Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Promoting wellbeing for staff, clients and community members of Mountain Health and Wellness, formerly Superstitution Mountain Mental Health Center. The contents and information on this site are for your informational use only. You should consult with your primary care physician before starting any diet, exercise, supplementation or medication program.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Great American Smokeout is almost here!!!
The American Cancer Society is marking the 35th Great American Smokeout on November 18 by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. By doing so, smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life – one that can lead to reducing cancer risk. Quitting smoking is not easy, but it can be done. Next week Mountain Health and Wellness will be supporting the Great American Smokeout by encouraging our staff and clients to use this important day to consider quitting. We will also use this event to begin making our staff and clients aware of the tremendous resources and support offered through the Arizona Smokers Helpline to assist with the difficult challenge of quitting.
We'll have a presentation next week by Shannon Vaffis, Assistant Director of the ASH Line at our Recovery Center in AJ scheduled for Wednesday, 11/17 at 11am. Shannon will be reviewing what is being offered for both our clients and staff that want to quit. There are quite a bit of resources available and we want you to know what they are. We will also be having presentations in early December by Shannon at our Yuma and Oracle facilities. Please check out the ASH line at the following link.
http://www.ashline.org/healthcare/index.html
Be Well!!!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Mental Health Problems and Body Wellness
Mental Health Problems and Mind-Body Wellness - Positive Thinking
People with positive attitudes generally enjoy life more, but are they any healthier? The answer is often "yes." Optimism is a resource for healing. Optimists are more likely to overcome pain and adversity in their efforts to improve their medical treatment outcomes. For example, optimistic coronary bypass patients generally recover more quickly and have fewer complications after surgery than do patients who are less hopeful.1, 2
Your body responds to your thoughts, emotions, and actions. In addition to staying fit, eating right, and managing stress, you can use the following three strategies to help maintain your health:
1. Create positive expectations for health and healing.
Mental and emotional expectations can influence medical outcomes. The effectiveness of any medical treatment depends in part on how useful you expect it to be. The "placebo effect" proves this. A placebo is a drug or treatment that provides no medical benefit except for the patient's belief that it will help. Many patients who receive placebos report satisfactory relief from their medical problem, even though they received no actual medicine.
Changing your expectations from negative to positive may enhance your physical health. Here's how to make the change:
· Stop all negative self-talk. Make positive statements that promote your recovery.
· Send yourself a steady stream of affirmations. An affirmation is a phrase or sentence that sends strong, positive statements to you about yourself, such as "I am a capable person" or "My joints are strong and flexible."
· Visualize health and healing. Add mental pictures that support your positive affirmations.
· Don't feel guilty. There is no value in feeling guilty about health problems. While there is a lot you can do to reduce your risk for health problems and improve your chances of recovery, some illnesses may develop and persist no matter what you do. Some things just are. Do the best you can.
2. Open yourself to humor, friendship, and love.
Positive emotions boost your health. Fortunately, almost anything that makes you feel good about yourself helps you stay healthy.
· Laugh. A little humor makes life richer and healthier. Laughter increases creativity, reduces pain, and speeds healing. Keep an emergency laughter kit that contains funny videotapes, jokes, cartoons, and photographs. Put it with your first-aid supplies and keep it well stocked.
· Seek out friends. Friendships are vital to good health. Close social ties help you recover more quickly from illness and reduce your risk of developing diseases ranging from arthritis to depression.
· Volunteer. People who volunteer live longer and enjoy life more than those who do not volunteer. By helping others, we help ourselves.
· Plant a plant and pet a pet. Plants and pets can be highly therapeutic. When you stroke an animal, your blood pressure goes down and your heart rate slows. Animals and plants help us feel needed.
3. Appeal to a higher power.
If you believe in a higher power, ask for support in your pursuit of healing and health. Faith, prayer, and spiritual beliefs can play an important role in recovering from an illness. See healing touch and prayer.
Your sense of spiritual wellness can help you overcome personal trials and things you cannot change. If it suits you, use spiritual images in visualizations, affirmations, and expectations about your health and your life.
