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8 Signs Of A Narcissist

July 14, 2016 by Power of Positivity

As per the Mayo Clinic, the definition of a narcissist is “someone who has an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others.”

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) causes many issues in all aspects of a person’s life. It affects work, school, relationships and other matters. It can worsen with depression and addiction. Someone who is a narcissist is usually unhappy and easily disappointed by others for not receiving the special treatment they believe to deserve.

Their relationships are usually empty and disconcerting. Their reality doesn’t measure up to their beliefs of what they see in themselves. It’s hard for the narcissist to accept that the world doesn’t revolve around them alone.

Here are 8 signs of a narcissist:

You can detect a narcissist pretty quickly when you begin to notice the red flags.

1. A narcissist will often exaggerate their achievements and talents.

If the narcissist is a male, for example, he may tell you that he was an all-star athlete in school when the reality is that he was rarely ever on the field. He will overplay any life event to look as if he was the star of the show. And, when he shares his achievements over and over, they actually become a reality to the person. They believe they have accomplished all the things that they share with others.

2. They are master manipulators.

The narcissist will utilize your weakness to ensure that they get what they want. They will degrade you, using your weaknesses to add more power to their personality. If they do you a favor, be sure you’ve sold your soul to the devil because it will come back to haunt you.

3. They don’t recognize or accept your feelings.

The only thing that counts is how they feel. The narcissist will be sure to bulldoze your emotions to make themselves feel worthy. A person who suffers from NPD is only concerned with how they feel. Emotions are driven by their needs and desires.

4. Narcissists are arrogant.

The narcissist is never wrong. They believe they are entitled to everything. They will brag and step over anything or anyone along their path to get the things they want. This disorder doesn’t allow for the person to have a rational moral compass. They aren’t sensitive to anyone’s feelings.

5. They require constant admiration and adoration.

The narcissist needs to be the center of attention. When the attention is no longer available, they will move onto another person. They cannot keep relationships for long because no one can keep them on a golden pedestal. They have difficulties keeping jobs and focusing on school as well because they lose interest quickly.

6. They take advantage of others.

The narcissist will take advantage of anything and anyone to suit their needs. This means stepping over anything to reach their level of twisted goals. The narcissist appears to have self-confidence and high self-esteem, but it’s a facade. They are lacking self-worth but compensate it by using others to their best interest.

7. They are envious of others.

The narcissist cannot accept anyone better than themselves; therefore, when the attention is on someone else, they get angry. They suffer from severe depression, frustration, and even rage. Indeed, they are envious of anything that doesn’t come to them and their attention.

8. A narcissist believes they are superior.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental health issue. They aren’t making it up. They are mentally incapable of seeing the world like everyone else. Usually, they believe they are above anyone. Their grandiose attitude is overwhelming. They do no wrong. When something doesn’t go their way, it’s because of someone else who messed up. There is no way to rationalize their behavior.

It’s not fully understood how a person becomes a narcissist, but they do have some common background influences. This personality disorder can be diagnosed as early as puberty and preteen years. Usually, a parent gave excessive pampering or excessive criticism in childhood years. They might have come from a broken home, having abandonment issues that forced them to rely only on themselves.

These people have substituted the lack of love and support from a parent by over-emphasizing their own worth. Narcissistic Personality Disorder seems to affect more males than females. It’s important to recognize the boundaries between an unhealthy ego and that of a narcissistic personality disorder. Sometimes the lines seem to overlap. The above signs are some of many that differentiate a narcissist from a person who has self-assurance and confidence.

An expert warns:

“The main condition for the achievement of love is the overcoming of one’s narcissism. The narcissistic orientation is one in which one experiences as real only that which exists within oneself, while the phenomena in the outside world have no reality in themselves, but are experienced only from the viewpoint of their being useful or dangerous to one. The opposite pole to narcissism is objectivity; it is the faculty to see other people and things as they are, objectively, and to be able to separate this objective picture from a picture which is formed by one’s desires and fears.” ~ Erich Fromm from The Art of Loving

(C)Power of Positivity, LLC. All rights reserved

Science Says People Who Nap Are More Creative

July 13, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Do you ever feel sleepy during the afternoon and wish you could just lay your head down for a quick cat nap? Many people around the world feel this way as their jobs become more demanding, but they must power through the work day with caffeinated beverages or even caffeine pills to get by.

