Don't Scrimp on Self-Care - 5 Rituals to Help You Stay on Track

To embrace all that life has to offer, I advise you to move self-care to the top of your list every day.

Self-care is key to your success and satisfaction no matter what your goals and responsibilities may be.

We all know that life gets way too busy. Sometimes it gets so busy that you feel like you can't carve out ANY time to take care of yourself. But that's one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

The rituals you practice to take care of your mind, body, and spirit both soothe you and energize you. As a result, you experience more success and joy in your moments. This, in turn, transforms your feelings about time. And that affects everything you do.

5 Self-Care Rituals for you to build into your routine...

These rituals help you remember how important you are. When you practice them, the results are powerful and palpable.

Exercising relieves your stress and rejuvenates both your mind and body.

No matter where you start, getting the physical activity your body craves will revive your mood and enrich your life profoundly. Try a 10-minute walk to give your mind a rest or lift your spirits.

Whether you choose a brisk pace or a slow saunter to admire the landscape, consider it a gift to yourself to go for a brief stroll.

Re-acquaint yourself with the magic and exhilaration that nature provides.

Nothing relaxes and nurtures us like getting outdoors. Find time to sit on your porch and just watch the birds. Take a few minutes to care for a flower garden, or go for a walk in the park.

Take a Bath.

Bathing is one of the top self-soothing moments of your day. Rather than rush through your bath, take the time to soothe yourself by using a luscious soap or that new loofah sponge or bath puff. Light some scented candles, put on relaxing music, and take the time to fully enjoy your self-care time.

Find time to do the one thing you really love to do.

There's something so special and nourishing about making the time and space to do something that you feel excited about. Maybe you love to read. Or perhaps you like to sew or work with wood.

No matter what your beloved activity, figure out a way to make it happen. Even if it's every other day or once a week, an important part of self-care is doing what makes your heart sing.

Stay in touch with your feelings.

This is vital for the deepest and most meaningful self-care. When you're honest with yourself about how you feel, you'll have more peace and contentment inside.

Living your life based on your real feelings brings comfort and joy to your heart because you are in sync with yourself. It can be a challenge to be truthful with yourself and others about how you feel. But when you do, the rewards are great.

BONUS REMINDER: Self-care isn't a luxury! Re-frame it for yourself as a responsibility.

Engaging in activities and rituals that soothe you deep inside enriches your time and your life. A regular practice of self-care demonstrates that you recognize your own worth.

You'll deepen your experience of your moments and find more success and satisfaction by practicing soothing and energizing self-care rituals.

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Are You "Home Alone?"

The home in your heart... where mind and body touch one another.

Some of us have a nurturing and empowering home in our hearts. It was built by our life experiences, in our early relationships. As we became adults, that inner home gave us a strong foundation and safe refuge. We can be alone, even under stress, without feeling disconnected.

And that makes us healthier.

"... strong relationships help build an internal regulatory system that modulates your stress response. In contrast, when those pathways haven't been or are not being stimulated, that internal modulating system for stress weakens. And with ongoing isolation, the firing of your stress response increases, leading to a state of chronic stress. Chronic stress weakens the immune system, which ultimately leads to more illnesses of all kinds." (Medscape, Can Being Lonely make You Sick. June 12, 2017)

The changes to your brain caused by the interaction between experiences, relationships and physical processes is called neuroplasticity. It's how the home in your heart is built. And it affects your physical health as much as your emotional health.

If you had a stressful, disconnected, even traumatic life as a child, you lived with a constant flow of stress biochemicals. That caused your brain to build more and stronger pathways to send and receive those biochemical stress messages. Your brain became "hardwired" for high levels of stress biochemicals. Stress became your default physical experience.

"When trauma and abuse are a part of a person's relational experience, then fear, distrust, and isolation are coded into the nervous system... These folks exist in a state of chronic disconnection that does not allow them to feel safe in any human connection. This can be lethal over time." (Medscape, Can Being Lonely make You Sick. June 12, 2017)

When our inner world, the home in our heart, was built by that experience, we often feel alone, but we can't find the connection we need. We feel anxious, or angry, or hopeless.

For most of us, though, it's not all one way or the other. We may have a safe inner experience much of the time, but under stress, or in certain situations, the home in our heart becomes unsafe. We don't feel loved or even loveable. We feel alone and disconnected, anxious and fearful.

Normal life stresses, like job changes that you can't control, relationship conflicts, the death of a loved one - even caregiving for a loved-one who is dying - these all cause measurable increases in stress biochemicals. They can overwhelm our resources, and leave us "home alone". If left unchecked, the increases in stress results in unhealthy remodeling of our brain and nervous system.

And once that remodeling happens, stress biochemicals become the "default" biochemical wash. Like drinking the water downstream from a toxic waste dump, your body experiences high levels of stress biochemicals daily.

Cancer. Heart disease. Stroke. Diabetes. Your risk goes up as your stress biochemicals increase.

But here's the good thing. This is where meditation comes in. You can put neuroplasticity to work for you. You can nourish and grow the home in your heart, no matter how it was built or the mess it may be in now.

Just like your mind/brain interactions can send out more stress biochemicals, your mind/brain interactions can also release calming, healing biochemicals. Your brain can build healthy new pathways, literally re-wire itself to reduce your stress reactivity, and give you a new default option.

Rewiring your brain takes work. Exercise, relationships, thinking patterns - they all make a difference, but meditation is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to create that change.

And it's totally under your control.

It's easier to rebuild that nurturing home if you're a believer, and if you feel safe with God. You begin to experience the connection, and realize you are never totally alone.

"Nothing before, nothing behind.

