[This is for informational purposes only – just like everything on this website – and not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease. Always be sure to consult your licensed healthcare provider and / or pharmacist.]
If you read last week’s blog on putting the Serenity Prayer into Action then you are already boosting your immune system. In case you missed it click here.
Since stress impairs the efficacy of the immune system it is highly important to help minimize and / or counter the effects of stress on the immune system. Please review and practice the suggestions from last week’s blog.
In this challenging time, I want to encourage all of us (including me!) to live the Serenity Prayer ~ let’s accept what we cannot change, have the courage to change what we can and the wisdom to know the difference.
What we can do, in addition to following all recommended Guidelines:
Recent research regarding the healing power of the arts reveals how deeply the arts can affect us in a positive way.
My personal background includes writing “poetry” at age 8 and beyond to express what was unsafe and reveal what was otherwise repressed; my years in dance and theatre provided outlets for my body and voice to express what otherwise could not be said; hours at the piano and coloring “in the lines” and painting “by number” provided safe “containers” for feelings that were unprocessed. Those who know me have often heard me say, “The arts and God’s grace saved me”.
What if you were able to reduce the stress in your everyday life just by looking? Or what about improving one’s mood? How would you do that?
The answer may be Art!
In my journey as an artist, I believe that Art and Healing are connected. Through my gift of art, I have found a way to convey this belief. For me, “looking at nature” is an amazing way to de-stress, and change one’s mood. It’s a way of taking the natural environment and using it to transcend the hustle, and bustle. Our busy lives don’t often allow us time to get away, but I find that “looking at a beautiful piece of Art” can produce these results, too.
With a background in dance, health and fitness, I have always depended on feet to take me walking, spinning, dancing, Barre and yoga ~ not to mention the ordinary activities of daily living. A few weeks ago I had a renewed opportunity to appreciate them even more when I suffered an injury (large candlestick fell on top of my foot slicing open the vein and gashing open the top of the foot across to the side of my little toe). Thanks to my husband who is an emergency expert, he took care of it and bandaged it on the spot while I Reikied it to slow down the bleeding.
According to the CDC, “More than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis.” Enough sleep is at least seven hours per night for adults between the ages of 18 and 60 years. A lack of quality sleep is directly related to our health—or rather, a lack thereof. This may increase chances of getting a cold or more serious chronic problems such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and mental illness.
“In the past two decades researchers have discovered a tremendous amount of information about the human brain.”