I’m here for you
Being with someone online is not “being with” someone. There’s a lot of information and energy missing in online communication. It may be OK for a staff meeting at Amazon.com, but I can’t be sure what patients are thinking or feeling if I’m looking at digital representations of them on a computer screen. Lots of what you get from a counselor, can only be gotten with in-person engagement. Our psyches can be healed with the feeling energy of a caring person. Ethically, I cannot charge for counseling on Zoom. How can I be “here for you” if I’m not here at all?–MR
Virtual contact worse than no contact for over-60s in lockdown, says study
By Amelia Hill, The Guardian US, July 26, 2021
Staying in touch with friends and family via technology made many older people feel more lonely, research finds.
Epidemic of loneliness
Human beings are social critters. Without friends or close family members in physical proximity, not only does our mental health suffer, but our physical health too. Taking care of your health also means taking care of your social needs. One thing a lonely person can do to fix a friend deficit is go to counseling. Among many other services, a counselor can be a therapeutic friend with whom you share your hopes and dreams, your loves and schemes, your losses and fears. Your heart and mind will feel the caring of a good counselor as they help you find ways to increase your ability to attract friends, maintain relationships and, perhaps, repair ones you’ve lost.—MR
It’s time to rethink what loneliness is
by Miriam Kirmayer, The Guardian US, July 22, 2021
Research suggests that chronic loneliness may be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But do we know what loneliness actually is?
Life CAN be good
What do you think your unconscious mind feels about your life when you are actively poisoning your bodymind? Does it believe you love yourself and others? Does it feel you love life, your one sweet life, when you are pouring a carcinogen down your throat? Does it wake up each morning with joy and energy while a chemical depressant courses through your veins for four days after one drink? If the below article doesn’t move you to at least consider reducing your alcohol consumption, nothing will.—MR
Alcohol caused 740,000 cancer cases globally last year — study
Bodymind Counseling
“Lots of things that people don’t think about, like depression or anxiety, are very clearly modified by your gut microbes.” say Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London. I discovered this back in 2004 when I personally undertook a probiotic protocol to heal an unhealthy small intestine. The coincidental mental health improvement was so significant, I went back to school to become a counselor so I could share the news with others. It’s why I call my practice Bodymind Counseling. While a dysbiotic gut certainly is not the only reason people suffer from depression and anxiety, it can be a major influence. Once the gut is balanced, other treatments for all forms of relational disorders and mental illnesses become more effective. At the very least, an imbalanced gut can make a person cranky.—MR
Unlocking the gut microbiome and its massive significance to our health
By Rebecca Seal, The Guardian US, June 11, 2021
Scientists are only just discovering the enormous impact of our gut health – and how it could hold the key to everything from tackling obesity to overcoming anxiety and boosting immunity.
Just one step
If there is a substance of any type you realize you are using everyday, you needn’t stop. Perhaps its a pain killer, alcohol, cannabis or even ice cream, doesn’t matter. Give yourself the gift of taking the simple step of gathering information. Talk with a bodymind expert, a nonjudgemental counselor with whom you can discuss your particular situation, answer your questions. Armed with knowledge, then you can decide what you wish to do, if anything. Ultimately, it’s your life.—MR
“Johnson & Johnson helped fuel this fire” – now it’s out of the opioids business
by Chris McGreal, The Guardian US, June 27, 2021
Whether the pharmaceutical giant jumped or was pushed, its New York deal is a significant sign of the way the wind is blowing. J&J said it had already decided in 2020 to “discontinue all of its prescription pain medications in the United States.”
Thou shalt not enable
The below article talks about victims standing in the way of cases moving forward. Please realize you are hurting, not helping, your partner, your family or yourself if you do not report domestic abuse to the police or stand in the way of allowing your abuser to go to jail for physically assaulting you. You are enabling their behavior, helping to create it, and teaching your children physical abuse is a legitimate tactic for resolving disputes. No matter what you did to erroneously make your think you deserved it, no one ever deserves to be punched, slapped, pushed or beaten.—MR
Three in four domestic abuse cases end without charge in England and Wales
By Jamie Grierson, The Guardian US, June 23, 2021
Data comes to light as part of review into police response to abuse during coronavirus pandemic though police forces were largely praised for their proactive approach towards domestic abuse cases.
