Trust that You Flow in Perfect Timing

Trust in Yourself, Trust in Timing

Carolyn Hamilton-Kuby is a coach and public speaker known for her vibrant spirit and calming presence. She is the owner of Morningstar Leadership Development in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She shares an encouraging story of trusting in perfect timing on the International Coaching Federation Blog: http://ift.tt/1NS6UU6

Trust is the essence of relationships and is at the heart of coaching. As coaches, we establish trust environments, demonstrated in many ways—including trust in clients’ capacity and their choices in driving coaching agendas.

In “Full Catastrophe Living,” Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, addresses the Mindfulness Attitude of Trust: “In practicing mindfulness, you are practicing taking responsibility for yourself and learning to listen to and trust your own being.”

I feel that listening and trusting of my being, as a coach, are evidenced in depth of listening as well as trusting my inner sense in shifting to questioning or observing. It involves trusting my intuition regarding the question to ask, feedback to give (with permission) and timing in doing either.

Both in coaching and life, my mindfulness attitude of trust—in self and timing—has cultivated more so since the following experience: Read more

Trust is at the heart of the coaching relationship. For more information on a career as a Recovery Coach visit our programs page: http://ift.tt/25yxJER

 

Tips for Personal Efficiency

Increase Your Personal Efficiency and Make the Most of Each Day

We all have 24 hours each day. To find joy and success in our personal and professional lives, we need to use those 24 hours effectively. Are you using your time as effectively as possible? Consider how you could use your time more wisely and get more accomplished.

Tips for Efficiency at Work

Being more efficient at work will help you in your career and make your days more enjoyable and productive.

Organize your office space. When every item has a normal home, it isn’t hard to find. Spend the last few minutes of each day tidying up and laying out your priorities for the next day.

Have an up to date to-do list. You’ll get more done if you can hit the ground running when you first walk in the workplace doors. Know what you need to accomplish and have a plan already in place.

Take regular breaks. You’ll get more done over the entire day and still feel refreshed when everyone else is burning out. Push yourself to work more intently for a period of time, then take a break. You will increase your productivity and feel more refreshed.

Use a calendar management program. Having your daily tasks and meetings scheduled will help you make the most of your day. Block time for important project work, and make sure you take a lunch break.

Delegate. You can get more accomplished if you delegate tasks at work. When needed, you might even be able to delegate work to your peers if you ask nicely. Or maybe the receptionist wouldn’t mind assisting with that mail out. Be sure to get a supervisor’s permission before asking. People are valuable resources, treat them with respect.

Keep meetings to a specific agenda when possible. If you have control or influence over the meeting, make sure the purpose and agenda is clear and that you stick to it. And not every meeting has to last an hour. Spending a few minutes to prepare what needs to be discussed and sharing that information ahead of time can cut the meeting time in half.

Tips for Efficiency at Home

Get things ready the night before. Avoid packing lunches and selecting clothes in the morning. Make these things part of your evening ritual. Your mornings will be much more relaxed.

Get organized. The average person spends a lot of time looking for things at home. Car keys, the checkbook, TV remote, batteries, and bills, to name a few. You can save a lot of time by getting organized.

Put things away when you’re done. Making the house clean is a major job. Keeping it clean, instead, is much easier. Teach everyone to put things away when they’re done. If you and your family always put things back, the house can’t become cluttered. For example:

• Dirty dishes go in the sink or the dishwasher.
• Put mail in the appropriate place after sorting or opening.
• Toys go back on the shelf.
• When you take off your shoes, put them in the proper place.
• Use a pen? Put it back when you’re done.

These are just some practical tips to help you handle responsibilities efficiently and spend less time on your tasks. Creating routines in these areas help to make your day go smooth. Time is the one resource that we all have in equal amounts. The most successful people are those that make the most of the 24 hours they’re given each day. Make yours count!

Create Your Ideal Life

We all have goals, dreams and desires that fall by the wayside as we encounter the challenges and disappointments of life. But can we re-fire our desires and shift our thinking to believe for more from our lives once again? In his blog Jack Canfield takes a look at 7 tips that help us to find success, achievement and fulfillment.

