Good day family and friends!  Today I hope to empower you, embolden you, to step out of your comfort zone and wear things, do things and act, out of the ordinary!  At least out of the ordinary for you!  Have you had this happen to you?  You’re out shopping and you get excited and buy something unusual – a piece of clothing or an accessory, like a hat.  You bring it home.  You think, what occasion will I have to wear this?  You think way too hard! And you are not sure… Well, you should be able to wear anything ANYTIME as long it covers the necessary body parts to make you legal!  In Canada, I think its just your nether regions you have to keep covered up!  Yes, you can flash those breasts… Now you have to keep in mind, the message you are sending to the world with your choices may be important at some times… like a high level business meeting would not be the time to whip out the see through top and short shorts… however…. 

I love  hats and cigars and going on vacation alone!   Did I ever hesitate to do any of these?  YES!  Of course I did,  and often.  But I asked myself, what would happen, if I did do this thing?  What are the consequences of this choice???  And after careful consideration, the usual answer was NOTHING much.  I will get criticized – if by no one else, my mother will have something to say about this!  I will certainly be judged (people are constantly evaluating and judging others… but that is a whole other podcast about insecurity and self laothing… LOL)….  But really, my life will probably go on unchanged much, except for the wonderful reactions I get to experience that my my “presence” creates - in other peoples realms or orbits...  

I often asked myself, why do we hesitate to wear the hat, smoke the cigar or go on vacation alone?  Why do many people shy away from looking “different” or “standing out”.  Why is that?  The overarching motivation not to be different or not stand out, comes from a basic intrinsic need to belong.  “Intrinsic”, I like to call intrinsic the “built in” programming. The experts say that intrinsic needs or wants are driven by the brain – the brain says, use the energy to get me this “reward” – motivated to do this from within - intrinsic – inherent in nature) need to belong.  The need to belong, human belongingness, is an emotional need to be affiliated with and be accepted by members of a group:  be it a peer group at school, co-workers, an athletic team, a religious group, other else but always with some sort of commonality.  We are looking for acceptance, we want attention and we want support.  

In Abraham Maslow’s famous theory on the hierarchy of needs – he identifies belongingness as one of the major needs that motivate human behavior – indeed - love and belonging, is at the mid point of the needs pyramid after physiological and then safety needs.   It motivates us to seek out long lasting relationships with other people.  For romantic, spiritual and other communal attachment.  This was very important once upon a time, long ago - just for survival.  There were no laws, no armies, nor police, by-law officers, butchers, bakers, construction companies and safety-net social security cheques to keep you safe, clothed and fed, irrespective of what you said or did.  You relied on the “group effort” of the tribe for survival.  Being expelled from the tribe was not a good thing.  

For full show notes and other tid bits, go to our website

www.thewisewomansway.com or www.annerad.com

Great articles on psychology topics:  www.verywellmind.com

Welcome to Part 4 of 4 podcasts about Amino Acids and more specifically, the book written by Dr. Julia Ross called The Mood Cure.  The information contained in this little book, published in 2004 by Penguin books, was such a game changer in my life.  It taught me I didn’t have to accept the “hand” of emotional missteps my body handed to me, on a regular basis.  I didn’t have to be that weak person who, once a month, not only suffered PMS but huge self doubt about myself and my abilities to handle anything “stressful”.  And of course the burden of the whole world’s problems would overwhelm me on any given Sunday (or any day, for that matter!), how could I possible take on any more while I worry about the starving children in Africa…  Along comes this book, The Mood Cure, – and a couple of others like Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life, by Wayne Dyer and The Seven Habits of Effective People by  Stephen R. Covey, and I am cured of all that ails me!  Well almost!  

Have you been accused of being “way too sensitive!”  Do you often feed sad for no real reason?  Do you crave pleasure foods – sugar, chocolate, sweets, baked goods, dairy (cheese please!)?

Do you know someone who is so “bah humbug” that they do not find joy in simple pleasures like sunsets, a beautiful day or lovely meal out (and someone else cleans up!)?  These are sure signs of being deficient in the feel good chemical “endorphins”.   Endorphins are natural comforting substances that transmit enjoyment, contentment and even euphoria! Hallelujah!  

