I’ve never met many people who can say that they’ve never wished for a day off work.. there always seemed to be those days when you don’t even want to get out of bed – or worse, that you would love to get out of bed and go anywhere but to the office? Well, in truth, it’s probably because what you’re here to do is being smothered at your workplace. It doesn’t happen for me anymore, but that wasn’t always the case!

I’ve come to recognize my natural talents now, but it wasn’t always that way. I am competitive and I like to be challenged. And so I would always do my best, and, as I assumed was rightful at a time, I’d be promoted into a management role. Looking after a team, responsible for their outcomes and in charge. The boss. Or at the very least, the supervisor. And I’d be satisfied because that’s what was ‘meant’ to happen – I got more money, I got more responsibility, I got more satisfaction from it all. Because I was being successful in my career.

Well, that’s where things would start to fall apart.

I found that, although I am great at motivating myself, I suck at motivating others. Although my attention to detail is almost to perfection – I find it super frustrating that not many others have the same quality. Even though I love to immerse myself in my work and spend all my time doing it or at least talking about it, not everyone else feels the same. And, most importantly, I really don’t like working in a team! I know that sounds terrible, but I much prefer to do my part and then hand it over to someone else to do theirs.

You can imagine how successful I was in a management role. And then would come the stress, and then the resentment, and then the wanting to be anywhere but at work, and then the next job would come along… and it would all start again..

This vicious cycle lasted probably half of my working life. Until I finally figured it out.

I have unique and exquisite natural talents – and if I stick with them – I am happy, content, satisfied, and I love my work. It was enlightening, relieving and totally motivational for me to understand the things that come easily to me – and thanks to technology like Shae, it was simple!

As a matter of fact, the concept of ‘work’ doesn’t even exist for me now. I simply live a life doing what I naturally do well. And it’s not a high-faluting, wining and dining job that I have. It’s not a celebrity lifestyle, or a laze-about lifestyle either. It’s simply a combination of everything I do well – task-oriented, creative, detailed and, most of all, I feel it with a purpose. It’s a simple role that allows me to express who I am and how I fit in the world.

So how do you recognize your natural talents?

• Firstly, set aside all the conventions of what society says you must do to be successful. Sure, some people are driven to achieve, but others just aren’t. And it’s actually physiological. Studies have shown that some bodies are higher in dopamine, making it necessary for them to feel satisfaction by achieving^1-3. Whereas other body types have naturally higher levels of prolactin, making them find their joy in nurturing others^4-7. We’re all made up of the same chemicals but we’re all a slightly different balance – our own unique cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters if you like, that give us our natural qualities.
• Find out what really makes you tick. There are many ways out there to assess what you’re good at, but what you really want to do is find the innate sense of happiness. Find out what makes your body sing! Your body holds a wealth of information about your natural tendencies. You’ve got this body for a reason. What’s in your genes? What were you built for? Is your body strong and made for long stretches of physical labor? Or is it much better suited to being tucked away at a desk in the warmth? Is your personality naturally a people-lover or do you much prefer the quiet to explore the creativity in your own mind? Were you built to dynamically expend your energy or to conserve it? Physical traits can correlate with our levels of hormones. And our hormones can dictate how we respond and react to the people and tasks around us in everyday life. Find out what your body does naturally and experiment – give it a go and see if it’s different to what you normally do. Does it feel natural? Does it feel good? Does it feel easy? If it does, then you might be on the right track.
• Find out when you tick best. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Well if you’re a night owl, then being up early for that 7am job can really put a stress on your body, increase your cortisol levels and therefore increase your blood pressure and stress on your circulatory and digestive system. If you’re an early bird and you’ve been repeatedly asked to stay up late, then this may impede your ability to get restful sleep, which affects your body’s ability to heal, recuperate, detox and rejuvenate. Even worse are shift work positions where you may have super early mornings one week, super late nights the next week, and occasional double shifts in between. This type of work doesn’t allow your body to find any rhythm at all, which affects it’s chronobiological system and circadian rhythm. All of this can lead to chronic stress^8-13! Chronic stress, (and in turn chronic illness) caused by keeping hours that are not natural for your body can make it difficult to function well, even on a day-to-day basis. Never mind being able to nurture your natural talents!
• Redefine success for you. Do you consider yourself successful if you’re happy? If you’re getting praise? If you are changing jobs or staying in the same job for an extended period. Scientists have shown that some people live longer in a steady work environment, but others are stimulated by variety and constant change. Refining your definition of success can immediately remove the pressure of having to ‘live up to’ a certain standard. And it may be society’s standard, conditioning from your family, or the people around you – it doesn’t matter where it came from, what’s important is to define success for yourself.
• Go easy on yourself. Some of us don’t do that naturally but remember, we are all on a journey to discover ourselves… and the journey is half the fun!