The steps of faith

Fall on the seeming void, and find

The rock beneath." (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Though maybe your belief about God had been poisoned with toxic waste too. Then you might run screaming. But whether you believe or not, meditation helps.

It's how your body works.

Meditation bathes your brain in calming, soothing biochemicals - a nourishing "biochemical chicken soup", instead of toxic waste. And day by day you begin to remodel your brain and build a safe and loving "home in your heart".

The more you meditate, the more it helps. The more you build a safe nourishing home inside, the more resilient you become - no matter what's happening out in the world. It's a powerful way to mitigate the negative effects of stress.

Stress happens. We had no control over it as kids. We have more control as adults, but even with healthy lives and positive coping, we will all experience stress, sometimes very powerfully and painfully, and for long periods of time.

But now you can choose. You can nourish your brain and body, even during times of painful stress. You can heal and protect your brain by building a safe, connected "home in your heart". You can give your body the resources it needs to recover from damage from the past, to comfort and protect you now, and to weather the storms you will face in the future.

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Nourishing Your Mind and Body For Life

Nourishing Yourself Is A Necessity, Not A Luxury

Maintaining a daily dose of self-care or self-nourishment means nourishing your mind and body by getting enough sleep, eating properly, having fun, and relaxing. This often may mean making time to do these things which may be easier if you have them booked into your already busy schedule. Taking the time to provide nourishment to yourself is critical to stay grounded, increase your energy reserves, peace of mind, determination you will need in order to pursue your goals, dreams, and activities that make up your life. It can also contribute to a more peaceful perspective which is essential to reducing anxiety. Because the pace of modern life is so crazy and often unrelenting, it is even more important to look after our physical and emotional well-being which is often overlooked. Self-nourishment is seen as a luxury by some, and often they think they can't afford it. You can't afford not to make it a part of your daily schedule or you can become more susceptible to stress and burnout. Leaving you with a dreadful quality of life, which can lead to depression, increased anxiety, self-hatred, and poor self-esteem. Just to name a few.

Everyone needs downtime to unwind sometimes. Downtime is exactly what it means - time away from work or other things you have on the go. It's a time to relax, rest and recharge your batteries. Stress will start to become cumulative from work and other activities, if regular breaks are not taken. It can keep building until a break is had. Even though you may push yourself to exhaustion without a break this may irritate your anxiety and phobias. Sleep doesn't constitute downtime either. Sleep can feel like a welcome reprieve but even if you go to bed stressed out and tense and get your eight hours of sleep your likely to wake up the same way. In order to experience some real downtime, an individual needs to schedule it every day, during the day, separate from sleep time. This scheduled break in the stress cycle is essential and serves a main purpose which is to prevent your stress from building up. To optimize this downtime and reduce stress, you should have the following amounts of breaks:

At least 1 hour/day

1 day/week

1 week out of every 12 to 16 weeks

Rearrange your finances so you can take time off, if you don't have 4 weeks of paid holidays per year. Any work that you would normally do at your job or that you are regularly responsible for you should stop doing, during these downtimes. Also, it may be helpful to take a break from answering phone calls unless these are healthy positive persons, and emails at this time to truly get the rest and relaxation that you need.

Types of Downtime

There are three types of downtime, each is a critical component in developing a more anxiety-free life: relaxation time, recreation/activity time, and relationship time should all be part of this consideration.

Relaxation Time

Relaxation time is a period of time that is set aside specifically for resting your mind and body without all the activities and work that you would normally be involved in. You become one in the moment by allowing yourself to rest by stopping all activities and letting your body/mind completely rest. This relaxation time can mean lying around on a couch, mediation, reading, soaking in a bathtub, listening to peaceful music, or doing gentle stretches. The main key to relaxation is to use this time to become passive and allow yourself a break, to stop doing and accomplishing and just be in the moment.

Recreation/Activity Time

Now your probably aware of what recreation/activity time is, but let's review just in case. Recreation/Activity time means becoming involved in and participating in something that not only engages you but helps you to recharge your low batteries by giving you more energy and vigor. It can brighten your day or uplift your spirits. It can be anything you find fun and that involves healthy play of any kind. This may include: gardening, pottery, reading a novel, golfing, watching a movie, going for a hike, baking cookies or fishing;etc. Recreation can be taken during your work week but the best time to utilize this time is by doing the activity on your day off from work. You decide whether you want to do this alone or with someone else. This overlaps with our third type of downtime which is relationship time.

Relationship Time

In some cases, relationship time can mean being with one person or several other people while setting aside your own private time. The whole point of relationship time is to honor and respect that time with your partner, friends, family or pets and to forego your own personal goals for a little while. It can be a difficult balance at times between having enough equal time for family, friends and a partner when you have a busy schedule. Even so, this time alone with each person or an entire family is vital to increasing your quality of life and theirs.

A healthy balance of all three of these types of downtime can contribute to your mental and physical health and well-being. Getting past workaholism, being willing to do less at times are all important steps in learning to enjoy all aspects of your life and to achieve more balance. Making time for rest, recreation, and relationships can be challenging at first when your not use to it, but tends to get easier and become more rewarding, as time goes on.

Give it a try and see how it goes. It may feel uncomfortable but that will pass. Enjoy! Let us know how you make out.

Maintaining a your self-care or self-nourishment means nourishing your mind and body. Take time for yourself by scheduling in some activities that you enjoy to do, time with friends and family or relaxation time just for you. Taking the time to provide yourself with this downtime is critical to stay grounded, increase your energy reserves, peace of mind, determination you will need in order to pursue your goals, dreams, and activities that make up your life. Let us help you build a new life. One that not only empowers you but helps you strive to reach your goals and dreams for the future.

