Mental Health and Wellness Archives - Page 22 of 28

Hypochondria: Health Prevention vs. Health Anxiety

hypochondria

Especially if you’re predominantly a natural Vata body-mind, you’re likely sensitive to changing daily weather, body, and health conditions (and can have hypochondria or health worry tendencies).

To a sturdy, unaffected Kapha or a strong, enduring Pitta, your Vata body health thoughts could be seen somewhere between hypochondria thinking and healthy prevention.

We all have traces of each body type in us (air/space, water/fire, and earth/water in more eastern world dosha term descriptions), and at any time, any of us can get off-balance for a day, a season, or longer.

If you’re experiencing any natural body type imbalances these can start off as minor body annoyances, but that can gradually aggravate your quality of life as they grow and the season goes on–so it’s better to nip them in the bud and make the healthier lifestyle changes/choices now or asap.

Today I wanted to share how you can handle and next steps for any of your less-than feel-good (unhealthy) body symptoms (that we all will run into at some point in our lives).

If you’re a super sensitive person, seek healthy prevention ways, live a healthy, balanced lifestyle balance, or are even a slight germophobe, then you may have hypochondria tendencies that can be good and bad, and I wanted to delve deeper into how you can play up the good sides and get rid of the bad tendencies as a healthy lifestyle choice you make…

In some countries outside the U.S., like our sister countries, Italy and France, hypochondria ways of thinking are known to permeate the culture. So a French Vata person is more likely to be adaptive to healthy preventative ways and body health self-awareness. They can also get inside their minds a little too much, e.g. taking more than they need or before symptoms arise.

So let’s look at both sides.

The Good In Hypochondria

If you consider yourself a hypochondriac (or know of someone who is), you can help detect and prevent health issues with solid facts and knowledge, as you probably like to Google and research health symptoms and solutions, and read health articles to become aware of the latest trends and outbreaks.

You can replace old health beliefs with better ones as they evolve, a concept that’s never-ending.

You can be more in-tune with your body so that when you do have a health concern that needs to be addressed, you know which specialists to see over general help, as you’re been a researcher and live in and feel parts of your body.

You can also share helpful, health information with other people to bring awareness to better health ideas, such as OTC medicine knowledge and alternative medicine solution paths that you learn.

The Not-So-Good In Hypochondria

But then there’s the other side…

You can go down the wrong diagnosis rabbit-hole believing that something is causing your health issue that’s not based on all the facts.

You can falsely imagine your health scenarios worsening that cause anxious-worry energy, that further hurt your health or symptoms in our human bi-directional mind-body connections.

You can also become less productive and stressed as you believe yourself as a sick person or feeling less than 100%. Some of these thoughts can lead to chronic ailments or symptoms that last longer than a week.

So, the balance between healthy and unhealthy hypochondria thinking is doing and attempting the right things that don’t over or under-react to the symptoms you’re experiencing.

Observing your body, and gathering data from the opinions of others around you can be a good, first step sounding board. And of course, talking to a medical professional when it’s necessary.

Some people tend to go to the doctor for everything and anything, and then there are others who won’t tend to go unless they’re seriously ill and you have to convince them to go to the hospital. In general, you want to be somewhere in between these two extremes.

When you talk to friends and co-workers first, they will likely share their learned health journey experiences. They may advise seeing a doctor and that could be the next healthy step, but before that, here’s how you can handle almost any change in daily, health situation that comes up without a known cause and before you have a diagnosis.

And, before you consider seeing a doctor or reach for your medicine cabinet to treat symptoms with no known cause, you can ask yourself objectively:

On a scale of 1-10 — how severe (feelings, pain, and appearance) are your symptoms relative to your normal daily health?

Continue reading “Hypochondria: Health Prevention vs. Health Anxiety”

Bird of Paradise Yoga Pose – Mind Challenge

Bird of Paradise yoga pose I love and share with you why and how in this article.

