Early summer rains brought cool winds and dark skies. Kat, Bear, and Wogs were nestled warmly near the toasty fire in their Starry Cottage On the Bog!
Inside, Kat, Bear, and Wogs cozied up on their comfy couch and listened with giddy glee to the happy, froggy harmony coming in from the Bog. You almost couldn’t hear the steady pour of rain for the loudness of the frogs.
Kat (giggling at the delightful sound): They’re SO LOUD. The rain is making them very happy!
Wogs(turning to look at Kat with big, wondering, playful eyes): What if it’s not lots of frogs? What if it’s just one REALLY BIG frog!
Kindness and Caring. These go a long way and make a big difference in the world around us. And for ourselves.
Dear Sweet Blossoms,
I find myself vibrating with the stress of an unkind, uncaring interaction today. We had trees planted here at our Starry Cottage On the Bog (we are so grateful for our new trees, the life and light they are, and the life they will support)!
The trees are a delight!
The planters of the trees were unkind and uncaring, and their actions and attitudes have been a challenge to process. I mention this, not to be a bummer, but to highlight our actions have impact. Whether for good or for bad. We can be bright lights and love and bring ourselves and the world up, or not. It is our choice.
I feel our times are changing us. I’m feeling harshness where once their was, at minimum, social civility.
It does not have to be this way.
We can be kind. We can care. We can love. And we be bright lights!
For me, I find it feels wonderful sharing and smiling and hugging and being there for others!
Being here with you is AMAZING!!! Being here with you is SQUEE!!! Being here with you is HEALING!!! Being here with you is LOVE and BIG HUGS!!!
Be well, my sweet peas! May you find yourself surrounded by kindness and caring today, and everyday (and for when you don’t, know I am hugging you tighter and brighter, all day long!)!!!
Pauli and I celebrate Christmas, and if you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a very merry holiday! For those of you celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Las Posadas, Diwali, Chinese New Year, HumanLight, and Newtonmas, we also wish you a very happy holiday! We wish you all love-filled days!!!
We hope you will celebrate with us in sharing our joy in love, kindness, fostering positive relationships, giving of our hearts, happiness, healthiness, POSitude, gratitude, self-care, peace, and earth-care!
Each of us are bright stars with light and love to give and share! We hope you shine brightly, always!
Loving and Hugging you BIG TIME with our whole hearts!!!
ps: If you find yourself all up in the stress, drama, sadness, and/or hectic chaos that can happen during the season, please remember to take a moment for yourself, take a deep breath, find a quiet healing space, relax, find calm, just be. Remember, we’re here for love. Love and big hugs, and positive, happy time spent together will go further than any other gift. You and your heart – that’s what is important and what they love! So give yourself precious time to self-care and feel your own goodness. You are wonderful and beautiful and bright! You are a bright star!!! And you are loved!!!
Until next week …
Thank you for being here with me! I am filled with gratitude for being able to share my love and big hugs with you, and for spending this time with you! You are wonderful, and I wish you peace, light, love, laughter, healthiness, and happiness in abundance. May your days be filled with kindness, goodness, and gratitude!
Love and Big Hugs,
More Happiness from Mary Kate
Find more happiness, love, big hugs, support, gratitude, POSitude, and Self-Care in these POSitude cards!
Needing some self-care, love and support? Wanting hugs? Treat yourself or someone you love to these Big Loving, Big Hugging daily inspirational, motivational, and empowering POSitude cards! They really can make a big difference in your day!!!
Get Your POSitude On!
Feel happier! Supported! Loved! Hugged!
Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!
What beautiful souls like you think about their POSitude cards!
These cards are colorful and cheerful! They stay on my desk at work and have made for great conversation with colleagues. I look forward to choosing my daily pick me up. I reflect on my current mood or what inspiration I need for the day. I do have a few favorites that I’ve used more than once or have displayed longer than just a day.
These cards remind me to stay positive and believe in myself!
Stephanie Shay, 4th grade teacher
I love my POSitude cards! I pick one to display on my refrigerator for the week. Reading the card makes me happy and gives me a variety of ways to stay positive in my daily life. It has also become a conversation piece for all who enter my kitchen.
Karen Henry, Retired 4th Grade Teacher, Personal Assistant
The Positude
cards have
made a difference for setting the
tone during meetings. I have set them in the middle of
the meeting table and while we are settling in, people pick them up and read
them. This small gesture makes a huge difference in the
quality of the conversations we have during our 1:1 meetings.