Naps have incredible health benefits, including increased longevity, a younger appearance, a healthier heart, helping to keep hormones balanced, and repairing cells. Our brains can’t just run all day without taking a rest, so naps help give your brain a break temporarily while also improving memory and creativity.

Some scientists even believe that humans should separate their sleep into two sessions – one short one during the day, and a longer one at night. While not everyone agrees with this theory, a short nap every day can’t do anything but improve health, so you really have nothing to lose.

Here’s How Naps Can Make You More Creative

A study presented at the Neuroscience 2012 meeting in New Orleans found that power naps could increase right-brain activity. Researchers monitored the brain activity of 15 individuals while they took a nap, and found that their right-brain activity increased, and the left-brain activity remained relatively inactive. As you might already know, the right brain is associated with creativity and imagination.

The studies’ author, Andrei Medvedev, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging, says: “The right side of the brain was better integrated”.

Some scientists believe that the right side of the brain governs creative tasks and intuition, while the left brain helps with logic and analytical tasks.

Medvedev believes that the right brain is “cleaning up” and sifting through memories while one takes a nap.

Napping also helps the brain to retain more information by clearing out older memories and info, according to researchers in the U.S. Led by Dr. Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, he and the research team gathering data about this study suggest that naps last around an hour for the best results.

Walker said: “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap.”

For the study referenced above, 39 healthy adults were placed in two groups: a nap group and a no-nap group. Both groups had a task given to them that required them to remember a significant amount of information. They did the task during the afternoon. At 2 pm, the nap participants laid down for a 1.5 hour rest. Obviously, the no-nap group stayed awake. Both groups learned even more information after the task and the nap at around 6 pm.

The results

The nap group performed better in the 6pm exercise than the other group that had to remain awake the whole day. Furthermore, the nap group performed better during the task done later in the day than they had in the previous task before their nap.

Walker and his team concluded that naps help to clear old information so that the brain can store new, more relevant information.

What does this have to do with creativity? Well, if your brain gets bogged down with too much information, you won’t have the clarity and mental stamina to create anything. Creativity works best when you can move through your thoughts with ease, even if you have many of them. Naps can help you to clear out old thoughts so you can sift through them more efficiently.

How to have a great nap:

First of all, make sure you dim the lights. Also, try keeping the room at a cool temperature, usually around 68-72 degrees.

Secondly, get rid of all distractions, but keep your phone in the room with an alarm set to avoid oversleeping. Just keep it at a reasonable distance so you don’t feel compelled to check your phone before the alarm goes off.

Thirdly, grab a blanket and a pillow so you can drift into a deep sleep comfortably.

Finally, do a deep breathing exercise or short meditation before the nap so you can clear your mind to ensure a thorough rest.

15 Ways to Be More “Selfish” (And Why You Should)

July 13, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Being “self-ish” is not selfish at all. The art of self love is one that is important at every stage of your life, so it’s worth finding the ways that we can show ourselves the loving care we need for our true happiness and well-being.

15 Ways to Be “Selfish”

Too much self-love and an over-inflated opinion of yourself as compared to others is a psychological problem known as narcissism. This is when you take care of yourself at the emotional, psychological, or financial expense of others.

Researchers studying healthy self-esteem say that some self-love is normal and is related to good psychological health. Healthy self-love has been linked to lower daily sadness and feelings of depression, loneliness, and helps improve feelings of well-being, including feelings of relationship well-being. Healthy self-esteem is also connected to fewer feelings of anxiety and neurotic behavior.

