People, life is hard. They don’t tell you that when you leave high school and head out into the world. At first, the struggle is exciting.It’s new, it’s your own. But if you’re lucky, your adult life will last longer than a decade. And this is what no one tells you—that with each passing year, each passing decade, the weight of life grows heavier.

Responsibilities, life tragedies, health problems—all of it accumulates over the years and it takes a toll. At least it does on me. So when I find that life gets too heavy, then it’s whimsy to the rescue.

1. Lovely lighthearted laughter

I love to laugh. Show me a person who doesn’t. It eases tension, breaks the ice. Dissolves anger and frustration. It lets light shine in the dark places and makes everything seem just a little bit better. When whimsy is done well, it lets me laugh at its ridiculousness. At the very least it will make me smile. And smiling is a great stress reliever in and of itself. So don’t roll your eyes at that hedgehog tea party. Grab yourself a cup, smile, and let yourself have fun. I promise you’ll feel better.

2. Life, what’s the big deal?

I mentioned it before—being an adult is Serious Business. So serious it needs to be capitalized. It is the province of business suits, uncomfortable shoes, mortgages, boring conversations and, of course, obligations of various sizes, shapes, and densities. Whimsy pokes holes in all that. It helps remind us that, even though all of those things are important, they’re not the be-all, end-all in life. It reminds us that it’s OK to be silly, to have fun, to laugh at our own flaws and eccentricities. So wear crazy socks with your suit, or sneakers with your dress. Put unicorn stickers on the dashboard of your car. Embrace your quirkiness and let it shine through. Your special brand of uniqueness makes the world a better place.

3. Knitting a cozy for the heart

Whimsy can be sweet and adorable, and when it is, it warms our hearts, like fat puppies rolling around on a carpet. I remember seeing a video some time ago of people who were stressed out and would sit in a glass booth with a bunch kittens. And they would smile and feel happy. Because who wouldn’t smile and feel happy with a legion of fuzzy kittens crawling over them? And that’s what whimsy does for us. It rejuvenates us. It lets us find hope that the world isn’t so bad. It softens the rough, cutting edges of life.

4. Whimsy makes life more interesting

How boring would it be if we all wore grey, all ate the same things, all had the same opinion? Whimsy makes life more interesting. It adds a splash of color to our sometimes drab surroundings. I want a world where talking snails can have existential crises, where there’s kleptomaniac rodents and beer drinking gnomes. Whimsy is the cinnamon in our porridge, the jam on our toast. We can exist without it, sure. But do we really want to just exist? Or do we want to thrive? Whimsical fantasy lets us thrive in a way the real world can’t.

5. Your inner kid needs to play too

Did you know that about 55 percent of people who read Young Adult books are, in fact, full-grown adults? There are undoubtedly lots of reasons for this. Escapism, nostalgia, themes in YA remaining relevant even among adults. Whatever the many reasons might be, I believe one of them is that a lot of adults want to remain connected with their younger self. This is not a bad thing.

Whimsy might be dismissed as childish, but the truth is all adults could benefit from being a little childish from time to time. Playing hard. Laughing freely. Not worrying about the future. If I can incorporate these things into my life, I wouldn’t consider it childish. I would consider it a life worth living.

Sara C. Snider was born and raised in northern California before making the move to Sweden at age 25. She is a published author of two fantasy novels—The Thirteenth Tower and A Shadowed Spirit—and a dark fantasy novella, The Forgotten Web, which won the novella category in the 2015 Lyra Contest. Her most recent  book is Hazel and Holly. She has a bachelor’s degree in Archives and Information Science and is a proud member of the Stockholm Writers Group. 

I found myself staring this question dead in the eyes when my husband was arrested for attempted solicitation of a minor male over the Internet, leaving me and my two boys stunned, alone, and unsure of what to do next. We’re all a work in progress, but I wondered how I could suddenly become the person that life demanded of me — a calm, collected, breadwinning, sandwich-making, sports practice chauffeur.