Mary Freer, University Research Department Administrator
I love my POSitude cards! They are so cute, and the messages are very uplifting and inspiring!
Mary McMurtry, Retired Bookkeeper, Mom, Grandmom
Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Each deck has 35 different full-color, fun, happy POSitudes (36 cards total, with one card sharing suggestions on how to get the most out your POSitudes.) Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!
You can find these POSitude cards in my new ETSY shop!!!
Looking for self-care to share love and big hugs for all ages?
Lub’s Very Happy Day! is filled with delightful brightness and big huggy smiles!
Lub is the happiest, PINKest, most love-filled monster, Ever! Her big, PINK heart is always with her, and it beams brightly in everything she does!
Lub loves you!
Join Lub as she shares with you her love and very happy, monster-ifically delightful day! Feel playful and bright, smile big, and be happy! Have fun and be cheerful!
You can find copies of Lub’s Very Happy Day! to adopt at Amazon!
Flu/cold season is here. A day doesn’t go by that I’m not reading about one of my peeps falling down to a mean bug of some sort. Ugh! I hate being sick!!! So let’s talk about one of the most healing foods you can ever eat:
Chicken Bone Broth!
Why is chicken bone broth so healing? Well for starters, it’s chockful of helpful, healing proteins like collagen and gelatin. These help your intestines, skin, and joint health.
Your intestines are Super Important for your immune system, so if you keep your gut healthy, it will help you stay healthy and fight illness and injury better. Which is wonderful and amazing!!! Plus, who doesn’t love glowing, healthy skin, and joints that move?
Additionally, if you add salt to your broth while cooking and/or to taste afterwards, the salt and the hydration provided by the bone broth will help maintain and restore your electrolytic balance, which can get wonky when you’re sick. Have you ever had achy muscles and spasms while sick? That’s often your body telling you your electrolytes are wonky, or that you are dehydrated. I used to drink sports drinks to help, but they’re filled with sugars and artificial colorings. Bone broth is a healthier choice!!!
Also, the hydration helps heal damaged membranes, and SUPER BIG TIME,the hydration helps you flush the bug out!!! YES, PLEASE!!!
The warm broth and salt can help soothe a sore throat, too.Also, I add table pepper while cooking, and to taste at the table. This helps loosen congestion big time. I love this for helping with my allergies, too. I gobble my soup and keep the tissues handy. I love when I can breathe freely again!
So with that, I just want to add … don’t think bone broth is just for kicking bugs to the curb.
It’s SO MUCH MORE!
Bone broth is a super anti-inflammatory, healing food. When you need to heal from illness, injury, stress, life, etc., bone broth is my go-to and at the top of my healing list along with blueberries, walnuts, broccoli, and sustainably, wild-caught salmon. Help your body heal, so you can feel better faster!!!
Let’s talk recipe!
My bone-brothing method of choice: the slow cooker. I love tossing everything into the pot, and letting it do it’s thing.
My recipe will take you veggie prep time + 12 hours of cooking time + rapid cooling time, and an overnight chill.
Here’s what you’ll need: (I have an 8 qt slow cooker, but I’ve also used a 3 qt. I’m going to put the quantities for the 3 qt cooker in (parentheses), so you can still make it easily if you’re going small batch.)
(2
lbs) 4 lbs chicken wings
(3)
5 carrots
(3)
5 celery sticks
(1/2
– 1) 1 medium/large onion
(1
½) 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Water
Salt
and Pepper
Here’s what you do:See pictures below for fun, happy visuals!
Clean and prep your veggies however you like. Some folks I know rinse and toss them in whole, skins and all. That’s not me. I’m a peel-my-carrots, cut-off-the-tops-of-my-carrots-and-celery, and peel-off-the-outer-skin-layer-to-my-onions kind of girl. You do you, and it will work out just fine!
Layer your chicken wings into the bottom of your pot.
Add in veggies.
Place chicken and veggies in slow cooker.
Add water, apple cider vinegar, salt, & pepper. Cover and turn heat on.
Fill with water (for the big pot, that’s about 18 –
20 cups of water. Can’t remember the
small pot. Maybe 8 – 10 cups?).
Add in apple cider vinegar!!!
If this sounds wonky, it’s not.
