Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 2 of 28

De-Stress Reminders During Holidays

De-stress is highly called for during the thick of holiday season and looming year-end goal deadlines. Because stress can build up fast any day like a ton of bricks. And can go away just as quickly like a tumbling over Jenga set.

But these types of short-term stressors are different than life long-term stressors that often don’t have a quick ending resolve. You can use the 5 reminders below today to help you through your waiting process.

You can also use short-term de-stress feelings and the useful reminders throughout this article to help you with your long-term stress situations.

…Like for me, I use baking as a way to de-stress and relax after a work week. It keeps me on my toes, literally. I prepare a sweet table of goods and choux.

A healthy Greek yogurt tear-and-share raspberry-pistachio Paris Brest and lemon coconut choux.

…and you too can create your table to help shoo-away stress, and celebrate de-stress.

What isn’t so easy to de-stress restore is undercurrent effects and emotional turmoil stored in the mind-body coming from long-term stress that’s hard to identify.

Those are usually invisible sources which means they’re not as easy to pinpoint and process: like dreams unrealized or deep trauma.

…Or areas of life that haven’t gone the way you wanted.

But unlike long-term stress sources, short-term stress sources are easier to describe with people, things, work deadlines and tasks involved. They are temporary thorns to the side or lasting for a season that has an end (like holiday season end).

Experiencing those temporary stressors mean you’re alive, putting yourself out there, and trying in this life! 🎉

And your gained experiences coming out of stressful situations won’t go wasted in your future as they help you build resilience and adaptability (that make you more productive and joyful, not leaning in on the negative emotions).

Plus, you can productively use the short-term stress situations to de-stress feel-good when they’re immediately over.

Then your heart beats its normal speed again and you do a happy dance inside for your accomplishments. 🫀

…Like when you make a deadline and now the work is out of your hands.

…You feel lighter as the weight is lifted and you get a quick sigh of relief.

Those de-stress happy relief feelings can last for a day or weeks, but they gradually wear off.

But through the process of handling stressful situations and then experiencing them go away, that teaches us for the next time… that things will be okay.

And those lessons carry you to help handle the long-term stress situations that sit as elephants-in-the-room for any season, usually season after season. 🐘 🐘

They’re overhanging in this season of your (and my) life. The problem hasn’t resolved or the dream hasn’t transpired yet.

This can be a few things or big areas in your life…

…And I know how that goes because I started out without balance where I had wheel-of-life (real wheel) problems that felt like I was wrapped around tornadoes. 🌪️

But the problems… no matter what they were, became less problematic as I grew because I gained more experiences and resilience. I also prayed for answers. And my self-care wheel grew.

Eventually coming out of each of those tough situations taught me the most about how to handle stress better and embrace a better life meant for me.

…And your challenging areas in your life have grown you the most. ⛰️

Long-term Stressors are Your Future Dreams

Those long-term stressors from decades ago (that are still around 🐘) are setups for your future dreams realized. ✨

They are what will be your Future Life that has more meaning and purpose than how you started off as an adult.

They will be part of your destiny… and they will lead you away from a ho-hum life that you’re not meant to live.

The sweet spot for you today is to see them as part of a long-term plan and believe they are already yours in the future.

But wisely let them go now if the timing isn’t right.

One day the stars will align in perfect timing for those dreams manifested. Just know they are yours.

In that mindset, you keep going and growing in your life now.

Also, connect-the-dots and remind yourself that your big dreams are in your recurring problems. Yes, they are!

And when you find the blessing in your problems today, you bypass unnecessary stress.

The problems in disguise will deliver you to your dreams on the other side that will change shape, form, and clothes. 😊

Those tough areas of life today that don’t seem to have any resolve in sight can take many twists and turns, heart and headaches, and often many years to come to pass…

They’re the recurring situations that keep showing up as a thorn to your side when you least expect or hope would resolve.

But most likely, they fly in and out of your life and then disappear from view again. But they are not outta the picture, even though they’re not fully visible yet.

They re-appear from time to time as reminders to keep us humble and from doing things and making decisions that we would regret later on.

…And they’re the same thorns that are meant to be turned into victory roses (dreams) later down the destiny road on your designed path.

…No matter what age you are, you have those thorny dreams right now in your life.

You know exactly what your big dream is that has shown up before in some way you know, even if you’re still wondering.

And how you manage your long-term stressor feelings is going to affect your daily life outcomes, physical, and mental health.

…So stay curious, not furious.

