14-day gratitude challenge - You will notice more of the good things in the world

We need gratitude more than ever

When we’re feeling discouraged, alone, anxious, or angry, it’s hard to be grateful.

We know we’re supposed to feel grateful. It’s Thanksgiving-time after all. But you may be having a hard time tapping into gratitude right now.  Our country is in turmoil, leaving us with a heaviness that’s hard to shake. Or maybe you’re overwhelmed with personal problems. Or perhaps you’re struggling with the extra work, financial hardship, or family turmoil that the holidays can bring.

Gratitude doesn’t always come easy

Sometimes we have to work at feeling grateful. But it’s a worthwhile practice.

There are a lot of good reasons to make a daily gratitude practice part of your life. According to Happify, people who practice gratitude regularly “experience more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems.”

Practicing gratitude is simple, quick, effective, and free. There aren’t many things that can claim that!

Gratitude brings us back to the present

Instead of worrying about the future, gratitude reminds us of the here and now. Gratitude helps us focus on what’s good, on what’s working rather than what’s not.

Gratitude shifts the focus from problems to positives. When we focus on the good things in our lives, we train our brains to look for the positives. So, by practicing gratitude we will notice more of the good things in the world. Our problems don’t disappear, but they can feel more manageable.

A gratitude challenge

Even when you think gratitude might be helpful, it can still be hard to get started. The following gratitude journal prompts can help spark some ideas. Start small and gradually challenge yourself to find something to be grateful about even in life’s challenges. Write as much or as little as you want, but do try to be consistent so you begin to build the habit.

For the next 14 days, answer the question: “I am grateful for ____________” using each of these prompts. And feel free to add your own and keep the practice going after you’ve done the 14 listed.

1. Something in nature
2. A person
3. Something I can see
4. A hobby
5. Something I only do at the holidays
6. A gift I’ve been given
7. Something about my health or body
8. Something I’ve done to help others
9. A possession
10. A happy memory
11. Something that keeps me safe
12. Something that makes my life easier
13. A talent
14. A favorite food

If you take the 14-day gratitude challenge, I’d love to have you add your answers in the comments below. I hope you find it to be a beneficial exercise for bringing more hope and contentment into your life.

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/imperfect/2016/11/practice-gratitude-journal-when-discouraged/

[Training workshop] Brain wellness program to improve focus, memory and emotional state

A full day workshop with lawyer, IT profession, HR and mangers.

 The topic is all about brain wellness and what are the ways to manage it.

Health Talk Topic:

Brain Wellness: Improve your brain wellness, focus and memory

Speakers:

Hiro Koo, Licensed Clinical Hypnotherapist 

Group Activities:

1) Group stress relief session

2) Food and mood activity

3) Emotional coping technique

4) Brainwaves analysis for understanding your brain wellness status

Contact us if you are interested. 

Keeping Emotions in Check With Neurofeedback

Difficulty handling emotions and keeping them under control can cause various psychological issues, and may even lead to full-blown psychiatric problems. This is especially true in childhood. Trauma experienced in youth can contribute to later problems such as depression and anxiety. There are various techniques for helping people control their emotions. One of these is neurofeedback; a training method in which information about changes in an individual’s neural activity is provided to the individual in real-time. This enables the individual to self-regulate thier neural activity and produces changes in behaviour. While already in use as a treatment tool for adults, this method has not been used on young people until now. Researchers believe neurofeedback could help younger people by providing more efficient control of their emotions.

The new study used real time fMRI-based neurofeedback on a sample of kids. “We worked with subjects between the ages of 7 and 16,” explains SISSA researcher and one of the authors of the study, Moses Sokunbi. “They observed emotionally- charged images while we monitored their brain activity, before ‘returning’ it back to them.” The region of the brain studied was the insula, which is in the cerebral cortex.

The young participants could see the level of activation in the insula on a “thermometer” presented on the MRI projector screen. They were instructed to reduce or increase activation with cognitive strategies while verifying the effects on the thermometer. All of them learned how to increase insula activity, although decreasing was more difficult. Specific analysis techniques made it possible to reconstruct the complete network of the areas involved in regulating emotions (besides the insula) and the internal flow of activation. The researchers observed that the direction of flow when activity was increased reversed when decreased.

“These results show that the effect of neurofeedback went beyond the superficial- simple activation of the insula- by influencing the entire network that regulates emotions,” explains Kathrine Cohen Kadosh, Oxford University researcher and first author of the study. “They demonstrate that neurofeedback is a methodology that can be used successfully with young people.”

“Childhood and adolescence is an extremely important time for young people’s emotional development,” says Jennifer Lau, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, who has taken part in the study. “Therefore, the ability to shape brain networks associated with the regulation of emotions could be crucial for preventing future mental health problems, which are known to arise during this vital period when the brain’s emotional capacity is still developing.”

Source:

http://neurosciencenews.com/emotion-psychology-neurofeedback-3201/

凭空出现的情绪?

午后天晴，喝了柠檬茶的我感觉好清爽。这情绪来自什么呢？
事实上，这可归咎自咖啡因（茶里有咖啡因）和血糖（蜜糖是高升糖食品）指数对情绪带来的变化。

我们常常不理解自己情绪的来源而懊恼不已，甚至不能够接受自己出现“不该有”的情绪。
事实上原生家庭问题，儿时因素，不理智想法，情景联结和条件反应或生理基因等因素都可衍生出种种情绪。情绪并不是凭空出现的。
许多时候，搞清为何有该情绪并不是最重要的。
权衡怎样处理之并带来良好生活品质或许更为实际。