Can you fix a Broken Heart with Painkillers?

Original picture found here: http://an9ie.blogspot.com

When we describe our responses to rejection, whether we refer to being dumped, being insulted, or just being left out, our language tends to mirror that of our responses to physical pain. We speak of experiencing a "broken heart," or that we are "emotionally scarred," "slapped in the face," "deeply hurt," or "cut to the core."

Social Psychologists argue there is a reason the language we use to describe social and physical pain is so similar.

There is a growing number of researchers who argue that the need for belonging is such a fundamental need that we have developed a mechanism that signals to us any threat of exclusion. Much like how our body has learned to recognize and avoid physical dangers, our body has learned to recognize and avoid social rejection. The researchers (e.g., MacDonald & Leary, 2005, Psy Bull) go on to argue that in fact, social threats and physical threats activate the same signaling mechanism which is physical pain. Pain is an effective signal of impending threat as it involves a quick response and it is motivating enough to influence behavior away from the threat. What this means, then, is that when we talk about broken hearts, we are not just speaking in metaphor; our hearts literally feel like they are physically breaking.

I was surprised by the evidence that supports this. Researchers have found that priming social rejection activates similar brain patterns as priming physical pain. In fact, a very provocative study (DeWall et al., 2010, Psy Sci) found that taking Acetaminophen, a pain killer, actually reduces social pain! The painkiller reduced brain activity associated with social rejection, and participants also reported feeling less pain. In other words, you CAN heal broken hearts and bad moods with pain killers.

I'm curious to know - and I'm asking the non-scientists, general population here: what do you all think of this? What do you think of the idea that social rejection activates the same physiological responses as physical injuries?

Photography Class

I love photography. And I have been working hard. So I decided for my Sabbath this week I'm going to take a photography class for fun.

The class was held in East Austin (which is a part of town I simply adore). It was quite comical. We all gathered together with our ginormous SLRs and listened intently as the instructor taught us very basic things like ISO, aperture, shutter speeds, etc.

He then set us free to play. Here are some of the things I learned:

1. Depth of field

2. Leading Lines

...and combining the two:

3. Capturing motion

Finally, here are some shots I just took for fun around East Austin since it was such a beautiful day!

Spinach Lentil Soup

Picture originally found on Allrecipes.com

This is probably the favorite dish I've cooked so far this year. Here it is:

• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cups water
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 1 1/4 cups dried lentils, rinsed
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach, torn
• 
  
• In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, saute carrots and onion in oil until tender. Add the water, salsa, lentils and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach; simmer 5-10 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted.

Bon Appetit!

Mashed Turnips

I keep getting turnips in my CSA box and I keep throwing them out because I don't know what to do with them and then they go bad. As I hate wasting food, that has been weighing heavily on my conscience. Well I read somewhere that you can cook and mash them like mashed potatoes. So I peeled, quartered, and boiled the turnips until soft. I then mashed them with milk, butter, and salt. It turned out quite tasty. Who would have thought? 

This is why Psychology is fun

Perk #523: I get to post pictures of celebrities while conducting serious scientific research!

Takin' care of business!

Today, I changed a cabin filter all by my lonesome. For those of you car-literate, this may not seem like a big deal, but for me, it was humongous accomplishment.

I've been meaning to change the cabin filter for awhile, but my carshop quoted me $49.99 for the filter and $29.21 for the labor. Not to mention the fuel system service and radiator flush/fill I still need to schedule. To save money, I figured I should be intelligent to change something as simple as a cabin filter myself!

I ordered a filter online for about $20. I found the filter behind the glove box and simply switched the two filters myself:

 Check out how dirty the old filter (left) is compared to the new (right)!

 Cash saved = $59.21!

 Next month's project: The Radiator Flush and Fill.

Holy Brocamole?!

I LOVE guacamole. It is my comfort food. In fact, whenever I sound a little down or tired on the phone, my dear friend Heather always knows to have homemade guacamole waiting for me when I visit, or she chooses our happy hour locales based on the quality of their guacamole.

Anyway, today I picked up another box of vegetables from the Farmer's Market and planned out some recipes for the week. I wanted to do something a little different with the broccoli this time so went to Allrecipes.com and entered in some of the ingredients I had. Believe it or not, I found a recipe for BROCAMOLE!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 large head fresh broccoli
• 2 tablespoons red onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• salt to taste

1. Boil or steam broccoli until very soft.
2. In a large bowl, mash broccoli with avocado. Mix in onions, garlic, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, and cilantro until mixture resembles the consistency of mashed potatoes. 
3. Season to taste with salt.

