My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, inspirational thoughts, and other stuff too. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor for Health & Wellness.
Find out all the places I blog at by going to catherine-morgan.com.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about today, and then I came across this interesting article on how reading can reduce stress. Since I love to read, and I also love anything that can help me reduce stress, I thought this would be a great post for today.
Are you stressed about the economy? Your job? Your kids? Politics? It’s no secret that life is very stressful these days. So…What can we do to reduce stress? Apparently, reading a book is one of the best ways to reduce stress.
Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds or 68%.
New research by consultancy Mindlab International at the University of Sussex says reading works better and faster than other methods to calm frazzled nerves such as listening to music, going for a walk or settling down with a cup of tea.
Are you a reader? Does it help you relax and de-stress?
THE ONE THING WE NEED TO START DOING WHEN WE GO TO GET OUR YEARLY MAMMOGRAM. — by Catherine Morgan
We all know that we need to get our yearly mammogram. None of us “want” to get it, but we get it anyway because we know how important early detection is in the treatment of breast cancer. However, there is something that most of us don’t do when we go to get our mammogram that I think we should be doing, something that the doctors and technicians don’t tell us to do. I’ll warn you now…this may be hard for some.Let me start off by telling you that I had my mammogram recently, it was what they call a “diagnostic” mammogram, as opposed to the normal yearly “routine” mammogram. You get a diagnostic mammogram when they find something that doesn’t appear normal…At this point it is still more likely than not that you don’t have cancer, but it could turn out that you do. I know cancer is a scary word, but we really need to get over it. Cancer is not a four letter word that we can’t talk about, in fact we actually need to talk about it. Because, the more we talk about it, and the more we understand it…the less scary “it” will be. Like everything in life – Knowledge is power.
This is from a post I did on my Be The Change You Want To See In Yourself blog. I thought it would be nice here as well. Hope you like it.
FINDING PEACE AND HAPPINESS IN MOMENTS OF SILENCE — by Catherine Morgan
Where did the saying “I just want a little peace and quiet” come from? Obviously, from someone who understood that peace can only exist in silence. The noise of life is like a barrier that stands between you and peace. But, quieting the noise with silence can break down this barrier, and open the door to the peace that is within you.
COLORFUL MEDITATION – For meditation and stress reduction is 6 mins of continuous highly complex computer generated kaleidoscopic imagery with an original New Age ambient music soundtrack….from http://www.cinemandala.com
I found this video, and I thought it would make a good post. I hope you like it.
If you liked this video, you should also check out what I put up on my other site…..It is a video of inspirational quotes set to the song “Starry Starry Night”. It is really beautiful. You can see it at BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN YOURSELF
If you or someone you know is in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship, there is a lot of information available and people that can help. Below is an article and links to help you understand domestic violence and abuse, and to find help. You are not alone.
Grieving For The Loss Of The Person You Once Knew — While Learning To Be The Person You Have Become – by Catherine Morgan
There comes a time in every fight, where you have to wonder what it is you are fighting for. In the case of chronic illness, I thought I was fighting to take my life back. I thought I was fighting to find a cure for myself. I thought I was fighting for the right combination of medications to help me lead a “normal” life again. I was fighting, fighting, fighting…..until that one day when I realized, I was fighting a losing battle. No matter how much I fought, I was never going to get my life back. No matter how much I fought, I was never going to be “normal” again. I actually fought myself at this time, to not give-up the fight. I thought that if I admitted failure, I was letting the disease win. But the truth is, that as with most fights, the toll the fight takes on you emotionally is much worse than the fight itself.
I came across this article today and I thought it would be something to share with all of you. These are great ideas on ways that you can spread random acts of kindness, and make a positive difference in someones life. Sometimes, the smallest kind gesture, can be what turns around someones day. Not only does your kindness resonate with the person you have been kind to, but the more you do this, the more you change your own personal energy, and in-turn bring more kindness and kind people into your own life. Try it for a week and see if you notice a difference. Be an angel in someones life today, and give them the gift of kindness.
