7 Dimensions of Wellness

7 Dimensions of Wellness
7 Dimensions of Wellness

Monday, April 27, 2009

Meditation Provides Hope For People With Depression

ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2009) — People with severe and recurrent depression could benefit from a new form of therapy that combines ancient forms of meditation with modern cognitive behaviour therapy, early-stage research by Oxford University psychologists suggests.


The results of a small-scale randomised trial of the approach, called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), in currently depressed patients are published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy.

28 people currently suffering from depression, having also had previous episodes of depression and thoughts of suicide, were randomly assigned into two groups. One received MBCT in addition to treatment as usual, while the other just received treatment as usual. Treatment with MBCT reduced the number of patients with major depression, while it remained the same in the other group.

Professor Mark Williams and colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford will follow up the promising preliminary evidence from this small-scale study. They hope to do follow up work with patients to reveal whether MBCT can also help reduce the risk of relapse. The Oxford team are currently carrying out a larger study that will compare MBCT with a group form of cognitive therapy to pinpoint which elements of meditation or talking therapies can help which people.

Professor Williams, who developed the treatment and led this study, said: ‘We are on the brink of discovering really important things about how people can learn to stay well after depression. Our aim is to help people to find long-term freedom from the daily battle with their moods.’


Journal reference:

  1. Barnhofer et al. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as a treatment for chronic depression: A preliminary study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2009; DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2009.01.019
Adapted from materials provided by University of Oxford.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

WOMEN’S ANTHEM by Saundra Sewar

WOMEN’S ANTHEM

Little girls, be inspired to push forward in whatever your desire, and not let anything deter your goal. Learn who you are and understand what you are worth. Followers are never free to succeed.

Have the courage to want to make a positive change.
There will always be someone who wants to see you fail. Prove them wrong. Be the example!

Young ladies, understand that this particular time in your lives, which may seem impossible to conquer today, will too come to pass; make the most beneficial choices for your future, not a solution for now.

A decision without careful thought will only take you back to the beginning. Make a sound decision the first time. Learn from examples.

For women who feel like they don’t have a voice or make a difference, your opinions are important. You may not think people are listening but know that they are always watching. Be the example!

With respect to those well into their years, tell those behind you of past endeavors and life experiences; give freely your priceless wisdom; for some are paying life’s debt now; you have the answers to their future. For the cost then, you are the example now!

We need to remember that we cannot be all things to all people. We must be the best within ourselves. Follow your heart after it confers with your mind. Regardless of what may come, you always have a choice. Should you choose to follow others and circumstances are not what they’d promised, remember, YOU always had a choice.

Even when your back is against the wall and there seems to be no way of escape, yet still, you have a choice. Settling should never be an option!

Let nothing kill your spirit. It’s what enlightens, dances, yearns, guides, inspires, strengthens, conquers, uplifts, embraces, responds, pronounces, empowers, soars, enhances, demands, humbles, encourages, invokes, laughs and sings.

It is the substance that is you…



The Women’s Anthem taken from the book,
Bittersweet Diary by Saundra Seward - copyright 2007

reprinted by permission from Saundra Seward.

Komen Indy: FREE educational breast cancer symposium


Komen Indy will be hosting a FREE educational breast cancer symposium. Symposium topics include Co Survivors, Integrative Medicine, You've been diagnosed, now what? Survivorship, Clinical Trials, Young Women, Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

We will have a continental breakfast, and a Keynote Luncheon by Dr. Suzanne Metzger author of Idiots Guide to Living with Breast Cancer. There will be shopping, spa services, and breast risk screening available. Reservations are required; please email wendy_noe@komenindy.org or call 317-638-2873 to secure your spot.



Date:
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Time:
7:30am - 1:00pm
Location:
Fountains Conference Center
Street:
502 E. Carmel Drive

Phone:
317-638-2873
Email:

A Benefit for Valinda Jones

April is National Organ Donor Awareness Month. On Thursday, April 30th, at Morty's Comedy Joint, there will be a fundraiser entitled 'A Piece of Me'. This event will feature the poets of FightingWordsPoetry.com, a special live performance from alpha.live, featuring Blackberry Jam and C-Ray; comedians Chad Daniels and Mike Malone, all hosted by Warren B. Hall.

