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6 Signs of Codependent Behavior (And How to Break The Cycle)

January 21, 2022 by Lakeisha Ethans

Codependent behavior is a psychological condition that involves an unhealthy relationship attachment style. Initially, counselors use the term primarily to refer to partners and family members involved with a person struggling with addiction. However, the definition has since expanded and updated to include a broader range of different toxic attachments.

A lot of codependency is rooted in childhood trauma and instability. This is what makes it so difficult to overcome its behaviors. If you constantly feel exhausted from taking care of everyone else, it may be time to examine your actions. Here are six signs of codependent behavior and how to break the cycle.

Six Early Signs of Codependent Behavior

1. Caretaking

Caretaking is a widespread codependent behavior. In fact, it’s pretty much synonymous with the entire issue! This is the state where you believe you must constantly take care of everyone all the time. Research indicates this is often a result of childhood parentification, where kids must grow up too quickly to take care of siblings or their parents.

If that description applies to you, you’ll feel like things won’t go well if you don’t take care of those around you. You constantly try to be the “mom friend” or ensure everyone else’s comfort above yours. You worry that, by voicing your needs, you’ll harm the comfort of others, so you stay silent. But this only builds resentment and leads to negative relationships in the long run!

2. Lack Of Boundaries

The key hallmark of codependent behavior is a notable lack of boundaries. It’s in the term itself: “codependency,” indicating an unhealthy dependency on someone else who is also dependent on you in a similar way. This lack of boundaries may appear in the following ways:

· Failure To Enforce Limits

You may have attempted to set certain boundaries before. You might have even promised yourself that you won’t be accepting specific treatment anymore. But then, when your limits are crossed, you stay silent and let it happen. You continue to allow these actions, causing your tolerance of them to slowly but surely increase to devastating levels.

· Self-Sacrifice

You constantly give to others at your expense. Your life revolves around others, and you give up time, money, effort, and energy for the people around you. This can even center on just one person, and if so, you’ll jeopardize all other relationships you have for them. You’ll even ruin your career, passions, and goals for their sake. You end up in this martyr position and can’t say no.

· Overstepping

It’s not just about your boundaries. You fail to recognize the typical limitations of others, too. In your attempts to care for them, you constantly overstep. You border on controlling, trying to fix other people and their problems by force and without empathy. When people don’t do as you want them to, you get frustrated and upset.

3. One-Sided Relationships

Codependent relationships are typically highly one-sided. They involve a dynamic where:

One individual is the “responsible” one, acting as a caretaker and martyr.
The other individual is highly irresponsible and performs multiple harmful behaviors.
The “responsible” individual excuses or enables the behavior of the inconsistent individual.
The irresponsible individual can continually perform their harmful behavior because the “responsible” individual takes care of them.

This negative relationship causes a lot of strain on the “responsible” codependent. A lot of people find themselves in that so-called responsible position. In reality, of course, it isn’t responsible, but an unhealthy and toxic bond where you feel responsible for the actions of others.

4. Avoidance of Personal Emotion

Codependent behavior involves a refusal to focus on yourself. You rely on others and focus only on providing for the people around you to a dangerous and harmful level. This means you’ll often avoid your emotions so you can better focus on the feelings of those around you. Instead of processing your feelings, you perform and experience the following:

· Repression

You’re afraid to be yourself and express your feelings. But those emotions build up whether you want them to or not. And since you’re not willing to voice them, you opt to push them back down instead. You bottle things up and may even seem very happy to those around you. But, deep down, those repressed issues only build up over time and influence your happiness and behaviors.

· Guilt

Whenever you feel strong emotions, you also feel guilty for having them. You feel as though you don’t deserve to experience your emotions. That guilt forces further suppression, making you chastise yourself for having those feelings.

· Denial

Codependent behavior doesn’t make you unintelligent. You’ll likely notice and be aware of various emotions and problems in your life. You may recognize the gravity of multiple situations and how they affect you. But because you want to avoid experiencing that truth, you put yourself in denial about them. You lie to yourself, ignore your issues, and distract yourself from reality, insisting everything is fine.

5. Lack of Trust

Codependent behavior can involve a notable lack of trust in others. You may constantly feel that others are unable to take care of themselves. As such, you become controlling and obsessive over them to save them from themselves. You may also not trust the people who have been good to you because you don’t believe yourself deserving of them. This can also manifest in the following ways:

· You Don’t Trust Yourself

You constantly second-guess your decisions and thoughts. You need other people to validate your choices. Alternatively, you never do anything that you think about doing. You don’t think you’re capable of pulling it off, or you think you can’t do it.

· You Trust The Wrong People

There are some people you trust – but they always seem to end up betraying that faith. You start to wonder if you’re just not worthy of good treatment. In reality, however, you’re subconsciously attracted to people based on your codependency and choose the wrong individuals to trust.

· You’ve Lost Previous Faiths

The people you trusted before have now entirely lost your trust. Sometimes that’s for a good reason, but if it’s fueled by codependency, it might not be. If you were previously religious, you might have lost that faith, too, believing that your god has forsaken you.

6. Lack Of Communication

A healthy relationship involves positive communication. But most codependent behaviors entirely get in the way of that. When you’re codependent, you lack an understanding of your own needs. And if you do know what your needs are, you likely feel uncomfortable or reluctant in expressing them.

This is because there’s a good chance that you believe that your only job is to take care of those around you. You don’t want to assert yourself by stating what you think and feel. You may even communicate with dishonesty, insisting you’re happy and okay when you’re not.

How To Break The Cycle of Codependent Behavior

Now that you see you are trapped in this cycle, here are some ways to help you break free.

