New Year New You - Part II

 Let's continue to talk about ways to feel better in 2015:

3. Be grateful.  Start focusing on the positive more than the negative.  As human beings, we are naturally more focused on the negative because this is a big part of what keeps us alive.  Our brains are wired and programmed to find the negative and try to fix it.  Being aware that this is a main job of our brain helps us take notice of it more and more each day. 

It takes a bit of effort to focus more attention on the positive and try not to let it all just slip through our fingers like water.  Do your best each day to hold onto the positive aspects of your life and shine a ray of light on each and every one of them.  One way to start this is to write a gratitude journal – write down 5 things each day that brought you joy or made you thankful.  They can be simple and mundane occurrences throughout your day.

4. Eliminate sugary drinks.  I am not asking you to eliminate sugar altogether, just sugary drinks because they are the most influential on your insulin production and demanding on your pancreas.  In other words, sugary drinks seem to be a leading cause of obesity and diabetes.  These drinks include anything with sugar in the ingredient list, like sodas, sports drinks, and fruit juices. 

Try not to switch to diet drinks because studies have shown that the fake sugars tend to make you desire more sweets in your daily intake.  Try it for yourself and notice if you crave more sugary items when drinking diet drinks – I did.  These fake sugars also seem to confuse the body because they are not natural. 

Again, similar to cutting back on caffeine, you may not want to eliminate sugary drinks all at once.  You may be more successful cutting back to having one soda a few days per week, rather than a soda everyday.  Then, drink only one soda per week and so forth.  Try to make your goals attainable so you are successful.

5. Drink Water.  Many people drink sugary drinks as if it is water, but it is not water.  Drink more good-old-fashioned H2O for hydration.  Increasing your consumption of water will likely increase your energy level and your metabolism.  Try it out and notice if you feel differently after a week or so.

If you are aiming to lose weight, this is also an excellent way to aid in weight loss.  When we binge or emotionally eat, we are often just thirsty and in need of hydration.  If you can slow down and drink a glass of water before reaching for that bag of chips or cookies, you might realize you do not want food at all and are satisfied with the water. 

Many of the ideas for this 'New Year, New You' segment were stimulated by reading John Ratey and Richard Manning's new book entitled, "Go Wild: Free Your Body and Mind From the Afflictions of Civilization."  If you are up for a good read during these cold winter months, I recommend highly recommend this one.

Kimberly Atwood is a psychotherapist in private practice in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She specializes in working primarily with women in their 20’s and 30’s dealing with eating disorders, sexual and relationship issues, anxiety, life transitions and personal growth.  Visit my 'Finding Your Voice' blog at https://kimberlyatwood.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/new-year-new-your-part-ii/

Cultivating Gratitude

Isn’t it interesting how easily we seem to absorb the negative things in life, yet the positives just slip away? It’s as though the compliments, positive feedback, and the small things that bring us joy in life just slips through our fingers like water. Why is it so hard to hold onto the positives, while it is so easy to hold onto the negatives?

We tend to focus on the things that keep us alive. Think about it – if something negative happens, you want to remember that in the future in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Right? It all goes back many years ago and evolutionarily our brains just haven’t changed all that much. We absorb and integrate what keeps us alive – how to avoid getting attacked by a tiger – and forget the wonderful, joyous, and lovely positives because we do not need to hold onto them in order to live.

Focusing on the negative aspects of life causes great anxiety in some people. To help relieve some of this anxiety, we need to adapt our way of thinking. We must focus more on the positive and let go of the negatives much more consciously.

In order to cultivate a more positive mindset, start a gratitude journal. Try it for a week and notice any differences that may occur in this short time. Continue if it seems to work well for you.

Naturally, you will continue to notice the negatives; I promise they will not go away fully. However, your focus will hopefully change and you’ll start to notice more of the positives that occur throughout your day.

Gratitude Journaling:
• Write down at least 5 different things you are grateful or thankful for today.
• Try not to repeat items, but if you have to occasionally it’s okay.
• It is really about noticing all the amazing things that happen on a daily basis that don’t seem to get much attention. It also may create a desire to slow down and take advantage of certain things that you wouldn’t usually take time for in your day.
• Examples:
o I am grateful for the fact that I woke up this morning.
o I am thankful for seeing such a beautiful sunrise and taking the time to enjoy it.
o I am grateful for my morning cup of coffee.
o I am thankful for having healthy legs that carry me places all day long.


Kimberly Atwood is a psychotherapist in private practice in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She specializes in working with women and men in their late teens, 20’s and 30’s dealing with eating disorders, sexual and relationship issues, anxiety, life transitions and personal growth.  Please visit www.Kimberlyatwood.com for more information.