#viewing art has been found to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol

[ctbraininjurysupportservice-blog]

"Raise the world's vibration by spreading kindness and positivity through your actions and words." D.M.

"Art activates the brain and beautifies the soul, leading to a more fulfilling and meaningful life."

ABI RESOURCES

Art has been shown to have a number of positive effects on the brain, including reducing stress, improving mood, and increasing cognitive function. For example, viewing art has been found to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, while also increasing activity in the areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward. Additionally, engaging in art-making activities, such as painting or drawing, has been found to improve fine motor skills and increase creativity. Some studies also suggest that art therapy, which combines art-making with psychotherapy, can be effective in treating mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

ABI Resources works with multiple organizations, including DSS, DMHAS, WWP, CCC, CCCI, SWCAA, WCAAA, Allied, Yale, UConn, Gaylord, HFSC, and more to provide the best care for individuals.

ABI Resources’ commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive community for clients is well known. They offer a variety of team-building activities, social events, and volunteer opportunities to help clients stay engaged and connected with others. This not only helps clients recover from their injuries but also helps them build friendships, create social connections, and gain a sense of belonging.

#HOT#BALLOON#AIR#ART#LOVE#FAMILY#BRAIN

#Art activates the brain and beautifies the soul #leading to a more fulfilling and meaningful life. #“Raise the world's vibration by spreading kindness and positivity through your actions and words.” D.M. #ABI RESOURCES #Art has been shown to have a number of positive effects on the brain #including reducing stress #improving mood #and increasing cognitive function. For example #viewing art has been found to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol #while also increasing activity in the areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward. Additionally #engaging in art-making activities #such as painting or drawing #has been found to improve fine motor skills and increase creativity. Some studies also suggest that art therapy #which combines art-making with psychotherapy #can be effective in treating mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. #ABI Resources works with multiple organizations #including DSS #DMHAS #WWP #CCC #CCCI #SWCAA #WCAAA #Allied #Yale #UConn #Gaylord #HFSC #and more to provide the best care for individuals. #ABI Resources’ commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive community for clients is well known. They offer a variety of team-buildin

[joanneartmangallery]

How Are Our Brains Looking at Art?

Science and art have much more in common than we think. Artists go through trial and error as much as scientists do and artworks are made through experimentation not unlike the scientific method. Scientists have been fascinated by the effects art has on our bodies and how our brains work in processing it.

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach

Quoting artists Chuck Close and Richard Serra, Dr. Eric Kandel, a Nobel prize-winning neuroscientist at Columbia University, asserts that artists use a similar experimental approach to scientists. “Chuck Close and Richard Serra said, ‘Creativity is for amateurs— we solve problems.” Kandel’s research has been focused on studying this relationship between science and art. When we see an image, we’re really seeing the photons bouncing off of it. Once our retinas see these photons, our brains help us perceive what’s in front of us through two types of processing, bottom-up and top-down.

JoAnne Artman Gallery, New York

According to Kandel, the bottom-up processing is a system that has evolved over millions of years and behaves as a set of rules. “If you see two people, one much larger than the other, you assume the larger one is closer to you. This is built into your brain,” he says. The top-down processing is built on our personal experiences and how we’re able to really interpret art. Kandel says, “(...) your life story, bears upon your perception— all perception, but certainly your perception of art, and in particular [your] perception of ambiguous art like abstract art.” Our personal experiences are fundamental to the way we see art. How does our body react to art then?

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach

In a 2006 study done by the University of Westminster, researchers reported that participants’ had a lower stress level after spending their lunchtime in an art gallery. After 35 minutes viewing the art, participants generally felt that they were less stressed. In addition, for those participants with higher levels of cortisol (our stress hormone), researchers found that they left with a lower concentration of it. The ways that we experience and appreciate art are scientifically proven to give us pleasure. Neuroscientist Oshin Vartanian from the University of Toronto, who’s conducted 15 different studies on people viewing art, stated that “areas of the brain involved in processing emotion and those that activate our pleasure and reward systems are also being engaged [when viewing art].”

