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May your world be surrounded in peace, your heart filled with love, and your thoughts a fountain of wisdom.

FOODS THAT BOOST YOUR MOOD

Did you know that what you eat can significantly impact your mood? This is something that I'm learning in school, and I find it to be quite fascinating. Too much of anything can be an overload for your body, but the right portions of the best foods can improve your life in more ways than just physical health. You may notice that you feel more focused, energized and full (in a good way) after consuming protein-rich foods, well, that's because protein produces dopamine when eaten in small portions. Carbs are considered to be a go-to food when one is hungry, depressed or drunk because too much makes you sleepy, but the right amount releases serotonin to make you feel more calm.

Fish, flaxseed, beans and walnuts produce a fair amount of serotonin, and those foods a much better choice than simple carbs because the foods rich in omega-3s as well can even decrease depression. Many claim that it is the specific foods that you consume over the holidays and at special events that cause drowsiness, but too much of anything can do that! Think about how much you eat while with relatives, and how badly you want to take a nap after a big meal. All of those carbs and protein is to blame, so don't have such generous portions, keep it light. Veggies give you the right amount of energy, while animal products, especially from those that are not from local farming can make you feel stressed. This is because the animals were basically tortured before slaughter, and that negative energy transfers to the low-quality meat that you're eating! This may seem hard to believe, but its true!

Darker greens such as broccoli, kale and lettuce bring more oxygen to the bloodstream because they grow under direct sunlight and contain the most chlorophyll. Ground vegetables such as potatoes and squash bring more balance to your mood, and root veggies like beets and carrots absorb the nutrients in the soil and can make you feel more grounded and calm. I absolutely love spinach, and I'm glad that its one of my favorites, because it truly is a fantastic superfood. Spinach is full of antioxidants, which protect the membranes in brain cells from free-radicals which are a negative influence on both the mind and body. The folic acid and B Vitamins can also aid in reducing depression and fatigue, which explains why Popeye was such a tough guy!

Haven't you noticed how the energy that you get from simple carbs is so short-lived? This is yet, another reason to load up on veggies and fruit to be your absolute best from the inside out! Berries such as blueberries are the ultimate superfruit full of antioxidants that bring positive energy by maintaining your brain's neural pathways and actually recharges your genes to produce more positive enzymes in the brain. Plus, they're delicious! Besides berries, cherries are also full of antioxidants and also contain melatonin, which can aid in improving sleep, something that we all need! The Vitamin C in oranges pumps more oxygen throughout your body to enable your brain to "recharge" your system, which is why it makes perfect "pick-me-up" snack at any time of day!


Remember to never skip breakfast either, it is the most important meal of the day, after all! Starting your day with fiber, good fats and whole grains brings energy, better memory, and a calmer state of mind. Obviously skipping meals makes you feel like crap, and when you skip breakfast, your fatigue and anxiety is at its absolute worst. Eat your happiness, darlings!

TIPS TO STAY POSITIVE

Whenever you're feeling down and it seems like nothing is going right, remind yourself that there's always someone who has it worse than you do. Stop complaining and be grateful to have a roof over your head, food on your plate, and loving friends and family. There are plenty of people out there who don't have any of those things, so stay positive!


Here is a great post from http://pathofawesomeness.blogspot.com:




15 Tips to Stay Positive in Negative Situation

1. Never respond when you are not calm. If you are not sure that you are calm, don’t respond. Take time to calm yourself down first.

2. Take a deep breath as a first step to calm yourself down.

3. Speak in gentle tone to reduce the tension of the situation.

4. Realize that you can find opportunities in negative situations. Albert Einstein said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

5. Look at the content of what people say to you for somethingpositive that you can act upon to improve yourself. Don’t just reject the whole messages.

6. For the rest of the messages which is negative, simply ignoreit.

7. Maintain positive view of the people. Maybe you don’t like their messages or behavior, but that doesn’t mean that you can hate them personally.

8. Realize that having negative feelings will just hurt you, not them. So there is no reason for you to have any negative feeling.

9. If you make mistakes, be open to admit it.

10. If you make mistakes, remember this quote by George Bernard Shaw: “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

11. If you can, listen to motivational audio program to feed positive thoughts into your mind.

12. Talk to a positive friend who can encourage you.

13. Remember your favorite quotes to give you inspiration and motivation.

14. Look at the negative situations as your training sessions for real life. The higher you climb in life, the worse the negative situations would be, so you’d better be prepared for them.

15. Realize that you can’t please everyone. In fact, nobody can. Sometimes you need to just let some people go. Realizing this will relieve you from a lot of unnecessary burden so that you can focus on the people that you can positively interact with.