Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 12 of 27

Silver Linings Joy + Sourdough Brioche

Silver linings is where you can find your joy. This blog article is all about that. You may remember the Silver Linings Playbook movie that came out after Julie and Julia that not only happened around my first blog and inspired this blog and this cranberry sourdough recipe. Sourdough and tart cranberries are a divine pairing.

Dreamy tart sourdough brioche inspired dessert is the new pound cake. The sour tart fermented cranberry taste is good for Vatas! 🧘🏻‍♀️

And nothing better than cake bread (aka brioche) that gives you the best of both worlds. This one is inspired by a Baking with Julia cookbook. Sourdough can be added to breads, pancakes, and any bakes. It can be sweet and not just sour.

Print Recipe

Sourdough Cranberry Brioche (Bread or Cake)

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Sourdough starter
Frozen or fresh cranberries
Baking powder and baking soda for cake

Instructions

For bread, you can use the proofed starter as the leavening agent. For cake add baking powder and baking soda (or an acid like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar). These are for easy weekend bread cake that you can enjoy.
Add sourdough starter to flour of choice (all purpose flour works best but for healthy you can use gluten-free flour, almond flour, and/or a mix of flours).
Add fresh or drained frozen cranberries.
Add additional flavors such as nuts, bananas, chocolate chip swirl if you desire. Think of the flavors you like to add to pancakes. Blueberries would be healthy divine too!
Bake as you would for golden brown cakey-bread.

And if your current situation or circumstances aren’t ideal, or you’re not at a point in your life to feel happy (or may apply to someone you know), you can still confidently get daily joy that is better than happiness…

Because joy is constant and reliable. Happiness is not. It’s black and white.

Joy is guaranteed when you know what lens to look out from. It’s about YOU and your self-development.

And relying on joy can help you wean away from happiness that we learned at a young age to strive for. Back then, even all the board games like Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and the Game of Life were setups for winning as happiness. When someone wins, another loses.

Those myths hurt the development of our lives. I know before I had work-life balance I could not find the joy.

The problem with continuing to believe happiness is dependent on outcomes and situations is that when there is a let-down disappointment, our ego is crushed. And that can create sadness and a roller coaster of emotions.

That’s where joy and happiness can be at extreme odds…

They’re not interchangeable emotions. They have completely different meanings. And for children, joy is not yet a concept that can be grasped.

Having experienced both sides of the coin, I know Happiness is fickle. It’s a feeling that’s as reliable as the wind. The ego in any of us can trick and spin the truth to make us believe what we think we want that’s not the best for us.

The problem isn’t the once-in-a-while ego meter going up, it’s the person who’s drowning in egoism who never looked in the mirror to see who they became. And that hurts them the most.

They’re lonely and sad under the hood, and bitter about certain topics because they didn’t take the effort to self-develop and be self-aware. They don’t see what the world sees about them that hurts relationships. It’s an individual choice to live an abundant life or a limiting one.

And when the ego is running healthy, it keeps us fully living, productive and protects us a little from getting hurt in the world.

Getting your what-is-true barometer on is healthy.

And as part of being true, that’s how I learned happiness feelings never last. It’s always temporary…

Yesterday’s memories fade. Tomorrow always has some uncertainty for all of us. So then what’s left is today.

What we do today is all that matters. If we focus on the past, that builds up our unhealthy ego where the pain is. A book I always recommend on this is The Power of Now (by Eckart Tolle).

Staying past or future-focused can egg on our unhealthy ego especially if it lands in our selfish behaviors that end up hurting other people.

So when you look at the flip side and the good easter egg side of things of today, then you’re on the better JOY track. The feelings of Easter celebration can be lived out daily, year-round! 🐣

Sometimes it takes external happenings and stimuli… to light up any one of our 5 senses… to get the internal sommersault mind-body feelings… to then turn the salty tide in our day or weekend… but that’s all healthy compared to the alternative.