JoAnne Artman Gallery, New York

The ways in which our brain allows us to process and appreciate art works is a fascinating still on-going study. From these scientists and researchers, we’re given a glimpse into our own bodies when we look at art. The next time you stop by our gallery, see and experience for yourself how your body benefits from it.

Sources: https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-10-22/what-happens-our-brains-when-we-look-art https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/e2f2c5a83af1a5bda4ba86cd1a0d0fc06038ba9c54491da6bbe89380177394b7/196888/Clow_%26_fredhoi_2006_final.pdf https://www.utoronto.ca/news/your-brain-art-q-oshin-vartanian

Now on View at JoAnne Artman Gallery-Laguna Beach AMERICA MARTIN: CONNECTING THE DOTS

Now on View at JoAnne Artman Gallery-New York THE BACK ROOM: Featuring ANTHONY HUNTER, GREG MILLER + MATT DEVINE

JoAnne Artman Gallery 326 N Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 | 511A West 22nd St. New York, NY 10011 Telephone:  [phone] | E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.joanneartmangallery.com

#howourbrainsareviewingart joanneartmangallery americamartin gregmiller mattdevine anthonyhunter newyorkgalleries visitlagunabeach

[psychotherapyconsultants]

7 Simple Ways to Ease Anxiety

Anxiety serves a life-saving role when we are in real danger. Adrenaline pumps through our system, and suddenly we can run like Usain Bolt and lift a 200-pound man without much effort. However, most of the time, anxiety is like a fire alarm with a dead battery that beeps annoyingly every five minutes when there is absolutely nothing to worry about. We experience the heart palpitations, restlessness, panic, and nausea as if a saber-toothed tiger were 20 yards away.

Thankfully there are a few simple gestures to communicate to your body that there is no immediate danger — that it’s a false alarm… yet again. I have used the following activities to calm down my nervous system that is ready for an adventure, and to ease symptoms of anxiety.

Exercise

We have known for decades that exercise can decrease depression and anxiety symptoms, but a 2016 study by researchers at the University of California at David Medical Center demonstrates how. They found that exercise increased the level of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, both of which are depleted in the brains of persons with depression and anxiety. The study showed that aerobic exercise activates the metabolic pathways that replenish these neurotransmitters, allowing the brain to communicate with the body.

You need not commit huge amounts of time. Short, ten-minute intervals of intense exercise (such as sprints) can trigger the same brain changes as long, continuous workouts.

Drink Chamomile Tea

Chamomile is one of the most ancient medicinal herbs and has been used to treat a variety of conditions including panic and insomnia. Its sedative effects may be due to the flavonoid apigenin that binds to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain. Chamomile extracts exhibit benzodiazepine-like hypnotic activity as evidenced in a study with sleep-disturbed rats.

In a study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms compared to the patients taking placebos.

Laugh

It’s difficult to panic and laugh at the same time. There’s a physiological reason for this. When we panic, we generate all kinds of stress hormones that send SOS signals throughout our body. However, when we laugh, those same hormones are reduced.

In a study done at Loma Linda University in California in the 1980s, Lee Berk, DrPH and his research team assigned five men to an experimental group who viewed a 60-minute humor video and five to a control group, who didn’t. They found that the “mirthful laughter experience” reduced serum levels of cortisol, epinephrine, dihydrophenylacetic acid (dopac), and growth hormone.

Take Deep Breaths

Every relaxation technique that mitigates the stress response and halts our “fight or flight or I’m-dying-get-the-heck-out-of-my-way” reaction is based in deep breathing. I find it miraculous how something as simple as slow abdominal breathing has the power to calm down our entire nervous system. One way it does this is by stimulating our vagus nerve — our BFF in the middle of a panic because it releases a variety of anti-stress enzymes and calming hormones such as acetylcholine, prolactin, vasopressin, and oxytocin.

