This fear thing is annoying. It gets in the way of living. So many things to fear so little time to do it.
You see fear as the enemy and want to fight it as hard as you can. So many of us have it hanging over us. Lurking not far away. For some a constant companion, an irritating troublesome enemy.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”― Plato
I’m not an anti-goal setter. I set goals all the time, but that is not always what gets me through the grind. I need a daily thing. You can call it habits, ok we all call it habits.
Goals inspire us. They make you feel good about yourself. You do all those nice stuff like visualization meditating on it and so on. For how long?
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. -Octavia Butler
You know there are those superhumans who put a goal up on their wall and just follow it?
“Thoughts are real, physical things that occupy mental real estate. Moment by moment, every day, you are changing the structure of your brain through your thinking. When we hope, it is an activity of the mind that changes the structure of our brain in a positive and normal direction.” ― Caroline Leaf, Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health
This is not something out there, airy-fairy, it is my way of dealing with 49 years of heart disease, arrhythmia, and ectopic heartbeats.
I think you’ll agree with me when I say that dealing with AFIB or any palpitations is actually a type of heart arrhythmia management. People that have had some experience with AFIB know that the end of it is not always the end of it. The promise of cardioversion or even an ablation may not be the final word on your arrhythmia.
That is why journaling may be one of the best ways of heart arrhythmia management for you. And the best part? you can start it here and now!
You can actually improve your heart palpitations management by writing more about what your heart is doing, and what you are doing. On Newlifeoutlook I read a very interesting article written by Eric Patterson on how journaling can help you cope with AFIB.
Thanks to his article I have yet again seen what the benefits of journaling are especially in heart arrhythmia management, and how I have applied it in my life.
WHAT CAN JOURNALING DO FOR YOUR HEART?
The two main benefits mentioned in his featured article are very important. He mentions that a journal (this can also be your own website or blog) can help with data collection and stress reduction. How can you actually use this?
In South Africa we have lockdown you may have quarantine. Either way, you are restricted, prohibited, or kept in. Our world has changed and we have to make sense of what is going on. That is why I like the Bible. You can go back and see how to deal with difficult situations.
We are not the first people to experience some sort of locked-in experience. Kept inside for doing nothing wrong! There have been a few before us who have had it much worse than we have it now.
What are the dangers for heart patients in relation to COVID-19?
Everyone with a heart condition or who previously had a heart condition may just be a little bit rattled when they hear, Corona!. Every time I hear that “people with a heart condition are at risk” I have many questions. I’m not afraid but I am cautious to find out what that means for me as a “heart patient”.
I know I have to be wise and sanitize, but is there more that I have to know?
Invest in this and you will FEEL the rewards, here’s the deal.
www.myafibheart.com
“It is health that is the real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” — Mahatma Gandhi
With a billion dollars you can buy almost anything, ok maybe everything you want. BUT.
You only have one life and one body.
There’s no renting or lending of a body. You only have that one you’re in now. So hang on to it!
“Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.” Dion Boucicault
Unfortunately we sometimes only know our body is biodegradable if we go through some things. You may be one of the lucky ones and instinctively know you have to take care of your body.
When the chips are down, no one is reading your stories, your bank account cries for money, claps, and likes are few and far between, you feel down, or you receive horrible news from the doctor, you need some hope!
All of us have those days.
And that statement just helps nobody! You need some hope! If all of us have some of those days how do only some get through it?
Hope is not an empty word. It has some gravity
While I was chatting to a friend, he went straight to the point and asked. “I remember you also have a heart issue?”
I briefly told my story but not in detail, because I knew that there was some “heart questions “ coming on.
Heart stories are very interesting.
Sometimes you must deal with your physical heart. If the doctor says what’s wrong with your heart, you live with it every day, it’s difficult to change.
But what about your spirit and soul. If we say someone has a strong and courageous heart. Are we talking about their spirit and soul? Or may it also be that we are talking about their hearts and the hope that’s in their hearts?
I don’t want to lose you here, talking all fluffy airy-fairy stuff. But just take note of this.
