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Strengthen Your Connections

Do you crave more consistency and connection in your life? You can create the life you want by connecting with daily empowering activities and tasks that are powerful and life changing. If you find some that really get your juices flowing, then do them consistently. Or, keep trying new choices for variety. 

Consider these tools: 

Movement: walking in nature, yoga, riding a bike, running, walking the dog

Affirmations: “By taking care of me first, I can handle anything”

“I am connecting to the energy that empowers me”

“Calm, compassion and patience lead the way in my life” 

“Dial down the fear, and replace it with peace, love & hope”

Intentions: I inhale love, and I exhale stress

Breath in peace, breath out anxiety

I surround myself with beauty, health and happiness

Meditations: search YouTube for something new to connect with that calls to you 

Creativity: draw, paint, sing, dance, bake, cook — create

Journal: free writing in a journal helps you process your thoughts & reduce anxiety

Disconnect: remove yourself from 24-7 news, constant screen time

Gain Clarity: When doing mundane tasks like folding laundry, unloading dishwasher, or taking a shower your body is busy, so your mind can open up and flow creative abundance to you. What kinds of questions have you been asking?

Connect: Talk with family and friends by phone, video chat or anyway to bridge that gap. This can be random, or you can schedule regular bonding time. 

The body heals with play, 

the mind heals with laugher 

and the spirit heals with joy

What are you feeding your Mind, Body and Spirit? Pay attention and make adjustments as needed.  Connect with one of our advisors to get answers, clarity or neutral insights. 

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Stay Hopeful

Stay Hopeful

There is a lot going on in the world, and in your own life. Now is a great time to focus on taking care of yourself — from the inside-out. It is essential to connect with what is most important for you. But right now, with all the uncertainties, do you even know what that is? Let’s focus on the basics.

Hope

Now is the time for deep and connected hope. Hope is the core foundation to build on. Let’s start with powerful self-care ideas. Creating ‘me’ time is essential, find what works best for you.

  • Carve out a private space of solitude (inside or out)
  • Slow Deep Breaths — this simple practice can do wonders
  • Close your eyes and imagine a place of comfort and beauty
  • Actually see it and feel it in your soul. Imagine how it smells, sounds, feels etc
  • Connect with a trusted power beyond yourself (God, Spirit, Universe, Higher Self…)

When you are grounded into nature or your personal power source, you can work together to translate fear, worry and anxiety into faith, trust and hope. This is not silly hope, this is the deep knowing that together, we can all get through our challenges — one step at a time, one day at a time.

Do this again and again, because it should not be a once and done activity. Make this a regular part of your daily life, like eating or brushing your teeth. We are being invited to quietly go within to find the answers we have been searching for all over the place. Guess what? The best place to find those answers is within you. You just need to slow down and ask the really primal questions that you may have been afraid to ask. This is not a scary dark place to fear, that will re-open all the pain from your past. This is like opening yourself to your own super-powers. You need to take the dedicated time over and over to peel through the many layers of the ‘onion’ of your life, to discover the gourmet variety of choices and flavors that you can choose from. All you need to do is believe in yourself and take the first step.

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Tapping Into Your Imagination To Get Through The Pandemic

Stress and exhaustion can wear on the strongest and most mentally healthy of us.  Especially now when all of our normal routines and ways of dealing with stress are not readily available to us while we are cooped up in our homes.

Things that people normally do to fight off the blues such as going to the gym, meeting up with friends for coffee, and going out on a date night may seem impossible now. 

The old ways of doing things might not be available, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do all the things you need to do from the safety of your own home.  It just takes a little bit of imagination and creativity.  As a kid, you could go anywhere from your bedroom by reading, coloring, and imagining for hours and hours. 

Tap into what you were capable of when you were younger.  For example, if going to the gym was your stress relief, set up a workout regimen in your home.  No equipment, no problem.  Use body weight exercises to get you through this tough time.  There are loads of videos online about how to use your body weight and small areas of your home to get a really good workout in. 