We all aspire to do, be, and have great things. Yet most of us simply aren’t creating the results we want. We complain that we don’t have enough money, romance, success or joy in our lives. We point fingers and blame outside problems that “happen” to us and make life more difficult. But what we need to understand and keep at the forefront of our minds is that greatness exists in all of us. It is simply up to us to pull it out of ourselves. Regardless of personal circumstances, economic climates, and access to resources, it helps to maintain faith in the fact that we each are more powerful than we think. We all have the ability to create the life we want. We just need to learn how to do it. Is there an exact “formula”? No, but there are certain common features that successful people exhibit and that anyone can practice. They are what can jumpstart your success and attract what you want in life. You’d be hard pressed to find any high achiever who doesn’t live by the following 7 tips: Read more

Professional Recovery Coaching can be the key that unlocks potential, not only in yourself and in your practice, but in the lives of those you coach. To find out if a career in Professional Recovery Coaching is for you, set up a free Discovery Call with one of our Professional Coaches here: http://ift.tt/20xDDzn

Vitamin D – Super Nutrient: Are You Getting Enough?

Get Those Toxins Out of Your Body!

We are not safe from harmful chemicals. They are everywhere – in your food, in your car, in the air – toxins don’t need to find a way into your body, they’re already there. Scientists have found traces of hazardous toxins in umbilical cords of newborn babies! Unless we take measures to regularly remove these toxins from our bodies, they are going to keep accumulating toward one or multiple health afflictions.

Researchers Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith, through some experiments on real people including (but not limited to) themselves, found out some revealing points about detoxing.

This article from Everyday Health shares the key points of their research.

7 Detox Tips From Scientists Who Actually Tried Them

One of the realities of 2014 is that when a baby is born, he or she has already been exposed to toxic chemicals. The evidence is in umbilical cords, which research has confirmed contain pesticides, waste from burning coal and gasoline, and garbage. Even if you try to do everything right (eat organic, buy natural products, live in a cabin in the middle of the woods, etc.), you can’t avoid all of the chemicals that have become pervasive.
See full post here.

Every patient, regardless of their distress, needs a good detox routine which our recovery coaches are trained to provide. For more information on health and recovery, visit Recovery Coach Training.

10 Reasons to Engage a Coach

My daughter recently said to me, ” I feel like I have bad karma. I seem to be living under a dark cloud.” She is in college, living away from home, and has had to deal with a couple of rough spots. Nothing major, but, then again, that’s my opinion, not hers. To her, life is a bit tough right now, and she is having some difficulty dealing with recent events. There is no doubt that life can be a real bear at times. Some days, everything is really rosy, the sun is shining, things are just falling into place. It’s all flowers, strawberries, chocolate and puppies. Then on other days, thunder and lightning surround you, weeds creep into your mental garden, you are greeted by a flat tire, someone rear ends you on the expressway, you spill hot coffee on your freshly dry-cleaned outfit, or drop your keys down a sewer grate (this actually happened to my other daughter several years ago. Talk about a significantly major PITA!). It just seems like nothing is going your way, and perhaps, it will not go you way ever again. At least that’s the way it feels, anyway.

We face these and even more serious issues every day in life. Some small, some large, some huge. We usually get through these times. We manage. We get by. But sometimes, you find the going tougher than you have ever experienced. You feel like you are wading up stream, in a river of molasses. You fight against the current, swim against the tide, making little to no progress. In these times, the swirling waters threaten to pull you under. You fight to breathe, you gasp for air, you struggle to survive. It is at these times that you should consider seeking out and engaging a Coach, a mentor, a sage. Someone who can listen to and observe the difficulties you are facing, putting them into their proper perspective, and assisting you in emerging successfully out of the morass you have gotten yourself into. A trusted person that you can trust to methodically and patiently help. I can think of many good reasons to engage a coach. I will share ten of them with you now.

