Susan Biali

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Most people have a love-hate relationship with the Christmas season – we love the Christmas spirit and the family, friends, fun and festivities, but as the pace picks up we get overwhelmed both physically and financially. We end up with too much on our plates, both literally and figuratively! I’ve had to examine my holiday choices more than usual this year, first because of unusually high time demands in my business, and second because my weight has started to creep up (when I’m really happy I eat more and put on weight – an unfortunate combination!).

Here are some things that I’ve been doing to keep things in check, with great results so far – I’m sure that they will help you, too:

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I just got home from a meeting with a friend who's a fellow medical doctor and speaker. We happily brainstormed ideas for an event that we're putting together, until suddenly everything shifted.

This shift began when I said "We have to give them an experience that will be memorable."

"That's it!" my friend exclaimed. "We have to give them an experience that's guaranteed to change their lives forever."

Now we were excited. Now we had a vision. Now - we were finally thinking big. Our focus and energy shifted from conceiving something good to creating something great. When you have that kind of energy behind a project, idea, or dream, it changes everything, exploding your possibilities and dramatically increasing your probability of success.

I recently spoke at a conference and received Michael Port's book, The Think Big Manifesto (www.thinkbigrevolution.com ), as a thank you gift. I finished it in one day. I was so impressed that I asked Michael if I could share some excerpts with you.

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I frequently talk about relationships as one of the most important contributors to your health and happiness. And it's not just your closest relationships - the number of social contacts you have in your daily life, period (including the bank teller and your neighbor down the street) are directly associated with your well-being.  Last week at church, the sermon was about three elements that are required to create a better relationship with the divine. Listening, I realized it was good advice about creating a better relationship with anyone who is important to you.

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I have a history of depression, though thankfully I haven't had an episode in almost ten years. I turned my mood around by making major changes in my personal and professional life, and will tell you more about that in another post.

I'm a practicing medical doctor (GP) with a degree in Dietetics, and am fascinated by the potential for certain foods and simple wellness practices to prevent and treat major medical conditions or diseases. I've written for years about the ability of food to protect and boost your mood, though in some cases of depression anti-depressant medications might still be necessary. That said, understanding the relationship between food and mood can help increase the effectiveness of anti-depressant medications, and may also help prevent relapse.

I protect myself from recurrent depression and deliberately "feed" my daily mood by following the following dietary rules for a good mood:

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As always, I'm posting my most recent Psychology Today blog to my "regular" blog so that all of you get a chance to read it.  Today's post was inspired by another night glued to the sofa and screen with Armando, watching America's Got Talent. Some of the acts were truly laughable (and laugh we did), but watching last night's contestants, I observed five key truths that can help you discover and develop your own unique talent(s) - no matter how old you are, no matter how silly you think your dreams are, and no matter how convinced you are that it's "too late".

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In my work I'm always looking for simple and wonderfully effective tips that can quickly and easily make your life better and help you achieve your goals.  Most people (including yours truly) struggle with food issues, whether it's trying to lose weight or trying to improve not-so-healthy eating habits.  This morning I came across a fabulous article written by Prevention Magazine editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello about foods that can almost effortlessly keep you full and help you meet your weight loss and health goals.

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Watching the events over the last week, and learning so much about Michael Jackson’s life has made me reflect a lot about myself and my own life, and I imagine the coverage may have had the same effect on you. I’m struck over and over by the primary message of self-actualization - the importance of living your God-given gifts to the fullest in your lifetime - and the impact that each of us might have on the world if we actually did that. That’s fodder for another post, but at this moment I’d also like to reflect on the frequently discussed contrast between Jackson’s shy, reclusive personality (documented since he was a young child), and his outrageously impressive and even flamboyant ability to perform on and dominate the world stage.

This reminded me that I discovered about a year ago that I fit the personality characteristics of what's offically called a "Highly Sensitive Person" - a person who is vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the chaos and overstimulation (noise, etc.) of normal life, and is frequently misunderstood or mislabeled as being shy or "weird". A whopping 15-20% of the population share the characteristics of an "HSP".  To learn more about this common personality/physiologic phenomenon, read my latest blog for PsychologyToday.com here.

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Do you worry that you'll never find your life's purpose? Are you afraid that the turns and twists your life has taken have been little more than wasted time? The answer might be just around the corner - or right under your nose.

Learn how to give each unique aspect of you room to breathe - by reading the first post of my new PsychologyToday.com blog:  www.tinyurl.com/kjea7w 

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I love Twitter - not so much for tweeting mundane things about what I'm doing with my time, but for the wealth of information that tweets across my "home page" through the course of the day.  Yesterday @cheergiver tweeted a link to the following article from U.S. News & World Report: "10 Secrets to Finding Happiness During the Recession."  (By the way, I'd love to "meet" you on twitter - you can find me and follow me at www.twitter.com/drsusanbiali and be sure to say hello!)

I'll give you the link to the article in a moment, but first wanted to summarize and comment on the ten "secrets" for you.

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