Nancy Mramor-Kajuth's Blog, page 6
July 21, 2017
The Creators of Media: What Were They Thinking and How Does Media Change Your Thinking?
There are two people who are credited with the foundations of media. One is an inventor and the other a philosopher. But before you click your remote one more time, let me tell you that media is one of the top three things that shape your life!
Top Ten Tips for Conscious Media
First, media was invented! Philo T. Farnsworth introduced television to the world around 1938, with the hope that it would be a tool for education and a means for people in other countries to connect. And it did – and it has! And it has expanded so far beyond his original vision for media that he might not recognize the reality of media today. Did you see the movie, Forever Young? Mel Gibson is frozen and wakes up 53 years later to see Suzanne Sommers using the thigh master and Ronald Reagan as president.
Then, in the 1960s, early in TV history, Marshall McLuhan wrote about the power of the media to influence people, telling us that we become what we observe. He warned of media’s all-consuming effect, of TV especially, how it bound people without real participation. His over-used and often misunderstood phrase, “the media is the message” became a part of pop culture and has been with us since the 60’s. He considered electric media an extension of ourselves, and without any awareness that there would be an Internet, it has played out on smart phones, ipads, Instagram and social media. He even appeared in a 1977 Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, talking about his theories. McLuhan’s early work inspired the magazine, Wired, a publication about everything techy. I have it in my office waiting room because it is so requested!
His consideration of the media and its effects on us played out in later research on the power of TV to educate. Albert Bandura’s theories of learning explained why the models with which you surround yourself could be a source of either good or harm. He proposed that you become involved in the emotions of the characters you watch and develop a desire to model yourself after them. How does this work?
After the significant people in your life, such as parents and teachers, and peers, media takes the next place as an influencer in your life. And that may be fine, but it may not be, so viewing consciously is a simple solution to managing the influence of TV, movies, magazines, social media, billboards, video games and the Internet.
Statistics from 2009 indicate that Americans average four hours and forty-nine minutes of TV watching a day. If you watch the morning and evening news each day for an hour each time, that is close to half of the national average. Add in a couple favorite shows, and you are there! And now basic cable television networks compete with Hulu, Amazon, and others that support McLuhan’s idea that media takes new shapes and suppresses the old ones, never letting go until the whole of media is a new idea.
So decide how media will affect you; become a conscious viewer. My most recent award-winning publication, Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life shows how to recognize the messages and the spins of fictional and non-fictional characters. And why would you want to step back from all forms of media to see the spin? Because they change you, your ideas, thoughts, self-esteem and goals, while educating you and entertaining you. And when you are the one in charge of your brain, you have the power to change the world!
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Who is Marshall McLuhan and Why are We Celebrating His Birthday?
Click here to learn more.
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March 6, 2017
Is YouTube a Good Idea for Toddlers?
Originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times reporter David Pierson and I looked at why preschoolers like YouTube and whether it is good for them. And it is hard to avoid. While TV time can be limited, if your youngster has an iPad, then they have access to TV through YouTube all the time. Those who have never seen TV may be familiar with Hannah Montana in any case.
“The family and learning space is incredibly important to YouTube and one that is continuing to grow,” said Malik Ducard, YouTube’s global head of family and learning. And a quick review of the YouTube toddlers’ options proved that the same preschool shows that are available on TV are also on YouTube. Kids can meet Big Bird on Sesame Street.
Kids used to put on a cape and play Superman around the house. Now they’re pretending to be someone they know from YouTube. They’re learning how to be kids from the kids they watch. We discussed how pediatricians have for years recommended no more than two hours of screen time per day for children older than two. But it is no longer so easy to regulate because of the reality that kids use tablets and phones much more. It’s a delicate subject that requires more research given how new the technology is. “Still, experts say too much screen time can over-stimulate children and make them disengaged from the real world, not unlike TV.” says Pierson.
If kids have fun with their screens, that’s great. But they also need to ride a bike, swim and learn to solve problems with their Legos.
