Summer 2016
BalancedLiving Coping Skills for Generalized Anxiety pg. 5 Recognizing and Overcoming Communication Barriers pp. 6-7
...In this issue... Cook Faster, More-Healthful Meals Staying Fit the Old Fashioned Way MINES Eye: Chi Kung Exercise
BalancedLiving Summer 2016
MINES & Associates 10367 West Centennial Road Littleton, Colorado 80127 800.873.7138 www.MINESandAssociates.com
A word from your Employee Assistance Program... Welcome to the Summer 2016 issue of Balanced Living!
We don’t know about you but MINES is definitely ready for the summer heat and all the fun in the sun that comes with it, just don’t forget the sunblock!.
To help you get the most out of summer we have packed this quarter’s edition with tips on breaking down barriers and improving your communication, and staying fit through everyday activities. If you find the heat is still getting the best of you we have some helpful coping resources and a nice self-analysis relaxation technique that’s great for adults or kids! Finally, use our recipe for homestyle sloppy joes to kick off you next summer BBQ. One last thing, if you find yourself stressed out or you need to talk to somebody don’t forget we’re here for you! Your Employee Assistance Program is available 24/7 at 1-800873-7138. To your health!
– The MINES Team
. . . . . . . . Credits . . . . . . .
Wellness Library Health and Vitality Communications ©2015 How to Cook Faster More-healthful Meals pg. 4 Staying Fit the Old Fashioned Way pp. 8-9 Krames Staywell Coping Skills for Generalized Anxiety pg. 5 Life Advantages - Author Delvina Miremadi ©2015 Recognizing and Overcoming Communication Barriers pp. 6-7 The MINES Team MINES Eye: Chi Kung Feeling Exercise pg. 10 www.food.com Recipe: Homestyle Sloppy Joes pg. 11
2016 2016 is the year to get involved! Don’t worry MINES is here to help you do just that by highlighting important topics throughout the year, along with resources that will help you get involved with the issues that matter most to you, helping to not only enhance your own wellbeing but giving you the tools to get out and make a difference in your community. Total Wellbeing will continue to connect the dots and relate all topics this year to the 8 core dimensions of wellness: Physical, Occupational, Intellectual, Environmental, Financial, Social, Spiritual, and Emotional Wellness to make sure you have a crystal clear picture of how you can achieve your own Total Wellbeing.
Total Wellbeing Get Involved
Physical Spiritual Intellectual Social
Total
Emotional Financial Occupational Environmental
In 2016 MINES & Associates will be talking about the importance of getting involved with the issues that are important with you. MINES will be talking about national events, social issues, awareness months, and more to make sure you know whats going on in the world and how it connects to your wellbeing and what you can do to make a difference!
Enhancing Social Wellness Your Community Matters
The 8 dimensions of wellbeing don’t just apply to one person, they apply to our entire society. Social influence is a huge factor that contributes to each of our levels of wellness, but it all starts with the individual. With this in mind, our challenge to you in 2016 is to see how you can not only enhance your own wellbeing but those around you as well. Get out there, get involved, be well, and see if you can’t inspire your friends and loved ones to do the same. Game on!
Wellness Webinars
Support from the experts
Wellbeing
Join our partner, Brown Richards, for any of their monthly webinars. 2016 will cover great new topics ranging from organizing your life, facts about cancer awareness, productivity, communication, and much more! Visit our website to learn more, or register for upcoming events at www.minesandassociates.com/webinar.
Is there a topic you’d like to see us explore? We’d love to hear from you. Shoot us an e-mail at communications@minesandassociates.com and let us know what you’d like to see.
www.MINESandAssociates.com | 800.873.7138
How to Cook Faster, More-healthful Meals Cooking a healthful, low-fat meal doesn’t take any longer than cooking one that’s high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. The following suggestions will help get you in and out of the kitchen more quickly and with more-healthful dishes.
Get organized
• Store frequently used dishes, pots, and pans on cabinet shelves and in drawers you can reach easily. Keep those you use infrequently -- such as a lemon squeezer, holiday cookie cutters, and other seasonal items -- on higher shelves or at the back of drawers. • Arrange your pantry logically. Keep canned vegetables and fruits in one area, pasta and rice in another, and bottled sauces in another.
• Keep wooden spoons, spatulas, and other cooking tools you use every day on the counter top near your stove.
Cook it fast
• Plan a week’s worth of dinner menus at one time, keeping leftovers in mind. For example: Serve baked fish on Monday night, then plan to use the leftover fish in a chowder on Tuesday night.
• Choose simple recipes. Those with lots of steps and numerous ingredients that must be measured or chopped can be time-consuming. Instead, look for recipes with no more than five steps and not many ingredients. • Double the recipes for soups, stews, and casseroles; freeze the leftovers for another night’s dinner. • Opt for fast preparation methods. Broiling, grilling, and steaming are faster than baking, stewing, and braising.