CHRONIC ILLNESS AND DEPRESSION — What came first? – by Catherine Morgan
If you found out you had Diabetes and became depressed, the doctor would tell you that it is normal to feel depressed after a diagnosis such as this. And the doctor would be correct. Chronic illness changes your life, it is scary, it is frustrating, and yes it can also be very depressing. And, there is no shame in admitting that you are depressed, there are many things your doctor can do to help you with this problem.
Just about every person that suffers from a chronic illness will also suffer in some way with depression. If you are diagnosed with Lupus, or MS, or cancer, or any other chronic medical condition, your doctor will be totally understanding when you come to him with your feelings of depression, as he should be. And treating your depression should be an important part of the overall treatment of your illness.
It would be virtually unheard of for a doctor to suggest that a persons depression was the cause of their Lupus, or the cause of their MS, or the cause of their cancer. But, in the case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a condition that the CDC considers to be just as devastating as these other chronic illnesses, doctors will often insist that the depression is causing the disease, and not the other way around.
IN THE END, ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS — by Catherine Morgan
Jewel has a song, and in it she sings….”In the end, only kindness matters”. Those are very profound words. I would even say, that these are words to live your life by. Because, it is so true. In the grand scheme of things, we are here on earth only a very short time. Many of us spend much of this time being angry at people, making judgments on others, and generally just not being as kind as we could be. So, the question then becomes….How can we change that? How can we live a more kind life?
WHAT ARE LIFE’S GREATEST LESSONS? — by Catherine Morgan
“When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves” — Katherine Mansfield
What I think this quote is saying, is that the importance of failures in our lives, will only be revealed to us, once we stop looking at them as failures. What we learn from our so-called “failures”, are usually the greatest lessons in our lives, and we need to open our eyes so we can see that.
EVERYTHING CHANGES, NOTHING EVER STAYS THE SAME — by Catherine Morgan
This isn’t “breaking” news. We all know that nothing stays the same. We all know that life is constantly changing. However, I think that we all under-estimate this fact in many ways. What I mean is, when things are going great in our lives, we don’t think about the times that they weren’t so great. And, when things are going badly and we are feeling sad, it is sometimes hard to remember that we were ever happy. In both these cases, it is important for us to not only remember, but to also reflect.
One of my favorite songs to listen to is, “I’ll Stand By You” by the Pretenders — you can play the song at the bottom of this post. I was listening to it today in the car (while riding home from my mammogram). I began to think about how nice it is to know that someone will “stand by you” no matter what. As a mom, I will “stand by” my kids no matter what…I think they know that (especially since I play the song all the time and tell them). The song always makes me think about how lucky people are when they know (really know) that they have someone who will “stand by them” no matter what.
Sometimes when we are feeling down, and life isn’t going our way, and we feel all alone…..That’s the time we find out who will “stand by us”. It’s sad in a way, that it takes tragedy, or pain to find out who the people in our life are that will “stand by us”, even in our darkest hours. The people who are like angels on earth to us–Connie. The people who were like angels on earth to us–Becky. The people that pick us up when we feel like we are in a never ending free fall of grief–Dawny. The people who save us when we just want to die–Vicki. The people who support us when we can barley support ourselves–Frances Ellen. I feel sad for the people who have perfect lives and never get to really find out who these people are in their lives. It is truly the one great blessing that comes out of our heartache and pain.
How do you know if you are just “blue”, or you are really suffering from depression? The following is from an article found at www.uihealthcare.com. Depression is nothing to be ashamed about, all of us will feel depressed at some or many points in our lives, and knowing when to seek professional help, can be what saves your own life, or someone you know. As with everything in life, being “aware”, is the first step in conquering the problem. This article has a lot of valuable information, in educating poeple about depression, and the different types of depression.
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