Lifestyle Choices

Express Your Feelings

Depressed feelings need to be expressed. Keeping a tight lid on one’s feelings will, in the long run, intensify the feelings and drive one to deeper levels of depression. If you have a friend or a confidant, speak to him candidly about how you feel. The tendency in depressed people is to withdraw from others and this adds to their sense of isolation. Loneliness is not good for depression. It can worsen depression. So resist the tendency to withdraw into your own world. (more…)

However, if your cancer treatment is completed and you feel an unexplainable anxiety even though your trials are apparently over, read on.

These feelings are common and occur, in part, because the end has come to the frequent visits with your various doctors, which can serve to comfort—giving you the tangible evidence that someone is watching over you and your health. But, aside from that, you may be struggling with the fear of recurrence that many women experience at this time. Remember, during the treatment planning process, you want to develop a plan to optimize your chance of cure and to carry out that plan. When done, it is time for you to go on with your life. (more…)

As with textile fashion, jewelry from most time periods evokes a certain set of images. Often, those images are an exaggeration of a few elements that were popular at that time. We remember the poodle skirts, and it will be hard to forget the belly button rings.

In fact, often when you create jewelry with the feel of a time period, it may seem to capture the essence of an era better than an authentic item from the time period. (more…)

Consultation Room Etiquette

Need for Privacy

If the patient seems hesitant about speaking to the psychiatrist, it could be that there are things he wishes to discuss in private. If you sense this could be the case, excuse yourself from the consultation room. Your presence may hinder disclosure of sensitive information. It goes without saying that after the consultation, you should not check with the professional what had been discussed in your absence. Most, if not all, caregivers I have dealt with do not have such a problem. (more…)

If feelings become so painful and overwhelming that you feel like harming yourself or others, you need to get help right away. Speak to a parent, an adult or a doctor. Ring the

SOS or teenage helpline for crisis counselling. In the meantime, the following suggestions can offer some solace until you find someone you can talk to:

Many teens who have attempted suicide (and survived) say that they did it because they had mistakenly felt that there was no other solution to the problem they were experiencing. At the time, they could not see another way out — but in truth, there is always a way out, even if they could not see it there and then. No matter how horrible you are feeling now, these emotions can, and will, pass. (more…)

Given these changes, sex may become impossible when you are under certain stresses that relate to past sexual abuse, such as being in the place where the abuse occurred, having contact with the offender, encountering problems in an intimate relationship, or feeling exploited in a work situation. Be .aware you will have times like this: Don’t be surprised when they occur. Reduce pressure. These times are inevitable and temporary. To help you through them, rely on the skills you learned for creating safety and moving forward in small steps. (more…)

GARBO: . . . Wait, wait . . . what’s the hurry? Let us be happy . . . give us our moment … we are happy, aren’t we, Leon?

LEON: (adoringly) Yes, sweetheart. (He folds her in his arms)

GARBO: So happy .. .

WILL YOU MARRY ME?’ — ‘YES!’ In this simple question and answer lies the highest expression of human love. This is the moment when the deepest feelings are declared, and lovers claim their full rights in one another. It’s the moment when you roll up the map of your future and send it back to be redrawn, the moment of piercing joy when you know that your dearest friend wants to go forward with you and be at your side always. (more…)

Recently I received a call’ rom Marla, a former client whom I had last seen for sex therapy with her husband, Rhett, two years before. Marla had been sexually abused by her father and had suffered sexual problems in her marriage as a result. On the phone Marla said she was feeling depressed and needed to come back into counseling again. I wondered what was causing her problems. My last contact with her had been several months ago on the phone when she told me things were going well, she and Rhett were having sexual relations about once a week, she enjoyed the experiences and had even felt strong urges that led to her initiating sex with Rhett on several occasions. (more…)

Dermabrasion is an extreme form of exfoliation. For this procedure, the doctor actually uses a rotating wire brush like a sanding instrument to remove the entire outer surface of the skin. The epidermis and the upper portion of the dermis (about one-quarter to one-third of the thickness of your skin) is usually abraded. (more…)

Who Starts the Quarrels?

How do most family quarrels start? This, of course, is hard to say, for usually there is no single cause. Often there is some underlying discontent, particularly on the part of the wife. Marriage has changed her lot completely, while her husband may be carrying on the same work that has occupied his time for years. He may prefer to continue his routine uninterrupted, while she will want plenty of variety. She may then assume that he does not love her. This may be true in some instances, but not in most. In any case she may begin to feel rather neglected. She wants more attention. A brisk family contention may seem a rather rough way to bring this about, but it usually attracts the attention she craves—sometimes much more! Most men will take just so much, then there may be trouble, perhaps even physical violence. The sensible thing to do is prevent such episodes before they reach the place where there seems to be no turning back. (more…)

Most of the time we take little notice of our hair and nails. During adolescence there may be times we would wish to have different colored or textured hair or curse that our nails break too easily, but after that we pretty well accept our lot. That is until some change occurs. When hair starts to be lost there is not only an immediate cosmetic problem but the scalp may be damaged by sunlight or low doorways. Equally, when finger nails fail to develop properly this problem is both cosmetic and functional: it may become impossible to pick up small objects.