It’s a mind challenge in a good way… and maybe you want to take the journey to discover more about you and your body!

Bird of Paradise yoga pose is a good metaphor for removing overwhelm thinking blocks through the pose. It’s like no other bird yoga pose because of the personal mindset growth component. It’s a mind challenging yoga pose.

Learn how in this article 👇

In celebration of today’s #InternationalYogaDay and yoga daily, I thought it would be great to highlight my favorite exotic yoga pose, the Bird of Paradise yoga pose.

This is a good pose for mind-body balance.

The Bird of Paradise yoga pose stretches your arms, legs, buttocks, and shoulders while standing on your yoga mat.

If you’re injured somewhere between your head and toes, this is not one you want to try until you’re confidently healed…

I mention that because I recently was injured, and I couldn’t do the pose. I had a left foot injury where I often had to stand on my right foot without a crutch. I must’ve looked like a flamingo with my one leg propped up behind me resembling the number “4.” 🦩

With injuries, the last thing on your mind can be working out. After you start getting on the body healing path, you can get back, restore, and be determined to find ways to work out parts that work normally in case you need the strength, as I needed. A good way to ease back into physical activity is with light yoga poses.

One of these can be The Bird of Paradise yoga pose that helps build strength in your legs when you need to lean on them the most.

The Bird of Paradise also helps with your balance, especially when you need to rely on one side of your body over another.

That’s why it’s good to maintain and build body strength as you never know when you will need the extra gusto — and flexibility and muscles in the right places come in handy (even if you’re a small framed person).

When all is running smoothly, there’s no better time than now to try the Bird of Paradise yoga pose, standing in place. You can do it where you are without a yoga mat.

The pose can sound more complicated than it is. Remember, it’s a mind challenging pose in a good way.

And it’s as easy as it looks, but getting into the pose for the first time, if you’re a newbie, can take a few steps like twisting dough into a pretzel form.

To get in the Bird of Paradise yoga pose on one side, let’s say your right side first…these are the steps:

👣While bending down at your torso, you weave or wrap your right arm under the same side/right leg and then grab behind you, your left hand.

Then without letting go, stand up and lift your right leg straight up. Either let that right bent leg rest on the back of your right arm or aim it up into the air at a pointed 45-degree angle (if you can and wanna show off ;-).

I know it can sound like a game of Twister with yourself, but it’s simpler than the instructions are once you get the hang of it!…

You’re basically hiking that shoulder behind the same side leg — so it can be done in two simple steps. Your leg in the air is more like a front, dangling handbag strap. 👜

I’m not sure what you’re thinking about this pose at this point… hopefully inspired to attempt (and not scary)?

You can do it even if you may have never heard of this Bird of Paradise yoga pose.

If it’s new to you, and a mind challenge yoga pose yoga isn’t quite your thing!, or you’re not a regular yoga class attendee, no need to be intimidated. We all try and then before we know it, we’re doing!

I first learned of the pose when they would teach this one in Hatha yoga classes I attended, or maybe I was just lucky to get a lot of various poses in my classes. Whichever way you first run across this pose (...maybe now?), it’s worth a go…

Besides the stretch benefits, the reason I like the Bird of Paradise yoga pose is it’s a good exercise in not taking yourself too seriously.

…And take off anyway!

When you’re first starting out, you can overthink the pose and not fully get off the floor. Or, you can wobble or fall out of the pose somewhere in the process.

Here’s how you can bypass overthinking the pose… 🧘🏻‍♀️

You start off standing. Then bending over and taking one arm and threading the same side shoulder underneath the same side knee. Then stand straight up with the entire leg and arm in one fell swoop.

You probably got that part the first time, but where people get hung up (and I know I did in the beginning) is focusing on the arm and leg and how it would finally look instead of just looking straight ahead and trusting all the parts are where they need to be.

…So guess what can happen in overwhelm? Nothing. In my case, I stayed bent over on the ground.

