Stress Is A Part Of Life, But It Shouldn’t Dominate Your Life.

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There are a host of feelings and emotions that we as people will experience throughout our lives. With these feelings and emotions that we all will experience for our duration of living comes degrees and variances. One of the more prominent emotions, or feelings if a person wants to classify it as such that most of us deal with occasionally is the idea of being stressed. I mean we’ve all had a friend or family member tell us about something they’re dealing with, and they likely mouthed those three words: “I’m stressed out!” If we’re not in situations where we’re lending an ear to the stresses of life that others may be facing, it is probably ourselves dealing with our own stresses. Now I’m of the belief that while stress isn’t something that is necessary good for our lives, it can actually be a benefit to our lives when it is put into the proper context. Trust me, that way of thinking is something that I haven’t always subscribed to. I’ll get into why I developed this feeling this later as I navigate this topic. Now in bringing up the idea that stress can be beneficial in our lives, I’m in no way implying that stress is something that we should want in our lives. By in large stress is something that we should want to come and go right? More importantly, I think that stress is something we should learn to embrace. In order to embrace stress, we have to understand that it is a part of life. However, it shouldn’t dominate our lives either.

What's up everybody? This is Brad H. reporting for duty once again, and you are tuned into another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I'm back for another week to hopefully bring some inspiration that will serve as motivation for us to keep on pressing forward. I hope that things have been well in your life as of late, and for those of us that live in areas where it gets super hot during the summertime that you're adjusting. For this week's soapbox section I'm going to be talking about the NBA for probably the last time until the next season rolls around. Well it looks as if the mighty Golden State Warriors won't be winning a 3rd straight title this season. Well let me not get ahead of myself here. They are down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, so there is a chance I suppose. However, like probably most other people that are following the finals are thinking, I'm not expecting them to come back from that deficit. Looks like the Toronto Raptors will be capturing their first NBA championship in their team's history. Full disclosure, I am personally pulling for the Warriors to win it all. I know a lot of people are tired of them winning, but I'm of the belief that this would likely be their last run. It's a general belief that Kevin Durant won't sign back there, and the likelihood of Demarcus Cousins coming back is not likely either. I do believe that they would have won this series had they not had all these injuries happen to them at once. Times like this are a reminder that injuries are the great equalizer when it comes to sports. We'll see what happens game 5 on Monday, but I would be shocked if the Warriors win in Toronto with all the energy that the Raptors fans will be bringing. Maybe they will extend it another game or two, but without Kevin Durant in the lineup, it's hard to see them beating this hurdle. Alright y'all, that's all for this week's soapbox, so lets go ahead and talk about this week's primary topic of how stress shouldn't dominate our lives.

Now I’m pretty certain that the majority of you that are reading this week’s topic and have lived long enough have a general understanding of what stress is. Stress is similar to most other aspects of life that deals with human emotions; it means different things for different individuals. For the context of this week’s topic that I’m covering, I’m going to use a general definition of stress that I came across that most of us can relate to. Stress is defined as “a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand.” By this definition of what stress is considered to be, it is easy to imagine why it is a part of life. I believe that most of us can probably check off everything mentioned in this definition of stress as something we’ve experienced in our lives. The reasoning for my bringing this up is to hopefully show that it is okay for us to experience stress or be stressed out at times. Stress often is associated as something bad to our lives, and while it can be if it isn’t handle properly, stress by in large can also benefit us in particular circumstances. There is a body builder named Kai Greene that I heard say that in a video that “stress is a part of life, but stress makes us better, stress makes us live. Stress is how we know we’re alive. If we don’t know what stress is, then we don’t know what feels good.”

There are many sides and avenues to stress. One aspect of stress that most people talk about more frequently is the one that I alluded to in the beginning of this topic; the more negative side. I believe that most of us can agree that this is the type of stress that isn’t healthy nor beneficial to our lives. I brought up earlier how we’ve all talked about or head someone else talking about being stressed. Normally, there isn’t much, if any positive associated with this. You’re probably hard pressed to find someone complaining about being stressed complaining in a positive manner. At any rate, this is the type stress that can lead to health issues, and in worst cases it can spiral into other things that don’t need mentioning. Stress of this nature isn’t the kind that we need in our lives, yet despite the majority of people not needing or wanting this type of stress, it still exists in our lives. Now I brought up how stress has many degrees and variances. I bring this up to say that not all forms of stress are created equally, which also means that we all have different ways of handling the stress in our lives. Unfortunately for most people that deal with the more negative aspects of stress, the negative side can give birth to bad habits that can ultimately make a stressful situation even more stressful. Stress can cause our lives to snowball our of control, and this is why I feel it is vitally important that we find more creative ways to deal with the stress in our lives.