I’ve known people who have faced great difficulties in their lives — many even greater than mine — and yet still show up to the party with a smile on their face and a kind word for someone else. How do they do it? How did they not curl up in a ball and stay in bed after they lost a child, or what about those who have had to file for bankruptcy after a nasty divorce? How did they pick resilience over bitterness?

For me, bitterness came first, and hung around for a while, a process I describe in my memoir So Many Angels. I was angry at what my husband had done to our family. I was worried for the health and wellbeing of my children. I was unsure of what this all meant for me, my career, and my personal life. I did not want to let this ruin us, but I was confused and I was bitter.

We are entitled to throw a pity party and feel sorry for ourselves when tragedy strikes, but, as I learned, we can’t let the pity party go on too long. My friend who is a priest told me at the time that simply forming this conscious thought would help me make it a reality for myself and my sons: choose resilience.

Resilience can be developed if we push back against bitterness. But knowing how, especially when you are struggling to keep yourself afloat, is easier said than done. Below are the things I learned when forced to build resilience quickly, for myself, and for my two sons.

Seek professional help. Not tomorrow, today.

The death of a loved one, a scary medical diagnosis, divorce, loss of a job — handling these events may be too difficult to do on our own. Don’t delay finding a counselor. Get to work on it today. A place to dump your grief can be helpful, and for some it may make all the difference. The best way to do this is to contact your primary care physician so that you can get the names of counselors in your insurance “loop”.  My most important tip about counselors: If you don’t feel comfortable talking with the person after two visits, try another one. Chances are you’ll get better with someone else.

Find something that you can do to help someone else.

This can help push you out of isolation and hurt, which are easy patterns to get stuck in amid crisis. Can you volunteer somewhere for a few hours? Can you stuff envelopes for your favorite charity or serve a meal at a soup kitchen? You may be thinking “I hardly have enough hours to sleep at night.”, but helping others can alleviate your own pain a little by helping you take a broader view of the world. It’s an old (and annoying, if you are struggling) truism: you are not the only one suffering at any point in time. If you focus your energy on alleviating another person’s pain, it may lighten your own and help put things in perspective.

Count your blessings.

Before you get up out of bed in the morning remind yourself of two things that you are grateful for. No matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something to be grateful for. When tragedy hit our family, I was always happy that I had my sons. They topped every gratitude list I made, even though I was worried about them. Other items on the list included friends who were patient and listened to my rants, dinners that people brought us, a wonderful neurologist who took care of me after diagnosing my MS, and neighbors who did yard work. Listing things that we are grateful for, in the midst of a crisis, can bring in some much-needed light.

Each of these steps will help you resist the spiral of bitterness and focus on the path forward, which is the essence of resilience.

Following a 15-year career as an attorney, Diane Stelfox Cook became a special education teacher, serving in the Massachusetts public schools for 11 years. Today, she runs her late husband’s construction company. A native of Boston, Cook attended Boston Latin School, the nation’s oldest public school, holds a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, a Master’s Degree in Education from Framingham State University and received her law degree from Suffolk University Law School. She is a voracious reader with a penchant for legal thrillers, a lover of all things aquatic including kayaking and swimming, and a diehard fan of her sons’ alma mater football teams, Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish and Virginia Tech’s Hokies – she continues to practice law part-time.

Medical hypnosis aims to improve health and wellness. It can help relax and focus your mind—and make you more open to new ideas.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the technique usually has two parts. First, the health care provider gets your attention by inviting you to focus on something, such as an object or breathing. When you focus like this, your brain becomes more open to suggestion.

“Focusing makes the brain more flexible,” Dr. Mark P. Jensen, a pain expert at the University of Washington who researches hypnosis, said in a NIH blog.

Then the health care provider can offer a helpful suggestion. For example, if your goal is to manage pain, the provider may suggest that you feel greater comfort. Or they may suggest that you focus on being able to handle the pain more easily.

“Hypnosis takes advantage of the fact that people are able to be open to absorbing new ideas,” Jensen said. “You get someone’s attention and then you offer them a new way of looking at a problem that will make the problem easier for them to manage.”