Having too little self-love can also be bad for our mental health. In another study, researchers linked low self-esteem to higher levels of aggression and anti-social behavior.

In this article we will talk about the healthy type of self-love that fills your positive emotional bank, which then allows you to give more love to others.

1. Picture yourself on a deserted island

Knowing yourself well is one of the ways you can give yourself love, and an easy way to do this is to know the basic things that you need to be happy. When you can picture yourself all alone, what are the 5 major things that are most important to you to have with you that give you joy? One example of your 5 top things that make you happy might be music, a good book, ice water with cucumber slices, your favorite recliner, and an ice cream sundae with hot fudge.

2. Do more of what you want to do

Play sports, read, meditate, garden, swim; whatever your favorite activities or hobbies are, make time for them a priority.

3. Do less of what you don’t want to do

Avoid activities that lead to negative moods. Anything that is frustrating to you should be avoided, if possible. Try asking someone else to do the dirty work for you or find a way to do away with the need for the non-fun things.

4. Forgive others

Holding onto emotional hurt only hurts you, not the person who caused you the pain. Forgiveness is releasing negative emotions that hurt your mental health.

5. Accept your flaws

We are all imperfect, but knowing our negative tendencies is helpful to self-acceptance and working to be better at unconditional self-love. Lori Deschene at Tiny Buddha says ‘keeping ourselves in check regarding patterns such as lying, manipulating, co-depending, withholding, and pretending’ are a part of good self-care.

6. Tune in to your gut instinct

In your gut, you know what is good and not good for you. When you connect to your sense of intuition, it will lead you to master self-love.

7. Dream of more

Are you done with the reason you were put on Earth? Your destiny may not be fulfilled yet so think of big ways that you can make a positive impact before you are done with your time here. Working toward something that is greater than yourself is great way to feel the importance of your contribution and give yourself love.

8. Spend time wisely

We have a limited time, so decide how you want to spend yours and commit to giving yourself the gift of choices in what you do.

9. Give yourself excellent physical care

Sleep, exercise, healthy whole foods, good hygiene, maintaining your weight, getting massages, and getting regular exams; caring for your body is part of mastering healthy self-love.

10. Connect to your spirituality

Whether you believe in a faith or not is not important, but spend time with the beliefs that are meaningful to you.

11. Work on fixing just one thing about yourself that you dislike

Taking action toward self-improvement is an excellent way to master self-love.

12. Protect yourself from negativity

Mentally protect yourself or physically avoid spending time with negative people.

13. Ask for help

Asking for help is difficult for independent people, but it can be psychologically freeing to know that in our society, others are willing and able to assist you, whenever you need it. Ask someone for a small favor and you may be pleasantly surprised about how good you feel when they give it to you.

14. Express yourself

Creatively express who you are through your clothing, art, writing or music. Many people are surprised to find that they have talents far beyond the ones they are using currently. Discover your new creative passion.

15. Remember your power

You are unique and unlike any other person. This is a powerful thing to know about yourself. Remember a time when you felt confident, loved, and courageous enough to take on the world and then realize that this ability to feel self-love has been with you all along.

Scientists Explain 4 Things That Cause Leg Cramps (And How to Fix It)

July 13, 2016 by Power of Positivity

If you’ve ever experienced a charley horse before, then you know nothing can compare to the sensation. These leg cramps occur primarily during sleep, and scientists believe this happens due to lying in one position for an extended period, which can result in muscle cramps and contractions. During the day, you move around a lot, which keeps the blood flowing and the muscles engaged.

This uncomfortable sensation awakens many people at night, but luckily, a charley horse doesn’t tend to last more than ten minutes. However, it can leave you feeling sore the next day.

Many people walk off the pain, but it can become a recurring problem if you don’t go to the source to fix it. Today, we will go over the reasons for these muscle spasms and solutions for getting rid of them.

If you experience leg cramps that often wake you in the middle of the night, then read on to find out the causes and solutions so that you can get restful sleep, pain-free.