Three basic approaches to deep breathing are coherent breathing, resistance breathing, and breath moving. But really, all you need to do is inhale to a count of six and exhale to a count of six, moving the breath from your chest to your diaphragm.

Eat Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate has one of the highest concentrations of magnesium in a food — with one square providing 327 milligrams, or 82 percent of your daily value — and magnesium is an important mineral for calming down the nervous system. According to a 2012 study in the journal Neuropharmacology, magnesium deficiencies induce anxiety, which is why the mineral is known as the original chill pill. Dark chocolate also contains large amounts of tryptophan, an amino acid that works as a precursor to serotonin, and theobromine, another mood-elevating compound. The higher percentage of cocoa the better (aim for at least 85 percent), because sugar can reverse the benefits of chocolate and contribute to your anxiety.

Color

Use anything that can distract you from the fire alarm going off every five minutes in your head—from the distressing thoughts and ruminations. Many people I know use coloring books to divert their attention. I now see them in doctor’s offices and acupuncture centers. A study published in Occupational Therapy International demonstrated that activities such as drawing and other arts and crafts can stimulate the neurological system and enhance well-being. This is partly because they help you stay fully present and they can be meditative. They are especially helpful for people like me who struggle with formal meditation.

Cry

You have to be careful with crying, as it has the potential you feel worse. However, I’ve always felt a huge release after a good cry. There’s a biological explanation for this. Tears remove toxins from our body that build up from stress, like the endorphin leucine-enkephalin and prolactin, the hormone that causes aggression. And what’s really fascinating is that emotional tears — those formed in distress or grief — contain more toxic byproducts than tears of irritation (like onion peeling). Crying also lowers manganese levels, which triggers anxiety, nervousness, and aggression. In that way, tears elevate mood.

I like Benedict Carey’s reference to tears as “emotional perspiration” in his New York Times piece, The Muddled Track of All Those Tears. He writes, “They’re considered a release, a psychological tonic, and to many a glimpse of something deeper: the heart’s own sign language, emotional perspiration from the well of common humanity.”

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/7-simple-ways-to-ease-anxiety/

#World of Psychology

[positivepsychologyinterventions]

7 Simple Ways to Ease Anxiety

Anxiety serves a life-saving role when we are in real danger. Adrenaline pumps through our system, and suddenly we can run like Usain Bolt and lift a 200-pound man without much effort. However, most of the time, anxiety is like a fire alarm with a dead battery that beeps annoyingly every five minutes when there is absolutely nothing to worry about. We experience the heart palpitations, restlessness, panic, and nausea as if a saber-toothed tiger were 20 yards away.

Thankfully there are a few simple gestures to communicate to your body that there is no immediate danger — that it’s a false alarm… yet again. I have used the following activities to calm down my nervous system that is ready for an adventure, and to ease symptoms of anxiety.

Exercise

We have known for decades that exercise can decrease depression and anxiety symptoms, but a 2016 study by researchers at the University of California at David Medical Center demonstrates how. They found that exercise increased the level of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, both of which are depleted in the brains of persons with depression and anxiety. The study showed that aerobic exercise activates the metabolic pathways that replenish these neurotransmitters, allowing the brain to communicate with the body.

You need not commit huge amounts of time. Short, ten-minute intervals of intense exercise (such as sprints) can trigger the same brain changes as long, continuous workouts.

Drink Chamomile Tea

Chamomile is one of the most ancient medicinal herbs and has been used to treat a variety of conditions including panic and insomnia. Its sedative effects may be due to the flavonoid apigenin that binds to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain. Chamomile extracts exhibit benzodiazepine-like hypnotic activity as evidenced in a study with sleep-disturbed rats.

In a study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms compared to the patients taking placebos.

Laugh

It’s difficult to panic and laugh at the same time. There’s a physiological reason for this. When we panic, we generate all kinds of stress hormones that send SOS signals throughout our body. However, when we laugh, those same hormones are reduced.

