Being a grown-up can be lonely. So often we spend our days alone, even if we are surrounded by people. Taking the time to connect with people you care about in a positive way is very important to managing your stress and keeping your heart healthy.
Think about it. There are people in your life who add to your stress and people who help you release it. Why is it we seem to spend the most time with the people in the first group?
In the Are Your Friends Hurting or Helping Your Heart article we discussed the way our relationships affect stress levels and heart health. As the New Year begins take a personal inventory of the people in your life:
Who adds to your stress? How can you avoid or limit their affect your health?
Who makes you laugh? How can you spend more time talking to them?
Who makes you feel safe? How can you nurture that relationship?
Who helps you relax? What can you do to make time for them?
Take time to build positive connections and feel great in 2008!
Please add your suggestions or comments below!
Eliz Greene is a heart attack survivor, author and nationally known speaker on a mission to encourage women to recognize heart disease as their most serious health threat and provide down-to-earth strategies for active and healthy lives. Learn more about Eliz and the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com
Hi, Eliz:
I love this post. So often we think about our physical and mental health and maybe even our spiritual health while completely forgetting that we are not "well" until we have a balance of good physical, mental, spiritual, and social health.
After all, what effects one touches us all. If we give in to the tendency to withdraw that serious problems provoke, we have lost our connections to the world and no social capital is going into our account while we are busy with drawing.
I hope you will drop by new new website from time to time to see how writing about these issues can improve personal healing as does helping.
Ellen
http://www.writingpracticeprescription.org
Posted by: Ellen Taliaferro, MD | January 16, 2008 at 06:35 PM