When you get tears of joy (😂), your body is set in joy motion. You feel something and that can get you to move and take good action.
You get to experience freeing moments like you’re on top of the world, and your mind is joyfully elevated. This helps your mental health and outlook. And when your mind is happy, your body feels the connection. That’s Ayurveda in a nutshell.
Well… except it’s not that cut and dry (…I don’t think anything is these days). I wrote some personal notes below at the end of this post, from over a decade of intentional-balanced and healthy-minded living
I think it’s safe to say, we all have different body goals. One of mine is to stay looking young for as long as nature will let me. I can’t stop gray hairs from coming, but I can avoid the stressful grays that started in my mid-20s.
And our preferences are different, like in music…
For me and maybe for you, that can be in listening to a song that strikes a chord inside, like Adele’s emotional songs or the empowering words from a Lauren Daigle song.
Lyrics matter to me more now than they used to when I’d hum along to anything that had an upbeat vibe. It’s a good idea to be choosier about what we put in our minds (and body) if we want certain results.
And in modern Ayurvedic living, you choose as it’s not rules-based but certain practices work because the body is intuitive.
In other happy moments, seeing someone else happy can leave us smiling. Or when they have tears of joy, we do too.
And in another moment, that could be laughing out loud (does anyone even use LOL anymore…besides me? 😊).
And btw, I get a good laugh in watching The Great British Baking Show. I’ll spare you the witty, but clean jokes swirling in my head. But, that’s what sets it apart from every other baking competition. It’s standup (filmed) comedy or silly, tongue-in-cheek banter… oh, and beautiful bakes too.🍥
And it’s easy to love and relate to all the friendly contestants (and be glad you’re not under the pressure!). Read-dy?…Now Bake.
Just kidding. (I can’t say lol since I just called myself out on it).
But, anyway… in life, you’re usually witnessing your life from and with other people even if it’s through a computer or television. Even if we feel like we live in a bubble, our energy permeates through social media and our connections made. It doesn’t take a plane ride… it takes nanoseconds for our energy and atoms to travel.
And that’s the relational power we have in this life. Along with our connecting breath.
Next time you think about it, pair your tears of joy (or routinely adding daily eye drops) with a special breathing exercise called Pranayama, that’s a controlled way of breathing.
Here’s how you do Pranayama breath. Blow out all your air through your mouth. And then inhale breathe in a big gasp of air through your nose. Hold your breath for about 6-8 seconds. And then let out a big exhale through your mouth as you had started with. You can feel a burst of concentration/clarity in your mind. The mind fog is lifted (even if it’s temporary) and it can feel like you just had a shot of espresso or strong matcha tea.
In doing the breathing exercise, you’ve just relaxed and massaged your body from the diaphragm muscles to your vital nerves that impact your brain, breathing, and the body parts that regulate your stress. Sounds like a big deal… it is.
But we forget. And living in purpose is everything to intentional balanced living.
You get to feel alive! And that may be the that’s-what -I’m talkin’-about prescription you need, especially if you have constant stress in your life. You can try to find areas of life where you can shed tears of joy.
You can practice breathing purposeful daily wherever you are, so remember to do this regularly or when you next feel anxiety or a breather moment.
This can be another purposeful move where you step outside where you spend most of your day. Like when you’re out and see a work of art that moves your heart and stirs your soul. That can be from nature or something that is living and breathing like a baby-making cooing sounds or a dog with a wagging tail you see walking outside.
My first career job was in hotel catering. Those were the days where I learned the hardest management lessons. And as a young adult who was free to make choices, I could develop habits. These eventually evolved into the modern ayurvedic-inspired atomic habits I do today (that I share below).
You see… back then, it became obvious to me that I didn’t have a work-life balance as I missed all the new Friends (and my friends’) episodes, weddings, and any other current events happening other than the ones I was booking.
I didn’t have body balance (I was lucky I was young 😉). And I didn’t think about anti-inflammatory spices as they weren’t existing headlines in western world, metro-city area living.
Instead, I was surrounded by high-calorie, buttery-tempting, sweet foods from a daily chef-prepared food spread and kitchen where I spent most of my day.
I had a dilemma because part of me liked the rich foodie foods, and part of me just wanted to eat healthy every day. I knew I had to find a middle ground.
So when I left that job and decadent eating world and lifestyle, I entered another dilemma… Yup… fresh Doubletree chocolate chip cookies 🍪 that sat inches away from my office desk (how dare they!). They made for a good snack I thought back then, and was a filling breakfast, high-calorie meal.
Life back then was a blur.
My good habits were going to work, surviving, and trying to do better tomorrow. Little did I know that I was creating space for better work-life habits.
And life improved when I started getting a work-life balance after switching careers. I was able to have a normal work life more like my friends. Working on me, personal growth, the life I wanted, and getting better habits became real.
The previous work must’ve been a test and as far as I’m concerned, all that matters is I passed 😊
But that didn’t come without consequences. I had to replace bad habits I accrued working in a sometimes dysfunctional work environment and from my past.
And I didn’t become serious about better habits until I learned ayurvedic best practices and yoga (about 7 years after I went to a “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” workshop that Stephen Covey taught).
I think the habit stacking idea that James Clear introduced in Atomic Habits (I mentioned in last week’s post) is perfectly timed for what we need now in our complicated society and lives just so we can keep up with all of our habits.
Habit Stacking
Today, in a lot of ways, it’s much easier to develop and stick with healthy habits like eating healthier as we have better resources and tools (digital calorie counters), researched information at our fingertips, and better food options. It’s also easier to get distracted.
But if you focus and lean into the homecourt advantages in your daily surroundings, you don’t have to compete with your possible two critics sitting on your shoulder, and your digital devices staring at you.
Technology and conveniences help us develop automatic and consistent habits, that can eventually become a part of who we are.
Like: I have a writing habit, so now I’m a writer (and a blogger at heart ❤️).
Or, if you can prepare at least 1-2 healthy meals every day, you’re a health-conscious person. In his book, Clear describes these identity shifts as helpful for your atomic habits to take solid root.
