Category Archives: Emotional Well-Being

Baha Mar Resort, Nassau, The Bahamas

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Baha Mar resort, Nassau, The Bahamas is the newest family vacation destination in the Caribbean.

This blog post on travel and experiences deviates from typical posts that appear on this site. Typically, past blog posts have covered pertinent topics dealing with building wealth, healthy aging, well-being and finding life’s purpose.

However, this blog post provides details of a recent March 2022, five night, six day trip and experiences of vacationing at the SLS Baha Mar Resort located in Nassau, New Providience, The Bahamas.

Baha Mar is an integrated resort, casino, and residential development perched on Nassau’s storied Cable Beach. The destination features three renowned hotel brands and a variety of luxurious amenities including the largest casino in The Bahamas, a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, a convention center, and a diverse collection of dining, nightlife, and retail outlets.

Travel and Experiences

New Providence, The Bahamas, is a 35 to 55-minute flight from most of Florida to Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport. Baha Mar resort is approximately a 10-minute drive from the airport. Lynden Pindling International Airport offers U.S. Customs and Immigration pre-clearance in Nassau upon your return to the U.S.

Traveling to The Bahamas during COVID-19 pandemic requires a little advance planning. U.S. citizens traveling to The Bahamas are required to be vaccinated and to have a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test within three days of arrival. Additionally, The Bahamas Travel Health Visa (BTHV) ($40 cost) is required by international travelers over the age of 2 in order to enter the island country.

According to available government literature regarding travel to The Bahamas during COVID-19, individuals are required to wear a mask while indoors on the island. Although that is the stated policy of the island, what I observed was significantly different. Instead of people donning masks while indoors, I would estimate that less than one percent of the hotel guests actually wore masks indoor. In contrast, every Baha Mar associate worn their masks continuously, even outdoors.

Additionally, the Baha Mar Resorts purports to operate their hotels during COVID-19 pandemic far less than their maximum occupancy for guest comfort and safety. However, the resort was at 99% occupancy during our stay. Thus, they’re effectively operating the resort occupancy-wise as if the pandemic is no longer a concern. However, they are still going through the motions of disinfecting high touch surfaces.

Baha Mar Resort

Baha Mar Resort is located on Cable Beach, which occupies the northwest part of New Providence Island. Within the massive resort, there are three hotel brands that share the property — The Grand Hyatt, SLS Baha Mar, and Rosewood. Many resort rooms provide spectacular views of Cable Beach from balconies and permit access to the experiences of Baha Mar, such as Baha Bay water park and the white sand of Cable Beach.

We stayed at the considerably upscale SLS Baha Mar, which is advertised as “a new era of stylish, playfully sophisticated, luxe, high-design accommodations”. The hotel offers “sleek, well appointed rooms”. Also located on the property are Baha Bay water park and the casino.

During your stay at Baha Mar, you learn quickly about the burdensome Resort’s service charge of 15% and The Bahamas’ value added tax (VAT) of 10%. Added together, the combined resort’s service charge plus VAT adds 25% of additional charges to every already premium priced purchase. For example, a $16 glass of red wine would lighten your wallet an additional $4 for a total of $20 after adding the service charge and VAT. A simple Resort cheese burger starts at $26 which inflates to $32.50 after service charge and VAT are included.

Overall, the Baha Mar Resort has a plethora of amenities and activities to keep even the most acquiring guest interested. Starting with Baha Bay water park, there are death defying water slides named the “Devil’s Backbone”, which the floor drop out from under you before blasting through looping and twisting tunnels, and “Thunderball”, which is a freefall, straight-down slide that delivers an unforgettable experience. Both of these slides invoked fear into a few guests, who chose to walk back down the several flights of stairs instead of taking the faster water slide route down to ground level. Also, the water park contained The River, a typical lazy river with several interesting enhancements such as rapids and high waves. There are bail out points along The River before the rapids and several tubers did choose to abandon their tubes before making the turn to enter the rapids.

Other water activities include kayaking, paddle board and snorkeling the man made reefs a short swimming distance from the Baha Mar white sand beaches.

Dining

Marcus at Baha Mar Fish + Chop House is a celebration of Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s food and beverage creations. At the restaurant, the 8 ounce ground beef brisket and beef short rib sandwich, and Chef Yes cocktail were a favorite. Additionally, T2 Cigar Bar was a great place to relax and watch the fire fountain display during evening hours.

