Let’s face it, we all have bad days. And sometimes those bad days can turn into bad weeks, bad months, and if we’re not careful, bad years. Before we know it, we can be sucked into a downward, overstressed spiral towards anxiety, depression or even worse. For some, this may seem too painful to even read, but if the truth is told, there are people hurting everywhere, whether it’s you or me, a family member or someone we know.

In the midst of crisis, heartache, misery or difficulty, it’s essential for us to take the right steps to maintain our sanity and wellbeing on a daily basis. In fact, it’s important for all of us, whether we’re feeling great, just okay or horrible, to make a habit of practicing wellness. It’s just good living.

Tips for Feeling Better Today

1. Do some Exercise. I’ve written about it over and over again, but the facts are clear. Exercise has amazing benefits for the body and the mind, like burning off the stress hormone cortisol, boosting seratonin in the brain and releasing endorphins to make us feel better. No excuse or amount of doubt is going to change that. A brisk 30 minute walk can do more for your blue perspective than sitting in misery, even if you don’t feel like it. If you want to start feeling better, get off your rear and do something!

2. Practice Relaxation. There is an amazing, calming benefit for the mind and body when you learn to relax effectively. Even if you take just a five-minute break away from the busyness of your day to be alone and quiet, you’ll reap the benefits of this soothing activity. Mark Hyman, in his “UltraMind Solution” book calls it “finding the pause button” – a designated time when our bodies heal, repair and renew during a state of purposeful relaxation. Try a relaxing hot bath in Epsom salts, lavender and baking soda.

3. Make Prayer a priority. There’s really no substitute for communing on a daily basis with the God of the universe. To me, prayer does just that. Many people think prayer and meditation are the same thing. They can certainly be combined, and from my Christian perspective, the two compliment one another. Check yourself daily and make sure that you’re tapping in to the joy, peace, power, strength and wisdom that come from knowing God intimately through prayer, just as King David did in Psalm 63.

4. Watch What You Eat. You may be having a tough time of it for any number of reasons, but bad eating will do nothing but make all of your problems worse. Sometimes in life there are things that are out of our control – what we eat is not one of them. In order to maintain good health during difficulty, it’s so important to eat well and stay focused on our nutrition. During tough times, we need every advantage. Healthy eating can make all the difference.

5. Learn to Laugh. Spend some time distracting yourself from life by doing something with a friend who will make you laugh. Watch a funny TV show or listen to something comical on the radio. Laughing, just like exercise, releases pain killing endorphins into the bloodstream, which is a natural way to feel better.

6. Get Inspired. When dealing with difficulty and feeling lost, lonely, afraid or depressed, it’s essential to find some inspiration. If we get too down, we can become hopeless – like a flat tire, in desperate need of a shot of air to start rolling smoothly again. One effective way to do this is to read something inspirational, such as the Bible, or a book that addresses your particular situation, one that provides you with some hope and solution for what’s plaguing you.

Often there’s no single magic bullet to feeling better. Sometimes it just takes time and distance for things to improve. No matter what the situation, it’s important to be proactive in the pursuit of wellness. When dealing with clients, I often find that many have a good grip on certain aspects of wellness, but fail to stay on top of some of the most basic things that keep us well. Learning to master the above tips will provide some much needed relief during difficulty or challenging times.

As always, feel free to contact me if you need some help practicing wellness. Also, feel free to leave a comment or question below.

Related posts:

1. 10 Simple Ways to Clean Up Your Diet
2. Executive Wellness Coach
3. Raleigh Executive Wellness Coach

Here’s a life rule that we’d all do well to master –

Choose your food (and eat) as though your wellness depended on it, BECAUSE IT DOES!

Tip #3 – Eat for Wellness

It’s interesting. People often seek me out for help and guidance to resolve a host of problems that they encounter in life, other than for nutrition purposes. Some of these other reasons are: relationship issues, emotional issues, depression, anxiety, work/life balance, budgeting, spiritual insight, etc. All of these, at first glance, are seemingly unrelated to eating, diet or nutrition – at least that’s what most people with these types of problems seem to think. And it’s true, these types of issues don’t necessarily stem from poor nutrition. However, it is my belief that WHAT WE EAT directly influences how we cope or deal with our problems. Let me explain.

