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3 Reasons to Not Do Self-Care Alone
Self-care was never meant to be selfish. It can actually be a gift to everyone else in your life. As the season of giving is upon us, your inbox may be piling up with Amazon wishlists and gift ideas to deliver to your loved ones’ doors. Yet amidst trying to find the *perfect* presents, we often forget how easily we can give those we care about gifts that will last them a lifetime.
Self-care refers to anything that helps you maintain strong mental, physical, and emotional health so that you can be your best self regardless of what life brings your way. And while it may seem counter-intuitive, your own self-care practice can become a gift to another.
How? By choosing to share your self-care journey with another and offering to help them on theirs, you can help them build positive habits that will improve their well-being!
Committing to taking better care of yourself by integrating positive habits into your days - such as a workout routine or a daily meditation...
The One Mental Skill That Will Help You Achieve Any Goal
We all want the next year to be better than the last - with 2020 being an even more special case than most years! As you start thinking about how you want next year to unfold for you, you may already have some goals in mind that you’re wanting to achieve. No matter how small or big these goals are, there is one mental skill you can start strengthening right now to help you make manifesting much easier: the ability to focus and direct your attention.
Your attention is a precious resource. Almost everyone in your life is constantly competing for it! Just think of all the companies that target you with ads as you scroll through your Facebook feed or those TV moderators who beg you to stick around for the next piece of “breaking news.” Business and media understand the power of attention because they know it drives action.
What you choose to give your attention to affects the decisions that shape your life on a daily basis. This includes the actions you take (or...
How to Manage Loneliness and Feel More Connected
We share this planet with over seven billion other people. Yet many of us still find ourselves feeling lonely. It is no wonder that in a year of lockdowns, quarantines, and severe travel restrictions, people are feeling more isolated than ever.
According to a survey from last year – even before the pandemic - more than three in five Americans reported feeling lonely. We are social creatures after all. Feeling lonely is a natural part of longing to experience our shared human connection.
The irony of loneliness is that you can feel lonely even if you are in a crowd of people. Perhaps you sometimes feel misunderstood, or as if you’re the “odd one out.” When we feel like no one understands us or that we’re going through things on our own, that sense of loneliness is deepened. So what are some ways to move through these feelings into a greater sense of connection and meaning? The first is to understand where loneliness stems from.
Loneliness as part...
The Science of Gratitude and 3 Ways to Make It a Lifestyle
If there’s anything this year has taught us, it’s to not take the little things for granted. Lockdowns and quarantines are making us appreciate the things that just a year ago seemed so normal.
Who would’ve ever thought that our ability to hang out with friends and colleagues, to attend concerts and sports events, or to travel would be so severely restricted?
Gratitude can truly transform every aspect of our lives - especially in crazy times like these. Perhaps you’ve heard of some of its science-based benefits before. But just in case you haven’t - here is a brief summary based on the findings of Dr. Robert Emmons, the world’s leading gratitude expert.
Practicing gratitude on a consistent basis can help you:
- Boost your immune system
- Lower your blood pressure
- Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon awakening
- Feel more joy, optimism, and happiness
- Be more alert, alive, and awake
- Be more outgoing, generous, and compassionate
- Feel less...
4 Ways Meditation Can Help You Find Your Purpose
We all want to know that our life has made a difference. Feeling a sense of purpose doesn’t just make our days more meaningful and joyful. According to research, it can also help us live longer. The sooner you uncover and start living in line with your purpose, the more you potentially increase the odds of outliving your ancestors.
Living with a sense of purpose is ultimately about living for someone or something larger than just yourself. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to a job or a non-profit organization. For many people, it means making a difference in the lives of their loved ones – being the best mother, spouse, or friend they can be. Yet many others feel most fulfilled when they are part of a larger mission - whether an existing one or their own.
So how do we connect with our purpose amidst our busy lifestyles? How do we figure out how our natural passions can become a pathway to helping others and then fearlessly step in that direction?