In addition to pain, studies suggest that hypnosis may help manage irritable bowel syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers are also studying hypnosis for mood disorders.

“There’s emerging evidence that it’s useful for helping people to manage depression and anxiety, including anxiety around medical procedures and surgery,” Jensen said.

Some people respond to hypnosis more easily than others. It’s also more effective if you want to be hypnotized. Hypnosis is not mind control by another person.

“We’re all open to new ideas at some level,” Jensen said. “With people who have more hypnotic talent, it just takes fewer sessions. But everybody can respond at some level to hypnosis.”

Imaging studies are shedding light on what happens in the brain during hypnosis. “Hypnosis is a particularly powerful technique for changing brain activity,” Jensen explained.

Researchers have found that different hypnotic suggestions can affect different parts of the brain.

A hypnotic suggestion for greater comfort changes the brain activity in the areas that process the intensity of the sensations.

“If I make the suggestion that these sensations don’t bother you anymore, then the part of the brain that processes how upset you are by pain decreases in activity,” Jensen says. “But the part of the brain that processes intensity of sensation doesn’t necessarily change.”

The way a drug treats pain is different. If you take an opioid to relieve pain, your whole brain can be affected, including the parts that process sensation. The pain may go away, but there can be side effects. These may include constipation, breathing problems, and even addiction.

More studies are needed to fully evaluate the potential benefits of hypnosis and how it might work. We do know hypnosis doesn’t work for everyone. “There are some people—very few—that it only helps a little,” Jensen said. “There are others whose lives can be completely turned around for the better with hypnotic treatments. Most people are somewhere in between.”

If you’re interested in hypnosis, the NIH suggests that you:

Talk with your health care provider about whether hypnosis may be able to improve your health or well-being.

Ask your health care provider to refer you to someone certified in medical hypnosis.

Choose a hypnosis provider who is trained to treat your condition. Dentists, doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, physical therapists, and others may be certified in hypnosis..

For more information from NIH on hypnosis, click here.

Here are ways to be successful:

1. Tackle only one bad habit at a time. Focus on only changing one bad habit until you are sure that you have permanently eliminated it, replacing it with a positive behavior. This will happen when the behavior becomes automatic, which may take more than sixty days.

2. Repeat the new behavior regularly. Repeat the desired behavior at the same time every day, and have a regular time scheduled on your calendar for exercise. You will be more successful if you stick to a predictable routine, as we are all creatures of habit.

3. Make smaller goals and focus on your progress. Set yourself up to succeed. Be realistic about your goals and start with a smaller goal that you are able to achieve, increasing it once you think you can do more..

4. Plan how you will reach your goal. Writing your goal down and keeping it visible where you can refer to it often will help you succeed. Put sticky notes on the medicine cabinet in the bathroom with your goal as a reminder or set phone alerts.

Block out time on your calendar for the days each week that you want to perform your new habit. Pack a change of clothes in the morning before you leave for work if you are going to the gym straight from work. Plan and prepare to succeed.

5. Replace your triggers or obstacles with something else. If you get a strong urge to eat fattening foods, eat some frozen grapes or a handful of almonds instead, breathe deeply, drink water, meditate, pray, or go outside for a walk. Find a way to distract yourself. Don’t buy food you need to avoid.

6. Get a support system. Call a good friend or hire a professional coach. There are support systems online that will help you to stay strong, such as Overeaters Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Spenders Anonymous, Weight Watchers, and private Facebook groups.

7. Stay positive. If you have a relapse, remember that you are only human, so forgive yourself immediately and recommit to your goal. Be kind to yourself and don’t give up. Treat yourself with compassion.

8. Focus on only what is within your control. Take pride in your efforts and do not get discouraged if the results take longer than you thought they would. Let go of what is not in your power. If you are trying and doing everything that you are able to do, that is all that you can ask of yourself.

9. Reward yourself for changing a bad habit, just not with food. Decide before you begin to tackle the habit what your reward is going to be. Little rewards, like a pedicure or a bubble bath with a new magazine or book can also boost your self-esteem.

