All posts by Kenneth Dantzler-Corbin

I am a writer, editor, adjunct professor of Religion and Philosophy, English as a Second Language, Genealogy, Educator in Ambulatory Care, and Spiritual Support Specialist, Singer, Musician, and Social Justice Advocate for Human Rights.
Ancestry, Culture, genealogy, Religion

Lebanese Druze

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Lebanese Druze (Arabic: دروز لبنان‎) are Lebanese individuals that adhere considering the Druze faith, an ethno religious private group originating from the Near East who self identify as unitarians (Muwahhideen).

The Lebanese Druze people are considered to constitute about 5.2 percent of a given total population of Lebanon and also have around 1.5 million members worldwide. The Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or “believers in one God,” are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south of Beirut.

Under the Lebanese political division (Parliament of Lebanon Seat Allocation), the Druze community is known as one of the many five Lebanese Muslim communities in Lebanon (Sunni, Shia, Druze, Alawi, and Ismaili), even though the Druze are not used considered Muslim. Lebanon’s constitution was intended to guarantee political representation for any of a given nation’s ethnoreligious groups.

Below the regulations of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact amongst the various political and spiritual leaders of Lebanon, the leading of a given General Staff must be a Druze.

The Druze faith doesn’t follow the Five Pillars of Islam, namely fasting during the month of Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Druze beliefs incorporate parts of Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism as well as other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid “People of Unitarianism or Monotheism” or “al-Muwaḥḥidūn.”

The Tanukhids inaugurated the Druze community in Lebanon when the majority of them accepted and a new message that has been preached in the 11th century as a result of their leadership’s close ties with then Fatimid ruler Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

The Druze community in Lebanon played a significant role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon. Also, though they are a minority, they play a crucial factor in the Lebanese political scene. Before as well as throughout the Lebanese The civil war conflict (1975–90), the Druze were in favor of Pan-Arabism and Palestinian resistance represented from the PLO. Almost all of the community supported the Progressive Socialist Party formed right by their leader Kamal Jumblatt and then they will fight alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties contrary to the Lebanese Front that was mainly constituted of Christians. Right after the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt on March 16, 1977, his offspring Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of one’s party and played an essential role in preserving his father’s legacy after winning the Mountain War and sustained the occurrence the Druze community through the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.

In August 2001, Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir toured the predominantly Druze Chouf topic of Mount Lebanon and visited Mukhtara, the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a bloody war in 1983–84, but underscored the reality that the banner of Lebanese sovereignty had a broad multi-confessional appeal which resulted in being harmed a cornerstone when it comes to the Cedar Revolution in 2005. Jumblatt’s post-2005 position diverged sharply, beginning with the tradition of his family. He also accused Damascus of being behind the 1977 assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, expressing the first time what many knew he privately suspected. The BBC describes Jumblatt as “the best leader of Lebanon’s strongest Druze clan and heir to your leftist political dynasty.” The second-biggest political party supported by Druze happens to be the Lebanese Democratic Party led by Prince Talal Arslan, the son of Lebanese independence hero Emir Majid Arslan.

On May 10, 2008, during the 2008 Conflict, clashes occurred between Hezbollah forces and Druze militias in their mountain, resulting in casualties on the two sides. The disputes were started in Aytat, near Kayfoun, and in a little while expanded to cover many spots in Mount Lebanon, including Baysur, Shuweifat, and Aley. A lot of the fighting was targeting Hill 888. After negotiations, a ceasefire was called in from outside the country before Hezbollah could call in artillery support. Releases from Hezbollah leaders in 2016 stated that bombing the mountain with close-range artillery due to the South and longer-ranged artillery from Syria were both one great option and much considered.

Author’s resource box:

Lebanese Druze – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze_in_Lebanon

Health, meditation, mental health

Meditation Can Help in Managing Illness

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Meditation is the practice of thinking deeply or focusing one’s mind on getting a period when using the goal of evoking feelings of relaxation and inner peace.

It’s an ancient practice that’s been around for hundreds of years but has gained a resurgence in recent years, as researchers study it to determine its effects on health.

A range of studies has established several benefits to Meditation, including using it for being a tool in managing chronic illnesses.

Meditation and Mental Health

Considering Meditation is targeted on calming the brain, it may be natural to assume that this strategy can assist reduce warning signs of depression and anxiety.

While it is not a universal cure, many individuals suffering from these mental illnesses find some relief in practicing Meditation. And there’s scientific proof to back the benefits.

A meta-analysis published in March 2014 within the journal JAMA Internal Medicine discovered that mindful meditation programs over eight weeks could help ease warning signs of depression and anxiety. (1) Researchers from Johns Hopkins reviewed greater than 18,000 studies and realized 47 trials met their criteria for well-designed research. Overall, data on 3,515 participants were collected.

Another study, published in June 2016 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, showed that mindfulness-based therapy was as effective in preventing depression relapse as antidepressants for all those with recurrent depression. (2) Yet the authors note that the findings were dependent on a limited range of trials and could use to get replicated. Furthermore, there is no way to share with yet which patients may be helped by mindful Meditation, and that may respond better to medication.

If you’re on antidepressants, One must confer with one’s doctor before making any changes to one’s treatment plan. The health care provider can also assist One in determining if Meditation is a proper tool that will help One manage a mental health condition.

Meditation and Heart-healthy living

Lately, there’s been an increasing interest in the effects of Meditation on heart-healthy life. Lowering the intensity of one’s stress, which Meditation can aid with, can assist keep blood pressure in check, and help the heart.

Research published in September 2014 inside the American Journal of Hypertension showed that people who practiced yoga, which contains aspects of Meditation for eight weeks, saw a very slight drop in blood flow compared with those who don’t. (3) Still, while it’s suspected which the benefits were because of both physical activity and stress reduction, there was no way to separate each to measure the impression of each.

