Being fully present, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photos

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

We recently held a birthday party at my house and we had a great turn out. In this mix of participants, we connected with our friends and family. There were several little ones running around and these precious little angels gifted light to our party.

Regardless of what someone is going through, the innocence and joy of a child clears the raincloud and warms the heart.

I find this to be similar with animal lovers and the connection they share with their pets. Feeling the unconditional love of a loyal fury friend will lighten the weight of any sorrow (at least during the encounter).

This type of support is important to understand and recognize as being essential to your wellbeing.  If you unable to find this relief in order to soothe your blues, explore your passion; what devours your attention (remember I’m speaking in terms of health so addiction doesn’t count). I want you to develop positive channels of joy.

How do you feel after a workout? Are you happy and proud of yourself for enduring the task? If so, bottle this feeling. Do you enjoy a good laugh? If so, look for funny movies to positively charge your body. Does nature gift serenity to you? If so, take a walk often and/or surround yourself with photos to offer moments of bliss.

Whatever your healthy source, appreciate it and gift yourself with this blessing to counter sorrow. The more you can inspire your life, the better you will feel and you, my friend, are worth a healthy life!

Happy thoughts, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photo

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

This column helps me continue to research and find ways to improve my life, to gain health. And, when I started learning about the body’s physical reaction to thought, even when we do not act upon it, I finally understood why I feel the way I do.

Yes, I have laughter and love in my life. I am creative, I connect with nature and I meditate several times a week but I have a worrisome mind. I worry about financials, my kids, my schooling, my career and this list can go on and on. I learned how to worry from my mom. I am not blaming her for this habit; she did the best she could during unhealthy circumstances. This is how she coped and this is how I cope.

But when I started thinking about how many thoughts we generate and how these thoughts trigger the body to respond, I finally understand why I feel so exhausted and unhealthy.

I think my worrying pattern takes up maybe 40% of my thoughts. This is not okay! This past week, each time I start thinking about the worst scenario of a future outcome, I tried to reel myself back into the present moment. I changed my self-talk in order to help my mind from being distracted. What does this mean? I can only do my best each day, and beyond that, the outcome is the outcome. Worrying only causes illness. I am starting to understand this and to make the changes necessary to embrace a healthier essence!

Are most of your thoughts positive? If not, did this article resonate with you? Are you going to make a change? I hope so; breaking negative thought takes a lot of focus and practice, give it a shot.

Create anew, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photo

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

This article, in a weird way, was inspired by my first class of Psychopharmacology this semester.  I was introduced to the work of Sydney Banks who surfaced some great insight about the power of thought. His 3 principles describe The Gift and Powers of Universal thought, mind and consciousness. These realms share the idea of an unforced natural progression energized by intelligence from a universal source. Much like the natural progression of renewal that happens to our bodies as I described in the article, this evolution takes place.

While I was researching regeneration online, I stumbled upon some interesting facts on FactMonster.com:

“Many animals can regenerate—that is, regrow or grow new parts of their bodies to replace those that have been damaged. Here are a few of these amazing creatures.

Lizards who lose all or part of their tails can grow new ones. This is a good escape technique. A lost tail will continue to wiggle, which might distract the predator and give the lizard a chance to escape. Most lizards will have regrown their tail within nine months.

Planarians are flat worms. If cut into pieces, each piece can grow into a new worm.

Sea cucumbers have bodies that can grow to be three feet long. If cut into pieces, each one can become a new sea cucumber.

Sharks continually replace lost teeth. A shark may grow 24,000 teeth in a lifetime.

Spiders can regrow missing legs or parts of legs.

Sponges can be divided. In that case, the cells of the sponge will regrow and combine exactly as before.

Starfish that lose arms can grow new ones; sometimes an entire animal can grow from a single lost arm.”

This information was to cool not to share! My spin in the article is, perhaps when we’re really struggling, if we let go once we’ve pushed as hard as we can, maybe this universal intelligence will naturally step in to help.

What are your thoughts?

What is skinny, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photo

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

It is funny to me because when I look back to my younger years (my teens and twenties) I was really skinny but during this time in my life, I really did think I was fat! Why, because my self-image was distorted and I blame society for this. The view of healthy weight is so skewed because it is based on models with eating disorders, unhealthy weight goals and images that have been “skinnyified” through a photoshop downsizing process that really falsifies the add, it is crazy. 

It is difficult to myth bust our thinking because it is inbred from such a young age; it is reinforced minute by minute through advertising campaigns.

The good news, if you read the article I linked to, it offers some changes like Dove’s initiative to use real-size women in their marketing campaign. We need this to sweep the nation in order to change the mindset of marketers and gain a healthy image so generations to come are not fighting eating disorders reinforced by inappropriate society guidelines.

What are your thoughts in this area? Does it bother you or are you able to navigate through it without thought or trouble?

Welcome spring, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photo

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

If it is really mind over matter then we can think spring into existence, can’t we? It has been a horribly cold and snowy winter and it feels like it is still holding onto me mentally as well. This is why I wrote the article. I am feeling like I am going crazy and the weather is the underlying reason (of course there are other stressors thrown on top)! If you live in Michigan, you’ve experienced a 50-degree plus day and then any hopes were diminished by single digit temperatures that followed and created record lows. Every once in a while we get “thrown a bone” with blue skies for a couple of days and then as soon as we let our guards down, bam, a snow storm hits!

I have been spring cleaning for 2 weeks now; I’ve white gloved my home but I’m still feeling blue. This is why I offered a list of 10 things to do in my article; I will be working my way through this list in hopes to lift my spirits.

Tonight I’m going to start with a facial and attempt to do something new each day in the pampering category.

How are you coping? Are you in a cold climate region or warm? Can you send me some sun?