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Open the Front Door: Take the Time to Smell the Roses

It's lovely when you can open the front door and allow the air to flow through your home. It has a therapeutic and calming effect on your mind and body.

At a certain time of the year you become tired and exhausted. The year is long and you work hard every day. You have your family to take care of. The pressure piles because there are tasks at work that are urgent, there are activities you have to take your children to, and you have to take care of your relationship with your partner. Life packs a lot on you.

But when do you get to relax?

When is it your turn to get back to your life?

Well, it all depends on you!

You have to take your life back. Find a way to control the things in your life or let some of it go. Firstly, you need to learn to say no and to prioritise what is important. Take on only what you can handle.

At work, prioritise your workload. Manage client expectations so that you can have better control over your eight hour day. Work causes a lot of stress and that stress is caused by your boss clamping down on you and customers being very demanding. If you can learn how to control the expectations of your boss and your customers, you can get your hours back. Make a list of what you need to do for the day. Allow about half an hour to deal with any unexpected tasks or problems that may come your way. This could allow you to manage the stress level. If you plan your day early in the morning, you can manage what needs to get done within a day.

At home, you also have a lot of errands to run. Your child doesn't need to partake in all the activities at school. Let them choose two or three activities that will fit into your schedule. Not only do you need to relax but your children need to be children for a little while longer. They should enjoy their childhood. This is good for you and for them. Select recipes that are quick and easy to make for supper. Don't stand around making a long and complicated meal at the end of the day when you are exhausted.

Then go and sit down. Open the front door, let the air flow, and smell the roses. Take the time for yourself and enjoy your life.

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Weathering Stormy Feelings

I know looking back on my own life I can see many instances where I spoke or acted on impulse, due to the raging storms of emotion within me. Some very strong feelings are also triggered by our hormones. If we are unable to control these hormonal urges they may drive us to make impulsive decisions on sexual matters. The consequences of these impulsive decisions can be very long lasting in our lives. If we can manage our feelings, and better control our resulting thoughts and actions; we will not have so many occasions to later deeply regret.

A great deal of suffering can be drawn into our lives and the lives of those who live in close proximity with us, due to the way we think, speak and react to our feelings. This effect carries outward into our society like the ripples in a pond, bringing either waves of added suffering, or waves of added benefit to the lives of all those within our sphere of influence. We all interrelate with one another on some level. With the increased connections of the electronic age, and all the social media connections, our impact has a much broader range then was possible in the past.

Due to the fact that how we relate to one another, affects people on a far broader scale today, brings to mind the consideration of our responsibilities to one another. Although we are each responsible for ourselves, and our behavior, we need to keep in mind how the things we say, and the things we do, may influence and affect the lives of those around us. If we continue to react without thinking to our feelings; we will not be able to create the best possible life for ourselves.

We also need to consider how this ripple we start in the pond of our life, by the way we react to our feelings and beliefs, also flows out into the lives of our children and grandchildren. Furthermore how we react to our feelings, can negatively impact the lives of those we interact with, on a daily basis. For these and many other reasons, it is very wise to learn how to better cope with our inner feelings, in order to have the best possible experiences in life.

Our feelings combine with our beliefs about ourselves and others, along with the rules we abide by in our interactions with one another. This powerful mix of feelings and beliefs will influence how we will act in all the situations we find ourselves in. Our personal combination of feelings and beliefs creates our thoughts. Our thoughts carve out the reality we perceive within our life experience. Our life experience flows from this stream of feelings, beliefs, thoughts, words and actions as we create it.

I like how Thich Nhat Hanh describes our feelings, in his book Peace is Every Step. He says, "In us, there is a river of feelings, in which every drop of water is a different feeling, and each feeling relies on all the others for its existence. To observe it, we just sit on the bank of the river and identify each feeling as it surfaces, flows by and disappears."

Thich Nhat Hanh also says that "Mindful observation is based on the principle of "non-duality": our feeling is not separate from us or caused by something outside us; our feeling is us, and for the moment we are that feeling."

He goes on to describe how there are three sorts of feelings, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. He says we should focus on observing our feelings, with love and attention; while using conscious breathing and mindfulness. This will help us to identify and acknowledge the feeling we are experiencing. If a feeling is unpleasant, we can mindfully embrace our feeling, like a Mother comforting a crying baby. Applying our energy to the feelings in this way, will help us to transform the unpleasant, or stormy feelings into either neutral or pleasant feelings as we practice.

1. The first step in transforming our feelings is to recognize each feeling as it arises.

(Example from Peace is Every Breath) "Breathing in, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me." "Breathing out, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me." We want to keep our breathing calm and light so our mind and body can begin to reach the same equilibrium. As we identify the feeling using mindfulness, we can address it by name, such as "anger", "sorrow' or "fear." Do not seek to drive the feeling away, simply acknowledge it. "Hello Fear, (Anger, Sadness) How are you today my friend?"

2. With the second step you will invite your feeling and mindfulness to shake hands and connect with each other.

Allow your mindfulness to greet and care for the stormy unpleasant feeling you are experiencing. As the feelings connect with each other, mindfulness will calm the stormy feeling for you. It may seem frightening at first, but with practice your mindfulness will gain strength and will help you transform these stormy feelings.

3. The third step is to calm the feeling you are experiencing.

"Breathing in, I calm the activities of my body and mind." Again use the visualization of a Mother holding and comforting a crying baby. As the baby feels the tenderness and love of the Mother (your mindful energy) the feeling (baby) will calm down. "Breathing out, I calm my... " (fear, anger, sadness... )

We do not need to bury, reject or drive away our feelings. What we need to do is mindfully and lovingly embraces them. As you lovingly embrace the feeling, with your mindful energy; you will transform the stormy feeling, with your love and compassion, into a more beneficial and pleasant feeling. With this gentle approach we will be able to withstand the storms that pass through the branches of our being. Mindfulness will help us to understand all of our feelings are an important part of us. When we acknowledge and embrace our stormy feelings they can be transformed into positive and beneficial energies. We can then go on to create a happier, more positive and successful life experience for ourselves. This will also benefit all those we hold especially dear.

