5 ways to free your mind; nurture your soul

Understanding when to free your mind and nurture your soul, I feel is crucial in living and loving a life you created.  This year has all been about my journey of self-discovery and loving my life.  I’ve been noticing how much our souls need our attention. However before you can begin to nurture your soul, you need to learn how to free your mind from everything that is stressful and distracting.  

Your mind is a complex piece of equipment as we all know.  There are so many things going on all at the same time, and there is only so much that it can hold before it becomes a puzzle; scrambled, jumbled into a million pieces, floating like a ship in space.  The only way to make sense of it all or anything for that matter is by letting your mind be free.  So today I’m going to share 5 tips or ways that I’ve wanted to practice, or that I really want to do, or that I’ve already done, that will help you do just that.

5 ways:

   1. Plan a retreat.  I’ve always wanted to do this, and this year, I’ve noticed that I’ve really been wanting to do this.  I’ve had a rough past few years, and I just wasn’t happy with who I was, which I will get into in another post, and is why I named this blog “It is well, with my soul,” and is also why I’ve been thinking of writing a book, on this very topic and my journey.  But anyway, planning a retreat can help you just clear the clutter and the stress from your mind, and let you release and absorb the peace that you need to live your life.

   2. Get out in nature.  I love doing this.  I love walking and sitting by a stream and just taking in the fresh air and listening to the birds and all the animals that are out there.  It brings me back to reality, with the realization that things are going to be ok.

 3. Write everything.  Writing everything can make you feel so much better.  Just taking a notebook, or your phone or something, and jotting down how you are feeling or what you hear or whatever, can instantly lift a weight from your shoulders.  This is one of my favorite ways to free my mind.

  4. Spend time with friends and family.  Ok so for all of you social butterflies out there, this one is for you.  Go out and have fun with friends and family members.  It is so nice to just take a day and go shopping, or to an amusement park, or to a regular park or just out to breakfast, lunch or dinner and chill.  Who says you have to have your crap together? No one, just go have fun, and when you get back, make sure your mind is clear and ready for the next day or week ahead.

   5. Relax your mind.  Let your mind be still and your soul soak it all in.  It is ok to just take a minute and sit there.  Or ask your boss if you can have 2 minutes to collect your thoughts, or if you can just sit in silence.  Sometimes all we need to do is to reassure ourselves that life is going to be ok... we just need  to just relax our minds. Just like our minds, our souls need to be nurtured as well, which is why I feel these two elements go hand in hand.  One of the best ways to do this is by meditation.  I know some people are not into this, but it is a really great practice to start.  Just put on some Zen music, or I use instrumental classical or piano music for this and my yoga sessions and I just sit there with my eyes closed.  I let my mind relax, releasing all of the stress, worry, anger, whatever out and letting my mind be still.  By doing that, I can let my soul soak everything in.  You can do this outside, I love doing that, because I can be with nature, but if you don’t want to, just do it in your bedroom, or wherever there is peace and quiet in your home, and relax.

Question:

    -When you look at the title, how do you feel? Is your mind free, have you taken time out of your week or day to nurture your soul, or is it still cluttered?  

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below, and also what do you think about me writing a book about this topic and my journey.  I am going to be 27 years old, so this very interesting to me and is a journey.

3 ways to Exhale the negative and Inhale the positive

Being positive is so hard at times.  You get a bad grade, your car won't start, you forget something you need for work or school, etc...things just are not looking up for you...and all that negativity just drains into your entire day.  How do you pick yourself up from that? Today I'm going to give you three ways/tips on how you can exhale the negative and inhale the positive.

Tip # 1: Write or say one thing you are grateful for that day.
                  -This can be something as simple as...I'm grateful to be alive, or I'm grateful my hair looks good.  Something that will make you feel better about your day...even if the rest of the day goes horrible for you...you can remember what you were grateful for.

Tip # 2: Smile/laugh
                 -This might sound weird to some of you but if you smile or laugh at least once in your day, your day will go so much better.  Smiling and laughing help to make you happy and also helps you forget about the bad things that have or has happened in your day and lets you smile or laugh to bring in the positive outlook on life.

Tip # 3: Music
                 -Music makes you happy...it really can bring your mood from 0 which is bad to 10 which is amazing.  You just need to put on your favorite dance music, party music or music that gets you happy and prepared for your day, listen to it and just enjoy.  You don't need to let things ruin your day...find something in your day that makes you happy, and enjoy it.  Music gets you in the positive mood and helps you forget about the negativeness that is in your life...at least for a few hours anyway.

EXHALE THE NEGATIVE...INHALE THE POSITIVE

Question:

     -What tips do you use to stay positive?

You can always find a flower, in a large pile of grass

Sometimes we get caught up in always being perfect.  We get caught up in always making sure we don't lose our focus, or to not just be happy for the things that make us happy.  We lose our focus, and when we do that, we start to feel like happiness will never come to us.  It's like we are searching in a pile of grass for a flower or a sign and we never seem to find it.  But, I'm here to tell you that "You can always find a flower, in a large pile of grass."  What I mean by this, is if you just keep looking, keep searching, try and find some peace within your crazy life, you will find the happiness that you have been looking for, and that flower that you thought you couldn't see, will be right in front of you.  It is so freeing when you finally find that happiness you have always been looking for...your soul is finally free...you can be who you want to be and continue to feel happy and enjoy the life that you have finally found.  Find your flower...find your happiness.

