Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: stress

  • The Panic Button Book A step-by-step guide to neutralise worry, overthinking and anxiety

    The Panic Button Book A step-by-step guide to neutralise worry, overthinking and anxiety

    The stress of Covid-19 restrictions and impositions, have certainly turned every facet of people’s lives upside down! Total lockdowns, loss of employment, home schooling and visiting restrictions to name but a few. Tammi Kirkness, life coach and wellness expert’s timely release of her book “The Panic Button” could provide much needed support and help during these difficult times.

    Her beautifully presented hard covered book is divided into four sections; Living and Working, Socialising, Relationships and Parenting. Each section is prefaced by a synopsis of the indicators which the reader may be experiencing, and then is followed by many ‘decision trees’ designed to neutralise the symptoms. These trees are written in everyday language and provide simple but effective therapies. To put the reader at ease, the author also explains why she/he may be displaying particular physical signs.

    If you have a friend or member of your family, who is feeling anxious, this book will prove to be very beneficial. The pastel colours and simple instructions will not only sooth but provide her/him with a way to lift the burden of self-doubt.

  • Your Anxiety Beast and You

    Your Anxiety Beast and You

    Dr Eric Goodman has a theory that he feels may help sufferers of anxiety. For many years people have thought of excessive anxiety as something to be angry about and they see their affliction as a beast. He suggests that people who suffer from anxiety look at their problem in a different way.

    If we consider that this emotion can protect us at times, we could think of anxiety as a kind, younger version of us, or someone we love, being overzealous. In fact, he feels that if we love our anxiety and can tell it, “Thanks for trying to help, but just back off now,” we will be less stressed.

    This is quite a novel notion, and this book is geared to working through many misconceptions about anxiety. The Doctor reminds us that Society condemns anxiety, and yet causes most of it. Our fears stem from our ancestors who needed their constant awareness to survive. We no longer live in these times and so have to be able to convince our friend that we are OK.

    There are some pages which invite the reader to practice skills they will need to cope. For example, there are columns which explain what your beast is saying to you, and how to manage that message. The author believes your anxiety beast is teachable and with training will become manageable.

    Well explained, this concept and the instructions are easy to follow with the book able to be used at specific points or read through. The theory is reinforcing the feelings of self-worth, and confidence which is helpful in itself. Even for smaller issues, speaking with your beast as a young and careful junior can have a calming effect.

  • Eff This! Meditation

    Eff This! Meditation

    Everything feels right about this book. The title is amusing and curious, the size is good for holding something sturdy, and the introduction comforting. The author has some fine points to make in the introduction and suggests that it is more to do with a sick society, than our own perspective that gets us down. Rather than focussing on what’s wrong about you, she suggests that we find ways to cope with the broken world we live in. She also suggests there are many ways to use the book. One can read it right through or just select the interesting parts, or open at random pages. It sounds easy and satisfying to use this in your own way and time.

    There are some key threads woven through the exercises. They are, “Meditation, Nature, Movement, Breathing, and others. This book is aimed at helping the reader to make the best of themselves and to be gentle with themselves. Now we have relaxed and can accept the fact there is no pressure to perform or memorise. The first part of the book has one-minute exercises. If you only have one minute there are some quick fired ways to be calmer and actually slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. These exercises have been scientifically tested.

    When a little more time is available, there are five-minute exercises to practice. There are simple yoga stretches, breathing techniques, and lists to make. Exploring essential oils sounds like fun, and if there is a perfume that you really enjoy, a diffuser may be set up. Mindful eating is another fun thing to do for those who love their food.

    There are twenty-minute practices, hour long practices or longer ones. As the author suggests, you can just flip through the book and find what works for you. The Helpful Tips section at the bottom of each page is certainly worth reading. One of them suggests you name the emotion that is bothering you then ask it to leave. I have the feeling that this is a wonderful book to have for all of us who have anxious moments. However, it seems that younger people may find many of the simpler tasks and suggestions as revelations. Only good and healing ideas can be produced by reading and acting on the suggestions given.