1. Good Coaches have experience. They have either personally gone through what you are going through, or have seen it before, time and time again. This helps immensely to cut through the haziness of a particular issue, since they typically have been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt.
2. Coaches will look at your predicament objectively and unemotionally. This allows them to strip away the bad feelings and drama that you cannot do for yourself. They look at the facts and root cause(s) of your issues. The cut to the objective chase.
3. Coaches listen really well. They make sure they understand your point of view (after all, you are the one with the problem!). They do not impose their paradigm on you. They look at things from your perspective. The walk in your shoes.
4. Coaches steer you towards thinking about great outcomes. They help you to develop a custom vision of how things should really be. This is hard for us to do by ourselves when we are wallowing in a swamp full of alligators.
5. Coaches are action oriented. After they help you develop the vision of how things are, they assist in putting together an action plan for getting there. YOUR action plan, not theirs.
6. Coaches hold you accountable for your vision, and your action plan. They ensure you maintain ownership and accountability over your issues, your vision, your plan. Without thisd accountability, you won’t stick to it. you won’t get it done.
7. Coaches tell it like it is. They don’t tell you what you WANT to hear, they say what you NEED to hear. Unfiltered. Unadulterated.
8. Coaches are ethical, confidential, and private. You can be open with them, where you may not be able to with a friend, even a good friend, or a family member. This is one of the most important attributes of a coach. You can trust a person whose profession it is to help, and to maintain confidentiality.
9. Coaches are outcome and results oriented, and they help you get there as quickly as you are willing to and can move.
10. Coaches are balanced, and help you balance. Your life may not be a bowl of cherries, but its not all gloom and doom either. They help you see, recognize, and exploit strengths, while you are working on the weaknesses.

In short, having a competent, experienced person beside you, to guide you through the complexities of life, can be a real blessing. Many executives, celebrities, and professional athletes employ coaches, to give them that edge they need to be successful. We can all use the help. If its good enough for them, why not for us?

Let me know what you think.

You can read my blog HERE, connect on Twitter HERE, LinkedIn HERE and Facebook HERE.

 

Thoughts on Being Authentic

On Being Authentic

Have there been times in your life when you felt you weren’t acting like your true self? Maybe you were unsure of a situation or were lacking the confidence to reveal who you truly are.

Whatever your reason, you chose to hide your real self. Personal concealment places us into an emotionally unhealthy cycle. First, we feel unsure of ourselves and this causes us to act even less authentic in the future.

Rather than spending time hiding from the world, you’ll flourish by revealing your true self to others. Becoming more authentic in your interactions is a worthy goal.

Here are some ways to increase your personal authenticity: 

1. Monitor your feelings closely and stay present. When you know and understand your own emotions, you’ll be less likely to behave in ways that contrast with your feelings. Mindfulness will help you tremendously in your quest to be more authentic. Stay in the moment and consider what is going on in your world in the present.
2. Give yourself time. If something happens and you’re unsure of how to react or respond, it’s okay to not react at all. Allow yourself some moments to consider the situation. If you feel pressure to respond, saying something like, “I’m not sure how to respond to that,” can be your best line of action until you’re more confident in your reaction.
3. Catch yourself being inauthentic. When you realize you’ve been less than honest in a given situation, it’s okay to say, “Wait a minute. I changed my mind,” or “Maybe I’m not as sure about this as I thought.” Remind yourself that you have permission to alter your response to anyone and anything at any time. Then, choose a route that’s more in line with how you honestly feel.
4. Notice what situations prompt you to be disingenuous. Being insincere or untruthful each time you’re around your in-laws or your supervisor, for example, will reveal where your insecurities lie. Do some self-reflection to determine why you’re behaving this way around that person or in that particular situation.
5. Be authentic with others to increase your level of confidence. The ability to be open and honest shows that you like and accept yourself and you’re self-assured. Avoid being afraid or too timid to show others who you really are. Self-confidence goes a long way!
6. Realize that others truly appreciate you when you’re authentic in behavior and comments. Think about how you feel when you’re with someone who’s consistently open with you. It feels comfortable and easy to be with someone you know you can trust. There’s no tension or guesswork involved. If you keep this information in mind, you may find it a little easier to be authentic.
7. Show care and gentleness toward others. You might be thinking, “What’s the connection between being caring and being authentic?” If you go out of your way to be polite and kind to others, it will be a natural response to be authentic with them. Once you realize that you hold their feelings in your hands, you’ll know it’s necessary to be gentle and honest with others.

When you expend a little bit of effort on relating to others truthfully and carefully, you’ll gradually find that you like yourself more. When you offer authenticity to others, it sets a wonderful example for those around you. The more authentic you are, the richer the life you’ll live.

