What is the Secret of Concentration?

What is The Secret of Concentration?

Have you ever caught yourself concentrating deeply on learning the three key points in a Scientific American article and suddenly found your mind daydreaming about whether you locked the front door and then visualizing yourself at Bloomingdales buying a birthday gift for your significant other?

Concentration is being centered, focusing your attention on one goal, from Latin,
with a center. You do it all the time, right? What is the opposite of concentration?
It is distraction, wandering, spread out and scattering.

When we are concentrating on reading or listening, the slightest distraction will trigger a change of focus and loss of concentration. Many students swear they cannot study without Heavy Metal music in the background, or is it Bach? Both cause distractions and destroy learning and memory.

Distraction is the sound of a conversation twenty-five feet away, the audible hum of
an air conditioner, heater or recycling electrical appliance. What to do?

Wear a set of twenty-five cent earplugs while reading; it settles the issue.

Profound statement: Any music playing loud enough for you to hear will cause your
focus to be inhibited and concentration to wander.

Concentration is Really Brain Dominance

Homo sapiens spend their sixteen waking hours either focused on specific goals or unfocused and mentally wandering in random subjective thinking.

a) concentrating or

b) daydreaming

Daydreaming is watching five hours of TV daily including YouTube at the office,
verbal chatter with family and associates, and self-talk, also known as stream of consciousness.

When you are concentrating on your goals your left brain is dominant. When you
are daydreaming your focus is mentally hearing, seeing and feeling random
stimuli. Daydreaming includes worry, fear, anxiety and chronic stress.
It is produced and directed by your right brain exclusively.

The Secret

If you are reading and want to concentrate and avoid daydreaming you must
evict your right brain from mental dominance.

It is easy and required a two-minute eye movement exercise that maintains
concentration for 90 minutes.

Eye Movement Restructuring is exercising the six extraocular muscles of each
eye for concentration. After the first thirty seconds of eye movements your left brain is dominant and both hemispheres are in sync for learning, memory and concentration.

Here is the gist of it - move your eyes as far left (without moving your head) as
possible. Now stay peripheral left for a count of one, one thousand, two, one thousand, and three, one thousand. Return your eyes to center (focus forward).

If you can complete a lateral left eye movement, you can execute a lateral right
repositioning. Same as before: move your eyes to your extreme right; hold it for a
three count, and return to center.

Move your eyes toward the Northwest (your upper left) and remain there for
a three count and return to center. Do the same toward Northeast (your upper
right) for a three count and return to center. Remember; do not move your head.

Finally, move your eyes downward to the Southwest (lower left) for a three count
and return to center. Now move your eyes downward to the Southeast (lower right)
for a three count and return to center. Remember; do not move your head.

So What

Mental movies, stream of consciousness and self-talk are right brain effects.
Depression, test anxiety and panic attacks are exclusively right brain programs.

When you consciously make your left brain dominant by Going Lizard eye movements, you are using your left brain to dominant your right brain.

Only one hemisphere (brain) can be dominant at any given moment. When you do
the six eye movement exercises your left brain consciousness is triggered. Doing it KOs (cancels) whatever programming your right hemisphere is producing.

Endwords

This may be the most important personal strategy you learn in this life for survival
and self preservation. It offers you mastery over your state of mind and concentration. You own the strategy to cancel chronic stress in its tracks.

If you are experiencing daymares (mental movies causing fear and anxiety), Go
Lizard and after two minutes you brain shifts dominance to your left brain for reason, logic and order, and away from depression.

As soon as you begin the first extraocular eye movement you inhibit fear, anger and angst, and trigger relaxation and problem solving. You go Parasympathetic Nervous
system and a release of acetylcholine for deep relaxation and inhibition of adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormone.

How come?

It is because each cerebral hemisphere has its own specialization, and your brain cannot have more than one program operating at a time. Cognitive dissonance (mental conflict) grinds to a halt when one hemisphere becomes dominant.

Imagine this as a computer operation: it is serial processing. One program must complete its operation before another program can institute its code. When you
cancel a program in midstream (switch from right to left brain programming),
it is an almost instantaneous execution.

When you exercise your left brain programming by eye movement restructuring,
you cancel the right brain programming of stream of consciousness (self talk).

Your left brain cannot create depression, only your right brain. Switcheroo is choosing a new pleasurable mental program to run.

