The Body/Mind Health Corner™

with Steven Rogat

Two articles this month:
Finding Joy and Post Traumatic Stress

Dear Steve,
      I have been living for the last two years in Egypt.  I am an American woman married to an Egyptian man, and my marriage is great.  My question, I suppose, is a strange one, but a necessary one at this point, I'm afraid.  This is a completely joyless society full of materialism and poverty, with nothing in between.  Even the average "Muslim" (and my husband and I are both Muslims) is very negative.  The world I see around me shows me nothing that I can focus on, and I find that I can't change anything.  How can I create a living joy in my life when everything around me is without joy?  Everything is damaged here.  What can I do?
Gratefully,  Denise H.

Dear Denise,
    It's tragic to think that "everything" is negative and damaged around you. When we do not have purposeful goals that we strive for, we can often get depressed. I feel you want to be doing so much more with your life than you are presently doing. Being of service is a wonderful way of getting above the negativity. Whatever you can do to be supportive of others (and getting the support for that) would help to lift you out of the hole you may have climbed into. It feels like there is no movement in your life. So get moving. Aerobic exercises, one-half hour per day, at least 4 days per week is a wonderful way to give your body, and your Self the message that things ARE moving. Trick yourself into doing it by committing to 5 minutes of light stretches, maybe some yoga or other energetic movement exercise. Then, what the heck, "as long as I've done it for 5 minutes, I might as well give it another 5", then another five. And then you are half way there, so do the whole half hour.  This regimen can lift depression within 3 weeks.

    Additionally, you may wish to (force yourself to) spend at least 5 minutes every morning blessing whatever you can think of blessing. The color of the sky, the paint on the walls, how you tie your shoes, how much people in the world are learning these days, how many plants you nourish when you exhale...these are all good places to start. Breathe the Love and Light into the top of the head, the Crown Chakra, all the way down to the navel. On the exhale, breathe that Love and Light out the navel to bless whatever it is you wish to bless. Find a stream to bless, because the stream has movement, bless the sun as it rises, bless the people who are walking or exercising. Force yourself to do this if you have to, from the heart, and the energy will be returned tenfold. And do please be aware of any circulation problems, and any condition which may restrict movement within the body.

Positive Thought To Manifest: I am in the perfect place, at the perfect time, successfully engaged in the perfect activity.

Bless you for your level of awareness.

Even stagnation is temporary, Everything is in movement.

Steve