I strongly suggest reading Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Peace is Every Step, for a more detailed and comprehensive explanation of this wonderful process.

In the Christian tradition the feelings and thoughts we experience are considered in Philippians 4:6-8 as follows. "6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think on these things... "

I think that an attitude of gratitude and a heart filled with thanksgiving along with lips that look for every opportunity to praise; will lift our hearts from many a moment of sorrow or despair. In addition using the mindfulness approach to transform our feelings can be utilized within any faith.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. Khalil Gibran

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/khalil_gibran

When dealing with your feelings, or those of another, consider the words of Jalaluddin Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet. "Listen with ears of tolerance! See through the eyes of compassion! Speak with the language of love."

In summary we all experience a vast array of feelings. Enjoy the pleasant ones; transform the unpleasant stormy feelings by mindfully embracing them. Acknowledge all feelings, for they are a valid of expression of who you are, and what is meaningful to you. Love and accept yourself feelings and all! Seek to better understand why you feel the way you do, and in so doing you will come to better understand both yourself, and the others who are important to you in your life.

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The Art and Science of Creative Self-Expression

We live in a universe of law and order - which includes personal expression and achievement. In order to express yourself on higher levels of your potential, in any area of your life, it's necessary to know the underlying law, principal or formula. Once you know the formula, you can adapt it to any creative goal whether in your art, business, relationships, work, hobbies, etc. The formula is a universal template upon which you can just fill in the blanks.

The formula consists of three integrated parts: (1) you, the personality that does all the expressing, (2) you, the creator from which the thing to be expressed comes, and (3) the outcome or expression itself. Each part needs to function appropriately for the formula to work.

Let's look at how each part works - or is supposed to work. First, the personality. Your personality is your medium or channel of expression. Or as professional actor's term it - your instrument. It's the vehicle that receives an impression or idea from within and communicates it outwardly. Now this vehicle does not and cannot have any ideas of its own. It is nothing but a medium of exchange from spirit to mind and body. It has no ego of its own. No intelligence or power of its own. It is, as it were, totally selfless. All it has is its own individual way of expressing. And even that's not his doing because everyone is different. You cannot help but be different no matter hard you try not to be.

That's what Zen means when it says you are "nothing." It means you are nothing but a medium. Now to the degree you maintain yourself a selfless medium and nothing else - your expression will have beauty, intelligence, power and originality. The way to be a good medium or instrument is to be silent, receptive and open-minded. Only then is your instrument playable. Again, the instrument is not the creator; it's the thing being played - like a violin. And it's only because the violin doesn't have an ego of its own that it can be played at all.

The second part is you, the creator. This part of you is the inner, subconscious source of all outward expression. This is your higher self or higher power, your Muse or your God, etc. - Call it what you will. It is the musician or player of your personality instrument. You, the medium, wait and listen in patient silence and stillness until you receive inspiration from this subconscious self. "Inspiration" means it now wants to, through your personality, say something, write something, play something, do something -- express itself. Then you obey its leading to the letter to the best of your ability. How successful you are at perfectly translating or mirror-imaging this idea or inspiration into sensual reality will depend on the degree to which you're able to put aside your "personal" will in the matter and maintain indifferent neutrality.

The third part of the formula is the outcome or result. It's the thing expressed or created - the words, music, product, etc. You can't know or control what the outcome will be in advance because, remember, your personality is just a medium and has no say in the matter. If you try to have a "personal" say, try to configure the end result, you nullify the formula and get a disappointing outcome. This is the definition and method of letting go, and is the mode necessary to higher creative expression.

The words, music or action comes out the way it comes out. It's spontaneous, and has to be so. Were you to know the outcome in advance, it wouldn't be "creative." It would be predictable -- not special or unique. It would lack the joyous surprise and power of originality. (The only way you can control and predict an outcome is to repeat what has worked before. For example, playing music someone else wrote, or duplicating a product or process someone else invented, etc.)

The first part of the formula - being a receptive and passive instrument, is the only part you can control. And this won't be easy because the personal, egotistical self clings to the erroneous, insidious idea that it alone is running the show. So correcting this false notion is where most all your personal development work needs to be focused

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The 5 Keys to Living a Happy Life

How to find happiness? How to live a happy life? We all want to live a happy life. But most of the time we perhaps look for happiness in the wrong place or maybe take the wrong approach to it. In truth, when it comes to happiness, there is really not a "one-size-fits-all" recipe that works for everybody. We are all different. What makes someone happy may not be the ideal for another person.

With this in mind, we could be easily tempted to think that if people are so different among them, the logical conclusion would be that there could exist as many different approaches and paths to happiness as the number of people on this planet. However, this approach is too general does not offer any help to those who are honestly seeking a clear guidance or at least a hint as to how we can find happiness in our lives. We are all looking for some proven ways to grasp and materialize happiness in our realities, because, after all, happiness is a central purpose of human life as Aristotle said in his time, and the purpose of life is to be happy, as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has pointed out.

So, if looking for a single universal solution for happiness seems restrictive, and thinking that there might be as many paths to happiness as the number of people on this planet seems vague and not helpful as a proposal, what could be the right, practical approach to finding happiness in our lives?

To start with, we could certainly be best served by embracing an approach that involves or contemplates several options or avenues, much in the same way that a physical destination in our world can be accessed by different means, just keeping in mind that happiness is not really a destination, but a journey.

