Relaxation Moments

Relaxation Techniques for The Mind and Body

Mindfulness in the Winter for Self-Care

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The cold, grey days and long, dreary nights of winter are an ideal time to establish a mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is helpful in dealing with stress and other challenges such as anxiety and depression, and it is an effective self-care tool that can easily be applied by anyone, anywhere. Whether one has been an adherent of mindfulness for many years or is a novice, there are practices that can be incorporated into daily life that can help to bring a sense of calm and peace to both our inner and outer beings. Some practical ways to practice mindfulness in the winter include the following:

Sitting Meditation

Perhaps the most well-known mindfulness technique, sitting meditation essentially involves quieting your mind and recognizing your emotions. By doing this, we can honor our feelings while at the same time learn not to be controlled by them. By bringing stillness to our minds, we can stay in the present moment. We allow ourselves to pause and to relax, to restore harmony and balance to our lives.

There are many methods of sitting mediation to choose from. The most basic technique calls for a meditator to find a quiet place to sit, close his or her eyes, and focus on his or her breath. Thoughts will race through a meditator’s mind, and that is perfectly normal and acceptable. When this happens, one simply needs to return to focusing on breathing in and breathing out. Although it can be difficult to find time to meditate in our hectic lives, even taking five or ten minutes in the morning or evening can prove to be very valuable.

Breathing

Many people find that a mindfulness practice that involves intentional breathing does wonders. The act of breathing in and breathing out at a controlled pace helps to regulate our heart rhythms and keeps us from hyperventilating, which can be miraculous in extremely stressful situations. Learning proper breathing techniques is an essential form of mindfulness self-care.

One popular breathing procedure is known as “4-7-8 Relaxing” breathing. One inhales for a count of 4, holds one’s breath for a count of 7, and then exhales for a count of 8. Repeating this behavior for a few cycles can bring rapid relief to an overburdened mind and body.

Explore Nature

The shorter, darker days of winter can be difficult to endure. Although it seems counterintuitive to venture outside into the cold, getting outside to explore and spend time in nature is one of the most healing gifts that we can give ourselves. Being exposed to even a little sunlight, along with getting exercise, increases our feelings of contentment. Walking through the woods or going to the park are incredible ways to explore nature in the winter.

We can incorporate mindfulness into our nature explorations by pausing to examine what we see while outside. Notice the birds that are still around. Look at the shapes of the icicles hanging from the trees. Feel the wind on your face. Taking a moment to appreciate nature is an incredible form of mindfulness.

Self-care in winter revolves around activities that can be done indoors. The extra time that we spend at home provides us with the time and space to implement changes. Practicing mindfulness is a crucial step in staying stress-free and calm during the winter.

How to Care for Yourself in the Winter

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Winter can be a beautiful and thoughtful season, but it’s often difficult to enjoy it with the cold temperature and various illnesses in the air. Luckily, it’s entirely possible to enjoy a picturesque winter season with a few simple steps! Here are some self-care tips you need to enjoy winter today.

Staying Healthy and Warm

One of the most difficult things about winter is the high-probability of getting sick. Whether it’s a sore throat, stuffy nose, or dangerous flu, you’ll want to protect yourself while still enjoying the season’s benefits. While flu vaccinations and over the counter medicines are common, these tips can help protect you while also being enjoyable by themselves!

First, you’ll want to keep your body and home warm throughout the season. This seems obvious, but it requires more than just a sweater and heater. Make sure to wear socks indoors to keep your body temperature down, and sip on warm tea throughout the day. Avoid caffeinated teas in the evenings and instead choose something calming like chamomile.

As the temperature drops, you’ll also find that the air gets drier as well. This can cause your throat and sinuses to get scratchy which also leaves you more susceptible to common colds. To prevent this, get an air humidifier and add some pleasant natural oils into the mix. Oils like lavender, lemon, or peppermint can open your airways and keep you relaxed throughout the season. Plus, a humidifier makes your room’s air moister which will keep your sinuses clear no matter the temperature outside!

Taking Care of Your Mental Health

Depending on where you live, the winter may bring subzero temperatures and occasional snowstorms. When the sun isn’t present for long periods of time, your body begins to produce less vitamin D. When you have a vitamin D deficiency, you may experience mood swings along with other symptoms like depression, lethargy, and insomnia. To help, try a small vitamin D supplement to keep your levels stable throughout the darker months.

