A doctor of chiropractor by training, I found my passion as a  sleep consultant.  I coach parents with babies from birth to 4 years.  Newborn sleep teaching is gentle without tears as you form habits that you can sustain over time.  After 4 months of age, sleep consulting is helping parents undo their babies and toddlers learned habits of falling asleep.  These often include falling asleep on parents, feeding to sleep, or rocking to sleep.  These patterns are usually repeated with night waking and falling asleep for naps. 

Timing of Sleep 

Analyzing the timing of naps and bedtime is the first simple thing a parent can do to help set their little one up for successful sleep.  Most babies up to 6 months can’t stay awake more than 2.5 hours between sleep periods.  By 1 year that’s stretched to 4 hours maximum.  Keeping them awake too long between periods of sleep makes it harder for a little one to fall asleep and then stay asleep. 

A common cause of night waking and 5 am wake ups are a bedtime that’s later than about 7:30 pm. This is related to the “drive to sleep.”  This is a biological phenomenon associated with the build up of a protein in your blood that tells your brain when it’s time to sleep. 

The Act of Falling Asleep

While the drive to sleep is biological, the way we sleep is a learned habit.  Overtime, well intentioned parents have inadvertently taught their little ones to fall asleep on them or while feeding as a way of avoiding tears.  Many of my clients are breastfeeding and have kiddos that will only fall asleep at the breast and have to be nursed back to sleep many times in the night. 

If you want a baby who can sleep long age appropriate stretches of sleep, they will need to fall asleep at bedtime from awake in the crib.  Not drowsy or half asleep.  The first time a parent tries this, their child will fuss or cry because this is not what sleep looks like to them and learning something new can be hard.  Which we can all attest to. 

Tears

The amount of tears and protest a child will have to this new way of falling asleep is related to your ability to follow age appropriate timing, your ability to be consistent and your child’s temperament.  Some babies older than 4 months are more strong willed than others. Your child might not be who you thought they would be.  Your ability to handle the tears might be different than you thought it would be.  I’ve had clients who come into parenthood being prepared to be “strict” and “scheduled” and then turn into self described “balls of goo” when they meet their little one.  The thought of hearing their baby cry revs up their anxiety and seems unfathomable.  That is until they find themselves incredibly exhausted and questioning whether their child is getting enough sleep, and/or if their current way of sleeping is sustainable. Sleep teaching ensues. 

Self-Talk

Self-talk for teaching your baby to sleep?  Yes. There is an old adage that says we don’t sleep teach babies, we sleep teach parents.   I advise patients to break the fear/worry cycle with education about sleep timing for babies and the understanding that sleep is a learned behavior. Just as important, I also advise changing the internal dialogue of fear and worry with affirmations, especially during the first few days. I teach people to change the chatter in their head from fear to success, from worry to confidence. Your child, 4 months and older, is capable, you are providing the opportunity for them to learn a life long skill, the ability to relax into sleep. 

Affirmations for Baby Sleep

So, what can you say to yourself?  

If you want to make these affirmations 10 times more effective, download the ThinkUp app and record it. in your on voice.

Many more of my affirmations are waiting for you on the ThinkUp app

This blog was written by

Dr. Sarah Mitchell, Sleep Consultant wants you to know you can be loving, attached and well rested. 

Mom of 2 sleep taught kiddos 

Member of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine 

Www.helpingbabiessleep.com

Many people strive towards self-improvement and self-actualization and I am not an exception. I spent countless hours searching for the answers:  How to deal with Stress and Anxiety? How to overcome stress? How to think positively? How to feel more relaxed and confident? How to create a space between the event and my reaction? How to have more energy? How to overcome stress? How to become a better person? 

Looking for the best recommendations,  I have read and tried through the enormous amount of information ranging from the short affirmations or mantras to entire books written by famous authors.  I have written summaries, notes, paper cards and summarized the information in a very logical and accessible way. And failed.