How Poor Nutrition can complicate life problems and crisis

Essentially it has to do with balance, but that’s much broader a topic than I wish to cover here. What we need to focus on (for the purposes of this topic) is the fact that many of us use food as a coping mechanism for our tough issues and problems. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that emotional eating is not good, particularly due to the fact that emotional eating usually involves making very poor nutritional choices. Now I don’t claim to be an authority on emotional eating, but I do know, from personal experience and from working with my clients who want to lose weight, that many times humans use food (and other substances) as a quick fix when feeling bad, depressed, angry, or upset. The interesting thing is that emotional eating does work, but only temporarily. The downside to this type of eating is that it sets off an addictive cycle that only compounds our true problems.

Think about it – not only does this type of person have a difficult issue (unrelated to eating) to deal with, but also he/she is setting himself up for a host of health problems as well. Here’s an example.

John is under pressure at work from his boss to meet his sale’s quota by year’s end. To make matters worse, John has been underperforming over the last several months due to relationship issues at home with his wife. He finds himself feeling stressed out, tired, overwhelmed and sick most of the time. Instead of coping in a healthy way (to balance out his stress), he skips breakfast, drinks too much coffee, eats fast food for lunch, snacks from a vending machine during office hours, and eats popcorn, cookies and Coke every night on the sofa before a long night of trouble sleeping.

In the above example, John just wants to feel better now, but gives no thought as to the “food” and substances that he’s putting into his system. Not only does he have serious work and relational issues to deal with, but his poor dietary choices are compounding the issue by setting up a chemical imbalance in his body. Unchecked, this will cause him poor health and more suffering in the future. Here’s why. John’s unconscious coping strategy will most immediately lead to mental fogginess, weight gain, depression, mood swings, anxiety, high blood sugar, fatigue, insomnia, etc. Do you think that any of these will help him solve his problems? Furthermore, if he continues down this road (over a prolonged period of time), he will face even more serious issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer or even worse. Talk about a life of regret.

Can you see how a bad diet will only complicate life’s difficulties? I could give tons of other examples, but I think my point is clear.

Being slack about our diet will lead to regret later in life

Here’s one point about eating well that many of us seem to overlook –

We are what we eat.

Profound, huh? I know. We hear it all the time. Many of us even say it a lot, but never take its truth to heart, so let me try to elaborate a bit more to make it more clear -

Every single thing you put in your mouth and swallow today BECOMES YOU tomorrow.

That’s right. All of the junk food, candy, cookies, sodas, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc. that you put in your mouth today will become part of your heart tissue, blood, brain cells, lungs, bone, kidneys, liver, skin, hair, etc. tomorrow. Eating a prolonged or permanent bad diet is like building a house with cheap or bad materials. It may look good at first, but it will not stand the test of time. The same holds true of your body when filling it with crap. Today it tastes great and seems to do the job. Tomorrow it may very well turn against you and cause you a world of sickness and regret.

Fortunately, we do have free will and the ability to make wise choices that will hopefully reward us with good health, happiness and promote longevity. Of course, there are no guarantees, but there IS a lot of science and research to back up the fact that HEALTHY EATING PROMOTES WELLNESS.

Clean, Healthy Organic Eating Promotes Longevity and Peace of Mind

Choosing to eat healthy is a standard we all should adopt for our lives. I chose to do this years ago, more out of necessity than pure choice. I spent many days racked with the fear and agony of anxiety, headaches, weight fluctuation and fatigue. I sought advice from doctors only to be prescribed addictive medications that I refused to take, once I discovered the harm they could do to me, in addition to “relieving” my symptoms. Through lots of trial and error, research and study, I discovered a foundational key to wellness that has revolutionized my life –

Clean, Organic Eating.

That’s not to say that choosing to eat organic whenever possible will solve all of my problems. But, at least I have added peace of mind – knowing that I’m eating the best way to nourish my body and have optimum health. I take comfort in this fact. And, in addition to this, eating a healthy, well-balanced, clean and organic diet promotes longevity, a healthy body, a healthy mind, stamina, clear thinking, less stress, and simply a better physical and mental disposition overall. What better way could there be to balance out or counter the problems that we face on a daily basis?

One of the last things I want is to bring bad health or sickness upon myself, due to dietary neglect. In other words, I don’t ever want to be guilty of making myself sick or overweight because of poor dietary choices. No, I have chosen to practice wellness now through proper nutrition to avoid bringing sickness upon myself.

What about you?

Have you made the conscious decision to practice wellness by eating in such a way that promotes good health and longevity? What kind of food are you putting into your body? How many meals a week do you eat fast food? Do you feel bad a lot? Are you overweight? Maybe it’s time to wise up before you regret this practice of bad eating.

