Bring Strength to Life

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I want to recommend a new gym in Brooklyn: Brooklyn Health and Performance.

The owners motto is that the gym staff help members “bring strength to life.” Their website encourages us to Be Determined. Never Quit.

The trainer tailors your routines to your individual needs and uses industry standards in creating routines. Unlike other gyms that offer a cookie-cutter approach to training.

It’s well worth it to consider joining Brooklyn Health and Performance if you live in the area.

I’m not getting paid to promote this gym either so don’t be fooled into thinking I’m gaining money.

You get what you pay for when you join a gym..

The gym is one of the only places in society where effort=outcome because you’re competing against yourself and no one else. In the gym the playing field is truly level.

Elsewhere if you compete against another person you might not win. When you compete against yourself you always win.

I’ll end here by saying that the goal is to strive to do a little better each day than each of us did yesterday.

A Bone to Pick

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I recommend the Mark Bittman book A Bone to Pick that collects his columns and essays on food and agriculture.

He should win a Nobel Prize for his rigorous intelligent and rational thinking on the topic.

My contention is that a person should stay away from chemical-laden processed foods and foods with sugar and added sugars. If you do that you’re well on your way to being in better health. Plus not eating meat is also a better option for our health and for the planet.

Pesticides contaminate groundwater. They cause cancer. Industrial agriculture is far from sustainable even though Monsanto is now claiming it is in magazine and TV advertisements. Or was it DuPont or Synerga claiming industrial agriculture is sustainable. Either way those claims are false.

Kind bars I found out have “natural flavors” that are actually fake chemicals.

The equation is simple: garbage in equals garbage out. I care too much for the planet and for everyone living on it to advocate for “business as usual” in farming practices.

If you live in New York City or Philadelphia I recommend shopping online from FreshDirect because you have tons of healthful food choices like Amy’s Organic. Amy’s offers black beans and quinoa, lentil soup with low sodium, tofu and hash browns, and vegetable lasagna. All these prepackaged healthful food are perfect to heat in the oven when you come home from the gym and are too tired to cook. Or when you simply don’t have the energy to cook.

I do not recommend a “garbage in, garbage out” lifestyle or way of thinking.

At HealthCentral I will continue to write about strategies for living a full and robust life when you have a diagnosis. Stay tuned there for new news articles I have planned through January.

Start Where You Are

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I read a transcript of the Colin Powell TED Talk 2012.

This guy is a genius. I thought I always remembered that Powell said he used to be a janitor and that even today he could mop floors with the best of them.

This story might be apocryphal yet I seem to remember it’s true and that’s why I was always impressed with this great leader.

In his TED talk he laughs about getting a “straight C everywhere” in school. It wasn’t until he joined the ROTC in college that his life took off and he found his true calling.

Take this from Colin Powell:

“And I say to young kids everywhere, as you’re growing up and as this structure is being developed inside of you, always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together, man, you’ve got it. (my italics) That’s what’s going on. And that’s what I found. I tell young people everywhere, it ain’t where you start in life, it’s what you do with life that determines where you end up in life. (my italics)”

No kidding. You could most likely watch Colin Powell’s TED talk on YouTube.

Truer words couldn’t have been spoken. This is the real deal: that it doesn’t matter if you’re diagnosed with schizophrenia when you’re 22. The future can be better.

Indeed 30-year long-term studies show that individuals diagnosed with this illness are often productive members of society living, loving, working, and playing well alongside people who don’t have mental illnesses.

I’m confident when I say that no one who’s 22 thinks about what their life is going to be like when they’re 50.

Hey: I’m 50 now. And I can honestly tell you: the view from here is beautiful.

I’m also confident when I tell you not to give up and not to quit. My life took a detour early on yet I had the courage to go back to school to try something different.

You might not find your true calling until you’re 35 like I did and that’s OK.

The view from here is beautiful.

Healthy Habits

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The term is “laundry list” if memory serves for a long list of items that a person must have or that they require another person to have.

In the coming weeks in my companion Left of the Dial blog I will talk about stigma in detail and why I think it’s a mistake to value only jobs that contribute to the economic stream in society.

I have a short laundry list of what I require to be happy: books and writing, art, music, my apartment, and the gym routines.

Years ago I read a book whose author told readers to list their 5 Commitments in life and why they were the focus of your life.

Cut out the extraneous busywork that doesn’t mesh with your life values. Refrain from getting caught up in doing whatever everyone asks of you at the expense of doing the things that please your soul.

In recovery as in life the secret to success is developing a routine and streamlining the things you need to do. My motto years ago was: “If it doesn’t fit, I can’t commit.”

Julie Morgenstern–the organization and time management expert–uses the analogy of a closet. She likens the available time in a person’s week to the space in a closet: it’s only able to fit a certain amount of activities like a closet fits only certain clothes.

The corollary to getting the things done that you absolutely must get done is that developing habits to get you going helps you succeed. Twyla Tharp–the esteemed dancer–wrote a book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life.

She recounted getting dressed to go the gym; hailing a taxi to go there; counting out the money and paying the driver; and entering the gym.

