Healthy Living

Open Your Heart Using These 5 Ways

Carolyn Cooper, our official Energy Healing Expert

Love

Start by giving yourself unconditional love. You can't totally love and accept others when you have negative self-talk going on. After years of working with many clients in the field of Energy Healing, I am convinced that the #1 common denominator in every issue is the lack of self- worth, self-acceptance, self-love. Love is what we were born with; fear is what we have learned here. Our spiritual journey is to let go of the fear in order to accept the love back into our hearts. Recognize that we don't make any mistakes we don't need to in order to learn the lessons that are necessary for our growth. Listen to the lesson, forgive yourself, and move forward with love.

Help others

We all know the best way to lift ourselves when we are down is by giving service to someone else. It's a universal law; you can't bless the life of another without receiving blessings in return. It is as if we are all connected (which we are) by an invisible thread, and each time we lift another, we too are lifted. Likewise, each time we put someone else down, we also bring ourselves down. Helping a fellow-being, whether friend or stranger, is truly the best thing to do when you feel sorry for yourself. It opens your heart by helping you realize there are others in less fortunate circumstances right now than you.

Read Carolyn's entire article Five Ways to Open Your Heart

Journal writing from a balanced perspective

I’ve had times in my life where my journal was a dumping ground for every heartbreak, regret and mistake I ever made. I hear lots of other people say that they only write in their journal when they are going through difficult times or when something horrible is happening (a loss, a break-up, money problems, a health crisis, etc.)  I have learned that there is a risk to this style of journaling because what we focus on tends to grow in our lives.

It is helpful to write during both good times and bad. I call this yin and yang of journaling. You don’t want your journal to simply be a dumping ground during difficult times.  Our lives and how we are feeling get profoundly shaped by what we focus on – our thoughts, impact our feelings, which shape our behaviours.  This being said, it is important to consider the power of your thoughts while journaling.

Read Lynda's entire article Journal writing from a balanced perspective

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

self-love, esteem, and confidence for women

Do you value self-discovery, self-actualization and living your most authentic life?  I sure do!!  I have learned, sometimes the hard way as my mother likes to say, that it can be a rocky ride to truly show up for yourself and live your highest truth!  The following words are intended for inspiration on your living well, living fully journey – they are from a book I am reading called Circle of Stones: Woman’s Journey to Herself by Judith Duerk.  She offers…

“To discover who she is, a woman must descend into her own depths.  She must leave the safe role of remaining a faithful daughter of the collectives around her and descend to her individual feeling values.

Read Lynda's entire article self-love, esteem, and confidence for women

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

The Healing Power of Journal Writing

There is a great deal of research across various fields of study including psychology, education, and healthcare that proves the efficacy of journaling and expressive writing for healing and well-being.

James Pennebaker, PhD, (2004) a research psychologist and author of Writing to Heal:  A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma & Emotional Upheaval conducted a study in the 1980’s with people who were dealing with trauma and emotional upheavals.  His research showed that individuals who wrote about their traumas needed less medical attention in the following months than they had previously.  His work clearly demonstrated a link between writing and health.

Read Lynda's entire article The Healing Power of Journal Writing

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Who is in your sphere of influence?

Who do you want to do life with?  Behavioural scientists suggest that we think, feel and act like the ten people we spend the most time with.  What type of people do you choose to spend your precious time with?  Are you drawn to optimistics, pessimists, make it happen folks, complainers, dreamers, artists, thought leaders, change agents, people who make you laugh?

Try this:

1) Make a list of the ten people you spend the most time with

Read Lynda's entire article Who is in your sphere of influence?

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Journal writing prompts to help you go to the page

I work with lots of people who are interested in starting to journal for themselves but are unsure where or how to get started.  I suggest start with exactly where you are in the moment.  Get your tools for journaling together – a fast moving pen, a favourite notebook (line or unlined) and create the time for your journaling date (15 minutes is good – make it amount of time that is doable within your current reality).

A blank page can feel like a daunting space for both new journal writers and seasoned writers alike – it can help to have a prompt, or way into the page..

Read Lynda's entire article Journal writing prompts to help you go to the page

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Reduce stress with guided meditation

Meditation is becoming more and more mainstream – there was a feature last week on the CBC news here in Canada that showed health care professionals using meditation within the workplace as a tool for reducing occupational stress.  Research shows that meditation has health benefits through helping to bring about the relaxation response in mind and body. 

There are many forms of meditation - some are silent, some are guided.  If you would like to try a guided meditation that I wrote and recorded specific to enhancing self-care, especially for helper and healers, feel welcome to access your free Spirited Self-Care Guided Meditation. 

Read Lynda's entire article Reduce stress with guided meditation

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Increase Balance: 3 Tips for Connecting With What Matters Most To You

Most people crave more balance, which I interpret as a desire for more control over their lives and circumstances. At the heart of balanced living, is the ability to align with what really matters most to you in the many key areas of your life including your work/career, relationships, health, and dreams. Often we need a little time, space and support to connect with what we truly want. So often, life can take us into a frenetic whirl of activity, filled with long lists of things to do and somewhere along the way we can get disconnected from what matters most.

Here are three tips for increasing balance by connecting with what matters most to you:

Read Lynda's entire article Increase Balance: 3 Tips for Connecting With What Matters Most To You

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

When we are feeling overwhelmed, our stress goes up and it can become a vicious circle – overwhelm leads to stress leads to more overwhelm, etc.  If you are feeling overwhelmed - pause right now.

Try this: 1) rate your feeling of overwhelm on a scale of 1-10 (1 being not much – 10 being over the top – feeling very overwhelmed)

2) Take a deep breath, fill your belly, exhale.  Again.  Breathe with awareness for ten seconds – big deep inhales and exhales (this is called power breathing).

3) Get a big piece of paper and do a brain drain – write down all the things that are making you feel overwhelmed.  Take a look at what you have captured on paper and start picking areas you can get a handle on and get back in the driver’s seat to start reducing overwhelm.

Read Lynda's entire article Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert

Three Key Elements of A Healthy Workplace

Many people spend a great deal of waking hours within their work environment. Workplaces are rich locations for promoting health, wellness and overall work-life balance. Both individuals and the workplace itself benefit from cultivating a healthy workplace environment as well as giving attention to employee wellness needs. Research shows that healthy employees have more energy, enjoy their work more, are more engaged and more likely to be retained by their employer than their colleagues who are experiencing high levels of stress often resulting in lower levels of both productivity and morale. It matters to take care of the people who take care of business; in other words, the well-being of employees is at the heart of the overall health and capabilities of an organization. This holds true whether you are a business of one, or a large agency or corporation.

Workplace wellness is about more than offering employees a gym membership and having a health fair once a year (these are positive things indeed), however In my experience, as well as within a great deal of the literature and research specific to wellness within the workplace, healthy workplaces tend to look to the big picture and strive to create positive and healthy workplace cultures where employee well-being can naturally flow.

Read Lynda's entire article Three Key Elements of A Healthy Workplace

Lynda Monk, our official Self-Care Expert