Resort guests are advised to make dinner reservations one week to ten days early at the most popular Baha Mar Resort restaurants like Shuang Ba haute Chinese and Fi’lia Italian restaurants. If you wait until after arrive on the Baha Mar property, it may be too late to attain dinner reservations.

Off the resort, Twin Brothers restaurant located at Fish Fry is recommended for those interested in trying local dishes prepared by local chefs. One appetizer that stands out is the Tropical Conch Salad. The salad is served in a large plastic container and it was by far one of the best dishes on the island. But, avoid the mac and cheese at Twin Brothers.

A local off-the-beaten path restaurant that is worth a visit is Sea Shell. The restaurant serves local Bahamian dishes prepared and served cafeteria style. It is well known and frequented by locals and taxi cab drivers, but it is located in an area of town few tourist would likely venture. Nevertheless, the Habanero Chicken Wings with sides of mac and cheese, and plantains, were truly memorable and well worth the short cab ride from the resort.

Casino

The Baha Mar Casino is the largest casino in the Caribbean. It was designed to remove money from every level of gambler, from casual players to high-stakes rollers, according to its literature. The casino offer several different types of gaming tables, a plethora of slot machines, live sports betting, and one of the Nassau’s top dining and nightlife scene.

For resort guest, the casino offers a $25 free play card for the slot machines. The cards must be used by guests within twenty-four hours of activation or the cards will expire.

References:

  1. https://www.onlinevisa.com/bahamas-visa/
  2. https://bahabay.bahamar.com/
  3. https://d3py87e0zuixsk.cloudfront.net/production/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/09122331/BHM_FACTBOOK_20211025_CB.pdf

Positive Wealth Building Thoughts

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“Wealth is the product of a man’s capacity to think.” – Ayn Rand

“We become what we think about.” — Earl Nightingale

Wealth building begins and ends with your mindset, thoughts and behaviors. Thus, it’s imperative to keep your thoughts focused on the positive, on success, on making an impact, on changing the world and on changing people’s lives for the better.

There is an old adage that goes:

  • Watch your thoughts, they become words.
  • Watch your words, they become actions.
  • Watch your actions, they become habits.
  • Watch your habits, they become your character.
  • Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

You must not fix your eyes on current world conditions or even your own personal situation. Instead, you must focus on what you can control, on how you respond, and on how well you maintain a positive and winning mindset and attitude. Focus on the solution not the problem.

So, your keys to success tips include:

  1. Use only positive words while thinking and while talking. Use words such as, ‘I can’, ‘I am able’, ‘it is possible’, ‘it can be done’, etc.
  2. Allow only feelings of happiness, strength and success into your awareness.
  3. Every time a negative thought finds its way into your mind, immediately replace it with a positive thought or an affirmation.
  4. In your conversation, use words that bring forth feelings and mental images of strength, happiness and success.
  5. Before starting with any plan or action, visualize clearly in your mind its successful outcome.
  6. Read at least one page of an inspiring book or an inspiring article every day.
  7. Associate yourself with people who think positively.
  8. Act courageous. Always sit and walk with your back straight. This will strengthen your confidence and inner strength.

In order to build wealth and to achieve financial freedom, you must develop a wealth building mindset and follow a deliberate plan. As you will discover, your wealth grows to the extent that you do.

“We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret.” – Earl Nightingale

Bottomline…for success, keep your focus and thoughts on wealth building!!! Because, what you focus on expands and establishing habits is the key to expansion.

Don’t focus on the problems your dealing with today or the conditions of the world; fix your eyes on your systems, habits and the destination.

Napoleon Hill describes success as the product of having a definite objective. In achieving that objective, you need a clear definite aim and a definite plan to get there.

A definite chief aim means in simple terms that you must have a clear objective that you are aiming to achieve. Success — building wealth and achieving financial freedom — will not come to you and you will not be able to manifest what you want, unless you know what you want.

Success is ultimately achieved by focusing on a clear objective, and pursuing that objective deliberately and with all the means at your disposal. In simple terms, success is simple, but not easy.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill

Actually, you just have to be exceptionally clear about what you are trying to achieve, passionate about achieving it, comfortable and happy that what you’re doing matches your values: and finally, and perhaps more important than anything else, you must believe that you can achieve it, you must expect to do so, and you must have a plan to achieve it.

So it’s imperative that you use the power of your thoughts and mind to focus on the positive aspects of your life. This works similarly to building strength in the muscles of your body. As you focus on what’s going right in your life, it will grow and expand like a muscle.