Until I attempted again the next day without giving the pose much thought and looking up slightly, and straight ahead. From there it became easy, breezy, and smooth sailing, as I know it will for you. ⛵️

If you stay in intentional mindfulness, the success rate to bloom is high for your lovely Bird of Paradise. 🦩That’s a good positive booster!

If you think of yourself as the flowering bird of paradise plant in life, 🪷 then you can aspire to achieve this advanced mind challenge yoga pose pose more eloquently and efficiently.

Not that getting in any yoga pose faster is better, as the words “quick” and “yoga” don’t mix, but you can stay focused on the pose and bypass confusion as your mind and body think and act in synchrony. Whew… that’s pretty heavy stuff for a yoga pose!

I’ve done the pose in office workplaces wearing stretchy leggings and riding boots and I’m not any superwoman, so I’m sure if you want to, this can be a winner for you too! 😊

Just a few final notes and words of encouragement before I close out here…

If you’re on the computer most of the day, the Bird of Paradise yoga pose is a great shoulder opener. Without awareness, most of us have a habit of leaning forward and caving our bodies inward that isn’t great for our bodies.

Especially by our old age when we need support to balance our bowling ball-like weighted heads (and our shoulders are part of the main muscle group that helps with that cause).

So to counteract or correct bad habit postures, to undo them, bend them in the opposite direction from time to time. That’s a good overall rule of thumb for stretching practices.

And, keep challenging and amusing yourself and others around you with your standing poses like Bird of Paradise, Tree, and Dancer Poses (another favorite pose of mine so you can expect a future post on this one).

Yoga poses (…mind challenge yoga pose or not) are a good reminder to lighten your load and light up your day.

If you are having seasonal internal-body symptoms that are preventing you from doing Bird of Paradise, be sure to check out the Body Balance Quiz to learn more about restoring imbalances.

Happy Gratitude in Paris

Happy gratitude is easy to find when your senses are heightened like in a city like Paris that has beauty, scents, and sights.

happy gratitude in front of Louvre Museum.

That’s one souvenir that is priceless. Even more valuable than the Mona Lisa.

It’s also a good time to reflect in happy gratitude for the life you’ve already had.

For me, I’m thankful for the travel I did pre-2020 that are joyfully stamped in my memories.

For self-care, I find solo travel to be one of the best ways to be reflective and grateful. You can find a new place to explore without compromise, and to find yourself and happy self in the process.

In May 2012, I did just that. I explored and got lost around Paris, France for a week. I could breathe in a different culture, and see a glimpse of how big this world is and how small a piece we are.

What you take with you on travel and in your life is your mind, body, and spirit. And that’s the part that gets impacted the most in travel.

For me (and maybe you), international travel is exciting with new sights, sounds, tastes, culture, people, and history.

And a city like Paris is nothing short of joyful sensory overload… But there are more similarities to American cities than dissimilarities.

The language is the biggest difference that jumps out the most.

The highlights are walking down boulevards, visiting museums, purchasing a Parisian beret and scarf, experiencing scents and tastes from all the beautiful boulangerie breads and pastries, and then finally making it one day to the iconic Eiffel Tower (as a dramatic climax).

When I had first arrived, I was sleep-deprived from the 6-hour time difference. But — the first day is magical as my eyes pop out of my head in wonderment. The happy center of my mind is hungry for more. And is reinforced with the scent of fresh quiche everywhere.

Walking up a classic cobblestone pedestrian street like Rue du Mouffetard was a great way to start.

The joy effect does wear off after a few days, and it took a few cappuccinos and seeing many sights.

These are a few gratitude notes I took away:

Balance.

Paris is a city of balance. You can sit in a café and “be,” and no one will rush you. You can watch the world walk by.

And you feel like you’re on top of the world like in balanced yoga poses.

You can stroll and sit along the Seine River, or relax in the garden parks (Jardin des Tuilleries).

Staying in the Latin Quarter area, I got away from the hustle and bustle tourist district and shopping-feel that the central Opera neighborhood has.

