Also it made me think about how we often forget about how the bag of bones below our neck may be faring. When things heat up in our heads (i.e., our thoughts consumed with stress from work or personal issues), we often try to solve the head issues with our bodies. Sometimes the choices are not the best: over-indulging in the Chunky Monkey ice cream or pinot noir, or giving in to the siren call of the couch. Other times, the choices we make are better in terms of self-care: getting adequate sleep, consuming a healthy diet, engaging in regular exercise and meditation.

Research comes out on an almost daily basis providing us information about the impact of stress on our health. Chronic stress poses serious threat on our bodies, with symptoms ranging from elevated blood pressure, cardiac problems, gastric problems, immune deficits to miscarriage or issues of infertility in women. Let's face it, we all live pretty stressful lives, despite our best intentions to slow our pace down. We worry about all kinds of things: money, car payments, family issues, job security, retirement, deadlines...I'm sure you can add your own personal worries to this list. We have control over certain aspects of our lives, for instance, making a conscious choice not to check email after 7 pm or getting to the gym three times a week. However, some uncontrollable stressors will always be present. For example, you get a flat tire on the way to work or you get a call at work 20 minutes before your big presentation that may result in an equally big bonus that your child has thrown up and needs to be picked up from school. Even though we can't avoid all stress, what we do have control over is how we manage the stress that is present in our lives.. The manner in which we cope with stress impacts us on a daily basis and more importantly, can impact our future health as well. The interaction of our minds and our bodies (i.e., our emotions and personality) have enormous impact on our level of health.

I am in the process of reading a book on stress and coping entitled "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" by Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., a researcher at Stanford University. In the book Sapolsky talks about how hormones and various parts of the brain are mobilized in response to stress and the link between stress and increased risk for certain types of diseases as well as how successfully we move through the aging process. The book's title describes the difference between how four legged animals react and respond to stress as compared to how we human animals respond to stressors. For a zebra, the most upsetting things in life are primarily acute physical crises. For example, the lion has just leapt out and chomped on his leg but he's gotten away and now has to spend the next hour evading the stalking lion. He's not worrying about whether that cute zebra in the corner of the field thinks he's a dork. In addition to acute physical stress there is also chronic physical stress. The example Sapolsky uses is this: Locusts have eaten your crops and you must wander miles a day to get enough food. The next form of stress Sapolsky describes is purely human and monkey/ape: psychological stress. He comments that since we rarely have to stalk down and wrestle our dinner, we generate all sorts of stressful events in our heads. Sustained psychological stress is a fairly recent evolutionary process. Our physiological responses are tuned to cope with short bursts of stress (either it's over with or you're over with), however, when we sit around masticating and mulling over distressing events and thoughts, we turn on the same physiological responses but keep them turned on for months or years on end with not-so-great results.

So how do we keep da body fayne? Research indicates that there are several things we can do to successfully manage stress and keep our bodies and minds healthy. Here's just a few to try:

1. Exercise: Physical activity counters stress for a number of reasons. It decreases your risk of various diseases, it generally makes you feel good, you reduce tension and you are more likely to effectively manage psychological stressors when they come your way. Importantly, you want to engage in an physical activity you enjoy (not one you are forced to participate in) and not overdo it. Overdoing it can be just as bad for your body as not doing enough. Think 30-60 minutes 3-5 days a week.

2. Meditation: Meditating for 15-30 minutes a day has been shown to provide physiological benefits (lowering blood pressure) as well as psychological benefits long after the meditation session. Meditation can be as simple as sitting quietly at your desk with your eyes closed and focusing on your breathing.

3. Social Support: Having a community of supportive friends or even one good friend is one key to psychological and physical health. As important as the right network of friends is the act of giving social support to another. Sapolsky writes about this as "In a world of stressful lack of control, an amazing source of control we all have is the ability to make the world a better place, one act at a time."

4. Choose Your Battles and Your Strategy: Have the wisdom to pick your battles and once you have, the flexibility and resiliency of strategies to use in those battles. Sapolsky offers this advice from a Quaker meeting: "In the face of strong winds, let me be a blade of grass. In the face of strong walls, let me be a gale of wind." Decide which issues are truly important and let the others slide. So what if your spouse doesn't put the toilet paper on the holder in your preferred way...So what if you're boss didn't greet you in a friendly manner this morning; it may have more to do with her own stressors not you...So what if your teenager wants to dye his hair blue, it's his hair and thankfully not yours.

In short, we don't always have complete control over our lives (or our health), but we can change the way we manage the issues that surface each day. The key is to find ways to cope with the stressors rather than allow them to dominate our lives and sabotage our health. So next time someone asks you "How's it going" you can respond "Da body's fayne, mon!"