I’m Having a Bad Day

 

 

It’s Friday the 13th. The alarm goes off, and I realize I set it for 7 AM instead of 6 AM. I am going to be late for a very important meeting! I cut myself shaving. I jump in the shower and after I’m wet, realize there is no shampoo. I stub my toe in the dark, looking for my shoes. I put on a black sock, and a blue sock. Traffic is EASILY, 5 times as bad as it usually is. 7 people cut me off on the way to work, versus the normal 3. Slowpokes are out in force, cruising down the avenue as if it was Sunday afternoon. Burger King is out of French Toast Sticks!!! There is a brown out at work as I am booting up my laptop. And finally, to take the cake, I fish my glasses out of my backpack, and the frame is broken. You get the picture? A really BAD day. These are silly little events that go on n life, and your bad experiences could be much more serious. But the outcomes are similar. Bad mood, bad feeling, bad outcome.

So here’s what I do:

1) Close my eyes, take a deep breath, and count to ten while exhaling (this really does help folks!)

2) Peruse my To Do list, grab the three easiest tasks, and knock them out immediately. This helps to focus me on doing something useful, and gets me a sense of accomplishment right away. It steers me away from the bad stuff that I have already experienced and into a Can Do, Good Day mood.

3) I grab the grungiest task from my list and dive right into it. Even if I can’t finish it, I make some significant progress, and I feel good about that.

Poof! Bad Day is gone. It works for me! What kinds of things do you do when you are experiencing a bad day, besides throwing the covers over your head and going back to sleep???

You can read my blog HERE, connect on Twitter HERE, LinkedIn HERE and Facebook HERE.

 

Practice 7 Habits of Serenity

Do you genuinely feel a sense of serenity on a regular basis? Or does it seem like feelings of anxiety in nearly all aspects of life have become the status quo? Most people aren’t able to enjoy feelings of calmness and peace on a regular basis. Everyone feels stress or anxiety from time to time, but it doesn’t have to become a way of life.

You might have some control over your environment, but you can’t control others. Your own response is the only thing completely under your control.

If you’d like to experience a more peaceful life, try adopting these 7 habits of serenity: 

1. Create a calming morning ritual. Getting up early is important. Most people make the mistake of staying in bed as long as possible. This results in rushing around and relying on luck to get out of the house on time. If one event takes you off course, you’ll be late. Get up early enough that you’re not rushed in the morning. Exercise a little bit. Meditate. Read the paper with your coffee. Take a walk around the block. Mornings tend to be quiet and peaceful, and if you get up early, you can enjoy them.
2. Notice how you respond to stress. When you’re faced with a stressful situation, take note of your behavior.  Do you feel overwhelmed by stress? Do you overeat? Do you work to eliminate the stress? do you find some way to distract yourself to avoid the situation?
3. Create healthier responses to stress. Replace any unhealthy responses with something more peaceful. Maybe a soothing cup of tea or a few minutes of stretching would work for you. Calling a friend might be an option. Going for a daily run or walk with the dog.
   
4. It’s not personal. Many of us are quick to take things personally. For example, if your employee doesn’t follow your instructions, do you assume they’re being defiant? If your partner isn’t affectionate for a day, do you assume they don’t care about you? The truth is that most of the time it’s not about you. Everyone has their own issues to deal with. The odds are excellent that you’re not the cause of someone else’s mood or behavior.
5. Feel gratitude. Everyone has things in their life that are worthy of gratitude. What are you grateful for? When things seem the most challenging, it’s a perfect time to list off the things for which you are the most grateful. If you think about these things, you’ll feel better. This is one of the best habits anyone can create.
6. Only do one thing at a time. Attempting to multi-task is stressful. It’s also not productive to rapidly switch back and forth between multiple tasks. For example, when you’re driving your car, just drive your car. Don’t try to drive, text, and eat breakfast at the same time.
7. Minimize the noise in your life. Audible sounds, visual clutter, and the other extra items in your life that you really have no need for all clutter up your mind as well as your environment. Having too much stuff in your life can make you miserable. Keep the most important items and get rid of the rest.

Developing these habits will make your life more calm and serene. There’s a tremendous benefit to reducing the stress in your life. You’ll be healthier and enjoy your life more.

 

 

Put Some Spring In Your Step

Rejuvenate Your Success Plans for 2016 – Put Some Spring in Your Step!

In his blog, bestselling author Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul, 30 Day Sobriety Challenge) shares 6 Tips to Get Out of the Mud and Spring Forward Toward Your Goals. If your 2016 momentum has slowed at all – this will be a helpful article for you!

