Tucson Holistic Counseling

Today I want to share about anger. There is so much about anger to talk about that volumes of books have been written, so this writing will just scratch the surface of anger.

Medical and psychological research has shown that no matter how much you exercise or eat correctly, you are putting yourself at risk if you do not manage your anger. Suppressed or unsuppressed anger causes a wide spread effect on the body. It can cause pancreatic problems, diabetes, cancer, weekend immune system and muscle and joint problems as well as a host of other medical conditions. Not to say it can affect the skin causing rashes, hives, warts, eczema, and acne. Researchers have studied anger and skin disorders and discovered that when the person resolved their deep buried anger, skin disorders dramatically improved.

Suppressed anger can also have psychological effects causing depression, eating disorders, addictions such as drug and alcohol, nightmares, insomnia, self destructive behaviors and can even cause disruptions in the way a person relates to others.

Anger is important and is a normal, natural emotion that is neither good nor bad. In fact, its value is determined by how you choose to respond to it. It is up to you to decide whether anger will be a negative or positive emotion in your life. When you channel the energy generated by your anger into constructive accomplishments, anger can motivate many worthwhile activities. Channeled into destructive actions, anger can drain your energy.

Anger is a frequent response to feeling powerless, frustrated, and abandoned, therefor often people act out by pushing people away, feeling hurt. Here’s the thing though, It’s important to understand that anger is something created by yourself. It didn’t come swooping out of the blue see we think that anger is caused by something outside ourselves, such as other people or frustrating events. One of my spiritual teachers and a professor once told me that No one makes you angry. You make yourself angry. I was actually angry when I first heard this, but I saw the truth in it. No one can make me angry I simply choose it. So since I have chosen this anger, how can I control it.

* Meditation! You hear it all the time, take a deep breath and count to ten. Meditation can allow you to take some time breathe, relax, and to reflect on the situation and take a critical look at what you’re angry at.

*Practice forgiveness. Anger often times results in resentments. Resentments can be resolved through forgiveness. You do not necessarily have to forgive the person you are angry at face to face; you can forgive in any way that works for you.

*Talking. Sometimes just talking it through with a friend and venting out frustrations before it becomes anger. If you find you are angered a lot, talk to a counselor, or life coach or a holistic mental health care provider or a psychospiritualist, whatever you want to call that person, talk!

*Be creative in releasing your anger. Screaming in a pillow, dancing, aerobics, pillow pounding, stretching exercises, tearing up old news papers, throwing rocks in a safe place, squeezing a ball of clay, kicking a ball or pillow, using a punching bag, or some sort of sport activity such as basket ball, racket ball, soccer or throwing a baseball. just be creative and physical.

No matter how you choose to deal with your anger, it is important to learn safe effective ways to release your anger. The result of prolonged anger can actually change how our body functions. Anger is an important emotion and should not be held in; however, there are many appropriate and healthy ways to release it. The important thing to remember is anger needs to be released.

For today this is Dr. Tyler Woods reminding you to listen to my shows on Septic Radio and to walk in peace…

I was thinking about courage today. Some people have wonderful courage like those who survived and thrived the January 8th shooting here in Tucson Arizona. That is pure courage. I keep up on the survivors and on how courageous they are today. Then I think of those who do not have courage tend to stay in failed marriages and complain but have no courage to make change, or those who are so afraid to let go because it takes to much courage to let go. I think about those who forget gratitude because gratitude really is an act of courage. Then I thought courage can be difficult and clearly does not come easy.

Courage is the ability to act regardless of feelings or potential consequences. Courage is following your intuition when the facts are against it. Courage is only an accumulation of small steps, and each day we speak the truth with integrity, own our responsibilities, and reach out to another, we are building courage stamina. Building courage is the very first part to improving your self-esteem. When you build up your courage, this also helps you expand your mind; thus, creating new opportunities for growth. You are more likely to take risks that will guide you to an important positive future, where you may not have ordinarily challenged yourself to go. Fear will fall way behind when you build up your courage level.

How to be courageous

Commit to change—Imagine who you’ll become as you set up goals to change. The very act of formulating a goal will inevitably result in changes in you and your life.

