Gratitude Practices to Cultivate Inner Peace and Happiness

Our personal happiness has very much to do with having good health, adequate nutrition, positive social interactions, and other resources often not that of wealth, fame, or celebrity. Happiness comes from within an individual, as an inner state of awareness. We can cultivate our happiness. One way is to form a habit to practice deliberate mental exercises. Simple behavior tasks can take about 21 days of repletion to become a habit, whereas more complex or difficult behavior adjustments may take 66-88 days to master, depending upon the individual and their particular circumstances (Morris, 2022).

This first practice helps us to focus on what is most important in our life. Focus on your maximum net worth, what is most valuable to you – the people in your life, your health and well-being. When you are feeling depressed and your self-esteem is low, think of the people who care about you. This can help bring you back to place where your happiness comes from within and those around you. If you don’t have many or anyone in your life that you feel care about you, realize that you exist by means of something greater than you or anyone around or not around you. What do you think about upon waking up from your sleep? How long does it take for your mind to begin to wander after you wake up? How long do you allow your mind to wander before focusing in on what you need to do in order to get your day started. Now, try this exercise first thing when you wake up before even getting out of your bed. Think about five people in your life that you are grateful for. Lay with your eyes closed while performing this practice. Focus upon the first person in your life you want to be grateful for. Contemplate the various ways this person has impacted your life. Send your silent gratitude to this person. Then focus on a second person. Look deep into this person’s eyes and see the color of their irises. Then send this person your silent gratitude. Now focus upon a third person. Try to see your first memory of this person and then send your silent gratitude to them. Onto the fourth person and see this individual as being very content and joyful wherever that person is at right now. Send them your silent gratitude. Try to think back to a time when you were in grade school and try to see yourself as you were at that time. Draw from your memory of how you looked, the clothes you wore, the things that made you happy. Now send silent gratitude to your younger self. Finally, think about someone close to you who has passed away. See yourself embracing this individual and sending them your love. Send your silent gratitude to this individual. Open your eyes when you feel you are complete and satisfied. If you need a reminder to do this practice, take a Post-It note and write “gratitude” on it and place it to your bathroom mirror. Upon waking up, if you forget this exercise, you will eventually find yourself in the bathroom. See your Post-It reminder and go back to bed and start over. This is how you can make it a habit.

A second deliberate mental practice is to treat your loved ones as if you have not seen them for days. The saying of “familiarity breeds contempt” is directly relative to becoming so comfortable with one’s family, that they become bored and begin to look for faults and imperfections, in one another. For at least the first few minutes of encountering your loved ones, treat them with the same novelty that you would, if you were reunited a family member or friend that you have not seen in years – but do this on a daily basis. Become genuinely interested in what is of interest to them, while finding praise, rather than trying to judge or improve somebody’s shortcomings.

The third practice takes literally a few seconds. Look at the world in a way we want the world to look at us. When we meet a stranger, an acquaintance, a co-worker, a service provider, a doctor, a police officer, etc. and we look at one another, in an instant we choose whether to engage with them or not. Is this person trustworthy? Can I trust them with my safety, my health, my family, my house? We develop a judgmental awareness where we begin to make internal judgments about this person’s appearance and character. It takes a mere 30 milliseconds for us to decide if someone is trustworthy or not. 30 milliseconds, before we even begin to know who this person is. However, we all have so much in common in the way of having the same neural predispositions.

We all spend a lot of time with our minds wandering.

We all tend to focus on threats and imperfections.

We all carry negativity bias.

We all try to adapt to be positive.

When we see people and before our mind begins to judge others, try for the first few seconds, to embrace your heart with theirs and send them a silent “I wish you well.” “I wish hope upon you.” “I wish you healing and happiness.” This is how we can improve our world by silently wishing each other well. We don’t need to say it aloud but rather say internally as our private intention. What transpires is that our whole engagement with the world changes. Our threat perception goes down. Let’s not be naive and assume that everyone we encounter is free of executing violence and malfeasance towards others. Start in a time and location where it feels safe.