Please focus on this: Feelings follow imagery. Your mental movies create your
emotions. Change your negative, death and destruction mental visualization and
your instantly change your feelings.

Work on this one - energy follows thought. Wherever you place your attention
(concentration) energy follows. When you think failure, loss, and rejection, you
spray fuel on the fire. What to do? Go Lizard, do your eye movements and
cancel your depression by eliminating your frightening mental imagery; replace it with mental movies of success, improvement and personal growth.

Think about it. It is our secret strategy.

See ya,

copyright © 2007
H. Bernard Wechsler

What Is Post-Partum Depression?

Post-partum Depression is a mix of physical, emotional, and behavioral changes that happen in a woman after giving birth or miscarriage. This kind of depression occurs about four weeks after delivery. The "baby blues" occurs the first few weeks after childbirth. Baby blues usually goes away in a couple of week, but post-partum depression can last for months.

The signs of baby blues:

• Trouble sleeping


• Feeling moody


• Teary


• Feeling overwhelmed


• Trouble sleeping


• Mixed feelings with being happy about your baby

Any woman can get post-partum depression in the months after childbirth, stillbirth or miscarriage.

Treatment for depression after giving birth:

1. Bio-identical progesterone


2. Drug medications with side effects

The sooner you get treated, the sooner you'll feel better and enjoy your baby. You can make an informed choice.

Are you at risk?

Post-partum depression risk factors are:

• Your age at time of pregnancy -- the younger you are, the higher the risk


• If you have ambivalent feelings about the pregnancy


• You have poor support from your partner, friends, family or living alone. You have had depression before


• The number of children -- the more you have, it is likely you had prior depressions

What are the signs of post-partum depression?

Common signs of depression are:

• Feeling very sad, worthless, hopeless, anxious and empty.


• Loss pleasure in everyday things.


• Not feel hungry and may lose weight or opposite and gain weight


• Have trouble sleeping.


• Not be able to concentrate.


• Thoughts of death


• Lose of energy or feeling fatigue


• Mood changes

What causes it?

Post-partum depression is linked the hormone changes after birth. The changes involve a rapid drop in hormones estrogen and progesterone after delivery. The issue with these symptoms is that the production of estrogen occurs much faster while progesterone remains at a very low level.

Hormones estrogen and progesterone for health pregnancy

The hormones estrogen and progesterone are the two most important hormones during pregnancy. They help the breasts produce milk uterus enlarge for the fetus, the placenta support the baby, and the immune system would not be slightly suppressed to prevent it from attacking the baby. During pregnancy, only progesterone is made until the baby is born. The term pro-gestation came from the progesterone hormone.

After delivery, the new mother has to adjust to the new levels of progesterone and estrogen, which falls to nearly zero after birth. Natural progesterone is an antidepressant and improves thyroid function.

Estrogen and progesterone regulate vital body functions, are suppose to counterbalance each other, to keep you balanced, healthy and without post-partum depression symptoms. When progesterone no longer balances and opposes estrogen in your body... then estrogen dominates the hormonal environment. Unbalanced estrogen can be TOXIC! You will experience estrogen dominance symptoms, post-partum anxiety, post-partum psychosis and post-partum depression symptoms.

Bio-identical Progesterone natural choice for depression experienced after childbirth

Post-partum depression symptoms can be effectively treated by naturally with bio-identical progesterone cream according to the late Dr. John R. Lee. " It could make post-partum depression a lot easier to deal with."

Natural progesterone cream contains bio-identical molecules that mimic a women's natural progesterone. It is effectively the same as the progesterone that your body produces. Many patients who use natural progesterone cream have seen immediate results. It is important for a woman to understand that her symptoms can be eased with natural choices. By knowing and understanding her hormonal fluctuations, a woman can start with natural progesterone cream. Progesterone balances the ratio of low estrogen or high or low progesterone. Natural progesterone cream is the only bioidentical hormone that may efficiently achieve relief for your symptoms.

Natural Progesterone Cream with Wild Yam and Chaste Tree Berry is a natural choice. It is very popular with health care professionals and women who desire to get natural support to conceive.

Natural progesterone cream treats post-partum depression at its own source. It is the only natural remedy that addresses the cause of hormone imbalance. The cause of hormone imbalance is the ratio of estrogen to progesterone and decline of all hormones

This is for education only. It is not intended to treat, prevent or cure a medical disease. If you have a medical condition, please consult a health care professional.

