Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 20 of 27

7 Habits of Highly Effective People Learned Lessons

7 Habits of Highly Effective People are habit principles you can use in most aspects of your life. I learned this from teacher and author, Stephen Covey who taught from his principle book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I can’t think of anything more work adrenaline-filled than putting on a moving-part event production. That’s how I felt when I would plan and then orchestrate large events with over 100 guests, where the habits from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People were put to good use.

Setting up event success meant planning milestone meetings with chefs and managers (and plenty of meetings with myself) with a 5 P’s mantra: Proper planning prevents poor performance.

That’s not a personal mission statement, but it’s a success value statement. In my event planning, I learned many powerful lessons that can be applied to personal change and growth.

On event nights, the party starts at the ready time or at least the staff and I have to be ready.

That’s when we know whether the prep work laid out hours beforehand pays off with a successful event. And this actually starts weeks and sometimes months in advance by planning menus, setup, and details with planners and chefs.

Each event is like its own wedding event even though it may have fewer mini-events and agendas.

The first two habits (of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) always took center stage to anticipate changes:

1. Be proactive

2. Begin with the end in mind

During the parties, when there were too many moving parts, being in the moment, keeping focused on the guests, gauging the temperature of the room, and checking in on the party host (be proactive) was part of event success (begin with the end in mind).

And in your daily life, you probably don’t plan events (or not in a live event space today anyway)…but most of us plan our daily event schedules.

So most of us are planners. On the calendar, you can (and may already) practice be(ing) proactive and begin with the end in mind habits.

One effective way is, if you only have an activity that requires a bi-weekly (or bi-anytime) habit… and to succeed with those tasks, you could fill the non-weeks or time with another activity so that your mind has to search for the “either/or” activity.

If you don’t create a weekly placeholder activity then you could unintentionally forget/skip the bi-weekly intended one. The mind needs a replacement to substitute.

If it’s an every other day activity, then you could fill that same activity time for another activity, that follows a daily habit (or the habit stacking concept most of us have come to love and know from the more recent Atomic Habits by James Clear).

And that’s why I personally got rid of calendars because of building habits.

It’s much easier for the habit to stick (and for consistency to happen) when you have an “automatic” method programming your mind.

That’s easier and in event planning, that’s the “you got this” feeling in event planning when you’re on top of everything and proactive. You’re not writing everything down in those critical seconds needed to make a decision.

Most professions have these “make or break” moments. For a surgeon in a hospital emergency room, if the doctor has to look up procedural answers then, that’s not a good sign.

And in event planning that I know, being reactive with situations is crushing and it can be a snowball effect where the plates come out late or cold. And there’s a complaint about the room temperature and drinks.. and in those humbling times, you can’t wait until the end of the event, that’s only a matter of time.

To get to the proactive level takes planning, proficiency, and experience that creates confidence. And that starts from building consistent habits.

Consistency is the end-all, be-all that builds progress, and confidence and works for every important habit that I can think of at least. You consistently follow a habit. And when a better habit idea comes along, you replace that habit.

But consistency isn’t without downfall. It can be at odds with creativity, so consider looking at them as the yin-and-yang, or the sugar and the salt in baking that give the balanced spice in life.

And using solid principles like that from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People can improve your effectiveness.

They can help you in life’s productivity and also deeper areas like finding your life’s purpose, a proactive choice that can easily get los in life’s busyness and commotion of what’s seemingly urgent but not important to you.

You’re headed in the right direction when you keep developing yourself and pivoting. You keep practicing new skills, putting one step in front of the other and looking at your compass.

The Universe is constantly guiding you and offering an invisible hand to help you and give you a hand up.

The healthy and growth mind set knows that a re-route is to help you move up in the climb of your life and get off the roller coaster ride.

If you begin thinking with the desired outcome end in mind, then your process in the middle is improved when you set your eyes on the end goal.

You can better Ready, Fire, and Aim.

And when you stay focused and open to feedback using habits #3 and #4 from seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

3. Put first things first

4. Think win-win

These days prioritizing what’s important is more blurred than in the past.

Most of us live a double life to some degree with our digital lives and real lives, so putting first things first (habit #3) is not the easiest thing and can be complex.

Both lives are authentic. Your sweet spot is what makes you stand out and the skills that you’re good at that are relevant.

The biggest competitor you could run into for a win-win approach (habit #4) can be yourself and your moods (we used to blame much more on others). We’re now a more openly aware and collaborative society.

