Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 4 Issue 77 i The Art of Healing

I have been thinking about the land and how the land on which we live affects us. And how little, perhaps, we take note of this. I have always felt that different lands can affect our feelings somehow. Or another way of putting it .. the land on which we choose to live at any given time influences how we see ourselves – and the world. It’s an interesting concept isn’t it? One of the wonderful things Covid-19 has bought us (perhaps?), is more time for this sort of reflection. To extend this rumination further, consider the plant and animal life in your more immediate surroundings – and the sky. I moved a few years ago from quite lush tropical surroundings, to a more extreme and dry climate. One of…

Chiropractor B.J. Hardick, D.C. says you can look at sleeping positions from a musculoskeletal perspective and/or from a psychological perspective. Previous research by sleep expert Chris Idzikowski, Ph.D., has looked into the psychological aspects of sleeping positions and says our posture - even while we’re sleeping - can reveal things about our emotional state. Below are the four most common sleeping positions and what they mean for our bodies and potentially our minds. The Foetus Position You can imagine what this position looks like. Gently curled inward with bent arms and legs, like a foetus in the womb. This position is the most common according to Idzikowski’s research (reported by the BBC back in 2003). Noteably, twice as many women prefer to sleep like this compared to men. Hardick says there’s undoubtedly…

Whether it’s an exclusive appetite for ‘white’ foods or an all-out refusal on veggies, when you have a fussy eater on your hands, mealtime can be more than a challenge. Further, while picky eating is all part of the norm for developing toddlers, when it extends into school years, it takes a toll on all involved, children and parents alike. According to the Australian Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, most children do not meet recommended diet and nutrition guidelines. Now new research from the University of South Australia and the University of Queensland is providing a better understanding of what influences fussy eaters, and what is more likely to increase or decrease picky eating in children under 10. Reviewing 80 health industry studies, the research found that a range of…

So many of us have been raised to see strangers as dangerous and scary. What would happen if we instead saw them as potential sources of comfort and belonging? Nic spent most of her childhood avoiding people. She was raised by a volatile father and a mother who transferred much of the trauma she’d experienced onto her daughter. The combination left Nic fearful and isolated. “My primitive brain was programmed to be afraid of everybody, because everybody’s evil and they’re gonna hurt you,” she told me. Nic’s fear isn’t uncommon in a Western world where valid lessons about “stranger danger” can cast all people you don’t know as threats to be feared. But she recognised it was unhealthy, and took steps to engage with the world. As she grew older, she began…

Laughter is ancient, primitive and instinctual. We ha ha ha before we da da da. A smile or shared laugh satiates an evolutionary survival role helping us bond and attach to our loved ones. It is a joyful feedback loop and vocal means of communication, created before language forms and the brain has fully developed. No matter your ethnicity, age, or skillset or where you’re situated on the globe, we all smile and laugh in the same language. Even children born deaf or blind, smile and laugh. The more positive these early smiling and later laughter interactions with main care givers are, the safer and more loved the child feels and lays the future foundation for how positive, or otherwise, interactions are with others. We even develop our very own…

In the ancient past, it was useful for our ancestors to respond quickly to apex predators and escape with a fight-or-flight action. In modern society, although physical, predatory threats are few and far between, the same evolutionary responses are still deeply embedded within our bodies. When a situation arises that the body deems unsafe, the limbic system (the part of your brain responsible for memory, emotions, and survival) acts as a base of operations. It automatically jumps into action, with largely instinctive protective measures to safeguard you. But what happens when there isn’t any danger around and you still find yourself hypervigilant and activated, as though you’re unable to return to a baseline of relative security? Trauma may be the invisible factor stimulating those overwhelmingly intense feelings and causing an over-reliance…

