My family and I recently returned from vacationing in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. We enjoyed the sun, surf, and the slow of beach life. It's the slow that's really refreshing. Time standing still as my boys and I wrestled the crashing waves and my wife and I walking, talking - unhurried. Around the pool, we met a number of people, many Canadian. Apparently, New Smyrna beach is becoming a vacation hot spot for our neighbors to the North. The Canadians that we met were strikingly relaxed, joyful, pleasant, and social. They were sincerely kind. They seemed grateful, living life full. It was a healthy atmosphere.
The psychological benefits of gratitude are increasingly well noted. Emmos and McCullough (2003) conducted a series of experiments that found "the experience of gratitude leads to positive psychological, physical, and social outcomes... participants who were asked to think about what they were grateful for, experienced greater levels of optimism, positive mood, and feelings of belongingness [compared other control groups]..." (2009, Clay Routledge Ph.D. in Death Love Sex Magic). In addition, the participants who were focused on gratitude reported being physically healthier and said that they spent more time exercising. Routledge concludes, "The take home message is that being grateful is good for you and those around you."
In addition to carrying hearts of gratitude, simply being kind produces significant healthy benefits. According to www.giftofkindness.com, scientific research has shown that acts of kindness help to improve stress-related health problems, improve feelings of depression, reduce the unhealthy sense of isolation, decrease the intensity and awareness of physical pain, and increase the sense of self-worth, …happiness, and optimism. (Allan Luks, The Healing Power of Doing Good: The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others). Luks's concludes, "Helping contributes to the maintenance of good health, and it can diminish the effect of diseases and disorders both serious and minor, psychological and physical."
My new Canadian friends appeared happier and healthier than many of the Americans I know, many of whom wilt beneath the weight of life that they carry. Could the apparent wellness of the vacationing Canadians be tied to their kind and thankful hearts?
USA Today writer Jayne Clark noticed a similar difference with Canadian neighbors. She said, "I'm just back from a week in Atlantic Canada and I'd have to say... Canadians are nicer... they're more trusting... they do illustrate a tendency to assume the other guy (or gal) isn't out to get the best of you... And that attitude was refreshing." (Aug 2011).
I know a few Canadians here at home. Two are pastors. One is in education. Another is a writer. I don't know the writer, but I've read her work, so we'll call her another Canadian friend. Each of them have huge hearts of gratitude and are extraordinarily kind. The writer even wrote a book about it, counting the daily gifts of grace. In many cases, their lives are slower, yet fuller; their days less scheduled, yet richer. They seem healthy and happy.
Anecdotally, my Canadians friends seem to hold life loosely, savoring the gifts each day brings and embracing the stillness that fosters gratitude and kindness, all this elevating wellness. In a recent blog, Canadian author Ann Voskamp says, "Life is not an emergency... Weigh down this moment in time with attention full, and the whole of time's river slows, slows, slows... I am accepting the whole of the moment, weighing it down with me all here. This giving thanks for one thousand things, it's that too, an invitation to slow time down with weight of full attention... You can only hear your life sing - when you still.”
This stillness, it’s a lesson taught for thousands of years that we long to learn yet consistently crowd out of our lives. “Be still,” God says, “and know [me].” Psalm 46:10
Sounds like a prescription to a healthier life, eh?
Showing posts with label healthy living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy living. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Friday, September 16, 2011
3 Simple Steps to Wellness
During a recent marketing meeting, I communicated my desire to simplify the messaging that we were crafting by saying, "We need to break it down to 3 simple steps. You know, just like Special Agent Oso and the '3 Special Steps' song." One of my team members looked at me with a frightened sense that I was going insane. The other team member, who has children, immediately picked up the signing, "Step one... step two..." We found a You tube link to the Special Agent Oso song and sent it to our colleague who wasn't attuned to music inspired by Disney. Special Agent Oso's "3 Special Steps" songs are now a regular part of our marketing discussions.
A recent study linked short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year olds to watching just nine minutes of the "Sponge Bob." (Chicago) Historical research has shown similar connections between watching too much television and long-term attention problems in children, however the recent study showed a more urgent issue in identifying problems after only limited exposure. The children in the study who had watched "Sponge Bob" scored worse on mental function tests after watching the show than those who had watched the slower-paced, PBS cartoon "Caillou" or children who were assigned to draw pictures. This study adds another issue for parents to be alert to in terms of controlling the television that their children are exposed to along with studies that support parallels between increased time watching TV and childhood obesity. U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce childhood obesity contains a focused component of encouraging children to get outside and exercise, supporting the idea of getting kids away from the TV for a bit.
