Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

I just heard “You Raise Me Up” on a commercial. I saw Josh Groban perform the song with the African Children’s Choir on American Idol. Absolutely gorgeous. This is one of my favorite performances for 2007. Must be my Irish heritage. Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOhd6R2EiY[/youtube]

One year ago I published my first blog post. I wrote:

I’ve started this blog on New Year’s Eve with great enthusiasm and the commitment to do whatever it takes to regularly post. As one friend says, if it isn’t fun it won’t get done. So my goal is to make this a fun adventure. I invite you to participate!

This is blog post number 193, so I think I did a pretty good job of keeping that commitment. And with 539 comments, I’m happy that others joined the adventure. Thanks, everyone!

I blogged about my greatest interests, of course. I also spent a lot of precious time sounding off about The Secret. I had no idea I’d go from making lighthearted comments about personality assessments to giving Elijah-like warnings about the so-called Law of Attraction. But ya never know how a blog will evolve.

I’m looking forward to another year of thinking out loud for the whole world to hear (yikes!). You’re always welcome to add your thoughts — just keep comments PG-13.

And, puhleeze. I really don’t care about Angelina Jolie pics. What is wrong with you people!?

Akismet has caught 4,468 spam for you since you first installed it.

Thank you, Akismet.

Knowledge doesn’t do a bit of good unless it’s accompanied by wisdom and action.

Confession time.

I know, damn it, that consuming grains, cheese and nightshades are bad, bad, bad for me. My body can’t deal with the proteins found in grains and milk, not to mention other substances, such as mold, that come along for the ride. I discovered that I had food sensitivities after returning from a six-month stay in Thailand. While in The Land of Smiles, the only grain I ate was white rice, and no cheese was available.

Oh how I longed for the day when I would be back in the States, gorging myself with whole-wheat bread, muffins and pancakes.

I returned and joyfully resumed my whole-grain diet. Over the next several months I mysteriously started to lose weight, strength and skin color. My skin broke out with giant welts after bathing. I was going downhill fast but didn’t know why. I was concerned that I had been infected by bacteria, parasites or worms while teaching in a refugee camp in northern Thailand. All tests came back clear.

One day someone suggested that I might have food allergies. The only thing I knew about food allergies back then (this was the early 80s) was that nuts and shellfish can cause anaphalactic shock. But I thought the idea was worth researching, so I bought several books on food allergies and sensitivities. To make a long story short, I found out that I was allergic or sensitive to just about everything I was eating. I changed my diet and within two weeks I looked and felt like a new person.

I was strict about what I ate for several years. But maintaining a limited diet can get old, boring and tiring. So I started to cheat. To shorten this long story again, I’m really suffering now from almost daily consuming grains and other problematic food.

I’ve got to get back to the basics for me to enjoy good health again. Sigh. This means meal planning and food shopping, which I can’t stand to do. Maybe this year I will actually stick to a resolution to hire a personal chef.

P.S. I don’t like milk. Never have. Maybe that’s a very good thing. Yes, a very good thing.

The other day I heard from a professional acquaintance who landed in the emergency room due to feeling weak and short of breath. Tests ruled out a heart attack. The diagnosis was a panic attack, possibly caused by acid reflux. “So now I am taking medication for both anxiety and acid reflux; the former, my doctor tells me, will last 2-4 months in order to prevent another panic attack from coming on. The latter will last indefinitely (with more than 1 billion people on the planet taking these ‘proton pump inhibitors,’ I’m in good company),” he wrote.

He might be in good company, but I question how healthy and happy that company is. You see, I know a lot about panic attacks and its tie-in with acid problems. I suffered from panic disorder for many years. Attacks started when I was 19, and back then not much was known about causes and cures. We know more now, but the picture is far from complete, at least in the conventional medicine world.

I’m opposed to using drugs unless they’re required to save my life, so I sought out other ways to heal. I was able to gain control over panic disorder through diet and using energy psychology techniques and homeopathic remedies. I was also fortunate to find the work of Dr. Stuart Shipko, a psychiatrist who specializes in treating panic disorder. Although I had my panic disorder under control by the time I learned about Dr. Shipko, reading his research solved some of the mysteries.

