LET’S TALK ABOUT GRATITUDE
As I shared recently shared in my Instagram stories this past week, I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for 21 days (a challenge to myself). The 21 days are up and I’ll be continuing this nightly ritual.
Why?
I knew intellectually that opening my mind to seeing the abundance in my life would help to lessen the “scarcity mindset,” which I am certain many of us possess. However, actually regularly doing this practice myself, I now know a true shift in my perspective is occurring. There’s a softening that I feel - in my mind, in my body, and in my spirit.
2. It’s made me a happier person. Yes - not kidding - 21 days and I’m seeing things with less bitterness, and fear, and concern. This is NOT to say what’s happening right now on the planet (#climatecrisis) and the injustices and atrocities occurring in our country aren’t on the forefront of my mind. I can both be happy - my “spirit well” can be full so to speak - and fiercely work on what matters. I think it’s actually making me fiercer and have more clarity to act.
3. It’s bred a whole new practice of following and logging my “generosities” each day. I’m tipping more robustly, giving money to the strangers who seem to need it, and overall finding ways to give more generously.
Do note this is not a bunch of fluff either. Science has shown gratitude rewires your brain in a positive way through neuroplasticity. For example, research has shown gratitude stimulates the hypothalamus (a key part of the brain that regulates stress) and the ventral tegmental area (part of our “reward circuitry”). It also can help to rebalance your limbic system.
What are some other ways to cultivate gratitude other than keeping a gratitude journal? Write (and send if you can!) a thank you note; count your blessings; mentally thank someone who did something nice for you; meditate.
Tell me, how do you practice gratitude? And generosity? How do you feel it affects you as a human and on a larger scale? Would absolutely love to hear your thoughts!! 💚
PODCAST INTERVIEW: THE POWER OF THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
TEACHING THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MEDITATION!
What a joy it’s been to start teaching the neuroscience of meditation for Nalanda Institute’s Meditation Teacher Training at Pure Yoga West. My two other co-instructors Megan Mook and Scott Tusa are truly AMAZING meditation teachers! Looking forward to an awesome next 10 weeks! More to come soon! ♡
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 23: YES TO GOING SLOW
awesome street art in Williamsburg by Mike Makatron
It’s been about a month since my last post. It’s because I’ve been purposely living life more SLOWLY. Summer is a great time to slow down - the weather is hot and humid, the days are long, and co-workers are away on vacation making getting things done take more time. But by slow, I mean easy, relaxed, and leisurely - not languid, sluggish or heavy.
How does one slow down?
DO LESS. Pare down the to-do list to the ESSENTIAL + URGENT items. Leave the others. Disconnect from the e-devices for several hours a day. I loved the New York Times article on JOMO (the JOY of missing out!)
BE PRESENT. Feel the sun on your skin. Notice the gorgeous summer blossoms and foliage around you. Taste the fresh produce that’s bountiful right now.
LISTEN. Focus on listening intently to the person who is talking or the sounds that surround you. Don’t interrupt and don’t give your two cents. Just listen. Hear the birds' predawn chirping. Enjoy the sounds of the trees rustling in the wind. Notice the sounds of the summer rainstorms.
WALK SLOWER. DRIVE SLOWER. MOVE SLOWER. Yes, you need to get it done. What is five extra minutes? Really, ask yourself if getting somewhere faster to save a few minutes is worth the stress. Do a walking meditation. Wander. Meander. Amble.
DAYDREAM. Research continues to emerge showing us that daydreaming is an amazing (ahem, essential) tool to cultivate creativity and new ideas.
PLAY. In the garden. At the park. Board games. While swimming. And laugh.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
How do you slow down? 🐌
Sending positive thoughts and energy to you to make time for some dreamy, quiet hours. You most certainly deserve it.
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 17: YES TO MAKING SPACE FOR TRANSITION
SEASON OF CHANGE
Spring is finally here in NYC, season of transition. An impassioned full moon just passed this Sunday, also bringing to light things that need to be shed so new seeds have room to bud and bloom. Transitions are a wonderful time to evaluate your priorities and how you spend your time.
PRACTICE
My private practice, which I opened in January, is growing! While this is a truly thrilling change, the 1,440 minutes in the day that each and every one of us have aren’t expanding any time soon. As my focus shifts more steadily to patient care and cultivating my practice, I am evaluating my time and finding ways to use it more wisely (time audit!). I am also working on folding more intentional learning into my life.
Starting with my next post, only a small blurb of the weekly Year of Yes blog post will be found on my Instagram page (to pique your curiosity!). The full posting, links and all, will always be here. You can also follow my doctor page on Facebook, where this blog updates weekly!
AWAY
There will be no post next week - I’ll be at the national Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health Member's Meeting and International Congress in Baltimore, Maryland.
FRIDAY
Upon returning, THE YEAR OF YES is switching to FRIDAYS (beginning 5/18).
