CELEBRATING HEALTH, HAPPINESS,
& HOLIDAYS
How to Keep the "Happy" in Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope this message finds you all celebrating this sacred and special time of year with joy and abundance. While the Holidays are a time for good cheer and happiness, entering into the season can also bring about an extra component of experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, or even panic. Basically, it can sometimes be hard to find the "HAPPY" during these "Happy Holidays." The demands, obligations, holiday travel, coping to be with the family, or perhaps remembering loved ones who are no longer with you, these all can contribute to the Holidays being one of the most stressful and anxious times of year.
If you're already feeling the stress of the Holidays or are basically finding it a challenge to keep the requisite "happy" in these Happy Holidays, this special issue focuses all about The Science of Happiness! In fact, I'm excited to announce that this topic will actually be a university course I'll be teaching next semester. Even though the course is limited only to my registered colleges students, there might be a chance that lectures from the course will be available for free on ITunes U(niversity). More details on that to come!
My recent blog post on Tips for Staying HAPPY through the Holidays! explores how the latest findings in neuroscience can help you cultivate long-term happiness for the brain, body, and being! I know you'll also enjoy reading the sidebar article on how your brain is actually Hardwired for Happiness, watching the short and helpful video on Relieving Holiday Stress, and exploring the book of the month Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill.
In the new section, Inspiring True Story of the Month you will rejoice reading about the heart-warming and unlikely friendship formed between a young profesional woman and a homeless war veteran. I got tears in my eyes while reading it!
Lastly, I am truly grateful to all of you for your continued enthusiasm and genuine support for these monthly newsletters and all my other events throughout 2012, from which many of you have benefitted. There are many new surprises in store for 2013, which I know you will truly enjoy! So whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, or just revel in the Holiday Spirit, the season is all about learning to experience the HAPPY in these Happy Holidays! As you celebrate these Holidays, please remember: "True happiness is not determined by HOW much is in your life but by WHO is in your life." Having said that, I can now honestly say how blessed I feel to have you in my life!
Keep on Living Your LightŪ as you enjoy this Holiday Season in the abundance, joy, and happiness of loved ones, family, and friends!
Happy Holidays,
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TIPS FOR STAYING HAPPY THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS
"It's not HOW much is in your life,
but WHO is in your life!"
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! As you enjoy and celebrate the exuberance and merriment of the Holiday Season, let's face it the Holidays for many can also bring about the unwanted burden of stress and anxiety. Even the most calm, relaxed, organized, and centered of us can find it challenging to cope with all the family responsibilities, social obligations, and gift-giving expectations of the season. I'm sure we all could use a little extra help to maintain the Holiday cheer. Below are some helpful suggestions that I've shared over the years with my private clients and have taught to my college students as ways to experience greater joy and wellbeing in life. These proven and insightful tips from the growing fields of social neuroscience and positive psychology can help you continue that inner sense of Holiday joy and cheer in brain, body, and being!
Do you know what the number one Holiday stressor is? According to a study by Mental Health America, the number one stressor during the Holidays is money. It probably comes as no surprise to you that with the emphasis during the Holidays on buying gifts and the pressure to get that perfect present for a loved one, an extra dimension of stress can become compounded onto your already hectic life. During the Holidays 40% of Americans feel the extra financial burden and experience greater psychological and emotional stress. It is during these tough economic times that you might be additionally burdened with lack of means to celebrate the Holidays, as you once were accustomed. For some of you, this could mean cutting back on gifts for the kids, not having the money to visit your relatives, or quite possibly spending the Holidays literally without a home. All of these factors can make us feel unworthy or ashamed for not having enough. In turn, these feelings of unworthiness, guilt, and shame when left unchecked can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression!
The key to alleviating this financial Holiday stressor is to understand that generating happiness for self and others isn't measured by higher price tags on a present or desiring more material objects. Instead, studies in neuroscience and psychology indicate that genuine, deep, and long-lasting happiness results not from "buying more, but from being more!" While we all agree that money has its purpose, more studies reveal that true wealth is not always monetary. In fact, economists who study the economics of happiness and quality of life point that better indicators to determine happiness might actually be psychologically, spiritually, and emotionally measured by the quality of your relationships, the richness of social bonds, and your greater purpose in life.
The reason why this might be the case has to do with recent findings in the brain that happiness actually comes in two distinct forms. This concept, now being backed by neuroscience, states that your brain distinguishes between what I call short-term versus long-term happiness. Read Full Article
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"AWAKE w/ Dr. Jay Kumar!" on Doug Stephan's Good Day
NEW TIME
THURSDAY 6:30am PT/9:30am ET
Dr. Jay Kumar wants you to become AWAKE! Join me every Thursday morning as a regular guest on the nationally syndicated
Doug Stephan's Good Day radio show.
Each week we explore how the latest discoveries in mind-body medicine and brain research can empower you toward authentic health and happiness in brain, body, and being!
Show Details.
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Well, after years of hype December 21, 2012 is here! Unless you've been hiding in a cave with no internet access the past few months, I'm sure you've read or heard in the collective media about the possible fate of the world on this day. Whether you're a skeptic or believer that this popularized calendar date has any major significance for humanity is to be seen.
I've been frequently asked over the past few weeks by students, clients, and many people what exactly does this event mean for the planet. So I thought, why not just share my views on the matter with everyone, once and for all. So do I believe that our world is coming to an end? No, I don't! What I do believe is that our current worldview is coming to an end!
Learn why I believe this and what quantum physics, human consciousness, and Eastern thought all have in common as humanity shifts into a new paradigm of global consciousness!
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Quote of the Month
"If you are happy, happiness will come to you because happiness wants to go where happiness is." ~ Yogi Bhajan
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Inspiring True Story of the Month
This story, which has gone viral the past few days, really got me choked up when I read it. It just goes to show that friendship and human companionship come in all shapes and forms. Underneath our human exteriors we are all yearning to be loved and to be valued by others! Please read this and feel free to share.
Human Spirit Alive During the Holidays
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Article of the Month
Hardwired for Happiness
Both neuroscience and cognitive psychology now dispel the long held belief that the human brain is wired for competition, survival, greed, and self-interest. Recent findings suggest that our brains are actually wired for compassion, empathy, and happiness! This is a detailed but amazing article that helps you understand just why we are "Hardwired for Happiness!"
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Video of the Month
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Tips for Relieving Holiday Stress
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Holidays already got you stressed out? Need to put the "Happy" back in Happy Holidays? If so, you'll def. want to check out this short and helpful video on simple tools you can employ to help keep the "Happy" in these Happy Holidays!
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Book of the Month
A molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk, Mathieu Richard, described by scientists as "the happiest man alive," demonstrates how to develop the inner conditions for true happiness. Blending sacred teachings from Eastern traditions with modern neuroscience and positive psychology, this masterpiece of a book explores the cutting edge field of happiness. In fact, this book will be required for all my students to read in my upcoming course on Happiness!
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