One of the reasons surgeons were hesitant, long ago, to operate on the heart or transplant the heart is because of this heart-soul-spirit connection.
The heart has a “brain” with 40 000 neurons and can sense, feel, learn and remember. Your heart talks to your brain.
Dr. Paul Pearsall and Dr. Deborah Rozman have talked and wrote about this and how the heart communicates with the brain.
But maybe your heart cannot really think, but I believe it can feel.
What is the symbol for love?……
Why is it a heart?
Faith Hope and love are mentioned in the same sentence in the Bible. They are all these types of “fluffy” difficult to explain concepts. Can it be that hope to some extent is situated in your heart?
A few times I, and many other people have hoped in spite of hopelessness.
There was no clear solution, no guarantee, no escape or hope.
Questions to ask before pediatric open-heart surgery
Some of these questions may be: Why do you recommend this treatment? What about aftercare? Recovery time? What to expect when I see my baby after surgery? Support after surgery? Potential risks? Survival rate? Experience of the team? What can go wrong and how often do they? How are we included in the decision-making process? How long is the hospital stay? Do you share your results publicly? And a few other questions.
I have been seeing a cardiologist at least once a year for the past 20+ years. I still have questions.
Sometimes when I walk out of the consulting rooms I think “I should have asked …….” And then I feel so stupid. Although it’s long ago my mother has told me how many questions she had before and after my open-heart surgery. So what are some of the questions to ask before pediatric open-heart surgery?
You know words are powerful. Spoken words, written words even words inside your head. Sometimes we forget it. Sometimes we think it’s only sounds coming out of our mouth. But it’s not. It’s all little creations coming out of our minds!
Thoughts like “I cannot” and “I can” are created in the same factory called your mind. We have all the tools to make either one them. For a few years I recited to myself “I cannot ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour, it’s too difficult” I did not even entertain the thought of doing it.
This went on until my thoughts and words began to change. Maybe I can do it? I started using other thoughts and words. Now it was “how do people prepare for this race/tour?” and “It just may be possible for me to do it”
Habits make you do the hard yards.Heart health will follow.
Are you working on your goals for the year?
Those new years resolutions? Can not even remember them? Habits will help you.
You know the story of how you eat an elephant? Bite for bite. Yes, it’s an old one, but there’s more to it I think. Eating the elephant is the goal but bite for bite is the habit. Heart health is the same.
Because I was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) named Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) I was always aware of my heart and how my lifestyle could influence my heart. I have seen how good and bad habits can influence me.
The goal is easy to set, well anyone can do it(and should do it). Where does it go wrong for so many of us? It’s the daily thing, the grind, the small bites.
It’s about your whole life! You are a system. YOUR HEART DOES NOT BEAT IN A VACUUM SOMEWHERE. Heart Health has to do with your whole being. Here’s the deal.
You will agree that heart health is very important. According to the Centers for disease control, and prevention heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and woman in the USA.
Here are a few simple tips you can implement to improve your heart health.
1. Create your free-will again. It will help your heart.
You think you are free, but think deep and you will see that you are addicted to one or all of these things.
Sugar (It is in everything!) – It makes you FAT!
TV – It makes you lazy.
Phone – It pacify’s you.
Caffeine – Lets your heart race and then throws you off.
Alchohol – Too much of it……Need we say more?
Prescription drugs – It must get you through, but can keep you locked-in if misused.
All above-mentioned things can be bad for your heart. You must get free of them to improve your heart health. It will take guts and commitment, and remember, nothing happens in the comfort zone.
2. Eat healthy. It’s your heart fuel.
How much of what when.
If you do not know what healthy food looks like. Educate yourself, because food is not always what you think it is.
Start your education by heading over to Habib Azam’s site urbanplatehealth and specifically his cardiovascular blog, where he shares what nutrients are essential for your heart.
If we all know that we must drink more water and eat less(overall), why do we not do it? Because most of the time we think “One day” and not “Day ONE”
All of us can do with more Day ONE starts than One-day dreams.