1. Improve Self-Esteem

Codependency can’t take root when you have a high, positive sense of self-esteem. Many codependent behaviors stem from a desire to seek validation due to an innate belief that something’s wrong with you. You may:

Try to prove your worth to others, which is why your boundaries are nonexistent, and you keep overextending yourself.
Act as a caretaker to others so that you can feel of use to the people around you, as you define yourself by your service to others.
Ignore your own needs because you don’t think your desires and preferences are valid since you don’t believe in your worth.

To break the cycle of such codependent behavior, you need to start thinking about yourself. Take things slow and treat yourself with compassion as you validate your emotions. Take steps towards self-care and telling yourself that you deserve good things in life. You have to internalize the message that your worth doesn’t depend on your service to others.

2. Detach Healthily

Avoidance is unhealthy, true! But there’s a difference between avoidance and detachment. Healthy detachment is the art of letting go. It’s something that a lot of codependent individuals struggle with. You attach so much to your actions and how people perceive you that it’s tough to live an everyday life without that influence.

It’s essential to understand how detaching isn’t a selfish action. It’s something that ensures your boundaries are kept and met. It separates you from other people in a way that facilitates healthier relationships, giving you room for yourself. Detachment may involve:

No longer reacting to those around you, instead of staying calm in the face of stressors.
Disengaging from drama and arguments.
Setting healthy boundaries and enforcing them.
Refusing to enable the negative behaviors of others.
Ceasing criticizing and nagging activities.
Considering the emotions and needs of yourself.
Leaving any situations that you’re not comfortable being a part of.
Listening to others instead of trying to fix or solve their issues.

3. Learn About Yourself

Codependency causes you to struggle to have your own identity. You define yourself by your value and use to others. That’s why a big step in breaking the cycle of codependent behavior is all about learning your own true identity. You have to reconnect yourself after a long time of forcefully turning yourself into whoever you think others want you to be.

You may have lost touch with your goals, dreams, and beliefs, along with your identity. This likely makes it even harder to stop the codependency, as you have nothing to fall back on. Don’t worry – you can take it slow! Begin by asking yourself a few questions, such as:

What are my hobbies? What do I like doing?
How can I improve my mood? How can I make myself feel better?
Who are the people I enjoy spending time with most?
What are my goals and dreams in life? Is there something I want to do?

Final Thoughts On Some Behaviors Of Codependency And How To Break The Cycle

Codependent behavior is a highly harmful form of attachment. It’ll jeopardize your life and subject you to repeated harm while preventing others from taking their accountability. To escape its clutches, you have to break the cycle. Don’t be afraid to seek professional help for this frightening and challenging process!

Neuroscientist Explains Two Easy Methods to Help Master Your Emotions

January 21, 2022 by Sarah Barkley

Words play a role in mastering your emotions because they help name, define, and categorize your feelings. When you can think of your feelings this way, you’ll improve your emotional intelligence and get a better handle on it.

Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett teaches us that emotions aren’t the defining factor of who we are. She believes that emotions connect to survival instincts and the desire to survive and thrive. These instincts cause us to try and predict the future, creating certain emotions regarding the situation.

Learning to master your emotions can help you react to feelings objectively. With objectivity, you can make decisions based on detailed emotional evaluations. You’ll also figure out when to respond to your emotions or disregard them until you feel normal again.

Barrett suggests easy methods for mastering your emotions, helping you learn everything you need to know. She explains that you should learn to process and categorize how you’re feeling, digging deeper to understand. Once you learn the two methods, you’ll be well on your way to mastery.

Two Easy Methods Can Help Master Your Emotions

Try these techniques when you need to regain mastery of your feelings.

1 – Master Your Emotions by Practicing Emotional Granularity

Barrett’s first method for mastering your emotions is to practice emotional granularity. Your emotional granularity is your ability to make your feelings diverse and specific. The higher your emotional granularity, the better your mental and physical well-being are protected.

Practicing emotional granularity requires learning new things. You don’t only have to read or listen to self-help content as you can find descriptive words in any context. The goal is to read or listen to thought-proving content that uses specific terms to describe feelings.

Another way to practice emotional granularity is to learn the differences between similar words. You might know that there is a subtle difference but wouldn’t know how to pinpoint it when you experience it. When you learn the differences between emotional words, you will be well on your way to mastering your emotions.

Even when you’ve learned many new ways to describe your emotions, you can continue learning more. You can boost your emotional granularity by researching words in other languages that could apply to the way you feel right now. When you look for new comments this way, you can reconstruct your experiences.

When you only know a couple of ways to describe how you feel, it indicates that you need to gain emotional intelligence. By learning new words, you can give your brain more options for predicting and perceiving emotions.

Your goal when practicing emotional granularity should be to gain new concepts and hone the skills you already have. Emotionally intelligent people know which skills to use in each situation. Even when they initially aren’t sure what to do, they’ll use their concepts to figure it out.

Practice No Matter Where You Are

You can put your new skills to the test no matter where you are. Start by closing your eyes and imagining yourself in a different situation, and try to come up with concepts to describe it. Use multiple words and combine the emotions.

When you do this mental exercise, it helps you learn to use the new words in a meaningful way. It also allows you to cope with unpredictable circumstances and encourage empathy towards others. This method can also help with negotiating conflict and getting along with others.

The Benefits of Emotional Granularity

Granularity has many benefits that create a satisfying and fulfilling life. Studies show that people who could specify their feelings regulated their emotions better. They are also less likely to drink too much when they get stressed.

Plus, people that practice emotional granularity are less likely to retaliate against someone who wronged them. They have better relationships with their friends and loved ones and usually act more appropriately in social situations.

