INVESTING IN OURSELVES: UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA

Health /

Depression & anxiety are common problems that can develop after trauma.  Depression ignites feelings of sadness and low mood. These feelings are longer lasting than 2 weeks and can impair daily functioning. Those experiencing anxiety and depression should always seek professional help. However, practicing the experience of gratitude can be a game-changer for many people. The practice of gratitude helps train your brain to notice and appreciate the things in life and, in doing so, shifts your life experience tremendously. Gratitude can increase your happiness and well-being, life satisfaction, and even overall health while decreasing the stuff we all want less of like anxiety, depression, and anger. It can be a powerful practice to cultivate, especially if you struggle with anxiety or depression. While anxiety and depressive disorders come in different forms and flavors, they share some commonalities. All are associated with underlying negative thinking patterns. These patterns include both what we think and how we think. In other words, both the content and the process of thinking impact anxiety and depression. The content of anxious and depressive thinking is often negative in nature. These thoughts may overly focus on the negative or problem areas, discount the positive (“yeah but” -ing away any positive aspect or occurrence), and catastrophize or jump to the worst-case scenario. The process of anxious and depressive thinking is characterized by mental time travel – dwelling on the past or focusing on the future. This mental time travel, known as rumination, pulls us out of the present moment and can add to feelings of depression and anxiety. Psychological research shows that the more present we are, the happier we tend to be, even when the present moment isn’t pleasant or enjoyable. Rumination is a sneaky mental habit that zaps joy away. This is where gratitude can be particularly helpful. Rumination, worry, complaining, and negativity are mental habits with adverse consequences. These mental habits involve stewing on negative thoughts, indulging them in a repeating and amplifying loop with the effect of dragging down your mood and pulling you out of the present moment.  It can be helpful to use gratitude as a competing response to these mental habits. It is difficult to tap into gratitude and get stuck in negativity. When you find yourself getting wrapped up in those negative thoughts or starting down a spiral, challenge your mind to find something at that very moment to be grateful for. In doing so, you are combating the negative content of your thoughts AND bringing your mind into the present. Just be sure you don’t go through the motions.  You must try to really get in touch with a sense of appreciation, gratitude, or beauty in the here and now.  In other words, experiencing gratitude is key! The goal is to truly activate grateful feelings to help buoy you against negativity and to help keep you grounded in the present moment. Research shows gratitude isn’t just a pleasant feeling. Being grateful can also support greater health, happiness, and wisdom in ourselves and our communities. In the past two decades, a growing body of evidence in the field of social science has found that gratitude has measurable benefits for just about every area of our lives. Gratitude appears to contribute substantially to individual well-being and physical health. So much so that the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—a leader in research on the science of social and emotional well-being describes gratitude as the “social glue” key to building and nurturing strong relationships. Gratitude offers us a way of embracing all that makes our lives what they are. More than just a happy feeling for the parts of our lives currently going our way, gratitude encompasses the willingness to expand our attention so that we perceive more of the goodness we are always receiving. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics CALL FOR ARTISTS! July 5, 2023/No CommentsRead More UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA June 5, 2023/No Comments In contemporary society, we hear the term PTSD for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder very often. This is the new buzzword or Read More INVESTING IN OURSELVES: UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA May 2, 2023/No Comments Depression & anxiety are common problems that can develop after trauma.  Depression ignites feelings of sadness and low mood. These Read More Load More End of Content.

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CARNITA TACOS

3 Comments / Food & Culture /

The taco is undeniably one of the most iconic foods of Mexico and greater Latin America. The Buffalo area has no end to its taco joints, from Casa Azul in Allentown to Acapulco in Tonawanda. As much as I love visiting local taquerias, the experience of making tacos at home is nothing short of rewarding.  In observance of Cinco de Mayo, I would like to share my recipe for Carnitas, one of my favorite taco fillings, for you to prepare and enjoy with friends. Carnitas are a type of pulled pork that originated in the state of Michoacán. The recipes vary depending on region and families, but the basic ingredients can be found in any local grocery store. The cut of choice for carnitas is pork shoulder/butt, 2 Ibs of which should be enough to feed 3 people or will leave plenty of leftovers if you live alone. The basic seasonings will be salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. You will also need lime and orange as well as two bay leaves. I also like to add a few cloves of garlic to my carnitas. Cut the pork into 1½ to 2-inch cubes, then toss the meat into a slow cooker or a large Dutch oven. Add 1 ½ teaspoons of cumin and 1 ½ teaspoons of oregano into the meat, then add 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Juice one lime and a large Navel Orange into the mix, then stir the meat with a spoon or clean hands until the seasonings are well incorporated. Drop the squeezed orange halves into the vessel for more flavor, then add the bay leaves and garlic before pouring in enough water so that the meat is almost covered. If using a Dutch oven or another pot, preheat the oven to 300 degrees while bringing the mix to a simmer over the stove on medium-high heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then close the lid and place it into the oven for 2 hours. If using a slow cooker, you can keep it on the low setting for 6-8 hours. The meat is ready when tender and easily falls apart when pierced with a fork. Take the meat out of the vessel and place the pieces on a metal baking tray, then strain the contents of the pot into a saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stove over high heat until the liquid thickens into a sauce. While the sauce reduces, use two forks to pull the meat apart and then place the tray under the broiler for 4-8 minutes or until golden and crispy. Flip the meat and cook the other side for the same result. Pour the meat into the saucepan and mix it up, adding more salt and pepper until the flavor is to your liking. Once that is ready, all you need is some corn tortillas and classic taco toppings. My favorites are ‘pico de gallo’, thinly sliced radishes, lime wedges for juicing over the meat, and an appropriate hot sauce for a spicy flavor. See you next month. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books Business Community Education Entertainment Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics CARNITA TACOS May 1, 2023/No Comments CARNITA TACOS The taco is undeniably one of the most iconic foods of Mexico and greater Latin America. The Buffalo Read More LA PUPUSA April 1, 2023/No Comments LA PUPUSA My first few columns mainly focused on foods from Guatemala, which should not be surprising considering my background. Read More LATIN FOOD, LATIN RECIPES: CHAMPURRADAS March 1, 2023/No Comments LATIN FOOD, LATIN RECIPES: CHAMPURRADAS If you remember my column from last month, I tried making Champurradas using an online Read More Load More End of Content.

