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I am missing my family reunion. Living so far away means that it is tough to make it to this family function. I have some wonderful memories of family reunions. The games that we would play. The prizes that were given out. The laughs that we would have, and the food. The awesome, glorious, delicious potluck that would follow.

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Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Family Reunion Month:

Family reunions can be a cherished tradition. But being around your family or going back to the town in which you grew up can stir up implicit memories that can automatically trigger feelings we felt in our past. No matter how mature we feel, memories of our 10 or 15-year-old selves can cause us to act like we did when we were 10 or 15.

If we fail to recognize how we are affected by old emotions and negative early experiences, we run the risk of projecting our past onto our present interactions and relationships.

So all of this is to say that family reunions can be fun and a point of real connection, but be aware that there is the potential for past memories and experiences to interfere with this enjoyment. Being aware of your triggers and emotions is the first step in being present and just enjoying the moment for what it really is…a chance to create a new memory.

If you like today’s wellness tips, let me know. You can leave me a review on amazon or through your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line resiliency test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

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You remember those times…You had one hour to get to the airport, and you find yourself still stressing out about what clothes to pack and where you’ve hidden the sunscreen.

Though we may not be able to go on vacation right now, it may be the perfect time to plan what you would like to do for your next vacation.

Time away from work is needed to restore our resiliency. Vacations were meant to be rejuvenating, but sometimes our expectations around having the perfect vacation lead to further stress.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Vanquishing Vacation Stress Month:

Even researching and daydreaming about your next vacation can be good for your mental health, so look at pictures, and explore the possibilities for when the time is right.

Remember that there is no such thing as the perfect vacation, so stay flexible in your thinking.

When you get a chance to actually go on vacation, choose your activities wisely. Choose activities that meet with your particular goals. Is your vacation for relaxation, celebration or relationship renewal?

Plan to ease into and out of vacation mode. There is nothing worse than returning from a vacation saying you need a vacation from your vacation.

Finally, take the time to breathe deeply, laugh and nurture your soul now. You don’t have to wait for your vacation to spend time on protecting your mental health.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line vulnerability test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

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Gone are the days that some well-meaning teacher would take their knuckle and drive it into the middle of your back and tell you to sit up straight.

The Chiropractic Association has found that even young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previous generations. Though a major cause of back and neck pain is kids and their backpacks, it is also our overall poor posture.

Hours of computer slouching, hunching over while texting and laying around as a couch potato have serious repercussions on our posture.

The good news: there are easy things people can do to Reduce Your Stress By Correcting Your Posture.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! So Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Correct Posture Month:

Practice the wall stand.

Back up to a wall so your heels, buttocks, shoulders and head all lightly touch the wall while you keep everything level, relaxed and aligned– and take 3 slow breaths, feeling your body’s best posture.

Shoes matter.

For women, there is no such thing as a good high heel for your posture. Trade in the stilettos for a shoe that gives you the proper support.

It is critical to understand that the body impacts the mind. Standing up straight and walking tall will help you to think and feel better. Reduce Your Stress By Correcting Your Posture and remaining calm, more relaxed, and more physically and mentally healthy.

Discover how to take small steps towards a healthier, happier, less-stressed you by visiting my website at worksmartlivesmart.com

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We are what we eat. And what we eat can impact our mood and our ability to cope.

Deficiencies in vitamins C, and A, can have a negative impact on the body’s production of neurotransmitters, which directly affect our mood and energy…Not to mention digestive ailments, as well as increasing your risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! So Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day:

The Heart Association recommends filling at least half your plate with fruits and veggies in order to make it to the recommended 4 ½ cups of each per day.

Include more color. The best way to get all the various nutrients is to eat fruits and vegetables from the five main color groups. Can you name these groups?

Red and Pink such as beets, Blue and Purple like blueberries, Yellow and Oranges like squash, Green like Brussel sprouts, and White and Brown like bananas and cauliflower.

Finally, have healthy fruits and vegetables readily available. Plan ahead and keep them cut up in your fridge, in a container in your desk drawer, or even in the glove box of your car for when you are travelling.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app.

Looking for more ways to build your resiliency? Take my free on-line vulnerability test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

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National Employee Health & Fitness Day was created to promote the benefits of physical activity for individuals through their work site health promotion activities.

There are two types of fitness:

Performance-related fitness - Linked to athletic performance and is tied to speed, reaction time, and coordination.

And Health-related fitness - Linked to fitness components that may lower risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or low back pain.