Believe Believe believe

One question always remained unanswered – how to implement all these good advices in practice? My implementation track record was terrible – my thoughts seemed too scattered to remember key advices for a long time, the ability to focus seemed insufficient to exercise what I had learned. To believe in my affirmations. To overcome stress when I needed to be calm in real-life situations. Could I become someone who can actually make it all work for me? Could I possibly make a transition from being just a reader to putting concepts and affirmations into practice?    As it turned out, there are some tips on the implementation part. 

Looking for a real thing to overcome stress

Eckart Tolle, the author of the bestsellers “The Power of Now” recommends directing attention to your body, or paying attention to your breathing to physically prepare for the “mindfulness practice” and to overcome stress. Of course, I tried with no luck…  It just seemed like I needed something more real, something more tangible to get into the right state of mind.  

My solution to overcome stress

All that has changed after I tried clearing my mind with a simple touch of natural materials.  Just shifting my attention to even a small rock in my hand really helped to bring all my thoughts into focus.  I could almost feel like all the wisdom I have learned is like that rock in the palm of my hand and that my palm somehow protects these thoughts from any outside distractions.
 It was truly amazing, I have learned to feel my thoughts, my affirmations, I have mastered the way to enter into a very calm and focused state via this “mind-body-mind”  connection system (simply called “touch”), I have become so much better at overcoming stress. 
In retrospect, it all made sense to me…  Meditation, originated as early as 1500 BC, has a history of using objects made of natural materials, such as beads or Baoding spheres. Science says that overcoming stress and anxiety can be done by fully engaging with one of our five senses. And, it turns out, our sense of Touch is particularly good as a guide and assistant in achieving mindfulness.

It was truly amazing, I have learned to feel my thoughts, my affirmations, I have mastered the way to enter into a very calm and focused state…

In a world that is moving so fast, where feelings and emotions are so suppressed, our mind may not be able to cope on its own.  It may need a sensory/tactile assistant, a grounding mechanism, a catalyst for mind-body circuitry that is socially acceptable to carry around. 

Ever since we moved to big cities and separated ourselves from nature, we have essentially lost access to trees, ground, rocks and other natural textures and materials. Is it time to bring it back in the shape of “portable nature” objects? 

Tactile meditation to overcome stress

With Touch, you can not just think possible, but feel possible as well! With our other senses coming to the rescue of a racing mind, making our thoughts tangible and real.
If you are like me and your day is filled with distractions, it takes effort and right assistance to overcome stress, to pick up a mindfulness routine and make it successful and efficient. Tactile meditation can be that additional tool to help and it turns out, the road to mindfulness can be paved with the natural materials and textures!

I’m a physician. Family Medicine. Sports Medicine. Integrative Pain Management.
I see a lot of patients with pain. For acute pain, the recent injury, for example, treatments
include ice, topical creams, oral medications, physical therapy, and injections.

Persistent Pain (Chronic)

But what about people with persistent pain? Pain in their back, pain the neck, pelvic pain, jaw pain, arm pain, gut pain? First, we exclude any serious causes with appropriate imaging (x-ray, MRI) and sometimes blood tests. Many of these individuals with persistent or chronic pain have seen many practitioners before they come to my office. They just haven’t gotten better, and usually get a bunch of different diagnoses and feel very confused and frustrated.

TMS

Often, I diagnose these individuals with TMS, tension myoneural syndrome. This means that their pain, while quite real, is more about the mind/brain and emotions than it is anything structural or mechanical. They may have tight muscles or a weak core, but that is not why they have pain and that is not the way to the cure.

Diagnosis

I ask them “what’s going on in your life”? I find out often that quite a bit is going on. Issues with a significant other, a boss, anger, grief, fear, financial pressures, etc. I ask them about their childhood. Sometimes divorce, rarely abuse, often issues and pressures leftover from that difficult time in one’s life. I ask about personality: patients with TMS are often hard on themselves, people-pleasers, and highly responsible.

