Purpose Archives - Page 7 of 8 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Passion Purpose in Life Tips + Orange Star Chocolate Oat Cookie

Passion purpose is a sign you’re on the way to your life’s work. My passion led me to these cookies I baked, and started out as a catering manager for a DoubleTree Hotel, as full circle. 🍪🍪

Star design chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe below. 🍪

But I believe…

We all have a second act in us for a passion purpose in life. And that’s how I felt when I started to question the culture we live in and our individual purpose.

The longer you live and explore the full possibilities, you get to see and decide if you’ve been looking out from the wrong lens in some areas of your life, like a passion purpose in life. ✨

You can use this star cookie (recipe below) as a guide or inspiration. 🍪

star design chocolate chip cookie to inspire your passion purpose that could be baking. — Star Pattern Cookie recipe below 🧡⭐️

You can walk into your passion purpose if you take strategic steps (and that’s what this blog post is all about).

I’ll start with my humble adult story.

I got married later in life (at least I thought). I didn’t enter marriage in my twenties (something I recommend waiting on). Like most, I went through big changes from 25-30. That’s pretty typical of getting your feet off the ground as a newer adult.

By 28, I kept getting the same answer back that I was changing and trading in my caterpillar feet for wings. I didn’t know what I didn’t know and my 180-degree career switch in high-tech data (from the hospitality business) was a metaphor.

I knew that if I wanted any semblance of a life outside work like my business college friends had, I needed to jump ship into different waters.

I had no idea how and had no real job connections other than the internet. There was no LinkedIn, lol. But I knew that if I took the risk, then a new door could open. I believed whatever direction I was headed in would happen without yet knowing why. And it did.

I experienced what work-life balance was for the first time. I also got married.

And I had time for relationships and self-care. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I still had a past that I hadn’t addressed but was affecting the way I thought and acted, especially in my marriage.

At that time, I didn’t know childhood wounds existed into adulthood as PTSD.

I didn’t connect the dots to how events from decades ago could show up in my marriage. The brain is messy and complex like that.

It’s easy to stay unaware about the lens from which you see out into your life (and even these days in a more open and knowledge-aware society). And that affects your daily thought life and outcomes.

It’s a lot easier to be critical of others and notice how they behave that’s different than you.

And if you’re married, you’ve probably been tested, as marriage like no other relationship will make you go into deeper places you’ve never explored. You’ll meet each other’s ego.

Intimate bonding will highlight those insecure dormant spaces that need addressing like a UV blacklight spotlights stains.

A marriage relationship can make the partners want to fix everything that’s not how each would have done as a single person.

Marriage can be a tough bootcamp and why it’s such a great training ground for personal growth (and I’m all for it!). And so is building a business from a passion purpose in life. Even though not everyone likes that kind of testing ground to move up.

And that described what I experienced. Then years later, I lost my work-balance job from a massive corporate layoff.

And my marriage came to a peaceful screeching-halt end suddenly. And the business foundations I started, crumbled.

I relocated back to where I grew up and started over with a more mature lens. These events eventually helped me to find my individual purpose.

It started with a blogging journey back in 2009 and then put aside for about a decade. That was my passion purpose in life then.

And one day, I started writing a funny lesson learned story from a hot tea kettle burn on my finger. I submitted for publication and have never stopped writing since.

Long story short, writing never left my veins. And in the messy middle (by design), I found the path leading to a passion purpose in life.

And this leads me to 3 ways I can share (from my journey) how you can walk into your passion purpose this season.

1. Start Over (Finding Your Passion Purpose In Life Could Depend On It)

Don’t be afraid to start over. Be okay with the unknown as all of life if you think about it is uncertain. Taking gut and heartfelt risks is worth the chance!

If the timing is right, be brave, and don’t look back (at least not at your decision right away). You’re wisely guided internally.

It’s easy for any of us to wrap our identity in jobs and titles and rationalize why we can’t leave (they’re handcuffs whether they’re golden or not).

In my case, I grew up and worked in the most politically powerful and driven metro mover-and-shaker Washington DC culture, where people will run circles around you if you don’t pull over or speed up.

And I’m convinced it’s the area where the corporate rat race phrase came from 😂.

In my corporate work, I quickly learned that everyone working for someone is replaceable. And lessons learned yearsss later, that letting go of the fear of losing a job is so freeing and liberating. And not something to be scared of. It’s the ticket to your personal happiness and success.

When I was laid off after six years of success at a corporate job, I was literally in shock. I mean, one day your job existence is there, and then POOF!… the next day you wake up and it’s gone.

If you purposefully stay in the mindset of choosing to design your quality life, then you’re always nimble and heading towards your north star pointing passion purpose in life.

The uncertain journey isn’t prescriptive, all roses, or without doubt, but your creative purpose is in there and you can eventually do what you love and love doing (or else why pursue?) even if you’re not creative.

We all have a passion purpose in life. In This One Life.