Manic Depression - Is it Hereditary?

Many women who have been diagnosed with Manic Depression sometimes long to have children, but often wonder what the chances are that they will pass it onto their children. They know all to well the effects of this disorder and hope to not pass it on to another generation. Studies have shown that manic depression is often found in the genes, and is passed down the bloodline. That statement does not necessarily mean you will pass it on, it means there is a chance.

If manic depression (also known as Bipolar Disorder) is found fairly often in your family history, your chances increase. People who have no history found in their genealogy have virtually no risk, less than 1%. If you have bipolar disorder, the approximate chances of you passing it to your child is 5-15%.

Approximately twenty five percent of adult bipolar patients report having their first manic episode before they were 20 years of age. There have been studies that have reported children as young as 5 years old showing signs of minor manic episodes. There is a lot of research being performed on manic depression. There are institutions reporting that they will soon be able to do a screening to determine if you do in fact carry the gene that may pass it on to your children.

If you believe your child may have bipolar disorder, a calm and nurturing environment can decrease the chances of your child having major manic episodes. This is a disorder that sometimes needs a trigger to in order to become progressive. A violent or stressful environment can cause trigger manic depression, and cause episodes to increase and become more severe. Be sure to stay in continuous contact with you physician to stay on top of the newest Bipolar Medications and treatment options available.

Workin' Blues - How to Handle Depression in the Workplace

You've been collaborating on business projects with your colleague in the adjoining cubicle for more than 15 years. Lately, however, she's been acting out-of-character, and the quality of her work has gone south. She seems tired and listless, and she's been seen hanging her head throughout the workday. Most noticeably, your colleague has lost a considerable amount of weight, and she is easily irritated by events that, in the past, she'd have taken in stride.

This brief vignette illustrates but a few of the signs and symptoms of an all-too-common phenomenon, depression in the workplace. In fact, clinical depression has emerged as one of America's most costly illnesses. Left untreated, depression can be as costly as heart disease and AIDS, accounting in the U.S. alone for an estimated $43 billion a year in absenteeism, lost productivity and direct-treatment expenditures.

For employees:

If you feel depressed, seek assistance. Your company may offer helpful resources, such as an employee assistance program (EAP) or an occupational heath nurse. If not, then consider obtaining outside help through your personal or family physician. Don't let fears of job loss, inadequate insurance or confidentiality concerns stop you. Depression is a serious illness, and treatment can help. Also, if you are able to keep working, do so. Staying home and doing nothing will only exacerbate your feelings of helplessness, and that can worsen your depression.

For employers:

First, it's important to understand that a depressive disorder can hurt your employees' productivity, judgment, teamwork and overall job performance.

But as an employer, you cannot and should not diagnose depression. That's the job of a psychiatrist or other mental-health professional. However, you should be aware of depression's warning signs and address them accordingly.

One sign that an employee is suffering from depression is a change in work ethic. Watch for behavioral changes, such as the sudden appearance of tardiness, absenteeism, decreased productivity, diminished work quality, isolation from co-workers, angry outbursts and frequent comments about feeling fatigued.

Here are eight other steps employers should take:

• Educate yourself about depression. Understand that depression is a bonafide illness, not a personality flaw.


• Take a nonjudgmental position towards depression, just as you would toward any other illness.


• Be on the lookout for risk-taking behaviors. They can be early-warning signs of depression.


• If you observe worrisome changes in an employee, talk to them. Offer information regarding assistance, such as counseling and the company's EAP.


• Be specific about what you expect from the employee.


• Consider offering extra flexibility to the employee's schedule while they're undergoing treatment.


• Promise the employee that you will protect their personal privacy and keep their mental-health records confidential - and then follow through on your promise.


• Take seriously any and all life-threatening comments made by employees - for example, suicide threats or talk of attacking others. If an employee makes such a comment, bring in a mental-health professional immediately for assistance.

Every company, whether large or small, can benefit from developing a mental-health policy. An effective policy will not only take preventive measures towards depression, but also encourage depression's immediate treatment. Such policies can improve both individual and company performance. They can also lower the overall cost of depression and other medical illnesses.