10. Reduce your stress levels when changing habits. You will be more likely to succeed in reaching your goal. Eat a healthy diet, stay hydrated, get enough rest, exercise at least three or four times a week, listen to relaxing music, and spend time outdoors. Stop multi-tasking, as that increases your stress. Take frequent breaks during the day to get up, stretch, and walk around. Breathe deeply and slowly frequently throughout the day. Massage, aromatherapy, meditation, prayer, and a gratitude practice will also help to reduce your stress and improve your quality of life.

Rosemary Lombardy is a financial advisor with over 35 years of experience and domestic abuse survivor. She is the founder of Breaking Bonds, a free resource for abused women, and author of Breaking Bonds: How to Divorce an Abuser and Heal- A Survival Guide.

Make changes to boost your brain power:

1) Get more sleep

Sleep is an amazing tool that is too frequently neglected. If you can add more sleep into your daily routine you will find a marked improvement in your overall ability to concentrate, make decisions, and manage stress.

2) Speaking of reducing stress…

A simple way to eliminate stress is to start by recognizing and addressing it. It’s easy to say “work, kids, and life stress me out,” but if you take a second to identify and deal with these stressors one at a time, you’ll find that they’re easier to manage. Additionally, you can practice deep breathing.

3) Exercise – It’s not as bad as you think

Exercise is key to overall health, but the amount of exercise needed to give you mental clarity is fairly small. Exercising to boost your brain can be as simple as walking for a few minutes or taking the stairs. Try setting a timer for ten minutes while working on an intense work project. If you take time to stand and stretch during those ten minutes, you may find that your mental clarity improves when you resume your work.

Eat foods to boost your brain power:

While there is no food to make your brain function like a well-oiled machine all day, there are some that have benefits such as added energy. This increase in energy can be the kick your brain needs to stay on task and work harder and smarter.

1. Vegetables – the greener the better

Vegetables make great daily snacks, not only for your waistline but also for your energy. Not all vegetables are created equal, so look for the ones with the most chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. It is also a great tool for getting oxygen into your blood, providing our cells with a good source of energy, which is great for brain function. Here are some good-for-your-brain greens: kale, Swiss chard, wheatgrass, and arugula. There are also some nutrient-rich algae to consider such as spirulina and chlorella (available in supplemental powders – add them to smoothies or fruity yogurt).

2. Don’t be afraid of carbs

A lot of stories recommend  ditching the carbs, but in the process you’re losing some serious brain support fuel. You can have carbs as long as they are the right ones. Think complex carbs – steel-cut oats, sweet potatoes, and whole wheat bread. These carbs give you glucose energy but have a low glycemic index (GI) – the rate at which food sugar enters cells. Low GI foods are better for keeping energy higher longer.

 3 . Give bee pollen a try

Bee pollen is very high in B vitamins and all amino acids. This is important because these substances are big energy creators. They increase your red blood cell count, which, in turn, increases oxygenated blood.

4. Don’t forget fatty acids

DHA Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish – salmon, sardines, tuna, mackerel, and trout) and brain function go hand in hand. DHA is not something we naturally create in our bodies, but adding it through our diet can support vital brain function like memory.

In addition to fish, DHA can be found in seeds such as flax, chia, and hemp. These are easily added to green salads, yogurt, smoothies, or cereal. Another great source of DHA comes from the tasty walnut.

5.  Indulge in Chocolate

Before your chocolate bar becomes a sweet treat it starts as cacao (the raw bean form). This natural bean is packed with brain powering magnesium and phenylethylamine compounds (PEA) that stimulate the central nervous system. This all adds up to more focus! Cacao also contains flavonoids – antioxidants that are good for your brain.To get the best form of cacao look for organic or vegan chocolate bars. They usually have what you want without all the additives.

Eddie Fatakhov, M.D., a.k.a. Dr. Fat-off, is a board-certified physician; a nutritionist; and a best-selling author. His latest book is Dr. Fat-Off: Simple Life-Long Weight-Loss Solutions. To find out more about his work, click here.