Secondly, we are looking for a proposal that is ingrained in wisdom and science, with solid foundations. In this regard, we have to acknowledge that the attainment of happiness has occupied the minds of great sages, philosophers, physicians, psychologists and scientists from time immemorial. What do they all have in common in their conclusions? Is there a common pattern that we can identify and use as a blueprint for finding happiness in our lives?

More than five thousand years ago, ancient cultures had a clear cosmology that understood the basic principles that govern the universe and everything in it, including human behavior. One basic tenant of this cosmology was a system based on the interaction of five elements: Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. In fact, the holistic systems that are used for healing, like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, are based on the interaction of five elements in the human body, mind and emotions.

And the interesting point is that according to modern psychology, particularly after the findings of Wilhelm Reich (the father of Mind-Body psychology), as systematized by Alexander Lowen, most people can be fitted into five different character structures. Reich and Lowen gifted us with a very useful protocol to understand the connection between mind and body from five different perspectives.

If we put together and ensemble the valuable insights of psychology and Eastern philosophy, a very clear picture emerges: there are five elements, five character structures and, as a logical consequence, five different paths to happiness. This holistic approach means taking into account the behavioral insights provided by psychology, through the concept of character structures, together with the insights of the Five Element perspective gifted to us by the ancient Indian and Chinese systems, in order to identify five clear different roads or paths to happiness.

Understanding correctly the main characteristics of each of the five elements that rule the universe in a practical manner and knowing the main traits of each of the five character structures that psychology has identified in people, we should be able to delineate five clear main personality types with their respective different strengths, challenges and solutions when it comes to living happiness on a daily basis. This means that by knowing their personality type and what works for them according to their unique emotional structure, people could have the chance to follow their most joyous paths and live a happy life that is consonant with their uniqueness.

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3 Things That Help Improve Your Mood

Self-improvement is a difficult thing to accomplish if you aren't sure how to move forward with natural elements. If you want to improve your life, you need to focus on what your mood is like, and how to elevate it through natural means. The reason why people need to focus on natural elements is because it works with alleviating the body's mind and body. Instead of taking pharmaceutical options, there are a lot of different things that you can do to help with mood, and improvement overall. If you want to get moving forward in this realm, consider the following elements that you can change up for the better.

Get More Sleep

The biggest issue that people are not doing on a regular basis is simple, sleeping right. You may be able to function on 5 hours of sleep, but that's not a good thing. Don't diminish the value of sleeping enough hours every night. Take on at least 7 hours a night, and perhaps even a cat nap during the day. You want to make sure that you do this so that you can feel refreshed overall. If you do not feel good in your slumber, get a sleep test and figure out what may be going awry with how your patterns are.

Give To Others

Another thing that you can do to help with mood is simple, give of your time. Volunteer at your local soup kitchen, or find yourself an opportunity to simply give back. You can volunteer in a lot of different ways, and you can receive a great joy in literally helping others. You don't have to spend a lot of money to do this, you can just set up shop at your local library and help people read, or a food pantry and pass out food to those that need it most. A lot of non-profit organizations just need your time, give back.

Take More Walks

During your days, take a walk. Literally go outside, find a park, or just get out and get some sun by walking. There are a lot of great things that come with walking. If you can just spend at least 30 minutes of time in this regard, you will not only feel better about your life, you'll also enjoy better health and more. Walking is a good thing to help you, and elevates mood overall. There's no better way to get started with self-improvement, than exercise. This is the easiest exercise you can do right now.

At the end of the day, the aforementioned simple steps are going to help you with your confidence, weight management, and will help others. Your mood will change, you will receive many benefits in terms of health, and mental stability as well. There's something beautiful about improving yourself, and it starts with the simple steps mentioned above. Test them out one by one and see what happens when you decide to work towards a better resolution. It may not manifest in 24 hours, but in time, you'll feel a lot better about yourself and others.

http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Things-That-Help-Improve-Your-Mood&id=9410206

Did You Know That Positive Affirmations Can Improve Your Life And Well-being? Here's How!

The dictionary defines affirmations as, "statements, which affirm something to be true." In simple terms, positive affirmations are positive phrases, which you repeat to yourself and which describe how you want to be.

The theory of this practice dictates that when you repeat affirmations as if they were already a reality (when they are not) the message seeps deep into the subconscious mind, so you really start to believe them, and eventually they will become your reality. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At first, you should state the phrase(s) intentionally, to counter any negative thoughts that creep into your mind. Over time, the phrases should occur naturally, without you having to intentionally think about them. At this point, the phrases become part of your subconscious, part of your very mentality, which has a tremendous effect on your life and wellbeing.

How To Use Positive Affirmations

Select affirmation phrases that are only 4-5 words long so that you won't forget them. Make them present, positive, and personal.

In staying present, use "I am... " instead of "I will be... "

In staying positive, make sure the phrase is uplifting. Examples could be "I like my artistic side" and "I am successful" and "I love myself."

Lastly, in staying personal, use phrases whenever possible that directly apply to your unique skills and qualities.

For example, "I paint landscapes beautifully" and "I organize my time well."

It is best to only pick 1-3 phrases that you can really focus on per day, because you should be repeating the same phrase to yourself repeatedly.

The phrase(s) should be related to anything particular that you are struggling with that day or doubting yourself about. The phrase(s) may not change for days or weeks at a time, until you are able to truly believe them and they become one with your subconscious.

The best time to use the affirmations is when you are not busy with other tasks. Spend 5-10 minutes repeating the phrase(s) to yourself, either mentally or out loud if no one is around you. Do this first thing in the morning and multiple times during the day, as you are able.

