Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 10 of 27

Pool Meditation Idea For Ego Daily Calm

Pool meditation is underrated. And so is sea salt therapy especially for cooling Pitta.

Pink Himalayan sea salt therapy for cooling.

One of the intentions of Meditation is to quiet the mind that’s always running. And that’s how I came to discover pool meditation.

In any meditation, the peace is in the silence. And I have a pool meditation idea that worked for me… and I’m passing on to you in case you want to give it a try!

BTW, I am the first to admit I’m not a good half-conscious meditator. I prefer to silence my mind awake fully conscious and eyes open. And whatever works for you, works!

Specifically isolating the mind’s ego is a good goal for your meditation 🎯

…Because we’re stuck with our ego for life, and good or bad, whether we’re meditating or not.

And our ego is a good part of why life goes back to the way it was after the recent meditation effect gradually wears off. Even if that’s just ennui (boredom) that the ego can turn into woes-me.

When we go back to our lives from peace and meditation, the ego snaps right back into active mode. And it wants to be right (not necessarily happy).

So it’s a great idea to enhance the calming meditation effects and have it last longer.

I tried this for the first time years ago when I was practicing how to be conscious of the mind-body connection.

…Long before my first meditation experiences (when photos were fuzzy and taken from snap cameras 😉). Like traditional meditation, we could sit still in a chair or Indian-style sitting position on the floor.

And today for any of us, ongoing calm can be the day and every day when focused and engaged in the moment (that’s part of our modern day self-awareness movement).

And long before my first meditation experience, I stepped into this calm discovery decades ago in an indoor swimming pool… 💭

In one temporary corporate job I held many moons ago, there were two great job benefits. The first one was leaving at 5 pm that was not a common occurrence in any modern work in the Western world. You probably know what I’m talkin’ about!

And the second benefit (and first ever perk for me) was use of the indoor pool attached to the conference center I worked in.

That summer, every weekday at 5 pm on the dot I got excited about my day change. I jumped into my swimsut and I transformed into my meditation calm.

The first few minutes in the pool cooled me off (both in mind and body). And the longer I stayed in, the more calm I felt. Even on the drive home I could feel the stress of the world melt away.

pool meditation with a rainbow decorated unicorn float is always fun!

I still felt alive when I got home, that’s not the usual feeling from an exhausting work day around work people. And on some days I had a second job to go to. I had caught my second wind in the pool environment.

I didn’t need any special breathing techniques or calming meditation narration. The pool created a naturally calming effect on the Pitta summer side of things that’s heightened in the heat.

When you step into a cooling pool, it does your body good. Your body recognizes the environment as healing. Yes, it’s a healing pool of water. And our bodies are mostly water, so it’s natural osmosis.

You cool down with the shimmering body of blue water around you, and take yourself out of the usual dry earth we’re mostly around. Your mind can travel a million miles away from your life.

So it’s also an escape. 💭

And that’s how calming pool meditation can be for you where you dip your toes in this tranquil setting. You slip away from the earthly troubles and enter a new realm. Not to mention the blue ripple color is mesmerizing, serene, and good for eye-open meditators like me (…and maybe you too 👀).

You get a part two in your day like you’re starting a new day in the same day. And sometimes a start over if the first half wasn’t so good or relaxing.

Some cool pool meditation tips:

Sit by the pool steps to start with so your body is partially in the water. Then gradually enter the pool water. For indoor pool meditation, I like to hang along the pool’s edge like I’m reading a book, but I’m actually reading the calm in myself. I’m just chillin’ and forgetful of time. 😊

You not only cool and calm from stress, you work on letting go of those negative thoughts that your ego feeds you non-stop throughout the 9-5 day. So you do yourself healthy good.

Also, pool meditation only works well in a quiet pool setting. Not an outdoor pool with splish splashing kids playing or a pool class with instructor and a headset.

You’d be better off under the shade of a tree or in a cool spot inside, but it won’t be the same as an inside pool. Hotels usually have these indoor pools that are almost always quiet.

…Then when you get back home, capture the way you felt.

This is an amazing power and tool that you have control over. You don’t have to wait until the next free day or moments you have. You just reset yourself in that pool calm place in your imagination.

