Entries Tagged 'Heart And Brain Stuff' ↓

The mind is a powerful thing. Thought and emotion have the ability to affect the body, both positively and negatively. For this reason, it is a good idea to maintain a healthy mind to assist in maintaining a healthy body.

Some ideas for maintaining a healthy mind

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I’ve been attending a yoga class once a week for the past few months now. From the beginning we were encouraged to continue the yoga practice at home, preferably on a daily basis. I really struggled with trying to do even one day at home on my own. The thought of doing the warming exercises and holding the Asanas for a length of time felt like it needed a lot more patience then I actually had. I tried a few times but my efforts were really poor. I’d race through the warming exercises and hold the Asanas for a ridiculously short amount of time. It was better than nothing I guess, but I don’t think it was really doing a lot.

It probably took a good three or four months of classes before I started daily practice at home. It happened all of a sudden too. I went from not practicing at all during the week to practicing at least once a day, sometimes even twice.

Why I made the transition

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I guess I’m really lucky that I remember my dreams just about every morning when I wake up. Dreams can tell you a lot about what’s going on in your life, what you’re fearful of or even what’s coming up in the future.

Most dreams are really easy to interpret. The trick is to follow your intuition and take note of how your body feels and what kind of reaction is evoked when you consider the events of your dream. Every icon in your dream is unique to you. This means an item or person in your dream may mean something completely different in someone else’s dream.

Say you dreamt that you were eating oranges in the middle of the forest. What do oranges mean to you? What is the first thing you think of when you consider an orange? Does it evoke any emotions or feelings? Now do the same for a forest. Once you’ve interpreted each element of the dream, you can then form a conclusion or interpretation.

My reoccurring dreams interpreted

One really easy reoccurring dream that I have is about a friend of mine that lives in London. Every now and again I dream that I arrive in London on a holiday and have forgotten to tell her I’ll be there. Then I spend my entire holiday looking for her because I don’t have her current address or phone number. This dream is telling me to keep in contact with my friend and not lose touch.

Another reoccurring dream that I have, which is really common with people who are stressed, takes place back in school. I walk into an exam without studying and spend the whole exam stressing and asking myself why I haven’t prepared for the exam. This dream always occurs around times of great work or study stress in my life. Very literal.

Most dreams aren’t as literal or so easy to interpret, but if you write it all down and pull out elements and listen to your intuition you’ll find you can usually come up with some sort of conclusion. The best person to interpret the dream is yourself because, remember – those icons in your dream are unique to you.

In my opinion dream interpretation books which list symbols and their meanings are a complete waste of money. I bought a couple of these books when I was a teenager and they now sit in my bookshelf more for a good laugh. It’s crazy how detailed and specific the interpretations in these books. It’s silly really, how can one item possibly mean the same thing to everybody? Each person has their own experiences and their own ideas.

Have said all that, sometimes you may need a little help interpreting a dream. I find getting friends to brainstorm with me is always a good way. Keeping in mind that telling another person your dream can sometimes be very interesting to you but the most boring conversation to them!

If you have a dream that you want help with, especially if it’s reoccurring, write a comment and I’ll do my best to help out

Frances Kerr

I woke up at 6:30am this morning to do yoga and I now feel fantastic. I’ve been meaning to get into the habit of daily yoga for a long time now so hopefully this is the start of a healthy habit. The way I feel now makes getting up that extra hour early so worth it. It’s not a fitness thing either. It’s an overall feeling of wellbeing. I feel quite calm now and relaxed and ready for the day.

I did find I was quite stiff and my stomach was rumbling a bit because I was hungry but everything else went really well. I was able to take my time and really enjoy it. Maybe the mornings are better for me because I’m more dopey and relaxed. In the afternoons or evenings I’m processing the day and thinking about all the other things I want to get done so I get impatient and rush through it.

I’m looking forward to getting up early all this week and doing yoga!

Frances Kerr

I do volunteer work once a fortnight with the outreach and friendship service for the homeless, Rosies.

Rosies is a really great organisation. Their main aim is to provide friendship to the marginalised, homeless, houseless and abandoned within our community. My “work” involves heading into the Brisbane CBD with the van for a couple of hours one night a fortnight and spending time with whoever wants to come and chat with us. We provide drinks (coffee, tea and milo) as a way of making everyone feel welcome. It’s also a really good way to warm up since it’s been so cold these last few weeks!

I feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity to talk directly to a group of people that I normally wouldn’t be able to. I have learnt a lot about people and circumstance and what makes people homeless and why they might choose to be that way.

Probably the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far was last Monday night during a debrief by our team leader. He talked about poverty and circumstance and how the lowest form of poverty is not a lack of money or roof over our heads, it’s more to do with not having any close friends or family. He was talking about loneliness. A lot of people that come and spend time with us on the street aren’t homeless, they live in a hostel. They come and chat to us because they’re lonely. This makes me so sad every time I think about it.

Think about your own friendships, whether you’ve got one close friend or 150, make sure you let them know somehow just how much you appreciate them. Friends and family are SO incredibly important to our wellbeing. I don’t have a lot of close friends but I have a few that are very special to me and I feel so lucky to have these beautiful, loving people in my life. I also have an amazingly supportive family which I value very much.

Send your close friends an email and let them know how much you care. They may think you’re a bit weird but hey, they’ll also probably really appreciate it too.

Oh yeah, and I know the image is crazy. I just thought it was too cute not to post.

Frances Kerr