Natural talents may be present, but they still need to be practiced. You may be naturally good at making people feel welcome, supported and loved, yet you spend your whole day isolated at a desk, in a windowless office, talking to no-one. This means that you are spending the bulk of your time in an environment that is not conducive to allowing you to practice your talents. If you never get the chance to practice your talent because you’re busy with so many other things, then you may never excel at it.

Our talents, if practiced and nurtured, can be a great source of happiness. Money doesn’t bring happiness, passion does^14-18. When it comes to work, people who earn lots for jobs they hate are more unhappy than people who earn less for jobs they love. So doing a job you love will bring you happiness. Happiness, self-satisfaction and a natural affinity for your role also increase your chances of finding a job that is so amazing for you that you easily get more opportunities, and more recognition for your contributions!

So if you have found yourself feeling weighed down by your job and having no enthusiasm for your work, it may be because your workplace is smothering your natural talents. Discover what your natural talents really are with Shae – then experiment with your natural talents – spend some of your free time doing the things you really love and your natural talents may just make themselves known. And when they do, grab onto them like there’s no tomorrow and you’ll never work another day in your life!

 

References

1. Comings, D. E., et al. “The dopamine D 2 receptor (DRD2) as a major gene in obesity and height.” Biochemical medicine and metabolic biology 50.2 (1993): 176-185.

2. Travis, Frederick T., and Robert Keith Wallace. “Dosha brain-types: A neural model of individual differences.” Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine 6.4 (2015): 280.

3. Genovese, Jeremy EC, and Kathleen D. Little. “Mesomorphy correlates with experiential cognitive style.” The Journal of genetic psychology 172.4 (2011): 433-439.

4. Martyn, A. C., et al. “Stress hormones may interfere with new mothers’ prolactin levels and negatively affect nurturing behaviour.” (2013).

5. Tworoger, Shelley S., et al. “Birthweight and body size throughout life in relation to sex hormones and prolactin concentrations in premenopausal women.” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 15.12 (2006): 2494-2501.

6. Brandebourg, T., E. Hugo, and N. Ben‐Jonathan. “Adipocyte prolactin: regulation of release and putative functions.” Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 9.4 (2007): 464-476.

7. Friedrich, N., et al. “Associations of anthropometric parameters with serum TSH, prolactin, IGF-I, and testosterone levels: results of the study of health in Pomerania (SHIP).” Experimental and clinical endocrinology & diabetes: official journal, German Society of Endocrinology [and] German Diabetes Association 118.4 (2010): 266-273.

8. James, Francine O., Nicolas Cermakian, and Diane B. Boivin. “Circadian rhythms of melatonin, cortisol, and clock gene expression during simulated night shift work.” SLEEP-NEW YORK THEN WESTCHESTER- 30.11 (2007): 1427.

9. Puttonen, Sampsa, Mikko Härmä, and Christer Hublin. “Shift work and cardiovascular disease—pathways from circadian stress to morbidity.” Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health (2010): 96-108.

10. Haus, Erhard, and Michael Smolensky. “Biological clocks and shift work: circadian dysregulation and potential long-term effects.” Cancer causes & control 17.4 (2006): 489-500.

11. Kudielka, Brigitte M., et al. “Morningness and eveningness: the free cortisol rise after awakening in “early birds” and “night owls”.” Biological psychology 72.2 (2006): 141-146.

12. Muecke, Sandy. “Effects of rotating night shifts: literature review.” Journal of advanced nursing 50.4 (2005): 433-439.

13. Berk, Michael. “Sleep and depression: Theory and practice.” Australian Family Physician 38.5 (2009): 302.

14. Dik, Bryan J., and Jo-Ida C. Hansen. “Following passionate interests to well-being.” Journal of Career Assessment 16.1 (2008): 86-100.

15. Lane, Robert E. “Work as “disutility” and money as “happiness”: Cultural origins of a basic market error.” The journal of socio-economics 21.1 (1992): 43-64.

16. Burke, Ronald J., and Lisa Fiksenbaum. “Work motivations, work outcomes, and health: Passion versus addiction.” Journal of Business Ethics 84.2 (2009): 257-263.

17. Clark, Andrew E., Paul Frijters, and Michael A. Shields. “Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles.” Journal of Economic literature (2008): 95-144.

18. Judge, Timothy A., et al. “The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 77.2 (2010): 157-167.

There is nothing better than the feeling of sinking into your bed at the end of a long day. Except, maybe, the feeling of sleeping in on the weekend. Whether you’re a morning person or love to get up late, sleep is a vital part of life. It’s our way of shutting down to recharge the batteries and is crucial for the health of our bodies and minds.