Miss meeting up with your friends for coffee?  Have a virtual coffee catchup online.  There are apps and programs like Facebook Messenger and Facetime that allow virtual chats from anywhere, and group programs like Zoom that allow for multiple people to chat with each other.  Brew a cup of joe, your favorite tea or chill a glass of wine and sit down with a group of your friends online and catch up.  It will do wonders for your mental health.

Missing date night with your loved one? There are loads of options available to spend time together virtually.  Many museums and parks are now offering virtual tours that the two of you could take together, even if you aren’t in the same house. You can go online while talking on the phone or video chatting and take the tours together.  Or do something fun together like playing a video game or starting a movie at the same time and discussing it while you play or watch.  You can even set up virtual dates in some games like Animal Crossing online where you invite your beloved to your in-game museum or watch the sunset together at the beach in the game while you talk or video chat at the same time.  Bonding together in these ways can be surprisingly romantic and will give you memories you can look back on after all this crisis is over.

The important thing is looking out for your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing and being kind to yourself and those you love while we all work on protecting each by staying safe at home.

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Mindfulness At Home

Mindfulness is important every day of your life.  But it has never been more true than it is now during this time of isolation and world change. There is no doubt that this is a very challenging time for everyone.  But it is very important to keep your mental, emotional, and physical health at the forefront and do whatever it takes to stay healthy at home. 

Isolation can eat away at your wellbeing.  It is insidious and can catch you by surprise.  That is why mindfulness is extremely necessary.

What does mindfulness mean? It is basically bringing your awareness to this moment in time and paying attention to what your mind, body and emotions are telling you. 

For people who are alone right now, it is important for you to reach out to others.  Video chat with friends or family members, or call someone on the phone, even if you don’t feel like it, because you need it and so do they. 

Sometimes you think you are fine but what you are really doing is just distracting yourself from what you are really experiencing.  This is especially true for people who are caregivers to others.  Whether you are a parent or someone who takes care of their parents or other family members, you think about what the people you are responsible for are needing at any given moment.  Always jumping from one situation to the next keeping yourself busy.  But how often do you check in with yourself to see what you need?

This doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, it just needs you to be brutally honest about what it is you find.  Take a moment, even if it is just when you go to the bathroom.  Sit and think about what your body is feeling.  Are your shoulders drawn up and tight?  Do you have pain anywhere?  Those can be just physical issues, but they can also be signs that you are holding on to stress and trauma that you need to deal with.

Do you have trouble getting your mind to calm enough for you to even take stock of what is going on in your body?  That might mean you are not handling your stress well and your mind is trying to distract you from facing the fact that you need to take some time for yourself.

One would think that during this time where stores and theaters are closed, and many people are either out of a job or working from home that it would be easy to take time to take care of yourself.  But if you are a parent whose children are at home, or someone who is looking out for the welfare of others, you are just as busy as ever, just in new and different ways.  So be kind to yourself.  Make sure you check in with yourself every day and do something that makes you smile, even if it is only for a few minutes.  Watch a show that makes you laugh, read a chapter in your favorite book, or listen to music that releases the tension in your shoulders.

You can’t take care of those you love if you aren’t taking care of yourself first.

Do whatever you need to do to stay safe and healthy at home.

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Practicing Mindfulness at Home

Home is your sanctuary, the place you are excited to come back to after a vacation or time away for any other reason. It’s where you lay your head and where you gather for family meals. Although we appreciate what our homes give us, we can still take it for granted. Here are three ways to help you learn how to practice mindfulness in your own house, even when you’re home all the time.

Give Yourself a Break

We all have the tendency to fill every moment of the day, whether that be with organizing a closet or finishing a long-forgotten project. But what if we took a moment to just be? Practicing mindfulness is all about appreciating the moment for what it is, but you may find that hard to do if you’re constantly in motion.

Find a quiet space in your home, allow yourself to relax, and experience a rush of thankfulness for your health and the roof over your head. You can even meditate as part of your mindfulness practice.

