Complete Physical, Social & Mental Well Being - Ask Better Questions

Thank you for joining me. It shows that my readers are dedicated to taking control of their health. Last week, we started on our journey to making sure we keep our minds healthy. We discussed the seven steps to making sure we can be the best that we absolutely can mentally. And, so far, we went over steps one and two. The first step is to become an optimist. The second step is becoming aware of self talk. Today, we move forward with the third step, Ask Better Questions.

Here’s a list of the steps to a positive mental attitude:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more

So, we are on our third step, and that means we should ask better questions. Our mental attitude is just like our bodies, it requires care and maintenance to stay fit and at its best. Conditioning our mind should be a constant in our lives. One way we condition our minds is by asking better questions. The most important factor in practicing this exercise is so that we are able to better understand. We must always try to understand others, but we must try even harder to understand ourselves.

Our last session on self talk discussed the step of asking better questions a little. That is because both steps work together as a powerful tool torwards a better mental attitude. In fact, one of the most powerful tools found for improving the quality of self talk and the quality of life is through a series of questions that were developed by Author Anthony Robbins and his book Unlimited Power.

Anthony Robbins believes that whatever question you ask, your brain will answer. For example, say that you are faced with a particular problem and you perhaps ask yourself the question, Why does this always happen to me? Your brain probably answers immediately. It answers to resolve the situation to make it better. Its basically a human tool we have to assist us in making better choices. So, asking better questions, would help you make better choices. And, this is not just something that works with you and you alone. It works on other people. If you ask another person a better question, you have the opportunity to receive a better answer from them and perhaps resolving a situation. This is an amazing exercise used in family therapy, couple counsel and so forth.

So, here's a list of questions that you can practice:

1. What am I most happy about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me happy?
B. How does that make me feel?

2. What am I most excited about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me excited?
B. How does that make me feel?

3. What am I most grateful about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me grateful?
B. How does that make me feel?

4. What am I enjoying most in my life right now?

A. Why do I enjoy that?
B. How does that make me feel?

5. What am I committed to in my life right now?

A. Why am I committed to that?
B. How does that make me feel?

6. Who do I love?

A. Who loves me?

7. What must I do today to achieve my long term goals?

These are great questions to practice. Personally, this little exercise assisted me in getting better organized in my business endeavors. The last question, number seven is a question I ask each and every day when I wake up. Although the questions seem a little repetative, they are indeed thought provoking, especially if we are not conditioned to think this way on a normal basis.

Now would be a great time to get yourself a planner. One like the Franklin Covey Planner that has tools on setting goals, self talk and asking better questions. The tools allow you to write down the questions and answer them and lets you keep a constant visual so that you become conditioned to thinking in this new way. They also have a book called, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This is a thought provoking book that will certainly get you on your way. I'm putting a few tools on a carousel for all my readers to gain easy access to. And of course, you can always go back and read my previous blogs for tips and tools.




Until tomorrow when we discuss employing positive affirmations,

Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Social, Physical & Mental Well Being - Weekend Thought

Happy Sunday Everyone,

Today I'm sort of discussing a television show I ran across. Last week, we started our topic on Physical, Social and Mental well-being. We are into the mental well-being portion of this topic and started discussing various steps towards a healthy mind. However, today I'm deviating away from the steps a little to talk about this show I came across because it's becoming the latest trend in mental illness.

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The show is called Hoarders. It's a very entertaining show that enters the lives of people and their homes because they have been classified by family members as hoarders. They send a camera into the homes of these people as well as various mental health doctors in an attempt to get them to clean up their home and to understand why they have become hoarders. Most of the time, the hoarding according to the professionals come from various triggers in their lives such as loss or loneliness and even illness. Their family members are completely fed up with the living conditions and have basically put the hoarder on blast for the world to see.

Some of the people hoard due to shopping, some hoard food and others even hoard animals. The homes are in the worst shape imaginable. There is disease in many of the homes due to dead rodents, some have so many pets that they died and became burried in the home, some had food stored for years and refused to throw it away thinking they could still eat it. Clean up crews entered many of these homes and removed tons and tons of trash.

Some hoarders were at risk of losing their homes, some were at risk of losing their children, some family members walked out on them, never to return and the most drastic for some was possible death due to the terrible and diseased conditions. According to the professionals that attempted to assist these people, they were afflicted with mental illnesses. However, they always start the program by letting you know that not enough is known about hoarding to effectively help these people. Many of them face long term therapy and some simply refuse the entire process.

Many of these hoarders are professionals. There were teachers, some worked for the Government, some were on disability and some basically worked to support their hoarding habit. But, the thing that struck me after getting over the entertainment factor and the shear shock of seeing such living conditions was a little personal and historical to me. I remember as a child living in a really nice family oriented neighborhooh in Long Island, New York. Most of the families kept foster children and many of the homes were occupied by complete families containing a mother and a father. Usually the father worked and the mother tended the home.

