FEBRUARY 6, 2021— In this past Saturday’s episode of A Different Perspective, Dr. Patrick Flynn gets personal. He revealed his top 5 ways that he believes are essential to achieving a happy and healthy life.
1.Smile
First on the list, Dr. Patrick highly recommends smiling. He says that every morning, he chooses to wake up with a smile on his face to set the precedent for the rest of the day.
Studies have shown that smiling has a positive biochemical effect on your body, as it reduces stress and boosts your mood. It has also been proven that when someone sees others smile, they tend to smile as well.
Dr. Patrick says that “just your smile alone, could change the direction of someone else’s day.”
He encourages everyone to smile because “it’s such an important thing, and it costs you nothing.”
Links to articles about smiling:
Grin and Bear It! Smiling facilitates stress recovery – Association for Psychological Science
Mood migration: how enfacing a smile makes you happier – National Library of Medicine
2. Hug
Physical touch is vital for our well-being, both physically and mentally. For example, one study explored the notion that daily hugs and social support can boost our immune systems. Little known fact: stress can have pathogenic effects on our bodies. It weakens our immune system, making us susceptible to being ill.
Daily hugs and social support act as a buffer by decreasing cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body.
In his video, Dr. Patrick makes an important observation to highlight the importance of human interaction.
If physical connection is non-essential for our well-being, then why is isolation considered a punishment for prisoners?
Dr. Patrick says, “we thrive off other people” and that, “being alone is not what we’re meant to be.”
Links to articles about hugs:
Does hugging provide stress-buffering social support? A study of susceptibility to upper respiratory infection and illness– U.S. National Library of Medicine
Receiving a hug is associated with the attenuation of negative mood that occurs on days with interpersonal conflict– National Library of Medicine
Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels– Nature Scientific Reports
3. Take Care Of Your Body
Sometimes our body has difficulties producing the components we need to stay healthy. It is up to us to supplement our bodies with the food we eat or other interventions.
Although our bodies have drastic differences in what they need, Dr. Patrick Flynn’s recommended supplements that should be beneficial for everyone are:
Like a hug, Vitamin D and K2 produce great hormones for our bodies. If you are Vitamin D deficient, you are prone to having a susceptible immune system and/or seasonal depression.
2. Magnesium
Most humans are deficient in magnesium due to stress. Its purpose is to promote muscle relaxation and soften our intestinal tract.
3. Potassium
Typically, adults should be consuming approximately 4,500mg of potassium each day. This is accomplished by eating 7-10 cups of vegetables (it’s hard, I know). The Potassium pills that The Wellness Way manufactures are 250mg each, making it easy to compensate for however much you need per day.
4. Aloe
Aloe juice is one of the most highly absorbable forms of water. Its enzymes help our cells absorb water more effectively.
5. Zinc
It is highly likely that those who tested positive for COVID-19 and lost their sense of taste and smell had a Zinc deficiency. This is because the enzymes responsible for taste and smell are zinc dependent.
6. Astragulus
This herb is so unique that medical companies had tried to patent it for their profit. Astragulus feeds the body at a cellular level and increases our DNA length. Tremendous immune and endocrine strength are examples of the benefits this herb has to offer. It also helps our cells repair themselves.
4. Let Me, Be Me!
Being unapologetically yourself is an important key to life. Often times, we have a difficult time understanding our worth and purpose because we don’t know who we truly are.
Dr. Patrick says, “in order to grow yourself, first you have to know yourself.”
In order to understand yourself better, you should be defining yourself by who you are instead of what you do.
A good exercise to practice for self-enlightenment:
- Try to identify yourself without describing what you do. It’s a lot harder than you’d expect, right?
- Identify your characteristics, then use these to define yourself. For example, Dr. Patrick explains how his two prominent characteristics are Courageous and Coarse.
A link to characteristics and their definitions can be found here.
Once you are aware of your dominant characteristics, it’s important to understand that everyone has their entitled characteristics as well. They will not be like you, simply because they are not you.
5. Prioritize Your Life
Your priorities should be in a ranked list, from highest to lowest. Identifying your priorities helps you invest your energy into the components of your life that matter the most to you.
Dr. Patrick insists that you should constantly be working on these priorities, seven days a week. As a result, you will notice how your quality of life improves, even with bad stuff happening around you.
A screenshot of Dr. Patrick’s priorities are below. He insists that putting himself before almost anything else has helped him improve his relationships because he became more confident by investing in himself.
6. BONUS!
Dr. Patrick closes his video with an extra way in which he lives a meaningful life. Other people.
He says, “if you have a good idea with crappy people, then you have a crappy idea.”
He goes on to explain how he understands the notion that our measurement of success should be determined by how many people we have behind us, supporting our visions and dreams. Without them, we would have too much pressure on our shoulders (which can be crippling).
Dr. Patrick says, “I can’t be an amazing dad without my amazing wife. I can’t be a good leader without all these people here because they make me better, they have their characteristics and expertise to make everything better.”
It is important to invest in other people and make them the best versions of themselves because at the end of the day, they are there to support you and whatever vision of success you may have.
You can watch this episode of A Different Perspective here.
