Spirit Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Grow Your Self-Awareness With Yoga (Part 1 of 2)

Nature surroundings help with self-awareness.

I’m starting a two-part series on self-awareness, starting with how to use yoga this week for self-awareness. I list some specific links to yoga articles I wrote, down at the bottom at the very end.

And, self-awareness is something I believe that’ll help most of us today…

And I know it helped me to snap out of a PTSD way of living that I didn’t even know I was experiencing and carrying around as baggage until I became hyper self-aware.

And most of us have some form of PTSD living in this imperfect world. If you don’t what that is, then there’s a good possibility that you’re still carrying it around in your life, and not living as optimally as you could.

It’s impossible to come out of all of our life situations unscathed. So it’s not your fault…

In this life and when we’re younger, we’re so impressionable and less in control, but our brains don’t forget these past older memories, even though we have in today’s precious moments.

And as life grows more complicated, de-cluttering the mind and spring cleaning to get rid of outdated thoughts are necessary to run the daily mind optimally.

We can achieve this better by becoming more fully self-aware and learning more about our deeper selves and what we want in this life, and then proactively making changes.

Otherwise, our lives can just go in a usual-okay way, but that’s not optimally what it could be. We usually know some older people in our lives we can point to living in these ways and who we feel sorry for… they couldn’t see how they held themselves back.

And in wishing them well, asking ourselves: are we doing that in our own life?

And that’s because of the filters we set and the lens we look out from that affect our actions and decisions that lead to the next thoughts that are influenced by us and subconscious factors. If we stand too close, we may not see our blindspots.

So our thoughts can lead us to less-than if we’re not aware…

It takes a heightened sense of awareness on our parts to break out and uncover, and a desire to discover a better existence (that’s available for every single one of us despite our circumstances)!

We can all question and sometimes argue against our own brain’s thoughts. And to be even more successful in these efforts, act like a third-party, observer witness, and referee at all times.

In my case, I know it was the spiritual alignment path that helped lead me quickest to uncover my less-than ideal beliefs I had grown into. And out of thankfully from both the desire to grow and what appeared to be unfortunate work circumstances…

My stressful, busy working life duty in Corporate America disappeared because of a layoff due to a nationwide economic disruptor.

So just like that in a day, I had more time on my hands. And while making ends meet figuring a new way out in that season of my life, led me to grow as a person. …I’m sure you can relate in your life with just the past few years.

And I leaned into growth and took a work sabbatical that lasted for a year trusting what life could bring. I explored, traveled, and had time to think and re-center.

And the one thing that I could keep going back to was yoga for centering (…that gave that, you know, overall feeling of I’m relaxed and myself again).

I started doing yoga when I was working a busy Corporate work life.

Yoga helped me along during those stretch years to stay true to myself and step out of meeting work performance goal mindsets that I would later learn were temporary.

…Most of life’s experiences are.

Yoga and self-awareness allowed me to question what does Brandy want? (And not just from work life, but out of this life.).

In self-awareness reappearing again, my authentic feelings showed up.

When you’re in a busy running-around season (…and maybe you don’t remember what an unbusy season looks like), you can’t see the thick trees outside of the forest… where even nights are consumed with preparing and getting clothes ready for work the next day. It does feel like running on a hamster wheel.

…Or there’s a problem to get through at work that you can’t shake off during off-hours.

…Oh, and then trying to juggle other important areas of your life. And caring for yourself and others at home.

…And now we have these remote digital devices that never let us really get away from work.

So all that stacked against a busy life, yoga can be the freedom bridge that makes the difference… and that you can say yes! to. Btw, the Bridge pose is one of my favorites (and many of them are).

…And why I still love yoga for improving self-awareness is because you’re focusing on something specific: Your Body.

And that’s something we’re all aware of daily.

In yoga, when you’re wiggling your toes and flexing your fingers, that makes you more self-aware of your body. And that’s actually how many yoga classes start off to help us start feeling body sensations and any kinks we feel in the muscle joints.