Then when you’re back to your healthy self, you have the opportunity to catch on in observation and awareness to how joy works for you…

Another way is to mindfully focus on the silver linings of your situation. A positive outlook can get you through quicker. And through is the fastest way.

Letting go of how things will shake out is letting go of the ego that wants to be in control of everything good and bad. I know from experience because that was one of the lessons that took me the longest to learn. And I’m glad I went through.

I did so with time. Gradually, I could see why what I wanted initially for some things got re-routed and turned out better in the end and on the other side of the process.

You don’t usually see it right away, but give it enough time, years, and decades, and it’ll become apparent. 🌈

That’s where wisdom is that outwits ego and what looks good on the outside.

In wisdom, if you’ve ever been shielded from a situation only to learn that had you been part of it, your life would have been impacted and lessened, then those gratitude moments in the silver linings can help you to see that life is on your side… and has been all along.

Believe that doors shut are silver linings for a better future you can’t see today. It’s easier if you believe that what happens is meant to be. And find out how you can use your current situations (and not the someday dreams) to be healthy, improve yourself, and do good in the world.

Not dwelling on self-pity avoids letting the ego have a field day with negative thoughts. It works the same with gossip…

Gossip is the optimized ego doing the negative talking. So if you want to practice quieting the ego, step out of those partisan conversations to quiet the mind.

And if you practice more daily joy and gratitude instead, then you can better discover the healthy ways. Sounds pretty easy, but most people (…maybe besides you and me 😊), don’t try to help themselves and their day because it requires change.

…But for anyone who’s trying and wanting to know how to (and maybe desperately) get more joy, they could start with asking: what brings simple joy to me, like a simple but effective cup of tea or a nature walk? That’s easy stuff.

And then in joy overflow (or tea in hand 🍵) gradually move towards reflecting on what their (or your) life is becoming as a subtle reflection of who they (or you) are becoming.

It takes seeing how the fruit in their life is growing today (and not living off the memories of the past).

The daily fruits are ones we can measure and witness. And we can help grow these from the internal fruits of the spirit or fruits of growing character that we’ve gathered.

“Character is power.” -Booker T. Washington

And anytime someone feels stuck, they can always open up to the miraculous Universe that’s always ready to listen, unlike our human being species. And reaching higher out can help build internal fruit to produce more external fruit. 🪐

Know What Brings You Joy and Calm

So when you know how to activate the skill of daily joy feelings without fail, that’s something you can pull out of your back pocket anytime you need to for instant day improvement.

When I have joy I know because I sing along with songs playing 🎶or else I listen to certain songs to create the joy. Or I’m in Dancer yoga pose.

Which btw, if you’re feeling joy, you’re also feeling calm.

Calm lets you be present enough to find joy.

The opposite is worry or anxiety, anger, or even excited nervousness.

Calming down first and not being preoccupied with emotional turbulence allows you to tap into your joy which takes mindfulness and active present state participation.

Hearing the sweet sounds of your surroundings, such as birds chirping, palm trees swaying, and soft ocean breezes could be indicators of your present state (and part of the silver linings in earthly living).

For someone who doesn’t have calm and inner peace, the external sounds of constant dogs barking, babies crying, or motorcycles roaring, can be disturbing and perceived as extra loud. For someone who’s in a state of peace, those sounds represent life and are less affected. Just something to consider. And when you have your calm that can help produce more joy.

…And that’s what I had to share this week. But I didn’t want to leave you on a sour note♩… I baked sweet pancakes with tart cranberries 😊.

Btw, if you want to see more of my healthy food photos and created daily inspirational images, you can always follow me on my Pinterest channel.

Abundant Living Over Sadness Feelings

When I was a child, a birthday cake 🎂 like this put a BIG smile on my face.😀 I only needed a slice for joy, but appreciated the whole abundant cake! 🍰

Abundant thoughts can make the difference in sadness over a sad situation and then settle in as a positive new normal. This can be important because many of us know at least one person who is dealing with sadness.

Abundant living often gets confused for wealth and having things. It definitely could help, but then some of the most well-off people are sad too, sadly. So that tells us it’s deeper, and more about us.

