The Life Design Studio

Networks Affect Happiness and Health

Recent studies show that our social networks have much more of an effect on us than we think – and it’s not all good news.  This article from the online magazine Healthy Pages is a distillation of a longer report from The Times.  Just click on the links if you wish to know more.  

“Personal connections and networks appear to be influencing much of human behavior. Researchers are finding that a person’s behavior, mood and outlook are more and more being determined according to his network of friends and contacts. So if your friend is happy, you are more likely to be happy too. This is what social sciences are saying.”

It seems this also applies to unhappiness.  The articles goes on:

“One example of the effect of networks is back pain in Germany. Prior to unification, East Germany had very low levels of back pain, but after unification with West Germany, back pain levels in working age people rose rapidly to 62%.

“The two authors of ‘Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives,’ professors, James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis are responsible for most of the recent examples of social network influence.  Many government departments across Washington have this book and are keen to discover the extent that networks are influencing people.

“Christakis said that “We are arguing that in the 21st century the right way of navigating between individuals and groups is to focus on ties between individuals because this is how individuals become groups that are greater than the sum of their parts.”

“Put another way, that means that a network of individuals offer pathways for states of health, fatness, happiness and life expectancy.  So who you are and the way you live is dependent on who you know or don’t know.

“This understanding is proving challenging to many of Britain’s politicians who are used to controlling with a top down model.  Now that it is emerging that by informing people about what others do or do not do, you can ‘nudge’ people in the direction you want, a total rethink is proving necessary.

Think about your own social networks and see if you can work out ways in which you interact with them for your own good or potential harm.  Having an understanding of this could give you new choices – we don’t have to follow the crowd; we can make an alternative choice and follow that instead.

Bee

 

Free Book Offer | Double Your Income Doing What You Love

What a brilliant New Year gift I have for you today.  I've been reading this book avidly and it has such wisdom and fantastic ideas about how to set goals and move forward in your life. 

I've been to dozens of seminars and workshops on these subjects and I've finally found a system that really works holistically.  It's not just about doubling your income; it's about doubling the enjoyment you have in every area of your life.

This is a high quality hardback book that you can use for yourself or give as a gift.  The only cost is the postage, so please click here to take a look and let me know how it helped you.

Bee

Stop Smoking Now | What will make it easier for you?

It's that time of year again when our thoughts are already turning to New Year Resolutions and many smokers who want to stop smoking have been waiting until the 1st January to 'turn over a new leaf'.  Why not give someone the gift of life or, if you are a smoker, give yourself the gift of life, good health and freedom from that debilitating habit?  Planning now will help you be ready to quit in just a couple of weeks.

I know all about planning to quit because I run one of the most successful smoking cessation clinics in the country and our happy clients persuaded me to put my entire "Stop Smoking Now" programme on a 4 x CD / download set to assist their friends and relatives who couldn't attend our clinic at the hospital for help.

Preparation and understanding : these are the keys to stop smoking successfully.  The reason there are 4 CDs / downloads in our set is because we realise the importance of preparation.  Just a few minutes listening to your preparation CDs each day prior to your quit date will help you to stop smoking permanently and easily.

Click here for more information.  Start your preparation NOW and you'll make this year's New Year's resolution the easiest one you've ever achieved.

Happy New Year to you.

Bee

Depressed at Christmas

If you are depressed at Christmas-time it can be especially difficult because all around you there is excitement and fun.  The TV is full of advertisements for games, depicting happy families at play and romantic comedies that seem to rub salt into the wounds of those who are finding life a struggle.  So what can you do?  What steps could you take to ease your pain just a little.

What we class as “depression” can take many forms.  You might be very stressed at work and feel depressed there but you’re still able to function within your family or leisure time – or vice versa.  You may be feeling extremely negative about life and your place in the world but still able to go to the cinema or out with a friend.  Or your depression may be rock bottom, where you’ve gone into the realm of locking yourself in the bedroom with a duvet over your head for most of the day, not seeing anyone or doing anything much at all.  By the time you’ve got to this level you may be classed as ‘clinically depressed’ and hopefully you are under the care of a doctor.

Are you one of life’s winners?

Firstly let’s talk about ‘winning’.  Most people consider this to be about being the best, achieving a difficult challenge, gaining that promotion, achieving wealth or having the right numbers at Bingo.

But there’s another definition of winning and that’s ‘achieving happiness’ – this is what I’m talking about and if you haven’t ‘won’ in this sense, read on and see if you can find out why.

A Truly Inspiration Story

  Are you struggling with some aspect of life to the point where you feel unable to move forward?  The following truly inspirational story of Amy Purdy could help you get motivated ... the last words of her article are particularly powerful and I, for one, won't forget them in a hurry.

"Amy Purdy had found her passion and was in control of her life. A snowboarder, massage therapist, and artist, she had faced her share of challenges, was making good money, and looked toward a bright future. She knew nothing could get in the way of her success. Only when she lost both legs to illness did she discover how true that was.

Amy Purdy was just 19 when the course of her life took a drastic change. After a day’s illness with what seemed to be the flu, her condition became critical. Her family rushed her to the hospital where they were informed that septic shock had caused respiratory and multiple organ failure.

Why Me? | Its Just not fair

What happens when we take an event in our lives - or someone else’s - and then, by the way we think, we exaggerate the negative effect on our lives? 

“Why did this have to happen to me?”  “What have I done to deserve this?”  “Everything was going so well ... until this happened.  Now nothing can ever be the same again.”

Let’s say it’s an unexpected health problem.  Do you find yourself thinking…….

“I know  other people don’t look after themselves, they eat junk food, they smoke and drink, so they deserve to get sick, but not me … I eat healthy food … maybe other people don’t take exercise, but I work out every day.  It’s their own fault, but not me… “

Or maybe you have a financial issue and you think “I control my money very well……maybe other people don’t make a budget and watch expenditures, so if they have a financial disaster I can understand it but why me; I am so careful.”  Or “Maybe other people don’t treat their partners well, and so they deserve to be cheated on , but not me, I’m a good person…” and on it goes.

Stress Unravelled!

When you or your employees suffer from stress it isn’t just a matter of ‘pull yourself together’ or ‘snap out of it’. Stress is a real problem which can have dire consequences for your business.

Research has shown that pressure at work (or at home) is causing many employees to succumb to stress related diseases costing many businesses a small fortune.  Yet excessive anxiety and stress are both preventable and avoidable.

To the sufferer it very often seems impossible to shake off anxiety or depression but it doesn’t have to be that way. The right professional help could sort out the problem in a matter of weeks, turning someone who has become a liability into your best asset.

DIY steps to improving your confidence

I received a newsletter recently from Dave Crisp who is a fellow Life Coach.  Here are his "7 steps to increase your Confidence" which you could practice at home.

"Would you like to improve your confidence? Would you be interested in a technique that can help get rid of the fear of speaking when you have to give a talk, or that boosts your confidence for sports or other high performance needs? Could there be a time in the future, that you would like to be more assured than you have been in the past?

Why Is It So Difficult To Change Our Lives?

  We run our life on patterns, habits if you like, and mostly that's a very good thing.  It is a process which has kept us in existence as a species for thousands of years.  But why is it so difficult to change our lives when we want to?

Our conscious brain, the part of our brain which works things out with logic and reason, is very good at mixing and matching the signals we pick up through our senses and in sometimes coming to a conclusion that change would be beneficial.  This process is clever but comparatively slow and 'expensive' to run in energy terms.