Your body may even cool down just from the thought. That’s the healthy power of the mind-body. 🌱

You may even want to have a blue wavy color or pool photo in front of you as a reminder. Visual cues are so powerful to empower you. 🎉

In contrast, a bright photo or retro Barbie colors in front of you invigorates, that can just heat things up in your mind. Bright red is even more alarming than the color of hot chili peppers and fire trucks (but BLUE is a soothing color in all shades).

…If you’re a bit Kapha minded these days, maybe that’s what you need! 💕

We had a neon pink light outside the meditation room that looks like a photo developing room (…maybe you remember those where the negatives 🎞️turned to positives 📸?). And from this room, we came out as transformed half-asleep meditated beings 😉

You may never have this glowing experience that I had, BUT you can do your own meditation wherever you are… or test pool meditation and see if that’s your meditation jam. 🧘🏻‍♀️

And from there you can get your creative personal essence back in case you’re having a creative mental block or dry spell season of ideas… or searching for your life’s purpose. And this is just one of many techniques that can get your cool-calm-and collected swag back as a first step. 😎

Here’s one dessert you can enjoy.

Vitamin C Boost Tropical Fruit Plate

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Tropical fruits, chopped
Meringue (or grit pie bottom)
1 15 ounce cream of coconut can

Instructions

For Pavolva, whip egg whites to make meringue base. Add to a pan that will be your presenting dish/pan or use a Silpat for easy transfer. Alternatively you can make a grits pie base that's quicker to bake, with grits, egg, and coconut oil that complements tropical fruit flavors.
Bake in 200°F oven until it feels solid and formed (like packed snow).
Decorate with fruit (dragonfruit, pineapple, passion fruit, and guava). If you want to use less fruit sugar or for a breakfast Pavlova, you can alternatively add berries and green bananas.
Pipe coconut cream (solid flesh of coconut)

7 Best Habits For Forgetfulness Sometimes

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.

Fourth of July Nostalgia For The Happy Inner Child

Recent Fourth of July 🇺🇸 photo memories in the Cinque Terre via boat ⛴️

When a new season starts, it’s common to feel nostalgia. Seeing spring cherry blossom trees, fall fiery leaves, summer pool floats, serene lakes, and fireflies do this for me. 💬

Those are the common memories I grew up with living in the DC suburbs where July 4th fireworks still fly in star spangle awe over the Nation’s Capitol 🎇

Summer is a time of swinging transition. You can dream of fun memories you can make. And in nostalgia, bring back fond memories that you’ve held onto.

These days we’re all globally connecting with people from around the world. That naturally makes us think more (and are more aware) of places around the globe that we’re not physically in, but imagine in their different time zones, and what their lives could be like. 🌏

For me, working with digital nomads who scoot around the globe 🛹 with a backpack as easily as stepping out the door makes me more grateful for the world I’m in, and to not take life for granted.

They can be on a 12-hour time difference but working in the same synched zone. This brings us together. 👭

Like me in your situations you can realize how you have more similarities than differences with other cultures. Maybe you’ve felt that way from your work or school experiences.

When I was younger, we were world’s apart with no way to connect. But no matter what decade you grew up in, you probably dreamed up adventures. 🚀

I dreamed of going to Alaska from travel photos I had seen in magazines and television. The outdoor Alaskan experience seemed so different than my surrounding reality. And while I never made it to that outdoor nature experience, I did get a taste of international travel just a few years later.

I think of that first European vacation trip as unforgettable because I was just a kid. I haven’t forgotten the Venice gondola ride experience with the musician playing an accordion with soothing romantic melodies, fine dining foods such as spumoni ice cream and a view of a picturesque Swiss lake! That was a great modern Ayurvedic balancing experience especially at such an impressionable age!

And with that nostalgia I can bring back at any time, that serves as a source of calm and good mood change.

And, so then when I went back decades later, it was no less adventurous to see some of the same places with adult eyes.

Some tastes have changed, but some haven’t. And that’s for all of us. We all have those general experiences to celebrate.

And, what does that tell us?

…We’re naturally changing daily and we’re innately the same in our mind and bodies from when we were born. That’s the core of Ayurveda in a nutshell.

And we can see that in our daily experiences and in travel trying new foods and experiencing new languages, countries, and cities.