Quick Ways to Clean Up Your Diet

If you’re like most people, you may not know a whole lot about eating well. That’s okay, there’s no time like the present. Here are some things you can do now to start cleaning things up and improve your nutrition:

• Learn to read the ingredients label of what you’re eating. If you don’t know what something is on the label, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.
• A long shelf-life means a short life for you. The faster a food spoils, the better it is for you. Good, real food spoils fast.
• Fermented foods are your friends. They contain lots of healthy bacteria that will boost your immune system and digestion.
• Stay away from white foods. Processed foods, no matter how pretty the package, will not help you in any way.
• Drink lots of clean, filtered water. It’s the elixir of life.
• If you eat meat, buy grass-fed as much as possible. It contains CLA, a known cancer killing compound.
• Eat as though you were living in the 1800s or earlier. They ate real food back then, not all of this fake stuff that we have today.
• Check out your local farmer’s market. Rest assured, what you’ll find there is much better quality than anything you’ll find at the grocery store.
• Eat organic whenever possible. Doing so will minimize the amount of environmental chemicals, pesticides and preservatives that you intake on a daily basis.
• Avoid as much sugar as possible. If you have a sweet tooth, then stick to things like honey, real maple or brown rice syrup, stevia, organic succanat or the like.

If you put the above tips into practice in your own life, you’ll increase you wellness exponentially. This is not something to procrastinate. Not eating well for life will most assuredly lead to regret.

As always, feel free to leave comments. And if you need a coach to help you avoid regret by eating for wellness, feel free to contact me here.

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Managing Stress

Stress kills. But before it does so, it will knock your life out of whack. In my case, in the midst of striving to learn to be a fit and healthy person – I severely neglected the mental, emotional and spiritual side of the equation. I was eating right for health, but was not properly nurturing my soul. I soon found myself overstressed, anxious and quite literally, out of balance. I constantly felt physically ill and soon found myself worrying and stressed about everything – namely work, relationships with others AND my health. It seemed that my life was spinning out of control. The interesting thing is that the more I tried to control it – the worse it got and the worse I felt. I adjusted my diet a hundred different ways; I increased and changed the dietary supplements I was taking; I did research, perusing the internet looking for solutions for everything, including work and my health; I went to the doctor repeatedly to find out what was wrong with me; and I’m even ashamed to say, I began drinking a glass or two of wine in the evenings just to relax (which I rarely did before). Ultimately, I developed a very severe case of gastritis that was misdiagnosed, resulting in a lot of pain and unnecessary intestinal surgery.

I tell you all of this to demonstrate how lack of balance in my life completely threw things out of whack and caused me a lot of sickness, pain, worry and frustration. In case you didn’t get it,

Life without Proper Balance Isn’t Healthy Living

Life IS a juggling act. And quite frankly, most of us are NOT very good jugglers. I know I wasn’t. In the midst of my attempts, I was dropping things left and right. No matter how hard I tried to fix things, they continued to get worse and I just got sicker and more frustrated. I was missing the big picture. For those of you who are visual, look at this diagram that I created below, which I believe to represent proper balance in life:

Ideally, this is where we should be – having proper balance in life between these three main areas (Body, Mind, Soul). Imagine the above as a wheel that rolls perfectly, because all areas are in balance. If you were able to inflate or deflate one of the above areas, indicating a lack of balance, the wheel would cease to roll smoothly.

Many of us, due to neglect to our “life circle of balance”, if you will, have a deflated ball or circle, basically like what you see below – deflated, unfulfilled (lacks air or inspiration) and won’t roll or bounce. Take a look:

What you see above was representative of my life a few years ago. To put it simply, when you have a life out of balance, chances are some or many of the following issues may describe what you will experience:

• Poor health, malaise or sickness (headaches, nausea, acid stomach, ulcers, or worse)
• Anxiety or Panic
• Obesity, weight gain or even weight loss
• Insomnia or perhaps you sleep too much
• Relationship problems (have trouble relating to others)
• Depression
• Self-doubt

These are but a few symptoms of a life out of balance. And, if your personal life balance is representative of the deflated, uninspired diagram above, just imagine how it must affect everything in your life.