Raise your consciousness—You can do this by acknowledging your fear and be ready to face your fear.

Do what you fear—Although fear is appropriate at times, some fear is plainly irrational. So if you feel afraid of something, do it immediately. Experience will soon teach you that it was a thought in your mind and that you’re fine.

Surrender the outcome—Courage is about action. Not results. If you have the courage to act, you’ve succeeded. Period. The outcome of the choice has nothing to do with success or failure.

Catch a Glimpse of Your Own Greatness—So what do you do with all your courage? Clearly it can permit you to lead a far more fulfilling and meaningful life. You will begin living as a daring human doing instead of a human being. You will uncover and develop your greatest talents. You will start living far more consciously and deliberately than you ever have before. Instead of reacting to events, you will proactively manufacture your own events.

Look at the many facets of possibilities—Instead of dwelling on the vulnerability of your problems look at the possibilities. You will find that there aren’t very many problems that cannot be solved. The hardest task is developing the right attitude to start the process of solving them.

View failure as opportunity—Any failure is an opportunity to honor courage. Hang up your disappointments somewhere and see them as strengths!

This is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in courage and walk in peace…

I always am amazed when I hear people make New Year’s resolutions. They are all about what you think you should do and not what you want to do therefore it makes it almost impossible to make it happen. In fact, MOST of New Year’s resolutions fail within the first six weeks.

Year after year, people make resolutions, and they fail. Still we continue with this silly ritual. In fact, we are not even being creative anymore. That’s right! The biggest resolutions are to quit smoking, lose weight, get healthier. This is not a resolution but common sense. So why do we do it? Why don’t we just set common sense goals and call them that?

I have several theories. First theory, well knowing that most resolutions are no completed, then you can postpone your till next year. The second theory is just habit.

That brings me to accountability. You have a goal, then call it a goal and be accountable. Bottom line if you want to improve your life set goals not resolutions. Oh yeah, and set reasonable goals. Let’s look at weight loss. You say you want to lose weight in your New Year’s resolution, but if you set a goal your goal can be specific, for instance, instead of saying you will get thinner, get specific. Tell yourself you will lose ten pounds, and then re-evaluate. Set a goal of how you want to do that, and begin doing it SLOWLY.

You can do this with almost anything from smoking, to de-cluttering your house. Smoking is a difficult one I understand however, if you want to be healthy, it is simply common sense. I am an ex-smoker and I always had an excuse to why I could not quit. One day I ran out of excuses and I quit. Sad thing is some people will always offer an excuse. With that said, perhaps that should be a goal, to be accountable. We all have things we need to work on and the bottom line is how about we make a goal to be accountable and then set goals based on that.

Finally set a goal and not at the New Year. Set it for a week after or so. Do not use the beginning of the year to set goals as it is unnecessary to wait until the calendar year to make healthy changes in your life. So Happy New Year and remember do not make resolutions and set yourself up rather, set some goals in a few weeks, and pace yourself, I will suspect you will be off to a good start.

This is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace….

I have been reading on Facebook posts, or running into people that have had to clear the "people clutter" out of their lives. Some people tell me it is painful and it hurts, while others are relieved. I keep on thinking of a story in my life and after hearing so many people going through this, I decided to share it in my blog.

About a year ago, I met a person and they appeared to be a rather spiritual person. They kept talking about books they have read, how many books they had, and how much time they spent meditating, and all about the good deeds they had done. They intrigued me. I am unsure why because not everyone else in my life was impressed. I saw something in this individual. I kept wondering why others did not see what I did.

The more they talked though, the more I started to see contradictions in this person. I also started to see some very passive aggressive behaviors. After devastating incident they did to me, my friends almost demanded I get away from this person, but again I ignored it. I was unsure why at the time. I noticed that I became a different person around this being. It was not me at all. I figured out the reason I stuck it out was they reminded me of me twenty years ago.

Though I took note of this, we began to do a few things together trying to get a spiritual message out. I noticed more contradictions and other things that had my red flags swaying. People started to point it out to me, again, I ignored it, and I meditated, and I understood that I needed to get this person out of my life or at least find a way to put some good distance between us, I was just unsure how. I meditated, and asked the powers that be to please find a way to remove this presence from my life.