For me in my story, I could’ve started a healthy way in my long, hotel workdays, starting each day with a homemade, healthy breakfast (not a cookie) and a light dinner if I had made the decision to create a process or system for healthy eating habits. (Not an excuse, but it’s extra hard for a Vata, as variety is our middle name).
That wasn’t my story though. That would’ve required body-mind agreement in the stressful life I had back then. And I wouldn’t have known how to begin in my life’s busyness.
And that’s how many of us are:
We delay our best life… We can fall into the trap of thinking, “I’ll get healthy (or happy) when… (fill in the blank with the perfect situation… retirement, kids grow up, I have kids, etc..). We don’t know we can do a little here and there to influence a lot.
To make changes, doing the small stuff regularly makes big differences (atomic habits).
James Clear makes clear (his name works for him!) 4 traits to creating habits that stick.
They are: make it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.
Your description of each of these will be different than mine but here is an example for creating a healthy snacking habit:
I purposefully set up a nice snack table (… festive decorating is part of the territory of someone who has worked in event planning 🎉). But you can set out a tablecloth and that would be just as good!
On the table, I set out a bowl of almonds or healthy nuts and other seasonal healthy snacks and fruits like baked apples and whole apples.
You won’t see a disguised trail mix, a bowl of M&M’s, or potato chips. That would defeat the purpose.
For the habit creation, I leave out healthy food items that can stay out (obvious food props) on a pleasing presentation (attractive display) that is convenient for a snack hankering (easy) and is enjoyable (satisfying).
And when it’s an afternoon snack or break time I can pull out any refrigerated items like this.
Healthy sweet snack: Sweet potato casserole with apple crisps, oatmeal, and lightly sprinkled toasted marshmallows.
You can take this same idea to other places or find a better way that works for you. In most cases, it’s up to you to create the work-life balance and lifestyle you want. Ideally, I try to make a short break, a small party. Life is short and I’m an Enneagram 7, so I lean into the enjoyable as a motivator and as often as I can.
…I have a smiling photo of me (on my about page) where I’m holding a Strawberry Twizzler, one of my favorite non-fussy sweet treats I can just pull out. You don’t see me holding a healthy baby carrot because that’s not a happy reward unless you’re a rabbit.
Carrots and almonds are the healthy snacks I default to the majority of the time. Because we all want a healthier body as an end goal, so beginning with the end in mind, I have a process (eating healthier most of the time) that supports that.
I keep the end goal in my mind as the compass pointing north.
If you want to be healthy and happy, and ultimately both, then maybe these unwritten rules can help you.
Let me start with… You can cheat along the way with unhealthy foods, but be mind-body aware that you are doing so, so you’re the one in control of your decisions. Make sense?
…Happy is happy (healthy or not), and most of us healthy-minded also want to be happy.
With my healthy identity, I’m no longer fully happy if I’m not overall healthy and I’m not happy if all I’m eating are bean sprouts and edamame pods. So having this happy-healthy (working with each other) attitude helps with daily micro-decisions that become overall atomic habits.
This mix of healthy and happy I believe is sustainable, balanced living and the right environment for creating healthy habits. Because if you diet or go to the extremes or deny yourself, then you can end up yo-yo dieting, quitting, or reverting backward. It starts out good and then is worse than when you started.
I use moderation as the measuring stick. So my internal dialogue can be something like this, where I ask myself, “is it satisfying enough?” or…”will a piece of fruit satisfy me now as much as a biscuit or cookie?”
And if you think you’re missing that gene or self-discipline, you’re not alone. But then you accept the consequences that instant gratification brings.
I know this isn’t new news, and if it’s a struggle for you, then it’s probably a touchy subject and especially if you’re trying to lose weight. But the less aspiration and more awareness you can apply to your situation, the more it can help to break down disconnects from getting you what you ultimately want in your life and what ends up happening.
Some may think who know me…”OK, that’s easy for you to say because you’re naturally trim.”
That btw, is a natural Vata body trait. But that’s not the complete picture…because back in my hotel catering days before I discovered my ideal weight, I fluctuated in my dress size.
Back then my daily dress size was at least a size or two larger, and I couldn’t fit into the clothes I wear today. There shouldn’t be comparisons because it’s all relative to your body because you only get one in your life marathon.
But, that’s how I know in my experience, that it is a healthy habit that makes the difference or at least gives you that edge to what you want, body and all. The body is important because without good health you can’t live your optimum life. And ideal weight is one of the medically accepted measurements to determine this. And low blood pressure is another.
So to me what our hearts look like is more important than how we look in jeans. So cardio is the ultimate for all. But to stay the same jeans size, here’s what I do:
I think of the small, regular daily habits as healthy ones that will make a difference (atomic habits principle)…and the rewarding, happy habits like having a weekly treat, as special celebratory ones.
You are better off when you stay sustainably moderate and don’t deny or go overboard either way. Staying consistent year-round is the ultimate test to seeing if a healthy-happy attitude (like I described above) is stacking into habits.
If you apply the 80/20 rule, then 5-6 days of the week you are eating healthy, and 1-2 days you can be roughly taking off. Like a yo-yo, you resiliently let your string out and pull it back in, and you say no thank you to any yo-yo fad diets that come your way.
I think it’s much easier to do this without keeping score. Your body is always keeping score, but you don’t know what the exact rules are or what the magic number is.
It’s a guess as to what your calorie balance or deficit goal is.…If only your body could give you those exact formulas at any moment?
So, in my opinion, artificial calorie counters or counting sugar grams take the enjoyment out of life when you could use that same useful time and energy to create natural atomic habits.
You can more or less feel the middle balance (and that becomes a worthwhile habit). It’s like training your brain to do quick math without a calculator, but much easier as you’re just using binary numbers 1=yes (eat) or 0=no (don’t eat).
In my world, that’s cutting down the sweets, cookies, and cakes (like those that used to be in open sight in my catering sales days). And now, not indulging in The Great British Bake Off recipes no matter how much I’m a fan of the show! The Jammie Dodgers will have to wait 😉
But I digress.