What you focus on grows and expands!

References:

  1. https://www.therealsecretofsuccess.com/napoleon-hill/
  2. https://activerain.com/blogsview/5155111/what-you-focus-on-expands

Summary: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

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“Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.” Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey’s seminal book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, remains relevant because it focuses on timeless principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. It’s timeless principles are also extremely relevant for those desiring to develop a wealth mindset and to build wealth.

In his book, Covey argues that it’s your character that needs to be cultivated to achieve effectiveness and sustainable success, not your personality and behavior. Effectively, what we are says far more than what we say or do.

Character is closely related to moral and ethical values. It focuses on the traits that are unique to a person. Character is often regarded as the true self, meaning that it represents deep rooted attributes possessed by a person.

While, personality is often referred to as the mask identity of a person. It is reflected by the outer appearance and behavior that may or may not be true to inner character.

In a nutshell, the seven habits of highly effective people are:

  1. You take initiative. “Be proactive.”
  2. You focus on goals. “Begin with the end in mind.”
  3. You set priorities. “Put first things first.”
  4. You only win when others win. “Think win/win.”
  5. You communicate. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
  6. You cooperate. “Synergize.”
  7. You reflect on and repair your deficiencies…you focus on your well-being. “Sharpen the saw.”

In short, you are what you habitually do, so adopt productive habits. You have the ability to improve your habits and your life.

Covey’s seven habits are composed of the primary principles of character upon which happiness and success are based. Rather than focusing on altering the outward manifestations of your behavior and attitudes, it aims to adapt your inner core, character, and motives.

Your character is a composite of your habits, which factors heavily in your life. Because habits are consistent, unconscious patterns, they constantly express your character and result in your effectiveness or ineffectiveness. Habits are deeply ingrained and you are constantly pulled in their direction. Breaking deeply imbedded, habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness or selfishness that inhibit effectiveness involves more than simple willpower or a few minor changes.

“What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.” Stephen R. Covey

A habit is the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire:

  • Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why.
  • Skill is the how to do.
  • Desire is the motivation, the want to do.

Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions–to listen, knowing how to listen and to want to listen. By working on knowledge, skills, and desire, we can break through to new levels of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break from old paradigms. 

Paradigms (another term for mindset) are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world… “If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.” – Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Habit 1: Be Proactive – Principle: I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices.

Your life doesn’t just “happen.” Whether you know it or not, it is carefully designed by you. The choices, after all, are yours. You choose happiness. You choose sadness. You choose decisiveness. You choose ambivalence. You choose success. You choose failure. You choose courage. You choose fear. Just remember that every moment, every situation, provides a new choice. And in doing so, it gives you a perfect opportunity to do things differently to produce more positive results.

Habit 1: Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. You can’t keep blaming everything on your parents or grandparents. Proactive people recognize that they are “response-able.” They don’t blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they choose their behavior.

All external forces act as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is your greatest power–you have the freedom to choose your response. One of the most important things you choose is what you say. Your language is a good indicator of how you see yourself. A proactive person uses proactive language–I can, I will, I prefer, etc.

Being proactive means more than taking initiative. It means we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. 

“It’s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.” Stephen R. Covey

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – Principle: Mental creation precedes physical creation.

Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty–successes that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.

Habit 2 is based on imagination–the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint.

If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It’s about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself.

Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.

Covey states that the most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to create a personal mission statement. It should focus on the following:

  • What you want to be (character)
  • What you want to do (contributions and achievements)
  • The values upon which both of these things are based

In time, your mission statement will become your personal constitution. It becomes the basis from which you make every decision in your life. By making principles the center of your life, you create a solid foundation from which to flourish.

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. You need to know where you are going in order to better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. 

Habit 3: Put First Things First – Principle: Effectiveness requires the integrity to act on your priorities.

Habit one encourages you to realize you are in charge of your own life, and habit two is based on the ability to visualize and to identify your key values. Habit 3 is the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2. Habit 1 says, “You are the creator. You are in charge.” Habit 2 is the first mental creation, based on imagination, the ability to envision what you can become. Habit 3 is the second creation, the physical creation. It focuses on the practice of effective self-management. By asking yourself the above questions, you become aware that you have the power to significantly change your life in the present.

To live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that saying no to everything that comes along is okay. There’s no need to overextend yourself. All it takes is realizing that it’s all right to say no when necessary and then focus on your highest priorities.