So now that we’ve addressed how stress can have both positive and negative benefits in our lives, what exactly does this mean, and what should we address stress in our lives? All of what I have brought up thus far has lead to the summation that whether it is beneficial or not, stress will always be a part of our lives. Stress is just one of those things in life that is inescapable. However, though it may be impossible to escape stress in life, it doesn’t have to dominate our lives also. When something dominates your life, it can take a hold of you to the point where it creates a false reality of how your life is. An emotion like stress depending on what form it takes in your life can do such a thing. It can make your life seem as if it is much worse than it actually is. This is why it’s vitally important to engage in activities that help curb the stresses that happen in our lives. Allowing stress to take over in our lives is something that can bring us to a dark place, and that’s something that we shouldn’t want. I talked earlier about embracing stress, but embracing stress doesn’t mean that we’re constantly welcoming it into our lives. From my perspective, embracing stress means that we’re aware that it comes and goes if we can accept that it is there, but also know when to let go of it. In closing, I would just say that acknowledge whenever stress comes into your life, but try not to allow it to dominate you. Accept it, embrace it, and then let it go if it doesn’t benefit you.

Well I think that pretty much wraps up this week's topic, so I'm going to go ahead and bounce. I hope that everyone that read this found it enjoyable or helpful, and I'd also like to thank you all once again for stopping through for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As I always say before I close, I hope that there was something meaning and understanding that could be gained from this. I also hope that those of you that have anything to add will do so in the comment box. You can also connect with me on Twitter @BradrickH if you're on Twitter. I hope you all are having a great weekend, and I hope that we all have a positive upcoming week. Stay cool out there, and if you're in an area where there is flooding happening, please stay safe. I'll see you all in the next topic. Peace!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

How Bad Habits During Troubling Times Can Make Our Lives Even Harder.

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If you've been alive long enough, I think we can all agree that life can be hard to deal with at times. This is something that we are all aware of, and we also know by now that there isn't much that can be done to stop those hard times that life can bring. There are many different events that can happen in life that could be classified as troubling. The death of a family member or close friend is an example of one of those events. Finding out that you or someone that you care for has been diagnosed with a health condition can be troubling as well. Again, there are so many different things that could be troubling, and what could be troubling for one person may not apply to someone else. Like I always mention on here, much of this all comes down to perspective. However, I think it is safe to say that we all look for ways to ease those troubling life moments when they occur. Because we naturally want to feel comfortable and at peace within our lives, we all want to make troubling moments disappear as soon as possible. In the last topic that I covered via this blog, I talked at length about how positive daily habits are the key to handling negativity. While I am a firm believer in this being the most constructive way to deal with negative forces, I also know that not everyone practice daily positive habits. Furthermore, even for those of us that do make positive habits a daily ritual in our lives, bad habits are also a critical aspect of our lives as well. As I touched on in the last topic, we would all be lying to ourselves and others if any of us said that we don't have any bad habits. Having habits that could be considered bad are just a part of life that we have to constantly work towards changing for the better. Now with all of that being said, how often do many of us on occasion turn to bad habits whenever troubles come into our lives? Those bad habits are often the habits that make us feel good in the moment, but do they really make our lives better after the storms pass? I personally don't believe they do, and I'll go so far as to say that practicing bad habits during troubling times can make our lives even more harder.

Hello once again to all you good people out here in the land of the internet! This is Brad H. back at it once again, and I'd like to welcome everyone that showed up to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As with the usual standard that I've been using on here, we're back once again to address topics that will hopefully serve as some inspiration for all of us. My hope is that the topic that I've chosen for this installment will give us some added motivation to keep on moving forward in our daily lives. Before getting on my soapbox for a bit, I'd like to thank everyone that is joining me on here. Whether this is your first time visiting here, or you've been reading me for sometime, I sincerely appreciate everyone that spends a few minutes of their day reading these topics. I know I give thanks quite a bit on here, but I feel that it is something that cannot be said enough. In the last installment I talked about the importance of heeding warnings from your local officials if you stay in areas where hurricanes could potentially make landfall. I made those moments in response to Hurricane Florence that hit the Carolinas a few weeks ago. Well earlier this week the gulf coast was hit by Hurricane Michael. Michael made land around the Florida panhandle as a category 4 storm. The latest death toll from this storm is 17. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone that have been affected by this terrible storm. Instead of spending my soapbox talking in depth about the storm, I want to talk about something I've been thinking about and that is control. I think that we as people always want to feel like we're in control of everything. People that are bosses and ceos want to feel in control of their employees. Parents want to feel in control of their kids. There are so many things that we want to feel in control over. However, how much control do we really have in this world? Can any of us stop a hurricane or volcano? Can we prevent tornadoes from touching down? We as humans want to feel in control, but when you think of the grand scheme of things, we don't have as much control as we think we do. This is why I think it is importance for us to always stay humble in this life. Not a single one of us are immune to anything in this life, so we have to temper our expectations when it comes to having control. Just something to think about ya know? Alright, we're going to go ahead and transition into this week's topic of how bad habits during troubling times can make our lives even harder.

