Easterling Consulting

02 March 2015

Meditation Rooms for Caregivers: Do They Really Need Them?

How are meditation rooms or quiet spaces useful in places like the Ronald McDonald House?

The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home where families stay temporarily while their kids receive treatment at a local hospital. These kids are often gravely ill; and the parents are under tremendous stress. How could a meditation room help in this environment?

Parents need relief. Their kid is sick. They’re angry, maybe shocked; they’re sad or even depressed. They feel a total loss of control since they can’t heal their child. The stress is overwhelming.

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23 February 2015

You’re in a Rut. How Do You Get Out?

You’re sitting at your desk at work or school and cannot move forward on your project. Or maybe this is an ongoing thing with you lately.

When you’re super focused and determined to “get this done” or “stick with it,” what you really need is distance. Do something different from your norm. You may need physical and mental distance. If so, go to a new art exhibit at a local gallery. Go to a wine tasting or an interactive cooking class. Watch an airshow.

Or maybe you just need fresh eyes in your own craft. Even going to a trade show in your field can fuel your creative juices.

Often, though, all we need is mental distance. This is when mindfulness and meditation can be effective.

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16 February 2015

Algebra Affects You and This Is How

How does algebra help you? Hint: It has nothing to do with math.

Equation: X + Y = Z

The variables:

X = the positive you put in

Y = the negative you put in

Z = what you get out of life (at home, at work, at school, and everywhere in between)

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09 February 2015

What Do Drugs, Caffeine and Meditation Have in Common?

What if it were as simple as finding relief? What if the answer to increased productivity and creativity or better mood and stamina isn’t caffeine or drugs or green juice? What if it’s as simple as taking a step back and into quiet.

We’re all looking for relief from our relentless thoughts…thoughts about our impending deadline, job security, the kids’ grades, our stiff shoulder, the rent or the mortgage. The non-stop hum in the background is not just our open work space or the buzz of lawn mowers, it’s also, or more so, the highway of thoughts incessantly whizzing by.

Some of us find temporary relief in the No-No trifecta of drugs, sex and alcohol. Others choose extreme exercise or dieting as a patch.

How about a combo.

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02 February 2015

Virtual Reality: How Does It Affect You?

Slip on your headset and enter a world that you create, one where you choose your body, your personality, your environment. Maybe you choose a muscular, medium-build with a passionate, yet easy-going affect who lives in the city and works downtown.

This is virtual reality beyond filmmaking and gaming. And it’s just around the corner.

Oculus, Samsung, Microsoft, Google and certainly many others are pouring millions into virtual reality viewing devices and the accompanying software.

For now it’s for movies and games, but not for long.

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26 January 2015

No 26.2 Bumper Sticker? Read This.

The benefits of exercise…blah, blah, blah. We all know that exercise is good for the body. But what many of us don’t realize is that a little bit throughout the day over a week adds up.

Whether you’re at home, at work or at school, there is so much you can do all day to move your body. Gym rats will tell you that you have to get in a sweat-it-out workout most days of the week to have an impact (I used to be one, so I know). Nah. Even science can’t consistently back this up.

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20 January 2015

International WELL Building Institute 2014 Symposium

In October of 2014, Melinda Easterling attended the WELL 2014 Conference, the “first annual symposium for design, construction, and real estate professionals who want to lead the market and build a movement for wellness real estate – a pioneering concept that marries design and construction with evidence-based technologies to support personal well being and health.”

Part of participating in a conference of this kind is entering on the ground floor of an idea that has found not only its audience but its time. Melinda was showcased in this video along with other leaders who see the value in sharing ideas and talking with like-minded business owners, healthcare experts, builders and visionaries who understand the importance of wellness at work and at home.

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19 January 2015

A vision of hope…

While I echo the sentiments in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech of equality for all, I, too, have a dream. I have a dream for wellness…a dream for wellness at work, a dream for wellness at home, a dream for wellness in schools.

I have a dream that work is a place where people thrive, where all employees are treated equally, where they are treated as people and not things.

I have a dream for schools where teachers and children are respected equally, where teachers have time to eat lunch and time to take breaks and children can move and laugh and learn at their own pace.

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12 January 2015

Nutrition in the New Year: It’s Not What You Think

Nutrition is such a big part of what we call wellness. We are obsessed with diet! But by now, most of us realize that there is not one recipe for good nutrition (pardon the pun). What works in one country, doesn’t work in others. One dietitian says eat mainly grains. Another says never eat grains. Many hail the benefits of a high-protein diet. Others say too much is bad. Eat vegetables but not the ones high in sugar. Last week Group X said drink 64 ounces of water. Next week Group Y will say drink when thirsty. Milk is bad. Milk is good. Red wine and chocolate have benefits, but not too much, not too often; probably better to just abstain. Our heads spin, and we rebel. We now have a new category of eating disorder: those obsessed with healthy eating, aka orthorexia nervosa.

We want to be healthy, and people tell us that we are what we eat. So what should we do?