We’re just a few days away from the beginning of spring – can you believe it? Now that we’re almost three months into the year, I was wondering how you feel about what you’ve accomplished so far in 2016. Do you feel like you’re on track with your goals – or do you feel that despite your best intentions, you’re falling further and further behind? If you’re feeling like you’re stuck in the mud and your momentum has slowed to a crawl, here are 6 tips on how to rejuvenate your success plan for 2016 and put some fresh “spring” in your step – so you can get back on solid ground and keep moving forward toward your goals! Read more

If you are considering a career in Professional Recovery Coaching, our training programs may be just what you need to “Spring Forward” into your goals for 2016.

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Cultivating Healthy Emotions: 10 Crucial Tips

Healthy people are in control of their emotions and behavior. They have a sense of contentment that enables them to form strong relationships and handle loss and defeat. Being emotionally healthy means feeling confident to face life’s challenges and having the ability to bounce back from setbacks. How important is it then to preserve emotional health?

There are ways to improve your emotional well being, just like there are ways to improve your physical health.

Here is an article by Beth W. Orenstein at Everyday Health that lists 10 ways to improve emotional health.

10 Ways to Boost Your Emotional Health

Keep your emotional health in great shape with these self-esteem boosting tips.

Source: everydayhealth.com

Taking care of your emotional health is as important as taking care of your physical body. If your emotional health is out of balance, you may experience high blood pressure, ulcers, chest pain, or a host of other physical symptoms.

When you feel good about yourself, it’s much easier to cope with life’s little ups and downs as well as bigger events, such as divorce or a death, says Jeff Gardere, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist in New York City. See full post here

Read more interesting articles on our blog. For information on certificate programs and training for professional recovery coaches, visit Recovery Coach Training.

Lessons from a Master Coach – Fred DeLuca

Fred DeLuca, co-founder of Subway, passed away last year. Fred was a remarkable man, by any definition of the word remarkable. He was brilliant, witty, quick, passionate, compassionate, kind, considerate, and many other adjectives way too numerous to mention here. For 50 years, Fred established and built his company into a powerhouse in the industry. Fred was Subway, and Subway was Fred. No one could ever argue that.

I was privileged and grateful for having known him over the last 5 years, and to have spent quality time with him, listening to his outlook on life and leadership, learning from a true master.

How does this relate to recovery and coaching? Well, first and foremost, Fred was a natural coach. He took every opportunity to coach and mentor people, and to bring the very best out of them. And Fred was a firm believer in utilizing life’s lessons, of which he had plenty, to recover from all types of seemingly unrecoverable tragedies.

I share with you 14 golden nuggets from my time with Fred.

Fred’s lessons:

1. Eliminate Silos – Get people to work together. The team is more powerful than a set of individuals. Stress teamwork in everything you do.
2. Recognize High Achievement in the team and individuals – Reward it. And then most importantly, figure out how to teach High Achievement to others using the high achieving team’s example. Replicate this throughout the organization.
3. Be Creative in How to Get Things Done – Analytical, and project management skills are important, but nothing beats creativity for getting something accomplished. This means that at times, you put aside the tools of management, and you put on the leadership hat to think out of the box.
4. Think Big, but Start Small – Then tweak and build on it. If you start small, and it doesn’t work well, the tweaking is easier, and you have not invested a great deal in the effort, even if you have to tear it down and start again, or scrap it as a bad idea.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail – Fail fast, so you learn from the failure, and then move on. (He also added, “try not to fail TOO much” and laughed).
6. Place Some of the Burden of an Initiative on the Recipients/Stakeholders – But not too much. He called this “having skin in the game”. If people don’t have skin in the game, they won’t really accept the solution, and won’t see the true value.
7. On Any Initiative, Examine Who Is Struggling, Because They Don’t Have the Required Firepower – Then, help them get the firepower. There is nothing worse than someone struggling and feeling they are failing, because they don’t have resources or the wherewithal to get something done. Don’t stand idly by and let this happen!!!
8. There is a BIG Difference Between Leadership and Management – Learn when to manage something, and when to just plain lead people. Good people are looking for leadership, and won’t always need to be managed. They will often know HOW to do something, they need leadership on WHY and WHAT to do.
9. Keep Your Eyes Open – This seems obvious, but in thinking about it, it is not. I am reminded of the “beach ball” story. A beach ball’s colors are different depending on where you are standing, and you can only see the totality if you step back. Fred was saying, “look at things from different perspectives. Look at it from your customer’s perspective”. Problems will be easier to see and to solve.
10. On Communication, Pick the Lowest Level Possible – A Brilliant nugget! He was saying two things here. One, Simplify your communications so that it is clear and concise, and then make sure you communicate things to the level of people for which it is truly important so they know and understand what you want them to know. Otherwise, higher levels may not share the message, or will water it down to the point where it is not useful and does not hit the intended target you were aiming at.
11. Whenever Possible, Give People the Keys to Do Things Themselves – This is Fred’s flexibility mantra. He was always looking for ways to give people more flexibility and autonomy in getting things done.  What is material? How much flex can we allow? Flexibility, with some structure and guidelines. Observe and learn.
12. When You Are Going to Miss a Commitment, Warn as Quickly as Possible – We always want to avoid missing our commitments, but Fred was a realist and knew that not everything was going to fall into place every time. Keeping people properly informed and engaged was always on his mind.
13. Think About Total Chaos – This one threw me for a loop. We were talking about this in the context of a global implementation (more than 100 countries, and 44,000 stores). He said, “don’t think about global from a HQ perspective, think about it from the local perspectives in each country. If you think about it from our tiny HQ location in Milford, Connecticut you’ll miss the mark. Think about the Total Chaos you will cause if you don’t think about it locally! Use local resources to help you think through and resolve the potential Chaos. The local guys KNOW! Wow is all I could say.
14. Always Quantify How Your Solutions Help People Be More Efficient, Be More Profitable, Lead Better Lives. – Help people to see the value. If we can’t do that, we don’t have real solutions. This is our ultimate reason for being, period.