Your mental health can also improve through regular exercise. While you may not be able to run outside, you can practice yoga or body weight fitness inside of your home in any season! Do some daily pushups, jog in place, or simply shake out your arms throughout the day. Even the smallest amount of exercise can go a long way in keeping your mind and body healthy during the winter.

Arts, Crafts, and Literature

You may spend more time inside during the winter months, but that doesn’t mean you have to be bored! Find some unique activities or games that you can play inside to stay busy. This could be a new board game or something more personal like arts and crafts. Learn how to draw, or reignite a passion for a craft that you haven’t enjoyed in a while. Plus, nothing’s better than diving into a long and well-written book during the winter! Have some hot chocolate, curl up in a blanket, and enjoy that book you’ve always been meaning to read.

While the winter may not be everyone’s favorite season, it can be an enjoyable time if you put your mind to it. Plus, you can get some festive and colorful lights to hang indoors so you can always enjoy the warmth of the season. By following these tips, you’ll be sure to have a wonderful winter season without worries!

What Does It Mean To Be In A Truly Relaxed State?

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Relaxation and the ability to be relaxed is a very powerful tool in life. Think about it, people say all the time, when your anxious ‘just relax’, or when you’re about to feel pain and you know it, people say ‘just relax’ and when you are about to speak in front of a large group of people, you say to yourself ‘Just relax’.

At even deeper levels, relaxation has the ability to show you something about yourself that most people wouldn’t believe unless they saw it for themselves. We will get to that later on.

What Is Relaxation?

When you are letting go of worry and concern in your mind, you experience greater degrees of relaxation. On the other-hand when you are encouraging worry and concern in your mind you, experience greater degrees of tension. When people learn to meditate in order to experience inner peace they are encouraged to relax.

When people enter into deep states of hypnosis, first they are taken through a process of relaxation. However, what is it exactly? It’s a silly question really, but the answer is this: Relaxation is the action of releasing tension in the muscles of the body.

Mental relaxation is the action of releasing tension in the thought process, done in various forms of meditation and hypnosis discipline.

So How Can We Make Use Of Relaxation?

Relaxation is something that can be employed by any of us, at any time in our lives. It is a tool that is very useful for dealing with situations and encounters that cause us mental anguish of any kind. It can also help us to experience a greater sense of well-being in our daily lives. Without tension, without stress, we experience greater peace. Inner peace is brought about by a relaxation in the mind and spirit.

At night, we can learn to go through a form of self-hypnosis exercise whereby we release the activities and attachments of the world by encouraging our bodies, mind, and spirits to let go, to relax and just let things be.

The positive effects of this type of mental training must be experienced to be believed, but needless to say, it is one of the most powerful tools we can have in our arsenal for encouraging greater health and wellness.

The Practice

Do these exercises at night when you go to bed, when all of the days’ work is done and there is nothing else left that requires your personal attention. It can be employed during the day also, but make sure you will have at least half an hour to yourself in an environment where you won’t be disturbed or interrupted.

Silence your phone, turn off the T.V, wear something warm, and find yourself a nice comfortable spot to lie down.

  1. When you are lying down, allow yourself to relax and focus on your breath.
  2. Pay attention to the feeling in your feet and allow every muscle in them to relax.
  3. Slowly move your attention up into your calves and do the same thing. Breathe slowly and allow all the muscles from your calves downwards to relax.
  4. Move your attention slightly higher into your thighs and buttocks and do the same. Let everything relax.
  5. Continue the process until you have covered, bit by bit, the entire length of your body, from foot to head.
  6. Be aware of your breathing. Just breathe naturally and allow every muscle in your body to be in this relaxed state of awareness for as long as you like, or as long as you can.

Doing this exercise will develop your ability to be relaxed and you will learn that everything that happens to you in the world, develops a certain amount of tension in your body and mind, and doing this particular exercise will allow all of that tension to slowly dissolve.

Practicing this properly can give you insight into the nature of meditation and has even lead some people to have unexplainable mystical experiences. However, the main aim with this is to uncover for yourself a truly relaxed state.

Once you get the hang of this practice, you can even take it with you into your everyday life, while going about your daily business. Focus on your body and encourage your muscles to stay relaxed, by consciously relaxing them.

Advanced students of this practice will even do it while in stressful situations, combined with ‘breathing focus exercises’ to support their state of relaxation, they can face challenges and stressful situations to a degree much higher than most other people.

