Quick Fix #1 Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be publishing a series of ‘quick-fixes’ aimed at changing moods and behaviours with minimum effort. Feel free to use them yourself, or to teach them to patients and clients, friends and family. Just let me know how you fared. Depression: Many (if not most) people suffer from depression at some time or another. Contrary to what Big Pharma would have us believe, this is not a drug-deficient syndrome. If you want to help anyone, or yourself, remember the Medical NLP axiom: mood and physiology are inextricably linked in a continuous feedback loop. Depressed people usually spend much of their waking time staring down, either to the left or the right, shoulders hunched, breathing shallow breaths, with frequent stoppages in airflow. By contrast, cheerful people usually demonstrate an open posture, comfortable breathing, and a tendency to smile easily. The smile is important. Not only do people who are feeling good smile more readily, but smiling (even when you don’t feel like it) lifts your mood. So automatic is the engagement of the Zygomatic major muscle (which lifts corners of mouth) and the Orbicularis oculi muscle (which gives that apple-y roundness to the cheeks and wrinkles the outer edge of the eyes) that simply holding a pencil between the teeth will also trigger the release of feel-good endorphins.[1] So here’s the fix: get a commitment from your patient or client (or, from yourself) to spend 15 minutes a day, taking a gentle walk outdoors, ensuring that you look up. Notice the tops of buildings, or the shape and colours of the leaves on the trees. At the same time, smile. Do this for seven days, then report back. I’m confident you’ll notice the difference. [1] psychologytoday/blog/isnt-what-i-expected/201207/try-some-smile-therapy
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 22:08:14 +0000
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