Another benefit is that emotional granularity helps you alleviate your issue. If you can pinpoint your specific emotion, you can address why you feel that way. Then, you can come up with a solution that eliminates the trigger.

Emotional granularity doesn’t only help with your emotions and mental health either. Studies show that people with higher granularity visit the doctor less frequently, use less medication, and aren’t hospitalized for illness as often.

2 – Master Your Emotions by Recategorizing Your Feelings

Once you’ve learned new ways to describe how you feel, you should recategorize your feelings. The different words can help you understand your sensations, allowing for better decisions. Without emotional granularity, you can’t successfully describe your emotions and categorize them.

When you can clearly identify your feelings and recategorize them appropriately, you can reduce suffering in your life. Recategorizing helps free you from believing that emotions are hardwired in your brain or automatically triggered. Instead, your feelings come from your brain working to help you survive and do well in life.

Your brain constantly predicts things, causing emotions to encourage certain decisions. Once you’ve learned more words to help with categorization, your brain will automatically label them precisely. Then, you’ll know whether to take action or not and what action needs to happen.

Instead of using broad terms to describe your emotions, focus on being more precise. Replace words like “awesome” or “great” with words that better convey how you feel. Some better words that describe positive emotions include these:

Inspired
Hopeful
Blissful
Joyful
Thrilled
Relaxed
Happy
Content
Prideful
Adoring
Grateful

When you come up with words that better describe your feelings, it helps you process and recategorize them. The same concept is genuine regarding negative emotions because saying “bad” is extremely broad. Consider some of these words, instead:

Resentful
Dread
Angry
Irritated
Embarrassed
Guilty
Gloomy
Depressed
Anxious
Aggravated
Alarmed
Spiteful
Remorseful
Mortified
Uneasy

Benefits of Recategorization

Recategorizing your emotions can help you overcome fear and feel less anxious about things that often trigger you. Rather than using one word to describe a situation, object, or experience, go into detail. Use multiple descriptive words to convey your exact emotions and thoughts.

When you feel anxious or worried about something, you can use recategorization to turn it into something positive. You can assess if your anxiety is due to excitement at the opportunity or something else and recategorize the emotion accordingly. Learning to do this in all instances can help you focus on benefits and positive aspects.

Other Ways to Master Your Emotions

Get Moving

One of the easiest ways to mater your emotions is by staying active. You can find balance in your life and mind by moving your body regularly. Go for a walk outside in nature to decrease negative feelings and improve your overall well-being.

Read a Book

Reading a book can help you step away from your emotions for a little while. Don’t avoid them, but taking a break from thinking about them can help you refocus your thoughts. Plus, as you read, you’ll learn new words, improving your emotional granularity.

Master Your Emotions Through Meditation

Practicing meditation allows you to observe and experience emotions, and it helps you release them. Meditation also allows you to clear your thoughts while relaxing your mind and body. Afterward, you’ll have an easier time processing the way you feel right now.

Write Down Positive Experiences

Keeping track of positive experiences can help you master your emotions. When you direct your attention to something, you’ll experience more of it. By focusing on and keeping track of positivity, you’ll see more of it in the world around you.

Anytime you experience something you want to happen again in the future, keep track of it. If you aren’t a fan of writing it down, find another way to commemorate the experience. One option is to take photos of something that reminds you of the experience.

Always Find the Good

It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity of a situation when it doesn’t go as planned. However, doing so can hinder your emotional progress. Instead, even when you aren’t thrilled, look for the good in every situation.

By forcing yourself to look for the positive aspects, you can change how you feel about it. You’ll end up feeling appreciative, grateful, or excited for another chance to try again. It helps you cherish each moment of your life, allowing you to see things clearly and gain emotional granularity.

Communicate Your Needs and Desires to Help Master Your Emotions

When you can open up and communicate what you need and want, you’ll start to master your emotions. Poor communication leads to misunderstandings and conflict, resulting in emotional turmoil. As you learn to communicate with others in this way, you’ll gain emotional granularity.

Final Thoughts on These Two Easy Methods Can Help Master Your Emotions

Using these two methods to help master your emotions can make all the difference in your life. As you learn to practice emotional granularity, you’ll find new ways to describe how you feel. Plus, you’ll start to use multiple words to convey your emotions.

This concept is one that you can practice throughout your life. You can never learn too much, and there is always more information out there. Keep learning and implementing your knowledge to help master your emotions.

How Long an Afternoon Nap Should Be, According to Science

January 20, 2022 by Sarah Barkley

Taking an afternoon nap is a luxury that not everyone makes time for in their daily life. Many people also assume that naps aren’t good for you. However, if you’re sleep-deprived or need to relax, taking time for a snooze can make all the difference.

If you enjoy napping, you’ll want to ensure you do it the right way. The first aspect to consider is what time of day it is. Taking a nap at the wrong time can backfire, leaving you with more problems than benefits.

Afternoon naps are a popular way to recover from lost sleep or an overly busy schedule, and only one-third of Americans utilize them. When you feel exhausted and worn out, you might need a refresher to stop you from feeling tired, sluggish, or irritable. These negative feelings can drag you down and cause a lack of productivity.

Before you start resting this afternoon, make sure you know how long a nap should be. Understanding the best afternoon nap length can help you make the most of your mid-day rest rather than turning it into a disaster. Following the guidelines can help you take a perfect nap that doesn’t leave you feeling worse.

Times That You Might Need an Afternoon Nap

Sometimes you might feel like taking a nap even when you don’t need one. As long as you do it at an appropriate time of day, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, other people desperately need a nap sometimes.