Mladen Golubic, MD, Ph.D., a health care professional at the Center for Lifestyle Management at the Cleveland Clinic in Lyndhurst, Ohio, points to more research, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, that found transcendental Meditation may have the possibility and this reduces arterial pressure. (4) “Even in patients with difficult-to-control arterial pressure who likely will be two or three medications, randomized clinical control trials have showed that after they learn and practice transcendental meditation, they could improve their blood flow and in reality, a few of them could get off medications sometimes.”

How Integrative Therapy May help Drop one’s Systolic pressure

In 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued its first-ever statement on Meditation, saying the procedure may reduce the likelihood of cardiac disease. (5) Previous to producing the report, a committee of experts analyzed 57 studies on different “sitting meditations,” namely mindful Meditation and transcendental Meditation. The people don’t look at Meditation that incorporated physical workouts, such as yoga, since exercise itself has been confirmed to benefit one’s heart muscle.

Even though the research suggested there appears to become a link between Meditation and decreased danger of cardiac disease, the AHA emphasizes that further research requires done. People should highlight proven lifestyle modifications to reduce heart condition risk, to include a healthy eating regimen, workouts, smoking cessation, arterial pressure control, and managing cholesterol levels. At this point, Meditation should be viewed as a further boost toward cardiovascular health, the AHA says.

Meditation as a Treatment for Chronic Pain

Just like the nation continues to be afflicted by the opioid epidemic, researchers want alternate strategies to help patients find relief from chronic pain. One technique they usually have used is mindfulness meditation, and there’s some research to suggest it will probably help.

Research published in March 2016 within the Journal of one’s American Medical Association found mindful-based stress-relief therapy helped improve symptoms into adults with chronic lower back pain. (6)

Another study, published in March 2016 among The Journal of Neuroscience discovered that mindful Meditation could help ease chronic pain by applying a different pathway in the human body than just that addictive opioid painkillers use that. (7)

Dr. Golubic notes that meditation practice, besides yoga, seems to decrease inflammation in white blood cells.

“The higher inflammation One will have, the better pain One have,” he says. “How aspirin, ibuprofen, each one of other NSAIDs, work is they inhibit those pain mediators which get inflammatory.”

If Meditation reduces inflammation, this will likely function as the mechanism that reduces pain, he explains.

More studies must on the old Meditation on chronic pain, but researchers say it is encouraging that it literally could be an alternative or supplementary therapy.

Meditation and Cancer

There’s a reason to believe Meditation can assist cancer patients. Some research implies that Meditation can even change one’s body upon the cellular level. Studies published in November 2014 among the journal Cancer revealed that the telomeres — the protein caps by the end of DNA strands that protect chromosomes — of breast cancer patients who practiced mindfulness meditation stayed the same length over the three-month study period. (8)

In comparison, participants who did not mediate had shorter telomeres over now. While scientists still are looking to learn about the health impact of telomere length, they think longer ones have protective benefits against disease.

Meditation might also help cancer survivors have to cope with the emotional distress that always accompanies the condition. Research published in April 2015 among the journal Cancer found that mindfulness meditation reduced stressed and slightly reduced problems of depression in breast cancer patients. (9)

“Just being diagnosed with cancer is stressful enough, but then going through most of the treatments as well going through all the tests and worrying if

 cancer seems to reappear back, that’s all additional stress,” Golubic says.

How Meditation Can change Sleep

Meditation promotes relaxation, so it seems logical that practicing it would encourage good Sleep. And there’s a scientific research that backs claiming up, too.

Studies published in April 2015 among the journal JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation had less insomnia, fatigue, and warning signs of depression at the end of a six-week program than individuals that doesn’t practice mindfulness meditation. (10)

As stated by the National Sleep Foundation, Meditation has been known to decrease the utilization of the help of sleeping pills. Furthermore, combining Meditation with cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) shows up to improve Sleep faster than CBT-I alone. (11)

Meditation plus the Gut

While researchers are still attempting to comprehend better the relationship connecting the mind and the gut, they believe there is a connection where one plays a vital role in the other.

Stress seems to exacerbate symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and irritable bowel diseases (IBDs), like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fatigue that can include both conditions can also cause stress, so scientists are functioning to locate techniques to help break this vicious cycle. One particular way is Meditation.

An account published in August 2015 within the journal PLoS ONE found that the relief response that comes from engaging in such activities as meditation, yoga, and repetitive prayer significantly improved symptoms of both IBS and IBD, reduced anxiety, and improved overall standard of living. (12)

Similarly, a study published in April 2017 in inside the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics showed that people with ulcerative colitis who practiced yoga meditation reported a rise in energy levels and overall health and reduces in disease activity. (13)

Author Resource Box:

How Meditation Can Help Manage Illness | Everyday Health. https://www.everydayhealth.com/meditation/manage-illness/

Health, meditation

Three Ways Mindfulness Minimizes Depression

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Sixty percent of people who experience one phase of depression could experience a second. Ninety percent of people that go through 3 (three) sequences of sadness is likely to have a last. But help is available: The 8-week Mindfulness-Based Experimental Therapy (MBCT) system been revealed to reduce the likelihood of relapse.

So how does it accomplish the task? To find out, research scientists in Britain spoke to 11 grown-ups who had skilled three or maybe more series of intense depression and had versed MBCT within the recent four years.

They established the interviews to generate a product, among the record Mind calming activities, to point out how MBCT facilitates online marketer share towards the self keeping others. The important thing, it seems, accounts for the same way as MBCT enhances partnerships: Less stress about associations will help protect against future installments of depression. Three specific themes emerged from the investigation:

2. Being present in the self: Discovering how to wait, find, and respondMindfulness habits of MBCT allowed the online marketer to be more healthy, knowledgeable with the most current time, which created them house to pause before replying to others. To becoming anxious about non-acceptance or criticism, they stepped back into understanding their very own automation reactions—and to get more acclimated to others’ needs and emotions. Recognition gave these guys more selection how to respond, as a substitute for becoming grabbed within rising painful feelings.