…And doesn’t come from external material things.

…And since we’re all made from the same human fabric, we all can feel lack (and not abundance) at any time relative to our lives. We don’t live anyone else’s (similar to, we only know and live in our bodies).

So if we don’t stay grounded inside, we may not find our well and wealth of abundance, where our greatest happiness is.

In America where I live, celebrities have their place on the Red Carpet and I think that’s fantastic as actors put in long, hard hours in their craft providing entertainment for the rest of us…

Which btw, did you watch the movie event of the year this week… The Oscars?

…I always like to see dressy attire (I think that comes from my childhood because my mom was a dressmaker, so her clients sometimes brought and left their dreamy sequined gowns around👗).

…Plus, I love good movies (…you too?). 🎥

This year I have to say Lady Gaga stole the show in her raw performance where she took off her Hollywood-glam look she came in and put on a T-shirt, then sang her heart out with the Top Gun Maverick theme song (“Hold My Hand”).

Everyone has their opinion, but maybe it made her feel less glitzy and more empowered to share her gift with the world. 🙌🏻 And I could listen to her 🎶 in dressy hoopla or not.

…In any case, it happily drowned out last year’s lingering negative-energy fiasco involving emcee, Chris Rock

…Anyway, back in our reality lives, we can learn from and drown out our own negative energy that can creep in daily if not recognized.

That includes anger like in a Pitta imbalance, and also sadness that’s generally more Kapha, and another way to express our emotions for how we feel.

We learned emotions from a young age. And now as adults, if a sad situation creeps in 🙃, we’re equipped to handle and turn our frowns upside down better with a DO IT ANYWAY mantra.

…And this helps us, so we bounce back to our happier selves, quicker.

Here are some great DO IT ANYWAY ways for you, or someone you know going through tough or crisis times:

Practice self-care even when you don’t feel like it.

Don’t skip a day without a shower. I know for some that sounds sil-ly, but people who are sad because of a situation that occurred or who are lacking abundant feelings, let their sad feelings guide them and keep them down.

So a simple act like taking a shower or bath can be a big ordeal, for whatever reason. It helps remind any of us of self-care and how we’re relevant in this life.

And that’s one DO IT ANYWAY easy goal we can do.

In abundant countries, it’s easy to forget to cherish the abundance around us like the 4 basic needs (food, clothing, water, shelter), but if we stay grounded and grateful, we can do this daily no matter how we feel in the moment. And we don’t let a day slip by unnoticed because a day can easily slip gradually into a season.

And soft, pitter-patter water on the skin and being sensitized to the comforts around us can help us feel alive as thriving people again.

While the sadness feelings may linger and fade in and out, find a way to make the day brighter.

Add a warming mask to your face. Drink a warm cup of lovely tea. Shower yourself with few essential oil drops. These could be the reminders to take care of yourself (or loved ones for themselves). And the more you douse yourself in love, the more that can come back to you.

Because YOU are loved.

And the Universe shows this to all of us, if we observe.

An example of this is:

Water is ever-flowing. It’s recirculating. It’s abundant. There’s no lack of drinkable water in modern culture. There may be a temporary drought or local drinking water issues in certain areas, but bottled water is transported from abundant areas that have fresh, clean water. And we always have some choices in the matter in our relative abundant living.

Our bodies are mostly made of water so we are made for abundance. Lean in on this idea and maybe visit a natural waterfall or moving body of water, and feel this external power on you…so you can appreciate the simple needs of life that are provided.

And then in the abundant overflow, you can be the problem solver for your community or the world’s greater needs, that matter most to you and are called to. You rise up!

Remember, none of us can give what we don’t have. And the more you operate from a lens of abundant living, the more you can make good impact and contribution in this life.

…So, abundance is love. ❤️

Let that grow in you so that becomes more of who you become today and tomorrow. …And what you do with your time here.

The Parable of the Talents (you may know) is about how one person buried all their talents and so then they had none. When they used one, they got more. And that grew and became many.