Again, my friends and colleagues said just stop communication with this person and wondered if I was blind. I was not blind in fact, I was fully aware that if I trusted the process, it would take care of itself and I would have to do nothing more than wait. I did not have to wait long. One day, as we talked, I could not agree with what the person was saying. I chose to stick to my truth. My truth agitated them. I knew they were unable to deal with certain realities, as they did not live in the normal realities that most people did. I did not stand down, maintained my point of view, and refused to be bullied. It was apparent this person could not tolerate that that they stood up and walked out, never to be seen again.

I admit, I sort of chuckled a bit at first. It was done so immaturely it was actually a tad on the funny side. Then I was angry but that only lasted for about five minutes because I realized, I had gotten not only just what I asked for, I had gotten just what I needed.

Within the first 24 hours, a door opened that I had been waiting for. Had this person been in my life that door would not have opened. Then a week later, another door opened, then another and another and soon I could not keep track of the doors opening. My friends were so grateful that this happened and happened with such ease. We all cheered and knew that the powers that be takes care of those who trust the process and become sincere.

So remember, when it is time to let go of someone in your life, just put it out there. Spirit will take care of it as long as you trust the process and believe you deserve the best. Speak your truth, normally that scares off people who do not belong in your life. Be authentic. For some people being authentic to people who are not authentic, is what kryptonite is to Superman. For those going through a transition, where they need to clear out people clutter, open the door to your heart and let them out. Do not fear getting rid of people who are not doing you good in your life, allow your heart to be big enough to let them go, and trust the process.

For now, this is Dr. Tyler Woods with a very open heart walking in peace…

With the recent news coverage on how our children are being abused by medications for depression and ADHD, I feel this three part series comes at a great time. Please keep in mind that the majority of children on psychotropic medications are not necessary and more and more research and news coverage is now validating that we must stop drugging our children.

There are so many alternatives that can help with our children and I am going to list just a few. Please remember to do your research. There is NEVER a reason to give our children unnecessary medications.

Omega Three Fatty Acids is probably the best alternative one can use. These fatty acids are needed to make brain and nerve tissue in the body and are crucial for proper growth, mental function, the immune system and brain development. Omega Three Fatty 3 is a wonderful and affordable option for treating depression and ADHD. They have omega three for children, there is also a product called by VAXA called Attend- It is effective for 70% of ADD ADHD individuals, as measured by computer testing and parent scales. Attend blends amino acids, fatty acids, homeopathic, and other herbs and supplements to produce a product that is curing symptoms of ADHD. http://www.vaxa.com/

Iron can help with children as there is growing evidence that hyperactive children are commonly deficient in iron, which is important for the production of the mood-regulating brain chemical dopamine. There are foods high in iron such as:

• Red meat
• Egg yolks
• Dark, leafy greens like spinach
• Dried fruit (prunes, raisins)
• Iron-enriched cereals and grains
• Oysters, clams, scallops
• Turkey or chicken giblets
• Beans, lentils, and soybeans
• Liver
• Artichokes

EEG Biofeedback is about 75% effective. This technology involves the acquiring biofeedback machine that averages from 50.00-150.00. There are biofeedback clinicians as well. This is a technique that trains people to improve their health by controlling certain bodily processes that normally happen involuntarily, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and skin temperature.

Decreased TV and Video game time– Research has concluded after studying 5,000 children for two years that TV and video games can cause, yes can cause ADHD. Suggestion is two hours in front of the tube either watching TV or playing video games daily.

A new study has shown improved brain functioning, increased brain processing, and improved language-based skills among ADHD students practicing the meditation technique. In addition it can help decrease symptoms of depression in children.

Spending time in ordinary urban nature can also help. These settings can include a tree-lined street, a green yard or neighborhood park may offer additional relief from ADHD symptoms. Spend time in nature, play more sports, ride bike, do homework outside in the fresh air.

Once again before taking your child to a doctor for ADHD or believing your child may need dangerous drugs for just being a child, try to answer the following questions.