Habit three concerns itself with putting the most important things first. This means cultivating the ability to say no to things that don’t match your guiding principles. To manage your time effectively, your behaviors and actions must adhere to the following habit 5 concepts:

  1. They must be principle-centered.
  2. They must be conscience-directed, meaning that they give you the opportunity to organize your life in accordance with your core values.
  3. They define your key mission, which includes your values and long-term goals.
  4. They give balance to your life.
  5. They are organized weekly, with daily adaptations as needed.

The focus is on improving relationships and results, not on maximizing your time.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win – Principle: Effective, long-term relationships require mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Think Win-Win is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration.

Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.

To adopt a win/win mindset, you must cultivate the habit of interpersonal leadership. This involves exercising each of the following traits when interacting with others:

  • Self-awareness
  • Imagination
  • Conscience
  • Independent will

To be an effective win/win leader, Covey argues that you must embrace five independent dimensions:

  1. Character: This is the foundation upon which a win/win mentality is created, and it means acting with integrity, maturity, and an “abundance mentality” (i.e., there is plenty of everything for everyone, one person’s success doesn’t threaten your success).
  2. Relationships: Trust is essential to achieving win/win agreements. You must nourish your relationships to maintain a high level of trust.
  3. Agreements: This means that the parties involved must agree on the desired results, guidelines, resources, accountability, and the consequences.
  4. Win/win performance agreements and supportive systems: Creating a standardized, agreed-upon set of desired results to measure performance within a system that can support a win/win mindset.
  5. Processes: All processes must allow for win/win solutions to arise.

Win/Win is not a technique; it’s a total philosophy. This frame of mind and heart constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way, a higher way.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood – Principle: To communicate effectively, we must first understand each other.

Communication is the most important skill in life. You spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. But what about listening?

If you’re like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across. And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you’re listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely.

Seek first to understand involves a deep shift in paradigm. We typically seek first to be understood. Instead, most people listen to the reply. They’re either speaking or preparing to speak. 

Habit 6: Synergize – Principle: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

To put it simply, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems.

Synergy is the highest activity in all life – the true test and manifestation of all the other habits combined. Synergy catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people. Simply defined, synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – Principle: To maintain and increase effectiveness, we must renew ourselves in body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life:

  • Physical: exercise, nutrition and sleep
  • Social/Emotional: meaningful human connections and relationships
  • Mental: learning, visualizing, acquiring new knowledge, growing
  • Spiritual: mindfulness, art, meditation, music, time in nature, prayer and service

As you renew yourself in each of the four areas, you create growth and change in your life. Sharpen the Saw keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the other six habits. You increase your capacity to produce and handle the challenges around you. Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish.

Feeling good doesn’t just happen. Living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. Remember that every day provides a new opportunity for renewal–a new opportunity to recharge yourself instead of hitting the wall. All it takes is the desire, knowledge, and skill.

Habit 7 makes all of the other Habits possible. When you sharpen the saw, you preserve and enhance the greatest asset you have – yourself. 

In conclusion, real change comes not from the outside in, but from the inside out, explains Covey. And the most fundamental way of changing yourself is through a paradigm shift.

There are so many people out there who are excelling in their work lives but failing miserably in their personal lives. They’re a success story on the outside but their lives are falling apart. Their problems are deep and painful. A quick fix doesn’t work in this case. To change such situations, you have to improve yourself and your mindset.

A paradigm is a way you see and perceive the world. Like a map of a territory, a paradigm is a model of something else. Two people can see the same thing and interpret it differently, and they’ll both be correct. It’s not logical but psychological.

Your paradigms affect the way you interact with people.

“Of course, things can hurt us physically or economically and can cause sorrow. But our character, our basic identity, does not have to be hurt at all.” Stephen R. Covey

References:

  1. https://resources.franklincovey.com/mkt-7hv1/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people
  2. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-by-stephen-covey-summary
  3. https://www.stratechi.com/7-habits/
  4. https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/7%20Habits-of-Highly-Effective-People.pdf
  5. https://earlgreyninja.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-stephen-r-covey/

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“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Melodie Beattie, Author of ‘Co-dependant No More’

Better Workouts Include the Brain and Body

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Movement is Medicine: ‘We can use our bodies as a tool to affect the way we think and feel, like a hotline to the mind.” Caroline Williams, researcher and author of ‘Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free’

“Movement affects your brain; but your brain also affects movement.”