If you aren’t sure if you should take a nap, consider whether any of the following apply to you:

New fatigue
Unexpected sleepiness
Have an upcoming period of sleep loss
Want to make napping a part of your daily routine
You have time and enjoy naps
Lacking focus or inspiration

How Long an Afternoon Nap Should Be, According to Science

Ultimately, the length of your nap depends on how much sleep you need. There are benefits to power naps and naps that last more than one hour, making them both worthwhile. Whether you choose a short rest or need more than an hour, avoid sleeping for only thirty to sixty minutes.

Many adults are busy with other things and don’t have time for long naps. Because of their busy schedules, power naps are the best option, lasting for around fifteen or thirty minutes. However, if your schedule allows for it and you’re feeling extra tired, go ahead and set your alarm for an hour or more in the future.

If you implement a daily nap into your schedule, try taking a nap around the same time each day. Aim for mid-afternoon, and set the alarm for when you need to wake up so that you don’t oversleep. Avoid hitting snooze when your alarm goes off, although it will be tempting.

Don’t take your nap too early in the day, or your body won’t be ready. Likewise, please don’t take it too late, or you’ll struggle to sleep at night.

Power Naps

A power nap is under thirty minutes long and can leave you feeling rejuvenated. You’ll have more energy to finish the day, helping you get by until bedtime.

When you take a power nap, you’ll wake up before the deep sleep cycle begins. Staying in the lighter stages of sleep prevents grogginess and irritability. Power naps shouldn’t replace regular nighttime sleep, but they can give you an extra energy boost throughout the day.

30-60 Minute Naps

Once you surpass the 30-minute mark of your nap, you begin to enter deep sleep. While you will still experience improved memory and decision-making, it’ll leave you feeling sluggish. Plus, it’ll take longer for the benefits to kick in.

Longer Afternoon Naps

If you sleep for more than sixty minutes, you have likely entered the deep sleep cycle. You’ll experience improved memory and creativity, but you’ll also feel groggy.

Taking a nap for ninety minutes puts you through a sleep cycle. You’ll go through light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep, allowing you to wake up feeling well-rested. When you wake up, you’ll experience improved memory and creativity, and you’ll be in a better mood.

Four Tips For Taking the Perfect Afternoon Nap

If you’re taking a power nap, you don’t have much time to waste. You’ll want to fall asleep quickly and get as much rest as possible. These tips can help you take the perfect nap each time.

1 – Keep Your Naps Short

It might be tempting to sleep longer, but now that you know how long your nap should be, stick to it. Remember that more extended rest will leave you feeling groggy.

2 – Take Your Nap Early in the Afternoon

Avoid taking naps after three in the afternoon. Taking a nap any later than that could interfere with your sleep at night. If you start feeling tired anytime between noon and two pm, use that time to take a nap.

3 – Sleep in a Restful Environment

Take your nap in a dark, quiet place free of distraction to ensure the best possible rest. Choosing an environment with a comfortable room temperature will help, too.

4 – Give Yourself Time to Wake Up

After your nap, make sure to give yourself plenty of time to wake up before resuming activities. You’ll need to be alert for anything that requires a quick or sharp response. It won’t take long before you feel wide awake, and you’ll know what you’re ready to continue your tasks.

Five Benefits of Taking an Afternoon Nap

Now that you know how long your afternoon nap should be, it’s time to learn all the benefits. When done correctly, napping can make you feel better overall. You’ll be more productive and ready to tackle any obstacle or setback that comes your way.

1 – Promotes Relaxation and Decreases Stress

Taking a nap helps you relax and destress, allowing for many other benefits, including an improved mood. When you relax and decrease stress, you’ll be happier and less irritable. Plus, you’ll be able to think clearly, helping you feel better overall.

Taking a nap to reduce stress also leads to improved performance. Whether at work or home, you’ll be more effective at everything you do.

2 – Helps You Form Memories

Studies show that people who take power naps can remember word pairs better than others. It links to associative memory, similar to recognizing someone and remembering their name. Forming memories also helps with learning through episodic learning, a type of remembering.

3 – Encourages Inspiration

When you lack inspiration, an afternoon nap can make all the difference. Take a break from your task and get a little rest. When you wake up, you’ll have fresh ideas, see new connections, and find solutions.

4- Allows You to Recover from Fatigue

One study found that participants feel significantly less tired after a 30-minute nap. Their fatigue wore off, and they could refocus on their activities as it improved their alertness. Recovering from fatigue also allowed the participants to experience quicker reaction time.

5 – Helps You Reduce Your Caffeine Intake

When you’re feeling tired, you might want to grab another cup of coffee. However, too much caffeine is detrimental to your health and well-being. By taking a nap instead of consuming caffeine, you’ll improve your memory and learning while staying healthy.

The Disadvantages of Taking an Afternoon Nap

While naps are tremendous and offer many benefits, there are a few drawbacks. Naps can leave you feeling groggy or disoriented, worsening your mood rather than improving it.

They can also make you have trouble sleeping at night, causing you to be tired the next day, too. If your nighttime sleep becomes a regular issue, it could start an endless cycle of exhaustion.

For people with insomnia, afternoon naps can be especially harmful. They already struggle to sleep at night, and resting could worsen the problem. If you struggle with insomnia, you might want to nap during the day, but try to avoid it.

When an Afternoon Nap Might Be a Bigger Problem

If you’re so tired that your naps interfere with your daily life, it could be a sign of something more. Likewise, if you get a whole night of sleep each night and you’re still desperate for a nap, it could be because of a medical condition.

Think about your naps and your reason for needing them. If you only use power naps to help you refresh, there’s likely not another issue. However, consider discussing it with your doctor if you take naps because you’re always exhausted.

Final Thought on How Much Time it Takes for an Afternoon Nap.

