Tag Archives: Mental Health

by | February 24, 2013 · 2:52 pm

Our bodies are not designed to be idle as much as we allow

p10053Exercise is not only for the body but it is for the mind as well, Seems when you give your body a workout you tend to lift your spirits and increase the blood flow to your brain and that is a good thing for sure. Research has been done into exercise and depression and has shown that physical activity does help lower the occurrence or strength of the depression. I can tell you from experience it does have a positive effect on stress and your emotional well-being.

Our bodies are not designed to be idle as much as we allow them to be and this is one of the causes for obesity  and poor cardiovascular health. Eating a good diet alone is not enough to keep in shape, so we need to get out and get moving. As the old saying  goes, a body in motion keeps in motion.

Just some thoughts

Ray Barbier

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by | November 3, 2012 · 9:34 am

Life Is So Wonderful!!

flower01I am sitting here writing this, in the early morning,….and should have been asleep hours ago!  But i cannot help but think, how very precious and wonderful life is!  I am just so thankful to be alive today, and everyday! I know that a lot of bad things, can and do happen, in this life.  If it were too comfortable here, then we would not want to go to Heaven!  This is just a passing through place, until we get to our REAL, permanent home.  Until the time that the Lord, calls us home,…we can make the very best of life, right here.  It starts with having a positive attitude, and a will to find happiness, in the simplest of things.  If we just look at the wonderful things that God, has made, in His nature,…we can see how really beautiful that this world is!  Also, with all of the loving, and kind people, that He puts in out lives.  My grand baby’s smile, makes me so very happy!  Or even our many critters, that we have.  Just watching them, brings me such joy!  All of these things, i count as blessings!

It does not take much to bring about happiness.  Just look around, my friends!  Each and every new day, brings about such wonderful blessings!  Another day to enjoy God’s wonders, and all of His love!  Have a wonderful day!

Cathy Ann Adams

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
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by | November 2, 2012 · 5:58 pm

My own self

p10104 There has been times in my life I allowed my low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence to stop me from getting a good job or just getting a job done. The only thing that stood in my way of getting the job or doing the job was my own self. Like others I allowed my fears, insecurities and self-doubt to limit me and keep me from the possibilities that were before me. It is so easy to excuse your way through life, never to face change and never to leave your comfort zone. The cost of living in such a way in the end is quite high, you miss so much of life and you never get to experience life as the person you were born to be.

I have learned you can blame others for the bad things in your life all you want, but the truth is that you alone make the choices that creates what your life is like, going to change into and ultimately will become. It is your choice if you allow others to influence and/or control aspects of your life. Others only have the power that you allow them to have over you and your life.

tpl0008So it all boils down to what choices you make and what external influences you allow to play a part in your life. The choice is always yours, even when you choose to allow others to make a choice for you.

Your life is the sum of the experiences you have had and the choices you have both made and avoided.

Ray Barbier

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by | September 21, 2012 · 6:04 pm

We do not always see the opportunities that surround us

IMG_1077The power of thought be it positive or negative  can affect the body as well as the mind. If you go around with a negative attitude it attracts more of the same. There is no guarantee if you are a positive person that you wont have to deal with some negativity, but you will not face as much as someone with a negative attitude. With so many books out there claiming they have secrets that will lead  you to better life and all that your heart desires, the only one getting what they want most of the time with those books is the author and the publisher. Not saying the don’t have some kind of truth to what they are saying, usually its all common sense or plain positive thinking along with visualization. Now I am not saying don’t buy those books or that they don’t work, I am just saying a lot of what they teach is out there for free if you look hard enough.

One easy way to be happy and have all you desire is to be more realistic in what you desire and expect of yourself and others. Though most of us would not be happy with that scenario so that leaves us wanting for a shortcut or easy way to reach our goals and find happiness in life. Reality is, there is no real shortcuts out there unless you have some rich uncle or you are a con artists or something along those lines. Hard work is always needed to achieve your goals, saving and investing wisely also helps. The one thing I have learned it is hard to get rich owning your own business bit its next to impossible to get rich working for someone else.

