Did You Know These 10 Hidden Facts About Wellbeing?

I keep a running list of ideas for articles in the Notes app on my iPhone in a note called ThoughtFuel so I don’t forget them. Insights (I call them “downloads”), sources, ideas, interesting facts for future posts that I want to remember—they’re all there. LOTS of them. The only problem is it keeps growing. I wish I had the time to write about each one in depth and really nerd out on them (that's how I learn best), but I don’t. So instead, I figured I’d share some of them below as facts, lessons, or truths. That way, I get to write them, you get inspired and share the article, people subscribe, and I become their favorite writer they support wholeheartedly (or something like that).

1. Break the cycle.

Trauma can get passed down up to seven generations. The best thing you can do for your kids is fix your sh*t so they’re not tainted with maladaptive behaviors and thinking that isn’t theirs.

2. Change Your Breathing, Change Your Feeling.

Left nostril breathing engages the parasympathetic nervous system (think “rest and digest”), while breathing through the right nostril activates the sympathetic nervous system (think fight or flight). Approximately every 20min, breathing automatically shifts from one side to the other in an effort to create balance in the nervous system. While you may still breathe through both nostrils, one becomes more dominant than the other. For example, if you’re constantly activated (i.e., “go, go, go!”) then your adrenal glands will be shot because of all the demand placed on your sympathetic nervous system. The good news is you can use this to your advantage. When you’re stressed or activated, close off your right nostril and breathe through your left nostril only. You can do long slow 5 second inhales and exhales, or short inhales and prolonged exhales. Focusing on the exhalation is key because that's what quells the nerves/stressors.

3. Mentally stuck.

The amount of time you stay stuck in your own mind vastly outnumbers the time it takes to talk with a mental health coach, therapist, counselor, etc… The sooner you start, the sooner you can stop.