October was World Menopause Awareness Month put on by The International Menopause Society. This year's focus was on the health implications of menopausal weight gain. Did you find any enlightenment from the information made available? As the baby boomer generation ages, a large portion of North America's population is experiencing menopause.
I hear many women over 40 saying, "Oh, I am not in Menopause," which may very well be true. However, honey, you will be at some time after the age of 40 and you need to prepare as soon as possible for the symptoms, not only emotionally, but physically. This is not a scare tactic, simply a fact. Statistically, there were 477-million women going through menopause in 2005 and by the year 2025 The World Health Organization is estimating that 1.1-billion women worldwide will be age 50 or over and postmenopausal. WOW! Stats are showing that 80 per cent of these women will experience some form of symptoms, whether they be mild or severe.
So where are you in your menopausal journey?
Do you look in the mirror and see that you are aging? A few more wrinkles here and there? Are you feeling out of shape and experiencing aches and pains? Are you putting on weight? Are you lacking motivation and drive? Are you cranky, irritable and generally out of sorts with your husband and your kids? Do loud noises bother you? Does even the sound of your husband's voice make your skin crawl? Are you feeling lost in your relationship? Do you want to quit your job? If you are self-employed, have you lost hope for your business? Do you wake up in the morning feeling depressed, bloated, and tired? Are your hot flashes keeping you up at night? Are you wandering around the house at 3 a.m.? Are you feeling too old to make changes in your life? Are you feeling out of shape having aches and pains? Are you unable to control your eating habits?
Well, you are not alone and that should make you feel a little bit better. And, you are not going crazy, although at times it may seem as if you are. In order to change these things you need to work on changing your mind. Being able to quiet the menopausal messages you are feeding your brain will bring you clarity as to what you need to do to survive. Meditation is a wonderful tool to make this happen. The daily practice of Meditation for 20 minutes will allow you to see your life differently, rather than seeing the difficulties that you are experiencing, you will start to see the solutions and be able to build strategies to move into the life you deserve.
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Not only that, meditation has health benefits too. A simple meditation exercise is to sit quietly and take a deep breath in through your nose and a deep breath out through your mouth. Do this 10 times. Then proceed to count from one to 10 and 10 to one in your mind. Do this until you start feeling calmer, more relaxed and the hot flashes start to subside. It may take only a few minutes for this to happen. To gain further benefits from meditation, consider talking to a meditation coach. Once you have changed your mind and start to see things differently, you will find that you have more focus, and you will be able to work on changing your body, adapt new eating habits and form an exercise plan that works for you.
Now comes the big one -- changing your life and being able to see with detachment what areas of your life you need to work on and what areas of your life you just need to let go of.
You may find that you need help with this because this can be one of the most difficult things to do. Letting go: of your inappropriate eating habits, of a job or business that is taking you nowhere, of resentment toward your husband and children and even letting go of some friendships all takes work. I guarantee that you can do it if you have the strength and desire to. Even though now it may be buried deep inside. Start digging, you will find the strength -- the strength to step into a new and rewarding phase of your life.