I loved his message board and learning everything I could about the disorder so that I would not suffer again. Unless one has experienced panic disorder, it’s hard to understand how devastating it can be. I used to remark that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, including the devil.

I didn’t want to see my friend suffer needlessly (I knew his treatment plan wasn’t going to work very well), so I sent him Dr. Shipko’s ebook, Surviving Panic Disorder. I think the length of the book discouraged him (how can there be that much information about panic disorder!?), and he didn’t appear to be impressed. Little did he realize the goldmine he’d received…

Thankfully, he printed out a chapter and gave it to his doctor. And here’s what happened:

OK, Lana, you win the BIG prize today. I shared Chapter XXI (Treating Reflux) with my doctor. He was blown away. It made total sense to him and he even thought it explained a number of cases over the past ten years where people failed to respond to conventional BZD treatment for anxiety. So, he loves it and he is switching me over to Dr. Shipko’s protocol immediately. I have stopped the PPIs and am phasing out the BZDs at the same time as I have started on Sucralfate. We’ll see how it goes, but I feel very blessed and empowered to (a) have such a responsive doctor, and (b) be pursuing a path that will resolve the underlying physical issue. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

BTW — My doctor has already passed chapter XXI along to another doctor who has been working with a woman for many months with a variety of GI disorders that are not responding to conventional treatment. He thinks this may be a godsend.

Let’s hope all goes well as I phase off the BZDs! I will keep you posted.

Also BTW — How did you know about the work of Dr. Stuart Shipko? It seems like you could not have been at a better place, at a better time.

Now THIS is the kind of thing that makes me happy. I love helping people by sharing information. I was dancing around the house after receiving his email, much to my husband’s amusement. He just doesn’t get it. Receiving a million dollars for dispensing advice would make him happy. I’d like to make millions doing what I love, but for now, I’ll enjoy the real-time benefits.

Learn about Dr. Stuart Shipko

Update 12/23: Here is latest from my acquaintance. He is a well-known, successful coach who practices and teaches wellness principles for mind, body and spirit. It took a lot of courage for him to admit to thousands of his readers that he was facing a challenging health problem. Obviously, he’s glad he stepped out on the belief that his community would support him. I’m so thrilled and joyful to have given him such a precious gift — and that joy is a precious gift to me. Life itself continues and evolves through the giving and receiving of energies (and I don’t mean the woo-woo kind) at every level. We need positive emotional energy to survive and thrive.

I took my car into the shop today to get several things repaired. I watched television and read a magazine while I waited. I rarely watch TV during the day because most shows aren’t worth my time. But I think I need to hold my nose once in awhile and see what others are being exposed to.

For starters, I saw how biased the media is regarding the presidential candidates. Ron Paul supporters are kicking butt and setting records, but Fox gave just a passing mention. Just in case you don’t hear it on the news, yesterday the Ron Paul campaign brought in $6.04 million, setting another one-day record.

December 17, 2007

What a day! I am humbled and inspired, grateful and thrilled for this vast outpouring of support.

On just one day, in honor of the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the new American revolutionaries brought in $6.04 million, another one-day record. The average donation was $102; we had 58,407 individual contributors, of whom an astounding 24,915 were first-time donors. And it was an entirely voluntary, self-organized, decentralized, independent effort on the internet. Must be the “spammers” I keep hearing about!

The establishment is baffled and worried, and well they should be. They keep asking me who runs our internet fundraising and controls our volunteers. To these top-down central planners, a spontaneous order like our movement is science-fiction. But you and I know it’s real: as real as the American people’s yearning for freedom, peace, and prosperity, as real as all the men and women who have sacrificed for our ideals, in the past and today.

And how neat to see celebrations all across the world, with Tea Parties from France to New Zealand. This is how we can spread the ideals of our country, through voluntary emulation, not bombs and bribes. Of course, there were hundreds in America.

As I dropped in on a cheering, laughing crowd of about 600 near my home in Freeport, Texas, I noted that they call us “angry.” Well, we are the happiest, most optimistic “angry” movement ever, and the most diverse. What unites us is a love of liberty, and a determination to fix what is wrong with our country, from the Fed to the IRS, from warfare to welfare. But otherwise we are a big tent.