It’s IMPORTANT!!! You’ll never
taste it in the end – trust me. I have
the most sensitive taste buds you can imagine, and I can’t taste it. I’m the kid who’ll turn up her nose at
chocolate cake made with sour cream, cuz I can taste it … blehcky. So I promise you. You won’t taste the apple cider vinegar. But it’s necessary to help extract all that
healing bone protein goodness!!! So DO
IT!!!
Shake in some salt and pepper.
I add a couple of shakes to start here in the cooking process, but leave
the real seasoning for at the table.
That way peeps can control their salt intake better. Plus, some days I like more salt and pepper
to taste, and other days, I go mild. I
like having eating-time options.
Cover with the lid. Turn the heat on high until it comes to a
simmer. Turn heat to low. Cook for 12 hours!
After 12 hours of cooking.
Scoop out chunks and pour through
strainer into big bowl.
Spoon out big chunks, then pour through strainer to get smaller bits out.
Cool using an ice bath. Takes about 10 minutes. This step is a safety step. When I was researching bone broth recipes, I learned lots. And chefs are particularly dedicated to safe handling. They encourage using an ice bath to rapidly bring down the temp of the broth, preventing bacterial growth that can happen during slow cooling. Also, putting simmering hot soup straight into your fridge or freezer to cool, raises the temp inside your fridge or freezer significantly and can affect your other foods. So, again. You do you. If you have a soup making cooling method you love … go with it! Whatever works for you! I do the ice bath to especially not have to put the hot soup right into my fridge.
Remove from ice bath, then Cover and place into your fridge overnight.
Rapid cool in ice bath for safest cooling.
After overnight chill in fridge, gently scrape off solid fat.
Gently scrape off excess fat. You will reveal the gelatinous, happy, healthy, healing bone broth goodness!!!!
You can now heat up your portion and salt, pepper, and season to taste … and devour!!! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE adding thyme to my soup! It’s my favorite, and I think it makes the most delicious broth. If you want to give it a try, I usually add a few good shakes to my bowl after I heat it up, and then I devour it!!! Thyme also has wonderful healing benefits – so added tasty, healing bonus!
The gelatinous goodness you see is your bone broth telling you did a perfect job! This bone broth is ready to heat, season, and serve, or turn into chicken soup to serve!
Okay. So. From the gelatinous state, you can totally heat, sip, and devour your chicken bone broth as is. Orrrrrrrrrrr, if you like, you can turn it into chicken/veggie bone broth soup! This is what I do almost every time!
You can add whatever you want: baked/boiled chicken chunks, veggies, noodles, rice, herbs, etc. I will say this, though, the closer you stick to broth, veggies, and herbs, the more you maintain the anti-inflammatory nature of the soup. Adding in chicken, rice, and/or noodles would minimize that effect a bit. For instance, all rice – organic, brown, wild, … all – has arsenic in it. There are tolerable limits for arsenic in your weekly diet (usually no more than 2 servings of rice per week), but if you are using the bone broth for its healing qualities, you may want to consider NOT adding in foods that diminish its awesome power.
At this stage for me, I’m definitely an “I eyeball it” kinda girl. For my big pot of stock, I usually add:
3 cleaned, trimmed, peeled, and sliced carrots
3 cleaned, trimmed, and sliced celery sticks
½ – ¾ diced yellow onion
1 tablespoon of the chicken fat I removed earlier (you can use a veggie oil if you prefer)
Salt, pepper, and thyme to taste, at the table
Make chicken soup! Gently heat veggies and oil over low-medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then add in gelatinous bone broth. Simmer on low for 30 minutes.
Here’s what I do:
I gently cook/soften the veggies in the chicken fat; over low-medium heat; for about 5 – 10 minutes.
Add in the gelatinous bone broth, 1 cup measuring scoop at a time. (There is usually a layer of fine particulate “sludge” at the bottom of the pan, which I do not use. It looks sludgy to me, and that gets my nose rolled up at it … I wash it down the drain. You can decide for yourself what you want to do with it. Use it or toss it.)
Bring to simmer. Cook for about 30 – 40 minutes.
Portion and serve. Add salt, pepper, and thyme to taste. YUMMO!!!
At this time, I usually portion all remaining soup into lidded, glass, individual-serving-size freezer bowls. And then I put all these extra servings in the freezer, making them quick gets for any time I want or need some YUMMO soup and healing power!!!
