Brain health and wellness

Make sure you are still getting your Vitamin D during this time and exercising! I like to walk around my neighborhood (still maintaining a safe distance with others) and look up Zumba/Dance videos on YouTube.

Fear and Anxiety surrounding the pandemic Covid-19 is actually lowering people’s immune systems. Check out this article written in 2003 regarding a brain study linking negative emotions and lowered immunity. We must give our brain a break.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4116-brain-study-links-negative-emotions-and-lowered-immunity/

Brain study links negative emotions and lowered immunity People with brain activity linked to sad emotions develop fewer antibodies when given a flu vaccination

"One way to fight depression is to not isolate. Help out someone who is struggling worse than you are."-Joni Eareckson Tada

(Joni is a quadriplegic who was paralyzed from the waist down due to a diving accident. She has walked through her own story of anger, depression, and suicidal thoughts, yet is using her life to be an encouragement to others, even through her daily struggles of things we take for granted. She is definitely LEADING the way in being loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, and friendly.)

I will be taking a social media break until the month of February. I am doing it as part of praying and fasting with my church family in order to make room/time to draw closer to Jesus and seek His will in the start of this year.
However, social media breaks are also great for brain health and highly recommended! Please read this article from Dr. Kristen Fuller. -

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/201907/social-media-breaks-and-why-they-are-necessary

Social Media Breaks and Why They Are Necessary Social media breaks can be good for our mental health and social life.

Happy New Year 2020! If I have to encourage you towards anything, it is to not isolate this New Year! Pursue meaningful friendships, join a gym, join a church, forgive people who have hurt you.

The most lonely and bitter people are those who refuse to forgive. I have to personally remind myself of that as well. Don’t let unforgiveness steal you from experiencing joy, community and great/healthy friendships this new year!

In 2020, Pursue things that ADD value to your life. Healthy relationships are one of those things.

-

If you are hurting, please reach out for help! My community is mourning loss right now because a 16 year old child felt alone and didn’t know how to process his struggles well.
Bring your struggles to light and receive healing! Everything in the dark always comes to light anyway. Don’t make it too late where you end up hurting others and even yourself.

Also, asking for help and receiving counseling is NOT a sign of weakness, so please take that stigma out of your heads. If you are a Christian, I personally believe that God works and heals through science as well (from personal experience).

Love,

PATIENT ENDURANCE

2 words that have meant so much to me these past few weeks.

Oct. 13-Oldest child diagnosed with Pneumonia
Oct. 23-Finally Finished her antibiotic treatment
Oct. 24-Tick Fire breaks out in our town
Oct. 25-My family has a mandatory evacuation in the morning and displaced from our home.
Oct. 27- Back home safely, but then youngest child and I come down with fevers. School shut down for 1 week for “property remediation and air quality tests.” We also had a high wind/high fire warning for the week too! Basically, things weren’t back to normal yet.
Took my youngest over 3 days to break her fever without meds, I was bed ridden for 2 days, with fever, bad cough, couldn’t work at the school due to closure or for VIP Kid due to illness...but during my Wednesday Sabbath, God reminded me about patient endurance like what Job in the Bible had to go through and what a farmer goes through waiting for his crops to grow. There are seasons of drought, but the farmer never gives up planting. Sometimes, we are not taken out of bad situations, but God promises to be with us through it all.

Today, 11/3- Voice is still not at 100%, but finally unpacking bags from the fires and finally seeing the calm and sun after the storm. God is good ALL the time in the good and the bad.

Patient Endurance is what refines our character and makes us stronger, so don’t give up! I had to live it the last couple of weeks and because my hope is in the Lord, I’ve only come out stronger. -

P.S. Music helps the brain out a lot, as I’ve mentioned in a couple of my posts. 2 songs/hymns that have been a true comfort to me are “ Blessed Assurance” and “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand.”

GENEROSITY (aka giving without expecting anything in return) is linked to brain health.

I have attached a couple of articles that prove this. The first one is from an actual peer reviewed (legit) journal article. It basically means that generosity has a positive effect on brain health. The other one is an easier, less scientific read, but is still legit because it references the first article.

https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Fulltext/2018/10000/Neural_Correlates_of_Giving_Social_Support_.6.aspx

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322940.php

Real Life Application- Tips for being more generous with time and money, which I live out in my own life:

Have a Weekly Sabbath-A Sabbath is basically one day in the week where I shut off my mind and spend time with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I get spiritually, mentally and emotionally filled during this time so that I can pour out and be more generous. 1 day of rest and then 6 days of work. Please see my previous post about Sabbath rest and the article supporting it.

Hard work, Frugal Living and being Debt Free- The goal of financial freedom for me is ultimately to be MORE generous in the present and for our family tree in the future, like leaving an inheritance for children and grandchildren. When you no longer have to pay for purchases in the past (with interest) and are able to look ahead to the future, you are more free to give. Generosity is the most fun I have with money. It’s not the vacations or personal items. That’s just a perk. (Note: If you are a Christian, tithing is NOT giving. It is returning. Even through debt, we are called to tithe. My husband and I lived that out and God always provided more than enough for our NEEDS because of our obedience to tithe. Highlighted Needs, because Need vs. Want is the struggle in our culture.)

Neural Correlates of Giving Social Support: Differences... : Psychosomatic Medicine ated neural regions to giving support in humans and, as a further theoretical test, examine whether the benefits of giving targeted support to single, identifiable individuals in need extend to giving untargeted support to larger societal causes. Methods For study 1 (n = 45, M (SD) age = 21.98 (3.29...

