growth Archives — Page 2 of 3

10Nov 2020 by Kayla No Comments

Being Centered Among Chaos, Practicing Tai Chi

Mindset

If you have ever wandered through a park in the morning and seen people practicing slow graceful movements, you may have seen the art of Tai Chi. Tai Chi is a companion of Kung Fu, that takes the martial art to the next level. Wuanna Zawlwin, the instructor for Tai Chi in Yangon, says many people are drawn to the health benefits of Tai Chi and like to practice the movements in the morning. Tai Chi is believed to boost your immune system and help you stay strong both physically and mentally. The direct translation of the words Tai Chi is “Supreme Ultimate.” He explained that it operates on four main levels, the muscles, energy, mind, and spirit. But when he arrived here from Germany six years ago, he didn’t…

14Oct 2020 by Kayla 10 Comments

What Causes Narcolepsy – A Natural Theory

Narcolepsy

I picked up Louise Hay's book, Heal Your Body: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them. I wasn't thinking about what causes narcolepsy, just about healing in general. For the most part, I have a good handle on my health. I don't feel like narcolepsy has much impact on my day-to-day life anymore, and the migraines get better each time I face them and look at the underlying cause. Screenshot of Author's Kindle Notes But I figured looking at one more approach won't hurt me. This book lists a variety of ailments, suggests an emotional cause, and then gives an affirmation to help you heal the emotions that might be manifesting at the symptom. Louise Hay's Message Image by Author "For us to become…

07Oct 2020 by Kayla No Comments

Taylor Schilling Claims to have Quarantine Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy

Less than two weeks after World Narcolepsy Day, I see the term "quarantine narcolepsy" on my newsfeed. When I learned that it was a reference to narcolepsy on Late Night with Seth Meyers, I was vaguely curious. Image by Christo Anestev from Pixabay Seth Meyers asked Taylor Schilling, known for her role as Piper in Orange is the New Black, if she has developed any new coping mechanisms during quarantine. She responded, "I think I've become a bit of a narcoleptic person like I hear like oh 'plague and pestilence' and then I go [ugly face] and I pass out again. [laughing] Like I just leap or I'll fall asleep in different areas and new places, it's uncomfortable." Seth responds, "That's interesting. So you just think you have like an…

17Sep 2020 by Kayla 3 Comments

Paula’s Story of Living with Narcolepsy

Personal Story

Keeping Illness Invisible "In 1979, fresh out of high school living in Atlanta, I was ready to start my life," says Paula. "Going to school full time, working part-time, and enjoying a full social life, I never felt there was anything wrong with sleeping every moment I could. It was even okay when my friends started teasing me for always falling asleep." As far back as college, Paula remembers sleeping a lot. "Back then I blew it off as being young, clubbing, and drinking too many Pink Champales." Paula worked part-time, did her school work, and didn't think anything of spending her Tuesday nights enjoying Ladies night at Cisco's on Campbellton Road, in Atlanta. As they piled into the car, her friend Veronica would say, "Paula is going to…

28May 2020 by Kayla 3 Comments

Learn How to Live with Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy

On Sunday, I was on a Facebook live chat with Project Sleep to share how I live with narcolepsy. First I read an article I wrote as part of the Rising Voices of Narcolepsy program. Then, Julie Flygare asked me some questions about how I manage narcolepsy and what my experience has been like. You can watch that here. Our conversation helped me realize that I have done a whole lot more than I ever realized to live with narcolepsy. Things that I just see as part of my habits and daily life now are actual strategies for treating Narcolepsy. I know there are plenty of things that I didn’t think of mentioning in the hour we had Live. So I’ve tried to list them out simply below. This has…

27Jan 2020 by Kayla No Comments

On Being Unf***withable

Mindset

I am consistently hearing people talk about being fuckwithable. Sure, they don't use that word, but they say things like, "You make me so mad! " or "This makes me feel sad. or "I know he is just a guy from Tinder, but I still obsess over why he hasn't texted me in 3 hours!" In many cases, people are handing over control of their emotions to other human beings. When you say, "you make me feel.." you are giving power to someone else, whether you realize it or not. That means you have the option to take back the control. In the case of someone not calling us back, we know rationally that the reaction is silly. But maybe we don't feel in control of changing it. There are…

13Jan 2020 by Kayla No Comments

Identifying Negative Self-Talk

Mindset

I used to have trouble deciphering what "negative self-talk" meant and how to determine what was constructive and what was not. In the beginning, I only pulled out the really major negative messages with words like stupid, lazy, worthless, etc. ⁠I had no idea that there was more to negative self-talk than these obvious problems. Why Does Negative Self-Talk Matter? This whole idea stems from the principle that we all spend most of our time with ourselves. Therefore, a lot of time we are talking to ourselves even if it's not verbal, it is inside our heads. So it's important to pay attention to what we are saying to ourselves. On one hand, we have to tell ourselves what we need to work on to stay motivated and to grow.…

08Jan 2020 by Kayla No Comments

How Do I Cope with World Events?