In terms of being alive today in the stressful world of the 21st century, developing your own truly relaxed state is a tool that is well worth forging within your body, mind, and spirit.

Healing From Within

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Healing From Within: Using The Power Of Choice To Improve Your Quality Of Life And Wellness

Each of us has the ability to choose. We can decide what to eat each day, what clothes to wear, what restaurants to go to; we have the ability to choose what we want in life and what we don’t want.

Of course, some things we can’t choose like what color our skin is, what size feet we have, what day of the week it is, but we do have the ability to choose something that is really, really important.

How We Feel

The practice of developing wellness in our lives shows us that we do have the ability to choose how we feel. We can consciously influence our emotions and ourselves. We can use mental training strategies like self-hypnosis and meditation to encourage certain states and feelings within our minds.

We can choose how to react to a certain situation or to a certain person. We can control our emotions so that we don’t fall into negative, degenerative, or destructive thought processes. We can even use the power of choice to heal.

Healing From Within

The power of choice is very similar to the power of intention. When we hold an intention in our minds, we are attracting the result of that intention into our lives. When we make a choice, we are attracting the result of that choice into our lives. Therefore, if we learn to be very aware of our choices, and also be aware of where our choices will lead us, we can learn to remove destructive and negative influences from our lives.

When we remove negativity and destructiveness from our lives, we feel an all-pervading sense of wellness within our daily way of life. When we can learn to promote this feeling on a regular basis, the natural result is healing in the spirit.

Healing The Spirit Is Healing Both Body & Mind

The Spirit, the awareness of the entire cosmos, is connected to everything that is contained within it, indeed, they are one. Obviously, that includes you, and me, and everyone else. Therefore, when the Spirit is encouraged to heal, meaning, when healing is promoted within ourselves and without ourselves, naturally we experience healing on all levels.

But what does healing mean?

Healing or more specifically spiritual healing does not actually have anything to do with physical health. I know this may shock some of you, who are reading this, but it doesn’t and it’s actually pretty obvious why not when you can see the big picture.

For example, a person with a terminal illness can still have a very powerful and aware spirit.

A person who is incredibly fit and healthy physically can be completely negative in their minds and still practice many destructive forms of behavior.

Indeed spiritual awakening occurs to many people who are on their ‘death-bed’ so what are we talking about when we use the term ‘healing’?

Healing, In Reality

Having a complete awareness of what we are, knowing that in reality everything is okay, and understanding our position and function in life, that is what real healing is about. On the other hand, there is suffering.

Being lost in life, being confused about what is real and what is not, being angry and traumatized by past experiences, holding onto judgements and opinions about people, things or places which leads to a feeling of separateness, these things are all in the realm of suffering.

True healing can only occur when all of these things are overcome, when suffering is brought to an end inside our hearts. In reality, true healing and true spiritual wellness can only occur when the source of our suffering has been extinguished.

The Result

We have the ability to choose whether or not we suffer. By choosing not to suffer we are encouraging healing within our spirit. When healing is encouraged within our spirit, this has the natural effect of developing inner peace within our heart.

To truly heal, to remove all of the anguish, all of the confusion, all of the aggression, all of the conflict, all we have do is make a choice, a choice not to suffer, not to feed our problems, but instead, to take away the source of their inspiration.

Only we can do that for ourselves.

If we can choose not to promote suffering in our lives, naturally this has the effect of promoting greater quality of life and greater health. But even if our physical health is bad, as will be the case with most of us as we age and grow older, we can still have a mindset that doesn’t experience this as suffering, but simply sees that it is a part of the natural way of things.

For those of us who have health problems in our younger years, by making the choice to stop doing anything negative or destructive, we can encourage greater physical health as well and mental and spiritual health.

In order to do this, all we have to do is make a choice. What will you choose?

Is Your Life Designed To Support Wellness?

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The question we are asking ourselves here is whether our own personal life, in its current state, is designed to support wellness.

This requires a dual approach.

We must investigate exactly what wellness is referring to. Does it mean a general state of well-being? Can we be well physically but not mentally? Does this have anything to with spiritual wellness?

We must recognize whether or not wellness is suited to our life currently. Maybe we already live in a way that promotes wellness in our everyday life and maybe we do not. However, in either case we want to understand how well our life is suited to wellness.

For those of us who do not live in a way that promotes wellness, what do we have to do to inspire wellness in our current life? Do we have to make any changes or is it simply a case of doing more? Maybe it is a case of doing less?