Usually it’s around this time that we realize we should be spending more of our precious hours with family and friends and taking care of our health. This typically means eating and drinking better or exercising more. But many find the goals they set for the New Year quickly dwindle as the year gets busy and we get back into our same bad habits and routines. To help with that, I’ve put together seven hacks that you can implement today to help guide you through all of 2019.

Living a healthy life is the greatest gift you could ever give yourself.

1. Don’t make New Year’s resolutions – According to U.S. News, approximately 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February. Rather than set yourself up for failure with phrases like “This year I’m going to work out more,” commit to daily, weekly and monthly lifestyle changes. For example, “I am going to work out 3 times per week.” Set milestone goals. They are the keys to sustained long term success.

2. Start small – Whatever your big goal is, break it down into small daily tasks you can accomplish easily. Instead of, “I am going to lose weight,” decide to take the stairs. Instead of “I’m going to learn a  language,” buy a CD program and listen to it for 20 minutes a day.

3. Get the hard stuff done first – Most of us try to put off the hard stuff as long as possible. Do them first and get them out of the way. Make exercise your first taskso you don’t have to worry about fitting it in later.

4. Replace screen time for goal time – Take a true inventory of how much time you are spending in front of a screen – computer, TV, tablet, phone – and reassess your priorities. More screen time means less of everything else time, whether that’s being with the ones you love or spending time taking care of yourself (exercising, making a healthy meal).

5. Celebrate the small stuff – You deserve a win. Change is hard, and so why not celebrate your little wins along the way? Set up a reward system that is not tied to the negative action you are trying to change. If you are trying to lose weight, reward yourself with a massage, a fancy new headband, coffee, or a new shirt, and stay away from food rewards. The one I hear most often is “I’ve worked out a lot. I earned this 2,000-calorie reward.” It doesn’t make sense.  You just made all this progress working out and now you’re going to blow it on some silly food loaded with nothing nutritious.

6. It’s a lifestyle, not a DIET – Diets are fads and they usually can’t be sustained for a long time. Find a program that requires a new lifestyle of good health/nutrition/self-care habits. Living a healthy life is the greatest gift you could ever give yourself.

7. Be thankful and grateful – As soon as you wake up in the morning, write down three things that you are thankful for. There is science behind thankfulness and happiness. The more thankful you are, the happier you are, and the happier you are, the likelier you are to accomplish your goals for the day.

I hope these tips help you get focused for the New Year and really put some plans into action that will allow you to reach your 2019 goals.  Good luck!

Dr. Liz Cruz is a gastroenterologist, an author, and (most important) a parent of four children. A Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Cruz is widely praised for her all-natural, holistic approach to wellness and for effectively reducing the need for prescription medicine. For more information, click here.

While many of these medications save lives, they also come with a host of less desirable consequences: sky-high price tags, risk of addiction, and uncomfortable side effects. In hopes of protecting their patients from the negative side of prescriptions, an increasing number of American doctors are turning to the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, for inspiration. The result is a new kind of prescription, a literal walk in the park…on doctor’s orders.

Shinrin-yoku, the practice of mindfully spending time in the forest, started gaining ground in mainstream Japanese culture in the 1980’s.

But it’s roots stretch back far earlier than that. The idea that the human body is closely connected to the natural world—and can benefit simply by existing in it—can be found in the medical traditions of cultures around the globe. Both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda incorporate a version of earth-body connection in their teachings, and many other cultures encourage sun-baths, moon-baths, or river cleanses to heal a variety of ailments.

When the Japanese government saw levels of stress-related illnesses like anxiety and high blood pressure creeping up along with the rise of modern technology, they made shinrin-yoku a part of their national health program.

The move was ahead of its time: the World Health Organization reports that depression and other serious mental health disorders are on the rise in 2018, and that one in four people will be affected by a mental illness in their lifetime.

Scientific research provides solid support for the benefits of forest bathing. A forest walk is known to cause a greater drop in stress hormones and blood pressure compared to a similar stroll in the city. And much like aromatherapy, the scents of the forest can have a therapeutic effect on mood, blood pressure, and muscle tension. Other areas being explored by researchers include a link between forest bathing as a treatment for lung ailments, and the healing audio of birdsong. [Link to: TA article on birdsong]

Simplicity is a large part of forest bathing’s appeal.

