What causes some of us to be afraid, insecure, withdrawn and/or isolated from others; feel insecure, lonely, hopeless, and empty?

• Feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and helplessness arise when we neglect our needs.

• Ignorance - A lack of knowledge about who you are, what you are, where you are, and where you're going can lead to anxiety and depression.

• Abuse and violence (domestic violence, child abuse, and bullying) can cause psychological insecurity but also damage the stress response system, increase anxiety and stress hormones, weaken the immune system and the body's ability to repair itself, and depress mood over time.

• Trauma can undermine hope and cause individuals to perceive themselves as inadequate, incompetent, unwanted, unacceptable, unimportant, unworthy, or damaged.

• A negative self-talk discourages an individual and causes inner conflict.  

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How to overcome mental barriers, nurture our spirit, increase energy and strength. 

Start by spending time alone. Communicate with yourself. Every now and then, take a moment to think about yourself and write about it.

• Set aside 20 to 40 minutes each week for self-reflection. Examine your thoughts about yourself. 

• Look at your past experiences, learn about yourself, and let go of your false beliefs

• Change the way you talk to yourself.

• Listen to your inner voice and follow your intuition

• Build a healthy relationship with yourself

Tools and activities to help you  to improve your health (physical and mental health), increase inner strength and become all you can be are available at:  https://ecelevate.learnworlds.com/course/healing-and-transformation-program

Reference:

1. Dhar N, Chaturvedi S, Nandan D. Spiritual health scale 2011: defining and measuring 4 dimension of health. Indian J Community Med. 2011 Oct;36(4):275-82. doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.91329. PMID: 22279257; PMCID: PMC3263147.

2. Lucchetti G, Koenig HG, Lucchetti ALG. Spirituality, religiousness, and mental health: A review of the current scientific evidence. World J Clin Cases. 2021 Sep 16;9(26):7620-7631. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i26.7620. PMID: 34621814; PMCID: PMC8462234.

I encourage anyone who is suffering emotionally and spiritually to set aside 20-30 minutes each week for self-reflection.  Reflection exercises and assessment tools are available at  https://ecelevate.learnworlds.com/course/healing-and-transformation-program

In addition to improving our physical and mental health, regular reflection helps us make smarter decisions, boost performance and learn from our experiences.  

From time to time, look back and remember times when you felt the presence, love, and protection of God. Or when you realize you're not alone. God is watching over you. God is among us. Examine your past experiences and forgive others and yourself. Also, I encourage you to pray and participate in faith-based activities.

Benefits: Religious and Spiritual Practices and Beliefs

We all want to feel safe and connected to something greater than ourselves.

Spiritual and religious rituals: Meditation, prayer, and gratitude help us connect with our inner selves and strengthen our relationship with God. In addition to that, studies show religious and spiritual rituals activate areas of the brain related to attention and emotion regulation1. These can change neural pathways2 in the brain and alter stress responses3.

Religious and spiritual beliefs: Religious beliefs can help people cope with medical conditions4, end-of-life issues, wars, natural disasters, and other negative life events and can also lower their risk of developing depression5. Religion and spiritual beliefs influence how people interpret negative life events, enabling them to accept difficult circumstances, appreciate the positive aspects of their lives, maintain a positive attitude, and ignore negative aspects of themselves and the world around them.

Virtues: Almost every religion has a rule or regulation governing how people should live their lives and treat each other. Many religions promote compassion and love for others, as well as social gatherings. Many religions emphasize virtues such as honesty, courage, forgiveness, patience, and gratitude.

Hope, Faith, love: Religion helps people maintain hope and optimism and find meaning in their lives.  Research shows that a person’s faith and hope contribute to healing and recovery. Faith enhances hope and happiness. Faith also boosts mental energy and reduces anxiety.  Faith improves stress responses and enhances immune system function6. Faith boosts courage, and inner security.

References

1. Barnby, Joseph M., Neil W. Bailey, Richard Chambers, and Paul B. Fitzgerald. 2015. How similar are the changes in neural activity resulting from mindfulness practice in contrast to spiritual practice? Consciousness and Cognition 36: 219–32.

2.  Mohandas, Eladath. 2008. Neurobiology of Spirituality. Mens Sana Monographs 6: 63–80. 

3. Van Elk, Michiel, and André Aleman. "Brain mechanisms in religion and spirituality: An integrative predictive processing framework." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 73 (2017): 359-378.

4. Koenig, Harold G., David B. Larson, and Susan S. Larson. "Religion and coping with serious medical illness." Annals of Pharmacotherapy 35.3 (2001): 352-359.