Season to taste – ready – DEVOUR!!!
Now that you are empowered to make your very own chicken bone broth, let’s talk about some thoughts and considerations that might be important to you:
Given that you are making bone broth in which you intend to cook down to the bone and extract the healthy goodness, it is advisable to use the best quality ingredients to fully enhance and ensure healthy goodness. Consider organic, free-range chicken and organic veggies, apple cider vinegar, pepper, and herbs.If ever there was a time to cook pesticide-, added hormones-, and antibiotic-free, this is it. Cooking down to the bone pulls these contaminants out even more, and that’s not in your best health interest. I have calculated my cost (using entirely organic and free-range ingredients) at $1 – $2 a serving (depending on how big of a bowl I want!!! Sometimes I eat a double serving, cuz it’s that good!!!) Even at $2 a bowl, this is not a lot to spend on healthy goodness (especially when you think of what you pay for a serving of fast food these days).
If you prefer adding in herbs or other veggies earlier on (things like bay leaves, garlic, leeks, etc., for instance), go for it! It’s your soup. Make it yours!!! For me, I like the delicious flavor of a simple broth enhanced with some thyme, salt, and pepper. That’s me. What do your taste buds want? Do that!!!
A 12 hour cook time is actually on the shorter end of cooking time for bone broths. My research found that you can actually cook chicken bone broth up to 72 hours. Duuuuuude! Like I’m gonna wait that long! LOL. Actually, there’s 2 real notes here.One, the longer you cook your broth, the more gelatinous goodness you will extract. This can definitely be a good thing!!! Two, if you cook your veggies longer than 12 hours, they will get bitter and mess with the flavoring of your broth. If you plan to cook longer than 12 hours, you can either try scooping out just the veggies (sounds miserable in even trying) or you could bind them in a cooking cheesecloth bag or something for easy extraction. Just know that if you desire to cook your broth longer to get more of the gelatinous protein healing goodness, you will want an action plan for getting the veggies out after 12 hours to avoid having the soup get bitter with the veggies.
I saw some recipes in which peeps blended up the cooked veggies to “add nutritional value and extra thickness” to the broth. I’ll leave this one up to you. What I can tell you is that after cooking the veggies for 12 hours, I tasted them to see if they were still “usable” and yummy. My answer is a resounding NO – they’re yucky!!! After 12 hours of cooking, I feel they have been used of all their goodness and are ready to be disposed of. To me, if you want to add new, fresh veggies for new nutritious and yummy goodness, that’s the way to make delicious soup from the broth.
A quick ice bath cautionary: when you fill up your sink or a tub with ice and water to make your ice bath, please note, that when you put your broth/pan into the ice bath, it might have buoyancy. Be prepared to hold it steady or have some help. It would totally suck to spill your broth into your ice bath after all that cooking.
And that should do it! You are bone brothing ready!!! Get in there and make yourself some happy, healthy, healing goodness to warm you and delight your taste buds!!! And heal you right on up!!!
Ready to take my Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness: Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge?
Each day support your healthiness with feeling less stress, less anxiety, more happiness and more positivity!
Easy, fun, happy, silly, adorable, and totally supporting you!
7 days of Love and Big Hugs!
Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!
11 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven happier and healthier promoting strategies:
Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!
Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!
May you tackle this flu/cold season illness free! May your holiday season be filled with laughter, love, kindness, gratitude, and joy! Thank you for being here with me … I love spending this time with you!!!
I
haven’t always been strong. For a very
long time, I wasn’t very strong at all.
And there are still times when I don’t feel strong.
But
there’s this thought in my head, this guiding principle I use to grow:
What you give power, has power.
This guiding thought is an offshoot of a quote:
“It all begins in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you.”
Leon Brown
Thank you Mr. Brown! I find his original quote helpful to me when thinking about facing my anxieties, and I am grateful for his words. To me, they tell me my anxiety is in my mind, and I can control it … which I try very hard to work on. This quote is a part of my Happy, Healing Place Toolbox of Goodness!
But today, I want to talk about my offshoot thought … What you give power, has power! To me, this version isn’t about something having control over you. This version is about growing. Taking something important to you and investing in it, so that it will grow and grow and grow.
What you give power, has power.
And I’m talking about you!
Me. You. All of us!
If you grow your love, your love will be powerful!