What is Wellness?

Wellness is something that many people overlook. Most people think that how they feel is how they feel and there is nothing to be done about it.

For some, the primary goal of seeking good health is to prevent some possible future disease, like heart disease or diabetes.

Some others relate wellness only to the physical body and others relate it more to their mental state than anything else does.

Let us have a look at a holistic view of what wellness is. Quite simply, wellness can be understood as balance.

Wellness = Balance

When we feel well physically it is due to the fact of our bodies is getting what they need from a balanced lifestyle. This includes our level of physical exercise, our nutrition intake, our level of work vs play, and our personal and environmental hygiene. When we feel balanced physically, we feel well.

Mentally we feel balanced when our thoughts are aligned with our purpose in life. When we have an understanding as to what we are doing, why we are doing it and what needs to be done to maintain order in our life. When we are emotionally disturbed on the other-hand, we say that we feel out-of-balance, or perhaps mentally unwell.

Spiritually, we have a much bigger picture to look at. In order to determine whether we are spiritually well we need to be very honest with ourselves when asking that question. If we feel completely happy with our lives, if we have a genuine understanding of our function and position in the universe, as living beings, then we could be said to be spiritually well. But, and this is where the importance of self-honesty shines through, we must be clear with ourselves if we feel spiritually unwell.

Do we feel confused about our way of life, or our beliefs?

Do we have unresolved conflicts with our past or even perhaps our understanding of our life, or our purpose?

Do we feel inner calm and peace that supports and promotes our utmost quality of life?

Being spiritually unwell means that no matter what we do, or where we go, or who we are with, our happiness, our wellness is only temporary.

Eventually we always fall back into some form of despair or confusion, or suffering: like having a splinter in our minds that inevitably, always returns back to hurt.

The Best Thing About Wellness

The best thing about wellness though is that it is attainable, by anyone and everyone. Everyone and anyone on the face of the planet can achieve physical, mental, and spiritual wellness. Bearing in mind, that wellness does not mean ‘to be in good health’. If that were the case then no terminally, ill person could ever feel well.

This is what is meant by, wellness = balance. Even a person who is suffering from a terminal illness can feel well, if their life is balanced and fulfilled.

In order to encourage the development of a holistic wellness in our life, all we have to do is maintain a balanced way of life. This incorporates the physical, mental and spiritual worlds, since all of those things are within us.

Therefore, with regards to the question, is your lifestyle designed to support wellness, the above will give you an idea if it is, and only you will know the answer. If the answer is no, there are many things you can do to make changes, so make a plan and stick with it.

Do You Take As Good Care Of Yourself As You Do Others?

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relax and de-stressSelflessness and selfishness are two very misunderstood terms. People mistakenly think that selfishness means doing things with the intention of taking care of your-self and they also think that selflessness means doing everything for other people that they want, taking everything on board, and never doing anything for your-self.

It’s always important to understand the balance in all of these actions in order to see the reality of the situation.

Imagine This

All day long, you do things for yourself, only based on what you want. If someone else needs something from you, or asks you to get something that they need which might ‘put you out’ a little, you refuse. Your time is your time and you want to keep it all to you.

This is pure selfishness.

Now imagine the opposite.

All day long, you run around for people getting everything they want, not having a second for yourself to get things done or to focus on what you need. You are constantly being told where to go and what to do without ever having the ability to sit down and think for yourself. People use you to the point of exhaustion, every day like a servant to the needs and wants of others.

This is pure selflessness and it is exhausting.

In all of this, it is vital that we find the balance.

Balancing Yourself

When we take care of the needs of others, we must do so while maintaining what we need also. When we need a break, we must be able to say no. When a person’s requests or demands are getting to be too much weight on our shoulders, again we must learn to say no.

While looking after and taking care of others, we must also make it a high priority to have time to ourselves, to relax and not have to deal with any added stresses and pressure.

Doing this, taking time out for ourselves, to give ourselves what we need, actually allows us to better serve others. If there is not balance, very quickly we will become exhausted and drained of our ability to do anything.

In this state, we would quickly become depressed and overwhelmed, or perhaps even start to get irritable and angry. This is all because there is no balance between selfishness and selflessness.