Plus, in control of your own destiny, you will never be bored! Getting there may take some years, wrong turns, and grit (almost an inevitable formula for the best things in life!), but it’s so rewarding and worth the effort.

If you’re starting over, that’s a sign of growth into your purpose. New starts can be a deliberate choice, but often you’re blindsided with a job or relationship loss or change, health scare, or an unexpected move.

Anything can happen suddenly, even though it could be years in the making. You could become a 10-year overnight success (or land your dream job) with a new starting point or unintended re-route.

When there’s a fresh new beginning, your senses are heightened and you soak up more like a sponge. You feel life (and alive)!

The alternative is staying on the comfortable course. When life is busy, in the messy middle, that is when you can grow comfortable… until you’re not. Life doesn’t work the way it should. You feel stuck. And maybe discouraged.

Those are times you look deeper inside yourself and into what else you got in your bag o’ tricks. And you’ve got so much more than you know today! You just have to start digging for your today passion purpose in life that can change tomorrow.

It’s actually more methodical (than scary) and sensible if you think about it… you only get this one life to do what you want with it. Look at those on America’s Got Talent.

They’ve worked so hard for decades on their talent that they started from nothing but an idea and a dream. And they’ve failed forward plenty. But they didn’t give up.

…And they know each fall and fail is one step closer to success. And when they end up on the AGT stage, they never look back. And their big break success takes off.

Starting over may be just what you need to go to the next level in your unique part of this life.

After you meditate, think, or pray about it, and you get a form of A-ha confirmation that excites you and makes sense to you for that next step, then you and the shining Galactic Universe celebrate with a burst of fanfare (a new kind of Big Bang theory 🎉).

And when you go all in, they and all your support fans in your life will go to town to help you in your belief. You figure out your unique unstoppable path. And what you were destined to do.

So these are the steps I would recommend (and I did to find my self-taught writing passion):

2. Discover Your Hidden Talent(s)

Maybe you have started an interest years ago that you never fully saw into fruition, and now is your ripe time. Or you want to know what your hidden talent is if you have uncovered it… you DO have one (and probably more than one).

That I’m certain of!

If you want to know what that is, then I encourage you to keep looking and more deeply as it’s there on the tea leaves and in between your yoga poses if that’s your jam.

You can also find it in your hobbies, interests, and activities you’ve dabbled in that excited you for a day or a season. Those outlets and past times made you feel good, and maybe even felt a sigh-of-relief from life’s busyness and stressors.

We all find time to do the things we want and love, even if we’re SUPER busy. It doesn’t have to be just one interest, as it can be a category especially if you’re a Vata and like to multi-task…

Such as, when I was in corporate work, I’ve always had a side interest in scrapbooking, painting art, and creating (anything) where I got lost in my project…

The Great British Bakeoff is a great representation of passion purpose bakers. — This is my graphical representation of the show 🍰

And that’s what The Great British Bake-Off (or The Great British Baking Show in the U.S.) past and present contestants do. They have day jobs and baking is their side gig or hobby, so they are on the show happy to be there. It’s another outlet for them.

OK, I have to pause the serious reel here for just a minute ⏳… I was laughing so hard over the baking show comedy last week in the current episode series. Are you familiar with the show?

…If not, I’m gonna give you a 30-second program interrupt and let you in. 😊

The comedy is there in every episode (it’s not hard to find like your hidden talent can be, haha.) Gut there’s a funny sound bite clip from one show episode that I’m reminded of where the contestants are tasked with making baklava and phyllo dough during Pastry Week.

One of my favorite contestants from the season episodes, is Giuseppe who mentioned he had never made either before because it’s a hassle and easier to just go out and buy.

It’s funny on two levels because 1) with his lovely and classic Italian accent, it sounded like another English word to Matt (one of the tent sidekicks) he was talking to, and 2) because the challenge was for him to make the painfully hassle-filled baklava under 3 hours, and cut in a star design. 😅 Continue reading “Passion Purpose in Life Tips + Orange Star Chocolate Oat Cookie”

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!).

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.

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!”

From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life

sabbatical rainbow

Retirement financial guru David Bach is known for “The Latte Factor” on how to save money. Maybe you saw him on Oprah as I did back in the day?

Fast forward years later, he went from burnout to sabbatical living. In hindsight, he now calls a sabbatical “the magic pill” to happiness.

He mentioned in interviews that it all began when his wife asked him what he wanted for one of his birthdays, and he expressed a desire for full-time off from work.

And so that’s just what he did, although he still had to convince himself to get off his busy work train.

Taking time off in a restful sabbatical isn’t a common practice for Americans. There aren’t too many role models to follow. Retirement after 60 and beyond is still the American norm.

Like David Bach, more go-getters in the prime of their career are opening up to this approach to a healthier lifestyle to recharge somewhere in the middle, make life impact changes, and gain clarity about their remaining life’s path.

We all want to live our Best Life, but not all of us do what we need to fully live because we’re not given a road map so we end up playing it safe… staying in the same career or corporate work path with golden handcuffs and benefits, despite being miserable.