Too little Hair

Male-pattern baldness

This term is used because it is so much more marked in men than in women. The typical changes of receding hair and thinning on top are well known and often run in families: the process may even start before the age of thirty years. Women are much less severely affected and anyway tend to keep the front hair line. However, with increasing age many women notice some thinning on their scalp. The hair loss, in both sexes, is due to the effect of hormones but not an excess of them. The fault lies in the hair roots which become over-sensitive to existing hormone levels. (more…)

Long-term effects of UV

These can be divided into photoaging, potentially malignant and frankly malignant tumors. The changes result from a cumulative dose of UVB over many years. At present the worst affected are fair-skinned Britons who have been brought up in tropical or subtropical climates, e.g. Northern Australia or the southern states of the USA. Other groups include men who spent years in the desert in World War Two. The victims of the future are today’s young men and women who roast themselves on sunny beaches every summer and who then try to maintain the tan by using sunbeds through the winter months. (more…)

Why do you want to reduce? Probably for two reasons. You are not happy over what you see when you look into the mirror, and you don’t like what your friends are saying. But do not be in too much of a hurry to get those pounds off. This is where you might have failed before. It is usually better to reduce more slowly. It is not a temporary low calorie diet that you need, but rather an entirely new pattern of living.

Most likely you will not need to make any drastic changes in your diet. Just be sure it is well balanced. Begin by taking smaller amounts of foods you usually eat. Don’t cut out any single item except, perhaps, those rich desserts that you don’t really need. But remember, some foods high in calories may also be necessary to maintain good health.

Potatoes and whole-grain cereals are excellent foods. They should remain in your diet. Just be careful about the amount of food that you take. Omit those that are especially high in fats and carbohydrates. It is so easy to take more than you actually want. Watch this carefully. (more…)

I’ve read a lot about women who serenely cope with the three roles of full-time working woman, wife, and mother. However, I’ve never actually met one. All the ones that I know feel inadequate.

Going back to work after having children is a practical and emotional problem and both are interdependent. You risk worrying about them when you’re at work and about work when you’re at home, and end up being happy in neither situation.

Two requisites for a working mother are stamina and an understanding family Sympathetic they may be until it comes to your interests versus theirs, but they still want their evening meal on time and they don’t want to hear about the bus queue which made you late. (more…)

Should you work part-time or full- time? It depends on your needs. When I had my first baby I did part- time design work at home. Then I worked full-time from an office with resident home help. Then I worked full-time at home with no home help. Now I work at home, full-time during the term and theoretically not at all during school holidays. I have found it easiest (but not always possible) to go out to work full-time, and pay for adequate home help. For me working part-time seemed to involve twice the work for half the money with none of the office perks and protection. (more…)

Women hate being efficient in the home. Lists and routines simply do not fit into the pink-check-gingham.. and-lace mental picture of the soap opera mother, which so many of us were brought up to be. When you become a working mother with any luck you will get twice as much out of life, but you can’t run your house as if you weren’t working. A working mother has to work faster and more efficiently in the home. She has to be twice as reliable outside it because people expect her not to be.

I have evolved my own system, which I slowly slip away from, but it pulls me back to reality at regular intervals, and heaven knows what I would be like without it. (more…)

Make your own decisions: Althoughspecialists may be useful to analyse asituation and suggest solutions, theycannot run your life for you. Onceyour choices are clarified, use yourcommon sense to make your owndecisions. Then force yourself to bepessimistic, to look for the snags inthe arrangements and face them.

Don’t opt out because you don’tunderstand your position. Make your adviser explain it all again until s you do understand it, and so can be b responsible for deciding which path e you want to take. Be prepared to be f responsible for your own decisions. y Life is a risk. Nothing is certain inthis world and there is no guaranteed le security, financial, intellectual or d emotional. Security lies in your own st self-reliance to deal with the problems of life. You will make some right decisions and some wrong ones. Pay the penalty for the wrong ones, cut your losses and start again. (more…)

A fine watch is not only practical but a great fashion asset too! Learn to balance beauty and utility in a single choice, or maybe you’ll want two or three watches, to match your outfits, and your moods.

• Mechanical watches are the traditional “wind up” variety that operate by means of a mainspring, which the wearer winds by turning the crown on the outside of the watch.
• Automatic or self-winding watches “wind” themselves. The action of the wearer’s arm causes a weight behind the movement to rotate, which in turn winds the mainspring. These watches can also be wound manually.

(more…)

Most women become aware of the poor condition of neglected muscles when a strain occurs, but there are various tests you can run on specific muscles to find out how strong and resilient yours are. One in particular probably gives more indication than any other of how susceptible you are to back pain. It is used by one of Europe’s top back experts, who taught it to me. And it is particularly useful for women after childbirth.

Lie flat on your back on the floor. With one hand stretched out and fingers together, press the tips of the fingers against the center line of the abdomen at the navel. Now raise your head off the floor. If the rectus abdominis muscle (the long, flat muscle on the front of the abdomen) parts, allowing your fingers to press easily into the abdominal cavity, then your abdominal wall is definitely not strong enough. (more…)

Every woman has two kinds of energy, male and female. Male energy is like the sun—invigorating, stimulating, creative, and powerful. The male postures in yoga call forth this dynamic energy and release it.

Female energy is recuperative, calming, nurturing, and gentle. The female postures are restoring to body, mind, and spirit. Yoga attempts to release male and female energies and ultimately to fuse them in union—to integrate the person.

The first four postures are male. They are done standing and they revitalize you. The last four are female and calming. In order to achieve the best balance and effect, it is best to do them in the order in which Geoffrey recommends them. (more…)