While it’s impossible to give a definitive answer to how long an afternoon nap should be, you can narrow it down. For most adults, a power nap of fifteen to thirty minutes is best. Otherwise, aim for more than sixty minutes. Taking a nap can help you feel more energized, allowing you to get through the day and remain productive.

An afternoon nap can also help reduce stress, improving your overall physical and mental health. Taking a short nap can help you work faster and more diligently. Don’t miss out on the many benefits of napping by ensuring you sleep for the right amount of time.

12 Tips for Manifesting Your Dreams

January 20, 2022 by Sarah Barkley

One of the great things about life is that you can manifest anything you want. Manifesting can help you reach your dreams and live the life you’ve always wanted. Whether you want more money, good health, a prosperous career, or to find your true love, manifestations can help.

Some people are better at manifesting their dreams than others, and there’s a simple reason for that. Many people aren’t familiar with the steps they need to manifest what they want. It’s a process that requires consistency, positivity, and sometimes willpower.

Your life results from your thoughts, so attracting good things requires positive thinking. Your thoughts and energies determine how things work out for you. Becoming more deliberate about your thoughts and emotions can help you reach your dreams.

Twelve Tips for Manifesting Your Dreams

Everyone has the power within them to attract the things they want, and that includes you. You have limitless potential, giving you everything you need to make your dreams a reality. Utilizing these tips for manifesting your dreams can allow you to start seeing the progress you desire.

1. Prioritize Love and Positivity When You Want to Start Manifesting Your Dreams

When you prioritize love and positivity, you’ll start attracting what you want in life. Negativity repels good things and creates more unhappiness in your life, but positivity produces positive vibrations, helping to attract good things. Once you start focusing on love and positivity, your life will quickly change for the better.

There are many ways to prioritize love and positivity, but a few ideas to get you started include:

Spending time with positive and happy people who care about you
Reading inspiring quotes
Repeating positive affirmations
Watching videos that make you laugh
Looking for the good in every situation

2. Continually Work Diligently at Manifesting Your Dreams by Setting Goals

You can’t expect to reach your dreams if you don’t work for them. The Universe can’t give you things you don’t earn, so you must keep working toward your goals. Continually working toward your goals also speeds up the process and improves the chances of reaching your dreams.

Don’t waste time waiting around for things to happen to you. You must get out there and make things happen for you by gaining knowledge, developing skills and good habits, and implementing beneficial life changes. When you continually work toward your goals, you’ll experience happiness along the journey.

3. Keep Your Dreams in Mind and Be Intentional

If you don’t know what you want, you can’t go through the process of getting it. To manifest something, you must know what you want for your life. Spend time thinking about what you want, including the details.

Then, be intentional by keeping your goals in mind and making beneficial life changes. Put out positive intentions for your life, and the law of attraction will start working for you. Be well-intentioned in your actions, and focus on keeping a positive mindset.

Your dreams guide you forward and keep you pushing through obstacles and challenges. If you ever feel like you’ve run out of strength, revisit your dreams to motivate yourself to keep going.

4. Free Yourself of Doubt and Inner Resistance

You can’t manifest your dreams if you have doubt and resistance in your mind. Resistance can come from the following:

Lack of self-esteem
Feeling unworthy
Fear
Stress or anger

Don’t get angry at yourself if you experience doubt or inner resistance. It happens to everyone sometimes, and you must overcome it. Take a few deep breaths to relax, and then refocus on your dreams.

When your inner critic won’t stop, you must learn to quiet it. You can do anything you set your mind to, so change those negative thoughts into positive ones. Learn to accept and enjoy things as they are while you work on creating your dream life.

5. Have an Open Mind When Manifesting Your Dreams

Keeping an open mind allows you to recognize opportunities you might have missed otherwise. Without an open mind, you might miss out on experiences that could be life-changing. You’ll achieve your dreams much quicker with an open mind because you’ll recognize everything.

Limited thinking causes you to believe that success can only come from one source. However, there are many ways to achieve the same goal, so there are always other options. Keep an open mind, so you always recognize an opportunity when it arises.

6. Follow Your Intuition but Use Common Sense

Following your intuition can help you reach your dreams. Look for signs from the Universe to help you move forward and achieve your goals. However, while you follow your intuition, you’ll still want to use common sense.

You can manifest anything you want, but you can’t expect to achieve your dreams overnight. For the time being, you must push your limits. If you want a leadership position, you must first work your way up to that spot.

So, start small and manifest things that are within reach. Each time you make a little progress, you can begin to manifest something a little better. Before you know it, you’ll have reached your dreams.

7. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

While it’s easy to stay in your comfort zone, it creates a passive life with no results. If you want to progress toward your dreams, you must step out of your comfort zone and chase opportunities. It requires challenging yourself and gaining knowledge to improve your life.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is easier than it initially sounds. All that you have to do is start changing little things about your life, like the route you take to get home. You can also make yourself uncomfortable by brushing your teeth with the opposite hand or waking up early.

By changing simple parts of your life, you’ll become comfortable enough to change other things, too. Stepping out of your comfort zone leads to new opportunities and experiences, allowing you to achieve your dreams.

8. Don’t Choose too Many Goals When Manifesting Your Dreams

If you have too many goals, you can’t focus your energy on any of them. You’ll constantly feel scattered, going back and forth between them all. When you live this way, it doesn’t allow you to make much long-term progress.

Choosing one or two specific goals at a time can change all of that. It’ll increase the energy you can use on each task, helping produce faster results.

Break your dreams down into smaller goals, and set milestones to achieve along the way. Come up with a plan for each milestone, focusing only on the next one as you go along. Before you know it, you’ll have manifested your dream one step at a time.