Healthy and Happy Atomic Habits
If we evaluate our current habits and see which ones are replaceable, tweakable, and what we want to happen, then we can have a balanced (healthy and happy) outcome in life.…And nowww we’re getting somewhere!
Here are 5 atomic habits you can also do if you want (that started small for me and made a big difference):
1.Daily Morning Atomic Habits:
Last time I talked about my morning yoga habit I created from habit stacking that took a lot of tweaking for my Vata self.
For you, maybe you just need to reframe and substitute “yoga” to “a stretching habit,” and then it’s doable and not a formal or intimidating practice that you’re not ready for.
When you get up, you’ve already stretched at least once or twice (so why not give a new name called “habit?”).
And from there, you can keep habit stacking, like doing a few situps or pushups, etc… your mantra here can be: a few adds up!
-Create a habit to be intentional for the day. Getting intentionally grateful for something or everything changed everything for me.
I used to have a weekly gratitude journal so I could really take in appreciation for the small stuff… and I mean small relative to my part of the world where people are blessed! (We all start somewhere as it keeps us humble, hungry, thirsty, and wisdom-seeking).
You can journal or simply look at a joyful image like a framed artwork, photo, or outside your picture window for inspiration.
In this place of gratitude, you find peace and contentment. There’s no room to complain. Or to put up with gossip. That changes your joyful outlook and what happens in your day as you create your next forward step. Don’t just look at what happens to you. See how you react and what your attitude and beliefs are, that will shape your habits.
-Check-in with yourself. Take at least 5 minutes in the quiet morning and scan your mind for any ideas and anything that isn’t in a place of appreciation for your day (or sitting as neutral thoughts)… remember, we all start somewhere.
Get up a little earlier if you have to, in order to claim your quiet minutes.
If you didn’t sleep well, shake off any negative energy, thoughts, and nightmares. You will be okay if you don’t hold onto those thoughts. Let your mind know that your skull is protecting your brain and your thoughts, so it doesn’t have to. I’m serious.
Forcibly if needed, let unforgiveness go. Let the world just be as is in your brand new day – no judgment or comparison to other days. That’s where peace is and you can save yourself the time from eye-shutting transcendental meditation (that I don’t do).
Decide to rise above your insecurities and let go of your worries. Shift to a loving higher road lens that ends fear. (I know because I started out in life afraid of just about anything and everything).
Reset to a day full of abundant possibilities that rely on your hopeful beliefs.
Then check if you feel something physically off in your body? Maybe your stomach needs food. Get to the bottom of what’s not feeling right, and stack onto your other healthy body habits like drinking water first thing.
And notice your bathroom habits in the morning. Are they regular? How can you healthily make them more regular? Depending on if you have a pronounced body imbalance, there are different fixes for each Ayurvedic body type.
Vatas are naturally alert, light sleepers, so having a lot of worrying thoughts is common. Not all worry is bad, but worry as a habit is.
As a Vata, we like a lot of variety. I think I could be a Vata poster child. Loving variety is my favorite Vata feature if I had to pick just one. But then there are times when this can go awry. Like if you’re in a relationship and your partner is a Pitta (a lot of men are).
They may not understand why there are so many different choices and cups of beverages around, and for different drinking desires.
For a pure Pitta, they like to drink their drink and move on.
A Kapha will leave things be and to what makes another happy (unless they’re not).
But that can be too stereotypical. …what was that movie line where the actor mentioned pigeon-holing or generalizing saves time, lol?
…ok where was I anyway?
Oh right.. we’re not just one type or the other and we can get imbalanced and change at any time. And that helps us build better habits.
As Vatas, we too have experienced impatience, being critical or more judgmental than usual, which are more Pitta traits. And have accumulated in every sense of the word (that’s more of a Kapha trait).
No one is 100% all Vata, Pitta or Kapha, ever.We can have our Vata, Pitta, and Kapha days and strengths or weaknesses (imbalances) happening all at the same time. But usually, it’s just one or two.
These human nuances I think are part of the fun in learning to read in Ayurveda 😊 (and not having to learn Sanskrit).
So then continuing on with habits… You (and I) can…
-Check in with breathing. After you’re fully awake, get in the habit of focusing on your breath so you can be more aware of this moment.
I often find I wake up with a slightly stuffy nose. If that’s you, practice breathing in and out of your mouth so you can get full breaths. See if that improves your mental clarity and from being slightly forgetful. Our brains (not just our lungs) need oxygen to optimally function.
You can also add a plant (adds oxygen), humidifier, and steaming (from the shower or in a pot on the stove). Watering can be part of the atomic habits you adopt for a more whole life.
2. Afternoon Atomic Habits:
Sandwich the news in the afternoon and early evening when you’re in the swing of things or eating lunch. I don’t recommend news in the early morning or late night (to start and end your day with other worries and gloomy thoughts).
Eating a heavier lunch will help carry you through at least part of the afternoon. I don’t combine breakfast and lunch (brunch). I actually eat breakfast, brunch, and lunch. And the afternoon snack already mentioned. And I add spices.
My body runs efficiently that way as I’ve taught it to work and burn calories when I feed it regularly, and it’s hungry for more.
Call it healthy snacking or what you want, but if you try small bites, that could be an atomic habit that works as it has for me.
I also turn music on in the afternoon and you may find that enhances your mood if you select the right genre.
3. Evening Atomic Habits:
Eat a light dinner. This works better for most body types because naturally, your body is winding down, getting ready for night and sleep that are just hours away. This is where I like to keep a light protein or plant-based meal based on the season. So that could be a homemade soup (low sodium) or a salad.
I reserve the lasagnas and similar heavier meals for leftovers. They taste better the next day anyway. I don’t eat the way I did growing up where we ate our heartiest meal at dinner.
And if you watch nightly media shows or television, end on neutral or warm and fuzzy thoughts. Watch a light-hearted comedy, cooking show, HGTV, or Friends.
4. Weekly Atomic Habits:
I moisturize A LOT. If you’re a Kapha, you don’t need to as much.
While I’m sitting down, I also make a list of revelations and progress that I made in the past week. They help me feel good and keep me focused on what I need to grow or start (that can become a good habit).
