“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seed that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
Weekly Mind Bender
The Muller-Lyer illusion:
Are the coloured lines the same length?
They are! The different colours and “framing” from the arrows surrounding the lines make them appear to be different sizes, but they are actually equal length.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“It is a funny thing about life… you get back what you put into it.”
Catherine Pulsifer
Eat For Healthy Bones
It has long been understood that bone health becomes increasingly important as you age – especially for women. It is also known that the functional impacts of a broken bone (reduced self-care, productivity and leisure) can be massive. The role of calcium is well known, but what other factors contribute to bone health? Health magazine has created a list of eleven foods that maximize the strength of your bones. Check this out and see if you can up your consumption of bone health promoting nutrients…
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“Never underestimate what you can accomplish when you believe in yourself.” The Arthur Boorman story is a true inspiration to all.
What Behaviors Do You Want to Modify?
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
One of the best courses I took in university was Behavior Modification. Our main project was to modify one of our own behaviors over a four month period. Personally, I had a dog and wanted to develop a better walking routine. So, over the four months I mapped out several walking routes that increased my time spent walking on a weekly basis. By the end of the four months, I was walking my dog two hours and twelve kilometers a day. Research indicates that it takes four months to develop a new habit, so by the end of the course my new walking routine became standard practice and something I did religiously with my dog (and then dogs) until I had my family and needed to develop a new routine.
Often, when our regular routines are interrupted by disability bad habits develop. While not immediate, over time days can become more and more unproductive until soon very little is getting accomplished. This has a drastic impact on mental health and impacts all areas of physical, cognitive and emotional functioning, let alone the impact on those that we live with.
The best way I have been able to help clients to break such routines is to simply have them track how they spend their time. Once this is documented, people can quickly identify the problems areas and then together we discuss how to fix them. For example, through tracking for a week, one client discovered that she does not shower, one found that he watches ten hours of TV per day, and another learned that she does not eat during the day, but consumes junk food all evening. In every case, people discovered something about their routine that drove them into action for change.
So, if you are concerned that your routine is lacking in productivity, self-care or leisure, or there are activities you would like to resume or goals to achieve, just keep a log of how you spend your time. After a week, reflect on your log and make a list of the problem areas. Commit to making small changes (start with the easiest changes first) and over time, you will see huge improvements in how you feel about yourself and your routines. Or, for a more structured approach, consider hiring a professional to assess your suitability for the Progressive Goal Attainment Program. This program involves using time tracking over 10 weeks to completely revamp routines to reduce psychosocial barriers to recovery, improve mental health and reduce disability caused by chronic pain.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind?
Well, I’m a lucky man
With fire in my hands”
The Verve: “Lucky Man”
How Is Your Mood?
Mental illness is the most common cause of lost work and debilitates thousands of Canadians. Yet, it continues to be a problem not openly discussed. So, what do you really know about your mental health and the things that can affect it? Recent studies suggest that eating fast food regularly can increase your chances of developing depression and that stress may be genetic. Find out more about these and other surprising ways our mental health can be affected in this article from Best Health Magazine. See how your diet and lifestyle choices may be affecting your mood.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
.jpg)
Will You Choose Wood or Water?
Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)
Often people talk about “fighting fires” in trying to manage the day to day events of life. If this is your life most of the time, how stressful! But, as with all situations, we have a choice.
In a fire, do we want to be Wood or Water? Wood, of course, will burn and burn quickly. Do we want to grow this fire by providing it with the fuel it needs to be bigger and stronger? Or, do we want to be water? Water that can reduce the effects of the fire and bring this under control? The ultimate choice is ours.
If we are wood we react, blame, accuse, yell, and jump to conclusions. If we are water we seek to understand, ask questions, and remain calm. It is not always easy to make a choice, especially when a situation is fraught with urgency and we have other people adding to the fire by being wood themselves. Perhaps the simple solution is to quickly ask the question: is my reaction here helping or hindering? Do I understand? I have been guilty of sending emails, or making phone calls that were accusing in nature, to only realize I don’t have the entire story. Whoops, my bad and I have learned my lesson. Seek to understand so you can later be understood. I think someone famous said that.