Said the local newspaper (http://www.thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=36475b4d132fc0a1): “The elderly sat with teens barely old enough to vote. The faces were black, Hispanic, Asian and white. There was no fear in their voices as they spoke boldly with each other about the way the country should be. Held close like a deeply held secret, Paul has brought them out of the disconnect they feel between what they know to be true and where the country has been led.”

Thanks also to the 500 or so who braved the blizzard in Boston to go to Faneuil Hall. My son Rand told me what a great time he had with you.

A few mornings ago on LewRockwell.com, I saw a YouTube of a 14-year-old boy that summed up our whole movement for me. This well-spoken young man, who could have passed in knowledge for a college graduate, told how he heard our ideas being denounced. So he decided to Google. He read some of my speeches, and thought, these make sense. Then he studied US foreign policy of recent years, and came to the conclusion that we are right. So he persuaded his father to drop Rudy Giuliani and join our movement.

All over America, all over the world, we are inspiring real change. With the wars and the spying, the spending and the taxing, the inflation and the credit crisis, our ideas have never been more needed. Please help me spread them https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate in all 50 states. Victory for liberty! That is our goal, and nothing less.

Sincerely,

Ron

The study of success isn’t rocket science, it’s neuroscience!

On my travels around the blogosphere this morning I discovered SharpBrains. I immediately went to the Neuroscience Interview Series and read the interview with Dr. Brett Steenbarger, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY Medical University, in which he discusses success and the importance of emotional management.

“Elite performers are distinguished by the structuring of their learning process… It is important to understand the role of emotions: they are not “bad”. They are very useful signals. It is important to become aware of them to avoid being engulfed by them, and learn how to manage them.”

The interviewer asked what differentiates elite performers from the rest. Dr. Steenbarger replied:

The elite performers are distinguished by the structuring of their learning process. From a relatively early age, they are engaged in an intensive learning process that builds upon their natural talents. They find a niche—a field that makes use of these talents—and become absorbed with a deliberative and systematic learning process that provides them with continuous feedback about their performance.

The recipe for success seems to be talent, skill, hard work, and opportunity. In contrast, many people who don’t end up performing at a high level were driven mostly by practical reasons to enter that field and are not motivated to follow the same level of intensive and systematic training. (What Brett is saying reminds me of the Learning Cycle that Professor Zull outlined a few weeks back).

Success isn’t a matter of lucky breaks or magical thinking. It may seem ludicrous to point this out, but lots of people riding the Law of Attraction Train believe otherwise and are on the track headed to disappointment.

(I noticed that this site promotes HeartMath products for stress management and emotional management. I recommend the emWave. See my related post.)

You won’t hear that very often in England, according to a discussion on Steve Salerno’s blog. We’re fortunate in the United States to have safe, affordable dental care and fluoride in our drinking water. Right?

Back in the 80s I did a ton of research into the mercury amalgam debate. It made no sense to me that mercury, a toxic metal, in one’s mouth was safe. I didn’t buy the ADA’s claim that the other metals in the amalgam bound the mercury and posed no threat. I called and talked with the ADA spokesman about this issue. He told me that studies conclusively proved the safety of mercury amalgams. I learned otherwise from speaking with researchers in Sweden, where the debate was not a political hot potato.

The amalgam wars among dentists began in 1833, when the mixture of mercury, silver, copper, tin, and zinc was introduced. Most dentists were outraged at the very idea of putting a toxic substance in their patients’ teeth, yet proponents were able to quell the controversy. The debate continues today in the United States. The ADA has made it unethical for a dentist to recommend the removal of amalgam because of mercury. But the great thing is that consumers today think silver fillings look terrible. They insist on tooth-colored fillings. So the mercury amalgam debate may simply go off the radar.

However, there’s still another debate that rages — the safety of fluoride in water and toothpaste. Ever wonder why the FDA regulates fluoride in toothpaste? Fluoride is a poison. The average tube contains enough fluoride to kill a small child if ingested.

Studies show that fluoridated water does not decrease tooth decay, and that it increases risk of hip fracture, birth defects, cancer, arthritis, thyroid dysfunction, and the lowering of a person’s IQ. Also, increased exposures to fluoride have caused millions of U.S. children to develop dental fluorosis, damage to tooth-forming cells. Many European countries have banned the use of fluoride in water and supplements — a major push is underway in the U.S.