That gets you to more easily relax and work on self-awareness at the same time.

And yoga is simple in that you don’t need anything but yourself to do yoga. A mat and some yoga props are nice, but not critical.

And when you’re working on your body, then you can also work on your mind. And coming full circle, that works well because of the mind-body connection. You’re able to optimize your wellness.

And especially if you’re not good at meditating, yoga could be your path to lead you on the journey to your greater mind self-awareness. And that’s not something that’s completed in a few yoga classes. It can take years.

If you’re wired like me, meditation is a waste of time as it doesn’t heighten my spiritual senses. And it may not light you up either, lol. 😊

In my world, I look at everything in life as spiritual. I do that better with my eyes open from my first cup of coffee in the AM, looking out the window, to the first forming awake thoughts that enter and how I approach my day.

…There is no unspiritual part of the day because that part of me and what I see is abundance. I choose to do life that way which gives different outcomes, than if I shut off that side as I did earlier on.

You Do You Alignment

But that’s individual, and an individual choice, just like our preferences are that make us each You-nique. And you get to decide what’s best for you as you make your improving changes in self-awareness that will help you align.

One example I have here is, I pay attention better listening to podcasts than to watching videos and sometimes reading articles. That’s how I hear messages, learn best, and can multi-task… and part of why I just recently started audio recording these blog episodes to be in full alignment 🎧

…And I share this for your benefit because if you would like to be more aligned in your life or enlightened on your path, small tweaks help and you didn’t have to have started out that way at all! You can improve and learn as you do you in your life and keep desiring to grow.

The opposite can be true too. In my earlier journey, I followed culture’s ways like most of us. And grew up in a relatively affluent area which led me to think material gain was the riches. But so much of that came from pride and ego, that I have disabled.

I was stuck in an in-between, out of alignment, when I worked for others that didn’t have the same growth desires in mind. I had to show up a certain way to fit into the work culture. And so I shut off the spiritual side, except when I got to my Sunday weekly dose of inspiration that I wanted to feel every day. And those years I was rarely creative, finding an occasional creative hobby.

But without needing a project, you have an available outlet for your health and self-awareness with a daily yoga practice that will help you become calmer. You’re able to rest and park those frustrating and irritated areas of life on your yoga mat.

You can change you anytime (but wisdom words here: anything that affects the life decisions or finances of close ones is best first communicated 😉).

At the end of the day, you report to yourself.

Everyone (and you) can choose what he or she wants out of their life, but if you’re not happy and this becomes seasons or inconsistent seasons where you go back-and-forth in a tug-o-war, then that’s actually creating heat for your progress and a sign to change course.

It’s time… and you won’t get this time back is a good motivator.

If you listen to your gut and move in that direction, soon enough you’ll feel aligned, that’s better than staying in a pattern without self-awareness growth.

And in doing so, then get the wheels turning to focus on priorities in your life of what you DO want from this life that usually has nothing to do with today’s fleeting to-do lists.

Yoga to Disrupt the Non-Essential Lists

And if you rushed around this morning… and you have your lists running in your mind all day, healthy yoga can disrupt that interruptive pattern.

You can’t act on a to-do list in yoga moments. Yoga forces you to slow down and refocus while stretching the body (that can be a good distraction if silent meditation doesn’t work for you either 😉).

And no matter how you get to your slow down, then you can find out more meaning in self-awareness, and how that impacts you.

As promised, here’s the list of past yoga blog post articles:

Mood Boost Yoga

Car Seated Yoga Moves

Travel Yoga Poses

Yoga Poses While Baking

Creative Yoga Poses (Help Aches and Pains)

Plank and Downward Dog:

Pursuit of Happiness In You

Pursuit of happiness is inside you.

Are you in the pursuit of happiness? Chickpea pie (like the one baked in love above) makes me hap-pea. And happiness is for a moment that’s different than meaningful joy.