That’s just how this abundant earth operates from the energy generated from above. And the more you pay attention to those phenomenal blessings, you can better invest efforts in those areas.

…And also focus on what you have to look forward to. No matter what our circumstances or limitations are, we can use that to our advantage if we can look out from the right lens that starts with our thinking minds and re-writing empowered thoughts.

Our minds are the muscles to grow ourselves and our abilities.

Some of the best things in this life don’t cost anything besides willingness.

Just being open to the world’s possibilities can free us up to get the best out of this life… because then we discover what’s impactfully good for us (and not just what’s busy in front of us) that’s going to affect the world around us too.

Growing up in an affluent, busy city metro area, I learned that being busy and prideful are enemies. Trying to “keep up with the Joneses” hurts us. And not doing anything meaningful in life is another extreme.

A better way is staying balanced, staying humble, active, and curious, and trying new things to help each of us grow.

And growth is our path to abundance. And if we take the DO IT ANYWAY mantra into our day, then we have a step forward.

We’ve all experienced times when we didn’t feel like doing a task or activity.

But once we got into it, we were okay.

And after you finished, you actually felt GOOD for making a contribution or accomplishment for the day. You were glad you did it anyway. 👏

So magnify those experiences in your remembrance, whenever you don’t feel like doing something that can help you grow. Because being productive (however that looks for you) and making accomplishments, gives us more of those healthy and happy hormones. That’s what I’m talking about! 🤸‍♀️

If you prefer, you can Spotify listen to this 6-minute audio snack bite.

Work Freedom to Creativity

Work freedom is possible if that’s what you want. Keep in mind that you are in control of your ship and the experiences you are gaining today will be part of what you need in the future especially if it’s a creative one.

If you could have more work freedom in your life, what would that look like?

I describe freedoms below that I think would make all the difference in the world in work life balance, time flexibility, and to unleash creativity in your life if that’s what you want. 🌎

That’s what I wanted.

…And if that’s what you want, you deserve in this life, so your work future is worth fighting for!

Each of our personal desired versions of work freedom is different.

For me, like many of us, it’s not having a boss. And, being able to create my own schedule deciding when I’ll show up. In 2019, I started my humble self-employed journey after I left my last corporate job and office life.

As far as I’m concerned, I retired from my corporate career for good. Before that, I reported to many bosses with the exception of a few years in between when I dabbled on my own doing consulting work where I felt most empowered.

Some workplaces and bosses were good enough for a little while, and others, well… let’s just say they aren’t for everyone. 😉

And some left me Ayurvedically depleted.

All of us who have worked know what that’s like for at least part of our careers where we may have stuck it out as a stepping stone to climb the ladder 🪜 or as a bridge to our next venture.

…Or to take a different turn. I’ve done all of the above to eventually move toward my better work freedom.

I know that not having the pieces fit together in the dozen or so roles from my first, second, or even third corporate career helped me realize that’s what I wanted!

Every pivot made me more intentional about what I wanted my work life to look like.

And not having a mentor but instead becoming one, helped me realize I didn’t want to work for anybody EVER again.

I started out in corporate hospitality and working with catering management, so foodie likes is up my alley. And then I went into other office management fields.

blueberry dutch baby pancakes. — Dutch baby pancake recipe below. 👇

But I had to take that windy journey in the corporate work world to confidently know that, and what I’m capable of…

And to also know that you can be excelling at your job that looks good on paper, but not be fulfilled.

Looking back, I realize those experiences made me the person I am today who’s resilient and not gonna settle for less than what the whole life has to best offer in every season (God willing!). No experience goes wasted.

And in my last corporate job, I had this whisper that could’ve been a billboard sign because it was that loud to me as by then I was used to following whispers that others often miss or ignore.

In my mind I heard, I would not get this time back. And from that point on a cascade of work problems followed where I knew I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The only way UP was OUT. And then I got my time freedom back. Once again I felt cage-free to pursue new opportunities.

