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Writer's pictureAvani Dilger, LPC, CACIII

Welcome to our 10. Day of the Natural Highs Academy!

Updated: Apr 14, 2020


Have you heard when people go through crisis or hardship or life threatening illness and afterwards they say" This is the best thing that ever happened to me?"

What is going on there? How would you explain that?

I think a piece of this mystery lies in our brain chemistry: that in moments of stress and crisis our brain releases a lot of OXYTOCIN. In archaic times, this was a brilliant survival strategy. In times of crisis, Oxytocin makes humans turn to each other for support. 

We have looked at this mechanism last week, that everything you do under stress will imprint faster in our brain, we "bond" with the behavior quicker. We form attachments that our brain to this day considers to be the "survival strategy". Obviously, these can be positive or negative habits. This is the reason we invited you last week to use this time of challenge as the perfect time to start or nurture positive habits. If you missed these emails you can find all instructions & worksheets on: www.naturahighs.org/blog

Another way to use and maximize your own OXYTOCIN during stress is to reach out to others and offer acts of kindness. Do you know why it feels so good to do good things for other humans?

On top of Oxytocin you also release SEROTONIN which feels like love, connection and inspiration. The best thing about serotonin is that it multiplies: Not only the person offering the act of kindness receives Serotonin, but also the person receiving the kindness and anyone watching.

TODAY'S CHALLENGE is for you to experiment with how ACTS of KINDNESS produce and release Oxytocin and Serotonin.

What is an Act of Kindness that you could do these days for someone? 

I would like for you to get very creative and to help you think outside the box I want to share this example:

How do you feel after watching this story? Isn't it powerful to witness acts of kindness? And isn't it amazing to see the ripple effects that acts of kindness can create? My CHALLENGE FOR YOU: What is an act of kindness that you could do during these days? Who is a person who you feel could use some support right now? Where could you offer a helping hand? Please tell me about your experience: avani@naropa.edu We want to collect the best ideas and send them back out to this community so that many people get inspired and that we can create many ripples of kindness ️ TODAY'S ACTIVITIES: - Look at the TED Talk above - Let yourself be inspired to think about what acts of kindness you could do - Do your acts of kindness and stay very present with how it changes your mood, feelings, energy and motivation to do something good for others - Write about your experiences with your acts of kindness and send it to: avani@naropa.edu - Print out the attached Coloring Sheet and Daily Schedule. They are gifts and acts of kindness by artist Audrey de la Cruz from Tuscon, Arizona where a group of artists got together and give the gifts of free coloring pages to the community to help them with creativity during the Covid-19 time. You find more information about their acts of kindness and wonderful ideas how to help their community:  https://thisistucson.com/tucsonlife/free-coloring-pages-tucson/article_f22b0282-79fc-11ea-aa6f-5b7754beb0bd.html?fbclid=IwAR0Gvv6sFLidheDlZ_i1kCqL_s7Q5Z9HqYmPEXeIY4eVRXYQVX1KL0RC6J4

Also, feel free to check out the Natural Highs Google CALENDAR with daily Natural Highs activities for TEENS: 

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=83gi6m9jfn9j2noao4gac5adlk%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FDenver If you have joined the Natural Highs Academy after March 30, you can find all the previous exercises and worksheets that you might have missed on:  & Materials

Feel free to share any of these resources with anyone - teen or adult - who you think might benefit from daily inspiration and structure during these times. I so look forward to have you be part of the Natural High https://www.naturalhighs.org/post/welcome-to-the-natural-highs-academy Want more Natural Highs Resources? Now, everything in the Natural Highs Store is available for FREE with the Coupon: "coronarelief": Community. We can support each other to make the best of these times Stay strong & inspired ❤️ Avani


















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Aug 21

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