If You Get Leg Cramps Often, This May Be Why…

A “charley horse,” or leg cramp, is a painful muscle spasm that can occur in your calf, thigh, or foot.

If you’ve ever wondered why people call it a “charley horse,” try to think of how you’d feel if a horse kicked you in the calf or thigh. It would probably hurt badly, which explains why people refer to the muscle spasm as a charley horse.

Somewhere between going to sleep and waking up, many people experience these muscle spasms but don’t know why. We’ve listed the most common reasons for muscle spasms below.

Four Primary Causes of Leg Cramps

Here are four everyday things that cause a charlie horse or muscle contraction of the legs.

1. Dehydration

When you sweat a lot or don’t drink adequate water, your body will lose electrolytes, which help maintain your muscles’ proper function. Consequently, not hydrating your body will likely result in frequent muscle spasms.

Electrolytes help to control your muscle contractions, so when your body doesn’t have enough electrolytes, it could cause painful muscle tension in the late night hours.

2. You’re cold

Although many people sleep better in a cold room, a cooler temperature can cause muscles to spasm. If you insist on keeping the room cold, cover up with enough blankets and don’t forget to cover your legs.

Exposure to cold temperatures can cause the muscles to stiffen and become inflexible, which could cause painful muscle contractions.

3. Being in the same position for long periods

Whether you work all day sitting down or standing up, simply being in the same position for that long could trigger muscle spasms later on, significantly if you don’t stretch. Women who wear heels are especially vulnerable to muscle cramps, which strain the feet, spine, and legs enormously.

4. Exercising without stretching

One of the biggest mistakes people make all too often is exercising without stretching before and after. While exercise will increase your physical fitness and strength, not stretching the muscles can cause painful repercussions later. Your muscles need time to recover after an intense workout, so stretch them out to avoid injury and muscle spasms.

How To Prevent Leg Cramps

Once you understand the causes, you’ll better see how these prevention tips can help.

1. Take A Warm Shower

Before a workout, you warm up to prepare your muscles for exercise and prevent injury, right? Well, the same concept applies to prevent a charley horse. If your muscles feel sore or stiff, hop in the shower to ease your pain and relax your muscles.

The warmth of the water will help to soothe your body and can go a long way in preventing muscle spasms during the night.

2. Drink Pickle Juice

You might’ve heard of this age-old remedy before; many people have tried it successfully. Studies have shown the effectiveness of using pickle juice to ward off sore muscles, and one study proved that pickle juice works better than even water at alleviating muscle cramps.

Pickle juice contains a lot of salt, which we need to maintain proper control of our muscles. This explains why this remedy works so well, and best of all, you probably already have a jar of pickles in your house.

3. Eat A Banana

Muscle spasms can also occur due to low levels of potassium. Bananas contain one of the highest potassium concentrations among any food in nature, so the next time you have a charley horse, try eating a banana to replenish your potassium levels and alleviate muscle cramps.

Final Thoughts on Dealing With Leg Cramps

Leg cramps can range from mild discomfort to excruciating pain that awakens you during sleep. Understanding the four primary causes can help you avoid these muscle contractions. However, you can try the home remedies we mentioned to alleviate them naturally if you still get them. So try heat, pickle juice, or potassium-rich foods to get the relief you need when they occur.

Here’s How Eating Added Sugar Hurts Your Brain

July 13, 2016 by Power of Positivity

It is recommended that humans consume no more than 9.5 teaspoons of sugar per day. Currently, the average American adult consumes 22 teaspoons daily. The average American child consumes 32 teaspoons of sugar each day. – The American Heart Association

As you can see, we clearly have a sugar epidemic on our hands, and it only grows worse as more people become even more addicted to the added sugars in all the foods we have at our disposal. While sugar tastes great in most foods, many people don’t even think twice about what effect this dangerous additive has on the brain or body. Sugar in itself doesn’t necessarily promote ill health, but the source of the sugar makes all the difference. 100 calories of sugar from an apple get processed very differently in the body than 100 calories of granulated sugar, for instance.