The dream triggers and memory reminders are hints for you to keep dreaming about this are, like you do when you’re motivated to fulfill accomplishments.

Except these big dreams blow the little victories away.

Jobs and accolades you acquire will pale in comparison to your dream purpose in this life.

If your dream purpose didn’t show up again occasionally, you wouldn’t know it can be real or leave room for chances.

You wouldn’t be leaving room for the possibilities… where anything is possible in this life.

And this life is meant to be a big adventure (as none of us know the future).

The choice is yours as to whether you embrace that what happens to you is good for you (and not a bad setback).

Enjoy the ride!

I know sometimes that can be easier said than done (or may seem like pie-in-the-sky thinking)… so in those times, simply start by working on stressing less as nothing good comes from stressful feelings.

And, a good de-stress reminder is:

Remember to keep failing forward.

…Especially on your personal growth attempts (to be a better person).

And remember to keep trying because anything worth pursuing won’t be easy.

If it were easy, you’d never appreciate what you got because you didn’t work to get it.

And these are 5 good de-stress reminders to help you through the season and the holidays especially when long-term stressors show up or blow up again…

De-Stress Reminders Around Holidays

1.Get peace.

If it’s meant to be, it will happen.

Find your peace.

Right now, today, and in this moment your life deserves peace.

Both calm inner peace and peace about your decisions.

Use discernment for decisions needed to be made and clarity from baby or micro step actions forward.

You’re meant to live whole, loving, and healed today.

(The opposite of living in fear or feeling something inside you is missing or broken).

You’re not a victim to your circumstances… and you can break out of those feelings and mindset in your journey.

“Let the peace of God rule in your heart.” – Colossians 3:15

2.Congratulate yourself on how far you’ve come in your situation.

Reflect on how far you’ve come with your same and recurring stressful situations that used to be so painful in some way.

When you don’t care so much about the situations causing stress anymore as you once did, that’s a healthy move because you’re letting go (and letting light in).

You’re also naturally learning to de-stress some in the process.

Continue to live celebrating your internal wins daily while life is working things out in your favor for the aligned perfect timing. ✨

3.Believe in good things to come.

Believe that what you’re going through and have gone through (…maybe painfully) will help your situation in the end and on the other side. 🌈

Waiting, setbacks, disappointment, and delays now are purposefully setups for your comeback and life appointments.

You can be a victor now by changing your feelings, relaxing, and de-stressing.

Your waiting and what you’re going through now won’t last, but your dreams will come to pass and they will last!

4.Keep going forward and growing healthy.

Keep growing and learning despite your stressful situations.

Keep changing your thoughts to positive, loving ones.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” -Roman 12:2

Your other life-giving areas of your life are meant for this season. 🌱

Cherish them today, because they will change one day.

Use them to help you de-stress through your worry, thorn situations.

5.Keep a de-stress routine.

Find a way to de-stress every day.

I like a warm cup of tea. 🫖

I also do 4-7-8 breathing: inhaling in the gratitude and exhaling stressful negative energy.

When I felt the weight of my situations, I made sure to re-center myself back on my yoga mat and think about what I would be looking forward to later in the week and at nights.

Daily, I stay grateful for what I have in life as part of my habit stack routine. We all have things to be appreciative of in our lives… shoes and socks, showers, food, roof, lights, tea…

And my peaceful ritual every night is at 5:30 pm while working and I’m waiting for the daily sky show to light up.

Looking up and glancing out my western facing windows from my seat, I see the sky colors gradually change from day to night.

I do a little work and then look back up to see the dark rainbow colors change like an Aurora Borealis display.

Occasionally there are late afternoon storms. I find those cleansing. I appreciate the thunder claps and silvery pitter patter rain drops.

It’s not about the type of show I get, it’s about the day and night showing up for me that I take personally.

Every day like clockwork for a half-hour, I pause and a new painted sky happens, often in shades of purple, orange, blues and whites, and that reminds me that EVERYTHING will be all right as promised.

…the sunset show is my de-stress therapy for this season. 🌅 And maybe that’s something to embrace in your changing season.

ADHD Can Be Improved with Self Control

ADHD is a way to describe the unfocused nature that Ayurvedic Vata minds possess that we accept as part of us. But we don’t have to lean into the negative parts…

This “Be Kind” note-to-self message wall. 💕

We can be kind to ourselves.

Because ADHD symptoms usually shows up as inattentiveness, unfocused concentration, and scatter-brained thinking.

ADHD usually shows up as impulsive behaviors and actions that don’t match up with what’s said. That leaves a trail of of regretful, bad decisions.