• How many hours did you child watch TV today?
• How much time did your child spend on video games today?
• How long was your child outdoors today?
• Did your child exercise today?
• How much time did you spend time with your child today?
• What did your child do in school today?
• Did you do something exciting with your child today? What?
• What did your child eat today?

As you can see, there are a variety of treatments that help with your child’s mental health. The main focus should make sure you are educated. Just don’t give your child a handful of vitamins. Make sure you understand each supplement, and make sure they do a great deal of movement daily.

I give parents a thumbs up for coping and dealing with the variety of issues that life hands out to our children and there is certainly nothing wrong with a little holistic help to keep us on the path…

Speaking of path, this is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace…

Yesterday we talked about depression and ADHD in children and over medicating them for what many believe is just normal behavior. Today and tomorrow, I will be sharing with you some alternative approaches to work with our children’s mental health.

Did you know that the vast majority of medical doctors consider ADHD to be of unknown causes? What we do know is that the elimination of food additives and refined sugar produces dramatic improvements not just for children with ADHD but for children who show signs of depression.

One thing I have noticed when I work with children with ADHD or depression and anxiety is their diet. I ask the parents to keep a food diary for their kids for two weeks. Some parents are honest some are not.

After reading all the food diaries I began to look at how we send our children to school. Let’s say we give them a nice bowl of Frosted Mini Wheat’s which have 10 sugars and a whopping 41 grams of cards which turns to sugar. Now add milk, non-fat or low fat milk is pact with sugar on the average 12-15 grams. Now let me tell you that 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar. Now 3.75 grams of carbs equal 1 gram of sugar. So a small bowl of frosted mini Wheats with a cup of milk equals about 14 teaspoon of sugar.

Feeding our children fresh fruits and a good protein source offers good brain health. Carbohydrate loaded breakfasts of frozen waffles, pancakes, pastry rolls and cold cereal do nothing to feed the brain. Instead, eat an omelet with low-fat cheese and a lean meat to activate neurotransmitters in the brain. If you are in a time crunch, have them drink a protein shake for breakfast.

Foods That Are Good For You

· Vegetables (except corn, potatoes and squash).

· Beans and peas

· Fruit

· Nuts and seeds

· Fish oils, Flaxseed oil, Olive oil, Primrose oil

· Leans meats

· Eggs

· Low-fat cheeses

· Protein powder

Foods To Avoid or Decrease

· Breads and pasta from processed white flour

· White rice white potatoes

· Desserts, ice cream, candy, chocolate, cookies, doughnuts

· Powdered or refined sugar

· Soda, sports drinks, tea, coffee and alcohol

· Fast foods, burgers, pizza, hotdogs, milkshakes

· Processed foods-Hotdogs, lunchmeat

· Junk food, chips, soda

· Fruit juices

· Artificial colors flavors and preservatives

· Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, sucralose).

Folate is one of the B vitamins and helps aid in depression. Foods high in folates include: orange juice, strawberries, citrus fruits and juices, leafy green vegetables, whole grain breads, and pinto, navy and kidney beans. Foods rich in protein are rich in an amino acid called tyrosine. Tyrosine may help boost levels of the brain chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine, which can help treat depression as well as ADHD. Foods include turkey, tuna, salmon or chicken beans and peas, lean beef, low-fat cheese, almonds, milk, poultry, soy products, yogurt.

BOTTOM LINE BALNCED DIET MEANS LESS DEPRESSION

This is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace….

It is a topic we so rarely talk about; mental health and children. In all reality, who wants to look it? Not the children and parents, why they seems to think that it is their fault a society blames them so not the parents, so who looks at it? Yet children being diagnosed with psychiatric conditions at an alarming rate and rarely do we want to look at that fact little long talk about it.

There are many issues children need to deal with growing up. In today’s world we have a divorce rate of over 50%, our unemployment is astounding, people are losing their homes, parents are worried, teachers are distracted, and young children feel this. How could they not? To top that off, school bullying has increased and so has cyber bullying, and kids are getting it from every direction.