Regular physical activity is an important part of a healthy mind, body and lifestyle. Not only is exercise good for your muscles and bones, but it is also an important part of keeping your brain healthy too. Exercise doesn’t only mean working out or playing sports, it just means moving your body and being active. A few other examples of exercise are: dancing, walking, biking, swimming, or throwing a Frisbee.

What happens in the body and brain during exercise: As your heart rate increases during exercise, blood flow to the brain increases. As blood flow increases, your brain is exposed to more oxygen and nutrients. Exercise also induces the release of beneficial proteins in the brain. These nourishing proteins keep brain cells (also known as neurons) healthy, and promote the growth of new neurons. Neurons are the working building blocks of the brain. As a result, individual neuron health is important to overall brain health.

Studies have shown that the connection between your brain and your body is a “two-way street” and that means physical movement can effectively change your brain for the better, explains Srini Pillay, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Your brain plays a major role in your physical and emotional well-being, and it directly affects your ability to exercise. Your brain was designed for survival and avoiding danger (fight, flight or freeze). Regular aerobic exercise can reduce anxiety by making your brain’s “fight, flight or freeze” system less reactive.

One way to trick your brain is doing a Gatorade swish, which misleads your brain into thinking your body is getting a jolt of energy from a sugary beverage, even if it isn’t. The act triggers the brain, which naturally wants to preserve energy for survival, into releasing dopamine to help jump start exercise based on the false promise is sugar, Dr. Jennifer Heisz, explains in Move Your Body; Heal Your Mind.

Movement can improve your cognitive functions and mental health. Regular physical activity and movement benefit more than just the body. They actually augment brain function. Movement supplies brain cells with oxygen, promotes the production of new brain cells, and aids in creating new synapses.

Regular exercise such as aerobic, resistance, flexibility, and balance exercises can reduce depressive symptoms. Exercise can be as effective as medication and psychotherapies.

Regular exercise may boost mood by increasing a brain protein called BDNF that helps nerve fibers grow.

Mindfulness during exercises and workout.

“A 12 minute walk alters metabolites in our blood, molecules that affect the beating of our heart, the breath in our lungs, the neurons in our brain.” explains Annabel Streets, “52,ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time.

Physical activity is ignored by experts who are too focused on addressing mental health issues from the neck up. “It’s low hanging fruit,” she says, “brain chemist, thought, behaviors might take years to address on the couch.” Dr. Ellen Vora, a New York psychiatrist.

“The brain is always working against you to not expend energy, but we can override it,” says Dr. Heisz.

Exercise can be turned into a powerful meditation practice states Anita Sweeney, author of “Make Every Move a Meditation: Mindful Movement for Mental Health, Well-Being, and Insight”. Exercise can be turned into a powerful meditative practice by focusing the mind on a single thought, object or sensation during exercise can help bring clarity and peace of mind. For example, focusing on your left foot hitting the pavement can help you focus.

Exercise is essential for those seeking better emotional well-being and better mental health. Both physical exercise and meditative movement are activities that you can do to improve the way you feel.

Studies have found that people who exercise daily are at greatly reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Rudolph Tanzi, Kennedy professor of neurology and cofounder of the McCance Center for Brain Health at MGH, states, “It’s hard to imagine anything better for brain health than daily exercise, and our findings shed new light on the mechanism involved: protecting against neuroinflammation, perhaps the biggest killer of brain neurons as we age.”

References:

  1. https://www.wsj.com/articles/best-books-2022-workout-fitness-11641905831
  2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-simply-moving-benefits-your-mental-health-201603289350
  3. https://www.dana.org/article/how-does-exercise-affect-the-brain/
  4. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2022/01/right-now-brain-on-exercise
  5. https://www.discoverhealthfmc.com/blogs/understanding-how-your-brain-affects-your-movement

Building Resilience

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“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr

The author of “Healthy Brain, Happy Life” and “Good Anxiety” explains how to harness the power of anxiety into unexpected gifts.

We are living in the age of anxiety. There are about 40 million Americans— or 18% of the population—suffering from clinical anxiety disorders today.

Anxiety is a situation that often makes you feel as if you are locked into an endless cycle of stress, uncertainty, and worry. But, there are ways to leverage your anxiety to help you solve problems and fortify your wellbeing, explains Dr. Wendy Suzuki, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Thus, instead of seeing anxiety strictly as a problem or curse to dread, you recognize it as the unique gift that it is.

