Are you up for a healthy habit challenge?
For the next 13 days I’m giving up:
1) caffeine (coffee and tea)
2) junk food and added sugar
3) alcohol
4) dairy, eggs, meat (anything animal related)
and adding:
1) exercising 3-4 times per week
2) 1-2 extra litres of water per day
3) 8-9 guaranteed hours of sleep per night
4) 1/2 hour of relax/meditation daily
It’s time to reset my health and get back into shape. I’m exchanging 4 unhealthy habits for healthy ones in what I call my Habit Exchange for the next 13 days (you can exchange these for ones that fit your lifestyle).
Want to join me? Post below what healthy habit/s you want to work on!
Perception:
We often judge people by their exteriors, making an instant judgement based on what the person looks like in that one moment. How do we know that they haven’t had the worst day of their lives, or that they have lost their home or job and need help, or perhaps they have had a bad relationship? We never know until we communicate with someone. So why is it that we judge without getting the full story?
For instance, I see so many homeless people in our city, and some of them look scary so when I’m walking alone I admittedly may cross the street to preserve my safety a little more (again, a perception that my safety may be compromised), but other times I’ve actually stopped to talk to them, and they are very nice people. Occasionally I’ll buy a meal for one as well, and try to make their day a little brighter. It’s so easy for us to judge, but we don’t even know why they are out there or what has happened to them in life to put them into this situation. So why is it that we get to think negative thoughts about them?
We make judgements everywhere we go, such as the grocery store, hallways as we pass by each other, coffee shops, malls…….EVERYWHERE. What if instead of judging, we were actually compassionate? Compassionate towards the person that we know nothing about. We don’t know their story, so why is it that judgement is often jumped to first instead of compassionate understanding? If you just had the worst day of your life, would you want someone to sneer at you in judgement because you didn’t put on makeup or do your hair nicely that day? I’m pretty sure your answer will be probably not. While judging someone else may not always be the first reaction, it is very common.
What I am working on personally is to be more compassionate, and more mindful of my reactions, thought patterns, and facial expressions etc. I believe that a more compassionate world would help to reduce the amounts of violence and crime, and create more peace. It is my goal to help spread this mindset and create a more positive atmosphere in which we all can live. Join me in spreading kindness and compassion, one person at a time. We all can make a difference in our own personal spaces, which will ripple out and affect this around us. Imagine what would happen if the majority of people could do this? The world would be an amazing place. Let’s create a better world to live in : )
Comment below with your thoughts on how we can achieve this!
If you’re at all like me, you write everything down and there’s so much that the notes seem overwhelming!
My focus this week is to simplify and uncomplicate my processes so that my projects are easier to track. I often take on too much at once, which of course doesn’t help at all. Focusing more of my attention on less work means my individual processes and projects will get more attention. This has felt amazing so far. Whenever I feel myself reaching out for more, or planning something new, I stop and refocus. I am immediately drawn back to the project I am currently working on.
I am trying to make less notes as well, and to keep them all in one place. This process is made much more simple by having one binder I write things down in. All of my notes go in one place, and are broken down into different categories or sections as needed.
What simple note taking system do you have that works? Have you ever used a bullet journal? I love this method. I’ve never found a system that’s already created that i love, so I work off of a daily template and just write as i go. I still pre-plan my weeks and schedule, and tasks etc. What really helps a lot is pre-planning content, and time blocking …..although I often find that the time I have blocked off is never enough, and I usually run over schedule when I’m really inspired. I usually go with the flow when that happens because I don’t want to lose whatever awesome inspiration has just come over me.
What are your secrets in tracking and pre-planning? I’d love to hear them!
I constantly over commit myself. Constantly. I always try to work on too many goals at one time. This is never good because I never get everything done, and then I get behind in my projects, and then I feel bad about not being able to get more done. I always feel like I have so much to do, and no time to do it, which makes me feel stressed out.
So, a new task of mine is going to be to cut down on my goals, and focus on less at one time.
Right now I have 5 major goal categories, with 8 sub categories……each of these sub categories has multiple goals in them…..this is great for planning what I want to do, but there is way too much in there to focus on and become excellent at.
From today on, I am going to pick my top 3 goals for each month, and work on those.
What are your monthly goal plans, and what do those look like?
Good morning readers!