Is being bullied or worried about your family a Prozac deficiency or is it a natural response? Do the trying threes really require an antidepressant? Some doctors and pharmaceutical companies would say yes. In fact, the number of school children prescribed anti-depressants and mind-altering drugs has more than quadrupled in the last decade. New figures show general practitioners are prescribing pills in record numbers to combat stress, violent behavior and even tiredness.

Child drugging has been a huge profitable market with earnings of about $4.8 billion dollars a year. Pharmaceutical companies have done everything in their power to convince the press, legislators and especially parents why children need to be put on drugs.

There are 20 million children in the United States who have been diagnosed with some kind of psychiatric disorder and drugged for it. It has become an epidemic. Innocent children are being turned into patients for simply acting like kids. As we know, there have been a number of serious and deadly results from young people taking medications for depression. Many if not all the recent school shootings have shown us a picture of a disturbed young person who is on some type of antidepressant. But that is not is as disturbing as three and four-year olds on antidepressants.

Let’s look at ADHD and children. At this very moment at least 6,000,000 U.S. school children are being administered Ritalin or other addictive, mind-altering, psychiatric drugs. A pediatric psychologist became concerned when she was suddenly inundated with ADHD referrals. She worried that the disorder was being over diagnosed and began a study of 30,000 grade school students in two school districts in Virginia. The study raises many questions about ADHD diagnosis but provides few answers. Were previous estimates too low Is ADHD being over diagnosed, or are doctors now doing a better job of diagnosing it.

In the U.S. and many of those are being prescribed medication because the parent, daycare worker or school teacher feels that the child might be ADHD.

Did I say that right? A person working in day care who has no medical or psychology background are telling parents their child has ADHD? That is about as scary as it gets! It is almost as scary as parents are not being informed about all the potential risks to their child when they agree to a psychiatric drug prescription.

According to testimony given in the fall of 2004 to the Congressional Energy and Commerce Committee insignificant results were found in two thirds of the studies in which children were given anti-depressants and compared to children given a placebo.

About 1.5 million children ages 5 on up take Ritalin for relief from attention and hyperactivity disorders, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. The drug’s popularity is growing. Ritalin use is up 250% since 1990, according to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Tomorrow let’s look at some simple solutions and alternatives to stay healthy.

For today this is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace…

When I first started college one of my professors said to me that you can only receive from others the same amount of love and respect you give yourself. At first, I strongly disagreed. How could that be? Then I got it loud and clear. You see we are a work in progress, so indulge in lifetime learning. We should NEVER allow anyone us feel inadequate!

So what is self love? First let’s look at what self love isn’t. You deserve love, most of all from yourself! Stop feeling selfish or guilty if you take care of yourself, first. Give yourself the true gift of life and make a commitment to listen to your body, heart and spirit and vow never to ignore them! Don’t just catch yourself being wrong…catch yourself being right. In other words, don’t just catch the voice of your inner critic stop it from beating up on you. When you do something well, or when you find yourself saying the right things to yourself, be sure to reward yourself.

Be careful of fear! Fear is a by-product of the false personality and when you shift your identification away from the false personality and toward essence you automatically begin to dissolve fear. Fear is not about self love but self loath.

Self Love isn’t

• Putting someone else’s needs in front of our own
• Poor diet and health habits (not respecting your body)
• Living in a state of fear
• Giving yourself negative messages and self criticism
• Not taking enough time for self
• Feeding addictions (food, money, drugs & alcohol, relationships)
• Judging self and others
• Boasting and bragging

When you break the chains of self-hatred you:

• Are free to be yourself.
• You have value and worth.
• You are listened to and understood.
• You are OK just the way you are.
• You do not have to please others.
• You open up your feelings with no fear of rejection or disapproval.

Loving yourself unconditionally is to:

• Place no condition on yourself as to how to behave or what to be in order to receive self acceptance and self love.
• Take a risk to be open and vulnerable to who you are with no preset limits or expectations.
• Accept and love yourself for the fact that you exist rather than for what you do.
• Give yourself the respect and latitude to be yourself rather than to be what others want or expect you to be.
• Set the stage for yourself to feel warmth, caring, and concern for yourself which results in your growing in self-esteem and self worth.