Now that I've brought up a topic besides the topic that we're going to be talking about in this edition, it's time to go ahead and give the usual disclaimer that is given before going in depth on the main topic. We all come from different backgrounds, which also means that we all have different outlooks on life and the way we see the world. The primary objective with this topic, as well as the rest is to hopefully give some inspiration that will help us to keep on pressing forward in this life. Through the words that I'm aiming to express here, I'm also hoping that this will inspire others to see things in a way that they may not have before. I'm not trying to force my beliefs on anyone else, but if this helps become a spark that will gets the critical thinking juices going for others, then I consider that to be a good thing. I believe the opportunities to learn from one another is an endless endeavor, and I think it is something that we would exploit as often as we can. So how did I come to discussing how bad habits during troubling times can make our lives even harder? Well I briefly touched earlier on how last week's topic dealt with positive habits being an aid during difficult times. We all know that when there is good happening life, there is also bad going on as well. Life is a balance of the two, so if I'm going to to talk about the good that comes with positive habits, I also have to be willing to get the bad out there as well. Now in making an attempt to convey all of this, I'm not saying that the bad should be our primary focus. That absolutely is not the case. However, I also recognize that life doesn't always bring only good moments. Yes there are many good moments that will come our way in this life, but there will always be sprinklings of bad moments to go along as well. For this week's topic, I'm going to attempt to show why it is important to be able to rely on your good habits whenever those bad times come along. I don't want this to be seen as a fear tactic, but rather something that we can hopefully be able to take something positive away from.

Ever heard the saying "that when it rains it pours?" I'm sure that most, if not all of you have heard this being mentioned before. This is one of those popular phrases that many people use to describe when things in life maybe aren't going so well, it can often last for sometime without there being much good on the horizon. Think of it like receiving some bad news one day, and then also receiving some more bad news only a day or a few days later. I think that most of us have had times in our lives that describe this, but we also know that while we will face times of adversity in our lives, those times won't always last. Brighter days are always on the horizon if we keep a positive outlook and an open mind. That said, many of us often self sabotage ourselves when it comes to facing troubling moments in our lives. Now in saying that, I hope that I'm not giving the impression that this is something we intentionally do to ourselves. In some aspects and circumstances that may be the case, however, I don't believe that this is something that we as people do just to intentionally make things even harder. Now going back to sabotaging ourselves that I mentioned, how exactly do we do this you may wonder? Well from my perspective, and believe me I feel that this applies to myself at times, we often resort to bad habits when we're facing challenging in our lives. This is something that I have mentioned so many times on here, but I think we'd be lying to ourselves if we said that this is something none of us ever do. Now the reason why I say we resort to bad habits comes from the fact that we often turn to things that make us feel good in the moment. We as people don't like feeling uncomfortable and uneasy, so it is in our nature to gravitate towards the things that make us forget about our issues. I don't feel this is something that we should be judged for doing. As I stated before, I believe this is something that is just a part of our human nature. But just because something is part of our nature as humans doesn't mean that it is always the right option. The last topic that I covered goes more into that.

Now that I've talked about how we often self sabotage ourselves during difficult moments in our lives, I want to give some examples of how we do this. I want you to think of some of the things that you all engage in when you are feeling stressed out in your life. Now if you're someone that always faces your problems head on without the aid of anything negative, none of this will apply to you, and I personally commend you for being able to do that. However, for those of us that maybe don't always take the forthright approach towards tackling our problems, some of the ways we choose to aid in our stressful moments may be good for us initially (so we think), but they often can exacerbate our problems. Lets just say that whenever you're feeling stressed out that you choose to binge eat a certain type of food that tastes good, but has a lot of sugar in it. Of course eating it is going to taste good and help you forget about those troubling times you're dealing with, but also eating too much of it can have ill effects on your health also. This is an example of how a bad habit can potentially make our lives even more harder. You are already dealing with something hard, but you are also potentially putting yourself at risk for having even more issues down the road. Now I know that food is just one example, but this can apply to nearly anything. There is another statement that goes "too much of anything is bad for you." Something as simple as watching television or playing video games can turn into something toxic if you're not able to limit how much of it that you intake into your life. This is the exact reason why we're always told to try and find more constructive ways to handle our problems. Allowing the potential for problems to stack on top of problems can create a spiral effect of issues that you may never find a solution to. Again, I don't believe this is something most of us do intentionally, but it is something that we can only change if we're aware of it.

