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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Keeping Yourself Happy and Healthy

    Keeping Yourself Happy and Healthy

    Especially during the winter time and even into the beginning of spring, bad moods and gloominess can take over very easily. Gross weather, mud and rain, and intermediate sunshine that leads to false hopes of high temperatures.

    It can be very difficult to avoid being in a slump when it seems as though the earth is too, but once you break out of that negative cycle it will seem as though there is no day too gloomy to not be happy!

    Taking a closer look, we find that the culprit of our day-to-day negative thoughts can be found in the amygdala, a region of the human brain. It is here where your fear is processed along with feelings of anxiety, and other similar emotions.

    Dr. Richard J. Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin — Madison, uses the term ‘Plastic” when referring to the human brain.

    Davidson says that our bodies are capable of creating new cells and pathways within our minds, and therefore capable of thinking in new ways.

    With this in mind we can assume that over time we would be able to train ourselves to think differently–more positive even.

    Dr. Davidson found that in as little as two weeks of positive meditation, you can train your brain to react and think more positively than you previously would have.

    Through something as simple as a five to ten minute daily mediation routine, in which you focus on reducing negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones, you can become a more positive person.

    Combine your daily meditation with one to two random generous or kind acts a day and soon you can truly become an overall happier and healthier person both mentally and physically.

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