In a study done at Loma Linda University in California in the 1980s, Lee Berk, DrPH and his research team assigned five men to an experimental group who viewed a 60-minute humor video and five to a control group, who didn’t. They found that the “mirthful laughter experience” reduced serum levels of cortisol, epinephrine, dihydrophenylacetic acid (dopac), and growth hormone.

Take Deep Breaths

Every relaxation technique that mitigates the stress response and halts our “fight or flight or I’m-dying-get-the-heck-out-of-my-way” reaction is based in deep breathing. I find it miraculous how something as simple as slow abdominal breathing has the power to calm down our entire nervous system. One way it does this is by stimulating our vagus nerve — our BFF in the middle of a panic because it releases a variety of anti-stress enzymes and calming hormones such as acetylcholine, prolactin, vasopressin, and oxytocin.

Three basic approaches to deep breathing are coherent breathing, resistance breathing, and breath moving. But really, all you need to do is inhale to a count of six and exhale to a count of six, moving the breath from your chest to your diaphragm.

Eat Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate has one of the highest concentrations of magnesium in a food — with one square providing 327 milligrams, or 82 percent of your daily value — and magnesium is an important mineral for calming down the nervous system. According to a 2012 study in the journal Neuropharmacology, magnesium deficiencies induce anxiety, which is why the mineral is known as the original chill pill. Dark chocolate also contains large amounts of tryptophan, an amino acid that works as a precursor to serotonin, and theobromine, another mood-elevating compound. The higher percentage of cocoa the better (aim for at least 85 percent), because sugar can reverse the benefits of chocolate and contribute to your anxiety.

Color

Use anything that can distract you from the fire alarm going off every five minutes in your head—from the distressing thoughts and ruminations. Many people I know use coloring books to divert their attention. I now see them in doctor’s offices and acupuncture centers. A study published in Occupational Therapy International demonstrated that activities such as drawing and other arts and crafts can stimulate the neurological system and enhance well-being. This is partly because they help you stay fully present and they can be meditative. They are especially helpful for people like me who struggle with formal meditation.

Cry

You have to be careful with crying, as it has the potential you feel worse. However, I’ve always felt a huge release after a good cry. There’s a biological explanation for this. Tears remove toxins from our body that build up from stress, like the endorphin leucine-enkephalin and prolactin, the hormone that causes aggression. And what’s really fascinating is that emotional tears — those formed in distress or grief — contain more toxic byproducts than tears of irritation (like onion peeling). Crying also lowers manganese levels, which triggers anxiety, nervousness, and aggression. In that way, tears elevate mood.

I like Benedict Carey’s reference to tears as “emotional perspiration” in his New York Times piece, The Muddled Track of All Those Tears. He writes, “They’re considered a release, a psychological tonic, and to many a glimpse of something deeper: the heart’s own sign language, emotional perspiration from the well of common humanity.”

from World of Psychology http://bit.ly/2OViXTq via IFTTT

#IFTTT #World of Psychology

[reveltumbles]

Why I’m Decorating My Walls with Art, and You Should Too.

“Why consume art?” is a common question even today, especially in Singapore. After all, art is always relatively too expensive — let me explain. I often hear, “but I can purchase something else in the same amount of money. Any amount is too high for art.” See, there’s where the argument fails. Art is wondrous in many ways, and presents benefits to your workplace and/or home that you wouldn’t even have imagined. Not only that, affordable art can be found: even Revel has a variety of art prints you can easily put up in your safe spaces.

1. Art Boosts Creativity.

This might sound weird, since art is the product of creativity, and not the other way around? You’re not wrong there, but that’s not all art is. Art is as liberating for its buyer/consumer as it is for its maker. Your brain is actually programmed to view art as a reward. It stimulates parts of the brain that encourage critical thinking, impulse control, and the detection of social cues. The more one is exposed to art, the higher the rates of brain development and the ability to pay attention to more detail in a shorter amount of time.

