Relaxability Blog

The lyrics to that  song “Why Worry? Be Happy” can be understood in so many ways.  Is it about just being in denial about things to worry about?  Is it just the ultimate expression of the cockeyed optimist who sees a glass as half full, even down to the last drop of water?  Is it just a catchy tune with simplistic ideas?

I submit that it is any of the above, but it can also be a reminder to ourselves of the empowering notion we can actually change our thinking and our feeling at any given moment if we try.  By focusing our attention and energy on “being happy”–regardless of what happy really means to each of us–we put distance between ourselves and the source of the worrying.

The sheer will power and confidence that we can muster to allow us to reach for the happy thoughts and feelings will inevitably reduce stressful thinking and worrying.  Cut the cycle of stressful thinking within yourself with positive self talk and calm coping skills.  If you start believing that at any given moment, you can change your own attitude, inevitably with practice, you will get better and better at it.  Trust yourself.

Till next time,

 Shelly Bankier   

TO SAVE YOUR LIFE?

TO COPE WITH LIFE?

TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE?

TO RESPECT YOUR LIFE?

TO THRIVE IN LIFE?

TO ENJOY LIFE?

BECAUSE IT IS THE MOST PORTABLE AFFORDABLE STRESS RELIEVER WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS KNOWN TO MAN OR WOMAN?

BECAUSE THE ABILITY TO RELAX IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF SELF RESPECT AND POSITIVE THINKING?

TO JUST RELAX?

LET’S START A DIALOGUE.  POST A COMMENT.

TILL NEXT TIME,

SHELLY  

Uninteded drug overdoses are now the second leading cause of accidental death in America, behind auto crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and they almost doubled in frequency from 1999 to 2004.  It is believed by researchers that the chief causes of the increase in unintended fatalities were increased use of sedatives and prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin.

What is happening in our country and others is that too many easily available powerful medications are being overprescribed and overused and abused while benignly neglectful government agencies and greedy pharmaceutical and medical organizations pretend they have no significant reason to maintain the abundant supplies.

Young people intent on getting intoxicated or changing their mood have shifted away from using illegal drugs to  swallowing prescription medications which are often easily available from their parents’ supplies at home. 

Prescription medications save lives under the right circumstances, but for too many people, popping pills is just the easiest way to solve problems of stress, tension, anxiety and pain.  It’s time to start educating and promoting the ideas that these uncomfortable stress-related health issues can be significantly helped, if not cured, by alternative techniques that have no side effects, and if practiced regularly, can provide meaningful long term benefits.

My personal grudge is against the advertising and promotion of prescription sleep pills.  Although the small print on the labels state that no one should use the pills for more than 7 to 10 days to relieve insomnia without consulting with their prescribing physician, few insomnia sufferers or their doctors seem to follow these instructions.  And unfortunately the instructions regarding these sleeping pills’  special problems of dependence, withdrawal, tolerance, memory impairment and changes in behavior and thinking go ignored–if they are even read at all–by people who just gulp them down each night desparate for relief for their sleep deprivation problems.

We need better education and enforcement of ethical marketing and prescribing of  these “quick fix” prescriptions.  For your own sake, try  another way to fall asleep using relaxation and other healthy alternatives instead of just popping pills.  Unfortunately they continue to be used despite loss of effectiveness because of the problems of withdrawal and dependency for users.

Until next time,

Shelly

Art Buchwald recently passed away and left us laughing even during his last months under hospice care.  During those tv interviews, he sat smiling, chomping on an unlit cigar and keeping the interviewer in stitches.  He declined to undergo dialysis and outlasted expectations for a quick demise.

In the context of some of his buddies returning to visit again after already saying farewell on earlier visits, Art Buchwald’s sense of humor radiated.  His celebrity friends teased that people suspected he was faking to get them to be nicer, and he laughed in response.

His humor columns during the turbulent political and cultural upheavals and divisions of the Sixties and Seventies were able to tickle the collective funny bones of so many Americans even though the serious issues he mocked were hard to laugh at.  He was not mean spirited or sarcastic and didn’t really smear anyone with malicious innuendoes.

He was more like the kid in the fairy tale who is the only one with the honesty and guts to tell everyone that the Emperor was not wearing clothes.  He brought a sense of perspective and respect that was positive and optimistic while it was playfully mocking the actions of pompous arrogant politicians and celebrities.

I personally extend deep thanks to him for bringing cheery moments in his newspaper columns on some of the bleakest days of our country’s history.  His sense of humor and humanity remained intact up to his Final Curtain.

Happy Trails,

Shelly 

According to a recent AP-AOL survey an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that angels are real regardless of individual backgrounds and religious convictions. Obviously there are different  concepts of angels. 

Religious angels can be visualized and experienced by some people according to biblical  or spiritual sources, or by others kind of like a kindly guardian angel always looking out for our good.

There are financial investors who are called angels by some persons because they bless their trusted enterpreneurs with the assets to make  business dreams come true.  Needless to say, these types do not look for significant input from any divine source for their evaluations and chosen people.