Factors That Cause Depression Among the Elderly

Elderly individuals face difficult challenges as they move on to the golden years. The death of a spouse or close friends, medical problems and the gradual loss of function can lead to depression, especially for those who do not have a strong support system around them.

Even if everything else such as medical issues, death among friends and family, and a declining capacity to carry out daily functions is a normal part of aging, depression is not. In fact, a lot of senior citizens, especially those who exist within a healthy support system, are quite satisfied with their lives and continue enjoying things around them despite the challenges of growing old.

Depression is an issue that must be dealt with if present in the elderly. Left untreated or unaddressed, this can prevent older people from enjoying the remainder of their years and can take a great toll on their health. Old age should be a time for lesser stress and concerns, so it is important to know the signs of depression. Old people should be provided with effective ways for coping with depression, so they, as well as all the other people surrounding them, can continue to live and exist in a pleasant atmosphere.

The most prevalent cause of depression among the elderly is the reality of loss. Whether it's the loss of a spouse or friends, mobility, health, independence, or the end of a lifetime career, loss is painful. To grieve over the loss of any of these is normal, and the feeling usually lasts for a number of weeks or even months. But losing all hope, pleasure and joy, or a reason for living is no longer normal. It's usually a sign of depression.

Older people face significant life changes, but all of us do at certain stages of our lives. At whatever age we are, there are stresses, uncontrolled events and incidents that put us at risk for depression. Older people with a personal or family history of depression, unresolved relationship issues, a tendency for alcohol or substance abuse plus an inadequate social support system face greater risks than the average individual. Among the more common causes and risk factors that can aggravate depression in the elderly include loneliness, a reduced sense of purpose in life, health issues and medication, fears, and the loss of a spouse or close friends.

Loneliness and isolation among the elderly can be brought about by the natural consequence of grown-up kids leaving home to be on their own. The death of a spouse and a dwindling social circle brought about by illness, death or relocation of close friends can sink an old individual into a state of depression. Loneliness can also be brought about by decreased mobility and socializing due to illness.

The elderly usually experience a reduced sense of purpose, which spins off to the absence of a reason to go on living. There is a loss of identity and a feeling of purposelessness when one goes into retirement or experiences physical limitations as he ages.

Health issues and medication can also bring about depression. Especially when illness brings on an added disability or a cognitive decline, depression may set in. Certain types of medication also produce adverse effects that usually trigger and exacerbate depression.

A fear of dying or the fear over health issues or financial problems due to illness or as a typical offshoot of a loss of productivity can also trigger depressive states in the elderly. Suddenly, strong feelings and thoughts of insecurity fill the minds and emotions of older people, when once life seemed to be under their total control.

Although depression is a common aging problem, it should not be left unattended. In fact, only a very small percentage gets the help they need, since most attribute the feelings as part of growing old. Older people are also more isolated from the rest of the world, so their distresses can seem to go unnoticed by the few people they continue to associate with. And when old people go to visit their doctors, the emphasis for treatment is usually on physical complaints and not the psychological effects of aging.

Such oversight can result to dire consequences in some cases. Untreated depression can bring on very serious risks among older people - illness, alcohol dependence, prescription drug abuse and even suicide. So it is important for older people and the people around them to recognize these and get proper help when needed. With treatment and a healthy support system, older people can get through depression and live the more pleasant golden years. The truth is no one has to live with depression, whether he or she is 18 or 80.

What to Do When You Are Depressed and Lonely

Are you wondering what to do when you are depressed and lonely? If so, there are some practical things that you can do that will help you through this dark period in your life. Of course, the first thing to do is to determine whether or not you are experiencing a more serious episode of clinical depression. Since millions of people every year have some form of clinical depression, this is important to access.

A simple test is to determine if you are plagued with constant insomnia and feelings of worthlessness or false guilt. Also, if you have lost interest in things that you used to enjoy and often think about suicide for a period of two weeks or more, you are most likely in clinical depression and should seek the help of a professional. But if you are generally dealing with feeling of depression and loneliness that are more common to everyone at least in certain periods of life, here's some practical tips about what you can do when you are depressed and lonely.

Do Something for Someone Else One of the most important things that will help you during periods when you may feel lonely and depressed, is to think about someone else rather than yourself. This may be hard to do when all you feel is how lonely you are, but this simple change in attitude can make a world of difference in your outlook on life.