So how do we keep bad habits from making our lives even worse? Well I could say what I've been saying about replacing bad habits with better ones. At this point that kinda goes without saying. However, I want to touch again on what I said earlier about not always be aware of how the things we do affect us during stress moments in our lives. We all know by now that in order to remedy a problem, we must first able to identify the problem. For this week's topic, instead of identifying what the problems are, we want to be more aware of the things we're engaging in and how they affect us. From my perspective, often times the bad habits that we engage in have become so normalized to us that we don't even see them as bad habits. When we pick up those cakes, pies, etc to eat when we're feeling stressed, we're often not aware of how they can affect us in the long term due to the fact that doing this has become normal to us. This is exactly why it is a habit. Sure the goal that we should focus on is replacing those bad habits with better ones like I talked at length about in the last installment. However, making ourselves aware of the effects of what we do when we're stressed can help greatly in keeping bad habits from making our lives even more harder. This all comes down to rewiring ourselves to create better habits, and the only way to do this is to break those negative patterns we engage in. So my challenge for everyone that has read this and find themselves struggling with partaking in bad habits when troubling times come around, just pause and take a second to gauge how you are feeling. Really think and ponder on what you're facing. Often times the things we're dealing with may be troubling, but they often aren't as bad as we make them out to be. I also want you to think about why you are choosing to do something when you feel stressed. Think about why you are choosing to binge eat, drink, etc. Finally, try and focus on how this is going to affect you in the long run. Always remember that every action has a consequence, and some of those consequences have more costly effects than others. I understand that it isn't easy breaking bad habits. Believe me I know this first hand. But we also shouldn't go along being comfortable with the potential of making something that is already bad even more worse.

Well I think I have said all I wanted to say for this go round, so I'm going to go ahead and close this installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' out. I hope that I was able to express myself in a manner that made some sense. I also hope that someone out there was able to find some kind of inspiration from this. If you have any comments or anything else to contribute to this, please feel free to do so in the comments. I can also be found on Twitter @BradrickH. Well I hope everyone enjoyed this, and I hope you all have an even more enjoyable weekend. Be sure to keep everyone that was affected by Hurricane Michael in your thoughts. From what I've seen on the news in regards to that storm, some of the areas that were affected where it made landfall are going to be uninhabitable for weeks, maybe months. The power that these storms can pack is truly devastating. Well I hope you all have a great and positive week ahead. Till next time, I'll see you all in the next one. Peace!

©2018 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Look For Better Ways To Handle The Issues In Your Life.

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Something that people that know or follow me on here probably notice is that I frequently draw a lot of references from movies and television shows when I'm hoping to get a point across. Besides finding personal enjoyment from various shows and movies, I'm not really sure why I do this so often. I bring this up because I'm about to reference to something in a film from a few years back in order to establish a point. Aside from the tragic shooting that took place in Colorado on the opening night of the film that I'm referring to, some of you probably remember the movie "The Dark Knight Rises" from the summer of 2012. There's a scene where Alfred Pennyworth tells an older and broken Bruce Wayne that he isn't Batman anymore, and that he has to find another way to make an impact besides sacrificing his body. The reason why I bring this up is because we all have habits and vices that we engage in that aren't necessarily good for us, and many of us find ourselves relying on these habits whenever issues arise in our lives. Whether this applies to you personally, or if you know someone that frequently rely on their vices to cope whenever things aren't going so well, this probably sounds pretty familiar to most of you. We all know that no one is perfect, and conquering bad habits in our lives isn't an feat. However, what Alfred said to Wayne in the film that I'm using as a reference is the message that I'm bringing to you all this week. We have to look for better ways to handle the issues that we're facing.

