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Category: Habits

10 Breathing Exercises, Better Sleep, and Healthy Habit Tips

 

Without needing breathing exercises, we forget how automatic and important breathing is. Sometimes our breathing pattern or air changes wake us up to get back to our healthy breath awareness in this moment. Our breathing can easily remind us of our precious moments and the finite time we have on earth.

And in healthy reminders, I wanted to breathe some good tips your way!

…Breathing is everything life. It’s how the earth began:

“God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

With climate change, wildfires, and spring green pollen allergy dust in the air at high levels (over 10), many of us are affected from the lungs and neck up.

I suspected allergies was affecting my sleep as I was clocking in about the same amount of hours from night to morning and not feeling as rested. 

I had been documenting a healthy 8 hours of sleep time on my Apple Watch and tracker.

I noticed my body runs best when I have 5 hours of restful sleep that’s also tracked.) And choosing a life with less stress and more balance, 7 hours is a good enough rhythm.

And something for you to clock in because stress and sleep is related.

Observe Your Sleep

While tracking a few nights for awareness, I observed I was getting less restful sleep and more light sleep. Hmmm… I thought, I wonder why that is?

All things being equal, I wanted to test the hypothesis that I had shallow breathing at night.

It dawned on me that my deep rest (restful sleep) may have been lessened by the shallower breathing or less air going into my lungs, as I breathed through my slightly congested nose.

Btw, breathing in air through your nose is a much better way than through your mouth as it is known to help increase memory. You have a filter in your nose that you don’t in your mouth. You can Google that if you want scientific-backed evidence.

These are 10 breathing exercises and habit tips for healthy living: Continue reading “10 Breathing Exercises, Better Sleep, and Healthy Habit Tips”

Shower Thoughts For Self-Care and Creative Day

Shower thoughts often give us new and creative ideas because in the shower we’re relaxed and that’s good daily self-care.

Sometimes that brings a smile and a laugh to our day.

Bring on the feel-good water sprinkle! 🚿

self-care and shower thoughts

We can wash away our anxious thoughts temporarily.

And, you can get the dual benefit of self-care and shower thoughts from your  shower experiences. This article is how to embrace and bring more shower thoughts alive!

A shower can be both a sauna and steamy therapeutic experience more powerful than taking a walk outside.

You can turn showers into a productive ritual in your mindfulness where you’re focused in the moment.

Mindfulness is full of physical and mental health benefits in the mind-body connection you may not have known about.

When you feel good, that shows up as good happy feelings, but also as healthy in and on your body. In other words, your skin radiates too when you’re feeling good.

Plus, when you get shower clean, you’re washing away bacteria on your skin accumulated from sweat and dirt and maybe why you got in the shower as a daily ritual in the first place.

Another benefit to a shower is you can check in with your internal body thermostat temperature.

If your body feels warm when it’s cold outside, that could indicate an irritated Pitta emotional state for your season (or until your situation changes).

If you’re cold when it’s warm outside, then you could be feeling worried or anxious in Vata or depressed or tired in Kapha, as examples.

Your body leaves clues and you want your shower temperature to be a reminder and one solution to what you’re positively feeling and hoping to achieve this season.

With the right water temperature hitting your skin, you feel good, so that relaxes you all-around to allow good thoughts and creative ideas to come into your mind more easily.

Your brain feels safe and free from defense fight-or-flight mode. So then you can safely let your guard down in room seclusion.

Your spirit alignment can also come alive as you get deeper into your heart’s desires. These ideas also help you manifest your want to a life of purpose.

When relaxed, here are 3 things you can do productively:

1.You can get your best ideas in the shower when you least expect them. You can come up with new ideas while performing self-care practices.

When allowing in shower thoughts, you can get creative and adventuresome ideas for your projects, next trip, food and daily plans, and even solutions to problems you haven’t solved.

A-ha solutions can appear when you’ve forgotten you had a dilemma but were reminded at the moment. With time and space, your brain is seeking a different angle, perception, or perspective that allows these memories to pop up.

2.You can reset your daily intentions in the shower. You can change  you style approach in a situation using self-care and shower thoughts.

If you’re trying to stop knee-jerk reactions or blurting out often, you could exert self-control by thinking the word “jerk” is not what you want to be, and maybe that helps you change your patterns for the better.

Sometimes we lean into being hard on ourselves for our good, so we can get over the hump of missing the mark.

3.You can pray in the shower and get loving thoughts in return, similar to ideas but they can be more focused on growing yourself and handling relationships in your life.

You can get mental self-care and shower thoughts.

You can exchange critical-judgmental thoughts for open suggestions from your mind and what others have given. That’s a good way to cool off the Pitta mind.

Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!

Heart and soul is a part of our bodies that we can’t see, but we can feel daily. Pizza is heart and soul food (recipe below for making a heart shaped pizza 🧡).

This sky painting over the water is heart and soul spirit in one.A daily heart and soul-centering check-in can change your life! You could be an old soul or have an old soul like some of us who remember young life before the internet.

…I remember when I first started out working and ambitiously I thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. It didn’t take many years before I shifted my priority to wanting better work-life balance.

And with those intentions, I career pivoted that gave me that outcome. But had I not picked my head up to see what my heart and soul was telling me (and now I know my spirit was helping me), I would’ve missed the message about finding time to work on me. Personal growth was something I had to go outside of work to find in volunteering and discovering myself.

It’s never too early to start checking in. Maybe now is a good time to set this priority in your life as you had to rethink parts of your life in 2020, along with everyone else (so you’re in good company!).

There were many external changes made affecting your life, that you had no control over, and may help you later on in ways you may not see how yet at this moment.

So for now, you can just keep going, growing, and focusing on creating the best that your life offers in abundant possibilities that you put intention to until the next step. There’s always a next step when the timing is right.

It’s better to think this optimistic way and joyfully pivot into your forming newer overall life, including work, relationships, passion, and purpose, so you can enjoy the process with greater ease (and not create unnecessary dis-ease or woes-me feelings).

That doesn’t mean you don’t have varying feelings with so many gray areas and small decisions you need to make, but that you’re finding your happier way now in the process (and possibly then seeing through a different lens than the one you may have been previously looking from).

I provide a lasting impactful way to do a heart and soul check-in, further below. ⬇️

Encouragement: Our Society, You, and Your Gained Ideas

In America, convenience is at our fingertips, and many of us started last year to positively lean into our interests, curiosities, and skills development.

You may have learned how to grocery shop differently, cook meals, bake your own bread, and learn new digital skills as a way to communicate with the rest of our virtual world and the local community.

You picked up other life skills that everyone needs so you could stay relevant.

You may have even discovered or rediscovered a few passions and hobbies, and read more books than you sought out originally to do. Those were some of the common gains for many of us.

All was not lost in our home life, and more has been gained (and is being gained) in our overall lives if we choose to focus on the higher lens way of living.

It’s helpful for you to reflect and personally remind yourself of the progress over perfection you’ve made, so you can stay feeling uplifted in your spirit. It’s too easy to get sourly influenced in our culture.

You can be less on guard, open up to your authentic self and reap the benefits in a new era where we’re all finding our way in many ways.

Over the past year especially, you may have changed some lifestyle habits or behaviors that you like, that work better, and that you decide to keep forever.

And you may have gained clarity about what you want in the next chapter of your life. Even though you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t challenged to do so. But you can use your situation to your good advantage!

You may even have found the better way, and experienced that good changes in your life can show up as a combination of thinking, doing, and feeling what is right for you. You get internal clues and they can help you find your second or next act.

If you took or take your connect-the-dot lessons one step further, you can reflect on how you felt about what you first thought about specific ideas. You can then take another brave leap of action so you can try and replicate best practices and discover even more new ways, as our world is evolving. This creates innovation and gives you a better way of doing things.

For example, you’re inspired to try a new recipe and that seemed to work out and made you happy, so the next time you tweak the recipe and create something new and different that you enjoy. This works the same with a new workout, new route, or a new passion project you’re developing. Variety and innovation keep you making progress!

And that’s how personal growth attitudes and creative progress are fed and can seep into every fiber of your life if you’re open to new ways and ideas.

New ideas can take time to form in the process and as you start dabbling with curiosity, you can become less intimidated to make mistakes. That’s how you grow and learn.

In this forming introspective way of life, you can also dig deeper into yourself to find what gives you more meaning and joy than what you previously found made you happy, as you become more of who you are and will become.

You can also reach higher levels of contentment and then feel fewer emotional ups and downs.

Many positive changes can be happening all at once in this complex life, with yourself and your life.

You may have even re-thought your life’s retirement plans and this year’s optimistic and realistic plans. And you’ve probably learned to be more grounded in reality and to get back to simple basics, focusing on what actually is happening to you and around you.

As a global society, we’re still not able to freely travel and create safe, live events. From these changes, new ways have been born and are birthing, such as the newer apps where you’re entering live global event conversations safely and without travel hassles.

You could use the saved travel time and energy to work on your life, to double down on a new purposeful trajectory, or seek a new mission in your life.

Just one idea can change your life and if you have an extra few minutes, that could be the difference-maker in your life.