Blame brain hyperactivity. 🧠

Those descriptors can describe a lot of what’s happening in people and culture today.

But you can learn to express yourself in better ways, so you’re not living this undesired way.

You can exchange a jumpy brain that makes you want to hop around, and instead embrace thinking with a higher, spiritual lens.

As complicated as the gray matter is that we have inside us, we don’t know what causes ADHD in our evolved world.

But it is curable and the symptoms can be minimized with better ways like self-control and optimizing any brain fog that is often spiritual.

Whether the ADHD descriptive symptom traits describe your tendencies, loved ones, or those you work with, being aware can help your spiritual journey in life. And at the very least, your personal growth.

This article is about how you can use ADHD tendencies to your benefit and push you into growth that a presently mindful and spiritual-tuned up life does.

You can improve your self-control that develops patience and taking wise actions that produce better life results (than the initial ones that would have been from acting in default ADHD ways).

An example of self-control is like waiting to buy something… to allow time to know whether you really want or desire the thing later on, or if it’s just a fleeting impulsive feeling to make you a happy for a few days that you and your wallet will regret.

First off, there are many ways to look at ADHD. You could be born with anxious tendencies like dominant Vatas (in Ayurvedic terms).

In case you think that’s not you, we all have some traces of Vata in us like in our worry thoughts that’s a form of anxiety but in the mind.

ADHD is also correlated with anxiety. So you can see from that one example, an intersecting crossing Venn diagram path that makes us all susceptible to those ADHD described ways.

…But ADHD of that kind IS curable with more love to conquer fear that anxiety and worry are rooted in.

And exercising self-control from creeping-in fear feelings is the best way to the cure. Stop it at the entrance gate.

Peace is a form of self-control.

I was reminded of peace and love when I was posing in Prague up against the Lennon Wall representing “All You Need Is Love” (that originally came about during a time of war and upheavals)… Fear is the opposite of love.

…I remember the song from the Yellow Submarine record album 💿 I listened to on a record player as a child… in case you’re a Beatles fan or love record players?

Fear is at the core of causes of war in people.

Fear is also primal and makes you act and react for survival, but is not needed for most daily live happenings. And fear drives bad decisions.

So for starters, running away from those fear-based thoughts in safe situations will help you get a better handle on ADHD symptoms as you align with your calm and loving sides.

From my own early-on past experiences, I know an unsafe life situation caused me to have an anxiety or panic attack.

That type of anxiety reaction can cause you to freeze as your body takes on uncontrollable body sensations like heart palpitations.

And similarly, ADHD can dominate your life in an uncontrollable, shocking way when you least expect..

At least temporarily. And that can lead to unexplainable behaviors.

The best way is to be informed or self-aware.

Coming out of your situations, if you focus on the positives or what you learned that can help you in the future, you gain more clarity and ideas for changes you can make to your life that’s part of spiritual growth.

The Universe helps to meets you there, where you are, and where you will be.

…Maybe that’s on your yoga mat or quiet space before making big decisions. 🧘🏻‍♀️

Breathwork and aware-mindfulness can help take the edge off.

These are powerfully spiritual built-in ways we have to handle calming ourselves that also helps ADHD.

You can help draw yourself to the present moment space that makes you more self-aware and deeply aware of your inner self as part of the journey toward spiritual growth.

At the very least you’re moving away from negative energy in present moment awareness.

And that carries into your day.

…That’s not coincidence.

That’s the energy you carry that radiates into the world and back to you like a boomerang and attracts the things and right people into your life. ✨

The Law of Attraction is a spiritual lens.

So, baby step one can be: find a positive in any situation that appears negative overall.

The reframing habit is life-giving.

And giving life in the present is a gift.

It can help free you from closely-tied worry and fear-based thoughts that exacerbate ADHD.

Those thoughts start in the unconscious or subconscious mind and affect the body in emotions and physical stress-inflammation, if not protected.

…And produce scattered thoughts, unclarity, and worsen ADHD symptoms.

But you can de-sensitize from the emotional drama the ego mind wants to pull you into.

…I know that’s not easy because ego is the equivalent of having a bullhorn in your ear without the physical object as a visual. 📢.

But if you exercise vigilant awareness and self-control effort, you can re-route your thoughts and put yourself in the healthy mindset and actions that will help bypass the negative and recurring mind spin cycle that’s often found in ADHD occurrences.