Two (2). Experiencing fears: It’s fine to say “no” Participants also confirmed that they became more assertive in saying ‘no’ to others so you can reduce their load of responsibility and accountability, letting them become more balanced in their personal and also others’ needs. The authors say that delivering aware consciousness to irritating experiences helped people to technique situations that they can before now avoid, which fostered self-assurance and assertiveness.

Three (3). Being represented by using others being present to others facilitated others to bring in more priority to relationships and appreciate such a time web-sites. They referred to how being present to others helped these items release distressing backgrounds, making it possible for each of them pertains to others in new strategies. Quarrels also became more constructive, as contributors could determine their connection issues, and have been better always ready to move on to another’s viewpoint and concentration on solutions.

Research study individuals also described having higher energy, sensing less flooded by painful feelings, and being in an improved position to cope with and help others. Managing through issues with significant others using stable connections enabled them to experience closer, and requiring the energy and psychological energy to invest time with folks enabled all of them to expand.

Many individuals stated that in the passing of time, the advantages of MBCT which spread throughout their whole life. “Through connected on their circumstances and then to others, these were sense well informed and were communicating with a higher range of societal exercise and interaction,” write the authors.

The scientists come up with within this case the near future; surgery could lay a more particular focus on coming partnerships with the use of mind-calming activities. This placed emphasis could reinforce the advantage of MBCT, and maybe bring about even better consequences in reducing the risk of reversion if you have chronic unhappiness.

Author Resource Box: Three Ways Mindfulness Reduces Depression, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/three_ways_mindfulness_reduces_depressio

Health, meditation, mental health

Do you believe Evidence Mounts That Mindfulness Breeds Resilience?

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The advantages of mindfulness are both well-established and wide-ranging. Studies on subjects covering from college students to Marines have discovered this strategy reduces stress and result in increased levels of well-being.

The Mindful Mondays series provides ongoing coverage of the exploding field of mindfulness research.

But why should you, exactly, will be the capability to stay focused on the present moment in a non-judgmental way a powerful catalyst for contentedness? An investigation from India points to a partial answer: Mindfulness breeds resilience.

That’s the conclusion of researchers Badri Bajaj and Neerja Pande. Writing in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, they prove that psychological resilience is significantly more pronounced in mindful people. The scientists also provide evidence that this highly useful quality produces most of the practice’s much-touted benefits.

Bajaj and Pande describe research featuring 327 undergraduates (236 men and 91 women). People completed a series of surveys measuring their mindfulness, life satisfaction, emotional state, and grade of resilience—the capability to cope in stressful situations and get better from adversity.

Their responses to 15 assertions measured mindfulness—or absence thereof; for instance, “I will usually rush to get where I’m going without following the thing I experience along the way.” To gauge their resilience, participants were educated on ten self-descriptive statements, including “able to adapt to change,” “can stay focused under pressure,” and therefore are “not easily discouraged by failure.” They responded to each linked to a five-point scale (“not at all” to “true nearly all considering the time”).

As predicted, the scientists found “individuals with higher mindfulness have greater resilience, increasing their life satisfaction.” They note that resilience “can be considered as a key method to get subjective well-being,” and point out many ways mindfulness can promote this state of mind.

“Mindful people … can more comfortably handle difficult thoughts and emotions without becoming overwhelmed or disabling (emotionally),” they write. “Pausing and observing your mental state may (allow us) resist getting drawn into wallowing within a setback.”

Put a different way, mindfulness “weakens the chain of associations that keep people obsessing about” their problems or failures, which increases the likelihood they could try again.

This isn’t the only reason mindfulness promotes the well-being, naturally. Another new study provides evidence that the practice also encourages self-compassion, which ends up in increased levels of happiness. But increased resilience plays a severe part of this beneficial equation.

“The findings provide support for universities to develop tips that promote mindfulness,” Bajaj and Pande conclude. “Mindfulness training could provide a functional way of enhancing resilience and personality characteristics like optimism, zest, and patience.”

Perhaps this same notion will catch on as studies similar to this continue to increase. If you want to help students thrive (and increase the possibility they could stay in school), it could be smart to improve the overall curriculum a required remedial course: Mindfulness 101.

Author Resource Box:

Evidence Mounts That Mindfulness Breeds Resilience. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/evidence_mounts_that_mindfulness_breeds_resilience

Health, meditation, mental health

Meditation is excellent for depression

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Depression continues to be a significant health issue for mature workers. It affects about 20% of adults age 65 leading and regular depression, which will lead to higher risks for a heart condition and death from illnesses. Plus, it affects people’s daily lives by making them more socially isolated and affecting cognitive function, especially memory.

A study of 1,111 people (average age 71), published online May 9, 2018, by Neurology, showed that individuals who had more significant warning signs of depression were mighty at worse episodic memory — the ability to recall specific experiences and events.

There are multiple ways as a treatment for depression. Antidepressants and psychotherapy will be the usual first-line treatments. Still, ongoing research has suggested the fact that a regular meditation practice should help by changing the state of the hot tub brain responds to stress and anxiety.

How your brain reacts

Stress and anxiety are significant triggers of depression, and meditation can alter your opinion about those feelings. “Meditation trains our brain to get sustained focus, and then to return to that focus when negative thinking, emotions, and physical sensations intrude — which happens a lot when you feel stressed and anxious,” says Dr. John W. Denninger, director of research with the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Meditation shows up to very certain brain regions that get linked explicitly with depression. For instance, scientists have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) becomes hyperactive in depressed people. The mPFC is most often popularly known as “me center” because this is where you process tips about yourself, namely worrying about the future and ruminating concerning the past. When people get stressed about life, the mPFC goes into overdrive.