Many people who become depressed and lonely are very introspective and fail to make an effort to step outside their own pain. Do a random act of kindness for someone. Maybe your neighbor is just home from the hospital and needs a meal. Or maybe a child is in need of new clothes. Perhaps your co-worker is short of cash and can't pay for lunch. Find someone who needs help and fill the need.

Don't only do it once, but make it a point to find someone once a day who needs some sort of kindness and determine to meet someone's need for 30 days in a row. You will be surprised at how much you will receive in return for little acts of kindness. You may even make a new friend and you will feel a sense of satisfaction that maybe you haven't felt in a long time.

Engage in a Brand New Hobby

Those who are lonely tend to shy away from putting themselves in situations that will actually help them not feel so lonely. Another practical way of getting through a period of loneliness or depression is to move yourself outside your daily routine or comfort zone. Choose a new hobby or something that you've always wanted to do but never made the effort to pursue.

A new activity can bring a breath of fresh air to your life. You not only will learn something new and interesting, but you will also of necessity be around new people. Common interests are one of the best ways to ignite new relationships.

You need not continue to feel lonely all the time with no remedy in sight. A few simple choices can actually make a big difference in your life if you add these two simple, practical suggestions to your daily or weekly routine when you wonder what to do when you are depressed and lonely.

Writers and Depression: Battling the Blues

Writers? Depressed?

We've all heard about it. Creative genius and depression seem to go hand in hand with many. I know. I suffered depression for many years.

We know them. Writers who committed suicide.

Sylvia Plath. Virginia Woolf. Anne Sexton. Hunter S. Thompson. Ernest Hemingway.

Why? In the case of Hemingway four other immediate family members also committed suicide. Was it then a hereditary disease? Read a fascinating interview with Hemingway in the Paris Review by George Plimpton to peek inside his mind as a writer.

When asked what kind of training a writer needed Hemingway responded with... "Let's say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with."

Harsh words. We don't need the hanging though. We lash ourselves enough as writers. Genes aren't everything though.

Look at the day in the life of a writer....

Alone. With your own thoughts. Inside. Sitting for long periods. Writing drivel one day, genius the next. On a roller coaster of doubts about self worth tied to your work. It is personal, this business of writing. Waiting for validation you are any good. For years. And years. And years.

Health magazine lists writers as one of the top 10 professions to have depression. This may be true, but I also think we are living in a time where we have the best chance of not being depressed as writers.

Why do I think this?

Because we are in a time now where we are connected to one another more. As authors today we hear that it's critical to have an author platform. We need to blog, be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, attend writer conferences. We are now not so alone in our writer world. We are connected. And I have found even online interactions lead to in-person meet-ups, and that's where we can find the camaraderie that can keep the blues away. Some times. Not always.

Maybe with our connecting more the writer depression rate will go down. Maybe we'll be replaced on the top 10 jobs to be depressed with plumbers? They work alone in dark places too, right?

I fed into the belief for years that if I let go of my depression I would be letting go of my creativity. In discovering the opposite my writing has flourished. I am the most content in years and the most productive in my writing. I finished my first book and a second and a third and starting a fourth. All sorrow-sober. That's in a two year span, while working part time as a freelancer and managing a family.

My mom, was not the creative type nor could she understand my sadness. She was tough Depression-era farm girl stock. She would say "Just get up and go do something!" That was her fix. Simple but it works for me now. When I find sorrow weighing me down for no reason I do just that. I get up and leave it behind me. It usually works. I know I have too much at stake to lose.

If depressions reigns its ugly head I push it away with positive things. I don't want that dragon to come back. Its fire only destroys now, it doesn't breathe life as I once thought.

My Depression Ward Off List

Get outside every day.

Exercise every other day at least.

Connect with people. Even if you don't feel like it. A 5 minute chat with an old friend can do amazing things to the brain.

Do something. Anything. Go to a new store. Drive to a park and walk. Cook!

Write a list of all the good things in your life and re-visit it regularly.

Get off the computer and do something physical with a friend or family member - play a board game, go biking.

Wait. It will pass, hopefully.

Do NOT feed the dragon. Dragons hurt us.

I know sometimes these actions need to be forced. I know some people need medication to help them through. Having a battle plan helps.

As a writer, do you battle depression or just get the holiday blues? How do you fight it off?