To read the entire article at the Los Angeles Times click here.
The post Is YouTube a Good Idea for Toddlers? appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
February 11, 2017
Hypnosis for Health: Why Doctor’s Health Orders Aren’t Always Followed and How They Can Be
Originally appeared in Self Magazine 2017
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Doctors know that if they tell patients that being overweight is dangerous for their health, it has little or no impact on habit change. But why? Because they are speaking directly to the conscious mind. The subconscious is where the decisions are made! And the reason hypnosis works to create change is that it talks directly to the subconscious.
But what is hypnosis?
When a hypnotherapist works with you, you will become deeply relaxed by the way that the therapist speaks to you, the words and word patterns that they use and the types of language that they use. The words induce a state of relaxation in which the brain waves are slower than normal, the attention is hyper-focused and peripheral stimuli are out of the awareness. In this state, you are much more able to accept new ideas, become empowered and resourceful and accept suggestions that fuel your life.
One of the many things that doctors often suggest are increasing exercise and changing your diet. If you choose to include hypnosis in your health regimen, you may achieve greater success and there are several ways to change dietary habits with hypnosis. Some include:
Pattern interruption, in which an individual is encouraged during hypnosis to interrupt a pattern that causes overeating, such as coming home from work and crashing on the couch, eating too much socially or eating too many sweets. When you discover the beginning of the pattern and interrupt it at the start it is most effective. So you would use language and visualization during a hypnosis session that involves choosing a new or different pattern and the client would see the new pattern becoming stronger over time.
Pleasure centers in the brain are at work in preventing dieters from being successful because they cause a desire for things that were pleasurable in the past. Anchoring is also responsible for the happy memories around food. The positive association with food is anchored to the food. The association can be changed as all associations can; since they are learned, they can be unlearned. So you could set new positive anchors for food during a hypnosis session, such as associations with how good you feel when eating well, and even use aversion to associate the feeling of the food hangover with overeating.
Another hypnotic technique is called choice. Once reminded in hypnosis that they have a choice every time there is an opportunity to eat or not eat, eat healthy or make poor choices, eat too much or just enough, the mind remembers when in eating situations. Without this reminder, the old habits and patterns automatically rule eating. Once the mind is empowered, you realize that you can choose at any given moment.
And all the methods are “paced,” during hypnosis, into the future so that you see the positive patterns becoming stronger over time!
Can you think about one of these three ideas and how you might begin to Use it now?
I generally only perform hypnosis as part of a treatment plan that also includes other methods like cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR or N.E.T. The best candidates for hypnosis are people who are making progress in life or in therapy but are having trouble incorporating their insights into their everyday behaviors. Some good advice is to explore hypnosis with a psychotherapist, or hypnotherapist with university training in social work, counseling or psychology because deep-seated issues could come up during the process that may require a therapist to unravel. But if you choose to try hypnosis, be sure to work with a highly qualified person in an individual setting. And you may achieve your goals much more easily and painlessly!
The post Hypnosis for Health: Why Doctor’s Health Orders Aren’t Always Followed and How They Can Be appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
December 12, 2016
3 Ways to Help Children Feel Safe in A Changing World with Dr. Nancy and Huffington Post
Helping Our Children Feel Safe in a Changing World.
What they learn about the world comes largely through media. So…
Watch news with your children and help them understand what they are seeing. Create awareness of how events are presented and what they mean.
Teach children about political bias and how it works. Children who view media with parents, and even teachers, have a much greater understanding of what is presented. http://drnancyonline.com/political-bias-why-to-avoid-it-and-how-you-can/
Try to help your children keep an open mind about media news and become conscious viewers! The topic of viewing media consciously is addressed in Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life. http://drnancyonline.com/product/get-reel-produce-life/
How they are affected is implied by the attitudes of those around them.
Help them to handle discussions and even arguments with peers. Most schools have class elections to help children understand the voting process so this is an opportunity to talk about the discussions that these elections stir. Discuss listening respectfully and responding respectfully in discussions.