Yo! What is up everyone? It is your boy Brad H. back once more, and I'd like to welcome everyone to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here once again to hopefully spread some inspiration that can help us all be inspired to be the best versions of ourselves. We have made it to 2018 folks, and this is the first post for this new year. I'd like to start off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and I hope that 2018 has been treating you all well so far. As I mentioned in the previous topic that I wrote about, the year 2017 wasn't the best year for me, and I know several others that share in my sentiments on this when it came to their lives. The last couple of weeks of 2017 added to an already extremely challenging year due to the passing of my great uncle. I'm certain that many of you that have lost friends and relatives during the holidays know how much of a challenge it can be to cope with. I'm not one for new years resolutions and things of that nature much anymore, however, I want to encourage everyone (including myself) to try and find happiness in every single day for this year. I'm not saying that we have to be happy all the time, or that we have to front being happy when we're really not. I'm just saying that if you can find at least one thing daily to be happy and grateful for, then you are on the right track towards becoming a happier person. Not saying that this method will work or anything like that, just giving my opinion. So again I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and lets try and leave the negativity that happened last year behind. Alright, now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, it's time to get into this week's topic of looking for better ways to handle the issues in our lives.

Before I get into this week's talking point, I'd like to go ahead and say that we all have different viewpoints on life. I say that to say that I don't expect everyone to agree with what I'm addressing in this, or any of the other topics that I talk about. The main objective here isn't to alter or change anyone else's beliefs, but rather to hopefully encourage us all to think about things in ways we may not have before. One of the absolute beautiful things about life that I love is how you can talk to another person, and walk away from that talk thinking about things in a way that you never had before. It's a great thing when you're able to learn from others in my opinion. My hope is that I can give some insight that can maybe encourage others to walk away feeling that they learned something that they never thought of before. If that isn't the case for some, that is totally fine. I always say that I'm just one person with an opinion, but I still appreciate those of you that are interested in what I have to say. This particular topic is one that crossed my mind a couple of weeks back. Not really sure how it came to mind, but I thought it would be a good talking point for a post. Also, I think that thinking about The Dark Knight Rises movie probably helped contribute to my wanting to talk about finding other ways to deal with our issues. This particular issue is one that I'm sure that I've addressed in a previous topic, but I figured that tying in what Alfred said to Bruce in the film helps give it an alternate perspective.

Now that we've established that in the film that we're using as a reference for this week, Alfred was referring to Wayne sacrificing his body, and that he needed to find another way to make an impact besides the physicality of being Batman. What I want to tie all this into is how many of us channel a lot of the negative things that happen in our lives to things that are hurtful to us in the long run. If we're being honest with ourselves, most of us know that we turn to our vices whenever we're depressed, stressed out, etc. Now in saying this, having a vice or vices isn't to be judged or looked down upon. It's in our nature to want to turn to the things that make us feel good when we're uncomfortable. I want to be sure and establish that, because a lot of people that are imperfect and have vices of their own often look down on others for their vices. I don't agree with this at all, and honestly one habit or vice isn't any better than another. Regardless of what the vice is or may be, they all can be detrimental to us if not stopped or controlled. This is where the problem lies, and the reasoning for why I feel that we should look for better ways to handle the issues that occur in our lives. When we make the choice to go to or do something that isn't good for us because we're in a turmoil, not only are we not facing the issues head on, we're self-medicating ourselves in a manner that can be hurtful in the long run. Many of us don't see the habits in our lives as overly bad things, but years upon years of doing something regardless of how minute you may thing it is adds up, and can have negative impact on our lives.

So now I want to get into some of the habits and vices that I'm thinking about as I'm writing this. We're all aware of the ones that many of us consider to be the worse of the worse. These include habits such as drug use, alcohol, self-harm, etc. Now although they are probably considered to be the more dangerous habits, there are others that we have that tend to get overlooked, yet they can have a negative impact in the long run. What are some of the things we're talking about here you may ask? Things like over-eating, video games, and social media can also be classified as addictions if they're overdone. Sure they may not have the same effect as drug use, etc, but years upon years of engaging in these lesser degree acts during times of turmoil can have the same negative effect on our lives. So for an example here, we're going to use the idea of over-eating. I'm sure most of you have heard of binge eating right? How many occasions can you point to where have you have maybe found yourself eating when you find yourself stressed out? If you have never done this, then you probably know someone who has engaged in this act when they were having problems. We of course know that over-eating doesn't do anything but add more pounds to our bodies, which in turn can lead to health problems. Sure it may not affect you immediately, but the long term effects can be hurtful to your quality of life. This is just one example, but I'm sure many of you get the gist of what I'm saying here. Regardless of how small it may seem, anything that you turn to or overdo in time of turmoil can be classified as an addiction.