One city that makes the happiest place in the world list time and time again, is Copenhagen. It’s a strolling city. It’s also a bicycle city. 🚲

And I grew up always riding a bicycle (so that strikes nostalgia)…

The charming architecture and cobblestone street design make the historic European city postcard and travel magazine photo worthy.

Picturesque Nyhavn area of Copenhagen 🇩🇰

When you’re in a calm area like Copenhagen with lots to see, you can think of other nostalgia memories that are in your wheelhouse.

For me, I think of peaceful ocean boardwalk cotton candy 🎡memories.

The peaceful memories mean less stress today, and more joy and happiness.

And if you’re missing that wanderlust feeling in new experiences, you can try this…

Turn on media to watch PBS adventures showing the tropical jungle or the Savannah desert life. Instantly your mind switches to a new gear (and you didn’t need to get any vaccines to experience 😅).

Or, watch the wildlife of Alaska that satisfy my inner child that never made it there. I don’t need to travel there to experience. And when I think of the stress effort it would take to fly there, I’m actually relieved.

And that feeling of relief reduces stress which is always welcomed.

The brain, btw doesn’t know the difference of whether we see a waterfall on our screen or live and in-person. It’s how we choose to interpret the experience.

So believe you do have an immediate say in your mind-body balance! 🧘🏻‍♀️

And that’s why experiencing those great movies, books, and stories you encounter that make you laugh, cry, appreciate, and wonder… are the perfect escapes. 💭

They don’t get the ooh…ahh from your friends, but the memories and nostalgia feelings are just as real, and whenever you recall them.

You may not take an Instagrammable photo… but who cares?

Everything we know about in this world has been photographed and shared. So capturing your photograhic memory is what matters most. 🧠

The most photographed woman in the world you can capture in today’s memory 🧜‍♀️

Some other ways to get those instant happy nostalgia feelings:

You can share about your experience and what you thought in small talk or a book club. Being in community with those you have affinity for not only are feel-good moments, they also help extend our healthy lives.

Another way is to take a streaming voice map tour where you get to experience another place, city, country, or culture from the convenience of your digital device. Maybe you don’t get the full 3-D experience, but you do at least get a 2-D one for a fraction of the price and cost for traveling to another location.

A good goal is to make every day feel special in some way. This could be as simple as turning on those moody jams 🎶

And wherever you are and whatever you’re doing today (and on this SUPER special holiday day), commemorate with a moment of gratitude that you can recall next year in feel-good nostalgia.😊

Happy Fourth of July!! 🇺🇸 Be safe! 🧨

God Winks Encouragement

God winks appear all the time and in front of us if we’re paying attention.

God often speaks in nature like in bright sunflower blooms 🌻 and occasional rainbow skies 🌈 And in science like the rare total eclipse 🌘 and even in a pair of daily ducks.

God winks in nature like these common pair of ducks. They are the many wonders that keep us wondering!

We also sometimes forget that God winks in our food where nature provides plant-based foods.

Like these authentic whole wheat zucchini fettuccine getting drying-ready for cooking (recipe below 🧡).

Jump to Recipe

I believe everyone needs encouragement in this life. It’s part of the healthy and happy journey. And one special form of encouragement that you may already turn to is the God winks that are specific to your life…

The daily favors, blessings, miracles… whatever you want to call it… like driving by a surprising display of flowers instead of the usual path to radiate the day 🌷

When something special, small or not happens in your day, you’re reminded that you’re watched over.

You know that you were given luck in some way by the Universe if you allow your beliefs to take you there and you push your ego aside that can thwart your efforts in your mind.

God is love and the ego is fear. And how you noodle yourself out of those times where it’s hard to see the love, will get you to more God winks sooner because you’ll see them. 👀

You see favor in life, whether you bypass a long line that was just there seconds before you got there. …Or, you’re lucky with your online submission that comes back favorable.

Your timing is perfect and the opportunity is for you. And that was no coincidence. That is meant to be encouraging to your day if you don’t miss it.

These can be a part of your every day, if you pay attention to the discernment message that the Universe sends. As you live longer and practice deciphering more you will get better at this!

In Christian living, it’s the Holy Spirit helping us out or the spirit in you.

