Mediterranean Diet

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/food-and-mood-is-there-a-connection?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GB20190327-Depression&utm_id=1286008&dlv-ga-memberid=54844983&mid=54844983&ml=1286008


Helpful for lowering blood pressure and dealing with depression.

HISTORIC CITY IN FLORIDA

SANFORD:  https://www.accuweather.com/partnercontent?prx_t=2noEAcp0xAyMUQA&dclid=CPr33-TRmOECFT3G4wcdEswByA

The 100 Things -- Feb. Mar. 2019

1.  the 2 little girls i met today who clog
2.  seeing franklin and his family and hazel, the new dog
3.  making a lentil stew
4.  picking up a few things from whole foods
5.  meeting someone who's a dance minor at duke
6.  the crane dance for ncdanceforparkinson's
7.  telling the group about shaleight's community dance class
8.  community dance thru did
9.  meeting the 2 filmmakers today for the crane dance -- Katie is a producer at WUNC tv
10.  seeing rel at WW
11. kombucha
12. writing poetry standing up
13. "flowy" dance
14.  meeting 2 folks from So. Africa (cape town)
15.  under armour b/c it makes me sweat
16.  writing a poem called "My Imaginary Love"
17.  doing the best i can
18.  monica -- might ask her to be my new sponsor
19.  seeing kim 2 morrow
20.  feeling relaxed
21.  good food to eat next week
22.  dst is here so i can get up earlier
23.  finding out about persian limes and the guy at WW (Dan) told me he would look into it and get back with me
24.  30 min. walk today even tho i didn't feel like it
25.  watching c-span on the birmingham bombings
26.  having lots of apples
27.  having aldi deliver to y door
28.  Barbara F.'s loving kindness meditation
29.  open mic reading on thurs at flyleaf
30.  kim, the guy i saw at b & N who goes to the open mic at FL and uses an online audio platform that is FREE!
31.  FRANKLIN THE DOG AT UNC
32.  i can say i went to a duke bb game
33.  my oa support group
34.  trying to cope better with DST
35.  40 hz binaural beats -- blocks out background noise
36.   yummy lunch today -- WW spaghetti w tomato sauce, sautéed spinach, and parmesan cheese mixed in
37.  i encouraged a friend
39.  a walk this morning
40.  10 min. on the exercise bike
41.  this phrase:  "just be"
42.  reading some of Conrad Neumann's poetry
43.  a pretty dinner table
44.  a poem every day
45.  thinking about my granddaughter
46.  forgiveness
47.  the golden doodle i saw on my walk today
48.  clouds like cotton balls a few minutes ago
49.  kathy's friendship
50.  freddy mercury b/c his music cheers me up!
51/  applied for a job last week.
52.  My intuition which told me "relax and take it easy"
53.  jenny east
54.  jenny west
55.  awe and wonder
56.  franklin golden, our pastor
57.  having known someone like mimi
58.  unc winning 2 games
59.  stretching outside
60.  $7.00 haircuts
61.  the gazebo near my apartment
62.  soup for dinner tonite
63.  a sexy dream last night
64.  my poetry group
65.  volunteering at the Carolina this morning for 600+ students who saw the new film, The Best of Enemies.
66.  car is running great
67.  songbirds outside my apartment
68,  my friend Faye Bryant Mayo
69.  Denise
70.  living in the moment
71.  resting tonite
72.  sore muscles from exercise yesterday
73.  my minister
74.  Alex
75.  Durham
76.  Ann Atwater
77.  modest dinner tonite
78.  deep breaths
79.  the concept of the Yoke
80.  being inspired
81.  Bill Wilson, he helped millions
82.  Durham's mayor
83.  jordan high school
84.  hillside high school
85.  headed to bed early tonight
86.  my apartment
87.  health
88.  Durham
89.  excitement at the Carolina tonite
90. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
91.  black beans
92.  God
93.  letting go
94.  the Mothership
95.  Shannon
96.  Kim
97.  blood tests good!
98.  tomi
99.  Jenny
100.  Shaga tomorrow!!!!

Cool Science

The Lorenz Effect

http://paulbourke.net/fractals/lorenz/

Using My Positivity Portfolio to Overcome a Slump (week 2 assignment)

I;m in a bit of a slump because I'm not feeling well. Also really tired and things like bills and chores have piled up... Had a sinus infection, was on antibiotics, now i have a cough.  Also ate too much sugar last night -- in the yogurt ----- I need to avoid sugar as it brings me down.

A couple of things about my Positivity Portfolio brought me back up.

1.  Family Archives:  I have a fascinating family history...dad in WWI...i'm thinking about his photo in his "jodhpurs"  leaning against his plane, a Curtiss Jenny.  Hand on his hip like i like to stand...and he's cute.  Just 19, had dropped out of U.Va.  I wrote a poem about that photo.

I'm proud of my dad being in WWI.  Not many people can say that.  He was 20 years older than my mom when i was born.  I'll be 70 in June...so that's how it's possible...

  

2.  My relative Dee, age 94 and still kickin'.   I spoke w her on the phone for an hr. last week.  Love her to pieces.  She is inspiring.

3.  "20 breaths meditation."  Calms me down.

4.  30 min. Loving Kindness Meditation.

5.  Poem i wrote:  General Relativity and this photo to go with it:

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Positivity for today:

1.  Escaping to my favorite restaurant for lunch 

2.  Loving Kindness meditation  for 30 min

3.  Fantasia -- who waited on me and even brought my lunch to me

4.  Samantha at the office  --  game me empathy and sympathy

5.  Kathy T.  understanding

6.   sending kindness to myself

7.  20 breaths

8.  teacher:  Gary Purcell -- kindness to me when i got to UT with my son

9.  neutral person:  woman on her way to B & N like me -- we smiled at each other.

