Ways to change your life

Now you may or may not be a selfish person at heart but the fact of the matter is that anxiety and depression can make you selfish or at the very least make you seem selfish to others. Do you spend a lot of time wrapped in your own thoughts? Are you consumed by the next possible anxiety related disaster? Then chances are that you’re struggling to get outside of yourself and maybe even having trouble in your personal relationships. However, even if this is the case you can make a change and not only preserve your relationships, but also improve your anxiety symptoms in the process.

Solutions

• Practice compassion.
• Get outside of yourself and literally get outside as well.
• Communicate positively by being open and not making everything about you or your own problems. But also don’t be afraid to say what kind of support you need.
• Live in the present. Future thinking and regrets about the past are counterproductive. Make time for loved ones.
• Make an effort to be with those you love in meaningful ways.

Rise: Sun and sky interlude

To me, the natural world is change alive in all of its glory. Magically, watching the ebb and flow of the sea, or a sky light show at sunrise or sunset can be both uplifting and grounding at the same time.

Take a few minutes right now. Shut down your mind, and relax to this seaside sunrise set to music. We are alive and at peace. All is well.

On gratitude's ability to change your life

Today I'm really thinking a lot about gratitude.

I'm posting my first entry in my online journal. Today's been filled with many reasons to be thankful for the life that I have right now. I wouldn't change a thing, and yet things always change. And that's what this process is all about. As it turns out, studies show that writing my experiences down like this will help me to heal in many ways.

The Change Blog has a similar post on how gratitude can change your life. Here's a clip I wanted to share with you, especially as it relates to what I'm doing here today:

Two psychologists, Michael McCollough of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, wrote an article about an experiment they conducted on gratitude and its impact on well-being. The study split several hundred people into three different groups and all of the participants were asked to keep daily diaries.

The first group kept a diary of the events that occurred during the day without being told specifically to write about either good or bad things; the second group was told to record their unpleasant experiences; and the last group was instructed to make a daily list of things for which they were grateful. The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. In addition, those in the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, were more likely to help others, exercised more regularly, and made greater progress toward achieving personal goals.

Sounds good to me. Until next time...

Will new airport body scanners increase hassles for breast cancer survivors?

Change is not always necessarily good.

Earlier this month, a New York Times article offered up a few first impressions on the new full body-screening devices coming soon to an airport near you.

Currently, reporter Joe Sharkey writes, the Transportation Security Administration "has 105 of them at 31 airports, and is awarding contracts to have about 450 installed at various airports by the end of this year. Eventually, these machines [technically, "millimeter wave scanning machines"] will replace the familiar magnetometers that you walk through at checkpoints."

The article drew a "robust reader response."

Sharkey shares some of it in a follow-up column today. While most of the feedback concerns the lousy (and even hostile in some cases) attitude of the TSA screeners, one specific reader experience is worth sharing here with you as an fyi:

[T]he body scanners, which detect mass rather than just metal, have introduced complications for some women who are breast cancer survivors. One woman, who asked that her name not be used, said a female screener had asked her to step aside after a body scan. “She asked if I had had any surgery to my chest area, and I responded that I had had a mastectomy and that I wore a silicone breast prosthesis. She thanked me, said, ‘Affirmative’ into the headset.”

Asked about the readers’ comments, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, Greg Soule, said passengers with medical devices outside the body, like a breast prosthesis or a colostomy bag, “will be offered a private screening.”

Brave new world, here we come...

If you've had any experience with these new scanners or wish to share your thoughts on this, please leave a comment.

20 words to change your life

Sometimes, the best things in life are free.

Case in point: this little video I came across on YouTube. Chock full of advice that's good to remember and maybe even inspire.

No better time than now...for change.

What is Change Alive?

Change Alive (once fully brought to life) is a dual-purpose project.

First, you'll find an eclectic mix of stories and situations, people and actions that are bringing change alive in our world today. Second, the creation of this blog is meant to help raise some serious change (or even the more stately green stuff) for my best friend's sister in her fight against breast cancer.