Hollye Jacobs's Blog, page 5

The Power of a Lunar Eclipse

The Power of a Lunar Eclipse

Last weekend, we had a Lunar Eclispe. Did you see it?  I actually didn’t, but I sure as s**t felt it. Boy oh boy.  It was as if something completely and totally shifted in me.  I couldn’t put my exact finger on it, but the Silver Lining was that a dear girlfriend brought everything into focus.  She shared some information from astrologer Janet Kane that was absolutely illuminating and super amazingly interesting.

The Lunar Eclipse gives us opportunities to break out of our current cycles and move on to a different level.  A Lunar Eclipse can make us more aware of our cycles and patterns, and our unconscious motivations. They can bring up old memories and feelings.  As a full Moon, a Lunar Eclipse tends to bring completion or endings. On a Lunar Eclipse something will end and on a Solar Eclipse something will begin. A Lunar Eclipse is an opportunity to break habits or eliminate socially conditioned patterns of thought and behavior that stand in the way of self-realization.

Full moon eclipses can bring things to completion that you have been working on. You can finally make decisions about issues that you have been thinking about. The Sun opposite the Moon, lights up the Moon and brings previously unexamined areas of your life into awareness.  Lunar Eclipses are more emotional than Solar Eclipses.  Because a Lunar Eclipse only happens on a full moon, two houses in your natal chart will be affected.  

This is a time of letting go of old emotional habit patterns and letting go of the people that you have become dependent on. This Eclipse affects two signs; Aries and Libra.  The sign of Aries rules initiating projects, but Aries can leave projects half done, eager to go on to the next thing.  This eclipse can stir up a lot of energy which can turn into stress if it is not used in a positive way such as exercise or hard physical work.  The Libra half of this aspect rules peace and is looking for balance.  So this eclipse is all about peace versus war.  Libra can see both sides of a situation and is looking for balance.  Also Aries rules the self and Libra rules other people.  How much energy are you giving to others and depleting yourself?  Or how concentrated are you on yourself and neglecting others?

Though I don’t understand quite all of this (e.g., “natal chart”), the truth of the matter is that since the beginning of the year I have been feeling big – as in MA.JOR – shifts happening, the results of which have been on letting go of old habit patterns and clutter.  It has been really challenging, but there is something about naming it that makes me feel so much better and purposeful.

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

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3 Words to Help Retrain Your Brain

3 Words to Help Retrain Your Brain

“I DON”T KNOW.” Yepper, that’s it! Those are the 3 magic words to literally retrain your brain. Sound fishy?  Well, Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, authors of Think Like A Freak, both argue that people in today’s society are overly confident about what they think they know. These authors recommend trying a different way of thinking in order to effectively make better decisions and solve more problems.

To be honest, I wasn’t all that convinced when I first read about the topic of their latest book.  However, when The Daily Good posted a video of Dubner being interviewed by Wharton management professor, Adam M. Grant, I decided to give the 3 magic words a shot.

Dubner tells viewers why the words, “I don’t know” can retrain the way your brain thinks. I have to say, the Silver Lining was that by the end of the video I was pretty convinced.

Please watch the video and please, do let me know your thoughts!

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How Exercise Aids Cancer Treatment

How Exercise Aids Cancer Treatment

Though I think that common sense probably tells us that exercise aids cancer treatment (heaven knows that I felt better when I did restorative yoga or took walks when I was sick), but when there is science behinds something…well, then it REALLY seems to matter.

Mark W. Dewhirst, the Gustavo S. Montana Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University School of Medicine has recently conducted a study involving the effects of aerobic excercise on breast cancer tumors. The study was conducted on mice and resulted in a major Silver Lining! The results showed that aerobic exercise slowed the growth of breast cancer tumors in mice and made the cancer tumors more sensitive to chemotherapy. This tells us that there is a possibility that exercise may change the biology of some maligant tumors by making them potentially easier to treat.

How you ask? Well, scientists have known for awhile that tumors have the ability to  create their own ecosystem within the body. As a tumor grows, it sends out signals that prompt the body to create additional blood vessels to provide the growing tumor with more oxygen and blood flow.

Some tumors, however, begin to proliferate so much that they begin to choke one another, reducing the amount of blood supply and oxygen to the tumor. You would think that this would ultimately kill the tumor (since it is not recieving a good amount of blood flood or oxygen), however, this is not the case. Instead, the tumor becomes hypoxic, which means that it exists in an environment with little oxygen. Hypoxia actually makes tumors relatively resistant to treatment because there is so little blood flow and oxygen going into the tumor.  Since chemotherapy and radiation work much better in conjunction with oxygen, the hypoxic tumors tend to resist treatment.