If your life is like mine was, like the above wheel or ball that won’t roll or bounce, here are three fundamental things to remember that may help inspire you. They are not so much about action as they are about your perspective. You may not be able to change your situation right away, but these may actually add some air (inspiration) to your life (tire, ball, wheel) so that it at least keeps rolling forward:

1. Stop focusing on your problems and worrying yourself sick about them. Worrying will not change one thing about your situation, in fact, it will only make it worse. Here’s what Christ Himself said about it in Matthew 6:27 – “And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?”
2. Change what you can. Ok, so you can’t control everything, but there are things about your life that you can control. Many times in life we obsess and worry about things over which we have no control. Stop doing that and refocus on what you CAN control and change.
3. Focus on the good, the positive, the right things about your life. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Philippians 4:8-9, ” Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. Practice this and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.”

If you practice the above three suggestions, your ball will begin rolling in no time. Meanwhile, keep working on solving the problems in your life.

Before you know it, balance will return and success, renewal and joy will abound.

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How can exercise and fish oil often be a more effective treatment for depression than antidepressants? Could it be because they are both potent anti-inflammatories? Could it be that depression is a low-grade inflammatory disease of the brain¹?

Let’s look at the evidence.

1. Proinflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6, and TNF α (molecular messengers that set off the inflammatory response) and bacterial toxins (produced in our gut) produce
   symptoms of depression and anxiety.
2. Cytokines overactivate the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis (the stress response) just like we find in depressed patients.
3. Cytokines increase the function of an enzyme (IDO) that breaks down tryptophan, leading to less serotonin in the brain³.
   Serotonin is the happy mood chemical that fights depression.
4. The immune system is overactive in severe depression, producing brain inflammation.
5. Using immune therapy like interferon (a cytokine) for diseases like hepatitis C or multiple sclerosis triggers depression.
6. Depression is more common in inflammatory diseases like autoimmune and heart disease.

As compelling as these pieces of information are, they are not the only indications that depression is caused by an inflamed brain.

A new technique called vagal nerve stimulation is very helpful in depression⁴. The vagus nerve is your calming, relaxation nerve. When you take a deep breath, meditate, or do yoga the vagus nerve is activated, and it releases acetylcholine, which reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines.

There may be many reasons deep breathing and relaxation work, but certainly one of them is the fact that inflammation is reduced.

We also know that omega-3 fats help depression and produce remission⁵. They work by lowering inflammation and also through their effects on cell membranes and cell communication.

Similarly, we know that exercise is an anti-inflammatory and works better than Prozac in treating depression⁶.

Another example comes out of Harvard. A group of researchers there discovered an increased number of “white matter lesions,” or little white spots in the brain
that are seen in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis in depressed patients. This correlated with low levels of folate, which caused high levels of homocysteine,
a molecule that triggers inflammation in the brain⁷. So being vitamin deficient produces toxic molecules that inflame the brain and cause depression.

Of course, we must ask, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Does depression cause inflammation or inflammation cause depression?”

The answer is yes. It is a vicious cycle. Inflammation leads to depression, which leads to more inflammation.

The message is that to adequately treat depression we must look for, find, and eliminate the causes of inflammation and then help the body create balance in the immune system turning off this vicious cycle.

For more information on depression, please see Dr. Hyman’s new book,The UltraMind Solution.

I am always searching for valuable information to help my coaching clients. Dr. Mark Hyman’s book, The UltraMind Solution is unquestionably one of the best resources that I’ve found for helping those who struggle with anxiety, depression and other mental issues. The truth of the matter is that the mind and the body are undeniably connected. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

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From time to time I come across a program within the “self-help” area that I feel really helps people with certain issues and problems. Here, I’d like to share a powerful article (by permission) on Panic and Anxiety, written by Joe Barry – founder of the Panic Away program. I hope you find it as helpful and informative as I have.

Causes of Panic Attacks

The short and obvious answer: panic attacks are caused by high anxiety. But, what exactly is anxiety? Understanding how anxiety crops up will help you defeat panic attacks.

One of the biggest myths surrounding anxiety is that it is harmful and can lead to a number of various life-threatening conditions.

Definition of Anxiety

Anxiety is defined as a state of apprehension or fear resulting from the anticipation of a real or imagined threat, event, or situation. It is one of the most common human emotions experienced by people at some point in their lives.

However, most people who have never experienced a panic attack, or extreme anxiety, fail to realize the terrifying nature of the experience. Extreme dizziness, blurred vision, tingling and feelings of breathlessness—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

When these sensations occur and people do not understand why, they feel they have contracted an illness, or a serious mental condition. The threat of losing complete control seems very real and naturally very terrifying.