There’s no mystery or woo-woo, it’s just the way it is on our planet and was established, all documented during Biblical times.

And we can this live out daily in our version of modern Biblical living if we choose.

An interesting thought: the book that made it in every hotel room (I worked in hotels) is full of good daily instruction.

Most of us don’t give it daily thought.

I know I didn’t for the first quarter of my life until the words came to life when I learned the content that helped align my life.

And in your life, the more wondering and connect the dots to the wonders and little miracles, the more you’ll see them and get God wink favors. Not everyone sees a rainbow in front of them. 🌈

And whether you do or don’t think you receive favor, your life will have ups and downs.

But if you know in the end that all will be well, that provides a sense of peace. And we all can use more of that if we want to live a life of meaning. Or when we feel discouraged.

So when things aren’t exactly working out the way you thought they would or you feel stuck, look up for the God winks. They will keep you going.

Align your prayerful thoughts and whether you speak them aloud or just think the thoughts especially while in public or around people.

When we stay on the channel of our daily, small thoughts that are mostly negative because it’s on the worldly level of this limited life, then we lose time with negative moods or emotions.

We keep ourselves from growing and getting to the next level. If we think and reach higher, we’re better off.

And we gain more then in the time it takes for us to try and do it by ourselves. If we plan about the future, that may not happen the way we thought if we don’t check in first with our heart and soul.

This is a simple exercise you can try.

Find something in your situations that has given you some tension or hasn’t worked out. You have several productive options. You can try again or look for a new solution.

An example is a tool that has broken. You can try to fix it. If you look at it from another angle, sometimes you figure it out.

But if you get upset or frustrated, then nothing gets accomplished. If you spend the same time praying, the solution comes to you.

It’s the same way you can pray off your worry, as Norman Vincent Peale taught in The Power of Positive Thinking.

It works because of your productive mindset and calm mood, but is also because of the higher-reaching power working in your life.

Another example, and one that was recent for me is new baking challenges. As someone who likes to experiment, not all bakes turn out. And when I wondered what happened, I use the bake as a lesson. It reminds me of what can go wrong. So instead of being disappointed, I see it as a way to grow.

Because in order to grow, there is always a struggle or sacrifice of sorts to varying degrees. You have to give up perfection or success in order to get better. You let go (or let God and reject ego).

Or you spend more time invested in learning than you thought. And this is how you get good and skilled at anything… by the failures and challenges. You don’t learn as much from the ones that turn out and where you get a few minutes of joy from right away. Never judge a book by its cover. Give things a second chance.

But joy does keep us encouraged and engaged in the balance of everything in life.

And these joyful pasta-ccines are very balanced with whole wheat and zucchini. 😋

Print Recipe

Zucchini Fettuccine Whole Wheat Pasta

This is a great homemade pasta making recipe to get your veggies in (or for picky eaters) or if you have a leftover zucchini you don't want to go bad. Homemade pasta is easy to make once you get the hang of it and you can enjoy same day! And as grocery prices rise on pasta, this is an economical way to get fresh pasta with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!

Course dinner, lunch

Cuisine American, Italian

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

blender or mortar and pestle (optional)
cup measuring cup (optional)
pasta machine or dough roller

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (can use gluten-free flours) per serving
1 egg per serving
generous pinch of salt
1 zucchini, cooked and mashed

Instructions

Make a flour mound. Make a deep well with a spoon or the measuring cup you used. Add egg and salt.
Knead. Add blended zucchini to the pasta dough.
Make a dough disc. Let rest for at least 20 minutes.
Divide the disc into two halves. Roll out pasta as thin as you can without getting holes. If using a pasta machine, start on a medium/wide setting such as "5" and then run through thinner setting such as "3." That may be the thinnest setting.
If rolling by hand and dough roller, roll evenly to about 1/16".
Let strands dry out enough so you can still make a curled nest or can break (like packaged processed pasta). These took about 2 hours.
Cook like you would packaged pasta for about 20 minutes on medium heat for "al dente" pasta. Whole wheat pasta will take longer than other plain flour homemade pasta. You can store uncooked pasta in fridge for 2-3 days. Buon appetito!