It’s therefore easy to understand why not getting enough Zs leaves us feeling flat, unmotivated, irritable and even achy. We all know the importance of sleep, but did you know just how much your diet impacts your slumber?

Here are 8 food-related tips to be aware of if you want to ensure a good night’s sleep:

1. Overeating – In the attempt to perk ourselves up when we lack sleep, we tend to reach for stimulating foods. That doesn’t just mean the cup of joe, but also foods rich in carbs and sugar that our brains crave for energy. The problem is that sugar and carbs take a while to digest and when they are properly digested they’ll activate the brain’s thinking processes (and not necessarily the body’s energy level), causing sleep problems late at night if they’re eaten too late during the day. So to keep your brain from being overactive at night, avoid those giant dinner plates and late evening meals, especially those containing lots of sugar and carbs.

2. Undereating – In the struggle to keep a slim waistline, some of us use methods like intermittent fasting which can cause us to feel hungry at night. If you’re longing for a trip to the fridge, it can be hard to fall asleep and get the full night’s rest you need. So eat up!

3. Erratic schedules – Experts say that having a regular schedule for our meals (ie eating lunch at the same time each day) and our sleep (ie going to sleep at the same time each day) can really help our circadian rhythm do its job. The circadian rhythm is the body’s internal clock for releasing and activating the hormones for digestion, organ function, physical or mental activity, etc. Doing things at the same time each day trains the body to be more efficient and to work along with you. If you always go to sleep at 11pm, then your body will know to release the sleep hormone melatonin just before then so that you will begin naturally to get tired around that time.

4. Grab some herbal tea – We should, of course, avoid green or black tea at night as they are filled with caffeine. Caffeine takes 6 hours to digest, which means it should be avoided at least 6 hours before we hit the hay. Caffeine-free herbal tea, on the contrary, can be soothing for the soul. Scientists don’t have a clear idea about whether or not tea or hot drinks at night really help sleep, but something soothing and relaxing like chamomile tea surely can help you get ready for an evening’s rest.

5. Activate your serotonin – There are many serotonin rich foods like walnuts, hickory, pineapples, banana, kiwi fruit, plums, and tomatoes. The most effective way to boost serotonin, however, is to allow your body to use tryptophan to produce serotonin on its own. It is believed that this is the mechanism behind the ‘turkey-comas’ people feel after their Thanksgiving dinner. So having foods that are rich in the serotonin precursor tryptophan, such as poultry, fish, chickpeas, soy, beets, and bananas, in the later afternoon and evening can help relax the body and mind and prepare it for a good night’s rest.

6. Have protein and fiber for dinner – Eating whole grains and complex carbs at night can help you fall asleep faster, thanks to an effect much like what happens when the body tries to digest a big meal at lunch and we get tired. But if staying asleep is your issue, then this is the worst thing you can do because the natural sugars can cause a sugar roller coaster (and hence a sleep roller coaster) in the middle of the night. A fat and protein-rich snack like eggs, cheese or nuts, combined with high fiber vegetables like broccoli, spinach or beans, will have a better effect on your sleep quality so that you wake up in the morning refreshed and not spend your night tossing and turning.

7. Consider tart cherry juice – Recent studies suggest that tart cherry juice could help you get better sleep. It seems this fruit is special in helping to naturally boost the melatonin we need to feel sleepy and can, therefore, be helpful for people suffering from insomnia. While experts are unsure about how much is needed and if it’s really effective for everyone, the fact that there are so many other nutritional benefits from cherries means trying this option certainly couldn’t hurt.

8. Grab some almonds – Almonds contain the fat, protein and fiber you need (mentioned in point 6), are low in carbs and sugars, work to keep your blood sugar in balance (related to point 1) and provide a good dose of magnesium which relaxes the muscles and help put your body into the rest and digest (parasympathetic) cycle common to sleep. So if you’re feeling peckish at any time of the day grab a handful of almonds!

Your sleep is incredibly important and its effects on overall health should not be underestimated. Keeping the above steps in mind when it comes to diet will get you one step closer to a good night’s sleep. Sticking to your ph360 recommendations and updating your profile regularly will get you leaps and bounds closer to optimal health and wellbeing.

Although we are all born with a fixed set of genes, the way those genes express themselves in our bodies is dependent on a number of factors. One of the biggest variables in genetic expression is our lifestyle and environment. Depending on how we are affected by the environment in which we live, certain genes may be turned “on” or “off”—like a light switch.

For example, although some people carry the gene that predisposes them to breast cancer, this gene may or may not be activated. And the way we live, where we live, our levels of health and fitness, and even our relationships and profession can influence this expression. So while knowing your genetic predispositions can be valuable, living a healthy life according to your body’s unique needs is the best way to flip the switch on those genes that might cause you harm.

