Self-care Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Abundant Living Over Sadness Feelings

When I was a child, a birthday cake 🎂 like this put a BIG smile on my face.😀 I only needed a slice for joy, but appreciated the whole abundant cake! 🍰

Abundant thoughts can make the difference in sadness over a sad situation and then settle in as a positive new normal. This can be important because many of us know at least one person who is dealing with sadness.

Abundant living often gets confused for wealth and having things. It definitely could help, but then some of the most well-off people are sad too, sadly. So that tells us it’s deeper, and more about us.

…And doesn’t come from external material things.

…And since we’re all made from the same human fabric, we all can feel lack (and not abundance) at any time relative to our lives. We don’t live anyone else’s (similar to, we only know and live in our bodies).

So if we don’t stay grounded inside, we may not find our well and wealth of abundance, where our greatest happiness is.

In America where I live, celebrities have their place on the Red Carpet and I think that’s fantastic as actors put in long, hard hours in their craft providing entertainment for the rest of us…

Which btw, did you watch the movie event of the year this week… The Oscars?

…I always like to see dressy attire (I think that comes from my childhood because my mom was a dressmaker, so her clients sometimes brought and left their dreamy sequined gowns around👗).

…Plus, I love good movies (…you too?). 🎥

This year I have to say Lady Gaga stole the show in her raw performance where she took off her Hollywood-glam look she came in and put on a T-shirt, then sang her heart out with the Top Gun Maverick theme song (“Hold My Hand”).

Everyone has their opinion, but maybe it made her feel less glitzy and more empowered to share her gift with the world. 🙌🏻 And I could listen to her 🎶 in dressy hoopla or not.

…In any case, it happily drowned out last year’s lingering negative-energy fiasco involving emcee, Chris Rock

…Anyway, back in our reality lives, we can learn from and drown out our own negative energy that can creep in daily if not recognized.

That includes anger like in a Pitta imbalance, and also sadness that’s generally more Kapha, and another way to express our emotions for how we feel.

We learned emotions from a young age. And now as adults, if a sad situation creeps in 🙃, we’re equipped to handle and turn our frowns upside down better with a DO IT ANYWAY mantra.

…And this helps us, so we bounce back to our happier selves, quicker.

Here are some great DO IT ANYWAY ways for you, or someone you know going through tough or crisis times:

Practice self-care even when you don’t feel like it.

Don’t skip a day without a shower. I know for some that sounds sil-ly, but people who are sad because of a situation that occurred or who are lacking abundant feelings, let their sad feelings guide them and keep them down.

So a simple act like taking a shower or bath can be a big ordeal, for whatever reason. It helps remind any of us of self-care and how we’re relevant in this life.

And that’s one DO IT ANYWAY easy goal we can do.

In abundant countries, it’s easy to forget to cherish the abundance around us like the 4 basic needs (food, clothing, water, shelter), but if we stay grounded and grateful, we can do this daily no matter how we feel in the moment. And we don’t let a day slip by unnoticed because a day can easily slip gradually into a season.

And soft, pitter-patter water on the skin and being sensitized to the comforts around us can help us feel alive as thriving people again.

While the sadness feelings may linger and fade in and out, find a way to make the day brighter.

Add a warming mask to your face. Drink a warm cup of lovely tea. Shower yourself with few essential oil drops. These could be the reminders to take care of yourself (or loved ones for themselves). And the more you douse yourself in love, the more that can come back to you.

Because YOU are loved.

And the Universe shows this to all of us, if we observe.

An example of this is:

Water is ever-flowing. It’s recirculating. It’s abundant. There’s no lack of drinkable water in modern culture. There may be a temporary drought or local drinking water issues in certain areas, but bottled water is transported from abundant areas that have fresh, clean water. And we always have some choices in the matter in our relative abundant living.

Our bodies are mostly made of water so we are made for abundance. Lean in on this idea and maybe visit a natural waterfall or moving body of water, and feel this external power on you…so you can appreciate the simple needs of life that are provided.

And then in the abundant overflow, you can be the problem solver for your community or the world’s greater needs, that matter most to you and are called to. You rise up!

Remember, none of us can give what we don’t have. And the more you operate from a lens of abundant living, the more you can make good impact and contribution in this life.

…So, abundance is love. ❤️

Let that grow in you so that becomes more of who you become today and tomorrow. …And what you do with your time here.

The Parable of the Talents (you may know) is about how one person buried all their talents and so then they had none. When they used one, they got more. And that grew and became many.

That’s just how this abundant earth operates from the energy generated from above. And the more you pay attention to those phenomenal blessings, you can better invest efforts in those areas.

…And also focus on what you have to look forward to. No matter what our circumstances or limitations are, we can use that to our advantage if we can look out from the right lens that starts with our thinking minds and re-writing empowered thoughts.

Our minds are the muscles to grow ourselves and our abilities.

Some of the best things in this life don’t cost anything besides willingness.

Just being open to the world’s possibilities can free us up to get the best out of this life… because then we discover what’s impactfully good for us (and not just what’s busy in front of us) that’s going to affect the world around us too.