If you grow your self-confidence, your self-confidence will strengthen and become powerful!
If you grow your ability to self-care, your self-care will be powerful!
If you grow your self-worth, your self-worth will be powerful!
When you invest in you, you invest in your values and what you can do for yourself. You make yourself stronger, more self-reliant, more capable. Better prepared to handle life and its obstacles and challenges. You will be more open to the gifts of life. The goodness for you!
It doesn’t mean you won’t stumble or even fall, ever again. But that’s okay. You keep investing, learning, and growing. What you give power, has power.
When you give yourself power, you will have power!
It doesn’t mean you will always have to stand on your own if you don’t want to. You can surround yourself with people who will love you, care for you, grow with you, support you, and who will bring you up and walk forward with you. That way when life throws the hard curve balls, you don’t have do it all on your own. That’s just you being strong and knowing what you need, when you need it, and doing your best to be prepared for when life happens.
Live with POSitude!
We aren’t born knowing how to be strong, but as we face life and learn the lessons it is teaching us, we can grow our strength. We learn who we are and what we are capable of. We learn what we need and want to grow – what we want to be better at or stronger at. This is all good!
In the process, we’ll fail, make mistakes, and need time to heal and grow. That’s okay. It’s how it works. What’s important is not letting our failures or mistakes bring us down (at least not for too long). Look at them for what they are, life’s learning and growing moments. Learn and grow, and become stronger. Also, it’s vital that we give ourselves the time we need to heal and grow. (No one else gets to determine what that amount of time is. It’s up to each of us. It’s individual. And it happens when it happens.)
The
bottom line:
What you give power, has power.
So … will you give YOU power, so YOU have power? The power to love, laugh, be happy, be kind, find joy, feel gratitude, be healthy, be strong, be confident, be whatever you value … be your best you. It’s up to you, but for sure, what you give power, has power!
Ready to take my Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness: Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge?
Each day support your healthiness with feeling less stress, less anxiety, more happiness and more positivity!
Easy, fun, happy, silly, adorable, and totally supporting you!
7 days of Love and Big Hugs!
Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!
11 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven happier and healthier promoting strategies:
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how kindness saved my life. In my story of me, I talked about having a safe place to go and be while life was beating me down. In our happy chit chat today, I want to grow this idea into a bursting toolbox of goodness that will help you tackle the tough times!
Firstly,
lemme explain what I mean by a safe place.
To me, safe can be
physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually … it can refer to any plane you
are existing on. So to me, a safe place is
a place you feel happy, relaxed, calm, at peace, … to me, it is a place for you
to heal your heart, mind, body, soul … whatever needs healing.
So let’s call it our happy, healing place!
Depending on
whatever trauma and drama your life is dealing down on you, this place can vary,
as well as how you use it.
Let’s grow your Happy, Healing Place Toolbox of Goodness. You can fill it with anything that makes you happy and helps you heal. Things like:
happy
memories
happy
imagined places
photos
of happy times
happy
meditations
songs
or music that make you feel happy
happy
books you can read
a
journal for creating, drawing, arting it up, and writing out thoughts that lead
you back to happiness
favorite
places you love that make you feel calm, peaceful, and happy
spending
happy time with a friend
…
and anywhere or anything else you can think of
To give you an idea of something you can put into your toolbox of goodness, here is a drawing of my favorite imagined place and the words I use to meditate it into my mind. For me, this place is perfect. It’s nature and delight. It’s comfortable. Peaceful. Relaxing. And it makes me smile. The sun is always warm and bright. The tree is always strong and protective. The birds are always delightful. Even the bugs are filled with mirth (and they never sting or bite!). My blanket is soft and great for sitting, laying, and napping. The breeze is always soothing. Sometimes, I add bunnies, squirrels, and/or chipmunks. And since Baby Bear (our beloved cookie cat) has gone on to live in the stars on Betelgeuse, sometimes even he visits me here … he always did love a good sun warming. And if Pauli is away and can’t be with me right then, he comes and sits with me, too.
Your place can be anywhere, with anything and anybody that makes you feel good, happy, peaceful … anything and everything that helps you relax and heal. That gives you and your body, mind, soul, and spirit a rest.