And I know I’m not alone in how I feel here because even the conservative peers I’ve talked to in their mid-careers who left jobs prematurely before they thought they would, said they felt a weight lifted off their shoulders when they gave their notice.

Feeling good was a sign that a right decision was made. And every time I gave my notice, that’s how I felt.

But that satisfying feeling fades into now what? that gradually replaces excitement.

This is where people differ. Some would run from misery to insecurity and others would stick it out and stand firm for security.

And you know where you stand on that.

In the years I started in the workforce, workers didn’t leave jobs as they do for mental health and happiness reasons that are recognized these days.

Our younger workers today value health over stability and moving away from discomfort and into promising ideas and possibilities.

The workforce generations today have amped up the employers’ game where bosses can’t get away with the same toxic behavior or red tape antics they used to without a backlash or being caught on camera.

And I think that’s great that our society is moving away from that type of dysfunctional workplace.

So #1 is creating work freedom away from the wrong kind of bossing.

And #2 is freedom from stress or anxiety.

As someone who valued work-life balance in her 20s, I also believe reducing stress is underrated and needs more stressing these days.

Having lived through stressful work situations, I know enduring stress can be the cause of so many health problems and arising mystery ailments.

I think stress reduction is even more important than sleep because if you’re tired, your body crashes. With stress, it could go on quietly for years without visible detection and a remedy.

Our bodies do their best to try to daily whisper to us in headaches, our skin, and even our bathroom life. 🚽

But if we ignore the signs for too long, the wear-and-tears become loud. And in those anxious-filled stressful seasons, we aren’t running optimally as our self-care and immunity defenses go down.

Not to mention our creativity isn’t reachable.

…And creativity I believe is where our happiness is. It’s the passion we can control, that gives us freedom.

When we can birth new ideas or re-create old ones for new life, our body cells are happier and that radiates through our daily life, outlook, and how we feel about ourselves.

Don’t you beam from to ear-to-ear when you’ve contributed and acknowledged (or have been recognized by someone) that those new ideas came from you?

That uplifting feeling creates space for opportunity and opens doors for hope, more achievement, and possibilities that we all aspire to in our lives.

But most workers never get to that sweet spot.

I know I didn’t because of all the work constraints and limitations…

And the answer isn’t to quit your job necessarily. The answer is to add more playtime in the quality free time, doing the creative things that light you up and you’re passionate about. And maybe those activities become your next season.

A few hours could be an enjoyable weekend afternoon. And then let those happy feelings and memories carry you through the tough week ahead if that’s what you face.

And then look forward to the next free future playtime afternoon.

And if you find that you’re skipping off from work to do more of that, then maybe that’s a sign.

Because having been on both sides, I now know that not doing daily work that inspires you gets old.

The new could be: if today were your last day (not at work, but your LAST DAY), would you be happy?

…And if the answer is no, then coming up with a plan to do more of those passionate things or to discover more of what you want to do is going to help get you to your happiest place.

Explore creativity and develop your gifts, talents, and abilities. Remember, you won’t get this time back. And this season will end.

Not all plans come to fruition, but you’ll never know something better or your highest achieving potential self if you don’t try.

Take some risks and do projects that you want to do more of or explore to see what you like at both work and in your personal time.

With a more enriched life, you can dream new and better dreams and start heading in the new re-routed direction that becomes your NEW LIFE.

And eventually, if you keep pacing slowly, inching toward what you figure out you like, you’ll be doing more of what you want and not what was old in the past.

Like a butterfly that struggles to get out of the chrysalis, the creatures that we are, in determination successfully make it out.

Believe that in yourself.

That’s so liberating! 🦋

In the humble beginnings, like most, you pay the price of being inexperienced, and then the price is paid and life gets better with experiences.

And Life is unlimited. And you see it as abundant.

And once you get a taste of the potential and the genie is let out of the bottle, you know you’ll never go back to the old, lesser ways.

OK, and finally…

# 3. Mind freedom is another freedom worth gaining when you have work freedom. It’s another one that slips under the radar (and can cause stress).