In this study, scientists divided mice into two groups — one group remained sedentary after surgery and the other ran at will on wheels in their cages. In both groups, the tumors took hold and grew inside their bodies. However, the tumors in the running mice grew significantly slower.  Testing showed that the blood vessels feeding the tumors in the running mice were healthier than in the sedentary mice. As a result of this, the runners’ tumors were less hypoxic.

Using another group of mice, scientists divided them into two groups and tested one groups response to recieving chemotherapy treatment while remaining sedentary and the other groups response to recieving chemotherapy treatment and exercising. After 12 days, the results showed that excercise and chemotherapy each had slowed tumor growth. While the mice that exercised did show smaller tumors than did the sedentary mice, the mice who had both the treatment and excercise had the smallest tumors.

This shows that excercise, known for increasing the flow of oxygen-rich blood to tissues made the breast cancer tumors easier to kill by making the tumors less hypoxic and paradoxically… healthier. When the tumors were recieving more oxygen and blood flow, the treatment was able to easily penetrate the tumors and ultimately make them smaller.

Of course this study was only conducted on mice and therefore, there is no scientific evidence showing that the results of this study would be the same if conducted on humans.

When I was going through treatment there were days where I felt like I couldn’t stand and on those days I would advise you to rest. But there will be days where your body can handle movement and on those days I would recommend gathering every bit of mental and physical strength to  go for a walk or doing yoga. Getting yourself to move is not only beneficially for your body but also for your mind as well.

As always consult with your doctor about what you are doing and when!  Happy Trails!

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14 Surprising Ways to Boost Your Creativity

14 Surprising Ways to Boost Your Creativity

As much as I wish that creativity came naturally and easily – without pulling out my hair – the truth of the matter is that it just doesn’t. Ha! In fact, lately, I have been feeling in a bit of a creative deficit.  The Silver Lining  was coming across a recent post on Daily Good that was incredibly motivating to me…so much so that I would share with you, dear readers. Hope that you enjoy it as much as I am!

1. Limit your options. By restricting the amount of choices to choose from, you will be much more inclined to trigger creative thought. What does this mean? Focus in on one or two ideas and then brainstorm based off those specific ideas.

2. Don’t wait for inspirtation. When baseball players get into a hitting slump, do you see them stop playing and wait for the slump to be over? Most definitely not! They practice even more to regain thier swing. The key is to not worry about whether or not your work is good. Make inspritation happen, don’t wait for it to happen to you.

3. Focus more on the problem rather than the solution. Too often we get excited about the masterpiece we want to create rather than how we are going to create it. Be patient and think through every turn that needs to happen  in order to get to your final goal. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

4. Increase your “distance” from the creative project. Take time away from your piece and think about it from a distance or in the future. This will allow you to generate more creative solutions to your tasks.

5. Work at a coffeehouse. Typically a coffee shop has a medium level of noise and music happening. Having this perfect amount of backgorund noise activates abstract thinking and enhances creative performance. When a workspace is too loud, however, it can reduce the extent of information processing and therefore impair creative thinking.

6. Do an intense physical workout. Studies show that aerobic excercise can help cause ideas to form and allow subconscious ideas to make their way into your conscious mind. Einstein said it himself, “I thought of it while riding my bicycle.”

7. Use the wrong hand to do an everyday task. By using your nondominant hand on occasion can foster greater acitviation in both hemispheres of the brain. Each side of the brain must work harder to correspond with one another allowing thoughts and emotions to be more fully expressed.

8. Write the end of the story first. Thinking backwards stimulates your creative cognitive function. Many award-winning authors use this technique to break free from writer’s block.

9. Treat stray thoughts like gold. Some thoughts may come to your mind that have you thinking “What the heck am I thinking?” but extremely creative people don’t push those thoughts away. Instead they write them down because they could be seeds of creative breakthroughs in the near future.

10. Know less, guess more. Stop heading to google the second you don’t know the answer to something. Instead, put the phone or laptop away and let your mind actually think for itself. Sit there and ponder what the answer could be and allow your mind to drift any which way. You may be surprised with what you come up with.

11. Look where you’re not going. Being too efficient in daily activities can cut you off from creative breakthroughs. When walking your dog or running to the grocery store, take a second to stop and look around at what is going on. Seeing or hearing things that are unexpected can trigger creative thoughts that might have otherwise not come forth.

12. Laugh out loud. Laughing stimulates activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. A/k/a the area of the brain that is associated with creativity! So laugh as much as possible even when something isn’t funny. The physical act of laughing also provides benefits.

13. Do something mindful. I am the biggest fan of meditation not just because I feel amazing afterwards but because it is a proven way to clear the mind, focus attention, and be more present in the moment. It also promotes divergent thinking which improves the likelihood of creative problem solving!