• Gather all the necessary ingredients before you start preparing a recipe. • Look for ways to cut steps in long recipes. Substituting a jar of low-fat spaghetti sauce for homemade tomato sauce in a lasagna recipe can save an hour or more of
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preparation time. Using canned beans instead of soaking and cooking beans from scratch when making burritos can save three to four hours. Using a prepared pie crust instead of making one yourself can save 15 to 20 minutes.
• Learn to use quick-cooking tools, such as a food processor, wok, and pressure cooker.
• Buy some cookbooks that feature meals you can prepare in less than 30 minutes.
Cook healthfully
• Substitute low-fat ingredients for high-fat ones. Use skim milk instead of whole milk, water-packed tuna instead of oil-packed tuna, and plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise. • Serve fresh vegetables instead of canned ones.
• Use nonstick pots and pans; you can use less oil when sautéing.
• Top pizza with sliced tomatoes and mushrooms instead of sausage and pepperoni.
• Trim all visible fat from meat and poultry before cooking. • Add more vegetables and less meat to stew, soup, sauce, and casserole recipes.
• Use less salt than called for; you can add more herbs and spices to increase flavor.
Clean up quickly
• Draw water in the sink and soak pots and pans in it after you’re through with them, or clean them as you go so you won’t have a sink full of dirty dishes after the meal. • Clean up spills as you go; the longer you wait to clean them up, the harder the job. M
Coping Skills for Generalized Anxiety You may suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) if you’re often anxious about your family, health, or work even when there are no signs of trouble.
“Cognitive behavioral therapy is about getting people to understand how they’re scaring themselves or feeding their own negative thoughts. Once we identify that, we teach how to change their reaction to things,” says Ms. Ross.
Someone with GAD may have a good job, a happy marriage, and well-adjusted kids, for example, but worries constantly it’s all going to fall apart. Such a person may not let their children go on school trips because they fear they’ll get kidnapped.
By giving your worry an outlet, you can begin to refocus your thinking and change your perspective.
“Anxiety is essential for living. It warns us when there’s danger and helps us prepare for important events, like exams and interviews,” says Jerilyn Ross, M.A., L.C.S.W., president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America in Washington, D.C., and author of “Triumph Over Fear.” “But those with GAD become anxious over routine things in life.”
Constant worrying may interfere with GAD sufferers’ dayto-day functioning and be accompanied by chronic physical symptoms, such as aches and pains, irritability, and fatigue. When exaggerated worrying lasts more than six months, GAD may be diagnosed. To help you or someone you know cope with this debilitating disorder, Ms. Ross offers the following treatment options.
Challenge negative thoughts
One major approach to treating GAD is cognitive behavioral therapy. With this treatment, “a therapist helps you identify and challenge the thoughts and behaviors that keep you stuck,” says Ms. Ross.
Say, for example, you’re doing well at your job but constantly worry you’ll be fired. Using cognitive behavioral therapy, a therapist may reality-test your catastrophic thinking by analyzing the facts, such as whether you’ve gotten a good review lately and whether others in your company are being fired or not.
As part of cognitive behavioral therapy, you might be advised to engage in a five-minute worry session twice per day. With this technique, “you can worry all you want by, say, sitting down at your computer and typing out your worrying thoughts or talking into a tape recorder,” says Ms. Ross. “Often people see for themselves, ‘this is crazy. Why am I thinking that?’” says Ms. Ross.
As part of cognitive behavioral therapy, you’ll also learn basic stress-management techniques. You may also be advised to start an exercise program, if you haven’t already. “Studies show that exercise can help manage stress as good or better in some cases than medication,” says Ms. Ross.
Consider medication
If cognitive behavioral coping skills don’t control your condition -- perhaps you’re still losing sleep or feeling anxious so you’re not functioning -- you may need medication. It won’t necessarily stop the worry, but can ease it. “Many of my patients on medication say, ‘The thoughts may come into my head, but they have no place to go,’” says Ms. Ross. Medications prescribed for GAD may have troublesome side effects, so “it’s important to work closely with your doctor when taking them,” says Ms. Ross.
In some cases, the side effects may pass in the first week to 10 days; in other cases, they may linger on longer and warrant switching drugs. M Summer 2016 Balanced Living 5
Recognizing and Overcoming Communication Barriers Learning the barriers to effective communication will not only help improve your communication, but also your overall quality of life. Below are some common communication barriers to learn and avoid:
Preconceived Notions
These are the preconceived ideas, feelings, motives, and prejudices that we bring into a conversation. Due to the complex nature of our opinions, these preconceived ideas can actually affect what you hear. For instance, if you realize that the way a person speaks reminds you of an irritating acquaintance, be on guard for reacting to that person the way you would react to the acquaintance.