Beauty.

When you see peaceful Monet’s water lilies mural paintings at Musee de L’Orangerie, you get a new sense of appreciation… and then you just wanna lay on an outdoor chaise lounge so you can be mindful of your beautiful surroundings.

Beauty you can find in food elegance you can find in a bistro where everyday is brunch fare.

Life.

You can get your fill of vitality in the churches, as you visit the grand Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur.

You can hear church bells and see street performers playing accordions in between sites.

You also hear fluent French spoken with beautifully connected sounds. I appreciated my ability to speak broken French as my high school French teacher came to my conscious mind.

City of Lights.

In May, you realize that the Paris sun sets around 10 pm and that the global earth operates in different time zones.

With more daylight, you have a chance to experience and aspire to do more each day.

You realize how the world runs in different time zones and the Universe looks different from another perspective, but the lit sun stays constant.

Contentment.

I felt grateful (and content) for the gift of life and the uncertainty to get better answers than the ones I currently know with my limited knowledge.

I was grateful for the freedom and ability to travel by myself to build self-confidence.

I was thankful for the healthy intentions I have and the growth I had made up to the point. Nothing learned goes wasted.

I was thankful for the people I had met and who are a happy part of my life even if it was only for a season. Life is about the experiences, relationships, and becoming better people.

Then when it was time to go back home, I was looking forward to going back to the life I had that allowed me to take a week off to explore.

I journaled my experience in a scrapbook I created with warm and appreciative memories. I can re-live the thoughts and feelings I had at the time, any time in my mind.

With memorable trips like the one I took a decade ago, I realize I’m physically living in a different place, and in a different place in life now (as we’re constantly growing).

Since my Paris trip, I’ve opened my mind and world to seeing 9 additional countries.

There’s plenty of room for happy memories that’s a gift.

The happy gratitude part I cherish the most in every one of my travel adventures. And when in my return, it’s my turn in the airport line to pass through the American Immigration desk, and the man in the kiosk smiles and says, “Welcome Home.”

I celebrate with my American flag smoothie that’s found nowhere but home.

Mental Health Awareness Month For Your Wellness

Trees in May bloom can be a mental health awareness month reminder.

Mental Health Awareness Month is in May. But every day is an opportunity for wellness and mental health awareness for everyday people.

Mental health disorders and anxiety run rampant for people in our lives. In keeping wellness up, we can only do our part and be supportive of others and ensuring our own mental health is in order.

Mental Health Awareness Month is one of the several recognized events throughout the year to keep a reminder going.

And we can all check in on how we’re doing these days.

And others have strayed away from natural growth and becoming better and healthier, into less productive habits that lead to their self-inflicted destructive behavior patterns.

In some cases, this has led to a growing anxiety medication epidemic crisis in America. Too many people are taking them willingly like popping candy without questioning their doctor’s recommendation, and for longer than prescribed.

In college when I didn’t know any better, I took OTC sleeping pills for a semester. When I got off of them, I felt like I was drowning.

That was the wake up call that was needed to get me up and out of looking for a med crutch, when there is a choice to self-medicate and seek inner peace.

We’re all here to evolve and get better, but that’s up to each of us.

And some of the best remedies any of us can apply in Mental Health Awareness Month is wellness practices.

This can be in yoga, meditation, nature walks, and all of the above. Wellness and self-care is the best mind-body answer.

You’re the only one who can choose and do your better life. So for Mental Health Awareness Month (with emphasis on awareness), these are some ideas that you can implement for your healthy wellness lifestyle changes:

Healthy Wellness Lifestyle Changes You Can Make (For Mental Health Awareness Month)

And in your practice, you can get to the root of discovering the healthy you!

Through mind-body connection, maintaining both mental and physical health plays a big role.

When you’re aware that the mind-body directly communicate with each other, you can make positive changes to your life.

Let’s look at mental health (mind) and physical health (body) that we can influence in our wellness.