Real Selflessness

What we are trying to achieve here is ‘Real Selflessness’. The kind of selflessness that is balanced, that gives both ourselves and the other person or people what we all need. Living in this way actually makes us more capable of helping others, because at the same time we maintain our own requirements along with the requirements of everyone else.

It is important that we take as good care of ourselves as we do others. If we don’t, we actually lose the ability to take care of others properly.

Developing the right kind of balance means we can go on living through ‘Real Selflessness’ for as long as we continue to live.

How To Be Truly Selfless

We must be honest with ourselves and with others. We must have boundaries in place that don’t allow other people to take advantage, unknowingly or not.

We must recognize when things are becoming too much to handle, and when we need a little space to relax and let go of the stress.

Once we recognize this, we must put everything down, essentially say ‘no’ to the world for a little while so that we can rest, recover, recuperate and reset to come back reinvigorated and ready to serve once again.

Living in this way means that we aren’t just taking care of others, we are simultaneously taking care of ourselves in the same moment.

People will respect this and appreciate it because everyone knows how it feels to be stressed and exhausted and at the same time, they will appreciate that you are still helping them, or that you will continue to be your giving self once, you have had enough of a break to focus on yourself.

Learn to have boundaries in place and effectively implement them. By doing this, you will learn how to be the right amount of selfless and the right amount of selfish, without falling into any extremes.

The middle way is always balanced. Learn to walk the middle way and take care of yourself as much as you do others.

 

How A Healing Retreat Can Benefit Your Wellness

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 You’re tired, you don’t sleep well, you’re not eating right, and your body ache. You’ve had enough and decide it’s time to see a doctor. On your way there, you start visualizing what the doctor might prescribe to make everything right again. Visions of orange bottles filled with all sorts of pills pop into your mind.

The truth is the one thing your doctor can tell you that will make you feel better again is to heal yourself spiritually and mentally first. “Connect more with nature, disconnect from technology,” is what he’ll probably say. “It’s cheap and has no side effects.”

Your doctor then takes out his pen and prescription pad and gives you the following advice: ‘Go to a Healing Retreat’.

You’ve heard of healing retreats before, but never really thought of them as your kind of thing. The doctor leans in across his desk, familiar with the confused look on your face, and starts explaining in full detail all the benefits of a healing retreat:

  1. Acceptance:

This is the first benefit and it’s also the first step in any healing process. The only way you can get through difficult stages and reach a solution or find inner peace, or whatever your goal may be, is to accept how things currently are in your life.

Whether it’s health issues, financial troubles, relationship problems – if you can’t face it and accept it as part of you, you’ll never be able to be mentally or physically healthy.

  1. Invest in some much-needed ‘me’ time

Very few people have the luxury of taking time off regularly to pamper themselves and indulge in some self-care time. This is why a healing retreat is ideal for the majority of people who constantly prioritize everything else before their own needs.

Understanding your nature via self-exploration is an empowering, uplifting experience. By taking responsibility for your feelings and behaviors is a very powerful tool to embrace your fears in a safe, controlled environment so you can reach inner peace and strength.

At a healing retreat, you’ll meditate, do yoga, and take relaxing, energetic walks. You’ll meet with specialists who are good at listening and providing you with exactly what you need in terms of personalized healing treatments specially made for you. You’ll learn how to redefine your priorities and eliminate clutter from your life, both mentally and physically.

  1. Letting go

We often keep our emotions locked up; unknowingly just shoving them back in our minds, believing they’ll dissolve on their own, and just cease to exist, but what happens in reality is exactly the opposite. These emotions and thoughts sit there and fester like an open wound. Most of the time, they’re the reasons we have physical symptoms that ail us day in and day out.

Healing retreats have experts that encourage discussing pent-up emotions, either in a group-type setting where you can feel safe to share and open up, or during individual sessions which can provide clarity and liberation. These discussions are supportive, encouraging and are a great way to free all the negative, repressed thoughts and emotions.

  1. Re-energize the body

If you need to clear you mind, revitalize, and energize your entire system, then a healing retreat is the ideal place for you. You’ll be able to do many physical activities that leave you more balanced and energetic, along with spa therapies specifically suited for your needs.

After you leave, you’ll continue experiencing great benefits such as daily boosts of energy, focus, better concentration, enhanced memory retention, relief from chronic pains, strengthened immune system, better sleep quality, better digestion, glowing skin, and much more.

You’ll also get to meditate, practice yoga and learn how to stop over-thinking; these holistic approaches are productive for tackling negative motions, stress, anxiety, and depression. They are your guide towards a calmer outlook.