9. Maintain Positive Expectations

When you expect good things to happen, they’re more likely to occur. Keep an image in your mind of you achieving each goal as it produces positive results. As you work to reach each goal, having certainty that you’ll achieve it is key to making it happen.

10. Trust the Process

If you don’t notice results right away, don’t get discouraged. Push away doubt, and focus on trusting the process. Achieving your goals takes time and dedication, so keep pushing forward and manifesting your dreams.

When you don’t trust the law of attraction, you’re telling yourself that you don’t believe in your abilities, either. It’s times like this that require willpower and self-discipline to stick to your plan. Remember that manifestation works, even if you don’t see results overnight.

11. Ask the Universe to Help in Manifesting Your Dreams

This simple task can make all the difference in manifesting your dreams. Start by making a list of what you want in life and asking the Universe to make it happen. Be clear about each item on the list, and make sure it’s what you truly want.

Writing this note to the Universe helps you focus your attention on your dreams. Re-writing the list each day can help, too. Consider narrowing your list down and focus on one or two of the items for now.

Other options for asking the Universe for what you want include:

Stating your wish aloud a few times each day
Repeating your desires in your mind
Use positive affirmations
Create a vision board
Please write a letter to the Universe and read it each day

12. Use Your Imagination

Your subconscious mind and the Universe respond to mental images that you create. Use your imagination to build a mental scene of what you want to focus on each day. This visualization activity triggers the law of attraction to work in your life.

Visualize the things you want most in life, and it’ll help you develop the proper focus to achieve your goals. If you envision that you’ve already reached your goals, it’ll give you a chance to imagine yourself living the life you ultimately want. Then, that life will gradually start to happen for you.

Final Thoughts on Tips for Manifesting Your Dreams

Manifesting your dreams helps you overcome barriers that stand in your way, helping you achieve your deepest desires. When you can imagine your dream life or see yourself reaching goals, you can make it happen. Visualizing allows your dream to come into existence, setting you up for success and fulfillment.

Don’t sit back waiting for things to happen for you. Get out in the world and start working toward your dreams while manifesting success. The power of positivity is a powerful tool you already have–put it to use!

16 Things That Cause Someone to Snore

January 20, 2022 by Sarah Barkley

Snoring is a harsh or hoarse sound someone makes when they sleep. It is a common problem, but some people have it worse than others, interfering with their sleep quality. But what causes someone to snore? Finding the cause of the abnormal breathing during sleep can help you remedy the issue and feel better.

Nearly 90 million Americans snore because of different underlying conditions, but each issue can cause a breathing obstruction. Typically, the obstruction stems from relaxed tissue blocking the airway. The air flowing past the lax tissue makes the tissue vibrate when you inhale, resulting in the buzzing sound.

Figuring out the underlying cause of the harsh breathing can help you overcome the issue. You can find ways to remedy the problem, helping you sleep better each night. If someone in your life snores, you can use this information to help them instead.

Whether it’s you or someone in your life that snores, figuring out the cause is the first step. Your underlying cause might differ from someone else’s, meaning what works for you may not work for others. A remedy will help you sleep restfully, allowing you to feel better overall.

Critical Signs That You Snore at Night

Most people know they have harsh breathing while they sleep because someone else tells them. However, if you don’t sleep near anyone, you might not know for sure. Some of the symptoms include these:

Daytime sleepiness
Difficulty concentrating
Headaches in the morning
Sore throat in the morning
Restless sleep
Gasping or choking during the night
High blood pressure
Chest pain while you sleep

Sixteen Things That Cause Someone to Snore

These things can cause snoring.

1. Being Overweight

Excess weight is one of the most common causes of noisy breathing while you sleep. Implementing a healthier lifestyle can help someone eliminate the issue and sleep better.

Weight gain causes thicker neck tissue, decreasing the internal diameter of your throat. Not only will losing weight help you sleep better, but it’ll improve your overall quality of life.

2. Sleep Position

Your sleep position can cause or worsen harsh breathing. For instance, lying on your back can make your soft palate and the base of your tongue fall back into your throat. When this happens, it obstructs your airway and causes abnormal breathing patterns.

If you usually sleep on your back, start sleeping on your side instead. You might roll onto your back during the night, but using a body pillow or something similar can help prevent it.

3. Alcohol

You might have noticed that people often have hoarse breathing during sleep after consuming alcohol. Alcohol causes sleep disruption because human bodies have a defense mechanism that prevents your airway from becoming blocked as you sleep. Drinking alcohol decreases those defenses, hindering your body’s natural ability to protect you.

Additionally, alcohol causes the muscles in your body to relax, including the throat muscles. With relaxed throat muscles, harsh breathing is almost inevitable. Plus, it relaxes the tongue, causing it to fall back and block the airway, too.

While all of that information is enough to convince you that alcohol can cause sleep disruption, there is yet another reason. Drinking alcohol causes nasal congestion, which further contributes to the problem. Cut back on how much you drink before bed, and give yourself enough time to let the alcohol wear off being dozing off.

4. Sleeping Pills

When you take sleeping pills, it’s likely because you want to sleep better. You might think it’ll help the wheezing that wakes you up during the night. However, the loud breathing and rasping will still wake you up as you try to sleep.

Sleeping pills relax your muscles, including your throat muscles. When your throat muscles relax, they partially obstruct your airway, worsening disruptions. Taking the medications to help you sleep can exacerbate the issue, causing you to miss more rest.

5. Sedatives and Tranquilizers

These medications make you relax, potentially causing someone to experience noisy breathing while sleeping. If you’re already experiencing abnormal breathing while you sleep, mention it to your doctor. They might have another solution that won’t interfere with your sleep.