Another brain region associated with depression is the amygdala, or “fear center.” Here is the area of the brain accountable for the fight-or-flight response, which triggers the adrenal glands to release the trouble hormone cortisol for fear and perceived danger.

Both these brain regions work off another to cause depression. The center gets worked up, reacting to stress and anxiety, and having the fear center response leads to a spike in cortisol levels to repel a danger that’s only in your head. Research has located that meditation helps break the connection between these two brain regions. “Once you meditate, you are better willing to ignore the negative sensations of stress and anxiety, which explains, to some extent, why the intensity of your stress falls while you meditate,” says Dr. Denninger.

Another different way meditation assists the mental abilities are by protecting the hippocampus (a brain area included in memory). One study discovered that people who meditated for a half-hour every day for eight weeks increased the amount of gray matter with their hippocampus, along with other research has revealed everybody who is suffering from recurrent depression will have a smaller hippocampus.

Educating yourself meditation

Several online tutorials teach you the methods of meditation. You also can gain further insight and instruction after reading books from top meditation experts like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, and Tara Brach. Many local yoga studios include beginning and intermediate meditation classes.

Improve thinking

The goal of meditation is not to push aside stress or quit negative thinking; in fact, it uses to notice those thoughts and feelings, all the while comprehending that you need not work on them. This might be as simple as closing your eyes and repeating just one phrase or word, or counting breaths. “This assists hand out the distance from those negative thoughts or stressful feelings, allowing you to recognize that, although they affect you, they likely are not you,” says Dr. Denninger.

Meditation can even help prepare the health of the brain for stressful situations. For example, meditating for a couple of moments before a doctor’s appointment or social status can help shift our mind and body from the stress response and into a state of relative calm.

Yet, merely as with making use of a nutritious diet and exercise, it involves the opportunity to feel results from regular meditation. “But over time, meditation can help many individuals control how they retaliate the stress and anxiety that always leads to depression,” says Dr. Denninger

Author Resource Box:

How meditation helps with depression – Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-meditation-helps-with-depression

HOW MEDITATION HELPS EASE DEPRESSION – Tulsa Yoga …. https://www.tulsayogameditationcenter.com/blog/how-meditation-helps-ease-depression

Magic And Mischief: Create Your Own Full Moon Ritual …. https://galadarling.com/article/magic-and-mischief-create-your-own-full-moon-ritual/

How to Reduce Stress with Body Scan Meditation – Pretty …. https://prettysimpledays.com/2019/07/05/how-to-reduce-stress-with-body-scan-meditation/

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Health, meditation, mental health

7 Ways Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Can Practice Self-Care

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The project regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners can be understandably taxing. Giving talks, speeches, training, and workshops on charged topics like racism, sexism, discrimination, bias, as well as other societal inequities, can take a toll on all individuals. When using the rise of racism, and political divisiveness in an all-time high, the call for DEI practices that bring people together is imperative. But what’s also crucial that you assess is how DEI practitioners handle the daily stressors that come with the work. Stress can have several deleterious effects on any person, including lowered productivity and chronic illness. A DEI practitioner who is overwhelmed stressed, and unsupported by organizational leadership won’t be ready to expertly complete your project, which is not beneficial for either party. Most diversity training fails, so DEI professionals are under increased pressure to design programs and systems which get successful and justify spending company time and resources on. Since this decade gets to an in-depth, the time has come when a lot of people are stepping far from work and reflecting on how you can being more productive in the new decade. Let us identify some ways that DEI practitioners can destress and practice the self-care that many of these gems so desperately need?

1. Sleep. There is a wealth of research that shows that getting a satisfactory amount of sleep every night will lead to higher levels of productivity and other positive outcomes. Whereas the average amount of sleep that helps a person perform at optimal levels varies by the person, a National Safety Council report revealed that 43% of workers are sleep deprived. Most people ensure their New Year resolves to gain more sleep, but it’s often easier said than done. A technique to help you fall asleep faster is putting your phone away two hours before bed. Getting lost checking the never-ending work emails or the social media feed can shave off hours of precious time that might be spent sleeping. Cutting pre-bedtime device usage out could help there’s more shut-eye.

2. Log out. In addition to getting more sleep, logging near social networking, and get a short or extended period could be a great form of self-care. Social networking has become one of the primary means for online marketers to get their information. News updates will come in people instantaneously along with many, continually hearing stories of not so great, death, destruction, crime might generate an adverse effect on us. Regarding the DEI practitioner that wants to remain modern for all things DEI, this could easily present a challenge. Logging off of social websites for a couple of hours of a given day or refraining from checking news updates on a designated day of the week can assist you in preserving your health status and never get bogged down by not so high. Limiting social media usage for small periods may help DEI practitioners reignite their focus and practice self-preservation.

Today In: Leadership

3. Stay active. How beneficial physical activity can forget a person’s wellbeing, health, and productivity. Staying active is often an excellent way to assist you to sleep deeper. Exercise is one of the “keystone habits,” which can transform one’s life. “When people start habitually exercising, when infrequently as for the weekly session, they change other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly,” Charles Duhigg wrote in his best-selling book The ability of Habit. “Typically, individuals that exercise eating healthier and becoming more productive in the workplace.” Hitting the gym isn’t the best way the fact that a person can stay active. Going for walks around your office, parking away from your destination, using a sit-stand desk, and disassembling the stairs more frequently are several methods that you can be more active within your lifestyle.

4. Drink plenty of water. About 60% of our bodies are water — the absence of adequate hydration, which could lead to a range of different health complications. Staying hydrated critical, necessary, and sometimes overlooked the component of keeping oneself healthy. For DEI practitioners who regularly do public speaking, give talks and keynotes, staying hydrated is crucial. Gina Barnett, who is a TED speaker coach and author, shared that and of the best guidelines for a public speaker before continuing on stage is to drink water before stage time. Indeed, staying hydrated helps you when giving public talks, but staying hydrated could prohibit you from getting sick and help the body function more productively, studies suggest. Self-care means maintaining the body and providing it having the proper fuel to optimize performance.

