Happy Days!

Do you know that there is a direct connection between being happy and being healthy?  There certainly is!

 

From the Dr. Rudy Tanzi  of Alzheimer's Disease Researcher; Professor of Neurology, Harvard Med School

 

Here Are Six Ways To Keep Your Brain Healthy:  http://fortune.com/2018/03/20/keep-brain-healthy/

SHIELD (For Your Brain)

• Sleep:  Get 7 or 8 hours
• Handle–Manage Stress:  Try not to dwell on worry  -- (the sensations that fears cause is the problem)  Don’t let stress overwhelm you.  It’s the small stresses that are damaging.  Be positive!
• Interact:  Socialize!   Be social.  Loneliness is a stress.
• Exercise:  8000 steps.  (3.5 to 4.1 miles) No need to try to be Superman.   Exercise removes the plague that causes in inflammation leading to alzheimer's
• Learn:  Learn New Things
• Diet: Mediterranean/Veg
•  

To end the coronavirus virus, the Doctor has stated:  

“If it were possible to wave a magic wand and make all Americans freeze in place for 14 days while sitting six feet apart, epidemiologists say, the whole epidemic (coronavirus) would sputter to a halt.” The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say

 

Richard Notes  

All six points above are important.  Sometimes the second, avoiding worry, or being "positive!," is just too challenging. 

You know my greeting to you: Happy Days!  Being positive, having joy in your heart, is very important in good health as well as enjoying life. 

Keep in mind we're talking about the small stresses, ones that we really could/should be able to control.

I learned as a very young teacher, that I had to be in command of my feelings:  Others can try to get in my head by upseting me, hurting me by making me angry.  Try, but they will fail if I remember: I am in command of my feelings.  Said yet again, but in a positive manner, I decide to be happy.

It's normal to feel guilty. Normal to take responsibility.  If you care about people, and you do, you will be open to assuming their anger, their guilt. Don't do that.  Remember Shakespeare's (the father's advice to his traveling son) advice to Hamlet:

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.

(Click on quotation to read the rest of the advice.)

I have a very good friend who follows that advice as a mindset. For example, I have never heard him in over fifty years ever speak badly of anyone!  Even in times of trouble, never.  On the many occasions when I have expressed something negatively, he remained silent.  If I pushed him, he remained calm, not accepting my point of view, but well aware of my feelings.  To this day, he addresses my feelings in some kind way, in positive suggestions.  He may summarize my points; then ask if I have thought of (another view).  Be still!  Think!  Respond when appropriate, appropriately -- positively.

Another example.  At times I was a passenger in my mother's car and witnessed her prevent an accident, being caused by a careless driver.  I can still hear her say, mostly under her breath, "You owe me one!"  In similar situations, too often, I got upset and vented.  When I have avoided such, remembering her 'You owe me" comment, I am pleased.  

Last example, when my son has reported facing hostility, I've advised him,  "When being provoked, 'Be still and smile'."

Being positive, being calm, living in joy, is a mindset.  It takes practice.  Lots of it!  

If you value Shakespeare's advice, then practice and practice it.  Like me you will slip at times and 'vent.'  It is human to error. But many times when we react unkindly, negatively, the situation is really very minor, as we almost immediately realize, and we could have been silent.  Like me, I bet you've wished you would have remained silent.  Maybe thought a second before we opened our mouth.  When such happens, be in command of your feelings and be positive.  To share help; to share joy.  Yes, it's demanding; it's work.  But it does get easier over time.  And, yes, too, it's very rewarding.

 

Okay, enough of me,

Happy Days!

Richard

March 23, 2020

(First presented: March 31, 2019)