6. Pregnancy

While pregnancy is typically a joyful time in a woman’s life, it can cause a few issues. Nasal congestion is more prevalent during pregnancy, potentially obstructing the airway. When this happens, noisy breathing during sleep is sure to follow.

7. Smoking Cigarettes

There are plenty of good reasons to stop smoking, and now you can add to the list. Smoking cigarettes can cause or worsen abnormal breathing. The smoke irritates the lining of your nose and throat, causing swelling and inflammation.

While the swelling and inflammation alone can cause an obstruction, it also causes congestion. The more you smoke, the worse the issue will become. Plus, secondhand smoke can irritate your throat and nasal cavity, so even being around it can cause problems.

8. Nasal Congestion

If your nasal passages become blocked by congestion, it can cause abnormal breathing while you sleep. The blockages make it hard for air to travel in and out. There are many causes of nasal congestion, including allergies or suffering from a cold.

9. Getting Older

Aging can cause your skin and tissues to lose elasticity and moisture. When this happens, the tissue is more susceptible to vibrations that cause noise. The vibrations might result in a wheezing or raspy sound.

10. Allergies

If you suffer from allergies, you’re more likely to experience harsh breathing while you sleep. Keep your bedroom free of allergens by dusting and vacuuming often. You could also consider keeping your pet out of your bedroom or off of your bed.

Your pillow is a common location for dust and dander to settle, which will intensify the issue. Putting your pillow in the dryer for one cycle can help eliminate any allergens causing a problem.

Some allergens to look out for include the following:

Mold
Dust mites
Animal dander

11. Dry Air

If the air in your home is excessively dry or dusty, it can trigger your body’s mucous membranes. Then, your mucous membranes work overtime to eliminate particles and pollutants from your airway. The process leads to congestion, which is a direct cause of harsh breathing.

12. Sleeping with Your Mouth Open

Sleeping with an open mouth can cause wheezing and snorting noises while someone sleeps. It can also worsen the issue if there is another underlying factor. Mouth breathing can cause the air to hit the back of your throat and vibrate the soft tissues, creating a buzzing sound.

13. The Anatomy of Your Mouth

Not everyone’s mouths have the same shape, and the anatomy could cause problems. If your soft palate is thick or low, it can cause your airway to narrow. Plus, an elongated uvula, the tissue that dangles as the back of your throat, can also obstruct your airway.

14. Sleep Disorders

People suffering from sleep apnea are likely to experience disrupted breathing while sleeping. It is a serious medical condition that causes the throat tissues to block the airway. Some people suffering from this condition stop breathing while sleeping, waking up by snorting or gasping.

After the person wakes up, they might struggle to fall back asleep. However, once they doze off, they will likely wake up the same way again later. The next episode could occur within minutes or hours, disrupting their sleep.

People with sleep apnea often snore for a bit, and then the rasping stops as they stop breathing entirely. Because sleep apnea is a medical condition, so you must see your doctor immediately. The doctor can help you get the situation under control, improving your health and sleep quality.

15. Sleep Deprivation

If you haven’t’ been getting enough rest, you’ll likely experience some breathing abnormalities when you finally get a chance to catch up. You’ll sleep more deeply than usual, causing your body to react to disturbances. Plus, the harder you sleep, the more relaxed your throat muscles become, allowing them to obstruct your airway.

At his point, sleep deprivation turns into an endless cycle. The harsh breathing leads to sleep disruptions, and lack of sleep leads to more wheezing.

16. Weak Throat Muscles

When someone has been a snorer for a long time, it can cause damage to the throat muscles. Frequent or severe raspy breathing during sleep can weaken the muscles in your upper airway. It also affects the tongue and soft palate.

This damage makes the throat muscles more susceptible to collapsing and obstructing your airway. This proves how essential it is to get your breathing disruptions under control right away.

Final Things on Knowing the Things That Cause Someone to Snore

Occasional harsh breathing during sleep aren’t anything to worry about. However, if someone snores chronically, it could harm their overall health. Plus, it can put a strain on your relationship if you sleep with a partner, too.

If you or your partner experience abnormal breathing while sleeping, finding the underlying cause can make all the difference. Once you know what’s causing the sleep disruption, you can work on finding a remedy.

15 Reasons to Take Breaks Throughout the Day

January 20, 2022 by Sarah Barkley

You might feel pressured to keep pushing through without breaks when you’re super busy. Sometimes, the work is piling up, and deadlines are quickly approaching, so you skip taking time to yourself. However, there are many reasons to take breaks throughout the day, especially when you’re overwhelmingly busy.

Living a busy lifestyle pushes you to work harder for more extended periods. Before you know it, you’ll feel restless and burnt out, causing many other issues in your life. There are many reasons why taking a break throughout the day is essential, so don’t skip them thinking you’ll accomplish more.

It doesn’t matter what you do on your break, but find a positive way to remove yourself from work. Much research backs taking breaks throughout the day, indicating that it’ll improve your mental and physical health. However, some data also shows that nearly 6 in 10 people feel guilty when taking breaks.

Fifteen Reasons to Take Breaks Throughout the Day

If you’re one of the people that feel guilty when you take a break, you must push through that feeling. You’ll gain more by giving yourself breaks during the day rather than working nonstop. These reasons will help you see how essential it is to take breaks during the day, stepping away from work for a little bit.

1. Your Eyes Will Feel Better if You Take Breaks

Taking breaks throughout the day helps keep your eyes healthy and feeling good. If you work on a computer, you can develop computer vision syndrome, resulting in blurred vision, headaches, eye strain, and neck or shoulder pain.