Treatment

The treatment for TMS follows the cause. It is more about education, psychology and changing what we believe and what we think than anything else. So, I recommend journaling, writing about feelings, expressing feelings, sometimes psychotherapy. I advise self-talk and affirmations to change neural pathways that have been established that reinforce a pain cycle.

Self-Talk

Self-talk for pain? Yes, I advise patients to break the fear/worry cycle with education (reading books, listening to podcasts, videos). But I also advise changing the internal dialogue of fear and worry with affirmations. I teach people to change the chatter in their head from fear to success, from worry to healing.

Affirmations for Pain

So, what can you say to yourself, if you start believing that the problem you have is benign and more about your stress than your body? (this assumes a good medical checkup first, of course)

1. I am healthy and strong, I am healing.
2. I have harmless pain and I’m learning to deal with my stress
3. I can heal, I can be more active, activity is good for me

And so on… (see ThinkUp app)

David Schechter, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician in Culver City, CA
Medical Staff, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Formerly, Clinical Assoc Professor USC School of Medicine
Author, The MindBody Workbook and Think Away Your Pain
Www.MindbodyMedicine.com

Did you know you have the power to stop smoking just with your mindset and the understanding of who you really are? Not many people know that 70% of all smokers want to quit smoking. In that group, 85% of all smokers who have tried quitting smoking, only 6% of all succeed. But why is it about quitting that smokers find so hard? Even though smoking is extremely injurious to health and has serious repercussions, yet smokers are addicted to smoking and aren’t able to quit easily.

Everything can be achieved with your mind as that is where it starts – be it smoking or any other bad habit. The good habits are those that contribute to our wellness and health while bad habits are those that prevent us from achieving our goals.

95% of what we do in our day to day lives is controlled by our subconscious mind. This is the way humans are programmed biologically. When dealing with the seemingly impossible task of quitting smoking, you should definitely have a lot of willpower and patience.

While it is true that smoking gives you a break and a feeling of relaxation from all the stress If you could change the programming in your head and program it to believe that you can control your stress and stay relaxed at all times, it will be easier to get rid of this habit of needing to smoke every time you don’t feel relaxed.

The stop smoking affirmations app help you in changing such a habit by reminding you that you are much stronger than the mere idea that smoking is the easiest and only way to feel relaxed. Stop smoking affirmations will also help you achieve your goals and to be a better version of you than what you are currently.

Lacking Motivation? Try Think.me

If you are looking for motivation to help you in your quest to quitting smoking, then you aren’t alone. Quitting can be really hard as smoking is more than just a bad habit… it’s an addiction.

Even though smoking gives you a feeling of rest and relaxation but you should keep in mind the harm it is doing to your body. If you have made up your mind that you want to quit but you’re lacking motivation, you can head over to Thinkup.me. Here you will be made aware of the ways you can quit smoking and you can read about ways you can easily change your habits by changing your mindset and perception towards certain things.

Here are some stop smoking affirmations to help you quit smoking with ease:

1. Every time I need a break I just breathe and let go
2. I love myself more than I love smoking. I say yes to life and no to smoking.
3. Since I know my self better every day, I know how to stop smoking with ease.
4. When I am feeling stressed, unhappy or sad, I am taking a quick walk and breathe deeply and calmly.
5. I feel great as I breathe in the fresh air.
6. I am free from smoking today and I very happy about it. I breathe more and eat fresh fruit and vegetable.
7. I care and respect my body and let go off unhealthy addictions.

Our world is getting more complex day by day, and with so many factors around us that make us stressful and anxious all the time; deep relaxation is the best cure. Your body needs deep relaxation to let go of the inner tensions and fears that hold you back from achieving so many things in life. So when you go for deep relaxation affirmations, it will not just relax your physical body, but also relieve you from stress, anxiety or any other kind of mental block.

If you want your body to function optimally, then you need to make sure you have a self-healing method that allows you to relax your mind and body to the core.