  • Love Laughter and Longevity – The Art and Science of Wellbeing

    Love Laughter and Longevity – The Art and Science of Wellbeing

    Written from a been there , discovered this and it really works perspective, Wellbeing Educator and Speaker Janni Goss introduces a world of wellness that is both easy to understand and so simple to carry out and enjoy, so much so that taking responsibility for your own health and wellbeing becomes a happy component of everyday life.

    The benefits of reading and working your way through this refreshing look at creating positive change and positive emotion are life changing, as they focus on what could be considered as a wellness check for your mind, body and soul, tapping into the massive benefits of laughter, exercise, knowledge and something rather intriguing, Laughter Yoga.

    Goss, over the course of her life has faced up to some tough stuff, earning a permanent dose of PTSD, otherwise referred to as Pissed–Off and Totally Stressed-out Disorder, giving this debilitating condition a much more user friendly term.  She had to learn to live a healthy and happy life, or face the alternative, and so she set out to discover a better and much happier way to live. In Love, Laughter and Longevity she shares all the many things she discovered on her journey to wellbeing.

    As each of the chapters deals with different issues, such as how to better understand the trigger points which lead to poor health and stress, offering alternatives, particularly laughter, which is definitely considered the best medicine, to enable  serious and healthy changes in your life.

    For anyone who is, or has ever suffered with stress, dis-stress or dis-ease, is aging and facing some hard facts, or simply wants to have a happier, more relaxed feeling as they travel life pathways, this book is a definite must read.

    Filled with information on all the most important aspects of ageing and wellbeing, each chapter has details and references that can be followed up at a later date, along with a little section at the end with pertinent questions to be answered. This certainly helps identify any aspects which could to with a little bit of extra help, as the object is to be able to enjoy every moment of Healthy Longevity by outsmarting that nasty little creature called Stress, which has a bad habit of working its way into your life, almost undetected.

    There are also some serious funny, pointed and laugh out loud quotes throughout the book, adding a light and happy touch to a subject that should be dear to everyone hearts, that of living a happy, healthy and enjoyable life

    In the immortal words of Mark Twain: ‘Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret ANYTHING that makes you smile’.

      And remember. ‘We who laugh…….last’.

  • Urban Woman Syndrome

    Urban Woman Syndrome

    The Urban Woman Syndrome, what is it and who does it affect is what is presented, research and highlighted through this thought provoking work by well-known health practitioner Dr Debra Villar; a woman who has been there and needed to find a way forward that worked for her. In doing so she realised what she discovered could help many other women as they to fall prey to Urban Woman Syndrome.

    But what is it and who are the victims of this ‘modern condition’. Many women reading this will immediately realise that it is them; they are the young mothers, wives and career women who have taken on an enormous task, that of juggling, work, family relationships, all to the detriment of their own lives and are wondering why they are always so tired, why there is never any time for them, and why, even though they work harder and a faster, there still never seem to be any spare time to simply sit and enjoy.

    Somewhere over the past twenty years or more, it has become the trend to always be so busy. Is it a mark of who we are all becoming, or is it something that has slowly crept into society to delineate your status as super woman, is a question that needs to be asked! By becoming superwoman though, what is it that is sacrificed along the way, or does anything need to be sacrificed at all?

    Dr Debra says that in this , “yes,  you can have it all’ world of the modern woman, you can have it all, if that is what you want, but you have to learn to work smarter and look after your health along the way.

    In her Eat, Move, Think program she discusses the basic fundamentals required not just by women but also busy men, to be able to live a healthy, happy and balanced life, while maintaining the lifestyle of your choosing. She looks at what she terms as Mismatched Diseases, something that is a grave concern to today world and medical profession, the food we eat, the amount of exercise required over a week to remain happy and healthy.

    An excellent chapter on Urban Kids lays out very clearly the effects of the digital era on young children, from gestation to birth and beyond; underscoring the fact that good health develops at pre-conception which again highlights the need for the modern woman to have a healthy life style, especially as many are choosing to commence families later in life.

    In general the book is an informative and well-presented guide to working smart and leading a healthy, happy, fulfilling life with your family, while presenting a fresh new perspective on what can be done very simply and cost effectively to save yourself from developing, or should you have already fallen victim, to repairing the Urban Woman Syndrome which may well be a major player in your life.