And I feed my mind-spirit with a weekly church where I hear stories and messages I can relate to (like podcast messages). I know I’m not alone. But I know a lot of people out there who feel they are.
So, frequently throughout the week in my quiet mornings and minutes I include outward prayer, higher intellect self-talk, and meditation as absorbing thoughts I get from the Universe while my eyes are open and I’m fully receiving and present.
I started this habit and process of attending church throughout the week, and spiritual identity around when my healthy identity changed. The practice makes everything else work and come alive.
5. Check Your Process (Are you missing anything?)
And FINALLY… homestretch here! For all of us, once you start a process you can recalibrate from that standpoint.
Like, when I restored my mind-body imbalances from Ayurvedic practical habits after I first learned what to do… and then I noticed sometime later, a new set of imbalances settled in.
It was like: Ok, you got this one down, nowit’s time to learn and be tested with another.
…Isn’t that how most of Life feels?
I found sometimes the imbalance combinations overlapped like feeling tired in the morning and anxious heart palpitations in the afternoon, and sometimes lingering irritation thoughts from a previous season.
So I started paying attention more from the lens of healthy Ayurvedic habits I formed that complemented my spiritual-faith-based ones. Daily and seasonal restoration work is now natural to me and doesn’t feel like work, but they too have become atomic habits, when needed.
…but I am ALWAYS checking to see (and aware) if I’m missing anything in life (similar to checking if a jean zipper is pulled up).
A balanced mind-body-spirit supports a healthy, whole lifestyle, where you’re open, but not unsure of the most important things about you and your life.
It’s never too late (or too soon) to find what completes you. And, I hope I inspired you to never give up on your healthy life and the small, atomic habits you can start that can grow wings especially if you believe the Universe has your back.
You just never know how a split-second and tiny action can help lead you to what you’re wanting most, and even when you don’t know what that might be right now.
Ayurvedic habits was introduced to me 13- years ago to date when I embarked on a new healthy way of doing life. Yoga was still a new concept to the western world. And I was about to start my first blog.
Those were the days before personal awareness,#metoo movements, and before western Ayurveda ways caught on with some (like me and maybe you?).
I’d been striving for balance ever since the day I realized I didn’t have any, and in my memory as far back as when the popular Friendssitcomshow first came on.
Those were pre-internet days where you never saw a laptop atthe Central Perktelevision set or anywhere for that matter ☕️
You and I can laugh at the wired phone cord that would be fun to untangle now. Phones back then weren’t wireless or smart. And watches were used to just tell time.
Technology and life are interesting in how it’s constantly evolving, and never going backward. Along the way, your tastes and wants can also change as you grow up.
I’m not a traditionalist, soI lean towards growth and doing things differently.
…but I started out ona traditional college to the corporate work-life path(with no work-life balance). And through life’s swerves, hidden turns, and purposeful career switching, I gradually turned around the tide.
You know when you don’t have the life you want when you run into dead ends, and that makes you search for the unknown. You know there has to be better if you use the right optimistic attitude. That btw, teaches you to steer away from sarcasm and Murphy’s Law thinking that was common during the Friends and Seinfeld show era.
Starting out in my career in hotel catering management taught me that not filling hotel rooms with guests was the biggest (opportunity) cost to the bottom line. I carried that way of thinking into my life even back then when I wasn’t aware. I realized not doing my highest and best use (that was taught in college) was my biggest loss.
That concept became my motivator to leave jobs I was unhappy or miserable with that had no rewarding path I could see for personal growth or in their business improvement.
In my late 20’s I wanted work-life balance, and to end the 50-60 hour workweek rut I was in walking around like a zombie in my downtime, that I started out with.
I kept the mantra running in my mind that I would not get my time back…and when I saw no way out, I found a way out.
And that’s how I switched industries into corporate tech office work. There I experienced newfound balance, and after I got a taste of that, I wanted more.
I went from not-so-healthy to balance, healing, and eventually wholeness. It was an overnight change that took over a decade.
And somewhere in that mix, the economic downturn hit where I went back to where I began in hospitality work. I had changed but the industry had not, so I moved on yet again.
…And that’s why I believe for everyone, Life is meant to get better despite the curve balls thrown at you.
Yes, you age, but you grow wiser and smarter. And you can adopt the right attitude if you help yourself to get there. I would never want to go backward in time.
…and I know now time can be underrated, and that it’s our most valuable asset (especially as you enter your 30’s and beyond).
I also now know that time is well spent when all 365 days of the year, I practice healthy and happy balance (that means green smoothies, food variety, and never changing Strawberry Twizzlers!). Plus, daily reset and renewal, and Ayurveda prevention and restoring ways.
….And that last one is what I’m most proud of for taking care of my body and mind.
Learning Ayurvedic habits was a new concept for me as a mid-adult who had lived around suburban malls and eating prepared foods in popular restaurants (and some that I couldn’t resist as I marketed their foods).
So then when I switched to Ayurveda I had choices (it’s not a diet, as I don’t believe in those). It encourages you to lean into your body’s natural desires, and often those are against the popular culture desires or what you think you want, like restaurant food (where you have no control over the cooking and ingredients).
I like to think of modern, western Ayurveda as a flexible lifestyle where you choose balance. You have a healthy plan and you enjoy what you like that you don’t regret.
For example, you won’t see me ordering or drinking a coffee drink with 53 grams of sugar. If it starts out that way, I will order most of the fat and sugar off, or just choose a black cold brew. That’s how I roll.
And that’s an ingrained habit.
But someone may say, “that’s no fun.” And I would say, “it is for me. I want to feel and look good, and for a long time. Then I can have more fun!”
We’re a much more health-conscious society now, but you still have critics and that can be the one sitting on your shoulder giving you internal debates on choices.
These days, I prepare at least 80% of my meals (and 100% in the past year). And Ayurvedic habits have helped me with balance, prevention, and restoration. And they can help you too!
Western Ayurvedic Habits
TheAyurvedic habits I do are not new to our western culture like they would have been a few decades ago. Like: theneti pot works for preventing sinus infections and doing regular yoga helps with balance, flexibility, and strength building.