Fight/Flight Response: One of the root causes of panic attacks?

I am sure most of you have heard of the fight/flight response as an explanation for one of the root causes of panic attacks. Have you made the connection between this response and the unusual sensations you experience during and after a panic attack episode?

Anxiety is a response to a danger or threat. It is so named because all of its effects are aimed toward either fighting or fleeing from the danger. Thus, the sole purpose of anxiety is to protect the individual from harm. This may seem ironic given that you no doubt feel your anxiety is actually causing you great harm…perhaps the most significant of all the causes of panic attacks.

However, the anxiety that the fight/flight response created was vital in the daily survival of our ancient ancestors—when faced with some danger, an automatic response would take over that propelled them to take immediate action such as attack or run. Even in today’s hectic world, this is still a necessary mechanism. It comes in useful when you must respond to a real threat within a split second.

Anxiety is a built-in mechanism to protect us from danger. Interestingly, it is a mechanism that protects but does not harm—an important point that will be elaborated upon later.

The Physical Manifestations of a Panic Attack: Other pieces of the puzzle to understand the causes of panic attacks. Nervousness and Chemical Effects…

When confronted with danger, the brain sends signals to a section of the nervous system. It is this system that is responsible for gearing the body up for action and also calms the body down and restores equilibrium. To carry out these two vital functions, the autonomic nervous system has two subsections, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Although I don’t want to become too “scientific,” having a basic understanding of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system will help you understand the causes of panic attacks.

The sympathetic nervous system is the one we tend to know all too much about because it primes our body for action, readies us for the “fight or flight” response, while the parasympathetic nervous system is the one we love dearly as it serves as our restoring system, which returns the body to its normal state.

When either of these systems is activated, they stimulate the whole body, which has an “all or nothing” effect. This explains why when a panic attack occurs, the individual often feels a number of different sensations throughout the body.

The sympathetic system is responsible for releasing the adrenaline from the adrenal glands on the kidneys. These are small glands located just above the kidneys. Less known, however, is that the adrenal glands also release adrenaline, which functions as the body’s chemical messengers to keep the activity going. When a panic attack begins, it does not switch off as easily as it is turned on. There is always a period of what would seem increased or continued anxiety, as these messengers travel throughout the body. Think of them as one of the physiological causes of panic attacks, if you will.

After a period of time, the parasympathetic nervous system gets called into action. Its role is to return the body to normal functioning once the perceived danger is gone. The parasympathetic system is the system we all know and love, because it returns us to a calm relaxed state.

When we engage in a coping strategy that we have learned, for example, a relaxation technique, we are in fact willing the parasympathetic nervous system into action. A good thing to remember is that this system will be brought into action at some stage whether we will it or not. The body cannot continue in an ever-increasing spiral of anxiety. It reaches a point where it simply must kick in, relaxing the body. This is one of the many built-in protection systems our bodies have for survival.

You can do your best with worrying thoughts, keeping the sympathetic nervous system going, but eventually it stops. In time, it becomes a little smarter than us, and realizes that there really is no danger. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent—modern science is always discovering amazing patterns of intelligence that run throughout the cells of our body. Our body seems to have infinite ways of dealing with the most complicated array of functions we take for granted. Rest assured that your body’s primary goal is to keep you alive and well.

Not so convinced?

Try holding your breath for as long as you can. No matter how strong your mental will is, it can never override the will of the body. This is good news—no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that you are gong to die from a panic attack, you won’t. Your body will override that fear and search for a state of balance. There has never been a reported incident of someone dying from a panic attack.

Remember this next time you have a panic attack; he causes of panic attacks cannot do you any physical harm. Your mind may make the sensations continue longer than the body intended, but eventually everything will return to a state of balance. In fact, balance (homeostasis) is what our body continually strives for.

The interference for your body is nothing more than the sensations of doing rigorous exercise. Our body is not alarmed by these symptoms. Why should it be? It knows its own capability. It’s our thinking minds that panic, which overreact and scream in sheer terror! We tend to fear the worst and exaggerate our own sensations. A quickened heart beat becomes a heart attack. An overactive mind seems like a close shave with schizophrenia. Is it our fault? Not really—we are simply diagnosing from poor information.

Cardiovascular Effects Activity in the sympathetic nervous system increases our heartbeat rate, speeds up the blood flow throughout the body, ensures all areas are well supplied with oxygen and that waste products are removed. This happens in order to prime the body for action.

