It's easy to feel as if you're weak when you have moments when you just let it out and have a major sob fest. Job, relationship, bills, or you just happened to nab yourself a speeding ticket from a cop that had nothing better to do than meet his quota for the month. It's basically as if the whole world is against you! We have all been there will continue to be there, but it's nothing to feel weak about. In fact, crying is actually super beneficial and is a key indicator of peak health! 1. Relieves StressWhen stress isn't relieved properly, it can cause a whole slew of health problems such as digestive issues, migraines and can increase your chance of a heart attack! Thankfully, we as humans have the ability to cry emotional tears in response to stress. Believe it or not, we are the only animals that can do this! Crying reduces the levels of chemicals and stress hormones (aka: cortisol) that wreak havoc in our bodies. So, we are literally letting the "boo-hoo's" out! 3. Relieves Pain and Enhances MoodAlong with releasing stress hormones, shedding some tears also releases the feel good hormones (aka: oxytocin and endorphins)! It can also help with relieving physical pain, so, no wonder we cry those ugly tears when we fall and hurt ourselves! 4. Aids Sleep
5. Fights BacteriaBecause humans are able to produce a type tears called Reflex tears, we are able to kill off bacteria that may work their way into our delicate organ all the time. We release these Reflex tears in order to flush out irritants such as wind, smoke and even onions. 6. Improves VisionAnother type of tears we produce is Basal tears. These are released every time we blink and help keep our eyes moist and prevent the mucous membranes in our eyes from drying out. When that happens, our vision can become blurry!
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I remember when my brother and I were young, my mom would spend uninterrupted, down time with us before bed by sitting down and coloring with us. No competitions or anything like that. Just old-fashioned bonding time. Little did we know, though, that coloring to our heart's content had wonderful benefits that transcended through time. Fast forward a little bit to when I was in 5th grade and found my calling; who I've deemed I was fundamentally meant to be. A writer. What do these two have in common? Creativity! And in spades! Creativity aside, coloring and writing creatively have wonderful other benefits, and Health Like Me is here to explain why — if you haven't already — start picking up these two activities on a regular basis! Benefits of ColoringBreak out the coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, paints and brushes and take a deep breath. We are about to get our twitchy hands dirty and our minds incredibly clear. Need more of a reason? Here are 5! Benefits of Writing CreativelyI am immensely proud that my passion in life can mask itself as a wonderfully therapeutic hobby for others! And all you need is a pen, — a pencil is my preference — something to write on, and your open heart. Let your writing utensil guide you to the land of opportunity and freedom wile also gaining these 5 health benefits: There you have it! Reasons why exploring your child-like imagination should no longer be a thing of the past. So put down you devices, turn off your TV and put on some Sade or Enya. You'll thank me later! Enjoy!
Instead of going in depth about a motivational topic I found interesting, I'm just going to link three Ted Talks I've recently listened to and identified with, share a phrase or two from each one, and then ask you to share your favorite part of each.
Be sure to pass on the video you enjoyed the most to whoever you think needs to hear it!
"I couldn't change what a system believed about me while I believed what the system believed about me. And I did! I, like everyone around me, believed that it wasn't possible for me to exist in my dream as I was. And I went about [it] trying to make myself invisible."
"Not because awards prove our worth, but because who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to see ourselves. How to think about our own value. How to dream about our futures."
According to a study titled, The Role of Emotion Inhibition in Psychological Distress, by Thomas R. Lynch, PhD, Duke University, experts believe that invalidation is a major contributor to emotional disorders. Invalidation lacks compassion. Invalidation shames. And invalidation is a subtlety loud and damaging form of emotional emotional. How Invalidation Makes You Feel Like You Are:
Ways you Can Stop Yourself From Succumbing to InvalidationAffirmations and mantras are great. But, if you are one to truly suffer from self-invalidation or find yourself around individuals who regularly solicit external/emotional/manipulative invalidation, the fight to reclaim your self-love might need a little more elbow grease. An article by Meghan Breen, LCSW, and NYC Therapist titled Self Invalidation: a Subtle, Pervasive Form of Self Abuse. Fight Back! suggests five ways to stop this emotional abuse. Two of my favorites were "Observe your self talk" and "Be gentle". We have to stop placing unrealistic expectations on ourselves! Another way to combat this rising self-destructive tendency is to stop trying to diminish our experiences. We only disregard our pain when this happens. "You can't heal an emotional wound with logic." My folly is comparing where I am in my life to others success. And thankfully, I have a mother who is very quick to stop me every time this train of thought begins to manifest itself! My self-invalidation has been prevalent since college. More recently, financial setbacks have fallen in my lap making Invalidation's damaging presence known. Then, the constant questions such as, "When is it my turn?" or "What did I do to deserve this?"; or statements like, "I should realize how blessed I am instead of feeling sorry for myself." filter through my brain and occasionally pass through my lips. Here, Ms. Breen's tip of being gentle to my situation needs to be my number one defense!