Where you are now, doesn't have to be your future

Hey everyone and welcome back.  I got this idea for a post from listening to a podcast,  The lavendaire Lifestyles...look her up on youtube at Lavendaire, and there you can find a link to her new podcast.  I absolutely love her, she is so inspirational and you should all check her out.  I will leave a link to her youtube channel at the bottom of this post.  Anyway, since I'm on this journey of rediscovering who I am, and making myself a better and more positive person, I wanted to do this post.  So I'm a stay at home mom, which I love...I have an amazing beautiful little boy who will be 3 here soon and will be going to preschool this coming school year.  Before that, I worked at a nursing home as a certified nursing assistant which of course I loved, and before that, I was just living each day alittle bit depressed because I couldn't see where my life was going. But looking back now, I have started to see that where you are now, doesn't have to be your future.  You are at the point where God wants you to be, but your life is whatever you want it to be.  As I say "Life is art and you are the creator, so make it a masterpiece that you can be proud of later." You may not know what you want to do right now, and that is ok.  You are allowed to explore life and just enjoy it and figure it out as you go.  Right now I'm a stay at home, but later in life, I would like to do something with nursing homes or music.  I'm not sure what right now, but I want to do something where I can help elderly people because that is what my passion is...however I'm enjoying life because it is so short and I am creating my future.  I am the artist...I'm the creator and life is a journey that is to be enjoyed and explored.  Don't stress about where you are now, because it doesn't have to be where you are in the future.  You can change it up...you may be in school right now, but in a few years you may be working in a corporate office, or have this amazing family with this amazing job.  You may be working at a horrible job right now but in a few years, you may own your own business or be traveling the world.  You are not stuck forever, this is all temporary and your life will be amazing, I can promise you that.  So this is what I was thinking about, and I just want to leave you with something to think about...

BE THE CHANGE IN THE WORLD...IF YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR LIFE...REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT FOREVER...IT'S TEMPORARY AND YOUR PRESENT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOUR FUTURE. CREATE A MASTERPIECE THAT YOU CAN BE PROUD OF AND NEVER LOOK BACK AND REGRET IT.   :)



Go check out Lavendaire....

    **https://www.youtube.com/user/Lavendaire

6 Tips to Self Love-New Year - Better You

Hey everyone and welcome back to "It is Well, With my Soul" blog.  So as some of you know, this year is all about making myself better...and if you want to go on this journey with me, then feel free and tell me how it's going.  Tonight we will be talking about Self Love. Finding yourself love, or myself love is like dating someone new.  When you put all your trust and love in someone, and then your break up or something happens, you have to find that trust and self-love again, and kind of make yourself happy again.  You have to kind of re-date yourself and really make yourself fall in love again, with yourself.  I went through a lot in the past few years, losing an amazing friend, and I went through not knowing who I was, and just being depressed and when January 2016 rolled around, I told myself that I wanted to work on "me."  I wanted to get my self-love back and become the happy bubbly amazing person that I once was.  So to help myself and others along, I came up with 6 tips to help get your self-love back.  So here we go:

1) Learning to love yourself-Learning to love yourself is a journey.  The relationship you have with yourself, is the most important relationship, because if you can not love yourself, then you can not love others, and you can not expect others to love you.  I never want people to forget that because it's not a selfish aspect.  Some women find this as selfish, but it is not selfish at all. You should be your biggest hero and your biggest supporter, and this year I'm slowly discovering this and I'm so happy that I am because it is making me a happier person to not only be around but to love me as well.

2) Spend time alone with yourself-What I mean by this is to give yourself 10-15 minutes to just be with yourself.  This is only for you, and it can really start your mind and your heart in the right place.  So do this in the morning when you wake up.  Take a few minutes to just breathe, read a devotional or a book, write, do some yoga or an exercise you enjoy, but whatever it is, give yourself those few minutes to yourself.  Recently I've been doing yoga in the morning because it wakes me up, makes me feel energized, and after yoga, I end the yoga session with some meditation.  This is the time before my son wakes up, and it's only for me so that I can feel good about the day ahead.

3) Give yourself a date night-When you go on a date, you get all ready and the whole nine yards.  You make sure that you look presentable and comfortable for your date and you put in the effort.  Well just like those dates, do the same for your date night.  Put in the effort, make some tea, draw a bath or a shower, do your favorite face or hair masks, paint your nails, stick in a movie, and just have a date night that is for you.  This is ok, even if you are a mom; don't feel like it's not because you totally deserve it.  I actually do this once a month; when my husband goes out of town for the day, I'm with my son, and when he goes to bed, I decide to have a personal date night with myself by myself because it really helps me feel like I'm taking care of myself.  I put a lot of effort into this, as I do with the date nights with my husband.  My favorite thing to do is, is to give myself a mani or pedi, put in a good movie, make me some tea and a snack, and just enjoy my night until my husband gets home.  It is really relaxing even with candles and it really does make me feel great.  So try it.

4) Start a journal-Start journaling whether that be on your phone or computer or a notepad.   I journal every night, just about random things...I recently started doing "evening pages," which I have a description of that on my blog.  Writing can clear your mind, get out all of that distraction that is in your head, and it's all sorts of beneficial for you. With a journal, you can be open and honest with your feelings and no one has to read it but you, unless you want them to.  Sometimes it's a lot easier to write things down than it is to tell people... so start a journal.

5) Stop comparing yourself to others

Basically, don't compare yourself with others.  You are perfect the way you are.  As the bible says in Psalm 139:14 " you are fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."  God has created you the way that you are, and there is no reason to ever compare yourself to others because you will never be happy that way.  Just be happy with who you are inside and out, and get rid of the negativeness around you.

6) Forgive-Always forgive yourself and others.  I've recently been doing this and it's really helped me make this year and myself better.  When you forgive, it opens  your heart to acceptance and appreciation, making you realize that people are not perfect, not even you, and if you really want to see change in yourself, then forgive yourself, and then forgive others.