A fascinating feature of the “fight or flight” mechanism is that blood (which is channelled from areas where it is currently not needed by a tightening of the blood vessels) is brought to areas where it is urgently needed.

For example, should there be a physical attack, blood drains from the skin, fingers, and toes so that less blood is lost, and is moved to “active areas” such as the thighs and biceps to help the body prepare for action.

This is why many feel numbness and tingling during a panic attack-often misinterpreted as some serious health risk-such as the precursor to a heart attack. Interestingly, most people who suffer from anxiety often feel they have heart problems. If you are really worried that such is the case with your situation, visit your doctor and have it checked out. At least then you can put your mind at rest.

Respiratory Effects

One of the scariest effects of a panic attack is the fear of suffocating or smothering. It is very common during a panic attack to feel tightness in the chest and throat. I’m sure everyone can relate to some fear of losing control of your breathing. From personal experience, anxiety grows from the fear that your breathing itself would cease and you would be unable to recover. Can a panic attack stop our breathing? No.

A panic attack is associated with an increase in the speed and depth of breathing. This has obvious importance for the defense of the body since the tissues need to get more oxygen to prepare for action. The feelings produced by this increase in breathing, however, can include breathlessness, hyperventilation, sensations of choking or smothering, and even pains or tightness in the chest. The real problem is that these sensations are alien to us, and they feel unnatural.

Having experienced extreme panic attacks myself, I remember that on many occasions, I would have this feeling that I couldn’t trust my body to do the breathing for me, so I would have to manually take over and tell myself when to breathe in and when to breathe out. Of course, this didn’t suit my body’s requirement of oxygen and so the sensations would intensify—along with the anxiety. It was only when I employed the technique I will describe for you later, did I let the body continue doing what it does best—running the whole show.

Importantly, a side-effect of increased breathing, (especially if no actual activity occurs) is that the blood supply to the head is actually decreased. While such a decrease is only a small amount and is not at all dangerous, it produces a variety of unpleasant but harmless symptoms that include dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, sense of unreality, and hot flushes.

Other Physical Effects of Panic Attacks:

Now that we’ve discussed some of the primary physiological causes of panic attacks, there are a number of other effects that are produced by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, none of which are in any way harmful.

For example, the pupils widen to let in more light, which may result in blurred vision, or “seeing” stars, etc. There is a decrease in salivation, resulting in dry mouth. There is decreased activity in the digestive system, which often produces nausea, a heavy feeling in the stomach, and even constipation. Finally, many of the muscle groups tense up in preparation for “fight or flight” and this results in subjective feelings of tension, sometimes extending to actual aches and pains, as well as trembling and shaking.

Overall, the fight/flight response results in a general activation of the whole bodily metabolism. Thus, one often feels hot and flushed and, because this process takes a lot of energy, the person generally feels tired and drained.

Mental Manifestations: Are the causes of panic attacks all in my head? is a question many people wonder to themselves.

The goal of the fight/flight response is making the individual aware of the potential danger that may be present. Therefore, when activated, the mental priority is placed upon searching the surroundings for potential threats. In this state one is highly-strung, so to speak. It is very difficult to concentrate on any one activity, as the mind has been trained to seek all potential threats and not to give up until the threat has been identified. As soon as the panic hits, many people look for the quick and easiest exit from their current surroundings, such as by simply leaving the bank queue and walking outside. Sometimes the anxiety can heighten, if we perceive that leaving will cause some sort of social embarrassment.

If you have a panic attack while at the workplace but feel you must press on with whatever task it is you are doing, it is quite understandable that you would find it very hard to concentrate. It is quite common to become agitated and generally restless in such a situation. Many individuals I have worked with who have suffered from panic attacks over the years indicated that artificial light—such as that which comes from computer monitors and televisions screens—can can be one of the causes of panic attacks by triggering them or worsen a panic attack, particularly if the person is feeling tired or run down.

This is worth bearing in mind if you work for long periods of time on a computer. Regular break reminders should be set up on your computer to remind you to get up from the desk and get some fresh air when possible.

In other situations, when during a panic attack an outside threat cannot normally be found, the mind turns inwards and begins to contemplate the possible illness the body or mind could be suffering from. This ranges from thinking it might have been something you ate at lunch, to the possibility of an oncoming cardiac arrest.

The burning question is: Why is the fight/flight response activated during a panic attack even when there is apparently nothing to be frightened of?