10.  difficult person:  Delores Porter, ex-boss.  She was always criticizing and critiquing

11.  i fully let go of her.

12   send loving kindness to all beings.

13.  let go of all beings

14.  eyes open, gently moving my body

15.  praying to be free of anger.

Positive Psychology Course -- Dr. Barbara Frederickson

From Week 1:  article by Frederickson in the Scientific American

"The new discoveries generated by positive psychology hold the promise of improving individual and collective functioning, psychological well-being and physical health. But to harness the power of positive psychology, we need to understand how and why “goodness” matters."  (BLF)
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"The Broaden-and-Build Theory

We gain some insight into the adaptive role of positive emotions if we abandon the framework used to understand the negative emotions. Instead of solving problems of immediate survival, positive emotions solve problems concerning personal growth and development. Experiencing a positive emotion leads to states of mind and to modes of behavior that indirectly prepare an individual for later hard times. In my broaden-and-build theory, I propose that the positive emotions broaden an individual’s momentary mindset, and by doing so help to build enduring personal resources. We can test these ideas by exploring the ways that positive emotions change how people think and how they behave.

My students and I conducted experiments in which we induced certain emotions in people by having them watch short, emotionally evocative film clips. We elicited joy by showing a herd of playful penguins waddling and sliding on the ice, we elicited serenity with clips of peaceful nature scenes, we elicited fear with films of people at precarious heights, and we elicited sadness with scenes of deaths and funerals. We also used a neutral “control” film of an old computer screen saver that elicited no emotion at all."

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My students and I have recently completed an experimental test of the building effect of positive emotions. Over the course of a month-long study of daily experiences, we induced one group of college students to feel more positive emotions by asking them to find the positive meaning and longterm benefit within their best, worst and seemingly ordinary experiences each day. At the end of the month, compared to others who did not make this daily effort to find positive meaning, those who did showed increases in psychological resilience.

So “feeling good” does far more than signal the absence of threats. It can transform people for the better, making them more optimistic, resilient and socially connected. Indeed, this insight might solve the evolutionary mystery of positive emotions: Simply by experiencing positive emotions, our ancestors would have naturally accrued more personal resources. And when later faced with threats to life or limb, these greater resources translated into greater odds of survival and greater odds of living long enough to reproduce....

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Such effects may extend to the physiological realm. The negative emotions have distinct physiological responses associated with them—autonomic activity (as mentioned earlier), including cardiovascular activity, which represents the body’s preparation for specific action. A number of studies suggest that the cardiovascular activity associated with stress and negative emotions, especially if prolonged and recurrent, can promote or exacerbate heart disease. Experiments on nonhuman primates reveal that recurrent emotion-related cardiovascular activity also appears to injure the inner walls of arteries and initiate atherosclerosis. Because the positive emotions broaden people’s thought-and-action repertoires, they may also loosen the hold that negative emotions gain on both mind and body, dismantle preparation for specific action and undo the physiological effects of negative emotions....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Based on our recent experiment with college students, my advice would be to cultivate positive emotions indirectly by finding positive meaning within current circumstances. Positive meaning can be obtained by finding benefits within adversity, by infusing ordinary events with meaning and by effective problem solving. You can find benefits in a grim world, for instance, by focusing on the newfound strengths and resolve within yourself and others. You can infuse ordinary events with meaning by expressing appreciation, love and gratitude, even for simple things. And you can find positive meaning through problem solving by supporting compassionate acts toward people in need.

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Such effects may extend to the physiological realm. The negative emotions have distinct physiological responses associated with them—autonomic activity (as mentioned earlier), including cardiovascular activity, which represents the body’s preparation for specific action. A number of studies suggest that the cardiovascular activity associated with stress and negative emotions, especially if prolonged and recurrent, can promote or exacerbate heart disease. Experiments on nonhuman primates reveal that recurrent emotion-related cardiovascular activity also appears to injure the inner walls of arteries and initiate atherosclerosis. Because the positive emotions broaden people’s thought-and-action repertoires, they may also loosen the hold that negative emotions gain on both mind and body, dismantle preparation for specific action and undo the physiological effects of negative emotions....
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Thoughts and reflections for Week 1
My favorite exercise from week one was the Positivity Portfolio.  I need to add some things to it:  artifacts that mean a lot to me....like the turquoise cross.
I had my job interview the day after I completed this.  I was just getting over a sinus infection and really didn't feel like going as I was afraid I would be at my best.  Nevertheless less, I went  and listened to some relaxing music before hand.  I didn't have time to look over the Common Core, and decided on spending that time to relax and focus and learn more about the school.  I took along a few of my favorite books to show the principal.   Turned out to be a really positive experience and I felt that the principal and I had a great rapport.

I'm glad I made time to do my stretching and strengthening exercises before hand.

I also enjoy checking into the Discussion Forum to have some interaction with other students.

I'm having a little difficulty with the technology due to the arthritis in my hands and viewing the screen is a strain sometimes due to needing new glasses and having cataracts.  Doing my best tho!

Week 2

Facts about positive emotions
A.  They get people to see things from a more detailed and local perspective.
B.  They DO NOT help people develop self defense resources.
C.  Learning how to generate positive emotions creates a cascade affect in this order:  
Increase in positive emotions = building resources = increase in life satisfaction
D.  People w/ positive emotions recover from stress quicker
E.  People w/ positive emotions worry less about future negative emotions.