Things to feel good about (even though its Monday)

• Only two days from pay-day
• Next weekend is a bank holiday weekend
• Going to see family next weekend
• Calendar confusion means I have an extra night spare this week I didn’t think I’d have, for study/tidying/DIY etc.
• Things have been getting better recently, especially since making an effort to be more positive

To do: Monday 14th April

• Type up “thoughts” notes from last week
• Add to downshifter:
  • “thoughts” notes from last week
  • “Chinese School” daily schedule
  • personal daily tasks/routine
  • work lessons learned
• Work – see it as a challenge, “what can I achieve all things considered? what transferrable skills can I learn?”
• Reading list
  • The Now Habit
  • Meditation books
• Ebay
• Budget done
• VISA transfer (move from penalty savings to Halifax) done
• Car service/MOT (schedule) done
• Shower and lights – fitting (schedule)
• Languages
  • Keep going with Anki
    • Add Chinese (HSK? Colloquial … when notes done?) done
    • Add more from Minna No Nihongo
    • When JP notes are done add from JFBP
    • Ultimately add from Pimsleur too
  • Pimsleur notes from both Mandarin and Japanese – type up and check
  • Press on with Pimsleur study II
  • Chinese and Japanese podcasts and supporting material!
  • Download notes from JapanesePod101.com before subscription renews!
• Catch up with correspondence on FB
• Stay positive! done

Mind Over Cancer

by Michelle Hancock

Not a day goes by that the word “cancer” doesn’t scare thousands of Canadians. Like a dreaded scourge, it hovers over us, presumably just waiting to claim its next victim.

But according to scientists in the growing field of mind/body medicine, the disease is not as much an external force as you might believe. Fear and anxiety–our thoughts and feelings–can impact our health just as much as a long list of cancer risk factors. “Psychoneuroimmunology”’ is the scientific term to describe the study of the mind/body connection. Carl Simonton, MD, is an oncologist who pioneered research in this discipline as early as the 1970s. His book, Getting Well Again (Bantam, 1978), shows how “an individual’s reaction to stress and other emotional factors can contribute to the onset and progress of cancer [while] positive expectations, self-awareness and self-care can ontribute to survival.”

Links: Positivity, optimism

The 5 Myths of a Positive Mental Attitude at ThinkSimpleNow.com

6 Ways to be Positive in any situation at ThinkSimpleNow.com

9 Ways to Live a More Positive Life at RirianProject.com

Wake Up Feeling Great with These 22 Tips for High Self-Esteem at RirianProject.com

Positive Mental Attitude by Rob Davies (Rob Davies Comic Career Articles, rec.arts.comics.info)

Thinking Positive at 100ventures.com

Meditation documentary, BBC 31st March 2008

Alternative Therapies – Meditation, with Dr Kathy Sykes

• Matthieu Ricard (French) - translator for Dalai Lama – Nepal, Kathmandu, meditation
• Dr Herbert Benson – the relaxation response - book
• Marharishi Vedic City
  • Transcendental meditation, impact on coronary health
• pubmed.gov for papers
  • “reviews” collate information from a number of papers, periodically
• Professor Mark Williams, Oxford
  • Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
  • Anti-depression/clinical-depression 
  • 80% mindfulness meditation, 20% cognitive therapy
  • Uses meditation similar to that taught by Mattiau in Nepal
    • Buddhist practices
    • focus on breathing
  • Observing without trying to fix
  • Seeing thoughts as just thoughts
  • Reduces risk of recurrence by up to 50% in patients who have had 3 or more depressive episodes
  • Helps other anxiety – can help everyone (universal anxieties, self-doubts etc, awareness)
  • Available to some on the NHS
• Dr Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin – Madison
  • Meditation shifts brain activity over time from left-hand-side to right-hand-side
• Dr Sarah Lazar
  • Meditation over time is associated with increased cortical thickness
  • Effects are cumulative (“every minute sitting counts”)
  • Cortex associated with attention and sensory processing
    • alters ability to concentrate
    • alters response to “sensory” stimuli – physical sensations (pain, hunger etc) but also emotional sensations (fear, anger etc)

BBC Listing

OU information

Thoughts – 2nd April 2008

• During time on holiday and in the day since have had lots of mixed thoughts about plans for the future – what my target ‘looks like’ – and how to fund them
• Future … questions
  • Photography course
    • Cost
    • Accomodation
    • Are my photos good enough (or will I be wasting my time)?
    • How soon would I get a return on my investment (be able to sell pictures)?
  • Post-graduate study
    • How to fund?
    • Subject?
      • Social anthropology?
        • Will this prepare me for a PhD (research skills)?
      • Translation & interpretation?
• Meditation
  • Will I trust myself to let go completely? Just for twenty minutes a day?
• Mind map book / SRS (spaced repetition system)
• Cafe del Mar Vol 2
• free thoughts down on paper – seems to help relaxation

Things to sort out – Tuesday 18th March

• Passport
• Shower installation
• Car MOT & insurance
• Money – pull something out of flexible benefits scheme? can’t be done until September
• Check how health insurance claims should be raised (no paperwork)
• Follow up on lack of pension paperwork
• Wish list ahead of next year:
  • Clothes: baggy combats, outdoor fleeces, base layer tops, office garb for teaching
  • iPod Nano 8Gb? 12Gb?
  • Laptop? Would it be cheaper to buy one in Japan?? items added to wishlist post
• Need money for:
  • Cost of TEFL course
  • Cost of living while on TEFL course
  • Buffer on arrival in Japan
  • Additional mortgage payments while seeking a tenant
  • finishing the renovation … cooker … fridge … detailed in a separate ‘money’ post
• Photojournalism course - accomodation/location?