5. Use a hobby. You must have an outlet that can help you bring your mind from the stressors considering the job. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon knows about this firsthand. Other than running one of the largest investment banking companies on the planet, Solomon also works as a part-time DJ. Getting a hobby can assist reduce stress and anxiety. Channeling your calorie into an activity that gives you joy and is a distraction from your occupation can easily be a successful strategy to practice self-care. A hobby may show stuff like watching Netflix movies, knitting, running marathons, or beginning a side dish hustle. Regardless of what that brings you joy—do even more of it.

6. Find a therapist. For being a DEI practitioner, it’s an effort to listen to stories of trauma and pain without internalizing some of those feelings. Seeking a licensed professional who focuses primarily on showing people how to deal with and kind through their stress, emotions, and beliefs may help you reserve precious your emotional health, to turn out to be the best DEI practitioner for your chosen customers and clients. Psychology Today, Therapy for Black Girls, and Talkspace are perfect helpful information on finding a local therapist that suits your desires.

7. Create community. Finding or building a local people of other DEI professionals who you could connect to can be a superb self-care. Knowing how to seek advice from other practitioners within your industry who will experience the same challenges when you and who share your experiences might be gratifying. Search websites like Meetup and Eventbrite to seek groups and networking events where one can assemble with other DEI professionals for support, refuge, and community-building.

The project associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners can easily be understandably taxing. Giving talks, speeches, training, and workshops on charged topics like racism, sexism, discrimination, bias, together with other societal inequities, can take a toll coming from an individual. With the rise of racism and political divisiveness at an all-time high, the need for DEI practices that bring people together is imperative. But what’s also crucial to assess is how DEI practitioners manage the daily stressors that accompany the job. Stress will have several deleterious effects throughout the person, including lowered productivity and chronic illness. A DEI practitioner who might be overwhelmed stressed, and unsupported by organizational leadership won’t have the capacity to do their job effectively, which is not beneficial for either party. Most diversity training fails, so DEI professionals are under increased pressure to construct programs and systems which get successful and justify spending company time and resources on. As this decade involves a detailed, the time has come when most people are stepping away from work and reflecting on how to be a bit more productive among the new decade. And what are some ways that DEI practitioners can destress and practice the self-care that a significant number of these gems so desperately need?

Author Resource Box:

7 Ways Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Can Practice …. https://selfsuccesstips.com/2019/12/17/7-ways-diversity-and-inclusion-professionals-can-practice-self-care-forbes/

A Technique to Help You Fall Asleep Faster – Lexi ⋆ health …. https://health.10ztalk.com/2019/07/09/a-technique-to-help-you-fall-asleep-faster-lexi/

Health, mental health

To handle Stress, Teachers Would need to Prioritize Themselves. Get started with Self-Care.

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I always thought I was an organized, well compiled, “work smarter, not harder” the person who took things in stride, was optimistic and calm in stressful situations. Until this past May. Having been teaching a very challenging group of students, many people were battling social-emotional and mental health issues. Finally, it was like navigating rocky waters each day. I figured I had become handling things okay. Until one day, I started to try precisely what thought were warning signs of an event involving the heart.

To have a long story short, after being rushed to the medical facility, hours of tests, and visits with multiple specialists, I was just recognized as having blood pressure levels. Test results showed that there was nothing wrong with having the heart. So how did all of this happen to the correct person? Inside a word: stress. It certainly is a silent killer. Thus, under my doctor’s orders, I left to get a job with the rest considering the school year and commenced to embark for my summer of self-care.

I recognize teaching as a high-stress career—as stressful as an emergency room—which is compounded because many people aren’t doing things that might help us manage that stress.

After I looked back about that school year, I noticed I had stopped doing things that I previously enjoyed, which are also best for me, both body and soul. I got to check out a health club, attend spin class, and ride my bike. Nevertheless, it seemed over eight months since I did anything at all that you could call workouts given the fact that I would come home from my place of employment exhausted daily and are committed to taking to sleep for a while. I didn’t, though, considering that I was busy gaining on work, doing the things I couldn’t be able I spent to collaborating with students through their issues. It turned into a vicious loop. I had become fatigued both body and soul, and my body just got to a state wherein it said, “no more.”

Altogether, teachers aren’t great about proper care of themselves. Succeed way too many hours, don’t get enough sleep or exercise, eat too often processed foods, and don’t spend the right amount of time doing things that refresh and energize us.

Way too many teachers have obtained the conclusion that this just part of the job; there simply isn’t the right amount of time to be a good teacher and take proper care of yourself. Unfortunately, and maybe for sure, this is a recipe for disaster. Teaching is recognized as a type of incredibly high-stress career—as stressful is an emergency room.

no opener—which is compounded from the undeniable fact that many of us commonly are not doing things which can relieve us manage that stress.

Now, why do teachers battle to set aside time for self-care? We think busily is alright, we don’t realize how dire the case is real, and it’s a challenge to say no. You might have probably heard the analogy of putting an oxygen mask independently before you decide to can guide others, though, in actuality, it certainly is challenging. In some ways, it’s much easier to maintain others.

Putting Self-Care First let’s set aside a second to represent “self-care” so we serve is updated can be difficult, which means that it means to look after yourself within a healthy way. This can include cleaning yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. This would mean doing big things, like getting exercise, and smaller ones, like taking vitamins. Self-care also means which you keep on making the points crucial to you—seeing your favorite people, taking regular vacations, and beginning the occasional day from work. When these things are neglected, it could cause problems—from depression to blood flow spikes, unwanted weight gain, and other maladies. Individuals who neglect self-care usually achieve this because they’re stressed, spent, overworked, have no time, or otherwise live crazy and hectic lives, which sounds pretty much like the life of a teacher.