YOU
During this season of change, I urge you to take stock of your life as well. What are your values and priorities? What is essential to you? What are some things you need to let go? How do you plan to do that? The more we learn what is meaningful to us, and find ways to make space for these activities (or non-activities), the richer and more vibrant our lives become.
Comment below and let me know if you are in the process of any changes, transitions or transformations and how it is going for you! 💚🌺
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 16: YES TO KEEPING PLANTS & FRESH FLOWERS AROUND
Fresh cut tulips on my dining room table.
Dr. Shah’s prescription: treat yourself to some fresh flowers or a house plant!
I'm not sure if I've ever met someone who doesn't like plants or fresh flowers in their home and work environment. Pretty green things not only make pleasant decor, but they seem to be very good for your brain health too. Research is revealing that our brains are hardwired to de-stress and engage in new ways when we're in touch with beautiful natural things. That’s some good news!
A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that spending time in nature or even just looking at nature (yes, on computer screens too, seriously!), can improve our minds, attention spans, creativity, prosocial behavior (such as kindness), and much more. Being in touch with nature seems to also improve mental health, decreasing depression and increasing the sensation of "aliveness."
Walk the Green
Studies have shown that city dwellers have higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living in less urban environments. A great way to mitigate some of this risk is to choose daily paths to and from your destinations that include greenery, such as a park or tree-lined street. In fact, the Japanese have "forest therapy" as part of their medical arsenal to combat stress, and a study shows that walking in forests indeed decreases cardiovascular risk. Forest therapy can include hiking or simply spending quiet, mindful time with nature among trees and foliage.
See the Green
Adding some green to your indoor environment is a good idea too - plants, fresh-cut flowers, and even nature-scene screen savers and computer background images. Taking intermittent breaks and looking out of a window at some greenery is also helpful for your health, and not just because sitting for prolonged periods is harmful for your body (read more about that in a coming blog post). A study looking at college students in Australia doing a computer test showed that providing a single 40-second "microbreak" of an image of a green rooftop between tests improved their performance.
Be the Green
So, schedule your day to include "green breaks," however brief (does your office have a courtyard, terrace, or green roof?). Take a quick walk during lunch. Take a bike ride. Do some gardening. Have an after dinner stroll by some trees. Thinking creatively here is key. But whatever you do, make "being green" part of your health insurance policy! 💚
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 15: YES TO FOLLOWING THE CYCLES OF NATURE
Dark side of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Photo credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Lab at CalTech
We are humans, bound by nature, made by nature, literally made up of the same elements as the entire universe. It’s an astonishing concept, maybe even overwhelming, once your mind starts to open to it. This awareness is also what makes us human. No other animal stares deeply upward into the cosmos to ponder the nature of reality. To feel tethered to the greater reality of what it is to be human on this Earth, and to feel the ebb and flow of our micro-corner of this universe, is simply a necessity for me - and I argue - for all of us.
Biorhythms.
Nature’s rhythms are sometimes hard to feel in the big city. Yes, we have some of the most beautiful dawns and dusks in Brooklyn - and I try to take notice daily. Recognizing the passing of weather patterns and the cycling of seasons are also practical ways to stay connected to the broader, elemental picture of our existence. This is especially true when one lives away from the raw opulence of the countryside or forest or coast.
Moon Phases.
Following our moon’s phases is another expansive, nourishing way to follow these natural cycles. I’ve been following the cycles of the moon for many years now, partially because I was once a part of a shaman group that instilled this valuable practice into me and partially because I’m an astronomy & universe-enthusiast. Each new (dark) moon, such as this past Sunday, and full moon (the next one is 4/29), are marked in my Google calendar. Keeping track reminds me to pause, to step back and observe *where I am* in the space-time continuum we call life.
Intention Setting.
Intention-setting is like planting seeds you want to see grow in your life. Sometimes new seeds need to be planted. Other times, your intention seeds that were previously planted require more watering and sunlight - i.e. *attention* and *energy.* And sometimes, the seeds you planted a while back no longer serve you, and they need to be weeded out - i.e. it's time to *let go.*
On new (dark) moon days, I make a point to re-evaluate my day-to-day existence, even if it’s just for a few minutes. It’s a time for me to contemplate the bigger picture of life, and perhaps plant some new seeds by setting a new intention or two in motion. On full moon days, I take stock of intentions I’ve set, and evaluate what needs to be let go as the moon wanes back to darkness.
An intention may be as simple as a word, or a more complex phrase, sentence, or idea. I'll write in more detail about intention setting in another post, stay tuned!
Ebb and Flow.
As the waves in the sea ebb and flow, so do the moon’s phases. And I’m sure you know, the two are interconnected: the tides of all of our oceans are a result of the moon exerting its gravitational force on these great bodies of sea water. We’re made of water and salt too, in different proportions, sure…
But all of this -- you and me and the moon and the sea -- are parts of the same big, beautiful mystery we call life on planet Earth, within our tiny Solar System, part of the spiral-shaped Milky Way Galaxy, among billions of other galaxies, and so much else we do not yet understand much at all.