I ended up boiling the broccoli because it was quicker to cook that way. I made sure to rinse the broccoli with cold water and drain completely before mixing it in with the avocado. I bought Hass Avocado which are very small right now so I ended up using about 4.5 Avocados. I left out the hot pepper sauce since I'm not a huge fan of spicy foods. For the lime juice, I squeezed in an entire lime. Next time I might actually squeeze in an orange.

The results, as Rachael Ray says, YUMMO!

Storms

Rembrandt. Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee. 1633.

"The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and battle-scarred." - unknown

Goal Pose of 2011

After some thought, I have chosen my goal pose of 2011: Dwi Pada Sirsasana.

Photo courtesy of Kino MacGregor

I will keep you all posted on my progress!

Hearty Winter Soup

I made this soup to use up more vegetables before they began to wilt. This recipe was meant for a crockpot, but since mine broke right before I left for Christmas, I tried to adapt it into a regular stovetop recipe. Here is the original recipe:

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 pound turkey bratwurst, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 
  
• 1. Place the sweet potatoes, cabbage, and carrots into a slow cooker, then place the bratwurst slices on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with the salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Pour the wine and chicken broth over the vegetables.
  2. Cook on Low until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
• 
  
• Instead of Turkey Bratwurst, I thawed and used the ground beef I had brought back from our trip. I then simmered the soup in the chicken broth, and then when the broth all but evaporated, poured more in and simmered it again. Altogether, I used about 8 cups of chicken broth until the soup was ready.
• 
  
• I think that either my friend Steph had pre-treated the ground beef, OR the white wine I used was not dry enough because Holy Batman the soup was SWEET. Don't get me wrong - it was tasty, but I ended up having to eat some salty vegetable chips along with it to balance out the sweet flavor. Note to self: next time buy drier wine. 

Kitchari Recipe

I made my first meal since getting back from vacation. To settle me back into a routine, I made Kitchari which is meant to be a balancing and nourishing meal according to Ayurveda. I added in sweet potatoes and broccoli from my CSA produce. The result turned out to be delicious!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup Mung Dal

2 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Cumin Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Turmeric Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Coriander Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Fennel Powder/Seeds

1 tsp of Mustard Seeds (only if you are feeling a bit lethargic)

Vegetables of Choice

7 cups boiling water

salt to taste

1. Wash Rice and Mung Dal separately

2. In a large saucepan, heat ghee. Cook any seeds you are using in the ghee until seeds pop

3. Add in Mung Dal, Cumin, Coriander, Fennel, and Salt and pour in 7 cups of boiling water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Dice Vegetables and stir into saucepan along with Rice. Bring mixture to boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add water if necessary, but make sure all water is absorbed before serving.

Enjoy!

My First CSA

I am proud to announce that I joined my first CSA! Many things led up to this decision:

1. I realize despite not eating a lot of meat, I do not eat nearly enough produce (most of my diet consists of starches, grains, and dairy/soy).
2. When I do eat produce, I do not eat enough of a variety of them.
3. I watched the movie Food, Inc. which really convicted me to eat organic and buy local to support local farms.

So I joined a local CSA that has a pickup site about a quarter mile from my apartment. I'm giving it a two month trial period to see how I like it, and I'm only buying a vegetable box every other week due to the sheer amount that they give me. Here is what I got this week:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Beets (which I traded in for tomatoes)
• Salad Turnips
• Mustard Greens
• Cabbage
• Dill
• Swiss Chard
• Kohrobi
• Green Onions
• Sweet Potatoes

Yum!!!

Human Trafficking

Photo originally found on www.curatormagazine.com

I listened to a powerful message today called Human Trafficking by Benji Nolot. If you are interested AT ALL in human trafficking, I highly recommend it. It has completely changed the way I view social justice.

Did you know as of 2007, there were conservatively 27-30 million slaves on our planet? Some experts even estimate there being actually over 200 million slaves, most of who are not accounted for. Out of the slaves over 70% are sex slaves. The women might end up servicing 50 men a day, and suffer through countless abortions over the years. Tens of thousands of women are smuggled EVERY DAY to fuel this grossly profitable industry. When we think about sex trafficking, we often think of countries such as Cambodia and Bangkok. Although what is happening in those countries are no less than atrocious, the top three countries in which women are outsourced are Australia, Japan, and the United States. The United States!?!! Who knew that the land of the free would be importing over 100,000 sex slaves a year!

We think about social justice as being simply an earthly thing, yet it is so much more than that. Social Justice is a spiritual issue. Benji Nolot shared stories and testimonies that point to there being dark spiritual forces creating and perpetuating oppression of human lives. As evidenced in Daniel 10 in the Bible, there is a "prince" over different dominions that we are fighting against. If this is true - if the source of social injustice lies in the spiritual realm - this changes how we must live our lives.