Because we don’t generate all our thoughts. 💭

The subsconscious ego rooted inside all of us will rip positives and blow up negative energy. It will have a field day with your thoughts if you allow.

And ADHD is a perfect platform for ego to thrive in.

And that’s not a field trip any of us want to take.

So exercising self-control and keeping aware and alert in your mind’s eyes will change that trajectory! 👀 Be on guard to witness your thoughts as an observer.

Don’t let the mind just wander or you’ll be walking around with a cloud over your head (not fully present). And that can lead to bad ADHD impulsive decisions.

There are simple things you can do: pray, take walks and warm showers, do yoga, pay attention to nature outside, and listen to warm, feel-good music that inspires you.

Shake it off!

By slowly doing the things that restore Ayurvedic mind-body balance, you can bounce back faster.

And then on one ordinary hour, the sun will appear back out. ☀️

That’s how you can also help any ADHD symptoms along.

Exercise self-control and purposefully walk away and distract yourself in a healthy way.

Have a calming and inspiring activity ready to go like journaling or knitting so you don’t do something impulsive you’ll regret.

That’s positive self-control.

And then you may just discover a new passion or path that’s also part of your spiritual growth.

You can purposefully open doors to learn something new.

A visual would be like the American TV game show, The Price is Right, where a game’s winning answer is usually covered.

After contestants shout out an answer, they learn quickly if it’s the right one… and sometimes they get to try again.

Similarly, stepping out into spiritual faith is when you don’t see but believe that there is a blueprint on your life already planned out.

Landing on the right ones is a matter of timing and trying like you would do in playing joyful games.

Strengthening your faith, you can call up the better (non-ADHD) ways automatically served up by the mind.

Freedom comes from calling out and knowing what you’re facing and getting answers spiritually already inside you waiting for your response.

Literally, you can call out, “I have ADHD” and that’s liberating because now your spirit can help you in awareness, meeting you where you are.

And in our Universe, most people accept ADHD and know what that generally is so they will understand if you act funny and can even sympathize and joke with you about it to help you get through moments.

Making it (ADHD) okay allows less stress into your life and especially in a more sympathetic world that we now live in than from the past where vulnerability sharing was frowned upon.

Today, you can surround yourself with forgiveness and start with forgiving yourself for your quirky abilities that make you uniquely you.

…And finally, slow down.

Remember the old saying that it’s about the (quality) moments that take your breath away and not how many breaths you take. Use that as your ADHD mantra. 💨

Ujjayi energy breathing is a good practice.

You’re not stuck with the ways of how you started your day today… or from your childhood.

We start life with hopeful, rosy glasses and the playbook ends up very different and better if we exercise better habits and self-control.

That’s the best way through life.

And when life doesn’t go as planned or there’s a bend that’s par for the course, you get to grow in your deeper spiritual self ways like with self-control, and becoming more humble.

You get to develop your empowered happiness that’s so much more impactful than temporary happiness.

And in that way, ADHD doesn’t have to be a full life sentence or the life you live out today.

It’s changeable (as our bodies and we are). It depends on you and the choices you make. 💕

Overwhelmed? Spiritual Ways to Respond

Overwhelmed is an understatement especially during the holidays when year-end deadlines are looming and new year goals emerge. It’s important to stay healthy like this budding avocado tree…

It’s also best to stay focused and look at life not as seriously.

...Seriously, 😳 I say this through the lens of my experiences where I went through many seasons where I couldn’t see the forest through the trees.

My work life was overwhelming.

…Then that all disappeared… poof!, like that… it was gone. That happened for many seasons so I caught on and started over in different work industries, jobs, and relationships.

It feels good to have comical relief and laugh it out with new beginnings and pivots.

Personally, I know the universe is laughing along.

…and maybe that’s how you feel?

In 2020, all of our lives changed when the world shut down and daily offices closed.

Each of us had our choices as to how to respond.

For me in my microcosm, I took that as a spiritual sign.

The situation only confirmed further to me that everything in this life is going to keep changing, along with the good, bad, and ugly.

…That’s how this life is meant to be so our planet can survive and thrive.

Embracing that we’re in a spiritual experience and journey can help us see this better.

Because none of us are handed manuals to our lives… that look very different than our co-workers or neighbors living next to us… and even more different than our friends and families we know intimately.

And that’s how I came to grips that this life is about gathering experiences.

…It’s not a spectator sport like the famous baseball player, Jackie Robinson, said.

Life is like a sport that’s constantly in play and you never know what will happen until it happens.