Being able to give is a gift. It’s a win-win.

There’s a cosmic exchange when you give your energy away in optimism, and then the world dances. When you give your time (service) or money (generous giving), that can also create buzz and impact for your endeavors.

When you can start looking at how you fit in the world, not selfishly, but what you can give in the abundant overflow you’re given in personality, gifts, and talents, then you can grow to your highest and best use purpose (habit #2).

In self-awareness, then you can create a continuing growth environment (kaizen is the Japanese word in business terms) for you and others around you (habits # 5-7):

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood

6. Synergize

7. Sharpen the saw

“You have two ears and one mouth,” I remember Author Stephen Covey saying in his workshops.

Listening is more importing than talking.

Habit #5 summed up: Hearing, selective listening, and active listening are 3 different processes. The first is naturally automatic, the second is tuning in/out when multi-tasking, and the third is focusing, taking notes, and coming up with unique ideas from what you heard in your frame of reference and experiences.

In my event planning days, if a client had an issue, it was best to listen to them, then give them available options based on what they communicated (habit #5) and let them decide which options to take (habit #6). Seasoned event planners know how to do that every time, and let those dialogues roll off their tongues (habit #7). And that way the client felt in charge and if things didn’t go as planned, then they owned part of the outcome. That’s the behind-the-scenes smoothness in event planning.

And that helps in most ways when you work with others. If you fill them in with communication nd what you’re up to, there’s a greater chance they can fill in and help in ways you wouldn’t even know how, now.

Habit #6: 1+1=3 or synergy is exponential growth that happens when you have collaboration. And when you keep adding/evolving collectively to what you’re doing, then you’re getting better. By default, you’ll avoid the things you didn’t like or “been there done that,” and keep seeking newer, better ways for yourself. That leads to growth and…

Habit #7: Evolved learners focus most of their time on the present moment and not on the past or future that hasn’t happened.

They know where they’re at and that the past brought them to where they are today. And without the past, they would not have learned (from their history) what they need to do to improve.

And when you get out of the negative emotions of that headspace or focus on the happy memories, you can feel good and alive.

When you can reflect, you can see why things happened and how they helped you even though it didn’t seem that way when you were learning the lesson.

Everything happens for a good reason (believe that!) and sometimes that takes a little longer to realize… and, at every turn you are gaining a little more confidence in who you are becoming.

And you gain a clearer vision for the future and better strategies that you can better evaluate from time to time.

In events, dessert were always a must. Baklava was on the Mediterranean-Lebanese restaurant menus. We didn’t make baklava in-house, but you can with this low-sugar recipe. 🥮

Easy Phyllo Dough For Baklava

Make phyllo dough from scratch! It's not as difficult as it sounds... and dare I say fun!

Course Dessert

Cuisine lebanese

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup flour
1 cup water
pinch of salt
honey
chopped nuts
dates, orange, and cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Making phyllo is a lot like making homemade pasta, but much thinner.
Make a mound and a hole in the middlle where you can add the olive oil and slowly add water. Knead for about 5 minutes and then form a dough disc. Let rest.
Roll out as thin as possible and then you can slip into the pasta maker if you have one, adjusting until you get to the thinnest setting (e.g. 1). It will look opaque but the hope is that there will be no holes.
Cut into strips that you will use as layers for the baklava.
For the baklava, you can brush honey and top with chopped dates and nuts (walnuts or pistachios work well) on every other layer if you make 7 layers ending with the top layer with honey and nuts. Sprinkle each layer with cinnamon and orange zest if you like (good for Ayurvedic Vata balancing!).

Experience Feeling Alive Every Day

Remember how you were feeling alive in your last dreamy vacation where you immersed yourself in a new culture you’ll never forget? Or maybe that was a staycation where you got time away for yourself to relax and do nothing, or just lay by the pool. I can relate to both!

And, I love rooftop views!

Beautiful rooftop view of Bologna, Italy

…When Life couldn’t be any better. Vatas love this Cloud 9 feeling from heightened senses in different places, Pittas love the getting back to productive routine, and Kaphas love their homey comforts and sleeping in their own bed again.

Life is good and one big harmony for everyone when you’re feeling alive and good again! And you can feel this way in all these different ways because you have all these traits in you (in varying degrees).

Wherever you are, take those feeling-alive dreamy vacation feelings with you. I do!