Sanskrit is not my native or secondary tongue, so some rituals I’ve walked into that I wish I didn’t. Like: incense (…you might as well smoke a pack of cigarettes.. thankfully you rarely run into either and if it’s a certain church occasion where incense is, you know to expect it).
Another less than desirable one is chanting, like in a new yoga class that gives me an eerie feeling. I don’t participate. The mystical woo stuff doesn’t woo me.
I like to have my feet planted on the western ground unless I’m doing fun acrobatics (photo up top and here). Just kidding.
So some Ayurvedic habits and ways stuck with me and some didn’t, and from the beginning so I knew that they were meant (or not meant) for me.
And if you’re trying to figure out what Ayurveda or healthy lifestyle works or would work for you, then you can use your preferences as a natural guide if you don’t have a coach or someone helping you.
Essentially, Ayurveda is what’s healthy and natural to you, your body, and mind-body, so you can’t go wrong if it’s a healthy choice you like.
And when creating Ayurvedic habits, some habits need more practice to fully adopt than others.
In his NY Times bestseller,Atomic Habits, habit advice expert, James Clear, describes thathabit stacking is an easier way to have a habit stick.
An example of this is: I conveniently have a yoga mat rolled out near my bathroom with a side door, so that I can do a few yoga stretches before I start my day and after brushing my teeth (habit stacking). For some people, that’s enough of a reminder to create a habit.
But for a heavy Vatamind-body where routine (and sticking to the same way) is not a natural friend, Itweaked this idea to work for me…
A few days later after the novelty of the yoga morning activity wore off (and the habit broke), I rolled up half the mat, which triggered me to see the mat change when I had to look down so I didn’t trip over it.
That reminded me to do yoga. And thenslowly but surely I didn’t need to look down anymore because I knew where the roll ended. So I then took the half-rolled-up mat, and rolled it back down, and then rolled it in a different way several days later. I mixed it up. And now I have a mat under the mat to keep things interesting… and to keep me interested. That forced the habit to start, so it had a chance to stick.
I then reinforced the habit further with a set alarm. ...Phew! That was a lot for just one habit. But it’s worth it.
And you know what’s worth it for you, what works, and what it takes for you to create a habit! The harder part I think is figuring and finding out what habit to even start. And, knowing why you’re creating a habit.
Overall in the long run, when you do better habits, this keeps the healthy balance. You also improve and run your best marathon.
This is also how you keep growing. Keep trying new things (a Vata’s motto) until it becomes unhealthy or non-serving. Then in awareness of what you previously tried and want to improve, tweak again.
A good goal is to find what makes you happy, healthy, and whole, because without good physical and mental health, you can’t really optimally grow and contribute in your highest and best use way (maybe this is important to you too).
In the beginning, when I was forming Ayurvedic habits and concepts, I still felt stress or anxious even though I knew how to restore those feelings. I just hadn’t practiced enough.
And then I learned what worked for those symptoms and that became old hat like learning to ride a bicycle. And then I would feel other emotional symptoms like feeling irritated or judgmental. So then I fixed those.
While the symptoms were obvious, the changes were subtle (going in and out of moods). In those cases, I could’ve chosen to do nothing. And that’s what I think most people choose.
But that my friend (if I can call you that)… is not the highest-quality life, and maybe even semi-existence. I know because I lived that way in my no work-life balance-joy-robbing time that I will never go back to…
Feeling down, self-(fill in the blank ____), or negative thoughts and other big mood swings taking up mind real estate during prime leisure time and at night. But, I guess I was aware enough to do something about it. There’s always a silver lining.
For me, it would start with getting internally upset, angry, or irritated about something… and on and on it would spiral out of control spewing in my day and mood.
And I know that’s how a lot of people operate some of the time. And, that’s too much time!
There’s a much better way. 🎉
Transforming these ways has been worth going through the trials (to not lose any more valuable time), so that some of the time, becomes rarely or never when we learn better habits and ways.
These days, I choose peace. It’s a habit. Like most people,I have emotions running all the time and even more thoughts. And you can’t control how others behave towards you and some situations that happen to you. But you can control how you respond and react. So that’s what I do (and I encourage everyone to do that, so we can live our best lives now).
Ayurvedic habits allowed me to tap into daily peace, joy, and love that I already knew was there. That sounds so cliché and Hallmark card-ish, but that’s the nitty-gritty truth and what good habits can do for you.
You can get happiness (joy). Because if you find those things in you, your wants and feelings change. So the secret ingredient is getting healthy control over your thoughts and feelings. Letting go of the negative, and holding on to the good. And you can more easily get there if you’re healthy and balanced.
When you can remove (and nip in the bud) non-productive or toxic feelings and moods as soon as possible, you can avoid mental stress and stress on the body that can lead to inflammation.
And maybe that’s why I’m passionate about a balanced life. Because I know it’s in the palm of each of our hands and the ticket to true life’s success and happiness.
It took me not having it to discover it in a much deeper way.
So when I tested out new habits from the better information I gathered, I found it worked like a magic wand over the imbalances I had. It was like a magic pill without any pills or drugs. I didn’t know I had so much power to control.
Thirteen years in, it’s very easy for me to tell what’s happening in or out of balance for the mind by actions, and for the body by symptoms. And since my 20’s I’ve always been discerning and aligned with living balancedas my compass pointing north.
But I know not everyone is like this and many do better with boundaries and strict rules. And some do better with something they can relate to, like this car and body analogy…
Car and Body Analogy
Your Body is Like a Car (except it’s so much more valuable and you only get one in your life).
When you’re getting your car regularly maintained, the car shop can ask a few questions, and they can tell what’s wrong based on the slight off-ness.
All cars are not exactly the same as no one body is alike, even though you and I could both be Vata.
And all cars have wheels and need energy to run. And all our bodies alike have the same running parts like a heart, brain, and skin, with differentproduct needs. Like, we all need moisturizers but in varying degrees to our dry vs. oily skin, and the ingredients that our specific skin likes.