Early to bed
According to the below reported study, those who go to bed earlier and get up earlier suffer anxiety and depression at a far lower rate. Yes, some folks seem born to be early birds, some night owls, but you can change the unhealthy night owl habit by practicing to be an early bird. Go to bed and turn out the light by 10:30 and get up at 6:30 intentionally for several months and you will come to do it more naturally. You will also watch anxiety and depression recede. This is something humans have known for thousands of years, but is now proven by scientific observation, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.“—MR
Are you a morning person or a night owl? The early risers may have the advantage
By Gabriela Miranda, USA Today, June 9, 2021
Does your body naturally wake you up or do you rely on the sounds and buzzes of several alarm clocks?
Headed in the wrong direction
The below article suggests that the solution to this horrible problem is another drug. The solution to the problem is for society to learn that a drug is rarely, if ever, a solution to a problem. That kind of thinking is what got us here in the first place! At Bodymind Counseling, you’ll learn you can deal with your problems, even many diseases and disorders, without drugs. Obviously, not always, but usually.–MR
Enough fentanyl to kill San Francisco: the new wave of the opioid crisis sweeping California
By Erin McCormick, The Guardian US, June 14, 2021
Deaths from fentanyl overdoses have jumped by more than 2,100% in five years as the powerful drug has flooded the state.
Don’t worry. Be happy!
The below article talks about research that shows over 90% of the things we worry about happening in the future never happen. And that, while it may help identify a threat, worrying blocks our ability to find solutions to problems. Makes you wonder why we do it in the first place?–MR
Worry is an unhelpful friend and a shoddy fortune-teller
By Lucas LaFreniere, Psyche, June 9, 2021
Breathe much?
During the summer of 1981, I awoke to find my first yoga teacher standing over me with her hands on her hips saying, “breathe much?” I had blacked out and dropped to the floor during a breathing exercise in her class. My poor breath-deprived body did not know what to do with so much air and I had passed out. Prior to that experience, I simply was not breathing enough to maintain good physical and mental health. Breath is primary to life, i.e. more important than water, food, sleep or exercise. If you aren’t doing it enough in the right way, you WILL feel anxious and quite likely depressed.—MR
Power of the Breath with James Nestor
by Raghu Markus, Mindrolling, May 28, 2021
This week on the Mindrolling podcast, Raghu shares a conversation with author James Nestor about the underestimated power of our breath and how we can work with it.
Can’t zoom this
You can no more be healed by a computer or a face on a computer than you can marry a computer. It’s been well proven that it’s the “therapeutic relationship,” a complex system of unconscious energetic connections between two human beings that induces the healing of your psyche. The simplest way to put it is your mind was injured in an intimate relationship of holding, so it takes one to set it right. It’s been repeatedly demonstrated by research that it doesn’t matter what diagnosis you have, what drugs are prescribed or what theories and treatments are used, it’s the living breathing face-to-face presence of someone who cares that actually matters.-–MR
The computer will see you now: is your therapy session about to be automated?
By Ramin Skibba, The Guardian US, June 4, 2021
Experts say AI is set to grow rapidly in psychiatry and therapy, allowing doctors to spot mental illness earlier and improve care. But are the technologies effective – and ethical?
Identity crisis or beautiful flow?
Below, a man reports he felt the ground shake because his hairline was receding. While this sounds pretty crazy, it’s is a common phenomena. Not due to balding, but due to a psychological threat to ones identity, i.e. who you think you are. Everyone has a self image, some are more rigid than others. But it’s not who you are, it’s just in your imagination. In physical reality, a person is a complicated process, a biological system of human cells and microbiota, a electro chemical process changing daily. In psycho-emotional reality, you’re an ego structure—a psychological construct like a hologram that can get stuck in a moment of time. When this structure is forced to change, walls can literally seem to turn to jello, furniture may wiggle or the ground shake. When letting go of being a twenty-something or a mom, an event like a wedding, going away to college or a divorce, some folks can become REALLY miserable resorting to all sorts of dysfunctional behaviors. This is a good time to visit a counselor who can help you move with strength, comfort and grace into the next stage of life—a natural and beautiful process of exploration and becoming who you truly are today!—MR
“My hairline threatened my identity so much the ground felt shaky:” why hair transplants are booming
By Simon Usborne, The US Guardian, June 1, 2021
Celebrity endorsements, new techniques and lockdown have led to rising demand for follicular transplants. But with patchy regulation, are men being exploited when they are vulnerable?
Catch the wave of good health
Improving your mental health to create a happier life is ultimately your responsibility. One of the most effective things you can do is take up a sport for the many reasons discussed in the article below. It doesn’t have to be surfing, it seems a little cold in the PacNW for that, but hiking, biking, pickle ball, golf, archery, boxing, marathoning, rock climbing and kayaking all come to my mind. What pops up in yours? Give a sport a try. You’ll be amazed at the myriad benefits of focusing on a sport instead of what’s wrong with your world, particularly if you replace mind-destroying substance use with it.–MR
Mental health benefits of surfing
By Kim Schiffman, The Portugal News, May 28, 2021
A couple of weeks ago we talked about the physical health benefits of surfing, now it is time to explore what surfing can do for your mind.