Hence, it goes without saying, that the more one interacts with art pieces hung around their workplace or homes, the more stimulated they feel. This is even more applicable to children, whose brains are still developing, and in general are also bound to be attracted to the looks of art pieces.

2. Art Encourages Conversations.

When art pieces are on display in your workplace or your home, they encourage healthy discourse and communication between its consumers. Art boosts dialogue, and permits people to share thoughts, feelings, ideas and opinions they might not have had before viewing the art piece. It also brings up the opportunity to discuss topics that one ordinary might not. Between adults, it could be anything from an ice-breaker to an intimate conversation. Between adults and children, or amongst children, it could be the stimulant to have a conversation about feelings and initial, developing thoughts/opinions.

3. Art Promotes Better Mental Health and Induces Joy.

Art not only helps its consumers, but its creators as well. The Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) at the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) revealed that artists tend to have lower levels of loneliness and depression as compared to the general population’s statistics. Mature artists, who have been pursuing art consistently, tend to be high-functioning members of society and are even shown to participating in twice the amount of volunteer work than others. When you display art around your house, you’re supporting countless artists that spend copious amounts of work and time into their craft. But that’s not all. 
 Art also stimulated feelings of joy and love in the viewer. Scientifically, the joy felt by one is due to a release of hormones into the bloodstream — art can give a similar effect. Some works of art, which are perceived as beautiful or admirable by the viewer, increased the flow of blood to parts of the body by as much as ten percent, which is the equivalent to gazing at a loved one. Our brain literally makes us feel good by looking at art, and sparks emotions of happiness and love.

4. Art Reflects Emotions.

Other than joy, art has the ability to evoke multiple emotions — sadness, surprise, admiration, anger, acceptance, disgust, anticipation... you name it. Some might find it odd to hang art that may evoke emotions other than joy, but that’s the beauty of art: it’s subjective. It’s open to various interpretations, dependent on your mood, thoughts and opinions. One day, a painting might bring a smile on your face, and on other days, it might force you to face your sadness. In a time and world where emotions are second to reasoning, art’s importance stands out as it can conjure strong emotions and deep thoughts. Everyone may have differing reactions to it, but its ability to impact us is undefeated and unquestionably true.

5. Art Relieves Stress

According to the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH), engagement with creative sources and outputs has the ability to contribute toward relieving stress. Corresponding to that, they also state that through art, creativity, and imagination, people find their identity and a safe space to heal themselves, which reduces the stress in their lives. The heightened the understanding between creative expression and healing can give way to a more stress-free life.

It has been proven that visiting art galleries reduces the stress levels amongst audience members. They show lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This is particularly because the brain gets excited by art. In fact, art is considered one of the many ways to help people with extreme conditions of being stressed.

There’s a reason art is valued and used for decorations in homes and workplaces. It stimulates creativity, conversations, and emotions without much required pre-amble. It’s also a perfect catalyst to relieve stress and improve mental health. Of course, it helps that art livens up the atmosphere! Art is extremely beneficial to your home and the people living in it, and I truly recommend hanging some art around your home if you haven’t already. Revel has some great pieces that you could start out from.

You might also like…

source https://revel.sg/apt84//why-im-decorating-my-walls-with-art-and-you-should-too

[ourhealthyfoodblog-blog]

New Post has been published on Healthy Food and Remedies

New Post has been published on http://healthyfoodandremedies.com/2017/02/01/science-happiness-complaining-literally-killing/

THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS: WHY COMPLAINING IS LITERALLY KILLING YOU

Sometimes in life, all the experience and knowledge simmering around in that ol’ consciousness of ours combines itself in a way that suddenly causes the cerebral clockwork to click into place, and in this fluid flow of thought we find an epiphany rising to the surface.

One such point for me came in my junior year at University. It changed the way I viewed the world forever as it catapulted me out of the last of my angsty, melancholic youth and onto a path of ever-increasing bliss.