Here are some deep relaxation benefits :

1. Boost Immunity: relaxation has a significant effect on immune cells, and research shows relaxation exercises may boost natural killer cells in the elderly, leading to increased resistance to tumors and viruses.
2. Fertility: Research suggests women are more likely to conceive when they’re relaxed as opposed to when they’re stressed.
3. Heart Health: Relaxation significantly lowered the blood pressure and psychological distress, and also bolstered coping ability in people at increased risk of hypertension.
4. Mental Health: People who practice deep relaxation exercises note reductions in psychological distress, depression, and anxiety.

How to use ThinkUp as part of your deep relaxation practice?

ThinkUp is one platform that gives you a personalized and an extremely effective channel to release all your physical and mental stress to attain a state of deep relaxation. All you need to do is to choose your relaxation affirmations, record them in your voice, add in your favorite music to it and then listen to it on a daily basis till your mind and body is totally healed. Start your ThinkUp journey today to feel deeply relaxed like never before!

How to practice deep relaxation?

Start your practice by finding a quiet place and begin to breathe. Relax all your body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. Let your thought melt and absorb the inner silent.

Start to relax every muscle in your body, start to relax your jaw, your eyelids, your face, your neck, and shoulders, just let go and relax. Continue to relax all the part of your body; the back, the chest, and the stomach, your legs, and hands. Just relax and let go.

In this place of deep relaxation, your body is willing to accept what you are telling him, so put your recordings(from the ThinkUp app) and start to surrender to the words. Change your self-talk to positive. Don’t reject or argue just relax and surrender.

From all of us at ThinkUp we wish you a calm and relaxing life full of joy and acceptance.

Did you know that the fear of public speaking ranks higher than the fear of death in the United States? If you want to overcome public speaking all your life, you are not alone. But as a matter of fact, public speaking is a skill that can play a huge role in taking you to the next level of your professional and personal lives.

What Instigates the Fear of Public Speaking?

There are many reasons that instigate the fear of public speaking, but one reason that is the most common is the fear of being criticized by others. You tend to avoid public speaking at the workplace or any other occasions, as you feel that you are not good enough to say something that will capture the attention of the people around. When you feel you are not smart enough to handle a public speaking opportunity, you start to develop a fear for it gradually.

Can You Overcome Public Speaking?

If you too are daunted by public speaking, it is high time that you face your fears and find out how much of your fear is real and how much of it is just a fragment of your imagination. As you face your fears, you will realize that your fears are just an anticipation that you will suffer. But, in reality, overcoming your fear is something that will swipe up any chances of being hurt by the very reason that earlier used to intimidate you.

How to Overcome Public Speaking?

One of the first steps that you can take to overcome public speaking is to try changing your thoughts and shutting up all the fear that makes you anxious about public speaking. Changing your fearful thoughts and channelizing them into the right direction is something that can be a stepping stone for you to overcome public speaking. The reason behind this is very simple. Your body reacts in accordance to the thoughts and feelings that dominate your mind. So, once you have managed to silence all the thoughts that instigate the fear of public speaking in your mind, your body will automatically react differently when you are put in the same situation for the next time.

When your mind is only filled with positive thoughts that support your body’s reactions to challenging situations, there is no way that you cannot overcome your fears. This is quite true in the case of public speaking. For, it is only through a positive mindset that you can confidently face any challenge that comes your way. Hence, there is no doubt about the fact that the ultimate way to overcome public speaking is to align your thoughts with your goals, and let your confident self rule over your public speaking fears.

Tips to Overcome Public Speaking:

