Peach and cherries are summer fruits that pair well together in a bowl. 🍒
Do you experience forgetfulness regularly or daily? Before you start freaking out that you have cognitive decline or dementia running in your veins… or even brain fog that gets described as a common daily symptom… realize that if you worry about this often, then you’re panicking for no reason… as those who aren’t aware are the ones to be more concerned with.
There’s no person out there who has never experienced short-term memory loss or forgetfulness. That’s why we setup reminders so we don’t forget. And why we use calendars to write or type on.
So if you forget easily and often these days, most likely you’re busy, stressed, or not getting enough sleep. And maybe that’s your natural way, as is for Vatas who have this built-in DNA feature along with worry. 🧠
BTW, forgetfulness can sometimes work to your advantage as you recall the important things, and let go of the unimportant ones.
Lists help sometimes and have their place: e.g. grocery store lists, important to-do’s, and details. But lists can also be distractions from priorities.
And some priority items calling you today could lead you to your life of meaning, if that’s important to you. When you focus on the things that matter most in the moment, that’s when you get to experience the best use of your time. You don’t get mired down in what you ought-to-do minutiae that can often turn into negative moods as your good hearted spirit isn’t there.
In balance, daily re-routing your thoughts is healthy along with some planning.
If you’re in the balance flow already allowing in some daily breathing space changes, below are 7 good habits to intake so you never miss anything important!
Plus, the tips (below) can be practical prevention for forgetfulness. You don’t want to leave a bag of groceries or umbrella behind if you can avoid the inconvenience.
You probably don’t remember the first time you forgot something small, but you do remember some of the momentary forgetfulness you experienced in the past as long-term memory is different than short-term blips. It’s just part of the human quirks. None of us are perfect.
When we forget to do something, often the thoughts vanish into thin air or get lost. But instead of beating yourself up, it’s better to think it must not have been important. Because unless it’s a safety hazard, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not important and that helps us with daily contentment and joy.
And sometimes those thoughts reappear later when they are no longer needed. They can confirm how unimportant and no big deal the forgotten is or teach us a lesson to learn about how we can let it go.
Even better, is to set up consistent habits no matter how much you rely on your memory to serve and save you. Consistency will serve you will well in your life, where it’s more important than what you don’t say. And it helps with not forgetting.
Putting focus and energy on being consistent with healthy habits lead to your successful outcomes one (consistent) step at a time.
So here are some habit builds you can make for common important items.
Habit #1: Use a timer for the important items.
For a stove or oven, this can be a matter of safety. There are always interruptions, so setting a timer for your cooking not only gives you perfectly cooked meals, it can save you from burning up the kitchen. And if you’re a Great British Baking Show fan like me, ya know how critical that can be!
And for anything you want to be reminded of you can set a timer. It’s like the trick of tying a string around your finger that some did.
Habit #2: Use a timer when you have a 10-minute break.
Set an egg timer or the timer on your phone when you have minutes until the next activity. More likely than not you will distract yourself in those minutes on your phone or doing something that takes longer than a few minutes. So setting your timer on 9 minutes for a 10-minute break is a good idea to make use of that valuable time and keep track of the minutes. ⏲️
Habit #3: Reminders – write or type reminder notes that you check regularly.
Using the available reminder tools on your phone or tablet is a good habit. Let the reminder ping you on that date/time so you can be in the moment. And that can be a life saver for not missing important events and things to do.
Once you start, reminders are a hard habit to break. When you have a few minutes, you can go over your past and future reminders and sometimes you even pick up new ideas from old reminders. 💭
Habit #4: For your email inbox, use the snooze feature (on some programs, it is represented with a clock icon 🕓).
Snooze reminders are especially good for monthly reminders that are very easy to forget because the habit isn’t frequent enough for you to automatically do. And if forgetting calendar dates is one of your challenges, then this could be a life saver.
When you use a snooze feature, after you complete the task, set the snooze for the next month date. As a bonus, then you won’t doubly forget later whether you competed the task this month as you already set a new future date.
That’s genius… and an assistant assurance better than any AI tool can do! 😉
Habit #5: Have a backup calendar reminder.
Besides your natural memory, a backup reminder like a second calendar to rely on is a best bet, which btw… is s not askng another human to be the calendar. They can just as easily forget, get distracted, or never have prioritized you lists.