This is bad for our overall health. However, there is hope—as long as you’re willing to make self-care meaningful. If you’re the type of individual reading this article and thinking, “I don’t have time…” this happens to be precisely why you need to make self-care as a need. If you do address yourself, you’ll learn that you have got higher energy, less stress, and maybe have a more positive outlook on life.

My cat, the Duke, knows a lot about self-care. He eats when he’s hungry, naps when he’s tired, and plays until he doesn’t desire to anymore. Cats love life without much effort terms, and that’s generally precisely what we teachers forget. That we are so indebted to others and also their needs, deadlines, and mandates we simply forget you’ll find that we have choices. Teachers may encounter back their lives and live it unassisted terms. And it all begins with making self care a top priority.

Below are a few quick methods to find quiet and restore your power within a hectic day.

As I’ve learned this past year, you can’t pour from an empty cup. You need to figure out how to replenish your container before you are any good to anyone else.

  • Have a quick boost of protein with a snack of nuts, protein bars, or meat and cheese roll-ups. Your whole body needs the energy to stay sharp and on your game. This is one thing I do right. When my family had a snack, so did I. I make sure I keep my forms fueled up, which happens to be especially necessary if you do operate with young children or kids with special needs. Pay attention to your body system. When in a while shrugging your shoulders, hold a couple of seconds and release?

 Nearly everybody, especially women, is inclined to maintain their stress in their joints. You would probably be surprised how doing that your few times for the day helps relax you. If you can target specific things or situations that cause you to stress, purchase a stress ball, and offer it just a few squeezes when you find that you are feeling tense.

  • Keep pictures of your favorite places or people you cherish nearby. 
  • Take the time to recall a happy moment, or maybe you are searching forward to doing it. I have always managed to have a photo of the coast where my family and then I spend our summers. It’s a welcome reminder of my happy place and immediately feels a sense of relief while I think about the future we are going to be spending time there. 
  • Acquire them relaxing music and make it become a member of the background while teaching. There may be a variety of teachers who achieve this in my building. You can get on YouTube and locate tons of relaxing music that will play for many hours if you want. Now, after a tough day, and we all have tough days, I use the scenic route take heed to music. I make time for my hobbies, and I read for fun. (You can get involved in fantasy or romance novels. The purpose is usually to take a while to flee reality and get lost among the book.) I purchased a Fitbit, linked with some friends to produce his walking. And I’m focused on spending more dedicated time with family—even if I have to schedule it in advance. Nothing which can relax you more than doing items you enjoy with people you enjoy being with.

My last section of advice to create at least some type of morning or night-time routine and stick with it. Daily I use a hot shower, do a 10-minute meditation, switch on nature sounds app, diffuse some aromatherapy essences, and hit the hay. I seem to found once I break this routine; I don’t fall asleep as quickly, or I sleep fitfully.

Remember, it can be Alright to take some time to fit your needs and not feel guilty concerning this. As I’ve learned this past year, you can’t pour because of an empty cup. You must figure out how to refill your cup ahead of when you are helpful to someone else. Everyone’s self-care may look somewhat different, and there’s no one technique to take good care of yourself. Try several strategies unless you possess a full toolbox: something that energizes you, one that assists you to unwind, one that helps you manage if you’re having a difficult time.

Author Resource Box:

To Manage Stress, Teachers Need to Prioritize Themselves …. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-12-18-to-manage-stress-teachers-need-to-prioritize-themselves-start-with-self-care

Dull Headaches, dizziness, puffy eyes – Neurology – MedHelp. https://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/Dull-Headaches–dizziness–puffy-eyes/show/1345880

Searching to rent Writers? Here’s Just about everything It …. http://canna-holdings.com/2016/12/18/searching-to-rent-writers-here-s-just-about-everything-it-s-worthwhile-to-know-it-s-really-obvious-which-you-really-should-retain-a-writer-but-the-place-would-you-get-started/

Are you REALLY procrastinating? | Getting Things Done® Forums. https://forum.gettingthingsdone.com/threads/are-you-really-procrastinating.1057/

Health

Massage as a self-care stress reliever

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Self-care will be the new buzz word, and stress looks like a primary cause for the boost in self-care attention. Thankfully, professional services that improve the mind, body, and spirit are offered through Health Commons along at the Living Room.

Every Tuesday, this drop-in well-being and wellness center and healing space nestled in North Minneapolis provides an atmosphere for stress relief and self-empowerment through nurse health consultations, hand massage and body massage, blood pressure checks, and essentials oils (every second Tuesday only), all without charge.

Within the collaborative effort, Fair-view Health Services, Redeemer Reason for Life, Cora McCorvey Fitness and Wellness Center, and Lutheran Social Services have brought together a team of pros to provide weekly self-care.
Self-care is “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s well-being and happiness, particularly during the of stress.” With the everyday stresses out there, big and small, self-care and self-love have grown to be essential behaviors. Health Commons with the Living area is a place that welcomes all including; men, women, and infants, whether first-time visitors or veteran attendees, great-grandparents to grandchildren alike.
Health Nurse Consultant Suzanne Burke-Lehman considering the St. Catherine University Nursing staff, is among the first individuals to greet event-goers. Burke-Lehman came on staff when a friend who was previously providing nurse consults along at the center told Burke-Lehman, “A Woman of Color could be great there. A Woman of Color needs to be there.”

After visiting a few times, Burke-Lehman said she “was attached being here and being when using the community,” She gives therapeutic hand massages and also provides health consultations.

Getting regular hand massages or completing them on oneself has quite a few benefits. The essentially of touch is steadfast as we start to get older. It happens to be the social glue that binds parents with children and sexual partners into lasting couples. Nonsexual human touch connects people in the community, also in the place that you work, fostering gratitude, sympathy, and trust.

