Thin Slices of Joy
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I can't move.
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Another fav...
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Haha I had granola and yoghurt. There is a choice of that, porridge or The full Scottish (haggis, bacon, eggs etc) I'm trying to eat healthily and want to lose 20 lbs (7lbs gone so far). I'm also trying to exercise more, I still get really tired though and don't do as much as I would like. I have been swimming a couple of times this week, had a couple of long dog walks and am going to a yoga class tomorrow. I feel really good after swimming: my gym has a (hydrotherapy area) like a really powerful comfortable lying down hot tub, which I always go into afterwards. It seems to help my hip problem, which is definitely improving a bit each week. I've started taking glucosamine too, which a couple of people recommended for healthy joints. X
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That tub sounds wonderful! Good job on losing weight. I lose weight when I avoid grains and sugar. In your breakfast options, I would have gone with the full Scottish. Never had haggis. My breakfast treat is a variation on Eggs Benedict. Instead of using a muffin, we use homemade hash browns. I make the hollandaise while my husband makes the rest.
Got another family birthday coming up. Dessert chosen is German Chocolate Cheesecake. I will have to alter a recipe for the Instant Pot. I really like the smaller size. Keeps the waist from expanding too much.
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Scotbird, the hydrotherapy sounds like heaven.
We had a nice snowfall overnight, maybe 1 1/2 inches. It made all the gray and muddy colors disappear and looks soft,,white and welcoming today.
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Teen daughter is home. Pup wanted to go outside and rang her bell loudly. When she heard me ask daughter to take her out, she walked over to sit in front of my daughter and stared. They went outside, but all the pup did was stick her head in the snow. Last winter she found a dead mouse. This time she came up empty. Whew!
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Scotbird~ I can't wait to visit Scotland. Both sides of my family are Scot, from the Keith clan.
:-)
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Major hygge - My husband made serious hot cocoa.
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:-)
Major hygge: An old friend from college coming up for a pajama party this weekend!!
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GG - Hope you have a great pajama party!
Qi Gong was good today. Afterwards, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up cheesecake ingredients.
I went to a new physiotherapist recommended by the Qi Gong teacher. I liked her. The office is just off the island. From the bridge, I could see the partially frozen water. It was eerily beautiful.
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What is a physiotherapist??
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Same as a physical therapist. I've seen numerous therapists for my sciatica: athletic therapist, multiple osteopaths, and exercise therapist. I don't know the differences besides that it denotes the different training programs.
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My survivorship plan includes referrals to Speech Language, Yoga Therapy, Occupational Therapy, acupressure, Psychotherapy, and "Steps to Wellness." I am gonna be a new woman when it's all said and done!
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GG - This whole experience has been transformative! Hope you're having fun at your PJ party.
Saw John Wick (was awesome)and ate dinnner out for family birthday outing. Had the German Chocolate cheesecake. Forgot to take pic. It was good, but my fav cheesecake is NY style with dark chocolate ganache.
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gypsy, the survivorship plan sounds great.
Serenity, what a nice day you had with family.
Dh and I took advantage of the unusually mild almost-60-degree weather yesterday and got one of our two apple trees trimmed. Took about an hour. It is always a late winter chore meaning spring is just around the corner! Rainy here today, then the weather turns colder tonight and we will get snow. So dh and I will trim the other tree on the next nice day that we have some time. Looks like that might be next Sunday when temps go back up to the mid 50s.
Then I looked up when we turn the clocks forward...it is March 12, so exactly a month from now, That really is a slice of joy to think about.
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Divine - Nice weather you're having!
My husband came in from the cold and said he's happy to have a home. So, there's my slice of joy. My family is warm and safe.
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Serenity~ That's a fabulous slice of joy.
Big snowstorm: No school school tomorrow!
Divine: My tree needs trimming so badly. Thanks for the reminder. It's hard to find someone to help with that around here. Too big of a job for me to tackle.
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No schools were cancelled today. The snowplows have been very busy, but the snow did cause some public transit delays.
My older daughter got a summer internship!
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Serenity, that is wonderful about your daughter getting an internship. I know you gotta be happy about that.
Today, I flexed my "no" muscle again. Dh needs work done on his vehicle and on the spur of the moment, asked if I could help him run it out to the car shop, over half an hour away. It is not emergency work needing done on that SUV. I had plans to cook dinner and work on a photo album I am making for my niece. Many, many countless times I have put my plans on hold as if they hold less importance than the plans of others. But today, I told dh "no". And he gave me a look and I did not even care. We will get his vehicle to the shop on Wednesday. I feel joy at this slice of empowering myself.
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Divine - Good job for flexing that muscle! Yes, I'm very happy for my daughter. She is so incredible. She was working at the movie theater last year and hated it. We told her to quit and find something that will help her career instead.
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I have been flexing that "no muscle", but I could do better. Coaching needed.
My psychology students have studied "happiness" and "positive psychology" this week. I had them read the article posted here and then complete 10 day "Thin Slices Of Joy" assignment!
Thank you from all of us, Serenity!