And certain things happen as we travel around, like our bodies age and a car gets out of alignment with mileage and wear and tear. But the symptoms can appear the same. That’s why a doctor or a mechanic can diagnose ailments from inflammations or problems down the road.
And we humans living in our bodies can diagnose and restore our non-serious body irregularities.
When you have Ayurveda habits, you are intentionally preventing stress or letting your body get aggravated.
Next week, I’ll share my specific ayurvedic habits and routines and talk about the Ayurvedic body type habit nuances. If you want to be notified when that and future blog posts come out, you can sign up in the upper right-hand corner of the main/home website page.
Flying travel essentials are good to pack so you are prepared to have a great trip without hassles.
You may be rusty and getting your travel legs back, as you and some of us have not traveled much over the past years. But this article will help you get excited again about packing and for your travel adventures. ✈️ Be sure to read the wellness list below.
Firstly, travel conveniences have evolved. Liquids don’t have to be pre-packed in bags anymore, so you want to be sure to bring your creams and eye drops you may have forgottten about especially if we haven’t traveled in a few years. There’s no total quantity limit.
And many innovative airports have smartphone chargers built-in. You sometimes don’t even have to bring out your cords for your newer devices. That something to get excited about before you board! 💛
Hello, I’m a planner at heart. I’m the person that will have what is needed while others fly by the seat of their pants. 😁 One profile that I adopted as an event planner early on is focusing on details. And in the details, we plan everything.
But some things we can’t plan.
Like the new space travel and space tourism category. Not too long ago, Jeff Bezos took off in his Blue Origin aircraft and we heard “best day ever!” after the 4-some landed back on earth.
I think it’s exciting that there are new possibilities and options available. This was kinda like the mission effect of the first man on the moon about half-a-century earlier. 🌕
But for most of us, we’re planning and dreaming of earth travel in new and familiar places that have been traveled to before.
I consider myself lucky to have leisurely traveled overseas almost every other year for a decade.
Because travel offers a good change in scenery and a learning experience wherever you go. If that’s how you or someone you know feels now, I have some flying travel essentials and tips for your health to take with you so you adventure is enhanced and more enjoyable.
Plus a food-as-medicine healthy digestif elixir 🍶recipe you can prepare and carry with you that will solve some of your body feeling off symptoms for temporary situation changes.
OK, this is a little unknown, maybe unique fact about me that will help you make the hotel choice easy… because I love staying in hotels! Maybe that’s why I was attracted to and started my young career working in hotel catering management.
Hotels make vacation life easy, as they have an in-person check-in/out and additional services, a coffee café or restaurant with room service, and breakfast options usually. They run 24 x 7 so there’s always someone there to avoid hassles with a card or code that doesn’t work (that leads to Pitta frustration).
Keys were pre-Ayurvedic days. And these days, listening to your body and Ayurvedic habits pay off. No matter what temporary roof you have on travel, today we can do so much on-travel to self-restore our balance and wellness. 🌱
This can start with making choices like using a full-service hotel good for pampering and ultimate body self-care. Some hotel rooms even come with tempting luxury robes and irresistible turn-down chocolates if you’re lucky.
Some have a knowledgeable in-house concierge who can answer your questions, and in-hotel spa and attendants.
They also have bellmen that can do the heavy lift, moving your luggage to your room and can help you get around by ordering taxis for you.
And if those services aren’t enough, there are usually clothing cleaning valet services from the housekeeping staff who clean the rooms and make your bed every day. That could be a robot someday soon, just sayin’!. 🤖
During the pandemic, hotels were one of the first business impacted and testing robots to fold towels.
Another hotel feature is in-room safes that give us peace of mind so we can relax on vacation.
Hotels run a business with consistent features that’s different experience than a short-term rental run by your neighbor .
For short stays, hotels can be less stressful.
And in true Vata fashion on vacation, you don’t mind and like to move around from hotel to hotel, to get a different hotel vibe and soak in a new locale while visiting new places. For others, that may sound like work.
…But, everyone’s a little different. To each her own, and that’s what makes this world go round and each of us uniquely special. 🌍
One things that helps everyone is planning ahead. It comes in handy as it saves time and prevents hassle inconveniences as some need travel items can’t be found in certain places.
For flying travel essentials, I still put the liquids in a zip lock size bag (out of organized habit) and pack it to the rim. But now you can pack many more on your carry-on as long as any one liquid bottle does not exceed the amount limit. That’s something to be happy about. 😊
You can even bring your small liquid soaps, so you don’t have to use the shampoo or hard bar of soap.
So go ahead and add those toiletries you can’t live without to your list now or in your carry-on bag.
Other flying travel essentials includes personal things that calm your senses like essential oils. Vanilla scents will help your anxiety and rose scents for your irritated moments. Those are common feelings you’ll experience on travel.
Also, dryness is usually a part of flying travel life, as the re-circulating air on planes is filtered, but drying and drinking too many liquids mean inconvenient bathroom runs.
Time zones also affect your body in every way. You want to moisturize your thirsty skin after you get settled and after you take a shower especially from a long overnight flight. You can also use a green tea, lavender, or rose face mist that feels soothing to restore a Pitta body.
Stress Reducing Flying Travel Essentials
Jet lag temporary stress doesn’t do body damage like chronic stress, but being on a vacation can produce stressful moments if you get lost, are on a time crunch, or when you’re with a new travel partner where you don’t know what to expect.
Some other common stress-inducing situations:
…Once you leave your house for vacation, your eating times, patterns, and what you eat routine changes as food is prepared for you unless you have access to a kitchen under your temporary vacation roof. But then foraging is always a new adventure. The ingredients consumed are different than back home. Maybe, bring a spice or two that reminds you of home cooking that’ll help calm nerves.
And also pack Ayurvedic spices like turmeric (anti-inflammatory), cumin when it’s Pitta hot, and cayenne pepper when it’s Kapha cool temperatures. Cinnamon is good for Vata and good for a sweet addition and sugar-alternative for beverages
…A home sleeping routine is interrupted. You rarely hear that people naturally slept better on a plane ride than in their bed at home. Bring your ear buds that come in handy in more ways than one.