In last week’s post, I talked about how all the forms of stress (mental, physical, emotional …) wear your body down and impact your health. I talked about when you don’t feel well, you likely don’t feel very happy. So whatever trauma or drama is causing you stress (be it at work, home, in a relationship, anxiety, whatever, wherever, whoever), it’s hurting you, your health, and your happiness. Your Happy, Healing Place Toolbox of Goodness helps you get needed rest to rejuvenate and cope by spending time in your safe, happy, healing place.
Your toolbox is a tremendous asset to your wellness!
So a very good reason for you to grow your toolbox and to have it pre-made/thought of, written out, collected (however you want to assemble it for readiness) is that it becomes an easy go-to and reminder of all the tricks you have up your sleeves for when times get tough and your stress levels go up.
Because, honestly, once you are already feeling down, bad, low, stressed, and anxious, it can hard to remember the goodness in your life. It can be hard to remember the happinesses in your life. It can be hard to remember what to do and how to help you feel better. This toolbox is for you!
To help you get started, I’m giving you 2 coloring pages – all you have to do is click below. One is for you to be able to create a visual of a happy place you love. The other one is for you to list out, write out, explain, draw, … whatever works for you … your list of happy, healing places to spend healing time in. Perhaps even a reminder checklist of your options. Whatever works for you. Keep in mind, some of your happy, healing places might work better for certain kinds of trauma and drama than others, and etc. So be creative. Think happy! Grow your Happy, Healing Place Toolbox of Goodness, and get to healing and feeling happier! This is self-care that loves and big hugs you tight!
Ready to take my Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness: Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge?
Each day support your healthiness with feeling less stress, less anxiety, more happiness and more positivity!
Easy, fun, happy, silly, adorable, and totally supporting you!
7 days of Love and Big Hugs!
Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!
11 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven happier and healthier promoting strategies:
Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!
Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!
I’m so happy you are here! You make my day brighter, and I thank you for your love and totally PINK hearts and smiles!!! Wishing you a delightful day filled with kindness and hope!!!
A beautiful
blossom emailed me the other day. She
told me she is going through some things, and that there isn’t anything she can
do about it.
It truly sucks
when life falls on you like this. It
happens. It’s usually hard, seriously
unfun, and oftentimes, it leaves us feeling terribly isolated, anxious, and
depressed when it does.
So that’s what I want to talk to you about today. What in the world you can do when life falls on you, and the circumstances aren’t in your control? How can you feel better?
Spoiler alert … what can you do when life falls down hard on you? … you can take care of you … lemme explain …
How does taking care of you help?
When life gets hard, our survival mode usually kicks in, and our stress levels go up. If this life-falling event has a chronic, persistent flair to it – and it seems like it’s never going to end – our increasing stress levels can teach us how to ride a new, elevated baseline, which is great for coping. But for our long term health (mental, physical, emotional, … all of it) … it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!!!!
These stress
levels attack our bodies through the increase of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is produced by your adrenals, which
are little organs sitting on top of your kidneys. It can be fatiguing to your adrenals to be on
the constant alert like this. And the
long story short = stress leads to inflammation, and inflammation leads to
unwellness, even disease.
So. Life happens. And when it happens hard and persistently, we can get hit with a double whammy. Not only do we have to deal with whatever the unpleasantness of the moment/time is, it can lead to physical illness, and that just ain’t good!
Sooooo. When you can’t fix life – when you are trying to cope and waiting for all the pieces to come together and get righted – this is most definitely the time for you to invoke your right to self-care! And then to make time for it! This is a something that you can definitely do!
And only you can do this.
Plus you get to decide how much time you give yourself. Balancing you against all of your commitments (family, work, household stuff … whatever your long list is that I know is calling you) … this balance is definitely a challenge. But you are important! You are worth your time! And the good news is that you can even start small and work your way up.
Let’s hit some highlights:
There’s basic biology.
You can eat nutritious food. Grab a banana, an apple, a can of
sustainable, wild-life-safe, wild-caught tuna.
Add a bag of frozen blueberries to your next bowl of oatmeal. Nutrient-dense food helps your body heal and
decrease inflammation.
Drink your water.
That whole 8 glasses of water a day is a real thing. It helps you keep your electrolytes balanced
and to flush out toxins. This helps you
to heal and to decrease inflammation. Plus, insufficient water can, among many
things, give you headaches and make you feel hungry. And you don’t need that on top of everything
else!
Get enough sleep.
Sleep is rest. Rest heals
you. You must sleep, my beautiful love
muffin. It’s so important!!!