So how do we overcome these addictions in our lives? Well it depends a lot on you and what you struggle with when you are having issues. However, I have a few things to think about that may help. First, I think it is important to identify anything in your life that can be seen as an addiction. For example, whenever you find yourself stressed or depressed, try and pay attention to the things that you do or don't do afterwards. Secondly, think about whether or not what you're doing is helping or hurting you. Is it really wise or good for you to binge eat because you're having issues? Finally, and the most important part of this post, look for something else (preferably something more positive) to replace that habit. So instead of eating because you're sad or depressed, go talk a walk or go for a run. These are things that can only help you out health wise in the long run, and they can make you feel good about yourself as well. These are just a few examples, but do whatever works for you. As I mention all the time, we're all different and have different ways of viewing things. This also means that the way we choose do things is going to vary from person to person as well. The most important point that I want to get across is to look for other ways that are more positive to deal with your problems. We're all human and fall short, but acknowledging, learning and applying new techniques and strategies can go a long way towards handling our problems better. So lets take Alfred's advice, and lets find other ways to combat the problems in our lives.

Well we have arrived at the end of another topic folks. It is time to depart for now, but thank you all once again for stopping by for another one of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As always, I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that could be gained from this, as well as the other topics I address. If you have any comments or feedback on this, feel free to drop those in the comments. You can also follow me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. Well 2018 is upon us folks, so lets try and make this year a good one. All the hardships of 2017 are behind us, so lets be laser focused and positive for this new year. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year again, and I hope you all have a great weekend, as well as a great week ahead. Take care everybody, and I'll see you all in the next one. Peace!

©2018 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Laughing And Smiling As Often As Possible (Troubles Are Always Lurking).

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Most of us have heard the saying "Laughter is good for soul" at sometime or another. As I have grown older and wiser, that saying has come to impact my life significantly. Smiling and laughter are probably two of the easiest things that we as people are able to do. They don't cost anything to do, and very little effort is required to engage in them. Growing up as kids, we were taught to smile for pictures, as well as laughing whenever we see or hear something that we find funny. Easy right? While I believe that it is important for kids to smile and laugh a lot, I also feel that it is just as important for us as adults to find things that smile us smile daily. Too many of us find ourselves caught up in the daily struggles of life that we often forget the importance of laughing and smiling. Most of us are aware of how smiling and laughing can benefit us mentally and psychologically. I mean we naturally feel good whenever we're able to engage in these acts genuinely. However, I've grown to realize that there is another benefit that these acts can potentially bring us; appreciation. Life is unpredictable, which means that troubles are always lurking. This is one of the main reasons why I've come to realize the importance of laughing and smiling as much as possible.

Hey, how's it going ladies and gentlemen? Brad H. back at it once again with another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Hope everyone has been doing well and staying positive since the last post. It's been nearly two weeks since the Super Bowl has taken place, and I thought I would quickly share my thoughts on the result. In my last post, I had mentioned how I didn't like neither team, but I was pulling for the Falcons since they had several local players. I also mentioned that I thought the Patriots would win, which was ultimately what happened unfortunately. While watching the game, I was very excited thinking that Atlanta was going to win once they took that commanding 28-3 lead. I was texting with several friends about how it was over, etc. Of course that turned out to be wrong in the end. I really have no explanation for why Atlanta basically conked out in the second half of that game. It really looked like an entirely different team that showed up in the second half. I jokingly told a friend that they clearly must have celebrated at halftime and had a few drinks or something. Anyway, although it is disappointing for me to accept, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is now a 5 time Super Bowl champion. I really feel bad for the Atlanta fans out there. Its gotta suck to know that your team blew a lead that big. Anyway, I just wanted to give my thoughts on the game real quick. Now lets go ahead and talk more about the importance of laughing and smiling as often as possible.

As I always point out before discussing topics on here, peoples individual viewpoints and opinions will always vary. The goal here isn't to focus on what is considered right or wrong, but rather to paint a topic in a light that readers may not have looked at before. I don't expect everyone to share in my views, but I do hope that the way I view things can leave others with something to walk away thinking about more. Any comments or views on this or any other topic that anyone may have are always welcome here. There isn't much to get into on how this topic came about. As I stated previously, wisdom and age deserve the biggest credit for why I thought about this particular topic. This topic is one that I often talk about my family members of mine. I mainly discuss it often because I feel that we often don't appreciate how blessed we are whenever things are going fairly well for us. Many of us develop that complacent state of mind and forget that all it takes is a second for things to change. As with the majority of my writings, I hope that this topic can serve as a reality check for those of us that may be in need of it. If you are one of those people that this may apply to, there should be absolutely no shame in needing a reality check. I think it is something that we all need occasionally.

