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Senior Women: 8 Ways to Improve Your Emotional Health
“I’m alone, but I’m not lonely. I like who I am. I like who I’m becoming.”—Deena Kastor Today, because of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the digital mental health market is exploding. Stress and anxiety have accelerated the demand for virtual behavioral health services. According to the European Connected Health Alliance, more than 380,000 health apps are available through Apple and Android operating systems, and around 20,000 of them address mental health. But what about emotional health? Emotional Health Vs. Mental Health In researching this topic, I did not find apps specifically to help with emotional health. I believe this is because mental health and emotional health are two terms often…
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Time: 4 Strategies to Invest Wisely
“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”—William Shakespeare “If only I had more time!” I’m sure you’ve said this often. In a sense, time is a universal leveler because the powerful and wealthy have no more of it than do the poor and needy. Furthermore, neither the rich nor the poor can accumulate time. Time is the great equalizer and our greatest asset because once it’s gone, it’s gone. And you can’t get it back. You must learn to master your time and not be its slave. We must “invest” our time wisely. As Benjamin Franklin said: “Time is money.” In this article, I will share four…
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What You Can Do About Loneliness
“Solitude is not the same as loneliness. Solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions.”—Robert Fulghum Carrie, a full-time caregiver to her ailing 70-year-old husband, felt lonely. She said: “I’ve been in a dark hole for quite a while. Sometimes, I believe everyone around me would be better off if I were dead. My friends can no longer visit; my few remaining relatives don’t seem to care. I often feel dead inside. “I can’t help it. I know I sound selfish, but I’ve spent more than twenty years with caregiving duties for one relative after another, and now my husband. When will it end? “I can’t…
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Are You Sitting Your Life Away? 7 Tips to Reduce Health Risks
“Sitting while socially engaged might be something that’s very good for you. Likewise, sitting for a few minutes to decompress after a stressful day could be good for you.” –Jacqueline Kerr, Ph.D., associate professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego Are you sitting down while reading this article? If so, we immediately have something in common because I’m sitting in front of my desktop computer writing. How long have you been sitting? What is sitting too much? Under 2019 “Trending Articles” on the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health (PubMed) website, is the article, “Too Much Sitting: A Newly Recognized Health Risk.” According to…
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How Passion Leads to Success: You Are Never Too Old to Learn
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”—Oprah Winfrey “Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.”—Oxford English Dictionary Are you aged 50? What about 60? Perhaps, you’re older than 70? No matter your age or career, passion is vital—it is the key to your success in work and life. I am a retired university instructor and an experienced family caregiver, caring for my husband 24/7, for three years, including three months in hospice at home. Caregiving is a challenging and very stressful job. But I felt nothing but gratitude for my ability to care for my husband myself during his long illness.…
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Beat Burnout: Replenish Your Energy
“I have so much to do that I will spend the first three hours in prayer.”—Martin Luther As I write this article, the global COVID-19 Pandemic is raging. And it would be of no use to quote the number of infections and deaths because the numbers multiply each day worldwide. The COVID-19 Pandemic has increased stress levels for many of us. We face new challenges about our home and family lives, social distancing, employment, and for some, isolation and quarantine. Stress, anxiety, overwhelm, exhaustion—I believe it is safe to say that we’ve all experienced these emotions, especially during this difficult time. What Is Burnout? Herbert Freudenberger and other researchers took…
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How to Create Work-Life Symmetry
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”—Stephen Covey In this age of technology, your employer, workmates, or clients might expect you to be available 24-7, making it difficult to achieve what is known as work-life balance or symmetry. Symmetry is a reasonable separation and prioritizing between your job and other aspects of life, such as family and pleasure. Meet Elizabeth: “Well, it’s a new year, and I’m going to try very hard to better myself and be a better wife, mother, and supervisor this year. Throughout my career, with its demands and juggling family responsibilities, I have lost myself. I want myself…
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Supplements: What You Need to Know
“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” –Thomas Edison My dear friend Charlotte, aged 67, called me with some bad news about her health. She was out walking near her home when she began to lose her balance. She found herself shuffling along instead of walking smoothly. Her gait was off. Charlotte’s poor balance frightened and confused her. She wondered, what could be the problem? She said that she figured she was just tired. After all, Charlotte attended exercise classes three times each week, which included strength training and yoga. However, Charlotte told me…
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Three Secrets to Relieve Caregiver Stress
“There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.”—Rosalyn Carter Meet Rita: “I am so f*****g stressed out and sick of my pathetic life. Sam is having a bad day, and I have been trying to get ahold of my son and daughter, but of course, no one answers my plea for help. I got his oxygen back up to ninety-seven. It was eighty this morning, and he was coherent. I really need a break—a few hours for just me, but that will never happen. This is…
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A Story of Hope and Optimism: What It Means for You
“A rainbow is a prism that sends shards of multicolored light in various directions. It lifts our spirit and makes us think of what is possible. Hope is the same—a personal rainbow of the mind.”—Charles Richard Snyder What Is Hope? Hope is not merely an emotion. Hope does not mean having a pollyannish approach to situations in life. Oxford English Dictionary defines hope: “a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen.” But hope is also more than mere desire and better than mere expectation. Hope is directly related to our sense of possibilities. Hope is indispensable if you want to endure difficult circumstances without giving up or sinking…
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The Happiness Code: 6 Ways to Find Happiness Today, Tomorrow, and Into Your Future
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”—Mahatma Gandhi Are you happy? Oxford English Dictionary defines happiness as: “feeling or showing pleasure; fortunate and convenient.” In line with this definition, other sources say happiness is an “emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment.” If you accept the above descriptions, what principles or qualities of life would you say characterize the way to find such happiness? What rules do happy people live by? How do happy people behave? Unlocking the Code Many people experience a measure of happiness when they reach a specific goal or obtain a new item,…