It’s a burden when you say: remind me to ______. Unless someone else asks to be used as a calendar or timer, don’t get in this old-fashioned habit that can be disappointing to you and annoying to others in this day and age.
Habit #6: Improve your memory with cardio exercise.
Getting oxygen to your brain helps energize your brain to function better. The more energy you have, the quicker your reaction time is, and sometimes that allows a little break for your brain (like witnessing a break in the clouds) to remember something important.
Plus, walking improves memory, but it won’t necessarily jog your memory. And lowering blood pressure is a good idea that taking a nature walk can help achieve.
Habit #7: Habit stack often.
When you do the activity that you already have a formed habit with and then add your new habit to, it’s proven to be a quicker way to form a habit. It works your automatic memory reflexes that takes less energy.
Animals in the wild do this well. They are natural habit stackers through instincts. They bypass forgetfulness, remembering to stick to what’s simple, natural and essential for survival and thriving in their habitat. Just a thought.
A healthy avocado breakfast to break the sleep fast! 🥑
Whether getting more sleep is on your list of resolutions or wellness intentions this year (or not), you’ll get a new side of sleep… not just back, left, or right but a whole NEW angle (in this week’s blog post article)…
Below, I share about Ayurvedic energy patterns that affect your sleep, and why it matters to your daily energy.
…And a NEW change this year I’ve made that’s revolutionized my sleep. 🎉
And sleep is everything to your body… and to you and me!
Even when it was endorsed and en vogue to sleep less to get more done just a decade ago from what I remember, I never bought into that belief.
I always thought sleep was the best thing ever. Better than sliced bread (which I’ve replaced with homemade bread loaves and airy pizza crust with anti-inflam Brussels sprouts 🥬…that’s not a healthy fad.)🥖
…And sleep isn’t a trendy fad.
Amazing sleep is on my daily bucket list. We never know when will be our last day, and sleep is wellness time spent well.
When you look like a Sleeping Beauty sound asleep, you’re at peace.
…Your conscious mind isn’t running where you have to act or make any decisions.
And even if you don’t love sleep… we HAVE to sleep as part of survival, so our bodies can restore and reset. With all the functions our bodies do second by second, it needs a rest.
And after a good night’s sleep, you naturally have more energy to be productive during the day. You run more efficiently as you gain minutes because you get more done in fewer hours.
And that leaves you less stressed. And to your body, less accumulated stress cuts down on oxidative stress (one of the reasons why we work so hard to eat healthy).
We also know we prevent diseases when we prevent chronic inflammation. And long before I became an advocate for anti-inflammation, I was uneasy with the idea of running on lack of sleep.
Sleeping in occasionally was a weekend luxury (that cost nothing!). It’s a happy feeling not having to look at the clock or having a blaring alarm to artificially wake up to. It’s freedom from a duty activity you have to do, like work or school.
But artificial alarm wake-up time is not the time your body wants to get up. If it’s super early or you had a rough night of sleep, that often shows up as bags and lines under the eyes.
And if giving a presentation was part of the new day, adding a few “get the red eyes” drops always came in handy.
We never wanted to show that we weren’t well rested. And I learned this as a child when school started way before it should be legal for a child to have to get up, LOL.
Before the sun rises is way too early, especially for our growing bodies (and adult bodies) that run best along sunshine/sundown circadian rhythms.
Night-time is nature’s way of preparing us for sleep…. and why in my youthful adult years I always felt tired out at social clubs. But the environment and friends kept me buzzing.
And even way back before those times, when waking up, I learned from teen magazines to take an ice cube and soothingly apply under each eye for a few seconds. Instantly that made you look well-rested even though your mind was still half-asleep…
This is how it felt eyes opened until the time my mind and mind-body caught up.
I wasn’t one of those kids whose parents introduced caffeine or coffee to them. My 90-year-old immigrant parents have still never had coffee or a soda EVER as far as I’m aware.
They didn’t grow up with it. And I didn’t either. I only started enjoying daily cuppa joes well into my adult years.
And this is my joyful daily routine over alarms.
…So as a schoolgirl, like many American kids in public schools, I had a bowl of cereal with milk and some juice for breakfast. That was supposed to tie me over until lunch.