I find that employing habits that make it easier to do certain things is indeed the secret to success.

The rituals we engage in before taking action can help us do the things we have to do.

This is one strategy I wanted to write about. I’ll write about other strategies in the coming weeks.

Goal-Setting

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The first goal I ever had was to achieve a perfect score in gym class when I was a freshman in high school.

I could barely do 10 sit-ups in one minute. The highest possible score was to do 50 sit-ups in one minute. Shortly after, I could do 50 sit-ups in one minute.

I make the case for engaging in goal-directed behavior when you’re newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia bipolar or another mental illness.

No one should have to languish for years and years in mental distress and emotional hell before they get better.

Hell-and-heartache doesn’t have to be the norm for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. You don’t have to keep revolving in and out of hospitals. You don’t have to spend your life on back wards.

Setting goals is the secret to getting your life back on track without any unnecessary delay.

I’m a fan of resilience: moving quickly into having as normal a life as you possibly can. To have a life where you can go to school or have a job and live in your own apartment. Not a life where you’re strung along for years and years in a day program with no progress in sight.

Indeed, time-sensitive rehabilitation has always been thought to be the better option. You don’t want to lose hope because there are endless hoops that you have to jump through higher and higher just to get halfway to where others are.

I’m grateful to the person who reviewed my memoir Left of the Dial for the NAMI Advocate newsletter that arrived in this month to members.

The reviewer noted I had “ambition.” As true as that statement was, I find though that if I didn’t have a mental illness, wanting to have a full-time job and live in my own apartment would be seen as ordinary not ambitious.

I hope that one day achieving our goals as individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses is seen as natural, ordinary, and possible. Not as an impossible feat.

I urge everyone reading this blog to shoot for the stars and settle for the moon if you must. Sometimes, getting to the moon is perfectly fine.

It’s 2015: high time-and the tide has come in high-for individuals with mental illnesses to take risks to do whatever it is we want to achieve in life.

Traveling to the South of France? Publishing a book? Becoming a tax accountant? Having a gallery showing in SoHo?

Yes. Yes. And Yes to all that.

I dream a day when all of this is hardly unusual.

The Way I See It

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In January I start my 10th year employed at HealthCentral.

In all this time I’ve sought to convey that there is hope and you can heal from schizophrenia bipolar or another mental illness.

Upwards of 85 percent of the individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia reach the stabilization, stable, and recovery phases of this illness. Fifteen percent have a refractory or treatment-resistant version.

In June at HealthCentral I will write about schizophrenia and anxiety as the topic for the month. This month I wrote about hearing voices.

I will not join in the hate in the world. I will not advocate for risky “treatments” like discontinuing your medication if you have schizophrenia or bipolar. Sometimes you can’t make it on your own. Trying to cope using your own coping skills and then failing isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign you need treatment that might include medication.

I’m an eternal optimist.

I’ve always believed people can recover from schizophrenia bipolar and other mental illnesses.

In the coming Fllourish blog entries I will talk about strategies that have helped me recover.

Athletic Heretic

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I’m going to be hit in the head with a pocketbook or other big object for telling others that I value having a fit mind in a strong body.

Yet research indicates that exercise improves cognitive functioning as a person gets older. I’m living proof that getting mentally tough has allowed me to defend myself against hard times when life comes at me with hard punches.

Often, I was the only one in my corner when the punches came fast and furious. Yet ironically I don’t expect that anyone else should be able to take the punches and rebound quickly on their own.

I couldn’t be critical of any other person if they didn’t achieve a better recovery or create a better life or were not able to do other things like those of us who have. That’s why I’ve dubbed this heretic: it goes against the commonplace myth that people who are successful often take down others for not being able to succeed.

True sportspersonship involves fair play and inviting everyone to compete. Just by striving to achieve a goal you’re a winner even if you don’t achieve what you set out to. It is the trying not the outcome that counts in the end.

Trying can be as simple as getting out of bed on some days. It can be as simple as giving yourself a pat on the back when it’s hard to acknowledge your efforts.

Today I did the routine at the gym. I did a TK pulldown with 85 pounds for 3 sets of 6 reps.

My greatest dream would be to convince others to create an ongoing, consistent fitness routine. I don’t like to call this “exercise.” I like to call this a fitness routine because fitness is forever: it has lasting impact on your mental and physical health throughout your life.

I firmly believe that fitness is the bullet train to success for individuals diagnosed with mental illness. The point is not always to lose weight. The point is to gain muscle and to feel good. Muscle burns fat at a greater rate. So you can drop one pant size even though the number on the scale hasn’t budged.

Food for thought as it’s National Sports and Physical Fitness Month.

Now if you’ll excuse me I hear a kettlebell ringing.

National Sports and Physical Fitness Month

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May is National Sports and Physical Fitness Month.

I’m a big fan of having a fit mind in a strong body. I value having mental muscle as well as toned arms.

It’s not ever too late to start a fitness routine. I started to train for life at the gym when I was 45 going into 46. It’s better to do this later than not ever.