Once our attention is in our own control, we can take on the fourth practice where we re-frame life’s challenges into higher principles. The five principles of:

gratitude
compassion
acceptance
meaning
forgiveness

Take each day of the week and attach a theme to focus upon suing these principles.

Monday is the day for gratitude or what came before us and what will come after us.

Tuesday is the day for compassion and to be kind to others.

Wednesday is the day for acceptance. Will issues today really matter years from now?

Thursday is the day for seeking higher meaning and purpose.

Friday is the day for forgiveness; not necessarily to forget but to forgive and let go.

This is what we and our children need, to be grateful, to be compassionate, to be accepting, to live our life with meaning and have forgiveness, and by doing so we can create a better world for all of us and future generations.

Reference:

Morris, S. (2022, February 27). Two Problems Safety Professionals Need to Consider About Habit Formation. Safety Talk Ideas. https://www.safetytalkideas.com/safetyprofessional/habit-formation-workplace-safety/

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I teach classes, seminars, and private instruction focusing on methods of wellness from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, acupressure and exercises from martial arts for fitness and improved health. 407-234-0119.

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I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga.

For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

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Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Perspectives, Change Your Reality

The human brain functions as an expansive network of roughly 86 to 90 billion neurons. This network contains two distinct modes of the awake brain, to engage in thought processes. The first mode of the brain is the task positive network (TPN) or focused mode (Dal Lin et al., 2015). Focused mode is engaged when we are actively paying attention, in the present moment, or concentrating upon tasks using short-term memory, as the brain processes information deemed as very important, interesting, or even sometimes dangerous. For example, if you are engaged in an interesting movie, you may not notice time passing by because your thoughts are focused on what is happening in the movie. If one’s life was to be threatened by a venomous snake, they might become extremely focused upon not moving too quickly, while also keeping their focus on the movement of that snake. Playing a musical instrument, riding a bike, taking a test, or using a knife while cooking are other examples of using this first mode of the brain – focused mode. We often enjoying being in this mode, in spite of not spending the majority of our time here. However, too much time in focus mode left unchecked, can often lead to stress and relative psychological and physiological disorders.

Lin, Carlo & Poretto, Anna & Scodro, Marta & Marra, Martina & Iliceto, Sabino & Tona, Francesco. (2015). Coronary microvascular and endothelial function regulation: Crossroads of psychoneuroendocrine immunitary signals and quantum physics [Part C]. Journal of Integrative Cardiology. 1. 10.15761/JIC.1000137.

The second mode of the brain is called the default mode network (DMN), the turbid mind or sometimes it is referred to as the “monkey mind”. In this mode we occupy 50-80 percent of our time with this wandering attention, juggling about 150 undone tasks at any particular time. When we perform mundane tasks, such as getting dressed, taking a shower, brushing our teeth, driving to work, or maybe jogging around the block, our mind is often wandering elsewhere. Our brain is not really focusing much on the physical task at hand but rather thinking of other issues or events elsewhere. We sometimes refer to this as multitasking. Our mind is constantly wandering in and out of the past, present, and future. Becoming and staying focused on specific tasks is a large challenge for the human brain.

Humans have a neural predisposition for our mind to wander. Research studies have shown that the more time we spend in the default mode of wandering thoughts, the greater our risk of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, attention deficiency, dementia, and many others. We constantly toggle between the wandering and focus modes all day long. A major challenge for us, is not to focus solely on negative aspects. We have a tendency to get complacent with the positive aspects within our lives, and then start to focus on more negative thoughts (negativity bias) of safety, survival and imperfections in ourselves and those around us. If we are mainly focused upon negative thoughts, our brain will continue to evolve mostly around these as a means to bring us peace, comfort, and happiness, in spite of being rooted in stressful thoughts. However, we can deliberately control our mind-wandering. When the brain utilizes a particular neural network, it can become stronger. If we spend a certain amount of time practicing on focusing our thoughts on the present moment, this action may become a habit. People can change how they behave and how they think, as a method to decrease harmful mind-wandering. In the clinical setting, this is called cognitive behavioral therapy and can be quite helpful for managing anxiety, depression, and other disorders.

Tai chi, qigong and yoga are all methods that specifically focus upon mindfulness and the switching from the default network mode (DNM) to that of the task positive (focused) mode.