Dr. Suzuki has discovered a paradigm-shifting truth about anxiety: yes, it is uncomfortable, but it is also essential for your survival. In fact, anxiety is a key component of your ability to live optimally. Every emotion you experience has an evolutionary purpose, and anxiety is designed to draw your attention to vulnerability. If you simply approach it as something to avoid, get rid of, or dampen, you actually miss an opportunity to improve your life. Listening to your anxieties from a place of curiosity, and without fear or worry, can actually guide you onto a path that leads to inner peace and joy.

Drawing on her own struggles and based on cutting-edge research, Dr. Suzuki has developed strategies for managing unwarranted anxiety and exercises you can do to build your resiliency and mental strength. The exercises include:

Visualize positive outcomes

At the beginning or at the end of each day, think through all those uncertain situations currently in your life — both big and small. Now take each of those and visualize the most optimistic and amazing outcome to the situation. Not just the “okay” outcome, but the best possible one you could imagine.

This process of visualizing “the most optimistic and amazing outcome” should build the muscle of expecting the positive outcome and might even open up ideas for what more you might do to create that outcome of your dreams.

Turn anxiety into progress

Our brain’s plasticity is what enables us to be resilient during challenging times — to learn how to calm down, reassess situations, reframe our thoughts and make smarter decisions.

Reach out

Asking for help, staying connected to friends and family, and actively nurturing supportive, encouraging relationships not only enables you to keep anxiety at bay, but also shores up the sense that you’re not alone.

The belief and feeling that you are surrounded by people who care about you is crucial during times of enormous stress — when you need to fall back on your own resilience in order to persevere and maintain your well-being.

When we are suffering from loss or other forms of distress, it’s natural to withdraw. Yet you also have the power to push yourself into the loving embrace of those who can help take care of you.

Practice positive self-tweeting

Lin-Manual Miranda sends out tweets at the beginning and end of each day. The tweets are essentially upbeat little messages that are funny, singsongy and generally delightful.

If you watch him, you’ll see an inherently resilient, mentally strong and optimistic person.

For you to be that resilient, productive and creative, it’s essential to come up with positive reminders. You don’t necessarily need to share them. The idea is to boost yourself up at the beginning and at the end of the day.

This can be difficult for those who automatically beat themselves up. Instead, think about what your biggest supporter in life — a spouse, partner, sibling, friend, mentor or parent — would tell you, and then tweet, remind or say it to yourself.

Although popular science continues to suggests that persistent, low-level anxiety is detrimental to your health, performance, and wellbeing, but if you could learn how to harness the brain activation underlying your anxiety and make it work for you, you could turn anxiety into superpower, says Dr. Suzuki.

Her research and her own experience demonstrate that this paradigm shift from bad to good anxiety can accelerate focus and productivity, boosts performance, lead to happiness, create compassion, and foster more creativity.

Twenty-five positive quotes and reminders to build resilience:

  1. You’re awesome, Bro.
  2. You can do all things through Christ which strengthens you!
  3. Believe in yourself; have faith in your abilities!
  4. Everyday, in every way, you’re getting better and better, dude!
  5. “Great minds discuss ideas.” Eleanor Roosevelt
  6. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Robert Collier
  7. “Be patient with yourself.” Stephen Covey
  8. “People will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
  9. “Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” Lao Tzu
  10. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” Andrew Carnegie
  11. “Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley
  12. “Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha
  13. “The secret of health for both mind and body…is to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” Buddha
  14. “Happiness…is appreciating what you have.”
  15. “We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
  16. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty.” Charles Dickens
  17. “He is a wise man who rejoices for the things which he has.” Epictetus
  18. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.” Oprah Winfrey
  19. “Open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift–today.” Steve Maraboli
  20. “This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.”
  21. “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” Brené Brown
  22. “Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.” T. Harv Eker
  23. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin
  24. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal.” Thomas Jefferson
  25. “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs–even though checkered by failure–than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

References:

  1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/do-these-exercises-every-day-to-build-resilience-and-mental-strength-says-neuroscientist.html
  2. https://www.wendysuzuki.com
  3. https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/top-350-inspiring-motivational-quotes-to-tweet-and-share.html

Persistence and Perseverance

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“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Calvin Coolidge

“Three simple rules in life and habits…Go, Ask, and Do:

  1. If you do not go after what you want, you’ll never have it.

  2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

  3. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.”

Austin Miller, VP of Talent Management at Sorenson Capital Partners

Mindfulness

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The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us, according to the website Mindfulness.com.