14. Do something mindless. Take a mental time out. And I mean literally! When a problem arises and it gets too big and stressful to deal with we sometimes to tend to think too hard about how to solve it and make it go away. However, taking a mental time out (as in taking a nap or going for a walk) will allow your mind to recollect itself and effectively problem solve more creatively.

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Friday Fixin’s: Fruit Infused Water

 

Friday Fixin’s: Fruit Infused Water

Have you ever met someone in her 50s and thought to yourself, “Wow, she has fantastic skin! Why no wrinkles?” Well, I am not going to say that genetics doesn’t play a role (because it does!) but a MAJOR reason why some women are able to postpone the wrinkle stage until later in life is because they are avid water drinkers.

Water is so important not only because it is your body’s source of life, but it also naturally flushes the toxins out of your body. In doing so, it leaves your skin plump and elastic (that is… if you drink enough!). I know that when I don’t drink enough water, I look like a raisin shriveled beyond repair.

The thing of it is that sometimes I get a little bored with plain old water. However, on a daily basis I spruce things up by adding some fun (in the form of fruit) to my water bottle. Fruit infused water makes drinking water that much better because it adds an array of natural antioxidants and vitamins to my beverage. When you practice drinking fruit infused water daily, you will see improvements in your skin almost immediately. Go ahead and try it.  You’ll love it!

Here are my favorite fruit infused water combinations. What is your favorite combination?

 

 

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Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary of a Surgery

Last night, I received an email alert from the New York Times with an article entitled, “Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary of a Surgery.” My first thought was “here we go again.” As you may recall (who in the world doesn’t), two years ago, Angelina Jolie (pre-Pitt) underwent a “preventative” double mastectomy.  I  wrote about it here shortly thereafter.

Please allow me to recap a bit: after her original OpEd disclosure I had a bit of a (okay, a big!) problem with her article, beginning with the fact that  “prevention” was an incorrect word  for her to use when talking about breast cancer. Prevention simply cannot accurately be used in the same sentence with breast cancer. The truth of the matter is that – unfortunately – at this time no one knows specifically how to “prevent” cancer. All we know now is how to reduce the risk that a person will get cancer, but no intervention is fully protective against acquiring the disease (which, for the record, is a big fat f-bomb!). So, her OpEd piece was quite misleading and led many people to make choices “because that’s what Angelina Jolie did.” Sigh.

Now there were several Silver Linings of Angelina Jolie’s original public disclosure. First,  it encouraged people (men, too! – I have a friend whose dad died of FBC) to look into their family history. This is so so so important! Additionally, she didn’t make sweeping generalizations or “should”on anyone. I appreciate this very much. I am also inspired by the fact that one of the most beautiful women in the world bravely and publicly declared that her breasts do not define her; her power over her health and her body had trumped her dependence on a body part to express her femininity. “I do not feel any less of a woman,” she declared. “I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.”

Okay, so fast forward to today’s Diary of a Surgery.  I actually cringed when I saw this.  You see, after having had my ovaries and fallopian tubes removed (along with my uterus and cervix) to decrease my risk of developing a breast cancer recurrence or ovarian cancer, I didn’t want her “speaking” for me.  The Silver Lining is that this article was SO.MUCH.BETTER than the first one! She was articulate, practical, sensitive, personal, and – best of all! – accurate.

I did not do this solely because I carry the BRCA1 gene mutation, and I want other women to hear this. A positive BRCA test does not mean a leap to surgery. I have spoken to many doctors, surgeons and naturopaths. There are other options. Some women take birth control pills or rely on alternative medicines combined with frequent checks. There is more than one way to deal with any health issue. The most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally.

Additionally, she fully recognized that it isn’t possible to remove all risk. Best of all, she acknowledged how difficult it is to make decisions such as these. Heaven knows that I know this, both personally as a patient and professionally as a nurse. However; the ultimate Silver Lining is that

it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power.

So, THANK YOU, Angelina Jolie Pitt for bringing this important topic to the forefront of public dialogue today (and probably for the next month!).

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Musical Monday: Jimmy Fallon & The Roots

Jimmy Fallon & The Roots

Happy Monday!  There is absolutely NO WAY that you can’t have a fabulous day  if you watch these videos of Jimmy Fallon and the Roots with various musical performers.  The BEST PART?  All are played with CLASSROOM INSTRUMENTS.  It really and truly and positively does not get better than this! My BFF was here with her kids a few weeks ago and we absolutely HOWLED after dinner one night when we watched ALL of these videos.  Seriously, it was the Silver Lining of my entire week.  In fact, if I’m having a not-so-hot day, I watch these and any and all funk disappears instantaneously.  Hope that you love them as much as I do!