This is a life area I think many people these days are redefining as their expectations for happiness fell short at least in the past few years.

And they don’t know what to do to change that as an undercurrent running in their minds as external situations are getting tougher.

If that’s you, be encouraged you’re in good company. We’ve all had to change situations that we didn’t choose.

And I’m gonna share some nuggets on how to help change the tide (and how I changed my ways).

First of all, I can totally relate to a chain of disappointments. And that’s how I got to see them as God’s appointments.

I was dealt some lemons… and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t who has lived this life for at least a quarter of a century.

Losses, unhappy situations, and failures are hard to swallow (and doesn’t help the pursuit of happiness). But going through is the fastest way to get to the other side. We often slow our progress by having pity parties. I know I did until I finally caught on.

By being aware you focus on the positives so you can thrive and not dwell on the same stuck feelings and thoughts that come back like a boomerang.

Your mind-body remembers, and so every February when nothing was going on… I was reminded of what wasn’t going on that I could’ve buried earlier if I knew what to do.

But waiting seasons are needed, and that’s how I gradually learned how to flip the switch in not getting what I wanted. And trade that in for contentment and deeper joy, which produces feeling good.

And that’s what those who seem to have it all on the outside, don’t have…

I started out my young adult life wanting the same desires and dreams that most people have: a corporate job they are successful and feel good about (or at least aren’t feeling miserable in), a family of their own, good relationships, nice stuff, a college degree or two, and financial freedom.

These were the same sort of accomplishments many in the Washington DC metro area I grew up in, had.

But being in a high-pressure cooker environment that feeds into high-achieving egos didn’t help. That encouraged more of a self-absorbed life that turns into unfulfilling boredom and unhappiness.

After a while, I snapped out thinking, “there’s got to be more to life than just this.”

And while I had scattered bits and pieces of that old life description that carried me through my earlier years, that’s not the life I have now.

But what I do have today is a different proud lens to look out from, that’s everyday contentment. It’s not the same happiness lens that I used to aspire to that became a never-ending, up-and-down roller coaster ride.

…I hated that lifestyle based on external situations because the down was always a hard fall and a huge contrast from the going up feelings that felt good for the moment.

The problem with that is that you’re always chasing the next thing and high that seems better. It’s a bottomless pit because the feeling can never be satiated.

In this life, we always grow weary or tired of anything after a while. A good thing never stays good the same way for us. Everything is temporary, as are feelings.

But if you’re feeling deeper joy (that comes from the spirit) inside you every day, that’s sustaining for the soul (mind, body, free-will, and emotions). We can’t change the way we’re wired as humans.

And you’re not your mind-body that drives your thoughts and feelings, even though you make the decisions.

So what helps to feel good every day is to be productive, just like you need good sleep every day so you have energy.

And joy energy is needed to get more out of this life so you can show up creative, and have enough to give out to others.

Here are a couple of good idea reminders:

1. Tune into the better daily channels for inner peace.

So if you’re like most in the pursuit of happiness, pay attention to the channels brought in, both external in what to listen to and watch, and internal thoughts aligned with the spirit (the whispers that bring out the joy).

Since I’m not in pursuit of the happiness that I started my life with, I listen to my inner desires.

Sometimes I’m a tired Vata because I don’t stick to an exact sleep routine (…good to get to bed early and get your proper ZZZ’s I tell my Night Owl self). But that’s all fixable with a cuppa joe and the next night’s sleep.

…What’s not fixable is waking up and focusing on the wrong desires (or strategy of life if you want to be more concrete).

And so when I get going, I have purpose and joy inside me that I get to make progress and impact in the day, and have meaningful work. I do life my way with freedom and space… and without pressures that sink in that create stress. I set a schedule that works for me, and when I get paid I can do more of the things I love. 🧡

That’s not how it was when I settled in as an employee. Or when I was starting out on my own.