“The concept of total wellness recognizes that our every thought, word, and behavior affects our greater health and well-being. And we, in turn, are affected not only emotionally but also physically and spiritually.”
--Greg Anderson

Thought for the Day: Evaluate how you react and respond to your stressors this week. Create some time to implement some of the suggestions above in order to take care of your health.

Attitude of Appreciation

For those of you who read my blog, you know that my Great Danes, Zeebo and Suki, are two of my best teachers about life, patience and joy. Observing their recent interactions offered me fodder for today's entry. Last week I brought home two identical brontosaurus-sized rawhide bones, one for each dog so there would be no arguing. Zeebo, the male, quickly made his choice and trotted over to the fireplace, dropped to the ground to begin his contented chew. Suki, the female, grabbed the remaining bone and leapt to the rug in front of the couch to initiate her gnawing. After a few moments, Zeebo heard Suki's happy chewing, dropped his bone, and walked to her and began to whine and bark at her to convince her to drop her bone. After several minutes, Suki acquiesced and switched to the one he abandoned. With dog-glee, Zeebo triumphantly pounced on the newly-surrendered bone and gnawed for a few moments. As you might have guessed, it wasn't long before he heard Suki enjoying the other bone and wanted that one instead.

How often have you observed yourself engaged in a scene similar to the one played out by my dogs? Think about the last time you wanted something you didn't have until you got it, and then once you got it, you didn't want it any longer? So often we become caught up in our desires for something and focused on what we don't possess that we lose sight of what we do have right now in the here and now. Wayne Dyer writes in his book "Wisdom of the Ages" about how many of us suffer from a malady of not being fully immersed in the present, yet the present is the only place we can fully immerse ourselves. We spend our present moments, the here and now of life, consumed with longing to be someplace else, or worried about the future or focused solely on what we don't currently possess in our lives. He refers to this state as an "attitude of depreciation" rather than appreciation. So how do we cure this malady? By living in a state of appreciation and gratitude.

So how does one make the shift from depreciation to appreciation? It means being conscious and making a clear choice to appreciate what you are doing now, who you are with now, what surrounds you now. To do this, you shift from a place of depreciation (i.e., thinking you are with a boring person, wishing you were anywhere but surrounded by your noisy children, becoming angry in a traffic jam), to one of conscious attention. Appreciate what is here rather than what is not here and depreciate nothing. Open your eyes and awareness by being grateful and appreciative for what surrounds you. Each situation provides you an opportunity for experience--the traffic jam may provide you with a few moments of deep breathing or enjoying the sun filtering through the trees. Last week I was stuck alongside an access road waiting to get on the freeway to drive home from Austin. I had been in a seminar all week and I was ready to get home to my family. The traffic was moving less than 5 mph and I could see that it was going to take me a while to gain access to the on ramp a mile ahead. I began to calculate how much later my arrival home would be if the traffic didn't pick up. As I felt my shoulders tense in disappointment and stress, I consciously took several deep breaths and shifted my attention to the grassy slope running parallel to my car. A hose was running and about 15 black grackles frolicked in the pooling water; drinking, splashing and bathing. Instead of becoming angry with the situation, I appreciated the opportunity to watch a group of birds, up close and personal, engage in play. By the time I merged onto the freeway, I was smiling at the birds' antics, my muscle tension erased in the process.

When we are frustrated, scared, worried, angry or upset our heart rhythms become uneven and irregular, our breathing becomes shallow and when we are upset is often difficult to think clearly. In contrast, when we feel secure and safe or experience feelings of love and appreciation, our heart rhythms are smooth and even. When we feel calm, we are able to think clearly and make better decisions.
The Institute of HeartMath® , a nonprofit 501(c)(3), is a recognized global leader in researching the critical link among emotions, heart-brain communication and cognitive function. Their findings have shown that when we consciously shift into a positive emotional state, the heart triggers a response in the brain, creating a cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that actually reverse the effects of stress and benefit the mind and body. The effect is immediate and long-lasting. As the folks at HeartMath write "By learning how to self-generate heartfelt feelings of love, care, and appreciation you will not only feel a lot better, you will also be able to think more clearly and become more fulfilled and self-confident in what you do and in your relationships with all others." So next time you find yourself entrenched in depreciation, shift your thinking and experience better heart health.

Thought for the Day: Notice when you are wishing you were somewhere else and bring yourself back to a state of appreciation for where you are. Discard thoughts of depreciation. When you find yourself depreciating someone or something--stop, and see if you can substitute a thought of appreciation. Take time to meditate or deep breathe. Meditation allows us to become aware of our thoughts. Permit them to pass, then return to the present moment. Try out these steps this month and experience a positive shift in your thinking plus the added benefit of improved heart health.

"He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past." -- Henry David Thoreau