By 8 am when I was at school, I plowed through the tiredness. There wasn’t another choice. From what I remember, putting your head down on your desk was only done when we had a classroom survey where we raised our hands anonymously.🙋🏻♀️ Or maybe used as a timeout tool that I never experienced. I was an obedient kid. 😁
And then after 11 am, my full day’s energy kicked in. 🤸🏻
But I noticed I was still alert for morning tests as you don’t need high energy to take tests. You need the answers from the mind. And sometimes our teachers gave us a Jolly Rancher candy for our veins so we stayed awake.
Then by the afternoon school lunch, the food that finally entered my stomach sunk like lead and I felt like crashing in the afternoon. (Now as an adult I know it was the heavy, processed carb meals from school lunches that caused the blood sugar rush).
And the change in pace from class and lunch socializing with friends didn’t help either to swing back into learning. Post-lunch, my mind was ready to shut down. (Today, we know it’s part of the gut-mind connection).
…It’s like going to a social event or a game where you’ve eaten party food and then trying to study. That doesn’t work too well if at all.😏
But that was the school’s schedule, and so that was my daily agenda. Priorities misaligned, they put school-age-kid bus schedules in front of the kids they serve.
…And if school started later in the day, school-age kids would have a better chance of getting enough sleep. We need a new sleep revolution in our society starting from a young age.
But that’s a whole ‘nother topic… and this isn’t a rant or discussion about revolutionizing schools.
Outside of school and those years, today we have better food and meal choices. And food is still one of the 4 basic needs along with water, shelter, and clothing.
And sleep should be on that list as a #5.
If you’re a naturally inconsistent sleeper, then likely you’re a natural Vata body where you wake up earlier one day over the next. Each night of sleep is an adventure as it varies.
We can’t change the way we naturally feel. So this stacks against us to be daytime productive unless we learn to use our natural bodies to our advantage.
These are some natural (circadian rhythm) times when we want to lean into each of our Ayurveda dosha “personalities”:
From 6 am – 10 am, if you’re up, that’s Kapha time. And from 10 am to 2 pm is Pitta time. (And as a child, a mind-productive time in the late morning thanks partially to the mind-body connection).
From 2 – 6 pm, Vata time kicks in. Naturally, Kapha-heavy bodies can want to take a nap while the Vata is still alert.
Example: I’m a dominant Vata body, so I enjoy working during those energy-filled afternoon hours (after I’m done with a Kapha coffee morning ☕️). But occasionally if my Kapha is imbalanced and high, then I can feel tired the whole day.
…Not revelationary, but an interesting perspective, huh?
And unless you feel imbalanced, daily tired, or low on energy, then don’t lose sleep over the Ayurveda time concept and idea that’s probably newer to you.
But if you do want to make changes as I do as life-healthy prevention and daily productivity, then you can try something new or a bio-hack that works…
Especially since winter and age are not on our side. We can be more sluggish to make changes. And our bodies want to sleep in but we want consistent sleep year-round to fit our schedules and lives.
…So what I did this month was I started fasting (time-restricted eating) a couple of days of the week on certain weeks of the month.
I sleep peacefully well on fasting nights ( like Sleeping Beauty described earlier). And my body needs less winter sleep (and the same 7, maybe 8 hours amount of sleep I prefer consistent year-round that’s also experienced in fall, spring, and summer).
And the day after fasting I feel naturally more energetic and more alert. Look forward to my fast day tomorrow! …and I’d love to know if that’s something you’ve tried or are doing (…maybe for the same reasons I’m doing or as part of a new year weight loss plan).
I’ll share more of my journey in the weeks to come. Until then, have a peaceful and blessed week! 🙏
If you work with a computer, chair yoga poses will be a lifesaver since your shoulder, neck, and back posture are compromised. And if that’s your daily work ritual, then these poses described below will help…
Towards the end, you’ll also learn what structure I think in Liverpool (that’s home to The Beatles band) is an inspiration for a special yoga pose at day’s end!
…oh, and I won’t even let Sir Paul McCartney ruin it as he’s looking pretty calm and relaxed here in his leaning pose outside the Liverpool cavern he used to play at. 😀
…His work, btw, at Abbey Road wasn’t one like the modern worker. And if you’re working in an office, most likely you’re not just leaning around with nothing to do.
In any day, your body is under stress and experiencing some form of tension even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time.
And especially if you’re in front of a computer, it’s smart to invest in a desk keyboard and keyboard rolling tray for your desk.
You don’t want to type long form on your laptop’s keyboard if that’s your habit… or a keyboard that sits on your lap… or even on top of a desk where your wrists are unnaturally raised.