If this or your dream life is more what you want and it’s not what you have today, start by figuring out how you can build that life by taking one baby step at a time. And then you’ll get more clarity from that step and in the next step.

See how you can get a few extra hours of time and freedom to do what you want.

…And then you won’t have regrets about your work life when you look back at the years that went by.

That was a big driver for me.

And looking back, none of the past work situations are relevant to the actual work I do today, even though they propelled me forward to keep growing and use some of the experiences gained for my next moves.

And not even the budding small business blog I had back in 2009 that took me back into a new corporate working life. And guess what?… yours truly here is still blogging today on more meaningful topics. ✍️

Your life doesn’t have to stay in the same lines it started in. No one says a straight-line work path to retirement is the best life except for culture and critics. If you take a life-changing sabbatical at 35 you get to take all that gained information you gathered and use it for the rest of your life.

And eventually, every situation and everyone’s situation changes.

And that’s more evidence that situations good or bad, happy or sad, are fleeting. What’s lasting is YOU who has come out with more knowledge and experiences. And maybe good memories too.

In the process of tough circumstances, trials, and setbacks, you become more resilient, patient, content, and learn what this life is more about so you can lean into what is good for your life that produces happiness.

And that brings me to a deeper #2…

2. Find out what God wants from you

…And as my life unraveled I realized I was chasing the wrong dreams, and some led to problems and that helped me find my new life dreams.

And then even some healthy dreams that I was successful at and growing didn’t pan out because the timing wasn’t right (which means God wanted me somewhere else).

So, I’m actually writing a new book about finding this newer life (that everyone can)… and how to more easily co-create and get to fulfill bigger plans and heart dreams that were promised in your design before you were born.

…And in my old life, I always had healthy achieving desires. But they weren’t the exact ones that were designed for me by the Creator who created it all. His plan takes faith, belief, and patience. There’s a process.

That’s what I’ve come to know. And that’s the opposite of the “if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me” mindset and lifestyle I grew up in.

He has a unique plan and bigger dreams for each of us that needs a different higher internal lens to discern. And being in the pursuit of happiness and following what culture defines as success doesn’t help. But having daily wisdom, joy, and peace does.

The book is one of my new year’s goals. We need a revolution of good change (that’s the new resolution) to be able to thrive in our exciting, new world emerging in today’s happiness.

And in your new year pursuits and heart’s desires, maybe you decide to rewrite your pursuit of happiness goals and align them to the written stars for you and who you’re becoming. 🌟

OH, OH, OH… and Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! 🎄

Healthy Christmas chocolate peppermint heart cookie inspiration made from warm ginger spices and coconut oil (used for better heart-healthy cholesterol than butter).

Reminder of my past hotel catering life. Hotels always get decked out with Christmas trees and holiday poinsettia plants.

Baked Chick Peas or Garbanzo Beans (or Chic beans) Pie

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Chickpeas, drained
Olive oil
Salt

Instructions

Bake to liking.

Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!

Heart and soul is a part of our bodies that we can’t see, but we can feel daily. Pizza is heart and soul food (recipe below for making a heart shaped pizza 🧡).

This sky painting over the water is heart and soul spirit in one. A daily heart and soul-centering check-in can change your life! You could be an old soul or have an old soul like some of us who remember young life before the internet.

…I remember when I first started out working and ambitiously I thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. It didn’t take many years before I shifted my priority to wanting better work-life balance.

And with those intentions, I career pivoted that gave me that outcome. But had I not picked my head up to see what my heart and soul was telling me (and now I know my spirit was helping me), I would’ve missed the message about finding time to work on me. Personal growth was something I had to go outside of work to find in volunteering and discovering myself.

It’s never too early to start checking in. Maybe now is a good time to set this priority in your life as you had to rethink parts of your life in 2020, along with everyone else (so you’re in good company!).

There were many external changes made affecting your life, that you had no control over, and may help you later on in ways you may not see how yet at this moment.