At the time of this personal discovery, I was pursuing a double-major in Computer Science and Psychology. Aside from these declared interest, I also had an affinity for (Eastern) Philosophy and Neuroscience. This led to semester course load comprising of two 300-level psychology courses, one 300-level philosophy course, and a graduate-level artificial intelligence course for both biology and computer science majors. This amalgamation of studies quickly tore my brain into a dozen directions, and when I put the pieces back together, I found myself resolute with rational reasons for optimism and for removing from my life the people who liked to complain.

“SYNAPSES THAT FIRE TOGETHER WIRE TOGETHER.”

This was the first phrase my AI professor told the classroom, and to this day it is still one of the most profound bits of logic I hold onto in order to dictate the decisions of my life. The principle is simple: Throughout your brain there is a collection of synapses separated by empty space called the synaptic cleft. Whenever you have a thought, one synapse shoots a chemical across the cleft to another synapse, thus building a bridge over which an electric signal can cross, carrying along its charge the relevant information you’re thinking about. It’s very similar to how nerves carry electric from the sensation in your toe all the way up to your brain where it’s actually “felt”.

Here’s the kicker: Every time this electrical charge is triggered, the synapses grow closer together in order to decrease the distance the electrical charge has to cross. This is a microcosmic example of evolution, of adaptation. The brain is rewiring its own circuitry, physically changing itself, to make it easier and more likely that the proper synapses will share the chemical link and thus spark together���in essence, making it easier for the thought to trigger. Therefore, your first mystical scientific evidence: your thoughts reshape your brain, and thus are changing a physical construct of reality. Let that sink in for a moment before you continue, because that’s a seriously profound logic-bomb right there.

SHORTEST PATH WINS THE RACE.

Beyond the absolutely incredible fact that your brain is always doing this, consistently shifting and morphing with every thought, even more exciting is the fact that the synapses you’ve most strongly bonded together (by thinking about more frequently) come to represent your default personality: your intelligence, skills, aptitudes, and most easily accessible thoughts(which are more-or-less the source of your conversation skills).

Let’s dig deeper into the logic behind that. Consider you have two pairs of people throwing a ball back and forth. One pair stands ten feet apart, the other at a distance of 100 feet. One partner from each team throws their ball to their respective partners at the exact same moment with the exact same speed. The first team that catches the ball gets to dictate your personal decision and mental state of mind.

So which team will get the ball first? Basic physics of distance, time, velocity tell us that it will always be the pair standing 10 feet apart. Well this is basically how your thoughts work. Through repetition of thought, you’ve brought the pair of synapses that represent your proclivities closer and closer together, and when the moment arises for you to form a thought ( and thus throw our metaphorical ball of electric energy), the thought that wins is the one that has less distance to travel, the one that will create a bridge between synapses fastest.

MIRROR-NEURONS

So if your mind hadn’t already exploded when you learned you could alter reality with your thoughts, you may want to get ready for it.  Because guess what? It’s not just your thoughts that can alter your brain and shift those synapses; the thoughts of those around you can do it as well.

If there’s any ability that truly separates us from our primate ancestors, it’s that of imagination. It’s the root of all art and architecture, of the (fictional) stories that formed religions that now control the lives of billions—even to the point of war over which fairytale is the “right one.”

That human failing aside, imagination lets us live in the past and in the future, and by escaping the present moment we can use our memories of the past to predict what will happen in the future; ie: I know from past experience that fire burns skin, so I know inside my minds-eye that if I stick my hand into a fire I will lose my flesh. This is so instinctual we don’t even recognize it’s constantly happening with every symbol that we’re perceiving in our day-to-day moments. But it is this ability that allows us to navigate the complexity of our society. Even more exciting is the fact that this skill also works with emotions, not just situations.