People with positive attitudes generally enjoy life more, but are they any healthier? The answer is often "yes." Optimism is a resource for healing. Optimists are more likely to overcome pain and adversity in their efforts to improve their medical treatment outcomes. For example, optimistic coronary bypass patients generally recover more quickly and have fewer complications after surgery than do patients who are less hopeful.1, 2
Your body responds to your thoughts, emotions, and actions. In addition to staying fit, eating right, and managing stress, you can use the following three strategies to help maintain your health:
1. Create positive expectations for health and healing.
Mental and emotional expectations can influence medical outcomes. The effectiveness of any medical treatment depends in part on how useful you expect it to be. The "placebo effect" proves this. A placebo is a drug or treatment that provides no medical benefit except for the patient's belief that it will help. Many patients who receive placebos report satisfactory relief from their medical problem, even though they received no actual medicine.
Changing your expectations from negative to positive may enhance your physical health. Here's how to make the change:
· Stop all negative self-talk. Make positive statements that promote your recovery.
· Send yourself a steady stream of affirmations. An affirmation is a phrase or sentence that sends strong, positive statements to you about yourself, such as "I am a capable person" or "My joints are strong and flexible."
· Visualize health and healing. Add mental pictures that support your positive affirmations.
· Don't feel guilty. There is no value in feeling guilty about health problems. While there is a lot you can do to reduce your risk for health problems and improve your chances of recovery, some illnesses may develop and persist no matter what you do. Some things just are. Do the best you can.
2. Open yourself to humor, friendship, and love.
Positive emotions boost your health. Fortunately, almost anything that makes you feel good about yourself helps you stay healthy.
· Laugh. A little humor makes life richer and healthier. Laughter increases creativity, reduces pain, and speeds healing. Keep an emergency laughter kit that contains funny videotapes, jokes, cartoons, and photographs. Put it with your first-aid supplies and keep it well stocked.
· Seek out friends. Friendships are vital to good health. Close social ties help you recover more quickly from illness and reduce your risk of developing diseases ranging from arthritis to depression.
· Volunteer. People who volunteer live longer and enjoy life more than those who do not volunteer. By helping others, we help ourselves.
· Plant a plant and pet a pet. Plants and pets can be highly therapeutic. When you stroke an animal, your blood pressure goes down and your heart rate slows. Animals and plants help us feel needed.
3. Appeal to a higher power.
If you believe in a higher power, ask for support in your pursuit of healing and health. Faith, prayer, and spiritual beliefs can play an important role in recovering from an illness. See healing touch and prayer.
Your sense of spiritual wellness can help you overcome personal trials and things you cannot change. If it suits you, use spiritual images in visualizations, affirmations, and expectations about your health and your life.
(Submitted by Adam Cano Yuma Op)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Positive Affirmations
POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
We function a lot like computers: garbage in produces garbage out, while great stuff in produces great stuff out. We talk to ourselves far more than we talk to others. In fact, most experts agree that about eighty percent of all conversations we have are with ourselves. All too often, we talk to ourselves with anger, fear, belittlement and negativity. “I knew there wouldn’t be any parking” or “I knew that they were going to be mad at me,” or “I am always depressed this time of year,” or even “I just can’t seem to do anything right” are examples of the kind of negative inner talk we play over and over again in our minds. We acknowledge our ability to manifest our inner thinking and yet the majority of our inner thinking is negative and demeaning.
This raises a very important point. If we are powerful enough to manifest our negative thoughts, why can’t we also manifest our positive thoughts? The answer is that we can. In order to create positive thoughts instead of negative ones, we must decide in advance to be proactive and to discipline ourselves to take out the old mentalprogram of negativity and immediately replace it with the new mental program of being positive and kind. I have found the best way to do this is through the use of affirmations.
Affirmations are positive self-talk designed to help you create the life of your dreams. Using affirmations on a daily basis is a simple step you can take to get what you want out of life and to reduce stress, fear, and depression. Making positive, affirmative statements to yourself will change your self-image, raise your self-esteem, and create an attitude of expectancy.
Here are some of the keys that allow you to maximize the power of your daily affirmations:
Affirmations should be written down. This allows you to crystallize your thoughts and gives you a reference to refer back to daily.