For physical health changes:

Many recurring or chronic flare-ups don’t have to be a regular or seasonal occurrence when you know the source.

With many interruptive symptoms, you can avoid them with better lifestyle choices and making healthy changes like having less stress in your life or purging past memory baggage.

And removing post-trauma that can stay invisible to you today, and be a part of your everyday.

And general symptoms such as eczema, acne, acid reflux, other GI tract, IBS issues, or sinus infections are preventable.

If you make a simple lifestyle adjustment, you can live more enjoyably, and prevent bothersome symptoms that can otherwise leave you worried, stressed, or moody.

Let me show you how simple these lifestyle changes can be.

Eczema – too much sugar can trigger eczema and food allergies, so finding alternatives. When you don’t eat sugar over time, your cravings can disappear as your tastes change. So slowly removing refined sugar and eating plant-based including fruits is a solution.

Acid reflux – a diet such with highly acidic foods and beverages, and wrong combinations of food eaten together can exacerbate. Using ACV with “the mother” as a food as medicine ingredient in your daily or weekly plan could benefit you. And changing up your meals as most of us eat the same categories of food. Adding more alkaline foods can do you good. For example, if we eat cheese, we tend to eat more than we need. Or we lean into tomato sauces when we could alternate with a butternut squash or other healthy alternative.

Sinus infections – we can’t do anything about the air we breathe in around us, but we can use a neti pot to clean out our nasal passages regularly to prevent sinus infections.

The preventative neti pot me saved me, a person who had experienced back to back sinus infections from a work environment that had mold behind the modern-built walls.

And like a magic potion (there’s no magic!), the prevention prescription for these annoying symptoms can be natural. If we can prevent ailments and nip-them-in-the-bud before they grow, then we don’t have to take medicine that hurts our microbiome.

Some of these “grandmother” and “old world” ways that are Ayurvedic ways, come from generations before us where modern medicine didn’t exist and the people then were able to live longer than they would have because they found natural solutions, like these:

A low sugar and balanced diet, apple cider vinegar, and sinus cleansing (neti pot). Those are pretty easy healthy fixes compared to the physical symptoms.

These changes are all healthy and easy to implement with a desire to change small habits.

We can pick up habits easily and unaware we don’t notice what we’re consuming, doing, or not doing. Being sensitive to our body’s “calling out” through imbalanced body symptoms can wake up our awareness.

For happiness-sadness mood swings:

Taking supplements such as the correct amount of daily Vitamin D3 can change your daily happiness.

Had I known this back when I was a teenager and young adult, my SAD (seasonal affective disorder) mood that came up every February (when naturally Vitamin D sunlight was far less) could have been better or non-existent if I took the right amount of Vit D. Proper vitamin and mineral nutrients are essential where some are daily critical.

And getting enough tryptophan from foods helps with your serotonin “happy hormones” where 90% is produced in your gut.

In our wellness age, we’re learning that a healthy gut is a happy life.

And finally taking the right amount of magnesium that most people don’t usually get enough of absorbed into their system or in their diet, can be helpful to relax a stressed, anxious, or worried mind-body.

For mental health disorders:

Feeling anxious, severe Impostor Syndrome, or prolonged depression can often be naturally altered. For those who are born healthy, we learn behaviors that if kept unaware to us, can turn into mental health disorders that affect daily life.

Getting your heart rate up in exercise, taking a shower, or getting outside to take a walk and appreciating those moments where you can see nature can help you stop wanting what you can’t have right now.

Our brains can be our worst enemies or best friends. You choose. Exercise ignites happy chemicals in your brain.

Your ego may influence you to overindulge or overinflate (e.g. overinflated ego). Be aware. And walk away from those thoughts with a nature walk or doing yoga.

Challenge your thoughts. They don’t always help so tell the ones that are not helpful, to take a hike! And you take your healthy hike outdoors. 😊

Walking away is better as there’s nothing more dangerous than an ego that’s unleashing thoughts affecting your counterproductive behavior. Catch your ego in the act in observation. And do the opposite. Find the loving and productive thoughts.

