Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community Archives

Acceptance, Authenticity, Transparency, Body Centeredness, Chronic Illness and the Mind, Gratitude and Well-Being, Living by Personal Values, Mindfulness Practice, Practice is Everything, Self-Efficacy and Self-Mastery, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

You Can Survive Even the Most Painful Feelings

It is normal to believe that we would not be able to survive a traumatic life event such as the death of our child, our spouse being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or any number of other tragic and traumatic life events. However, once we develop…

Gratitude and Well-Being, Mindfulness Practice, Practice Living by Choice, Self-Efficacy and Self-Mastery, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Be of Service to Others for Your Own Health

When psychoneuroimmunology researchers Dr. Julienne Bower and Dr. Margaret Kemeny (Bower et al. 1998) studied HIV-positive men who had lost partners or close friends to AIDS at the peak of the AIDS crisis, they discovered that the survivors…

Acceptance, Authenticity, Transparency, Body Centeredness, Cancer and the Mind, Chronic Illness and the Mind, Meaning and Purpose in Health, Mindfulness Practice, Self-Efficacy and Self-Mastery, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: In Your Own Hands: A Course in Self-Empowerment

Since January of 2015, I have been teaching a class in the Continuing Education Department at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California. Since January of 2016, I have been co-teaching the class with a colleague. The class makes it easier…

Practice Living by Choice, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Doing Volunteer Work Improves Health

In the famous Tecumseh study of almost three thousand people by psychology researcher James House (et al. 1988) at the University of Michigan, an interesting tidbit of information emerged. While this study focused on a different topic—the…

Acceptance, Authenticity, Transparency, Cancer and the Mind, Practice Living by Choice, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Social Support Reduces the Odds of Developing Cancer

In a very famous epidemiology study, one of the most referenced of its kind because of its impressive sample size, UC Berkeley researchers Dr. Lisa Berkman and Dr. Leonard Syme studied seven thousand residents of Alameda County, California.…

Acceptance, Authenticity, Transparency, Cancer and the Mind, Practice Living by Choice, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Social Support Reduces the Odds of Developing Cancer

In a substantial study of three thousand breast cancer patients, all of whom were nurses, completed in 2006, researchers found that women without close friends had a mortality rate of four times that of women with a close circle of friends. In…

Acceptance, Body Centeredness, Cancer and the Mind, Chronic Illness and the Mind, Gratitude and Well-Being, Living by Personal Values, Meaning and Purpose in Health, Self-Empowerment, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Openheartedness and Love Confer Health

Studies by James McKay found that people who are open and friendly to strangers had half the rate of major illnesses of those who kept a cold and distant attitude toward strangers. These “affiliator types” (people who value relationships)…

Cancer and the Mind, Chronic Illness and the Mind, Gratitude and Well-Being, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Meaningful Relationships Reduce Odds of Developing Cancer

In one of the longest-running prospective studies, 1300 medical students at Johns Hopkins were followed for forty years. While at Hopkins they were given psychological tests exploring the ability of the students to have meaningful…

Body Centeredness, Cancer and the Mind, Gratitude and Well-Being, Social Support and Contributing Member of a Community

Video: Social Support, Development of Cancer, and Cancer Survival

Epidemiology researchers in one study exploring the effects of social support on cancer survival, interviewed 244 breast cancer patients. The patients were asked how many people they confided in during the three months post surgery. Then…