But is it really money, possessions and or social status we are needing or wanting? Will they really bring that happiness we think they will or will they just temporarily give us a happy high and then we find ourselves back where we started or worse? Financial stability always helps but to be rich is only having way more than we need. Sure I would love to have enough right now to retire and live like I do for the rest of my life. I am happy being a lower middle-class person and I don’t see any real need for me to be a millionaire. Give me a roof over my head a good vehicle, bills paid and 3 square meals a day with maybe a bit left over in the bank and I am one happy man. But that is me and I know there are those that want the moon and everything else they can get in their lifetime.

So does visualization and positive thinking work? Yes, but to the magnitude that some claim, probably not as often as we all would like. Sure you can attract things through positivity and visualization,  you can also get a lot of things through faith and prayer as well. Sometimes it is just the matter of opening your eyes to the opportunities around you. For most of us we do not always see the opportunities that surround us nor the gifts God has laid by our feet because we are too focused on the stress and worry of life to see them.

Positive thinking, visualization, faith and prayer all can bring you some happiness and even some wealth. but if you forget where your blessings and help comes  from (GOD) they can always be taken away just as fast.

Ray Barbier

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by | September 19, 2012 · 4:39 pm

Music, stress and relaxation

English: music therapy

Listening to music is a good way to relax and relieve stress, especially if you just kick back, close your eyes and let the music take you away. As my fellow author would call it.. Space out…  We tend to get too much in a hurry to do everything and to get everywhere. We act like we are running out of time, though in a way that is true for we only have a short time to live our lives in this world. But to live every second trying to do everything at the speed of light leaves us in the dark to what is going on around us and also keeps us in sensory overload. We need to breathe, stretch and just chill out at times. Our jobs make that next to impossible, but outside work we can learn to manage time to where we have time to relax. Music being a very good tool for relaxation is what I usually use to relieve stress and relax the body and mind.

There is some scientific research out there that suggest music can alter ones brain wave patterns. Brainwaves tend to sync with the music tempo you are listening to, if you listen to harder faster music you become more mentally alert and the slower tempo music causes most of us to relax and can even cause us to enter a meditative state. Music also has proven to lower blood pressure, help with anxiety and depression as well.

Music is vibrational medicine for the mind, body and spirit.

Ray Barbier

More info on this subject can be found at one of these links below.
Brainwave ‘Music‘ May Soothe a Troubled Psyche | Fox News
Music Therapy – How and Why Music Therapy Is Effective
Brain Wave Music Therapy | eHow.com
Sit back and relax to brain wave music – TODAY Health – …

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by | August 31, 2012 · 6:08 pm

A better attitude towards life

013Why is it we tend to get more nostalgic as we age? Are we simply trying to relive our lost youth, or is it we think the times were better back in our youth? The thing is times seemed better back in our youth because we had a better attitude towards life and we didn’t allow stress to be our master as much as we do now. Of course things were less expensive when we were younger and maybe the economy was stronger, but those things are not what made the past seem to be so good. Some of it was we had all of our family alive or at least most of it and we had friends who we hung out with just to hang. We walked more than drove, we found happiness in simpler things and didn’t have as much problem prioritizing our time. We took things as they were and we didn’t worry as much about bills and where our next meal was coming from. We lived in the now and not in the past for we had little past to live in back then. We worried very little about the future for we had the feeling life was forever and we had time to do things later. Now we rush like we have only a day or week left of life, we worry and stress over things that we can not control. We forget life is for living, laughing and loving one another. We get too caught up in work, our goals and how we can’t control everything.

