Blue Hawaii (Part 1)

Please take a minute from your busy schedule and read this short newsletter... I promise you won't regret it.

I'd like to tell you about "Serotonin"and its impact on your body's ability to deal with stress.

What you need to understand is the impact serotonin has on our overall sense of well-being. You could say it's the missing element that is left out of the majority of teaching on how to handle stress. But I'm not going to leave it out, as it plays a critical part in being able to manage stress.

As there is a lot to cover, I want to give you this in two parts. You will receive Part 2 on "How to Start your Serotonin Engine" in the next newsletter.

Let me share with you "How serotonin works" by offering this story that I often share in my workshops with clients.

Several years ago, I had just gone through a major life change and I was quite frankly feeling highly stressed, but doing nothing about it. It went on this way for about ten months and my wife could see that I just wasn't the happy-go-lucky guy I used to be. She suggested we get away and reconnect as a family by going to Waikiki, Hawaii. What I really like about Waikiki is that beyond the beautiful sand and surf, there's also lots to do. They've got everything on the hotel strip in Waikiki -- unbelievable shopping (so my wife tells me), street performers, a zoo, great restaurants, coffee shops and ice cream parlours. It's a really fun place.

To this day I will never forget that first drive we took down the strip in Waikiki. As we drove along, my wife, Darci, and the kids were excited, taking in all the energy and excitement of this place. I remember looking over at my family's joy and then looking around at all that was going on in this fun place and realizing that I had everything I loved all around me and yet inside I felt nothing...literally nothing.

I had no idea what was going on...I felt totally disconnected from all the excitement, beauty and happiness of this place. Over the span of that two week vacation, I must have walked up and down Waikiki beach at least 100 times and not once did I feel connected with the beauty, or an urge to play in the ocean with my kids or desire to be close to my wife.

It was like the world was spinning around me and I was standing still, watching it all go by, but not connecting.

Maybe you have felt that way before...or been in a situation where you know that you have lots to be thankful for, a nice home, a loving family and a great job but you just don't feel a sense of joy or appreciation for it.

Maybe someone you care a whole lot about has felt that way before. Maybe it's a spouse who you noticed just doesn't seem themselves. Maybe it was your mom or dad when you were growing up, who just never seemed happy.

I can honestly say that experience was one of the weirdest and scariest times I have ever been through. A trip that I thought was going to be a big reconnect for me and my family, ended up becoming the beginning of my journey. A journey to find out how when you are stressed out and you are not managing it, it turns into this disconnect that I was feeling.

After much reading and many conversations with health care professionals, I found out that my stress had sapped my serotonin levels. As a result, the happy thought part of my brain was not sending signals to the happy feeling part of my brain. This was leaving me with that disconnected feeling I was experiencing.

So what is the solution?

In Part 2 you will discover the answer to that question and learn three steps you can take to help boost your serotonin levels.