Wednesday, March 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The value of emotions
“Kelsey, you’re waaaay
too emotional,” a male
friend told radio host Kelsey
Collins a few years ago.
“Yes,” she answered with a
hearty laugh, “I’m a girl.”
Although there are still a
few folks who contend that
females are the only ones
who are “emotional,” we’re
learning that emotions are
generated from a physical
source — the limbic sys-
tem and its various neu-
rotransmitters, which both
men and women have, or
we wouldn’t be in a human
body.
Every single one of us
has emotions, as defined as
“a natural instinctive state
of mind deriving from one’s
circumstances, mood, or
relationships with others,
and an instinctive or intuitive
feeling as distinguished from
reasoning and knowledge.”
“Perhaps that’s where
my male friend rationalized
his accusation that I was
too emotional; he thought it
would have been better had
I used my capacity to rea-
son, rather than express my
fear. Maybe he was right,”
Collins says.
Researchers have been
trying to understand where
our emotions really come
from for centuries, and the
answer is still somewhat
debatable, if not downright
elusive.
According to a study
done by the Hockenbury’s
in 2007, “An emotion is a
complex psychological state
that involves three distinct
components: a subjective
experience, a physiological
response, and a behavioral
or expressive response.”
That’s another way of
saying this: Emotions are,
on one end of the spectrum:
fear, and its multiple dis-
guises, like anger, hatred,
despair, helplessness and
shame, to the other end that
includes love, compassion,
and peace.
Do emotions lie? Are
they consciously created,
or do they exist solely as
a reaction to stimuli? Are
some emotions good, while
others are bad? These ques-
tions, and more, will be dis-
cussed on next Saturday’s
Kelsey Collins Show with
Collins’ special guest, Mark
McFeely, on KZSO, 94.9 at 9
a.m. Listeners can livestream
the show at kzsoradio.org or
can catch the podcast later at
kelseycollins.podbean.com.
Of a certain age...
By diane goble
Columnist
It started one Friday after-
noon while sitting at my com-
puter... just a little tickle in
the back of my throat. By 10
o’clock, I could no longer
form a coherent thought. My
head felt like it expanded to
the size of a watermelon. My
throat was raw. Couldn’t stop
coughing. Couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t eat. Just wanted to
sleep. All weekend.
By Monday I felt better.
I actually got some writing
done in the morning. I picked
up my granddaughter after
school, but this time she read
to me instead of me reading
to her because by the time my
daughter got here after work to
pick her up, I was sinking back
into oblivion all because a tiny
bug I couldn’t even see had
returned to suck the life out of
me.
I’m feeling better — and
reminded to pay attention to
the practice of healthy living.
Sick or well, we should all
be drinking enough water to
keep from getting dehydrated,
which puts a strain on our
body’s systems. You’ve prob-
ably heard you should drink
eight eight-ounce glasses of
water every day, but when you
think about it we are all differ-
ent people with different body
shapes, sizes and needs. We
have different levels of physi-
cal activities and sweat our
own unique amounts.
So drink water when you
are thirsty or when you are
hungry, which is often a sign
of mild dehydration. Drink
water before anything else.
Cut back on coffee, a diuretic,
which makes you urinate more
frequently and can lead to
dehydration. If you drink cof-
fee throughout the day, drink a
large glass of water for every
cup of coffee you drink and
gradually cut back to two cups
of coffee a day.
Eat more fresh fruits and
veggies. Whether it’s adding a
banana to your usual breakfast
or choosing a salad at lunch,
we could all do better. If you
tend to nod off mid-afternoon,
have an apple or some celery
sticks with peanut butter. Once
you start cutting out sugary,
salty foods, your body will
start to crave them less and you
avoid sugar highs and lows.
If you consume meat on a
regular basis, try making the
portion of veggies even big-
ger. Eating too much meat can
make our bodies acidic, while
15
supplementing with fresh
fruits and vegetables can help
counteract that.
If you have a desk job or
home office, sitting at a com-
puter all day affects the mus-
cles in your neck, shoulders
and back. Studies show that
sitting and slouching too much
can lead not only to back and
spine problems, but also gas-
trointestinal pains, headaches,
bad circulation, and a whole
host of other physical issues
that show themselves as we
age.
Set a timer to get up every
30 minutes and do 10 jumping
jacks, or go for a short walk.
Above all, don’t forget to
breathe. The proper way to
breathe is to take deep slow
breaths, expanding your abdo-
men; hold for a few seconds
and then slowly release, con-
tracting the abdomen. As we
get older we may become
more stressed, which actually
changes the way we breathe.
Stress causes our bodies to
go into “fight or flight” mode,
whether the threat is real or
imagined. Learn to meditate,
slow down your breathing,
focus on one word or image,
and imagine the toxins flowing
out of your system each time
you exhale.
Partners in Care
Choice is personal. Just think about the number of
personal choices you make every day. You choose what
to eat for breakfast, what to wear, the mood you’ll be
in, even who you might smile at on the way to work or
at the grocery store.
In Oregon, we have many personal choices to make
in healthcare. What insurance option should you
choose? Which provider or medical specialist should
you choose? What are your treatment choices? And
finally, what choices do you have if your medical con-
dition is not expected to get better?
At Partners In Care, we know that one of the
most important personal choices you’ll make for your
healthcare today is who you will ask speak for you
if you are unable to speak for yourself. This choice
or person is called a Health Care Representative.
According to the Key Conversations Planning Guide
in the Oregon Health Decisions Pamphlet (available
online at www.oregonhealthdecisions.org), this is a
person who will have the legal power to make deci-
sions regarding your healthcare – but only when
you are incapable of making those decisions your-
self. This could be because you are unconscious, in
a coma, in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s dis-
ease or are otherwise unable to make your own
decisions.
It is important to make this choice now, while you
can still make your own decisions, and share them
with your Health Care Representative. This person
would then serve as your voice in deciding on medical
options that you have discussed with them or written
down in advance, should you be unable to speak for
yourself.
To learn more about this process visit www.
partnersbend.org or contact us at 541-382-5882.
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