By improving your emotional balance, you learn to control your thoughts and keep issues in perspective. It also enhances your well-being and self-esteem.

You discover your purpose in life and learn how to put your body’s natural energy to better use so you can enhance your positive thinking, feelings, energy, and people. It’s also a gateway to inspiration and creativity.

Healing retreats can be as long or as short as you like, depending on the program that has been designed accordingly with your needs. It’s a great way to invest in your health and wellbeing so you can enjoy life with a healthy and happy, recharged and relaxed.

Creating A Home That Is A Wellness Sanctuary

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Meditation Room

How can you create a home that feels like “home”?

A place that you want to come back to every evening after a long day at work…

Where you truly feel safe and comfortable, and can really relax and unwind…

A place and a space that makes you feel peaceful, calm, and well.

There are a number of simple and cost-effective changes you can make to your home that will really help enhance your experience of your home as a wellness sanctuary.

  • One of the biggest health enhancers is to clear out all the junk: get rid of that stuff you no longer use, and de-clutter your living space. This will automatically give you a sense of spaciousness and relief, and will immediately help you feel more peaceful within. (You could even sell some of that stuff online and make a bit of extra cash, thus increasing the wellness of your wallet, as well as your home!).
  • Stay organized, nothing ruins peace, harmony, and calm than a cluttered house where you cannot find anything. This includes that pile of bills and mail that is sitting unorganized in plain sight and other piles of papers.
  • Keep a clean floor. Floors that are dirty or cluttered with papers, towels, clothes and other stuff make the whole room look unkempt and disorganized.
  • Have comfortable furniture; this is key in having a place where you can truly relax when you get home. Furniture that looks good is great, but you will quickly regret a purchase made for looks alone when you cannot relax in your own home.
  • Remember the old adage “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”? Well, you don’t necessarily have to feel holy about it, but having a clean living space is healthy for more than just the reduction in germs and harmful bacteria: it will smell good, look good and feel fresh, all of which will help you to feel good when you are in it!
  • Talking of scents and smells, essential oils are a natural and health-giving way of enhancing the comfort of your home: the scent of citrus oils adds a fresh, invigorating feeling whilst lavender helps you feel calm, for example. Frankincense and myrrh are wonderful in promoting a meditative air. You can use a simple oil burner or make an air freshener with nothing more than a few drops of essential oil in a spritzer bottle filled with distilled water.
  • Another way to increase your comfort level, and therefore your capacity to relax, unwind and de-stress in your home, is to add “ambience”: soft music, soft lighting, candles, and beautiful art pieces can all add to a feeling of calm and tranquility.
  • Color schemes affect our mood: for example, blues and greens are calming, whilst reds, corals, and maroons make a room seem cozy and warm. Keep this in mind when redecorating.
  • Can you find one area, or room, to devote to your spiritual self? A meditation cushion and a small altar with items of special meaning can turn an unused corner into a sacred space for prayer, contemplation, and connection with the Divine Source (whatever that means for you).
  • Having living plants in the home will help keep the air oxygenated, and give a sense of the presence of nature. Just remember to water them!
  • Use a water filter for great drinking water.
  • Keeping some windows open whenever possible will help the circulation of fresh air and will keep your home from getting stuffy and from feeling oppressive and claustrophobic.
  • Growing herbs in the kitchen will again bring a little bit of nature in from the outside and will help you connect to the earth in an immediate and practical way. Not to mention bringing some wholesome nutrition to your kitchen table.
  • Natural light in your home, as much as possible, can enhance your mood and provide some vitamin D (although there is no substitute for getting outside every day).
  • Remember to laugh, spend time with, and hug those you live with, to increase the good vibes in your home.
  • If you live alone, invite family and friends over to share a meal.

Balance and harmony are key in making your home a healthy sanctuary you will come to as a beloved place to decompress.

 

 

Health Is The New Wealth

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Health

Health Is The New Wealth, Are You Well-thy?

No matter how successful you are and how much money you have in the bank, without good health you will be ill equipped to enjoy your riches and achievements.

Recent surveys show a trend towards preventative health and the maintenance of good health. Values have shifted and where once acquisition of possessions was seen as the symbol of wealth, nowadays the trappings associated with health are becoming a bigger status symbol.