The good and bad plays are the experiences that make us grow and gain new perspectives.

Good experiences make us want to go back, and bad ones…well, they add burden weight if we allow them to.

…But they also makes us head in another (often opposite) direction to grow even more and get past, if we’re open to seeing it that way.

…And feeling overwhelmed is one weight indicator that can make us want to choose a better or another path.

When I worked in the corporate world for two decades for multiple industries, stress was a frequent common daily response.

You got used to it (even though the body never does).

Stress is the body’s way of coping for unnatural circumstances (that stress is processed in the mind-body).

And longterm chronic stress is not the good life habit we want or need to live.

…So when I left the corporate world, it took years for a new life and breakthroughs (rebirth) to break out and sink in. Because I was still the same person.

It was like I traded in a familiar used car for a different and new set of wheels (life). Then I was like those transformer toy cars (…maybe you’re old enough to remember?)…

…Flipped around, they could change styles in a heartbeat, as they were built with two styles… and you could choose which one you were experiencing at any moment.

Almost like two personalities or people…

I could use my old corporate skills that came in handy (minus the stress headaches in the job 😉)… and bring creative energy to my newfound work with a different daily design.

My new life was anti-aging compared to the old one. It came with normal 6-8 sleeping hours without an alarm clock.

I didn’t feel like a robot going through the motions of the week. 🤖 And I didn’t feel like a panicky human with constant heart palpitations lurking around every corner.

I could enjoyably stay up late to watch shows and not pay for it the next day.

…And when I lost all my computer data that can happen often with this new digital age, I didn’t freak out like I would’ve before in the corporate days.

I didn’t even worry one iota.

Instead I looked at it as a way to save me from the hassle of having to delete and make micro decisions on files that would be outdated soon enough.

My new assistant was technology working! 😁

So I went from one paper-filled world when I was working with foodie event contracts to paperless and data less.

And less data clutter is a metaphor for re-routing me.

But that was just the beginning……

When I reported to myself in this newly defined role of working for myself for the first time, I no longer felt overwhelmed.

I sometimes worked 8 hours a day, but those hours felt productive.

I didn’t watch the clock in excitement for the work day to end.

I also found time to do yoga. All you need is a mat and a few minutes. 🧘🏻‍♀️

And I worked on what inspired me as leading me to the path that I was meant to go, that’s purpose and spiritual.

…I could also ran errands on my time. Those mini-escapes let me have more quiet time…

…Quiet time allows for the inner self and spirit to get a word in edgewise.

I could find what my season is about on any day… I didn’t have to wait 6-months later for reality to kick in and feel like I was in a never-ending rat race job I didn’t like… or was missing out on something like a life opportunity..

…That btw is where every job I held in the past eventually landed.

In this new life, I could navigate and adjust daily what my next life step was and is.

There was a peace and calm in knowing that it would work out or else I would be doing something else I was meant to be doing.

But didn’t come without some stress like learning to trust that the Universe would provide.

Some stress is good because it keeps us motivated.

If you don’t have a bear on your back, you tend to get comfortable.

But when you’re backed into a corner, you tend to put pressure on yourself to make things happen quicker.

And I’ve come to grips that stress means you’re working, coming up with solutions, and contributing to our world of chaos.

Those gray hairs come from stress turned platinum. 😁

…And those platinum hairs are purposefully chic because you still care what you look like in the mirror and how others see you daily. 🪞

You’re also showing up for your part, so your stress is not in vain.

…And you’re on your journey to finding that sweet spot of your purpose and what you are meant for.

That’s spiritual and beyond outward talent that’s important.

…But talent is ever changing and your spiritual essence is not. Talent can die at any time. Spirit moves and changes with you until the end.

You’re not likely to be overwhelmed by your spirit that is quietly whispering and subtle.

You and I don’t have to be seniors to know that… and between the two of us, you and I have seen so many examples of those we know who didn’t find their changing purposes guided by their spirit in life.

…Over time the shiny and new transformers became dull and listless.

Their engines aren’t revved up because they’ve given up on change in themselves.

But that won’t happen to you as long as you don’t give up on growing… you’re bound to succeed in your desires.

But if you feel you need a tune-up, maybe instead of doing the same things you’ve done, consider taking a moment to do something radically different for your day to escape the regular rhythm flow.

The world and your work will still run with your pause.

Like: escape and read a book you would never consider before, with hopes to learn something new about yourself. 📚

Self-discovery is underrated because it’s invisible in the air, but we can inspire our wonder and stimulate our curiosity.