Make it a habit to also say them as you are trying to fall asleep. Make sure you are relaxed when you begin. Try taking deep breaths before you start, and concentrate on the words as you are saying them.

Go one-step further and visualize the phrase in your mind as you say it. This helps to integrate the phrase into your subconscious.

How Positive Affirmations Affect Your Well-being

Research shows that positive affirmations improve your well-being. Specifically, positive affirmations can do the following things in your life:

Build Your Confidence - As the positive phrases become implanted in your subconscious, you will come to think more highly of yourself and your self-esteem and confidence will grow.

Empower You To Accomplish Your Goals - As your confidence grows, you will trust more in your capabilities and be able to successfully reach your goals. The visualization technique previously mentioned helps with this too, because if you envision what your life looks like when you have obtained a specific goal, then it will be easier to motivate yourself to work towards it. One great example of this is weight loss, as studies have shown affirmations to have positive effect on success in people losing weight versus subjects who did not employ the technique.

Lead To Prosperity - You will find yourself more successful in your career, in your relationships and in your personal life when you live life with a positive mentality.

Lead To Romance - Whether you have long doubted your abilities to sweep another person off their feet, or you have been in a relationship that you view as mediocre, this will all change with a new attitude. When the positive affirmations change your mentality, which changes your outlook on life, you will have the confidence to sweep someone off of their feet or to re-invigorate your current relationship. You will be a much happier person, and that happiness will flood into your romantic life.

Heal Your Mind And Body - Research studies show a strong connection between the mind and body. People with a positive mentality control their stress and blood pressure better and demonstrate a stronger resiliency against disease. They also have effective coping skills when dealing with life's maladies that make them resilient and well equipped to deal with stressful situations and come out on top, instead of succumbing to the pressure.

Can Be Applied To Any Situation - No matter the personal struggle, applicable affirmations can be created and applied.

You can achieve all of these things with positive thinking. It all starts with affirmations that are present, positive and personal. Never underestimate the power of positive words!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Did-You-Know-That-Positive-Affirmations-Can-Improve-Your-Life-And-Wellbeing?-Heres-How!&id=9075731

The Most Enduring Man in the World

                

A SUCCESS editor trains with the man who tackled one of the most improbable athletic feats in history, completing 50 Ironman races in 50 days.

Ready?” He asks with a grin as he sets up some weights.

I nervously nod and force a half-smile.

We step out of his garage onto his driveway to start the day’s workout. And after a simple warmup of a few lunges, squat jumps and other exercises, I’m already winded. He can tell because he asks whether I need a drink of water. I need it, but I’m too proud to say yes. For some frivolous reason, I feel as if drinking water right now is a sign of weakness, and I don’t want to seem weak in front of a guy who is possibly the most physically enduring man alive.

Six weeks before our workout, he accomplished perhaps the greatest display of physical endurance in history: He completed 50 Ironman races in 50 consecutive days. In 50 states. An Ironman is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon. Simply finishing a marathon is challenging enough. If you’ve never competed in one, you’re in for months of devoted training as you work up to perhaps four, five or more hours of exhausting running. Now imagine adding a six-hour bike ride on top of that and then continuously swimming for another hour and a half. (These times assume you’re a very well-conditioned athlete.) But he didn’t just do this once; he did it 50 times on 50 consecutive days while traveling across the country.

When I think about all of that, I’m embarrassed that I’m already panting after our warmup, but I shouldn’t be. Despite what he has accomplished, he doesn’t act like he’s better than I am or judge me for being out of shape. He’s just James Lawrence, 39, husband and father of five from Orem, Utah, south of Salt Lake City.

We step inside his garage to begin the weights portion of our workout. His garage looks like yours probably does: a little messy with random tools and old things hanging everywhere on the walls—except he doesn’t park his car in here. In the middle of his garage is a workout pad surrounded by sets of weights and other equipment such as his stationary bike. This isn’t where you would expect an athlete of his caliber to train for Ironman races, and he likes it that way. He says he takes pride in not being rich. He lives in a normal-sized home on a cul-de-sac in a typical middle-class American neighborhood.

Lawrence wasn’t always a world-class endurance athlete. And he has no particular natural gift for endurance racing. A native of Canada, Lawrence wrestled in high school, and he was pretty good at it—ranking fourth nationally at one point. But he didn’t even run in his first race until he was 28, when his wife, Sunny, signed him up for a 4-mile fun run. He failed miserably then.

“I didn’t have a great experience, being passed by women pushing their kids in strollers,” Lawrence says. “My wife said I was pathetic, signed me up for a marathon that was five months later, the Salt Lake City Marathon, and basically just said figure it out.”

He didn’t really figure it out.

“Again, I had a horrible experience. I didn’t want to allow being beaten down by a marathon to define me as an athlete.”

He didn’t. Lawrence decided to start doing some research on endurance competitions and began training for sprint marathons with a friend. But he took things slowly; he didn’t compete in a triathlon until four years later, finishing the 2008 Vineman Triathlon in Sonoma County, Calif., in 11 hours and 10 minutes.

And that’s how it started.

In 2010 Lawrence broke the world record for completing the most half-Ironman races in one year. He ran 22 of them in 30 days. But he wasn’t satisfied, so two years later he broke the world record for finishing the most full Ironman races in one year. He ran 30 races in 11 countries, beating the previous record of 20 races in one year.

Again, Lawrence wasn’t content. He wanted to push his mind and body to new limits. He asked himself what was the craziest thing he could come up with, and he devised the 50-50-50 Project: 50 Ironman races on 50 consecutive days in 50 states.