References:

Dal Lin, C., Poretto, A., Scodro, M., Perazzolo Marra, M., Iliceto, S., & Tona, F. (2015). Coronary microvascular and endothelial function regulation: Crossroads of psychoneuroendocrine immunitary signals and quantum physics [Part C]. Journal of Integrative Cardiology, 1(5). https://doi.org/10.15761/jic.1000137

Mittner, M., Hawkins, G. E., Boekel, W., & Forstmann, B. U. (2016). A Neural Model of Mind Wandering. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(8), 570–578. https://doi-org.northernvermont.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.06.004

I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga. I also have hundreds of FREE education video classes, lectures and seminars available on my YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

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Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

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Science, Where to Follow What Fits Your Viewpoints

Coffee is bad for you, but studies show that it might be good for you.

Cow’s milk is good for humans, unless you read the studies that say it is not so much.

Moderate alcohol consumption is good for you, unless you find the medical studies that say it is not.

Sun exposure is bad for the skin, but good for vitamin D production, immunity and bone health, until one develops skin cancer.

Cigarette smoking was at one time, recommended by doctors to help promote health and relieve stress.

The list goes on and on. Which “science” do we choose to believe? Well, whichever science that supports our own individual beliefs, viewpoints and agendas.

Maybe the truth of the science lies in that all things are relative, yin and yang in all things for those that understand that life is constantly changing and often there are no absolutes. Maybe all of the above are good in moderation, but not so much when in excess or abuse.

Media and science…kind of like oil and water. I feel these days, that media reports on what they feel the American public should know. News outlets use to be somewhat neutral. Currently, most don’t even try to be neutral but rather tout what direction their reports lean towards. Fox News, Prager U and others, makes no qualms about being quite to the right, whereas CNN, MSNBC and New York Times reports leaning quite to the left. So, who should and shouldn’t report on what leads us to 1st amendment discussions about who determines what is truth and misinformation. Seems like there are now multiple truths these days depending upon the source and the agenda in play. Universal truths that everyone can agree upon, like water is wet, the sun rises in the east and that humans are mortals will still be debated given an audience and someone willing to debate these facts.

What is true for everyone (not your truth or my truth silliness) is that we need to be more active, eat healthier, sleep better, stress less, develop self-discipline. These are the key components to maintaining a strong mind, body, immune system, and outlook on life.

I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga.

For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

We Know What Needs to be Done

Choices – we almost always have choices. However, we usually don’t like the options.

– junk & fast food vs. healthy unprocessed foods

– elevators vs. stairs

– responsible alcohol consumption vs. drinking to become drunk

– smoking tobacco vs. never even starting

– drive vs. walk

– sit vs. stand

– lounge vs. exercise or activity

– smartphone vs. face-to-face interactions

– watching news or other disturbing info vs. turning it off

– becoming aggravated over things which we have no control vs. controlling what we actually can affect

We know these issues to be true, but many don’t have the will power (in the moment) or self-discipline (structured and consistent). Some people innately have self-discipline, while others need to learn and cultivate it. Control the body with the mind. Manage the mind by disciplining the body, through physical activity. Learn to be more active, eat healthier, sleep better, stress less – these are the key components to maintaining a strong mind, body, immune system, and outlook on life.

I am currently offering wellness lectures and classes for group, small group & private instruction in Wekiva, Longwood and Winter Park.

Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

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I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga.

For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

Conspiracy Mentality – huh, what is this?

Conspiracy mentality is a generalized belief that secret and powerful forces aspire to control or rule the world. A lack of control has been identified as one of the driving forces of conspiracy beliefs. When people fear a lack of control in their lives, they compensate for this deficiency by seeking patterns, even if these patterns are based on illusion. Events of a large magnitude warrant an explanation of comparable proportions. Studies conducted in both the USA and the UK showed the belief that Covid19 is a hoax or a stronger belief that the virus originated in a medical laboratory (Imhoff & Lamberty 2020).