Green juice, for example, is seen as a signaling of wealth, status, and discipline, and displaying the accoutrements of good health is being viewed as more important than the accumulation of expensive cars, houses, jewels, and other material “toys.”

It has been shown that consumers are more interested in staying fit and healthy than they are in paying for health care once they have become sick. They are willing to pay a higher price for products and services, which will keep them fit and well.

So rather than looking at dollars in your bank, why not take a few minutes to assess your own fitness level and see how “well-thy” you truly are…

The areas you need to look at in order to assess your health include the following:

  • Diet
  • Exercise
  • Relaxation
  • Mental Wellness
  • Leisure and Fun
  • Community
  • Relationships
  • Spirituality
  • Finances

Take a look at the following questions and answer them by giving yourself a rating of 1-10 for each one.

Question 1: Diet

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1= not at all and 10=extremely, how healthy is your diet?

Question 2: Exercise

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1=not at all and 10=excellent (5 to 7 times a week), how good is your exercise regime?

Question 3: Relaxation

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1=never and 10=daily, how much priority do you place on relaxation?

Question 4: Mental Wellness

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1=very poor and 10=excellent, please rate your mental health?

Question 5: Leisure and Fun

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1=very little and 10=plenty, how much leisure and fun are you having?

Question 6: Community

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1= very little and 10=plenty, how much do you connect with a community where you feel you belong?

Question 7: Relationships

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1= very poor and 10=excellent, please rate a) your relationship with yourself and b) your relationship with your significant other?

Question 8: Spirituality

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1= very poor and 10=excellent, please rate your relationship with your spirituality?

Question 9: Finances

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1= very poor and 10=excellent, how healthy are your finances?

Results

With this simple self-assessment tool you can easily see the areas of your life where you are truly “well-thy” and those where you perhaps are a little “poor.”

  • If you scored, 7 or more you are doing pretty well and can feel proud of yourself.
  • In the areas where you scored 5 or less you might want to take a closer look.
  • If you scored lower than a 3 on any area, it indicates that you really should take a closer look, and focus on some strategies for improvement in that area.

Even though you may be very successful in your corporate career and be absolutely loaded with the big bucks, if your relationships consistently suck or your blood pressure is too high and you are constantly running on overdrive, with a heart attack looming unless you lose fifty pounds, you might want to think about how wealthy you really are!

Perhaps as a society, we are starting to cotton on to the truly valuable things in life. Who knows, maybe we will follow the example set us by the Danes, and learn to measure our contentment and happiness by the level of “hygge” in our environment.

Hygge is something quintessentially Danish which has them being favored as the most contented people in the world. It comes from the word “hug” and is a quality of coziness and togetherness they are masters at creating.

Alternatively, we might get on board with the forward thinking Buddhist nation, Bhutan, who uses a Gross National Happiness quota rather than a Gross Domestic Product quota. Now that’s the true measure of prosperity!

 

Journaling For Mental Calm and Clarity

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Journaling To Calm Your Chaos

Life gets overwhelming and emotions run high when we are battling with stress or stuck trying to solve a problem that feels unsolvable. One of the most-used tools of therapists or consultants is journaling.  Journaling is one of the most effective ways to create clarity and calm out of chaos and confusion.

Let’s look at how journaling can create more clarity in your life:

By giving a voice to your feelings- Journaling is a judgement free activity that doesn’t talk back. Journals are there to receive your information. Unlike your best friend or mother, a journal is there to listen and not offer unsolicited advice. A journal doesn’t meddle or get bored. A journal simply provides a safe space for you to process. Whether good, bad, or socially inappropriate, a journal is an excellent way to free yourself from your burdens and reduce chaos.

By working your mind to solve problems- Studies prove that our minds are designed to solve problems. Our psyche wants to figure out how to do whatever needs to be done. This is how innovation and technology have changed the world. By solving problems. The best way to solve a problem is to work it. Sort of like a Rubik’s cube, imagine your mind twisting and turning those colors until you get the pattern that unlocks the door and fixes the dilemma.

Helping you define next steps- As you journal and express yourself and work the issues at hand, your mind experiences the release of dopamine and starts to feel calm and competent. Ideas start to form as to what your next steps are and all of a sudden you have an epiphany that changes the game. Your sleep improves, your confidence improves and you are focused.

There is something magical about releasing your chaos and confusion into a journal and discovering that there is calm and clarity available to you. Allow yourself to work through your issues by journaling and experience the satisfaction of solving your problems.