Positive Thinking and Happiness

Positive Thinking and Happiness

It's time to focus on our mental fitness! You can boost your happiness by focusing on positive things and reducing your negative thinking. The ratio of positive to negative thoughts is a major factor in overall happiness. Your brain is constantly monitoring the emotional tone of your thoughts – too many negative thoughts and your brain responds by creating stress and sadness in your body. When you add more positive thoughts, your brain will create relaxation and happiness. By training yourself to follow (or negate) negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll improve your positive/negative thought ratio and be happier.

After you’re aware of your negative thoughts and feelings and work to counteract them for a few days, they will gradually begin to lessen. You’ll be able to concentrate more on what you want to do without experiencing distracting emotions and stress. This will make you more productive and energetic. Best of all, it will make you happier.

The Steps

• List Happy Thoughts:

Take 30 minutes and list all the happy thoughts you can think of. Just use a piece of paper and make a long list, give it a good 30 minutes. List people and places that make you happy – good friends, favorite vacation spots, childhood memories and more. List things that make you happy – puppies, babies, the smell of a new car, a lobster dinner, a day off relaxing by a pool. List anything and everything you can think of that makes you happy.

• Be Aware of Negative Thoughts and Feelings:

For the entire week, pay attention to your thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself thinking about or feeling anything negative, sad or stressful, label that thought “unhappy.” Don’t worry if you have a lot of unhappy thoughts and feelings throughout the day, that is perfectly normal. Just pay attention and label them.

• Follow With a Happy Item:

After you label an unhappy thought or feeling, follow it immediately with a happy item from your Happy List. You might pick one item to use all day long, or choose different ones each time you need them. Just bring that the happy thing to mind for a second or two.

Tips

• Don’t judge yourself. Everyone has lots of unhappy and negative thoughts throughout the day.
• Combine this task with smiling. Force a smile on your face as you bring your happy thought to your mind. This will help erase the effects of the negative thoughts.
• After a few days, the number of negative thoughts and feelings often decreases. It’s almost as if the brain gets bored being negative, because you replace the thoughts so quickly with positive ones.
• Be sure to remind yourself to do this task throughout the day. Don’t let a day go by without engaging with your negative thoughts and substituting positive ones.

STAY FIT. STAY CLASSY. STAY TRUE

Jenna

References: http://longevity.about.com/od/mentalfitness/a/happy_positive.htm

The Benefits of Deadlifting

The Benefits of Deadlifting

There’s really something magical about the Deadlift

 

What Muscles Does the Deadlift Work

Since the deadlift is a compound movement it utilizes nearly every major muscle of your body:

• Spinal Erectors

• Quads

• Glutes

• Hamstrings

• Lower Back

• Middle and Upper Trapezius

• Abdominals and Obliques

• Lats

• Calves

Deadlifting Benefits

1. Burn calories
2. Improved posture
3. Build total body strength
4. Work many muscle groups
5. Sculpt the core
6. Blast the glutes and hamstrings
7. Unlike squats or the bench press, you don’t risk being pinned under a heavy weight. If your forearms or back give out you can bail and drop the weight safely
8. Deadlifts prevent injury. They strengthen the back and prevent lower back pain
9. Deadlifts have practical, real life application.
10. Deadlifts are a high-intensity cardiovascular workout. They work your heart and help raise VO2Max — your body’s ability to transport and use oxygen during exercise (it’s an indicator of your level of cardiovascular fitness).
11. Deadlifts require very limited equipment. All you need is a barbell and some plates. Dumbbells/kettlebells work too

How To Do A Deadlift

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart in front of a barbell.
2. Squat down and grip the barbell so that your forearms just touch the outside of your thighs. The bar should be rolled up against your shins.
3. Tighten your core, stick out your butt, puff out your chest, and keep your back straight throughout the entire movement. Maintaining perfect posture is 100% necessary.
4. Drive your heels and hamstrings into the ground and simultaneously raise your upper body into the standing position as you exhale. *Exhale as your lift, inhale on the way down.*As you ascend with your legs and hips make sure to also ascend with your back and shoulders.
5. Once the weight is up and your back’s straight, squeeze your shoulder blades together and lean back slightly. Hold that position for 1 second.
6. Slowly return the weight to the ground by bending at the knees and simultaneously leaning your torso forward. Keep your back straight during the descent. 

Stay Fit. Stay Classy. Stay True

Jenna

References

http://www.leanitup.com/deadlifts-the-kind-of-exercises/

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

“There are two days in every week about which we should not worry.

Two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is YESTERDAY with its mistakes and cares,

Its faults and blunders, Its aches and pains.

YESTERDAY has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back YESTERDAY.

We cannot undo a single act we performed.

We cannot erase a single word we said. YESTERDAY is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW.

With its possible adversities, Its burdens,

Its large promise and poor performance.

TOMORROW is also beyond our immediate control.

TOMORROW‘s Sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds,

but it will rise.

Until it does, we have no stake in TOMORROW, for it is yet unborn.

This just leaves only one day . . . TODAY.

Any person can fight the battles of just one day.

It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternity’s -

YESTERDAY and TOMORROW that we break down.

It is not the experience of  TODAY that drives people mad.

It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened YESTERDAY.

and the dread of what TOMORROW may bring.

Let us therefore LIVE BUT ONE DAY AT A TIME.”

~ Author Unknown

Stay Fit. Stay Classy. Stay True

Jenna