You feel what you eat
Do a science experiment to prove to yourself that you feel like what you eat. For a month, eat non organic processed foods. You’ll feel like non organic processed food, toxic, worn out and depressed. Then for a month, eat living organic foods—fresh minimally processed meats, fruits and vegetables—you’ll feel fresh and filled with energy. It just makes sense you’d feel better. Yes, organic food costs more, but it is actually food. —MR
How Food May Improve Your Mood
By Anahad O’Connor, The New York Times, May 6, 2021
The sugar-laden, high-fat foods we often crave when we are stressed or depressed, as comforting as they are, may be the least likely to benefit our mental health.
It’s not your fault
Domestic abuse is mental illness family style. But the only person who can fix it is the abused. The big problem is he or she has been convinced they deserve it by the person they think they love, their abuser. If you even have a tiny inkling you are being abused, physically or emotionally, find a way to talk with a counselor. Get some information and take it from there.—MR
Mel B on domestic abuse, trauma and recovery: ‘In my mind there was no way out’
by Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian US, April 17, 2021
Four years after escaping her marriage, the former Spice Girl talks about confidence, family – and why the pandemic has led to a rise in abusive relationships.
It’s your life
If you wish to be unhappy or anxious, I’d highly recommend drinking alcohol. It’s your life after all. This is America. You can do as you wish. But if you are suffering from depression, lack of sleep or declining health, the quickest way to feel better is to put down that drink. If you would like some help throwing off the monkey on your back, just call. I did it. You can too. The statistics from Washington State below on how many deaths occur directly due to drinking are sobering. Note: They are way up so far this year…—MR
Annual Average for Washington 2011-2015: Alcohol-Attributable Deaths Due to Excessive Alcohol Use
Poison is poisonous
Most corporate pesticides work by destroying the nervous systems of bugs, good and bad, and do a lot of collateral damage to other critters, large, small and itsy bitsy. They probably hurt your nervous system too, because the nervous systems of all animals are VERY similar. The largest part of the human nervous system is called “the brain.” For good mental health, it is common sense that eating organic food is a pretty good idea.—MR
Vital soil organisms being harmed by pesticides, study shows
by Damian Carrington, The Guardian US, May 4, 2021
Tiny creatures are the ‘unsung heroes’ that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on land. Researchers found the measured impacts of farm chemicals on organisms such as earthworms were overwhelmingly negative.
Food is medicine
How wonderful is this?—MR
Help Curate This Vast Trove of Kitchen-Table Remedies
By Reina Gattuso, Atlas Obscura, April 21, 2021
The Archive of Healing includes hundreds of thousands of folk healing traditions from six continents.
To do or not to do?
Every week, I witness patients exercise their free will to make choices about their behaviors. In counseling, they learn about the psychological forces inhibiting free will. Knee-jerk reactions fueled by emotions called “psychological patterns” learned in childhood from family or society. As a counselor, I point out the patterns I see. Then, after the first day, first month or year, people decide these patterned behaviors are undesirable, dysfunctional or unhealthy and they choose to do things differently. Kind of like learning to ride a bicycle. Try, fall off, try, fall off, try, ride off into a new kind of life. Free will is what separates us from other animals—the ability to choose change. Not saying it is easy, but with intent, practice and support, change is possible. Because of free will, some patients quit counseling—they choose not to change, yet…—MR
The clockwork universe: is free will an illusion?
by Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian US, April 27, 2021
A growing chorus of scientists and philosophers argue that free will does not exist. Could they be right?
The alcohol industry wants you
While the alcohol industry happily rakes in billions of increased profits during the pandemic, many people do not realize how dangerous drinking daily can be to their physical, emotional and family health. Particularly, drinking to cope. While alcohol calms down an agitated amygdala while the drink is in hand, this emotional center in your brain becomes more upset between drinking sessions than it would have been without the alcohol. Drinking is exacerbating your anxiety, not curtailing it. If you wish to calmly face your problems, begin slowly cutting back now, so you don’t go into emotional withdrawal, and find a counselor to teach you how to cope in a healthy way. Besides, her office is a good place to leave your messy worries, not splattered all over the living room.—MR
How Bad Is Our Pandemic Drinking Problem?
April 21, 2021
The past year has changed alcohol use patterns, especially among women. The impacts probably won’t be fully known for years.
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