“There is a poem in the Qur’an that says: ‘We have made you a country and a tribe so that you can know each other,’” says Fafur. “You are from different countries and can have different backgrounds, but you can also be Australian and have an Australian Muslim identity.” Islamic Museum of Australia’s Founder and Director, Moustafa Fahour OAM (La Trobe University Distinguished Alumni Award, 2015), said the winning artist Ms Fatima Killeen was a deserving winner in a very competitive field. “They say a picture paints a thousand words, and Fatima dedicates her time and craft to interpreting compelling and important narratives. Her work enables the viewer to see matters of war and destruction through a unique lens, and to consider the impact of war in a different light.”…

The not-for-profit Chronic Pain Australia is calling on the Australian federal government to make telehealth consultations available on an ongoing basis after December 2021. The consumer advocacy group released their annual National Pain Survey to coincide with National Pain Week 2021, with key findings including: • 67% of survey respondents experienced a benefit from the pandemic pivot to telehealth • Respondents mentioned that they no longer had to miss a GP or other specialist appointment because of not being able to drive due to pain, distance, and costs associated with travel • 55% said they would consider using telehealth options with their health practitioner in an ongoing capacity The 2021 National Pain Survey was completed by 2233 people living with chronic pain nationwide, and found that the pandemic pivot to…

Now is an age of ‘frenetic short-termism’ writes author and philosopher Roman Krznaric in his book The Good Ancestor. One way to change this is to back political projects that look further ahead. So-called ‘guardians of the future’ have a focus on long-term public policy, but evidence suggests that citizens’ assemblies are better at taking a long view than politicians. Here are some ways we can act now to benefit those yet to be born. Back Justice For All Generations Increasingly, cases are being fought on behalf of tomorrow’s citizens. The organisation Our Children’s Trust has filed a case against the U.S. government on behalf of 21 young people for the legal right to a safe climate for current and future generations. In Europe, six youth campaigners have taken 33…

The kicker was that for every extra hour spent outside, participants reported better sleep. Besides offering a quick mood boost, spending time outdoors (even on cloudy days) exposes us to plenty of natural light, and we know that this light can help keep our circadian clocks tick along smoothly. “Humans evolved in an environment with a clear distinction between day and night, but our modern environments have blurred this distinction,” say the researchers. When we’re bombarded with artificial lighting and bright screens, we lose touch with the natural rhythms of the sun and moon, and it can be difficult for our bodies to keep track of what time it is. A slew of health challenges can follow - as we know from previous research on shift workers, a misaligned circadian rhythm can lead to…

An international study of 55 countries has shown a marked increase in the number of overweight women globally, with wealthy, educated and urban women heavier than their counterparts. Mehedi Hasan from The University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) said the number of overweight women increased in 50 countries in 1990 to 2018, while the number of underweight women fell in 35 countries. “The research clearly shows how much inequalities have widened,” Mr Hasan said. Although the prevalence of underweight women declined, this decline has been superceded by the sharp increase in the number of overweight women. “In women aged 15-49, the highest increase in overweight women was in Nepal (12.4 per cent) and underweight in Morocco (5.5 per cent).” The research predicts that by 2030, in eight of the countries, more…

The Greek word for grace is charis, and there’s no question of its importance in biblical theology. Charis appears 116 times in the New Testament.  Grace means favour. It means acceptance. It means giving. Grace is free in the sense that something done or given in grace is done so without expecting to receive anything in return. Grace isn’t dependent on the way it’s received, the moral goodness of the one receiving it, or even that person’s ability to rightly say, “Thank you.” The only thing grace is dependent on is the generosity of the giver. If someone moves with grace, they move in a smooth, controlled, and attractive way. If someone behaves with grace, they behave in a pleasant, polite, and dignified way, even when they are upset or being treated unfairly. A graceful person, in the first sense, is one…

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a collaborative team of Tufts University biologists and psychologists looked at how birds perceive songs and found that like humans, zebra finches can recognise songs by their rhythmic patterns, even when played at very different tempos. Given the growing evidence that rhythmic timing problems are associated with a number of childhood language disorders, including dyslexia, stuttering, and developmental language disorders (formerly known as specific language impairment), having an animal model of human rhythmic processing could be helpful in understanding how it is linked to vocal communication in the brain. “Rhythm perception in humans involves complex neural connections between the parts of our brain that perceive sounds and the parts that control movement,” said psychologist Andrew Rouse. “It’s one reason…