Upon closer examination of the causes of panic attacks, it would appear that what we are afraid of are the sensations themselves—we are afraid of the body losing control. These unexpected physical symptoms create the fear or panic that something is terribly wrong. Why do you experience the physical symptoms of the fight/flight response if you are not frightened to begin with? There are many ways these symptoms can manifest themselves, not just through fear.

For example, it may be that you have become generally stressed for some reason in your life, and this stress results in an increase in the production of adrenaline and other chemicals, which from time to time, would produce symptoms….and which you perceive as the causes of panic attacks.

This increased adrenaline can be maintained chemically in the body, even after the stress has long gone. Another possibility is diet, which directly affects our level of stress. Excess caffeine, alcohol, or sugar is known for causing stress in the body, and is believed to be one of the contributing factors of the causes of panic attacks (Chapter 5 gives a full discussion on diet and its importance).

Unresolved emotions are often pointed to as a possible trigger of panic attacks, but it is important to point out that eliminating panic attacks from your life does not necessarily mean analyzing your psyche and digging into your subconscious. The “One Move” technique will teach you to deal with the present moment and defuse the attack along with removing the underlying anxiety that sparks the initial anxiety.

Learn more at http://www.panicaway.com.

Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here: http://www.panicaway.com.

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Over the past several blogs, I’ve written about how easy it is for our thinking and our perspective to change to the negative. I wrote about how a negative perspective is like wearing sunglasses at night and how negative thinking keeps us in a state of constant turmoil and crisis.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Recently, I came upon Carlson’s book, which is full of simple, yet practical advice for dealing with some of our everyday problems. I’d like to share one of those particular thoughts with you here -

Great advice – I encourage you to remember the above little exercise, the next time your thinking starts getting obsessively negative, before it starts spinning out of control. Oh, and there’s one more thing that’s been awfully helpful to me over the years that I’d like to leave with you –

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Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There’s no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people’s jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone else’s basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

And you thought that you couldn’t learn something from the Easter Bunny!

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My child, don’t lose sight of common sense (wisdom) and discernment.

Hang on to them,

for they will refresh your soul.

They are like jewels on a necklace.

They keep you safe on your way,

and your feet will not stumble.

You can go to bed without fear;

you will lie down and sleep soundly.

You need not be afraid of sudden disaster

or the destruction that comes upon the wicked,

for the Lord is your security.

He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.

These are deep and comforting words for all of us who take them to heart. How many of us, in the midst of our crisis or personal problems become completely scared and uncertain of what the future holds? How many of us feel completely turned upside down and troubled by the looming chaos that surrounds us? The truth is that when we spend our time and energy focusing on our crisis or problem situation, we become more and more frustrated, confused and distraught.

Your Crisis is like a Dark, Lonely Road

Imagine for a moment that your problems or crisis represent walking at night down a dark road. It can be scary, lonely, depressing and make us horribly anxious. Nobody would enjoy this type of situation. Now let me ask you a question. If you were all alone, by yourself on a dark road and lost, what would help you?

If your answer is a light, a map, a car or even someone to guide you, then you’d be correct.

Do you think it would do you any good in this situation to just keep wandering around, stumbling and trying to focus on the darkness?

In my time of coaching people in crisis, I find that many people often lose sight of what’s most important as they become carried away and even obsessed with their problems. This is easy to do when our lives seem to be spinning out of control. Our knee-jerk reaction is to focus on the crisis and try to fix the problem, often making things worse as we lose site of the bigger picture. Not always, but oftentimes, we end up in crisis or in difficult (dark) situations because we weren’t prepared, kind of like a child wandering out by himself before sunset and then finding himself all alone in the dark night – lost, unknowing and without guidance.

Can you identify with this?

Shine Some Light on Your Crisis or Difficulty

In the above Proverb, God reminds us to not lose sight of wisdom, common sense and discernment. He then tells us that clinging to truth, wisdom and what’s right will refresh us and protect us. His promise is that as we walk through life, staying focused upon what’s right, good, wise and truthful – He will guard us, keep us safe and will protect us from stumbling along the way. Sounds like a strong dose of bright, redeeming LIGHT to me – just what everyone needs, but especially those of us in crisis or a difficult situation!

Here’s the point -

Being in tune with God’s truth and wisdom is like walking down a dark road carrying a bright lantern to light your way. You may not be able to see very far ahead, but as long as you carry that light with you, your path will continue to be visible. You won’t stumble or fall, because you’re surrounded by a circle of light. When you happen upon a pothole, cliff or dropoff area (all problem situations), you’ll see them before stepping, because your path is illuminated or lit up.