Sprinkle those joyful feelings throughout the rest of the 365 days. Here’s an example of a typical practice I have.

When I first start my workday, I look at a small framed piece of inspiring artwork in front of me (and I can take an inspiring desk calendar with me wherever I go). It puts a peaceful smile on my face. All is well. 🧡

I also keep a changing-up scenery screensaver on my computer. This is super important for a Vata! But if you like to see the same image over and over again, then find a framed image or words that inspire you.

For now, I have a Matisse postcard image in front of me that is just as good as if I took a look at the image in an original museum painting because I choose to see from the lens that I’m not missing anything.

Visuals are oh-so-important and especially so if you don’t have a vivid imagination. Colors play into the mix. That’s why people feel differently when they wear different color pieces of clothing. Do dogs react differently to different colors? You betcha!

I had one that loved the boldness of red (that’s the same color that bulls run to). And so do us, people. Except we’re a bit more refined and complicated with our color palette choices… more on that below.

As A Vata, if you are one like I am, you’re constantly changing things up and inspired to change at least the colors, if not the clothing style or the entire room (and hopefully your spouse or roommate doesn’t mind. Your dog won’t) 😉. Continue reading “Experience Feeling Alive Every Day”

Tired, Frustrated, Overwhelmed + Almond Ice Cream Sandwich

Tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed feeling as shown in this word cloud are general feelings many of us have.

Tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed feeling are common — These are eye-opening common feelings from my community surveyed in September 2021

But you don’t have to stay tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed. It’s the start of a new season and you can transition into your best season (no matter your situation). You can handle it with grace if you stay conscious of your attitudes and what you’re focusing on.

How you react is a direct determinant of how you perceive and interpret your situation.

Today’s blog post (and it’s a big one) is all about your different tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed feelings that bubble up when triggered that arise from some form of dissatisfaction (or trigger) in your life. I’m gonna share how to put those non-serving feelings aside so you can LIVE fully!

And that can start with a recipe that cools and refreshes.

If you’re tired overall, then I’ve also got a tea beverage that’ll help put a pep in your step (especially if you have a Kapha imbalance). So keep on reading…

But – just a little side warning upfront: this is a long (and maybe deep) blog post. I didn’t intend for this to turn into an article-length piece, but I’m very passionate about the topic of balance restoration (having suffered in my ways before with unfulfilling work), so I believe that this is useful information for those who want it (and the data is showing people are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated these days).

So to further help with exhaustion and offer some tired relief in the way I know that works, I’m providing some know-how advice and practical nuggets of wisdom that I picked up along my journey.

I chopped up the blog article down into 4 main sections and here are some of the highlights:

Section 1: I explain how feelings can guide you and share what you could productively do with your feelings, plus lessons I learned that can help you turn your life around from tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed feelings.

Section 2: I share how to turn your feelings around with your thoughts and two revelations that changed my life (and since the tennis U.S. Open just ended, I use an analogy from the sporting event to describe how you can improve your thought life).

I also share with you some of my lifelong learner ways you can use to help you turn your life around from tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed feelings. And I explain how to reset your life now to a better path of possibilities.

Section 3: You can learn how to change your moods (whether they’re daily or seasonal moods) and how to use your time wisely with a break pause in your day (and life).

I include plenty of peppery questions you can ask yourself to get to the heart of the matter and find yourself in this season, along with oodles of examples throughout (so be sure to read it all and come back if you need to take a break!)

…and then finally in Section 4: you can learn how to change your perspectives from the tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed lens.

And I wrap up with some joy and inspiring ways you can look forward to your season and the upcoming 4 seasons.

So be ready to be encouraged and if you’re ready, grab a beverage and here we go!…

Continue reading “Tired, Frustrated, Overwhelmed + Almond Ice Cream Sandwich”

Emotional Wheel: 3 Case Studies

Emotional wheel is something you’ve probably heard about. Daily, we are bombarded with triggered emotions. If we process them when they happen or within the week, that’s healthy for us so we don’t assume trauma that hurts our happiness. I learned the hard way, but lessons learned gave me wisdom to end the madness even if it was delayed by years.

And these healthy black and white chocolate dipped biscotti (recipe below) ⬇️ represent the refining process of going through (the oven) again to get to the optimal finish line bake. You can make these when you’re working on your emotional wheel feelings, and not sure if you’re feeling up or down or all around that life can serve up.