So we all know and hear about how small acts like laughing and smiling help regulate good vibes. For whatever reasons that may be, laughing and smiling just makes us feel happy for that present moment that we're engaging in them. From my perspective, I believe there is no price tag that can be placed upon seeing someone that you haven't seen in a long time that you care for, which fills us up with unspeakable happiness that causes us to grin from ear to ear. I also believe that there is no tangible value on seeing something that causes us to laugh uncontrollably until the point where we're crying tears of joy. All of these things make us feel good and happy right? Now we're all aware that in life, for everything that is good and makes us smile and laugh, there is also bad that comes with frowns and tears of pain. There is no getting around the fact that regardless of how much happiness and joy that life can bring, pain, heartache and sorrows are also a huge part of life as well. A huge chunk of the heartaches of life that we experience are things that happen outside of our control, but there are some people that bring a lot of these things upon themselves. Well bringing it upon themselves may not be the best characterization, but some people allow themselves to mentally remain in a state of depression when things aren't going so well.

So why is it important not to allow ourselves to remain in a negative state of mind constantly? Think about this for a second; one day you keep on living, someone that you know or love is going to die. More likely than not at some point in your life, you're going to know what it is like to fall in love with someone and experience a heartbreak. You're going have the experience of wanting to achieve a goal, only find that you're gonna experience failures occasionally. You probably get the gist of what I'm saying, but the thing that these things have in common is that they are guaranteed to happen eventually, and they also bring heartache and disappointment. So it's fairly plain and simple why it is important to laugh and smile as often as possible. We have to do these things have often as we can because troubles and hardships are always lurking. Death, strife and stress are all guaranteed in this life, so in between those sad moments that are guaranteed to happen in life, we have to be able to smile and enjoy life as best as we possibly can. As I mentioned earlier in the post, smiling and laughing can help give us a sense of appreciation. Since they are feel good acts, they can help teach us to appreciate the good moments in life, because the bad is always waiting in the cut.

Now with all of that said, I'm in no way saying that we should always be laughing and smiling. Life is all about balance, so of course we're going to face moments of sadness. All I'm saying is that we should always find something to smile or laugh about daily. Beyond just being a great act to engage in, smiling also has many benefits to us both physically and mentally. A few of them include the releasing of endorphins, lower stress and anxiety, and the increase of the immune system. So the message in this week's post is pretty clear and straightforward. Lets work on finding more reasons to laugh and smile daily, because troubles will always be lurking. I'm pretty sure that many of you out there don't have a problem laughing and smiling, so hopefully this can serve as a help to those that maybe have had a hard time finding reasons to smile as of late. Just know that no matter how much darkness you're facing, there is always something to smile about. The quote that I'm going to leave you all with today comes from a great song by India Arie called "There's Hope". There's a lyric in the chorus on the song that goes; "There's hope, it don't cost a thing to smile, you don't have to pay to laugh, you better thank God for that."

Well my peeps, we have arrived at the end of another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'. I thank everyone that stopped by to check out what I have to say once again. As always, my hope is that there was some meaning and understanding that could be gained from this topic. In the event that isn't the case nor applies to you, your visit here is still appreciated. If anyone has any feedback or thoughts to contribute, feel free to leave those down below. Hope you all have a great and enjoyable weekend ahead. For those of you that are basketball fans, be sure to check out the NBA's All Star Weekend that starts today. Alright I'm out guys, so until next time, I wish you all peace, wellness, and positive thoughts. See you all in the next one.

©2017 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Effects of Stress * 2(Handling Problems).

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Stress, stress, stress. It's a word that the majority of us are familiar with. It's either ourselves stressing out about things happening in our lives, or it's family, friends, associates, etc talking about the stresses of their lives. Stress has always existed, but it seems to be even more prevalent in today's society. You don't need me to tell you that; it constantly shows everyday. I'm a firm believer that stress can be a good thing based on what is causing it in the first place. However, stressing out over problems in our lives isn't good. Welcome to another one of 'Brad H's Perspective' blog postings. Thank you for taking out the time to read.

As you can tell, this weeks' post deals with the effects of stress and the handling of our problems. The goal isn't to solve anyone's problems. I mean lets face it, no one can truly solve our problems but ourselves. The goal this week is to show why stressing out over situations doesn't do anything but make things even worse. As of late, I've been asking people how do they handle stress. I've received mixed feedback from the people I've asked, which I consider to good thing. That's just more evidence that there is never one way to deal with things.