Unlike other treatments that require expensive medications, trips to the doctor’s office, and risk unwanted side effects, forest requires, well…nothing. The whole point of forest bathing is to unplug and unwind, and simply be in nature. However for some, accessing nature isn’t as easy. For low income families living in urban centers, travelling to a forest might be an arduous or impossible task. For others with disabilities, physical access to outdoor areas may be a barrier to participation in forest bathing. These facts highlight that while forest bathing may be more accessible than a $3,000/month medication, it still is not the “magic pill” for everyone.

Another great thing about forest bathing is that you don’t need a prescription to try it out.

Simply walk into a park, forest, or other natural landscape, turn off your devices, and open your senses to the beauty of nature that is unfolding before you.

Yes, long before a tweet was a cringe-worthy echo from our nation’s capital, it was simply a sound that a bird made, a note in its song. And while most of us spend our time listening to the new, electronic tweets, we’re missing out on the therapeutic qualities of the old-fashioned tweet: birdsong.

A growing body of research suggests that birdsong and other natural soundscapes offer a variety of health benefits ranging from anxiety reduction to enhanced focus and performance at work.

In one experiment, a hospital in Liverpool, England played birdsong throughout pediatric wards where children were receiving treatments spanning from vaccinations to surgery. Researchers found that the soothing sounds of nature helped to calm the children’s nerves as they prepared for treatment, and distracted patients from pain and lingering side effects. The results, they said, not only provided immediate relief, but likely sped up recovery by reducing pain that would otherwise inhibit the process.

In another study, researchers played birdsong throughout an elementary school to combat the infamous “afternoon slump,” the period following a meal when digestion sends blood sugar and energy levels plummeting. With the presence of birdsong, researchers found students to be more focused and present, nixing the need for an afternoon nap.

Adults have been found to benefit from birdsong too: airports, banks, and other businesses around the world have turned to piping in birdsong to their establishments, after it was discovered that the calming sounds can significantly boost customer satisfaction rates.

In one particular instance, BP gas stations played birdsong in their restrooms to invoke the freshness of nature. According to BBC, it was an incredible success—causing customer satisfaction to skyrocket by a full 50%. I mean, if birdsong can make people actually enjoy a gas station bathroom…what can’t it do?

The many benefits of birdsong can be traced back through years of co-evolution between humans and birds.

Though we haven’t yet learned to speak a bird’s language, we’ve come to understand that when the birds sing, it means that we are free from certain dangers. Take the expression, “the quiet before the storm.” This famous line draws inspiration in part from the fact that flocks of birds will go silent before severe weather, either because they have hunkered down or have migrated elsewhere. This is thought to be because of birds’ sensitivity to sound and changes in air pressure—they can sense storms before the humans can see them.

Most birds also chirp heavily during the early morning in what scientists call the “dawn chorus.” It’s thought that humans, after hearing the dawn chorus for thousands of years, have developed an association between birdsong and starting anew. So not only can birdsong bring feelings of security to a listener, but also of hope and fresh energy to tackle challenges. Both phenomena can contribute to an overall enhanced mood, sparking curious psychologists to ask the question, what else can birdsong can do?

So, the next time you feel yourself slipping in to an anxiety-inducing Twitter scroll, try tuning in to mother earth’s tweet, birdsong, for some instant relief. While we can’t promise that it will make the other kinds of tweets get any better, it might help you cope in the meantime.

If you dig back far, far into your brain—a la elementary school and the awkward joys of middle school—you might remember the first time you learned that everything is made of something called matter.

And within this matter are tiny, swirling, electrically-charged particles called electrons (-), protons (+),  and neutrons (neutral).Ok, I get it—you didn’t come here to relive your middle school days. And especially not your middle school chemistry class days. So, I’ll cut to the chase: it’s this same elementary-level chemistry that’s behind “earthing,” a fast-growing eco-therapy being picked up by everyone from celebs to soccer moms. And its list of benefits? Almost too good to be true…

The healing power of earthing rests in an exchange of electrons, or electrical energy, between your body and the earth.