Mindset

My heart is beating in my gut, the breakfast I just finished feels heavy and I feel like I am going to be sick. I was just informed that it's likely the US is entering into war again. I really have to take time to process to cope with world events like this. Cope with world events in the moment As an empath, while things like this may seem far away to other people, I can be deeply emotionally affected by what is going on in the world. I feel a lot, but even if you are not an empath, there comes a point where what is happening can all seem like too much. What can we do with these emotions? Be aware The first thing I have to do…

31Dec 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Protecting My Energy

Mindset

Learning to empower instead of enabling The phone rings, and I feel obligated to answer. Cindy, a new acquaintance, is hysterical on the other end. I drop everything I’m doing to rush to her apartment. I need to make sure the assignment she was working on is still somewhere on her computer. The deadline is tomorrow, and she doesn’t know what happened to it. Luckily, I’m a computer whiz and must have bragged about it while making small talk the first time I met Cindy. After rushing out of my house to put out the fire, I return home exhausted. Her nervous energy and panic were all it took to drain my reserves, and even though I had my own paper to write, I curl up on the couch for a recharge nap.…

13Dec 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Five Ways to Respond to Rude Comments

life hacks

No one can reject you without your permission We all want to be more connected; genetically we are programmed to seek connection because in our more primitive forms we needed our tribe or group for survival. But when someone rejects you, you need to know how to respond to rude comments in order to keep your self-esteem in tact. Long ago, rejection meant being shunned, banned, or excommunicated. This type of punishment was worse than death. Our bodies are still programmed to respond to rejection negatively, even though we don’t require our peers’ help with basic needs like food, water, or shelter and security anymore. That explains why we feel our adrenaline spiking when we face rejection. Our hearts beat faster, and we feel our pulse quickening. In those moments,…

03Dec 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Stop Reacting and Start Responding

Life Coaching

Some tips for how to get started I blink back tears and swallow the words that want to come spilling out of my mouth. My partner is looking at me, encouraging me to go on speaking my mind but I know it's not useful. I need to stop reacting to my emotions and take a moment. If I give my energy to these emotions, they will continue. I know they don’t deserve my voice. If I can acknowledge where they are coming from, recognize that I am no longer in that place, and bring myself back to the present moment, I can move past them. What Happened I let myself travel back into the past for a short time to write an article about a painful time in my life and how…

21Jun 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Relationships with Narcolepsy or Without

Narcolepsy, Personal Story

Building relationships with narcolepsy or other chronic illnesses can be a challenge due to a limited social life. I'm standing outside a huge fancy house with a glass of red wine in my hand staring at a sea of people I don't know. I feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people at the party, but at least half of them work with my partner. My partner has not even made it to the drink table due to so many people wanting to stop and chat. I escaped, knowing the formal handshakes and cheek kisses that are obligatory in these social situations tire me out quickly. How I Handle It I gravitate toward the one woman I know, a friend. We chat for a while until she also finds…

03May 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Unconditional Positive Regard

Mindset

You may know about unconditional love, but have you heard of unconditional positive regard? When you wake up in the morning, do you ever think… “I really want to make some people mad today! I’m going to piss them off, hurt their feelings, and really make them feel awful.” I doubt it. I honestly doubt I know anyone that wakes up and thinks that. Sure, I’m not going to argue that there are people like that who exist, but in the circle of people that I interact with, I haven’t seen them. So why is it that we all come across situations where we do piss people off? We do hurt people’s feelings, even when it's not our intention. Often it feels like it's out of our control. [caption…

26Apr 2019 by Kayla No Comments

Mindfulness Activities to Try Today

Lifestyle, Mindset

I realized in my last post, I wanted to encourage everyone to try more mindfulness activities, but I didn't give you a lot of guidance on what to do. So here we go, here are some mindfulness activities for adults that are easy to integrate into your day. (more…)

23Mar 2019 by Kayla 2 Comments

Letter From a Person Living with Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy, Personal Story

Dear friend, Do you remember that time we had big plans to do something amazing on the weekend? I told you at the last minute that I really wanted to go but I just couldn’t do it. Well, I remember it. Because it was hard for me to make the decision to take care of myself instead of going to do something fun that I was really looking forward to. What did I do that day? Instead, I spent the day making sure I had healthy food lined up for the week. As part of my self-care routine, I took a few short controlled naps. Focused on physical and mental health, I drank a gallon of water and meditated. I arranged my calendar for the week so I would not…