And one thought change at a time, changes your mind’s perspectives where you develop your happy, loving, and healthy mind for life.

If you have a situation or trial, find a positive to be gained. There is one if you look hard enough. On the other side of the rainbow, you will gain patience, resilience, self-control, and other traits that you couldn’t have learned otherwise or through other people’s lessons.

If you feel stuck in your current situation, you can try to come up with one step you could take today to change or start exploring a new direction?

In the beginning, a baby step is all it takes. Getting to the shower or your yoga mat even when you don’t feel like it. Do it anyway. And afterwards, you’ll feel much better.

And then you will have trained your mind to “just do it anyway” because it works! And the brain loves when it works, because that’s a sign of accomplishment and success.

Peace and wellness be with you.

A healthy wild cod with Vitamin D with a “3 Sisters” plant-based accompaniment is a good source of Vitamin A, K, protein, and fiber. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and the fat-soluble vitamins will absorb better.

Butternut Squash Three Sisters Fish Tacos

Pairing a 3 Sisters dish with fish tacos is a healthy dish.

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Butternut squash
Black beans, canned
Corn, canned
Fish
Basil
Olive oil

Instructions

Cook your butternut squash until soft, then cut in half.
Cook until you can scoop out the squash.
Add the corn and beans drained from cans.
Cook fish and make salsa verde (basil and olive oil) or pesto (basil, olive oil, pine nuts).

Life Abundance As the Natural Way

Life abundance is not by accident.

Life abundance is like a full plate like this seafood cocktail.

Do you believe in your life abundance? Or do you deep down think you need to work yourself to the bone in misery, possibly sacrificing health and relationships to gain the success you want?

What if you could be both happy and successful with a daily mind reset, thinking life is abundant?

Life abundance means getting a new tank every day and feeling fulfilled and inspired.

You look forward to getting up because you have a joyful purpose, belief, and hope. You have what you need and you use what you have. What you want changes, and you see that superficial is fleeting. Gaining that wise knowledge is reason to celebrate.

…Or maybe you just need a reminder. We all need reminders.

You can deepen meaning in each day, with your curiosity like the wonder of nature. You’re not disappointed with unmet expectations because you’re grateful for the unique life you have and that lets you accomplish more meaningful things.

If you watch outdoor nature in motion, you can see the abundance of birds. Every animal above and below ground has a role in the desert, forest, waters, and in your front or backyard.

David Attenborough’s Our Planet series shows you glimpses of this in wildlife survival and procreation.

On land, the desert trees are a sign that there’s water below to a thirsty elephant, and vultures above indicate food to land carnivores.

The abundant smaller fish feed the larger fish. Dolphins drive the smaller fish schools to feed the killer whales. Every animal has an enemy and an ally in its deep ocean ecosystem.

And the monkeys and the tigers and all the rest teach their young to hunt, defend, and start their own families. It’s fascinating to watch nature in action!

Like the remade 2019 movie Lion King, there’s a circle of life for every ecosystem. There’s survival and then there’s life abundance.

“Earth laughs in flowers.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never-ending procreation is a sign of the earth’s abundance. In human life, the earthly evidence is in the over 360,000 human births per day!

To keep surviving 365 days a year, the earth has abundant, renewable resources. At the top of the food chain, we humans decide how we use and take care of those resources to survive and thrive.

As individuals, we have a deep well of rich resources built within us if we look from the right perspectives. The wisdom others have learned is infinitely available with helpful tools and media resource guides such as self-help books or King Solomon’s wise written words.

He wrote the 31 Proverbs that perfectly fit in every day of the month.

When we’re younger we think this life is all about us. We can let our pride run our world much like the male lions until they are kicked out of the lion’s pride and left to defend and hunt for themselves.

In vulnerable humility, they’re missing the confidence.