Experience Your Thoughts

Mindfulness is being aware of your feelings and thoughts, and there is no need to shy away from them. Give yourself permission to welcome your thoughts as they enter your mind, and give them a farewell as they exit, all without judgment and without forcing emotion. A thought can be just a thought.

Become Aware of Your Movements

While staying at home, you may walk the neighborhood more. As part of your mindfulness practice, and to make walking more fun, become aware of the experience. Absorb how the sun hits your skin, how the ground feels beneath you, and how the wind breezes through your hair. You can practice this same thing with eating, taking a shower, washing the dishes, or anything else you do in a day.

As you work on your mindfulness, know that you may not be an expert at it right away. It takes time to ease into it. Allow yourself that, too.

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A Self-Care Schedule

Self care is as important as anything else in your life and may even be what everything else stems from. When you have a self care schedule in place, you’re showing your body and mind some love, finding it easier to forgive your faults and build healthy relationships with others. Here is an example of a self care routine that you may find useful.

Morning

Many people find a guided or active meditation highly beneficial as a jump-start to the day. If you’re new to meditation, start with just three minutes when you first wake up, adjusting as needed to find the time of day and length of meditation that works best for you.

The morning is also the time to make yourself a filling, fulfilling, and healthy breakfast. After all, food is part of self care too. 

Afternoon

Throughout the day, remember to take small breaks from your work. Some ideas for self care may include: stretching, going for a walk, having an afternoon tea, reading a chapter of your book, or enjoying a cuddle session with your pet. Although you may need to get eight hours of your workday in, short 10-minute breaks can give your body the respite it needs to recharge for the rest of your shift.

Remember, too, that lunch and some healthy snacks like nuts, seeds, fruit, and raw vegetables, are important to keeping your body fueled into the evening.

Evening

The evening is your time to decompress from your day. Consider incorporating a skincare routine or luxurious bath. If you’re still feeling lively, include dancing to your favorite music while you prepare dinner into your self care schedule. 

It’s important to do what feels best to you and find time throughout the day to execute your self care plan, even if it’s only 15 minutes. Help yourself to know that you’re worthy of care and attention.

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At-Home Self Care Techniques

Self care, for many, is a foreign concept because we can get so caught up in our everyday responsibilities that we forget to take the time to care for our needs. To establish your own self care routine, here are three techniques you can start implementing today.

Go Screen-Free

If you’re like most of the world, you may aimlessly check through your phone more often than you’d like. One easy self care technique you can implement is to consciously step away from your screen. Try leaving your phone in another room when you’re sleeping so you aren’t tempted to scroll if you wake up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. 

Establish a Good Sleep Schedule

A good sleep schedule can improve your mood, reduce stress, empower your immune system by reducing inflammation, and even boost your memory. Aim for a consistent seven to nine hours per night. Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day so your body can more easily fall into a normal sleep-wake schedule. While you sleep, manifest abundance. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be amazed at the energy you have and how ready you’ll feel to conquer the day each morning.

Eat Whole Foods

For many, food is medicine. What we eat daily can have a strong impact on our health, mood, and more. To make your meals part of your self care plan, try to eat a healthy balance of nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. It’s also important to drink the recommended eight cups of water throughout the day.

Ultimately, learning how to take care of yourself can heal your soul because it’s rooted in what your body and mind tell you. Maybe self care looks like a bubble bath while reading your favorite book, or a meditation session in a dark room. Your body and mind are telling you what they want — all you have to do is listen.

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The Difference Between Guided Meditation vs. Active

Meditation can take many forms and a wide range of time intervals. It can work with people of all ages, and stages in life. There is no right or wrong way to meditate. Experiment and find the techniques that work best for you. Let’s look at the similarities and differences between a guided meditation and an active meditation.

Guided Meditation: In the beginning of a meditation practice, it is often easier to use a guided program where a person talks you through the process of steps. This can be done live in a class or with a recording. When we are left all on our own to meditate, it may be challenging and distracting because our minds tend to hop around from topic to topic.  Some may be in a peaceful setting or with calming music or nature sounds in the background. 