That’s why I’m nervous about this workout. I’m here to push myself, but I’m not sure just how far this man who knows no mental and physical limits will push me. This is a man whose muscles and body became so toned and defined after his 50 Ironman races that he says he now suffers from body dysmorphic disorder—anxiety about his body appearance because his muscles don’t look the way they did at the peak of his 50 days. (After our interview, the photographers and I asked him whether he would let us photograph him with his shirt off to show his abs, and he adamantly said no.) I have no idea what kind of workout to expect from a guy like this. I told Lawrence what my exercise habits are like—I play soccer and run a couple of miles a few nights a week, but I also haven’t lifted a single weight in over a year.

"I’m here to push myself. Going into this, I have one goal in mind: Don’t stop."

He hands me weights that are a few pounds more than what I think I can handle, but I don’t ask for something lighter. I’m here to push myself. Going into this, I have one goal in mind: Don’t stop. So as I struggle to lift a kettlebell over my head, I remind myself of that. And when I lose my balance doing a one-legged squat and feel my hamstring twinge, I remind myself of that again.

The first part of our workout consists of lifting weights and medicine balls, more lunges, pushups, hopping on plyometric jump boxes, and holding a one-minute plank that seems like an eternity. The workout is fast-paced, but both the pace and the weights are manageable. I take pride in finishing the first part of our workout, although my sense of achievement quickly fades when he tells me that this workout was more of a warmup for him when he was training for The 50.

Simply planning the logistics of 50 races in 50 states was no easy feat. Lawrence says he spent almost an entire year mapping all of the routes for his swims, bikes and runs. He had people on the ground in all 50 states who volunteered to help plan. “It was literally like running a small business,” he says. He was his own marketer, travel agent, accountant, manager, everything.

But Lawrence knew he couldn’t do it alone. He asked Dallas Makin, a sports chiropractor and owner of Utah Spine and Sport, to help with his recovery and injury prevention. Natalie Rasmussen came on as Lawrence’s massage therapist, and his friend David Warden coached him. “Many individuals have miscalculated James, but perhaps none so much as me,” Warden wrote in a blog post following the completion of Lawrence’s mission. “To be James’s coach was one of the greatest gifts I’ve received, a huge personal and professional boon that I now feel unworthy of.”

Warden wasn’t the only one who doubted this goal. Lawrence’s parents told him he was crazy. Friends told him it was impossible. But none of that stopped him. Lawrence was convinced he would accomplish his goal, and he had a lot of reasons to do so. His top five reasons were his kids: his daughters, Lucy, Lily, Daisy and Dolly, and his son, Quinn.

“I told them what the goal was,” Lawrence says. “The personal purpose of this was to find my mental and physical limits, but it was also to set the ultimate example for my kids.”

After months of training and planning, Lawrence began his 50-50-50 challenge in Kauai, Hawaii, on June 6. He then flew to Anchorage, Alaska, and on to the Lower 48, where he traveled by motorhome until wrapping up the adventure on July 25, back in Utah. (Amazingly he posted the best finishing time of the entire trip that day, needing only 12 hours, 46 minutes and 42 seconds to complete his final Ironman.)

“I had the mindset going into it that I was going to have to be in a hospital [to stop],” Lawrence says. “Obviously I’m smart enough with five kids that I was never going to risk exiting this life, but it was going to take a serious injury for me to stop moving. There was never a moment when I was like, ‘I’m quitting.’ It wasn’t an option; it wasn’t even a consideration. When you’re trying to accomplish something of this enormity you have to have that mindset."

"There was never a moment when I was like, ‘I’m quitting.’ It wasn’t an option; it wasn’t even a consideration. When you’re trying to accomplish something of this enormity, you have to have that mindset.”

For part two of our workout, we drive up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in the Wasatch Mountain Range—fairly close to Lawrence’s home. He tells me he often ran on this trail when he was training for The 50. I’m anxious again because I don’t know what to expect, and I’m also concerned about my hamstring after those one-legged squats. Lawrence is anxious, too. He’s biked and done some light workouts since finishing his challenge on Day 50, but he hasn’t done any running whatsoever. He’s not sure how his body is going to respond or how his knees and ankles are going to fare.

As we begin our uphill run, light rain begins to fall, and the wind hits our faces. After a few minutes of running, I can feel the elevation start to get to me. We’re up 5,500 feet—about 5,000 feet more than I’m accustomed to back home in Dallas. He likes to talk while we run, but I mainly just listen. I’m just trying to focus on my breathing and keeping up with him. Even though he hasn’t run once in the last six weeks, he takes on the inclines of the trail like they’re nothing. For me, the hills take a toll. With each step, I can feel the muscles in my legs and thighs exert themselves more than they possibly ever have.

The rain picks up, and the soil quickly becomes soggy. I can’t figure out how much of the moisture on my face is rain and how much is sweat. Now I’m not just focused on keeping up with Lawrence and breathing, I’m also focused on where I’m stepping. The last thing I want is to get hurt, or worse, fall on my face in the mud with photographers around. Though, as we continue running, I realize all of these things—the inclines, the rain, the soggy ground, the wind, the elevation—are excuses to not finish.

Lawrence had a lot more excuses that he could have used during The 50. He injured his shoulder during his fifth race, in Santa Cruz, Calif., forcing him to complete the next several swims with one arm while his shoulder healed. On Day 18 in Chattanooga, Tenn., his exhaustion caught up to him in the 30th mile of the bike portion. He fell asleep and fell off of his bike while riding, although luckily, he only suffered road rash. He lost some toenails during the adventure. He suffered a hiatal hernia. He pushed his body so hard that his heart had to focus on pumping blood to his major organs, causing him to lose feeling in his extremities. Six weeks after finishing The 50, he still experienced numbness in some of his fingers and toes.

And to top everything off, he averaged only 4½ hours of sleep per night, even struggling to get that, considering the discomfort of life on the road.