The premise, again, is quite simple: When we see someone experiencing an emotion ( be it anger, sadness, happiness, etc), our brain “tries out” that same emotion to imagine what the other person is going through. And it does this by attempting to fire the same synapses in your own brain so that you can attempt to relate to the emotion you’re observing. This is basically empathy. It is how we get the mob mentality, where a calm person can suddenly find themselves picking up a pitchfork against a common enemy once they’re influenced by dozens of angry minds. It is our shared bliss at music festivals, or our solidarity in sadness during tragedies.

But it is also your night out with your friends who love to constantly complain, whether it’s about their job, the government, or about their other so-called friend’s short-comings, or whatever little thing they can pick apart in order to lift themselves up and give themselves some holier-than-thou sense of validation when you nod your head in acquiescence, agreeing like a robot afraid of free-thought.

As you continually surround yourself with this attitude, you are continually trying out this attitude by firing the synapses in your brain. And as I explained above, every time you fire these synapses, you’re reshaping your brain.This is why it is so important to spend time with people who lift you up, because your friends are moving those fearful, cynical, pessimistic synapses closer together, making your default, short-path-personality as jaded and bitter as your peers.Want to be happy? Surround yourself with happy people who rewire your brain towards love, not towards fear of being invalidated.  I’m NOT saying don’t be there for friends who are having a hard time and need an ear or who need to work through a difficult situation. Nor am I saying you can’t be critical about the failings and injustices in the world. Positive change usually requires critical thought.

STRESS WILL KILL YOU.

You see, the thing about all this negativity, of regretting, of attachment to desires, of pointless complaining about impermanent things that will always continue to pass in an existence where time moves forward—the thing is: it all causes stress. When your brain is firing off these synapses of anger, you’re weakening your immune system; you’re raising your blood pressure, increasing your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and a plethora of other negative ailments–as PsychologyToday points out below.

The stress hormone, cortisol, is public health enemy number one. Scientists have known for years that elevated cortisol levels: interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, increase weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease… The list goes on and on.Chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels also increase risk for depression, mental illness, and lower life expectancy. Recently, two separate studies were published in Science linking elevated cortisol levels as a potential trigger for mental illness and decreased resilience—especially in adolescence. Cortisol is released in response to fear or stress by the adrenal glands as part of the fight-or-flight mechanism.

-PsychologyToday

And if you need more evidence for the damaging effects of stress, there are innumerable more studies that show the negative impacts of pessimism, bitterness, and regret on your health. Here’s one from the Mayo Clinic and another from APA.

Regardless of what the universe brings your way, your choice is simple: Love or Fear. And yes, I understand it’s hard to find happiness on those nights when you feel like you’re all alone in the world, when a loved one passes, when you fail that test or get fired from that job; But when these moments come, you do not have to live in regret of them, you don’t have to give them constant negative attention and allow them to reshape your brain to the point that you become a bitter, jaded, cynical old curmudgeon that no longer notices that the very fact that they’re alive means they get to play blissfully in this cosmic playground where you get the godlike power of choice.

What you can do is say; “Yes, this sucks. But what’s the lesson? What can I take away from this to make me a better person? How can I take strength from this and use it to bring me closer to happiness in my next moment?” You see, a failed relationship or a bad day doesn’t have to be a pinion to your wings, it can be an updraft that showcases to you what things you like and don’t like, it can show you the red flags so that you can avoid them. If there was a personality your ex-partner had that drove you insane, then you now have the gift of knowing you don’t want to waste your time with another partner who acts the same way.

If you are mindful to the lessons of the failures, there is no reason that you can’t make the default of every day better than the one before it. Do something new everyday, learn its lesson, choose love over fear, and make every day better than the last. The more you do this, the more you will see and appreciate the beauty of this existence, and the happier you’ll be.

This article has been republished from Curious Apes

About the Author

Born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, Steven Parton moved to Portland, OR after getting a degree in Computer Science. As well as programming software, apps, and websites, he is an avid writer of novels and short stories, which can be found through Curious Apes Publishing. Like most Portlanders, he also rides a bike and loves IPAs. His latest book can be found at Amazon

#COMPLAINING