Learn more at Fluoride Action Network and sign the online message to Congress.

I like to err on the side of caution in such debates. Why take a chance? It’s easy to avoid mercury amalgam, and it’s easy to buy toothpaste without fluoride.

Want to save up to 80 percent on dental care?

Check out Value Dental

(I don’t receive any compensation for referrals. This is simply a public service announcement.)

Before I reveal the secret, let’s talk about quack medicine. Generally speaking, quack medications are concoctions, such as herbal remedies and other supplements, that are not regulated by the FDA and may or may not work as claimed. Without governmental oversight, it boils down to buyer beware. Some herbs can kill you if taken in excess or in combination with certain drugs.

It’s criminal to foist potentially harmful stuff onto an unsuspecting public, isn’t it?

Don’t worry, in a moment I’m going to reveal the secret to selling quack potions and raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars. But let’s continue the discussion for a bit. Let’s consider the pharmaceutical industry, which the FDA regulates. How good of a job do you think the FDA does to keep the public safe from harmful drugs? How many potential side effects, ranging from liver damage to diarrhea, are you willing to tolerate? How willing are you to be a guinea pig when a drug has been fast-tracked and put out to market without testing for the long-term in humans?

Research (deaths) found that the herb ephedra can kill. Okay, everyone, stay away from herbs! They’re not regulated and you have no idea what you might be getting!

Research (deaths) found that the diabetes drug Rezulin can kill. Oops. Sorry about that. But we’ll have a new, improved drug to take its place soon! No worries!

The secret to selling quack medicine is, drum roll please, marketing!

And the secret to selling FDA-approved drugs that may harm or kill you? Marketing!

There you go. Either route, there’s lots of money to be made.

Caveat emptor.

(The inspiration/provocation for this post comes from the December 12 issue of eSkeptic. See the article, “The Immortal Lily The Pink: The 100th anniversary of the FDA marks a milestone in medicine before which cranks and charlatans ran amok.”)

People often find my blog through google searches. Today two people came across my blog using the search terms “Course in Miracles + President 2008.” I was curious about what they might be looking for, so I checked out other search results for the query. Well, what an adventure it’s been!

For instance, on a message board at IsraelForum.com, I learned that beginning January 1, Oprah’s satellite radio program “Oprah & Friends” will offer year-long lessons from the Course in Miracles Workbook. Read the message board post, which presents former New-Ager and ACIM follower Warren Smith’s article, “Oprah and Friends To Teach Course on New Age Christ.” The article is also available here.

As a former Christian, I can understand Smith’s dismay over the Course’s infiltration into Christian churches. The teachings are, as he says, “the truth of the Bible turned upside down.” Even when I was a believer I couldn’t understand why so many Christians played fast and loose with their sacred scriptures. Apparently a la carte Christianity is an easier sell.

But aside from debating whether Christians should embrace the Course, what about the teachings themselves? On a practical level, are they helpful, or harmful? Do they present the truth about the nature of reality and consciousness? Is the Course’s guidance a key to changing the world, as Marianne Williamson claims? Is it the New Age Peace Plan that’s going to transform humanity? I guess it remains to be seen. (But I’m not holding my breath.)

I believe that human consciousness is at a crucial point in its development. We may indeed be ready to make a leap in order to deal with our current existential problems, as psychology professor Clare W. Graves theorized. Graves’ work serves as the foundation for Spiral Dynamics, a way for viewing human nature and how it changes.

Learn about Spiral Dynamics here.

Read chapter 1 of Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Chris Cowen.

Learn about Dr. Graves here and here.

“The psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating, spiraling process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower-order behavior systems to newer, higher-order systems as man’s existential problems change.” –Dr. Clare W. Graves

I get very excited and filled with hope when I contemplate an evolving human consciousness. But then I start reading discussions like this one, A Report On Nazism in the New Age Movement, on IsraelForum and my hopes get dashed. It seems we have a long way to go.

If you decide to visit this forum, you might want to take some Dramamine before jumping on the dizzying ride.

Oh great Spiral Dynamics, please save us.