Growing up in an affluent, busy city metro area, I learned that being busy and prideful are enemies. Trying to “keep up with the Joneses” hurts us. And not doing anything meaningful in life is another extreme.

A better way is staying balanced, staying humble, active, and curious, and trying new things to help each of us grow.

And growth is our path to abundance. And if we take the DO IT ANYWAY mantra into our day, then we have a step forward.

We’ve all experienced times when we didn’t feel like doing a task or activity.

But once we got into it, we were okay.

And after you finished, you actually felt GOOD for making a contribution or accomplishment for the day. You were glad you did it anyway. 👏

So magnify those experiences in your remembrance, whenever you don’t feel like doing something that can help you grow. Because being productive (however that looks for you) and making accomplishments, gives us more of those healthy and happy hormones. That’s what I’m talking about! 🤸‍♀️

If you prefer, you can Spotify listen to this 6-minute audio snack bite.

Grow Self-Awareness For Your Happiness (Part 2 of 2)

Grow self-awareness to “believe in yourself” never grows old. That mantra can change your entire day and how you feel about yourself… and still be you, but better!

Be you and believe in yourself are good daily self-awareness mantras. — Be You and Believe in Yourself! 🪞And love yourself with chocolate heart cookies. A health conscious sweet cookie recipe below… 🧡

A few weeks ago, I published Part 1 (of this 2-part series) on using yoga meditation as a way to develop and grow self-awareness for your happiness. And the one thing yoga and your happiness have in common is self-love.

Think about this, you are loving on yourself when you’re focused inward (and in yoga pretzel bends 🥨).

…So first and foremost, love yourself first.

And if that’s what you’re doing, then that love energy radiates and carries over to the (and your) world that needs more light.

And know that the opposite of love is fear. (It’s not hate that can be usually what we’re constantly upset about).

And by knowing this, we can do something about it as we grow self-awareness.

Our ego is built-into our brain construction that serves up internal obscure thought messages to us every day in a “lizard brain” protection way. Triggers turn into threats in the subconscious ego mind and thrives in our dark area where self-love is missing.

So to grow, we want to bring back love to restore.

Ego fear shows up first in our thoughts, so we have a chance then to shut it down, walk away, change our thoughts, and replace with loving thoughts that grow self-awareness and our happiness.

And if anyone you know thinks they’re not affected, then their ego is definitely playing them every day.

As silly as it can sound to our ego minds, telling yourself and believing “I am loved” (or substitute with your fave loving mantra to build yourself up) will eventually kick out the ugly ego imposter ways.

And then you have a concrete go-to way that helps the next time. And you count on that there will be a next time whether it’s later in the day, week, or a few weeks away.

And if this ego idea is newer to you, think of ego as fear and how you feel when you’re scared in some way. Similarly, an unhealthy amount of ego shows up from time to time from some situational trigger, memory, or enemy forces (where ego stands for Edging God Out if you’re spiritual).

And know that ego fear is disguised on a platter to you in your subconscious thoughts, behaviors, and decisions. More serious is when it shows up in you, and that affects others in your actions if the thought is allowed to grow.

So, do yourself good…

Healthy Love yourself more… and stop the ego fear madness!

When you bring out the accumulated baggage in self-awareness that you’ve been carrying around already too long, let it go, and magnify self-love, then you’re on your merry way to personal happiness.

I wrote a special Valentine’s Day personal happiness article on self-love (the most important love relationship you can have, and that’s no hype!)… so, enjoy and I’ll leave you here with some tasty chocolate biscuits 🍪 for your own sweet inspo.

chocolate almond heart cookies recipe. Print Recipe

Chocolate Almond Hearts

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 egg, room temperature
1 tbsp honey (or maple syrup substitute)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (use 70% or higher dark cocoa for added antioxidants and nutrients)
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Mix dry and wet ingredients together.
Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
Roll out cookie dough. Add bench flour as needed.
Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes.
Let cool and then dip in melted chocolate. Refrigerate.

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:

27 Habit Tips for Your Wellness New Year

Happy New Year’s resolution practices are a concept of yesteryear, better replaced by a wellness new year.🌱

…And better formed habits (in my healthy list below).

But resolutions are still embraced by some as it’s commonly referred to around the world.

And for others of us, we’re open arms to big changes we want to make and a healthy world revolution to head into a better future world… oh, and to make up for the losses from the past few years.

And in light of the global events affecting us all over the past few years, our world needs more uplifting. We don’t need more challenges. We need a revelation. Amen?

And maybe for you (like me) starting goals in the coldest, winter months in the U.S. is not the easiest plan to stick to and would be preferred in warmer and summer months when we have higher serotonin levels and more natural Vitamin D sunshine.

…And, that’s a time when we’re more active, happier, and apt to make changes.

So, on that healthy intention, you want to set yourself up for success and feeling good for better mental health this wellness new year (…and that’s better than last year).

When you can show up as your Best Self, then you have a chance to make a better and bigger impact. Being healthy and happy matters. And even more so as parts of our lives have become initially harder to eventually make it easier (…I believe).