As stated by many studies, therapeutic touch lowers rates of the hassle hormone cortisol. It adds to the level of oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone,” which happens to be associated with mother-and-child bonding, romantic relationships, and some patient and practitioner interactions. After we put us on the job another, we’re tapping into deep associations between touch and emotion that may be kindled at the dawn of life.
AARP reported one study that showed basketball teams that engage in more celebratory touch, such as high fives and chest bumps, play more cooperatively and win more games

Author Resource Box:
Massage as a self-care stress reliever. https://spokesman-recorder.com/2019/12/19/massage-as-a-self-care-stress-reliever/

Simple Ways to Practice Self-Care — Ritu Bhasin | Award …. https://ritubhasin.com/blog/simple-ways-to-practice-self-care

Diet, disease, Health

Vitamin D alone does not prevent fractures, a new study finds!

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Taking calcium and vitamin D could help older adults curb the chance of a bone fracture, but vitamin D alone doesn’t finish the job, a brand new research review concludes.

The analysis of 28 past studies found that senior citizens with higher blood methods of vitamin D were reluctant to suffer a broken hip or other fracture over five to 15 years.

The picture was different in various research that tested the effects of using vitamin D supplements: They found no evidence that vitamin D alone reduced older adults’ chance of fractures.

In comparison, trials that tested mixed calcium and vitamin D showed modest protective effects.

“Combined treatment with both of your calcium and vitamin D reduced the potential risk of hip fracture by one-sixth, which resulted in being harmed more beneficial than taking standard doses of vitamin D alone,” said senior researcher Dr. Robert Clarke, a professor of epidemiology and public health medicine along at the University of Oxford in England.

The findings, published online Dec. 20 in JAMA Network Open, aren’t the last word on vitamin D and fractures. Some ongoing trials are testing high-dose vitamin D in people who are at increased danger of bone breaks.

But for now, there may be no proof that it works by Clarke.
In the United States alone, about 54 million people have deep bone tissue or outright osteoporosis—the brittle-bone disease that could bring about fractures, as per the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF). It’s estimated that after age 50, much fewer women and one-quarter of males will break a bone as a consequence of osteoporosis.

Calcium is essential to building and maintaining healthy bones, while vitamin D assists the body in absorbing calcium and supports the muscle function needed to avoid falls.

Though when looking at preventing fractures in people with osteoporosis, there’s only so much that supplements can do, said the NOF’s, Beth Kitchin. She wasn’t involved with the study.

“The expectation that vitamin D and calcium, alone, will prevent fractures is likely unrealistic,” said Kitchin, who’s also another person professor of nutrition sciences for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

To assist preserve bone health go away with muscles strong; people need regular exercise by Kitchin. The activity that will make our bodies move against gravity while staying upright—like jogging, jumping rope, or dancing—can help support bone density. And use that builds muscle strength or improves balance can help lower the chance of falls.

Avoiding smoking and alcoholism is also critical to preventing bone loss, as stated by the NOF.

Once osteoporosis is diagnosed, medications—which either slow bone breakdown or boost bone formation—may be necessary, Kitchin said. “Fall-proofing” your room is another essential step. Meaning getting rid of tripping hazards in and out of the house; installing grab bars in bathrooms; maintaining stairways well lit, among other measures.

Of the studies, Clarke’s team analyzed, 11 were observational. They followed older adults among the “practical,” tracking fracture rates anywhere from five to fifteen years. Overall, the upper a person’s blood stages of vitamin D were at the outset, the lower the potential risk of fracture.

“But that doesn’t prove cause and effect,” Kitchin stressed. “High vitamin D levels are most certainly a marker of something else entirely.”

Few foods contain vitamin D, she noted. Instead, the human body synthesizes it whenever the skin is exposed to sunlight. So people with high vitamin D levels may spend a lot of time outdoors, for example.

The review included too 11 trials testing vitamin D alone, and six testing vitamin D and calcium. Study participants’ average age ranged from 62 to 85, and they were followed for as much as five years.

Overall, people gave calcium, and vitamin D had a 16% lower likelihood of hip fracture than those given placebos or no treatment. Their danger of any bone break was 6% lower.

So how should you know if it is recommended to take supplements? You can ask your doctor to measure your blood level of vitamin D, to detect any deficiency, Kitchin said. As regards to calcium, she added, “evaluate your diet plan.”

If you are genuinely avoiding food much dairy, green veggies, and foods fortified with calcium, you would possibly need to have a supplement.

According to the NOF, adults younger than 51 should strive for 1,000 mg of calcium a day; afterward, the advice surges to 1,200 mg. As for vitamin D, people newer 50 should force 400 to 800 international units (IU) daily, while mature workers need 800 to 1,000 IU.

The advice on vitamin D does vary, however, with some more groups recommending more. As per the Institute of Medicine, the safe upper limit of vitamin D is 4,000 IU daily for the majority of grown-ups.

Author Resource Box:
Vitamin D Alone Doesn’t Prevent Fractures, New Study Finds …. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-12-20/vitamin-d-alone-doesnt-prevent-fractures-new-study-finds

6 Surprising Spirulina Benefits Your Doctor Doesn’t Know …. https://yurielkaim.com/6-surprising-spirulina-benefits/

Vitamin D alone doesn’t prevent fractures, new study finds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-vitamin-d-doesnt-fractures.html

Health, meditation, mental health

Meditation help You in Leadership

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One thing that stands in terms of many leaders’ success — and then the success of their companies — might be their ego. Leadership expert Jim Collins obtainable from his seminal study of what makes companies sustainably great within this case most of a given comparison case, the newcomer was “the presence of a gargantuan ego that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of a given company.” Fortunately, mindfulness can help. The truth is, in my work teaching Meditation to numerous executives, I’ve seen that a person of the most extremely valuable — and largely unrecognized — benefits for leaders would be the power to transcend their egos.