Some of these nuggets were shared with me over the time I knew Fred. Most were shared in a 2+ hour, rapid fire meeting that Fred had with myself and a colleague back in November of 2014. Even though he was already stricken, he was in great spirits, and was so energized, I had trouble keeping up to take notes. And I kept meaning to go back and write these up to share them, but, things got busy (sound familiar?), and I was stricken with my own illness, so it was placed on the back burner. Fred’s passing brought me back to that meeting, at 5 o’clock, back in November. An impromptu meeting (he was in our Miami office and dropped in on us at 5 PM), and lasting well over 2 hours, Fred kept asking, “are you guys OK on time? Do you have somewhere you have to be?”. Are you kidding me?, I laughed to myself. There is nowhere I’d rather be than here, listening to you! I had no idea, until I distilled my notes into these 14 nuggets, just how blessed I had been to have known him, and to have learned directly from Fred.

Fred, I only knew you for 5 years, but I will miss you, your smile, your wisdom, your intellect, your energy, your passion, your drive, and your desire to make the Subway world, and the world in general, a better place. You have set a stellar example for us to follow. Rest in Peace Fred DeLuca, comfortable and fulfilled in the great legacy you have left with us all.

You can read my blog HERE, connect on Twitter HERE, LinkedIn HERE and Facebook HERE.

Eat Your Way to a Sharper Mind: 10 Foods That Increase Brainpower

While following our many controlled diet plans, we forget one important thing – we are also starving our brains. Just like the rest of the body, the brain needs nutrients to function properly.
Are you eating the right foods? Eat the right amount of nutrients to preserve cognitive function and improve memory.

Jo Lewin at BBC Good Food writes about 10 food items that help boost brainpower.

10 foods to boost your brainpower

Eating well is good for your mental as well as your physical health. The brain requires nutrients just like your heart, lungs or muscles do. But which foods are particularly important to keep our grey matter happy?

1. Opt for wholegrains

Like everything else in your body, the brain cannot work without energy. The ability to concentrate and focus comes from the adequate, steady supply of energy – in the form of glucose in our blood to the brain.Achieve this by choosing wholegrains with a low-GI, which release glucose slowly into the bloodstream, keeping you mentally alert throughout the day. Opt for ‘brown’ cereals, wheatbran, granary bread and brown pasta.

2. Eat oily fish

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) cannot be made by the body and must be obtained through diet. The most effective omega-3 fats occur naturally in oily fish as EPA and DHA. See full post here

Stay updated with the latest developments in mental health. For more information, visit Recovery Coach Training.

Is Curbing Alcohol Consumption a Pointless Exercise?

When you’ve been addicted to alcohol for a long time, it gets near impossible to stop abusing it. The brain gets used to certain patterns of abuse and rejects any attempt to alter them. So how beneficial is it for alcoholics to try to control their drinking?

Beth Burgess from “Sort My Life Solutions” or SMYLS gives her two cents.