…Those were all big no-no’s that I learned the hard way.
Small, but repetitive moves wreak havoc on your wrists, neck, shoulders, and back over time. That’s what happened to me for one season… where I had daily pain in my upper arm from the repetitive typing motions.
Then I learned to stop and do yoga, and bend my right wing (arm) in just the right way to restore the stress pain daily.
Now that’s a smart move… combining yoga and therapy all in one without having to leave my chair or spend a dime 😉
I also recommend a rectangular pillow on the small of the back. Remember, your lower back supports your mid to upper back and everything above, so treat it carefully.
But even with the right ergonomic office tools and desk alignment, you’ll still find chair yoga moves super helpful in your day.
Chair Yoga Poses 🪑
Just like it sounds, chair yoga you may have heard of is done in your chair.
You could set a reminder every hour to do some chair yoga. …or when you take a sip of your warm beverage …or are waiting for the computer screen to refresh or take action.
For starters, turn your neck to look out your left and right sides.
That also gives you an opportunity to take a quick looksy outside your window and see what’s happenin’ or around your room for an eye break.
Then, tilt your head down to each shoulder from side to side, and look up toward the ceiling.
Roll your neck in a circular motion from front to back and reverse the roll. That should feel reallygooood!
And when you’re warmed up…
You can do a variation of a Cow face pose that you would normally do on a mat, but you can do it in your office chair too. You can do the pose with the top half of your body where you reach one arm over your shoulder to your back, and then grab the opposite arm and hand coming from underneath your back on the opposite side.
If your hands don’t meet or clasp at the fingers, you can use a towel as a prop to grab onto. One side is usually tighter than the other. Keep trying. And alternate sides. Your shoulders should feel instantly better.
This is a great chest opener for rounded shoulders that are usually rolled forward on a computer desk.
When you breathe, you can use “moo” as your “om” exhale sound for this pose. Now you won’t forget the name of this Cow face pose. 🐮
Cow face also helps to reverse your arm tension that’s usually swinging in forward motion.
[Just FYI, it’s good to send your arms behind you or your back whenever you can. You could grab your opposite elbows behind your back as an easy way… or grab and pull on the top of a chair with each arm for some resistance.]
For your body’s good, keep body parts movin’ so you don’t hear hard snap, crackle, pop sounds that mean you’re really tight and need mooo-re stretching in those areas.
To silence crunchy sounds if you’ve experienced those, I always start off by thinking about what body parts feel tension without movement …and then move and wiggle around a little to see what feels good.
Your body is intuitive for you. And some people’s muscles are more stretchy, so don’t compare yourself to what others can do.
And if it feels good to you, then it’s doing you good!
And from there… I figure out what needs to happen. If you’ve been doing yoga for a while or know various yoga poses, then you can think of specific poses. But if you can’t, then you can either follow the poses prescribed or flow poses like I’m giving here.
Or just make up your own. Stretching doesn’t always have to have a name, but most standing, sitting, and laying down on front or back poses do have a name.
And here are a few more office chair moves that you can for chest and shoulder openers:
Have prayer hands behind your back like in Camel pose I mentioned last time about travel yoga poses you can take with you.
And in the spirit of chair yoga, another great one is having raised Cactus arms to your sides. You raise your arms to your sides like Airplane arms and then bend them so they’re in an “L” shape beside your shoulders (palms facing forward).
You may be thinking you’re not really doing anything good to your body if you’re in a chair and not doing active poses on a mat, but any movement that takes your weight off your body in places and spaces carrying your own body weight helps your body.
…That’s one reason we sleep laying down and not actively seated where tension is added to the body so it can rest-reset-restore.
So yes, just sitting is work for your body! Tell that to your boss 😉
Away From Office Chair Yoga Poses
And away from your chair, you get up, you can stop and do a Mountain, Tree, and Chair pose (I call it “the invisible chair” without a chair)… always good for any prolonged sitting activity.
You could try a creative Mountain-Tree-Chair pose variation. I made this one up where I fold my leg on top of my opposite thigh, bend down in an invisible chair pose and raise my arms to the ceiling.
This does a world of good for your entire body and you can do this while you’re watching television and transform into a one-of-a-kind chair if you want to get off the couch potato pose. 🥔
And at the end of the long day, when you get yourself to a yoga mat, a great neck reversing restoring pose is laying down in Fish pose.