But, with mind awareness, we know we can change our happiness from the inside out.

For whatever life and work freedom you’re yearning for most, mind freedom is something to create space for in yourself first to be successful.

It grows when you make mindset shifts from old ways, beliefs, and attitudes, and rewrite daily thoughts and doubts.

Because so easily, what is within our potential reach can easily fade if the mind isn’t daily reset, in-check, and our motivations (our why) isn’t prioritized.

So often our busy situations and demanding lives can get in the way and make us tired and lazy. And that’s how we get stuck while our clocks keep running.

So having your why and what defines your work freedom can keep you moving toward your north star. 🧭

And keep you from going back to the old thinking ways that are meant to stay in the past that got you to where you are today.

Keep pressing forward in your life and let that forward motion become your guide in life to greater freedom and happiness.

…That includes a passionate, purposeful life of creativity if you want that, where you get to express your human you-niqueness and contributions where work is joy.

Crispy Blueberry Dutch Baby Pancakes

Course Breakfast

Cuisine dutch

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk of choice
1 pinch of salt
1-2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup blueberries
blueberry juice (for glaze)

Instructions

Blend the ingredients (except the butter). You can use a Magic Bullet that makes smoothie drinks if you have one.
Let rest for at least 20 minutes.
Coat the pan with butter and pour in batter.
Bake in oven at 350°F/180°C until the pancakes are crispy.
For syrup: add maple syrup and a little blueberry juice to make a jammy blueberry syrup.

Scents For Joy + Celebrate Your Nose Knows!

Have you ever noticed how certain scents bring joy to your face? Or that warm blanket spritzed with lavender that reminds you of a yoga mat or relaxing moment that instantly makes your troubling life situations better?

Using those olfactory memories and the comforting things available to us, can help us to make it through our day… and sometimes is all we need to get inspired again. That’s all-so Ayurvedic!

One sweet spice way that we can capture daily is in our scents. I like to keep around a few perfumy bottles even though I rarely wear any. But I like to catch a citrusy sweet whiff every so often. Bergamot and citrus light scents don’t last as long as others so keeping them close by is a good idea.

And if you’re a Vata like me, cinnamon spice is one of your faves. Also, vanilla scents and sweet oranges like that from a California navel or Italian blood orange.

Celebrating the orange scents here on this table…

Can you guess what orange is here? It’s a Cara Cara orange.

So on those notes, these are a few of my go-to perfume aromatherapy scents for balance.

The heavy-knock-you-out-cold perfumes are a thing of the past. The kind your grandmother probably wore. And what my mom wore. Those memories are hard to erase.

But for everyday living, these two eau de parfums are more appropriate.

J.Lo Live – the version I bought is very citrusy. I stumbled on the perfume when I had extra minutes (hours) in an airport and decided to make use of that time by finding a good scent. Good idea, right? And this one was the one that got my attention. Yes, it’s Jennifer Lopez’s (J.Lo) Live. And it also comes in a pretty bottle.

A good perfume is like a good dress. When you try it on, you know if it’s The One as you can’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

Viktor&Rolf – Flower Bomb is da bomb when it comes to scents, me thinks 😊 in me-time (that was how I thought in my youthful fun self) 🌼

Btw… do you ever wonder why you can’t smell certain scents that’s more about you liking a perfume scent one day and not-so-much the next day or next season?

There are a few reasons:

For one, as mentioned, the citrusy ones don’t last in the air too long. While they calm your parasympathetic nerves (and help to lower cortisol stress levels), they only last a few hours depending also on what other scents they are balanced with. So it’s fading daily along with bottle age.

And the other reason is… you!

You don’t smell them because you have a heavier imbalance in another dosha. But don’t worry, that can easily be restored back in a day or two. And the right scents can help put your day right back on track.

It always comes back to your Vata, Pitta, and Kaphas. 👧🏻 😡😴

Let me explain… so since I’m a Vata, sometimes I can’t smell the citrus scents strongly. And so I gravitate towards maybe a woodsy or florally scent or a stronger sandalwood burning trees scent. 👃And that would indicate to me that I have a Pitta imbalance. Rarely these days, but back in my corporate work days that was the status quo. …Until I found a better new normal balance.