Flying Travel Essentials: What to Pack in a Carry-on Bag (checklist)
__ Allowable liquids (remembering you’ll have to toss out water or any liquids larger than the size allotted when you get to Security after you airport checkin)
__ Bagged teas for comfort (peppermint tea bags to calm a stomach that’s doing somersaults. Herbal teas are found in most hotels)
__Eye drops and nasal sprays. You can also carry a little coconut oil or Vaseline that isn’t considered a liquid.
__Moisturizing lip balm, sunscreen lip balm, face, and hand moisturizer, and body sunscreen.
__A light essential oil scent like citrus, vanilla, or bergamot for calming. Taking a whiff of peppermint oil helps headaches. Gone are the days when wearing scents on a plane are customary.
__Scarf for coolness. In some countries, they require shoulders to be covered going inside churches so it’s good to have a lightweight one for covering.
__ Compression socks (good for flying where air changes and it gets cold). Wear regular socks on the plane as likely you’ll have to take your shoes off to go through Security. And there’s nothing less comforting than having to walk bare feet on the cold public floor.
__ Gloves for if you get cold hands or it’s winter. An extra pair of gloves is good to bring as sometimes you lose one.
__A squishable hat or ballcap that you can attach to the outside of your bag makes you American, but so adorable. If you have long hair, remember to pack hair ties to keep you cool.
__Vitamins help to boost immunity when you don’t have immunity foods at your convenience and you’re in and around the public more often.
Include: Vitamin C, a mushroom or onion complex, and/or zinc, elderberry. Take extra vitamin C as it’s water soluble and your body naturally rids of any extra (that’s not the case with B, A, and E that are also essential flying travel vitamins you can get in a multivitamin or immunity support supplement that you can dissolve in water).
__Minerals such as magnesium-calcium will help you on travel and with your circadian rhythm. Lavender tea or your Sleepy-time blend of tea can also help your sleeping efforts.
Some other miscellaneous flying travel essentials that are often forgotten, include: tissues, cough drops (in case your throat gets dry), and an apple good when you can’t brush your teeth. It will help clean teeth, so is better than gum.
Check-in bag items:
Water bottles are not always easy to find in some countries outside the U.S. So if you want to be cool, and stay cool, it’s good to bring an aluminum one. Plastic or aluminum ones can be expensive to buy in a pinch. I learned my lesson in Rome when the fountain-style public tap water is potable (safe to drink), but the water bottles for tourists to buy could be as high as $40. You can bring your cooling metal bottle or purchase a collapsible travel bottle to pack in your other bag.
Of course, you can use regular plastic water bottles you buy locally, but your water bottle would look cooler in your memorable photos. 📸
You can also bring cut ginger, to add to your water. This is an Ayurvedic practice. The best way to get the ginger juices out is to chew the piece with your teeth and drink with water.
Ginger is great for morning hygiene and digestion. It’s a good primer before coffee in the morning. Or you can bring ginger spice (to make everything nice) for your long travel adventures.
For in-between meals, oatmeal is a good dry food to bring along as you can usually find warm water in your room from the room coffee/tea maker. Some chain hotels even offer free breakfasts with warm oatmeal or oatmeal packets.
It’s smart to carry nutrition bars just in case you get super hungry, have low blood sugar, or have a drop in potassium.
Carrying bars around even when you’re in town cruising around is a good idea as it won’t ruin your next meal but will tie you over
…I was once in a museum where you had to stand in a line and wait to go in, and the only food they sold in the gift shop was a high sugar candy bar. I could’ve brought a bar and not spent extra minutes moving around.
On travel, you can bring healthy energy powder supplement where you just add water. You can also consider protein powder if you want to squeeze in a run, or a quick workout in your room or the hotel gym. With a full-on meal, you’d have to wait for your food to digest. So powders and bars have their smart use in place!
It’s also a good idea to bring a bathing suit on any trip. I actually pack this in my travel flying essentials bag because it’s so lightweight and I know I’ll need it. Even if it’s winter and not warm beach weather, I find an indoor pool, spa, sauna, hot steam room, or jacuzzi that can be very relaxing and therapeutic. Aaah… I’m dreaming already. And the last thing you want to do is go bathing suit shopping on vacation unless you’re at the beach.
And one last thing…
Pack a pair of flip-flops. They take little bag space and they’re good to walk around with in a room, outdoor patio, or hotel spa (…ahhh!).
And you can wash them off with a little shampoo and water in your hotel room before you can quickly dry them off and put them back in your bag.
You can easily find cheap flip flops for a few bucks in America, in case you don’t want to bring them back home.
And this is a good food-as-medicine bottle to make and bring for your Ayurvedic balance…
Avocados 🥑 are nutri-delicious and you can grow an avocado plant easily from a healthy seed as a heathy real life activity! 🌱
We’re all living out our lives differently, balancing real life vs. virtual world digital life.
What’s exciting today is a brand new day of possibilities.
Exciting to you may mean the idea of being in an amusement park or near ocean waves… or of new sights and sounds in overseas travel or being a comfortable staycation homebody (my world of excitements).
Whatever that eye-popping adventure is for you, believe better ideas are being dreamed up by our organizing Universe for your enjoyment while we’re all sharing some degree of doing home life (and blended WFH life).
Getting off or on your devices can be more of a challenge, and as you hear more stories about people going on social media fasts or sleeping next to their phones.
I personally was getting into my technical groove and all the Zoom-type calls, and then like many others, decided it was time to go back to a simpler, writing stuff down on paper that once upon a time was the only way to communicate full sentences effectively and non-verbally. It can get tiresome waiting for apps to load and overload, and keep up with ongoing update maintenance and daily changes.
And if you settle into your real life vs. digital life right balance and boundaries, the reward can be great:
You’ll be happier and get more restful sleep.
Below I provide some ideas and tips from my own self-discovery of an 80/20, 2020 (tongue twister and year of twisters!) real life vs. virtual world digital balance lessons I learned this past year.
This new communication global society we’re in is here to stay. If you’re not plugged in, you may want to start (or get plugged back in at least with one eye so you don’t get left behind).
