M-Power – Page 21 – Dr. Paul Jenkins

Apr 06

Family Home Evening | Bring Power, Principle And Purpose Home

By DrPaul M-Power

Today, we're going to discuss with you a topic that brings power, principle and purpose home. We call it Family Home Evening. This is going to rock your world. Paul: Vicki, we've had a practice in our family that I've realized in recent years (after the kids are grown) has been a really powerful practice. We have been implementing this in some of our parenting groups and the programs that we are doing for positive parenting. Some people call it different things, it could be family council, family together time, family night. I have one family that calls it family drum circle. It's a meeting that you hold on a consistent basis, we recommend weekly. There are other things you ought to do daily, like family dinner, for example, but this is a meeting that you'll hold once a week for a couple of very specific purposes. Implementing this as…

Apr 03

Why Is Family Dinner Time Important?

By DrPaul M-Power

Vicki: What is the importance of family dinner? Paul: Well you get to eat. Vicki: That is definitely one of them. There is a lot of research that shows that one of the most important things to do is to be at the crossroads of your children. Meaning, when they are coming and going in and out of the house. Paul: Especially if you can't be there at the time like when the kids are coming home from school. Vicki: Even if you can, family dinner still is really great for a few reasons. There is some research that shows in those families that have consistent family dinners, there's an increase in the child's grades. Paul: It improves their grades? Vicki: Well, there is a correlation. There is also a reduced risk of drug abuse when they have consistent family dinners. Paul: Maybe I can say weird about correlation.…

Apr 02

How To Practice Gratitude [Daily Gratitude Practice]

By DrPaul M-Power

Evaluation and creation. These are two processes that constantly go on in our mind and control or set the stage for pretty much everything else. It is important to start from gratitude because gratitude changes the game. I think that there's a real key in the word practice. Scott Wilhite, who wrote the book, The 7 Core Skills Of Everyday Happiness. In Scott's book, he points out that gratitude is like other aspects of positivity or happiness and that it is a skill. If it's a skill then you want to practice, so we put into play practice techniques that allow us to benefit from the principle of gratitude. I'm also thinking of another author and friend of mine, Mr. Kevin Clayson. If you've ever heard Kevin speak, he's a lot of fun and he has a whole lot of energy. Kevin wrote a book called, Flip The Gratitude Switch…

Apr 01

How To Manage Kids’ Anger

By DrPaul M-Power

Kids are not typically good at regulating their emotions, and they get overwhelmed sometimes with those feelings. We do too as adults. But kids feel this in a more intense way. When they feel something, they feel it hard, and it overwhelms them. It can just take over their little minds and bodies, until they start to mature emotionally, they have a really hard time regulating that. So, they'll be tipped over at things that you think are silly or insufficient to warrant that kind of a response. Just keep that in mind because an understanding of child development will help you to have a little more compassion and understanding. It'll give you a little more patience as you're working with your child so given that they have a hard time regulating their emotion, what are we going to do to help them to manage their anger? Let's talk about…

Mar 31

What Can Parents Do To Prevent Childhood Obesity?

By DrPaul M-Power

The rates of obesity worldwide are increasing especially in North America for preschool age children. Some of the studies are estimating that 10% of preschool age children have an obesity problem. By the time they get into school, those numbers double, up to one in 5. And it's trending in a negative direction. It's becoming a health crisis that is only going to get worse if we don't intervene. The simple equation is calories in and calories out. Whatever is greater is going to determine the direction of the weight gain or the weight loss. Now, that's the simple equation and there are a lot of complicating factors. But basically, its calories in versus calories out. What does that mean for our kids? What they eat matters and what kind of activity they engage in matters. We've also learned that restrictive diets are not particularly helpful for children, and they…

Mar 27

How To Be Positive and Confident

By DrPaul M-Power

There's a lot of obvious things that are unnoticed. That brings me to my first tip for how to stay positive and confident. It's called metacognition. Metacognition is simply thinking about thinking. Notice that you can do this. That's really important. Because thinking about thinking actually put you in a higher level of choice and control over your own thinking. I've decided after all of these years in psychology that either we drive our thoughts or our thoughts drive us. Until you go to that metacognitive level, your thoughts will drive you. Think about it. Every time you do something, you had a thought that led you to that behavior. Is this true? Back in psychology school, we talked about the cognitive triad. What you think, what you feel, what you do. Those three things are so interrelated that they all affect and cause each other. What you think is…

Mar 26

Why Is Communication So Challenging?

By DrPaul M-Power

Paul: Vicki, you're a communications expert. There's probably a lot of reasons why communication is so challenging in a marriage. There are a lot of reasons. How about we do the top 5? Vicki: Sounds good. Paul: You good? Should we start with the fifth? Vicki: Yeah. Let's talk. Paul: Number 5. People are different. This is good, actually though differences create conflict. Any time you bring two people together they have different preferences or backgrounds or programming and ways they communicate. Differences are important to relationships because they give meaning to the relationship. They make us relevant and interesting to each other, but that can create conflict as well. That conflict often emerges in the communication patterns. Vicki: Reason number 4, language is tricky. Picking the right word, finding the right emphasis. But here's the thing that I think is so important to remember. I recently read a study…

Mar 25

Should A Husband Listen To His Wife?

By DrPaul M-Power

There's a lot of reasons why you're here today, Vicki. Should a husband listen to his wife? Vicki: Hmm, let's talk about it. Paul: This could be a very short article, seriously. Vicki: Should a husband listen to his wife? Paul: Duh? Only, only if he wants a better marriage. I had a couple, I kid you not, just this past week. His main complaint was, "She won't listen to me. I am trying to fix her problem and she won't listen to me." And I'm thinking, "I know what her problem is." Vicki: Oh, my goodness. Paul: I just came back from a conference not too long ago with doctors John and Julie Gottman. I just respect these people so much. Dr. John and Dr. Julie Gottman have done some of the most influential research on couples that I've ever seen. They have made a big impact on the…

Mar 24

Why Is A Gratitude Journal Important?

By DrPaul M-Power

You've probably heard it 100 times. "Gratitude is really important." Why is a gratitude journal important? Maybe you've had one of those days where you just feel stuck in the muck, and you are not sure how to get out of that. I'll tell you about some almost magical ways to overcome the muck. I do a lot of positivity coaching. Not just from this motivational speaker just-think-positive kind of an approach. I'm a psychologist and I get down to the science behind positivity and how it works. Here's where we start, gratitude. The research is really clear about the positive effects of gratitude on our thinking on our mood and that branches out to affect every single aspect of our life. What is it about journaling that has such a powerful effect? In those days where we are just feeling stuck, the thing that we don't notice is that…

Mar 23

How Gratitude Can Change Your Life

By DrPaul M-Power

We all know that gratitude is important. Gratitude is something that we talked about quite often at Live On Purpose. I have one of our Live On Purpose certified coaches, Dan Hartman here to help us learn why gratitude is so important. Dan: Hey, I'm excited to talk about gratitude, it's one of my favorite subjects. Paul: That's why you're here. And you've got reasons to know what you know. Dan: Exactly. Paul: You know Dan, we all have a story. We all have experiences in our life that the inform us about these principles that help us develop a better life. Gratitude is one of those very powerful starting points. It's kind of a launch off point for everything else that happens. I know you've got some really great thoughts put together for us. Dan: I have three ways that gratitude can truly change your life. The first way,…