“Research indicates music therapy strikes a chord with patients and care partners.”

Yes, another music post with the benefits of music to brain health. I remember in college when I would be really depressed, I would just go into the piano practice room and play/sing for a couple of hours. Music is one of the ways that literally helped me get through some of my darkest moments. Can you tell I am passionate about it? The type of music we allow into our minds also makes a difference.

Yes, we have control over what we allow into our brains and what we don’t. We can guard our minds the same way we guard our hearts.

Why is brain health and wellness important? Our brains are responsible for so much, not just emotions or behavior, which is a stereotype of psychology. We need to take care of it. To me, the brain is one of the most fascinating organs in the human body. Yes, I’m pretty much a geek in this respect and I own it! 😂

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. -Apostle John in the Bible-3 John 1:11

I will be sharing some ways I’ve been successful in my brain health and wellness journey. If it comes off as bragging, it is NOT my intention or heart to do that. I personally like to learn from people who’ve been successful in life with marriage, money, spiritual life, physical life, etc. and imitate the good, instead of the bad, which is what my mom always taught me. I’m teaching my kids the same thing. There are still a lot of ways that I am learning and growing, so I have definitely not arrived.

DEBT FREEDOM- Debt freedom has honestly contributed to less stress in my life and marriage, therefore being a factor in my brain health and wellness. Because I manage the finances in our household, it’s nice to no longer live paycheck to paycheck. We are able to plan and save for the future, instead of pay back what we owe from the past. We are currently debt free, meaning no credit card debt, student loans, car payments, personal lines of credit, home equity lines of credit, etc. We still have our home mortgage though, which is on a 15 year fixed loan, so it will be paid off by the time I’m 53 yrs old at the latest, if we don’t dump additional payments into it. Here are resources that has helped with that journey, in the order of when I read/came across them.

Books:
Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Love your life not theirs by Rachel Cruze
Beyond Blessed by Pastor Robert Morris

YouTube channels:
Debt Kickin’ Mom
Jordan Page, FunCheapOrFree

WORKING- My last post was about Sabbath rest, but working continues to keep my mind active and being able to contribute to our household finances has helped my brain. The other days when I’m not resting, I am a wife, mom, home manager (in charge of cooking, cleaning, finances), church music director, substitute teacher for our local school district and an ESL teacher for VIP Kid. Some researchers say that inactivity and an idle mind are caused by depression, but I’d like to flip the script and say that depression is caused by inactivity and an idle (lazy) mind.
If you are interested to apply for VIPKid, they are always looking for good teachers for their Chinese students. Here are the requirements:

Requirements:

1. Legal to work in U.S. or Canada
2. Bachelor’s degree AND at least one year of teaching experience.
3. Home computer and very good internet connectivity.

Application Referral Link: https://m.vipkidteachers.com/mkt/landing/personal?referralToken=1058ad7f6165553e83e744ee26458997&refereeId=34212020

THRIVING SUPPLEMENTS: I take supplements which help me wake up at 2:30-3a in the morning for VIPKid and makes me look forward to morning work outs since it makes recovery time quicker! My friend introduced me to this SIMPLE 3 step system which is basically 1 multivitamin, 1 shake and an all day wear patch. That’s it! I also don’t drink coffee because it heightens feelings of anxiety in me, so this has honestly been heaven sent to help me stay healthy, both mentally and physically.

For more info, feel free to check out my website: MichelleGrace7.Le-Vel.com

FULL CIRCLE: Lastly, my mind has been thriving lately and not just surviving, which is my prayer for all of you who are still on a journey toward brain health and wellness.
I attend a Bible based church every Sunday for my spiritual and emotional well being and work out at the gym at least 3 days a week for my physical well being and to keep me mentally strong. (Please see my previous post on benefits of exercise to relieve depression, dated April 7, 2014).

Yay! You made it to the end of this long post. Thank you for reading! I was making up for not posting last week.

Make up to $22/hr Teaching Chinese Children English Welcome to VIPKid! Teach English to children in China, online, on your schedule, and all from home.

Our brains were not designed to work 7 days a week. It was designed to work 6 days and rest 1 day. Having, keeping and protecting a weekly Sabbath has honestly revolutionized my life. My brain functions so much healthier the other 6 days that I work because I shut it off for one day. Science backs this up as well.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508619.2013.837655?scroll=top&needAccess=true

Sabbath Keeping and Its Relationships to Health and Well-Being: A Mediational Analysis (2014). Sabbath Keeping and Its Relationships to Health and Well-Being: A Mediational Analysis. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion: Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 241-256.

If you (or someone else) intends to hurt yourself or someone else, this is not the webpage to go to. For additional support, please call the National Su***de Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255.
In a psychiatric emergency, please call 911.

Although I’ve gone through a journey of walking through my own brain health and wellness and my degree is in Psychology with 6 months completion of graduate course work in Marriage and Family Therapy and 7 years of active work background in Social Work, I am NOT a licensed counselor or psychiatrist.
My full time job right now is being a wife, mother and home manager. My current calling is as a music director at my church and a teacher.

This webpage is based on my own personal journey and maintenance of brain health and wellness. It is intended to offer hope and healing and encouragement that this season does not have to last forever, because it didn’t for me.

Music is one of my ultimate passions. Did you know that playing and/or listening to music improves brain health?

After a 5 year hiatus from this page, I will be posting again soon. Just finished teaching online and need to attend to some family duties. Thanks for liking my page!