Image courtesy of NASA, so much cool stuff to read here.
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 14: YES TO THE CLEAN 15
and NO to the DIRTY DOZEN (think: high toxin burden) . . .
Excellent resource, the EWG
If you’re familiar with the Environmental Working Group, great! If you’re not, the EWG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. Definitely check out their website if you’re not familiar with them - they have lots of great information on everything from safer foods, the health of our tap water, and the harmful contents of beauty products (ewg.org).
Do keep in mind, however, that organic foods and farming, like anything else in life, is a complex issue, and never a black or white affair. Many factory "organic" farms are not as wholesome as they'd like to appear to be. When possible, I still choose locally grown organic foods for the reasons outlined below.
Why choose organic? Non-organic foods are often laden with endocrine disrupting toxins and have been linked to such issues as cancer, autism, ADHD, neurological issues, and pulmonary disease. There are also many other health issues that may be linked to pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that science is only starting to uncover. For example, there are studies exposing the burden of pesticide residue in breast milk.
Take a look at the two lists above. Since purchasing organic is usually more expensive than conventional produce, the CLEAN FIFTEEN and the DIRTY DOZEN are exceptionally helpful resources to help you decide which produce to purchase organic.
Why organic farming? Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring comes to mind when I think about the current state of farming affairs in the U.S. and in many parts of the world today. Organic farming is usually better than current conventional agri-business farming for a number of reasons other than your own health. When done correctly, organic agriculture promotes long-term land and soil sustainability, minimizes water pollution, decreases climate change (by decreasing the use of petrochemical fertilizers & agricides and increasing the sequestration of carbon in the soil), and improves biodiversity (why those summer heirloom tomatoes are so darn tasty.) It’s also safer for those who are working to cultivate the food that gets to your local grocery and onto your plate every day.
What else can you do? Other ways you can help your health and the environment: purchase and eat produce that’s in season, eat less animal-foods and eat more plants, purchase what you can at your local farmer’s market, and join a CSA (community-supported agriculture). You can also take a look here for some safer alternatives to pesticides for insect control. Choosing these options help to remind us that we are all deeply interconnected - with the Earth, seasons, waterways and each other - and that your choices on a day-to-day basis matter.
Safe, healthy food for all
It deeply saddens me that toxin-laden foods are the norm and it seems completely inhumane that safer foods cost more that “conventional” foods. It’s another way in which socio-economic stratification develops in our communities and culture, where those who cannot afford healthier foods are left behind. We can speak with our dollars when we thoughtfully purchase organic foods, regularizing safer food for all. 💚
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
THE YEAR OF YES, EP. 12: YES TO COMBATING SUPERORGANISMS
Superorganisms are not funny, though the band Superorganism (poster above) surely is a good time.
The spread of deadly drug-resistant infections (“superbugs” / "superorganisms") is growing exponentially globally, and it is posing a huge threat. Avoiding taking antibiotics except when absolutely necessary is a big step that you can take to help combat this major problem.
Working in an urgent care facility a while back, I was privy to the rampant use of antibiotics to treat infections that are usually not bacterial or don’t necessarily require antibiotics, i.e. bronchitis, many sore throats, colds, flus, sinusitis, ear infections, pink eye …
Patients were requesting them at breakneck speed, and urgent care physicians, eager to please, rarely said no. On the other end of the spectrum, all of my time at Columbia University Medical Center / New York-Presbyterian Hospital has been hopeful, where fostering “antibiotic stewardship” is the norm - a set of coordinated strategies to improve the use of antimicrobial medications with the goal of enhancing patient health outcomes and reducing resistance to antibiotics (and preventing superfluous health care spending).
When you use antibiotics unnecessarily, in addition to promoting bacterial infections that can’t be treated in the future for both you but also millions of others, you are also completely altering your microbiome, both in your gut and otherwise. That is, you’re killing off good bacteria in your intestines that are necessary for all sorts of important functions as well as in other parts of your body (ahem, think about such distressing things as yeast infections).
I have seen some horrific infections in the hospital in my day, and still commonly do when I'm working on the hospital wards. These are infections where patients may be required to stay in healthcare facilities for months at a time. Physicians like me have to don impervious spacesuit-like gowns, hoping to avoid being colonized by scary bacteria such as resistant Staph aureus, Enterococcus, and C. diff. Then there are things like resistant strains of gonorrhea... enough said.
So the next time you’re sick, if you and your physician or health care provider decide together that you require antibiotics, make sure you’re taking them for a very specific reason. Educate yourself. Ask questions. Check out the CDC's website to find some great patient information to learn more about the basics.
And, if you’d like to go more in depth, take a look at this great New York Times article, this Telegraph UK article, and this interesting Consumer Reports article.
Not to fear monger, but this is no joke...
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.