Lay face up on your mat with your elbows lifting most of your back up to your head off the mat. And then let your neck gently hang like a rag on a laundry line, so that you’re looking upside down at the opposite side of the room.
Fish pose on a clothes line 😊
This takes the weight and pressure off your neck.
Then take a rest pose moment.
And when you feel ready, raise up into your Bridge pose… and when you come back down onto your mat, next time go for the high-energy arms Wheel pose, that’s amazing for stretching your back and giving you a burst of energy. You might be surprised at how high you can go, and freeing it feels to let your head and hair hang down!
In Wheel pose, I think of a Ferris wheel and how grand and controlled they look. This is the Liverpool one on the pier. Remember I mentioned I would share a ‘lil yoga inspiration.
The view from above ferris wheels is different from that below. And you can end your day on a high note even if it was spent in an office chair all day. 🎡
This week, I’m breaking down the secrets of Ayurveda and how it can free you from feeling stuck. And how it restores calm, improves mind-body health, and allows for daily creativity which leads to your best life new opportunities, and passions.
…Plus, I’ll clear up the common confusion about Ayurveda if you’re wanting to learn more… and how you can apply simple, but completely effective Ayurveda ways to your lifestyle where you’re at… and with a special invitation offer below.
Last time, in Part 1 of Ayurveda, I talked about why you want to care about the mind-body connection. If you missed that blog post or aren’t sure, you can go back and read that one too as it could make a game-changing difference in getting your best life today…
I also shared how change and permanence are part of the natural order in this life. They keep us going and growing.
You get to choose whether you want to do this life holding onto anxiety, fears, or worry, or letting them go daily for your emotional freedom and better moods.
…You can restore daily calm even with life chaos happening around you. That’s a healthy choice.
You can change how anxiety, overwhelm, irritations, and triggered situations stick to you when they don’t have to …but, interruptedly rear their ugly head into your system and you just want them to go away!
As humans, we experience these negative emotions to varying degrees. And everyone grows weary and tired at some point.
And, that’s when we want to be vigilant to snap out of those emotions after we purge, process, and know what’s behind them so we can take necessary action, and so that we don’t stay stuck in those places any longer than necessary.
…How?
You step out and sidestep into your daily calm and productivity with the strategy of partnering with your mind-body to soothe and get the most out of the situation and your life… with small effort and adding healthy enhancements.
At some point, you probably figure(d) out that Life is about being in the process. And filled with trying lessons.
Sometimes it can take several similar, but different scenarios to play out to catch onto the lesson and make changes for a better today, tomorrow, and life.
But, when you see your part and role in what happens next, your eyes are open and you can apply wisdom. That takes awareness in the moment or in reflection.
And if you have knowledge or know what to do, you can save yourself from unnecessary pain… and sometimes your life. Like if caught in a rip current wave, you survive by not panicking, calling for help that’s nearby, and swimming parallel to the shore if you can.
You also can survive your daily life situations and undesired moods weighing you down if you know what to do.
Getting through your non-life threatening situations can be challenging for a day or two, as moods can stick like mud, but don’t have to play out and grow into a season!…
And you don’t want them to, because health and stress are on the line, and your moods can worsen and influence you to make poor decisions and miss out on great opportunities.
[In physical health terms, moods are like inflammations… you want them out or on the way out within a few days, or else it could spread like poison ivy inside and become a bigger problem.]
But the really good news here is… you can nip-in-the-bud those less-than moods weighing you down as easily as they entered.
How?…
Co-create the right and comfortable environment that your mind-body wants, and therefore is what you also want!
Remember, you are not your mind-body. Your mind-body runs 24×7 and never shuts off when you’re asleep. Keeping your mind-body in mind (no pun intended), for your optimal life you want to do what will turn things around fastest for you.
That doesn’t mean you need to move or uproot your lifestyle, that just means a few healthy tweaks that your daily mind-body wants.
Ayurveda (the science of life) helps to restore and bring natural balance and order back into our lives despite constantly changing situations… and naturally, the way it’s intended.
In our work-life balance modern world there seems to be a gadget for everything to solve our daily problems and make life easier and help us live longer. But we don’t always use (and sometimes ignore) the most effective tool that’s already built inside us!
In Western world, our health is often seen through the lens of food, fitness, wellness, and self-care. In our healthy efforts, we don’t always get to the root cause and directly restore or heal what our mind-body needs. And that can lead to a long (sometimes painful) season.