We seem to worry more about the expectations of others than the welfare of those we love. We need to return to just living in the now and not in the past, we need not worry about the future it will come when it is time. To plan for the future is good but to worry over it is not. Instead of longing for years gone by we should be living in the day we are in and try to make it the best day we can. Worry and stress are the biggest killers out there today, they cause everything from high blood pressure, heart failure to many other diseases. Let go of the stress and worry, give them to God and learn to  have faith in him. By letting go of the worry/stress and embracing faith we find hope and are released from the physical stress created by the worry.

 

When we were younger we were more carefree and rarely suffered with stress or worry. Now we are older we long for better times gone by, we just need to return to being more carefree.

Ray Barbier

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by | June 1, 2012 · 9:28 pm

Change how we react to the negative

HPIM0622What do we really want out of life? Do possessions and financial security bring us happiness or peace of mind? Is happiness something one can buy or is it something we can find within for free? Do others control our happiness or our moods or do we just simply allow them to do so? Thoughts to ponder on and many answers can come out of those questions. Personally all I want out of life is to live long, be happy and to be loved by family and friends. All the possessions I have I do enjoy but do not see as true source of happiness nor does having a lot of money. Sure being financially secure does at least make it easier for someone to be happy because of less stress but it does not bring happiness on its own.  Our mood is solely under our control, how others can effect it is when we allow them to have the power to do so. We choose to let a situation or the words and actions of others to change our emotional state.

Most of us are not skilled in controlling our emotions consciously and therefore we do suffer a lot from outside influences. But once we learn to regain control of our emotions consciously then no one can directly affect how we feel. We don’t  want to suppress out emotions for doing so can cause problems both physically and mentally. We just need to change how we react to the negative situation and channel the emotions that seep through into a more positive reaction. For those of us that are overly emotional and sensitive we need to toughen up and try not to take everything so seriously.  Some emotions are good when they come bursting out , like love, compassion and joy / happiness. Anger is one we must learn to control and channel into more of a positive and/or constructive reaction. I find writing in a journal or writing a blog is quite therapeutic and gives you a positive way to release those negative emotions. Of course if you’re blogging make sure you keep it inoffensive .

The path you walk is the path you chose, The life you live is the life you have created. The path you walk can always be changed and the life you live is forever changing with each choice and thought you have.

Raymond Barbier

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by | December 31, 2011 · 3:11 pm

Love thyself, be yourself and be true to yourself.

IMG_1078We can not be liked or loved by every person we meet, even though each of us are unique in our own way we also share common traits with others. Some people may find a common chord with you and be a part of your journey through life and then there are those no matter how hard you may try they will always see you as an outcast or a joke. that is just how this life is and there is little one can do about that fact, just learn to accept the gift of friendship from those that you find and forgive and dismiss the ones that are not yours to call friend. It may be nice to belong and feel loved by everyone you meet but unfortunately the possibility of such is nothing but a pipe dream.  Also if you try too hard to be liked and to belong you usually wind up pushing away those who could be your friends as well as making a fool of yourself unknowingly before everyone you meet. Best to learn to love and accept yourself for what you are and worry not about the thoughts and opinions of those around you. For if you become a person whom you like and can live with everyday then usually you will find that others will follow in liking you and accepting you for what and who you really are. Be yourself and be true to yourself so that you do not mislead yourself or others. Being human I myself have many faults I wish to hide away from the public eye but they always find a way to rear their ugly little heads for others to see from time to time. So I have learned to accept my shortcomings but not to give up on correcting them. No one person is perfect and the grass on the other side of the fence only seems to be greener than yours. To be really true to yourself you must face both your good and your bad points in your personality. Far as the bad points the first step in overcoming or controlling them is to accept the fact they exist. You can not fix what you do not believe is broken as well as you can not improve what you see as unchangeable as well. For there is no bad trait that can not be either improved or overcame through perseverance and the desire to better ones self. The biggest enemy to self-improvement is ones self-doubt, we all have it just some of us have more than others. We must learn to overcome the fear of failure and the fear of change in order to move forward on the path of self-improvement. In each one of us is the power and strength to become more than we could even dream of becoming. It isn’t all positive thinking but to be positive is one of the many keys to self improvement and success. Besides positive thinking one must be willing to act upon the positive thoughts and work towards making them a part of reality. To think positive alone will only bring you small results if not just set you up for a fall in the end. Just thinking about taking your first step does not start the journey, it is taking the first step and the risks that come from moving forward. Belief in something has a lot of power but putting that belief into a physical action has far more power to enact change. The faith of the mustard seed would be useless if it wasn’t for it following through with that faith by acting. Without action there is no chance for reaction, even visualization in its self is an action though limited in its possibilities of reaction without some physical action to support it.

