You don’t have to go on a seven-day spa retreat in order to give yourself some much deserved self-care. Although that would be nice of course!
There are many things you can do from the comfort of your own home that will go a long way towards ensuring that you are taking care of yourself when you need it most.
Here are five easy ways to add a little self-care into your busy life..
Continue reading “Self-Care and Ways to Fit It In”
I did something interesting yesterday. I looked back at the trail of decisions that have led me to where I am in this moment.
Some of them were big ones, like moving across the country and leaving friends and family behind. Others weren’t as spectacular, like what I had for breakfast yesterday.
The thing that struck me most was that in every moment, we make decisions that determine what our future will look like.
There is so much power in this that it’s almost paralyzing. If you had to consciously think through every moment of life, would that empower you or stop you in your tracks?
That’s where habits come in, and to some degree they are very useful. For instance, I don’t want to think about getting ready every morning to start my day. Things like brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and having breakfast are routine activities that I don’t want to fuss over constantly.
Continue reading “The Power of Decisions”
Tell a busy mother with three young kids, a full-time job, and friends and family who demand her time that she needs to add more self-care to her life.
She might throw something at you.
Or the busy executive who is putting in 70-hour work weeks, trying to get ahead, get that promotion or land the next big deal – tell him to slow down and take a moment to see how he is doing inside.
That will get a laugh for sure.
As the pace of the world continues to quicken, the last thing we have time for is ourselves. Until something goes wrong.
Continue reading “Self-Care and Why It Isn’t Self-ish”
Be more present today and notice the energy that is flowing through and around you. In other words, be alive!
I have a good exercise habit going on. For the last five years or so, I have been pretty consistent with getting up and getting it done.
For me the mornings always work best. If I leave it until later in the day, I find that the excuses become easy to make and my willpower disappears.
I’ve gotten used to exercising first and eating later. It works for me, and so that is what I do.
That’s the key. You can listen to what other people do, think that it sounds good, and then try it and find out it isn’t for you. It’s not a bad thing – there is something that works for everyone. You just have to experiment until you find it.
Because there is definitely no one thing that works for everyone, trying to make someone else’s routine fit yours can be a frustrating pursuit.
Knowing that you can do something and then choosing not to do it is another matter.
Sometimes I have a bit of an argument with myself when I know I said I would do something and then I just don’t feel like it. It always seems easy to make the plans, set the intention to follow through, and then find enough reasons not to do it .
I have always been good at starting things, but there have been many times when I haven’t finished. And I never feel good about it after.
As I’ve grown older, I now try to commit only to projects that I am passionate about. I guard my time better and am able to say no to things that take me away from what is truly important to me.
My reasons for wanting to do something have to be powerful. I get up and exercise because I love feeling fit, strong, and it gives me energy. If I don’t do it I feel lousy.
Make goals, and make the reasons why you want to achieve the goals so important to you that not following through would be more painful than doing the work.
Strong reasons lead to strong willpower and powerful motivation. You can accomplish almost anything if you want it badly enough.
It’s so difficult to motivate others. It can be difficult enough to motivate ourselves.
Being in the health field as a Holistic Health Coach, I have spent most of my life educating myself and following research on what different diets and lifestyles can do for our health.
One of the most interesting books I have read on the subject is The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. It’s fascinating to learn that there are distinct regions in the world where not only do people live longer, they remain healthy and active until very late in life.
It’s one thing to live a long time, but quite another if you aren’t really living.
What has always struck me as the most fascinating thing is that once the Western diet begins to encroach on these regions, as in when fast food restaurants start to take up residence, life expectancy drops to match the rest of the world.
This is the first time in modern history that life expectancy in the civilized world is declining. Today’s children aren’t going to live as long as their parents did.
For the sake of convenience, we are sacrificing our health.
But even with all of the research out there, and the knowledge we now have of how our lifestyles directly affect our lifespan and life quality, the majority of people aren’t doing anything about it.
There is a lot of conflicting information out there, with a great deal of studies published that are paid for by the industries that have a vested interest in the results. Clarity and honesty is becoming more difficult to find.
But when I look around and see how many young people are overweight, on medication, dealing with serious health issues and mental issues, I wonder where things went so wrong.
I’m not here to change the world. I like to share what I have learned, and those who are interested in feeling a little better and taking control of their own health can do what they like with the information.
If even one person benefits from what I am doing, then that is enough.
Intuition is like the roadmap to life. It is the guide, the all-knowing force that can lead you by the hand to find everything you ever needed or wanted.
The best thing is, it actually knows what you need more than you.
Open up to the idea that you are here for a reason, and there is no one else on the planet with your skills and viewpoint who can do the job that you are here to do.
It’s bigger than you can even imagine. The only thing to do is learn to listen to the authentic inner voice and to trust it implicitly.
The best thing is that it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are 5 tips for finding your true voice, and allowing all that is yours to unveil with ease.
The need to create is part of the human experience. Shutting ourselves off from this need is like restricting the flow of air into our bodies. It is mostly unproductive and unnecessary.
Creation doesn’t need to take the form of art, like painting or drawing. It can be dancing, singing, writing, dreaming, and listening. Creation comes forth when we are in the present, not lost in thought.