Health-related physical fitness includes:

Aerobic fitness – which is the ability of the heart and lungs to deliver blood to muscles

Muscular strength and endurance – enough to do normal activities easily and protect the low back

Flexibility – which is the ability to move your many joints through their proper range of motion

Body composition – not too much body fat, especially around the waist.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! So Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Promoting National Employee Health And Fitness Month:

As an employer provide and promote opportunities for fitness:

• help employees to measure and track their fitness level
• co-ordinate lunch hour walking or running groups
• offer off-site fitness center discounts
• encourage sport team participation
• sponsor step by step challenges
• promote community fitness groups
• and reward fitness involvement

As an individual find an activity that you can get excited about.

With our busy lifestyles it is important that we make the time to take care of ourselves. Make the commitment to do one thing to increase your health-related fitness.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app.

Looking for resources to build your healthy workplace’ Check out my top 10 tips under Resources and Courses at worksmartlivesmart.com

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They are true heroes in our public healthcare system. They save lives daily in communities across Canada, US and around the world.

At some point, many of us may need to rely on the skill and abilities of these EMS workers.

However, our EMS workers are at risk.

Funding cuts to healthcare have resulted in increased workloads. They deal with shift-work stress and burnout. And they are at great risk for PTSD.

When extremely difficult and life-threatening situations are mixed with common everyday stressors, it can be hard to effectively cope.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency So Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Emergency Medical Services Week:

While EMS workers are trained to care for others, when it comes to their own well-being, the training may be lacking.

• If you are an EMS worker, loss of sleep, and not eating on a regular schedule can push you over the edge. Be very focused on ensuring that these basic needs are taken care of.
• Find ways to vent and talk through highly emotional calls. It is tough to manage when you can’t share these situations with your family and friends who are our usual natural supporters, so it is important to make use of colleagues and other workplace resources to manage this stress.

And finally, to combat burnout, focus on an attitude of gratitude, and increasing your awareness of the positive aspects of your life.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app.

For more information on coping with mental health issues, sign up for one of my on-line courses at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

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What are the first words that come to mind when you think about Schizophrenia?

Some of those may include: crazy, psycho, or dangerous.

Often, someone with schizophrenia is portrayed in the media and through film and television as dangerous or violent, however, this is not the case. A person who is affected by schizophrenia is not more dangerous than anyone else

Most of us are not really aware of what Schizophrenia all entails.

Schizophrenia is an example of a thought disorder, characterized by a history of acute psychosis and chronic deterioration of functioning, and affecting thinking, perception, mood and behaviour.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! So Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Schizophrenia Awareness Week:

There are still many misconceptions about schizophrenia, and it continues to be a mental health challenge that is rarely spoken about.

These misconceptions lead to further stigma, prejudice and discrimination.

Stigma is perhaps the biggest barrier to mental health care. This stigma can prevent people from getting hired, promoted or keeping a job, getting proper health care, feeling loved, needed and accepted, contributing to communities or feeling productive.

Find ways to

• Educate yourself about all mental health challenges and issues
• Foster a healthy workplace environment
• Emphasize abilities, not limitations

It is everyone's responsibility to reduce the stigma, prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illness. Education and understanding are key.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app. For more information on coping with mental health issues, sign up for one of my on-line courses at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab.

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I found it very hard and often stressful staying connected to family and friends. Our lives were too busy and setting up time to connect seemed like a major exercise in the calendar shuffle.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to visit with them, it was just that there never seemed to be enough time to do it all. Now we are physically distancing and I would so love to be visiting, even though I am still just as busy.

I loved visiting my grandma, especially when we would just sit and play cards for a while. I can still remember the family reunions at the local community center with everyone sitting out on the grass, playing baseball and eating all that amazing food that was set out on the picnic tables, or our Christmases where Santa would come to surprise everyone with a gift or two.

Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency! Here are today’s Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Visit Your Relatives Day:

Family and friends can provide the support system needed to get us through these hardest of times.

Visit Your Relatives Day was intended to give us the opportunity to get closer to our relatives, stay connected to family and friends, and to strengthen family ties and relationships. It is still a good day to consider how you are keeping these special connections strong during this time.

Even though you can’t go and visit them, research suggests that even just viewing photos of family members prompts brain activity that can positively affect how you feel about them and even yourself.

Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app.

Don’t forget that you can find more tips for coping with mental health issues, by checking out my Live Smart blog at worksmartlivesmart.com

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