God’s Promise – Peace & Safety

In the above verses, we read God’s promise. He uses words like “you will sleep soundly”, “you need not be afraid”, “the Lord is your security” . . . These are things that we all could use, whether in crisis or not. Wow, what a comfort to know that as we trust in God and His truth and protection, while clinging to His wisdom, that He’ll protect us and even keep us from falling into a trap.

In today’s difficult and troubling times, we would all do well to meditate and seek to be grounded in God’s eternal truth and wisdom, knowing that He will guide us, protect us and give us peace and security for the future. Could anything top that?

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Have you ever tried to do something indoors with your sunglasses on?

Ok, so maybe you’re one of those “cool” people who wears his shades inside (for image and all), but on a more practical note, think for a moment about what it’s like to wear your sunglasses inside the house or better yet, what happens when you wear them at night? Try it sometime and see how easy it is to cook or read or watch TV. Ok, so you have the idea.

Now, once again, think about PERSPECTIVE. More importantly, think about YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s say that it’s nighttime and you’re in the car driving, with your sunglasses on. Now, let’s talk about your perspective. Answer the following questions for yourself:

• How easy is it to see the road?
• Can you read the speedometer to know how fast you’re going?
• Do your eyes hurt from straining to see?
• Is it frustrating?
• Are you able to drive as fast as you could without the sunglasses?
• Is it scary?
• What are you chances of having an accident?

Again, I think you get the picture. My point here is that when you wear sunglasses at the wrong time, not only are they ineffective, but they actually can put your life at risk. If wearing your sunglasses at night makes driving difficult or almost impossible, what can you do to fix the situation?

Sunglasses at night may look cool, but not so bright!

TAKE YOUR SUNGLASSES OFF! Brilliant, huh?

Ok, for the sake of driving this home, let’s turn this little analogy to the personal and practical side as it relates to you and your PERSPECTIVE. In this case, wearing sunglasses = bad, negative, disruptive, depressing, pessimistic in terms of perspective and attitude. Now, with that in mind, what happens if you wear your “sunglasses at night” with regards to your PERSPECTIVE? Answer these questions:

• How easy is it to conduct your life – work, make friends, love family members, eat right, exercise, etc.?
• Is it hard to find your way?
• How do you feel physically, mentally and emotionally?
• Are you frustrated?
• Are you effective at ____________________ (you fill in the blank)?
• Is your negative viewpoint slowing you down?
• Do you find yourself depressed, anxious and sick a lot?
• How successful do you think you will be, wearing this PERSPECTIVE?
• Is it helping or hurting you?

They’re valid questions to ask. All of us need to keep our perspective in check on a daily basis. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially when our lives don’t go exactly as we hope.

Here’s your inspiration for today – Don’t let a bad or negative perspective put your life in peril. Make sure that you daily keep it in check.

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I’m sure you’ve had occasion to meet someone (probably on a regular basis) who always seems to operate in the negative. They either spend the majority of their time talking about what they won’t or can’t do, or what they don’t or can’t have because of this or that. There are always excuses, always reasons and most of time these reasons and excuses are due to the blame game or their own negative thinking. To them, life is difficult, trying, a burden and most of all – unfair.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that these “negative thinking” people have no reason to complain or be negative and pessimistic. In fact, you will probably find that negative thinking people truly do have more to be negative and complain about than those who have an inspired, positive, optimistic attitude. This leads me a bit to the “chicken and egg” approach about the situation. Which came first?

Does Negative Thinking Cause Crisis or Does Crisis Cause Negative Thinking?

It’s a good question, don’t you think? How many negative thinkers out there create their crisis world by their negative thinking or pessimism? Well, I wish I could tell you the answer for certain by quoting statistics, but I can’t. But, what I can tell you is that I suspect negative thinking and crisis are pretty well “bound at the hip” so to speak. Wherever you find crisis, it’s likely that you’ll also find negative thinking or at worst, a pessimist. Or will you?

Show me one negative thinking pessimist who’s not in crisis of some sort! I dare you. Find me one.

I, however, can find you a person in crisis who’s not a negative thinking pessimist. The difference though, is that this person is much more difficult to find.

Why is that?

It all boils down to a little thing called PERSPECTIVE.

My question for you today, (person in crisis), WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

Remember, many times our thinking dictates our reality. No matter what your situation or crisis, don’t let negative thinking rule. Take the high road.

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