Future uncertainty can be uncomfortable to those who want their lives fully planned out, but as I (and you too probably at least in this past year) experienced, life throws monkey wrenches in the mix if you’ve been around long enough, and you can question what this life is really all about.

…and maybe you’ve had those types of questions swirling in your mind lately that you’ve been wrestling with?

If so, you should consider taking a sabbatical if you’re in a place where you can or you all of a sudden, find that you deeply need one to restore your mind-body. It’s not a cop-out, it’s a smart move in case you need to wrestle the idea with the logical side of your mind.

The trend is moving this way. Kids who are just becoming adults are acceptably taking gap years from college. And if you worked in corporate in 2008 with the economy dip, you most likely made a work change, maybe entered a different industry as in 2020 and the aftermath, where we all had our work changed and life turned upside down.

Someone wise ahead of me ingrained this idea that never left me: “Your entire life is a transition.”

So then with that lens, I’m happily entering my fourth act. And depending on your age, you’re probably at least entering or considering your second one (along with almost half the women in the workforce according to survey data).

When I was in college, and it took me 5 years to graduate, that was a big deal in my mind. I questioned why I took a year off after a few semesters of working and attending business school full-time.

During my gap year that wasn’t the usual way, I stopped and learned how to create a business (the reason that you would think you go to business school but most like I did, graduated and entered the corporate workforce).

What I wanted most that I didn’t want to admit to anyone including myself was I wanted deep rest. And that semester off test-taking I got off sleeping aid pills. I got off the hamster wheel and avoided burning out.

Back then, I was already creating a different way of life of taking breaks because my body was calling for it. And now in more aware times, my mind was too.

Similarly, a mid-life sabbatical idea is a pretty darn good idea for recuperating. It can be a lifeline even though it still has a bad wrap. If you’re a well-known author and speaker like David Bach, you can do it because you’ve earned it. But if you’re like most of us or the person trying to make ends meet, then you’re still justifying, like I had to.

I had to lean in and switch into abundant thinking and what I would gain over what I would lose.

And when the call inside you grows louder, the idea can grow more intriguing, and that’s when you know you have to seriously investigate!

You may just need some little sign or nudge to get you to take the step. Or you may just need the right timing or feeling to show up again. In my case, I knew I had more to lose if I didn’t.

You are where you are because of your choices made.

And because of my sabbatical choice, I wouldn’t have traveled to so many great places and countries before 2020. And I wouldn’t have discovered my real passions and purposeful direction in this life that isn’t the corporate path I started on.

I’m not suggesting that’s what you have to do or to be irresponsible. I would never say that as I believe in accountability and personal responsibility. I’m super practical. I’m also led by what I feel is happening in my mind-body-spirit. You get to discern and decide if that’s what is right for you.

From my sabbatical journey, I can tell you, if you follow your internal loving (and not fearful) guides, you won’t be led wrong. Any short-term losses you think you may take, you will gain so much more for your life. Because you’ll pivot into something greater that you would not have uncovered without taking the time off. Your perspective will change and you’ll want to re-strategize your life.

Plus you’ll have all the great memories that you can relive for more years than starting in retirement. (I love looking at sabbatical photos and reminiscing about my vacation and time-off).

But besides good memories, you will gain productivity from resting. You won’t know the individual rewards you’ll gain until you take the bold leap.

When should you do it?

I think I described it above, but the short answer I would give is: when you can. You’ll know when you can’t!

Especially if you’re burned out from your job, have life overwhelm, life underwhelm, considering a career switch, or get laid off, now may be a great time (to eliminate life in burnout to sabbatical living that you didn’t choose on purpose… that can leave you de-motivated instead of feeling excited and energized).

Or maybe you have a deepening desire to explore something new in life and that is winning over any fears you have for taking a risky and unknown bold step towards your future, despite questions from loved ones you may receive.

One other word of nudging encouragement to take the proactive bold step… free yourself from feeling like you have to please others (or be a martyr to do it for others). Your life and mental health are at risk, and if you lose yourself in the process, then you have nothing to give.

A mid-life crisis is a real phenomenon that still exists and can come falling like a ton of bricks. It often sadly ends with regrets and not the way it started.

I didn’t experience that (and maybe that’s because I took a sabbatical) but I’ve seen it in others’ lives and maybe you have or will too.

Sometimes it’s just easier when things happen to you that are out of your control, so you can more easily explain your decisions. You lose a job. You get a divorce or another loss happens.

You can find your lost soul, your higher spirit, or a new mission on a sabbatical.

Personally, I love that the sabbatical idea is catching on in our work-addicted society, especially after a shocking 2020 year where we all had to rethink and redo old ways.

Maybe now is a good time for you and you’re looking for encouraging supporters to take a sabbatical. And maybe I’ve piqued your interest, then you’ll want to keep reading as I share more from my memoir and ideas that can help you… Continue reading “From Burnout to Sabbatical: Recharge and Change Your Life”