You don’t have to try to completely rid yourself of these preconceived issues; what you want to do is recognize them when they come up, and then do your best to set them aside and listen and connect with the person in the conversation. The key is that by recognizing these notions when they arise, you can avoid letting preconceived thoughts shape your communication. “When we bring expectations into a conversation we set ourselves up for disappointment... By focusing on what we expect to hear or encounter, we cast a shadow over the conversation and convolute what is actually said.”
Bringing Expectations to a Conversation When we bring expectations into a conversation we set ourselves up for disappointment. These expectations can include how the person will respond to us or how the conversation will transpire. By focusing on what we expect to hear or encounter, we cast a shadow over the conversation and convolute what is actually said. Further, by going into a conversation with preconceived expectations, you close yourself off to any new and interesting information. If you focus on keeping an open mind and reducing expectations for an interaction, you can fully engage in and learn from what is really being said: • When listening, try not to judge how well the person conforms to your standards or other expectations. Listen with an open ear.
• You may be in situations where you think you have already heard what’s going to be said. This may or may not be so. The only way you will be able to tell is if you drop your expectations and listen. • Do you think the speaker is going to take a particular stance on a subject before the person opens his or her mouth? This can inhibit you from listening effectively; chances are you can’t completely predict how a person will respond. 6
Summer 2016 Balanced Living
Physical Barriers to the Other Person Body language can often speak louder than words. It’s important when communicating with another person, that you take note of the physical characteristics of effective communication. For the best communication, follow the tips below and make sure: • You can see the other person.
• You both engage in eye contact. Wearing dark glasses or not making eye contact can prohibit active listening.
• You sit at a reasonable distance to the other person. When listening to a speaker, try to be in an area where you can see his or her body language.
• You remove objects between you. Sitting behind a desk and communicating with a person isn’t always best. Try to sit next to the person when chatting.
• You talk to the person in-person. E-mailing and phoning can be barriers to effective communication, as through these two means, you’ll miss the body language of the other person. Tone of voice, enunciation, facial expressions, and other physical keys all give indications of what is really being said. “If we are thinking about other things while conversing, we’re not being effective communicators... try to put the worries of the day aside. Clear the mind of distracting thoughts, and try to be in the present moment with the person who is speaking.”
Busy Settings Try to speak with others in a quiet place. Noise, activity, and other people may all cause enough distraction to make conversation ineffective. By being in a quiet, safe, and non-distractive setting, you can better focus on the person and his or her words and body language.
Personal Distractions
If we are thinking about other things while conversing, we’re not being effective communicators. While you are engaged in conversation, try to put the worries of the day aside. Clear the mind of distracting thoughts, and try to be in the present moment with the person who is speaking. Try not to fiddle with objects or read documents while a person is talking; these things will keep you from being fully engaged in the conversation. If you feel bored or tired, try taking notes. By staying active while you’re listening you will be more engaged and alert. You can also review these notes when you are more focused. To help maintain an active focus in conversation, get enough sleep, exercise, and healthy foods in your diet. M
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Staying Fit the Old-fashioned Way Stroll down the aisles of any department store these days, and your eye will be drawn to a glittering array of labor-saving devices -- everything from snow blowers and electric hedge trimmers, to remote controls for the TV and DVD player.
It’s enough to send shudders of alarm through every health and exercise expert in the land -- and for good reason. According to recent studies, these labor-savers are key factors in America’s slide toward lethargy. Those medical problems linked to a lack of exercise (for example, heart disease and high cholesterol) pose a growing threat to public health. “There’s no question that a large segment of the American public isn’t getting enough exercise,” says Carlos J. Crespo, Ph.D., an associate professor of social and preventive medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a former researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In a study Dr. Crespo did at the NHLBI, he and other researchers asked 9,500 adults about their physical activity during leisure time. “The results were startling. More than 22 percent said they were getting no exercise at all,” he says.
“I find the figure very troubling -- especially when you realize that 33 percent of adult Americans today are overweight, up from 25 percent as recently as 1976,” says Dr. Crespo. “Obesity is a major public health problem now.”
Like many health experts today, Dr. Crespo blames much of the decline in physical activity on the modern conveniences that are rapidly replacing old-fashioned physical work. When was the last time you washed your own car or walked to the post office? You can burn anywhere from 200 to 400 calories just by washing your car, says Dr. Crespo. According to Dr. Crespo and others, the major culprit behind the U.S. decline in physical activity may be our own high-tech (and increasingly sedentary) lifestyle.
“U.S. culture is changing rapidly. All of this new information technology means that millions of people can now do their jobs sitting down, with everything they need at their fingertips,” he says.