I find that reading books about other’s lives and memoirs helps me to stay grounded and learn things about my own life… and not take life so seriously!

We’re on a spiritual journey in life and when we know that, we aren’t as overwhelmed with what’s going on around us.

And enjoy the daily ride for all its parts. 🏎️

And if reading isn’t calling you: you could start writing a personal essay journal-style if you don’t want to feel overwhelmed.

Dare yourself.

Let out your thoughts and emotions. You can always crumple it up and delete it later.

Let the intention be that you learn more about your inner self.

And maybe discover your creativity.

Creativity is an escape and a sign that you’re out of overwhelmed feelings.

It’s a spiritual gift.

And you could find your calling that way.

That’s what happened to me… I wrote over a hundred 100 personal essays and put them out in the world.

And I never stopped…

…But I could’ve easily missed the writing calling.

And I almost did… had I chosen to stay in the corporate working world.

Because then and there I would be worrying what I would say and put out in the world.

That would create more stress and overwhelm than worth sharing.

But in my chosen new way o life, I creatively write and post during my previously forbidden corporate work hours.

And those are my carved out, glorious sacred work hours…

The world freezes around me and my blood pressure lowers in this cool, calm healthy environment. ☃️

Hopefully this inspires you to escape and find a way to emerge from any overwhelmed seasons… and find your spiritual schtick.

Anxiety Is Not The Way

Anxiety has become part of our living on this planet existence. It’s not healthy but it can be reality.

It’s no longer for just those born with the strong trait (ahem, Vatas). 🙋🏻‍♀️

Anxiety is part of our culture’s zeitgeist… and this article is about helping you remove daily anxiety in your life.

Because anxious feelings is not a part of the way you’re intended to live.

…Some stress, yes. But not anxiety.

And you can get out of the anxiety lifestyle in your inner spiritual journey.

…At least that was my story as I developed better discernment in my life as I defined what the Universe meant to me growing into faith… relying less on what I could do and more on what I was made for.

And for one, that led me out of the anxiety work lifestyle (aka corporate work).

…These days you hear so many people leaving their cushy golden-handcuff jobs for more purpose and passion filled work… free of anxious environments that cubicle walls and office hierarchy create in our remote world.

And the pandemic was a radical change disruptor that no one likes to talk about much these days, but started the whole Life pivoting movement.

That’s when today’s anxious culture began…

Anxiety was looming in the air all during the pandemic.

…That affected changes in how we did our daily lives. We experienced job losses and technology changes like AI (making some previous jobs obsolete).

And even now, in the post-pandemic inflation era where the dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

Everyone has been impacted in some ways.

It’s in the air.

So anxiety is contagious.

…Oh, and then there’s politics.

I grew up and lived in the Washington D.C. metro most my life, so that was front and center for me even though I never ran in those circles, and I choose to talk about it less because I know it creates divides.

But it was always in the air.

And the biggest elephant in the room: climate change. There’s no air in this world that isn’t affected by those two common “c” words….

And climate change has affected every type of business. If you think about cars, home insurance, shipping, and of course… food and farmers, to name a few.

That has made for a tougher and more complicated life in many ways.

Plus, there are so many more daily distractions.

Finding the inner-self becomes much more of a challenge.

I grew up before the internet entered the world so I remember the way it was…

And then social media was born.

But I don’t think social media, television, and streaming devices in and of themselves cause more anxiety.

Because having information available at our phone fingertips can calm anxiety.

…Like, you don’t have to go to the library to research limited information anymore or operate in the dark.

How we used to find our way around town with maps… or meet up with others based on watch time alone was operating under the Stone Ages compared to today.

And everywhere you turn over the past few years, you hear wellness recommendations to turn your devices off or spend less time on social media (like those old days).

So people hop on the social media strike bandwagon..

But how has that helped anxiety?

We don’t seem any better off as a society if you check the stats.

People are still feeling anxious today.

With devices, these days you know what you’re signing up for… you knowingly choose or change your friends and what you want showing up in your feed.

It’s no surprise anymore why you’re getting certain information in your feeds.

So the information we choose to get is what makes the difference.

The enriching information I choose that inspires me is educational, and/or entertaining for me.

I learn something new and what I positively intake, challenges my mind.

I shut off everything else. I’m not tempted by negative garbage that provokes anxiety entering in the mind-body..

…That’s a healthy choice we each get to make..

And like most, I watch shows everyday. I like HGTV and food channels where you can trust that there won’t be something inappropriate shown where you can’t change the channel fast enough.