This month is packed full of powerful energy shifts, which started with the Virgo New Moon on September 1st, followed by the Pisces Harvest Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse September 16th last night (and I am really feeling the effects today), followed by the upcoming New Moon on September 30th.
I love this Zodiac Guide for 2016 – it has been so true for me so far!
This morning was strange for me, it was emotionally charged and after a restful sleep in and lounging in bed, I just felt like I wanted to cry. Do you ever have those moments where emotion seems to grab hold of you and you feel a bit lost? It’s easy to let irrational emotional thoughts take hold of us at this point. I messaged a friend of mine this morning while this was happening, and she helped me ground myself and step back from the emotion by reminding me that the irrationality is not from the present moment, it is from the past and other circumstances. After this, I sat quietly for a while to examine the emotions I was experiencing, and I also journaled to understand what I was going through.
What I learned was that the shift I have been experiencing has been a lot more powerful than I realized. This month I have been experiencing a shift to focus more on myself – self-love, health, wellness, building my career, excelling at my career and restarting my Wellness Project to achieve harmony with my Mind, Body and Soul.
I have been experiencing confirmation after confirmation that I am on the right path, with all of the subtle and not so subtle signs I have been receiving. One very important thing I should point out is that being open to receiving, seeing, acknowledging and learning from these signs has been a very important part of my transformation. It was my birthday on Thursday September 15th, and I received 2 gifts which were both signs I loved. One was a beautiful Blue Agate stone which is helpful for balancing energies of the mind, body and soul. The other was the book The 52 Lists Project – A Year of Weekly Journaling Inspiration by Moorea Seal. Both gifts were signs of healing, letting go and embracing positive change by focusing on the things that bring me joy, peace, and happiness.
I had planned for today to be a celebration with friends as well, but very few people were free, so this was a sign to me that I needed to embrace this quiet time for myself to reflect and here I am writing to you. 🙂 I am glad to have some quiet time to be honest. It’s during this time that I am able to rejuvenate myself and focus on my goals while learning from my recent experiences…..so I am grateful for the time to do this today. I was able to turn my emotionally charged morning into a day of reflection and growth, which is exactly what I should have done. Rather than get upset by the emotions, I allowed myself to experience them, and understand them, which has lead to some personal growth and understanding today. I hope that my experience has inspired you to understand your emotions more fully!
I am now going to go work on my Healthy Habit Challenge project that helps YOU (and me 😉 ) create a Lifestyle of Healthy Habits while living Mindfully and Positively. Check it out HERE.
Good afternoon readers!
It has been a long time since I posted, and I am glad to be back.
Something i have wanted to achieve is posting on here daily, and now that I am I am working on my Wellness Project, I hope to do that.
I am working on a Wellness Project which will encompass a broad range of areas from Finance, Fitness, Healthy Eating, overall Happiness and Wellbeing as well as completing goals and setting a schedule to achieve this.
A big part of my life has been learning how to overcome adversity, and dealing with things in a positive way to create a happy life. I also have a strong focus on helping others to achieve this as well, so that they can create and live a life that they love. This project has been in the planning stages for awhile, and I’m really excited to be working on it daily with you now.
Have you ever set some goals that you never got around to working on or finishing? Are there things in your life that you’d like to change or improve, but you’re not sure how to get started? Well, join me in my journey, where I will take you day by day through my life changing project, and help you create your own journey to a better life and healthy habits!
I decided to start this project on my birthday, today, because instead of treating myself to snacks or drinks – which I don’t need – I have decided that a healthy and happy life is the best gift I can ever give myself. So, today is the day that i will start this Wellness Project and transform my life 🙂
Good morning readers!
I am writing today about my daily routine. Part of this is going to be blogging daily, so cheers to a fresh start!
Some benefits of creating a strong daily routine are:
Something that helps me work on solidifying my routine is having one list of things I want to achieve daily. I have this written in one place, and I have a daily checklist which I complete. I have previously had multiple checklists in different programs, and it simply creates more work, and hampers my efficiency in getting things done daily. Having to remember where I’ve written something creates stress and confusion, so I strongly suggest writing everything in one book, or using one app if you prefer electronic based lists.