So primarily these days I like the Vata scents because that’s my natural body.

And if you’re interested in learning more about the intuitive body and how it can help you in your daily life and balance, then take the 2-minute Body Balance Quiz.

There is one scent in particular that I use to instantly know if I’m feeling balanced.

Wanna know what that is?…

I use another Viktor&Rolf’s scent called Bon Bon. It’s in a cute, hot pink cylindrical bottle. Hot pink was my favorite color growing up …and now everybody’s fave. 💕

…I Love how our society is becoming so close-knit and we see eye-to-eye on the important things 😉

So, here’s what I know.

When this candy scent is too cloying or sickenly sweet to me, then I know that my Vata is off. It has a burnt caramel scent to it that isn’t always likable. I figured this out while wearing it one day when I couldn’t wait to wash it off. That’s what happens.

AND… maybe I’ve inspired you to pull out your scents to test.

And if you ever wonder why you like a certain person… it could be the way they smell. Years before our society adopted Ayurvedic balance, a co-worker of mine wore Clinique’s Happy. And every time I was near her, I was happy! 🤸‍♀️

My day was brightened and I distinctly felt calmer. And now I know that’s because of the concentrated citrus orange notes. Once a Vata always a Vata!

So, if you want to be around more people like you, wear the scents you like. And if you wanna balance yourself out and attract your opposite, wears the scents they would like. …Just a scented meeting people advice note I thought I’d leave you on.

Happiness Is a Journey Today

Happiness is empowered. And it’s a journey…

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. – Alfred D. Souza

Happiness can start with whole wheat beignets. — Dreamy healthy baked whole wheat beignets. ☁️ Recipe below.

On this Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), I’m remembering my past visit to New Orleans around Mardi Gras celebrations. And these days I’m celebrating how I live life so differently. And in one big way, is how I view happiness. You too?

And one smaller way is how I eat and bake healthy… as proof, here are some healthy whole wheat beignets with a light dusting of powdered sugar compared to those heavy-handed sugar days.

But since those trying earlier years, I’ve come to know that happiness comes from a different deeper lens in the thoughts today. And happiness is in your ability to control, changing arising and spinning dysfunctional ego mind thoughts from the past.

In the daily moments, happiness is searching for and magnifying past happy experiences. For me, that’s recalling birthday parties and cakes. And I have even more photos as evidence (but I’ll spare you those this time). 😉

And the happy, good memories are not usually what the mind actually serve up in the messy thoughts that a busy day can bring. That’s anything but happiness. So for happiness, it’s good to be mindful of these specific thoughts:

Past thoughts. Consciously be aware of re-framing the bad memories and negative repeated tapes that interruptingly come up in the day. And these thoughts crowd out the happy ones. So it’s often necessary to rewrite your present thoughts of the past so you can keep them in the past…

Because your today’s happiness depends on that…

And your happiness depends on what version of thoughts you want to magnify today.

The mind often likes to serve up what we didn’t get that others got. And in those past dysfunctional areas dwelling in the present, keeps us playing small in our lives. Even decades later.

Like, I remember a few daily childhood situations where I wasn’t put first by others. Because that’s what the brain does in the present moment. The brain doesn’t pull up memories like all the years of having celebrational cake for birthdays and throwing fun birthday parties.

So to better get out of that fast (think fast!), we can either think of better past memories. Or we can focus on the present… And in this moment…well, I’m writing but you’re doing what you’re doing. So having a good standby conscious thought ready to replace the bad thoughts is what you want.

And that’s why as a reminder, gratitude is so important. Because you can always be thankful and replace negative thoughts with appreciation, and that can be the maze out of the fuzzy mind on any given day.

Or putting love on yourself: “I am loved.” That’s a post-it note worth keeping around! 💌

Remember to focus on what helps you out completely, not what soothes the same hurts time and time again like a band-aid.

