What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from The Grant Study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.
Kissing for Health & Happiness
Connection and sensuality plays a much bigger role in health and wellbeing than most people give it credit for... It's time to make this part of our lives a top priority!
Making-out is one of the most sensual and enlivening experiences we can engage in as human beings. Not only that, there are lots of scientific reasons why passionate kissing is incredibly good for our happiness and longevity.
Here are my top 7... Enjoy!
1) It measurably decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your bloodstream.
2) It releases the love and connection hormone oxytocin which builds feelings of safety and trust.
3) Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure is released and makes us feel happy.
4) Neuropeptides called endorphins are released which gives us a happy buzz, just like after exercise.
5) Phenylethylamine levels also increase which not only makes us happy, it has aphrodisiac effects too!
6) We become more socially attractive because our pheromones (hormone like substances) are released from our bodies and recognised by others of the same species.
7) Kissing is said to burn 6.4 calories a minute. That means half an hour of kissing burns about the same amount of calories as running or jogging for the same amount of time (depending on your fitness level).
What kind of workout would you prefer? Gym or Make-Out? Hmmm, let me think about that...
Perhaps this vid might provide some inspiration.
Enjoy!
Therese xo
Akhilanda - The Goddess of Never Not Broken
Akhilanda gets her power from being broken: from being pulled apart and coming back together again. She is seen seated atop a crocodile in a rushing river, depicting her mastery of living in this state of flux.
To stay on the crocodile she must stay in her body and remain fluid like the water, in a state of responsiveness and deep relaxation. She must move and allow herself to be moved with not only the currents of the river but the unpredictable nature of the wild animal she rides. Akhilanda’s power lies in active surrender, riding through the terrain of the unknown and the unknowable with her body as her compass and her vehicle.
Life is full of paradox: in order to build strength in the muscles, the very fiber of the muscles must be broken. The process of breaking and healing makes the muscle stronger than it was before. Adaptation has taken place. Similarly, life can tend to break us. Not because we are unloved, but because we are so deeply loved. Not because we are flawed, but because our flaws provide the rich soil for our genius to be nourished into existence and finally emerge into the world.
We are never not broken and that is a thing of great beauty and divine opportunity.
The invitation from this deity is to inhabit your body as a means to allow deep relaxation and movement within locations of fear, contraction and emotional pain so you can be free... adapt, become stronger and enjoy the dance of your ever-changing nature and life.
With Love,
Therese xo