5.  Rim, James I., et al. "Current understanding of religion, spirituality, and their neurobiological correlates." Harvard review of psychiatry 27.5 (2019): 303-316.

6.  Siegel, B, and Sander J. Faith, hope and healing: inspiring lessons learned from people living with cancer. Turner Publishing Company, 2009.

7. Davis, Don E., et al. "Research on religion/spirituality and forgiveness: a meta-analytic review." Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 5.4 (2013): 233.

8.  Koenig, Harold G. "Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications." International Scholarly Research Notices 2012.1 (2012): 278730.

Many people would like to eat a healthier diet. Changing our eating habits can be difficult because of lack of knowledge and cooking skills. Food choices are influenced by our perceptions of ourselves, our beliefs about health, our identities, and our emotions (stress, anxiety, boredom, sadness).

Genes play a significant role in what you eat. Also, food choices and dietary behaviors are influenced by:

• Desire to feel good

• Taste of food (sweet, bitter, salty and sour) includes the smell and texture of the food.

• Habits learned from our childhoods and upbringings

• Fear of being fat

• Body weight and appearance

• Availability of fruits and vegetables

• Easy access to fast food is tasty, tempting, comforting, addictive, and cheap

• Cost (food prices, lack of time to purchase, prepare and cook food).

• Marketing of fast food, discounts on unhealthy foods and beverages

It is well known that an unhealthy diet increases the risk of chronic diseases and obesity. Poor diet is one of the leading risk factors for disease and death globally (Gakidou et al., 2016).  

• • A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and lean meats is good for your health.  

  • You should reduce your intake of red meat, alcohol, processed foods, trans fats, and sodium.

  • You should eliminate sweet beverages, deep-fried food, and industrial foods from your diet.

Reference

1.      Fernqvist, F., Spendrup, S., & Tellström, R. (2024). Understanding food choice: A systematic review of reviews. Heliyon, 10(12).

2.      Gakidou E, Afshin A, Abajobir AA, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and meta-bolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017; 390:1345–1422.

3.      Santos M, Assunção R. Food Choice, Nutrition, and Public Health. Foods. 2025 Apr 2;14(7):1243. doi: 10.3390/foods14071243. PMID: 40238469; PMCID: PMC11988923.

4.      Zorbas, C., Palermo, C., Chung, A., Iguacel, I., Peeters, A., Bennett, R., & Backholer, K. (2018). Factors perceived to influence healthy eating: a systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis of the literature. Nutrition reviews, 76(12), 861-874.

 To improve your diet and maintain a healthy balanced diet, follow these steps.    

1. The first step is to examine your current behavior. Identify the reasons you eat what you eat, and find a way to overcome those obstacles.

2. Decide what health goal you want to achieve. Increase strength and energy, prevent constipation, bloating, and heartburn, keep blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure in a healthy range, reduce anxiety and joint pain, etc. are a few examples of immediate goals.

3. Identify the foods you want to include in your diet. You can find delicious and easy-to-prepare meals on our website. The internet is a great place to find healthy, delicious recipes.

4. Create a meal plan

5. Set aside time to buy groceries and prepare food and meals

6. Monitor health outcomes

Be curious. Occasionally, try a new healthy recipe.

Be kind to yourself. Start slow.

• If you have a limited budget, consider eating less meat and finding alternative nutrient-dense foods. Replace animal protein with plant-based proteins. Beans, nuts, seeds, and legumes are all good sources of protein. Use frozen or dried ingredients.

• Find ways to reduce food preparation time.

• Frozen fruits and vegetables are cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables.

Change begins today. You can find tools to examine your current behaviors, identify barriers, and find ways to overcome them here:

https://ecelevate.learnworlds.com/course/healing-and-transformation-program

 Among other things, this program includes meal plan and shopping list as well as delicious meal ideas to help restore your gut health, boost immunity and energy.  There is also a meal planning template so you can create your own healthy diet to maintain the change.

Here are some tips for reducing worries, anxiety, fatigue, and boosting mood and inner strength.

Reduce workload

• Taking breaks and resting is important

• After work, rest, do things you enjoy or make you feel better

• Take care of your physical health - eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise to minimize the effects of stress, alleviate tension and muscle pain, and boost mood.

• Change your self-talk - what you say to yourself

• Set aside 15 to 30 minutes a day for reflection and teach yourself to relax your body and mind. A guide, tools, reflection questions and selfcare activities to enhance your health, improve your ability to work and prevent burnout are available at

https://ecelevate.learnworlds.com/course/how-to-recover-from-burnout-prevent-burnout-improve-your-abilities

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