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THE LATINO SWING VOTE: CHICAGO BRANDON JOHNSON TEAM “CHEWS” ON HOW  TO GET CHUY GARCIA SWING VOTE SUPPORT?

Politics /

Ever notice how so-called progressives and union bureaucrats always presume an operational unity with no pretense of explaining what their candidates will do for the Latino community.? Even in Chicago, the Johnson wing thinks they have the support of Chuy Garcia in the bag without making any real overtures to our community in Chicago. Perhaps even more troubling is that Rep. Chuy Garcia, the selected successor to replace our retiring beloved brother Congressman Gutierrez, is a city-wide leader, not just a “Latino” leader. Like what the progressives in New York did when they packaged Cynthia Nixon in the gubernatorial election and refused to explain what she would do for the Latino community? Not even a pretense of a visit to Puerto Rico or “speaking Spanish”. Lol, the reason why disgraced Gov. Cuomo received 80% of our vote that year. Latinos must renegotiate their relationship with our African American brethren serving as mayors of cities like Chicago, New York, Buffalo, Houston, and Los Angeles. What is the nature of their commitment to power-sharing? How many Latinos will be in this administration? We know Mayor Adams has fallen short.  The late legendary political scientist Angelo Falcon did a study of how Latinos faired under African Americans. To his surprise, he discovered they did not fare any better than they had under white Mayors. One needs only ask how many Latinos in policy-making positions did Bill de Blasio have during his mayoralty and compare it to Adams. Different name same game. So, if mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson wants our support, he must reach out to the Latino leadership and present his plan for Latino inclusion in the administration. Kwame Nkrumah once reminded us that unity is not an act of charity but one of mutual interests. The white candidate Paul Vallas is leading in the polls in Chicago, so Chuy Garcia is a crucial swing vote. Notice from the article he had “no comment.”  Another example candidate for Mayor Adams in NYC garnered 70% of our vote, and outside the African American vote, we were his biggest supporters. Yet since his election how many high-level Latino appointments have you seen under Adam’s governance? Do you find Latina’s faces? Latinos of any stripe — Afro-Latino, Latinx, Boricua, or Hispanic, you all know whom we are talking about. No se hagan. Some of us elders yearn for the return of the days when our beloved brothers Harold Washington and Luis Gutierrez formed an unbreakable African American-Puerto Rican political block joined at the hip and inseparable in our commitment to social justice. In short, Chicago demographically, once a Puerto Rican stronghold, has more Mexicans and together, must have mayoral candidates address the needs of our community as part of their agenda — not the customary, secondary hypocritical concerns. Rep Garcia should not let the so-called pseudo-liberal/progressives and union bureaucrats put him on the “defensive” with their hypocritical “are you a real progressive?” litmus test while invisibilizing our community. Chuy can take a political break and choose to stay home. I will be watching to see how our beloved brother Rep. Chuy Garcia wisely uses his “swing vote” status. Chuy whether you stay home, support Johnson or Vallas, we who are steeped in Latino political history know where your heart is. (https://chicago.suntimes.com/…/chicago-mayor-election… Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics LATINOS AND  NEW YORK POLITICS May 22, 2023/No Comments Looking Back: FAMILIA, IF YOU ASK THE WRONG QUESTION, YOU WILL END UP WITH THE WRONG ANSWER I love my Read More THE LATINO SWING VOTE: CHICAGO BRANDON JOHNSON TEAM “CHEWS” ON HOW  TO GET CHUY GARCIA SWING VOTE SUPPORT? April 25, 2023/No Comments THE LATINO SWING VOTE: CHICAGO BRANDON JOHNSON TEAM “CHEWS” ON HOW  TO GET CHUY GARCIA SWING VOTE SUPPORT? Ever notice Read More

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