Jump to Recipe

I was on a recent webinar presentation watching a respected leader and expert I have been listening to for years. She’s usually always on point except for this one display of being on an emotional wheel.

Consequently, her mind jumped all around, from one thought back to another. I felt for her. Like a trouper, she just went on like the professional she is.

Halfway through, she mentioned her forgetful mood was because she didn’t have anything to eat as a result of a hectic morning. But I could see and feel through the screen that the turmoil she was having was from a temporary Vata and Pitta imbalance, simultaneously going on at the same time.

I know that because I’ve been there and I’m sensitive to those imbalances.

We often try and associate our off-ness with a routine missed, or else we just let the moments pass and resolve themselves.

But what if it doesn’t? …and those moody feelings go from a day into days or weeks?

In this webinar I was on, this expert was also more impatient than usual. She didn’t usually point out when she had answered a question already. She typically just graciously found a new way to answer with additional ideas and value. She’s usually very calm and in control in mind-body connection ways.

I’m using this as a case study, as this can happen to any of us in our human-ness, no matter how put together or skilled we are. We’re not robots, thank goodness!

And this helps explain tennis pro, Naomi Osaka’s performance this week in the U.S. Open tennis match (and previous matches) where she has shown signs of frustration, throwing her racquet to the hardcourt. She was up and winning in the first set and then her mind-body turned on her, and she ended up going on a losing streak to a younger underdog player.

This is why they play in professional sports, because mostly if they can contain their emotions and control with a focused, coordinated mind-body, then they shine. But no matter how pro they are, they can lose it if they get inside their heads, and their bodies don’t perform in the tip-top way they want.

Anxiety is one of those emotions that can be crippling. And anger (or irritation as a subtler form) is another. You can go from one undesirable emotion to the next in the spectrum of the emotional wheel.

In my wholeness journey (as a 3^rd study case), I’ve learned how to remove and calm those emotions that used to play a regular or seasonal role in my life. I just thought that was the way I was. I didn’t know back then I could do something about it that would change my life.

Then on top of those emotions, I used to think SADD (seasonal affective disorder) was what I would experience all my life from a teenager on, when every February I would feel hormonally imbalanced or slightly depressed. Do they even talk about this anymore as there are so many other known disorders in our more open, aware society?

I knew once March rolled around I was good and chipper again. But not everyone bounces back that way.

As I grew up, I learned to get the right vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements, and that helped along with all the other healthy and daily practices I implemented to enjoy every day.

In this similar way of seeking knowledge, I learned how to restore anxious-irritated feelings. We all have some feelings we have running on the surface or as undercurrents in our life, and are sometimes stronger based on our life situations.

In my desires and awareness, I learned how to faster restore those symptoms from the body-mind perspective, so that even the inward expression and feelings disappear. That’s a big transformation. And I realized it’s possible to improve your life with better wisdom and practice.

Emotional Wheel: Anxious Vata vs Angry Pitta Imbalances

There’s a varying spectrum of symptoms or descriptions you can use for Vata vs. Pitta imbalances on the emotional wheel.

An anxious Vata imbalance can show signs of being worried, scared or fearful (like if you will lose something valuable or if you feel uncertain about an outcome).

An angry Pitta imbalance can feel hot-tempered, irritated, annoyed, critical, or impatient (or feel a need to be more right about everything than usual).

In both cases, you want to get back to your calmest self as soon as possible. We all know stress causes havoc on our bodies and minds. And when you’re calm, you make better decisions when you can think and act clearly.

But each specific imbalance needs a different remedy.

If you have a Vata imbalance, you can first more notice your symptoms in your heartbeat, stomach, and sweaty hands (before it impacts your mind). You want to control those with your thoughts. You want to change that, to feel fearless and confident.

In a high-pressure situation like in a world-is-watching-your tennis court performance, that’s not easy to do and to revert back right away. At home or in your life, that’s what you want to do.

If you have a Pitta imbalance, your mind can often be impacted first. Triggers can set off your mind, and then your actions create your behaviors that lead to body stressors.

We all are born with a split mind that I won’t get into here, but this can be part of a personal growth journey you take to have one productive, loving mind in your higher self-space.

It’s the stuff I breathe, share, teach (and stand for). I believe your health and happiness are dependent on your growth and based on your choice and decision to take a better path than how you started or were given.