So where would you spend those extra minutes? Here’s what I do and what I suggest.

Prioritize a Daily Heart and Soul Check-in

Especially as we’re all distracted, prioritizing a heart and soul check-in can be the best way to (re)focus on your life.

Below you can be reminded or learn to take a specific step for long-term impact and to find your daily heart and soul-filled joy, peace, and balance. Continue reading “Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!”

From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life

sabbatical rainbow

Retirement financial guru David Bach is known for “The Latte Factor” on how to save money. Maybe you saw him on Oprah as I did back in the day?

Fast forward years later, he went from burnout to sabbatical living. In hindsight, he now calls a sabbatical “the magic pill” to happiness.

He mentioned in interviews that it all began when his wife asked him what he wanted for one of his birthdays, and he expressed a desire for full-time off from work.

And so that’s just what he did, although he still had to convince himself to get off his busy work train.

Taking time off in a restful sabbatical isn’t a common practice for Americans. There aren’t too many role models to follow. Retirement after 60 and beyond is still the American norm.

Like David Bach, more go-getters in the prime of their career are opening up to this approach to a healthier lifestyle to recharge somewhere in the middle, make life impact changes, and gain clarity about their remaining life’s path.

We all want to live our Best Life, but not all of us do what we need to fully live because we’re not given a road map so we end up playing it safe… staying in the same career or corporate work path with golden handcuffs and benefits, despite being miserable.

Future uncertainty can be uncomfortable to those who want their lives fully planned out, but as I (and you too probably at least in this past year) experienced, life throws monkey wrenches in the mix if you’ve been around long enough, and you can question what this life is really all about.

…and maybe you’ve had those types of questions swirling in your mind lately that you’ve been wrestling with?

If so, you should consider taking a sabbatical if you’re in a place where you can or you all of a sudden, find that you deeply need one to restore your mind-body. It’s not a cop-out, it’s a smart move in case you need to wrestle the idea with the logical side of your mind.

The trend is moving this way. Kids who are just becoming adults are acceptably taking gap years from college. And if you worked in corporate in 2008 with the economy dip, you most likely made a work change, maybe entered a different industry as in 2020 and the aftermath, where we all had our work changed and life turned upside down.

Someone wise ahead of me ingrained this idea that never left me: “Your entire life is a transition.”

So then with that lens, I’m happily entering my fourth act. And depending on your age, you’re probably at least entering or considering your second one (along with almost half the women in the workforce according to survey data).

When I was in college, and it took me 5 years to graduate, that was a big deal in my mind. I questioned why I took a year off after a few semesters of working and attending business school full-time.

During my gap year that wasn’t the usual way, I stopped and learned how to create a business (the reason that you would think you go to business school but most like I did, graduated and entered the corporate workforce).

What I wanted most that I didn’t want to admit to anyone including myself was I wanted deep rest. And that semester off test-taking I got off sleeping aid pills. I got off the hamster wheel and avoided burning out.

Back then, I was already creating a different way of life of taking breaks because my body was calling for it. And now in more aware times, my mind was too.

Similarly, a mid-life sabbatical idea is a pretty darn good idea for recuperating. It can be a lifeline even though it still has a bad wrap. If you’re a well-known author and speaker like David Bach, you can do it because you’ve earned it. But if you’re like most of us or the person trying to make ends meet, then you’re still justifying, like I had to.

I had to lean in and switch into abundant thinking and what I would gain over what I would lose.

And when the call inside you grows louder, the idea can grow more intriguing, and that’s when you know you have to seriously investigate!

You may just need some little sign or nudge to get you to take the step. Or you may just need the right timing or feeling to show up again. In my case, I knew I had more to lose if I didn’t.

You are where you are because of your choices made.

And because of my sabbatical choice, I wouldn’t have traveled to so many great places and countries before 2020. And I wouldn’t have discovered my real passions and purposeful direction in this life that isn’t the corporate path I started on.

I’m not suggesting that’s what you have to do or to be irresponsible. I would never say that as I believe in accountability and personal responsibility. I’m super practical. I’m also led by what I feel is happening in my mind-body-spirit. You get to discern and decide if that’s what is right for you.

From my sabbatical journey, I can tell you, if you follow your internal loving (and not fearful) guides, you won’t be led wrong. Any short-term losses you think you may take, you will gain so much more for your life. Because you’ll pivot into something greater that you would not have uncovered without taking the time off. Your perspective will change and you’ll want to re-strategize your life.

Plus you’ll have all the great memories that you can relive for more years than starting in retirement. (I love looking at sabbatical photos and reminiscing about my vacation and time-off).