Although purchasing a full DNA test is one way to determine your predispositions, the technology behind ph360 allows you to assess a wide array of epigenetic factors that will be critical to maintaining your health. It does so by analyzing your body’s unique measurements (using the science of anthropometry), your personal health history, and the determining the normal ranges of those measurements for your particular genetic profile.

ph360 then provides access to the distinct epigenetic factors that will promote rather than detract from your health. Because true health is not as simple as treating symptoms as they arise. To ensure lasting wellness that reaches all the way to your DNA, it’s critical to address your health on both physical, mental, and emotional planes—working not just from the inside out but from the outside in.

As you begin to understand the ideal physical, social and professional environments, perspectives, fitness and food plans that will help you thrive, your body will naturally align to its original state of vibrant health. Avoiding disease then becomes more about the joy of living well on a moment-to-moment basis than the fear of impending illness. And the benefits of feeling healthy and strong only beget greater enthusiasm to make preventative health a priority.

Before you know it, you’ll be thrilled to eat that salad instead of french fries—just because you know how good it’s going to make you feel. There’s no better way to prevent illness, as far as we can tell! Start your own journey towards flipping the switch on disease today.

When you ponder the joys of life, how long does it take you to think of the people in your life? Not long, I bet. Relationships are the very fabric of our existence. They have the potential to lift us up when we’re down, to bring us delights previously unbeknownst to us, and to help us experience the wonder of ourselves in another and in so doing, to unite us with the soul essence of who we are. Yet they can also be the source of much conflict and disappointment if we are disconnected from their true purpose and life-giving potential.

Here are 5 ways that you can instantly strengthen your relationships and reap the intimate rewards of a social connection gone right.

1. Communicate openly. The root of most suffering in relationships is either a lack of communication or poor communication. Practice honestly communicating your feelings, desires, questions, and concerns whenever possible. Without honest communication, trust is impossible to build and without trust, a healthy relationship is impossible to enjoy. Though being honest can sometimes be a difficult endeavor, the alternative is not a valid option if strengthening your relationships is your goal. So go on and face the fear of what might happen if you are honest about anything and everything that you truly feel in your heart. And be ready to experience a sense of freedom and closeness like never before.

2. Practice patience and presence. Be patient with others when in their company, whether on the phone, online or in person. Know that everyone has their own rhythm of action, of speech, and of life. Rather than trying to hurry others to adjust to your pace of life, understand that the pace at which they learn, grow, act, and understand is perfect for who they are at this moment. Be patient with the relationship too. Know that it is always evolving into something more meaningful and that each moment, no matter how seemingly small – especially when approached with presence – is contributing to the type of relationship you wish to create. There is a vast difference between sharing mere physical presence with someone and sharing true, unbridled presence. I know you’ve felt it before. So why not go forward and share that gift with someone else too?

3. Release resentment. Be honest, firstly with yourself and secondly with anyone who was involved, about how you’ve felt in response to hurtful things that have transpired in the past. Then decide that you want to release the resentment. First, ask yourself why you felt resentment in the first place. Did you feel let down? Did you have an expectation that wasn’t met? Did something the other person said or did rub you the wrong way? Whatever it is, remind yourself that everyone is always doing the best they can, that giving (for example, by doing a favor) with the expectation of something in return is a recipe for resentment and disappointment, and that your happiness is best when it is not contingent on the actions of anybody else. Decide that this is the day you will release any resentment that has built up inside you, choose to be grateful for the lessons contained in what’s already occurred, and look forward to a strengthened relationship in the future that is not contingent on the past.

4. Share meals. Food can be more than just sustenance. It’s an opportunity to bond with the ones you love. Invite the ones you love over to share a meal. And as you meander around the kitchen, remember that preparing food, and of course eating it too, is the perfect opportunity to create a shared experience that strengthens a relationship. Most of our memories center around good conversation and good food, which not surprisingly is the ideal formula by which to create positive shared experiences that you will remember and cherish for a long time to come.

5. Love unconditionally. In any moment you share with another person, strive to be present with them just as they are. No judgment. No evaluation. No trying to change them. Practice seeing them through the eyes of Source – as the perfect being that they are. Reflect to them, through your loving gaze and words, that all the things they may judge, be ashamed of, and wish were different in themselves, are in actuality a non-issue. Recognize that like you, they have human experiences that suggest otherwise, and that as a result, they need to be shown even more love. Practice empathy for their life experience. As you figuratively place yourself in the shoes of someone else’s emotional life experience, you will begin to understand why they are the way they are. As a result, any judgment you may have held about them, their choices, and behavior cease to be.

Stronger relationships equate to greater joy, greater fulfillment, and a deeper love of life. Choose just one person in your life with whom to practice the principles outlined in this article and let us know what ensues! Delve into the social portion of your ph360 app for more in-depth revelations about how you naturally communicate.