Be careful what you say around your children. It is not unusual for children to repeat things such as, “My daddy said that if you vote for ______ that you are crazy,” or “That appointee is going to take away our clean water.” Fear of things that might happen can be avoided by taking care with what you say.
Actual effects of unrest involve change, which can be very difficult for children.
The affects of change may be very indirect or very direct for children. Both types of change can have different effects on children involving challenging their feelings of safety and security. Safety and security that is doubly and directly threatened by problems in children’s own neighborhoods and families may result in anxiety, acting out, school phobia, sleep issues, nightmares and other phobias. Watch for such symptoms and seek help for children who are showing signs and symptoms. Go to the Psychology Today Directory: https://therapists.psychologytoday.com
Directly, as a part of the baby boomer generation, I recall keeping a bomb shelter in the basement and having bomb drills at school. Now children have lock-down drills in the event of shooters. Schools in my own city were on lock-down just last week, due to a shooter on the loose. Students who are under going personal change such as a divorce, death in the family, parental loss of a job or a move are much more likely to have their feelings of safety shaken by lock-down drills, threats of losing their health insurance, or parents job security. School counselors offer individual and group counseling for children under stress and there are community resources for grieving children.
Indirectly, children will hear that others are affected by current events and can develop fears that such things will happen to them that may be rational or irrational. Help them to know the difference.
Finally and mot important, give your children the greatest degree of safety and security that you can, but be realistic. Don’t tell them that nothing bad will ever happen to them, but let them know what they can count on and what they can’t and what you can do to keep them safe in an ever-changing world. Let them know that they are resourceful.
Additional Thoughts on How Parents can help themselves:
Self-care, get help if you are under distress, use relaxation techniques, address your own fears and concerns, so you can be available for your children
Never compromise your morals or values and ask children to do the same. Be who you are and watch role models who will exemplify how to be kind and moral.
Join me at Huffington Post with other experts to learn how to Keep Children Safe.
The post 3 Ways to Help Children Feel Safe in A Changing World with Dr. Nancy and Huffington Post appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
3 Ways to Help Children Feel Safe in A Changing World with Dr. Nancy and Huffington Post, Fresh Habit for the New Year and Facing Health Challenges
Helping Our Children Feel Safe in a Changing World.
What they learn about the world comes largely through media. So…
Watch news with your children and help them understand what they are seeing. Create awareness of how events are presented and what they mean.
Teach children about political bias and how it works. Children who view media with parents, and even teachers, have a much greater understanding of what is presented. http://drnancyonline.com/political-bias-why-to-avoid-it-and-how-you-can/
Try to help your children keep an open mind about media news and become conscious viewers! The topic of viewing media consciously is addressed in Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life. http://drnancyonline.com/product/get-reel-produce-life/
How they are affected is implied by the attitudes of those around them.
Help them to handle discussions and even arguments with peers. Most schools have class elections to help children understand the voting process so this is an opportunity to talk about the discussions that these elections stir. Discuss listening respectfully and responding respectfully in discussions.
Be careful what you say around your children. It is not unusual for children to repeat things such as, “My daddy said that if you vote for ______ that you are crazy,” or “That appointee is going to take away our clean water.” Fear of things that might happen can be avoided by taking care with what you say.
Actual effects of unrest involve change, which can be very difficult for children.
The affects of change may be very indirect or very direct for children. Both types of change can have different effects on children involving challenging their feelings of safety and security. Safety and security that is doubly and directly threatened by problems in children’s own neighborhoods and families may result in anxiety, acting out, school phobia, sleep issues, nightmares and other phobias. Watch for such symptoms and seek help for children who are showing signs and symptoms. Go to the Psychology Today Directory: https://therapists.psychologytoday.com
Directly, as a part of the baby boomer generation, I recall keeping a bomb shelter in the basement and having bomb drills at school. Now children have lock-down drills in the event of shooters. Schools in my own city were on lock-down just last week, due to a shooter on the loose. Students who are under going personal change such as a divorce, death in the family, parental loss of a job or a move are much more likely to have their feelings of safety shaken by lock-down drills, threats of losing their health insurance, or parents job security. School counselors offer individual and group counseling for children under stress and there are community resources for grieving children.
