Your Happiness Factor

   Generalized anxiety is a relatively common problem, affecting 3-4% of the population.  It turns daily life into a state of worry, anxiety, and fear. Over thinking and dwelling on the "what ifs" characterize generalized anxiety. As a result, you feel there’s no way out of the vicious cycle of anxiety and worry, and you can then become depressed about life and the state of anxiety you find yourself in. Generalized anxiety usually does not cause people to avoid situations, and it isn’t having a "panic attack. It’s the   thinking, thinking, thinking, dwelling, dwelling, ruminating, ruminating, and inability to shut the mind off that interferes with your ability to deal with life. Quite often, other thoughts seem almost non-existent because the anxious feelings are so dominant. Feelings of worry, dread, lack of energy, and a loss of interest in life! Many times there is no "trigger" or "cause" for these feelings and you realize these feelings

   The next few posts here are going to deal with anxiety and stress - f irst - anxiety!  Anxiety is the feeling of fear we all experience when faced with a threatening or difficult situation. It helps us to avoid dangerous situations, makes us alert and motivates us to deal with problems.   It can save our lives by making us run away from danger. We all feel anxious sometimes.  It is normal.  But for some of us – about one in ten – anxiety becomes a problem.  It gets in the way of living the life we would choose.   It can turn into panic attacks and phobias. Some of us just seem to be born more anxious than others. Research suggests these problems can be inherited through our genes. But even someone who doesn't naturally worry can, under enough pressure, become uncomfortably  anxious. This video introduces us to the five  anxiety disorders and why they develop. If you have any thoughts on this they will be very welcome. Related articles Why I am

A gentle and lovely thing from  MaireMc  -  An rud a lionas an tsúil lionann sé an croi  (what fills the eye fills the heart)   Relaxing meditation on colour & nature with background Irish music using some of her flower photographs with black & white to colour transitions  

Changing your breathing is one of the quickest and most effective was of changing how you feel. When you are feeling tense, a simple breathing technique can help you to relax and still meet the challenges a head.  Here is simple approach for your to try.

   For me the perfect recipe is simple, colourful and delicious.  Here is all I need for a perfect evening at home.  Really, it is a very easy recipe.  All you need to add is some lovely, chunky, fresh bread. Ingredients ·          4 tbsp  olive oil ·          2 medium onions, quartered ·          2 cloves of garlic, crushed ·          1 red pepper, sliced ·          1 yellow pepper, sliced ·          2 large aubergines, halved horizontally then sliced into 3cm pieces ·          3 medium courgettes, sliced into 3cm pieces ·          400 g canned chopped tomatoes ·          small bunch of basil, leaves torn ·          2-3 sprigs of thyme ·          Red wine or vinegar and sugar – added for a more intense taste but optional Method   1.      Heat oil in a large casserole dish and sweat the onions and garlic for 10 minutes on a low heat with the lid on.  2.      Add the peppers, aubergines and courgettes and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, stir and cook for a further 20 minutes wit

A    I ’ve always had a problem with food!   Most of my family have had connections with the land in the past.   Unfortunately my physique, and my taste in food, seems very much more suited to hard physical labour in all weathers in the great outdoors, rather than the sedentary existence I lead now. Even when I am racing around Central London going to meetings, I don’t seem t o use up the energy my appetite seems to want me to consume.  My rather gentle approach to exercise doesn’t help.  It really should be a lot more than walking to the station a few times a week. So I’ve made a decision. I am going to develop a philosophy of eating that treats it almost as  meditation .    In future I shall take much more time to relish what I eat.   I shall work towards having as varied as diet as possible.   And each thing I eat will be the object of my contemplation.   I shall think in detail about what it is and where it comes from.   I shall honour those who have grown or raised it a

Changes in life like redundancy affect us all deeply. They change us and they change our relationships. Redundancy is like bereavement and can leave you with the same gut-wrenching sense of loss, the furious “why me?”. Everyone says it’s not personal, but of course it feels that way to the one who has lost their job. But that sense of loss isn’t just felt by us, it is felt by those close to us as well. Their lives have been changed and probably in ways they would never have chosen for themselves. Sometimes in mass redundancies you can turn that anger outwards and on to the employer or the perceived cause of the problems for example the Bankers. Then the group binds together against the world. If a whole community is facing difficulty, there is likely to be lots of support from within that community – think of the pit villages in the North East of England between the thirties and the seventies. Under siege you pull together. But most of us live in communities without that kind of tradi