And in either case of Vata or Pitta imbalances, if you’re not calm then you’re stunted momentarily until you can restore and get back to your balance. You’re frozen from being creative and fully productive as your mind is distracted and can be racing, and that can impact your physical health like getting enough sleep and functioning optimally in the waking hours.

…Such as sitting still can be a Vata challenge and getting motivated to do calming yoga can be something you need to convince your body to do if it will cooperate. And a Pitta challenge can be to not express knee-jerk reactions, opinions, or interrupt. These subtle occurrences are emotional wheel signs that can be balance restored. Just like you get your tire wheels balanced (in alignment) on a car, your body-mind needs addressing, tune-ups and check-ins, so it runs optimally for life.

If you have a Vata imbalance you can witness your jumping from task to task more than usual.

When you have a Pitta imbalance you can also be jumpy, but you may want to interject more often.

You can go from one imbalance to another quickly, the same day, or as often as the weather changes (along with the storms in your body), and naturally can go away.

But, a better goal is you don’t want to be jumpy at all. You want to get off the emotional hamster wheel. There’s no good benefit being on it. You want to be cool, calm and collected. Or happy, and your excitement is contagious so you can be your BEST YOU.

If you let go of the unwanted feelings, then that’s victory. But if these hindering feelings spin out of control in your thought life, then you can end up lashing out at others, being angry, or running away. And these can in a usually-delayed way show up on your body in some form.

When your balance is restored, you know because the feelings of calm and peace wash over, and you can find the joyful moments to keep you productive and happy at the moment. You are free and own the most important thing you have, Your Life. You feel on top of the world and your emotional wheel is balanced.

So now you know about the Vata-Pitta differences (or are getting a little more aware). What do you do about restoring your emotional wheel of undesired feelings?

It’s not exactly one size fits all as we have different bodies and minds (biodiversity), but since we’re all born with a body and mind, there are similar specific remedies that work for these imbalances.

For a Vata, ginger, and cinnamon in black teas can be your magic tea. Orange is one of your magical scents.

If you’re a Vata or have a Vata imbalance, you won’t want grassy tasting green teas (green smoothies are okay all the time 😊) or to do the creative activities, as your mind will still want to protect you like you’re being chased by a tiger.

If you’re a Pitta or have a Pitta imbalance, you won’t want sweets. You’ll prefer a plummy-sour fruit flavor or green tea, and you’ll want to get active. You can want the grassy cologne scents that you won’t normally be attracted to if you’re not a naturally dominant Pitta.

From anxiety to anger, you can easily go into a distracted fight-flight-frozen mode.

You get to know which imbalances you have when you like certain scented lotions and perfumes you like sometimes but not others. All that information is connected to your body-mind intelligence and imbalances.

Your body naturally knows what it wants and needs. It’s fascinating. That’s why I’m passionate about restoring imbalances that lead to better daily happiness and long-term health.

You can learn how to do this for yourself and others. As a first step you could take the body balance quiz to get some quick tips on how to restore your dominant imbalance and get advice for deeper insight on your body-mind imbalances. I love this mantra:

“When you know better, you do better.”
-Oprah and Maya Angelou

Break your patterns, stay curious, and with a growth mindset, you can make tweaks and improvements that affect your health and happiness. Let your emotional wheel of feelings help guide you. Be well.

Print Recipe

Healthy Biscotti (No Butter or Sugar) - Black and White Chocolate Biscotti

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

2-1/2 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp aniseed, crushed
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup coconut oil
1-1/4 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1 cups blanched almonds
2 tsp milk
finely choped dates, orange zest, dried fruits as sweet

Instructions

Make your dough with the ingredients. It should be cohesive and sticky enough to become a dough. You may need to add more oil or can substitute with yogurt or apple sauce.
Roll our two rectangular loafs flattened at the top in 350°F oven for 25 minutes.
Let cool completely. Then use a serated knife to make even-cut biscotti pieces.
Then flip over and bake for 10 more minutes for twice baked.
Let cool and dip in melted chocolate.
Refrigerate and then dip in white chocolate for duo-chocolate.

Balanced Living This Season

Balanced living and wellness is the best way to live a life worth living.

body-mind balanced

That’s what people discover after they’ve hit rock bottom or they’ve run ragged for long seasons.

When you reset to your calm and whole equilibrium essence, you find your life meaning, purpose, and happiness now and in this season.