This morning I just started writing my morning pages, while having tea and breakfast. If you don’t know what morning pages are, they are a brain dump of all of the cluttering thoughts in your mind. Getting these out on paper first thing in the morning helps you have clarity and prepare better for your day. So far, I absolutely love it! This process was created by Julia Cameron, and she describes them HERE.
Another bonus of having a routine is that once we have completed our tasks, we can spend more time working on other projects. I’d love to spend some time taking photography classes, or traveling more. I’d also like to complete my Healthy Habit Challenge program and Smoothie E-Book – I can’t wait to finish these so I can share them with you!
Even though you may not complete your checklist each day, keep going, because a step forward means you are a step ahead. If you didn’t even attempt to complete your list, you are falling behind and tasks are piling up. So, working on establishing a routine will help you reach your goals faster and more efficiently.
Daily actions help create long term-term habits – what are you working on today?
Working on a strong daily routine is both exciting and frustrating. It’s not an overnight thing either, a lot of time goes in to building the right routine for you, as it’s not one size fits all.
I have revised my current routine many times, as I find out that my original ideas haven’t worked perfectly, I keep trying something new to find the best fit for me.
In the process of creating a strong daily routine, I am finding out just how good it feels to re-organize things to a way that suits my current needs. I feel accomplished when I have spent a day focusing on, and achieving the goals I have set out for that day. Being successful releases a lot of good feelings, which helps us stay in a positive mind frame.
Something I think that helps to create a productive day is TIME BLOCKING. Time blocking is a great way to pre-plan your day, have a specific amount of time to work on your tasks, and a great way to stay accountable to yourself and track your progress. For a free spirited person like me, pre-planning can be hard, because I don’t often stick to the plan. This is another reason I am trying to make this part of my daily routine, so I can be more productive.
Today I worked on organizing my notebooks, as I find that writing things down in too many places is quite stressful, because I don’t know where to look for what I need. So I wrote out a list of the notebooks I have, and what each of them will be used for based on the way I have used them previously. I want to keep my daily notebooks to a minimum, so I have a daily planner, a journal, an online note taking program and a working project binder. I want my daily routine to be as simple as possible – having it too complex is totally overwhelming and confusing.
I only want to have to take my daytimer with me when I go out. Hence the desire for an online note taking system – I use EVERNOTE. I also have a spot in my daytimer for jotting down some quick notes that I can transfer to my master lists at the end of the day.
At the end of the day, routines are constantly evolving, and while I’m not sure if one will ever be perfect, I do know that creating a great one that works for you will increase your happiness, make you more productive, improve time management skills, and will lead you to a more successful life.
Share your success stories below and let us know what works best for you! 🙂
Good afternoon readers!
As you may have read in some of my previous posts, I am undergoing a major downsize at home. There are many reasons why I am doing this. My efforts will be doubling tonight, and until it’s complete as I’m watching mother nature ravage Fort McMurray, Alberta with a severe wildfire. My heart goes out to the families and pets living in #ymm, as the fire has forced one of Alberta’s largest fire evacuations in history.
You may wonder why I am referencing the wildfire today as I write about downsizing. Let me tell you. Seeing these people lose their homes is devastating, and really eye opening. In a split second, at any time, we could lose absolutely everything we own, our lives, our loved ones, pets, homes etc. So, as I’m downsizing, I’m really thinking to myself, why keep so many belongings, if in a split second I could lose it all? There’s really no point. The things that truly matter are not possessions after all.
I will continue my downsize with fresh eyes, and as I do so, I’m preparing boxes of fresh, clean, sheets, towels, soaps etc. that I can donate to these people in need.
Last week I finished reading Marie Kondo’s book – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. It was a great book to read to get me over the last few bumps I felt were holding me back from letting go of my belongings.
Here are 5 ways Downsizing has helped me “Rightsize” my Life:
There are so many reasons to make the leap and finally downsize your home. Are you struggling to get there like I was? Start by creating a vision of what you want your life and home to look like. Have a deadline of when you will complete this downsize by. But most importantly, have a PLAN! You need a plan of how you will tackle and complete this project.
Share your downsizing stories below, I’d love to hear them 🙂
London, travel & healthy living
Habits, purpose and a little bit of zen.
Sacred Space for Awakened Living
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A SIMPLE APPROACH TO LIVING MINDFULLY AND POSITIVELY WITH A LIFESTYLE OF HEALTHY HABITS
ROOTED IN HAPPINESS 