5 Steps to a Healthy Mind

5 Key Steps to a Healthy Mind
BY RENAE MAC

Below are five key steps that have shown to help change your thoughts patterns, increase the health of your mind as well as create a more balanced and positive outlook on life.

1. Create the Intention

Changing negative habits and creating new positive habits is a fairly simple process but not an easy process and takes a commitment. It is important that you make the decision and be clear about your intention in order to create change.

Think it and write it down as well as say it out loud. In this way you are making a commitment to yourself to do what it takes to accomplish your goal and create a healthier mind state.

2. Be Conscious of Your Thoughts

As mentioned before thoughts are habitual and it can be quite difficult at first to consciously be aware of every thought that passes through your head. Before you change them for the better you must be aware of exactly what you are thinking.

Make it a priority to take notice of what thoughts pass through your head as you go about your day. Take note of what thoughts come up as you are dealing with different people and situations. Be careful not to judge your thoughts, for now simply be aware of them.

3. Make the Switch

Now that you are aware of your thinking patterns you can then begin to change them. We all have the capability to choose what we think and you have the power to change a negative thought into a positive.

When you notice a negative or non-affirming thought in your head consciously decide to change it. Do not worry if at first you do not believe your new positive thought as overtime that will change. By switching your negative thought to a positive each and every time you will eventually create new thought patterns and habits. You will also be creating a positive energy within yourself as opposed to a negative.

This method is simple yet not easy, but it works very well. It is a matter of sticking with it one hundred percent of the time. After a period of time your negative thought patterns will no longer have the power to affect or limit any aspect of your life including your emotions. Your new positive thought patterns will send out a different energy and create a more positive way of being which will in turn attract new positive energy within your life.

Over time with practice you will notice that when a negative thought pops up you will habitually switch it immediately to a positive. Then before you know it the negativity will be gone and it will be replaced with a positive and self-affirming way of being.

4. Positive Brain Frequencies

Once you have begun to practice the first three steps you can also begin to work directly with your brain frequencies. The brain is constantly emitting very specific frequency waves that influence how you feel and act. You can work with your brainwaves through meditation or by using an external stimulus such as brainwave audios.

By meditating or using brainwave audios such as binaural beats you are able to bypass the conscious mind and work directly with the subconscious mind. In this way you can make huge progress by tuning the brain to a specific frequency that helps with stress, anxiety and overall well being. If you combine these methods with affirmations you may notice your thought patterns and energy changing for the positive at a far quicker rate.

5. Take Time to Enjoy

Practicing positive thinking does not mean that you will never again have a negative thought. However it does mean that you will have the conscious awareness to change the negative to a positive and allow that positive energy to shape your life as opposed to being influenced by the negative.

Once you have made these changes and adopted this new healthier mind state it is up to you to get out there and enjoy life. Take little steps to do more of what you enjoy and be proud of the fact that you have given your mind the attention it needs in order to create the healthy life you deserve to enjoy.

Why Do We Eat More in Winter?

• By Annie Hauser

If you can't resist curling up with a steaming hot bowl of comfort food on a cold night, you're not alone. Here's why we love to eat come winter.

Think of it as an extended holiday food coma. From late fall to spring, most people just can’t resist the lure of their favorite foods — from holiday cookies and hot chocolate to warm bowls of chili and cheesy pasta. It’s not entirely clear whether this desire to eat more during winter is an animal instinct to fuel up in order to survive cold weather, or whether it’s simply because fatty, high-calorie foods are more readily available during the most wonderful time of the year. Here, we round up a few of the top theories — and offer tips to help you keep your eating on track year-round.

Craving Carbs? It Could Be SAD

If your cold-weather cravings come in the form of pasta, cookies, pastries, and other carbs, you might actually just be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. It’s normal to want to cope with long, cold nights by filling up on food — numerous studies have shown that the brain actually produces feeling of happiness when you consume high-calorie, high-fat foods.

To keep your diet in check while still warding off seasonal depression, fill up with lean protein rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon. Omega-3s have been shown to have mood-boosting power while protein will help keep you full and satisfied. If you’re going to give in to a craving (and most experts agree you occasionally should), give it a healthy makeover. If you crave a big bowl of pasta and cheese, switch out regular enriched pasta for whole grain and add lean protein to the mix, along with a few vegetables for vitamins and fiber.

If it’s dessert you want, go for a steaming mug of hot dark chocolate, which has been shown to reduce risk of heart disease, raise levels of healthy cholesterol, and be a mood booster. Plus, researchers at Yale University recently found that things that are physically warm, such as a hot shower or a warm drink, can help people feel happier and less lonely.