Get some exercise. Walk.
Run. Ride a bike. Punch a punching bag. Do some yoga.
Get your blood flowing; help your body breathe and nourish itself. Studies show yoga changes your brain
chemistry – it helps to regulate nerve activity and reduces stress levels. It can induce a feeling of calm. This is helpful and so very good! Even 10 minutes a day is better than no minutes a
day. Help yourself feel better!
Take an intentional, calming breath every
day. Even if you only have a
moment. You’re in your car sitting at a
stop light. An elevator. Standing in the shower. … Take a moment. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply for a count of 4 to 7, hold it
for 4 to 7, and then exhale slowly for 4 to 7.
This breath is just for you. It’s
your moment. Your time. Your healing.
Let calm wash over you and hold you.
There’s positive energy reinforcements.
Practice POSitude. Think, focus, and act on positive thoughts.
Reaffirmations.
Talk to yourself with positivity.
You can do this! You will heal! You are worth your time! You are worth your love! You are wonderful and have so much to share
and love!
Practice gratitude. Tell yourself every day at least one thing
you are grateful for. The more heartfelt
and genuine your gratitude, the more healing and calm it will bring you.
Smiling.
Seriously … it helps! Smiling
makes you feel better. Add in some
positive self-talk, gratitude, calming breathing … it’s a formula for feel
better.
Color or create something.
Creative energies exercised change your thinking, reduce your stress and
anxiety, and increase your calm. I
recommend coloring with your favorite colors!!!
This helps me tremendously!
Journal.
Write it out. Get those thoughts
racing around in your head out of your head.
Write them down on paper.
Acknowledge them. Acknowledge any
limitation or frustration you feel. If
any actionable thoughts come to mind, write them down and figure out a way to
do them if it will help you cope or solve your problems. Write out your feelings about what’s
happening. And remind yourself your
feelings are 100% valid. You can’t
control everything, but you can focus on what you can do. And you can love yourself for coping through
this challenge.
Laugh!
Laugh out loud. Watch something
funny. Read a joke. But laugh heartily. Every day!
Connect with
a loved one! Get a hug! Share a moment. Have a cup of herbal tea with a friend. Go for a walk together and be there for each
other. Connect, love, and hug!!!!
Love yourself!
Think of something you do well.
Be genuine and heartfelt. Focus
on this something and love yourself for it!
All of these are shown to change your brain chemistry and to help you to feel better. Happier. Even if only for the moment. You are still helping you to cope, heal, and reduce your stress. And this is helping you to keep healthy.
And one last, super helpful thing.
Surround yourself with love and
support, with people
who will bring you up, and help you walk forward through this difficult time! Good people – special family and friends – in
your life can most definitely make all the difference in the world!
And in the
times when you feel yourself not coping as well as you need, reach out for
help. Get the help you need! Talk to your doctor, therapist, counselor,
spiritual advisor, life coach … someone who can dig the extra deep with you to
get you past this hump. Get the care and
love and help and big hugs you need!
When life falls down hard on you and you feel like there’s nothing you can do, know that you CAN do something.
You can take care of you!
Self-care and self-love are vital – and these give you something helpful to focus on. It gives you actionables, and getting things done helps us to feel productive and useful. And the actionables I’ve shared above will also help you be happier and healthier, so you are getting so much bang for your taking-care-of-you bucks!
Every day, I remind myself: Focus on what you can do!
What can you do when life tackles you? You can self-care and self-love!!! Certainly, these may not make the life beat down you are getting go away any faster, but they will help you to cope better and stay healthier while you are dealing with it … and that’s just gotta be a good thing!
Want to dig even deeper into your Self-Care? Snag your copy of my “Mary Kate’s Be-Kind-to-You Interactive Self-Care Love Letter to You!”
When you find yourself feeling low, negative, unhappy –
doubting yourself – maybe your confidence has taken a bit of a tumble &
your self-worth is low …
Grab my Be-Kind-to-You Interactive Self-Care Love Letter to You!
You can start feeling better and start smiling again!
Filled with empathetic & supportive Love and Big Hugs!
Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!
14 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven feel better strategies:
Reaffirmations & Positive Self-Talk
Gratitude Acknowledgements
Smiling POSitudes
Additional supporting ideas to help you find your calm and happiness again through self-care and self-love