Tickets will be available at Morty's box office or their website (www.MortysComedy.com) with proceeds benefitting The Valinda Jones Fund, as well as a portion of the proceeds being donated to the National Kidney Foundation.

Every donation helps, large or small. If you are interested in donating to The Valinda Jones Fund, donations can be made via PayPal on the site alphaisforever.com/theValindaJonesFund, at all area Teachers Credit Union locations during normal business hours, and at all Shared Services Centers. (ask to make a deposit to The Valinda Jones Fund, account # 4591939).

Please come out and support the fundraising event, make a donation or at very least, please forward this on to others able to help. All is greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Best Intentions: Presence Of Healthy Food Can Lead To Unhealthy Choices

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420170915.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2009) — More restaurants and vending machines offer healthy choices these days, so why do Americans' waistlines continue to expand? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that some efforts to control eating may backfire.


Consumers may feel they have fulfilled a healthy eating goal even if they choose an unhealthy food, and the presence of a healthy option among food choices may draw their attention to the least-healthy choice available, according to authors Keith Wilcox (City University of New York), Beth Vallen (Loyola College), Lauren Block (City University of New York), and Gavan J. Fitzsimons (Duke University).

"Just because we consumers want to see healthier items available does not mean that we are going to choose them," write the authors. "We present evidence that for many consumers, the addition of healthy alternatives to food choice sets can, ironically, increase the consumption of very indulgent food items."

In a series of four studies, the researchers examined how consumers' food choices differed when a healthy item was included in a set compared to when it was not available. The study results showed that the mere presence of a healthy item vicariously fulfills health-related eating goals, drives attention to the least-healthy choice, and provides people with license to indulge in tempting foods. They also demonstrated that these effects were more pronounced in people with relatively high levels of self-control.

In one study, participants chose from a menu that included French fries, chicken nuggets, and a baked potato or these items plus a side salad. After being told that each item cost the same amount of money, respondents were instructed to choose a side dish for their lunch. "As we predicted, when given the choice of fries, chicken nuggets, or a baked potato, people high in self-control rarely chose the fries, which are considered the least-healthy option in the set. However, add the salad to the set and what happens? High self-control individuals were significantly more likely to choose the French fries." The authors found the opposite was true for people with low self-control.


Journal reference:

  1. Wilcox et al. Vicarious Goal Fulfillment: When the Mere Presence of a Healthy Option Leads to an Ironically Indulgent Decision. Journal of Consumer Research, 2009; 090409080957062 DOI: 10.1086/599219
Adapted from materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Meatless Monday: Chili Monday






Crockpot Mexican Chili

Sylvia Sivley - Schenectady, NY

Ingredients
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans
1 15-oz can black beans
1 24-oz jar of your favorite salsa
2 tbsp chili powder (or more to taste)
1 tbsp cumin
1 cup water
1 15-oz can Mexican-style corn (optional)

Directions
Turn crockpot on low heat. Mix all ingredients together in crockpot. Cover and cook 4-6 hours (depending on thickness you desire).

Notes: Adding the corn makes a nice accent on the black beans. Not only does this chili taste wonderful; it is pretty also!

Nutrition Info per Serving
Calories 369; Carbohydrates 71 g; Protein 17 g; Fat 4 g; Saturated Fat 0 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 1887 mg; Fiber 17 g

Sunday, April 19, 2009

How We Feel Linked To Both Our Culture And How We Behave

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2009) — Scientists have long been interested in the interplay of emotions and identity, and some have recently focused on cultural identity. One's heritage would seem to be especially stable and impervious to change, simply because it's been passed down generation after generation and is deeply ingrained in the collective psyche. But how deeply, exactly?



Psychologists Claire Ashton-James of the University of British Columbia, William W. Maddux from INSEAD, Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University, and Tanya Chartrand from Duke University decided to explore this intriguing question in the laboratory, to see if even something as potent as culture might be tied to normal mood swings. European cultures are known to value independence and individuality, whereas Asian cultures prize community and harmony. This fundamental East-West cultural difference is well established, and so offered the researchers an ideal test.