Mindfulness encompasses two key ingredients: awareness and acceptance, according to Psychology Today. Awareness is the knowledge and ability to focus attention on one’s inner processes and experiences, such as the experience of the present moment. Acceptance is the ability to observe and accept—rather than judge or avoid—those streams of thought.

Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.

Mindfulness is a technique of deliberately focusing your attention and not let yourself be distracted by other thoughts constantly running through your head; you clear “noise” from your mind.

Mindfulness is the idea to become more self-aware. You pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations in that moment — without purposefully deciding whether they’re good or bad, and without becoming overwhelmed or overly reactive.

In short, you tune in to what you’re feeling and what’s real right now. “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,” says Kabat-Zinn, creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) . “And then I sometimes add, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”

Mindfulness – Live in the day; Live in the now.

Mindfulness is available to you in every moment, whether through meditations or mindful moment practices like taking time to pause and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing to answer it.

Breathe in and out a few times. If your mind wanders, just notice that, accept that your mind has wandered, and refocus on your breathing. That’s a bare bones example of mindfulness. “Mindfulness is really important in times like this,” says Auguste H. Fortin VI, MD, MPH, a Yale Medicine internal medicine specialist who has recommended mindfulness practices to help cope with their illnesses.

Mindfulness is a practice that involves three components:

  • Paying attention to what is happening in the present moment
  • Doing this purposely and deliberately, with resolve
  • Maintaining the attitude that you will stay with your mindfulness experience, whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant

As you spend time practicing mindfulness, you’ll probably find yourself feeling kinder, calmer, and more patient. These shifts in your experience are likely to generate changes in other parts of your life as well.

Mindfulness can help you maximize your enjoyment of life and help you wind down. Its benefits include lowering stress levels, reducing harmful ruminating, and protecting against depression and anxiety. Research even suggests that mindfulness can help people better cope with rejection and social isolation.

“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”  Lao Tzu

References:

  1. https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
  2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness
  3. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/mindfulness-covid

Most Valuable Retirement Assets

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“Retirement is like an iceberg, where 90% of what’s really taking place lies below the surface, absent from traditional financial plans and conversations” Robert Laura

For a long and fulfilling life in retirement, you need much more than financial resources and financial security. Consequently, there are more valuable retirement assets than financial.

Retirement planning is typically related solely to financial planning, all about numbers. It centers around one question: Do your financial assets — pension, 401(k)s/IRAs, Social Security, property, sale of a business, etc. — provide enough income to fund your desired retirement lifestyle?

5 Tips to Help You Stay Motivated to Exercise poster

You’ll need enough money to get by, of course, but you don’t have to be super wealthy to be happy. In fact, life satisfaction tops out at an annual salary of $95,000, on average, according to a study by psychologists from Purdue University. Enough money to never have to worry about going broke or paying for medical care is important. But financial freedom is not the only or even the most important piece of a fulfilling retirement.

Once you have a retirement plan in place, it is essential to focus on all those things money cannot buy. There are non-financial assets that studies show can improve life satisfaction in retirement. According to Kiplinger Magazine, they include:

  1. Good Health (Health is Wealth) – Good health is the most important ingredient for a happy retirement, according to a Merrill Lynch/Age Wave report. Studies show that exercise and a healthy diet can reduce the risk of developing certain health conditions, increase energy levels, boost your immune system, and improve your mood.
  2. Strong Social Connections (Emotional Well-Being) – Happier retirees were found to be those with more social interactions with friends and family, according to one Gallup poll. Further, social isolation has been linked to higher rates of heart disease and stroke, increased risk of dementia, and greater incidence of depression and anxiety. A low level of social interaction is just as unhealthy as smoking, obesity, alcohol abuse and physical inactivity.
  3. Purpose – Retirees with a sense of purpose or meaning were three times more likely to say “helping people in need” brings them happiness in retirement than “spending money on themselves.” Purpose can fall into three buckets, which means getting involved with your place of worship or spiritual pursuits, using your talents in service to others, and doing what you’ve always wanted to do.
  4. Learning and Growing – Experts believe that ongoing education and learning new things may help keep you mentally sharp simply by getting you in the habit of staying mentally active. Exercising your brain may help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia.
  5. Optimistic Outlook – Optimistic people tend to expect that good things will happen in the future. A fair amount of scientific evidence suggests that being optimistic contributes to good health, both mental and physical and may lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and other chronic ailments and a longer life, and people with higher levels of optimism lived longer. Optimism is a trait that anyone can develop. Studies have shown people are able to adopt a more optimistic mindset with very simple, low-cost exercises, starting with consciously reframing every situation in a positive light. Over time, your brain is essentially rewired to think positively.
  6. Gratitude – People who counted their blessings had a more positive outlook on life, exercised more, reported fewer symptoms of illness and were more likely to help others. Gratitude enhances people’s satisfaction with life while reducing their desire to buy stuff.
  7. Dog Ownership – Older dog owners who walked their dogs at least once a day got 20% more physical activity than people without dogs and spent 30 fewer minutes a day being sedentary, on average, according to a study published in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Research has also indicated that dogs help soothe those suffering from cognitive decline, and the physical and mental health benefits of owning a dog can boost the longevity of the owner.