That improves mental health that’s delicate to protect for longevity.

If you live every day busy and stressed, even if it’s doing the thing that lights you up and gives you purpose, like owning your own business or being the CEO in your household, you can still feel burnout.

If you don’t develop a strong enough reason WHY for what you’re doing, then you can gradually feel unhappy because you can be missing the meaning piece. Why does the business or my family give me purpose?

Getting to those deeper reasons, you can find it has nothing to do with security or a sense of belonging as you could get those from a solid work career or a community of friends.

It could be more about spiritual alignment, personal growth, and discovering more of who you are.

If you were a rose flower, even during blooming season, your intact delicate petals could become brittle, and fall off under wind-blowing conditions.

But if you knew your purpose and greater giving impact was to be naturally beautiful, fragrant, healthy, and alive, and that your inner beauty helps to spread love to your environment and the world, then you would be able to embrace chaos and changing environmental situations.

You can get your unique raison d’etre (reason of being) when seeking meaning and purpose this season which requires your focus, mindful space, and deeper thought.

Quiet time, introspection, and journaling can bring that wisdom out of you.

If you are body-mind balanced in balanced living, then you can tune in more acutely because when you’re healthy you can do infinitely all that you’re capable and willing to do in alignment.

A healthy body-mind provides the starting foundation for your inner wisdom to grow.

To be healthy, it’s important to find time to soak in what your body is conveying to you in each season of your unique life and take time to nourish your naturally resilient but unique body.

The one and only body you will get and can transform if you wish. A simple daily task of moisturizing your dry skin (the largest organ in your body) can be a healthy body-mind exercise especially if you’re a Vata and have those tendencies.

You could stop to smell the roses daily and sense all their pretty features like bright and pastel colors… subtle rose scents (great for a judgmental mind)… soft and silky smooth texture …and balanced intricate design.

In those mindful moments, you can connect with yourself, and realize how you can make an impact in your life and others this season of life… Time you will never get back. Losing time can be a motivator (Your Why) as it has been for me.

Before I was conscious of body imbalances, I didn’t realize I had fallen rose petals from lack of self-care attention. I may have noticed random petals and brushed that off as nothing.

Had I been more in tune back then, I could have adapted and thrived better to my seasonal situations to keep the petals blooming.

And I would’ve reached my higher frequency instead of survival mode in a modern rat-race work life. You can miss out on fulfilling years of personal growth and finding your whole self that way.

Looking back, I went through the motions. In the season when I had a Kapha imbalance, I couldn’t get myself up an hour earlier than I desired and accumulated more than one of everything.

When I had a Pitta imbalance, I noticed acne in new spots and was more critical than usual.

When I had a Vata imbalance, I was more forgetful, inconsistent, unfocused darting from unimportant task to task, and indecisive making small decisions difficult.

Multitasking BTW is the epitome of a lack of mindfulness.

Out of living balanced, inconsistent symptoms show up, such as accumulating body weight, feeling impatient, being withdrawn or slower than usual.. and so much more!

When I learned how to restore my gradually stored up appearing imbalances, then I had a new framework and perspective for tackling all that I wanted to do in a loving way and productively.

More importantly, being the person I wanted to be (…and you can too!).

You could be fully aligned with the creative flow (even if you think you’re not creative or in this season). You gain clarity and laser focus (and feel unstoppable, and not starting and stopping).

You can be your super-productive self while still enjoying some of the uneventful days of this season. They don’t matter in balance.

Finding unique joyful activities you love can help to prevent burnout. And proactively learning how to naturally restore your body-mind balanced self and balanced living is how you can start to be your healthiest self (and the best rose in your life).

Each year can be your best year because you make the most out of it and see how what you did brought you to where you are.

Encouragement for today… you every day feel better than the day before if you proactively look for how to intervene and get those wholesome perspectives and wisdom.

If yesterday wasn’t the best, you have a low bar to surpass today. If yesterday was great (hopefully it was) then today you can follow in those footsteps, and also keep trying new things. You keep going and growing.

As busy humans, we have complex lives. One day, we can be pivoting, and the next day looking for more happiness in our lives while handling the necessary tasks in the here and now.

Some of our specific situations can sometimes leave us feeling drained, tired, anxious, worried, annoyed or irritated. If you feel any of those symptoms, you can do something about it.

You can find out what your body imbalance type is in this season and make positive, restorative changes. Getting aware helps your body-mind balanced lliving.