• Self-Talk Practice – Self-talk practice and positive affirmations via ThinkUp can help change your self-image and mindset into a positive one to overcome public speaking. The best part about self-talk practice is that it is a highly personalized way of changing your mindset, as it you listening to your voice about positive affirmations that you believe can set you free from all your public speaking fears.
• Realize Your Worth – Another significant way in which you can overcome public speaking is by realizing your worth and understanding what makes you unique. You need to know what makes you different, because this is what sets you apart from others, making the very reason why people would want to hear you out. So, pull out all your fears and believe that you have something special to offer for the world, each time you are on a public speaking platform sharing your views and ideas.
• Change Your Perception – To overcome public speaking, you must change your perception about how competent you are to give words to your ideas in a group of people. You need to clear all the apprehensions and prepare your mind for the fact that your knowledge and experience is something that people would look forward to hear and take inspiration from.
• Prepare & Record a Speech – Preparing a speech with positive affirmations and recording it for yourself would help you give a third person view about yourself and help overcome your fear of public speaking. With ThinkUp, you can record a speech in your own voice and combine it with your favorite music so that the speech has a more powerful impact on changing your mindset into a positive one.
• Take Opinion From Friends & Family – Once you have recorded your speech with affirmations to overcome public speaking, you can also share it with your close friends and family to know if there is something that you can add to make it more effective. If you are willing to make a serious change in your mindset to overcome public speaking, choosing the right affirmations is something that you cannot compromise on. Once, you are sure that you have created the perfect and effective recording for yourself you can start listening every day to gradually overcome your fear o public speaking.
• Practice to Stay Calm – Last but not least, another trick that can help overcome your fear of public speaking is practicing to stay calm before putting your act together. The best way to stay calm and relaxed is to take a deep breath and remember everything you have been recording for yourself in the form of positive affirmations. Once, you are able to replace all your negative thoughts and anxiety, you will successfully achieve a state of calmness, and nothing in the world would be able to stop you from achieving your goals.

Here are 10 affirmations that will help you to overcome public speaking fear:

1. I have so much to offer the world. I share my knowledge and experience
2. My fear of public speaking isn’t real. I can overcome it.
3. Even though I feel a huge amount of stress, I can overcome it.
4. I am calm and relaxed and remember the reason I wanted to share my knowledge.
5. Every day it is easier and easier to relax and to be calm near other people.
6. Overcome this fear makes me a better version of myself.
7. Today, I am fearless.
8. My words can have a positive effect on other people.
9. Today, I’m making a difference by being brave.
10. Words and thoughts come effortlessly to me.

Whether it is professional life or personal life, there will always be times when you will have to speak publicly to express your views or address your concerns. So, when this is something that is inevitable, why not face it fully prepared with the best strategies in hand and emerge as a winner?

Do you know what Mariah Carey, Carrie Fisher, Mel Gibson, Demi Lovato, Russell Brand,
Brian Wilson, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Ernest Hemingway, Ted Turner, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vivian Leigh, Frank Sinatra, Sinead O’Connor, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jane Pauley,Patty Duke, Winston Churchill, and about 1% of the world’s population have in common? They have Bipolar Disorder.

Bipolar Disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness) is a brain disorder that is characterized by mood states that are unusually intense, accompanied by changes in sleep and activity levels, and often behaviors that are unusual or dramatically different from the individual’s typical moods and behaviors. These changes are significant enough that they interfere with the individual’s ability to manage their day-to-day life. This can be things such as a level of depression in which the person finds it hard to get out of bed and go to work, or a level of “mania” (a more highly energetic state) in which the person may have difficulty slowing down their thoughts and may be more likely to engage in risky behavior (including things such as excessive spending, substance use or highly sexualized behavior).

One of the challenges of Bipolar Disorder is that people have begun to use the term in casual conversation, describing someone with changing moods or opinions as “bipolar”. Not only is this inaccurate, but it promotes the stigmatization of a real disorder. Often individuals with bipolar disorder (or other mental health issues) are portrayed as dangerous, unstable, or unable to function in society. This is not the truth. Bipolar Disorder is found across all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, gender – and every other factor that describes human beings. There are people with Bipolar Disorder who are very successful and those who live ordinary lives, just as there are people with Bipolar Disorder who struggle significantly in day-to-day living. Recovery, or living a meaningful life, is absolutely possible for someone with Bipolar Disorder, just as it is for a person with other kinds of disorders. Having a strong support system (including relevant health and mental health professionals) is an important part of recovery and living with Bipolar Disorder. However, the basics of good nutrition, good sleep, and moving your body are just as important (and that’s true for all human beings). In addition, there are things we can all do that help us to feel better and live our best life, such as practicing breathing skills and using affirmations. Bipolar Disorder Affirmations can make a huge difference, helping you to regain balance, slowing down when your brain starts speeding up, and providing hope when depression or a lower mood is setting in.