Indirectly, children will hear that others are affected by current events and can develop fears that such things will happen to them that may be rational or irrational. Help them to know the difference.
Finally and mot important, give your children the greatest degree of safety and security that you can, but be realistic. Don’t tell them that nothing bad will ever happen to them, but let them know what they can count on and what they can’t and what you can do to keep them safe in an ever-changing world. Let them know that they are resourceful.
Additional Thoughts on How Parents can help themselves:
Self-care, get help if you are under distress, use relaxation techniques, address your own fears and concerns, so you can be available for your children
Never compromise your morals or values and ask children to do the same. Be who you are and watch role models who will exemplify how to be kind and moral.
Join me at Huffington Post with other experts to learn how to Keep Children Safe.
The post 3 Ways to Help Children Feel Safe in A Changing World with Dr. Nancy and Huffington Post, Fresh Habit for the New Year and Facing Health Challenges appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
November 18, 2016
How To Avoid Weight Gain During the Holidays: A different perspective
Originally presented at Chautauqua Institution
You have lots of great experts who can tell you how to attend parties without overeating and what to substitute for high fat foods at family dinners. But what is the psychology of overeating and how can you make it work for you.
Q – What do we know about gaining holiday weight?
Your brain remembers the joys of eating certain things at the holidays that recall good times associated with food.
You are likely to eat 92% of what is on your plate regardless of portion size and you have more food to choose from during the holidays.
We know that when you socialize while eating, either at a restaurant or at home with family, that you will all be much more likely to eat more. The social factor creates more eating
If you are at home during the holidays, you will be influenced to eat things you see advertised on TV and the shopping channels as well as other foods because your appetite has been aroused!
How can you have a healthy holiday for you and your family?
Change eating routines, patterns and favorite dishes to confuse the brain away from craving too much of the usual foods. So if chocolate chip cookies are the ones everyone eats too much of, mix them up on a tray with some healthier snacks. Or introduce foods that support a family member with a restricted diet. Make a meal that is sugar free or gluten free for example. The more you can change patterns, the more you can retrain the brain.
The post How To Avoid Weight Gain During the Holidays: A different perspective appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
October 10, 2016
Political Bias: Why To Avoid it and How You Can
First, let me start out by saying that this article contains no bias. Second, I will venture to say that those who read it may find it biased in one direction or another. Third, I would ask you to notice that while there was no intentional bias, that your perception of bias is something that may alert you to your “perceptual filter.” It is that filter that hears things in a certain way, based on your ideas and experiences that is different than how is is actually said or meant. And it drives your life.
Informal experiments have been used to find out whether an idea is considered a positive one or not by telling an experimental group an idea and then attributing it to either a popular media figure or an unpopular one. The ideas tended not to be judged on their merit but on the person presenting the idea. Since the process was a fictional one, evidence of the perceptual filter came to light fairly easily, and without a lot of investment on the part of the participants.
But the current issues aren’t light or fictional. We are engaged in a struggle between two very different factions in our country that have been fighting, as some would say, like cats and dogs. There is even a cat running for president. So far, Lucy is winning paws down, due to her past record as mayor of Rabbit Hash, KY. These two are such a topic of conversation that Kellie Gormley contacted me from the Washington Posts for a comment! So much for comic relief.
Truth is, that when you hear, report, summarize, read about or discuss the news, you have a point of view. It may possibly be less biased if you are an independent but think of point of view as a continuum, that ranges from left to right, and think about where you would place yourself on that continuum. Would you be near the middle, close enough to support one party while still being centric enough to be able to hear the other? Or are you further along on the continuum, with both feet firmly planted away from center and more to an extreme on the continuum? While it sometimes takes extremes to create change in a culture, it is also true that when you are standing too far away from anything, you have a difficult time seeing it.