Heal the hurt and then rewrite what is served up. Healing is found in the re-write thoughts and not the re-living of the same past storyline that happened many decades ago. You already suffered once from the situation, which was more than enough.

And today, it’s not physically hurting you unless you allow your thoughts to keep going there in the same way.

Present thoughts. In this moment and today, you can apply wisdom knowing what’s up vs. what’s down (right or wrong as best you know). And every day there’s an opportunity for wrong to creep in.

So it’s good to be objective. See the what-is truth behind your thoughts and operate from that perspective… Not what it could be or what you think it could be. And you’re NOT the bad person for saying “no!” Think the opposite. You’re the foolish person saying “yes” to something you don’t agree with out of guilt or feeling selfish. The ego brain loves that beating up yourself-stuff.

And always saying yes or letting guilty feelings take over are costing happiness, unproductive time, and emotional energy.

If you think you’re being selfish, that’s all twisted information anyway because when you’re *really* acting selfish, you don’t give another thought to it!

And there are other areas that go under the radar where we did act selfish without us having a conscience. So then we know our brains aren’t always helping us!

…So don’t buy into every thought you have.

…Stop the madness! Go with your gut-feeling thoughts and check in with your heart that guides in whispers. Is what you’re thinking and feeling, loving? … and to you?

And that again takes knowing what your right and wrongs are, so you do have to noodle them out some.

Sometimes noodling takes up mind space or sleep, but they’re worth the short time because you don’t want to be caught deer in the headlights without knowing your thoughts and how to respond in certain life situations. So you save time in the long-run.

You do want your boundaries honored, especially with others.

Others will try to cross over your boundaries. And don’t let that bother you. We’re all imperfect (and some of us try more than others). All you can count on is yourself.

For others who cause ripples, love the person but hate the action that they’re responsible for. And give tougher love more often when needed. If someone in your daily life today is not carrying their weight or responsibility, then let their actions catch up with their words.

And more importantly, don’t be part of their actions and antics. That would just be okay-ing their dysfunctions and now yours. 🤨

And for the future thoughts… Uncertainty is certain for everyone, so be happy today.

Worry is optional. Use worry to prepare and write out potential answers and solutions. Noodle out. And then forget about it.

Other than that, worry produces nothing.

And anxiety is the same. …I get it. I’m a Vata. The anxious symptoms are not something you can control the onset of. And you try to manage best each time in life’s sticky situations and triggers. But use those opportunities to rewrite how you handle your anxious symptoms.

We first developed anxiety and panic in our childhood pasts where we first felt anxieties about out of our control situations (like 90% of the time). And if not careful they become wound thoughts.

And if you’re primarily a Pitta, you’re not off the hook either 😊…maybe you deal with anger issues still; and Kaphas, hang onto clinging issues.

And since we have earth, wind, and fire in us (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha), we can express any of those counterproductive ways at any time.

So don’t let your ego think you have it better or worse than anyone else. Rewrite those “better than others” thoughts as practice. That’s another sour ego mind trick.

Our happiness is in our wisdom (and maybe knowledge applied from above). It’s in what we do today in our thoughts and redesign how we want to think and be.

And if you want to operate in more daily wisdom, I can’t think of a better source than seeking Biblical wisdom (like that in Psalms/Proverbs and in the New Testament). If you weren’t taught along the way like so many of us, you have this resource that is reliable and relevant.

And even better, develop the fruits of the spirit that include kindness, goodness, patience, self-control, peace, joy, and love. And love yourself first. That could be your guiding mantra this week 💚💛💜

Did you know you could listen to these snack blog posts in usually under 10 minutes?

Easy Healthy Baked Beignets

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American, new orleans

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

whole wheat flour
milk of choice
neutral oil
instant yeast
pinch of salt
powdered sugar

Instructions

Mix ingredients.
Form baking dough (more like bread than cake)
Bake until golden to deep brown.
Let cool and dust a little powdered sugar on tops.