Our family does a reasonable job in controlling the TV habits of our children. Granted, I am all-too-familiar with Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates and often find myself singing the theme song to Disney XD's Zeke and Luther. However, we limit the duration of our TV time and most often enjoy those programs together as a family. Most importantly, we balance the time in front of the TV with outdoor play and active exercise, which is mentally and physically healthy for all of us.
Bloomberg reported this week that "the United States health care spending will rise by as much as $66 billion a year by 2030 because of increased childhood obesity if historic trends continue..." That is $66 billion, with a "B." One of the authors of the findings, Boyd Swinburn said, "We are in an obesity and chronic disease crisis, although it doesn't feel like it. It's a little bit like the frog sitting in hot-water -- it doesn't realize that it's going to boil until it's too late." To be certain, these are alarming trends of epidemic proportions.
The good news is that we have the ability to directly and significantly impact chronic disease, obesity, and reportedly, attention problems in children. Epidemics of global proportions can be mitigated. Today. By us. We can start small, but behavior change is imminent.
Change isn't easy, but the prescription is simple, actually it's 3 special steps. Step one: We must make smarter, more nutritious food choices. Natural food that isn't processed is always a better choice. Step two: We must increase our exercise and activity. Walking the dog or choosing the stairs are easy ways to add to our daily activity. Step three: We must intentionally seek lives where our stress is reduced and positive, healthy relationships flourish.
At our house we typically protect Fridays as family night and it often includes pizza dinner and a movie. It's not a bad choice, as we limit pizza to once a week and enjoy the movie time winding down from the busy schedules of the week. But, maybe tonight we'll collaborate to create healthy smoothies for dinner and enjoy an evening outside playing and having a campfire. It's 3 special steps to a healthier evening. And that's a plan Special Agent Oso would love.
A recent study linked short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year olds to watching just nine minutes of the "Sponge Bob." (Chicago) Historical research has shown similar connections between watching too much television and long-term attention problems in children, however the recent study showed a more urgent issue in identifying problems after only limited exposure. The children in the study who had watched "Sponge Bob" scored worse on mental function tests after watching the show than those who had watched the slower-paced, PBS cartoon "Caillou" or children who were assigned to draw pictures. This study adds another issue for parents to be alert to in terms of controlling the television that their children are exposed to along with studies that support parallels between increased time watching TV and childhood obesity. U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce childhood obesity contains a focused component of encouraging children to get outside and exercise, supporting the idea of getting kids away from the TV for a bit.
Our family does a reasonable job in controlling the TV habits of our children. Granted, I am all-too-familiar with Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates and often find myself singing the theme song to Disney XD's Zeke and Luther. However, we limit the duration of our TV time and most often enjoy those programs together as a family. Most importantly, we balance the time in front of the TV with outdoor play and active exercise, which is mentally and physically healthy for all of us.
Bloomberg reported this week that "the United States health care spending will rise by as much as $66 billion a year by 2030 because of increased childhood obesity if historic trends continue..." That is $66 billion, with a "B." One of the authors of the findings, Boyd Swinburn said, "We are in an obesity and chronic disease crisis, although it doesn't feel like it. It's a little bit like the frog sitting in hot-water -- it doesn't realize that it's going to boil until it's too late." To be certain, these are alarming trends of epidemic proportions.
The good news is that we have the ability to directly and significantly impact chronic disease, obesity, and reportedly, attention problems in children. Epidemics of global proportions can be mitigated. Today. By us. We can start small, but behavior change is imminent.
Change isn't easy, but the prescription is simple, actually it's 3 special steps. Step one: We must make smarter, more nutritious food choices. Natural food that isn't processed is always a better choice. Step two: We must increase our exercise and activity. Walking the dog or choosing the stairs are easy ways to add to our daily activity. Step three: We must intentionally seek lives where our stress is reduced and positive, healthy relationships flourish.
At our house we typically protect Fridays as family night and it often includes pizza dinner and a movie. It's not a bad choice, as we limit pizza to once a week and enjoy the movie time winding down from the busy schedules of the week. But, maybe tonight we'll collaborate to create healthy smoothies for dinner and enjoy an evening outside playing and having a campfire. It's 3 special steps to a healthier evening. And that's a plan Special Agent Oso would love.
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