They learn and mature and then can join back into the pride. A lion’s goal is met when they help others in their pride (group).

We’re similarly meant to help others. We also can be missing self-confidence and learn to give ourselves what we lack.

If we live privileged with pride, we can take abundance for granted. It’s a delicate balance.

With whatever life we were given that we didn’t have control over, we have a choice to make the most from where we are. We can seek the truths down to our authentic core.

When we give, we get. When we’re kind and compassionate, the Universe returns us gifts 10-fold. We weren’t perfect but we tried with a pure heart.

When we rise above our egos and the layer of ourselves where we’re missing wholeness and love (holding onto fear and insecurity), then we get to the heart of what this life is about.

We allow ourselves to align with the Universe to use our talents abundantly.

In between and in our learning stages we can power struggle with ourselves. What are our deep-rooted motivations telling us?

When we’re not ready, we could squander the opportunity. We could get in our way and feel like an Imposter.

If we stay in our pain, regrets, and comfort zones, then we can self-sabotage. If instead we take our trials and setbacks to help others, then we bypass the drama in our minds and can be very productive.

I didn’t discover I had a gift of writing to empower others until I was ready. I couldn’t in my 20s because I was still maturing and hurting.

And I couldn’t in my 30s because I was still in a power struggle and a victim mentality. I hadn’t grown up yet and seen the better way on the other side of self-defeat.

Through experience and life’s up and down circumstances, I discovered the more productive way. I wanted to release what was holding me back.

The sooner we get to our productive places, we can start reaping the abundant harvest. Maybe you’re in that place.

If so, be encouraged you can start later and still blossom quickly. The point is to bloom as soon as you know and to look for ways to connects the dots in life (to bloom).

If you live life going the traditional route to your culture, you could miss out on so much more that you could have had. What looks foolish to one person is knowledge to another person.

I would never go back to living on an emotional roller coaster ride and chasing after the wrong things. The worldwide pandemic was a way to show us what’s of the highest importance to us.

When I was 20, I was in college, and I thought I was invincible so no invisible force could have intruded and that could have been tragic thinking. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and you probably don’t know what you don’t know.

That’s why I pass on this message that your life can be so much more than the fun things you do and the nice things you get. We all want things, but we don’t always know what we really want that’ll make us happy as we didn’t create this life.

Life’s a secret in many ways because it’s not stagnant. You don’t see everything you need in one snapshot, with the naked eye or the original young lens that you were given.

You may not even see the hidden gems with a better prescription from years ago. You see it with new eyes and a fresh mind where life abundance is.

Life Abundance Signs You Could Look Out For:

Clues come from action. When you can reflect, see if what you’re doing checks any of these items…

It’s easy for you. There’s no double-minded confusion. You completed a specific task effortlessly.

It’s fruitful and growing. Your specific action produces and sometimes passively, without your time and energy.

You don’t feel like you’re missing out or that the ‘grass is greener’ on the other side. There’s nothing you’d rather be doing.

You feel grateful. You feel contentment and humility at your core for the situation you’ve been given.

You’re making an impact. Others are noticing your work or service, or you’re getting positive feedback.

You’re too busy looking ahead to look behind you. You’re on a mission and there’s nothing that can stop you. You sense what you’re doing is sustainable or will lead to the next growth stage.

You want to give in your overflow. You have more than what you need so you are generous in time, money, or efforts.

Your health is good and you look healthy. When you have a purpose that you get up for, your mind is happy and your skin radiates in the mind-body connection.

You let go and slow down on worry. Because you know you’re aligned with what you’re doing otherwise another opportunity would show up.

We all have harder days, but the point is to keep growing and stop to smell the roses.

The point is not to be sooo busy, counting what you did, and rushing through. That’s why I don’t have any numbering to the list above. I could stay open and keep adding ideas in our never-ending life abundance.

For today, keep doing what you’re doing until the next door opens and a worthwhile idea unfolds for you to take action on.

And gain more happiness.