Category Archives: Help and encouragement

Celebrate Food, but Remember the Hungry

Posted on by
Reply

Most every day in April is a “National” day celebration of some type of food – snacks, main courses, or deserts – whether consumed everywhere in the nation, or specialties of one or another region in the God-blessed USA.

Take a look at the list below. Consider including in your day’s meal a dish being celebrated that day. Or, try something for the first time just because it has its own special day. Of course, if the day’s choice happens to be something you simply cannot deal with, fuhgeddaboudit!

  • April 1st was National Sourdough Bread Day
  • April 2nd was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Day
  • April 3rd – National Chocolate Mousse Day
  • April 4th – National Cordon Bleu Day
  • April 6 is National Caramel Popcorn Day
  • April 11 – National Cheese Fondue Day
  • April 12 – National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day
  • April 16 – National Eggs Benedict Day
  • April 19 – National Banana Day
  • April 22 – National Jelly Bean Day
  • April 24 – National Pig in a Blanket Day
  • April 26 – National Pretzel Day
  • April 27 – National Prime Rib Day
  • April 28 – National Blueberry Pie Day
  • April 30 – National Oatmeal Cookie Day

 

Finally, give serious consideration to contributing to your local food bank, and/or to making donations to reputable national or international hunger relief organizations. Statistics point to one of eight people in the United States are struggling with hunger.

Four below are examples – no endorsements intended, of hunger relief organizations rated high in accountability and transparency by Charity Navigator.

  • Feed the Hungry, Inc. – rated 96 / 100 for accountability and transparency – spends 98.6% on programs;
  • Food for the Poor – rated 97 / 100 for accountability and transparency – spends 95.8% on programs;
  • Feed the Children – rated 96 / 100 for accountability and transparency – spends 90.3% on programs.
  • Feeding America – rated 97 /100 for accountability and transparency – spends 98.5% on programs.

 

Photos in public domain except pigs-in-a-blanket:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/daxiang/19023485/ stef yau]

 

Color away boredom, depression and stress!

Posted on by
Reply

Welsh brain scientist, Dr. Joel Pearson, says coloring helps adults replace negative thoughts and images with positive ones.

Coloring produces measurable effects

Dr. Stan Rodski, a neurophysicist who also creates adult coloring books says “colorists” enjoy results similar to those from meditation, including changes in heart rate and changes in brainwaves.

Dana Dovey, besides quoting Pearson and Rodski in her article, The Therapeutic Science Of Adult Coloring Books: How This Childhood Pastime Helps Adults Relieve Stress,  clarified that

…adult coloring books are not a cure for disease but an effective coping mechanism for people suffering from cancer, depression, dementia, anxiety, and PTSD.

Adult coloring books a booming business

Writing for Flavorwire.com, Sarah Seltzer asked in August 2015: “Are Grown-Up Coloring Books the Future of Publishing?”

Not long afterward, on December 13, the online New York Post confirmed that adult coloring books are publishing’s hottest trend.

Adult coloring as a social activity

Seltzer said, as part of the trend that bookstores are planning coloring parties, and that groups of adults are arranging coloring lunches. The coloring craze, she says

…isn’t just a way back to childhood, but a path back into a state of creation where process trumps result.

Working on art is a right-brain activity that contributes to mindfulness and adds a bit of whimsy to every day life. Just like children have always done, adults lose track of time while coloring.

No publisher left behind

Publishers Weekly gives most credit to Scottish illustrator, Johanna Basford, for the 2015 publishing craze. Coloring books, traditionally a children’s market item, are sold now by the millions to adults, and nearly if not all major publishing companies in the United States publish them.

Coloring by Warner PressFor example, Warner Press publishes a Christian-based series – Peaceful Reflections and Beloved Scriptures – that include pages for journaling and material for devotions.

Telebrands Press publishes a Colorama package with its own coloring pencils for more than 100 designs.  Most packages sell for $12.99 plus $6.99 for shipping and handling.

Colorama by Telebrands

Skip the resolutions!

Posted on by
Reply

Resources online may be more effective to make 2016 a happier, more productive year.

Pursuing happiness

Happiness is “a feeling or state of well-being and contentment,” according to Merriam-Webster Thesaurus that lists more than 40 words or phrases related to “happiness.”

Ellen Charry, a theology professor at Princeton, wrote

“Happiness … is enjoying a well-ordered life.”

The pursuit of happiness, along with life and liberty, is an inalienable right set out in America’s Declaration of Independence. But how should it be pursued?

A happy person is satisfied and content even when life is unsettled. Yet, many people exercise their “right” to pursue happiness through power, sex and money although they end up unsatisfied and discontent.

A few options and alternatives…

Being, or getting, happy

The conservative and non-partisan American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC oversees a project website. ThePursuitofHappiness.com lists three goals:

  • Convene a new conversation;
  • Explore what the moral promise of pursuing happiness means in America today; and
  • Start a social movement to fulfill that promise.

Anyone who seeks personal happiness and ways to share it may find opportunities on the website.

thepursuitofhappiness

Happify.com

Happiness from a scientific perspective based on studies and experts, some of whom are psychologists, neuroscientists, family therapists and medical doctors.

Asserting that humans are naturally negative-minded, these experts claim our brains change with new thought patterns and simple exercises to overcome life stresses.

Happify Tracks

The exercises are part of several “tracks,” many of which can be accessed with the Free membership, and others, for willing participants, are available through paid subscriptions.

Happier.com

Founder and CEO, Nataly Kogan, presents five principles for happiness:

  • gratitude;
  • happy friends and acquaintances;
  • doing nice things for others;
  • spending time with family and friends, and
  • spending money on experiences, not material things.

Kogan offers a mobile app for a variety of mostly-free courses that can also be accessed on a personal computer.

Fans of Deepak Chopra can access courses taught by him, including one titled “Super Brain.”

Happier

Toward a well-ordered life…

Mark Joyner created Simpleology and wrote a book with the title. The website offers a “Start My Day” management tool as well as several legacy courses and a blog.

An introductory course titled, Simpleology 101: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want is one of six core courses teaching on the mind and on money.

Simpleology HomePage.jpg

The screen shot below shows the pop-up for signing up for the free “Simpleology LITE” program. Simply click on it!

Simpleology LITE home page

GTD

Another website with a different approach to increasing personal and/or corporate productivity is gettingsthingsdone.com, by author and consultant David Allen.

Based on the premise that “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them,” Allen offers insights, courses, coaching and a 14-day free trial for access to everything.

gtd home page

A systematic approach

Forbes reports that only 8 percent of people fulfill their resolutions. One common reason why is the lack of a systematic approach.

One or more of the online programs above that actually do provide a systematic approach may be worth looking into.

Sincere but vague new year resolutions are ineffective for people who are serious about doing what it takes to increase their levels of happiness and productivity in 2016.

 

(Disclaimer: Websites highlighted herein are provided for information only and not as endorsements by the author or Benton County Enterprise.)