…BUT be encouraged, it’s restorable and not your fault!
As you have free will to choose. You do what you feel like doing or think will help based on the (limited) knowledge you have at the time.
And also because…
Our Western Society… The Good and Bad
Conditioning that you and I have received since we were children, that goes like this… Oh, the doctor will fix that…
And as an adult, if you were sent home with a prescription for resting or exercising more, you’d be dissatisfied as most of us know that’s helpful but not what we want from our doctor. We expect a procedure, prescription, or two.
The problem is your body doesn’t want medicines if it can handle the foreign body disruptor on its own. But we don’t know what exactly our body needs because we can’t talk to our body or get inside for those knowing answers.
So, our common Western way is curing with medicines, “just in case,” and because we’re conditioned to expect those protocols.
But, too many antibiotics in the system damage gut health, and surrounding systems that alter your body. Good probiotics can only help so much to reverse effects.
So that’s the bad, but there’s a lot of good in medicine…
Like when used for a disease outbreak where massive chaos in the body has already erupted and medical intervention is needed. Your body needs help.
We can learn from Steve Jobs’ story in more than his genius Apple tech abilities. He passed away too young from cancer. Wisdom leaves clues.
Western medicine doesn’t usually prescribe natural herbs to cure cancer or other diseases.
Anything supernatural can happen in our favor at any time, but that’s not the common or wise protocol. God created doctors and gave us our brains to make good decisions to see doctors when needed.
…So then where does Ayurveda (science of life) fit in?
Ayurveda’s sweet spot is in health prevention, and helping change unwanted common everyday moods and annoying flare-ups.
It’s risky for most conditions that require medical attention. …and I wanted to clear up in case that wasn’t clear and obvious. So good, now you know what Ayurveda is good for…
Ayurveda works for what it’s meant for. But as a practice, not mentioned much in our society partly because prevention can’t be measured. And that’s not where medicine focuses attention.
So, it can get brushed aside or seen as a health fad.
…Even though Ayurveda has been around working as an Ancient healing system for thousands of years.
People smartly use it as part of their daily healthy lifestyle.
They can be part of the routines and habits we stack and track in our day.
When you have a healthy lifestyle and know how to use Ayurveda in your daily life, then you’re better off leaning into your balanced natural essence. There are no downsides to report.
And a decade later… in my opinion, it’s still the “best-kept secret.” And why I’m unpacking it here.
Your mind-body is a direct source that knows what it needs… and Ayurveda cracks that code.
Enter Eastern-Western Ayurveda Awareness
American society tends to lump natural, holistic, alternative medicines, and Ayurveda as mystical and woo-woo, when really what Ayurveda needs is rebranding.
Ayurveda is not just what you see as available products on the market.
Two things that could make people iffy in the beginning about Ayurveda (I know I was!) are:
1.. Messy oils, strange elixirs, and take-time-out routines. They don’t always mesh well in a Western modern society that’s go-go-go where schedules are filled to the brim and even fitting in eating can be trying.
2. Silent practices when you don’t have a door that stays closed or that can shut out the world around you. And without a list of to-do’s or worries for the day running in your head.
Those daily practices are more Eastern (slower-pace life) than Western techniques.
And what works in Ayurveda for Western-style living and restoring mind-body techniques, can be woven into your busy day with very little effort or inconvenience.
You can skip the Eastern-style practices and you won’t be missing a mood-improvement beat… I promise!
And some universal practices you may already be doing sometimes or regularly… like, yoga is a today-popular Western Ayurvedic general practice. Sometimes you have time to fit in, and sometimes you don’t, but it’s not the end-all-be-all to making moment-to-moment restoring changes because yoga reset to feel-good feelings lasts for a 90-minute class, a cup of tea, and maybe a relaxing spa visit, but then you’re back to your life, triggers and interruptions in your mind, and your work.
Even though I love yoga!… maybe you too?
In 2008, there were few studios when I had to search around so I’m glad it has taken root.
Another popular example is eating plant-based anti-inflammatory foods. Yup, that’s part of a healthy Ayurvedic lifestyle. Wherever you are, you have access to markets, online stores, farms, and gardens (…or you can start your own).
…So you may already have a ‘lil Ayurveda in you! 😉
…So, is an Ayurveda lifestyle right for you?
These are questions you can ask yourself and things to think about:
Are you interested in preventative health?