Should Alcoholics Try to Control Their Drinking?

What a strange title. Is that what you’re thinking? Of course alcoholics should try to control their drinking ‒ shouldn’t they? After all, their overuse of alcohol is causing them and everyone around them a lot of pain.

Source: Google+

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Not if you’re addicted to alcohol. What many people, and indeed, many alcoholics don’t understand, is that once you’re addicted to alcohol, your ability to control your drinking goes right out of the window. See full post here.

 Finding it hard to help a loved one recover from substance abuse? Learn about the latest treatment methods and advancements on Recovery Coach Training.

Discover the Benefits of Solitude

Discover the Benefits of Solitude

There’s a difference between loneliness and solitude. Solitude is a choice that provides freedom and space from the demands and interruptions created by others. Spending time alone is good for you. It doesn’t imply that you’re antisocial or depressed. There are numerous benefits to spending time alone on a regular basis.

Social media has made it more challenging to spend time alone. Even when we’re alone, we feel the need to check in with the rest of the world. Being mindful and staying in the present moment means you can be comfortable just being with yourself. Being in touch with where you are at right now.

If you want to spend more time by yourself, only you can make it happen. There are boundaries you need to set in place because you value yourself and desire to nurture your own health and well-being. Take some time each day and enjoy a period of solitude.

Reap the benefits of spending time with yourself:

1. Being alone provides the space needed to think deeply. After a busy day, it’s necessary to take a break to give your brain a chance to delve deeper into your thoughts. Getting things done is important, but spending time in thought is important, too. You also have the chance to be more creative while alone.
2. You learn to be more self-reliant. When you’re alone, there’s no one else to help. You have to solve challenges yourself and entertain yourself. You also have to make decisions by yourself. This can be difficult if you’re used to relying on others, but it becomes easier with practice.
3. For those that are introverted, some alone time is necessary for happiness. Introverts recharge their energy by spending time alone. Solitude is a true pleasure for an introvert.
4. Being alone is a great time to rest. Your mind and body have a better opportunity to rest when you’re away from other people. You can be yourself 100%, clear your mind, and regain your focus.
5. Alone time can be a significant part of mental health. Some studies have shown that teens and adults that have a moderate amount of alone time enjoy better mental health than those that spend significantly more or less time alone.
6. You can get more done. People are another form of distraction. You’ll face fewer requests and interruptions during your alone time.
7. You learn more about yourself. By spending time alone, you have more opportunity to examine your thoughts. You can give more consideration to what you want and need in your life. You can be a better employee, friend, and family member when you understand yourself better.
8. Solitude provides clarity. Life and other people can taint your view of the world. You’re freer from the influence of others when you’re by yourself. Modern life tends to drive an external perspective. Being alone provides the chance to re-center yourself, go inward, and view life from a more personal perspective.

Regularly spending time alone is good for your mind, soul, and body. Studies have shown that spending a moderate amount of time alone is good for you. If you’re not spending any time by yourself, find ways to capture a few minutes for yourself each day. Consider waking up early, eating lunch alone, or going for a walk by yourself.

You schedule other activities. Schedule time each day to spend by yourself. You’ll feel better and be more productive.

How Much Is Certain In The Field Of Addiction?

In the fields of addiction and recovery, how much is truly certain? Is it possible to quantify results conclusively? Does anything tangible exist to be quantified?

In this article from The Fix, Lance Dode, MD gives his two cents about what’s indubitable about addiction.

What Do We Really Know About Addiction?

Is evidence-based treatment all it’s cracked up to be?

Introduction: In part because addiction treatment generally developed apart from, as opposed to part of, the medical field, both clinical theory and practice around addiction are in their relative infancies as compared to other health care domains. We are still striving to come to a basic understanding of the key elements involved in the complex biopsychosocial phenomena involved in addiction, as evidenced by this recent review of the “brain disease model of addiction” in Lancet. What do we really know with certainty about addiction? Lance Dodes, MD, takes a cold, hard look…Richard Juman

Source : The Fix

Evidence-based treatment is as accepted as motherhood and apple pie.  After all, evidence is the cornerstone of science itself. Before the Age of Enlightenment, people could claim anything was true, but evidence tells us whether claims are justified. There’s just one problem: if the evidence is faulty or irrelevant, so is the claim based on it. That is exactly what has happened for too much of what we are told in health care, and addiction in particular. See full post here

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