Chocolate is a £61billion-per-year global industry that has seen the volatile price of cocoa lead to a surge in traders seeking to buy cheaper beans from deforested regions, with lower quality plants and human rights abuses. This has affected the prices and practices of legitimate farmers, reducing sustainability gains. In the findings, published in the journal Supply Chain Management, the multi-university research team reveal that biomarkers can create meta-barcodes, which are like biochemical fingerprints, an unchanging barcode extracted from the plant’s DNA, providing a unique identifier of a plant that is also observed in its beans and subsequent chocolate products. To make this new process a reality, a controlled data set of biomarkers of registered locations is required. The study goes on to explain that this missing piece - a biomarker…

The suffix ‘pathy’ comes from the Greek word for suffering, pathos. The western medical system is built around pathology, which simply means diagnosing suffering and treating disease. However social connections are critically important to the ways that people cope with and overcome suffering, grief, and trauma. Words like sympathy, empathy, and even apathy describe the nuanced differences between the very complex social connections and reactions humans display when they are suffering or when we witness others in pain. While subtle behavioural differences might seem obvious to therapists, counsellors, and psychologists, it’s not so easy for everyone else. “Sympathy is when you understand someone else’s suffering and feel sorrow or pity for the experience they are facing,” Atlanta-based therapist Habiba Zaman from Pepperdine University explains. “It involves having a value judgement on someone else’s experience.” While often well-intentioned,…

In the era we are currently living in, it can almost feel as if we have stepped back in time. We no longer travel overseas or interstate for leisure or business, in fact many of us do not travel to workplaces or anywhere outside a small radius. Jane Austen’s heroines and heroes would have related well to the rarity of travel and the limited distance travelled. Similarly, our activities have become quieter and more home-related. Cooking, baking, and taking time to make meals from scratch are a common lockdown pastime. Gardening and literally ‘smelling the roses’ is another common activity that many have taken up during this time. Walking around the neighbourhood is a new experience for many who used to go to the gym for a quick workout before…

If you tend to find fault and criticise yourself, know that you have plenty of company among your fellow humans. In fact, our tendency to focus attention on negative issues instead of positive ones is a shared characteristic we carry from our earliest evolutionary survival needs. This ‘negativity bias,’ as science has labelled it, is our typical default orientation. Moving toward a more loving, appreciative, and grateful way of being - both towards ourselves and towards others - is something we are all capable of doing. But it does require awareness and repetition. If we are ready to be kind to ourselves and willing to send that negative voice away on permanent vacation, how do we begin to build our capacity for self-compassion? Kristin Neff, PhD, one of the world’s leading…

The world has had no greater need to adapt, change and create a new plan since the COVID-19 pandemic. We have all been thrown in the deep end and it has put us to the test. Many of us have gone through a range of emotions, including fear, grief, loss, anxiety,overwhelm and anger. During lockdown my business, like many others, came to a halt. All speaking bookings for the year were cancelled. All of my work and main income for the year diasappeared within that first week of lockdown. But having already changed my life and adapted to change in the past, I felt calm, accepting, even a little excited by the prospect of what was to come. Why excited? Because I knew I had done the work on myself.…

If you feel overwhelmed, it makes sense. If you don’t know where to go for help, that does too. When the government and community institutions aren’t there to help us to make sense of hard things, we rely on informal networks, the people in our lives, to help us make sense of what is happening and trade concrete information to help each other. But these social networks, our most basic relationships, are also under stress. In America, people increasingly report feeling lonely, up to 60 percent in a survey released in early 2020, and that was pre-pandemic. Since then, Covid-19 has only continued to fray our communal fabric. With many workplaces and schools closed, and public gatherings restricted, each of us had to figure out our own individualised strategies to…