Retirement is major transition made up of many financial as well as life decisions. This is why it is important to create and to adhere a retirement plan as early as possible. That way you can spend more time focusing on everything else that equally matters.

References:

  1. https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/happy-retirement/601160/7-surprisingly-valuable-assets-for-a-happy-retirement

Life on the Edge

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“As you get older, the days go by quicker and you need to make the time count.” Mary Peachin, Octogenarian

As you age, it becomes more important to “live each day right to the limit”, states octogenarian Mary Peachin, in Costco Connection magazine, September 2021, Members Connection. Peachin has “walk the talk” and lived her life as a self proclaim world-traveling, deep sea diving adrenaline junkie. “If your body aches, you ignore it and keep on trucking”, she preaches.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, do not take no for an answer. You should expect and intend to live a life well lived and always believe the best is yet to come

“Life is too short not to enjoy it.”

Make your life happen and take action today. Be amongst the few who dared to live their dreams. Live your life in such a way that there is no regret.

Time is short; live every day for a higher purpose. Let’s invest the limited time we have on your life’s purpose and mission. Do not focus on your problems and challenges; instead focus on purpose and destination.

Life is brief and it passes quickly. The average American male lives to be 70 years 4 months. The average American female lives 70 years 4 months. To live life to its fullest, it is not the quantity of your life, but the quality.

Time is running out for all of us.

“Your job will not take care of you when your elderly and sick, your friends and family will.”

  1. Select a few friends to be close to in your life and communicate and strengthen your relationship with them
  2. Get over those who disappoint you and refuse to let those people steal your joy
  3. Lift up and encourage those who are recovering from failure. Treat people with Grace.
  4. Ignore your critics. Decide to see the good in the experience and growth, the lessons you learned and the relationships you made.
  5. Stay fully focused on your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Believe the best! Christ teaches us to believe the best…faith, hope and love. Remember to rejoice and be glad. If God is for us, who can be against us!

The most effective way to live life on the edge is to “find an edge and Live there”, states Peachin. And, you can start to “find an edge” by writing down your dreams and priorities in life, and then focusing on fulfilling those written dreams and priorities. It starts with knowing what you want, and it ends with getting what you wanted. It’s often that simple.

Save for and invest in the things that matter most!

In every positive or negative situation, there are always options. Remember you are the one pulling the strings, and when things look hopeless, it’s because you’re choosing not look at the things that truly matter. You’re choosing to see the the bad stuff, and they have little to do with your ability to change your circumstances. The trick is that you have to see the ocean of opportunity, not that little bucket of water (problems) that you tripped over.

We must decide to see the good and not dwell on the failure, but instead focus on the positives from the experience. Limits do not exist. You have weaknesses of course and we all do, but focus on your strengths. Remember if you’re feeling scared and fearful, it means you’re trying something new.

People don’t run marathons because it feels good.

When you feel bad about your situation, you’re thinking about the mistakes of yesterday, and not the opportunity of right now and the hope for tomorrow. You’re thinking about what has and what can go wrong, and not what can go right.

When you’re feeling defeated and discouraged, ascertain what you’re really focusing on. It important to focus on how far you’ve come, the opportunities that lie ahead, and the resources available you have to go forward.

“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it.” Oprah Winfrey

Always think bigger and focus on your purpose. Build the world as you want it to be.

References:

  1. Costco Connection, September 2021, Vol. 36, No. 9, pg. 119
  2. https://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-ways-to-live-your-life-to-the-fullest/

“Those who are the happiest are not necessarily those for whom life has been easiest. Emotional stability results from an attitude. It is refusing to yield to depression and fear, even when black clouds float overhead. It is improving that which can be improved and accepting that which is inevitable.” ― James C. Dobson, Life on the Edge: The Next Generation’s Guide to a Meaningful Future