Affirmations should be in the first person and in the current time frame. They should always contain the word “I” and be in the “now” time frame, as they are the truth, told in advance. Remember the rule, “To Become, Act As If.”
Affirmations are best done in the morning to start your day or in the evening before going to sleep. This helps to program your subconscious mind with positive thoughts.
Affirmations can be either memorized or read, and need to be said aloud with emotion. This is what is necessary to open the trap door between your educated and innate mind.
Let me share some possible affirmations with you to get you thinking properly about creating your own. Remember that you can and should create affirmations for all parts of your life. Affirm professionally, spiritually, financially, and in all other areas. For example: “I am happy, I am healthy, and I am wise. My potential is unlimited and I am growing every day. I am a magnet that attracts all the good of the universe to me daily. I am committed to constant and never-ending personal improvement, and I take massive action steps to create the future, as I want it to be. I will do whatever it takes to become the winner I know I am.
“My beliefs create my reality! I choose robust health, abundant wealth, constant happiness and eternal love. I attract and positively influence the lives of people in my community. I think big thoughts, relish small pleasures and handle setbacks gracefully. I give thanks for the opportunity to serve humanity and I willingly accept the rewards being sent to me by an abundant universe. I am deeply grateful for all I create and receive. My life is now in total balance and I am a master!”
(Posted by: Adam Cano Yuma Op)
We function a lot like computers: garbage in produces garbage out, while great stuff in produces great stuff out. We talk to ourselves far more than we talk to others. In fact, most experts agree that about eighty percent of all conversations we have are with ourselves. All too often, we talk to ourselves with anger, fear, belittlement and negativity. “I knew there wouldn’t be any parking” or “I knew that they were going to be mad at me,” or “I am always depressed this time of year,” or even “I just can’t seem to do anything right” are examples of the kind of negative inner talk we play over and over again in our minds. We acknowledge our ability to manifest our inner thinking and yet the majority of our inner thinking is negative and demeaning.
This raises a very important point. If we are powerful enough to manifest our negative thoughts, why can’t we also manifest our positive thoughts? The answer is that we can. In order to create positive thoughts instead of negative ones, we must decide in advance to be proactive and to discipline ourselves to take out the old mentalprogram of negativity and immediately replace it with the new mental program of being positive and kind. I have found the best way to do this is through the use of affirmations.
Affirmations are positive self-talk designed to help you create the life of your dreams. Using affirmations on a daily basis is a simple step you can take to get what you want out of life and to reduce stress, fear, and depression. Making positive, affirmative statements to yourself will change your self-image, raise your self-esteem, and create an attitude of expectancy.
Here are some of the keys that allow you to maximize the power of your daily affirmations:
Affirmations should be written down. This allows you to crystallize your thoughts and gives you a reference to refer back to daily.
Affirmations should be in the first person and in the current time frame. They should always contain the word “I” and be in the “now” time frame, as they are the truth, told in advance. Remember the rule, “To Become, Act As If.”
Affirmations are best done in the morning to start your day or in the evening before going to sleep. This helps to program your subconscious mind with positive thoughts.
Affirmations can be either memorized or read, and need to be said aloud with emotion. This is what is necessary to open the trap door between your educated and innate mind.
Let me share some possible affirmations with you to get you thinking properly about creating your own. Remember that you can and should create affirmations for all parts of your life. Affirm professionally, spiritually, financially, and in all other areas. For example: “I am happy, I am healthy, and I am wise. My potential is unlimited and I am growing every day. I am a magnet that attracts all the good of the universe to me daily. I am committed to constant and never-ending personal improvement, and I take massive action steps to create the future, as I want it to be. I will do whatever it takes to become the winner I know I am.
“My beliefs create my reality! I choose robust health, abundant wealth, constant happiness and eternal love. I attract and positively influence the lives of people in my community. I think big thoughts, relish small pleasures and handle setbacks gracefully. I give thanks for the opportunity to serve humanity and I willingly accept the rewards being sent to me by an abundant universe. I am deeply grateful for all I create and receive. My life is now in total balance and I am a master!”
(Posted by: Adam Cano Yuma Op)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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Monday, November 1, 2010
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