If you lean too much away from the digital revolution that can keep you from being relevant in evolving real-life conversations that build upon previous knowledge.
And if you’re spending too much time on your devices, and not petting the dog and taking walks, your overall mental health can be at stake. Developing wellness and personal growth habits lead to success and happiness.
For the first group (I’ll just describe as off the grid), if you’re not checking-in regularly in the social media world, then you want to stick around to the end of this article, so you get a few tips of what people are doing that’s so different than a decade ago online.
Offline (real life), I once had a coworker who had over a dozen healthy plants in her office and as a conversation starter I said to her, “the air in here must be really good!”
She pointed out the growth of specific plants (they were her babies), and how wee-small they were when her daughter was born and now she’s in college. And how her plants are fully grown.
That inspired me to bring in my own house plant as you can never have enough metaphors in life for growth (I think) …And don’t you just miss those deeper connection conversations?
In your WFH living situation, if you grow plants (or A plant) you can breathe in fresh oxygen and exhale the stale air from yesterday. You can start with a simple avocado seed (that even a brown thumb like me can grow).
Lessons Learned From 80/20 Real Life vs. Virtual World
If you want to live more balanced, get more good sleep, and enjoy this life while not missing seasons, creating boundaries is important. As I also learned.
If you find that you’re less than 20% in the real life vs. the virtual world (80% plus), you definitely want to evaluate and change some things so you can “stop and smell the roses” and enjoy your foods, that are not in digital cookies.
That’s what I found my life was becoming in our socially distancing world and while ever evolving new apps started taking center stage (as newer ways to communicate and do virtual events).
So it’s getting complex as we’re learning new habits, there are also new platforms being added that affect our behaviors. And I know from having a busy, complicated life pre-social media days, that simple vs. overwhelm is the formula for life success.
It is reported that Gen Z generations living in this increasingly heavy digital world are reporting their sleep is suffering. Unlike younger and older Millennials (Xennials), they weren’t all born before the internet so they only know the Web 3 world we’re in.
Many of these newer adults would be getting their feet wet in the real-life working environment, and the kids in school if we weren’t socially distanced.
They are experiencing early on as challenges that life can bring. And like all of us, have the opportunity in our actions and beliefs to make lemons out of lemonade in our lives. And that makes them resourceful and stronger.
These days not having digital boundaries is definitely affecting all of us and especially if we decide to stay unaware.
This brings me back to the point of finding the right mix balance.
Getting inspiration to go back to at least 60% real life vs. virtual world is a healthier balance, no matter what your type of work is, for an overall happier life.
Counting and gauging your overall daily hours online is a healthy, first-step awareness exercise.
Your time on Zoom counts as hours. Meeting for coffee in the real world has a different effect than seeing someone on a Zoom screen, where Zoom is no different than the effect of being on the phone with more complex bells and whistles.
This technology is the difference between a two-way conversation podcast and a video. We’ll laugh about this video conferencing tech version one, years from now, when the tech changes again.
Connecting to people in the virtual world saves travel time and the value is the idea exchange, growing further, sharing, and collaborating newborn opportunities and ideas with people around the world.
Balancing the two worlds (real life vs. virtual world) is tricky, but necessary if you want to be part of this evolving and amazing world of possibilities we live in. Personally, I think it’s an exciting time we live in…
And getting mindful of what I was doing, why I was doing it, and pivoting as needed made all the difference.
Counting hours helped me to become aware of my own behaviors, and helped influence me to add back real-world life hours and joy in a safe physical environment.
One thing is, I learned how to use the manual setting on an SLR camera that’s been sitting in a closet for almost a decade dying to be used properly.
Since applying learned camera lessons, I’ve been excited to take photos again.
Another example is, I learned how to use the dough hook that comes with the Kitchen Aid mixer, where I was able to make delicious ciabatta bread.
I invented new smoothies and dips using the Magic Bullet blender and created new yoga poses solving my own aches and pains.
Some come from unused parts of the body aren’t needed to auto-tap buttons and keys on a device. In the real world, we like feeling different textures that create a new experience.
Another idea for plugging into the real world is staying in touch with friends using the phone as a telephone that can remind you of not being alone, which never gets old.
You can drum up new mocktails using barely used tools like a zester in your kitchen drawer and newer ingredients like coconut flour.
There’s always a healthier and more innovative joyful twist around the corner in our innovative real life vs. virtual world. Like, I didn’t know there was a Cara Cara orange variety until I infused them in my low-sugar orange scones.
If you’re a Vata like me, you can see these changing evolutions in the world as good change through the lens of greater variety.
And when adopting enhancements in your adapting life, you probably have progressed more in your life than you give yourself credit for.
Here are some additional positive examples that happened (that maybe you did also in the past year or want to try!):
2020 Pantry Stock (Real life vs. virtual world)
The real life pantry!
I learned how to stock and keep a supply of grocery goods in a closet pantry for convenience (and just in case), that saves time.
While pulling out older items, I took the time to read the nutrition labels and intentionally deciding to keep some of the “bad foods” that’s readily available when we didn’t know if a food shortage could exist.
…They are still joyful foods for kids and we do live in a real world where it’s good to be sensitive to the world’s food insecurities in community, compassion, and empathy, in a kinder-giving and patient world we’re living in and becoming.
Having a pantry makes you appreciate the real world vs. virtual world.
When you leave your digital device and healthy food interweb searches, you get to compassionately learn that food banks have lines and where more expensive healthy meal planning is not the main goal of the average American household.
And when I think back to Pop Tarts or a bag of Tootsie lollipops (off the charts in sugar content), I stop healthy judgment, and feel grounded from my humbled beginnings. These have been popular treats since I was a little girl.
What You Could Do – Daily Real Life vs. Virtual World Changes
You may be in between real life and the digital world, using office store-bought yellow Post-its (the old-fashioned kind) and Asana/Trello digital squares… or you may not even know what those are. That’s how divided our times are becoming. Continue reading “Balance 80/20 Real Life vs. Virtual World Digital Life”
FREE Intermittent Fasting Guide For Healthy Living