A Neuroscientist Explains What Conspiracy Theories Do To Your Brain Video | Technology Networks

Conspiracy theories are not supported by sound evidence but rather are based on various thinking patterns that are known to be unreliable tools for tracking reality. True conspiracies are revealed through available evidence of actual and verifiable events, along with a healthy dose of skepticism. People might look to a particular conspiracy of scientists to explain a general scientific conclusion when it aligns with their political ideology, but not when the scientific consensus has no relevance to their own politics (Lewandowsky & Cook 2020).

Not all conspiracies are false theories, as many were actually true such as the US government poisoning alcohol during Prohibition, to discourage people from drinking booze, the CIA testing behavior modification using LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs on Americans in a top-secret experiment, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964, which was faked to encourage American support for the Vietnam War (Cahn 2021). Another proven conspiracy is The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, which speaks volumes of how America’s medical culture has used race as a way to wield power for its own personal gain (Lombardo, 2006). The list continues with “Operation Berkshire”: the international tobacco companies’ conspiracy, where the industry’s commercial interests were protected by both promoting controversy over smoking and disease and through strategies directed at reassuring smokers (Francey & Chapman 2000).

Or when the AMA got caught conspiring to “contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession. As reported in Marc Micozzi’s Fundamentals of Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine: A staunchly antichiropractic policy was pursued by the American Medical Association (AMA). In 1990 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling in which the AMA was found liable for federal antitrust violations for having engaged in a conspiracy to “contain and eliminate” (the AMA’s own words) the chiropractic profession (Wilk v. AMA, 1990). The process that culminated in this landmark decision began in 1974 when a large packet of confidential AMA documents was provided anonymously to leaders of the American Chiropractic Association and the International Chiropractors Association. As a result of the ensuing Wilk v. AMA litigation, the AMA reversed its long-standing ban on interprofessional cooperation between medical doctors and chiropractors, agreed to publish the full findings of the court in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and paid an undisclosed sum, most of which was earmarked for chiropractic research. This ruling has not completely reversed the effects of organized medicine’s boycott, especially when it comes to application of the most effective and cost-effective treatments for common pain conditions.

Conspiracy mentality is interconnected to a feeling of lack of control to a perceived threat. When people feel more in control of their environment and decisions within it, they are more able to tolerate the seemingly constant ebb and flow of conspiracy theories. If people are educated to be aware of unsound reasoning found in most conspiracy theories, they have a better chance of not being influenced by such theories. When people are educated or prebunked, prior to their knowledge of a particular conspiracy, they can develop a resilience or awareness of the conspiratorial messages. Prebunking, also known as inoculation, consists of an explicit warning of an impending threat of being misled, and an objection to the misinformation’s arguments (Lewandowsky & Cook 2020).

Logic-based facts can help to explain misleading methods in unsound reasoning used in conspiracy theories. Educating skeptics about the logical misconceptions found in anti-vaccination conspiracies has been found to be effective by drawing attention to vaccination research that has been conducted by independent, publicly funded scientists who can discredit conspiracy theories about the pharmaceutical industry. Fact-based information can support that the conspiracy theory is false by communicating accurate data. Fact-based and logic-based inoculations have both been successful in prebunking other conspiracies such as some of those surrounding the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (Lewandowsky & Cook 2020).

References:

Imhoff, R. & Lamberty, P. (2020). A bioweapon or a hoax? The link between distinct conspiracy beliefs about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and pandemic behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Lewandowsky, S., & Cook, J. (2020). The Conspiracy Theory Handbook. http://sks.to/conspiracy (Links to an external site.)

Cahn, L. (2021, July 26). 12 Conspiracy Theories That Actually Turned Out to Be True. Reader’s Digest. https://www.rd.com/list/conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/

Micozzi, Marc S.. Fundamentals of Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine – E-Book (p. 537). Elsevier Health Sciences. Kindle Edition

Lombardo, P. A., & Dorr, G. M. (2006). Eugenics, Medical Education, and the Public Health Service: Another Perspective on the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 291-316.

Francey, N., & Chapman, S. (2000). “Operation Berkshire”: the international tobacco companies’ conspiracy. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 321(7257), 371–374. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7257.371

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I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga. For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com