Your body and mind imbalances can change from season to season and can show up in many ways. The mind and body keeps memory and score.

As part of this season, I hope (and challenge you if that’s what you need!) that you will take time to find your specific purpose, meaning, and take some extra balanced, self-care time out.

6 Productive Take Time Out Activity Ideas For Balanced Living (So You Don’t Burnout!)

Every day, try and choose at least one of these “time out” activities that can be for 10 minutes or more per day. If you only have 5 minutes, then take those 5 minutes.

If you feel guilt about taking time away from whatever your busy list is (work, family, etc.), recognize the feeling, and reason with yourself that this prevents you from burning out in the long run.

When you come back to your busy life, take note that nothing significantly earth-shattering has happened. The more you can record evidence for that, the less guilt if any, you can feel. And then you also gained quality time for yourself, and you feel healthier and happier, and the people around you notice.

Breathing time. If you can’t remember the last time you paid attention to your breath inhale and exhale breathing, then you’re probably too busy to be mindful and too busy this season. Be intentional and come back to it for your health and balanced living.

Break time. In between busy activities, take short breaks to get mindful, Doing laundry, making a snack, pouring water, and looking at nature or a plant that’s moving or growing as you read this and go about your regular day, can be satisfying to a balanced body-mind. If you feel tensions, then something could be off.

Use mind space and relaxing your body, as your break time theme. You could be standing up, taking a walk, or sitting on the deck, and watching the world go by, looking for productive future thoughts to enter. You can start with something you look forward to. If you find yourself pacing or your mind is racing, step outside into new surroundings and air.

Silent time to get a peaceful mind. Have moments in the day where it’s completely quiet in your surroundings, or you put on white noise or a quieting headset.

Let ideas pop into your head. This means not watching the television.

This means tuning out the sounds from your immediate world that can come from another room.

You can meditate, but I suggest keeping your eyes open so you can take a look at your surroundings for inspirational ideas.

“Me time.” I grew up in a decade where it was a less sensitive world than today. People weren’t as aware or empathetic.

Taking “me time” sounded selfish to others, but then our society became more open to the idea that when you practice self-care and self-love, you have more love to give to others (time, space, and forgiveness).

Thankfully living in a more transparent world frees you to be a better you.

If you find pride creeping up, you can have a daily intention or practice to be grateful.

Find gratitude time. Pause and think of a few moments this week that you’re grateful for.

Write them down in a journal or on the back of a temporary envelope if that will help better solidify those temporary memories in your mind.

You can do this while you turn on the news. With sad headlines, you can have deeper compassion, and that helps you find gratitude, meaning, and contentment in your life.

This can improve your daily happiness and feeling good about what you do have and how you can contribute and make an impact to serve and help others.

Gaining an internal and grounded perspective can keep you feeling peaceful and in control, instead of living an up and down daily roller coaster lifestyle based on the highs and lows going on in your life.

If you’re feeling frustrated or defeated:

Find organize task time (or time to piddle around and tidy up). If you feel overwhelmed or are unwinding from the day, doing mindless tasks can feel good and be productive.

You can use this time to also catch up on podcasts or listen to music to get calm and back to your usual self.

If you have more time, you can do a rainy day project like organizing a file, bookshelf, or drawer. Make it fun.

You can create a good memory by stuffing a good ‘old photo, some stickers, or memorable words you write on paper, and add them to your project.

When you’re done, you’ll feel better for your small, but mighty in your mind daily achievement. That can be all your mind needs to relax and get back to the mood you want.

And in the future when you pick up the tangible memory you just made, that can put a smile on your face again. Small tasks can make big differences.

Have a good (no, have a GREAT) balanced living week!

Easy No Egg Blueberry Waffles

Short on eggs, you can make this easy recipe in 3 minutes.

Course Breakfast, brunch

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 tbsp blueberries, frozen
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp whole wheat flour, plain flour, or gluten free flour
1 tsp neutral oil

Instructions

Mix ingredients and add to your medium hot waffle maker. This is a liquid-y batter. Add more oats to fill in if it becomes too liquid in spots. This is a very forgiving recipe and great for lazy weekends!
Cook for about 3 minutes or until easy to pull in one piece off the waffle iron with a fork.
Flip the bottom for the top as often that's better cooked.
For healthy version, dust collagen powder on top instead of powdered sugar.