What could make someone such an unhappy Scrooge like character that is hooked on simple carbs and cheese?  Or alcohol or drugs?  Could it be  they were just born that way?  Well genetics does play a part in this.  There is a bio-chemical pre disposition to having too little endorphins that runs in families (the ones who ALL seem miserable?  All the time???). Then if you are born female versus male, you are more likely to have lower endorphin levels than your brother. If you have Premenstral Syndrome (PMS), you won’t have the usual uptick of endorphin levels mid cycle.  You stay low throughout.  And of course, there’s menopause – when endorphin levels sag.  As estrogen levels drop, so does levels of endorphins.  Estrogen actually runs the show here!  It’s the director that is responsible for releasing endorphins (and serotonin) in the brain.  WOW – challenges on every front if you are a typical woman!  And they accuse us of being too emotional, too sensitive and easily upset… well, now we know why – often, we couldn’t help ourselves!  Until now!  

What else can cause persistent depleted state of endorphins? Prolonged stressful circumstances.  These circumstances can be emotional distress or physical pain.  Chronic pain can have concrete biochemical repercussions.  Prolonged stress from upset, injury sickness or just being scared, taxes the endorphin levels.  

Take the time to find a good functional medical professional to help you with this journey, or call Jr. Julia Ross’s clinic for virtual appointment.  The mood assessment questionnaire is on the clinic website and is a great place to start.  I’ll leave the URL in the show notes on our website:

https://www.thewisewomansway.com or short version http://www.annerad.com will redirect you to it. 

Dr. Julia Ross’s Website.  Find access to her clinic and her questionnaire to determine what your “false moods” are and how to start fixing them!

https://www.juliarosscures.com/

When I discovered the idea that amino acids could help with my energy and my moods, it helped me immensely.  I shared it with my nearest and dearest and it helped them!  What I realized quickly though, that “new” knowledge was not readily adopted into mainstream medical practices or any kind of practices, for that matter.  In fact, newest scientific discoveries take a dozen years to go from the “aha” discovery moment to retail treatment centres.  Let me give you a very pedestrian example, for instance, common warts.  I found out via an article in the local newspaper about an “aha” experiment that said you could kill warts (all kinds even planter variety – the kind that dig very deep into the foot and are so painful you need surgery to remove).  My whole family struggled with them. My husband had to have surgery to remove his plantars warts.  I schlepped to a clinic in the next town to see a skin specialist who “burned” them off with dry ice every two weeks for months.  With no real effect since they seemed to grow back in the two weeks between visits.  Then I tried what the article suggested – DUCT TAPE.  Yup, duct tape.  Of course it made sense.  Warts are a virus that needs air to survive.  You cut off the air supply and it ….. dies.  All it took was 2 weeks of applying a fresh piece of gray duct tape daily.  Even the deep, painful plantar version that my athlete son had, went away after one month – no surgery required.  How many other things are we getting surgery for that we don’t have to?  

This is the third in a four part series about the magic of amino acids to help cure bad moods!  It is based on a protocol used by psychologist Dr Julia Ross.  She used the work of the neuroscientist Dr. Kenneth Blum from North Texas University who was studying the effects of nutrition for drug and other additions and found that you could extract the essential nutrients  the did most of the mood leveling work – namely certain amino acids,  These nutraceuticals have the ability to give the brain what it need to produce the mood modulators or chemicals that make us feel good! 

Today we will be discussing the chapter in Dr. Julia Ross’s book “The Mood Cure “ (2004, Penguin Books) entitled “All Stressed Out – How to Recover from Adrenal Overload” and the amino acid GABA and what it does for you to help you stay calm and happy.

I like to remind everyone that MOST PEOPLE can only, effectively, fight one battle/war at a time.  If you are stressed to the max, for instance, an extreme diet and exercise plan should not be another battle you should be attempting at the same time.  Have grace with yourself.  Give yourself time, space and resources to deal with one issue at a time….  Remember you will be living to 100 or maybe even 120, so there is time for it all!

Take the time to find a good functional medical professional to help you with this journey, or call Jr. Julia Ross’s clinic for virtual appointment.  The mood assessment questionnaire is on the clinic website and is a great place to start.  I’ll leave the URL in the show notes on our website:

https://www.thewisewomansway.com or short version http://www.annerad.com will redirect you to it. 

Dr. Julia Ross’s Website.  Find access to her clinic and her questionnaire to determine what your “false moods” are and how to start fixing them!

https://www.juliarosscures.com/

Basic Vitamin Supplement Suggestions The Mood Cure, 2004 Dr. Julia Ross