 

Love thyself, be yourself and be true to yourself.

Be positive and act upon faith as well as your positive thinking.

 

Peace to all

Raymond Barbier

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by | October 25, 2011 · 9:42 am

Fear, The Enemy of Success and of Happiness.

tpl_7_ppl  Paranoia, self-doubt and low self-esteem are some the most difficult thought processes to correct. They play a significant role in ones chances to achieve success and in living a happy life. It seems for the most part the roadblocks to happiness stem from one troublesome root. That root cause appears to be fear, fear of failure, rejection and the fear of not being able to be in control. Fear seems to control so much of our decision-making that it controls a part if not all of our life. Though fear has its place in one’s life it is not supposed to control our life. Fear is a lot like a wild dog, once it is in the chicken coop it will keep killing the chickens until it gets tamed. Just like the wild dog, fear is something we all need to learn how to tame. Because if we allow fear to run wild it will kill our hopes and dreams before they have a chance to materialize as possible realities.

The fears we all have to face seem to be deep-rooted and they had their beginnings far in our youthful past. The worst of them usually come from our childhood and teen years. The only way I know to face such fears is to discover the time and place of origin. If we can discover the original source then we can find a way to overcome the fears hold on us.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

  In a nut shell the only way to conquer or tame your fears is to discover their root and face them head on. Once you do overcome your fears then you are on the path to becoming your true self and will be able to live to your full potential.

 

Just some random thoughts on fear

Raymond Barbier

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by | August 24, 2011 · 5:11 pm

We dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape.

003 I see the emptiness in the eyes of others, they endlessly try to fill it with material goods and through pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately these are only temporary distractions from the emptiness they feel. The lack of meaning in their life and the absence of self-worth makes the empty feeling in them harder to overcome. What exactly is that emptiness or what causes it could be something as simple as low self-esteem or depression. It also could be the lack of spiritual fulfillment as well as not being accepted by their peers. It seems quite apparent that humans as a species require some sort of community and to be accepted in some sort of social group. We tend to be a very social species and we thrive on being  a part of such a group as well as being loved.

Sometimes we tend to create a false image of ourselves within and can not see the real person we are. We deceive ourselves into believing such negative things that we dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape. The hardest part is coming to the realization that we are not as bad off as we believe. It’s so easy to fall in to the pit but it is very hard to climb our way out. It is one of things that it probably took you many years to create such a negative self-image and it will take some time to teach yourself to have a more positive image. There are many methods of building self-confidence as well as improving your self-image such as attending religious meetings, meditation, exercise and even writing poetry or a journal.

Every day is but one more step in your personal journey through life and each step leads you forward in your self discovery.  If you search within to find out who you really are you may just find that you are far better person than you once believed. For we seem to be a far stricter judge upon ourselves as well as or actions than we are on others. We have to look at ourselves like we look at friends and family. Judge ourselves with compassion like we do those we love and care about, knowing no one is perfect and to expect perfection from ourselves or others is just plain illogical to say the least. To remember your past mistakes is wise but to punish yourself over them is foolish. We paid the price for the mistakes shortly after we committed them and guilt shouldn’t last beyond a few day to a week. Forgiving ourselves and others seems to be one of the hardest things to do., but it is a necessary part of our life.

Well enough of my Psycho-babble Nonsense.
Peace and Love to All
Raymond Barbier

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