Sunday, April 24, 2016

Crushing stress with Candy Crush


“Don’t get this game,” my sister warned me, “it will ruin your life.” Well, my life wasn’t ruined like 13-year Lucas Chan, who spent $4300 on the notorious Candy Crush game in one marathon session.

It’s one of the healthy outlets for me to distract myself, come down from stress and chaos, from screaming kids, messy kitchen, homework projects, piles of laundry.

But in order to allow myself to escape into this virtual reality, I need to trust/control myself that I won’t spend too much time and money, and I’ll use this a break, not an escape. As a doctor of Natural Health, specializing in the mind-body connection, I know that there’s a root cause for this need to escape. So I have to know my reasons: What am I escaping from? When I feel overwhelming anxiety, I know I need a break, and if I go for a run or cuddle with my cat and play Candy Crush, I’ll come back with a different perspective on my family. But in order to know how to not let a break become a great escape, I need to be aware of the core emotion that driving me. So I ask:

Is there too much going on and I feel powerless and out of control?

These breaks can be opportunities to:
Shift gears from overwhelm to being at ease.
Remind myself that I am a mature, smart, resourceful adult who can handle my
family.
Know that I don’t have to do everything right now, that I can choose to take a break and do things because I want to, not because I have to.


So go ahead, indulge in your favorite game, whether it’s Candy Crush or list others because some distractions are actually appropriate. And you can demonstrate to your family a healthy, appropriate ways to deal with stress or overwhelm. All from playing Candy Crush. Who knew?

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

How to deal with stress and pressure without chemicals and what parents can do if they see signs their students are stressed or under pressure.



The underlying problem needs to be addressed: Why is there a large number of young adults who turn to chemicals to manage life? There are two factors at play that push kids over the edge. External: they feel enormous pressure to perform to meet parental and societal expectations (rather than being self-expressed freely). And Internal: they lack the character to do so (they don’t feel capable and confident).
Empowering parenting is the key.
Offer general statements like:
You don’t need to do any of these tasks if it feels too much for you
You are the only one who knows what’s right for you and you are the one who is choosing
The answer exists before the problem
I trust you; you are amazing, capable and smart
You always trying your best, and I see you succeeding
When you think of something you want and believe it is possible, it will come to you

Adaptation of this mind-set will prevent kids from turning to chemicals. They will feel self-assured, capable and excited to embrace life, not to numb it, block it, and escape from it.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Do kids represent too much happiness and aliveness to us, adults, who have forgotten these things?

Two days ago, I was flying back home from our family's vacation in Boston, and my 9-years-old son was asking the flight attendant questions like "What movie are we going to watch tonight?" and "How long is the flight?" He was using a normal voice and was very polite. (During the 6-hour flight he asked maybe 3 questions total.) However, the flight attendant grew increasingly impatient and started snapping at my son, rudely: "Keep your voice down, young man" and "Stop asking me when we’ll arrive in LA, because the answer will always be the same." Meanwhile, she was being super-nice to a male passenger and chatted loudly with him for half-an-hour. I found the behavior of both flight attendants out of line and lacking professional courtesy. It felt like discrimination against children on the airplane. And it made me wonder: Do they (our kids) represent too much happiness and aliveness, freedom and self-esteem to us (adults), who have forgotten these things?
Katherine Agranovich, Ph.D., author of Tales of My Large, Loud, Spiritual Family

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Wellness is the order of the day.

True healers know that wellness is the order of the day, so they do not allow themselves, even for a moment, to see anything other than that. So, the power of the healer is in the power to influence the one who needs to be healed into a vibration that allows the healing that they are summoning. (that they could get, even without the healer, but they can get faster with a healer's influence)
---Abraham

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Finding peace, purpose and healing in the chaos of dally life


A New Book by Katherine Agranovich, Ph.D.— Healer, Mother, Wife & Visionary

Dr. Katherine Agranovich is definitely living out a remarkable life and she has experienced more in the first 43 years than some people might in a few lifetimes. At the heart of it all is her deep love and appreciation for family, Felix Agranovich her husband and soul mate of 25 years, her five children, and extended family both living and passed on, that is the real source of her exciting, sometimes loud, and mystical life.
www.talesofmylargeloudspiritualfamily.com