Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts obtained by careful steam distillation, cold pressing, or resin tapping. Pure essential oils are far more powerful than the botanicals from which they are extracted. This makes them powerful allies in your family’s health and wellness, as well as a natural ingredient for your cleaning and self-care products. [Read more…] about 5 Essential Oils No Home Should Be Without
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25 Ways to Use Lavender Essential Oil
I love to visit the beautiful lavender farms around Portland. Lavender is also my favorite essential oil for relaxation and for its wide range of uses. I use lavender every day as my perfume, just a drop behind each ear and it is my favorite oil to diffuse in my home. Sometimes I add a few drops of lemon oil with it for a fresh, clean scent. Lavender oil has been called the “Swiss army knife” of oils because it is so versatile. Here are 25 ways that you can begin using lavender essential oil too. [Read more…] about 25 Ways to Use Lavender Essential Oil
Joy is Not a Luxury, It’s a Necessity – Why You Need to Allow More Joy into Your Life Today
It seems like a no-brainer that we should allow ourselves to be happy and create more joy in our lives, but it’s not that simple. Some of us still believe we don’t deserve to be happy. Or when we do allow happiness in, we worry that it won’t last. Or we spend time thinking about all the things that could go wrong.
Why do we do that? Part of it is our culture and the way we were raised. Well-meaning parents, teachers, and coaches sometimes try to manage children’s expectations so they’re not disappointed. We’re often taught that if we allow ourselves to be too happy, we’ll end up suffering in the end. Well-intentioned or not, these messages often cause us to unintentionally block or sabotage our own happiness. We may also have self-doubts or insecurities about our own worth. Do we even deserve to be happy? [Read more…] about Joy is Not a Luxury, It’s a Necessity – Why You Need to Allow More Joy into Your Life Today
50 Ways to Nurture Yourself (Includes a Printable Download)
In honor of LifeOhm’s 50th post, I am giving you, my amazing readers, a free printable download to help you remember to nurture yourself. Click here to download the free printable and go on to read more about the 50 Ways to Nurture Yourself.
The Importance of Nurturing Yourself
At one time or another, we all feel stressed or pressured by our busy schedules. During busy times, especially, it is so important to nurture ourselves. As the flight attendants wisely point out, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help others. The same thing goes for caring for yourself: if you don’t take the time to nurture and care for yourself before helping others, you will quickly become fatigued and end up having less to give.
“If you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.” ~ Dalai Lama
When you take the time to nurture and care for yourself, it’s easier to have a happy, upbeat mindset. You feel better about your life in general and it’s easier to get through challenging work tasks. This in turn allows you to have more to give to family and loved ones.
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Are You in the Wrong Career? 7 Questions to Ask Yourself
The average person spends more than 90,000 hours at work during their lifetime Those hours can either be pleasant, or downright miserable, depending on whether or not you’re in the right career.
Sometimes it’s obvious that a job is the “wrong fit” for us, but not always. I know I’ve had jobs that I really wanted to be the right fit for me, but they just weren’t. In fact, more than 80% of people hate their jobs according to a Deloitte Shift Survey.
If you’re not sure if you’re in the right line of work, here are seven questions to ask yourself to find out:
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5 Ways to Be Happier and More Productive at Work
“Life is not about making others happy. Life is about sharing your happiness with others.” ~Everyday Life Lessons
Do you want to be happier and more productive at work? Martin Seligman, a positive psychologist and author of Authentic Happiness, concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism. Here are five things you can do to increase your happiness and productivity at work:
1. Focus on people and relationships: That’s really what it’s all about – good relationships with your family, your clients, and your co-workers. Take the time to connect with others and you’ll find more meaning in your career as well as improve your happiness.
2. Celebrate Often: Many people delay happiness until they reach a certain goal, close that big sale, or list that dream property. Studies show however that the happiness from these seemingly “big events” is short lived and that true happiness is more about frequency than intensity.
While it’s simply not possible to be happy all the time, research shows that people who are happy 80% of the time are the healthiest, most successful, and live the longest. To get to that 80%, you need to take time to celebrate the little things.
3. Feel and Express Gratitude: This is the single most effective thing you can do each day to increase your happiness. Simply taking the time to appreciate what you already have, the people in your life, and the opportunities that present themselves to you will significantly increase your happiness, even if you do nothing else.
4. FOCUS and Stop Multi-Tasking: While checking email while your on the phone or texting during a sales meeting might feel like you are getting more accomplished, multi-tasking actually slows performance, increases mistakes, and over time causes you to lose your ability to focus when you need to.
You will find that your happiest times at work may be when you are in the “flow.” Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Interruptions and mult-tasking disrupt the flow process.
5. Be “Actively Optimistic” : Happiness is a choice and the whole concept of “Fake it till you make it” has been shown to work for increasing happiness. Take a few minutes to write down your best possible future, visualize it and feel it. Describe it in breathtaking detail, creating the full experience. Some of the most successful atheletes in the world use this technique because it works.
What are your techniques for increasing your happiness and productivity at work? Share your thoughts below.
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