As we go through life, our bodies accumulate “free radicals,” positively-charged compounds that we pick up through contact with pollution, pesticides, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. While positive energy is usually a good thing, an excess of this kind of positive charge can actually be really destructive, causing inflammation that increases the risk of premature aging, chronic pain, heart disease and type-2 diabetes among other conditions.

Like many things in nature, Mother Earth developed a clever trick to fix this dangerous imbalance: Earth’s surface has a negative charge that instantly neutralizes the positive charge of the body, bringing it back to a grounded state and drastically reducing inflammation.

It sounds like the perfect system…except for the fact that many of our modern conveniences disrupt this natural flow of energy between the body and the earth.

Our shoes, homes, and personal electronics can block us from receiving the balancing energy that we need, or worse, introduce even more destructive currents into the mix. As a result, the positive charge in our bodies builds up, inflammation increases, and illnesses snowball.

Enter earthing, the process of deliberately connecting to the earth’s bounty of healing, grounding electrons. In its simplest form, the only things you need to do earthing correctly are bare feet and a patch of earth—even concrete will do, as long as it isn’t treated. And just fifteen to thirty minutes of “grounded time” each day can produce results.

But for those with an already packed schedule or who live in densely-populated areas, it can be hard to find the time and the place for even a short session of earthing.

Luckily, many companies have developed earthing mats, blankets, and other devices that plug into electrical sockets to deliver that balancing flow of electrons wherever you are.

Stuck at the office but need relief from the static energy? Try a discrete earthing mat, which fits underneath your desk and can ground you through even the most hectic of days. If you’re moving around for most of the day, you might want to check out grounded sleep pads. Placed on top of the mattress, these pads deliver all of the benefits of earthing without you lifting a finger—or losing a wink of sleep.

For the low to moderate level of effort that earthing requires, it delivers an incredible list of health benefits.

Not only does the grounding effect of earthing decrease inflammation and inflammation-related diseases in the body, but it can improve sleep, reduce anxiety, and promote an overall sense of wellbeing. It can even affect the viscosity of your blood—yes, the actual thickness of your blood—with a natural blood-thinning affect. This reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and improves circulation, contributing to a youthful, rosy glow. Plus, many professional athletes are known to sleep grounded or use grounded post-workout wraps to speed up their recovery times.

If someone who makes a living out of being incredibly fit trusts earthing to keep them going, then imagine what it can do for the average person.

If you weren’t a star student in middle school chemistry class, and don’t want to start understanding now, don’t sweat it. The great part of earthing is that it’s pretty simple to get started—and works whether or not you understand the science behind it. Just sit back, relax, get grounded, and feel the magic.

The innate ability to be mindful—that is, to pay attention to the present moment without reacting to it—differs among individuals, according to the NCCIH. There’s evidence that people who are naturally more mindful tend to have less pain, perhaps because they accept pain more easily and don’t spend as much time thinking and worrying about it. However, the brain mechanisms underlying the relationship between innate mindfulness and pain have not been identified.

In this study, 76 healthy people who had no experience with meditation, which fosters mindfulness, completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, which evaluates innate mindfulness. They also participated in two testing sessions in which they were positioned in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner and a thermal probe was used to deliver a series of brief, harmless, but sometimes uncomfortable heat stimuli to the lower leg. The participants rated the unpleasantness of the heat and the intensity of the pain they felt, and changes in blood flow in the brain were recorded.

Individuals with higher innate mindfulness reported less pain. Higher mindfulness was also associated with greater deactivation of a brain region extending from the precuneus to the posterior cingulate cortex during exposure to uncomfortable heat. This part of the brain is involved in attention and subjective emotional responses to sensations. It plays a role in how you react to what you’re experiencing.

The findings of this study may be useful for the development of better nonpharmacologic approaches to pain management, such as biofeedback, mindfulness meditation, or behavioral therapies, that specifically target increases in mindfulness and reductions in the activity of the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex brain region.