Are you interested in unleashing more daily creativity?
Are you a lifelong learner who is open to the deeper self?
And do you want to live sustainably healthier and longer?
…Like Blue Zone Centenarians who live healthy lifestyles that are part of their culture. They don’t live like most Americans (and not even the Adventist Health Blue Zone community in California).
Some live more simply, slower lives, eating from the land, and need less mood restoring without all the complicated high tech. 😉
And so many countries rank higher in longevity than the States, that’s ranked closer to the bottom. That’s a hard pill to swallow considering all the conveniences we have.
…Even though I can’t imagine my identity with any other culture.
So I added Ayurveda into my lifestyle to make up for the deficit.
And you can too. The thing is… you’re probably already habitually doing Ayurveda to some degree in your healthy every day routine. You’ve been using all your senses since you were born.
…But probably not for balancing moods consistently as you didn’t know what really works with your specific mind-body, type, and imbalance combinations you’re experiencing. That’s really what it boils down to.
And when you do change your moods and imbalances, then you can get to your inner creative self more easily and consistently.
Creativity Inside Us
Sometimes there’s a creative block. And we don’t know what we don’t know could be, or are missing out on our greatest passions that give us joy.
I was creatively mind-blocked in my corporate management work life.
I couldn’t be fully creative beyond short spurts of free time where I delved into hobbies for creative outlets.
In those few moments, I experienced calm, joy, and felt weight off my shoulders. I could get into a creative flow where I lost track of time and those were usually well into the weekend or on a Sunday.
…Have you been there or can relate?
Unleashing the creativity inside feels free-ing. And when I got longer stretches of time away from work, I realized I had creative hidden talents I didn’t even know I had, that were waiting inside me for the right-ready time.
…And you do too. Plus, ones that you haven’t uncovered because you have gotten there yet to take action.
After you remove the anxious, stressful, and overwhelming layers and feelings, you can get a direct path to your creative juices and energy.
That’s your ticket to your happiest and best life. When you feel lighter and good, you feel on top of the world.
You feel empowered at the very least, and maybe even superpowers to take on activities you didn’t know you could perform (like sing or dance… you get the point).
And that’s a time when you get the most out of your life and push the pedal forward and make breakthroughs.
It’s the opposite of these types of common feelings (that keep you uninspired and stagnant):
–Tired: where you don’t want to do much let alone work on a creative pursuit. You lack energy but with a good night’s rest you can be renewed and passion-filled again if you’re re-energized, aren’t triggered, feeling burnout, or are depressed.
–Anxious: where you’re trying to manage your anxiety symptoms to stay afloat… trying to stay relaxed while your body-mind takes over. That’s a bad time to make good decisions, let alone try and be creative.
–Irritated: where you’re trying to get over negative feelings and a critical-judgmental mind that permeate your system when energizing the wrong thoughts. Good creativity doesn’t emerge in non-loving attitudes.
But, you can change the channel or get your relaxed self back as quickly as you got in your tense state. Like in the shower, the ideas can come. Or in a joyful activity where you lose track of time.
And, if you’re feeling balanced and calm throughout the day as the normal way, that changes everything. You can switch to your creative self when you want without losing valuable time.
And those steps take you to your next move in life, passions, and pursuits.
And if that’s where you are ready to go and be your very best today, but maybe feeling off or not quite there yet, start with the body balance quiz that shows symptoms on the body as part of the mind-body connection.
And in creativity, I made this swirly dessert (nostalgic of Cherry Garcia and the tie die T-shirt era…). 🍥
Himalayan pink salt relaxes the body and is soothing for feet and toes
Are you feeling as productive as you had been? If not as much, maybe this short article will help you to find more peace this season, do the things in your life that matter (and feel more relaxed!). It’s okay to be uncertain, as we’re all pivoting in some ways.
And hopefully you’re still chasing dreams and desiring a better-than-you-started-future outcome, as your optimistic beliefs will carry you far.
These days you may have to work a little harder to break through the clouds for victories, but they’re there.😊
What could be helpful for you?
First, focus on the right things.
The idea is to be daily productive and develop better ways than in your past. Spend your time wisely, being conscious to not just take on anything put in front of you. Thankfully we’re not robots. We can change our paths. And that includes old ways that don’t serve us anymore. There’s nothing wrong with evolving that helps you grow.