A few popular types of guided meditation include: Sleep/Relaxation, Pain/Stress Relief or Mindful/Loving. You can find meditations that guide you to let go of anxieties with visualizations and soothing thoughts and images.  Or, you may choose to learn how to be in the here and now while letting your distracting thoughts float away. This type of energy helps you navigate your busy world and still feel in control.

Active Meditation: Active meditation combines focus and mindfulness with specific activity — usually one that you can do without great concentration on the task you’re performing. Some may get more from their meditation while walking or jogging, gardening or knitting, for example. Combining physical concentration with repetitive physical actions can create a deeper mind-body connections and intensify the clarity and peacefulness of the meditation.

It is often useful to do these actions on your own, so you can be in the moment and enjoy the deep inner connection you are creating instead of participating in conversations with others or listening to popular music or your favorite podcast. 

Experiment to find what works best for you each day. Perhaps, like me, you will find that adding some variety to our meditations helps to provide the best results.

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How To Meditate

Meditation has been around for thousands of years Originally handed down from generation to generation. The english word, meditation, is based on a latin word meaning ‘to ponder.’ But, you do not need to be a yogi seated in an ashram for hours and hours to benefit. 

Modern meditation is a proven and powerful tool that has many health and life benefits including stress reduction. A basic meditation can be broken down into a few simple steps:

  1. find a desired location 
  2. get comfortable
  3. close your eyes
  4. take deep breaths
  5. quiet your mind and relax

Start with a short time, up to 5 minutes, then work your way up to longer times that fit best for you. Many find meditation upon waking to be helpful. Find the ways meditation helps you the most. 

It is important to be focused and present in the moment. This is not the time to respond to emails or try to get other things done. If distracting thoughts pop up, simply say ‘thank you’ and let them pass like a cloud in the sky.  

Enjoy this process of taking care of yourself. The more you practice meditation, the easier it will be and it will become a beneficial habit of self-care. 

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Types of Meditation

It is a common misconception that there is only one way to meditate.  There are multiple forms and traditions of this ancient practice.

The most well-known type of meditation is where you sit quietly and focus on your breathing.  Taking a deep long breath in, and then trying to match the length of time it takes to fully let the breath back out.  During this type of mediation try to clear your mind.  It is hard to keep your mind empty so it is important to just acknowledge the thoughts, but then encourage them to flow right back out again, not dwelling on them. When you recognize your mind has wandered, just try to focus again on your breathing. 

Related to this kind of meditation is the mindful approach.   This type begins by focusing on your breathing but then as thoughts flow through your mind, instead of trying to clear them away, you let them flow, trying to focus only on the feelings that each thought brings up instead of the details of the thoughts.  This kind of meditation is supposed to bring you a deeper understanding of yourself.

There are several meditations styles that focus on love or being open to love, not only for yourself, but also towards others, and the universe at large.  During these styles of mediation, you are supposed to try to focus on the idea of loving others, or opening your heart, or being grateful for all that you have and what you want to share with others.  These styles are designed to bring you to a compassionate place within yourself.

Some techniques of meditation include a form of guidance.  There are apps and classes that will talk you through a meditation session.  This is especially good for people who have struggled with trying to calm their mind and have been frustrated by their inability to meditate on their own.  These guided meditations range from simple breath work to elaborate imagery designed to reach a goal like quitting smoking or dealing with grief.

This brings us to the use of Mantras.  This technique uses a simple sound or word repeated in your mind, or out loud, while you breathe deeply.  Mantras can also be complex like a phrase or series of sounds that change over time. This approach can be guided, or it can be done on your own, to achieve personal growth or accomplish a change.    

Finally, body movement can be a form of meditation.  This style typically involves slow movement as in Yoga or Tai Chi.  These teach your body to flow through various positions where your focus is on your physical being, allowing your mind to be free to reach a deeper meditative state than you might be able to do with regular meditation. 

If you desire to learn to meditate, don’t give up if the first way you try doesn’t work for you, it is important to find what fits your personal needs.