You...
How to Practice Mindfulness in Daily Life
The importance of mental health is increasingly coming to the forefront of people’s minds. And with this, so is the attention to mindfulness. New scientific findings continually confirm the effectiveness of mindfulness in helping to reduce stress and boost health and happiness. So what exactly is mindfulness and how can you bring it into your days so you can feel more peace regardless of what goes on in your life?
Mindfulness is the practice of coming fully into the present moment. It’s a way of experiencing life as it is without resistance. While we would like to think otherwise, a lot of the stress and tension we feel in our lives is self-induced. When we resist what is, we feel disempowered. Through mindfulness, that resistance can melt away as we learn to be more accepting while also taking more responsibility for our own happiness.
Whether your intention is to not get stressed so easily, to be more focused, or to be kinder to yourself or others, mindfulness is a...
5 Ways to Keep Calm During the Election
With the election less than a couple of weeks away, it’s totally normal to be feeling overwhelmed and stressed by all the commotion. Nobody knows the outcome or its implications for the future of our country. But one thing is for sure - you can decide on the outcome of your own happiness, regardless of what happens this November.
You’ve probably been through other elections before. Perhaps you even remember some times of difficulty for the whole nation. Yet even through the toughest times – whether on a personal or a national level – you’ve made it to the other side. There’s no reason this time should be different. You are stronger than you think!
While it takes practice, it is possible to cultivate feelings of inner peace and calm even while the rest of the world is in fear. By working on strengthening your mental muscles of resilience, you’re doing something your future self will thank you for. You’re voting for your own...
How to Reduce Anxiety with Meditation
If you’re feeling more stress and anxiety than even before, you’re not alone. According to the latest study by the Census Bureau, a third of Americans are now showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression. Even before the pandemic, 1 in 4 Americans experienced depressed moods on a frequent basis. That has now doubled to every other American!
But the good news is that there are a lot of ways you can take care of your mental health so that you’re not part of this statistic. Meditation is scientifically proven to be one of them - and it doesn’t have to take more than 20-30 minutes of your day! When you feel more at peace, you will naturally radiate this to others in your life.
So what causes those feelings of anxiety, stress, or depression to begin with? While your life circumstances are certainly a factor, your reactions to them are even more essential. School probably didn’t teach you how to work with your inner mental dialogue to become more confident...
6 Ways Meditation Rewires Your Brain for Greater Happiness and Intelligence
While peacefully sitting in your meditation, you may not be aware of all the changes your brain is going through in that moment. Scientific evidence backing the beneficial effects of meditation seems to be coming out daily. Brain research provides us with a better understanding of how meditation causes changes such as helping us focus better or changing our long-term levels of happiness.
Just as we can strengthen our muscles, we can improve brain performance. Meditation is like a gym for our brains - making them bigger, smarter, and faster. The more we put those neurons to use, the stronger they get!
When you practice finding that space of calm within, you’re lifting the neural “muscles” of calm. And because this helps release stress, your body now has more energy to function at peak levels. When your brain doesn’t have to worry about fighting a threat (often nowhere to be found but in your mind), it can run much smoother!
Let’s look at six ways that...
3 Daily Practices to Boost Your Mental Well-Being
Your desire to feel good is not selfish or unimportant. It is as essential to your well-being as having a healthy body! Just as you can train your body to be stronger, you can train your mind to be less stressed, anxious, and reactive.
We all crave more calm and peace in our lives. For too long, society has not been placing enough importance on the role mental health plays in our overall well-being. As a result, there is an epidemic of loneliness, anxiety, and depression in the world. Yet as scientific research clearly shows, mental health and physical health are two sides of the same coin.
When you understand how your own happiness affects your health, you will be much better equipped to take care of it. We’ll give you a few simple practices you can do every day to help!
THE LINK BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND HEALTH
There is a tight connection between the mind and the body that science can no longer deny. As human beings, we come with it all. From the waves of emotion to the physical...