I disagreed with a woman who told me if she didn’t get sick by now she saw no reason to change her habits. I didn’t tell her that I thought changing for the better later in life is healthier than not changing at all.

I existed on Velveeta shells-n-cheese and hot dogs and frozen TV dinners when I lived below the poverty line circa the late 1980s. It wasn’t until 20 years later that I got on track with 80 percent healthful eating.

The Mediterranean Diet is by far the best eating plan because it focuses on fruits and vegetables, seafood, and occasionally chicken or turkey, plus whole grains.

In my view it’s better to make positive changes at any time in your life and your recovery rather than continuing to live in ill health.

If you don’t like your body the solution is to exercise. You will feel good in your body when you train. It can be as simple aschecking fitness videos out of the library. An expensive gym membership is not for everyone. Hiking a nature trail might be more your speed. As famously documented in Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild.

I have an enduring fascination with fitness. I might be biased yet I don’t think a person should live in hell for a minute longer than they have to. Delaying treatment or not getting treatment or not making the changes you know you need to make is not healthy.

Why is it that a lot of people resist doing what’s in their best interests? I wonder about this.

Health can lead to happiness. I value mental and physical health and emotional health too.

Certainly trying to do things on your own because you think you should be able to cope on your own often sets you up to backfire. Sometimes you can’t make it on your own. That’s when you call in a team of reputable professionals to help you get better.

I will report back next week on National Sports and Physical Fitness Month techniques.

Stay tuned.

Succeeding By Acting True To Yourself

Christina Bruni2 Comments

Acting true to yourself is the best and I dare say only way to succeed in life.

I’ve talked here and elsewhere numerous times about my failed gray flannel insurance career as a young woman.

The longer you cut yourself off from expressing yourself, the longer you’re restricted from becoming who you are, you’re going to get ill and make yourself miserable.

This is especially true for artists and other creative souls who are told from an early age to do something practical that makes money. Yet why can’t we have a good life doing the things we love that also earn us income?

You can work as an accountant during the day and play drums in a jazz band on the weekend to find your thrill. Or you can save up all your money from working as an accountant, retire, and dare to devote your life to jazz drumming full-time.

Seeing the possibilities is a gift because not everyone will take the baton and run with it when another person passes us an idea for what we can do.

I see the possibilities, and I recommend each of us grabs the baton of an idea of what we want to do, and runs with it.

Years ago I read that the thinking shifted in experts’ minds: it’s now thought a person can grow and change throughout our lives, that our personalities are not set in stone like previously thought.

We have the gift of a lifetime–we have our whole lives–to set goals and reach for them. We don’t need to conform to what others in society tell us we must do or how we must act. That kind of judging has to stop and the sooner the better.

I’m an artist as well as a writer. I’m a fitness buff, and a cook when the spirit moves me. I realized long ago that acting false to yourself creates ill-health.

In my Left of the Dial blog on the WordPress site I wrote that I value what others bring to the table: that you don’t have to have an Ivy-league pedigree in my book to be considered successful in your own right.

Acting true to yourself is the best way to succeed in my estimation because constantly straining to go against your nature sets you up to fail.

It’s OK if a person has no ambition. It’s OK if she wants to rule the world.

Either way, I doubt any of us can be truly happy operating against ourselves.

Having the courage to like ourselves and be happy with ourselves just the way we are is the way to go.

If we’re not satisfied with our lives or with any aspect of ourselves, we can take action today to change things for the better.

Persisting Even Though It’s Hard

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Persisting in taking action will help you achieve your goals even though you’re going through a hard time.

You might not see the light at the end of the tunnel and that’s OK. Just keep taking action. The alternative is no option: giving up is not an option

Surviving a setback is easier when you have a goal to strive for: an image in your head of what your life looks like when you’ve arrived at the other side. Write down in a notebook where you want to be and what you want your life to look like in three years. Create a one-year goal, a two-year goal, and a three-year goal.

Often: it makes sense to write down your long-term goals as a guide. They’re not written in stone even though they’re written down. They can be changed or modified along the way. Yet having this clear vision gives your life a focus and purpose to look forward to when today isn’t so hot.

Have a long-term goal you can review every so often. Yet know that focusing on weekly goals and taking your life week-by-week can be the necessary and useful and positive solution when you’re going through a hard time.

I set weekly goals now that are simple and can be achieved step-by-step. Yet I also have goals I want to achieve in five years that are always floating around in my head.

Writing down your goals is the best option for reviewing them as often as you need to review them.

Make the goals SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific.

Yet also give yourself a generous time to complete certain goals instead of narrowly restricting yourself to thinking you have to solve things quickly.

“Quick” is often the antithesis of “Lasting.”

It takes time to create positive, lasting changes in your life.

Nothing succeeds like persistence.

I’ll end here by telling readers that persistence is simply putting one foot in front of the other to keep on walking.

It doesn’t even involve always having the faith that you’ll achieve your goal. It only involves continuing to take action even when you lose faith.

Action cures fear. Action leads to success. Hope coupled with action is the way to go.