I'm the type of person that tries my hardest not to stress. However, I'll admit that I do at times. I think we all do. There are some situations and circumstances in life that are near impossible not to stress out over. But let me ask this question; what does stressing out really do for us? In what ways does it help us? I doubt that anyone can come up with a reason why stressing over our problems is a good thing, and if you do, please let me know. When we stress over whatever we're dealing with in life, it only takes a maybe already bad situation, and makes it even worse. You already have one problem, and added stress just adds another problem to your life. Where is the good in that?

Most of us already know first hand what stress can do. Besides the normal mental depression that it can make us feel, it can take it's toll on our physical well-being also. A lot of people turn to bad habits whenever they begin to stress. Some of those habits can include over eating, drinking, smoking, and drug use. Although they are different, these habits can really wreak havoc on a person physically if overdone. In some extreme instances, stress has lead to people taking their own lives - which I consider the worst thing that a person could ever do. There is no coming back from that.

So what can we do to combat stress? I don't have any answer for that. We all handle stress differently. Me personally, I like to workout whenever I feel stress. The only thing that I can say is that it's important to keep your mind busy and active whenever dealing with stress. Engage in activities and hobbies you enjoy. Don't hesitate to talk to someone you trust about your problems. Stress is certain to come in life, but we don't have to be entirely defeated by it. Stress only multiplies your problems, so it's important to now allow it to take you over.

Well that's it for this blog post. I hope that whoever read it enjoyed, and hopefully you found some meaning and understanding from it. I'm a person that is always searching for understanding myself, and I find that these postings are valuable to me also. Thanks again for reading, and I'll see in the next one. Peace!

Exercise is my medicine for stress.

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Hello once again. It's Brad H. writing once again. Hope all is good and well with everyone. It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated my blog, so now is the perfect time to do so. You may wonder why is not a perfect time? Well it's simple, I've been dealing with some stressful things as of late. As a matter of fact, I'm still dealing with a few of them. I've been doing a lot of praying and thinking about certain things in my life. I know that certain elements are out of my control, so I know that I must take care of the things that I'm able to. That's all a part of being a responsible individual, which is something that I strive to be.

So since I've been had stressful things going on in my life, you may wonder how have I been coping besides prayer etc. I've been coping with stress by doing what I already do on a regular basis; working out, and exercising. I've mentioned this before, but exercise and fitness has become my medicine for stress in my life. It's something about going for a jog when I have a lot on my mind that makes me feel free. It's one of those explainable feelings I guess. Before today I hadn't been running since last Saturday. I made it a priority to go out and do some running this evening. Usually my first jog of the week is a light run but since I had things on my mind, I went a bit harder. The only bad thing that came out of it was that I wasn't able to clock my time. My timer on my phone went out around the 14 minute mark.

I challenge anyone who reads this post to do some form of exercise when you are feeling down about life. I guarantee that you will feel better afterwards. I know I did after I finished up my run. It was cold outside, but my face was dripping with sweat by the time I made it back home. We as a people cope with our problems in different ways. As long as it's a constructive and positive things we're doing, I'm all for it. We don't have to drink and drug our problems away. Exercise will continue to be my medicine when I'm stressed or having things going on in my life. It's gives me the confidence to face my problems head on. Well that's it for this time. I'll be writing soon again. Till then peace, love and blessings to all.

The Importance of exercise.

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Hello everyone. It's Brad H. once again. Hope anyone who reads this is in good health and spirits. It's been a fairly good Sunday here today in Southeast, Texas. Watched my favorite team the Dallas Cowboys play earlier. Even though it was just a preseason game, I enjoyed seeing football again. Especially since we almost didn't have any this year. Anyway I want to talk about the importance of health, fitness and exercise. The last couple of weeks have been kinda stressful for me. It has seemed like one bad thing after another has occurred. Yesterday evening, I decided to go for a jog. Now I jog regularly, but I admit that I've been slacking a bit as of late. It's been hard to be motivated lately when nothing but negative things have been occurring.

Anyway, I decided to go jogging, and I found myself feeling much better. Think about it, has there ever been a time where you exercised and felt bad afterwards? I'm willing to bet the answer is no. For some reason being active and working out gives us confidence and improves our overall well being. Making time to exercise is important not only physically, but mentally as well. I didn't do any running today as I was enjoying football, but I did pump the weights for a bit. I'm feeling much better, and much more confident due to me exercising. The main thing I want anyone who reads this to come away with, is to make time to exercise even when things are going bad for you. I guarantee you that it will take a huge load off of you. I plan on getting my run on again tomorrow. Well I hope you enjoyed this post. I'll be writing again soon. Till then, peace love, and blessings to all.