At minimum, you should take a break from all screens every two hours, including computer, phone, or tablet. Spend at least fifteen minutes away from the screen, looking into the distance as much as possible. Doing this will help keep your eyes, head, and neck from feeling bad.

2. It Prevents Burnout

While occasionally putting in extra hours and working harder is okay, doing it for too long can cause burnout. When there’s no end in sight, you will feel like you don’t have anything to look forward to. You’ll also feel tired and sluggish most of the time.

Taking regular breaks throughout the day is an effective way to prevent burnout. You’ll have an easier time maintaining steady productivity.

3. You May Boost Motivation if You Take Breaks

Resting for short periods throughout the day can increase motivation. When you have a long-term goal that you’re working on, it’s essential to take steps toward taking care of yourself.

If you prioritize breaks and rest, you’ll feel more motivated to do a good job. You’ll find that you want to keep pushing forward, viewing each hurdle as an exciting experience.

4. Improves Performance and Productivity

You can only work long and hard for so long before you stop giving it your all. If you stop working to take regular breaks, it will help you recharge and improve your performance. You’ll get more accomplished after a pause, increasing productivity.

Take a break to let your brain perform better every hour or two. Without a break, your brain will begin to think the task isn’t essential, and you’ll start getting distracted. If you want to focus and improve your performance, try taking a break and see what happens.

5. Taking Naps can Improve Your Memory

Repeated breaks throughout the day can improve your memory and concentration. After a pause, you’ll be better able to memorize new content, making it an excellent learning method. It’s normal to have trouble concentrating and paying attention for long periods.

Rather than fighting against your mind, walk away from your work for a while. You’ll process and retain information more effectively and more easily recall information.

6. When You Take Breaks, You’ll Increase Creative Thinking

The next time you’re stuck on something, take a break and do something different. Once you start focusing on something else, an inspiring and creative idea might come to mind. You’ll come up with new ideas to work through your problems when you get back to work.

Hard work requires ideas and problem-solving and can be hard when solutions are hard to find. Relying your creative energy can make all the difference and help you find ideas.

7. Improves Your Overall Health

Taking breaks has a positive impact on your immune system. When you’re working hard, long hours for too long, it can hinder your immune system and cause inflammation. Sitting still for long periods can cause back problems, obesity, and heart disease.

Not getting up during the day decreases circulation, causing your brain not to function optimally. Additionally, you could develop sleep disorders or mental health concerns if you don’t take breaks. By taking a short break to walk around the block or eat a healthy lunch, you’ll improve your health.

8. They Help You Process Information

When you give your brain a chance to rest, you might be able to solve some of your more pressing issues. A relaxed mind helps you devise solutions you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

The relaxed mind helps because it allows you to process information differently. When you walk away, there’s a good chance you’ll rethink the input and look at it in a better way.

9. Breaks Give You Time for Personal Development

When you take a break, you can use the time to do something related to personal development. Not only will it help you refocus on your work task, but it also betters your mindset and skills. Plus, your employer can’t be mad about your break when it makes you more valuable to the company.

10. Gives You a Boost of Energy

Focusing your mind on one task can make you feel drained of energy. Taking a break gives your mind a break, making you feel more energized when you return. Even 10-20 minutes away from your work can affect your energy levels.

11. You’ll See the Bigger Picture if You Take Breaks

Being caught up and focused intently on your work can cause you to lose sight of the bigger picture. When you take a break and step back from your work, it helps reassess goals and priorities. It also helps determine if you’re focusing on the right things regarding your projects.

If you ever struggle to maintain focus on strategic goals that help the bigger picture, it could be that you aren’t taking enough breaks. Breaks will help you stay free from distracting tasks that can be completed by someone else or saved for last.

12. Prevents and Reduces Decision Fatigue

After spending time making a decision, your brain needs a break. If you keep pushing and making more choices, you’ll experience decision fatigue.

This fatigue causes a decreasing ability to make beneficial decisions. However, if you take a break, you can rest your mind and refocus to make decisions again.

13. Gives You a Chance to Bond with Your Coworkers

When you work all day without a break, you won’t have a chance to get to know your coworkers. By taking breaks or accepting lunch invitations, you develop stronger relationships with the people you see each day.

Even just a few minutes of chatting in the break room can make a difference in your relationships at work. It’ll make work more fun and make you more comfortable around your coworkers. Plus, it helps you become a more effective part of the time.

14. Reduces Stress

Working too hard for too long can lead to chronic stress, affecting your physical and mental health. When you take breaks, it helps relax your mind and relieve tension. You’ll notice a significant reduction in your stress levels, giving you a brighter outlook on life.

Another benefit of taking breaks to reduce stress is that it’ll help you get along with your coworkers better. Disagreements tend to happen more frequently when stressed, so that a break could make a big difference. Plus, reducing stress typically results in few errors in your work, too.

15. Taking Breaks Improve Emotional Health

Working without a break takes a toll on your emotional health. If you stare at a screen all day, the effects will likely worsen.

Every hour or two, take a break and talk with a coworker. Share ideas, catch each other up, or offer words of encouragement.

You can also spend your break time doing some stretching, meditating, or checking in on your thoughts. It doesn’t take long to reconnect with yourself and become happier.

Final Thoughts on Reasons to Take Breaks Throughout the Day

While it might be tempting to keep working when you’re busy, you must take breaks throughout the day. Breaks will help you work more effectively and come up with better solutions. Your health will improve, you’ll be happier, and you’ll feel better overall.

Even taking a few minutes to stretch each hour can make a difference. With all of the benefits of taking breaks during the day, start implementing them every couple of hours. If it helps, schedule them into your day so you aren’t tempted to skip them.

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