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GG - I'm glad to share what I find! What did they think at the end of the assignment?
I need to work on awe after reading the article below. I have started following the Art Pics Channel on Twitter. It makes me pause in between the news articles that I read. It isn't the same as standing in front of a piece of art, but it isn't too bad. We plan to see the Chagall exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts when the sidewalks aren't covered in snow.
https://wire.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/why-posi...
Why positive emotions may be the next big predictor of health
What if joy or amusement could improve your health—would you smile more today? That's precisely the question psychology researcher, Jennifer Stellar, PhD, has explored in her work. The University of Toronto postdoctoral fellow recently presented her research at TEDMED 2015. Learn about her evidence-based approach to exploring human emotions and why our feelings may have a greater impact on our well-being than we expect.
Measuring positive emotions and health
To determine whether emotions impact health, Stellar launched two studies in which she measured students' levels of proinflammatory cytokines, which if chronically elevated for long periods of time, can have harmful health effects contributing to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression.
In her research, Steller specifically measured students' levels of Interluken-6 (IL-6), a common proinflammatory cytokine, based on the emotions they exhibited.
Stellar noted that she and her research staff had an important hypothesis to test. "Our idea was that people who experience more positive emotions will have lower levels of IL-6 circulating in their body," she said. "Why did we think this? Certain negative emotions have been associated with increases in IL-6, so we thought perhaps positive emotions would have an opposite effect leading to lower levels of this damaging biomarker."
Stellar had students come to a lab where she measured how many positive emotions they experienced in the previous month, then collected a saliva sample to measure each student's level of IL-6. "It turns out, our hypothesis was correct. Positive emotions predicted lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines in our student population."
Challenging her own research
This was a great discovery, but Stellar still felt compelled to approach her hypothesis differently. Not only did she want to confirm that human emotions impact IL-6 levels but she also wanted to know which specific emotions were key drivers to higher IL-6 levels, so she launched an additional survey that measured the frequency and intensity in which students experienced a core set of emotions.
The survey measured seven key emotions: amusement, awe, contentment, compassion, pride, love and joy. Stellar found that four specific emotions—joy, pride, contentment and awe—predicted lower levels of IL-6.
Interestingly, awe had the strongest negative relationship to IL-6, even when researchers controlled for the other six positive emotions, personality measures and a third method of measuring emotions.
An awe-inspiring discovery
Awe is such a powerful emotion because it signifies wonder and amazement in the world, and you don't have to travel abroad or pursue a daring adventure to find it. "In fact, participants report feeling awe about twice a week on average, making it a more common emotion than we might expect," she said, noting that everyday experiences— glancing up at the stars or watching athletes achieve a seemingly impossible physical feat—can inspire awe.
While researchers don't entirely know why awe topped the list of emotions as a positive predictor of health, Stellar said she's certain that her own studies have changed her way of thinking about awe in the world.
"I used to see a walk in nature or a trip to the museum as a luxury I could barely afford in my busy life. Now I see it as essential to my mental and physician health."
She said her studies also remind her that as a field, psychology is transforming, and her colleagues are shifting how they think about positive emotions. "We now recognize that they're not simply the absence of negative emotions but that they're colorful and varied in their own right …. We still have a lot to learn about the emotion of awe, but it's fascinating to think that in seeking out the beauty, mystery and vastness our world has to offer, we might actually find the key to our physical health."
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Gypsy, that sounds like a great assignment. I bet the students liked it.
Today dh took me out for quesadillas and a maguerita. Yum.
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Divine - Yum!
My older daughter baked cookies last night for a bake sale today. I could hear her talking, but it wasn't to me. Sounded like she was having a conversation with the pup on baking cookies.
Went to physiotherapist today. I have measurable improvement from last week.
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Since I love coffee and Dali.
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Love love the Dali latte. I can imagine an artist inspired series....O'Keefe lattes, Bosch lattes....
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reflect - I would've thought there would be many O'Keefe-inspired lattes, but I didn't find any. They may be out there. I found Munch, Vermeer, and Haring.
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I want this puppy massage. Click on the link to see in action.
https://twitter.com/meanwhileincana/status/8326640...
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Went to Qi Gong this morning. I really like the warm ups that we do. There 2 are good.
The wrist warm up is good to get things started. Lace your fingers loosely and rotate your wrists with shoulders and elbows relaxed. The pictures below look too tight, but it's close.
These elbow circles relax the shoulder, and they help with any tightness on my mastectomy side. We put our hands on our chest instead of the shoulders. Also, the movement is bigger than pictured. Lift your elbows as high as you can. Move with your breath. Change direction.
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Just checking in, loving the posts everyone. I had a lovely few days. It's starting to get warmer, the sun is shining, snowdrops are out. Had a lovely walk with my friend and our three dogs today, then out for coffee and cake. I bought some spring plants to put in the pots on my doorstep. My daughter's birthday party is tomorrow. I have 14 kids sleeping over. What was I thinking? Oh well they'll definitelyhave fun. X
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