For today this is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace

A week from today is Thanksgiving and we are counting down to the holidays. For many holidays are about joy and giving, however it does seem to come with a cost. That’s right, stress and anxiety. Whether it is low income, relatives, friends or time management, stress and anxiety plays a big role in holidays.

It starts with your heart is racing and the pain in your chest reminds you of what it would feel like if your heart just blew out of your chest. You are lightheaded and dizzy; you are sweating and you think you are going to vomit, and for the life of you, no matter how hard you try, you cannot catch your breath. Welcome to an anxiety attack.

You are not alone! Panic attacks seem to be on the rise. In fact, about 19-million Americans suffer from anxiety and panic disorders. With more and more people losing their jobs and growing financial worry, panic and anxiety have people running to their doctors to get fast relief. The problem is the fastest relief for an anxiety attack cannot be found in a pharmacy or doctor’s office. The quickest way to relieve a panic attack is within your own power and it is called breathing.

What Is a Panic Attack?

Rapid shallow breathing causes hyperventilation and this happens when more carbon dioxide is exhaled than the body is able to manufacture. Symptoms include dizziness, tingling, tightness of the chest with rapid heartbeat, and the inability to think clearly. To top it off, we create a rapid downward spiral as panic spreads, and we start to breathe even quicker causing the symptoms to worsen even further.

For people dealing with panic, feelings of doom or fear can happen for no apparent reason; thus, making them feel scared, and on guard. Constant worries can make a person feel overwhelmed by every little thing. All this can affect someone’s concentration and breathing.

About 60-75 percent of panic attacks are accompanied by hyperventilation. While it feels as though you don’t have enough oxygen, the opposite is true. Hyperventilation is a symptom of too much oxygen. When a person hyperventilates, they do not give their body long enough to retain carbon dioxide, and so the body cannot use the oxygen. This causes people to feel as if they are short of air, when actually they have too much.

Anxiety Breath Work

1) Inhale for eight counts

2) Hold for one count

3) Exhale for eight counts

4) Hold for one count

5) Repeat, until you feel calmer

It is important to remember that panic attacks are not harmful in and of themselves, and do not lead to heart attacks, loss of control, mental illness, or death. However, they do impact the quality of life and can be very debilitating to those who suffer from them, severely limiting their activities and enjoyment of life.

This is Tyler Woods saying walk in peace…

I once knew a person who did wonderful good deeds for people and called it spirituality. At first, I thought they did it because they were love and light and walking a spiritual path. I began to realize that they bragged about their good deeds. I must have heard over a dozen times in a month how many times they paid for the cars order in back them at Starbucks, or how many times they bragged about giving a bum all the money in their pocket or how they gave away a car, or all their possessions. I admit, it was getting old and found it was no longer a good deed but a terrible need.

I realized quickly that this was not spirituality, it was ego and this is what happens when ego becomes bigger than spirituality. An important spiritual practice that one should try to attain involves paying attention to when your ego and when it gets in the way of walking your path. One important thing a spiritual teacher will tell you is you must try to balance your ego.

Here is the problem with ego. It gets in the way. Ego and spirituality do not mix well because ego becomes supreme and can become an act of need and selfishness. Let me explain. You see personal ego, such as those who endlessly boast about their good deeds, does not allow people to grow and feel the challenges of just being and doing. When bragging and boasting becomes a way of life, it is the ingredient that feeds the hungry ego and the ego gets way too big.

What we need to begin to look at is not feeling shame for having a hungry ego, rather than why our ego is so starved. What are you lacking in your life that you need approval? What is happening in your life that you have to repeat a good deed dozens of times? A person would needs to ask themselves why they are lacking praise. Ask yourself this; do you praise yourself or do you count on others to praise you? If you do than it is time to look within to figure out why you need that sort of praise.

It is important because self-absorption due to an over-inflated ego can leads to a sense of fear, isolation, and loss. Real living and freedom should not have to come by using bragging rights; rather it should come from within. Remember that a strong, balanced ego is necessary for getting along in this world and the weak imbalanced ego is an over -inflated ego. By exploring self, ego can become balanced and healthy.

For today this is Dr. Tyler Woods saying walk in peace