Bipolar Disorder Affirmations work as a reminder of how you want to feel and live, something that can be hard to remember when life is challenging. They also serve as a beacon of light when circumstances feel overwhelming. The ThinkUp app is a wonderful tool for this, since you record and listen to Bipolar Disorder affirmations in your own voice. Your limbic system (where your emotional memories are stored) gets activated when hearing a sound which helps your brain to pay attention to what is being said, as well as helping to create the desired emotion.
That’s why it’s most helpful to record your affirmations at a time when you are feeling positive.
It’s literally a way to gift yourself with courage, calm, and a sense of hope when you are having a hard time – hearing a genuine reminder from the person that knows you best (YOU) that encourages you to remain compassionate, caring and supportive. And as a bonus, practicing bipolar disorder affirmations on a regular basis helps train your brain to create stronger pathways, so these can become your automatic way of thinking!

Bipolar Disorder can be a challenging disorder to manage, but ThinkUp has some specific features that can make a real difference. Bipolar Disorder Affirmations on ThinkUp allow you to stay focused on living in the present and paying attention to what is going on right now. Living right now is how you access the magic of change. For example, when you record an affirmation at a moment that you are feeling good, you are reinforcing a specific positive message to your brain. Then when there’s a time that you’re having more difficulties (such as struggling to get out of bed), you can access ThinkUp and the Bipolar Disorder affirmations to increase your motivation and to remind you of the
decisions you are committed to for your best functioning. Staying in the present moment and
focusing on the action you can take right now increases your sense of self-efficacy and also helps
to reduce feelings of stress or discomfort.

One important note about bipolar disorder affirmations – while the ones written below are geared toward the positive, you don’t have to start off with a super positive affirmation if that feels like “it’s just not true”. You can start with a more neutral version of an affirmation and slowly move towards a
more positive version as it feels more comfortable. Sometimes when a statement feels too
discrepant from our current experience, it’s a turn off rather than a help. So remember, feel free
to modify to best suit where you are now, as a support towards accepting and celebrating your
best self.

Here are some bipolar disorder affirmations that you can use  any time, any day:

1. I love myself for who I am.
2. I have Bipolar Disorder. I am not Bipolar Disorder.
3. I am worthy of respect and equality.
4. I am enough.
5. I am doing a good job.
6. I am worthy of love, care, and compassion.
7. It’s okay to not be okay.
8. I am strong, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
9. I will let go of old habits that do not serve me and practice new habits that move me forward
10. I am not damaged, I am a whole person.
11. I don’t have to pretend, even when I’m having a hard time.
12. I am doing the best I can, with what I have, at this moment.
13. I will never know my limits until I try.
14. I take care of myself, in my body, mind, and spirit.
15. How I feel matters.
16. I deserve happiness.

For more affirmations please go to the ThinkUp App and record your own affirmations in your own voice.

This article was written by Dr. Kristina Hallett. Dr. Hallett is a board-certified clinical
psychologist, University professor, author, international speaker, and inspirational speaker with
expertise in learning to live as your own best friend with self-compassion, freedom, and joy. She
shares ideas and conversation for living your best life on her podcast Be Awesome – Celebrating
Mental Health and Wellness. She is passionate about reducing stigma and changing the
conversation to allow for empowerment and wellness in all aspects of life. Dr. Hallett’s goal is to
support others in harnessing the positive power of stress, self-compassion, and radical self-care.
She helps driven professionals to banish burnout and develop skills to make stress work to their
advantage to increase focus, productivity, and well-being. She shares an approach to joyful living
through changes in mindset, perspective, core beliefs and everyday practices that enhance
resilience, leadership, communication, and performance.