And I also believe that’s where our world is headed. We see this fueled faster by new technology 🚀 advancements and awareness-growing of the need to save our planet.

And that means some of the old ways we did daily life… and the resolutions we once hung our baseball caps on… will change.

But one area that won’t change and can stay traditionally evergreen 🌲 is a wellness new year plan that will help keep you going year-round and that you can count on consistently. If you show up, it’s available.

…And these natural pinecones (above) showed up in my view, which to me is one of nature’s beauties. It also serves a purpose where the cone protects the precious seeds inside.

This natural miracle hasn’t changed through generations.

And like traditional pinecones, if you want to embrace traditional resolutions, then go for it…

Isn’t the post-2020 famous saying?… You do you.

Either way, here I share some of my better health and wellness new year habit tips (…27 to be exact) that give you a better wellness new year list to practice, so you can better navigate this new emerging world of changes.

1. Drink more water naturally. When you jump up and down or run circles cardio-exercise, you naturally are thirsty

2. Improve your mind-body health

3. Gratitude keeps pride in-check

4. Eat a diverse variety of healthy foods

5. Work on daily body balance and yoga that helps in years to come

6. Improve your heart health with cardio and healthy cholesterol levels

7. Write daily (or find your daily creative practice)

8. Color your world with inspiring home and clothing choice colors

9. Learn something about yourself, deeper than you normally would

10. Start mornings eating a plant-based meal (...cool beans?)

11. Add more spices (and make your own punchy, hit-you-in-the-nose with anti-inflammatory gut clove spice blends like in holiday gingerbread or exotic Ras el Hanout spices with fennel, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, and cloves.)

12. Do-it-anyway yoga (and any which way you can!)

13. Get enough amino acids (starting in the morning with your protein sources)

14. Put out a bowl of no-prep easy, healthy snacks (e.g. carrots, nuts, and apples)

15. Pause on feeling-frustrated and change the air you breathe by stepping away

16. Change your anxious tunes in the morning with calm breaths

17. Change your worry thoughts in the evening that stir up

18. Change your rainy-day moods with the environment around you

19. Change your negative thoughts at the gate so they build up and become your day

20. Scan the headlines and read one healthy growth article a day

21. Choose the recycling option even if takes just a ‘lil more effort as you’ll feel better you did for our planet…. and you can appreciate all the bean cans you consumed 😊

22. Remove some of the older digital overwhelm habits you no longer need

23. Spend a rainy day weekend organizing your belongings (and feel lighter afterward). Rock out to some good tunes while time melts away 🎶

24. Find your share-to-the-world message that’s part of what you do. This builds your self-worth and confidence as you get better at your talents

25. Prepare more plant-based meals. It’s easier to get veggies and lentils in if they’re cooked or ready-to-go, and in your kitchen. You could have a leftover dish for breakfast so your drinking coffee has a happy landing

26. Spend time in nature. You get out of your busy life and into the busy bees doing theirs 🐝

27. Embrace the neti pot. This is what our new world can be all about… clearing out the old stuck mess, and bringing in fresh ideas that work for us. We need the new. And happy new year! 🎉

If you want to see what your body is trying to say to about the balance it needs, take the Body Balance Quiz (…and if you already did it last season, do it again this season as our bodies are always changing. 🧘🏻‍♀️)

30 Days of Self-Empowering Thoughts and Journal Prompt Ideas

self-empowering thoughts can start with joy in your life — Merry Christmas!

Self-empowering thoughts are one way we can count on to feel-good daily.

…Btw, how are you these days?

The holidays aren’t over yet, but we’re just one week from New Year’s and that can be a relaxing or a stressful time…

One thing that we all wonder about is what the new year will bring.

And besides putting out a spread of merry cherry gluten-free Christmas cookies, plus a couple of probiotic-rich Greek Yogurt chocolate peppermint and nutty yule logs, I’m working on cranking out a New Year’s List ✍️ of healthy mind-body tips that’s growing daily… and should be ready next time after I bake my 4th batch of healthy gingerbread cookies.😊

…And before January 6th (that’s Epiphany Day with a capital “E”) that’s meant to be a hope-filled day, that somehow got erased by an unrestful Capitol political news headline.

Which btw, used to be the area I lived in and was just a few minutes away from at the time… but was able to find peace amongst chaos. And now I’m breathing in less cultural-political air.

…And more life-giving oxygen. And you can too no matter where you are in the world.

Because you have peace inside you.

And you can look for more hope and encouraging messages to help your cause. And on that mission, I have a list today of 30 self-empowering thoughts to keep the loving good vibes going that you can check out and think about today. 📝

And these also make good journal prompt ideas, so you can better breathe in your best self today and breathe out what isn’t helping you grow into tomorrow.

Self-empowering thoughts are your ticket to happiness and the way out of mental blocks that are holding you back in this life. You don’t have to wait for situations to change… it’s YOU and your perspective that can be changed. And when you do, you reap mind freedom. It’s the difference between abundant mind vs. victim mind and sad thoughts.