In today’s e-newsletter from LifeTrek Coaching International, Bob Tschannen-Moran shares 12 shifts we can practice to create happiness: “from control to freedom, from cynicism to possibility, from manipulation to mindfulness, from pessimism to responsibility, from distraction to silence, from exclusivity to diversity, from anxiety to mystery, from aimlessness to hope, from superiority to humility, from inferiority to beauty, from scarcity to justice, and from selfishness to love. These are the things that make life worth living. The more we incorporate them into our daily living the more we will contribute and the closer we will be to the Great Spirit of life.”

I was particularly drawn to shift number 7: Avoid Anxiety/Embrace Mystery.

We live in an age of anxiety. Troubles and terrors, both of natural and human origin, are real. But that does not mean we can afford to live from that anxiety. Not only is anxiety unproductive, it undermines creativity, obscures possibility, and negates temerity. It brings us up short in the game of life.

Which is especially unfortunate given the mysterious way things have of working out. What may, at first, seem to be a catastrophe often appears, in hindsight, to be a blessing. Indeed, the very nature of our quantum universe argues against anxiety, which is itself a remnant of the Newtonian principles of cause and effect. If that’s the only way things happen, then we have reason for anxiety. But if the universe can jump natural barriers, respond to subtle energies, and generate synchronicities then we can embrace mystery as our way of being in the world.

This point goes right to the heart of my ongoing questioning about cosmology and the meaning of life. I don’t know if Bob is right, but it gives me something to think about. All I know is that the quantum world is extremely bizarre and almost beyond our comprehension. Quantum physicists still don’t know how it all works, yet lots of people who are not physicists, especially gurus and teachers who want to make a living teaching how the universe works (think The Secret and all the Law of Attraction teachers), claim to have it figured out.

Embrace mystery… I’ll try.

Read LifeTrek Provision #542

(If you like keeping up on quantum theory, read Quantum untanglement: Is spookiness under threat?)

Jeremy Dean is serving up some interesting posts about happiness research and the strange workings of the mind. Really strange — such as the finding that people often are unaware when they’ve changed their attitudes. Not only that, “In certain circumstances we may even be convinced that our attitude has never changed. So that we are convinced our ‘new’ attitude is the one we always had,” Dean writes in Our Secret Attitude Changes.

As one who thinks about thinking, engages in a lot of internal dialog, and analyzes everything to death, I find this hard to believe. But I can test it by keeping a thought log (blogging!). I’ll wait a year or two, and then read the older entries. I might be shocked.

Talk about a mess. Bailing out a small sliver of troubled homeowners isn’t the answer. Slapping Wall Street upside the head isn’t the answer. Continuing our current economic policies isn’t the answer.

The mortgage meltdown is just one of many crises facing our nation, as you know. Things are a mess, and if things don’t change, things are gonna get worse.

I know, I know — we tend see everything as coming up roses or dying on the vine depending on one’s political party and other affiliations. I’m not aligned with any party. And I tend to be optimistic about our country. I believe in free markets and sound money. I love living in our beautiful free country. But, quite frankly, I’m getting very concerned about where we’re headed.

The solutions, although possibly painful in the short-term, may be found in… Ron Paul for President!

I urge you to visit his Web site and learn what he stands for and what he wants to do as President. Start googling around and see what his supporters (and detractors) have to say. If you haven’t heard of him, you will soon. A powerful, grass-roots movement is sweeping the nation, unlike anything I’ve seen before. (Check out the Straw Poll results.)

If you like what you see, donate online. It’s kinda fun to see one’s name fade in and out on the Home page

I’m up to one of my old tricks. I have a project that is about to go into the stage where I’ll be required to do a lot of things outside my comfort zone. I don’t know if the project will be worth the time and effort, so it’s hard to push through this stage.

When the going gets tough, the tough go blogging! (I don’t like to shop.)

What a great way to kill an hour, or two hours — shoot, sometimes an entire day.

Why do we procrastinate? It’s a way to avoid something unpleasant — usually emotions that are uncomfortable.

This About.com article asks, which style of procrastination fits you?

1. Organizing thoughts and actions and keeping on track with plans is difficult. (People with ADD/ADHD may fall into this category.)
2. Tasks seem overwhelming so it’s futile to even try.
3. Hostile feelings towards someone cause you to want to punish them by putting things off.
4. Routine and schedule causes you to feel rebellious.
5. You fear disapproval.