So for now, you can just keep going, growing, and focusing on creating the best that your life offers in abundant possibilities that you put intention to until the next step. There’s always a next step when the timing is right.

It’s better to think this optimistic way and joyfully pivot into your forming newer overall life, including work, relationships, passion, and purpose, so you can enjoy the process with greater ease (and not create unnecessary dis-ease or woes-me feelings).

That doesn’t mean you don’t have varying feelings with so many gray areas and small decisions you need to make, but that you’re finding your happier way now in the process (and possibly then seeing through a different lens than the one you may have been previously looking from).

I provide a lasting impactful way to do a heart and soul check-in, further below. ⬇️

Encouragement: Our Society, You, and Your Gained Ideas

In America, convenience is at our fingertips, and many of us started last year to positively lean into our interests, curiosities, and skills development.

You may have learned how to grocery shop differently, cook meals, bake your own bread, and learn new digital skills as a way to communicate with the rest of our virtual world and the local community.

You picked up other life skills that everyone needs so you could stay relevant.

You may have even discovered or rediscovered a few passions and hobbies, and read more books than you sought out originally to do. Those were some of the common gains for many of us.

All was not lost in our home life, and more has been gained (and is being gained) in our overall lives if we choose to focus on the higher lens way of living.

It’s helpful for you to reflect and personally remind yourself of the progress over perfection you’ve made, so you can stay feeling uplifted in your spirit. It’s too easy to get sourly influenced in our culture.

You can be less on guard, open up to your authentic self and reap the benefits in a new era where we’re all finding our way in many ways.

Over the past year especially, you may have changed some lifestyle habits or behaviors that you like, that work better, and that you decide to keep forever.

And you may have gained clarity about what you want in the next chapter of your life. Even though you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t challenged to do so. But you can use your situation to your good advantage!

You may even have found the better way, and experienced that good changes in your life can show up as a combination of thinking, doing, and feeling what is right for you. You get internal clues and they can help you find your second or next act.

If you took or take your connect-the-dot lessons one step further, you can reflect on how you felt about what you first thought about specific ideas. You can then take another brave leap of action so you can try and replicate best practices and discover even more new ways, as our world is evolving. This creates innovation and gives you a better way of doing things.

For example, you’re inspired to try a new recipe and that seemed to work out and made you happy, so the next time you tweak the recipe and create something new and different that you enjoy. This works the same with a new workout, new route, or a new passion project you’re developing. Variety and innovation keep you making progress!

And that’s how personal growth attitudes and creative progress are fed and can seep into every fiber of your life if you’re open to new ways and ideas.

New ideas can take time to form in the process and as you start dabbling with curiosity, you can become less intimidated to make mistakes. That’s how you grow and learn.

In this forming introspective way of life, you can also dig deeper into yourself to find what gives you more meaning and joy than what you previously found made you happy, as you become more of who you are and will become.

You can also reach higher levels of contentment and then feel fewer emotional ups and downs.

Many positive changes can be happening all at once in this complex life, with yourself and your life.

You may have even re-thought your life’s retirement plans and this year’s optimistic and realistic plans. And you’ve probably learned to be more grounded in reality and to get back to simple basics, focusing on what actually is happening to you and around you.

As a global society, we’re still not able to freely travel and create safe, live events. From these changes, new ways have been born and are birthing, such as the newer apps where you’re entering live global event conversations safely and without travel hassles.

You could use the saved travel time and energy to work on your life, to double down on a new purposeful trajectory, or seek a new mission in your life.

Just one idea can change your life and if you have an extra few minutes, that could be the difference-maker in your life.

So where would you spend those extra minutes? Here’s what I do and what I suggest.

Prioritize a Daily Heart and Soul Check-in

Especially as we’re all distracted, prioritizing a heart and soul check-in can be the best way to (re)focus on your life.

Below you can be reminded or learn to take a specific step for long-term impact and to find your daily heart and soul-filled joy, peace, and balance. Continue reading “Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!”