3 posts tagged “happy”

For Mom and Dad on your 30th Happy Anniversary...

Love you!

It's love that makes a house home....

and warms it through and through

It's love that keeps a family close...

in all they plan and do

May your life be blessed with joy!

No one deserves more happiness than you....

 Thank you, mom and dad...

for the wonderful example of your love and marriageJ

Happy Anniversary

May you have the best year ever
A year filled with all the peace
Health and happiness
That you deserve

In this New Year
Know that you are blessed
With friends who cherish you
With people who love you
And may you always have
Everything that you need

 ~naresh~

An optimistic outlook can boost immunity, improve health, and expedite recovery during illness. It is certainly mind over matter; it doesn't matter if you don't mind.

                 SUCCESS is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

How often have we heard the term — will to live? Drugs are not always necessary, belief in recovery always is. Optimism has been considered an asset when battling illness or adversity. Researchers have now found out that optimists have more stable cardiovascular systems, more responsive immune systems and less of a hormonal response to stress compared to pessimists. They also have a stronger sense of self efficacy, so they're more likely to invoke healthier behaviours, because they think it can make a difference.
 Caroline F, 42, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she had already been dealing with two other health problems — endometriosis and fibromyalgia. “For fibromyalgia, I used low doses of anti-depressants, massage and yoga, and I say to myself each day, ‘Well, Caroline, you can choose to sit around and worry, or you can live an active life anyway.’ To me, that decision was the axis around which optimism truly turned.” Today, she is leading a happy life.
 If you lose hope, you start losing your chances of survival. “When people fall to a low emotional state, their bodies simply switch off and start resisting the positive response of therapy. As long as there is emotional strength, the body will continue to fight. There are times when you feel exhausted, drained, frustrated, and fearful. It seems so much easier to give up than to go on. This is why it takes a special strength of character to survive,” says Dr Mukesh Batra, chairman and MD, Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinics.
                  There are many survivors who have defied conventional wisdom to create their own medical miracles. They have demonstrated that personal determination and the human spirit can overcome bodily ailments, howsoever serious or life-threatening.  “The best solution to any problem is not to have the problem at all. Willingly accept the problem and see it as a challenge. Know that the problem is just a monster under the bed; it is not real. Nature provides you the solution even before giving you the problem,” says Sri Sri Ravishankar in Celebrating Love.
 “Stress is a known factor for various diseases as causative fact, most important being ulcerative colitis and acid peptic disease,” says Dr Bhooshan Pandit, consultant gastroenterologist, Godrej Jupiter Hospitals, Mumbai. “Optimism brings happiness, less stress. One's immunity is much better when happy (protective cytokines two times more than in sorrow or depression). Acid secretion and higher gland functions are much better regulated in happier than stressed conditions. Diseases like IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) have a lot of bearing on psyche. Usually, pessimistic people seen suffering are the ones looking at life as a glass half empty,” he explains.
 Optimism is extremely important in surgical outcomes. “I see sprightly 80-year-olds just breeze
through heart surgery while pessimistic 40-year-olds take much longer to recover. I never operate a patient who doesn't want surgery or is not optimistic about its outcome. Dying serious patients may walk home, while normal patients may never make it through the hospital, and attitude has a strong influence in this,” says Dr Shantesh Kaushik, consultant cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon.
                    In a study of 250 adults with chronic illnesses, such as arthritis and cancer, it was found, 85 per cent had to give up meaningful activities like exercise, gardening, travelling. But the hopeful among them replaced earlier activities with new and meaningful ones, such as playing music, writing and socialising, to remain fulfilled.  But optimism is not a panacea. It can't overcome overwhelming odds, it cannot cure end-stage cancer or brain diseases like Alzheimer's or autoimmune diseases like lupus.

Tips for a positive life

• If you feel negative, look around the situation. Are the ‘facts’ on which you base your pessimism correct? Try to make a positive attitude shift.
• Keep a daily thought diary. It should help you learn which situations provoke a negative or positive reaction. Regularly re-read your diary to trace your thought patterns and gauge whether you are becoming more positive.
• Alter your mental images. By exploring and developing your mental representations you can feel much better about yourself and life.
• Ask yourself why are you thinking negatively. Are you frightened of what might happen in life?
• Using constructive language can turn your negative thoughts around. Be aware of your words.
• Learn to handle strong negative emotions. Work off the bad feeling with physical exercise. Calm yourself by relaxing and focusing on calming thoughts. Talk through your feelings with a friend or a counsellor.
• Take credit for the good things that happen, while putting the bad things down to coincidence, circumstance or mistake.
• If you are in the wrong job, change it. If you are in the wrong relationship, move on. Make time each day to do activities you enjoy and to indulge yourself.
• Don't let a tiny problem escalate into disaster. Do something small that you know will succeed.
• The more meaning you see in life, the easier you will find it to be positive. Spend time thinking about why you are here in this world and then let that sense of purpose guide you.  
  (From Positive Thinking by Susan Quilliam)