Unfocused Vata Mind Imbalance

Unfocused is a common mind trait. Sometimes it’s confused with ADHD that’s a common label tossed around.

Being unfocused is an Ayurvedic Vata trait. In this article you’ll learn how to better handle this in your life and restore the imbalances.

Focusing on a drink changing can help with unfocused tendencies. — A creative green coffee drink can help with productivity and an unfocused Vata tendency. Recipe below. ☕️

For a natural Vata, it’s typical for the mind to be expressing and darting from task to task or idea to idea, instead of being laser focused.

That’s a general symptom diagnosis in the mind-body connection that’s common for many of us.

And when off-balance, this can mean getting up off the couch or outta your seat hundreds of times a day. This is one natural Vata mind tendency, anyway.

The better productivity solution is balancing the Vata mind, so that you don’t feel you have to keep doing something else other than what you’re doing.

It doesn’t matter what the other thing is, but your mind is calling you impulsively to do it no matter what. Sound familiar?

This symptom description is often mistaken as ADHD in our ADD (or attention deficit disorder) world.

Technology has made this worse. We’re juggling our devices and the real world. And there are more noisy distractions that keeps us task switching and reinforcing the tendency to become a bad habit.

You can change your habits to better habits.

That’s completely in your healthy power to keep or change your ways, just like choosing to make healthy meals.

The healthy way or habits could be to multi-task or time block and feel productive.

But when your mind causes unfocus, worry-anxiety around the imbalance, or you’re feeling unproductive because of your unfocused tendencies, that’s when you want to use restore balancing habit to restore your hyper-unfocused Vata mind imbalance.

Other signs are when your unfocused mind is distracting you or you’re leaning toward an unfocused day. That’s when restoring balance is called for.

And if that’s still tricky to pinpoint, you can make a tally sheet of how many times you switched tasks when your brain prompted you to in the moment (from what you had already planned to do in advance). That way you have a visual to compare to for yourself.

Sometimes you can observe the impulsive nature that the mind feeds.

Let that moment pass and help to give peace to the mind by writing down the thoughts, journaling, or creating a list.

Or if it makes sense as a 1-5-minute task, just take care of it quickly, but don’t re-route your day over the impulses if you want to live a consistent calming life that you’re in charge of.

Because 50 five-minute getting-up tasks is 250 minutes or over 4 hours that you won’t get back.

And not having enough time is one stressor we can avoid.

There’s enough chaos in the world that’ll shake off that daily depleting piece (and peace ✌️).

When we were kids, we didn’t have adult wisdom like that. Time wasn’t so important. Our moody feelings fed us and drove us to what we wanted to do.

We basically didn’t drive our bus.

But as adults, you don’t want your emotions to steer and get the better of you and then also lose time.

If you feel strong feelings about a situation, they serve a purpose to bring joy or cleanse sadness. Or… to show you something bigger about your life where you can make a change. But general daily moods don’t always help.

You don’t want the feelings to turn into daily, unproductive moody symptoms such as anxiety, anger, and lethargy where each represent a different imbalance.

And these can bleed into other Vata imbalances…

Another form of unfocused Vata-hyper mind is when it’s difficult to make decisions.

Because at the root of decision-making are your thoughts that drive what you do in the mind-body connection.

You don’t have control over your thoughts from entering, but you do have control over what you do with your thoughts.

The usual natural Pitta and Kapha profiles don’t show this symptom description unless they have a Vata imbalance which can happen to any of us at any time.

We all possess the 3 doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) to varying degrees, even if it’s just a crumb.

For any of us, our imbalance is our Achilles Heel. Restoring our imbalances is in our power and often an easy fix that needs daily repetition until our imbalance settles down.

Pittas have more hard-charging personalities like the hare in the Aesop’s Fable on a competitive mission. Kaphas are more the slow and steady turtles that finish the race. 🐢

And when you’re overrun with Vata, you can miss the goal entirely in distractions with the scenic route.

The good news is you can balance this high Vata symptom in more ways than one….

Balancing your Vata imbalance through your food senses is one way to begin restoring balance…. because an unfocused Vata imbalance is related to Vata trait symptoms such as anxious feelings, and indecisiveness. It’s no coincidence in our natural mind-body balance system.