In this excerpt from my latest book, Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life, you can see how this works:
“The proliferation of individual programs that address politics, offers a full gamut of points of view. Who am I to say that they express views rather than facts without stories or bias? Just a conscious viewer who many years ago noted a journalist praising political party A that was celebrating the approval of a bill, while suggesting that political party B’s comments on the events were creating “headaches for Washington.” I think I heard opinions, biases and a suggestion that freedom of speech caused a “headache.” Maybe it does, but it seems there is some opinion.
“Why is the truth so widely interpreted? Because of the stories we attach to what happens. The story forms based on your experience and perception of a country’s political viewpoint and events in history, as well as the interpretation of history that you have been given. The story, not the event, becomes what really happened.”
7 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO CREATE AWARENESS OF POLITICAL BIAS
What is one political point of view that I believe to be true? 2. What would be true if I were wrong?
What would be true if I were right?
Who would be affected if I were wrong?
What would happen if I took a different view?
What would happen if I took no particular viewpoint at all and just decided to experience the issue at each and every moment?
How did you feel doing this exercise?
List the emotions you felt doing the quiz.
Were you angry, confused, interested, able to see another point of view or annoyed, critical and unable to see another point of view, etc.?
However you approached it and whatever you experienced, ask yourself if this is your usual approach to life. Do unexpected challenges make you curious? Angry? Adventurous? Miffed? It may be a pattern that can help you to see your response to having your bias challenged. It may even be how one of the ways that you respond to life events.
And then try one of Get Reel’s 10 C’s for Conscious Living:
C -CONSCIOUSLY watch the news and other programs. Are there any underlying political messages in the show? Or are they doing a great job of telling it like it is. If they are doing a good job, tell them so. E-mail or write and let them know. They work hard and they deserve it!
“Ask Dr. Nancy” to speak for your group or organization.
http://drnancyonline.com/lectures-workshops-webinars-and-courses/
The post Political Bias: Why To Avoid it and How You Can appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
August 9, 2016
Get Your 32 Page Guide: Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets for You and Your Family
Today you can download a 32 page ebook full of health and happiness ideas to use right now!
It is a compilation of years of experience, education, research, work with major publications, organizations and media outlets dedicated to creating a more conscious life for you. As I was creating Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets for You and Your Family I wanted to give you options for health and happiness to begin right now, and to have the opportunity to take your conscious living to the next level. And so Amazing Secrets includes:
Food and Health: New Findings
Ridiculously Simple Ways to Be Happier
Stress, Technology and Time: Ways to Decompress
Loving Yourself: What To Do Next
Relationships, Couples, Kids & iPhones
Bullying At Work and School: A Trend that Must End
Special Advice for Back to School & Work
Including Bullying, Relocating, Test Anxiety,
Special Tips from Dr. Jo Anne White
Click here To get your copy today!
Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets is a perfect companion book to my most recent award-winning book Get Reel, Produce Your Own Life®.
I wrote Get Reel as an entertaining, fun guide book that shows just how you are influenced by all of the media in your life, from your iPhone, to your TV and even from magazines and how it can be a really good thing for you or not.
There is a powerful positive potential of TV, Internet, social networking, movies and magazines to educate and entertain you.But there can be subliminal influence on your beliefs from smart marketers who want to influence you to keep buying, viewing and consuming. You can discover the influence of media on your relationships, success, mind, heart and self-esteem, and learn how to take what is positive for you and release the rest. You may desire to emerge from any false beliefs that you have subliminally absorbed so that you can consciously live from your deepest values in every moment in your life. If you want to….
Achieve mental freedom from old worn out ideas and live from empowered self-acceptance,
Emerge from stuck places in your life into the healthiest and happiest ones,
Have the awareness of how to live from your values at every moment, authentically creating the life your want,
Imagine setting and reaching goals that stem from your true purpose.
Then Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life ® is for you. Learn More
It is my wish for you that you will take this opportunity to get the ebook and if you want to move to the next step, a copy of Get Reel as the perfect pair for Real Conscious Living.