Sure, life can be easier in a routine and automatic existence, but trying to live in a predictable bubble is not the whole life. It’s also unrealistic in our unpredictable world and can set up for disappointment.
…When you’re open, loosening the reigns allows you to explore and discover more about yourself and the world around you. Letting go of the past makes life easier and to be able to roll with the punches.
It’s also much healthier to not live with negative emotions, ongoing stress, anxiety, or irritation from situations or people. Kind confrontation is better than showing anger, seething, or holding onto stress that no one else knows about.
I used to not like change because I’m a planner. That was the type of work I did too. But then I experienced situations where change turned out good so my “all change is bad” theory was busted. And I realized holding onto the past was fearful thinking. When I let go of what I couldn’t change, life got better. And life is good. And that could be for you too.
And you probably know what that feels like.
Secondly, begin with the end.
From the time we were young kids, we were taught to think in a linear way and to look ahead at tomorrow (or at adult profession dreams when we were way too young to know the realities or what we really wanted).
Today as an adult, a better call is to look at the happiest outcome of your entire life… through the end. Of course, your perspective will change over the years, but for now, you can consider the question: what legacy do you want to leave? In other words, what do you want to be remembered for? When you look at it that way, you cut through the stuff you’re preoccupied with today that won’t matter or be as important in the end.
Here’s something you can do today if that’s something you’re trying to answer (or want to discover better ideas about your best life):
Be more relaxed.
You get your best ideas when you and your mind are relaxed and receptive to thoughts from your loving-productive channel.
You’re most relaxed when you’re sleeping, but you’re not able to process your thoughts then and there. Asleep, you can’t really work with those ideas that come in dreams even if they seem productive.
…Btw, I wanted to mention, this is a two-part post. The second part will be about changing, unproductive non-loving thoughts. I think it’s important because that’s where the daily brain can live a good chunk of the day and block out your good ideas if you’re not managing thoughts optimally.
So, getting back to productivity and being relaxed…
When you’re awake you can do two activities at once. Multi-tasking can be productive or counterproductive. Maybe you’re a natural multi-tasker. That’s me too, my female-Vata side is wired that way, and to like variety. But there are times when multi-tasking is counterproductive like when you’re trying to read and write at the same time, watch television or listen to a podcast. Those competing activities create noise in your mind as you have to work twice as hard to drown out one to focus on another.
But when you pair a relaxing activity that you can put on auto-pilot, like thinking through an idea while taking a shower or making your daily tea, new ideas mysteriously and creatively emerge that weren’t there before.
That’s why it’s good too to take mindful breaks, switching up activities to recharge and let new ideas enter. One idea can set you off on a whole new path.
Recently over the past few years, people have changed their thoughts and perspectives on this life: seeing it more precious, valuing time more, and seeing how quickly it goes by.
In our western go-go-go society, it’s common to be unhappy in the corporate world. That’s where I came from. The more you did and proved your value, the more you could be indispensable (although nobody really is).
The pressure was always there running as an undercurrent. Potentially losing a job for whatever reason was always a looming threat to job security.
And vacations were almost always too short and few. Relax was a bad word in those environments. It was associated with being lazy and there was no spinning the idea of laziness as productive. Laziness was associated with old age, not working, and 4-legged furry pets.
Unhealthy burning the midnight oil, drinking multiple espressos, sugary canned drinks, cramming food down, skipping meals to get more done, and eating junk to get us through, was a growing epidemic.
So hopefully those were our past ways. One good outcome from being more awake and slowing down (and maybe that’s how you are now) is people are taking the burden off their bodies. We were never meant to have a 24-7-on all the time work-focused mind.
If the body doesn’t want to naturally do this, that’s a sure health warning. Now we’re reconsidering our lives and what we want now and in the future.
And you can leverage these evolving societal changes and reconsider time for your best use.
Finding time throughout the day to do nothing that needs broadcasting (like relaxed yoga poses, napping, meditation, or watching shows) is a good use of time that can lead you to new ideas. And then you can get back to being busily productive as part of the balance.
And if you’re a recovering 24-7 workaholic, you may never want to go back to a rat-race existence if that’s what you had. You’ve learned some lessons and now know a better way. And you’re smart not to want to go back. You don’t get to redo any age.
Going back would be like wearing a worn-out and familiar old shoe that no longer looks right on you. Today, you can retire those shoes, and run with a new pair to get to a better place. And don’t be too surprised when new ideas meet you there on your next move. 🎉
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