The defensive tendencies in our ego come at considerable costs. When it’s threatened, we keep past decisions for too long, we react defensively to or “explain away” negative feedback from teams or customers, and we get emotional when we should be rational. Ray Dalio, founding the father of the world’s biggest hedge fund, refers in his book, Principles: Life and Work, towards the “ego barrier,” which he defines just like the “subliminal defense mechanisms which create it hard for one to accept your mistakes and weaknesses.” He also credits Meditation like the single most crucial supply of his success.


That’s because mindfulness meditation is undoubtedly an antidote to ego. It makes what Harvard neuroscience researchers describe as “self-transcendent” experiences, where meditators began to know that there isn’t any stable self that’s separate from others. Still, instead, they are components of a full. This may sound “woo-woo,” but these experiences have significant benefits for leaders: They allow them to be able to view more objectively and then to form deeper relationships.


Seeing things more objectively
Our ego wants us to be right; it also perceives failure just like a threat. With meditation practice, as our fixation on ego drops away, our tendency to take things personally drops away along with you.


Get the example of Scott Shute, former VP of Customer Operations at LinkedIn, who now leads the company’s mindfulness programs. He explained to your client that through the day, he “will apply mindfulness practices once I find myself yearning to decide or feel defensive about criticism. I shall breathe and contemplate for a couple minutes and something that has been formerly frustrating becomes almost playful. I will pay attention to details and may see things I had not seen before”.
Jeff, the president of a big retailer, experienced something similar in meditation session I ran for a leadership workshop. He received a message from his new CEO immediately before the meeting. He told me, “My mind was racing; I felt frustrated and wrongly accused. After meditating, I re-read the email. My mind was calm, and then i was required to smile. I actually had made the email everything about myself and had taken his criticism personally. Afterward, I was able to witness it as what it was — just several specific things that were required to have completed.” Only a short meditation lessened the grip of his ego, allowing him to read the email without feeling threatened and then to act appropriately.


Forming deeper relationships
These experiences also fundamentally change leaders’ ties, allowing them to guide with more profound empathy and connection. Mike Romoff, head of world agency sales at LinkedIn, showed me that after practicing Meditation for several months, he “had a gradual realization that all beings are connected, plus the whole construct with having adversarial feelings towards others as independent entities stopped making any sense.”
When he found his department mired inside an intense rivalry with yet another one, he chose to help his counterpart instead of further the tension: “Projects moved forward, conflicts between departments got diffused, we made great progress. And it hugely benefited a specific career. I developed a reputation just like a collaborator and problem solver.”
Meditation can also assist us in dealing with colleagues we perceive as “difficult,” allowing us to challenge the fear-based narratives our mind creates that make in the manner of people taking action within a productive way. Consider the example of Marisa, a senior executive for a large media company, who holds been practicing Meditation for a few years. For a number of years she dealt with a painful colleague without openly addressing his behavior. After practicing Meditation for a long time, she realized that her “fearful self disappeared,” and he or she was seldom afraid to confront him.” She let it be known that when she the research, she felt “like the universe was speaking through me.” She could check out and communicate the proof clearly, without fear or emotional attachment as before. To her great surprise, the colleague was interested in hearing her and agreed to stop his behavior.


Practice Meditation to Experience Self-Transcendence
Mindful Meditation isn’t usually to try self-transcendence — our ego fixation can drop away while jogging, cooking, playing a musical instrument, or doing a little other activity that fully engages us — however it is the more consistently direct way. Here’s how one can create that for yourself.


Form a practice dedicated to stilling your mental state. One of the simplest kinds of mindfulness meditation is to select a quiet place, sit comfortably linked to chair or cushion, and set a timer for which range from five and 25 minutes. Then start observing the back and forth of a person’s breath. You can count the breath, starting with one on in-breath, then two on that out-breath, mounting to 10 and after that returning to one. Whichever method you take advantage of, you’re prone to spot the nearly constant stream of thoughts that run through our minds (around 70.000 views per day). Enable the account to detach by reviewing them ideas and end up with a sense of openness.


Practice regularly — daily. Although self-transcendent experiences can occur after short sessions, maintaining a steady-state takes regular practice. Just like hitting the gym sporadically may feel good but won’t let you build muscle, irregular meditation practice won’t be sufficient to experience self-transcendence consistently. Most executives I operate with practice meditation a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes every day. For most, getting up earlier in the morning and starting the time with Meditation will be the easiest method to make sure they “get it in.”

Find extended periods for silence. Most executives find that the longer time spent that they meditate, the more significant amount of their mind starts to relax, and thoughts eventually dissipate. Because it is our thoughts that create the understanding ego when they disappear, our ego has a chance to drop away. In a world where we are always in contact with new stimuli (through emails, news, facebook, etc.), you have to be deliberate about finding how about silence. You can continue on an extensive “retreat” led by an experienced meditation teacher or carve out times of your day when you’re not finding new information.


Apply the insights of self-transcendence to problems in the day. Use what you may gain from these practices to loosen the grip of your respective ego during the workday. You can quiet your mind by using a few conscious breaths before you go into a meeting or open your email. You are also able to practice at the time. Just for example, while you’re sitting in a meeting or responding to a message, transform your focus to your breath and notice in case your mind has started to bring things personally. Going on a few breaths in and out may help lessen your ego’s grip.

Author Resource Box:
What Meditation Can Do for Your Leadership. https://hbr.org/2019/12/what-meditation-can-do-for-your-leadership

Where is your ego hiding? – Ray Moukaddem – Medium. https://medium.com/@ray.moukaddem/where-is-your-ego-hiding-bae3e397a2b6

Blog:Recent posts | The Loud House Encyclopedia | Fandom. https://theloudhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Blog:Recent_posts