The post Get Your 32 Page Guide: Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets for You and Your Family appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
Get Your Free 32 Page Guide: Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets for You and Your Family
Today you can download a free 32 page ebook full of health and happiness ideas to use right now! It is a compilation of years of experience, education, research, work with major publications, organizations and media outlets dedicated to creating a more conscious life for you. And you can download your free copy today in […]
The post Get Your Free 32 Page Guide: Amazing Health and Happiness Secrets for You and Your Family appeared first on Real Conscious Living.
June 14, 2016
Latest Findings on Creating Happiness from Real Conscious Living
Are You Sabotaging Your Own Happiness?
Does Social Media Rob You of Your Happiness? New Research
Does Money Buy Happiness? It just might!
How Does Body Image Cause Happiness?
Are You Sabotaging Your Own Happiness?
Stop waiting to reach all of your goals, make lots of money, be healthier or have more friends! What is the truth is in the small things that you do every day? Science tells us that it’s your daily habits from your morning ritual to your daily coffee break that will make or break your smile!
Habits structure our daily lives and define how we feel. So unhealthy habits such as fast-food drive through break or a ___ will prompt a swing away from good feelings. When your values and your goals are supported by your habits, you will simply be happier! Here are a few ways to create healthy habits that I shared with Kerrie Lee Brown at Canada’s Glow Magazine and many more ideas from the research to help you create happiness.
Start Small and expect short-term results. Research from Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab reports that starting small and slowly build your motivation, without grand expectations, you will be more likely to succeed. So if you are just starting, you can get your thirty minutes of walking a day into three ten minute bouts, according to Health Canada.
Stay Positive and calm by asking yourself what will make you happy, and deciding on the moment, if each choice will lead you toward your happiness. If you are struggling, do something to break the old habit: smile, take a deep breath, make a more toward your happy choice, change your activity for 10 minutes, go outside and appreciate the beauty of the outdoors.
We know that exercise makes you happier and more creative by changing the brain, but the exercise works best when it takes you away from daily stress and is fun, like an exercise class with friends. Remember how much fun you had with even unplanned physical activity when you were a kid, says John Stanton, CEO of The Running Room.
Does Social Media Rob You of Your Happiness? New Research
According to a January 2016 issue of Depression and Anxiety, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that depression is more common with the highest users of social media, among young adults aged 19-32. Heavy users of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others were more likely to be depressed compared with those who used social media the least.Another study from the University of Pennsylvania and Brigham Young University found that “technoference,” everyday intrusions and interruptions from technology, have an effect on relationships. Women in relationships reported that technoference from phones, computers and TV caused conflict in the relationship, lower relationship satisfaction, and causing more depressive symptoms. By allowing technology to interfere with conversations or time spent with a partner, even briefly or unintentionally, an implicit message about what they value most may lead to conflict and negative outcomes.
Does Money Buy Happiness? It just might!
A study at Cambridge University in collaboration with a United Kingdom bank looked at surveys on life satisfaction in comparison with their bank transactions. They found that people spent more money on things that match who they are; for example extroverts spend more on nights out on the town and report higher satisfaction. When you buy products that most closely match your personality, you may feel more life satisfaction, according to the study reported in Psychological Science this spring.
How Does Body Image Cause Happiness?
Forty-two % of first to third grade girls want to be thinner, eighty-one % of ten year olds are afraid of being fat, and forty-six % of nine to eleven year olds are sometimes or often on diets, along with their families who are on diets 82% of the time, according to the National Eating Disorders website as reported by Connie Schultz from Creators Syndicate, in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. In America, elementary school girls who read magazines reported that the pictures influence their body image, causing them to want to lose weight.
However, as reported in Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life, black women show less internalization of media ideals of body image. They showed less “wishful identification” with a favorite media personality, according to a University of Michigan study. Self-acceptance and a realistic approach to setting goals, as noted in the Glow Magazine article may be the answer to too much exposure to unrealistic ideals
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