I share this with you because from my journey, this is how I know the healthy choice is deeper than self-discipline.

For me, it has to do with aligning myself with spiritual purposes and who I want to be and how I want to feel at the end of the day.

And if those ideas inspire you, but your anxious feelings don’t support that, the starting questions you can ask yourself are… What do you want your life to be about? What healthy change in your daily life would make you feel better?

And when you’ve decided on those or similar answers, then you can come up with a matching plan that you’re daily happy with and can stick to with discipline because that’s what you want your life to be about.

Your wants are stronger pulls than being tempted by the garbage-in information… and being aware, you’re no longer interested in heading in that other direction. So from there, you make small tweaks to bring in more healthy influences and eliminate more of the garbage.

One simple goal could be: I want to feel good by the end of the day.

Then, like an invisible string, the healthier ways are drawing you in and your deeper spirit is helping you along in that direction… 🧭 The Universe is watching 😊

And that better ensures you don’t have anxiety the same way you did by the end of the day and when you wake up.

Anxiety For Young People

I had inner struggle with this myself in my 20s and younger where I felt pulled into culture’s definitions of happiness that builds up ego and was growing my pride.

Then I came to a point where I felt so depleted by the end of the day and I wondered why. It was like I needed an internal shower cleansing from all the garbage I had in my mind that mostly came from the external influences surrounding my life.

But gradually I became more content with less wanting of those ways, and that developed a deeper, calmer sense of happiness.

I moved away from mean gossip, judgment, and noisy/busy influences.

Those created unnecessary more fear and anxiety, shutting out calm and peace.

Believing that there’s a better plan or reason for what was happening to me in situations also saved me from anxious moments or the old ways I would have reacted.

If you go to church regularly, you know how it feels on loving Church Sunday. But by work Monday you’re back to the anxious rat race and people.

Letting that Sunday headspace permeate more days, helps to quiet down the negative external influences. Instead of being so heavily influenced, you and I could be the healthy influence to ourselves and others.

“Be the Change.”

It’s the negative chatter and staying busy that can keep us small.

It was like that as kids too…

We would see non-age appropriate footage that created nightmares for years to come.

Think of movies like classics, Mommie Dearest and Jaws, that left scary impressions on a 13 year old or younger mind that doesn’t know the world as well as a 30-year old.

Young brains don’t forget as easily and that can haunt forever in brain storage.

It’s the more mature mind that knows how to file those memories away as not real life. That comes from having more life years and experience.

And that’s what I think is happening to the youth today as they’re in their dark virtual reality worlds where an 80/20 balance deep breath of healthy real life would help.

For any of us, if the environment you’re around 80% of your waking hours are keeping you in the dark, then finding a way out is going to give you the best life you deserve. Just something to think about. 💭

Thanksgiving Quote For Happiness

Thanksgiving is a universal reminder time of thanks. One way that often takes a back seat is to love ourselves.

That way, we have more room to give love and pass on the abundance to family, neighbors, and others on our journey path.

Loving ourselves means forgiving ourselves and others, like God forgave us. We want to feel grateful.

If you’re stuck, maybe ask: what am I hung up on that I don’t have?

Because we have so much more to be grateful for than what we don’t have.

Our brains easily fool us into focusing on the wrong and negative things.

And part of what we don’t have that we think we want right now is going to be what gives us a better future.

Because life is rigged in our favor in our belief and faith.

This isn’t something we’re born with knowing, but over time and experience you grow wiser and the knowing inside you becomes more clear.

Daily thought choices determine our future view of ourselves, our lives, success, and happiness.

Thanksgiving quote:

“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” – Deepak Chopra

Even though none of us know the future outcomes no matter what age we are.

But the answers are inside us waiting for the ripe-ready reveal time to birth.

That’s a spiritual way to look at it and how I see it from my reflecting back lens of life experiences. I didn’t see that back in my 30s (so don’t worry if you think you’re a late bloomer).

It’s a gradual shift like time.

And over time, you can realize nothing in your past was wasted. The hard things you went through made it easier for you now or in the future. And the dumb things done (we all have them!) made you smarter now.

It’s in our future where we get new revelations.

And most of our answers to our life’s purposes are already inside us.

We first have to grow up, learn to change our auto-responses, and heal from our past hurts that will help us.

…That’s how this one Life we get to live keeps getting better, and our perspectives change because we allow them to with our open curiosity.

The famous saying is that this (as in life) is not a dress rehearsal.