The volunteers consisted of students hailing from a number of different countries and the researchers unconsciously raised or lowered their moods via two different methods. In one study, the volunteers listened to some upbeat Mozart on the stereo to lift their moods, or some Rachmaninov to bring them down. In another study, the volunteers held pens in their mouths: Some held the pen with their teeth, which basically forces the face into a smile, which improves mood. Others held the pen with their lips, forcing a frown. Then the volunteers completed a variety of tests, each designed to measure the strength of their values. In one test, the volunteers were offered a choice of five pens, four blue and one red. In keeping with cultural values, Asians typically pick from the more common blue pens in this test — to be part of the group — while Westerners usually take the one red pen. In another test, the volunteers thought about the questions "Who am I?" and listed 20 answers. The lists were analyzed to see if they reflected predominantly individualistic or predominantly group values.

The results, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, were consistent for all of the tests: Feeling good did indeed encourage the volunteers — both European and Asian — to explore values that are inconsistent with their cultural norms. And elevated mood even shaped behavior, allowing volunteers to act "out of character." These findings suggest that people in an upbeat mood are more exploratory and daring in attitude — and therefore more apt to break from cultural stereotype. That is, Asians act more independently than usual, and Europeans are more cooperative. Feeling bad did the opposite: It reinforced traditional cultural stereotypes and constrained both Western and Eastern thinking about the world.

The researchers note these results suggest that emotions may serve an important social purpose. They surmise that positive feelings may send a signal that it's safe to broaden one's view of the world — and to explore novel notions of one's self. The researchers go on to indicate that negative feelings may do the opposite: They may send a signal that it's time to circle the wagons and stick with the "tried and true." They conclude that the findings also suggest that the "self" may not be as robust and static as we like to believe and that the self may be dynamic, constructed again and again from one's situation, heritage and mood.


Journal reference:

  1. Ashton-James et al. Who I Am Depends on How I Feel: The Role of Affect in the Expression of Culture. Psychological Science, 2009; 20 (3): 340 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02299.x
Adapted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Meditation

Learn to Meditate: Christian Meditation


There are many approaches to prayer. Not least because there are many different needs. But the greatest of all our needs acccording to Chrisitinity is to get nearer to Jesus. The most powerful form of prayer for this purpose is arguably Christian meditation.

This article discusses some of the special aspects of Christian meditation

Meditation has a very long history in Christianity and has taken various forms. But to meditate on the Scripture, and not least the gospels, is a kind which has great power. How does the power come about?. From three sources: which work together to bring us closer to God:

1. From the Holy Spirit, of course. But this kind of prayer makes a very special kind of requirement on us and on the Spirit, and that is expressed in terms of

2. Faith. Obviously, the very act of prayer, any prayer, involves some kind of faith. But the degree of faith which this form of prayer demands can be quite different than in other forms of prayer.

3 Consistency. To really get into this kind of prayer one needs a daily commitment which is kept consistently. It is often said that "grace builds on nature" and that is very true. In this case it is true because we need to become habitually open to the way in which the Spirit works within us. We shall not achieve that unless we become habitual in our habits of prayer.

This kind of meditation should not be confused in any ways with types derived from Eastern religions, such as Hinduism. It is quite different and essentially Christian. Very often it is associated with Ignatius of Loyola because, after his conversion, he developed a particularly clear method of approach.

This involves reading Scripture in a particular way. At its essence is explicitly allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the nature and meaning of what, after all, he himself has written over the centuries.

For a Christian, the most important part of Scripture is the New Testament. While, we can meditate on the Old Testament, the former is, at least, the best place to start. Sometimes we meditate on the gospels; sometimes on the letters or Acts or Revelations. In the latter cases the approach is somewhat different in important respects to meditating on the gospels. However, it is meditation on the gospels which can bring us repeatedly face-to-face with Jesus in real and dynamic ways.

The reality of meeting with Jesus in this way is a principle benefit. But it must not be either over-emphasised nor under-emphasised. The first is a danger because the actual experience of meditation will vary considerably from day-to-day or as between prayer periods on the same day. Few people with considerable experience in meditation would deny the reality of this meeting.