Dark Days Mean More Food

The tendency to overeat during the winter might come down to basic biology. Ira Ockene, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School told NPR that winter eating could just be our primitive impulses urging us to stockpile for the cold months ahead. A 2005 study Ockene conducted and published in the journal Nature found that food intake patterns do vary season to season, as does body weight. Researchers found that study participants consumed an average of 86 more calories per day in the fall, as compared to the spring. In fall, participants also ate the highest total amount of fat and saturated fat. The lowest levels of physical activity were observed in the winter.

In his interview with NPR, Ockene also said that less light prompts us to seek food and eat it faster, offering another explanation for why we eat more as the days get shorter.

Winter Munchies Might Just Be Tradition

According to some scientists, winter weight gain is just a product of our environment, not biology. Between the holidays, Super Bowl Sunday, and Valentine’s Day, winter is packed with opportunities to overload on traditional, fatty foods. This coupled with a decrease in physical activity during cold winter months, and it’s only natural that most people gain a pound or two during winter and lose it come spring.

Research also sheds light on why we overeat specific foods during winter. A study conducted at the Canadian University of Maryland found that when love has been put into something made for our benefit, the receiver perceives the end result as being better. So if Grandma makes your favorite Christmas cookies just for you, you’ll think that the cookies actually taste better because of the emotional connection between you. And the more you remember loving the food, the more likely you are to indulge next time. The best advice? Splurge on the foods you really love, and stick to a balanced diet of whole grains, lean protein, and fresh fruits and vegetables the rest of the time.

Keep Your Mind Engaged and Healthy

An engaged mind is a healthy mind

By Manali Chavan | 

Weekly chess society meetings are a relaxed environment. Classical music plays from a Pandora station while a number of chess games are ongoing. Members focus on the game before them, occasionally breaking their concentration to share a laugh with their opponent.

Engaging in activities that exercise the mind is beneficial to a student’s overall health and often, overlooked in today’s day-in-age. A typical college student spends most of his or her day attending classes, studying for exams and going to work, with their few hours of spare time they engage in sports, clubs and spend time with friends.

With an ample amount of activities to fill the day with, students can easily become overworked and stressed. Erin Trujillo, associate director and clinical director for ASU Counseling Services says in an email that the body needs a certain amount of stress to perform at its best, but that the amount of stress a body can take does reach a limit.

“Our bodies tell us when we move past our optimal level and into a place where we are impacted,” Trujillo says. “We’ll lose sleep, our eating patterns change and we’ll become either more or less emotional than our norm.”

Along with busy days many students find themselves engaging in more than one activity at a time. It has become rare for students to simply focus on one task at hand. However, Trujillo says there are certain activities, such as chess that provoke critical thinking and strengthen intellectual activity.

“When we are fully engaged in an intellectual activity, we are fully present in the moment,” Trujillo says.

Max Fechtmeyer, president of the Chess Society of Arizona State, has been playing chess for most of his life. Although he enjoys playing the game against his fellow club members, he praises the skills it has given him.

“It’s more of an endurance test and takes a lot of concentration,” Fechtmeyer says. “It’s such a good mental sharpening block that it should be focused on more.”

Brady Madden, director of Well Devil Coalition says in an email interview he stresses the importance of engaging in activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.

“A healthy lifestyle can promote greater concentration and focus, better memory and other mental benefits,” Madden says.

Madden shares that participating in activities such as playing chess or listening to TED Talks can sharpen the mind with new information and teach students how to strategize.

When Ben Jones started playing chess regularly he found himself appreciating other art forms such as classical music and NPR radio segments more.

“Chess really makes you slow down and take a couple steps back and think about what you’re doing,” says Jones, vice president of the Chess Society of Arizona State.

For students who are looking to sharpen their mind and increase their focus, the difference can come from simple activities such as playing a game of chess once a week or listening to NPR while driving in the car. Trujillo reminds us that these tiny activities can have a major effect on our overall health.

“All of these opportunities sharpen our minds through inspiration,” Trujillo says. “It keeps us balanced and intrigued.” 

Combat Negative Thinking

7 Tips To Combat Negative Thinking   by PHOEBE WALLER

When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, it can be really difficult to think positively. Even the idea of mustering up an ounce of positivity can seem exhausting, but everyone should know how to combat negative thinking. Negative thoughts seem harmless enough, but they can be powerful. A single negative thought can buzz through your brain like a bee, making you feel uncomfortable, yet you can hopefully swat it away. Sometimes when you are stuck in a cycle of negative thinking, one annoying negative thought can easily attract others, so you're left with a swarm of them, trapped inside your mind, which begins to feel like a beehive.