I’m hitting 4 out of 5. No wonder I’m sitting here blogging.

Tips for beating procrastination include managing your time, breaking up large projects into smaller tasks, pushing through and doing it now, scheduling reward time (and rewards like chocolate?), anxiety-busting exercises, and changing defeatist thinking.

Ya know what? All this reminds me to check in with my “will do” and “won’t do” profile (Kolbe A Index). What if I’m simply attempting to act against my natural grain? I’m a great researcher and problem solver, very flexible, and highly imaginative. My Kolbe report says that I have a knack for:

• seeing solutions in my mind
• visualizing possibilities
• conceptualizing what could be
• having discussions without having to be face-to-face
• making decisions without having tangible evidence

Ah hah. I think I know what’s causing me to hold back. I can see my project so clearly in my mind and know it’s a fantastic solution to a problem. My challenge, however, is getting others to see it. In fact, there’s a key person who needs to see the light in order for this thing to fly — and my experience so far with this person doesn’t give me much hope. So, perhaps I’m dealing with feelings of futility. Which I don’t have to give into, right?

If there’s a will there’s a way…

I like to share innovative ways to promote products and services. If you have a business Web site, be sure to check out this new service that creates video ads using professional actors.

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A 30-second video costs $399, while a 60-second video costs $499.

Go to the website, click on How to Order, and you’re on your way. You can choose from dozens of Page Gravy actors, all ranging in age and personality. You can specify what they say, do, and wear. Make your choices, send in the script or use the company’s scriptwriting service, then sit back and relax. Page Gravy films and edits the video, and provides instructions on how to put the ad up. All quick and easy, just like making gravy!

Following happiness research makes me happy. I love the thrill of discovery, the joy of creating new synaptic connections, the delicious mental morsels that feed my brain.

But I’d better think twice before gorging myself.

This morning I read about a happiness study led by University of Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, which indicates a principle of diminishing returns. Once you reach a large ratio of positive to negative events, additional positive events don’t necessarily make you feel good. And to top it off, encountering negative events can create an even larger adverse effect.

Shankar Vedantan writes about the study in The Washington Post:

Americans report being generally happier than people from, say, Japan or Korea, but it turns out that, partly as a result, they are less likely to feel good when positive things happen and more likely to feel bad when negative things befall them.

Put another way, a hidden price of being happier on average is that you put your short-term contentment at risk, because being happy raises your expectations about being happy. When good things happen, they don’t count for much because they are what you expect. When bad things happen, you temporarily feel terrible, because you’ve gotten used to being happy. …

The study, in the October issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, offers a new twist on an old idea. Previously, psychologists such as marriage expert John Gottman said that people’s day-to-day satisfaction, whether with themselves or with their intimate relationships, was the sum of the positive and negative things that happened each day.

Researchers had found that people need a certain ratio of positive to negative events to be happy — couples, for example, seem to need about three times as many positive interactions with each other as negative interactions to feel satisfied with the relationship. A variety of therapists have focused on trying to increase the ratio of positive to negative events in their clients’ lives.

But according to the new study, led by University of Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, people who report a large ratio of positive to negative events also seem to derive diminishing returns from additional happy events — and ever larger adverse effects when they encounter negative events.

Read the article

I joke about being addicted to information, but it’s true. It’s the brain chemistry I’m after. I absolutely love to read, which creates endorphin. I love to read about new and exciting things — novelty-seeking behavior that creates dopamine. I love to read while curled up in a big soft chair and snacking on chocolate truffles, which creates serotonin.

The study cited above seems to illustrate upregulation and downregulation of neurotransmitters in the brain. This is a very simplistic way of stating a highly complex interplay, but once all your receptors are full, they’re full. It doesn’t matter if there’s extra neurotransmitters hanging around — they have nowhere to go. That explains why a very happy person biologically cannot feel good when more positive things happen.

So what happens when the brain has way too many neurotransmitters? The brain will shut down some of the cell receptors (downregulation). In some cases, it goes overboard and shuts down too many receptors, now placing the person in the position of not being able to deal with negative events that may come along.

The challenge for each person is to find his or her own healthy equilibrium.

(Please note that I am not neuroscientist. My explanation may be completely off-base. I’m just thinking out loud here.)