However, every so often, you would see the State go into those homes and remove the children stating that the living conditions were not adequate. Basically, the state pretty much tagged these homes and the occupants as nasty and disgusting. That was it, no help was offered, no therapy was offered, they were just tagged as plain and simple nasty. The thing that really grated at my nerves after watching this show and then thinking back to my childhood is that now, these professionals are trying to make inadequate living and nastiness a mental disease. The question that ran through my mind was that if I did not wash dishes for a year and simply decided it was because I did not want to, would that make me a hoarder or would it simply make me lazy?

So, I'm asking everyone that reads this blog to look at the show when you have a moment and send me your comments on what you think. Should this hoarding become the newest mental illness fad?

Tomorrow, we will get back to our regular topic and please send your comments. You can post them below.

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Until Then.

Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Complete Physical, Mental & Social Well Being - Optimism or Pessimism

Thanks to all who continue to read. Thus far, we have traveled quite far on our path to feeling good. We blogged about basic vitamins, hydrotherapy and juicing. But, that is not all there is to feeling and looking our best. Today, we start off with a new topic regarding the four corner stones of good health. Its not enough to simply exist, but we want to exist at our best. And, that starts with good mental, physical and social health.

Our first topic of the corner stones to good health will guide us to a discussion on mental health. Recently, I went to the Social Security office to check on my employment records. I left there feeling utterly disturbed after speaking with a few people during our long wait. Most people were there regarding their SSI benefits. SSI benefits are for people who are disabled but have never really worked enough to pay into their social security fund. Basically, its a benefit supported by tax dollars.

After speaking with quite a few people and listening to their problems and complaints, I asked many of them why they were receiving SSI. Approximately 90% of those people informed me that they suffer from some form of mental health illness. There seemed to be a high trend of severe bipolar disorders, psycosis and other mental health illnesses. This is why I felt it important to start of with mental health. Its costing our nation billions of dollars each and every year. And, it is a very sad situation to be a nation full of so many mentally unhealthy people.

Another thing that struck me as kind of odd was the newest mental health issue called bipolar. It was as if people at that office were wearing it as a badge of honor. Many of them often told me gladly that they are bipolar. Now, I'm not sure if for many of these people these are their scare tactics or just a form of self protection, but it just did not seem like something to be too happy about. But then again, if you are getting a free check for a new disease that no one seems to know too much about, that would be cause to be happy.

So, going into this blog, we start of with mental health and stability. A positive mental attitude is the real foundation for optimal health. As humans we have a drive to be the best that we can be. Achieving mental stability begins by taking responsibility for your own positive mental state, your life, your current situation and your health. What this means is that nobody but you can make you happy. Not a doctor, not a drug. Of course, these may be used as tools to teach you, but its all up to you in the end.

There are seven steps to a positive mental attitude:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything, try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more

Are you an optimist?

The first step in developing a positive attitude is by becoming an optimist rather than a pessimist. Being an optimist can help prevent diseases, can help the healing process progress much faster and have a healthier outlook on life in general. So, how do you know whether you are an optimist or pessimist? A small and immediate test you can do to figure this out is by asking yourself honestly.

1. Do you accept responsibility for your own mistakes or transfer the blame?
2. Do you doubt most things?
3. Do you look at the view point of others and try to understand their situations?
4. Do you think immediately that something will not work?
5. Do you uplift others in their thoughts and ideas?

By answering these few questions, you can get a good idea of whether you are optimistic or a pessimist. But, there is an in depth test that I found very interesting, detailed and that actually led to a self knowing. I actually found this test in a book called Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. The test breaks it down by asking several questions, then goes even further when scoring by letting you know whether you are a temporary or permanent optimist or e temporary or permanent pessimist. I suggest it to everyone who is interested in bettering their health because good health is also about knowing yourself in depth. Many of us do not know who we are because we never think deeply or ask ourselves questions about ourselves that require much thought.






So, I encourage everyone to stop thinking about others for a moment and concentrate on yourselves. We owe it to our bodies and minds to be the best that we can be. We owe it to ourselves to know ourselves better than any other person should know us. And, if you think about it, that is one of the best things you can do in a relationship. If you allow someone else to know you better than you know yourself, you have given that person control over you.

Hopefully, you all enjoyed this session of my blog. Please join me tomorrow when I move on to the 2nd of the 7 steps of positive mental health called Self Talk. By breaking it down into the steps like this, we all have time to absorb and practice what we read. So, go ahead, get your optimism on, it takes practice to change a learned behavior.





As Always,

Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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