Like Dr. Crespo, Florida health researcher Phillip M. Sinaikin, M.D., is convinced that the current glut of labor-saving devices represents a threat to America’s health. With no more leaves to rake or snow to shovel, people are finding it harder to fit physical activities into their schedule.
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“People continually tell me that they would like to exercise but don’t have the time. I then ask them if they take a shower each day,” says Dr. Sinaikin, an Orlando-based hospital clinician. When they reply “of course!” his next question is: “My goodness, where do you find the time?”
His point is that the daily shower is already built into their life. But exercise should be built into your life, as well. “You can rake the leaves, wash the car, take the stairs instead of the elevator. But whatever it is, you have to attack the problem consciously,” says Dr. Sinaikin. Experts say you should get 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least three to four times a week.
Certainly modern devices can make life easier, but they also can rob you of needed exercise. Maybe it’s time to dust off the old push lawn mower. When you watch TV, try changing the channels manually. During commercials, use the farthest bathroom, especially if it’s upstairs. Get in the habit of sweeping your sidewalk and scrubbing your floors. • Adopt new strategies. Realize that even 10 minutes of snow shoveling, leaf raking, and car washing can knock off 30 to 50 calories and significantly impact your health and how you feel.
• Declare war on labor-saving devices. “You’ve got to build a certain kind of mentality -- the kind that says, ‘I’m gonna consciously resist all of these machines,’” says Dr. Sinaikin. “We need to think more about these modern devices and their impact on our health.” • Build your own low-tech exercise tools, inexpensively. For example, take a plastic, one-gallon milk jug and fill it with water. (It now weighs 8 pounds.) Now include that jug in a variety of stretching and pulling exercises that call for weights. • Look for ways to make your environment exercise-friendly. When you’re doing vigorous physical chores, play loud, upbeat music. Research shows that you’ll work faster and burn more energy. • Learn to fidget. “If you think you’re sitting around watching too much TV,” says Dr. Crespo, “you can at least find a way to fidget in place. Move around the room, stretch your arms and shoulders, stand up during the commercials and walk around the house.” M
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MINESEye
The importance of staying mindful.
With MINES Eye we will focus on meditation techniques, basic yoga poses, and mindfulness practices to help you stay in control of your thoughts and expand the capabilities of your mind as well as body.
Chi Kung Feeling Exercise
The Chi Kung Feeling Exercise is a self analysis exercise that focuses on one emotion or feeling at a time. The goal of the exercise is to identify the reason or reasons that you may be experiencing a particular emotion, whether it be positive or negative, and personify it in order to better relate to and understand the root cause of the emotion. By gaining understanding you can then begin to make changes to your life to enhance the positive emotions and minimize the negative ones. Let’s begin.
Step 1
Close your eyes and focus your attention on the middle of your body; heart, solar plexus, and your abdomen. Ask yourself how you’re feeling right now. Try to distinguish the feelings from the thoughts you’re having in your head. Are you feeling peaceful, excited, anxious, sad, angry, empty, joyful, frustrated, guilty, loving, lonely, fulfilled, serious, or playful.
Step 2
If you find an unhappy or upset feeling inside of you, go into that feeling and give it a voice. Ask it to talk to you and tell you what it’s feeling. Try to listen carefully to its point of view. Be sympathetic loving and supportive towards your feelings. Ask if there is anything you can do to take better care of yourself, or changes you can make to help alleviate the negative feelings you are experiencing.
Step 3
Continue taking deep breaths as you consider your emotions and revelations you are making about them. When you are ready to end your session bring your mind back from the analytic state and let go of your thoughts as you take a few more deep breaths, open your eyes slowly, and return your mind to the outside world. M
Source: Living in the Light Workbook by Shakti Gawain (1998) 10
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SEASONAL RECIPE
Homestyle Sloppy Joes
Ingredients: • • • • • •
1 lb ground beef 2 - 3 stalks celery, chopped 1 small onion, chopped 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1/4 cup ketchup 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite)
• • • • •
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon dry mustard Salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon vinegar
Directions: 1. In a large skillet, brown ground beef, celery, and onion. 2. Drain the fat, who needs it? 3. Stir in remaining ingredients, simmer covered, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 4. If Joes appear too ’loose,’ leave cover off and let moisture evaporate. 5. Cook until it’s the consistency you like for serving on toasted buns, with french fries and cole slaw or whatever sides you prefer.. All done, enjoy!
Makes approximately 4 servings Nutritional analysis (per serving): 325.3 calories; 17.4 g fat (6.7 g sat); 77.1 mg cholesterol; 19.1 g carbohydrates; 14.8 g from sugars; 22.6 g protein; 1.7 g fiber; 733.2 mg sodium. M
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Helping you keep
your balance
Your Employee Assistance Program is here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week It’s confidential, FREE, and available to you and your family. For information or confidential assistance call 1-800-873-7138