But Lawrence refused to let any of that stop him.

Quitting was even less of an option for Lawrence because he was surrounded by so much support. His family traveled with him through all 50 states. His eldest daughter, Lucy, ran a 5K with him in each state. But the support didn’t just come from his family; it came from strangers, too. Hundreds of people turned out to run, bike and swim with him or simply cheer him on.

“It was this awesome game of pingpong where I was inspiring people to come out, and because they were coming out, I was being inspired to continue to move,” Lawrence says.

The most motivation came from Dell Finney, whom Lawrence met on Day 39, in Benton Harbor, Mich. Finney weighs 326 pounds—down from 390 pounds at his heaviest. After running cross-country and track in high school to earn a college scholarship, Finney blew out his knee and lost a nerve in his right leg. Despite being told by doctors he would never be able to run competitively, he eventually worked his way back to running in 5Ks and later full marathons. Finney failed to complete the Wisconsin Ironman in 2014. He tried again in the 2015 and missed the bike cutoff by 73 seconds. When Finney heard what Lawrence was attempting, he came out to support him and run the last 5 kilometers of the marathon portion.

“I sprinted—we will call it a sprint—up to the front where [Lawrence] was, and I said, ‘I won’t be able to keep up with you for long, but I wanted to tell you my story and how you are an inspiration,’” Finney says. “After listening to my story, he told me that he wanted me to email him, he was rooting for me, and on race day he would be tracking me—which filled my heart with hope to the point of bursting. I half-expected to never hear from him again. Why would he care about just another overweight guy? I emailed him, and you know what? He emailed me back. It all started there.”

With the training help and encouragement of Lawrence, Finney will attempt the 2016 Wisconsin Ironman again in September. Lawrence guarantees Finney’s third attempt will be successful.

“He embodies [the idea] that no goal is too big, no dream is too big, and to never, never give up,” Lawrence says of Finney. “Nothing is impossible. His ‘impossible’ is one Ironman. Everybody is on a different journey in their lives, and for him that’s it.”

Lawrence’s “impossible” was to complete 50 Ironman races in 50 days. Finney’s is to complete one Ironman. Today my “impossible” is to complete a single workout with the Iron Cowboy, as fans have affectionately dubbed Lawrence. While our goals differ in size, our common denominator is our determination to achieve our objectives.

“The thing with The 50 was that there was only one person who needed to believe in me and that was myself,” Lawrence says. “To whoever is trying to accomplish their next big goal, I would say the biggest thing is to have over 100 percent conviction in what they’re doing.”

***

To finish this workout, I need to follow two of Lawrence’s examples: First, I need to stop thinking about the excuses I can use to quit. And second, I need to believe that I can. I think to myself, If he could complete 50 Ironmans in 50 days, I can complete this one workout.

Lawrence says the scenic views of Utah’s mountain ranges make the place a playground for endurance athletes. He’s right. As our run continues, we round a bend on the trail that reveals a gorgeous view of the valley below. He points out Brigham Young University and Utah Lake west of it. We pass sagebrush and other plants, but I keep looking at the aspen trees on Cascade Mountain in the range adjacent to us. He tells me the leaves of those trees will change colors in a few weeks, and the mountain range will glow in different shades of red, orange and yellow. I’m so taken by the scenery that for a while I forget I’m even running.

I ask Lawrence what he thought about while he was on The 50. He says sometimes he would have long conversations with himself, but most of the time, it was about focusing on what he would do in the next minute. Lawrence says he tried not to think about how many miles or days he had left; he just wanted to be perfect at whatever he was doing—running, biking or swimming—for the next minute.

For the rest of our run, focus is my focus. I focus on where I’m stepping. I focus on breathing right. I focus on keeping up and taking in the beautiful terrain—not on things like what I’m having for lunch or what time my flight leaves. I just want to focus on what I’m doing in that moment.

And before I know it, I’m done. The workout is over. I have accomplished my “impossible.” There aren’t 3,500 people here to celebrate with me—like those who came to see Lawrence on Day 50 but I did it. It was challenging, and while I know completing this workout is nothing compared to what Lawrence did, I still feel satisfied.

“I knew aside from being hit by a semi-truck [on Day 50], I was going to accomplish my goal,” Lawrence says. “I exceeded mine and everybody’s expectations. To have pulled it off and accomplished it, for myself and as a team, it was an incredible feeling of satisfaction.”

Walking back to the truck to head down the trail, I realize I’m still not exactly sure how Lawrence’s feat was humanly possible. Conviction, support, focus. What else?

“Patience and consistency,” Lawrence says. “You have to do a lot of little things right over an extended period of time. You have to focus on the basics, and you have to be perfect at them. That’s ultimately why I succeeded: I was perfect with the basics, and I had patience. I became an expert at a lot of little things, and that’s how I became successful—that’s one of the keys to success if anybody wants to tackle something of this enormity.”

“The size of the goal doesn’t matter. What matters is having the desire to improve yourself, push yourself to new limits and adopt the right mindset to make it happen.”

After leaving Utah, I felt sore for three days but also inspired. If a 39-year-old dad who didn’t run more than 4 miles until he was 28 could complete a goal of this magnitude, then 24-year-old me could at least get into better shape.

Since our workout, I joined a gym and started exercising six times a week. I decided my next “impossible” will be to run a 10K. My next goal still doesn’t compare to what Lawrence achieved or what Finney is training for, but if I learned anything from meeting and training with Lawrence, it’s that the size of the goal doesn’t matter.

What matters is having the desire to improve yourself, push yourself to new limits and adopt the right mindset to make it happen.

http://www.success.com/article/the-most-enduring-man-in-the-world