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Courage

 

Love love love this quote by Winston Churchill.  Sometimes courage means STANDING UP and speaking  and other times it means SITTING DOWN and listening. Wisdom – I believe – comes from knowing when to do either.

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Ways to Minimize Decision Fatigue

Ways to Minimize Decision Faitgue

One of the many challenges of navigating the world of health care after a cancer diagnosis is that there are a trillion decisions to make (or at least it feels like there is!). I remember feeling so incredibly overwhelmed that it felt like my brain would just shut off and refuse to make a decision. The littlest things like what shoes to wear or which type of tea I wanted to make had the potential to send me into a melt down. And for the record, my meltdowns tend to be epically bad, filled with a whole lotta f-bombs!

Although I am already years out of my cancer treatment, I still suffer from decision fatigue. It is a very, VERY real thing and is not limited to people with serious illness. In fact, when you think about it, most people routinely make gobs of decisions every day. Each and every decision takes a dollop of brain power. Add in a stressful doctor’s appointment, for example, and the ability to think clearly and weigh options wisely goes down the tubes.

Here a few tips I have found helpful when trying to minimize decision fatigue. I used these methods during treatment and still incorporate many of them in my daily routines today.

1. Eat the same thing. I know many elite performers that eat the exact same thing everyday. Literally, the exact same thing: fish, green beans, and almonds five times a day. They may throw a little chicken into their meal at dinner time but that’s it for variety! When your body can expect the same meal all day long, it easily frees up mental space in your mind. This was something that was key for me during treatment. I would eat frequent small meals (even when I wasn’t hungry) throughout the day.

2. …Or almost eat the same thing. Truthfully, eating the exact same thing everyday is just not possible for me.  Sooooo, a much less drastic way to implement this principle is to have a weekly formula for your meals. On Mondays you can expect to eat Mexican. On Tuesday’s you can expect to eat Italian and so on. Having a structured eating schedule will allow your mind to not be consumed with thoughts about food and further enable you to make better more acute decisions.

3. Embrace daily routines. Every morning I get up and make matcha green tea (my absolute favorite!) and then I either read or go for a run. I also have a nightly routine which consists of turning off all electronics an hour before I go to bed. I spend the hour either reading or having family time. Simple daily routines like this alleviate my mind and enable mental space to make other more important decisions.

4. Establish hard edges in your day. Set a start time and an end time for work (even if you work alone, like I do). Dedicate different time slots through out your work day to different activities such as administrative work, correspondence, creative work, meetings, etc. These hard edges will keep tasks from taking longer than they should and not allow them to encroach on your other work tasks.

5. Create “if-then” rules for yourself. If “X” happens, then I will do “Y”. It’s high school algebra all over again (thank the good Lord that it’s not Geometry!). This method allows you to decide your course of action in advance, before you’re tired, stressed, or swamped. For me it looks like this: “If I drink a cup of wine, then I pour a glass of water.”

6. If it incites decision angst, drop it. If there is a decision that must be made continuously and always causes you angst then get rid of it. For example, I canceled my gym membership at a local gym in Santa Barbara because I didn’t like going and the decision to go or not to go always caused me angst. Therefore, I canceled my membership and have decided to stick to outdoor runs and at-home work outs. I am much happier about having one less decision to make every day.

7. Limit your options. The truth of the matter is that we humans are happier and more productive when we have fewer options to choose from. It’s as simple as that. Instead of asking your family “What do you want for dinner tonight?” ask them ” Would you rather have pasta or sushi?” Limiting your options makes it much easier to make a decision and be satisfied with your decision.

Hope that some of these tips help you! How do you minimize decision making in your daily life?

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

You know the drill… every year on March 17th  Irish culture is celebrated by wearing the color green. When I was young I was always told that if I didn’t wear green, I would be pinched! I’m not sure by who but apparently that’s what happens…because this morning as I was leaving for my doctor’s appointment, my daughter pinched me because I wasn’t wearing green. Maybe this old wives tale was developed for old wives!

Ok, so here’s the thing: did you know that green wasn’t actually the color to be first associated with St. Patrick? The traditional color for St. Patrick was blue (yeah, I didn’t know that either!) There is actually a specific shade of blue known as St. Patrick’s blue. So where did green come from you ask? Green became associated with Ireland both because of the greenness of the landscape (it’s absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend going anytime and every time you can!) as well as the shamrock that St. Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity in Irish Catholicism. You know how I do love trivia!

In honor of St. Patrick’s day, here are some of my fave green images as well as  some of my favorite Irish proverbs. Enjoy & don’t forget to wear green today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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