External invalidation was repeatedly happening to me for the past few years without me realizing it until I did the research for this post. In order to preserve my boundaries and begin the process of self-love, these individuals have been either completely removed or are now a reduced presence in my life.
Way back when as I was browsing Huffington Post (as I am known to do during my down times at work), I came across an article about soulmates. And while that is a long, drawn out discussion for a rainy day, I did read a phrase that has stuck with me enough that I became inspired to write about it for Health Like Me! "Emotion Log" Scroll down to about a third of the article under the subtitle "Heal from your past" and you'll see a brief introduction of what an emotion log is! Pin-pointing how you feel periodically throughout the day is a great experiment in understanding your mental and emotional health.
Here is one more example of a guide to personalize your emotion log! Feeling and emoting are what makes us human. And extraordinary, complex and beautiful ones at that! Let's all make time in our busy schedules to simply reflect and be!
I'm a firm believer in laughter being great for your mental health. That being said, I'm going to share with y'all this hilarious post I stumbled upon from Bolde.com. And when I say "stumbled upon", it's good that you know I mean "read all the stories under the tag 'Single AF'. Guilty. So for this episode of Monday Mental Motivation we are going to laugh as well as see why I chose 23 Pieces of Advice Single Women Can't Stand - How We Really Want to Respond to coincide with the mental health of single women like me. Also.... can I follow the author of this post? She seems awesome. funny,It's pretty laughable that someone I don't even remotely know feels my pain and expresses it verbally the same way I do every time one of these phrases are even mentioned in my general direction. The author's tone for her post is creatively sarcastic and screams "I'm fed up and irritated with your slightly judgy undertone!" And rightly so! Are you even trying to hid your condescension anymore? I have responded to each one of these phrases more times than I'd like to count politely and frankly, you're lucky I just don't say what Halle does. |
I have a few favorites that I "love" hearing: 7. "Stop Being So Picky" - This one I probably hate hearing the most because whenever someone says it to me, it's as if they want me to just go out with whatever (yes...whatever) says "hi" to me first. Sorry I want to be with someone who stimulates ALL of my senses. Sorry I don't want to settle and be unhappy in 20 years. You know what goes through my mind when I hear this phrase?: "you don't deserve to get what your heart desires." So let me just stop you there because my normal response to this is to not respond at all. 4. "Have You Tried Online?" - Yes, and I stand by my original anathema to the stupid fad. I've been hit up by the lizard looking guys, the extremely and disrespectfully forward guys, and the one guy that went further than a few messages ended up ghosting me after a few meet-ups. I'm going to assume somehow, somewhere it's my fault and I'm being too picky. 12. "You're Never Going To Meet Someone Sitting In Your Apartment" - My mother is the worst culprit of this one! I get it. Staying within a routine day-in-and-day-out only affords me to see the same guys that I've already written off. But believe me when I say I will not go to a bar by myself or any kind of speed dating JUST to find a guy. I believe in the organic magical meeting. What can I say I'm a romantic! One expression I'd love to add to Halle's refreshing take is when my mom says that I "should wear makeup more and dress to impress, you never know who you might see." Okay, let me just spend hours globbing on pore clogging foundation and weird color eye shadows before I squeeze into a barely breathable outfit. If I meet and hit it off with a guy, he should see how I truly am. And if I don't feel comfortable and secure, I'm sure he'd pick up on that right away! |
connection,
There's something that goes through the mind of a woman who hears these phrases coming at her from all sides. For one, I'm dealing with enough trying to figure out if I'm the problem. I put myself through a lot mentally - as I'm sure other's in my predicament do, too - with lots of "why's" and "what if's". My confidence is going through the ringer enough as it is. So in order for me to take care of my mental health, just stop, keep your face to yourself and realize that it's hard enough out here without your unsolicited advice. |