And directly related to the unfocused symptoms you experience… something you can do is to nail down a daily routine or habit practice, so you can get back to being grounded and focused.

This can look like at least one or two healthy time slots in your day that are non-negotiable, e.g. yoga or office hours during certain hours.

You set boundaries with people about these non-negotiables. You essentially training them that you are off-limits and disconnected to the world during those times.

The way this works is being consistent and not letting any exceptions in (besides emergencies) because once you do that, then others know that your rules and boundaries are not hard set and taken that seriously. So be firm.

I watch people on the sidelines who don’t have this in place. They’re on the opposite extreme and schedule anything, get distracted by shiny objects, and fill in slots anytime their mood fancies.

…But then they wonder where the time went OR why they’re not happy with their outputs and decisions.

They don’t manage their time well on calendars getting non-negotiables handled as first thing ,so it doesn’t get missed or during the optimized hours where their minds are sharpest.

And if you’re a unfocused Vata by nature with those tendencies, that only makes your life more chaotic like the wind, where you get tossed to-and-from.

You worsen your Vata-ness with too much unfocused Vata behaviors.

People-pleasing too much can be a cause when we’d be better off practicing proper kind words to say no.

And this can be saying no to ourselves since we have other non-negotiables. Like appointments with our wellness routines.

Knowing it will be okay if you say no could be the hurdle. But you’re not letting others down more than you’re letting yourself down.

Because your immediate feeling of guilt can turn into resentment for others and unhappiness that’s far worse.

So you want to prepare what you will say with tact if someone wants to encroach on areas.

Often, this comes from those who live in chaos and impose their unstructured life on you.

And when you’re with routine, they can’t spill over onto you.

And when you can learn the right words to say, they become more natural and roll off your tongue.

They become and your new way and that helps your routine and focusing.

Plus, you spend more time in this short-lived life doing the things that really matter to you!

For example, you can be in your sweet spot boost of daily energy, and stick with your ideas. And find a routine that you stay competitive with as things in life change.

That will help tone down worry with purpose. And help wipe away the anxious bits that unfocused Vata often feel.

And when you’ve grounded with routines and consistency, you don’t have to stick to only boring routines. You can be creative that most natural Vatas are and love.

I know how that can be, having worked over a couple decades in-and-out of corporate environments where it was all about routine tasks, maintenance, performance, and people management.

None of those areas express creativity. Something Vatas crave.

Vatas are also naturally energetic, encouraging, and eager. Having an idea and then having to wait for management to approve if ever, is anything but encouraging.

And then having people and all the chaos along the way change the dynamics. Well… all that can zap creativity.

So finding a side hobby or hustle as a creative outlet is a good way to re-focus those energies.

And if you’re in flow or with daily creativity, then you’re in alignment with yourself.

That helps grow you toward your life purpose and your authentic identity where you get the deepest satisfaction and joy.

Summary: If you have an imbalanced unfocused Vata tendency today: stick to a routine, express your non-negotiables, find a creative outlet.

The wellness outcome is finding calm and daily joy that you want. And you’ll have a strategy and stick with it.

If you’re curious about what your imbalances are in this season, take the free Body Balance Quiz.

Earth Day Layered Plant Based Cold Brew Coffee

This planet-reminding changing drink is a fun and delicious beverage.

Course beverage

Cuisine American

Ingredients

black cocoa
cold brew coffee
plant-based milks (almond milk, cashew milk, etc.)
gluten-free flour (coconut or almond flour)
blueberry tea
blueberries
Pandan (gel works best)

Instructions

Layer and freeze each layer before adding another layer.
Layer 1: milk
Layer 2: layer with black cocoa, gluten-free flour, and milk (or cream) that's more creamy and good for beverages.
Layer 3: cold blueberry tea
Layer 4: cold brew coffee (or coffee of choice)
Layer 5: milk
Add a few blueberries if you like.
Make plant-based pandan ice cube. Add pandan mixed with water and freeze
Add the ice cube to the top frozen layer.
Bring drink out to regular room temperature about 10-15 minutes before you want to consume if semi-frozen and 30 minutes or longer if frozen solid. Watch your planet beverage change before your very eyes! For kids, you can swap cocoa or chocolate milk for the coffee layer.