Dreams are beautiful moments of creation. They are freeing, unexpected, and completely spontaneous. They can be inspirational or frightening, freeing or enlightening. Dreams are the mind’s opportunity to let go and create without a filter.
The goal is to free the mind from the filter during waking moments and allow creation to flow freely. Censoring the creation before it is allowed to blossom is painful and limiting. The inner critic can be so harsh, and so unnecessary.
When a person is judgmental towards others and the world around him, it is a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind. The inner critic is alive and thriving in this person, and his thoughts are tortuous to himself.
Inner criticism is like a poison that pollutes and harms from within.
Thoughts are our own unique representations of reality. They are chosen in each moment, and can be changed immediately. Bad thoughts or good thoughts all come from the same place, and we can learn to choose them more consciously. To constantly torture oneself with bad thoughts is hurtful and unnecessary.
The choice is there in every moment to experience peaceful thoughts, no matter what is going on in the immediate environment. If a situation is dangerous or unwanted, then steps can be taken in the moment to correct it as much as possible.
Every situation we experience is temporary and impermanent. It may be disturbing or painful, but it will not endure.
Making the choice to surround yourself with peacefulness and joy will attract the same energy into your experience. Thinking unpleasant thoughts attracts more negativity and perpetuates the unhappiness.
This incarnation is a mere breath in eternity. It can be a delightful one or a miserable one – that is the choice we make in every moment.
I am amazed at what my body can do.
I sprained my ankle in gym class once. It was bad – I couldn’t put any weight on it. It turned purple and blue and swole up like a tennis ball. Basically my ankle took drastic steps to protect itself so I couldn’t walk on it.
I wouldn’t have anyways. It hurt too much.
Then, after about a week, the swelling was mostly gone, the colours were fading, and the pain had diminished.
The cool thing was, I did absolutely nothing to help. It happened without my being conscious of it. My body did what it knew to do, and that was return to a state of homeostasis.
Much like the every-minute important things that the body does, like maintain a certain temperature range and fluid balance, my body took on the task of repairing the damage I had done. And it did exactly that, quite admirably I must say.
Although there were moments in the next few years where I noticed that my ankle wasn’t as strong as it once was, it was still pretty good. And today, some 40 years later, I don’t notice any difference at all.
Broken bones heal if given the right environment. Ulcers go away – I have personal experience with that too. The body does what it needs to do to keep you running at full capacity.
There are things that we can do to help our bodies with these tasks.
Provide it with nutritious food. Every time you eat something, you are either supporting the body’s work or giving it more things to fix.
Drink enough water. Even slight dehydration hampers the ability of the body to perform its functions properly.
Try to do less of the things that don’t make you feel good. Only you know what these are. We all have our vices, and your body works hard to stay healthy in spite of your attempts to damage it, whether consciously or not.
Pay attention to how you feel from moment to moment. Keep a little bit of attention focused within at all times. This sounds easy, but we spend most of our lives ignoring the very thing that makes us alive.
Sad and angry thoughts affect the body, probably more than we know. Work on these emotions, and get help if you can’t do it alone. There is no shame in this and your body needs your support.
Take the time today to think about the amazing things your body does every day, without you having to guide it. And try to help out a bit once in awhile!
I’ve always wished I could draw, or paint beautiful landscape scenes, or make pottery, or something else artistic like that.
The sad thing is, I really have no talent for it, but it makes me admire those who do that much more. My skills are much more wordy. I like to write and I like to talk.
The thing about creativity is that we all have something we are good at, a skill that is unique to us and through which we find joy in expressing.
Some people like to take pictures, others enjoy cooking. And some combine these two passions and have thriving Instagram and Pinterest accounts. With the popularity of these platforms, it has never been easier to put your stuff out there for others to enjoy, or not enjoy as the case may be.
Either way you will hear about it!
I’ve always wondered why some art is considered good and others not. It’s really a matter of personal taste, but hype has a lot to do with it too. Human nature has us jumping in with the next big thing, for fear of missing out on it.
We may not even personally like the art that everyone else seems to be going crazy over, but we are pretty good at convincing ourselves that they must be right and we are wrong.
Look at Van Gogh. He only sold one of his paintings while he was alive. It wasn’t until after his death that he became famous for his craft. But it wasn’t fame that he was after, apparently he was just trying to make a living.
By all accounts he dealt with a lot of mental issues and physical problems as well. But he created, and the paintings that were inside him were good. Unfortunately the struggle was real for him, and it is generally agreed that he committed suicide. It’s a sad story really.
That’s the thing about creativity. We often associate it with the starving artist archetype, or the raving mad lunatic who has loads of talent but no ability to live in society. But it doesn’t have to fall in these extremes.
We all have the gift to create, but sometimes we are told as children that we can’t sing, or our drawings don’t look like anything, or our stories don’t make sense. These thoughtless comments can stifle a young artist for life.
Sometimes finding that child within and allowing her to create is one of the most therapeutic things you can do. It’s an indulgence that we should all partake in.
What did you like to do when you were young? Did you doodle or sing, dance or tell stories?
Go create something today. Do it because it fills your heart with joy.