Studies continue to pour in about what sugar can do to our bodies, such as induce diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and more, but if this doesn’t make you want to quit sugar for good, maybe learning what it does to your brain will do the trick.

These Things Happen To Your Brain When You Eat Added Sugars

A new study found that consuming high levels of fructose (from added sugars) can do damage to a staggering 940 brain genes. This is a nutrigenomic study, in which researchers specifically study how food can alter the expression of genes. This type of study can help us to understand how the food we eat gets processed in our bodies, and can allow us to make healthier choices when we consume foods.

Research continues to show just how badly sugar affects our health, but now scientists can prove how sugars negatively act on our brains as well. In the study, the scientists discovered that added sugars altered 734 hypothalamic genes as well as 206 hippocampal genes. What does this mean for us exactly? Well, these particular genes are responsible for vital functions within the brain, such as cell metabolism, cell communication, inflammation, and overall brain function.

According to The Health and Sciences Academy, “…certain alterations can lead to leptin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, depression, and bipolar disorder.”

However, even if you’ve been consuming added sugars for years, the same study found that Omega-3 oil DHA “has the potential to normalize the genomic impact of fructose.” In other words, by including an adequate amount of DHA in your diet, you can reverse the effects of added sugars on your brain. You can find Omega-3 in the following plant-based foods:

Flaxseeds
Hemp seeds
Chia seeds
Seaweed
Algae
Pumpkin seeds
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Cabbage

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t avoid ALL sugars – we actually need some sugar in order to function properly. The key is to consume sugar in its whole, unaltered state, however. This means that we need to consume sugar from whole, uncooked fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. Extracting sugars from plants and then adding them back into foods strips the sugar of any nutrients whatsoever while keeping the calories and insulin-spiking properties, which is why processed sugar is so toxic to our health. Added sugar simply does not have any nutritional value whatsoever, so the body recognizes the calories, but does not know how to convert the energy into a usable form. This is partially why disease is so rampant in today’s world, so avoiding added sugars will go a long way in keeping you healthy and disease-free.

What’s more, studies have found sugar to be eight times more addictive than cocaine, so if you haven’t chosen to give up sugar yet, maybe this startling fact will do the trick.

Also, if you do buy processed foods at the store, keep your eyes peeled for the following ingredients disguised as sugar: glucose/fructose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose, maltose, dextrose, beet sugar, glucose solids, cane sugar, dehydrated cane juice, dextrin, and maltodextrin, among others.

As with anything, you don’t have to avoid sugar altogether – just consume it in moderation if you must have it. We all like the occasional ice cream, soda, or candy bar, and having these every so often won’t do much damage to our health. However, the daily consumption of these foods is what really sends our system into a state of shock.

Showering Every Day? Here’s Why You May Want To Stop…

July 12, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Since birth, we’ve been programmed to shower or bathe daily, but should we really be cleaning ourselves that often? Beauty and health industries spend billions per year trying to sell us products we think we need to stay hygienic and clean, and unfortunately, a lot of their marketing techniques have been successful thus far. We’ve been fooled into thinking that washing ourselves daily will make us cleaner, healthier, and more desirable and appealing to others, but showering or bathing each day can harm our skin and overall health.

While showers can help you relax after a long day or feel fresh and clean after an intense gym session, you don’t need more than one or two showers per week, with maybe a quick sink-wash daily to freshen up. Shocked? Read on to find out exactly why taking daily showers isn’t the best idea, according to science.

Here’s Why You Need To Stop Showering Every Day

According to dermatologist Dr. Ranella Hirsch in an Essence article, showering daily does NOT do a body good. Not only do showers use an enormous amount of clean water, they also strip the skin of healthy bacteria, dry out the skin, nails, and hair, and weaken your immune system.

“We over-bathe in this country,” says Hirsch. “That’s really important to realize. A lot of the reasons we do it is because of societal norms.”