Whenever we participate and give into lust, objectification, sexism, racism, etc., we are coming alongside the very same spirit that is fueling human trafficking, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. Thus, our purity and personal holiness matter! Furthermore, in the Bible we are told repeatedly that the government sits on Christ's shoulders (Isaiah 9). If this is true, OUR PRAYERS MATTER. We cannot simply fight social injustice on an earthly level, we MUST also appeal on a spiritual realm. The only way we can do that is through prayer, both individually and corporately.

I have often lamented the fact that my enrollment in school has kept me from uprooting myself abroad to stand in the front lines of fighting human trafficking. Now I realize I CAN stand in the front lines by getting on my knees everyday and appealing to the One who holds the government on His shoulders. And I can only pray that soon, I'll be able to use my skills and talents to take action and fight one of the biggest evils facing our planet today.

Christian Fasting

John Piper writes in his book A Hunger for God:

"Half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost because our homesickness for God is so intense. The other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened because our physical appetites are so intense. In the first half, appetite is lost. In the second half, appetite is resisted. In the first, we yield to the higher hunger that is. In the second, we fight for the higher hunger that isn't. Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away."

Call Back

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back--
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn;
That, when the heavens thunder and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

Oh, friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your your face,
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim,
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky
If you have gone a little way ahead, oh, friend, call back--
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track. 

--Lettie Cowan

Life during the last 2 weeks

I was feeling guilty about my productivity since finals until I came across this. Ah, PhD comics - a reminder that I'm not alone.

Darkness

"Sometimes the darkness in our lives is worse, because we cannot even see the web we are weaving or understand what we are doing. Therefore we are unable to see any beauty or any possible good arising from our experience. Yet if we are faithful to forge ahead and 'if we do not give up' (Gal. 6:9), someday we will know that the most exquisite work of our lives was done during those days when it was the darkest."
     ~J. R. Miller


The shuttles of His purpose move
     To carry out His own design;
Seek not too soon to disapprove
     His work, nor yet assign
Dark motives, when, with silent tread,
     You view some somber fold;
For lo, within each darker thread
     There twines a thread of gold.
                ~from Canadian Home Journal

Peace in the Storm

There is a peace that springs soon after sorrow,
Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled;
A peace that does not look upon tomorrow,
But calmly on the storm that it has stilled.

A peace that lives not now in joy's excesses,
Nor in the happy life of love secure;
But in the morning strength the heart possesses,
Of conflicts won while learning to endure.

A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,
A life subdued, from will and passion free;
It's not the peace that over Eden brooded,
But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.

~Streams in the Desert, by Lettie Cowman

Obedience

I said: “Let me walk in the fields.”

He said: “No, walk in the town.”

I said: “There are no flowers there.”

He said: “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the skies are black;

There is nothing but noise and din.”

And He wept as He sent me back –

“There is more,” He said; “there is sin.”

I said: “But the air is thick,

And fogs are veiling the sun.”

He answered: “Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone!”

I said: “I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say.”

He answered: “Choose tonight

If I am to miss you or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said: “Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem so hard in heaven

To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

He said, “My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light divine,

The path I had feared to see.

~George MacDonald

The First of the Changes

Last week I took an hour off of my work day to attend a docent led tour of the photography exhibit at the Harry Ransom center. It was a much needed break from the usual grind and I got to set aside my work hat(s) to just enjoy, well, things that I enjoy in life.

Tomorrow is the last day I'm teaching the Thursday evening Ashtanga class at Castle Hill. In December, I'll be saying to another three classes. Luckily these are not classes I've been teaching long, but the change is still symbolic for me in that it's a sign that I'm finally re-prioritizing my life. I need to focus on school more, and that involves creating larger chunks of time when I can sit down and work. I need to spend my free time resting and restoring my mind, body, and soul, instead of running myself ragged trying to fit all my work in.

So what do I want to do more of in the Spring?
I want to spend more time outside in the sun.
I want to focus more on my own personal yoga practice.
I want to explore the more artistic side of me through music and photography.
I want to get more involved with social justice movements here in Austin.
I want to improve my cooking abilities.

No, don't worry, I won't replace my dropped yoga classes with more obligations and responsibilities. I'm just hoping freeing up my weekday to get schoolwork done while sleeping enough every night will give me more energy to take time off on the weekends and relax with the things I love.

Friday I meet with my adviser about my dissertation - what I'm going to propose and when I'm finally going to propose it. There is only 2 1/2 weeks left of the semester and the days are flying by fast!

PS. I have an inkling for a new direction this blog might take so stay tuned!