But for those of us who believe in Heaven, it is.

We’re here for experiences and growth.

And as we gather more experiences, we learn and grow. That’s the purpose of this life as I believe. And we do that by ourselves and with others.

And if you want to make this a new season different than past ones, then dig deeper in the well for your answers.

They’re there! 🎯

You only stay stuck when you box yourself in… I remember years ago where I spent a couple Thanksgivings abroad. It’s always a weird feeling because that special Thursday is only celebrated in America.

Initially I felt I was missing out. But then, it made me realize I could be thankful anywhere I was.

Thanksgiving holiday is not about the food… entirely (as I’m from the foodie world 🥘). But getting away from the holiday food traditions helped me to break out of the “this is how it is.”

And that breaking out allowed for embracing growth in future seasons. And not just for new situations, but also a new hopeful attitude.

I found early-on in my journey that my ego blocked these types of beliefs in my auto-thoughts. And I allowed it to because I didn’t know any better.

The brain would serve up the woes-me thoughts for what I didn’t have and wanted.

Part of the process and journey was learning this unhelpful built-in ego feature as a first step.

I wish it didn’t take me beyond 35 years to learn, but I’m glad it didn’t take another 35 years (or never) 😉

And breaking through, when I could tap into my deeper compassionate and feeling sides, that’s when I got more breakthroughs.

…I was less judgmental about myself and more forgiving that projected out to the world… to judge less and forgive more.

Imagine if that radiating energy caught on in most of us. It would be one big ball of massive fire in the world! ☄️ We could use that energy to help and grow our world filled with challenges.

But starting with ourselves is the first and most important place to begin, and keep daily renewing…

Breaking down self-judgment walls and bringing back self-love keeps us growing.

…It helps you and me see better.

Especially if you didn’t feel the love when you were younger or in your more recent situational past.

…When I felt the self-pity from setbacks in life, I bounced back by finding my gratitude and giving spirit (thanksgiving)

Giving can be sharing, donating time or money, providing, spending time, encouraging words, and sending positive loving vibes to the world. 💕

It can be as simple as recognizing that it’s not all about you or me.

It can be about paying forward gratitude for the blessed things I already have or experiences I had.

Getting sensitized and feeling again knocked me out of gray confusion clouds and into sunnier skies.

We are meant to keep growing forward in life so we don’t put ourselves back in the shoes of our former selves. Been there done that.

In today’s moments, we can acknowledge that we’re in a better place by finding examples from our past.

Comparing our new level today with our past level gets us to our next better level of tomorrow.

Proof of this is easy to find for all of us…

If you go waaayyy back to the past as kids (or young adults we were called) that none of us are anymore… back then, we were more impressionable as our younger selves.

We had to get everything okay’d before proceeding as how culture and life is setup.

As pre-adults, we didn’t have the means to do the things we can do today on our own.

And if we did do them then, we’d probably have gotten lost and would be ungrateful as we didn’t fully understand what we had in front of us.

We were still developing our adult minds.

Today as found former-lost baby sheep, we have wiser perspectives to draw from. 🐑

Congratulating our growth is one small step and happy way we can be thankful for this season in life even if it doesn’t look anything like we hoped for!

The focal point sign that we can dwell on is “you’re here”… and it’s years later and you no longer have the same problems you had back there.

So you could come up with a list of what you’ve arrived at today.

Imagine if you had the same challenges and choices you had as a young adult, you’d be so frustrated because you’re no longer with that same mindset. But you’re not there, so that’s one thing you can be thankful for.

And those little thanks help you to embrace where you imperfectly are.

We’re still and always will be dynamic works-in-progress.

Thankfully so because that means we’re alive! 🤸🏻

And collecting up all those fond past memories that you can re-live in present moment happiness helps to keep us rejuvenated.

Then in the tough times (the ones that so blind-shockingly happened), those help grow us into better people.

We become more deeply grateful for what we have… maybe not immediately, but we end up developing stronger character in survival and in the process to get to the other side. 🌈

Even wasted time we feel now was well spent because we learned the lesson to never go there again. And now we don’t have to painfully back track and re-learn the same lesson.

And all of us are walking examples of lessons learned.

We can keep going, getting inspired daily, and FEELing-thinking our way to our thanksgiving.

Holidays like Thanksgiving are welcomed reminders that give us reason to be thankful.

…And to say “thank you” more often.

Focus on “you.”

See yourself through others.

And practice old-fashioned manners and simple Thanksgiving sayings like please that never gets old and goes a long way.