Negative thinking can spoil just about anything; You could be worrying about if your guests are having a good time at your party instead of enjoying it,convincing yourself you're not as cute as your date, or thinking about all of the chores you should be doing when you're hanging with your BFF. If you let them, negative thoughts can take every happy moment of your life and turn it into something negative – a little like the Grinch before his positive transformation.

Show those negative thoughts who they're dealing with and kick some negative butt with these awesome tips.

1. Don't Hold On To Negative Thoughts

What's the point in holding on to negative thoughts when you don't have to? When I was younger, I would get fixated on a negative thought and I would obsessively worry over it, letting it ruin the rest of my day. That was until I realized I didn't have to be burdened with negativity anymore. Obsessively worrying about things isn't going to get you anywhere; Happify summed this up in their infographic, "How to Stop Negative Thoughts from Getting You Down." The article informed readers not to be a "Ruminant" explaining that, "Although negative thoughts are normal, going over and over them in your head – what scientists call 'rumination' – leads to increased anxiety, depression, and a sense of helplessness."

In order to free yourself of negative thoughts, Happify recommend an exercise based on the findings of a study by Ohio State University which includes: Writing down your negative thoughts, ripping up the paper, and throwing it in the trash. So try this next time you can't shake a pesky negative thought.

2. Choose To Be Positive

According to The Huffington Post, happiness is a choice, "Although our general mood levels and well-being are partially determined by factors like genetics and upbringing, roughly 40 percent of our happiness is within our control, according to some experts, and a large body of research in the field of positive psychology has shown that happiness is a choice that anyone can make." So if we have direct control over almost half of our capability to be happy, we should be making sure we are choosing to be positive and happy. Figure out what makes you happy, read up on some tips to start your day off positively, and try to see the best in every situation.

3. Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude can be a vital tool in helping you feel more positive. The art of practicing gratitude is taking the time out to consciously evaluate what you are grateful for in your life. In time, when you begin to realize how many things you are thankful for, you start to feel more positive about your life in general; it's a way of shifting the focus from negativity to positivity. Gala Darling – teacher, author, and all-round inspiration – shows you how to practice gratitude in three different ways. Discover your favorite way to practice gratitude and start the shift towards positivity today!

4. Drop Insanely High Expectations

According to The Huffington Post, "Managing our expectations is important for a number of reasons, the main one being our own sense of happiness. The less disappointment we face, the happier we are." Not everyone is the same and not everyone will think the same way you do, or react to things in the same way.

People, situations, jobs, and life in general will let you down if you go around enforcing strict expectations upon them. That's not to say you don't deserve respect from people, of course you do, but perhaps some people may not be as outgoing or attentive as you are and that's OK because everyone's different. I'm not saying you should have low expectations and expect the worst from everyone and everything, but rather don't let high expectations get in the way of your happiness.

5. Evaluate The People In Your Life

Is there a certain someone in your life who makes you feel glum with their eternal pessimism? Do you leave their presence feeling full of negativity and as if you need to clear your aura? Everybody goes through rough patches and if your friend is only being a Negative Nelly because she's going through a hard time, then help her to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are some people out there however, whose life mission appears to be to put a downer on everything, even if there's not actually anything to be down about. When you're wading through a negative patch, you need positive people around you.

According to Tiny Buddha, "When you’re stuck in a negative spiral, talk to people who can put things into perspective and won’t feed your negative thinking." It may be time to ditch the downer and find yourself some new friends who are more on your wavelength.

6. Exercise

Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

When going through a difficult time, the last thing you might want to do is exercise but according to The Huffington Post, it's worth it because, "Exercise is great for dealing with depression and helping you to feel good."Shape backs this up reporting that, "...exercise is an effective and proven stress management technique, which can help an individual fight the blues, while improving general health." If you're struggling to find motivation, check out Shape's "exercises to beat the blues" which could help you banish your negative thinking.

7. Talk To A Professional

If it's all gotten a bit too much and your negative thoughts are plaguing you, it might be time to ask for some professional help. If you are having unwanted, upsetting, or distressing thoughts it could be a sign that you need to have a mental health check up, so you might want to think about seeing a therapist to help you deal with these negative thoughts.

If the above tips don't help, and you continue feeling depressed or even suicidal, then there are absolutely resources out there. Visit Mentalhealth.gov or StrengthOfUs.org for information on how to get help in your area, and if you feel as though it's an emergency, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

Because no one has time for negative thoughts anyway.

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