1. You’re Not As Dirty As You Think

If you don’t work out every day or have a physically demanding job where you sweat for hours, you don’t need a daily bath or shower. According to Dr. Casey Carlos, assistant professor of medicine in the division of dermatology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in an article on today.com, many soaps dry out the skin because they strip valuable oils from it. Plus, most people use soap where they don’t need it. Carlos says that the skin does a great job at cleaning itself, which means we don’t need to wash up as much as we thought.

If you think about it, back when we lived in nature, we just washed off in a river or creek without using any soaps or harsh cleaners. So, why do we think our bodies need these products today?

2. It Washes Away Good Bacteria

In an interview with BuzzFeed, two dermatologists revealed that washing your skin daily washes away good bacteria essential to our health. Plus, frequent showers can create small cracks in the skin, opening up your body to infection (especially with lower amounts of that good bacteria we all need).

3. You’re Drying Out Your Hair

Just like the skin, washing your hair daily will strip it of naturally occurring oils, giving it a dry, damaged, frizzy look. According to Andrea L. Hayden, Director of the International Association of Trichologists, you shouldn’t wash your hair more than once or twice weekly (including just getting it wet). Even if you don’t wash it every day, you can still condition your hair on the days you don’t wash to lock in moisture.

4. You’re Drying Out Your Skin

Taking too frequent hot showers can dry out the skin, leading it to peel or flake. If you haven’t caught on yet, washing our bodies so often, no matter what part, leeches moisture and oils from the skin dries it out. Many doctors recommend taking no longer than 10-minute showers if you do shower each day and putting the water on cold so you don’t dry your skin out.

5. You Will Ruin Your Nails

Hot water makes your nails expand, making them chip and crack. Once again, the nails will lose moisture and oils, which means dry, flaky nails galore.

Read about fifteen ways to stop wasting water.

6. You Waste Water

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average family of four uses about 400 gallons of water daily! If everyone in the family showers daily, much of that water usage goes toward showers since a ten-minute shower uses a whopping 60 liters of water. According to Stanford University, you might think bathing will conserve more water since you don’t have it constantly running, but baths use almost three times more water than showers.

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Here are 8 signs of a narcissist:

1. A narcissist will often exaggerate their achievements and talents.

2. They are master manipulators.

3. They don’t recognize or accept your feelings.

4. Narcissists are arrogant.

5. They require constant admiration and adoration.

6. They take advantage of others.

7. They are envious of others.

8. A narcissist believes they are superior.

An expert warns:

(C)Power of Positivity, LLC. All rights reserved

Here’s How Naps Can Make You More Creative

The results

How to have a great nap:

15 Ways to Be “Selfish”

1. Picture yourself on a deserted island

2. Do more of what you want to do

3. Do less of what you don’t want to do

4. Forgive others

5. Accept your flaws

6. Tune in to your gut instinct

7. Dream of more

8. Spend time wisely

9. Give yourself excellent physical care

10. Connect to your spirituality

11. Work on fixing just one thing about yourself that you dislike

12. Protect yourself from negativity

13. Ask for help

14. Express yourself

15. Remember your power

If You Get Leg Cramps Often, This May Be Why…

Four Primary Causes of Leg Cramps

1. Dehydration

2. You’re cold

3. Being in the same position for long periods

4. Exercising without stretching

How To Prevent Leg Cramps

1. Take A Warm Shower

2. Drink Pickle Juice

3. Eat A Banana

Final Thoughts on Dealing With Leg Cramps

These Things Happen To Your Brain When You Eat Added Sugars

(C) Power of Positivity, LLC. All rights reserved

Here’s Why You Need To Stop Showering Every Day

1. You’re Not As Dirty As You Think

2. It Washes Away Good Bacteria

3. You’re Drying Out Your Hair

4. You’re Drying Out Your Skin

5. You Will Ruin Your Nails

6. You Waste Water

(C)Power of Positivity, LLC. All rights reserved

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