But some with limited experience may tend to overstress these encounters. They get carried away with what the Holy Spirit is providing for them over a particular period of time. But the Spirit deals with us in very different ways at different times.

On the other hand, these experiences are real, of great value and bring many blessings and should not be ignored.

Moreover, we need to allow the Spirit to balance the graces he is giving us. This requires mixing meditation periods on the gospels with other periods on, say, the letters of the New Testament, or the Psalms are a good source for beginning to meditate on the Old Testament.

One of the greatest benefits which a Christian has is his relationship with God. For example, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:12 that we have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received the Spirit who is from God. The reason for this is so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

When we do understand that, we understand that he needs to be given both the freedom and opportunity to work through us to the maximum possible degree. Only in that way shall we continue in the process of becoming like Jesus. That, after all, is what our lives are about.

A K Whitehead
Web Site: www.christianword.co.uk
Email: akw@christianword.co.uk
Experience: Over twenty years in Christian healing and teaching.
Qualifications: B.A., M.Phil., Camb Univ Cert in Religious Studies
Conditions of use: This article may be reproduced on condition that it is unaltered and that all this information is included.

The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King Jr.


Meditate for Inner Peace

To Meditate for at least 15 minutes in the early morning will bring inner peace and reduce stress.

Upon waking meditate on these positive thoughts

I am a peaceful person,

Try to experience the stillness of when peace of my inner mind

I have a peaceful mind .............I am a peaceful person ............

My mind is filled with peace .............. I radiate peace to the world ...............

I feel the wonderful gentle waves of peace flowing across my mind ..........

As these peaceful thoughts emerge in my mind I feel the stillness and silence envelopes my mind .................

My mind feels light and free from stress ...........

I realize my real inner nature is peace ..........

Peace of mind in my true nature ......

Peaceful thoughts flow through the mind and I feel the self becoming light calm and relaxed .....................

I am a being of light and peace shining like a star .......................

I radiate peace and light to the world .....................

I continue to radiate peace to the world as I fill my mind with peace and love

through this inner peace i feel love for all individuals of this earth

I the peaceful soul,l

I feel at peace with myself,

the stillness of my mind enables me to feel content and complete ............

This is the wonderful journey of inner peace

If you meditate daily you will feel a fresh and new and positive state of mind emerging. It is the best way to improve your self and hence your life.

To meditate is a form of stress management that will allow your mind to experience an oasis of peace and love within the heart and mind.


Monday, April 6, 2009

Rick’s Mock Crab Cakes






Makes 4 servings

Rick says: I make these on the nights when I don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen, but still want a good, hearty meal. They take less than 1/2 hour to make and could fool the pickiest seafood eater. Also great for barbecues and served cold for lunch.

3/4 cup minced celery
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup white onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
16 ounces firm tofu
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise

Brush a skillet with oil and cook celery, onion, garlic and parsley until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. In a food processor or blender pulse tofu to a cottage cheese consistency, being careful not to puree it. In a large bowl, combine tofu, sautéed vegetable mixture, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise and seasoning. Mix well. Form mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches across and 1/2-inch thick (you'll use about 1/3 cup per patty). Dredge the patties in the remaining breadcrumbs to cover fully. Place patties on a nonstick baking sheet and spray tops lightly with cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes. Carefully turn cakes over and return to the oven to bake until second side is toasty and browned, about 10 minutes.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories 365; Carbohydrates 28 gm; Protein 16 gm; Fat 22 gm; Saturated Fat 3 gm; Cholesterol 1 mg; Sodium 976 mg; Fiber 2 gm; Calcium 202 mg

Friday, April 3, 2009

CWUW is a part of Web 2.0!



The Center of Wellness for Urban Women is a part of the Web 2.0 community.

We utilize social networking sites to keep you updated and connected with CWUW!

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

50 Million Pound Challenge - Team CWUW




Join TEAM CWUW at the 50 Million Pound Challenge!

Take advantage of the tools and resources to help you to reach your wellness goals!!

For more information, go to our team page,
http://tinyurl.com/cgruln