But besides good memories, you will gain productivity from resting. You won’t know the individual rewards you’ll gain until you take the bold leap.

When should you do it?

I think I described it above, but the short answer I would give is: when you can. You’ll know when you can’t!

Especially if you’re burned out from your job, have life overwhelm, life underwhelm, considering a career switch, or get laid off, now may be a great time (to eliminate life in burnout to sabbatical living that you didn’t choose on purpose… that can leave you de-motivated instead of feeling excited and energized).

Or maybe you have a deepening desire to explore something new in life and that is winning over any fears you have for taking a risky and unknown bold step towards your future, despite questions from loved ones you may receive.

One other word of nudging encouragement to take the proactive bold step… free yourself from feeling like you have to please others (or be a martyr to do it for others). Your life and mental health are at risk, and if you lose yourself in the process, then you have nothing to give.

A mid-life crisis is a real phenomenon that still exists and can come falling like a ton of bricks. It often sadly ends with regrets and not the way it started.

I didn’t experience that (and maybe that’s because I took a sabbatical) but I’ve seen it in others’ lives and maybe you have or will too.

Sometimes it’s just easier when things happen to you that are out of your control, so you can more easily explain your decisions. You lose a job. You get a divorce or another loss happens.

You can find your lost soul, your higher spirit, or a new mission on a sabbatical.

Personally, I love that the sabbatical idea is catching on in our work-addicted society, especially after a shocking 2020 year where we all had to rethink and redo old ways.

Maybe now is a good time for you and you’re looking for encouraging supporters to take a sabbatical. And maybe I’ve piqued your interest, then you’ll want to keep reading as I share more from my memoir and ideas that can help you… Continue reading “From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life”

7 Effective Gym Habits For New Year’s

Intended effective gym habits can begin in a new year and die before February 1. Don’t let that be YOU in the upcoming year. Make this year and better and different that it deserves as you’re a better, more resilient person.

The usual drill…

Welcoming in the first week of the year with effective gym habits is the intent, where many of us think of new personal, health, and fitness goals. In my mind, I think of the end goal that comes from 7 habits of highly effective people that can be applied to life. But not always effect in fitness areas…

Because most people don’t like to workout. That’s the first hurdle. Especially if you prefer to work or play instead of work out (I know the feeling!). At times, working out can add more stress if you don’t have a routine down.

But, if you prioritize, practice and adopt doing regular habits (great for Vata balancing)… and they are habits you enjoy, that could be a game changer to effective habits. Let that be the new year mantra or philosophy you breathe in…

OUT with ancient new year’s resolutions, and IN with inspiring habits for your betterment, progress, and self-improvement goals.

Simple steps like attending a Gold’s Gym (my fond memories) or similar, and doing at-home ab exercises regularly can help get you into healthy physical body habits with good results if you choose successful ways that help you, explained below…

Inspired by 7 habits of highly effective people who are proactive in their lives and begin with the end in mind, these are 7 effective habit traits (and what it boils down to), to embrace ideas that can turn into action and help set you up for success.

I think these ways make habits easier to adopt, and you can apply to any area you want to have continued success in.

So, applying these traits will help you with training to stay active and healthy fit for the year and keep effective gym habits for life.

Effective Habit Traits Inspired By 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

1. New – highly effective people consider and embrace new ideas, challenging the status quo or current norm. They keep everything fresh and have a learning and growth mindset. They think “today is a brand, new day” to do something better, remarkable, or impactful.

2. Variety – they spice up life with more than one way or choice. This can be from food to finding new inspiration or a new route. If they did it one way, they try another way to keep things exciting.

3. Fun or exciting – they have fun doing what they do. If you’re enjoying yourself, then you’re more likely to keep doing what you’re doing. Laughter is a good indicator that you’re engaged. Remember when you were a kid, and that’s what got you going?… just good, innocent fun.

4. Usefulness – they know how to be productive with their time, and highly effective people spend time working on activities that are useful and not a waste of time.  There’s a next step, where there’s personal growth, observable impact, or serves others.

5. Practical – they turn ideas into action and use resources they have access to, and keep going. They don’t let excuses keep them from moving forward. Relevance guides them to their next steps and pivots.

6. Getting better – they look for progress. They know that if it’s not getting better, that it could be getting worse. They look for signs of growth, impact, and healthiness.

7. Easy – they keep it simple and uncomplicated. They know if it’s easy, then it’s doable. There won’t be delay and “easy” can be duplicable and scalable to perform in other ways.

So now here’s how can you embrace and select 1-2 of these 7 ideas into your personal fitness or exercise life and routine: Continue reading “7 Effective Gym Habits For New Year’s”